The aim of this research was to determine the role of the school principal in fostering the creativity and innovativeness of educators. This aim was explored by: determining the nature of creativity and innovativeness; determining the role of the principal in fostering the creativity and innovativeness of educators at schools; and investigating how the creativity and innovativeness of educators is currently fostered at schools. The literature survey on the nature of creativity and innovativeness revealed creativity as the generation of novel and useful ideas and the ability to combine them in a unique way, while innovativeness is the ability to be innovative, i.e. to implement creative outcomes to benefit an organisation or the practical application of ideas towards the organisation's objectives. Creativity and innovativeness can thus be fostered by creating a stimulating work environment that advocates enriched jobs and supporting management practices, an organisational culture that supports innovativeness and an environment that provides adequate resources. Therefore, creativity and innovativeness are a function of an organisational climate that promotes nine dimensions, namely, challenge and involvement, freedom, trust and openness, idea time, idea support, debate, risk-taking, conflict management and humour and playfulness. The empirical survey found that school-organisational climates generally foster educators' creativity and innovativeness in terms of the dimension thereof.-How it was found that some dimensions enjoy more prevalence at schools than others. It was also found that some aspects of these dimensions were inconsistent with the general finding that schools portray climates conducive to educators' creativity and innovativeness. For instance, the involvement of educators in vision review as a way of setting standards or as a pace-setter for performance, and educators having to seek permission before implementing their creative ideas were seen as not fostering creativity and innovativeness at schools. Although there were statistical differences in responses between principals and educators on all creativity and innovativeness dimensions, it was found that these were of no practical significance and thus could be attributed to chance or coincidence. This study therefore recommends that principals should adopt a holistic approach to school organisational creativity and innovativeness. In this way, all the dimensions will be fostered, thus creating school organizational climates that engender the creativity and innovativeness of all educators and focusing on all aspects of their work. Principals should also receive capacity building exercises, initiated both at school and at departmental levels. These exercises should focus on staff development that relates creativity and innovativeness to the achievement of teaching and learning outcomes. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

This thesis considers the extent to which tax and transfer policies in South Africa support children between 2000 and 2008. The analyses are carried out using a four-dimensional analytical framework which separates the dimensions of welfare ideology, policy aims, policy instruments and welfare outcomes. This approach is adopted in recognition of the fact that the extent to which tax and transfer policies support children is seen to vary according to the dimension of analysis. The analysis of welfare ideology, policy aims and policy instruments is undertaken by considering key legislative texts, including the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution, budget speeches and policy documents. Welfare outcomes are analysed at the individual and household level using microsimulation modelling. A microsimulation model for South Africa, SAMOD, is developed specifically for these analyses. The findings of this thesis add conceptual and empirical understanding to the impact of tax and transfer policies on children. Children are found to be supported by policy to some extent, and have been prioritised in reforms to social assistance. However, recent reforms to tax policy have not benefited children and the analyses indicate that child poverty rates in South Africa could be lower than they are at present had the government pursued alternative policy reforms. The construction of the microsimulation model SAMOD is a valuable tool to facilitate future policy evaluation in South Africa. Further development of SAMOD is recommended to continue to progress and enhance debates on policy reforms. In addition, this thesis highlights some key areas for future research including developing further understanding of the patterns of inter and intra-household income allocation and the impact that this may have on poverty measures for different groups.

The Kindertransport brought close to 10,000 unaccompanied minors to Britain on a trans-migrant basis between 1938 and 1939. The outbreak of war turned this short-term initiative into a longer-term episode. This PhD is a study of Scotland’s Kindertransport story and an evaluation of the Kindertransportees’ experiences of reception, care and nurture between 1938 and 1945. It also considers the wider implications of the Kindertransport upon the Kindertransportees’ broader life stories after 1945, namely further migration and resettlement. This thesis will unite a number of disparate areas of research, including British philanthropy and welfare, Anglo/Scottish Jewry, Zionism and migrant/refugee studies. It will be shown that Scotland’s reception of the Kindertransportees was highly varied and marked by many different agendas. These were fundamentally responsive to British interests. Growing up in Scotland exposed the Kindertransportees to a variety of different types of care. These were strongly tied to their Scottish context and mirror experiences of the Scottish child in care. Kindertransportees’ nurture invited important changes in their connection to Judaism. Nonetheless, an epitaph to a lost Jewish generation is inappropriate. Zionism emerges as an important Jewish connection. Nevertheless, Kindertransportees did not en-masse adopt Zionist goals or make Aliyah. Yet, at the same time, they did not usually remain in Scotland. Resettlement patterns show that there was a mass exodus of Kindertransportees across the Scottish borders. However, these Kindertransportees still exhibit a connection to Scotland as well as to Scottish communities in the diaspora. They express a profound fondness to all things imagined to be Scottish.

Background: Behaviour difficulties are one of the commonest problems for which parents seek professional advice. Behaviour difficulties in early childhood are associated with poorer educational and social outcomes in later life (Loeber & Dishion, 1983). The importance of early intervention and preventative work to support behaviour difficulties has been stressed in the literature and is a priority in the government’s strategy for promoting positive outcomes for children. It is now generally accepted that parenting programmes (PPs) are an effective mechanism for supporting children with behaviour difficulties. A review of the literature suggests that while there are numerous evaluations of PPs there is limited evidence of PPs that are successful outside of a clinic setting and even less evidence on particular aspects of PPs and how parents view them. Aims: The main aim of this research was to explore a community based PP (the Holding Hands Group Programme (HHGP)) in terms of both its outcomes and the perceptions of the parents involved. The aim of paper one was to investigate whether families who undergo the HHGP, notice any improvement in child behaviour, parental stress and parental confidence. A second aim was to compare the HHGP to the previously evaluated Holding Hands Individual Programme (HHIP). The aim of paper two was to examine the process elements of the Holding Hands Group Programme (HHGP), seeking new insights and a detailed descriptive portrayal of how parents experience the HHGP. Methods: The study utilised a pragmatic approach to evaluation, with mixed methods and differing methodologies. Paper 1 involved a fixed quasi-experimental design using a pre-test, post-test single group evaluation. Outcome data was gathered from 34 parental responses to a range of psychometric measures completed on each of three occasions. Paper 2 involved semi-structured interviews being carried out with 15 parents prior to, and on completion of, the HHGP. The interviews focused on parent’s experiences of the programme and what they liked/disliked. Results: Paper 1: At the start of the HHGP parents typically reported high levels of intensity of behaviour, behaviour that was a problem and stress levels. They also reported low levels of parental confidence. By the end of the HHGP parents reported significantly increased confidence and significantly reduced stress, intensity of behaviour and behaviour that was problem. These positive results were maintained beyond the end of the programme as indicated at follow-up meetings. The findings indicate that the HHGP was effective for all identified subgroups of the sample. These findings broadly mirror the findings of the evaluation of the HHIP, although results do show some significant differences between the HHIP and the HHGP. Paper 2: The interviews conducted with fifteen parents were analysed using a rigorous approach to thematic analysis to identify emerging themes. Six themes were identified from parental accounts: support, new knowledge, reconstructing, awareness, changes and interactions. Alongside these themes was a practical element about ‘what worked’. Prior to the HHGP parents gave detailed descriptions about the difficulties that they were experiencing with their child, were able to identify what they wanted to achieve through the group and seemed able to predict what might be useful to them. After the sessions parents discussed what they had gained from taking part and were able to give suggestions for what had caused any changes. Extensions and Implications: On methodological grounds it would be desirable to undertake further work with either a control group, or baseline wait list. A further extension would be to use a longer follow up period or to contact the current participants to see how this cohort is coping when they start school. This study relied on self report data, therefore future work could consider the use of videoing interactions. It would also be useful to extend the interview process to include the follow up period. The results of this study imply that PPs can be delivered effectively to groups in non-clinic settings, and this suggests a route to more cost-effective delivery of PPs. However, as the results indicate that the HHGP was not successful for all, it reminds us that practitioners need to be vigilant in attempting to identify those families that are not helped and flexible in trying to assist them in other ways - perhaps via booster sessions or through the use of self-guided written materials.

Problématique : Les hôpitaux de jour psychiatriques sont parmi les types de services intensifs et ambulatoires en santé mentale qui connaissent un essor significatif mais dont on ne connaît pas clairement les effets. Objectifs. L'objectif général de la présente étude visait à comparer les effets d'un hôpital de jour psychiatrique pour personnes adultes et âgées à ceux de l'hospitalisation, sur les symptômes, la participation sociale, l'estime de soi, de même que la satisfaction face aux services, la consommation de services sociosanitaires et leurs coûts associés. Méthodologie. L'hôpital de jour psychiatrique évalué était celui de l'Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine. Un dispositif quasi expérimental a été utilisé. Le groupe expérimental était composé des usagers de l'hôpital de jour ciblé. Le groupe de comparaison incluait des personnes qui ont consulté l'urgence psychiatrique du même établissement, qui ont été hospitalisées et qui étaient cliniquement comparables au groupe expérimental. Les deux groupes ont été divisés selon leur catégorie diagnostique principale : troubles psychotiques; troubles de l'humeur et anxieux; troubles de la personnalité du groupe B. En plus des caractéristiques sociodémographiques, les variables cliniques et fonctionnelles évaluées étaient la symptomatologie, l'estime de soi et la participation sociale. Dans les deux groupes, les données ont été colligées à trois moments: T1: première semaine suivant le début de l'intervention index (hôpital de jour, hospitalisation); T2: entre cinq et huit semaines plus tard et T3: six mois suivant le T2. Un questionnaire sur la satisfaction face aux services fut administré à T2. Afin de comprendre plus en profondeur l'impact de l'hôpital de jour dans le temps, des entrevues individuelles ont été réalisées à T3 avec 18 participants du groupe expérimental. Par ailleurs, concernant le volet économique, une analyse de la consommation des services sociosanitaires dans les six mois précédant et suivant les deux interventions index et les coûts associés à ces services a été effectuée. Résultats. Entre les T1 et T2, le degré d'amélioration était significativement plus important dans le groupe hôpital de jour en ce qui concerne la gravité des symptômes, l'estime de soi, la réalisation et la satisfaction de la participation sociale. Entre les T2 et T3, aucune différence dans le degré de changement entre les deux groupes n'a été trouvée. Les participants de l'hôpital de jour étaient significativement plus satisfaits de plusieurs dimensions des services reçus. Lorsque les trois clientèles cliniques traitées à l'hôpital de jour ont été comparées, le degré d'amélioration durant le suivi à l'hôpital de jour était significativement moins important chez les personnes avec des troubles psychotiques que dans les deux autres groupes par rapport à la gravité des symptômes, la détresse et l'estime de soi. À la suite du congé, le degré de changement était comparable entre les trois groupes. Sur le plan qualitatif, au T3, les participants aux entretiens ont exprimé que l'expérience à l'hôpital de jour a été particulièrement aidante pour améliorer les symptômes et la relation à soi et a permis d'amorcer un processus de transformation personnelle qui s'est poursuivi par la suite. La terminaison a créé chez plusieurs participants un vide abrupte. Les enjeux durant les premiers six mois après le congé sont la continuité de soins, le soutien social et la mise en pratique des apprentissages faits à l'hôpital de jour. Les analyses de consommation de services ont démontré qu'il n'y avait pas de différence entre les deux groupes six mois avant l'intervention index. Six mois suivant le congé des interventions index, le nombre de personnes réhospitalisées était significativement plus élevé dans le groupe hospitalisation. La comparaison des coûts totaux moyens des services consommés six mois avant et six mois après l'intervention index a démontré une réduction de coûts de 38 % pour le groupe hôpital de jour et de 7 % pour le groupe hospitalisation. Conclusions. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que l'hôpital de jour est une alternative à l'hospitalisation efficace cliniquement et économiquement pour des personnes adultes et âgées présentant divers troubles mentaux aigus. Malgré le fait que la très grande majorité des participants de l'hôpital de jour consomment des services de santé mentale après leur suivi, selon l'expérience décrite par les participants, la transition vers les services en externe est difficile pour plusieurs et devrait faire partie de réflexions futures dans l'organisation des services des hôpitaux de jour psychiatriques.

La présente recherche, qui porte sur la perception d'enseignants au sujet des enjeux de l'intégration du développement d'une pensée critique dans le contexte de programmes d'éducation relative à l'environnement (ERE) tente : a) de comprendre, la conception qu'ont les enseignants de la pensée critique en ERE; b) d'identifier, les moyens utilisés par les enseignants pour favoriser le développement d'une pensée critique chez les élèves dans le contexte de programmes d'ERE ; c) de discerner, les obstacles et leviers perçus par les enseignants relativement à l'intégration de stratégies visant le développement de la pensée critique d'élèves dans le contexte de programmes d'ERE. Le mémoire est composé de cinq sections : 1) la problématique 2) le cadre conceptuel 3) la méthodologie 4) la présentation et l'analyse des résultats 5) la discussion. La section portant sur la problématique soulève d'abord ce qui peut poser problème dans notre société de consommation et les conséquences sur la détérioration de l'environnement. Nous poursuivons avec des éléments de définition et de problémation sur l'importance d'éduquer à la citoyenneté et l'environnement. À partir de là nous présentons le construit d'une citoyenneté environnementale plus particulièrement avec sa troisième composante, l'exercice d'une pensée critique, que nous jugeons pertinent d'intégrer dans un contexte de programmes d'ERE. Les concepts qui constituent notre choix, éclairent la problématique. Le premier concept est celui de la citoyenneté environnementale de Boutet (2000), celui-ci a l'avantage de définir l'ERE de façon plus didactique en identifiant des objets d'apprentissage. Le deuxième concept a été développé par Gagnon (2008), qui a identifié des composantes rendant possible l'élaboration d'une définition opérationnelle de la pensée critique en éducation. La section méthodologique expose la démarche permettant l'atteinte des objectifs de recherche en présentant d'abord les huit enseignants qui ont participé à la recherche en ERE, quatre du Projet Groupe d'Aide pour la Recherche et l'Aménagement de la Faune (GARAF), trois du projet Recherche-Action pour la résolution de problème (RA : RPC) et un enseignant d'une [i.e. d'un] établissement vert Brundtland. La méthode de collecte de données consistait à faire des entrevues semi-dirigées auprès des enseignants. La section de présentation et d'analyse des résultats permet de décrire la conception qu'ont les enseignants de la pensée critique et comment elle peut être mobilisée dans le contexte de programmes d'ERE auprès de leurs élèves. La discussion qui suit permet enfin d'identifier des moyens pour améliorer la formation des enseignants afin que leurs interventions favorisent le développement de la pensée critique de leurs élèves et, en conséquence, la formation de citoyens et de citoyennes plus critiques.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

M.Ed. / South Africa has in the last 16 years experienced rapid changes in various spheres including the political, social and economic spheres. Changes in education and training provisions were considered to be fundamental to the process of socio-economic transformation. As a result, in 1994 the newly elected democratic government was mandated to develop a comprehensive education and training system that is responsive to the needs of the country and its citizens. The National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) was then introduced as a vital strategy for addressing the endemic poverty, dire national skills shortage, chronic unemployment rate, and shockingly poor education levels. Learnerships were conceptualized as the flagship of skills development initiatives and an important vehicle for addressing the above stated social ills. The literature review revealed the learnership as a uniquely South African corporate training programme grounded on internationally acclaimed principles of work-based learning. Learnerships were hyped as specialized skills development programmes aimed at assisting new entrants into employment, providing access to new forms of income generation, thus improving the quality of life of the poor. The aim of this study was to investigate learners’ views regarding the role and success of learnerships organized by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. It also seeks to determine whether the learners’ views and expectations are compatible with the concept of learnerships. An inductive-qualitative approach was followed. Purposive sampling method was used in order to select twelve learners whose information was rich in content. Data was collected using one-on-one semi-structured interviews with learners enrolled for different learnership programmes.Categorical analysis was employed; by organizing data into workable units, while looking for codes, categories and themes. The study revealed that learners were generally satisfied with the learnership programme, as they indicated that the training met and even exceeded their expectations. However, judging from the literature review and data analysis it was clear that during the conceptualization of learnerships, learners’ views were never sought. Learners seem to have accepted the pre-packed competency based training as a norm. They uncritically expect the employer-determined curriculum to somehow cater for their personal needs and aspirations

This thesis is a study of how community participation is understood, enacted, produced and governed in the context of an organization that promotes community participation. The contribution of this thesis is to shed light on the frequently found gap between the expectations and the reality of community participation. In examining how community participation is promoted, the thesis focuses in particular on actors such as community leaders and development workers, and the interactions between them. The thesis applies a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework, which is built through combining theoretical approaches that include discourse analysis, institutional analysis, and the actor-oriented approach. The framework accommodates the examination of the roles of various types of social factors in shaping the workings of community participation. These include the idea of community, social relations in communities, and the agency of actors who are promoting the approach. This thesis conducts a case study of the Council of Community Organisations (CCO) programme in Thailand, which is a large-scale promotion of community participation in development and governance. The case study examines the operation of the programme from national to local level, and explores several localities where the programme is being implemented. The exploration of the CCO programme illuminates pathways through which the approach’s inner mechanisms can constrain it from fulfilling the expectations. The thesis identifies how the idea of community, through its association with the sense of collective identity, tends to distort community participation from achieving empowerment. Moreover, the social relations in communities, generally characterised by inequality and diversity of interests, frequently constrain the approach from achieving effective mobilisation of collective action. Such a constraint is often accentuated by adverse incentives that community leaders face when they become part of development interventions. Finally, it is found that the deficiencies of community participation are likely to persist. This is because the actors who are promoting the approach usually manoeuvre to gain advantages from their roles in ways that reinforce the influence of the aforementioned factors.

<b>Background</b>: In order to protect the poor from health shocks, the Government of India launched Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) in 2008. The objectives of this study are: a) to assess the changes in the financial burden of health care on the poor population; b) to estimate the effects of RSBY in reducing the financial burden on the poor; and c) to examine the impact of RSBY on the labour supply of the poor. <b>Methods</b>: The study is based on data from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The sample size is between 100-125 thousand households at the all-India level. The study uses pooled cross-section regression analysis to assess the changing pattern of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments on healthcare. The impact of RSBY on financial risk protection and labour force participation rate in India were estimated using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. <b>Findings</b>: My thesis consists of three papers. The findings in the first paper, changing pattern of out-of-pocket payments, reflect that the poorest 20% of households, compared to the richest 20%, realised a slower increase in out-of-pocket as a share of the household’s total expenditure (-0.5%) and catastrophic payments (-2%) during the period of 2000-2012. However, during the same period, Scheduled caste/tribe and Muslim households reported an increased burden of out-of-pocket. The second paper finds reduction in the probability of incurring ‘any inpatient expenditure’ and ‘catastrophic inpatient expenditure’ after RSBY intervention but marginal increase in the ‘per person monthly inpatient expenditure’ and insignificant change in ‘inpatient expenditure as a share of households’ total expenditure’. The effects of the scheme on the total out-of-pocket payment are negligible and non-drug expenditure reflected significant increase. The third paper finds that women’s labour supply increased (3% per annum) but the elderly labour supply declined (1.5%). Further, men switched from self-employment to casual work while women moved to wage-paid regular and casual jobs at the cost of being self-employed. <b>Discussion and conclusion</b>: The poor and other less advantaged population groups realised an increasing OOP burden mainly on account of two factors: i) outpatient care is not covered under RSBY; and ii) the benefit package under the scheme is very modest. Women’s labour supply increased and the elderly labour supply declined in favour of leisure because of possible improvements in health. However, the overall labour supply did not change. The Indian government needs to consider broadening the benefit package and including outpatient coverage under RSBY.