Rural schools are faced with numerous challenges and are often perceived to be academically unsuccessful. However, in spite of this perception there are some which manage to beat the odds by being academically successful year after year. This peculiar phenomenon of ‘unequal performance’ among rural schools struck my interest; hence my decision to investigate what it is that successful rural schools do to keep afloat in a turbulent environment where others around them collapsed. As the literature suggests that leadership play a key role in the success of an organisation, I focused my study on how the leadership role of the principal makes a rural school thrive. The study is situated in the interpretive paradigm and attempts to reveal participants’ perceptions and experiences of the principal’s leadership. My participants were the principal, circuit inspector, the School Board Chairperson, a Head of Department and the LRC president. These people were purposefully selected; the principal was selected because he is the one executing the roles hence he would be better informed about them while the others due to the positions they occupy, work closely with the principal. The research is a case study as it focused on a single case, and for data generation I employed semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The study revealed various characteristics that describe the leadership role of the principal. An overarching characteristic that emerged is that the principal is a balanced leader - he focuses on both task completion and consideration for people. Different characteristics that emerged from this balance leadership portrayed the principal of Ruacana Senior Secondary School to be a transformational and an instructional leader who believes that teaching and learning are the central activities of a school. Moreover he has been painted to be a team player and a servant leader who holds and practices the principle of ubuntu. The principal has also been described as a strategic and exemplary leader. It emerged that his exemplary leadership has moulded the practices of teachers and learners into a shared culture that supports academic excellence. The findings also depicted a paradoxical picture of the principal in that while he exhibits democratic procedures he is also perceived to be autocratic.

abstract: Much has been written regarding the dire educational state of most schools in rural America. This case study profiles two elementary school principals (preK-6) in rural New Mexico whose schools achieved adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the 2009-10 school year. The focus of this study centered on specific characteristics of the school cultures addressed by the principals, and instructional best practices routinely incorporated by teachers into the daily curricular program that have produced successful student outcomes and earned each of their schools AYP standing for the 2009-10 academic year. The methodology used to determine research findings was performed in three parts: Principals of AYP rural New Mexico schools were asked to complete an online survey on educational leadership according to the standards and functions of the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). The respondents chose either Almost always, To a considerable degree, Occasionally, Seldom, or Never according to the degree they deemed the leadership function necessary to the successful operations of their schools. The survey results were arranged into tables preceded with explanations and statistical analysis. Interviews were conducted with the two rural elementary school principals along with selected teachers and parents from each school. The researcher made on-site visitations and kept notes of the observations and interactions with staffs from each school. The main findings of the study arose from the results of the surveys and interviews conducted with individuals from the two focus schools. The researcher arranged data according to the leadership categories that emerged from the interviews. The survey results were divided into two categories: favorable (Almost always and To a considerable degree) and unfavorable (Occasionally, Seldom, and Never categories). The results for each leadership standard and related function were reported in terms of statistical significance according to frequency counts in the two categories. Finally, there is a review of current literature focused on principles of educational leadership and rural education, demographic information about the profiled schools, and conclusions with further recommendations for future studies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

Alternative energy technology has been used widely in rural electrification program (REP) all over the world for many years now. Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind and biomass, are the preferred choices given the abundant resources available on site and the sophistication of the technologies involved. Combinations of two or more of the resources, together with an energy storage system and occasionally a conventional energy generator, create a hybrid system, which is reliable and durable. In Malaysia, solar photovoltaic (PV) base systems, implemented on a large scale, can provide round-the-clock electricity services for areas that are inaccessible by the electricity grid network. One of Malaysia s REP initiatives is solar PV-diesel hybrid systems for 160 schools in rural Sabah. The systems have been in operation for several years, but studies in the program are limited. Thus, understanding the system operation and functional is a highly valuable experience and lessons can be learned for implementation of the rural electrification program (REP). The overall aim of the research is to evaluate the REP in social, organizational, technical and economic aspects of the program that the findings can facilitate the stakeholders, such as the policy makers and implementers for current and future approaches, measures and decisions on REP activities and initiatives in Malaysia. This thesis has described the approaches on investigating the rural school s electrification program in Sabah. Analysis of system operation and function is conducted by examining and evaluating the recorded data from the system. A set of technical indicators is introduced in the form of system performance indicators and system reliability indicators. Furthermore, comparisons are made between the actual system operation and the optimum system configuration based on the actual data of the renewable energy resources, electricity energy consumption and costs in installation and operation. A field study was conducted at fifteen rural schools that use the solar PV system to determine the effectiveness of the program in transforming the rural schools to better learning environments and livelihoods. The findings indicate that most system components were found to be in good operation, and the operation of the solar PV system agreed to the indicators of system performance and system reliability. Additionally, the system reliability indicators can be seen as a vital tool not only to identify the values of the system capacity but also for prediction measures in analysing the durability of each component. The analysis of the actual system operation provides optimum values in terms of technical indicators, whereas the optimized system shows economic advantages. The findings show a high degree of responses from the end users in the level of satisfaction, appreciation, motivation and academic excellence. Nevertheless, several improvements are required to enhance the sustainability elements of the REP, especially from the organizational and governance perspectives. These includes effective coordination among the rural development-related agencies, the improvement on the transition between installation and maintenance work, efficient reporting process and training and awareness program need to be extended to every end user for sustainability in information and knowledge.

The issue of decentralisation has been one of the top priorities of the Namibian education system since independence in 1990. One of the decentralisation aims was to enhance parental involvement in education by establishing School Boards. However, School Boards and the role of parents in school management have been considered ineffective for several years which led to the promulgation of Education Act 16 of 2001 in which the roles of School Boards are strengthened and clarified. This study sought to investigate School Board members’ perceptions, understanding and experiences of parents’ involvement in school governance more specifically after the implementation of the Education Act of 2001 in 2003. This study is an interpretive case study of one combined rural school in the Ohangwena educational region of Namibia. This research employed three data collection techniques, namely semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The main findings of this study reveal that there is a lack of joint understanding and shared vision between educators and parents in the School Board. This problem underpins other more symptomatic problems, such as lack of accountability in the matter of school finances, differences in understanding the roles of School Board members and lack of parents’ motivation from the school management. The study further reveals the ineffectiveness and insufficiency of the training provided in the past. It highlights some of the challenges that hinder the effective involvement of parents in rural school governance, such as poor educational background among parents, poor knowledge of the English language and poor understanding of educational issues. However the findings also acknowledge parents’ participation and their full involvement in decision-making. The findings show that the new School Board elected in terms of the Education Act of 2001 has been more effective than previous School Boards and has reached a number of achievements such as being instrumental in solving disciplinary problems, purchasing school assets and renovating classrooms. Recommendations for practice and for further research are made.

Rural schools generally find it hard to function effectively for a variety of reasons, and managing and leading these schools brings additional challenges. This study explored the role of the principal in an academically successful rural school in Namibia. It drew on leadership theory and findings from related studies to make sense of this particular case of leadership against the odds. Using the interpretive orientation, the research explored selected organisation members’ perceptions of the principal’s leadership through semi-structured interviews. The study found that the actions and attitudes of the leader had a significant influence on the school’s performance. The manner in which the principal conducted himself, the shared vision he encouraged and his insistence on associating with all stakeholders involved in education, were instrumental in the organization’s positive achievements. The principal was shown as committed and a leader with good interpersonal working relationships. The study also revealed that this principal was both a person- and taskoriented leader, and closely resembled the ideals of transformational leadership. This study further found that, through the principal’s instructional leadership, teaching and learning are seen as the core of the school’s activities. Finally, the principal’s leadership role opens the school to the community and results in strong and mutually beneficial relationships between the school and its community.

The study analysed how the management of the quality of education of Rural Day Secondary Schools has been affected by the internal efficiency of the school system. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used in the study. The study measured the internal efficiency of selected Rural Day Secondary Schools, and analysed the views of school managers and school heads on the quality of education of Rural Day Secondary Schools, and strategies that can be used to improve the quality of education thereof.The study found out that the internal efficiency of Rural Day Secondary Schools was low. At least 30% of students entering Rural Day Secondary Schools were overage; and the overall survival rate was 57.4% Dropouts were mainly caused by inability to pay school and examination fees and long distances walked by students to school. Students repeated classes mainly at Form 4. The average "O" level examination pass rate was 9.8%. The reasons for the low pass rates include the calibre of students enrolled; lack of resources; low teacher morale; long distances walked by students to school, and an unsuitable curriculum. BSP (Z) has been the most effective programme in addressing the quality of education, while the Quality Assurance Division is the least effective. ZIMSEC has improved access to "O" level examinations and the relevance of the examination questions, but is fraught with mismanagement, while the Clients' Charter has not been fully implemented due to inadequate training. SDCs have improved the supply of resources in the schools, but lack basic understanding of education policies.The study recommended that more funding be allocated to Rural Day Secondary Schools to boost resources and curtail dropouts, and that low-cost boarding facilities be introduced to deal with the problem of long distances walked by students. There is also a need to re-engineer the curriculum and make it more responsive to the plight of rural students. Training is needed for SDCs, on the Clients' Charter. It was further recommended that BSP (Z) should try to reach out to remote schools; ZIMSEC should improve examinations management, and the Quality Assurance Division should be revamped to carry out effective teacher supervision. / Further Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Education Management)

South African society is currently negotiating a new future. As a result, the sense of identity amongst all groups in South Africa may be undergoing change. This dissertation attempts to identify what type of sense of identity exists in pupils in four different school environments. These schools ranged from a racially integrated to an isolated and racially separate school. A review of the traditional literature on the self (or sense of identity), reveals that it does not allow for the possibility of change in a sense of identity, or the role that language and the social environment plays in the development of a sense of identity. As a result, Harrean and Sampsonian type thinking was used as the theoretical base of the research. Further, discourse analysis was the method of research used. Different schools were found to exhibit different senses of identity, and the implications of this are discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Esta tese tem o propósito de compartilhar algumas experimentações com tecnologias digitais, orientadas por uma metodologia dialógica, referenciada no dialogismo bakhtiniano, a partir do Projeto Civitas, vinculado ao Laboratório de Estudos em Linguagem Interação Cognição-Criação – LELIC - da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. O contexto da pesquisa envolve os acontecimentos vivenciados por uma turma de terceiro ano do segundo ciclo, de uma Escola Estadual de Ensino Fundamental, situada na zona rural de um município do Rio Grande do Sul, na Região do Vale do Rio Pardo. O problema que produziu os trajetos que percorremos ao desenvolver esta tese teve origem em nossa intenção de analisar os efeitos que uma metodologia dialógica poderia produzir no processo de (re)significar o ensinar e aprender, aliado ao uso das tecnologias digitais e o Città, no contexto de uma escola de educação do campo. Buscamos no filósofo da linguagem, Mikhail Bakhtin, os entrelaçamentos possíveis, entre a teoria e o campo empírico, tanto nos diálogos realizados entre os protagonistas desta tese – a pesquisadora, a professora e as crianças – em nossas inserções no contexto investigado, quanto na organização da metodologia de pesquisa e formação de professores, seguindo os princípios do Civitas, pela implicação do pesquisador, numa perspectiva ético-estética e responsiva. Como desdobramentos destas experimentações podemos afirmar que, a partir de uma metodologia, que abre espaços, pela problematização do cotidiano, para a invenção e criação na sala de aula e na escola - promovendo o protagonismo de seus diferentes atores e produzindo relações dialógicas, sentidos e autoria, pela escuta e in(ter)venção -é possível (re)significarmos os processos de ensinar e aprender, no uso das tecnologias digitais, verificando seus efeitos nos contextos micro e macro da educação. / This thesis aims to share some experiments with digital technologies guided by a dialogical methodology, referenced in the Bakhtinian dialogism, from the Civitas Project, associated to the Laboratory of Studies in Language, Interaction and Cognition-Creation - Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The research context involves the events experienced by a third year class of the second cycle, of a State School of Elementary Education, located in a rural area of a municipality in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul, in the region of Vale do Rio Pardo. The problem that led us to the development of this thesis was based on our intention to analyze the effects that a dialogic methodology could produce in the process of (re)signifying teaching and learning, combined with the use of digital technologies, in the context of rural education school. We seek in the language philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin, the possible interweaves between theory and the empirical field, both in the dialogues between the protagonists of this thesis - the researcher, the teacher and the children - in our insertions in the investigated context, and in the organization of the research methodology and teacher formation, following the principles of Civitas, through the implication of the researcher, in an ethical-aesthetic and responsive perspective. As a result of these experiments, we can affirm that, from a methodology that opens spaces, by the problematization of everyday life, to invention and creation in the classroom and at school - promoting the protagonism of its different actors and producing dialogic relations, meanings and authorship, by listening and in(ter)vention -, it is possible to (re)signify the processes of teaching and learning, in the use of digital technologies, verifying their effects in the micro and macro contexts of education.

Girl child education has been a challenge for many African countries due to the patriarchal gender order of communities. This is not different in the Democratic Republic of Congo where son preference is still rife. This study sought to explore how girls in rural Lubaland in DRC experience their schooling in relation to the traditional gendered practices. A qualitative approach to research was employed within an interpretive paradigm. Young school going girls were purposively selected from two rural schools in Malemba and Mwanza. A total of 18 girls became participants to the study. Data were generated through the use of drawings and focus group discussions to explore how the girls saw themselves as girls and students at home, on the way to school and at school. This was done in order to understand how they experience their schooling lives. The findings revealed several gendered challenges that the rural girls experience daily in terms of gaining access to and succeeding in schools. The challenge of son preference and gender role stereotyping created challenges for girls at home, while lack of facilities for girls’ sexual health and long distances to school created challenges for girls on the way to school. At school the girls experienced challenge of being unable to afford school fees and corporal punishment. If these challenges are to be eradicated, there is need for all stakeholders in education, including traditional leaders and communities to deconstruct the gendered dynamics that position women and girls as subordinate and not deserving of an education. This study has implications for educational planning in the Democratic Republic of Congo for girl children to get better access and success in their education. The findings also highlight the need for more concerted efforts to understand the experiences of schooling girls across DRC in order to influence teacher training and educational provisioning that is girl friendly.

Submitted by Luciana Sebin (lusebin@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-26T19:43:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissAMAM.pdf: 3308519 bytes, checksum: ed977cf8ebccb9a390cf1aa95ff9839d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-27T19:56:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissAMAM.pdf: 3308519 bytes, checksum: ed977cf8ebccb9a390cf1aa95ff9839d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-27T19:57:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissAMAM.pdf: 3308519 bytes, checksum: ed977cf8ebccb9a390cf1aa95ff9839d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-27T19:57:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissAMAM.pdf: 3308519 bytes, checksum: ed977cf8ebccb9a390cf1aa95ff9839d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-29 / Não recebi financiamento / The study aimed to analyze the process of nucleamento and closing of rural schools in the region of São João da Boa Vista, using as base municipalities: Casa Branca, Divinolândia and Sao Jose do Rio Pardo. This process was the transformation of schools into centers-schools or nucleation in order to become recipients of the students of extinct rural schools (multigrade isolated and / unidocentes) and may be located in rural or urban areas. Taking into consideration the historical context, political, socioeconomic and educational, emphasizing above all the transformations in agriculture in the State of São Paulo, which resulted in the expropriation of thousands of rural workers because of agricultural mechanization driven by the expansion of sugarcane sectors and citrus, sought to discuss and understand: the service that or those rural schools were nucleated? How did and what the cause of nucleamento and consequent closure of rural schools? Thus, the study has two categories considered inseparable: the capitalist mode of production and the education of the rural population. The analysis of the first category was made from the study of Marxist theoretical framework, through data collected in the field research (interviews and questionnaires) and by searching statistical data sites on the economy, agriculture, labor and demographics. But the study on the education of the rural population was given by historical rescue about nucleamento of rural schools and on the education of the rural population from the 1960s, involving the educational laws that regulate the process and the changes occurred in rural areas. Was also made a survey of existing rural schools from the 1970s and the condition of rural schools in the three cities listed in the study for that, in addition to the documentary research of extinct rural schools with the state arquivadoras schools, questionnaires were targeted for managers of municipal departments of Education White House, Divinolândia and São José do Rio Pardo, the active rural schools, as well as interviews with parents of students in rural schools. On the information collected and based on the theoretical study has improved to discussion of the process that resulted in the closure of 390 rural schools (1970-2014) which had as its backdrop the agricultural productive restructuring, considering then that the nucleamento and the consequent closure of rural schools served the capital and was far from serving the interests of rural workers. / O estudo teve como objetivo analisar o processo de nucleamento e fechamento das escolas rurais na região de São João da Boa Vista, utilizando-se como municípios-base: Casa Branca, Divinolândia e São José do Rio Pardo. Tal processo consistiu na transformação de escolas em escolas-núcleos ou nucleadoras com a finalidade de tornarem-se receptoras dos alunos de escolas rurais extintas (isoladas e multisseriadas/unidocentes), podendo ter localização em áreas rurais ou urbanas. Levando-se em consideração o contexto histórico, político, socioeconômico e educacional, enfatizando, sobretudo as transformações ocorridas na agricultura no Estado de São Paulo, que resultou na expropriação de milhares de trabalhadores rurais em virtude da mecanização agrícola impulsionada pela expansão dos setores sucroenergético e citrícola, buscou-se discutir e compreender: a serviço de que ou de quem as escolas rurais foram nucleadas? Como se deu e qual a causa do nucleamento e consequente fechamento das escolas rurais? Dessa forma, o estudo apresenta duas categorias consideradas indissociáveis: o modo de produção capitalista e a escolarização da população rural. A análise da primeira categoria foi feita a partir do estudo do referencial teórico marxista, por meio de dados coletados na pesquisa de campo (entrevistas e questionários) e por meio de busca em sites de dados estatísticos sobre a economia, agricultura, trabalho e demografia. Já o estudo sobre a escolarização da população rural deu-se mediante resgate histórico sobre o nucleamento das escolas rurais, bem como, sobre a escolarização da população rural a partir da década de 1960, envolvendo as legislações educacionais que regulamentaram o processo, bem como as transformações ocorridas no meio rural. Foi feito também, um levantamento das escolas rurais existentes a partir da década de 1970 e a condição das escolas rurais nos três municípios elencados para o estudo, para isso, além das pesquisas documentais das escolas rurais extintas junto às escolas estaduais arquivadoras, foram direcionados questionários para os gestores das Secretarias Municipais de Educação de Casa Branca, Divinolândia e São José do Rio Pardo, das escolas rurais ativas, além de entrevistas com pais de alunos das escolas rurais. Diante das informações coletadas e com base no referencial teórico estudado aprimorou-se a discussão sobre o processo que resultou no fechamento de 390 escolas rurais (1970 a 2014) o qual teve como pano de fundo a restruturação produtiva agrícola, considerando-se então, que o nucleamento e o consequente fechamento das escolas rurais serviram ao capital e esteve distante de servir aos interesses dos trabalhadores rurais.