Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 177-184.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 92-102.

Although more and more women are present in university, feminist scholars contend that we have been and often still are viewed as "other" in this context. This position of "outsider" can problematize academic discourse for women writers. This qualitative study explores the search for authority as academic writers among twelve re-entry women graduate students. This quest is explored as a social process within the university setting. The study argues that re-entry graduate women encounter the problem of "authority" at several levels: in their experience of self as academics; in their experience of the academic milieu; and in their relation to texts (their own and others). The data show that the lived experience of graduate studies confers on re-entry women an identity of not belonging and thus undermines their sense of authority as academics which they seek. Thus authority and identity, like writing itself, are revealed as social processes. / This study tells the story of the re-entry women's academic experiences, of their anticipation and disappointment, indeed devastation when they encountered sexism, ageism and racism. Although the study highlights the difficulties these women have in university, it also shows how positive social relations with professors and other colleagues can have a profound impact on re-entry women. It makes clear that these women thrive on social support, that they value the professor who affirms their identity as becoming academics, who helps them achieve not only the knowledge of an expert but also the stance and the voice---in short, to develop their sense of authority.

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Using a sociocultural theoretical framework, this study describes the learning experience of three re-entry adult women during their first year of academic study in a university. To situate the learning historically and culturally, cultural factors of both the students and the learning context are considered as well as interactions between the two over time. Information about the students' perspective of their experience was obtained through interviews conducted throughout the year and some textual responses are examined. The women's orientations toward learning are described using three theoretical constructs: transformative or reproductive approaches to learning, connected or separate modes of learning, and rhetorical or arhetorical approaches to text. / Each of the women entered university with a different orientation to learning and each struggled to learn to respond in academically appropriate ways. In her interactions with the learning context, each experienced some disjunction and some support for her preferred ways of learning. One student, entering as an active and sophisticated learner, initially resisted academic tasks that required an arhetorical, reproductive, or decontextualized response. Another student, entering eager to apply her learning to her everyday life, responded with enthusiastic effort, compliant about meeting academic demands and sometimes suppressing her preference for rhetorical and connected learning. The third student, entering with a background as a reproductive and receptive learner, did not become engaged as a learner and avoided writing that required her to transform rather than reproduce ideas. By the end of the year, each student had shifted her pre-entry orientation, moving toward integration of her preferred approach to learning and academic ways. Writing was the activity where integration most often occurred. Changes in orientation occurred through a negotiation process. / This study adds to our understanding of learning as a sociocultural process and provides a description of individuals in transition between one domain of situated cognition and another. It also shows different ways adult women respond to disjunction with their preferred ways of learning within a university setting and ways they integrate their own preferences with academic ways. Finally, it highlights students' need for guidance in achieving intersubjectivity in academic discourse as new participants in an academic community.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The focus of this research essay was to provide a rich description and an analysis of the role that a community education intervention played in initiating and supporting sustainable entrepreneurship among a group of women in the Daveyton community, Johannesburg, South Africa. The transformation of the education system in South Africa is crucial, given the legacy of apartheid, which has left a vast number of black people without decent education. It has thus become essential for the government to put into place policies aimed at maximising participation in Adult and Community Education programmes, particularly for those groups who were deprived of basic education, the majority of whom were black women. Most of these women are still unable to interact with the mainstream economy, whether as business-owners or employees. Without access to the outside market, they are confined to meagre wages in the townships, either as domestic workers or child-minders. A community education programme should provide such individuals with education associated with the joy of self-improvement and the development of the individual, factors that can make it possible for the establishment of sustainable livelihoods. This inquiry is premised on the view that community education is crucial in enabling disadvantaged groups to fully participate in programmes that enable them to take control of their lives and exploit the opportunities presented to them. This research study is grounded within an interpretive paradigm, using qualitative research methods, to seek, discover and understand the role played by a community education intervention for promoting and sustaining entrepreneurial behaviour in a women’s group. Data was collected via in-depth, semi-structured interviews and observation with six black women and two black males, from Daveyton township in the East Rand. I used the constant comparative method for data analysis, and in searching for recurring themes and patterns. The findings of this research have revealed that the group of black South African women from Daveyton township were able to sustain entrepreneurship through a community education intervention by Eskom Development Foundation. Firstly, the programme aided them to recognise and combine available resources among themselves. Secondly, the programme opened up avenues for the establishment and development of the enterprise ‘Leratong Bakery’. In addition, the women were also able to use skills that they acquired from the programme in order to conform to standard norms of business. Furthermore, they went through a process of critical awareness, which resulted in a ‘change of mindset’. This change in turn enhanced their creativity and resulted in the growth and sustenance of the business for the duration of this study. The study concludes with a few recommendations that can possibly be used by all stakeholders involved in formulating community education programme policy. / Mrs. N. F. Petersen