The aim of this study was to investigate the nature and development of affective education in the Chinese context, the way it is translated into primary education, and how it is perceived by teachers and pupils in Taiwan and China. In this study, the term 'affective education' refers to all the planned or hidden curriculum provided to enhance pupil's affective development, based on which the empirical research was conducted focusing on teachers and pupils in year 5 and 6 in twelve primary schools in Taiwan and China (six in each country). The study comprised five stages. First, some psychological theories of affect were reviewed in an attempt to explore what the definition and the scope of affective development is, its implications for education, and some models of the place of affect in it; some Chinese literature was reviewed in terms of different approaches to affective education found in a Chinese context. This was followed by the examination of how 'affect is perceived in Confucianism, a key philosophical influence on the culture, and its impact on affective education in Chinese context. After that, the evolution and practice of moral education in both countries which was influenced by Confucian culture was considered, as well as school guidance systems which were introduced from the US, as these were seen to be the most obvious early manifestations of affective education in these two countries. It was then followed by the detailed introduction of the recent ongoing reforms in both countries, as they represent the latest evolution of affective education and the context in which this study is conducted. Finally, the current picture -of how affective education is delivered and perceived in twelve primary schools in both countries was investigated, and the data generated by this investigation was analysed. The main finding was that the significance of affective education is widely recognised by teachers and pupils and a variety of initiatives is conducted to deliver affective education in primary schools in both countries, additionally several difficulties that teachers encountered to deliver affective education were identified. Also great similarities of the current situations of how affective education is perceived and delivered in both countries. Given that only twelve schools were involved in this study, more research is needed to validate and extend the present findings, and to explore the topics that was not possible included in this study.

This study investigates the response of a class of 35 seven and eight year old children to ten picture books with difficult, traumatic subject matter. Two of the stories deal with areas of emotional loss, including the death of a grandfather; five stories take the area of the Holocaust as their central theme, and three are stories of earthquakes, with the consequent loss of life and destruction. My research findings contribute to the study of children’s literature in education by uniquely analysing and giving insight into especially young children’s responses to this particular genre of children’s literature. In this research programme, the children are invited to engage in reading and four designed activities emerged for response: the central importance of spoken language, the place of writing to capture meaning and significance, the value of drawing to enhance understanding and the place of imaginative role play as children worked on their impressions of events in the stories. My central research questions are: What is young children’s understanding of and response to texts and pictures in selected children’s picture books of trauma? In what ways might young children’s responses to these issues and their accompanying activities reshape their critical thinking? What have I, as the researcher, learnt about my role as a teacher through teaching traumatic issues? The study was conducted in Taiwan using participatory action research methods. My evidence shows that these children are capable of understanding complex and disturbing situations that underpin the picture book narratives. They used their social, interactive, verbal, emotional and imaginative skills to respond to the texts in powerful ways. The significance of the teacher’s role as a listener, questioner and learner was crucial in helping to motive and engage the children. The study’s findings are that picture books that deal with disturbing human issues can be introduced as part of a planned programme of Arts and Life education in Grades 1 to 6 of the primary school curriculum and that children as young as seven are capable of responding to them with maturity and sophistication.

The thesis reports and analyses findings from an investigation into Cypriot teachers' perceptions of national policy for curriculum reform in primary schools, with special reference to teaching and assessment in Mathematics. Questionnaires were sent to three samples of teachers: a 10% sample of Cypriot teachers randomly selected from the total population (n=257); all teachers in five primary schools (n=51); all beginning teachers (n=123). The latter sample was compared with a sample of English beginning teachers. A response rate of 70% was obtained and statistical analysis was carried out by SPSS-X. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 teachers, mainly as a form of triangulation. There were seven main findings. First, curricular purposes concerning pupils' ability to solve investigations, and to gain mathematical knowledge were seen as equally important; and ability to talk about Mathematics the least important. Second, formative purposes of assessment were accorded most, and summative purposes least importance. Third, teachers agreed with active pedagogy and with the application of mathematics to other subjects. Fourth, they conceptualised assessment as natural part of teaching but paradoxically favoured formally structured techniques of assessment. Fifth, classroom organisation rarely met policy requirements for a balance of whole class, group and individual activities. Sixth, cluster analysis revealed the absence of a collective professional view of the process of curriculum change. Seventh, statistically significant differences in perceptions were associated with characteristics of the class taught but there was no whole school effect. Other influences on perceptions were professional and political. Implications for the implementation of curriculum policy in Cyprus are discussed drawing on the theories of Nias and Fullan. It is argued that a revised policy, emphasising teacher participation and school-based development is needed and this would require a new conception of teacher professionalism. A heuristic model of curriculum change and a short term strategy for curriculum change are outlined.

Video conferencing is a relatively new technology for primary schools in England and it is normally used as a tool for distance learning. This thesis is a phenomenological case study that describes a course of mathematical enrichment sessions delivered through the medium of video conferencing to a group of 36 able children across six primary schools. The sessions are delivered by me, which gives the study a reflective and reflexive aspect since I have a dual role as both the teacher and the researcher. As well describing the experiences of the children, there is a focus on the teaching strategies that are used in this virtual environment and how they evolve over time. The thesis is structured around a framework of teaching strategies consisting of four categories; cognitive, compensation, metacognitive and affective strategies. The project makes use of video recordings, children’s diaries, a personal log, lesson plans and interview transcripts and the methods used include visual discourse analysis and Bloom’s method of stimulated recall. Successful and effective are the terms used for describing the outcome of a video conference in relation to technology and pedagogy respectively. This study shows that the evolution of teaching strategies is centred around creating routines to address the uncertainty of the virtual environment rather than focusing directly on pedagogy. The three major findings of this study are: 1. Site facilitators are not an essential requirement for ensuring the smooth running of a video conference. This study has shown that the participants themselves are able to take on any required responsibilities in this area if the number at each endpoint is relatively small (i.e. between four and eight participants). 2. Remote behaviour management and monitoring strategies are an important aspect of the video conferencing tool-kit for teachers. This study has demonstrated the importance of screen layouts in facilitating the use of such strategies. 3. The production features associated with children’s educational television programmes may be able to inform effective pedagogy for teaching and learning through video conferencing. In particular, this study has highlighted the potential of using theme tunes as auditory anchors to emphasise key points during a video conference. By the end of this study, it will be argued that the children enjoyed taking part and they became more independent as learners. Furthermore, it will be shown that if the teaching strategies are appropriate and if the mathematical content is enriching and open-ended, then video conferencing can create valuable learning opportunities for children that are not readily available in the traditional classroom environment.

Educators' concerns about drama as pedagogy have been expressed widely in the literature, yet research has been modest. This thesis recognises this gap. A qualitative case study was employed to carry out an in-depth inquiry into classroom teachers' employment of drama. In a belief that primary teachers have their particular needs, this study was orientated to the attempt to identify their challenges and understand their conflicts .resulting from treating drama as methodology across the curriculum. Two contextual analyses suggest that teachers who are used to practising in authoritarian and teacher-centred schooling in which drama is regarded as insignificant can be pedagogically and artistically challenged while using drama as an educational tool in view of its child-centred, dialogic, and knowledge-constructed orientation. In agreement with the theoretical framework generated from the review concerning teachers' qualifications and challenges related to drama integration, empirical evidence suggests that the occurrences of teachers' challenges are associated with their perception, practice, and identity. Results also show that teachers modified their prior concepts of drama and pedagogy . towards those required in drama integration. The teachers' development, which emerged from their dealing with challenges, indicates that there was a pedagogic shift in practice.

This thesis sets out to examine the extent to which primary science is a complex interplay between educational and political perspectives which in turn has influenced and shaped the way primary schools interpret, reconstruct and implement science in practice. This study uses a policy trajectory to consider the changing conceptions of primary science within the arenas of policy influence, policy text and practice in relation to its curriculum content, related pedagogy and assessment. In addition, it examines the nature and impact of professional development to support the implementation of primary science in practice. Evidence was collected through a series of interviews with elite figures in education, a regional survey of primary schools, along with in-depth cases studies in order to develop a deeper understanding primary science within the policy to practice context. The findings would indicate that despite a succession of top down science education policy reforms, there are still concerns about the extent to which teachers have sufficient science subject knowledge to develop conceptual understanding, a clear idea of the purpose of science investigations and how to use formative asiessment as an effective way of diagnosing pupil understanding. Furthermore, the evidence would suggest that the emphasis placed on summative assessment and accountability has narrowed teachers' conceptions of primary science. The implications are that science policy reform needs to acknowledge existing practice and support a wider definition of science that includes an appreciation of the historical and cultural aspects of science together with an understanding of technological applications. In addition, a more robust infrastructure of professional development needs to be in place which places more emphasis on the science co-ordinator to support teaching and learning in order to provide teachers with access to a changing knowledge base and opportunities to update skills in primary science. Unless these implications are given serious consideration the unrelenting focus on performativity and accountability will prevent any real development of creativity and innovation in the primary science curriculum.

The thesis considers how the delivery of primary education might be maintained in developing countries during armed conflict. The study is located in western Uganda, a region with a history of iterative conflict. The most recent armed conflict, and the focus of the research, was that perpetrated by the ADF, a mixture of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. The research is conceptualised as an interpretive case study of the delivery of primary education in formal settings affected by iterative armed conflict. Data were collected by observation, documentation and through semi-structured interviews held with primary teachers who had experience of working in schools during recent armed conflict as well as with respondents in other key positions within the national education system of Uganda. The analysis indicates that the work and lives of teachers (seen as essential in affecting the delivery of primary education) in this area of Uganda are located within a complex network of influences which include the demands of the national education system as well as the social contexts within which teachers both live and work. The intrusion of armed conflict interacts with these influences to make the professional lives of teachers even more problematic. Given such competing influences, how should teachers respond? The study considers how a revised model of professionalism, based on autonomy, responsibility and reflection might be of relevance. Such a revised model could help teachers to make decisions in conditions when direct managerial control is not available, thereby contributing to the maintenance of primary education.

The importance of stories in educating the moral imagination of the child provides the context for this thesis, which explores children's responses to the moral dimension of fiction. Studies in narrative psychology, literary theory and children's responses to reading also provide the empirical and theoretical background for this qualitative enquiry that compares a number of developing readers' responses to fiction in a school and classroom context. Focusing on the features that distinguish their responses to questions about moral choice and virtue in a range of stories, the thesis explores a mode of response to fiction called moral rehearsal. It identifies a range of strategies children adopt to explore and evaluate the moral world of narrative texts such as the use of moral touchstones, alternative narratives and dramatisation. It presents an original application of philosophical anthropology to the data in order to distinguish between what I call mimetic and diegetic rehearsal in children's responses. This phenomenological interpretation suggests the ways in which narratives contribute to the constitution of consciousness in the child. Drawing mainly on school-based interview conversations, peer group talk and some children's written work about a range of fiction, this enquiry adopts an interpretive, case study approach to children's moral responses to fiction. It examines the child's perspective to produce an account of moral imagination in developing readers that illuminates a previously unexplored mode of reading - moral rehearsal - relevant to theories about the development of children's reading, literary response and moral sense. It represents a contribution to the literature on children's literary experience, the empirical study of children's reading and children's moral and spiritual formation.

The present study had three main purposes: first, to explore the baseline skills and strategies of struggling readers as they conducted online Internet inquiry; second, to scaffold these children to develop effective online reading comprehension and information seeking-skills and strategies in the context of an integrated curriculum; and third, to examine the affective, cognitive and social dimensions of learning in groups and the role of peer collaboration in developing online reading skills and strategies during Internet inquiry. Three theoretical frameworks underpinned the study: a new literacies framework, a motivation and engagement framework, and a cognitive scaffolding framework. The study was conducted in a disadvantaged school in Ireland over an 18 month period with 3rd and 5th class cohorts. It employed a Formative and Design Experimental methodology to iteratively refine the study intervention, as barriers to implementation of the pedagogical goal of the study were identified and factors that enhanced effectiveness of the intervention were revealed. The study was conducted in three interlinked phases: a Baseline phase, a Reading Development and Critical Web Literacy (RDCWL) phase, and the Main Study phase. A range of essentially qualitative data sources was analysed, using inductive and deductive methodologies, to extract themes from the data. Findings from the study suggested that (a) the development of an ecological learning community within the classroom coupled with an integrated curriculum enhanced engagement and motivated the pupils to develop online reading skills; (b) new literacies were acquired through explicit instruction, adaptive scaffolding and peer-to- peer collaboration; (c) developmental differences between children indicated the importance of nurturing self-regulatory reading processes and metacognitive knowledge in developing effective online reading comprehension and information-seeking skills and strategies.

Introduction: Symptom prevalence and management have important implications for the use of healthcare services, as well as the health of individuals. Aim: To describe symptom prevalence and management in the UK and to investigate decision-making and preferences for care. Methods: Two questionnaire surveys were undertaken: 1) a symptom survey of 8,000 working-age adults in the UK, 2) a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with 1,370 respondents to the symptom survey. Results: Symptom survey - Over 75% of respondents experienced at least one symptom in the last two weeks (mean 3.7). The two-week prevalence of symptoms varied from 0.2% for coughing-up blood to 41.3% for feeling tired/run down. Prevalence of specific symptoms was associated with a number of participant characteristics. The most common response to symptoms was doing nothing at all (49%) followed by over-the-counter medicine use (25%). Approximately 8% consulted a GP, while use of other members of the primary-care team (pharmacist, nurse, complementary practitioner and NHS24/NHSDirect) was very small (<2%). Symptom characteristics were more commonly associated with actions taken than participant characteristics. DCE - Significant differences were found for three symptom scenarios of increasing seriousness (diarrhoea, dizziness and chest pain). Self-care was the preferred option for diarrhoea. Consulting a GP was the preferred option for dizziness and chest pain. For all symptom scenarios there was a preference for less waiting time, less cost, greater convenience/availability and a very good chance of a satisfactory outcome. These preferences were valued more highly as the seriousness of the symptom scenario increased. Respondents were willing to trade between different attributes, with waiting time and chance of a satisfactory outcome being the attributes most likely to influence preferences for different actions. Conclusion: Further research is required to examine the public’s knowledge and perceptions of the services offered by different members of the primary care team for managing symptoms.