This interpretivist study looked at what acted as barriers and what motivated a group offive African women, aged about 30 working at a Durban school, to take up formal learning experiences. Qualitative data, through the use ofsemi structured interviews, on a one-to-one basis was collected. This involved elliciting each woman' account of her educational and work experience, as a learner and a worker. Themes like unemployment ofone or both parents; limitations imposed by the patriarchial culture they come from; gender issues like not valuing educating girls and the diverse role which women play in the lives of a family; domestic violence and abuse; adolescent pregnancy; previous learning experiences; fmancial limitations perpetuated in adult life because ofthe inability to access jobs which allow for the" luxury" ofpursuing educational courses and supporting extended family who live in the rural areas ofKwazulu-Natal or the Transkei surfaced. These themes were evaluated against the tenets ofMaslow's hierarchy ofneeds, Knowles's theory ofwhat comprises ideal adult learning situations; whether Mezirow's suggestion that learning will be precipitated by rethinking the ways people behave; and Tajfels' theory on personal and social identity. Using the perspectives offeminist writers like hooks, Hill Collins, and Magwaza this study looked at the role that culture, class and gender has played in the lives ofthese participants. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

No description available.

The problem of the study was to develop valid and reliable evaluation tools for the American Red Cross course "Healthy Pregnancy, Healthy Baby." From a table of specification, a pool of 87 items was developed into two evaluation scales. A thirteen-member jury of experts composed of professionals in prenatal education was used to establish content validity. The jury of experts reviewed the scales twice. The first review, items were subject to both a quantitative and qualitative review. Items were then retained, revised, or eliminated. The jury of experts then reviewed the scales a second time, and items again were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis. The second review included the use of the Content-Validity Ratio. All items in the scales that were not statistically significant at p<. 05 were eliminated. The validated evaluation scales made up of 46 items from the 87 originally proposed items were then pilot tested. Fifty-two women were then asked to complete the two evaluation scales one week apart. Upon completion of the pilot study, items were subjected to statistical analysis using test-retest, Cronbach's alpha, and internal constancy. Those items with a low test-test scores and/or internal constancy were then eliminated. The retained knowledge questions were then revised as the questions were subjected to quantitative analysis. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

A semester-long study examined the problems and needs of non-traditional women students. The subjects were a non-traditional undergraduate student enrolled in a beginning composition class and a non-traditional graduate student enrolled in an advanced composition class. The study argues that since universities and colleges are actively recruiting older students, these institutions should be more responsive to the unique problems posed by non-traditional women students, which are different from traditional-aged students. The study addresses non-traditional women students' reasons for returning to school and the personal and academic barriers they run into. The two case studies discuss their expectations relating to their composition classes in particular and fitting into the university system generally. In conclusion, recommendations are made in the specific areas of university systems, pedagogy, and future research. / Department of English

This study presents a theory supporting single-gender, public institutions for women based on constitutional and legal history, educational theory, and feminist theory. Evidence from these areas suggest that single-gender, public institutions can be legally reviewed as constitutionally sound; that women can positively affect their situation in public life by learning the tools necessary to succeed in an educational environment without the added competition of men; and that once women experience leadership positions in college, they will understand how to gain access to channels of power. In order to reach the masses of women, this form of education must be offered as a choice in the public system of higher education so that all women, regardless of geographic or financial restrictions, can take advantage of a single-gender education. / Department of Secondary, Higher, and Foundations of Education

The purpose of this study was to further explore single case data related to the construct of math anxiety, as it applies to women. A triple mode analysis was used to identify critical variables and to establish patterns of synchrony, desynchrony and partial synchrony. A total of six women participated in two math tasks. While performing these two tasks, high threat and low threat, heart rate, self-reported anxiety and motoric performance were monitored. Data were collected before and after each specific task. Data were also collected at pre-selected points during the task performance. This continuous time series and interval data were utilized to provide clarification of the math anxiety construct, as it applies to women.Using visual inspection, there was not enough variance in the physical and motoric data to warrant a deferential determination of synchrony or desynchrony. The subjects responded differently than hypothesized. The heart rate measure varied only slightly over task and time. Self-reported anxiety, SUDS and STAI, was above average. The WAIS digit symbol results were sometimes opposite the hypotheses. Cognition, self-report and the standardized measure of state anxiety emerged as the dominant factors in assigning the construct of math anxiety. These are consistent with the findings of Hackett and Betz (1989) whose research theorized the existence of a model for math self-efficacy. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The core of the thesis investigates the role of education in the engendering of cultural change and leadership among a select group of a powerful 'first generation' of Arab women; specifically, the role of dual educational/cultural experiences, both Arab and Western. The broader aim of the study is to analyze the merging of cultural traditionalism and modernity and how dual education has enhanced the ability of women, especially Arab women, to become leaders in their professional careers, and within their respective communities, whilst still maintaining strong ties to their culture, religion and traditions, albeit to varying degrees. The writer has chosen to investigate the association between cultural identity and educational experience of elite educated Arab women, through a small sample, who have had exposure to both Western and Arab educational systems at different points in their lives. The researcher's heritage has led to a fundamental ideological interest in the coexistence of traditionalism and modernisation and whether the two can complement one another. There are now a significant number of Arab women who have had the privilege of education and exposure to the two types of systems. Yet, gender constraints and predefined gender roles still very much dictate the socio-cultural contexts in which such women have to operate. The patriarchal 'system' is omnipresent in the West as well as in the Arab world. The challenges the writer has faced even as a 'Western' Arab to reconcile tradition and intellectual and educational exposure has served as a greater impetus for this investigation. The investigation and the intent of this thesis as described above, is to test the preliminary hypothesis that, in the context of elite Arab women, their exposure to both West and Arab educational cultures is germane to their potential for influencing female professional development. How their educational experiences have influenced their own identities and their ability to adhere to the gender roles prescribed is of significant interest. What influence has such education had on these women's prospects for instituting and pioneering change in their respective societies and professions? Is the synergy of certain aspects of modernity and tradition possible? The general conclusion is that it is.

This thesis is an account of the 'household and social science' course opened at King's College for Women in 1908 and its evolution up to 1939. The course was a significant departure for women's higher education in England as it was the first attempt to define a special university discipline based upon women's 'domestic' roles. However, historical accounts of women's higher education have either ignored or dismissed it, largely because of the predominance of'separate spheres' analyses in the historiography of women's higher education of the 1970s and early 1980s. Such accounts have presented the household science course in a negative light because of its 'domestic' image. This thesis thus offers a reassessment of the household science movement and those who supported it. The 'household science' concept owed its origin to the American 'home economies' movement which originated in the mid-nineteenth century. Chapter 1 provides a history of the home economics movement in America, tracing its evolution in the context of women's higher education until 1914. Initially home economics was seen as a 'vocational homemaking' course aiming to train women for home life. At the turn of the century, however, a 'scientific' model was developed by women scientists in order to promote research into social problems connected with the domestic sphere. These two models~the vocation and the scientific, have developed in tandem in American home economics. Chapters 2 and 3 consider the origins and early evolution of the 'household science' course in England, which was largely influenced by the American 'scientific' model. Chapter 2 first considers the concept of domestic education in the history of women's education and factors that precluded the development of a 'vocational homemaking' course in English higher education. The rest of the chapter analyses the origins of the household science movement in its social and intellectual context, in particular its connection with Edwardian preoccupations with 'physical deterioration' and infant mortality. Like their American counterparts, the founders of the course saw household science as a reform movement which aimed to promote research into domestic problems such as hygiene and nutrition, as well as to create a more useful and relevant university discipline for women's domestic roles, whether as housewife/mother or in 'municipal housekeeping' roles. Chapter 3 discusses the household science course from a disciplinary standpoint, looking at how the syllabus was constructed, the contemporary educational controversies it engendered, and its evolution up to 1920 when the B.Sc. degree was granted. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 examine the main factors which ultimately undermined the success of household science as a discipline. Chapter 4 evaluates career trends amongst KCHSS students from 1910-49, analysing to what extent the KCHSS administration was able to create a professional career structure for the household science discipline. The interplay between administrative policy, career trends, and professionalization is analyzed in relation to three career fields-social welfare, laboratory research, and dietetics. Chapters considers the professional conflicts between KCHSS and the domestic subjects teaching profession. Chapter 6 analyses KCHSS's failure to carve out a unique academic 'territory' or expertise and the various factors that affected this. The final chapter assesses how successful KCHSS was as an institution, looking at how students themselves experienced the course, their motivations for taking it, and its impact on their lives. Although household science was unsuccessful as a discipline, the course did give students a wide choice of career options, creating openings in less conventional spheres for women who did not want to teach and providing opportunities for the less-able student to follow a scientific career. The conclusion considers how the social climate of the interwar period affected the working out of the original household science ideals.

The aim of my research was examine the impact of race, class and gender in Ottawa's educational system. I sought to find out if these factors played a role in the streaming of Black youths in basic or vocational programs and, if so, to what degree. While looking at the issue, I examined the narratives of both middle-class and working-class students and parents. / The study found that a student's socio-economic background largely determine her/his educational stream, be it basic, general or advanced. For example, all the participants in the vocational stream were working-class students while the participants that were streamed into the university bound program were from middle-class families. Teachers within the system also treated the parents differently. Middle-class parents had a greater degree of reciprocity between themselves and teachers compared to working-class parents.

In this study I challenge the uncritical use of the long held dictum of the development discourse that education empowers women. From a post-structuralist feminist position I show that in its current state the educational discourse in Pakistan actually disempowers women. This discourse constitutes gendered identities and positions them in a way that exacerbates and intensifies inequalities between men and women. Gendered constitution and positioning of subjects also regulates the relationship between the subjects and the state in such a way that women and minorities are excluded from the citizenship realm. / Educational discourse in Pakistan is the premier site where meanings of signs such as woman, man, mother, father, patriot, nationalist, etc., are gendered and fixed. It also provides the techniques of discipline and surveillance for naturalization of meaning and normalization of subjects. Urdu and social studies curricula and textbooks for classes 1-8 and 3-8 respectively constitute subjects and subjectivities and relations among them by means such as inclusion and exclusion from the text, hierarchization of the meanings ascribed to the subjects, normalization of the ascribed meanings (so that subjects stop questioning the meaning fixation), totalization (where all theoretical and explanatory differences are obfuscated), and classification of subjects in terms of binary opposites where one is superior to the other. / As a result of such gendered subjectivity constitution and subject positioning, women in Pakistan have been subjected to the worst kind of social, political, economic and juridical discrimination. However, Pakistani women have refused to be passive victims. They have used their agency to put up a spirited resistance against the unequal citizenship status and rights resulting from the gendered subjectivity constitution and subject positioning. In order to make education more meaningful and empowering for the women of Pakistan it is imperative that both women's groups as well as the educational policy makers understand the working and dynamics of the educational discourse in conjunction with the judicial and economic discourses and those of the state and the media. It is only from within the discourses that a change can be brought about.