This study was to explore the effects of the social skill training programs integrating with picture books for the 2nd grade students¡¦ social skills of immediate and sustainable impact. Specific recommendations for the findings were provided for future research and implementation of social skills training. The study used the nonequivalent quasi-experimental designs and took two different classes of 2nd grade in a medium-sized elementary school in Pingtung County. There were 25 subjects in experimental group, and 26 subjects in control group; theformer were practiced for eight weeks with eight units of social skill training programs integrating with picture books and the latter were practiced with general a general integrated curriculum. Using the scale of Children Social Skills to collect data during the pretest, posttest and follow-up posttest, and then, all data were dealt with by the analysis of one-way ANCOVA. Furthermore, the qualitative data of Session Feedback Form, worksheet, teachers¡¦ observation were also anlayzed. The study found social skill training programs integrating with picture books has both immediate and incessant guidance effect on promoting experimental group children¡¦ whole social skills, and subscales of cooperative, positive assertive as well as negative assertive skills. While, promoting the subscales of empathy and self-control skills only found immediate guidance effect with no incessant guidance effect. The qualitative anlaysis found the experimental group has positive attitude on social skill training programs integrating with picture books.

Since the trend of uprising awareness of sustainability in which strives for the balance of environmental protection, economic growth as well as social concern is mentioned and further discussed in important events before and slowly put into enforcement, neither industry nor education can ignore from this trend. This paper will contribute to address the important issues: 1. Discussing the background of sustainability issues from the important historical events and scholars points of view. 2. Endeavoring in discovering the current efforts made of sustainability by industries and educational institutes 3. Understanding sustainability education status applied in business and engineering schools in two accredited systems AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), and ABET(Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) in United States by analyzing the sustainability-related courses difference among academic backgrounds (accredited systems), regions, school ranking, undergraduate and graduate levels, topics as well as teaching methods. 4. Comparing the result of web-based survey between AACSB 460 accredited business school and ABET 382 engineering schools as well as to the similar sustainability-related course in previous studies based on questionnaire or web-based surveys. The results are as follows: 1. ABET accredited engineering school shows much more aggressiveness on providing sustainability-related courses, especially in west region. 2. Our web content analysis in both AACSB and ABET have lower result than questionnaire survey studies before. 3. Top 100 ranked school in both colleges have more than twice related course; however, AACSB places related courses on graduate level with compulsory and ABET tends to put on undergraduate level with electives. 4. Regarding to the sustainability issues, AACSB focus moral thinking &culture diversity while ABET endeavors in management of natural resource 5. Both colleges adopt most of traditional teaching methods: 61 % of AACSB have case study and discussion and 80 % of ABET use textbooks and assignments At the end, this study will apply the results to business practitioners, enables them have an understanding about their recruited professionals and students who have received which kinds of related subjects and issues taught in the school. For educators, the study provides them the comparisons in leading universities to examine their existing program for sustainability so as to enrich the cross-institutional academic exchanges.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education in 2006, there were about 1,000 students educated in more than 10 institutes of the arts administration field in Taiwan. Most of these institutes are in graduated level. However, in a survey of 517 full-time arts administrators of performing arts groups published by Council of Culture Affairs in 2007 showed there were only about 15% of them with master degrees. Besides personal interests of these administrators, this research want to clarify the situation: if these arts administrators have any other special personalities or abilities; therefore, if there are some differences between arts administrators¡¦ competencies of performing arts groups¡¦ requirements and the academic training of the arts administration and management. The researcher has approached this problem in three directions: the curriculum designs of the related master programs, the ideal competencies from literature review, and the interview with four personnel managers of performing arts cultivation teams. The analysis and comparison are done by this triangulation. The study finds that there are 32 competencies suggested by the past studies, and 30 important competencies are mentioned by the performing arts groups. On the other hand, the schools¡¦ courses can only cultivate 12 competencies, required by the performing arts groups. The result shows that the related master programs are more concentrated on visible competencies than hidden ones. They all can be improved to meet the working field required. Key words: performing arts group, arts administrator, curriculum design, hidden competency, visible competency

This report discusses the history of culture instruction in the language classroom and the increasing attraction to teaching culture as a process, as championed by Byram's (1997) discussion of objectives for intercultural communicative competence (ICC), rather than as the static facts reflected in traditional “culture capsule” lessons. Although according to Burwitz-Melzer (2001) such objectives left “teachers at a loss as to what to expect from their learners, how to structure their lessons and how to structure their lessons,” (p.31), using the recent outpouring of literature on ICC and its subfield, transcultural literacy, in this report Byram's original goals are adapted into an instructional timeline to guide teachers in encouraging the development of ICC, with evidence contradicting Byram's claims that such a process cannot be represented linearly or generalized to all language learning contexts. These goals are followed by resulting criteria for the selection of texts and supplementary tasks acting as the focal point of integrated language and culture lessons. These criteria are then translated into a rubric to assist instructors in identifying the aspects of a text that naturally encourage ICC development and which aspects require additional support in order to be beneficial for this purpose. Finally, this rubric is used to assess three lesson plans published in peer-reviewed journals for the contexts of English, Spanish, and German as foreign languages at the university level, as well as a text for a secondary EFL classroom with an example lesson plan of efficient language and culture integration, leading to a discussion of the need for future research on the interaction of text and task in cultural instruction. / text

Tertiary teachers who travel to another country for professional development encounter difficulties studying in different cultural and educational contexts. This research study investigated how Saudi Arabian teachers of adult learners experience learning about teaching during a New Zealand professional development course. It is part of a larger investigation into ways to improve curriculum design for in-service teacher education short courses for international teachers. A single case study was undertaken to investigate the views of a group of male Saudi Arabian teachers from tertiary technical institutions while in Aotearoa New Zealand to learn the English language, computing studies and adult education. An interpretive, participant observation method was used involving group interviews, written questionnaire, and personal journal. Focus groups were conducted at the beginning and end of the professional development programme to solicit pre-course expectations, identify post-course views of the in-service teacher education programme, and seek suggestions for improvements for future courses. Using a grounded theory approach, a coded analysis of the findings was conducted drawing out emergent themes from the participants’ comments. The findings were grouped into four tensions experienced by the participants. These included, the priority given to learning English language over improving their teaching skills; responding to boredom and lack of student engagement, and difficulties managing student behaviour as part of the student-teacher relationship; a desire to learn new practical teaching methods, rather than being taught the theory of teaching and learning; and differences between the Saudi Arabian and New Zealand learning environments. Responses to these tensions are discussed alongside a framework for high quality learning activities and implications are drawn for improving inter-relationships between teacher and learner. A mismatch was identified between prior expectations and assumptions by the participants and the actual design of the curriculum. Cultural issues are discussed in the context of different educational worldviews, including the status and roles of the teacher in Western and Arab societies, employing a critical pedagogy, and curriculum design for teacher professional development. A model is proposed of deliberate acts of culturally responsive teaching which may assist teacher educators in higher education and support the sustainability of in-service professional development for international teachers.

This study explores teachers' beliefs, views and experiences of the design principles of integration, progression and infusion in the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum at the Intermediate Phase level. Integration, progression and infusion are integral to the South Africa Curriculum Statement and the LO curriculum in particular, as they serve the connection, sequence and technique of linking different learning contents. The aims of the study were: (i) to determine to which extent if any can the principles of feminism be used to influence curriculum integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum; (ii) to use different theories of feminism to enhance our understanding of curriculum integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum; (iii) to determine teachers' beliefs and experiences of curriculum integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum. To achieve these aims, on a theoretical level, I synthesised and analysed different theories of feminist discourses into different themes such as location, caring relations, knowing and thinking. These themes were related to the principles of curriculum integration, progression and infusion and these were used as a frame of reference to make suggestions on the various ways to enhance LO teachers' classroom practice of integration, progression and infusion at the Intermediate Phase. Empirically, I explored the LO teachers' views, beliefs and experiences. Consequently, I situated the study in an interpretative paradigm. I used qualitative research design and methodology with a phenomenological approach, by means of unstructured interviews, classroom observations and focus-group interviews. Three primary schools were purposefully selected for the study. The three principals of the schools were interviewed for the unstructured interviews while nine teachers were interviewed in three focus groups. To strengthen the interviews, I observed nine LO classrooms. The data that I generated as a result of the study were analysed by means of content analyses. The themes that emerged were categorised into different classes, namely: lack of adequate consultation, learning content repetition, learning content outdatedness, learning content irrelevancy, among others. It was deduced that these themes which formed the participants' experiences of integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum were arrived at as a result of their inherent approach which was described as a one-dimensional approach. A one-dimensional approach is that which stipulates a step-by- step approach to the design of curriculum. The Multi-dimensional approach embedded in multiple realities underpinning feminist discourses was suggested as an alternative. A multi-dimensional approach to the design of the curriculum includes the active contribution of various individuals to curriculum design. / Thesis (MEd (Curriculum Development))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

This study explores teachers' beliefs, views and experiences of the design principles of integration, progression and infusion in the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum at the Intermediate Phase level. Integration, progression and infusion are integral to the South Africa Curriculum Statement and the LO curriculum in particular, as they serve the connection, sequence and technique of linking different learning contents. The aims of the study were: (i) to determine to which extent if any can the principles of feminism be used to influence curriculum integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum; (ii) to use different theories of feminism to enhance our understanding of curriculum integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum; (iii) to determine teachers' beliefs and experiences of curriculum integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum. To achieve these aims, on a theoretical level, I synthesised and analysed different theories of feminist discourses into different themes such as location, caring relations, knowing and thinking. These themes were related to the principles of curriculum integration, progression and infusion and these were used as a frame of reference to make suggestions on the various ways to enhance LO teachers' classroom practice of integration, progression and infusion at the Intermediate Phase. Empirically, I explored the LO teachers' views, beliefs and experiences. Consequently, I situated the study in an interpretative paradigm. I used qualitative research design and methodology with a phenomenological approach, by means of unstructured interviews, classroom observations and focus-group interviews. Three primary schools were purposefully selected for the study. The three principals of the schools were interviewed for the unstructured interviews while nine teachers were interviewed in three focus groups. To strengthen the interviews, I observed nine LO classrooms. The data that I generated as a result of the study were analysed by means of content analyses. The themes that emerged were categorised into different classes, namely: lack of adequate consultation, learning content repetition, learning content outdatedness, learning content irrelevancy, among others. It was deduced that these themes which formed the participants' experiences of integration, progression and infusion in the LO curriculum were arrived at as a result of their inherent approach which was described as a one-dimensional approach. A one-dimensional approach is that which stipulates a step-by- step approach to the design of curriculum. The Multi-dimensional approach embedded in multiple realities underpinning feminist discourses was suggested as an alternative. A multi-dimensional approach to the design of the curriculum includes the active contribution of various individuals to curriculum design. / Thesis (MEd (Curriculum Development))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The purpose of this thesis is to document and analyze the experiences and beliefs of a cross section of the second language Cree learning and teaching community regarding perceived hurdles in Cree language acquisition. Very little applied linguistic research has been done involving indigenous languages in Canada, especially ones focusing on adult learners; as a result this study was conceived of as being exploratory in nature, opening ground for further research. The research questions were as follows: what are the major challenges facing adult second language learners of Cree? And secondly, what are the solutions used by learners to overcome these challenges? Seven participants were interviewed from across western Canada, two learners, three teachers, and two participants who had been heavily involved in both learning and teaching. The interviews covered participants’ history with the language, exploring challenges, learning approaches, and goals. The findings suggested that the most significant challenges facing learners were affective challenges such as anxiety; in addition the nature of resources available to learners and teachers was a significant challenge. The study highlighted the connection between methodologies and challenges, suggesting that challenges which appear specific to a particular language are often instead the result of the methodological approach. It also highlighted some areas of disconnect between teacher and learner views on challenges. This thesis also examines the pedagogical implications of this research. / Graduate / 0279 / 0290 / 0727 / mccreery@uvic.ca

This thesis explores the relatively under-researched experiences of module design of academics employed within one UK university. In all, 96 people responded to an initial e-questionnaire survey, and 23 of these participated in follow-up semi-structured interviews. The qualitative data collected from both sources is the main focus of discussion. The thesis contextualises the research by presenting a brief description of the university of study and a sense of the social and political context of higher education in the few years preceding the onset of the project. Following this, there is a review of the existing literature around module and curriculum design. A separate chapter outlines the mixed methods employed to collect the data and the form of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) used to theme the qualitative data provided by the survey and interviews. The findings supported previous studies, but there was some contradictory data concerning assessment design, the value of the institutional approval procedures, and the usefulness of involving students in the design process. This study found that, as a result of the effect of institutional processes and documents on design, the consequence of changing student profiles (particularly around assessment), and the obligation staff feel to their students (despite their expressed lack of available time and resources), module design (and redesign) is more situation-informed than evidence-informed. It concludes that module designers employ a realistic and pragmatic approach to the process, even when their views, attitudes, and consciences around the rights and wrongs of the design process are sometimes questioned.

The dawn of democracy in South Africa necessitated some changes in many spheres of government including education. There was a dire need for educational transformation from the apartheid education system, which favoured white South Africans, to an inclusive education system. This transformation was crucial to address and/or redress the neglect and/or exclusion of certain learning areas and methods in the school curriculum, especially in South African rural schools. Furthermore, it was needed in order to provide a uniform education system for all South Africans under one Department of Education. The first South African curriculum restructuring innovation resulted in Curriculum 2000 which was later renamed Curriculum 2005 (C2005). The review of C2005, in an attempt to assess progress in its implementation, revealed enormous challenges. Thus, in an attempt to strengthen C2005 the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS): grades R-9 and the National Curriculum Statement (NCS): grades 10-12 were introduced. These two curricula were followed by the National Curriculum Statement (NCS): grades R-12. There is, however, overwhelming evidence that C2005 and the curricula that followed thereafter faced huge problems in their implementation. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the complementarity between curriculum design and development processes, and curriculum implementation in the South African education arena. This study was located within the pragmatic paradigm and used mixed methods research design. In this study complementarity of curriculum design and development and curriculum implementation refers to the ability of curriculum design and development processes to have comprehensive provisions for curriculum implementation. The investigation of this complementarity was conducted through the exploration of the main research question: What complementarity existed between the process of curriculum design and development, and curriculum implementation in South Africa? Other subsidiary questions were also derived from the above main research question.ii Thirty schools from the population of schools in the Libode Mega-District were randomly sampled from which sixty participants in the study had been selected. All data in the study were obtained from these participants. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were the instruments used to collect data. In-depth interviews were conducted with fifteen participants after the researcher had collected all questionnaires. Data collected through the use of questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics obtained through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Data collected through interviews were first coded to form units according to similarities and/or differences among units. Units were thereafter grouped into clusters to form domains in order to discover relationships between these domains. Challenges that faced curricula implementation, as per the findings of this study, included: inadequate teacher training, ineffective methods used in curricula dissemination, lack of infrastructure, lack of adequate support from other stakeholders, lack of teacher involvement in curricula design processes, and lack of teaching and learning material. The present study concluded that there was no complementarity in the curriculum design and development processes and curriculum implementation. This study recommended, among other things, that the DBE should provide effective programmes on teacher training in preparation for curricula implementation, ensure availability of human and material resources and infrastructure and also teacher involvement in the curricula designing processes.