published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Through history popular education has evolved against the backdrop of social movements engaged in the struggle for social change in a variety of contexts. During the past forty years some of these movements have found expression in a wide range of participatory processes with a particular focus on community empowerment. In 1993, in the village of Renton, Scotland, local people created their own housing association, Cordale Housing Association (CHA) and from its inception declared that it would not build houses “for people to live their poverty in” (CHA Mission statement, 1993). Since then the community has acquired local physical assets and created the Renton Community Development Trust (RCDT) focused on eradicating poverty in the village. Based on data collected in the period 2009 – 2011, I examine the community’s claim to social change in the village over the past twenty years. I also discuss the community’s claim to local peoples’ active participation in the process of social change and whether the Renton community experience can be considered a process of popular education. This research is a contribution to the body of knowledge identified with critical social-educational research. It is also a contribution to the debate about the creation of a new socio-economic and cultural model of society based on the values of equity, solidarity and justice.

This research explores the learning experiences of three mature students studying for a Foundation Degree – a two-year qualification, introduced in England and Wales in 2001, that uniquely spans the academic-vocational nexus within higher education. Data collected through interviews and journal entries were used to construct accounts of each of the students’ learning experiences, forming a longitudinal case study that spanned two years. This material is used in three ways to give insight into learning through a Foundation Degree. Firstly, the accounts stand by themselves as detailed descriptions of what it is like to learn through a Foundation Degree. Secondly, the accounts illustrate ways in which particular learning theories and models are helpful to understanding the students’ learning experiences, and also the areas in which some theories and models fall short. Thirdly, a new conceptual model has been developed which identifies six factors that significantly impact upon the Foundation Degree learner’s experience. Each of these factors has the potential to influence learning positively or negatively, depending on where it lies upon a continuum that polarises learning inhibitors and enablers. This model is used to scrutinise Foundation Degree teaching and learning practice, using the accounts as reference points, and more effective approaches to Foundation Degree delivery have been suggested.

The aim of this thesis is to study lifelong learning policy development in the Republic of Ireland and its translation into practice in Third Level Institutions. The specific purpose of the study is to map the development of policy and investigate the influences on this development including the changing socio economic and political context within Ireland and its membership of the European Union. The focus of the research is also Learning for Life, the Irish government's major White Paper on adult education and lifelong learning, published in 2000. The research also begins to investigate how Third Level Institutions in Ireland have interpreted Learning for Life and other policy documents in their own policies and practice. I was also interested in investigating the barriers that were perceived to exist by people, in both government and educational institutions, to the successful implementation of lifelong learning policy in Ireland. The thesis also explores the approach that has been taken to lifelong learning in Ireland analysing whether this approach has taken a predominantly human or social capital approach or a mixture of both. Although a number of studies have investigated the impact of lifelong learning policies on national and institutional practice in other countries, very little research has been carried out on Ireland. This thesis makes a valuable contribution by providing a case study based analysis of policy development within a changing economic and social context. It also provides an insight into the approach taken by one individual country and the influences on that approach. Although the study is clearly and deliberately a case study I have included reference to two other European nations who have high adult participation rates in education, Denmark and Sweden, as comparators with the experiences of Ireland.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the process and practice of Second Chance Schooling in Greece during the first decade of the schools' existence. The study focuses on the reasons why the schools were established and traces the trajectory of the development of the policy. It considers the experience of the teachers in the Second Chance Schools, as seen from the perspective of teachers of English. In particular, it considers the professional support and development of these teachers who were charged with breaking new ground in the Greek adult education system. The fieldwork consisted of semi-structured interviews with individuals at different levels in the Greek adult education system: with the politicians who developed the ideas and oversaw the implementation of the policy; with the staff who were Involved with the central administration of the policy; with the scholars and academic staff who made up the advisory team; with the training organizers, the discipline advisors, the regional advisors, and with the head teachers and the teachers of English in one of the regions of Greece (Eastern Macedonia and Thrace). A wider group of regional Second Chance School teachers were also surveyed. All available documentation relating to the national development of Second Chance Schools was scrutinised. The analysis of these data revealed a complex picture that developed and changed as the decade progressed. There is evidence that the Second Chance Schools policy was well received and attracted new students into adult education. As such, it had a positive impact on social and cultural problems such as illiteracy, unemployment, and lack of social cohesion. However problems arose from the manner in which EU policy on lifelong learning was adopted without adaptation to the specificities of the Greek context. The political drive to access EU funding and accept EU definitions of the social and educational needs of the country resulted in insufficient analysis of the impact of the history and cultural context of Greek adult education, regional political upheavals, immigration and the rapidly deteriorating economic situation. At the national level, therefore, I argue that the policy was insufficiently nuanced to be effective in serving the needs of Greek adult education. Furthermore, a unified generic policy for Second Chance Schooling across the whole of Greece was adopted. This in turn failed to recognise the regional variations within Greece, which, I argue, were of considerable significance to the implementation and ultimate success of the initiative. A further problem related to the Greek political process which produced frequent changes in leadership and a system that was highly dependent upon the individual in charge. Lack of infrastructural support for the policy and party political turbulence led to erratic development and changes of direction and emphasis which left teachers confused and ultimately, in many cases, demoralised. At the school level, the policy challenged teachers of English to adopt new teaching methodologies, to take seriously the problems of adult drop-out students and debate how best to help them acquire their self-respect, stay in education and become European citizens. However, despite the fact that the need for teachers to be involved in intensive professional development was acknowledged at all levels of the system, provision of continuing professional development [CPO] was Inadequate. Gaps between the rhetoric and reality of CPO provision were ignored; there was little evidence of rigorous evaluation and provision of relevant expert guidance which might have strengthened the system and maximised the investment that was being made In the schools. The realities of teachers' contractual and professional working conditions were not taken into consideration. The effect of this was that, although the majority of Second Chance School teachers had positive attitudes towards the Second Chance Schools policy at the beginning of the period, their enthusiasm waned over the course of the decade as the inadequacies in the support and training they received came to be understood as more than just initial start-up difficulties. Consequently the gap between an ambitious and initially well-funded national adult education policy and the realities of day to day practice in Second Chance Schools deepened. This study seeks, through careful analysis at the national, regional and individual level, to contribute to an understanding of how this important initiative might have worked better in Greece. In doing so, it offers a case study of the implementation of a European educational initiative in an EU member state and seeks to identify factors that will be significant to the development of policy in other contexts.

This study explores a common perception that the number of short term adult residential colleges in England and Wales is in decline due to a lack of clarity of purpose, little or no investment and an apparent lack of strategic direction on the part of those who own these establishments. This is despite clear evidence that studying in a residential setting enhances the quality of the learning experience. In very practical terms this research will explore what kind of business model might be successful in such circumstances, and provide an opportunity to secure the future of these unique establishments. The thesis examines the value of such institutions and goes on to investigate the possible reasons why, over the past 60 years the number of short term residential colleges has declined. By examining the financial and enrolment results of five colleges over a two year period, as well as interviewing principals and learners, proposes a model to secure a future for residential education in this country. The topic for this thesis was identified by the author as a result of 20 years experience as Principal of a short term residential college and latterly Head of a county residential education service. The colleges investigated were situated in England and differed in size, ownership and managerial structure. They have over the past 50 – 60 years promoted and sold adult residential courses of varying lengths to the adult population. The research approach adopted in this thesis includes an examination of available literature to determine the original purpose and subsequent development of short term residential colleges. Two major research strategies were used: firstly quantitative analysis of data collected over a two year period representing five different approaches to ownership and management and secondly qualitative analysis of data collected from interviews with principals and active learners to establish the present and future position direction of the five case studies. The data was triangulated to demonstrate concurrent validity, reliability and confidence in the findings. The findings of this research provide evidence that there has, over the past 60 years, been a decline in the number of short term residential colleges and that the decline is mainly confined to those colleges owned and managed by county councils. Of the five case studies, three owned by county (or city) councils face an uncertain future due to lack of direction, commitment and investment as well as financial constraints placed upon them. The findings established that active learners clearly supported the quality of residential learning experience. This thesis recommends that to survive colleges must have a clear unambiguous purpose fit for the 21st century. Colleges that are not charitable organisations would benefit from adopting the organisation model in having clear objects encapsulating a unique selling point whether it is defined as a segment of the adult learning sector or a specialist subject area. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that the adult residential college has a place in the adult learning landscape. Colleges must be financially independent and be nationally recognised for outstanding quality in the adult residential courses they offer.

The overarching aim of this thesis is to enhance the theoretical status of post-compulsory education by effecting a non-empirical, psychoanalytic examination of adult teaching and learning theories. The study arises out of the observation that – in comparison with disciplines within the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities - psychoanalytic perspectives are both underemployed in practical contexts and have negligible theoretical impact within this field. The study provides a contribution to educational theory and practice through the development of a postmodern psychoanalytical methodology and its methods. These are operationalised through the development of a suite of tools based on Jung's (1971) the theory of psychological types. This involves the adaptation of Jung's psychological categories into epistemological characteristics that are then used to identify strengths, contradictions and omissions within theoretical material. The resulting Jungian Typological Instrument (JTI) is applied to selected case study topics that reflect contemporary discourses, theories and concepts within the field of adult teaching and learning. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the JTI it is applied to two case study topics and critically examines their theoretical underpinnings. The first of these topics is the 'micro' model of reflection-in-action, which is drawn from Schön's (1983) formulation of reflective practice. The larger, 'macro', discourse of lifelong learning forms the second case study as articulated in the UNESCO report Learning to Be (Faure et al. 1972) and the Green Paper The Learning Age (DfEE 1998). The insights and outcomes arising from these analyses form the evaluation process for the methods. As psychoanalytic approaches are not unproblematic, this investigation incorporates philosophical reflection and conceptual analysis as meta-level evaluation strategies for the methodological level of the study. This dual-level evaluation reveals that the proposed methodology and methods together offer a robust and trustworthy approach to theoretical analysis, which has potential applications for both theory and practice within the adult teaching and learning context.

Further Education (FE) is almost a new venture on the Maltese Islands particularly for UK NVQ Levels 1 and 2. In 2001 the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST)introduced the Foundation Certificate: A Further Education (FE) access course without entry requirements. Drawing mainly on the study by Ball, Maguire and Macrae (2000), Bourdieu’s habitus and structure (1977; 1990; 1993) as well as Evans’ bounded agency (2002; 2007) and Evans and Heinz’s (1993: 1994) transition types, this thesis explores the transitory experience of eight female students from Compulsory to Further Education. Between 2007 and 2010 these students narrated their experiences prior to entry at MCAST, as students on the MCAST campus, during their work placements as well as on their workplace. Findings indicate that FE and work were chosen by elimination of the academic path even though it seems that school did not prepare the participants for these routes. The MCASTBTEC formative assessment system was deemed harder to get used to but fairer than the exam-based system. At MCAST students felt free to make their own choices and were treated as adults. Work placement experience for students seems to influence course choice. Full-time workers ex-students) indicated that they were given a lot of training, and that work was an alternative learning environment. This was important to retain their job and to further their studies. This thesis identifies three transition trajectories as well as a model for understanding the self in transition to FE within the Maltese context by identifying theories which are adaptable to this particular scenario. It also provides key learnings for policy makers and practitioners within the Maltese educational context. These include the exposure of students to MCAST, in-service training for subject and guidance teachers at service in secondary schools and guidelines for standardized induction as well as monitoring programmes aimed at increasing student retention. These strategies would ease the transition period making both MCAST and secondary schools more inclusive learning environments.

This study aims at investigating the adults' motivations for participating in organised learning of the African drums in Hong Kong at the turn of the century: how they participate in related learning, why they take part, and how they have developed varied motivations for learning. Adhering to its constructivist perspective of the social world, this research has adopted a qualitative grounded theory approach and targets at generating a substantive theory about adults' motivations for learning the African drums. Data were collected via open-ended interviews with 82 informants who were sampled according to their conceptual relevance to the evolving theory, and analysed by coding, memoing, and sorting. Results of this research have identified four major categories of motivations: Professional Development, Sheer Interest, Referential Motivations, and Learning for the Sake of Learning. It is also found that the adults do not participate in learning for a single clear-cut motivation, but a mix of different reasons, and that they may demonstrate changes of motivations along with changes in life events and accumulation of knowledge and skills of Afro-drumming. This research has also identified a social process that underlies the development or surfacing of the adults' motivations for learning the African drums. The socio-cultural preconditions, mainly the local performances, multimedia publicity, and education of Afro-drumming, and the individual factors embracing the adult learners’ areas of social functioning, personal backgrounds in music and general education, and reference groups, have interacted to determine the adult learners' motivations. In addition, the findings have highlighted the rising importance of job-related and health-care reasons for adults' participation in music learning in today's world, rendered the teachers and course providers of the African drums strategic implications for widening the coverage of their clientele and creating deep learning experiences for the adult learners, and suggested some directions for future research.

The introduction of the 2007 Further Education Teachers’ Qualifications Regulations has meant that a wider group of providers, including those providing adult and community learning (ACL), have had to check that teaching staff are appropriately qualified. However, will this requirement help to ensure that there is ‘better’ quality provision or will it just be an additional cost that takes resources away from delivery of learning? This thesis is to see if any evidence can be found that teachers with higher qualifications, in particular teaching qualifications, provide ‘better’ teaching and learning and obtain higher grades in class observation, and also therefore during inspection. It also looks to see if any other characteristics of teachers employed can be identified as having an impact on classroom performance so that providers working in a similar area to the WEA, and using a workforce that is predominantly part-time sessional tutors, can consider employment and staff development policy to help meet the needs they face regarding quality and inspection. This is done by comparing tutor profiles of the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), employed over a four year period (academic years 2005 – 2008), and grades in 4,267 internal observations of teaching and learning (OTL) undertaken during this period. The thesis explores the background and context of the current reforms of qualifications for teaching staff in the sector and then places the WEA provision and its teaching staff in a wider context. It also considers the use of OTL, and its effect on tutors, as part of a the self-assessment process and how the current quality agenda for the Further Education sector fits within the move of Government to more accountability, measurement and ‘performativity’.