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Promoting Mentally Healthy Classrooms: Evaluation Of Online Mental Health Literacy Instruction In Pre-Service Teacher Education, E. Robyn Masters

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To better understand how to prepare large numbers of pre-service teachers for their role in creating and leading mentally healthy classrooms, this program evaluation explores outcomes related to an online mental health literacy course at a large central Canadian university. The course was delivered to 275 teacher education students simultaneously over 10-weeks and 20-hours of online instruction and professional reflection. Results indicated significant improvement in self-reported levels of mental health literacy, stigma toward mental illness, and self-efficacy for teaching students with diverse challenges. Qualitative reviews of participant feedback identified the most valuable aspects of the course and the ways in …

Teachers’ Professional Practice, Policy Enactment, And Indigenous Education In Ontario: A Case Study, Natalie Currie-Patterson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This qualitative case study investigates the research question: How do educators understand and enact government policies on Indigenous education in Ontario? The case study explores the content of The Ontario First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework, the foundational policy document for Indigenous education in Ontario released by the Ministry of Education in 2007 and a series of associated ministry publications as well as the responses of secondary school teacher participants to these policy efforts. In doing so, the case study draws on the scholarly literature about decolonizing education, as well as work on anti-colonial, anti-oppressive and critical …

An Exploration Of The Nursing Leaders’ Experiences Addressing Indigenous Health In University Undergraduate Nursing Programs In Ontario, Danae Coggins

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Introduction. Although there are serious health inequities experienced by Indigenous people compared to non-Indigenous people in Canada and racism and discrimination continues to be rife in health care environments, there remains a general lack of attention to Indigenous health (IH) in health professional education programs. In response, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has recommended this be addressed within health profession education, including nursing (Truth and Reconciliation Canada, 2015). However, there is a paucity of evidence describing the challenges and facilitators to incorporating IH into nursing education.

Methodology and Methods. This qualitative study employs interpretive description approaches informed by …

English Language Teachers' Required Knowledge And Self-Efficacy Beliefs About Pronunciation Instruction, Bei Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study investigated ESL teachers’ perceived level of self-efficacy in pronunciation instruction, perceived level of language and pronunciation proficiency, and level of pronunciation instruction knowledge. An online survey and follow-up interviews were administered. Results showed that, overall, ESL teachers in Canada report high levels of self-efficacy, language and pronunciation proficiency, and knowledge of pronunciation instruction. When comparing native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) with non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs), NESTs reported higher ratings on their self-perceived language and pronunciation proficiency, and self-perceived knowledge of pronunciation instruction. On the other hand, NNESTs reported higher ratings on their self-efficacy, desired levels of language and pronunciation …

Trends, Affordances, And Implications For Learners' Literacy And Identity Options: A Systematic Review Of Studies On Transnational Education, Bethany C. Mckishnie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this systematic literature review (SLR) was three-fold: to identify the trends of the reviewed research on transnational education (TNE) and investigate the reported affordances of TNE and the implications for TNE in curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher training regarding expanding learners’ literacy and identity options. Through the lens of a multiliteracies framework, this SLR is premised on 60 screened articles that are based on the understandings of the relationships between TNE, literacy and identity options for students in globalized contexts. Findings indicate that this study offers TNE scholars future areas of research to investigate. It enhances the existent …

How Do Teachers Challenge Neoliberalism Through Critical Pedagogy Within And Outside Of The Classroom?, Rezvan Shahsavari-Googhari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis uses the qualitative case study approach to investigate current strategies and skills four Ontario public secondary school teachers apply both within and outside of the classroom to enhance students’ critical consciousness. The focus is on teachers’ pedagogical work in the era of neoliberal restructuring in order to provide a rich account of how neoliberalism challenges and affects their teaching. Existing literature shows a crisis of identity and political agency among youth in many Western societies, characterized by individuals’ inability to think critically about social, political and economic issues, which is rooted in neoliberal education reforms. Adopting a critical …

Exploring The Complexity Of Policy Enactment Through Stories: A Sociomaterial Informed Study., Sarah Burm

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This qualitative research study explores the meaning(s) Aboriginal education leads and school board administrators give to the Ontario First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) Policy Framework (hereafter referred to as the Framework) and how these meaning(s) are negotiated, storied, and enacted to produce particular processes, outcomes, and effects within the context of Aboriginal education in Ontario. The principles of Critical Narrative Research (CNR) combined with the sensibilities of Actor Network Theory (ANT) are drawn on to foreground the policy actors involved in the implementation of the Framework. Recruitment of research participants took place across both public and Catholic school boards …

Fostering The Mobilization Of Knowledge From Professional Development To The Classroom, Robert J. Williams

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examined the extent to which professional knowledge, acquired from professional development programs in education, was mobilized in elementary school classrooms. The author investigated the alignment of participants’ perceptions and actions with the aims of professional development providers, studied teachers' in-depth experiences of that professional development, and noted the key aspects of professional development that related to knowledge mobilization. The project acquired data from four elementary school teachers employing semi-structured interviews, multiple classroom observations and teacher-generated and published documents. Participants’ perceptions of professional development were influenced by the following factors: impact on income, personal/professional growth and professional collaboration. Additionally, …

Teachers’ Mental Health: The Relevance Of Emotional Intelligence In Burnout And Quality Of Life, Rebecca Hsiang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Increasing emotional labour demands in the educational profession have negatively impacted teacher’s mental health resulting in high levels of stress, burnout, and subsequently leaving the profession altogether. The desire to improve the mental health well-being and retention rates in educators has given rise to research efforts examining individual factors that may assist in buffering the effects of an adverse occupational environment. Of particular research interest were the potential effects of self-perceived competence in emotional intelligence and individuals’ appraisal of their quality of life, on coping with occupational stressors. The current research was designed as a correlational descriptive field study to …

Reforming Ontario Teachers (1990-2010): The Role Of The College Of Teachers, Janice Pennycook

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation takes up the idea of the teacher as a professional and examines the period in Ontario between 1990 and 2010 when a change in teacher governance through the creation of the College of Teachers contributed to a refocusing of teacher evaluation policy and a redefining of what it means to be a professional teacher. Across a wide variety of settings, teachers are now viewed as central to successful education reform with the result that the requisite qualities of the professional teacher and how teachers are to be transformed to achieve these qualities have become the subjects of intense …

Student Perspectives Of Misbehaviour, Katie A. Knowlton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Recent research in classroom management and student misbehaviour has focused on teacher and administrator perspectives with little attention paid to student perspectives. This study examined the effects of student misbehaviour on their perspectives of well-being in the classrooms, as well as their ability to control and regulate their own behaviour (i.e. behavioural self-efficacy). A Student Misbehaviour Questionnaire, constructed by the author, was administered to students in grades three through twelve, and follow-up focus group discussions were conducted with randomly selected students from each grade. Questionnaire results showed that both elementary and secondary students, in the presence of misbehaviour, felt …

Evaluating Mental Health Training For Teachers: Identifying And Supporting Students With Mental Health Challenges, Jessica A. Woods

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The number of children and youth struggling with mental health challenges is prevalent, and teachers have an influential role in the lives and learning of students and teachers require professional development training regarding student mental health issues. The current study was an evaluation of a professional development workshop designed in response to teachers’ requests for education about teaching children with anxiety and depression. The present study aimed to explore the immediate and long-term effectiveness of a professional development program designed for teachers regarding the impact of anxiety and depression on student learning. A one group pre-test, post-test design was implemented …

"Sit-Still And Shut-Up": The Construction Of Childhood And Classroom Management Pedagogies In A Preservice Education Textbook, Marlene P. Frederick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study addresses the limitations and restrictions of approaches to classroom management that are promoted in one particular textbook that is used in Teacher Education faculties in Canada. It contributes to building an understanding of the role of textbooks in endorsing certain truth and knowledge claims about childhood and classroom management. The thesis is informed theoretically by Foucault (1977-1982), Gee (2001) and poststructuralists such as Weedon (1999). Through undertaking a discourse analysis informed by the work of Gee and Foucault, I conduct a single case study of one particular textbook to highlight the particular role of educational psychology as ‘a …