The thesis presents a critique of the learning and competence agenda', ie currently-dominant approaches to graduate employability and managerial competence expressed in terms of learning as a process, and of transferable skills, competence, etc as outcomes of learning. The thesis argues that this agenda is based on a set of assumptions, referred to as the `conventional model of learning and competence', which is highly contestable. Key assumptions include that of learning as an individualised process sui generis, resulting in outcomes ('skills', `competencies' etc), causally related to behaviour or performance. Using both primary and secondary evidence, the claims made for the conventional model are shown not to be upheld. This is taken as warranting more fundamental consideration of the conventional model. It is argued that the `common sense' appeal of the model arises from the systematic ambiguity of the term `learning' (and other word-forms from the verb `to learn'). Conceptual analysis and clarification shows that the language of `learning', `skills' and so on relates to ways of expressing aspects of behaviour or performance. The thesis argues that performance is not objectively observable, but requires the construal or interpretation of activity as performance-of-a-kind. Drawing on various interpretive and constructionist traditions within the social sciences, this analysis is taken forward to develop a relational perspective on learning and competence. It is argued that, the notions of (social) `practices' and `emergent identity' are critical to such a perspective. The relational perspective is applied to the reconsideration of interviews with recent graduates and novice managers, particularly in respect of analysing career trajectories in terms of `modalities of emergent identity'. The forms of warranting of identity claim are also examined. The thesis concludes with a consideration of implications of the relational perspective, for further research, for policy and for pedagogic practice.

This thesis develops a social semiotic analysis of pedagogic communication in a media studies course which the author taught from 1993 until 1997. The author taught the course as part of an undergraduate honours degree about science, culture and communication in a university in the UK. The analysis describes the structuring of pedagogic practice on the level of the curriculum, and within the author's own "Communicating Science" module. The analysis also describes student receptions of pedagogic practice. The research reveals the extent to which pedagogic communication served to sustain the order which the degree was designed to contest: an order based on positivist conceptions of science, science communication, and therein, media theory and practice. The thesis concludes by proposing a theory of instruction which is designed to enable students to acquire the rules of realisation for more critical forms of science communication.

No description available.

Information about the research activity Foundation degrees (FDs) for pharmacy technicians combine academic and work-based learning to provide skills and knowledge for enhanced pharmacy technicians’ practice. Nine of these programmes have been developed nationwide since the introduction of the qualification in 2000. Only three of these FDs continue to run at the time of writing this report and low student numbers within these courses make their future uncertain. With a population of potential students in excess of 15,000 and increased demands for enhanced pharmacy technicians’ practice, lack of success of these FDs can be due to how the qualification is perceived. This research represented the first systematic exploration of the perceptions of stakeholders with involvement in a FD for pharmacy technicians that evaluated one such programme: the FD in Medicines Management run by the University of Portsmouth. The study focused on a single course to provide an in-depth account of events and processes. It involved gathering the views of students, graduates, employers, and people involved in course delivery and development. The research had a dual purpose: to describe experiences and to feedback findings into pedagogic practice within the Portsmouth course. Research questions In order to carry out this evaluation, the following broad research questions were investigated: • What do people think of the FD qualification? • What is the experience of being involved with a FD like? • What effect does a FD have on pharmacy technicians? • What opportunities does a FD bring for role extension and development? • Can a theoretical model be developed to represent relationships between the experiences of stakeholders involved in a FD? Plan of Investigation The project was carried out over a period of three years from September 2007 to June 2010. It followed a qualitative evaluation research approach. Data was collected from one-to-one and group interviews, which were recorded, transcribed verbatim and subject to thematic analysis. The analysis aimed to identify significant concepts, themes and categories, building a theoretical model that would represent relationships between the experiences of the stakeholders. Within each of these, different views were compared and contrasted. Key findings A theoretical model was developed that represents the relationships between the experiences of stakeholders involved in a FD for pharmacy technicians; a number of key themes were also found. Firstly, it was established that there was a general lack of awareness of the availability and scope of FDs. While study participants perceived them as valuable qualifications, they reported that often this was not the case within their workplace. FDs were considered demanding qualifications from a pedagogic point of view, as course content had to be continuously updated to reflect changes in practice. They contributed to the personal and professional development of pharmacy technicians and provided skills and knowledge to enable individuals to have more independent roles. Pharmacy technicians’ motivation to acquire skills and knowledge to improve patient care was the main driver for participation in a FD. The new capabilities of pharmacy technicians led to increased aspirations for the development of their role, which were not always fulfilled. Different factors were accountable for this, which merit further research in order to fully describe this phenomenon. Action points As a result of this research, the following action points were undertaken to improve pedagogic practice within the Portsmouth FD in Medicines Management: • Development and implementation of a marketing strategy. • Review and update of the programme syllabus. • Implementation of new approaches to teaching, learning and assessment.

Authentic early experience describes new medical students undertaking ‘human contact in a social or clinical context that enhances learning of health, illness or disease, and the role of the health professional’ (Littlewood et al. 2005). This thesis provides three original research contributions: a critical analysis of the application of socio-cultural and educational theories to authentic early experience; empirical data addressing two inter-related research questions; ‘How and why do students construct useful knowledge and meaning-making from authentic early experience?’ and ‘How and why do students make authentic early experiences work for them?’; and an interpretation of social processes and resultant consequences embedded in authentic early experience. Multiple theoretical perspectives were used to create a framework incorporating mixed qualitative methods. Scott’s concept of Mētis (1998) guided interpretation of not only how students created meaning but also when and how they chose to use it, and value it, relative to formally recognised knowledge. The study identified six specific findings which provide understanding of the complex consequences arising from authentic early experience. (1) Faculty and placement provider expectations of students were simultaneously too high and too low. (2) Dynamic social interactions are fundamental to meaning-making and knowledge construction (which are inextricably intertwined with identity evolution). (3) Social processes influencing authentic early experience can be described through dyads of variables which form intersecting workplace and educational spectra. (4) A holistic social view identifies unpredictable and unintended consequences of authentic early experience. (5) Students do not align the locus of ‘real learning’ with the locus of ‘real practice’. (6) Students create their own Mētis which crucially includes understanding about how to handle knowledge and meaning and how to make experiences work for them. The implications and potential applications of these findings are discussed.

This thesis argues that excellence is emancipatory in the sense that it promotes individual and collective transformation and it traces this idealized concept back to Aristotle and the concept of eudaimonia (Aristotle: 2009). This is the idea that excellence promotes happiness and well-being; it enables human beings to flourish and live to their full potential. In short, the thesis is about the potential of higher education to transform lives, in particular those of young people. Thus the fundamental premise of the thesis is that a legitimating principle of English higher education is excellence defined as the Hellenic ideal and that excellence is emancipatory. The thesis operates from the perspective of Critical Theory and operationalizes the theories and concepts of Habermas. It argues that the political discourse of excellence – the economic imperative of competition - eclipses emancipatory excellence in discourse but that in the lifeworld of the university this transformational concept of higher education remains unaffected as a legitimating principle, despite recent government reforms. In a further subsidiary argument, the thesis argues that the emancipatory interests of the university, particularly those of social science are inextricably linked to those of wider society (Barnett: 1994; 2; Habermas: 1977; 1978; 1988) and that this critical normative claim can be realized in an ideal speech situation. The thesis argues that the ideal speech situation already exists in the scientific-public validation of Critical Theory geared at world construction (Strydom: 2011; 158) but that a space for a new discursive event exists in the wider public community of knowledgeable social agents (Bohman: 1999; 475; Nowotny: 1993; 308). This thesis is argued for using material from in-depth, semi-structured, conversation-led research interviews which were conducted with senior administrators, higher education policy specialists and academics across the English higher education sector.

No description available.

This dissertation explores talk in an undergraduate seminar context. Research design was informed by an interpretive, ethnomethodological approach to understanding talk as a situated activity. A series of <i>student-led seminars</i> were audio recorded; students and staff were interviewed and post-seminar group debriefing sessions were held. The data was subsequently transcribed and analysed using a functional systemic linguistics and discourse analysis approach. Analysis identified structural and linguistic elements of seminar talk and links between language, identity, power and status was explored through an analysis of the discursive processes at work in the seminar events. An heuristic model of the seminar as a socio-pedagogic space, a site of hegemonic struggle, was used to aid concept development. A number of issues emerged within an interpretative framework of the cognitive, interpersonal and textual elements of seminar talk. In the analysis of the textual meta-function of seminars, how complexity is achieved and how conversational moves are patterned, seminars appear to constitute a hybrid talk variety, a highly unusual textual form in which participants need to learn how to participate. Tensions were found between the social and the cognitive elements of seminars. Student participants tend to use the seminar to achieve social effects, identifying and maintaining interpersonal relationships. The collaborative discourse strategies they employ constrain other opportunities for achieving educational outcomes. The learning which does take place is more likely to be related to personal and skills development than to learning about the academic subject. Students deployed a range of heteroglossic discursive strategies to practice their skills in forming ideas, marshalling evidence and constructing argument. The discursive practices of seminar events foreground tensions between socially situated identities. The research identifies a number of areas for improving practice including: enhanced specification of seminar processes and outcomes; embedding opportunities for preparation and critical reflection; teaching the subject of communication and foregrounding understandings of the discursive practices at work in seminars so as to empower individual learners.

This study examines part-time undergraduate students in the areas of health and business, at the University of Salford and Manchester Metropolitan University. The literature review examines the history of part-time education, the factors that influence the decision to study in higher education, the issues affecting widening participation and an analysis of the infonnation available to prospective students. The literature review gave rise to a number of issues that were examined in the survey. The research methodology employed: A survey Interviews The sample selected was surveyed using a questionnaire. These were conducted with senior members of staff at the two universities involved to detennine why they had adopted their chosen approach to part-time study and to validate the sample analysis. The study concludes that: The sample reflected the national picture in that the areas of study were vocationally based, respondents were employed in non-manual occupations and had a wide range of entry qualifications. The sample differs from the national picture in the level of study, the preponderance of females in both subject areas and the fact that ethnic minority groups were not represented in significant numbers. There was evidence to show that respondents had undertaken part-time study previously although the vast majority were first generation higher education students. Overall students agreed that the most important reason for selecting their course was its practical relevance followed by the actual course content. Broadening of their experience by study was considered a positive aspect. Both employers and work colleagues were influential when selecting a course and health students were particularly directed by their employers. The price of the course was the least important factor when making a selection. The main reason for studying was to assist students with their present job although there was evidence that business students were more likely to be looking at career advancement rather than retaining their current positions. Health students are more likely to remain with the sam~ employers for longer. Both subject areas agreed that the most important factors related to course provision was contact with other students and face to face contact with tutors. Respondents were of the view that they had been influenced by their school as to whether or not to progress into FEIHE and a significant proportion felt that they had not been encouraged to do so. Analysis of part-time and fuII-time applications in the area surrounding the two universities showed that the full-time "cold spots" are generaIIy reflected by part-time study. The geodemographic data for the universities indicated that greater. proportions of group 3 and 4 students (lower income groups) are mature or part-time. . Neither university had a part-time strategy although there is some evidence that both are reacting to demands from students and employers but the part-time provision is not weII co-ordinated at a central level. The study resulted in a number of recommendations to the institutions involved to help improve their provision of part-time higher education.

No description available.