The purpose of this project was to: • Develop a postgraduate curriculum for Health care professionals to be used by University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation (USWR) in Iran based on the needs of mothers in Iran. The developed curriculum used selected findings of research completed by me who explored social support and family networks offered to Iranian women with children under the school age. • Create a research data base for information to be use by all researchers on women and women health by students who will be taking the created curriculum during their research and dissertation modules in USWR in Iran. The research conducted used mixed methodology approach /triangulation by means of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. A focus group was employed to gain information and further understanding to the meaning of social support and family network from perspectives of those mothers. Following the focus group a questionnaire was devised in conclusion with the findings of the focus group which were building blocks for the questionnaire and informed by literature. Six hundred questionnaires were distributed surveying mothers of three different social classes, living in various parts of Tehran. The questionnaires were distributed at a number of health care clinics using purposive sampling technique. The inclusion criteria for the selection of the research category, was that the mothers had to have a child/children under the school age, and in addition be willing to complete the questionnaire in the clinic. Following the survey 24 self selected mothers from the same group were asked to commence on documenting a two week diary. They were provided with guidelines and instructions on how to complete the diaries. The resulting quantitative data was analysed with the use of SPSS and the qualitative data used narrative data analysis arriving at themes. The two sets of data were crossed referenced for outcomes, in order to comprehend the general data collected and form triangulation conclusions. Recommendation was made for future research.

This study addresses the pro~ess of choice which young people go through at the age of 16, when making their educational choices beyond compulsory education. The issue of the supply of scientists into the workplace and higher education continues to be of concern to governments and educationalists alike. In recent years, some universities in England have been forced to close their physical science departments. Inthe academic year of 200212003 I listened to student voices through 49 individual student interviews supported by focus group and staff interviews. These were the young people who had recently undergone this choice process. Through these interviews I explored how the students' pedagogical experiences had impinged on their learner identities and consequently on their post-16 choices. Choice, for these young people, was taking place within the context of educational change. The 14-19 curriculum was under review with several interventions being put in place. One of the major interventions, to affect the students, was the introduction of Curriculum 2000 into further education colleges. The final outcome of the 14-19 review was published in a Government White Paper in 2005. There were also changes being considered to the Key Stage 4 Science National Curriculum. Choice at the age of 16 is the first major choice that young people have. In the literature review I have explored the concept of choice within the English educational system for parents as well as the pupils or students. This provides the context of choice within which the analysis can take place. The students' narratives contained two distinct strands. Firstly they looked back to their previous experiences and secondly they looked forward to notions of their future pathways. When looking back their choices were very much bound up with their learner identities, which had been constructed through their pedagogical expenences m secondary education. As a framework for the analysis of this theme of the students' narratives I have utilised the work of educational theorists in the area of pedagogy and identity construction, theorists such as Basil Bern~tein, PauJ Dowling and Etienne Wenger, amongst others. I have explored how the pedagogies of different subjects, in particular the natural sciences, have impinged on their identity construction. Within the pedagogical experiences of the students there emerged a dominant discourse creating a hierarchy of difficulty amongst different subjects, placing the natural sciences and mathematics as the most difficult. This differentiation between subjects is also to be seen within the official documentation surrounding science education. The aspect of the difficulty of the natural sciences became an important feature of the students' narratives impinging on both identity construction and post-16 choice. When looking forward to their educational or occupational careers the students were taking account of the recent changes in post-16 education, the demands of university entrance requirements and the need to remain flexible for today's workforce. I have explored how these changes have affected the choice of the natural sciences. A typical biographical pathway for the young people of today has become extended in length as they tend to take longer before making final decisions on their career options. When reflecting on the stories the students told, I assess how the recent changes to the science curriculum might address the issues raised. I also reflect on the study as a whole and look to possible ways forward.

A unique opportunity to study some of the influences on the development ofthe first new national curriculum subject for a decade was offered when citizenship was identified as a statutory subject in secondary schools in the National Curriculum (DfEE: 1999). The central concern ofthis thesis is subject development and curriculum change with reference to the observed differential development of citizenship in secondary schools in England noted by Ofsted (2006: 1) 'there is not yet a strong consensus about the aims ofcitizenship education or about how to incorporate'it into the curriculum'. The thesis seeks to exPlore the influence ofthe values and beliefs of citizenship co-ordinators on this differential development in particular the selection of subject structure and subject knowledge. Goodson's (1987) work on subject status and Bernstein's (1975) taxonomy of subject classification and framing are discussed with reference to citizenship education. Goodson's (1994) view that subjects evolve academically is explored and official documentation relating to the citizenship discourse is investigated. The thesis discusses policy development through the three contexts suggested by Bowe and Ball with Gold (1992). ,' The context of influence explores the development of social educational policy. Central government's rationale for the inclusion of citizenship in a national curriculum is explored through discussion ofthe Crick Report (QCA: 1998). It states that official citizenship documentation was deliberately made 'light touch' to avoid limiting its possibilities. This offered opportunities for differential development that were extended by the lack of Ofsted inspections of citizenship from 2000-2002, and then their limited focus for a further two years. The context of text production explores the influence ofofficial documentation on policy development. The language of citizenship documentation is explored using Barthes (1966) taxonomy of 'readerly' and 'writerly' texts, and the role of commercial publishers in strengthening the aims of central policy is considered. The role of agencies such as the Schools Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA), the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and Subject Associations are discussed with reference to their influence on subject development. The context of practice explores competing interests and constraints on citizenship policy development within a school. Documentary evidence is combined with evidence ofpractice gained through interviewing six secondary citizenship co-ordinators to link the macro and micro spheres ofpolicy making. The knowledge bases ofTurner-Bisset (2001) are used to analyse the data obtained through these two interviews, extending the influence of the bases beyond teacqer expertise to the behaviours . of co-ordinators. The participants were all working in a unitary Local Authority (LA) in the South West ofEngland. To protect their anonymity they chose a pseudonym for themselves and their school. This introduction to the participants was gained prior to the research. Grace worked in a community school co-ordinating citizenship throughout the school through a tutor based programme offering one session per week to all students. Rosie had the responsibility for citizenship but co-ordination ofthe tutors' work was through the Year Heads, and she did not teach the subject. Laura worked in a school located in an area of social deprivation and was the subject leader for German, and co-ordinated one citizenship day offtimetable for students in years 8, 9, 10 and 11. She co-ordinated the year 7 students' one session per week. Harriet was the Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) for citizenship for the LA and led a small team of citizenship specialists offering modules on citizenship to all students. Harry was the deputy head at a school serving a more rural population and took responsibility for co-ordinating the citizenship offered to years 8, 10 and 11. Years 7 and 9 had no allocated curriculum time for citizenship. Hannah was the youngest co-ordinator of citizenship in a school located in an area of social deprivation. She led a small team of citizenship specialists offering one citizenship session per week to all students. Four out ofthe six participants had introduced citizenship to their schools as they had been at the school for longer than 6 years (citizenship was first introduced in 2000). These four co-ordinators had the role of citizenship added to their existing roles so it had taken several years to become a focus for their work, this varied between participants. The other two co-ordinators took over an existing structure. Hann~ took over an existing tutor delivered subject,tructure and changed it significantly. Harry reduced the time allocation for citizen;hip significantly. I set up the Secondary Citizenship Co-ordinators' Support Group (SCITCOS) in 2001 as a response to requests from co-ordinators for support, as they claimed they did not have the knowledge to develop a robust structure for citizenship. Through attendance at SCITCOS training events the participants developed sufficient knowledge about citizenship subject structure and subject knowledge to discuss their vision of citizenship education with their head teacher and SLT. The co-ordinators received the same SCITCOS training, resources and information but citizenship had developed differently in each oftheir schools. Since September 2006 Harriet had also offered training through her AST role but the influence ofher role was not included in this thesis as the research was conducted prior to this date. The thesis provides a fresh perspective to subject development and contributes to the body of knowledge on curriculum change. It offers insights to those who offer training to co-ordinators and will positively influence the development of citizenship in secondary schools.

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