This regional research was carried out in Owerri the capital of Imo State, one of the 36 states in Nigeria with the aim of investigating and identifying factors that are responsible for the lack of dyslexia awareness in the area. The study focused particularly on selected primary schools in Owerri West Local Government Area. The study is located in the context of contemporary discourse on dyslexia awareness in Owerri West. Primary source evidence and first hand information which were gathered through discussions and interviews with respondents confirms the status of originality on the findings of the research. Research carried out on database where nothing was found on dyslexia awareness in Owerri West is also evidence of originality of this study. The research sheds light on the effects the lack of dyslexia awareness has on teaching and learning in primary schools in Owerri West and in doing so draws attention to issues raised around the marginalisation of individuals with unidentified specific learning difficulties. A triangulation of qualitative data collection methods was employed to explore and understand disability beliefs, experiences, attitudes, behaviour and interactions with regards to the impact these have on inclusive practices. The findings from these studies were then analysed drawing on a range of disability models including the social model of dyslexia, the social, medical and moral models of disability, as well as social construction theory. This enabled the creation of a more explicit understanding of disability issues as it concerns the society investigated. The overall research findings, especially those derived from the interviews, highlight that factors affecting the lack of dyslexia awareness are located in the society’s predominant understanding of disability, the cultural perceptions of disability based on historical practices, incomprehensive disability definition featuring in policy and the lack of awareness of the nature and dimensions of invisible/hidden disabilities like dyslexia in national disability policy. Based on these findings the study concludes that ideologies around disability and inclusion are more geared towards the medical and moral models of disability. Furthermore, it concludes that the lack of an extensive understanding of disability and disability rights, which are very much features of a social model construct of disability, has impacted negatively on inclusive practices and perceived understanding of who is deemed educable. Following this, a number of recommendations were made including the need for robust teacher training programmes which will raise the awareness and understanding of dyslexia and in so doing improve the learning experiences of children with dyslexia.

The purpose of this research study was to explore and describe the experience of primary school educators of inclusive education. Educators experience inclusive education with dissimilar attitudes and perceptions. Educators constantly have to cope with large numbers of learners in the classroom, an inflexible curriculum and a lot of administration work. All these things make implementation of inclusive education difficult. I perceive that there is a need to re-evaluate the existing curriculum and come up with new teaching methods to assist the educators to cope with their dilemma. The objectives of this study were to explore and describe the experience of educators in a primary school of inclusive education and to describe guidelines to assist educators to facilitate a positive experience of inclusive education. The study was qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual in approach and it therefore became necessary to use phenomenological semi-structured interviews with educators involved in inclusive education. Before the interviews, trust was build through a written request of permission to the principal of the school concerned to conduct the research study. The participating educators were also informed of what the research is all about before the main interview. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews focusing on the experience of primary school educators of inclusive education. Data were analysed utilising Tesch’s (Cresswell 2004:192) method of open coding. Trustworthiness was ensured throughout the study by applying Guba’s approach (Lincoln and Guba 1995:15) including the service of an independent coder. Results were recontextualised within the literature. Most educators view inclusive education as beneficial to the educators, the parents, the school and the learners as a whole; “a tool to make every learner a winner.” There are challenges that make inclusive education difficult to implement and are voiced by educators through a feeling of disempowerment. Support systems presently implemented by educators are met with varying opinions about the efficiency in inclusive education. There is an increased need for support systems for educators involved in inclusive education. Guidelines to assist educators to facilitate a positive experience of inclusive education were developed based on the above theme. / Prof. C.P.H. Myburgh Prof. M. Poggenpoel

This thesis reports on an ethnographic research of primary school teachers’ lived experiences of working and teaching in a school that had recently converted from a LA maintained community school to an academy. The aim of this doctoral study is to explore teachers’ work and capture the changing nature of the teacher professionalism in the new educational setting that is a primary academy. Academies are independent schools that are funded by the state but are managed privately. In England, academies built upon the ideas of the City Technology Colleges project developed by the former Conservative Government. They were also modelled on the international independent-state funded schools: charter schools in the Unites States of America and Swedish free schools. The first academies were opened in 2002 under the New Labour Government. At that time, the purpose of the Academies Programme was to address poor performance by creating different types of secondary schools in disadvantaged areas. Since 2010 when the Coalition Government took office, the academies programme expanded greatly encompassing primary schools. Since then, the rhetoric behind the Academies Programme revolves around greater freedom and autonomy for schools. The expansion of the Academies Programme has led to the growth in the number of teachers working in these settings. Yet, studies investigating the experiences of teachers working in academies, in particular those in primary academies, are limited. Therefore, this ethnographic research set out to address the gap in what is currently known about implications of the Academies Programme for teachers’ work and professionalism. In relation to this, teachers’ professional autonomy constitutes a central theme in the analysis presented in this thesis. The fieldwork was conducted over the period of one school year (September 2014-July 2015) in Bricklane Primary Academy (pseudonym) situated in an inner-city location in the North West of England. The data were generated through the use of participant observations, photographs, documentary analysis, informal conversations and ethnographic interviews and focus groups. The research participants included teaching staff and academy senior leaders who work in Bricklane Primary Academy. Frostenson’s (2015) three levels of teachers’ professional autonomy provides a framework for analysis and presentation of the research findings. Drawing upon labour process theory, the main findings of the research indicated that the work of primary academy teachers is greatly constrained by policies at school and at national levels that limit teachers’ professional autonomy. The findings suggest that the Academies Programme has contributed to diminishing the professional autonomy of teachers and thus contradict the policy rhetoric underpinning academies which promulgates greater freedom and autonomy.

No description available.

Assessment drives the taught curriculum, defines what is valued (Stobart 2008) and can enhance or hinder learning (Mansell et al. 2009). In England, the complexities of assessment are compounded by ongoing changes to statutory assessment procedures and a lack of centralised guidance for judgements of primary science (Turner et al. 2013). The Nuffield expert group (2012) proposed a pyramid-shaped model of teacher assessment which utilised formative information to inform summative judgements. The model was operationalised by the Teacher Assessment in Primary Science (TAPS) project (Davies et al. 2014), but there was no explicit explanation of the 'formative to summative' process. This study sought to develop understanding of the relationship between formative and summative teacher assessment of primary science, in action and over time. A Design-Based Research (DBR) approach was used in order to develop guidance directly relevant to practice. Analysis of 91 submissions from the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) database provided a mapping of current practice in England. Two case studies of TAPS project schools considered the enacted relationship between formative and summative assessment, during implementation of a 'formative to summative' approach. New insights have been gained into the conceptualisation and enactment of the relationship between formative and summative assessment. Teacher conceptualisations of assessment were found to encapsulate a wide range of dimensions such as purpose, value, audience, assessor, timing, formality, rigidity and support. Refinements to the TAPS pyramid model are proposed to explain the 'formative to summative' process, conceptualising summative assessment as a summary judgement of attainment, which may be informed by snapshot and focused assessment activities. It was found that implementation of a 'formative to summative' approach required a shared understanding of key assessment concepts like validity and reliability; a seesaw balance model is proposed to support the development of such a shared understanding.

This thesis explores the possibility of applying Scriptural Reasoning (SR) principles for promoting Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in primary schools. It used storytelling and interfaith dialogue to encourage pupils to exercise these competences in classroom settings. It takes its philosophical position from the work of Ricoeur and combines a phenomenological and interpretive approach to Religious Education (RE) to develop pupils' understanding of both the "other" and the "self." From this theoretical position, an age-appropriate intervention was developed based on the principles of Scriptural Reasoning in collaboration with the Cambridge Interfaith Program (CIP). The resulting "Story Tent" themed day built on the established work of Julia Ipgrave's dialogic and Esther Reed's narrative approach to religious education. The underpinning work utilised Action Research (AR) methodology through a cyclical approach which took place over two iterative cycles in three different schools, each with its own distinctively-different religious ethos and demographic make-up. It was unusual in combining the contributions not only of teachers and researcher but also faith representatives from local communities. Data was collected through pupil self-assessments, group work, and research team interviews during the Story Tent Intervention day. Follow-up interviews were completed with a selection of pupils using a semi-structured interview - The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounter (AIE). The data was combined to produce pupil case study portfolios. ATLAS.ti was used to support the coding process and analysis of the data. The initial primary findings suggest that the genre of story; the pedagogic style of drama; and the process of interreligious dialogue were particularly effective approaches which provided an environment where pupils and adults could explore and exercise intercultural communication. The secondary findings indicate that the skills and attitudinal competences outlined by Michael Byram seemed to lie within a hierarchy, both cognitively and interactionally. There was evidence which suggested that pupils with a strong sense of identity and were also able to tolerate ambiguity demonstrated a range of intercultural competences including critical cultural awareness. Finally, the personal religious identity of the pupils also had an impact on the pupils' responses to the encounters, which (in combination with other factors) could be associated with particularly positive or negative outcomes.

This is a case study of two mainstream primary schools in one city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in order to investigate the educational provision for students with SpLD. The aim of the study was to identify the provision for students with SpLD with the aim to contribute to policy development with regard to special educational needs (SEN). Nineteen participants were selected using purposive sampling, comprising regular and SEN teachers, parents, students with SpLD and one officer from the Ministry of Education (MoE). Data was collected through interviews, observation and document analysis. The emerging themes from the data were coded and analysed with the use of constructivist approach together with Frith (1995) as a theoretical framework. The data from this study suggested that although the Saudi Government has initiated programmes for the support of students with SpLD, these programmes were only used in a few selected schools and could only cater for limited number of students with SpLD. The study further suggested that students with SpLD were marginalised due to other factors such as negative attitudes towards including them in the mainstream classrooms.

This is a qualitative, interpretive study of discourse on bilingual education in two rural primary schools in Mozambique. My aim was to explore how different views about the purpose and value of bilingual education were manifested in classroom discourse practices and how these views related to historical and socio-political processes. I combined linguistic ethnography and critical, interpretive approaches to bilingualism and bilingual education. Data was collected using different techniques, mainly observation, audio recording, note taking, and interviewing. The study showed that the main official purpose of using local languages in education in Mozambique had been to facilitate pupils’ learning. There were three sets of values associated with bilingual education in the sites in this study: pedagogical, socio-cultural and socio-economic. The use of local languages in the classrooms had been creating spaces for pupil participation and learning. I also found that the beneficiaries in the local communities focussed more on the socio-cultural value of bilingual education, which they saw as prompting the development and upgrading of their languages and associated cultural practices. The study also revealed that, with the introduction of bilingual education, participants had begun to consider the potential capital value of local languages in formal linguistic markets. The general conclusion is that bilingual education is playing a role in social and cultural transformation in the sites in this study, though its potential has yet to be fully explored.

This research explored the effect of Pictogram Room, a Kinect-based technology, on the sensory-motor skills of children with autism in a school setting. It focused on the overall development of sensory-motor skills, how these skills developed in different environments, and which of the sensory-motor subdomains improved the most. Theoretically, the study drew upon gaming theory and embodied cognition. It was a mixed methods study, with the quantitative data being the dominant method of data collection and the qualitative data having a more supportive role. During the first year, the intervention was implemented with the intervention group (n=5), twice a week for 15 minutes, over the course of nine weeks. The following year, a wait-list control group was recruited (n=5). The findings from the researcher’s checklist, as well as those from the standardised assessments, showed that sensory-motor skills in the intervention group were significantly improved, and there was also generalisation of these skills to other environments. Finally, as a result of the teachers’ interviews, social play and adaptive behaviours were also evaluated, with positive results for the intervention group.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI) for facilitating spontaneous communication by five children aged 5 to 7 with an autism spectrum diagnosis, in an autism-specialist school in Saudi Arabia. The study drew upon the transactional model of child development (Wetherby and Prizant, 2000) and the social model of disability (Rieser and Mason, 1990; Tregaskis, 2002), as well as the concept of intersubjectivity theory. During a six-month action research process, the researcher and staff designed, implemented and measured the results of the AISI intervention on the children’s frequency of initiating spontaneous communication and the functions and methods of their spontaneous communication bids. The staff’s ability to change their interactive communication style was also investigated. Discussions between participants (staff) and the researcher began the study, and existing educational practice was videotaped and coded for pre-intervention use of AISI principles and children’s attempts at spontaneous communication. This was followed by an intervention during which staff were trained to use AISI principles. Post-training educational practice was videotaped and coded for use of AISI principles and children’s attempts at spontaneous communication during three school activities (1:1 work, breakfast and unstructured free play). Post-intervention, staff were again interviewed about their experiences. The research produced both qualitative and quantitative data, and resulted in a case study. Interview results were thematically analysed; quantitative data was analysed for significant change as indicated by Cohen’s d effect size. Staff increased their use of AISI principles after the training intervention, and these changes significantly impacted children’s spontaneous communication. This research indicates that AISI can be effective with older children from a non-English-speaking background.