Much research has been carried out to demonstrate how the online platforms can be used to improve teaching and learning processes. However, they have been less explored in relation to vocational education, where the situation is often more complex and the possible solution options tend to be more constrained than in the contexts where these online technologies have been created. The aim of this research is to investigate the experience of teachers' current use of the online platform (Moodle) in vocational teaching by using a multi-method phenomenographic approach. With data collected by a quantitative survey and in-depth interviews, a complete picture has been developed for the phenomenon being investigated. Findings from the survey and interviews have been used to identify different approaches that teachers can adopt in using Moodle for their vocational subjects in Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education. Through an iterative process of analysis, numerous issues related to vocational teaching with Moodle are revealed in the research process to extend previous knowledge, including: shift in the vocational teachers' role, adjustment of communication with students, necessity of face-to-face coaching, blended learning, control of the learning progress, preparation of the online content, teaching and learning effectiveness, change of student quality and expectations, and amplified support by the media richness. In addition to analyzing the complexity of the phenomenon, the findings of this research highlight the value of sharing teachers' experience; this provides guidance and insights for other vocational teachers to explore the possibilities and opportunities of using the online platforms in their areas of vocational teaching. Complexity and opportunities have been created, not only for both vocational teachers and students, but also for the stakeholders such as course administrators, curriculum developers, faculty members, educational specialists, and organization leaders considering or using online learning platforms for vocational teaching. Recommendations are given in the conclusion for development of staff capacity and capability in vocational teaching with online platforms, particularly with Moodle. Above all, the results of this research substantiate previous ones in showing the importance of teaching with technology, rather than teaching about technology, or technology for teaching.

This thesis focuses on a political economy analysis of the relationship between the professional identity and professional development practices of instructors in the postsecondary educational sector of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). My study brings together the concept of the dual-professional identity of postsecondary TVET instructors, the practice of professional development in TVET, and a political economy approach. The research methods adapted for this postgraduate research study were from a qualitative perspective using a case study approach. The case study involved eight culinary instructors, the supervisor of the professional cooking programme, and the director of the hospitality and culinary careers school at a postsecondary polytechnic in Canada, selected using a non-probability sampling technique. My research explored what a political economy analysis would reveal about the relationship between the professional identity and the professional development practices of the culinary instructors/chefs. Throughout this thesis, I use the term, TVET professionalisation, to denote this relationship This case study contributes to knowledge and the TVET community in three intersecting ways. Its first contribution is in context - the research took place in the Canadian postsecondary TVET sector, for purposes of analysing the professional identity/professional development relationship in consideration of the historical, structural, and socio-cultural contexts of the institution. The case study's second contribution is in extending the literature of the political economy of skills. The findings demonstrate that analysing the professionalisation of the TVET culinary instructors, in consideration of the inter-relationship among the cultural, economic, political, and social contexts of the TVET system, is a suitable extension of the literature on the political economy of skills. From another perspective, the study also adds to the literature on the professionalisation of TVET instructors by considering professionalisation as an extension of the TVET workforce development imperative, which I note in this study as the discourse promoting employability and the axiomatic assumptions of TVET as 'training-for-growth' and 'skills-for work' (Anderson 2008). Thus, the study contributes to wider debates about the applicability of a political economy analysis beyond skill formation systems. Lastly, the case study contributes a conceptual framework for TVET professionalisation by interpreting the relationship between TVET professional identity and professional development through a political economy lens. The findings demonstrate that both the professional identity and the professional development practices of the culinary instructors in the case study were shaped by various contextual factors within the field of practice: namely, the instructor's personal history and sense of agency, the socio-cultural conventions of the culinary trade under investigation, the social and structural setting of the postsecondary TVET institution, and the workforce development imperative of TVET. The conceptual framework for TVET professionalisation also contributes another perspective toward the dual-professional identity of TVET instructors. Dual-professional identity formation within this study, and drawing upon the language of the research participants, refers to the process where the 'recipe' for the chefs' base identity was written in the professional trade of culinary arts. Once they joined the polytechnic, though, the chefs used the institution as 'stage' to 'go beyond the recipe' and elevate their identities by adding the ingredient of 'becoming an educator'. Based on an interpretation of the case study's findings, through a political economy lens of analysis, I suggest that the 'skilled-educator' identity of the culinary instructors is bound by the structural and socio-economic contexts of the postsecondary polytechnic, whereas the 'skilled-tradesperson' identity of the culinary instructors reflects the historical and socio-cultural contexts of the instructors' lived experience as chefs. Further, I posit that each instructor's perception of meaningful professional development reflects the individual's personal sense of agency; what constitutes both a personal and shared sense of legitimacy concerning the value of professional development; and, an allegiance to one of the dual-professional identities over the other.

自上世纪80年代以来，全球范围内掀起了一系列的教育改革浪潮。学校变革能力的不足，成为各国教育改革面临的最大挑战。专业学习社群的出现，为整体提升学校改革能力带来了希望。而专业学习社群概念产生于西方，已有关于专业学习社群的研究也大多基于西方的教育情境，对于具有丰富教师合作实践的中国学校的研究很少。 / 本研究采用混合研究取向，探讨课程改革背景下中国大陆上海学校教师专业学习社群的特点及对教师发展的影响。首先对10所学校的教师进行个案研究，初步探索专业学习社群的特点与影响。在此基础上提出适用于上海情境的专业学习社群及其影响的概念框架，并据此形成专业学习社群特点及效果问卷，对31所学校进行调查，以验证和修订概念框架，并考察专业学习社群对教师发展的影响。研究进一步选取4所有代表性的学校进行深入的个案研究，探究专业学习社群影响教师发展的过程，并分析影响专业学习社群效果及发展水平的因素。问卷调查、深度访谈、非参与式观察和文件收集是获取资料的主要手段。 / 研究发现上海学校教师专业学习社群在个体层面表现出集体探究与分享、共享目标与责任两个特点，在组织层面表现出支持性领导、文化支持、组织结构、文化障碍、制度障碍五个特点，从而揭示出上海学校专业学习社群的独特特点。上海学校专业学习社群在整体上具有良好的发展水平，对教师发展产生了显著的促进作用，包括增强教师的教学效能，提高其对学生学习的承诺水平，并提升工作满意度。发展水平高和发展水平低的专业学习社群对教师发展的影响存在一定的差异，前者更能促进全体教师的发展与变革，并对教学与学生学习产生积极影响。这是因为高发展水平的专业学习社群与教师的日常教学实践紧密相关，并强调平等对话和民主交流，为教师提供了探究性的学习环境。 / 本研究通过上海学校教师专业学习社群实践回应了专业学习社群的情境依赖性，揭示出专业学习社群与教育改革之间的关系，并丰富了专业学习社群对教师发展影响过程与机制的研究。研究还阐述了不同于合作文化和硬造合作的系统、协调的专业学习社群发展取向，从而为理解专业学习社群提供了新的理论视角。基于研究所见，为进一步促进上海学校教师专业学习社群的发展，不仅要加强学校层面在领导、文化和结构上的支持，也要强化地区教育部门在政策制度、领导和资源上对专业学习社群的支持。 / Since the 1980s, a wave of educational reform has shown up on a global scale. One of the biggest challenges faced by various countries is the lack of schools’ reform capacity. The concept of professional learning community (PLC) seems promising for the improvement of schools’ comprehensive change capacity. While the idea of PLC originates in the western world and the majority of existing research has been based on western contexts, the concept and practice of PLCs in Chinese schools where there are rich experiences in terms of teacher collaboration have largely been ignored. / The present study is located within the context of curriculum reform in Mainland China. Adopting a mixed-method approach, this study examines the characteristics of teachers’ PLCs in schools in Shanghai and their impacts on teacher development. First, semi-structural interviews with teachers in ten schools were conducted to preliminarily explore the characteristics and influences of PLCs in Shanghai schools. Based on this, a conceptualization of PLC was initiated, and a questionnaire was developed accordingly. The author conducted a questionnaire survey of teachers in thirty-one schools to verify and modify the conceptualization of PLC and examine its impact on teacher development. After that, four representative schools were selected and in-depth case studies were implemented, to further investigate how PLCs impacted teacher development and what the key factors were in this process. Questionnaire survey, in-depth interview, non-participatory observation, and document collection were the main methods to collect data. / Results show that teachers’ PLCs in Shanghai schools could be conceptualized in individual level in terms of collective inquiry and sharing and shared goals and responsibility, and organizational level in terms of supportive leadership, cultural support, organizational structures, cultural barriers and institutional barriers, which indicates the unique characteristics of PLCs in Shanghai schools. Teachers’ PLCs in the schools in Shanghai performed well in general, and significantly improved teacher development, including their teaching effectiveness, commitment to student leaning, and job satisfaction. There were differences between high-level PLCs and low-level PLCs in terms of their influences on teacher development, i.e. the former had a greater role in promoting the whole teachers’ development and reform, and also their teaching practices and student learning. This is because high-level PLCs focused on teachers’ teaching practices and emphasized equal dialogue and democratic exchanges, which provided favorable environment for teachers’ inquiry and learning. / This study, by presenting the practices of PLCs in the schools in Shanghai, responded to the context specificity of PLCs, disclosed the relationship between PLCs and education reform, and enriched existing research on the influence process and mechanism of PLCs on teacher development. The study also identified a systematic and coordinated approach to develop PLCs, which was different from collaborative culture and contrived collegiaty and thus provided a new theoretical perspective for us to understand the concept of PLC. To further promote the practices of PLCs in the schools in Shanghai, support at both the school level such as leadership, culture and structure, and the district level such as policy, leadership and resources need to be strengthened. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 張佳. / Parallel title from added title page. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 305-339). / Abstracts also in English. / Zhang Jia.

Speaking to a local radio station in the 1960s, with the glitz, glitter and glamour of televised professional wrestling at its height, one old, retired Cumbrian wrestler declared that ‘wrestling…was a game for the field not the stage'. This statement, condensed and potent as it is, could stand in for the questions this thesis asks and seeks to answer: why did wrestling develop as a professional, performed ‘sporting entertainment'? To answer this question, existing theories of social and sports history are combined with cultural studies methods and applied to Pierre Bourdieu's notion of fields. Chapters one and two surveys the birth of a fielded society and the growth of spectator and professional sport as part of a wider cultural field in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Considering many sports during this time had relationships with the theatre, circus and fairground, the seemingly logical expansion of professional sport was closer to that of professional wrestling. Sport, however, did not develop in this way. Chapter three explore the reasons for this and posits that the genesis of the sporting field, demonstrated by the growth of sporting bodies and the perpetuation of amateur ideal, dominated the field. Control of wrestling, however, for various reasons, was not gained in this manner. Chapter four examines the consequences of this when professional wrestling became a fully performed sport in the interwar years. Finally, chapter five assesses the relationship between the sporting field and television in the late twentieth century. Wrestling as a ‘sporting entertainment' is of interest precisely because it displays a ‘discarded possible' of how professional sport may have grown had it not been for the institutions and ideologies active within the field during the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century. It also demonstrates the often precarious nature of fields and concludes that sport's meanings, pleasure and values are not as consistent as are first assumed.

The selfhood of social professionals in children’s services is under-researched, and where the primary focus is on practice ‘outcomes’. Informed by a critical social policy frame this thesis focuses on the selfhood of social professionals in children’s services to ask how it might, or might not, be possible to think, and do, self differently. I bring into play a critical posthumanist (non-sovereign) becoming self alongside, and in relation to, the other ‘allowed’ or ‘prescribed’ selves of neo-liberalism, professional practice and (critical) social policy itself. Utilising theoretical resources, in particular from Arendt, Deleuze and Guattari, and Foucault, I characterise this as thinking with both ‘surveillance’ and ‘appearance’, and self as an explicitly political project. In a post-structural frame I pursue a post-methodological rhizomatic and cartographic methodology that aims to open up proliferations in thinking and knowledge rather than foreclose it to one clear answer, and where I also draw on a small number of interviews with experienced professionals and managers in children’s services. A rhizomatic figure of thought involves irreducible and multiple relations that are imbricated on the surface; it is a flattened picture where theory, data, researcher, participants and analysis are not separate, where all connections are part of an overall picture, and in movement. I argue that social professionals occupy a deeply striated landscape for being/knowing/practising, a particular ontological grid that tethers their selfhood to the pre-existing, and to intensifications in a neo-liberal project. Here, ‘rearranging the chairs’ becomes more of the same, where the sovereign humanist subject is “a normative frame and an institutionalised practice” (Braidotti, 2013, p.30). In thinking otherwise, beyond traditional critical theory, a posthuman lens draws attention to the ways in which we might be/live both inside and outside of the already existing and where we become with others, human and non-human in shifting assemblages. However, the self prescribed and prefigured in dominant discourses constitute the historical preconditions from which experiments in self, and other possibilities may emerge. Practices of de-familiarisation, a radical, non-linear relationality, and a hermeneutics of situation are suggested as strategies for thinking forward, for appearance, and a self beyond self.

O autor realizou um levantamento sobre as condições do exercício da Odontologia, na cidade de Manaus AM, entre 175 cirurgiões-dentistas, residentes no município de Manaus, inscritos no Conselho Regional de Odontologia Seção do Amazonas, e com clínica particular que compõem o setor privado não organizado de prestação de assistência odontológica. O método adotado foi a utilização de um formulário, preenchido pelos profissionais em atividade em Manaus, em julho de 1984, tomando-se como base as atividades realizadas na última semana, considerando-se última semana aquela em que o profissional não se afastou nenhum dia do consultório, isto é, trabalhou todos os dias da semana. Os dados obtidos foram tabulados e analisados, tendo sido pos sível, pelos resultados, conhecer os aspectos pessoais, familiares, educativos, profissionais e econômicos dos profissionais investigados. / The author has carried out a survey on the conditions presented by the practice of dentistry in Amazonas city, State of Amazonas, Brazil, among 175 dentists living in Manaus-AM, enrolled at the Regional Council of Odontology - Amazonas sector -, as well as those having private clinics, the latter comprising the non-organized private sector of the dental profession. It has been used the form methodology, being the forms filled in by the professionals who were in activity in Manaus-AM, in july 1984, taking as a basis the activities carried out on the last week, being the last week that in which the professional was not absent from his office, that is, he worked all weekdays through. Data collected were computed and analysed what made possible the knowledge of the personal, family, educational, professional and, economical aspects of the professionals under research.

Academic interest in the professional practice of sport psychology has meant a proliferation in models, theories, and guides to successful service provision, from gaining entry into practice to the evaluation and/or termination of service. However, there is an absence of research that examines the stage before practice can begin, and in particular, the formal employment interview. In order to address this gap in the literature, this thesis developed an understanding of the skills necessary to navigate the employment interview as a sport psychology consultant (SPC). The first study identified the features of experience that influenced gatekeepers to sport psychology s previous hiring decisions (study one). Assuming an interpretative phenomenological approach, data were collected through interviews with seven gatekeepers in positions directly responsible for hiring SPCs within United Kingdom elite sport organisations. The participants experiences were interpreted to be influenced by four key features of the sport psychologists; (a) consultant affability, (b) consultant confidence versus arrogance, (c) consultant collaboration, and (d) presentation of consultant competencies. These features of experience were then used to create two short video vignettes simulating the employment interview between gatekeeper and practitioner (study two). Utilising these vignettes to stimulate discussion, Trainee Sport Psychologists were interviewed (n=31) concerning their ability to identify interview skills, their perception of their own skills, the sources of such skills and how they could be developed. Findings revealed that despite possessing desirable levels of both affability and collaboration skills, participants reported low levels of confidence in sport psychology and the ability to present their competencies. Parent and peer attachment, educational background and specific experiential features were proposed as sources of these skills. In an attempt to further examine the potential interactions between these proposed sources of interview skills, currently accredited, practicing Sport Psychologists and those undertaking practical training routes (n=214) were surveyed (study three). The findings of this study indicated that a SPC s peer attachment, educational background, applied experience, and interview experience variably relate to self-perceived levels of consultant affability, confidence in sport psychology, collaboration, and presentation of competencies. However, there was no significant effect observed for parent attachment, as suggested within study two. Together, the studies within this thesis provide the first examination of the features of experience that have influenced historic consumer decisions within the hiring of SPCs, the skills which SPCs should possess in order to gain entry through an employment interview, and the sources from which these skills may be derived.

The study is located within a Scottish human service context, with human services being defined as predominantly work directly with people (service users; patients; volunteers; clients) across public and third sector settings. It draws on narratives from six distinct disciplines including social work, education, police, community learning and development, educational psychology and nursing. Whilst participants reflected on their journeys to becoming a professional, they explored how opportunities, both given and taken to lead throughout their careers, may have influenced their understanding and experience of professionalism, professional identity and leadership. Narratives frequently identified participants’ overwhelming desire to enter and remain within human service professions being driven by a social justice agenda, with an inherent desire to ‘make a difference’. Participants articulated how leadership opportunities had provided them with greater confidence and an ability to improve standards within their field, often from an early stage in their career. This in turn had often strengthened their sense of professional identity. Findings suggest participants made very strong connections between the concepts of professionalism and leadership, particularly when leadership was understood as distributed throughout the organisation. Distributed, dispersed, collaborative or ‘leadership at all levels’ are terms often used interchangeably to describe ‘a pooling of ideas and expertise to produce services and leadership energy that is greater than the sum of individual capabilities’ (Patterson, 2010:6). This type of leadership therefore, not only recognises the ability of people within non-traditional positions of power or who are not at the top of their organisational hierarchy, to become leaders, but also recognises the collaborative nature of such interactions. Based on the findings, a key recommendation suggests that within human service contexts, a re-conceptualisation of professionalism, which incorporates models of distributed leadership, should be adopted. This would have the capacity to unleash latent leadership potential within professionals who want to ‘make a difference’ and would be like ‘pushing on an open door’. It is further argued that such a consideration could support the development of leadership strategies in human services although the author cautions that organisational cultures can both promote or inhibit effectiveness and impact.

Purpose. The problem of this study was to determine the present practices in the selection and preparation of off-campus supervising teachers in accredited elementary education programs in state-supported teacher education institutions in the United States. (Abstract shortened.)

The problem of this study was to determine the relationships among selected predictor variables in order to identify the combination of variables which best predicts scores on the National Teacher Examination-Weighted Common Examination Total Score. The identified variables were sex, teaching level, ACT composite scores, teacher education admission grade-point averages, CAT scores in Reading, Mathematics, and English, and Professional Education sequence grade-point averages. Nine hypotheses comprised the basis of this study. The first eight hypotheses pertained to the bivariate relationship of each predictor variable and the NTE-WCET scores. Hypothesis nine concerned the relationships of the combination of the predictor variables to the NTE-WCET scores. The 99 subjects of this study were drawn from 186 applicants for initial teaching certification in Tennessee during the 1981 calendar year. Selection was dependent upon the subjects having the grade-point averages and scores used as variables recorded and reported to East Tennessee State University. Pearson product-moment/and point-biserial correlations were used to determine the relationship between each predictor and the criterion. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the combination of variables which correlate significantly with the NTE-WCET scores. The .05 level was considered in determining significance. Analysis of the relationship of predictors with the NTE-WCET scores revealed that sex and teaching level did not correlate significantly. ACT composite scores, CAT Reading scores, CAT Math scores, CAT English scores, teacher education admission grade-point averages, and Professional Education sequence grade-point averages correlated significantly at the .0001 level. ACT composite score and CAT Reading scores shared the greatest common variance with NTE-WCET scores at 74.23 percent and 61.88 percent respectively. Analysis of a significant correlation between the NTE-WCET scores and a combination of all eight predictors showed a significant correlation at the .0001 level. Analysis of the significance of each predictor to the R('2) increase showed that ACT composite scores, CAT Reading scores, and CAT English scores were significant at the .05 level.