The purpose of this research is to explore CSCL as an instructional model for developing the skills and competencies required in the „knowledge society‟ and to suggest under what conditions CSCL might be effective. To this end, an in-depth investigation of students‟ collaborative interaction patterns, their perceptions of their learning and the variables impacting on their interaction was conducted. The four contexts of study looked at alternative communication tools, collaborative task types and distance versus campus modes in South Korea and the UK. Data collection from these diverse contexts adopted a mixed methodology. Data analysis initially focused on the first two case studies and was then extended across the remaining contexts which explored alternative tasks and media. Students‟ collaboration patterns indicated that students input more effort on doing the work for which they were individually accountable rather than toward a group effort. The process of negotiating meaning was found to be weak in asynchronous online discussion and the most difficult aspect of group project tasks for students. Students‟ socio-emotional aspects also influenced collaboration patterns. Nevertheless, students‟ perceptual data indicated that they believed CSCL had diverse learning merits. In conclusion, some conditions for effective CSCL design were suggested.

This thesis is concerned with the question as to how to present the study of religion to students in religious education (RE) in schools that reflects a distinctively religious character but not a confessional one. It recognises that how religion is conceptualised in RE and the search for a distinctive rationale that reflects the subject’s nature and purpose, has been a contested question over the history of the subject in state maintained schools since the Education Act of 1870. More recently, criticism of what has been termed ‘modern liberal RE’ has focused on the claim that, in many instances, the subject has misrepresented religion, by being guilty of essentialism and in denying students opportunities to engage with the ‘truth claims’ of religions. It is within this context that this thesis argues that a nuanced understanding of John Hick’s religious interpretation of religion can positively illuminate these debates by providing a second order explanatory framework for the study of religion in RE.

Cultivating language learners’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) has been seen as the ultimate goal of L2 education and empirical inquiry into students’ intention to engage in L2 communication given the opportunity has gained momentum in applied linguistics research over the past decade or so. This strand of inquiry has seen a major shift from treating WTC as a relatively stable and fixed personality trait to taking a more context-sensitive perspective. In line with this shift, the present study set out to investigate the situated and emerging nature of L2 learners’ WTC in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in the Greek higher education setting. Adopting a ‘person-in context relational’ view of L2 motivation (Ushioda, 2009) as a theoretical and methodological lens for researching WTC, this qualitative multiple case study conducted over the period of one academic semester investigated L2 WTC of a diverse group of five first-year undergraduate students studying at a specific private higher education institution in Greece. Data came from ethnographic classroom observations, stimulated recall interviews, life story narratives, and follow-up interviews. While the findings have confirmed L2 WTC as a dynamic and complex construct, they have also added crucial new insights. The key amongst these is the notion that WTC must be understood as part of people’s larger meaning making practices. These unravel across lifespans and lifeworlds, occur in relationships with others, and, while not necessarily visible in the WTC moment, are always present in it. Thus, the present study has laid bare the consequences of adopting a person-in-context relational view of WTC in terms of what can be learned and what should be done about it in both research and practice.

This study is concerned with school-children’s communication, behavioural, and emotional development, in which the first concern has been to focus on their laughter. Although commonly thought of as an integral component of childhood, children’s laughter seldom receives the attention it deserves. The significance of laughter’s correlation with children’s social connectivity remains largely undiscovered. Little account has been taken of laughter’s exclusive orientation, and the strain this may create in schools with an avowedly inclusive ethos. Teachers and pupils who agreed to take part in this study were recruited from two primary schools. Together, they formed the substantive part of a pair of ethnographic case-studies. Data obtained from a series of playground/classroom observations and informal interviews were framed around Robert Putnam’s theory of social capital, and its own inclusive-exclusive (bridging and bonding) dynamic. Findings indicate that our diminishing stocks of social capital may be directly correlated with our decline in laughter production. They also confirm the view that it is unhelpful to consider inclusive and exclusive entities in isolation. Exclusive laughter appears to be a fundamental condition of inclusive schooling, with pupils and their teachers apparently natural exponents of a form of behaviour that may be described as inclusive-exclusive.

Attachment theory has become widely regarded as the most important and supported framework for understanding social and emotional development (Goldberg, 2000). Evidence suggests that attachment based interventions in early year’s settings will allow for a greater understanding, sensitive response and more effective use of practitioner’s skills when working with children (Kennedy and Kennedy, 2004). This thesis was produced as part of the written requirements for the new full-time Doctoral training in Educational Psychology. Volume one contains four chapters: Chapter one introduces the research study and literature review, providing information on the brokering and relevance of the research area. Chapter two discusses and presents existing attachment based interventions with parents, schools and early year’s settings. Chapter three reports findings from an evaluation an early year’s intervention, based on attachment principles - ‘Building Strong Foundations’. A multiple case study design was adopted. Three settings, where the intervention had been received, were evaluated to provide literal replication, and an additional setting, which had not received the intervention, acted as a comparison, and provided theoretical replication (Yin, 2009). Key positive outcomes and rival explanations are discussed, along with implications and future directions. Chapter four provides some final reflections and conclusions, including limitations in design and methods of the study. The impact which this study makes to the profession of educational psychology is also discussed.

This study explored the perspectives and practices of Educational Psychologists (EPs) who had encountered the apparent overlapping phenomenology of autism spectrum disorders and the enduring effects of early attachment experiences in their casework. Six EPs from two EP Services took part in interviews, which were audio recorded. Inductive and deductive analyses were mediated through the active constructionist role of the interviewer during the interview process and the thematic analysis of the resultant interview transcripts. The study intended to explore EPs’ differential conceptualisations of autism and attachment and how they conceptualise and attempt to differentiate the overlapping phenomenology. Analysis identified two other dimensions, which complemented the planned foci in a cogent way and were also examined: how EPs conceptualised the value of differentiating between autism and the effects of early attachment experiences; and how the discipline of educational psychology offers a distinct contribution to problem analysis in this area. The talk of EPs captured in this study contributes to existing practice-based evidence about overlapping phenomenology, and by describing a process of psychological problem analysis which could support more reliable differentiation between autism and effects of early attachment experiences. A distinctive contribution of the discipline of educational psychology is proposed and suggested as worthy of closer consideration as ethics and efficiencies are both of legitimate concern in contemporary multi-disciplinary, public service contexts. Other implications identified from this study pertain to the way in which EPs articulate their relationship with theory, their use of practice frameworks, and the distinct nature of their identities.

This study explores the dynamics of leadership of Asian, Black and Minority Ethnic (ABME) principals in England’s Further Education colleges. It identifies and describes the motivations and characteristics of their leadership which propel and sustain it. The research outcomes suggest that their leadership is learner and community focused. It is aimed at improving fairness, equality and social justice. The principals are driven by their deeply rooted principles, passions and values flowing from their direct experiences of disadvantage, disparities and racial discrimination. Their personal up-bringing, socialisation and heritage have not only inspired and encouraged them to come into education, but have also energised them in their journeys as leaders. The ABME principals’ trajectories, however, have been mediated by a persistent tendency within the establishment to marginalise and underestimate their capabilities, compounded by FE bureaucracies and organisational impediments. They have taken these obstacles as challenges and seized opportunities for further formalising their passions and principles into leadership strategies for transforming their colleges and influencing the FE environment. This thesis is based on empirical evidence, collected from interviews with the first generation ABME principals: the class of 1998/9 – 2008/9, offering an historic snapshot of their experiences, within the conceptual framework provided by the review of literature on educational leadership, FE management, race and ethnicity.

The aim of this study was to explore the potential and challenges for e-learning in dental education using a case-study approach. The University of Birmingham, School of dentistry, e-learning platform “e-course”, was assessed at four stages. The attitudes of third year dental students towards an online orthodontic e-course were assessed to explore students’ learning needs using a five Likert-scale questionnaire. The different tools and components on the e-course were explored to assess its technical and instructional efficiency using descriptive analysis. The Prosthetic discussion archive was analysed for its efficiency to support a higher-level of teaching and learning using content analysis. Dental students and academic teachers were interviewed using one-to-one interviews and focus groups. Their attitudes towards e-learning in dentistry were analysed for emerging themes in three main categories; technological, pedagogical, and curriculum design. E-learning has shown great potential in supporting change to dental education. There are differences between students and teachers. Students are enthusiastic in its use, whilst teachers have many concerns on its implementation related to work load and use of information. E-learning has a great potential in supporting curriculum reform in dental education, but is not fully utilised. Institutional strategies and support together with strong leaderships is needed when implementing e-learning into a dental school.

The teaching of values to youth in contemporary societies is more problematic than ever before. Globalisation, technological change, the decline of belief systems, and the breakdown of the family have created an environment where people fear that character education may impart values to children which conflict with their own. Natural law holds the potential to identify basic values which almost all can embrace. Some believe Hume’s Guillotine has rendered natural law reasoning invalid. The perceived objections to ethical naturalism of Hume, Moore, and Mackie are herein shown to pose no significant obstacles to natural law thought. A contemporary form of ancient natural law reasoning is advanced here; it is then combined with a uniquely simple and practical approach to pedagogy. This pedagogy is shown to have exceptional motivational power. The ability of the form of natural law reasoning here set forth to deduce prescriptivity from the natural world is then demonstrated, using the area of reproductive and gestational health in order to give an instantiation of legitimate derivation of values from facts. This ethical reasoning and teaching strategy will likely be approved by those who would otherwise object to children being taught values while at school.

The current study investigates the phraseological behaviour of two high frequency nouns, \(time\) and \(thing\), and aims to explore the role of phraseology in the construction of meaning in discourse and how phraseology is represented in English teaching in China. The term “phraseology” in this study refers to both the form of lexical or lexicogrammatical co-occurrence (e.g. collocations, lexicalised phrases, patterns and frames) and their usage (e.g. syntagmatic, semantic, pragmatic and textual features). The results show that there is a close relationship between phraseology and phenomena such as polysemy, metaphor, evaluation and vagueness which are important to the construction of meaning. These phenomena are largely exhibited by phraseological items rather than single words. The current study argues that phraseology rather than individual words should be considered as the primary unit of meaning in discourse. The results suggest that phraseology can serve a disambiguating role both at the ‘lexical’ level (e.g. different senses of a ‘polysemous’ word or phrase) and at the ‘discourse’ level. For instance, different metaphorical or evaluative meanings can be identified by examining the use of phraseological items associated with these meanings. This study also shows that the representation of phraseology in English teaching in China is still problematic in terms of the selection and presentation of phraseological items, and recommends that more attention be paid to the treatment of phraseology in teaching and that corpus evidence should be used to inform the design of future pedagogic materials in China.