Whilst at University students will experience many instances of feedback on their work. Quite often such feedback is facilitated by academic lecturers in the hope that the student will utilise this and improve in their next assessment (Hester, 2001). Often feedback does not have the desired effect and is unpredictable in terms of enhancing a student’s motivation, self-confidence and subsequent effort in future assessments. The thesis reports the findings from three studies. Primarily the present thesis, inspired by phenomenography, explored student’s appraisal, comprehension and utilisation of feedback. The thesis also explored lecturer’s responses to the observed student experiences in order to offer comparative research findings. The primary data collection method utilised within the thesis was one-to-one interviews however in order to stimulate discussion prior to interview visual representations were employed. In the data collection with students (study two) a drawing activity took place prior to the interview. In the data collection with lecturers’ (study three) videos of student’s responses to feedback were shown to the lecturers. The interviews in study two were subjected to thematic data analysis and revealed 8 main themes for the students (Lecturers, Emotions, Feedback Cognitions, Efficacy Cognitions, Draft Work, Motivation, Effort and Grades) and 6 main themes for the lecturers (Efficacy Cognitions, Student Autonomy, Problems with Feedback, Effort Conceptions, Feedback Mechanisms and Understanding Students). The findings from study two with students indicated a multifaceted interpretation of the student experience. The outcome space revealed five categories of description (Broken relationship, needy, low achiever, emotionally charged and high achiever). The structure of the variation revealed a hierarchically inclusive pattern indicating how varying patterns of behaviour and emotional reactions interact to affect the students processing and subsequent utilisation of the feedback received. In study three with the lecturers, similarities in conceptions of feedback alongside mismatches between lecturers and students were very apparent. Conclusively the thesis suggests that understanding students individually through fostering lecturer and student relationships, alongside dialogic feedback, help to improve the student’s propensity to utilise the feedback received.

Studies have shown that many students perceive clashes between scientific and religious perspectives which contribute to negative impacts on student learning of evolution. Much earlier work, at least in larger-scale studies, investigates the influence of these perspectives in the form of a binary classification of the relationship between the two (either science or religion, either biological evolution or biblical creation, either accept or reject evolution). This PhD study therefore aims to develop a new set of research tools employing multidimensional classifications of the relationships and use these to explore four facets of student learning. These consist of views of the relationship between science and religion, justifications for levels of acceptance of evolution, positions on the relationship between biological evolution and biblical creation, and conceptions of biological evolution and the nature of science in relation to the positions. In order to understand the diversity of patterns of responses, a survey-based study using a questionnaire was conducted among 327 high school students in a religiously heterogeneous context, Thailand. The study shows that, rather than subscribing to simple incompatible views, these students tended to hold compatible views of the relationship between science and religion, some form of reconciliatory position on the relationship between biological evolution and biblical creation, and intermediate levels of acceptance of evolution. In addition, it shows that those accepting evolution tended to rely on science or refuse religion as a cognitive authority; whereas, those not accepting evolution tended to rely on religion or refuse science as a cognitive authority. Furthermore, it demonstrates that many students had developed their scientific sophistication and acceptance of evolution without changing their religious beliefs through changes in their understanding of the evidence for evolution and in their view on the relationship between science and religion. However, the study also shows that those holding reconciliatory positions on the relationship between biological evolution and biblical creation tended to hold a wide range of misconceptions about evolution and the nature of science. I therefore suggest that teachers should be aware of the roles of scientific and religious perspectives in learning about evolution as well as the diversity of ways for relating them positively in the hope that this understanding would help them enhance student learning of evolution.

Investing in education can be seen as a tool that can facilitate a better quality of life for individuals and for society in general. Through a strategy of partnership working, the poor in the society have more chance of accessing educational opportunities. In Tanzania, provision of education is the collaborative task of various groups including local communities. However, despite various efforts through established educational programmes and reforms, poverty levels are still high, particularly in rural areas, suggesting that efforts to reduce poverty through education have not yet produced significant results. Using the experiences and perspectives of people living in Tanzanian rural communities, this study explored the nature of the government-community partnership (GCP) in the provision of educational opportunities. The study examined the literature to explore tensions around the concepts and issues in the discourse on the collective working spirit including the wider perspectives offered by the historical background and the political complexity of partnership working in community development. The study adopted a qualitative multiple-case study approach and used multiple sources of evidence (semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, non-participant observation and documents) to gather the in-depth data necessary to explore the practice of GCP. In writing this account, the analysis and discussion of findings were explored through the lens of a GCP networking framework offered by the theories of social networks and social capital. To facilitate the analysis of GCP, four key themes were identified. The first theme explored the context under which community participation is practised within the GCP framework. The second analysed micro-politics in decision-making and the implementation process of community development. The third examined the nature of leadership at local levels in GCP working relationships. The fourth theme considered the challenges of current GCP practice and possible future alternatives. The findings from this study suggest that, despite GCP appearing to be a complicated social phenomenon, it is and will remain, a reliable solution to the socio-economic problems of the rural poor populace. The problems associated with GCP practice for education and community development in rural communities are systemic and associated with a system in which power is disproportionately distributed among the GCP actors. The nature of this GCP working relationship has prevented opportunities for creating productive network ties and for the collective development of social capital. The study concluded that strengthening network ties and building social capital might not in themselves be adequate; rather, there is a need for a responsive government with a grounded mutual power structure based on transparency and trust.

This exploratory study has grown out of my interest in learning thinking skills (TS) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). An aim of TS in EFL is to help learners to understand how they learn, which could help them in using the target language with other learners in language classrooms, and in their social life. The early researchers have criticised the system of teaching methods in EFL applied in Saudi schools, as they claim that it does not produce students who are highly proficient in English. Some of them suggested that enhancing learners’ TS would help to improve the learners’ proficiency of using the EFL. The textbook in Saudi schools is the central material for teachers to follow in the EFL classroom. Thus, this study is investigating the main issues that could promote TS in Saudi EFL: the textbook and the teachers. The purposes of the study are: to find out the extent to which the tasks in the textbook have the potential to support teachers in promoting TS; to discover insights into the nature of classroom activities that teachers use to encourage TS from the textbook and to explore the teachers’ views on the role of the textbook in promoting TS in the English language. These aims will improve understanding of the connection between the potential of the textbook content and the participants’ theoretical knowledge and their teaching practice. The investigation employed research techniques including the following: (1) analysis of the textbook; (2) questionnaire for EFL teachers; (3) observation for EFL classroom; (4) interviews with EFL teachers. Analysis of the third intermediate grade textbook has been undertaken and six EFL teachers from five intermediate schools were involved in the study. Data analysis revealed that 36.71 % of the tasks in the textbook could have the potential to promote TS, and 63.29 % of the tasks in the textbook could not have the potential to promote TS. Therefore, the result of the textbook analysis showed that the majority of the tasks do not have the potential to help teachers to promote TS. Although not all teachers of the observed lessons displayed behaviour helpful to promote TS, teachers who presented potential TS tasks in their lesson encouraged learners’ interaction and students’ engagement more than teachers who presented tasks that did not have the potential to promote TS. Therefore, the result of the teachers’ data showed that having a textbook that has the potential to promote TS is not enough to develop teaching TS in Saudi EFL, since teachers’ behaviour could make the task more or less productive.

There is a recognised tension between the different roles that teachers of art in secondary schools are required to adopt in the course of their careers. This study explores the hypothesis that a teacher who continues to practice art is better able to model artistic practices for pupils and that this is a valuable factor which argues in favour of teacher/artists continuing to practice both professions simultaneously. This issue is approached firstly through the author’s own experiences as an artist and art teacher, then through a literature review which covers the place of art in the curriculum, the Artist Teacher Scheme (ATS), the gap which is perceived to exist between so-called ‘school art’ and contemporary art, the making process, constructivist learning theories, the artist’s identity and the teacher’s identity. This section provides the theoretical underpinning for the study. Chapter Three presents the methodological framework: a constructivist paradigm is used and a/r/tography is incorporated to support the inclusion of the author’s visual art practice, art education research and teaching and learning experiences. The data corpus is analysed through grounded theory methods. The main data section in Chapter Four presents the narratives of twenty participants based in the UK who reflect upon the relationships that exist between their personal and professional lives and their identities as artists and teachers. Accounts of both past and present experiences are recorded and analysed in order to identify recurrent themes which emerge from the grounded theory process. This method consciously foregrounds the voices of the artists/teachers, allowing them to express their views in their own words. This, in turn, presents a window into their worlds, illustrating the way that they navigate through the tensions and competing demands of daily life as an artist/teacher. Where appropriate reference is made to visual material offered by the participants and forms of data drawn from schools and from art organisations with which the schools have contact. Inclusion of this material allows a full picture of the contexts of the narratives to be drawn and some of the concepts, issues and teaching outcomes to be illustrated through ‘concrete’ examples. In Chapter Five the themes identified in the narratives from the preceding chapter are analysed in light of the literature surrounding the topic and the author’s own experiences as an artist/teacher. These themes focus on the educational exchanges between the art teacher and the learner and the tensions which exist when an artist/teacher maintains an artist persona within the institutional framework of the secondary school. In the final chapter conclusions are drawn from a linkage between theory and practices which have been revealed through the literature review and the narratives. One of the most important conclusions is the acknowledgement that constructivist approaches favoured by artists can and should inform their pedagogy when they become professional educators. A number of recommendations are made in the light of the findings including implications for the wider educational community.

This professional doctorate research focuses on the early headship experience of a small group of female secondary school head teachers in Scotland. A key feature of the research is that the researcher is a head teacher and her narrative of headship is considered in an analytical autoethnographic approach, alongside the experiences of the sample group of head teachers. The autoethnography is included, as an appendix, as it provided a major data source, which was considered within the context of the literature. This in turn provided a framework that allowed the generation of areas for exploration in open-ended interviews with the other head teachers. This is an important feature of the research as it allowed the head teachers to co-construct the areas of investigation and expand on the topics explored, which permitted the surfacing of key challenges in early headship allowing the participants to make explicit how they felt and how they coped with these challenges. The research focuses on the interface of professional socialisation and the development of professional identity, especially in the reaction to specific ‘crisis’ situations in the early days of headship. Individual career trajectories on the journey to headship have also been considered. The complexity of the conceptual framework of career trajectories, socialisation and identity, lies in the interaction of these areas and with individual responses to the varying factors which influence them, particularly individual differences relating to specific school contexts as well as to the different personalities of head teachers. A conceptual framework for head teacher development was developed, suggesting that head teacher preparation should extend into the first year of appointment. Head teacher development can therefore be viewed in two phases: pre and post appointment. The head teacher is shaped by her individual career trajectory and personal and professional socialisation prior to taking up post, all within a specific policy context. Having been appointed, her professional identity is shaped by these aspects as well as her conception of the role and her values and relationships. Her reaction to and reflection on a crisis situation will subsequently impact on her professional identity. By considering individual experiences of early headship, this study has revealed: • The influence of role models and previous SMT experience for head teachers; • The emotional intensity and all-consuming nature of the job, particularly in the early days in post; • The inevitability of an early critical incident; • The impact of legacy issues on head teachers’ early experiences; • The role of emotional intelligence in headship, in particular the need for self-awareness, resilience and finely tuned interpersonal skills; • The importance of self-reflection in successfully building head teacher identity; • The need of support from head teacher colleagues. Of particular importance has been the emergence of the inevitability that there will be a crisis situation during the early years of headship, the handling of which will impact on the head teacher’s developing identity, as well as the staff’s perception of the new head teacher, both of which are intertwined. The back-drop to the research was the influence of national policies and the impact of the performativity and accountability agenda on the role of head teacher, as well as the international challenges of recruitment and retention of head teachers. By a detailed consideration of early headship experiences, it will contribute to the discussion on recruitment and retention, in that if new head teachers are more prepared and supported in post others may be encouraged to apply.

This thesis provides an analysis based on a qualitative modified Grounded Theory approach of the perceptions of people belonging to the North Western Pakistani Pashtun population residing in England, regarding the educational achievement of their children. The research involved participants across five sites: Birmingham, Bradford, East London, Oldham and Manchester. All participants originated from the village and tribal areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan. Names have been anonymised, and details that might enable identification omitted. Fieldwork took place between 2012 and 2014. Research techniques used were qualitative questionnaires and interviews. The research aimed to unpick the extent to which ethnicity promoted or hindered educational achievement within this selected population. In addition, it also highlighted the inextricable link, as perceived by the population, between their educational achievement and their combined ethnicity, cultural, economic and social capital. Initial and focused coding and a relational analysis of a situational map were undertaken, in line with a modified Grounded Theory methodology. The study identifies one core category: 'educational apathy', as deep set, and its properties and dimensions are thoroughly explored in relation to the selected population. A further two categories: 'gender inequality' and 'the role of Islam' emerge as issues that also need to be addressed for increased educational achievement. This study supplies a historical context for North-Western Pakistani Pashtuns and their identity as an ethnic group. Reasons are given for the avoidance of the term 'Pathan'. The thesis describes migration patterns to England and the socialisation of theses Pashtuns as a migrant population. Official data on this selected population in England is scarce so demographic indications are taken from official school censuses (2007-2012) and national censuses (1991, 2001 and 2011) on language, free school meals and qualifications. In cases where there was an absence of data, data were gleaned for the broader 'Pakistani' population. The thesis evidences the relative income poverty within North-Western Pakistani Pashtun families living in inner city ghettoised areas of England, by relating their experiences of social class and socio-economic status to their negative perceptions of educational achievement. There is little literature nationally or internationally on this selected population, so this thesis offers new knowledge. This particular ethnic group is 'hard to reach' as they are generally reticent to open up to outsider researchers. I was able to work with a substantial sample (n=107) because, although an outsider, I was brought up alongside members of this population and was therefore trusted. The research makes a contribution by identifying this population as a separate group with a distinct ethnicity, language, and cultural and social capital. To date, North-Western Pakistani Pashtuns have been obscured within the categories of 'Pakistani' or 'Afghani' which neglects the needs and plight of this population within England. This research, I firmly believe, is the first to provide a) insight into this population in England and b) a discussion on issues affecting their educational achievement.

This Thesis presents Case Study research (Yin, 2009) into e-learning, in the situated context of a part-time postgraduate blended learning programme in clinical education [Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Clinical Practice]; and addresses a significant challenge for tutors: how to intervene in online discussions in order to achieve the highest quality of engagement by all participants. Utilising a parallel convergent mixed methods approach (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009; Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2011), this study offers insights into the perceptions and experiences of tutors and students regarding the role of the tutor within the online learning environment, and in particular, it explores the influence of the tutor on the development of true dialogue in an online discussion board, rather than a bulletin board of unconnected statements, or ‘serial monologue’, which a number of authors have identified (Henri, 1991; Pawan et al, 2003; Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007). Thus, the project is essentially a praxis-driven exploration (Carr & Kemmis, 1986) of a complex and ill-defined aspect of teaching practice. Data-collection was primarily by means of semi-structured interviews (Punch, 2009; Kvale, 2007), and by detailed analysis of the online Discussion Board archive (Garrison et al, 2000; Dawson et al, 2011; Sackville & Sherratt, 2006; Blignaut & Trollip, 2003a). A theoretical model has emerged from analysis of study data (Sherratt, 2012), which classifies students’ expectations of tutor intervention and support into four broad categories, represented graphically as quadrants of a square diagram. This model (along with its associated list of diagnostic indicators and tutor responses), offers a way of differentiating the highly divergent needs and expectations of students within the e-learning context, with regard to tutor input and support. Lessons for practice, both locally and elsewhere, arising out of this differential model, with its diagnostic indicators and suggested tutor responses, are explored and discussed.

Since the independence of Pakistan in 1947 almost every education policy was accompanied by the key question of, “Which language do we choose for instruction and why?” In 2009, after lengthy discussions commencing in 2005, the Government of Pakistan enacted a new National Education Policy (NEP), which proposed that the issue of the medium of instruction (MoI) would be addressed by the federal government with the help of provinces. As soon as the NEP came into force, a strong debate in public and social media began among teachers, students, politicians, educationists, linguists, and journalists, among others, regarding the implications of the policy and its statements. This research explores the debate on NEP 2009 with regards to MoI through views expressed publicly through digital media in the course of a one-year snap-shot. The study aims to contextualise the participants of the debate and their views in terms of the implications of the NEP policy for MoI in Balochistan Province, the least literate, ethnically marginalised area of Pakistan, which harbours one of the most confrontational separatist movements in recent times. The thesis explores the extent to which the concept of the Jirga, the traditional forum for managing conflicts in the region by engaging in public negotiations and discussions, to solve issues within the community could be applied in the context of participation in debate conducted on-line as a ‘virtual Jirga’. The research is exploratory and hypothesis generating in nature and a documentary analysis strategy was used to explore contributions to public debate of the impact of NEP on MoI within one year via the Internet. 37 texts were collected and analysed using Wordle and Wordsmith computer software to find frequently used words in the dialogue, identify themes and examine the rhetorical forms in which they were expressed. The corpus of 46,316 words proved to be a rich source for gaining insight into what was being said, by whom and where thus enabling tendencies in the association of issues such as ethnicity, class, regionalism, class and educational background to be mapped. The impressions from this snapshot were subject to further examination in the light of the review of literature and perspectives from Critical Policy Sociology theory and Social Constructionism were employed. The resulting conceptual framework, drawn from linguistics and policy study and referencing traditional forms of debating controversial issues, was found to be a useful means of inquiry at a ‘distance’ as whilst not directly involving the participants their voices can be ‘heard’. What was in part a pragmatic decision given the situation of the researcher also had the benefit of working with a medium conducive to reflection on contributions less reactive than might otherwise be the case where debate on the question of MoI can often shed more heat than light. Digital technology and the internet are part of a rapidly growing trend of use in academia for communication and as research tools; this thesis combines the use of such tools with a study of their use and as such contributes to a growing body of scholarship. As with any tool, however, there are limitations as well as affordances, the researcher recognises that the findings cannot be generalised and the use of other data collection methods, such as interviews, or a larger sample of texts gathered over a longer time-scale could lead to different conclusions. However, every effort has been made to make the process of the planning, conduct and analysis of the research transparent and open to critique as is set out through the use of the metaphor of uncovering layers in an onion. The identification of themes including the English as MoI supporters tendency to favour neo-liberal views on education, the Urdu as MoI supporters having a propensity to Islamism, the mother- tongue supporters inclining towards regionalism and those in favour of the uniform MoI having a partiality to a uniform single-tier education system offer confirmation of trends identified in existing research. The analysis of the corpus also indicates a degree of tension as participants want to promote quality education for the progress of the country based on research- based policy but are suspicions of the motives of other groups who might be on the ‘winning side’. In summary, the findings suggested that participants in the debate from all groups were positive about the importance and promotion of quality education in the country, but have reservations on the education system as being divisive and unproductive. The study concludes that the internet could offer a way forward by supporting a style of debate based on the Jirga, a Virtual Jirga, stress the referred language, i.e. English, and contributes to knowledge creation by proposing that the traditional philosophies of Pakistan can be revisited and some ideal within those practices used to move towards a harmonious society.

This thesis examines the role of reflection in Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) practice, with particular reference to becoming aware of the role of taken-for-granted assumptions. It is grounded in the literature concerning taken-for-granted assumptions, personal knowledge and reflection in the context of professional practice. It is a qualitative study evolving through three iterative cycles, with an additional ‘pre-cycle’ exploring the origins of the research in the researcher’s own experience as an IAG professional working with ethnic minority women. The first main research cycle explored, in dialogue with a co-researcher, how we became aware of our own taken-for-granted assumptions. Subsequent cycles extend the data to responses from practitioners less close to me. Using the concept of researcher-as-bricoleur, a range of methodologies were employed. In the pre-cycle and first research cycle an auto-ethnograpahic approach captures the researcher’s voice and that of a co-researcher. In later cycles a heuristic approach enabled the researcher to focus on the self and engage with her own and other practitioners’ experiences of taken-for-granted assumptions. These cycles explored, through written capture sheets, conversational interviews and email exchanges, IAG practitioners’ understanding of and engagement with reflection and reflective practice. The research demonstrated different types and interpretations of reflection and reflective practice. Although practitioners described themselves as reflective and used self-reflection, this was insufficient to unearth taken-for-granted assumptions. The research ascertained that assumptions regarding whiteness were difficult to unearth, and were rarely acknowledged openly. Even less frequent was the sharing of unearthed assumptions with others. The research revealed that reflective practice has itself become taken-for-granted and does not achieve what it advocates. The need to coach and nurture the skill of reflective practice is emphasised, with one of the data analysis tools – the ‘I Poem’ – proposed as a reflective tool for enhancing self awareness and assisting practitioners to examine their reflective journals and reveal their taken-for-granted voice.