This study aims to discover pedagogues perceptions of children’s sedentary behavior linked to the school and its activities. Questions that the study sought to answer was: What do pedagogues think of when they hear “sedentary children”. How do the pedagogues look at their own and the schools responsibility? Advantages and disadvantages with sedentary behavior? Relationship between physical activity and sedentary behavior and the impact of environment connected to sedentary behavior? The study is qualitative and implemented through seven interviews with pedagogues in the schools earlier years. The result show that pedagogues connect sedentary to children`s time in front of different screen activities and that children are less able to spontaneously activate themselves these days. The responsibility the pedagogues saw they had was to offer and display and encourage children to motion and to provide a stimulating environment. Pedagogues connect benefits of sedentary with the ability to concentrate in learning environments. Disadvantages were linked to concentrations difficulties, lazier children, bad self-esteem and physical development. The environment was seen to play a crucial role for the pedagogues as well.

The main aim of this study was to investigate how effective School Management Teams were in the management of healthy school environments in the Gert Sibande District. This was a qualitative study which employed two data collection strategies: face to face interviews and photographs. A literature review on this study revealed vital aspects, that a healthy school environment: can directly improve children’s health and effective learning; the school is strategically positioned to reach large numbers of the population to teach them to understand the importance of investing in health. Literature indicated collaboration and synergy as essential aspects, and policies as cornerstones that underpin the health promotion initiatives. Selection of sites was purposefully done as three of the four schools in this study were part of the Eco Schools programme. The study revealed that there was disconnect between the SMTs and committees that were involved in health promotion: in coordinating plans; and monitoring and evaluating the implementation of programmes. This therefore, means that there was no support for the committees from the SMT. It was also found that there were committees that: did not have plans; did not sit for meetings and the reluctance of the SMT to address these challenges compounded the situation and contributed to some committees being dysfunctional. The failure of the SMT to guide and provide leadership in their engagement with community members who provided assistance in terms of basic needs to learners indicated a need for the development of a cadre of leaders that are capable of working beyond the borders of schools. In all the committees that were interviewed, the Environmental Committee came up to be more effective and organized than others in three schools. The health committee was lacking in the area of training especially in the prevention of communicable diseases. The study provided recommendations to assist the SMT in their endeavors to promote healthy environments in their schools. / MEd, Education Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Den svenska skolan har genomgått stora förändringar, samhället ställer andra krav på dagens unga och internationella mätningar visar att svenska elever presterar sämre i skolan. Forskning har visat på att icke-kognitiva kunskaper spelar stor roll för framtidsutvecklingen samt för utvecklingen av kognitiva kunskaper. Vad är skolans uppdrag för att utveckla barn och ungas icke-kognitiva kunskaper? Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys granskas Skollagen, grundskolans läroplan och FN:s barnkonvention, med fokus på skolans uppdrag för barn och ungdomars utveckling av icke-kognitiva kunskaper, ungas rättigheter till en trygg skolmiljö och möjlighet till socialisering samt hur dokumenten fördelar ansvaret mellan skolan respektive hemmet i barnets utveckling. Studien har också granskat utbildningsplanen för grundskollärarutbildningen på Högskolan Väst för att klargöra lärares kunskapsområde och analyserat hur en socialpedagogisk referensram kan komplettera lärare i ovanstående ansvar och uppdrag i förhållande till hemmet. Den socialpedagogiska referensramen betonar vikten av att se helheten i ett barns situation och det viktiga i att barn och unga inkluderas i sociala gemenskaper och verksamheter för att utvecklas. För att utvecklas behöver barn få de grundläggande behoven i Maslows behovspyramid tillgodosedda. Vilket ger en förståelse för hur viktigt det är att ge barn och unga rätt förutsättningar för att utvecklas optimalt. Utifrån kategorierna socialisering, hemmet och skolan, trygg skolmiljö, icke-kognitiv kunskap och disposition framkommer bland annat att skolan har ett viktigt ansvar för barnets utveckling men att hemmet har det grundläggande ansvaret samt att skolan har ett ansvar för mer än bara kognitiva kunskaper. / The Swedish school has undergone great changes, society places different demands on today's youth's and international measurements show that Swedish pupils perform lower results in school. Research has shown that non- cognitive skills play a major role in the future progress and development of cognitive skills. What is the school's mission to develop children and young people's non- cognitive skills? Through a qualitative content analysis examines the Education Act, the compulsory school curriculum and the UNCRC, focusing on school assignments for child and adolescent development of non- cognitive skills, young people's rights to a safe school environment and the opportunity for socialization and how the document allocates responsibility between school and home in child development. The study also examines the curriculum for elementary teacher program at University West to clarify teachers' knowledge area and analyzed how a social pedagogical framework can supplement teacher in the above responsibilities and tasks in relation to home. The social pedagogical reference framework emphasizes the importance of seeing the big picture of a child's situation and that it´s important that young people are included in social communities and businesses to develop. To thrive, children need to get the basic needs in Maslow's needs pyramid satisfied. This gives an understanding of how important it is to give children and young people right conditions to develop optimally. Based on the categories of socialization, home and school, safe school environment, non- cognitive skills and disposition reveals among other things that the school has an important responsibility for the child's development but that the home has the primary responsibility and that the school is responsible for more than just cognitive skills.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--North Carolina State University, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 20, 2006). Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-199).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 2004. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 31, 2005). Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-179).

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-34).

Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo discutir as práticas sociais de leitura utilizadas por alunos do Ensino Fundamental no ambiente doméstico e sua interação com o espaço escolar. Busca compreender como se realiza a produção do sujeito leitor, e, para isso, examina artefatos e eventos que a produzem, bem como os discursos e as representações de leitura que a envolvem; procura compreender seu funcionamento e sua interação com a oralidade e a escrita. Para tanto, sob a ótica dos estudos sobre letramento, ancorada na perspectiva dos Estudos Culturais, pretende analisar os espaços e os portadores de textos que comumente a abarcam. Opta pelo exame das práticas domésticas para melhor compreender sua interação com o espaço escolar, uma vez que a criança, fazendo parte de uma sociedade letrada, vivencia práticas de letramento antes mesmo de entrar na escola. Além disso, a análise do espaço doméstico permite visibilizar os discursos referentes à leitura que acabam por constituir o aluno leitor. As ferramentas metodológicas utilizadas para a investigação são de inspiração etnográfica, análise textual e do discurso. A investigação se ancora na primeira para ir a campo e realizar a “coleta” de dados, passando, após, a fazer uso das demais para produzir as análises. Os materiais coletados durante a investigação têm origens variadas: gravações em fitas cassete, conversas com/entre as crianças, questionários respondidos por alunos e familiares destes, análise dos desenhos da planta baixa das residências produzidos pelos alunos (onde localizam e descrevem o que têm para ler e o que lêem em casa), linha do tempo e rotina semanal da leitura e da escrita de cada aluno, além de visita à residência de um deles. A pesquisa procurou discutir as práticas domésticas de leitura, investigando como a família, enquanto agência de letramento, contribui para a construção/subjetivação do sujeito letrado. / The objective of this study is to discute the social practices of reading used by students of the Elementary School in the domestic environment and their interation with the school space. It searches to comprehend how the reader subject is realised, and, for that, it examines artfacts and events that produce it, as the discourses and the representations of reading which envolve it; the work pursuits to comprehend its operation and its interation with the orality and the writting. Therefore, according to the studies about literacy, anchored in the perspective of the Cultural Studies, it intends to analyse the spaces and the texts holders that commonly embrace it. It opts for the examination of the domestic practices to comprehend better its interation with the school realm, seeing as how the child, making part of a literate society, lives literacy practices before entering into the school. Besides, the analysis of the domestic space permits to notice the discourses related to the reading that construct the student reader. The methodological orientation to the investigation borrows from the etnographic inspiration, textual and speech analyses. The investigation is anchored in the first to do a field work and to realise the “collection” of datum, passing, thereafter, to make use of them to produce the analyses. The collected materials during the investigation have many origins: tapes recording, conversations with/among the children, questionnaires answered by students and their relatives, analysis of the residences floor plan made by students (where they localize and describe what they have to read and what they read at home), time line and semanal routine of the reading and the writing of each student, besides the residence visiting of one of them. This work tried to discute the domestic practices of reading, investigating how the family, as literacy agency, contributes to the construction/subjetivation of the literate subject.

Leadership styles of principals and school climate are two factors that vary greatly in different private secondary schools in Mauritius. They also contribute immensely in the making of a school a peaceful and happy work place for both staff and students. This study first presented a literature review on leadership styles of principals and school climate. References were made from many sources in order to have a clear overview on these two factors. A qualitative research based on interviews and observations was conducted on teachers and principals from nine private secondary schools in order to fulfill three aims of the study. Firstly, the types of leadership styles adopted by principals in private secondary schools in Mauritius were assessed. Secondly the types of school climate that prevailed in these private secondary schools were evaluated. Lastly, the relationship between the leadership styles of principals and school climate in the private secondary schools was investigated. The results revealed that when the democratic style of the `power' concept of leadership was used alone or with other styles but was more prevalent, the principals of these schools scored `high' in both the initiating structure and consideration items of the `relational' concept of leadership and, the climate of these schools was classified in the category of `others' but was more `open' than `closed'. However, when the authoritarian style of the `power' concept of leadership was used with other styles but was more prevalent, the principals either scored `low' in both the initiating structure and the consideration items or `low' in the consideration items only of the `relational' concept of leadership and the climate was more `closed' than `open'. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of the school community with regard to the outcomes of a school improvement program (SIP) on the effectiveness of Sidama Zone schools. It was primarily a qualitative study, which explored the experiences of the school community with regard to the outcomes of the SIP. Four schools were purposefully selected. The data were collected by means of interviews, focus-group discussions, observations and relevant documents, and analyzed focusing on thematic categories. The findings indicated that in schools where there existed a strong collaboration of the school community in the planning, decision-making, monitoring and evaluation processes, the improvement initiatives were owned by all in the school and the performance of the schools was enhanced. On the other hand, the lack of collaboration in the school community negatively affected the performance of those schools. Besides, in all the schools the CPD was challenged by the resistance of the teachers, the lack of resources and poor implementation strategies. It also became apparent that the teachers' commitment to support each other and their students, to implement active learning methods and continuous assessment contributed to the effectiveness of the better-performing schools. Findings further revealed that to the contrary, these actions were loosely implemented in the poorly-performing schools. Though the peer learning approach was implemented, it became evident that there were mixed views regarding its benefits. The availability of the necessary facilities created an environment conducive to learning in schools one and three. Although there were attempts to implement extra-curricular activities for the social and emotional development of the students, its implementation was negatively affected by a lack of coordination and resources in the schools. In the poorly-performing schools, the school environment was found not to be conducive to teaching and learning. In the better-performing schools, the feedback from the school community was used as an input to make adjustments to the improvement process, and this created a feeling of ownership that led to the effectiveness of the schools. The outcomes of the study indicated that the promotion-rate of the students to the following grade was considered as a measure of the effectiveness of the schools. Conversely, the lack of proper participation of the school community in the school’s affairs, the lack of proper leadership support, the teachers’ resistance to participate in CPD, the non-existence of training opportunities and workshops for the teachers, and the shortage of resources were reported as challenges. From the findings it has been concluded that the SIP has contributed to school effectiveness in the schools that have properly managed the change process as opposed to those schools which remained poorly performing due to low level of SIP implementation. Finally, monitoring the SIP cycles, building trust between the principals and the teachers, creating a link between the schools and other institutions, introducing recognition mechanisms, and providing support to the poorly-performing schools were indicated as strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the school. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

This study investigates the relationship between the school climate, as perceived by the professional staff, and specific leadership behavior, as reported by the school principals in a selected school district in the state of Washington, The purpose of the study is to determine the extent to which the leader behavior of the principal correlates with- the total school climate as well as with the individual factors comprising the school climate. There are no statistically significant relationships among the variables studied. The hypothesis that the higher the leadership skills of the principal the more beneficial would be the climate of the school is not supported. The results suggest that the school climate is independent of the leadership behavior of the principal. Since no difference was found when the factors of climate were considered cumulatively, the individual factors were analyzed for significance. The seven factors of climate, identified by James Tunney and James Jenkins from the CFK Ltd. School Climate Profile, were independent of the leadership ability of the principal.