The New Labour government’s (1997-2010) policy of personalised learning was announced as an idea ‘exciting’ the profession and promising ‘radical implications’ for the shape of education in England. The policy attracted much debate and criticism and its enactment is a site worthy of research. This study makes a contribution to knowledge through researching the rarely heard stories of young people in this policy enactment. It makes a further contribution to policy scholarship through the interplay of the data from school practices and moral philosophy drawn from Alasdair MacIntyre.Qualitative interviews and focus group activities were conducted with young people in three different secondary schools in order to understand their stories of personalised learning some two years into New Labour’s third term of government. To understand more of the context for the stories of the young people, some strategic actors in policy dissemination were interviewed, as were the headteachers of the three schools.Personalised learning promised to engage the voice of the learner in learning practices. The research finds a young peoples’ story that is consistently one of a mute and invisible identity within the schools. An argument is presented that the purposes of schools ought to be judged on standards of excellence definitive of, and extended by, a concept of virtues. A distinction is made between effectiveness in producing exam results and a richer sense of excellence in education practice. It is argued that virtues that define standards of excellence at the institutional level of practice can enrich and prefigure wider concepts of justice than are contained in policy. Young peoples’ stories in this research indicate that, contrary to policy ideals, they often perceived unfairness and arbitrariness in their school experiences. Personalised learning needs to be set within the narrative of the personalisation of public services: a reforming rubric, employing the motif of the citizen-consumer as a proposition about social justice and modernisation. New Labour’s ideology and models of governance are explored and related to the testimony of headteachers to understand more about the young peoples’ perceptions. Literatures are drawn upon to place personalisation in a historical context, linking it to moral orders of contemporary social imaginaries. New Labour made a case for personalised learning as furthering the cause of social justice and is thus a policy in need of ethical examination. Following MacIntyre, it is argued that modernity has left few moral resources by which to evaluate the personal, but the experiences of young people suggested that a richer moral agency is glimpsed within their stories of schooling. The social practice at the level of schools is thus critical but requires policy to enable ethical spaces for schools to re-invigorate their purposes. I argue that in the light of some critical fault lines, such as neoliberalism and a reconfiguration of tiers of local governance, personalisation as a ‘modernising’ policy proposition could do little to extend the goods of schooling beyond some narrow conceptions of effectiveness.

For most of the 20th century the dominant aim of Swedish educational policy was an integrated public school system under national state control. During the post-war era (1945–1989) this policy led to Sweden having one of the most centralized and integrated school systems in the world. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, there was a profound change in Swedish education policy towards decentralization, deregulation and marketization of the school system. The aim of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the nature and causes of this shift in education policy. The thesis draws from a theoretical framework consisting of Critical Realism, curriculum theory and Neo-Marxism. From a Neo- Marxist perspective the configuration of state education policy is understood as a dominant education ideology. The empirical material consists of state policy documents which are understood as an expression of the dominant education ideology in society. The results indicate a shift in the dominant education ideology in Sweden between 1969 and – 1999: from an emphasis on state governance and goals of equivalence, equality and participation in the school system during the 1970s, towards increasing skepticism regarding state regulation and an emphasis on decentralization and aims to increase parental and pupil influence in the school system during the 1980s, to a dominance of private influence via school choice and competition in the school system during the 1990s. From a theoretical perspective consisting of Critical Realism and curriculum theory, this shift in education policy and restructuring of the school system is understood in relation to economic crises, a rightward shift in politics and the dominance of neoliberal ideas in Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s.

Orientador: Valério José Arantes / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T09:23:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucena_RobertoMarden_D.pdf: 2516082 bytes, checksum: 4f97b040aa8cc4fbcf4769455e49dcdf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: A tese tem por objetivo especificar uma prática política que é desenvolvida por força de uma determinada formação sócio-educacional de pessoas e a relação destas com a docência, tendo por fulcro as potencialidades de teores da interação entre educação e trabalho, teoria e prática, bem como sujeito e objeto. Trata-se de prática política devida a uma peculiar abertura a novas perspectivas, estas propiciadas por uma prática especificamente educativa cujo próprio desenvolvimento emerge mediado por determinado saber a respeito da interdependência entre política e economia. O método da especificação em foco corresponde àquele que é seguido em ontologia do ser social: têm-se circunstâncias reais, objetivas ou sempre pós-ocorridas, nas quais se observam aspectos mais historicamente desenvolvidos e suas causalidades, de forma ulteriormente categorizados. Mediante teleologização destas causalidades, há como realizar alternatividade de objetivos. Assim, obtiveram-se saberes alternativos para compor princípio educativo, os quais facultam uma educação superior de intensificada qualidade e mediada por ideias claras sobre os sentidos de se tornar pública e/ou privada. Entretanto, estes sentidos e tal qualidade se encontram fragilizados pelo hegemônico e continuado embate ideológico sobre implicações da exterioridade da relação entre educação e política ou vice-versa. Este embate urge ser caracterizado por distanciar-se da questão dos limites no atendimento das necessidades culturalmente criadas de poder e de patrimônio, atendimento a depender de trabalho que tende a se processar de modo incoerente na sua indiretitude (instrumentalização) com o intercâmbio entre sociedade e natureza livre. Alternativamente a tal distanciamento ideológico, aprofundam-se referências sobre aspectos sócio-ontológicos que desvelam novas perspectivas para a relação externa entre educação superior e política, com desdobramentos em termos de trabalho e humanização. É do desenvolvimento da prática educativa, em coerência sócio-ontológica com intercâmbio entre sociedade e natureza livre, que há de provir desenvolvimento de especificidade de prática política externamente relacionada com educação superior / Abstract: This dissertation examines a practice that developed within a certain socio-educational context of people and their relationship with teaching, centering on the potential levels of interaction between education and work, theory and practice, and subject and object. This practice came about from a particular openness to new perspectives which were afforded by an educational practice based on specific knowledge regarding the interdependence of politics and economics. The method of the practice in question corresponds to that of the ontology of social being: there are real, objective, or previously occurring circumstances in which more historically developed aspects and their causalities can be observed through post-hoc categorization. Through the teleologization of these causalities, alternative means of realizing objectives are possible. In this way, alternative knowledge can be gained from which to construct educational principles, providing higher education of enhanced quality through clear reasons for making universities public and/or private. However, these reasons and quality are undercut by the continued hegemonic ideological conflict surrounding the implications of outside perspectives on the relationship between education and politics or vice versa. This conflict must be characterized by distancing oneself from limitations in meeting the culturally constructed needs of power and heritage which may depend on work that tends to be incoherent in its indirectness (instrumentalization) with interplay between society and nature. As an alternative to this ideological separation, references to socio-ontological aspects are further developed which reveal new perspectives on the external relationship between higher education and policy, with implications for work and humanization. It is through the development of educational practice in socio-ontological coherence with interplay between society and nature that practice externally related to higher education is developed / Doutorado / Psicologia Educacional / Doutor em Educação

This qualitative study was a means to identify what motivated Black students to serve in the supplemental instruction (SI) leader role, the challenges they experienced, and what they learned while serving in the peer educator role within the context of an historically Black college or university (HBCU). Research targeting the experiences of SI leaders is limited, and there had yet to be a study completed on the experiences of SI leaders of color in any institution type. This research was an assessment of the perceptions of peer educators, providing a benchmark for further exploration on the impact SI can have at other HBCUs as well as how Black students are trained and supported in academic peer educator roles. Twelve SI leaders at Xavier University of Louisiana participated in interviews during the fall 2019 semester. The desire to help others and the position’s connection to their individual professional goals emerged as the primary themes when participants described what motivated them to serve in the SI leader capacity. Participants discussed the struggles of setting expectations and boundaries while serving in the SI role, as well as the positions of peer, friend, classmate, and leader when working with students in their SI sessions. Last, participants credited the SI leader position for helping them to develop and enhance the following skills: networking and relationship-building, communication, organization, emotional intelligence, critical and creative thinking, and leadership and teamwork skills. This study showed the what and how about SI peer educators are developing and enhancing themselves to graduate and professional schools and potential employers. More importantly, this study adds to the literature regarding students of color as the facilitators of the Supplemental Instruction program as most studies targeting the experiences of peer educators have been taken place at predominantly White institutions or samples. The results of this dissertation about SI leaders’ experiences at HBCUs can inform how training could better meet the needs of students of color as recipients and facilitators of peer educator programs. By presenting what peer leaders and SI programs at HBCUs are doing well, the findings can provide insight for peer education programs not accustomed to serving or hiring first-generation students and students of color effectively. This research contributes to addressing the gap in the literature regarding students of color serving in the peer educator role as well as showing the value of mentoring through academic peer education programs.

abstract: The United States accounts for only 4% of the world’s female population, but it is home to more than 30% of the world’s incarcerated women, the majority of whom will eventually attempt a successful reentry into society. Almost half of the incarcerated women in the United States have not obtained a high school diploma or equivalency, and only 31% have attempted some college, compared to 58% among the general public (Ewert & Wildhagen, 2011). There is ample evidence of the impact of a post-secondary degree on reducing recidivism and increasing reentry success. However, the Arizona Department of Corrections reports that of the more than 40,000 people incarcerated in November of 2019, only 5,333, or 12.5%, were involved in any type of educational programming while incarcerated (2019). Few studies have looked closely at the barriers to higher education for formerly incarcerated individuals, and even fewer have focused on women. The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to examine the educational experiences of formerly incarcerated women through the lenses of critical social theory (Freeman & Vasconcelos, 2010; Freire, 1970) and possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) in an effort to more fully understand low educational attainment in this population and use this knowledge to develop an effective, participant-informed intervention and provide recommendations for university outreach programs. Study participants were formerly incarcerated women and individuals who work with this population. Data were collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews and materials created during the College After Prison Workshop which was developed for this project. Interviews revealed that the women in this study crave a sense of belonging, feel regret over their lost possible selves, experience a fear of standing still or going backward, and have a strong desire to help others. Findings suggest that colleges and universities can support formerly incarcerated women in the post-secondary system by curating a community of scholars and demonstrating a clear path forward for formerly incarcerated women by reducing systemic barriers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

abstract: The purpose of this study was to understand how community members within a segregated school district approached racial inequities. I conducted a ¬nineteen-month-long ethnography using a critical Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to explore how members in a community activist group called Eliminate Racism interacted and worked with school district officials. My goal was to identify and examine how community members addressed racially inequitable policies and practices in the Midwestern city of Pinecreek (pseudonym) in the context of a school district that had undergone two school desegregation lawsuits. I conducted 32 interviews with 24 individuals, including teachers and school leaders, parents, and community members. This study answers three research questions: (1) What strategies did the community activist group use to influence local education policy for addressing racism in the schools? (2) How did community participation influence local education policy? (3) What were the motivating factors for individuals’ involvement in issues of local school segregation? To answer these questions, I used concepts from Critical Race Theory and Social Capital Theory. I employ Putnam’s and Putnam and Campbell’s social capital, Warren’s civic participation, Bonilla-Silva’s color-blind racism, Yosso’s community cultural wealth and religio-civics. My analysis shows that the community group used the social capital and community cultural wealth of its members to create partnerships with district officials. Although Eliminate Racism did not meet its goals, it established itself as a legitimate organization within the community, successfully drawing together residents throughout the city to bring attention to racism in the schools. The study’s results encourage school and district leaders to constantly bring race to the forefront of their decision-making processes and to question how policy implementation affects minoritized students. This research also suggests that strategies from this community group can be adopted or avoided by other antiracist groups undertaking similar work. Finally, it provides an example of how to employ critical PAR methods into ethnography, as it notes the ways that researcher positionality and status can be leveraged by community groups to support the legitimacy of their mission and work. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Policy and Evaluation 2020

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been running the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) for almost twenty years and is widely recognised as an influential actor in education policy internationally. Much research investigates the extent to which the OECD’s education policy recommendations are implemented. However, the parliamentary process that mediates the space between the PISA studies and consequent school reforms is less well understood. This thesis tracks the mention of ‘PISA’ in parliamentary debates in Sweden and Germany between 2000 and 2018 and applies content analysis to identify changes within and between the two countries over time. The data shows that in both parliaments, the PISA studies are received largely without questioning the underlying methodology or test design. Members of parliament mostly refer to PISA as an ‘objective piece of evidence’ that supposedly captures the current state of the education system. PISA is also mentioned to discredit political opponents by blaming them for poor results. Understanding how members of parliament discuss PISA is important to explaining PISA as a phenomenon and contributes to a growing body of research concerned with the influence of the OECD on national education policy borrowing and lending.

This study investigated the perceptions of the beneficiaries of a learner transport programme in the Idutywa District of the Eastern Cape. Learner transport in South Africa continues to be a challenge, especially for those in the rural areas. The Statistics South Africa General Household Survey (2016:14) reported that more than two thirds (69.8%) of learners walked to school and 83.6% of these learners needed 30 minutes or less to get to school. Many learners in the rural areas still walk long distances to access schools due to poor infrastructure and the limited number of easily accessible schools. To understand the beneficiaries’ perceptions, a qualitative case study of a secondary school in the rural Eastern Cape village was designed. Data was collected through 47 face-to-face interviews with learners, teachers, parents, a principal as well as through a telephone interview with a government official. Additionally, observations were undertaken to gather supplementary data focusing on the geography of the village as well as the arrival and departure times of the school transport. The study draws on a social policy framework to make sense of the study findings. Through a thematic analysis of the data, themes such as spaces of operation, learners’ travelling experiences, schooling barriers as well as unintended consequences of the learner transport programme were arrived at. Although the transport provided much needed relief, findings indicate that learners still walk to school if the transport does not pick them up as scheduled and they often do not have money for public transport. They also got to school late when they had to walk to school, there is a shortage in the number of vehicles assigned to transport them, learners also missed extra lessons due to the pick-up and departure times of the transport and there is occasional conflict amongst the learners using the learner transport. The study concludes that there needs to be an increased provision of the government learner transport, work needs to be done regarding the implementation of the Learner Transport Policy, as well as the management of the programme in rural villages such as the one that the study focused on in Eastern Cape. / Sociology / MSocSci / Unrestricted

abstract: Despite the concern over school shootings in the last twenty years, little has been done to prevent these events. This paper addresses the need to have a consistent definition of a school shooting. The policies that have been enacted in the eight states with the most shootings in the past 20 are categorized and compared to the number of incidences and victims. The study concludes that states need fewer reactionary policies and more policies based on systematic research; these states pass a majority of zero-tolerance, which are shown to be ineffective in preventing school shootings suggesting a need for a new approach to writing and addressing policy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Integrative Social Science 2020

abstract: The current sustainability crisis is born from a specious notion that humans are separate from and in a position of control over nature. In response, this dissertation reconceptualizes education beyond its current anthropocentric model to imagine education as learning through relationality with all that is ‘beyond’ the human. The study leaves behind hegemonic binary distinctions (human/nature, teacher/student, formal/non-formal education) to reimagine education as a multidirectional process of learning as worlding and becoming-with Earth (Haraway, 2016a). It explores what matters in education and how it comes to matter. This dissertation introduces the concept of storyworlding to describe what occurs when multispecies, multi-mattered assemblages (re)write Earth’s narratives through their relationships with one another. Taking its inspiration from the work of the Common Worlds Research Collective, Donna Haraway, and Isabelle Stengers, storyworlding acknowledges that the relationships between and among all biotic and abiotic forces on Earth make stories through their interactions, and these stories make a pluriverse of worlds. The study is structured as a natureculture (Haraway, 2003) ethnography. This innovation on ethnography, a traditionally human-centered method, focuses on agential, multispecies/ multi-mattered assemblages rather than the description of human culture. Data is not generated and then labeled as fixed in this study. It is emergent in its assemblages as a co-narrator in sympoietic storyworlding (Haraway, 2016b). Data generation took place over 6 months in a small, coffee-producing region of Southeastern Brazil. Data generation methods included walking conversations with children and the more-than-human world, participation in a multi-grade, one-room schoolhouse, and the collection of visual and audio data such as drawings, photographs, videos, and audio recordings. Using an intentionally slow, messy, and fluid diffractive analysis, I follow the data where it leads as I think with the concept of storyworlding (Barad, 2007; Mazzei, 2014). Drawing inspiration from Donna Haraway, Isabelle Stengers, and Iveta Silova, the dissertation concludes with an Epilogue of speculative fabulation (SF) imaginings through which I invite the reader to engage in the thought experiment of reimagining not only what matters in education, but what education, itself, is. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020