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.

The aim of the study was to examine how adult education can be part of an international response in societies recovering from conflict, which can stabilize rather than de-stabilize, thus enhancing security. The guiding hypothesis was that there has been a failure to recognize the contribution adult education can make in building a secure society, resulting in policy vacuums and under-funding of the sector. The three countries studied were Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq. The study relied primarily on documentary research, but also on opportunistic data collection during periods of work in each of the three countries. By identifying common themes and practices in each specific scenario, it has been possible to determine the links between adult education and security. The findings supported the guiding hypothesis and affirmed that adult education can play a key role in stabilizing a post-conflict society. The resultant understanding of the links between adult education and societal development underpin a new framework for adult education in such societies, which balances short-term security issues with community values and the longer term requirements of society, reducing the potential for future conflict. An analytical tool and a checklist for adult education practitioners were developed as part of that framework. These could potentially inform decision making within the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom government and the British military.

This is a case study undertaken in a large urban comprehensive school where the author was the SENco. The research set out to find out how mainstream subject teachers handled the expectation that they could all be special needs teachers within their own class rooms. But had the teachers really embraced that challenge and how did they go about making it a daily reality? The first part of the research investigated through a whole teaching staff questionnaire and followed on with a deeper investigation of the issues raised, by interviewing six participant teachers. Five of those teachers also agreed to partnership teach with the SENco through the 2012/13 academic year to help assess the development of their differentiation strategies. Alongside this research, the SENco kept a journal of critical incidents that charted daily life in that job role. In particular the way that the pressures of that complex job description inhibited the ability to support mainstream colleagues. The research revealed that teachers had a strong preoccupation with pupils with behavioural and emotional issues and tended to prioritise this type of special needs beyond all others. The shortage of time experienced by both the SENco and the mainstream teachers meant that differentiation was often unprepared and spontaneous between the two parties in the class room, though this was not necessarily ineffective. Mainstream teachers used pedagogical models that they found very tiring and consequently, they often did not exploit the opportunity to differentiate by moving around the classroom and interacting ‘one to one’ with members of the class, after the initial teacher exposition was over. The research concludes that it is difficult for the mainstream teachers to be wholly effective teachers of special needs pupils. There was a shortage of time for lesson preparation and planning as well as pressure to follow the directives of school managers to monitor pupil progress in prescriptive ways laid down by the government.

Competence-based education and training (CBET) has received much interest globally due to its perceived potential in producing competent graduates required by the labour market. It is currently a common feature of most vocational and technical education and training reforms around the world. However, the term ‘competence’ has wide and varied contextual meanings interpreted from a myriad of perspectives; hence diverse implementation practices are evident. In this study I review the evolution of CBET and understandings of the notion of competence globally, and examine and critique its efficacy in addressing the challenges of skill formation in Tanzania. Initially, through review of literatures, I distinguish four competence approaches – behaviourist, generic, integrated (cognitive), and social-constructive, from which I develop a theoretical framework to map the global competence approaches and CBET trajectories and within this specific path followed by Tanzania. Due to a combination of global and national influences, the introduction of CBET in Tanzania in early 2000 marked a paradigm shift from the traditional knowledge-based education and training (KBET). In order to explore the relationship between the external and internal factors in shaping this change, eight interviews were initially conducted with national policy makers, including the ‘pioneers’ of Tanzanian CBET. The complex dynamic of shaping factors was explored more thoroughly through a further 16 interviews with four CBET pioneers, two policy makers, one employers’ association, two professional associations and seven employers of CBET graduates in order to understand how wider influences are interpreted by those ‘on the ground’. In addition, a survey of 28 teachers from technical institutions and document analysis were undertaken. This research approach at global, national and local levels suggests that a social-technical model of competence could emerge in Tanzania. The study also considers the conditions for its successful implementation.

The central focus of this thesis is an examination of a major innovation in rural education in Brazil: the growth of the Consolidated School Movement in the State of Parana in the mid 1980s. An assessment of this innovation is carried out empirically in Chapter Three, using both quantitative and qualitative data. The core question is: what, on the basis of various indices, have been the measurable success and failures of the movement? This detailed empirical work is located against two broader parameters: the general problematique of rural education in Brazil (the work of chapter one); and the general solutions to rural education problems which the innovators of Parana invoked: the Consolidated School Movement of the USA in the nineteenth century (the work of chapter two). The general argument of Chapter One is that urbanisation, industrialization and the class structure of Brazil have not only increased the gap in the provision of education between urban and rural education (to the detriment of the latter), but also that efforts at a 2 3 solution to the problems of rural education have, in Brazil, been ineffective and belated. The general argument of Chapter Two is that - despite important differences between the USA in the nineteenth century and Parana in the twentieth - the USA experience contains important hints for the terms of success of a Consolidated School Movement in Brazil contemporaneously, and increases our understanding of the Parana experience. Chapter Four acts as a conclusion to the thesis, and reassesses some of the detailed results of the fieldwork in terms of the Brazilian context, and historical experience, before making proposals for the further improvement of the Parana situation.

This interpretive case study investigates the relationship between organisational culture, organisational learning and cultural change in the National Health Service (NHS). Starting from a social constructivist standpoint, it conceives of organisational culture as a dynamic entity, socially and discursively constructed through engagement with surroundings, in contrast to the managerial discourse evident in NHS policy and research literature. The conceptual framework informing the research is based on cultural historical activity theory and a three perspectives theory of organisational culture. This allows exploration of individual and collective learning within the context of organisational social and cultural practice, exploring the organisation at the macro level but also through the lived experiences of individuals. An interprofessional department in an NHS provider organisation was studied for four months as it went through a programme of service improvement. Data was collected and analysed iteratively through a combination of observation, interview, documentary reading and field notes. Analysis using an activity theoretical approach generated a „thick description‟ of the organisation. Organisational stories were analysed to explore meaning making. Findings suggest that organisational culture can be considered a shared epistemic object within fluid networks of activity. Individual and collective learning is linked through practice, mediated by external political motivations and internally generated contradictions. Understandings of professional power play a major part and can lead to unexpected directions of travel. Conceptually, the study shows activity theory to be a useful framework for analysing learning and cultural change in NHS organisations. It adds to the debate on the self and the role of power and contradiction in activity theory through the application of a three perspectives approach to culture. It can help guide practitioners and policy makers in the NHS by encouraging them to rethink their understandings of culture and how cultural change is achieved through mediated practice.

This thesis examines the effects on university teaching and research of recent changes to the method of funding universities. The effects of funding change are investigated through case studies of two universities, one an elite institution rated highly in all of the research assessment exercises and the other a non-elite institution rated low in the research assessment exercises. Within the universities a sample of staff was selected to fill in a questionnaire about their perceptions of change to teaching and research. In addition a small number of senior staff in each of the universities was interviewed. The analysis of the two sets of questionnaires revealed a remarkable degree of similarity between the two universities. For research, it appears that the time spent on research had fallen for most staff, that there had been a significant shift away from basic and toward more applied research and that the quality of research was perceived by most staff to have risen or remained the same. For teaching, there had been a large increase in all levels of teaching and a reduction in the level of support for students. There had also been a massive increase in the amount of administration required of staff. The interviews with senior staff supported these findings, but revealed subtler changes taking place too. For example, the nonelite university was having to adopt different student recruitment policies, different staffing policies and different teaching arrangements to those found in the elite institution. It was also claimed that the funding exercise was changing the nature of the research process in the Humanities. The conclusion of the thesis is that funding changes are affecting the quality and type of research and teaching provided in universities, but universities with different backgrounds may be affected differently.

This empirical inquiry was designed as a comparative study to facilitate in the development of theoretical models that can promote a better understanding of the forces that shape the teaching and learning of older people in different cultural settings. For an examination of cultural similarities and differences, this thesis adopted a cross-national comparative method to study two institutions of third age learning, that is the University of the Third Age (U3A) in the UK and the Senior University (SU) in South Korea. In order to achieve a more active comparison, this research followed the systematic approach of comparative study advocated by Bereday (1964), and employing multi-faceted analysis according to the cube method of Bray and Thomas (1995) for a full and balanced understanding of the research subject. Quantitative and qualitative methods have been used in combination to capture the differences across the two institutions in terms of participants’ educational needs and their experiences, and the historical development of each institution, in order to analyse the different cultural meanings attached to learning and ageing in the two countries (Evans, 2001). This thesis also draws on national statistics and research reports in order to understand the broad trends. Policy thinking about the learning society and the ageing society are usually based on the same economic point of view, and governments tend to focus on the instrumental aspects of education. Therefore, in many countries older people have created learning opportunities for themselves, specifically U3A in the UK and SU in South Korea. In this study, U3A and SU’s cultures of learning are compared: the mutual aid or self-help model and organisation-led welfare model; the informal learning orientation and formal learning orientation; the andragogical and pedagogical models; the buffet or cafeteria style and set-menu style; horizontal and vertical teacher-student relationships; bottom-up and top-down management styles. Analysis of all these differences supports the conclusion that U3A is based on the tradition of liberalism and self-help tradition in the UK and SU is based on the tradition of collectivism and Confucianism in South Korea. The members of the U3A have a middle-class background and culture, and so dominantly feel more comfortable with an academic, discourse-based form of learning, while the SU members had a 'Botongsaram (ordinary person) culture' in which they preferred practical activities and pastimes (such as music and dancing) to academic subjects. This research will be of help to academics and policy makers to understand cultures of learning from the perspective of the third age group, so as to develop different learning models to satisfy the diverse interests of older adults in third age learning.

The thesis explores common practices, expertise, values, attitudes and motivation to teach amongst piano teachers. The findings are based on the Piano Survey 2010 which gathered responses from 595 piano teachers across the UK. The research is first placed in context by tracing the history of piano teaching from the Victorian period to the present day. The findings of the survey start by presenting demographic information about teachers followed by an in-depth exposition of pupil numbers, the standard of pupils, lesson elements and performance opportunities. The research was particularly concerned with establishing more understanding about teaching beginners and one chapter focusses on early lessons and tutor books. How respondents ensured progression for their piano pupils was discussed in the next chapter. The last areas to be reported on covered teachers and their motivation. First their motivation for becoming a piano teacher was outlined, followed by what were found to be the rewarding and less rewarding features of teaching. Finally, how the piano teachers developed their piano teaching skills was explored and teachers’ attitudes to professional development and membership presented. During the discussion the Victorian inheritance of piano teaching was placed in context and the lack of development since that period highlighted. The conclusion argued that piano teaching principles need to be developed by the profession and a set of widely accepted teaching standards adopted for progress to be made.