School funding and education policy-making models in Ontario /

The purpose of this thesis is to examine various policy implementation models, and to determine what use they are to a government. In order to insure that governmental proposals are created and exercised in an effective manner, there roust be some guidelines in place which will assist in resolving difficult situations. All governments face the challenge of responding to public demand, by delivering the type of policy responses that will attempt to answer those demands. The problem for those people in positions of policy-making responsibility is to balance the competitive forces that would influence policy. This thesis examines provincial government policy in two unique cases. The first is the revolutionary recommendations brought forth in the Hall -Dennis Report. The second is the question of extending full -funding to the end of high school in the separate school system. These two cases illustrate how divergent and problematic the policy-making duties of any government may be. In order to respond to these political challenges decision-makers must have a clear understanding of what they are attempting to do. They must also have an assortment of policy-making models that will insure a policy response effectively deals with the issue under examination. A government must make every effort to insure that all policymaking methods are considered, and that the data gathered is inserted into the most appropriate model. Currently, there is considerable debate over the benefits of the progressive individualistic education approach as proposed by the Hall -Dennis Committee. This debate is usually intensified during periods of economic uncertainty. Periodically, the province will also experience brief yet equally intense debate on the question of separate school funding. At one level, this debate centres around the efficiency of maintaining two parallel education systems, but the debate frequently has undertones of the religious animosity common in Ontario's history. As a result of the two policy cases under study we may ask ourselves these questions: a) did the policies in question improve the general quality of life in the province? and b) did the policies unite the province? In the cases of educational instruction and finance the debate is ongoing and unsettling. Currently, there is a widespread belief that provincial students at the elementary and secondary levels of education are not being educated adequately to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The perceived culprit is individual education which sees students progressing through the system at their own pace and not meeting adequate education standards. The question of the finance of Catholic education occasionally rears its head in a painful fashion within the province. Some public school supporters tend to take extension as a personal religious defeat, rather than an opportunity to demonstrate that educational diversity can be accommodated within Canada's most populated province. This thesis is an attempt to analyze how successful provincial policy-implementation models were in answering public demand. A majority of the public did not demand additional separate school funding, yet it was put into place. The same majority did insist on an examination of educational methods, and the government did put changes in place. It will also demonstrate how policy if wisely created may spread additional benefits to the public at large. Catholic students currently enjoy a much improved financial contribution from the province, yet these additional funds were taken from somewhere. The public system had it funds reduced with what would appear to be minimal impact. This impact indicates that government policy is still sensitive to the strongly held convictions of those people in opposition to a given policy.

Poverty and Education: Preparing Teacher Candidates for Economically Diverse Classroom Environments

The poverty rate in Ontario affects approximately 1 in 6 children. Consequently, many classrooms in the province include students who come from poverty, and teachers are faced with the challenge of providing an equitable education to students who come from economically diverse backgrounds. Because student poverty in our education system is so prevalent, this challenge exists also for teacher candidates who enter the education system and complete their practicums in classrooms that often include students from impoverished backgrounds. This project examined issues of poverty and education and developed a workshop to assist teacher candidates to develop knowledge in this area. The project combined existing pedagogical approaches with participants’ recommendations and developed a workshop that could be delivered to Faculty of Education students. The workshop addresses poverty, the relationship between poverty and education, student academic achievement and well-being, and the relationship between school and home. The goal and hope of the workshop is that teacher candidates will be better prepared when working in economically diverse school environments.

Repertory grid adaptations in detecting connotative trends and social behaviour problems in education

Please consult the paper edition of this thesis to read. It is available on the 5th Floor of the Library at Call Number: Z 9999 E38 K66 1983

Narratives of Experience in Education: Living and Working Through Poverty in a Rural Community

In this study, I use my own experiences in education as a former elementary student, research assistant, and as a current secondary school teacher, to examine how living in a marginalised rural community challenged by poverty affected my formal education. The purpose of this study was to use stories to: (a) explore my formative elementary education growing up in a community that was experiencing poverty, and; (b) to examine the impact and implications of these experiences for me as a teacher and researcher considering the topic of poverty and education. This study used narrative inquiry to explore stories of education, focusing on experiences living and working in a rural community. My role in the study was both as participant and researcher as I investigate, through story, how I was raised in a marginalised, rural community faced with challenges of poverty and how I relate to my current role as a teacher working in a similar, rural high school. My own experiences and reflections form the basis of the study, but I used the contributions of secondary participants to offer alternative perspective of my interpretation of events. Participants in this study were asked to write about and/or retell their lived stories of working in areas affected by challenging circumstances. From my stories and those of secondary participants, three themes were explored: student authorship, teaching practice, and community involvement. An examination of these themes through commonplaces of place, sociality and time (Connelly and Clandinin, 2006) provide a context for other educators and researchers to consider or reconsider teaching practices in school communities affected by poverty.

Early Education Foundation: Portuguese Canadian Mothers' Preferences and Choices

The purpose of this study was to explore Portuguese-Canadian mothers' preferences and choices regarding their children's early care and education. The findings revealed that Portuguese-Canadian mothers value early care and education and are conscious of their role in their children's lives. Regardless of the type of care setting, the participants' responses revealed that the caregiver's care, emotion, and responsiveness are most important. More than developing "savvy" children, we need to nourish "happy" children. The study's participants include 9 Portuguese Canadian mothers without any assumption of a hyphenated identity and who have moved away from their immigrant parents' script. They embraced the vision of their children's success and cultivated their vast potential. Their responses revealed that the family, culture, and traditions are important factors in their child's academic and social growth and played a critical role in establishing the foundations for learning. The research study findings showed that the field of early care and education is undergoing a paradigm shift and that other practices, ideologies, and theories are surfacing. This study aimed to help develop a new grounded theory that contributes to a better understanding of this arena. The present findings reveal important issues for further discussion and lay a theoretical and empirical framework for future research in early education and care.

Tourism and the precautionary principle : a survey of academic and government stakeholders

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to provide a more precise understanding and basis from which to assess the potential role of the precautionary principle in tourism. The precautionary principle, analogous to the ideal of sustainable development, is a future-focused planning and regulatory mechanism that emphasizes pro-action and recognizes the limitations of contemporary scientific methods. A total of 100 respondents (80 tourism academics, 20 regional government tourism officials) from Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand completed the webbased survey between May and June 2003. Respondents reported their understanding of the precautionary principle, rated stakeholder involvement and education strategies, assessed potential barriers in implementation, and appraised steps of a proposed fi-amework for implementation. Due to low sub sample numbers, measures of central tendency were primarily used to compare groups, while inferential statistics were applied when warranted. Results indicated that most respondents (79%) felt the principle could be a guiding principle for tourism, while local and regional government entities were reported to have the most power in the implementation process. Findings suggested close links between the precautionary principle and sustainability, as concern for future generations was the most critical element of the principle for tourism. Overall, tourism academics were more supportive of the precautionary principle in tourism than were regional government tourism officials. Only minor variation was found in responses among regional groups across all variables. This study established basic ground for understanding the precautionary principle in tourism and has been effective in formulating more precise questions for future research.

Physiological reactivity and the perception of emotional stimuli as they relate to social adaptive functioning after traumatic brain injury / y Melonie Jane Hopkins.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often affects social adaptive functioning and these changes in social adaptability are usually associated with general damage to the frontal cortex. Recent evidence suggests that certain neurons within the orbitofrontal cortex appear to be specialized for the processing of faces and facial expressions. The orbitofrontal cortex also appears to be involved in self-initiated somatic activation to emotionally-charged stimuli. According to Somatic Marker Theory (Damasio, 1994), the reduced physiological activation fails to provide an individual with appropriate somatic cues to personally-relevant stimuli and this, in turn, may result in maladaptive behaviour. Given the susceptibility of the orbitofrontal cortex in TBI, it was hypothesized that impaired perception and reactivity to socially-relevant information might be responsible for some of the social difficulties encountered after TBL Fifteen persons who sustained a moderate to severe brain injury were compared to age and education matched Control participants. In the first study, both groups were presented with photographs of models displaying the major emotions and either asked to identify the emotions or simply view the faces passively. In a second study, participants were asked to select cards from decks that varied in terms of how much money could be won or lost. Those decks with higher losses were considered to be high-risk decks. Electrodermal activity was measured concurrently in both situations. Relative to Controls, TBI participants were found to have difficulty identifying expressions of surprise, sadness, anger, and fear. TBI persons were also found to be under-reactive, as measured by electrodermal activity, while passively viewing slides of negative expressions. No group difference,in reactivity to high-risk card decks was observed. The ability to identify emotions in the face and electrodermal reactivity to faces and to high-risk decks in the card game were examined in relationship to social monitoring and empathy as described by family members or friends on the Brock Adaptive Functioning Questionnaire (BAFQ). Difficulties identifying negative expressions (i.e., sadness, anger, fear, and disgust) predicted problems in monitoring social situations. As well, a modest relationship was observed between hypo-arousal to negative faces and problems with social monitoring. Finally, hypo-arousal in the anticipation of risk during the card game related to problems in empathy. In summary, these data are consistent with the view that alterations in the ability to perceive emotional expressions in the face and the disruption in arousal to personally-relevant information may be accounting for some of the difficulties in social adaptation often observed in persons who have sustained a TBI. Furthermore, these data provide modest support for Damasio's Somatic Marker Theory in that physiological reactivity to socially-relevant information has some value in predicting social function. Therefore, the assessment of TBI persons, particularly those with adaptive behavioural problems, should be expanded to determine whether alterations in perception and reactivity to socially-relevant stimuli have occurred. When this is the case, rehabilitative strategies aimed more specifically at these difficulties should be considered.

An exploration of intergenerational exchanges between grandparents and their older grandcildren

Changes within the family unit have resulted in changes in interactions between grandparents and older grandchildren. Existing research indicates that these relationships can result in positive outcomes. A relevant task for researchers is to continue to explore th~se intergenerational relationships. This qualitative phenomenological study explores the question: What functional patterns exist when grandparents interact with older grandchildren? Six grandparent-older grandchild pairs agreed to be involved. Kennedy's (1992) formulation of grandparent-older grandchild activity clusters was reviewed and revised. Activities were clustered related to socialization, companionship, support, entertainment, and education. Findings unique to this study indicate that shared activities were mutually chosen with consideration of activity tolerance, and were consistently evaluated as enjoyable. Partners were chosen because of a comfortable relationship established through frequent past and present interactions, and not because of family lineage preferences. Both grandparents and older grandchildren stated a desire to have a generation peer share activities with them. Exploration of dimension concepts for the "McMaster Model of Family Functioning" indicated that these relationships have potential to contribute to healthy family functioning. The implications for practice, theory development and further research are suggested.

Is technology a threat to education? : the contribution of George Parkin Grant

Thesis (M.Ed.)-- Brock University, 1995.

Project Business: a quasi-experimental study of co- operative interaction between schools and industry

This project is a quasi-experimental study involving eight classrooms in two senior elementary schools in St. Catharines, Ontario which received a Project Business Program and were pre- and post-tested to determine the growth of knowledge acquisition in the area of business concepts. Four classrooms received a Project Business treatment while four classrooms acted as a control. The Project Business Program is sponsored by Junior Achievement of Canada; it occurred during a twelveweek period, February to May 1981, and is run by business consultants who, through Action, Dialogue and Career Exploration, teach children about economics and business related topics. The consultants were matched with teacher co-ordinators in whose classrooms they taught and with whom they discussed field trips, students, lesson planning, etc. The statistical analysis of pre- and post-test means revealed a significant statistical growth in the area of knowledge acquisition on the part of those students who received the Project Business Program. This confirms that Project Business makes a difference. A search of the literature appears to advocate economic programs like Project Business, whfch are broadly based, relevant and processoriented. This program recommends itself as a model for other areas of co-operative curricular interactions and as a bridge to future trends and as a result several fruitful areas of research are suggested.

Therapeutic riding : learning and recovery for people with disabilities

The purpose ofthis study was to explore the process oftherapeutic riding as an experiential and holistic approach to learning and recovery for people with disabilities as perceived by the providers oftherapeutic riding. To enhance the connection between theory and practice and to suggest future research, the researcher endeavoured to develop a theory that contributed to the knowledge base oftherapeutic riding, animal-assisted therapy and education, experiential education, and experiential therapy in addition to contributing to connections among them. This topic was investigated because ofthe lack ofresearch about the process of therapeutic riding, particularly from learning and a recovery perspective. Few studies have addressed how therapeutic riding outcomes are achieved or how the therapeutic riding process actually works. This study was identified as grounded theory using qualitative data through interviews and narrative reflections with therapeutic riding providers, a researcher's journal, field notes, and written documents. Grounded theory analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. This consisted ofdoing open, axial, and selective coding. This study provided detailed descriptions ofthe research approach, researcher's involvement, participant and site selection, data collection and analysis, methodological assumptions and limitations, credibility established, and ethical considerations. The findings ofthe data analysis revealed the theme ofrelationships as central to the learning and recovery process oftherapeutic riding for people with disabilities. The significance ofthe team relationships, the horse and rider relationship, and the providers and rider relationship was found. The essential components ofthe learning and recovery process were presented in a diagram in the selective coding phase. Goals oftherapeutic riding included psycho-education; behavioural and social; physical; and equestrian. Parts ofthe process ofhow outcomes were achieved included motivation; "opens new doors;" risk; task analysis; control; communication; and environmental factors. Outcomes of therapeutic riding included independence and mobility; confidence; and transfer abilities or skills. The implications ofthese findings for theory, practice, and further research were also. explored.

Experiences with cultural capital in education : exploring the educational life stories of first-generation postsecondary students

This study used a life history research design to explore first-generation university students' educational life stories and experiences with cultural capital. The project sought to examine how 3 first-generation university students experience cultural capital that is privileged in Ontario's education system and how the interactions between capital acquired through experiences within the home and school and capital privileged by the education system affect these students' educational experiences and perceptions. Using Pierre Bourdieu's (1984; 1986) theory of cultural capital as a framework, 3 firstgeneration, first-year university students participated in two 1- to 2-hour interviews. A focus on each participant's experiences with culture, capital, and education revealed themes corresponding to navigating, utilizing, and confronting familial, institutional, economic, and embodied forms of cultural capital. The study highlights the importance of recognizing how cultural capital influences the education system and how firstgeneration students can recreate normative pathways and achieve academic success despite challenges posed by the cultural capital privileged within the education system. Given cultural capital's effect on academic success, understanding first-generation students' educational life stories sheds light on the complex challenges facing students who confront and deal with privileged culture in the education system.

Autonomy and Relatedness in Mainland Chinese Adolescents: Social or Personal? Accommodation or Distinctiveness?

Three studies comprised the current research program, in which the major goals were to propose and validate empirically the proposed two-level (universal and culture-specific) model of both autonomy and relatedness, as well as to develop reliable and valid measures for these two constructs. In Study 1, 143 mainland Chinese adolescents were asked open-ended questions about their understanding of autonomy and relatedness in three social contexts (peer, family, school). Chinese youth’s responses captured universal and culturally distinctive forms of autonomy (personal vs. social) and relatedness (accommodation vs. distinctiveness), according to a priori criteria based on the theoretical frameworks. Also, scenarios designed to reflect culture-specific forms of autonomy and relatedness suggested their relevance to Chinese adolescents. With a second sample of 201 mainland Chinese youth, in Study 2, the obtained autonomy and relatedness descriptors were formulated into scale items. Those items were subject to refinement analyses to examine their psychometric properties and centrality to Chinese youth. The findings of Study 1 scenarios were replicated in Study 2. The primary goal of Study 3 was to test empirically the proposed two-level (universal and culture-specific) models of both autonomy and relatedness, using the measures derived from Studies 1 and 2. A third sample of 465 mainland Chinese youth completed a questionnaire booklet consisting of autonomy and relatedness scales and scenarios and achievement motivation orientations measures. A series of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) autonomy and relatedness measurement models (first-order and second-order), as well as structural models linking culture-specific forms of autonomy and relatedness and achievement motivation orientations, were conducted. The first-order measurement models based on scale and scenario scores consistently confirmed the distinction between personal autonomy and social autonomy, and that of accommodation and distinctiveness. Although the construct validity of the two culture-specific forms of autonomy gained additional support from the structural models, the associations between the two culture-specific forms of relatedness and achievement motivation orientations were relatively weak. In general, the two-level models of autonomy and relatedness were supported in two ways: conceptual analysis of scale items and second-order measurement models. In addition, across the three studies, I explored potential contextual and sex differences in Chinese youth’s endorsement of the diverse forms of autonomy and relatedness. Overall, no substantial contextual variability or sex differences were found. The current research makes an important theoretical contribution to the field of developmental psychology in general, and autonomy and relatedness in particular, by proposing and testing empirically both universal and culture-specific parts of autonomy and relatedness. The current findings have implications for the measurement of autonomy and relatedness across social contexts, as well as for socialization and education practice.

Indices and Implications of Emotional Underarousal for Persons with a History of Head Trauma

We examined the role of altered emotional functioning across the spectrum of injury severity (mild head injury [MHI], moderate/severe traumatic brain injury [TBI]), its implications for social behaviours, and the effect of modifying arousal and its relation to cognitive performance. In the first study (N = 230), students with self-reported MHI endorsed engaging in socially unacceptable and erratic behaviours significantly more often than did those with no MHI. We did not find significant differences between the groups in the measure of emotional intelligence (EI); however, for students who reported a MHI, scores on the EI measure significantly predicted reports of socially unacceptable behaviours such that lower scores predicted poorer social functioning, accounting for approximately 20% of the variance. Also, the experience of postconcussive symptoms was found to be significantly greater for students with MHI relative to their peers. In the second study (N = 85), we further examined emotional underarousal in terms of physiological (i.e., electrodermal activation [EDA]) and self-reported responsivity to emotionally-evocative picture stimuli. Although the valence ratings of the stimuli did not differ between students with and without MHI as we had expected, we found evidence of reduced and/or indiscriminate emotional responding to the stimuli for those with MHI which mimics that observed in other studies for persons with moderate/severe TBI. We also found that emotional underarousal followed a gradient of injury severity despite reporting a pattern of experiencing more life stressors. In the third study (N = 81), we replicated our findings of emotional underarousal for those with head trauma and also uniquely explored neuroendocrine aspects (salivary cortisol; cortisol awakening response [CAR]) and autonomic indices (EDA) of emotional dysregulation in terms of stress responsivity across the spectrum of injury severity (MHI [n = 32], moderate/severe TBI [n = 9], and age and education matched controls [n = 40]). Although the manipulation was effective in modifying arousal state in terms of autonomic and self-reported indices, we did not support our hypothesis that increased arousal would be related to improved performance on cognitive measures for those with prior injury. To our knowledge, this is the only study to examine the CAR with this population. Repeated measure analysis revealed that, upon awakening, students with no reported head trauma illustrated the typical CAR increase 45 minutes after waking, whereas, students who had a history of either mild head trauma or moderate/severe TBI demonstrated a blunted CAR. Thus, across the three studies we have provided evidence of emotional underarousal, its potential implications for social interactions, and also have identified potentially useful indices of dysregulated stress responsivity regardless of injury severity.

Instagram, Social Media, and the "Like": Exploring Virtual Identity's Role in 21st Century Students' New Socialization Experience

Personal technologies and social media use have changed the socialization experience of our 21st century learners. As learners have a new, embodied, virtual identity that is an omnipresent force within their social interactions, this study sought to examine how virtual identity influences student relationships both within and outside of a school context. This study also explored how personal technologies and social media use have influenced learners’ perceptions of their own 21st century learning. Using a qualitative inquiry, purposeful sampling was employed to recruit 6 participants between the ages of 15 to 19 to examine their social networking site use and education experience. Data were collected from single, one-on-one semi-structured interviews in which participants discussed their experiences using social media. Data were also collected from the teens’ personal Instagram accounts, and a personal reflexive researcher’s journal was kept for triangulation of data. Open and axial coding strategies alongside constant comparative methods were used to analyze data. Participants shared how they and their peers use social media, the pressures and expectations from other users, social media’s influence on peer relationships, and how social media influences their choices in the physical realm. All 6 participants explained that their teachers do not talk to them about their social media use, and even offered critiques of the school system itself and its inability to prepare students for the new realities of a digital world. This study concludes that while social media is very influential on students’ socialization, educators should be more concerned about the lack of guidance and support that students receive in school in terms of appropriate social media use and the navigation of virtual identity.