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The study aimed to develop innovative and exploratory research strategies for harnessing the pupil voice amongst young people who have received the Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) label. As such the study sought to locate the pupil at the heart of the data collection and to examine how specific turning points can impact upon the educational experiences of young people labelled with BESD. The study attempted to move away from traditional research methods which have worked to silence the voices of this group of young people. In order to achieve this aim the researcher set out on a journey of discovery alongside the pupils to develop participatory and engaging methods of data collection. The study aimed to track the educational journeys experienced by young people who have received the BESD label. In addition to being a vehicle for the voice of the young person the thesis draws together the perspectives of the adults surrounding the pupil namely their parents and teachers. The results revealed the BESD label to be complex and difficult to operationalise. The current education system continues to remove these "challenging" pupils and this leads to them experiencing extremely chaotic educational journeys. The findings indicate that the current system is not working from the perspective of the pupil, parent or teacher. Encouragingly pupils were able to offer intelligent and insightful responses to the antecedents to BESD development. The study therefore advocates the importance of "hearing" the pupil voice. It is questionable however the extent to which the study achieved its aim of "true participation". This is due to the position occupied by young people both within society and the confines of their educational journey. The study critically reflects on the challenge of unleashing the pupil voice. It is hoped the findings will provide recommendations for educational professionals and research practitioners engaging and supporting this group of young people.

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The benefits of vocational education and, more specifically, the apprentice paradigm for the individual, the employer and for society as a whole have been accepted widely across many nations. These benefits have been delivered through a structured apprenticeship which has persisted for centuries, evolving from the early Guild system of indentured apprenticeship to the modern apprenticeship models operating in Japan and Ireland, on which this study has focused. This research examines the mechanics of the apprenticeship model in Japan and in Ireland, charting and analysing how both systems have evolved and adapted to economic, political and cultural challenges, exploring how both systems have responded in very different ways with some parallel outcomes. The five themes explored in this research emerged from an initial literature review of the topic, these themes are echoed throughout the various chapters to offer a multi-dimensional examination of the apprenticeship model. These themes frame the key areas of investigation explored through interviews which were conducted in both Japan and Ireland. The volume of extant research conducted on apprenticeship in each country was found to be surprisingly low, considering the long tradition of these august systems in both Ireland and Japan. A mix of documentary research and qualitative semi-structured interviews were employed to fully examine the paradigm of apprenticeship from an objective macro policy viewpoint down to the micro level narrative of those who had direct experience with the apprenticeship model. The sample consisted of educators, apprentices, Master crafts people and industry representatives to reflect the variance of views and experience of the actors involved in the delivery of apprenticeship. The main findings of the research demonstrated that the structure of the apprenticeship paradigm was not a formidable, durable, monolith which could weather the unrelenting march of progress through future generations, but, rather, the research revealed a delicate and fragile lacework of stakeholders, each of whom contributed to the overall form and shape of a training system embedded in societies who’s confidence in vocational education has changed quickly and without warning as the winds of fortune and taste have changed. The recommendations outlined offer a potential new model of apprenticeship which reinforces the view that this important form of education requires careful and constant curation through strong stewardship built on uncompromising quality assurance. Apprenticeship can only exist with an active public appreciation of the tangible historical value of past practices which can incubate the development of the highest levels of craft skills that the apprenticeship model can deliver to a nation. In this way the potential economic value of an idealized apprenticeship model can be realized to the benefit of the apprentice, employer and to society for centuries to come.

This study seeks to gain a greater understanding of the process of transition and development that secondary physical education beginning teachers undergo during their pre-service year and their first year of teaching. Such an investigation is timely in the light of fundamental government reforms of current government policy that promotes a model of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) that is located in schools rather than higher education and that perceives teaching as a craft that is best learnt as an apprentice (Gove, 2010). This shift towards employment-based routes of ITE allocates universities a marginal position, which will impact on the kind of support they can provide. The research aim is to investigate beginning teachers’ journeys through complex landscapes of practice. This longitudinal study takes an interpretive approach to investigate the journey through complex landscapes of practice of thirteen physical education beginning teachers. The qualitative methodology utilises procedures associated with Charmaz’s approach to grounded theory. Data were gathered over a two year period by way of 52 semi structured, individual interviews at four points in time, namely at the start of the pre-service programme (September 2008); after the completion of their first placement school (February 2009); at the end of their pre-service programme (June 2009); and at the end of their first year of teaching (May/June 2010). The data were analysed, coded, and categorised, and explanations of theory that emerged were grounded in the data. The findings of this study have four broad sets of implications for the learning journeys of beginning teachers. Beginning teachers need time and space to be able to distance themselves from the practicalities of the school setting, which can be overwhelming in the immediacy of their demands. Both schools and universities need a shared language, so that sameness and continuity can reside in the fact that both sites are concerned with pedagogy and with the learning process of the beginning teachers High quality, structured mentoring I support is paramount in order to ameliorate the inconsistencies that occur during the learning journey. The University’s role is key in the preparation of beginning teachers to help them reconcile their personal and professional identities of who they believe they are and who they are aspiring to become. This study highlights the need for policy makers, teacher educators and schools to develop a shared understanding of the complexity of factors that influence the professional learning of beginning teachers and highlights the importance of providing beginning teachers with a (neutral) third space where they can develop the critical capacity to negotiate the competing imperatives confronting them on their learning journey. Thus this study makes a timely and important contribution to the ongoing debate around beginning teachers’ professional development and particularly in the current policy context regarding preparation for teaching.

The study sets out to investigate the educational achievement of British Pakistani boys. Its foundations comprise my own journey; beginning in Pakistan and continuing in Birmingham. Central to the study is the post-war development of the Pakistani community in Birmingham, growing from a few hundred to their current presence - 14% of the city’s population. Pakistani children are now close to becoming the largest ethnic group in Birmingham schools. The study arose out of a concern that large numbers of the community’s young people were concluding their schooling without achieving the benchmark qualification. With the backdrop of the national policy response to the education of ethnic minority children, the study relies on research undertaken in three state secondary schools in different parts of Birmingham. The backdrop to the research was provided by numerous documents gathered during my time in Birmingham. The primary research relied on a mixed-methods approach, involving a questionnaire administered to Y11 students and interviews with British-born Pakistani boys, their parents and teachers. The findings confirmed earlier research, in terms of the importance placed on education by the Pakistani community. Very early in the research it was clear that religion was considered important by the Pakistani children and their parents. This shaped the study and gave rise to a number of implications which are fundamental to the schools in Birmingham. For example, it was found that Pakistani children spend many hours in after-school religious classes. This has a clear opportunity cost, as it takes them away from doing school related work. The study concludes with a discussion of responsive education that might better meet the needs of Pakistani children so that fewer of them leave school without the benchmark qualification. It also points to the possibilities of an education which integrates the Islamic religious education and education of the world.

A questionnaire survey of three groups of teachers who received copies of A Directory of Physics Resource Materials (for teachers, produced by industrial and commercial organizations, Ed. PF Bullett, The Association for Science Education, Hatfield, 1985, pp.22) establishes: the characteristics of the sample of teachers and of their schools; their previous knowledge and use of Industrially Produced Resource Materials (IPRM); the effect of the Directory in encouraging them to obtain further examples of IPRM; their access to and use of audio-visual aids (a necessary precondition for the use of some formats of IPRM); the use of various formats of materials in their teaching: and the means by which they are Informed about IPRM. Analysis of the replies indicates that this non-random sample of 99 teachers was generally aware of, and obtained, very few of the resource materials produced by industrial companies, and these materials largely failed to meet their perceived needs. The findings of two national surveys which are reviewed support these conclusions, and recommendations are made for producers of IPRM. Case-studies of six successful projects, which used teacher-writers and generated Industrial Resource Material (IRM), identify effective strategies and suggest approaches to future good practice. The lack of evaluation and effective dissemination of IRM are identified as crucial weaknesses in many current initiatives, and strategies of proven value are suggested which might find application in this context. A model of curriculum resource diffusion and utilization is suggested as providing a conceptual frame-work for the discussion of teachers' use of IRM and defines critical parameters which would allow measures of both diffusion and utilization in future research. The historical, economic and political perspectives of the school/industry Interface are outlined to provide the context for IPRM.

Technology is almost ubiquitous among adolescents in contemporary British society. Despite this, we do not have a meaningful understanding of the interplay between adolescent girls’ developing social cognition and their use of digital devices. This study aims to address this gap in understanding. Four pre-pubescent and eleven pubescent young women based in the Midlands and from across the socio-economic spectrum participated between 2012-2013. Participant completed six research tools and eleven of them participated in a face-to-face interview. Three tools were adapted from the existing psychology literature, and the remainder were developed specifically for this study. The tools explored technology-mediated attachment and relationships, self and identity, attribution and Theory of Mind. The findings suggest that the moral panics surrounding technology use in adolescence are misplaced; rather, adolescent girls with a good range of personal and situational resources are likely to exert considerable choice in their uses of technology, and social media in particular. Valsiner’s Zones and life course perspectives were used to conceptualise the emerging understanding of technology-mediated social cognition in adolescent girls. This theoretical framework made it possible to do four things. Firstly, to recognize adolescents’ active choice and agency. Secondly, to articulate development opportunities within individuals, relationships and technological environments. Thirdly to locate physiological and psychological development within the broader socio-technical realm. And finally, to see technology as neither positive nor negative but as shaping, rather than defining adolescent perspectives, behaviours and relationships. These possibilities suggest that, rather than attempting to shoehorn adolescent experience into a single paradigm or model we need to ask ourselves key questions about the interplay between the individual adolescent and the technology they choose to use.

Job satisfaction and work motivation are very important management concepts but the conceptual and empirical literature are predominantly from western countries, with only limited literature from African scholars and very little focused on the Cameroon context. This study contributes to the current research and literature by examining teachers’ job satisfaction and work motivation in the South West region of Cameroon, through a mixed methods design. In the quantitative phase, data were obtained from a stratified sample of 265 teachers from 20 secondary government schools from Fako (an urban setting) and Ndian (a rural setting). In the qualitative phase, two case studies (one in Fako and another in Ndian) were undertaken to provide greater depth and understanding. The study relied on a set of descriptive and inferential statistics to represent the findings of the survey on job satisfaction and work motivation. A series of non-parametric statistical analysis techniques were carried out in order to gather evidence to decipher whether teachers’ levels of teachers’ job satisfaction was related to a specific number of selected demographic variables. The study also utilized qualitative data to provide depth on teachers’ job satisfaction and work motivation. Data from interviews were analysed using a thematic approach, while field notes were compiled and analysed using broad codes and themes. The findings showed that, though intrinsic variables are commonly cited to underpin teachers’ job satisfaction in Western literature, both intrinsic and extrinsic elements are important components that shape teachers’ emotional and cognitive assessment of their job satisfaction and work motivation in Cameroon. The study showed that economic factors (salaries, allowances and benefits), situational circumstances (environmental factors and working conditions), as well as the behavioural dispositions of other members of the school (students, other teachers, and administrators), were the most prominent elements impinging on teachers’’ job satisfaction and motivation.

The purpose of this research was to explore the perceptions of teachers, teaching assistants and pupils about small group work for newly arrived EAL pupils. This was a case study of one secondary school with a high intake of newly arrived EAL pupils. At the time, there were several whole school initiatives to address government directives to improve teaching and learning across the curriculum. Two parallel questionnaires were administered to teachers and teaching assistants. 19 teachers and 3 teaching assistants completed the questionnaires. 10 teachers and 2 teaching assistants responded to a request to be interviewed and 13 pupils participated in two focus group discussions. The findings demonstrate that teachers hold positive perceptions about the inclusion of newly arrived EAL pupils in mainstream lessons but are concerned about issues such as the impact on monolingual and advanced bilingual learners, assessment, language and/or content teaching and professional development opportunities for staff. To varying degrees, teachers perceive that small group interaction can support pupils but there are dependent factors. Teaching assistants perceive that small group interaction is beneficial but have highlighted areas for consideration and development. The pupils share mainly positive views about their involvement in small group work and at the same time, identify challenges that they encounter as they try to work with their peers. This study provides an insight into the experiences of newly arrived EAL pupils in mainstream lessons in one school and highlighted areas of concern worth investigating in EAL teaching and learning in mainstream classrooms.