The study focused on investigating challenges and prospects of quality education in rural primary schools in developing countries particularly in Zimbabwe. Reviewed literature indicated that two theories; education as human capital and education as human right advanced increased access to education. Decline of quality of education in the expansion programme portrayed by the decrease of pass rates to below 50 percent, pupils’ low literacy and numeracy prompted investigation. A case study of Ngezi rural primary schools was explored using a sample of 50 respondents selected through stratified random technique. Data were gathered by a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods defined as triangulation. Self- administered questionnaires for heads and teachers, interview guide for grade 7 pupils and SDC and observation guide were the instruments employed for data collection. Analysis of the data was done using descriptive statistics. Findings were that quality of universal education was affected by inadequate supporting inputs and facilities, inappropriate teaching methods and unmotivated teachers. However 80 percent of the schools were staffed with qualified teachers depicting government’s commitment to quality education. 40 % of the schools without qualified leadership were indicative of the effect of poor school conditions to staff turn up. In studies carried out in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and India quality also declined as access was increased due to similar causes. Recommendations were to create a strong collaboration among stakeholders through communication to ensure the four conditions for quality are met simultaneously as they are interdependent and reforming the curriculum to suit means and needs of the people.

In the past, little has been written about the practical aspects of outreach. This thesis investigates the value of outreach and how it is put into practice in British Columbia's community archives. Interviews with managers of four community archives were conducted. The findings reveal that three of the interviewees regard outreach as a high priority and a fundamental part of regular activity. For these respondents, outreach activities have been positive and beneficial. They have successfully used outreach to augment and assist with acquisition, preservation and use of archival records. Only one interviewee presented a passive and cautious approach towards outreach. Results of this study indicate that outreach activities are not influenced by the administrative setting or the budget of the archives. This study identified the essential components necessary for the implementation and delivery of successful outreach initiatives as: a regular source of funding, incorporation into an annual work plan, district goals and objectives that are relevant to the mandate of the institution, attention to the target audience, community co-operation and support, and evaluation of results. This study reaffirms the value of archivists practising outreach, and provides encouragement to those who are looking for concrete methods of approaching outreach. / Arts, Faculty of / Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), School of / Graduate

This study investigated community college faculty productivity from within the overall context of faculty vitality. The study was conducted at Fraser Valley College in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, British Columbia, and Red Deer College in Red Deer, Alberta. Two research problems were addressed. First, which work related factors, as reported by continuing contract teaching faculty at the two community colleges, facilitated or hindered the productivity of instructors? Second, to what extent are a composite set of factors, based on those suggested in the literature as affecting faculty vitality, perceived by faculty at these colleges to affect their productivity? The research was descriptive, extending faculty productivity and vitality inquiry into the community college context using a case study approach. A questionnaire employing the critical incident technique was used to collect data from faculty about incidents they perceived as having had a personally significant effect on their productivity. A definition of community college faculty productivity for use in the critical incident process was developed using a 12 member Delphi group consisting of three faculty and three administrators from each college. Rating of the composite set of vitality factors was accomplished by asking the respondents to rate each factor on a five point bipolar rating scale based on their perception of the priority each factor had in affecting their productivity. The 330 incidents collected by the questionnaire (171 facilitating, 159 hindering) were classified into 15 incident categories which in turn were able to be grouped into four major areas each of which provides a theme for the related categories they contain. All factors in the composite set of vitality related factors received a minimum mean rating of three on the five point scale. Conclusions drawn include: (1) the frequency of incidents by category should not be the only measure of category importance because frequencies may vary by institution, by instructor, and over time; (2) the categories reflect an open rather than closed classification system and as such are interrelated; (3) the categories reflect both facilitating and hindering incidents; (4) factors suggested by the literature as affecting vitality are perceived by faculty to affect their productivity but these results may hide a diversity of views for a particular situation; (5) the factors identified as facilitating or hindering community college faculty productivity should not be interpreted as applicable in all situations or for all faculty. Research results suggest increased awareness by administrators (at the colleges in the study) of the facilitating/hindering productivity factor category scheme should lead to a working environment more facilitative to faculty productivity if either facilitating incidents are increased and/or hindering incidents are reduced. The productivity factor assessment section of the questionnaire results suggests administrators at the two colleges should be sensitive to any actions which are perceived as undermining quality of performance. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The purposes of this case study were: to ascertain the beliefs held by teachers of mentally handicapped students toward the concept of integration; to determine the perceptions of teachers about their program planning practices, in particular the development of Individual Education Programs and their use of the Special Education Core Curriculum Supplement; to elicit teacher opinions regarding their job-related needs for administrative and instructional support and personal professional development; and to generate, in the form of recommendations to the school district, a framework of support combining teachers' perceived needs and district objectives. The setting of the case study was the anonymously named Burrard School District—a medium-sized school district located in the metropolitan Vancouver area. The participants in the study were fourteen teachers of students with mental handicaps located in five different school settings and members of the District's administrative and consultative staff. Data for the study were obtained through open-ended "reflective" interviews with the study's participants during the period of May and June 1985. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed and condensed into major categories related to the questions posed for the study. Among the major findings of the study were: 1. Integration is judged to be an appropriate goal for mentally handicapped students in that it results in: more normalized behaviour, greater skill acquisition, improved self-concept, and access to more facilities and activities. 2. Positive attitudes among regular classroom teachers, administrative support, and the degree of co-operation between specialist and general classroom teachers were the factors judged to be minimally required for successful integration. 3. Teachers of mentally handicapped students endorse the development of Individual Education Programs (IEP's) as a part of program development activities, regardless of program type and actual use. 4. Individual Education Programs are used most by teachers of moderately and severely handicapped students and least by teachers of students with mild handicaps. 5. Specific program concerns varied considerably from program to program. 6. Teachers were positive about the structure and philosophy of the Special Education Core Curriculum Supplement and, with the exception of teachers of the severely/profoundly handicapped, judged it to be a useful guide for program planning. 7. Teachers indicated a desire for more professional development opportunities to gain more expertise, to be reassured of the soundness of their own practices, and to maintain professional affiliations with colleagues. The findings of the study suggest that teachers of students with mental handicaps have three general concerns: opportunities for expanding their skills, feelings of professional isolation, and the ambiguities of program ownership. The study presented several recommendations for the amelioration of these concerns. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Little has been written about women's career development that specifically addresses the process of women becoming successful in their occupations. As well, the literature has neglected to include the experiences of lesbians. Yet there is reason to believe that lesbians, by virtue of their lesbian identity, may have unique work experiences that are different from heterosexual women, leading to different paths to occupational success. The purpose of this study was to investigate the process of lesbians becoming successful in their occupations by utilizing a grounded theory approach. Fifteen women (age range 35 to 69 years) who were identified as successful in their occupations (i.e., they were perceived as leaders in their fields) and who represented a variety of occupational fields, were interviewed about their experience of becoming successful in their careers. The grounded theory analysis of the data led to conceptual development, ordering, and a description of a psychological process "striving for holistic integration." The central process begins by these women "managing their lesbian identities in the workplace." The process involved women "taking risks and being out" at work along a continuum that represented women "working 'in' silence," "working quietly," and being "boldly 'out' spoken." Other salient categories in this central process included: facing ongoing fear, handling homophobia, and fighting for social change. Holistic integration involved participants integrating their lesbian and work "worlds." This integration facilitated enhanced working relationships based on honesty, and, for many participants, holistic integration became transformational as they became empowered by being open and disclosing their lesbian identities in the workplace. This process involved a dynamic, synergistic interaction between the influencing conditions (i.e., changing social times, personal background, serendipitous conditions, love and support, and a gay friendly work environment) and the unfolding of the process of striving for holistic integration. This research contributes to our understanding of lesbians' occupational success and is an important first step for further research. The women in this sample were primarily out in their respective fields and experienced benefits from doing so, despite the barriers many of them encountered along the way. The findings of this study provide guidance for future research in the area of lesbian career development and success. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The principal aim o f this research study was to examine what immigrants and refugees from Africa experienced as helpful, unhelpful or what would have helped in their recovery from pre-migration trauma. The sample included thirteen self-referred participants residing in the Lower mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Participation in this study was based on the following four criteria. First, the participants were immigrants, refugees and international students from Su-Saharan Africa who arrived in Canada between 1991 and 2003. Second, the participants had experienced trauma in Africa, which they volunteered to share. Third, they confirmed not to be undergoing therapy or psychiatric treatment at the time of the interview. Fourth, participants were to be adults between 20 and 50 years of age. The Critical Incident interviews were utilized to screen the participants, collect and analyze data. Incidents were further organized by placing them on a timeline methodology. The timeline categorizes the low and high points of events that happen in a lifetime according to three main periods, namely; beginning, middle and end of the process of recovery from premigration trauma. Three hundred and twenty eight incidents were formed from 13 interviews including, 140 incidents helpful (42.68%) with the participation rate of 70.77%, 119 unhelpful (36.28%) with the participation rate of 64.10% and 69 would be helpful incidents (21.04), participation rate of 53.85%. Most of the incidents reported by the participants were based on refugee experiences. The findings suggest a mental health intervention that recognizes the social support, beliefs and security. Future research should aspects of culture in the appraisal and healing of trauma as well as tenets of programs based on the context of those served not expert opinion. Experiences of health caretaker, support personnel international students who migrated under the auspices of the host Government's sponsorships need to be examined in order to develop a theory that is grounded on the lived experience. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The objectives of this research were (1) to study the relative ability of genetically different types of domestic chickens to digest and absorb fat of different types, and (2) to relate fat absorbability coefficients to dietary apparent M. E. values obtained with genetically different types of chickens feeding on diets containing the different types of fat, (3) to search for a possible cause of poultry genetic difference in fat absorbability by examining some of the factors most likely to influence fat digestion and absorption in the genetically different types of chickens. Using New Hampshire, White Leghorn and broiler-type birds, it was found that until 6 weeks of age the New Hampshires were significantly (P≤0.05) superior to the others in their ability to utilize animal tallow. Differences among birds in the absorbability of corn oil were small. Differences in dietary M.E. estimates were closely associated with differences in fat absorbability values and on a 12% tallow diet, the R² values computed on a within age between breeds basis, were 0.67, 0.36 and 0.022 at 3, 5, and 9 weeks of age respectively. This general decline in R² values was a reflection of the narrowing of the range of fat absorbability differences among different types of birds as they grew older. The overall conclusion based on these results, is that breed and/or age differences in M.E. estimates are to a large extent attributable to breed and/or age differences in the absorbability of dietary lipid materials. The search for potential causes of the observed breed differences in fat absorbability was therefore the main theme of the subsequent experiments. A study of the feed passage time in birds of different genetic backgrounds failed to provide any conclusive evidence on whether or not breed differences in ingesta transit time are in measureable terms responsible for fat absorbability differences. It was found, however, that with diets containing 12% of animal tallow or corn oil, feed passage time was significantly longer regardless of the type of birds. On the basis of the results of an experiment in which in vitro pancreatic lipase activity was measured, the New Hampshires ranked first followed by Broilers and White Leghorns in that order. However, the magnitude of differences among them was small. Supplementation of the 12% tallow diet with the bile salt, sodium taurocholate, improved fat utilization significantly by the broiler-type and White Leghorn chicks to the extent of 8.6% and 7.2% respectively. The improvement in fat absorbability was associated with a significant reduction in the amount of fecal soap fatty cacids. The effect of the sodium taurocholate suggested that in the Broilers and White Leghorn chicks, the supply of bile salts was below the critical micellar concentration required for efficient tallow fat absorption. Results from a general study on intestinal fatty acid binding protein (FABP) revealed that a fatty acid binding protein in the same molecular weight range as that one demonstrated in the rat, exists in the intestinal mucosa of the adult chickens and in the mesenteric intestine of day-old chicks prior to the ingestion of any feed. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Health promotion research and practice reveal that goal setting and monitoring have gained increased acceptance at international, national, provincial/state, regional and local levels as a means to guide health planning, promote health-enhancing public policy, monitor reductions in health inequities, set health priorities, facilitate resource allocation, support accountability in health care, and track the health of populations. The global adoption of health goals as a strategy for population health promotion has occurred even though few protocols or guidelines to support the health goals development process have been published; and limited study has occurred on the variation in approach to health goals planning, or on the complex, multiple forces that influence the development process. This is an exploratory and descriptive case study that endeavours to advance knowledge about the process and contribution of health goals development as a strategy for population health promotion. This study seeks to track the pathways to health goals in British Columbia (BC) and to uncover influential factors in rendering the final version of health goals adopted by the government of BC. Specifically, this study explores the forces that obstructed and facilitated the formulation and articulation of health goals. It considers also implications of health goals development for planning theory, research and health promotion planning. Data collection consisted of twenty-three semi-structured interviews with key participants and systematic review of BC source documents on health goals. Data analysis uncovered nearly 100 factors that facilitated or obstructed the BC health goals initiative, organized around three phases of health goals development. Key factors influencing the premonitory phase included (a) government endorsement of health goals that addressed the multiple influences on health, (b) expected benefits of health goals combined with mounting concern about return on dollars invested in health, and (c) effective leadership by a trusted champion of health goals. Key influencing factors in the formulation phase included (a) the positioning of the health goals as a government-wide initiative versus a ministry-specific initiative, (b) the "conditioning" of the health goals process through the use of pre-established health goals and "orchestrated" consultation sessions, and (c) the make-up and degree of autonomy of the health goals coordinating mechanism. The articulation phase of health goals development revealed several influencing factors in relation to two chief issues that characterized this phase: (a) the lack of specificity of the health goals, and (b) the variable portrayal of the "health care system" as a priority area in the BC health goals. This study also revealed several concessions and trade-offs that characterized the BC health goals process. For example, the formulation of health goals that addressed the broader health determinants yielded health goals without the capacity for measurement, (b) the operational and bureaucratic autonomy of the health goals coordinating mechanism led to feelings of alienation from the health goals process and product among some branches of the Ministry of Health and some established health interests, and (c) the use of pre-determined health goals and the delivery of educative sessions based on the determinants of health generated claims of bias and a lack of trust and fairness in consultation processes and mechanisms. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

Experiencing Freefall is an inquiry into outdoor experiencing. It focuses on both my experiences with a group of Grade 10 students in an outdoor adventure education program and my personal experiencing of the outdoors. I explore the awareness we embody within moments of unexpected happenings while negotiating Whitewater rapids or searching for a handhold while clinging to the side of a cliff face. Also in this thesis I explore the 'phenomena of experiencing' which emerges out of our actions and interactions within outdoor activities. The challenge of this dissertation is capturing in prose, the phenomena of experiencing and 'embodied awareness' arising through such unexpected instances. Hence, the thesis, in trying to articulate the complexity of experiencing in the outdoors, uses stories, poetry and the metaphor of life, breath, and mountaineering to invite the reader on a journey of inquiry. This thesis escorts the reader, like a true pedagogue, into an outdoor environment of experiencing that opens the reader to ponder pedagogical possibilities. I explore several themes in the thesis which include 'freefall,' community, 'turning points,' and 'embodied respect' using a methodology of 'enactive inquiry.' The thesis takes a journey through each theme by weaving students' stories from the study, my own personal stories of the unexpected, and the theory of enaction. The thesis creates an opportunity for readers to embrace their own struggles, fears, and inquiry. Through the use of outdoor stories to illustrate moments of freefall into the unfamiliar or unknown, we may imagine pedagogical possibilities. As an enactive inquiry, this research thesis embodies an "education" or way of being, living, experiencing that explores unexpected happenings. In articulating an ecological perspective of experiencing, the thesis juxtaposes encounters in the outdoors with enactive theory to move beyond traditional representationalist models of cognition. Specifically, I focus on the embodied awareness that arises through phenomena of experiencing and its relation to pedagogy. The thesis contributes to the theory of the enactive approach by bringing examples of human experience which unfold, not only our interactions within the ecological web of the outdoor world, but an emergent space of pedagogical possibilities. As such, this thesis is an experiential work through which the reader may realize their own interpreting of possible pedagogies for many educational contexts. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This research focuses on husbands' and wives' perceptions of parent-child relationship quality in stepfamilies. One goal was to examine the links between parents' ways of coping with family stressors and changes in parent-child relationship quality over time. A related goal was to consider the difference in relationship quality for parents' own children and parents' stepchildren. This difference was referred to as the "stepgap". It was expected that characteristics of the family, characteristics of the children, and parents' ways of coping with family stressors would all have an impact on relationship quality. It was also expected that some of these characteristics would alter the "stepgap". Multilevel analyses of family data (Snijders, 1995) were used to replicate consistent findings in the stepfamily literature and extend them by allowing for the drawing of within-family conclusions. For Time 1 relationship quality, characteristics of children and characteristics of the family were modeled on parents' perceptions of relationship quality with individual children. At both levels, the influence of these characteristics on the "stepgap" was also considered. The initial sample interviewed at Time 1 consisted of 154 couples. Of these, 142 couples also participated at Time 2. Husbands initially rated the closeness and tension they perceived in their relationships with 404 children (191 stepchildren, 213 own children). Wives rated the closeness and tension they perceived in their relationships with 407 children (204, stepchildren, 203 own children). Results provided evidence of a "stepgap" in relationship quality for both husbands and wives. However, results also indicated that relationship quality was affected by child age, amount of time spent in the family home, whether there were children from the current union, and the number of years the stepfamily had been in existence. A subsample of these families (81 couples) also provided daily diary data that were used to explore lagged daily relations between parents' reports of affection and tension with children and stepchildren, and parents' ways of coping with family stress. Three ways of coping relevant for interpersonal stressors were examined: compromise, confrontation, and interpersonal withdrawal. Results provided evidence of a direct relationship between parents' ways of coping with family stress and changes in daily relationship quality in terms of affection from children and tension with children. To link the microlevel and the macrolevel, aggregated variables describing parents' typical way of coping with family stressors across a seven-day period were used to explain changes in relationship quality two years later. Results of these analyses indicated that husbands' and wives' coping predicted change not only in the quality of their relationship with children in the stepfamily, but also affected their spouses' stepgap in relationship quality. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate