This PhD thesis is concerned with the influence of sustainable design in further education (FE) college buildings on whole institutional change for sustainability. The research focuses on the first decade of the 21st century in England and Wales when increasing engagement with the sustainability agenda in the FE sector included linking sustainability criteria to the funds for new building projects. The original contribution of the thesis is twofold. Firstly, it reveals the extent to which these new buildings contributed to institutional change for sustainability in the FE sector and identifies ways to maximise future sustainable building projects as a resource for institutional change. Although there was substantial investment in new buildings and a growing interest in sustainability during the period of the study, no evidence exists of research into the links between sustainable design and institutional change in the FE sector. Secondly, the thesis develops an original research approach, contributing to the multi-disciplinary field of research into sustainability and sustainable development. The thesis adopts a biographical approach from social science research and adapts it to produce narrative accounts of the development of two buildings with recognised sustainability qualities, one in England and one in Wales. These biographies are then analysed for evidence of institutional change for sustainability using the systems perspective that underpins the view of sustainability presented in the thesis. The thesis establishes two frameworks, one for recognising sustainable design within FE college buildings and one for identifying change for sustainability in FE institutions. The biographies of the buildings were developed using data collected by biographical research methods and the focus of the analyses is on the relationships that existed around each building’s development and its physical presence on campus. The thesis reveals that even colleges with a reputation for sustainability have not fully exploited the introduction of a sustainably designed building onto a campus as a catalyst for institutional change. The outcomes from the research offer key points for maximising the influence of future building projects in terms of achieving institutional change for sustainability and identify areas for further research into the influence of sustainable design on institutions in the FE and other education sectors. The development of the research approach in this thesis presents an alternative for researching sustainability in education and other fields.

Yn y traethawd hwn, trafodir prosiect doethurol a chanddo ddau brif nod, sef: (1) cynhyrchu cyfres o adnoddau dysgu Cymraeg ar-lein yn arbennig ar gyfer Canolfan Iaith a Threftadaeth Cymru Nant Gwrtheyrn; a (2) ymchwilio i ac ysgrifennu traethawd ymchwil mewn maes cysylltiedig. Penderfynais gyfuno’r ddwy elfen, a defnyddio theori ac ymchwil fel sail ar gyfer y dasg greadigol. Fy ngobaith oedd dangos ymagwedd egwyddorol tuag at ddatblygu adnoddau e-ddysgu newydd, ac ysbrydoli eraill i wneud yr un fath yn y dyfodol, yn enwedig yng ngoleuni galwad diweddar Mac Giolla Chríost et al. (2012, t. 182) i ymarferwyr ym maes Cymraeg i Oedolion rannu ‘ymarfer da’. Mae allbynnau’r Ddoethuriaeth hon yn gwneud dau brif gyfraniad at y maes. Y cyntaf o’r rhain yw’r gyfres o adnoddau e-ddysgu unigryw o’r enw “e-nant” a fydd yn dechrau cael traweffaith yn syth ar ddysgwyr sy’n mynychu cyrsiau lefel Mynediad yn Nant Gwrtheyrn o nawr ymlaen. Ar ben hynny, mae’r traethawd hwn yn dangos yn glir sut y gellir seilio datblygiad deunyddiau dysgu newydd ar egwyddorion ymchwil. Bydd hwn yn adnodd defnyddiol iawn i awduron deunyddiau’r dyfodol, oherwydd ei fod yn darparu enghreifftiau clir o’r byd go iawn o sut mae rhoi cysyniadau theoretig ar waith yn ymarferol. Drwy ymgymryd ag ymchwil cyfrwng Cymraeg, yr wyf hefyd yn gwneud trydydd cyfraniad, sef hwyluso trafodaeth o bynciau tebyg drwy’r Gymraeg yn y dyfodol, a chyfrannu at godi statws y Gymraeg fel iaith academaidd – un o amcanion strategol Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru (2010). Casglwyd rhestr o dermau perthnasol i feysydd Caffael Ail Iaith a Dysgu Iaith drwy Gymorth Cyfrifiadur, y bydd ymchwilwyr y dyfodol yn gallu cyfeirio ati’n hawdd, a bathwyd sawl term newydd, er mwyn galluogi trafodaeth o gysyniadau nad ydynt erioed wedi’u trafod yn y Gymraeg o’r blaen. This thesis discusses a doctoral project with two main aims: (1) to produce a series of online Welsh learning resources especially for the Nant Gwrtheyrn Welsh Language and Heritage Centre; and (2) to research and write a research thesis in a related field. I decided to combine the two elements, and to use theory and research as a base for the creative task. My hope was to demonstrate a principled approach towards developing new e-learning resources, and to inspire others to do likewise in the future, especially in light of Mac Giolla Chríost et al.'s (2012, t. 182) recent call for Welsh for Adults practitioners to share ‘good practice’. The outputs of this Doctorate make two main contributions to the field. The first of these is the series of unique e-learning resources called “e-nant” which will immediately begin to have an impact on learners who attend Entry-level courses at Nant Gwrtheyrn from now on. In addition, this thesis clearly shows how the development of new learning materials can be based on research principles. This will be a very useful resource for future materials writers, since it provides clear real-world examples of how to put theoretical concepts into practice. By undertaking Welsh-medium research, I also make a third contribution, namely to facilitate discussion of similar subjects through Welsh in the future, and to contribute towards raising the status of Welsh as an academic language – one of the Welsh Assembly Government’s (2010) strategic aims. A list of relevant terms was compiled for the fields of Second Language Acquisition and Computer-Assisted Language Learning, which future researchers will be able to refer to easily, and several new terms were coined, in order to enable discussion of concepts which have never before been discussed in the Welsh language.

This study explores the reasons why adult learners take part in professional management education courses, their social and cultural capital together with their human and economic capital. The author has responsibility for these programmes in a university in the north of England. It is framed by a multiple capital approach which reflects, and illuminates, the rationale for engagement in lifelong learning and professional management education. The underlying research was phenomenological, as it explored the direct experiences of the participants in relation to professional management education. Two methods were used sequentially, quantitative which provided numerical data by the use of questionnaires, and qualitative, by the use of interviews. The results of the interviews were used to construct the stories of the respondents. Fifty questionnaires were completed by employees and fifteen interviews were undertaken, out of a total population of eighty one. The entire population of twenty four employers completed a questionnaire and six of them were interviewed. The outcomes of this research highlight the workplace in the twenty-first century, together with the impact of the current economic climate. This has led to a need for the acquisition of new skills by workers at all hierarchical levels in organisations. Cultural capital was evidenced by the desire of employees to equip themselves with new skills and knowledge, in order to remain in employment and to advance their careers. Many of the respondents gained cultural capital through their early life experiences of home and school and their relationships with mentors. The social capital of employers was found to be important in mentoring, and encouraging, employees to engage in learning. Economic capital was expressed through engagement in lifelong learning by employees to enhance their knowledge and skills, and to improve their employment prospects.Human capital was evidenced by both employers and employees as engagement in professional management education facilitates the acquisition of new skills and knowledge.

This investigation analyses the production and reproduction of class-based social inequality within the Further Education and Skills system in England, with a particular focus on the years of Labour government following the 1997 General Election. New Labour policy on further education (FE) continually emphasised the importance of reforming the sector for a dual role: contributing to UK economic competitiveness by expanding the skills base; and promoting social inclusion by integrating vulnerable people into job markets and society more broadly. The published work submitted here investigates how this 'reform agenda' unfolded in three key aspects of FE provision, and examines the ways in which inequality continued to be produced and reproduced, in spite of the proposed key role for FE in social inclusion. The aspects considered are the training and workplace development of FE teachers, the rehabilitation of creativity within discourses of knowledge economy and social cohesion, and programmes for young people at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training). In addition to the published work, a commentary outlines the context and main arguments of each paper, explains my contribution to the three co-authored publications and discusses the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the investigation. The commentary concludes by discussing the overall contribution to knowledge of the work and its theoretical significance.

Die psychische Belastung im Arbeitsprozess wurde international und national zu einem Kernproblem für den Arbeitsmarkt. Das deutsche Arbeitsschutzgesetz fordert nunmehr ausdrücklich auch das Vermeiden von Gefährdungen durch psychische Belastung. Diese Checkliste hilft als Orientierungsverfahren zu ermitteln, ob in Betrieben und Einrichtungen eine eingehendere Untersuchung psychischer Belastung erforderlich ist und welche Schwerpunkte gegebenenfalls vorliegen. Für eingehendere Untersuchungen existieren zahlreiche Verfahren. Die Checkliste ist branchenübergreifend einsetzbar, nicht zutreffende Sachverhalte sind gegebenenfalls zu überspringen.

Dieser Aufsatz ist auf der Grundlage des Vortrags auf der GeNeMe Tagung des Medienzentrums an der Fakultät für Informatik der TUD am 01.10.2014 entstanden, welcher unter anderem als Wissenstransfer im Rahmen des Projektes „Arbeitslebensbegleitendes Lernen im Betrieb und mitarbeiterorientierte Förderung der Arbeitsfähigkeit“ (ALBAf) stattfand.

This thesis describes the teaching and learning of multiple speech acts from an interlanguage pragmatics perspective since the already existing materials for that purpose have been considered as impoverished in terms of reflecting the use of language in its context. The first chapter "Pragmatics and Speech Act theory" includes the description of Pragmatics as the main area of study which this thesis is based on. It also includes the description of concepts related to pragmatics, such as speech acts, politeness and context. There is also a description of communicative competence paradigms in which pragmatics is included. Interlanguage Pragmatics field of research is introduced as the main research area including pragmatics studies related to the learning and acquisition of different pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic aspects by non-native speakers. These studies have been classified as cross-sectional, longitudinal and those of pragmatic transfer and development. The last part of this first chapter includes a revision of speech act theories and concepts related as well as the taxonomies of the different speech acts studied in this thesis (complaints, apologies, requests, suggestions and refusals). The second chapter "Pragmatics Learnability, Acquisition and Teachability" includes the description of the conditions stablished for language learning, those of input, output and feedback. A revision of the approaches for developing pragmatics is also presented focusing on three different models, The Noticing Hypothesis, the Two-Dimensional model for L2 proficiency development, and the Interaction Hypothesis. We also comment on language instruction in pragmatics by describing the implicit/explicit, deductive/inductive learning conditions. The last part of this chapter is devoted to the revision of the present paradigms in pragmatics instruction (Focus on Meaning, Focus on Forms, and Focus on Form). The third chapter "Audiovisual Input and Conversation Analysis" is focused on the description of audiovisual materials as a rich and appropriate pragmatic source of input, and Conversation Analysis as one of the main source for the analysis of conversations derived from audiovisual input sources, in our case. Thus, we first provide a description of audiovisual genres followed by research already carried out with positive outcomes as regards pragmatics acquisition which includes films, sitcoms and drama, and captions audiovisual aids used. Last, we introduce Conversation Analysis in general terms for a posterior focus on learners as conversational analysts with the aim of making them aware of how language is used in its context. The fourth chapter "Classroom research in Pragmatics" is devoted to the description and explanation of the different written and oral research methods in Pragmatics' studies. This chapter also includes the motivations for the development of this thesis and the research questions and hypotheses which will be confirmed or not. The fifth chapter "Method" is aimed at the description of the study and includes a description of the participants, the instruments of data collection (rank-ordering tasks, written assessment tests, oral production tests, after-treatment questionnaire, and native speakers questionnaire. Furthermore, a description of the instructional treatment and materials used are also present in this chapter as well as the data collection procedures, instructional sessions and coding and analysis of data. The sixth chapter "Results and Discussion" includes the presentation of five research questions and 17 hypotheses derived from them. The first research question and related hypotheses are focused on the effects of our instruction on awareness; the second research questions is aimed at the description of the effects in written production; the third research question tries to determine the effects of our instructional model on our participants' oral production of speech acts pairs; the fourth research question and subsequent hypotheses are devoted to ascertaining the effects of using audiovisual materials on participants' awareness and production; the sixth and last research question tried to shed light on the effects of the different practices on participants' awareness and production. The last part of this thesis includes a conclusion in which a summary of the research questions and results from the hypotheses is pointed out. Some pedagogical implications and the limitations derived from our study are described in order to be taken into account for further research. This volume also includes a references section in which all the studies cited throughout the main text are present as well as an appendix section which includes all the materials developed for the instructional period (pre and post-tests, students' handout, tasks, power point presentation in class)

Aquesta tesi presenta l'elaboració, aplicació i avaluació d'un mètode d'autoformació en educació emocional (MAEM) i analitza el procés de creixement emocional dels agents implicats: famílies i mestres. El treball es vertebra al llarg de tres parts que sustenten la investigació. En la primera part que conforma el marc teòric s’aborden, en primer lloc, els conceptes d'emoció i intel·ligència emocional com a punt de partida en l'educació emocional; en segon lloc, les dues figures de més rellevància en l'educació emocional dels infants: les famílies i els docents. La família constitueix el primer referent emocional per a l'infant i ha d'oferir-li un model afectiu segur, responsabilitat compartida amb l'escola, amb la qual col·labora per afavorir el creixement i benestar del nen o nena constituint una relació indissociable. Esta part incorpora una revisió de programes d'educació emocional implementats tant a l'àmbit nacional com internacional, a partir de la qual es constata com la majoria d'aquestos programes són destinats a l'alumnat i no a docents i famílies. Per això, una vegada justificada teòricament la rellevància de la recerca, en la segona part del treball es formula el disseny de la investigació, el qual utilitza de forma complementària diversos tipus d'estudis: estudi de validació i estudi descriptiu; i combina metodologia qualitativa i quantitativa. A continuació es presenta el MAEM, com una ferramenta per a que mestres i famílies, abans d’abordar una educació emocional de qualitat, siguen primer conscients de la seua pròpia educació emocional, reflexionen i duguen a terme una transformació sanadora de les pròpies emocions. Per tant, el MAEM és un mètode per a que l’adult puga entrar en el seu interior emocional, conèixer més a fons les seues emocions i puga anar entrenant les seues competències emocionals i així esdevindré un model de referència per a l’infant que educa. Aquest mètode resulta innovador perquè a més de treballar tècniques d’autoconsciència i gestió emocional combina estratègies emmarcades dins de la metodologia autobiogràfica-narrativa per a l’autoconeixement. Finalment, la tercera part està destinada a presentar els resultats més rellevants i la seua discussió on es confirma la hipòtesi de treball afirmant que les persones que reben educació emocional a través del MAEM experimenten canvis positius en la pròpia capacitat per generar benestar emocional tant en l’àmbit intrapersonal com en l’àmbit interpersonal dins dels contextos professional, familiar i social. Els resultats apunten que el MAEM produeix una millora de les competències emocionals dels agents implicats i genera beneficis al creixement emocional d'aquests aportant a la comunitat científica un model del procés, la incidència del qual cal difondre i seguir investigant.

Dieser Aufsatz ist auf der Grundlage des Vortrags entstanden, der auf der Auftaktveranstalung des Projektes "Arbeitslebensbegleitendes Lernen im Betrieb und mitarbeiterorientierte Förderung der Arbeitsfähigkeit" (ALBAf) am 01.04.2015 vom Autor gehalten wurde.

Der Autor entwickelt, aus Sicht der Erwachsenenbildungswissenschaft, anknüpfend an den bisherigen Diskussionsprozess in Sachsen zur Einführung eines sächsischen (Weiter-)Bildungsberichts, anhand theoretischer Vorannahmen zur Steuerung im Weiterbildungsbereich sowie zur Weiterbildungsberichterstattung und anhand empirisch eruierter Empfehlungen einen Gestaltungsvorschlag für ein wissenschaftlich fundiertes Untersuchungsdesign zur Entwicklung eines sächsischen Weiterbildungsberichts. In der zugrunde liegenden empirischen Studie werden vorhandene (Weiter-)Bildungsberichte und durchgeführte Experteninterviews dahingehend analysiert, inwieweit sie Anregungen für einen indikatorenbasierten sächsischen Weiterbildungsbericht geben können. Hierfür werden mittels qualitativer Inhaltsanalysen deduktiv und induktiv gebildete Kategoriensysteme erarbeitet. Es wird deutlich, welche Themen ein sächsischer Weiterbildungsbericht in Bezug auf landesspezifische Erkenntnisinteressen, seine nationale Anschlussfähigkeit sowie in Bezug auf die vorhandene sachsenspezifische Datenbasis, abdecken könnte. Dabei werden Lücken in der Datenbasis aufgezeigt und Entwürfe für Datenerhebungsinstrumente vorgestellt, um die aktuell vorhandene Datenbasis schrittweise zu erweitern, zu vertiefen und aktuell zu halten. Die Arbeit endet mit Vorschlägen für weitere Projekt- und Forschungstätigkeiten.