Nursing and nurse education within Britain are influenced by the legacy of the development of hospital based adult general nursing in the 19th Century. Discourses that emerged at that time identify nurses as ‘good women’: respectable, hardworking, loyal and obedient. Currently, nurse education is criticised for being less able to produce nurses who are fit to undertake their role than in the past. Taking the concept that discourse exerts a powerful influence on the way people behave, this thesis asserts that the 19th Century legacy is important and seeks to establish the discourses that shaped nurse education. The period 1945 -1955 is chosen as sufficiently distanced from early developments, but recent enough to be in living memory and prior to the relocation of British nursing from a hospital base into Higher Education. Six overlapping discourses are identified though the literature. An interpretative approach is then taken to data collected in three stages: a life story 1932 -1973, semi-structured interviews with nurses who commenced their training 1945 -55 and documentary analysis of nursing journals for the same period. The ‘good nurse’ is explored through discourses around the ‘right kind of girl’, the tension between vocation and profession and the transition from woman to nurse. Despite significant change of direction in educational theory and policy in the period 1945 -55 the thesis suggests that the power of the discourse meant that little changed in the practice of nursing or the conduct of nurse education. Furthermore, it is argued that whilst discourses have changed and contemporary nursing is establishing its place in Higher Education as an applied academic discipline, the current discourses embracing caring, reflection and emotional labour are equally gendered and controlling. Now, as then, this discourse is not imposed by outside forces, but is generated and controlled from within the profession. It therefore concludes that the pervasive influence of discourses surrounding the ‘good nurse’ and related discourses about control and care must be given full recognition when attempting to change nursing or to influence its policy and educational developments.

Yn y traethawd hwn, trafodir prosiect doethurol a chanddo ddau brif nod, sef: (1) cynhyrchu cyfres o adnoddau dysgu Cymraeg ar-lein yn arbennig ar gyfer Canolfan Iaith a Threftadaeth Cymru Nant Gwrtheyrn; a (2) ymchwilio i ac ysgrifennu traethawd ymchwil mewn maes cysylltiedig. Penderfynais gyfuno’r ddwy elfen, a defnyddio theori ac ymchwil fel sail ar gyfer y dasg greadigol. Fy ngobaith oedd dangos ymagwedd egwyddorol tuag at ddatblygu adnoddau e-ddysgu newydd, ac ysbrydoli eraill i wneud yr un fath yn y dyfodol, yn enwedig yng ngoleuni galwad diweddar Mac Giolla Chríost et al. (2012, t. 182) i ymarferwyr ym maes Cymraeg i Oedolion rannu ‘ymarfer da’. Mae allbynnau’r Ddoethuriaeth hon yn gwneud dau brif gyfraniad at y maes. Y cyntaf o’r rhain yw’r gyfres o adnoddau e-ddysgu unigryw o’r enw “e-nant” a fydd yn dechrau cael traweffaith yn syth ar ddysgwyr sy’n mynychu cyrsiau lefel Mynediad yn Nant Gwrtheyrn o nawr ymlaen. Ar ben hynny, mae’r traethawd hwn yn dangos yn glir sut y gellir seilio datblygiad deunyddiau dysgu newydd ar egwyddorion ymchwil. Bydd hwn yn adnodd defnyddiol iawn i awduron deunyddiau’r dyfodol, oherwydd ei fod yn darparu enghreifftiau clir o’r byd go iawn o sut mae rhoi cysyniadau theoretig ar waith yn ymarferol. Drwy ymgymryd ag ymchwil cyfrwng Cymraeg, yr wyf hefyd yn gwneud trydydd cyfraniad, sef hwyluso trafodaeth o bynciau tebyg drwy’r Gymraeg yn y dyfodol, a chyfrannu at godi statws y Gymraeg fel iaith academaidd – un o amcanion strategol Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru (2010). Casglwyd rhestr o dermau perthnasol i feysydd Caffael Ail Iaith a Dysgu Iaith drwy Gymorth Cyfrifiadur, y bydd ymchwilwyr y dyfodol yn gallu cyfeirio ati’n hawdd, a bathwyd sawl term newydd, er mwyn galluogi trafodaeth o gysyniadau nad ydynt erioed wedi’u trafod yn y Gymraeg o’r blaen. This thesis discusses a doctoral project with two main aims: (1) to produce a series of online Welsh learning resources especially for the Nant Gwrtheyrn Welsh Language and Heritage Centre; and (2) to research and write a research thesis in a related field. I decided to combine the two elements, and to use theory and research as a base for the creative task. My hope was to demonstrate a principled approach towards developing new e-learning resources, and to inspire others to do likewise in the future, especially in light of Mac Giolla Chríost et al.'s (2012, t. 182) recent call for Welsh for Adults practitioners to share ‘good practice’. The outputs of this Doctorate make two main contributions to the field. The first of these is the series of unique e-learning resources called “e-nant” which will immediately begin to have an impact on learners who attend Entry-level courses at Nant Gwrtheyrn from now on. In addition, this thesis clearly shows how the development of new learning materials can be based on research principles. This will be a very useful resource for future materials writers, since it provides clear real-world examples of how to put theoretical concepts into practice. By undertaking Welsh-medium research, I also make a third contribution, namely to facilitate discussion of similar subjects through Welsh in the future, and to contribute towards raising the status of Welsh as an academic language – one of the Welsh Assembly Government’s (2010) strategic aims. A list of relevant terms was compiled for the fields of Second Language Acquisition and Computer-Assisted Language Learning, which future researchers will be able to refer to easily, and several new terms were coined, in order to enable discussion of concepts which have never before been discussed in the Welsh language.

This study investigates the perceptions of key stakeholders in midwifery education concerning the involvement of service users in student assessment. It identifies the key stakeholders in specific interest groups, as expert professional and expert lay people, parents, student midwives, qualified midwives who mentor students in clinical practice and the heads of midwifery education in University Departments. The work starts from the premise that assessment is an underestimated means of enhancing students' learning and the development of competence to practise as a registered midwife. The inquiry opens by examining the professional context in which maternity services are provided. It identifies the relationships that midwives form with the women and their families for whom they care. These considerations are followed by an interrogation of the literature that reveals a rich variety of interlocking concepts that are apposite considerations in terms of the assessment of student midwives and the involvement of women in it. This finely links the problem to previous research and provides a sound rationale for the conduct of the study. Interpretivism is advanced as a suitable philosophical framework for the prosecution of the study that offers a methodological rationale for a pragmatic, mixed methods investigation. The study design presents a raison d'dtre for a phased approach to the work and data are accrued variously from qualitative and quantitative sources. Although the focus of the work concerned the role of users of maternity services in student assessment and found considerable support for their involvement, what emerged has wider consequences for teaching and learning, the overall student experience and also for women as health service consumers. Having examined the principle dynamics that influence student learning in clinical placements, the study concludes that there is a superficial disharmony between learning and assessment yet it claims the two are mutually complimentary. The inclusion of women in teaching and learning is seen as a potent means to add an extra element to the definition of competence and to add to the authenticity of its assessment.

GNVQs epitomise one strand of contemporary philosophy of education. However, a question that arises is whether GNVQs, having built on the ethos of NVQs, abandon all earlier educational philosophies in favour of the competence movement endorsed in the USA. A question central to this study revolves around whether earlier, alternative philosophies of education also have something of value to offer. To answer this, traditional approaches to educational provision are identified and explored in terms of their possible 'ideal types'; these ideal types being seen to be represented by liberal, general and vocational education. To give such ideal types relevance in modern society they are related to significant educational provision, in this instance educational provision for 16 - 19 year olds. A curriculum criticism of A Levels, BTEC Diplomas, RSA, NVQs and GNVQs is therefore conducted, taking into account the historical development, philosophy, aims, the content and the teaching and learning methods of each approach. To achieve parity of comparison the field of Business Studies was used as an exemplar. The culmination of this stage of the research requires that the findings of the curriculum criticism are mapped against the established ideal types, the purpose being to identify elements that could be said to embody liberal, general and/or vocational education. For example, GNVQs are clearly linked to the vocational, their breadth can also be said to contribute to the general, but are they liberal in any way? The findings indicated that the inclusion of Key Skills and the student centred approach did offer some potential for a liberal education. To support these findings interviews and an attitudinal survey were conducted. The rationale for this was to explore and reveal the extent to which staff and students concerned with GNVQ Business held the same beliefs as those generated by the desk research; both sets of findings were in concordance. The final stage of the research programme was concerned with the future direction of GNVQs. Interviews were conducted with education policy makers and industry representatives. They were concerned with what the 'ideal' post-1 6 education programme would entail in the light of perceptions of liberal/vocational/general education. Staff and students were again consulted by way of vedfication of the conclusions drawn. The research concludes that liberal education was considered by many as the ideal way forward for post-16 education. GNVQs were seen as predominantly offering general education. From this one could infer that GNVQs are not, therefore, seen as the ideal post-1 6 programme. However, when 'ideal' elements of post-1 6 education are discussed some consideration of the world of work was deemed essential (though not a concern of traditional liberal education) and the inclusion of Key Skills were deemed important, as was a student centred approach to learning. In the light of this GNVQs have some potential for meeting the desired/essential components of an ideal post-16 education programme. Greater consideration, however, is required with regard to self-development and social awareness in order to promote liberal aspects of post-16 education. A combination of these factors within a GNVQ programme would represent a marriage of liberal, vocational and, general education philosophies and approaches to education; an 'ideal'post-16 education programme.

The BEC/BTEC National Diploma in Business and Finance was, from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, a major vocational award in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Although the majority of BEC/BTEC students were located in the further education colleges within the somewhat marginalised postcompulsory sector, the BEC/BTEC National level curriculum was directly experienced by hundreds of thousands of students as well as their lecturers, and indirectly by a range of educational stakeholders including employers and university tutors coming into contact with former BEC/BTEC students. Having transformed the rhetoric and substantially altered pedagogic practices within further education the BTEC National Diploma was beginning to establish an identity when it was, in effect, superceded by the Advanced GNVQ in Business. Notwithstanding the significance of BEC/BTEC as a major awarding body the associated curriculum attracted relatively little interest from researchers, receiving only a fraction of the attention which has been attracted by the more recent NVQs and GNVQs. This study is primarily a curriculum history which aims to provide an account of a curriculum which was conceived and implemented at a time before policy makers had come to recognise the value of the post-compulsory sector as an engine for potentially improving national economic performance, and as a catalyst for the creation of a culture of life-long learning. The study attempts to theoretically contextualise the BEC/BTEC curriculum as an important instance of vocationalism. Ideas drawn from Gramsci, Althusser, Foucault and Lyotard are utilised in order to provide a critical but multi-perspectival analytical framework. The study incorporates an outline discussion of vocationalism in England; an account of the genesis and development of BEC/BTEC as an institution; an overview of various versions (or "generations") of the BEC/BTEC National curriculum as well as those which have superceded it (using course specifications and associated documents); and presents perceptions of the BEC/BTEC National curriculum drawn from a questionnaire survey and interviews. The BEC/BTEC National curriculum is seen as an innovatory curriculum which, for many students, presented important opportunities to progress. It is suggested, however, that ideological assumptions implicit in the model of vocationalism as operationalised in late Twentieth Century capitalism have necessarily emasculated the critical potential and intellectual integrity of vocational education and training in England.

This study explores the reasons why adult learners take part in professional management education courses, their social and cultural capital together with their human and economic capital. The author has responsibility for these programmes in a university in the north of England. It is framed by a multiple capital approach which reflects, and illuminates, the rationale for engagement in lifelong learning and professional management education. The underlying research was phenomenological, as it explored the direct experiences of the participants in relation to professional management education. Two methods were used sequentially, quantitative which provided numerical data by the use of questionnaires, and qualitative, by the use of interviews. The results of the interviews were used to construct the stories of the respondents. Fifty questionnaires were completed by employees and fifteen interviews were undertaken, out of a total population of eighty one. The entire population of twenty four employers completed a questionnaire and six of them were interviewed. The outcomes of this research highlight the workplace in the twenty-first century, together with the impact of the current economic climate. This has led to a need for the acquisition of new skills by workers at all hierarchical levels in organisations. Cultural capital was evidenced by the desire of employees to equip themselves with new skills and knowledge, in order to remain in employment and to advance their careers. Many of the respondents gained cultural capital through their early life experiences of home and school and their relationships with mentors. The social capital of employers was found to be important in mentoring, and encouraging, employees to engage in learning. Economic capital was expressed through engagement in lifelong learning by employees to enhance their knowledge and skills, and to improve their employment prospects.Human capital was evidenced by both employers and employees as engagement in professional management education facilitates the acquisition of new skills and knowledge.

This investigation analyses the production and reproduction of class-based social inequality within the Further Education and Skills system in England, with a particular focus on the years of Labour government following the 1997 General Election. New Labour policy on further education (FE) continually emphasised the importance of reforming the sector for a dual role: contributing to UK economic competitiveness by expanding the skills base; and promoting social inclusion by integrating vulnerable people into job markets and society more broadly. The published work submitted here investigates how this 'reform agenda' unfolded in three key aspects of FE provision, and examines the ways in which inequality continued to be produced and reproduced, in spite of the proposed key role for FE in social inclusion. The aspects considered are the training and workplace development of FE teachers, the rehabilitation of creativity within discourses of knowledge economy and social cohesion, and programmes for young people at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training). In addition to the published work, a commentary outlines the context and main arguments of each paper, explains my contribution to the three co-authored publications and discusses the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the investigation. The commentary concludes by discussing the overall contribution to knowledge of the work and its theoretical significance.

Over the last 30 years or so, there has been growing international interest in the "informal sector" of the economy in developing countries, and there is now the recognition that to operate successfully as artisans in the informal sector, "apprentices" require a range of knowledge and skills. The general aim of the present, qualitative study, was to investigate how apprentices in informal sector enterprises in two trades (the Motor Vehicle trade and the Tie-dye trade) in The Gambia learn at the workplace and how such learning was facilitated. Twenty enterprises were selected for the study, ten in each trade. A variety of data collection methods were employed, namely, (a) individual, semistructured interviews of the entrepreneurs (who owned these enterprises), and of the apprentices, (b) observations of the tradespersons and apprentices at the workplace, (c) accounts of "critical events", and (d) documentary studies. The study has shown that (a) the tradespersons did not demonstrate to the apprentices the procedures for the tasks that they were undertaking, (b) the apprentices were not allowed to practise on the tasks that the tradespersons were contracted to und(rtake; (c) the apprentices practised their skills privately in their leisure time. (d) the tradespersons did not explain to the apprentices the theories underpinning the technical procedures; and for the apprentices, the term "theory" referred to the technical procedures, as such, rather than to the scientific and technological concepts and principles underpinning the procedures, (e) although the apprentices were often outwardly passive they did observe closely the tradespersons at work and made associative links with their own previous knowledge and experience. What has also emerged from the study is that apprentices' learning at the workplace in the informal sector is: (a) a multi-dimensional process, largely self-motivated and conditioned by the rigid hierarchical structure of the workplace. (b) (i) productivity-driven, (ii) atheoretical, (iii) unplanned, (iv) unstructured, (v) facilitated through role modelling. The study compared the concepts of learning which emerged from the study with the traditional concepts of learning and teaching in Vocational Training Institutions. This study has also shown that the tradespersons failed to assess formally competent performance at the workplace. There was no end-of-apprenticeship assessment for the apprentices in the Tie-dye trade; and in the Motor Vehicle trade, the assessment was adhoc. Importantly too, from the entrepreneurs' perspective, the workplace was about production and not about apprentice learning. The tradespersons were expected to concentrate on their jobs and not on training, in sharp contrast to the apprentices' expectation that the tradespersons should concentrate on skills training.

The problem this research addresses is that, regardless of training, educational background or social status, with or without work experience, most non- or limited-English speaking immigrants are forced to begin their American careers at the bottom of the occupational ladder. This study focuses on the comparison of the lives of English as a Second Language (ESL) students/warehouse workers before and after migration to try to ascertain whether these individuals have experienced upward or downward mobility. The approximately 80 participants in this study are workers in a garment distribution warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. The participants have been drawn from the worksite ESL classes offered during their lunch or dinner hours and extended one-half hour into work time donated by the company. A questionnaire was distributed to voluntary participants. The information gleaned was used to tabulate statistics and analyze hypotheses regarding the socio-economic transition of immigrants to the United States. As a result of this study, the following questions were addressed: (1) How do immigrants perceive the effects of immigration? (2) When immigrants come to the United States, do they feel their lives improve or worsen socioeconomically? (3) If studies prove that high-status immigrants become downwardly mobile upon entrance to the United States, does that imply that lower-status immigrants become upwardly mobile? (4) How do immigrants compare their lives in their native country to their lives in their new country? The objective of this study was to evaluate the ramifications of migration to the United States with respect to upward and downward mobility of higher- and lower-status immigrants. The population consisted of ESL students/warehouse workers from 13 different countries. This group of immigrants was chosen because, regardless of background, education, English language facility, experience, degree of literacy, or previous socioeconomic class, they were now all thrust together, doing the same job, earning the same salary, and on an equal footing here in the United States. Based on this premise, the researcher wanted to study their perceptions of life in the United States compared to their previous countries to see if, in their estimation, they had indeed bettered themselves or their lots in life by migrating to the United States, or whether their lives had taken a downward turn by coming here.

Lao folk opera is a unique blend of popular theatre and sung poetry performed among Lao-speaking people of rural Southeast Asia for a wide range of social and religious purposes. As a traditional medium for popular education, its primary function has been to preserve the cultural identity of the ethnic Lao by re-enacting ancient myths, local folk legends, and morality tales based on the penultimate lives of the Buddha. This dissertation explores the role of Lao folk opera as a medium for constructively addressing problems of cultural conflict and acculturative stress that have arisen among lowland Lao refugees and their children in urban America. The central focus of the inquiry is on the ways Lao folk opera currently functions as a learning medium in the resettlement context. The need for validation of such locally produced endogenous media has become increasingly apparent as long term resettlement issues continue to emerge as threats to linguistic and cultural identity. The review of literature encompasses the role of oral specialists in traditional societies, Buddhist epistemology in the Theravada tradition, and community education in rural Lao culture. These sources provide the background necessary to an understanding of the medium's capacity for encapsulating culture and teaching ethical values in ways that connect past to present, distant to near. The field research, which was accomplished in collaboration with a Lao folk opera troupe based in New England, adapted the action research model originally proposed by Kurt Lewin to the principles of Buddhist community education. The videotaped performance of a drama based on the refugee experience and subsequent audience reactions formed the main body of qualitative data. Group reflections revealed that the medium provides a viable context for performance artists to assume the role of critical culture makers with a potent educational agenda. Recommendations include the encouragement of local media producers to take advantage of community access facilities to counteract the homogenizing influences of the dominant media and the more active inclusion of elders in the transfer of language and culture across generational borders.