A few studies have attempted to examine whether children’s low self-esteem is partially explained by being relatively younger than their peers. In the present study this relative age effect on self-esteem is hypothesized to be mediated by children’s relationships to their teachers and the children’s performance in school. This study is based on nationally representative data from the Korean Youth Panel Survey. A total of 2,844 Korean fourth graders (M age = 9.86, SD = 0.35; 53.6% male) self reported their self-esteem, student-teacher relationships and academic achievement. Structural equation modeling revealed that both student-teacher relationships and academic achievement served as significant mediators in the relative age effect on self-esteem, even after family socioeconomic status was controlled for. The older children in the classroom formed higher quality student-teacher relationships and performed better in school, thereby ending up with higher self-esteem relative to their peers. These results may be used as guidance when creating intervention programs aiming to improve children’s SE and prevent negative development. / Ett par studier har undersökt om barns låga självkänsla delvis förklaras av att vara relativt yngre än sina klasskamrater. I denna studie antas barns relationer till sina lärare samt barns prestationer i skolan vara medierande faktorer för den beskrivna effekten av relativ ålder på barns självkänsla. Studien använder nationellt representativt data från Korean Youth Panel Survey. Sammanlagt 2,844 koreanska fjärdeklassare (M ålder = 9,86, SD = 0,35; 53,6% pojkar) skattade sin självkänsla, deras relationer till lärare och deras prestation i skolan. Strukturell ekvationsmodellering visade att både relationer till lärare och prestation i skolan var signifikanta medierande faktorer för effekten av relativ ålder på barns självkänsla. Detta även när familjens socioekonomiska status kontrollerats för. De relativt äldre barnen byggde relationer av högre kvalitet med sina lärare samt presterade bättre i skolan och fick därmed högre självkänsla än deras klasskamrater. Dessa resultat kan användas som vägledning när program med syfte att förbättra barns självkänsla samt förhindra negativ utveckling ska utformas.

The recognised benefits of social capital have resulted in a focus on ways to provide support to families within their context or community. At the same time there has been an emphasis on the interplay between environment and experiences in the early years of life and long term physical, neurological, psychosocial and emotional/behavioural developments for humans. Coincidentally the use of out of home care for young children has expanded rapidly. These issues have resulted in a call to reconceptualise the role of early childhood services as a nexus of the community. Researchers are increasingly referring to early childhood services as hubs from which multi-sectoral supports can be developed and delivered. This thesis reviews the current literature about the importance of the early years; the experiences within the early childhood service; the renewed focus on supports for families; and the role of early childhood services as community hubs. Despite a growing body of literature about early childhood services as community hubs and as the basis for developing relationships with families, it was found that there is a dearth of information about the ways in which families and early childhood staff interface in defining what constitutes ‘quality’ within services. Indeed it is shown that the voices of families are rarely, if ever, taken into account in the development of curriculum and assessment practices in early childhood services. Subsequently the supports that could assist staff in undertaking meaningful connections with families are not prominent in the current literature. This thesis addresses this gap in the knowledge base about early childhood service delivery. A sociocultural approach is used to investigate the level of shared perspectives, meaningful participation and other forms of meaning making between a small sample of families in diverse situations and their early childhood service. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are applied in the analyses of how early childhood services enhance or inhibit connectivity for families with preschool-aged children. In Phase One, an in-depth study of three families with diverse situations in one urban centre of Australia (An Aboriginal1 family; a culturally and linguistically diverse family; and a family wherein the father has a physical illness) is conducted. Data collection methods involve purposeful sampling, video taping, semi-structured and structured interviews and non participant observations in both the home and early childhood setting. Findings from Phase One identify six continua of issues, reported by parents to be meaningful in terms of experiences for their children. In Phase Two these findings are incorporated into a questionnaire entitled “Experiences that are valued in the early childhood service”. The questionnaire is administered to staff and families in diverse socio economic and geographical regions in order to test for generalisability of the original findings. This thesis indicates that the role of early childhood services as community and family support services is not well articulated nor well understood by staff or families. The findings from the study include: 1. Rather than supporting families, some forms of information dissemination from early childhood services actually increase pressure on families. 2. Staff and families have differing perceptions about the frequency of communication and the experiences occurring in the early childhood service. Families report that the experiences they value highly are not valued by the service. 3. Despite a strong emphasis on a multicultural approach to early childhood service delivery, not all families value this notion. Rather, families want early childhood services to ‘teach and reflect’ the dominant cultural ways of knowing and learning because this is associated with school success. 1 The researcher uses the term Aboriginal not Indigenous throughout the thesis as this as this is the main term the family used to identify themselves. 4. Some common and widely used measures assessing quality early childhood services do not include measures associated with family and community support. This thesis concludes with a set of recommendations for service delivery and policy decision makers. These focus on the need to embrace a ‘fifth discourse’ for early childhood services – one which defines the sector as the vehicle for providing safe ‘meeting places’ where families and staff participate in meaningful ways that result in true support for the complex role of parenting. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

School Performance Review and Development (SPRAD) was a major innovation in school evaluation in the Australian Capital Territory. One of its aims was to encourage teachers and parents to work together in evaluating and developing policy across all areas of school life: Administration and Management, Finances, Curriculum and Assessment, Staff and Student Welfare and overall School Climate. SPRAD is different from other forms of school review in that it is system-initiated but kept under the control of the participants. The ACT Department of Education and Training supplies the resourcing and consultative assistance. One of the hopes for SPRAD was that, in bringing teachers and parents closer together, it would create a greater understanding of where each group stood in relation to the other and strengthen parent/teacher relationships. The focus areas for this study were parent participation in classroom and related activities, the various channels of information employed within the school such as school newsletters, reports and interviews, specific notices and letters relaying matters peculiar to class groups and school sectors, parent/teacher information-sharing sessions, parent/teacher involvement in board and P & C activities, and other forms of formal and informal contact. The study highlights the differences and similarities between teachers and parents in relation to "professionalism" and "partnership", and areas of conflict highlighted by Beacham & Hoadley (1979) who discuss the Fortress Model of Schooling, and Darland (lanni et al: 1975) who writes of the "anyone can teach attitude" displayed by many members of the public, i.e. the attitude that because all people have had some experience of schooling, then their opinions on education carry as much weight as those of the professionals; the feeling that what was good for them is good for their children, because they have "been there, done that" and teachers do not really know very much more than they (the public) do. SPRAD was seen to be a helpful factor in developing some aspects of parent/teacher relationships. Satisfaction with parent participation in classroom activities had increased overall despite some drops in actual parent presence at the activities because of the movement of children into the Senior areas of the school. Another example was the lessening of the degree of dissatisfaction with teachers' professional development programmes, especially pupil-free school development days.

Graduation date: 1996

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2005. / Bibliography: leaves 34-35.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2005. / Principal faculty advisor: Bahira Sherif-Trask, Individual & Family Studies. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Leaf 100 blank. 41 unnumbered leaves in Appendix between leaf 103-106. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-99). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Leaf 100 blank. 41 unnumbered leaves in Appendix between leaf 103-106. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-99). Also available on the Internet.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (MTech. degree in Education.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2009. / The improvement of the teaching-learning process in schools is enhanced by the involvement of parents in their children's learning. Parental involvement has the capacity to create a partnership between the most important role players in the education system, namely; teachers, parents and learners. According to this approach, parents are the most effective and reliable individuals who play a significant part in their children's education. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature of parental involvement in the education of learners in the Vhuronga II Circuit.