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This thesis comprises two papers. Paper One: Previous research in relation to young people who are at risk of school exclusion can be criticised for the lack of studies that truly elicit and foreground the voices of these young people within a school context. While retrospective studies have explored their views post exclusion, few have examined their perceptions within a mainstream context prior to exclusion. This can be explained in terms of the inherent difficulties of engaging disaffected young people with research, often attributed to a combination of poor language skills and negative perceptions of adults, and schools’ reluctance to foreground these voices. This paper reports how a participatory research method, which took into account the individual needs of disaffected young people, overcame these difficulties and succeeded in eliciting the voices of ten young people at risk of school exclusion within their mainstream context. Rich, meaningful and contextualised data were generated about disaffected young people’s perceptions of their mainstream school experiences. The data were thematically analysed and then interpreted using self determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). This revealed that from young people’s perspectives the need for a sense of relatedness was more relevant than the need for a sense of autonomy. The need to feel competent only became relevant in certain subject contexts. Findings showed a more holistic and nuanced perspective of disaffection. The young people perceived their engagement to be context driven and, importantly, were able to view themselves as positively engaged with some aspects of school. This highlights the need for further research into disaffected young people’s voices regarding what they perceive to be positive engagement as this may differ from practitioners’ perceptions. Implications for practice are that Educational Psychologists (EPs) are well placed to foreground the voice of disaffected young people with practitioners. In so doing they help them make better sense of disaffected young people’s school experiences and enhance practitioners’ ability to support these young people. Paper Two: Interventions in relation to young people at risk of exclusion tend to be drawn from education practitioner views which focus on a particular perspective of disaffection such as within child or curricular factors. Consequently interventions are ‘done to’ rather than ‘with’ young people and lack an integrated, holistic approach. In this small case study the researcher facilitated an intervention with seven Learning Mentors (LMs) set within two different school contexts. The aim of the intervention was to engage LMs with the voice of disaffected young people. The LMs met in two groups over two months during which vignettes of disaffected young people’s voices were used as stimuli for prioritising, implementing and evaluating changes to current LM practice. LMs’ personal constructs of disaffected young people were elicited pre and post intervention. The findings reveal that when LMs are facilitated to engage with the voice of disaffected young people it can have a positive impact on their perceptions of those young people. The effectiveness of the impact was dependent on the context of the school, level of training received and the extent to which LMs engaged with the facilitative process. As this is one of few studies which have implemented an intervention to engage schools with the voice of disaffected young people, further research exploring whether the intervention could be replicated in other school contexts would be of value. This study adds to the body of knowledge on school disaffection in young people and indicates that EPs are well placed to manage facilitative processes aimed at engaging schools with the voices of disaffected young people. In doing so they support practitioners to broaden their understanding of these young people and, importantly, enable them to act on their voices.

Orientador: Wilson Roberto Poi / Coorientador : Mirian Marubayashi Hidalgo / Banca: Celso Koogi Sonoda / Banca: Fernando Acccorsi Orosco / Banca: Raquel Sano Terada / Banca: Solange Munhoz Arroyo Lopes / Resumo: Objetivo: avaliar o efeito da educação continuada na aquisição e consolidação de conhecimento sobre avulsão dentária dos Orientadores Educacionais do Ensino Fundamental de escolas públicas do município de Maringá-PR, em relação aos corretos procedimentos a serem adotados imediatamente após a ocorrência de uma avulsão dentária. Material e Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo de campo, descritivo-exploratório, de abordagem quantitativa desenvolvido com os Orientadores Educacionais do Ensino Fundamental da rede pública do Município de Maringá, PR. Consideraram-se dois grupos de profissionais entrevistados: submetido à intervenção oral e visual e submetido à intervenção oral e visual, reforçada por outros meios visuais, e o grupo controle, anterior à intervenção. Aplicou-se um questionário dividido em três partes: dados demográficos, conhecimento/domínio sobre traumatismos dentários em geral e a avulsão, em especial, sendo a terceira o conhecimento/domínio sobre as atitudes a serem adotadas em relação ao manejo imediato dos dentes avulsionados .No questionário,utilizou-se uma escala indireta para medir as atitudes dos participantes, a escala de Likert e para interpretação das respostas aplicou-se uma escala de escores de 0 a 4. A intervenção propriamente dita foi a instituição de um Programa de Educação Continuada para capacitação dos envolvidos. A consistência interna do instrumento foi medida por meio do coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach. Para medir a diferença entre os escores atribuídos... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Aim: To evaluate the effect of continuing education on the acquisition and consolidation of knowledge about dental avulsion of Primary School Education Mentors of public schools in the city of Maringá-PR, in relation to the correct procedures to be adopted immediately after the occurrence of a dental avulsion. Materials and methods: This is a field-based, descriptive-exploratory, quantitative approach developed with the Educational Mentors of Elementary School of the public network of the city of Maringá, PR. Two groups of professionals were interviewed: submitted to oral and visual intervention; and submitted to oral and visual intervention, reinforced by other visual means, and the control group, prior to the intervention. A questionnaire was applied divided into three parts: demographic data, knowledge / domain on dental trauma in general, and avulsion in particular; and the third, knowledge / domain about the attitudes to be adopted in relation to the immediate management of avulsed teeth. In the questionnaire, an indirect scale was used to measure the participants' attitudes, the Likert scale and for the interpretation of the answers a score scale of 0 to 4 was used. The intervention it self was the institution of a Continuing Education Program to empower those involved. The internal consistency of the instrument was measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. To measure the difference between the assigned scores, the KruskalWallis test was used, followed by Dunn's multipl... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

21st century schools face significant challenges as they move towards providing opportunities for learners which recognize and build on their strengths and abilities. The process of supporting young people to develop the desire and the confidence to recognise personal potential and to manage their ongoing learning is a priority. Communication and collaboration are key to learners becoming informed active participants in their own learning and experiencing successful outcomes in today's society. Our old models of learning where pre packaged parcels of knowledge were delivered to students by teachers will no longer suffice. As we respond to the new meaning of knowledge in the 21st century and begin to view knowledge as an active process, it is clear that many of the top down structures and organisational practices present in New Zealand secondary schools need change. The idea of personalisation in order to support independent learners to reach their potential is a familiar one for many teachers and is one of the ideals which may have brought them into the teaching profession. However, the institutional contexts in which they operate can act not as a driving force for personalised learning but as a barrier to it. In seeking to find one possible way in which secondary school systems can be re shaped around the needs of the learner, this study examines the role of online mentoring with experts outside the school. This small scale qualitative study uses ethnographic methods to gather data from twelve secondary school year thirteen physical education students and their teacher as they engage in an eight week online project with expert sports coaches at Auckland University of Technology. Eleven of the students were boys. In examining the impact which online mentoring might have on this group of learners and their teacher, rich data was collected via web transcripts, observation, image data and interviews. The research findings reveal that students found a high degree of satisfaction with the process and placed value on having the opportunity to pursue personalised goals as they worked with mentors in a collaborative online environment. Teacher behaviour and practice underwent change in the project with the teacher becoming repositioned within the group in the role of learner. In a process where authoritarian approaches were replaced by collaborative group action and inquiry, students reported an enhanced ability to think deeply, to manage their own learning and to relate in highly skilled ways with others. Students' perceptions about the ways in which they were working were analysed using the New Zealand Curriculum Key Competencies. As students focused their inquiry past the level of curriculum goals and onto real world personal goals, several experienced a shift in perception concerning their own learning potential and expressed surprised at their own level of competence. The fact that eleven out of the twelve students were boys makes this shift in personal learning expectation worthy of further investigation in the quest for improving academic outcomes for boys. Finally, this study may have relevance for the ways in which the Key Competencies have meaning in secondary schools. The study demonstrated that the emergence of competencies such as self management and relating to others was assisted by changes in teacher behaviour and action. As authoritarian approaches were replaced by a collaborative model where independent learning with others was supported, learners began to exhibit the personal competencies described by the New Zealand Curriculum (2008). These competencies which include Thinking, Using Language, symbols and texts, Managing self, Relating to others and Participating and contributing occurred as a natural consequence of a learning model which was shaped to fit the learner; a personalised approach to learning with support from online mentors.

The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons the four female participants decided to pursue electrician technician training, their perspectives of the apprenticeship program, their perceptions of successful employment in a male-dominated occupation, and differences in treatment based on their gender. The exploratory questions that guided the study were: what led the females to make the decision for applying to the electrician technician apprenticeship; what was the nature of the education and training experiences of the participants in the electrician technician apprenticeship program, what were the participants’ perceptions of being successful in advancement within the workforce as a female electrician technician; and what gender differences did the participants experience as female electrician technicians? The theoretical framework for this study is based on feminist standpoint theory (Harding, 1991, 1993, 1987; Hartsock, 1997, 1998a 1998b; Smith 1987, 1997). Data collection methods consisted of a demographics questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, participant journals, researcher’s reflexive journal notes, and electrician apprenticeship program data. The cross-case analysis generated five major themes: family support, independence, mentors, self-directedness, and gender stereotypes. These five themes included discussions of the micro, meso, and macro levels in a male-dominated occupation. Implications for practitioners and policy makers are described. This study contributes empirical research on feminist standpoint theory and females in male-dominated occupations. It also adds to the body of literature on female electrician technicians’ decision processes, which are rarely studied, and success in a male-dominated occupation.

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Keywords: Teaching practicum, mentors, mentoring, qualitative research, multiple case study Abstract The teaching practicum is an integral part of teacher education and a key role is played by teacher trainers - mentors. The aim of this thesis is to determine their perception of the practicum, evaluation of their own degree of preparedness, and attitude to the tasks which the role of the mentor involves. The theoretical part describes the roles of the mentor, models of mentoring, concrete mentoring tasks, and also mentors' motivation as well as important skills. It further discusses selected issues in the EFL practicum, namely feedback and self-reflection, observations, preparedness of mentors, and the length of the practicum. The empirical part is comprised of the results of qualitative research in the form of a multiple case study. Five case studies have been carried out in total and data have been processed through the process of coding. The paper then goes on to analyse the findings with regard to the theoretical concepts discussed earlier in the study, and outlines potential research and pedagogical implications. The main findings of the study include mentors' high motivation for their roles and friendly attitude to teacher trainees, as well as their lack of specialised education for teacher trainee...

Educators at a public high school in Southeastern United States depend on mentor teachers to minimize the attrition rate among beginning teachers, yet the strategies implemented by mentors lack definition and clarity. The purpose of this study was to explore mentor teachers' perceptions of effective mentoring strategies and their needs when mentoring new teachers. Maslow's humanistic learning theory guided this bounded basic qualitative study. The research questions focused on the mentoring strategies mentor teachers perceived as effective and the needs of the mentors. Ten high school mentor teachers, who currently mentor new teachers, were purposefully selected to participate in individual and focus group interviews. Precoding, open and axial coding were used to inductively analyze the data. The results showed mentors promote school culture, are a source of information, build relationships, use data to drive discussion, provide opportunity for reflection, conduct observations, connect theory with practice, and model professional behavior as effective strategies. Mentor teachers indicated that effective communication is crucial when mentoring new teachers. Additionally, they need specific skills to help beginning teachers better understand the reality of teaching and address their unrealistic expectations of the profession. Based on the findings a 3-day professional development for mentor teachers was developed to address mentors' needs. This endeavor may contribute to positive social change when district administration provides mentor teachers with professional development to enrich their mentoring strategies which in turn may address the challenges new teachers experience and reduce the attrition rate.

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