Since the advent of democracy in 1994 South Africa has been faced with the shortage of skilled people and this is caused, amongst other things, by the inadequacy of the outdated National Education Programmes for Technical Colleges (NATED) and later referred to as the N-programmes. To address the problem, the former Department of Education (DoE) developed new programmes called the National Certificate Vocational NC (V) for the students of the Further Education and Training colleges (FETs), which were renamed the Technical Vocational Educational and Training Colleges (TVET). The TVET programmes were implemented with the collaboration of industry and other stakeholders who were involved when the NC (V) programmes were developed to ensure their buy-in. Despite all these efforts, Magnus et al. (2013) are of the view that the vocationally-oriented NC (V) programmes offered at colleges are not useful, work-focused and flexible, as a result some leading employers reject the products of the programmes. Returning to the global debate, Lewis (2009) contends that failure of vocational programmes anywhere ought not to be taken as an indictment of vocationalism. Based on the above scenario, this study surveyed and traced TVET graduates who graduated from 2009 to 2012, to determine the impact of the NC (V) programme on those who decided to either further their studies or be employed. Although the programmes offered by the FET’s are rolled out in various study fields throughout the country, the research was limited to graduates who were enrolled in the following three programmes in the North West Province: building construction, electrical, and engineering related studies. The three mega FET Colleges, composed of more than ten campuses as listed in point 1.2.1, are spread throughout the province, which is regarded to be predominantly rural even though it boasts the biggest hub of mines, especially platinum mines. There is also high concentration of tourism industry as well as agricultural businesses that require a skilled labour force to drive economic activities. An extensive literature review was conducted to appropriately inform the study and to provide a firm basis for the arguments. The NC (V) programmes by their nature and design are closely related to the work of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) with respect to the apprenticeships and the learnerships. Factors relating to the research scope, context and the geographical environment were analysed to ensure proper delineation and delimitation of the study since it covered only the North West Province of South Africa. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies for the collection of data. An interview schedule was used for the collection of the qualitative data from the Colleges, Department of Higher Education and Training, the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), the Universities of Technologies (UoTs), and the various employer organizations. The questionnaire was applied to collect quantitative data from the graduates because of their large numbers. The use of both methods, the qualitative and quantitative, enhanced the quality of the verification and the validation of the data. The correlational relationship and connection between the NC (V) graduates and their post college destinations was determined. This refers to the correlation between NC (V) graduates and the opportunities seized after their college studies. Charles (1998:11) attests that “although in most cases data for correlation studies are obtained through measurement, at times they come from judgments made by researchers, teachers, or other qualified persons”. In line with this, the researcher presented the findings from the qualitative method in a manner that outlines the opinions and the post college status of the graduates. The findings of the qualitative method provided background knowledge into the NC (V) programmes, the graduates and their destinations, thereby validating the quantitative findings. A work integrated learning framework model is proposed for the enhancement of the FET College curriculum, for the improvement of quality work-placement and for the promotion of partnership amongst the beneficiaries; graduates, employers, colleges and the intermediaries. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

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Submitted by Rafael Santana (rafael.silvasantana@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-18T18:07:31Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Izabele Soares - CD.pdf: 1177191 bytes, checksum: 801de67760e498546e02ee3719d0be6c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-18T18:07:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Izabele Soares - CD.pdf: 1177191 bytes, checksum: 801de67760e498546e02ee3719d0be6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-20 / A trajetória da Educação Superior no Brasil é caracterizada por intervenções do Estado, que, por sua vez, provocam avanços e retrocessos no sistema nacional da Educação Superior. Nesse sentido, as políticas de avaliação como variáveis integrantes desse sistema, desde a graduação até os exames de larga escala, a exemplo do Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes (ENADE), têm sido elementos condutores dessas mudanças. Desta forma, é relevante o foco nas práticas avaliativas como elementos constituintes do sistema educacional, uma vez que permitem melhorias no processo de ensino quando utilizadas com objetivo claro e adequado para a formação genuína dos educandos. Este trabalho busca, portanto, compreender quais os impactos do ENADE, na forma como hoje é aplicado, nas práticas de avaliação e ensino dos cursos de graduação em Administração das Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) do Grande Recife/PE. Para tanto, vê-se na introdução uma contextualização das transformações da Educação Superior do Brasil atrelada à avaliação e com foco no maior curso de graduação do país, o de Administração. A fundamentação teórica faz um resgate da expansão da Educação Superior brasileira e, consequentemente, do rigor que emerge através desse aumento da dimensão quantitativa. Com base no rigor descrito, é introduzido como tema o sistema de avaliação vigente para este nível de ensino chegando ao instrumento ENADE. Em seguida, é discutida a relevância do processo de avaliação conectado ao ensino como elemento constituinte para uma formação mais significativa e duradoura. Assim sendo, adota-se como abordagem metodológica a pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva e exploratória. O locus da pesquisa são as IES do Grande Recife/PE com curso de graduação em Administração. O corpus, por sua vez, é composto por arquivos de entrevistas semiestruturadas com professores e coordenadores dos cursos de Administração das IES do Grande Recife/PE. A análise dos resultados aborda as condições contextuais que impactam no nível de alinhamento entre as práticas de avaliação e ensino das IES com o ENADE e os impactos do Exame Nacional nessas práticas dos cursos da referida região. Por fim, conclui-se que o impacto do Enade, no que tange às práticas de avaliação e ensino dos cursos de graduação em Administração no Grande Recife/PE, foi pouco significativo, uma vez que apenas nas IES de dependência privada, foram percebidas melhorias nos aspectos estruturais dos instrumentos de avaliação aplicados no período da graduação, com foco nas turmas enadistas e que, diante da demanda por aperfeiçoamento sobre avaliar e ensinar, emerge uma preocupação emergencial por parte dessas IES na tentativa de alcançar resultados mais satisfatórios no ENADE. Nos cursos das IES de dependência administrativa pública, não foi verificado nenhum impacto significativo nas práticas de avaliação e ensino relacionadas ao ENADE. / The path of Higher Education in Brazil is characterized by State intervention, which causes both advances and setbacks in the National Higher Education System. In this sense, evaluation policies, as variables of this system, have been responsible for promoting these changes, from undergraduate courses to large scale national exams, such as the National Exam for the Assessment of Students’ Performance (in Portuguese, ENADE). Thus, it is relevant to focus on the evaluative practices as building elements of the educational system, since they allow improvement in the teaching process, provided they are used with clear and appropriate objectives to the genuine education of students. This work aims at understanding the impacts of ENADE in the evaluative and teaching practices in Business Administration undergraduate courses at Institutions of Higher Education in the Metropolitan Region of Recife/PE (Great Recife), considering the way the exam is currently applied. Hence, in the introduction of this work the transformations in Higher Education in Brazil are contextualized and related to the evaluation, focusing on the largest undergraduate course in the country, Business Administration. The theoretical foundation reviews the expansion of Brazilian Higher Education, and consequently of the rigor that raises from this increase in the quantitative dimension. Based on the described rigor, the current evaluative system for this level of higher learning is introduced, finally leading to the instrument named ENADE. Then the work discusses the relevance of the evaluation process which is linked to teaching as a building element for a more meaningful and lasting education. Therefore, qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research are adopted as the methodological approach. The loci of this research are the Higher Education Institutes which offer Business Administration undergraduate courses in Great Recife/PE. The corpus, on its turn, consists of files from semistructured interviews with professors and coordinators from Business Administration courses in Higher Education Institutes in Great Recife. The data analysis addresses the contextual conditions which impact the level of alignment between the evaluative and teaching practices from the Higher Education Institutes with ENADE and the impacts of the National Exam in these practices in the mentioned courses in the region. Finally, it was possible to conclude that the impact of Enade on the evaluation and teaching practices in Business Administration undergraduate courses in the Great Recife/PE was insignificant, since only in private institutions of higher learning were improvements noted in the structural aspects of assessment tools applied in the undergraduate period, with an emphasis on classes which are about to take ENADE. Given the demand for improvement in assessing and teaching, a critical concern emerges in these Institutes of Higher Learning in an attempt to achieve more satisfactory results in ENADE. In the course of essentially public Institutes of Higher Learning it was not possible to observe any significant impact on the assessment and teaching practices which are related to the National Exam ENADE.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:00:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao renato sardinha.pdf: 1137669 bytes, checksum: ac264cd943b48c9db2f34aa7bea4c4f7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-19 / The investigation presented here is based on the scoop of the Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics, from the Post-Graduation program in Education in Science and Mathematics, from the Federal University of Goiás and its main goal is to study a group of second-year students from the Administration Course, evening-course, from a private college, located in Goiânia, state of Goiás, Brazil. This study relates to the Learning of Mathematics applied to administration, to Internet usage and to a free virtual learning ambience which is used as a support to face-to-face teaching - the TelEduc. Besides, the contribution given by the students presently called Monitors of applied Mathematics, Applied Mathematics: virtual resources, offered on the TelEduc ambience were also studied. Throughout the pages on this dissertation, there is a feedback , a kind of descriptive memorial of the academic life of the researcher, exploring his initial contacts with the Mathematics Learning Process and also his contacts with Educational Technology. Lately, the choice of this work methodology is justified, inspired by the principle of the utility for the research reflection, in Edgard Morin. In order to offer theoretical support, the methodology of ethnographic type research was adopted, because as Marli Eliza D. A. de André contemplates, it differs from the simple ethnographic research, although it considers its observation characteristics such as gathering, register and data analysis. To offer guidance to the present research, three questions were asked initially: a) Can students who belong to lower socio-economical and intellectual levels interact satisfactorily on virtual ambiences, contributing to the autonomous and meaningful Mathematics learning? b) How do students from the research group react to the use of a virtual ambience of learning as a support to the face-to-face teaching (TelEduc) on Applied Mathematics? c) Can students with more abilities and involvement on the subject studied, so called Monitors of Applied Mathematics, contribute to the learning process of their peers, using the virtual ambience of learning, through the teacher orientation? The main objective of this research is to understand how students from different social levels and different age limits can interact in a Virtual Ambience of Learning in the Applied Mathematics studies and which implications from this movement can be applied to the classroom. The bibliographic revision developed, the observation, gathering and analysis of data, present to us the importance of the students involvement in the process of the construction of their own learning, in an autonomous and intense format, in face-to-face learning or in a virtual ambience. Also, in order to achieve social transformation through distant teaching and learning as a support to face-to-face teaching; the elements mentioned reveal to us that we should not try to do something new using old conceptions; which means that it is not sufficient to include sophisticated technology such as the Internet and its devices if conservative approaches (centered on the content and the teacher) are still used / A investigação aqui apresentada insere-se na linha de pesquisa Ensino e Aprendizagem de Ciências e Matemática, do Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação em Ciências e Matemática, da Pró-reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação PRPPG, da Universidade Federal de Goiás, e teve por objetivo estudar um grupo de alunos do 2º Período do Curso de Administração de Empresas, noturno, de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior privada, situada no município de Goiânia-GO. Esse estudo diz respeito à aprendizagem da Matemática Aplicada à Administração, ao uso da Internet e de um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem gratuito, utilizado como apoio ao ensino presencial, o TelEduc. Além disso, também foi estudada a contribuição dada por alunos denominados Monitores de Matemática Aplicada, que cooperaram espontaneamente com os seus pares, a partir de um curso denominado Matemática Aplicada: recursos virtuais, oferecido no ambiente do TelEduc. Nas páginas da presente dissertação, inicialmente, é feito um resgate, em uma espécie de memorial descritivo, da trajetória de vida e acadêmica do pesquisador, demonstrando os seus contatos iniciais com a Educação Matemática e também com as Tecnologias na Educação. Posteriormente, justifica-se a escolha da metodologia de trabalho, inspirada no princípio da utilidade para a reflexão da pesquisa, conforme sugere Edgard Morin. Para auxiliar teoricamente o presente trabalho, foi adotada a metodologia da pesquisa do tipo etnográfico que, conforme reflete Marli Eliza D. A. de André, difere-se da pesquisa etnográfica propriamente dita, embora se utilize dos seus dispositivos de observação, coleta, registro e análise de dados. Para orientar os trabalhos da presente pesquisa, três perguntas foram feitas inicialmente: a) estudantes com desníveis sócio-econômicos e intelectuais conseguem interagir satisfatoriamente nos ambientes virtuais, contribuindo para a aprendizagem autônoma e significativa da Matemática? b) como os estudantes do grupo pesquisado reagem ao uso de um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem usado como apoio ao ensino presencial (TelEduc) no estudo da Matemática Aplicada? c) alunos com mais habilidades e envolvimento na disciplina estudada, denominados Monitores de Matemática Aplicada, podem contribuir com a aprendizagem dos seus pares, utilizando o Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem, sob a orientação do professor? O objetivo geral da presente pesquisa é buscar compreender como os alunos pertencentes a classes sociais distintas, e com faixa etária diversificada, interagem em um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem no estudo da Matemática Aplicada e quais as implicações desse movimento para o trabalho na sala de aula. A revisão bibliográfica que foi realizada, o trabalho de observação, a coleta e a análise dos dados nos apontam a importância do envolvimento dos alunos no processo de construção da sua aprendizagem, de forma autônoma e intensa, seja no ambiente presencial ou no virtual. Ainda, nos mostram que não se deve tentar fazer o novo utilizando as concepções do velho , ou seja, não basta apenas a inclusão de sofisticadas tecnologias, como a Internet e os seus suportes, e mantidas as práticas pedagógicas conservadoras (centradas no conteúdo e no professor) para que a educação a distância, mesmo como apoio ao ensino presencial, tenha o seu importante efeito de transformação social alcançado

Abstract The objectives of this study are to describe and analyse upper secondary school teachers’ views on education and teaching directed at drug use prevention. The aims of the study are to identify the different ways in which teachers perceive drug prevention in upper secondary school education, as well as to examine different meanings given to different perceptions and the variation of such perceptions in order to give a holistic view on the phenomenon. Drug prevention and the related teaching and education were approached by analysing the teachers’ common understanding on intoxicants, drugs in particular, and their methods of drug use prevention. The approach chosen was the phenomenographic method. Teachers’ views and their characteristics were compiled into clearly separated categories. The data were collected by interviewing the same teachers twice. The interview started with selected key questions and was thus semi-structured in nature. The objective of the interview was to give the teachers an opportunity to present their own views on their own lifeworld. The analysis of empirical data focussed on the variation in the ways teachers experience drug prevention. The teachers’ views were studied by means of direct and indirect intentionality, and the critical aspects of their view as well as the knowledge contained in them were examined. The study includes descriptions on the teachers’ knowledge on the issue and content of their drug prevention methods collected by means of ‘what’ questions. ‘How’ questions were used to obtain information on their actions and behaviour as teachers and educators. The study is based on the variation theory in the context of upper secondary school. The study creates several concept categories and explicitly describes their meanings. The meanings related to the critical aspects of different concept categories on drug prevention teaching and education open new horizons and provide teachers with tools for comparing different concepts and creating new links to the world. The study created tools for changing one’s opinions and extending one’s horizons, which in turn permits qualitative changes in one’s perceptions. The tools can be used and finalised in practical drug use prevention teaching and education. The study gives us a more profound understanding of the upper secondary school teachers’ views on drug prevention in teaching and education. It also provides us with better understanding of, and commitment in, phenomenographic research and qualitative change in drug prevention teaching and education. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksessa kuvataan ja analysoidaan lukion opettajien käsityksiä ehkäisevästä huumetyöstä ja siihen liittyvästä koulukasvatuksesta ja opetuksesta. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tunnistaa opettajien erilaisia tapoja ymmärtää ilmiö ja paljastaa käsityksiin liittyvät merkitykset sekä kuvata käsitysten vaihtelut kokonaiskuvan muodostamiseksi ilmiöstä. Ehkäisevää huumetyötä ja siihen suuntautuvaa opetus- ja kasvatustoimintaa lähestyttiin mm. tutkimalla opettajien arkiymmärrystä päihteistä ja heidän tapojaan toteuttaa ehkäisevää huumetyötä. Tutkittavaa ilmiötä lähestyttiin fenomenografisen metodin kautta. Käsitykset ja niiden ominaispiirteet tiivistettiin selkeästi toisistaan erottuviin käsitystyyppeihin. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla lukion opettajia kaksi kertaa. Samat opettajat osallistuivat molempiin haastatteluihin. Haastattelun alussa käytettiin avainkysymyksiä, jolloin siinä oli piirteitä puolistrukturoidusta haastattelusta. Haastattelutilanteessa oli tavoitteena, että opettajat voisivat esittää omaa ajatteluaan omasta elämismaailmastaan. Empiirisen aineiston analysoinnissa keskityttiin tarkastelemaan ilmiöön liittyviä opettajien käsitysten vaihteluita. Opettajien käsityksiä tutkittiin intentionaalisuuden suoran ja epäsuoran aspektin kautta ja paljastettiin käsitysten kriittiset aspektit ja niihin sisältyvä tieto. Tutkimuksessa on kuvauksia opettajien tietoperustasta, mitä-kysymysten avulla tuotettua sisältötietoa ehkäisevästä huumetyöstä ja miten-kysymysten avulla tuotettua tietoa toiminnasta ja tavasta olla opettajana tai koulukasvattajana. Tutkimuksen taustalla on variaatioteoriaa, johon kontekstin kautta liittyy lukion opetus- ja kasvatustoiminta. Tutkimuksessa tunnistettiin useita käsitystyyppejä ja paljastettiin niihin liittyviä merkityksiä eksplisiittisesti. Käsitystyyppien kriittisiin aspekteihin liittyvät merkitykset ehkäisevän huumetyön opetuksesta ja koulukasvatuksesta avaavat uusia perspektiivejä ja mahdollistavat opettajille käsitysten vertailut ja uusien suhteiden muodostamisen maailmaan. Tutkimus tuotti välineitä käsitysten muutoksiin sekä maailman laajenemiseen mahdollistaen näin osaltaan ajatusten laadullisen muutoksen. Välineitä voidaan käyttää ja jalostaa käytännössä ehkäisevän huumetyön opetus- ja kasvatustyössä. Tämän tutkimuksen myötä ymmärrämme paremmin lukion opettajien erilaisia käsityksiä ehkäisevän huumetyön opetuksesta ja koulukasvatuksesta. Tämän tutkimuksen kautta ymmärrämme myös osaltaan paremmin tavan sitoutua fenomenografiseen tutkimukseen ja laadulliseen muutokseen opetuksessa.

Mondi is an international packaging and paper company that manages over 300 000 ha of land in South Africa. After over a decade of working with Mondi to improve its wetland management, wetland sustainability practices were still not integrated into the broader forestry operations, despite some significant cases of successful wetland rehabilitation. An interventionist research project was therefore conducted to explore the factors inhibiting improved wetland management, and determine if and how expansive social learning processes could strengthen organisational learning and development to overcome these factors. In doing so, the research has investigated how informal adult learning supports organisational change to strengthen wetland and environmental sustainability practices, within a corporate plantation forestry context. How individual and/or group-based learning interactions translate to the collective, at the level of organisational change was a key issue probed in this study. The following three research questions were used to guide the research: 1. What tensions and contradictions exist in wetland management in a plantation forestry company? 2. Can expansive learning begin to address the tensions and contradictions that exist in wetland management in a plantation forestry company, for improved sustainability practices? 3. Can expansive social learning strengthen organisational learning and development, enabling Mondi to improve its wetland sustainability practices, and if so how does it do this? Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the theory of expansive learning provided an epistemological framework for the research. The philosophy of critical realism gave ontological depth to the research, and contributed to a deeper understanding of CHAT and expansive learning. Critical realism was therefore used as a philosophy to underlabour the theoretical framework of the research. However CHAT and expansive learning could not provide the depth of detail required to explain how the expansive learning, organisational social change, and boundary crossings that are necessary for assembling the collective were taking place. Realist social theory (developed out of critical realism by Margaret Archer as an ontologically located theory of how and why social change occurs, or does not) supported the research to do this. The morphogenetic framework was used as a methodology for applying realist social theory. The expansive learning cycle was used as a methodology for applying CHAT and the theory of expansive learning; guiding the development of new knowledge creation required by Mondi staff to identify contradictions and associated tensions inhibiting wetland management, understand their root causes, and develop solutions. Through the expansive learning process, the tensions and contradictions become generative as a tool supporting expansive social learning, rather than as a means to an end where universal consensus was reached on how to circumvent the contradictions. The research was conducted in five phases: • Phase 1: Contextual profiling to identify and describe three activity systems in Mondi responsible for wetland management: 1) siviculture foresters; 2) environmental specialists; 3) community engagement facilitators. The data was generated and analysed through through document analysis, 17 interviews, 2nd generation CHAT analysis, and Critical Realist generative mechanism analysis; • Phase 2: Analysis and identification of tensions and contradictions through a first interventionist workshop. Modelling new solutions to deal with contractions, and examining and testing new models in and after the second interventionist workshop; • Phase 3: Implementing new models as wetland management projects and involved project implementation. This included boundary crossing practices of staff in the three activity systems, reflection and re-view in a further five progress review/interventionist workshops, and a management meeting and seminar; • Phase 4: Reflecting on the expansive learning process, results, and consolidation of changed practices, through nine reflective interviews and field observations; • Phase 5: Morphogenic/stasis analysis of the organisational change and development catalysed via the expansive social learning process (or not). The research found that expansive social learning processes supported organisational learning and development for improved wetland management by: 1) strengthening the scope, depth, and sophistication of participant understanding; 2) expanding the ways staff interact and collaboratively work together; 3) democratising decision making; 4) improving social relations between staff, reducing power differentials, and creating stronger relationships; 5) enhancing participant reflexivity through deeper understanding of social structures and cultural systems, and changing them to support improved wetland and environmental practice of staff, and developing the organisational structures and processes to strengthen organisational learning and development; and 6) using the contradictions identified as generative mechanisms to stimulate and catalyse organisational learning and development for changed wetland/environmental management.

This research is concerned with the assessment of student nurses' practice, implementation of which has been considered problematic since the move of initial training into higher education. It examines clinical nurses' accounts of assessment, and rejects an approach based on identification of competencies as too rationalistic for a situated practice. Insights from, in particular, Foucault, Deleuze, and Derrida were used to analyse practitioners' alternative discourse of practice, and the processes of self-constitution and decision-making. Eighteen practitioners from different settings were interviewed in depth about how they determine acceptable performance. Three participants were interviewed twice to develop ideas arising from the first round of conversations. Practitioners' accounts challenged the conventional understanding of assessment, and the construction of practice implicit in current policy. The analysis suggests a more fluid, un-predetermined understanding, characterised by hesitation and uncertainty, though without losing a concern with safe practice. Several implications for policy and practice are presented. These require a shift of authority towards practitioners' situated judgements and away from predetermined outcomes, both in respect of programme planning and policy guidelines on the specification of standards. A new alliance is proposed to encourage a more authentic engagement with the process from both clinical and educational practitioners.

Attrition in Higher Education continues to present academics, researchers and professionals with an ongoing dilemma. Achieving a fair balance between the academic rigour of meritocracy and the wider access agenda of social inclusion, demands that entrance criteria incorporates measures beyond the traditional prior academic attainment. Emotional Intelligence has been presented in the literature as a valid and reliable predictor of retention and performance in industry and researchers have suggested that similar benefits may be found in education. In this dissertation, the construct of Emotional Intelligence was explored, reviewing contemporary models and their respective measurement tools. A self report tool for measuring ‘trait’ Emotional Intelligence was selected from the review and used to examine the predictive relationship between emotional intelligence and the outcomes at the end of the first year of undergraduate nurse education namely: clinical practice performance; academic performance and course attrition by nursing and midwifery students. The sample group consisted of a cohort of student nurses and midwives (N = 178) who commenced their training in 2007. A significant predictive relationship was found between emotional intelligence and clinical practice performance (r = 0.75, N = 116, p < 0.05); emotional intelligence and academic performance (r = 0.16, N = 168, p < 0.05) and emotional intelligence and attrition (r = 0.31, N = 178, p < 0.05). Age was also found to predict attrition (r = 0.25, N = 178, p < 0.05) while prior academic attainment was found to predict academic performance (r = 0.20, N = 168, p < 0.05). The dissertation proposes the inclusion of measures of emotional intelligence as an aid to recruitment and selection processes in nurse and midwifery education. It also recommends that other practice based vocational programmes, within the higher education sector, consider exploring emotional intelligence in their recruitment and selection processes.

This project addressed the continuing education needs of nursing staff and other health care professionals for delivering competent and compassionate palliative or end of life care. The scope of the project included, writing a grant application, training and certification by the end of life Nursing Education Consortium and implementing an education program for staff at the Loma Linda Veterans Affairs medical center.

The mechanism of how physical education teacher education (PETE) students learn to teach physical education (PE) has been considered as a missing link in a comprehensive curriculum of PETE research. Previous studies found that the PETE students’ acculturation phase has a big impact on the students’ beliefs towards teaching PE as it is referred to as Occupational Socialization Theory (OST). The purpose of this study was to explore how PETE students learn to teach PE based on their experiences being taught PE and coached in a sport and their reflections on their emerging practices whilst taking a course EPHE 452 – Strategies for teaching games, a culminating course in their physical and health education teachable area. The study used two qualitative research methods, autoethnography and participant observation ethnography, within a case study design methodology. Data collection included the case studies’ interviews of three PETE students and the EPHE 452 course observation throughout COVID-19 pandemic in Spring semester in 2021. The findings showed that PETE students carried beliefs from their acculturation phase to their professional phase, while the teacher education program has a positive impact on the PETE students’ beliefs towards teaching PE. Four organizing course themes with sub-themes emerged; insights on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the course becoming a mediating theme. Several effective methods were used to develop PETE students’ abilities to teach PE, such as the online resources, group discussions, the practicum experience and the reading of articles. The COVID-19 pandemic created opportunities and challenges among PETE students who took EPHE 452 course in Spring Semester in 2021 that have led to a rethinking and redevelopment of the EPHE 452 course. / Graduate