A substantial research base indicates that the relationships between teachers and students significantly affect outcomes for children including emotional wellbeing, academic achievement and behaviour. As a trainee educational psychologist (EP) working in schools I have observed that some discipline procedures appear to be at odds with the development and maintenance of positive teacher-student relationships. Chapter 1: The Systematic Review - A systematic review of the literature examined the effect of disciplinary actions on students’ perceptions of their teachers, and the teacher-student relationship. Six articles fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These tended to be large scale data from international sources using questionnaire and observation measures. The systematic review identified that behaviourist discipline procedures were associated with various negative measures of teacher-student relationships. Chapter 2 : Bridging Document - The bridging document reflected the transition between the findings of the systematic review and the empirical study. Discussion was had around the need for research in the area of teacher-student relationships and teachers’ responses to student behaviour. The conceptual framework that underlined my research was described, including reflections of my axiology, ontology, epistemology and methodology. Chapter 3 : The Empirical Research - A mixed-methods case study investigated the consequence-based behaviour system of a primary school which centred upon missing playtime to dissuade unwanted behaviours. The introduction of a restorative conversation, inspired by the restorative justice movement, was explored as an alternative approach to addressing behaviour. This approach aimed to maintain or even promote teacher-student relationships. As a piece of action research, this project brought together a wide variety of information gathering approaches including: examining school data and policies, staff interviews, observations, and questionnaire measures of two interpersonal teacher behaviour factors of ‘influence’ (management / leadership) and ‘proximity’ (warmth / closeness). The research recognised that when experiencing the school’s traditional approach to behaviour students may have perceived less emotional warmth and leadership from their teachers. Nevertheless, a restorative conversation had a positive effect upon teacher-student 5 | P a g e relationships, and in doing so may have enabled better outcomes for children who have demonstrated unwanted behaviours. This research has appreciated the practice of teachers in this primary school and has contributed to the development of a behaviour approach that promotes teacher-student relationships. My contribution to the changes in this primary school indicates the role that EPs may play in addressing school policy and practice. This research concludes with a plea to establish the restoration of relationships as the primary focus of behaviour approaches within schools.

This study explores teacher instructional practices within EFL secondary school class-rooms in Syria. In 2004, the Syrian Ministry of Education introduced a new national curriculum, English for Starters, which recommends a shift in EFL teachers’ instruc-tional practices. Despite this costly innovation, there has been no attempt to check whether it was working. Adopting a socio-cultural perspective on learning, the study looks at teacher-student interaction and discourse taking place during teacher-fronted whole class talk. Using a mixed-methods approach comprising classroom observa-tions, teacher interviews and a structured questionnaire, teacher beliefs and classroom practices are investigated to help in the identification of teachers’ training needs. Despite official attempts to introduce a Communicative Language Teaching approach, detailed discourse analysis revealed a traditional textbook-directed, teacher-controlled transmission mode of teaching, focusing on rote learning and mechanical practice ra-ther than meaningful interaction to develop language skills and understanding. Stu-dents were afforded few opportunities to participate meaningfully in classroom inter-action, as teachers controlled not only the topics of academic learning, but also the way students learned the content. Based on the analysis, the study highlights the need to invest in teachers’ professional development, particularly during the critical phase of curriculum innovation, to pro-mote communicative approaches in the Syrian educational system. Drawing on the findings of the study regarding the interactional and discourse practices of Syrian sec-ondary EFL teachers, the thesis explores the training needs of teachers in the light of recent reforms to the English language curriculum.

This interpretative qualitative study was designed to examine the experiences and perspectives of teacher educators as they worked to integrate the Blackboard Course Management System (BbCMS) into their courses. More specifically, it focused on how teacher educators’ perspectives of the value of the affordances of course managements systems for course delivery and their pedagogical beliefs influenced their integration of the BbCMS into their courses. The study consisted of two stages. In the first stage data were collected from 53 out of 112 teacher educators using an open-ended questionnaire. In the second stage I collected data from eight teacher educators who were purposively selected and individually interviewed. My framework for analyses focuses on Pajares’ (1992) assumptions of teacher beliefs, Becker’s (2000) principles of teacher-centred pedagogy and Savery and Duffy’s (1995) principles of constructivist instruction. The results suggest that teacher educators hold the perspective that the affordances of the BbCMS can enhance teaching and learning when used with face-to-face classroom sessions. The affordances most used were accessibility, followed by communication and collaboration and diversity. The study also found that many teacher educators with espoused constructivist beliefs did not integrate the BbCMS in ways that were consistent with their beliefs. Additionally, teacher educators experienced several challenges which may have prevented them from integrating the BbCMS in ways consistent with their espoused constructivist beliefs. These challenges included: administrative, teacher and technical issues. My recommendations include a comprehensive professional development programme which provides training in both the technical aspects of the BbCMS and also how to use the affordances of the BbCMS to create a constructivist learning environment. I also recommend that a dedicated support desk be establish to provide assistance to teacher educators in resolving pedagogical issues that they may encounter while attempting to integrate the affordances of the BbCMS into their courses.

The school environment affects pupils' and teachers' health, work and emotions: on average they spend around six hours a day and over one thousand hours a year in school. There is strong evidence for the argument that good design of school buildings makes these places pleasanter and more functional; and increases the quality of the considerable amount of time users spend there. A problem identified in a review of literature was that there appeared to be a gulf between school users and designers. This thesis is an effort to bridge that gap by involving school users' voices in the design process. It has been argued that users have a lot of implicit knowledge about school buildings and it would be valuable to make this explicit so that it can be instructive to all educators, architects, designers and policy-makers. This study explores the views and expectations of pupils and teachers regarding their school environments and has focused on making a tool for the school design process, based on information and reflections provided by both user groups. The research objective required the undertaking of three separate studies: analysis of secondary data, qualitative and quantitative empirical studies, each one leading to the next. The findings revealed that teachers and pupils are not necessarily more satisfied with recently built schools as compared with much older schools. The findings helped to highlight the importance attributed to various issues by each user. It is revealed that the two groups of participants have different priorities in terms of the types of things in their environment that are more important to them. However, within each user group there are clear patterns in responses. Overall, 'Nature and Outdoors' became the least important category for both school users. 'Facilities' was the most important category for pupils though 'Comfort and Control' was the most important category for teachers. The overall findings have been developed as the basis for a 'generative tool' for school design to guide the design and decision-making processes of architects and designers. The generative tool and the relative importance of each item helped to progress the study further by suggesting an 'evaluative tool for designers': able to assess the quality of an existing school or a new school at various stages of design by consideration of the given scores and the weighting that each item obtained according to school users' opinions. It is suggested that further research could, in a similar way, involve other school users in the design process by developing appropriate tools.

The central focus of this study is to characterise classroom talk (CT) from the Dialogicity perspective and relate this characterisation to pupils‟ learning. It aims particularly to reflect on and develop the concept of Dialogicity as a theoretical perspective for characterising the nature of CT in relation to both teaching and learning. The study developed an analytical framework to analyse CT based on further characterising the Authoritative and Dialogic types of talk as defined by the communicative approach of Mortimer and Scott (2003). Data was generated by videotaping grade nine Omani science classes and probing the conceptual understanding of samples of pupils from these classes using bubble dialogue sheets and focus group discussions. This exploration was carried out in two stages separated by a short teacher training intervention designed to promote the practice of dialogic talk. The results demonstrated a quite big change in CT practice between the two stages, with more incidents of Dialogic talk in the second stage. Detailed analysis revealed a number of features characterising the Authoritative and Dialogic communicative approaches. Furthermore, it demonstrated different kinds of CT that were to be judged as Authoritative and others as Dialogic. This has resulted in viewing each type of talk along three general levels of high, mid and low. Consequently, the study has developed the communicative approach to a „multi-level Authoritative-Dialogic‟ model. Deeper reflection on this model, as characterising CT Dialogicity at the empirical level, led to propose the „less-more‟ dialogic model to approach CT Dialogicity at the theoretical level. The study argues that the continuity view of Dialogicity that this theoretical model is based on might be helpful in developing the concept of Dialogicity as a perspective in approaching the nature of CT. In investigating the relationship between CT Dialogicity and learning, the study looked into learning as a process and as a product. General results pointed to the superiority of Dialogic talk in supporting pupils‟ learning over Authoritative talk, in the terms of pupils‟ engagement, cognitive level of questions and responses and the conceptual understanding following from the teaching. However, the study argues that it is not possible to establish a constant claim on this superiority because the comparison between the two types can be approached differently, depending upon which of their levels are being compared. Alternatively, it suggests that the relationship between CT Dialogicity and learning is better approached in the light of the continuity view within the „less-more‟ dialogic model. Accordingly, different claims on the advantages of more dialogic talk over less dialogic in supporting pupils‟ learning have been suggested. In addition, the results illustrated a resonance between the pupils‟ conceptual understanding and difficulties and what happened in the preceding teaching. In summarising the relationship between CT Dialogicity, teaching and learning, the study asserts that learning is closely connected to the CT characterisation from the Dialogicity perspective, and does not stand in isolation from teaching. Different implications for research and teacher training have been raised in view of the study‟s methodological practices and findings.

This thesis on trainee teachers' perceptions of mentoring is concerned with the I Year PGCE (secondary), programme at St. Martin's College, Lancaster, England. The study took place between 1999-2002. The use of the term <i>mentoring</i> and the set of processes it might involve have been integrated into Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses in little over a decade. There is little published information about trainees' perceptions of mentoring, especially post DfEE 4/98. The focus for the study was sharpened by key questions that investigated trainees' perceptions of <i>mentoring, mentoring strategies</i> related to the planning, teaching and evaluation of lessons, <i>reflective practice and professional development</i>. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used. Building on a pilot study (1999-2000) questionnaire, observational and interview data were collected from trainees in the main study (2000-2001). The entire cohorts of PGCE (sec) Science and Modem Foreign Languages trainees were used in the questionnaire surveys (N = 100) with smaller samples for the interview and observational studies. Data were also collected from school mentors and college tutors, which provided triangulation on perceptions of mentoring from different audiences. Additionally, via letter, 101 Course Leaders of secondary PGCE courses in other ITT institutions in England were contacted. Their responses helped to inform, update and relate this research to a wider field. The findings show that trainee teachers sometimes had different perceptions of mentoring to their mentors. Most trainees believed that mentoring should be a nurturing process and individual feedback time with mentors and teachers should continue throughout the course and be built into their timetable. Solo teaching was trainees' most valued teaching strategy but this often became a private, lonely and uncertain activity, again signalling the need for formal mentor support and feedback. The strategy of paired teaching practice placements in school departments conveyed advantages to most trainees as it allowed them to support each other both emotionally and with teaching materials. By the end of the course not only had trainees made cuts in lesson preparation time they had often reduced or stopped formalised reflection, such as keeping reflective diaries and writing lesson evaluations. The new information from this study is used to suggest improvements for PGCE (sec) courses at St. Martin's College. However, due to National similarities in PGCE course structure (DfEE 4/98, DEES 02/02) a number of the findings from this study may also have value, in similar courses, in other ITT institutions.

This project explored how the teaching observation experience informs the professional practice of an educational developer. By researching teaching activity and dialogic interaction within the context of teaching observation feedback, a theoretical framework was developed. I was both subject and researcher and perceived myself as an agent of change who sought to improve her own professional practice. The intention was not to generalize the findings to a larger population, but to explore through contextual description and analysis what was happening in my own organization and how I might improve this. Ten academics in Engineering and Computing Sciences were observed by me, teaching on three separate occasions over the course of one semester. The post-teaching observation feedback and learning conversations were recorded and analysed with additional data provided by field notes and journal entries that I made as the practitioner researcher. Teaching observation events provided the context of a safe space where essential conversations could take place, along with a critical exploration of the subjective experience of the participants. Findings showed a complex and expansive range of teaching activities, revealed by teaching observation and later discussed in learning conversations between each participant and me. The research is strongly grounded in the participants’ experiences and highlights the tensions and shortcomings of current teaching observation practices. The findings especially challenge the notion that teaching observations can be used as both an appraisal tool and for developmental purposes. The paper concludes by suggesting a theoretical framework for effective teaching observation practice.

Teacher‐child interactions have long been documented in psychological theory and research as important within learning. Current policy is increasingly emphasising the achievement of outcomes, and research directly links quality teacher‐child interactions to outcomes. Interactions have been explored in relation to different concepts in the classroom. Engagement is one such concept and associated with different outcomes in research and policy. My systematic review sought to establish the effects of teacher‐child interactions on student engagement. The review revealed an existing model of teacher‐child interactions along with helping clarify ambiguity and variation in the definition and measurement of engagement. To better understand interactions in the classroom I explored the topic from teachers’ perspectives. An enquiry‐based cycle of learning was used to provide teachers with a process that they could adapt for practice. Within this the model of teacher‐child interactions from the systematic review formed an observation aid. Researcher facilitated peer supervision sessions generated the data, which was analysed using a realist grounded theory approach. Findings extended the original model of teacher‐child interactions and included: types of interactions including child‐child, outcomes being enabled by mediating effects such as engagement and a positive learning environment, and contextual factors influencing the balance of interactions. Implications included a greater understanding of the complexity of interactions in the classroom, and Educational Psychologists (EPs) using facilitated peer supervision as a process to support teachers in using one another as a resource in developing their practice.

This study is concerned with the effective mentoring of teachers. It is qualitative by nature and is organised as two case studies; the first being conducted in a primary school and the second in an inner city mixed comprehensive school. The study considers the process of mentoring as a mechanism to build on skills developed by New Opportunities Funding (NOF). It therefore considers the confidence and competence of teachers in using Information Communications Technology (ICT) in their teaching. Two main questions were posed: Can mentoring improve staff attitudes towards the use of ICT in the classroom? Can mentoring be used as a tool to enhance CPD in ICT and hence encourage staff to increase and develop their use of ICT in the classroom? Data was collected over a period of three years in the form of field notes, semistructured interviews, documentation, pupil group interviews, book scrutiny and classroom.

There is an established evidence-base supporting the use of a Precision Teaching (PT) approach in schools to target, monitor, and refine teaching so as to accelerate children's learning. Despite this evidence-base, some important questions remain regarding the specific mechanisms that have been assumed to contribute to the overall effectiveness of PT. The aim of the current research study was to explore the relative importance of distributed practice and interleaved learning, two key instructional psychology principles which underpin PT. The study principally focused on the development of children's reading skills, however, as a secondary focus the research also aimed to assess the assertion that PT can enhance children's self-concept. A multiple treatment single-case experimental design (SCED) was employed and a series of six A-B-C-D SCEDs were conducted, where a separate experiment was conducted with each participant. Repeated measures were taken to assess participants' progress on a specific reading skill, their reading fluency, and their reading self-concept; this data is presented graphically and analysed using visual analysis. The results of the study demonstrate mixed results in terms of the benefits of distributed practice and interleaved learning within a PT approach. Although existing research has highlighting the effectiveness of these two strategies in the adult population and to a much lesser extent with children, the current study indicates that the effects seen in these larger scale group designs maybe more subtle in 'real-world' practice. This has implications in terms of evidence-based practice within the field of Educational Psychology and highlights the need for educational psychologists to give consideration to practice-based evidence in addition to evidence-based practice.