Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / While the academic and social success of two-way immersion programs in the public school sector is widely documented, little research has been conducted on how US Catholic school leaders have managed this whole school reform. Through an exploratory case study, the motivations and perceptions of 28 Catholic school administrators and change agents/key informants (including teachers, assistant/vice principals, board members, and consultants) from ten Catholic elementary schools were interviewed regarding the conversion to a dual language immersion model. Findings considered how Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) concept of professional capital and Grace’s (2002; 2010) notion of spiritual capital contributed to the leaders’ capacity to meet the school’s change needs. Most schools began with limited resources and knowledge about the technical aspects of dual language immersion, but made use of key local and national social networks as well as drew upon their own biographies and Catholic vision to increase enrollment and engender professional learning among faculty. Implications for future research and practice include attention to the nuances of academic excellence and the complex language history of Catholic schools. The study concludes with recommendations for Catholic school principals. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

This study explored change in six Victorian secondary colleges some four years into the major school-system change program known as ?????Schools of the Future?????. The purpose of the study was to identify successful models and practices for positive school change by exploring school change from the school level perspective. A focus of the investigation was an organizational development program designed by a North American professor of organization and management in which Victorian school principals were trained as their schools entered the ?????Schools of the Future????? program. The project was guided initially by four major research questions to which six additional research questions were added as the research progressed. The research methodology was qualitative. The data for this investigation were collected in 1997. The main means of gathering them was the in-depth interview of the principals of the six schools in the study and of the four members of staff they nominated as knowledgeable about their school?????s change processes. A follow-up questionnaire to the interview, a telephone questionnaire that asked principals for background information about their schools, and a study of school documents were also sources of data. The analysis and interpretation of the data related to charge in the schools was presented in the forms of six case studies and a multisite study. Eleven variables and eighteen insights identified the aspects associated with successful change across the sites. The study?????s three major findings identified the critical importance in the success of change of the school?????s organizational culture and individual participants in change processes, its relationship to elements in its external environment and the nature of its planning for change. A theoretical framework for positive school change environments was developed. It combined the elements associated with successful change in the study. This framework may prove useful as a basis for further research on systemic change in schools and as a point of reference for those actually engaged in leading the change process in schools and school systems.

This thesis explores the phenomenon of academics’ resistance to materialism in Australian universities. In common with many other public sector employees, academics have experienced significant changes in the management of their institutions over recent years. Many of these changes are associated with increasing ‘managerialism’ – the application of methods and approaches commonly associated with the private sector, to public sector organizations. While previous studies indicate that academics are broadly opposed to such changes, little Australian research has considered how they might be resisting managerialism, in their daily working lives. The study found that academics were resisting managerial practices in a variety of ways. These included public acts of protest, refusal and more ‘everyday’ forms of resistance, such as avoidance and strategic compliance. This resistance was underpinned by shared understandings, values and norms embedded within traditional academic culture, and reflected academics’ negative assessments of the consequences of managerial practices within their institutions. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) emerged to provide more relevant curriculum programs that would cater for increasing retention rates of post-compulsory students. It is also an example of the ‘new’ learning arising from contemporary debates and reforms that highlight inadequacies of the more traditional modes of learning. This thesis focuses on the pedagogical and sociological issues emerging from the VCAL being introduced as an ‘alternative’ learning pathways for ‘at-risk’ students within a traditional secondary school culture. Through the eyes of an insider-researcher, the thesis argues for a deeper understanding of applied learning as a ‘re-engaging’ pedagogy by studying the schooling experience of VCAL students and teachers. The thesis concludes that traditional academic modes of teaching contribute to the social construction of ‘at-risk’ students and argues that secondary school pedagogy needs to be redefined as a cultural phenomenon requiring teachers to be reflexively aware of their role in bridging the gap between students’ life experiences and the curriculum.

This thesis reports on a study which explored the experiences of teachers working at Gilmore Primary School in the Australian Capital Territory as they initiated the management philosophy known as Total Quality Management (TQM). The teachers' perceptions of key TQM ideas were obtained from staff meeting notes, interviews and a variety of questionnaires. The teachers' perceptions constituted the data for the study. The study utilised ethnographic methodology incorporating aspects interpretive and critical approaches. Participants in the study were actively engaged in the initiation project and as such were taking part, with the researcher, in a co-operative experiential enquiry. Key TQM ideas provided the themes for this study. These themes were; continuous improvement, shared vision, customer and process focus, teamwork, outrageous goals and systematic data gathering. Teachers' perceptions regarding each of these themes or key ideas were analysed by considering the effect on them of two sets of factors. The first set consisted of factors in educational change while the second was comprised of factors in the culture of teaching. TQM history, principles and practices as well as the two sets of factors related to educational change and the culture of teaching were discussed in a review of literature. From the analysis of teachers' perceptions a series of recommendations were developed for implementing TQM at Gilmore Primary School and for more general application of theory and practice.

The context in which open space high schools were pioneered in the ACT is examined in the light of Basil Bernstein's (1971) theory of the reasons for changes in curricula and of the organisational conditions necessary for the changes which he considers to be taking place. The context which is examined is derived from analyses of the perspectives and views of the Australian Schools Commission, of the planners of the new design high schools in the ACT, of the Campbell Committee, which provided the rationale for the restructuring of the ACT secondary school system, and of the Principal and teachers of one of the original open space high schools in the ACT. From the analysis of the context of the establishment of a specific open space high school, "Windy Hill", a number of factors are seen to be significant in the process of educational change. In particular, it is claimed that any theoretical perspective on the reasons and conditions for educational change, if it is to have much influence on the change process, must take into account the perspectives of the practitioners in schools. It must also take into account the complexity of events which affect the process of educational change in systems and in schools. The relationship between imposed organisational structures and the curricular goals of schools is examined. It is claimed that changes to administrative structures must emerge from the existing aims of the system and the institution, rather than be imposed in order to effect curricular changes. Assumptions about the nature of educational change, made by the planners for the open space high schools in the ACT, are identified and related to the problems perceived by the Principal and teachers at "Windy Hill". From this analysis is derived a set of features of school settings which need to be considered when innovations in education are being contemplated. These features of the process of educational change are used to generate a number of recommendations which apply to the adoption and development of changes in education systems and schools.

Thesis (M. Ed.(Assessment and quality assurance))-University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to describe the experiences of secondary teachers who were actively involved in positions of teacher leadership in their schools and to discover the meaning that leadership activities had for them in their work. The informal teacher leaders performed their leadership functions in an environment of educational reform and change, voluntarily, and on their own time. The study was framed and described by data gathered primarily through a series of in-depth interviewing and based on a structure for phenomenological methodology. The individual interviews were audio taped and transcribed in full text. Other forms of data collection included a survey and e-mail reflections from the participants, and researcher reflections. Data was coded by topics and organized into themes based on an inductive analysis of the transcribed data. Results of this study indicated that teacher leaders found great satisfaction, both affectively and cognitively, in their involvement. They found meaning in their work because of a positive school environment, through collaboration with colleagues, participation in curriculum writing and committee work, and involvement with innovative activities. They indicated the biggest rewards came from their work with students. In addition, the teacher leaders frequently made reference to something inside themselves, their personality, and their drives. They found they needed the stimulation and the challenges that teacher leadership activities presented. The findings of this study contribute to the knowledge base on teacher leadership. They have implications for teacher educators who prepare future teachers for leadership roles, particularly at the secondary level and in an educational reform environment. Knowing the experiences that teacher leaders find most meaningful in their work, particularly curriculum work and collaboration with colleagues, will inform teacher educators as they prepare pre-service teachers to be knowledgeable and confident in these activities. In addition, administrators who want to encourage teacher leadership activities in their school may benefit from understanding what motivates teachers to become leaders and will be more knowledgeable about the needs of their staff when planning staff development opportunities. The study concluded with recommendations for further research on teacher leadership. / Graduation date: 2002

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics published their vision of active, problem-centered instruction with a goal of conceptual understanding in 1989. Fifteen years after these reforms were proposed the changes are reflected in school policy and elementary mathematics curriculum, but only limited change has actually occurred in classroom instruction. With the belief that the classroom teacher is the key person affecting educational change, this case study examines the journey of five elementary classroom teachers as they transformed their mathematics instruction from traditional to reform-based, with the purpose of identifying the key elements that influenced the changes. This is a multi-case study involving five elementary classroom teachers who have recently been the recipient of the Elementary Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics. All of these teachers began teaching with traditional textbook programs and have changed their teaching to reform-based, problem-centered instruction. Over the course of two one-hour interviews each teacher told the story of his or her changes, explaining the influences, the key resources, the influential people, and the support they received in the process. The cases are individually presented; then all five are examined together in a cross-case analysis using a constructivist theoretical perspective. Three key elements were found to be influential in the teachers' change journeys. First, all five were self-motivated to make changes in their mathematics instruction. They were looking for practices that would give their students both better understanding and positive dispositions. All believed the reform-based instruction met these goals. Second, all five engaged in rich professional discussions about the changes they were making. These discussions were in groups with high levels of trust, in which the teachers freely shared concerns and successes, asked questions, and compared experiences. They were learning communities that supported the teachers' development of pedagogy and knowledge, allowing them to become confident practitioners. Finally, all five teachers were passionate about their teaching. The learning of their students and the improvement of their teaching were the prime considerations in the changes they adopted and the knowledge and skills they developed. / Graduation date: 2004

This phenomenological research study focused on educational change as perceived by 16 Liberal Arts faculty members at a Pacific Northwest community college. Research data were collected through in-depth dialogic interviews and a follow-up dialogue session with six participants. The principal guiding research questions comprised the following: 1) What is the context of the community college? The institution is facing severe budgetary restrictions, widening diversity of students, the implementation of new technologies and distance learning, changing faculty and administrator roles, competition from the private sector, and the redefining of the community college role. 2) What is the background of the faculty participants? In the past, faculty have experienced a collegial culture and a shared sense of purpose, which no longer seems to exist. Their values are deeply connected to the social responsibilities of education and student needs, which they feel is at odds with the trend toward commodification of education. 3) What are faculty's perceptions of change and its effects? Change is constant; and instructors adapt incrementally. Mandated changes are seen to have fuzzy meanings and hidden agendas, which sometimes go against the core values of higher education. 4) What do faculty want? Faculty want to wrestle with the issues and solutions for dealing with change collaboratively, and they need the time and space to do so. They also want administrators to hear their voice, and to include faculty priorities in educational decision-making. Faculty participants had clear ideas on ways that would make the implementation of change more successful and meaningful in their lives and in the future of their community college: 1) Make change for a worthy or merited purpose. 2) Listen to what faculty have to say. 3) Allow faculty to wrestle with the challenges. 4) Provide faculty with support and recognition. 5) Keep student needs as a central priority. 6) Maintain the human values and social purpose of education. Most important, faculty feel that the human element cannot be discounted or forgotten in the rush to transform higher education, for faculty are the ones charged with the implementation of most change initiatives and they must deal with the consequences. / Graduation date: 2002