Managing change of curriculum development in comprehensive schools: An analysis of the perceptions of some middle-managers' experience in several schools

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This study presents a contextualised analysis of middle management and innovation. As a small-scale investigation, it records how some middle-managers perceive the experience of innovating in comprehensive schools. It analyses their reasons and processes for introducing and maintaining innovation, and examines some related issues. The context is the hierarchical structure in which heads of year, department and faculty exercise horizontally defined responsibilities. It extends earlier case-study research of curriculum development in three comprehensive schools. Data was collected by two qualitative methods: by semi structured interviews with a known and consciously-selected sample from three separate schools in two authorities and by open-ended questionnaires mailed to a self-selecting but anonymous sample in a third authority. Triangulation was also achieved by an eclectic review of existing literature. The findings show that the middle-managers adopted three common, effective and generally applicable approaches, namely, consultation, investigation and training, to introduce their innovations and to increase teacher confidence, skill and competence. To maintain the innovations, they promoted team building to increase co-operation between staff. The purpose of innovating was to improve the quality of pupil learning: an expectation which had been commonly developed as a result of courses, practical experience and professional contact. There was no evidence of any systematic evaluation: it tended to be self-evaluative and intuitive with an emphasis on classroom events. The extent of the head's influence seemed to depend upon the degree of involvement and delegation by the head, the quality of the school's working environment, and the level of commitment of the middle-manager

Transformative Learning through Action Research: A Case Study from South Africa

The paper reports on the results of an action research project, informed by transformative theory. The action research was designed to change faculty perspectives and practices from a teacher-centered to a learning-centered dialogic approach, underpinned by a socio-constructivist epistemology

A Model of Natural Language Dialogue

In this thesis I have a threefold purpose. Firstly, I will attempt to argue that the individual utterances agents make in natural language dialogue stem from specific beliefs, goals, and plans and that these interlock with those of other agents in the production of dialogue. I suggest that agents utilise syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and contextual knowledge in this process. Furthermore, that these elements contribute to the utterances speakers make and hearers interpret in the pursuit of their individual goals, and cannot be treated separately. I will suggest that utterances, being intentional behaviour, are sub-components of plans to achieve specific communicative purposes. Following from this, I will present a descriptive model showing how the beliefs and goals of agents contribute to the composing of a logical form for an utterance prior to its syntactic representation. It is suggested that the logical form of an utterance, is composed of elements relating to the agent's beliefs and goals, and includes pragmatic and contextual elements and that these are present prior to the utterance being made and predispose the choice of eventual syntactic components. I do not attempt to model the syntactic form of the utterances but limit the model of the agents to a display to each other of their logical forms and show how these might be interpreted and elicit responses from the hearer in furtherance of their goals. My third purpose is to present a hand-simulated process of this model, to demonstrate how a particular dialogue might be constructed by two agents. This is attempted by ascribing a set of beliefs to them and providing them with specific goals. In the final chapter, the achievements and inadequacies of this research are summarised, and possible improvements and developments suggested in the context of current and future directions

Validation of Framework Code Approach to a Life Prediction System for Fiber Reinforced Composites

The grant was conducted by the MMC Life Prediction Cooperative, an industry/government collaborative team, Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) acted as the prime contractor on behalf of the Cooperative for this grant effort. See Figure I for the organization and responsibilities of team members. The technical effort was conducted during the period August 7, 1995 to June 30, 1996 in cooperation with Erwin Zaretsky, the LERC Program Monitor. Phil Gravett of Pratt & Whitney was the principal technical investigator. Table I documents all meeting-related coordination memos during this period. The effort under this grant was closely coordinated with an existing USAF sponsored program focused on putting into practice a life prediction system for turbine engine components made of metal matrix composites (MMC). The overall architecture of the NMC life prediction system was defined in the USAF sponsored program (prior to this grant). The efforts of this grant were focussed on implementing and tailoring of the life prediction system, the framework code within it and the damage modules within it to meet the specific requirements of the Cooperative. T'he tailoring of the life prediction system provides the basis for pervasive and continued use of this capability by the industry/government cooperative. The outputs of this grant are: 1. Definition of the framework code to analysis modules interfaces, 2. Definition of the interface between the materials database and the finite element model, and 3. Definition of the integration of the framework code into an FEM design tool

Ultra-High Field Strength MR Image-Guided Robotic Needle Delivery Device for In-Bore Small Animal Interventions

Current methods of accurate soft tissue injections in small animals are prone to many sources of error. Although efforts have been made to improve the accuracy of needle deliveries, none of the efforts have provided accurate soft tissue references. An MR image-guided robot was designed to function inside the bore of a 9.4T MR scanner to accurately deliver needles to locations within the mouse brain. The robot was designed to have no noticeable negative effects on the image quality and was localized in the MR images through the use of an MR image visible fiducial. The robot was mechanically calibrated and subsequently validated in an image-guided phantom experiment, where the mean needle targeting accuracy and needle trajectory accuracy were calculated to be 178 ± 54µm and 0.27 ± 0.65º, respectively. Finally, the device successfully demonstrated an image-guided needle targeting procedure in situ

Poetic song of Hester. Secondary infertility: Losing infants, inheriting a child

The aim of the article was to explore the narrative of Hester, a black South African woman, who is living with secondary infertility. The perspective is that of postfoundational practical theology, feminist theology and social constructionist narrative methodology. Fertility, as one of the most intimate areas of human existence, lies at the heart of life itself. Within the African tradition, motherhood is seen as almost sacred. Despite Hester’s multiple identities, one which is that of adoptive mother, the absence of biological children causes her to be regarded as a ‘childless’ woman. That identity not only disproportionately defines her, but also stigmatises her as shameful and an outsider. Within the traditional African worldview being healthy (including being fertile) is seen as being in harmony with the societal order and systemic, spiritual and religious environment. Hester’s social construction of her ‘self’ is that of helplessness, reflected in her near illiteracy, low economic status, socio-cultural position and lack of skills. Her childlessness reinforced her helplessness. Her ‘woundedness’ was perpetuated by the fact that she could not share her painful story openly. In the article Hester’s story is presented as a poem, titled: ‘the thing that doesn’t want to come out’. The article concludes with Hester’s reconstruction of ‘self’ as a woman, although poor, also blessed.Keywords: African feminist theology; infertility within the African context;issues of death; mutual embracement; secondary infertilit

Bridging theory and practice in teacher education: teaching schools – a bridge too far?

The study reported on in this article stems from the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa (2011). This framework proposes the establishment of teaching schools to strengthen teacher education. This article reports on a qualitative inquiry into the views of school-based personnel and the teacher education sector on the implementation of teaching schools as sites for teacher education and whether they think teaching schools could enhance the education of student-teachers. The inquiry showed that the participants were positive that teaching schools will enhance teacher education through serving as a bridge between the academic, university-based preparation of student-teachers and the practice demands of the teaching profession. However, they had no clear notion of how such schools could add value to teacher preparation differentiated to schools in which student-teachers are placed for work-integrated learning. We contend that, prior to establishing teaching schools, much deliberation between all stakeholders is required about the purpose and means of integrating teaching schools in teacher education. If not, teaching schools that serve to bridge the gap between the education of student-teachers at universities and the demands that novice teachers face once they enter the teaching profession might remain an elusive ideal

Transformatoriese leer by skoolhoofde

Transformative learning in school principals. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the meaning making process involved in transformative learning as experienced by school principals within a changing socio-cultural context. We argued that the political changes in the post-apartheid South Africa would cause a disparate experience for and challenge the perspectives of many Afrikaner school principals. This experience could trigger perspective transformation - the transformation of an individual's meaning structures, resulting in a new perspective. The study revealed a transformative learning process similar to that proposed by Mezirow, beginning with a disorienting dilemma, followed by varied reactions, catalyst events, exploring and trying out of new roles and the integration of the new perspective into the participants' lives. The actual meaning the school principals attached to the changes in their perspectives is linked to a sense of increased personal empowerment as well as to a belief that the changes were in line with their religious beliefs and that the changes would be beneficial to their cultural group. This study contributes to a growing empirical exploration of transformative learning by exploring transformative learning within a changing socio-cultural context. (South African Journal of Education: 2001 21(4): 264-267

Educational Development as Pink Collar Labor: Implications and Recommendations

Against a backdrop of other professional arenas, including higher education, this article examines the field of educational development—who we are (mostly women) and what we do (care, service, and emotional labor)—through the lens of gender. While we suggest that educational development may provide a positive counterexample to the male dominance in other higher education professions, we also argue that the common devaluing of women and their labor, well- documented in other arenas, may contribute to educational developers’ marginal positions on campuses, our difficulties getting invited to the table, as well as our challenges in becoming more involved in organizational development efforts. The article concludes with suggestions for how educational developers might take action moving forward

A View From the Margins: Situating CTL Staff in Organizational Development

The authors explore assumptions that underlie work on organizational development in their field, which reveal hierarchical and homogenizing tendencies, despite commitments to inclusivity. Given that the aim of recent literature, such as Schroeder and Associates’ Coming in from the Margins, is to situate educational developers in relation to organizational development, and given the field’s values, then both staff and directors must be considered. The authors examine how the margins can be valuable sites of knowledge production, highlighting the ways staff might contribute to organizational development. The authors hope that readers will gain several ideas for how to incorporate staff into organizational development