As far as I have been able to discover Raymond Williams's writing on education has not been the subject of an extensive study. This is surprising since Williams's educational writings, although not presented systematically, represent a considerable contribution to thinking about education in the late twentieth century. Since Williams's death in 1988 several articles have been published dealing with specific areas of this aspect of his work (1), but although useful, these provide only the beginnings of an account of Williams's philosophy of education. Williams has been described as the 'single most masterly, original cultural thinker in Britain of the twentieth century' and his work has invoked comparisons with writers of the stature of Sartre and Habermas (2). Of the thirty or so books, hundreds of articles, and radio and television programmes Williams wrote over forty years, most contained a sustained interest in education. Raymond Williams, as Professor of Drama at the University of Cambridge, was an academic. He was also a literary critic, social and cultural analyst, novelist, playwright, and political activist. Most of all, through the medium of his writings, Williams was a teacher. The task of this thesis will be to reveal a theory of education from this substantial and varied body of writing which crossed the boundaries of 'discrete' discourses and subjects. At the heart of this theory is the claim that education and politics are inextricably linked. In the Introduction I outline the major areas of Williams's thought, link these with the development of his professional life and his influence as a teacher, and discuss the difficulties presented by Williams' notoriously complex writing style. In Chapter 1 I identify and discuss the key concept in Williams's writing in relation to education, i.e., culture. Chapter 2 is concerned to examine Williams's writing on education and to link these with the key concept outlined in Chapter 1. The principal aim of Chapter 3 is to identify the major issues which taken together form the basis of a political theory and a theory of political education in the work of Raymond Williams. Chapter 4 is a key chapter in which I attempt to 'translate' Williams's abstract and complex writing style into amore accessible form, through an analysis of his major themes relating to politics and education, i.e., solidarity, community and ecology. Chapter 5 includes a discussion of two examples of educational programmes decisively influenced by Williams's writing, i.e., Cultural Studies and Urban Studies. As a philosopher of education Williams was a generalist; that is to say, he was concerned, in the tradition of Dewey, with broad educational issues. An example of this approach would be the way in which he attempts to link education with democracy. It is in the spirit of this tradition that the thesis is written.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore implications of a necessary presupposition of a theory of the person in the aims of Personal and Social Education (PSE), with the aim of furnishing a conception of the person which retains a significant concept of personal agency in light of constraints on action. From the position that the concept of the person as agent is central to the aims of PSE, it is argued that given the tension between the conception of the person as autonomous and recognition of the plasticity of persons, the justification of the unity of persons suggests itself as a relevant and useful approach. This is held to provide a means of approaching issues of personhood which are central to the concerns of PSE and which also provides important insights into the some issues of agency. It is argued in the second chapter that the relation between a theory of personal identity and the aims of PSE which presuppose such a theory is best understood as one of interdependence. From this position, it is argued that the conception of the person as potentially autonomous does not necessitate acceptance of a strict identity or non-reductionist theory of personal identity. It is argued, on the grounds of internal coherence and the ideals evident in discussions of PSE, that the alternative, a continuity theory is preferable. In the fourth chapter the issue of constraints on the concept of the person and their effect on the acceptability of theories of personal identity is addressed. It is argued that certain constraints lead to the rejection of reductionism with respect to persons but do not affect the acceptability of a continuity theory or its importance. The argument supports the view that the concept of personal identity and the concept of the person are indeterminate and allow a qualified form of social ascriptivism. Implications of the conception of the person which has been argued for, are illustrated and explored in the fmal two chapters, where the discussion focuses on the use of students' autobiographical writing in PSE. The argument is made that the conception of the person argued for in the previous chapters has advantages over that contained in the traditional understanding of autobiography. Consideration of narrative and its role in making sense of experience leads to supplementation and refinement of the conceptualisation of the person advocated.

The ultimate goal of the thesis is the construction of a text, appropriate for student use, on South Africa's social and spatial formation. The first part of the thesis is the most lengthy. It is a sophisticated account of South Africa's historical geography since 1652. This is written in an academic style, not for students, but for a learned readership, and contains some original insights. In itself, it represents an innovative contribution to the literature on South Africa's social development. The second part is a review of existing texts on South Africa's history and geography, written purposefully for students. These texts are subjected to a critique with content and coverage being the main criteria. The third part is an investigation of theoretical issues concerning the relationship between readers, particularly student readers, and texts. It seeks to formulate guidelines for the writing of a student text and the devising of learning activities which are appropriate for learners. In a brief conclusion, attention is paid to the ways in which the original aims have been manifested in a student text, included in the thesis as an appendix. Although this text is another lengthy treatment of South Africa's social and spatial formation, this time it is written for an intended student readership. It draws on the content deemed appropriate in the sophisticated text of Part One, seeks to overcome the weaknesses identified in current student texts in Part Two, and is written in a style, appropriate for students, suggested by Part Three. It also contains student activities devised in the theoretical context introduced in Part Three. The text is deemed to be a significant advance on previously published History and Geography educational materials.

Gender equality issues in the Hellenic primary school system have not received adequate attention from government policy makers and educators. Although gender equality is mandated in the official curriculum, the pedagogical praxis continues to reinforce traditional gender discourses. This study aims to scrutinise the education system’s role in challenging or reinforcing normative gender discourses and how pupils negotiate, reproduce or challenge normative and non-normative gender discourses in the curriculum material and children’s literature. In addition, this research explores how pupils deploy these discourses in their quotidian gender performances on school playgrounds. The research applies a qualitative methodological approach, grounded in a post-structuralist theoretical approach to gender (Butler, 1990) and Connell’s (1987) theory of hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity. Observations were carried out in primary classrooms and school playgrounds, and a semi-structured interview format was employed in group interviews with students (40 boys and 40 girls). In parallel with this, individual teachers were interviewed (four males and one female), in two Athenian primary schools. Feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA) was used to examine anthology textbooks, while the interview data and observation notes were analysed using thematic analysis. The resulting qualitative data reveals the role played by Hellenic primary schools in reinforcing traditional gender discourses and makes clear the patterns of hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity in specific schools. The analysis also highlights how pupils negotiate, reproduce and challenge normative and non-normative gender discourses and how they use these in their quotidian gender performances on school playgrounds. This research makes a significant empirical contribution to knowledge in the field of study because this type of study has not been carried out before in Hellas. The paper concludes with 5 suggested future directions for research and recommends actions to be taken by the Hellenic government to achieve gender equality in primary education.

This thesis is about moral philosophy, moral education, and the relationship which one has to the other. I argue for a particular moral philosophy and derive from that a view of moral education. But I also argue that the relationship between the two is of a special nature and differs from the relationship which might exist between philosophy and education in general or between, say, the philosophy of mathematics and education in mathematics. The moral theory I offer incorporates a view of moral thinking which is, in many respects, similar to that given by Hare. However, the thesis includes an extended criticism of Hare's form of utilitarianism and, especially, of his rationalist justification for the form of moral thinking which he recommends. The criticism of Hare's theory, and of his approach, forms the background against which I recommend a fundamental modification of utilitarian moral theory. Although the theory offered yields a utilitarian view of right action, it is a nonconsequentialist theory which is based upon a notion of an ideal agent. The theory is founded upon a notion of the benevolent archangel as universal ideal. The moral theory is offered as a perspective upon those moral views which we share. That perspective is recommended as one which can elucidate, underpin and inspire those moral views. The form of moral education which is derived from that theory focusses centrally upon the development of the virtues of benevolence, nonmalevolence, understanding and humility.

There exists broad consensus as to the importance of HIV- and AIDS-related education in efforts to decrease young people’s vulnerability to the epidemic. As illustrated by the broad variety of HIV prevention education initiatives implemented around the world, less agreement exists as to the form such education should take. This thesis has developed a conceptual framework to support analysis of school-based HIV- and AIDS-related education and, specifically, to support efforts to increase understanding of this particular and diverse field of education. The specific objectives of the study were to: i. develop an overview of research into the quality of HIV- and AIDS-related education; ii. investigate the theoretical underpinnings of school-based HIV- and AIDS-related education a) overall, and b) in Mozambique; iii. examine conceptions of the aims of HIV- and AIDS-related education in relation to the broader aims of school education in Mozambique; and iv. investigate the potential for the conceptual framework, developed as part of the study, to support comparison of perspectives on HIV- and AIDS-related education in Mozambique. Addressing key gaps in available literature on HIV- and AIDS-related education, two analytical frameworks were developed. Based on an analysis of current programmes worldwide and a review of a multidisciplinary body of literature on HIV- and AIDS-related education, the first framework draws a distinction between three broad approaches to HIV- and AIDS-related education: those building on moral concerns, and those that might be understood as informed by notions of rights, or science. The second analytical framework developed in the study distinguishes three principal conceptions of the aims of education, namely the achievement of autonomy, (civil) enculturation or vocational preparation. This latter heuristic device was informed by an examination of key educational philosophical debates on the aims of education. A qualitative multi-method empirical study was subsequently undertaken, gathering data from young people, (peer) educators, policy makers and representatives of 3 international agencies in Maputo, Mozambique on their views regarding the aims of (HIV- and AIDS-related) education. The analysis revealed that participants drew on varying and strongly gendered understandings of what was considered (im)moral behaviour and a commitment to rights in efforts to reduce the spread and impact of the epidemic. Furthermore, in different ways, policy makers, educators and international agency staff identified both the causes of and solution for the epidemic as existing in various forms of modern and traditional ‘culture’. Policy makers and educators, for instance, stressed their concerns regarding the relationship between modernity and the spread of HIV and AIDS in Mozambican society, while staff members of international agencies identified the causes of the epidemic in inequitable - ‘traditional’ - interpersonal relationships. Young people were often found to appropriate dominant discourse, but also challenged opinions, particularly in relation to gendered perceptions of (im)moral behaviour. Building on the analysis, a fourth broad approach to HIV- and AIDS-related education was identified, namely that informed by notions of culture. The analysis illustrates that within HIV- and AIDS-related education, where concepts such as rights and culture are seen as central to many programmes, the different actors involved in the development, delivery and uptake of such education draw on a considerable variety of discourses. An important consequence is that within and across these various sets of actors, understandings of what issues should be addressed and how, can vary widely. At other times, such understandings may differ in more subtle but, nonetheless, crucial ways. A critical implication of the study, therefore, concerns the need for more meaningful dialogue across and between different actors. The thesis concludes by elucidating how dialogue about HIV- and AIDS-related education as well as HIV prevention education might be enhanced by drawing on a pragmatic epistemology of ‘knowing’, i.e. one whereby dialogue and education are acknowledged as ongoing processes of growth and, crucially, as ways to deal with uncertainty, rather than leading to closed-ended certainties.

At present the most powerful and influential groups in education see the solution to matters of educational concern as mainly falling within the province of an educational research which is fundamentally scientific. This thesis sets out to examine whether this assumption can be substantiated and, in the possible scenario that it cannot, to look at an alternative form of educational research. It begins with the philosophical arguments which support the view that educational research, where it is empirical, should be mainly scientific and continues by looking at what contemporary educational researchers have said about the nature of educational research. The role philosophy of education might take in this context is also examined. The thesis continues by looking at the prescribed methodology of educational research and examines the philosophical assumptions of such a methodology. It continues by looking at the major assumption of scientific endeavour which is that it is nomological. The conclusions drawn from the aforegoing are that, for various philosophical reasons, the notion that educational research can be founded on scientific method and applied through a process parallel to engineering is fallacious and needs to be reviewed. A review of the philosophical situation with regard to understanding human beings as would be necessary to understanding them in an educational context is undertaken in the fourth chapter. This marks the beginnings of an alternative, non-scientific, framework for educational research. A case is made for the thesis that individual actions are understood properly against a background of information which includes beliefs, intentions and historical circumstances. Consideration is then given as to how this might be put in such a way as to be of practical use in the deliberation of how to tackle educational issues. The final chapter outlines how a possible substantive piece of educational research might look.

School governing bodies in England have considerable formal powers and responsibilities. This qualitative research study explored their concrete practices drawing on understandings of deliberative democracy and citizenship as sensitising concepts. The empirical research was broadly ethnographic and took place in two primary and two secondary maintained schools. Data was generated primarily from interviews and observations. Considering school governors from the perspectives of deliberative democracy and citizenship draws attention to ambivalences and ambiguities in their role. These ambivalences and ambiguities cover issues of agency, representation, exclusion, knowledge and a singular conception of a ‘common good’. Firstly, despite their busy-ness, governors are largely passive in relation to decision making and dissensus can be socially awkward. Consensus is underpinned by a singular conception of the ‘common good’. Secondly, the voices of certain governors are marginalised. Some governors are positioned as representatives and their constitution as partial masks the partiality of all governors. Thirdly, there are ambiguities in relation to the valuing of different knowledges. Educational knowledge is valued but also inflected by managerial knowledge. The policy emphasis on the value of managerial knowledge and measurable data tends to displace other possible ‘lay’ knowledges. Fourthly, education and governing are constituted as apolitical and there is limited discussion of educational aims, principles and values. In all this, despite policy describing governors as ‘strategic’, their work is largely technical and operates within a constrained national performative system that renders alternative conceptions of ‘good’ education unsayable or unthinkable. These ambivalences and ambiguities operate, together with a dominant discourse of skills and effectiveness, to obscure possibilities for thinking otherwise about education.

In Malawi, where a policy of Free Primary Education has been in place for more than fifteen years, relatively few children have never attended school. However, despite high initial enrolments, primary education in Malawi is inefficient, with high dropout and low completion rates. Against a context of underlying poverty, research suggests that many of the children in Malawi denied adequate access to education are those orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Evidence from Malawi and neighbouring countries indicates that not enough is being done in schools to support vulnerable children in the context of HIV/AIDS and that a powerful argument can be made for new, more flexible models of formal schooling that reach out to young people who face educational exclusion. This doctoral study was part of a wider, three-year collaborative research project working in high HIV prevalence countries to address issues of educational access. It used a sequential, mixed methods design to examine the extent to which a more flexible model of formal schooling that integrates open and distance learning (ODL) strategies with face-to-face teaching and psychosocial support can improve educational access and retention of orphaned and other vulnerable children in rural Malawi. This study identifies and explores household, school and peer-related factors that influence the access and retention of children affected by HIV/AIDS, and confirm the very limited support provided by primary schools. These findings were used to contextualise and inform the development of a school-based intervention to implement a flexible model of schooling; thereafter trialed in 20 sampled schools in two selected districts in Malawi. This doctoral study demonstrates the potential of flexible learning to enhance learning experiences, bring psychosocial benefits and help improve retention of vulnerable pupils in primary schools in high HIV prevalence communities in rural Malawi, with important, positive spill-over effects to pupils at risk of dropout. It also argues that effective innovation requires strategies to create an enabling environment and promote an inclusive philosophy within schools. Further insights were drawn from the perspectives of actors on the benefits, shortfalls and outcomes of the intervention, as well as the successes and challenges of the implementation process. A synthesis and discussion of the empirical findings in relation to the wider literature explores the possibilities for introducing more flexible modes of educational delivery and support within formal schooling.

The main concern of this research is to study the influence of class power, culture and ideologies on educational policies, access and practices in the context of the changing political, economic and social policies of Egypt during the modern period. In order to study that, the thesis works on two levels, theoretical and empirical. The theoretical level presents the historical, methodological and theoretical broad context for the empirical study. This includes the study of the following: 1.- The economic and political situation in Egypt, 2.- State power and social class formation, and 3.- The system and policies of education in Egypt. The empirical study is concerned with study of the following subjects: 1.- Cultural and ideological perspectives of members from different class positions, 2.- Class perspectives on general educational issues, 3.- The ways in which 1 and 2 influence the distribution of educational opportunities for members from different class positions, and 4.- Differences between and within social classes concerning the above points.