Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Children's voices in research'
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1
Schultz, Samantha Jane, and University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education. "The voices of children : understanding children's reading worlds." Thesis, Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2000, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10133/139.
2
Sutter, Kimberlee Ann, and Kimberlee Ann Sutter. "Siblings of Children with Down Syndrome: Voices Hear." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622942.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore the meanings of the relationship of school-age siblings of brothers or sisters with Down syndrome in order to gain a greater understanding of the lived experience from the view point of the school-age sibling. Sibling spend more time together than any other family subsystem and siblings actively shape one another’s lives and prepare each other for future experiences. With children with Down syndrome living into their 60’s, the question regarding the sibling relationship is becoming an important focus due to the possible demands on the sibling to care for the individual with Down syndrome. Therefore, it is important to understand the sibling relationship at an early stage of their lives and what the lived experience is for the sibling. The framework for this study was developed from the author’s worldview of reciprocal interaction and epistemology of constructionism. The influences of the environment and other individuals on the sibling supported the use of the theoretical framework of Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological System Theory. The notion that children are continually evolving holistic individuals who are developing through task achievements and, with the influences of family members, supported the use of Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory. These two theories were combined to frame this study. Interpretive phenomenology was used as the method of research in this study. The sample consisted of seven school-age siblings, between the ages of eight to eleven years of age, of children with Down syndrome. Data analysis involved the use of the hermeneutic circle. From the analysis emerged seven themes: always together, tolerance, intense love, responsibility for my brother or sister, things will change when child with Down syndrome gets better, no difference from other families, and impact on other relationships. Two themes provided new information about the meaning of the lived experience of being a sibling, always together and things will change when child with Down syndrome gets better. The knowledge gained from this study will allow us to begin to hear sibling’s voices so that we can see what we need to do in the future to help with support and future research.
3
Mora, Bernadette Alexandra, and Bernadette Alexandra Mora. "A Preliminary Study on the Relationship Between Kindergarteners' Self-Reported School Readiness and School Liking: Including Children's Voices in School Readiness Research." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/623068.
Abstract:
School readiness is a prominent issue in early childhood education as adults strive to prepare young children for school. The desirability of school readiness lies within the notion that if children enter kindergarten prepared, then they will be successful throughout their schooling. However, school readiness is a complex concept. It is perceived differently by parents, teachers, policy makers, and researchers. Nationally, children are the only stakeholders whose voices are ignored in the discussions of school readiness. Based on three frameworks, that children are active agents in their experiences, that children have the right to be heard, and that children should not be silenced by traditional research practices, this dissertation proposed that children could participate in research to express their views about being ready for school. Since the central argument for school readiness is that children who enter school prepared will be successful later in school, it was imperative to determine how children’s views on school readiness were linked to later school-related outcomes. Therefore, this dissertation also sought children’s perceptions of their adjustment to school (i.e. their attitudes toward school). In a two-part study, 36 kindergartners from Southern Arizona participated in interviews, activities, and a survey to discuss their perceptions of being ready for school in the beginning of kindergarten and their attitudes toward school at the end of kindergarten. Participants consistently revealed that they needed to create positive peer relationships and that they needed to comply with institutional demands (rules, routines, and tasks) in order to be ready for and succeed in school. In addition, participants revealed three influential factors that affected their attitudes toward school: types of activities (academic versus extracurricular), play, and peer relationships. Participants who didn't like academic activities, who didn’t view school as a place for play, and who had fewer peer relationships struggled with adjusting to school and reported low school liking. Finally, a qualitative analysis was conducted to investigate trends that emerged between kindergarteners' perceptions of school readiness at the beginning of the year and their attitudes toward school at the end of the school year. School readiness perceptions that were centered on the rules, routines, and tasks (work) of school were related to less positive attitudes toward school and perceptions centered on knowledge/skills (learning) and prosocial behaviors were related to more positive attitudes toward school. These patterns suggest that students will enjoy school if they perceive school to be intellectually and socially empowering rather than institutionally limiting. These findings confirm that young children have unique insights of school readiness and what they need to succeed in school. Additionally, their early perceptions of school readiness are related to their later attitudes toward school suggesting that these views should be given due weight. In order for these views to be given due weight, adults should consider how to incorporate children's perspectives regarding school readiness into educational practices and policies. Children's perspectives provide insight into the experiences and challenges of being a new student. Only by listening to children can adults identify how to support and prepare children for success in school.
4
Åkerström, Jeanette. ""Participation is everything" : young people's voices on participation in school life." Doctoral thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för juridik, psykologi och socialt arbete, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-35795.
Abstract:
This thesis shows that participation is an important and comprehensive concept for young people. The aim of the thesis is to explore young people’s perspectives on and experiences of participation in school. Young people are in this research project understood as competent participants and as valuable contributors in research. Young people (aged 13–19 years) are involved as both research partners and research respondents. The design is explorative and mixed methods are used. Study 1 describes an interactive research circle with young people as research partners. Participation and asymmetric responsibility are identified as integral to research with young people. Study 2 describes a youth survey about young people’s participation that was conducted by the research partners in the research circle. This study shows that young people’s opportunities and abilities to communicate are crucial to their participation. Supportive relations are an important aspect and the young people describe that they want adults to support them in taking responsibility themselves. Study 3 is based on the results of the youth survey and describes a model of young people’s perspectives on participation. Viewed from young people’s perspectives, participation is shown to include social, educational and decision-making dimensions. Communication is identified as a central participatory dimension. This study describes how participation in school is created in both horizontal and vertical relations. Study 4 is about participation and exposure to bullying and threats in school and is informed by the results of the youth survey. This study shows how students with disabilities and especially students with multiple disabilities are in a vulnerable situation. They face greater risks of being excluded from participatory dimensions in school or of being more exposed to degrading treatment if they do participate. Girls with multiple disabilities seem to be in an extra vulnerable situation. Overall, this research project shows that young people’s perspectives are an important complement to adults’ perspectives on participation in school.
5
Attard, Sue. "Listening to voices of children and learning with them : action research in a primary school." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2299/4231.
Abstract:
This dissertation presents an action research project carried out in a primary school to address the issue of ‘pupil voice’. Consulting with stakeholders has risen in prominence in the political context of schools. A number of government directives to encourage schools to engage have been put forward, including the expectation of the establishment of a School Council. The formation of the School Council is the first cycle of action presented in this dissertation, which then continues to develop through three further action cycles: listening to the voices of teachers, ‘children as philosophers’ and action research partnerships in the classrooms. Preliminary work prior to the introduction of School Council sets the context. The conceptual framework has been developed through consideration of the work of Shier (2001), Fielding (2001) and Hart(1994) which has contributed to the establishment of a taxonomy of ‘pupil voice’ development. The methodological approach emerged from the works of Elliott (1991), Zuber Skerritt and Perry (2002) and Whitehead and McNiff (2006) through the development of ‘circles of influence’ which rose and diminished in importance throughout the action cycles. Three circles of influence are identified as ‘self’ including reflexivity, ‘methods’ including ways of engaging and analysing the data, and ‘literature’ pertinent to the area of action as well as the methodology itself. The contribution the subsequent thesis offers to practice is threefold. Firstly, there is the ‘methodological messiness’ (Dadds & Hart 2005) which occurs when conducting action research which necessitates listening to the voices of the participants in order to determine the next cycle. Secondly, there is the development of the ‘pupil voice’ taxonomy which embeds the pupils within the process and is groundbreaking in ‘pupil voice’ research in primary schools. Finally, there are the action cycles themselves which offer the lived experience of engaging in ‘pupil voice’ action research partnerships.
6
Harper, Harry Robert. "Hearing the voices of Mexican immigrant parents : participatory action research building a space to explore and report on how parents experience their children's schools in California /." Diss., Digital Dissertations Database. Restricted to UC campuses, 2008. http://uclibs.org/PID/11984.
7
Paraskevas, Costas Barry. "The voices of year 6 children : their views on physical education and the implications for policy practice and research." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019967/.
Abstract:
Taking a constructivist-interpretivist stance, this mixed methods case study gives a voice to 236 children from East London between 2007 and 2010 through the use of questionnaires and interviews. The aim was to explore what the children thought about Physical Education, with a view to illuminating and informing current policy, practice and research in relation to the aims which under-pin the national curriculum. The children's voices, conspicuously absent from discussions about their physical education, over the last twenty years, give a view of the curriculum from the recipient's perspective. Through the vibrancy of their voices, the current status quo in primary PE is examined, and ways forward are offered as recurring themes throughout the thesis. In addition to valuing children's voices this thesis shows that through democratising the discussion, the children were more than just 'empty vessels', and were able to offer informed views. The children largely enjoyed Physical Education, valued their health and had ideas on curriculum content, timetabling, fund raising, and asked for a greater range of physical activities to be made available them.
8
Silvia, Cont. "New Voices in the Woods : A Study of Children’s Experience of the Forest as an Outdoor Educational Space." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-149007.
Abstract:
There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of outdoor learning spaces in educational practice with children. However, previous studies of the outdoor learning spaces have omitted to address the young children’s perspectives on the outdoor environments that they experience as a part of the Forest School’s educational approach. Research on the subject has been mostly restricted to an adult perspective. Furthermore, the previously published studies are limited to Scandinavian countries and available in Scandinavian languages and, therefore, not easily accessible to an international audience. The aim of the present dissertation project is to explore young children’s (aged 3-6 years) voices on their experience, sense-making, and understanding of the educational space of a forest. A qualitative research paradigm was employed to explore the components that characterize children’s perception of the outdoor educational space. Ethnographic research methods (participants observation, informal conversation and material collection) were used to investigate children’s outdoor activities performed in two Italian preschools: a kindergarten outdoor oriented school and a Forest School. The collected materials (fieldnotes, interviews, and children’s drawings) were processed using a six-steps Thematic Analysis with the aim to gain a complex account of the data. The results indicate that the way children use, interact and, confer a meaning to their experience in the woods are represented by the following themes: Type of Place Attended, Nature Engagement, Relationship with the Woods, Responsibility and Risk, Imagination, Emotional Responses, Affordances, Relationships with Others, Discovery and Experimentation, Nature Education, Concerns for Nature, and Learnings Connected to the Curriculum.These results have provided a deeper insight on the children’s experience of the outdoor learning space of a forest. Moreover, the empirical findings in this study contributed to provide a new understanding of how children bond with the natural world and how they behave and experience it. Taking into account the exploratory nature of the present thesis, future research should further address the children’s perspectives on the outdoor education space, the forest. Furthermore, it would be interesting to investigate if the cognitive, emotional, and social resources and environmental attitudes developed by children in the forest as outdoor educational space are strictly intertwined with this particular environment or if they can be realized in more a conventional school setting.
9
Henry, Lynette M. "Just Love| A Collaborative Evaluation of a Faith-Based School-Family-Community Partnership Through the Voices of the Children." Thesis, University of South Florida, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3633108.
Abstract:
Faith-based school-family-community partnerships have been a federal mandate over the past decade, yet little has been written about the outcomes of these faith-based partnerships. A need exists to understand if the potential in these faith-based partnerships is indeed realized in positive outcomes for students and schools. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a faith-based school-family-community partnership, Just Love. Just Love is a faith-based school-family-community partnership between a large suburban church and a Title 1, urban elementary school, Charisma Elementary School (Charisma ES), implemented in what is considered a "failing school". Just Love's purpose was to have the volunteers from the church provide love, care, supportive adult relationships and service to the teachers, students, and parents of Charisma ES through a comprehensive, systemic program: Just Mentor (i.e., a school-based mentoring program), Just Connect (i.e., a classroom adoption program), and Just Rewards (i.e., a school wide student incentives/rewards and parent involvement program). The Bryan and Henry (2012) School-Family-Community Partnership Process Model was used in developing Just Love.
The Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE) was used in this evaluation to actively engage stakeholders during the evaluation process and to answer the evaluation questions. A mixed methods research design was used. Differences in student outcomes (i.e. academic, behavior and attendance) were examined between Charisma ES and another matching school without a faith-based school-family-community partnership were analyzed with descriptive statistics, paired T-tests, and mixed ANOVAs. Student outcomes were also investigated relevant to different aspects of the Just Love programs including adopted classrooms compared to non-adopted classrooms and mentored students compared to non-mentored students.
In addition, this study gave 20 children (i.e., mentees) who had experienced all aspects of the Just Love programs an opportunity to share their perceived satisfactions, experiences, challenges and recommendations regarding Just Love through the method of photo elicitation including picture selection and interviews. The transcribed data from the interviews and the pictures used in the photo-elicitation process were analyzed using thematic analysis with a focus on capturing the voices of the students.
Student outcome data were collected for three years from 2010-2013, with 2009 as a baseline year. The findings from the quantitative aspect of this study revealed that students in Charisma ES made significantly greater gains in reading than students in Joseph ES following the implementation of the partnership. Further, number of disciplinary referrals decreased dramatically at Charisma ES in contrast to Joseph ES whose disciplinary referrals increased. Attendance rates differed significantly between the two schools with students in Joseph Elementary School having higher attendance rates than students in Charisma Elementary School.
On average, both adopted and non-adopted classes made gains in reading in each of the three years although adopted classes appeared to have higher reading scores in 2011-2012 than non-adopted classes. The average number of disciplinary referrals per class was lower for adopted classes than for non-adopted classes in 2011-2012, one academic year after the Just Love partnership program was implemented. Concerning attendance, there were no significant differences in attendance rates between students in adopted and non-adopted classes at Charisma ES.
Mentored students at Charisma made significant improvements in reading. They also had a dramatically lower average number of disciplinary referrals than non-mentored students in 2012-2013, just two years after the Just Love partnership was implemented. When compared to non-mentored students, mentored students had significantly higher attendance than non-mentored students in 2011-2012, just one year after the Just Love partnership began. Further, attendance appeared to have a positive relation to the number of years students were mentored.
Findings from the qualitative aspect of this study were captured using thematic analysis of the children's perceived satisfactions, experiences, challenges and recommendations concerning Just Love. The six categories that emerged from the data were (a) perceptions of Just Love, (b) positive feelings, (c) positive relationships and connectedness, (d) classroom and school climate, (e) experiences, and (f) support and resources. Each of these categories comprised a number of themes that aligned with identified protective factors and developmental assets necessary for the resiliency of and successful outcomes for children.
Taken together, the findings reveal that Just Love, a faith-based school-family-community partnership contributed to improved student outcomes in reading achievement, behavior and attendance and provided important protective factors and developmental assets for the children in Charisma ES. The Just Love partnership program presents a viable model for schools, school districts, and faith-based and community organizations that have a desire to foster resilience in children at-risk, generate positive academic, behavior, and attendance outcomes for children and decrease the chances of children growing up and developing risky behaviors. Implications for practice, training, evaluation, policy, and future research are discussed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
10
White, Peta. "Acoustic and aerodynamic measurements of children's voices." Thesis, University of Surrey, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.388787.
11
Johansson, Viktor. "Dissonant Voices : Philosophy, Children's Literature, and Perfectionist Education." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-92106.
Abstract:
Dissonant Voices has a twofold aspiration. First, it is a philosophical treatment of everyday pedagogical interactions between children and their elders, between teachers and pupils. More specifically it is an exploration of the possibilities to go on with dissonant voices that interrupt established practices – our attunement – in behaviour, practice and thinking. Voices that are incomprehensible or expressions that are unacceptable, morally or otherwise. The text works on a tension between two inclinations: an inclination to wave off, discourage, or change an expression that is unacceptable or unintelligible; and an inclination to be tolerant and accept the dissonant expression as doing something worthwhile, but different. The second aspiration is a philosophical engagement with children’s literature. Reading children’s literature becomes a form of philosophising, a way to explore the complexity of a range of philosophical issues. This turn to literature marks a dissatisfaction with what philosophy can accomplish through argumentation and what philosophy can do with a particular and limited set of concepts for a subject, such as ethics. It is a way to go beyond philosophising as the founding of theories that justify particular responses. The philosophy of dissonance and children’s literature becomes a way to destabilise justifications of our established practices and ways of interacting. The philosophical investigations of dissonance are meant to make manifest the possibilities and risks of engaging in interactions beyond established agreement or attunements. Thinking of the dissonant voice as an expression beyond established practices calls for improvisation. Such improvisations become a perfectionist education where both the child and the elder, the teacher and the student, search for as yet unattained forms of interaction and take responsibility for every word and action of the interaction. The investigation goes through a number of picture books and novels for children such as Harry Potter, Garmann’s Summer, and books by Shaun Tan, Astrid Lindgren and Dr. Seuss as well narratives by J.R.R. Tolkien, Henrik Ibsen, Jane Austen and Henry David Thoreau. These works of fiction are read in conversation with philosophical works of, and inspired by, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell, their moral perfectionism and ordinary language philosophy.
12
Marples, Rebecca Elizabeth. "Children's voices in private law proceedings : judicial perspectives." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.632805.
13
Jennifer, Dawn. "Understanding bullying in primary school : listening to children's voices." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2007. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/652/.
14
Ghaziani, Rokhshid. "Children's and teachers' voices : a framework for school design." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2009. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/15175/.
Abstract:
The school environment affects pupils' and teachers' health, work and emotions: on average they spend around six hours a day and over one thousand hours a year in school. There is strong evidence for the argument that good design of school buildings makes these places pleasanter and more functional; and increases the quality of the considerable amount of time users spend there. A problem identified in a review of literature was that there appeared to be a gulf between school users and designers. This thesis is an effort to bridge that gap by involving school users' voices in the design process. It has been argued that users have a lot of implicit knowledge about school buildings and it would be valuable to make this explicit so that it can be instructive to all educators, architects, designers and policy-makers. This study explores the views and expectations of pupils and teachers regarding their school environments and has focused on making a tool for the school design process, based on information and reflections provided by both user groups. The research objective required the undertaking of three separate studies: analysis of secondary data, qualitative and quantitative empirical studies, each one leading to the next. The findings revealed that teachers and pupils are not necessarily more satisfied with recently built schools as compared with much older schools. The findings helped to highlight the importance attributed to various issues by each user. It is revealed that the two groups of participants have different priorities in terms of the types of things in their environment that are more important to them. However, within each user group there are clear patterns in responses. Overall, 'Nature and Outdoors' became the least important category for both school users. 'Facilities' was the most important category for pupils though 'Comfort and Control' was the most important category for teachers. The overall findings have been developed as the basis for a 'generative tool' for school design to guide the design and decision-making processes of architects and designers. The generative tool and the relative importance of each item helped to progress the study further by suggesting an 'evaluative tool for designers': able to assess the quality of an existing school or a new school at various stages of design by consideration of the given scores and the weighting that each item obtained according to school users' opinions. It is suggested that further research could, in a similar way, involve other school users in the design process by developing appropriate tools.
15
Milne, Stephen. "Fiction, children's voices and the moral imagination : a case study." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2008. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10461/.
Abstract:
The importance of stories in educating the moral imagination of the child provides the context for this thesis, which explores children's responses to the moral dimension of fiction. Studies in narrative psychology, literary theory and children's responses to reading also provide the empirical and theoretical background for this qualitative enquiry that compares a number of developing readers' responses to fiction in a school and classroom context. Focusing on the features that distinguish their responses to questions about moral choice and virtue in a range of stories, the thesis explores a mode of response to fiction called moral rehearsal. It identifies a range of strategies children adopt to explore and evaluate the moral world of narrative texts such as the use of moral touchstones, alternative narratives and dramatisation. It presents an original application of philosophical anthropology to the data in order to distinguish between what I call mimetic and diegetic rehearsal in children's responses. This phenomenological interpretation suggests the ways in which narratives contribute to the constitution of consciousness in the child. Drawing mainly on school-based interview conversations, peer group talk and some children's written work about a range of fiction, this enquiry adopts an interpretive, case study approach to children's moral responses to fiction. It examines the child's perspective to produce an account of moral imagination in developing readers that illuminates a previously unexplored mode of reading - moral rehearsal - relevant to theories about the development of children's reading, literary response and moral sense. It represents a contribution to the literature on children's literary experience, the empirical study of children's reading and children's moral and spiritual formation.
16
Martin, Elizabeth Stewart. "The influence of children on family purchasing : capturing children's voices." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2006. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=166194.
Abstract:
Coupled with the outcome focus, although the important role of children within family purchasing has been acknowledged, many researchers have neglected to include children directly as respondents. Taken together, these conceptual and methodological issues highlighted the need for in-depth qualitative research exploring family purchasing. The research aimed to explore the nature of child influence in terms of children’s role within the family purchase process, the influence behaviour adopted by children, and their role in aspects of the purchase process such as communications. The methods adopted included the collection of bibliographic data, an in-depth interview with parents and children separately, and the completion of a decision mapping tool, followed by a family interview. The research revealed a number of important findings. An overarching theme concerned the complexity of family purchase decision making. There were multiple patterns of decision making found which reflect the numerous factors that impact on and influence this important purchasing unit. Critically, factors other than product were seen to have a key impact on child influence. The children in all of the respondent families were found to have direct influence over the purchases discussed. Rather than living up to the ‘pester power’ stereotype commonly portrayed in the media, the children demonstrated a range of sophisticated behaviours, underpinned by the use of knowledge and information. The children also played an active role within family purchase communication.
17
Hristia, Evdokia. "Capturing children's perspectives about decision-making in the Swedish preschool setting. : How children's rights can be understood by exploring children's voices." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för tema, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-171781.
Abstract:
This thesis aims to examine children's perceptions of decision-making at the Swedish preschool context by exploring children's voices. This qualitative work is motivated by the United Nations Rights of the Child that became law on the 1st of January 2020 in Sweden. Article 3 about the child's best interests and Article 12 about the voices of the children to be respected are important fundamentals in the preschool context. Therefore, it is crucial to eavesdrop children's perspectives on decision-making in relation to children's rights and what children's rights mean for them since the matter of children's rights concerns children more than anyone else. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four 5-year old children at a preschool located in Sweden. Also, the drawing method was used to collect data, making the process more child-friendly and engaging. By using thematic analysis, three main themes emerged: children as decision-makers in the preschool, children as nondecision-makers in the preschool and to be heard at the preschool. Moreover, from the first theme, two subthemes arose: children deciding in the play and children deciding when eating and resting that identified in which situations perceive children themselves as decision-makers. The three subthemes that arose from the second theme were "The teachers!", Daily routines and "Deciding in the play but…" that present children's perceptions on why they are not decision-makers in those particular situations. The findings showed that the children perceive that they can have more influence on play and planned activities than on the daily routines of lunch time, sleeping/resting time or fruit time.
18
Kerr, K. M. "'I Don't Like Splashing in the Water!' : Children's Voices in Primary Science." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.501300.
19
Macdonald, Gillian S. "Domestic Violence, Children's Voices and Child Contact: Exploring Cafcass Section 7 Reports." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.520255.
20
Minami, Shiho. "Voices within the Canadian mosaic : Japanese immigrant women and their children's heritage language socialization." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/44900.
Abstract:
This research collected and documented the voices of six Japanese immigrant mothers married to Canadian men who are trying to raise their children to speak Japanese in Metro Vancouver, B.C. Through in-depth, open-ended individual interviews of intermarried Japanese immigrant mothers, the study attempted to examine the meaning of their experiences with regard to their children’s heritage language (HL) socialization. The mothers’ motivations, hopes, practices, challenges, and feelings were examined revealing the complexity and intricacies of their experiences.
The results demonstrated that intermarried Japanese mothers who wish to transmit their language onto their children because they view Japanese language skills as beneficial to their children and as an important tool for communication and to foster relationships between them, their children and their family in Japan. The children’s HL socialization was found to be a part of the mother’s ‘work’, and their attitudes and practices regarding their HL transmission project varied depending on how they were affected by various factors; such as public discourse, the ideology surrounding bilingualism, motherhood and the Japanese language, their personality and the role they take up within their family.
The mother’s experiences in HL transmission were loaded with emotional moments as they balanced various competing demands and managed the pressure to meet the ‘good mother’ standard. However, some mothers also felt pleasure and empowerment through their role of HL transmitter. The data suggests that children’s HL socialization shifts mothers’ social networks and language use as well as their identities towards a Japanese orientation leading to an evolution and re-affirmation of their Japanese self.
21
Griffiths, Laura J. "The unheard voices of nurture : exploring children's experiences of a secondary school nurture group." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17963/.
Abstract:
The first Nurture Group (NG) was established by Marjorie Boxall in 1969 to improve the emotional wellbeing of children in schools (Kirkbride, 2014). They aim to provide support to meet the individual needs of children with a focus on social and emotional growth away from the mainstream classroom in a safe and secure environment. There has been substantial evidence on the effectiveness of NGs (O’Connor & Colwell, 2002; Cooper & Whitebread, 2007 and Griffiths, Stenner & Hicks, 2014), but little research to attain the views of the children who attend NGs, this research aimed to do this. The two research questions aimed to explore the experiences of children attending a secondary school NG and whether these experiences were helpful, and if they were similar to or different from their mainstream classroom experiences. Participants were six children who were attending a secondary school NG in one Local Authority in the North of England, who took part in individual semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). Five superordinate themes emerged from the interpretative analysis; control, systems, structural and physical elements, purpose of the NG and inter-relationships. The children’s experiences supported previous findings in that NGs provide a secure base where children can form positive relationships with their peers and adults whom they can trust and rely upon, something which they did not experience in the mainstream classroom. They also attributed an improvement in academic skills and feelings of confidence to their NG experience. However, the NG does not appear to be seen by the children or by their peers and mainstream teachers as an inclusive part of school with participants expressing a desire to return to their “normal” classrooms due to feeling different by being in the NG. Lack of power and choice over entering the NG and when they could leave was experienced by the children with no involvement from mainstream staff. Confusion over the purpose of the intervention is also apparent. These findings are discussed in relation to implications for Educational Psychologists supporting children and schools as well as making a set of recommendations for further research.
22
Bowden-Clissold, N. "A child-centred early years curriculum? : how do we increase children's voices to realise this?" Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2013. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/21512/.
Abstract:
The research study considers insights and challenges to listening to young children’s voices in a pre-school in England. The study was motivated by the political and social agendas which assert the fundamental involvement of young children as active decision-makers in all aspects of their lives (for example, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the Children Act 2004). The researcher aimed for participatory research with the children and staff to explore effective ways in which young children’s communications might be supported through the co-creation of their early years curriculum. The intention was to focus on ‘tools’ and techniques that might support children’s voices which were gaining attention in the academic literature (for example, the Mosaic Approach introduced by Alison Clark and Peter Moss). As a recent early years practitioner at the pre-school, the researcher offers a frank view of the potential complexities of implementing such participatory research. The researcher took an innovative, flexible and highly reflective stance to adapting the research approach in response to the challenges to establishing participation that emerged, using a postmodern framework to assist meaning-making. A substantive finding was that although the ‘tools’ and techniques opened a significant space for beginning to listen to children’s voices, it was the constructions of the underpinning relationships that offered the most potential (and the greatest challenge) for genuinely participating with and hearing children. The study concluded a focus on the latter is paramount for children to be accorded their rights as active decision-makers.
23
Harris, Sally. "If women write in milk, do children write in snot? : children's voices in documented drama." Thesis, University of Northampton, 2011. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/8858/.
24
Van, Aswegen Hendrika Johanna. "Repertorium vir kinderkore 'n Suid-Afrikaanse perspektief /." Thesis, Pretoria : [s.n.], 2005. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09162005-082409/.
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Olsson, Ann-Margreth E. "Listening to the voice of children : systemic dialogue coaching : inviting participation and partnership in social work." Thesis, University of Bedfordshire, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10547/243770.
Abstract:
This is a study in and about systemic coaching in social work – systemic, and, as it unfolded, dialogical coaching, later named Dialogue Coaching (DC). Focus lies on what the conducted coaching brought forth, generated and created in the context of social work and for the members of the participating social welfare organisations. My specialities as coach became to inspire social workers to invite clients and especially children into partnership, making their voices heard, both in the written text and in the process of social investigations. The study was integral parts of commissions (and vice versa) of the County Administrative Board of Scania, Sweden, in my profession as systemic consultant and supervisor in Sweden. It was a study in how dialogical communication could improve how social workers, listening to the children’s invitation, could make children’s voices more heard in social investigations. In all, 55 social workers in seven municipalities participated in the dialogical participatory action research (DPAR) study, developing coaching and improving the dialogical interaction in social investigations. Focus moved from collecting data for decision-making, about what would be best for the child and other clients, to focusing on the changing process in relation to the participating clients, including children when they wanted to and could, co-creating new orientation on how to go on. The focus on communication and dialogue in the coaching changed and developed the participants’ approach in relation to clients and one another and others. In the emerging awareness of how we reciprocally and reflexively cocreate occurrences and outcomes, including who we become in relation to one another, the participating social workers’ awareness of the impact of their own contributions, and their own importance in relation to children and other clients, also improved. The expressions listening ears and listening questions were invented, capturing my, the coach’s, participation of placing myself completely 8 at the other participants’ disposal, completely accessible in the mutual responsiveness in the moment – being here and now in the present. The systemic methods and techniques were reflexively influenced and adapted from within the relational dynamic of joint actions in the dialogical interplay, metaphorically presented as peloton cycling in a voyage tour, becoming living tools in both the social workers’ practice and the coaching researcher’s practice, facilitating learning-by-doing with methods and approach connected to Appreciative Inquiry (AI). One of the living tools was reflecting teams emerging also into so called delta-reflecting teams with open narrating included.
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Shaw, Patricia Anne. "Engaging with children's voices : illuminating perceived notions of inclusion in pedagogical activities in the reception class." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2017. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415892/.
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to illuminate children’s perceived notions of inclusion in their pedagogical activities in the Reception class. It also seeks to ascertain how practitioners (teachers, nursery nurses and teaching assistants) respond to children’s comments, and whether they can utilise children’s perceptions to inform their pedagogical practice. Empirical research was conducted using qualitative methodology. Reception classes in infant and primary schools in the North of England were selected. Extensive data were gathered with forty children and seven practitioners over a six week period in each of the schools. This included collecting field notes; undertaking observations of children in pedagogical activities; conducting group and individual interviews with children; and individual interviews with practitioners. Participative tools, including photographs and drawings, were used to engage with children’s voices, since this was central to the research aim. All data were systematically analysed and an overall understanding was gained of children’s perceived notions of inclusion. These resonate with two dimensions: belonging and relationships (with practitioner and/or child); and democratic pedagogies. Moreover, the research offers a new critique to child-centred pedagogies, which affords greater insight into younger children’s perceptions of inclusion, than have been presented in the literature thus far. Whilst acknowledging the small sample of practitioners, the study’s findings are of note when analysed alongside other empirical research. The findings reveal that practitioners involved in this study retain some resistance to responding to the views of young children. Moreover, the findings identify that there is limited evidence of practitioners’ serious reconsideration of planning regarding children’s perceived notions of inclusion, and that they require a shift in their reasoning. Furthermore, they signify the necessity for greater emphasis on the importance of engaging with children’s voices in the training of newly qualified teachers, and the ongoing professional development for all practitioners in early years.
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Tomlinson, Johanna Ruth Brinkley. "Playing with words: child voices in British fantasy literature 1749-1906." Diss., University of Iowa, 2014. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/5865.
Abstract:
Two children, Dan and Una, sit in the woods and listen to a story of Britain's early history told to them by Sir Richard, a spirit conjured from the past for this instructive purpose. In this tale, Sir Richard gains treasure by defeating the "devils" that terrorize a village of African people. In many ways, this framed narrative sets up the expected hierarchy found in children's literature wherein the adult actively narrates a story and the child silently listens and learns. However, the children of Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill do something else--they question and challenge. At the end of the story, Dan declares, "I don't believe they were Devils" and backs up his disbelief by drawing on other books he has read. While much scholarship on children's literature reads child characters through the lens of adult desire and finds them voiceless and empty, I seek out moments wherein these imagined children, like Dan and Una, challenge adult dissemination of knowledge. Building upon recent scholarship that sees the child less as a straightforward projection of desire and more complexly as a site for conflicting ideologies and tensions, my dissertation enters into the critical conversation concerning the figure of the child and suggests a fresh, new approach to reading adult-child relations in children's literature. Urging readers to focus on the ways in which fantasy literature imagines and represents child characters' relationships to language--as readers, authors, storytellers, and questioners--I argue that whether deliberately or unselfconsciously these works imagine a child capable of interacting with language in order to seize power and thus unsettle the force of adult desire. Even as the characters themselves remain the products of adult creation, the relationship to language they model for their implied readers transcends a simple one-to-one correlation of adult authorial desire and a child reader's internalization. Each of my four chapters focuses on a pair of authors: Sarah Fielding and Mary Martha Sherwood, Lewis Carroll and George MacDonald, Frederika Macdonald and Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Rudyard Kipling and E. Nesbit. Instead of mere escapism and fancy, these portraits of childhood address debates surrounding the emerging genre of the novel, religious censorship, educational legislation, imperial ideology, medical discourses, and textbook publication. By juxtaposing these novels in pairs alongside these significant historical contexts, my project brings the child's voice, which we often ignore, to the surface. Like Dan and his declaration of disbelief, the readers imagined by these important works of fantasy refuse to sit in silence and instead play with words to question, create, and challenge.
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Inman, Shasta Nicole. "Divorce & Division: Reincorporating the Marginalized Voices of Children." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/595835.
Abstract:
Despite the Arizona family court's purported focus on the "best interests" of the child, it is inherently parent-centered and does not, in actuality, serve children's well-being. When children are offered opportunities to participate in this legal system, studies have found positive impacts to both the children and the judicial system. The overwhelming majority of these studies were conducted in countries that have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; the United States is not one of those countries. As such, facilitating children's participation in the court process by encouraging judicial interviews is one way Arizona family law could better promote children's best interests and well-being. What began as a quest for research on how judicial interviews affected children emotionally and psychologically, has evolved into a critical analysis of the family law framework as it exists in the United States—particularly, the State of Arizona. Through a detailed presentation of Arizona family law, this papers demonstrates the court's focus on parents' rights—often in the absence of children's rights. An exploration of the ways in which various philosophical and legal theories work to critique and expose the dominant power relationships in the family law structure follows. It is only through such deconstruction of this law that children's voices can be effectively reincorporated into the family law schema and their "best interests" properly considered.
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Boriboon, Phaisit. "Cultural voices and representations in EFL materials design, pedagogy, and research." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/3262.
Abstract:
This study presents a multi-faceted analysis of EFL learners’ voices in a Thai context, aimed at testing a hypothesis that the discourse of foreign, western-compiled textbooks project identities disconnected from EFL learners’ lived experiences, adversely affecting their meaning-making during discursive practices. I employ a multi-modal, multi-case study for data collection: 1) the use of two sets of materials in mini-course action research with two groups of learners — one group using published materials selected from New Headway Elementary Course (Soars & Soars, 2000) and the other using modified, parallel ‘Third Space’ materials; 2) audio- and video-recordings of classroom interactions and their transcriptions; 3) post-lesson and post-course questionnaires; 4) semi-structured interviews; and 5) video-based stimulated recall interviews. Drawing from Bakhtinian-Vygotskian sociocultural theories, I show through a microscopic analysis of learners’ interactions and utterances how dialogic relations between Other-discourse and Self-discourse shape learners’ meaning construction during their appropriation of mediating discourse for activities such as role-play. A macroscopic analysis of learners’ attitudinal voices based on the questionnaires and interviews is then provided for triangulation. The findings are 1) both groups have marked potential to infuse their contextual meanings into the Other-discourse of their materials for Self-representation; 2) ‘Third Space’ materials have more potential to enrich linguistic resources and opportunities for learners’ meaning-making and scaffolded learning than ‘Headway’ materials; 3) the majority of participants prefer the coexistence of voices and meanings between their culture and Other cultures as the mediating discourse for speaking activities, rather than the conventional models. The study thus supports the use of a dialogic framework for inclusion of cultural voices and representations in EFL materials design, and also offers other implications for pedagogy and future research.
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Långdal, Saga, and Linda Sjöquist. "Playing in a World of Voices." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för teknik och estetik, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-20011.
Abstract:
In this Bachelor thesis we navigate the ample world of vocal storytelling. Stories are told in all types of media today, but it all started with voices and narrative—from when poetry was sung and theatrical performances such as opera were amongst the most popular and beloved arts. We lift the ground where voices lie today and take them to their deserved place, from solely being an audial companion in media to a main element in interactive storytelling. Hand in hand with Design Fiction as a chosen design perspective and Research through Design as our research approach, we explore ways of creating an immersive, dynamic experience both creative and academically. We found ourselves in infinite ideations of futuristic scenarios which we wanted to symbolize with a world and characters through voices. With Research through Design, we learn not only by doing research, but through actually designing a functional prototype that grants agency to the person interacting with it. The learning process in building this prototype helped us gain significant knowledge in programming, implementation technique and writing for games, especially considering that we had very little experience with these subjects prior to this project. One could say that we were confident in our audio production skills and came with blind eyes when approaching this theme for the first time. The results of our work lead us to the conclusion that, with the adequate knowledge and methods, voices can function as a main element in interactive media prototypes. Narrative, voice design and implementation techniques combined create a group of powerful tools that can achieve interactive storytelling.I denna kandidatuppsats utforskar vi i en värld av röstligt berättande. Berättelser berättas i alla typer av media idag, men det hela började med röster. Vi vill lyfta fram röster och deras förmåga att driva en berättelse, från att endast vara en osynlig del i ett audiovisuellt verk till ett huvudelement i en interaktiv berättelse. Med hjälp av Design Fiction som designperspektiv och Research through Design som forskningsmetod utforskar vi ett sätt att skapa en uppslukande, dynamisk upplevelse både kreativ och akademisk. Vi lär oss inte bara genom forskning, utan genom att faktiskt utforma en funktionell prototyp där användaren aktivt interagerar med narrativet. Berättelsen befinner sig i tankar om futuristiska scenarier som vi försöker få till liv. Resultatet av vår undersökning leder oss till slutsatsen att med tillräcklig kunskap och rätt metoder så kan röster fungera som ett huvudelement i interaktiva medieproduktioner. Berättande, röstdesign och implementeringstekniker skapar tillsammans en grupp kraftfulla verktyg för att uppnå interaktivt berättande.
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Calabrese, Anna-Letizia. "We are special, just the way we are!Listening to children's voices in an Inclusive Multicultural Environment." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Specialpedagogiska institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-131423.
Abstract:
The aim of this research is to provide insight into how middle school learners experience an inclusive multicultural learning environment. Increasing diversity is challenging European educational systems, which have the arduous task to foster inclusion of learners with diverse educational needs. In order to explore the participants’ descriptions, a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with six learners was employed. Learners’ positions in the educational scenery are central and unique; they are the main experts on their own situations and therefore precious contributors to educational research. Results have been discussed according to a sociocultural perspective. The analysis of my data suggests that the learners perceive their inclusive environment as beneficial. Moreover, they perceive their cultural diversity as strength, reckon social interaction and teamwork with peers as favorable conditions for learning, feel competent in multicultural communication and believe that respect and acceptance towards others are necessary common values. Some implications of multiculturalism in special education are discussed according to the results of a recent European study, which shows that in all the participating European countries, Sweden included, there is a consistent discrepancy in the proportions of learners with immigrant background within special education. Assessment methods developed for mono-cultural learners appear to be a valid reason why multicultural learners are over-or under-represented in special education. Research also shows that inclusion of diversity in educational environment enables the development of social skills in all learners.
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Robb, Anna. "Curating curiosity : an exploration of visual art experiences and self-identity formation through the voices of young children." Thesis, University of Dundee, 2019. https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/d0e0cd69-a0a1-43ff-8838-820489e7dbbb.
Abstract:
As human beings our identities are formed from birth as we draw on our connections to people, places and the experiences we encounter in life. For young children, adults are crucial in directing these experiences, whether this is at home, school or further afield and therefore they play a key role in identity formation. In the world of education this means that decisions are made by adults based on what is considered best for young children in order to succeed in the future. This has the potential however to have both an enabling and a limiting effect on children's lives. In a climate where arts education funding is being cut and awareness of children's voice and rights is growing in strength, this PhD seeks to explore experiences of visual arts and perceptions of self-identity from a child's perspective with the aim of informing adult perspectives of arts education policy and practice in primary schools. The main argument focuses on children as autonomous identity curators continuously drawing on their curiosity of the world. By engaging them in dialogue about their experiences and lives, adults will be presented with an alternative perspective of the world that can be used to genuinely meet individual needs in young children. The research question 'How do visual art experiences interact with children's self-identity?' is addressed drawing on the principles of bricolage to discuss and analyse the issues through multiple lenses, including the work of Dewey, Bourdieu, and Giddens. A small-scale, multiple case-study, interpretivist approach has therefore been adopted focused on nine participants drawn from four classes from two schools in a Scottish city. Data were gathered during the academic session of 2016-2017 employing narrative inquiry and arts-informed, participatory methods and analysis. Each participant presented a uniquely different relationship with visual art, with some indicating that it was an integral part of their identity and others not so much. Adults, both at school and home, were key in informing this and in one sense the children lacked autonomy and agency in their visual art experiences. However they were autonomous when it came to determining the value of these experiences in their lives and in their identity, with each drawing on their curiosity of the world in different ways to determine this. Rather than create identity, they curated it. They presented a reasoned perspective of their experiences, and highlighted an awareness of aspects of visual art that in some cases came more from their experiences outside of school than from within. Thus at times the perspective was at odds with the intentions of the adult world, particularly from education and creative industries viewpoints; the children created their own meaning and learning from their experiences which were in contrast to the intended learning of the adult world. They also demonstrated a curiosity and open-mindedness in relation to visual art which was not necessarily developed fully by the adults in their lives. This PhD is therefore important because it demonstrates that children do have a degree of agency and autonomy in the formation of their identity and that they develop interests and knowledge that is independent of adult intentions regarding teaching and learning. It is a key piece of research which also presents the voices of children who are not currently represented in academic research in this depth. Finally it raises questions regarding the effectiveness and relevance of current art education practice in education and cultural institutions for children in the contemporary world.
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Hammond, Jennifer L. "The echo of student voices from the Blue Ridge Mountains /." Full text available online, 2005. http://www.lib.rowan.edu/home/research/articles/rowan_theses.
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Ferguson, Beth Rosemary. ""What is the Best Thing About You?" An Exploratory Study of How Young Children Perceive Character Strengths." Thesis, University of Canterbury. School of Educational Studies and Human Development, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/1068.
Abstract:
The study of character strengths is a relatively new area of research within the realm of positive psychology. Character strengths likely develop during childhood and therefore studying young children's capacities for talking about their perceptions of character strengths is important. This thesis sought to use children's voices and conduct an exploratory qualitative study into children's capacity to talk about perceptions of their own and others character strengths. The purpose of the research was two-fold, first, to create a developmentally appropriate methodology for obtaining children's perceptions of character strengths, and second, if children had the capacity to talk about character strengths, to discover how they did so. Seventeen five-and-a-half to six-year-old children participated in individual interviews at their school. After a review of the methodological issues involved with obtaining children's voices in research, four developmentally appropriate strategies utilising a story, puppets, a photo and direct interviewing strategies were created. The four strategies were tested in a pilot study, revised, and then utilised in the main study. The strategies created were found to be developmentally appropriate, and assisted children to varying degrees to talk about their perceptions. At least one character strength was able to be inferred from all children's responses. Affiliation, kindness and self-regulation were the most identified character strengths. Results indicated the children were on the cusp of developing their sense of self and the ability to verbalise their positive internal attributes. Differences in the way children talked about character strengths are discussed in reference to child development and the social nature of character strengths.
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Gordon, Margaret Jean. "Everyday social work practice : listening to the voices of practitioners." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31463.
Abstract:
Despite an extensive literature, there is surprisingly little research about what social workers do in their day to day practice. This body of published work, supported by critical review, argues that we need to hear, and learn from, practitioner voices if we are to comprehend the breadth, challenges and potential of social work practice. It contributes to a steadily expanding field of research that is exploring the hidden, frequently misunderstood, and often negatively perceived, world of everyday practice. By making social work more visible, we open up opportunities for students, social workers, other professionals and the public to learn about the profession's work by engaging with the live challenges and dilemmas encountered by practitioners. My research examines the actual work of social work by analysing practitioner narratives to reveal the ways in which social workers recount, reflect on and learn from direct work with service users and their families. Most of the research is informed by a strengths-based, narrative perspective, the critical best practice approach. It draws on qualitative methods, consistent with a social constructionist stance that recognises the contingency of practice with its multiple subjectivities, uncertainties, contested viewpoints and constant flux. Three main themes are explored: social workers' use of knowledge, their decision-making and judgement when services users are at risk of harm, or pose a risk to others, and the integration of practice and theory in a student practice placement. I also report on two related inquiries, one focusing on the experience of co-publication with practitioners, and the other on social workers' use of self in practice. The notion of 'best' practice is found, inevitably, to be fraught with ambiguity, raising important questions about the criteria on which judgements about 'good' practice can be made, and who is entitled to make them. My review tackles these and other theoretical, methodological and ethical issues that I encountered during the research. An essential thread that runs through all the research findings is the need for a critical, reflexive approach to everyday practice that recognises the situated, and often contradictory, nature of voice and of the practices described. Taken together, the research findings stress the centrality of practitioner capabilities such as relationship building, critical reflection, skilful use of self, respectful authority, curiosity, creativity and the ability to combine a range of different forms of knowledge in imaginative and flexible ways. They collectively make a strong case for valuing and learning from direct access to practitioners' experiences of practice. The research, conducted in a range of UK contexts, identifies how and why social workers' voices continue to fail to be heard, and suggests a number of ways of tackling gaps in our understanding. From a personal point of view, the research is also my own story of learning about doing research into my profession over the last ten years, and of seeking to share and use the findings to improve social work practice and make a difference to people who use social work services, their friends, families and communities.
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Laubitz, Zofia. "Coordinate and subordinate conjunctions in children's texts." Thesis, McGill University, 1988. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=75958.
Abstract:
This thesis examines the use of conjunctions in texts, and in particular their function as a marker of text type. Children's acquisition of this aspect of conjunction usage is the main focus. An examination of the characteristics of various text types and the nature of coordinate and subordinate conjunctions in English serves as a framework within which the experimental evidence from adults and children (aged three to five) is considered. Three types of texts--conversation, narratives, and game explanations--were collected. It was found that both the types of conjunctions used and the frequency of conjunctions as a class vary according to text type; conjunctions are much more frequent in narratives and explanations than in conversation. It is shown here that pragmatic or cognitive factors cannot account for these findings; they can only be explained as a function of text type. The data from the children provide evidence that their conjunction usage is also constrained by text type, although their patterns of use are not exactly the same as the adults'. The results indicate that by age five children have a definite conception of text as a linguistic entity.
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Murray, Jane. "An exploration of young children's engagements in research behaviour." Thesis, University of Northampton, 2012. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/5790/.
Abstract:
Natural research behaviours may present in children younger than eight years but tend to be overlooked by professional researchers, with the result that young children are rarely recognised as agents in enquiry concerning matters affecting them. This exclusion amounts to social injustice as it underestimates children’s capabilities and denies them particular rights. The thesis proposes that young children engage in research activity congruent with professional adult researchers’ behaviours, as part of their daily lives. Furthermore, the inequity caused by excluding children from recognition as researchers may be addressed if professional researchers were to find ways to recognise and value the children’s contributions as researchers. The empirical study that is the focus for the thesis secured a taxonomy of research behaviours from professional adult researchers which was then applied to naturalistic observations conducted with - and by - children aged 4-8 years in their settings and homes. A ‘jigsaw’ methodology was adopted, featuring constructivist grounded theory and critical ethnography, among other methodologies. Throughout, the project was committed to participatory, emancipatory and inductive principles, though challenges were encountered along the way. Alongside observations, multiple other methods and analysis were employed in the co-construction of data with children and their practitioners in three English early childhood settings and children and their parents in five homes. Professional adult researchers also contributed to primary and meta-data. Results indicated that problem solving, exploring, conceptualising and basing decisions on evidence were regarded by professional researchers as the ‘most important’ research behaviours. Children engaged in these behaviours of their own volition, alongside other research behaviours. Their activities included exploring materials to create novel artefacts in art work, rolling in giant cylinders, cooking and ordering objects systematically. While undertaking these activities, children often revealed higher order cognitive processes such as trial and error elimination, causality, analogy and a posteriori conceptualisation. The study produced a ‘plausible account’ suggesting that children aged 4-8 years do engage in research activity naturalistically as part of their daily lives and that this activity is congruent with professional adult researchers’ behaviours.
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Long, Carol Ann. "A Case Study of Jamaican Children's Lived Play Experiences." Scholar Commons, 2013. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4913.
Abstract:
Although research on children's play is abundant and considerable advances have been made in young children's play, the majority of these studies have been based in western developed countries and written from adults' perspectives rather than with children. Additionally, very little research has been done on children's play with active participants from smaller developing countries. The voices of society's youngest members have been lost or are only marginally represented.
The purpose of this qualitative research is to explore, understand, and describe young Jamaican children's lived play experiences as related through their eyes. The theoretical frameworks used to guide this study are sociocultural theory and narrative case study. Narrative case study focuses on a particular phenomenon and, through rich description, each participant's story relates the complexities of this phenomenon. Sociocultural theory is related to the social, cultural, and historical theory of a people and is constructed as they participate in culturally pertinent activities.
The examined literature, which draws on diverse theoretical frameworks, including Vygotsky and Rogoff's sociocultural theory and Bronfenbrenner's work on socioecological theory, discusses types of play, the relationship between play and children's development, indoor and outdoor play at school, and play as perceived by children. A key theme in this literature is children's beliefs and values observed through a cultural filter.
The three 5-year-old children, their teacher, and parents were purposefully selected for this single-bounded case study. The methods of data collection include video-cued interviews (VCI), a researcher's journal, and observation and field-notes. An understanding of the history of Jamaican education and its people is essential to the successful implementation of the play-based curriculum. The importance of knowing how children view their play and its manifestations and meanings is compelling to the Jamaican people and will help inform teachers, teacher education programs, parents, national and international funders, and other stakeholders as they try to fuse Jamaican culture with global elements of young children education.
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Saphira, Miriam Edna. "Children's understanding of sexual orientation." Thesis, University of Auckland, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2043.
Abstract:
In 1989 New Zealand is considering legislation which will make discrimination against lesbians, transexuals and gay men illegal. To increase children's understanding of sexual orientations educators need to have some knowledge of what children already understand and how children use their information. The three studies address this issue in spite of the difficulties in obtaining permission to ask children about homosexuality. A homophobia questionnaire was administered to 290 first year psychology students. They were also asked to recall their childhood feelings about gay people when they first met a homosexual and first understood the concept of homosexuality. Older women were the least homophobic. A second study was carried out with 5, 7, and 11 year old children in three schools with a family discrimination task. A third of the 11 year olds could label the couples of the same sex as gay, homosexual or lesbian and gave more positive items to the two-parent families. A third study involved 31 children from two-parent families and 32 from lesbian families. Out of the 63 six to ten year olds, 27 could define 'homosexual' and 'gay' and 37 could define lesbian. Twenty could use a strategy to recognise a lesbian. Although social discrimination against non-heterosexual orientations placed some constraints on this research, it yielded preliminary evidence for the emergence of children's understanding of sexual orientations between 7 and 11 years of age.
40
Thyssen, Candy Lynn. "The representation of Black masculinity in post-apartheid children's literature." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10648.
Abstract:
Includes bibliographical references.The significant changes to the political landscape of South Africa since the abolition of apartheid and the implementation of democracy have had far-reaching effects in social order and gender relations. With the new dispensation has come the promise of new opportunities for men and women of all races to participate fully in the creation of a multicultural society, making the issue of transformation an important agenda. As a social artifact, children's literature has also been influenced by these changes, and the didactic function of this medium make it an interesting site to explore the ways in which historical stereotypes are both perpetuated and challenged. This study focused on the representation of black masculinity in a sample of South African children's literature published after apartheid. The aim was to investigate how race, gender, and class intersect in the representation of black masculinity.
41
Kahn, Leslie Heinz. "Exploring and Supporting Children's Math Talk." Diss., Tucson, Arizona : University of Arizona, 2005. http://etd.library.arizona.edu/etd/GetFileServlet?file=file:///data1/pdf/etd/azu%5Fetd%5F1225%5F1%5Fm.pdf&type=application/pdf.
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Beavan, Vanessa. "Angels at our tables: New Zealanders' experiences of hearing voices." Thesis, University of Auckland, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/3175.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to explore the experience of hearing voices in the general New Zealand adult population. This included mapping the topography of voices and the impact of the experience on participants’ lives, exploring participants’ explanatory models, investigating coping strategies and support structures, and developing a model of the essence of hearing voices. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of questionnaire (n=154) and interview (n=50) data revealed a great diversity of experiences, both within and among participants. Of all topographical variables significantly related to emotional impact (content, form, duration, intrusiveness and control), voice content was the only significant predictor variable, accurately predicting the emotional response of 93.3% of participants. Overall, participants who valued their voice experiences tended to have spiritual beliefs, a more positive emotional reaction and less contact with mental health services. In contrast, participants who experienced mostly unwanted voices tended to have biological and/or psychological understandings of their voice experiences, a more negative emotional reaction to them, and increased contact with mental health services. Participants reported using a vast array of coping strategies, with varying degrees of success. Individualised techniques were reported to be the most effective, followed by setting aside a time to listen to the voices. In terms of help and support, participants called for a model of intervention that accepted their voice experiences as real, took an holistic approach incorporating contextual, cultural and spiritual factors, and worked with voice-hearers, their families and the public to provide information about voice phenomena and normalise the experience. Using a phenomenological approach, a model of the essential structure of hearing voices is proposed, comprising five components: the content of the voices is personally meaningful to the voice-hearer; the voices have a characterised identity; the person has a relationship with their voices; the experience has a significant impact on the voice-hearer’s life; and the experience has a compelling sense of reality. The implications of this research include validating voice-hearers’ perspectives of the experience, informing clinical work with voice-hearers, and informing the development of local and national-level services, such as a New Zealand Hearing Voices Network.
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Hooper, Oliver R. "Health(y) talk : pupils' conceptions of health within physical education." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2018. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/36203.
Abstract:
Schools, and in particular physical education (PE), have been increasingly recognised for the role that they play in promoting healthy, active lifestyles amongst children and young people in light of the public health agenda (Armour and Harris, 2013). However, whilst schools have been recognised for the role that they can play in promoting health to children and young people, concerns have been expressed with regard to the status of health in PE and the approaches and practices used to address health-related learning (Cale et al., 2016). A particular concern in this regard is what children and young people know and understand about health , and how they come to conceive this within PE, with a growing body of literature suggesting that pupils conceptions are relatively superficial and simplistic (see Harris et al. (2016) for an overview). Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to explore pupils conceptions of health within PE. The research was comprised of four phases which took place over an 18-month period within the East Midlands region of England. Phase one involved an online survey being distributed to all state secondary schools (n = 293) and with a total of 52 schools responding. Phase two involved semi-structured interviews being conducted with 13 PE teachers at two case study schools and focus groups with 117 pupils (aged 11-12) at the same schools. A participatory approach underpinned the study and relevant methods/techniques were employed within pupil focus groups to generate discussion and elicit pupils conceptions of health . Examples of the methods/techniques employed included: drawings, concept cartoons and statement sheets. Pupils worked interactively with one another to undertake and discuss tasks/activities in line with the youth voice agenda that underpinned the research. This agenda is often allied with participatory methods (Heath et al., 2009) and seeks to privilege the voices of younger participants, recognising that children and young people are competent social agents, capable of both understanding and articulating their own experiences (Christensen and James, 2008). Phase three involved follow-up focus groups with the same pupils who participated during the preceding phase, and a similar participatory approach was employed. Phase four involved semi-structured focus groups being conducted with the same PE teachers at each school. Data generated were analysed using a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis. The findings of the study highlight that the vast majority of pupils conceptions of health were reductive, limited and limiting. These conceptions of health were identified as being underpinned by: corporeal notions, aesthetic orientations and healthist influences. In addition, they aligned with normative conceptions of health , that were evidently influenced by public health discourses, which may well have been promulgated by and through PE. Whilst pupils did not necessarily consider that PE influenced their conceptions of health , there were evident links, which PE teachers themselves acknowledged and problematised. Positively, it was highlighted that there were some pupils who were able to disrupt normative conceptions of health and, in doing so, they demonstrated their capacity for criticality. As such, the challenge for PE is now to consider how it might support pupils to develop their capacities to receive, interpret and be critical of health-related information. If it can do so, it may well be that critically-inclined conceptions of health can be fostered within, through and by the subject.
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Duncan, Pauline A. "Drawing as a method for accessing young children's perspectives in research." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/17258.
Abstract:
Researchers have taken a particular interest in children’s drawings as a means of representing and communicating knowledge and perspectives but a review of literature reveals that researchers routinely use drawings as a way of obtaining data without considering their function or value. This ESRC-funded research aims to explore drawing as a method of accessing children's perspectives and has three central research objectives which consider methodological and analytical factors relating to the use of children’s drawings as a research tool. These are: to develop a principled approach to analysing and interpreting children’s drawings, to create guidelines for the use of drawing as a research tool, and to gather children’s perspectives on play through the method of drawing. The research objectives were achieved by asking the following three questions: How can children’s drawings be analysed using a principled approach? What are the major factors to be considered when using drawing as a research tool? What can drawings reveal about children's perspectives on play? The study involved two visits to the homes of eight preschool children aged four. The sample included four girls and four boys from central and north-east Scotland with half of the families being categorised as being of low socioeconomic status. Visits were flexible and unstructured allowing the child autonomy regarding our level of interaction and the types of activities (such as free play and conversation) with which they wished to engage. The second visit included a prompted drawing activity in which I invited children to express their perspectives on play. The topic of play was chosen (i) to offer children a meaningful research activity to investigate the issues surrounding the method, (ii) to explore the task of representing an abstract, yet familiar, concept and how this may influence children’s drawings and representations of play, and (iii) as an extension of the ESRC project Young Children Learning with Toys and Technology at Home (Plowman et al., 2012) by giving greater emphasis to children's own perspectives on play and exploring the ways in which this can be achieved. My theoretical approach is not to consider drawings as reproductions of reality, but to value and attempt to understand children’s drawings as a semiotic vehicle in which messages are created and conveyed during the drawing process through representation and signification. Informed by social semiotics (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996) the research presents an innovative four-step approach to analysing children's drawings (4-SASA). The protocol, a key contribution of the research, was developed to promote a more systematic analysis, involving (i) isolating signs within drawings through manual annotation, (ii) documenting the child’s understanding of signs and the significance attributed to them, (iii) organising signs using specific categories of social semiotic analysis (mode, size, colour, salience) and identifying the child’s motivation and interest for specific sign production, and (iv) synthesis of the child’s perspectives from steps 1-3. Post hoc methodological examinations elucidated the following four key factors to be considered when using young children’s drawings: (i) contextual sensitivity of the drawing process, (ii) children’s perceptions of the research task, (iii) the complex task of representing an abstract and elusive concept such as play, and (iv) whether there is a fundamental difference between drawing spontaneously (non-commissioned) and drawing on request. Evidence from the study supports previous literature in demonstrating the potential of drawing as a method of accessing children’s perspectives. However, findings suggest that rather than routinely selecting drawing as a method for representing children’s perspectives, researchers need to be more thoughtful about the ways in which factors such as the social and contextual framing of drawing and approaches to data collection can affect research outcomes. The thesis concludes by discussing how these emerging issues impact research outcomes, along with implications for future implementation and analysis of drawings.
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Crawford, Karin. "Continuing professional development in higher education : voices from below." Thesis, University of Lincoln, 2009. http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/2146/.
Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to further understanding of faculty-based academics’ views on what influences their understandings, behaviours and attitudes towards their continuing professional development. Informed by critical realist ontology, it is argued that it is necessary to explore academics’ understandings and accounts of professional development in their practice context in order to gain a better understanding of the complexity and differential practices that underlie professional development in academia. In doing so, the research addresses the current under-representation in the literature of the voices of faculty academics about what influences their approaches to professional development. The data collection was carried out during the academic year 2007-8, using a qualitative multi-case study approach. Methods included semi-structured, narrative interviews with academics, more structured interviews with ‘key informants’ and examination of relevant institutional documents. Findings from this research have enabled new themes and areas for reflection to emerge about the constraints and enablements academics perceive in respect of their professional development. In particular, themes such as issues of interpretation and meaning; concepts of professional status and academic values; misaligned initiatives and priorities; the influence of supportive networks; and emergent personal, individual concerns have surfaced. The conclusion is drawn that the significance of agency raises the importance of opening the debate and responding to the ‘voices from below’.
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Nyemba, Florence. ""In their own voices". A Participatory Research Project with Black Zimbabwean Women in Greater Cincinnati." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406810744.
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Beccue-Barnes, Wendy Davis. "War brides: a practice-based examination of translating women’s voices into textile art." Diss., Kansas State University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/13632.
Abstract:
Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design
Sherry J. Haar
Research about military wives has been limited. In academia, most research centers on the soldier and/or the family as a unit. When literature does address only the wife’s perspective it rarely presents a positive portrayal of her life. However, it is not just literature that shows a gap in exposing the voice of the military wife. Art-based works rarely focus on her perspective; and methodologies, such as practice-based research, rarely utilize actual voices as inspiration. The aim of the current study was to discover the voice of the military wife, examine it through a feminist lens, and then translate those voices into artwork that represented the collective, lived experience of the women interviewed. Three methodologies were utilized to analyze and translate the voices of military wives into textile art. These three methodologies: practice-based research, phenomenology, and feminist inquiry provided a suitable structure for shaping the study to fulfill the project aim. Interviews conducted with 22 military wives revealed two overarching themes: militarization and marriage; as well as multiple subthemes. Three subthemes were recognized as being the most prominent: relationships, separation, and collective experience. These themes were used as the inspiration for the creation and installation of three textile art pieces. The current study serves to fill the gaps in both the literature and the artistic process by presenting both the positive and negative aspects of the military wife’s lived experience and using that lived experience as inspiration for textile art.
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Pan, Huiqi. "Multilevel models in human growth and development research." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1995. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10020243/.
Abstract:
The analysis of change is an important issue in human growth and development. In longitudinal studies, growth patterns are often summarized by growth 'models' so that a small number of parameters, or the functions of them can be used to make group comparisons or to be related to other measurements. To analyse complete and balanced data, growth curves can be modelled using multivariate analysis of variance with an unstructured variance-covariance matrix; for incomplete and unbalanced data, models such as the two-stage model of Laird and Ware (1982) or the multilevel models of Goldstein (1987) are necessary. The use of multilevel models for describing growth is recognized as an important technique. It is an efficient procedure for incorporating growth models, either linear or nonlinear, into a population study. Up to now there is little literature concerning growth models over wide age ranges using multilevel models. The purpose of this study is to explore suitable multilevel models of growth over a wide age range. Extended splines are proposed, which extend conventional splines using the '+' function and by including logarithmic or negative power terms. The work has been focused on modelling human growth in length, particularly, height and head circumference as they are interesting and important measures of growth. The investigation of polynomials, conventional splines and extended splines on data from the Edinburgh Longitudinal Study shows that the extended splines are better than polynomials and conventional splines for this purpose. It also shows that extended splines are, in fact, piecewise fractional polynomials and describe data better than a single segment of a fractional polynomial. The extended splines are useful, flexible, and easily incorporated in multilevel models for studying populations and for the estimation and comparison of parameters.
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Jester, JuliaGrace J. "A feminist social psychological study utilizing theatre of the oppressed methods to explore issues of women's voices." Oxford, Ohio : Miami University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=miami1059074145.
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Maybin, Janet. "Children's voices : the contribution of informal language practices to the negotiation of knowledge and identity amongst 10-12 year old school pupils." Thesis, N.p, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/.