For long, many organisations have incurred huge expenditure on continuing professional development (CPD). Yet, there is still no concrete evidence linking CPD to organisational performance despite several studies that have been conducted. Consequently, expenditure on CPD is beginning to be queried, and could be slashed if evidence is not produced. In health, this would undermine quality of care, increase morbidity and mortality and reduce productivity and quality of life. This study argues that to understand how CPD influences performance, one should understand organisational conditions in which CPD is planned and executed ~ the organisational culture. Hence, this research sought to document, through empirical study, the relationship between CPD and performance; and the moderating role of organisational culture. Using a blended methodology with triangulated data sources and collection methods, evidence from four case study hospitals indicates that CPD is associated with outcomes such as improved supervision, efficiency and clinical care that influence organisational performance. The forms of CPD that are conducted on the job such as bedside coaching, support supervision and ward rounds are cheaper and have more practical performance benefits compared to those conducted out-of-station such as workshops and conferences. Cultures emphasising ·employee participation in CPD planning, reflective practice, and information - sharing enhance CPD effectiveness. Likewise, cultures emphasising mutual support, trust, client respect, performance measurement, accountability and use of cultural artefacts such as dress code and religious symbols are associated with better performance. The use of mixed designs in case study research contributes to methodology while empirical findings contribute to development of policy and theory on the interplay between CPD, organisational culture and organisational performance. The study findings suggest that organisational culture does maximise the benefits of CPD to support performance. However, the three variables interact independently in complex ways that make it difficult to untangle their cause-effect relations.

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The aim of the thesis is to critically examine the factors that influence the educational achievement of Korean Pre-college Study Abroad (PSA) students in two secondary schools in China and to make recommendations for secondary education policies and practices in order to improve their academic achievement of PSA students in China. It is achieved primarily through exploring the perceptions of both Korean and Chinese groups, including Korean parents, their children and Chinese staff in secondary schools, concerning the factors influencing the academic achievement of PSA students. The research is oriented by a cultural-ecological framework, according to the theses of cultural capital and social capital. The study contributes to the limited research focusing on the current PSA students in Chinese secondary schools, particularly from an educational perspective. Fieldwork was conducted from September 2011 to April 2012 in Beijing, China. The study employed a primarily qualitative case study design, whereby the sites were a mainstream Chinese school and a Korean minority school. Four methods of data collection were employed, namely, questionnaires, documents review, focus groups and in-depth interviews. The main analytic tool of this study is the Thematic Network Analysis. The main findings relate to Korean group's interpretations of and responses to the social system. In attempting to achieve/maintain upward social mobility through education, Korean PSA families have found that they are driven to desperation, or become resistant to or disengage from the social system, despite the fact that as middle class, they possess cultural and social capital within their own community. It is argued that the desire, on the part of foreign minorities to achieve/maintain social mobility through education is undermined by the mainstream agenda of integrating them into the Chinese nation state at the expense of their culture. During this process, Chinese group members who are serving these minority groups are also the victim of this social system. Accordingly, I propose some changes that need to be made by the governments and secondary schools in China, e.g. implementing a multicultural curriculum and offering staff development opportunities in the kinds of policies and processes. In doing so, it is possible for China's secondary education to be more responsive to the needs of oppressed groups, such as PSA students, whilst also responding to the educational challenges posed by the process of globalisation.

This thesis reports on an interview study of student and tutor experience in, and perceptions of, tutorial groups in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. The interview study itself formed part of a wider project investigating tutorial teaching. This wider project involved non-participant observation of tutorials led by ten 'expert' tutors, analysis of transcripts of audio-recordings of tutorial talk, interviews with a sample of 52 students drawn from the tutorials which were observed, and interviews with the ten tutors. A key consideration in sampling was the wish to observe good practice in this form of teaching. Accordingly the tutors whose classes were observed, and who were interviewed, were chosen on the basis of their local reputation as highly skilled practitioners. Much of the past research in this area has had a fairly narrow focus of attention, concentrating on aspects of the process of discussion, group dynamics and the role of the tutor as facilitator of discussion. This thesis draws attention to a number of aspects of tutorial teaching which have received little attention in preceding research studies, such as the connections between tutorials and the wider learning system in which they are situated, and the tutor's role as a teacher and subject expert. Considerable attention is given to the tutors' teaching actions and it is argued that tutors can be viewed as acting simultaneously to enable and constrain students' understanding. The importance that tutors placed on creating a supportive, 'safe' group climate is described and the dilemmas that tutors faced in their day-to-day practice are also explored.

The aim of this study is to explore nursing pupils' and nursing teachers' understanding of responsibility for one's own learning. Philosophical hermeneutic as outlined by Hans-Georg Gadamer underlies this study. Gadamer investigated and explained how understanding occurs hence a research method, based on his work 'Truth and Method', had been developed to answer the research questions. Dialogues with the participants in this research provide an insight into their understanding of responsibility within nursing education. This understanding is examined by means of a five-step analysis method. The 30 participants in this study belonged to eight different nursing schools. The 13 nursing teachers, who participated in this research each had between seven and 22 years teaching experience and were individually interviewed once. Dialogues with 15 nursing pupils, participating in this research, were carried out twice. The first dialogue took place in their first year of nursing education and the second in their third and final year of nursing education. Two nursing pupils were interviewed once. A total of 45 dialogues were carried out, transcribed and analysed. The data from this research establish that nursing pupils understand responsibility for their own learning as learning to nurse in keeping with postulated nursing rules. The data further indicate that nursing pupils feel insecure in their nursing education and that this insecurity prevents them from taking responsibility for their own learning. The participating nursing teachers are ambivalent about the task of nursing education to develop the ability of responsibility. The analysis ofthe data show that responsibility for one's own learning can only be developed if nursing education realises the objective to build the personality of nursing pupils on the basis of a broad educational and cultural background.

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This thesis tells the stories of four mature Chinese students' journey to the West. It explores their expectations, discoveries, frustrations and dilemmas during their one year postgraduate study in London. In view of the recent trend of mainland Chinese students coming to study in Britain, I examine what they encountered upon arrival and how they coped with an unfamiliar environment. Central to my concern is how they perceived and interpreted their experiences. Ethnography and narrative analysis served as methodologies for this inquiry. In-depth interviews were conducted and participants' narrative accounts subsequently analyzed. The combination of approaches was innovative as well as effective in unlocking how the impact of their journey influenced the construction of their identities. The study reveals that newcomers faced difficulties and ambiguities in academic, social and cultural dimensions. How they negotiated conflicting values and sought self-understanding was highlighted in the analysis. Findings from the research raise two questions: on a practical level, what support can be provided for Chinese students in their transition to the British education system? I emphasize that their predicaments are not adequately acknowledged at the moment. On a theoretical level, I argue that, when theorizing post modem identity, the socio-cultural and political contexts in which individuals are historically positioned should not be neglected. Depending on who and where you are, different levels of flexibility are required for new mobility. This study shows that participants' coming to terms with their cross-cultural experience involves active engagements in making the adjustment and constructing reflexively meanings out of it. The research concludes that meeting Chinese students' need for support is as important as the strategy of recruiting them. UK higher education institutions should respond to the new challenge so that possible change can take place to improve the quality of their educational and cultural experience.

The overall aim of this professional doctorate is to inform improved methods of educational practice for preparing and developing learners to deal with the complex and constructed nature of professional learning and knowledge. The primary concern is to understand notions of knowledge and knowing for professional education and the nature of personal epistemology for post qualifying (PQ) social work students. The main purpose is to facilitate these students’ awareness of personal epistemology and enable them to validly articulate their own knowledge in this context. The thesis adopts an overall pragmatic perspective, undertaking an empirical case study which encompasses a documentary analysis, questionnaires and interviews within a qualitative and interpretive methodology. The findings from the case study provide an understanding of a PQ social work programme’s epistemology and the nature of the students’ experiences, views and assumptions concerning professional knowledge and knowing. Overall, it can be seen that the hegemonic privileging of academic knowledge over practice-based knowledge creates particular epistemological tensions and misalignments in respect of posttechnocratic reflective models. Such privileging impacts negatively on the authority and articulation of PQ students’ professional knowledge, and highlights the necessity to more fully acknowledge a professional perspective within a reflective epistemology. The findings are used to inform a series of practice development initiatives with PQ social work students. The initiatives help develop epistemological awareness and enable a re-alignment to post-technocratic reflective models with the development of a Practical Reasoning Framework. The Framework acknowledges the types of knowledge and ways of knowing associated with professional reasoning and judgment, and helps establish the validity, justification and authority of a professional perspective within a reflective epistemology. The recognition of the need to more fully acknowledge a professional perspective within a reflective epistemology, and the development of the Framework to address this need can be identified as the thesis’ contribution to knowledge. With recent national reports emphasising reasoning and judgment as necessary components of professional development, their authentic and legitimate inclusion within an academic context is now more important than ever.

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