To support the professional knowledge development of all teachers, schools in North America have implemented teacher-leader roles (Angelle & DeHart, 2011; Fullan, 2003; Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins, 2008). The effectiveness of developing professional knowledge depends upon numerous variables such as school culture, collaborative environments, resources, and organizational paradigms. It follows, then, that understanding what influences teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership can determine best practices of implementing teacher-leader roles within schools and across school divisions. The literature reviewed in this study falls into four main categories: School culture, Distributed Leadership as Teacher-Leadership, Teacher-Leader Roles, and Teachers’ Perceptions of Teacher-Leadership. Furthermore, the purpose of this study was to investigate high school teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership. Research, using a quantitative instrument, focused on conducting an inquiry into teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership and what influences teachers’ perceptions. The study investigated the differences in perceptions according to these specific considerations: attained education level, teaching experience, formal teacher-leader roles, and gender. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the differences in high-school teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership within the context of one Saskatchewan urban school division according to educators’ attained education level, teaching experience, formal teacher-leader roles, and gender. To that end, the study investigated teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership based on four factors of teacher-leadership: supra-practitioner, sharing expertise, sharing leadership, and principal selection (Angelle & DeHart, 2011). Moreover, the following research questions previously referred to helped sharpen the focus of the study: 1. What are the differences in teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership according to different degree levels attained? 2. What are the differences in teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership according to varying teaching experience? 3. What are the differences in teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership according to teachers who occupy formal teacher-leader roles compared to those who do not occupy formal teacher-leader roles? 4. What are the differences in teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership according to gender? This study used a quantitative methodology to examine high school teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership through Angelle and DeHart’s (2012) Teacher Leadership Inventory resulting in empirical evidence collected via one-way between-groups ANOVA- the results of which provided both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics indicated the spread of scores through variance, standard deviation, and range while describing independent and dependent variables (Creswell, 2012). Inferential statistics helped to “compare groups or related two or more variables” (p. 187). Independent variable of the study included; degree level attainment, years of teaching experience, occupying a position of formal teacher-leadership, and gender. Furthermore, the dependent variables included Sharing Expertise, Sharing Leadership, Supra-Practitioner and Principal Selection. The findings of the data showed statistical difference in the dependent variables Sharing Expertise and Sharing Leadership. As a result of this study, implications for theory include whether the TLI needs to consider a Canadian context. In addition, implications of practice revealed in this study supported the use of the Teacher Leadership Inventory (Angelle and DeHart, 2012) as a possible screening instrument for teachers’ perceptions of teacher-leadership. Finally, implications for further research; this is the second study to use the Teacher Leadership Inventory, as such, it will be beneficial to use the TLI in more applications to collect additional data and to identify norms for the instrument.

Bill C-25, The Truth in Sentencing (TIS) Act legislates the reduction of credit awarded for time served in pre-sentencing custody. The Act is but one initiative that reflects a shift toward punitiveness by the West. In reading the literature, a gap was identified concerning TIS activities in relation to the current Canadian predicament of crime control, and a socio-legal perspective provided a creative means of looking at this gap. The primary data was coded and analyzed using sensitizing categories derived from a leading theoretical framework. This framework posited the existence of conflicting criminologies and resulting strategies together forming the present regime of truth. This thesis concludes that 'truth' in sentencing is premised upon contradictory understandings as defined by the framework, that conflicting rationalities are reproduced within TIS and that although the Act is touted as an administrative reform, it also reasserts sovereign power over issues of crime and its control.

Bill C-25, The Truth in Sentencing (TIS) Act legislates the reduction of credit awarded for time served in pre-sentencing custody. The Act is but one initiative that reflects a shift toward punitiveness by the West. In reading the literature, a gap was identified concerning TIS activities in relation to the current Canadian predicament of crime control, and a socio-legal perspective provided a creative means of looking at this gap. The primary data was coded and analyzed using sensitizing categories derived from a leading theoretical framework. This framework posited the existence of conflicting criminologies and resulting strategies together forming the present regime of truth. This thesis concludes that 'truth' in sentencing is premised upon contradictory understandings as defined by the framework, that conflicting rationalities are reproduced within TIS and that although the Act is touted as an administrative reform, it also reasserts sovereign power over issues of crime and its control.

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Background: A variety of factors may interplay between nurses and maternity clients of diverse ethnic origins to disrupt effective ethnocultural care encounters. Study Aim/Research Questions: The aim of this study was to explore maternity nurses care experiences with African immigrant/refugee women. Methodology: Focused ethnography. Methods: Data collection through a purposive sample using semi-structured interviews. Location/Setting: Maternity units of three acute care hospitals in Alberta, Canada. Participant Number & Characteristics: Twelve maternity nurses of RN or LPN designation. Approach to Analysis: A cyclical, iterative process of data collection & analysis with Atlas.ti6. Findings: Maternity nurses use multiple ways of gaining knowledge and information to negotiate ethnocultural care encounters. Awareness of larger social structures that impede deeper critical reflection and assessment is needed. Implications: This research study has the potential to affect positive learning outcomes amongst nurses such as improved therapeutic communication, care decision making and subsequent nurse-client relationships in ethno-cultural encounters.