This dissertation describes how and why high school students in a developing country may resist educational processes intended to make them into modern citizens. The research set out to illuminate in-school processes which affected students' academic engagement and to help explicate an eight-year decline on the Grade 10 School Certificate Examination in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. The report is based on one year of ethnographic research conducted in Pere village on the southeast coast and two high schools in Lorengau, the provincial capital, in 1994-95. I claim that at the time of study a shift away from the village in critical economic resources, rising unemployment, the ongoing viability of the subsistence base, and a need to maintain a degree of control over those living in towns led many Pere Villagers to be discouraged about the value of educational investment and to make claims to a somewhat invented "traditionality." In the high schools in Lorengau, students were aware of the limited opportunity structure after grade 10, and that they could return to their villages after finishing school and make their living from subsistence economics. A critical mass of students rationalized that school success, with its unlikely rewards, was not worth its requirements of hard work and conformity to rules. These students pursued social experience in school, resisted teachers, and valorized an egalitarian village-based identity within the student culture. I argue that the ongoing construction of this identity led these students to conduct routine surveillance of their peers for signs of acting "extra:" Appropriating Western behaviors which were associated with hierarchical status positions in the cash economy, or making strident efforts in school to obtain such a position. Accordingly, I show that Manus high schools functioned as social fields for the negotiation of Melanesian personhood. I conclude that people in Pere and Manus high schools lay claim to a moral "good" inherent in Melanesian egalitarianism, and that these were creative and rational responses which both critiqued the tendency of capitalist development to create hierarchical status differences and served to maintain these peoples' sense of worth in contexts of increasing powerlessness.

This study is a qualitative analysis of direct cultural encounters between China and the West. It examines the subjective experiences of Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China from their own viewpoints – how they understood and interpreted different cultures and made sense of similarities and differences between one another, that is, how they experienced cultural translation. It employs focus group and individual interviewing methods. This study adopts an analytical framework of a before-during-after logic to answer three questions: 1) why did participants come to the host country and what did they think of it before arrival? 2) how did they relate to the host environment and make sense of differences? and 3) how these direct cross-cultural experiences influenced them as well as the wider context of cultural relations between China and the West? It presents the historical background of cultural and educational exchange between China and the West and identifies motives of participants coming to the host country under the current context of global cultural flows. Furthermore, it highlights factors that differentiated the subjective experiences of participants, such as gender, duration of time spent in the host country, relationships with local people and the subjects of study. The effects of participants’ experiences in the host country also varied according to these factors. What underpins the relationship between China and the West in terms of cultural and educational contacts, presented by Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China, is fundamentally an interplay between economic and cultural factors. Differences between China and the West are as much cultural as institutional. This study provides a detailed account of such differences. It discusses what aspects of Western cultural values have a strong influence on China and which traditional Chinese values still hold their importance during direct cultural encounters with the West. It reveals the internal struggle, caused by cultural differences and institutional limitations, amongst both Chinese students in Britain and Western expatriate teachers in China, but it also highlights the ways in which some differences have been exaggerated during direct cross-cultural encounters as well as the profound social and cultural similarities shared by China and the West, which tend to be overlooked.

<p> A qualitative research study utilizing the Delphi research technique was used to explore the integration of leadership, ethics, and organizational culture into the curriculum of a Military Aviation Safety Leader. Despite the existence of safety programs and education, the military services still experience deadly aviation mishaps. There is a dearth of literature that has focused on curricula for Military Aviation Safety Leaders, specifically on whether or not leadership, ethics, and organizational culture should be integrated into safety topics. As a result, there is wide variance in curricula for Military Aviation Safety Leaders across the military services. The problem addressed in the present study is the incomplete understanding of how integration of leadership, ethics, and organizational culture may enhance the unique educational needs of the Military Aviation Safety Leader and the issues that stem from the dearth of research and understanding. The issues that directly stem from the paucity of research and understanding include poor standardization in curricula; curricula that are inadequate to the needs of the Military Aviation Safety Leader; and ultimately, poor safety practice and increased aviation mishaps as a result of non-optimal education for the Military Aviation Safety Leader. A qualitative research method utilizing the Delphi research technique was chosen as the best approach to investigating the research problem. The Delphi technique of probing experts over several rounds of focused questions achieved development of information in the form of expert consensus which in turn yielded relevant information for the literature and school curricula. In turn, future Military Aviation Safety Leaders will benefit from the information generated by the study, elevating their awareness of how ethics, leadership, and organizational culture may enhance safety in the organization. Thirteen Military Aviation Leaders were chosen to participate in the Delphi study. The research revealed that there are positive relationships between ethics, leadership, organizational culture, and safety. The research demonstrated that these topics should be integrated in safety curricula for Military Aviation Safety Leaders. The research examined methods and media for curriculum delivery. Case studies and small group scenario-based discussions ranked as methods of curriculum delivery most preferred by the experts. Resident teaching was preferred over on-line teaching media for curriculum delivery. The expertise and experience of the Delphi panel was a significant strength of the study in its findings which will improve and enhance understanding of the benefits of integrating leadership, ethics, and organizational culture into the curriculum for a Military Aviation Safety Leader.</p>

The main aim of this research is to offer a sociological analysis of Taiwanese headteachers’ views of the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. Taiwan is a country which combines Confucian and westernised traditions, and these are reflected in its education systems, including SEN provision. To date, there is little research on headteachers’ views of inclusion and most studies involve attitudinal surveys. By way of contrast, this qualitative research, which adopts a neo-marxist theoretical perspective, is based on twenty five in-depth interviews with school headteachers, who are regarded as having high social status in Taiwan. In addition, the research presents two case studies of schools implementing inclusive practices, based on interviews with headteachers, analysis of the school websites and media reports. Critical discourse analysis is used to analyse the twenty five interview texts and the case studies. Three major discourses of inclusion are identified: the managerialist discourse, the critical discourse and the school as social microcosm discourse. The extent to which headteachers employ these discourses appears to be influenced by various personal and social factors. Headteachers’ understanding of disabled students is the key personal factor influencing their views on inclusion. Further, their unfavourable attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students may be influenced by the views of parents with non-disabled children, competitive credentialism and the government’s stance. With regard to the inclusion of gifted students, the discourses employed are he following: the school as social microcosm discourse, the privileged class discourse and the dilemmatic discourse. The first two discourses are articulated by headteachers holding favourable attitudes towards the inclusion of gifted students whilst the third discourse is articulated by those holding uncertain attitudes. Headteachers’ understanding of gifted students is the key personal factor influencing their views on inclusion. Competitive credentialism has a major influence on attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students as well as gifted students. With regard to the two case studies of schools exemplifying inclusive practices, it is argued that the wider applicability of their approaches is questionable. Overall, the results highlight the Taiwanese government’s unclear stance on promoting inclusion. This research has also suggested that a clear operational definition of inclusion is necessary and urgent before the comprehensive implementation of inclusion in wider educational arenas.

This study explores the processes involved in the construction of female aspirations and expectations. Early research has a male centrality that excludes female experience which is seen as deviant. More recent research makes aspirational predictions based on single variables such as education or class, or works with single cohorts of participants. My interest lies not in what a woman's aspirations and expectations are, nor with making predictions, rather, I am concerned with the processes involved in how aspirations and expectations develop, in how these processes remain stable or change over time. By processes I am referring to knowledge constructions. Taken-for-granted knowledge has asserted that women naturally aspire to wife and motherhood. Regardless of the seeming inviolability of such knowledge, it does not represent absolute truth; it is constructed from discourses imbued with vested interest, power and control. Thus, from a social constructionist perspective, I explore the discourses instrumental in the construction of women's aspirations and expectations and the associated power structures that limit or expand women's options. I show that discourses are not static, that constructions change and are socio-politically historically relative. Survey data provide broad views that inform in-depth interviews. Voices from the literature form an integral part of the account and are not presented separately. A narrative analytic strategy synthesises all the voices to form a multi-layered socio¬political, historically situated oral history of two generational cohorts' aspirationallexpectational development, cohorts I have designated mature women and teenage women. In conclusion I show that legislative changes alone are insufficient to change women's aspirations and expectations. The mature women in the study illustrate how traditional discourses impacted on their lives and how, although individual agency is difficult, it is possible to bring about change which influences the options available to future generations of women. The teenage women in the study, whilst cognizant of increased opportunity and equality discourses, illustrate the persistence of traditional discourses and the conflicts they face in navigating their own lives.

<p> Guided by the critical network analytic framework and liminal legality, this qualitative study explored the experiences of undocumented Latina/o youth in their first year in college to gain insight into their experiences during a critical transition in their educational and life trajectories. This work centered the experiences of youth within a policy context of contradictions that provides increased opportunities, but continues to impose restrictions and control on the life and educational aspirations of the undocumented community. This scholarship aimed to understand how students&rsquo; transition to college is impacted by current immigration and educational policies, particularly the California Dream Act and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This research describes the racist nativist microaggressions youth experienced throughout their educational trajectories, the multiple ways policy impacted the transition to college, and the navigational strategies youth employed to matriculate to higher education.</p>

Within the social sciences, there is extensive literature on youth transitions as a key context for understanding how social changes and complex contemporary life have an impact on young people’s lives, focusing generally on the ‘global north’. However, far too little attention has been paid to exploring youth transitions in the ‘global south’. Even if it is acknowledged that youth research in the global south has grown in recent years, and has discovered different youth experiences from those in northern contexts, these studies have still been narrow and mostly based on theoretical rather than new empirical work. This research addresses the research gap by investigating young people’s transition from education to the labour market, and exploring the impact of social changes on their lives beyond the global north, in Kuwaiti society. It provides insight into how contemporary young people are constructing and negotiating their pathways to work within a complex reality in which traditional norms and cultural restrictions come into conflict with modernity. It highlights the role of certain variables that continue to mould their transition, including family, gender, religion, education, and government policies. It demonstrates that the rapid change and the compressed manner of modernity in Kuwait have made young people live in a state of tension and contradiction between modernity and tradition, agency and structure, and individual and collective ways of life. It shows how the unique nature of modernity and its consequences in Kuwaiti society have made the young people’s experience distinct from that described in other contexts. This study draws on data generated through questionnaires and interviews. It involves a sample of 1,120 secondary school students, and 24 young adults who had recently entered the labour market. The thesis, which reports the results, challenges existing models in the youth studies literature and critically assesses general sociological theories which tend to be northern-centric. In considering the ideas of the German sociologist Ulrich Beck on modernisation and individualisation, it is difficult to apply his western ideas to the Kuwaiti context. This thesis therefore calls for a cosmopolitan sociology, claiming the need to re-define the concepts within social sciences in such a way that can be easily and flexibly used in a variety of global contexts.

Building on research with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people (UASC) from a resilience perspective, this study investigates the protective mechanisms that support UASC in adapting to life in the UK. ‘Positive adaptation’ is framed as: emotional wellbeing, educational success and social connectedness. Two strands of research are carried out: 1) focus groups that investigate views of key adults (foster carers and social care staff) working with UASC, in order to understand how they frame UASC’s positive adaptation; the protective mechanisms they have experienced to promote emotional wellbeing; and approaches they have found successful in addressing mental health difficulties; and 2) individual interviews, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analytical approach, with five UASC who were considered resilient. Interviews investigated how individual UASC felt that they had coped with their experiences. I relate findings to resilience frameworks that recognise a complex matrix of risk factors, vulnerability and protective mechanisms operating for each individual at the individual, the family and community/societal level. Findings provide a strong argument for a psycho-social approach to mental health with UASC, establishing stability, whilst building on personal coping strategies, personal strengths and sense of autonomy and competence. Implications for services and interventions are discussed.

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) are part of the life course of some individuals and as such there are significant implications in relation to matters of identity and the need to ensure educational and professional practices are considered from an ethical perspective as related to self and identity. However, despite the wide ranging literature in the area of autism, there is very little research that examines identity in relation to young people with ASCs. Furthermore, where identity is noted as an important consideration, the concept is often inadequately theorised and explained with reference to psychological frameworks of identity. This study draws on narrative psychology and the concept of narrative identity (McAdams, 2011) to explore what insider perspectives, gained through life story accounts of lived experience, can tell us about processes related to sense-making, self and identity in young people with a diagnosis of a ASC. The findings revealed that the participants were actively engaged in sense-making of their experiences and in the production of narrative identities. A rich and complex picture of identities emerged that went beyond the label of autism. The narrative accounts demonstrated the heterogeneity amongst participants and the need for understandings at the individual level in order to promote a person-centred approach to practice, education, interventions and ethics.

This thesis explores the two year transition period leading towards the end of compulsory schooling. It asks how young people who live in disadvantaged locations make career related choices, and is concerned with why such people often do not choose in ways that are advantageous to them. In order to provide a comprehensive understanding of how young people's career related decision-making is shaped, this study uses an approach that is both theoretically engaged and young person focused. Thirteen young people took part in the research over two years; interviews utilised visual research and analysis methods to engage with the experiences of these young people towards the end of their time studying at a secondary school in the North West of England. Data is analysed using a conceptual framework that incorporates selected 'thinking tools' from Bourdieu (1977) to explore the structural influences shaping career ideas that are typical for this group (i.e. 'field', 'habitus', 'social capital' and 'cultural capital'). The concept of reflexivity is also used to consider the presence of and potential for these young people to exercise agency within the structurally embedded context in which they are situated. The study demonstrates the ways in which the career ideas of these young people are heavily shaped by the environment they inhabit and, therefore, typically reproduce the existing, limited range of occupations already prevalent within the community. The social networks participants engage with when contemplating their ideas are critical in this process of reproduction since they mediate transference of cultural capital to the habitus. Such networks tend to be insular and made up of close family and friends. However, there is also evidence that reflexivity within this context is possible, and this can be vital in promoting social mobility - but this requires the creation of spaces where young people can reflect and discuss their experiences and options with actors who are genuinely seen as trustworthy (I argue that this occurred for some participants through this research process). Finally, the study concludes that although reflexivity is atypical for students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, in certain circumstances it shows the potential to be transformative.