This thesis is about the recent education reform in Laos as a global and a local process. When the economy was deteriorating in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), the so called New Economic Mechanism (NEM) was introduced and the country opened up for global donors and markets. This also had an effect on the education system. To get hold of financial support there were demands on Lao PDR to replace the previous strong centralised governing of education with more decentralised strategies. There were further demands to replace teacher-led lessons and rote learning with more student-centred classroom practices. The research questions asked in this thesis are: How are education reform and the new methods of teaching governed in policy and through the formal education organisations from ministry level to school level? How do teachers and students in teacher education respond to the education reform and the new methods of teaching? What attention is put to gender and ethnic minorities in these matters? The thesis is inspired by Gita Steiner-Khamsi’s global perspectives on education reform; consensus, conflict and culturalist perspectives. It is also based on a local understanding taking its starting point in a pragmatic approach and a mosaic epistemology and a qualitative inductive methodological approach. The empirical findings are based on 36 documents that govern the education reform, 119 individual interviews with teachers and students in social science and science at teacher education, some observations and a contextual analysis of education, gender and ethnicity in Laos. The findings show that there is a consensus with the international community about bringing education to all people in Lao PDR. However, the political understanding is in conflict between neoliberal and socialist traditions. Democratic centralism is the foundation which built the governing system in Laos; information flows up through the system and decisions down. Even though the system leaves 20 percent autonomy to teachers to develop local curricula in line with the new methods of teaching, there are yet no major signs that such curricula exist. Teacher educators and teacher students understand new methods of teaching mainly as group learning and individual learning with only small variations between the two subjects. According to current policy the goal is to improve access to education for females and ethnic minority students. The ethnic minority students regarded individual studies as difficult because of language problems. They preferred group learning because they could be supported in language issues. Females also felt supported in group learning. However, because of old gender traditions especially females from the dominating Lao Loum group also found individual learning supportive. In individual learning females got opportunities to show individual capacities without being constrained by societal norms. The thesis ends up in a pragmatic tradition where possibilities and constraints with the education reform in Lao PDR are commented on.

This study investigated ABET tutors' knowledge, understanding and application of the principle of learner-centredness. The study was conducted at three adult education centres in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. Using questionnaires, interviews, classroom observation and analysis of documentary evidence such as learning programmes, tutors workbooks and learners' workbooks, the researcher was able to determine and assess the ability of ABET tutors to interpret and apply the principle of learner-centredness in practical classroom situations. The study showed that not all ABET tutors base their learning programmes on learners' needs, which is a key principle of learner-centredness (Jarvis, 1985). The study showed that some ABET tutors are not conversant with the policy framework of ABET and that this seems to affect classroom practice. The study revealed that Centre managers are not complying with Department policy with regard to monitoring and supporting tutors. Furthermore, the findings from this study expose some of the flaws in the implementation of ABET, like the lack of professional competence on the part of some ABET tutors. This lack of professional competence is cause for concern and requires attention from the ABET Directorate at district level. Key recommendations emerging from the study are that the ABET Directorate should conduct more monitoring of ABET centres and should provide more training for ABET tutors and centre mangers, as proposed in the Multi-Year Implementation Plan of 1997. In particular, tutors could benefit from workshops on needs identification and analysis. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This thesis analyses the implementation of a student-centred learning approach at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), in the context of the current curricular reform. The main objective of the thesis is to gain understanding of the implementation of a student-centred learning approach and how the innovation is related to the acquisition of teachers’ pedagogical competence at the above mentioned university. A sociocultural approach and more specifically Cultural Historical Activity Theory is used as a theoretical framework given that it provides a view of learning as a context based social activity. A qualitative approach based on document analysis, classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with different actors in the process of teaching, learning and teacher training was used. The findings of the three studies carried out and presented in four articles in the thesis show that the lecturers do not feel ownership of the curriculum reform introducing the new pedagogical approach, and revealed a conflict of interests in the process of implementation of the reform. Students appear to be unclear about the significance of the new approach and they cannot judge if it is correctly implemented. Contextual factors such as a high number of students in the classroom, poor infrastructure and inadequate access to educational resources also affect the students’ performance in their learning. The university teachers expressed a need for training and the creation of adequate material conditions in order to be able to apply the innovations. However, signs of positive attitudes towards this approach were also revealed by the informants, which demonstrates the existing potential of the reform. It was found that the role of the teacher is crucial in making students active, motivated and self-regulated. Moreover, the students’ active learning depends on several factors, such as contextual, social and psychological aspects of the process. In relation to the acquisition of teachers’ pedagogical competence, a comparative study of the official documents of Eduardo Mondlane University and Umeå University explicitly shows a focus on the development of pedagogical competence for all categories of teachers. However, due to significant differences in historical pre-conditions, cultural contexts and educational artefacts the findings revealed many differences in the corresponding collective activity systems. In conclusion, the thesis indicates that the implementation of student-centred learning at UEM depends on the availability of good educational infrastructure and also the development of human resources. Furthermore, less hierarchical communication at the university could accelerate the process.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This research project explored the learning experiences of two groups of first-year students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of the Western Cape during the course of 2009/2010. The aim was to obtain insight into the learning challenges that these students encountered and the reasons why some of them were less successful in the learning process, while others were successful. The perspective of this study was therefore student centred. The project was undertaken against the backdrop of a higher education institution that caters mainly for so-called 'disadvantaged' and 'underprepared' students. Such students come predominantly from marginalised and poorly resourced education environments and socio-economic backgrounds, which suggests that they would find higher learning challenging and, as a result, would most likely experience failure in the learning process. The objective of the research project was two-fold: firstly, to identify and determine which factors have an impact on failure or successful completion of the first year of study in this faculty; and secondly, to derive from the data a socially situated, supportive and holistic learning approach that could assist more students to be successful in the learning process. The argument in the study was that learning is socially situated and constructed. To realise the objective, Vygotsky's social cultural theory and Bandura's social cognitive theory were used as theoretical orientation of the study. This qualitative, interpretive inquiry was characterised by multiple data collection methods. Qualitative data concerning the perceptions of the participants were generated via written reflective pieces, a questionnaire and individual interviews and content analysis. In addition, quantitative data were collected and this further contributed to the triangulation of rich, in-depth data. An 'open coding' strategy for the content analysis was used, but the approach for the analysis was not purely inductive. A student-centred analytical framework based in part on theories and findings of five studies conducted on student learning, failures and dropouts, and the context of UWC as HSU served as a framework for the analysis but new subthemes also emerged from the data collected The results of these two Case studies revealed that some of the students experienced multiple learning challenges simultaneously which increased in severity during the course of the academic year, and that, in Case 1, these challenges became too overwhelming and severe for the students and that was why they were less successful; while in Case 2, the students managed to overcome and deal with these challenges successfully. The findings of this project, while specific to the context in which it was undertaken, contribute to the growing body of knowledge in the field of higher education and in the identification of enabling factors that could assist more students to be successful in their first year of study at a higher education institution. The findings provide guidelines for a socially situated, supportive and holistic learning approach that could help higher education institutions to mitigate the cumulative effects of learning on students' personal, academic and social lives.

In a contemporary world saturated with technology, where data has become a means tounderstand and optimize almost everything, the educational sector seems reluctant towards it.In order to change that, it is argued that formative assessment is a sustainable way to monitorfeedback data for the purpose to improve school environment. Used in the classroom, it shiftsthe focus from the outcome of pupils’ learning to their real needs.This study elaborates on the lack of feedback for teachers and the referring potential oftechnology usage in schools. Due to, inter alia, a co-creation workshop, novice teachers anddesigners collaborated to create several prototypes, which were used in a real classroomsituation afterwards. Those prototypes enabled a deep understanding of the current perceptionof feedback as well as the technology awareness of students and teachers.The research results were discussed from various angles, including young teenagers’and experienced teachers’ views. The outcome analysis led to the need of a student-centredcurriculum which offers explorative access to technology and feedback for everybodyinvolved in a school environment.

The trend in process-oriented curricula reform began in the mid-1980s and 1990s in response to a call for nursing education to graduate registered nurses that were responsive to a changing society. Many curricula were redesigned from a traditional approach to a process-oriented approach at this time. The purpose of this study is to explore, from a Grounded Theory approach, how instructional strategies are determined within the Canadian classroom setting in a process-oriented curriculum. Interviews were conducted with 17 nurse educators from the Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan (NEPS). Nurse educators represented courses from all years of the four-year baccalaureate program and all three sites. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim with data saturation reached after 13 interviews. Strauss and Corbins (1998) Grounded Theory analysis was utilized. Data analysis was assisted with the use of the qualitative data analysis software program Atlas.ti. The understanding of self was an integrating factor in the theory. The theory provides insights into the factors that have determined the types of instructional strategies utilized by full-time faculty within a generic process-oriented curriculum and identifies the support systems these nurse educators feel were or should be in place to assist in their roles. The research has implications for nurse educators, administrators, program planners, and students.

The trend in process-oriented curricula reform began in the mid-1980s and 1990s in response to a call for nursing education to graduate registered nurses that were responsive to a changing society. Many curricula were redesigned from a traditional approach to a process-oriented approach at this time. The purpose of this study is to explore, from a Grounded Theory approach, how instructional strategies are determined within the Canadian classroom setting in a process-oriented curriculum. Interviews were conducted with 17 nurse educators from the Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan (NEPS). Nurse educators represented courses from all years of the four-year baccalaureate program and all three sites. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim with data saturation reached after 13 interviews. Strauss and Corbins (1998) Grounded Theory analysis was utilized. Data analysis was assisted with the use of the qualitative data analysis software program Atlas.ti. The understanding of self was an integrating factor in the theory. The theory provides insights into the factors that have determined the types of instructional strategies utilized by full-time faculty within a generic process-oriented curriculum and identifies the support systems these nurse educators feel were or should be in place to assist in their roles. The research has implications for nurse educators, administrators, program planners, and students.

A considerable amount of work has been written on race and education in the British context since the 1960s. This work has largely focused on policy issues, curriculum development and teacher training. This work has been important largely for developments in multicultural education in the school context. In Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the teaching of race related modules and courses have flourished since the 1980s (Jacobs 2006). This interest, however, has not translated into work on praxis, that is, anti-racist teaching practices that aim to improve the situation that students and teachers face when challenging racism. This PhD study by publication begins to redress this by exploring student experiences and classroom dialogue. It adopts an interpretist methodological perspective and uses participant observation and interview methods. The observations and interviews are drawn from my classroom teaching, specifically, my modules dealing centrally with race and racism. Most of the writing around race and HEIs focuses on institutional matters rather than those that seek to enable praxis. The original contribution to knowledge advanced in this critical commentary and my published works submitted here is that it underlines the importance of anti-racism as it emerges organically within classroom engagement and exchange. Anti-racist practice, I claim, becomes fundamental to the learning process, where student experiences are first considered within the teaching process. This study focuses on students' learning experiences as found in my second and third level modules on the Sociology degree on which I teach at Wolverhampton University. My publications examine students' perspectives on racism as they arise in class. They explore student identities as they are experienced and classroom interaction. In this endeavour, I focus on the ways that Critical 5 Theory and Feminism and Critical Pedagogy can challenge students' prior perspectives on their identities and those of others. This work seeks to add to analyses of the ways that racism currently operates and could be challenged in HEIs. It argues that it can be challenged through more fully developing anti-racist educational practices that must engage with debates about ethnicity and identity in education, as discussed in Section One. This is because students’ lived experiences are core to an understanding of how racism impacts on students' lives. This commentary advances the argument that anti-racist debates in HEIs that organically evolve from classroom teaching and learning are paramount to the work of anti-racist education in HEi, because lived experience is seen to be powerful material that can counter mainstream discourse on racism. What is distinctive about my model of anti-racist teaching and learning practices is my anti-racist practice. This informs my academic work with students and encourages them to reconsider their thinking in classroom teaching and learning. The use of Critical Race Theory and Feminist theoretical and methodological approaches and Critical Pedagogy is central to my anti-racist teaching practices in HEis.

The capacity for online learning environments to provide quality learning experiences for students has been the focus of much speculation and debate in the higher education sector from the late 1990s to the present day. In this area, 'quality' has become synonymous with engaging students in a learning community. This study reports on a qualitative research project designed to explore the significance of community for students when they study in online learning environments. This project used three case studies to explore tertiary students' thoughts and expectations about community in the online environment. The research was constructed iteratively. Data from the initial case suggested the need to explore the relationship between the constructed online learning environment and the development of learning communities or what I have termed Social Learning Support Networks (SLSN). To explore this issue further, the project was expanded and subsequent cases were chosen that included fundamentally different types of online learning environments. The project had two significant results. Firstly, students not only confirmed popular educational theories on the value of learning communities, but also described how this form of social connection might practically benefit their learning. Secondly, the project found that certain forms of synchronous online environments provided enhanced opportunities for students to form social connections that supported their learning. This project provides new evidence of the benefit of community for students studying online and argues that future online learning environments should be shaped by five key principles designed to foster a sense of social connection between students.

In this thesis, the aim was to attain a deeper understanding according to the students meaning of learning related to their own responsibility and independence within a framework of an educa¬tional programme. An empirical study with an ethnographic approach was carried out during one term of a nursing programme that uses the PBL-approach. Based on observations, conversations, inter¬views and documents, three narratives were formulated. One describes the phases students experience in the planned curricula. Periods characterised of chaos, uncertainty and a heavy workload, alternate with periods of ‘cosmos’, optimism, curiosity and satisfaction. The second narrative is about students' learning objectives while realising that they have to make choices and decisions on their own to succeed. A dialectic driving force emerging from frustration and stimulation, chaos and cosmos, results in questions about what to learn and how to act. The third narrative describes how students handle these questions. The narratives reveal two dimensions. One concerns how the students form attitudes about the relevance of learning objectives and how they go about learning a knowledge base necessary for their future profession. The other dimension takes as its starting point the fact that students try to manage their learning situation taking into consideration the framework of the educa¬tional programme. These dimensions were further analysed using theoretical references. The first dimension was analysed from the perspective of teacher/learner control and a didactic analysis of the meaning of an educational setting. The second dimension was analysed on the basis of phenomenographic learning theory. As regards responsibility and independence there seems to be a point in abandoning the concept of self-directed learning. Instead of emphasising self, the interaction between people, the individual and the educational framework and the interaction with content, are found to be fundamental. This interaction includes communication, dialogue and active participation in all the parts of a learning situation. Based on the results of this study, I claim that the driving force in student-centred learning is the dialectic relation between frustration and stimulation, chaos and cosmos. This stimulates the students to engage in the teachers' traditional didactic ques¬tions concerning an educational programme: what are we going to study, how and why, and what are the objectives? The students' conduct as regards independence, vis à vis dependence, are related to a dialectic relationship between the prerequisites provided by the educational frame¬work and the students' interpretation and ability to use them. Expressions of responsibility and independence emerge as choices and decisions concerning the didactic questions, initiative, activity, search for opportunities to reflect and co-operate and self-confidence. The opposite, dependence, is characterised by strategies for “survival”. The students plan their learning situa¬tion so that the examinations and assignments can be successfully tackled, and the learning situation takes on features of a surface approach. I believe that further insights into learning in student-centred education can be found in the two dialectic relationships described above.