The health needs of society extend beyond the treatment of the individual and the ill. These needs are at the core of public health which addresses health at a population-level. Regulations dictate that public health must be included in the South African medical curriculum, but healthy populations hold little interest for medical students. As a result public health remains over the conceptual horizon of medical students. At the University of Pretoria the responsibility for the inclusion of public health is the responsibility of the School of Health Systems and Public Health. Participation in the medical curriculum is a minor but important part of my educational practice. But two of my professional values – care and agency – have been denied in that practice. The central purpose of the research was to construct the meaning of my educational practice with the aim of progressive realisation of my values. The study explored how public health is conceptualised as a subject in the medical curriculum at the University of Pretoria, the intended educational achievements of public health in the curriculum and the optimal strategies for its inclusion. An action research living theory design made use of a concurrent embedded mixed-methods approach. Data was gathered primarily from external experts, the academic staff of the School of Medicine and the SHSPH, key academic documents and the medical students. A constructivist grounded theory approach was employed to construct meaning from the findings. The findings revealed the effect of the historical decision to split public health and medicine and the resulting increasing distance between the disciplines. Resting on this fractured foundation is the understanding of what public health is. The understanding of public health suggests a multiple concurrent understanding that is constructed by diverse and seemingly conflicting perspectives while the discipline remains identifiable as public health. The curricular intentions of including public health in the medical curriculum at the University of Pretoria are characterised by a varied topography that includes externally and internally imposed educational tensions, constraints and intractable contradictions. Curricular intentions revolve around ontological aspirations. The medical students’ perspectives of their educational experience in public health are surprisingly similar to those of students in other countries. The current and imagined strategies to include public health formed the basis for the scepticism of educational orthodoxy and suggested the exploration of the dual uncontested spaces – social media and the elective experience in the medical curriculum. The findings from my innovative practice in using the elective experience challenge the notion that public health is over the conceptual horizon of medical students. A theme that runs through the narrative suggests, instead, that other conceptual horizons obscure meaningful engagement with medical students around public health. This research is a rich account of my complex context and my connected practice and through action research I claim to live my values of care and agency. My living theory of practice as a form of meaning making could help others to look over their own conceptual horizons in search of wholeness. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Humanities Education / unrestricted

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第23985号 / 人博第1037号 / 新制||人||244(附属図書館) / 2022||人博||1037(吉田南総合図書館) / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)准教授 金丸 敏幸, 教授 柳瀬 陽介, 教授 STEWART Timothy William, 教授 田地野 彰 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

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The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 provided seed monies to educational institutions, if they were willing to form collaborative partnerships with members of the business and employer communities. The goal was to build learning opportunities for students that would facilitate their seamless transition from the public school system into adult work-settings and/or places of post-secondary education, training, and skills acquisition. An historical case study of school reform was conducted, using qualitative research methods that included extensive field observations, participant interviews, document analysis, narrative inquiry strategies, phenomenological reflection and data reduction. The lived experiences of 23 students and 14 community partners were juxtaposed against the recollected memories of the teacher-researcher, and analyzed in the context of complex change theory (Ambrose, 1987). The point was to distill the essential themes that could shed light on the research question. Those factors that were deemed to be influential in the development, delivery, or efficacy of the learning opportunities that were created as curriculum interventions, in support of this one piece of federal legislation, are discussed analytically, so as to make recommendations for similar practical programs with a career-education or work-based learning focus.

This research explores postmethod pedagogy (Kumaravadivelu, 2003, p. 165) with two Mozambican secondary school teachers who expressed an interest in carrying out an exploratory research project in their context of practice. The research was undertaken to investigate how teachers, who had attended an International House Language Lab (IHLL) teacher education programme in 2008, were theorizing from their practice with the aim of developing a context-sensitive pedagogy. The research is a qualitative study consisting of two case studies. Each case is based on the practices of a teacher attempting to implement an exploratory research project. The exploratory projects included the following activities: the teacher teaching a lesson with a colleague observing; the teacher and observer meeting both before and after the observed lesson to discuss and analyse the lesson; and finally, the teacher inviting a group of students to discuss their perceptions of selected episodes in the lesson. The teachers used the exploratory research projects to explore their classroom practice in order to learn more about their teaching. Of particular relevance to this study is literature on practitioner research and teachers as reflective practitioners. In analysing the data, I demonstrate that although the exploratory research projects provided a frame of reference and point of departure for postmethod pedagogy, the teachers’ ability to ‘develop a systematic, coherent, and relevant personal theory of practice’ (Kumaravadivelu, 2003, p. 40) was limited by: the context, the surface level application of macrostrategies, and a lack of foregrounding of the critical in the postmethod macrostrategies. The study concludes with a critical reflection on the value of postmethod pedagogy for teacher education programmes offered at IHLL, as well as for the teachers’ contexts of practice. I offer some ‘fuzzy generalizations’ (Bassey, 1999) about the place of postmethod principles in teacher development courses for language teachers from a range of classroom and community contexts.

This thesis explores the issues of immigration and identity that inform the experiences of adult English language learners and which can be addressed within a classroom context. Using practitioner research and an explicitly critical approach to literacy and learning, I conducted a six week workshop at a community English language school in New York City, working with eleven adult learners to discuss their lives in their native countries, decisions to move to the United States, and experiences living in a new country and learning English in an attempt to understand how those factors shape their learning and could be incorporated into the curriculum. This workshop used poetry as a means for students’ self-expression and demonstrated the importance of inviting adult immigrant students into collaborative, co-constructive learning environments where their lived experiences are at the core of their language learning process in order to allow for an inclusive negotiation of identity.

This thesis explores the issues of immigration and identity that inform the experiences of adult English language learners and which can be addressed within a classroom context. Using practitioner research and an explicitly critical approach to literacy and learning, I conducted a six week workshop at a community English language school in New York City, working with eleven adult learners to discuss their lives in their native countries, decisions to move to the United States, and experiences living in a new country and learning English in an attempt to understand how those factors shape their learning and could be incorporated into the curriculum. This workshop used poetry as a means for students’ self-expression and demonstrated the importance of inviting adult immigrant students into collaborative, co-constructive learning environments where their lived experiences are at the core of their language learning process in order to allow for an inclusive negotiation of identity.

This study is situated within a context of the changing role and value of the university, particularly in terms of a renewed focus on the importance of 'practical' research. It seeks to explore candidates' experiences of the culture of three doctoral research degrees in the School of education, RMIT University. The degrees in question are the Doctor of Philosophy by thesis, the Doctor of Philosophy by project and the Doctor of Education. The research sought to problematise and contest current understandings of doctoral candidates' experiences by highlighting complexities in the process and identifying differences and similarities between each of the three degrees. The main research question is 'How do candidates perceive the respective cultures of traditional, practice-based and professional doctoral education?' A nested, multiple-case study of the three doctoral modes was used to address three sub-questions, which focused on the norms and practices of candidates ; the extent to which their needs and expectations were met; and differences in their notions of research and practice. Differences and similarities between the degrees are analysed, leading to answers to the fourth sub-question which sought to identify what can be learned in terms of supervisor pedagogy and learning support. The research design was underpinned by a Bourdieuian epistemology and a critical theoretical perspective. Bourdieu's theory of practice with its conceptual tools of habitus, field, capital, agent and practice allowed analysis of candidates' experiences and the doctoral structures within which their practice resides through one critical lens. The data revealed many issues common to all doctoral programs. These include the importance of understanding the various habitus' and relative amounts of cultural capital of candidates, and the impact of a perceived lack of learning community. Other findings related to ambivalence regarding the types of cultural and social capital appropriate for do ctoral candidates not aiming to work in an academic environment where these are in conflict with the workplace. Three meta-themes were developed: tensions between and within the field; challenges to autonomous principles; and the importance of habitus and cultural capital in doctoral study. The study added to the literature aimed at increasing understanding of candidates' trajectories toward success in the doctoral field, thereby informing supervisor and learning support pedagogy. Five recommendations were proposed, aimed at producing a vibrant doctoral learning community with a deeper understanding of candidates' issues.

This thesis explores leadership from an inverted or inner perspective of a leader. It draws on humanistic, psychological approaches to leadership, and develops a theory of systemic, constructivist leadership. While systemic, constructivist concepts are well known and accepted methods in therapy, counselling, coaching, and organisational consulting, in leadership there is still a gap between theory and practise. In this study systemic, constructivist ideas such as self-organization of human systems, radical constructivism, and systems theory are transferred, through an experiential learning project to leadership practise. Previous research (Steinkellner, 2005) indicated that in addition to the understanding of systemic theory and the application of systemic interventions, the specific mental attitude of a leader is required. So this thesis (1) explores the qualities of the mental attitude of a systemic, constructivist leader, (2) reflects on the transformation of the self of a leader in an experiential learning process, and (3) develops a theory of systemic, constructivist leadership. The methodology is heuristic inquiry, which involves the subjectivity of the researcher, and includes introspective procedures such as self-searching, self-dialogue, and self-discovery (Moustakas, 1990). Its focus on the inner perspective of a leader is unusual, if not unique. Various concepts from humanistic psychology including tacit knowledge (Polanyi & Sen, 2009), awareness (Perls, 1973), and focusing (Gendlin, 2003) were applied to transcend the concept of rationality both in science and in business. The main contributions of this study are: the description of a theory of systemic, constructivist leadership and; the design of appropriate training to implement this.

[pt] A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo a busca de entendimentos sobre o poder de veto no contexto escolar e os caminhos que os praticantes do processo de ensinoaprendizagem podem construir para uma aprendizagem dialógica. Ancorada na abordagem da Prática Exploratória, entendo alunos e professores como praticantes do processo de ensino-aprendizagem (ALLWRIGHT e HANKS, 2009), uma vez que ambos possuem um papel importante no processo. Algumas perguntas são centrais para guiar meu olhar nesse estudo: Que poder de veto é esse? Por quem ele é praticado? Por que e de que maneira? Quais são as consequências desse poder para os alunos e os professores? Como trabalhar diante do poder de veto? O trabalho alinha-se à concepção de discurso que evidencia o uso da linguagem como prática social. Assim, é na relação entre discurso e sociedade que analisei o poder de veto praticado e sofrido pelos participantes do processo de ensino-aprendizagem, sejam eles alunos ou professores, dentre outros (MOITA LOPES, 2003). Entendendo que os praticantes possuem a capacidade de agirem como construtores de seu próprio processo de aprendizagem (MILLER, CUNHA e ALLWRIGHT, 2020), é essencial estimular conversas exploratórias entre alunos e professores. A pesquisa ocorreu em uma escola pública do estado do Rio de Janeiro onde atuei como professora de língua portuguesa em turmas de ensino médio. Os dados foram gerados a partir de conversas exploratórias com alunos e professores participantes sobre suas experiências em relação ao poder de veto. As conversas foram gravadas em áudio para posterior transcrição conforme as convenções referentes ao modelo Jefferson de Conversação (LODER, 2008). Além de suas contribuições teóricometodológicas, este estudo poderá, sobretudo, estimular a capacidade do protagonismo dos alunos assim como sua atitude investigativa a respeito das questões que são relevantes para eles. / [en] This research aims to seek understandings about the power of veto in the school context and the paths that practitioners of the teaching-learning process can build for dialogic learning. Aligned with the Exploratory Practice approach, I understand students and teachers as practitioners of the teaching-learning process (ALLWRIGHT and HANKS, 2009), since both play important roles in the process. Some questions are central to guide my study: What is the power of veto? Who is it practiced by? Why and in what way? What are the consequences of this power for students and teachers? How are we to work in the face of power of veto? The research is aligned with the concept of discourse that highlights the use of language as social practice. Thus, it is in the relationship between discourse and society that I analyzed the power of veto practiced and suffered by participants in the teachinglearning process, whether they are students or teachers, among others (MOITA LOPES, 2003). Understanding that students have the ability to act as builders of their own learning process (MILLER, CUNHA e ALLWRIGHT, 2020), it is essential to engage students and teachers in order to seek understandings about coconstruction paths for dialogic learning. The research took place in a public school in the state of Rio de Janeiro where I acted as a Portuguese language teacher in high school classes. Data were generated by engaging in exploratory conversations with participating students and teachers about their experiences in relation to the power of veto. The conversations were audio-recorded for later transcription according to the conventions referring to the Jefferson Conversation model (LODER, 2008). In addition to its theoretical-methodological contributions, this study will be able, above all, to stimulate the students capacity as protagonists as well as their investigative attitude regarding the issues that are relevant to them.