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Since its first formulation by Marton and Saljo (1976 a and b) the notion of deep approaches to studying has been influential within the higher education sector of the United Kingdom (Entwistle, 1997b; Webb, 1997db). Despite this the literature on approaches to studying, and the more recent literature on approaches to teaching, have remained, largely, detached from mainstream learning theories until Marton and Booth (1997) sequestered the approaches literature into their learning theory, labelled, by Prosser and Trigwell (1999), the constitutionalist perspective. Marton and Booth represent this theory, which draws heavily from phenomenography, as a one best theory. These other learning theories, in turn, have been clustered into metaphors of acquisition and participation by Sfard (1998) and classified as either modern or post-modem by Prawat (1996). This dissertation uses Sfard’s metaphors and Prawat’s classification to delimit the contours of the Marton and Booth’s (1997) constitutionalist perspective and, in consequence, the approaches to studying and teaching literature sequestered, by them, into this theory. This is undertaken within the context of an inquiry into approaches to studying and teaching, adopted by various student and staff members in a department of Building and Surveying, which offers construction related vocational degree courses in a “new” university in the West of Scotland. The study proceeds from Sfard’s argument that the various metaphors/ learning theories are dialectically related rather than Prawat’s and Marton and Booth’s view that they are hierarchically or oppositionally related. The study is phenomenologically oriented, remaining within the tradition of inquiry initiated by Marton and Saljo (op. cit.) and argued as potentially valuable by Lave (1996) to studies into legitimate peripheral participation. The principle research instrument in the study is phenomenologically analysed group interviews with the data clustered around headings abstracted from Sfard and Prawat. The group interview is supported by a questionnaire constructed from by combining an abbreviated version of Entwistle’s (1997)Attitude to Study Inventory (ASI) and Prosser and Trigwell’s Attitude to Teaching Inventory (ATI). The data generally supports Sfard’s argument finding that students and teaching staff tended to talk in terms of both metaphors. However part-time staff and students tended to be the groups who mixed their metaphors the most. Full time staff tended to talk in terms of a single metaphor. In the case of the full-time quantity surveying staff their discourse was skewed towards an acquisition metaphor whilst the full-time interior design staff‘s discourse favoured a metaphor based on authentic practice in the studio and related this to the Bauhaus of Walter Gropius. Those students who had an experience of practice, either as part-time students or during Supervised Work Experience (SWE) greatly valued practice as valid learning. Practice is described by them as a rich, complex and intense learning experience where tools of practice, including discourse, are used. The data from the inventory tended either to support deductions drawn from the constitutionalist perspective and the upproaches literature or be capable of explanation within that perspective. However, there is a suspicion of a social desirability response effect from the teaching staff responses. Whilst agreeing with Sfard that one metaphor should not dominate the other it is suggested that there is room for manoeuvring the department closer to Sfard’s participation metaphor and Prawat’s post-modern theories. Student enthusiasm for learning in the authentic context of practice, together with tentative evidence for a deepened approach to studying after SWE, would suggest more emphasis being directed towards a view of the classroom as a locus of authentic practice rather than as a locus where practice is represented. The department being investigated already has the “tools” at its disposal to facilitate such a change in the form of part-time staff. It is recommended that: All student groups, including studio based interior designers, be required to undertake SWE with consideration being given to extending SWE from 8 months to 15 months (these durations include academic holiday periods). The present 80% of the assessment of SWE by teaching staff be discontinued in favour of a 50-50 split with supervising staff in the workplace. Assessment should he based on the principle of equivulency and not samene.w and could for example be related to internal, authentic, assessment regimes already in place in the workplace such as staff appraisal systems. The move towards a practice-portfolio basis for assessment of SWE. A closer linkage of SWE with other parts of the curriculum, especially the final year dissertation. Part-time staff should not just be treated as another pair of hands. Instead their ability to provide a unique contribution, enabled by their rich tacit knowledge, should be recognised e.g. by leading cross-discipline, case-study tutorials and by participating in course design. This last recommendation acknowledges a place for tacit knowledge in the curriculum. The department should investigate the extent to which tacit knowledge should feature, indeed is able to feature, in a classroom based curriculum.

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This case study investigates the nature of assessment, its validity and its relationship with learning on the Business Technician Education Council (BTEC) National Certificate (NC) courses in engineering principles. The study took place within the No. 1 School of Technical Training at Royal Air Force (RAF) Cosford, which is an accredited centre for BTEC (NC) and Higher National Certificate (HNC) awards in engineering based subjects. The No. 1 School of Technical Training has approximately 2000 students working towards BTEC awards at any one time. The principal aims of the study were to identify the essential characteristics of the assessment strategy for BTEC (NC) courses at RAF Cosford and to evaluate its validity. There was a particular emphasis on the appropriateness of the assessment procedures identified, and the implications for fair and impartial assessment, particularly with regard to learners with different individual learning styles. Methodologies used to investigate the specific questions within this research transcend the theoretical divide between positivist and interpretative ideologies, giving the study an eclectic character that combines quantitative and qualitative techniques. Specific procedures employed during the study include documentary analysis and semi-formal interviews during the early part of the enquiry, followed by statistical mapping and probability tests as the work progressed. Honey and Mumford’s (1986) learning styles questionnaire was used to identify individual learning styles in a sample of students, and this was supplemented by a new scoring system that strategically placed each learner on a polar graph depending on the individual learning style identified. The findings from the study revealed a complex system of assessment for each BTEC unit investigated and this has been described as ‘dendritic’ in nature due to its tree-like structure when formed into a flow diagram. Concerning validity, there are a number of recommendations for improvement. My conclusion in this area is that although validity was at acceptable levels in certain respects, poor question design, inadequate criteria and lack of an experiential approach reduce validity overall. The most significant issue regarding validity probably relates to whether different learners are in fact being assessed on the same cognitive domains during summative assessment, as there is strong and compelling evidence within this study that certain learners are disadvantaged by particular types of assessment due to their individual learning style. This ‘potentially damaging side effect’ has implications for reliability and validity, as individual learners may experience certain assessment procedures in different ways. This could alter the degree of difficulty experienced by learners with a particular learning style, and this problem may be augmented by the way that data is presented within a test item. There is further evidence that certain knowledge types may also be more ‘reactive’ than others. This evidential claim is based on research that mapped assessment performance by the different learning style groups to pre-defined knowledge types. Though the evidence is convincing, the relative limitations of the sampling must be taken into account in drawing these conclusions.

This study focuses on the subjective experiences of a group of women, including myself, as we negotiate our professional and personal lives in our work in the discipline of computing in post-compulsory education in the UK. This is a feminist study using qualitative methods to critically examine our experiences. The discipline of computing has historically been dominated by men and continues to be a gender-segregated workplace. The women in this study work in the discipline of computing in either Further Education or Higher Education, The aim of this study is to discover how the dominant discourses of computing influence the everyday work of the participants within the cultural norms and values of this discipline. My findings reveal that the 'technical' and the 'mothering' discourses were the most dominant discourses surrounding my participants. Moreover, such dis~ourses work together to serve and maintain the masculine culture of computing in Further Education and Higher Education. There were differences in the way the discourses operated according to institution. The participants took different subject positions in these discourses, which influenced their workplace experiences. The performative culture and the working conditions experienced in Further Education influenced the ways in which the 'technical' and 'mothering' discourses worked alongside a ~ teacher discourse, which could be- described as good enough, given the pressurised context. In Higher Education, the 'technical' and 'mothering' discourses influence organisational notions of the 'teacher' or 'academic' , producing a slightly nuanced version to produce the 'good academic'. The findings offer�· new insights into the historically gendered character of the discipline of computing in UK post-compulsory education while also exposing the ways in which various gender-specific discourses operate to reinforce gender segregation.

This thesis reports the findings of quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate the effectiveness of mathematics support and to examine the issue of student engagement in relation to its effectiveness. Usage data regarding Loughborough University's Mathematics Learning Support Centre was analysed to understand which students make use of the support and the extent of that usage. It was found that the majority of students who need mathematics support were not accessing the resources. Rich contextual data were gathered by interviews and focus groups, which indicated that a number of barriers had prevented students from initially using the support. However, whilst some students overcame these barriers to become regular users of the support, other students (who were 'at risk' of failing the mathematical component of their courses) did not. Students who were 'at risk' and had not accessed the support lacked the motivation to engage with mathematics and the available support. This thesis also evaluated the effectiveness of a proactive support initiative involving small group teaching. Despite encouraging students to engage with mathematics support, since they did not have to take the initiative themselves, it was revealed that a lack of student engagement had had a profound effect on the success of this support. Qualitative data was analysed to provide an insight as to why students had failed to engage with the initiative. Constructs of students' attitudes towards mathematics and their learning approaches were investigated. In particular, it was found that students who engage with mathematics support are generally well-motivated and cognitively engaged. These students held generally positive attitudes towards mathematics and deployed metacognitive learning strategies by regularly monitoring and directing their learning in order to achieve their high educational aims. This study ... has implications both for research and practice. From a practical perspective, it appears that mathematics support has moved from one of remedial support to one of enhancement. It is recommended that action should be taken to provide extrinsic motivation to encourage engagement with the support. However, from a research perspective, a more rigorous investigation of the students' attitudes and learning approaches and how these constructs relate to their levels of engagement with mathematics support would be useful. Further information in this area could be used to provide further quantification of the efficacy of mathematics support.