This thesis presents novel and original studies on the relationship between early vocabulary and gesture development. The thesis is split into two halves. First, the thesis addresses the issue of how seeing gestures can influence verb learning in 3-year-olds. Although previous studies have shown that gestures can aid word learning, the issue of how has not been addressed. This thesis is the first to demonstrate that gestures could help children to generalise novel verbs to specific referents within complex novel scenes. Secondly, the thesis investigates the relationship between language and gesture in the left hemisphere, as indicated by the right-over-left preference for gesturing, in previously untested age groups. The thesis provides evidence that at the onset of referential communication a reorganisation occurs and this may be driven by receptive, rather than expressive, language development. Observational results showed that 3-year-olds tended to use their right hand when they had built multimodal representations of novel verbs. This thesis then describes the first study to manipulate gesture handedness in children, which suggests that encouraging right-handed gesturing has an advantage over left-handed gesturing in a language task. This thesis extends the current literature with studies that have important theoretical and practical implications.

This thesis argues that masculinity does not exist as the empirical property of biological males. Instead, masculinity is viewed as being produced in its objective sense through a social imaginary that invokes masculinity as already ontologically present; as having ontological continuity; as being necessarily coherent; and as being embodied in real boys/men. l\lasculinity is therefore seen as an iterative exercise, or a narrative of self, whereby the boys in this study are seen as being involved in producing themselves as coherent males in each classroom interaction. The masculine social imaginary is made real through these subjective moments of self-making. This research focuses on the strategies engaged in by boys, in an English primary school classroom, in their accomplishment of masculine identities~ how they are secured in relation to both girls and other boys~ and how particular masculine forms achieve and maintain hegemony. The research looks at the relationship between objective and subjective senses of identity; the cultural resources available to boys in their identity work; the ways different cultural resources (capital) accrue value in the context of the school; how these differently valued resources contribute to the production of masculine hierarchies; and pedagogic structures and practices interact with the boys' identity work to construct different relationships with the official curriculum. Working through a concept of reflexive relativity, this thesis regards the data collected through observation and elicitation exercises, as narrative productions. The research text itself is a narrative production - a rendering of a theory of masculine behaviour; and as constituting a series of dialogues between the research and different research subjectivities.

This study aimed to evaluate the use of the DIR/Floortime intervention in a specialist school setting. The participants were 8 primary school children, aged 3-8 years old and 16 teaching and support staff trained in DIR/Floortime. The study adopted a mixed methods design. Quantitative measures included the Functional, Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) (Greenspan et al., .2001), and a measure of ‘Teacher Competency’ designed by the author of this study. Qualitative data was collected via a focus group and analysed via Thematic Analysis. Findings demonstrated significant gains in social and emotional functional behaviours for children with ASD within a specialist school setting. No significant relationship was found between teacher competency in delivering the intervention and children’s gains in social and emotional functioning. Teacher /support staff views on delivering the DIR/Floortime intervention are discussed.

Research estimates that around ten per cent of children in the UK between 5 and 16 years of age are diagnosed with a mental health disorder (MHD) (Green et al., 2005). The review of the literature suggests that teachers are not receiving specific training about child mental health (CMH) and lack confidence in their ability to respond to children’s mental health needs effectively (Trudgen and Lawn, 2011; Rothi, Leavey and Best, 2008). The reduced capacity of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and increasing focus on early intervention has shifted government attention from clinical to community settings, such as schools (Stallard et al., 2012). Therefore, teachers are identified as ideally placed to promote CMH from an early stage and identify and respond appropriately to early indications of mental health issues (MHIs) (DfE, 2014b). This mixed methods study aimed to extend the research literature by exploring primary school teachers’ (PSTs’) current understanding of child mental health issues (CMHIs); their awareness and previous use of MH resources; and their perceptions of how they could best be supported to develop their knowledge. A questionnaire and semi-structured interview were designed to collect quantitative and qualitative data, which were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the majority of PSTs had not received specific training about CMH and reported general uncertainty and confusion about the concept. The PSTs’ awareness and previous use of professional agencies were higher than their awareness and previous use of digital and literary resources. They requested opportunities for context-specific learning and ‘expert’ support, similar to mentoring and coaching models, in order to learn about CMH. The strengths, limitations and implications for educational psychology are discussed.

Exploratory and explanatory research was conducted into the impact of a model of person centred reviewing. In the existing literature, although children and young people who take part in person centred processes typically describe a positive experience, the overall evidence base for the effectiveness of the approach in education is not robust. Using a qualitative methodology, interview data from five SEN Coordinators working in local authority primary schools, which were part of a project piloting the use of a model of person centred reviews, was analysed using critical realist grounded theory. The primary aim of the study was to explore the impact that adopting a person centred review process had in schools that were part of the pilot project. This includes the potential impact on children, teachers, parents and the whole school. The secondary aim was to explore how any changes have come about. Two research questions were derived from these aims. The primary, exploratory research question was: “What changes have come about in primary schools that have been running person centred annual reviews as part of the local pilot project, according to SENCos who have been leading them?” The secondary, explanatory research question was: “How, according to SENCos who have been leading person centred reviews, have these changes come about?” The theory developed from the data proposes that the local model person centred reviews can have a transformative impact on SEN provision in primary schools with a supportive ethos. More specifically, the grounded theory identifies causal factors which give rise to particular effects. It suggests that in bringing people together, making them feel they are on the same side and enabling reciprocal listening in a structure which supports honesty, positivity and constructiveness, the model of person centred reviewing being studied has an impact on everyone who takes part. The theory proposes that, while the model is not without risks, children who take part develop their skills and their self-determination. Similarly, it proposes that relationships improve for children, parents and school staff, alongside developing teamwork and a feeling of being part of a “caring community”. It also proposes that SEN systems and practice can improve in a number of ways. The theory has implications for local practice around person centred reviews, as well as at the national level, given the priority given to the approach in recent government guidance.

Bullying is a social phenomenon that impacts girls and boys inside and outside of school at both primary and secondary school age and is recognised as a social problem both by academic researchers and in the ‘real world’ by the media and by anti-bullying charities. Although bullying is a widely used concept there is no universal definition. Research on bullying has been conducted over the past four decades looking at various aspects from prevalence and severity to coping strategies and effectiveness of interventions. Studies have also considered specific types of bullying and sex differences but these studies do not consider the full variety of types of bullying boys and girls use or which ones are the most upsetting to experience. Most of the studies on girls’ bullying have been conducted in secondary schools; less attention has been given to tweenage girls. This research redressed this imbalance. It began from the position that it is important for adults to listen to tweenage girls’ views as they may have different understandings of bullying compared to adults and this may have policy implications. It assumed that girls were experts on bullying that happened to girls their age in their school. Weekly research lunch club sessions were used with 32 tweenage girl research advisers/assistants from three primary schools. Together we listened to tweenage girls’ views of bullying broadly through developing and administering questionnaires, conducting group interviews and designing anti-bullying resources to be used in their schools. In addition, I conducted one-off focus groups with 11 teenage girls as a comparison to consider age differences in girls’ views. I argue that this research revealed that both girls’ bullying and using pupil research to engage with tweenage girls’ views on this topic was messy and complex. While relational aggression between girls was reported to be most prevalent and severe, focusing on this alone does not reflect the full extent of the behaviours used in girls’ bullying. Both the tweenage and teenage girls’ views on bullying, coping strategies and anti-bullying interventions were similar and were only subtly different in the detail. The research decisions were influenced in an ongoing process by the wants and expectations of the girls, the schools and the researcher and changed through the prolonged interactions during the research. I also argue that ethical practice was an ongoing process and using pupil research created further ethical dilemmas. Although pupil research with tweenage girls on girls’ bullying was challenging and messy, this research gives an example of how it is a viable, successful way to engage with pupils on this sensitive topic. The use of girls’ free time at lunchtimes showed how pupil research positioned as an extra-curricular activity enabled marginalised voices to be heard and was beneficial for the girls, the schools and the researcher involved. This research suggests ways in which school based anti-bullying policies and practices might be more nuanced to take account of the variety of experiences, understandings and preferences for intervention that exist if they engaged in pupil research. There has been little discussion of the issues of the messiness of research and the ongoing nature of ethical practice in either the pupil research literature or methods texts generally for researchers to refer to. I suggest that it would be useful for others to share their messy experiences of pupil research and the ongoing ethical issues they encounter to enable future researchers to be somewhat prepared and confident in responding to the challenges they may face in their own research.

The purpose of the current research was to explore teachers’ experiences of working with selectively mute children in primary and nursery school settings. In particular, participants’ experiences were organised into the concepts, thoughts, feelings and behaviours and whether there were mediating factors which influenced the kind of experiences teachers had. The research also explored if these experiences changed and developed over time. The design was a semi-structured interview technique. The sample consisted of 20 primary and nursery teachers in England and Wales who had previous (N= 9) and current experiences (N= 11) of working with a selectively mute child. The data were coded using Nvivo software and analysed using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The data indicated that thoughts consisted of teachers’ causal attributions for the development of Selective Mutism, their expectations, their perceptions of the selectively mute child, their parents and siblings, and their perceptions of their professional role and that of the educational psychologist (EP). Frustration and anxiety were the most frequently cited feelings and therefore it may be argued that working with a selectively mute child is a stressful experience when teachers are uncertain of the best course of action and when they feel unsupported. Teachers’ behaviours consisted of the strategies they used to communicate with the child and to enable the child to access the curriculum. Thoughts, feelings and behaviours changed and developed over time. Several factors were identified which served to mediate teachers’ experiences including levels of teacher-child attachment, levels of pupil and parental engagement, the context and involvement from outside agencies.

The research study employed a mixed methods research design to investigate the social interactions and relationships of a Year Five, mainstream Primary School class. The first strand of the research empirically evaluated an adaptation of the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) intervention 'The Good Behaviour Game' (TGBG), which aimed to increase the positive social behaviour of the Year Five class. TGBG is a dependent group contingency, behaviour management intervention which is implemented at the whole class level. The research employed a single case, ABAB reversal design to evaluate its efficacy for promoting behaviour change for the target social behaviours of working as a team, supporting peers and positive social interactions with a peer. Observation data was also collected for a focus participant to explore the effects of a universal intervention at the targeted level of an individual participant. The second strand of the research utilised Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) to explore participants' construing of their social interactions and relationships with others. The repertory grid interview method was used to interview 8 participants. The PCP strand to the study was perceived to add an illuminative addition to the ABA strand, which incorporated a constructivist approach to understand the unique perceptions and views of the child.