In today's mainstream school, which focuses on a common education, the teaching assistant is an indispensable element in the teaching of pupils with special educational needs. This diploma thesis deals with the opinions of primary school principals on the position of teaching assistant at regular primary schools. The theoretical part of the thesis defines common education, which is related to the need for a teaching assistant, further defines the legislative anchoring of this profession, its personal and qualification prerequisites, its scope of work or risks associated with this profession. The last chapter of the theoretical part of the diploma thesis deals with the cooperation of the teaching assistant with individual subjects in the school and outside it. The research part of the work, based on mixed research and using data collection methods "questionnaire survey" and "semi-structured interview" addresses the issue of the role of teaching assistants in mainstream primary schools. The respondents became the principals of ordinary primary schools. The thesis deals with the key activities of teaching assistants, as well as their personal and qualification prerequisites or pitfalls that are associated with this profession. First, the work describes a questionnaire survey, which complements the...

Given the many school choices available to parents, there is a need to understand the reasons parents of a child who is gifted choose to keep their child in his/her current school. Parents* satisfaction with their child*s school and their academic growth is essential to continued enrollment of the child in that school (Abdulkadiroglu, Angrist, & Pathak, 2011; Van Tassel-Baska, 2006). The parents* decision to keep their child who is gifted enrolled in their current school may be influenced by factors within the school as well as those factors outside of the school. The purpose of this study was to research factors that may influence the parents* decision to keep their child who is gifted enrolled in their current school. The research studied parental perceptions of academic support, social and emotional support, and principal support for gifted education for their child who is gifted and the parents* willingness to keep their child who is gifted enrolled at their current school. The target group in the study was parents of children who are gifted and enrolled in a very large urban school district but did not include parents of children who are gifted and also have a disability. The research included the analysis of a survey and follow-up interview questions with parents of a child who is gifted and enrolled in the very large urban school district. There were 683 survey responses out of 4,401 total parents surveyed with a return rate of 16%. The low return rate is considered a limitation of the study and it is recommended to conduct additional research on the majority of parents who did not participate in the survey. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 10 randomly selected parents of children who are gifted and enrolled in the very large urban school district. The survey and interview data was coded and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics. There were two research questions that guided the development of the research process and the analysis of data. The first question focused on indicators of parent satisfaction that included academic needs met, social and emotional needs met, and principal support for gifted education. The survey and interview data yielded mixed results with parents split between the belief that their child*s academic needs were met, social and emotional needs were met, and that their child*s principal was supportive of gifted education. The second research question considered the relationship between the three indicators of parent satisfaction and the parents* willingness to consider enrolling their child in a school solely for students who are gifted. The results showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the parents* belief that their child*s academic needs were met and the parents* consideration to send their child to a school solely for students who are gifted. However, there was a lack of evidence to establish a relationship between parent*s belief about their child*s social and emotional needs or the parents belief that their child*s principal was supportive of gifted education. The implications of the study are numerous. There are enough parents willing to consider sending their child to a school solely for students who are gifted to support opening the school. The majority of the survey participants had elementary school children; therefore, consideration should be focused on opening an elementary school for students who are gifted. Long range planning is needed to determine how to support the school for students who are gifted as well as the impact of transferring the students from one school zone to the school for students who are gifted. The literature reflected the diverse nature of the parents* satisfaction with academic support, social and emotional support, and principal support for gifted education and revealed that when the parents* are satisfied it does not guarantee that the parent will keep their child enrolled in their current school. The need for on-going communication between the school and the parents are critical to keeping the student enrolled in their current school. Further research is needed to determine the beliefs of parents with children who are gifted and identify themselves as Black, Hispanic, Asian, or another race since the majority of the survey participants were White. More research is also needed to determine the reasons why large numbers of parents would consider sending their child to a school solely for students who are gifted regardless of their satisfaction levels with school support. In addition, further research needs to be conducted to determine why parents would choose to keep their child enrolled in their current school when the parents believed their academic or social and emotional needs were not met or their principal was not supportive of gifted education.

From this investigation it can justly be asked what a leader is and why not all people are leaders. It is clearly evident that some people possess more innate leadership potential than others. It has subsequently been proved that leadership and leadership training is of great value to mankind. In this regard one can refer to Plato, Erasmus and Cawood who, despite living in different eras, all recognized the same crisis in leadership. Each concluded that the leadership crisis of his time could be bridged only by training. Great responsibility, therefore, lies upon the school as primary training centre, and especially the principal. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Teacher Education)

Parent involvement is consistently ranked high among the key components of effective schools, and as a result is one of the brightest prospects for the future of public education. This study sought to develop a reliable measure to strengthen parent-teacher relationships that included previously unidentified aspects. Using a qualitative approach, 27 participants were purposely selected to be interviewed in order to determine the challenges stakeholders face in arranging constructive parent-teacher relationships. In addition to parents-teacher relationships, the goal was to determine the role of school principals in managing effective communication to strengthen these relationships between parents and teachers. Results identified numerous reliable parent involvement factors reflecting home monitoring, effective school involvement, and educational management. Attitude toward learning and competence motivation of learners learning behavior were positively identified when all stakeholders work together as a team. Education management that translates high expectations strengthens parent-teacher relationships for the sake of optimal learner development. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Alors que les gouvernements cherchent à améliorer le rendement des systèmes scolaires qu’ils financent, l’intérêt des dirigeants porte sur les résultats des élèves mais aussi sur le rendement des professionnels de l’éducation, dont les directions d’école. Cette étude a pour but de contribuer au développement de la connaissance sur l’évaluation du rendement de ces dernières en répondant à la question : Comment les directions d’école perçoivent-elles la pratique réflexive dans leur processus d’évaluation? La recension des écrits montre que les directions qui ont le plus de succès jouent un rôle actif dans leur amélioration et que la pratique réflexive accroît la pertinence du perfectionnement professionnel et par conséquent le rendement de la direction. L’étude propose un cadre conceptuel qui tient compte du perfectionnement professionnel, de l’évaluation axée sur l’apprentissage et de la pratique réflexive. Cette recherche suit une méthodologie mixte afin de déceler les tendances et les perceptions quant aux pratiques à l’étude. D’abord, un questionnaire à choix de réponses a été administré sur Internet et les réponses de 65 directions d’écoles de langue française de l’Ontario ont été traitées de façon quantitative. Ensuite, des entrevues semi-structurées avec dix des répondants ont permis d’approfondir le sujet par une méthode qualitative en offrant l’occasion aux participants de partager leur vécu. Les résultats dévoilent que le perfectionnement professionnel occupe peu de place dans l’évaluation du rendement bien que les participants se servent d’objectifs de croissance professionnelle. La pratique réflexive est souvent déclenchée par un inconfort, par un succès ou par une occasion de perfectionnement ou est provoquée par des situations extérieures transposées à la situation de l’école du participant. Les échanges structurés et les discussions franches entre collègues et avec le superviseur favorisent la pratique réflexive. La rétroaction spécifique du superviseur donne des pistes d’amélioration appuyées d’un soutien. Les participants reconnaissent qu’ils jouent un rôle actif dans leur évaluation et recherchent un encadrement orienté vers l’amélioration. Les participants perçoivent que la pratique réflexive occupe une grande place dans leur processus d’évaluation, qu’ils soient encadrés par le superviseur dans un processus axé sur leur amélioration ou qu’ils s’auto-évaluent quand le processus est flou.

Cette recherche consiste en une étude de cas qui a pour objectif de décrire en quoi consiste l’exercice d’un leadership porté sur la justice sociale par une direction d’école primaire de milieu défavorisé de Montréal (cas exemplaire). En utilisant le cadre opérationnel pour l’étude du leadership transformatif, un concept très proche de celui de la justice sociale élaboré par Archambault et Garon (2011a), nous avons tracé le portrait émergeant du discours de la direction de l’école, des autres acteurs de l’école (enseignants et autres membres de l’équipe-école, parents et membres de la communauté) et de notre observation continue (shadowing) de la direction. Ce portrait présente les trois constituantes du cadre conceptuel. Tout d’abord, il fera état des connaissances portant sur la notion de leadership de justice sociale, sur le contexte des élèves de milieu défavorisé et sur leurs attitudes et comportements liés à la justice sociale. Il présentera aussi des attitudes, croyances et valeurs traduisant la volonté du leader de changer les choses pour promouvoir plus de justice sociale au sein de son école. Finalement, ce portrait fera état des comportements (rapportés ou observés) qui traduisent la mise en place par la direction de l’école de stratégies pour changer les choses vers plus de justice sociale. Le portrait émergeant placerait la direction d’école étudiée dans la lignée des directions ayant un intérêt pour la justice sociale dans les milieux défavorisés de Montréal et qui mettent en œuvres des actions pour redresser les injustices au sein de leurs écoles (Archambault et Garon, 2013). Cette étude de cas présente, en plus, un portrait bâti sur la base de l’observation de la direction jumelée à des entrevues semi-dirigées avec elle-même, avec d’autres membres de l’équipe-école et des membres de la communauté scolaire en général; notre étude présente de ce point de vue un portrait assez complet et nuancé du leadership porté sur la justice sociale de la direction de l’école. Elle met également en évidence l’utilité du cadre opérationnel pour l’étude de leadership transformatif (Archambault et Garon, 2011a). Cette recherche n’aspire pas à une quelconque généralisation de ses résultats, c’est une étude de cas qui espère toutefois avoir présenté un cas exemplaire qui répondrait à l’intérêt pour l’étude du leadership de justice sociale dans le contexte des écoles primaires de milieux défavorisés de Montréal / This qualitative case study aims at drawing a portrait of an elementary school principal practicing a leadership for social justice in disadvantaged areas of Montreal. Using the operational framework for the study of transformative leadership (Archambault & Garon, 2011a), we present an emerging portrait from the discourse of the principal, teachers and other members of the school staff and from the shadowing of the principal. This portrait presents first, the knowledge of the leader concerning leadership for social justice and matters related to justice at school. Second, it presents the leader’s attitudes, beliefs and values reflecting her desire to change things towards more justice in her school. Third, the portrait presents reported behaviours (self-reported or reported by other participants) and observed behaviours reflecting strategies implemented by the leader to effect change towards more justice. This portrait aligns the studied principal with those showing interest for social justice and acting to change things to promote equity and justice in their schools from disadvantaged areas of Montreal as reveled by the study of Archambault & Garon (2013). The case study presents a portrait built from results obtained from shadowing combined with interviews with the principal herself and with other participants, thus it presents a fairly complete and nuanced picture of the leadership for social justice practiced by the principal. It also shows the utility of the operational framework for the study of transformative leadership (Archambault & Garon, 2011a). Due to its nature (case study), this research does not aspire to any generalisation of its results; it rather pretends to present an instructive case to meet the interest for studying the leadership for social justice in elementary schools from disadvantaged areas of Montreal

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Alors que les gouvernements cherchent à améliorer le rendement des systèmes scolaires qu’ils financent, l’intérêt des dirigeants porte sur les résultats des élèves mais aussi sur le rendement des professionnels de l’éducation, dont les directions d’école. Cette étude a pour but de contribuer au développement de la connaissance sur l’évaluation du rendement de ces dernières en répondant à la question : Comment les directions d’école perçoivent-elles la pratique réflexive dans leur processus d’évaluation? La recension des écrits montre que les directions qui ont le plus de succès jouent un rôle actif dans leur amélioration et que la pratique réflexive accroît la pertinence du perfectionnement professionnel et par conséquent le rendement de la direction. L’étude propose un cadre conceptuel qui tient compte du perfectionnement professionnel, de l’évaluation axée sur l’apprentissage et de la pratique réflexive. Cette recherche suit une méthodologie mixte afin de déceler les tendances et les perceptions quant aux pratiques à l’étude. D’abord, un questionnaire à choix de réponses a été administré sur Internet et les réponses de 65 directions d’écoles de langue française de l’Ontario ont été traitées de façon quantitative. Ensuite, des entrevues semi-structurées avec dix des répondants ont permis d’approfondir le sujet par une méthode qualitative en offrant l’occasion aux participants de partager leur vécu. Les résultats dévoilent que le perfectionnement professionnel occupe peu de place dans l’évaluation du rendement bien que les participants se servent d’objectifs de croissance professionnelle. La pratique réflexive est souvent déclenchée par un inconfort, par un succès ou par une occasion de perfectionnement ou est provoquée par des situations extérieures transposées à la situation de l’école du participant. Les échanges structurés et les discussions franches entre collègues et avec le superviseur favorisent la pratique réflexive. La rétroaction spécifique du superviseur donne des pistes d’amélioration appuyées d’un soutien. Les participants reconnaissent qu’ils jouent un rôle actif dans leur évaluation et recherchent un encadrement orienté vers l’amélioration. Les participants perçoivent que la pratique réflexive occupe une grande place dans leur processus d’évaluation, qu’ils soient encadrés par le superviseur dans un processus axé sur leur amélioration ou qu’ils s’auto-évaluent quand le processus est flou.

From this investigation it can justly be asked what a leader is and why not all people are leaders. It is clearly evident that some people possess more innate leadership potential than others. It has subsequently been proved that leadership and leadership training is of great value to mankind. In this regard one can refer to Plato, Erasmus and Cawood who, despite living in different eras, all recognized the same crisis in leadership. Each concluded that the leadership crisis of his time could be bridged only by training. Great responsibility, therefore, lies upon the school as primary training centre, and especially the principal. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Teacher Education)

Parent involvement is consistently ranked high among the key components of effective schools, and as a result is one of the brightest prospects for the future of public education. This study sought to develop a reliable measure to strengthen parent-teacher relationships that included previously unidentified aspects. Using a qualitative approach, 27 participants were purposely selected to be interviewed in order to determine the challenges stakeholders face in arranging constructive parent-teacher relationships. In addition to parents-teacher relationships, the goal was to determine the role of school principals in managing effective communication to strengthen these relationships between parents and teachers. Results identified numerous reliable parent involvement factors reflecting home monitoring, effective school involvement, and educational management. Attitude toward learning and competence motivation of learners learning behavior were positively identified when all stakeholders work together as a team. Education management that translates high expectations strengthens parent-teacher relationships for the sake of optimal learner development. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)