Background- South Africa, the most southern country at the African continent as the name depicts, is a country where Apartheid has prevailed the historical and contemporary landscape of the nation.  The era of Apartheid, being a system of discrimination and segregation, produced racial imbalances within the South African society and polices of affirmative action was enforced as an attempt to redress the racial inequalities. Purpose- By studying a distinctive type of affirmative action in a historically ethnically distressed context (organizations in South Africa), the purpose of this thesis was to receive insight on what impact affirmative action has on employees’ attitudes towards equality. The purpose was divided into two research questions to get an understanding of the implications that shape employees’ attitudes. The first research area aimed to identify and investigate which key factors are influencing employees’ attitudes towards affirmative action. The second research area considered the underlying cause of affirmative action and thereby investigated what impact affirmative action has on individuals’ as well as groups’ attitudes towards equality. Method- In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis we used a qualitative method approach.  The approach adopted for the qualitative study was a constructivist grounded theory approach and the research has been performed with both an inductive and a deductive approach. The empirical material has been gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight employees at four different multinational companies operating in South Africa, by informal interviews with individuals in South Africa and through parallel observations.  Results and Conclusion- We provide five key factors that influence employees’ attitudes towards affirmative action; organizational culture, top management support, incentive for teams versus individual performance, prior experience of diversity and cultural artifacts. Furthermore, we present a three-step model on how intergroup contact can impact employees’ attitudes towards equality. We found that increased exposure towards diversity, through group interactions, can decrease employees’ negative prejudices, evaluations of other groups and thus enable an understanding that can help create a more positive attitude towards equality. Practical Implications- The key influencing factors identified in this study will help increase the knowledge of how to manage affirmative action within organizations. The findings can help managers and business leaders dealing with the implementation and management of affirmative action, both for their own understanding as well as in terms of guiding their employees on their approach toward affirmative action programs.

TITLE: "Self-concept of pupils with specific learning disability in group and individual integration" AUTHOR: Bc. Barbora Paukova DEPARTMENT: Special education department THESIS SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Lenka Felcmanova ABSTRACT: The major topic of the diploma thesis named "Self-concept of pupils with specific learning disability in group and individual integration" is the different self-concept of success rate of older school age pupils with specific learning disability who are educated in a form of individual integration and in a form of group integration. The theoretical foundation of the thesis deals with the term of specific learning disability, with its terminology, definition, causes, classification and reeducation. It further focuses on the education of pupils with specific learning disability, on the term of self-concept and on the older school age period. Practical part of the thesis includes the quantitative research made using the standardized SPAS questionnaire. Methodology of the research, research preconditions, targets of the research, analysis of the collected data and evaluation of the research results are described in the thesis. KEY WORDS: Specific learning disability, older school age, self-concept, individual integration, group integration

The work deals with the problems of people with autism spectrum disorders and their individual and group integration. The first part of my paper deals with the general characteristics of the different types of autism spectrum disorders, their problem areas, which is a social behavior, communication and imagination and play. The important part is the chapter on integration, which aims to become familiar with its characteristics, possibilities and related legislation. The empirical part deals with the influence of the triad of behavioral manifestations of a child with high-functioning autistic child and a description of their impact on the area of individual and group integration over four years of experience. In this work is shown and described healthy development of the child, with which it is compared individual and group integration. For better orientation is the development of all three lines of development recorded in the chart.

The indirect victim's experience of suicide and the victimisation resulting from the incident was studied. The Indirect Victim's Experience Model of a Suicide Incident (see Figure 2.1) was designed as a theoretical framework to direct the research findings and for the interpretation of data. A qualitative exploratory approach was used and a group of 20 respondents was selected by means of purposive and snowball sampling methods. All the respondents were interviewed personally. The interpretation and analysis of the data showed that the assumptions based on Janoff-Bulman and Frieze's theory and certain societal myths regarding suicide still exist. These assumptions and myths could subconsciously have an influence on the nature and extent of the victimisation experienced by the next of kin. The respondents themselves accepted these assumptions and myths. Research findings further showed that these assumptions are affected upon receiving the news of the suicide, while myths are destroyed. This could have an influence on the victim's experience of suicide. Every indirect victim functions before, during and after the suicide incident within a specific family and social system. The way in which the indirect victim experiences the support and integration from within the family and social system, determines the acceptance or non-acceptance of the death by suicide of a significant other. This will also have an influence on the indirect victim's reintegration into society in the short and long term. The need of the indirect victim to be involved within a family and society was clearly identified during the study. These findings made it possible to make practical recommendations with regard to the indirect victim's experience of suicide. Society should be informed about the realities and results of suicide. In addition, these findings highlighted further areas for research. / Thesis (MA (Criminology))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Theoretical part follow up possibilities of a teacher in self-education of students with Czech as a second language problematic as well as preparation for entry to class for students with Czech as a second language and their teachers as their mission should be to create welcoming climate in the class. I also describe the key terms in field of students with Czech as a second language in Czech Republic and Finland as well. In the practical part I prepare questionnaires for teachers with the goal to identify the level of awareness on this issue, which I deepen via subsequent interviews with selected teachers. Based on personal experience from an internship in Finland than the findings from interviews and study of available literature to prepare a workshop for teachers. I would also like to prepare a variety of examples of good practice and inspiration for teachers. KEYWORDS inclusion, individuality, teacher, respect, environment, group integration, immigrant pupils, pupil with a different mother tongue, multicultural education, primary/elementary school, education in Finland, inspiration for teachers, workshop