This Ph.D. dissertation is a qualitative case study of a local discourse about teacher preparation in Finland. I have used structuration theory to analyze thirteen semi-structured, open-ended interviews. Participants were faculty and students in a graduate-level program preparing science teachers for upper secondary schools. Findings are presented as synthetic overviews of respondent articulations on six interview themes: (1) goals of teacher preparation, (2) the role of collaborative practices in teacher preparation, (3) the role of research in teacher preparation, (4) the role of critical thinking in teacher preparation, (5) different forms of knowledge and skills in teacher preparation, (6) the good teacher. The research contributes to research on pre-service teacher training. Notably, by articulating how context-specific culture and social norms contribute to a local variant of teacher preparation. Two characteristics of the discourse are identified as: (a) an emphasis on the role of theory for sound decisions in teaching practices, (b) a focus on the development of abstract thought in students.

This dissertation investigates how the state, teachers, and students negotiate citizenship education in the high school politics curriculum in China to explore the functions and outcomes of Chinese citizenship education. Inspired by Gidden’s and Sewell’s statements of structure and Emirbayer and Mische’s agency theory, this study focuses on how social structures and agency shape the practices of Chinese citizenship education. In addition, this research explores the influences of the Chinese individualization on the practices of citizenship education.

Data were collected from a fieldwork lasting five months in two high schools in the same city in Zhejiang Province, China. This fieldwork included observing 58 classes of the politics curriculum, interviewing 25 students and seven teachers, and analyzing textbooks and documents relating to citizenship education. Findings reveal that the state desires responsible socialist citizens who know their rights, participate in public life with order, have a strong national identity, and support the current political system and official ideology; students demonstrate their understanding of citizens as being individualized, passive, yet patriotic; while politics curriculum teachers interpret good citizens as citizens who obey the law and behave well in their daily life. The major tension between the state and the teachers and students is that the state wants to promote its official ideology, but students and teachers are not terribly attracted to this theme; as such, teachers selectively teach citizenship and students selectively learn citizenship. Their selective strategy is shaped by social structures (e.g., the schema of ideal responsible socialist citizen proposed by the Party-state, the reality of China’s politics, exam-oriented educational system, the individualistic culture, textbooks, teachers’ teaching, students’ preferences, time, space, etc.) and the agency of teachers and students (including teachers’ and students’ knowledge and experience, teachers’ imagination of meaningful teaching, students’ aspiration of personal freedom and self-expression, etc.).

Due to teachers’ and students’ selective strategy, the Party-state’s goal of cultivating responsible socialist citizens succeeds in terms of promoting students’ awareness of their responsibilities to their communities and the state. It is not as successful in promoting students’ identification with the CCP and socialist ideology. In addition, it has the unintended result of facilitating students’ knowledge of their rights and their political participation. However, this research concludes that students’ increasing awareness of rights and political participation, which is facilitated by the rise of the individual, will not directly contribute to political change in China. Political control, the underdevelopment of cultural democratization, and the insufficient welfare system block their further political participation and limit their sufficient understanding of citizenship.

This study concerns the uprooting experiences of forced migration, particularly how refugees consider citizenship in the process of losing and regaining this status. I carried out fieldwork in an area in California where refugees from around the world are “resettled” or brought to live in relative safety, in order to answer the following research questions: How do refugees and their social workers experience citizenship? How are non-formal education programs in refugee resettlement used to construct ideas of citizenship? Using a phenomenological framework, I interviewed former refugees, U.S.-born social workers and refugee students who are in the process of becoming naturalized U.S. citizens; I also collected document data in the form of organizational meeting minutes from a consortium of social service organizations working primarily in refugee resettlement.

The findings for this study are presented along three points in the refugee resettlement process. My analysis begins at the moment when people become refugees; I bring together narratives of flight from the country of origin, of precarious existence in an intermediary country and finally, of resettlement and regaining citizenship in the U.S. This finding emphasizes the inevitability of a person having to become a citizen of a nation-state in order to be considered legitimate. The second point of analysis brings the reader to the encounter between refugees and their U.S.-born social workers; in this section, I highlight how these different populations draw upon similar experiences to work together and build resilience and resistance. Lastly, by putting together themes from my document analysis and interviews, I present the struggles, successes and hopes of people involved in refugee resettlement programs in this area. Understanding the processes of forced migration and reintegration, particularly from the perspective of the refugee community, sheds light on the nature of citizenship and diversity, and on the function of non-profits and non-formal education programs in creating different understandings of citizenship.

Lacking decent educational, employment and cultural opportunities, globally, generations of young people struggle to cultivate their potential and act upon their dreams for a better future. Those living amidst poverty and violence are particularly exposed to vulnerabilities that limits their ability to escape from exclusion and move up the social ladder. Generally, youth facing marginalization are approached either as a problem to be dealt with through repressive policies or passive objects of social action, rather than subjects, rights-holders, and creators of innovative solutions to contemporary societal challenges. As we consider more inclusive and context-sensitive ways to work for and with young people, emancipatory education offers a relevant framework of theory and practice that can inform efforts to capacitate, empower, and more actively engage youth in local development processes.

Informed by the theoretical lens of critical pedagogy and employing a qualitative case study methodology, this dissertation explores the opportunities and constraints of applying elements of a Freirean emancipatory education in non-formal youth education provisions as an instrument to promote individual and territorial transformation in communities at the margins. Drawing from qualitative and quantitative data from an entrepreneurship program supporting hundreds of youth from the favelas and peripheries of Rio de Janeiro in advancing their own actions for change, the study investigates into three central thematics concerning: the lifeworld of participants and outcomes at the individual level; project creation and community impact; and program methodology vis-a-vis the underlying dimensions of critical pedagogy and applicability lessons.

Following the systematization and linkage of theories, processes, methods and experiences, the study findings demonstrate the program’s relevance to broader opportunity schemes in youth empowerment, youth-led community transformation, and a youth-centered emancipatory education, contributing to a better understanding of critical pedagogy as a platform of possibility for young people in poverty-stricken territories. Together, these practical tools for capacity building, protagonism and participation - which draw from youth’s social history and knowledge - provides an illustration of how young people take part in social action, exercise their agency, and promote their cultural identities, while creating new platforms to challenge exclusion and advance practices of positive social regeneration.

The economic prosperity and socialist education reform in China have bred a new social group of middle class in recent decades. The Chinese middle class, increasing in economic power and having well-connected social networks now joins the tide of international education by sending their children abroad. This thesis investigates the motivations behind the fervent education investments of the emerging middle class, and discusses the possible implications of this trend for the future of China. Through an extensive literature review of previous works and a qualitative study of Chinese middle class students at UCLA, this thesis concludes that the lower quality of China's higher education, credential inflation in the job market of China, and the international recognition of overseas institutions are the main reasons for the "studying abroad fever". This scenario, as is predicted in the thesis, will contribute to the social reproduction of the middle class families in the future.

This paper is a means of exploring how neoliberal education reforms have been implemented and what issues remain in education development as a product of those reforms. To examine neoliberal education reforms, this paper explores how international organizations such as the World Bank and international discourses in the international community influence education development and require developing countries to implement neoliberal reforms. I look to the work of Martin Carnoy (1995) "Structural adjustment and the changing face of education," which categorizes the responses to neoliberal education reforms: competitiveness-driven reform, equity-driven reform, and financial-driven reform, as the theoretical framework. Chilean higher education reforms are analyzed as a case study. The paper concludes that neoliberal education reforms expanded the number of higher education institutions and achieve efficiency and effectiveness in higher education; however, public universities have lost their autonomy and access inequity and quality assurance of higher education have been remained.

This dissertation aims to explore whether, amidst the significant trend of social individualization, Chinese citizenship education can achieve its goal of cultivating the so-called ‘loyal socialist citizens’. Unlike citizenship education in Western democracies, which fosters constitutional patriotism, Chinese citizenship education seeks to transform the cultural spirit of collectivism among the Chinese populace into a political inclination towards communism and then to develop a socialist patriotism grounded in an ideological commitment to socialism and an institutional recognition on the Chinese party-state.A qualitative study was conducted through narrative interviews with twelve graduates from different elite Chinese universities. Interviews inquired about their perceptions of citizenship, the processes that have shaped their citizenship, and their perspectives on China’s dominant narrative. Compared to the theoretical framework of citizenship for constitutional patriotism, which is centered on civic participation, this study finds the framework of citizenship for socialist patriotism has stronger explanatory power to account for the trajectory of Chinese social transformations and the potential typology of socialist citizenship. Despite the pronounced diversity of political attitudes and ideologies stances, the data suggest that real-life experiences have a more substantial impact on shaping their citizenship than formal ideological courses within the university setting. Furthermore, this dissertation proposes a four-step process for citizenship-shaping, identifying the ‘suspicion moment’ as a crucial point for prompting one’s skepticism towards official discourse, transforming one’s ideological thinking, and motivating one to rationalize and deconstruct the grand narrative and begin the self-construction of a worldview. Meanwhile, a new form of individualism that maintains horizontal collectivism but rejects vertical collectivism is identified among these interviewees; it preserves the Confucian ethos of ‘the relational self’ and a communitarian concern for collective interests. However, it also emphasizes the importance of personal boundaries to resist authoritarian interference. In conclusion, the dissertation posits that the expansion of higher education in China can facilitate the demystification of socialist ideology among the youth. Nonetheless, due to stringent censorship and speech control, dissent must be cautiously concealed. This necessity results in unquantifiable psychological stress and unresolved mental tensions, contributing to more uncertainties inherent in China’s ongoing social transformations.

This study critically examines the effects of emigration on the roles and identities of public-school teachers in El Salvador. Framed within the context of globalization and international migration, it utilizes a phenomenological approach in order to conceptualize the ways in which rising emigration rates have changed perceived and actual teacher roles, teacher perceptions of identity and citizenship, and their relationship to the state and civil society. Using El Salvador as a case study, this research examines the impact of migration - of students, family members, and teachers themselves - on the lived experiences, role construction, and identity of Salvadoran educators. In-depth phenomenological interviews were conducted with 19 teachers from two schools: one in a semi-urban border town where migration was a part of everyday life, and the other in a rural village on the outskirts of San Salvador where cases of migration were few and far between. Through these interviews, I examine how teachers make meaning of their personal, professional, and national identities in the context of fluid and dynamic processes of migration and globalization. My findings highlight the contradictions and tensions that emerge from these meaning-making processes. Finally, I argue that the conflicts experienced by teachers seeking to define their individual and collective identities represent a larger struggle between forces of nationalism and transnationalism, leading to new questions about teaching and learning models in El Salvador, as well as the role of teachers and public education within and across national borders.

A combination of factors including Global Climate Change, population growth, depletion of natural resources, and degradation of the environment have contributed to a general consensus concerning the need for man to amend his relation with the earth in order to perpetuate the survival and well-being of future generations of human beings. An emerging answer to this need is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), a conceptualization of education oriented towards equipping future generations with the skills and the capacity for critical thinking needed to create lifestyles compatible with the natural environment. This new vision for education has been codified and promoted by various international entities, including the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations.

This dissertation documents the current status of Education for Sustainable Development at the global level, as described by academics and policy makers in the available literature. Often times missing or present only in abbreviated fashion is documentation of actual Education for Sustainable Development projects, especially those designed and implemented in the developing world by grassroots activists and community based organizations. Through six case studies conducted during the spring and summer of 2009, I document and analyze six examples of Education for Sustainable Development in the provinces of Gujarat and Rajasthan in western India. I collected data through site visits, participant observation, interviews, document analysis, and archival research.

The analysis of these case studies provides a counterpoint to some of the prevailing narratives concerning Education for Sustainable Development. Although in most ways the themes emerging from the Education for Sustainable Development organizations I looked at are harmonious with the general theoretic model accepted in the academic literature, the case studies provide some insights previously absent or underdeveloped, such as the relative disconnect between the global Education for Sustainable Education movement and the implementation of ESD projects, the unfamiliarity with academic debates and terminology amongst many practitioners, the importance of indigenous knowledge and local history in ESD projects, the powerful theoretical framework provided by the teachings and life example of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, the centrality of livelihoods to ESD, the limited importance of traditional academic divisions which separate fields such as environmental studies and economics to the work of practitioners, the ability to implement ESD in resource constrained environments, the ability of non-educated people to bring about innovative solutions to problems in the field of ESD, the generally marginal status of nature preservation in ESD in India, and the great variety of successful ESD programs existing currently in Western India.

This study was only able to examine a limited number of case studies, due to logistical and financial constraints, but points to the possibility of the existence of even more examples of successful Education for Sustainable Development. This study specifically addressed the following two research questions: (i) How do practitioners in India see and interpret their efforts in Education for Sustainable Development? What are their motivations and concerns? (ii) How do the academic debates on Education for Sustainable Development in India relate to the realities in the field for practitioners who are implementing this new type of education?

Situated within the context of the January 25 Egyptian Revolution and the subsequent socio-political transitions, this dissertation focuses on the experiences of 24 university students and educators in Egypt, particularly emphasizing meanings and actions of participatory citizenship and citizenship education. Through a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative approach, I explore how the experiences of the January 25 Egyptian Revolution and subsequent events impacted the perceptions and actions of participatory citizenship for university students and educators in Egypt; To what extent does university students and educators in Egypt perceive their actions of participatory citizenship; and How do university students and educators conceive the current role of the university in fostering citizenship education?

I conclude that participants learn what it means to be a citizen from various sources, and practice those ideas in multiple spaces. The Revolution and subsequent socio-political events, in combination with other influences, have significantly impacted the perceptions of participatory citizenship for participants. And despite a number of challenges to participatory citizenship, the Revolution and subsequent socio-political events provided a critical pedagogical workshop where participatory citizenship was learned and practiced.

The Revolution and subsequent events have also impacted teacher attitudes and pedagogies. The participants reveal a connection between social and political events and their perceptions and experiences of teaching and learning, and perceive teaching and learning as a political act of citizenship.

Furthermore, participants perceive the university as important site where students can be change agents, where critical thinking is valued and promoted, where the university is seen as an essential part of the public sphere, where student empowerment is nurtured, and as a space where relevant pedagogy, peace education and the construction of good humans can occur. To enhance university citizenship education in Egypt, participants call on universities to focus on faculty and student development, civic engagement programs and international opportunities.