Collaboration between social services and private schools – an interview study with school staff   It is legislated that social services and schools should collaborate on issues concerning children in distress or at risk of being abused.  The purpose of this study was to from the perspectives of school personnel in private schools investigate the collaboration between these elementary private schools and social services and to highlight suggestions for improvement. We conducted seven interviews with staff from three different private schools. From the perspectives of the interviewees the results indicated that there was no actual collaboration. We have analyzed the results with the help of organization theory and situational leadership theory. The study shows that the interviewed staff from the private schools wish for better and faster collaboration with the social services regarding children in distress or at risk of being abused, in order to better be able to support the children at school. The suggestions for improvement are that the social services should have a routine to provide feedback on each received report regarding concern for children and that there should be a possibility to ease secrecy.     Keyword: Collaboration, consensus, private school, organizational structure, leadership / Det finns lagstadgat att socialtjänst och skola ska samverka i frågor gällande barn som far illa eller riskerar att fara. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur personal vid tre olika friskolor ser på samverkan mellan friskolor och socialtjänsten samt lyfta fram förslag till förbättringar. Vi genomförde sju kvalitativa intervjuer med personal från tre olika friskolor. Resultaten var till stor del entydiga om att det, från den intervjuade personalen på friskolornas perspektiv, inte existerar någon egentlig samverkan. Resultaten analyserades med hjälp av organisationsteori och situationell ledarskapsteori. Studien visar på att den intervjuade personalen vid de aktuella friskolorna önskar en bättre och snabbare samverkan med socialtjänsten kring barn som far illa eller riskerar att fara illa för att bättre kunna stötta barnet i skolan. De förslag på förbättringar som informanterna önskar är bland annat att socialtjänsten ska ha en rutin för att ge en återkoppling på varje inkommen orosanmälan samt att det ska finnas en möjlighet att lätta på sekretessen.   Nyckelord: Samverkan, samsyn, friskola, organisationsstruktur, ledarskap

The aim of this study was to explore and understand the kind of partnership that exists at secondary school level between government, Catholic Church, school administration and parents. And the way these parties perceive and assume their respective duties and responsibilities, and the relationships with one another in the new school decentralised dispensation. By 2000, Rwanda restructured the education system by initiating school decentralisation reforms and devolving more powers and responsibilities to districts, schools and community. The literature on education decentralization, state and non-government provider partnerships in education theories is reviewed to identify the main issues to investigate. This study relies on taped in-depth interviews with school committees‘ members, education officers as well as documents analysis. All this enabled the researcher to answer four research sub-questions: (1) how do school committees perceive and exercise their powers and responsibilities in contributing to school development?; (2) how do school committees and the school administration work together in contributing to school development?; (3) how do Catholic Church authorities contribute to the managerial and/or professional issues and school needs? and; (4) how do the government and the Catholic Church collaborate for school development? The study discovered that, despite the reluctance of school committees to be involved in school financial management, they were eager to be involved in schools governance and school development. They undertook activities aimed at raising school funds, volunteering in school activities requesting their expertise, contributing to some school decision making and attending successfully school meetings. Moreover, results have shown that the school committees and the school community (school principals, teachers and staff) manage to work together to face the challenges of lack of capacity. Even though the Catholic Church financial support to schools has been reduced, the Catholic Church contributes via its teaching to the mobilization of the community for school development, for charitable actions, and collecting funds from aid agencies. The study recommends that the government and Catholic Church continue to collaborate to build the governance capacity of the school committees, that school principals and teachers manage to create a welcoming school environment, that the department establish a system vi support that provides information about schools‘ academic and financial performance relative to other schools, closing the gap in the existing regulations and guidelines on the respective power and responsibilities pertaining to each of stakeholders in partnership for school development. The study recommends further studies on the implementation of school decentralization in remote rural schools; the impact of the socio-economic status of school committee members on their commitment to their children‘s school development; the factors underlying teacher‘s attitude towards their involvement in financial and administrative decision making; and a comparative research of similar non catholic and Catholic schools and how they implement differently school decentralization.

Esta tese de doutorado apresenta os resultados da investigação realizada com jovens estudantes do ensino médio em uma escola particular localizada no distrito do Jabaquara, no município de São Paulo. Seu foco foi especialmente direcionado para as disposições de gênero acionadas por jovens alunas em diferentes episódios que envolviam violências, tanto nos relatos sobre sua socialização na família quanto na escola em questão. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter exploratório, de natureza qualitativa que procura articular as contribuições de Pierre Bourdieu, no que se refere à teoria de habitus, com os estudos de gênero para a análise das violências vividas e produzidas na instituição escolar. A investigação empírica realizada na instituição escolar utilizou como técnicas para a coleta de dados observações e entrevistas individuais com alunas, alunos e representantes da gestão escolar. Foram consideradas, tanto nas observações quanto nos relatos, as distintas estratégias de sociabilidade utilizadas por garotas e garotos em relação às diversas expressões da violência, com destaque para a estreita relação entre as socializações e as disposições de gênero. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que as socializações na família e na escola (dentre outras agências socializadoras), são responsáveis pela incorporação das disposições de gênero utilizadas pelas/os jovens, tendo na traição um episódio típico tanto de reprodução de padrões tradicionais de gênero quanto de superação dos mesmos. No caso específico da escola particular pesquisada, os dados revelam que estas socializações encontram-se imbricadas ao modo pelo qual a gestão escolar intervém sobre a indisciplina e sobre os conflitos oriundos das relações escolares ou outros conflitos externos que nelas teriam influência. Como resultado, por fim, conclui-se que a combinação entre incorporação das disposições de gênero, estratégias para lidar com as violências e a prática propositiva e dialogada da gestão escolar, configura disposições de cultura que contribuem para a baixa frequência de conflitos físicos na escola. Mas estes recursos não são suficientes para superar a existência de outras expressões de violências no ambiente escolar ou da reprodução de padrões tradicionais de gênero, como as manifestadas no caso de traição analisado. / This doctoral dissertation presents the results of a research with young high school students in a private school located in Jabaquara district, in the city of São Paulo. It focuses specifically on gender dispositions enlisted by young female students in different situations involving violences, according to their accounts about their family and school socialization. This is an exploratory qualitative research that seeks to articulate Pierre Bourdieus theory ofhabitus with gender studies to analyze violences experienced in school and also the ones created by the school institution itself. As method for data collection, the empirical investigation carried out in a private school employed observations and individual interviews with male and female students, as well as members of the school administration. In both observations and interviews, different sociability strategies used by girls and boys regarding the numerous expressions of violence were considered, with focus on the close relationship between socializations and gender dispositions. The results show that family and school (among other socialization agents), are responsible for the incorporation of the gender dispositions utilized by young people. The cheating incident is a typical episode which reveals simultaneously the reproduction and the superation of traditional gender patterns. In the specific case of the investigated school, data show that these socialization processes are intertwined with the way the school administration intervenes on indiscipline and conflicts that emerge from school relations or other outside conflicts that might influence them. The conclusion is that the combination of incorporation of gender dispositions, strategies for dealing with violences and schools proactive dialogic practices has set up cultural dispositions that contribute to the low occurrence of physical conflicts in school. However, these resources are not efficient enough to inhibit other expressions of violences in the school environment or the reproduction of traditional gender norms, as expressed in the cheating case analyzed in this dissertation.

Les établissements scolaires publics reçoivent, pour la plupart, des directives de l’Etat pour assurer leur bon fonctionnement et leur pérennité. Pour les établissements scolaires privés (ESP), leurs actions se concentrent en général sur la qualité de l’enseignement et sur les aspects purement pédagogiques afin de se démarquer de leurs concurrents du secteur privé et du secteur public. Dans un environnement où toute organisation, qu’elle soit ou non à but lucratif, doit faire face à des défis économiques, technologiques, sociaux et de développement, la qualité de l’enseignement à elle seule ne suffit pas à développer les performances existantes des ESP.La thèse montre l’intérêt du Management Socio-économique pour donner un nouvel élan aux ESP, dont la performance managériale globale assurera le bon fonctionnement et la pérennité. / Public schools receive, for the most of them, state guidelines to ensure proper operation and sustainability. For private schools, their actions tend to focus on the quality of education and purely educational aspects to differentiate themselves from their competitors and the public sector. In an environment where any school organization, whether for-profit or not, is faced with economic, technological and social challenges, the quality of education alone does not seem to be sufficient to guarantee its proper functioning And its survival development.The importance of managing other aspects of the structure together with the pedagogical aspect is then obvious. Therefore, school manager must be good at managing social and economical aspects of their schools. Nowing that the quality of the management sets the level of the performance of the organisation, we propose to bring solutions that have proved themselves in other cultural contexts in order to professionalize school managersThis thesis shows the interest or the need to introduce socio-economic management (MSE) to give new impetus to private schools. In fact, improving the overall performance of a structure is an evidence of its good functioning, a guarantee of its durability. It will take a co-constructing, process with the actors, to shape a management model, that will fit the cultural and structural variables of private schools in Benin in order to guarantee their overall performance.

Over the last several decades, school choice – in the context of educational systems that are available to choose from as well as the reasons why parents choose what they do for their child – has become a topic of interest to both educational researchers and the public at large. The Seventh-day Adventist school system, like other faith-based institutions, is uniquely positioned in this subject, as it is an educational organization framed by a religious denomination. In addition to the typical factors such as academic standards, curricular offerings and peer influence, the issue of school choice within this context also involves complex layers of culture and religiosity and spirituality. Are parents able to disengage themselves from the trappings of those expectations and beliefs and objectively choose a school system for their child? Or are religious background and experience simply too embedded into one’s psyche – and, as an extension – one’s choices to ever fully disentangle that subtext from the decision-making process? This mixed-methods study sought to better understand the relationship between parental religiosity and school choice, specifically within the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. In order to assess the influence of Adventist culture, doctrinal commitment and general religiosity, a cultural domain had to first be established. Following the methodology as laid out in cultural consensus theory, free-listing and rank-ordering tasks were given to two separate, geographically representative samples from across the continental United States. Derived from those conversations, statements were then developed that captured characteristics and behavior of a member who adhered to traditional Seventh-day Adventist culture. Those statements were written into the survey instrument, alongside validated scales for general religiosity and Adventist doctrinal commitment. The population for this study targeted any Seventh-day Adventist member in America who had K-12 school-aged children. The survey was developed in SurveyMonkey and distributed through church communiqué (websites, bulletins, announcements, etc.), official administrative channels such as ministerial department newsletters and video announcements, and social media. Over 1,000 responses came in and the data was analyzed through SPSS, specifically examining patterns of school choice among those with high or low general religiosity, doctrinal commitment and Adventist culture. The results of the data analysis demonstrated clear and significant associations between several key variables and the dependent variable of school choice. Several variables, such as Adventist culture, doctrinal commitment and a parent’s own educational background, emerged as predictors for school choice when binary logistic regressions were conducted. Adventist culture proved to be a multi-factorial construct, interacting with other variables in different ways. The conclusions from this study point to several implications for K-12 Adventist education, particularly in the area of marketing to Adventist families and further research could certainly explore that more fully.

本研究旨在探討我國政府對私立大學校院獎補助政策之相關問題，期藉由本研究所獲得之結果提供政府規劃及執行私立大學校院獎補助制度之參考。 為達成此一目的，本研究採文獻分析及比較分析之方法蒐集相關文獻及各國政府統計資料，探討國內外大學教育發展過程中私立學校的發展定位，並分析由於大學教育環境的轉變對於私立大學校院發展定位所造成的影響，同時探討政府對於私立大學校院提供獎補助的基礎，進而以私立大學教育發展最具特色而分別代表不同典型的美國、英國及日本三個國家，分析其私立大學校院發展之現況以及其政府對私立大學校院獎補助之辦理情形與發展趨勢，藉此與我國私立大學校院發展之情形及政府獎補助狀況做比較分析。 根據本研究的結果有幾點重要的發現： 一、由於大學教育自由化及普及化的趨勢，私立學校在大學教育扮演的角色日益重要。 二、政府對私立學校所提供的獎補助方式及範圍，因各國不同的社會政治及教育環境背景而有所不同。但共同的趨勢則是逐漸重視教育機會的公平性、市場機能的發揮及獎補助的實質成效，並逐漸加重受益者對教育成本的分攤，及學校財務自主的責任而降低政府對教育成本分攤的比重。 三、我國政府對私立大學校院的政策，從早期的消極性監督管理逐漸轉變為積極性的輔導協助。近年來將私立大學校院的獎補助列為政府施政及調整教育資源分配的重點，對於私立大學校院的發展確實已經發揮一些具體的成效。 四、基本上，我國政府對私立大學校院的獎補助只偏重於資源分配的公平性考量，並未清楚釐清對私立大學獎補助的目的及功能及其相關之問題，對於學校的保障更甚於對學生的保障，對於大學教育的長遠發展及教育市場的自由化助益有限。 根據研究之結論，本研究以實務的觀點提出幾點建議，供政府相關部門規劃私立大學校院獎補助政策之參考。 一、政府應釐清對私立大學校院獎助與補助之目的。 二、在補助方面政府應更重視對學生直接的補助，而非對學校辦學的補助。 三、政府對學生提供之就學補助應配合學生的需求及能力，採取不同的標準及方式。 四、對私立大學校院之獎助應建立更公平客觀之評量依據。 五、政府應著力於營造有利公私立大學校院公平競爭的環境，並建立淘汰的機制，而非給予制度的保障。 六、私立大學應建立更多元自主的財源管道，政府則應在相關的制度上提供必要之協助。 七、大學運作應更透明化、公開化，以社會的監督取代政府的管制。 / The study was trying to analyze Taiwan government's granting policy to private colleges and universities. The results could provide a direction to the Government in making and implementing the granting policies. The study used the methods of secondary data analysis and comparison analysis to collect the related data and statistical data of other countries, and discussed the role of private colleges and universities in the higher education development in Taiwan and other countries, and the effects of the changes of environment of higher education to the role of private colleges and universities. The study also discussed the nature of government's granting to private colleges and universities, and analyzed the granting policies and developments of United States, Great Britain and Japan and then compared to Taiwan's granting policy. The findings of the study as the followings: 1. Due to the deregulating and universalization of higher education, the private colleges and universities play a more important role than it did. 2. Because of the difference of societies, politics and education environment, the granting methods and scopes are different from country to country. But there are some common trends such as emphasize equity of education opportunities, market mechanism, effectiveness of the granting, and decrease gradually government's education expenses to higher education. 3. Taiwan government's policy to private colleges and universities are changing from passive superintendence to positive guidance and assistance. The granting to private colleges and universities is now one of important policies of Taiwan government, and one of focal points of education resources allocation. 4. Basically, the granting of Taiwan government to private colleges and universities are focus on the equity of education resources allocation, but not its granting purposes and functions. The granting in Taiwan are little beneficence to students, the development of higher education and deregulating of education marker. According to the results, the researcher brought up following suggestions to Taiwan government in planning granting policy to private colleges and universities. 1. The Government should clarify the purposes of granting to private colleges and universities. 2. The Government should grant directly to students but not the schools. 3. The Government should formulate several granting standards and methods according to the needs and abilities of different students. 4. In the granting to private colleges and universities, the Government should establish an equitable measure of granting. 5. The Government should establish an equitable competitive environment to private colleges and universities, and established an elimination mechanism but not a protection system. 6. The private colleges and universities should find themselves more funding sources. The Government should provide necessary assistance in funding system. 7. The operations of colleges and universities should be more transparent and public, and use the superintendent of society instead of government's control.

ABSTRACT THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PARENTS OF MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS AT A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE ELITE PRIVATE SCHOOL by Debra Elaine Smith Parental involvement has been associated positively with school success across ethnic groups (Hong & Ho, 2005). Yet, some African American parents were found to be more alienated from school than were White parents (Abrams & Gibbs, 2002). One of the most consistent findings in educational research is the underachievement of African American males (Lee, 2003), and a recent report chronicled the pervasive and systematic failure of public schools to educate African American males (Schott, 2008). In the southeastern region, only 40% of African American males graduate from high school (Schott); however, in the post-Civil Rights era, advances in racial equity in education and other arenas of society have created a growing African American middle class (McKinnon, 2003). The southeast region has the largest percent of affluent African Americans (Miller, 2002), and a growing number of these upper middle class African American parents are sending their children to private schools because they are dissatisfied with the lack of rigor in the public school experience (Freedman,2004). This is a new phenomenon that warrants study. Currently, there are no empirical studies on middle class African American parents who send their children to private schools. The purpose of this study was to explore the ways 12 African American couples of middle school boys experience a predominantly White elite private school. To undertake this qualitative investigation, a phenomenological approach incorporating grounded theory was utilized. This research approach is well suited for exploratory investigation of phenomena that are not yet clearly defined within the literature (Creswell, 1998). Data were collected from the couple interviews, focus group, demographic information, and reflexive journal. Five overarching themes emerged from the analysis of the data: better opportunity/brand, parental connection, selective engagement, parental struggle, and parental marginalization. These results are informative and significant to research and practice. Ultimately, it is hoped that this study may contribute to the efforts of providing a quality education to African American male students and satisfaction to their parents in the areas of diversity and inclusion at predominantly White elite private schools.

When the independent upper secondary schools were started in 1992, it meant a change in the competitive relationship for the local upper secondary schools. A reduced number of students during some years ahead, while the number of independent upper secondary schools increase will probably result in tougher competition between upper secondary schools. The purpose of this study is to review and compare financial and performance management between a public and an independent upper secondary school. The dissertation will focus on the now existing competitive relationship between the two types of upper secondary schools. The theory underlying the study is Porter's model - five competitive forces. The model is applied to the local upper secondary school and used to identify competitive factors affecting upper secondary schools. The study is using a qualitative approach with five interviews at two upper secondary schools, one independent and one public, located in the same town. The comparison of financial and operational management of upper secondary schools indicate that the differences are not as great as we first imagined, but that there still are some differences. Our results show that Porter's model is not adequate to describe the competitive factors affecting upper secondary schools. The results of the factors that in addition to Porter's original model affects the competitive relationship is presented in a separate model and includes factors such as public upper secondary schools, free search, advertising / bait, programming, re-election, reputation, internal competition, independent upper secondary schools, location, teacher quality, peer pressure, number of pupils and students. It is therefore concluded that Porter's model is not comprehensive enough to be able to describe and analyze the two cases included in this study.   Keywords: performance management, private school, public school, finance, competition / När de fristående gymnasieskolorna 1992 startades innebar det en förändring i konkurrensförhållandet med de kommunala gymnasieskolorna. Ett minskat elevantal i några år framöver samt att de fristående gymnasieskolorna blir fler kommer leda till en hårdare konkurrens mellan gymnasieskolorna. Syftet med uppsatsen är att granska och jämföra ekonomi- och verksamhetsstyrning mellan en kommunal och en fristående gymnasieskola. Uppsatsen riktar sig mot det numera rådande konkurrensförhållandet mellan kommunala och fristående gymnasieskolor. Teorin som ligger till grund för uppsatsen är Porters modell - branschkonkurrensens drivkrafter. Modellen appliceras på den kommunala gymnasieskolan och används för att urskilja konkurrensfaktorer som påverkar gymnasieskolorna. Uppsatsen bygger på en kvalitativ ansats med fem intervjutillfällen på två gymnasieskolor, en fristående och en kommunal belägna i samma kommun. Jämförelsen av ekonomi- och verksamhetsstyrningen på gymnasieskolorna tyder på att skillnaderna inte är så stora som vi föreställt oss, men att det ändå förekommer skillnader. Resultaten visar att Porters modell inte är tillräcklig för att beskriva de konkurrensfaktorer som påverkar gymnasieskolorna. Resultaten av de faktorer som utöver Porters originalmodell påverkar konkurrensförhållandet presenteras i en egen modell och inkluderar faktorer som kommunala gymnasieskolor, fritt sök, marknadsföring/lockbete, programutbud, omval, rykte, intern konkurrens, fristående gymnasieskolor, geografiskt läge, lärare, kvalitet, grupptryck, elevantal och studenter. Slutsatsen är därför att då Porters modell inte är heltäckande går den inte att applicera på Väggaskolan och John Bauer som en konkurrensmodell. De faktorer som vi framarbetat kan ligga till grund för gymnasieskolornas arbete för att bemöta konkurrensen på bästa sätt.   Keywords: performance management, private school, public school, finance, competition

This paper aims to give an insight into how venture capital work with their investments in the school sector. The purpose of the paper is to examine their work, regarding to goals of the company and the process of controlling the goals.  The study also aims to determine the way the companies work with value growth. This study uses a qualitative research method, where the theories license to operate, the relationship value management framework, agency-principal and new public management theory is tested in relation to the collected data. Eleven persons were interviewed in this paper. This paper also aims to give an overview to venture capital in the school sector, where it will examine whether financial goals could collide with social goals. What the study can tell is that venture capital does not have a license to operate in this sector, according to the theory. The collision of financial goals and social goals can cause a problem, but an all-around answer can’t be given. What leads to mismanagement is not a question regarding the structure of the ownership but rather about unserious owners, which can come in different forms, not just venture capital. The companies included in this paper do not work with the operational work, they delegate that work to the schools. They act as active owners through strategic directions and decisions for the schools. The companies included in this paper work with long-term aims even though they act as owners in short-term.

Early adolescent girls in a private school setting are in a vulnerable state on account of their gender, transitional developmental phase and a combined array of modern-day expectations and challenges. With many private schools expecting a 100% pass rate from their students, issues of competitiveness and achievement pressure may become prevalent. Research has shown that early adolescent girls are more susceptible to psychosocial problems than boys as well as girls of other ages, putting them more at risk of the effects of performance pressure, academic stress, depression and anxiety. Early adolescent girls’ vulnerability due to the impact that puberty has on their self-esteem as well as the fact that they are easily influenced by the opinions of others, causing them to be highly sensitive to the approval of others, may be compounded by pressures of the private school. The purpose and aim of this study was therefore to explore and describe the lived experiences of early adolescent girls in a private school setting so as to gain a deeper understanding of such experiences. In following this it was hoped that the study would offer the girls a ‘voice’ as well as create awareness of how they can be better supported in terms of their psychosocial development and well-being. The study was not viewed from one specific theoretical perspective but rather took into consideration various theories of development while undertaking the literature review, in order to gain a broader orientation of the subject at hand. The current literature with regard to the key concepts of the study formed part of the overview of the study. A qualitative approach was followed so as to understand the unique, true meaning of the girls’ experiences. A case study design allowed for a holistic, in-depth study of the social phenomenon at hand. The participants were ten early adolescent girls in Grade 7 in a private school in Northern Johannesburg who volunteered to take part in the study with the informed consent of their parents. The data obtained were viewed in line with an interpretive descriptive paradigm, which allowed the phenomenon to be studied through a ‘subjective lens’ while allowing for the formation of various realities. A deeper understanding of such realities in terms of the girls’ interpretations of their lived experiences was obtained through the data collection methods of semi-structured in-depth interviews, collages, confidential letters, journal Psychosocial experiences of early adolescent girls in a private school setting entries, field notes and researcher reflective notes. In combination with the researcher’s interpretation, this led to a richer, co-constructed, description of the girls’ experiences. The interpretive description allowed for the emergence of thematic patterns which revealed the findings of the study. The findings confirm that the girls are experiencing pressure to attain and maintain the high standard of the school. The findings further confirm that such pressures are increased by the early adolescent girls’ vulnerable developmental phase which places them in need of greater positive support from teachers, peers and parents to maintain healthy psychosocial development. The findings show that perceived rejection from peers and teachers has a negative effect on the girls’ self-concept. The findings further reveal that in considering the girls’ well-being they should be given a voice and be respected in their authentic uniqueness. Recommendations were made for the school to investigate the establishment of ‘mindfulness workshops’ to be run at the school, with the outcome that parents, teachers and students further develop skills in ways of supporting the girls’ healthy psychosocial development. / Thesis (MA (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.