This thesis examines higher education reforms in Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2016, and uses the policy transfer framework to analyse the case of the Bologna Process in this developing post-communist country. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, newly independent Kazakhstan aimed to shift from a resource-based economy to an industrial innovation-based economy. Modeled on Western countries’ training to develop its professionals and competitive experts, Kazakhstan aimed to reform its education system to increase the quality and competitiveness of its higher education, and to enhance the recognition of local research and faculties. In order to integrate into the international educational space, and to connect with the education systems of the USA and Europe, Kazakhstan initiated its entrance into the Bologna Process which is an intergovernmental policy for the development of higher education in Europe. Policy transfer is used as an explanatory theory. It is a useful theoretical approach to understand post-communist countries in transition because it provides a critical analytical tool with which to understand significant changes of direction. The policy transfer was used to explain why Kazakhstan signed the Bologna Process. This research used 41 semi-structured interviews with international and national actors engaged in the Bologna Process to understand the relationship between European, national and institutional levels. The broad notion of policy transfer accommodates various tools for conducting empirical research, including the policy cycle, multi-level, ideational and process-centred approaches. By applying a theoretical framework that was so far predominantly used in Western countries, this thesis contributed to the academic literature on post-communist countries. This thesis considered four different, but connected concepts: policy learning, international policy transfer, lesson-drawing and path dependency. This research argues that the policy transfer process in higher education mainly occurs through learning. Not only reforms or policy were transferred, but policy ideas and knowledge were transferred too. Lesson-drawing and lesson learning occurred in the example of countries where higher education and science are advanced and well-developed, such as the USA and some European countries. In changing its education system and becoming integrated into the European Higher Education Area, Kazakhstan used lesson-drawing, policy learning and international policy processes. International policy transfer provides a model which is applicable to post-communist countries with different political, ideological, economic, social and cultural backgrounds. Many transfers involve a combination of voluntary and coercive elements. Policy makers sought ‘new’ knowledge and policy ideas from other systems that were compatible with their ideological and cultural perspectives. In Kazakhstan, the transfer was voluntary, and could be characterised as lesson-drawing. At the same time, the country faced a need to change its social and economic situation due to the collapse of the country. All of these changes drove policy makers to engage in policy transfer in order to cope with external pressures such as globalisation and international integration. Bottom-up initiatives were launched where universities persuaded the Ministry of Education to adopt decisions at the national level. This thesis argues that national and institutional levels were equally involved in the process of decision-making in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan inherited the Soviet system of higher education. Historically and culturally, the country is not associated with Western Europe, and both history and culture have to be taken into account in the process of policy transfer. This research argues that path dependency is one of the dimensions of policy transfer, and that historical paths of a country should be considered before transferring policy from abroad. Understanding of path dependency should guide evaluation of all possible constraints that might limit the policy transfer process from the West to developing countries This thesis developed the concept of policy transfer by considering path dependency as a key factor in explaining policy reform, making an original and distinctive contribution to the knowledge of policy making and, more broadly, academic literature, in Kazakhstan and internationally.

The Arabic language and the Islamic faith can be considered the cultural centres of life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). However, English has often been linked to modernisation and development. The KSA is one of the countries that is in possession of oil reserves, and most of laborers that work in this area are native English speakers or English- speaking Saudi nationals. This economic development has increased the demand for English language acquisition by Saudi citizens. As a result, the English language has become very important in the KSA. Therefore, there would presumably be support for and interest in gifted English language learners (GELLs). However, there are concerns about supporting GELLs in the KSA. The focus of gifted education has remained on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. While the acknowledgement of gifted learners within STEM subjects and the considerable educational efforts that are being made to support them are a positive development, these efforts needs to extend beyond STEM subjects to the rest of the subjects. For example, there is a paucity of research investigating the best practices for identifying and supporting GELLs in the Saudi Arabian context. The current study focuses on four aspects of teaching GELLs: teacher attitude, the identification of GELLs, practice and support for GELLs. Teacher attitude underpins the learning and teaching process and appears to be closely linked to identification. The government of the KSA requires that schools identify gifted learners, so understanding how teachers and head teachers identify gifted individuals, particularly GELLs, is an important aim of this study. Strategies for supporting gifted learners are widely used in STEM subjects in the KSA, but little is known about how or even if English as foreign language (EFL) teachers utilise such strategies for GELLs within the classroom. The current study seeks to better understand classroom practice for GELL in the EFL classroom in the KSA. There is a need to ensure that the support offered to GELLs is appropriate, so exploring the views of GELLs in EFL classrooms concerning the kind of support they perceive they require and the kind of support they perceive they currently receive is an important aspect of the study. This study presents findings from: a) a questionnaire that was completed by 100 EFL teachers, b) classroom observations of 10 EFL classes, c) 10 semi-structured interviews with head teachers, d) 10 semi-structured interviews with EFL teachers and e) four focus group sessions held with groups comprising five GELLs each in six Saudi female secondary schools in Almadinah City. The findings of the questionnaires filled out by EFL teachers indicate that many of them hold positive attitudes towards GELLs, though these views do not always translate into practice. The analysis of the data gathered through the classroom observations demonstrates that the most relevant teaching practices currently used by EFL teachers in this study relate to curriculum planning and delivery in their EFL classes. The findings also suggest that EFL teachers are the primary identifiers of GELLs, which is problematic because a lack of official documentation combined with EFL teachers’ beliefs and attitudes may result in the potential mis- or nonidentification of GELLs. The views of the GELLs who participated in the focus group sessions show that additional support regarding EFL classes is required, including, for example, the development and provision of more interesting and relevant topics and resources. Throughout the thesis, the role of the teacher is identified as crucial for offering appropriate learning experiences for GELLs. One major recommendation of this study is the need for the development of effective teacher education and training in both teaching the English language and teaching gifted learners (including GELLs). This training could occur on two levels. First, this training could occur during initial teacher education to ensure that ideas about supporting the learning of all are included in courses. Second, this training could occur as a part of continuing lifelong professional development to all educators. In this way, teachers and head teachers will continue to engage in learning about learning once they are practicing teachers. In order to the policy and practice to support GELLs, head teachers and teachers need the autonomy to manage different aspects of school, including classroom practice, pedagogies and curricula in order to meet the needs of learners, including GELLs.

This thesis is concerned with the latest education reform, called 4+4+4 (4+), and overall educational changes in the basic education system (K12) since 2002 by the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP). The study investigates the role that education plays in state formation processes as well as looking at how dominant groups’ ideologies influence education policies. The research problem is the extent to which the state uses education policies to create a new public ideology. There are three key research questions that this thesis addresses. The data for this research was obtained from fifteen semi-structured interviews conducted with teacher trade unions, journalists and policy makers, focusing on their experiences and views not only about the 4+4+4 education system but also about the policymaking process in Turkey. The interviews present the pressing issues within the education system and indicate how education works a state apparatus for the government to gain and secure society’s consent. Located in a critical tradition, the research draws its theoretical framework from the Italian theorist Antonio Gramsci, especially focusing on his concepts of hegemony, civil society and consent. Using a Gramscian theoretical framework allows this study to place the 4+ reform in a bigger picture. The thesis analyses the reform not only from a local perspective but also from an international education policy perspective, focusing on the relationship between power, ideology and schooling. The findings suggest that the state and its private associations (i.e. media, and political parties) are actively encouraging Islamisation along with neoliberalism in order to consolidate their hegemonic dominance.

This study proposes a practitioner-oriented model for fostering student academic, social, emotional, and cognitive (ASEC) engagement in learning activities, and it assesses its potential to achieve such aims. The rationale underpinning this research is that the UK currently faces a social problem of negative attitudes towards foreign language learning. This is manifested by the steep decline in the number of schoolchildren that take up Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in upper secondary education. In light of this, research has consistently demonstrated that attitudes towards learning languages can be transformed if we regularly provide students with engaging experiences in the classroom. Unfortunately, pedagogical solutions that guide secondary schoolteachers on how to engineer engaging classrooms on a daily basis are scarce in educational research. This study uses an action research approach to assess the potential of the proposed pedagogical model to stimulate student ASEC engagement in MFL contexts. This entails two consecutive implementations of the model among a group of 19 Year 9 (difficult and male-dominated) students of Spanish by means of two long-term learning activities. The results from both implementations seem to confirm that the proposed practitioner-oriented model can contribute to promoting student engagement in learning activities at academic, social, emotional, and cognitive levels when it is fully deployed. The study contributes to the field of MFL primarily by offering an assessed pedagogical model that can stimulate regular student ASEC engagement in the MFL classroom, which, in turn, may contribute to the positive transformation of student attitudes towards foreign language learning.

What does learning disability mean in the ‘real world’? is a qualitative sociological thesis that explores the discursive resources used by different groups of people in relation to the term learning disability. Learning disability is a term that can mean different things to different people. It is also a term that can be seen from a variety of theoretical standpoints. Indeed, the term learning disability exists within a semantic tangle of definitions, concepts, colloquialisms, politics and attitudes that is fraught with historical, social and political tensions. While this is a feature of many terms, how learning disability is understood is of direct consequence to people with learning disabilities and the lives they live. This thesis aims to address this confusion and to work towards a re-evaluation of concepts and definitions of learning disability. The empirical work undertaken for this thesis is based on two philosophical positioning statements that emanated from the literature review: that learning disability is both an embodied reality and a social construct; and that people’s views, perceptions, and understandings are meaningful reflections of social reality. In order to obtain the perceptions of people experiencing the ‘real world’ of learning disability, a combination of focus groups with people without learning disabilities and photovoice sessions with people with learning disabilities were used. The resultant findings have been analysed using a combination of discourse analysis and interpretive engagement. From this data, it is concluded that dominant models of disability, found in current learning disability policy and research as well as in the research participants’ talk, result in the (mis)representation of learning disability. In order to redress this issue, it is argued that the body, including the brain as a bodily organ, must be reoriented to a position of influence within understandings of learning disability.

No description available.

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.

No description available.

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.