This study examined the relationships and differences amongst selected physical education and psychological characteristics of boys before and after secondary school transfer. The purpose of the study was to determine the significance of boys' attitudes to physical education, motor performance and physical education self-esteem (self-perceptions of performance in physical education) at the age of school transfer, and establish the role of physical education before and during adjustment to secondary school. Independent samples of Primary schoolboys (n = 50) and secondary schoolboys(n = 107) formed a cross-sectional study, whilst twenty-five primary school transferees formed a small-scale longitudinal study. Pupils' attitudes towards physical education, motor performance and physical education self-esteem (PESE) were assessed during the last term at primary school and on two occasions (December and June) during the first year at secondary school. In addition, global self-esteem and anxiety were measured at each stage, and a self-report school transfer questionnaire was administered at the end of the transfer year. From these sources, low self-esteem, high anxiety and negative attitudes to secondary school were used as indicators of poor school adjustment. Differences amongst the psychological variables across transfer revealed that the move to secondary school appeared to be a positive experience for most boys. However, those boys identified as poorly adjusted to secondary school were less sure of themselves, more anxious, and recorded lower global and physical education self-esteem. Correlational analysis and discriminant analysis of low, average, and high motor performers (actual and perceived) revealed that poor motor performance was not consistently associated with low global self-esteem, high anxiety, or poor school adjustment. In contrast, low physical education selfesteem was associated with negative psychological characteristics and all the indicators of poor secondary school adjustment. Findings also suggested that physical education self-esteem may serve (1) as a mediating variable between actual motor performance and global self-esteem, and (2) as a mediating variable between physical education experiences and school adjustment. On the basis of the results, a preliminary model of secondary school adjustment incorporating physical education is presented for discussion and empirical test. Also in light of the study's findings, the National Curriculum for England and Wales is analysed to consider the extent to which physical education experiences are likely to assist children's motor and psychological development before transfer and during secondary school adjustment.

Abstract: In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on the promotion of collegiality as an impetus for management in Scottish schools. Collegiality is promoted as having the potential to transform teachers and hence education. This study confronts this ambitious claim arguing that the concept of collegiality has suffered from a lack of theoretical and intellectual scrutiny. Collegiality lacks proper understanding as a concept and as a discourse. Terms associated with it are frequently used in perfunctory ways which are inattentive to its conceptual sophistication. This study attends to complications which emerge when we reflect rigorously on what collegiality means, and how it impacts on various organisations, but in particular school management. Current attempts at developing a collegiate culture in schools are underexploiting its potential as a transformative management model. We are not managing to be collegiate in the most normative of understandings because we are not Managing collegiality in ways which take account of its conceptual and discursive complexity. The key research questions are: From where has the discourse of collegiality come and how has it been promoted? Whose interest might the discourse of collegiality serve? The study takes two main approaches in addressing these. It considers collegiality as a concept, focussing on meaning and implications arising from the application of limited understandings of the idea in a variety of organisational contexts. It then draws on continental philosophy to uncover arguments which position collegiality, currently promoted, as a discourse. The dissertation locates key sources of the discourse of collegiality and the politics and practices of its promotion. It explores the interests claimed to be served by collegiality, contrasts these with the interest more likely to be served, before going on to make normative claims about a rehabilitated understanding of collegiality. It identifies current approaches to collegiality more as being technologies for organisational expediency rather than as conduits of the more attractive and normative understandings which could contribute creatively to a more democratic and ‘dialogic’ school organisational culture. In seeking a more creative and potentially transformative conception and practice of collegiality, the study looks at one particular example of a radical reappraisal and critiques this, finding it attractive in some senses but at odds with the parameters within which school managers work. A discussion develops which explores more attractive and normative understandings and casts these before a backdrop of common approaches to the professional practice of school management. The dissertation contributes to a discussion by which popular understandings of collegiality may be rescued to become more befitting the democratic and socially oriented facets of a school, rather than as a managerialist technology, impacting on learners, teachers and the wider constituency of interest in schooling in rather more limited ways. The study defends normative understandings of collegiality as an organisational impetus tailored for professional arenas, but in so doing it defends management as a necessity in organisational contexts characterised by complexity. Collegiality cannot be an alternative to Management. It is an attractive approach for schools which can be managed if Managed appropriately.

A RMN em baixo campo (RMN-BC) é uma importante ferramenta analítica que vem sendo usada para substituir os métodos clássicos de análise. As principais características da RMN-BC sobre esses métodos são: rapidez da análise, pouca ou nenhuma preparação da amostra, análise não-invasiva e não-destrutiva e não tem descarte de produtos químicos. O presente trabalho avaliou o uso da RMN-BC com sensor (ímã e sonda) unilateral (RMNU). Neste equipamento de baixo custo, a região de análise é projetada para frente do imã, o que permite analisar amostras com grande volume, diferente dos espectrômetros convencionais onde o tamanho da amostra é limitado pelo gap ou bore do ímã. Como o sensor RMNU possui um intenso gradiente de campo magnético é possível investigar o comportamento da amostra em diferentes alturas. Essa propriedade foi explorada para medir a temperatura e a difusividade térmica de sementes de macadâmia em três profundidades. Para isso fez-se uma curva de calibração com o tempo de relaxação transversal (T2) do óleo da semente versus a temperatura. Os resultados obtidos com a RMNU foram coerentes com encontrados na literatura usando sensores invasivos como termopares. Também foram realizadas análises de viscosidade de óleos lubrificantes automotivos dentro das embalagens utilizando a sequência de CPMG. Com o método foi possível discriminar se o óleo base é mineral ou sintético. O sensor RMNU não foi sensível para identificar amostras de diesel com diferentes composição e origem. Para isso usou-se espectrômetro de RMN convencional onde analisou 118 blendas de diesel/biodiesel/óleo vegetal, em que se variou a refinaria, teor de enxofre do diesel (S500 e S10), a origem do biodiesel e do óleo. Os modelos de classificação de análise multivariada apresentaram alta capacidade de distinguir as respectivas blendas. Investigou-se também o uso do acoplamento indutivo para ampliar a região de detecção do sensor a partir da sua superfície. O acoplamento permitiu aumentar da região sensível de 2 mm para 20 mm. Esse sistema foi usado para monitorar a cura de uma amostra de gesso utilizando a sequência de CPMG. / The Low-Field NMR (LF-NMR) is an important analytical tool that has been used to replace the classical methods of analysis. The main features of LF-NMR about these methods are: speed of analysis, little or no sample preparation, non-invasive and non-destructive analysis and no disposal of chemicals. This study evaluated the use of LF-NMR with sensor (magnet and probe) unilateral (UNMR). In this low cost equipment, the region of analysis is projected forward of the magnet, which allows analyzing samples in large volumes, unlike conventional spectrometers where the sample size is limited by the gap or bore of the magnet. As UNMR sensor has an intense magnetic field gradient is possible to investigate the behavior of the sample at different heights. This property has been exploited to measure the temperature and the thermal diffusivity Macadamia seed at three depths. For this became a calibration curve with the transverse relaxation time (T2) of the seed\'s oil versus temperature. The results obtained with the UNMR were consistent with the one found in literature, using invasive sensors such as thermocouples. They were also held viscosity analysis of automotive lubricants in the packaging using the CPMG sequence. With the method it was possible to discriminate whether the base oil is mineral or synthetic. The UNMR sensor was not sensitive enough to diesel samples with different composition and origin. To it was used conventional LF-NMR spectrometer, where 118 blends diesel / biodiesel / vegetable oil, as it the refinery varied, sulfur diesel (S500 and S10), the source of biodiesel and oil were analyzed. The multivariate classification models showed high ability to distinguish their blends. It was also investigated using inductive coupling to expand the sensor detection region from its surface. Coupling allowed to increase the sensitive region of 2 mm to 20 mm. This system was used to monitor the cure of plaster sample using the CPMG sequence.

Pupils who present with Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) at school have been the focus of extensive study, research and reports for many years in England. These have focused on exploring the nature of BESD, contributing factors relating to school and the schools that have shown evidence of good practice when working with these pupils. This work has reflected the situation in the English education system. In Cyprus, however, answers to questions about how best to educate pupils who may demonstrate BESD remain elusive. In 2003, the Cypriot government approved a policy prioritising the education of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The policy instituted ‘Zones of Educational Priority programme’ as it is an area-based initiative. The schools joining this programme and working under the policy have been selected based on the areas in which they are located and the local populations’ socio-economic and educational status. Additionally, many of the pupils registered in these schools present with BESD. Despite this fact, up to the time the research described in this thesis was conducted; the issue of good practice when working with these pupils seems to have been neglected by Cypriot researchers and educational authorities. The study reported here was begun in 2008 and continued in 2009. It involved two primary schools operating under the Zones of Educational Priority policy in Cyprus and is a case study of what ‘good practice’ is perceived to be in relation to pupils with BESD. For the purposes of this research, 22 semi-structured interviews were carried out, as well as 29 lesson observations and informal conversations. The collected data was subjected to content analysis and the findings are reported and discussed in a way that allow the readers to draw their own conclusions concerning how the study has reinforced what is already known in the area of study as well as how it has contributed to building new knowledge.

September 2012 English universities witnessed a near trebling of their tuition fees for full-time undergraduate courses to an average of £8,580 per year (UCAS, 2012). In the same period was the growing accountability for universities to publish and demonstrate their performance to students. The research was undertaken in 2012/13 allowing comparison of the students who began their studies on the increased tuition fees, and the students who had started their studies in the previous year and who continued to pay the lower rate of fees. The research was undertaken across two English institutions: one ‘post 1992’ University, and one Further Education (FE) college which offered degree awards. The research includes survey responses from nearly 700 students, 97 academics and five interviews with senior university staff. The study provides evidence that students choose to study to improve their future earnings, seen in the motivating factors on choosing their university. Students taking on the persona of consumers is reflected in the expected rises in standards and reported rises in institutional complaints. Both academics and students expect change within the higher education industry and in institutional cultures. In turn these have implications for developing policy and future research.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the educational disadvantage currently being suffered by Roma children in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, and to identify the most appropriate human rights mechanism with which to remedy the situation. Education is vitally important for oppressed minorities such as the Roma since, without it, individuals will be unable to fully access the complete range of their fundamental rights and so will be unable to challenge the disadvantage and discrimination that they suffer. This thesis first submits, therefore, that the traditional liberal democratic model of governance as featured in contemporary Europe is insufficient to adequately address the needs of minorities. To address this insufficiency, states must recognise a version of multiculturalism that both embraces critical pluralism and is compatible with liberal theory. Secondly, this thesis suggests that the individualistic focus of rights protection should be enhanced through an increased recognition of children’s rights so that the individual child is firmly entrenched as an autonomous rights holder. The type of education system that would exist in such a rights environment should serve to develop the autonomy and competence of individual children but also to facilitate their security within their own culture. This type of multicultural education can only be achieved if the various international instruments concerning the right to education can be required to place a more onerous burden on states parties when it comes to minority accommodation. At a domestic level, this thesis suggests that the most appropriate means by which to accommodate the Roma within the national education systems of the four countries would be through a culturally sensitive mainstreaming approach adapted from that used in England.

This study offers an understanding of the emotional challenges encountered by AGIS (Association of German International Schools) head teachers in the course of their role; the consequences and impacts these challenges have on their personal and professional lives and the strategies they use to cope. This mixed methods study employs a questionnaire survey of 34 AGIS leaders, plus semi-structured interviews with eight of them, to explore their lived experiences in relation to the emotional demands they face. The findings show that, in addition to the challenges experienced by heads in wider contexts, AGIS leaders face demands specific to the multi-cultural context and transitional nature of international schools. They also highlight how school leaders may contribute to the challenges they encounter through their poor understanding of the cultural contexts that they operate in. The demands that heads face, may lead to a range of negative consequences and impacts for many. The coping strategies upon which they draw, reflect the context in which heads operate and their individual resilience capabilities. The study suggests a range of strategies by which leadership-training providers, school boards and regional and local networks may better support international school leaders. It is also suggested that international school leaders take greater initiative for both their own cultural literacy and the development of personal resilience capabilities. Such steps should reduce the demands placed on heads and enable them to better withstand the challenges they face.

This small scale qualitative study interviewed 33 maintained school headteachers and academy principals to identify their attitude to and perceptions of effective school to school collaboration. The research has been informed by Hall and Oldroyd’s (1992) model of the collaboration process and by Coleman’s (2011) model of collaborative leadership. Evidence of the anticipated linear nature of Hall and Oldroyd’s model was not found, rather there is evidence that frequently collaborations slip back to earlier more confrontational stages of development. Whilst this in some cases can derail the collaboration totally, in others it can galvanise the group into developing more effective partnership working than might otherwise have been the case. The study has been able to explore the various elements of Coleman’s leadership model and contends that there needs to be an elasticity in the way in which the elements are utilised to maximise effectiveness. This has implications for future leadership development. As with all qualitative research, the findings have raised some interesting questions beyond the main focus of the study which need further exploration. One such question concerns the increasing political emphasis placed on the importance of academy chains and the implications of their role in the educational landscape. As chains take on many of what would have been Local Authority functions, will they become the new ‘middle tier’ of accountability superseding the Local Authority organisation? As the educational landscape in England continues to change, there remains a need for balanced, in-depth research into the impact and implications of the change.

This study investigates issues of subject choice at 14. Geography is a popular optional subject choice in England and Wales at age 14 but between 1996 and 2010 numbers entering for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination declined by 35.6% although total entries for GCSE had increased. This study sought to help the geography subject community better understand the reasons for this decline. The research has used NPD/PLASC data to investigate patterns of entry for geography at the national level. This secondary data analysis was developed further through a study of five schools which investigated curriculum diversity and competition between subjects at the school level. A conceptual model of the option choice system is used as the framework for analysis. The results showed there was segregation in entry patterns with high attaining students and students in less deprived rural counties being more likely to study geography. Government policy had both direct and indirect influences on geography entries through curriculum decisions made by schools. Teachers and their pedagogy played a significant part in student choice but their influence on numbers choosing the subject can be constrained by whole school curriculum and option choice systems.

My thesis explores language policy and practice in the history of the people of Gibraltar between 1940 and 1985. This period covers the wartime Evacuation and the Spanish border restrictions and closure, and it is also fundamental in the emergence of Gibraltarian identity and democratic rights. My contention is that these developments were facilitated by growing accessibility to the English language. From being largely the preserve of the colonial establishment and the elite, it emerged as pre-eminent in official use, the media and culture, and higher oral registers. This change was hastened by the Evacuation, which increased awareness of the need for English. The Clifford Report of 1944 reformed the whole education system and gave a central role to English. Clifford, Gibraltar’s Colonial Secretary, and indeed educationalists at the Colonial Office, proved themselves far more enlightened than their governing counterparts in Gibraltar. Their reform greatly contributed to political development in the following decades. With the Spanish border closure, the English language and the sense of attachment to Britain gained further consolidation, co-existing with the move away from overt colonialism. In my examination of language behaviour in Gibraltar, including bilingualism and the use of Spanish, interview material supplements written sources.