Desde los años 1990 (Curtis, Ward, Sharp, & Hankin, 2013), con el desarrollo de un mundo cada vez más globalizado e individualista, diferentes estudios (Andreotti, 2014; Brown, 2017; Byram, 2014b; Guilherme, 2002, 2007; Hoskins, 2006; Hoskins & Crick, 2010; Osler & Starkey, 2015; Shultz, 2007; VanderDussen Toukan, 2017) han mostrado la necesidad de desarrollar políticas educativas que impliquen una forma de aprendizaje donde los estudiantes sean capaces de desarrollar proyectos y competencias cívicas que aborden temas referidos a cuestiones sociales, económicas o ambientales, entre otras. Este enfoque global y colaborativo de la educación es conocido como Global Citizenship Education (GCED), y en él se abordan contenidos como la paz y los derechos humanos, la interculturalidad, la educación ciudadana, el respeto por la diversidad y la tolerancia, y la inclusividad. Partiendo de estos principios, la pregunta de investigación planteada es ver si la canción protesta tiene elementos que pueden servir como materia transversal en el ámbito educativo especialmente en la formación de la GCED en alumnos universitarios. El antecedente del uso de la canción protesta, por ejemplo, para despertar sentimientos hacia movimientos sociales que estaban o están en contra de la guerra y en consecuencia buscar la mejora de los derechos civiles, no es algo novedoso. Los episodios que protagonizó la sociedad estadounidense contra la guerra de Vietnam se pueden considerar como un hito histórico en la reivindicación de estos –The Civil Rights Movement-, pero en la actualidad, dada la globalidad y la individualización del mundo, como ya se ha señalado, parece ser que la canción tipo protesta, a pesar de su producción y conocimiento por parte de la sociedad, no tiene el mismo vigor ni magnitud que en épocas anteriores. Esta aparente carencia de vigencia cuando el mensaje que subyace es el mismo a largo del tiempo, pone de manifiesto una serie de inputs que deben de ser analizados con el fin de comprender y profundizar en los procesos y las complejas interacciones entre este tipo de músicas y la construcción de significados que respondan a los principios de la GCED. Por este motivo el estudio tiene cuatro fases. La primera ha consistido en hacer un vaciado que relacionara prensa y canción protesta, pues se ha considerado que la prensa en el año 2003 –Guerra de Irak-, todavía actuaba como formadora de opiniones. En segundo lugar, se abordaron aquellas canciones que respondieran al concepto de canciones antiguerra de Irak y ver si tenían en la población algún efecto de tipo transversal que respondiera a los principios de la GCED- En tercer lugar, comprobar si una canción mayoritariamente desconocida por los alumnos universitarios Stange Fruit (Meeropol, 1939) que pone de manifiesto y clama contra la violencia racial (Lynching) podría todavía tener vigencia transversalmente en la actualidad en el ámbito educativo universitario, como en la sociedad en general. En cuarto lugar, se decidió estudiar el impacto de un texto con un alto contenido contra el racismo y la venganza con la finalidad de explorar si la carencia de acompañamiento musical produjera los mismos resultados que los estudios anteriores. El texto fue un extracto conocido como “Hath not a Jew eyes? ”de la obra de Shakesepare, “The Merchant of Venice” Global Citizenship Education (GCED), la promoción de educación para una ciudadanía global, representa un compromiso a nivel internacional para abordar temas actuales y globales como pueden ser: medio ambiente y desarrollo sostenible, justicia social, derechos humanos, pobreza y la paz, entre otros.

Like many other European cities, Malmö has set ambitious goals to become Sweden’s first carbon-neutral city by 2030. This objective is aligned with several public entities such as the Öresund Region, the Swedish Energy Agency, the European Union, and the UN within the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Urban Development. However, statistics show that this goal is very difficult, if not, impossible to reach, as the city has achieved 32% of renewable energy by the end of 2020. Furthermore, the region of Skåne is currently facing problems regarding electricity shortage due to the lack of production in the region and network capacity in the national grid. This study identifies at least two major causes to explain why the energy transition in the city of Malmö does not see the light at the end of the tunnel. First, there is a dominant political narrative in Sweden that favors centralized and intensive capital solutions that may result in the lock-in of alternatives that aim for a more decentralized energy system. Second, the high trust in technological innovation to solve societal challenges has reduced Social Innovation (SI) as a tool that only complements technological advances (e.g., offshore wind turbines and smart grids). Therefore, this mainstream eliminates the capacity of Social Innovation in the Energy Sector (SIE) as an opportunity to contest dominant structures and make transformative changes at the institutional level within the energy system. Within this context, regime actors such as Large-scale Energy Companies (LECs) have an important role in impeding but possibly also enabling SIE and facilitating the sustainable and just energy transition in Sweden. Drawing on the Transformative Social Innovation-framework, this thesis analyzes three SIE-initiatives developed by E.ON Group in collaboration with other actors. An embedded-case study approach and mixed methods (mapping, document review, semi-structured interviews, and thematic and discourse analysis) were the basis of this research to understand the transformative potential of each initiative. The results of the study conclude that LECs participate actively in the development of SIE. It shows that projects like SWITCH/CoordiNET change internal social relations but not institutional relations, while others such as Sege Park and Smart Cities Accelerator+ have big potential of transformative change and may replace and alter dominant informal and formal institutions. It also demonstrates how E.ON and the City of Malmö are challenging the dominant political narrative in Sweden. Building on the latter empirical findings, this thesis suggests recommendations for city actors (public sector, businesses, organizations, and individuals) to create alliances and reach the goal of producing 100% renewable energy while aiming for a more sustainable and just energy system in the city of Malmö.

As the global food system causes environmental degradation and contributes to detrimental health effects, a transformation is vital for a sustainable and fair future for all. Research on food system transformation and the role of food initiatives have increased. Niche initiatives or “seeds” in the food sectors in Stockholm and Cape Town are finding new ways to contribute to change in the social-ecological systems in which they operate. The questions addressed in this thesis are (i) how the transformative capacity of these seeds have developed over time (ii) what amplification strategies the seeds apply to increase their impact and (iii) what the enablers and barriers to amplification processes are. A three-dimensional framework of transformative capacity and a typology of eight amplification processes are used for the analysis. Findings indicate that seeds are building momentum and developing transformative capacity within three areas: connecting to the biosphere, social cohesion, and agency. The initiatives foremost apply strategies of stabilizing, growing, scaling deep, and scaling up to amplify their transformative impact. Food seeds play an important role in building sustainable food systems and their contribution to change challenges the traditional thinking of growth in transformations and emphasize aspects of changing values, improving quality, and encouraging diversity.

Thesis advisor: Audrey A. Friedman / Through adventure-based learning (ABL), individuals analyze unique experiences in order to generalize and apply critical skills and dispositions to their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities (Dillon, Tannehill, & O’Sullivan, 2010).  However, there is a lack of research documenting the transferability of ABL to other contexts (Kraft, 1999; Furman & Sibthorp, 2012). In educator preparation programs, coursework in ABL has been found inadequate for its incorporation into practice (Sutherland & Legge, 2016; Dillon, Tannehill, & O’Sullivan, 2010). Expanding this research base is critical in justifying “adventure programming [as] more than just fun and games, and to support it as the powerful form of change that practitioners tacitly know it to be” (Priest & Gass, 1999, p. 478), and understanding how that change can impact teachers. This research is informed by the overall question: In what ways can experience as an adventure-based learning (ABL) leader impact the subsequent epistemologies and practices of professional educators? Utilizing qualitative, collective case study methodology (Yin, 2018; Hancock & Algozzine, 2017) and grounded in Mezirow’s (2000) transformative learning theory, this research studies ten professional educators who, as college students, had served as ABL facilitators. Findings indicate that participants’ experience in facilitating ABL aligned with Mezirow’s criteria for transformative learning both personally and professionally. While participants rarely incorporated the physical challenges and fantastical premises typically associated with ABL, they reported their pre-professional experiences deeply influenced their pedagogical practice.  This research posits a new framework for these connections, adventure-informed pedagogy, to explore how ABL philosophies and processes, but not practices, impacted former facilitators and their classrooms. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

In the current globalizing society, teachers are provided opportunities to move across their national borders to seek learning, professional development, and working opportunities. Technology-related professional development is particularly valued for teachers' sojourn to the technology intensive cultures. This qualitative cross-case study explored the K-12 Chinese language teachers' changes of teachers' application and perspective toward educational technology in cross-cultural teaching context through the lens of transformative learning theory. The qualitative data is collected from the interviews with 20 teacher participants in the four stages of cross-cultural sojourning: pre-departure, currently sojourning, post-sojourn, and immigrated. A qualitative cross-case analysis is conducted to compare the characteristics of teachers in different cases, and developed the complete process of the cross-cultural technology adoption and perspective. Factors contributed to the changes are also identified. Five issues related to the process are discussed. Implications and future directions were also included.

The field of mediation tend to shift as practitioners and theorists make new recommendations concerning how the mediation practice should be conducted. The United Nations play a crucial role in this, its work involves providing training and guidance for new mediators through various arms of their system. This thesis is analyzing the 2010 publication A Manual for UN Mediators: Advice from UN Representatives and Envoys to identify which skills and strategies they are recommending, through Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six step approach to thematic analysis, connecting to the social constructionist paradigm. According to social constructionism, all mediation practices are based on ideological or value premises. Therefore, the identified recommendations are analyzed and discussed at the level of underlying ideologies. In particular, through the lenses of a problem-solving and transformative approach to mediation. Resultingly, a total of 12 themes relating to recommended mediation strategies and skills are identified, with both approaches to mediation being identified in the themes relating to the strategies and discussed within this regard.

A Thirst for Moretakes the reader on a journey into self-development culture around Portland, Oregon. The author attends events devoted to personal growth to try to understand how this culture shapes our lives and the way we think. Along the way, she encounters psychics, mystics, an alleged cult leader, and seekers and self-reinventors of all stripes. As participants in this culture work to build their own philosophies and define their own spirituality, they also create their own communities--intentionally and otherwise. These communities form the heart of this exploration. Chapters 1 and 2 explore the spontaneous communities that arise during afternoon events in which participants pay for goods, services, and information pertaining to personal growth and spirituality. Chapter 3 delves into a sacred art and music festival in which participants gather outdoors for a handful of days in the hopes of connecting with each other and transforming themselves--and society--in the process. The final chapters explore the lives of two communities. In Chapter 4, a woman devotes her life to starting up an eco-village in the foothills of Mt. Hood. In Chapter 5, the author visits a 41-year-old commune in which residents and visitors have abandoned former lives in their search for meaning, fulfillment, belonging, and a place to call home. As the author questions others about their beliefs, she begins to question her own. Why do we believe what we believe?

Equitable schooling requires that all students are able to participate, including those who are involved in the justice system. However, schools for youth who are in custody or in treatment are presented with challenges that may inhibit offering their student body science courses. This exclusion is a result of safety restrictions that coincide with what General Strain Theory (Agnew, 2006) refers to as having a strained population. Strained individuals experience significant life stressors that pressure them to anomie. Given the prevalent absence of strained individuals from science courses, it was a pleasant surprise to learn that the Healing Outdoor Program and Education (HOPE)–a remote treatment centre in a western province in Canada–had offered a for-credit high school science program during its operation from 2005 to 2020 that was a popular pick amongst students. In order to examine the science education experiences of youth who are involved in the justice system, this case study explores the types of strains that HOPE’s students faced, how those strains affected their learning, and how the pedagogical strategies mitigated/exacerbated strains. Document analysis, interviews with teachers and staff, and a field observation revealed that a pedagogy built on relationship, place-based science education, and personalized education were integral to academic success. However, underpinning educational achievement was a distinctive holistic approach to students’ wellness that addressed their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social needs, through the use of Indigenous inspired practices, other forms of therapy, and the remote wilderness location. Furthermore, this case exemplified that it is not only feasible to offer science courses to strained individuals, but also possible to use science as a catalyst to reengage strained youth with schooling when teachers have the right conditions and supports. Therefore, this study presents pedagogical approaches that were successfully used with a marginalized group and provides recommendations for HOPE as they seek out funding partners to reinstate operations, so that they can continue providing youth with hope for a better future.

The Adult Education sector in South Africa (SA) occupies a crucial space in higher education (HE) in terms of securing access and opportunities for a diverse group of non-traditional students to further their development. Amongst this diversity are highly marginalized subgroupings of adult learners, especially black working-class women. Participation of these women within HE requires serious attention given the low social ranking that this group continues to occupy in all spheres. Evidence drawn from Adult Education research suggests that not enough attention has been given to this group of learners with respect to how they are impacted by issues of geographic, cultural and racial diversity in the Adult Education setting. This study undertaken here reports on transformative dimensions underlining Adult Education pedagogy, with a specific focus on the concept of empowerment and how this is attained by RPL learners. A qualitative case-study methodology using a critical interpretive perspective grounded in phenomenological enquiry, was used to develop contextual understandings of four disadvantaged adult female learners' experiences of their transitions into HE. The focus is on these learners' perceptions of the forms of empowerment they have gained from their participation in a Higher Certificate in Education in Adult Education (HCEAE) course, and the extent to which such empowerment has impacted positive change in their lives, even beyond the course. The argument made in this qualitative study is that the active participation of marginalized black women in Adult Education, does lead to the attainment of multiple levels of self-empowerment. Such empowerment is realized when the objectives of national educational provisions, operationalized through Adult Education legislature, are correctly aligned with the transformative and social justice mission of Adult Education theory and practice. Proper alignment yields desirable outcomes in terms of enabling transformative learning environments that engender experiences of self-empowerment, agency and control. To this effect, an evaluative study was conducted of the Higher Certificate in Education in Adult Education (HCEAE) course offered by the University of Cape Town. The findings in this study demonstrate that factors such as race, geographic setting and cultural location, impact experiences of empowerment amongst adult learners. Furthermore, it is evident that such experiences of empowerment is a multi-layered and dynamic process which occur at cognitive, personal and social levels that can only be realized through praxis. The bringing together of educational policy, theory, and practice in proactive and productive ways in this study, also offers the potential for designing new hybrid frameworks for assessing the extent to which Adult Education provisions successfully achieve their transformative function, beyond the educational setting.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / School-community collaboration has received increasing attention in social work because of its potential for enhancing the quality of services to meet the multifaceted needs of students. However, there is little understanding of how to create and maintain successful school-community collaboration. The purpose of this research is to develop and validate a comprehensive framework for transformative school-community collaboration based on a critical paradigm and its corresponding theories. Using school survey data, an exploratory factor analysis identified the four dimensions of transformative school community collaboration, including (1) critical member capacity, (2) equal relations, (3) democratic network governance, and (4) empowering coordination. The results of multiple regression analyses showed that the identified dimensions were positively associated with the quality outcomes of Out-of-School Time programs although their significant effects varied across different quality outcomes: high-quality activities, student engagement, and linkages with family/community. Another key finding was that structural dimensions—democratic network governance and empowering coordination—appeared to be stronger factors. However, this research suggested that critical member capacity and equal relations may be associated indirectly with the quality outcomes. This dissertation paper concludes with practical implications and future research agenda to successfully build transformative school-community collaboration.