This thesis sets out to examine the extent to which primary science is a complex interplay between educational and political perspectives which in turn has influenced and shaped the way primary schools interpret, reconstruct and implement science in practice. This study uses a policy trajectory to consider the changing conceptions of primary science within the arenas of policy influence, policy text and practice in relation to its curriculum content, related pedagogy and assessment. In addition, it examines the nature and impact of professional development to support the implementation of primary science in practice. Evidence was collected through a series of interviews with elite figures in education, a regional survey of primary schools, along with in-depth cases studies in order to develop a deeper understanding primary science within the policy to practice context. The findings would indicate that despite a succession of top down science education policy reforms, there are still concerns about the extent to which teachers have sufficient science subject knowledge to develop conceptual understanding, a clear idea of the purpose of science investigations and how to use formative asiessment as an effective way of diagnosing pupil understanding. Furthermore, the evidence would suggest that the emphasis placed on summative assessment and accountability has narrowed teachers' conceptions of primary science. The implications are that science policy reform needs to acknowledge existing practice and support a wider definition of science that includes an appreciation of the historical and cultural aspects of science together with an understanding of technological applications. In addition, a more robust infrastructure of professional development needs to be in place which places more emphasis on the science co-ordinator to support teaching and learning in order to provide teachers with access to a changing knowledge base and opportunities to update skills in primary science. Unless these implications are given serious consideration the unrelenting focus on performativity and accountability will prevent any real development of creativity and innovation in the primary science curriculum.

The thesis considers how the delivery of primary education might be maintained in developing countries during armed conflict. The study is located in western Uganda, a region with a history of iterative conflict. The most recent armed conflict, and the focus of the research, was that perpetrated by the ADF, a mixture of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. The research is conceptualised as an interpretive case study of the delivery of primary education in formal settings affected by iterative armed conflict. Data were collected by observation, documentation and through semi-structured interviews held with primary teachers who had experience of working in schools during recent armed conflict as well as with respondents in other key positions within the national education system of Uganda. The analysis indicates that the work and lives of teachers (seen as essential in affecting the delivery of primary education) in this area of Uganda are located within a complex network of influences which include the demands of the national education system as well as the social contexts within which teachers both live and work. The intrusion of armed conflict interacts with these influences to make the professional lives of teachers even more problematic. Given such competing influences, how should teachers respond? The study considers how a revised model of professionalism, based on autonomy, responsibility and reflection might be of relevance. Such a revised model could help teachers to make decisions in conditions when direct managerial control is not available, thereby contributing to the maintenance of primary education.

The importance of stories in educating the moral imagination of the child provides the context for this thesis, which explores children's responses to the moral dimension of fiction. Studies in narrative psychology, literary theory and children's responses to reading also provide the empirical and theoretical background for this qualitative enquiry that compares a number of developing readers' responses to fiction in a school and classroom context. Focusing on the features that distinguish their responses to questions about moral choice and virtue in a range of stories, the thesis explores a mode of response to fiction called moral rehearsal. It identifies a range of strategies children adopt to explore and evaluate the moral world of narrative texts such as the use of moral touchstones, alternative narratives and dramatisation. It presents an original application of philosophical anthropology to the data in order to distinguish between what I call mimetic and diegetic rehearsal in children's responses. This phenomenological interpretation suggests the ways in which narratives contribute to the constitution of consciousness in the child. Drawing mainly on school-based interview conversations, peer group talk and some children's written work about a range of fiction, this enquiry adopts an interpretive, case study approach to children's moral responses to fiction. It examines the child's perspective to produce an account of moral imagination in developing readers that illuminates a previously unexplored mode of reading - moral rehearsal - relevant to theories about the development of children's reading, literary response and moral sense. It represents a contribution to the literature on children's literary experience, the empirical study of children's reading and children's moral and spiritual formation.

The present study had three main purposes: first, to explore the baseline skills and strategies of struggling readers as they conducted online Internet inquiry; second, to scaffold these children to develop effective online reading comprehension and information seeking-skills and strategies in the context of an integrated curriculum; and third, to examine the affective, cognitive and social dimensions of learning in groups and the role of peer collaboration in developing online reading skills and strategies during Internet inquiry. Three theoretical frameworks underpinned the study: a new literacies framework, a motivation and engagement framework, and a cognitive scaffolding framework. The study was conducted in a disadvantaged school in Ireland over an 18 month period with 3rd and 5th class cohorts. It employed a Formative and Design Experimental methodology to iteratively refine the study intervention, as barriers to implementation of the pedagogical goal of the study were identified and factors that enhanced effectiveness of the intervention were revealed. The study was conducted in three interlinked phases: a Baseline phase, a Reading Development and Critical Web Literacy (RDCWL) phase, and the Main Study phase. A range of essentially qualitative data sources was analysed, using inductive and deductive methodologies, to extract themes from the data. Findings from the study suggested that (a) the development of an ecological learning community within the classroom coupled with an integrated curriculum enhanced engagement and motivated the pupils to develop online reading skills; (b) new literacies were acquired through explicit instruction, adaptive scaffolding and peer-to- peer collaboration; (c) developmental differences between children indicated the importance of nurturing self-regulatory reading processes and metacognitive knowledge in developing effective online reading comprehension and information-seeking skills and strategies.

The aim of the study is to examine the perceptions of a sample of graduate teachers (B. Ed. Hons. ) in primary schools of beginning teaching. It consists of a questionnaire survey of 57 teachers in he first year of teaching (1986-1987) and case studies, based on interviews, documents and questionnaires, of 10 teachers during their first four years of teaching (1986-1990). The study begins with a brief outline of its purpose and methods (Introduction) and an account of influences an teachers and teacher training from 1970-1990 to place it in context (Chapter 1. ). Part 1. (Ch. 2-6) gives details of the survey. Data analysis Shows that the training course was seen as helpful by more teachers than any in-service support, although this was still a minority. Teachers were at different developmental stages and the majority received little inservice support and found evaluation of teaching difficult. Certain 'beliefs', for example a belief in group teaching, were widely held. In Part 2. (Ch. 7-10) methods of data collection and analysis for 10 case studies are given. A synthesis of data in the form of a life history was sent to each subject for verification at the end of four years. Theoretical frameworks adopted from Fuller (1969). Lacey (1977) and Berlak and Berlak (1981) were used in analysis of life histories to form case studies, allowing themes to emerge. Comparison of the case studies in an analytic survey suggests that new teachers enter teaching with an 'ideal' but find adjustment necessary to the reality of being a class teacher. In the first year of teaching student teaching practice is seen as unrealistic, giving insufficient experience in teaching basic skills, class organisation and long-term planning. Years 2-4 mark a period of professional growth, when teachers appear to learn more effectively from their teaching experience, placing theory in a practical context. Although it appears that the theoretical base of the ideal of teaching may have been imperfectly conceptualised as a student, the ideal is retained. Once teachers begin to 'know the Job' they look for further intellectual stimulus and career challenge and this nay occur in the second or third year of teaching. In Chapter 11. the influence of personal theory disposition an the development of theory-practice relationships is considered and related to theories associated with teacher learning. Conclusions from the study and implications for initial training, teacher development and further research are discussed. The importance of extended school experience with opportunity for reflection and analysis of teaching is argued. Training for mentors is urged as a means of pronoting collaborative enquiry between mentor, student/new teacher, and college tutor, establishing continuity between training and induction and stimulating whole school development. The need for attention to student teachers' individual learning needs, and to their acquisition of the broad range of competencies required for classroom teaching and for reflective analysis and further professional development, is also stressed. A brief conclusion points to the compromise entailed in drawing generalisations whilst attempting to preserve the individual teacher's 'voice'.

This thesis investigates the development of phonological awareness, rapid serial naming, speed of learning verbal/visual symbol associations, letter knowledge and verbal short-term memory in children aged 4.0 to 5.5 years and the relationship of these skills to reading ability at age 5.5 years. Data from a longitudinal study of 68 children are analysed and discussed. A review of the literature suggests uncertainties concerning the structure and development of phonological awareness. The current study measures phonological awareness at the linguistic levels of rhyme, syllable, onset-rime and phoneme and investigates whether the various skills comprise a unitary construct. Developmental pathways through the linguistic levels are also investigated. Most previous research investigating the relationship of phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, letter knowledge and rapid naming with reading ability focuses on the skills of children who have already started learning to read. In such cases, the predictive direction of any relationships cannot be established. The current study therefore also investigates longitudinally predictive relationships between the skills of non-readers and subsequent reading ability. At initial testing, all children were non-readers. Progress in skills was assessed at three time points as children progressed through their first year at school. Reading ability was measured at the end of the study. The results suggest that phonological awareness is a unitary, developmental construct within which most children follow similar developmental patterns, although some children exhibit considerable developmental lag. The phonological awareness and letter knowledge of non-readers were found to be the major significant predictors of subsequent reading ability. In rapid serial naming, the component elements of interstimulus interval (ISI) time and articulation time were measured independently. The results suggest that the ISI component is significantly associated with concurrent reading ability in children aged 5.0 to 5.5 years. The educational implications of the research findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

As schools in England introduced the phonics checklist during 2012, the question of the best approach to teach children to read is again a matter for educational debate. Jolliffe (2004) claimed that the most effective way to teach children to read has been contested in schools for many years. Two different views of how to teach reading through either Whole Language theory or phonics have become contested strategies in this debate. Goodman (1998) described these competing pedagogies as ‘The reading wars’.

This investigation emerges from the awareness of the marginalisation environmental education faces and the need for the development of an effective policy for the implementation of environmental education in Cyprus. The purpose of the research study is to present. as an end product, information that would be useful in the formation of a National Programme for the implementation of environmental education in Primary Education in Cyprus. The thesis describes the current situation of environmental education and examines current practices. Out of a limited variety of environmental education programmes that currently run in Cyprus Primary Education, the Eco-School project is taken as an example. This research study, firstly, aims to measure the success of the Eco-School project, by testing children's environmental cognition, awareness and action and comparing them to the environmental cognition and action of children in other schools outside the programme. It also attempts to reveal the factors that contribute to successful implementation of the project as well as practices that could be improved or avoided. The teachers' opinions are analysed both at organisational and personal levels. Since they are closely involved in any school innovative project, they should be given the opportunity to express their opinion and experience about the organisation of the policy, their expectations and the problems they foresee. Briefly, the general research aims are to: 1. describe the current situation of environmental education in Cyprus; 2. obtain interested parties' opinions about the development of a National Programme for the implementation of environmental education in Cyprus Primary Education; 3. verify and evaluate the impact of the Eco-School project 4. distinguish the factors that contribute to the successful implementation of an environmental education programme. Finally the information obtained is the basis of a proposal model, which might facilitate environmental education implementation.

The modern and post-modern world has tried to explain the factors that lead to effective schooling. The school effectiveness (SE) movement investigates the characteristics of effective schools and how these characteristics may lead to improved pupil achievement. This study investigates the factors that contribute to effective schooling in Cypriot primary schools according to teachers, parents and pupils perspectives. In addition this research investigated people’s attitudes towards the understanding of school effectiveness and school improvement. In the first part of the study 165 teachers, 166 parents and 188 pupils took part. The data was collected using questionnaires. In the second part of the study 5 teachers, 5 parents and 7 pupils were interviewed and an in depth investigation was made about the questionnaire findings and the factors that contribute to effective schooling. The study’s findings explore implications for school improvement and development as well as for policy issues.

The aim of this work was to look at the contribution primary education makes to the affective development of students. Using the term 'affective education' to refer to all the planned learning experiences provided for this purpose, a study was conducted across two countries (England and Greece) and four schools (two in each country). This work was needed because affective education is an important yet under-researched feature of primary school life. The study comprised four stages. First, a brief review of the main psychological theories of affect was attempted, in order to contextualise the work as well as show that affective development is intimately connected with personal, social, and moral development, the promotion of which has been on the primary school's agenda for quite some time. This was followed by the examination of a number of publications that consider the impact of emotions on teaching and learning, and argue that it is important for schools to identify and meet the affective needs of their students, and to equip them with the knowledge, understanding, and skills they need in order to effectively manage their emotional experiences. The next stage involved a discussion of the evolution and practice of the most obvious manifestations of affective education in the two focus countries, namely pastoral care and PSE in England, and environmental, health, cultural and inter-cultural education in Greece. Finally, an empirical investigation was mounted, focusing on the affective provision of four primary schools, in order to establish how affective education is conceptualised, delivered, and monitored in the primary phase today. As it was not possible to fit in this thesis a comprehensive account of the area, it was only one aspect, teachers' attitudes towards and practice of the activity, that was explored. The main finding was that the affective provision in the four schools that took part in the study is generally good, and quite a large proportion of it is explicit, planned, and intentional rather than implicit and incidental, and proactive/developmental rather than reactive. Also, despite the differences between the English and Greek education systems and the avenues through which affective education has been developed in each country, striking similarities were found in the affective work these schools do.