Adolescence is a time of great changes, a time where experimentation and exploration is expected and when the values of authority figures are examined and challenged. Adolescents will experiment and push the boundaries of all aspects of their life in order to find their own place and identity in a world that has changed its expectations of them. Use of drugs is one of the ways that they do this. Australian adolescents grow up in a society where alcohol and tobacco is an acceptable part of daily life. Their use of drugs is at least on par with and in some cases exceeds that of the general population. The overall goals of this research were to gain more information on drug use of Australian adolescents, using existing data sets. This research examined, using a number of different age groups, the differences in adolescent drug use between urban and rural Australia for lifetime use, use in the last year and use in the last month using the 2002 edition of the Australian School Student Alcohol and Drug (ASSAD) survey series in conjunction with the 2001 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS). It also used these data sets to investigate differences between indigenous adolescents and non-Indigenous adolescents and whether there were any differences in adolescent drug use across socio-economic status groups. Four hypotheses were developed. The first was that rural adolescents are more likely than urban adolescents to use licit drugs and the second was that urban adolescents are more likely than rural adolescents to use illicit drugs. Thirdly, that Indigenous adolescents are more likely than non-Indigenous adolescents to use both licit and illicit drugs and the fourth was that adolescents from low socio-economic status (SES) groups are more likely than adolescents from high SES groups to use licit and illicit substances. The data offered little support for any of the hypotheses. The hypothesis on rural adolescents being more likely to use licit drugs was supported by the ASSAD surveydata but not the NDSHS. All other hypotheses were not supported by either of the data sets. While there are aspects of the information from the two data sets that are contradictory making it difficult to prove or disprove the hypotheses formulated for this research, they highlighted a number of aspects of adolescent drug use. The first of these is that this research supports the premise that rural adolescent drug use rates are converging with urban drug use rates for younger adolescents. It also highlighted that there are a large number of rural school students who are using alcohol and cannabis. The ASSAD data also confirmed other Australian research showing that Indigenous adolescents are less likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to use alcohol. Both data sets confirmed previous research by indicating that adolescents from the high SES groups are more likely than their counterparts in the lower SES groups to consume alcohol. Further investigation is needed to find out why the data sets did not substantiate each other and to gain further insight into the consumption of alcohol by Indigenous adolescents and adolescents from the higher socio-economic status groups. Increasing the samples of Indigenous people in both of the data sets and lobbying the Australian Bureau of Statistics to increase their sample for the Indigenous Social Survey to include 12-14 year olds should give more information on Indigenous adolescents that could be used in research and prevention activities.

Since becoming the first English speaking country to legislate against the physical discipline of children in 2007, there has been much debate in New Zealand for and against the parental practice of smacking. For some it has meant a welcome amendment to legislation that protects the human rights of children, for others it raises fears that parents can be criminalised for smacking their children and that the rights of parents to discipline their child, as they see fit, are being eroded. Working for an organisation that fully supports the Amendment to Section 59 of the Crimes Act, 1961 and that promotes the human rights of children; the motivating factors that encourage a parent to stop the practice of physically disciplining their child became of interest to the researcher for this thesis. Ten participants, who had used physical discipline and who had made a decision to stop the practice, were recruited to take part in a qualitative study. The data collected was analysed through a thematic analysis process using five motivational contexts found in previous research on the topic. The five contexts were experiential, relational, biographical, regulatory and ideological (Davis, 1999). The findings of the research for this thesis concur with the previous research and add further information about the motivating factors. The findings also identify the strategies that parents have found useful to achieve success in their endeavour to change their disciplinary practice. Furthermore the importance of and the distinction between the human rights of the child and parental rights have been highlighted.

Thesis (doctoral)--Frankfurt am Main, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-281).

Univ., Diss.--Basel, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed May 28, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-59)

Thesis (doctorat)--Institut national agronomique Paris-Grignon, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 390-411).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 1999. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-300). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9947980.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 168-181) and index.

Στην παρούσα έρευνα στοχεύουμε να διερευνήσουμε τις διαφορές αντιμετώπισης συγκεκριμένων προβλημάτων της σχολικής πράξης μεταξύ δασκάλων απόφοιτων Παιδαγωγικής Ακαδημίας και δασκάλων απόφοιτων Παιδαγωγικού Τμήματος Δημοτικής Εκπαίδευσης. Σκοπός μας είναι η εις βάθος διερεύνηση των αντιλήψεων και των παιδαγωγικών πρακτικών των δασκάλων αυτών, σε θέματα πειθαρχίας, ετερότητας και αξιολόγησης του μαθητή. Με την μέθοδο του ερωτηματολογίου διερευνήσαμε τις απόψεις 22 δασκάλων Παιδαγωγικής Ακαδημίας και 70 δασκάλων Παιδαγωγικού Τμήματος. Ως ερμηνευτικό πλαίσιο των ερευνητικών δεδομένων επιλέξαμε τη θεωρία της κοινωνικής αλλαγής και ειδικότερα την θεωρία του Καρλ Μαρξ και του Μαξ Βέμπερ που είναι οι δύο βασικές γενικές κοινωνιολογικές θεωρίες: της αιτιακής εξήγησης και της ερμηνείας της Κοινωνικής αλλαγής, θεωρώντας πως ανταποκρίνονται καταλληλότερα στην κατανόηση του υπό μελέτη φαινομένου. Μέσα από την ανάλυση των δεδομένων γίνεται φανερό ότι η ποσοτική και ποιοτική αλλαγή της εκπαίδευσης των εκπαιδευτικών της πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης (από τη διετή Παιδαγωγική Ακαδημία στο τετραετές Πανεπιστημιακό Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα) παρήγαγε δασκάλους με νέες παιδαγωγικές αντιλήψεις και νέες προθέσεις εκπαιδευτικής πρακτικής στο σχολείο. Έχει αλλάξει ριζικά τόσο ο ρόλος του δασκάλου, όσο και τα χαρακτηριστικά της εκπαίδευσής του. Ο νέος τύπος δασκάλου, ο δάσκαλος του Παιδαγωγικού Τμήματος, έχει επιστημονική ταυτότητα και επαγγελματική κατάρτιση. Μπορούμε λοιπόν να υποστηρίξουμε ότι η βελτίωση του επιπέδου σπουδών του δασκάλου έφερε αλλαγή του τρόπου σκέψης, αντίληψης, και πράξης και κατ’ επέκταση κοινωνική αλλαγή. Οι δάσκαλοι των Παιδαγωγικών Τμημάτων λειτουργούν μέσα στο σχολείο ως παράγοντες αλλαγής του και κατά συνέπεια μακροπρόθεσμα ως παράγοντες ευρύτερης κοινωνικής αλλαγής. Όταν το σχολείο αλλάζει, αργά αλλά σταθερά, αλλάζει και η κοινωνία. / In this research study we aim to explore the differences between teachers graduated from the Pedagogical Academies and those who graduated from the Primary Education Departments in coping with specific problems of school practice. We focus on the investigation of the teachers’ perceptions and pedagogical practices concerning discipline, diversity and students’ evaluation issues. With the method of the questionnaire we investigated the conceptions of 22 teachers graduated from Pedagogical Academies and 70 teachers graduated from the Primary Educations Departments. Our interpretative framework is the theory of social change, and in particular the theories Karl Marx and Max Weber, the theory of explaining and the theory of interpreting the social change. Through the analysis of the data it becomes obvious that the quantitative and qualitative change in the primary teachers’ education (from the two-year Pedagogical Academy in a four-year University Department) produced teachers with new pedagogical concepts and new intentions in school educational practice. The role of the teacher, as well as the characteristics of the teachers’ education has changed radically. The new type of the primary teacher, who studies at the Departments of Primary Education teacher of Pedagogical Department, has scientific identity and professional training. We consider that the improvement of the level of teachers’ studies brought change on the way of thinking and practicing and therefore social change. Teachers graduated at the Departments of Education operate within the school as agents of change and thus in the long run as factors social change: when the school is changing, slowly but surely, the society is changing as well.