Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 404-435). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (M.S.)--Catholic University of America. / Bibliography: p. 51-53.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1932. / At head of title: The Catholic University of America. Vita. Bibliography: p. 185-189.

Thesis (M.S.)--Catholic University of America. / Bibliography: p. 51-53.

How we think about universities, their purposes and about the place of postcompulsory education in our society is the exemplification of a number of attitudes about humanity and life in general. Perceptions about the place of tertiary or postcompulsory education in the life of the ordinary person have changed along with a broader sweep of changes in the way people view themselves in relations to the world. The meaning of education in general and in particular, that of tertiary or postcompulsory education in the life of people today occupies a very different one to that of as little as forty or thirty years ago. The recent movements in the policies and processes surrounding the structure, form and purpose of higher education in Australia signifies to some extent at least the depth of these shifts in perceptions. In the field of social welfare education changes in political and social attitudes have led to calls for increased accountability in standards of practice in both service delivery and professional education, yet this call has come at a time of change in the cultural climate where there is decreasing clarity about what is expected of social welfare as a service, and of education for professional practice in the area. This thesis contends that the practice of and education for social work and social welfare stand in an invidious position in the current society in that practitioners and teachers, agencies and universities are being called on to be more accountable both philosophically and pragmatically, but that at the same time as this call for accountability presses upon the profession, questions are also being asked about the value basis of professional practice. Criticisms are being levied at the profession some suggesting that it is ideologically bound and ineffective in dealing with social problems seen to be within its scope of contribution to society. With justification these same criticism are being aimed at social work and welfare training programs with suggestions that contend that the education of people to work in the social welfare sector is at a cross-roads. Unless a reassessment of the goals and purposes of education for this field takes place it may lose all social status and relevance, yet there are those who suggest that change is long overdue and that there has been little change in the philosophy and practice of social welfare education The thesis has a primary contention that training people to work as social workers and other professional providers of social welfare in the current society is being placed under the microscope as a consequence of a number of movements in educational and political thought that have had their culmination in the competency movement that has impacted on both tertiary education, the professions and the industries. The institutions in which this training or education takes place have been changed in form and function particularly since 1989, following the Dawkins restructuring of the tertiary education sector and the account of these changes provides a backdrop for the story about social welfare education in Australia. These changes have included the construction of a national training platform with the espoused intention of formulating a seamless web of credentialling linking schools, the workplace, industry based training, DeTAFE and universities. The introduction of Competency Based Education, where training is asked to demonstrate a higher level of accountability and transparency than has been the case in the past, and the introduction of higher, sharper demands for effectiveness and relevance have shaken the universities out of comfortable complacency. In particular the competency movement has placed demands on the professions to demonstrate that they are able to describe their skills, roles and functions in accessible and assessable terms. This demand has also been placed on the social welfare profession. The requirement for the social welfare profession to formulate competencies has thrown into sharp relief an ideologically bound framework of practice that is seen to be out of touch with the needs of the current society, and this has had direct relevance for the education programs preparing people to practice in these areas. Chapter One focuses on views of knowledge and education and goes on to critique the changes in higher education that have occurred over the last half-century in Australia in general and in South Australia in particular, specifically in reference to the programs for educating social welfare workers. This chapter is largely historical, but this history is told with more of an appreciation of the spectacle of history's passing or recycling parade rather than of social progress. Chapter Two addresses the impact and significance of the structural and policy changes within the higher education sector with a particular focus on the competency movement as a demonstration of one of the currently perceived purposes of education. Chapter Three explores responses to the competency movement as further indicators of the views about the purposes of higher education in general and their relevance to those teaching with the social work and social welfare programs. Chapter Four locates voices in the discourse about the social welfare field, the type of work involved in the area, the sort of training needed, and the dilemmas inherent in the profession in the current society. This chapter highlights the need for a consensus position to support the formulation of standards for practice as implied in the design of competencies, and the ramifications of the lack of such consensus. Chapter Five displays the state of disarray in the profession through the analysis of the draft competencies produced so far, where lack of vision and consensus are seen, in the final reckoning, as the stumbling blocks to future clarity of purpose. Of any profession, social welfare work is one of the most difficult to put into competency based form due to both the nature of the work and the lack of a consensus view of its primary goals and purposes, yet it is essential that this can be achieved given the impactful and intrusive nature of the work, and the push for accountability implicit in the competency movement. The thesis concludes with a statement of hope that clearer standards for practice can be formulated and that social welfare education and practice can re-configure to contribute relevantly to the current society.

<p> This research explores the intersection of several truths: 1) American research universities are complex organizations with long-standing traditions that guide faculty behavior. 2) For the US to remain competitive in the global economy, education systems must prepare a diverse STEM workforce to conduct innovative research and development activities. Educators, students, and all citizens must understand the importance of and pathway to STEM careers. 3) Faculty rely on external funds to support their research. 4) The US government distributes tax dollars to support university research activities. The National Science Foundation (NSF) allocates the second largest percentage of federal research funds. 5) The NSF proposal review process includes Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts Criteria, through which faculty must address areas of national need. </p><p> These realities are merged in the experiences of new faculty in engineering colleges at research universities in the United States. Junior faculty members who hold a prestigious NSF Faculty Early Career Development or CAREER award frequently struggle to develop a broader impacts strategy that satisfies the expectations of NSF and the expectations of their university. This work examined broader impacts from three perspectives: CAREER awardees from four institutions, faculty and staff who assist awardees with broader impacts planning and implementation, and current and former NSF officials who clarified the Agency's intent in maintaining broader impacts as a factor in distributing funds. The findings revealed many tensions or inconsistencies. Broader impacts is described as "annunciating existing behavior" or as a mechanism to "change the mindset" of faculty. Faculty perceptions, attitudes and behaviors are shaped by messages, often conflicting, that are sent by NSF and colleagues. CAREER holders had positive opinions of broader impacts but provided many different explanations of the intent. Their combined comments suggest changes that could ease tensions related to broader impacts work. Although the goal of broader impacts was not to change universities, this is a consequence as institutions have created mechanisms to support broader impacts work. Faculty noted broader impacts activities are not necessarily considered in promotion and tenure decisions, suggesting that changes represent resource-dependence responses and not true transformation of university traditions and expected behaviors.</p>

<p> In higher education and in engineering education in particular, changing majors is generally considered a negative event - or at least an event with negative consequences. An emergent field of study within engineering education revolves around understanding the factors and processes driving student changes of major. Of key importance to further the field of change of major research is a grasp of large scale phenomena occurring throughout multiple systems, knowledge of previous attempts at describing such issues, and the adoption of metrics to probe them effectively. The problem posed is exacerbated by the drive in higher education institutions and among state legislatures to understand and reduce time-to-degree and student attrition. With these factors in mind, insights into large-scale processes that affect student progression are essential to evaluating the success or failure of programs. </p><p> The goals of this work include describing the current educational research on switchers, identifying core concepts and stumbling blocks in my treatment of switchers, and using the Multiple Institutional Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) to explore how those who change majors perform as a function of large-scale academic pathways within and without the engineering context. To accomplish these goals, it was first necessary to delve into a recent history of the treatment of switchers within the literature and categorize their approach. While three categories of papers exist in the literature concerning change of major, all three may or may not be applicable to a given database of students or even a single institution. Furthermore, while the term has been coined in the literature, no portable metric for discussing large-scale navigational flexibility exists in engineering education. What such a metric would look like will be discussed as well as the delimitations involved. </p><p> The results and subsequent discussion will include a description of changes of major, how they may or may not have a deleterious effect on one's academic pathway, the special context of changes of major in the pathways of students within first-year engineering programs students labeled as undecided, an exploration of curricular flexibility by the construction of a novel metric, and proposed future work.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 3074. Adviser: Todd Elder. Includes bibliographical references. Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> This qualitative multi-site case study, situated in the context of Ukraine's post-Soviet political economy, examined how orphanage educators' expectations and beliefs about orphans' academic abilities and potential, curriculum, peer relationships, and education policy shaped orphans' post-secondary education decisions and trajectories. Examination of the educational experiences of orphans and children deprived of parental care shed light on socio-economic inequalities confronting these marginalized youth in and beyond state care. This dissertation is informed by critical theories of social and cultural reproduction that examine the relationship between schooling and socio-economic inequalities. I draw mainly on the concepts of the hidden curriculum and forms of capital (cultural, social, and economic). </p><p> Research conducted in Ukraine, primarily through quantitative surveys, tends to pathologize orphans and neglects to investigate how their secondary education experiences impact their trajectories post-institutionalization. This study, framed in qualitative methodology, was informed by observations of daily in- and out-of-classroom activities in two orphanages; in-depth, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with Grade 10 and 11 orphanage students, orphanage educators and administrators, and orphanage alumni; and document analysis. I focused on 81 orphanage youth and 41 educators as key participants embedded in the orphanage system. </p><p> My findings demonstrated that, despite some institutional changes, the ideologies, regimes, and cultures of Ukrainian orphanages still reflect the Soviet legacy of sequestered institutions providing substandard quality education. My examination of orphanage education revealed that many teachers, informed by genetic deficit ideology, communicated low expectations for student success and implemented an unchallenging curriculum characterized by watered-down teaching and learning materials, oversimplified assignments, canceled classes, and inflated grades. This study uncovered nuanced use of a hidden curriculum that ensured social reproduction and what I term a "transformative hidden curriculum" that fostered student success through art therapy, soft pedagogy, and hard caring. </p><p> Furthermore, this study shed light on factors that influenced orphans' complex post-secondary education decision-making processes, including peer pressure to attend vocational school; teacher-directed versus teacher-encouraged decisions; and informed, independent decisions largely thwarted by structural constraints. Lack of cultural and social capital significantly limited orphans' options and disenfranchised them in the labor market, thus perpetuating social reproduction in Ukrainian society.</p>