Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Pedagogical possibilities'

Nursing practice is a very physical business. The work that most nurses do involves the use of their bodies as the primary tool of their work. Nurses take their physical selves to patients in order to carry out that work, the body of the nurse is often in direct contact with the bodies of patients that they care for. This thesis is about what I have called the �invisible bodies of nursing�, and I describe these throughout the body of the thesis. The physical body of the nurse, the body of practice, and the body of knowledge. The physical body of the nurse is absent in most nursing literature, it is sometimes inferred but seldom discussed. My contention is that the physical body of the nurse is invisible because it is tacit. Much nursing practice is invisible because it is perceived by many nurses to be inarticulable and is carried out within a private discourse of nursing, silently and secretly. Nursing knowledge is invisible because it is not seen as being valid or authoritative or sanctioned as a legitimate discourse by the dominant discourse. I approach these issues through an evolving �specular� lens. Luce Irigaray�s philosophy of the feminine and her deconstructing and reconstructing of psychoanalytic structures for women inform my work. Michel Foucault�s genealogical approach to analysing discourses is a powerful tool for exploring the history of the creation of the nurse and offers critical insights in to how nursing is perceived today. Maurice Merleau-Ponty�s phenomenology provides the flesh for my discussions about the embodied practice of nurses as beings in the world. Nursing�s struggle for recognition is ongoing. I discuss strategies that nurses could use to make themselves more �visible� in healthcare structures. The exploration of the embodied self of the nurse and through this the embodied knowledge of nursing is nascent. I hope to provide for nurses some food for both thought and discussion.

It is estimated that nearly 90% of the teaching force is comprised mostly of female middle-class European Americans; whereas the student population has become increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse. These teachers have been isolated from a significant part of the population they are likely to teach and have developed entrenched, ethnocentric identities with little, if any, knowledge about or experience with culturally or linguistically diverse children (Finney & Orr, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1991). It is this concern which served as a catalyst for the present research study in pedagogical possibility for culturally diverse students. Since research studies in both inservice and preservice training in cultural diversity and multicultural education have indicated limited success. The present study focused on how four exemplary elementary school teachers developed their pedagogical practices for teaching in culturally diverse settings. Three broad areas were investigated: (a) background, (b) practice, and (c) origin of practice. The findings indicate that teachers who are known for their exemplary practices with culturally diverse populations of students adopt a relaxed, child-focused approach to classroom activities. The teachers believe that their students can be successful, and they have a strong sense of their own efficacy as professionals. With regard to culture, these teachers expressed a clear view of their own cultural identity and celebrated the cultural diversity and richness in their classes. They encouraged their students to expend effort, take risks, and raise questions. They structured their classroom to engender a sense of community and a collaborative approach to learning. They are passionate about knowledge and learning and see knowledge as an emerging, growing entity. Finally, their practices fit within the broad framework of what is generally understood as developmentally appropriate practice. Formal preparation in preservice or inservice programs were not significant factors in developing their classroom understandings or practices. Personal background and classroom contacts appear, from these interviews, to be the primary factors shaping the practices of these exemplary teachers. In addition, the teachers mentioned mentors and significant others in their personal lives who gave them a sense of confidence, love of self, and dedication to education.

This study explores the possibilities for Spirit as a key term and value position in the development of pedagogical relationships in schools. It begins with an examination of the nature of Spirit from different standpoints and assesses its wider connections to the spiritual, religious and moral aspects of the human condition. This preliminary analysis lays the basic foundations from which to develop a greater understanding of the importance of these connections in pedagogy. Attention is then given to the importance of the pedagogical relationship as a central issue in education generally. The role that tradition plays in shaping this aspect of pedagogy, as a distinct practice, is discussed. Also discussed is the need to enrich and expand traditional meanings in order to meet the challenges and constraints of contemporary practice. Arguing that a renewed vocabulary of spirit is not only necessary but vital for enriching traditional meanings and practices, the study builds this renewed vocabulary in two ways: (l) through an analysis of the implications of the philosophical perspectives of Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas and John Macmurray, and (2) through the reconstruction of pedagogies of spirit in the work of two teachers. The study concludes with four recommendations for approaching the continued reconstruction of pedagogies of spirit in the development of teacher education programmes.

This project considers the role of place in the writing process of Canadian author Monique Polak. Drawing from ideas of literary geography, place-based literacy, and an ecological framework for viewing writing as a social process, this research specifically considers how places are represented in three of her novels written for young adults. This work draws from a representative case study approach, which included conversations with Polak about place, writing, and the intersection of these ideas. By inquiring into the pedagogical possibilities of place as experienced and demonstrated by Polak, educators and researchers can reflect on the role of place in their own work, and consider how teachers and students may benefit from these ideas in their writing as well.

This thesis investigates student self-evaluation in leamer-centred contexts to acquire a deeper understanding of the processes involved. The study describes, analyses and interprets student self-evaluation processes using qualitative, case study research design. Questions of how students go about self-evaluating their experiences of learning and teaching, and how teachers attempt or succeed in integrating experiences of this type of evaluation into their teaching practice, are the focus of this study. The conditions under which these processes are promoted are explored in a secondary school in Western Australia and in a comprehensive secondary school and a Further Education College in London. The constraints that exist in the implementation of these processes are also discussed. The impetus for this research stemmed from a lack of theory on feedback and fonnative assessment in the classroom. It also delived from the perceived potential of the involvement of students in the self-evaluation process as a means to improved learning outcomes. Student self-evaluation, as an authentic pedagogical practice, shifts the evaluative focus to learning itself, and the supportive processes associated with it, rather than focusing simply on the measurement of that learning. Student self-evaluation processes are therefore considered as a fonnative process leading to self-development. It is a process of identifying the value of the teaching and learning expelience for the individual student. This study contributes knowledge about the fonnative purposes of self-evaluation procedures and their links with learning. The potential exists for student selfevaluation processes to harness student ownership and control of their own work, influence the strategies they use in learning, and impact on their confidence, selfesteem and thus the quality of the learning they achieve. Student self-evaluation also supports the development of skills cun•ently being demanded of students to succeed in the twenty first century. This research provides a rationale for sustaining current efforts to transform assessment and evaluation practices despite the antithetical context.

Looking to the places we live to inform our understandings of identity and belonging, this métissage of place-based stories draws on personal narratives and intergenerational stories to re/create meaning in new spaces and contexts. Through the interweaving of personal and academic stories, this research provides a space for critical engagement, creative scholarship and learning. The pedagogical possibilities of places and understanding of curriculum as both the lived experiences and knowledge/s that shape and in/form our identities and understandings. As newcomers, settlers, and treaty members, living on Turtle Island/North America, perhaps we must begin by looking at the places where we live and dwell, to better understand our responsibilities to both the land and peoples. Unsettling narratives that disrupt textbooks histories, and the re/telling of new/old stories. Using bricolage to gather up the fragments and/or pieces left behind – artefacts, memories and stories, I begin to re/trace the footsteps of my grandmothers - the re/learning his/her/stories, stories of shifting cultural identities and landscapes - and be/longing to places, while also examining how notions of be/longing are transformed through intergenerational stories and our connections to places. Stories that may help to move and guide us forward in a good way. From wasteland to reconciliation, this work examines the meaning of places to our lives and learning, as well as our responsibilities to land and peoples – those who came before, and the generations before us.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2008.
"A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Directed by John A. Weaver. ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-168) and appendices.

Sexual health education is taking new innovative directions in establishing pedagogical partnerships between schools and community-based sexualities educators. Evaluations of The Sense Project, a community-based sexual health program in Montreal, demonstrate that youth respond enthusiastically to these initiatives. The partnerships, however, must navigate through the same epistemological and cultural tensions occurring everywhere as we collectively re-define knowing about questions of the body, sexualities, gender and youth. In the first phase of this study, former students of sex education reflect on their sexual health learning experiences. The study identified the content and pedagogies that supported or interfered with meaningful learning. Building on those insights, interviews with several teachers and community-based educators articulate what they see as the possible barriers and potential benefits of forming sexual health teaching partnerships. Implications for both groups of communities of practice are explored through the rich data emerging from their interviews. The findings of this study suggest that the pedagogical practices developed by this community agency offer an excellent resource for teachers and students of sexual health, and a model for other community educators. Recommendations are made to teacher education institutions regarding the theoretical, reflexive and praxis components that would support pre-service training in sexualities pedagogy. Finally, based on the model offered by the community-based educators, the thesis presents fifteen principles essential to the development and implementation of good sexual health pedagogy.
L'éducation à la sexualité prend un tournant innovateur en forgeant des partenariats entre les écoles et des organismes communautaires. Les évaluations du Projet Sens, un programme issue d'un organisme communautaire situé à Montréal, indiquent que les jeunes répondent avec enthousiasme à cette initiative. Ces partenariats, cependant, doivent naviguer a travers les mêmes tensions epistemologiques et culturelles se produisant partout alors que nous redéfinissons collectivement les savoirs entourant le corps, les sexualités, et l'identité des jeunes. Dans la première phase de cette étude, des étudiants ayant prit des cours d'éducation a la sexualité réfléchissent sur leurs expériences. L'étude identifie le contenu et les démarches pédagogues qui ont soutenu et ceux qui ont interféré un apprentissage significatif. En ce basant sur les résultats des cette première phase, des entrevues avec des enseignants et des éducateurs communautaire servent a identifier les barrières possibles et les avantages potentiels de former ces partenariats. Des implications pour les deux groupes sont explorées via les données riches émergeant des entrevues. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que les pratiques pédagogiques développées par cet organisme communautaire offrent une excellente ressource pour les enseignants et les étudiants et propose des pistes riches pour d'autres organismes communautaires. Des recommandations sont faites pour les programmes de formation des maîtres concernant les aspects théoriques, pratiques et réflexifs de cette formation. En conclusion, la thèse présente quinze principes essentiels au développement d'une approche pédagogique substantif.

Parents’ interaction with pedagogues as equal partners is an important and unquestionable factor in a successful process of education. The practice shows that a problem of contact with parents arises. Therefore searching for new co-operation forms, seeking to ground the importance of parents’ pedagogical competences for continuity of preschool age children education and to ascertain the competences education possibilities, a research was made, in which parents’ opinions about pedagogical competences have been analysed, negative factors have been examined and parents opinion about the impact of pedagogical competences on children education continuity, parents and pedagogues co-operation was revealed. 282 respondents took part in the research: i.e. 60 parents of Šiauliai aesthetical education Study “Ko-dėl-čia”, 150 parents from the kindergarten “Kulverstukas”, 72 parents from Kužiai Kindergarten “Vyturėlis”. The following research methods were used in the thesis: scientific literature analysis, questionnaire, interview. Statistical analysis was made. Seeking to ensure the validity of the data received and legitimacy of the conclusions, the following data processing methods were used: relative frequency and percent frequency, correlation analysis (analysing data using Kruskal- Wallis test). The hypothesis of the research has proved out: it was established that the parents lack pedagogical knowledge. The results of the research show that education for parents is necessary... [to full text]

Syftet med mitt examensarbete är att undersöka vad pedagoger i förskolan har för tankar och erfarenheter utav att arbeta med lekpedagogik? Vad anser de är möjligheterna och finns det några hinder med arbetssättet? I min undersökning har jag använt mig utav semistrukturerade intervjuer vilket betyder att intervjufrågorna är formade så att deltagarna får utrymme att besvara och tolka frågorna utifrån deras egen uppfattning av omvärlden. Med hjälp av en utformad intervjuguide har jag skapat frågor som berör olika områden som är relevanta för min undersökning. Mitt resultat visar på att pedagogerna tycker att det är riktigt roligt att arbeta lekpedagogiskt, de har viljan och engagemanget, men det är praktiska hinder såsom tid- och personalbyten som gör att de inte kan arbeta med det i den utsträckning som de skulle vilja.
The aim of my thesis is to examine preschool teacher’s thoughts and experiences of working with pedagogical play. What are their views of the possibilities of this way of work and are there any difficulties whit this approach? In my research I´ve been using semi-structured interviews which means that the interview questions are shaped so the participants have space to answer and to interpret based on their own perception of the outside world. Using a designed interview guide I´ve created questions that cover different areas that are of relevance to my research. My result shows that the preschool teachers think pedagogical play is an excellent approach. They have the will and commitment but there are some practical difficulties such as time constraints and personnel changes that make them unable to work with pedagogical play in the extent they would like.

Syftet med avhandlingen är att bidra till den ämnesdidaktiska kunskapsbasen för undervisning och lärande om tekniska system i grundskolan. Dagens teknikkomplexa samhälle är uppbyggt av system som vi människor interagerar med. Informations-, energi- och kommunikationssystem är exempel på tekniska system som vi kommer i kontakt med dagligen. Tekniska system ingår som en del av kunskapsinnehållet i den svenska grundskolans teknikämne, men forskning som rör teknikämnet visar att undervisning av tekniska system är begränsad och det råder osäkerhet kring vad lärande av tekniska system innebär. De övergripande frågeställningarna är: Hur uppfattar unga tekniska system? Hur kan ungas uppfattningar av tekniska system användas för att utveckla undervisningen om tekniska system? Vilken potential, att bidra till en ökad förståelse av teknik i dagens samhälle, har tekniska  system som kunskapsinnehåll i teknikämnet? Avhandlingen bygger på två studier som presenteras i fyra artiklar. I två av artiklarna fokuseras ungas uppfattningar av tekniska system och i två artiklar lyfts didaktiska dimensioner av tekniska system fram. En fenomenografisk ansats används för att kartlägga ungdomars olika sätt att erfara tekniska system genom empiriska undersökningar av kvalitativa skillnader i det kollektiva erfarandet av fenomenet. Resultatet av studierna indikerar att dimensioner av tekniska system och kritiska aspekter inom dessa dimensioner är avgörande för en utvecklad förståelse av tekniska system. Genom att lärare blir medvetna om ungas uppfattningar om tekniska system kan de med detta som utgångspunkt utveckla undervisningen. Inom den ämnesdidaktiska kunskapstraditionen ses den lärandes uppfattning av innehållet innan undervisningen startar som en betydelsefull aspekt av lärarens ämnesdidaktiska kompetens Det är därför viktigt att lärare är medvetna om dimensionerna och de kritiska aspekterna då de planerar och genomför undervisning för att kunna erbjuda kraftfulla sätt att lära om tekniska system. De didaktiska implikationerna, när det gäller tekniska system, lyfter fram aspekter av teknik som har betydelse för förståelsen av teknik även på ett mer generellt plan. Det handlar om kunskaper som aktiva medborgare i dagens teknikkomplexa samhälle behöver, så som insikter om krav på resurser, människans intentioner med och inblandning i tekniken samt hur teknikens struktur och organisation ser ut. Tekniska system som kunskapsinnehåll erbjuder en förståelse av teknik där viktiga medborgerliga aspekter som engagemang, konsekvensanalys och användaransvar kan synliggöras och problematiseras.
The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the field of technology education research, specifically that which concerns teaching and learning about technological systems. Today's technologically complex society is made up of a variety of systems that humans interact with. Information, energy and communication are examples of technological systems with which we are involved daily. Education in technology prepares young people for participating as active citizens in a technologyintensive society and therefore includes technological systems as part of the knowledge content in the Swedish compulsory school subject of technology. Research related to the technology subject shows that the teaching of technological systems is limited and there is uncertainty about what the learning entails. The overall questions which this thesis intends to investigate are: How do young people experience technological systems? How can young people’s experiences of technological systems be used to develop the teaching of technological systems? What potential does knowledge about  technological systems have in contributing to a better understanding of technology in today’s society? The thesis is based on two studies presented in four articles. Two of the articles focus on young people’s experiences of technological systems and the other two highlight pedagogical dimensions of technological systems for teaching and learning. The studies take the perspective of  the learners’, using a phenomenographic approach, and investigate young people’s ways of experiencing technological systems. To start from the learners’ experience is an important aspect of the tradition of pedagogical research that concerns content specific knowledge. The phenomenographic approach offers empirical ways of investigating qualitative differences in the collective experience of the phenomenon and an opportunity to highlight what teaching should focus on to create learning opportunities. The main result of the studies consists of knowledge about dimensions of technological systems and critical aspects within those dimensions. Together they offer a perspective for teaching, providing possible starting points for teachers when they plan instruction. If teachers address their own and young people’s awareness of dimensions of variation, it could enable more powerful ways of learning about technological systems. The pedagogical implications in terms of technological systems also point to aspects that are relevant for understanding technology on a more general level, namely skills which active citizens in today’s technologically complex society must possess. Technological systems knowledge offers an understanding of technology in which key aspects of civil commitment, impact and user responsibility can be made visible and thus  problematized.

This thesis describes a qualitative, interview-based case study of the experiences of adult female learners accessing/reaccessing Higher Education following a Widening Participation (WP) route on a part-time Physiotherapy undergraduate course and an accelerated Masters course in Occupational Therapy at a single HEI. The research questioned student and staff perceptions of and attitudes to study, and to what extent the HEI had adapted its pedagogic approaches to accommodate student learning preferences. Data are drawn from discussions with sixteen participants, comprising four students and four tutors on each course. The research outcomes revealed a tension between the tutors' theoretically and ideologically driven views on teaching and learning, which included responding to diverse student needs, and the more pragmatic orientations of the students and their tutors. These were underpinned in the students' case by the financial need to gain a qualification in spite of the constraints of time and family life, and on the tutors' and institution's part by the need to attract student numbers and to meet completion targets in spite of shortages of time, staffing and space. Analysis of the responses of students and tutors draws on Bernstein's theory of recontextualisation, in which ideas such as WP undergo significant transformations first in the official policy process then when they are put into practice. The study also draws on Bernstein's account of pedagogic identities, which describe how teachers and institutions negotiate teaching and learning processes within the competing demands of market forces, mandated policy and their own local ideologies and circumstances. In its exploration of the meaning of WP and its underpinning rationales, the research suggests that the pragmatic approach of the institution has the effect of widening access in terms of course eligibility but failing to offer correspondingly inclusive pedagogies, more flexible curricula, or adequate student support services.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior
Recent studies nationwide in the area of teacher training point to the fragility of the Curriculum as a field of knowledge of pedagogy, considered in designing technical and instrumental. In this context, our research aims to integrate such studies to understand the context of this discipline in CearÃ. We aim to understand the general characteristics Didactic discipline has assumed in the course of Pedagogy of public universities in the state, knowing the teachers and the design of which is registered in their teaching plans. We ask: What teachers teach didactics? What proposals and content of their teaching plans? What is the methodological approach applied by these professionals? Characteristics that this discipline has taken? What are the challenges you face? What is the Curriculum on pedagogical? To answer these questions we conducted a qualitative study in the UFC (Federal University of CearÃ), UECE (State University of CearÃ), URCA (University Cariri Regional) and UVA (University Vale do AcaraÃ). We use as instruments of data collection semistructured interviews with teachers Didactic Pedagogy course these institutions, programs and documentary analysis of the discipline, as well as a bibliographic research didactics. The research revealed that the discipline teaching in public universities of Cearà is crafted in a multidimensional way, in a dialectical relationship between society, education, Education and the School of Basic Education. Also revealed the possibilities of pedagogical innovation present in research practices and action-reflection Teachers Teaching.
Estudos realizados recentemente em Ãmbito nacional na Ãrea de formaÃÃo de professores apontam para a fragilidade da DidÃtica como campo de conhecimento da Pedagogia, concebida numa concepÃÃo tÃcnica e instrumental. Nesse contexto, nossa pesquisa pretende se integrar a tais estudos para compreender o contexto dessa disciplina no CearÃ. Temos como objetivo geral compreender que caracterÃsticas a disciplina DidÃtica vem assumindo no curso de Pedagogia das universidades pÃblicas do estado, conhecendo sobre a concepÃÃo dos professores e o que à registrado em seus planos de ensino. Indagamos: O quà os professores de DidÃtica ensinam? Quais as propostas e conteÃdos dos seus planos de ensino? Qual a abordagem metodolÃgica aplicada por estes profissionais? Que caracterÃsticas essa disciplina vem assumindo? Quais os desafios que enfrentam? O que à a DidÃtica na Ãrea pedagÃgica? Para responder tais questionamentos realizamos uma pesquisa qualitativa na UFC (Universidade Federal do CearÃ), UECE (Universidade Estadual do CearÃ), URCA (Universidade Regional do Cariri) e UVA (Universidade Estadual Vale do AcaraÃ). Utilizamos como instrumentos de coleta de dados, entrevistas semiestruturadas com os professores de DidÃtica do curso de Pedagogia dessas instituiÃÃes, e anÃlise documental dos programas da referida disciplina, alÃm de um estudo bibliogrÃfico de pesquisadores da Ãrea de DidÃtica. A pesquisa revelou que a disciplina DidÃtica nas universidades pÃblicas do Cearà à trabalhada de forma multidimensional, numa relaÃÃo dialÃtica entre a sociedade, a educaÃÃo, a Pedagogia e a Escola da EducaÃÃo BÃsica. Revelou tambÃm as possibilidades de inovaÃÃo pedagÃgica presentes nas prÃticas de pesquisa e aÃÃo-reflexÃo dos professores de DidÃtica.

This is a scholarly essay in which i examine and reflect on my issues related to digital risk and behavior in school and after-school centre. I have two questions that i wanted to focus on. Both of them that I have to examen on how I as an active pedagogue at a after school center can prepare the pupils on online risks and how to feel safe online, and also I wanted too learn how the personal at after school centre can work together with the parents to get the children resources to feel safe online. I wanted to explore if and how the staff in school and after school centre can give students preparatory work to gear up if they meet abusive behavior online. And the key here is dialogue. But lack of time, understaff or lack of a curriculum makes it sometimes hard do motivate principals and colleagues to set time to learn about digitals risks and the profit of dialogue about digital values. My experience from the work on this essay is that I need to make it visible to my colleagues that we can and need to do this, for the safety off our students and the future online users.
Det här är en essän med syfte att synligöra behovet av digital-värdegrund i skolan och på fritidshemmet. Jag reflekterar över bristen på tid att infoga värdegrunds-arbete i skolan och fritids samt att jag kritiskt granskar mig själv. Essän utgår från egen upplevda händelser och problematiken kring de dolda kränkningar och mobbnings-situationer som sker online och i klassrumsmiljöer. Jag inleder essän med fyra olika gestaltningar där jag reflekterar över mitt egna agerade och om jag kunde agerat annorlunda. Den röda tråden i texten är att jag tror på att samtal mellan elev och pedagog öppnar upp för att förbättra den sociala och digitala miljön på skolan, att dialog är porten till ett öppet klimat mellan barn/vuxen. Min egen erfarenhet och personliga utveckling samt de misstag jag upplever mig gjort under mina år som verksam pedagog finns som exempel i texten och jag hoppas det får läsaren att känna att vi tillsammans kan göra online livet säkrare för våra elever och framtida digitala användare.

As popular genre of novels predominantly written by African American and Latinx authors, street fiction is often characterized in terms of the sex, violence, and illicit activities present in its narratives set in low socioeconomic urban communities across the United States. Street fiction’s popularity has soared since the early 2000s, and several authors who formerly self-published their novels and sold them through grassroots channels now sign lucrative contracts with major publishers. The purpose of this study is to offer a recontextualized description of street fiction exploring its ideological, political and cultural connections to other spheres of influence including: the tradition of the American novel, African American literary history and theories, popular fictions, and hip hop. Using critical discourse analysis and cultural studies as combined methodologies, I offer a dialogic analysis of three themes present in four examples of the genre, namely: 1) ambivalence between “straight” lives and “street” lives, 2) the interplay between constructions of “self” and “other” in street fiction, and 3) the dynamics between the “real” and the “fantastic” elements in the novels. I offer a concluding analysis of how the literacy practices surrounding street fiction dovetail with key conversations in the field of English, including the definition of literature, the relationships among authors, readers and texts, the purpose of reading and writing fiction, and the notion of books as both cultural artifacts and commodities.

The current trend of global violence and their impact on families and communities as well as the field of university education is scary for a society that is struggling with this false sense of apathy and complacency. How did the ordinary people get seduced to the idea that there is no way out of this global assault? How then do we extricate ourselves from this “tortured consciousness” (Asante, 2007) and this false sense of “nihilism” (West, 1994) and recoup this “incommensurable loss” (Simmons, 2010) to global violence? Even more crucial, where is the place of education in retrieving this incommensurable loss while providing hope and possibility for a better future? Provoked by the desire to have answers to these questions, the dissertation relies on the knowledge and experiences of twenty qualitatively selected university activists and existing literature to critically examine the non-violent praxes of Gandhi and King, Jr. and their pedagogical implications for transformative university education. The dissertation further draws on the knowledge of Frantz Fanon and Malcolm X to bring complex and nuanced readings to violence and non-violence. The dissertation notes that violence and non-violence are not mutually exclusive as already known. The dissertation also notes that while resistive violence may be justified, it does not necessarily guarantee true transformation, reconciliation, and healing. Instead, love, humility, truth, dialogue, non-violent direct action, discipline, and spirituality are salient in achieving true transformation in university activism. The dissertation further observes that educational activism is more than walking on the street with placards to protest against institutional violence. Sometimes, the secret activism that is done strategically within the corridors of power can achieve more far-reaching results than the open protest against power on the street. The dissertation concludes with six key non-violent strategies that can help in social and political mobilization of university students for transformative university education.

This Diploma Thesis deals with the issues of social and pedagogical work with the minorities. The opening chapters aim to determine the basic theoretical terms and they introduce basic information about some selected national minorities. The core of the practical part of this work describes the processes and specific activities, which can help in integrating pupils, who belong to ethnic minorities, into the educational system. The closing chapters of this Diploma Thesis include an empirical survey, focused on professional orientation and vocational selection among the Roma pupils at the basic school in Obrnice. Attention is drawn to the family influence and the role of school and other institutions operating in this field.

Meeting the life and career values in social-pedagogical work Abstract: My thesis deals with the possibilities of finding and implementing the values of social pedagogue in the context of his profession and even in the context of the personal life. Its objective is based on an analysis of scientific literature, reflecting own experience and on the qualitative research, to show where and how the helping professionals can find their personal and professional values and how they manage to fulfill them. For these reasons I decided to make a research that would support the content of the theoretical part and was able to bring life caring professionals through finding their innermost attitudes - values, motivations and motives - which are private but in the end affect the quality of their work. Through analysis of the results of semi-structured interviews conducted with social pedagogues it was found that personal values of employees in many ways penetrate into the professional values, the main motivation to pursue social pedagogical work lies in th need of transcendence and that the benefits of this mission in many ways exceeds it caused losses. Key words: Profession of the social pedagogue, client of social pedagogical work, helping professions, professional and personal values, search for meaning, logotherapy,...