Recent legislative changes have extended the age range of young people with which educational psychologists (EPs) work, to between the ages of 0 and 25, raising the potential for collaborative work between EPs and further education (FE) colleges. One potential area is in supporting young people with literacy difficulties, however, little is known about the viewpoints and practices that exist within FE colleges. This study employs a case study design in exploring the perceptions of literacy difficulties and their assessment among a small group of participants within a learning support department of a FE college, and also within an assessment centre who had a working relationship with the college. Transcripts are analysed using thematic analysis. Processes in the college related to assessment of literacy difficulties are also outlined. General findings included the prevalence of the use of the term dyslexia, and similarities and differences in the way the term was constructed, as well as the impact of literacy difficulties and perceptions of the nature of support that is required. The implications of these findings for EPs, particularly in relation to EP-FE college collaboration are discussed, along with ideas for future research.

There has been a significant shift in initial teacher training (ITT) and teachers’ professional development (PD) to include masters level (M level) study in recent years in England and this research investigates aspirations for the M level teaching profession, providing a rationale for the M level Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), a masters level profession and the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) and providing the perceptions of key stakeholders. Although these initiatives represented a major shift in the training and development of teachers, only limited consideration has been given to these areas, despite the plethora of research regarding ITT and teachers’ PD. Findings suggest that HEIs superimposed their own rationale for these initiatives, in addition to the imposed rationale. Findings also indicate that universities consider M level ITT and PD to have many benefits, but there was much scepticism regarding the MTL. Furthermore, although trainees and newly qualified teachers (NQTs) were positive about M level study in principle, especially when there was an element of choice, they were sceptical regarding its benefits to practice and considered M level to be more important later in their careers, due to their more immediate concerns to meet statutory professional requirements.

An analysis of decay of educational attainments among adolescents after leaving school.

The addition of the 19-25 age range in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (2014) presents wide scale change in the post 16 education landscape. Organisational change is a well-established field of psychology and research suggests that the effective management of change is key to effect practice. Within a critical realist paradigm, this research employs a case study design to explore the views of professionals implementing Special Educational Needs and Disability policy reform. Qualitative semi-structured interview data was analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke (2006)). Implications for the Educational Psychology Service and central and local government are proposed, which take into account both supportive factors and potential constraints of implementing policy reform.

An educational psychology thesis analysing technical and artistic abilities of pupils selected for technical education. Attempting to bridge the gap between the designer and the psychologist, the author makes a psychometric study of architectural and engineering drawing. Draftsmanship calls for practical intelligence. The draftsman needs, above all, the ability to think in-terms of space. He must be able to think in solid and to transfer an object from three to two dimensions and vice versa. Artistic ability does not play an important part in draftsmanship at the early stage of training.

This study explores the impact on young people of experiencing a period of being 'not in employment, education or training' (NEET). The literature emphasises the risks, disadvantages and negative long-term outcomes associated with becoming and being NEET. There is relatively little research on positive factors that enable young people to cope with and move on from this experience. The study uses concepts from self determination theory (SDT - Deci and Ryan, 1985), a lifespan perspective (Bynner, 2005; Arnett, 2006), and eco-systemic theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 2001) to help to understand the experiences of the young people. Nine young people aged between seventeen and twenty-four who had experienced a period of 'NEET' but who were now in education or employment, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. Four professionals involved locally with young people in an educational, training or work capacity were also interviewed. Thematic analysis was used to examine the data. Despite in many cases having experienced significant difficulties in their lives, most of the young people expressed optimism and confidence about their future. Key supportive factors in managing the experience of being NEET were the young people's inner resources and help from significant others. The young people identified that they needed more preparation and advice to equip them for adult life, both before and after leaving school. Links are made with the core concepts from SDT of autonomy, competence and relatedness. The implications for schools and support agencies are discussed.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-07-08T21:04:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 04b.pdf: 8234789 bytes, checksum: 35e44a87612a28c75f71397bac3d564d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-08T21:04:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 04b.pdf: 8234789 bytes, checksum: 35e44a87612a28c75f71397bac3d564d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-08 / Nenhuma / O mundo tem testemunhado nas últimas décadas um movimento constante de mudanças nas áreas da tecnologia e nas organizações como um todo, que se iniciou na indústria e se expandiu para todas as áreas de prestação de serviços. Nos hospitais esta realidade, antes exclusiva de áreas assistenciais complexas, hoje perpassa a continuidade do cuidado e demanda por profissionais altamente especializados, que possam priorizar ações, antecipar-se e intervir precocemente para evitar situações de risco aos pacientes. Dentro deste contexto criou-se o conceito de Incubadora Educacional para a Assistência, que foi implantada no ano de 2010, no Hospital Mãe de Deus de Porto Alegre, hospital privado de grande porte, com o objetivo de educar todos os novos colaboradores de enfermagem de unidades de internação sob um novo formato, focalizando as necessidades específicas para o cuidado de cada paciente. Como resultados positivos referentes aos indicadores assistenciais e de RH, a proposta desse estudo é propor uma metodologia de inserção do novo colaborador no CTI adulto, tendo como referencial a Incubadora Educacional existente nas Unidades de Internação. A pesquisa utilizou a abordagem quantitativa e o delineamento do método de investigação utilizado foi o de pesquisa de avaliação. Para a coleta de dados foi aplicado um questionário com perguntas abertas e fechadas para os funcionários Egressos da Incubadora Educacional. Após a análise crítica dos resultados, formulou-se uma matriz como proposta de intervenção relacionada à inserção de novos colaboradores no CTI adulto. Essa matriz foi pensada para enfermeiros e técnicos de enfermagem, tem a duração de aproximadamente 90 dias, sendo dividida em três fases. Espera-se que com uma matriz formal e estruturada de capacitação para a inserção de novos colaboradores no CTI adulto consiga-se aumentar a qualidade assistencial, produzindo um ambiente de aprendizagem contínua, onde os colaboradores sejam atores principais, responsáveis pela busca de conhecimento e não apenas meros espectadores da ação. Sugere-se a testagem do modelo, após o um período de no mínimo um ano da matriz, para se realizar um comparativo dos indicadores de qualidade assistenciais da área para comprovar a eficiência e eficácia do programa. / The world has witnessed in recent decades a constant movement of changes in technology as a whole, which started in the industry and has expanded into all areas of the service industry. In hospitals this reality, before exclusive to complex care areas, today permeates the continuity of care and demand for highly skilled professionals who can prioritize actions, anticipate and intervene early to prevent any risk to patients. Within this context we created the concept of Educational Incubator for Assistence, which was implanted in 2010, at Hospital Mãe de Deus in Porto Alegre, a large private hospital, aiming to instruct all new nurse employees in care units under a new arrangement, focusing on the specific needs to the each patient healthcare. As the effectiveness results regarding the health care indicators and human resource, the purpose of this study is to propose an inserction methodology of new employees in the adult ICU, taking as reference the existing Educational Incubator in Care Units. The research used a quantitative approach and the outline of the research method used was the evaluation research. To collect data, a questionnaire wih open and closed questions to Education Incubator Graduate employees was applied. After critical analysis os the results, a matrix was formulated as an alternative to insertion of new employees in the adult ICU intervention. This matrix was designed for nurses and nurse technicians, it is approximately 90 days along, divided into three phases. It is expected that a formal and structured training matrix for the insertion of new employees in the adult ICU the quality of care will be increased, producing a continuous learning environment, where employees are the main actors responsible for the pursuit of knowledge and not merely spectators of action. It is suggested to test the model, after a period of at least one year from the matrix, to conduct a comparative of indicators of care quality in the area to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the program.

This study re-presents an open-ended process of coming to know through designing, conducting and analysing an action research project with youth and adult education teachers in Khartoum, Sudan. The inquiry responds to the overarching question: What knowledge can I generate about teaching, its development and my researcher practice through collaborative action research with teachers in Sudanese youth and adult education schools? This multifaceted focus encompasses reconnaissance into teaching practices and adult education, the processes of action research and teacher development and reflexive analysis of epistemological positioning and knowledge construction through our collaborative investigation. The action research forms the substantive basis of this thesis, constituting diverse processes of coming to know by the participating teachers and myself. Our interactions as practitioners and researchers interrogated the teachers' contextualised, practical knowledge through academic mechanisms of data collection and analysis. The teachers reflected upon their taken-for-granted understandings of education, their school contexts and their practice, and re-cast them as more complex. Participation in the study resulted in the teachers becoming ‘learners-focused' by developing greater focus on their practice, by being mufetih (observant and analytical), by being close to learners and by increased experimentalism. These dispositions were combined with a shift in the teachers' epistemological positions towards ‘authoritative uncertainty', in which partial, contextualised and contingent knowledge was recognised as legitimate, facilitating re-construction of their knowledge to develop their practice. In this narrative account, the field research is framed by my evolving theoretical understandings which informed the design, analysis and re-presentation of the study. An autobiographical introduction to my experience in Sudan outlines my nascent professional stance towards education development. I then explore my increasingly critical understanding of research on teachers and pedagogy in Africa and discourse on education quality in low-income countries. I discuss the formation of my specific researcher identity through postcolonial theorisation of my ethical stance towards making a difference in the field of practice, namely Sudanese schools. In this thesis, layered re-viewing, which derives from an epistemological stance of the partiality and contingency of knowledge, facilitates re-presentation of moments in which understanding is challenged and re-formed by theorisation and experience. Re-viewing literature and theoretical analyses brings new epistemological, ontological and ethical understandings, as my focus on ‘the practical' in field research has been supplemented in the post-fieldwork period by ‘the practical' in the academy, a contested domain of knowledge production. To conclude this thesis, the position of ‘authoritative uncertainty' is applied in the reflexive deconstruction of the study, as the action research process and outcomes are re-viewed through postcolonial and feminist theories to unpick the situated complexities of cross-cultural practitioner research and its representation. While coming to know is a continuous process, its representation in this thesis reaches an arbitrary conclusion by proposing how coming to know teaching practices, action research processes and reflexive researcher analysis might bring new perspectives to academic and policy initiatives for teacher development.

Higher education has expanded in many countries, including Ghana. This is attributed to the realisation that economies can only be developed and sustained through the development of human and knowledge capital, which is obtainable through higher education participation. Consequently, higher education institutions in Ghana have experienced some diversity and heterogeneity in their composition in terms of participants' ages, socio-economic status, culture and gender, among others. However, it is important to ask how different groups of students fare once entered. A recent ESRC/DFID research project by Morley et al (2010) found that mature students are most at risk of dropping out of higher education. Yet, the experiences of mature students are under researched in Ghana. My study employed the interpretive qualitative research approach to examine life narratives via interviews with eight mature undergraduate women from different socio-economic backgrounds in one public university in Ghana. The study is based on the idea that women who combine domestic work with academic work experience tensions, and therefore must devise strategies to manage their conflicting roles in order to navigate their way through higher education. The women in this study were sampled from the departments of Sociology and Basic Education, where they are known to be clustered. The rationale was to explore their experiences, describe the strategies they adopt to navigate through HE, and to use the findings to make suggestions for institutional development and learning. The findings indicate that the women students' different socio-economic backgrounds, marital status and family lives influence the way they experience higher education and the strategies they adopt for progressing through it. Most of the participants found academic work difficult and made reference to gaps in terms of their knowledge deficit, unfamiliar courses and teaching methods. Again, some women students felt out of place in the higher education arena and therefore had to ‘cut down much of their years' psychologically so that they could mix easily with the younger students. The implications drawn from this study are that there is need for the formulation of an institutional policy on mature women students in higher education, which would also ensure the regular provision of professional development programmes for higher education practitioners. It is expected that when higher education practitioners are regularly trained and sensitised about the heterogeneity in the composition of higher education, and particularly about mature women students' conflicting roles, it will improve their practice, enhance the qualitative experiences of mature women students and consequently, help to retain and increase their participation in higher education.

Submitted by Rosina Valeria Lanzellotti Mattiussi Teixeira (rosina.teixeira@unisantos.br) on 2017-10-03T18:27:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_¿dila.pdf: 1532213 bytes, checksum: fce458fbd017786823906f750a30e2a4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-03T18:27:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_¿dila.pdf: 1532213 bytes, checksum: fce458fbd017786823906f750a30e2a4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-25 / The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) has goals, called ¿Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding¿. Despite evidence of the benefits of the BFHI on improving breastfeeding rates, there are few certified hospitals. The aim of this study was to verify the effectiveness of educational activities proposed by the BFHI for the increased prevalence of newborns placed skin-to-skin with their mothers in the first hour of life. To this end, survey was conducted using a quantitative methodology in municipal public maternity João Pessoa. Educational activities with health professionals followed for pre- and post-intervention were carried out. The effectiveness of educational activity was assessed using face to face interview with 211 women, who comprised two independent groups for evaluation pre and post intervention. The variables were described by mean, standard deviation, frequency and proportions. Hypothesis tests used were the chi-square test and Fisher's exact for differences between proportions and ¿t¿ test of Student paired for differences between means Groups of mothers pre and post intervention were similar, allowing the comparison of the studied outcome. Only 10 mothers (9.3%) in group 1 and 12 (11.5%) in group 2 underwent the fourth step of the BFHI. The only variable that was associated (p <0.01) with the outcome analyzed in both groups was the type of delivery. Participated in the educational intervention 77 workers (less than 35% of the audience). There was a difference between mean percentage of adequate responses of these professionals in the pre- and post-test (p <0.01). The workshops proved to be efficient as regards the acquisition of theoretical knowledge by participants. However, seizure of these concepts in the BFHI's fourth step did not result in modification of praxis. / A Iniciativa Hospital Amigo da Criança (IHAC) constitui-se de metas, denominadas de ¿Dez Passos para o Sucesso do Aleitamento Materno¿. Apesar das evidências em relação aos benefícios da IHAC sobre a melhoria dos índices de aleitamento materno, ainda há poucos hospitais certificados. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a efetividade de ações educativas propostas pela IHAC para o aumento da prevalência de recém-nascidos colocados em contato pele a pele com as suas mães na primeira hora de vida. Para tal, realizou-se uma pesquisa-ação, com abordagem quantitativa, em uma maternidade pública municipal de João Pessoa. Foram realizadas ações educativas com profissionais de saúde, seguidas de avaliação pré e pós-intervenção. A efetividade da ação educativa foi avaliada por meio de entrevistas face a face com 211 mulheres, que compreenderam dois grupos independentes para avaliação no pré e pós-intervenção. As variáveis foram descritas por meio de média, desvio padrão, frequência e proporções. Os testes de hipóteses utilizados foram o qui-quadrado de Pearson e Exato de Fisher para diferenças entre proporções e teste ¿t¿ de Student pareado para diferenças entre médias. Os grupos de puérperas pré e pós-intervenção foram semelhantes, permitindo a comparação do desfecho estudado. Apenas 10 puérperas (9,3%) do grupo 1 e 12 (11,5%) do grupo 2 realizaram o 4º da IHAC. A única variável que mostrou associação (p<0,01) com o desfecho analisado, em ambos os grupos, foi o tipo de parto. Participaram da intervenção educativa 77 profissionais (menos de 35% do público-alvo). Houve diferença entre percentual médio de respostas adequadas desses profissionais no pré e pós-testes (p<0,01). As oficinas mostraram-se eficientes no que se refere à aquisição de conhecimento teórico pelos participantes. No entanto, a apreensão desses conceitos em relação ao 4º passo da IHAC não resultou em modificação da práxis.