Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-241)

Notions of Widening Participation to Higher Education are characterised by perceptions of an inherent "goodness" for (Western) democracy. This is based around a premise that predicates social justice upon access to education to ensure sufficient preparation for successful participation in the Knowledge Economy. This correlation between social justice, Higher Education and the Knowledge Economy can be identified as part of the neoliberal ideology that has underpinned political, economic and subsequent educational policies and practices with a rigorous promotion of the Free Market. This thesis examines Widening Participation as a mechanism through which neoliberal ideology has enabled the development of a market model of Higher Education. To understand this, a range of conceptual apparatus is utilised to reframe the common perceptions of what Widening Participation is and what purpose it has, by establishing Widening Participation as a critical part of the discourse relating to the commodification of Higher Education. The proposition of neoliberal Widening Participation is examined through the lens of Commodity Fetishisation (Marx), Educational Fundamentalism (Alvesson) and Stultification (Rancière). Together, these theories form a framework to understand the narratives surrounding the conceptualisation of Widening Participation within neoliberal ideology. These narratives are argued here to have cultivated expectations for a consumerist student population through the transformation of the perceived benefits of a traditional Higher Education into reified concepts of pedagogical practice. As such, Widening Participation is positioned here as a way in which the saturation of Higher Education was justified as social justice. This Widening Participation positions learners and teachers within a Higher Education that is part of a Debt Economy expressed as a Knowledge Economy. The result is a role for neoliberal Widening Participation in propagating pedagogical myths that Rancière describes as suppressing Intellectual Emancipation even when appearing to be facilitating it.

This study investigated how the parents of children in rural areas could be involved in classroom activities of the school which promote teaching and learning. The researcher is of the opinion that parents could become involved in several activities occurring at school which would provide opportunities for parents to be familiarised with the school, and at the same time, provide opportunities for the children to bond with their own families and the families of the other children. There are certain activities and responsibilities that parents can undertake which would assist teachers to accomplish the required goals of teaching and learning in the classroom. The study reviewed the literature on parental involvement in schools, creating an awareness of both the rights and the responsibilities of parents in their children¡¦s education and the vital role that they can play in decision-making. A qualitative research approach was utilised in this study and observation, one-on-one interviews and focus group interviews were used as instruments for data collection. The most important findings are as follows: Parents and teachers in rural areas lack knowledge about the importance of and need for parental involvement in classroom life. Parental involvement requires thoughtful and coordinated planning. Parental involvement could benefit all people concerned at school. Parental involvement increases the learners¡¦ achievement and ensures learners¡¦ co-operation. Teachers and parents need each other to educate a child. / Dr. M.C. van Loggerenberg

M.Ed.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Foundations of Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2002. / The issue of involving parents in education has been explored by several studies in the past with all pointing towards greater success than failures amongst learners whose parents work in partnership with educators. Parental involvement not only ensures maximum development of learner-motivation, but it also has an impact on the smooth running of the school. However, a gap still exists between parents and educators in black secondary schools in South Africa. This results in poor performance among matriculants in particular, and lack of commitment and responsibility among learners in general. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which parents and educators in black secondary schools work as partners in developing the culture of learning in learners. The results showed that most parents felt that they have a role to play in the education of their children. Yet they realized that they were not fully involved either due to inadequate financial and knowledge resources or trie schools did not fully involve them in their activities- This study is an ongoing attempt at making parents and educators realize the importance of partnership in the education of the child.

In his dialogues, Plato presents different ways in which to understand the relation between Forms and particulars. In the Symposium, we are presented with yet another, hitherto unidentified Form-particular relation: the relation is Love (Erôs), which binds together Form and particular in a generative manner, fulfilling all the metaphysical requirements of the individual’s qualification by participation. Love in relation to the beautiful motivates human action to desire for knowledge of the Form, resulting in the lover actively cultivating and bringing into being new beauty in the world, and in herself. Chapters 1 and 2 of this thesis offer a survey of the arguments and examples Plato puts forward in the text of the corpus regarding the nature of Forms and the nature of participation, alongside a framework of the traditional interpretations of these two Platonic concepts in the literature. Chapter 3 turns to a close examination of Erôs in the Symposium, arguing that the love Plato presents in this dialogue is of a different sort than appetitive emotion. It is an aesthetic and intellectual attraction, capable of stimulating cognitive achievement. Erôs, however, does not stop there. The lover is led not only to contemplation of beauty, but to the generation of beauty, which is the subject of Chapter 4. The emotive-turn-to-cognitive relation of Erôs, I argue, is the clearest picture Plato paints of how possession of properties can be explained through participation in Forms. Erôs leads the lover to produce beauty in the world and in the soul, which explains how love in relation to the beautiful can lead to becoming beautiful. The object of love is the generation of beauty, the mortal mechanism of participation in the Form by which the lover herself becomes beautiful. Finally, Chapter 5 focusses on beauty itself and its role in moral education. Beauty, for Plato, is required for creative generation and can be understood as a uniquely powerful virtue of soul.

Prof. J.C. Kok

The research presented in this PhD dissertation provides a socio-educational perspective on the participatory representation of identity in Greek Laographic Museums. Museums are seen as an extension of formal educational spaces through their educational activities and school partnerships or outreach programmes (Hooper-Greenhill, 2007). However, they are also mainly engaging in the process of interpreting the cultures and communities represented in their collection, thus, assigning them an identity, which they then present to the public (McLean, 2005, 2008). The public, in turn, interprets it through the lens of their own identities. A result of this process is the creation and sharing of new knowledge about identity through exhibition design (Jones, Sandweiss, Mouliou, & Orloff, 2012; McLean, 2006; Newman & McLean, 2006; O’Neill, 2006). This study adopts the stance that exhibition design is the primary way museums are fulfilling their educational role. It puts forward the idea that the involvement of community members in the founding of a museum about their local identity can result in a rich, polyphonous narrative and positively affect the bond and sense of ownership the community develops in relation to the museum and their locale. This is in line with literature predicting that in the context of multicultural societies and increased mobility, bringing people together through shared cultural elements of the location they have in common, can aid social cohesion and inclusion (Graham & Howard, 2008; Hague & Jenkins, 2005; Howard, 2003). As a theoretical starting point, this research was guided by the views of Hall (1997a,1992) on changing identities and the links between identity, culture, interpretation and narrative for being potentially more reflective of current museological practice that is starting to operate within a participatory paradigm. Designed as a case study around the founding of a new museum on a small Greek island, Astypalaia, it used participatory methods in a variety of ways to engage local residents in the process of collaboratively designing the exhibition narrative of this new space that would share the story of life on the island. To frame the main case study, this research also mapped the practices of laographic museums across Greece, in order to point out what a typical museum of that type looks like in this context and assess in what ways Astypalaia is in line or deviates from this. The results of this process were compared to the findings of the case study and linked to literature on participation, education, and identity construction in museums and communities. The following discussion argues that, while collaborative projects require structure, effort and skills in their facilitation, they have the potential to make a museum narrative more representative and inclusive and benefit their participants in multiple ways. By having access to the project from its conception until its final stages, this work aims to provide a holistic view of the challenges and possibilities of implementing a participatory approach in the founding of a new museum and to discuss the knowledge such a process generates.

Teacher leadership is a relatively new concept in the South African educational field, with a few studies recently conducted. As a school principal, I have long held the incontrovertible view that it is the innovative and committed leadership of all stakeholders, teachers in particular, that is required for school improvement. Collectively, the experience, qualification, skills and passion of teacher leaders forms the cornerstone for collegiality, partnership and wide-scale participation in transforming schools into centres of excellence. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1989. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Margaret Terry Orr. Dissertation Committee: Pearl R. Kane. Bibliography: leaves 149-153.