This thesis explores the impact of the centralization of bargaining in Ontario’s education sector on the internal democracy of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), the province’s second-largest teacher union and self-described defender of public education. Using multiple theoretical lenses of union democracy, public sector unionism, labour geography and teacher professionalism, this thesis examines OSSTF’s history and the evolution of its internal processes and structures, with a focus on the union’s response to the gradual shift to a centralized bargaining regime. Initially formed in 1919 as a conservative organization committed to raising the professional status of teachers, OSSTF expanded into a union that represents both teachers and support staff, bargaining contracts for members with local employers. Positioned within a public sector context of austerity and neoliberal governments looking to contain the costs of public education, OSSTF found itself subjected to legislation intended to upscale education funding and bargaining, beginning in the late 1990s. This thesis finds that the external context of centralization of bargaining has been the most important factor in shaping the internal democratic life of OSSTF, shifting scales of power from the local to the provincial level of the union, exacerbating tensions between provincial and local actors, increasing the overall bureaucracy of the organization, and reducing democratic participation by the rank-and-file. These findings lead to the greater question of whether these internal changes have enhanced or limited the ability of OSSTF to effectively further their members’ interests and resist the neoliberalization of the school system, with a view to considering the role of teacher unions within the future of public education in Ontario. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This case study explores the impact of the centralization of bargaining in Ontario’s education sector on the internal processes of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), a union representing 60,000 teachers and education workers in Ontario. It includes an examination of the union’s history, its responses to legislative changes in contract negotiations, an analysis of internal union documents, and semi-structured interviews with key informants. The data and analysis reveal a more bureaucratized union, with members having less ability to direct it actions. This study considers whether a more bureaucratized union can be effective in its defense of public education.

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This qualitative, exploratory study uses an interpretive case study design to elucidate key factors influencing the attitudes and behaviors of older adults with regard to public education funding in the context of rapid demographic change. The research was conducted in three first-ring suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the older population is predominately White, and students in the districts come from diverse racial backgrounds. The study examines how social networks and physical environment relate to older people’s attitudes and behaviors with respect to public education funding. Current literature about older adults in neighborhoods focuses primarily on them as recipients of service. In contrast, this study examines older people as political actors and provides a robust and nuanced discussion about how they themselves frame issues of school funding. The project makes a timely contribution to research on the relationship between the growing racial generation divide and support for public education among older adults. It also provides strategy recommendations designed to increase older people’s support for public education funding. / Urban Studies

The issue of public education has long been studied and continues to stymie communities as they diligently attempt to create effective educational opportunities. This Afrocentric study aims to help students, parents, educators, advocates, legislators and everyone concerned about the future of public education to think differently about how it is funded. This work essentially is an Afrocentric legal analysis of the law that governs the funding of K-12 public education in Pennsylvania. Employing an Afrocentric methodology, this study examines the racial significance of Pennsylvania's K-12 public education funding scheme. Specifically, it examines the extent to which, although race neutral on its face, the funding scheme employs other proxies for racism that reduce African agency and perpetuate the oppression of African Americans. Because Philadelphia is the state's largest predominantly African-American school district, it is a useful case study for examining the racial significance of the funding scheme. / African American Studies

No / The central concern of this article is to advocate an inclusive and pluralistic notion of a public sphere similar to those advocated by feminist writers such as Iris Marion Young and Nancy Fraser. These ideas complement the plethora of initiatives from statutory and voluntary agencies to take on board the participation and voices of children and young people. This reflects a movement away from simplistic top¿down governance through the State towards a co-production of governance through partnerships and community involvement. However, children's participation in this public sphere is constrained through the inhibition of children's voices. These inhibitions, it is argued, pervade the private and intermediary as well as public spheres of children's lives. Thus it is unrealistic to expect children to adjust to an undifferentiated and often hostile public arena.

This thesis examines trends in the socio-economic well-being in rural counties where Blacks represent one-third or more of the population. In addition, this thesis also examines the impact that college education has on the economic development of these counties, with particular focus on the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The thesis is composed of two papers: "Education and Socioeconomic Wellbeing in Racially Diverse Rural Counties", and "Economic Growth in Racially Diverse Rural Counties: The Contribution of Historically Black Colleges and Universities." The first of the two papers provides a descriptive review of the racially diverse rural counties (RDRCs) which are located exclusively in the rural south and generally have very low levels of economic well-being. On a positive note, college education levels in RDRCs are found to have increased rapidly between 1990 and 2000. County-level, regression analysis suggests that these increases were in part due to the concentration of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the region. Local investments in K__12 education are also found to be linked to county education levels. The second paper uses county subdivision level regression analysis, and finds that proximity to HBCUs influences college education amongst Blacks in RDRCs positively. Further county subdivision-level regression analysis suggests that the rate of college education attainment in these counties amongst Blacks and the general population has a significant positive impact upon income growth in RDRCs. / Master of Science

Since the 1990’s the Swedish school system has undergone major and recurring structural reforms. Two of the most comprehensive changes has been the shift of primary schools as an integral part of the welfare state to the responsibility of the municipalities as well as the introduction of free school choice for the students. Through two months of participant observations and semi-structured interviews this thesis seeks to answer the question of how these reforms has come to effect the work of teachers in a medium sized public school in a small municipality in the outskirts of Stockholm. Earlier research has shown that public schools in socio-economically vulnerable areas are disadvantaged due to the reformation of the school system (Beach & Sernhede, 2011; Östh, Andersson, & Malmberg, 2013).  This thesis is thus seeking to find the vantage point of primary school teachers in one such school, in order to grasp how these policy changes has come to impact their perceptions of a professional self and the amount of professional autonomy in their work.     Through the theoretical concept of audit culture (Shore & Wright, 1999) I show that these reforms have changed not only the structure of the school system but also how actors within the school setting relate to their work and professional role. On the basis of my fieldwork and previous research in the topic (Apple, 2005; Shore, 2008; Karlefjärd, 2011), I argue that the reformation of the school system has brought a shift in the relations of trust within the system, where the growing amount of confidence in measurement, optimization techniques and control has resulted in a lack of trust in teachers as professionals. The voices of teachers, as actors in the educational environment, has to a great extent been missing in the public debate surrounding the Swedish schools as well as overlooked by research in the field. This thesis therefore calls for a growing anthropological attention to primary school teachers and the workings of audit culture in the lower levels of the educational system.