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A shift of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) towards school-based training is underway in England, calling into question the place of a theoretical basis for teaching. Re-examining the relationship between educational theory and classroom practice is therefore particularly timely and links to long-standing discussions in the literature on what constitutes teachers’ professional knowledge, the specific tensions between theory and practice in education and the implications for the structure of ITE. The study is rooted in models of teacher knowledge, of theory and practice nexus and of student teacher development. Within this context, the research offers new insight, picking up where previous studies have left off, by charting over a period of time what happens to students’ initial preconceptions about theory and practice and investigating whether, how and why these change in the course of the subsequent journey to first employment. This is a longitudinal case study: five participants, representing a diverse range of profiles from a 2011-12 cohort, form the case group and data were collected before the course, through various stages of the programme and into first teaching posts through interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis. To contextualise the central case study, survey data from the wider Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) cohort were also gathered. The research finds these students to be far from naïve as they entered training but identified important shifts in the understanding and role of theory during the PGCE experience. Openness to theoretical perspectives is evident and far from being diminished by practical experience, this comes to assume a more prominent place as the course progresses. By exploring this journey, which culminates in a profile of the thinking of a newly qualified professional in the workplace, a contribution is made to current understanding of the development of knowledge for teaching that may help to inform future programme design. More specifically, the role of the university is reconsidered and suggestions are made for ways of working with students at the various stages of the process.

This paper attempts to justify punishment on the grounds that it is a benefit to the person being punished. I accept the basic premise of a previous theory of punishment, the Moral Good Theory (MGT), which states that we cannot harm anyone. Thus, punishment can only be justified if it is not a harm. The MGT claims that punishment is beneficial in that it provides a moral education to the offender. I I reject the idea that punishment is morally educational and instead propose a new theory which revises and strengthens the MGT, accounting for its flaws. This new theory, the Social Good Theory, argues instead that punishment is beneficial because it allows a criminal to be reintegrated into society.

Lakatos outlined a theory of mathematical discovery and justification, which suggests ways in which concepts, conjectures and proofs gradually evolve via interaction between mathematicians. Different mathematicians may have different interpretations of a conjecture, examples or counterexamples of it, and beliefs regarding its value or theoremhood. Through discussion, concepts are refined and conjectures and proofs modified. We hypothesise that: (i) it is possible to computationally represent Lakatos's theory, and (ii) it is useful to do so. In order to test our hypotheses we have developed a computational model of his theory. Our model is a multiagent dialogue system. Each agent has a copy of a pre-existing theory formation system, which can form concepts and make conjectures which empirically hold for the objects of interest supplied. Distributing the objects of interest between agents means that they form different theories, which they communicate to each other. Agents then find counterexamples and use methods identified by Lakatos to suggest modifications to conjectures, concept definitions and proofs. Our main aim is to provide a computational reading of Lakatos's theory, by interpreting it as a series of algorithms and implementing these algorithms as a computer program. This is the first systematic automated realisation of Lakatos's theory. We contribute to the computational philosophy of science by interpreting, clarifying and extending his theory. We also contribute by evaluating his theory, using our model to test hypotheses about it, and evaluating our extended computational theory on the basis of criteria proposed by several theorists. A further contribution is to automated theory formation and automated theorem proving. The process of refining conjectures, proofs and concept definitions requires a flexibility which is inherently useful in fields which handle ill-specified problems, such as theory formation. Similarly, the ability to automatically modify an open conjecture into one which can be proved, is a valuable contribution to automated theorem proving.

This thesis analysed Religious Education Coordinators’ perceptions of their role in Catholic secondary schools of the Archdiocese of Melbourne from 1970 – 2000. The theoretical framework for the study, which was reported on in this thesis, was drawn from Catholic Church documents on religious education at both international and national levels, and from the work of researchers within the field of religious education. In particular the study investigated the diversity of language used to describe religious education and religious education theory and analysed the significance that this has had in the development of an understanding of the role of the Religious Education Coordinator. It was argued that there were significant factors in the development of the role of the Religious Education Coordinator that included changes in the understanding of the nature and purpose of religious education during the second half of the twentieth century. In addition there were historical factors peculiar to the Archdiocese of Melbourne that played an important part in the understanding of the RECs role. Quantitative data in the form of annual survey material (1988-1999) from the Catholic Education Office Melbourne provided a framework for the empirical component of the research. The empirical component involved the interviewing of Religious Education Coordinators from a deliberately selected sample that covered the range of skills and experiences deemed necessary in the research. The purpose was to ascertain from the perspective of the Religious Education Coordinators themselves how they analysed their role. Grounded theory methodology was used as the basis for the inductive analysis of the data that emerged from the in-depth interviews. Theory that was generated on the role of the Religious Education Coordinator includes: the importance of an understanding of the theoretical dimensions of religious education and the role of the Religious Education Coordinator; an elaboration of the role of the Religious Education Coordinator in the school context and the necessary skills and attributes that are required to meet the challenges in the role; and the complexity of the challenges that are faced by the Religious Education Coordinator.

The problem of this study was to determine to what extent contemporary adult education theory has similarities to and origins in ancient Athenian ideas about education. The methodology used in the study combined hermeneutics and the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas. Primary sources incuded Aristotle, Plato, Aristophanes, and Diogenes Laertius; secondary sources included Jaeger, Marrou, Dover, and Kennedy. In the analysis of Athenian adult education, three groups of adult educators were identified—the poets the sophists, and the philosophers. The poets were the traditional educators of the Greek people; their shared interest or way of perceiving the world emphasized the importance of community cohesion and health. In Athens in the mid-fifth century B.C., a new group of educators, the sophists, arose to fill a demand of adults for higher and adult education in the skills necessary to participate in the assembly and courts. The sophists emphasized a pragmatic human interest and taught the skill of rhetoric. Socrates and Plato created a new school of educators, the philosophers, who became vigorous ideological opponents of both the poets and the sophists. The philosophers exhibited a transcendental interest or approach to knowledge; the purpose of life was to improve the soul, and the preferred way of life was contemplative rather than active. The philosophers taught the skill of dialectic. Paideia was a Greek word that originally referred to childhood education but which came to mean education throughout the lifespan and the civic culture that supported education. Athenian citizens perceived their paideia to be among their greatest virtues, an attainment which could not be lost to the fortunes of time as could wealth or position. Modern adult education lacks the concern for the communal and transcendental human interests that were important to many ancient Greeks. Modern cultures tend to promote strong individuation of personality and to idealize pragmatic and individualistic concerns. Researchers in the field of adult education often assign to human nature the pragmatic and individualistic qualities of adult learners, but fail to recognize how these features reflect ideologies peculiar to modern American society.

Organizations are increasingly supporting employee's educational pursuits, especially when continuing education is used as a strategy to achieve organizational goals or groom future executives. Fulmer and Wagner (1999) found that best-practice organizations developed their own leaders and that senior executives were products of internal leadership development systems. This quantitative study was designed to better understand deterrents to participation in formal adult education from the perspective of mid- to upper-level professional, technical, executive, administrative, and managerial employees who participated in a quasi-governmental organization's leadership development program. The program consisted of three phases. The first two took place within the confines of the organization over a one-year period, and completion rates were almost one-hundred percent. For phase three, the formal education component of the program where three years were allotted to achieve the objectives, the completion rates were much lower. As a result, fifty-nine percent of all participants failed to complete the program in its entirety. Three questions were explored in the study: (a) despite efforts of the employer to address major deterrents (time, costs, family responsibilities, access, and employer support), to what extent do employees perceive any of these deterrents still exist, (b) what other deterrents do employees face as they approach or become active in the formal adult education segment (Phase III) of the leadership development program, and (c) what do employees perceive as enablers provided by the employer? A slightly modified Deterrents to Participation Scale-General (DPS-G) augmented with three open-ended questions was used to collect data from eight hundred and thirty-three respondents. Sixty-seven percent had completed all three phases of the leadership development program. Multivariate analysis of variance and content analysis were the primary analytical methods used. Results revealed that typical deterrents to participation in formal adult education were not very problematic for the respondents in this study; however, findings here reinforce those in the literature regarding the critical need for organizational support. The results have implications for the subject organization and may also apply to smaller organizations, global enterprise, and private industry, where leadership development programs with a formal education component exist or may be implemented. / Ph. D.

Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The title of the study is “Socialization as a modus of moral formation in the church.” Specific attention is paid to the work of Johannes van der Ven on moral formation. Appreciation is expressed for Van der Ven’s interdisciplinary approach. He makes wide use of sources from philosophical and theological ethics, sociology, education, etc. Van der Ven does not only concentrate on First World scenarios, but also focuses attention on other areas, such as South Africa. His view of moral formation does not focus exclusively on the moral life of the individual, but also includes community life (primary groups) and the broader pluralistic context. His work, therefore, receives detailed attention. His methodology, theoretical viewpoints and identification of seven modi of moral formation receives attention. Furthermore, the relationship between morality and religion, education and communication is also discussed. This study therefore focuses attention on the following question: “The role of the church in socialising as a way of moral formation.” The structure of the study is as follows: The introductory chapter shows that societies today are characterised by moral problems and that there is an intense need for moral formation. The question and methodology of this study is explored against this background. In chapter 2 entitled: “A Theological rationale for moral formation”, the following aspects are discussed: , a theological rationale for moral formation; the relationship between life view and ethics/morals, the Bible and Christian ethics and a conclusion. In chapter 3: “Van der Ven’s theories for moral formation”, Van der Ven’s approach to moral formation, specifically to socialising as a way of moral formation, is explored. A short sketch of his intellectual biography is followed by his theoretical departure points and his approach to the 7 ways of moral formation. This view of socialising is awarded detailed attention. This description paved the way for the application of Van der Ven’s insights, which enjoys support from behavioural sciences, for the process of socialising in the church. In chapter 4, entitled: “The faith community as space for socialising and moral formation”, it is argument that congregational practices play an integral part in the process of socialising. The following aspects are discussed: the congregation as agents of the faith community, worship and socialising, baptism and socialising, holy community and socialising, role models and socialising, Christian education and socialising. The most important finding of the study is that Van der Ven’s approach helps the congregation to further the case for socialising by way of her practices. Socialising offers a way for the church to uphold her responsibilities to contribute to addressing the moral challenges of South Africa. Moral formation in South Africa and elsewhere in the world is very important. The church offers an indispensable space in which moral formation can take place.

While other texts focus on theory, Coming Full Circle emphasizes the how-to of the discipline, providing students with a clear roadmap for involvement in service fields. Written in a student-friendly, accessible style, the book combines academic instruction with participation through service. It encourages students to reflect on their service experiences, and to grow as responsive citizens. More than a textbook, Coming Full Circle is also an effective aid to self-awareness and personal development. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1038/thumbnail.jpg

1. The environment matters: design elements to consider : Beauty in everyday environments ; The impact of light ; Sounds make a difference ; A place for everything, everything in its place ; A secure and supportive environment ; Valuing diversity in the classroom ; Setting up appropriate learning environments -- 2. The process of planning for successful change : Creating the vision ; Developing a plan ; Introducing a new feature -- 3. Low-cost, big-impact changes : Decluttering ; Small changes ; Teacher's space -- 4. Building a sense of community in the classroom : Creating a welcoming and inviting entrance ; Developing a sense of place ; Valuing each member of the community ; Having effective group time ; Learning about and practicing responsibility ; Identifying personal spaces for children ; Providing choices for individual work ; Working in small groups -- 5. Real classroom makeovers : The importance of play ; Real classroom makeovers support children's play ; Literacy centers/areas ; Manipulatives/building ; Math and science ; Art and music ; Dramatic play ; Community meeting ; Nurturing environment -- 6. Early learning standards and the classroom environment : Early learning standards ; The unique needs of children ; Adapting the environment to all learners -- 7. The amazing (and real) classroom makeover adventure : The adventure ; Description of the classroom ; Developing a vision with an initial teacher interview ; The change process ; The first element of design considered ; The next element of design considered ; Teacher interview and reflection on the learning environment ; Art ; Books ; Blocks ; Gathering place ; Home living ; Science ; Writing ; Summary ; Teacher comments after the makeover -- Classroom evaluation checklist. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1063/thumbnail.jpg