Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-116). Also available in print.

This thesis is a comparative case-study of how teachers in England and Portugal conceptualise and respond to pupil diversity in the context of individual planning. The purpose is to compare the processes and underlying assumptions in the two countries, in order to understand the impact of cultural aspects and of system characteristics on the phenomenon of individual planning. The research was conducted through a nested case-study approach in 10 schools in England and six schools in Portugal. The methods used were interviews with practitioners and analysis of individual planning documents. This study was done by following the cases of 41 pupils, who were identified by their teachers as ‘needing individual planning’, over a two-year period. The most common form of individual planning mentioned in educational policy are Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for pupils with ‘Special Education Needs’ (e.g. UK SEN 2001 Code of Practice, Portuguese Law 3/2008). Despite the apparent similarities, what is meant by IEPs in educational policy varies significantly. In this study, a comparative analytical cultural-historical framework (Artiles & Dyson 2005) and a ‘societal approach’ (Hantrais & Mangen 2007) were useful theoretical resources to overcome these challenges. This thesis presents an original approach to individual planning by looking beyond ‘special needs’ and national boundaries. The research identifies responses associated with individual planning and problematizes this practice as a solution to the challenges posed by student diversity to schools. This process is done with reference to the unstated assumptions about normality and difference proposed by Minow (1990).The study concludes that teachers conceptualise and respond to pupil diversity through a formulaic problem-solving approach. This approach is based on limited repertoires that are underpinned by contextual factors such as educational policy. These repertoires are wider and more flexible in England than in Portugal.

This thesis investigates workplace and organisational learning over the period 2000-2010 in a Belgian development agency (VVOB), involved in the implementation of educational development projects. It explores some of the structural causes of the perceived learning deficit at the project and the agency-wide level, and links it with similar findings in other development agencies. For the project level, two case studies in Zimbabwe (ZimPATH and St2eep) were selected in which the project's management invested significantly in team learning. These practices were put against the learning support activities that the head office was catering for. The study follows a qualitative case-study design inspired by phronetic-based research (Flyvbjerg, 2001), and utilises a mixed method approach to data collection involving a variety of research instruments. The author of the thesis worked in different positions in the field and in the head office (1997-2007). An improved version of the concept of learning patterns (Sterck, 2004) is introduced to gain insights in the tenacity of learning practices. It is derived from an in-depth analysis of the underlying characteristics of the formal and informal learning activities. Important drivers of the observed learning patterns are argued to be axiological in nature. These result in strongly diverging views about why learning should happen, what should be learned, and how learning should be organised. These views are captured and analysed through a newly constructed concept, the learning support framework. The findings for project level learning are multiple and point at the importance of both intra-organisational and external factors. The working environment of the two case study projects was characterised by internal (micro-political) and external (institutional and socio-economic) sources of pressure that seriously complicated learning processes. However, evidence is provided that both project teams managed to develop powerful learning processes. The ‘situated' learning patterns of ZimPATH and St2eep shared a view of learning as a strategy to deal with the complexity of work. Knowledge was regarded as a process, with a focus on knowledge creation and the use of local knowledge. Both projects integrated learning in their daily practice via the extensive use of social learning practices and by creating conducive conditions for implicit learning. The bulk of these practices was going under the radar in the head office. It treated implicit learning rather passively and it hardly addressed the structural factors hindering such learning. As a consequence, teams without skills and insights into workplace learning were largely left on their own. The analysis of agency-wide learning in VVOB confirms research that indicates that ‘tacit knowledge does not travel easily' (Gertler, 2003, p.84). The strong bias towards vertical learning processes, ICT-solutions and the codification of knowledge created a bureaucratic learning pattern. It did not stop VVOB from entering into a profound crisis. A severe institutional emergency, triggered by external pressure of back donors and institutional partners in the years 2005 and 2006, together with changes in the management brought the momentum for change. The resulting improvements in learning at the field level were, however, not replicated for agency-wide learning. This is linked in the thesis with a lack of ‘institutional proximity' (Gertler, 2003). Initiatives introducing changes in existing learning practices are deemed to face fierce resistance unless they take into account crucial internal factors (such as the configuration of views, interests and history with regard to knowledge and learning), and various external causes of pressure. An alternative 3 step approach is proposed. In conclusion, unless development agencies and back-donors become more responsive towards the challenges of sharing tacit knowledge across organisational, institutional, cultural and power divides, projects like ZimPATH and St2eep are likely to remain pockets of innovation.

In the last decade, the Commonwealth Government has relied increasingly on policy-induced consortia to implement its education policy initiatives. The study focused on education policy pertaining to citizenship education, and specifically on the recommendations of the Civics Expert Group's 1994 report Whereas the people...Civics and Citizenship Education. The then Commonwealth Government called for policy-induced consortia to submit applications as a means to implement the report's recommendations. As a result, the Western Australian Consortium for Citizenship Education was formed. The Consortiums submission for a grant to assist teachers to prepare curriculum materials for citizenship education was successful. The study examined the decisions made by the Consortium members in relation to the curriculum materials project.The study was informed by an examination of literature pertaining to citizenship and citizenship education, the implementation of public policy, and group and curriculum decision-making. The review of the literature concerning the constructs of 'citizen' highlighted the contested nature of citizenship. In turn, this is reflected in the debates about the nature of citizenship education. As well, the literature review revealed many models of policy implementation and group curriculum decision-making do not adequately reflect the complexities and realities of group decision-making processes. The models often ignore the socio-political dynamics of the group, particularly in a policy-induced consortium, which exists for a specific and limited purpose, where members owe allegiance to their institutions rather than the consortium and where the consortium is accountable to a government department for the management of the project.A case study approach using qualitative methods was used. These methods and approaches are most likely to capture and interpret ++ / the humanness of group decision-making. Moreover, they take into account the importance of the values each member of the Consortium brought to the group and recognise that each member constructed his/her meaning as a result of social interaction with other Consortium members.The case study focused on a detailed examination of the work of the Western Australian Consortium for Citizenship Education and especially on the sub-group of the Project Management Committee over eighteen months. The notion of 'critical decisions' was used to analyse the Consortium's decision-making. Each critical decision had significant consequences for the ongoing work of the Consortium. The nature of the Consortium's decision-making highlighted the overwhelming importance of social dynamics over curriculum decision-making.The intentions of the study were to build towards a more complete understanding of the socio-political nature of group curriculum decision-making; to contribute to theorising about the humanness of group curriculum decision-making; and to provide an informed perspective about the significance of the Commonwealth Government's intervention in education through the mechanism of policy-induced consortia.The thesis makes a contribution to the socio-political dimension of group curriculum decision-making in federations. It illustrates that curriculum policy delivery is a socio-political process focussing on interpersonal relationships rather than a rational or deliberative process based on educational outcomes.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: p. 302-322.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Human Mvt.))--University of Western Australia, 2007.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Education)) - Rhodes University, 2007. / Half thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Environmental Education)

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf i-vii).