This qualitative research study explored the function of music therapy in the transformation of role identities for clients who had been in paediatric palliative care for an extended period of time. This study aimed to explore the value of music therapy in this transformation, as well as within the context of paediatric palliative care in South Africa. The research took place at a paediatric oncology unit at a local Cape Town Hospital where three participants were selected to receive music therapy sessions over a period of eight weeks. The session notes were analysed and six video excerpts were selected. Through the use of thematic analysis and coding hierarchies four themes (or “role palettes”) emerged from the data: the sick role palette, the mastery role palette, the resilient role palette and the theme of mutuality. It appeared that music therapy could have been a facilitator in the process of a shifting in role palettes. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Music / MMus / Unrestricted

Public sector reforms of recent decades in Europe have promoted managerialism and aimed at introducing private sector thinking and practices. However, with regard to public sector executives' self-understanding, managerial role identities have not replaced bureaucratic ones; rather, components from both paradigms have combined. In this article, we introduce a bi-dimensional approach (attitudes and practices) that allows for different combinations and forms of hybridity. Empirically, we explore the role identities of public sector executives across Europe, building on survey data from over 7,000 top public officials in 19 countries (COCOPS survey). We identify country-level profiles, as well as patterns across countries, and find that administrative traditions can account for these profiles and patterns only to a limited extent. Rather, they have to be complemented by factors such as stability of the institutional environment (indicating lower shares of hybrid combinations) or extent of reform pressures (indicating higher shares of hybrid combinations).

I conducted a qualitative study, interviewing thirty-three workers from the baby-boomer generation, with an objective of examining the intersection of aging and economic restructuring for boomer professionals. Participants’ careers had been impacted by the restructured economy at a point after they reached the age of forty. I applied an identity theory framework that emphasized meanings associated with growing older in the workforce, changes in the economy, self-meanings, and behavior in the restructured workplace. My focus also included process and questions of structure and agency. I used grounded theory methods to provide theory that explains the experience of transitioning from an existing work role as a downsized worker seeking a new job, entering selfemployment, or pursuing a reinvention of one’s career. I examine the transition process, the effects of structure, the formation and maintenance of identity in the transition role, and the factors that impact transition outcomes. I propose a theoretical argument that provides a comprehensive framework for the transition process. I establish transition as a relatively new and legitimate role for today’s worker, identify hegemonic structure as being particularly influential in the development of transition role identities, conceptualize personal resources—specifically self-esteem, selfefficacy, and authenticity—as key aspects of maintaining identity during transition, and investigate worker attributes that relate to transition outcomes. I assess career outcomes in terms of how successfully the transition role is negotiated and identify characteristics that comprise successful and unsuccessful transitions. I then discuss the implications of unabated economic restructuring for boomer professionals and, more broadly, for the future of the U.S. economy.

I conducted a qualitative study, interviewing thirty-three workers from the baby-boomer generation, with an objective of examining the intersection of aging and economic restructuring for boomer professionals. Participants’ careers had been impacted by the restructured economy at a point after they reached the age of forty. I applied an identity theory framework that emphasized meanings associated with growing older in the workforce, changes in the economy, self-meanings, and behavior in the restructured workplace. My focus also included process and questions of structure and agency. I used grounded theory methods to provide theory that explains the experience of transitioning from an existing work role as a downsized worker seeking a new job, entering selfemployment, or pursuing a reinvention of one’s career. I examine the transition process, the effects of structure, the formation and maintenance of identity in the transition role, and the factors that impact transition outcomes. I propose a theoretical argument that provides a comprehensive framework for the transition process. I establish transition as a relatively new and legitimate role for today’s worker, identify hegemonic structure as being particularly influential in the development of transition role identities, conceptualize personal resources—specifically self-esteem, selfefficacy, and authenticity—as key aspects of maintaining identity during transition, and investigate worker attributes that relate to transition outcomes. I assess career outcomes in terms of how successfully the transition role is negotiated and identify characteristics that comprise successful and unsuccessful transitions. I then discuss the implications of unabated economic restructuring for boomer professionals and, more broadly, for the future of the U.S. economy.

The binary distinction of “native speaker” and “non-native speaker” (NS/NNS) remains the primary way in which professionals are categorised in the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). This distinction is problematic because it is used to place greater value on native English speaking teachers (NEST) over non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs). This distinction is argued to be largely based on linguistic features (Medgyes 1992; Cook 1999). However the aspect of race remains to be adequately discussed (Kubota and Lin 2006).This thesis has its origins in my personal experiences with racism because, as a Canadian- Filipino, my employer and my students did not accept me as a “real” NEST because I am “non-white”. In my initial research, during my MA TESOL, into the professional experiences of racism I coined the acronym “VEM-NEST”: visible ethnic minority, native English speaking teacher. I used this term to describe the particular group of teachers, to which I belong, who do not easily fit into the available categories of NS/NNS, and consequently NEST/NNEST.My thesis reported on the experiences of nine VEM-NESTs and how they performed specific identities during specific events. Their experiences were presented as individual restoried narratives which were developed from the combination of the participants’ written stories and one-to-one interviews. The restoried narratives were analysed using an analytical lens based on Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) structural approach. The findings suggest that VEM-NESTs need to meet a certain amount of “native speaker” norms in order to be given the opportunity to perform their VEM-NEST role identities in specific situations. This has particular implications for how the NS/NNS binary distinction needs a more nuanced understanding as a way of addressing the inequalities embedded in the way TESOL professionals are valued.