Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

Research on the causes of truancy from mainstream education suggest that a range of factors such as poverty, ethnicity, the quality of relationship between students and teachers, and the nature of the classroom environment impact on students’ attendance in schools. The majority of the studies on truancy have been carried out with students in alternative education in the U.S.A and Australia. In New Zealand, research has focused on the truancy of Maori students. This study investigates the causes of truancy for Pasifika students in alternative education in New Zealand. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected using questionnaires and three focus group interviews. The findings from this study suggest that a number of factors affected students’ motivation to study. The behaviour of teachers and the school environment were found to affect the Pasifika students’ approach to learning. Some students had negative views of their own ability and lacked perseverance. Other students believed that a lack of parental or family support impacted negatively on their attendance. Consistent with the findings in other studies on truancy, this study found that a range of influences such as a lack of support from community leaders, students’ perceptions of their performance, the nature of the classroom environment, family structure, lifestyle factors and cultural and church activities contributed to Pasifika students’ truanting behaviour. This study suggests that schools that employ teachers who understand and empathize with the cultural aspects of Pasifika students and who can empathize with their situation will be most effective in preventing truancy among these students. Similarly, schools have dedicated programmes that accommodate the academic requirements of Pasifika students foster a more positive learning environment. Finally, schools should look to put in place initiatives to enable Pasifika parents to become effective partners in their children’s education.

Research on the causes of truancy from mainstream education suggest that a range of factors such as poverty, ethnicity, the quality of relationship between students and teachers, and the nature of the classroom environment impact on students’ attendance in schools. The majority of the studies on truancy have been carried out with students in alternative education in the U.S.A and Australia. In New Zealand, research has focused on the truancy of Maori students. This study investigates the causes of truancy for Pasifika students in alternative education in New Zealand. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected using questionnaires and three focus group interviews. The findings from this study suggest that a number of factors affected students’ motivation to study. The behaviour of teachers and the school environment were found to affect the Pasifika students’ approach to learning. Some students had negative views of their own ability and lacked perseverance. Other students believed that a lack of parental or family support impacted negatively on their attendance. Consistent with the findings in other studies on truancy, this study found that a range of influences such as a lack of support from community leaders, students’ perceptions of their performance, the nature of the classroom environment, family structure, lifestyle factors and cultural and church activities contributed to Pasifika students’ truanting behaviour. This study suggests that schools that employ teachers who understand and empathize with the cultural aspects of Pasifika students and who can empathize with their situation will be most effective in preventing truancy among these students. Similarly, schools have dedicated programmes that accommodate the academic requirements of Pasifika students foster a more positive learning environment. Finally, schools should look to put in place initiatives to enable Pasifika parents to become effective partners in their children’s education.

Research on the causes of truancy from mainstream education suggest that a range of factors such as poverty, ethnicity, the quality of relationship between students and teachers, and the nature of the classroom environment impact on students’ attendance in schools. The majority of the studies on truancy have been carried out with students in alternative education in the U.S.A and Australia. In New Zealand, research has focused on the truancy of Maori students. This study investigates the causes of truancy for Pasifika students in alternative education in New Zealand. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected using questionnaires and three focus group interviews. The findings from this study suggest that a number of factors affected students’ motivation to study. The behaviour of teachers and the school environment were found to affect the Pasifika students’ approach to learning. Some students had negative views of their own ability and lacked perseverance. Other students believed that a lack of parental or family support impacted negatively on their attendance. Consistent with the findings in other studies on truancy, this study found that a range of influences such as a lack of support from community leaders, students’ perceptions of their performance, the nature of the classroom environment, family structure, lifestyle factors and cultural and church activities contributed to Pasifika students’ truanting behaviour. This study suggests that schools that employ teachers who understand and empathize with the cultural aspects of Pasifika students and who can empathize with their situation will be most effective in preventing truancy among these students. Similarly, schools have dedicated programmes that accommodate the academic requirements of Pasifika students foster a more positive learning environment. Finally, schools should look to put in place initiatives to enable Pasifika parents to become effective partners in their children’s education.

A Critical View of Contemporary Environmentalism: Pushing for Grassroots Struggle and Hope during an Era of Escalating Catastrophe

My central argument is that mainstream British cinema of the 1951 – 1965 period marked the end of the paternalism, as exemplified by a professional ‘officer class’, as consumerism gradually came to be perceived as the norm as opposed to a post-war enemy. The starting point is 1951, the year of the Conservative victory in the General Election and a time which most films were still locally funded. The closing point is 1965, by which point the vast majority of British films were funded by the USA and often featured a youthful and proudly affluent hero. Thus, this fourteen year describes how British cinema moved away from the People as Hero guided by middle class professionals in the face of consumerism. Over the course of this work, I will analyse the creation of the archetypes of post-war films and detail how the impact of consumerism and increased Hollywood involvement in the UK film industry affected their personae. However, parallel with this apparently linear process were those films that questioned or attacked the wartime consensus model. As memories of the war receded, and the Rank/ABPC studio model collapsed, there was an increasing sense of deracination across a variety of popular British cinematic genres. From the beginning of our period there is a number films that infer that the “Myth of the Blitz”, as developed in a cinematic sense, was just that and our period ends with films that convey a sense of a fragmenting society.

This thesis aims to describe and compare how the securitization of the Arctic is represented in mainstream media of Norway and Canada. As two Arctic nations part of the likeminded group in international relations it is interesting to see how national media frames respective nations’ Arctic interests and strategy. Based on securitization and framing theory this thesis identifies themes and trends surrounding the Arctic by using three different security concepts: economic security, traditional security and environmental security. The data for study will be in total 189 full-text articles from both nations’ mainstream media, where search terms relating to a security grammar will be used. A qualitative content analysis will be employed on articles from Norwegian media, specifically Aftenposten, and Canadian media, The Globe and Mail. The analysis will show that both Norwegian and Canadian mainstream media thematically framed the securitization of the Arctic predominantly through the same security concepts. Yet there were differences in relation to attitudes towards Arctic securitization where Canadian media showed a more assertive disposition towards other nations involvement. Norwegian media, on the other hand was more inclined towards regional cooperation.

Master of Music / School of Music, Theatre and Dance / Augustin Muriago / This lecture-recital presents five pieces from the first two books of Elisenda Fabregas’ Album for the Young. These intermediate-level pieces are written in styles ranging from Renaissance to Modern periods. The goal in presenting these works is to analyze what technical and musical skills they develop, suggest ways to teach these pieces, and to explore their interaction with more traditional teaching repertoire. The lecture-recital presents—pedagogical exercises developed to target specific skills needed to play these pieces; performance practice for each genre represented; and finally, pairs each piece with pieces by Bartok, Bach, Czerny, Kahlua, Clementi, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, and Debussy. The works of Fabregas were chosen to promote the work of women composers and to expand the teaching repertoire that students and teachers are exposed to.

Este trabalho apresenta uma análise sobre a difusão do rap no cenário cultural, a partir da influência de um dos principais mediadores culturais presentes nesse processo, a mídia hegemônica. Dessa maneira, buscou-se identificar as consequências desse fenômeno nos processos de produção, difusão e recepção cultural, a partir da análise da cobertura midiática sobre o rap e o hip-hop no Brasil, entre os anos 1980 e 2000. Partindo da premissa de que o rap figura como uma ferramenta de instrumentalização da luta pelo reconhecimento de direitos das minorias políticas, além de revelar uma linguagem estética relevante, que rompe com os padrões tradicionais de produção artística, a presente pesquisa foca no processo de mediação do rap pelo agente midiático, especificamente, a partir da veiculação de seu conteúdo no jornal Folha de S.Paulo, nas revistas Veja e BIZZ e na programação da emissora MTV. Considerando o fato de que o rap se constitui em uma expressão inovadora, tanto no campo cultural quanto social, durante a trajetória da pesquisa ficou evidente o seu apelo mercadológico e o crescente interesse com que a mídia acompanhou a evolução desse fenômeno. Considerando a aproximação da mídia à cena rap, foi possível verificar a influência exercida da primeira sobre a segunda, revelando as relações simbióticas e recíprocas entre as esferas de mediação, produção e de circulação no campo cultural. A análise também revelou que a abordagem da mídia tradicional sobre o rap mobiliza códigos que o associam a três perspectivas: moda, movimento e mercado. A alternância do predomínio de uma dessas abordagens se alinha às transformações sociais e à emergência de novos discursos que ecoam em um determinado contexto. Contudo, a partir da ocupação de um espaço definitivo do rap na mídia hegemônica e da consolidação de um mercado próprio, o rap passa a contar com uma nova frente dentro do movimento que se mobiliza a partir dos recursos materiais e simbólicos em voga para elaborar estratégias alternativas de produção, difusão e comercialização cultural. / This work presents an analysis about the rap diffusion in the cultural scene, starting from the influence of one of the main cultural mediators present in this process, the mainstream media. Therefore, it was identified the consequences of this phenomenon in production processes, dissemination and cultural reception, from the analysis of media coverage of the rap and hip-hop in Brazil, between the years of 1980 and 2000. Considering that rap figures as tool of instrumentalization of the struggle for recognition of rights of political minorities, besides proves itself a relevant aesthetic language, which breaks with traditional patterns of artistic production, the following research focuses on the process of mediation by rap media agent, specifically, based on the diffusion of their content in Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, in the magazines Veja and BIZZ and on MTV station. Considering the fact that rap constitutes an innovative expression, both in the cultural field as social, while devoloping this research, it became clear its marketing appeal and the growing interest that the media followed the evolution of this phenomenon. Considering the approach of the media to rap scene, it was possible to identify the influence exerted from media to rap, revealing the symbiotic and reciprocal relationship between mediation spheres, production and circulation in the cultural field. The analysis also revealed that the approach and influence of traditional media over the rap mobilizes codes that combines it into three perspectives: fashion, moviment and market. The alternation of the predominance of one of these approaches is aligned with the social changes and the emergence of new discourses that echo in a determinated context. However, from the occupation of a definitive rap space in the mainstream media and the consolidation of its own market, the rap now has a new front in the movement that is mobilized from the material and symbolic resources in vogue to develop alternative strategies production, dissemination and cultural marketing.

Research has shown that social interaction and the development of friendships is important in promoting academic, personal and emotional development. Social interaction is a core difficulty for children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). An increasing number of pupils with ASD are being educated within mainstream school where it is hoped that they will benefit from social opportunities with their peers and that the professionals working with them will be confident to support them (Keen and Ward, 2004). There is however growing evidence that school staff do not feel confident in supporting these pupils (House of Commons Education and Skills Committee, 2006; Robertson, Chamberlain and Kasari, 2003) and that this population of children are vulnerable to experiencing significantly poorer academic and social and emotional outcomes than their peers (Department for Education, 2012a; Humphrey and Lewis, 2008; Howlin and Goode, 1998). Teaching assistants (TAs) are often employed by schools to support pupils with ASD however research has suggested that the deployment of TAs might actually compound social interaction difficulties (Humphrey and Symes, 2011; Blatchford et al., 2009). TAs are in a unique position to support the social interaction of the pupils they work with however there is limited research into how TAs can be best utilised to facilitate social interaction between pupils with ASD and their typically developing peers within the classroom. This study piloted a researcher developed intervention, Better Together and conducted a process and outcome evaluation in order to investigate potential outcomes for TAs and pupils and examine systemic factors which might support or impede the intervention’s implementation and sustainability. The Better Together intervention aimed to train TAs to facilitate social interaction between pupils with ASD and their mainstream peers. The study involved three TA: pupil pairings within a single mainstream primary school and a single project coordinator. An evaluation of the ‘Better Together’ intervention package was undertaking using a fully mixed, sequential, dominant status design. Information pertaining to TA confidence levels was gathered pre and post intervention through semi-structured questionnaires. Structured observations were undertaken pre and post intervention and after a school term to gather information about the rate, range, maintenance and success of facilitative strategies used by the TAs. Semi-structured interviews with the TAs and project coordinator were carried out in order to obtain information about the implementation and outcomes of the intervention. The Social Inclusion Survey was administered at three time points to ascertain whether any changes in the social inclusion of target pupils had occurred.13Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings from this small scale study suggest that the TAs had an increased rate and range of facilitative behaviours following the intervention and that there was a simultaneous increase in student interactions between pupils with ASD and their peers. These gains were sustained over time. The intervention was valued by staff and plans were made to extend the principles to other schools within the area through the establishment of a TA network of support. Core facilitators and barriers to the implementation of the intervention were explored and discussed and implications for future research and the role of the Educational Psychologist (EP) are considered.