This study examines the Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) policy initiative, which was instigated by the „New Labour‟ Government in 2003. The policy was intended to create an employer demand-led system of curriculum development for education and training in the Learning and Skills Sector within the United Kingdom. Sector Skills Councils (SSC) were tasked with implementing this policy initiative. This study explores the reasons why the SSA policy initiative failed to achieve the ambitions that the Government had for it. The methodology utilised by this study was grounded in reflexivity, with the author acting as a participant/key informant in the primary data collection. The primary data underpinning this study was obtained predominantly from email correspondence and was complemented by documents emanating from the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) and the governments‟ of the devolved nations‟ of the UK and the then nine English regions, as well as the SSCs. The study argues that existing theorisations of policy fail to grasp the complexity of the processes surrounding the development of SSAs and consequently need to be developed further. Neo-pluralism provides a vehicle to advance theoretical understandings of policy processes in general and the SSA process in particular. The study concludes that a number of issues resulted in the failure of the SSA process, key amongst which was the involvement of the devolved nations and English regions of the UK in this process, whereby these constituencies appropriated the SSA to serve their own agendas, which were not those of the national government.

Interdisciplinarity in higher education is a widely used but poorly understood term. There is a wealth of literature about the topic, but beneath the surface details very little of it agrees. Further, what attempts have been made to engage with pedagogies of interdisciplinarity in the undergraduate curriculum often suggest dubious programmes of ‘minimal understanding’ or ‘adequacy’. These are consistent only in their inconsistency and lack of standard qualifications, and are often short lived. This thesis explores why there is no consensus on interdisciplinarity, and why there is no consistently effective undergraduate curriculum to develop it, and seeks to resolve both questions via a range of empirical evidence from fields which have not heretofore been applied to interdisciplinarity research. Three problems are identified in the current research: self-contradictory pedagogic models; a general lack of reliable evidence for theories; and a lack of engagement with relevant educational and psychological research. Taking a pragmatic approach to evidence I review the existing educational research on disciplinarity and the psychological research on expertise, knowledge transfer, collaborative cognition and categorisation to see if these can yield more consistent and empirical foundations for an understanding of interdisciplinarity. The culmination of this research soundly undermines several of the persistent but ill-evidenced models of interdisciplinarity in the literature, namely pluralism, disciplinary essentialism, and competency-based models, and establishes a more coherent approach to interdisciplinary curricula. Taking the view that a model is not complete without connection to practice, I have also interviewed current academics in the ‘interdisciplinary’ field of Medieval Studies to correlate the psychological evidence with praxis. Ultimately, interdisciplinarity as a ‘thing’ or a stable academic identity is refuted in favour of interdisciplinarity as a particular focus of skills-based curriculum. This focus should ideally be developed concurrently with matching skills in a disciplinary context in order to balance breadth and depth of learning. This thesis ends with some forward-thinking considerations of curriculum models which could facilitate a balanced disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach in practice.

This study warns that Scottish education is in danger of losing a valuable and venerable element of the school curriculum: the Classics. In order to demonstrate what Scottish education stands to lose, this study defends one particular element of the Classics, rhetoric, understood as the practice of effective speaking and effective writing for the purpose of persuasion. Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), first conceived in 2002 and implemented in 2010, is still a fledgling curricular initiative and schools are currently in an adjustment phase while existing syllabus content and pedagogical approaches are reviewed in order to better reflect the aims and purposes of the new curriculum. With increased focus on teacher autonomy, flexibility, personalisation and choice (Scottish Government 2008), now is an ideal time, I claim, to reveal and defend the contribution of rhetoric to this curriculum. This study promotes the learning and teaching of rhetoric in Scottish secondary schools, citing its potential to enrich not just the Classics but many areas of the curriculum, and makes particular claims for its contribution to cultivating critical and responsible citizens. Set against a broader backdrop of political and philosophical influences on curriculum reform and educational policy, this research examines the origins, aims and purposes of CfE and suggests that, although clearly influenced by supranational expectations regarding employability, economic growth and adequately equipping the future workforce, the curriculum appears to uphold the value of the Arts and Humanities and places education for citizenship at its core. These moves imply progress, at least in Scotland, towards ameliorating the ‘crisis in the Humanities’ and making room for increased focus on cross-curricular skills and abilities which are considered important for responsible citizenship: literacy, speaking and listening, argumentation and debate. The retention of Classical languages in Scotland’s new curriculum offers renewed hope, at least at the policy level, for the revitalisation of Classics teaching in Scottish schools. Yet despite their inclusion in the curriculum, they have received no promotion and there are no teacher training places available in Classical languages in Scotland so, at a practical level, the future of the subjects remains in crisis. By focussing on the educational merit of just one feature of the Classics, this study aims to highlight the value of rhetoric in CfE and in so doing raise the profile and improve the image of Classical language education. I argue that the Classical rhetorical framework, developed as a method for citizens to represent themselves effectively in public, has much to offer the development of literacy, critical literacy and critical thinking. These skills are shown to be linked to citizenship education and particular attention is paid to what is meant by ‘responsible citizenship’ in CfE. The argument is made that popular interpretations of the policy imply personally responsible or participatory conceptions of citizenship, but I promote a maximal interpretation in the form of ‘justice-oriented’ citizenship (Westheimer and Kahne 2004: 242). I defend that it is this conception of citizenship which is optimal for Scottish democracy both to appeal to the Scottish democratic intellect (Davie 1961) and to advance the values of wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity, the values inscribed on the mace in the Scottish Parliament (Gillies 2006). Despite ambiguity in CfE regarding the form of democracy envisaged for the 21st century, I argue that the study of rhetoric cultivates knowledge and skills which are particularly pertinent and beneficial to deliberative democracy and that in such a conception of democracy, rhetoric complements critical argumentation as a method of deliberation between citizens. I claim that it does so by facilitating narrative imagination, engaging the emotions and by providing a communicative bridge between diversely positioned deliberators. After highlighting and defending the value of rhetoric in CfE, the study concludes with the consideration of how rhetoric might best be positioned in the curriculum and advances a number of possible pedagogical models for its delivery, the most practical of which is offered by a cross-curricular approach but the most desirable of which is conferred by Classical languages.

This ethnographic study was initiated by the concern that elementary art education is an endangered subject, not only marginalised but expendable. This concern was based on informal conversations with pre- and in-service teachers and observations during pre-service teacher evaluations in elementary schools in Ontario, Canada. From these conversations and observations, it seemed that the emphasis in elementary schools is on core subjects with anything else deemed to provide balance alongside initiatives to improve literacy, numeracy, character, and inclusion. The school day is teeming with subjects and initiatives and the resulting crowded curriculum may be affecting teaching and learning in non-core subjects, such as art, negatively. In addition to such external issues are individual challenges faced by generalist teachers with little or no background in visual arts. These teachers’ lack of comfort with art might, I surmised at the start of this study, impede the effective planning, implementation, and assessment of art education. To understand what impacts art education, specifically visual arts instruction, I used a variety of interpretive enquiry methods to interrogate what makes art in elementary schools a vulnerable if not an expendable subject. Initially seeking to find out if art was expendable, I went beyond this to explore perceptions of teachers on teaching art through a localised small-scale study involving 19 elementary teachers in two school boards in north-eastern Ontario. I conducted interviews, recorded observations, and read related documents to answer my research questions, which were as follows: Why is art education important, or not, for students, educators, parents, and other stakeholders? Is art jettisoned in favour of implementing other policies and curricular subjects? Do teachers use other programmes and initiatives as an excuse not to teach art? How do teachers feel about teaching art? Is art expendable? Nussbaum’s (1997) capacities (critical self-examination, connectedness with the world, narrative imagination, scientific understanding) provide the theoretical framework for the study, support the analysis of the state of art education, and help defend its importance at the elementary level. Possible barriers to effective art education (history, policy, practice, economics, geography) and how they may affect learners’ ability to connect with the capacities through visual arts instruction are also analysed and discussed. Through this study, I found that elementary art education is threatened in the participants’ schools for a number of reasons including external issues (minimal attention to, inconsistent delivery of, and poor funding for the mandated art curriculum; a high focus on literacy, numeracy, and other initiatives) and internal issues (discomfort with teaching art; wide range of concepts of art). The study concludes with concerns regarding overall problems with miscommunication and disconnection that threaten effective elementary art education. Recommendations for addressing external and internal issues, and these overall problems are outlined, along with plans to improve art education in pre-service teacher education, in-service practice, and the world beyond the classroom.

I begin the thesis with an action research account of an intervention with respect to gender on a mathematics Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course at a northern university in 1989-90. Two years after the intervention, I visited in their schools three of the students (now teachers) who had been involved and I interviewed each of them there, with a view to finding out what impact, if any, this intervention had had on their beliefs, understandings, commitments and practice. In the light of this experience, I sought out three teachers who had followed the course and who I had heard were working for change. I conducted several interviews with each of them. I constructed a model of the ways of knowing of (new) teachers of mathematics and linked one epistemology, that based on the authority of self and reason, to an emancipatory curriculum and to critical mathematics education. I have considered, briefly, the implications for initial teacher education. The research was conducted and this thesis is written as a praxis-orientated inquiry and both have been influenced by feminism, critical theory and postmodern tendencies. In this sense, the thesis itself is a research experiment.

This multiple case study explored the potential for Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to give three classes of primary children voice and influence over decisions that affect their learning, and facilitated their involvement in evaluating AI. Using mixed methods, it examined changes in: children and teachers’ beliefs about the value of pupil participation; curriculum activities for writing; and children’s attitudes, progress and attainment. The children and teachers suggested improvements to the AI process so that it can be as inclusive as possible. The results indicated that AI has the potential to shift the culture of pupil participation in the class, but needs time (and good timing) to be effective. Children devised innovative curriculum activities, often for real purposes, which were highly motivating and engaging. However, standardised measures of pupil attitudes and attainment provided no evidence of positive change. An important finding from the children was how challenging group work can be within AI, especially for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). This study makes an original contribution to the literature on pupil participation and AI, with the expectation that the AI process may now be developed further within schools.

This thesis explores the views of History Post Graduate Students on the relationship between the study of history, with an emphasis at key stage three (KS3; Appendix A), and its possible role in developing perceptions of ‘British National Identity’ (BNI), ‘Patriotism’ and ‘Fundamental British Values’ (FBV). Their views are influenced by the political, media and academic discourse planes. The relationship between the students and other discourse planes are analysed using the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the approaches it offers; namely Discourse Historical Analysis (DHA) and Social Actor Approach (SAA).

This research explores how some undergraduate students’ experience reflection in their learning. The study is located within the interpretivist tradition and the research is based on two semi-structured interviews with eight undergraduate business students at two different stages in their programmes. This study indicates that both traditional and contemporary theories of reflection can contribute to an understanding of how undergraduate business students experience reflection. For example, I found that all of these students experience reflection in ways in which the self is the object of performative development and this mirrors some of the contemporary theoretical constructions of reflection. Interestingly, whilst acknowledging the wide variety of benefits associated with reflection in learning, the participants in this study provide detailed accounts of tensions and issues that remain including performance, group work and locating reflection alongside disciplinary knowledge. In terms of reflection on employment, these undergraduates indicate that third party ‘spillover effects’ are a broad dimension of their reflections indicating how attuned these business students are to the needs of employers. The undergraduate students in this study accept and operationalise notions of responsibilisation, self-governance and self-discipline. I also found that, for final year students in this study, reflection is central to the process of forming pre-professional identity. This is a small-scale study and I make no claims to generalisability or representativeness. However, this dissertation not only adds to what is known about how students’ experience reflection, but also provides some evidence that might usefully be considered by curriculum designers, educators and staff developers. Primarily, I suggest that reflection should be repositioned within the higher education business curriculum. Specifically, I propose a new paradigm for business education in which reflection within the curriculum is oriented to more critical questioning of disciplinary traditions and assumptions and offers greater opportunities to critically reflect on social relations and global injustice. Secondly, I suggest, having undertaken this study, that curriculum design should accommodate greater discussion and support for undergraduates struggling with reflection on performance, group-work or within disciplinary conventions.

By allowing students to play an active role in the assessment of their work, can their perceptions and motivations be changed? This dissertation considers the impact of working collaboratively with primary school teachers and students to develop the skills needed to integrate student-led assessment into their daily practice, with the objective of analysing how this affects the students’ motivations and attitudes towards their work. Three teachers and the researcher, the Head of Primary, concertedly trained in how to develop student-led assessment across a 13-week trial that involved Year 4 students in an English curriculum international school in Malaysia. An experimental group comprising of 28 student participants engaged in three rounds of focus groups, while the three teacher participants engaged in weekly working focus groups as well as three interviews over the trial period. The findings suggest that students benefited from their involvement in student-led assessment since, at the end of the study, they could more accurately understand and explain their progress and predict their grades, as well as explain the uses and importance of assessment as learning. The teachers observed successes, such as increased student motivation, enhanced student understanding, more advanced autonomy, and challenges, such as timing and consistency with student-led assessment across the three Year 4 classes. The research leads to suggestions with regards to implications for practice of teachers, schools and policy makers, as well as directions for future research.

Research on sustainability in higher education has tended to focus on environmental management of university estates and operations, and case studies and examples of good practice, without presenting the coherent theoretical or methodological approaches required to look at the change processes of universities seeking to embed sustainability. Although the value and contribution of university initiatives has been articulated, little holistic and structural transformation of universities has been achieved so far. This doctoral research aimed to examine organisational learning and change processes to build education for sustainability into the university curriculum by developing its theoretical basis, and by developing qualitative methodology. The original contributions to knowledge of this doctoral thesis are the exploration of organisational learning processes towards sustainability in higher education, the exploration of action research as a research method to foster organisational learning towards sustainability, and the development of an evidence-based model on how to embed education for sustainability in the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Southampton. The integration of different theoretical approaches to organisational learning such as organisational learning theory, the idea of expansive learning at work, the learning organisation ideal and transformative learning theory provide the theoretical foundations for this study. Therefore contributing to the understanding of how individuals in organisations can transform their mental models in order to change current practice leading to organisational learning towards sustainability in higher education. At a methodological level, an action research approach guided by participatory and emancipatory approaches was used. The researcher aimed to learn from real practice through acting as a facilitator for curriculum development in education for sustainability within an interdisciplinary group of academic staff members. A critical friend position was acquired within a community of practice to implement a programme which attempted to embed sustainability within the student experience. An evidence-based model (the I3E Model) has been developed with four overarching components that can support the University of Southampton in its aim to embed education for sustainability within the undergraduate curriculum. These integrated components are: Inform the university community about sustainability; Engage the different university stakeholders in the change process towards sustainability; Empower individuals and groups to make change happen within their sphere of influence and action; and Embed sustainability within existing university structures.