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In Saudi Arabia, as part of a nationwide programme of educational reform and espoused move to a more de-centralised system, a detailed set of new powers have recently been granted to head teachers with the aim of providing them with more autonomy. However, there is little research evidence to show whether or not these aims have been achieved. The purpose ofthis study, therefore, is to fill this gap and investigate the perceived impact of these recent educational reforms on the role of school head teachers in Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. It aims to identify any challenges or difficulties that head teachers may face whilst implementing these powers and establish any areas of opportunity that may arise as a result ofthe reforms. The study was based on a pragmatist paradigm and followed a mixed methods research design. Data were collected from head teachers through the use of structured questionnaires (n=71) and follow-up semi-structured interviews (n=10). These data were analysed using established quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques. The findings of this study suggest that the impact of the recent educational reform on the role of school head teachers has been varied. The findings on the whole confirm the limited impact of the reform on their role, based on the four dimensions of "the management of the school", ''the relationships with teachers", ''the relationships with students" and ''the reduction in ambiguity in terms of procedures". In addition, several challenges have been found to have had a negative effect on the role of school leaders. The most prominent of these challenges was the withdrawal of powers, restrictions, lack of staff, school budget and school buildings. In addition, it has been found that several factors may affect the role of school leaders, whether positively or negatively, during the implementation of school autonomy.

Despite the burgeoning body of literature in the field of Educational Leadership and Management (ELM), there has been relatively little discussion on middle management which it is a key strategic stratum that is central in the translation, filtration and implementation of senior management policies in an organisation. In the context of Further Education (FE) in the UK, an educational sector that has been in a state of flux since the incorporation of colleges in 1993, middle managers are positioned in a buffering, bridging and brokering role between the triad of students, lecturers and senior managers who perceive their role as implementing government policy. Middle managers are expected to reduce potential conflict and manufacture consent between professional and managerial interests in colleges of FE yet their role remains neglected, fuzzy and misunderstood - there is little empirical research in FE leadership, particularly in the professional identities of middle managers. This research seeks to address this gap by presenting an original contribution to knowledge illuminating the role of middle managers in the FE sector. More specifically, it provides insights into the construction of the professional identities of middle managers in the FE sector. This research adopts a sequential mixed methods design embedded in constructivism and interpretivism. The sequential mixed methods approach facilitates elaboration on the findings of one method with another method. The study has three distinct stages: (i) It begins with qualitative interviews with 32 academic experts in the field of ELM for purposes of setting the context. (ii) Completion of an on-line questionnaire by 75 middle managers in colleges of FE. (iii) Individual follow-up interviews for deeper exploration of issues with 10 middle managers who participated at Stage II. The use of a variety of data sources and lenses allows for comparisons to be made, thus facilitating a thick description of the phenomenon. The results provide insights into the duality of the role of structure and agency in the construction of the professional identities of middle managers in FE. Whilst organisations have influence on employees' professional identity, professional identity cannot be imposed or bestowed on employees by government agents, government policies or organisational culture - individuals are not neatly sutured into the social structure as docile beings - they exercise agency. The results highlight that individuals respond differently to similar conditions. Thus, the following typology of middle managers, as described in the literature is confirmed: (i) willing compliers, (ii) strategic compliers, and (iii) unwilling compliers. In addition, this study identifies a fourth type who are described as principled mutineers. Recommendations are made for occupational, organisational and individual levels on how middle management roles could be ameliorated. This research contributes to the illumination of the middle management role and increases knowledge about the professional identities of middle managers in FE.

This study investigates how thirteen trilingual-triliterate children aged 5-17 appropriate, mediate and display their multilingual identity across three main socio-cultural and educational contexts: an out-of-school English literacy course; their mainstream French classroom; and community-based heritage language programmes (Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, Sinhala, Bangia, Russian, and Farsi), crucial for maintaining a cultural/linguistic bond with their families, within and across national borders. The central focus is on eliciting children's attitudes, perceptions and interpretations of their trilingual-triliterate world. Drawing on a mixed and multi-method methodology, including surveys and questionnaires, interviews with the children and their parents, children' s drawings and written narratives, and chosen symbolic objects, this qualitative case study is embedded in a sociolinguistic, social constructionist and socio-cultural approach to language and literacy development and identity construction. The findings demonstrate that children are able to identify the place their languages occupy in their educational and family contexts; the importance of having access to the corresponding literacy; and the affective connection that binds the language to a significant being in their lives: their friends and teachers in school and their parents and relatives in the family context. Therefore, this study posits a tripartite construction of identity that children negotiate in interaction with real people; in tangible places; through relevant experiences. Children's multimodal productions thus reflect the construction of a multilingual identity that evolves simultaneously across fixed/unitary and dynamic/hybrid spaces, as children seek coherence in diversity. Finally, this thesis explores the importance of this diversity in building children's self-esteem, cementing a positive relationship with their languages, and creating an emerging linguistic and literate identity. It looks at the implications for classroom practice and teacher responses in multilingual contexts and examines the role of the parents in nurturing children's multiple literacies and identities.

This study used an exploratory case study to investigate first generation immigrant students' perspectives on their educational experience at a South East England further education (FE) college. The concept of globalization intersected by immigration, the knowledge economy, education, workers' reflexivity, and Bourdieu's theory of social capital provides an overarching theoretical framework for this study. An interpretive approach, in line with social constructivism was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 10 male and 5 female first generation immigrant students aged 17 -57. The interview data was analysed using an inductive thematic process. The study aimed to gain a deeper insight into why first generation immigrants were attracted to FE colleges, what their learning experiences were like, what challenges (if any) were they facing and what their future job prospects were in the labour market. Although proximity to home, affordability and the need to improve their English language proficiency were found to be the main reasons why they chose to enrol at the college, the respondents also did not have access to adequate information before they decided to enrol at the college. The study found that the respondents' learning experience was characterised by a cordial student-lecturer relationship. The main challenges to the respondents' education were limited English language proficiency and lack of both economic and social capital. The findings from this study suggest that first generation immigrant students were not confident about their future job prospects in the UK labour market. Although the results of this study may not be generalizable, the findings may be useful to other individuals and institutions in gaining a deeper understanding of the educational experience of first generation immigrants.

Without acknowledging teachers' perspectives on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and without accommodating their CPD needs, CPD initiatives can be poorly directed or inadequate for the teachers whom they are intended to serve. This research study questions the extent and quality of the continuous professional development (CPD) available to secondary school mathematics teachers in Zambia. Designed as a case study, the principal focus is on the views of the teachers themselves on whether and how current CPD meets their CPD needs. The teachers' views were ascertained by means of multiple data collection tools: questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions and analysis of documents. Teachers' perceived CPD needs were categorised under six headings: mathematics content knowledge; pedagogical content knowledge and skills; professional practices and relationships; knowledge of and skills to meet learners' needs; affective needs; and school development needs. Of these, teachers' responses show that they had the highest need in the category of knowledge of learners and lowest needs in the school development needs category. Their responses also show that they have wide range of varying needs across all the categories of CPD needs and in various combinations depending on several factors that include their academic background, work experiences and personal circumstances. Teachers' responses show that even though their needs differ from one another, differentiated CPD approaches designed to meet such different needs have not been sufficiently considered. Analysis of background information about Zambia, teachers' responses and relevant literature has led to the conclusion that CPD in Zambia, a low income and developing country, should aim at empowering teachers with the knowledge, skills, competencies values and personal qualities that would enable them not only to improve their teaching practice, but also to continually cope with the demands, pressures, challenges and expectations within a disadvantaged educational , system and broad socio-economic environment such as is obtaining in Zambia. Teachers' consideration of whether CPD was effective in meeting their needs depended on whether they were able to identify their needs or not. A needs analysis model is suggested tr guide teachers in identifying their CPD needs and how these might be met. It is hoped the findings of this research will contribute to informing not only present but also future improvements in CPD provision.

This thesis investigated the influence of values, culture and context on technology adoption behaviour. This thesis aimed to theoretically develop and validate the Values-Enhanced Technology Adoption (VETA) model, integrating Schwartz’s Theory of Human Values with the Unified Theory of the Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). The VETA model was validated through survey data in four research organisations based in East Africa (Kenya and Uganda), The Gambia and the United Kingdom. Contextual differences in adoption factors were explored through interviews with e-learners. Workers were surveyed during their participation in a professional e-learning course and interviewed six weeks after their e-learning experience. Survey analysis was completed using Partial-Least-Squares Structural-Equation-Modelling (PLS-SEM); interview data was analysed through computer aided thematic analysis. The VETA model was partially confirmed in the context with performance expectancy, price value, and habit predicting learner intention to use e-learning. Values interacted with the VETA model as predictors of adoption factors. The value of achievement was most important in predicting intention to use e-learning. Learners prioritising achievement as an important aspect of their worldview perceived e-learning to be important in their social context and worthwhile in terms of cost and benefit. The type and source of social influence differed in the African contexts from the UK: peer, champion, and manager influence were informational for African learners. The lack of facilitating conditions in the African environment was a perceived barrier to e-learning use for African learners that could be overcome with special endeavours which were not needed in the UK environment. This thesis demonstrated the integration of values and technology adoption literature in the development and validation of the VETA model, and expanded the constructs of social influence, price value, performance expectancy and facilitating conditions in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK. Despite contextual differences, the VETA model applied consistently across the East African, West African and UK contexts.

This thesis examines global citizenship education (GCE) within the context of a case study of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC). It also examines the relations that exist between GCE and (global) citizenship from a critical perspective. GCE is characterised as a form of critical education as revealed through the perspectives of critical educators and education philosophers, through social and educational movements in general, and through the development education movement specifically. The methods of data collection employed include individual interviews, a focus group, observations and documentary analysis. A grounded analysis of the data and a critical discussion of the results provide insight into the policy making and educational strategies of RISC, its delivery of GCE, and the institutionalisation of critical GCE. The study identifies the importance of NGOs in delivering critical GCE on a long-term basis, and their contribution to the development of an education that engenders, through participation, citizen’s awareness of their individual and collective responsibility for inequalities and social change. Thus the emphasis is on the power of agency in (global) citizenship and on citizens’ participation in GCE.

This case study centres on the internationalisation policies of a Chinese university— University X—and examines how they are experienced and perceived by both this university’s international and home students. The study focuses on how the institutional system promotes not only the students’ development of intercultural communicative competence, but also their understanding and perceptions of their intercultural communication experience within this context. The empirical findings of this study show first that 1) the internationalisation policies of this specific Chinese university relate to specific five areas. These relate to: the introduction of high-quality international education resources; attracting foreign students; faculty development; extracurricular (intercultural) activities; and management of the university’s administration system. The university’s policy initiatives and strategies correspond with three aspects of the theories that relate to the internationalisation of higher education These are: curriculum internationalisation; internationalisation at home; and, intercultural dialogue; 2) students’ experiences of the institutional system in terms of their perceptions of: their teachers and learning experience; their intercultural communication experience inside the classroom; their intercultural communication experience outside the classroom and within the wider community; and, their experiences with the university’s administrative system; and, 3) the variety of factors that influence both Chinese and international students’ development of intercultural competence and their understanding of intercultural communication experience with one another. These include: language issues; differences in motivation and life style; attitudes towards intercultural communication; and, rapport with the local community. The study’s findings provide valuable insights into the development of students’ intercultural competence as a result of the institution’s internationalisation policy, and have practical implications for higher education internationalisation, especially in the context of China.

Death is often considered to be a taboo subject, even more so when we try to think about addressing the subject with children. Nonetheless, it is an important subject which impacts the lives of all of us and often as children. Finding the way in which the subject has been dealt with for children can be problematic; however, it is possible to explore this subject via the medium of children’s literature. This exploration uses both books, which are text only and also picture books. This thesis uses a social constructionist perspective to explore notions of the ‘child’ and childhood’, which assumes that no concepts have a pre-existing, given nature and that all things are shaped by culture and history. By exploring the ways in which concepts of ‘child’ and childhood’ have altered over time it is then possible to consider and analyse how the subject of death has been presented and, altered overtime, within children’s literature Books are also constructions and here they have been analysed to offer some insight into what has been deemed suitable subject matter for a child to read and thus to allow prevailing attitudes towards children across the 120 year period of the study to be explored. The study uses a sample from three periods within the 120 year time span: 1890-1910, 1950-1970 and 1990-2010. Comparison of the ways in which death has been addressed within each period is considered alongside prevailing notions of ‘the child’. Thematic analysis is used to analyse the books and serves to point up the more surprising findings where death has been addressed in a direct manner across the 120 years. Although it is clear that the subject has been addressed directly in terms of language used (dead, died) what is also clear is from the 1890’s to 2010 it is the construction of childhood prevalent at the time that alters and thus impacts what can deemed suitable for children.