Education Commons^™

Apprenticeship And Literacy Model For Women In Afghanistan: A Grounded Narrative, Mohammad Iqbal Halimi

Master's Capstone Projects

This study reviewed the Learning for Community Empowerment Project (LCEP-2), a five-year project designed by UN-Habitat and funded by the United States International Agency for Development (USAID). The project’s major goal was to empower marginalized communities in Afghanistan through activities in integrated literacy, community saving and investment groups, apprenticeships, and business development training.

The study examined the empowerment model of this project. It first investigated the work the social organizers did with the men and women residents of the project implementation locations in transforming patriarchal norms in conservative areas to improve women’s access to public space. It then looked at …

Aid Fragmentation, Commitments And Progress: A Textbook Provision Case Study From Afghanistan, Zia Andar

Master's Capstone Projects

This study reviews aid fragmentation and implementation effectiveness using a textbook production and distribution project in Afghanistan as a case study. The aid effectiveness debate has been part of the development discussion for both academics and practitioners since the beginning of modern aid. An overall consensus exists that development aid programs are not as effective as they should be. The debate over aid effectiveness has intensified in the last two decades and a series of international forums on aid effectiveness convened in this period, the most prominent of which are the High Level Forums on Aid Effectiveness, hosted by the …

A Review Of The Literature On Civil Society Funding For Education: Models For Zimbabwe, Vongaishe Changamire

Master's Capstone Projects

Humanitarian aid, development assistance and government budget allocations to education continues to dwindle resulting in an increase of the number of children out of school especially for low resourced countries. (GMR, 2015). Due to this, Zimbabwean education has become expensive and thus inaccessible to children in low income communities and rural areas. In 2012, more than 500, 000 students were recorded to be out of school in Zimbabwe. This paper, a comparative literature review, sought to identify challenges in current education funding, document various indigenous alternative models of funding and attempt to develop a Zimbabwean education financing framework from lessons …

Perceptions Of Quality In Higher Education In Afghanistan: A Case Study Of Shaheed Rabbani Education University, Homayoon Taheryar

Master's Capstone Projects

This study investigates how the concepts of quality and quality assurance (QA) standards are understood in the Afghan higher education system. First, I carried out a literature review of the available literature globally and then reviewed the available literature about Afghanistan’s higher education quality assurance system. Second, I conducted a case study at Shaheed Rabbani Education University (SREU), a public higher education institution in Afghanistan, to explore how academic staff at this university understand the concepts of quality and the QA standards. The study included qualitative interviews with seven key respondents at SREU. The findings from the case study suggest …

Problematizing Entrepreneurship (Education) In International Development: A Case Study Of A Youth Program In Burkina Faso, Nolizwe Mhlaba

Master's Capstone Projects

Entrepreneurship education and training (EET) has become more prominent on the international development agenda as a strategy for inclusive growth and poverty alleviation. Proponents of EET argue that it has reached marginalized groups - such as unemployed youth - in non-formal education settings, equipping them with the skills, mindsets, and knowledge to secure better economic outcomes for themselves. However, critics assert that the human capital focus of EET reflects a neoliberal orientation that essentially glosses over structural problems and shifts the burden of development onto the target populations of such programs. This tension underlies the dilemma of development work, whereby …

Jordanian Teachers' Opinions Of Effective Peace Education With Syrian Refugees, Michael Acosta

Master's Capstone Projects

This research highlights Jordanian teachers' perspectives on good peace education practices with Syrian refugees in Jordanian public schools. Since the start of the Syrian conflict, many International organizations invest time and money into integrating Syrian refugees into the Jordanian community, including public schools. However, many challenges still exist. In order to understand this phenomenon, Jordanian public school teachers participated in qualitative surveys and in semi-structured group interviews, where they discussed challenges and best practices used in their classrooms. From the surveys and semi-structured interviews, teachers discussed six categories of issues they face daily: societal, physiological, political, religious, and the role …

Responding To Complexity: A Case Study On The Use Of "Developmental Evaluation For Managing Adaptively", Kayla Boisvert

Master's Capstone Projects

Over the past 15 years, the international development field has increasingly emphasized the need to improve aid effectiveness. While there have been many gains as a result of this emphasis, many critique the mechanisms that have emerged to enhance aid effectiveness, particularly claiming that they inappropriately force adherence to predefined plans and hold programs accountable for activities and outputs, not outcomes. However, with growing acceptance of the complexity of development challenges, different ways to design, manage, and evaluate projects are beginning to take hold that better reflect this reality.

Many development practitioners explain that Developmental Evaluation (DE) and Adaptive Management …

Digital Media Training For Pre-Service Teachers: A Comparison From A Ttc In Malawi And A University In Massachusetts, Lusayo Mwenifumbo

Master's Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

The Thai-Lao Mother Tongue: Teacher Needs, Competencies, And Conditions For Effective Instruction, Lukas Winfield

Master's Capstone Projects

This study examines the needs, competencies and conditions for teachers to effectively teach the Thai-Lao mother tongue. The Isan Culture Maintenance and Revitalization Program in Conjunction with Khon Kaen, Chum Phae, Muang Phon municipality government, recently introduced the Thai Lao mother tongue into 15 schools as an elective subject. This marks the first time the government has incorporated the Thai-Lao language into formal schooling. An orthography of the language was only recently developed so teachers lack preservice training in teaching the language and familiarity with reading and writing Thai-Lao.

In the three school districts participating in the project, I conducted …

Sources Of Influence On Perceptions Of South Korean Youths About Unification Of North And South Korea, Surl Hee Kim

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to explore what information sources are influencing the perception of south Korean youths about unification between North and South Korea. The Research Examined the sources and the tone of message which the youths receive from non-school sources such as family, peers, teachers, religious institutions and media.

The research methodology combined a survey with interviews. Questionnaires were collected from a total of 273 students in 3 high schools located in metropolitan ares of Seoul in South Korea. Interviews with a student and a unification education lecturer who is a North Korean defector were also conducted. …

Engaging Influential Network Members In The Community To Advocate For Health And Aspirations Of Unmarried Adolescent Girls In Kolkata, India, Evangeline Ambat

Master's Capstone Projects

Working with unmarried adolescent girls on issues related to their health, nutrition and building life skills impacts the health of their children in the future. This paper presents both the needs analysis and the outline of a project proposal resulting from the needs analysis to work with unmarried adolescent girls. Project ASHAYEIN (Advocacy for Supporting Health & Aspirations of Youth by Engaging their Influential Networks) - the acronym means "hopes and wishes" in Hindi- seeks to create a web of support to reduce the vulnerability of adolescent girls in an urban slum community in the Howrah area of West Bengal …

Experiences Of Religious Minorities In Public High Schools In The Pioneer Valley: The Case Of Jehovah's Witnesses, Foster Kamanga

Master's Capstone Projects

This study was undertaken to explore the perceptions of adult Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) about the ways in which JWs balance the tension between their religious beliefs and public school activities in the Pioneer Valley.

The researcher collected data from seven in-depth interviews with one teacher, five witness former students and one adult, one focus group discussion with six mothers, participant observation and document reviews. Data collection (with interviews lasting from 50-70 minutes) took place during the summer of 2015 in Amherst.

Familial socialization, church-based dramas and speeches and bible studies prepare Witnesses children on how to behave or respond to …

Digital Storytelling With Refugee Youth: A Tool For Promoting Literacy And Youth Empowerment And A Catalyst For Social Action, Christina Chen

Master's Capstone Projects

For my master’s project in the International Education concentration, College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, I chose to conduct an action research project where I worked with refugee youth aged twelve to fourteen in Springfield, Massachusetts, to facilitate them in creating digital narratives about their lives and experiences coming to the United States. From November 2014 through March 2015, I recruited seven students to participate in a 22-hour workshop I facilitated over twelve weeks. During the workshop, they learned about digital storytelling, wrote their stories, and created multimedia videos of these narratives. They shared their digital stories with each …

Cultural Diversity And Non-Formal Health Education In Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Promise Mchenga

Master's Capstone Projects

Malawi is one of the African countries that hosts thousands of refugees mostly from Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and other African countries. These refugees come from various cultural backgrounds. Their cultural diversity is visible in languages, tribes, spiritual beliefs, food, dances and etiquette. Even though these refugees are all around the country, their concentration at Dzaleka Refugee Camp is usually over 10,000 at any given period of the year.

Amidst the refugees finding a relatively safe place in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, they however face community health challenges as any other reasonably stable community. In worst cases, health …

Perceptions Of Health Educators And Supervisors About Their Preparation In Alexandria, Egypt (How Well They Believe Their Training And Preparation Prepared Them To Work As Health Educators), Elshaymaa Ahmed

Master's Capstone Projects

Health educators have many responsibilities, including community education, assessment program development, evaluation, research, health policy and grant writing. Health educators in Egypt do not participate in all these activities, but they mostly do participate in essential activities such as community education. The health educators in Egypt get training and preparation on topics such as addiction, women’s health, chronic diseases, and the skills needed for teaching.

This study investigated the perceptions of health educators and their supervisors about how well they believe their training and preparation has prepared them to work with health clients in Alexandria, Egypt. The study includes interviews …

Through The Camera Lens Of Development: An Exploration Of Ngos' Representations Of Africa, Sebastian Lindstrom

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose if this qualitative research is to acquire new knowledge in the African visual representational landscape, a digital space carefully filmed and edited by some of the most celebrated and acknowledged, mostly Western, NGOs in the world. The most watched Africa-related video from 50 NGOs were selected, downloaded and analyzed. After continuous re-watching of a 3.5 hour long set of visual data tree themes emerged. One segment relates around the NGOs intervention, another about the term or statement ‘help’, and the last theme is HIV/AIDS. The findings include the realization that the beneficiary was never explaining the intervention of …

Negotiating Invisibility: Addressing Lgbt Prejudice In China, Hong Kong, And Thailand, Hunter Gray

Master's Capstone Projects

This research serves as a consolidation of information regarding the global response to LGBT prejudice, and in particular, the response of organizations situated in China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Interviews with activists and researchers from organizations that address LGBT prejudice served as the main form of data. Findings and subsequent analysis point to the ways in which organizations respond to the lack of visibility of the LGBT community, and how this invisibility is related to various manifestations of LGBT prejudice. Strategies that organizations have developed to respond to LGBT prejudice reveal how organizations negotiate contextual variables in their attempts to …

Through A Critical Sociocultural Lens: Parents’ Perspectives Of An Early Childhood Program In Guatemala, Yaëlle Stempfelet

Master's Capstone Projects

The present case study is on an Early Childhood program in Guatemala based on participant parents’ feedback. The Early Childhood program is non-formal, focuses on emergent literacy and nutrition, and takes place in a community-run library in a poor, semi-rural town in the mountainous regions of Quiche, Guatemala. The library was set up by a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that works in Guatemala as well as another neighboring country.

Using a critical sociocultural lens, this study assumes that the parents’ perceptions reflect the state of the program and that involving their feedback through this research will ultimately help to bolster the …

Ingos In The Mirror: Critical Reflections Of Practitioners Implementing Psychosocial Support Programs, Stephen M. Richardson

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this qualitative research is to learn from the professional wisdom of practitioners involved in implementing school-based psychosocial support in conflict-affected contexts. Practitioners from four different International Non-governmental Organizations (INGO) working in three different contexts—the Congo Basin region, the South Asia region, and the Sudan region—reflect on the concepts and realities of the psychosocial support models that their organizations use. A common theme emerging from these interviews is that the approach to psychosocial support has the potential to do harm. The practitioners provide real examples of the ways in which harm may occur and their possible causes. These …

The Problem With Problem Identification In The Process Of Educational Reforms In The Kyrgyz Republic, Gulzat Kochorova

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this paper is to expose issues that are being identified as ‘problems’ or ‘challenges’ of the Kyrgyz education in general, and of higher education in particular. Drawing on the specifics of the identified problems, this paper will also analyze theoretical assumptions upon which they are based. This is important because identified problems and their projected solutions are going to constitute further reform attempts, and ultimately shape the future of the educational system of the Kyrgyz Republic.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Teacher Support Approaches In Afghanistan, Noorullah Noori

Master's Capstone Projects

This research explores the effectiveness of three teacher professional development (TPD) approaches in the context of Afghanistan: 2-year in-service teacher education; short-term (ad-hoc) teacher training; and teacher learning circles (TLC). In this research, I compare these three models, their impact on improving teacher quality and subsequently student outcome. I applied the mix-methods approach by using three different research tools: classroom observations, self-administered questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. I also reviewed student performance records over four semesters; from 2010 to 2011. Despite many challenges, the results show three core strengths of each of these models: the 2-year in-service teacher …

Resilience In School, Milka Ndura

Master's Capstone Projects

This study explores the factors that motivate students to perform well in the national examination at their basic primary education level despite the unlikely environment to support this success in Kibera slums, Kenya. In the current situation in Kenya, national examinations are used as a basis of distributing the fewer than students slots in secondary school, despite the different circumstances facing each candidate, passing of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education is still an important factor that determines a child’s eligibility to attend secondary school. Students enrolled in Kenyan primary school system take the same national exams regardless of the …

Feeding Students? Examining Views Of Parents, Students And Teachers On The World Food Program’S School Feeding Initiatives In Chamwino District In Tanzania, Benjamin Ngaji Oganga

Master's Capstone Projects

School feeding programs have become a worldwide phenomenon and an agenda pushed by the International Development Agencies such as the World Food Program (WFP) with the assumption that it may contribute towards addressing barriers to poor students’ enrollment and retention in primary schools in developing countries. The assumption is that, because of hunger and low income, parents are mostly likely not motivated to send their children to school; and on the other hand, children too may not effectively concentrate in learning and therefore are likely to drop out of schools. Different studies have shown the effectiveness of the school-feeding program …

Teacher Attrition: Why Secondary School Teachers Leave The Profession In Afghanistan, Hassan Aslami

Master's Capstone Projects

This study examines factors influencing teacher attrition in public secondary schools in Kabul, Afghanistan. Substantial increments in the school-age population, the Education for All (EFA) mandate, and a “seven-fold” growth in number of students during the last decade have collectively increased the demand for teachers in Afghanistan; whereas, teachers from the public schools are leaving the teaching profession in large numbers. The lack of teachers poses serious challenges for the education system especially for Ministry of Education.

This exploratory study focuses on the reasons for the departure of both current and former teachers. It also explores and suggests some strategies …

The Effects Of Incentive Initiatives On Teacher Retention In Tanzania: A Case Of The Rukwa Region, Anna Every Swai

Master's Capstone Projects

Availability of teachers at Secondary schools is one of the major factors that enhance students and general school performance. Despite this fact, there is high teacher reluctance in taking teaching position in remote areas. Different policy initiatives have dramatically improved the state of education in Tanzania, particularly in terms of classroom infrastructure and student enrollment. The increased students’ enrollment has increased the national demand for secondary school teachers and training of teachers has not mirrored this growth. There is a very high teacher shortage in secondary schools particularly those located in remote areas.

In 2004, in the National Strategy for …

Case Study Of Post-Literacy Program In Indonesia, Ryke Pribudhiana

Master's Capstone Projects

This study aims at analyzing a post-literacy program run by the Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia. This program, operating since 2009, provides public resources in the form of grant money to educational institutions and community learning centers (CLCs), not only to preserve literacy but also to help poor and illiterate people achieve economic independence. This study examined students’ achievements in literacy and life skills, and explored the program’s economic impact on communities. The interviewees who participated in the study included adult students, tutors, heads of CLCs, and senior education officers at the district, provincial, and Ministerial level. A …

Students’ Perceptions Of Factors Influencing Choice Of Science Streams In Tanzania Secondary Schools, Mjege Kinyota

Master's Capstone Projects

This study explored students’ perceptions of the factors influencing their decision to choose between the Science and Arts streams for ordinary level secondary schools. The study also examined the kind and level of support, guidance and information students receive before making stream choices. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, data was gathered through questionnaires, document review, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews from 101 students, 13 science teachers, 4 heads of schools and (1) District Educational Officer in Morogoro region. The literature review and research questions guided the analysis of data by organizing the analysis section into several themes.

The …

Beyond Pronade: Ngos And The Formal Education Sector In Guatemala, Jacob A. Carter

Master's Capstone Projects

In Guatemala, the Ministry of Education (MoE) is overburdened with challenges;these include the most basic provision of services and support for public schools across the country. In the absence of a capable state presence, countless nongovernmental organizations (NGO) have sprung up to provide, sustain and/or take over basic education services. These NGOs come in all shapes and sizes, with different motivations, from different countries and receiving funding from a variety of national and international sources. The combination of rapidly increasing numbers of NGOs along with minimal state coordination means that the Ministry is unaware of the number of NGOs operating …

Strengthening The Education Management Information System (Emis) In Tanzania: Government Actors’ Perceptions About Enhancing Local Capacity For Information-Based Policy Reforms, Assela M. Luena

Master's Capstone Projects

Strengthening the Education Management Information System (EMIS) in Tanzania is an important task, as the government needs quality data and information to support the creation of sound policies, making plans and managing educational resources. Well-functioning EMIS can ensure achievement of national goals to provide quality education, which is the basis for facilitating economic growth and sustainable development. The government also needs quality data and information in order to enhance monitoring and evaluation of the education sectors’ performance and ensure the right direction for achieving the intended goals and objectives.

Creating a sustainable and efficient EMIS is a challenge that requires …

A Child With Two Motherlands: Child Sojourners And Cultural Identity, Krayushkina Tatiana

Master's Capstone Projects

The main focus of the research for my Master’s Project has been children who sojourn in a different culture for several years. When studying social phenomena, social scientists often focus on adults, representing their perceptions and attitudes towards these phenomena. Children are assumed to follow the parents as silent absorbents of the parents’ views, decisions and attitudes. I, however, have foregrounded the perspectives and voices of children themselves. In this research, I have explored the following:

How children view their cultural identity/ies;

how they practice agency in choosing one;

how identity/ies change over time;

and what influences such changes

In …