The United Nations General Assembly recognized the years from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Students perspectives on education for sustainable development and student perceptions on action projects for sustainable development are almost absent from the literature. This thesis presents an analysis of students voices and experiences as a result of Youth Forum 2008 (a forum proposed to support high school students as action leaders in sustainability projects) in three different case locations. The study attempts to understand students challenges with their action projects, examining them in the context of dominant discourses and explores supports that can be put into place to facilitate students navigation toward their goals of completing successful action projects for sustainable development.<p> This qualitative study was composed of a series of focus group recorded conversations with ten high school student participants involved in three different school sites who all attempted to complete action projects for sustainable development. Many themes were identified: time, whether projects were extracurricular or curricular, school community, teacher, teacher education, marks/evaluation, community engagement, youth forum and technology. In the examination and interpretation many attractions and distractions for the student participants were identified. By interpreting the students experiences through the language of the students, a deeper understanding of the dominant discourses of schools and society and how they might limit the students highlights broader ideas about students struggles and triumphs in education and with teaching. In the conclusion, I suggest recommendations and I also suggest further avenues for research.

This research set out to explore how a group of nine educators from a Catholic Church school in Malta, who have attended the Let Me Learn professional Learning process (LMLpLp), experienced personal and professional transformation. This study investigates those factors influencing participants in their transformative learning journey. It also explores the dynamics of transformative learning and whether individual transformation affects the school’s transformative learning experience. More specifically this study set out to explore how teachers who participated in the Let Me Learn professional Learning process have experienced transformative learning. This study takes a qualitative phenomenological approach. It seeks to identify phenomena of personal and professional transformative learning through the perceptions of the educators participating in this study. Through the use of the semi-structured interview it seeks to gather ‘deep’ data. This data represents the voices of these educators in narrative, thus emphasising the importance of the personal perspective and interpretation. This allowed this research to understand the subjective experience, motivation and actions of the participants. The Literature review informs the questions asked during the interview. The interview was used as a tool for gathering information regarding values, attitudes and beliefs of participants. Each interview was transcribed, translated (when response was given in Maltese) and categorised according to Mezirow’s ten stages. Excerpts from each stage were further processed to generate themes. The themes were later streamlined and an acceptable interpretive framework was created. Each interview excerpt was then analysed through the framework. Once all interviews were coded, detailed narratives were written. These narratives are meant to help the reader reflect on the process of transformative learning. It underscores those factors highlighted by the participants, which helped bring about both personal and professional transformative learning. This research has identified that individual constructs are strongly determined by an individual’s personal learning characteristics. Awareness of these personal learning characteristics (self-knowledge) helped educators assess their practice and understand how their personal characteristics were determining their approach to teaching and affecting their interpersonal relationships with students and colleagues. This research showed that transformative learning is a mutually interdependent experience. Individual transformation amounts to, and is influenced by, the collective transformation. This study highlighted the role of the school community in the pursuit of personal transformation. Yet another important finding of this research is the importance of a shared language of possibility. Through a shared language, a learning community can create a dialogic environment through which intentions, beliefs and interventions can be shared among the professional community. This research accentuates the importance of a shared language as a means of articulating a change in perspective. The study identified three main agents of change. The Let Me Learn team, as promoters and experts of this particular learning process; the teachers, who internalised the process and applied it to their practice; and the school’s senior management team, who internalised the Process, positioned it into the larger vision of the school and created a conducive environment through which the whole school community was empowered to take responsibility to bring about change in practice. A number of implications emerge from this study that could inform policy on teacher professional learning. A major implication concerns the importance of a shared language – a language that reflects the shared values and ideological position of the community. Such language frames the learning process, makes learning visible for teachers to be able to respond effectively with strategies that respect each learner’s learning preference and makes learning visible to the learner himself. Another implication from this study arises from the finding that the transformative learning process of any individual educator and effectively of the whole school community, goes beyond the effectiveness and limitations of any one professional development programme. True and deep-seated transformative learning comes from within the individual educator. This statement has serious repercussions on any professional development programme that aims to aid participants in their quest to transform their practice. This study also emphasised the importance that any professional development needs to be seated in the local experience and needs of the school community. Any attempts at developing comprehensive, nation-wide projects with pre-packaged approaches, are doomed to fail. What this research has shown is that for effective professional development, the identified outcomes need to correspond to the local needs of the school, rather than the national guidelines, detached from the realities of the particular school. Finally, this study accentuated the importance of incorporating mentoring support in any professional development proposal. Delivery of information and skills without follow-up tend to lead to superficial application. Transformative learning presupposes a period of shared reflection on practice and collegial mediation of ideas through contact between teachers and their leaders and on-the-job support from their professional development mentors.

The United Nations General Assembly recognized the years from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Students perspectives on education for sustainable development and student perceptions on action projects for sustainable development are almost absent from the literature. This thesis presents an analysis of students voices and experiences as a result of Youth Forum 2008 (a forum proposed to support high school students as action leaders in sustainability projects) in three different case locations. The study attempts to understand students challenges with their action projects, examining them in the context of dominant discourses and explores supports that can be put into place to facilitate students navigation toward their goals of completing successful action projects for sustainable development.<p> This qualitative study was composed of a series of focus group recorded conversations with ten high school student participants involved in three different school sites who all attempted to complete action projects for sustainable development. Many themes were identified: time, whether projects were extracurricular or curricular, school community, teacher, teacher education, marks/evaluation, community engagement, youth forum and technology. In the examination and interpretation many attractions and distractions for the student participants were identified. By interpreting the students experiences through the language of the students, a deeper understanding of the dominant discourses of schools and society and how they might limit the students highlights broader ideas about students struggles and triumphs in education and with teaching. In the conclusion, I suggest recommendations and I also suggest further avenues for research.

This qualitative case study addressed the problem at a West Indies theological college that lacked the ability to provide courses for spiritual care training by using the teaching methodology of clinical pastoral education (CPE). CPE is an experiential process using a clinical method of learning to interpret human conditions. Spiritual care training through CPE teaches clerics how to help persons find meaning in life's situations and make connections with their God. Guided by the frameworks of transformative learning and critical theological reflection, this study explored the lived experiences of 5 purposefully selected CPE students who participated in 1 unit of CPE training at the college. Interview data were coded and analyzed to uncover emergent themes. The findings revealed these overarching themes: (a) personal empowerment, (b) increased pastoral care competencies, (c) increased sensitivity to suffering, and (d) connectivity to self-care and ministry. The interview data provided the impetus for the developed CPE Orientation (CPEO) to help students obtain basic skills in pastoral/spiritual care and critical theological reflections. It is recommended that persons with advanced CPE training could conduct the CPEO training, negating the need for a certified CPE supervisor expertise. Positive social change may occur when pastoral/spiritual care training is provided to clergy and laity to improve basic pastoral/spiritual care skills by helping clergy and parishioners respond to stressors in a healthy manner. Theological education that promotes spiritual care for persons in crisis may benefit the world and presents an avenue for social change to occur in the communities where clergy serve.

La tesi si pone all’interno di una cornice di senso propria dell’educazione degli adulti ed esplora i processi di apprendimento e di costruzione della conoscenza che accadono nei contesti familiari. È stato condotto uno studio comparativo su due campioni: uno composto da quarantatré genitori italiani che vivono a Milano, Italia, e l’altro da ventisette genitori italo-americani che vivono a New York City, Stati Uniti. La decisione di condurre uno studio comparativo è motivata dal tentativo di comprendere e confrontare come i genitori, con, al di là e attraverso i propri posizionamenti culturali, costruiscono conoscenze, configurazioni identitarie, traiettorie di partecipazione, e forme di appartenenza alle famiglie di cui fanno parte. L’indagine prevede un secondo segmento che presenta l’applicazione di un approccio educativo diretto a sostenere gruppi di genitori nell’assunzione di azioni trasformative. / This paper describes a research on the processes of learning and of knowledge construction occurring within the family contexts. The aim of such research is the development of educational action logics able to intercept, promote and validate the knowledge and repertoires of practice that the family systems generate.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka och skildra några studenters motiv, motivation och upplevelser kring högre studier. I bakgrunden ingår forskning kring studentidentiteter (Bron m. fl., 2013), men efter hand tillkommer andra begrepp och teorier som bidrar till att belysa undersökningsmaterialet. Studien är grundad på kvalitativ metod, med semistrukturerade intervjuer av sex studenter i åldrarna 25-30 år. Resultatet av de sex studenterna redovisas som personporträtt, där både likheter och skillnader mellan studenternas motiv, motivation och upplevelser i relation till högre studier framgår. Några studerar för att kunna få ett arbete, andra för att bevisa för sig själva att de kan. I några fall återfann vi det som kallas för det transformativa lärandet enligt Mezirow (1997). / The aim of this study is to explore motives, motivation and experiences reported by some students in relation to higher education. The study is inspired by previous research (Bron et al, 2013) about students´ identities, and after the collection of data other theories and previous research were added. The method used is qualitative, specifically semi-structured interviews, based on six interviews with students aged 25-30. Similarities as well as differences in students´ motives and motivation for higher education appear. Some students attend higher education mainly in order to get a job/profession while a few also want to prove to themselves that they are competent enough to succeed in higher education. Occationally, transformative learning (Mezirow, 1997) emerge in data.

This study has adopted the metaphor of �mind-forged manacles� to explore adolescent transformation within an educational context. It does this by examining the experiences of two groups of people who participated in an intensive, one-off personal development program for adolescents, known as Discovery. The first study involves secondary school students for whom the program was part of the school curriculum. The second study consists of an older group of people who did the program during their adolescence and outside the formal education system. The third study is a contemplation of transformation derived from my experience as researcher during the course of completing this thesis. In an attempt to reflect the perspectival worldview from within which the study is created I have drawn on a range of theorists. To integrate their ideas I created three different �lenses� or ways of viewing the data. The first lens is developed from consciousness theory, the second from process philosophy and complex self-organising systems theory, and the third from individual humanistic psychology. The educational pedagogy is holistic and embraces developmental models of thinking and learning. The study uses participant reflection to argue that a program of intentionally focussed challenges, combined with the support that enables these challenges to be successfully met, can be transformational for many young people. It suggests that the complex postmodern world requires teachers to be aware of their own and their students� consciousness, and demands learning experiences that are deliberately focussed on helping the process of consciousness transformation rather than only on achieving predetermined outcomes. Transformation is understood as a shift to a different order of consciousness in which it is how one sees rather than what one sees that changes. With each shift towards a new order of consciousness the mind-forged manacles are loosed and individuals accept increasing responsibility for their lives and how they live them. Educational programs can be developed to assist this process.

Η παρούσα διατριβή έχει ως αντικείμενο τη μελέτη επιλεγμένων διαστάσεων της εκπαίδευσης των εκπαιδευτικών και συγκεκριμένα τη διερεύνηση της δυνατότητας ανάπτυξης κριτικού στοχασμού σε εκπαιδευόμενους εκπαιδευτικούς στο πλαίσιο της τριτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης. Σκοπός είναι η μελέτη της εφαρμογής στην τριτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση μιας σύγχρονης μεθόδου η οποία στηρίζεται στη χρήση της τέχνης και προέρχεται από το χώρο της εκπαίδευσης ενηλίκων. Ένας από τους επιδιωκόμενους στόχους είναι η εξέταση της δυνατότητας εφαρμογής της, σε τυπικό εκπαιδευτικό πλαίσιο και σε εκπαιδευόμενους που διανύουν τη φάση της πρώιμης ενηλικιότητας, προκειμένου να ενισχυθεί και να προωθηθεί η ανάπτυξη του κριτικού στοχασμού. Παράλληλα, η παρούσα έρευνα στοχεύει στη διερεύνηση πιθανών αλλαγών στις παραδοχές των εκπαιδευομένων, οι οποίες συνδέονται με την εφαρμογή της μεθόδου, εστιάζοντας ιδιαίτερα στη μελέτη του βαθμού διάρκειας και ευρύτητας των αλλαγών αυτών. / The present dissertation has as its object the study of selected dimensions of teacher education and specifically the investigation of developing critical thinking in learners and educators in the context of higher education. The aim is to study the implementation in higher education of a modern method which relies on the use of art and comes from the field of adult education. One of the objectives is the examination of the applicability, in formal educational context and to learners who are going through the phase of early adulthood, in order to strengthen and promote the development of critical reflection. At the same time, this research aims to investigate possible changes to assumptions of trainees, which are associated with the implementation of the method, focusing particularly on the study of the degree of maturity and breadth of these changes.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jaqueline Vasconcelos da Silva.pdf: 944863 bytes, checksum: 88302c4140b413e002c5dd4c3c23d513 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-03 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / This research aimed to identify, describe and analyze what the Brazilian and foreign professionals, who were transferred to work in another country, and have returned to their country of origin are understood as resulting from the learning experience of expatriation. Intended to meet situations in which this learning occurred for the individual, and if this learning was absorbed by the organization. The study was based on psychological perspectives applied to studies of learning in organizations, studies of informal learning within institutions, and especially in studies of adult learning from the approach of transformative learning proposed by Jack Mezirow (1991). Therefore, it was conducted a basic interpretive qualitative study with ten participants. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, document analysis and observation, and were analyzed by the method of qualitative data analysis proposed by Flores (1994). The results show that the experience of expatriation triggers transformative learning processes through changes of views and assumptions of the individual. It has been found yet informal learning processes and examples of the connection between individual learning processes and organizational learning. / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar, descrever e analisar o que os profissionais brasileiros e estrangeiros, que foram transferidos a trabalho para outro país, e que já retornaram ao seu país de origem, entendem como aprendizagem resultante da experiência da expatriação. Pretendeu-se conhecer em quais situações este aprendizado ocorreu para o indivíduo, e se este aprendizado foi absorvido pela organização. O estudo apoiou-se nas perspectivas psicológicas aplicadas aos estudos de aprendizagem nas organizações, nos estudos sobre aprendizagem informal dentro de instituições, e, sobretudo, nos estudos de aprendizagem de adultos a partir da abordagem da aprendizagem transformadora proposta por Jack Mezirow (1991). Foi conduzido um estudo qualitativo interpretativo básico com dez participantes. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, análise documental e observação, e foram analisados segundo o processo de análise de dados qualitativos proposto por Flores (1994). Os resultados mostram que a experiência da expatriação desencadeia processos de aprendizagem transformadora por intermédio de mudanças de pontos de vistas e de pressupostos do indivíduo. Foram constatados ainda processos de aprendizagem informal e exemplos da ligação entre processos de aprendizagem individual e aprendizagem organizacional.

Abstract This dissertation focuses on global education (GE) and on its implementation in lower level basic education in Finland. The aim of my research was to investigate the present position of GE in basic education schools; identify the practices and problem areas in the implementation of GE; find practical solutions to facilitate the implementation; and consequently, to contribute to subsequent decision making regarding successful integration of GE in national basic education in Finland. The research may best be described as a pragmatic, qualitative dominant mixed research study that also had at the beginning features of action research. GE has served as my theoretical foundation and social learning theory has been used for studying teaching and learning from GE perspective. The main research methods were content analysis of the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (2004) and the GE 2010 programme and research questionnaires that were sent to basic education principals, teachers, and pupils to collect data from the field. A study on textbook research has also been conducted and representatives of the two main textbook publishers in Finland were interviewed for the research. The main findings of the research suggest that GE is not systematically implemented in basic education schools in Finland even though many of the areas of GE are considered important. The main problems in implementation were seen to be the lack of conceptual clarity and the fact that GE was perceived as an additional burden for the schools rather than as an integral part of all school activities. As GE was not an explicit part of the official curriculum, it was not considered mandatory and the schools were not sufficiently resourced for teaching it. All in all, the findings focus on discussing the operational culture of schools and the role of diverse transactions in realising the aims of GE. The role of educational policy documents and the relationship between national and local curricula is found to be complex on many levels. Efficient policy implementation needs attention. This dissertation also gives suggestions on how to improve the current situation. These include clarifying the GE concept, including GE explicitly in the curriculum, defining the short-term objectives and assessment policies, training teachers and principals, resourcing the schools and teachers appropriately to teach GE. / Tiivistelmä Tämän väitöskirjatutkimuksen aiheena on globaalikasvatus ja sen täytäntöönpano suomalaisen perusopetuksen alakouluissa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kartuttaa tietoa globaalikasvatuksen teoreettisesta perustasta ja nykyisistä käytännöistä erityisesti Suomen kontekstissa. Tutkimuksen tehtävänä oli selvittää perusopetuksen globaalikasvatuksen tila, tunnistaa ongelmakohdat globaalikasvatuksen täytäntöönpanossa, löytää käytännön ratkaisuja täytäntöönpanon helpottamiseksi sekä täten myötävaikuttaa päätöksentekoon, jolla globaalikasvatus saadaan onnistuneesti yhdistettyä kansalliseen perusopetukseen Suomessa. Tutkimusta voi parhaiten kuvailla pragmaattisena, pääasiallisesti kvalitatiivisena ”mixed research” -tutkimuksena, jossa alussa oli myös toimintatutkimuksen piirteitä. Globaalikasvatus muodostaa työni teoreettisen perustan ja sosiaalisen oppimisen teoriaa on käytetty tutkittaessa opettamista ja oppimista globaalikasvatuksen näkökulmasta. Pääasiallisina tutkimusmetodeina on käytetty sisällönanalyysia, jolla on analysoitu Perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteita 2004 ja Kansainvälisyyskasvatus 2010 -ohjelmaa sekä tutkimuskyselyitä, joilla kerättiin tietoa perusopetusta antavien koulujen rehtoreilta, opettajilta ja oppilailta. Lisäksi tutkimusta varten on haastateltu kahden suurimman oppikirjavalmistajan edustajia sekä analysoitu tutkimuksia, joita on tehty Suomen perusopetuksen oppikirjoista. Tutkimuksen päätulokset osoittavat, että globaalikasvatusta ei ole systemaattisesti huomioitu Suomen perusopetusta antavissa kouluissa, vaikka monia globaalikasvatukseen kuuluvia aihealueita pidetäänkin perusopetukselle tärkeinä. Suurimmiksi ongelmiksi kentällä nähdään käsitteen tuntemattomuus ja epämääräisyys sekä se, että globaalikasvatusta ei liitetä kiinteästi kaikkeen koulun toimintaan. Sen sijaan se nähdään ylimääräisenä satunnaisena lisänä, jolla ei ole keskeistä roolia kouluissa. Koska globaalikasvatus ei eksplisiittisesti ole osa virallista opetussuunnitelmaa, sitä ei pidetty ensisijaisen velvoittavana eikä globaalikasvatuksen toteuttamiseen katsottu olevan riittävästi resursseja. Kaiken kaikkiaan tuloksissa pohditaan kouluyhteisön toimintakulttuuria ja moninaisten vuorovaikutusten roolia globaalikasvatuksen tavoitteiden saavuttamisessa. Tärkeäksi muodostuu myös koulutuspoliittisten asiakirjojen asema sekä valtakunnallisen ja koulukohtaisesti toteutetun opetussuunnitelman suhde globaalikasvatuksen toteuttamisessa. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitetään tilanteeseen parannusehdotuksia. Ehdotuksiin sisältyy käsitteen avaaminen, kiinteän yhteyden rakentaminen opetussuunnitelman ja käytännön välille, globaalikasvatuskompetenssien ja niihin liittyvien arviointiperiaatteiden määritteleminen, opettajankoulutuksen ja koulun johtajien koulutuksen kehittäminen sekä koulujen ja opettajien varustaminen globaalikasvatusta varten.