This research is in essence two separate pieces of work: (1) It is a traditional empirical piece of research evaluating the learning styles approach to education. (2) It considers the value of utilising the postmodern paradigm of chaos theory to argue for a synthesis incorporating learning (and by generalisation educational theory as a whole) with chaos theory, via neurological positivism. However, both (1) and (2) above overlap and interact on a theoretical philosophical plane. It should also be noted that the main research direction of this thesis is towards a traditional empirical study of the learning styles approach to education. The work on chaos theory is secondary to this and seeks to offer a theoretical philosophical rationale for the enrichment of educational theory as a whole, by linking traditional beliefs to postmodern concepts. The primary aim of this research was to evaluate the Learning Styles Approach to Education, and in particular the nature of the minimal intervention required to produce a significant positive result in relation to student educational performance. The secondary aim was a more global theoretical one i.e. to argue for a synthesis incorporating learning (and by generalisation educational theory as a whole), with chaos theory, via Vandervert's (1988, 1997) 'neurological positivism'. A diagram was developed by the author to illustrate this theoretical synthesis (section 2. 32). In the main study the experimental hypothesis was as follows: Student's knowledge of their own Learning Style Profile will have a positive effect upon their educational performance, even when the educational environment has not been adapted to cater for individual learning style requirements', The independent variable is the feedback on the participant's own Learning Style Profile score, and the dependent variable is the course scores obtained by the participants at pre-test and post-test. The participants consisted of an experimental group (n = 130) and a control group (n = 126) all students at Stockport College of Further & Higher Education. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Learning Style Profile was administered to each member of the experimental , group and the results explained to each member individually. At no time was the educational environment adapted in any way to cater for the participant's individual learning style needs. All the participants pre-test and post-test course scores were collected and mean improvement scores calculated and compared. The results indicated a significant 'group' by 'mean improvement' score

This thesis gives a better understanding of informal learning and how it contributes to children's educational development. The current literature in the field has no consensus of a definition of informal learning and tends to polarise informal learning and formal learning. This thesis contributes to new knowledge by giving a better definition of informal learning, demonstrates that children can a learn a lot in a relatively short space of time during informal learning experiences and highlights how informal learning can be blended with formal learning in ways which maximise children's holistic development. A multiple case study approach using both qualitative and quantifiable data is used to find out how and what children learn during informal learning experiences. The three case studies are: `The Eden Project: Learning at an Informal Learning Centre', `Garden's for Life: Gardens as a Learning Environment' and `Survive and Thrive: A forest school experience'. The case studies analyse and synthesise the findings from a number of my own published papers and evaluations to seek out emerging themes. The emerging themes identified and discussed are the interrelationship of children's cognitive, social and affective learning in informal learning contexts; the importance of children's self-esteem, confidence and motivation, in the learning process; the integration of informal and formal learning to maximise children's educational development. The thesis concludes that informal learning is one way to get children intrinsically motivated to learn, it can improve children's self-esteem and confidence which in turn leads to better academic knowledge and understanding. Also, informal learning is often better able to meet the needs of a greater range of children's learning Styles than traditional formal teaching. Further, it is valuable to get children out of the classroom in order to provide them with a wide range of exciting experiences, to create informal learning environments in schools and to firmly establish informal learning into schools' curriculums. Finally, practitioners need to be more conscious of utilising both formal and informal strategies in any given learning context to maximise children's learning. Therefore, this thesis gives a strong lead to a greater understanding of the value of informal learning and how it can be utilised to contribute to children's educational development.

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Consideration of the concepts of freedom reflected in some important Parliamentary Debates on education and revealed by some theoretic and practical contributors to English Education during the period 1900 to 1944, shows that freedom has been a regulating idea directing attention to constraints on full human growth. Consequently, the idea of freedom has become associated with the removal of a wide range of constraints varying in nature according to the time, place, circumstance and particular outlook of the writer or speaker. Whilst the participants in the Debates have been chiefly concerned with the removal of constraints on access to appropriate education, most of the theoretical and practical contributors have recognised that freedom arises from the gradual assumption of personal responsibility for growth through the effort of the child and the guidance of adults. But the problem of assuming responsibility, it is recognised less explicitly, requires the integrating and harmonizing of the child's unique inner nature through willed commitment to an experienced reality - physical, social, moral and spiritual. It is the active commitment to the truth thus experienced which gives rise to the positive freedom that makes the removal of constraints meaningful and, to this end, the individual needs a belief which makes coherent the reality of self, society and universe if he is not to suffer a limitation of his freedom through acting upon a partial concept of reality. This involves the achievement of an outlook which is essentially religious. The general consensus in the political debates and in the theoretical concepts of freedom points to the almost universal desire for a way of life based upon religious belief, yet rising above the details of any particular creed. Thus the final question for education and freedom is the adequacy of the values and the purpose to which the individual is prepared to actively commit his whole life, and the degree to which the community, in its persons and its institutions, is prepared to commit itself to the active pursuit of the value system it ostensibly supports.

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Digital literacy has been an increasingly-debated and discussed topic since the publication of Paul Gilster’s seminal Digital Literacy in 1997. It is, however, a complex term predicated on previous work in new literacies such as information literacy and computer literacy. To make sense of this complexity and uncertainty I come up with a ‘continuum of ambiguity’ and employ a Pragmatic methodology. This thesis makes three main contributions to the research area. First, I argue that considering a plurality of digital literacies helps avoid some of the problems of endlessly-redefining ‘digital literacy’. Second, I abstract eight essential elements of digital literacies from the research literature which can lead to positive action. Finally, I argue that co-constructing a definition of digital literacies (using the eight essential elements as a guide) is at least as important as the outcome.

New Labour entered into government in 1997 with a stated intention to develop a new consensus in education. This was to be practical rather than ideological in its basis, and was to provide a modernising and radical approach to reform that would go beyond the debates of the past. This study assesses the basis for this new consensus and the extent to which it appeared in New Labour’s agenda of education reform between 1997 and 2007. Discussion draws attention to the dichotomised nature of debate that existed surrounding the future direction for education reform between market-oriented or democracy-based approaches, contextualised in the ideological bases of the social democratic Left and the New Right. However, the weaknesses of each suggested a need to develop alternative perspectives and strategies for the future. Drawing upon the work of Anthony Giddens the possibilities for such an alternative approach are explored, pointing in particular to the nature of the contemporary period as one of ‘late’ modernity. Here the possibilities presented, as well as the risks created, present an urgent need for new approaches to government and individual life. New Labour’s attachment to Giddens’s ideas are examined through their take-up of the Third Way as a label for a project of modernisation. Analysis of the developing education policy agenda considers how change and continuity in the approach to reform was informed by the Third Way. Drawing upon an extensive research literature the limitations, conflicts, and tensions in this Third Way approach are also assessed. It is argued that whilst New Labour’s policy agenda contained modernising appeal and potential, it failed to establish itself as a coherent new framework. Thus, it also failed to build a basis for radical reform. The study concludes by arguing that a broader Giddensian perspective on ‘late’ modernity offers potential in a contribution to the nature and necessity of future reform. However, whilst it guards against simplistic approaches to utopian prospects, it must similarly recognise the complexity of realising such hope in practice.

This thesis investigates the individual and group behaviour of students in Hong Kong who are experiencing a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum for the first time. The research examines how they cope with problems arising from small group collaborative learning and factors influencing their group dynamics in a PBL setting. The central research question is, “How does a group of university students in a Hong Kong cope with the group dynamics, both inside and outside the classroom, when experiencing a PBL situation in their programme?” Following an interpretivist paradigm, this study aims to develop a substantive theory of the interaction among university students in a PBL tutorial environment and associated phenomena. This research has employed the qualitative approach of grounded theory research methods to collect and analyse data from twelve first year students studying in the Associate of Science in Architectural Studies programme at the City University of Hong Kong. Data collected from semi-structured interviews, non-participant video-taped observations, and documents were triangulated to enhance the rigour of the study. The Theory of Adaptive Formation that has emerged from this study explains the interactive processes that determine student behaviour and group dynamics in the PBL small group collaborative learning setting and describes the phenomenon of constant formation and re-formation adopted by the students and tutorial groups to adapt to different situations arising from the PBL process under the influence of four key factors: Group members, Problem brief, Tutor influence and Group collaboration. The theory also explains the relationship between the four student types –Drivers, Adventurers, Workers and Riders – and the key factors. Although the emergent theory remains predominantly substantive in nature, this study illuminates important implications for the stakeholders as well as highlights critical recommendations for practitioners and researchers of PBL.

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