Name: Gabrielle Maria Finn Title of thesis: Anatomy and professionalism in an undergraduate medical curriculum Higher degree for which submitted: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Year of submission: 2010 This thesis describes two themes within the undergraduate medical curriculum; innovations in anatomy teaching, and the assessment of professionalism. Methodologies from both the quantitative and qualitative paradigms were utilised. The main findings were: 1) The Virtual Human Dissector™ (VHD) was shown to be equally as effective as cadaveric prosections as a tool for learning cross-sectional anatomy. 2) Body painting was demonstrated as being a highly motivating and engaging exercise for students. Students reported that the bold colours and kinaesthetic nature of body painting promotes retention of knowledge and informed their approach to future patients when painting was coupled with simultaneous peer-physical examination (PPE). 3) Contextual learning and simulation were shown to directly impact upon retention of knowledge through the use of clothing in anatomy education. This highlighted how when implementing simulation small and seemingly trivial details, such as clothing, are important. 4) The Conscientiousness Index (CI) has been demonstrated as an objective and scalar measure of one element of professionalism, conscientiousness. The CI identified students at the positive and negative end of the behavioural spectrum, and this correlated with peer and staff judgements on the professionalism exhibited by students at these extremes of behaviour. 5) Students were able to accurately assess the conscientiousness of their peers, however were unable to self-assess conscientiousness. The reliability of such peer assessments was improved when peers assessed only those in their tutor groups, with whom they had the majority of academic contact, compared to when assessing the entire cohort. This demonstrated the importance of assessor familiarity in assessments. 6) Critical incident reporting, of extremes in professionalism, was shown to promote reflection in students. Critical incident reports, as with the Conscientiousness Index, offers faculty a tool by which outlying students can be identified. 7) Students were unclear about the constituent elements of professionalism and the contexts in which professionalism was relevant. Three contexts were identified; the clinical, the academic (University), and the virtual (online) context. The impact of professionalism assessments and the scrutiny on students has led students to struggle with identity negotiation. This was with respect to their personal and professional identities and the expectations of different stake holders, such as faculty, the media and prospective patients.

Background: The issue of behaviour management, particularly as it pertains to addressing anti-social behaviour and improving learning and life outcomes for children and adolescents in schools has become a primary topic of discussion among educational stakeholders. The current perception among educational stakeholders is that as schools and society in general continue to experience an increase in anti-social behaviour, general indiscipline is becoming the normal behavioural pattern within classrooms. This study considers the relationship between personality, behaviour, and educational outcomes rooted in a socio-cultural perspective that emphasizes the role of socially mediated learning in the development of prosocial behaviour, resilience, personality, and character adaptations that support positive life outcomes. With this in mind, the primary aim of this study focused on developing an understanding of personality, behaviour management, and pro-social development through a synthesis of psychological and educational research and theory within the framework of the socio-cultural perspectives to design a character education programme targeted at improving prosocial behaviour within schools. Therefore, the primary question of the study is: Can a holistic programme be designed, effectively implemented in schools, and facilitated by teaching staff to enhance pro-social development and decrease anti-social behaviour among school-aged children? Methods: A sequential approach was used to address the complexity of the phenomena under investigation. The cycle of enquiry developed for this investigation was based on a grounded theory perspective within an action research framework. The cycle of scientific research used for this study was an in-depth investigation that informed real-world field investigations, followed by the simultaneous collection of both quantitative and qualitative data from archival records, open-ended and semi-structured interviews, observations and surveys. This process achieved data saturation and allowed for the emergence of descriptive themes that were used to develop analytical themes so that each subsequent phase of enquiry was informed by the data. Cycle of enquiry: The first phase of the research design involved a systematic literature review that focused on the discovery and formulation of the theory underpinning the development of the educational innovation that became the central avenue of investigation This phase was directed by asking the question; What is the relationship between personality, educational outcomes, and the ability to overcome adversity, and what role can a teacher-mediated cooperative-learning programme focusing on the development of social competence, cooperative communication, restorative processes, and inclusive practice play in supporting the development of beneficial character adaptations in children? To test the initial theories that arose from the literature review, the second phase of study involved a quasi-experiment that investigated the relationship between self-concept and social competence and how these could be influenced by mediated adventure-based learning (MABL) within an outdoor education framework. This quasi-experiment used a control-group, pre-test/post-test, mixed-methods design. The second quasi-experiment investigated the role of Mediated Activity-Based Cooperative Learning (MABCL) on cooperative communication during activity-based group problem-solving challenges and task completion. Following a synthesis of the findings from the MABL and MABCL investigations and a further review of the literature, a multiple-component character education programme was designed. Following the design of the character education programme a pilot study was designed and conducted. Upon concluding the pilot study data analysis, a Random Control Trial (RCT) was designed and participant recruitment conducted. Of the 10 schools that volunteered to take part in the RCT, five were assigned to the control group and five to the experimental group. However, the RCT proved impossible to complete for a variety of reasons and therefore this investigation used a multiple case study design to conclude the cycle of research, with the five schools assigned to the experimental group becoming the cases of the study. Data collected from the multiple case studies were analysed to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the character education programme. Results: Data collected in the final cycle of research, which included 5 schools participating in a multiple case study investigation showed that a character education programme designed within a sociocultural understanding of development can have a positive effect on teacher talk, pupil on and off task behaviour and antisocial behaviour. Both qualitative and quantitative data evidenced an increase in pupil on-task behaviour during lessons and an improvement in the teachers‘ ability to focus their time on content delivery during lessons. In addition, office referrals to senior staff for inappropriate behaviour showed a statistically significant decrease following the implementation of the character education programme. Discussion: Previous research into the impact of character-education programmes has yielded neither a clear guideline regarding what character education should provide nor discussed how a character-education programme can be effectively implemented school wide to promote pro-social development among school-aged children. The data collected in this study from school staff and pupil interviews, observations, and school records indicate that following the implementation of the designed character education programme, Building Schools of Character (BSC), in five primary schools, pupil behaviour and school climate improved. This study found that a socio-culturally framed behaviour-management programme facilitated through the delivery of mediated cooperative-learning activities and designed to enhance responsibility, respect, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and honesty can have a positive impact on pupil behaviour and self-regulation. This finding, coupled with an understanding of the importance of self-regulation, suggests that future school-based behaviour-management programmes and socio-emotional learning initiatives should consider the role of mediated cooperative-learning activities in developing beneficial character adaptations that promote self-regulation and positive educational and life outcomes.

Authenticity has been viewed as an important issue for ELT and particularly for ESP in creating a communicative language environment (e.g. Breen 1997; Lee 1995; Mishan 2005; Dudley-Evan and St John 1998; Harding 2007) – in order that learners are exposed to ‘real English’ with ‘intrinsically communicative quality’ (Lee 1995) and rehearse the real-world target communication tasks they will have to perform in their future workplace (Nunan 2004:20). This echoes what is advocated in the current Hong Kong educational reform curriculum documents. This thesis explores the theoretical and practical issues concerning the notion of authenticity through a case study of a project-based learning (PBL) module in an ESP curriculum in the context of a Hong Kong vocational institution, and derives from the research findings a 3-level authenticity model applicable for ELT/ESP task design. This thesis has drawn on Bachman’s (1990) dual notion of authenticity in conjunction with Halliday’s triad construct of context of situation (Halliday 1978) as a conceptual framework for the characterization of the authenticity manifested in the PBL task series under investigation. In the light of Bachman’s dual notion of authenticity (that for a task to be authentic, it has to achieve both situational and interactional authenticity), the present study, on the one hand, examines the design features of the case PBL tasks through documentary analysis of the project brief and semi-structured interviews with practitioners in the specific purpose field to ascertain the extent to which the designed tasks are situationally authentic, while on the other hand, investigates the authenticity of the learners’ interaction with the task features (i.e. the interactional authenticity) by eliciting the learners' accounts of their engagement with the tasks through retrospective focus group interviews, in conjunction with an analysis of the discourses produced by the learners in performing the tasks. The research findings show that task design is essentially the construction of a Context of Situation (CoS) which realizes situational authenticity of two different levels. An investigation into the interactional authenticity reveals both authentic and unauthentic aspects of the learners’ interaction with the constructed CoS, which has in turn shed light on a third level of authenticity to be added to the CoS model applicable for ELT/ESP task design.

The central objective of this study is to create a proposal for the development of the present English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course at Health Sciences Colleges (HSCs) in Saudi Arabia on the basis of a needs analysis and a course evaluation. It attempts to evaluate the ESP course and to investigate the needs of two groups of stakeholders, viz. ESP students and health professionals, as perceived in the first case by the students themselves, by their language teachers and by the course administrators and in the second case by graduates of the ESP course now working in health professions and by other medical staff. A mixed-methods approach was adopted: 246 questionnaires were administered to current students, graduates and language teachers; semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 students, 7 graduates, 6 language teachers, 5 course administrators, 5 hospital managers and 11 English-speaking health professionals; and document analysis was employed as an ancillary research method. The triangulation of data collection tools, sources and places helps to increase the validity and reliability of the findings. The data collected from the documents and interview transcriptions were analyzed qualitatively by hand, while those collected from the questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively using the SPSS program. Findings of the language needs analysis show that all four of the language skills were important, both for the students’ academic studies and for their target careers. Generally speaking, the evaluation results indicate that while the ESP course was effective to some extent, it had some limitations including its curriculum organization and syllabus specifications, the teaching-learning materials used and the assessment procedures adopted. Accordingly, this study proposes a new ESP curriculum based on the students’ needs. The study also recommends the provision of teacher training and the recruitment of additional ESP teaching staff as first steps towards the necessary improvements. It is also concluded that the collection of multiple types of data from various sources and places is necessary to overcome many of the problems commonly associated with needs analysis and evaluation studies.

This piece of research describes an exploratory case study designed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of a group of thirteen English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers towards the implementation of a new Communicative English Language Curriculum at a university in the Dominican Republic (D.R.). This exploration focused on teachers’ experiences of the proposed change, the kinds of meanings they construe as they teach and learn, and the personal ways in which they interpret the worlds in which they live (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988). Three constructs were particularly relevant for the present study, namely: teachers’ understandings of curricular change, teachers’ attitudes towards curricular change, and the training and professional development opportunities required to support teachers throughout the implementation phase in a curricular change. Data were gathered through focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews. Analyses of the data were done in such a way as to capture the common themes across individuals, as well as comments that were unique to individual participants (Lasky, 2005). Additionally, constant comparison of the data and member validation were used to confirm or adjust my own interpretations. The results indicate that to explore teachers’ perceptions of a change process is both important and necessary, especially because the exploration of a particular need for a change is an influential factor in the success of any educational change (Iemjinda, 2007). They also indicate the importance of acknowledging that curriculum change is a multi-faceted and highly complex process (Carl, 2009) that, as such, takes time and that teachers understand this process and adopt it at different paces, as well as that some might never succeed in adopting the demands required by the change. Although these results provide no definite solutions to implementation problems, they do help clarify some of the critical issues and the many constraints that possibly limit curriculum development, which must be addressed in resolving those problems (Guskey, 1988; Kelly, 2009). Recommendations for curricular change implementation are offered and areas for future research are suggested.

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This study is an investigation into the relationship between children's use of the outdoor environment and the early years curriculum. An action research approach was used in which cycles of observation, reflection and intervention led to deeper understandings about children's learning and the way it can be facilitated through the use of outdoor learning experiences. The findings highlight the potential an outdoor space can offer children as a base for learning and demonstrate how learning outdoors enables children to develop dispositions which are vital for their future achievements. I set the research in the historical context by drawing on the work of people in the past who have influenced the development of early years education and whose work is still relevant today. The research process has included a major action research cycle through which the outdoor environment of the setting was developed from a small nursery garden to a full forest school experience using the schools grounds and beyond. Within this major cycle, other smaller cycles have focused on the way in which children learn in the outdoor environment: communication and the development of cognitive structures in the outdoor environment; children learning through observing other children; offering choice in outdoor play; children's use of physical play activities; patterns emerging in play situations linked to the development of schemas. The action research process has been empowering for me as a researcher which in turn has led to the children making more decisions about their own learning and having more opportunities to make choices. Links are made between my own constructivist stance as a researcher and the ways in which children learn. The collaborative nature of action research has enabled all the practitioners in our setting to become part of my critical friendship group. I also analyse more recent developments and identify the tension which exists between statutory requirements and the learning needs of young children. I identify ways in which these requirements can often work to prevent practitioners from providing effective practice for our youngest children.

This study proposes a new concept of curriculum. The need arises because current notions of ‘curriculum’, as it is used in formal education, distort the nature of practice and education. This is particularly evident in current approaches to education in practical settings, and gives rise to my research question: What is the curricular nature of practice? My answer involves a shift in thinking from seeing curriculum as ‘courses of study’ to ‘courses of action’. In this thesis I move the argument away from that of ‘curriculum for practice’ to ‘curriculum in practice’. In achieving this, my thinking has shifted from ‘curriculum in and as practice’ to ‘curriculum-in-practice’ and then to ‘curriculum-in-( )-practice’, where the hyphens unify notions of curriculum and practice as sides of the same coin, and the empty bracket is filled by the details of practical action and practical reasoning specific to a particular practice domain. The study is in two phases. In Phase 1 I searched social learning and curriculum theories for clues to a curricular understanding of practice. This failed to answer my research question. My way forward was by way of concrete everyday examples of practice and an ethnomethodological understanding of action. In doing this, my understanding of ‘curriculum’ changed from ‘learning planned and guided by some educational institution or programme’ to ‘learning in the here-and-now generated in and as the detail of the practical lived work of particular kinds of action.’ As a contribution to Curriculum Studies, my new concept locates the notion of ‘curriculum’ in practice (of any kind) rather than in schooling (of any form). It avoids adopting a ‘big curricular idea’, emphasises the improvised nature of practical action, focuses on ‘lived work’ rather than ‘lived experience’ and suggests different notions of accountability and rational action. The main implication of this study for curriculum design and development is the suggestion that it should take account of what I call ‘ambient practice’, i.e. the curriculum (the basis for learning) that is generated in any and every action. The main implications for research are to investigate educational experience as lived work, to recover the details of curriculum design and development as practical action, to show how, in particular practice domains, learning in the here-and-now provides the grounds for learning as preparation and to recover the details of ‘ambient practice’ as a basis for curriculum design and development