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Research into teacher-pupil relationships is a rapidly expanding evidence-base with literature reporting these relationships to be fundamental to pupils’ psychological and academic development. Previous research focused on educational priorities of academic achievement, as opposed to social relationships and psychological well-being. The first paper critically reviews existing research using the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) as a measure of teachers’ views of teacher-pupil relationships through Primary and Middle School. The studies acknowledge the importance of teacher-pupil relationships and conclude close, supportive relationships which have low levels of conflict and dependency, significantly increase pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural development, and to a lesser degree, their academic achievement. As the research in the systematic literature review focused on teachers’ reports, pupils’ views are insufficiently represented. Due to this, the empirical research uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the factors that Year 6 pupils’ think affect their relationships with their teachers through Primary School. Transcripts of semi-structured interviews with four pupils were analysed and three super-ordinate themes were produced to capture the essence of their interpretations of their lived experiences of their relationships with their teachers. Overall, the Year 6 pupils’ views were in line with those reported by teachers in previous research. A supportive, inclusive relationship, with low levels of conflict and opportunities for shared experiences outside of the typical learning environment promotes pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural development, as well as their level of engagement in learning and subsequently, their overall academic achievement.

Case studies of low ability Third Year classes were carried out in four schools selected from a representative sample of Inner City secondary schools taking part in a major research project concerned with underachievement. The four schools represented a contrastive sample on the basis of the different percentages of their pupils (between 33% and 72%) expressing the wish to stay on in school after the Fifth Form. The schools' state examination results were also very divergent. A symbolic interactionist perspective was adopted and the focus of the research was on teacher/pupil interaction, and in particular on the language of the classroom and the kinds of conversational opportunities teachers left open for their pupils. The research methodology was that of 'combined levels of triangulation': information at the level of the school, the class group and the individual teacher and pupil was gathered in order to further understanding of classroom interaction. Discourse analysis was used to analyse transcripts of tape-recorded classroom talk. Teacher, pupils and researcher each contributed to the evaluation of classroom process; written work produced as a result of the lessons was also examined. Four research questions were addressed: 1: Does the same class of low ability adolescents behave differently with different teachers. 2: Does the same teacher behave differently with different classes. 3: What kind of classroom interaction is favoured by teachers. 4: What are the effects of different types of classroom interaction on pupils' interest and work levels. It was found that the same class behaved very differently with different teachers, but that features of the teacher's self-presentation and teaching style changed little across classes. Teachers preferred classes which they could control well and in which there was a close match between their most cherished professional skills and the class's needs. Such classes confirmed their professional self esteem. The sensitive management of interpersonal relations proved crucial to a teacher's success with low ability groups. Such pupils presented their teachers with particular problems of control in 'whole class' discussion of a freer kind: they lacked necessary discourse skills, and (particularly in more traditionally- run schools) behaved as if they did not see such opportunities as legitimated learning situations. This caused some teachers to restrict class discussion to highly structured and relatively unchallenging teacher- question pupil-answer sessions. However where the teacher could supplement this kind of interaction with interludes in which pupils' contributions were not limited to such responses, valuable learning opportunities were seen to result. Teachers who could approach potential challenges to their control of the situation as exhilarating rather than merely stressful were more likely to persevere in encouraging this type of pupil participation. Implications of research findings for practising teachers were discussed.

This research investigates how the use of Solution Oriented Schools processes can have an impact on behaviour management and relationships between teachers and pupils in secondary schools. This qualitative research focuses upon the sensitive issue of poor classroom behaviour and the pressure on teachers to manage it, at a time when unacceptable behaviour is deemed to increasing both in and out of school. Solution Oriented Therapy takes a holistic view of behaviour, so this research seeks to get a range of perspectives, beginning with listening to how pupils regard this approach. Their experiences, explored through Focus Group interviews and structured tasks, are set alongside the views of SOS trained teachers in telephone interviews, face to face interviews with teachers in the school where the research took place and the experiences of the author, an SOS‐ trained practitioner and recently qualified teacher, gathered through a research journal. Key findings from this research are the impact that the processes of SOS can have on the development and enrichment of teacher – pupil relationships. From this, effective contracts can be made between teachers and pupils that lead to more effective behaviour management strategies and, over time, the motivation of students to behave well and the empowerment of students to manage their own behaviour are increased. The implications of this work, that teachers themselves can improve behaviour by recognising that their personality directly affects their style of classroom management, which in turn effects how much power/control pupils are given over their own learning and self‐management. Thus a teacher who views herself as a facilitator will be flexible and relational, using different techniques to help pupils control their own behaviour; she will endeavour to enable pupils to work collaboratively and actively seek the pupil voice, and then include ideas from the pupils in the strategies for behaviour and learning.

Drawing on sociocultural perspectives in language teacher education, this thesis explores the identity types English language teaching student teachers demonstrated during the transformation from imagined to practised identities (Wenger, 1998) as from primarily being a student to primarily being a teacher (Danielewicz, 2001): what they understood from this transformation; and how reflection on this transformation helped them construct and reconstruct their identities. The study was conducted with eight volunteer non-native student teachers in a state university in Istanbul, Turkey, in the 2011–2012 academic year. The study adopted a qualitative approach in the interpretivist paradigm as the method of research. Data were collected through the narratives of student teachers during face-to-face interviews, stimulated recall sessions, and their reflective journals. The analysis of identity construction drew on Wenger’s (1998) ‘Three Modes of Belonging: engagement, imagination and alignment’ and Fairclough’s (2003) model for analysing the discourse of both oral and written data. The theory of ‘Social Cognition Representation’ (Moscovici, 2000) was used for categorising the identity types of the participants. The narrative data generated five broad themes in terms of student teachers’ engagement, imagination and alignment: (1) Imagined professional identities, (2) Practised professional identities, (3) Personal factors affecting the transformation of identities from imagined to practised, (4) Professional factors affecting the transformation of identities from imagined to practised, (5) Future aspirations and possible future professional identities. The findings showed that student teachers had multiple-layered identities. The core one was their most dominating context-embedded identity (rule-based), the second most significant was based on their personal qualities, and other identities were always changing according to the conditions and facts, as cue-based, exemplar-based, or schema-based identities. Students became aware of their emerging identities as transformed from imagined to practised identities. It was seen that their imagination in engaging in various activities and relationships played an important role in their identity construction, which they developed understanding of through reflective practices. Understanding the development process helped student teachers construct their professional identities within the social structured practices, including mediation, discourse, social interaction and participation. The critical reflective nature of the practicum played an important role in raising their awareness of their identity construction and prompting proactive, conscious professional identity formation.

The learner-centred approach has been widely used, not only in general education, but also in language teaching, since the 1960s. However, the meaning of this approach has been interpreted differently by practitioners. Since 1999, the educational reform in Thailand, which was inspired by the 1997 Constitution and the 1999 Thai National Education Act, has made it mandatory for the learner-centred approach to be applied to teaching at all levels. To date, much research on the implementation of the learner-centred approach by in-service teachers has been undertaken. However, little research has been conducted on pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the learner-centred approach and their classroom practices. Understanding pre-service teachers’ beliefs will contribute to the improvement of their teaching practices and of teacher education programmes. The study explored six Thai pre-service English teachers’ understanding and the extent to which their classroom practices reflected learner-centredness during their internship, and determined the relationship between their beliefs and classroom practices. The investigation adopted a qualitative approach, including semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, and document analysis. The findings reveal that the Thai pre-service teachers possessed varying degrees of understanding of the learner-centred approach and its application. They had a superficial and fragmented understanding of and some misconceptions about the learner-centred approach. They therefore adopted this approach to teaching in a limited fashion during their internship. The divergences between their beliefs and their classroom practices may have been caused by their shallow understanding of and their misconceptions about this approach. Other factors, such as personal background and cognitive, affective, experiential and contextual issues could also have impacted on classroom practices, inhibiting the translation of their beliefs into practice. iii This study has important and far-reaching curriculum implications for pre-service teacher training in Thailand with regard to the new model of pre-service teacher training. The findings also have pedagogical implications for pre-service teacher training beyond Thailand, and add to the literature new insights into pre-service teachers’ understanding of the learner-centred approach, their pedagogical practices, and factors facilitating and hindering the application of the learner-centred approach. The findings demonstrate that research on teachers’ beliefs makes the most noteworthy contributions to a better understanding of teachers’ pedagogical practices.

A 3-year research study of a behavioural intervention in a UK High School, within an 'inclusive' setting, evaluated whether an in service teacher training programme (INSET), under the Department of Education and Employment Training School (1998) umbrella, resulted in an identifiable improvement in the 'low-level disruptive classroom behaviour (DCB) of Year 9 pupils; in particular those pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and of low educational ability. The focus of the Training School intervention was to train teachers in classroom management techniques to improve the DCB of the more challenging school intake of SEN low ability pupils since the introduction of 'inclusion', and to stop DCB incidents escalating. This mixed method study investigated the problem of DCB from the perspectives of Year 9 pupils, parents and teachers. The intention was fourfold: firstly, to investigate whether the Training School intervention could alter the behaviour of teachers and, in turn alter the behaviour of pupils, in order to replace DCB with a more appropriate behaviour; secondly, to examine whether all children irrespective of ability, social background and 'social capital' could improve their classroom behaviour and performance; thirdly to explore the relationship between ability and DCB; and finally, to conduct an applied evaluative research study with suitable methodological rigour so as to inform educational research, policy and practice. A focus group of Year 9 pupils was convened to explore the attributions and explanations of the causes of DCB, to inform three later questionnaire surveys of Year 9 pupils (n=373), their parents (n=373) and teachers (n=92). The surveys were additionally designed to profile the three populations, to establish the frequency with which DCB was experienced by pupils, and to discover on whom pupils placed the causal attribution of DCB. Analysis by Chi-square of the responses to the teacher and parent surveys showed marked inconsistencies among teachers, in particular with regard to behavioural expectations, pupil referrals, rule infringements, sanctions and rewards and homework. Lack of communication between parents and the school was also highlighted, although this may be due in part to pupils failing to deliver letters home. Analysis by Chi-square of responses to the Year 9 pupil survey indicated that 70% of pupils, of all abilities, experience DCB daily; while a factor analysis of two questions regarding DCB supported the hypothesis that pupils attribute DCB to teacher and school related factors rather than to home or peer factors. Analysis of results from a quasi-experiment in a time series of systematic classroom observations of Training School teachers' 'bottom set' Maths and English classes, together with observations of matched 'control' classes, indicated a rising percentage of pupils 'on-task' throughout the 3-year period. When triangulated with findings from data on Year 9 pupils' (n=1027) classroom behaviour and performance (formative) 'monitoring' throughout the 3- year period, analysed by a series of factorial ANOVAs, indicated a trend towards DCB improvement in the SEN, low-ability pupils, when contrasted with pupils of other abilities. However, high and medium ability pupils did not change their behaviour to the same degree.

Over the last ten years my thinking and writing have been concerned with the nature and process of effective teaching and learning. Although I have tried to present my thinking as a chronological sequence much of the work developed concurrently. Over the period covered by my publications my thinking has focused on three main areas: a. An exploration of the implications for language learning of the shared meaning-making process in reading, reading aloud and writing. (Approx.1978-1982) b. An exploration of the influence that a teacher may have in the shared process of meaning-making and its implications for teaching and learning. (Approx. 1982-1990) c. The power context of the classroom where the participants employ power strategies in an attempt to influence the outcome of the negotiation. (Approx. 1990- present) My early interest in linguistics led me to focus on the role of language in the process of teaching and learning. Initially I was concerned with linguistically analysing children's writing in an attempt to explore the ways in which their written language developed. However, I soon began to realise the importance of the learning context and the ways in which meaning is negotiated within that context. It became clear that the linguistic exchanges between the teacher and the pupils had a significant effect upon the learning that was taking place. I began to linguistically analyse the interactions between teachers and pupils. The linguistic evidence seemed to suggest that the operation of power between the teacher and the pupils affected the quality of learning. Much of my later work has therefore been concerned with describing power relationships and their role in the teaching and learning process. My interest extended to interactions in staff meetings where I analysed interactions between teachers and between head teachers and teachers. In all of these interactions I observed dominant strategies which constrained the future possibilities of action for others and were characterised by: * More institutional and less intimate syntax choices. * More formal choices in vocabulary. * Using high key or high termination choices. * Using dominant rising tones * Firmer and more emphatic paralanguage. * Intermittent or disrupted eye contact. * Emphatic gestures. * Repetition. * Ritual forms of language. I also observed less dominant strategies which facilitated or opened up the future possibilities of action for others and were characterised by: * More intimate and less institutional syntax choices. * More casual vocabulary choices * Mid key and mid termination choices. * A soft or moderate voice. * Long eye contact. Once I could describe the linguistic patterns which seemed to accompany dominant and less dominant strategies, I was able to explore the kinds of power strategies operating in the learning situation. I concluded that power strategies circumscribe the degree of co-operation and consent or conflict and challenge in the learning context. I found this was a helpful perspective in trying to describe what may be happening in the teaching and learning process. It can provide a measure of the quality of learning and illuminate different styles of teaching.

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My research broadly has two strands. The first has contributed to work on young children’s use of representational practices, showing how children’s drawing activities are grounded in intention and meaning-making in social contexts. In drawing attention to what children do and how they actively use visual representation it added new insights to theoretical work on learning in a socio-cultural framework where learning is understood as participation in social practices; as joint activity, mediated by other people and cultural activities and artefacts. The second strand was based in these understandings of learning but explored, and also developed communicative practices in classrooms and children’s role in decision-making. The research investigated the extent of the children’s democratic engagement and the development of a more democratically participatory space where they can exercise agency both as learners and as participants in democratic communities. This work also contributed in new ways to children’s agency as researchers. I argue that these two strands are inter-related, a position also represented in my sole-authored book (Cox 2011). In relation to development in pedagogical practices across important areas of teachers’ work, including classroom interaction and communication, curriculum and assessment, I argue in this book that principles can be based in socio-cultural ways of theorising learning, as well as in democratic values, suggesting more ‘participative’ (empowered) participation. Using research evidence and argument I show how changes in classroom practices can be appropriated by conventional theorisations of learning (person-to-person accounts) and existing cultures of ‘schooling’, limiting children’s learning. I explore the tensions that arise, especially in a wider context of performance-driven, market-led policies. An underlying theme is that a shift towards socio-cultural understandings of learning might help to resolve these tensions and achieve changes in practices in possibly transformative ways, creating a more educational culture and embracing the idea of children as agents of cultural change. I aim, in the commentary, to convey the thematic connections and contributions across my work in relation to my role as teacher educator as well as researcher.