Volume II Acquisition Research Creating Synergy for Informed Change, Thursday 19th Annual Acquisition Research Proceedings

ProceedingsApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

At the policy-practice interface : exploring technical vocational education and training lecturers' educational reform experiences.

Doctor of Philosophy in Education Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2016.This study investigated lived personal and professional educational reform experiences of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College lecturers at the policy-practice interface in the post-apartheid era. A literature search revealed that TVET lecturers’ voices in the South African context were a terra incognita, as they have been missing and neglected for decades. The study is a contribution towards filling that void. The study used a qualitative research approach from an interpretive paradigm. Open-ended life history interviews of 12 TVET college lecturers from two different colleges were conducted. The participants have worked in the sector for more than 10 years. Questionnaires were used to elicit lecturer biographical data. The main analysis technique used was narrative analysis. The study draws on a social theory by Norbert Elias, who emphasizes interconnectedness of relations amongst people, rejecting the homo clausus image of man. Findings suggest that educational change was complex and daunting for TVET lecturers. The experiences of TVET lecturers suggest that they were not adequately engaged during the conceptualization stages of the reform. Implementation had to start before they had familiarized themselves with the innovations, hence the lament that they were not ready. The reform was perceived as rapid and ephemeral. Rapidity led to the development of unrealistic timeframes, ambitious scope and inequitable practices in the distribution of resources. Educational reforms fell short of continuity and conformity to system norms and yielded a myriad of unintended and unanticipated consequences. Because of the prevalence of feelings of inadequacy precipitated by curricular changes, this study recommends that TVET lecturers be adequately capacitated. TVET lecturer development strategies need to fortify different kinds of knowledge such as disciplinary, tacit, pedagogical, work-place and knowledge of the heart, such as values, attitudes, intuition and situated learning. The study recommends that strategies to alleviate onerous administrative duties for lecturers be devised. The study recommends that solutions to NCV challenges, such as mixed ability classrooms, compounded student workloads, complex courses that are pitched higher than the level of the targeted student and lack of technical background, be found. The study highlighted adverse effects of prescriptive, top-down reforms which have been cited as silencing professional input. This study concludes that challenges could have been minimized if the lecturer was considered to be one of the key factors for educational reform to succeed. The study recommends that policymakers and college management utilize prudent participative and consultative strategies that include lecturers for enhancement of future policy conceptualization, implementation and evaluation

Bowdoin Orient v.108, no.1-23 (1978-1979)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-1970s/1009/thumbnail.jp

Key Issues in Rural Development: A University Graduate Course

A graduate course on rural development issues is presented that focuses primarily on the processes involved in development both at a personal and abstract leve. A theoretical foundation for the course is outlined based on David Kolb\u27s theory of experiential learning. This model is transcribed into learning environments necessary to focus participant awareness of issues surrounding their own learning style. The role of the facilitator who demands attention to learning style as well as content in rural development is defined, utilizing Malcolm Knowles\u27 andragogical concepts. Finally the course curriculum is presented, followed by lesson plans and readings supplemental to the text books

Agency strategy, strength, and adaptation : implementation of the Bush administration's competitive sourcing policy

Includes bibliographical references (pages [348]-380).In the context of the federal bureaucracy’s shrinking discretion and the “thinning” of administrative institutions, the implementation of the Bush administration’s competitive sourcing policy, guided by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-76, offers a venue to explore how bureaucracy adapts to the changing environment and creates space using various strategies and resources. The implementation of this policy showcases the extent to which agencies obey their elected leaders when their organizational capacities are threatened. The Bush administration shifted the long-standing policy of relying on the private sector for the performance of commercial activities to one of mandatory competition between the government and the private sector, where winners were those who promised to perform the job with a lower price tag. This occurred simultaneously with a redefinition of inherently governmental functions that enlarged the share of potentially outsourceable jobs. With this type of competitive sourcing, federal employees had to cope with the pressures of protecting their capacities and defending their worth using a costly and adversarial process. This study examines the unintended consequences for governance of this policy and extends existing organization, implementation, and bureaucratic power theories to an initiative that threatens to shake the bedrock of the federal civil service.Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy