The New Zealand Government recognises the importance of supporting all students in their learning to assist them to reach their full potential. This recognition is inclusive of gifted and talented students. Furthermore, boards of trustees, through their principal and staff, are required under the National Administration Guidelines, to demonstrate how they are catering for gifted and talented students. Notwithstanding this requirement, The Education Review Office (2008) report entitled Schools’ Provision for Gifted and Talented Students, confirms that a major challenge for school leadership is sustaining momentum of gifted and talented provisions and programmes. Despite this mandated intent, what happens in practice at the school level remains problematic. Teachers and schools welcomed the Talent Development Initiative (TDI), a Ministry of Education (MOE) Initiative, as it held some promise for developments in gifted and talented education. The first round of the initiative ran between 2003 and 2005 and the second from 2006 to 2008. Funding to support innovation and special developments in gifted education has been provided to 38 programmes nationwide. This initiative serviced some schools and educational bodies but a large number of others were left without an extra layer of support beyond their schools’ leadership actions. This study focuses on the school level, in particular teachers who are given additional responsibility, namely those with a coordination role. Moreover, my thesis is about how work to meet the needs of gifted and talented students can be sustained in schools to ensure the gifted and talented ‘torch’ can continue to ‘burn brightly’ over time. To gain an understanding of coordinators’ insights on what it takes to overcome the problem of sustaining provisions and programmes, this study adopts a qualitative, case study approach. I selected a purposive sample of six teachers with experience working in a gifted and talented coordinator role. The main source of data collection was individual semi-structured interviews (refer to Appendix A). I asked them questions about their role and how provisions were made for gifted and talented students at their schools. Further questions were asked about the support they received for their roles, particularly professional learning and development to enhance their practice. My findings show the responses from participants highlighted the important connection between leadership and learning. Knowledge and passion to do their best for gifted and talented students, although important, was not sufficient. The leadership actions and support provided by others in their setting and beyond their setting were likewise needed. My analysis revealed a range of strategies was deemed necessary to support the leadership of learning in classrooms, specifically the need for dialogue amongst teachers about identification, planning and evaluating provisions and programmes. All too often these gifted and talented coordinators worked alone in their roles, in isolation from others, and at times without the support they needed. Thus the success or failure of provisions and programmes for gifted and talented students rested on their ongoing commitment and drive. My study includes recommendations for practice. These recommendations suggest that provisions for gifted and talented students must be integrated into curriculum delivery and learning areas and be part of schools’ cultures in order for them to take hold and be sustained over time. Furthermore, there is a need to develop clarity of these provisions through job descriptions and for schools to undertake regular if not annual reviews of written documentation to guide ongoing work in gifted and talented education.

During the last several years, a fast growing interest in minimalist chic has been observed among fashion bloggers around the world. Many of them mention being tired of trends, a shift to inner values and a desire for more simplicity as a moving cause. Buying behaviour that is assumed to be sustainable requires a paradigm shift away from unbridled consumerism towards more mindful consumption. Understanding the current minimalist trend is a key to determining if in fact a paradigm shift is taking place, since that would have direct relevance for future fashion business models. This research aims to research and identify the motivations behind the changed way of dressing. It is discussed whether the new aesthetic is an indicator of an actual cultural shift. Finally, real minimalism is differentiated from the phenomenon of “faux-minimalism”. Specific attention is paid to the question whether a more simplistic wardrobe can lead to emotional liberation and increased happiness. 30 fashion blogs associated with minimalist style were observed to gather data that can give insights into the motivating causes for the phenomenon. To answer further questions, eight bloggers were interviewed. The gathered data from both observations and interviews was analysed and showed that the main reasons for minimalist style are both practical as well as emotional. On one hand, the bloggers cited limited space and finite financial resources. On the other hand, they discussed a desire to live a decelerated, simpler, more “authentic” life that prioritizes “being” rather than “having”.

Did you know that in 2008 the largest publicly listed companies in the world caused environmental damage for a total estimated cost of $2.15 trillion, accounting for 35% of total global environmental costs caused by human activity? Or did you know that three million people die every year because of outdoor pollution made by vehicles and factories? Most companies have some sort of environmental policy that aims to reduce waste and pollution, but there are few that aim to become a climate neutral business. Our study has the intention to find out why some companies are willing to do something extra for the environment by voluntary compensate for their emissions through carbon offsets. Previous research has shown that there is a lack of understanding regarding the motivations to reduce emissions and that there is a need for studies to find out motivations for why companies buy voluntary carbon offsets, which leads us to our problem definition: What motivates companies to buy voluntary emission offsets? We developed four sub-purposes that helped us in our journey towards an answer to our research question. These were: identify incentives for emission offsetting, important aspects when evaluating which projects to support, if and how companies are communicating their offsetting activities and whether the possibility of buying emission offsets reduce incentives for companies to decrease their own emissions. Our degree project is written on commission for Respect Climate, a sustainability consultancy that operates in the area of Scandinavia. They help their customers to reduce their emissions, make climate calculations and offset emissions. Our aim with our conclusions of our degree project is to help Respect Climate to market their services to potential customers. As our degree project focuses on underlying motivations behind their customers’ behavior, we have chosen to do a qualitative study. First we implemented two interviews with employees at Respect Climate, which acted as a foundation to our interviews with four of their business customers. Further, we chose to collect communication data from their customers’ annual reports and websites in order to get a third dimension to our study. Our conclusions have shown that the primary motivation for engaging in emission offsetting is doing something good for the environment, but other incentives within the social and economic aspects of the Triple Bottom Line are expressed as well.

Family business research has explored a number of important questions related to the complexity of intra-organizational family-based involvement (Sharma, 2004; Sharma, Hoy, Astrachen & Koiranen, 2007; Debicki, Matherne III, Kellermanns & Chrisman, 2009; Litz, Pearson & Litchfield, 2011), but the possibility of a potential link between the intentions and actions to facilitate or pursue the voluntary sacrifice by the current generation for generations still to come has largely gone unexplored. I seek to further explore how one’s intention and action, or succession strategy, to eventually pass an enterprise on to the next generation of family potentially influences how one manages that enterprise in the present. I conducted the research using a cross-sectional survey of 218 Manitoba family farms in 2011 to 2012. The data was collected in both an on-line and paper format. I have tested my hypotheses in the Manitoba family farm community to confirm a positive relationship between family farm succession strategy and environmental behaviour while controlling for industry specific measures. The proposed moderators of industry context (resource munificence) and familial context (intergenerational affinity) were not significant. The results provide further support to the notion that within the family business context, succession strategy and environmental behaviours are connected to intergenerational beneficence as “the extent to which members of the present generations are willing to sacrifice their own self-interest for the benefit of future others in the absence of economic or material incentives to present actors for doing so” (Wade-Benzoni & Tost, 2009:166).

As the world endures and approaches a string of energy crises, both financially and environmentally, this project aims to critique and challenge society's relationship with energy by provoking individuals to examine their current habits of energy consumption, consider the future implications of these actions, and question their willingness to make sacrifices for a cleaner environment. This is accomplished through the development of a fictional society in the near future in which individuals are required to produce all the electrical energy that they need or desire to consume. Within the daily narrative of a fictional family of five, the details and events of their everyday lives have been extrapolated to create a liminal world where mundane, yet peculiar diegetic prototypes create tense situations, uncomfortable behaviors, and unforeseen consequences. Plot devices manifested include distributed government information in the form of an energy harvesting catalog, product infomercial, energy bill, and a home monitoring brochure. The narrative emphasis and human driven context aspires to foster a new lens of speculation, imagination, and discovery regarding the production and consumption of energy. What if you were required to produce all the energy you desire to consume?

<p> The problem in the nonprofit sector is a macro-economic problem involving implementation of concepts of economies of scale, and overcoming organizational and sector inefficiencies. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that strategic restructuring is an innovative, successful management strategy for a nonprofit organization to maintain sustainability and maximize impact. This research study used three different research methods to demonstrate that idea. The first research method was a quantitative analysis of several different financial ratios using the MANOVA statistical test. The second research method was a qualitative analysis of interviews that the researcher held with 10 different third-party payers. The third research method was an archival analysis of 57 case studies of organizations that have gone through a strategic restructuring process from 2007-2010. This research failed to show conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of structural reorganization in terms of improvement in financial ratios. However, there is a definite perception among funders&rsquo; regarding the strategic restructuring process for nonprofit organizations, as well the case studies provided excellent evidence for what factors contribute to a successful strategic restructuring partnership. Funders do support strategic restructuring and want organizations to engage in this management activity, if the nonprofit organization feels it will further their mission. Given mission-focused leaders, team-oriented, mission-focused organizations, with continued financial support from third party payers, to fund consultants who use the strategic restructuring formula, strategic restructuring can be a tool to maintain sustainability in an economy that constantly challenges the principles of sustainability. </p>

<p> This paper evaluates an organics and recycling program in a large urban school district over a three year period 2010-2013. Student researcher evaluates the effectiveness on organics and recycling via a K-12 program. Is the school district closer to reaching its organics and recycling goals? What are the cost savings to the school district? What are the best practices from other schools in the United States? District waste is compiled over a course of three years and analyzed. An on-line data tracking system was created to evaluate the program. Student creates recommendations for maximizing cost savings to the district and benefits to the environment.</p>

<p> This thesis introduces the question of how to intentionally build a sustainable adventure movement, which is a grassroots effort to intentionally and significantly increase the use of outdoor adventure education as an innovative educational tool for schools, communities and businesses in perpetuity. Taking a whole-systems approach and applying leading social movement and diffusion theories, the Adventure Movement Project (AMP) seeks to develop a framework for integrating outdoor adventure education into whole communities to inspire servant leadership, achieve sustainability, and drive innovation. A socially just and sustainable planet can thrive with outdoor adventure education acting as a highly effective catalyst, which drives social, economic, educational, and environmental change. To that end, this thesis presents original applications of diffusion models and social movement theories to outdoor adventure education. The research used an original Delphi study&mdash;of outdoor adventure education experts&mdash;which explored how to build a sustainable adventure movement. The study aimed to understand ideas related to best practices and successful strategies for expanding outdoor adventure education participation. Findings exemplified for increasing outdoor adventure education include embracing a clear, unified message that establishes why outdoor adventure education matters as a tool, which can lead to achieving sustainability, driving innovation, and inspiring servant leadership. A second key finding calls for outdoor adventure education to be part of something larger and through integration into the larger experiential education and sustainability movements it may reach critical mass.</p><p> <i>Key Words:</i> outdoor adventure education, sustainability, servant leadership, innovation, social movement, experiential education</p>

<p> Managers at automotive manufacturers are seeking ways to reduce energy consumption, costs, carbon emissions, and waste from production processes. Researchers and practitioners perceive energy efficiency as the least expensive and most effective way to deal with issues related to climate change, but adoption of energy efficiency measures has been slow among industrial facilities. The topic of this research study was the decision-making process for energy efficiency projects in the U.S. automotive manufacturing industry. Flaws in this decision-making processes are preventing changes that can dramatically reduce energy usage, cost, and pollution. The study was grounded in the theories of energy management, organizational learning, systems thinking, and strategic management. Data is from open-ended question interviews and questionnaires of 21 decision makers in automotive manufacturing companies in the United States about their perception and experiences regarding the decision-making process for energy efficiency projects. The data were coded to identify themes. The findings indicated that organizational leaders with responsibility over energy management should include energy management standards and frameworks such as ISO 50001, Six Sigma DMAIC, and Energy Star as guidelines for selecting energy efficiency projects. Decision makers may find these results useful in improving their decision-making processes for evaluating energy efficiency projects. This research has the potential to promote positive social change in the automotive industry by reducing energy consumption and business costs, and it could benefit communities by reducing pollution through increasing energy efficiency in the automotive manufacturing industries.</p>

<p> Sustainability educators could benefit from better understanding how the built environment, natural environment, and curricular activities can interface to encourage connections between people and place. My research explores the relationship between these dimensions at the Michael Ritchie Big Barn Center for Environmental Health and Education at the Center for Discovery--an innovative project in place-based education and design for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other disabilities. Specifically, my research addressed the following question: For the occupants of the Big Barn, what is the relative and synergistic importance of (a) the built environment, (b) the natural environment, and (c) the curricular activities and experiences, as they encourage connections between people and place? My research was supported by a range of literature related to place-based education and design, as well as research related to universal design and phenomenological ecology. This literature review shaped my decision to use various research methods, including photo elicitation, surveys, interviews, observations, and document analysis. Using qualitative and quantitative techniques, I identified several important themes, including the relationship between photo content and meaning; the importance of curricular activities and the pedagogical value of the farm; the synergistic relationship between the environment and the activities; the relationship to the broader community; and the potential for staff training. These themes provide insight into the lived experiences of the Big Barn staff and highlight lessons that could potentially inform place-based education more broadly.</p>