In this qualitative study of middle school English teachers, I investigated the phenomenon of why teachers stay, year in and year out, despite challenges brought on by educational reforms and negative depictions from the general public. The teachers’ experiences illustrate the dedication and perseverance of professionals committed to working with students year in and year out. I framed this case study (Merriam, 1988) in theories of sensemaking (Maitliss & Christianson, 2014; Wieck, 1995) and critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 2011). The participants were three teachers who taught middle school English for over ten years. Within this time frame, they were exposed to multiple, ongoing reforms: No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core State Standards. I used sensemaking and critical pedagogy lenses to explore how these teachers experienced issues of power and interpreted educational reforms. I also examined the reasons why they persisted in the profession. I employed grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and Gee’s (2011) Seven Building Tasks for analysis to identify four categories to illuminate the teachers’ stories: 1) Public Perception of the Profession, 2) Pedagogy and Curriculum, 3) Relationships, and 4) Being a Teacher. The teachers’ experienced ongoing struggles and yet had longevity in the profession. Implications of the study point to the perils and promises of long-term teaching. The perils were challenges of the profession: demands from administrators, new and limiting curriculum, a negative public perception, and long hours. The promises these teachers kept were commitments to decision makers and the public, middle school students and their families, and to the profession. It is these promises that they kept each year that motivated the teachers and sustained them over time.

The problem of this study was to determine and analyze the relationships between teacher morale as determined by the Group Dimensions Descriptions Questionnaire and the ability to establish rapport with pupils as determined by the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory. The purpose of this study was to discover possible implications from the relationships between teacher morale and the ability to establish rapport with pupils and other selected personal and professional characteristics.

The first purpose of this study was to determine teachers' perception of administrative policies, procedures, and practices in the various administrative units in three Texas school systems and to test the significance of the relationship between the teachers' perception of the dimensions of these aspects of administration and the morale status of the teachers in these various administrative units. The second purpose of this study was to identify those policies, practices, and procedures, as perceived by the teachers, which most frequently are associated with and show a significant relationship to a high morale tendency and those which most frequently are associated with and show a significant relationship to a low morale tendency. The third purpose of this study was to interpret the significant relationships in terms of administrative dimensions and implications which may suggest certain policies, procedures, and practices for the improvement of teacher morale in the public schools.

Dans cette thèse en psychologie morale, je m’intéresse au rôle de l’imagination dans la perception morale. Je soutiens que l’imagination y a une fonction épistémique dans la mesure où – en s’accompagnant ou non d’émotions – elle nous révèle des normes, des valeurs ou des vertus morales qui seraient autrement passées inaperçues. En simulant des croyances et des perceptions, l’imagination nous permet d’accéder à ces caractéristiques d’une situation moralement pertinentes, mais perceptuellement non saillantes. J’identifie trois modes de « perception morale imaginative » : 1) la prise de perspective qui consiste à endosser le point de vue d’autrui, 2) le cadrage imaginatif qui désigne le fait de voir un élément d’une situation comme autre qu’il n’est et, 3) la comparaison imaginative qui, grâce à la pensée contrefactuelle, éclaire le monde actuel à partir d’un monde possible imaginé. Chacun de ces modes contribue à enrichir notre connaissance morale, et partant, à améliorer notre délibération morale. J’appuie ma démonstration sur des travaux récents en philosophie de la psychologie, en psychologie cognitive et sociale, en neuropsychologie et, bien évidemment, en psychologie morale. / My thesis focuses on the role of imagination for moral perception. I argue that imagination – whether accompanied by emotion or not - has an epistemic role inasmuch as it can reveal moral norms, values, and virtues that might otherwise go un-noticed. On the simulationist account, belief-like imaginings and perception-like imaginings give us access to the morally relevant but perceptually non-salient features of a situation. I identify three types of “imaginative moral perception”: 1) the perspective taking that consists of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes; 2) the imaginative framing, which refers to seeing an element of a situation as something else; 3) the imaginative comparison, which sheds light on the actual world by using counterfactuals thinking that give us access to a possible world. Each of these types of moral perception contributes to enhancing our moral knowledge hence to improving our moral deliberation. My argument appeals to recent contributions from the fields of philosophy of psychology, cognitive and social psychology, neuropsychology and, of course, moral psychology.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / Bibliography: leaf 91. / by Edward H. Getchell. / M.S.

Data of this study were collected from 239 supervisor-subordinate dyads working in a foreign-invested enterprise in China. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were employed to test the hypotheses. Results showed that procedural justice, informational justice, and distributive justice contributed positively to POS. POS was positively related to social exchange, and negatively related to economic exchange. Furthermore, both social exchange and economic exchange acted as the mediators on the relationship between POS with affective commitment, but not on the relationship between POS with in-role performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Discussions are made on the study's findings as well as its theoretical and practical implications. Limitations of the study and future research directions are also suggested. / Past research on employee-organization exchange relationships mostly used perceived organizational support (POS) to represent social exchange relationship. Such approach confuses the conceptual meanings of POS and social exchange, and excludes economic exchange in the analysis of employment relationships. The roles of POS, social exchange, and economic exchange have not been properly specified and examined in a conceptual model. In addition, research on POS focuses on procedural justice and hence neglects the roles of other types of justice perceptions (e.g., distributive justice and informational justice) as antecedents of employees' outcomes. This limits our full understanding of the determinants, process, and consequences of exchange relationships between employees and their organization. To fill the above research voids, this study develops a comprehensive model to examine the relationships among organizational justice, POS, social and economic exchanges, and three major employees' outcomes (i.e., affective commitment, in-role performance, and organizational citizenship behavior). In view of the unique characteristics and dynamic changes in employment relationships, China has been chosen as the research site. / Loi Chi Ho. / "August 2006." / Adviser: Hang-Yue Ngo. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0639. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-156). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.