In the field of rural development there is an increasing appreciation for the need to involve local people in all aspects of their own development. This situation has led to the emergence of many different participatory approaches that attempt to respond to this changing development paradigm. Participatory approaches strive to enable people to value and build upon the knowledge and power that already exists in their own community. Paulo Freire's work on transformative education has greatly influenced the process, content and expected outcomes of the different methodologies used to attain popular participation in rural development. Academics and development practitioners believe that by engaging in a participatory process, people will gain greater control over their own development which can lead to physical, behavioral, attitudinal, organizational and philosophical transformations within individuals and communities. Yet, little has been done in evaluating the range of outcomes and longer term impact a participatory approach may have on the individuals and communities involved. Thus, the development field operates with an incomplete understanding of the potential benefits and limitations of participatory methodologies as they are applied to rural communities. This study partially addresses such a deficiency through an in-depth, qualitative investigation of the short term outcomes generated by a training intervention based on critical pedagogy. The training took place in the communities of San Francisco Menéndez and Tacuba, El Salvador to respond to issues that emerged with the establishment of El Imposible National Park. Qualitative research methods were used to assess the program's effects on the participants. These data, along with products and outputs generated by the participants during the training programs, were analyzed to develop a framework for assessing the short term impact of participatory training on rural development. The research findings show that changes in consciousness level are highly individualized and could only be assessed from the researcher's in-depth interactions with the training participants and from the perspective of the participants' life situation and history. The study challenges policy makers, social researchers and development practitioners to consider the plurality of endogenous and exogenous community interactions as key components to the participatory process in rural development.

This study aims at building dialogue among culturally diverse groups by examining people's perceptions of social reality through the application of projective techniques. In this study the projective techniques consist of a set of original pictures drawn by the author based on participants' accounts of their living situations. The set of pictures combined with the process of inquiry applied in this study comprise the FotoDialogo Method. This study conforms to the following objectives: (1) developing and testing an original model of inquiry and education which promotes dialogue and self-discovery; (2) fostering dialogue skills and reflective thinking among disadvantaged Latino women; (3) promoting effective intergroup communication between health and human service providers and their client population; and (4) developing guidelines for the production of research and training materials that encourage effective intergroup communication, and empowerment of traditionally disadvantaged groups. The research methodology is grounded in qualitative and participatory research principles. The research design stems from Paulo Freire's Thematic Investigation Model, and Henry Murray's Thematic Apperception Test. This study was carried out within a community-based organization serving the Latino population in Massachusetts. The author took a leadership role in all phases of the study, as moderator of the Latina Women's Dialog Group (LWDG), and of a series of FotoDialogo Workshops addressed to health and human service providers. The LWDG sessions were conducted entirely in Spanish—the participants' native language—and recorded by audio tape. These sessions were later transcribed and translated by the author. Throughout this study pseudonyms for actual persons are used to protect participants identities and to maintain confidentiality. Accounts are based on actual interviews, and transcriptions of dialogue sessions. The results of this study revealed that the FotoDialogo Method can be a powerful strategy for Latinas to break silence about their particular experiences of oppression. The LWDG participants began a process of self-discovery which enabled them to analyze and value their experiences, and to fully participate in their community's social change. The FotoDialogo Workshops were also effective in raising awareness among practitioners regarding intercultural communication, and in reflecting upon the sociocultural context in which the Latino community is immersed.

Many adult literacy program, especially those seeking to address issues of equity and empowerment, invite their clients to become authors by articulating their life experiences, ideas, and opinions in talk and in writing that is published. Recent theorizing about identity raises issues about the empowering capacity of this widespread practice. To address these issues, I borrowed theoretical perspectives from feminist poststructuralism that allowed me to see what happened when clients were positioned as authors in light of positionings leading to salient identities other than author. These positionings were shaped by discourses, local ideologies, and speech acts. The study focused on a small group of literacy clients who interacted with each other and with tutors in adult basic education tutoring sessions and Authors Workshops sited in a public elementary school in a New England city. I used an ethnographic approach to collect and analyze my data which was complemented by conversation analysis techniques borrowed from sociolinguistics. The theoretical perspective and the methodology enabled me to trace the moment-by-moment construction and interaction, through talk, of the various identities that became salient for participants. Identities from three categories, Authorship, School, and Family, became salient and interacted with each other. These identities were linked to the five cultural discourses operating at the research site: the Traditional Education, Liberal Empowerment, Therapeutic, Welfare Reform, and Traditional Marriage and Family discourses. School identities, linked to the Traditional Education discourse, most often interacted with Authorship identities; however, it was not always in tutors' talk that the Traditional Education discourse expressed itself. Clients sometimes chose the student identity. Both the Welfare Reform and Traditional Education discourses interrupted the author identity as clients, lacking a high school diploma, felt thwarted in their job searches. Implications of the study for research include the power of feminist poststructuralist theory as an heuristic and a justification for researching liberatory classroom practices. Implications for practice include the advisability of siting Authors Workshops in a community rather than school context and the use of feminist poststructuralist theory to reveal how clients and practitioners are “discoursed” so they can, together, help make practices such as Authors Workshops actually, not just potentially liberatory.

Despite evidence of the effectiveness of applied behavior analysis (ABA) for treating behavior problems in elderly nursing home residents, staff responsible for the development of behavioral care plans may have little knowledge of ABA. Providing nursing staff with in-service training during working hours can be overly disruptive to the functioning of the nursing unit, and paying for nurses to attend training outside of regularly scheduled hours is cost-prohibitive to many geriatric care facilities. To examine a more cost effective alternative to traditional in-service training, a self-instructional training program was implemented with six nursing staff. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used to examine the effects of the training program on subjects' ability to identify information important for the development of behavioral interventions, their general knowledge of behavior management, their self-reported attitudes towards elderly nursing home residents, and the frequency and type of their interactions with the residents of their unit. Findings revealed no practically significant changes in any of the dependent measures as a result of the self-instructional training program. The results indicated ways in which the training program could be improved.

This research examines the educational history of Blacks under apartheid, the educational philosophies of different strands of the anti-apartheid movement, and the nature of education reforms in a post-apartheid South Africa. The research analyzes the implications of these reforms for a specific group of marginalized South Africans, former student militants, that is, Black African youths who participated in the anti-apartheid struggle between 1970 to 1992. It is deeply tragic that a majority of this population do not benefit from the educational and economic policies of the new South Africa, and remain poor and unemployed. Based on interviews, surveys and focused group discussions with former student militants in the Northern Province of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, this research examines the gap between the educational vision of the anti-apartheid movement and the nature of the present reforms. My research shows that although based on principles of racial equality, the impact of the reforms can only be understood in the broader context of neoliberal economic reform. The research highlights the contradictions immanent in constructing a deracialized, egalitarian education system that can benefit the Black majority at the same time as the state prioritizes economic growth and competitiveness to succeed in a global economy. The research questions whether the goal of ‘education for liberation’ can truly be attained and the historical oppressions and inequities of the apartheid regime eradicated by education reform that is based on liberal ideals of a nonracialized equal society.

This qualitative study of the values, beliefs and teaching practices of four teachers at a small private college with a diverse adult student population attempts to bring to light what teaching behaviors help to create an educational climate which includes people of both genders and of different ethnic, racial backgrounds and allows them to succeed in an academic environment. The teachers and students completed weekly teaching and learning journals (derived from Brookfield's (1991) student learning journals) during one semester (spring, 1994). Using grounded theory technique, I uncovered eight activities that both teachers and students felt were effective in providing an inclusive educational environment: (1) use of groups for support, creativity and personal change; (2) conscious student metacognition and self-assessment; (3) interactive classroom activities; (4) exercises which utilize different learning styles; (5) integrative learning which calls upon the different student cultures; (6) close teacher/student and peer/peer feedback connections; (7) academic support components built into the curriculum; and (8) the teacher acting as facilitator. Through a series of teacher interviews, I determined three shared values which appeared congruent with the teachers' actions in the classroom: (1) awareness of the difference between the student cultures, but a reluctance to pre-judge individuals based on cultural assumptions; (2) awareness and utilization of the affective aspects of learning; and (3) a conception of the role of teacher as empowerer. End of the semester focus groups with students added to data obtained from student learning journals to reveal three areas of the learning deemed important for growth: (1) the importance of the social dimension of teaching and learning; (2) the powerful role of the teacher in the learning process; and (3) the importance of applying and integrating the learning into the students' lives. Two problematic areas in the teaching of these four instructors were: (1) a lack of multicultural reading materials within the courses and (2) evaluations methods that were not authentic or inclusive of different learning style orientations. The results of this study hold implications for the administration of programs for adult students of targeted social groups, such as admission policies, class size and teacher training.

The research question: What do adults understand about the cyclic nature of organic matter and the concepts in decomposition? This study examined the scientific and alternate views on the concept of decomposition in two phases. The first is a constructive phase and dealt with collecting ideas and terminology. The second, the validation phase, determined how many adults shared the ideas collected. The constructive phase involved clinically interviewing 20 adult subjects of various age groups and educational backgrounds using open ended questions and concepts mapping. The validation stage was administering a survey constructed with the ideas found in the clinical interviewing to various people randomly in public places and employment facilities. Additional data was collected regarding the experience of the subjects in composting and gardening or courses in biology or chemistry. This data was examined to identify what ideas are held most often by adults, what ideas are not in conjunction with scientific concepts, and what variables might have produced the factors based on a constructivist approach to educational development. The findings include firmly held ideas about the decomposition of bones and the lack of understanding of the microbial role of decomposition.

Inclusiveness and usefulness are principles underlying community college education and reform in mathematics teaching. But adults restarting their education may view mathematics as inaccessible, threatening, and of limited personal use. The purpose of this study was to gain awareness and appreciation of the beliefs about mathematics and attitudes about themselves as learners of mathematics of a group of financially and educationally disadvantaged women preparing to enter community college and technical occupations. In the event that these beliefs and attitudes seemed to be counter productive to the effective mathematics education of the students, the study considered how they changed in a learning community where science, mathematics, communication, and career development skills were integrated and learned experientially. The methods used were qualitative and interpretive. The researcher interviewed six women at the beginning and end of the semester, and talked with the math/science instructors about their objectives and methods. She observed the students in the classroom and laboratory and administered an attitude questionnaire. Literature from the fields of human development, teaching and learning, and mathematics education formed the background for the study. The study found that the students varied in their attitudes and in their responses to the learning experiences. Students perceived little change in their own attitudes during the program, but the instructors and researcher observed positive change in the group, with the least change occurring in those expressing most resistance to the methods. The researcher found that the program was evolving from a learning community into a more traditional collection of subjects, that assessment methods conflicted with the experiential and integrated model, and that there was poor communication within the program. These problems seemed to work against some of the anticipated changes in attitude toward mathematics of the students and highlighted difficulties of putting theory into practice. The study verified that the relationship between attitudes and a program designed to affect them is complex and sensitive to many factors including the dynamics within the program itself and the developmental characteristics of the student.

The administration of basic education and training in South African mines lacks democratic participation, among other problems. This is because stakeholders like worker-learners, educators, and trade unions are mostly not involved when employers plan, implement, and evaluate programs. Currently, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is exploring ways in which the Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) system can be transformed. This case study explains strategies and proposals of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). Qualitative research methods were used in data gathering. From 1993 to 1994, on-site, I observed and participated in NUM and national ABET activities; interviewed labor and liberation leaders and educators, managers, worker-learners, and NGO adult educators; and analyzed union resolutions, an agreement between NUM and the Chamber of Mines, and national ABET policy proposals. Through workshops, NUM is in the process of building the capacity of mineworkers to participate in the running of programs. Through negotiations with management, an ABET framework has been agreed. Through COSATU and the African National Congress (ANC), NUM contributes in national efforts for reconstruction and development. The defining characteristics/principles of the new industry and national ABET framework are: ABET qualifications will be equivalent to ten years of free and compulsory schooling, leading to a General Education Certificate; both general education and technical training will be certified in a common integrated framework; a national core curriculum, in a competency-based modular format, will allow for assessment and recognition of prior learning and experience. Negotiations are continuing between unions and employers about paid education and training leave, and how education and training can relate to job grading systems. ABET provision, within a national qualifications framework, is intended to: redress the apartheid legacy, and respond to economic and social needs by offering both technical and social skills. Consequently, the ABET framework more than combines the formal, functional, and Freirean adult literacy models. In conclusion, the study highlights some major labor accomplishments, challenges, and questions of this transitional period. It is recommended that, in implementing the ABET vision, joint workplace partnerships/forums be pursued as viable vehicles for learner empowerment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes that adults entering an adult basic education program went through while they learned to read and write. Two research goals were used to examine six individuals while attending The Literacy Project, Inc., Greenfield, Massachusetts. They were, (1) To examine the relationship between learning to read and write and learning to adapt to change among adults considered illiterate; and (2) To examine how local and community conditions including those of the program as community, affect a literacy program and its curriculum. This study utilized ethnographic methods. The data for the case studies was collected from observations, teacher log entries, student writings, student folders, and interviews with clients, teachers, and aides. The setting of the study was The Literacy Project which is a non-profit community based program which uses a whole-language curriculum. Teaching is also done in groups. A head teacher is in charge and several volunteers are used as aides. Changes were discovered across the case studies. Students went through at least four changes: (1) The Initial Change, (2) Change In Old Strategies: Conning, (3) Change in Self Confidence, and (4) Change in Student/Teacher Relationships, including the way in which students perceived the role of the teacher. The implications for curriculum and programs are described in Chapter 5. They were: (1) A need for teachers to broaden their ideas and concepts of curriculum to include students with opportunities to participate in the developement of curriculum. (2) A need for teachers to broaden their ideas of learning. Learning needs to be viewed as an interactive pursuit. (3) There is a need for community to be developed in the classroom. (4) There is a need for continuity in programs which includes the need for continuity in teachers.