Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The research study focused on the reasons why professional women are leaving corporate life at mid-career. In a series of in-depth interviews, fifteen mid-career women who had left large organizations recalled their initial expectations of corporate life and expanded and illustrated the ways they felt that these expectations had not been met. There were two key findings. The first was that while the women interviewed needed to work interdependently with others in order to grow professionally, develop personally, and to achieve satisfaction in their work, the corporations in which they worked were seen to hold mainly contrary values. Predominantly, the corporations in which they found themselves esteemed masculine ways of working, rewarding individuality, self-sufficiency, and individual contribution, and valuing tangible outputs, competitiveness, and rationality instead of valuing relationships, interdependence, and collaboration that the women sought. The second finding, corollary to the first, was that the women interviewed had experienced disconnections in the workplace. They felt disconnected from colleagues, clients, and co-workers, from meaning in the work itself, and most importantly, from themselves. By mid-career, they had concluded that in order to find satisfaction, growth, and development in work, and to be rewarded for their relational skills that they considered essential to success, they needed to leave corporate life. Miller and Stiver's (1997) relational theory of women's psychological development helps to explain the women's sense of disconnection in large corporations. The data make clear, consistent with the theory and relational practice, that a central question of development and satisfaction in the professional workplace for the women interviewed was "whether relationships can change so that they can allow and encourage expansion" (p. 53). / 2031-01-01

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BACKGROUND: Faculty vitality is integral to the endurance of higher education. Strengthening vitality is particularly important for mid-career faculty, who represent the largest and most productive segment, but also the most dissatisfied. While the mid-career phase is particularly vulnerable, the backdrop of academic medicine appears to be another factor that may put faculty at risk of attrition. To address these issues, Boston University School of Medicine initiated the Academy for Collaborative Innovation and Transformation (ACIT), a ten-month mid-career faculty development program consisting of six two-day interactive learning modules and multidisciplinary group projects. METHODS: This study is a mixed-methods evaluation of ACIT using a quasi-experimental design to assess the program's impact on faculty and institutional vitality. Pre-post surveys compared participants with a matched reference group. The quantitative data were augmented by interviews and focus groups with participants, senior leadership, department chairs, and ACIT staff members. RESULTS: At the program's conclusion, ACIT participants showed marked gains in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and connectivity when compared to the referents. Results also indicate that the program was largely successful in equipping participants to accomplish the four primary learning goals: to self-reflect and pursue an individual development plan; to connect longitudinally to one's peer cohort and to the larger organization; to collaborate effectively with colleagues across disciplines, sectors, and roles; and to enhance ability to implement transformative work. Lastly, the majority of didactic sessions were rated highly for both content areas and speakers, while the group projects and learning communities received mixed reviews. Based upon these results, recommendations were made to improve the design, execution, and costs of the program. CONCLUSION: Given that mid-career faculty development in academic medicine has not been extensively studied, this evaluation is able to provide a novel perspective to guide future initiatives aimed at this specific subset of higher education.

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Thesis advisor: Andy Hargreaves / Interest in educational change has continued to grow over the past three decades (Fullan, 1982; Tyack & Cuban, 1995). One focus has been the challenge of implementing sustainable reforms, particularly in secondary schools, which have traditionally been resistant to change (Goodson, 1983; Hargreaves, 2003; Louis & Miles, 1990; McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001). Another has been the role of teachers in implementing, sustaining and also resisting change (Fullan, 1993; Hargreaves, 1994; Kennedy, 2005; Little, 1996). In spite of challenges--and arguably lack of success--wave after wave of reform has attempted to introduce lasting change in schools (Sarason, 1990). No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (U.S. Department of Education, 2002) represents the latest wave of reform. This wave requires a relentless focus on achievement and improvement. The impact of NCLB is felt at the state level, where high-stakes, standardized tests are given annually as a means to measure progress (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). In Massachusetts, the test is the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). While the effects of mandated change are undoubtedly felt at all levels, it is teachers in mid-career for whom the stakes might be highest. Will reform work successfully stimulate and support them, or will it feel like an additional and unwanted burden on the their already full schedules? My dissertation thus explores the following question: * What are the effects of contemporary high-stakes mandated reform on the change commitments and capacities of middle career teachers? Related to this broad question, I explore the in-school conditions and generational factors that influence these change commitments and capacities. The surprising findings revealed that most teachers, representing both high and low performing schools in urban and suburban districts, felt that the MCAS in particular and the standards movement in general offer a neutral to positive opportunity for teachers to assess their students and to hone their curricular and teaching strategies. This statement holds true for the quantitative data as well; teachers generally appear to feel more control and influence over their work than in the recent past. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The purpose of this mixed-method phenomenological study is to understand the beliefs and attitudes that mid-career secondary school teachers have regarding the teacher evaluation process and its effect on their professional practice. Mid-career secondary school teachers (defined as having between 14-21 years of classroom experience) from Bayview Public Schools were selected to participate. A total of 152 mid-career secondary school teachers completed an electronic survey. Additionally, a total of 9 participants took part in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework used to guide the study was the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1988; 1991) and Bandura*s theory of self-efficacy (1977). The quantitative results from the electronic survey were used to augment qualitative data collected from interviews with willing participants. The interviews with study participants were analyzed for emerging themes. In all, a total of nine emerging themes came to light through the analysis of interview data. The data revealed areas of concern regarding the current method of evaluating teachers in Bayview Public Schools. A presentation of the findings with regard to the theoretical framework, literature, and practice were presented. Furthermore, a list of recommendations was provided addressing the specific concerns of participating teachers. In conclusion, recommendations were also made concerning future research that might continue to add to the body of knowledge concerning teacher evaluation.

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The purpose of this concurrent, mixed methods study was to examine the professional empowerment qualities of mid-career (years 4-8), science teachers. I used the construct of professional empowerment as the theoretical frame to explore K-12 mid-career science teachers’ career trajectories and consider how they can be supported professionally and ideally retained over time. In investigating the qualities of these teachers, I also constructed a new teaching trajectory model and tested the differences between mid-career and veteran science teachers. I analyzed seventy-eight surveys of mid-career science teachers across Texas, including six in-depth, interview-based case studies. The qualitative piece used behavior-over-time graphing combined with the interviews and the quantitative component used survey data from the Teacher Empowerment Survey (TES). Results indicated that science content knowledge gain through professional development opportunities was an especially important factor in supporting mid-career teachers’ sense of empowerment. This increased content knowledge connected positively with the dimensions of decision-making, status, and impact. In a between-group analysis using a larger subset of TES data, I analyzed 254 surveys by conducting a nonparametric statistical test. A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups, in that mid-career science teachers had a lower sense of “status” than their more experienced counterparts (p < .05). I could infer that, for this sample, as teaching experience increases, so does at least one dimension of empowerment. The study was situated within a broader scope of exploring how educational leaders and professional development providers can understand and support science teachers of varying experience levels. A well-designed and possibly differentiated professional development program could successfully connect with these kind of empowered and receptive mid-career science teachers, and thus increase the probability of implementing quality science education programs, content, and pedagogy into schools. The results of this study also have the potential to provide self-reflective career empowerment information to science teachers in their mid-career years. / text

This thesis explores the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of mid-career artists in England and the South West of England in particular during 2000 to 2010. It identifies what their needs are and asks what CPD means to them; how they navigate their careers through their practice; how they articulate their needs; and how they negotiate to fulfil those needs. It examines to what extent the providers’ thinking about, and provision of, CPD in the region is aligned with the needs of the artists themselves. The individual narratives of artists are represented at the centre of this research. The research was developed in collaboration with University of Plymouth and the CPD agency, ArtsMatrix Ltd. Research methods used to collect data included extended dialogues with the artists Alyson Hallett, Mariele Neudecker, Helen Poynor and Phil Smith, via a series of walking interviews, using walking as an ethnographic research tool. By walking I engaged with a literal momentum of movement paralleling the physical and theoretical momentums of the artists’ practices. Policy and literature reviews; group interviews; artist interviews; desk-based research; observation and attendance at artist-led seminars and practice groups were also used. The research contrasts two CPD Schemes: The Contemporary Craft Fellowship Scheme, and The Artist as Cultural Agent: DIY. The thesis includes a policy and provision review of CPD literature in the UK and South West of England over the past ten years; a mapping of South West CPD provision for artists; and the identification and application of relevant theoretical and critical approaches to place, space, language and momentum in order to consider CPD provision in relation to the articulation, situation and concept of a career. This thesis argues that the language of CPD can constrain as much as enable artists’ development; that the terms “mid-career” and “South West” are open to contestation and can affect provider conceptualisations of artists in the region; and that artists need professional development throughout their careers but may not name it as such. I advocate for policy and provision to understand artists’ need to be supported “throughout” their practices rather than at certain points in a career, and advocate walking as both a research method and as one of a number of facilitative practices for those who provide CPD with or for experienced artists. I also advocate for artist-led CPD initiatives and an administrative support agency for artists.

This study was an exploration of the professional identities of secondary school mid-career art educators through arts-based educational research [ABER]. The aim of this research was to gain understandings of mid-career art educators’ perceptions of their professional identities. Inspired by my personal experiences as an art educator, this study engaged other art educators to visualise their professional identities, as secondary mid-career art educators in England, and contribute new perspectives to the research community. Theoretically, this study is aligned with the writings of Dewey (1934, 1944), Deleuze and Guattari (1987, 1994). Deleuze and Guattari’s post-structural concept of the rhizome formed the basis for the development of the ideas associated with identity. As an assemblage, the rhizome is a complex system based on non-linear, reactionary growth patterns. The non-linear growth of the rhizome is facilitated by the activation of the in-between. As such, the rhizome connects to a view of identity as an unstable, flexible and fragmented entity that is in a constant state of becoming (Bauman, 2000). Dewey’s pragmatism was connected with Deleuzian post-structural theory through the writings of Semetsky (2006). Dewey (1944) and Greene’s (1973, 2003) writings associated with democratic education and artistic development connected these theoretical considerations with constructivism, the arts and education. Sachs’ (2003) writing on progressive and bureaucratic education provided a framework for the discussion of professionalism and professional identities. As a contribution to ABER this study was based on a/r/tography (Springgay et al., 2008) as a methodology and actively integrated image and text to the data collection and data analysis. Collage was used as the main arts-based method to develop responses from the participants and to visualise the participant data. This research asked mid-career art educators with busy lives and demanding occupations to consider who they are and express their views through art. These images of identities reflected the complex in-between-ness of professionalism in education.