Student academic achievement is a collective effort of family, community, and school experience (Sloat, Makkonen, & Koehler, 2007). However the biggest burden is placed on teachers who are assumed and expected to possess the skills, knowledge, caring, and commitment to students often without the appropriate support, resources and professional development. With a focus on teacher development this work will listen to the voices of eight veteran educators from the Texas-Mexico border region and trace the steps in their formation and critical understandings of themselves and their professions to better diagnose students’ academic needs. The site of my study is in the southern-most part of the U.S.-Mexico border known as the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (RGV). This dynamic region of our country was occupied by immigrant settlers in the middle 1700s and has seen much socio-political and cultural change throughout the years. Nucleus to the “browning of America” (Rodriguez, 2002), the demographic shift toward more ethnic/racial diversity, and in particular the ascent of Latinos as the largest minority in the country, the Border and its teachers provide key insights regarding effective ways to educate Latino children because they have served this community the longest. This study is a synthesis of historical sociology and cultural anthropology inquiries based on applied research method of interviews with Border educators. It includes: ethnographic and historical data, and testimonios, or critically documented histories, that address views on educational reform intended to foster academic success among Latino students. Latinos have become the nation’s largest majority at 16.3% of the population. The growth trend is also evident in Texas with a 37.6% and 90.4% for the RGV (Census, 2010). The correlation between poverty and educational attainment places this population at a significant disadvantage in the nation as well as in the RGV. Some observers have expressed concern that Latinos will represent the majority of the population by 2040 as the “poorer, less educated, and productive” (Jillson, 2012, p. xiii). My work challenges this conceptual relationship between poverty and school failure by focusing on a region where the student body has historically been predominantly Latino and economically disadvantaged with a 32.6% poverty rate compared to a national figure of 11.3% (Census, 2010). My findings on the epistemic value of identity demonstrated through my Spotlight Identity (SI) framework, support the notion that aligning students with teachers of similar experiential and cultural backgrounds positively impacts academic achievement and that, generally speaking, these affinities improve relations with families and allow for teachers to better understand the academic and personal challenges that the students are facing. My constructivist analysis suggests that academic success can be achieved, regardless of economic impediments when communities, schools, educators, and families work collaboratively with a child-centered approach. For participants in the study, barriers such as low socioeconomic (SES) were not seen as germane to student academic success when all the elements in their “educational equation” were in place. Academic success—construed by participants as significant student yearly progress, meeting grade level requirements, and high school completion—can be achieved, regardless of social and economic factors, when communities, schools, educators, and families work together through child-centered efforts and mediated through “critical bicultural education” (Darder, 1991). / text

<p>Heterogeneous school communities are becoming more apparent under local and global conditions. A school community is more diverse and similar, not only racially but also in respect of&nbsp / economic, cultural, national and ethnic identities. Schools would require leaders who are mindful of the need for conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation within a globalising&nbsp / classroom.Through the lens of critical constructivism, I investigated the extent to which a higher education institution achieved the aims of the ACE in School Leadership, a continuing&nbsp / professional development programme. I relied upon a qualitative research approach to gather rich descriptive data from interviews conducted with nine school leaders who had graduated from the ACE School Leadership programme. The Literature Review is based on readings regarding critical constructivism, globalisation, conflict‐sensitivity and reconciliation.I found that the&nbsp / programme expanded the school leaders&rsquo / basic knowledge about conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation, but not sufficiently in terms of developing a critical consciousness to deal with&nbsp / conflict effectively. I concluded that conflict‐sensitive schools required school leaders that produced knowledge critically through a rigorous process of engagement and reflection. The ACE School Leadership programme had limitations in the extent to which it could prepare and equip school leaders in this regard.</p>

<p>Heterogeneous school communities are becoming more apparent under local and global conditions. A school community is more diverse and similar, not only racially but also in respect of&nbsp / economic, cultural, national and ethnic identities. Schools would require leaders who are mindful of the need for conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation within a globalising&nbsp / classroom.Through the lens of critical constructivism, I investigated the extent to which a higher education institution achieved the aims of the ACE in School Leadership, a continuing&nbsp / professional development programme. I relied upon a qualitative research approach to gather rich descriptive data from interviews conducted with nine school leaders who had graduated from the ACE School Leadership programme. The Literature Review is based on readings regarding critical constructivism, globalisation, conflict‐sensitivity and reconciliation.I found that the&nbsp / programme expanded the school leaders&rsquo / basic knowledge about conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation, but not sufficiently in terms of developing a critical consciousness to deal with&nbsp / conflict effectively. I concluded that conflict‐sensitive schools required school leaders that produced knowledge critically through a rigorous process of engagement and reflection. The ACE School Leadership programme had limitations in the extent to which it could prepare and equip school leaders in this regard.</p>

Magister Educationis - MEd / Heterogeneous school communities are becoming more apparent under local and global conditions. A school community is more diverse and similar, not only racially but also in respect of economic, cultural, national and ethnic identities. Schools would require leaders who are mindful of the need for conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation within a globalising classroom.Through the lens of critical constructivism, I investigated the extent to which a higher education institution achieved the aims of the ACE in School Leadership, a continuing professional development programme. I relied upon a qualitative research approach to gather rich descriptive data from interviews conducted with nine school leaders who had graduated from the ACE School Leadership programme. The Literature Review is based on readings regarding critical constructivism, globalisation, conflict‐sensitivity and reconciliation.I found that the programme expanded the school leaders’ basic knowledge about conflict sensitivity and social reconciliation, but not sufficiently in terms of developing a critical consciousness to deal with conflict effectively. I concluded that conflict‐sensitive schools required school leaders that produced knowledge critically through a rigorous process of engagement and reflection. The ACE School Leadership programme had limitations in the extent to which it could prepare and equip school leaders in this regard. / South Africa

This thesis examines the evolution of normative intentions of climate change financing in the World Bank Group (WBG) between the years 2000–2021. The study contributes to critical constructivist International Relations theory by expanding on previous research on norm fit by examining the evolutionary process of economic normative fit. The purpose is to make visible, and provide an empirical example, of how hegemonic structures interact with suggested norms and set the conditions for possible action. The thesis asks the questions 1) How have normative intentions regarding climate finance been framed over time in World Bank Group documents in 2000–2021? And 2), How can this development be understood through an application of “norm fit” with the hegemonic economic structure? The thesis has a deductive qualitative approach and applies qualitative content analysis and framing analysis to examine official documents from the WBG consisting of biannual meeting communiqués, climate change action plans, and annual reports. The study finds that economic framings of climate change has varied in four key time periods and that ideas of climate action has gone from being seen as a peripheral issue outside the WBG mandate, to something costly and risky, to a potential opportunity and being framed as a business model of smart economics. Further, the thesis concludes that the case supports the idea of economic normative fit and illustrates, based on the findings of research question 1, how the climate change financing norm goes through a translation process of bad to good economic normative fit in which normative intentions adapt with time to a logic coherent with dominant neoliberal norms and can thus be accepted. With the most convincing result being the identified translation process of normative intentions of adaptation and resilience.

Depuis quelques années, le Québec fait face à une situation économique sans précédent. En effet, une population vieillissante et en déclin démographique de même qu’une pénurie de main-d’oeuvre qualifiée sur le marché du travail ralentissent le développement de la province. Dans ce contexte, les immigrants représentent un atout qui permet au Québec de rester compétitif dans la joute économique qui l’oppose à d’autres pays (Boudarbat et Boulet, 2010; Posca, 2019). Ce constat est par ailleurs soutenu par la Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain (2019), le Conseil du patronat du Québec (2015) et le ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MTESS) (2019). Cependant, pour pouvoir exercer une profession réglementée, les immigrants doivent réussir l’épreuve de français de l’Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). Or, l’épreuve proposée par cet organisme depuis l’hiver 2018 est inédite et consiste en une situation d’évaluation qui se veut authentique, soit complexe et contextualisée (Stiggins, 2007; Wiggins, 1993). La réussite à cette épreuve est un prérequis pour être membre régulier d’un ordre professionnel. Nous inscrivant dans la perspective du constructivisme critique, nous avons voulu comprendre l’expérience des immigrants concernés par cette épreuve. De manière spécifique, nous avons voulu jeter un éclairage sur les facteurs qui influencent leur préparation en vue de l’épreuve, puis la passation et l’obtention des résultats. Ainsi, en suivant une approche compréhensive interprétative, cette recherche exploratoire-descriptive a collecté des données à l’aide d’entrevues semi-dirigées réalisées auprès de trente candidats de différents ordres professionnels. Les résultats montrent que l’expérience des candidats dans chacune des phases, soit la préparation, la passation de l’épreuve et l’obtention des résultats, est marquée par des facteurs qui l’influencent de manière positive et négative. Ainsi, nous avons constaté que la préparation à l’épreuve est facilitée par les études ou le travail au Québec, de même que par les cours spécialisés. Toutefois, les coûts de ces cours et le manque de temps et de ressources pour l’apprentissage autonome freinent la préparation des candidats. Pour ce qui est de la passation, plusieurs aspects ont influencé de manière positive ou négative l’expérience des candidats. De plus, l’analyse de l’expérience a mis en évidence certaines anomalies. Ainsi, le protocole de passation n’était pas uniforme lors des différentes séances. Certains candidats ont eu des échanges d’informations lors des pauses alors que d’autres ont utilisé des stratégies compensatoires non désirées en cas de difficulté. Par ailleurs, des candidats se sont absentés souvent ou sont venus juste pour respecter les exigences de la Charte de la langue française. Finalement, l’OQLF n’a pas adapté les séances pour tenir compte des absences planifiées des candidats. Enfin, en ce qui concerne l’obtention des résultats de l’épreuve, l’expérience des candidats a révélé l’utilité perçue de la documentation. Le choix pouvant découler des résultats a aussi été mis en avant de même que l’effet psychologique des échecs répétitifs sur des candidats. Par ailleurs, nous avons aussi discuté de l’incidence économique de l’échec des candidats à l’épreuve et de leurs opinions générales concernant celle-ci. Les problèmes relevés dans cette recherche mériteraient une attention particulière de la part de l’organisme afin d’améliorer l’expérience des candidats. / Since a few years, Quebec faces an unprecedented economic situation. Indeed, an ageing and declining population combined with a lack of qualified workers on the labour market is slowing down the economic development of the province. In this context, migrants represent an asset to remain competitive in the economic battle which opposes us to other countries (Boudarbat and Boulet, 2010; Posca, 2019). This fact is further sustained by The Chamber of commerce of metropolitan Montreal (2019); the Quebec council of employers (2015) and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social solidarity (2019).However, to be able to exercise a regulated profession, migrants must pass the French examination of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF). The one which is proposed by this organism since winter 2018 is novel and consists of an evaluation situation which is meant to be authentic, i.e., complex and contextualized (Stiggins, 2007; Wiggins, 1993). Succeeding this examination is a prerequisite to professional licensure. A critical constructivist perspective was thus sought to understand migrants’ experience regarding this examination. More specifically, we sought to shed light on the factors which influence preparation, participation and results announcement of the latter. So, following a comprehensive-interpretative approach, in this exploratory-descriptive research, data were collected through semi-directed interviews of 30 candidates of different professional orders.Results show that in each of the phases of preparation, participation and results announcement, the experience of candidates is influenced both positively and negatively. So, preparation was facilitated by studies and work experience in Quebec, as well as specialized courses. However, the cost of courses and lack of time and resources for self learning acted as barriers to the preparation of candidates. As regards participation, several aspects influenced candidates’ experience positively and negatively. Furthermore, the experience analysis of candidates shed light on certain anomalies: the exam protocol was not standardized across various sessions; candidates shared information among themselves during break time; candidates used deceptive strategies when in difficulty; candidates were frequently absent or just came to respect the exigencies of the French Charter; and the OQLF did not adapt its exam sessions to take into consideration planned absences of candidates. As regards results announcement, candidates’ experiences helped identify the perceived use of the documentation received. The decisions which entailed announcement of results were also put forward as well as the psychological impact of repeated failures on candidates. Moreover, we also discussed the economic impact of candidate failure and their opinions on the examination. Lastly, the problems identified by this study require special attention of the organism so as to enhance candidates’ experience.