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This study has two principal aims. It explores the relationships between the results of various formats of paper-and-pencil classroom assessments of Chemistry. It also investigates the performance of pupils in different formats of assessment in relation to their cognitive style, personal preferences, and intellectual development. The study was conducted mainly in Greece with the participation of first year upper secondary public school pupils (Lykeio, Grade 10, age 15-16) in two stages. The convergent/divergent characteristic correlated with pupils’ performance in assessment where language was an important factor. However, in algorithmic type of questions or in questions where there is more use of symbols and less use of words, the convergent/divergent characteristic did not relate to pupils’ performance. The short answer or open ended questions favour divergent pupils more than objective questions because in short answer questions pupils need to articulate their thoughts, and divergent pupils were the ones more able to do it. In objective testing, if a question needs reading skill in order to elaborate and interpret a text given, then again the convergent/divergent style is a very important factor for success. It seems that, in relation to the convergent/divergent characteristic, the chemistry content is a factor affecting the type of questions being asked. Field independent pupils surpassed field dependent pupils in all the tests, and in almost all the formats of assessment. It seems that the field dependent/independent characteristic is a very important factor for pupils in order to perform well in almost all types of assessments, irrespective of the content of the question. The short answer questions favour more field independent pupils than the objective questions in some of the chemistry tests. It is a matter of concern that performance in a chemistry test is so strongly related to these particular psychological parameters, control over which is outside the individual pupil. This raises an important ethical issue about assessment. Are we testing chemical knowledge and understanding or cognition?

The aims of the study were to: examine how school leaders define effective school leadership, and identify the range of strategies school leaders employed in the management of their school. These aims would allow a consideration of the implications of the results for the professional development of school leaders in secondary schools in Oman. Two questions were set: What are the head teachers’ views of effective school leadership in the secondary schools, and what are some of the strategies head teachers use to lead their schools? Two methods were used. A survey was carried out using a questionnaire completed by all head teachers of secondary schools in Oman. This questionnaire identified a number of items within seven fields and asked head teachers to indicate their level of agreement with these items. These items were drawn from a reading of the literature to identify the features of participatory school leadership. The questionnaire had 40 items divided into seven fields with between 4 and 7 items in each field. This first stage was followed by a smaller group of head teachers being interviewed with the sample being composed of one male and one female head teacher from every district in Oman. The study investigated the profile of current secondary head teachers in Oman in terms of qualification, job experience, teaching experience and gender. Summary data for each of these aspects has been gathered. Also gender was examined in relation to the factors of qualification, length of experience as a teacher and as a manager. The study explored the views of all secondary head teachers in Oman about a participatory model of school leadership and found that there was a consistently high level of agreement with each of the items in the seven fields. The responses of head teachers were also examined for the presence of any statistically significant correlation between the views of the head teachers and each of the following variables: the head teachers’ gender, qualifications, length of experience as a head teacher and length of teaching experience.

This study investigates the emergence of the comprehensive school following the issue of Scottish Education Department Circular 600 in 1965, and its focus is the area of west Central Scotland covered by Dunbartonshire, the City of Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire. A major concern of the research is to examine how the secondary sector was affected by the transition from a bi-partite to a comprehensive system. The introduction gives a short account of the purpose of the research, its organisation and the methodology chosen. The thesis falls into six chapters. After a short examination of the comprehensive lobby in the post war period, Chapter One presents a literature survey in four sections: definitions of the comprehensive school, and some conceptual models; the cultural context, which highlights the characteristic features of the Scottish educational tradition; the political context, dealing with issues of central control, central-local government relations and the roles of local politicians and education officials; policy implementation and the management of innovation. These four themes form a conceptual framework against which to examine the data presented in the following chapters. Data for the thesis was gathered from two sources: a wide range of documentary material, and the transcripts of one hundred and fifty-two interviews conducted by the author with educationists and politicians. Data presented in Chapter Two leads to the following propositions: the comprehensive school was perceived as an English imposition on the Scottish system; official opinion in the Scottish Education Department was unfavourable to its introduction; optimistic claims for its educational and social potential were made in an ambiance of confusion about its definition; the Scottish Education Department conceived of the changeover principally in structural terms, and adopted a laissez-faire attitude to its philosophical implications; the advent of the comprehensive school caused widespread apprehension among educationists

<p> In 2007 Pioneer High School, a public school in Whittier, California changed the sequence of its science courses from the Traditional Biology-Chemistry-Physics (B-C-P) to Biology-Physics-Chemistry (B-P-C), or "Physics Second." The California Standards Tests (CSTs) scores in Physics and Chemistry from 2004-2012 were used to determine if there were any effects of the Physics Second sequencing on student achievement in those courses. The data was also used to determine whether the Physics Second sequence had an effect on performance in Physics and Chemistry based on gender.</p><p> Independent <i>t</i> tests and chi-square analysis of the data determined an improvement in student performance in Chemistry but not Physics. The 2x2 Factorial ANOVA analysis revealed that in Physics male students performed better on the CSTs than their female peers. In Chemistry, it was noted that male and female students performed equally well. Neither finding was a result ofthe change to the "Physics Second" sequencing.</p>

Kuwait has a history over a number of decades of identifying the most academically able school students and, in recent years, this has led to the establishment of an enrichment programme for those students described as ‘gifted’. The process of selection is basically according to academic achievement and the enrichment provision aims to give them special activities for high thinking skills through a specially designed syllabus. This study seeks to explore the cognitive characteristics of such high achievement students in middle school (ages 13-15) as well as a wider range of students, the work being carried out in the State of Kuwait. The study discusses the nature of giftedness and how it might be defined, moving on to look at ways by which selection can be considered. The study was conducted on a total sample of 2169 students, from middle schools in State of Kuwait. The research was carried out in three experiments. In the first experiment, the relationship between cognitive characteristics (working memory capacity, field dependency, divergency, and visual-spatial characteristics) and performance in six subjects are explored with a large sample containing a high proportion of very able students aged about 13. The second experiment investigated the relationship between cognitive characteristics and self awareness, along with school performance with two samples: the first one selected students from the first experiment who scored highly in most of the cognitive characteristics (124 from grade 8); the second group was 299 students in grade 7 from the same 15 Kuwaiti middle schools who participated in experiment one. In the third experiment, samples in this experiment were drawn from grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9, the aim of this experiment being to examine the relationship between cognitive characteristics (divergency, convergency; and visual-spatial disabilities), using freshly designed tests for visual-spatial abilities and convergency.

This dissertation examines the impact that AS-level re-sits have had on a selective independent boys’ school in the West Midlands, which in the interest of anonymity is referred to throughout as ‘School X’. Significantly, and as reflected in the title for this dissertation, unlike the vast majority of secondary schools, A2-level examinations at School X are not sat by students until the final summer of the two year course; therefore, re-sits at this level are not possible. The opening chapter provides an outline of how the introduction of unlimited re-sits can be perceived as being a logical progression as one of a number of developments in the A-level qualification, especially over the past two decades or so, which have invariably contributed to higher pass rates and levels of attainment, as measured by its six point (‘A’ to ‘U’) grading system. In the next chapter, secondary research has been divided into two sections. The first considers the robustness of the qualification, which has existed for well over half a century and the extent to which its survival has reflected the interests of the key stakeholders who have benefited from its reputation as the nation’s educational ‘gold standard’. On one hand, the introduction of re-sits itself can be understood as one in a relatively long line of incremental changes in the structure of A-level, which have helped to prolong its shelf-life by making it a more accessible and quantifiably successful qualification. On the other, this can be contrasted against the extent to which the opportunity for students to re-sit might have contributed to, arguably, the implosion of the qualification in its Curriculum 2000 form, as pass rates nudge towards 100 per cent, and the subsequent need for either its fundamental restructuring or abandonment altogether. The second section examines literature which is relevant to supporting a challenge against the popular notion that a modular course such as A-level contains few, if any, characteristics which are embodied in the ‘elements’ of a formative approach to teaching and learning as outlined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2005, p.15). A case is subsequently made for how a course which allows unlimited re-sits and where candidates have access to their marked scripts, still provides opportunities for interaction between teachers and students which are not normally associated with summative forms of assessment in the learning process. Chapter three explains how primary data were gathered through various techniques, including an approach that involved a mixture of a structured group interview and self-completion questionnaire, which two broad categories of students at School X participated in over a two year period. One of these consisted of students studying either A-level Business Studies or Economics (and in a few cases, both subjects). The other consisted of ‘pre-Alevel’ students, back in school at the end of the summer term after sitting their GCSEs, for a few ‘taster lessons’ in their chosen subjects for A-level. A combination of questions which elicited both quantitative and qualitative responses was used in this instrument of research which represented something of an unconventional approach to methodology, but it proved to be an appropriate technique for efficiently amassing data from scores of students each year, at various stages in their post-16 studies. Interviews were also conducted with numerous members of the teaching profession, mainly, but not exclusively, at School X and for the purpose of comparison with similar institutions, three discussions took place on an annual basis with staff from other independent schools, guided by me on a ‘focus group’ basis. Supplemented by information from examination performance documents produced by senior management at School X, commercial publications, the examination boards themselves and a variety of governmental and quasi-governmental sources, this allowed me to adhere to a ‘data triangulation’ approach, as classified by Denzin (1988) and summarised by Robson (2002, p.175), which “help[ed] to counter…the threats to validity.” The one-to-one interviews on the other hand became more tightly structured with each round, to reflect the sharper objectives for the dissertation which emerged over time and were thus orientated towards a ‘within-method triangulation’ approach (Denzin, 1988). Turning more specifically, in chapter four, to the main objectives of the study, the analysis of results and findings from my empirical research attempts to establish the main motives for re-sitting A-level Economics and Business Studies, as well as the costs and benefits of so doing. The latter objective primarily concerns students, but other factors, such as the impact on the teaching process, are also examined. Chapter five considers the future role of A-level re-sits in the context of the restructuring of the qualification from September 2008 and the alternatives in the post-16 curriculum that exist. The study concludes with a brief, reflective chapter, on how re-sits can contribute to teaching and learning.

This mixed design research sought to introduce, conduct and investigate Circle Time as a pedagogical practice for developing an equal and positive teacher-pupil relationship in a Chinese secondary school and as a contribution to current Chinese educational reform. This study started from exploring English secondary students’ experience of and perspectives on Circle Time. Therefore, a Chinese secondary school was chosen as an experimental school to investigate the operation of Circle Time, students’ and teachers’ reaction to Circle Time and affective education. The adoption of western pedagogy into Chinese schools resulted in an examination of both the contexts: the practical pedagogy, Circle Time; and the environment, the Chinese secondary school. The first concept was that Circle Time is a tool to be examined as a contribution to students’ personal and interpersonal development. Could Circle Time function in the same way as it does in Western Countries? The second concept was that Circle Time is an intervention, to investigate the issues of teacher-pupil relationships and affective education in the current Chinese educational system. Although this study was not a pure comparative study, the significance of comparing the students’ experience and understanding of Circle Time in both the UK and China firstly provided guidance about the conduct of Circle Time in Chinese school; and also drew a comprehensive picture of how to do Circle Time in Chinese school by comparing students’ views and opinions. For the Chinese school, the comparative results provide an opportunity to examine the pedagogical practice. For the English school, they provide the chance to understand how Circle Time functions in other cultures. However, this study was not just about comparing students’ experience and opinions about Circle Time, but exploring Chinese teachers’ and students’ perceptions and reactions to affective education by investigating their attitudes and experience of participation and reflection on this. The findings showed that Circle Time not only provided an exceptional opportunity in which students could express feelings, release burdens, understand and learn from each other, develop personal and interpersonal skills and potentially raise their self-esteem and achieve emotional competency, but it also created a unique environment in which individuals were respected and encouraged to develop an equal and open relationship among students and between teachers and students. The study also looked at issues that arise for Chinese teachers in transferring their traditional hierarchical role to an equal and democratic teacher-pupil relationship and in adopting a child-centred teaching method to replace or supplement the current examination-orientated teaching. The findings also showed that Chinese teachers are in need of motivation and support in adopting new pedagogy, teaching methods and social economic change.

This longitudinal study provides a critique of current delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship lessons and offers an original transdisciplinary approach to these learning-for-life subjects. Using action research methodologies, the study investigated whether selected Shakespearean stories could stimulate Socratic discussions on the decisions made by the characters. Then, in parallel with the topics on the PSHFE and Citizenship curricula, the students philosophised on alternative ways of thinking and acting and vicariously develop their own social and moral reasoning. The research design was based on the eclectic ‘bricoleur’ model developed by Kincheloe and Berry (2004) and was supported by both quantitative and qualitative analyses. In order to capture the complexity of measuring the impact of Shakespearean stories a threetiered research template was designed. Based on the response to neo-Kohlbergian conundrums discussed in the thrice-yearly home interviews, the informers’ personal and social development (PSD) was assessed using Kohlberg’s ‘six stages in moral reasoning’ as a measuring stick. Then, having triangulated the PSD variations from other sources, ‘partial connections’ (Law, 2007, p.155) were sought between the Shakespearean stories used in the action research and the informers’ PSD. Case study analyses indicate that, for the majority of the informers, partial connections were made between the Shakespearean stories and their PSD during KS3. The boundary set by this investigation was that the case studies consisted of seven randomly selected informers based in one school. However, the aforementioned quantitative studies were used to establish the representability of the students to the wider population. The action research offered nine interpretive discoveries which could contribute to more effective delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship. The key conceptual discovery was that PSHFE and Citizenship need another kind of pedagogic approach if they are to help develop empathetic and active citizens - an approach which would move the teacher/student relationship towards a facilitator/student partnership and have ramifications for teacher recruitment and training.

This research investigates the nature of pupil self-assessment in religious education. It considers the implications of theories of self-assessment as assessment for leaming for self-reflection in pedagogies of pluralistic religious education, and vice versa. Assessment for learning: Research on assessment has claimed that selfassessment is essential in formative assessment, to combat the negative effects of summative assessment. Other recent research has considered the situated nature of classroom practice. How would these classroom factors affect selfassessment in RE? Policy and pedagogy In religious education: The history of the current policy documents is analysed using policy scholarship, and the tension is revealed between measurable intellectual skills and a wider understanding of the place of religious education in developing tolerance and respect, both in the England and Wales, and internationally. Are policy and assessment properly aligned? Practitioner research: Virtue theory is developed as a research paradigm for practitioner research for professional development. Rigour is established through a reflexive use of qualitative, largely ethnographic methods, especially group interviews. Analysis includes consideration of pupils' assessment careers. Reflexive self-assessment: As a result of analyzing the data on assessment and religious education an original form of self-assessment is proposed. Reflexive self-assessment is a subject-specific model of self-assessment, linked to interpretive approaches. This harmonizes classroom self-assessment of both intellectual skills and intercultural values. The classroom conditions necessary to allow it to develop are examined. The implications of this for theories of self-assessment, learning autonomy and current policies of religious education are considered. Finally, the research is reviewed, notably the implications for researching and teaching, and future developments. The quality of the research is defended, in terms of significance, originality and rigour.