The focus of this project is on the quality and relevance of Vocational Counselling programme in Nigerian schools. It analyses the discipline’s training syllabuses in Universities and the extent and manner of its application in secondary schools by graduates in the field and proffers suggestions on how to improve upon both the training and the practice. As a professional field of study, Guidance and Counselling was first introduced at the University of Ibadan, in the 1980s. Within a few years, the Universities of Benin and Lagos also commenced a programme in the discipline. However, and as I have discovered, the products of the programme have really not achieved much impacts in Nigerian secondary schools almost thirty years after it was first introduced. As at today, most secondary schools still do not have professional career counselors. Where they exist, they are not always very competent, and are not often consulted by pupils while selecting their subject combinations. In the Universities, Guidance and Counselling syllabus are found to be outdated. Two major approaches were adopted in carrying out this research. The first method is empirical and was executed through field research. I visited the Universities of Ibadan, Ife and Lagos – all in Nigeria - to conduct interviews with students and lecturers of Guidance and Counselling in the Universities. I also collected documents like manuals, handbooks and course outlines issued by personnels in the Departments. I also visited, conducted interviews with, and served questionnaires on, professional counselors in a selection of public and private secondary schools in Nigeria. At the end of the field work, the documents, questionnaires and interviews were analysed and what I identified as the strengths and weaknesses of Guidance and Counselling programmes in Nigerian Universities were laid out. The second approach adopted in this study has to do with analysis of scientific publications in the field. Books, journals, manuals and even electronic publications by Guidance and Counselling experts in Germany, Europe and other places were assembled and carefully studied. In the end, what constitutes minimum competence requirements were underlined. Applied to the data earlier collected in the field, my conclusion is that the various Guidance and Counselling programmes in Nigeria need to be improved upon II and/updated and that its importance in secondary education needs to be further stressed. To improve the programme, I suggested, among others, the need for Nigerian Universities to actively work toward the development of collaborative and exchange programmes with institutions in Europe and other parts of the world.

It is of utmost importance for learners to master language in order to learn effectively at school. Problems in language development can cause learning problems that have negative results for the learner. Language consists mainly of the spoken language (listening and speaking), reading and writing. These three aspects of language form an integrated unit so that a problem with one will influence the others. Learners are initially taught in school to read and write. Learners should later be able to use acquired reading skills to learn, and acquired writing skills must be applied to reproduce that which has been learnt. If learners do not master the foregoing skills, their progress at school will be seriously handicapped. A further aggravating factor within the milieu of the South African education system is the complicated socio-political history of the country that created a large number of disadvantaged schools. A Report by the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43) emphasises the needs and skills of learners; training, dedication and competencies of teachers; as well as the importance of instructional media in disadvantaged areas. In spite of the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement Grade R-9 (Schools) and Grade 10-12 (Schools), illiteracy is still a serious problem in South Africa. Because the basis of all reading and writing skills are laid in the Foundation Phase, it is necessary for drastic steps to be taken to ensure that learners will be able to read with comprehension in their first years at school. This research is aimed at proving the significant relationship between high frequency words and reading skills (measured by word recognition and reading comprehension) and also improving the reading skills of learners by the acquisition of high frequency words. An effort has also been made to meet the requirements of the core elements for good teaching/instruction. To achieve this objective, the focus of this study is binary. In the first phase the researcher determines if there is a significant relationship between the visual recognition of the high frequency words and reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After completion of Phase 1 it was determined that there is a correlation between the visual recognition of high frequency words and the reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After the successful completion of Phase 1 the focus shifts to the study of Phase 2. In Phase 2 the researcher makes a contribution to the instruction/teaching milieu and meets the requirements of the stated criteria to ensure good instruction/teaching as determined by the Report of the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43). This contribution is made through the designing of a reading instruction programme that is aimed at the improvement of reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase. The focus of this Reading Instruction Programme is the acquisition of the first 100 high frequency words as they appear in Aucamp's list (1932: 79 - 80). The gathering/collection of data in both phases is characterised by the use of standardised tests. In Phase 1 use was made of descriptive statistics; Pearson's product moment correlations and Cohen's r-values; t-tests and Cohen's d-values; as well as one sample t-tests to analyse and interpret data. In Phase 2 pre- and post-tests were used. Statistical techniques used during the analysis reporting and interpretation of data in Phase 2 are descriptive statistics; Wilcoxon rank sum tests; one-way covariance analysis; Wilcoxon symmetry-tests, and Cohen's d-values. This study contributes to the education milieu when it proves that the instruction of high frequency words by means of this Reading Instruction Programme leads to the improvement of the reading skills (measured byword recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in Grade 3. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on a balanced reading approach in which the main components of reading integrated with high frequency words are instructed. This instruction is characterised among others by direct, explicit instruction; multi-sensory methods; the use of high quality instructional media; and the automatisation of high frequency words. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on the behaviouristic and cognitive learning theories as well as the transactional reading theory. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The enclosed and semi-enclosed seas are the most severely degraded and fragile ecosystems which necessitates immediate political responses. The problems encountered in relation to biological decline and habitat loss requires a special attention due to their unique value for the whole marine and coastal systems. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the contribution of the Mediterranean Environmental Programme to the protection and the preservation of the natural resources and biodiversity with a special focus on Turkey. The Mediterranean Environmental Programme which was launched in 1975 with an Action Plan and conducted through an umbrella convention which addresses this issue through the SPA/BD Protocol. In line with the SPA/BD Protocol over 750 areas are designated as specially protected areas and 25 areas as SPAMIs throughout the Mediterranean. Turkey as a Contacting Party to the 1995 Barcelona Convention and the SPA/BD Protocol, declared specially environmental protected areas which amount to 12.842,46 km2 . This thesis argues that the Mediterranean Environmental Programme provides a dynamic and flexible tool for the Mediterranean countries to address marine related problems including the biodiversity and protected areas. Whereas the ultimate success of the cooperation lies in effective implementation at national level which depends on the will of the decision makers, practitioners and the various other stakeholders / the responsive characteristics of the legislative and administrative processes.

Alleviation of poverty has become a major issue in the agenda of many countries and there is a search for a cure for this issue in social policy environment. For the last few decades, i.e., since the establishment of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, microcredit programmes have been used an important tool that is used to combat increasing poverty in both developing and developed world. The importance of this tool also comes from the fact that the target group of microfinance institutions is mainly women. The popularity of this poverty alleviation tool has reached to Turkey at the very beginning of 2000s. In this context, whether and/or to what extent microcredit is effective in taking women and their families out of poverty becomes a major question. Based on the assumption that poverty is a multidimensional issue, the main aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship between micro credit and poverty. This relationship will be understood by looking deeply at women&rsquo / s lives through semi-structured interviews with beneficiaries of Diyarbakir office of Turkish Grameen Microcredit Programme. As a result of this study, it is found that a few women become entrepreneurs and engage in economic activities. Rather, they generally apply for microcredit for consumption concerns, for payments of other debts and to expand their current business. Therefore, microcredit remains insufficient to end people&rsquo / s poverty since it do not provide a transformative and structural power to the poor.

DEUX DESCRIPTIONS DE PROCESSEURS SONT UTILISEES: L'UNE BASEE SUR L'UTILISATION DU LANGAGE VDL/APL, L'AUTRE REPOSANT SUR LA NOTION D'ORGANIGRAMME. APPLICATION DE LA THEORIE DE LA SIMULATION ALGEBRIQUE ENTRE PROGRAMMES A LA VERIFICATION DE LA MICROPROGRAMMATION. DESCRIPTION D'UN MICROCALCULATEUR REEL MICROPROGRAMMABLE ET APPLICATION DE LA PROCEDURE DE VERIFICATION

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences de l'éducation : Lyon 2 : 2001. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr.

Thèse d'exercice : Médecine. Santé publique : Nantes : 2007. / Bibliogr.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Littérature française : Le Mans : 2005. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. p. 393-401.

Reproduction de : Thèse d'exercice : Médecine : Nancy 1 : 2007. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

The thesis consists of an introduction and three studies, which are comparative sociological and institutional analyses of a number of countries' publicly regulated vocational education and training systems at upper secondary and post-secondary level. Official regulation of programme content and curricula - the main empirical material - is interpreted, and focus is directed on aspects which distinguish between, among others, general and vocational elements of teaching, learning and training. The analyses employ concepts from educational studies, historical sociology and institutional sociology with the aim of conceptual elaboration and illumination of similarities and differences between cases. Study I compares upper secondary vocational education and training programmes in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The programmes are analysed and compared with respect to scope, sequence and selection of curricular units of subject matter and periods of training. Programmes combine general and vocational elements in various ways, thereby offering choices for obtaining both the occupation-related qualification, as well as higher education eligibility. The combination of curricular units with additional subject matter seems to, in some cases, lead to emerging learning aims. Study II focuses on vocational education and training systems at upper secondary level in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and seeks to identify differences and similarities by conceptualising features of ideal types along different dimensions. It furthermore develops a method of analysis and visualisation which enables more accurate understanding of how various learning aims are designed within educational programmes. Some of the results indicate that the resources necessary for attaining the full, intended educational qualification are not guaranteed in any of the three cases; however, this applies particularly to apprenticeship-based programmes, where it can be attained only after training contracts with status-like features, resembling parts of occupational jurisdictions, are seized within sheltered circumstances. In the school-based programmes, a larger proportion of resources are guaranteed, but training is shorter and less vocationally oriented. Vocational education and training programmes in all three systems orient learning not only towards vocational, but also general learning aims. Study III compares admission criteria to post-secondary vocational education and training programmes in Denmark and Sweden, focusing on the Danish erhvervsakademi and the Swedish yrkeshögskola. Options, as elements of life chances, for individuals holding upper secondary vocational education qualifications who wish to apply for admission to these programmes, differ in terms of scope between the two cases. In the Swedish case, options are wide and mostly structured by course-based admission criteria; while in the Danish case, options are more narrow and structured by qualification-based admission criteria. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>