The purpose of this study was to investigate the beliefs and related classroom practices of a selected group of in-service teachers within the context of a mathematics professional development intervention for primary school teachers in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A cohort of 34 teachers drawn from urban and rural schools in the Eastern Cape engaged in an accredited professional development intervention offered by the Rhodes University Mathematics Education Project (RUMEP). The 34 teachers were referred to as key teachers as they were expected to stimulate mathematics activities with fellow teachers in their school and in a cluster of nearby schools. The professional development intervention took place in a context of transition and transformation in education in South Africa. Curriculum transformation has been inspired by the production of a national policy document known as Curriculum 2005. This document rests on the theoretical assumptions of a learner-centred, outcomes-based approach within a constructivist framework. The professional development experiences of the RUMEP intervention were based on a strongly constructivist rationale recognising the need for key teachers to implement learner-centred, outcomes-based approaches in their classrooms. Although the study included both qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques the research paradigm was mainly interpretive. From the group of 34 key teachers, a purposive sample of three cases was selected for classroom observation. Two observation periods of six months each made up the First Phase and Second Phase classroom visits, interspersed with intensive professional development contact sessions. / During the First Phase observations, 1 as the participant observer, visited the classrooms of Lulama, Makana and Ruth (pseudonyms), the three case study teachers. In the Second Phase period, a colleague and 1 video recorded the classroom practices of all three teachers. The videotapes were analysed by a consultant panel of observers to identify emergent themes using Yager's (1991) Constructivist Learning Model to guide the analysis process. The panel identified a number of dominant themes and these meta-themes have possible implications for a teaching and learning approach that is based on learner-centred, constructivist strategies as advocated in the Curriculum 2005 document. The meta-themes included such challenging issues as a constructivist learning environment, learner-centredness, learner participation, collaboration, reflection, teacher content knowledge, topic progression, and power relations. The findings of the study also suggested that the case study teachers' beliefs did influence their classroom practices. A significant outcome was that teachers in the field were unlikely to sustain outcomes- based, constructivist approaches without regular on-site support. Arising out of this study, 1 was able to isolate ten features that should usefully be incorporated into other professional development interventions in the Eastern Cape, and one of these features was the support provided to teachers in the classroom. / Of further significance was the realisation that future interventions need to focus on the conceptual development of teachers' mathematics content knowledge and the systematic planning of related activities when preparing the pace and a particular mathematics topic using the National Curriculum Statement (2001) as a guide. Quantitative data from the full cohort of 34 key teachers was collected via a mathematics Beliefs Scale, authentic assessment tests (Insight Tasks), and a School Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ). The results on the Belief Scale indicated significant differences teachers' beliefs on two out of the' c subscales. These differences were in the teaching and learning of mathematics. There was no significant difference on the sequencing topic subscale. The key teachers completed the Insight Tasks pre an intervention to measure gains in their content and pedagogic (professional) knowledge. The Insight Task results indicated that the key teachers made clear progress in their professional development. Quantitative data was also gathered from six mathematics teachers in a selected urban school. The School Level Environment Questionnaire instrument was administered to the six teachers. The aim was to profile the teachers' pedagogic needs within a context of curriculum transformation. The profile raised two items for discussion: Staff Freedom and Resource Adequacy. It would appear that the teachers in this particular school wanted more guidance in planning outcomes-based mathematics topics, and they highlighted the need for classroom- based resources if they were to adequately implement such a curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to establish an action research plan for teachers to improve student outcomes by assessing, describing, and changing their classroom environments. This study relied on student perceptions, using survey responses, to assess and describe the classroom environment. Teachers used this information to develop intervention strategies designed to change the students' perceptions of their actual classroom environment to more closely mirror their preferred classroom environment perceptions.More than forty years of classroom environment research has proven the importance of the classroom environment in developing positive student outcomes. Additional research has established the reliability of student perceptions of their learning environment. Previous research has developed several dependable student survey instruments to measure student perceptions of their classroom environment.This study was conducted in a Title I elementary school in the United States over a seven month period. Two intermediate level mathematics teachers participated in the project. Both quantitative data, using the My Classroom Inventory (MCI) and the School Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ), and qualitative data, teachers' case studies, were collected and analyzed.The study established that an action research plan for teachers to assess, describe, and change their classroom environments could be developed. However, even though teachers realized the benefits, for their students and themselves, in changing their classroom environments, school level environment demands negatively influenced their willingness to implement changes to their classroom environments.

Annually in the United States, over one million students do not complete high school. Furthermore, more than 80% of those students fall behind at the beginning of Grade 9, leaving behind costs for society, including relying upon public assistance (Hughes et al., 2018; Letgers and Balfanz, 2010). Gaining a proper education is essential for children, determining a child's adult life, including higher earning potential, improved health, and a longer lifespan (Hahn and Truman, 2015; McKee and Caldarella, 2016). To conduct this study, the researcher used a qualitative methodology exploring the perceptions of eight returning adult education students between the ages of 18 and 24 in one Virginia school division. The researcher conducted one-on-one interviews to determine the participants' perceptions of why they dropped out of high school and the rationale, and why they returned to an adult education program to continue their education. Findings from this study showed that returning adult education students experience a variety of life experiences and rationale when making the decision to drop out of school prior to earning a high school diploma or GED credential. The findings identified from the collected data in this study resulted in five implications for school personnel. School personnel must equip the parent(s) and the student(s) with strategies and resources that will help high school students maintain overall school success, both now and in the future. Those strategies and resources should be geared towards helping identifying students who are at risk of becoming high school dropouts. / Doctor of Education / Gaining a proper education is essential for children, determining a child's adult life, including higher earning potential, improved health, and a longer lifespan (Hahn and Truman, 2015; McKee and Caldarella, 2016). The decision to dropout of school is linked to adverse individual and social consequences (Lee-St. John et al., 2018). Students who fail to graduate from high school experience health issues and a poorer quality of life (Letgers and Balfanz, 2010). To conduct this study, the researcher used a qualitative methodology exploring the perceptions of eight returning adult education students between the ages of 18 and 24. The researcher conducted one-on-one interviews to determine the participants' perceptions of why they dropped out of high school and the rationale, and why they returned to an adult education program to continue their education. Findings from this study showed that returning adult education students experience a variety of life experiences and rationale when making the decision to drop out of school prior to earning a high school diploma or GED credential. The findings identified from the collected data in this study resulted in five implications for school personnel. School personnel must equip the parent(s) and the student(s) with strategies and resources that will help high school students maintain overall school success, both now and in the future. Those strategies and resources should be geared towards helping identifying students who are at risk of becoming high school dropouts.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the role of school management in promoting healthy school environments for Grade R learners in the Sedibeng West District. A literature review revealed that there are two types of health programmes: those that support the curriculum and those that are part of the curriculum. School managers have to focus on both in their efforts to promote health in schools. South African schools adapted a Whole School Approach in creating and sustaining healthy environments. Whole School Approach includes the development of health policies, health education, community, learner, teacher involvement, nutrition and prevention of communicable diseases. A qualitative research approach was used and data was generated by means of interviews, documents, photographs and narratives. Four research sites were purposefully selected and four principals, three Heads of Departments for Foundation Phase, four health coordinators and four Grade R practitioners participated in this research. Only one of the research sites had a School Based Health Centre. The study revealed that curriculum-based health programmes including physical education, physical activities and health education were effectively implemented although they were not effectively monitored and evaluated. Health programmes supporting the curriculum include nutrition, first aid and health services. Both health services and nutrition were effectively implemented and monitored whilst there were serious problems with first aid. Practitioners were not trained for first aid, in the three schools where first aid kits were available were not checked therefore not replenished. In one school there was no first aid kit, thus, there was not much focus on precautionary measures in the participating school. There was therefore, no strategies in place for the management of health programmes that support the curriculum. / MEd (Education Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

The main aim of this study was to investigate the role of school management in promoting healthy school environments for Grade R learners in the Sedibeng West District. A literature review revealed that there are two types of health programmes: those that support the curriculum and those that are part of the curriculum. School managers have to focus on both in their efforts to promote health in schools. South African schools adapted a Whole School Approach in creating and sustaining healthy environments. Whole School Approach includes the development of health policies, health education, community, learner, teacher involvement, nutrition and prevention of communicable diseases. A qualitative research approach was used and data was generated by means of interviews, documents, photographs and narratives. Four research sites were purposefully selected and four principals, three Heads of Departments for Foundation Phase, four health coordinators and four Grade R practitioners participated in this research. Only one of the research sites had a School Based Health Centre. The study revealed that curriculum-based health programmes including physical education, physical activities and health education were effectively implemented although they were not effectively monitored and evaluated. Health programmes supporting the curriculum include nutrition, first aid and health services. Both health services and nutrition were effectively implemented and monitored whilst there were serious problems with first aid. Practitioners were not trained for first aid, in the three schools where first aid kits were available were not checked therefore not replenished. In one school there was no first aid kit, thus, there was not much focus on precautionary measures in the participating school. There was therefore, no strategies in place for the management of health programmes that support the curriculum. / MEd (Education Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

The purpose of this study was to explore foundation phase teachers' perceptions of the way in which supportive school environments are being created for children from same-sex parented families. It focused specifically on how foundation phase teachers perceive their role in accommodating, including, and positively representing the same-sex parented family in their classroom practice. Current literature highlights the negative experiences of homophobia and heteronormativity in schools, together with the need to create more supportive school environments for children from samesex parented families. The increasing prevalence of same-sex parented families in South Africa has created the need for extended research in this regard, and yet there is a gap in national literature on the school experiences of children from this nontraditional minority family form. Foundation phase teachers play a central role in teaching their young learners to accept and celebrate diversity. However, no research has been done in South Africa to explore foundation phase teachers' perspectives on their role in interrupting heteronormativity in their schools and classrooms. This study was approached from an interpretive paradigm and qualitative methods were employed to collect and analyse the data. Individual interviews were conducted with four foundation phase teachers, and interpretive thematic data analysis techniques were used to analyse the data. Culturally responsive pedagogy was used as a framework to explore barriers to inclusion, and to recommend ways in which foundation phase teachers in South African schools can be supported in creating safe, positive and counter-heteronormative school environments for children from same-sex parented families. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

This study sought to determine if there were differences in the types of reading interests of seventh- and eighth-grade pupils associated with their racial origins, their socioeconomic status, or their school environments. It also sought to consider the strength of reading interest scores as related to other variables and to consider the relationship between these scores and the number of hours spent in reading and the change in amount of reading since the previous school year.

Neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning (NPF) påverkar elevens beteende och minskar signifikant funktionella adaptiva färdigheter i vardagen. Social kommunikation och interaktionsförmåga, språk, uppmärksamhet, känslor, motorisk prestanda, lärande samt minne är exempel på områden där påverkan kan visas. I skolan ställs krav på anpassning samt att följa uttalade och outtalade regler. Skolornas elevhälsa ska omfatta medicinska, psykologiska, psykosociala och specialpedagogiska insatser och ska främst vara förebyggande och hälsofrämjande. Studiens syfte var att undersöka skolsköterskans erfarenheter av elever med NPF i skolan och skolsköterskans insatser för elevgruppen i ett hälsofrämjande och förebyggande perspektiv. Studien är explorativ samt kvalitativ och baseras på fokusgruppsintervju. Fem skolsköterskor deltog med varierande yrkeserfarenhet från drygt ett år till 15 år. Både grund- och gymnasieskola var representerade. Resultatet visar att skolsköterskorna önskar kunna göra mer för elever med NPF samt att det inte alltid är enkelt att kunna särskilja vad som är hälsofrämjande och förebyggande insatser. De efterfrågar mer samarbete, strukturerade arbetssätt och riktlinjer i ämnet hälsofrämjande och förebyggande insatser samt mer tid. Svårigheter beskrivs i att kunna särskilja vad som är hälsofrämjande och förebyggande insatser. För att kunna stötta elever med NPF behövs ett utökat samarbete, strukturerade arbetssätt och riktlinjer i ämnet hälsofrämjande och förebyggande insatser samt mer tid. Nyckelord: Neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar, NPF, skolmiljö, skolsköterska, elevhälsa / Neuropsychiatric Disability (NPF) affects student behavior and reduces functional adaptive skills in everyday life. Social communication and interactivity, language, attention, emotion, motor performance, learning and memory are examples of areas where impact can be seen. The school requires adaptation and adherence to pronounced and unspoken rules. The Student Health care should include medical, psychological, psychosocial and special educational efforts, and should aim to both prevent illness and promote health. Students' development towards the goals of the education should be supported. The purpose of the study was to investigate the school nurse's experiences of pupils with NPF and the school nurse's efforts for the student group in a health promotion and prevention perspective. This is an explorative qualitative study based on a focus group interview. Five school nurses participated with varied professional experience, varying from one to 15 years. Both elementary school and high school were represented. The results show that school nurses wish to do more for pupils with NPF and that it is not always easy to distinguish between health promotion and preventive measures. They want more cooperation, structured working methods and guidelines in the field of health promotion and prevention, and more time. Difficulties are described in distinguishing between health promotion and preventive measures. In order to support NPF students, enhanced collaboration, structured work methods and guidelines are needed in the field of health promotion and prevention efforts and more time. Keywords: Neuropsychiatric Disabilities, NPF, School environments, School Nurses, Student Health

Cotutelle Université de Montréal - Université Grenoble Alpes / Des vagues d’immigration successives ont fait du Québec le lieu d’une importante diversité linguistique et culturelle. Ainsi, de nombreux élèves bi/plurilingues sont maintenant scolarisés dans les classes ordinaires des écoles francophones québécoises, notamment au secondaire. Pour ces élèves, l’apprentissage de l’écriture est bien souvent un défi de taille. L’apprentissage de l’orthographe grammaticale (OG) du français, plus spécifiquement, constitue un obstacle important au développement de leur compétence à écrire. Cet obstacle se présente d’ailleurs pour l’ensemble des élèves scolarisés dans cette langue. Les accords verbaux et adjectivaux de même que le choix des terminaisons verbales en /E/ sont entre autres la source de difficultés marquées (Brissaud, Chevrot et Lefrançois, 2006 ; Manesse et Cogis, 2007). La présente recherche doctorale vise donc à contribuer à l’identification de dispositifs favorisant l’apprentissage de l’OG française d’élèves bi/plurilingues scolarisés en classe ordinaire au secondaire en milieu pluriethnique et plurilingue. Conçues en réponse aux difficultés des élèves en contexte de langue première, certaines interventions tendent à avoir des effets positifs sur leur apprentissage de l’OG, telles que les dictées métacognitives (Nadeau et Fisher, 2014) et une approche intégrée d’enseignement de l’orthographe (Allal et al., 2001). Dans notre thèse, nous avons conçu un dispositif qui s’inspire de ces interventions et, afin de prendre en compte les spécificités des milieux scolaires pluriethniques et plurilingues, nous avons intégré des approches plurilingues à ce dispositif. Ces approches sont susceptibles d’engager les élèves bi/plurilingues dans leurs apprentissages et de favoriser le développement de capacités métalinguistiques, en plus de soutenir d’éventuels transferts entre les langues (Cummins, 2009 ; de Pietro, 2003 ; Moore, 2006). C’est ainsi que nous avons conçu un « dispositif plurilingue » d’enseignement de l’OG française. Ce dispositif allie la production de textes identitaires plurilingues (Cummins et Early, 2011) et la mise en œuvre de dictées métacognitives soutenues par des approches plurilingues, qui prennent la forme d’activités d’éveil aux langues (Armand, 2014 ; Auger, 2014) et de pratiques translinguistiques (Candelier et de Pietro, 2008 ; García et Kano, 2014). Nous avons testé l’hypothèse selon laquelle ce dispositif plurilingue favoriserait le développement de la compétence des élèves en OG en français. À cette fin, nous l’avons mis à l’essai auprès d’élèves bi/plurilingues de première secondaire (groupe expérimental 1 ; n = 79), puis nous avons comparé ses effets avec ceux d’un « dispositif monolingue » d’enseignement de l’OG (groupe expérimental 2 ; n = 70), qui allie approche intégrée et dictées métacognitives, en français seulement, et avec ceux de pratiques habituelles d’enseignement de l’OG (groupe contrôle ; n = 46). Nous avons évalué la compétence en OG de l’ensemble des élèves au moyen d’une dictée et d’une production écrite guidée. Des entretiens métagraphiques réalisés auprès d’un nombre ciblé de participants des trois groupes (au total, n = 24) ont également permis une compréhension plus fine de l’évolution de leurs procédures graphiques. La passation de ces outils s’est effectuée à trois reprises: avant l’intervention (prétest), immédiatement après l’intervention (posttest immédiat) et cinq semaines après l’intervention (posttest différé). Au terme de notre recherche, nous constatons que le dispositif plurilingue apporte une contribution significativement plus grande au développement de la compétence en OG en français que des pratiques habituelles d’enseignement de l’OG. De plus, ce dispositif contribue tout autant, voire plus, à ce développement que le dispositif monolingue, alors que les effets propres au dispositif plurilingue se présentent notamment sous la forme d’un ancrage des apprentissages des élèves dans la durée. En effet, au posttest différé, seules les performances globales à la dictée des élèves du groupe expérimental1 sont significativement supérieures à celles des élèves au groupe contrôle. Quant aux performances globales à la production écrite guidée, celles des élèves des groupes expérimentaux 1 et 2 sont significativement supérieures à celles des élèves du groupe contrôle. Enfin, au moyen des données tirées des entretiens métagraphiques, nous constatons l’existence d’un lien entre les plus grands progrès dans les performances globales des élèves des groupes expérimentaux 1 et 2 et l’augmentation du recours à des procédures morphosyntaxiques et à des procédures de remplacement, une tendance qui ne se dégage pas des résultats obtenus dans le groupe contrôle. / Successive waves of immigrants have turned the province of Quebec into a place of great linguistic and cultural diversity. Thus, many bi/plurilingual students are now attending regular classes in Quebec’s French-language schools, particularly in high school. For these students, learning to write is often a challenge. The grammatical morphology (GM) of French, more specifically, constitutes an important obstacle to the development of their writing skills, an obstacle shared by all students of French regardless of their mother- tongue. Verbal and adjective agreements as well as the choice of verbal endings in /E/ are some of the greatest difficulties (Chevrot, Brissaud & Lefrançois, 2006; Manesse & Cogis, 2007). The present doctoral research aims to contribute to the identification of approaches promoting the learning of the French GM of bi/plurilingual students attending regular high school classes in a multi-ethnic and multilingual environment. In order to address students’ difficulties in a first language learning context, certain teaching practices, such as an integrated approach to teaching spelling and metacognitive dictations, tend to have positive effects on students’ GM development (Allal et al., 2001; Nadeau & Fisher, 2014). In our thesis, we designed an approach inspired by these practices. Furthermore, in order to take into account the specificities of multi-ethnic and multilingual school environments, we integrated plurilingual pedagogical practices to this approach. Those practices are likely to engage bi/plurilingual students in their learning and to promote the development of metalinguistic abilities, in addition to supporting possible transfers between languages (de Pietro, 2003; Moore 2006; Cummins 2009). Thus, we tailored a “plurilingual approach” for teaching French GM. This approach combines the writing of plurilingual identity texts (Cummins & Early, 2011) and metacognitive dictations supported by plurilingual pedagogical practices. Those practices consisted of language awareness activities (Armand, 2014; Auger, 2014) and translinguistic practices (Candelier & de Pietro, 2008; Garcia & Kano, 2014). We verified the hypothesis according to which our plurilingual approach would promote the development of student’s GM in French. To this end, we tested this plurilingual approach with bi/plurilingual first-year secondary students (experimental group 1, n = 79). We then compared its effects with those of a “monolingual approach” for teaching French GM (experimental group 2, n = 70), which combines an integrated approach of teaching spelling and metacognitive dictations, in French only, and with those of usual GM teaching practices (control group, n = 46). We assessed the GM skills of all students through a dictation and a guided written production. Metagraphic interviews with a targeted number of participants from all three groups (in total, n = 24) also provided a deeper understanding of the evolution of their graphical procedures. These data collection tools were used three times: before the experimentation (pre-test), immediately after the experimentation (immediate post-test) and five weeks after the experimentation (delayed post-test). At the end of our research, we found that the plurilingual approach makes a significantly greater contribution to the development of GM in French than usual teaching practices. Moreover, this approach contributes as much, if not more, to this development as the monolingual approach, while the effects specific to the plurilingual approach involve the rooting of the skills learned by students over time. Indeed, at the delayed posttest, only the dictation overall performances of students in experimental group 1 are significantly higher than those of students in the control group. As for written production overall performances, both those in experimental groups 1 and 2 are significantly higher than those in the control group. Finally, using data from the metagraphic interviews, we find a link between the greatest progress in the overall performances of students in experimental groups 1 and 2 and the increase in the use of morphosyntactic procedures and substitution procedures, a trend that does not emerge from the results obtained in the control group.