In the last decades, the EU’s policy on education has become increasingly geared towards serving the economy. While some have been quick to label these changes as neoliberal, this is not such an obvious analysis considering that European education systems are still well-known for their welfare governance. This research attempts to clarify the relation between the EU educational policy and neoliberalism. Inspired by post-foundational discourse theory, we conducted a discourse analysis of three key European Union educational policy documents. Extending on a frame of 20 years, our analysis identifies an incremental neoliberalization of the policy as well as a number of conclusive similarities with neoliberal rationality. We contribute in showing how the economic dimension of the EU educational policy has not so much replaced the other objectives than it has incorporated them. We also show how contemporary educational policy continues the dynamic of neoliberalization, hinting a further dismantlement of the welfare states system in Europe. Our study stands to reinforce the conceptual link between European education and neoliberalism and as such contributes to the understudied ideational perspectives on the topic, complementing some shortcomings left by the mainstream theories, like neo-functionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism.

AFRIKAANS: Die navorsing is gedoen vanuit 'n postfundamentalistiese narratiewe prakties- teologiese benadering. Die fokus van die studie was tweeledig. Die eerste was om na die stories van 'n groep meisies, wat hulself as homoseksueel gesien het en daarom gemarginaliseer is, te luister. Die tweede deel was dat deur die proses daar intervensie sou wees wat aan die meisies die kennis en die mag sou gee om hulle verhale op so 'n manier oor te vertel dat hulle die hoofrolle van hulle eie lewensdramas sal word en nie net karakters of ekstras op die verhoog van die lewe sou wees nie. Verhale van nood moet dus verruil word vir verhale van hoop. Om die verhale van die meisies beter te verstaan is daar van 'n groep interdissiplinêre helpers gebruik gemaak. Die meisies se verhale is verder ook sosiaal-konstruksionisties benader. Die meisies se verstaan van hulle konteks, die kerk, hulle vriende, homoseksualiteit, God, kerkleiers en hulle inskakeling by die kerk en hulle identiteit is ondersoek en saam met die groep gedekonstrueer. Die navorsingsverhaal is dus 'n verhaal waar daar weer opnuut gekyk is na die hantering van tieners, hulle wêreldbeeld en soeke na identiteit en aanvaarding binne 'n wêreld wat hulle nie altyd verstaan nie, en die rol van die geloofsgemeenskap in die proses. ENGLISH: The research was done from a post-foundational, narrative, and practical theological position. The focus of the study had two intentions. The first was to listen to the stories of a group of girls, who saw themselves as homosexual and because of that was marginalised. The second intention was that in the process there would be intervention in their stories. This intervention was supposed to give the girls the necessary knowledge and power to help them to tell their stories. This telling would then place the girls not as extras on the stage of their own lives but as playing the leading roles. Negative stories had thus to be exchanged for stories of hope. To get a better understanding of the stories of the girls, there was made use of an interdisciplinary team of helpers. The stories were also interpreted from a social constructionist point of view. The understanding the girls had of their context, the church, their friends, homosexuality, God, church leaders, their membership of the church and their identity was researched and deconstructed with them in a process. The research story is a story where the handling of teenagers, their world view and their search for identity and acceptance in a world that doesn’t always understand them and their involvement in the church in this process was looked at with fresh eyes. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Children living in the Mamelodi Township of Tshwane and affected by HIV and AIDS have their own unique challenges they face everyday. These challenges include the poverty context of the township and the stigmatising effect of the community towards these children, compounded by very difficult extended family circumstances and also the struggle with their own identity crisis in the specific developmental phases in which these children find themselves. The focus of this study was to listen to the stories of children affected by HIV and AIDS in the midst of the bereavement process. The emotional responses of children affected by HIV and AIDS within child-headed households experiencing difficulties were identified and explored. A narrative research design was used to capture a chapter in the life stories of three (3) children affected by HIV and AIDS as well as a caregiver who died of AIDS before I completed this study. Data was collected by means of individual interviews, group sessions, and letters which the children wrote to God and the field notes in the form of journal entries written by the researcher, as well as individual feedback and collaboration sessions with the specific caregivers. Data was analysed by means of several phases of theme analysis after which - through a final analysis - psycho-social, emotional and economic response themes were identified. This study found that children affected by HIV/AIDS experience complex emotions in response to their plight. The strongest emotional response themes that emerged, which were reported by all the children were frustration, happiness and love. The more negative emotional responses were mentioned in relation to the feeling that they were being stigmatised in school as well as in their community. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / ‘n Praktiese teologiese probleem is in die bediening geïndentifiseer: die man wie se vrou ‘n mastektomie gehad het, word nie pastoraal ondersteun nie. Hierdie probleem is deur middel van kwalitatiewe navorsing ondersoek. Met die kennis uit die navorsing en die literatuurstudie is daaraan die navorsingsdoelstelling beantwoord. Hierdeur is die praktiese teologie op ‘n unieke wyse verryk, deur ‘n wetenskaplike bydrae om die pastorale berader beter te bekwaam. Borskanker is ‘n lewensbedreigde siekte waarop geen man voorberei is nie. Met die verlies van ‘n kosbare liggaamsdeel van die vrou en haar behoefte aan ondersteuning van haar man, begin hy om sy ware-man wees (identiteit) te bevraagteken. Die verlies het ook trauma by die man tot gevolg. As die man deur sy emosies oorweldig word en hy nie oor die vermoë beskik om dit te verwerk nie, kan hy in wanhoop verval. Die man lewe in die postmoderne era. Die uitdagings en onsekerhede van hierdie era het ‘n bydrae tot die ontwikkeling van die “Post-foundational” praktiese teologiese benadering gelewer. Daarom het die navorser besluit om hierdie benadering in die studie te volg. Hierdeur is ‘n gesprek tussen die praktiese teologie, mediese- en geesteswetenskappe vanuit ‘n transversale perspektief moontlik, om die invloed van die mastektomie op die man te bepaal. Duidelike behoeftes en vrae kom navore wat vereis dat die berader homself sal onderskei in kennis van die onderskeie pastorale benaderings en tegnieke, toepaslike mediese, Bybel- en geestes wetenskappe. Die omstandighede waarin die man hom bevind het die bevraagtekening van sy spiritualiteit tot gevolg. Sy spiritualiteit kan vir hom van groot waarde wees. Die doel van die beradingsmodel is om die man te fasiliteer om sy ware identiteit in Christus te ontdek. Deur die genade van die Here word geloofsvolwassenheid in die man ‘n waarheid. Daardeur vind transendering ten opsigte van ‘n “bevraagde identiteit” na ‘n “identiteit van betekenis en hoop” plaas. Deur die werking van die Heilige Gees word die man op die vervulling van God se heilsbeloftes vir die nood waarin verkeer verseker. Die doel van hierdie beradingsmodel vir die praktiese teologie, is ‘n geloofsvolwasse man met ‘n nuwe toekomsverhaal. / A practical theological problem was identified in the ministry: a husband whose wife undergoes a mastectomy does not receive pastoral care. This problem was investigated through a qualitative research study. The research objective was answered by doing research and a literature study. This scientific research enriches the practical theology in an unique way so that the pastoral counsellor is supported and can be more competent. Breast cancer is a life-threatening disease that no husband is prepared for. The wife loses an intimate part of her body and needs to be supported by her husband. He starts to question his own manhood (identity). This loss is also a traumatic experiences for him. He is overwhelmed by his emotions and can fall into despair if he does not have the ability to process the problem. We live in the post-modern era. This has lead to the development of the Post-foundational practical theological approach. The researcher therefore decided to follow this approach in his study. This help to determine the influence of the disruption and uncertainties in the life of the man through a discourse between the practical theology, medical- and human science from a transversal perspective. Evident questions were raised for which the counsellor needs to distinguish himself with knowledge about the various pastoral approaches and techniques, appropriate knowledge of the Bible, medical- and human science. The circumstances in which the man finds himself raise questions about the meaning of his spirituality. Spirituality can be of great help for the husband. The aim of this counseling model is to facilitate the husband through the narrative approach to find the meaning of his true identity in Christ. Through the grace of God the husband becomes spiritually mature. The dependence on God through a process of transcendence changes the ‘question identity’ to an ‘identity of value and hope’. Through the work of Holy Spirit the husband is reassured of the fulfillment of the promises of salvation by God. The aim of this counseling model for the practical theology is a spiritually matured husband with a new future story. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

This dissertation explores the ways in which the everyday (in)securities of people in southwestern Ukraine can illuminate our understanding of contemporary political life. Rather than using traditional units of analysis or given categories—the state, the individual, identity—the dissertation focuses on relations between people in and connected to a single village to develop a novel framework for analyzing politics and the political. The dissertation opens with an interrogation of the practical and theoretical challenges associated with current conceptualizations of security; our understanding of the political; and the role of ethnography in theorization and presents a research design meant to address those challenges. Drawing upon extensive participant-observation and other immersion-based research in a post-Soviet borderland wedged between Ukraine and Slovakia, and using an analytical tool I call “togetherness,” the thesis presents an ethnographic account of social interactions, economy, and authority in this largely Hungarian-speaking rural area. The third part of the dissertation applies the idea of an ontological shift and draws on complex systems and structuration theory (Luhmann and Giddens, respectively) to rethink the ethnographic analysis and to highlight relationships between structural and existential realms of political life. Here, the concept of security becomes central to the theorization, and the overall argument illuminates the intimate relationship between the idea of security and the political. Ultimately, this approach allows us to expand the scope of political ethnography: theorizing beyond thick description; integrating broader perspectives without losing the texture of the local; and developing an approach to research that can be replicated in other settings.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / ‘n Praktiese teologiese probleem is in die bediening geïndentifiseer: die man wie se vrou ‘n mastektomie gehad het, word nie pastoraal ondersteun nie. Hierdie probleem is deur middel van kwalitatiewe navorsing ondersoek. Met die kennis uit die navorsing en die literatuurstudie is daaraan die navorsingsdoelstelling beantwoord. Hierdeur is die praktiese teologie op ‘n unieke wyse verryk, deur ‘n wetenskaplike bydrae om die pastorale berader beter te bekwaam. Borskanker is ‘n lewensbedreigde siekte waarop geen man voorberei is nie. Met die verlies van ‘n kosbare liggaamsdeel van die vrou en haar behoefte aan ondersteuning van haar man, begin hy om sy ware-man wees (identiteit) te bevraagteken. Die verlies het ook trauma by die man tot gevolg. As die man deur sy emosies oorweldig word en hy nie oor die vermoë beskik om dit te verwerk nie, kan hy in wanhoop verval. Die man lewe in die postmoderne era. Die uitdagings en onsekerhede van hierdie era het ‘n bydrae tot die ontwikkeling van die “Post-foundational” praktiese teologiese benadering gelewer. Daarom het die navorser besluit om hierdie benadering in die studie te volg. Hierdeur is ‘n gesprek tussen die praktiese teologie, mediese- en geesteswetenskappe vanuit ‘n transversale perspektief moontlik, om die invloed van die mastektomie op die man te bepaal. Duidelike behoeftes en vrae kom navore wat vereis dat die berader homself sal onderskei in kennis van die onderskeie pastorale benaderings en tegnieke, toepaslike mediese, Bybel- en geestes wetenskappe. Die omstandighede waarin die man hom bevind het die bevraagtekening van sy spiritualiteit tot gevolg. Sy spiritualiteit kan vir hom van groot waarde wees. Die doel van die beradingsmodel is om die man te fasiliteer om sy ware identiteit in Christus te ontdek. Deur die genade van die Here word geloofsvolwassenheid in die man ‘n waarheid. Daardeur vind transendering ten opsigte van ‘n “bevraagde identiteit” na ‘n “identiteit van betekenis en hoop” plaas. Deur die werking van die Heilige Gees word die man op die vervulling van God se heilsbeloftes vir die nood waarin verkeer verseker. Die doel van hierdie beradingsmodel vir die praktiese teologie, is ‘n geloofsvolwasse man met ‘n nuwe toekomsverhaal. / A practical theological problem was identified in the ministry: a husband whose wife undergoes a mastectomy does not receive pastoral care. This problem was investigated through a qualitative research study. The research objective was answered by doing research and a literature study. This scientific research enriches the practical theology in an unique way so that the pastoral counsellor is supported and can be more competent. Breast cancer is a life-threatening disease that no husband is prepared for. The wife loses an intimate part of her body and needs to be supported by her husband. He starts to question his own manhood (identity). This loss is also a traumatic experiences for him. He is overwhelmed by his emotions and can fall into despair if he does not have the ability to process the problem. We live in the post-modern era. This has lead to the development of the Post-foundational practical theological approach. The researcher therefore decided to follow this approach in his study. This help to determine the influence of the disruption and uncertainties in the life of the man through a discourse between the practical theology, medical- and human science from a transversal perspective. Evident questions were raised for which the counsellor needs to distinguish himself with knowledge about the various pastoral approaches and techniques, appropriate knowledge of the Bible, medical- and human science. The circumstances in which the man finds himself raise questions about the meaning of his spirituality. Spirituality can be of great help for the husband. The aim of this counseling model is to facilitate the husband through the narrative approach to find the meaning of his true identity in Christ. Through the grace of God the husband becomes spiritually mature. The dependence on God through a process of transcendence changes the ‘question identity’ to an ‘identity of value and hope’. Through the work of Holy Spirit the husband is reassured of the fulfillment of the promises of salvation by God. The aim of this counseling model for the practical theology is a spiritually matured husband with a new future story. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

This dissertation explores the ways in which the everyday (in)securities of people in southwestern Ukraine can illuminate our understanding of contemporary political life. Rather than using traditional units of analysis or given categories—the state, the individual, identity—the dissertation focuses on relations between people in and connected to a single village to develop a novel framework for analyzing politics and the political. The dissertation opens with an interrogation of the practical and theoretical challenges associated with current conceptualizations of security; our understanding of the political; and the role of ethnography in theorization and presents a research design meant to address those challenges. Drawing upon extensive participant-observation and other immersion-based research in a post-Soviet borderland wedged between Ukraine and Slovakia, and using an analytical tool I call “togetherness,” the thesis presents an ethnographic account of social interactions, economy, and authority in this largely Hungarian-speaking rural area. The third part of the dissertation applies the idea of an ontological shift and draws on complex systems and structuration theory (Luhmann and Giddens, respectively) to rethink the ethnographic analysis and to highlight relationships between structural and existential realms of political life. Here, the concept of security becomes central to the theorization, and the overall argument illuminates the intimate relationship between the idea of security and the political. Ultimately, this approach allows us to expand the scope of political ethnography: theorizing beyond thick description; integrating broader perspectives without losing the texture of the local; and developing an approach to research that can be replicated in other settings.