This thesis scrutinises how regular mathematics teachers are expected to deal with empowerment in mathematics classroom practice. Inspired by a socio-political perspective, the aim of the study is to problematise how to empower mathematics students in inclusive classroom practice, as implicitly understood in a nationwide professional development programme, i.e., the Boost for Mathematics, in Sweden. The aim is addressed by the following research question: What types of empowering ideas are conveyed in the Boost for Mathematics? The data of the study were collected from supporting materials for teachers, published within the Boost for Mathematics. Data processing consists of two steps. Step 1 is a thematic analysis of how to promote student empowerment as discerned in the data of the study. In a nutshell, Step 1 clarifies that the data give prominence to ways of empowering students from a cognitive point-of-view while social difference is disregarded. Step 2 undertakes a critical approach and discusses an alternative way of treating empowerment; this alternative way is restricted to the design of participatory activities in inclusive classroom practice.

This dissertation evaluates the vision of empowering African elites iQ the International Church of Pretoria and suggests the ways to successfully train and empowers these Africans for the positive socio-political transformation of Africa. Such Christian empowering is so complex that it has to deal with the spiritual, psychological, intellectual and/or technical and socio-political aspects of the life of the trainee. After describing the problems that prevent these elites from behaving adequately and the portrait that can facilitate the successful selection of their trainers the dissertation proposes the guidelines of the empowering programmes for different elite groups. In the main the curriculum comprises a four-level conversion component for proper Christian life, and a psychotherapy empowerment coupled with horizontalisation for their liberation from psychological and socio-political evils, and a programme for the selection and the training of the spiritual leaders of the African elites. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

La problématique de cette recherche porte sur l'autonomisation des enseignants de français en poste dans les institutions d'enseignement secondaire au Cap-Vert. L'auteure se base sur des enquêtes de terrain auprès d'enseignants de français et d'acteurs sociaux concernés par l'enseignement-apprentissage du français ; sa recherche-action s'articule autour de quatre chapitres où le premier expose ses choix méthodologiques et son positionnement interne et externe comme enseignante-chercheur.Le second chapitre a pour finalité de présenter le contexte général de la recherche en mettant en avant l'importance du concept d'autonomie pour comprendre l'archipel créolophone et lusophone du Cap-Vert, dans une perspective historique et sociolinguistique. Le troisième chapitre fournit des éléments sur l'évolution générale du dispositif d'enseignement-apprentissage et sur la formation des enseignants de français, et repère trois types de formateurs que l'auteure regroupe sous le nom de "mentors d'autonomie" parce que leurs fonctions officielles visent à développer l'autonomie. Ce sont : le tuteur et le coordinateur (lycée) ; le superviseur (université publique du Cap-Vert). L'analyse détaillée des pratiques des enseignants de français et des mentors d'autonomie permet de dégager des indicateurs d'autonomie ou de non autonomie au niveau secondaire. Le quatrième et dernier chapitre dégage, à partir des deux chapitres précédents, des suggestions qui pourraient contribuer à remédier aux problèmes observés afin d'améliorer la qualité de l'enseignement du français dans le contexte capverdien. / This research intends to study the empowering process of the French teachers at the secondary level in the creole and portuguese-speaking archipelago of Cape Verde.The author investigates the field among teachers of French and social actors implicated in the French language teaching and learning. Her action-research is built upon four chapters among which the first chapter exposes her methodological options and her inner and outer position as a professor-researcher.The second chapter aims to present the general context of the research, pointing out how important the concept of autonomy is to understand the arquipelago of Cape Verde, in a historical and sociolinguistical perspect.The third chapter gives elements of information about the global evolution of the education system and of the training of the French teachers, and detects three trainers the author called « autonomy mentors » because their official functions would be to develop the autonomy : they are the advisory tutor and the coordinator (high school level) and the supervisor (public university of Cape Verde). Useful indicators of autonomy or non autonomy at the secondary level have been drowned from a detailed analysis of the teaching practices of the French teachers and of the « Mentors ».In the fourth and last chapter the conclusions of the two previous chapters are used to make suggestions which could help to solve the problems observed, in order to improve the quality of the secondary level French language teaching and learning in the Cape-Verdean context.

The present research has been undertaken within a narrative approach which is based on social constructionism. For the purposes of fostering more effective communication between science and theology, I also adopt the postfoundationalist way of thinking which was suggested by Van Huyssteen. I made use of the seven movements that were proposed by J C Müller to present the research undertaken with four young adult Christians. Korea is a multi-religious society in which various religions coexist, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Shamanism, Christianity and several new religions. In the religious background of Korea, people are free to choose their religion, but sometimes their religious freedom has been limited by the patriarchal family system. In particular, young adult Christians who are in the period of emerging adulthood may face an even more difficult situation when they practise a different religion from that of their family. They are still under the strong influence of their parents emotionally and financially, but they want to be adults with their own independent identity. Moreover, Korean social prejudice against Christianity causes the young adult Christians much difficulty in maintaining their faith life comfortably. In order to listen to their stories regarding their faith life, I selected four young adult Christians who have non-Christian family members in their household, who are unmarried, and are therefore still dependent on their parents. With the co-researchers, individual interview sessions and group interview sessions were held, and a web-activity devised in which their stories were told and developed in collaboration with various disciplines that were influencing their discourses within the stories. They were experiencing tensions with their non-Christian family members in maintaining their Christian faith life and were feeling powerless in the relationship with them. Furthermore, in their relationship with other Christians in the church the co-researchers complained about the lack of understanding, regarding their specific family background, shown by those believers who do have Christian relatives in their household. The narrative research process allowed the co-researchers to interpret their difficult stories and to think through the meanings of these and their effect. In this manner, they could reinterpret their painful stories and uncover new meanings that might assist them to be more satisfied in the future. Having discovered new meanings for their painful stories, the co-researchers are not powerless people any longer; instead, they are active people who are dreaming for, or envisioning, a better future with their non-Christian family. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

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This project explored using human-centered design methods how can we change the way healthcare delivers information to people about their health so that they feel empowered and educated about their health. It also investigates how to create a space that allows for reflection about own health without falling into worry and unnecessary stress. Primar focus on the project was to investigate the end-user side and explore what value drawn from the medical records can be provided for people using healthcare. For this reason, empowerment in the healthcare context became the aim and important aspect of this project. Based on the research a set of empowerment guidelines was created that helped navigating design processes and decisions. The result is a design proposal - Health sphere - platform in a form of an app provided by the healthcare system, that gives an overview of current health status and communicates healthcare records in a way that empowers people by using progressive disclosure that gives the user the choice on how much they would like to learn. It also helps to organize and keep all medical records in one place and helps to understand their content with visuals and smart definitions of medical language.

Syfte: Studien har till syfte att undersöka hur anställdas självledarskap påverkas av arbetsautonomi och stärkande ledarskap samt hur det i sin tur påverkar arbetstillfredsställelse.   Metod: Denna studie utnyttjade en kvantitativ forskningsmetod med en deduktiv ansats. En enkätundersökning användes som datainsamling och resulterade i 137 användbara svar från ett bekvämlighetsurval. Datan analyserades med hjälp av statistikprogrammet JASP, där en deskriptiv-, korrelations- samt nätverksanalys genomfördes.    Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att självledarskap påverkas positivt av både arbetsautonomi samt stärkande ledarskap som helhet och att dessa två därför kan ses som antecedenter. Dock fann studien att arbetsautonomi och stärkande ledarskap har en större inverkan på arbetstillfredsställelse direkt, än vad de har via självledarskap. Ytterligare en slutsats var att resultatet skiljer sig mellan män och kvinnor. Studien hittade att det inte existerar något samband mellan stärkande ledarskap och självledarskap för kvinnor. Männen uppvisar istället att det finns ett samband mellan stärkande ledarskap och självledarskap.   Examensarbetets bidrag: Detta arbete har hjälpt till att fylla ett forskningsgap om vad det finns för potentiella antecedenter till självledarskap. Dessutom har studien bidragit till att fylla ytterligare ett forskningsgap om hur stärkande ledarskap fungerar som potentiell antecedent till självledarskap.     Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Stora skillnader mellan män och kvinnor hittades i nätverksanalysen, det skulle därför vara intressant att göra en större studie med fler respondenter för att gå in djupare på könsskillnader. Det hade även varit intressant att undersöka hur personers självledarskap inom olika branscher påverkas av antecedenterna som undersökts i denna studie. / Aim: The purpose of the study is to investigate how employees' self-leadership is affected by job autonomy and empowering leadership, and how this in turn affects job satisfaction.   Method: This study utilized a quantitative research method with a deductive approach. A questionnaire survey was used for data collection and resulted in 137 usable responses from a convenience sample. The data was analyzed using the statistical program JASP, where a descriptive, correlation and network analysis was carried out.   Results and conclusion: The study shows that self-leadership is positively affected by both job autonomy and empowering leadership as a whole and that these two can therefore be seen as antecedents. However, the study found that job autonomy and empowering leadership have a greater impact on job satisfaction directly than they have via self-leadership. Another conclusion was that the results differ between men and women. The study found that no relationship exists between empowering leadership and self-leadership for women. Instead, the men show that there is a connection between empowering leadership and self-leadership.   Contribution of the thesis: This work has helped to fill a research gap regarding potential antecedents of self-leadership. In addition, the study has contributed to filling another research gap on how empowering leadership functions as a potential antecedent to self-leadership.   Suggestions for future research: Large differences between men and women were found in the network analysis, it would therefore be interesting to do a larger study with more respondents to go deeper into gender differences. It would also be interesting to investigate how people's self-leadership in different industries is affected by the antecedents investigated in this study.

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Thesis (MDF (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die langtermynversekeringsindustrie het voorheen slegs finansiële produkte en dienste ontwerp, wat gefokus was op die middel tot hoër inkomstegroepe. Die armes was dus uitgesluit, primêr as gevolg van die laer inkomstegroepe wat nie lewensversekeringsprodukte kon bekostig nie. Inteendeel, arm huishoudings is, en was, meer kwesbaar vanweë die feit dat hulle geredelik blootgestel word aan meer diverse risiko’s – mensgemaakte, sowel as natuurlike risiko’s - terwyl hulle juis diegene is wat minder middele het om dit bestuur. Hierdie toedrag van sake het egter drasties verander gedurende die afgelope paar jaar. Die onderskeie partye, insluitend verteenwoordigers van die langtermynversekeringsindustrie, het konsensus bereik ten opsigte van die ontwikkeling van die Finansiële Sektor Handves wat in ooreenstemming is met die nasionale swart ekonomiese bemagtigingstrategie. Die oogmerk van die Finansiële Sektor Handves was nie net om mense in die laer inkomstegroepe te bemagtig nie. Dit het ook ten doel om finansiële insluiting te verseker, en mettertyd, die aktiewe deelname van die armes in die hoofstroom van die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie. ’n Stel toegangstandaarde was gevolglik ontwikkel en geïmplementeer, wat die langtermynversekerings-produkaanbiedinge aan LSM 1-5 reguleer (met ander woorde vir die doeleindes van hierdie verslag, huishoudings wat minder as R3 000 per maand verdien). Die doel van die standaarde wat ontleed word in hierdie verslag, is om te verseker dat die langtermynversekeringsindustrie geskikte produkte ontwerp wat die minimum standaarde soos beskryf in die Finansiële Sektor Handves, nakom. In beginsel word die toepaslikheid en geskiktheid van die toegangstandaarde in hierdie verslag geëvalueer, met die oogmerk om te bepaal wat die standaarde inhou vir beide die verbruiker asook die lewensversekeraar van ’n verslaggewingsperspektief. Die eerste deel van die toegangstandaarde wat goedgekeur is deur die Finansiële Sektor Handves in 2007, het slegs begrafnisdekking ingesluit, terwyl die tweede deel gefokus het op nie-begafnisprodukte en sedert 2008 geïmplementeer is. Laasgenoemde het die volgende dekking ingesluit: lewensversekering, dekking vir fisiese ongeskiktheid, kredietlewensversekering en gewone lewensversekering. Die toegangstandaarde wat van toepassing is op verbandlenings is egter nog nie gefinaliseer nie en is gevolglik nie ingesluit in hierdie verslag nie. ’n Fundamentele vraag ten opsigte van die daarstelling van toegangsprodukte vir die laer inkomstegroepe, is wat die rol is van die publiek vergeleke met die privaatsektor en dié van die regering. Terwyl die regering optree as die wetgewer, moet dit ook daarteen waak om nie te veel van ’n rigiede proses vir die privaatsektor daar te stel nie. Die wetgewer moet die relevante reëls en regulasies stipuleer en sekerheid verskaf ten opsigte van die inhoud daarvan. Terselfdetyd moet die wetgewer ook die privaatsektor asook `n klimaat van innovasie ondersteun, sowel as die daarstelling van ’n stabiele regulerende atmosfeer. Behalwe die ontwikkeling van geskikte, bekostigbare en minder komplekse produkte, berus die verantwoordelikheid op die privaatsektor om vertroue te skep in die langtermynversekerings-industrie asook om die noodsaaklikheid van risiko-dekking te propageer. Versekeraars het verder nodig om die laer inkomstegroepe as ’n winsgewende segment te beskou, terwyl die armes versekering as ’n noodsaaklike vereiste moet beskou. Hoe meer vertroue geskep word deur die versekeringsindustrie, hoe minder sal mense in die laer inkomstegroepe hul geld belê in die informele sektor wat gekenmerk word deur die afwesigheid van regulering, minder sekuriteit en hoër risikos. Dit is verder noodsaaklik vir die sukses van die verskaffing van toegang tot finansiële produkte, om in gedagte te hou watter impak dit op die verbuiker sal hê. Met betrekking tot die produkte wat ontwikkel en bemark word deur die lewensversekeringsindustrie: spreek dit werklik die behoeftes van die laer inkomstegroepe aan en dra dit positief by tot transformasie? Die privaatsektor is as gevolg daarvan grotendeels afhanklik van marknavorsing en analises oor verbuikerstendense gemeet oor tyd. Die impak wat finansiële produkaanbiedinge het op die laer inkomstegroepe, kan gevolglik nie onafhanklik beskou word nie want die behoeftes, verwagtinge en profiel van die onderste deel van die piramide sal met verloop van tyd verander. Mededinging dra as sulks ook positief by tot die daarstelling van toegang tot finansiële produkte en dienste. Dit dwing die privaatsektor (die lewensversekeringsmaatskappye) om vorendag te kom met innoverende wyses om effektiewe toegangsprodukte en dienste te kan lewer aan die armes. Die bring mee dat die verbruiker waarde vir geld kry wanneer finansiële produkte en dienste aangekoop word van lewensversekeraars. Met verwysing na die toepaslikheid van die langtermynversekeringsindustrie se toegangstandaarde en of dit die behoeftes van die armes bevredig: die lewensversekeringsindustrie het inderdaad baie bereik gedurende die afgelope paar jaar, deurdat konstruktiewe geleenthede geskep is vir die laer inkomstemark. Gegewe die minimum-vereistes soos uiteengesit in die Finansiële Sektor Handves, kan die armes nou ook langtermynversekeringsprodukte bekom wat uitdagings soos fisiese beskikbaarheid, toegang tot transaksies, bekostigbaarheid, diskriminasie en kompleksitiet aanspreek. Dit is daarom noodsaaklik vir die doeleindes van effektiewe finansiële insluiting, om vir verbruikersopleiding ook voorsiening te kan maak. Finansiële geletterdheid sal in beginsel die laer inkomstegroepe in staat stel om hulself te kan bemagtig en terselfdertyd die teikengroep in staat stel om meer ingeligte besluite te kan neem ten opsigte van hul finansies. Laasgenoemde kan egter nie in isolasie geskied nie. Finansiële geletterheid en dus verbruikersopleiding, is minstens net so belangrik. Dit is juis daarom dat, bo en behalwe die regering wat die rol as wetgewer vertolk deur die toepassing van die reg, al die betrokke partye veronderstel is om ’n gemeenskaplike oogmerk te hê. Met ander woorde, dit verwys direk na transformasie en die doelwit om mense in die laer inkomstegroepe te bemagtig – nie net om finansiële insluiting te bewerkstelling nie, maar van meer belang, om te verseker dat die armes oor die vermoë beskik om meer ingeligte besluite te kan neem oor hul finansies. Hierdie aspek sal veral bydra tot effektiewe toegang tot finansële dienste in die ware sin van die woord - as die armes ’toegelaat’ word om meer aktief deel te kan vorm van die hoofstroom van die land se ekonomie. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Previously, the long-term insurance industry only developed financial products and services that were mainly targeted at the middle to high income groups. The poor have thus been excluded, primarily due to them not being able to afford financial products and services offered by life insurers. However, poor households are, and have been, more vulnerable because they are often exposed to more diverse risks, both ‘man- made’ and natural, whilst having fewer instruments to manage them. This state of affairs has drastically changed during the past couple of years. The respective stakeholders, including representatives from the long-term insurance industry, reached consensus with regards to the development of the Financial Sector Charter which is aligned to the national black economic empowerment strategy. The objective of the Financial Sector Charter is not only to empower people in the lower income groups. It also aims to ensure financial inclusion and, eventually, the active participation of the poor in the mainstream of the South African economy. A set of access standards that governs life insurance products and services offered to LSM 1-5 (i.e. for the purposes of this report, households earning less than R3 000 per month), were developed and implemented accordingly. The objective of the access standards, analysed in this report, is to ensure that the long term insurance industry develops appropriate products that meet the minimum standards defined in the Charter. In principle, this report evaluates the feasibility of the access standards with the aim of ascertaining what the standards imply for both the consumer as well as the life insurer from a reporting perspective. The first set of access standards, approved by the Financial Sector Charter in 2007, included funeral products only, whereas the second phase, which focused on nonfuneral products, came into effect in 2008. The latter is applicable to the following financial products: life cover, physical impairment cover and credit life cover. The access products standards relevant to mortgage protection are not yet finalised and have therefore been excluded from this report. A fundamental question in terms of providing access to the low income groups is the role of the public versus private sector delivery as well as that of government. Whilst government acts as the lawmaker, it also needs to be sensitive towards not creating too much ‘red tape’ for the private sector to comply with. The regulator should therefore stipulate and clarify the relevant rules and regulations, but at the same time support the private sector and encourage a climate of innovation as well as creating a stable regulatory environment. Apart from developing appropriate, affordable and less complex insurance products, the private sector’s responsibility is to create trust in the insurance industry as well as to promote the need for risk insurance. Insurers thus need to see low income earners as a profitable segment, whereas poor people need to see insurance as a necessity. The more trust is created by the insurance sector, fewer people in the low income groups will invest their money in the informal sector which entails no regulation, less security and higher risks. It is furthermore pivotal for the success of access to financial services to take into account how this will impact on the consumer. With respect to the products developed and marketed by the life insurance industry: does it really meet the needs of the poor and does it contribute positively to transformation? The private sector is therefore heavily dependent on research and analyses of consumer trends measured over time. As a result, the impact that financial product offerings have on the low income earners cannot be dealt with on its own, because as time passes so will the needs, expectations and profile of the bottom of the pyramid change. On its own, competition tends to also contribute positively towards access to financial services. It forces the private sector (i.e. life insurance companies) to come up with innovative ways of providing effective access, products and services to the poor. This ensures that the end user gets value for money, when procuring financial products and /or services from life insurers. In respect of the viability of the long-term insurance industry’s access standards and whether or not it speaks to the needs of the poor: the life industry has indeed achieved a lot over the past couple of years, by creating constructive opportunities for the lower end of the market. Given the minimum requirements as per the Financial Sector Charter, poor people can now also obtain long-term insurance products that address challenges with regards to physical accessibility, transactional access, affordability, non-discrimination and the level of complexity. However, more important for the low income group to participate effectively in the mainstream of the South African economy, is the fact that the need for financial literacy is even bigger. It is one thing to have the right of entry (i.e. access) to the financial services sector in terms of life insurance product offerings, but it is different if that same target audience does not have the ‘know-how’ to use and implement the products developed. It is hence an imperative for the purposes of effective financial inclusion to also make provision for consumer education. In principle, financial literacy will enable the lower income groups to become more empowered and at the same time, ensure that the target audience is equipped to make more informed decisions about the finances. Given the latter, it can however not happen in isolation. Financial literacy and thus consumer education, is equally important - if not more. It is therefore critical that, apart from government fulfilling its role as regulator by upholding the rule of law, all the stakeholders should have a universal goal. In other words, this directly addresses transformation and the objective of empowering people in the lower income groups – i.e. not only to ensure financial inclusion, but more importantly to enable poor people to make more informed decisions about their finances. And only this will contribute to effective transformation in the true sense of the word - if poor people are ‘allowed’ to become more actively involved in the mainstream of the South African economy.

I studien har det försökt undersökas ifall tillit till överordnad och stärkande ledarskap kunde få anställda till att våga yttra sig om problem och komma med konstruktiva förbättringsförslag i svenskt telekomföretag. Studiens utgångspunkt har varit en kinesisk studie som demonstrerat detta fenomen i kinesisk kontext vilket skapade intresset att se ifall deras resultat kunde generaliseras till svensk kontext. Denna studie försökte replikera deras metod för att undersöka samma fenomen. I studien deltog 56 anställda som jobbade mot kunderna. 50 stycken besvarade enkäter var fullständiga och gick att använda till analysen. Med hjälp av korrelationsberäkningar och regressionsanalyser har det kunnat demonstreras att Tillit till överordnad och tre aspekter av stärkande ledarskapen (Deltagande i beslutsfattande, Coaching, Informera) separat hade ett samband med Anställdas yttrande. De tre stärkande ledarskapen utgjorde inte en mediator för Tillit till överordnad och Anställdas yttrande. Endast Informera kunde förutsäga Anställdas yttrande, dock med något osäkert resultat. Resultatet innebär i praktiken att ledare bör upprätthålla eller skapa tilliten till dem och utöva stärkande ledarskap mot sina anställda för att få dem att fortsätta våga yttra sig om problem och förbättringsförslag. Framtida studier kan fokusera på att bland annat undersöka utan extremvärden i analysen och kontrollera för kontrollvariabler. Då studien är en korrelationsstudie så har ej riktning eller kausalitet kunna uppmätas. Med experiment kan sådant undersökas mer noggrant. / This contemporary study explores the phenomenon of trust to leaders and empowering leadership in relation to employee voice in a Swedish telecommunication company. By employee voice, it refers to the extent an employee talks about problems/concerns and give feedback/improvements addressed towards the company. Previous study conducted in China has demonstrated that there is a correlation between trust, leadership and employee voice. This study tried to replicate their method and examine the same phenomena. 56 “front-line” employees participated in a survey, but only 50 responses were completed. The result showed significant separate correlation between the independent variables Trust in leaders and three aspects of empowering leadership (Participative decision-making, Coaching, Informing) and the dependent variable Employee voice, after calculating for correlations and carrying through regression analysis. The three aspects of empowering leadership did not mediate the effect of trust to leaders towards employee voice as predicted by previous studies. Only Informing by itself could predict employee voice, but the result could implicate some uncertainty. The implications of these results indicate that leaders should facilitate trust in them and practice empowering leadership to invoke employee voice. Future studies can continue this study by exclude outliers in the calculation and controlling for control variables. Because this is a cross-sectional study, causality could not be determined which could be improved by experimental design in future studies.