Despite an increasing recognition of the need for an integrative approach to sustainable development, there remains a tendency for this to be anthropocentric. Attempts to govern sustainability are invariably focused on the pre-eminence of the human perspective and social systems in the pursuit of human goals. This often means either excluding or attempting to control the external environment rather than understanding and responding to it. This thesis explores more holistic approaches to governance that are based upon the need for an improved understanding about the interconnections between social, economic and ecological systems. It examines current literature on governance for sustainable development and systems thinking as applied to it, with specific reference to Socio-Technical Systems (STS), social learning about systems’ interrelations and the nature of public goods. On the basis of this analysis, a systemic conception of governance for sustainability is developed and translated into a provisional framework that can aid participatory social learning relating to sustainable development. Three initial Socio-Technical Systems (STS) case studies are drawn upon to populate the empty framework (the European Critical Electricity Infrastructure (ECEI), the Finnish security system and the transition of energy systems towards a post carbon society); these are then analysed thematically to derive common governance for sustainability criteria. The final modified framework is then applied to an in depth, and on-going, case study of food systems’ security and sustainability and a final discussion considers how this governance framework (GAME) might contribute to future holistic decision making for more sustainable Socio-Technical Systems. The multi-method GAME supports the generation of future scenarios and core sustainability criteria by multiple stakeholders; reflecting needs, capabilities and limits that can maintain systems’ equilibrium. It also implies a more normative governance for sustainability and a commitment to improved evidence-based decision-making that reflects systems’ complexity and contributes to bridging the gaps between science, policy and society. The GAME is currently being extended to incorporate the user-friendly geospatial representations of impacts.

This thesis makes a conceptual contribution to the field of school leadership studies with a descriptive and analytical representation of the current practice and development of leaders in English Primary schools. The aim of the research is to investigate the development of nineteen school leaders, nesting their own vivid descriptions of their leadership development within a professional researcher enquiry for new knowledge and understanding. An extensive literature review locates the argument in a historical and cultural context, directed by the first research question: ‘What are the knowledge claims about the changes to school leadership and management in the policy and research literature in the last twenty-five years?’ The second research question asks: ‘What are the knowledge claims of the practice of school leadership in Primary schools as found in the official and research literature?’ Findings from the literature provide knowledge of the official expectations and advice given to school leaders in the implementation of their work. The literature also provides knowledge of leadership practice associated with issues of power, micro-politics, social and moral frames used by leaders as social agents in interpreting their leadership. Research questions three and four direct the field-research asking: ‘How are leadership roles practised and developed in Primary schools?’ and ‘What are the empirical findings that build knowledge of Primary school leadership practice and development?’ A case-study methodology structured the field-work, with qualitative research conducted in four Primary schools in North-West England during one academic year, 2008-2009. The empirical data for the case was primarily collected from nineteen members of four Senior Leadership Teams (SLT) through semi-structured interviews and observations of SLT meetings. The analysis of the full research findings is presented in an original construction of leadership, conceptualised as the PIVOT. This framework presents the key findings as integrated factors in a holistic frame around a central point, the PIVOT of leadership, which is explained as the Purpose, the Identity, the Values, the Options and the Trust, presenting wider issues for educational leadership decisions. The final research question five asks: ‘What recommendations can be made for policy and practice regarding school leadership development in Primary schools?’ Findings from the case-study make a contribution to knowledge about current school leadership practice and development, explained as a holistic, integrated approach underpinned by a wider, educative rationale, identified in the PIVOT framework. This raises issues for policy-makers and school practitioners in the development of Primary school leaders as educational leaders and provides a resource for further research enquiry by academic researchers with an interest in developing Primary school leaders.

abstract: Regulatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), recognize that decisions regarding occupational health are often economically driven, with worker health only a secondary concern (Ruttenberg, 2014). To investigate the four National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) long-standing health concerns—welding fumes, crystalline silica, noise, and musculoskeletal disorders—a mixed methods research is conducted. Fourfold structuration, a holistic communication process with roots in indigenous/ancient knowledge, is used to organize data and facilitate making tangible relationships of health to productivity and profits that are abstract and often stated by industries, such as construction, as difficult to quantify. From both construction trade worker and occupational health and safety expert interviews data/codes are developed. For the qualitative method, the codes are organized into a constructivist grounded theory depicting the construction industry with regard to its foundation – profits. A theoretical exercise translating the qualitative codes into potential productivity losses is presented as a way for quantifying the abstract relationships of health to productivity. For the quantitative study, the data/codes are used to develop a comprehensive list of practices, barriers to, and catalysts for addressing health in construction. A significant quantitative finding is that occupational health and safety (OSH) experts are not traditionally involved at the highest levels of the OSHA Hierarchy of Controls, where the greatest opportunity to prevent exposure to health hazards is possible. Organized via a holistic framework, this research emphasizes our primary responsibility to each other as highlighted in recent NIOSH worker health agendas. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Engineering 2017

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