The growing emphasis on the application of evidence based practice (EBP) together with an increasing pressure on Local Authorities (LAs) to demonstrate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the services that they fund has lead to the introduction of evaluative tools across many of the public services. Distance Travelled Tools (DTTs) are considered to be a useful measure of progress made over time in response to an intervention and can therefore be used to provide this kind of evidence. A semi-rural LA in England developed a DTT for use across the services for children and young people. The implementation of the tool as part of the work undertaken by practitioners represented a significant change in practice. In this study I explored the perceptions and experiences of mainstream primary and secondary school staff in the implementation of this DTT. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twenty members of staff from eight mainstream education settings (five primary and three secondary). I transcribed the interviews verbatim and analysed them using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed two super-ordinate themes, six themes and 25 sub-themes, which shed light on staff’s experiences of applying the DTT. The first super-ordinate theme relates to the perceptions of staff regarding their use of the DTT to their work, specifically: in supporting holistic working; in enabling staff to elicit, share and understand the perspectives of stakeholders; and to formulate and support next steps. The second super-ordinate theme relates to school staff’s experiences of implementing the tool, including: the issues associated with the tool’s format; specific motivators and difficulties associated with the process of implementation; and the utility of the tool as a means of providing evidence for the LA. In highlighting the experiences and perceptions of the tool’s users, this study has implications for the application of this type of tool in supporting the work undertaken by a range of practitioners who work with vulnerable pupils and their families. By exploring the perceived issues and benefits of implementing a DTT, this study also has implications for the work undertaken by Educational Psychologists to support organisational change associated with the implementation of new evaluative procedures and practices.

This study set out to map the learning path taken by a group of learners popularly known as ‗NEET‘s (Not in Education, Employment or Training) on the first year of a Level One course. It charted their experiences through their own eyes and recorded their own perceptions and aspirations throughout their progress on the programme. Three sets of learners, numbering 36, were selected from the East London area in the UK at three different post-16 centres: a mainstream Further Education College, a private training provider and a ‗virtual‘ Pupil Referral Unit (PRU). The programme which they undertook was the then relatively new vocational Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment which had been launched in the UK as part of a new raft of post - 14 vocational qualifications partially been designed to meet the learning needs of disengaged learners. Nearly all of the learners succeeded in passing the first year of the programme. The study highlighted the significance of individualised pedagogy and the right vocational curriculum offer for these types of learners. Although the Diploma no longer exists, the study showed how the Diploma‘s approaches to applied and theoretical vocational learning offered distinct opportunities for learning to less motivated learners. It suggested that a focus on practical and generic learning in a real world context could provide opportunities for more innovative and holistic approaches to teaching and learning.

This study analyses the functions of the national educational system and of specific educational institutions and programmes in the national development process in Tanzania before and after independence. The principal focus is the relationship between the formulated and the implemented educational policies with emphasis on the possible contribution of education to economic development. The analysis is undertaken both at the macro and the micro level. The macro-analysis relates the development and change of the national educational system to the development and change of the general socio-economic and political context during the two periods. The micro-analysis of selected educational institutions and programmes in different socio-economic regions investigates how the stipulated national political and economic development goals were implemented at the local level. The combined investigation sets an historical perspective for the policy of education for self-reliance by comparing its similarities with and differences from the mass education approach adopted during the British period. The major contribution of the study is the understanding of the influence of politico-ideological elements and socio-economic settings on educational achievements. By identifying the barriers to educational achievement, the potential for education to improve national development is underscored.

The thesis examines the functions and structure of the recently restored Chinese education inspection system, and proposes practical suggestions for its future development by adapting relevant experiences drawn from the practice of Her Majesty's Inspectorate in England. After analysing briefly the background of the restoration of the Chinese inspectorate and revealing its intention to learn from HMI, the thesis addresses the question: "How much can the Chinese inspectorate learn from HMI and how can those HMI experiences which are transferable be adapted in the light of the Chinese conditions"? To answer this question, the study looks first into HMI's functions and the ways of performing these functions, its relationships with various educational partners, and its organisational structure in historical as well as contemporary administrative perspectives. This section attempts not only to describe HMI's experiences but also to obtain a better understanding of the educational and administrative context which have a decisive influence on the operation of HMI. An analysis of these aspects in the Chinese context is then carried out, using mainly the author's own research findings. A considerable part of the thesis is devoted to discussing the feasibility of using HMI as a model. The differences and similarities between the two inspection systems as well as between the two educational administration systems, and other major factors including ideology of government, standards of economic development, and territory size have been identified and examined in order to decide the extent to which and the ways in which the Chinese inspectorate can benefit from learning from HMI. In the final part of the thesis, several important issues and shortcomings in the present Chinese inspection system are identified, based on the comparisons with HMI as well as on the field work findings. Practical proposals for the future development of the Chinese inspection systems are put forward. In addition, as the first substantial piece of research in English on the system of educational inspection in China, the thesis suggests some areas for further research.

This thesis, located within the field of student transition to university, investigates several aspects of the understanding of prospective students about learning and teaching in higher education; it does this within a geographical setting relevant to my own practice, which involves responsibility for students within a faculty of a large English medium-tariff university. The research is prompted partly by developments in higher education public information requirements, particularly those relating to information about the balance of class contact and independent study, and partly by the relative lack of empirical research amongst UK students before they enter university into what they are expecting. The primary research tool was a short questionnaire completed by just over 500 prospective university students in their final year at post-16 institutions in the city region of my university. The questionnaire contained predominantly closed questions relating to expectations about aspects of learning and teaching at university and about the information which they had taken from the website of the university at which they were hoping to study. Subsidiary research tools were a content analysis of a sample of university websites undertaken to assist in the formulation of the questionnaire and a further email exchange with a few of the questionnaire respondents. The main findings suggest that, even within a sample skewed towards traditional and academically high achieving students, there are very varied understandings of the nature of independent learning and a substantial minority of students have inaccurate expectations about university study. The entry tariff for the university which the respondents were hoping to attend and the level of higher education participation of their post-16 institution appeared to be more important variables in terms of levels of understanding than demographic differences. The new public information requirements relating to class time and independent study appeared to have little impact.

The thesis presents a study of the ‘relationship’ between teacher and student in one-to-one tuition in UK conservatoire vocal studies education. Predominantly vocationally focused, the teaching of musicians in conservatoires is organised around the linking of one student with one principal teacher in an on-going relationship. This pedagogic model has been dominant in conservatoire education, yet has been relatively under-examined. Only recently has it become subject to external evaluation, monitoring and research (Carey et al., 2013; Gaunt, 2011). Taking an interpretative phenomenological and contextualist approach, the study comprised two strands of investigation. One strand involved in-depth case-studies of teacher-student pairs and data were gathered through video-stimulated reflective interviews. Analysis produced highly nuanced in-depth constructions of the experiential life-worlds of particular dyads. The second strand examined perspectives of individual teachers and students across a wider range of cases and institutions; data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The study found that qualities of relatedness, power relations and teacher self-reflexivity were key factors in influencing the teaching and learning experience, process and outcomes in one-to-one tuition. I argued for student autonomy and capacity to effect change as both individual and relational achievements. Troubling emotions and relational tensions were discussed as inevitable and indicative of the process of learning, however evidence of a threshold of tolerance beyond which the relationship was experienced as harmful was found. Findings suggest a need for systematic provisions in conservatoires that provide reflexive support, mediation and monitoring, to enable teachers and students to navigate the complexities of the ‘relationship’ that were identified in this pedagogic context. Inter-disciplinary in approach, this research is situated within the fields of music psychology, music higher education, dynamic psychology and relational psychoanalysis. A relational and intersubjective rendering of findings offers a unique contribution to knowledge in this empirical field.

The study analyses the following aspects within the framework of international cooperation in education development: development trends in the Zambian education and training sector, aid process and coordination in Zambia, and foreign aid responses to Zambia's education development. The cases of British and Swedish aid to education and training are examined more closely for their policy changes and relevancy to Zambia's needs. The study has also sought to determine the position of donors on aspects of aid coordination in Zambia. Because aid operates in overlapping frameworks and responds to many signals. The study has therefore adopted a holistic approach in its analysis of the issues. The following analytic and theoretical frameworks have been used in the study: the systems analysis, the supplementary aid theory, and the exchange and power-dependency theory in interorganisation relationship. The methodology used is qualitative descriptive critical analysis. The findings indicate that the whole realm within which aid relationships are conducted is characterised by a complex mosaic of objectives and interests. British aid to education and training for example has been structured in a way which is intended to make it responsive to a wide-ranging set of objectives in Britain and in the overseas aid constituency. Swedish aid too has a diversified and equally complex aid framework and goals. This is still undergoing changes in approach and method. The findings of this study show that aid responses to education and training in Zambia has been given in the context described above. The aid relationships which has existed between Zambia and donors have accordingly been fairly complex. Consequently, some of the analytic frameworks used in this study have been found inadequate to explain some of the field experiences in Zambia's and donors' aid relationships.

This study explored the use of staff in a sample of institutions specifically designed to be innovative - City Technology Colleges (CTCs). The research focused on theories of educational change developed by Gross, Giacquinta and Bernstein (1971) and Fullan (1991) in order to evaluate the benefits, problems and cost-effectiveness of innovative associate (non-teaching) staff posts. Eight CTCs, providing a geographical spread and a variety of innovative posts, were selected. In each, four posts (15 women and 17 men) were chosen for detailed study. The posts covered: • support for management and administration (10) • support for the curriculum (13) • support for both management and curriculum (9). Two hundred and two semi-structured interviews were conducted with governors, senior and linemanagers, teachers and postholders during two phases of fieldwork undertaken between autumn 1993 and summer 1995. The freedom of CTCs provided scope for the opportunistic use of postholders' skills. The majority of posts were judged to be cost-effective. The benefits of the innovative posts included improved opportunities for students and staff to gain from associate staff expertise; managers and teachers, respectively, having more time for planning and pedagogy; and more cost-effective use of resources. Problems were related to teachers' resistance, lack of clarity in the posts and excessive responsibilities being given to postholders. Gross et al's and Fullan's theories were congruent with the fmding of the study but neither theory was sufficient to explain the success or failure of innovation in these CTCs. The concept of culture - both positive aspects (which enabled staff, including those who were not teachers, to feel part of a new innovative venture) and negative aspects (teaching or industrial sub-cultures preventing the innovations from taking root) - emerged as a useful explanatory concept. The study concluded with implications for policy, practice and further research. Gross, N, Giacquinta, J. and Bernstein, M. (1971) Implementing Organizational Innovations, New York: Basic Books. Fullan, M. (with Stiegelbauer, S.) (1991) The New Meaning of Educational Change, London: Cassell.

In this examination of social and cultural influences on a range of responses to school science in a Solomon Island secondary school, three levels of analysis are used. At one level there is a comparison between students within the school, looking for effects from personal background characteristics. This is the dominant level of analysis of school science achievement, first through statistical correlation, but then through an attempt to understand how the experiences associated with the characteristics found to be significant may exert an effect. Two effective mechanisms are examined: the promotion of a relevant cognitive skill, and the generation of attitudes. The examination of attitudes also makes use of the second level of analysis: comparison between observations with these Solomon Island students and observations made elsewhere by other workers. This level of analysis also dominates the investigation of the development of selected scientific concepts among the students. The third level involves a comparison between students in the school concerned and those in other schools in the country. Difficulties with obtaining data from other schools leave this as the least used level of comparison in the thesis. An examination of the position of science in the students' worldview fits into none of these levels, being largely descriptive, not comparative. The position of science relative to other sources of interpretations of the world is the major concern of this section. Gender and rural/urban background are found to be the major sources of differences in response between the students. It is suggested that, even where these characteristics can be shown to be associated with cognitive differences, explanations of their effect are most usefully sought in terms of experiences, opportunities and expectations that are social and cultural in origin. In the area of conceptualisations of physical phenomena, similarities and differences are found between these Solomon Island students and those from other cultures, suggesting that such conceptualisations are determined partly through a common human physiology responding to a common physical world, and partly through the influence of culturally available sources of interpretation.

This thesis examines the experience of two groups of practitioners from three further education (FE) colleges, working in an established franchise partnership with a local higher education (HE) provider. The practitioner groups consisted of lecturers and their programme managers, who mainly taught students from non-traditional entry backgrounds. The research took place within the context of national policy steering, involving both the FE and HE sectors and focused on the impact of policy on practitioners. A critical point to this study was the concept of educational partnerships and the effectiveness of FE colleges as HE providers. Hence the literature from the contextual chapters identifies a set of forces which interact to produce a ‘FHE Institutional environment’ which shapes the practitioners’ FHE experience. A single case study approach was adopted as the major research vehicle, with emphasis on the practitioners’ accounts of their HE teaching experiences. The data was collected over a two year period and consisted of practitioner accounts, vignettes and documentation. Data triangulation involved comparing and contrasting the findings at the case study’s lateral and multi-levels, including referencing to other relevant research projects. My claim to knowledge is that the ‘FHE Institutional environment’ is dominated by a FE professional cultural element, whose predominant norms and values serve to produce a diluted HE experience for their students. Whereby students are largely taught on FE lines, it calls into question the principle that FE colleges can provide comparable HE experiences. The study proposes, therefore, that FE colleges should view their HE provision as being distinct, and provide autonomous units, or designated centres, where a higher education ethos could prevail. The findings also reveal the need for further research on this topic in light of the potential ‘emergent’ HE markets, resulting from the Coalition Government’s proposed sector reforms.