Thesis advisor: Maria E. Brisk / This dissertation analyzed how exemplary mainstream teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) taught these students across contexts--English monolingual immersion and bilingual. The research for this study was grounded directly in the teaching practices of exemplary teachers for English Language Learners (ELLs). Teacher participants undertook inquiry into their own practices to provide the knowledge and information needed to assist other teachers in improving their practices with ELLs. The research in this case drew upon previous research in the area of professional knowledge and expertise. The major goal was to understand from a holistic viewpoint the successful teacher of ELLs--their backgrounds, knowledge and practices, and how these were mediated by teaching contexts--English monolingual immersion and bilingual. Using a constructivist grounded-theory design, four descriptive case studies were the focus of the dissertation. Using interviews, observations, recall sessions, and a focus group, each teacher was studied to determine their backgrounds both personally and professionally, teaching practices, and attitudes towards ELL students, in order to create a theory of what it takes to be an effective teacher of ELL students. The results suggest that certain background experiences can positively impact the teaching of ELL students: learning a second language, being immersed in a culture different from one's own, and an understanding of second language development. The results also indicated common patterns among the teachers' planning and preparation, teaching practices, and attitudes towards their ELL students. Commonalities in teachers' planning and preparation included the use of themes and units, language goals for their ELL students, knowledge of students' backgrounds, and preparation of exemplars and models. Commonalities in classroom practices included repetition of key vocabulary and phrases, prompting and coaching ELL students, thoughtful grouping and pairing, frequent check-ins with ELL students, and, in the bilingual context, use of the students' first language for learning and instruction. Finally, all of the teachers demonstrated common observable attitudes towards their ELL students such as kindness, sensitivity, and encouragement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Curriculum and Instruction.

<div>This study introduced a design-inspired approach to unpack problems of professional formation</div><div>of engineers: 1) the gap between what students learn in universities and what they practice upon</div><div>graduation; 2) the perception that engineering is solely technical, math, and theory oriented; and</div><div>3) the lack of diversity and inclusion (incorporation of difference in perspectives, values, and</div><div>ways of thinking and being engineers) in many engineering programs. The current project</div><div>investigated the discursive practices and institutional processes that contributed to or inhibited</div><div>innovative and inclusive professional formation within an undergraduate engineering setting.</div><div>Specifically, this project showed how Grounded Practical Theory (GPT), Communication as</div><div>Design (CaD), and Human-Centered Design (HCD) offer alternative pathways to conceptualize</div><div>the processes of professional formation.</div><div><br></div><div><div>The context for this study involved the professional formation of engineers at a School of</div><div>Biomedical Engineering (BME) at a large, Midwestern university. Participants for this study</div><div>included undergraduate students and faculty, staff, and administration (FSA). Semi-structured</div><div>interview data was collected and explored participants’ descriptions, accounts, and experiences</div><div>related to professional engineering formation in BME. Data collection included 33 total</div><div>interviews including 15 FSA and 18 student interviews. The study involved an empirical</div><div>examination of discursive practices that invoked, reproduced, and maintained discourses of</div><div>professional engineering at the BME school.</div></div><div><br></div><div><div>Based on insights gained from the empirical examination of discursive practices, a GPT</div><div>framework was applied to examine conflicts in professional formation, strategies participants</div><div>used to overcome these challenges, and the underlying rationale for these strategies. Specifically, the goal of gaining a broad knowledge base—incorporating expertise across various engineering</div><div>and science disciplines—often can come at the expense of realizing specific application and</div><div>technical know-how. For many participants, both goals were critical for becoming a professional</div><div>biomedical engineer but often times blocked a discourse of professional formation that was</div><div>innovative and inclusive. Participants revealed that a standard lecture curriculum influenced this</div><div>tension, in many cases for the worse. However, findings suggested that strategies for overcoming</div><div>these conflicts were by integrating lecture curricula with more active learning formats (e.g.,</div><div>undergraduate research, lab participation). Moreover, findings showed how standard lecture</div><div>communication designs shaped and maintained a discourse community more likely to emphasize</div><div>understanding engineering as a science and also gaining a broad knowledge base often times at</div><div>the expense of realizing specific application and technical know-how.</div></div><div><br></div><div><div>This study’s analysis offers several theoretical contributions. First, GPT pointed to the deeply</div><div>integrated relationship between the ontological and epistemological foundations of biomedical</div><div>engineering professional formation. That is, becoming a biomedical engineer meant having</div><div>knowledge of several sets of disciplinary expertise while also understanding when and how to</div><div>enact this knowledge in practice. Second, professional formation designs for communication</div><div>(e.g., lecture designs, active learning designs) presupposed something about the recurrent</div><div>practices held within the school and how these recurrent practices constituted professional</div><div>ontology and epistemology in ways that were both enabling and problematic, Third, and from a</div><div>HCD perspective, exploring designs for communication brought to life the ways participants,</div><div>through interactivity, actively designed discourses of professional formation in an attempt to</div><div>achieve and meet their epistemological and ontological goals.</div></div>

The term profession is found throughout the scholarly literature; despite frequent use of the term, there exists little or no means of providing a common conception of the term. Consequently, calls for increasing professionalization of public administration appear to be premature. Therefore, this dissertation utilizes inductive research to generate theory, which synthesizes the inchoate concept of the professional public administrator. The motivation to pursue this line of inquiry stems from a personal need to weigh in on the perennial debate about what skills, knowledge, and information should be communicated to future generations of public administration thinkers and practitioners. To that end, this research will provide a theoretical framework grounded in the literature, which federates the term professional and the professional concept in such a way that purposeful debates can be had. It is, as will be shown, an attempt to link understanding and interpretation. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Title 1) A grounded theory exploration of social workers’ permanency planning for looked after children in Scotland 2) Experience of childhood maltreatment and reflective function of parents: A systematic review of observational research findings Aims 1) Permanency planning refers to meeting the needs of a ‘looked after’ child by legally securing a permanent family. Delays in securing permanency are associated with adverse outcomes for children. Social workers are integral to this process and yet there is a paucity of research considering how workers make sense of this professional role. The current study aimed to develop an explanatory theory of social workers’ sense making in planning for permanency to identify issues and facilitate a discussion around the experiences and needs of this group. 2) The paper considers childhood experiences of maltreatment in relation to adult reflective function in parenting, a variable implicated in infant attachment security. A systematic review aimed to explore the current research literature examining the association between the experience of maltreatment in childhood and later reflective function in parenting. Methods 1) A qualitative grounded theory methodology (GTM) was used to analyse interviews with eight social workers who had a current permanency role (six female). 2) Following the development of a grounded theory via integration of the data with the theory of mentalization, a relevant systematic review was conducted. The current research literature was explored in relation to adults’ experiences of maltreatment in childhood and reflective function in parenting. 2 Results 1) Although participants described delays in relation to systemic pressures, as analysis of interviews unfolded theoretical sampling explored their experiences of losing and maintaining ‘focus’ on the child in permanency planning. The findings generated a theory positing that workers seek to keep a child’s ‘mentalized’ experience at the fore (to hold his ‘mind in mind’) and plan responsively to make permanency recommendations while negotiating the challenges of person-centred working within a multi-agency system. Workers were found to describe holding ‘mentalized’ interpretations of a child’s past, current, and future experiences during the processes integral to planning for permanency (assessment, early decisions, information gathering, interpretation, integration, and interaction with the wider system). Holding the child’s mind in mind also contributed to the ‘strength of evidence’ for permanency planning, and was, at the same time, vulnerable to the destabilizing effects of the emotional demands and system stressors perceived within the permanency role. Permanency planning and integration of evidence to make recommendations for permanency was responsive to the complexities of interpersonal working, hypothetical futures for the child, and to the potential impact of planning actions for future decision makers. 2) A systematic search of the literature identified seven datasets (of which nine papers) presenting analyses relating to measurement of childhood maltreatment and parents’ reflective function. Conclusions 1) The study theorised a psychological process related to holding ‘focus’ on the child in permanency and concluded with recommendations for permanency practice based on this preliminary model. These included prioritising a culture of professional empathy, training in and availability of protected reflective clinical supervision, post-adoption support for birth parents, and training in working with complex interpersonal behaviour to better facilitate effective permanency planning and improve outcomes for looked after children. 2) Although the identified studies indicated a lack of significant association between the factors, critical evaluation of conceptual, methodological and population issues indicated that the small number of reviewed studies were limited in their capacity to address the review question. After further data reduction according to study quality and separation of analyses according to conceptualisation of mentalization there remained two datasets reporting on CM and adult RF, and three reporting analyses of CM and parenting RF. Conceptual differences regarding mentalization and RF are considered in relation to emerging areas of research in this field.

O crédito rural sempre teve papel fundamental na produção agrícola nacional sendo que desde a sua institucionalização no Brasil, o volume de capital direcionado para o financiamento expandiu. A participação de fontes públicas neste mercado de crédito, no entanto, diminui e desta forma abriu espaço para o financiamento privado. O produtor de soja mato-grossense, além do crédito rural público, disponibilizado por instituições financeiras, pode escolher dentre diversos tipos de contratos de troca de insumos por grãos. Estes contratos ganharam importância no financiamento da produção agrícola e na estratégia de garantia de demanda pelas empresas processadoras e exportadoras de commodities. Dessa forma, objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a percepção do produtor agrícola da região de Lucas do Rio Verde, Mato Grosso, com relação às operações de troca (Barter) oferecidas e compará-las com as demais opções. Na troca, o produtor agrícola recebe os insumos necessários para o plantio e desenvolvimento de sua cultura e concorda em entregar parte de sua produção como pagamento no futuro. A partir de análises de entrevistas feitas sob a ótica do \"Grounded Theory\", foi possível observar oito percepções de benefícios nas operações de troca realizadas pelos produtores: (1) Controle de risco: tanto do preço de venda do grão como o preço de compra dos insumos; (2) Entrega de insumos: evita a necessidade de estocagem de produtos, uma vez que são entregues durante o desenvolvimento da cultura; (3) Pacote completo: economia de tempo na negociação dos diversos insumos necessários; (4) Popularidade: diversas empresas oferecem os pacotes e concorrem entre si para fechar contratos; (5) Praticidade: possuem menor quantidade de pré-requisitos para fechamento do contratos e abrem a possibilidade para relacionamento entre produtor e empresa ; (6)Comercialização: economia de tempo no momento de venda dos grãos e possibilidade de aproveitamento de variações positivas do mercado a partir do excedente da produção; (7) Fluxo de caixa: melhor visualização dos custos e receitas medidos na mesma unidade; (8) Liquidez: possibilidade de negociação durante o ano e participação em variações positivas do mercado. Desta forma, foi possível observar a preferência do produtor por recursos mais baratos, como o bancário e o autofinanciamento, porém a opção pelas operações de troca se deve aos benefícios atrelados e oferta de crédito insuficiente das outras fontes. / Rural credit policies play an essential role in the Brazilian agricultural production. The amount of financial capital destined to Rural Credit has been increasing since the government institutionalized it in 1965. However, the arrangement of the several active financial resources changed over the years, passing from a main official source to several private alternatives. The soybean producer in Mato Grosso state can choose from a range of input-grain trades, known as barter, besides the public credit offered by financial institutions. These contracts have been important to finance agricultural inputs in the Center-West region of Brazil and, furthermore, exporting and processing companies use them to guarantee future demand. This study analyzes the farmer perception with respect to input-grain trades (Barter) offered and compare them with other options in the region of Lucas do Rio Verde, Mato Grosso. Survey questionnaires were applied using Grounded Theory. The study identified eight perceptions of benefits in barter operations by producers: (1) Risk control: both the selling price of the grain, as well as the purchase price of inputs; (2) Inputs Delivery: resellers deliver inputs during the season, avoiding the need for product storages; (3) Complete Package Deal: time saving in negotiating several required inputs; (4) Acceptance: many companies offer packages and compete to sign contracts; (5) Convenience : less prerequisites for approval and open up the possibility for the relationship between producer and company; (6) Marketing: time saving on grain sales and possibility to profit with markets oscillations with the production surplus; (7) Cash Flow : better view of costs and revenues measured in the same unit; ( 8 ) Liquidity : possibility of trading during the year and participation in positive changes in the market. Moreover, we observed the producer\'s preference for low-cost resources, such as banking and private equity, but often decide for barter operations due to other benefits and insufficient financial capital in other sources.

No description available.

There is a dearth of literature on the experiences of people with physical health conditions who make disability benefit claims and live as a benefit claimant, particularly since the recent and ongoing changes to the benefits system in the UK. This research aimed to explore the social processes that impact on people with a physical health condition who have experienced a loss of or change in disability benefits, particularly in relation to their identity and their relationships with society. In-depth interviews were conducted with fifteen people with physical health conditions or disabilities. Data was analysed using Grounded Theory methods and a theoretical model was co-constructed. Participants experienced the benefits system as dehumanising, and felt that they lived in a judgemental society, where they were perceived as 'scroungers' and faced discrimination from others. These experiences negatively affected their mental and physical health and wellbeing. Participants often internalised the stigma surrounding disability benefit claimants and they attempted to resist this in order to maintain a preferred sense of self. The findings demonstrate the significant impact of benefit changes on wellbeing and identity. The research highlights important implications for Psychologists, as well as staff in healthcare, the benefits system, and government.

This dissertation presents multiple facets of the assessment system reform of the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam in Nepal through grounded theory methodology. The main purpose of this study is to develop a substantive grounded theory of the reform that explicates a complete process of the assessment reform, i.e., how this reform was conceptualized, what was done as a foundational preparation, how it was implemented, and what were the preliminary responses to the reform implementation. In order to theorize the reform process, this study applied a constructivist grounded theory approach, specifically based on the work of Charmaz (1996, 2005, 2006, 2012), as the research methodology. The data were collected by conducting 10 focus group discussions and 24 one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The participants represented almost all the categories of stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, employers, teachers, students) as well as experts and educators. The emergent conceptual categories and sub-categories from the interviews and focus group discussions were categorized under three constructs: (1) Conceptualization of the reform, (2) implementation of the reform and (3) reform effects. The first construct covers those theme categories and sub-categories that state the origin and type of the reform, reform aims, and framework as well as preparation for the reform. Similarly, the second construct includes those theme categories and sub-categories that inform the mechanism underpinning reform related information dissemination, the strategic plan used to implement the reform and factors that could influence the reform process. Finally, the third construct comprises those categories that discuss reform associated quandaries and condemnation, factors contributing to magnifying the quandaries, resultant opportunities from the reform, reform impact, step forward, and other relevant categories. The findings have been explicated under three phases- the pre-implementation phase, the implementation phase and the post-implementation phase as the integrated grounded theory. The theoretical components presented under the pre-implementation phase include exhaustive analysis of need and feasibility; input from experts, educators and key stakeholders; clarity on reform aims and objectives; cooperative triangular relationships; comprehensive documentation; explicit roadmap and exhaustive planning; infrastructure and resource management, and capacity building. Similarly, three major theoretical components- teacher advocacy, stakeholder ownership, and timely and authentic information have been described under the implementation phase. Finally, eight major theoretical components, such as identification and analysis of resulting issues, immediate actions for the urgent/sensitive issues, special programs for the low-grade holders, bridge between academic and vocational programs, need for impact analysis, effective communication channel, need for institutional memory, need for an unconventional assessment system, and need for a resourceful unit of assessment and testing have been presented under the post-implementation phase. The combination of the theoretical components described under the three phases mentioned above is the integrated substantive grounded theory of the assessment system reform in Nepal. This study contributes by adding value for those involved in assessment reform as well as the academicians and researchers because it puts forward recommendations for foundational preparation and homework in the conceptual phase of assessment reform; action steps to minimize the possible resistance to reform; strategies to implement the reform successfully; and initiatives to institutionalize the reform or address the resulting issues and concerns.

Since the government commissioned the Crossing Bridges programme in 1998 (Falcov, 1998) and through legislation and a number of government policies and initiatives since, there has been emphasis on addressing the needs of families where there are parental mental health problems. Furthermore, there is a fast-growing body of research pointing to the needs of these families. However, service structures, development and provision have lagged behind. Most often parents with mental health difficulties have access to services addressing their individual mental health needs while their needs as parents and the needs of their children remain largely invisible. One such need that has been highlighted repeatedly in the literature is the need for children to have information about and make sense of their parent’s mental health difficulties. Given the lack of services to respond to this need, it is most often left to the parent to make decisions about and respond to their child’s search for understanding. This study is a qualitative study that explores parents’ experiences of decision-making and responding to this need, and the social processes and dominant discourses that impact on these experiences. Fifteen parents with mental health difficulties were interviewed, using semi-structured individual interviews, which were transcribed, and interpretive Grounded Theory was employed to analyse and interpret the data. The grounded theory that was constructed suggest two main social processes that impact on parents’ talking with their children about parental mental health issues. Firstly, within a relational context, parents were Negotiating mutuality between themselves and their children. Secondly, within an identity context, parents had to navigate Holding on to self, holding on to life. These social processes indicate that both parents’ relationships with their children and also their own sense of themselves within the context of their mental distress powerfully shape telling, talking and keeping silent. Implications of these findings both in relation to clinical interventions and future research are considered. In particular, the importance of positioning the parent as active role-player in the healing of their child, and positioning the child as active role-payer in their own meaning-making, are highlighted. Furthermore, developing ‘double-stories’ beyond the mental health story and beyond ‘information’ is emphasised and the importance of a sense of continuity of self and identity over time for parent and child is accentuated. Finally, the importance of allowing for complex and ever-evolving understandings of mental distress is indicated, and the role of both talking and remaining silent in this process is stressed.

This study is a qualitative enquiry into family therapists’ experiences of working with young people who self-harm and their families. To date, in spite of self-harm being a serious public health concern, there is relatively little exploration of the subject in family therapy literature. The study attempts to describe, understand and illuminate family therapists’ experiences: the therapeutic issues encountered, the stances adopted in response to the issues encountered, and the emotional impact on the therapist of working with this client group. A total of nine experienced family therapists participated in semi-structured interviews. The study employed a grounded theory method for data analysis. The analysis yielded a theory of therapists’ experiences that included a Core Category and three Main Categories. The Core Category that emerged was: •Cultivating the Practice of Hope – Withstanding the Pull to Hopelessness. The three Main Categories were: •Making the Situation Safe •Conversing Therapeutically – The Practice of Hope •Team and Organisational Processes: Supporting Therapists. The Core Category is the central feature of this theory. It proposes that the central concern for the therapist is how to stay engaged with the family and the young person in the context of serious risk of self-harm and in situations where change is difficult to achieve and hopelessness can pervade. The therapist has to try to understand and make sense of family members’ distress, and be touched by and open to their feelings of despair and hopelessness without becoming overwhelmed and despairing themselves. The therapist response to this dilemma is the stance of hopefulness. It is both a therapeutic stance and orientation, and is enacted in practice through finding ways to cultivate hope in the therapeutic encounter. While the Core Category is the central ‘story’ the three Main Categories are linked to the Core Category. The Main Category, Making the Situation Safe describes the initial stage of the work, with its focus on ensuring the safety of the young person. The Main Category, Conversing Therapeutically – the Practice of Hope describes how the therapists enacted the ‘practice of hope’. The Main Category, Team and Organisational Processes: Supporting Therapists describes how the context in which the therapists work, the nature of relationships, the team and organisational structures, play a critical role in supporting therapist hope, so that they can withstand the pull to hopelessness. This study aims to make a contribution towards articulating a framework for family therapy with adolescents who self-harm and introduces a new vocabulary – the language of hope and hopelessness.