Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Limpopo,2009. / The term “brain drain” became a reality in South Africa after doors opened for South Africans in overseas markets and the emphasis moved from hospital bed based care to total health for all South Africans. The lack of services in rural areas seems a problem with focus on migration of health professionals between rural and urban areas, and even overseas markets, leaving a possible imbalance. More allied health professionals from previously disadvantaged groups are trained but the need in specifically the rural areas continues to rise. Recruitment and retention strategies were implemented for scarce skilled health professionals in the Public Service but no proof is available whether it is successful or not for the allied health professional group. The vacancy rates for allied health professional posts are reportedly too high despite the fact that more candidates are recruited from rural areas to be trained as professionals, hoping they will return to work in rural areas. Allied health professionals seem to be constantly on the move despite the strategies already implemented, reasons for this are unknown. The purpose of this study is to explore and determine if there is an imbalance of allied health workers in rural and urban areas within Limpopo Province. Secondly, it was to determine what factors may influence and contribute to allied health professional‟s decision to consider migration and thirdly to establish if the current recruitment and retention strategies are having the desired outcome. A survey was conducted over a period of three months with respondents representing the dietetic, physiotherapy, radiography, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy professions. The sample population was randomly selected as well as cluster sampling from the different districts within the Limpopo Province. Data was collected from a total of 122 respondents. xv Because the type of data collected was mainly nominal data, graphical and tabular descriptive techniques like frequencies, relative frequencies, tables and graphs were used to provide information. Numerical descriptive techniques were also used to calculate sample statistics and the only statistical technique that involves nominal data, the Chi-Squared Test was also applied. The findings of the research survey enabled the researcher to make final conclusions as well as specific recommendations to the target groups that may benefit from this study in order to change the “brain drain” to a “brain gain” situation for allied health professionals within the Limpopo Province. / N/A

This study investigated the educational practices and learning outcomes in rural and urban lower secondary school science classrooms of Kalimantan Selatan, Indonesia. Guided by six research questions, this study focused on curriculum implementation and its association with the existing working and learning environment, learning process and learning outcomes. The investigations were conducted in two stages and used two research methods. The classroom learning environment and school level environment were investigated at the first stage using the questionnaire survey as a research method. The questionnaires were developed and validated with a sample of 1188 Year 9 students and their teachers in 16 schools. Validation of the questionnaire confirmed that the Indonesian version of the modified WMIC is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the classroom learning environment in the Indonesian educational context. The results regarding the status of the classroom learning environment are summarised in four assertions. First, students tended to prefer a more favourable classroom learning environment than the one they actually experienced. Second, female students generally held slightly more positive perceptions of both actual and preferred learning environments. Third, students in rural schools experienced a less positive learning environment than did their counterparts in urban areas. Fourth, teachers’ perceptions were more favourable than their students on both the actual and preferred learning environment for all seven scales, except on Task Orientation in which their perceptions were matched. This study also confirmed that the Indonesian version of SLEQ, administered to relatively small number of respondents, has gained in merit as a good instrument. / Each scale of the Indonesian SLEQ has acceptable internal consistency reliability and was able to differentiate between the perceptions of teachers in different schools. Further analysis indicated differences between perceptions of school environments of biology and physics teachers and of rural and urban school teachers, particularly on Resources Adequacy. This study also indicated the differences between teachers’ views of the actual and preferred school environments in which the differences are not only statistically but also practically significant. It is suggested that research for improving school environments, by matching teachers’ actual and preferred perceptions, is noteworthy and more research needs to be conducted. The second stage of this study explored the existing science curriculum documents, teachers’ perceptions of the science curriculum, the implementation of science curriculum in the classrooms, and the students’ outcomes in school science. In lower secondary school, science is compulsory for all students of all Year levels, and is aimed to introduce the students to the basic concepts of scientific knowledge and to emphasize the use of tools and equipment during laboratory observations. Science in the lower secondary school consists of physics and biology subjects that were taught separately, but were given the same amount of classroom periods per week. The content was organized into themes or topics. Despite the content to be taught, the development of students’ process skills and students’ attitudes towards science and the environment were also emphasized. / The suggested teaching approaches included the conceptual approach, the problem-solving approach, the inductive-deductive approach and the environmental approach, whereas the suggested teaching methods in science classroom are the experimental method, the demonstration method, the discussion method, the excursion method and the lecturing method. The evaluation and assessment sections of the curriculum documents expected science teachers to systematically and continuously assess the students. Three techniques were suggested to conduct evaluation in the science classroom, which included paper and pencil tests, verbal evaluations, and practical tests. Science teachers and superintendents possessed different perceptions of the science curriculum as expressed in their preferences towards curriculum metaphors. The metaphor ‘Curriculum as Content or as Subject Matter’ was a view perceived by three teachers. ‘Curriculum as intended learning outcome’ was the second metaphor preferred by two teachers, who hold this view for different reasons. In contrast, two superintendents expressed their most preference on the metaphors ‘Curriculum as discrete task and concepts’ and ‘Curriculum as programme planned activity’, respectively. Investigation of the implementation of the science curriculum in the classrooms confirmed that science-teaching practices in urban lower secondary schools was in agreement with those suggested in the curriculum documents. / Science teachers in urban schools tended to use a variety of teaching methods, employed good questioning techniques, provided clear explanations and had high outcomes expectation, and maintained effective classroom management. On the other hand, to some extend science teaching practice in the rural lower secondary schools was not as expected in the curriculum document. Mostly, teachers in rural schools tended to use traditional chalk-and-talk teaching methods, employed a limited questioning techniques, had relatively unclear outcomes expectation, and performed less effective classroom management skills. With regard to students’ outcomes, this study showed less favourable results. Students’ attitudinal outcomes, which were measured by the Indonesian version of adapted TOSRA, were not maximised, and students’ cognitive outcomes are disappointing. The mean scores on the national wide examination, which is 5.46 out of possible maximum score of 10.00, indicated the poor performance of students in learning School Science. No statistically significantly differences were found on attitudinal outcomes between rural and urban and between male and female students’ perceptions. However, the study identified that students’ cognitive scores were statistically significantly different between rural and urban schools. Students in urban schools scored higher in the examination than did their counterparts in rural schools. The study found association between students’ outcomes and the status of classroom learning environments. Both simple analysis and multiple regression analysis procedures showed that all scales of the Indonesian WMIC were statistically significantly associated with two scales of the Indonesian adapted TOSRA and students’ cognitive scores.

The present thesis aims to recount the current situation of the Alevi community in the urban Turkish setting. The data were collected during eight months of ethnographic field research from February 2009 to October 2009 in a complex preferred to be called as the Dikmen Alevi Community Center, in Ankara. I present different ways adopted by various groups while explaining what Alevism is and I stress the fact that there is a certain degree of fragmentalization within the community due to such diverse descriptions. Thenceforth, I emphasize the reasons behind the existence of divergent classifications and analyze Alevis&rsquo / migration from rural to urban areas during 1970s and 1980s as it relates to the changes in the institutions. After offering an evaluation of the changes accompanying migration, I accentuate the competitive sharing of the city as a religious space between Alevis and Sunnis concentrating on Alevis&rsquo / perception of religious space and providing a comparison between Sunni and Alevi perceptions regarding the places of worship. Subsequently, I attempt to show that there is a competitive sharing relationship present within the community giving the example of Dikmen Alevi Community Center after the establishment of the Alevi Institute for Research, Documentation and Application. I conclude that this kind of a relationship and the current state of affairs are the results of the struggle to adapt to a changing environment, which in turn alters the individuals themselves.

Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Dept. of Gerontology) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Widely considered the world’s largest migration, the ongoing rural-to-urban migration in China is unprecedented in terms of scale and impact. Millions of Chinese peasants flood to cities in waves to try their fortune. Among them, dagongmei, literally translated as “working sisters,” who are single, young, and undereducated rural women working in cities, are believed to be one of the most marginalized communities. Their segregation and discrimination in the labor market has been well documented. As a major life event, their marriages have also received academic attention, but the marriage of dagongmei in current literature is generally considered a means towards achieving social advancement, often terminating their migratory trajectory. Few studies address the question of how physical mobility and economic independence alter the social relations of dagongmei in their pursuit of dating and potential spouses across the rural-urban divide. The separations of dagongmei from patriarchal families empower them, but their legally classified rural citizenship and their lack of cultural and social capital constrain their aspirations. To closely examine how individual agency interacts with familial control and societal constraints, I conduct in-depth interviews with dagongmei, applying feminist standpoint theory, to hear their experiences concerning the social processes of mate selection. By situating marriage as a dynamic decision-making process, I identify three subgroups of women: independent seekers, resigned negotiators, and tradition reformers. My overall conclusion is that young rural women are empowered by their migration to pursue major life goals such as marriage, but traditional gender ideology still operates to confine their roles as daughters and wives in a transitional society with competing capitalist and socialist characteristics. / text

This study has been conducted in the context of the master program in Outdoor Environmental Education and Outdoor Life, of Linköping University. It aspires to investigate a specific part of outdoor environments: the schoolyards. Particularly, the aim of the study is to investigate how the use of the school grounds as an educational resource is influenced by their environments -rural or urban. The research compares the school communities’ (principals’, teachers’ and students’) perceptions about the use of their school grounds during the educational process. The research sample consists of 10 Swedish elementary schools, from which the five are in rural and five are in urban environments. The participants are in total 10 principals, 51 teachers and 295 students. Alongside, an observation recorded in a list and photographs enhance the comparison between the rural and urban schools’ infrastructures. From the 1268 photos taken, a selection is included in the study and constitutes the observation part. The study negotiates four controversial issues about school grounds’ capacities: space or place; good or bad; rural or urban; grounds of a school or grounds of a curriculum. The results, after all, reject the contradictions and the sections become respectively: a place for all seasons; neither good nor bad, just unique! ; Ideality stands for ideas; grounds for cooperation. It also becomes visible that even though the analysis of the responses confirms that the urban teachers hold the stereotypical idea that there are differences between rural and urban environments; the infrastructures of both environments do not appear different. However, the teachers’ different opinions and beliefs have a significant impact on the students’ responses. Specifically, significant differences are reported by students which align with the teachers’ differences. The rural and urban principals do not report significant differences, and in the great majority their opinions also align with their teachers’ opinions. Finally, a model which is unfolded through this study has central role, namely the schoolyard circle. This model aims to facilitate a process that I introduce as schoolisization, in which school grounds are used to extend the stereotypical learning environment by adapting the curriculum to a school’s needs. Consequently, the schoolyards’ transformation from a space to our place can be finally proved an outdoor education approach that “bridges contradictions” and promises better educational results.

The rapid economic development in China has successfully drawn a worldwide attention and benefit its population, with a average 8 percentage GDP growth rate every year and 500 million people out of poverty. While a large number of people are seeking for the reason why economic achievement in China has been so dramatic and unprecedented, less people show solicitude for Chinese women`s condition and empowerment.    Women as a worldwide vulnerable group, their well-being need to be taken into consideration during the process of developing economy. In China, female population accounts for 48.47 percentage (633.2 million) of entire population. Under the big picture of economic prosperity, the author found that Chinese people`s living condition has advanced largely, the popularization of basic education and medical service has benefit the vast majority people, meanwhile, people can be more involved in political process to express their opinions. However, women are benefited disproportionately but still less empowered than men are. Moreover, since China is a geographically large country, the economic development has shown some regional characteristic, that means, in southeastern China, due to the convenient traffic condition, such as harbors, economic development process is faster than in northwestern China, where traffic and natural conditions are both weak. Would that cause a unequal empowered situation between women from different economic developed regions?   Women has been paid less attention through the history of China, let alone different conditions of women in different regions. In this thesis, the author will describe women`s different empowered situation in rural and urban regions of China, via a capability approach viewpoint, and discussion of whether there is a regional pattern will be based on (Dis) Empowerment model.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, Discipline of Geographical and Environmental Studies, 2004. / "July 24, 2004" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 297-319).

Thesis (M.Ph.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Russ Toal, committee chair; Rebecca Cowens-Alvarado, Ike Okosun, committee members. Electronic text (119 p. : col. maps) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 4, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-96).

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