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.

This study investigated the beliefs of beginner learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) and also their teachers‘ beliefs, about the difficulties presented by Chinese learning and teaching, and how learners overcame the difficulties they encountered. The study compared beliefs of teachers and pupils who had different levels of experience in the context of English secondary schools. The relationship between beliefs and an individual‘s background and experience was also explored. The study was situated in a pragmatic paradigm, using a mixed method, including both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. 443 pupils and 42 teachers in over a dozen schools responded to a Likert-scale questionnaire. 68 pupils (34 individuals and 13 groups) and 13 teachers in seven schools shared their views in interviews. Many interesting findings were revealed in this study. Surprisingly, pupils thought tones and characters were ―tricky‖ to learn, but not impossible, whereas teachers thought pupils did not pay attention to tones and underestimated the difficulty of learning characters. Teachers tended to support communicative language teaching (CLT) orientations but showed somewhat inconsistent patterns between their beliefs about CLT and their teaching approaches. The learning of writing rules were concerns of teachers and pupils, indicating they believed there was some value in non-communicative learning orientation. Pupils also showed their enthusiasm for learning character, and overwhelmingly believed that, in order to make good progress in Chinese learning, they should put effort into learning characters. Some of these findings relate to particular aspects of Chinese learning such as tones and characters. However, other findings are unrelated to the language demands of Chinese and suggest that the practices of learning Chinese have a particular impact on the views of learners about who can learn Chinese and what it takes to be successful. In addition, with regard to language teaching, first language (L1) and second language (L2) Chinese teachers pointed out that the issue of students behaviour is a universal phenomenon regardless of culture or country. These findings challenge the stereotypical expectations of L1 Chinese teachers and pupils‘ performance in English schools. I suggest that these beliefs may be empowering for language learners in an English context.

Universal access to education has been an urgent concern since the establishment of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals or MDG. While aiming at ‘Education for All’, the MDG did not specify what kind of education nor how that education would be delivered. Besides the emphasis on access, apparent in the various attempts to ensure provision of education for the world’s poor, there has been also focus on material resources - especially a reliance on foreign aid. This author argues that what is needed in the long-term is a localized or Culturally Responsive approach that includes a consideration of the question of justice – particularly the issue of socio-economic inequality. The study evaluates some historical attempts towards Cultural Responsiveness (CR) in education, highlighting the efforts to filter curriculum content and teaching strategies through students’ cultural frames of reference. It eventually questions this curriculum-centred approach. Should CR not rather address the problem of elitism inherited via colonial education? The elite and the indigent, the study suggests, have become of different cultures. Hence part of the task of CR in education needs to be conceptualised as an elite-indigent dialogue. The CR dialogue is indeed of culture but must be framed in the context of justice, presented in terms of the author’s religious worldview, which includes eco-justice. To gather data on an elite-indigent interaction, the study adopts a decolonized methodology, as well as a qualitative approach employing unstructured interviews and open-ended questionnaires. Based on an interpretive case study of the relationship between an elite school in Africa and its indigenous-indigent host community, the study explores an alternative CR approach through the philosophical lens of Constructivism and the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP). The result is a three-fold learning hypothesis termed Costheanthropic Learning.

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In the 1990s, the leadership of organised, mainstream British Jewry was preoccupied with the challenge of Jewish continuity. Essentially, there were two narratives: a dominant one emphasising the dangers of assimilation and the decline of the community and a second, emerging narrative highlighting opportunities for, and indicators of, revival. During 1991-2000, attempts were made to establish a centrally-coordinated, national framework for mainstream Jewry: this inquiry focused upon Jewish Continuity (1993-98) and UJIA Jewish Renewal (1997-2000 – it continued to operate thereafter). The context of British Jewry was examined for the purposes of the study. Thereafter, the research presented an analysis of the historiographical implications, addressing ontological and epistemological issues. Positivist and post-modernist approaches were contrasted and a qualified and cautious positivist approach was adopted, recognising the concerns of more relativist/interpretative perspectives. The methodologies of interviewing and documentary analysis were also examined in terms of hermeneutic issues and practical application. It also considered the research areas of triangulation, validity, reliability, reflexivity and ethical concerns. In addition, the data-gathering process was recorded and explained. A documentary analysis was conducted with unrestricted access to the available primary organisational documents. A literature review revealed a limited body of writing specific to these events and developments. The purposive interview sample comprised thirty-five semi-structured interviews with lay and professional leaders from the organisations themselves and their partners; expert informants were also included in the sample. The Findings emerged around the following themes: Vision and Planning; Organisation and Implementation; Leadership Roles and Personalities; and the Challenges of Cross-communalism, Relations with Communal Partner Organisations, Funding and Communications and Expectations. Finally, the Conclusion was presented within the following framework: assessment of the current situation; presentation of an inspiring vision and purpose; clear articulation of compelling messages; motivate and mobilise key community leadership; develop a fundraising plan; assemble the right personnel and leadership in appropriate decision-making structures; negotiate obstacles and challenges; identify and address key stakeholders and partners; establish the educational model and operational approach; generate an implementation plan based on evidence-based strategic planning; create operational structures; encourage and enthuse people around the initiative. The research has implications and insights for youth and community education and community development practitioners, as well as academic value.