This research explores the communication of the 'Third World' in the school curriculum, focusing particularly on its role, location and significance. Using data collected from two UK secondary schools the thesis combines ethnographic methods with theoretical perspectives from sociology, development studies and cultural studies. The conceptual focus of the research is on the ways the communication of the 'Third World' constructs notions of difference and identity in the school curriculum, informed by its location within three frameworks of meaning: development; charity; multiculturalism. The communication of the 'Third World' through each of these is addressed in turn, focusing particularly on the variety of notions of 'self, 'world' and ' other' which are constructed. Attention is also drawn to the epistemological foundations underpinning the different constructions of the 'Third World', and to the implications this has for engagements with notions of difference. The research seeks to explain the contradictions within and between the schools' communication of the 'Third World', emphasising the micro-politics of the schools and their location within a broader political context. In particular, attention is drawn to the role of the aims, structure, and organisation of the schools in informing the communication of the 'Third World', and to tensions between national and local curricular authority. It is argued that contradictions within and between the different constructions of the 'Third World' reflect changes in how the 'Third World' and development are understood. However, the potential improvements in its communication that this suggests are being constrained at both local and national levels. Thus, the research concludes by identifying policy initiatives which can both build on this potential, and prevent further prejudiced and discriminatory constructions of the 'Third World'. It also suggests further research which will enhance our understanding in this area.

The thesis investigates pupils' approaches to learning modern foreign languages, particularly within the context of a single-sex teaching group. It represents a response to both the prevailing concern generated by the disparity between boys' and girls' achievements in this subject area, and to researchers' recommendations that the effects of a single-sex setting be investigated more closely (Powell, 1986; Batters, 1988). The findings are based on classroom-based research which adopted a case study approach to observe the practices of five mixed comprehensive schools in the UK which taught languages to one or more segregated cohort for at least one academic year. The data is predominantly qualitative and was collected over a period of two years by the following means: group and individual interviews; a range of questionnaires; classroom observation; and informal discussions with pupils and staff. The thesis begins by contextualising the issue of boys' underachievement in modern foreign languages. The first two chapters undertake a review and analysis of relevant research findings relating to both the reasons for boys' underachievement and the single-sex schooling debate. Chapter 3 describes the methods adopted by the researcher and outlines the central features of the five schools. The empirical findings of the research are analysed in Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7. Chapters 4 and 5 address generic language teaching and learning issues; Chapter 4 focuses on teaching and learning styles and Chapter 5 examines pupils' attitudes to modern foreign languages. Chapters 6 and 7 focus more specifically on the observed effects of single-sex grouping, exploring the pupils' and teachers' perceptions respectively. Chapter 8 draws conclusions from the findings and makes recommendations for further research. In bringing together qualitative data from multiple sources, the thesis gives original and comprehensive insight into an area which is currently of considerable national and political interest. The findings suggest that boys' often negative attitudes to the subject are informed by a complex myriad of variables, including: the perceived relevance and difficulty of the subject; individual personality; learning preferences; the pupils' socio-economic background; and the teaching style. Where single-sex setting is perceived as an important influence on pupils' motivation and performance, it is usually recognised to be operating in conjunction with these other variables.

The notion that an effective teacher is more likely to be able to bring about effective learning has led the writer of this thesis to investigate the characteristics of 'the effective' teacher and how they can be enhanced by means of INSET arrangements. It is assumed that these arrangements have to take care of the development of not only the personal qualities, professional awareness and pedagogical abilities of the teachers, but have also to take into account the learners, the curriculum and the learning context which are necessary for any teaching-learning process. It is suggested that these arrangements can be delivered through an eclectic approach which consists of, e.g. reading programmes, discussions, classroom visits, formal long-term and short-term courses as well as self and colleague evaluation. It is argued that in order to be fully aware of their rights, duties and commitments to their profession, teachers have to be involved in curriculum development, syllabus design and material selection. It is suggested that teachers are encouraged to consider that INSET provision is a continuous process of professional development of both successful and unsuccessful teachers. It has been recommended that teachers' morale and self-esteem have to be raised by granting them the support and respect which they appear to need in order to maintain positive attitudes towards their profession, their pupils and towards INSET. Recommendations are also made for the improvement of INSET provision in Bahrain and the organisation of an administrative system to ensure that such improvement takes place.

The thesis investigates support for schools' management of children's behaviour. The focus for the research is the work of the Northern Area Education Support Service (NAESS, the service) with around a hundred schools. The research is conducted along two lines of enquiry reflecting the outcomes of and the processes underlying the work of NAESS. It is established that NAESS approaches, based on behavioural psychology, achieve the primary aim of maintaining children's education in mainstream schools, and to an unprecedented degree. In relation to the service making equitable allocation of resources the findings are more equivocal. In the study of the interaction between NAESS and service users the aforementioned aims and, additionally, aims relating to the involvement of service users with work undertaken and to the optimisation of the use of service resources, continue to drive the research. Service delivery by NAESS is construed in terms of the full range of factors influencing outcomes, and considered under the headings of eight broad issues. Thus NAESS is enabled to manage the dynamic complexity of the interactions within its work. This management of the issues is seen as crucial to the achievement of service aims. However, by exercising strong management over the issues NAESS appears to exclude users from full involvement with the development of the strategies they implement. Such exclusion has implications for the extent to which NAESS can enable schools to develop their approaches to behaviour management. That is, NAESS is able to contribute, even indirectly, to a process of cultural change, including the development of new approaches to behaviour management in schools. However, it appears that a point of equilibrium is reached whereby schools become dependent on the service they receive and which prevents further development of their approaches.

This thesis describes the processes and outcomes of planned pedagogical improvement in a group of independent preparatory schools. It is an ethnographic investigation of these schools, which were researched and reported as multiple composite case studies. The research focuses upon two unusual and different aspects of school improvement. Firstly, a central theme of the study is the importance of the dynamic between improvement in classroom practice and the concomitant modification to school organisational arrangements.T he cases tudiesi nvestigate the essenceo f the mteractional processes that the schools experienced during implementing a process of pedagogical improvement, and as a result, a model is proposed to suggest a possible way of understanding the school improvement processes in these schools. Secondly, the research has been undertaken in the independent primary (preparatory) sector, where there has been little research undertaken and a dearth of literature that is useful and relevant to the culture of these schools specifically. The thesis examines and analysest he constraints,p roblems and successesth at the schools faced; and in particular considers individual and organisational capacity building, the stages that the teachers and schools moved through, the processes, consequences and outcomes and whether the pedagogical improvements could be sustained. The writer presents an empirical model of the process and argues that the evidence could be related, in a meaningful way, to other independent preparatory schools. The outcomes of the evidence appears to indicate that effective pedagogical improvement processes, that focus on modifying classroom practice and improving children's achievement, can be strategies for educational change; which can lead to adaptations and improvements within the organisational management arrangements, systems and controls within the school to support teaching and learning.

Bullying in State Greek Cypriot Primary Schools has been receiving a subsequent media attention in recent years. However, there is still not adequate research evidence on this issue. This study is an attempt to examine whether bullying could be considered as a form of aggressive behaviour, to investigate the situation in State Greek Primary Schools in Cyprus and to examine the developmental history, the psychological and social characteristics of nine 11- year-old bullies in State Greek Cypriot Primary Schools. These investigations were undertaken on the basis of four models: the Proposed Model of Aggression, the Model of the Empirical Work, the Model of Parents’ Perceptions about the bullies or bullying and the Model of the Teachers’ Perceptions about bullies or bullying. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods and comprised two stages. In Stage 1 a survey was undertaken of the teachers’ perceptions about bullying in 29 state primary schools in Nicosia. Pupil perceptions were surveyed in three schools where the levels of bullying seemed to be higher than in the rest of the schools. In Stage 2 a sample of 9 boys were identified as bullies from these 3 schools with high levels of bullying and these formed the case studies. An investigation of the nine boys’ developmental history, psychological and social characteristics was undertaken through interviewing their parents, teachers and peers and by the use of standardised tests and role play. This investigation of the nine case studies provided support for the view that bullying is a form of aggressive behaviour as all the factors that are reported in the relevant literature about aggression seem to play a role in its development, albeit to a different extent and in different combinations in the nine bullies. Moreover, bullying was found to occur in all State Greek Cypriot Primary Schools regardless of the social background of the school. Many factors related to the bullies’ psychological and social characteristics are involved in an act of bullying and consequently each has to be seriously taken into consideration, both individually and in combination, in any effort aiming at the prevention or inhibition of the problem in schools.

This thesis investigates an in-service teacher training programme for using ICT in subject teaching in Greek schools. The programme was aimed at teachers of Greek philology and lasted for an academic year. Its aim. was to enable teachers to use ICT in their teaching. The study begins with a literature review of both educational change and ICT in education. It reaches in conclusions on appropriate strategies of developing the use of ICT in schools. Next a methodology chapter reviews the nature of case studies and explains the mixed methods approach in this thesis. Findings are then reported. First the perceptions of teachers who took part in the training. Next, the perceptions of their teacher-trainers. Next, me perceptions of the head-teachers in the schools in which the teachers worked. Finally, the perceptions of the people who designed the training programme. The report shows both shortcomings and positive aspects of the training and in particular points to the very limited impact it had on teachers' practice. A concept map offers a clearer picture of the data while illustrating any causal relationships. A further investigation of the Greek educational culture is offered and this provides a new dimension for understanding the results.

This study is about teacher development for early career primary teachers, undertaken at a time of particular interest in providing a coherent professional development programme for teachers in the first five years of their career. It was undertaken from my perspective as a primary headteacher with the desire to improve the experience of professional development for these teachers. The research was undertaken by means of questionnaires and interviews and provides a picture professional development provision that is fragmented and lacking in coherence. While enjoying a relatively wide range of activities and experiences overall, early career teachers appear to have a more limited ongoing provision. This seems to be only loosely linked to any personal needs that may have been identified. A lack of rigorous evaluation procedures may well contribute to the situation where there is little clarity about the outcomes of professional development activities and experiences. Teachers are aware of a wide range of outcomes and value those that support them in their teaching. It is their own teaching that appears to be the focus of teachers' attention in relation to professional development rather than children's learning. Teachers, aware of pressures to meet exacting requirements in their work, appreciate opportunities to learn from those who have experience of similar situations. Professional development can result from meeting the challenges that teachers face in the early stages of their career, but the climate in which those challenges are met can be of crucial importance. As a consequence of the research conclusions are drawn which can inform my own practice, and also provide material for the consideration of others who have an interest in, or responsibility for, facilitating and nurturing the professional development of early career teachers.

The introductory chapter of this thesis presents the central premise of the study - that classroom learning is constructed through talk - and states the primary aims. These are to provide an ethnographic account of the process of learning in a mainstream classroom, and to apply to this account a specific theoretical framework with a view to refining its central constructs. The thesis proceeds with a discussion of the methodological basis of the investigation - ethnographic case study - and the procedures used for data collection and analysis. This is followed by a discussion of the theoretical orientation of the study, which explains the complexity of the learning context of isolated bilingual schoolchildren and the rationale for a sociocultural approach to explore it. The neo-Vygotskian constructs central to this study - the zone of proximal development, scaffolding and appropriation - are introduced and explained, as are supporting concepts. Each of the three following chapters of the thesis is divided into three parts. The first examines in detail one of these constructs, and also related concepts, with a view to their potential relevance to the specific context of learning. The second part in each chapter comprises a detailed ethnographic description, micro genetic analysis and interpretation of the context and continuity of the learning discourse. The third part in each chapter comments on the implications for the constructs at issue. These three chapters constitute a narrative of the way that classroom learning is constructed through talk over a school year. The thesis concludes with a review of the pedagogical and theoretical implications arising from the investigation, and considers the utility of a neo-Vygotskian framework for further research into classroom learning.

This study is concerned with an analysis of the research arising from three quite different perspectives on instructional text - the `physical characteristics' research (legibility, layout, and readability), the `improvement of text' research (visual illustrations, adjunct aids, and typographical cueing), and the `learning theories' research (representation of knowledge, human memory, and quality of learning). From this analysis there is synthesised principles for the design of instructional text against which heuristic practice in text design is evaluated and from which a nascent theory of instructional text design is evolved. The principles derived from the various research perspectives provide a basis for the manipulation of text design elements in order to ensure that (a) existing knowledge in the reader can be activated, and (b) new knowledge can be assimilated in a manner facilitative of comprehension by (i) presentation in a structured and organised way, and (ii) appropriately highlighted through verbal and typographic cueing supported, as required, by verbal illustration and organisation. The emerging theory of instructional text design suggests: a topical analysis to determine the heirarchic relationship of ideas within the topic and the desired learning outcomes or objectives; a consideration of the linguistic aspects of the text; a consideration of the role of visual illustrations; and a consideration of the physical parameters of the text. These activities are concerned, respectively, with the design areas of structure and organisation, readability, visual illustration, and legibility, and are summed up in the acronym SORVIL.