The central question of this research project may be stated as 'What are the beliefs about best practice whic influence non-specialist mainstream class teachers when teaching bilingual pupils and how have these beliefs been formed?' This thesis reports on an investigation into the influences on mainstream teachers' practice as they respond to the needs of bilingual children in primary classrooms in the area of Scotland which, until 1996, formed Strathclyde Region. The research reported in this thesis derived from Smyth and McKee (1996) which found that newly qualifying teachers in Scotland did not feel equipped to support bilingual learners in the classroom. a multi-site case study was conducted in twelve classrooms in six education authorities using non-participant observation and interviews with class teachers. The transcriptions of the interviews were analysed to find the cultural models which inform teachers' practice. This analysis found that the Master Model which informed teachers' practice in the context being researched was that bilingual pupils need to become monolingual to succeed. This master model helps to shape and organise the teachers' beliefs and leads to a number of related cultural models. This thesis discusses three of these: Parents who do not speak English hinder the child's academic progress, by definition, their ability to become monolingual; the role of schools and literacy events is to promote monolingualism; those bilingual learners who do not fit the 'Master Model' i.e. those who do not operate monolingually in the dominant language are problematic and require learning support. The cultural models which were found to influence the teachers' practices were not exclusive to teachers in one school or of a certain length of experience, but were found to pertain across the sample of seventeen teachers, albeit with overlaps and internal contradictions. The subtractive view of bilingualism which was found to dominate the Cultural Models in the policy vacuum that exists as regards education for bilingual children in Scotland has been shown (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1981; Cummins, 1984; Gibbons, 1991; Thomas and Collier, 1997) to have long-term detrimental effects on bilingual children’s educational achievement.

The Army train their personnel using a system called 'The Systems Approach to Training' (SAT). The system develops the results of a job analysis into course training objectives that are used to define Army training courses. The outcome expected from the Army training system is individuals who are competent to perform the job they are trained for. The focus of this study is the electrical and mechanical military engineers trained by the Army to carry out engineering tasks throughout the world. They are trained in accordance with SAT but at the end of the courses they are also awarded a BTEC HND. The outcome of the courses is therefore to produce an HND qualified, competent military engineer. This study is concerned with how the students on the courses are assessed as competent and in what way this assessment is valid. There are different forms the validity could take, e.g. content, construct, and criterion-related, however the theory has moved away from individual forms to a unitary concept, with construct validity as the integrating force that binds it together. This study sets out to evaluate the nature of the validity of the course assessments in terms of this unitary concept. An evaluation of the validity of assessment requires more than an exploration of conceptions of validity, assessment content and assessment methods. As the assessment is used to assess military engineering competence this study is concerned with issues of competencebased assessment. Defining engineering competence as the construct presents two problem areas that threaten the validity of the assessment, domain specification and the use of the assessors' judgement. Specific theoretical criteria against which to assess the validity of the assessment must be defined. The criteria will focus on how the construct is represented in the assessment and the claims made for the assessment in terms of predicting occupational performance. This study will be an exploration into the nature of the validity of the assessment of military engineering competence. The results of this study will support the view that the assessment of competence and the validity of that assessment are complex issues, and my study will make a contribution towards the understanding of these issues for those concerned with the theory and practice of education.

Since 1988 the spiritual development of pupils has been a stated aim of the whole school curriculum. By 1994, OFSTEDs report into religious education and collective worship had identified the failure of collective worship in primary schools [more usually known as ‘assembly’) to contribute satisfactorily to pupils’ spiritual development. Using a case study approach, this present research has sought to reveal ways in which teachers’ perspectives on the spiritual and their assembly practices might impact upon pupils’ spiritual development. The current assembly practices at six Somerset schools were examined together with the perspectives that those taking the assemblies bring to that experience. Data from observations and interviews was analysed in relation to those activities deemed conducive by the inspectorate to the promotion of spiritual development. The same data was also analysed in relation to those factors which are seen to affect the selection of assembly elements and activities. The findings suggest that whilst assemblies may be perceived to contain many of the elements currently recommended for spiritual development, factors relating to assembly organisation, accommodation, practices and content could nevertheless in some cases be impacting negatively on pupils’ spiritual development. In addition, not only is the concept of the spiritual variously understood by both teachers and inspectors, but training for the development of pupils spiritually is not well established. The research raises questions about the suitability of current assembly practices for developing pupils spiritually. Furthermore it suggests that unless and until teachers and inspectors develop a more consistent understanding of the complex nature of spirituality and how pupils can best be developed spiritually, based on present and future research and adequate training, pupils’ spiritual development is unlikely to be well served by primary school assemblies.

This dissertation describes a classroom-based research project on the language of primary school mathematics as used in three mathematics lessons and eight structured interventions with children. My aim is to analyse the classroom dialogue and consider the effectiveness of the participants’ communication processes as they try to share their understanding of meanings of mathematical language. Literature from several research disciplines informs the analysis, although my prime interest is communication and thought processes. Methods were refined during a pilot project for Stage 1 of the EdD in the same classroom. My research shows that in some situations, mathematical language is far from precise in meaning, and the communicative processes used to make it potentially shareable are often tentative and transient according to the situation. In particular, I question the idea of setting mathematics into everyday contexts in order to improve communicative relevance, because children bring their own previous knowledge and experience to the interpretation of each situation. My analysis highlights that reference to everyday contexts might not be effective in communicating the meaning of probabilistic language. Part of the difficulty lies with probabilistic words also having everyday meanings, but the main difficulty is that few life events can be given probabilities such as ‘certain’ and ‘even chance’. Gestures and pictorial images are also influential when trying to communicate one’s understanding of meaning. A tentative conclusion is that referring to proportional relationships involving number, rather than real-life events might provide opportunity for more effective communication of probabilistic meanings. Teachers need to be aware that the language of mathematics is not always precise and that pictorial images and gesture have a powerful effect on the development of a shared understanding of meaning.

Against a background of government policy on raising standards and of broadening access to Higher Education and recruitment of teachers in the new millennium, this thesis explores the implications of government policy on promoting standard English for a group of student teachers from non-traditional backgrounds. Focusing on a sample of fourteen student teachers in Essex and London universities, I used semi-structured interviews and a sample of students’ written work to investigate their knowledge about standard English and their competence and confidence in using it. I discovered that there is no clearly agreed definition of standard English in the academic literature, the policy documents or in students’ own discourse, with definitions focussing more on concrete linguistic features or on social or political aspects, depending on the function and purpose of the definition. Discussion of standard English is further complicated by issues of register and the differences between spoken and written English. I found that nonstandard usage in the students’ spoken and written English was confined to a few non-standard constructions. They perceived standard English as the prestige variety from which they had been excluded and were disadvantaged more by lack of confidence than lack of competence. I conclude that every effort should be made by those interested in raising standards to move away from a prescriptive account of language and a simplistic evaluation of subject knowledge. To encourage students from a range of language backgrounds to enter the teaching profession, the revised Initial Teacher Training curriculum should reflect a descriptive model of grammar that recognises the power and potential of language in all its forms.

The area under investigation was the implementation of a drug education programme in a primary school. The main aim of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the drug education programme. The study was conducted within a single primary school, involving years five and six pupils during a three year period. Data was collected using a variety of methods. The concerns, views and attitudes were sought from staff, governors and parents through a series of semi-structured interviews. Data was gathered from year five and six pupils using questionnaires, attitude surveys, group interviews and a ‘draw and write’ activity. Classroom observations were undertaken and staff were also involved in a ‘nominal group technique’ method which produced a whole staff view of the value of teaching drug education in the primary school. The findings from the study clearly indicate that drug education is seen by the majority of those involved to be of enormous value and should be taught in the primary school. The study found that most of the children by the time they reach the end of Key Stage 2, had quite an extensive knowledge of drugs and drug issues. However, this is not the case for all the pupils. Evidence from the study showed there was a degree of variability in the level of awareness between years five and six. Progressive focussing involved ‘action’ being continually undertaken. This ‘action’ was based on the findings from the ‘research’ work carried out during this study. The drug education programmes of study were redeveloped and implemented during the main study. The study suggests that there is a need to address several areas of concern expressed by both staff and pupils. The areas needing careful consideration before the next drug education programmes of study are developed include: the length of individual sessions; extension of the number of sessions during the year; creating a higher profile for tobacco and alcohol; developing further ‘life-skills’ sessions. The study concluded that the drug education programme of study as presented to the Year 5 and 6 pupils was effective based on the set of success criteria developed at the beginning of the study.

In a study embracing three phases and using an action research methodology I have examined the role of scaffolding in promoting the kinds of metacognition that may help more able Key Stage 3 pupils develop their writing abilities. In Phase 1 I found that my more able pupils needed structured support to help them develop their metacognition and apply it to writing. In Phase 2, aided by a clearer conception of metacognition as comprising metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive control, I explored how, through a process of scaffolding, I could provide particular scaffolds to help pupils practise self-regulation (which I identified with metacognitive control). I found that pupils valued checklists most out of several scaffolds I provided. In Phase 3 I incorporated a semi-experimental element into my action research, investigating whether the devising of a checklist by pupils would help them improve their story writing. I found that the pupils who made a checklist developed their narratives more than those who did not. Most pupils perceived learning about checklists and/or devising them as helpful. Scaffolding seemed to help my more able pupils develop metacognition and use it to improve their writing.

The use of Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) to test six- and seven-yearold children is a contentious feature of the English and Welsh education systems. This study investigated a teacher’s implementation of the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Key Stage 1 reading SATs and involved 57 children. 1 SATs were selected for detailed analysis using criteria which aimed to achieve a balance between the grades awarded, girls and boys, year cohorts, and a different reading book for each child. Data was collected from audiotapes of the SATs, field notes, written records and interviews with the teacher. 15 pupils who took their reading SAT in 1999 were also interviewed. The selected SATs were transcribed and analysed using discourse analysis. The focal question posed by this study was to discover which were the most salient discourses in a teacher’s implementation of the Key Stage 1 reading SATs. The concept of intertextuality was used to examine the relationship between these discourses. Intertextuality was defined as signifying the ways in which discourses are associated in particular contexts and cultures with other discourses (intertexts) through similarities in categorisation, semantics, syntax and genre. The analysis indicated that five main discourses were present throughout the SATs. These were the teacher’s interpretation of the SATs handbook, pedagogical techniques, the pupils’ discourse, the reading book, and background and linguistic knowledge. Other situational, institutional and societal factors were pervasive but these tended to act as covert influences upon the main discourses. The teacher found that some of the instructions in the handbook were confusing and contradictory. Her predominant criterion in awarding grades was the number of errors made by the child when reading a selected passage, although the handbook appeared ambivalent on this point. The children’s enjoyment, enthusiasm and ability to answer questions about the book made little or no difference to the grade they received. It was also found that the pupils’ responses had to meet the teacher’s criteria for being an appropriate intertext in order to avoid being classified as incorrect or irrelevant. Most children appeared to enjoy their reading SAT and, with one possible exception, there was no evidence of any anxiety or reluctance to participate in this formal educational testing procedure.

The purpose of this study is to define, observe and evaluate appraising of children’s own compositions in music lessons in one Secondary Comprehensive School with children aged 11 to 16 years where the researcher is also a teacher of music in the school. Through an action research framework, teaching strategies are adapted progressively to improve the learning situation that allows pupils to appraise most effectively and purposefully. The findings demonstrate different levels of talk in children about their composing work that represent their developing skills of critical thinking and analysis. From these a typology of levels of appraising is drawn up. The findings suggest that as children engage and empathise with their music compositions affectively, they appear to be able to talk more confidently about their work. The study considers whether, as children make sense of their work, they are able to understand more than their talk reveals. The need for musical vocabulary, the role of the teacher in nurturing appraising of composing work in the classroom and the role of conceptual understanding are other issues which are considered. It is suggested in the findings that as pupils develop their appraising skills to higher levels of performance, they also become effective, reflective practitioners. The research sees both the teacher researcher and the pupils engaging in appraising as reflective practitioners.

Technical Drawing has been a post-primary subject for almost one hundred years in Ireland. During the first ninety years T.D. was taught as a vocational subject and had strong associations with the other practical (technological) subjects on the curriculum, most notably Woodwork and Metalwork. The emphases in drawing during this period were on the skills associated with draughtmanship and the interpretation (reading) of drawings. The doing (drawing) was emphasised over the thinking. In 1990 a new rationale for drawing was introduced as part of the major organisational changes which saw the Day Group and Intermediate Certificate programmes replaced by the Junior Certificate programme, for all post-primary schools. The new syllabus document and teacher guidelines for Technical Graphics (formerly Mechanical Drawing) outlined a rationale for drawing based on the notion of ‘Graphicacy’. This perspective of drawing gave prominence to the formation, categorisation and manipulation of mental images formed as the result of perception and effectively relegated the making and interpretation of drawings to a subordinate role to mental activity. Thus, the thinking was given prominence over the drawing which was described in terms of its communicative function. After many years as a Technical Drawing teacher, operating within the graphicacy system, I began to question the ability of the philosophy to adequately describe and explain some of the inconsistencies I was encountering daily in the classroom. This was especially true of the supposed hierarchical structure of Spatial Ability which was viewed as the chief component of graphicacy. I wondered why it was necessary to separate drawing from thinking in the way it had been done previously. I began to investigate possible alternative rationales in the literature that could assimilate acting and thinking into one theory of drawing. The study. reported in this dissertation is an effort to take this one step further through empirical research in a T.D. classroom.