With the internationalization of English there is a growing demand for high quality English language education around the globe, particularly in non-English speaking countries. Consequently, there is an increasing demand worldwide for competent English teachers and more effective approaches to teaching and teacher professional development. In Egypt, in a context of educational reform where communicative language teaching approaches have been adopted as a way to improve teaching, this study explores how teachers perceive and respond to this call for change in instructional practices. It examines the professional development experiences of a group of English as a foreign language (EFL) and English-medium subject (EMS) teachers working in the private and public basic educational sectors in Cairo, Egypt. The research questions focus on teachers’ perceptions of change and improvement occurring in their teaching practices, their beliefs on the sources of change available to them, and the perspectives of school principals and professional development providers on teachers’ change prospects. In this study, a multi-method approach was applied, with a teacher survey administered to 174 teachers; in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 36 teachers, 15 principals, and 8 professional development (PD) providers; field observation; and examination of relevant documents and artifacts. The analysis of data is informed by sociocultural theory perspectives (Vygotsky, 1978). The findings indicate that (1) teachers perceive great change in their practices, though their conceptions and implementation of communicative approaches are context-bound, (2) teaching is influenced by various professional learning opportunities, and (3) change or lack thereof results from teachers’ adaptability to their local contextual demands through a process of resistance, resilience, or maintaining the status quo. The findings highlight the centrality of teachers in change processes.They suggest that change results from a process of interaction between teachers and other individuals within their community, and that the nature of change as experienced by the participants is shaped by a multitude of contextual factors. The implications of the study include the need to replace the technical conception of professional development with a more ecological orientation, to establish professional learning communities among teachers and within schools, and to establish a coherent framework for change initiatives.

With the internationalization of English there is a growing demand for high quality English language education around the globe, particularly in non-English speaking countries. Consequently, there is an increasing demand worldwide for competent English teachers and more effective approaches to teaching and teacher professional development. In Egypt, in a context of educational reform where communicative language teaching approaches have been adopted as a way to improve teaching, this study explores how teachers perceive and respond to this call for change in instructional practices. It examines the professional development experiences of a group of English as a foreign language (EFL) and English-medium subject (EMS) teachers working in the private and public basic educational sectors in Cairo, Egypt. The research questions focus on teachers’ perceptions of change and improvement occurring in their teaching practices, their beliefs on the sources of change available to them, and the perspectives of school principals and professional development providers on teachers’ change prospects. In this study, a multi-method approach was applied, with a teacher survey administered to 174 teachers; in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 36 teachers, 15 principals, and 8 professional development (PD) providers; field observation; and examination of relevant documents and artifacts. The analysis of data is informed by sociocultural theory perspectives (Vygotsky, 1978). The findings indicate that (1) teachers perceive great change in their practices, though their conceptions and implementation of communicative approaches are context-bound, (2) teaching is influenced by various professional learning opportunities, and (3) change or lack thereof results from teachers’ adaptability to their local contextual demands through a process of resistance, resilience, or maintaining the status quo. The findings highlight the centrality of teachers in change processes.They suggest that change results from a process of interaction between teachers and other individuals within their community, and that the nature of change as experienced by the participants is shaped by a multitude of contextual factors. The implications of the study include the need to replace the technical conception of professional development with a more ecological orientation, to establish professional learning communities among teachers and within schools, and to establish a coherent framework for change initiatives.

The thesis deals with the organizational changes in connection with availability of resources, mostly subsidies from the EU. It focuses on the changes and processes in civil society organizations, these processes identifies and describes. Based on the theoretical assumption that in civil society organizations certain organizational changes occur as a result of availability of resources. This assumption is based on findings from previous published studies and work. Presented theory are demonstrated using case study.

The thesis deals with the organizational changes in connection with the use of subsidies from the European Union. It focuses on the changes and processes in civil society Organizations, these processes identifies and describes. It also examines which of them can lead to the successful functioning of the organization. Based on the theoretical assumption that in civil society organizations certain organizational changes occur as a result of subsidies from the EU. This assumption is based on findings from previous published studies and work. Presented theory are demonstrated on examples of good practice, using case study.

It is currently popular to study management accounting (MA) from an institutionalist perspective. Such a perspective is premised on that ‘institutions matter’; so that notions of social structure, agency and linkages in between them thus become central. While readings of the institutionally oriented MA-literature reveals interesting and insightful contributions about MA, they also unearth concerns regarding diversity and fragmentation in conceptualization and modelling. Therefore, the purpose of this licentiate thesis is to identify, classify and synthesize how ‘institutions matter’ in extant MA research and, based on this, suggest avenues for future research. To do so, this licentiate thesis entails a review of 34 empirical institutionally oriented MA studies. The findings entail ‘answers’ to 4 particular review questions regarding current (1) Conceptualizations of MA, (2) Overall explanatory models of agency, (3) Social roles of MA and, (4) Sources of MA practice – questions which are all derived from what I refer to as ‘A Basic Model of institutional theorizing (ABM)’. Overall, this review provides maps which are previously not pursued for this literature for the areas of each respective review question. Within such broader achievements, it identifies five ontological approaches to a relationship between social structure and agency instead of the established three. It also adds four social roles of MA previously not discussed for this literature. Finally, it suggests a uniform set of ‘sources of MA practice’ unlike the current literature that typically separates sources of continuity, change, homogeneity or heterogeneity respectively. The thesis concludes with a discussion of key findings and contributions, based on which a number of avenues for future institutionalist conceptualization and modelling of MA are suggested.