This research set out to explore ways in which children’s independence can be promoted and measured in the primary classroom – to highlight strategies and skills that enable children to operate independently, and to identify tools that might be used to measure levels of independence. As an integral part of this process it was necessary to consider the role of both the teacher and child - to identify characteristics of more-independent and less-independent children, including attitude and motivation, and to undertake an analysis of classroom organization, teaching style and teacher-expectation and the implications of these upon the child. In order to answer my research questions I undertook an action research project, both ethnographic and naturalistic in nature, in my own classroom with myself acting as complete participant immersed in the production of grounded theory – theory that was particular to me and the children I was teaching but which may help to enlighten other teachers engaged in reflexive activity. Data collected was largely qualitative, but quantitative data was also used particularly towards the end of my research when I had a firmer idea of what I was looking at and for. This research identifies a typology related to the characteristics of children exhibiting varying degrees of independence. Within this typology there are children whom I have called Hiders, Seekers and Props – children who hide (or keep a low profile), children who seek out attention, help or reassurance, and children who manage themselves, their work and their environment, not overly reliant upon the help or reassurance of others, and perhaps offering assistance to others on occasion. The research, in identifying characteristics of more- and less-independent children, also seeks to clarify what is meant by independence. My definition of independence views it as a multi-dimensional state, the dimensions including physical, social, intellectual, organizational and attitudinal independence. Children may display varying degrees of independence in each of these dimensions – because they may be considered relatively independent in one dimension does not mean that they will necessarily be independent in another, they may be Hider as regards intellectual independence but a Prop organizationally. For some children, especially the Hiders, a first step towards independence may be in identifying appropriate moments to seek help, whereas for other children such as the Seekers it may be necessary to help them distinguish between when it is appropriate or inappropriate to seek help, and perhaps to channel a possible need for attention into supporting other children. Whilst it may not be possible (or desirable) to make children entirely independent, it is possible to teach them strategies that might increase their independence. In considering how to promote children’s independence, high teacher-expectations are crucial. Despite identifying the importance of high expectations of independence, however, teachers who responded to my questionnaire tended to give priority to the development of social, organizational and physical independence rather than intellectual independence regarding the latter as difficult to achieve within the constraints of the National Curriculum. This lower priority may feed lower expectations resulting in children being kept intellectually dependent upon the teachers responsible for their education. Another factor, however, is the current testing and reporting arrangements – the need to be seen to have done well in the eyes of the general public, and the erroneous impression that intellectual independence equates with lower standards. Of course, if children are not being spoon-fed the apparent standard of work may drop initially, but with a long-term view standards will increase because children will have the knowledge and skills to achieve away from the spoon. It is vital that we take this long-term view. This thesis includes a range of practical recommendations for other teachers interested in promoting children’s independence.

This thesis comprised an investigation of literacy development and literacy difficulties in the context of bilingualism involving 479s ix to thirteen year old children bilingual in two languages The children in this study were required to learn literacy in two writing systems namely Filipino and English.' Me context of concurrent earning and a bilingual background provided a unique context for studying biliteracy development and difficulties. Additionally variations in the orthographio complexity between e two scripts( Filipino is transparent, whilst English is complex) allowed an assessment of current cross-language perspective ins literacy difficulties. The main aim of the research was to investigate cognitive and linguistic factors that are related to literacy difficulties in a bilingual population. This was achieved via two additional ims:i e, to understand the development of, and the skills involved in , literacy acquisition. This required assessment of the impact of processes within and between the languages of literacy. 'Me results in dicate that the predominant theories on literacy developmengte nerated on the basiso f monolingual English-speaking cohortd o not explain literacyp rocesses amongt he bilingual-biliterate children in this study. Although predictions base do n these theories found some support in the English based data, the were inconsistent with the data produced by the same children in Filipino. The second main conclusion asserttsh at the central processing hypothesis and the script dependent hypothesis are complementary explanations of bilingual reading. Although development seems to progressa t different rates underlyings kills in literacys how a high degree of crosslanguage interdependence Finally, in examining literacy difficulties a mongth e children in this study, it was found that group c omparisondsi d not provides ufficientb asisto characterise ingle word literacy difficulties Howevert he analysiys of single cases indicated different manifestations of literacy difficulties across the two languages These findings1 )indicate that illiteracy resents a fundamentally different context in which to investigate and assess literacy difficulties2, ) highlight the importance of assessments in all languages of literacy and3 ) demonstrate the need to assesm sore than single word processing deficits, particularly when dealing with a highly transparent writing system.

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It is always good geographical practice to start with what is on one's own doorstep. The starting point for this research is even nearer than that. It starts with the child's own internal cognitive map. This research (working within a Piagetian paradigm) attempts to use primary school children's cognitive map representations (drawn and verbal) of two different but familiar large-scale environments as a means of measuring their overall general mapping ability. One of the aims was to construct an instrument that could be used by teachers in their classrooms that would produce reliable and generalisable judgements of primary school children's overall general mapping ability. For the purpose of this research, Hart and Moore's (1973) definition of the term cognitive map representations as including drawings; published maps, vertical aerial photographs, verbal reports and models will be used. The definition for overall general mapping includes separate variables relating to stages of development, cartographic concepts, cartographic features, verbal directional and environmental perception responses, the interpretation of large-scale Ordnance Survey maps and vertical aerial photographs. Although separate variables have been identified and methods developed for their assessment, to date there does not seem to have been an attempt to find an overall general measure. The research questions were "Can a method be developed to measure children's overall general mapping ability?" If so, "Can it be used across the primary age range with a wide variety of pupils at different stages of development?" In addition, "Should an emergent stage be included to accommodate children who could not be placed into a stage of development. Finally, because there is still speculation concerning gender, the question "Are there gender differences in mapping ability?" was also considered. The population comprised three schools and a stratified sample of six boys and six girls from each of the seven primary year groups (252 children). The children were asked to draw maps of two different but familiar large-scale areas, to verbally describe a route on each map, indicate their environmental perception responses, identify features on large scale Ordnance Survey maps and vertical aerial photographs of both familiar areas. The stages of development variable, producing a qualitative measure, although interrelated, was not compatible with the other variables producing a quantitative measure. This was considered as a separate variable and used as an indicator of any correlation between stages of development and the variables producing a quantitative measure. Although the results relating to the stages of development variable highlighted complexities, the majority of children's drawn cognitive map representations were placed at the projective one stage of development. The results of the overall general mapping ability variable showed that, for the sample as a whole, the mean of pupil performances on Map Area B was significantly higher than the mean of Map Area A. Although there is still speculation about gender differences the results showed that there were no significant differences between girls and boys overall.

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In several studies, children who received piano instruction achieved better results on spatial-temporal tasks than various control group children did. This difference, though, was not always statistically significant. Gender differences favouring boys in spatial abilities appear to exist in children as young as 4 1/2 years old. However, research linking piano instruction to spatial abilities did not report gender differences. This thesis had three main investigative objectives: to control if children would show significant improvement in cognitive test scores following piano-keyboard instruction; to compare if certain cognitive tasks such as the spatial tasks would show greater improvement than other, non-spatial, tasks; to examine if the effects of pianokeyboard training on spatial tasks are gender differentiated. Sixty-one kindergarten children, aged five to six years, participated in this research receiving two piano-keyboard lessons weekly during the school year 2001-2002. Six subtests from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children were administered before and after the instruction period. Results revealed that participants improved significantly in the Hand Movements, Gestalt Closure, Triangles, Spatial Memory, and Arithmetic tasks following pianokeyboard instruction. No significant improvement was found in the Matrix Analogies task. Pre-tests in all sub-tests showed no significant gender differences. At post-testing though, boys significantly outperformed girls in the Hand Movements task while their gain scores were significantly higher than girls' scores in the Triangles task. This research has demonstrated that piano-keyboard instruction produced enhanced spatial-temporal test scores in kindergarten children, and that these scores were gender differentiated. These findings are unique in presenting a gender difference in gain scores following piano-keyboard instruction favouring boys. It is hoped that these findings contribute to the growing body of research investigating the extra-musical effects of music instruction and that in the future, kindergarten program administrators might consider music and piano-keyboard instruction as an integral part of kindergarten education.