Authentic early experience describes new medical students undertaking ‘human contact in a social or clinical context that enhances learning of health, illness or disease, and the role of the health professional’ (Littlewood et al. 2005). This thesis provides three original research contributions: a critical analysis of the application of socio-cultural and educational theories to authentic early experience; empirical data addressing two inter-related research questions; ‘How and why do students construct useful knowledge and meaning-making from authentic early experience?’ and ‘How and why do students make authentic early experiences work for them?’; and an interpretation of social processes and resultant consequences embedded in authentic early experience. Multiple theoretical perspectives were used to create a framework incorporating mixed qualitative methods. Scott’s concept of Mētis (1998) guided interpretation of not only how students created meaning but also when and how they chose to use it, and value it, relative to formally recognised knowledge. The study identified six specific findings which provide understanding of the complex consequences arising from authentic early experience. (1) Faculty and placement provider expectations of students were simultaneously too high and too low. (2) Dynamic social interactions are fundamental to meaning-making and knowledge construction (which are inextricably intertwined with identity evolution). (3) Social processes influencing authentic early experience can be described through dyads of variables which form intersecting workplace and educational spectra. (4) A holistic social view identifies unpredictable and unintended consequences of authentic early experience. (5) Students do not align the locus of ‘real learning’ with the locus of ‘real practice’. (6) Students create their own Mētis which crucially includes understanding about how to handle knowledge and meaning and how to make experiences work for them. The implications and potential applications of these findings are discussed.

This thesis investigates the experiences of internationalisation among academics from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, focusing on the role of internationalisation in the construction of academic identity, practice and approaches to university reform. The research is situated in the context of profound policy and ideological change in higher education systems in this region during the transition period, and in a wider discussion of global trends in higher education. The study adopts a qualitative and biographical approach, drawing on data from life story narratives elicited in interviews with twenty individual academics. Thus, the thesis presents an alternative look at internationalisation conceived not as an institutional policy but as individual experience responsible for the formation or reformulation of academic identity, values, dispositions and academic practices. The concept of individualisation is used as the main theoretical tool through which experiences of internationalisation can be studied and understood as elements of individual life story. The findings of this research concern the different ways in which a novel and hybrid or multiple set of academic identities and practices have been constructed on the basis of significant internationalisation experiences among academics located in particular (and partially shared) historical and policy contexts. Among the interviewed academics, internationalisation is found to be a very productive tool in the shaping of academic identity, practice and attitude towards university reform, which is reflected through a specific individualised life story.

Recent developments in European dental education are student-focused, concerned, for example, with competency-based and problem-based learning. The development of dental educators has so far received little consideration. This study aimed to agree curriculum content for developing dental educators so that they are better able to support changing undergraduate dental education. Adopting consensus methodology, a two-round Delphi was conducted in 2012. Fifty-three dental educators attending the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) annual conference 2010-2011 and 39 dental students attending the European Dental Students Association (EDSA) volunteered to take part. The Delphi questionnaire was developed based on literature, piloted, and sent to participants to gather opinions of and seek consensus on educational content using rating-scales and open-ended questions. Numeric data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed thematically. This study identified required educational content for undergraduate-teachers and practical issues for developing dental educators. This study revealed seven domains of curriculum content for dental educators. Four domains were deemed essential in which all educators should be competent:educational principles; educational practice in dentistry; curriculum, quality, and improvement; and educational professionalism. Three domains were optional which could be tailored to local needs include: educational principles in specific context, educational research, and educational and healthcare management. When developing training for dental educators, factors which need consideration are: scope and type of educational content; academic position and teaching experience of educators, roles and responsibilities of educators, the nature of undergraduate dental education, and local and cultural contexts. The results are beneficial for (1) individual educators to inform professional development plans, (2) institutions to devise faculty developments, (3) ADEE to inform policies on developing European dental educators, and (4) other disciplines to inform training for their educators.

This thesis reports some of the complex issues encountered, researched and addressed in the context of participatory, practitioner action research to support student learning in educational settings. Research methods were devised in response to genuine school-based situations working with colleagues within communities of practice. The focus is the interplay between teachers’ communicative competence and teaching styles and students’ communicative competence and learning abilities. A series of four linked studies are reported which involved several hundred participants from pre-school to adult in a range of socio-economic and cultural settings, using mixed methods including interviews, observations and a comparative study. Improvements are reported in the cognitive-linguistic ability of students in relation to their narrative abilities following interventions conducted in classroom settings. The interventions involved support for narrative thinking and communication skills based around exploratory talk. The results suggest a positive relationship between students’ communicative and narrative competences and the potential for effective academic learning. Nursery school observations and interviews in Japan revealed informed and effective educational and cultural support for young children’s narrative competence and Japanese participants’ comparatively advanced development in narrative thinking. The results of the studies suggest that teachers’ classroom interactions involving exploratory talk serve to support and help improve students’ narrative competence and inner speech to support formal academic learning. The findings are discussed in terms of pedagogical knowledge, school culture and the UK educational climate.

The benefits and drawbacks of email have been widely researched using a number of approaches in a variety of contexts. Whilst there has been a general consensus regarding these there has been no unified approach to tackling the issues presented. Methodological limitations, contextual differences and focus on recipient behaviour have limited toe tools that have been presented to users to enhance use. A mode was proposed to overcome these limitations and provide a basis upon which email use can be enhanced and the effectiveness maximised. A large scale study was undertaken in the Welsh Further Education sector which included all institutions both pre and post-merger. A total of 1198 survey responses were received with 1010 used for analysis. A follow up exercise comprised of fifteen in depth interviews to build upon the survey responses. Descriptive and content analysis was undertaken along with Chi Square, ANOVA and Bivariate Correlation tests. Results have demonstrated that role culture has a significant part to play in the use email. This analysis has also used email to demonstrate the divide between managers and non-managers. Usage statistics have shown an upward trend in the volume of email use and the extent to which it exceeds perceived manageability, an indicator of overload. The importance of working relationships has been investigated and linked to email behaviour. The future perceptions of email have been explored to show how users perceive unsustainable increases to be likely and that behavioural modification is necessarily. Finally, the proposed conceptual framework has been refined and justified along with recommendations for the development of appropriate and robust training to replace current training which is poorly engaged with.

A single case study was conducted to explore how schools might better engage fathers in their children's education. Women traditionally mediate early years education, and communication from schools to parents is directed to mothers. Some fathers are more involved in the day-to-day care of their children than others, but the predominant culture, both in the reception class and at home, is feminine. Where fathers are involved in education, irrespective of mothers’ involvement, children achieve better educational outcomes. There is no existing research on what fathers say about transition to school. Fatherhood and masculinities literature using discourse analysis reveal a theoretical, functional psychoanalytic discourse in Western culture. The research question posed here is: ‘What might be learned from what a father says about his son’s transition to school?’ A qualitative research design from a relativist ontological stance and social construction epistemology was used to explore what one father said on this topic, and to emancipate his voice. Willig’s (2013) stages of Foucauldian discourse analysis provided the framework for the analysis of a researcher- transcribed interview. Transition to school was discursively constructed: constructions were compared, contrasted and located in the masculinities, feminist, psychoanalytic, educational and economic discourses. Actions and subject positions available to challenge gender roles and stereotypes in early years education and to promote fathers’ involvementwere noted. The findings revealed a complex subjectivity inthe father’s many ways of seeing and being in relation to transition to school and the theoretical collective unconscious in functional psychoanalysis. The role of educational psychologists is discussed in influencing policy to includefathers in their children’s education.

This study investigates the development of an appropriate pedagogy for critical reading in the Japanese secondary school context, adopting an action research approach as a methodology. It was conducted in a national college of technology in Japan, which offers five-year education for students over the age of 15. The target students were between 15 and 18, who were equivalent to upper secondary students. This study consisted of three phases, lasting from 2008 to 2014 overall. Data were collected by means of several methods: journal writing, interviewing, observing, video- and audio-recording, questionnaires, and documents. Written and oral data were analyzed using thematic analysis. During the process of this action research investigation, teachers in an English language teaching (ELT) study group were engaged as advisors for my teaching as well as informants. The opinions of these teachers as well as students’ opinions were incorporated into this study. This study contributes to ELT in the Japanese context. First, it shows that locally produced, government-approved textbooks could be used as materials for critical reading. Second, it shows that critical reading is a type of instruction which aims to develop students’ reading skills. Third, it shows that developing students’ thinking skills can be used as a rationale for critical reading. Fourth, it developed a framework for critical reading. This framework of critical reading can be used for developing intercultural understanding in other ELT contexts. Another contribution of this study to wider ELT contexts is that it reveals some teachers’ resistance to the political orientation of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and critical pedagogy (CP). There are also methodological contributions. One is that this study reveals the paradoxical nature of action research outcomes affected by social or policy changes. The other is that this action research with other teachers’ participation raises an issue of power relationships in a context where age matters in social interactions and decision-making.

• Background This paper profiles research into the under-representation of women at Vice Chancellor level in UK Higher Education. Less than 15% of Vice Chancellors are women, whereas women make up 51% of the general population, 50% of early career academics and 60% of higher education students. The research presented in this thesis explores why so few women are Vice Chancellors, and whether anything can be done to increase the number. It also examines whether leadership development can make a difference to increasing women’s representation in senior academic leadership. • Research questions 1. To what extent is the under-representation of women in senior academic leadership a result of gendered senior leadership culture? 2. How can this culture be interpreted and understood in terms of Communities of Practice of Masculinities? 3. How well do women academics operate in UK Higher Education senior leadership Communities of Practice of Masculinities? 4. What is the value of leadership development in addressing the under-representation of women in senior academic leadership? • Research methods and mapping of the literature This paper addresses a gap in the literature by drawing on data generated by in-depth interviews with 20 women Vice Chancellors/Pro Vice Chancellors across the UK. Most of these interviews were conducted face-to-face, with a small number carried out over the telephone. • Analytical and theoretical framework Paechter’s concept of masculinities and femininities as Communities of Practice is being employed and explored through this project, because of the emphasis on the research on masculinities in higher education academic leadership circles. This theoretical framework will be critically examined, and possibly refined and reinterpreted as a result of this research. • Research findings and contribution to knowledge This research is examining the under-representation of women at VC level in the UK in order to: contribute to the on-going debate in this area across all sectors; explore the hypothesis around communities of practice of masculinities; and recommend leadership development interventions that will make a difference for women. Themes from the interview data include: value of confidence, resilience, and ambition; need for sponsorship and support; experience of ‘masculinities’ leadership behaviours; lack of career planning; impact of ‘critical mass’ of women at the top; navigating gendered leadership cultures by fitting in; the private space.

This research is concerned with looking at how girls experience their primary education. The aim is to try and discover how the girls perceive themselves as primary school pupils and linked to this to evaluate the contribution made by their mothers. The data was gained by interviewing girls and their mothers from two suburban primary schools and one rural primary school. There are two distinct but interwoven themes: a) the girls' lives at primary school; b) the mothers' perceptions of their daughters' education and how they relate to their daughters' own schools within the education system. The main focus is on the part played by social class in determining both the attitudes of the girls and their mothers. This is linked to Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of 'cultural capital', 'habitus' and 'field'. These contextualise the social and cultural actions of the individual which are not seen in isolation and both the social groups' or social institutions' roles are balanced with that of the individual. The research argues that social class still plays a major determining role in the educational expectations for girls and affects the tensions between home and school cultures. The girls' mothers play a significant part in their daughters' perceptions and attitudes towards schooling and education - notably via the expectations they have for them. These, too, are affected by the educational background and the social class of the mothers whose views and attitudes, to a great extent, are a direct result of their own experiences.

There has been forty years of research on African Caribbean underachievement yet African Caribbeans continue to have below average performance. This is evidenced in disproportionately high exclusion rates and poor exam results (Gillborn and Gipps, 1996). This study aimed to investigate the educational experiences of African Caribbeans in the UK. Its focus was the factors that contribute to African Caribbean academic success, but it additionally explored low achievement and the experience of exclusion. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Seventy-eight questionnaires were analysed and thirty-two respondents aged 16 to 40+ years were interviewed. Respondents were placed into five achievement groups based on their performance at school. A Success group with 5 GCSE A*-C grades gained at the end of secondary school, a Retake group who achieved five passes after leaving school, a Vocational group, a Low Achievement group and a School Underachiever Life Achievers (SULA) group. The results revealed that all Black children have negative experiences at school in varying degrees. What differentiates those who succeed and those who do not is the level of resilience and protective factors that they have developed. The Success group had more positive support from a wider range of sources across their experiences at home and within the community which instilled a resilience or resistance to negative experiences. The Low Achievement group, which had less support, and more negative experiences at home and in the community were more susceptible and vulnerable to the impact of negative school experiences. There were disproportionately higher exclusion figures for the sample than the national average. This thesis provides a framework for conceptualising and understanding African Caribbeans’ educational experiences and offers guidance to parents, community leaders, educators and policy makers as they work towards improving achievement levels and reducing exclusions amongst African Caribbeans in the UK.