Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / For students who have experienced trauma, to succeed academically and feel that their social/emotional needs are being met, district and school leaders must create inclusive environments where students feel welcome, taken care of, and safe. This qualitative case study, part of a larger group study of inclusive leadership practices, examined how district and school leaders in a Massachusetts public school district provided an inclusive environment for students who have experienced trauma. The study utilized a qualitative case study design which included 24 semi-structured interviews of district and school leaders and a focus group with six teachers. Findings indicated that district and school leaders help foster a shared vision for inclusive practices by creating structures that can support the needs of students and by providing teachers with the support and training they need to support all students. Inclusive leaders created culture, provided resources, and allowed opportunities for professional development and training that aligned with the framework and cornerstones of social justice leadership (Theoharis, 2009). Implications indicate that district and school leaders have an opportunity to provide equal access, equity, and social justice for all students by assessing current practices in place, identifying areas for growth, and believing in a vision and mission where all students have the right to be educated in an inclusive environment. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Poverty remains one of the greatest challenges that Southern African countries face. The state of poverty in a region is reflected in low levels of income, as well as high levels of unemployment and human deprivation. Day labouring has become evidence of the high unemployment rate in South Africa. In South Africa, the day labour market serves as a catchment area for the fallout from a formal economy, unable to provide employment to those who need it. Often, day labourers are socially excluded from the benefits of modern society, such as, access to appropriate social services, work opportunities, and a decent income. This could be perceived as social justice vulnerabilities.

The development conflict between the social justice and environmental vertices of the planner’s triangle is inadequately addressed within existing literature and practice. To actualize sustainable development planning, I use a black feminist lens to re-frame analysis of the never-ending cycle of resolving conflicts at the intersection of economic, environmental and equity needs. The purpose of this dissertation study is to describe three cases of delayed decentralization planning, the post-disaster aid context, and energy justice cases for planning and policy implications. The methods for data collection include: semi-structured interviews, statistical analysis, archival research and participant-observation. The conclusions are the urbanism regulatory framework continues to be used to delay decentralization planning, post-disaster sustainability planning is limited by both natural and human disaster factors, and energy access needs to be reframed as a human right instead of a commodity.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study explored the Namibian Inclusive Education policy‟s responses to gender nonconforming learners in Namibian schools. Gender nonconformity within the scope of this study refers to nonconforming to societal gender expectations through behaviour, presentation, sexual identity or any other means construed as normal by societies. Thus the study was guided by the research question: How does the Namibian IE Policy respond to gender nonconforming learners in Namibian schools? Even though there is growing evidence on mistreatment of gender nonconforming learners in schools worldwide, there is minimal evidence on the support for gender nonconforming learners within the Namibian schools. Additionally, there is paucity of literature on gender nonconformity in the Namibian education context.

Higher education institutions have been mandated by government to engage in community development projects and partner with local communities. This was done in order for the higher education institutions to reconsider the role the play in local communities and redress some of the injustices that occurred during the apartheid era. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the experiences of young people from a rural school on higher education community engagement partnership. The participants were made up of 31 young people from a rural school in Mpumalanga and had been involved in a community engagement partnership with a higher education institution. The young people were provided with a platform to share their experiences using PRA activities and the data generated was analysed using deductive thematic analysis. The young people expressed what they think the purpose for the partnership was, how they benefitted from the partnership and indicated what should be changed for future partnerships as well as suggestions to improve the partnership. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

Although there is an increase in publications on the topic of cultural responsiveness in school psychology, the research literature does not interrogate the discourse around cultural responsiveness and the modes of practices it enables. Using a preexisting dataset featuring interviews with 15 school psychologists, I analyzed the discursive formations characterizing the talk about cultural responsiveness. Data analysis using the critical discursive psychology framework illuminated the presence of cognitivism in participant talk. Critical discourse analysis drawing on Foucauldian theory of power effects revealed the ways in which cognitivism both enabled and constrained the discursive production of ‘culture’ and ‘cultural responsiveness’. Culture became a primarily cognitive concept (beliefs, values, and tendencies of various groups), and cultural responsiveness came to be a rational non-discriminatory form of decision making process oriented toward individualistic and micro-level forms of practices that had institutional sanction. Implications and recommendations for further research are discussed.

This dissertation provides a substantive study of the faith-based Mondragón Cooperative Movement in Spain and the Indra’s Net Life Community in Korea, analyzing and critically comparing the ethical values of Catholic Social Teaching and Socially Engaged Asian Buddhism. By evaluating the extent of their success in dealing with socioecological concerns, the importance of religio-ethical values and principles to the disciplines of social and environmental ethics is stressed, offering a new, religiously sensitive approach to ecological wellbeing. As this dissertation argues, the thought and work of Mondragón and Indra’s Net offer important resources for conceptualizing ecological ethics and social justice in and among human communities. This comparison considers two questions: First, what alternative economic system might engage, in context, socioecological religious values and be implemented as an alternative to neoclassical economics? Second, what socioecological ethical principles provide effective intellectual resources to critically assess today’s global economic and ecological crises, and suggest a way to resolve them? These questions are addressed by a study of the ethical and social implications of modern economic systems, as compared to a worker-owned cooperative movement and a socially engaged Asian Buddhist liberation movement, both of which offer an alternative to current economic configurations. Inspired by the communitarian personalist thought of Mondragón’s priest-founder, José María Arizmendiarrieta, and the ecological thought of the Venerable Tobŏp, based on Huayan Buddhism’s philosophy of "interdependent co-arising" (pratītyasamupāda), these grassroots socio-ecological movements provide relevant, religion-based social and ecological teachings that present concrete proposals for economic and social practice. Social Catholicism and socially engaged Buddhism, as evidenced by these two movements, apply a dynamic social-spiritual ideology consonant with their traditions' developing social-ecological consciousness, thereby striving to promote the wellbeing of Earth, humanity, and all life.

Equal access to music education is a concern in public schools. Certain populations, including minority and low socioeconomic students, remain underrepresented in instrumental ensembles across America. This phenomenon has been well documented, and socioeconomics have been repeatedly identified as a reliable predictor of instrumental music participation in school ensembles. Research into specific and detailed ways in which socioeconomic factors and instrumental music participation intersect and best practices for alleviating any resulting negative effects on instrumental music participation are limited. Researchers often collected emic data from disadvantaged students in the majority of existing studies on these topics. I collected both etic and emic data from seven parent/guardian study participants from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and from two instrumental music teachers in a school district that served a large population of low socioeconomic and minority students. I also compiled data from field notes, observations, and artifacts associated with the school district and town in which the study took place. I analyzed and interpreted the data, applying Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and field. My findings indicated that socioeconomic factors including cultural differences, community building, peer group relationships, ensemble travel, geographic location, socioeconomic segregation, parental bias, privilege, and prior family musical experiences all potentially affected students’ decisions to participate in instrumental music ensembles. My research also indicated that attempts to assuage negative effects of low socioeconomics on instrumental music participation, including instrument loaner programs and fundraising, were sometimes undermined and did not completely address the problem.

The presence and prevalence of educational inequities within public education continue to foster structures that limit student opportunities for specific student subgroups. Such limitations negate the tenets of public education and conflict with a system that should embrace success for all. This study explored district leadership, in the form of school boards and governance teams within the frameworks of Change Theory and Social Justice Advocacy, to identify patterns in approaches that could initiate and sustain systemic reform toward greater educational equity.

Thesis advisor: Karen D. Arnold / People of African and Latinx descent are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a result of systematic marginalization and bias. While there is a great deal of research that investigates the problems underlying underrepresentation, there is less research that centers the perspectives of African and Latinx people about what they believe was influential and supportive as they moved in and out of STEM education and career spaces. This study focuses on a group of 23 adult participants of Latinx and African descent who completed internships with the Institute on Climate and Planets (ICP), a NASA-based science youth research program in operation between 1994-2004. Participants work in STEM, STEM-related and non-STEM fields. The study utilizes interviews and an education and career journey visual mapping exercise to elicit perspectives on any role the ICP program had in their journey. The study also explores identified influences, supports, challenges and experiences across education and career journeys. The study utilizes purpose and love as strengths-based theoretical guideposts to understand the development and support that takes place within participant journeys. Using a thematic narrative analysis, the study identified several themes. Families played an important and proactive role in affirming participants' abilities to achieve and cultivating a value of education and high expectations. Nonfamilial influential relationships were characterized by authenticity, commitment to a strengths-based view of the participant and to supporting the participant’s success and wellness. For many students ICP offered a supportive relational context to engage in meaningful real-world STEM work. They described it as related to enriched efficacy, confidence, and aspirations, as well as career capital that expanded education and career opportunities. Findings also reveal ways that participants push against the sociocultural boundaries of STEM and non-STEM professions and institutions to enact purpose and expand their institutional impact. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.