This thesis carries out a comparative analysis of Harold Pinter&#039 / s &quot / The Birthday Party&quot / , &quot / The Caretaker&quot / , and &quot / A Slight Ache&quot / and Edward Albee&#039 / s &quot / The Zoo Story&quot / and &quot / A Delicate Balance&quot / . It achieves this by exploring how the dramatic structure, characterization, and use of language in these plays display the playwrights&#039 / tendency to employ similar themes of existentialist philosophy / existential resistance to life and man&#039 / s seld-quest in the face of existential anxiety and despair. Man shows a variety of inauthentic responses in order to escape the lack of meaning in life, freedom to choose and burden of responsibility. The aim of this study is to discuss these inauthentic responses given by the characters in the above mentioned plays. They are classified as active and passive forms and analyzed while the parallelism and differences between these two playwrights&#039 / approaches are explored.

<p><strong>Background </strong></p><p>IKEA Communications (ICOM) is IKEA’s communication company which creates communication tools, such as the IKEA catalogue and brochures. The company also functions as IKEA’s internal communication agency. In 2008, ICOM went through a reorganization adopting a matrix structure. This imposes challenges since the employees report to different leaders in different situations. The competence leaders (CL) have the traditional staffing responsibility while project leaders (PL) are the operating leaders and responsible for leading the projects.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Purpose </strong></p><p><strong></strong>We will investigate how the leadership in terms of role clarification and area of responsibility of the CLs can be made more distinct in relation to their employees. Second, we investigate how the relationship between PLs and CLs can be further developed in terms of feedback. This involves sharing employee performance review and individual development after a project as well as how the CL can conduct employee performance review meetings.</p><p><strong>Method </strong></p><p><strong></strong>The study was performed with a qualitative method. A number of 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees and leaders at the production department at ICOM.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><p>Two areas of development have been identified at ICOM. It is evident employees are confused regarding the CL’s role and area of responsibility. The role of the CLs is clear in theory but not in practice. Hence, the first area of development is to increase the distinction of CL’s leadership in terms clarifying their role and responsibility. The study also discovered there is no common feedback routine used between PL and CL where they exchange information regarding employee’s performance within a project. The second area of development is regarding the usage of a structured feedback routine for providing this information.</p>

Authentic leadership is a new concept that is gaining both popularity and notoriety in the leadership literature. It is argued as a positive form of leadership that goes beyond traditional leadership styles in order to influence followers through genuine, ethical behavior. However, as a concept in its infancy, authentic leadership has yet to receive much empirical attention, and many researchers are skeptical of its value in what is seen as a saturated domain of leadership styles. This study offers a comprehensive approach to addressing this need. A new measure for authentic leadership was developed and validated through pilot testing. Through additional analyses using this new measure, it was discovered that authentic and transformational leadership were not empirically distinct. However, by combining these two measures into an authentic-transformational leadership construct, it was still possible to examine the effect of greater amounts of authenticity in the leadership role. It was found that authentic-transformational leadership was directly related to a number of employee attitudes, and these, in turn, were related to positive employee behaviors. Results of this study are discussed both in terms of future research in the area of authentic-transformational leadership as well as its impact on organizational effectiveness.

Abstract According to Wilkerson and Lang (2003, p.1) with approximately "90% of schools, colleges, and departments of education using portfolios of one form or another as decision-making tools for standards-based decisions regarding certification or licensure (as well as NCATE accreditation), it is appropriate to explore the legal and psychometric aspects of this assessment device." This study was conducted to examine how well the authentic assessments created in the Chalk and Wire ePortfolio initiative, which was created to provide authentic assessments of the Accomplished Practices, relate to the measures in the Professional Knowledge subtests on Florida Teacher Certification Examination. The sample was comprised of 294 graduating student teachers from a single department in the College of Education for the 2009/2010 school year at a large southern university. Multiple regression analyses were employed to examine the relationship between authentic assessments (i.e. critical tasks) in Chalk and Wire and performance on the subtests of the Professional Knowledge Test on the Florida Teacher Certification exam while controlling for gender, ethnicity and overall GPA. Only two of the independent variables were statistically significant from the 12 models examined. The scores from the Professional Knowledge subtests on Florida Teacher Certification Examination for Diversity (AP5) and Technology (AP12) were statistically different for gender, with females scoring higher than males on both. The results provided little evidence of concurrent validity between the authentic assessments of the Chalk and Wire ePortfolio initiative and the Professional Knowledge subtests on Florida Teacher Certification Examination.

The purpose of this study was to investigate instructional components that foster meaningful learning for adults with disabilities in a community-based art center. Through narrative analysis and case study methodology, the researcher examined the programmatic content of a single community-based art center--the Arc of the Arts Studio and Gallery (AOA) in Austin, Texas--from 2009 to 2011. Utilizing authentic instruction and constructivism as educational frameworks (Anderson & Milbrandt, 2005; Newmann & Wehlage, 1993), the investigator proposed instructional changes to the AOA program that encouraged student-centered learning through discipline-based inquiry, maintaining real-world connections, and the active construction of knowledge. The researcher instituted a structured, arts-based curriculum based upon these educational concepts that infused lessons with illustrative materials, sequential learning, and public promotion of participants' finished art products in order to stimulate creativity and meaningful learning within the art center. This study scrutinized historical literature documenting art and general education for the disability community in order to examine the influence each historical orientation to disability had on art instruction for this population. Coupled with analysis of the programmatic structure of similar art centers around the country, this information facilitated a more full and rich understanding of how and why art education for people with disabilities is currently organized. The process of creating and implementing a structured art curriculum into the AOA studio addressed the ways in which meaningful learning may take place for adults with disabilities at community-based locations, and emphasized the need for further research into the quality, experience, and location of art education for the wide spectrum of people with disabilities. / text

In order for the study of French to survive in American higher education, it will be necessary to adopt a pedagogy that motivates learners as well as teaches them both language and culture. I argue that the judicious use of visual materials (film, video and graphic novels) is ideal for this undertaking. I further assert--based upon numerous sources from fields such as Second Language Acquisition, cognitive psychology, anthropology and sociolinguistics--that language and culture are inseparable, and that visual materials provide the necessary context to facilitate the teaching of both. Visual materials present both problems and opportunities. I discuss such difficulties as cognitive overload (i.e., students’ being overwhelmed by too much information in too short a period of time) and suggest practical solutions. I also present criteria for the selection of films, such as appropriateness, learning goals and appeal to US university students. I also show how authentic media such as video can be adapted for all proficiency levels (e.g., assigning beginners’ simple word recognition tasks). In considering graphic novels, I suggest a familiar comic strip, Tintin, which is appropriate for beginning to advanced students, and which is likely to appeal to all students, given its American film adaptation. In the appendices, I include applications of the points presented in this report. In the conclusion, I argue that, regardless of the length formal instruction in French, this pedagogy can support practical skills (for example, dealing with people from other cultures) and lifelong learning (for example, staying involved with French culture through the aforementioned media). / text

This thesis takes a departure from a view of scientific literacy as situated in participation in civic practices. From such a view, it becomes problematic to assess scientific literacy through decontextualised test items only dealing with single aspects of participation in contexts concerned with science. Due to the complexity of transferring knowledge, it is problematic to assume that people who can explain scientific theories will automatically apply those theories in life or that knowledge will influence those people’s behaviour. A common way to more fully include the complexity of using science in different practices is to focus participation around issues and study how students use multiple sources to reflect critically and ethically on that issue. However, participation is situated in practices and thus becomes something specific within those practices. For instance, shopping for groceries for the family goes beyond reflecting critically and ethically on health and environment since it involves considering the family economy and the personal tastes of the family members. I have consequently chosen to focus my studies on how to assess scientific literacy as participation in civic practices. The thesis describes a praxis development research study where I, in cooperation with teachers, have designed interventions of assessments in lower secondary science classrooms. In the research study I use the theory of Community of Practice and Expansive Learning to study affordances and constraints for assessing communication, source critique and decision-making in the science classroom. The affordances and constraints for students’ participation in assessments are studied through using a socio-political debate as an assessment tool. The affordances and constraints for communicating assessment are studied through peer assessments of experimental design. The affordances and constraints for teachers to expand their assessment repertoire are studied through assessment moderation meetings. Finally, the affordances and constraints for designing authentic assessments of scientific literacy are studied through a review of different research studies’ use of authenticity in science education. The studies show that tensions emerge between purposes of practices outside the classroom and practices inside the classroom that students negotiated when participating in the assessments. Discussion groups were influential on students’ decisions on how to use feedback. Feedback that was not used to amend the designs was still used to discuss what should count as quality of experiments. Teachers used the moderation meetings to refine their assessments and teaching. However, conflicting views of scientific literacy as either propositional or procedural knowledge were challenging to overcome. Different publications in science education research emphasised personal or cultural aspects of authenticity. The different uses of authenticity have implications for authentic assessments, regarding the affordances and constraints for how to reify quality from external practices and through students’ engagement in practices. The results of the studies point to gains of focussing the assessment on how students negotiate participation in different civic practices. However, this approach to assessment puts different demands on assessment design than assessments in which students’ participation is compared with predefined ideals for performance. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Accepted. Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

The aim of this practitioner research is to explore and analyse how headteachers reflect on their own professional practice to help them sustain themselves and improve secondary schools. The research has two aspects: the first is an action participative enquiry between 2006 and 2009 into the realities of secondary headship; the second is an analysis of the significance of reflexivity in other headteachers and the participant headteacher researcher. Whilst there is a significant literature concerning school improvement and leadership there is very little of a longitudinal nature which examines the experience of secondary headteachers in depth. Therefore this research has significantly enhanced that body of knowledge. It is also appropriate in terms of professional practice as the government increasingly empowers headteachers to be free from the collaborative structures of Local Education Authorities. This (almost) four year study of seven secondary school headteachers within the same metropolitan area takes the form of 25 extended conversations between practising headteachers who established strong “conversational partnerships” (Rubin and Rubin, 2005 p79) over the study. The analysis from the data identified how headteachers sustained good practice in their schools and how they formed co-coaching or mentoring relationships with one another over time. The research is characteristic of a social constructivist tradition. It generated rich, qualitative data gathered through the use of interviews, the participant researcher’s field notes, Ofsted inspection reports and “naturally occurring” material. The research identified a range of themes in the area of school improvement common in the literature such as the importance of focusing on teaching and learning and appointing the ‘right’ staff. It also confirmed much of the existing research in the field of school leadership. It established that these headteachers readily engaged in reflexive practices which impacted positively in supporting the individual professionals and their schools. The research also identified the existence of meta-reflection (Burge et al., 2000, Watson, 1998b) in an educational setting. A definition of meta-reflection would be a type of reflective practice used by of Headteachers in a professional ‘power neutral’ context. It is commonly found in the analysis of headteacher dialogues and requires the passage of time for Headteachers to reflect on these dialogues which allowed allow some headteachers to access a reflective state which supported their professional sustainability and improved their decision making. This ultimately had a positive impact on their schools. The research found that all headteachers reflect on their professional practice at an operational level. It also found that they all were able to be reflexive almost to the degree of co-researching with the participant researcher headteacher. Finally a majority of the sample were also able to use meta-reflection to help then process decision making in their schools. Existing models of leadership (Bush 2011), research analysis (Layder 1993) and reflexivity (Archer 2007) have been used and adapted to illuminate meta-reflection in the headteachers in the sample and to re-define “authentic” headship in this context. This study is relevant not only to headteachers but also to policymakers and educationalists interested in how to improve schools over the long-term and sustain the workforce of headteachers in a manner which benefits all stakeholders.

Asperger’s was eliminated as a distinct diagnosis in the DSM-5. While controversy lingers over the assimilation of Asperger’s into autism spectrum disorder, my study explores the experience of stigma through interviews with four adults with Asperger’s and two with high functioning autism. I examine the phenomenology of autistic stigma, stigma management, and how stigma is impacted by diagnosis. The results provide an understanding of stigma as it is experienced by individuals who, in the words of one participant, suffer from a “relationship disability.” The term ASHFA evolves during the write-up to become more than an acronym for Asperger’s/high functioning autism; it comes to represent a way of being present in the world that transcends diagnosis. A relational methodology derived from Gadamer’s hermeneutics and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology provides a philosophical framework for the project and also guides ethical engagement during the study. Methods used in the data analysis are drawn from constructivist grounded theory. The report itself may contain clues into ASHFA because I, the organizing participant, am also diagnosed with Asperger’s. I attempt to make sense of the paradoxical conclusion that diagnosis can provide a therapeutic explanation for autistic difference even as medicalization disempowers us as a validating narrative / Graduate / 0452 / 0422 / canadagates@gmail.com

This study presents research on the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24) and the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) in a sample of Arizona secondary school principals. A comprehensive literature review was conducted linking the constructs of psychological capital and authentic leadership to other forms of positive leadership, effective organizational change theories, positive psychology, organizational learning, and empirical research on effective schools. A conceptual model of effective leadership for positive organizational was developed with psychological capital and authentic leadership as critical components. The goal of the study was to determine whether or not these measures of psychological capital and authentic leadership are valid, reliable, and appropriate for further research in educational settings. A confirmatory factor analysis quantitatively examined the goodness of fit between the data collected from Arizona secondary school principals and the predefined factor structure supported by previous theory and research. A sample of N=147 for the ALQ and N=149 for the PCQ-24 were collected from active secondary principals in Arizona. The following questions guided this study: 1. Is the factor structure of the PCQ-24 and the ALQ consistent with the theoretical model? 2. What are the internal consistencies (reliabilities) of the sub scales and the overall reliability for each questionnaire? 3. Are there any significant mean differences in psychological capital or authentic leadership behavior given any of the principal characteristics or school demographics? 4. What is the relationship between psychological capital and authentic leadership? Findings from the study suggested that the correlated four-factor model was a better fit than the theoretical latent factor model for both instruments. Overall reliability met acceptable levels for both instruments; however, some subscales in the self-report ALQ instrument were unreliable. Significant mean differences in principals' age and years as a principal were found in both instruments, along with mean differences on some school demographic factors. Several of these differences support the theoretical constructs of psychological capital and authentic leadership within this population. Given the tentative results of the instruments, additional research is recommended in validating these instruments and potentially modifying them slightly for a population of educators. Additional recommendations and limitations conclude this study.