A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Masters in Development Studies in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, March 2017. / This study explores a partnership model designed by Partners for Possibility (PfP), a South African non-profit organization (NPO) attempting to reform the country’s education system. Through its partnerships, PfP aims to address the identified problem of weak school leadership in order to improve the educational outcomes in schools. In this model, school principals of underperforming schools are paired up with business people with leadership experience for a period of one year to address the challenges facing their schools. The model includes a 12-month structured training programme which seeks to capacitate and support the paired principal and business leader in their partnership-building process. This study provides an in-depth investigation of the experiences of the partnerships and of the influence of the structured programme on these partnerships from the perspectives of the principals and of the business leaders. The effect of social differences on the partnerships was also considered. Among the theories used in this study are critical action learning and common ingroup identity. A qualitative research design was employed and data was collected from 10 school principals of “no fee” schools and from 12 business leaders. The results of the study reveal that the functionality of these partnerships is determined by their focus, which can be long-term and transformative or short-term and tending towards resolving the school’s immediate material needs. Further, these partnerships were found to be capable of improving school performance if the partners engaged in activities that promoted teaching and learning. Despite this potential, there was little monitoring of school performance. The results also indicate that the group-learning aspects included in the structured programme could encourage the partnership to focus on short-term goals which tend not to lead to long-term sustainable change in the school. The social tensions attributed to race and class divisions were found to have a minimal effect on the partnerships studied since the partners’ common vision, namely, to improve schools, allows them to maintain their unique identity either as principals or as business leaders. Because education reform is a complex and long-term project, the recommendations following this study point to the need for a more integrative approach in the PfP process, and a greater awareness of the need for a longer time scale in order to bring about the desired transformation in schools and consequently to South Africa’s education system. / XL2018

Finally, case studies of the thesis revealed that teachers constructed their professional identity around the focus, main contradictions and human relations in their work. In the context of reform for Quality Education, the construction of teacher professional identity referred to different levels of relationships and expectations as well as to personal factors. Such construction embodied the complex interactions and competitions among the state, the market, the school, as well as personal factors. The tensions between structure and agency were illustrated by characteristics that marked different stages, dynamics and varieties in the construction process of teacher professional identity. / First, in the macro-context of policy, teachers realized their key role in implementing Quality Education and took on an "adaptive" attitude toward reform. With regard to responsibility and commitment, teachers felt that rigidity in their work decreased. However, they found it difficult to put new ideas into practice, mainly due to their concern over high-stake examination results. Accordingly, there were two opposing trends of change in teacher professional identity. The first trend involved changes from "Sparta coach", "parts maker" to "normal teacher". The second trend was attributed to the pressure of examinations which compelled teachers to follow their requirements. Consequently, teachers changed from "angel" to "birdman" and "teaching craftsman". Limitations notwithstanding, some teachers tried to remain persons who "influence and enhance" education. / Identity is a valuable concept for guiding the analysis of theoretical and practical issues in education. Professional identity is closely related to teachers' professional practice. Therefore, from the perspective of teacher professional identity, this study aims to explore teachers' professional lives and their development in the context of reform for Quality Education. Its central concern is how teachers construct or reconstruct their professional identity in response to reform. Based on in-depth interviews with 29 teachers in 5 schools, the main observations and findings are explicated in the following paragraphs. / In concert with the global wave of educational reform, basic education in the Chinese Mainland has undergone comprehensive changes in paradigms and practices since 1985. The emphasis of reform has been on Quality Education. Teachers played a key role in the reform endeavors, and teacher professional development became an important topic in policy discourse and theoretical research. In educational transformation, what are the conditions in the life of front-line teachers? What are their personal experiences and feelings? / In the context of reform for Quality Education, tensions between educational quality and examination results penetrated every aspect of teachers' work. They also effected changes in their work and professional roles. Although teachers demonstrated different aspects of professional identity, academic subject identity stood out as the most significant identity. The status and characteristics of academic subjects affected teachers' understanding of and their reaction to Quality Education. They also affected the ways teachers dealt with their students and viewed their place in school. Academic subject identity, therefore, has affected teachers' individual autonomy as well as the extent to which they conformed to external systems. / Key words: Chinese Mainland; Quality Education; educational reform; identity; teacher professional identity; teacher professional development / Second, in the meso-context of school, teachers generally understood the structural influence of schooling, including its intrinsic norms and values on their work and sense of self. The promotion rates to schools on a higher level, and a school's tradition and management style determined how teachers viewed and responded to the reform for Quality Education. Tensions between the external system world and the internal life-world of a school emerged. How these tensions were played out depended on the school's autonomy relative to external evaluation by the authorities and the public. This in tum brought different meanings to teachers' work, which caused teacher professional identity and its construction to be perceived either positively or negatively. / Student influence teachers' internal experience (sense of satisfaction and failure) by means of discipline and examination results, recognition and evaluation (love and contempt), which further caused changes in teachers' attitudes toward work and their behavior, i.e., their commitment to work. Several teacher identities emerged in their meeting student expectations and dealing with student behavior and attitudes: "learner"; "responsible person"; "friend" and "educator". / Third, the context of teachers' core work, which was critical to the construction of teacher professional identity, was composed of academic subjects and students. In the context of academic subjects, the reform for Quality Education had various kinds of impact on academic subjects which possessed different status and characteristics. Teachers' perception of and response to reform were grounded in the subjects that they taught. Status and characteristics of academic subjects determined the change that took place in teacher behavior, their professional understanding and experience. In general, teachers positioned themselves as "subject teachers". Moreover, subject department was the organizational form of subjects within schools. Cooperation or competition among teachers depended on the importance that the schools attached to examination results. As a major form of collegial interaction and learning, collective lesson preparation was perceived as a useful way of meeting the needs of classroom teaching and the improvement of teaching efficiency in order to obtain better examination results. In this, teacher professional identity was based on a practical rationality. Collective lesson preparation embodied a series of tensions, such as individualism and cooperation, voluntariness and compulsion, and requirements from the top and the teachers' own professional autonomy. / 王夫艳. / Adviser: Nai-kwai Leslie Lo. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-310). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Wang Fuyan.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T14:48:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thais Regina Cunha Ventura Fernandes Fontenele.pdf: 753292 bytes, checksum: 00c9ceb7bf89ce691aa1505d4bac426e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-09 / The objective of this work is to investigate the meaning of a new pedagogical project experience for the teachers of two Guarulhos municipal Schools, specially with regard to changes in their teaching practice. The specific objectives focuses on the identification of changes in teaching practices achieved through the new pedagogical project. Analyzing their collective work and teacher studies understandings by the aspects that made these changes possible. Another objective was to identify the research sources and the teacher study modes used throughout the project. What justifies this research is the significance of teacher s professional development study for the teaching practices development and students learning progress. The context schools started the implementation of a new pedagogical project two years ago. Both projects aim the students acting role in democratic management perspective from two different fronts: the promotion of situations where the students have active voice on their learning process and on the school routine, and also the knowledges reorganization and school times and spaces according to the demand of students interests. This work has a qualitative methodological approach and the research data obtaining tool was semi-structured interviews with the principals and three teachers of each school. Two documents served as support: the Political Pedagogical Project and two editions of the Municipal Secretary of Education newsletter that describes the projects. The research is based on national and international literature to discuss the adult teacher learning process (Placco e Souza, 2006; Reali e Reyes, 2009; Garcia, 2005), the reflexive teacher (Pimenta, 2002; Alarcão, 2010) and the educational change (Gómez, 2001; Contreas, 2002; Fullan e Hargreaves, 2000). The obtained results from the interviews reveals that the participation on the new project allowed the teachers to change some practices, like: student conception, interpersonal relations, planning, classes continuity, evaluation and methodologies. It was also found that trust in teaching work, enable autonomy for teachers, establish horizontal relationship and a collaborative culture are favorable factors to teaching practices changes / O presente trabalho tem como contexto de estudo duas escolas municipais de Guarulhos e tem o objetivo de investigar o significado da experiência de um novo projeto pedagógico na escola para os professores nele envolvidos, especialmente com relação às alterações da sua prática docente. Os objetivos específicos voltam-se para a identificação de mudanças na prática das professoras, que foram possibilitadas pela vivência do novo projeto, analisando suas compreensões a respeito do trabalho coletivo e do estudo do professor, conhecendo e analisando os aspectos que possibilitaram tais mudanças. Um outro objetivo é identificar as fontes de pesquisa e os modos de estudo docente utilizados e vividos no projeto. A pesquisa é justificada pela importância do estudo do desenvolvimento profissional dos docentes para o aperfeiçoamento das práticas de ensino e para os avanços nas aprendizagens dos alunos. As duas escolas que serviram de contexto iniciaram a implementação de um novo projeto pedagógico há dois anos. Os dois projetos visam o protagonismo dos alunos na perspectiva da gestão democrática, sendo que as duas equipes desenvolvem seus projetos em duas frentes: a promoção de situações em que os educandos têm voz ativa na própria aprendizagem e no cotidiano da escola e a reorganização dos saberes, tempos e espaços escolares de acordo com a demanda de interesse dos alunos. A abordagem metodológica é qualitativa e o instrumento utilizado para a obtenção dos dados de pesquisa foi a entrevista semiestruturada, em que foram entrevistadas as diretoras e três professores de cada escola. Para contextualizar os projetos, dois documentos serviram como suporte: o Projeto Político Pedagógico e duas edições do boletim informativo da rede municipal em questão, que descrevem os projetos. A pesquisa fundamenta-se na literatura nacional e internacional para discutir a aprendizagem do professor adulto (Placco e Souza, 2006; Reali e Reyes, 2009; Garcia, 2005), o professor reflexivo (Pimenta, 2002; Alarcão, 2010) e a mudança educativa (Gómez, 2001; Contreas, 2002; Fullan e Hargreaves, 2000). Alguns dos resultados obtidos por meio das entrevistas revelaram que a participação no novo projeto possibilitou algumas mudanças na prática das professoras, como: a concepção de educando, as relações interpessoais, o planejamento, a continuidade das aulas, a avaliação e as metodologias. Foi constatado também que confiar no trabalho docente, possibilitar autonomia para as professoras, estabelecer relações horizontais e uma cultura colaborativa são fatores favoráveis às mudanças da prática

abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the community of practice model in providing professional development to improve K-12 teacher’s knowledge, skills, self-efficacy with regard to the implementation of personal learning. The study also examined the extent to which the community created value for individuals and the organization. The study employed two theoretical frameworks: Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy and Wenger’s communities of practice. The study employed a concurrent mixed methods approach. Eighteen teachers participated in a 9-month blended learning professional development focused on the implementation of personal learning. Participants took pre and post self-efficacy tests. In addition, qualitative data was collected from feedback surveys, online postings, a research journal, and individual interviews. The teachers demonstrated greater levels of self-efficacy with regard to the implementation of personal learning after their participation in the professional development community. Teachers reported increased confidence with regard to personal learning in the areas of planning, risk-taking, implementation, making modifications for continuous improvement, and sharing their knowledge with others. The teachers also reported learning about themselves, their students and colleagues, as well as gaining knowledge of content related to teaching, and personal learning. Participants reported the development of a variety of skills including design and problem-solving skills, technology skills, and facilitation and PL strategies. They also reported changes in certain dispositions such as flexibility and open-mindedness. The community created value for both the individuals and the organization. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2018

Diversity across U.S. classrooms is on the rise which is leading to renewed calls for teachers to meet individual learning needs. Studies indicate the failure to address individual learning needs can lead to higher rates of student disengagement, off-task behaviors, and diminished learning outcomes. Differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching that meets the growing diversity of individual learning needs by considering students' readiness, interest, and learning styles. Differentiated instructional approaches help teachers meet individual learning needs by allowing them to modify instruction as needed. However, despite the apparent benefits of differentiated instruction, teachers are hesitant to abandon other educational models. Research has shown beliefs about student learning influence teachers classroom practices. If teachers do not possess beliefs supporting differentiated classroom practices, then calls for additional implementation may go unheeded. Thus it is important to examine teacher beliefs that may help or hinder implementation of differentiated instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher beliefs connected to teaching, learning, and differentiated instruction in diverse classrooms. This study used qualitative case study methodologies to interview, survey, and observe the beliefs and practices of four white, female, veteran middle level educators operating in diverse classroom settings. Data analysis revealed the following themes: (a) differentiated instruction is considered essential, (b) teachers' diversity definitions influenced their differentiated instructional strategies, (c) the classroom environment influences teachers self-efficacy, and (d) professional development sessions support differentiated instructional practices. Conclusions drawn from this study may be used to help improve teacher practices--and ultimately learner outcomes--by informing teacher preparation and professional development, state and local educational policies, and curricular reform efforts.

Many pre-health students are required to take introductory physics as undergraduates, though they often struggle to see the relationship between medicine and what they learn in these courses. In order to help students make that connection, reformed curriculum was adopted that teaches physics through the context of biomedicine. This dissertation will discuss the development, implementation, and assessment of the reformed curriculum for the introductory and intermediate level physics courses that targets the needs of pre-health students. The curriculum created during this project include laboratory activities, multimedia content, and other instructional materials all of which present physics in biomedical contexts. The laboratory activities focus on exploring the physical principles behind common medical devices or concepts such as body composition analyzers or computed tomography. This often required researching, designing, and building devices for use in the classroom. Videos interviews with biomedical experts detail how physics is used in their fields. The texts written for these courses serve as a fundamental scientific introduction to the physical concepts and technical discussions of their application in biomedicine. An online homework platform allows for the implementation of a flipped classroom. Homework integrates the material, probing both conceptual understanding and problem solving. Multiple forms of assessment have been used to improve the content and clarity of the curriculum. The research for this project includes a study of the impact of these course reforms on students' attitudes toward physics. Shifts in attitudes were assessed using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS), course surveys, student interviews, and conceptual quizzes. Data was collected from students in the reformed course and a concurrent course taught using a traditional physics curriculum that does not have a focus on biomedicine. The results show that students' attitudes were affected by the reforms in multiple ways including students' ability to contextualize physical phenomenon through biomedical applications. Direct responses from the students indicated that they appreciated that the course included biomedically relevant content. They stated that the course had helped them to make connections with physics that they were not able to make in previous physics classes. However, a portion of the students qualified their approval of the course reforms by stating, for example, that they felt they were missing out on other topics due to the biomedical focus. There is evidence that other factors such as class meeting time could have played a role in students' attitudes as well. Students were surveyed multiple times throughout the year. Results of these surveys show that students' attitudes tend to decrease during fall term, but improve after winter and spring term. These results suggest that greater gains in favorable attitudes could be achieved by course reforms in fall term, where positive attitudes are at a minimum. Illustration-based quizzes were administered to assess students' conceptual understanding and contextualization of different physical phenomena. The quizzes featured open-ended prompts about illustrations similar to those often seen in physics instruction. Few significant differences in conceptual understanding were found between students in the reformed and traditional courses. However, students in the reformed course were more likely to cite biomedical applications of the physical phenomena. These course reforms teach physical principles through their application to biomedical technology and have positively impacted students' appreciation for the relationship between physics and biomedicine.

This thesis is a work-in-progress that articulates my research journey based on the development of a curriculum innovation in environmental education. This journey had two distinct, but intertwined phases: action research based fieldwork, conducted collaboratively, to create a whole school approach to environmental education curriculum planning; and a phase of analysis and reflection based on the emerging findings, as I sought to create personal "living educational theory" about change and innovation. A key stimulus for the study was the perceived theory-practice gap in environmental education, which is often presented in the literature as a criticism of teachers for failing to achieve the values and action objectives of critical environmental education. Hence, many programs and projects are considered to be superficial and inconsequential in terms of their ability to seriously address environmental issues. The intention of this study was to work with teachers in a project that would be an exemplar of critical environmental education. This would be in the form of a whole school "learnscaping" curriculum in a primary school whereby the schoolgrounds would be utilised for interdisciplinary critical environment education. Parallel with the three cycles of action research in this project, my research objectives were to identify and comment upon the factors that influence the generation of successful educational innovation. It was anticipated that the project would be a collaboration involving me, as researcher-facilitator, and many of the teachers in the school as active participants. As the project proceeded through its action cycles, however, it became obvious that the goal of developing a critical environmental education curriculum, and the use of highly participatory processes, were unrealistic. Institutional and organisational rigidities in education generally, teachers' day-to-day work demands, and the constant juggle of work, family and other responsibilities for all participants acted as significant constraints. Consequently, it became apparent that the learnscaping curriculum would not be the hoped-for exemplar. Progress was slow and, at times, the project was in danger of stalling permanently. While the curriculum had some elements of critical environmental education, these were minor and not well spread throughout the school. Overall, the outcome seemed best described as a "small win"; perhaps just another example of the theory-practice gap that I had hoped this project would bridge. Towards the project's end, however, my continuing reflection led to an exploration of chaos/complexity theory which gave new meaning to the concept of a "small win". According to this theory, change is not the product of linear processes applied methodically in purposeful and diligent ways, but emerges from serendipitous events that cannot be planned for, or forecast in advance. When this perspective of change is applied to human organisations - in this study, a busy school - the context for change is recognised not as a stable, predictable environment, but as a highly complex system where change happens all the time, cannot be controlled, and no one can be really sure where the impacts might lead. This so-called "butterfly effect" is a central idea of this theory where small changes or modifications are created - the effects of which are difficult to know, let alone determine - and which can have large-scale impacts. Allied with this effect is the belief that long term developments in an organisation that takes complexity into account, emerge by spontaneous self-organising evolution, requiring political interaction and learning in groups, rather than systematic progress towards predetermined goals or "visions". Hence, because change itself and the contexts of change are recognised as complex, chaos/complexity theory suggests that change is more likely to be slow and evolutionary - cultural change - rather than fast and revolutionary where the old is quickly ushered out by radical reforms and replaced by new structures and processes. Slow, small-scale changes are "normal", from a complexity viewpoint, while rapid, wholesale change is both unlikely and unrealistic. Therefore, the frustratingly slow, small-scale, imperfect educational changes that teachers create - including environmental education initiatives - should be seen for what they really are. They should be recognised as successful changes, the impacts of which cannot be known, but which have the potential to magnify into large-scale changes into the future. Rather than being regarded as failures for not meeting critical education criteria, "small wins" should be cause for celebration and support. The intertwined phases of collaborative action research and individual researcher reflection are mirrored in the thesis structure. The first three chapters, respectively, provide the thesis overview, the literature underpinning the study's central concern, and the research methodology. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 report on each of the three action research cycles of the study, namely Laying the Groundwork, Down to Work!, and The Never-ending Story. Each of these chapters presents a narrative of events, a literature review specific to developments in the cycle, and analysis and critique of the events, processes and outcomes of each cycle. Chapter 7 provides a synthesis of the whole of the study, outlining my interim propositions about facilitating curriculum change in schools through action research, and the implications of these for environmental education.

The founders of Cascadia Community College changed faculty role and duties as they designed a new college. The college founders chose which themes of learning reform would be enacted by faculty in this new setting. They determined what elements of traditional roles continued to be important and what new expectations would be articulated. They decided what themes would become the center of faculty role in the creation of the new college. The study seeks to establish the themes of reform that were adopted by this college and how the founders expected those reforms to reside in, change, and influence faculty role. Through interviews with founding college members, the researcher, herself a participant in the founding of the college, triangulated the voices of the key participants with the publications of the new college that were related to faculty role. Themes that emerged from the study were outcomes, interdisciplinarity, organization and structure, innovation, technology, global/multicultural perspectives, complexity, and expectation for traits. A new view of expanded faculty role expectations is explored. This role is reflective of many themes seen in reform literature involving tenets of the learning college, the shift from teaching to learning, and outcomes-grounded teaching. A model is presented to explain the interrelatedness of the themes and the new perspective on teaching in the reformed college. / Graduation date: 2004

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-165).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2002. / Title from title page screen, viewed Aug. 13, 2004. Dissertation Committee: Linda Lyman (chair), Albert T. Azinger, George Padavil, W. Paul Vogt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-117) and abstract. Also available in print.