Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Windhoek College of Education. Educational leadership Education Teachers'

This thesis investigates how instructional leaders at the Windhoek College of Education (in Namibia) make sense of their roles. The Windhoek College of Education (WCE) was selected for this study because that is where I work, therefore it would be easy to observe some of the responses provided by the interviewees. It was also observed that instructional leadership is little researched in Namibia and hence study would contribute towards understanding the various perceptions that instructional leaders have of their roles. There is a need for information about the skills and tasks required to support practices of instructional leadership so that the best possible instruction can be provided. The thesis examines and presents such skills. A qualitative research framework, in particular an interpretative approach was used for the study. As my research is concerned with people’s perceptions, it is located in the interpretative paradigm. Semi-structured, open-ended interview questions were asked in order to gather information on how the participants make meaning of their roles as instructional leaders. The sample for the study consisted of eleven instructional leaders over different levels, i.e., executive leaders, leaders on middle-management level and leaders on classroom-instructional level. The findings indicated a narrow view of instructional leadership at the college. Factors contributing to this narrowness are addressed, e.g., the way concepts such as delegation, guidance and monitoring/supervision are perceived. The findings also addressed certain expectations that are needed from instructional leaders in order to ensure efficiency in their practice. The study concludes by recommending alternative, expansive ways of thinking about instructional leadership.

Supportive relationships between teachers and their students help create an environment for student success, but there remains a need for additional understanding about how to effectively promote positive teacher-student relationships in order to support stronger policy and practice in modern schools. In this qualitative analysis, I seek to deepen the research about supportive teacher-student relationships by analyzing how students, teachers, and principals described their experiences in early college high schools (ECHS) in North Carolina. Early college high schools represent a relatively new school model in which high school students earn college credits while working toward their high school diplomas. Quantitative analyses of the performance of ECHS students suggest students in early college high schools outperform their peers from comprehensive schools on a variety of measures. One important design element of these schools suggests that teachers must know students well to help them achieve academically and it is my assertion that supportive teacher-student relationships may contribute to ECHS students’ success.

For this study, I analyze qualitative data previously collected as part of a larger longitudinal study from students, teachers, and principals studying and working in 19 early college high schools in North Carolina. I employ Giddens’ theory of structuration as a lens for understanding the relationships between the agents (students, teachers, and principals) and the social structures that influence the experiences of those in the schools. I consider the leadership practices of the principals to promote supportive teacher-student relationships as well as teacher practices, and compared the adults’ claims to the students’ perceived experiences with their teachers. My findings reveal three elements in the social systems of the ECHS contribute to supportive teacher-student relationships which include the following: (1) the beliefs of teachers, students, and principals; (2) deliberate actions of principals and teachers; and (3) programs that create social spaces for such relationships to grow.

This study investigates the effect of participation in high school-community college partnership activities on teachers’ reflective practice. It examines the responses of teachers from one suburban high school, one urban high school and one urban charter school located in the Upper Midwest of the United States, gathered via semi-structured interviews. The partnership activities took place during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.

The experiences of the teacher participants can be located in the phases of the reflective practice cycle, which consists of: having a catalyzing experience, seeking additional information, reframing and challenging assumptions, and testing through action. By engaging in collaborative activities, teachers accessed feedback on the needs of students and insights regarding different pedagogical approaches. This information fed the cycle of the reflective practice by causing teachers to have catalyzing experiences, motivating them to seek additional information, helping teachers to reframe and challenge their assumptions, and providing them with opportunities to test new ideas.

Besides supporting the cycle of reflective practice, the results of this study also connect to several tenets of teacher professional development in the literature. On one hand, this study’s findings align with much of the literature regarding collegial collaboration, teacher motivation, and the execution of professional development over time. On the other hand, these results raise questions about forms of feedback that influence teacher reflection and whether experience is always a necessary precursor to teacher learning.

Every student deserves to be educated by teachers who are culturally proficient to ensure their needs are being met within inclusive school systems. This calls for educator preparation programs to ensure teacher candidates are culturally proficient. However, this is a pedagogical shift in isolated, rural settings due to the challenges rural communities pose for cultural proficiency (Sileo, Sileo, & Pierce, 2008). Modeling co-teaching and critical discourse in educator preparation allows teacher candidates to explore historical and systemic inequities of marginalized populations. Understanding these inequities can allow teacher candidates to recognize how diversity may impact the lives of various individuals and learn to honor the cultural uniqueness of others.

The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of teacher candidates within a course modeling co-teaching and critical discourse in educator preparation to capture the essence of their experiences. The conceptual framework created to guide this study centralizes co-teaching in educator preparation to model and promote critical discourse embedding critical theory and disability inquiry. This study used a phenomenology approach to obtain the essence of teacher candidates’ experiences. Participants of the study were pursuing a degree in education from a rural state college. Of the participants, 92% were female and 98% were white. To ensure the essence of teacher candidates’ experience prevailed, the researcher used a peer debriefing process and member checking to ensure validity.

Three themes emerged from the survey responses and four participant interviews. Each theme had three sub-themes that emerged as well. The first theme was a prosocial environment, with sub-themes of connectivity, multiple perspectives, and critical discourse. The second theme was vulnerability, with sub-themes of professors as change agents, self-awareness, and critical consciousness. The last theme was empowerment, with sub-themes of advocacy, pedagogical awareness, and understanding and honoring culture. Interconnections of the themes were analyzed and presented to combine the conceptual framework of the study with the findings.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2003.
Title from title page screen, viewed Oct. 15, 2004. Dissertation Committee: Mohamed A. Nur-Awaleh (chair), W. Paul Vogt, Dianne Gardner-Gletty, George Padavil. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-161) and abstract. Also available in print.

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceived changes in cultural, human, and social capital as a result of professional development. Research in the area of effective professional development is substantial. Similarly, the body of research on cultural, human, and social networks is extensive. This research is significant in that it aims to marry the body of research surrounding professional development and the bodies of research in cultural, human, and social capital. A case study approach was used to conduct an in-depth look at teachers' practices through teacher interviews and classroom observations. All teachers in the study participated in a high school level college-access program aimed at increasing the college-going rate of under-served youth. Further, each participant had at least three years' experience in the program. The research suggests that there may be a teacher typology even within a voluntary college preparatory program. This typology is not limited to the suggested categories of this study. Nor does this typology suggest that teachers are stagnant categories of this study. Nor does this typology suggest that teachers are stagnant within their assigned typology. Rather, the research suggests that there is a continuum of teacher ability with regards to implementation of practices and ideas around cultural, human, and social capital. Outcomes suggest that school administrators should examine their practices in monitoring and supporting the implementation of professional development. Further, school administrators should consider matching school reform initiative with teacher type. Recommendations for future research include expanding the research both within the college-preparatory program and with teachers not involved in a college-preparatory program. Future research may also want to analyze how professional development influences the development of other forms of capital.

Information literacy is widely acknowledged as important for student success in higher education. Information literacy is the ability to sort through a large amount of available information, decide what is useful and believable, and apply it in an effective and ethical way. Faculty members have expectations regarding information literacy for students in the first year of college, while students have information literacy practices that may or may not match those expectations. In my study, I examined the alignment of faculty member information literacy expectations and student information literacy practices, focusing on freshman students and faculty members who teach freshman students in a required general education course at a public university in the northwestern United States. Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design, I began my study with qualitative interviews of students and faculty members, used data from the interviews to develop a survey instrument, conducted a pilot study with the survey instrument, and used the survey instrument to administer an online quantitative survey to 106 students and 10 faculty members. The survey consisted of 42 items pertaining to student practices and faculty expectations as identified by student and faculty member interview participants. Survey data showed the percentage of faculty members expecting a practice was generally higher than the percentage of students carrying out that practice. Overall, the study findings revealed a gap between faculty expectations and student practices.

This study explored the impact a professional development program (Online Professor Certificate Program, OPCP) had on teaching online in higher education— specifically, the impact on faculty members’ teaching presence. The conceptual and theoretical model utilized the community of inquiry framework and both critical theory and transformational learning theory. This case study used data from various sources, including questionnaires, content analysis, and interviews. The overall results indicate that the OPCP had some impact on teaching presence, but not as much as anticipated. The study found that faculty who completed the OPCP were more engaged in their online classes than those who had not participated in the OPCP, as measured by the number of discussion posts. No statistically significant difference in teaching presence was found between participants’ retrospective pre- and post-OPCP responses. Participants mentioned mentoring and andragogy as the two most important parts of the OPCP. Educational leaders have an economic interest in this issue, as online enrollments increased significantly over the past decade, and the trend will likely continue. These increased online enrollments have impacted online teaching, creating a growing need for high-quality online teaching. Faculty need professional development programs to help them become more effective online teachers. The professional development programs need to be evaluated for effectiveness beyond the satisfaction level, with a focus on program outcomes.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2005.
"A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Leadership and Management)" T.p.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Louisville, 2009. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kentucky, 2009.
Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville. College of Social Work, University of Kentucky. Vita. "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-124).

This thesis is entitled “Fostering collective teacher efficacy through values-based leadership in Ethiopian institutions of higher education”, which is delimited to the private universities. The main question was “What constitutes/determines the institutionalisation of values-based leadership (VBL) to foster collective teacher efficacy (CTE) in the context of Ethiopian private universities (EPrUs)?” The sub-questions were: 1) what does the current state of CTE and its perceived outcomes look like in EPrUs? 2) What sets of behaviours are desired to institutionalise VBL so as to foster CTE in EPrUs? 3) What are the institutional contexts required to institutionalise VBL so as to foster CTE in EPrUs? In addressing these issues, academic leaders, students and teachers from EPrUs participated in the study. As methods of data gathering both the survey method and interviews were used. Results revealed that CTE is not high enough in EPrUs and hence it needs to be fostered so as to bring the desired change in students’ learning. To foster this, institutionalisation of VBL is required that involves two inter-related aspects. The first one is about institutionalising desired values (behaviours), which are linked to the academic leaders’ yearning for positive sets of values and the teachers’ moral contract to their professional values. To this effect, the positive sets of values that academic leaders should yearn for and the sets of values that teachers should espouse as their professional values are explored. The commonalities between these values are also described and how these would be institutionalised is suggested. The values include integrity and trustworthiness, humility/selflessness, compassion and sense of gratitude, accountability and self-discipline, sense of collaboration and teamwork, and envisioning in leadership as the driving force. The second aspect is about institutionalising the contexts conducive to foster CTE and VBL support behaviours. The need to institutionalise those behaviours and contexts arise out of the perceived leadership gap (between what the teachers believe are the leadership priorities of the leaders and the behaviours they actually see in the leaders). This gap has been linked to CTE, and hence a model has been developed that would foster this efficacy.
Educational Leadership and Management
D. Ed. (Educational Management)

This study contributes to the literature on the academic profession's intellectual freedom. Drawing significantly on two methodological approaches, comparative case study and grounded theory, this dissertation examines three controversies in which government officials challenged academic scientists' federally sponsored research, which had implications for national environmental policies. To structure this examination, I used a two- part framework. For the first part, I investigated the evolving interpretations of events and actors' interests, which revealed the tactics and pressures employed by government officials when challenging the academic scientists' federally sponsored research. For the second part, I used Freidson's theory of professional dominance to help us understand how and in what ways institutionalized arrangements within society supported the academic profession's autonomy and authority over its work. This analysis identified the means by which the academic scientists in my three cases exerted some degree of control over scientific decisions regarding the research assumptions, methods, and analyses of their findings. The study's key findings are presented in the form of five research claims: First, the government challengers may try - sometimes successfully - to exercise their influence over indirect participants in the federally funded research in an attempt to control the dissemination of the federally sponsored research findings. Second, the government challengers, though not scientists themselves, relied heavily on their own judgment to declare publicly the kinds of activities that can and cannot count as legitimate scientific research, rather than relying on the traditional scientific peer-review process. Third, academic scientists may involve members of the public in the dispute. When that happens, the public may help decide whether government officials or academic scientists are better equipped to address the scientific matters associated with the federal policy. Fourth, academic scientists' political allies can support academic scientists' efforts to defend their research within the policymakers' setting. Fifth, academic scientists may assert academic conventions (e.g., peer review) as the standard (or possibly as the preferred) practice through which to evaluate science, even when government challengers question the validity of those conventions. Placed in context of the extant literature, these claims, taken together, suggest that the government officials tried to take actions that exceed their professional competence, specifically as boundary breakers who attempted to infiltrate the jurisdictional responsibilities of the academic scientists. In addition, despite the government officials' attempts to engage in professional boundary-crossing activities, the academic scientists asserted institutionalized practices and standards of the profession (e.g., peer review and open dialogue) and drew on the assistance of external actors (i.e., members of the public and political allies) as countervailing forces to exert control over their research.