This thesis explores constructions of masculinity, deviancy and educational failure through an examination of policy and the discursive accounts provided by teenage boys, all of whom had been excluded from school, and educational practitioners working with such boys. This topic is of interest because the exclusion of boys with behavioural problems has been of significant concern to schools and policy makers for some time. Although the numbers of exclusions has reduced recently it remains a significant social justice issue because permanent school exclusion is directly related to deviancy and unemployment and disproportionally affects those who are already disadvantaged, such as the poor working-class and those with special Educational Needs. This thesis contributes to understanding how boys’ peer interactions contribute towards perpetuating particular myths about masculine behaviour and its domination over females and alternative masculinities. It shows how some boys through drawing on discourses of hegemonic masculinity and gender binary asymmetries construct themselves in ways that contribute towards school confrontation. The voices of practitioners show how they contribute towards tensions and how education policy is considered as prohibiting staff from working effectively with some boys. Consideration was given to literature discussing the social construction of parenting, childhood, and children’s "needs". Literature regarding the persistence of the role model discourse as both a cause and solution to boys’ problem behaviours in school is also investigated. Literature examining hegemonic masculinities was drawn on to further understand how it is performed and enforced through peer interaction, resulting in problematic behaviours which dominate particular constructions of masculinity. The theoretical framework used for this study draws on the work of Foucault (1970, 1977, 1980) who theorised that people construct truth through the dominant discourses which they draw on. It also explains how and why power is afforded to one discourse at the expense of another. The methodology adopted for this research utilizes this theoretical framework. 35 narrative interviews were undertaken and examined using discourse analysis as discussed by Gee (2011) and Taylor (2001). The data collected was contrasted with literature to further understand the discourses respondents employed in their discursive constructions. This thesis exposes the challenges that boys and practitioners face as they negotiate the dominant masculine discourses at large in both school and home. It also shows that respondents’ understandings of masculinity rely on outmoded discourses of masculinity, essentialist gender binaries and constructions of childhood, which contribute towards problem behaviours in school. Tensions in school are also exacerbated by policy discourse and practitioners’ constructions of childhood. However, these normative discourses are challenged by respondents’ acknowledgment of alternative versions of masculinity and the coexistence of gender heteroglossia.

Women constitute more than half of the teaching force in primary schools in Greece but men are more likely than women to achieve headship. In other countries (e.g. in the USA, in the UK and in other European countries) women are represented in educational leadership in disproportionately low numbers, too. The aim of this thesis is to cast light on the neglected phenomenon of women’s relatively low participation in Greek primary school leadership and to explore the constructions of men and women head teachers and teachers regarding headship and gender. More specifically, the research offers insights into women’s and men’s experiences of progressing to and experiencing primary school leadership in Greece; examines whether and to what extent these experiences are gendered; and maps the participants' constructions of primary headship. In addition, I explore the future for women in educational leadership in Greece. The study is underpinned by a feminist social constructionist paradigm, involving a qualitative analysis of 40 semi-structured in-depth interviews with women and men head teachers and teachers. The findings suggest that women teachers in primary education in this sample, were generally less leadership-oriented than men and followed relatively unplanned occupational trajectories compared with men. Both men and women appeared to need encouragement from colleagues, superiors and family to enhance their confidence and set them on the pathway to headship. Gendered processes in relation to the recruitment and selection of head teachers, as well as traditional 'masculine' stereotypes of leadership, are challenged by the research. It is argued that both men and women participants construct accounts of approaching leadership in a fluid way, reflecting time, place and situation, rather than primarily gender. Finally, implications for theory, policy and practice are discussed and recommendations for future research are proposed.

This study explores students’ sense of belonging through the accounts of nineteen undergraduate students studying at an inner city post-1992 university. Participants' accounts were obtained through semi-structured interviews conducted at three key points during their first year of study. The resulting analysis is influenced by Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field, capital and knowledge of the rules of the game, which are used to explore the impact of student dispositions on their experiences and perceptions of belonging. The study shows that university can be a particularly challenging place for students from non-traditional backgrounds and it questions the view that belonging is about individual student commitment to institutional values. Belonging is conceptualised in a more nuanced multi-dimensional manner reflecting institutional habitus such as a 'one size fits all' approach to both induction and social provision. The study argues that the onus is on the university to overcome inherent inequalities making belonging easier by encouraging student voice; providing care through help, support and guidance; examining the benefits of small group teaching and paying particular attention to the needs of clearing students. Further, strategies built on unproblematised views of elearning and the independent learner need to be reviewed as participants, especially nontraditional students, articulated both as evidence that the university did not validate them as individuals.

The study has focused on student entry into low-level vocational further education/training. The aims were: 1) to identify patterns of participation in three types of vocational training within inner London; 2) to compare the characteristics of students undertaking different courses; and 3) to establish the relative importance of a variety of factors (socio-structural, attitudinal and 'area' influences) in accounting for participation in different kinds of training. A number of hypotheses about the contribution of these potentially influential factors have been tested. Attention has been paid to vocational preferences and job ambitions, due to their close links with training choices. The study adopted an inter-disciplinary approach. Analyses of the spatial patterns of entry into the three types of training (from maps of students' home addresses) revealed significant differences. These spatial patterns of student over- and under-representation were found to be related to socio-economic characteristics of neighbourhoods, and provided evidence of possible 'area' influences. Socio-structural factors, particularly social class, were strongly related to participation in all three types of training. Other factors (sex, parents'/siblings' employment fields, and vocational subjects studied at school), however, were important in accounting for students' particular choices of course. Job ambitions and attitudes towards employment were also closely related to entry. Marked differences in attitudes and ambitions were identified between male and female students, and there was evidence of sex-stereotyping in perceptions of particular kinds of employment. Attitudes, however, were not associated with area differences in student over- or under-representation. Explanatory analyses indicated that parents'/siblings' employment fields, and the subjects students had studied at school, were of major importance in accounting for particular training choices. Influences related to residential area were significant only for construction training. These results support the view that socio-structural factors are major determinants of low-level vocational training choices.

In the period covered by the thesis (1945-87), teachers' salaries were negotiated between representatives of the local authorities and the teachers' associations in the Burnham Committees. This study explores how far the results of those negotiations, the Burnham Reports, have shaped 16-f education provision by reference to the 1950-51 Further Education negotiations on the one hand and the 1979-80 Macfarlane Review of 16-19 provision on the other. A contribution is made to the debate on the theory of policy-making, based on the observed influence of the values of policy-makers on the final outcomes within those two studies. The thesis is organised into four main parts. Part I introduces the work as a whole; Parts II and III present and analyse original empirical data; Part IV provides the theoretical underpinning. First, the context for the research is outlined. The methodology is described at the outset, since it explains why the two major studies were selected as providing the best sources for the work. The major developments affecting 16-f provision since 1945 are then summarised. The second part sets out the detail of the negotiations leading to the 1951 Burnham (FE) Report, the source of the current FE salary structure, and gives a commentary on their implications. Part III explores the issues raised in the Macfarlane Review. The theoretical section of the study is developed in Part IV, where the new, distinctive contribution of this study to the theory of policy-making is presented. The thesis provides new data on two areas of policy-making of great interest to contemporary education policy-makers. Additionally, in its conclusion it makes a contribution to the theory of policy-making, suggesting that the values of individual policy-makers and contingent factors - including, particularly and principally, the dimension of time - have the greatest impact on policy outcomes.

This study explores the educational and social experiences of 17 undergraduate lone parent students studying across a wide range of subject disciplines in a post-1992 inner-city university. The study was conducted in 2010 using qualitative, semi-structured, one-to-one interviews. At the time, the number of lone parent households was increasing and the political agenda aimed to reduce welfare dependency and increase lone parents’ employment rate. During this period, New Labour Government policy also emphasised the benefits of higher education and of opening up of opportunities for a new and diverse group of students who traditionally have not attended university, with lone parents among them. Posited within a social justice framework, this study seeks to identify the factors that motivated lone parents to become higher education students and examine their perceived (re)constructed future identities. The study draws on feminist theoretical perspectives on the intersectionalities of gender, class and ‘race’ and Bourdieu’s conceptual tools of habitus and economic, social and cultural capitals to examine how social backgrounds, educational history and the structures of the academe influence and shape the lived experiences of lone parent students. The number of academic studies on the educational experiences of ‘non-traditional’ mature students has increased considerably, with parent students becoming a growing subject of interest for academic research. However, few studies have focused on lone parent students in higher education as a distinct group, let alone the differences among the lone parent students themselves. This study seeks to address this absence. The key findings of the study reveal that the majority of the lone parent students were resisting the social stigma of their lone parent identity and had chosen to enter university to form new social networks, new identities and new futures. However, despite the lone parent students’ resilience, the structural demands of the academy (such as course timetables, assessment deadlines and subject requirements) together with the university culture presented considerable challenges to their ability to manage childcare, employment and study, as well as their changing habitus.

This research commences with an exploration of the huge landscape of assessment feedback practices in which a multitude of tools, interventions, theories, experiences, experiments and surveys have been proffered by educationalists and practitioners. A novel taxonomy of feedback is developed which, upon evaluation, not only highlights the gap in feedback provision for the experiential learning area but also reveals the significance of developmental feed-forward guidance with which students are able to self-evaluate and self-regulate themselves. The research goes on to investigate the impact that Work-related learning and developmental feedback can have on students on a degree programme. An intervention consisting of a range of tools, including a customised competency framework, developmental feedback cues and self-evaluation scoring, is developed to engage and motivate students on the Work-related learning module. A study conducted to test the intervention reveals that significant improvements can be seen in students’ understanding and perception of their competencies, but that this improvement is only apparent when both Work-related learning and developmental feedback based on self-evaluation are implemented. The findings from the empirical data derived from the study has enabled the understanding of, through cluster and correlation analysis, the way in which students perceive their own competencies; thereby, leading us to optimise the framework to include the thirteen most significant competencies within the Academic, Workplace and Personal Effectiveness categories. This research contributes towards a better understanding of student perceptions of competency and puts forward a strategy for improving the employment outcomes of graduates through exposure to a customised competency framework, developmental feedback and self-evaluative/reflective practices.

The goal of the Ph.D. research was to develop an empirical foundation suitable for designing educational interventions and programmes aiming to improve students' learning. In order to achieve this a series of studies was conducted that supported the development and test of a comprehensive, chained mediation model of academic performance. The proposed chained mediation model comprised of adaptive-positive and maladaptive-negative submodels. The adaptive-positive submodel hypothesised firstly that trait intrinsic motivation and adaptive metacognition would facilitate the use of creative cognition in studying (first-level mediator). Secondly, the mediator hypothesised that the use of creative cognition in studying would lead to the experience of positive affect in studying, and to the development of adaptive approaches to studying (second-level mediators). Finally, the submodel hypothesised that positive affect in studying and adaptive approaches to studying would facilitate academic performance. The maladaptive-negative submodel hypothesised firstly that trait intrinsic motivation and maladaptive metacognition would lead to evaluation anxiety (first-level mediator). Secondly, the model hypothesised that evaluation anxiety would lead to the experience of negative affect in studying, and to the development of a maladaptive approach to studying (second-level mediators). Finally, the model hypothesised that negative affect in studying and the maladaptive approach to studying would undermine academic performance. A total of five studies were conducted employing 2140 university students.

Parental involvement has underpinned various educational policies and practices in many countries, particularly in "Western developed" countries. Much research suggests parental engagement links positively to children's achievement. Within this discourse, the possibilities for new technologies to enhance parents' engagement with their children's education are widely hailed, yet scantily studied. Scholars have highlighted that the premise of this mediation depends on parents' technological competence, socioeconomic and cultural identities and positions. Minority classed and ethnic parents are often positioned in policy as "hard to reach" or less engaged. However, new technologies are rarely studied in relation to the impact of complex intersecting classed, racial, and migratory identities and the colonial legacy on minority group's ability to participate in education. This study focuses on the impact of subjectification, intersecting identities and post-colonial theory on minority group parents' abilities to engage with schools in their children's education. This study adopts an in-depth qualitative methodology, consisting of 10 months of interviews, observations and recordings (2013-2015) to collect data from 13 parents recently migrated to London from West Africa. Theoretically, the thesis draws broadly from a Bourdieuian theoretical framework of capitals, habitus, and field, from post-colonial theory, and from intersectional theorising to examine how migrant parents in England, who have also experienced schooling in Nigeria or Ghana, engage in their children's home learning and communicate with their schools using technology. Using both class and racial lens, this thesis highlights how a racialised group negotiate complex experiences of subjectification and oppression. It shows the complexity of black ethnicity and the relationships to education through its focus on West African migrants (as distinct from assumptions on aggregating African and Caribbean groups), and advances Erel's (2010) concept of migrating cultural capital to illuminate how a minority racial group's migration and shifting class positions affects their ability to engage in home learning. Migrant parents' accounts show how postcolonial theory can also be used in technology studies to illuminate how seemingly liberating forces such as new technology can inadvertently contribute to oppression rather than alleviate it. This study also demonstrates that informants who belong to multiple subordinate identity groups experience greater discrimination and subjection: intersectionality theory helps explicate their everyday experiences.

When they have the opportunity to repeat a pedagogic task, learners speak with a higher degree of fluency during the second or subsequent performance. The impact of repetition on learners’ fluency on entirely new tasks, however, is less clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of two inherently repetitive pedagogic task sequences on short-term fluency and also the extent to which any increased fluency in the short-term was maintained on a new task (i.e. a ‘transfer effect’). One of these task sequences involved repetition of the same task (TR) and the other engaged learners in repeating the task procedure but with new content (PR). 64 ESL students were divided among three groups: Task Repetition (TR), Procedural Repetition (PR), and Control (C). Participants in all three groups were recorded speaking during a pre- and post-test stage. In addition, the two experimental groups (TR and PR) took part in a training session between pre- and post-test which was also audio-recorded. For the TR group, the session involved performing a narrative task three times. For the PR group, the session required learners to perform three different narrative tasks of the same type (i.e. picture narrative). Participants’ oral performances were analysed in terms of a range of fluency measures, representing different aspects of fluency (i.e. speed, breakdown, repair) at pre-test and post-test and also during the training session (i.e. all three performances for both experimental groups). The findings revealed that oral fluency increased during the training session only for the TR group and between pre- and post-test only for the PR group relative to the control. These findings are explained in terms of the different sorts of ‘practice’ which the two task sequences provide and the different ways they impact upon the speech production process. The methodological and pedagogic implications of the study’s findings are also discussed.