Over the last 30 years or so, there has been growing international interest in the "informal sector" of the economy in developing countries, and there is now the recognition that to operate successfully as artisans in the informal sector, "apprentices" require a range of knowledge and skills. The general aim of the present, qualitative study, was to investigate how apprentices in informal sector enterprises in two trades (the Motor Vehicle trade and the Tie-dye trade) in The Gambia learn at the workplace and how such learning was facilitated. Twenty enterprises were selected for the study, ten in each trade. A variety of data collection methods were employed, namely, (a) individual, semistructured interviews of the entrepreneurs (who owned these enterprises), and of the apprentices, (b) observations of the tradespersons and apprentices at the workplace, (c) accounts of "critical events", and (d) documentary studies. The study has shown that (a) the tradespersons did not demonstrate to the apprentices the procedures for the tasks that they were undertaking, (b) the apprentices were not allowed to practise on the tasks that the tradespersons were contracted to und(rtake; (c) the apprentices practised their skills privately in their leisure time. (d) the tradespersons did not explain to the apprentices the theories underpinning the technical procedures; and for the apprentices, the term "theory" referred to the technical procedures, as such, rather than to the scientific and technological concepts and principles underpinning the procedures, (e) although the apprentices were often outwardly passive they did observe closely the tradespersons at work and made associative links with their own previous knowledge and experience. What has also emerged from the study is that apprentices' learning at the workplace in the informal sector is: (a) a multi-dimensional process, largely self-motivated and conditioned by the rigid hierarchical structure of the workplace. (b) (i) productivity-driven, (ii) atheoretical, (iii) unplanned, (iv) unstructured, (v) facilitated through role modelling. The study compared the concepts of learning which emerged from the study with the traditional concepts of learning and teaching in Vocational Training Institutions. This study has also shown that the tradespersons failed to assess formally competent performance at the workplace. There was no end-of-apprenticeship assessment for the apprentices in the Tie-dye trade; and in the Motor Vehicle trade, the assessment was adhoc. Importantly too, from the entrepreneurs' perspective, the workplace was about production and not about apprentice learning. The tradespersons were expected to concentrate on their jobs and not on training, in sharp contrast to the apprentices' expectation that the tradespersons should concentrate on skills training.

This research examined the reasons for participation in continuing professional education (CPE) and the predictive relationship of those motivational reasons to the perceived leadership effectiveness of first-line supervisors. For this study, 105 first-line supervisors were surveyed from four electric utility companies. Input was also collected from each supervisor's subordinate employees. Using the five motivational reasons for participation, collected via the Participation Reasons Scale and the effectiveness score collected using the Leader Behavior Analysis II®, regression techniques were used to asses the data. The five participation reasons of the PRS were regressed individually against the effectiveness scores to determine the extent to which leader effectiveness could be predicted by the participation reasons. In each case, the null hypothesis failed to be rejected. Regression of the five PRS reasons collectively on leader effectiveness also failed to reject the null, producing a p value of .800 and an R2 value of .023. An "all possible subsets" regression was conducted to determine whether a smaller subset of the five predictor variables might improve the predictive value of the participation reasons. No subset improved the predictive value. This study concludes that motivation to participate in CPE does not predict leader effectiveness. Thus, training organizations do not need to attempt to determine leader effectiveness based on underlying reasons individuals are motivated to participate, but rather should focus on the more traditional aspects of determining effectiveness most often associated with rigorous training evaluation processes. This study focused on the job role of first-line supervisor. Future research could be performed using: (a) populations of individuals from other traditional job roles including front-line employees (both unionized and non-unionized), mid-level managers, and executives; (b) leaders with and without prior training in situational leadership; and (c) effectiveness measure over time (i.e., a time-series method).

The problem this research addresses is that, regardless of training, educational background or social status, with or without work experience, most non- or limited-English speaking immigrants are forced to begin their American careers at the bottom of the occupational ladder. This study focuses on the comparison of the lives of English as a Second Language (ESL) students/warehouse workers before and after migration to try to ascertain whether these individuals have experienced upward or downward mobility. The approximately 80 participants in this study are workers in a garment distribution warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. The participants have been drawn from the worksite ESL classes offered during their lunch or dinner hours and extended one-half hour into work time donated by the company. A questionnaire was distributed to voluntary participants. The information gleaned was used to tabulate statistics and analyze hypotheses regarding the socio-economic transition of immigrants to the United States. As a result of this study, the following questions were addressed: (1) How do immigrants perceive the effects of immigration? (2) When immigrants come to the United States, do they feel their lives improve or worsen socioeconomically? (3) If studies prove that high-status immigrants become downwardly mobile upon entrance to the United States, does that imply that lower-status immigrants become upwardly mobile? (4) How do immigrants compare their lives in their native country to their lives in their new country? The objective of this study was to evaluate the ramifications of migration to the United States with respect to upward and downward mobility of higher- and lower-status immigrants. The population consisted of ESL students/warehouse workers from 13 different countries. This group of immigrants was chosen because, regardless of background, education, English language facility, experience, degree of literacy, or previous socioeconomic class, they were now all thrust together, doing the same job, earning the same salary, and on an equal footing here in the United States. Based on this premise, the researcher wanted to study their perceptions of life in the United States compared to their previous countries to see if, in their estimation, they had indeed bettered themselves or their lots in life by migrating to the United States, or whether their lives had taken a downward turn by coming here.

Lao folk opera is a unique blend of popular theatre and sung poetry performed among Lao-speaking people of rural Southeast Asia for a wide range of social and religious purposes. As a traditional medium for popular education, its primary function has been to preserve the cultural identity of the ethnic Lao by re-enacting ancient myths, local folk legends, and morality tales based on the penultimate lives of the Buddha. This dissertation explores the role of Lao folk opera as a medium for constructively addressing problems of cultural conflict and acculturative stress that have arisen among lowland Lao refugees and their children in urban America. The central focus of the inquiry is on the ways Lao folk opera currently functions as a learning medium in the resettlement context. The need for validation of such locally produced endogenous media has become increasingly apparent as long term resettlement issues continue to emerge as threats to linguistic and cultural identity. The review of literature encompasses the role of oral specialists in traditional societies, Buddhist epistemology in the Theravada tradition, and community education in rural Lao culture. These sources provide the background necessary to an understanding of the medium's capacity for encapsulating culture and teaching ethical values in ways that connect past to present, distant to near. The field research, which was accomplished in collaboration with a Lao folk opera troupe based in New England, adapted the action research model originally proposed by Kurt Lewin to the principles of Buddhist community education. The videotaped performance of a drama based on the refugee experience and subsequent audience reactions formed the main body of qualitative data. Group reflections revealed that the medium provides a viable context for performance artists to assume the role of critical culture makers with a potent educational agenda. Recommendations include the encouragement of local media producers to take advantage of community access facilities to counteract the homogenizing influences of the dominant media and the more active inclusion of elders in the transfer of language and culture across generational borders.

This dissertation aims to foster a discussion among adult education practitioners on the connections between transformative learning theory and ethnoculture-based community service learning. Based on the concept of perspective transformation described by Jack Mezirow (1991), the study explores how perspective transformation occurs in a ethnoculturally based community service-learning course whose focus is on helping students to understand themselves within the context of their ethnic and cultural identity. As a practitioner of adult education I am looking for ways that my research, teaching, and practice are connected. The dissertation employed qualitative research, in particular drawing on ten in-depth interviews, and participant observation, and reflection papers to examine a variety of perspectives in order to analyze the implications of transformative learning theory for practitioners working with refugee and immigrant students. My research data consistently speaks of a heightened sense of cultural identity and personal development, a greater mastery of leadership skills, an enhanced self-esteem, and more complex patterns of thought in the form of critical reflection. Most of the immigrants and refugee students expressed that CIRCLE expose to a large and diverse immigrants and refugee community had significant and positive effects on their identity development process. In summary, my study suggests that the ethnoculturally-based community service can and often does have a transformational impact on participants.

Sealed adoption records support the notion that adoptive families are the same as biological families and that adoptive parenting should mirror biological parenting. Whether adoptive parents subscribe to these beliefs is not really known, since they have had few opportunities to tell about this way of being a family. The research involved a narrative analysis of the stories told conjointly by six couples in the formation stage and six couples in the launching stage of the adoptive family life cycle; this reflexive research demonstrates the collaborative nature of social constructionism. The research subject (the storyteller) and the research interviewer (the listener) create meaning together through the questions and responses, the interviewers interpretation of the narrative and then the checkback which allows the storyteller to indicate disagreement or enlarged understanding. Adoptive couples with young children were found to believe that their family is not very different from biological families while the couples with children leaving home were assessing their parenting and the strength of their family ties. Overall, the couples seem to be constrained by their cultural understanding of parenthood.

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the extent of difference in effectiveness of three non-formal education approaches in helping women acquire literacy skills and/or health knowledge in Nepal, and to propose hypotheses about factors or "influences" that might explain these differences. This exploratory study provides insights that program planners, researchers and policy makers can use for focusing further research on which non-formal education program designs for women will bring about the greatest increase in literacy skills and health knowledge. Four sample groups of women were compared: (1) 74 women in three different sites who attended monthly Mothers' Group health education meetings (with no literacy instruction); (2) 38 women in two different classes who completed a 6-month basic literacy course (with no health instruction); (3) 65 women in three different classes who completed a 6-month health/literacy course and 38 of these women who completed a 3-month post-literacy/health course; and (4) 50 women in two different sites who attended neither literacy course nor Mother's Group meetings. Data related to "acquisition" included literacy test scores and health knowledge oral interview scores; data related to possible "influences" included demographic data, and information about community and classroom context. Data were coded and analyzed by standard statistical procedures. The findings indicate that non-formal education of any kind is effective in helping women acquire some degree of both literacy skills and health knowledge. Type of non-formal education approach was not significantly related to greater literacy skills acquisition but it was related to greater health knowledge acquisition. Participation in the integrated health/literacy course was related to higher levels of health knowledge than was participation in health only or literacy only non-formal education approaches. Participation in the post-literacy course was associated with greater literacy skill and health knowledge acquisition than participation in either schooling or other types of non-formal education at a basic level. In addition, literacy skill acquisition appeared to be influenced by class or community factors (hours of instruction, facilitator characteristics, economic status of the community) and health knowledge acquisition was influenced by individual factors (marital status, age, radio ownership, number of children).

A macroeconomic policy framework of structural adjustment designed to address problems of international indebtedness, adopted by CARICOM countries in the 1980s, has been associated with a major setback in the process of broad-based socioeconomic development that had been launched in the context of representative government and independence. The study examines the influence of these global/regional trends on state policy, with special reference to how the altered political vision of the state, inherent in structural adjustment policies, appeared to impact the welfare and livelihood of rural women and families in St. Vincent. The study also assesses the extent to which an innovative non-formal education project aimed at community development through the empowerment of women in a rural community, served to mitigate detrimental aspects of these policies and related state practices. The study utilized a feminist research methodology with a combination of interviews, focus groups and observation that provided multiple vantage points on macro and micro dimensions of the study. The author's personal involvement in various aspects of development and the non-formal education project during this period serves as an additional lens. The study argues that a policy framework of structural adjustment severely weakens rural and social development, and is inappropriate to goals of broad-based socioeconomic development in a small island state. The non-formal education project which linked university continuing education to community organizing, served to increase human, physical and social capital, as well as enhance community norms and people's capacity to cope in a deteriorating socioeconomic environment. While this intervention was circumscribed by application to a community's immediate context, it does provide clues as to the kinds of intervention required for a fundamental reassessment of policies. The study further argues that non-formal education interventions can be applied to both micro and macro level situations and that their effectiveness in addressing social change depends on their inclusion of political education about macro/micro links and gender conscientization. Such interventions can strengthen advocacy for policies prioritizing human development within a women's human rights framework.

Citizenship education is a traditional tool for establishing the roles that newcomers are expected to take on as citizens. As such it is shaped by assumptions of what defines "good citizenry." Although it is commonly assumed that a good citizen participates in the political and social life of the community, notions of narrowly defined citizen participation such as voting have frequently prevailed in citizenship education programs. Opposing this restrictive tradition are empowerment-oriented citizenship education programs emphasizing a citizen participation that encompasses a view of citizenship as personal and community empowerment. This study examined the definitions, skills, and contexts of citizen participation in the words of the directors, facilitators, and participants of a Massachusetts community-based citizenship education program. Examples of how citizen participation was promoted through the curricula are offered. Internal and external challenges to the full participation of newcomers in their new society are also identified. Research strategies included multi-site case studies and historical and theoretical literature review. Data collection techniques included participant observation, interviewing, and document analysis. Research participants were found to be collectively creating varied and meaningful definitions of citizen participation. The citizenship education program examined was found to be contributing to the development of rationale, motivation, and skills for citizen participation by (a) providing opportunity for newcomers to investigate and connect historical and contemporary events; (b) facilitating the acquisition of critical tools including literacy, English, and information collecting and sharing skills; (c) providing support for the development of greater self esteem; and (d) offering opportunities to interact and act collectively within their local and greater communities. In the final chapter, the concept of critical civic literacy is discussed in the context of the research findings. Suggestions for empowerment-based citizenship education program development are offered. Citizenship education programs can make constructive use of participants' backgrounds as they begin the process of social, collective construction of the meaning of participatory citizenship.

Return to education is as an intervention in the life course that produces changes in sense of self and relationship. This study investigated the subjective experience of adult women who returned to school and completed an undergraduate degree after age 25. Thirteen women who returned to school and earned a Bachelor's degree were interviewed at least two years after graduation; their retrospective evaluations and understandings of changes initiated by return to school constituted a perspective missing from the literature. Analyses of interview themes were based on the principles of grounded theory. Relationships between codes representing participants' experiences were investigated to understand motivation before returning, experiences while in school, including stress, coping, and support, and evaluations at interview of change and stability in perceptions of senses of self and relationships with others. There was considerable support for the idea that education fostered developmental progression, rather than developmental stagnation or regression, in terms of increased capacity for independence and individuation, and in terms of increased capacity for relatedness and connection. Further, the perspective of retrospect and a qualitative approach added considerable richness and depth to understandings of experiences of return to education.