Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lowenhaupt / There is a need for schools to implement practices to disrupt the inequities that exist for marginalized students in public education. As the theory of critical consciousness details, inequality is sustained when the people most affected by it are unable to decode their social conditions (El-Amin et al., 2017). An equitable democracy depends on critically conscious citizens (Seider & Graves, 2020). When educators and students can identify oppressive systems, they are better prepared to take action to disrupt those systems. This study analyzes how adult learning opportunities might position educators as agents of social justice-oriented educational practice. For the sake of this research, adult learning is defined as encompassing the learning experiences of educators, including district professional development as well as outside learning experiences in higher education institutions or the community. There is limited research regarding how the construct of race impacts adult learning experiences for critical consciousness. Therefore, this research studies the impacts of the construct of race during the process of adult learning. This study investigates how educators narrate their experiences with race during adult learning through the lens of critical consciousness. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

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In the United States, the largest group of educators, historically and presently, are white middle-class women, yet there is a rising population of racially diverse students creating a persistent dissonance and disconnect between the culture of the white teacher and their students. In this study, I sought to discover how the racial identity development of novice white female educators evolved, given their common participation in the Teach for America program. Using the conceptual frameworks of critical race theory, critical feminist theory, and the body of scholarship in critical whiteness studies, I conducted a critical narrative inquiry of eight novice white female educators. From the participants’ stories, three themes emerged: (a) relationships matter; (b) the privilege to want something different; and (c) intersection of whiteness and power. Further analysis was conducted to address the ideas of race-consciousness building through defining moments and sustained connection, and white dominance through an ascription of power and an analysis of gender. This study represents an effort to address the phenomenon of white teacher dominance by listening to the voices of white educators who experienced race-based development. Ultimately, this study aimed to contribute to the scholarship that informs how white educators develop their own racial identities so as to not do additional harm and trauma to racialized communities.

Eldora, Neethi and Seraphina are three young women who work as science interpreters at a large metropolitan museum. Each woman began her tenure at the age of 15, as part of an employment program for low-income and minority youth, and have since grown to become leaders within the program. Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004) and portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Hoffman Davis, 1997), I explore the rich cultures and histories that each woman brings to her work, present stories that counter the dominant deficit narratives around diversity in informal science education, and reflect on connections to my own practice. Through a critical pedagogy framework (McLaren, 2009; Kincheloe, 2008), I analyze power and privilege within the institution, and the roles that race, language, and culture play in the dynamics of the workplace. This includes examination of workplace microaggressions, physical barriers to cross-cultural interaction, and technocratic ideologies that limit advancement and sense of belonging. From facing subtle acts of racism to taking on life-changing opportunities for growth, I examine the complex relationships that the women have with the institution, and explore ways that they are becoming agents of change. / Ph. D.

Participatory approaches to international and community development have gained significant popularity, and are commonly held to be intrinsically empowering processes. In the context of development, both participation and empowerment were borne of radical claims and democratizing goals, but over time, both concepts have been confused and misappropriated. The popularity of the terms participation and empowerment, coupled with the ambiguity of their meanings, illustrates a symptom of their co-optation away from their radical and political roots. This ethnographic case study explored the mechanics of the participatory approach and claims of empowerment within the experience of a non-governmental organization based in Chiapas, Mexico. This study aimed to investigate the linkages between participation and empowerment, in their original radical and theoretical forms, as well as in practice—addressing questions of whether and how participation may lead to empowerment. The organization's endeavors to create space for participatory learning for critical consciousness and self-sufficiency, as understood through 30 semi-structured interviews and three months of participant observation, provided insight into these questions and their conceptual underpinnings. I analyzed data by drawing upon Freirean critical pedagogy, critical theory, and theories of participation and participatory learning. Findings examine the influence of clientelism, Catholic liberation theology, and the Zapatista uprising on the ways rural campesinos develop critical consciousness and organize to dismantle systems of oppression. Findings illustrate examples of interactive participation and self-mobilization. The study serves to demonstrate the importance of cultural and historical contexts, and of solidarity and downward accountability within the praxis of participation and empowerment. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Since the beginning, U.S. public schools have perpetuated harm towards students that do not fall under the descriptors of male, middle/upper class, cis-gender, heterosexual, able-bodied, neurotypical, and white. Education scholars with varying ideological backgrounds have approached questions of education equity for decades; yet, in asking these questions through the "white gaze" (Wright, 2023), some scholars have perpetuated the harm they seek to demystify. The following series of manuscripts express the dire need for (re)calibrating U.S. public schools so that all children receive just, equitable, and humanizing education. The first manuscript analyzes harmful white supremacist ideological hegemony embedded in education policy, the second manuscript is an ethnographic portrait (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis, 1997) that resists the "white gaze" and illuminates the good in a thriving classroom comprised of Black and Brown teachers and students through a lens of Black feminist theory, and the third manuscript interrogates what it takes emotionally and intellectually to do this work as a white woman scholar who seeks ubuntu feminist solidarity. The dissertation concludes with a posture of hope. Hope of an otherwise world (Greene, 1995) of education in which ubuntu feminist scholarship will inform praxis so that students may experience pedagogies that liberate instead of harm. / Doctor of Philosophy / Since the beginning, U.S. public schools have perpetuated harm towards students that do not fall under the descriptors of male, middle/upper class, cis-gender, heterosexual, able-bodied, neurotypical, and white. Various types of education scholars have approached questions of education equity for decades; yet, in asking these questions some scholars have perpetuated the harm they seek to examine. The following series of manuscripts express the dire need for (re)calibrating U.S. public schools so that all children receive just, equitable, and humanizing education. The first manuscript analyzes problems and harms embedded in education policy, the second manuscript gives the reader a seat in the classroom of an educator that exemplifies liberatory pedagogy, and the third manuscript interrogates what it takes emotionally and intellectually to do this work as a white woman scholar. The dissertation concludes with a posture of hope. Hope of an otherwise world (Greene, 1995) of education in which collective feminist scholarship will inform teaching practice so that students may experience pedagogies that liberate instead of harm.

In the past, South Africa had a structure that dealt separately with matters relating to curriculum development and the problems of management and control determined from the hierarchical authority. Since 1994, the curriculum reform and the various transformational needs and because of experiences of global change demands as well as the various nationalist priorities, principals have adopted instructional leadership and principalship as leading learners, critical reflection and understanding that circumstances determine leadership or better management. In this context, principals initiated what has proved to be the determinants of the principal‟s role, problematic perspective and orientation. The study was qualitative in nature and interviews were used as the main source of data collection. Ten principals of primary, middle and secondary schools were interviewed using open ended questions. It was important to interact with the interviewees to facilitate a more probing investigation that not only broadened knowledge and fostered understanding, but also provided the interviewees with freedom to talk about anything they felt like, as long as it was within the framework or research questions., secondly, it allowed for critical reflection on the dominant discourse and also gave a voice to the dominated discourse. To arrive at the findings, data was analysed and interpreted using analysis strategies applicable to qualitative designs. These strategies of analysis allowed the researcher to look at the text and interviewees‟ practices. The following findings emerged from the data analysis: The findings from the principals were that there is integrated circumstance which makes it impossible to achieve success and the process of development was always constrained by severe time pressures. Since the principals‟ involvement in curriculum reform is a good sign of positive change in educators and school community‟s thinking, conduct, feelings and behaviour in their daily way of living. Principals have changed their leadership or management of democratic and collaborative participation to include parents, educators, learners and external stakeholders in curriculum reform. The interviews from the principals indicated that undemocratic procedures and social disorder no longer exist within the school, but it is visible within the district and the hierarchy. While this is the case, it is also clear that the primary and secondary respondents view this differently. The primary school principal, generates ample possibilities and opportunities for curriculum reform and the desired nation building. On the other hand, the secondary school principal is pressurized, sometimes undemocratically by the hierarchy to achieve beyond expectation in national examinations. But all are in agreement that they provide useful knowledge to ascertain whether curriculum reform can be a tool driving social cohesion and provide self-renewal in the condition of practice. They also facilitate changes in the lives of community members such as educators, learners‟ parents and all stakeholders by teaching and carrying out actual practice. I have taken care not to generalize from the findings, since this was never the intention of the study. I nevertheless drew the conclusion that problems and challenges faced by the principals determine and define their role. There will never be any absence of external demands. In fact principals in their schools must continue to monitor conceptually complex tasks and accumulate evidence of different levels of complexity of their roles. From the findings the study recommends that principal should control the determinants of their roles, they should standardise and supervise the quality of the learning programme. This is to allow principals to include the needs of the communities which vary from area to area. This way development of learner-centred strategies are encouraged. The control by the hierarchy would extinguish community-initiative in service delivery. Political control seems to be slowly coming back to schools through quality monitoring. Furthermore, suggestions for the Department of Education to understand the different pressure points principal experience imposed by the district and the circuit to principals to follow incompatible activities and forcing schools to pursue incompatible goals. / PhD (Education Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In the past, South Africa had a structure that dealt separately with matters relating to curriculum development and the problems of management and control determined from the hierarchical authority. Since 1994, the curriculum reform and the various transformational needs and because of experiences of global change demands as well as the various nationalist priorities, principals have adopted instructional leadership and principalship as leading learners, critical reflection and understanding that circumstances determine leadership or better management. In this context, principals initiated what has proved to be the determinants of the principal‟s role, problematic perspective and orientation. The study was qualitative in nature and interviews were used as the main source of data collection. Ten principals of primary, middle and secondary schools were interviewed using open ended questions. It was important to interact with the interviewees to facilitate a more probing investigation that not only broadened knowledge and fostered understanding, but also provided the interviewees with freedom to talk about anything they felt like, as long as it was within the framework or research questions., secondly, it allowed for critical reflection on the dominant discourse and also gave a voice to the dominated discourse. To arrive at the findings, data was analysed and interpreted using analysis strategies applicable to qualitative designs. These strategies of analysis allowed the researcher to look at the text and interviewees‟ practices. The following findings emerged from the data analysis: The findings from the principals were that there is integrated circumstance which makes it impossible to achieve success and the process of development was always constrained by severe time pressures. Since the principals‟ involvement in curriculum reform is a good sign of positive change in educators and school community‟s thinking, conduct, feelings and behaviour in their daily way of living. Principals have changed their leadership or management of democratic and collaborative participation to include parents, educators, learners and external stakeholders in curriculum reform. The interviews from the principals indicated that undemocratic procedures and social disorder no longer exist within the school, but it is visible within the district and the hierarchy. While this is the case, it is also clear that the primary and secondary respondents view this differently. The primary school principal, generates ample possibilities and opportunities for curriculum reform and the desired nation building. On the other hand, the secondary school principal is pressurized, sometimes undemocratically by the hierarchy to achieve beyond expectation in national examinations. But all are in agreement that they provide useful knowledge to ascertain whether curriculum reform can be a tool driving social cohesion and provide self-renewal in the condition of practice. They also facilitate changes in the lives of community members such as educators, learners‟ parents and all stakeholders by teaching and carrying out actual practice. I have taken care not to generalize from the findings, since this was never the intention of the study. I nevertheless drew the conclusion that problems and challenges faced by the principals determine and define their role. There will never be any absence of external demands. In fact principals in their schools must continue to monitor conceptually complex tasks and accumulate evidence of different levels of complexity of their roles. From the findings the study recommends that principal should control the determinants of their roles, they should standardise and supervise the quality of the learning programme. This is to allow principals to include the needs of the communities which vary from area to area. This way development of learner-centred strategies are encouraged. The control by the hierarchy would extinguish community-initiative in service delivery. Political control seems to be slowly coming back to schools through quality monitoring. Furthermore, suggestions for the Department of Education to understand the different pressure points principal experience imposed by the district and the circuit to principals to follow incompatible activities and forcing schools to pursue incompatible goals. / PhD (Education Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014