This thesis is the product of qualitative ethnographic research conducted over ten months. It considers the implications of adopting a dominant discourse of 'Rights' as a framework for guiding both the policy and practices of a large state primary school in England. More than this, it interrogates how ‘Rights' (and ‘Respect' with which it is conventionally coupled) link to, and inform, subordinate discourses of ‘Equality' and ‘Diversity'. Guided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) ‘Rights Respecting Schools' (RRS) initiative, these four values of rights; respect; equality; and diversity are highlighted as pivotal in shaping the lived experiences of everyday schooling amongst children, parents, teachers, support and ancillary staff. My work involves applying theorizations of post-structuralism to problematize these values within this environment. I operationalize discourse analysis to make sense of my ethnographic data in a manner which I attribute to Laws (2011). I do this, in order to scrutinise some everyday occurrences of school life, acknowledging that they can be understood in many different ways, ‘all and none of which can be seen as ‘true'' (Laws, 2011, p.15). Like Laws, I acknowledge that what I wish to achieve is a way of reading aspects of school life and what goes on there, in new and different ways in order to see things what may have been overlooked or taken-for-granted previously. The purpose of my research is ‘not to unravel and find a truth or even many truths'. It is ‘to trouble, to deconstruct the operations of dominant discourses' (Laws, 2011, p.15) in order to generate new ways of seeing, being and understanding. Applying a range of theoretical lenses enables me to strike a note of caution concerning the all too appealing and apparently transparent quality of rights, respect, equality and diversity within the institution of the school. My reading of these rights discourses suggests that the RRS policy text shapes school practices, in very particular ways. Some school subjects describe these as productive of an ‘ethos' that is: ‘happy', ‘carefree' and ‘joyful'. Such positive accolades are attributable to a schooling genealogy that long pre-dates the introduction of the RRS. The rights discourses tend to promote a regulative, procedural rationale of a ‘consensus' (Rancière, 2004) of schooling. This works to produce an idea of ‘common sense' value (Hall and O'Shea, 2013). It cloaks difficulties and contradictions implicit within fundamental assertions of ‘rights', especially foreclosing any claim of them as inherently ‘political', despite protestations of their power to ‘transform'. Disjuncture, diversity and difference are difficult to deal with institutionally. The discourses produce particular regimes of truth which means that certain ways of doing and saying can be ruled in, and others out. Expectations of the enactment of a ‘Ubiquitous Rights Respecting' school subject (as either adult or child) are demanding and contradictory, whilst, at the same time, the constitution of the ‘Rights Respecting Citizen' is imagined as: either, ‘adult' who is already ‘prefigured'; or, ‘child' who is, ‘Yet-To-Be'. However, the performative qualities of the rights, respect, equality and diversity discourses present moments of ‘dissensus' (Rancière, ibid) which leave traces. I suggest that these generate the possibilities for a (re)imagining of ‘common sense' refracted as ‘good sense' (Hall and O'Shea, ibid) that offer, not (another) manifesto for democratic schooling, but sources of insight which may enrich attempts to use initiatives like RRS as schools' guiding frameworks.

This study was designed to explore primary teachers’ perceptions of group work as a way of teaching English in public sector primary schools of Punjab. In particular, the study attempted to ascertain how primary teachers view group work, whether they think it may have benefits and/or drawbacks if implemented as a way of teaching English in the primary classroom and what are their perceived impediments to implementing it in public sector primary schools of Punjab To explore the aspects stated above, I adopted a mixed methods qualitative approach for the research. Twenty participants from eight primary schools of District Jhang were selected for data collection. The participants were given questionnaires and data collected from questionnaires provided a baseline to decide what to further investigate in the interviews. The questionnaire responses guided me to further investigate participants’ understanding of group work in terms of it as (1) a way of teaching English (2) the perceived benefits and/or drawbacks of implementing group work in primary English classroom, and (3) factors that may impede the implementation of group work as a way of teaching English. To analyse the data obtained by questionnaires and interviews, I adopted a hybrid deductive/inductive thematic analysis. The initial analysis of participants’ responses suggested that participants had a flawed understanding of group work. Participants’ responses further suggested that physical layout and teaching practices as perceived by the participants were traditional or teacher-centred and that current settings in primary schools were unlikely to support group work as a teaching methodology. The analysis also informed that participants perceived a number of factors in the current primary school settings which may not support group work as a way of teaching English in public sector primary schools of Punjab. These factors included conditions in primary school, poor supply of teaching resources, flawed teacher training, lack of teacher autonomy among others. Moreover, the analysis of participants’ responses suggested that primary teachers work in difficult conditions which do not encourage them to reflect on their teaching and adopt different ways of activity-based learning. During the later stages of thematic analysis, an underlying theme of professional identity began to unfold, which was found compelling due to its relationship with teachers’ apparent lack of interest in initiatives to try to change the current status of classroom layout and use various methodologies of teaching English in primary classroom. The emergence of this theme changed the focus of the thesis, as it was clear that lack of agency, confidence and autonomy were the key to the teachers’ reluctance to engage with new pedagogical practices. It is clear from the findings that for participants to feel enabled to adopt more activity-based methodologies such as group work, changes to their working conditions, better training opportunities and greater teacher autonomy in decision making, both collegiately and regarding pedagogy, are necessary. In addition, teachers’ poor perception of their professional roles and responsibilities needs to be enhanced through purposeful teacher training. If these changes are put in place, teachers may become more motivated and willing to try new approaches in their classrooms. However, after conducting this research, I consider that introducing such changes in the primary school settings in Pakistan would be a laborious, time-consuming and expensive process. In the present scenario, it would be necessary for the head teachers to provide teachers greater opportunities to reflect on their classroom practices and discuss issues with colleagues. In addition, primary schools could engage researchers and student-teachers from local universities and training colleges to work together with primary teachers to ensure that teachers have the chance to have a a broader sense of a variety of teaching approaches and how they may be implemented with support.

As human beings our identities are formed from birth as we draw on our connections to people, places and the experiences we encounter in life. For young children, adults are crucial in directing these experiences, whether this is at home, school or further afield and therefore they play a key role in identity formation. In the world of education this means that decisions are made by adults based on what is considered best for young children in order to succeed in the future. This has the potential however to have both an enabling and a limiting effect on children's lives. In a climate where arts education funding is being cut and awareness of children's voice and rights is growing in strength, this PhD seeks to explore experiences of visual arts and perceptions of self-identity from a child's perspective with the aim of informing adult perspectives of arts education policy and practice in primary schools. The main argument focuses on children as autonomous identity curators continuously drawing on their curiosity of the world. By engaging them in dialogue about their experiences and lives, adults will be presented with an alternative perspective of the world that can be used to genuinely meet individual needs in young children. The research question 'How do visual art experiences interact with children's self-identity?' is addressed drawing on the principles of bricolage to discuss and analyse the issues through multiple lenses, including the work of Dewey, Bourdieu, and Giddens. A small-scale, multiple case-study, interpretivist approach has therefore been adopted focused on nine participants drawn from four classes from two schools in a Scottish city. Data were gathered during the academic session of 2016-2017 employing narrative inquiry and arts-informed, participatory methods and analysis. Each participant presented a uniquely different relationship with visual art, with some indicating that it was an integral part of their identity and others not so much. Adults, both at school and home, were key in informing this and in one sense the children lacked autonomy and agency in their visual art experiences. However they were autonomous when it came to determining the value of these experiences in their lives and in their identity, with each drawing on their curiosity of the world in different ways to determine this. Rather than create identity, they curated it. They presented a reasoned perspective of their experiences, and highlighted an awareness of aspects of visual art that in some cases came more from their experiences outside of school than from within. Thus at times the perspective was at odds with the intentions of the adult world, particularly from education and creative industries viewpoints; the children created their own meaning and learning from their experiences which were in contrast to the intended learning of the adult world. They also demonstrated a curiosity and open-mindedness in relation to visual art which was not necessarily developed fully by the adults in their lives. This PhD is therefore important because it demonstrates that children do have a degree of agency and autonomy in the formation of their identity and that they develop interests and knowledge that is independent of adult intentions regarding teaching and learning. It is a key piece of research which also presents the voices of children who are not currently represented in academic research in this depth. Finally it raises questions regarding the effectiveness and relevance of current art education practice in education and cultural institutions for children in the contemporary world.

While research provides evidence for the educational and social value of bilingual children using and learning their home language, it also suggests approaches which support such additive bilingualism are not a common feature of English primary schools. This study sheds light on practitioner perspectives with regard to their bilingual pupils’ learning and use of their home language, the repertoires they employ when discussing their bilingual pupils’, and the extent to which practitioner talk promotes or undermines additive bilingualism. The study is based on a multi-method collection and analysis of data, consisting of a review of practitioner talk in existing literature, practitioner survey and discussion groups, and pupil survey and discussion groups to explore pupils’ perceptions of teacher perspectives. The study identifies key repertoires which represent positions both for and against additive bilingualism, and also describes how particular repertoires can support or undermine additive bilingualism depending on the starting point of the conversation. Quantitative analysis indicated differences in perspectives in relation to practitioners’ stage of career and the key stage they worked in. Structuration theory was drawn on to explain resistance to suggestions to change in practice, and make links between practitioner discourses and those in society more broadly.

This study is a classroom linguistic ethnography with a Year 4 class of 18 students, aged 9 years, in a village primary school in bidialectal South Eastern Cyprus. The research methods include a year of participant observation, in-depth interviews and fieldnotes. The study applies Hornberger’s (1989) theoretical framework of the biliteracy continuum for a critical perspective on the way this Greek Cypriot community reflects hierarchical views of Cypriot Dialect, (CD) and Standard Modern Greek, (SMG) in academic contexts which involve both linguistic varieties. The study analyses translanguaging and literacy practices in classroom talk to focus on students’ collective efforts when negotiating meanings of texts, helping them to jointly construct knowledge (Garcia, 2009; Creese & Blackledge, 2010). The analysis shows that, regardless of negative views of CD, children and teacher use CD as a learning resource. The students draw on all their available linguistic resources to understand and construct knowledge through types of talk, such as exploratory talk (Mercer, 2000; 2004) enacted through translanguaging practices. Evidence showed that learning through translanguaging can be both cognitive, such as understanding the pedagogic task, as well as social and cultural, based on and embedded in, the way students shared their ideas and reasoned together.

The participation of parents in the schooling of their children has become a central policy objective of the education sector in Australia as well as other parts of the developed world. The discourse of parent participation emphasises a need for parents to be involved in order to maximise the benefits of their child’s education. Parent participation includes such practices as parents and schools working as partners to improve the well-being and achievements of an individual child to formal participation of parents in decision-making forums. This thesis approaches the issue of parent participation through a study of parent advocacy bodies as they deal with policy issues and interface with parents as the school level and governments at the policy level. The policy area of gender equity is used as an illustrative example to analyse parent advocacy bodies’ structures and ways of operating. As a result of the empirical work that involved semi-structured interviews, observation techniques and extensive use of archival material, this thesis revisits the theory of positional goods as it reflects the notion and understanding parents have broadly that education is positional in that only few can achieve the highest levels of education and hence effort is exerted in ensuring their child achieves as highly as possible. This thesis argues that gender equity is caught in this thriving to capture a positional good that is elusive for most but appears enhanced by the use of adequate gender equity strategies. The action of parents within parent advocacy bodies reflected the fight over scarce resources that were perceived to be enhancing educational outcomes for girls at the expense of boys. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study examines the differences in the beliefs of primary (elementary) class teachers about the role of expression in visual arts education. The focus is on the relationship between primary teachers implicit theories, and expression in their visual arts lessons. Expression here, refers to the manifestation of an individual students interests or views through visual images. Students' expression of their personal responses through visual images, is a central intended outcome of the visual arts curriculum in Western Australia (Curriculum Council, 1998).

This thesis is a qualitative study into aspects of primary education in Samoa. Using student, parent and teacher interview material, I investigate local perspectives on why education is important, what children should learn, how children learn, and what constitutes 'good' teaching. I also look at local perspectives on the place of exams and physical discipline. Fieldwork included classroom observations in rural and urban settings. The thesis documents how children approach learning at school, how teachers go about their work, and how teachers and students interact. This is primarily an ethnographic study and, as such, focuses on local theories and meanings. However, several broader theoretical areas emerge as important. In the thesis I look at: a) the interdependence between different aspects of school (i.e. curriculum, teaching methods, assessment practices, material constraints, etc.); b) the relationship between primary education and the wider society; and c) the increasing impact of globalisation on education. The thesis challenges the belief that patterns of interaction at school undermine primary socialisation. It also challenges the idea that primary education is an alien Western institution. Formal education has been eagerly embraced, co-opted, and reshaped to ensure consistency with local perspectives and practices. Increasingly, global flows impact on education in Samoa. This has created tensions between educational policy and teaching practice. Education policies are profoundly influenced by Western ideologies and practices. These reflect fundamentally different ways of thinking about children, their relationships with adults, teaching, and learning. By contrast, teaching practices in Samoa are consistent with local beliefs, values and understandings, and the material realities of a small, fiscally constrained Pacific nation. Policy initiatives are often met with inertia and resistance. The thesis raises issues as to the role of education in maintaining the status quo versus education as an agent of change. It also points to the increasingly difficulty task of defining what is a relevant education and how this is best achieved.

The status of English language has increased over the years as a tool for international communication. The Thai government emphasises that English language education has now become part of the full driving force for national development. This research implies that in order to cultivate Thai learners of English to meet social demands, sound theoretical and coherent philosophical bases of curriculum are essential in the curriculum planning process. This research analyses the new official English language curriculum for the Thai school system: "English language learning strands and standards under Basic Education curriculum 2001" (English language standards-based curriculum, ESB Curriculum), which in 2001 was promulgated as the new official English language curriculum. This research reveals both the coherence and incoherence of the theoretical and philosophical bases of the Thai ESB curriculum, identifies strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum and makes recommendations for curriculum revision and curriculum development that could result in positive and effective changes in English language teaching and learning in Thailand. This thesis rests on the premise that principles underlying decisions made in curriculum planning will have a major impact on the effectiveness of the curriculum. It follows that difficulties with foreign language education nowadays are a consequence of the incoherence of philosophical, theoretical, and social bases of curriculum design. This research analyses the English language curriculum by asking questions about who was involved in the curriculum planning process and what were the decisionmaking mechanism and processes involved in its planning. The research is different from other research in curriculum studies in Thailand that aim only at curriculum implementation and evaluation. Three sources of data have contributed to the analysis of the curriculum: curriculum-related documents, interviews with the curriculum committees, and interviews and questionnaires with school teachers. The analysis has shown that (1) the curriculum was developed with input from numerous experts and various groups of stakeholders which affected the underlying principles, philosophical and theoretical bases of education and English language teaching and learning; (2) the theoretical and philosophical bases of the curriculum were found to be incoherent among curriculum elements; (3) the curriculum has problems at the level of meaning and this has led to the difficulty of conveying the philosophy of Thai education to the school level. The study has found that the incoherence of the theoretical underpinnings of the curriculum elements leads to misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misuse of the curriculum. The implication for future research is to stress a critical literacy approach to English language education and curriculum development. In this way, English language is seen as a language for empowerment, knowledge enhancement, social development and development of learners as a part of Globalisation and Information Age in the 2 lst Century as also stated in the Thai National Education Act 1999.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.