This research presents the learning experiences of seven visually impaired physiotherapy students in Higher Education in the UK, using case study methodology to identify the perceived factors that create barriers and enable participation in learning to become a physiotherapist for these participants. Semi-structured interviews about university and practice based learning using the language of the ICF identified perceived environmental barriers and enablers such as support, relationships, attitudes, resources and technology that influenced activity and participation in both university and practice based learning. Individual factors and personal and professional values also influenced both aspects of learning. The findings from university learning were shared with academic physiotherapy staff across the UK confirming awareness of the factors that created barriers and enablers in learning. Despite the existence of barriers, and a clear shared and necessary desire by academic and practice educators to work collaboratively to enable inclusive learning in physiotherapy, there was a sense of inconsistency with professional values in the overall approach to education for these participants. Building on the ICF, and using Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory as a lens to explain the findings, this research contributes to the understanding of the experiences of visually impaired students in HE. However, there remains a challenge for physiotherapists in education and practice to consider, embrace and ensure that the professional values we hold underpin inclusive educational practices across physiotherapy education for visually impaired physiotherapy students who will become our future colleagues.

Greater understanding of the ways in which medical trainees perceive the doctor-patient relationship could inform future developments in educational provision. A qualitative study was conducted, using a case study approach to explore the perceptions of postgraduate trainees in two medical specialties, general practice (GP) and otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat surgery, ENT), in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Following a scoping exercise in 2002, interviews with 20 trainees (10 GP and 10 ENT) in 2004 and questionnaires from 16 ENT and 89 GP trainees in 2007 explored trainees’ views of the doctor-patient relationship, including perceptions of the nature of that relationship and how they had learnt to develop relationships with patients. Five conceptual frameworks that participants drew upon when talking about the doctor-patient relationship were identified: paternalism; guided decision-making; partnership; clinical and consumerism. Trainees described a fluid doctor-patient relationship which adapts to differing contexts, taking different forms in different situations and influenced by factors outside the doctor’s control, including time and the patient’s personality. Personal experience and observing senior colleagues were considered to have had the greatest impact on learning. Higher Specialist Training which acknowledges the complexity of the doctor-patient relationship and encourages reflective practice is recommended.

This thesis asks: what can an autoethnographic approach to research reveal about the relations between power, subject (s) and truth in the context of lesson observation feedback? As a Foucauldian inspired study, the thesis shows how experiences of giving and receiving lesson observation feedback reflect forms of knowledge and ways of being and behaving. The research engages with ongoing debates around the use of lesson observation as a tool to measure the performance of established teachers and as an approach to inform the development of student teachers. The thesis exemplifies a critical and ethically informed approach to a particular encounter: giving observation feedback. The selection, positioning and crafting of autoethnographies and the inclusion of empirical data leads to a reading experience that is continuous and discontinuous. Both the writing and the content of the thesis privilege the place of messy and subjective teacher experience in educational research. This is important as a deliberate stand that resists classification as to what kinds of encounters should be judged more meaningful. It promotes ways of drawing on a range of experiences that both student teachers and established teachers might employ in order to consider an aspect of their work more fully.

This study investigates the experiences of first-in-family participants in a dual-sector university in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In the context of the continuing debate around inequality in participation rates in higher education in Scotland and on-going concern with the attainment gap between working and middle-classes, I ask whether a dual-sector university could be perceived as being more relevant to the lives of non-traditional learners and provide an experience less alienating than a traditional university. I ask whether this dual sector environment can provide access to a valued higher education experience without causing the same sense of disjuncture and discomfort reported by many studies of working-class students’ experience in the middle-class world of higher education (Reay at al. 2009b, Keane 2011, He Li 2013, Lee and Kramer 2013, He Li 2015). The study was designed within an interpretivist paradigm, acknowledging the role of participant and researcher in co-creating knowledge and understanding. Using semi-structured interviews, towards the end of their first year, the experience of nine under-graduate students was explored. The methodological design and data analysis were informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field. These concepts were employed as a framework within which the positioning of the students in relation to higher education and their interaction with the University could be considered. The data evidenced an alignment between the habitus of the students and that of the University that eased their transition to higher education and sustained a motivational focus on the students’ future career choice. Furthermore, the University prompted some students to extend their learning beyond the institution into vocational settings providing opportunities to begin to develop a professional identity from an early stage. While the University provided local access to higher education to many who would otherwise have no opportunity to participate, the modest ambitions of the students and evidence of the continued pull of their primary habitus, suggested that the University offered opportunities for development and attainment that stopped short of transformation.

<p> This quantitative study examined the experiences of first-generation college students and the influence of cultural wealth capital on their college outcomes. The study analyzed secondary data from The Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), a nationally representative data set capturing the high school, college and early post-secondary education experiences and outcomes of high school sophomore students in 2002 over a 10-year span, including college and early career outcomes. The scope of the data was narrowed to only examine students that indicated they were first-generation college students. </p><p> Using Tara Yosso&rsquo;s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth model as the conceptual framework, and, using factor analysis, the study operationalized two forms of capital from the model: aspirational capital and navigational capital. Both linear and logit regression analysis were used in examining this relationship between the capital constructs and college pipeline outcomes (enrollment, persistence and graduation) for first-generation college students. </p><p> The study found that for every one standard deviation increase of aspirational capital, first-generation college students were found to be 28.5% more likely to enroll in college. Additionally, for every one standard deviation of aspirational capital, first-generation students were 25.6% more likely to persist through to their fourth semester college, a time when first-generation college students are found to be most likely to drop out of college. The dissertation includes a robust discussion of outcomes and related recommendations for theory, practice and policy.</p><p>

<p>This dissertation examines the implications of the adjunct phenomenon on higher education. The researcher utilized multiple case study and document analysis to identify the major implications the adjunct phenomenon has on higher education through the framework of organizational culture and leadership as well as the concept of the herd. This was explored through the study of adjunct faculty perceptions of the adjunct phenomenon, the shift from tenure-track to non-tenure track faculty, hiring, implementation, and employment practices for adjunct faculty. The results of this study support the conclusion that the adjunct phenomenon is impacting higher education, specifically recruitment, retention, organizational culture, and faculty resources. The findings suggest that the negative impacts of the adjunct phenomenon are experienced through the matriculation of limitations on higher education through the state of Louisiana. Additionally, departments have the power to impact the adjunct phenomenon experienced in their department through making changes to recruitment and retention practices as well as the development of organizational culture, utilizing the concept of the herd.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

<p> This qualitative case study was designed to investigate graduate assistantships at the University of Central Missouri (UCM). Specifically, the researcher sought to understand how assistantships prepare graduate students for real world practices, provide a place to perfect their leaned skills, and assist with professional goal attainment. Participants of this study included current graduate assistants, previous graduate assistants, university leadership, and supervisors of graduate assistants. The conceptual framework of this research study incorporated Kolb&rsquo;s (1984), Experiential Learning Theory. This theory was chosen because it gives credibility to the concept that graduate assistantships can enrich learning and professional development (Johns, 2001; Kolb, 1984).</p><p> Data collection for this study consisted of individual interviews, a focus group and an online survey. Furthermore, data validity and reliability were enriched through strategies such as triangulation, adequate engagement in collection of data, member checking, and rich thick description (Creswell, 2014; Merriam &amp; Tisdell, 2016; Seidman, 2013). Analysis of the data revealed topics such as professional development effectiveness, opportunities and experience, and the organizational value of graduate assistantships. This information provides concrete evidence pertaining to the benefits and value of graduate assistantships at UCM.</p><p>

<p> College of Education faculty members at the University of Central Missouri found that public school teachers and administrators from surrounding schools were reluctant to hand over classrooms of students to novice teachers for student teaching. With high stakes accountability for test scores, teachers voiced their need to be present in the classroom, particularly during spring semester of statewide testing (Diana, 2014). The university adopted a co-teaching model of student teaching to prepare its teaching candidates for the first year of teaching while allowing the cooperating teacher to stay in the classroom throughout the student teaching term. The problem-of-practice addressed in this study focuses on the need to determine if a co-teaching student teacher model provides university students an adequate amount of clinical experience and preparation to support a successful first year of teaching.</p><p> The purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) analyze the perceptions of former and current student teachers, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors on the coteaching model of student teaching and (2) assess the model&rsquo;s effectiveness in preparing student teachers for their first year of teaching. To this end, the research questions are as follows:</p><p> Research Question 1. What are the perceptions of University of Central Missouri current and former student teachers on the co-teaching student-teaching model&rsquo;s ability to prepare student teachers for their first year of teaching?</p><p> Research Question 2. What are the perceptions of University of Central Missouri university supervisors on the co-teaching student-teaching model&rsquo;s ability to prepare student teachers for their first year of teaching?</p><p> Research Question 3. What are the perceptions of cooperating teachers on the co-teaching student- teaching model&rsquo;s ability to prepare student teachers for their first year of teaching?</p><p> The research questions were answered through an analysis of the data collected via a quantitative survey followed by a qualitative interview. The quantitative survey asked respondents to rate items on a Likert-type scale (Fink, 2013) as to how well they perceived the co-teaching model of student teaching prepares student teachers to meet Missouri Teaching Standards. The qualitative survey asked respondents to discuss their perceptions of how well the co-teaching model of student teaching prepares student teachers for their first year of teaching based on their personal experience.</p><p> The responses indicated that the co-teaching model scored higher in first year teacher preparation by elementary teachers and elementary supervisors than by secondary teachers and supervisors. Responses also indicated that student teachers and cooperating teachers perceived the co-teaching model as more positively preparing student teachers for their first year of teaching than do university supervisors. Additionally, responses indicated that the co-teaching model of student teaching closely aligns to the Gradual Release of Responsibility theory of learning (Pearson &amp; Gallagher, 1983) with the co-teaching model of student teaching strengths as follows: extensive modeling by a More Knowledgeable Other (Vygotsky, 1978), extensive professional reflection and immediate feedback, a narrowing of focus, professional collaboration, and building of confidence in the student teacher. Due to the student teacher never solely taking over the classroom responsibilities in a co-teaching model of student teaching, the model&rsquo;s barrier for preparing student teachers for their first year of teaching centers on the student teacher not receiving a fully realistic teaching experience in a classroom without a co-teacher.</p><p> On this basis, it is recommended that universities and school districts adopt the co-teaching model of student teaching to provide a strong base of teaching background for the student teacher through the Gradual Release of Responsibility. The student teacher should also receive two to three weeks of sole classroom responsibility and all the duties in that role as to provide a realistic experience of teaching without a co-teacher present. Further research could synthesize the perceptions of the same group of participants in this study regarding a model similar to the one recommended.</p><p>

<p> This study explored international students&rsquo; career readiness in a four-year, private university in the Midwest. In order to measure career readiness, the researcher reviewed three factors: financial support, academic major, and country of origin. International students graduating in May 2018 received a survey from the researcher on career readiness. A total of 38 students completed the survey. The final question of the survey was an invitation to participate in an individual interview and/or a focus group. The qualitative data from the survey showed that financial support impacted international students&rsquo; career readiness. International students with financial support were more prepared to enter the workforce than students who did not have financial support. Academic majors also impacted career readiness. Students with Business majors pointed out that due to the numerous different fields within the field of Business, it was difficult to show proficiency in one area needed by an employer. Students pursuing other degrees such as Science and Education had a clear idea of the steps to take after graduation and what employers were looking for in new graduates. Country of origin did not have an impact on career readiness as all international students pointed out the difficulties and uncertainties met after graduation due to the immigration restrictions on student and work visas in the United States.</p><p>