Although there is limited research into the success of primary school networking initiatives in the UK, there seems to be an unquestioning faith displayed at national Government level for school collaborative working arrangements as a key means for driving forward whole school improvement. This research considers the possible benefits and challenges of one such initiative – Primary Strategy Learning Networks (DfES, 2004a). The research focuses on a reliance on school networks as power bases for promoting a national standards agenda. It considers the impact of an imposed model of school collaboration on the fluid nature of networking. It also acknowledges the benefits of a ‘network balance’ between the positive and negative features that impact on a network’s success and sustainability. Furthermore, the research explores the impact of power, authority and influence on the sustainability of networks. This is a qualitative study and data is gathered through interviews with network headteacher participants in two Primary Strategy Learning Networks over the course of an academic year. The research is also informed by an initial study of a Networked Learning Community (Hopkins and Jackson, 2002). Following an analysis of the findings, a number of recommendations are made. A suggested ‘ideal’ model for productive networking relationships among key stakeholders is offered for consideration and a Realistic Approach (Pawson, 2006) to evaluating such initiatives is argued to ensure a higher degree of success in implementing collaborative working practices for school improvement

This research explores professional contributions and learning in a multidisciplinary team whose purpose is to promote mental health and psychological well being in children within family and community settings. It brings together three current priorities of policy and practice, namely, promoting mental health and psychological wellbeing in children and young people, multidisciplinary teamwork, and professional learning and development. The study examined a multidisciplinary child behaviour team of educational psychologists, family support workers and primary mental health workers working within a culturally diverse urban community. Activity theory was used as a theoretical framework and methodology to examine the sociocultural processes involved in multidisciplinary work. Individual interviews, focus group discussion and developmental work research were employed to identify and compare activity systems, and to surface and then work on contradictions. The exploratory findings arising from the analysis of the activity systems are discussed against the cultural and historical background of professional and multidisciplinary work. The implications for professional practice, multidisciplinary work and future research are also considered. Conclusions drawn emphasise the complex multilayered nature of professionals’ work within multidisciplinary teams and the value of sociocultural activity theory as a method for analysing work and promoting learning in multidisciplinary teams.

Children's imaginary companions are a very common yet surprisingly under-researched phenomenon. This qualitative study investigates children's perceptions of their imaginary companion(s) and uncovers the functions they serve for the children, especially in relation to academic demands made by school. The research process is explored in detail and some particular considerations involved when conducting research with children are outlined. Seven children aged between seven and ten (primaryaged pupils), who had a current imaginary companion, participated in semi-structured interviews and themes were identified from interview transcripts. Findings derived from a thematic analysis reveal two over-arching themes, namely 'the child's relationship with their imaginary companion(s)' and 'problem-solving'. Several separate sub-themes contributed to these two over-arching themes. The findings are discussed in relation to children's cognitive, social and emotional development. Although only two boys reported their imaginary companions being at school, others helped with homework; therefore most of the imaginary companions in this study help with school work. They provide answers, offer reassurance that answers are correct, embody self-talk techniques, suggest approaches/strategies, provide visual cues and offer ready-made characters for stories. Implications of the findings for educational psychologists and practitioners are highlighted and areas for future research into imaginary companions are suggested.

Since the year 2000 there has been a statistically high proportion of head teachers’ leaving the profession. There have been studies conducted to predict when this exodus would conclude, but not the actual reasons for why senior people are leaving. Schools have found replacing head teachers’ increasingly difficult and the inevitable leadership crisis has been well documented by authors, such as Dorman and D’ Arbon (2003) and Harris (2007) alongside many articles in the media. The leadership crisis has been most noticeable within the Catholic Primary School sector. This thesis identifies the leadership crisis from the negativity of the education system with possible supporting solutions, such as the value of acting headship, succession planning and talent spotting. This research journey started with a questionnaire with eighty senior leadership teams within Catholic Primary schools (English West Midlands) and progressed to interviewing fifteen senior leaders, pooled from five head teachers; four deputy heads, three assistant heads and three middle leaders. The research was conducted from September 2011 to June 2014. This study captures the importance of succession planning and expectations on faith school head teachers having many aspects adding to the working week. Accountability and workload issues are adding increasing pressure on a heads’ shoulders which is putting many senior leaders off. The research concluded that any future succession planning should include opportunities for acting headship. The other emerging theme was the impact of OFSTED, especially in relation to the workload levels and the accountability of senior leader.

The main aim of this thesis is to further understanding of primary science teaching through the analysis of a constructivist research project and its evolution into curriculum materia's. My analysis is underpinned with views on the nature of constructivism, the nature of primary science and research into effective teaching. In particular, I seek to locate the Primary SPACE (Science Processes and Concept Exploration) Project within the paradigm of constructivism; to explore notions of children's ideas as either theories or everyday ways of knowing; to chart the influence of constructivism in the Nuffield Primaa'y Science (NPS) curriculum materials and to observe case studies of classroom practice linked to both SPACE and NPS. My analysis locates SPACE in a form of constructivism particular to primary science (Harlen and Osborne, 1985) which has more in common with "good primary practice" than with other approaches to constructivism. The messages from the NPS Science Co-ordinator's Handbook are very similar to this, while the practice modelled in the Teachers' Guides relates more closely to "guided discovery". Observation of a teacher using NPS for the first time reveals practice very similar to that modelled in the Teachers' Guides in which the teacher is in control of the right answer. This is more successful than a SPACE teacher who tries to change the social dimension of classroom teaching and learning to give the children more ownership, according to constructivist principles. "Guided discovery" is acknowledged to be unprofitable for learning (Hodson, 1993) yet the children being taught using NPS had learning outcomes exceeding the teacher's expectations. I suggest reasons for the success of NPS based on research into effective teaching: that repetition of clearly stated key ideas leads to focused teaching in which learning activities are matched to intended learning outcomes. This approach does not view children's ideas as theories to be developed and is therefore not related to constructivism. I suggest that the way forward for primary science teaching is to embrace socio-cultural approaches so that the teacher's role corresponds more closely to society's norms for education in science, that children learn the accepted science view through supported negotiation, with their ideas viewed only as everyday ways of knowing.

This research set out to explore ways in which children’s independence can be promoted and measured in the primary classroom – to highlight strategies and skills that enable children to operate independently, and to identify tools that might be used to measure levels of independence. As an integral part of this process it was necessary to consider the role of both the teacher and child - to identify characteristics of more-independent and less-independent children, including attitude and motivation, and to undertake an analysis of classroom organization, teaching style and teacher-expectation and the implications of these upon the child. In order to answer my research questions I undertook an action research project, both ethnographic and naturalistic in nature, in my own classroom with myself acting as complete participant immersed in the production of grounded theory – theory that was particular to me and the children I was teaching but which may help to enlighten other teachers engaged in reflexive activity. Data collected was largely qualitative, but quantitative data was also used particularly towards the end of my research when I had a firmer idea of what I was looking at and for. This research identifies a typology related to the characteristics of children exhibiting varying degrees of independence. Within this typology there are children whom I have called Hiders, Seekers and Props – children who hide (or keep a low profile), children who seek out attention, help or reassurance, and children who manage themselves, their work and their environment, not overly reliant upon the help or reassurance of others, and perhaps offering assistance to others on occasion. The research, in identifying characteristics of more- and less-independent children, also seeks to clarify what is meant by independence. My definition of independence views it as a multi-dimensional state, the dimensions including physical, social, intellectual, organizational and attitudinal independence. Children may display varying degrees of independence in each of these dimensions – because they may be considered relatively independent in one dimension does not mean that they will necessarily be independent in another, they may be Hider as regards intellectual independence but a Prop organizationally. For some children, especially the Hiders, a first step towards independence may be in identifying appropriate moments to seek help, whereas for other children such as the Seekers it may be necessary to help them distinguish between when it is appropriate or inappropriate to seek help, and perhaps to channel a possible need for attention into supporting other children. Whilst it may not be possible (or desirable) to make children entirely independent, it is possible to teach them strategies that might increase their independence. In considering how to promote children’s independence, high teacher-expectations are crucial. Despite identifying the importance of high expectations of independence, however, teachers who responded to my questionnaire tended to give priority to the development of social, organizational and physical independence rather than intellectual independence regarding the latter as difficult to achieve within the constraints of the National Curriculum. This lower priority may feed lower expectations resulting in children being kept intellectually dependent upon the teachers responsible for their education. Another factor, however, is the current testing and reporting arrangements – the need to be seen to have done well in the eyes of the general public, and the erroneous impression that intellectual independence equates with lower standards. Of course, if children are not being spoon-fed the apparent standard of work may drop initially, but with a long-term view standards will increase because children will have the knowledge and skills to achieve away from the spoon. It is vital that we take this long-term view. This thesis includes a range of practical recommendations for other teachers interested in promoting children’s independence.

This thesis is a case study about learning from experience in a primary school. The enquiry applies a psychoanalytic idea in an educational context. The focus arose from Bion’s idea: ‘Container-contained’ (Bion, 1962) which proposes that the capacity to think is emotionally rooted in our first relationship, which informs the qualities of our subsequent ‘learning relationships’ (Youell, 2006). Within a psychosocial, interpretivist framework, research questions ask: How does the learning that children bring to school affect their relationships and learning? How can school provide flexible-enough containment for thinking and learning from experience? What have I learnt about learning from experience? As a researcher/mentor, an interpretation of Bick’s (1964) clinical observational method was deployed to generate data, including written-up observations of four case study children who communicated their stories of everyday events in school during mentoring sessions. An auto/biographical approach complementarily composed part of the methodological bricolage. The inductive method supported evolution of a relational approach to mentoring, permitting reflexive interrogation of the observational texts. Interviews with teachers and parents added a biographical dimension. Mentoring took place during half-hour, weekly, individual mentoring sessions with children over two terms. Findings confirmed that children brought early experiences of learning to school which affected relationships and posed barriers to learning. The research method provided a subjective tool for making unconscious qualities of relationship in the transference and countertransference between researcher, children and adults at an institutional level, explicit. RefIexive interrogation illumined the interrelationship between researcher and children’s learning. Findings showed a need for flexible boundaries for supporting children’s self-efficacy and personal agency, and teacher’s learning about learning, when school is seen as a ‘container’. Findings confirmed the need for time and space for children and adults to reflect on experience in school, towards fostering emotional well-being and the capacity to think and learn.

This thesis is an account of an action research project undertaken in a Greek primary private school. The project aimed at personalising the students’ learning with the use of ICT. The project ran for three consecutive school years and involved students (twenty-six in year 1, sixteen in year 2, and fifty-one in year 3) and, their parents (in years 1 and 2). The students were eight-years old when the project started. The focus of the innovation concerned the teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language. The project was an attempt to create a partnership with students and to offer opportunities for students to make choices in their learning. In year 1 teaching methods, including argumentative processes, learning task design and assessment processes, were re-designed and students were encouraged to engage in collaborative learning. All these changes were sustained in year 2 and the use of ICT, including online discussion, was introduced to enhance and extend collaboration and learning. The use of on line ‘chat’ was extended to parents as a way of communication with school. All these innovations were sustained in year 3 and further exploration of students’ and parents’ perceptions of learning with technology carried out. Action research is employed as a methodological approach in this study. In particular, the study reports on cycles of implementation and reflection carried out over three years. A variety of methods were used. Diaries were selected to record situations, questionnaires to access the perceptions of the children and parents, and chat logs and interviews used to explore these perceptions in greater depth. The mix of methods enabled comparison and contrast not just between data derived by different methods but by different sources as well, i.e. parents and children. The main theoretical concepts explored in this thesis are Personalised Learning, ICT use, and Collaboration. This research project sees Personalised Learning as the ‘focal innovation’ and ICT use as embedded within personalisation. Collaboration is considered a fundamental construct in both personalisation and the embedded use of ICT. This thesis asks whether personalisation is a coherent concept and whether it can be sustained with the use of ICT. It finds that personalised learning can offer a coherent organising principle for pedagogic reform, and can be defined by its concern for collective co-production of knowledge, student voice, assessment for learning, learning-to-learn strategies, and student centeredness. Personalised learning and ICT are recognised as a good match and personalised learning is seen to need ICT in order to be sustained. However, innovation requires time and evaluation of outcomes is value laden. The thesis finds action research to be an appropriate methodology for curriculum reform.

The premise of this thesis is that the role of the first steps in reading in courses for Young Learners of English (YL) at the beginner stage is a neglected area, with anomalies centred around the fact that ‘words on the page ’are often treated as if they were facilitative from the outset for language work in areas such as speaking while very little support is offered to children as to how to decode these words. Chapter 1 (Introduction) traces the rapid spread of YL teaching worldwide and considers the preparation of teachers for their roles. Materials are discussed as an important source of support and structure for teachers and a case is made for a focus in the main study on systems and rationales for early reading found among teachers themselves or evidenced in published materials. Chapter 2 (Literature Review) discusses relevant issues for systematic support for YL in their first steps in reading English. Areas discussed are: Teacher Cognition, Sociocultural inductions to reading, Orthographic Depth, Phonology, research on reading development across languages and influences in the YL world of established early reading methods for English native-speaking children. Chapter 3 (Research Methodology) justifies the decision to investigate the area via two main studies: (1) questionnaires and in-depth interviews with EYL professionals and (2) close analysis of course materials. It is argued that the qualitative stance of the former is not in conflict with the more objective and quantitative handling of course material data since both are appropriate ways of focusing on the same issue. A third, small-scale, study of the publishing experiences of curriculum experts and materials writers is justified and described. Chapter 4 (Findings) reports and integrates the findings of both main studies and summarizes the findings from the study with curriculum experts and materials writers. Main findings are that EYL professionals tend not to put linguistic considerations high in their priorities for decision-making and that materials analyzed had an underlay in the Alphabetic Principle but were dominated by ‘ABC’ ordering of Reading-Focal items and included activities which tended not to promote pattern-seeking or other behaviour likely to lead to ‘self-teaching’. Chapter 5 (Discussion) discusses the significance of the findings of the two main studies and uses the results of the third study to add balance to the materials analysis study. Limitations of, and reflections on, the research are discussed. Chapter 6 (Conclusions) draws implications for professional education, pedagogy and materials illustrated by examples in the Appendices. Claims are made for the contributions of the study that (1) it opens up discussion on an area of YL teaching which has been neglected both in the research literature and in practical materials creation (2) through the use of in-depth interviews it allows a voice for EYL professionals which has not been heard before (3) the concepts of Reading-Focal versus Vehicular language in YL course materials are claimed as new and useful, leading directly (4) to procedures and analysis tools which can be used with any set of YL materials. Directions for further research building on this thesis are indicated.

The study investigated parental involvement in children’s learning in Cypriot primary schools. It aimed to describe and analyse processes of policy-making and capture meanings, interpretations and reported practices of major stakeholders through document analysis, survey and interviews with élites, teachers, parents and children. The policy trajectory framework of Bowe et al. (1992) identified three interactive contexts influencing the stages of development, interpretation and enactment of policy. The adoption of this framework as a tool of analysis, contributed to the significant findings of the study. Indeed, investigation of the parental involvement policy-to-practice process provided the opportunity to identify both facilitating factors and obstacles restricting its development. Overall, the study identified the sheer political challenge associated with setting up a new educational system, translating new ideas and conceptions into an agreed text and practical challenges related to lack of professional teacher development in parental involvement, as well as ideological tensions related to relinquishing traditional professional boundaries set by teachers and psychological barriers associated with perceived threats from parental interference. The study indicated that the Cypriot educational system is in the early stages of developing parental involvement policy. It identified a weak interaction between policy contexts. The absence of mechanisms for transmitting new policies to practitioners, lack of guidance on implementation or monitoring of this process allowed headteachers and teachers to determine the type and extent of parental involvement practised. Even though findings indicated that there was an implicit recognition from teachers, parents and children of Cypriot parents’ central role in their children’s education and development, there was a lack of explicitly promoted parental involvement practices. The mismatch between policy intention, text and practice allowed the emergence of a dominant parent group whose disproportionate influence through Parent Associations seemed to be derived from the particular social and cultural capital background they occupied.