A range of different intervention programmes exist in schools in the UK to promote the learning and development of children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). Surprisingly, there is little systematic evidence which has evaluated the effectiveness of these programmes at enhancing the protective processes associated with resilience. A systematic review of existing literature was conducted to examine the impact of both universal and targeted school-based intervention programmes on the resilience of children with SEBD. Results suggested that the most effective programmes for increasing the resilience of pupils with SEBD are those that explicitly teach new skills whilst also creating a safe and supportive environment. There was promising evidence suggesting that writing about feelings helps children to address the emotional issues underlying their behaviour (Lieberman et al. as cited in Macklem et al., 2011), however as yet there are very few studies which have evaluated the impact of interventions which use creative methods on the resilience of pupils with SEBD. The empirical paper evaluated whether Therapeutic Storywriting (TSW, Waters, 2004) can enhance resilience and emotional and behavioural adjustment in primary school pupils experiencing SEBD. Results showed that there was a significant increase in the emotional vocabulary and sense of belonging of pupils in the intervention group (N = 21) compared with those in the WLC group (N = 21). There were no significant differences between groups on measures of emotional literacy, self-concept and emotional and behavioural adjustment, at any time. The results indicate that TSW is an effective intervention for increasing two significant protective factors associated with pupil resilience, when delivered by trained school staff. Implications for future research and educational psychology practice are discussed.

This study explored the effectiveness of inclusion for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) based on social, affective and behavioural outcomes. It investigated the association between these outcomes and aimed to test the role of belonging in mediating the relation between school placement and outcomes for pupils with BESD. Three groups of 19 pupils (aged 11 to 14 years) were compared; pupils with BESD educated within mainstream schools (MS); those attending a special provision (BS); and a matched control group of pupils educated within mainstream schools. Pupils completed measures to assess their levels of sense of school belonging, self-concept, anxiety, depression, anger and disruptive behaviour. There were no group differences for pupils’ sense of belonging, self-concept, anxiety or depression. Significant group differences for anger and disruptive behaviour scores were found. Significant linear trends across groups were found for anxiety, depression, anger and disruptive behaviour. Significant associations were found between the social and affective measures for the total sample; however, within the BESD sample belonging was not found to be related to anger. Regressions indicated that placement and belonging had independent effects on behavioural, but not affective, outcomes for the BESD group. The findings add to the inclusion efficacy research for pupils with BESD. The current results have direct implications in terms of understanding the association between the social context of the learning environment and pupils’ emotional and mental health outcomes.

This thesis contains the work from two inter-related studies focusing on the self-perceptions of pupils with Down Syndrome. After a brief account of my value position in relation to the research in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 discusses the literature on self-perceptions. This discussion provides the rationale for study 1. In Chapter 3 the developmental profile of children with Down Syndrome is discussed. This provides the rationale for the choice of research instruments. In study 1 the self-perceptions of 96 pupils with Down Syndrome between the ages of 8 and 16 years were assessed in three school related domains: academic competence, physical competence and social acceptance Results from the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance (Harter & Pike, 1981/1984) and a Situations Grid suggested that pupils with Down Syndrome hold very positive self-perceptions in each school related domain, that self-perceptions become more positive with age, are more positive for female than for male pupils and remain positive regardless of school placement type (mainstream or special school). The findings from study 1 left unanswered a number of questions concerning the self- perceptions of pupils with Down Syndrome. Furthermore, examination of individual scores revealed considerable differences in the self-perceptions of individual pupils. Therefore, the aim of study 2 was to investigate factors associated with high and low self-perceptions. Study 2 also allowed pupils, teachers and parents more freedom to participate in the research. Fourteen qualitative case studies were completed. The interview and observation data arising from study 2 revealed the heterogeneity in factors associated with the self-perceptions of pupils with Down Syndrome. In the closing chapters: possible explanations for the study findings and suggestions for further research are raised, the utility of quantitative and qualitative approaches for studying pupils with Down Syndrome is discussed, and the implications of the findings for existing theories are covered.

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This study investigated the main challenges that faced Libyan students in reading comprehension within the English language programme at Zawia University, Libya, through the perceptions of lecturers and students at the Department of English. This study also evaluated the current teaching practices of reading comprehension at the Department of English at Zawia University. It also identified the key causal factors that contributed to the students' inadequate reading comprehension performance. Reading comprehension as a research topic has been extensively researched and it is still of current interest. The key literature in this study is polarised around two streams. The first stream presents different aspects of reading: definitions, importance, complexity, purposes of reading, types of reading and approaches to reading. The second stream is related to various issues about the three main components of the reading comprehension module: learners, teachers and reading material. The philosophical paradigm underpinning this study is predominantly positivist; thus, eight hundred questionnaires were distributed to reach as many students as possible in order to find out the answer to an inquiry through numerical evidence. After distributing the questionnaires, semi-structured interviews were conducted to gauge the lecturers’ viewpoints about the teaching and learning of reading comprehension. Four hundred and forty nine students filled up the questionnaires, which were analysed using SPSS while seven lecturers participated in the interviews that were analysed through content analysis. Findings revealed that students at the Department of English at Zawia University lack the reading skills and the culture of reading and face difficulties in English reading comprehension. Many lecturers are not aware of reading skills and they teach reading comprehension in a traditional way with over-emphasis on decoding and accuracy. The insufficient learning environment at the department has a negative impact on the process of learning and teaching because of the lack of facilities and library resources, overcrowded classes, and limited time allocated to reading classes. This study has added a theoretical contribution through expanding the literature, which brings about academic benefits for future researchers in education in the Arab world, particularly in Libya. Future researchers can use the conceptual model for reading comprehension that is designed by the researcher to investigate what factors influence this process.

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For over 30 years, the assessment of the clinical competence of student nurses has been the subject of much theoretical debate, yet the definition of criteria based on observable indicators of competence remains problematic. In practice, however, different assessors will judge and agree, relatively quickly, whether a student is competent or not; whether they have got ‘it’. Articulating what ‘it’ is, is difficult; although ‘it’ appears to be collectively, yet tacitly, understood. These judgements provide the key to the definition of competence. This research solves the dilemma of revealing and investigating these tacit understandings through the video analysis of students in simulated practice. The findings of four initial exploratory studies confirmed that competence is an example of tacitly understood behaviour and identified the limitations of traditional research methods in this context. The practical challenges of analysing video were highlighted, leading to the development of Video-View-Point to solve these problems and to reveal the tacitly understood behaviours. This innovative hybrid research method combines analysis of multiple ‘Think Aloud’ commentaries with the ability to ‘point’ at the subject of interest. The analysis is presented as a time-stamped multimedia dialectic, a visually simple yet sophisticated collage of data which reveals relevant behaviours, including those which are tacitly understood. A bespoke software tool (BigSister) was designed to facilitate the data collection, and was tested against the most similar commercially available technology, an eye tracker. The test of Video-View-Point successfully revealed four tacitly understood indicators of competence: communication, processing clinical information, being in the right place, and being proactive. Video-View-Point offers huge potential for behavioural analysis in other domains.

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The aim of this research is to explore the space between drama education and dramatherapy as practised in the UK and find a way of describing it. I begin by looking at five areas relevant to both professions: theatre and anthropology, theatre and therapy, the history of dramatherapy, drama education and story followed by an explanation of my methodology. Through two case studies I use the dramatic art form of drama to explore the spaces between these two professions in order to open up a debate around the shared spaces which exist between them. I use the same dramatic activities, exercises and materials as a starting point in two different school environments. In school ‘A’ I practised as a drama teacher; in School ‘B’ I practised as a dramatherapist. I then explore the spaces in which drama and dramatherapy exist and consider the space that exists between them through four conceptual lenses: context, discourse, art form and liminal space. This study shows that the space between the two professions is shifting and nebulous and that it is not an either/or scenario. It will also highlight the historical connections between the two professions and acknowledge that a greater dialogue is required in order for each profession to benefit from the other.

This thesis considers how sexual and romantic relationships between academic faculty and students in higher education are governed. Using analytic techniques drawn from Foucault and discursive psychology to interpret a corpus of texts, which includes policy documents, interview transcripts, fictional accounts, newspaper articles, and computer mediated discourse, I explore how five discourses are mobilized to frame faculty student relationships. I find that harassment discourse, which emerges as the dominant frame of reference in scholarly accounts, is taken up less readily in the accounts studied here. Rather, discourses foregrounding four alternative, but often imbricated, themes are more extensively mobilized: infantilization; religiosity; health, safety, and hygiene; and professionalism. These discourses reinforce elements of the truth claims propounded by harassment discourses; notably, their gendered and heterosexist assumptions, and their insertion of a gap between academic and student, albeit one configured along subtly different lines. However, they also challenge them, positing alternative claims to truth, recasting the subject positions of academic and student, and re-orienting relations between the two. For example, infantilization discourses construct faculty-student relationships as a horrific relation between adult or parent and child which must be monitored, whereas religious discourses construct a pastor-flock relation, articulating relationships as a temptation to be resisted or atoned for. The thesis offers contributions to research on faculty-student relationships per se, and is also understood as opening up analysis of organizational sexuality and the university more generally by arguing for the usefulness of a government approach to these phenomena.