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Connectedness is a complex idea that seems to mean different things for each individual. For the purposes of this dissertation, connectedness can best be understood as the ways that an individual feels an affiliation with the community of the institution that he/she experiences. This dissertation seeks to uncover the discourses that various stakeholder groups have within the site of a single school concerning connectedness. One of the precepts that this dissertation holds is that connectedness to school has benefits for the individual as learner, the school as a community and potentially the wider community in years to come. This is a theoretical position in the lineage of such theorists as Plato, Rousseau, and Dewey who have argued that education is a transformative practice that could be a tool in solving some of the issues that contemporary societies face. To examine the issue of connectedness, focus group research was chosen as the most beneficial methodology, as it allowed the stakeholders to explore their understanding of connectedness in small groups of their peers. It was important that the students in particular were allowed to develop their discourses of connectedness, as they were at the centre of the converging and diverging discourses. For this reason there were four student focus groups. The students selected for each of the student focus groups were targeted because of particular characteristics. They were purposively sampled to examine how, if at all, these discourses changed if the student was a high achiever, a quiet student, a student committed to the co-curricular programme of the school or a student who had been in regular trouble with the school hierarchy. There were also two parent focus groups, two staff focus groups, and a focus group made up of members of the school council. The contributions of the various focus groups were analysed in the light of the work done by the French theorist Michel Foucault concerning the institution and the way that it deploys discursive practices to govern and regulate the subject. A number of his ideas that have been particularly important in this work. Foucault’s power, discourse and governmentality have informed the analysis of the data and have supported the conclusions drawn. The key finding of this dissertation is that discourses of connectedness are crucial in determining how students feel about their schools. Many of the stakeholder groups hold diverging expectations of what connectedness is. These findings, and others, have implications for the management of schools in Western Australia.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

This is a study of the history of the federal laws concerning vocational education and the growth of vocational education in the secondary schools of Texas from 1918 to 1948.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014 / The research is basically looking at the challenges that are faced by isiZulu mother-tongue teachers in Secondary levels. The research focuses mainly in schools around the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. This research has been motivated by the fact that isiZulu is gradually losing its originality as a language and if nothing is being done, it is at the verge of collapse. Chapter one is the general introduction of the research topic where the following sub-topics form part of the research proposal; background to the study, the problem statement, the purpose of the study, delimitation of the study, the study methodology, beneficiaries of the study, division of the chapters and the conclusion. Chapter two deals with the issue of the language of teaching and learning. In South Africa in general and in schools in particular, isiZulu language is not a medium of instruction. It is not treated as a valuable communication mode. The majority of learners in South African Schools are taught through the medium of English which is not their home language. This has caused learners to despise isiZulu and going to the extent of developing an attitude that they do not need isiZulu for survival, therefore isiZulu mother-tongue teachers have a challenge to endeavour to motivate learners and other stake holders to give isiZulu the respect that it deserves. Chapter three looks at the curricula changes which have resulted to change in the teaching and learning style. Curricula changes in South Africa started with the adoption of OutcomesBased Education which brought about confusion not only to educators but to parents and learners as well. The study in this chapter focuses on the language policies that have been put in place as to what extent have they contributed to the challenges facing isiZulu mothertongue teachers in schools. Chapter four investigates the development of media both electronic and print which has captured the minds of most of our learners in a much greater way but mostly producing negative results. The rapid expansion of the electronic media and the introduction of a network of telecommunications has posed a threat in isiZulu language since most of the media do not use vii vernacular when publishing and broadcasting. If isiZulu is used, it is no longer in its original pure state, it is very diluted. Chapter five deals with the analysis and the result of the research. That is where we get the response of the participants to the questionnaire that has been used. Chapter six is where we get the recommendations and the conclusion.

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014. / The current investigation consists of one aim and two objectives. The aim is to evaluate drug abuse prevention programmes for adolescents in secondary schools and the effect that they have on attitudes, knowledge and behaviour. The objectives are to determine the effectiveness of the drug abuse prevention programmes on attitude, knowledge and behaviour on adolescents and the relationship between them. The research methodology was in the form of a quantitative survey. A questionnaire was administered to a group of grades 10 and 11 learners between ages 14 to 25 from four selected schools. Twenty-five year olds were included in the target group as it is not unusual for adult learners to still be at school with minors, especially in rural areas. This may have an influence on adolescents’ attitudes towards drug abuse. It was therefore of utmost importance for them to understand the effects of abusing drugs. Respondents were randomly selected with the help of Life Orientation Educators in each school. Questionnaires were distributed to a sample population of one hundred learners. Ten of these questionnaires were not properly completed and therefore were not included in the final analysis. The results demonstrated that the use of drugs is prevalent in the surveyed schools and respondents were aware of its consequences. The results also demonstrated that a significant number of the respondents had a negative attitude toward the use of drugs, while a small number of respondents did not see any problem in using drugs. It was concluded that the influence on behavioural change in the schools surveyed is not due to formal prevention programmes but to the involvement of parents and peer educators, who are not involved in formal programmes for drug prevention. Furthermore, it was found that in these schools no programmes were available for the education of learners about drug abuse and its consequences. While respondents have shown a positive attitude and behaviour toward drugs and its use, it is important to note that formal drug prevention programmes do not seem to exist in schools and where they are claimed to exist, they refer to life skills programmes and drug awareness programmes.

Depicting the problems with teacher-centered English reading classes in Korea, this report proposes extensive reading as a possible means to address the issues related to intensive reading. Literature on extensive reading is reviewed to provide a rationale for including it in reading curriculum. Research has shown that extensive reading, with its focus on reading large amounts of self-selected, easy and interesting materials, offers a wide range of learning benefits to second language learners. Based on research findings, this report presents some pedagogical suggestions for the implementation of extensive reading in Korean secondary schools by exploring practical issues, including materials, teacher roles, activities, and assessment in an extensive reading program. / text

The purpose of the research documented in this thesis is to identify and investigate the organisational design principles that influence change processes in a school context. The study analyses the various design features of the system which impinge on the processes of organisation change. Organisational design for the purpose of this study is defined as the beneficial assembly of organisational components in their proper relationships, a notion derived from studies in the natural order - permaculture (Mollison, 1990). There are four design principles that provide a perspective for the study of salient features that impinge on the processes of organisational change. These four perspectives are - site, social, energy and abstract. This conceptual framework based on a

The purpose of this research was to investigate the perceptions of a group of secondary school teachers concerning their schools' organizational cultures, and also to examine the degree to which perceptions were common amongst teachers in a school, and whether these perceptions are related to levels of job satisfaction. The setting for this research involves five secondary schools in the wider Auckland metropolitan district, in New Zealand. These schools were a mixture of state and private, coeducational and single sex, and were selected from different socio-economic locations. The perceptions of the teachers were examined from the perspective of the conceptualization of the early sociologist, Ferdinand Tonnies, and the study utilizes the antithetical model of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft characteristics of an organization. The methodological strategy includes a Questionnaire and Interview, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. Metaphorical descriptors were used as the methodological tools for determining the balance of gemeinschaft to gesellschafl in each school. Overall trends were noted and correlation between particular perceptions and job satisfaction levels were examined. An analysis of the degree to which perceptions were shared in common was also an important consideration. In both the Interview and the Questionnaire the participants were given the opportunity to develop their own metaphors that were applicable to their school cultures, as well as summarizing their ideals for the educational context. The findings revealed five major observations. The first is that gemeinschafl (community human relational) characteristics were both more prevalent in schools, and were considered to be more desirable by teachers. Secondly, there appeared to be a mixture of both gemeinschaft and gesellschaft characteristics in each school, according to the perceptions of the teachers studied. Both of these characteristics existed side by side, they were not mutually exclusive. The balances, however, were idiosyncratic to each school. Thirdly, there was a strong positive correlation between high gemeinschaft perceptions and job satisfaction levels. Conversely, there was a negative correlation between gesellschaft perceptions and job satisfaction levels. Fourthly, the study indicated that metaphors were a useful research tool, and that teachers respond well to them as enabling devices for reflecting on the nature of school organizational culture. Finally, this research revealed a strong tendency for teachers to hold similar perceptions of their schools organizational culture. There existed clear patterns of commonality.

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