Faculty of Education -- Graduate Theses
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Graduate theses completed in the department of Education as part of:
- Master of Education (Concentrations in: Lifelong Learning, Curriculum Studies, Educational Foundations, Educational Psychology, Elementary and Middle School Education, Literacy Education, School Psychology)
- Master of Arts in Education (Research)
- Master of Arts in Education
- Master of Arts in School Psychology
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Recent Submissions
- ItemEducational and School Psychology in Newfoundland and Labrador: Current Practices and Preferred Roles(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024-09) Peyton, Abigail R.The study surveyed educational psychologists in Newfoundland and Labrador about their practice across the six core competencies outlined in the Mutual Recognition Agreement (2004), as well as their current and preferred roles. Results indicated that although participants engage in all competency areas, their practice is predominately focused on assessment. The findings suggest that the role of the educational psychologist in Newfoundland and Labrador has seen minimal change since Harris and Joy’s (2010) study. However, participants expressed a desire to expand their roles and allocate more time to intervention, consultation outside the educational system, and reviewing current research. The increasing emphasis on multi-tiered systems within schools provides an opportunity to better integrate mental health services, allowing educational psychologists to address the academic, behavioural, and mental health needs of children and youth more comprehensively.
- ItemAn examination of psychologists' assessment practices for learning disabilities in Nova Scotia(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024-08) Kennedy, AshleyLearning disabilities are prevalent among school-aged students, yet the practices of psychologists who carry out the assessments have not frequently been documented or examined in Canada. This study explored the practices used by school psychologists to diagnose learning disabilities in Nova Scotia. Sixty-one school psychologists participated by completing the multidimensional survey. A large proportion (39%) of participants endorsed diagnostic practices that aligned with the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada’s framework, which requires the measurement of intelligence and cognitive processes. The remaining participants' (61%) practices aligned better with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5); however, 57% of psychologists agreed that IQ tests should be a routine part of these assessments and 85% agreed that IQ tests provide qualitative information about how a student learns. Results showed that as psychologists had more positive endorsements of the usefulness of intelligence tests, and had higher beliefs concerning the biological causes of learning disabilities, they were less likely to follow practices most supported by current research as evidence-based. This study also found that psychologists reported using various methods to operationalize diagnostic reasoning at differing rates: intelligence-achievement discrepancy methods (13.1%), processing strengths and weaknesses methods (21.7%), response to intervention methods (63.3%), and low achievement methods (80.3%). Overall, it appears that psychologists are embracing more practices aligned with the evidence; however, intelligence tests seemingly continue to be used, or endorsed, in ways that do not align well with evidence.
- ItemA Currere Journey Towards a Humanizing Curriculum: An Autobiographical Consideration of Culture and Disability(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024-08) Jones, Leah M.This thesis looks at how curriculum can take a humanizing approach through the lens of my own experiences and secondary literature. I specifically use Currere to journey along cycles of time exploring and discovering meaning relating to pedagogical approaches and curriculum theorizing. I use Currere to tell my story and detail my observations within the sphere of education. Using periods of time: past, present and future, I analyze how educators can approach curriculum with an eye towards humanization. I point to the need to acknowledge and embrace the diversity of students and the value of their experiences while being cautious to avoid negative sanctions and dehumanization through politically charged agendas. I discuss the hidden curriculum and its elements along with the need to incorporate equity, diversity, and inclusion into pedagogical considerations. I use the stages of Currere, namely regressive, progressive, analytic and synthetic to examine the elements of autobiographical curricular theorizing concluding with both pedagogical and personal considerations. The literature review contained herein discusses some of the key themes that arise during the regressive stage, specifically belonging, control, and loss. I discuss how I believe the education system can be incorporative rather than segregating and integrate the needs of diverse students from both a cultural and disability standpoint.
- ItemCriminalization of Racialized Disabled Youth: A Thematic Content Analysis(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024-07) Kaur, CathleenYouth incarceration in Canada has shown disparate trends. The overall crime rate for youth in Canada has decreased, while the number of Indigenous and visible minority youth within youth justice system has risen (Department of Justice, Canada, 2021). The youth at the intersections of disability and racialization are disproportionately represented among the incarcerated. However, there is a paucity of research on the lived experiences of those youth who are both racialized and disabled in prisons across Canada. This research engages an intersectional theoretical framework to critically analyze the narratives of young racialized and disabled prisoners in Ontario through a thematic content analysis of the Disability Justice Network of Ontario’s (DJNO) Prison Project datasets. The sampled datasets were analyzed to provide an in-depth understanding of the oppression within incarceration. The findings of this research reaffirm the overrepresentation of disabled and visible minority youth within the criminal justice system. Furthermore, the unique oppression of disabled, racialized prisoners in Canadian prisons is evident through the prevalence of ableism within the criminal justice system, subhuman and life-threatening conditions of incarceration for disabled, racialized prisoners and the compounding of the consequences of these identities in augmenting their marginalization. The prisons confine, pathologize, stigmatize and dehumanize racialized and disabled people and therefore, act as an extension of the institutions that disability rights movement fought to overthrow. This research speaks to fervent need for criminal justice practitioners to engage with the discourses of criminalization, racialization and ableism within incarceration experiences of prisoners from an intersectional lens.
- ItemParenting and Temperament: Actions in the Microsystem and Children's Anxiety at School(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2022-06) McCay, TiannaSchool presents multiple common stressors for anxious children which regularly disrupts their ability to engage in school and develop academically and socially. The current study aimed to explore predictors of anxiety at school utilising Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory. The current study scaffolded off past research studies to contextualise ways that individual and environmental vulnerability might inform the identification and treatment of anxiety at school for school psychologists. Specifically, high negative affect, as well as authoritarian parenting, have been separately associated with increased anxiety. The current study hypothesized that the inclusion of these two variables in a regression model would significantly predict increased anxiety within the school context. Participants consisted of caregivers to children aged between 7 and 12 years old who responded to surveys via an online platform. Parents responded about their own parenting style, as well as reported observations of their child’s temperament (negative affect), and the degree to which anxiety negatively impacts their child at school. Correlations were conducted to observe associations between anxiety and parenting styles as well as negative affect and anxiety. Correlations corroborate past research which identifies a positive relationship between anxiety and negative affect (r = .513, p = .003). However, the current study did not replicate a negative association between anxiety and permissive parenting (r = .453, p = .009) or anxiety and authoritative parenting (r = .056, p = .759). Neither did the current study replicate a positive association between authoritarian parenting and anxiety (r = .282, p = .117). Regression analyses were used to assess the predictive relationship between anxiety at school utilising both high negative affect and an authoritarian parenting style. The findings indicate that when a student has high negative affect and a parent who uses an authoritarian parenting style, they are likely to experience increased anxiety (F=5.84, p<.01, rsq adj=.24). These findings support the identification of anxious students via the observation of behaviors associated with negative affect at school, as well as informs treatment to include parental education and support when applicable.