The 2004 Gender Equity Education Act (GEEA) sought to challenge gender and sexual discrimination in Taiwan by focusing on the importance of spaces of education as sites where gender and sexual identities are normalized and reproduced. This thesis explores the production of the GEEA and its subsequent implementation in two schools in Taipei City. Through reviewing geographical literature on education, children/young people, gender and sexualities, this thesis explores four research questions: (1) how the aims of the GEEA are shaped in Taiwanese policy context; (2) how the GEEA is implemented in schools; (3) how teachers shape young people's gender and sexual identities; (4) how young people's experiences of teaching practices and peer cultures affect their understandings of gender and sexual identities. Methods including discourse analysis, semi-structured interviews, and observation are adopted to answer the above questions. The research aims to challenge the dichotomy of inward- and outward-looking approaches in geographies of education, to expand the construction of childhood and the gender model in existing geographical research in Western contexts, and to further the conceptualisation of different forms of heterosexuality. Consequently, based on empirical findings, the thesis argues that the objective of the GEEA, which is to enable the performance of diverse gender and sexual identities in educational spaces, has not been achieved yet because of the contradictory practices evident within school spaces. In conclusion, the thesis relates the research findings to some of the key debates within contemporary geographical literatures by highlighting the importance of combing inward- and outward-looking approaches to study education, the complex nature of young people's gender identities formation, and the age-dependent form of heterosexuality. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates the crucial role of education spaces in shaping young people's identities in an East Asian context.

This study investigated the effect of participation in team building activities on the self-conceptions of middle school physical education students. Participants consisted of 68 physical education students in Grades 6 -8. The classes were randomly assigned to one of two groups, either treatment or control. The treatment group participated in one Team Building Through Physical Challenge (TBPC) activity every other week, for 8 weeks, while the control group continued with their regular physical education curriculum without participation in the TBPC activities. Harter's (1 985b) Self-perception Profile for Children was administered to all participants prior to and following the intervention. Data were analyzed using a 2 (treatmentlcontrol) x 2 (pretest/posttest) x 2 (malelfemale) repeated measures analysis of all six self-conceptions (athletic competence, social acceptance, behavioural conduct, scholastic competence, physical appearance, and global self-worth). Results at posttest revealed males in the treatment group had significantly higher self-conceptions for athletic competence. Participant mean scores in the treatment group also increased across time for social acceptance, scholastic competence, athletic competence and global self-worth. The second purpose of this study was to capture the experiences of the participants. A variety of qualitative data collection techniques (focus group interviews, videotaping, and digital photographs) were used to achieve this purpose. Five relatively distinct themes emerged from the analyses. These themes included: (a) Optimal Challenge and Optimal Interest, (b) Risk and Trust - A Symbiotic Relationship, (c) Teamwork - . . .It's About The Process, (d) Communication - Having a Voice, and (e) Negotiating -The Decision-Making Process. The findings of the qualitative analysis helped illuminate the quantitative results. Recommendations for future research and practice are also presented.

A problem which confronts education today, and which causes many children to be unsuccessful in academic achievement, is retarded reading.

Yu, Jie. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendixes includes Chinese.

This thesis investigates the transition of young people with autism moving from a small, protected and personalised special school environment to a large, busy mainstream college of further education in England. Whilst potentially unsettling for any young person, this transition can be particularly challenging for young people with autism given a desire for predictability and difficulty in adapting to change. This longitudinal research focused on the experience of transition from the point of view of the young people and their parents, and it contributes to the somewhat limited research on post-16 transitions for young people with autism and learning difficulties. Six young people were at the heart of my research but their parents, teachers, lecturers and careers advisers were also interviewed. A key aim of the research was to develop methods to engage and support the young people in an interview process, without influencing their responses too much or restricting their contributions. With this in mind, ‘interrupted interviews' were developed that involved both the use of collage and card sort applications on a tablet, and walking interviews around the college environment. These methods helped to personalise the interview process, to hear the individual student voices and to facilitate communication about the concerns and experiences of the participants. The research findings demonstrate that young people with autism have aspirations, interests and concerns as they progress towards adulthood; that they both seek and enjoy social interaction and that young people and parents need support during and after transition. The tensions between independence and vulnerability are explored as well as the notion of interdependence. While some of the young people in this research made reasonably smooth transitions to college, there were difficulties and challenges, and these lay almost entirely within the area of social interaction. In order for young people with autism and learning difficulties to progress both academically and socially, there needs to be a greater understanding of autism within the whole college community and proper attention given to personalising the transition process to ensure that these young learners can realise their capabilities.

The focus of this thesis is a series of seven papers published in peer-reviewed journals over the last eleven years. The thesis takes the form of a critical appraisal of published work linking the data collected and conclusions drawn under an overarching critical framework: ‘Building relationships for learning: the role of professionals and paraprofessionals in supporting pupils’ learning and social inclusion.’ In this thesis I argue that the development of positive relationships is at the heart of learning, teaching and social inclusion and I identify two strands in my research which have investigated this issue. Strand One consists of three publications which explored the use of Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney, 1999) to investigate and improve working relationships in the classroom. Doveston 2007- Paper 3, reported on my first classroom based action research project implemented in 2003 which identified key themes which were subsequently developed in research carried out in 2004 reported in Doveston and Keenaghan 2006- Papers 1 and 2: solution rather than problem focused exploration of capacity for change and growth, collaborative consultation, and skill development. Paper 1 applied the principles of Appreciative Inquiry to propose a theoretical framework for exploring and developing working relationships in the classroom whilst Paper 2 discussed the findings and implications from classroom projects that had utilised the approach. In the second strand, four publications investigated the development of professional and paraprofessional roles to support learning and social inclusion using semi-structured interviews and surveys. Traditionally relationships in the classroom were forged between pupil and pupil, or pupil and teacher. The evolution of the paraprofessional roles of Teaching Assistant, Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA), Learning Mentor and the professional role of the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), have positioned the pupil within what can sometimes be a complex web of relationships. The research uncovered a shared commonality of experiences related to the status and recognition, deployment, and preparedness for the role of the SENCo and paraprofessionals explored in Rose and Doveston 2008- Paper 4, Jones, Doveston and Rose 2009- Paper 5, Devecchi et al., 2012- Paper 6, and Brown and Doveston 2014-Paper 7, which affect their ability to support pupils and teachers. The research was located within a qualitative paradigm and three distinct research methodologies are discernible within the seven papers submitted for PhD by published works: Appreciative Inquiry, Narrative Research and Mixed Methods. The principles of Social Constructionism (Gergen, 1973) underpinned the use of Appreciative Inquiry reported in Strand 1 and Narrative Research (Elliott, 2005) in three papers from Strand 2: Rose and Doveston 2008-Paper 4, Jones, Doveston and Rose 2009-Paper 5, and Devecchi et al., 2012- Paper 6. These research methodologies enabled the gathering of rich qualitative data from pupils and the adults who supported them to illuminate and generate new insights into the complex interplay of factors impacting on learning and social inclusion in school and classroom environments. Two further papers (Devecchi et al., 2012-Paper 6 and Brown and Doveston 2014Paper 7) employed a mixed methods approach although Devecchi et al., also employed semi-structured interviews in Phase 2 of the research project. The generation of both qualitative and quantitative data was pertinent in these two studies. Devecchi et al., 2012- Paper 6 was commissioned research and the funding body required quantitative data to help inform their understanding of how HLTAs were currently employed and deployed. Brown and Doveston 2014-Paper 7, used a survey as a starting point for an evaluation of a training programme whose first cohort contained 97 participants. It was the free text responses, however, which proved the most useful in highlighting issues relating to role and status that impacted on the capacity of SENCos and HLTAs to support learning and social inclusion.

No description available.

Psychometric properties of two systematic observation tools, the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) and the Children's Activity Rating Scale (CARS), were examined for use with individuals with mental retardation (MR). Eleven children with MR were videotaped while participating in gym-based physical activity. Accelerometer data were collected and synchronized with the observational data. Three raters coded each videotape twice each with SOFIT and CARS. Generalizability theory analysis indicated that SOFIT had low error variance due to rater, trial, and interaction terms. This provides evidence that SORT has good reliability (��=0.98). Concurrent validity evidence for SORT indicated that SORT may not be an appropriate tool for use with individuals with MR. Validity coefficients (r) between accelerometer data and SOFIT scores ranged from -0.44 to +0.39, indicating less than 20% shared variability. G-theory analysis for CARS also indicated that CARS demonstrates sufficient reliability for use with individuals with MR (��=0.76). There was a higher level of error variance associated with rater for the CARS instrument which indicates that more training on this tool may be necessary. Validity evidence for CARS was somewhat stronger than SOFIT with correlations between accelerometer data and CARS interval scores ranging from -0.52 to +0.79 (r��=0.62). Systematic observation tools may not differentiate between the low physical activity levels of individuals with mental retardation with may have caused the low validity levels. These findings indicate that systematic observations tools provide strong reliability evidence and weak validity evidence for use with individuals with mental retardation, and should not be used for this group. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 20, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: p. 61-63.