The impetus for this study was my own curiosity about how seasoned entrepreneurial women were able to stay the course. As someone who has experienced the world of the employee and that of the entrepreneur, my goal was to better understand how, within their varied personal contexts, the lifelong learning experiences of seasoned entrepreneurial women were shaped by socio-cultural influences, significant individuals, gender, and learning challenges. Theories and research on lifelong and biographical learning, entrepreneurial learning, women's learning, and entrepreneurial women's learning helped to frame the study. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews and focus groups with eight women entrepreneurs between the ages of 40 and 60, with 16 to 30 years' experience in running their service-oriented enterprise were conducted. These women's stories illustrate how serendipitous their careers were, that is, they did not begin their working lives thinking they would become entrepreneurs, rather, it became the path that best supported their desires, independence and creativity. They were shaped by and sometimes resisted parents' messages about the role that education, work and marriage with children should play in women's lives. How they faced and learned from adversity and from the support of business mentors and friends were also significant. As they reflected back on their lives, they have a strong sense of mastery. Success for them did not focus on finances, rather, their autonomy, freedom, and control over the direction of their lives and the development of strong caring relationships with others, were key. Their learning was dynamic and experiential, it was both self directed and drew on others' knowledge. Women contemplating an entrepreneurial path may find this study of interest as they can learn how others, particularly family, shape their dreams, how they might meet challenges and learn from adversity, and overall, how central lifelong learning is to the development of their entrepreneurial careers. Educators and policymakers need to appreciate the serendipitous nature of entrepreneurship, how they can create entrepreneurial experiences for students, and expose the learners to not only essential skills required to run a business, but also to the stories regarding the self-development of successful entrepreneurs

El trabajo que se presenta quiere ser una reflexión sobe la intervención didáctica que, en el ámbito de los procesos de integración social, se ha venido desarrollando en los últimos años en nuestro país, con especial referencia a Cataluña. Esta intervención pretende realizar cambios en la realidad social, orientados a mejorar las condiciones de vida y el bienestar de los individuos, centrándonos en la intervención que se lleva a cabo en el ámbito de la infancia y adolescencia.En sus inicios el tratamiento de los menores se basaba en un modelo benéfico-asistencial, la única solución a la problemática de los menores era el internamiento y, por tanto, la desvinculación de su ambiente socio-familiar.La ideología que ha dominado en nuestro país respecto al problema social de los menores ha sido "protectora" y "correccionalista", y en muchos casos, en lugar de favorecer su integración social, se han agravado sus condiciones de marginación.Pero en los últimos años se ha pasado de un visión paternalista a un modelo de acción social que se enmarca dentro del Estado de Bienestar y, intentándose dar respuesta a las necesidades de los menores con la creación de una red de servicios: servicios sociales de atención primaria, servicios sociales especializados, escuelas de acción especial, aulas de educación especial,.. son algunas de las acciones llevadas a cabo por la Administración para ayudar al niño/joven a integrarse en la realidad social y escolar en la que se encuentra inmerso.La acción jurídica sobre los menores que han cometido un hecho delictivo ha evolucionado desde un modelo protector (en el cual la intervención se centraba en la vigilancia y el control) a un modelo educativo (en el que se da mucha importancia al carácter terapéutico de las intervenciones y su vinculación a las necesidades del menor, siendo menos relevante el delito cometido), llegando finalmente al modelo de responsabilidad:-se acentúa la responsabilidad social del joven y la necesidad de indemnizar a las víctimas y a la sociedad, sin dejar de lado el carácter educativo que ha de tener la respuesta penal;-se introduce la necesidad de establecer una minoría y una mayoría de edad penal.El trabajo de campo de la tesis se centra en el ámbito de la intervención socio-educativa, en medio abierto (en el entorno natural del menor), sobre los menores (con edades entre 12 y 16 años) que han cometido un hecho delictivo tipificado por el Código Penal.La finalidad y utilidad del trabajo radica en el diseño de un programa educativo individualizado (PEI). El objetivo fundamental de tal programa consiste en disponer de una herramienta técnica (encuadrada teórica y metodológicamente) que proporcione una coherencia y sistematización en la intervención y que nos permita estudiar el funcionamiento de los diferentes elementos del programa.La propuesta inicial de los elementos del PEI se contrastó con el equipo de DAMs (Delegados de Asistencia al Menor) del Servicio de Medio Abierto de la Sección Territorial de Justicia Juvenil de Tarragona, por ser nuestra realidad más cercana y por estar familiarizada con este contexto (durante 4 años, de 1986 a 1990, trabajé como DAM en dicho equipo). Después de reelaborar la propuesta inicial se llevó a cabo la experimentación del PEI sistematizado, con una muestra de 9 menores, que se encontraban en diferentes fases del seguimiento (inicial, intermedia y final).De la aplicación del programa de intervención se llevó a cabo una interpretación cualitativa con la finalidad de analizar los diferentes componentes del PEI.El estudio tiene la intención de ofrecer tanto reflexiones y tendencias como propuestas concretas que permitan una operatividad, una toma de decisiones sobre el diseño del PEI. / This research wants to be a reflexion on didactic intervention that, in the field of the processes of social integration, has been developed in recent years in our country, with special reference to Catalonia. This intervention tries to realize changes in the social reality, orientated to improve the living conditions and the welfare of the citizens. We have focused on the intervention that is carried out with children and adolescents.In its beginnings, the treatment of the minors was based on a charitable-welfare model. When they presented a problematic situation, the solution was their internment and, therefore, the separation from their family environment. This ideology has dominated in Spain for long time ago, and it is a protective and corrective way to treat the social problem of the minors. However, instead of promote their social integration, in many cases their conditions of marginalization were deteriorating. In the last years we have changed from a paternalistic vision to a model of social action. This new perspective is framed inside the Welfare State and tries to resolve the needs of children with the development of a services network: social services for primary care, social specializing services, schools of special action, special education schools,... These actions are carried out by the Administration to help to integrate the young into their social and educational reality. The legal action on the minors who have committed a criminal fact has evolved from a protective model (where the intervention was focused on the monitoring and control) to an educational model (where the therapeutic character of the interventions and the minor needs has a great importance, being less relevant the committed crime) and, finally, arriving to a responsibility model, characterized by:· the social responsibility of the young and the need to compensate the victims and the society, without neglecting the educational character of the penal response;· it is necessary to establish a minority and a penal adult age.The fieldwork of this investigation focuses on the area of social and educational intervention with minors (aged between 12 and 16 years), in an open way (in the natural environment of the minor), who have committed an offence typified by the Penal Code. The purpose and usefulness of this research lies in the design of an educational individualized program (EIP). The fundamental objective of this program is to develop a technical tool (theoretical and methodologically) that provides coherence and systematizes the intervention, and allows us to evaluate the different elements of the program.The initial offer of elements of the IEP was contrasted by the team of DAMs (Delegates of Assistance to the Minor) from the Open Environment Service of the Territorial Section of the Juvenile Justice in Tarragona. We chose them because they are our more nearby reality and for being acquainted with this context (for 4 years, from 1986 to 1990, I was employed as DAM at the above mentioned team). After re-elaborating the initial offer of EIP, the systematized experimentation was carried out with a sample of 9 minors, who were in different phases of follow-up (initial, intermediate and final).The application of this program of intervention allows us to realize a qualitative interpretation and analyze the different components of the EIP. This research has the intention of offering both reflections and trends and, finally, to do the concrete proposals that should allow to improve the design of the EIP.

Effect of socio-cultural environment to the life stile of adolescents The purpose of this survey is to reveal the relation between the socio-cultural environment of adolescents and their life stile. In the process of writing this paper the following targets were announced: 1. To analyse and summarize scientific literature which analyses the issues of life stile. 2. In the form of questionnaire survey to study the peculiarities of life stile of the adolescents, who live in town and in the country and who belong to different social classes. The survey was carried out in the town of Šiauliai and its region in 2004. 166 respondents of grades 9-10 from secondary and basic schools of Šiauliai and its region took part in the survey. The data of the survey revealed that the main factors affecting the life stile of adolescents are the place of residence and social stratification of the family. The influence of the above-mentioned factors was revealed in accordance to four components: values, relations with parents, relations with adolescents of the same age and free time. Moreover, the survey showed the contrast among the town and countryside adolescents from economically strong and weak families. The adolescents who live in town value friends (x = 3,62) and health (x = 4,13) more, whereas the adolescents who live in the country value their parents (x = 3,49). These values are also preferred by the adolescents from economically strong families. The adolescents, who live in the... [to full text]

This research examined changes in culture and agriculture in the rural community of Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, with a specific interest in understanding and contextualizing (re)localization initiatives. The study employed key-informant interviews with 23 members of the agricultural community to develop a narrative of socio-agricultural transition, which was used to launch discussion on the role of agriculture during a public forum in Tatamagouche. The creamery was found to have played a central role in the community’s history, and its gradual decline coincided with the growing disuse of farmland in the area. New communities of farmers moved onto available farmland in Tatamagouche. Today, current ‘civic’ agriculture initiatives include CSAs, a local currency system, a farmers market, and a community land trust. The challenges and opportunities in the revived local agriculture community are discussed, and policy recommendations to support community-scale sustainable food systems are offered based on findings in Tatamagouche.

Local and federal governments, public school boards, and higher education institutions have been promoting online courses in their commitment to accommodating public needs, widening access to materials, sharing intellectual resources, and reducing costs. However, researchers of education needs to consider the often ignored yet important issue of equity since disregarding the issue of inequity in online education may create suboptimal consequences for students. This dissertation work, therefore, investigates the issues of social justice and equity in online education. I argue that equity is situated between the tensions of various social structures in a broader cultural context and can be thought of as a fair distribution of opportunities to participate. This understanding is built upon the idea that individuals have different values, goals, and interests; nevertheless, the online learning context may not provide fair opportunities for individuals to follow their own learning trajectories. Particularly, online learning environments can reproduce inequitable learning conditions when the context requires certain individuals to assimilate mainstream beliefs and values at the expense of their own identities. Since identifications have certain social and political consequences by enabling or constraining individuals’ access to educational resources, individuals may try to be identified in line with culturally-hegemonic perspectives in order to gain or secure their access to educational resources or to legitimize their learning experiences. In this interview study, I conceptualize online courses within their broader socio-historical context and analyze how macro-level social structures, namely the concept of whiteness, can reproduce inequity in micro-level online learning practices. By questioning who has control over the conditions for the production of knowledge, values, and identification, I investigate how socially accepted bodies of thoughts, beliefs, values, and feelings that give meaning to individuals’ daily-practices may create inequitable learning conditions in day-to-day online learning practices. In specific, I analyze how those who are identified as non-White experience “double-bind” with respect to stereotypification on one hand, anonymity on the other. Building on this analysis, I illustrate how those who are identified as non-White have to constantly negotiate their legitimacy and right to be in the online environment.

Socio-cultural activity theory (SCAT) was used to examine the nature of collaborative working in a case study of school-based occupational therapy (SBOT) in Ontario. Collaborative consultation has been widely adopted in SBOT practice. However, we know little about the impact of collaboration for students and lack understanding about how the organization of SBOT service contributes to collaborative working among educators and occupational therapists. Grounded in theoretical understanding about the distributed nature of group learning, SCAT was used as a conceptual and analytical tool in this study to describe SBOT collaborative consultation from multiple stakeholder perspectives. The research took place in two phases. Phase One involved case study research to describe SBOT for three students with disabilities from multiple stakeholder perspectives. Data were gathered using a combination of observation, document analysis, and interviews involving participants directly involved in the delivery of SBOT with each focal participant. SCAT provided a framework for describing the nature of joint effort. Dilemmas emerging from incongruence between elements in the activity system were identified and described. Common characteristics in two cases enabled cross-case analysis to also identify features of collaborative working that facilitated educational programming and outcomes for students with developmental disability. In Phase Two, program administrators participated alongside service recipients and service providers in a series of focused discussion workshops to reflect on case study findings and prioritize areas for program improvement. Developmental Work Research (Engeström, 2000) and Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider, Whitney, & Stavros, 2003) methods were used within a participatory action research approach to facilitate organizational learning among stakeholders. Engagement of stakeholders supported program administrators in critically examining decision-making for the delivery of SBOT service in the region studied. Combining practice-driven dilemmas with conceptual tools of analysis enabled a multiple-perspective understanding about the social, cultural, and historical work practices that have influenced collaborative interactions in SBOT practice and led to the development of principles for improving how work is shared. Program administrators used their shared understanding to propose a new model for delivering SBOT services. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-28 21:31:58.308

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<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">The aims of the study were to: (1) explore the education support services required by three learners who were integrated into the mainstream, (2) determine the level of support required by these learners to function maximally in the mainstream, (3) specifically explore the socioemotional ability of these learners to adjust to the mainstream setting. Three cases were explored within an eco-systemic approach. Each case consisted of a learner with a physical disability, the learner&rsquo / s mother and the educator/s who first taught the learner at the mainstream school. Interviews were conducted with all of the participants and subsequently transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was then conducted to extract themes from the transcriptions.</p> </font></p>

Den svenska regeringen med handelsministern i spetsen lanserade år 2010 en vision om att fördubbla Sveriges export fram till år 2015. Visionen omfattade bland annat att öka exporten från små svenska företag. Exporten från svenska företag har trots regeringens satsning med bland annat olika exportfrämjande projekt inte ökat. För att utreda varför regeringen inte lyckats i sin satsning har vi studerat ett av regeringens exportfrämjande projekt Innovative Sweden som drivits av Svenska Institutet under perioden 2011 till 2013. Studien är analyserad dels ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv, genom att utvärdera resultatet av tre företags medverkan i främjandeprojektet, och dels utifrån ett nätverksperspektiv; hur projektet påverkat företagen i deras etablering av utländska affärsrelationer för potentiell export.Syftet med uppsatsen är att ur ett nätverksperspektiv utreda huruvida främjandeprojektet bidragit till exportstöd eller inte för de svenska företagen. Som verktyg har vi analyserat företagens resultat utifrån faktorer som kan påverka företags internationella etablering av affärsrelationer hämtade från teorier inom nätverk vid internationalisering. Det empiriska materialet analyserades sedan utifrån det teoretiska ramverket.Undersökningen visar att ett politiskt främjandeprojekt kan fungera som stöd i företags sökande efter etablering av utländska affärsrelationer och export. Två av tre företag fick kontakt med relevanta affärsaktörer, varav ett fick igenom affärer för export. Utifrån den teorietiska modellen gynnades företagen av främjandeprojektet genom att de erhöll ett ökat förtroende från närvarande intressenter och det skapades möjligheter till export och internationella affärskontakter.

The relationship between protected areas and the surrounding communities is important in enhancing the success of both parties. The aim of this study was to examine the socio-economic impacts of tourism on poor rural communities adjacent to the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park with specific reference to Mpembeni community. Triangulation (a multi method approach) was used to find out attitudes and perceptions of the communities towards tourists, resources within the park as well as the role of communities in the development and promotion of tourism in the park. The study of the Mpembeni Community adjacent to the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park (HUP) shows that this community benefits in various ways. Accessibility to natural resources such as meat, grass, firewood and water was cited as one of the benefits. Participation in the operation and management of the park was yet another benefit that was identified. In addition, the results show that a range of opportunities for positive interactions with park's management/staff include job opportunities, good working relations and joint problem solving. Tourism development as a benefit was revealed through two specified areas namely interaction with the tourists as well as the desire to have more tourists visiting the community and the establishment of other tourist facilities in the community. The respondents also cited opportunities for tourism and related incomes, which involve the sale of handicraft products, job opportunities and cultural activities. Furthermore, education/ training programmes particularly children wildlife camps, capacity building and the training of tour community guides were also cited. In addition, natural resource management including the establishment of the Community Conservation Game Reserve (CCGR) and participation in decision-making were also identified as speci fic benefits. The socio-economic impacts in all the identified specified areas except with participation in the management of the park where local communities are not fully involved were positive. This suggests that there is a need to involve local communities in the operation and management of the park as well as other community-based tourism ventures in order to uplift their standards of living. KEY TERMS: socio-economic. impacts, tourism, poor rural communities / Theses (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.