Pupils who present with Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) at school have been the focus of extensive study, research and reports for many years in England. These have focused on exploring the nature of BESD, contributing factors relating to school and the schools that have shown evidence of good practice when working with these pupils. This work has reflected the situation in the English education system. In Cyprus, however, answers to questions about how best to educate pupils who may demonstrate BESD remain elusive. In 2003, the Cypriot government approved a policy prioritising the education of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The policy instituted ‘Zones of Educational Priority programme’ as it is an area-based initiative. The schools joining this programme and working under the policy have been selected based on the areas in which they are located and the local populations’ socio-economic and educational status. Additionally, many of the pupils registered in these schools present with BESD. Despite this fact, up to the time the research described in this thesis was conducted; the issue of good practice when working with these pupils seems to have been neglected by Cypriot researchers and educational authorities. The study reported here was begun in 2008 and continued in 2009. It involved two primary schools operating under the Zones of Educational Priority policy in Cyprus and is a case study of what ‘good practice’ is perceived to be in relation to pupils with BESD. For the purposes of this research, 22 semi-structured interviews were carried out, as well as 29 lesson observations and informal conversations. The collected data was subjected to content analysis and the findings are reported and discussed in a way that allow the readers to draw their own conclusions concerning how the study has reinforced what is already known in the area of study as well as how it has contributed to building new knowledge.

Growing numbers of children are being diagnosed with autism in the UK and, against a backdrop of increased legislative and administrative provisions for educational inclusion, more autistic children are being educated in mainstream primary school settings. However, while there is evidence of the continued exclusion of autistic children, their performance in school tests seems poor, and their longer-term outcomes impoverished. Meanwhile, debates continue about the nature of autism itself. My project, informed by the social model of disability, theories of language and interpretation, inclusion, difference and aspects of feminism, aims to uncover the reasons behind the difficulties autistic children are experiencing in schools, by considering if, and how they are accessing the curriculum and tests. Employing a predominantly interpretative paradigm and a case study design, and based in five mainstream primary schools in England, the views of school staff, autistic children and their parents, as well as a sample of autistic adults, are incorporated. My findings show that by setting aside the association of autism with impairments, listening to autistic children, engaging with them meaningfully and enabling their own learning styles and particular dispositions to be manifest, educational inclusion, and positive outcomes for all, are much more likely to occur.

The life histories of Muslim teachers in Birmingham schools have been collected in this research. This interpretive research involved a systematic gathering and analysis of data using semi-structured in-depth interviews. Thirteen primary school teachers voluntarily participated for this to happen. This thesis is about Muslim teachers. It focuses on those Muslims who have, in principle, succeeded in education, and are deemed to be opinion-makers, models and leaders. It explores their conceptions, the meanings and significance which they attach to their decisions, their experiences, and events in their professional and personal lives. It concentrates on their views about the recruitment of teachers from underrepresented communities, and highlights the role of spirituality in their life. It reveals their understanding of what it means to be a Muslim teacher in contemporary Britain, and describes their aspirations and sentiments about the future. Much of the research on teachers’ lives, careers and work has been viewed predominantly from the perspective of class, gender and race. This research concludes that the experiences of teachers are not entirely affected by these configurations. Through the exploration of the life histories of Muslim teachers this thesis suggests that the significance of faith in the lives of teachers should be added to this genre.

This thesis comprises of a critical literature review and case study. The literature review considers, in detail, the theory underpinning emotional intelligence and emotional literacy. It begins by detailing the shift in UK Education policy, between 2000 and 2010 and considering academic research into non-cognitive aspects of education. A critical evaluation of two theories of emotional intelligence (ability theory and trait theory) is then presented and these theories are subsequently contrasted with the theory of emotional literacy, as outlined by Claude Steiner. The paper concludes by considering how each of the three theories discussed may impact upon research practice. The case study, which was completed in a city suburban primary school, is made up of two embedded units, the first uses interview to examine staff perceptions of emotional literacy. The second employs collaborative action research to consider whether emotional literacy can be used to promote organisational change. Data was analysed using thematic analysis and is presented together with discussion regarding staff perceptions of emotional literacy. The collaborative action research resulted in four identified changes in the school: development of practice and policy at lunchtimes; the introduction of elements of the SEAL curriculum; the establishment of a student council and a staff collaboration project. The mechanisms supporting these developments are discussed.

This thesis explores the issue of imaginative writing of deaf children. Thirty deaf children aged 9-11 years were recruited form Hearing Impaired Units and mainstream schools. Thirty hearing children were matched on academic performance (according to teachers) and chronological age and recruited from the same classes as the deaf children. Three sets of imaginative stories were collected from the above groups at three points during one academic year. A mixed methodology was employed in order to investigate imaginative writing of deaf children. For the evaluation of children’s stories an “Imagination Story Scale” was developed based both on the literature review and on the in-depth analyses of four children’s imaginative stories. The scale consists of four categorised divisions (story structure, story plot, linguistic imagination, originality) and one additional division (overall assessment). Assessments of both deaf and hearing children’s stories using the scale revealed little variation between deaf and hearing children’s scores in the scale, indicating that deaf children do have imagination and are able to express it in writing. However, differences were observed between the scores for the different topics (for both groups of children) suggesting that the topic of the stories influenced their scores. Imaginative writing of deaf children was not predicted by: age, gender, degree of hearing loss, type of communication used at home, or use of activities to promote children’s imagination either in the classroom or at home. Teachers’ opinions of deaf children’s imagination were explored through interviews. The Teachers of the Deaf tended to under-estimate deaf children’s ability to demonstrate imagination in their writing by comparison with the stories that the deaf children produced.

This study examines the issue of school choice in the context of Free Schools in England. It focuses on three different aspects, each one related the Free Schools policy from a social justice and equity perspective. First, the admissions arrangements of secondary Free Schools, are explored. Second, the reasons and strategies that parents reported when choosing a school are considered. Finally, the student compositions of the schools are analysed. The study as a whole takes a multi-method approach, using Annual School Census data, parent questionnaires and interviews and a documentary analysis of admissions policies. The findings show a complex picture, reflecting the heterogeneous and diverse nature of Free Schools. Disadvantaged pupils are under-represented in the majority of Free Schools, but not in all. The admissions policies also suggest that the majority of Free Schools are using similar methods for allocating places as those used by other schools in their area. Parents that had chosen Free Schools tended to report looking for similar features but had taken different routes and encountered varying circumstances during the decision-making process. Many were attracted to the Free School by its promise of quality and used a range of proxy features to determine this, including factors relating to the social composition, comparisons with other school types and a focus on a traditional approach to schooling. Recommendations for how the Free Schools policy (and education policy more widely) could be used to encourage equity of access and opportunity are included at the end of the study.

The underlying thesis of this research was that children possess more complex understandings of their large scale physical environment than were captured by existing models of classification for their artefact maps. In order to investigate this thesis, a convenience sample of 40 children was obtained at three (3) schools in East Kent in the United Kingdom and those children were asked to perform two tasks. Task One investigated whether or not children of 7-9 years of age could identify nominated features on a map of a fictional area through their ability to interpret conventional cartographic symbols. Task Two investigated the children’s survey and environmental knowledge of a known large scale environment by constructing a free-recall sketch map of ‘their town’ without them being given a subsequent purpose for this map. During the construction of this artefact map the researcher interacted verbally with the children so that the temporal order of construction could be examined and the environmental knowledge of the children could be explored. Consistent with the thesis, the children displayed considerably more detailed environmental and survey knowledge about their town that it would have been possible to obtain from adult-centric post-factum interpretations of their artefact maps. Following this finding a new model for the classification of children’s artefact maps was proposed.

This thesis reports on research into a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme in Senegal: Strengthening Mathematics, Science, and Technologies in Education Project (Projet de Renforcement de l'Enseignement des Mathématiques, des Sciences et de la Technologie, or PREMST). The literature review reveals very few examples of CPD changing teaching practices of teachers especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. However in this case, large-scale official project evaluations claim that some positive changes seem to have occurred, but give few details about the nature of the changes or how they have been brought about. This research seeks to understand the complexities of pedagogical change that teachers have gone through as a result of their participation in the CPD programmes through a more detailed investigation. The research examines the cases of five teachers in three schools that stakeholders claim to have gone through positive changes in the last three years. The research methods include focus-group discussions, lesson observation, and interviews before and after lessons. Lesson observation was aided by video and audio recording engaging with particular actions in the lesson observed. This process allowed me to understand how teachers reflected upon their own teaching and pupils' learning. The research finds that PREMST helped teachers envision how teaching should be conducted, by providing a structured approach to conduct a lesson. A visible change has been brought about in the classroom because the way training is conducted is well-integrated in the learning mechanism of teachers. However, the change in teaching practice has not necessarily brought a positive change in the learning of pupils. Apparent emphasis on group work has changed the modality of lessons, but it has not changed how teachers think about teaching. Given the difficulties involved in pedagogical change, emphasising specific skills may have been the necessary and practical first step, but changing these teaching practices is not enough. The research found that teachers still paid little attention to the learning of individual pupils. Teachers have changed their practices in terms of teaching methods used in the classroom, but the change in pedagogy has remained minimal because they have not understood the underlying premise of the new pedagogy. Unless they realise that their present manner of teaching does not enable the learning of pupils in a sufficient manner, their change is likely to remain at the level of teaching methods, not the pedagogy which incorporates the theories of learning and assumptions behind the practices. A key outcome of the research was to identify the next step for PREMST, namely to redirect the focus of teachers from the teaching procedures to the learning of pupils, by asking them to pay attention to what pupils say or write during the lesson. The thesis concludes by describing how this is being achieved through a shift in focus on classroom practice, through a training model based on lesson study.

This reflexive account is of a phenomenological study that took place over two years. It explores how a group of primary-aged children perceive, express and reflect on their embodiment through movement. Children aged between four and eleven took part in sessions of yoga, somatic movement and developmental play during the school day. The data include field notes, observations, a reflexive journal, photographs of and by the children, their drawings, mark-makings, writing and posters. Children were also interviewed at the end of the study, when they had an opportunity to reflect on all their work and experiences. All the children were capable of expressing and reflecting on their experiences, and the oldest children in particular appeared to enjoy and seemed to benefit from the reflective process. By linking together a sense of self-awareness and reflection, the children appeared able to gain insight into their embodied experience and reflect on emotions, feelings and events. Embodiment is a process as much of a state of being, and as such has implications for perceptions of mind and body, learning, and reflective practice. This approach to embodied reflective practice thus has potential for educators, and teacher trainers as well as direct work with children.

Previous research indicates that early childhood experiences, such as responsive parenting and the home learning environment, influence child outcomes including emotional, social and cognitive development. Recent government policy calls for support for parents to enable them to improve outcomes for their children. In particular, support for parents during pregnancy and in the first five years of children’s lives has been recommended, in order to maximise the positive impact on children’s development, based on evidence of increased neural plasticity during the first three years. Few established parenting programmes focus on families with children under five years of age. The Northamptonshire Baby Room Project© Parents’ Course is a Local Authority course designed and run by Educational Psychologists for parents of babies under twelve months. It aims to provide information and evidence from research on how babies’ brains develop in the first year and how early experiences can impact on later development, whilst giving parents ideas and resources to improve the home learning environment. This evaluation investigates the impact the course has on parenting self-efficacy, the impact on parents’ knowledge of baby brain development, and any impact on parents’ practice following course completion. The roles of Children’s Centres and the community also discussed.