No description available.

Education reform has created an environment in the Early Years sector in which Early Years Practitioners (EYPs) are increasingly directed to look for outcomes, rather than developing an understanding about the process of learning. The issue of EYP competence and knowledge is often overestimated by an education system which assumes that confidence and high levels of understanding are standard. Therefore, reconciling the difference between what policies expect, and what EYPs can do, is of great interest. Working from a Vygotskyian perspective on group collaboration and peer learning, this study examines the effect of an intervention with a team of EYPs, who took part in group supervision sessions to explore their Observation, Assessment and Planning practice. The aim is to help to develop a model which can support and enhance professional practice. The study began with four participants who attended ten facilitated group discussions over ten months, in which they addressed specific observational issues to gain insight into how their key child was learning. These sessions provided an opportunity for the participants to engage in professional dialogue and robustly analyse their observations. Data was interpreted using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), to explore how a group approach might support the participants’ professional development and their understanding of children’s learning. The EYPs reported links between their own learning within the group and changes in their practice and understanding about children's learning. Evidence from the study suggests that the Group Intervention had a positive impact on the participants’ practice and that they developed skills in making professional judgements about how best to support and extend the child’s learning. The findings also suggest that collaborative endeavours are a key factor in helping EYPs to succeed at their OAP tasks and enable the development of professional learning.

To feel at home and to find your place identity in a completely different setting than you are used too requires a whole new type of coping with changes. In order to cope, there are different aspects that can help you. Either it be your personality, the physical surroundings or the people that you have by your side. This thesis has had the aim of examining how and why refugees feel at home in the city of Umeå, Sweden. What has been clear is that the interviewed refugees do feel at home in Umeå, this mostly because of social activities with friends and family, not as much because of the physical attributes Umeå has as a city. Place identity, seen from different theoretical perspectives, has been clear in that identity is mostly created in harmony with a place and what the place has to offer socially and not always due to the physical attraction of the place, which has been visible in discussion with the refugees in the study. Instead, place identity for the interviewed individuals has been created through the conceptions, interpretations, ideas and related feelings the individuals have to Umeå.

This study has been undertaken to investigate the impact of group discussion upon sociometric status, selfactualization, and number of stated problems with respect to student nurses. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether group discussion will enhance sociometric status of student nurses, (2) to determine whether group discussion will positively affect self-actualization of student nurses, (3) to determine whether group discussion will lessen the number of stated problems of student nurses, and (4) to examine the group process and interaction of the group discussion sessions.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA (DVS) / Formal microfinance institutions have been an important tool in the fight against poverty in developing countries, but their reach for rural people and urban slum poor are limited. Following this, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are established as an alternative, informal mechanism for saving and borrowing that do not require external capital or ongoing financial or administrative support from a founding organization or government bodies. Thus, this study aimed to assess the effects of women participation in VSLA on poverty reduction with a case study in Hawassa city, Ethiopia. Using a mixed qualitative and quantitative research methodology, the study tried to focus on examining the effects of VSLAs contribution to economic and social wellbeing of households, and decision makings, and women participation in community activities. The study used 254 samples (127 VSLA participants, and 127 non-participants) and collected data using questionnaire and focus group discussion. The study used propensity score matching (PSM) to estimate the impact of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income, and the result indicated the average effect of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income of participant women is positive and significant at 5% significant level, ranging from 169.63 Birr/month (nearest neighbor matching) to 141.55 Birr/month (Kernel matching), on average. Besides, comparison between participants and non-participants using hypothesis testing shows that women participation in VSLA has a significant positive association with improvements in household diet, health, children's education, and women’s involvement in household decisions. However, although hypothesized, no significant association is found in relation to women participation in community activities. Findings from the focus group discussions are also consistent with the results from the PSM and hypothesis testing. Following the findings, the study recommends government and nongovernmental organizations to provide regular, timely and need based capacity building trainings for VSLA participants; Link VSLA participants with formal microfinance institutions; conduct regular monitoring and follow ups by either the city or sub-cities Women Children Affairs Department/offices or concerned government body; different concerned stakeholders in the city including government, nongovernmental organizations, microfinance institutions and others need to work in coordinated manner to solve the recurrent challenges of VSLA participants in Hawassa city; and finally government and/or nongovernmental organizations need to take best practices and lessons from existing VSLAs and expand the VSLA initiative to address more impoverished women in the city.

<p>Teachers' perception of equality should reflect the fiction they choose and what effect this will have in school teaching. The general aim is to investigate how reading literary text can be used as a means to influence and change students' perception of equality. Our school essay intends to answer the following questions,</p><p>- What is the students' perception of equality?</p><p>- How does the meeting with the fiction influence the students' perceptions of equality on the basis of culture and gender?</p><p>The method we have used in this study is a qualitative research method with group discussion as a tool. Through the impact study, we examine how students discuss and reflect about their thoughts from reading fiction. We have listened to and transcribed for the essay important details of the talks. Our theoretical connection consists of the Russian language philosopher and literary theorist, Mikhail Bakhtin, which assumes that human existence is fundamentally dialogic and argue that the individual exists and develops in communicating with other people.</p><p>Our results from group discussions show that fictions can usefully be used as an educational adjunct in school teaching to promote students' perception and understanding within a given topic. Fiction texts animate life situations and problems that make it possible for students to familiarize themselves in.</p><p>Our results of the impact study also indicates that students' perceptions can be changed through discussion around the reading. The individual reading arouses students' thoughts and understanding of both themselves as to the world that in the latter interaction with other team members demonstrate advanced abilities to highlight new knowledge. We also found examples where either explicitly confirm or deny the talks so as to develop students understanding and ability to reflect on the experience of reading in relation to reality. The results also show that talks about the reading helps students to develop an understanding of both the text's meaning as its content and purpose.</p><p>It therefore leads us into the knowledge of the text value and importance of the choice of lit erature. To allow such a practical purpose as possible with the reading of literature requires both experience and planning of the election in order to achieve the greatest possible knowledge for the students'.</p>

Teachers' perception of equality should reflect the fiction they choose and what effect this will have in school teaching. The general aim is to investigate how reading literary text can be used as a means to influence and change students' perception of equality. Our school essay intends to answer the following questions, - What is the students' perception of equality? - How does the meeting with the fiction influence the students' perceptions of equality on the basis of culture and gender? The method we have used in this study is a qualitative research method with group discussion as a tool. Through the impact study, we examine how students discuss and reflect about their thoughts from reading fiction. We have listened to and transcribed for the essay important details of the talks. Our theoretical connection consists of the Russian language philosopher and literary theorist, Mikhail Bakhtin, which assumes that human existence is fundamentally dialogic and argue that the individual exists and develops in communicating with other people. Our results from group discussions show that fictions can usefully be used as an educational adjunct in school teaching to promote students' perception and understanding within a given topic. Fiction texts animate life situations and problems that make it possible for students to familiarize themselves in. Our results of the impact study also indicates that students' perceptions can be changed through discussion around the reading. The individual reading arouses students' thoughts and understanding of both themselves as to the world that in the latter interaction with other team members demonstrate advanced abilities to highlight new knowledge. We also found examples where either explicitly confirm or deny the talks so as to develop students understanding and ability to reflect on the experience of reading in relation to reality. The results also show that talks about the reading helps students to develop an understanding of both the text's meaning as its content and purpose. It therefore leads us into the knowledge of the text value and importance of the choice of lit erature. To allow such a practical purpose as possible with the reading of literature requires both experience and planning of the election in order to achieve the greatest possible knowledge for the students'.

No description available.

The large influx of international students to universities of the developed world, the increased use of Problem-Based method of teaching and learning in the field of Health Education and growing awareness of the need to accommodate varying learning styles in any classroom are the three factors that influenced this research. This study was designed to investigate the effect of learning styles and demographic differences on performance in Biology when taught using two different methods of teaching. One was the teacher-directed Traditional Teaching and Learning (TTL) and the other was the student-centred Problem-Based Learning (PBL). The preferred learning styles of all Foundation Studies (FS) Biology students over four academic years at RMIT were determined using the Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PLSI). These students were taught two selected topics in Biology by the researcher using the two different methods and their performance assessed by a written test at the end of each topic. Two instruments were developed to assess student participation in PBL. The first instrument Students' Participation in Group Discussions (SPGD) rating scale was designed for teacher evaluation of student participation in PBL group discussions while the second instrument the Student Self Evaluation (SSE) rating scale was for self-evaluation by stud ents. Individual interviews provided students' views and opinions about their learning styles and the two teaching methods. The analysis of data was predominantly conducted by quantitative methods, supported by qualitative analysis of the interview data. Effect size analyses were used to investigate differences in performance under the two teaching methods on the basis of demographic and learning style differences. Further probes were conducted to elicit any interactions among the demographic variables and the learning style traits in their effect on performance under the two teaching methods and a quantitative measure for interaction was derived using effect sizes. While results confirmed some of the trends displayed by learning style traits in other disciplines, a number of interactions among variables were found to affect performance in Biology as well as performance under the two teaching methods. Gender, age, prior qualification and the language of instruction of prior education had various levels of interactions with the introvert/extrovert, intuitive/sensing, thinking/feeling and perceiving/judging learning traits and affected performance in Biology to varying extents. However, it was found that international students from diverse backgrounds were able to cope with both methods of teaching though there was a definite preference expressed for the traditional teacher directed method. The conclusions from this study have resulted in a number of recommendations for Biology educators, FS administrators, authors and all practitioners of PBL. Several suggestions have opened new avenues for future research. These recommendations for pedagogy and suggestions for future research can improve the outcomes of Biology education as well as other disciplines in related fields. As a consequence of this study two new instruments have been developed to assess student participation in the group discussions of PBL. These could prove to be valuable assessment tools for practitioners of this methodology.

Objectives: The objectives of the study was to describe how people who face partner violence against women, either as volunteers or as professionals in their everyday work, explain violence against women in intimate relationships and their suggestions for preventive activities. Methods: Twenty men and twenty women were strategically selected for five focus-group discussions. The interviews were analysed following the procedure for qualitative thematic content analysis. Findings: The study shows that the participants acknowledged violence against women as a multifaceted phenomenon grounded in the interplay betweenindividual, family-related factors and local community and socio-cultural factors. Men’s level of education, ‘social evils’, women challenging gender role expectations and women’s extensive work load were discussed as factors at individual and family level. Poverty in the local community and ‘feudal ideologies’ were referred to as explanatory factors at structural level. The informants suggested two main ways of preventing violence against women; improved gender equality through information, education and communication, and enforcing policies and law. Examples pertaining to different levels of society were given. Conclusions: This study shows that behind all of the explanations to intimate partner violence laid the culturally constructed messages about the proper roles of men and women mirroring gender inequality and women’s power disadvantage. A hesitation to intervene was found among some of the informants, the medical doctors, while all the others were eager to discuss activities but mainly those they were already undertaking and it seems the local level require further support to better handle this problem. / <p>ISBN 91-7997-161-x</p>