The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how mentorships can impact women’s career development. Previous research shows that there is an inequality gap between men and women on management positions and the aim for this research paper is to see if mentorships could help close this gap and make the top-level management more gender equal.   The Swedish banking industry is interesting to research due to its overall equality in the organisation, but extreme inequality in the top of the hierarchy. Sweden is one of the most equal countries in the EU but are still struggling to eliminate structural discrimination from their organisations. Mentorships has through previous studies shown to be a helpful tool for women to progress in their careers and increase gender balance in workplaces.   To be able to answer the research questions and fulfil the purpose of this research a qualitative research approach was applied. Five semi-structured interviews was held in order to gather empirical data. The participants were women in managerial positions within one of Sweden’s largest banks. Because of a confidentiality agreement, the name of the bank will not be revealed but rather be referred to as The Bank.   The findings of this research show that both formal and informal mentorships can be used as a tool for women to progress in their career. Mentorships give women the support they need to believe in their own worth, they also get access to new parts of organisations that before has been unattainable for them and get an insight in the political games within an organisation.

The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the role of dispositional characteristics in effective mentoring relationships. A learning and development framework was incorporated to examine the relationships of protégé and mentor characteristics, mentoring provided, and developmental mentoring outcomes. First, relationships between individual characteristics and mentoring provided were examined. Second, relationships between individual characteristics and partner developmental outcomes were examined. Third, mentoring provided was examined as a mediator of individual characteristics and partner developmental outcomes. The final sample consisted of 93 protégé-mentor pairs. Protégés and mentors were asked to complete an online survey measuring learning goal orientation, locus of control, self-efficacy for development, mentoring received/mentoring provided, and multiple assessments of relationship effectiveness. In general, the hypotheses were not supported, but supplemental analyses provided support for the importance of examining individual characteristics. Key findings contribute to the mentoring literature by illustrating the role of learning goal orientation and self-efficacy for development in effective mentoring relationships. Future research should investigate additional underlying mechanisms that further explain the mentorship learning exchange processes.

The implementation of curriculum change, and innovative pedagogical theory, can help educators and administrators in higher education further the learning gains of students in the sciences. But the introduction of new methods of teaching, or curricular restructuring, can be interpreted by students differently, potentially affecting students' emotional states as well as their relationships with peers. To support not only the learning of students, but also their emotional and social well-being, pedagogical and curricular theory should be enacted in ways that take into consideration the full scope of the student experience. In this dissertation, the implementation of curriculum and pedagogical theory, and the effects of the usage of active learning methods, are examined through student learning gains as well as through any reported social and emotional affects. In the first chapter we examine the history and realization of the integration of clinical and biomedical sciences in the field of predoctoral dental education. In the second chapter, the effects of early experiential learning opportunities are examined via students' progression to clinical competence and students’ self-reported confidence in a predoctoral dental program. In the third chapter, we consider and review how curricular change may affect students' emotional states, their relationships with peers, and if the concept of stereotype threat played any role in the complication observed. Lastly, in chapter four we explore how active learning may benefit, or hinder, the learning of students in an undergraduate anatomy course with social anxiety in a virtual learning environment. Throughout this dissertation, we seek to promote student learning through the use of educational best practices and consider how curriculum and pedagogical changes might also affect the feelings and emotional states of students, for the purpose of building a considerate and effective educational environment.