This research explores the content of group supervision sessions for Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) to further understand ‘what is really going on’. There has recently been a re-emergence of interest in group supervision and Educational Psychologists are increasingly involved in this work (Dunsmuir, Lang and Leadbetter, 2015, p.9). There is currently a paucity of research in the UK that has directly explored the content of group supervision sessions; research to date has tended to survey supervisory practice or focus on eliciting the views of participants about supervision through the use of questionnaires and focus groups. This research addresses this gap and begins a process of exploration into what really happens within group supervision sessions. Within the local authority in which this research was carried out, group supervision is regularly provided to ELSAs by Educational Psychologists (EPs). The core aims are to support ELSAs with their professional development and to ensure that they practice safely and appropriately. This research involved the recording and subsequent transcription of three group supervision sessions. Themes within the data were then identified using an inductive approach to thematic analysis. This allowed for a rich and complex picture to emerge allowing an insight into what was actually happening within the group supervision sessions. Eleven main themes and forty-six sub-themes were identified whilst exploring the contributions of both the ELSAs and the EPs. The identified themes were found to be consistent with Hawkins and Shohet’s (2012) functions of supervision which is a commonly used framework for supervision within educational psychology in the UK (Dunsmuir et al., 2015, p.9). The findings were then considered in the light of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984) along with an approach to support this process – ORID (Marsick and Maltbia, 2009) and a psychodynamic understanding about group processes (Bion, 1961). The research suggested that within the group supervision sessions ELSAs were exploring their skills, knowledge and understanding of the casework in which they were involved along with experiencing a degree of emotional support. It was also evident that both the ELSAs and the EPs were exercising an element of ‘quality control’ within their work. The research also highlighted the need for a greater attention to group processes, particularly those of an unconscious nature, in order to develop the supervision that ELSAs receive. It is suggested that a psychodynamic perspective may be helpful in achieving this goal.

This research explores how mothers home educating a child with special educational needs (SEN) experience their relationship with their child. As home education is gaining in popularity it is important to understand this learning relationship in more detail, particularly as the profession of educational psychology is largely driven by knowledge of more traditional educational settings. A review of the literature indicated that there is minimal existing research examining this particular relationship, with even less exploring the experiences of mothers home educating children with SEN. As the research is exploratory in nature a qualitative approach was taken with interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as the choice of methodology. Six mothers home educating children with SEN were recruited to take part. Each was interviewed individually using an unstructured approach and audio records of these interviews were transcribed and analysed following the guidelines outlined by Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009). Results indicated six overarching themes within the mothers’ experiences; (1) Empowering Child, (2) Attunement and Connection, (3) The Super Mother, (4) Threats: Past, Present and Future, (5) Transformation and Growth and (6) Issues of Control. The findings are discussed in relation to existing literature and implications for educational psychologists are explored. Intersectionality is proposed as a useful theoretical context from which to apply the findings. It encourages the professional to examine the learning relationship as it is experienced rather than through the lens of inaccurate stereotypes or assumptions thereby helping to avoid oppressive practices as emphasised in professional guidance and literature. It is suggested that transferability to real life case work within the context of intersectionality can be facilitated by the Home Education Learning Relationship Framework (HELRF), created to provide a clear, visual illustration of the overarching themes and the role of the professional. Limitations of the findings and the research process itself are discussed and avenues for future research identified.

The UK is a highly diverse country which over the last 10 years has seen a vast increase in immigration with the majority of migrants being from Eastern Europe. The aim of this research was to increase our understanding of Eastern European, migrant students' experiences of transition from their home country to the UK and their experiences of starting secondary school here. The research also aimed to explore how these students experienced a sense of belonging to secondary school. By conducting this research, I hope to add to the psychological understanding of the experiences of this specific group of young people, by giving them a voice that may not otherwise be heard. Semistructured interviews were carried out with five Key Stage 4 students, from four different Eastern European countries. All students were first generation migrants and had arrived in the UK from their home country within the last three years. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the interview data. This led to the emergence of subordinate and superordinate themes for each participant. This was followed by the development of six overarching themes: 'adjusting to change'; 'a journey towards a sense of belonging'; 'a time of vulnerability'; 'the power of self-belief'; 'identity in a new place' and 'a need for support'. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research and relevant psychological theory. Implications of the findings for Educational Psychologists and school staff are also considered.

In Scotland, where large numbers of immigrants come from non-English speaking countries, a national strategy exists to promote the effective provision of courses in English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), with a view to facilitating integration and participation in Scottish society. From a critical perspective, this vision implies an approach to ESOL that draws on theories of critical pedagogy, which seeks to create " ... an informed, critical citizenry capable of participating and governing in a democratic society" (Giroux 2011: 7). However, in a climate of neoliberal economic policymaking and the prioritisation of economic interests over social justice, there is pressure instead for education to " ... create an individual that is an enterprising and competitive entrepreneur" (Olssen et al 2004: 136). Such pressure obliges learners to compete and function within social constructs, which entails an uncritical acceptance of existing structural inequalities and therefore runs counter to the principles of critical pedagogy. This dissertation focuses on ESOL provision in Scottish Further Education (FE) colleges, where the bulk of state-funded ESOL delivery takes place. The study explored perceptions among three key stakeholder groups – in policy, among practitioners and among learners – in order to examine the extent to which emancipation, as a social project, is perceived as an important feature of ESOL programmes. The research was composed of three parts: a policy analysis, which included a critical discourse analysis of the revised Adult ESOL Strategy for Scotland (Scottish Government 2015a), a study of the views of ESOL practitioners as expressed in responses to a questionnaire, and an analysis of the views of a group of ESOL learners, who participated in interviews. Critical interpretive analysis of the research data suggests that, despite an apparent awareness of the negative impact of existing power structures on the successful inclusion of immigrants into Scottish society, perceptions across all three stakeholder groups appear to support neoliberal ideology rather than a collective movement towards societal transformation. This finding implies that any potential for college ESOL programmes to emancipate learners is seriously undermined, or indeed removed completely. By taking a critical perspective, the research itself seeks to be emancipatory in attempting to expose the impact of these stakeholder perceptions on the extent to which social justice can be achieved for residents in Scotland whose first language is not English. The intention is for this dissertation to act as an interpellation. In the political sense, it challenges policymakers to explain and justify ESOL and FE policy in light of these research findings and their implications for social inclusion. The interpellation also extends to ESOL practitioners, calling on them to reflect critically on their praxis, the values inherent therein, and how these values impact on their learners.

The business environment worldwide has witnessed remarkable changes, which require education to respond. However, accounting bodies and organisations have become concerned about the expansion of the gap between what is being taught in accounting education programmes (AEPs) and what are the requirements of the labour market. Much of this debate has focused on developed countries, but the same issues are likely to apply, but perhapsin different form, in emerging economies too. Using Libya as an example of an emerging economy, this research examines professionals’, practitioners’ and educators’ perceptions regarding three things: the required knowledge and skills; the gap that exists in both university accounting students and employees; and the institutional influences and barriers that may affect the development of university AEPs. Institutional theory was adopted as a lens to help guide and explain the findings. In order to fulfil the research objectives, a mixed method exploratory study design was used. This design included two phases: twelve Viber and Skype interviews were conducted, then 262 valid online questionnaire responses were collected. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted, then the questionnaire responses were analysed, mainly using Welch’s ANOVA. The emerged themes showed that what is considered important for AEPs can be classified into three areas: technical knowledge (e.g. financial accounting, auditing, and awareness of ethical issues in accounting and auditing); generic skills such as teamwork, reading with understanding, and analysis skills; and IT skills (e.g. electronic accounting systems and World Wide Web). Most stakeholders were not satisfied with the development level that students exhibited in important competencies. The failures of Libyan AEPs were attributed to teaching and faculty member-related issues, student-related issues, curricula-related issues, and collaboration-related issues. Different institutional influences shape and affect AEPs. Coercive isomorphic pressures stem from the dependency of the universities upon government funding, and the previous regime’s attempts to politicize education. Mimetic isomorphic influences result from different channels, including curricula, teaching methods experience brought by abroad-educated academics, and the good relationship between Libya and the previous colonizer. The study contributes to a knowledge gap in the accounting education literature from an emerging economy context, where educators consider the gap between the required skills and development level in their students even larger than that perceived by professionals and practitioners. Using institutional theory as a lens to answer the research questions provides evidence of the influences that accounting educators in Libya face. As well as following up this project in other emerging economies, further research should consider the voices of students and recent graduates as key stakeholders.

The main goal of this research is to investigate the difficulties Libyan undergraduate university English major students have in the use of verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations by looking at their performance in free production. Twelve verbs and twelve adjectives were investigated in depth with the aim of determining their collocational patterns when used by Libyan learners. Having done this, I also investigate whether there is a significant difference between native speaker ratings of English language learner collocations in academic as opposed to non–academic contexts. To achieve the main aim, a 250-word academic writing task was used to collect data from 186 fourth-year university students (90 males and 96 females) at Tripoli University (the Department of English, Faculty of Arts). The data was analysed using AntConc 3.2.1w (Anthony, 2007). After extracting the learners‟ collocations, four sources were used to determine and judge their acceptability in terms of conforming to native-like use. They are: (1) the Oxford Collocations Dictionary (2009), (2) the online British National Corpus (BNC), (3) consultations with two native speakers, and (4) a survey to triangulate the above three methods. Gass and Selinker's (2008) error analysis framework is adopted as the basis for analyzing the learners' collocational violations. In addition, quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse the data. For example, the writing task data was analysed quantitatively in order to identify the frequency of learners' acceptable collocations, erroneous collocations and collocational errors, and qualitatively to identify various types of collocational errors and to determine the sources of learners' difficulty in producing collocations. In addition, a two-version acceptability survey (i.e. academic rating and non-academic rating) was administered to 100 native speakers of English in order to achieve the secondary aim. Furthermore, a student questionnaire and a lecturer questionnaire were used as a supportive method to explore collocation as a linguistic phenomenon from the learning and teaching perspectives. The participants were 155 students and 12 university lecturers. The results from the questionnaires are useful as they potentially suggest reasons why Libyan students have difficulty with collocations. In addition, they contribute to our understanding of how lecturers and students think collocations are taught and learned in the Libyan educational system. Findings from the academic writing data reveal that: (1) verb-noun collocations were more difficult for the participants than adjective-noun collocations; (2) independent samples t-test results showed that the participants' use of the twelve adjectives in the adjective-noun collocations showed significantly more accuracy level compared to their use of the twelve verbs in the verb-noun collocations. Therefore, the statistical investigations confirm that verb-noun collocations posed more difficulties for the participants than adjective-noun collocations.; (3) three broad categories of errors were identified in the erroneously produced verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations in the Libyan Learner Corpus (LLC): (i) grammatical errors, (ii) lexical errors and (iii) errors related to usage; and (4) eight main types of sources of difficulties are suggested, such as L1 interference – the negative influence of the mother tongue - and the use of synonymy. The results of the survey data reveal that there were significant differences in the native speakers‟ judgments in the academic rating survey and the non-academic rating survey. Finally, on the basis of these results, several recommendations are made in order to improve the teaching of collocations in EFL classes in the light of the obtained results.

Due to the limitations of the household registration system, rural migrants in Chinese cities are unable to access the same range of rights and benefits as urban natives. This rural-urban segregation has consequences beyond access to political and economic rights and resources; it has deepened to shape cultural and ideological perceptions. This deepening has a profound influence on the children of migrant workers who are moving to study in the city. Though nowadays children of migrant workers can study in urban public schools alongside local students, the rural-urban structural divide still exists and impedes personal and social relations between the two groups. This research investigated the difficulties and opportunities encountered by children of migrant workers after they have entered urban public schools and as the face the realities of contact with urban people. The research also discussed whether educating rural and urban students together can help children of migrant workers’ social adaptation in the city, or whether this studying together model places pressures on rural students which impede their social integration into urban communities. A ‘field-habitus’ analysis framework was used to assess rural students’ social adaptation performances in the city. Research methods including questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups were employed in the study. Besides rural students, urban people such as urban students and teachers whom rural students interact with in schools were investigated in the research. Moreover, to evaluate whether inclusive education in public schools has created an inclusive environment to help rural students’ social adaptation, rural students from private schools, who are receiving an exclusive education that is only for children of migrant workers, were also studied as the reference group. Based on the data analysis, the research found that rural students from public schools are generally well-adapted to their urban lives. Additionally, compared with rural students from private schools, rural students from public schools have more urbanized behaviours and lifestyles. Meanwhile, the research indicated that rural students being educated in public schools suffer from many misunderstandings and conflicts with urban students, which may bring them more pressures related to social adaptation compared with their counterparts in private schools. Rural students’ social adaptation performances were attributed to the dual functions of education, meaning that education in public schools may either improve or impede children of migrant workers’ adaptation to their lives in the city. The discussion on the role of education was mainly based on Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Reproduction and Inclusive Education Model. Moreover, students’ family background was also taken into consideration for a more comprehensive explanation.

A dual career in sport is the challenge of combining a sporting career with education or work. An increasing population of athletes are choosing to further their academic careers by combining elite level sport with university education. University student-athletes may, however, be susceptible to experiencing a number of stressors (e.g., managing sport and academic timetables and personal sacrifices). This thesis extended knowledge on dual careers through the examination of athletes’ and stakeholders’ perceptions of the whole university experience, including the transition into, experiences during, and the transition out of university. A qualitative research design was employed throughout the thesis and data were collected through focus groups, longitudinal semi-structured interviews, and one-off semi structured interviews with participants from a range of UK universities. Data were analysed thematically and narratively. Additionally, autoethnographic data from the author (a former elite student-athlete) supplemented participant data. Part A explored athletes’ and stakeholders’ perceptions of the transition into university for student-athletes. Results found that student-athletes form expectations before they move into university (e.g., perceived living challenges), but often experienced different demands following the transition (e.g., increased sporting commitments following entry to university sport). These results suggest that pre-transition support may not be targeting the correct areas. Part B examined the experiences during university for student-athletes. Results found that student-athletes have diverse and challenging experiences at university, leading to the creation of five different narratives (e.g., injury narrative). Overall results highlight the importance of integrating university and external stakeholder support, and the development of more effective practitioner-athlete relationships. Finally, part C explored athletes’ and stakeholders’ perspectives of the transition out of university for student-athletes. Results found that student-athletes took five different pathways when they left university (postgraduate education, full-time sport, vocation sport dual career, triple career, and discontinuation from sport). Student-athletes experienced challenges with the renegotiation of their identity when they left university, and a loss of core support services led them to perceive that they had difficulty reaching their elite senior potential after university. Overall results of the current thesis have implications for how stakeholders educate and prepare student-athletes for transitions, and how stakeholders within the student-athletes’ circle interact whilst they are at university. Alongside an adapted theoretical framework that represents UK experiences, recommendations for improved university dual career provision in the UK are made, including the need to address why athletes are entering university, reasons why universities are supporting athletes, and the need to address the post-university gap in support systems. These recommendations challenge and extend current policy guidelines.

Increasing numbers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are being educated in mainstream schools and literature reflects a need to address how best to support this process. Previous studies exploring perceptions of mainstream education for children with ASD have highlighted the importance of the teacher’s role. This research recognises the importance of the Early Years and addresses a lack of research around supporting children with ASD in the first year of school. Interviews were conducted with six reception class teachers with the aim of gathering an in-depth picture of their perspectives around including children with ASD in a mainstream class. The purpose of this was to gain an understanding of their experiences which can be used to guide future thinking around support for teachers in this position. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to shape an exploration of the teachers’ accounts resulting in the identification of key themes across the group. Two overarching themes derived from the analysis: ‘The psychological and emotional process of striving to meet the needs of the child as part of the class’ and ‘Being a part of the system of support’. The associated themes are discussed wit h reference to the developing research base around supporting children with ASD in mainstream schools. Opportunities to support reception class teachers and the associated implications for EPs are presented.

In the first stage of this project, the areas of difficulty for students were identified, using a sample of 490 students aged between 15-17 years. The main areas of difficulty for year 10 were: chemical formula, quantum number, periodic table of elements, lanthanides and actinides and chemical equations. For year 11, the main areas of difficulty were: male calculation, chemical equation balance, homologous series, isomerism, alkyl groups and pH and pOH calculation. In the second stage, students were then asked for comments on the areas of difficulty and, later, took a short test using structural communication grids, these offering insights into areas of confusion and misconceptions. For the third stage of this project, attitudes relating to chemistry were measured using questionnaires, this being conducted with 225 students aged 15-17 years. The surveys and questionnaires revealed a clear picture of the situation in chemistry in the Emirates showing fairly negative attitudes, probably mainly as a result of an overcrowded and largely irrelevant curriculum taught by very didactic approaches which took little account of the psychology of learning. The core of the study involved the development of four units of paper-based teaching material. These were designed specifically to meet two sets of criteria. Firstly, the predictions from information processing determined the way the material was presented so that student learning was likely to be enhanced. Secondly, the evidence from attitude development informed the design with the aim that positive attitudes towards studies in chemistry would be encouraged. The way the units were used and the way they were tested is described, this work also being carried out with students in years 10 and 11 (age 16-17 approximately) in typical schools in the Emirates. For this stage, a total sample of 800 students boys and girls aged between 16-17 years in Emirates secondary schools participated. Each unit of work lasted for about 6-8 weeks. The testing involved a number of approaches including structural communication grids, open-ended questions and, with one unit, the development of a concept map. Attitudes to numerous aspects of the processes involved in learning chemistry were also explored. The performance of the students was found to be markedly better than control groups, the t-test values being significant at around p < 0.001. Numerous attitude comparisons were made using the chi-square statistic. Here, extremely high values were obtained, indicating quite massive attitude changes had taken place. The insights offered by the study are summarised and the possibilities for future work are also outlined. The whole study arose from a concern that students in the Emirates often seemed to have poor attitudes towards their studies in chemistry and that many were rejecting chemistry as a subject to pursue. This study has provided illumination on the problem and, on the basis of the evidence obtained, suggests possible ways forward to a better approach to the study of what is an important school discipline, the outcomes being widely applicable in many countries.