UVicSpace | Institutional Repository
UVicSpace is the University of Victoria’s open access scholarship and learning repository. It preserves and provides access to the digital scholarly works of UVic faculty, students, staff, and partners. Items in UVicSpace are organized into collections, each belonging to a community.
For more information about depositing items, see the Submission Guidelines.
Recent Submissions
Battle-cries from the front lines: A hermeneutic dialogue with a secondary learning assistance teacher
(2000) Thorsen, Frances G.; Dayton-Sakari, Mary
This study examines a secondary learning assistance (SLA) teacher's struggling practice. The purpose of the work is to question whether or not reflective practice will alter the teaching and growth of this teacher and, if having taught for over twenty years, how will her values and beliefs regarding teaching change through the process of reflection.
The methodology engaged in over a six-month period, is hermeneutics in the form of two hermeneutic conversations. The first conversation revealed five dominant themes relating to the SLA teacher's work: lack of time, lack of teaching, meeting, paperwork, and overwhelming responsibilities and duties. The teacher reviewed these themes. The second conversation, taking place in October, resulted in the immediate non-reflective confirmation of the themes seen as a text disembodied from her own practice. A request to read sections of this body of work led the teacher to see herself as an anonymous teacher. Berating the person, this teacher realized the narrative was this teacher. This visualization, that I have termed reflection-in-the-making, allowed for the co-participant to view her teaching life from a reflective standpoint. A more in-depth review of the themes through the telling of her own 'teacher life story', resulted in her decision to leave teaching.
Eight days later, this teacher began to recognize her core as 'teacher'. Having stripped away the extraneous duties of her job, she found the 'profession' of teaching. Returning to teach, having set her own terms, she worked with non-designated students.
This study relied on narrative for it is the center of teacher practice, recognizable across the profession and often embodied in the 'collective teacher voice'. The work itself illustrates the core of reflective practice; the relationship between reflective practice, narrative, and 'teacher'; and reveals the personal 'self through story.
Moving from theory to practice, this work suggests that policy implications are directly related. Governing bodies must clearly define the SLA teacher and hear their narrative voices; school administrations need to provide more assistance of a secretarial nature to SLA teachers; university education programs need to teach about the importance of narrative, action research, and reflective practice through example rather than theory. More value needs to be given to narrative in educational research, as teachers are narrative.
Student leadership in secondary schools
(2003) Robertson, Elizabeth A. H.; Storey, Vern J.
The educational literature in leadership focuses on adult leadership. This study attempts to extend this literature to student leadership by exploring how student leaders in secondary schools experience and understand designated student leadership positions. The participants involved in this study were secondary school student leaders who were preparing to host the annual provincial Student Leadership Conference. The data collection methods involved questionnaires from 10 students and in-depth interviews with 5 students.
The data from both sources were analyzed in order to reveal the experiences and understandings held by the student leaders. Three themes were derived from the data: leadership as an organizational process. leadership as a relational process, and values in leadership. These themes were discussed in relation to the literature on leadership and recommendations were given for the focus of leadership programs in secondary schools.
An advanced placement online feasibility study
(1999) Parchoma, Gale Ann; Potter, G. E.
This study explores Grades 11 and 12 gifted and talented learners' attitudes toward the concept of enrolling in Advanced Placement courses in a virtual learning environment. The research investigates British Columbian student responses to the concept of enrolling in challenging course work offered in an Internet setting, which Advanced Placement courses students would find most appealing, and which support components students would identify as needed, helpful, and ideal in an Internet-based learning environment.
Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were combined in this case study. Quantitative data was used to form broader generalizations. Qualitative data was used to describe rationales underpinning participants' responses and to contextualize those responses in the current involvement of British Columbian secondary schools in the Advanced Placement program.
Study findings suggest that a well-crafted Advanced Placement Online program, designed to meet the needs and expectations of gifted and talented senior secondary students, could be successfully developed by British Columbia's Open School and delivered to students through British Columbia's distance education centers.
Internationalizing the curriculum in teacher education
(2000) Neville, Michael William; Potter, G. E.
The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a need to internationalize the curriculum, i.e. develop a more multicultural and global focus, in teacher education programs at the University of Victoria. Students in the professional year of the elementary school program and faculty members, both professors and sessional instructors, in the Faculty of Education were surveyed. The results suggested that there were many pre-service teachers who were concerned about the global issues that they will encounter as teachers and would like to see a more global, multicultural, and international perspective in their training. Many are interested in traveling and possibly teaching abroad and would like information on employment opportunities overseas. Faculty members are also aware of the many issues that the world faces on a global scale and would like to see a broader, more international focus in teacher education programs.
“Only if the mother is healthy, the baby can be”: Understanding maternal health through Indian low-caste and tribal women’s perspectives
(2026) Ottsen, Patricha Jeppe; Benoit, Cecilia; Mellor, Andrea
Background: India has made substantial progress in reducing maternal mortality in recent decades. However, these collective gains obscure persistent inequities, as low-caste and tribal women continue to experience disproportionate barriers to maternal health and wellbeing. While community-based initiatives are increasingly promoted, a gap remains between low-caste and tribal women’s own priorities for maternal health and those reflected in widely implemented programs based on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition of maternal health. This study seeks to address this gap by examining low-caste and tribal women’s understanding of maternal health, ultimately nuancing and contextualising WHO’s framework. Methods: Guided by an intersectionality-informed life course approach, a framework synthesis review of scholarly literature was conducted, informed by a community consultation in Kherwara, Rajasthan, India. Results were validated with the same community to refine and contextualise findings. Results: Maternal health is understood by low-caste and tribal women in India as encompassing the health of the mother and baby, and to an extent, other family members. Women in this context understand maternal health as holistic, relational, and collectively governed. According to this study, maternal health is a continuum that begins with marriage and extends through pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and beyond, as women often have multiple children and later transition into caregiving roles as sisters, friends, and grandmothers. These women also identified food security along with respectful, inclusive, and accessible health services as central to achieving maternal well-being. Discussion/Conclusion: There is a disconnect between low-caste and tribal women’s conceptualisation of maternal health and existing healthcare and supports available to them. Centring low-caste and tribal women’s articulated priorities is essential to designing equitable maternal health systems that support maternal well-being.