Education about and for the home has been part of the Swedish education system for over one hundred years, and Home and Consumer Studies (HCS) has been compulsory for all pupils since the common nine-year school system was introduced in 1962. For all this time food has been a central theme, however we know very little of what food means in this context. The aim of this thesis was to seek to understand the construction of food in HCS. This thesis consists of four papers that explore food in HCS from the perspective of teachers and pupils, the role of the classroom and how food in HCS is part of a larger cultural context. Observations and focus group interviews were used to collect data. The material consists of field notes from 13 days in three HCS classrooms and transcripts of focus group interviews with 25 HCS-teachers and 20 pupils. The analytical methods used were based on social constructionist assumptions which were supplemented by theories on culture, space and spatiality. Results show that teachers constructed both pupils’ homes and society in general as deficient in relation to health. Their role, as public health commissioners, was to educate pupils about food on issues such as health and sustainability. Pupils relied on their personal experiences from home to make sense of food in HCS. To them, home was the authentic place for food where everyday life took place. Food in HCS on the other hand was de-authenticised and sometimes hard to make sense of. This meant that there was a limited shared understanding between pupils and teachers. A spatial analysis of the HCS classroom as a learning space for food showed that past ideologies and traditional power geometries were built into the physical layout and social relationships constructing the room. Food in HCS was found to reflect cultural values of the surrounding society at the same time as a specific HCS cuisine emerged. Food in HCS was thus constructed as contested in interaction between food, pupils, teachers and classroom as well as in relation to a wider context.

This study is concerned with teacher decision-making in the English as a Second Language classroom. Specifically, the study examines the impact of teacher beliefs and perceptions, context factors and second language theory on planning and implementation decisions for the ESL instructional context. Nine ESL teachers in three post-secondary institutions participated in this qualitative study. Data were gathered through classroom observations, postlesson conferences and interviews. These data were examined in terms of what instructional decisions teachers made and the factors that influenced these decisions from the individual teacher's perspective. Second, the data were analysed for internal consistency between stated beliefs and instructional decisions and external consistency between decisions and second language theory. In examining the role of the teacher in the ESL instructional context, this thesis contributes to both research and teaching theory in English as a Second Language. First, while regular classroom research has indicated that the role of the teacher and the ecology of the classroom are central to understanding the instructional context, ESL classroom studies have primarily focused on the learner, the learning process and language learning outcomes in this context. This thesis addresses this gap in the research by investigating the teacher's role in the ESL instructional setting and the factors that impact on teacher decisionmaking. Second, ESL classroom researchers have observed that theoretical ideas are implemented in various ways in the formal setting. While researchers have speculated on the reasons for teachers' eclectic use of theory in practice, there has been little exploratory research conducted to investigate this phenomenon. The findings from this present study indicate that teachers' instructional decisions are centrally influenced by both individually held beliefs about second language learning and teaching as well as experiential knowledge of the ESL classroom. These findings not only contribute to our understanding of the ESL instructional context from the teacher's perspective, but are also significant for the development of instructional theory.

This thesis is a series of meditations, stories and poetry focusing on living in classrooms with children, and on the meaning and place of education and schools in our lives. This writing is the emergent result of a commitment to the seeking of a generous language to understand and describe the work of teachers in schools, to the hope for human(e) and compassionate spaces for children to spend their days, to living with openness and creativity, to the having of challenging and wonderful conversations about life with children, and to the freedom to raise questions about the ways children and teachers (might) live together in schools. This writing is a story emerging at the point of intersection between what we might learn from children if we listen to them and remember them, and reflections on readings in ethics, education and literature.

The objective of this study was to examine the educational intervention that restaurant employees received to see if it reduced the number of food violations in Orange County, California, U.S.. The class, which began in 2007, is known as the Food Employee Education and Sanitation Training (FEEST). This study revealed that the post-test results from FEEST demonstrated a significant improvement in food safety knowledge, and almost all of the participants showed a significant improvement in food safety knowledge. A comparison of inspection reports immediately before and after participation in FEEST showed that food establishments greatly reduced the number of major violations, but the reduction in minor violations was minimal. Further results showed that overall, post-class inspections were not helpful in reducing the number of violations. Moreover, results showed that out of the participating restaurants, those that received a fee and formal letter requiring correction of the violations, known as a Notice of Violation (NOV) or Notice of Decision (NOD), do well on inspection reports in reducing major violations than those who did not receive one, but both types of restaurants were not able to significantly reduce the number of minor violations. These results might be associated with the knowledge and commitment of the restaurant employees. Restaurant employees are not using the food safety knowledge they gained during the educational intervention. Therefore, further training is required to educate restaurant employees, and more should be done to encourage the practice of safe food handling and sanitation.

This thesis investigates strategies for the portable classroom as a way of envisioning a new model for elementary schools in the region of Durham, Ontario. The portable and the school configuration is informed by a set of rules determined by site and program, making each school building unique and suited for its particular context. Geometry and play are at the core of how children learn, and the architecture will implicitly and explicitly engage this sense of play and learning. The pieces making up the modules have an aesthetic similar to Lego and K’nex toys, which immediately engages the childrens’ imagination and understanding, creating both a playful and engaging environment for learning. The strategy also brings together a variety of geometric pieces that form different classroom types and which can reconfigure for different rooms and uses. As such, the students may understand how the modules stack and stagger to create unique interstitial spaces for the public and for informal learning. These modules can be reconfigured using interior components that create a variety of smaller environments within the larger classrooms. As well as for expansion and contraction of school populations, these components could be recycled for use by other schools with growing populations. Thus, changing the role of the portable into a malleable, moveable aggregate, and making it easier and therefore economical to add, transform and subtract classrooms and learning spaces, school buildings come to life and change along with their setting.

British Columbia's Ministry of Education has established fundamental policy standards for teacher practice. These standards ensure the safety and well-being of school children and youth. My study explores the lived realities of novice and experienced teachers focusing on the quantity and quality of their university training and their preparedness to implement standards. Participants' stories reveal vast differences in teacher training institutions curricula, practicums, and overall quality of education. However, there is one similarity; there is a general lack of training in relation to bullying, classroom management, and teaching strategies. Interestingly, teachers have been requesting training in these areas for decades. I contend that there is a gap between ministry policy and teacher training institutions' curriculum development. Thus, teachers graduate without the necessary skills to implement the government's teaching standards, especially in relation to student safety in school. I present practical recommendations for teacher training curriculum development, and I emphasize the importance of a mentorship program for novice teachers to ensure best practice and job satisfaction.

This qualitative case study examined a researcher-designed professional development intervention focused on improving teachers’ understanding of the interactions among students and between students and teachers in the teachers’ own classrooms. Participating teachers collaborated with the researcher in determining what they would observe and collaborated with each other in making sense of what they saw. The study analyzed participants’ discourse to characterize what they saw, how they worked together, what they found helpful in the intervention, and how they benefited. The study took place over a three-month period at a Canadian Community College in Qatar committed to guiding its faculty in adopting a learner-centred approach. Four participants worked in pairs to share and discuss video of their own classes in action as they sought to adopt the desired learner-centred approach. After a Group Training Session led by the researcher to develop a Video Analysis Framework, the pairs worked through two iterations of individual video recording and selection of a ten-minute clip for sharing, followed by paired analysis of the clips. The researcher recorded the training session, the paired discussions, interviews, and focus group discussion. Data from transcriptions and researcher field notes were analyzed inductively and connected closely with findings from the literature on the benefits of video analysis in enhancing the effectiveness of teacher-directed professional development. Faculty participants benefited from the intervention in a variety of ways. Production, selection, and discussion of video of participants' own class sessions drew participants into focused reflection on student interactions, which led to heightened awareness of phenomena important to participants in becoming learner-centred teachers. Sharing perspectives with their peers generated consensus in interpretation. Iterations led to higher levels of inference and the emergence of a problem-solving approach in making sense of phenomena. Motivated by video analysis, participants experimented with what they considered to be improved teaching techniques. Participants demonstrated significant risk-taking, enhanced peer professional relationships, and ownership and autonomy in professional development. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-01-31 16:50:24.598

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