The main assertion in this dissertation is that there is a lack of adequate and appropriate parental involvement in the education of learners with mild intellectual impairment in mainstream schools in Sisonke District. Empirical research was conducted to understand the perceptions of parents and teachers of the involvement of parents in the education of learners with mild intellectual impairment in mainstream schools. The focus was on parents and teachers in an extreme poverty context in Sisonke District of KwaZulu-Natal. A qualitative investigation of parental involvement in five mainstream schools was conducted by collecting data through interview, observation and documents analysis with ten parents and five teachers. The literature that was reviewed focused on the factors that increase and hinder parental involvement, prevalence of intellectual impairment, theories related to family, school and community partnership and inclusive education. The research has revealed that the lack of adequate and appropriate parental involvement at mainstream schools admitting learners with mild intellectual impairment is influenced by factors such as poor socio-economic background, high illiteracy, cultural beliefs, and parents’ denial of intellectual impairment, diversity, lack of teacher training in parental involvement, lack of healthy inclusive climate characteristics, parents’ attitudes and perceptions. The investigation further found that there is an urgent need for teachers to acquire knowledge, skills and strategies for active involvement of parents in inclusive mainstream schools. Each School Management Team (SMT) should strive to create a climate of inclusion that displays healthy school characteristics in order to improve parental involvement in mainstream schools. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

Research has revealed that more Americans than ever are turning to the World Wide Web as their primary source for news and information instead of legacy media outlets such as printed newspapers and magazines and broadcast news. As more and more people rely on the Internet as a primary source for news, it is important to analyze the characteristics and content of online news to expose and correct problems associated with the practices that inform its production and presentation. There are several longstanding practices in the American journalistic tradition that have been adapted to the online news environment. The practices of market segmentation and gatekeeping are two such practices. To date, few studies have explored how internet news coverage differs when the same story is altered to address the perceived interests of specific target audiences. This goal of this study was to collect and examine the characteristics of news stories presented on the homepages of three news websites—the Huffington Post, Huffington Post Black Voices and News One—to arrive at conclusions about the similarities and differences in how news content is reported to a general audience and to an African-American audience. This exploratory study used both Web sphere analysis and qualitative analysis to examine the collected homepage news stories. It used the results of the analyses to explore the possible effects continued market segmentation and selective exposure online could have on discourse in the public sphere. The study found that the legacy media practice of market segmentation was evident when online news reporting on targeted and untargeted news website homepages was compared. The study also revealed that the traditional role of the Black Press in legacy media has been resurrected in new media and is evident on news websites produced by African-Americans, for an African-American audience. Additionally, a qualitative examination of online news coverage of President Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address and the death of Trayvon Martin revealed that the targeted audience influences the editorial slant through which news websites report stories.

Growing issues such as climate crises, social injustice and neglection of basic human rights have created a new type of consumption, namely ethical consumption. Ethical consumption was initially mainly concerned for environmental issues but has in later years starting to include a variety of pressing issues. Ethical consumption was also initially mainly connected to groups of extremists, but with the increasing availability of ethical products in mainstream outlets, ethical consumption has shifted to be a mainstream consumer game. Mainstream ethical consumption has largely been neglected in previous research where the field is lacking knowledge in form of qualitative behavioral data. Departing from the gap, this study will mainly focus on exploring the motives for ethical consumption in the mainstream consumer segment. We will examine several driving forces in form of altruistic-based motives, egoistic-based motives, and non-value-based motives. However, in order to give this an additional dimension we also want to examine the level of morality of ethical consumption by using five ethical theories. This approach has been overlooked in previous ethical consumption research and it will question the basic assumption that ethical consumption is the morally correct thing to do. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the motivational factors for ethical consumption and through the lens of ethical theories examine the level of morality of this behavior. In order to fulfill this purpose we have conducted a qualitative study within the context of organic groceries in the Swedish market. Organic groceries is a branch of ethical consumption that few studies has examined before, and that applies especially to the Swedish market. 14 mainstream consumers have been interviewed were all of these were frequent buyers of organic groceries. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured fashion which was then analyzed by the use of thematic analysis. Furthermore, the study was guided by an exploratory inductive approach where subjectivity played a significant part. The results show that ethical consumption is driven by altruistic-based motives in form of social justice, where consumer want their consumption to benefit other. However, it is far from the only motive because ethical consumers are equally driven by egoistic motives. The result show that consumers are driven strongly by the sense of self- satisfaction created by the force of social norms, health and wellbeing, and product quality. This duality of motives creates a paradoxical tension in form of a win-win situation where the consumers strive for both the benefit of self as well as the benefit of others. Furthermore, ethical consumption is driven by habitual behavior where the consumers rely much on mental shortcuts in their purchases. Consumers are also not well- informed about ethical products and labels and therefore rely heavily on mythical benefits. In addition, when examining the level of morality of ethical consumption we can conclude that it is on level between mediocre to high. From a consequentialist and a non- consequentialist perspective the level of morality is fairly high, but from a character-based perspective the morality stumbles.

<p>This thesis is a contribution to the scholarly debate on how African Independent Churches (AICs) relate to outside partners. It is a case study from the perspective of the periphery of Ethiopia, which explains the origins of the Mekane Yesus Church in Kambata Hadiya</p><p>The diachronic structure of the study with a focus from 1944 to 1975 highlights how a group of Christians reacted to cultural pressure and formed a local independent church, the Kambata Evangelical Church 2 (KEC-2). The KEC-2 established relations with external partners, like a neighbouring mainstream conference of churches, a neighbouring mainstream church, an international organisation, and a mainstream overseas church and its mission. These relations influenced the KEC-2 to develop into a synod of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The diachronic approach is augmented by synchronic structural analyses, illustrating how aspects in the independent KEC-2, like polity, worship, doctrine and ethos were changing.</p><p>The study contends that "Ethiopian Evangelical Solidarity" was a crucial factor in the development of the independent KEC-2 into a synod of the EECMY. As this factor helped the Ethiopians to transcend barriers of ethnicity, social status and denominationalism, it is not unreasonable to assume that the study has relevance for a wider African context.</p><p>This thesis builds on material taken mainly from unpublished printed sources in various languages from archives in Ethiopia, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. These are supplemented by interviews made by the author.</p>

Darbe atlikta teorinė integruoto (inkliuzinio) ugdymo sampratos, probleminių klausimų, ugdymo individualizavimo funkcijų bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje analizė. Iškelta hipotezė, kad modifikuotų ir adaptuotų programų rengimas bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose mokytojams mažai praktine patirtimi paremta sritis, kurią reikia tobulinti. Programų rengimo mechanizmas yra nebaigtas ir nuolatos tobulinamas. Anketinės apklausos metodu buvo atliktas tyrimas, kurio tikslas - atskleisti ir įvertinti adaptuotų ir modifikuotų programų taikymo bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje efektyvumo veiksnius, atkreipti dėmesį į pačią problemą, t.y. galbūt svarbiau ne programa, o mokymo kokybė, ar nesureikšminama programa, dėmesį atitraukiant nuo ugdymo proceso kokybės. Gautų tyrimo rezultatų analizė atlikta taikant aprašomosios statistikos metodus: skaičiuotas procentinis pasiskirstymas, aritmetinis vidurkis, reitingai, atlikta koreliacinė analizė. Statistinėms hipotezėms tikrinti taikytas chi-kvadrato kriterijus. Tyrime dalyvavo 111 bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų lietuvių kalbos ir pradinių klasių mokytojai. Empirinėje dalyje nagrinėjamas modifikuotų ir adaptuotų programų sudarymas, mokymo metodų taikymas, atliktas specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinčių mokinių vertinimas, aptariami organizaciniai adaptuotų bei modifikuotų lietuvių kalbos programų rengimo klausimai ir problemos. Svarbiausios empirinio tyrimo išvados: 1. Pagrindiniai sunkumai, susiję su ugdymo turinio individualizavimu ir diferencijavimu: mokytojams... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In the paper the theoretical analysis of integrated (inclusive) education and problem questions, as well as analysis of education individualization functions in the mainstream school are performed. Hypothesis is set, that preparation of modified and adapted curricula in the mainstream schools is the area little supported by the teachers’ practical experience which is to be improved. Curricula preparation mechanism is incomplete and undergoes improvement. With the means of questioning survey a research was performed, sought to disclose and to assess the efficiency factors of adapted and modified curricula application in the mainstream school, to pay attention at the same problem, i.e. probably teaching quality is more important that the curriculum, whether the curriculum isn’t given prominence, taking the attention away from the education process quality. Analysis of the results obtained was performed using the descriptive statistical methods: percentage distribution, arithmetical means, ratings were calculated, correlation analysis was done. To check the statistical hypotheses, chi-square criterion was employed. 111 teachers of Lithuanian language and primary forms from mainstream schools participated in the survey. In the empirical part modified and adapted curriculum compilation, application of teaching methods are analysed, evaluation of the pupils with special needs is performed, organization questions and problems of modified and adapted Lithuanian language... [to full text]

Adolescent perspectives on health and the social and literate values of their health related behaviours require exploration and examination in health literacy, as knowledge gaps related to the constituents of health literate practices, and the functions and acquisition of health literacy exist in the literature. Research addressing this was approached based on socio-cultural and socio-ecological principles using a collective instrumental case design. Participants were new adolescent mother aged 15-18 recruited from 4 different community/education programs around Victoria, BC. Data was collected over a four month period, and consisted of individual and focus group interviews, journals, and researchers’ observations and field notes. Findings show that participants’ health behaviours changed significantly in tandem with their identities, the groups they associated with, and the social contexts they moved within. Findings indicate that identity, informal social environments, and unconscious cognitive process and psychosocial needs play a role in adolescents health literacy and literate practices.

This thesis is a contribution to the scholarly debate on how African Independent Churches (AICs) relate to outside partners. It is a case study from the perspective of the periphery of Ethiopia, which explains the origins of the Mekane Yesus Church in Kambata Hadiya The diachronic structure of the study with a focus from 1944 to 1975 highlights how a group of Christians reacted to cultural pressure and formed a local independent church, the Kambata Evangelical Church 2 (KEC-2). The KEC-2 established relations with external partners, like a neighbouring mainstream conference of churches, a neighbouring mainstream church, an international organisation, and a mainstream overseas church and its mission. These relations influenced the KEC-2 to develop into a synod of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The diachronic approach is augmented by synchronic structural analyses, illustrating how aspects in the independent KEC-2, like polity, worship, doctrine and ethos were changing. The study contends that "Ethiopian Evangelical Solidarity" was a crucial factor in the development of the independent KEC-2 into a synod of the EECMY. As this factor helped the Ethiopians to transcend barriers of ethnicity, social status and denominationalism, it is not unreasonable to assume that the study has relevance for a wider African context. This thesis builds on material taken mainly from unpublished printed sources in various languages from archives in Ethiopia, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. These are supplemented by interviews made by the author.

The present thesis focuses on the representations of gays in Czech and Slovak contemporary theater plays. Its aim is to analyze the queer and campy aspects of the representations of gays in the mainstream plays and uncover the principles of creation of the gay character in the structure of dramatic Arts. The results of analysis explain the integrative mode of representation of gays in Czech and Slovak contemporary plays.

The study sought to investigate educators’ perceptions of the implementation of Inclusive Education in mainstream secondary schools around Polokwane, Limpopo Province of South Africa. The approach to the study was qualitative, guided by an interpretivist paradigm. A purposefully selected sample of 20 teachers from 10 purposively selected mainstream secondary schools in Polokwane participated in this study. Instruments for data collection comprised in-depth interviews, corroborated by non-participant field observations to verify the implementation of Inclusive Education in mainstream secondary schools. Content analysis was employed to analyse the data with the aim of coming up with themes and subthemes. The study revealed that the educators had the passion and willingness to implement Inclusive Education. The educators further perceived Inclusive Education as needful. The implementation of Inclusive Education was perceived as being effective to a lesser extent. The educators perceived the implementation of Inclusive Education as being negatively affected by their inadequate training, school environments which were unfit to accommodate learners with disabilities, the lack of facilities and equipment and higher learner enrolments in mainstream classrooms. Gender was seen to affect the educators’ confidence in handling learners with disabilities and their ability to identify such learners. The study recommends the continued professional development and training of educators in the area of Inclusive Education, regular support and monitoring of Inclusive Education activities in mainstream schools by the DBE, provision of relevant resources and facilities in mainstream schools for the implementation of Inclusive Education, and additional support to educators to enhance their confidence in handling learners with barriers to learning and development. Finally, a model for the improvement of the implementation of Inclusive Education in mainstream schools is proposed. / Inclusive Education / D. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

The thesis "Controlling and managing a music production in the period of normalization on the example of rock music and its media portrayal" describes and analyses the system of controlling and managing Czechoslovak music production in the period of normalization with a particular attention to the mechanisms that deployed socialist ideological and aesthetical standards in the area of rock music. Additionally, this included a prescriptive media coverage highlighting socialist values using coordinated and centralised management through state institutions. The goal of the thesis is then to reveal a modus operandi of communist cultural policy on the examples of media approach to the trials with leading underground music protagonists in 1976 as rock music was a vehicle for expression their dissent attitude toward the system in an artistic way.