Thesis (M Social Work)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to present guidelines for the composition of a parent orientated sex education programme for pre-school children. An exploratory study was undertaken to describe and investigate the nature and extent of parental sex education to pre-school children. The investigation was done by first exploring existing research literature and describing it. The empirical study was based upon both the literature study and mothers' opinions on sex education. Pre-school children are disproportionately !ll0re likely to be sexually abused with devastating consequences which result in behavioural and emotional problems throughout their lives. The ultimate responsibility of prevention of child sexual abuse should be with the parent. However, two problems persist. Firstly, parents are often the perpetrators and therefore it is not justified to leave the responsibility solely to the parents. Secondly, parents who want to teach their children prevention strategies often lack the skills and knowledge. Therefore, the concept of a prevention structure in which the child can live and find support should be put into practice by the school. Prevention strategies should include sex education, a neutral home environment and a safe environment for disclosure of sexual abuse. This prevention structure should include the teacher, the social worker and the parent. These three components should support each other to implement an atmosphere of prevention and healthy sexual development. Linking and inter-dependence are important because there is always a possibility that one of the participants may be corrupt. Social workers should provide an effective basis for a personal safety programme to parents which should be supported and facilitated by schools. Training parents to become sex educators encourages better parent-child communication, builds the family support network, and has an impact on the ability of the family to deal more positively with sexual concerns. This does not only result in the prevention of sexual abuse but also contributes to the healthy sexual functioning, development and understanding of the sexuality of pre-school children. Through parent orientated sex education, parents can also dispel sexual myths and misinformation that their preschool children gain from peers and other sources. Despite the increasing public awareness devoted to sexual abuse and the advantage of sex education, a formal prevention education structure has not yet been implemented for pre-school children in South Africa. The first objective of this study was to describe and investigate the extent of parental sex education presented to pre-school children. The second objective was to investigate the acceptability of a sex education programme for pre-school children. The third objective was to describe the physical and sexual boundaries existing in the home environments of parents of pre-school children and finally to determine the sexual behaviours of pre-school children, which parents regard as acceptable. The main conclusions, based on the findings of the study, indicated that parents were in favour of sex education for pre-school children and that they require more information which would empower them to sex educate their pre-school children at home. They were also in favour of a classroom-based sex education programme. In conclusion it is recommended that a sex education programme is to be implemented at pre-schools for parents of pre-school children, as well as a classroom based sex education and a personal safety programme for pre-school children. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die navorsing is om moontlike riglyne vir 'n ouer-georiënteerde seksopvoedingsprogram vir pre-primêre kinders saam te stel. 'n Verkennende studie is onderneem om die omvang en aard van ouer-georiënteerde seksopvoeding vir pre-primêre kinders te ondersoek. Verder is bestaande navorsingsliteratuur bestudeer en beskryf. Die empiriese ondersoek wat daarop volg, is gebaseer op sowel die literatuurstudie as moeders se menings oor seksvoorligting. Pre-primêre kinders het 'n groter kans om seksueel gemolesteer te word wat kan lei tot die ervaring van emosionele- en gedragsprobleme, met vernietigende gevolge vir die res van hul lewens. Die uiteindelike verantwoordelikheid om die kind teen molestering te beskerm, berus by die ouers. Dit skep egter twee probleme. Ten eerste is die ouer dikwels self die oortreder en daarom kan die verantwoordelikheid nie uitsluitlik by die ouer berus nie. Tweedens, is die ouers wat wel seksopvoeding aan hul kinders wil bied, dikwels weens 'n gebrek aan kennis en vaardighede, onbevoeg om dit te doen. Dit is daarom die skool se verantwoordelikheid om 'n voorkomende struktuur te skep waarin die kind kan leef en ondersteuning kan vind. 'n Voorkomende strategie moet seksvoorligting, 'n neutrale leefruimte sowel as 'n veilige omgewing vir die bekendmaking van seksuele molestering insluit. Hierdie voorkomende struktuur moet die onderwyser, die maatskaplike werker en die ouer betrek. Hierdie drie komponente moet mekaar ondersteun om "n atmosfeer van voorkoming en gesonde seksuele ontwikkeling te implimenteer. Aangesien die integriteit van die partye nie gewaarborg kan word nie, is noue skakeling en interafhanklikheid van die drie komponente belangrik. Maatskaplike werkers behoort "n effektiewe persoonlike veiligheidsprogram, wat deur die skool ondersteun en gefasiliteer word, aan die ouers te voorsien. Ouers as seksvoorligters bevorder die kommunikasie tussen ouer en kind, verstewig die ondersteuningsnetwerk van die gesin en ontwikkel die vermoë om seksuele aangeleenthede openlik te hanteer. Gevolglik word seksuele molestering voorkom en gesonde seksuele funksionering bevorder. Die ouer verkry ook insig in die seksuele ontwikkeling van die pre-primêre kind. Deur middel van ouer-georiënteerde seksvoorliging, kan ouers mites en verkeerde inligting, wat dikwels deur die portuurgroep oorgedra word, regstel. Ten spyte van die toenemende mediadekking en bewuswording van die voordeel van seksopvoeding, is daar nog geen formele opvoedkundige voorkomende veiligheidsprogram in Suid-Afrika geïmplementeer nie. Die eerste doelwit van die studie was om die omvang en aard van pre-primêre kinders se seksuele opvoeding te ondersoek. Die tweede doelwit was om ouers se aanvaarding van seksvoorligting van pre-primêre kinders te ondersoek; die derde doelwit was om die fisiese en seksuele grense in die huislike omgewing te ondersoek en laastens, om aanvaarbare seksuele gedrag van pre-primêre kinders te ondersoek. Daar word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat ouers wel ten gunste is van ouergeoriënteerde seksvoorligting vir pre-primêre kinders en dat hulle die behoefte het aan leiding om dit te doen. Die ouers is ook ten gunste van die aanbieding van seksvoorligting in die klaskamer. Daar word aanbeveel dat 'n veiligheidsprogram, wat 'n ouer-georiënteerde seksvoorligtingsprogram vir ouers van pre-primêre kinders, sowel as seksvoorligting in die klas behels, in skole geïmplimenteer moet word.

Magister Artium - MA / Adolescence is a phase when youth engage in risk-taking behaviour, which could result in poor physical and psychological adjustment. Risk behaviour is a result of poor decision- making. Decision-making is associated with exploration and commitment, also referred to as identity styles. During the phase of developing an identity style, parenting is challenging; however, research reveals that parental involvement, as well as a more positive approaches to parenting, have been observed to influence child behaviour and outcomes. For parenting and identity styles, this is not very clear. Therefore, the aim of this current study was to assess the effect of parental involvement on the identity styles of adolescents. The study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational research design. The respondents were conveniently sampled. The final sample was Grade 10 learners in the Metro East Education District, with a mean age of 16.01 (SD=1.04). Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire, which comprised three parts: demographic details of participants, Parent Involvement Mechanisms Measure, and Identity Styles Scale. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results revealed that informational identity style was the most prevalent identity style, which was significantly and positively predicted, with 18% of variance. For mothers, maternal modelling and maternal instruction significantly predicted the informational style. For fathers, paternal reinforcement significantly and positively predicted commitment style, with 14% of variance. Recommendations are provided based on the findings of this current study.

Thesis advisor: Dennis L. Shirley / Over the past fifteen years there has been a growing scholarly interest in education issues among community based organizations (CBOs). Education organizing is the mobilization of parents and community members for the purpose of transforming schools and CBOs have already demonstrated their ability to impact both student outcomes and educational policy (Shirley, 1997). The Annenberg Institute found that "successful organizing strategies contributed to increased student attendance, improved standardized test score performance, higher graduation rates and college-going aspirations" (Mediratta, Shah, & McAlister, 2008 ). While an increasing number of researchers are exploring this phenomenon, we know little about the experiences of CBOs members who are engaged in this work. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach and a conceptual framework that draws from situated learning, social capital, and networking theory, this study explored the following questions as they relate to the experiences of members in three different CBOs: * What motivates families to participate in CBOs involved in education organizing? * How do members learn the work of education organizing? What skills (if any) are acquired as both individuals and as a collective, and how are they developed? * What impact (both material and personal) does participation have on CBO members' lives? Findings from this study revealed that participation in the process of education organizing has the potential to not only transform schools, but the participants themselves. Initial understandings of self-interest evolved to include broader social concerns. Members reported increases in confidence, desire, and ability to fully participate in democratic processes. The findings also indicated that the effectiveness of a CBO is related to its organizational structure, its members' capacity for learning, the types of issues that members are trying to address, and the strength of their relationships within local civic ecologies. Those groups that were able to operate in diverse networks while developing the necessary technological, political, and cultural knowledge generally met with the most success. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Diana Pullin / Parents are the primary educators of their children and the consistent teachers throughout their lives. However, with raised expectations through curriculum state standards and high stakes testing for students, teachers and schools, families are being left behind. A particular turning point in students' education is during the middle school years when intellectual, character, social and emotional transitions occur and habits are formed. Therefore, this qualitative, single case study uses data sources of interviews, observations and artifacts to determine the appropriate role of parents at the middle school level as perceived by administrators, teachers with administrative duties, teachers and parents. Additionally, this research sought to determine the unique factors that impede more effective partnerships between home and school and analyze the current situation using the sociocultural theory to determine if beliefs and values match the social structures in place at this particular school and provide implications for practice. Findings reveal the parent role is defined by consistent communication between home and school for unified adult expectations. Unique factors impeding parent participation at this level are based on this particular age of the students. Using sociocultural theory, it is evident that the school community culture prevails over individual beliefs and is impeded by two underlying sub cultures of rationalizations and assumptions, which allow participation to remain infrequent. There are additional overarching issues discussed that go beyond sociocultural theory. Finally, recommendations for practice are made for this particular school and the middle school level. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

A criança estabelece as primeiras relações com a família e é com ela que aprende a maior parte de seu repertório comportamental. A partir do início da vida escolar, a escola também passa a exercer papel importante de agência educacional. A maneira como se desenvolve a relação entre escola e família pode alterar o resultado que todos os envolvidos podem obter deste contato. Torna-se, portanto, importante investigar como se dá essa relação. Além disso, a escola, em especial o professor, pode liderar um processo que tem como objetivo aumentar o envolvimento desta instituição com as famílias dos alunos. Tais considerações norteiam este trabalho, cujo objetivo foi avaliar se a participação de professores em uma intervenção baseada no ensino e na aplicação da análise funcional aumenta a frequência com que esses profissionais emitem comportamentos de comunicação com os responsáveis pelos estudantes. Participaram da pesquisa três professoras de Ensino Fundamental I (P1, P2 e P3) de uma escola pública da Grande São Paulo. O delineamento utilizado foi o de linha de base múltipla entre sujeitos. Os comportamentos dos professores foram avaliados semanalmente por meio de um checklist que avaliou seu autorrelato sobre a frequência de emissão de comportamentos que dizem respeito à comunicação com os responsáveis de seus alunos. A pesquisa foi realizada na escola em que as professoras lecionam, sendo que cada uma delas participou de seis encontros os quais se propuseram a ensiná-las a fazerem análise funcional dos seus próprios comportamentos, dos de seus alunos e dos pais destes. Em função das diferenças entre as educadoras no que se refere aos efeitos da participação nos encontros sobre os comportamentos de comunicação, os resultados obtidos não foram conclusivos. A participante P1 aumentou a emissão de comportamentos da classe comunicação com os pais após a participação no estudo. Quanto à P2, não foi possível analisar seu comportamento. P3 teve uma leve diminuição na emissão dos comportamentos desta classe. Apesar disso, o estudo permite compreender variáveis relevantes para melhor entendimento acerca do envolvimento parental com a escola. Traz também discussão sobre a dificuldade de se realizar pesquisa em análise do comportamento aplicada na comunidade / Children establish their first relationships with family and is in this context that they learn most of its behavioral repertoire. From the beginning of school life, school also exercises an im-portant role as an educational agency. The way the relation between school and family devel-ops may alter the result that all the involved people may obtain from this contact. Then, it becomes important to investigate this relation. Besides, the school, especially the teacher, may lead a process that aims to enhance the involvement of this institution with students families. These considerations guide this work, which objective was to evaluate if the partici-pation of teachers in an intervention based on the teaching and application of functional anal-ysis of behavior enhances the frequency in which this professionals emit communication be-haviors with the people responsible for the students. Three public elementary school teachers (P1, P2 and P3) were the subjects of this research. The experimental design was multiple base-line between subjects. Teachers behaviors were evaluated weekly with a checklist that eval-uated teachers self-report of the frequency of emission of behaviors of communication with their students families. The study occurred at the school where the participants work and each one of them participated of six encounters where it was aimed to teach the how to ana-lyze functionally their own behavior, their students and their parents. The results found were inconclusive about the effect of the participation in the study on the communication behav-iors, since participants behaved differently. Participant P1 increased the emission of behavior of the class communication with parents after enrolling in the study. It was not possible to evaluate Participant P2s response to participating in the study and P3 showed a small de-crease in frequency of behaviors in this class. Besides these results, the study helps under-stand relevant variables in parent involvement

Effective strategies are needed to help parents become more involved in the education of their teenage children. Parent Reciprocal Teaching (PRT) is proposed as an effective strategy to increase parent involvement and help students increase academic performance. 120 students in a 10th-grade high school physics course participated in either the PRT homework assignments or traditional reciprocal teaching (TRT) assignments. The PRT homework assignments required students to teach their parents/guardians at home, while the TRT assignments required students to teach a peer during class time. Data was collected though test scores and surveys sent home to parents and students. Findings indicate that (1) PRT very comparable, and in some instances, better than TRT in its academic benefit, (2) resulted in parents feeling more involved in their child's education, (3) parents were more aware of what their child was learning and more mindful of how well their child understood the course content. It is suggested that more educators incorporate the practice of PRT so that students can benefit from the effect of increased parent involvement as found in other studies on parent involvement: stronger academic achievement, improved school attendance and behavior, more positive perceptions of school and self, and higher educational aspirations.

The cultivation of parent involvement in America's public schools is no longer an option. Under the provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: No Child Left Behind (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 2001), it is now a mandate. Moreover, in the current climate of emphasis upon student performance and school accountability, schools need not just the support of parents, but also their full involvement in meaningful partnerships. The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a better understanding of the factors that significantly affect the level of parent involvement during the middle-school years. This was accomplished through the use of open-ended interviews with 24 participants in Northeast Tennessee comprised of 4 elementary and 4 middle-school principals along with 16 middle-school parents who were identified by their child's principal as having been highly involved when their child was in elementary school. The findings from this study suggested that the parent and principal perceptions regarding the factors that influence the decline in parent involvement during the middle-school years are often quite different. In general, perceptions of parents and principals that were held in common were those associated with the role of the parent, the positive effects of parent involvement upon student success, and the role of the principal in modeling the encouragement of parent involvement. The finding suggested, however, that there was significant disparity between parent and principal perceptions with regard to how well middle schools encourage parent involvement. Major recommendations included middle schools communicating with feeder elementary schools to identify highly involved parents of rising middle-school students, a system of personally contacting such parents as a means to encourage their continued involvement, and the establishment of a dialogue among parents and educators with regard to developing an action plan based upon best practices.

Purpose: To investigate how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) report involving parents in intervention for phonology-based speech sound disorders (SSDs), and to describe the home practice that they recommend. Further aims were to describe the training SLPs report providing to parents, to explore SLPs? beliefs and motivations for involving parents in intervention, and to determine whether SLPs? characteristics are associated with their self-reported practice. Method: An online survey of 288 SLPs working with SSD in Australia was conducted. Result: The majority of SLPs (96.4%) reported involving parents in intervention, most commonly in providing home practice. On average, these tasks were recommended to be completed five times per week for 10?min. SLPs reported training parents using a range of training methods, most commonly providing opportunities for parents to observe the SLP conduct the intervention. SLPs? place of work and years of experience were associated with how they involved and trained parents in intervention. Most (95.8%) SLPs agreed or strongly agreed that family involvement is essential for intervention to be effective. Conclusion: Parent involvement and home practice appear to be intricately linked within intervention for phonology-based SSDs in Australia. More high-quality research is needed to understand how to best involve parents within clinical practice.

abstract: The transition process from high school to college can be filled with many rewards and challenges not only for students, but also for their families. As institutions have continued to evolve to support student success and retention, many universities have added or expanded parent and family program offices. While universities continue to work collaboratively with families promote student success, it is important to understand the how the needs of families may vary. One area to explore is the proximity of students to their family members and how distance may impact the transition for both students and families. A perceived problem in this study was that family members of local students were not as engaged as family members who lived outside the local area. The purpose of this action research study was to better understand and enhance the experience of local families as their students transitioned from high school to college. The study and innovation were grounded in two theoretical frameworks: funds of knowledge and Schlossberg’s transition theory. The innovation developed based upon learnings from these theoretical frameworks included four elements: (a) a family guide, (b) family newsletters, (c) an online family video series, and (d) an updated parent and family website. The study was a mixed methods action research study conducted over the course of one semester. Quantitative data was collected through the use of a presurvey at the start of the academic year and a postsurvey as the semester completed. Qualitative data was collected through individual interviews with local family members. The results of this study indicated that families who participated in at least one element of the innovation reported more knowledge of campus resources, felt more supported by the institution, and were confident in their ability to assist their student in the transition to college. Additionally, implications for practice and areas for future research were explored. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Higher and Postsecondary Education 2019

This manuscript includes two studies. The research design for study 1 was a single-subject reversal design, while study 2 was a case study with 5 experimental conditions. These studies investigated the effects of a Tier 3 peer-matching self-management intervention on two elementary school students who had previously been less responsive to Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions. The Tier 3 self-management intervention, which was implemented in the classroom, included daily electronic communication between teachers and the two students' parents. Results indicated that this intervention effectively reduced disruptive behaviors and increased total engagement when implemented with integrity; without integrity, results were variable.