Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [47]-48).

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The case study documented in this dissertation emerged in response to the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, and it promoted the participation rights accorded all children in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. A unifying theme of this research was listening to the children's voices during their participation in a Primary-level curriculum for children's rights education entitled The World Around Us. This research was conducted within one Grade 3 classroom of nineteen students over a three-month period, when qualitative data were systematically collected via interviews, narratives, and observations. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore how curricular experiences influenced the child participants' emerging conceptions of their participation rights and responsibilities, with a view to benefiting future curriculum materials for children's rights education. This research led to identifying learning and teaching strategies, which promoted the children's emerging conceptions, in light of the research goal of informing educational practice. In addition, this research led to devising a framework of participatory indicators, which reflected the child participants' emerging conceptions of their participation rights and responsibilities, in light of the research goal of building educational theory. / Graduate

Over the past three decades, the plays and productions of Theatre de la Vieille 17 have made significant contributions to French Canadian children's theatre. Their productions embrace a fantastical and imaginative narrative that make them accessible to most audiences. As much as this company shows a remarkable openness to the world, it maintains strong ties to the Franco-Ontarian theatre milieu. This thesis examines key elements that have contributed to La Vieille 17's continual commitment to children's theatre as well as ways in which its productions and policy making have resulted in its increasing artistic and financial success. This study begins by looking at La Vieille 17's three most significant plays: Le Nez, Mentire, and Meta. This analysis takes into consideration the narrative of each play, production elements, co-producers and collaborators, funding, the scope of their tour, and awards and recognition. Each of these aspects contribute to giving these productions a broader world view and help to establish La Vieille 17 as a leading producer of children's theatre. The second part of this thesis analyses key moments during the company's history as well as moments in which it has acted as a common front with other Franco-Ontarian theatre companies. Both of these activities have shaped La Vieille 17's children theatre programming and have led the company to create a successful model in which to produce their works. / Arts, Faculty of / Theatre and Film, Department of / Graduate

AbstractThe University of ManchesterMichael Lewis Humphreys Doctorate in Educational and Child PsychologyAn Exploration into Children’s Experiences of Pupil Mobility2012Pupil mobility, defined as “a child joining or leaving a school at a point other than at the normal age at which children start or finish their education at that school” (Dobson & Henthorne, 1999 p. vi), is a complex phenomenon that is linked to the academic, social and emotional outcomes of children and young people (Gagnon & Malmgren, 2005; Mehana & Reynolds, 2004; South & Haynie, 2004). There is limited published research that has illuminated pupil mobility through eliciting the views of the pupils, their families and class teachers. This qualitative study explored how children experienced pupil mobility when it was combined with a residential move and the factors that were perceived to affect the experience. A multiple case study design with embedded (multiple) units of analysis was adopted (Yin, 2009). Each case study consisted of a Key Stage 2 aged child who had moved into a northern coastal Local Authority within six months of the data collection. The data was gathered through semi-structured interviews in two primary schools. Four children, five parents and five class teachers took part in the study.The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed before being analysed through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The analysis identified key themes raised in the interviews in relation to how the children experienced pupil mobility and the factors that were perceived to have impacted upon this experience. The findings of this study highlight that pupil mobility is a challenging experience for children that elicits a contrasting range of emotions which are affected by a series of interactions between the children and the systems around them. The findings are discussed in relation to psychological theories and previous research. Implications are considered for the practice of Local Authority personnel, school staff, parents and educational psychologists and suggestions for future research are highlighted.

Concurrent and prospective relationships between symptoms of depression, anxiety, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and conduct disorder (CD) and academic achievement were examined in a large sample of Canadian children. Students in Grade 5 (N = 715) completed the depression and anxiety subscales of the Behaviour Assessment System for Children – Second Edition. Parents reported on their child’s symptoms of ADHD and CD using the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview. Academic achievement was measured using teacher-rated learning skills and students’ grade point average (GPA) from their Ontario Student Record (OSR) in fifth grade and again in sixth grade (N = 627). Symptoms of depression, anxiety, ADHD, and CD were significantly negatively correlated with academic achievement at Time 1 and Time 2. After controlling for child’s sex, household income, maternal education, and days absent, children’s mental health problems accounted for an additional 12% and 11% of the variability in their Time 1 mean ratings of learning skills and GPA, respectively. Only symptoms of ADHD predicted Time 2 GPA (1% of the variance) after controlling for Time 1 GPA and other sociodemographic variables. Findings highlight the unique contribution of mental health problems in predicting academic achievement and point to the need to promote children’s mental health in schools.

This thesis is a case study of how senior managers in one local authority interpreted and enacted national policy to improve collaborative working in children’s services through the Stockborough Challenge, a campaign of cultural change. The purpose is to research the Challenge to document what did and did not work, to make recommendations to improve collaboration in children’s services. The research was conducted during the author’s time as an ‘embedded’ researcher within the Stockborough Challenge. It involved a three-stage process: exploratory, research, and replication and verification. The research methods used were interviews and participant observations, complemented by an action research project and a design experiment project to test and develop the findings in relation to the practice of collaborative working. The research identifies two phases of the initiative, Challenge One and Two, which are presented as different approaches to improving collaboration in children’s services. Challenge One began when senior managers in Stockborough strategically engaged with New Labour’s collaborative re-organisation of children’s services through the Every Child Matters agenda. Challenge One adopted a more open and exploratory approach, seeking to understand more about collaboration and then develop appropriate models, structures and capacities to facilitate it. The initiative was disrupted by a range of factors and re-orientated in line with government policy for leadership and cultural change as part of the development of the Children’s Trust. Challenge Two identified targets as the principal barrier to collaboration and advised professionals to focus not on targets but on the ‘real’ needs of the children and young people with whom they worked. It was thought that ‘real’ or common and shared needs would enable professionals from different professions, organisations and sectors to collaborate. A significant focus of this research is why collaboration came to be approached in terms of leadership and cultural change, instead of the initial idea of figuring out collaboration and helping professionals with the practical tasks of working collaboratively. I explain this with reference to New Labour’s reforms of children’s services and the influence of the discourses of leadership and collaboration. The study concludes that an alternative approach to collaboration is required, one that contextualises collaboration and engages with the specificity of different forms of collaboration whilst also attending to the interrelationships with public sector reform. A ‘purposive’ definition of collaboration – collaboration as innovation in public service design and delivery – is presented along with recommendations for mangers to improve collaborative working in children’s services.

While the move towards the inclusion of learners with a learning disability gains momentum, the Deaf community is reluctant for the inclusion of deaf learners in a mainstream society. Arguing that the needs of deaf learners are entirely different to those of other learning disabilities, they believe that a mainstream educational environment will deprive a deaf learner with a sense of identity and a common culture. Consequently, the purpose of this research essay is to investigate the experiences of a solitary mainstreamed deaf learner in a high school educational environment, and to try and ascertain the effect such an educational environment has had on him. My participant is currently the only deaf learner in his school. He is completing Grade 12 this year at an IEB school. Utilising an oral-audal mode of communication, as well as having a cochlear implant and an assistive device, the participant communicates predominantly through lip-reading and speaking English. He identifies himself as belonging to a hearing world, and as such his exposure to other deaf peers, Deaf culture and Sign language is minimal. This research study employed a qualitative research design and data was collected using documentation, an open questionnaire, observation and an in-depth interview. All data collected was analysed using the qualitative content analysis technique. Each data source was analysed, data was broken down into codes, grouped into common categories and finally placed in educationally relevant themes. In this research essay, four themes were identified, namely the learning environment, mode of communication, socialisation in a hearing world and mainstream versus specialised educational settings. Through the analysis of the data it became evident that aspects such as the curriculum, educators’ teaching strategies and methodologies, as well as the school’s extra-curricular programme all contributed to the learner’s learning environment. While utilising an oral-audal mode of communication, the participant’s audal input is affected by his ability to lip-read, environmental pollution, and his familiarity with the speaker. Because he has been exposed to a hearing environment from birth, he has developed adequate socialisation skills. While preferring to socialise with individuals who are familiar with him, he does however not mind socialising with strangers. As such he has developed good social skills. While having been exposed to both a mainstream and a specialised educational setting during his educational career, the participant has enjoyed the opportunities mainstream education has afforded him and encourages other deaf learners to mainstream as he has. He does however state that in order to succeed within a mainstream environment, the deaf learner has to be self-motivated, confident and an active participant both in and out of the classroom. In addition, the participant felt that having mainstreamed had affected his character, making him quieter, more sensitive, gentle and emotionally strong. In essence, the following study has helped to highlight both the benefits and challenges a deaf learner faces in a mainstream educational environment. Through the concerted and unified efforts of all stakeholders – the school, its educators, the deaf learner and his family, it becomes evident that deaf learners can be successfully included and achieve positive academic, emotional and social development. / Mrs. O.R. Pettipher

This study was concerned with the relationship among anxiety scores and four selected measures of behavior in school children and attempted to determine how many factors are involved when such measures are obtained.

In Christian Education South Africa v Minister of Education, the Constitutional Court upheld the law that prohibited the use of corporal punishment in schools. The decision was primarily premised on protecting children against all forms of violence from a public source. Recently, the same Court in Freedom of Religion South Africa v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others has abolished the defence of reasonable chastisement that was available at common law to parents when administering corporal punishment to discipline recalcitrant children. The effect of the decision is that parents no longer have a defence if they are charged with Assault as a result of Corporal Punishment. The decision has far-reaching consequences as; on the one hand, it unfairly curtails parents’ rights of discipline against their children and seeks to dictate to parents on how to discipline their children. On the other hand, the decision places the rights of children as being of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child. The study employs the doctrinal method which is “desktop-based”, and uses primary and secondary sources, such as case law, statutes, articles and books. The findings of this study are that the defence of reasonable chastisement infringes on the rights of children afforded to them by both the Constitutional law and international instrument. Outlawing Corporal Punishment serves as a great step towards fighting the battle of domestic violence. The Constitutional Court Judgment is not the end of it all; parents must be taught of other alternative way to disciples children. It is of crux to note that discipline is the essential part of parenting and it will be detrimental to raise children without discipline. / Mini Dissertation(LLM (Child Law))--University of Pretoria 2020. / Centre for Child Law / LLM (Child Law) / Unrestricted