Research undertaken within the Sociology of Education frequently highlights concerns about the underachievement of Black students in education and, later, within the labour market. Yet, there are a number of shortcomings associated with research in this area. Firstly, there is a tendency to homogenise the achievement levels of all Black students. Thus observations made about the outcomes of African-Caribbean students are often applied to all other Black groups. When distinctions between African and African Caribbean groups have been made, the achievement levels of students from different African backgrounds are often merged, creating a misleading impression of their different academic outcomes. Secondly, studies seeking to provide explanations for the low attainment levels of Black students are often critical of life within Black families, in particular their assumed use of an „authoritarian‟ parenting style, which is seen as creating psychological problems in children and as hindering their achievement. Effectively, such notions serve to pathologise Black families in Britain. This thesis presents a critique of existing studies concerning Black families in Britain and the academic achievement of Black (African) children, and also seeks to address existing gaps in the knowledge about Black Africans residing in Britain. Life history interviews were conducted with 25 British-Ghanaians who have achieved highly in their academic and professional pursuits. The findings suggest that not all parents adopted an „authoritarian‟ approach when raising their children, and that those who did were influenced by their own socialisation experiences in Ghana. While some respondents experienced some socio-emotional problems resulting from their „authoritarian‟ socialisation, these were generally resolved and did not have a long-term impact on their attainment. The thesis also suggests that the use of discipline, associated with this parenting style, may have had some beneficial effects in relation to respondents‟ academic and professional outcomes.

With the increasing internationalisation of Higher Education, which saw the number of international students double in the first decade of the 21st century according to an OECD report (Rebolledo-Gomez & Ranchin, 2013), universities around the world have been trying to improve the learning experience and enhance student employability in order to maintain an international reputation. Multicultural groupwork, which has the power to "force" students of different cultural backgrounds to work together has been increasingly used in the name of developing students' intercultural skills and prepare them to become "Global Citizens" under this internationalisation of Higher Education agenda. However, it needs to be questioned whether simply mixing students of different backgrounds in a group necessarily leads to them working collaboratively with each other. Challenges and negative perceptions of the experience have been repeatedly reported in the literature (Summers & Volet, 2008; Turner, 2009). However, most studies in this area were conducted by academic staff who were researching their own students, which might affect how students report their experiences. Additionally, there is little research focusing on intercultural skills development within student groups. By taking a "from students, for students, and about students" stance, I will address this research gap, not only by looking at students' perceptions of their multicultural groupwork experience, but also by looking into the development of transferable skills. My research also addresses factors that influence students' attitudes in order to identify possible actions to foster a better intercultural learning environment. A mixed methods approach was adopted to answer my research inquiry, via two questionnaires involving 286 respondents and two rounds of interviews involving 19 participants, which were conducted at the early stage and end stage of a master's degree course. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected about postgraduate students' attitudes towards multicultural groupwork, their perceptions of the groupwork experience and how they coped with the difficulties they encountered in the process. While the quantitative findings indicated that overall postgraduate students showed no change of attitudes during their one-year course of study, they largely recognised the benefits and value of working in multicultural groups. The qualitative analysis allowed a deeper exploration of the quantitative findings, for example, elaboration on the difficulties they voiced and challenges they had to deal with. Participants in this study nonetheless confirmed that they did develop skills through working in groups, as well as many creative coping strategies to deal with difficulties that happened during the groupwork process, such as different levels of language proficiency and different working styles. The implications of the study are that further support by academic teaching staff and university administration is needed to promote intercultural awareness and provide intercultural skills training to help students understand culturally different communication and working styles before they undertake group projects. The findings also suggest that current assessment criteria, which largely focus on the end product of multicultural group work rather than the process, should be changed, as the true value of working in multicultural groups exists in the interaction of students studying collaboratively.

Extended school non-attendance (ESNA) is presented in the literature as a difficulty that can result in negative outcomes for the pupil, not only with regard to academic attainment but mental health difficulties, relationship problems and reduced future prospects. In the political context of increased legislation regarding the requirements for pupils be in receipt of suitable educational provision, a legal discourse of ESNA has become entrenched. This sits alongside a dominant clinical discourse which positions school non-attendance as a within child, medicalised construct. Whilst early research aligned extended non-attendance with anxiety, subsequent findings have constructed such attendance difficulties as multi-factorial, interactive and individual. In the existing research, there is little which includes the pupil voice to examine their construction of the attendance difficulty. This qualitative exploration therefore, aimed to examine the construction of the reasons for ESNA by the pupils, parents and school staff, through examining the discourses of participants. The findings of the analysis highlighted the heterogeneity of ESNA and are illustrative of the disparate constructions of the participant groups. The results are discussed in the context of the current literature and the implications of the findings are considered in terms of strategic prevention, identification and intervention of attendance difficulties.

The ensuing thesis is the result of an in-depth interrogation of the following research question: What are the school experiences of LGB,T youth? Despite much research on homophobic bullying in school, little is known about how power intersects and prolongs a bullying event after the initial victimization is over. This study sheds a light on this issue, examining how LGB,T youth understand bullying, their capacity within individual events, while uncovering how power shapes a bullying incident. The first part of the thesis forms the central argument demonstrating key principles underpinning challenges sexual minority youth face while at school. Interrogating political and neoliberal influences, this thesis introduces young people’s stories through multiple lenses. This thesis uncovers schools ineffectual use of inclusion policy revealing policy and practice are failing young people. Furthermore, LGB,T young people’s human rights are also largely overlooked in policy practice. Not treated as having the same rights as other students interferes with their education, and therefore, their human rights. The first two chapters are grounded in present literature as demonstrated in chapter three, which is followed by methodologies in chapter four, rounding out the first section. Chapters five through seven establish the second part of this thesis. Here the reader is introduced to young people’s accounts unpacking bullying incidents. Introducing critical incidents revealed through narrative inquiry, leads to an interrogation of bullying and how power punctuates, intersecting a single event. While chapter eight concludes this thesis. Up to thirty young people participated in sessions, ranging in ages from sixteen to nineteen. Eighteen filled out a questionnaire, while surveys ranged from eight to seventeen participants. Eighteen participated with the one-to-one interview lasting from 30 to 60 minutes. Interviews revealed all young people had experienced bullying at school while several were severely physically bullied and harmed. Girls reported experiencing and identifying bullying differently than boys, while boys reported struggling with homophobic bullying representing their lost male privilege suggesting girls and boys experienced, perceived and defined bullying and power differently. Results revealed not everything defined as bullying, is understood as such. Additionally, power exerted onto the victim during a bullying incident came from multiple sources. First, it came rom the initial attacker then moved to the teacher attempting to resolve the incident, and then to the administration. How they interrogated bullying informed and prolonged a bullying incident long after the initial event ceased. This thesis will reveal how bullying is understood and addressed in schools is ineffective due to its universal ideology considering all experience as the same, and is faulty.

Diben yr astudiaeth hon oedd ymchwilio’r ddarpariaeth iaith Gymraeg mewn ysgolion cynradd ac uwchradd cyfrwng-Saesneg, Cyfnodau Allweddol 2 a 3 er mwyn dirnad i ba raddau y gall gynhyrchu siaradwyr Cymraeg. Agenda ieithyddol Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer creu Cymru ddwyieithog a ysgogodd y gwaith ymchwil hwn. Ymhellach, rhydd pwyslais y Cwricwlwm Cenedlaethol ar sgiliau llafaredd, ynghyd ag argymhelliad parhaus Estyn a Llywodraeth Cymru i ddatblygu sgiliau cyfathrebol y disgyblion gyd-destun i’r astudiaeth. Gosodwyd y gwaith ymchwil o fewn fframwaith cysyniadol yn seiliedig ar egwyddorion dysgu ac addysgu ail iaith y Cyrchddull Cyfathrebol cyfredol. Cyfraniad gwreiddiol y gwaith ymchwil hwn i’r maes dysgu ac addysgu Cymraeg ail iaith yw dangos bod y ddarpariaeth Gymraeg yn yr ysgolion a gyfranogodd yn pwyso’r glorian ar ochr dulliau addysgu ail iaith traddodiadol; dulliau sydd yn arwain at anghyseinedd ymarferol ac, o ganlyniad, wedi tanseilio ffydd yn eu cymhwysedd i ddatblygu siaradwyr. Arsylwyd mewnbwn ieithyddol a oedd wedi’i gyfyngu i eirfa a strwythurau iaith ynysedig ac a oedd, ar y cyfan, yn camgynrychioli natur yr iaith darged. Tueddai ymarferion llafar ddatblygu o ymarferion mecanyddol i gyfnewidiau trafodaethol gyda diffyg pwyslais ar ddefnydd iaith at ddibenion ystyrlon. Dadleuir nad oedd y mewnbwn ieithyddol, y deunyddiau dosbarth na’r gweithgareddau yn cyfrannu at ddatblygu hunaniaeth ddiwylliannol na sgiliau cyfathrebol y disgyblion. Cynigia’r gwaith ymchwil hwn fewnwelediad gwerthfawr i wersi Cymraeg drwy astudiaeth feintiol fanwl o nodweddion yr addysgeg a fabwysiedir i addysgu’r Gymraeg mewn ysgolion cyfrwng-Saesneg. Yn sgil adolygiad Dyfodol Llwyddiannus Donaldson (LlC, 2015a) o’r Cwricwlwm Cenedlaethol, ac er mwyn gwireddu gweledigaeth Llywodraeth Cymru o Gymru ddwyieithog, gall canlyniadau’r ymchwil hwn gyfrannu at sicrhau nad yw’r un addysgeg Gymraeg ail iaith yn parhau o dan gyfundrefn ‘ddiwygiedig’.

This thesis examines how investing in tourism education was explored as an attractive national development policy in Yemen, where this education would provide the human capital needed for the sector to grow. This examination adopted a dual lens, namely the lens of policy makers responsible for the creation of this educational process as well as that of the students involved. The underlying thought for this research can be summed up in the simple notion: How successful is an educational institution in creating human capital for the tourism sector as seen by both the policymakers and the young people engaged? Responding to this question requires considering the intended goals of both policymakers and students, seen as to accelerate national development and individual wellbeing respectively. Investigating this question is important, particularly given Yemen’s developmental status as a Least Developed Country (LDC) experiencing recurrent cycles of instability, and based on the human capital premise that investing in education contributes positively to achieving development outcomes across the board. For this research, I used a purpose-built vocational training institute as a case study to understand more about how tourism education as an instrument to achieve development goals was understood, formulated, and executed. I relied on official documentation as well as primary data collected through interviews and focus group discussions to build the case study. Those interviewed included high-level officials and other experts as key informants, as well as students who were also engaged through in-depth focus group discussions. The collection of primary data from students enrolled in the institution was useful not only in understanding their perceptions towards the human capital development process through the institution, but also to learn more about issues that potentially contributed to the frustrations that were expressed in the Arab spring events of 2011. My research indicated that the conceptual framework used to guide policymaking in the case of NAHOTI was rather under informed and missed several important elements, thereby limiting the contributions of tourism education to development goals as intended. For example, an evaluation of evidence-based policy options was largely absent, and the process excluded taking into account the views and priorities of the young people despite their central role and contributions to the success of this process. This led to a range of complications that affected the viability of tourism education as a development instrument as evident in the case study. Furthermore, the research revealed another dynamics relating to expectations on returns to investment in education at both the public and private levels. For instance, the students’ expectations from the case study institution were based on their employability interests towards improving their economic prospects, and therefore they viewed the educational process in the institution largely as a means to an end in terms of improving their access to the labour market. This did not only affect their potential contributions to the tourism sector, but also added to their frustrations and disenfranchisement with governance processes at large. Finally, this research concludes with a number of findings and policy implications for the prospects of investing in human capital for development. It also proposes a range of recommendations to maximising the potential contributions of students in building human capital, through adopting a number of participatory and inclusive social dialogue measures within human capital development frameworks.

Enterprise and entrepreneurship (EE) education aims to equip students with the attributes, behaviours and skills to recognise and respond to opportunities. However, evidence suggests that this does not happen in practice. Opportunity recognition (OR) is frequently cited as a competence from EE education, yet studies suggest it is rarely developed as such. This has resulted in calls for practical guidelines and frameworks on OR to be made available to EE educators. While OR is recognised as a creative process, there is a distinct lack of creativity driven approaches available to educators. Similarly, a growing awareness of the potential value of ‘design’ in EE has resulted in calls to consider education and assessment methodologies used in Design Education (DE) for the creative aspects of EE education. This study responds to those calls. The research explores the potential suitability of DE approaches to OR education (ORedu), within the context of Higher Education (HE) in Ireland. A qualitative approach was taken, involving both semi-structured interviews and observation of educators in practice. This research is the first of its kind to reveal the existence of an ORedu process, which was found to lack prominence in existing EE education. The current ORedu process was considered sub-optimal, with students rushing into the process or selecting unsuitable or convenient opportunities. DE was found to develop ‘designerly ways of thinking’ in students, facilitating the generation and development of new ideas, thereby making it relevant from an OR perspective. This was enabled by its delivery, the requirement for students to explore, continuous educator challenge and exposure to managed risk in safe learning environments. Key theoretical contributions include a refined ORedu process and an ORedu framework to enable the progressive development of student OR competence. Practical implications of this research include recommendations for EE educator training.

This thesis is about the story of the development of Adult Literacy and Numeracy policy and practice in Scotland. It includes some of my personal experiences over the past thirty years working in the field of adult education and particularly in literacies. However, the focus is primarily on the years 2000 –2006 when major developments took place in this field of adult learning. One of the tenets of the ‘new literacies’ policy and practice is that it is predicated on a social practice model. This thesis explores whether this assertion is rhetoric or reality. In the process the thesis outlines what the term social practice means to theorists, academics and those involved in the direct delivery of literacies. It examines the policy documents and the practices of managers and tutors and learner outcomes. The thesis argues that, while a learner centred approach is integral to any good adult education practice, it does not equate to the use of a social practice model and more requires to be done before it can be claimed that Scotland truly operates a social practice model in the delivery of Adult Literacy and Numeracy. The first five chapters of the thesis outline the historical context of literacies development in Scotland, locate my methodological approach, explore what is meant by social practices, sketch the development of policy and practice in Scotland and describe the methods used to gather data. The following three chapters explore the responses of the managers, tutors and learners that informed the outcomes of the research. The final chapters analyse the data and address three pertinent questions. Firstly, is it possible/likely that a full social practice model can become the norm in Scotland, secondly, whether it is possible to develop this model at a national level anywhere considering the current global situation and thirdly, how can the good practice recorded in this research be sustained.

It is generally acknowledged that two central goals of university higher education are to enable student learning and to help students develop. Within that mandate, academic staff perform many functions including teaching and assessing. It is also generally acknowledged that educators adapt as new and accessible knowledge emerges on how students learn and develop and on changing demands on Higher Education (HE). One of these adaptations has been the widening use of experiential learning, specifically the use of community placements. As the educational contexts of students expand beyond the university, both the different pedagogy of experiential learning and unfamiliar situations in community agencies can create a situation where it is possible for students to experience Transformational Learning (TL), as proposed by Mezirow (2008). This is an interpretive, qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study that uses a pluralistic methodological approach. This approach includes multiple case studies and the theoretical frameworks of TL and Service-Learning (SL). The study explores how placements in the United Kingdom are similar to SL provisions in the United States, how Academic Staff Participants (ASPs) perceive and conduct assessment of students in placements and how they consider TL experiences. Through semi-structured interviews with twenty-nine ASPs in four UK universities, the methods used in the assessment of student work are illuminated and analysed. The pedagogies of the ASPs in both professional and non-professional placement modules are compared. The ASPs relay their experiences, expectations, assignments, assessment protocols and university engagements with placement hosts and communities. The emerging themes from the ASP interviews show that change and risk, lifelong learning and employability are major concerns for stakeholders and that placement learning serves many purposes. The resulting conclusions identify some of the challenges that placement learning poses for ASPs teaching in the new millennium. With the practices shared by the ASPs this thesis further proposes a framework of Participatory Action Research (PAR) that academic staff (AS) could use to support each other, further assisting student learning and development to realise the full potential of TL.

This thesis is based on an empirical study of ten post-graduate students of human and social science at University of Warwick. It aims to re-conceptualise transition with reference to the way students discuss their personal experiences. The thesis has the form of a narrative that is based on the post-modern idea of creating the conditions that describe what cannot be represented. The central argument of the thesis is that either we always learn in transition or that learning is always transitional. Based on this argument the thesis takes the form of a journey in which the author traces issues relevant to transition, such as behavioural changes, emotional and cognitive in/stability, work and identity, learning and personal development. In this context transition is described as a spiral approach of constant reference to experiences of the past and the present, as well as expectations of the future. Methodologically, the thesis introduces a case-oriented comparative model for empirical research that is based on the deconstruction and reconstruction of personal experiences that appear as text. This defragmentation creates a story in which some of the components of transition become part of a lifelong learning process. In the analysis transition is treated as a feature of life, far more complex than a simple passage from one situation to another, punctuated by two points in time and space. It is also an evaluation of personal experience that refers to the development of self, in relation to the other, and to the roles and responsibilities people have in an educational environment or expect to take on in their attempt to reach stability.