The global concern of mental health difficulties amongst children and young people has been widely reported over recent decades. Consequences of unmet need highlight financial, societal, and quality of life considerations. Research indicates that some staff responsible for supporting children’s mental health do not feel sufficiently skilled to address difficulties. Furthermore, there is wide variety in organisational structures of mental health services, with little known about the effects of such contexts upon the support children receive. This research consequently explored how professionals view the concept of mental health, perceptions regarding their role in identification and support, perceived competency in addressing difficulties, barriers and facilitative factors, and effects of the working environment upon support for children’s mental health difficulties. Five focus groups were conducted, each with a different professional group working in children’s services, including practitioners from health and educational contexts. Findings were analysed using thematic networks, a framework for qualitative data analysis. Participants made a number of recommendations to improve service delivery, including enhanced training opportunities, increased mental health resources to assist practitioners in intervening using an evidence-based approach, and the development of stronger links across tiers of working.

Non-attendance has been explored by educationalists since compulsory education was introduced (Brown, 1983; Irving and Parker-Jenkins; 1995). However, few studies have focused on cases of improved attendance and furthermore, triangulated the views of pupils, parents and teachers in such cases. The current study employed a multiple case study design to explore the views of pupils, parents and teachers with regards to the causes of the pupils’ non-attendance and the reasons for the improvements in their attendance. It was found that the greatest improvement in attendance was evident when there was a shared understanding of the causes of non-attendance between at least the parent and teacher, the interventions put in place aimed to address these causes and there was a shared responsibility for improving attendance. In addition to this, the findings highlighted a number of factors that may lead to further improvements in the pupils’ attendance. These included: teachers recognising and addressing school related factors; a greater understanding of the reasons for the pupils’ refusal behaviour; the pupils’ views being acted upon; and consideration of the impact of the pupils’ non-attendance. The implications of the findings with regards to the professional practice of Educational Psychologists are discussed along with future research.

This research positions itself as an historical and cultural event taking place at a particular time and in a particular form for reasons which span the political, philosophical and personal. Its subject matter is the claim of some home educating parents that their children learn to read without being taught. Rather than treating such children as exceptions to an established educational norm, this thesis rethinks learning to read through parent’s understandings of literacy learning based on meanings assigned to key concepts such as ‘child’, ‘teaching’ and ‘reading’ and on the rhizomatic structure which relates these concepts to each other and to political, ideological and epistemological understandings. This alternative perspective creates a space; physical, temporal and theoretical, in which different interpretations of learning, such as those invited by complexity theory, become open to consideration. In doing this the technological view that reading is achieved through a series of enabling inputs conducted in a particular socio-cultural environment is challenged on both philosophical and empirical grounds. However, this exploration is in turn, directed and restricted by the epistemological assumptions underpinning the PhD as the objectification of intellectual excellence. This thesis considers these restrictions and the contribution research can make given them.

Looked-after children (LAC) are particularly vulnerable to poor mental health. Yet there appears to be limited research on their experiences of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) despite the concept of participation and being listened to strongly exemplified throughout government policy and guidance. A multiple case study design explores the lived experiences of four looked-after young people who have accessed CAMHS and attended a therapeutic intervention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four looked-after young people, using activities that are congruent with personal construct psychology (Kelly, 1995). Thematic analysis highlights that ‘CAMHS as a secure base’ is a facilitator to attending CAMHS. Barriers for the looked-after young people in attending CAMHS related to limited accessibility due to in-care factors and CAMHS factors. LAC’s experiences of attending a therapeutic intervention through CAMHS were positive. The overarching theme of ‘exploring trauma, loss and rejection’ highlights that attending a therapeutic intervention at CAMHS supported the looked-after young people to process and resolve difficult past experiences and reconstruct working models of self and attachment figures. Participants also highlighted ways in which CAMHS could be improved for LAC through a need for transparency. Implications for all professionals working with LAC are discussed.

Historically, there has been an effort to improve the inclusion of those with ‘disabilities’ including Down syndrome (DS). Societal perceptions of DS have been largely negative and may influence how individuals view their lives. Although there has been literature which has explored other people’s perspectives, there has been less which has asked those with DS to share their stories. The aim of the study was to explore the lived experiences and identity of four school-leavers with DS. A narrative approach was employed to elicit stories whilst participants were being recorded on film. A restorying procedure, a narrative tone and thematic analyses were then used to interpret the narratives. The findings revealed diversity in the way the participants spoke about their lives. All participants experienced factors which would have had a positive contribution on their identity development. However, some experienced other factors which may put them at-risk of foreclosing on their identity development. The implication of identity development for generating pragmatic or ambitious aspirations is discussed. I recommend that future research explores what is currently happening in educational settings to promote identity formation in those with DS and how this might be refined to harness positive outcomes for this group.

In numerous countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), America, Australia, and Sweden, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) initiatives represent a dominant manifestation of ‘therapeutic education’ (TE) which has emerged in response to growing concerns about the emotional well-being and mental health of children and young people. Implemented by a diverse range of lay experts, including teachers, teaching assistants, coaches and consultants, SEL-work emphasises the teaching of socio-emotional skills. Drawing on a critical realist framework, this thesis explores the ways in which SEL, is constructed both through language and practice and the wider implications of these discursive constructions for professional subjectivities. This research employs a realist ethnographic design across three school sites in the East Midlands area of the UK. Qualitative data, gathered through interviews, in-depth observations and documentary materials reveal a number of tensions within these constructions of SEL. In addition, an analysis of the qualitative data draws attention to an emerging and idealised professional subjectivity, namely, the teacher as charismatic emotional hero. The thesis argues that, despite some positive constructions of SEL, therapeutic practices in schools are often a site at which the psychopathologisation of children occurs.

Autism, a lifelong developmental disability, can have a significant impact on parents, particularly mothers who are often the primary care takers of their children in countries in which understanding of and resources for young people with autism are limited. This study explores the lives of mothers of adolescent sons with autism in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. I focus on the issues that arise in a strictly sex segregated society, Saudi Arabia, and ask how living in such a culture affects the capacity of mothers to support and care, and to be helped to support and care, for their sons. I consider the experiences of these mothers in contrast with those of mothers from Bahrain which, though still a traditional society, has a more progressive approach towards women who fully participate in society and have almost the same rights as men, at least in law. In a country like Saudi Arabia, mothers struggle with the complexities of autism in a society that often treats them as inferior simply because of their sex. In Bahrain, even though mothers struggle with autism and a lack of support, the social and political structures of the country are different. Bahraini mothers, for example, do not have to contend with male guardianship laws or a prohibition on driving, both of which, I argue here, extensively affect their capacity to care for their sons. In this thesis, I apply Nussbaum’s Capability Approach to questions of social justice for mothers of adolescents with autism. The Capability Approach is an evaluative framework that assesses individuals’ well-being, exploring what a person can actually do and be when given opportunity freedoms. In a just society, according to Nussbaum (2011), every individual is entitled to dignity and respect and should be provided with appropriate threshold levels of functioning in ten central human capabilities which include bodily integrity; senses imagination, and thought; emotions, and affiliation. By engaging in conversations with 17 mothers, 10 in Saudi Arabia and seven in Bahrain, this study starts to tell the stories of these seventeen mothers. In their own words2, the mothers I interviewed share their journeys with autism, discuss available social support, both formal and informal, and refer to and sometimes explicitly describe the cultural norms and regulations they encounter. To analyse the interview data, I use thematic analysis and Nussbaum’s Capability Approach to explore mothers’ experiences. While I acknowledge that this is a small-scale study and I make only limited claims to generalisability or representativeness, the results of 1 I discuss terminology in Chapter One but this term is taken from the UK National Autistic Society definition at http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/asd.aspx 2 Translated from Arabic to English as explained in Chapter Four. iv my analysis indicate a significant lack of support, both informal from husbands, families and friends, and formal from hospitals and schools. Most mothers experienced difficulties dealing with autism, physically and/or emotionally. With respect to the Capability Approach, most Saudi mothers reported capability failure, largely because of the marginalisation of those with autism and gender discrimination. These capabilities are compromised because Saudi mothers live under laws which, I claim, promote inequality and injustice. With major gender inequality, mothers in Saudi, I argue, suffer greatly and their capabilities are jeopardised. By contrast, my data indicates that Bahraini mothers’ capability development is less inhibited by the social and political arrangements of their country than applies to women in Saudi Arabia. This study draws out the significant differences in the experiences of women in two countries that are geographically separated only by a bridge but whose norms and conventions are radically different. I argue that in order to promote social justice for women, it is important to see the situation through their eyes and to research their experiences in ways that allow a deep understanding of their struggles in their societies. I conclude that it is vital to acknowledge and value the roles of mothers caring for their children with autism within their communities, and to develop and ultimately implement policies that allow their own capabilities and those of their children to flourish.

This study explored the relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge of 13 second language (L2) English grammar points and the relationship of each type of knowledge with language learning aptitude and working memory capacity in 90 Mexican learners of L2 English at three different levels of proficiency (Level 5, Level 7, Level 9). An elicited imitation test and an oral narrative test were used to measure implicit knowledge, and a metalinguistic knowledge test was used to measure explicit knowledge. With respect to language learning aptitude and working memory, the former was operationalised by the LLAMA test, and the latter by the backward digit span test. With regard to the relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge, implicit knowledge correlated positively and weakly with explicit knowledge while an analysis by grammar point showed a non-significant negative correlation approaching significance between implicit and explicit scores. These results indicate that learners found some grammar points easy in terms of explicit knowledge and other grammar points easy in terms of implicit knowledge, and vice versa. Learners’ language aptitude and working memory did not significantly predict explicit or implicit knowledge of the targeted difficult and easy grammar points for the cohort of participants as a whole. Another analysis by level group (Level 5, Level 7, Level 9) indicated that the cognitive variables did not significantly predict explicit knowledge of easy or difficult grammar points. However, with respect to implicit knowledge, working memory significantly predicted implicit knowledge of easy grammar points in Level 5, and language aptitude marginally predicted implicit knowledge of difficult grammar points in Level 5. Overall, the findings support the view that language aptitude and working memory are better predictors at lower levels of proficiency. The findings of this study contribute to researchers’ understanding of the distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge and the relevance of language aptitude and working memory at different levels of proficiency.

This thesis will explore the current and potential role of emotion in undergraduate legal education in England Wales. It will discuss the lack of acknowledgment of emotion within both the doctrinal and liberal traditions of legal education and the limited recognition that has been accorded to emotion more recently as a result of the development of socio-legal and other approaches to the law degree. Parallels will be drawn with changing philosophical and scientific conceptualisations of emotion, which have shifted from viewing emotion as irrational and potentially dangerous, to viewing it as intertwined with, or even part of, cognition and intelligence. The different ways in which emotion can, and arguably should, be incorporated within legal education will then be evaluated. The influence of neo-liberalism on both higher education generally, and legal education specifically, has led to a focus on skills which could incorporate the use of emotion, in particular emotional intelligence, into legal education as a form of soft skill or competency. However, the final three chapters of this thesis seek to demonstrate that relying on this conceptualisation alone is too narrow (as well as being ideologically driven). A detailed discussion of the role of emotion within learning and its impact on the wellbeing of both law students and the legal academy shows that emotion is more than a fotm of soft skill and should become an integral part of undergraduate legal education in England and Wales to improve both the academic attainment and the psychological health of those involved.

Well-being is increasingly of interest to schools and educational policy makers in the UK and beyond. This thesis is a philosophical and empirical enquiry into the relationship between well-being and education and into the nature of a theory and practice of well-being in educational settings. Well-being, I will argue, is not a single entity or the private possession of an individual; nor is it an add-on or optional extra for educators. It is rather an intergenerational, shared embodied theory and practice, an intrinsic goal of education and an inherent and constitutive part of how we engage in education. Well-being is not something we ‘deliver’ and we may not be able to teach or produce it directly. However, we can attempt to create an environment in which it can occur. I will argue that the qualities of this environment should be the focus of those who wish to promote well-being in education and that teachers need an educational environment which will allow them and their pupils, to be well. Using Arendt’s The Human Condition as a key insight into human ways of being and doing I will argue that well-being, being well, occurs when there is balance between the different activities that humans engage in and a balance in how they engage in those activities. I will also argue that such a balanced environment will serve a key educational function, the containment of anxiety and the containment of love. Theory and practice are indivisible and this theory arose from 13 years of practice in schools as an advisor into well-being in education. I therefore put my own emergent theory into practice by using it to develop a reflective research methodology, contemplative reflection, with which to study a well-being project I co-created and worked with for 13 years, which is called Celebrating Strengths.