In an era in which school principals' jobs are much more complex and demanding than they were a few decades ago, the increasing challenges of the position have affected principal recruitment and selection efforts by school districts nationwide. Moreover, the rapidly increasing rate of principal retirements has exacerbated the problem of a shortage of qualified candidates for principal positions. As a result, it is important to explore current principals' perspectives on how best to attract and retain qualified prospective applicants during the hiring process. In this case study, 16 principals and associate principals from both public and independent schools in three states described their experiences, their reasons for applying for a principalship, their perspectives on the application process. They also gave advice and recommendations for both administrators of hiring processes and for future applicants. One-on-one qualitative interviews with a pre-established interview protocol were conducted as the sole data collection method. Three primary research questions were investigated: How do school principals perceive the existing principal recruitment processes? How do school principals perceive the processes used by the school districts to select them? To what extent do job descriptions, as currently written, systematically cover the realities of the duties of incumbent principals? From analysis of the interviews, the researcher chose to focus on four main topics that emerged from principals' perspectives on the hiring process: (a) the decision to pursue a principalship and searching for openings, (b) going through the process, (c) personal reactions to the process, and (d) recommendations. These topics were compared and contrasted with relevant research reported in the literature to generate the following four major results of the present study. First, standardized and structured interviews not only helped decision making but also won applicants' trust. Second, hiring processes were generally similar to what previous research suggested. Third, deficiencies in hiring processes that were first identified a number of years ago continue to persist. Finally, whether applicant pools are shrinking appeared to be an open question. These findings contribute to the very limited research that has thus far examined principal hiring practices from the perspectives of school principals, and have allowed suggestions to be made for possible areas of improvement in principal hiring processes.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether there is a trust between social media influencers and their followers, and if so, to what extent. The methodological approach consists of an analysis of interview material, expert interviews and selected comment boxes on social media. By conducting qualitative analysis, this thesis examines audience reception to promotional content produced by social media influencers in collaboration with the Swedish interior design brand Royal Design. Based on the theories of parasocial interaction, two-step flow and opinion leadership, and modes of reception, concepts such as audience advertising response, relationship to influencers and the level of trust are investigated and concluded in order to find common patterns around audience reception to influencer marketing. The analysis shows that there is indeed a certain amount of trust towards social media influencers among the sample group especially if they recognise the influencer, however, the trust is not full and unconditional. The audience reception of influencer marketing content both in the interviews and comment boxes was mostly positive, and some respondents seemed to have developed sympathy towards social media personas featured in the advertisements, praising them for being personal and authentic. The results of the study imply that while the credibility and motives of influencer content are questioned by some, it is generally perceived as a more enjoyable alternative to traditional advertising formats.

Digital advertising has become a multi-billion-dollar industry; and it is growing tremendously each year. In times of strong market dynamics, marketers are particularly aware of Facebook advertising as a powerful advertising form. The dynamic market situation also magnifies the need for marketers to monitor and analyse consumers' perceptions. The purpose of this study was, thus, to assist marketers in understanding the influence of targeted Facebook advertising through mobile devices on South African consumers' advertisement perceptions. The form of advertising investigated was in-stream advertisements. The aim of this study was to explore the role of South African consumers' emotions in relation to these consumers' attention to the targeted in-stream advertising on Facebook delivered via mobile phones. South African consumers view videos on their mobile phone through the Facebook platform, which can be interrupted by targeted Facebook advertising. This study investigated the role that the interruption of video watching bears in relation to the interpretation and perception of the advertisement by these consumers. Another objective was to explore the role of South African consumers' attitudes towards brands in relation to what these consumers remember from the advertisements delivered through mobile targeted in-stream Facebook advertising. The sample consisted of 13 South African consumers and was acquired using purposive sampling. This study was based on a perception-formation model, which is a composition formed from the perception models of different authors. The model was investigated using qualitative interviewing and the data gathered was analysed through qualitative content analysis. The results of the study provide support for the theoretical framework and suggest that consumers' perception of in-stream advertising on Facebook is influenced by various factors such as the nature of Facebook usage, emotions, the disruption caused by the advertising, the attitude towards the brand and the Facebook video viewed. Marketers may be able to influence consumers' perception of in-stream advertisements through more precise targeting, a better fit between the in-stream advertisements and the video and by limiting the advertisement occurrence. By shedding light on South African consumers' perceptions of targeted in-stream advertising on Facebook, this thesis could serve as a basis for marketers' decisions, and also lay the foundations for future academic research in this field.

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The diploma thesis "Accountability in tertiary education in the Czech Republic" is based on the concept of accountability, which is defined as a social relation between two actors, where one actor is obliged to justify his conduct and behavior to another. This diploma thesis has been mainly written on a theoretical base - the accountability concept, which will be applied in the Czech tertiary education. The main aim of the presented diploma thesis is to find out, whether the concept of accountability in the Czech Republic will contribute to the expansion of a professional knowledge in tertiary education system. The set aim further allows verification, if accountability as a concept might be beneficial for further research in this field. The objective of this diploma thesis will further describe how accountability is applied in the tertiary education and outline such a complex network of relations between actors. Following the set aim, this thesis is conceived as a theoretical study covering the specific country - the Czech Republic. The diploma thesis is logically divided into seven chapters, which are divided into subchapters. Aims and research questions are presented in the beginning of this thesis, followed by a detailed definition of the concept of accountability, which is crucial for the whole...

Sustainable development is a broad and difficult concept. The concept has been clarified and given more space in the steering document - the curriculum for preschool 2018 - with its own heading together with health and well-being. Sustainable development can be divided into three different dimensions, the ecological, social and economic dimension. In this study, sustainable development is discussed overall, but, however, delves into the ecological dimension. The ecological dimension is referred to as sustainable development (climate and natural environment) with the support of a qualitative study and individual interviews in preschools as a method. A total of five preschool teachers at two different preschools are interviewed. The purpose of the study is to elucidate some different perceptions that preschool teachers have about sustainable development in preschool. What emerges from the analysis is that all interviewed preschool teacher’s value sustainable development (climate and natural environment) highly within preschool, and that this is a relevant area to work with. The result shows that all preschool teachers consider that they have an important role in supporting children's learning in sustainable development and that it is the preschool teachers who have the main responsibility and should be teaching. What emerges most clearly from the interviews with preschool teachers is to awaken children's interest in digital tools and to talk with children about sustainable development. Prerequisites to work on sustainable development in preschool always exist, according to the interviewed preschool teachers, but some of them emphasize that it is up to each individual to address it if one wants to work with it in preschool. It is more spontaneous teaching than planned teaching in sustainable development, say the interviewed preschool teachers. They further believe that one works with sustainable development on a daily basis without consciously knowing about and thinking about it

"Throughout history, there have been various gaps: racial, gender, income, education, skills gaps...society today is not any different"(Andrews, 2017). Despite advances to close these gaps, a large gap still remains in communications leadership: the gender gap. Approximately 75 percent of practitioners are female and female practitioners only make up 20 percent of senior-level positions (Oakes & Hardwick, 2017). Existing research suggests there are several reasons why a gap exists: an unconscious bias that favors male leaders (Devillard, Hunt, & Yee, 2018), only 60 percent of women have the confidence they can advance into leadership positions (KPMG, 2018), lack of mentorship (Place & Vardeman-Winter, 2018), lack of exposure to female leaders (Arvate, Galilea, & Todescat, In Press), and the balance of personal and work responsibilities (Krivkovich, et al., 2017). This study employed 32 qualitative in-depth interviews with senior level communications leaders to understand the journey that women and men go through to become communications leaders, perceptions of communications leaders, factors contributing to the gender gap, and ultimately what can be done to close the gender gap. Participants of this study are among some of today's most senior-level communications leaders, with the average participant having 29 years of work experience in the field of communications. Multiple themes were identified for when and why individuals begin aspiring for communications leadership but it usually begins sometime during high school, college, or in the first few jobs after college once they have be experienced some form of leadership for the first time. There are certain factors such as unequal expectations for women and men and organization culture that can make a woman's path more difficult than a man's path. The majority of participants agreed that women and men are viewed differently in the workplace and that there are key differences such as sensitivity to and involvement of others that differentiate women from a men. There were seven primary themes identified as factors that contributing to the gender gap: relationships, unique challenges to women, issues in the communications field, a long history of male dominance, the pay gap is fueling the gender gap, lack of awareness of the gender gap, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Additionally, this study introduces multiple ways to help mitigate factors that are contributing to the gender gap. There were three primary thematic areas identified on ways to mitigate the gender gap: organizational mitigating factors, cultural mitigating factors, and personal mitigating factors. In summary, there are a number of reasons why a woman's journey into communications leadership is more difficult than a man's journey; however, there are many actionable things that communications leaders believe can be done to make it easier for future leaders.

The intersection of disability and sexuality remains a taboo topic. Along with this taboo, people with intellectual disabilities are rarely afforded the opportunity to share their experiences and desires when it comes to their intimate lives. This research examines the romantic and sexual lives of adults with intellectual disabilities in Ontario, Canada, by putting into conversation theories from the sociology of sexualities and critical disability studies. It uses a sexual fields analytic framework (Green, 2014) to explore the consequences of sexual stratification on the experiences of disabled people. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 46 adults with intellectual disabilities, this research explores how they are kept out of sexual fields through a series of disabling social processes. It also examines how participants make sense of their gender and sexual identities based on gender habitus acquired in their lives and how they are often confined to “hetero-romantic” forms of sexual expression and traditional gender roles. Finally, this project explores how participants navigate the sexual fields available to them and their strategies for negotiating those fields. This research brings to view previously unexplored sexual fields within the existing sexual fields literature. I discuss what I call intellectual disability sexual fields, spaces exclusively for people with intellectual disabilities, as well as more mainstream sexual fields. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In this paper, I have conducted a study of what perspectives educational drama has in theory and practice. The study aims to show an example of how and out of what perspectives educational drama is a part of the school’s activity at a geographically distinct school, from kindergarten on to primary and secondary school years. The general attitude of the faculty and their arguments for and against drama constitute the major aspects of this study, which has been carried out through qualitative interviews at a school in Skåne. The results were that pre-school focuses on teaching drama to develop communicative abilities amongst the students (art educational perspective) while secondary school seemingly abandoned this approach and focuses more on using it for personal development, increasing empathy and understanding of other people by taking it to a more emotional level in order to affect for example moral values of the students. Though I find that the faculty in general has a positive attitude towards drama, they expressed they do not wish to increase it either as it would steal focus from the traditional “core” subjects. It is a fact that the national school plans for kindergarten, primary and secondary schools (LPFÖ98, LPO94) do not give any specific guidance on to what extent drama should be used in practice or any directions on how to bring in drama as an integrated part in any particular subject. This, in conclusion, leads to that the responsibility to use drama as an integrated part lies solely on the teachers and drama is used in the education at their discretion, which in turn tend to weaken drama as a prioritized subject. In a highly competitive global environment it is of great importance that the Swedish school system adapts and focuses on progressive and dynamic tools such as drama to inspire pupils and student to higher ambitions.

There are numerous video games that depict mental health conditions, and Hellblade: Senua'sSacrifice (Hellblade) stands out as a remarkable example. This thesis studies the impact thisgame has on players’ own perceived awareness regarding mental health conditions by viewingthe subject through the lens of Transformative Play. Furthermore, the following study can informgame designers and researchers about design choices made to represent mental health conditions.Qualitative data gathered through two sets of semi-structured interviews, was analyzed todetermine whether players’ perceived mental health awareness had changed as a result of playingHellblade, and what transformative experiences arose. The results from this study found theplayers’ perceived awareness of mental health conditions to have changed after playingHellblade. Seen within the context of Transformative Play, this was due to players’ abilities toimmerse themselves into the main protagonist, resulting in the fictional character’s experiencesand perspectives spilling over to the player.