College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Perspectives on Power Structures in U.S.-Funded Foreign Aid(2024) Bloom, Heidi Nicole; Lin, Jing; Ginsburg, Mark; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This research explores U.S.-funded foreign aid policies and practices from the perspectives of foreign aid professionals, focusing on their views regarding the impact of neocolonialism, obstacles in decolonizing the sector, and power dynamics within crucial aspects of foreign aid practices. Historically, U.S.-funded foreign aid has prioritized national interests, reflected colonial dynamics, and perpetuated neocolonial legacies. Using a decolonial lens as its conceptual framework, the study examines the discursive construction of meanings and relationships within the foreign aid sector. Through a mixed-methods approach involving 91 survey responses, 15 interviews, and post-interview questionnaires conducted one year later, the research gathers diverse perspectives across various foreign aid sectors. The findings underscore neocolonial practices, stressing the importance of local consultation in program design and highlighting challenges in funding allocation and political imperatives. While positive shifts prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement suggest progress toward power redistribution and diversity initiatives, skepticism remains about their depth. The study concludes with a systems approach, advocating for interventions at individual, organizational, and governmental levels to disrupt neocolonial practices, promote anti-racism, empower local counterparts, and reform policies. This comprehensive approach aims to enhance equity and effectiveness in the foreign aid ecosystem through self-reflection and critical analysis from the perspectives of foreign aid professionals.Item SEARCHING FOR REFLECTIONS: THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF FILIPINO AMERICAN TEACHERS(2019) Castillo, Eleonor Grace; Hultgren, Francine H.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the lived experience of Filipino American teachers in U.S. public schools. Grounded upon the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology, the study is guided by philosophical works, including those of Heidegger, Gadamer, Merleau-Ponty, Arendt and Casey. Furthermore, I draw from Philippine and Filipino American scholarship, such as the writing of Enriquez, de Guia and David. In conducting this research, I follow van Manen’s methodological structure of six activities: turning to the phenomenon; investigating experience as we live it; reflecting on essential themes; writing and rewriting hermeneutically; maintaining a strong and oriented pedagogical relation; and balancing the research context by considering parts and whole. The eight Filipino American teachers in this study have served as elementary, middle and high school teachers. Through one-on-one conversations, a collective group dialogue and in their reflective writing, their lived experiences of being racially and culturally misunderstood and the loss of native language emerged as essential themes. These revelations reflect the existentials of lived body and lived relation within the lifeworlds of Filipino American teachers. In addition, the role of place, namely that of the distinct and limited presence of Filipino American teachers in U.S. classrooms and on school campuses, unveils the aspect of lived space upon their existence. The insights from this study can serve to inform teacher education programs, school districts and the Filipino American community. Recommendations call for incorporating the unique lived experiences of Filipino American teachers within curriculum and conversations regarding diversity, inclusion and teacher identity within colleges of education. In addition, the study asks for school district leaders and school site administrators to engage mindfully with and harken to the culturally silent voices of Filipino American teachers. Yet the call to listen deeply to Filipino American teachers is also directed towards the Filipino American community, as choosing to be a Filipino American teacher is an existence that is not readily embraced within Filipino American families and the community. Therefore, the study recommends that the dialogue on what it means to be a Filipino American teacher continues, with the aim of further moving forward our understanding of their lifeworlds.Item Reading Between the Lines of Rights: A Critical Analysis of International and National Discourses (De)marginalizing Indigenous and Minority Rights to Higher Education(2015) Sattarzadeh, Sahar D.; Stromquist, Nelly; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In UNESCO’s World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-First Century: Vision & Action it is emphasized that access to higher education for disadvantaged groups “must be actively facilitated, since these groups as collectivities and as individuals may have both experience and talent that can be of great value for the development of societies and nations.” Underrepresented groups across the globe, including minorities and indigenous peoples, traditionally endure the most unequal, inequitable, low quality educational opportunities. Discourses regarding this reality at the tertiary level is often overlooked and nearly non-existent, however. This dissertation, therefore, guided by an interdisciplinary theoretical framework relevant to higher education, international human rights law, and decolonial theory, highlights the cases of three specific minority and/or indigenous populations— Afro-Brazilians in Brazil, Bahá'ís in Iran, and Mäori in New Zealand. This study is guided by two questions: 1) How are indigenous peoples and minorities’ rights to higher education accounted for in international instruments and national laws and policies?; and 2) How do international and national-level discourses compare regarding equal and equitable access to quality higher education for these underrepresented groups? To answer these questions, a mutually-reinforcing critical discourse analysis and interpretive policy analysis approach was applied to study texts specific to minority groups and indigenous peoples’ access to “equal” and “equitable” higher education that meets “quality” standards. The language and culture of legislative and policy measures at the national level (Brazil, Iran, and New Zealand) are compared to international human rights instruments (“binding” and “non-binding”) adopted by entities within the United Nations System. State and international texts selected are specifically relevant to minority groups, indigenous peoples, and the right to education and higher education. Interestingly, there are some parallels between national and international regulations and policies, and in other instances, there are clear-cut contradictions, and much has to do with evident weaknesses and/or strengths across comparisons. The sociocultural, historical, economic, and political contexts of the three countries are also reflected in the language and content of their legislative measures and policies as well as in the states’ attitudes towards standards of education and identities and recognition of underrepresented groups in international law.