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The thesis describes an investigation into Chinese adult learners’ learning experiences through case studies of two e-learning programmes conducted in China that were significantly different from each other in their original design. Margaret Archer’s critical realist account of structure and agency informs the theoretical framework of this study. The interactions between individual learners and their e-learning environments combined with their wider social cultural contexts, as manifested in their e-learning experiences are examined mainly through the lens of learners’ reflexivity. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and detailed accounts on learners’ experiences are given from qualitative data, obtained from interviews, digital diaries, informal discussions and reports. Learners were found to be exercising high level of reflexivity as the basis of their decision making in every aspects of their learning, including their commitment to learn, the formation of a learning community, the use made of learning technologies, adaptation to a new learning environment. The findings suggest that e-learning experiences are not technology-driven nor context determined. These findings have significant implications for e-learning design by reassuring the importance in understanding learners’ personal power and social context. They also caution against uncritical direct transfer of educational practice from one context to another.

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Communication skills have been recognised as critical to school leadership. The evolution of social culture, the complexity of human relations and the change in today‟s schooling systems require school leaders to be highly competent in their communication skills. The aim of the study was to explore the links between principals‟ communication styles and parents‟ involvement in Malaysian secondary schools. A comparative qualitative case study was employed. The conversations of three principals and six parents from three different schools were observed and video-recorded. The participants were also interviewed and field notes were taken throughout the fieldwork. Data were analysed using multimodal discourse analysis based on the conceptual definitions and empirical indicators of communicative style adapted from Brandt (1979) and Norton (1978; 1983). Analysis of verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal observations and interview data indicates that all three principals present very similar styles, namely friendly, open, relaxed, attentive and animated. The principals‟ communication styles are task-oriented and generally shaped by their roles and responsibilities as school leaders. However, the styles present by parents are more varied. They presented at least seven styles, namely friendly, open, relaxed, attentive, animated, dominant and contentious in 35−45 minute conversations with the principal. The parents adopted daily communication styles that are generally shaped by the complex processes of socialisation and tend to show more complex styles of speaking in order to achieve their personal communication goals. The findings show that informal communication is the most effective way to encourage parents to become involved in school. Examination of interview data with the principals and parents also concludes that being friendly, committed, respectful, transparent, appreciative and honest is the most influential way of building a meaningful school−home partnership

Since ‘Modern Apprenticeships’ were first introduced in England in 1994, government supported apprenticeships have gone undergone a series of transformations leading to them being underpinned since 2009 by statute and taking a central role in the current UK Government’s state-led vocational skills and education programmes for England. Accordingly, the numbers of people starting and completing apprenticeship programmes each year has increased rapidly, but these increases have also seen expansion in the support structures provided by central government, organisations and businesses. It is these ‘support structures’ that are the focus of this thesis; uncovering who the actors are and what roles they perform in the provision of England’s government-supported apprenticeship programme. Conducting interviews with a variety of people and organisations from government through to employers, this thesis considers apprenticeship in England by way of the public and private organisations that perform these varying roles. Beginning with two quotations which between them offer ideas of structure (‘script’) and agency (‘improvisation’), the research introduces an innovative use of an ancient symbol called a ‘triquetra’ (‘three cornered’) to create an ‘Apprenticeship Triquetra’. In the ‘Apprenticeship Triquetra’, three initial groups of actors – government, employers and training providers – and the many other organisations and businesses that operate in the spaces between them, are juxtaposed with their functional counterparts of governance, employment and education. The Apprenticeship Triquetra then explores the relationships between these ‘actors’ and ‘factors’ through sociological theories of Foucault’s (1978) governmentality thesis and Actor Network Theory (Latour, 1987; Law, 1987). By adding a historical lens to the concepts and theories and drawing a Ii distinction between the apprenticeship ‘programme’ and the apprenticeship ‘system’, apprenticeship is shown to be a site of complex social interactions and vested interests. This multifaceted research presents a unique critique of apprenticeships in England and concludes with three findings. The first is that there appears to be a concerning level of commodification that has developed in the apprenticeship system. The second finding relates to the way in which the power of the government has been used to direct the apprenticeship programme and system. The third finding constitutes that of an observation born out of this thesis’ historical and contemporary narratives: apprenticeship acts as a social barometer reflecting broader social contexts

Self-reliance as a component of development agendas is often relegated to the background if mentioned at all. This thesis explores the value of self-reliance in meaningful progress, as well as the conditions which enable self-reliance, paying particular attention to the role of critical thinking in that process. It investigates individual and collective use of local knowledge in formulating strategies for progressive community development in collaboration with international agencies. By drawing attention to the practical aspects of development interventions, the challenges can be observed from an equality, justice and inclusion perspective. The thesis works with the frameworks of Amartya Sen’s and Martha Nussbaum’s human development and capabilities approach calling attention to the value of freedom in development and the capabilities to do and to be. It adopts a critical theoretical approach from an emancipatory perspective and argues that a useful way to consider self-reliance may be Immanuel Kant’s perspective on Enlightenment as emergence from self-imposed inability to use one’s own knowledge. This approach emphasises the value in acknowledging the views of those the process is meant to support. By approaching the issues through Freirean dialogue and participatory methods, that address concerns of power relationships, the thesis provides a ‘space to speak’ for the community groups. This is facilitated by the use of the creative engagement tool ‘Ketso’. This thesis argues that meaningful progress is inclusive and that it should pay attention to mutual processes of knowledge production. The findings highlight the role of lifelong learning as a mediating process where knowledge is exchanged and where reciprocation takes place in a way that respects other people’s values and interests.

Sixth form colleges have a long established and valued position within the post-16 education sector in the UK. Despite maintaining a reputation for high quality provision and student success rates, there is very little literature which focuses on this as an institution compared to schools and general further education colleges. Furthermore, there is little research which focuses on students undertaking vocational programmes of study at sixth form, as opposed to the academic A-level qualification which is viewed as its’ ‘staple provision’. This research attempts to address this through an exploration of sixth form college practices and how these serve to shape the learning experiences of the students. Immersed within the SFC context, the researcher adopted the dual role of researcher and student support assistant. Informed by the interpretivist epistemology of symbolic interactionism the researcher employed an ethnographic methodology over one academic term, utilising the methods of participant observation and interviews. The participants comprise a cohort of BTEC First Diploma Health and Social Care (level 2) students and teachers. The data are presented in a story followed by a thematic analysis. The subsequent discussion of findings is structured according to a theoretical framework which rejects deterministic assumptions of intelligence located within the minds of individuals and instead posits learning as an inherently social, reciprocal process with others. It draws upon Communities of Practice theory (Wenger, 1998) as a way of understanding how participation in learning is enabled or disabled and Vygotskian theory (1978) as a way of understanding the mechanisms of learning. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model (1979, 2005) provides an overarching and unifying aspect of the theoretical framework, enabling consideration of the complex proximal and distal factors which shape the learning experiences of students. This research reveals some important considerations for policy makers and providers of SFC. It discusses ways in which college practices and the learning relationships established between students and teachers serve to enable or disable participation in the learning process. Furthermore, it illustrates the complex and intricate web of factors present in the lives of students and how these are shaped not only by the proximal features of their learning community, but by the more distal, wider features of government educational policy.

Higher education is facing many challenges as universities contend with significant ongoing dynamic change in the external environment. As student expectations and needs evolve, many universities are reviewing the systems they use to support their business processes. This study investigates the process of change using a theoretical framework which combines the related concepts of organisational learning and knowledge management, underpinned by a complexity theory paradigm. Examining the experience of one university over a period of several years, the study identifies the changes which have impacted upon academic advising staff using a case study methodology which has been informed by action research. This methodology employs a mixed methods approach which facilitates a deeper understanding of the source of problems and enables the critique of organisational systems. Using the knowledge management techniques of collaboration, mapping and taxonomies, the study involved processual enquiry and review as new knowledge emerged and was placed within the context of the wider organisation (Dawson, 2014). The Burke-Litwin Causal Model of Organizational Performance and Change (Burke and Litwin, 1992) was employed to analyse organisational documentation and focus group feedback and the complexity inherent in higher education and the causal effects of organisational change are examined. Such an investigation provides a means by which the discrepancies between the university’s espoused theory and its theory-in-use (Argyris and Schön, 1978) can be identified and used to enhance organisational learning within the university. The main findings reveal tensions which arise from the ‘loosely versus tightly coupled systems’ of the university (Burke, 2014) and from the requirement for staff to place new and revised processes within their knowledge of previous systems. Recommendations are made which are aimed at improving advising and student records system processes as well as enhancing knowledge management and organisational learning within higher education.

Information and communication technologies have seen exponential growth and development in the last few decades, therefore increasing the conditioning force they exert on power, knowledge, and creativity in the 21st century. This research aims to contribute to the discussion of 21st century globalization, from an educational perspective, and from the perspective of a developing country, Lebanon. Notable sociologist Manuel Castells’s theory of the network society provides the conceptual framework within which this thesis is situated. This thesis explores the integration of technology into the teaching process, and further seeks to investigate the relationship between technology integration and the development of students’ global citizenship skills and attitudes in a sample of Lebanese private high schools. Through a mixed methods approach to data gathering, data was gathered from 119 students and 41 teachers through the use of surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inductive emergent theme strategies. Two participant populations (students and teachers) were included to provide a complete context within which to interpret the findings. This research displays originality by suggesting the existence of a relationship between technology use in school and the development in students of the skills and attitudes characteristic of a global citizen. The analysis revealed that most students exhibit the attitude of a global citizen regardless of how technology is being used in their classes. Therefore a strong relationship between technology integration in school and students’ global citizenship attitudes was not apparent. However, a relationship did emerge between a particular technology attitude held by some participants and their global citizenship attitude, leading to a conclusion that increased exposure to technology in school, in various forms, can make students more aware of the importance of digital skills and consequently more globally conscious.

Giving parents a choice regarding which schools educate their children has been central to the discourse of school choice in England for many years. This choice and the capacity to make it has implications for all concerned. However, little research has been done on the impact this choice, and the transition has on the way that women perform motherhood during this time. This study aimed to investigate and understand the effect of the school choice process on the mothers of children undergoing this transition and the ways they perform motherhood. Carried out in a small, rural area in East Anglia, this case study used a narrative approach to interview 15 mothers who had been through or were going through the process. The results of the research show that the transition to secondary school was a critical site of performativity and a catalyst for the women’s exploration of how they performed motherhood. Also, the research showed that the mothers all placed an importance on the local community as part of their performance of motherhood, linking the physical with the performative arenas. Contrary to previous research, the engagement with the process and the experiences of the mothers were not shared and were carried out on a private basis. This research leads to a greater understanding of the impact of the school choice process on mothers and their performance of motherhood and expands upon the decisions made and the way the educational market operates.