The Code of Practice (DfE, 1994) established the role of SENCO to assist the inclusion of pupils with SEN in mainstream schools. Nearly a decade later, SEN generally and the work of LSAs in particular, gained more political and academic attention after the government of Britain announced that schools of the future would include many more trained staff to support learning to higher standards (Morris, 2001). SENCOs and LSAs, thus, should form an integral part of the culture of all departments, including PE. The thesis uses Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony to explore how the educational ideologies and experiences of SENCOs and LSAs influence the extent to which they shape the (inclusive) culture of PE. A web survey and follow up interviews with SENCOs and LSAs were used to explore the inclusion of pupils with SEN in mainstream secondary school PE in North-West England. All quantitative data were analysed using Survey Monkey whilst qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis using NVIVO. The research discovered that the role of SENCO and LSA are diverse and depended largely on the SEN needs of the school. For both, access to, or influence over, positions of authority were limited, thus making it more difficult for them to shape the inclusive culture of PE. The majority of SENCOs and LSAs have not received PE-specific training, which casts doubt over their ability to contribute to the development of an inclusive culture in PE. The findings also highlight the hegemonic status of English, maths and science when it comes to SEN resource distribution, which most SENCOs and LSAs support and often reinforce. PE was found to be especially disadvantaged in this hierarchy of subject priority, the implication again being that this further limits the ways and extent to which an inclusive PE culture can develop.

Higher education institutions and the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Kuwait have been shifting from face-to-face to blended learning (BL) for several years. The only exception is the School of Basic Education (SBEK) where face-to-face and one-way communication is virtually the only method used. The main objective of SBEK is to train teachers. This research aims to explore the possible challenges that face the implementation of BL at SBEK and the solutions needed, from the perspectives of the senior management, teachers and final year students. I also sought to measure and interpret the attitudes of the management, teachers and students at SBEK towards BL using a mixed-methods approach and to explore the extent to which these attitudes are currently perceived as obstacles towards the implementation of blended learning. The sample of this research consists of 344 participants (N = 293 final year students, N = 43 faculty teachers and N = 8 senior management) for the quantitative phase and 43 participants (N = 7 college leaders/senior management, N = 10 teachers/faculty members and N = 26 students) for the qualitative phase. BL has been considered in the context of the Kuwait higher education system and the MOE as a way of increasing the achievement and the critical thinking necessary for students in Kuwait. The study concludes that the attitudes of most of the participants in this study towards the implementation of BL at SBEK appeared to be positive and optimistic; however, many obstacles were identified. These include an apparent absence of planning and leadership, financial issues, academic issues, cultural issues, English language and technical issues. I have also proposed a road map as a strategy for implementing BL in SBEK based on the research findings.

This thesis has been developed around a qualitative research project which explores the development of an inclusive school vision that school leaders hold for their schools. The research project employs life history methods, and the knowledge claims made are generated through narratives created from interviews with six (6) head-teachers of primary schools in Greece. The research builds its theoretical concepts upon an interdisciplinary context using literature from the fields of inclusive education studies, educational leadership, organisational management, and complexity theory. The study focuses on the exploration of the experiences and life histories of the head-teachers, and aims to explore the content of their vision and the process of its emergence in the school organisation. The analysis process relates the stories of the participants around major themes emanating from thematic analysis, and employs tenets of complexity theory to conceptualise the development of vision formation as a change process. The discussion developed discloses the importance of the individual meaning and contextual circumstances in the understanding and implementation of what constitutes an inclusive form of education. The findings of the study, as formulated through interpretation, suggest that the formation of an inclusive vision is a complex and ongoing process driven by personal values and incentives, and developed through empowering practices. The theoretical discussion that emerges from the study highlights the contribution to knowledge of this thesis by discussing the concept of vision as a process of leadership development in the context of inclusive education. The study offers valuable insights over the process of vision formation as its emergence is an under-researched area in the field of inclusive education. This thesis results in a discussion over the significance of a complexity theorisation over the meaning of inclusive education by considering the conceptual and research implication that such a view entails.

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This study explores the identity of Higher Education Lecturers in UK Further Education Colleges [HE in FE]. This sector accounts for 8-10% of HE and offers cheaper, local options to students than traditional HE, supporting successive governments’ targets to Widen Participation [WP] and increase skills (Simmons and Lea, 2013). The HE White Paper (DBIS, 2016) suggests continued growth in this area. However, HE in FE may be perpetuating macro-level inequality (Avis and Orr, 2016) and there are calls for HE in FE to be re-defined and raised in profile (Bathmaker, 2016). Lecturer identity is considered to be significant for emergent student identity (Ashwin, 2009), yet little is known about the background and identity of HE in FE lecturers (Kadi-Hanifi and Elliott, 2016). This research contributes to original knowledge by revealing experiences in background, practices, and relationships, in relation to identity, and it considers potential links to pedagogy. The qualitative methodology is informed by phenomenology (Smith et al. 2009) and a ‘diagram’ for teacher identity work (Clarke, 2009). Social-constructionist arguments that teachers engage in struggles and create discourses which become realities are central. Thirteen lecturers, from five institutions in North-West England, participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. A methodological contribution of this study is the development of a new framework, offering a structured approach for lecturer identity studies. This study finds participants are fulfilled by working with WP FE students, which these lecturers once were. The lecturers are complicit in creating demanding students, despite struggles with the subsequent workload. There is little motivation to engage in research activity, because it is not rewarded in the FE environment. However, lecturers develop confidence, gain autonomy, and position themselves in order to maintain their coveted degree of freedom. They challenge traditional academic stereotypes, broadening the scope for academic identity (Clegg, 2008).

Social anxieties surrounding the perceived deviancy of young people both within their communities and the education system have been continually reconstructed, over the past century. Burgeoning contemporary media representations and government policies which specifically draw upon the notion of an underclass (Murray: 1990) are in interplay and exacerbate public fears. Increasingly under neo-liberalism, state governance and disciplinary powers are aimed specifically at working class youth. Whilst there have been recent accounts of working-class stigmatisation through analysis of dominant discourses in political debate, policy and media, there is limited research which investigates the extent to which these representations affect the everyday lived experiences of the people to which they refer. This thesis, based on emergent themes fom ethnographic research on the 'streets' and within a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) asse1ts that working class youths lived experience is increasingly framed by stigmatising discourses of inherited cultural deficiencies. The resources that young people draw upon in response to this experienced stigma result in further governance, regulation and restriction. Both within educational institutions and in their contested use of public and community space, young people's self-identifications, are hampered by a frustrated desire to 'belong' within communities and institutions which categorise them as deviant. The thesis focuses on the PRU as a Total Institution (Goffman: 1961), the terminus for youth moved across educational spheres and considers the meaning making of working class youth subject to policy intervention. It analyses young people's everyday experiences of marginalisation and stigmatisation focusing in on tensions that arise between young people and those policing their exile. Finally, it is suggested that young people's negotiation, contestation and reaction to the problematic discourse surrounding them, impact and affect not only their social interactions but life chances and opportunities, reflecting previous findings of cultural and social reproductions (Willis: 1977).

In June 2002 the Department of Health upgraded social work training in England, resulting in the Diploma in Social Work being replaced by a new undergraduate and masters’ level qualification. The requirements outlined for the new degree in social work included the provision that programmes approved to provide the new training had to involve representatives of stakeholders, particularly service users and carers, in the selection of new students (DoH 2002). This thesis investigates the tensions implicit in this policy from the perspective of service users and carers involved in recruitment to one university between 2002 and 2005. To this end, a critical theoretical framework was employed, which recognised the importance of power relationships within the field of study. This framework draws on the work of Bourdieu, Abbott and Foucault, and incorporates feminist and critical theory, in order to conceptualise the issues raised by the study. The intended outcomes of involvement in recruitment were unclear, in contrast to the case of involvement in social work education and practice. However, the policy of involvement in recruitment exemplified various tensions in service user and carer involvement in general, which the study sought to clarify. Service users were required to operate within a cultural context that they had little part in shaping, and this tended to reinforce the asymmetrical distribution of power which is seen as characterising relationships between professionals and those who use their services. Nonetheless, there were no disagreements reported between service users, carers, agency representatives and academic staff regarding the suitability, or otherwise, of individual candidates. Service users and carers looked for candidates who were trustworthy, anti-discriminatory and could relate to service users and carers – attributes which academic staff also valued. Despite appearing beneficial to service users and carers and therefore, by default, social work within this University, the policy of involving service users and carers in admissions was not as beneficial as it appeared. It could disadvantage some service users and carers financially. The policy does not specify what service users and carers can contribute to the admissions process, and the policy can be conceptualised as one that assumes social work educators are inept at choosing social work trainees, despite the lack of evidence that this is the case. This can, in turn, be seen as both contributing to a negative discourse regarding social work, and as a means by which a more regulatory role by the State can be justified. This more duty-based role for social work, I have argued, can be at the expense of a more altruistic approach to assisting vulnerable people, which was so valued by participants.

This thesis mainly analyses the trainee teachers’ reasons for choosing the teaching profession, the problems faced by them, perceptions about the role of a teacher and views about the status of the teaching profession in Pakistan. This study considered both trainee teachers and teacher trainers from a Teacher Training Institute, to examine the reasons for choosing the teaching profession in Pakistan. To seek the answer to the research questions of this study, grounded theory procedures are used to explore the views of participants and to provide an in-depth understanding in a particular context. In this research study, the research data are collected from three groups of participants by conducting one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions. On the basis of the views of research participants, four major research categories are established and under each research category different sub categories are formed. It is reflected in the findings of this study that trainee teachers face many problems and difficulties in the Teacher Training Institute. Data analysis indicates the teaching profession is often associated with low achievers and poor people. It is also considered a respected profession and trainee teachers have a desire to bring positive changes to Pakistani society by adopting the teaching profession. Furthermore, teachers have a significant role in Pakistani society as there are very high expectations of a teacher; and many good qualities, roles and responsibilities are associated with a teacher. The results of this study indicate there is a great influence from the social, cultural and religious norms of Pakistani society on the participants' perceptions and understanding about the different aspects of this study.

This study explores the practices of higher education (HE) tutors in blended learning contexts. Their skills, qualities and competences, particularly emotional competences, are investigated. There is limited research into the personal qualities that students value in their tutors within blended learning contexts, and this study takes steps to address this gap. Students’ perceptions of their tutors are explored focusing on those taking vocationally relevant part-time degrees. A mixed methods approach was adopted to conduct a detailed exploration of eight tutors’ practice in relation to blended learning with data gathered from four principal sources. The study used the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) to assess tutors’ emotional intelligence scores and results were compared to their learners’ perceptions of quality, assessed using an attitude survey. Interviews with tutors explored their approaches to delivery and considered factors that impacted on quality. Analysis of virtual learning environment content and communications provided insight into tutor online practice. The study proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the data generated in the form of a model of the observed tutor beliefs and practices. This represents an interpretation of effective practice in a particular cultural context and this framework may also be useful in understanding other instances of blended learning. The study concludes that tutor emotional competences are important in learner perceptions of quality, although the MSCEIT’s utility in identifying effective tutors is called into question. A number of recommendations for tutor training are provided together with factors for HE institutions to consider when delivering blended learning courses. In particular, the study indicates that integrating social constructivist approaches effectively is challenging for tutors using online media. The critical importance of developing tutor/learner relationships throughout courses is recognised as a key component of practice within blended learning.

In the last decade entertainment-education has emerged as a key educational approach to promoting personal and social change amongst the general population in mass media contexts such as radio and television. Audiences of entertainment-education are commonly presented with educational messages embedded in soap-opera style dramas that are designed to prompt individuals to explore their values and beliefs and make positive choices about their actions and behaviours. Its use with learners in higher education is however limited and there is a paucity of research regarding its transferability to the online learning environment. In order to understand how nurses learn through online entertainment-education in the higher education context I interviewed nine registered nurses who had studied in these circumstances using Interview Plus technique. The interviews were taped, transcribed and subsequently analysed using Smith and Osborne’s (2003) steps for Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Parasocial learning emerged from nurse learners’ experience of entertainment-education as an active, reflective response to an emotional encounter between a nurse learner and an online character. It promoted changes in nurse learners’ attitudes leading them to act as change agents in the clinical environment. Alternatively nurse learners engaged in monophonic learning. This unilateral approach appeared lead to a reduction in their communicative capacity and their sense of therapeutic agency. The online learning environment appeared to enhance the experience of learning through entertainment-education by facilitating social support for learning. Nurse learners were able to increase their social capital through online social networking; a sense of identity concealment in the form of a virtual mask appeared to liberate them to participate. Some nurse learners however seemed to experience a sense of identity revelation in the form of a virtual window which inhibited their willingness to contribute. By promoting parasocial learning it seems entertainment-education has the potential to enrich the nursing curriculum. It places the patient voice at the centre of the educational experience and stimulates nurse learners to shape care. It seems entertainment-education can be usefully adopted in higher education with nurse learners. The online learning environment appears to be an appropriate media for learning through-entertainment-education. It affords an increase in social capital through meaningful social interaction and promotes freedom to participate through a sense of identity concealment. As liberation through identity concealment was not a universal experience approaches to identity concealment/revelation would need to be carefully considered. Monophonic learning emerged as an alternative experience of learning through entertainment-education. As the factors that influence the adoption of monophonic learning remain unclear they would benefit from further exploration.