How do conventional performance-based models of drama in high schools serve to oppress students? How can Applied Drama models serve to emancipate students? This thesis invites educators to imagine drama programs in high schools as being capable of employing the use of imaginative dramatic arts processes for their emancipatory potential aimed to break oppressive habits and to rehearse alternative dialogue and action in the lives of students. Drama processes in high schools could be designed within an emancipatory paradigm of curriculum-making. Instead of designing drama programs around the goal of producing scripted theatre performances, drama programs in high schools can be designed with the goal of engaging students imaginations. Specifically, Applied Drama processes have the potential to nurture students social and moral imaginations which, in turn, allow students to become more empathetic. Moreover, through dramatic role-play, students enter an imaginary world and rehearse alternative ways of acting in the world. If the dramatic role-play addresses issues of oppression in the world, then the imaginary world presents scenarios in which students can rehearse emancipatory ways of acting and thinking about their lived reality. Specifically, Applied Drama processes are best suited for emancipatory, imaginative drama programs in high schools. In this thesis, I also discuss the importance of reflection in emancipatory drama processes.

Heritage Language Education is considered the cornerstone of Canada’s multiculturalism policy. In Ontario, the mission to preserve the cultural capital of the various ethnic communities is carried out primarily by non-profit organizations and groups with limited official support. My thesis is the autobiographical inquiry of an internationally educated teacher who is involved in a Greek language credit program in Toronto. My commitment to understanding the needs of the new generation of learners guided me through a series of professional development initiatives and the creation of an educational blog which is currently used by students, parents and teachers of the Aristoteles Credit School. By presenting my experiences as I navigated the multidimensionality of HLE in Ontario, I hope to offer a case of a bottom-up reform attempt which is based on transformative pedagogy and brings heritage language education to the epicentre of community activity and educational change in the 21st century.

Heritage Language Education is considered the cornerstone of Canada’s multiculturalism policy. In Ontario, the mission to preserve the cultural capital of the various ethnic communities is carried out primarily by non-profit organizations and groups with limited official support. My thesis is the autobiographical inquiry of an internationally educated teacher who is involved in a Greek language credit program in Toronto. My commitment to understanding the needs of the new generation of learners guided me through a series of professional development initiatives and the creation of an educational blog which is currently used by students, parents and teachers of the Aristoteles Credit School. By presenting my experiences as I navigated the multidimensionality of HLE in Ontario, I hope to offer a case of a bottom-up reform attempt which is based on transformative pedagogy and brings heritage language education to the epicentre of community activity and educational change in the 21st century.

The purpose of this master's degree thesis was to develop an understanding of how hospital management, in the case studied, worked to achieve changes in an organization influenced by differing professional cultures. To gain insight into the conditions that may have contributed to nurses and physicians developing appropriate attitudes and behaviours, which may have affected the organization's ability to achieve the Swedish Quality Award 2012.  A qualitative single case study was conducted at Karlskoga Hospital, with focus groups as well as individual depth interviews.   The results of the case study showed the following conditions provided nurses and physicians the potential to develop appropriate attitudes and behaviours, which may have influenced the hospitals ability to achieve the Swedish Quality Award:   Responsibility and influence over the development processes. Participation in management teams and quality development groups as well as individual fields of responsibility. Training programs that have given insights and skills in quality management related to clinical practice. Nurses and physicians as key individuals gave legitimacy to development process, and served as management advisors. Collaboration between all kind of employees and responsibilities. Committed management.

This research set out to explore how a group of nine educators from a Catholic Church school in Malta, who have attended the Let Me Learn professional Learning process (LMLpLp), experienced personal and professional transformation. This study investigates those factors influencing participants in their transformative learning journey. It also explores the dynamics of transformative learning and whether individual transformation affects the school’s transformative learning experience. More specifically this study set out to explore how teachers who participated in the Let Me Learn professional Learning process have experienced transformative learning. This study takes a qualitative phenomenological approach. It seeks to identify phenomena of personal and professional transformative learning through the perceptions of the educators participating in this study. Through the use of the semi-structured interview it seeks to gather ‘deep’ data. This data represents the voices of these educators in narrative, thus emphasising the importance of the personal perspective and interpretation. This allowed this research to understand the subjective experience, motivation and actions of the participants. The Literature review informs the questions asked during the interview. The interview was used as a tool for gathering information regarding values, attitudes and beliefs of participants. Each interview was transcribed, translated (when response was given in Maltese) and categorised according to Mezirow’s ten stages. Excerpts from each stage were further processed to generate themes. The themes were later streamlined and an acceptable interpretive framework was created. Each interview excerpt was then analysed through the framework. Once all interviews were coded, detailed narratives were written. These narratives are meant to help the reader reflect on the process of transformative learning. It underscores those factors highlighted by the participants, which helped bring about both personal and professional transformative learning. This research has identified that individual constructs are strongly determined by an individual’s personal learning characteristics. Awareness of these personal learning characteristics (self-knowledge) helped educators assess their practice and understand how their personal characteristics were determining their approach to teaching and affecting their interpersonal relationships with students and colleagues. This research showed that transformative learning is a mutually interdependent experience. Individual transformation amounts to, and is influenced by, the collective transformation. This study highlighted the role of the school community in the pursuit of personal transformation. Yet another important finding of this research is the importance of a shared language of possibility. Through a shared language, a learning community can create a dialogic environment through which intentions, beliefs and interventions can be shared among the professional community. This research accentuates the importance of a shared language as a means of articulating a change in perspective. The study identified three main agents of change. The Let Me Learn team, as promoters and experts of this particular learning process; the teachers, who internalised the process and applied it to their practice; and the school’s senior management team, who internalised the Process, positioned it into the larger vision of the school and created a conducive environment through which the whole school community was empowered to take responsibility to bring about change in practice. A number of implications emerge from this study that could inform policy on teacher professional learning. A major implication concerns the importance of a shared language – a language that reflects the shared values and ideological position of the community. Such language frames the learning process, makes learning visible for teachers to be able to respond effectively with strategies that respect each learner’s learning preference and makes learning visible to the learner himself. Another implication from this study arises from the finding that the transformative learning process of any individual educator and effectively of the whole school community, goes beyond the effectiveness and limitations of any one professional development programme. True and deep-seated transformative learning comes from within the individual educator. This statement has serious repercussions on any professional development programme that aims to aid participants in their quest to transform their practice. This study also emphasised the importance that any professional development needs to be seated in the local experience and needs of the school community. Any attempts at developing comprehensive, nation-wide projects with pre-packaged approaches, are doomed to fail. What this research has shown is that for effective professional development, the identified outcomes need to correspond to the local needs of the school, rather than the national guidelines, detached from the realities of the particular school. Finally, this study accentuated the importance of incorporating mentoring support in any professional development proposal. Delivery of information and skills without follow-up tend to lead to superficial application. Transformative learning presupposes a period of shared reflection on practice and collegial mediation of ideas through contact between teachers and their leaders and on-the-job support from their professional development mentors.

How do conventional performance-based models of drama in high schools serve to oppress students? How can Applied Drama models serve to emancipate students? This thesis invites educators to imagine drama programs in high schools as being capable of employing the use of imaginative dramatic arts processes for their emancipatory potential aimed to break oppressive habits and to rehearse alternative dialogue and action in the lives of students. Drama processes in high schools could be designed within an emancipatory paradigm of curriculum-making. Instead of designing drama programs around the goal of producing scripted theatre performances, drama programs in high schools can be designed with the goal of engaging students imaginations. Specifically, Applied Drama processes have the potential to nurture students social and moral imaginations which, in turn, allow students to become more empathetic. Moreover, through dramatic role-play, students enter an imaginary world and rehearse alternative ways of acting in the world. If the dramatic role-play addresses issues of oppression in the world, then the imaginary world presents scenarios in which students can rehearse emancipatory ways of acting and thinking about their lived reality. Specifically, Applied Drama processes are best suited for emancipatory, imaginative drama programs in high schools. In this thesis, I also discuss the importance of reflection in emancipatory drama processes.

The United Nations General Assembly recognized the years from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Students perspectives on education for sustainable development and student perceptions on action projects for sustainable development are almost absent from the literature. This thesis presents an analysis of students voices and experiences as a result of Youth Forum 2008 (a forum proposed to support high school students as action leaders in sustainability projects) in three different case locations. The study attempts to understand students challenges with their action projects, examining them in the context of dominant discourses and explores supports that can be put into place to facilitate students navigation toward their goals of completing successful action projects for sustainable development.<p> This qualitative study was composed of a series of focus group recorded conversations with ten high school student participants involved in three different school sites who all attempted to complete action projects for sustainable development. Many themes were identified: time, whether projects were extracurricular or curricular, school community, teacher, teacher education, marks/evaluation, community engagement, youth forum and technology. In the examination and interpretation many attractions and distractions for the student participants were identified. By interpreting the students experiences through the language of the students, a deeper understanding of the dominant discourses of schools and society and how they might limit the students highlights broader ideas about students struggles and triumphs in education and with teaching. In the conclusion, I suggest recommendations and I also suggest further avenues for research.

This qualitative case study addressed the problem at a West Indies theological college that lacked the ability to provide courses for spiritual care training by using the teaching methodology of clinical pastoral education (CPE). CPE is an experiential process using a clinical method of learning to interpret human conditions. Spiritual care training through CPE teaches clerics how to help persons find meaning in life's situations and make connections with their God. Guided by the frameworks of transformative learning and critical theological reflection, this study explored the lived experiences of 5 purposefully selected CPE students who participated in 1 unit of CPE training at the college. Interview data were coded and analyzed to uncover emergent themes. The findings revealed these overarching themes: (a) personal empowerment, (b) increased pastoral care competencies, (c) increased sensitivity to suffering, and (d) connectivity to self-care and ministry. The interview data provided the impetus for the developed CPE Orientation (CPEO) to help students obtain basic skills in pastoral/spiritual care and critical theological reflections. It is recommended that persons with advanced CPE training could conduct the CPEO training, negating the need for a certified CPE supervisor expertise. Positive social change may occur when pastoral/spiritual care training is provided to clergy and laity to improve basic pastoral/spiritual care skills by helping clergy and parishioners respond to stressors in a healthy manner. Theological education that promotes spiritual care for persons in crisis may benefit the world and presents an avenue for social change to occur in the communities where clergy serve.

Young women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico are coming of age in an era of feminicides, drug wars, impunity, and fear. This ethnographic study examines the ways in which Preparatoria Altavista, a public high school, in one of the most marginalized areas of Juárez, attempts to empower subaltern young women through its critical and social justice philosophy of education. The study draws from critical pedagogy, socio-cultural theory, and feminist scholarship to offer a unique analysis of how hegemonic ideas are resisted and/or inscribed pedagogically, politically, and institutionally at Altavista. Secondly, the study examines how the school’s constructions of democratic and social justice education interact with the current dystopic context of Juárez and discourses about Juárez women to provide a framework with which a group of young women author their identities and practice forms of resistance. The ethnographic fieldwork took place in the 2009-2010 academic year. The methods included unstructured ethnographic interviews with teachers, administrators, and numerous students, as well as semi-structured interviews and an auto-photography technique with nine girls. The study identifies three interrelated aspects that characterize the transformative pedagogy of Preparatoria Altavista: freedom and autonomy, authentic caring relationships, and the cultivation of critical discourse and activism. Together, these core values promote the school’s ultimate goal for its students – autogestión, or the ability to self-author empowered identities; read their world; and initiate and develop socially transformative projects. Considering the school’s context, as well as the many challenges inherent in the dystopic Juárez of today, the study also identifies a typology of four different paths to the girls’ identity and agency development: the Redirectors, the Reinventors, the Redefiners, and the Refugees. This typology is based on various ways and degrees to which the young women in this study authored the self as they negotiated the messages from the multiple figured worlds that they inhabit. The study seeks to counter sensationalist, criminalizing, and dooming narratives about Juárez youth, as well as stereotypical and objectifying depictions of Juárez women by offering a nuanced analysis of their experiences, perspectives, identities, and forms of agency. The study also seeks to offer a language of possibility and hope for urban schools and contexts of civil unrest through critical pedagogy. / text

La tesi si pone all’interno di una cornice di senso propria dell’educazione degli adulti ed esplora i processi di apprendimento e di costruzione della conoscenza che accadono nei contesti familiari. È stato condotto uno studio comparativo su due campioni: uno composto da quarantatré genitori italiani che vivono a Milano, Italia, e l’altro da ventisette genitori italo-americani che vivono a New York City, Stati Uniti. La decisione di condurre uno studio comparativo è motivata dal tentativo di comprendere e confrontare come i genitori, con, al di là e attraverso i propri posizionamenti culturali, costruiscono conoscenze, configurazioni identitarie, traiettorie di partecipazione, e forme di appartenenza alle famiglie di cui fanno parte. L’indagine prevede un secondo segmento che presenta l’applicazione di un approccio educativo diretto a sostenere gruppi di genitori nell’assunzione di azioni trasformative. / This paper describes a research on the processes of learning and of knowledge construction occurring within the family contexts. The aim of such research is the development of educational action logics able to intercept, promote and validate the knowledge and repertoires of practice that the family systems generate.