The aim of this research was to explore the piano method and teaching philosophy practised by the Russian piano pedagogue, Natalia Pirozerskaya. Her piano method is not well known and as a former student of hers I firmly believe in its values and implications for piano pedagogy. The focus of her teaching is a holistic concept of the harmonious (organic) development of the artist-musician as expounded by Yakovlev in relation to vocal art and higher nervous activity. Pirozerskaya’s piano methodology addresses the delicate relations between the inner life of the individual and the process of piano playing. She advocates a self-connected pianism characterised by the integration of all processes with the self. Pirozerskaya links the aesthetic values of Glinka’s artistic tradition to piano pedagogy in relation to creative potentialities and self-expression. The participants of this intrinsic case study were Natalia Pirozerskaya, Olga Tsihelashvili (the researcher) and five of Tsihelashvili’s piano students in Johannesburg. I interviewed the five piano students and through validation strategy of crystallisation the themes emerged. Based on the interviews with the students several themes were identified: 1) They explained that they experience an interconnected unity which can be described as oneness; 2) There was also a sense of deep fondness in the way the pupils shared their feelings about the piano; 3) They pinpointed the existence of an inner driving force – a form of artistic energy emerging as a tangible component of their pianistic process; 4) Concerning the special piano touch advocated by Pirozerskaya, all the students unanimously agreed that it is an effortless transmission from the fingertips straight into the piano which “just happens by itself”. They willingly demonstrated this touch on the piano, thus enriching the evidence; 5) With regard to the physical interaction with the instrument, the students observed the element of the opposing spring-support and the feeling of lightness in the body, essential in Pirozerskaya’s piano technique; 6) They mentioned that when they play they experience a deeper perception of the self; 7) Regarding teaching strategies, a rigid teaching approach and inexpressive mechanical piano playing, their spontaneous reactions proved that they have assimilated the fundamentals of Pirozerskaya’s self-connected pianism and developed a deep insight into the pianistic process. / PhD (Music Performance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The aim of this research was to explore the piano method and teaching philosophy practised by the Russian piano pedagogue, Natalia Pirozerskaya. Her piano method is not well known and as a former student of hers I firmly believe in its values and implications for piano pedagogy. The focus of her teaching is a holistic concept of the harmonious (organic) development of the artist-musician as expounded by Yakovlev in relation to vocal art and higher nervous activity. Pirozerskaya’s piano methodology addresses the delicate relations between the inner life of the individual and the process of piano playing. She advocates a self-connected pianism characterised by the integration of all processes with the self. Pirozerskaya links the aesthetic values of Glinka’s artistic tradition to piano pedagogy in relation to creative potentialities and self-expression. The participants of this intrinsic case study were Natalia Pirozerskaya, Olga Tsihelashvili (the researcher) and five of Tsihelashvili’s piano students in Johannesburg. I interviewed the five piano students and through validation strategy of crystallisation the themes emerged. Based on the interviews with the students several themes were identified: 1) They explained that they experience an interconnected unity which can be described as oneness; 2) There was also a sense of deep fondness in the way the pupils shared their feelings about the piano; 3) They pinpointed the existence of an inner driving force – a form of artistic energy emerging as a tangible component of their pianistic process; 4) Concerning the special piano touch advocated by Pirozerskaya, all the students unanimously agreed that it is an effortless transmission from the fingertips straight into the piano which “just happens by itself”. They willingly demonstrated this touch on the piano, thus enriching the evidence; 5) With regard to the physical interaction with the instrument, the students observed the element of the opposing spring-support and the feeling of lightness in the body, essential in Pirozerskaya’s piano technique; 6) They mentioned that when they play they experience a deeper perception of the self; 7) Regarding teaching strategies, a rigid teaching approach and inexpressive mechanical piano playing, their spontaneous reactions proved that they have assimilated the fundamentals of Pirozerskaya’s self-connected pianism and developed a deep insight into the pianistic process. / PhD (Music Performance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This thesis reports the findings of a research study conducted in an initial primary teacher education college in Dublin, exploring how teacher education students experienced and constructed meaning from a pre-service RE course which recognized the importance of a focus on their inner lives. The study, which adopted a qualitative interpretive approach, was conducted using semi-structured interviews with twelve past students from a recently-graduated year group of one hundred students. The study hoped to uncover how a focus on the inner life was taken up by the research participants in relation to their personal and professional wellbeing and their role as educators in general and religious educators in particular. While it did not seek to generalise as a result of the findings, confined as it is by time and circumstance, nevertheless aspects deemed worthwhile by the research participants may also be deemed worthwhile by the reader and indeed may not be confined to the domain of RE. The findings have been framed generally against the three themes of ‘particularity’, ‘inner-ness’ and ‘ongoing-ness’. The theme of ‘particularity’ relates to the participants’ epistemological journey, as it is concerned with how concrete elements of the course supported inner life work. The theme of ‘inner-ness’ relates to the participants’ ontological journey, as it is concerned with how participants experienced and made meaning from the space provided by the course for inner life work. The theme of ‘ongoingness’ relates to the total RE journey from primary and secondary school to college and into their teaching lives and its impact on participants’ inner lives. What is clear from participants’ responses is that the RE course, and particularly the elements of the RE course that had a focus on the inner life, had a significant impact on participants’ identity, both personal and professional, at an important stage of their development and personal story. The study demonstrates the importance of inner life work for teacher education students and contributes a level of insight into how students appropriate and construct meaning from a created and creative space that supports a focus on that inner life.

Notre projet de recherche est de comprendre, à l’intérieur de l’œuvre d’Édith Stein, le lien fondamental qui unit la structure de la personne humaine dans ses dimensions fondamentales (anthropologie) et l’éducation.Éduquer c’est être inévitablement renvoyé à la question : « Qu’est-ce que l’homme ? » dans la mesure où l'éducation engage « une certaine conception de l’homme, sa place dans le monde, ce à quoi il s’occupe, de même que dans les possibilités d’agir pratiquement sur l’homme et de le former. » Outre le fait qu'Edith Stein ne systématise pas sa conception de l'éducation, d'où la nécessité d'en reconstituer l'architecture d'ensemble, elle ne la fait pas dériver d'une anthropologie préalablement constituée. Notre hypothèse de recherche est que la personne humaine n'est pas une réalité déjà constituée dont une anthropologie statique rendrait compte, mais une réalité qui s'édifie au fil d'un processus de configuration qui « embrasse le corps, l’âme et l’esprit avec toutes leurs facultés » et dont la théorie steinienne de l’éducation examine les possibilités. A partir d'une analyse phénoménologique de la constitution de la personne nous examinerons ses possibilités de déploiement et sa finalité ultime comme une possibilité de sa liberté. / Our purpose is to understand, on the basis of Edith Stein’s work, the link between the structure of human person and education. Educate is assuming the question : “What is human being ?” On the one hand, Stein does not organize systematically her conception of education, so that we must put in evidence the unity of that vision of education through her work. On the other hand, Stein refuses to derive education from a programmatic anthropology. Our hypothesis of research is : the human person is not a reality yet constituted but developing through a process which “embraces the body, the soul and the spirit”. On the basis of a phenomenological analysis of the constitution of the human person, we will examine the possibilities of her development and its ultimate finality as a possibility of her freedom.

This thesis contends that trainee counsellors are disempowered when they are expected to conform to the patterns provided by the trainer or agency. Empowerment results from the encouragement of the trainee to develop his/her own eclectic approach to their counselling, and this is only possible if a range of elective training programs are made available. This thesis also contends that no one agency or trainer is in a position to provide such a range of counselling approaches, and trainees should be motivated to use the service of other agencies, as well as being involved in independent studies. This inquiry proposes that one of the most effective foundations for the development of effective counsellors is the active encouragement of the trainee's self-awareness and the exploration of the trainee's inner life. If the success or failure of counselling depend on the ability of the counsellor to create an environment in which the client can explore his/her own issues, then it requires counsellors who have been empowered to make this discovery for themselves. This thesis also shows the author's own transformational journey, from a directed learner to a self-directed learner, and this paradigm shift in his own life has become the motivating force for empowering others to move into a position where they can exercise their own choices, and be empowered through participatory and transformative learning approaches. / Master of Science (Hons)

My dissertation is a selection of essays that reflect upon human potential, particularly but not exclusively, within educational environments. I offer theory and practices that suggest that under the right conditions educators and students will move towards the far reaches of their own creative capacities. I offer my own experience and practice as an exemplar of possibilities. I make proposals about educators and education of educators that represent a paradigm shift from centralizing curriculum and content to focusing on care, nurturance, subjective and inter-subjective understanding, and development of educators. The reader is invited to see educators as central, and is encouraged towards the possibility that educators must be supported, encouraged, and cared for in order to support emergence of their vitality, first for themselves and subsequently for students. I outline an approach that puts human beings in educational environments first in practical and specific ways. Integration of personal experience and curriculum material is explicated. The importance of personal inner work for educators is highlighted. Inner Work is characterized as a personal and spiritual process. The claim that educators need to have group facilitation skills is made and evidence offered. Philosophical and theoretical background from education, eastern and western philosophy, humanistic and transpersonal psychology, process-oriented methods, and counselling psychology are drawn upon. The approach is holistic and systemic. The human is viewed as important but not separate from other living beings or the environment. The values of presence, care, and deep democracy underlie the ideas. The importance of relationality and I-Thou connection are explicated. The writing and research draws on a variety of qualitative approaches, including, living inquiry, autobiography, and self-study, as well as conceptual, narrative, poetic, auto-ethnographic, heuristic, and analytic methods. The material, personal, and ephemeral are investigated as integrated parts of the Dao-Field of education and life.

My dissertation is a selection of essays that reflect upon human potential, particularly but not exclusively, within educational environments. I offer theory and practices that suggest that under the right conditions educators and students will move towards the far reaches of their own creative capacities. I offer my own experience and practice as an exemplar of possibilities. I make proposals about educators and education of educators that represent a paradigm shift from centralizing curriculum and content to focusing on care, nurturance, subjective and inter-subjective understanding, and development of educators. The reader is invited to see educators as central, and is encouraged towards the possibility that educators must be supported, encouraged, and cared for in order to support emergence of their vitality, first for themselves and subsequently for students. I outline an approach that puts human beings in educational environments first in practical and specific ways. Integration of personal experience and curriculum material is explicated. The importance of personal inner work for educators is highlighted. Inner Work is characterized as a personal and spiritual process. The claim that educators need to have group facilitation skills is made and evidence offered. Philosophical and theoretical background from education, eastern and western philosophy, humanistic and transpersonal psychology, process-oriented methods, and counselling psychology are drawn upon. The approach is holistic and systemic. The human is viewed as important but not separate from other living beings or the environment. The values of presence, care, and deep democracy underlie the ideas. The importance of relationality and I-Thou connection are explicated. The writing and research draws on a variety of qualitative approaches, including, living inquiry, autobiography, and self-study, as well as conceptual, narrative, poetic, auto-ethnographic, heuristic, and analytic methods. The material, personal, and ephemeral are investigated as integrated parts of the Dao-Field of education and life.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:13:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6132.pdf: 851637 bytes, checksum: 6881ffcd8203c0ce0d1033adc3eed7be (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-29 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / This work is aimed at investigating the inner life in Bergson s first book, Time and Free Will An essay on the immediate data of consciousness (1889). We try to analyze especially the notions of duration and space in light of what we call the divided self , i.e., the division established by Bergson between the superficial self related to space, social life and language and the deap-seated self which concerns the pure duration of consciousness, the continuous multiplicity of interpenetration of psychological states and creating and unpredictability that constitutes each free act. At the end, and already in possession of the conclusions on the Essay, we will discuss the bergsonian intuitive method and its relationship with the divided self. / Este trabalho tem por intuito investigar a vida interior no primeiro livro de Bergson, Ensaio sobre os dados imediatos da consciência, de 1889. Trataremos de analisar sobretudo as noções de duração e espaço à luz daquilo que chamamos o eu dividido , isto é, a divisão estabelecida por Bergson entre o eu superficial relacionado ao espaço, à vida social e à linguagem e o eu profundo o qual diz respeito à duração pura da consciência, à multiplicidade contínua de interpenetração dos estados psicológicos e da criação e imprevisibilidade constituintes de cada ato livre. Ao final, e já de posse das conclusões acerca do Ensaio, discorreremos sobre o método intuitivo bergsoniano e sua relação com o eu dividido.

Jane Austen’s novels remain an essential component of the literary canon, but her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, is frequently neglected. However, in Sense and Sensibility is the genesis of Austen’s technique through which her major characters cultivate and reveal a strong inner life, demonstrated through the character of Elinor Dashwood. This technique is a characteristic she incorporates in each of her succeeding novels. Her approach to literature centers on the interiority of her characters and their ability to change, but it her first novel Austen takes a unique approach. Following the structure of an eighteenth-century sermon, Austen creates a sermon for lay people that centers on the cultivation of a strong interior life.

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