It is generally acknowledged that two central goals of university higher education are to enable student learning and to help students develop. Within that mandate, academic staff perform many functions including teaching and assessing. It is also generally acknowledged that educators adapt as new and accessible knowledge emerges on how students learn and develop and on changing demands on Higher Education (HE). One of these adaptations has been the widening use of experiential learning, specifically the use of community placements. As the educational contexts of students expand beyond the university, both the different pedagogy of experiential learning and unfamiliar situations in community agencies can create a situation where it is possible for students to experience Transformational Learning (TL), as proposed by Mezirow (2008). This is an interpretive, qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study that uses a pluralistic methodological approach. This approach includes multiple case studies and the theoretical frameworks of TL and Service-Learning (SL). The study explores how placements in the United Kingdom are similar to SL provisions in the United States, how Academic Staff Participants (ASPs) perceive and conduct assessment of students in placements and how they consider TL experiences. Through semi-structured interviews with twenty-nine ASPs in four UK universities, the methods used in the assessment of student work are illuminated and analysed. The pedagogies of the ASPs in both professional and non-professional placement modules are compared. The ASPs relay their experiences, expectations, assignments, assessment protocols and university engagements with placement hosts and communities. The emerging themes from the ASP interviews show that change and risk, lifelong learning and employability are major concerns for stakeholders and that placement learning serves many purposes. The resulting conclusions identify some of the challenges that placement learning poses for ASPs teaching in the new millennium. With the practices shared by the ASPs this thesis further proposes a framework of Participatory Action Research (PAR) that academic staff (AS) could use to support each other, further assisting student learning and development to realise the full potential of TL.

This thesis is based on an empirical study of ten post-graduate students of human and social science at University of Warwick. It aims to re-conceptualise transition with reference to the way students discuss their personal experiences. The thesis has the form of a narrative that is based on the post-modern idea of creating the conditions that describe what cannot be represented. The central argument of the thesis is that either we always learn in transition or that learning is always transitional. Based on this argument the thesis takes the form of a journey in which the author traces issues relevant to transition, such as behavioural changes, emotional and cognitive in/stability, work and identity, learning and personal development. In this context transition is described as a spiral approach of constant reference to experiences of the past and the present, as well as expectations of the future. Methodologically, the thesis introduces a case-oriented comparative model for empirical research that is based on the deconstruction and reconstruction of personal experiences that appear as text. This defragmentation creates a story in which some of the components of transition become part of a lifelong learning process. In the analysis transition is treated as a feature of life, far more complex than a simple passage from one situation to another, punctuated by two points in time and space. It is also an evaluation of personal experience that refers to the development of self, in relation to the other, and to the roles and responsibilities people have in an educational environment or expect to take on in their attempt to reach stability.

The inquiry is set in a medium sized primary school for children aged between 2 – 11 years old with physical, learning and additional needs. The study is relevant to those interested in inclusive research, creativity and the use of kinesthetic research methods. This inquiry’s fieldwork took place over a eighteen month period during which a major reappraisal of the role of creativity within school culture was undertaken. The focus of this thesis is exploring how changes to pedagogical practice and the aesthetic design of the school environment affected pedagogic relations within sessions designated as creative. As a critical ethnographic case study approach is adopted an emphasis is placed upon understanding the particularity and complexity of the single case and, therefore, the thesis is duly cautious in how it generalizes its findings. As is traditional of an ethnographic inquiry this thesis is rooted in thick description accompanied by continual processes of reflection and reflexivity. This process was adopted in order to allow the researcher to identify and interrogate the multiple and diverse lines of inquiry that arose. The thesis concludes by reflecting upon how understanding of creativity and inclusion can be seen to have changed within this particular school culture over the duration of the inquiry. It also provides a summary of how the school’s relationship with the concept of creativity has evolved and continues to evolve. The methodological strengths and limitations of the research are identified and suggestions are made regarding possible future areas of inquiry.

This thesis has analysed the use of blogging within a classroom based ‘2+2’ Early Childhood Studies course. As such the research involved 'non-traditional' learners in that they were mainly women returning to education, initially based in a further education (FE) context. This was an intervention, which aimed to provide practical support for learners as well as an opportunity to explore the value of networking through the production of blogs. A feature of the intervention was that while students were encouraged to use unrestricted blogs they were free to write what they liked and when they liked. The study took place over three years and involved three cohorts of learners (Cohort A n=18; Cohort B n=21; Cohort C n=13; Total n =52). It can be described as a case study on blogging in that the study was concerned to understand a phenomenon in a specific and bounded context. The consistency of findings across the three cohorts meant that the study was considered as a single case albeit differences between cohorts were signalled as and when they came up. The study used a mixed methods approach and reported data on participation rates, content analysis of blogs and the perception of learners through interviews (n=17) and questionnaire responses (total n=32). The key findings were that there were differentiated levels of participation. Within the population ‘Non Contributors’ (n=23); ‘Uncertain Contributors’ (n=5) and ‘Contributors’ (n=16) were identified. The pattern of differentiated blogging activity could be observed across cohorts, albeit with small variations. However, it is important to add that while nearly half of the students in Cohorts B and C did not contribute entries to their blogs, all students became followers of other blogs. Furthermore, all who created a blog succeeded in attracting followers, in some cases quite large numbers of followers. Those who became bloggers were not especially skilled with technology or necessarily more academically able. Rather they tended to be people who saw the point of blogging and got satisfaction from blogging. Through their resilience they gained readers and received feedback on their blogs in ways in which uncertain bloggers did not. As for the reading of the blogs; students accessed blogs because they valued the content for throwing light on course material, extending the curriculum and offering multi-media formats. Gaining a sense of community was a big motivator for students to take the time to look at the blogs. Those who contributed the most (the Contributors) appeared to take on a special role within the group. They felt a particular concern for other people’s learning in some cases taking on a kind of mentoring role. There were several explanations as to why students were constrained in their blogging or why they did not blog at all: pressure of time, difficulties in access, uncertain online literacy skills, a perceived lack of value, a feeling of being vulnerable or exposed. It was clear that there were both technical and literacy barriers to participation. The implications of the study are that there is a value to blogging and students and practitioners are recommended to introduce blogging (or other online networking) in order to enhance and extend teaching and learning. However there is no simple solution to the organising of blogs. For example there remains a tension between providing bloggers with high-direction, perhaps resulting in broader take up, against low-direction, perhaps resulting in narrower but more autonomous use. The asynchronous nature of blogs provides an opportunity for extended reflection, but also an opportunity to avoid responding and the anxiety of leaving permanent records of contributions. The study is carefully positioned as offering both encouragement and realism about blogging.

This thesis explores the negotiation of ethno-cultural identity within a Greek community school in London. The focus is on the national celebration theatre performances and the respective ideological representations that are embedded within these celebrations. It is a qualitative ethnographic case study that employs the methods of participant-observation, field notes and ethnographic interviews. For the analysis I employ a grounded-theory-related approach where inductive and deductive approaches mutually inform one the other. The participants are students, students’ family members (parents and a grandparent) and educators of a Greek community school in North London. The project sets out to explore the participants’ reported perceptions on their self-positions while they are engaged in the school’s national celebration performances. The findings suggest that these celebrations have an impact on the participants’ self-positions that are related to ethnic, linguistic and religious parameters. Moreover, the participants’ reports emphasise that the theatre performances are permeated by contested ethnic/national, historical and linguistic ideologies that the community members do not accept unquestionably. In this view, the community school could possibly be described as a faith/ethnic related setting where the members of the community can affirm and/or re-affirm respective self-positions while participating in ritualistic celebrations, such as the national celebration theatre performances.

This research study, conducted between the periods 1999-2001, examined issues of change in the innovation process of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the context of Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) institutions in Brunei Darussalam. The study identified and analysed the factors and/or conditions that support success of ICT implementation; investigated what values, perceptions and attitudes VTE teachers in Brunei Darussalam have towards ICT; analysed the approaches and strategies for institutional management of change and decision-making about the implementing ICT in VTE institutions; documented with a view to informing policy makers and ICT implementers on models of best practices and made recommendations for change. A qualitative case-study method, semi-structured interviews constituted the main data-collection technique for gathering and analysing data, supplemented by a survey questionnaire and documentary analysis. 22 people were interviewed, a further 89 people participated in the questionnaire. The study revealed that the VTE system in Brunei Darussalam was in its early stages in its implementation of ICT; there was a lack of planning and policy to drive the impetus for change within institutions. A number of inter-related factors that hamper change and innovation of ICT were identified such as inadequate physical resources; ineffective staff development programmes; shortage of staff skilled and knowledgeable in ICT; ineffective management of change and lack of role clarity of among some of the VTE staff. The study concluded with a number of recommendations for change, for on-going professional development of VTE teachers and for further research.

The central question of this thesis is: How effective are strategies aimed at promoting student retention in Further Education (FE) colleagues? Non-completion is typically the result of combinations of risk factors, including demographic characteristics, financial constraints, students’ motivation, type of course, and students’ experiences of education. Therefore the ‘risk factors’ for students not completing courses vary in the degree to which they are within the control of colleges. While some researchers have made recommendations for improving student retention, a notable gap in the literature is research into the effectiveness of the existing strategies for improving student retention. Focusing on Business course in two London colleges, this research explores students’ and staff views on existing retention strategies. This is done through methods including questionnaire surveys involving a total of 419 students; interviews and a focus group with students; interviews with college managers and teachers; and classroom observations of a sample of teaching sessions. A central finding is that both students and staff highlighted strategies centred on motivation and teaching and learning as the most important for improving retention. These were also the strategies that were seen as being most effectively implemented, whereas strategies linked to student support services, the college environment and quality assurance processes were seen as being least effectively implemented. Students’ views were different however, with level 3 students and Black students most likely to rate the implementation of retention strategies favourably. These differences were more significant than differences between the two colleges studied. It is recommended that retention strategies that sort, support, connect and transform (cf. Beatty-Guenter, 1994) should be implemented in a more co-ordinated fashion that places teaching and learning at the centre and focuses on groups of students most at risk of dropping out, with more good practice sharing between colleges. An important recommendation from the findings is that differences between level 2 and level 3 students, and also between students from different ethnic backgrounds, point to the importance of targeting strategies on those groups most at risk of dropping out.

This study was designed to trace the significant factors that informed the evolution of adult literacy policy from the 1970s to 2000. The study proceeded on the premise that factors have continued to change not only because of the changing social environment but also in line with developments within overarching educational policies. The study, with a focus on process rather than product analysis, established a preference for the qualitative approach to research on the basis of its alignment to the social theory of literacy and employed methods including interviews, electronic questionnaire and documentary analysis, to collect data at three levels. The first consisted of as many members of the Moser Committee as would consent to being interviewed (8). A second group of ten individuals who were practitioners in the 1970s and 1980s, but who now have different roles ranging from involvement in research to management, were also interviewed. Lastly, data were collected through the use of an online questionnaire which was based on 65 responses from current practitioners to find their perception of the impact of policy on practice. The study establishes that influential factors in the evolution of policy changed from the themes of entitlement and social responsibility which were dominant up to the mid-1970s, to the themes of the economy, the labour market and international competitiveness from the late 1980s onwards. These latter themes were found to be particularly significant in the deliberations of the Moser Committee which produced the most recent strategy on adult literacy. Also, the study confirmed that a focus on UK-wide perceived skills needs rather than the needs of individual learners was primary in the deliberations of the Moser Committee. Furthermore, it identified conflicting allegiances among members of the Moser Committee and that the SfL agenda the Committee produced was a product of compromises on many aspects of the Committee’s deliberations. Finally, the study recorded that a majority of practitioners responding to the questionnaire held negative perceptions of the agenda and that, like some members of the committee, they compromised their paradigmatic inclinations in implementing the dictates of the SfL agenda. The study concludes that literacy policy after the mid- 1970s was largely informed by a perception that poor literacy was the cause and remedy of social dysfunctions rather than being just a symptom of them. Finally, the study makes a number of recommendations to practitioners, policy makers, awarding bodies for literacy qualifications and teacher trainers. Central to these recommendations is the development of literacy curricula for specific purposes.

This study applies socio-cultural theories to explore how differences in essay writing experience and essay texts are constituted for a group of students identified as dyslexic. It is a qualitative study with eleven student writers, seven of whom are formally identified as dyslexic, from the schools of archaeology, history and philosophy in a pre-1992 UK university. Semi-structured interviews before, during and after writing a coursework essay revealed well-documented dyslexia-related difficulties, but also strong differences in how writing was experienced. The multiple and fluid dimensions that construct these differences suggest the importance of position within the context, previous and developing writing and learning experience and meta-affective, meta-linguistic and metacognitive awareness. Close analysis of how essays evolved and of samples of 'difficult' texts reveal the multiple ways that communication can be compromised. This suggests that much more nuanced descriptions are needed of essay writing in this group. Findings from the interview data and essay texts further suggest tensions between specialist and inclusive writing pedagogy for students identified as dyslexic.

The policy shift to widen participation in recent years has emerged using language associated with radical, practitioner-led discourses on post compulsory education and training (PCET) of the 1970s and 80s and even from earlier periods. This research focuses on the underrepresented student experience and perceptions of success within the PCET system. It uses a mainly qualitative approach to analyse the experience of staff and students in two further education (FE) colleges and two universities with traditions of widening access to underrepresented groups to explore good practice in widening access to further and higher education, the support services, student-centred administration as well as institutional policies and barriers to widening access. It also examines, from the perspectives of senior managers, teachers and students, institutional polices and practices to support the success of underrepresented groups. The research showed some evidence of changes within institutions but found that staff practices and administration processes had not changed to meet the diversified participation. What was in evidence was a largely unchanged provision requiring the student to change. The successful student experience, for higher education (HE) certainly and mature students generally, identity was personal and strong, community links remain in the home. The HE institution is not somewhere you go to live, as campus based, ‘traditional’ students. The theories on success and retention of Tinto and others therefore need revisiting in light of the ‘new’ student population. The research evidence suggests a different context of successful access to PCET for ‘non-traditional’ students and the failure of the case study institutions to identify and accommodate it. The research found hard working but frustrated staff in FE and HE, and dissatisfied but determined students. The research concludes with recommendations for policy makers and PCET institutions.