The literature into mindfulness in schools has begun to expand rapidly, yet is still in its infancy. Reviews of the research have concluded that mindfulness based interventions (MBI) show potential in schools for improving children and young people’s (CYP) educational, social and emotional outcomes (Felver, Celis-deHayos, Tezanos & Singh, 2016). This qualitative research has taken a social constructionist approach. It is exploring CYP’s experiences of an Educational Psychology Service delivered mindfulness intervention six-months later. Eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with a homogeneous sample of pupil participants (aged 10-13 years). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was conducted following the guidelines from Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009) and the study demonstrates research validity under Yardley’s (2000, 2008) qualitative criteria. The super-ordinate IPA themes were: Problem Focused, Benefits of Mindfulness, Application, Environment and Continued Use, with an overarching theme of Personal Experience and Self-Awareness. Results indicated that mindfulness was a personal experience for CYP, and individual benefits were recognised. The participants’ constructs suggested that they were still using mindfulness six-months later. It was interpreted that mindfulness techniques were used particularly in times of need and that CYP had an increased self-awareness of what previously and presently supported them to be mindful.

In this thesis I present an original theory of language learning behaviour derived from a grounded theory analysis of interview testimony from five Japanese learners of English. The theory takes the form of the basic English Learning as a Means of Self-fulfilment (ELMS) model. This model explains English-learning behaviour in terms of the engagement of four types of self-fulfilment drive: a drive for intellectual and affective stimulation (entertainment drive); a drive to ‘expand one’s horizons’ (perspective drive); a drive to make a ‘success’ of oneself (status drive); and a drive to engage in interaction with others (communication drive). Two additional models built on the foundation of the basic ELMS model are also introduced: the expanded ELMS model explains how learning behaviour is mediated by cultural and institutional context, and by the individual’s attempts to make sense of, and control, experience; and the Learning as a Means of Self-fulfilment (LMS) model is a hypothetical general model of learning which incorporates existing concepts from the literature. The results of the analysis demonstrate the importance of structure, rather than agency, in shaping language-learning behaviour. The theoretical rendering of motivation that emerges from the analysis is differentiated from that of motivation as a force constantly underlying behaviour. Instead, motivation is seen to make only sporadic appearances on the stage of consciousness, and to be responsible for behavioural change rather than behavioural routine. It follows that unexpected events that stimulate changes in beliefs about the self or about language learning may have much to tell us about motivation. This research does not so much build upon existing theory as problematise it. The results challenge prevailing conceptualisations of motivation, dominant discourses and practices associated with the term within applied linguistics and Japanese English language education, and the utility of the concept itself. It is a methodologically innovative investigation into the relationship between motivation and English learning in the Japanese context, with implications that extend beyond this context.

Undoubtedly, statistics has become one of the most important subjects in the modern world, where its applications are ubiquitous. The importance of statistics is not limited to statisticians, but also impacts upon non-statisticians who have to use statistics within their own disciplines. Several studies have indicated that most of the academic departments around the world have realized the importance of statistics to non-specialist students. Therefore, the number of students enrolled in statistics courses has vastly increased, coming from a variety of disciplines. Consequently, research within the scope of statistics education has been able to develop throughout the last few years. One important issue is how statistics is best taught to, and learned by, non-specialist students. This issue is controlled by several factors that affect the learning and teaching of statistics to non-specialist students, such as the use of technology, the role of the English language (especially for those whose first language is not English), the effectiveness of statistics teachers and their approach towards teaching statistics courses, students’ motivation to learn statistics and the relevance of statistics courses to the main subjects of non-specialist students. Several studies, focused on aspects of learning and teaching statistics, have been conducted in different countries around the world, particularly in Western countries. Conversely, the situation in Arab countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, is different; here, there is very little research in this scope, and what there is does not meet the needs of those countries towards the development of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students. This research was instituted in order to develop the field of statistics education. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to generate new insights into this subject by investigating how statistics courses are currently taught to non-specialist students in Saudi universities. Hence, this study will contribute towards filling the knowledge gap that exists in Saudi Arabia. This study used multiple data collection approaches, including questionnaire surveys from 1053 non-specialist students who had completed at least one statistics course in different colleges of the universities in Saudi Arabia. These surveys were followed up with qualitative data collected via semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers of statistics from colleges within all six universities where statistics is taught to non-specialist students in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region. The data from questionnaires included several types, so different techniques were used in analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the demographic characteristics of the participants. The chi-square test was used to determine associations between variables. Based on the main issues that are raised from literature review, the questions (items scales) were grouped and five key groups of questions were obtained which are: 1) Effectiveness of Teachers; 2) English Language; 3) Relevance of Course; 4) Student Engagement; 5) Using Technology. Exploratory data analysis was used to explore these issues in more detail. Furthermore, with the existence of clustering in the data (students within departments within colleges, within universities), multilevel generalized linear models for dichotomous analysis have been used to clarify the effects of clustering at those levels. Factor analysis was conducted confirming the dimension reduction of variables (items scales). The data from teachers’ interviews were analysed on an individual basis. The responses were assigned to one of the eight themes that emerged from within the data: 1) the lack of students’ motivation to learn statistics; 2) students' participation; 3) students’ assessment; 4) the effective use of technology; 5) the level of previous mathematical and statistical skills of non-specialist students; 6) the English language ability of non-specialist students; 7) the need for extra time for teaching and learning statistics; and 8) the role of administrators. All the data from students and teachers indicated that the situation of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students in Saudi universities needs to be improved in order to meet the needs of those students. The findings of this study suggested a weakness in the use of statistical software applications in these courses. This study showed that there is lack of application of technology such as statistical software programs in these courses, which would allow non-specialist students to consolidate their knowledge. The results also indicated that English language is considered one of the main challenges in learning and teaching statistics, particularly in institutions where English is not used as the main language. Moreover, the weakness of mathematical skills of students is considered another major challenge. Additionally, the results indicated that there was a need to tailor statistics courses to the needs of non-specialist students based on their main subjects. The findings indicate that statistics teachers need to choose appropriate methods when teaching statistics courses.

The review discusses the importance of narrative structure for cognitive development and psychological health. Narrative structure is regarded as representing and developing internal cognitive structures, known as narrative schemas. The components of narrative schemas and thus the structure of narratives are described as a set of components collectively known as ‘story grammar’. Models of the development of narrative structure are compared and contrasted and discussed in relation to additional cognitive and linguistic components required to produce a narrative. Individual differences in narrative structure are discussed in terms of their social and environmental origins; specifically due to the quality of parental co-constructed narrative conversations and socio-economic status. The relationship between narrative structure and developmental outcomes are then explored; notably reading comprehension and behavioural adjustment. A critical review of school group interventions based on the principles of narrative structure is then provided. Finally, the current literature is summarised, providing suggestions for future research. The empirical paper evaluated the effectiveness of a published oral narrative intervention by Shanks (2001) on measures of Oral Narration and Narrative Comprehension for children aged 6-7 years with poor oral narrative skills. The intervention group (N=12) showed a significant increase in Oral Narration score between pre-test and post-test compared to a wait-list control group (N=11). Between pre-test and follow-up measures that were taken 6 weeks after the end of the intervention, no significant increases in Oral Narration were found between groups. The intervention group also showed no significant increases on Narrative Comprehension between pre-test and post-test or between pre-test and follow-up. The correlation between Oral Narration and behaviour was explored. Significant negative correlations were found between Oral Narration and teacher measures of behaviour at pre-test and follow-up, specifically regarding hyperactivity and inattention. The results question the long-term benefits of the intervention and suggestions for future research are provided.

Sammanfattning   Bakgrund: Efter införandet av IFRS standarder i Sverige har andelen redovisad goodwill ökat allt mer bland börsbolagen. Detta har resulterat i att allt fler investerare fäster större vikt vid goodwill och där en nedskrivning förmedlar väsentlig ny information till marknaden. Ett problem är dock att en nedskrivningsprövning innehåller flertalet komplexa bedömningar såsom identifiering av kassagenererande enheter och tillämpning av diskonteringsränta. Om företagen inte har den expertis som krävs kan det leda till orimliga värderingar. Det finns både interna och externa indikationer på när goodwillvärdet försvagas och då klientföretagen har en djupare intern information försvåras revisorns möjligheter vid granskning, vilket kan anses vara en stor börda för revisorn. Att goodwill ökat i omfattning och allt större fokus riktas mot posten, leder till att även granskningen av goodwill bör öka i betydelse för revisorer. Deras roll är att inge förtroende åt klientföretagens finansiella rapporter och motsvara samhällets normer och etiska synsätt. Därmed tilltar intresset att veta hur revisorer praktiskt går tillväga då de granskar en goodwillpost upprättad enligt IFRS regler. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva revisorns arbetsgång vid en granskning av goodwill upprättad enligt IFRS samt diskutera hur revisorns arbete påverkas av omständigheter i dess närhet. Målet är att studien ska kunna bidra till att intressenter av finansiella rapporter kan få en bättre förståelse för hur revisorn granskar goodwillposter. Metod: För att uppfylla studiens syfte valde vi att tillämpa en kvalitativ metod för att få en så djup förståelse för revisorers tillvägagångssätt som möjligt. Vi började med att undersöka vilka revisorer som granskat börsbolag med stora goodwillposter i förhållande till eget kapital. På detta sätt kunde vi avgöra vilka revisorer och revisionsbyråer som har stor erfarenhet av väsentliga goodwillposter. Sedan har intervjuer genomförts där revisorerna fått återge sitt tillvägagångssätt vid granskning av goodwill och dennes personliga uppfattningar kring ämnet. Slutsats: Theory of Practice har fungerat i syfte att hjälpa oss analysera den individuella revisorns praktiska tillvägagångssätt på ett djupare plan. Goodwillgranskning kan anses vara en problematisk situation där revisorn ständigt behöver utveckla sin kunskap för att kunna upprätthålla den viktiga roll revisorn har i företagsvärlden och samhället i stort. Studien visar att revisorerna högst motsägelsefullt tenderar att uppfatta goodwill som en komplex redovisningspost, samtidigt anser de att den inte är särskilt svår att hantera. Studien visade även att trots splittrade personliga åsikter om IFRS regler så agerar revisorerna på ett relativt enhetligt sätt då en goodwillpost granskas. Revisorns agerande påverkas av sina kollegors förväntningar men även klientföretagets förtroende. Den främsta förklaringen till dessa slutsatser är att revisionsbyråerna skapat kontroll över revisorernas tillvägagångssätt genom en uppbyggd organisationsstruktur med flera kunskapsintensiva stödfunktioner. Genom att bidra revisorerna med dessa resurser kan byråerna styra utvecklingen av ett gemensamt synsätt på hur ett problem ska lösas. Revisorerna ser stödfunktionerna som en kunskapskälla vilket inger en känsla av trygghet. Denna effektiva strategi leder till att kunskap sprids och underlättar revisorns granskningsarbete. Nyckelord: goodwill, IFRS, nedskrivning, revision, revisor, granskning, Theory of practice. / Abstract   Background: Following the introduction of IFRS standards in Sweden, the amount of goodwill has soared among listed companies. This makes investors pay more attention to goodwill and impairment gives substantial new information to the market. One problem is that impairment test contains several intricate assessments, such as the identification of cash generating units and the application of discount rate. If the companies don’t have the required expertise, it may lead to unreasonable valuations. There are both internal and external indications of goodwill impairment, where clients have access to more internal information than the auditor. This can be considered as a great burden for the auditor to overcome. Since goodwill, as an asset, has become more important this implies that review of goodwill should increase in importance for auditors. Their role is to increase trust in financial reporting and meet societal norms and ethics. Thereby, there is an increasing interest to understand how auditors review goodwill according to IFRS. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the auditor´s review procedures related to goodwill according to IFRS and to discuss how the auditor´s work is influenced by the circumstances in its vicinity. The objective of the study is to contribute with an increased understanding among stakeholders about the auditor´s review of goodwill. Method: In order to fulfill the purpose of this study, we chose a qualitative method to get as deep understanding of an auditors' approach as possible. We began by examining the auditors who audited the listed companies with large goodwill relative to shareholders’ equity. In this way, we could determine which auditors and audit firms that have best experience of goodwill items. After narrowing down the list we ask auditors to reproduce their approach and personal views of goodwill auditing through interviews. Conclusion: Theory of Practice has worked in order to help us analyze the individual auditor's practical approach on a deeper level. Goodwill review can be considered a problematic situation where the auditor continuously improve their knowledge in order to maintain the important task of the auditor have in the corporate world and society in general. Contradictory the study shows that auditors tend to recognize goodwill as a complex accounting item, but at the same time they do not consider that it is particularly difficult to manage. The study also shows that despite the fragmented personal views on IFRS rules the auditors acting in a relatively uniform manner as goodwill are reviewed. Auditor's behavior is influenced by their colleagues' expectations as well as the client company’s confidence in them. But the main explanation for these findings is that audit firms create control over the auditors approach through organization structure with a number of knowledge-intensive support functions. By contributing resources to the auditors, the audit firms are able to develop a common approach to how a problem should be solved. The auditors find the support functions as a knowledge source which inspires a sense of security. This determinacy leading to that knowledge distributes and facilitates the auditor's review. Keyword: goodwill, IFRS, impairment, accounting, audit, auditor, Theory of Practice

This thesis is an interdisciplinary exploration of the role of the jury in the criminal trial in which I draw together three areas: law - specifically jury research; education - specifically Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy; and interactive theatre arts – specifically Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. My vision is to develop a process which integrates the jury as meaningful participants in the trial and, to realise that, I have used the practical devices for communication in the work of Freire and Boal. My work is conceptual and so the ideas put forward in the thesis are meant to be read as ideological visions rather than proposals which are based on empirical research. First, by mapping out the current research into juror understanding I make the claim that, as it currently stands, the jury do not participate in the criminal trial. Second, by using Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy as a catalyst, I begin to assess the issues of communication through a critical pedagogical lens which results in my opinion that there is a real need to focus more on how we communicate rather than persistently focusing on what is being communicated in a criminal trial. Finally, having developed heightened awareness of the need for being receptive to the methods of our communication I develop more practical solutions for integrated participation by looking to Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed in particular the use of his Joker as facilitator of communication. By the end of the thesis I have reimagined trial by jury, moving from a structure which has little or no room for jury participation to one which recognises the potential of the juror as an autonomous, thinking, human being, capable of his task, and which treats him, not as a subsidiary but rather as an integral part of the process. In doing that I challenge the fundamental validating factor so often associated with trial by jury: the belief that jurors actually participate in the trial. My research has dual benefits: first by using the methods developed by Freire and Boal I have expanded the boundaries in research techniques thus allowing us to come closer to the jury and, I argue, to understand them at a more genuinely nuanced level. Second, my research offers real tools for jurors to use, tools for communication through participation which allow them to gain clarification, when they feel they require it, as the trial is in progress. Ultimately, as I communicate my arguments, I hope that the reader can appreciate the shift from presence to participation as I reimagine the role of the jury in the criminal trial.

This thesis is based on a study with 42 public servants, who were white-collar workers in the Taiwan Provincial Government (TPG). The downsizing in the TPG is used as an opportunity to explore how particular public servants adjust themselves to changes, how they interact with the bureaucratic organisation and how they use interpersonal networks to sort out difficulties in their work. In order to understand these situations, the case study method is used. Semi-structured interviews are also employed in this study. This study aims to re-conceptualise learning, with reference to the way public servants interact with their colleagues and their environment. It attempts to build on the view that individuals' learning in bureaucratic organisations can be triggered by social processes emanating from their mutual engagements and shared practices. The claim is supported by data associated with introducing and discussing the concept of communities of practice. It supports the view that learning is a social practice and that its motivation grows out of the interaction between interpersonal networks and daily sense-making activities. Based on this argument, the thesis traces 4 basic elements in relation to the desire to be accepted by the group, making comparisons, establishing interpersonal networks and engaging in exchanges. The argument is that learning is a by-product of social interactions. Considering the relationship between power and the market in knowledge, individuals engage in a learning process in order to acquire particular resources. This research indicates that the sluggish system such as the TPG still has the potential to break the power hierarchy of the bureaucracy so as to facilitate its members' learning of organizational knowledge. This research also suggests that the influence of the basic elements is modulated by 3 factors - one's value system, official business and one's attitude to interactions.

This study explores the premise that some acting students assessed as dyslexic show a proclivity for processing the written text through non-verbal, visually- led mediums. It seeks to develop, and test pedagogical strategies that might cultivate this visual preference in order to facilitate the reading and acting of Shakespeare’s text by those with dyslexia. Aiming to ascertain what is meant by the term dyslexia and how it is manifested, there is a focus on practice guided by theory and subject - specific knowledge. The researcher aims to improve the current situation by contributing to the scarcity of research about the teaching of acting students in higher education who are dyslexic, specifically in the reading and acting of Shakespeare. The review of the literature supports the author’s claim that facilitation of the individual with dyslexia can be overlooked in actor training, while, in the teaching of the acting of Shakespeare, there is a promulgation of methods which can undermine the abilities of those with dyslexia. The methodology is case study, integrated with action research, set within a constructivist - interpretivist frame-work. Twelve acting students assessed as dyslexic are studied, and their experiences recorded. In addition, four action research cycles are instigated, with an incremental development of pedagogical strategies. These focus on the linking of text with art and movement, combining reading theory with acting methodologies, and comparison between Stanislavski’s and Cicely Berry’s physicalisation of the text. These methods are trialled for their value to facilitate memory, accuracy, interaction with the text, acting, and to inform teaching procedures. Analysis of the data suggests that the devised strategies were efficacious, to an extent, in supporting these twelve individuals with dyslexia into acting Shakespeare with fluency, whilst developing their meta- cognitive skills, artistic ability and self-belief. The implications of this research are that these visually-led methods can facilitate the teaching of those with dyslexia, and accommodate a realisation of Shakespeare’s imagery. The thesis concludes that further research should be undertaken so that the voices of those with dyslexia are heard, and that knowledge gained can be disseminated amongst the actor training community.

This thesis contributes to an understanding of why children in urban Ethiopia and elsewhere go to school by accounting for children in one Ethiopian city’s own explanations of! their educational participation, and examining the factors shaping these understandings. The findings demonstrate that, for children in this context, education was both an indicator of a ‘good’ childhood, and the route to social adulthood. Children in Hawassa wanted to go to school in order to become good workers, good people and good national! citizens. Their motivations for going to school often overlapped with dominant arguments for the expansion of education, but went beyond the narrow economic instrumentalism of the human capital approach and challenged the neoliberal individualism that has underpinned much work on human capabilities. The thesis therefore asserts the important contribution that children can make to debates about the purposes of education. However, it also demonstrates that children’s explanations of their schooling were constrained by the discourses and understandings available to them. It argues that children had largely internalised a deficit model of childhood and education that inhibited the expansion of their critical capabilities In demonstrating the constraints upon children’s understandings, the thesis also demonstrates that educational participation in Hawassa was not solely the outcome of children’s rational evaluation of the costs and benefits associated with going to school. However, it does not instead present attendance as resulting from compulsion or normativity. Rather, it argues that going to school was an act of agency that arose from children’s ultimate human concerns, and was constrained and enabled by external ‘generative mechanisms’(Bhaskar 1978). These mechanisms included discourses about the morality and power of education, economic structures rendering school attendance necessary for the achievement of desired indicators of adulthood, and government strategies seeking to minimise civil conflict and dissent.

A shift of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) towards school-based training is underway in England, calling into question the place of a theoretical basis for teaching. Re-examining the relationship between educational theory and classroom practice is therefore particularly timely and links to long-standing discussions in the literature on what constitutes teachers’ professional knowledge, the specific tensions between theory and practice in education and the implications for the structure of ITE. The study is rooted in models of teacher knowledge, of theory and practice nexus and of student teacher development. Within this context, the research offers new insight, picking up where previous studies have left off, by charting over a period of time what happens to students’ initial preconceptions about theory and practice and investigating whether, how and why these change in the course of the subsequent journey to first employment. This is a longitudinal case study: five participants, representing a diverse range of profiles from a 2011-12 cohort, form the case group and data were collected before the course, through various stages of the programme and into first teaching posts through interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis. To contextualise the central case study, survey data from the wider Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) cohort were also gathered. The research finds these students to be far from naïve as they entered training but identified important shifts in the understanding and role of theory during the PGCE experience. Openness to theoretical perspectives is evident and far from being diminished by practical experience, this comes to assume a more prominent place as the course progresses. By exploring this journey, which culminates in a profile of the thinking of a newly qualified professional in the workplace, a contribution is made to current understanding of the development of knowledge for teaching that may help to inform future programme design. More specifically, the role of the university is reconsidered and suggestions are made for ways of working with students at the various stages of the process.