The main aim of this study was to attempt to establish by the use of an environmental specific Personal Growth Programme, whether it is possible to assist students towards a more ‘holistic’ personal formation. It also aimed to investigate whether a move away from traditional education in the form of alternative or parallel programmes, would assist in bringing about an integrated individual, who is more capable of dealing with life as a whole (Krishnamurti 1953). The research was undertaken with adult students between the ages of 21 and 60, at the multi-cultural and extremely diverse residential theological College of the Transfiguration, in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province. An overview of Holistic and Mainstream education was explored in this study, which included also the challenges and influences which each type of education faces. The study then went on to investigate whether it is possible to bridge the gap that exists between holistic and mainstream education using various methods of alternative education. In the qualitative study, the Personal Growth Programme Annual Review Questionnaire was used to obtain feedback from the students to assess the usefulness of the Personal Growth Programme in their journey towards wholeness. This, together with the student’s responses from the in-depth interviews were used to ascertain the study’s limitations, credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability.

The purposes of this study were (1) to describe and analyze the organization and content of nonprofit corporate curricula, (2) to describe and analyze the background and status of nonprofit corporate college faculty, and (3) to describe and analyze the demographics, educational background, and employment characteristics of students in nonprofit corporate colleges. Institutional demographics on student enrollment, number of graduates, admission policy, tuition cost, types of financial aid programs, student housing, and schedule of classes were gathered as well. Data were collected from survey instruments returned by 12 nonprofit corporate college administrators. The data were treated to produce frequencies and percentages. The study revealed that the majority of nonprofit corporate colleges are specialized institutions which primarily offer graduate degree programs. Faculty are most likely full-time, non-tenured employees. White males between the ages of 25 and 40 constitute an overwhelming majority of the student population. Two major findings unrelated to the purposes of the study were revealed during this investigation. They are (1) the term corporate college and the definition are sometimes misunderstood and (2) three corporate colleges identified last year have ceased operating as post-secondary degree-granting institutions.

The present study consisted of a phenomenological investigation of African American males who have been expelled from traditional educational settings in New Orleans, LA in order to provide educators with information geared towards increasing academic achievement in African American males. It has been noted that one of the reasons that Black males graduation rates are so low is because in addition to other factors that lead to non-completion, black males are more likely to be expelled from school. In this study, I used a Critical Race theoretical framework to explore gain experiential knowledge of these excluded young men, what they perceive as barriers to their success, and their sentiments on the relationships they have had with educators and peers whom they have encountered. Based on the participants’ responses, seven categories emerged from the data including: (a) Race and Racism, (b) Self Perceptions, (c) Family Expectations and Support, (d) Male Role Models and Mentors, (e) The School Environment, (f) School Discipline, and (g) Alternative School. Study participants described the totality of their education experiences by opening up about what they felt were key factors at play. The stories of the participants provided a deeper context of the nuances of racism and how it impacts their day to day educational experiences overall The results of this study provides data that may enable educators to begin steps to dismantle the school to prison pipeline by ensuring at-risk students are supported and successful in school without having to be removed. This information serves as a catalyst for future inquiry into additional nuances that effect the academic achievement of African American male students in K-12 schools.

Essa pesquisa relata os acontecimentos em Oaxaca durante o ano de 2006, quando uma onda de protestos populares levou à tomada da capital do Estado pelos manifestantes, à dissolução do poder político e à violenta ação de desocupação imposta pelo Governo Federal do México. Segundo relatos, o papel que os professores da rede pública de Oaxaca, por meio da Seção XXII do Sindicato Nacional dos Trabalhadores da Educação do México (SNTE,) desempenharam antes e durante a revolta popular de 2006 foi fundamental para nascer a Comuna de Oaxaca. A partir de uma análise crítica dos acontecimentos e das atividades políticas conduzidas pelos professores de Oaxaca nas duas últimas décadas, período de forte efervescência política no Estado e de destacada atuação sindical docente, pretende-se localizar e descrever quais as práticas pedagógicas propostas pelos docentes da Seção XXII. Seu objetivo é compreender, a partir desse levante popular, as concepções de Educação Alternativa e Autônoma que nasceram no Estado de Oaxaca e a elaboração coletiva de uma proposta de gestão comunitária das políticas educativas, caracterizadas pelo envolvimento dos trabalhadores da Educação na construção dessas políticas. Para tanto, o estudo abordará também as concepções políticas de movimentos docentes e de movimentos indígenas no México. A análise destas práticas docentes passará pela pesquisa e descrição do contexto sociopolítico local, pelo estudo da relação que os docentes da Seção XXII estabeleceram com as comunidades indígenas, rurais e setores populares urbanos da sociedade oaxaquenha, assim como a investigação da atuação política e sindical desses professores, sempre a partir de relatos de suas práticas, experiências e propostas educativas. / This research reports the events that happened in Oaxaca during the year 2006, when a wave of popular protests led to the protesters to assume the power of the State capital, the dissolution of political power and the violent eviction action imposed by the Federal Government of Mexico. According to the records, the teachers of Oaxaca public system, through the XXII Section of the Mexican National Syndicate of Education Workers, played a fundamental role in the creation of Oaxacas Comuna before and during the 2006 popular revolution. Through a critical evaluation of the events and the political activities conducted by Oaxacas teachers in the last two decades, that represent a period of strong political unrest and memorable actuation of the teachers trade union, it is intended to describe which are the pedagogical practices proposed by the teachers of the section XXII. Its aim is to comprehend, through this popular uprising, the conceptions of the Autonomous and Alternative education that emerged in Oaxaca State, and also the collective elaboration of a community management proposal of educational policies, characterized by the involvement of the education workers in the construction of these policies. Moreover, this study will address the political conceptions of teachers and indigenous movements in Mexico. The analysis of those teaching practices will be made through the research and description of the local socio-economic context, by the study of the relation established by the professors of Section XXII with indigenous and rural communities and with Oaxacan popular urban sectors. In addiction, the teachers political and syndical actuation, always from their practical narrative, experiences and education proposals will be investigated.

The problem of this study was to determine if there were differences in perceived attitudes of self-concept between young people who returned to alternative education after dropping out of public education and educationally disadvantaged at-risk youth in Coordinated Vocational Academic Education (CVAE) classes as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. The hypotheses formulated for the study predicted no significant difference in mean attitude self-concept scores of returned dropouts to alternative schools and CVAE students enrolled in junior high school preemployment laboratories and high school students enrolled in Cooperative Education classes as measured by the Piers-Harris scale; and no significant change in mean attitude self-concept scores of former dropouts enrolled in alternative education centers and CVAE students as measured by the Piers-Harris scale over a two-month period utilizing an extended Solomon Four-Group Design, with and without the treatment. The scale was administered to 351 students from junior high and high school CVAE classes in Ector County (Odessa), Fort Stockton, and Midland Independent School Districts and alternative schools in Denton, Fort Stockton, Midland and Odessa, Texas. The self-concept scores were treated for significance by an analysis of variance. Findings were that all groups tested scored within the age range, junior high school CVAE students scored lowest, but not significantly lower (p > .05); and junior high school CVAE students, alternative school students, and high school CVAE students all had a slight increase in self-confidence scores over the two-month period. All null hypotheses were retained. It was concluded that, overall, junior high school CVAE students, former dropouts who returned to an alternative school, and high school CVAE students possessed positive self-concepts that were above the national mean for the scale; and that CVAE classes enhance the self-concept of academically disadvantaged students in Cooperative Education classes.

In a suburban alternative school, educators of at-risk students reading below grade level often struggled to provide effective reading instruction. As a result, these students were likely to continue to experience academic difficulties, which could limit their career options and their opportunities to contribute to the betterment of society. This study addressed the gap between reading strategies teachers actually used in the classroom and the reading strategies they learned during professional development. The research questions focused on the instructional challenges teachers experienced while working with struggling readers in an alternative school setting. Mastery learning theory and the adult adragogical theory were used in this case study to explore experiences of 6 teachers concerning the use of reading strategies in an alternative middle school setting. Data were collected with interviews, observations, and from archival work samples. Findings revealed that for teachers serving in an alternative school setting, there was a need for additional strategy-related support for struggling readers, collaborative professional development with a focus on literacy, and teacher acquisition of vocabulary and comprehension strategies. The resulted project consists of a data-driven professional development program designed to help instructors teach reading strategies to assist struggling student readers. This project contributes to positive social change through a targeted implementation of instructional literacy practices that teachers in all content areas can use to help struggling readers in an alternative school settings to experience greater academic success.

Contesting international strategies for combatting child labour that derive from modern, Western conceptions of childhood, several developing country organizations have embraced the principle of child protagonism by declaring that working children can become the leading agents in struggles to advance their interests when they are mentored in forming their own independent organizations. This thesis first explores how an African NGO, informed by its urban animation experiences, developed its own specific discourse of child protagonism and employed it as the basis for establishing an African working children’s organization designed to provide compensatory literacy and skills training and to empower members to improve their own and other children’s working conditions. The thesis considers this foundational child protagonism discourse in light of data collected in Senegal by means of participant observation and interviews in grassroots groups and associations of working children, as well as in the offices of both the local NGO and its international NGO donor. Fieldwork revealed limitations of the specific child protagonism practice pursued over the past two decades. Specifically, redirecting resources from direct pedagogical accompaniment of grassroots working child groups towards bureaucratic capacity building for the “autonomization” of higher hierarchical levels of the organization, as well as towards international meetings, has resulted in the organization’s diminished impact for vulnerable groups in Dakar, particularly migrant girl domestic workers. Deepening implication with international donors has forced shifts in the priorities of the local NGO and the working children’s organization it facilitates, yet the two have been largely successful in buffering donor probes precisely into the ground level effectiveness of their child protagonism strategy. No previous independent research has sought to confront the discourse of child protagonism with a comprehensive examination of a working children’s organization’s practice, from its most local processes to its international dimensions and donor relations.

Contesting international strategies for combatting child labour that derive from modern, Western conceptions of childhood, several developing country organizations have embraced the principle of child protagonism by declaring that working children can become the leading agents in struggles to advance their interests when they are mentored in forming their own independent organizations. This thesis first explores how an African NGO, informed by its urban animation experiences, developed its own specific discourse of child protagonism and employed it as the basis for establishing an African working children’s organization designed to provide compensatory literacy and skills training and to empower members to improve their own and other children’s working conditions. The thesis considers this foundational child protagonism discourse in light of data collected in Senegal by means of participant observation and interviews in grassroots groups and associations of working children, as well as in the offices of both the local NGO and its international NGO donor. Fieldwork revealed limitations of the specific child protagonism practice pursued over the past two decades. Specifically, redirecting resources from direct pedagogical accompaniment of grassroots working child groups towards bureaucratic capacity building for the “autonomization” of higher hierarchical levels of the organization, as well as towards international meetings, has resulted in the organization’s diminished impact for vulnerable groups in Dakar, particularly migrant girl domestic workers. Deepening implication with international donors has forced shifts in the priorities of the local NGO and the working children’s organization it facilitates, yet the two have been largely successful in buffering donor probes precisely into the ground level effectiveness of their child protagonism strategy. No previous independent research has sought to confront the discourse of child protagonism with a comprehensive examination of a working children’s organization’s practice, from its most local processes to its international dimensions and donor relations.

Este estudio presenta algunos de los resultados de un diplomado en educación Inicial Comunitaria realizado durante el ciclo escolar 2011-2012, con un total de doscientas horas, en el que participaron 35 maestras indígenas de educación Inicial que atienden a niñas y niños de 0 a 3 años de edad en comunidades marginadas de Oaxaca, méxico. Las actividades espontáneas de las niñas y los niños, y las planeadas de las maestras, que fueron analizadas a partir de las fotografías y narraciones de las maestras, forman parte de los portafolios de evidencias escritas y fotográficas que entregaron las participantes como su producto final del diplomado. Las metas deldiplomado eran enriquecer los conocimientos comunales de las par- ticipantes y proveerles las competencias necesarias para investigar y honrar las prácticas comunales, las formas de gobernarse y las perspectivas de las comunidades originarias rurales donde enseñan, para poder generar una educación Inicial auténtica, alternativa y comunal para los niños y niñas desde esta edad temprana. / This study provides partial results of a 200-hour intensive training experience (called a diplomado) lasting one school year (2011-2012) for 35 indigenous teachers of Initial education who attend children 0 to 3 years old in marginalized communities of Oaxaca, mexico. Children’s spontaneous activities and those planned by teachers, presented through photographs and accompanying teacher’ narratives, are part of the written and photographic evidence submitted by the participants in their final diplomado portfolio of tasks. the purposes of the diplomado were to enrich teachers’communal knowledge and equip them with research skills to investigate and honor the communal practices, forms of governance, and the perspectives of the rural indigenous communities where they teach, in order to generate an authentic, alternative, community-based approach to initial education for babies and toddlers.

The thesis is focused on a subjective perspective of students from Faculty of Education of University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice on attitudes in education and on potential application of these methods in their practise. In this thesis is covered general exploration which characterizes particular types of alternative schools and alternative approaches in the process of education. Data were gained from questionnaire and with usage of didactical test. On research were participated 139 students from Faculty od Education of University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. In the result part are covered finding outs which refer to fact that most of students would use alternative attitudes during their practise even if only small part of them have ever visited any of alternative schools. The higher percentage of respondents answered that they have only limited information about alternative education which was verified by didactical test. The average access from the test was 50%.