Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Interpretive policy analysis'
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Smiley, John-Paul. "Exploring policy discourses in the UK construction sector : an interpretive analysis." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2016. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/22913.
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The following thesis explores construction policy discourses within the context of the United Kingdom (UK). The research was deemed both important and necessary as the construction sector represents a major portion of the UK economy, accounting for approximately seven per cent of GDP, and employing millions (Rhodes: 2015). Adopting an ontology of becoming and an interpretive epistemological perspective, it is argued that construction policy documents are best characterised as crystallised snapshots of a community s attempts at meaning making in time. Utilising a qualitative methodology, the thesis primarily achieves its aims through the textual analysis of three prominent construction policy documents ( Rethinking Construction - the Egan report, the Government Construction Strategy , and the Industrial Strategy: Construction 2025), as well as informational interviews with eleven contemporary, senior construction policy stakeholders, from nine different organisations. The empirical element was inspired by interpretive approaches to policy analysis, and in particular the works of Yanow (2000; 2003; 2007) and drew upon the Hermeneutical approach repopularised by Taylor (1971), and Gadamer (1975). Four primary discourses were discovered, these being: The discourse of the need to be competitive ; The discourse of the essentialness of efficiency ; The discourse of unfulfilled potential ; The discourse of fear of not being Modern . The analysis suggests that construction policy discourses at the time of writing are predominantly influenced by the dominant cultural trends known as neoliberalism and the enterprise culture , but that these too must be seen as emerging from, and as informed by, the super-ideology of political declinism (Tomlinson: 2000). It is from these cultural sources that the pools of meanings articulated in the texts are drawn (Marton: 1986). Furthermore, tracing the etymology of the word policy , it is suggested that construction policy documents police behaviour by shaping it towards particular directions in keeping with specific normative visions concerning the good life policy elites have. The findings are important as they suggest that contemporary construction policy discourses are in danger of becoming increasingly myopic, with alternative perspectives and visions increasingly marginalised, and so any potential for the flexible adaptation or reimagining of future policies is reduced. As a result, the thesis argues for greater involvement from a broader spectrum of social actors in all stages of construction policy, to both contribute to strengthening citizenry and democracy in the UK, whilst reducing the potential for myopia amongst policy elites.
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Spash, Clive L. "Policy analysis: Empiricism, social construction and realism." Österreichische Gesellschaft für Politikwissenschaft (ÖGPW), 2014. http://epub.wu.ac.at/5783/1/Spash_2014_OZP_Policy%2Danalysis.pdf.
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In a recent article Ulrich Brand has discussed how best to perform policy analysis. I reflect upon the paper as an interdisciplinary researcher experienced in public policy problems and their analysis with a particular interest in the relationship between social, economic and environmental problems. At the centre of the paper is the contrast between two existing methodologies prevalent in political science and related disciplines. One is the rationalist approach, which takes on the character of a natural science, that believes in a fully knowable objective reality which can be observed by an independent investigator. The other is a strong social constructivist position called interpretative policy analysis (IPA), where knowledge and meaning become so intertwined as to make independence of the observer from the observed impossible and all knowledge highly subjective. Brand then offers his model as a way forward, but one that he closely associates with the latter. My contention is that policy analysis, and any way forward, needs to provide more of a transformative combination of elements from both approaches. Indeed I believe this is actually what Brand is doing.
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Paul, Regine. "Labour migration management as multidimensional border-drawing : a comparative interpretive policy analysis in the EU." Thesis, University of Bath, 2012. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.558862.
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This thesis examines and compares current labour migration management of non-EU workers in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. It aims to explain cross-national similarities and differences from an interpretive policy analysis perspective. The research entails analyses of 33 legal documents and in-depth interviews with 25 high-ranking policy-makers and is anchored in case contexts. In order to gain comparative explanations the analysis maps legal classifications and rights regimes governing incoming migrant workers, explores meanings policy-makers vest in these, and thereby reconstructs the economic, social and political normative references these meanings entail in comparative perspective. By conceptualising migration policy as border-drawing I challenge the main stream migration policy literature, offering an alternative approach which changes the parameters of policy analysis more generally. While most migration policy research concentrates on explaining the control gap between restrictive admission policies and de facto migratory flows, I shift the analytical focus towards states’ power to define legal and illegal positions through policy and allocate rights in a differential way. Empirically, I overcome partial policy accounts by contributing a multidimensional analysis of labour migration policy across its economic, social, and politico-formal dimension, and develop an innovative methodology to explain crossnational variation in the interaction of these aspects. By associating each dimension with a specific borderdrawing site – capitalist coordination system, welfare state regime, and citizenship model – the thesis utilises regime theories to develop benchmarks for the empirical analysis while at the same time testing the explanatory scope of these theories in the field of labour migration. Migrant workers are selected by skill level and labour scarcity in all three cases in line with widely shared economic values surrounding labour migration agendas. Yet, the analysis also pinpoints considerable divergences when selecting migrants by origin, social cohesion concerns or with annual caps. The variable labour geographies into which migrant workers are admitted – mainly relating to post-colonial relationships, distinct uses of EU free movement, and demographic context – are seized by policy actors to selectively contextualise economic border-drawing. It is this distinct socio-political contextualisation of a shared cultural political economy of labour migration which explains similarities and differences in European labour migration management. The thesis hence contributes an empirically detailed understanding of an integrating EU common market which coexists with persistently diverging labour geographies and societies. Findings bear considerable policy implications in terms of European integration and the unequal distribution of labour mobility rights for migrants in Europe.
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Richman, Scott D. "An Interpretive Policy Analysis of Bullying Law and the Development of Bullying Policy in a Central Florida School District." Scholar Commons, 2010. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1749.
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Bullying has been an issue in schools and became a major concern for school leaders over the past two decades. Olweus (1993) defined three characteristics of bullying behavior: intent to harm another, repeated offenses, and a perceived or real power imbalance. This study examined the law's provisions concerning bullying in schools; specifically examining the Florida Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Student Act (2008), and the required policy implemented in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). Discourse theory framed the study, as defined by Habermas (1996) and the derivative Interpretive Policy Analysis was used to analyze the district policy, as defined by Yanow (2000). The study utilized four research questions to examine bullying law and policy: what constitutional, statutory, and case law said about bullying; bullying policies in literature; development of bullying policy and how closely it matched law. Constitutional law laid the foundation of the school system. Statutory law provided more details and at the state level, defined requirements concerning bullying. Bullying laws existed in 44 states, the majority addressing one or more of Olweus' components. HCPS developed its xii bullying policy in the fall, 2008, closely following requirements of Florida bullying law. The district had a student conduct policy prior to new requirements and a violence prevention committee (VPC) met monthly. The VPC formed a smaller committee including administrators, teachers, parents, students, and law enforcement members, to develop the policy. The committee examined each component of the state model policy, and either used the item verbatim or added additional information specific to HCPS. The district exceeded state requirements for some items such as extending the definition of bullying to include employees and visitors. Overall, bullying laws were designed to protect students from harmful behaviors. The district policy was designed to achieve this task; however, it was also seen as a means to avoid lawsuits and to protect the district's interests. Implications included the need to update laws/policies continually to reflect the current times, such as new technologies, and the interpretation of laws and eventual implementation in schools. In addition, the interpretive policy analysis process used in this study could be applied to other studies examining the policy development process.
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Whitford, Michelle Maree. "An interpretive analysis of event policy : South East Queensland regional organisation of councils 1974-2004 /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2005. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe18768.pdf.
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Annison, Harry. "Dangerous politics : an interpretive political analysis of the imprisonment for public protection sentence, 2003-2008." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:73c4f0dc-b86f-4d02-a380-0ae97d3974b4.
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The thesis constitutes a detailed historical reconstruction of the creation, contestation and subsequent amendment of the Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence, the principal ‘dangerous offender’ measure of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Underpinned by an interpretive political analysis of penal politics, the thesis draws on a detailed analysis of relevant documents and 53 interviews with national level, policy-oriented actors. The thesis explores how actors’ conceptions of ‘risk’ and ‘the public’ interwove with the political beliefs and political traditions relied upon by the relevant actors. It is argued that while there was general recognition of a ‘real problem’ existing in relation to dangerous offenders, the central actors in the creation of the IPP sentence crucially lacked a detailed understanding of the state of the art of risk assessment and management (Kemshall, 2003) and failed to appreciate the systemic risks posed by the IPP sentence. The creation of the IPP sentence, as with its subsequent amendment, is argued to highlight the extreme vulnerability felt by many government actors. The efforts of interest groups and other pressure participants to have their concerns addressed regarding the systemic and human damage subsequently caused by the under-resourcing of the IPP sentence is explored, and the challenge of stridently arguing for substantial change while maintaining ‘insider’ status is discussed. As regards senior courts’ efforts to rein in the IPP sentence, it is argued that the increasingly conservative nature of the judgments demonstrate that the judiciary are not immune from the creep of a ‘precautionary logic’ into British penal politics. Regarding the amendment of the IPP sentence, the Ministry of Justice’s navigation between the twin dangers of a systemic crisis and a political crisis are explored. In conclusion, the IPP story is argued to demonstrate a troubling ‘thoughtlessness’ by many of the key policymakers, revealing what is termed the ‘banality of punitiveness.’ The potential for a reliance on political beliefs and traditions to slip into this thoughtless state, and possible ways of ensuring that such policy issues are engaged with in a more inclusive and expansive manner, are discussed.
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Canavero, Steven Paul. "The multiple meanings of charter schools an interpretive policy analysis of charter school legislation in Nevada /." abstract and full text PDF (free order & download UNR users only), 2007. http://0-gateway.proquest.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3258766.
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Boros, Paula. "An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of Women Veterans Transitioning Back into Civilian Life." Diss., NSUWorks, 2019. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dft_etd/43.
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Officially, women have been serving in the United States military since 1948 when President Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act. Women currently make up approximately 8% of active duty military. Based on progress due to equality and equity, women are now occupying positions previously designated for men. Although women have made great strides in the military, there is limited research on women in the military or how their military service affects them. There is even less literature on women who have transitioned out of the military. For this reason, I conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) with a focus on feminist theory to gather information about the lived experiences of women who have transitioned out of the military. Through the analysis portion, seven super-ordinate themes were established. Saturation requirements were met with four participants. This study will enhance the marriage and family therapy profession by providing better understanding on how to relate to this population while filling the gaps within the literature about women veterans and transition. Through this study, women veterans had a place in which their voices were heard.
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Bardelli-Danieli, Andrea. "Interpreting ICT policy processes in developing countries : a case study of Uganda." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2011. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/interpreting-ict-policy-processes-in-developing-countries-a-case-study-of-uganda(c672c237-c199-4974-b7ee-ce3db62da99b).html.
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Several studies suggest that the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing countries (DCs) can help such countries achieve national development goals - especially if accompanied by appropriate government policies designed to regulate and promote the use and the diffusion of ICTs in the national context. Over the past few years 'ICT policy' has thus become something worthy of academic attention, in particular in the ambit of ICT-for-development (ICT4D) literature. Scholarly studies on the subject have so far focused however primarily on policy content, and have often been prescriptive and/or evaluative in nature. Relatively less attention has been paid instead to the processes by which ICT policy is made in DCs - a lacuna reflected also in the relative scarcity, in the realm of ICT4D literature, of detailed theoretical frameworks with which to study ICT policymaking practice in DCs. This study intends to help fill this lacuna, by proposing an innovative framework for the analysis of ICT policy processes in DCs, and subjecting such a framework to a first 'proof of concept', through its application to a particular case (ICT policymaking in Uganda). In recognition of the importance of the cognitive aspects of policy practice, the framework proposed is interpretive in nature, and is organised around three 'movements', or steps: an analysis of the linguistic and non-linguistic constructs employed by policy actors to articulate discourse on ICT policymaking; an analysis of the key discourses around ICT policy constructed by policy actors in specific settings; and an analysis of the composition and the strength of the 'alliances', or coalitions, of actors that construct and propagate specific discourses in such settings. The ultimate purpose of this type of analysis is to understand how specific discourses on, or 'versions' of the ICT policy process gain particular purchase and acceptance in given national settings, thereby providing ICT policy actors with elements for reflection on the practices they are involved in. The framework proposed is particularly innovative in that integrates elements derived from mainstream political science and policy analysis literature - thus going some way in solidifying theorization in the ambit of ICT4D research. The study draws conclusions at two levels: at case level, findings indicate that Ugandan discourse around ICT policymaking appears to be constrained by the existence of a powerful, overall political discourse that defines ICT policy as necessarily 'participative'; at the level of theory and method, findings suggest that the framework proposed appears to be a viable and useful one for research on ICT policymaking practice in DCs.
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Gregory, Kieran Benjamin. "Fishers are doing it for themselves? Responsibilisation and the framing of fish habitat rehabilitation and stewardship." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2018. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/122928/2/Kieran_Gregory_Thesis.pdf.
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The aim of this research is to understand the implications of the current framing of fisheries degradation and rehabilitation responsibilities in stewardship policy. By doing so, in this research the discursive strategies used to attribute blame for fish habitat degradation are identified, as is whether there is a dissonance between to whom blame is attributed and the stakeholder groups which the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI)—the state government agency with policy responsibility for fisheries management—is advocating take responsibility for remedying the problem.
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Schmid, Claudia Theresia. "Germany’s “Open-Door” Policy in Light of the Recent Refugee Crisis : An Interpretive Thematic Content Analysis of Possible Reasons and Underlying Motivations." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Statsvetenskap, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-132598.
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The aim of this thesis is to examine the medially conveyed open-door refugee policy approach of the German government, in light of the recent refugee crisis in Europe. To gain an understanding of the reasons for this policy approach, a thematic content analysis is carried out, identifying and extracting themes, as portrayed in the national, international media, and political debates in the German Bundestag. These themes are then used in a comparison with actual refugee polices and further analysed from a constructivist and a structural realist perspective so as to investigate underlying motivations behind them.Fifteen themes and reasons were identified, with the three most frequently occurring themes, Capacity and Capability, Humanitarian Responsibility, and Demography and Economy, making up about half of the number of themes found. The analysis also showed that both constructivist concepts – such as identity – as well as structural realist notions – for example national interests and capabilities – were largely contributing factors with regards to guiding, shaping and deciding on Germany’s refugee policies. Germany’s intake of about one million refugees was – in the context of identity – an acceptable decision, following its normative, national, moral, historical and humanitarian standards; and the perceived benefits of the policy provide strong arguments in regards to the country’s capabilities and national interests.The thesis concludes that because Germany’s highly internal-moral-driven identity aligned well with its capabilities and national interests, Germany was able to continuously pursue its “open-doors” refugee policy despite resistance from a vocal opposition.
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Pyle, Elizabeth Ann. "Problematising the wickedness of 'disadvantage' in Australian Indigenous affairs policy." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2018. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/122956/1/Elizabeth_Pyle_Thesis.pdf.
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In this thesis 'Indigenous disadvantage' is examined through historical and contemporary discourses, including as a 'wicked' or intractable problem, within Australian Indigenous Affairs policy. Policies, programs and the views of policy actors working in Australian Indigenous Affairs were interrogated through themes of deficit and strength-based discourses. It is argued in this thesis that strength-based discourses which include genuine engagement and co-design with Indigenous Australians, can provide more meaningful and inclusive policy outcomes by challenging the current power structures that exclude and marginalise Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people in policy development and implementation.
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Hendriks, Carolyn Maree, and C. M. Hendriks@uva nl. "Public Deliberation and Interest Organisations: a Study of Responses to Lay Citizen Engagement in Public Policy." The Australian National University. Research School of Social Sciences, 2004. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20050921.103047.
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This thesis empirically examines how lobby groups and activists respond to innovative forms of public participation. The study centres on processes that foster a particular kind
of deliberative governance including citizens’ juries, consensus conferences and planning cells. These deliberative designs bring together a panel of randomly selected lay citizens
to deliberate on a specific policy issue for a few days, with the aim of providing decision makers with a set of recommendations. While policy makers worldwide are attracted to these novel participatory processes, little consideration has been given to how well they work alongside more adversarial and interest-based politics. This doctoral research project examines this interface by studying what these processes mean to different kinds of policy actors such as corporations, advocacy groups, government agencies, experts
and professionals. These entities are collectively referred to in this thesis as ‘interest organisations’ because in some way they are seeking a specific policy outcome from the
state – even government-based groups.¶
The empirical research in this thesis is based on comparative case studies of four deliberative design projects in Australia and Germany. The Australian cases include a citizens’ jury on waste management legislation and a consensus conference on gene
technology in the food chain. The German case studies include a planning cells project on consumer protection in Bavaria, and a national consensus conference on genetic diagnostics. Together the cases capture a diversity of complex and contested policy
issues facing post-industrialised societies. In each case study, I examine how relevant interest organisations responded to the deliberative forum, and then interpret these responses in view of the context and features of the case.¶
The picture emerging from the in-depth case studies is that interest organisations respond to deliberative designs in a variety of ways. Some choose to participate actively,
others passively decline, and a few resort to strategic tactics to undermine citizens’ deliberations. The empirical research reveals that though responses are variable, most
interest organisations are challenged by several features of the deliberative design model including: 1) that deliberators are citizens with no knowledge or association with the
issue; 2) that experts and interest representatives are required to present their arguments before a citizens’ panel; and 3) that policy discussions occur under deliberative conditions which can expose the illegitimate use of power.¶
Despite these challenges, the paradox is that many interest organisations do decide to engage in lay citizen deliberations. The empirical research indicates that groups and experts value deliberative designs if they present an opportunity for public relations, customer feedback, or advocacy. Moreover, the research finds that when policy actors
intensively engage with ‘ordinary’ citizens, their technocratic and elite ideas about public participation can shift in a more inclusive and deliberative direction.¶
The thesis finds that, on the whole, weaker interest organisations are more willing to engage with lay citizens than stronger organisations because they welcome the chance to influence public debate and decision makers. It appears that powerful groups will only
engage in a deliberative forum under certain policy conditions, for example, when the dominant policy paradigm is unstable and contested, when public discussion on the issue is emerging, when policy networks are interdependent and heterogeneous, and when the broader social and political system supports public accountability, consensus and
deliberation. Given that these kinds of policy conditions do not always exist, I conclude that tensions between interest organisations and deliberative governance will be common. In order to create more cooperative and productive interfaces, I recommend
that interest organisations be better supported and integrated into citizens’ deliberations, and that steps be taken to safeguard forums from strategic attempts to undermine their
legitimacy.¶
The thesis also sends out three key messages to democratic theorists. First, the empirical research shows that different kinds of groups and actors in civil society vary in their
willingness and capacity to participate to public deliberation. Second, the deliberative design model demonstrates that partisan actors, such as interest organisations, will engage in public deliberation when they can participate as strategic deliberators. In this role
partisans are not expected to relinquish their agendas, but present them as testimonies before a group of deliberators. Third, the empirical research in this thesis should bring
home to theorists that deliberative forums are closely linked to the discursive context within which they operate.
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Larsson, Oscar. "The Governmentality of Meta-governance : Identifying Theoretical and Empirical Challenges of Network Governance in the Political Field of Security and Beyond." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-259746.
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Meta-governance recently emerged in the field of governance as a new approach which claims that its use enables modern states to overcome problems associated with network governance. This thesis shares the view that networks are an important feature of contemporary politics which must be taken seriously, but it also maintains that networks pose substantial analytical and political challenges. It proceeds to investigate the potential possibilities and problems associated with meta-governance on both theoretical and empirical levels. The theoretical discussion examines meta-governance in relation to governmentality, and it puts forward the claim that meta-governance may be understood as a specific type of neo-liberal governmentality. The meta-governance perspective regards networks as a complementary structure to traditional administration that can be utilized in the implementation and realization of public policy, but which also preserves the self-regulating and flexible character of networks. This generates a contradiction between the goals of public management and the character of networks that requires further investigation. The combination of the specific dynamics of the political field of security, the diminishing role of sovereign powers, the emergence of security networks, and the meta-governance stance adopted by the Swedish state constitutes a situation that should have been favorable for the successful employment of meta-governance. The empirical investigation of meta-governance is divided into two parts. The first part reviews the historical process involved and shows how the Swedish government and public authorities have adopted a meta-governance stance. The second analyzes the specific instruments and strategies that have been deployed in the governance of security communications and in the management of Sweden’s new security communications system which is an important aspect of security networks. The historical study together with the analysis of the meta-governance tools deployed reveals that the meta-governors neither reached the goals specified, nor fulfilled the overall purpose of successful security communications. I argue on the basis of the theoretical and empirical findings obtained in the present study that it is very difficult to successfully employ meta-governance in respect to security and crisis management, and that we have sound reasons to suspect that meta-governance will run into similar difficulties in other political fields as well. I conclude that meta-governance is a far more difficult practice than has been anticipated by existing theories and policy recommendations. Turning to meta-governance as a way to govern and control organizations may in fact lead to further fragmentation and distortion of public politics.
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Söderqvist, Felicia. "Energy, Environment and Transportation : An Actor-Role Network Analysis of the World Energy Outlook 1977-2016." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-386463.
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This thesis explores how energy and environmental issues have been presented in the transportation sector over time in World Energy Outlook (WEO) publications; the flagship publication of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The thesis covers WEO publications from the first publication of 1977 up to 2016 (with the exception of WEO 1982). The data was extracted through the aid of interpretive content analysis, focusing on the transport sector. Energy and Environmental issues within the context of transportation were then discussed as to their roles and forms of action they were ascribed throughout the publications. Actor-network theory was used as a theoretical framework to map and showcase how these roles and actions conditioned and connected to each other. The results of the study show that energy has had a tendency to be divided into the camps of fuels that are either solutions or problems. The exceptions are biofuels, which stand out as fuels that are both solutions and problematic. The environmental issues are solved and caused through energy use, and in 1977,environmental consideration were presented as obstacles to energy security. In 1993 global warming and emissions have changed into being major policy concern. Pollution, congestion, dust, noise, and related health issues are added to the fray as time proceeds, and so are more forms of energy for solutions. Goals and interests showcased in the publications are shown to conflict with others, while energy efficiency as a solution has emerged as a solution to both global warming and energy security. The transport sector starts of as framed more asan area or space where environmental issues take place and solutions are implemented,however, increasing motorisation of the sector and traffic and its role as amajor emitter are later added as active aspects of the conditioning of thesector and in offsetting the solutions. Regional cases are used to exemplify the issues and solutions, with a major focus on OECD contexts, and technological renewal emerges early on as a mayor pathway in solving the environmental issues, through the support of consumers. However, the major issues still remain the same as in 1993.
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Juntti, Meri Johanna. "Interpreting agri-environmental policy : a comparative analysis of policy implementation in Finland and the UK." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/7608.
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Cavaghan, Rosalind. "Gender mainstreaming as a knowledge process : towards an understanding of perpetuation and change in gender blindness and gender bias." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6595.
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This thesis locates itself in wider developments in gender theory and examinations of the state’s production of gender inequality. It responds to two research problems in existing literature. Firstly, scholars have developed increasingly complex theorisations of the social construction of gender and the state’s role in it. This body of research has shown how gender blindness and gender bias in state policies produce inequality and how gender structures priorities, hierarchies and roles within state organisations. Fully operationalising these insights has, however, thus far proved difficult. Secondly, whilst existing research provides a nuanced picture of these multiple dynamics involved in the state’s reproduction of gender inequality, we cannot yet fully account for the processes through which these dynamics are maintained. As a result, our explanations of how change could be achieved are also under-developed. This thesis uses gender mainstreaming (GM) implementation as a model to explore these research problems, examining the processes underlying the ‘disappointing’ policy outcomes which existing analyses of GM implementation have documented (Bretherton 2001, Daly 2005, Mazey 2000). Whilst these existing studies provide an essential starting point, this thesis argues that many have applied an implicitly rigid or rationalistic approach to policy analysis, highlighting the disparity between the intended and actual outcomes of GM. This kind of approach fails to operationalise our understanding of the construction of gender as a process and a constantly renegotiated phenomenon. It also fails to exploit the research opportunities which GM implementation provides. To enable such an analysis, this thesis draws together literatures from policy studies, particularly interpretative policy analysis (Colebatch 2009, Pressman and Wildavsky 1984, Yanow 1993) and science and technology studies/the sociology of knowledge (STS/SK) (Latour and Callon 1981, Law 1986) to apply an understanding of policy implementation as a process of negotiation, where we analyse how policy is interpreted, understood and enacted, on the ground. This perspective emphasises how local responses to strategic policy demands emerge through collective processes of interpretation, which are heavily affected by pre-existing policy assumptions, activities and practices (Wagenaar 2004, Wagenaar et al 2003). These concepts are used to operationalise the concept of gender knowledge (Andresen and Doelling 2002, Caglar 2010, Cavaghan 2010, 2012, Doelling 2005) to investigate how shared (non)perceptions of gender inequality are institutionalised and perpetuated, whilst competing notions are marginalised. Thus developed, the gender knowledge concept enables us to grasp and analyse (non)perceptions of the gender inequality issue; the evidence or ways of thinking which underpin them; and the processes, materials and persons involved in institutionalising them to the exclusion of competing perceptions. This approach therefore operationalises the notion that gender and gendering is a process and connects the ‘genderedness of organisations’ (Benschop and Verloo 2006, Rees 2002) to gendered policy outputs. Examining ‘what is happening’ when GM is implemented in this manner provides an opportunity to identify mechanisms of resistance, i.e. the processes through which the production of gender inequality is maintained. By corollary, examining ‘successful’ incidences of GM implementation provides empirical examples of how change has occurred. The project thus aims to produce theoretical insights which can be extrapolated to a wider understanding of the perpetuation of the state production of gender inequality.
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Zisel, Matthew J. "An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Low-Income, First Generation Students' Transition to and Perceptions of Community College." Thesis, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10790548.
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Largely because it puts higher education within reach for all people, the community college is thought to play a vital role in the democratic functioning of American society. Partly driven by an ethos of American egalitarianism, low-cost and open access community colleges enroll, train, and educate nearly anyone who aspires to higher education. For low-income and first-generation college students, the community college serves as a primary vehicle for social mobility. Problems associated with low retention and graduation rates have lowered the public perception of community colleges and threaten to exacerbate growing concerns over income and wealth inequality in America. Therefore, it becomes important for policy analysts to explore and better understand the nature of community colleges in an effort to create improvement strategies.
This qualitative study seeks to understand the community college experience from the perspective of low-income, first generation students. It asked first year students about their background experiences and analyzed how those experiences shaped their transition to the first year of college. It also asked how low-income, first generation students perceived the community college in order to understand how students evaluate it and define its purpose. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to make sense of student experiences and to give voice to community college students who, as a studied population, receive far less attention than students at four-year colleges.
This study finds that low-income, first generation community college students lived experience includes managing class-based disadvantages; this made navigating their first year of community college challenging. Students had come to the community college expecting to learn skills that would help them to form new professional identities so that they could begin transforming their lives, making it possible to ascend the socio-economic ladder. In order to succeed in this new environment, students had to learn and adapt to a new set of social norms and expectations that the institution uses to socialize its students. Based upon the analysis of student experiences and perceptions, this study makes six recommendations to help improve student success which may lead to improved public perception and funding for community colleges.
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Diamond, Rowan. "A qualitative exploration of seeking psychological support in the police service : an interpretative phenomenological analysis." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.437401.
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Wright, Michael W. "The Louisiana Teacher Assault Pay Statute| An Analysis of Court Decisions Interpreting the Statute and a Comparative Study of Teacher Assault Pay Statutes in Other States." Thesis, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10260572.
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Municipalities, administrators, and teachers have faced the challenge of school violence since public education began. In some states, legislatures have passed special legislation granting specific benefits to teachers who are injured by violence while on duty. Louisiana’s teacher assault pay statute provides that a teacher who is away from work due to an assault by a student or other person is entitled to full pay without any deductions from the teacher’s accumulated sick leave. However, the meaning of that statute has been disputed in litigation between teachers who suffered injuries and Louisiana school boards that seek to limit their responsibility for paying teachers who are on leave due to workplace violence.
As a matter of public policy, teachers who are injured in the workplace by acts of violence should receive special compensation, whether the violence was perpetuated by a student or any other person. And teachers who are harmed by a violent incident deserve special compensation whether or not the teacher was the intended victim of a violent act.
This study analyzed Louisiana appellate court decisions that interpreted the Louisiana teacher assault pay statute, as well as the teacher assault statutes that have been adopted in twelve other states. Based on this analysis, the researcher drafted a proposal for a model teacher assault pay statute that codifies the public policy considerations in favor of compensating teachers for injuries caused by workplace violence. The model statute grants injured teachers up to one year’s compensation without reduction in accumulated sick leave, and the statute clarifies that a teacher victimized by violence is entitled to the benefits of the teacher assault pay statute, regardless of whether the teacher was the intended victim.
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Sosa, Katherine Joanna. "“Square Peg in a Round Hole” An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Workers’ Experiences with Workplace Conflict." Diss., NSUWorks, 2019. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dcar_etd/132.
Full textAbstract:
Conflict is a predictable aspect of organizational life. Research indicates that workers spend the majority of their lifetime at work and that unresolved conflict is one of the largest reducible costs in organizations. However, the majority of employee conflicts are not accurately addressed by rights-and-power based conflict management systems. This Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study explored the experiences and perceptions of workers who had been involved in an unresolved or escalated workplace conflict that was of consequence in their lives. The study sought to learn how it impacted them and how they made sense of the conflict, their organizations, and their options. Nine workers from seven different industries were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Central to this study’s gestalt is the square peg in a round hole phenomenon that symbolizes what it means to live through a significant workplace conflict. The participants experienced emotional turmoil, a sense of powerlessness, and a perception that their interpersonal conflicts did not fit within their organizations’ conflict management systems. Participants’ stories are woven throughout the analysis and highlighted in six superordinate themes (1) Impact from Negative Work-Life Events, (2) Costly Reactions, (3) Covert Conflict, (4) Reducing Dissonance to Facilitate Resilience, (5) Detachment from the Organization, (6) Learning through Reflection. This study contributes to the field of conflict resolution with insights on workplace conflict costs including the pervasiveness of presenteeism, how a sense of powerlessness can lead to detachment from the organization, and how valuable dialogue can be in reframing workers’ experience.
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Allen, Daniel. "Changing relationships with the self and others : an interpretative phenomenological analysis of a Traveller and Gypsy life in public care." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/8249.
Full textAbstract:
Background: The implementation of the Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care Green Paper (Department for Education and Skills, (DfES) 2006) and the subsequent Care Matters: Time for Change White Paper (DfES, 2007), witnessed the consolidation of a universal ambition to improve the opportunities for all children living in care. Arguably, the most important recommendation in this pursuit is reflected in the need to provide people who have lived in care as children with independent support, which enables them to discuss their experiences, and suggest ways in which the care system might be improved. However, whilst this recommendation has been implemented with a diverse range of care leavers, the impact of the experience of living in care and the associated disadvantage experienced by Travellers and Gypsies remains under researched, understated, and unacknowledged (Cemlyn et al., 2009). Methodology: Guided by the philosophical assumptions of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study represents and constructs the experience of living in public care by focusing on the voices 10 Travellers and Gypsies who lived in care as children. Testimonies were collected through a wide variety of methods that included face-to-face interviews, focus groups, telephone interviews, blogs, emails, letters, song lyrics, and poems. Findings: Following a considered application of IPA, six main themes emerged from the analysis. These were social intervention; an emotional rollercoaster of separation, transition, and reincorporation; a war against becoming settled; leaving care and the changing relationship with the self and others; inclusion and strength; and, messages for children living in care. In line with the tenets of phenomenology, these findings are presented in such a way to as to invite the reader to move away from their own personal understanding of the world in order to enter the ‘lifeworld’ (Husserl, 1970, 1982) of Travellers and Gypsies who lived in care as children. However, to assist in this sense making activity, this study also provides a discrete interpretation of the findings before developing this knowledge to form a more detailed theoretical construct entitled ‘the model of reflective self-concepts’. Taken together with the testimonies of each person who took part in the study, the thesis enables an understanding of how the experience of living in care is inextricably linked to a process of social and psychological acculturation. By staying close to the experiences provided, it reveals how a process of change is determined, more often than not, by a sense of personal resilience directly related towards a Traveller or Gypsy self-concept. In attempt to move towards service improvement, this thesis offers a series of recommendations and conclusions which aim to support social workers and carers empower Traveller and Gypsy children to develop a secure Traveller and Gypsy self-concept thus enabling them experience improved outcomes including those opportunities set out in Care Matters social policy agenda (DfES, 2006; 2007).
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Atchley, Cindy J. "Exploring Linguistic Challenges and Cultural Competency Development in a Small Multinational Corporation." ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2518.
Full textAbstract:
In 2016's global business landscape, the increase in workers moving across borders to find employment accentuates the language and cultural challenges for both employees and organizations. Employees working in a multinational environment need to have an understanding of language and culture to handle the complex nature of professional work in a multinational corporation (MNC). The purpose of this study was to explore what communication competencies employees in a small MNC needed to communicate across multicultural environments in the workplace. A dialectic approach of intercultural communication was used to explore these needs in one small MNC located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using English as the corporate language. Data were collected from 9 employees of one data security firm using semistructured interviewing, the data was then coded into NVivo. Using interpretative phenomenology analysis, the themes of understanding, cultural sensitivity, pace, and fitting in emerged. Results of the study indicated a disconnect in the cultural mentality of Americanness versus Arabness in the business environment where societal factors and national identity reflected in how the employees think and act in the workplace. Lack of cultural knowledge in an MNC can impact the financial health of an organization in lost opportunities, reduced productivity, and long-term relationship damage with clients and partners. The results of this study could contribute to positive social change by providing small MNCs with the insight to enhance intercultural communication and intercultural awareness among employees in building a global workforce.
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"Interpretive Policy Analysis on Enhancing Education Equity and Empowerment for Girls in Rural India." Doctoral diss., 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.9336.
Full textAbstract:
abstract: The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) policy scheme launched in 2004 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Government of India, aims to provide secondary level education (grade 6-8) for girls residing predominantly in minority communities, the Scheduled Caste (SC), the Scheduled Tribe (ST), and the Other Backward Caste (OBC). Since its launch, the Government of India established 2,578 KGBV schools in 27 states and union territories (UTs). The present study examines the new policy and its implementation at three KGBV schools located in rural villages of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. The purpose was to analyze the Government of India's approach to increasing education opportunity and participation for educationally disadvantaged girls using the empowerment framework developed by Deepa Narayan. Observations at three schools, interviews with teachers and staff members of the implementation agency (i.e., Mahila Samakhya (MS)), and surveys administered to 139 teachers were conducted over a four month period in 2009. Adopting creative teaching approaches and learning activities, MS creates safe learning community which is appropriate for the rural girls. MS gives special attention to nurturing the girls' potential and empowering them inside and outside the school environment through social discussion, parental involvement, rigid discipline and structure, health and hygiene education, and physical and mental training. Interviews with the state program director and coordinators identified some conflicts within government policy schemes such as the Teacher-pupil ratios guidelines as a part of the programs for the universalization of elementary education. Major challenges include a high turnover rate of teachers, a lack of female teachers, a lack of provision after Class 8, and inadequate budget for medical treatment. Recommendations include promoting active involvement of male members in the process of girls' empowerment, making MS approaches of girls' education in rural settings standardized for wider dissemination, and developing flexible and strong partnership among local agencies and government organizations for effective service delivery.Dissertation/Thesis
Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011
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"Welcoming City Initiative for Urban Economic Development: An Interpretive Policy Analysis of Four U.S. Welcoming Cities." Doctoral diss., 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.44229.
Full textAbstract:
abstract: Cities today face new economic, political, and social challenges spurred, in part, by the growth of immigrant and newcomer populations and increasing competitive pressure in the context of contemporary globalization. In the face of these challenges, some U.S. city and county governments have adopted the “welcoming city initiative,” which promotes both immigrant integration and economic growth. To date, little research has explored why different U.S. cities decide to pursue the welcoming city initiatives, what cities really hope to achieve through them, or what governing arrangements emerge to develop and implement these initiatives. In addition to illuminating the emerging discursive, political, and organizational dynamics of welcoming, this dissertation contributes to the literatures in urban asset development, urban regime theory, and political and bureaucratic incorporation.
Drawing on 30 interviews with key actors and document analysis, this dissertation employs a multiple case study design to conduct an interpretive policy analysis of the initiatives of four U.S. welcoming cities: Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Illinois; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The analysis explores three independent but interconnected themes. The first theme concerns multiple, context-specific framings of “welcoming” and the types of assets cities seek to leverage and develop through the welcoming city initiatives. This investigation finds that while each city puts a priority on developing a certain set of assets based on its unique political, economic, and demographic contexts, welcoming efforts tend to encourage immigrant entrepreneurialism, the leveraging newcomers’ human capital and financial assets, and the development place-based assets to attract and retain newcomers. The efforts to strengthen community capacity seek to institutionalize a new norm of welcoming, structure immigrant-friendly governance practices, and engage newcomers and longer-term residents in their community affairs. The second theme probes the ways in which these four cities create and maintain governing regimes for the initiative. The analysis finds that, while the four cities develop different governing structures, all pursue the creation of mixed types of governing coalitions that combine pro-growth and opportunity expansion regimes by incorporating the goals of economic growth and immigrant integration. The third theme investigates different modes of immigrant incorporation and their contribution to immigrant integration, the final stage in immigrant settlement. The analysis suggests that political leaders and bureaucratic agencies of the welcoming cities tend to build reciprocal relationships, rather than principal-agent relationships, in which political leaders rely on the positional, professional, and technical expertise of bureaucrats. In these early stages on the initiative, political and bureaucratic incorporation aim to create institutional changes that help immigrants and newcomers to be viewed as political constituents and clients of bureaucratic agencies.
This dissertation broadly concludes that the welcoming city initiative is a promising new urban economic development framework that could reshape urban space by integrating pro-growth demands with social integration and inclusion. Going forward, however, deeper consideration of the perspectives and rights of immigrants and newcomers themselves is needed in these initiatives.Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration 2017
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Maltese, Ryan Z. "THEY, TOO, SING AMERICA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF USG POLICY 4.1.6 AND ITS PERCEIVED IMPACTS ON DACA STUDENTS IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA." 2017. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss/159.
Full textAbstract:
Research interrogating the development, implementation and enforcement of reactionary and conservative social and educational movements and policies has enabled us to show the con- tradictions and unequal effects and the disproportionate and disparate impacts on the lives of mi- nority students (Apple, 2009). This research study examined how the Board of Regents, Geor- gia’s higher education governing body, interprets and enforces the “lawful presence” require- ment set forth in USG Policy 4.1.6. The study gave primary consideration to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, who the data show have been systematically excluded from access to certain state colleges and universities without legal cause or justification.
The study also examined the perceived impacts of Policy 4.1.6 on DACA students seek- ing admission to the state’s most selective colleges and universities. Data collected from partici- pant interviews of DACA students, along with data gathered through participant observation and documents analysis, were used to create a greater understanding of the impacts of Policy 4.1.6 on
both DACA and undocumented students. The study is significant because it traverses matters of current legal import, while also contributing to the growing body of literature concerning access to postsecondary education for undocumented students. Using the methodological approach of critical theory, the study incorporated elements of critical race theory (CRT), critical Latino/a studies (LatCrit), and critical policy analysis in the exploration of the various narratives and counternarratives created by the enforcement of Policy 4.1.6. Using Interpretive Phenomenologi- cal Analysis (IPA) of the interview data, a critical assessment of the perceived impacts of Geor- gia immigration and education policy development and implementation is also provided. Finally, this study revealed the ways in which ‘race-neutral’ educational policies result in discriminatory practices against minorities, specifically undocumented students, the majority of who are Lati- no/a. The knowledge gained from this research gives policymakers on either side of this issue with analysis that can more effectively guide them in the interpretation of federal mandates and conflicting state laws that result in the subordination of significant segments of student popula- tions.
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Carpenter, Bradley Wayne. "(Re)framing the politics of educational discourse : an investigation of the Title I School Improvement Grant program of 2009." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2011-05-3221.
Full textAbstract:
Of the numerous public policy debates currently taking place throughout the United States, perhaps no issue receives more attention than the persistence of “chronically” low-performing public schools. As of 2009, approximately 5,000 schools—5% of the nation’s total—qualified as chronically low performing (Duncan, 2009d). Certainly, these statistics merit the attention of policy scholars, yet the political contestation of interests attempting to influence how the federal government should address such issues has reached a new fevered crescendo.
Given the increased politicization of the federal government’s role in education and the growing number of interests attempting to influence the debates concerning school reform, education policy scholars have recognized the need to extend the field of policy studies by using analytical frameworks that consider both the discourse and performative dimensions of deliberative policy making. Therefore, this study addresses this particular need by employing a critical interpretive policy analysis that illustrates how both dominant discourses and the deliberative performances of the federal government shaped the policy vocabularies embedded within the Title I School Improvement Grant program of 2009 as the commonsense solutions for the nation’s chronically low-performing schools.
In addition, this study provides a historical analysis, illustrating how the omnipresent threat of an economic crisis has been a primary influence in the politics of federal governance since the global economic collapse of the 1970s. This study demonstrates how over the course of the last four decades the United States has consistently reduced its commitment to the public sector, choosing instead to promote economic policies informed by the ideals of market-based liberalism. Subsequently, this study presents the argument that education, specifically the “chronic failure” of public schools, has emerged as a “primary emblematic issue” (Hajer, 1995) and now serves as an “effective metaphor for the nation’s economic crisis.”
Thus, with such issues presented as a contextual backdrop, this study examines how the Obama/Duncan Administration operationalized dominant discourses and performative practices to establish consensual support for a turnaround reform agenda, effectively defining the policy solutions made available to those who participated in the revision of the Title I SIG program of 2009.text
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"Native American History Instruction in an Urban Context: An Exploration of Policy, Practice, and Native American Experience." Doctoral diss., 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.24964.
Full textAbstract:
abstract: This study examines the genesis, practice, and Native experiences of stakeholders with two Arizona kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) statute that mandate instruction of Native American history. The research questions relate to the original intent of the policies, implementation in urban school districts, how Native American parents experienced Native American history in their own education and their aspirations for this type of instruction in their children's education. Lomawaima and McCarty's (2006) safety zone theory was utilized to structure and analyze data. Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies (CIRM) (Brayboy, Gough, Leonard, Roehl, & Solym, 2012; Smith, 2012) was used in this interpretive policy analysis and phenomenological research study. Interviews were conducted with policymakers, a department of education official, urban school district personnel, and Native American parents with children in the pertinent school districts. Data included in-depth interview and legislative committee meeting transcripts, artifacts including bill versions, summaries and fact sheets, school board manuals, and the state social studies standards. The findings indicate that the intent of the statutes was to foster a better understanding among students (and hence, the state's citizenry) leading toward reciprocal government-to-government relationships between tribal nations and non-tribal governments. Teaching sovereignty and self-determination were fundamental. Although the school-based participants had limited knowledge of the policies, the district personnel believed they implemented the mandates because the state social studies standards were utilized to frame instruction. However, the 45 social studies standards related to Native Americans focus on extinct (referred to as historic in the standards) Native societies. The social studies standards ignore contemporary tribal nations and are thus inefficacious in supporting the goal of a better understanding of sovereignty, or in supporting Native American self-determination. The Native parent participants defied stereotypical images; they were involved in their children's educational attainment and were reintroducing cultural and tribal capital. Recommendations include allocating funds to support implementation of the policies at the local school and state levels, establishing culturally responsive curriculum that recognizes and promotes tribal nations and tribal sovereignty, and strengthening relationships between tribal nations, school districts, and the state department of education.Dissertation/Thesis
Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2014
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Gebresselassie, Mahtot T. "Analysis of Media Discourse Surrounding Urban Planning Issues: A Case Study of Transit City." Thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/7739.
Full textAbstract:
Contemporary urban planning emphasizes the need for practice to be collaborative and communicative. It stresses on the importance of public engagement and participation. To ensure informed participation, planners need to provide relevant information to the public. However, the relevance of that information depends on an understanding of the existing discourse about the issue of interest. My research examined Transit City as a case study to demonstrate how that understanding can be gained. The question that framed the research was: What are the characteristics of discourses surrounding urban planning issues? The research focused on examining media coverage to gain that understanding for two reasons. Firstly, the media are considered to be the main purveyors of public discourse. However, there are limitations in the way they represent issues as this research found. Secondly, the media play an informant role, however imperfectly, on topics that matter. In part, this role gives them their importance and influence. The research examined media discourse surrounding Transit City in 94 articles in National Post, the Toronto Star, CUTA Forum, and Ontario Planning Journal to answer the research question. Discourse analysis was used as a method to investigate the topic under the framework of interpretive policy analysis. The research found that four of the media outlets used discursive practices of representation that highlighted certain themes and excluded others. It also found that the discursive communities that were identified in the media discourse interpreted Transit City differently through their discursive frames that were informed by their interest and responsibility in regards to Transit City and their core belief systems. As such their “argumentative logic” highlighted some aspects of Transit City and excluded others in the debate that ensued. The understanding of such characteristics of discourse can help planners in two ways. First, it informs the planning and the tailoring of messages they relay to discursive communities of various relevance. It allows them to have a stronger participation in the shaping of media discourse and generation of informed debate in the public as well as the professional sphere. Second, it can help planners in developing solutions to address points of controversy and bridge differences among stakeholders effectively in their role as mediators and consensus builders. Both benefits have positive implications in creating informed participation and making the planning process a collaborative and communicative effort.
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"Rationales Shaping International Linkages in Higher Education: A Qualitative Case Study of the ASU-ITESM Strategic Alliance." Doctoral diss., 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.9448.
Full textAbstract:
abstract: This qualitative case study examines the rationales of the relationship between Arizona State University (ASU)--an American public research university--and Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM), a Mexican private not for profit research university. The focus of the study is to document the different meanings participants attached to the rationales of this international inter-university relationship. The conceptual framework draws from internationalization of higher education and interpretive policy analysis literature. Qualitative methodologies were utilized in both data collection and analysis. Data consisted of institutional policy documents, a ranking survey, and semi-structured interviews with faculty, administrators, and senior leadership from both universities. This study demonstrates that the rationales of the ASU-ITESM relationship are complex and dynamic. They have a function (e.g., declared, interpreted, enacted) and meanings attached (e.g., type, scope, and priority). Declared rationales were expressed in an ideal state in institutional policy. Those were interpreted by the participants according to their individual sense-making framework, thus becoming the interpreted rationales. Participants acted upon such understandings; these enacted rationales refer to the real rationales shaping the inter-university relationship. Findings also show there were three different categories of meanings participants attached to rationales, based on their type, scope and priority. In terms of type, rationales took the form of values, interests and needs, or expected benefits; they can also be academic, economic, political, or social/cultural. In scope, rationales are broad or specific addressing the relationship overall or specific initiatives within; they target individual, organizational, or societal levels. As for priority, participants interpreted and acted upon rationales with high, moderate or low importance influenced by their job position (e.g., faculty, administrators, senior leadership).Dissertation/Thesis
Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011
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Phaiphai, Thanyani. "An analysis of teachers' experiences in Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement implementation in intermediate and senior phase primary schools : Vhembe district." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/27540.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explored teachers’ experiences in curriculum implementation in primary schools in the Vhembe district. Curriculum implementation prompts thinking and learning of new things in the teachers’ day-to-day workplace. Primary school teachers are pillars of strength in contributing to the children’s future success. The thesis presents a contribution to the knowledge of curriculum implementation at the school level through a case study and a qualitative research approach as it aimed to comprehend and describe teachers’ practices and experiences on the implementation of the curriculum, which is a social phenomenon that includes ideas, thoughts, and actions. The thesis takes an appropriate starting point in arguing that curriculum implementation prompts thinking and learning of new things in the teachers’ day-to-day workplace. The context of the argument is primary school teachers’ lived experiences in South Africa in the face of curriculum change. The researcher critically argues that South Africa is amongst many countries that experienced curriculum challenges and resorted to change and one of the changes was in the form of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) which signalled a shift in teaching approaches. In this new way of teaching, teachers seem lost and therefore apply traditional teaching methods. Teachers are expected to apply curriculum changes and develop new skills through qualification improvement, but it is questionable whether the challenges that the teachers themselves recognise as important are taken into cognisance.
The researcher elaborated eight recommendations in relation to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. Some of the recommendations are summarily as that education curriculum advisors from the Limpopo Department of Education be appointed to visit all schools to aid and assess the implementation. It is also recommended that the Department of Basic Education must retrain all primary school teachers for a week during school vacation. These recommendations are of paramount importance and the Limpopo Department of Education should consider them as a priority. As the government can intervene by funding the implementation of the CAPS in the training and reskilling of teachers.Curriculum and Instructional Studies
Ph. D. (Curriculum and Instructional Studies)
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Nkhumeleni, Cebisa. "The transformation of the higher education institutions in the post-apartheid era : the South African Research Chairs initiative as an indicator." Diss., 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/11836.
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The study investigated whether the South African Research Chairs and the research programmes of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation Programme (DST/NRF programmes), have made an effective contribution towards the acceleration of transformation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. The study argues that the implementation of the Higher Education (HE) policies by HEIs and the South African Research Chairs are seriously undermined by legacies of colonialism and apartheid. It is further contended that unless more funds are made available to black students to study full-time, the pillars of democracy of social justice, redress and equality remain meaningless ideological slogans.
Guided by the insights provided by literature review on CDA, the study focuses more on the top-down relations of dominance (policy) that fuels continuing racial discrimination in higher education institutions, which the 2008 Final Report of the Ministerial Higher Education Committee isolated for criticism. The study posits that the thematic structural unifier, which links all the pieces of the multiplicity of the competing ideas and voices and threads through the whole study, is the endless probing and unravelling of the cultural and historical factors that continue to undermine the higher education transformation agenda.
The findings of this study suggest that the policy implementation of the HE transformation agenda continues to be constrained by mismatch between policy objectives and implementation results. The findings also indicate that although the research-driven performance of South African Research Chairs has progressively improved each year and student support and research outputs increased between the 2008/09 and 2009/10 financial years, the direct impact of the SARChI programme can only be determined when performance is measured against the South African Research Chair Holders‟ baseline performance. The data also suggest that despite access to educational services at HEIs improving, the existence of various forms of discriminatory
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practices, are still employed, a major challenge attributed to the “great man” leadership styles adopted by many university‟s vice chancellors and councils. This evaluation study utilises a small-scale purposive sample composed of three experts, with unstructured in-depth face-to-face interviews conducted with the experts.Educational Studies
M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)
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Chislett, Wai-Kwan. "Perceptions of health professionals and parents of children undergoing weight-management therapy: childhood obesity management, treatment and policy implications." Thesis, 2019. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/40724/.
Full textAbstract:
Background: Childhood obesity is a global phenomenon and public health problem. It is a chronic health condition associated with a body composition of excessive fat impacting on a child’s physical and social development.
Public health initiatives addressing childhood obesity have had little success in reducing the prevalence of obesity or of returning children to a ‘normal’ BMI. Clinical guidelines recommend that health professionals from primary, secondary and tertiary settings should manage paediatric obesity. However, little is known about the current landscape of childhood obesity management: who is involved, what approaches are used, or what the main enablers or barriers to effective management are. Research has focused on the perceptions and practices of Australian general practitioners, but little is known about the experiences of other health professionals who manage childhood obesity.
The purpose of the study was to explore and describe how Australian health professionals and parents experience and perceive childhood obesity management. The aim was to access information that related particularly to facilitators and barriers of management.
Methods: Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used as an approach to examine and describe factors that influenced the ways in which health professionals and parents experienced and perceived the phenomenon of childhood obesity management. Semi- structured interviews were undertaken with health professionals and parents. The research comprised two studies.
Study 1 involved health professionals from private practice, weight-management clinics, hospital and community services in three Australian states. Participants were dietitians, paediatricians, psychologists, physiotherapists and endocrinologists.
Study 2 presents four case studies of parents who had attended a paediatric weight management clinic.
Findings: Health professionals described childhood obesity as a body size that put children at risk of poor health outcomes; the psychological impacts were particularly of concern. They discussed their perceptions of their role in diagnosis, assessment and treatment; and shared their experiences of carrying out these roles. Each perceived role was described in the context of barriers that presented both internal and external to the clinical management setting. This included a paucity of services to refer children with obesity, insufficient resources to support treatment and their inadequate knowledge/training to engage families and effectively implement prescribed changes to health behaviours. Furthermore, health professionals believed changes made during clinical interventions were unsustainable because of the impact of the wider environment, particularly ease of access to calorie-dense foods, sedentary activities and family circumstances.
The implications of the obstacles health professionals faced in treating childhood obesity were evident in parents’ interviews. Parents reported: difficulties accessing services due to limited availability and work hours; problems getting the whole family to attend sessions; resistance from other family members, including the children themselves. They believed health professionals played an integral role in gaining the entire family’s support. Parents wanted better strategies that would help their family more readily accept changes; however, they also acknowledged ensuring every meal for children was healthy was difficult due to the impact of an obesogenic environment. Ultimately, parents felt more in control of their family environment but were not confident these changes could be sustained, particularly when children were out of their direct care.
Conclusion: Childhood obesity management may benefit from a systems approach. This includes having a health infrastructure and training that supports the practices of health professionals so that optimal management can be achieved. Additionally, policies that address the environmental and social determinants of childhood obesity are required to support sustainable behaviour change initiated by clinical management.
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Murphy-Nugen, Amy. "From Homeownership to Foreclosure: Exploring the Meanings Homeowners Associate with the Lived Experience of Foreclosure." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1805/6280.
Full textAbstract:
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)This study is an interpretative phenomenological analysis that explored the meanings homeowners associated with their lived experience of foreclosure. In the wake of the 2006 housing crash and 2008 Great Recession, questions have been posed about the continued efficacy of homeownership as an asset-based strategy. In addition, the conversation has been dominated by traditional economic and business interests. Discussions about housing policy and foreclosure response have marginalized the voice of vulnerable populations. The literature on housing policy reflects a positivist perspective that privileges analysis of unit production, economic costs and benefits. Secondary attention is given to exploring housing and foreclosure from a critical and constructivist standpoint. Consequently, this study intentionally engaged people who have experienced foreclosure. Depth and meaning were uncovered through interpretative phenomenological analysis. A purposive sample of five homeowners who experienced foreclosure was identified. The five homeowners participated in semi-structured interview. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using the six-step process articulated for interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). IPA combines three philosophical foundations—phenomenology, hermeneutics, and idiography—to approach qualitative and experiential research. The findings of this study discovered that foreclosure represents disconnection for the participants. Specifically, due to experiencing foreclosure, participants felt separated from their self-identity, from housing finance literacy, from their relationship with their mortgage lender and servicers, from the benefits of homeownership and from self-sufficiency due to their social service-based, helping-based, and/or low-wage employment. Study findings both affirm and challenge relevant theoretical frameworks. In addition, this research underscores the need for social work education to address financial literacy. Further, social work practitioners should be prepared to either provide or refer consumers to home-buyer education and training. Social workers should also challenge exploitative consumer practices and offer empowering alternatives in their place. Lastly, this research offers strategies and practices to strengthen housing policy and foreclosure response for the benefit of consumers.