This study investigated the efficacy of culturally adapted bibliotherapy in promoting resilience among American Samoan children aged 5-13 years in response to high adolescent suicide rates in the Pacific Islands and the need for culturally adapted and supportive interventions grounded in mental health wellness. Bibliotherapy, particularly the identification with story characters, has been recognized for bolstering mental wellness, resilience, and emotional regulation in children. In this research, the children's response to bibliotherapy was measured through card sorting and forced-choice exercises, assessing their engagement with literature mirroring their experiences. The materials were developed in collaboration with Samoan cultural brokers on island to ensure cultural relevance, focusing on emotions commonly faced by children, such as sadness, anger, and fear, within the context of school bullying and the grief of losing a loved one. Findings suggest that the adapted stories significantly aided the children in relating to the characters and their challenges, demonstrating that culturally sensitive bibliotherapy may be a promising approach for reinforcing resilience in Pacific Islander communities. The study concludes with a discussion on the practical applications of these findings.

Tile research focuses on the role played by the school in preraring learners for self-employment. It seeks to establish the extent to which entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and attitudes are being promoted ai school thus equipping learners for ihe world of business once they leave school. The study is undertaken ag~i the background of very high mte of unemployment currently facing South Africa. A nmnber of factors, such as high population growth, globalisation and a variety of other socio-political circlUllStance have resulted in the shrinkage of job opportunities in the formal sector of the economy. The unemployment problem mostly affects the rural schoolleavers, among other groups, in the community. Small bu.'$ine.<Js development is generally seen as the most promising solution to the unemployment problem. Preparing learners for entrepreneurship is therefore the most serious challenge facing schools today. The school is required to deliver the kind of education that will make it possible for learners to start and develop their own businesses once they leave school. Hence the quest for education that is relevant to the needs and aspirations of society. A qualitative study undertaken with rural schoolleavers who own small businesses reveals that the school has not yet taken delibemte steps to tester entrepreneurship among learners thus preparing them for self-employment when they leave school. Again it bas been demonstrated that schools have great potential to inculcate entrepreneurial knowledge, attitudes and skills once they can start working in close co-operation with the community. A shift from traditional approaches to teaching and learning to the progressive (entrepreneurial) approaches can contribute greatly in producing learners who are ready fbr life as independent, creative and influencial business leaders of the future. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Comparative Education)

Tile research focuses on the role played by the school in preraring learners for self-employment. It seeks to establish the extent to which entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and attitudes are being promoted ai school thus equipping learners for ihe world of business once they leave school. The study is undertaken ag~i the background of very high mte of unemployment currently facing South Africa. A nmnber of factors, such as high population growth, globalisation and a variety of other socio-political circlUllStance have resulted in the shrinkage of job opportunities in the formal sector of the economy. The unemployment problem mostly affects the rural schoolleavers, among other groups, in the community. Small bu.'$ine.<Js development is generally seen as the most promising solution to the unemployment problem. Preparing learners for entrepreneurship is therefore the most serious challenge facing schools today. The school is required to deliver the kind of education that will make it possible for learners to start and develop their own businesses once they leave school. Hence the quest for education that is relevant to the needs and aspirations of society. A qualitative study undertaken with rural schoolleavers who own small businesses reveals that the school has not yet taken delibemte steps to tester entrepreneurship among learners thus preparing them for self-employment when they leave school. Again it bas been demonstrated that schools have great potential to inculcate entrepreneurial knowledge, attitudes and skills once they can start working in close co-operation with the community. A shift from traditional approaches to teaching and learning to the progressive (entrepreneurial) approaches can contribute greatly in producing learners who are ready fbr life as independent, creative and influencial business leaders of the future. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Comparative Education)

Learning to value ourselves as uniquely endowed, understanding our irreplaceable fit into the social and environmental fabric, and becoming active agents woven into our communities will maximize our capacity for progressive change through empowerment. There are effective practices in orchestrating learning environments for empowerment that have ancient and proven roots but have become marginalized in contemporary education. These ways focus on fostering the development of unique gifts and group cohesion, as opposed the fostering of independence and competition, the latter being two ideologies not found in Nature when it is in balance and harmony. This reversal in paradigm will reclaim our ability to critically problem-solve and evoke transformative action by increasing the diversity of perspectives and talents focused on an endeavor. Central to this research is an exploration of the strategization involved in supporting cultural, cognitive, and creative capital—the gifts endowed to humankind that enable our co-evolution with this specific regions of this planet. This research explores methods not only of maintaining the integrity of Indigenous voice through the process of research and reporting but also of using science as a tool for building community through a sense of critical Indigenous identity. It is my hope that the data contained in this research will serve as a relevant, without being transferable, model of progressive educational approaches to ameliorate science education on a local, national, and global scale. / Ph. D. / This research is communicated in a way that attempts to situate Indigenous worldview within the context of Western academic traditions. It explores methods of non-hierarchal and reciprocal research engagement. This is done for the purpose of blending theory and practice in real-time for the use of science education as a tool for community empowerment and environmental sustainability.

America's school-age population is experiencing a demographic shift. In 1972, students of color represented 22% of the school-age population; in 2005, minority students accounted for 33% of public school enrollment (Statistics, 2007 Villegas, 2002). This study sought to explore how these changing demographics affected University Town Community Schools, the district's interventions, and teachers' perceptions to those interventions. This study also explored teachers' feelings of efficacy when teaching minority students. Using a qualitative study among third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade elementary school teachers, a random sample of 9 teachers from schools comprising a minority population of at least 40% were interviewed. Data analysis involved the use of themes that emerged from the interview data, observations, and quotations from participants. The findings indicated that the district acted on a school-by-school basis, with no specific actions to target any one racial group. Meanwhile, teachers were inconsistent when discussing race, behavior, and learning. Teachers felt comfortable assigning behaviors based on race and culture, but were hesitant to assign learning strengths and weaknesses based on race or culture.

Culturally responsive education has been an actual topic in teacher education for decades, but most teachers still finish their education without appropriate knowledge and skills for teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. Providing quality education to diverse learners remains a challenge, particularly in the fields of mathematics and sciences. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to describe intervention programs preparing in-service and pre-service math and science teachers for teaching in culturally diverse classrooms, and the outcomes of such programs. A search for scholarly journals evaluating such intervention programs has been carried out in several databases, resulting in nine articles included in the analysis. Intervention programs described in these articles covered several important aspects of culturally relevant education and had a limited success in developing cultural responsiveness of teachers. The construct of culturally relevant education is complex and multi-layered, and thus hard to measure without simplifying it to measurable constructs. Limitations of the study and implications for the future research and practice are discussed.

Erfarenheten av och forskning om sex- och samlevnadsundervisningen i skolan pekar på att undervisningen inte är till belåtenhet hos eleverna. För att utröna detta ytterligare valdes en studie med syftet att undersöka flickors och pojkars uppfattningar om innehåll och undervisningsmetoder inom sex- och samlevnadsundervisningen i skolåren 7-9. Hur undervisningen skall vara utformad för att kännas meningsfull för eleverna är av intresse i studien. Studien genomfördes utifrån en kvalitativ ansats med enkäter och gruppintervjuer som metod att skapa ett empiriskt material. Undersökningen genomfördes på två skolor. I enkätundersökningen deltog 47 elever och i gruppintervjuerna deltog fyra flickor och fyra pojkar. Resultatet visar att flickor ochpojkar anser att sex- och samlevnadsundervisning är viktigt och att de fått en relevant undervisning under grundskolans senare år. Gemensamt för flickor och pojkar är att de vill ha en varierad undervisning av såväl innehåll som undervisningsmetoder. Viktigt är att den som undervisar i området skall vara väl insatt och ha stora kunskaper inomområdet. Den som undervisar får heller inte, anser eleverna, bli generad och tycka att det är pinsamt när eleverna ställer frågor. Eleverna i undersökningen saknar dock utrymme för diskussion i undervisningen. Studien visar även att eleverna uppfattar att en stor del av undervisningen läggs på frågor rörande sexualitet, könsorganens anatomi,könssjukdomar och preventivmedel. Däremot läggs endast en begränsad del utav tiden på samtal rörande samlevnad, vilket är ett område som eleverna efterfrågar i undervisningen. För att åstadkomma en meningsfull undervisning i sex- och samlevnad ur ett elevperspektiv förutsätts att eleverna får tillgång till information om vad undervisningsområdet skall innehålla. Genom förhandsinformationen kan eleverna ges inflytande i undervisningen. Av stor betydelse för eleverna är att läraren utgår ifrån elevernas frågor och vad eleverna känner är relevant för dem just nu. / Experience and research of sexual education in school shows that the teaching is not valued as satisfaction by young people. To investigate this statement a study of girls’and boys’ perceptions of content and teaching methods in sexual education in secondary school was conducted. How the teaching should be designed to be meaningful is of interest in the study. The study was conducted with a qualitative approach where the key is to get the different views. To gather the data both questionnaires and group interviews were used. The questionnaires study involved 47 students and group interviews four girls and four boys. The result shows that students believe that sexual education is important and that they had received a good education in secondary school. Common for girls and boys is that they want a varied teaching of both content and teaching methods. It's important that anyone who teaches in the area must have good knowledge. The students also think that the teacher must not be embarrassed and think it's embarrassing when students ask questions. Students in the investigation wants more time for discussions. The study also shows that a large part of teaching is on issues related to sexuality, genital anatomy, STD and contraception. On the other hand is only a bit of time about relationships, which is an area that students are asking for. In order to achieve a meaningful education, from a student perspective, requires that students gain knowledge of what the area contains in order to be able to have influence in teaching. By preliminary information students can be given influence in teaching. It's of great importance that the teacher understands students' questions and what students feel is relevant for them right now.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that impact teachers’ preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy with African-American girls in single-gender classrooms. Three Single-Gender Academies were included in the study. Twenty participants responded to a teacher survey, nine teachers and two administrators were interviewed, and lesson plans from six of the teachers interviewed were also collected. Descriptive statistics, regression tests and Pearson’s Correlations were used to analyze quantitative data and displayed a significant relationship between professional development and teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. A significant relationship also existed between teacher preparation program and teacher preparedness for implementing single-gender instructional strategies. No significant relationship was found between teacher demographics and teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. Analysis of qualitative data revealed that certain teacher demographics did impact teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy for the teachers in this research investigation. Qualitative analysis of data provided evidence to support the quantitative findings about professional development and single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy with African-American girls in single-gender classrooms. Moreover, analysis of qualitative data revealed that specific behaviors of administrators influenced teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. Results of this research investigation provide implications and recommendations for school districts that incorporate single-gender classroom environments, faculty at Educational Departments at local universities and alternative teacher preparation programs and administrators that lead these schools.

This study identifies the components of an instructional programme for information literacy that is culturally relevant to Kuwaiti students. It discusses culturally relevant education, instruction for information literacy, the provision of library and information skills instruction in Kuwait, and its characteristics as an independent nation, and as a Gulf, Arab, Islamic, and developing country. The study further tests the effect of cultural relevance on instruction for information literacy for Kuwaiti students with an experiment of comparative instruction. The control group received Western-oriented instruction for information literacy and the experimental group received instruction that substituted Kuwaiti cultural referents for some of the Western-oriented referents. The aims of instruction for both groups were basic levels of proficiency as described in Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning, and the main vehicle of instruction was the Big SixTM information problem solving strategy. The only difference in instruction between groups were the images in the Big SixTM transparencies used for overhead projection, the examples used in class to discuss various information problems and the corresponding images that represented the examples. The study measured the information problem solving achievement of 126 fourth- and eighth grade students with a pre- post-test, the recall of the Big Six strategy with a post-test, and student attitudes with a questionnaire. The analyses revealed that, overall, there is a significant difference in the mean achievement scores in information problem solving and the recall of the Big Six strategy between students who received culturally relevant instruction and those who received instruction that was not culturally relevant. Examined separately, males' scores were significantly higher in the group that received culturally relevant instruction, while females responded equally well to both types of instruction. In addition, the study found a strong correlation between the attitudes of students in the control and experimental groups, and between males and females within groups.

Resiliency is a critical factor in educational success; the gap exists in the research regarding the effect of resiliency in the educational success of African American female students. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological research (IPR) study was to explore and describe the lived experience of single-gender education through African American female student alumnae to capture and distill their shared experience of educational resilience and competence. Framework drew on gender-relevant education, social capital, racial identity and socialization. Research perspective that participants were viewed consisted of critical race feminism theory and competency versus deficit or risk perspective. Research questions focused on how African American female student alumnae of single-gender educational settings described their experiences in and out of school as they relate to resiliency and competence. The IPR design consisted of 3 interviews per participant; 1 focused on the past, 1 focused on the present, 1 integrated past and present experiences. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyze data. Results showed the components that factor into the African American Academic Achieving Female (A4F) include racial identity and socialization, gender relevant education, support systems within cultural and social capital, Guts, Resilience, Initiative, Tenacity (GRIT), Cultural (Re)Appropriation Unity (CRU), personal spiritual relationship. Recommendation for the A4F framework to be used as a foundation to foster growth of the A4F. Social change implication is understanding how African American female alumnae of single-gender schools describe their shared experience of A4F on their lives to foster social change for the African American students.