This study qualitatively evaluated the adoption of critical approaches to teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL) in the particular context of the private language school industry. The research questions focused on the flexibility of the curriculum, on the room it affords for critical pedagogy and on the challenges of implementing critical lesson plans in the ESL classroom. With the help of four teachers, I explored the practical implications of implementing critical lessons in multicultural ESL classrooms at a Canadian private language school. While the general conclusion of the teachers' experiences provides an encouraging and a positive outlook on a more generalized integration of critical pedagogy in the ELT curriculum, some of the challenges encountered included preparation time for lesson planning, addressing students' linguistic needs, and the tension between the business culture of the ELT industry and the principles of critical pedagogy. / Cette thèse explore l'impact d'une approche critique (traduite pédagogie critique) dans l'enseignement de l'anglais langue seconde ou langue étrangère, dans le cadre de l'industrie des écoles de langues privées. Je cherchais a évaluer la flexibilité du curriculum de l'école, dans quelle mesure ce curriculum facilitait l'adoption d'une méthodologie critique, et les défis que présentait l'adoption de cette méthodologie dans une classe d'anglais langue seconde. Bien que de façon générale, l'expérience des quatre enseignants ayant participé à cette étude ait été positive, certains défis associés à cette méthodologie se sont présentés: le temps demandé pour la planification des cours, l'exigence de répondre aux besoins linguistiques des étudiants, et les antagonismes potentiels entre la culture corporative de l'industrie de la didactique de l'anglais langue seconde et les principes de la pédagogie critique.

The main problem being investigated is why there were such divergent views on the appropriate curriculum for ANC education-in-exile from within the ANC, and in the light of this contestation, what happened in reality to curriculum practice at the institutions. The arguments for Academic, Political and Polytechnic Education are contextualized in the curriculum debates of the times, that is, the 20th century international policy discourse, the African curriculum debates and Apartheid Education in South Africa. This study examines how Academic Education, despite the sharp debates, was institutionalised at the SOMAFCO High School. It also analyses the arguments for and various notions of Political and Polytechnic Education as well as what happened to these in practice at the school. The SOMAFCO Primary School went through three phases of curriculum development. The school opened in 1980 under a ‘caretaker’ staff and without a structured curriculum. During the second phase 1980-1982 a progressive curriculum was developed by Barbara and Terry Bell. After the Bells resigned in 1982, a conventional academic curriculum was implemented by Dennis September, the new principal.

AbstractWhich assignment teachers feel they have to accomplish in their professional work has been thestarting point of this essay. To find this out, two questions have been asked:1.Which assignment do teachers experience as the most important assignment? How can this be relatedto the curriculum?2.How do teachers interpret the term 'learning'? How can this be related to the curriculum?Working as a teacher means that you have different assignments to implement, which brings complexityto it. One part is to prepare the students for becoming future citizens. Another part is to seeto that they reach the knowledge as well as other goals of the education. By interviewing teachersworking with students in different ages, differences and similarities have been shown. For examplesafety, teaching, and pleasurable learning are seen as the most important assignments to perform.Learning can mean many things, and it is important to know what the goal of it is to be able to grantgood conditions for it. Learning always means that some kind of change is made.

There is universal agreement that school physical education (PE) and school-community sports participation (SCSP) enhance adolescent health and well-being. However, virtually no study has objectively evaluated the effects for grade 11 and 12 high school students. The primary aim of this study was to assess the impact of a newly implemented PE curriculum on health-related fitness, psychological well-being and academic performance for grade 11 and 12 students (n=101). Secondary aim was to evaluate the influence of students involved in SCSP (n=44) with those not involved in SCSP (non-SCSP) (n=57). In-school PE (IN, n=22); out-of-school PE (OUT, n=65); and no-PE (CONTROL, n=14) were assessed with the following tests [20-meter shuttle run (20MSR), push-ups (PU), sit-ups (SU), and modified pull-ups (MPU), body fat percent (BF%), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) and grade point average (GPA). Testing was conducted in September and again in December of 2008. Repeated measures ANOVA controlling for sex for IN revealed significant increases for 20MSR (p<0.001), PU (p=0.033), MPU (p=0.004), aggregate strength (AS) (p=0.017), and height (p<0.001); in addition to significant decreases for GPA (p=0.001) and BF% (p=0.003). OUT reported significant increases for 20MSR (p=0.002), PU (p<0.001), AS (p<0.001), height (p<0.001); and PSDQ variables of coordination (CO) (p=0.038), strength (ST) (p=0.043) and flexibility (FL) (p=0.013). CONTROL reported significant decreases in PA (p=0.006), WC (p=0.05), MPU (p=0.034) and GPA (p=0.028); and significant increases in PU (p=0.039) and height (0.039). The IN group scored significantly higher than both OUT (p=0.019) and CONTROL (p=0.019) groups with respect to the mean (95% CI) change in maxVO2. For testing in September, SCSP scored significantly higher (p<0.001) for the fitness variables of CVF, PU, SU, MPU and AS; and the PSDQ variables of CO, PA, BF, SP, GP, ST, EN and SE. PSDQ variable of appearance was also significantly higher (p=0.003) for SCSP. In addition, SCSP scored significantly lower for BF% (p<0.001) and WC (p=0.013). Follow up testing in December between SCSP and non-SCSP produced identical results except for WC becoming insignificant (p=0.058). Significant improvements in health-related fitness and psychological well-being warrant continued efforts to provide quality PE and SCSP programming for all high school students.

Abstract The expectation to teach content and skills within a structured educative setting creates a climate of tremendous challenge and opportunity for educators on a daily basis. Educators will seek out ways to integrate curriculum as a way of being efficient. Curriculum integration, while a commonly used educational term, remains a challenging concept to define and examine both in research and in classroom practice. Curricula integration is a microscopic lens whereby the educator approaches their practice. Curriculum integration can be an effective method of delivering curriculum. However, daily instruction that contains instructional methods that are embedded within multiple learning styles and modalities are paramount. More importantly, than the how a curriculum is integrated appears to be an educator&rsquo;s methods of instruction, management and organization. My thesis develops what I have called &ldquo;A Blended Curricula Deliverance Program&rdquo; that helps deliver instruction in a holistic manner.

This dissertation is an autobiographical account of the author's experience as a musician and as an educator. The author takes us on a journey from his childhood through his adult life, starting with the arrival of his parents as immigrants to Canada. In the first section, he explores the difficulties that second generation children face in the Canadian public school system. Through self-analysis and concrete examples, he demonstrates the struggles that he faced when trying to assimilate to Canadian Culture. In section 2, he examines the way music guided his development and contributed to his changing identity. This section includes the discovery of different music genres and sub cultures. In section 3, the author explores his life as a young adult and his quest for truth through cultural exploration and formal education. In the last section, he concludes with the concrete projects that were made possible by the merger between his musical and educational career. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the two fields in order to inform the creation of alternative educational programs in Quebec. / Ce projet est un compte autobiographique provenant des expériences de l'auteur, entant que musicien et éducateur. L'auteur nous raconte sont vécu, commençant avec l'immigration de ses parents au Canada. Dans la première section, il explore les difficultés subis par les enfants d'immigrants, dans le système scolaire canadien. Par l'analyse de soi il démontre les luttes auxquelles il a fait face en essayant de s'assimiler à la culture canadienne. Dans la deuxième section, il examine comment la musique a guidée son développement et a contribuée à une identité changeante. Cette section inclut la découverte de différents genres de musique et de cultures. Dans la troisième section, l'auteur fait le parcours de sa vie de jeune adulte où la quête de son identité s'est fait entre l'exploration culturelle et l'éducation formelle. Dans la quatrième section, il finit avec les projets concrets; né de la fusion entre la musique et l'éducation. Le but de la thèse est d'explorer les deux champs professionels, pour informer la création de programmes d'éducation alternative au Québec.

Neoliberal policies and globalization have significant implications for public education. This case study on Québec will examine how neoliberalism and globalization influence two aspects of its educational system. The first aspect will focus on the processes of privatization and marketization in Québec. These processes not only enable private interests to influence public education but also obfuscate the relationship between educational inequality and social inequality. The second aspect will focus on recent educational reforms which determined that globalization has significant implications for Québec education. The Québec Education Program was devised in a context where curriculum had to adapt to the changing nature of work amidst greater economic integration and more information technology. This case study will end with a chapter that is dedicated to teacher trade unionism in Québec, Canada and North America. It is through these struggles that neoliberal ideology is challenged and alternative visions for public education are presented as concrete aims. / La mondialisation et les politiques néolibérales ont des conséquences importantes au niveau de l'éducation publique. Cette étude examine l'influence du néolibéralisme et de la mondialisation sur deux aspects du système d'éducation au Québec. Le premier concerne les processus de privatisation et de marchandisation. Ces derniers non seulement permettent aux intérêts privés d'influencer l'éducation publique, mais occultent également le rapport entre les inégalités éducatives et les inégalités sociales. Le deuxième aspect porte sur la récente réforme scolaire qui illustre l'impact considérable de la mondialisation sur le système éducatif au Québec. Le Programme de formation de l'école québécoise a été élaboré dans un contexte d'ajustement du curriculum scolaire aux changements apportés à la nature même du travail par le renforcement des intégrations économiques et la prolifération des technologies de l'information. Le chapitre final est consacré à l'activité syndicale dans le domaine de l'enseignement au Québec, au Canada et en Amérique du Nord. C'est à travers ces luttes sociales que l'idéologie néolibérale est contestée et que des alternatives en matière d'éducation publique sont présentées en termes d'objectifs concrets.

A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his (or her) feeling through words. This may sound easy. It isn't ... . It's the most wonderful life on earth. Or so I feel. e. e. cummings: 'A Poet's Advice'. (1-3, 27-28) Fifty years ago poetry was a key element in the English programme in most secondary schools. Today it is marginalised, with many teachers avoiding teaching poetry as far as possible. The consequence is a cycle of disadvantage whereby many students, never having studied, let alone attempted to write a poem in school, leave without having encountered literature at its most intense and concentrated. Since the study of poetry can also be avoided almost entirely in university English departments, such students will, in their turn, when they themselves become educators of the next generation, similarly avoid teaching poetry. This thesis investigates the pedagogical and curricular contexts within which English has been taught in New Zealand since 1945, and within which poetry has become increasingly marginal. Surveys of and interviews with students past and present, teachers and teacher-educators enable me to identify a range of reasons why this has happened, and a cycle of deprivation has developed. The thesis also identifies, however, ways in which the cycle of deprivation can be broken, and the teaching of poetry made central to the teaching of written, oral and visual language in accordance with the principles of the current New Zealand curriculum for the teaching of English.

This is a study of the New Zealand English curriculums, 1969-1996. The study is organised around three phases of reform: the initial changes made to the teaching of English in the first three years of secondary school; the later reform of the senior-school English syllabus; the more recent development of an integrated national curriculum statement for the teaching of English. These reforms are charted in a narrative fashion, although the thesis does not purport to be a full history of English teaching in the period under review. Instead, the various developments and changes to English teaching in New Zealand secondary schools, during a thirty year period, are contextualised under the interpretative paradigm: the management of knowledge. It is argued herein that knowledge, and, in this case, the subject English, has been managed - consciously and unconsciously - in the interests of dominant socio-cultural and socio-economic groups. I aver that even alleged progressive developments in the pedagogy of classroom life have been routinised in the curriculum statements. Consequently, there has been an official sanctioning of established or conservative perspectives on the way English language and literature should be taught, thus often denying the emancipatory themes of respect for the human subject and human agency. My contention is advanced and supported through a careful examination of the curriculum text discourses, and, in several instances, through an examination of the transmission process from the draft statement to the published statement. I am therefore able to argue that the English curriculums must be understood as part of wider social and political processes: the curriculums are produced, managed and reproduced. The influences of the social environment and, in particular, the ideological struggle between State and society, are to be found in the English teaching discourse. This notion is captured in the subtitle of the study: text and context. The thesis concludes with a brief, personal reflection on how an English curriculum might be theorised so that it does not impose on students a definition of reality that declares the values and symbols of the social elites. I assert that an understanding of discourse, or the discourses of knowledge, can provide a way forward for the theorising of the subject English.

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