The focus of this thesis is an exploration of how musical talent is developed. It also considers the usefulness of the terms gift and talent. The research examines contemporary issues relating to the recognition and musical development of gifted and talented young musicians in Scotland. While the terms gift and talent are applied regularly to describe the abilities of learners, they are societal constructs (Borland 2005) used to categorise children’s learning behaviours. These constructs can therefore influence an individual’s self-concept and approach to tasks (Dweck 2000) leaving the individual to believe that he/she possesses ability or not. Although this thesis does not attempt to re-conceptualise the construct of musical gift or talent, it aims to provide a greater understanding of how musical talent is developed in young people. It does this through literature analysis and empirical data collection. The thesis begins by analysing research literature to explore constructs of gift and talent, before relating this analysis to music-specific literature and to the empirical data collected during the course of the doctoral research. The empirical data was collected from four sources: professional musicians, current music students, teaching staff (music instructors/teachers and project co-ordinators/course leaders) and from pupils at a National Centre of Excellence (NCE). Through analysing literature on high ability from both general high ability studies and music-specific studies, it became apparent that there has been a development in thinking over the course of the 20th century, with a move away from ability being associated with IQ scores towards a more broadly-based consideration of the needs of the individual learner. However, the research literature indicates that teachers and society seem to focus more on the negative aspects of labelling children as gifted and talented and on the implications for the learner as well as those around them. In terms of the original data gathered from professional musicians, teachers, programme leaders/coordinators, students and school pupils, a more contemporary concept of musicianship has emerged. While the terms ‘gifted’ and ‘talented’ were used by the participant groups, the terms were not solely associated with music. Technical ability and proficiency were identified as desirable for music talent development by some participants. Equally important were more general skills such as interest, communication, people- and self-management and team work. Therefore the gifted, talented or highly able musician, to these participants, not only possess a high level of musical skill but a ratio of musical, general and transferable skills. The findings from this thesis suggest that the development of musical ability is not purely reliant on musical technique, but consists of a variety of different ‘general’ transferable skills. In addition to this, the doctoral research argues for the importance of the role of self-efficacy and resilience in attaining learning goals and achieving learning aims for pupils and students. The participants in this research were able to identify particular events which they consider either enhanced or delimited their experiences, noting how they managed each situation in order to manage their development. From this it would appear that if a learner can achieve a high level of self-efficacy they might be more likely to successfully develop their ability, regardless of the subject area in which the ability is shown.

This thesis reflects my personal and professional journey from teacher to educational psychologist through significant periods in the education of children with Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBDs) in the UK. It also draws of on lessons learnt from my experience working in North America in the early years of my career. The main aims of my research were to: (1) Appraise the contribution an educational psychologist could make in assessing the learning potential of children and young people with SEBDs, and (2) Consider the „added value‟ that an educational psychologist might bring to enable these children as better learners and teachers as better teachers of children with SEBDs. 45 Children and young people with Social Emotional Behavioural Difficulties and their parents and teachers participated in the research. A mixed methods approach was employed to undertake three related case studies and a reflexive and narrative analysis was employed. Main outcomes of the research were (i) SEBDs were almost always accompanied by often unrecognised learning difficulties; (ii) A cognitive assessment by an educational psychologist had an added value in understanding the needs of the child; (iii) When parents and teachers of children who participated in an especially designed intervention, it changed their views of their children‟s behaviours. They reported significant improvement in their children‟s social skills and behaviour. I conclude the thesis by considering the implications of findings for the benefit of children with SEBDs. It is crucial that teachers identify and assess learning difficulties in all children and young people and clearly differentiate these from matters of and interventions for behaviour difficulties. Teachers and parents can be empowered to deal with their children‟s behavioural difficulties by involving the Educational Psychologist as a pedagogue, sitting as he or she does at the crossroads of education and psychology.

This thesis focuses on an aspect of the professional work of the author: that of the training of local trade union representatives by trade unions to ensure they are competent, capable and confident in the delivery of their role in local workplaces. It considers the four levels of evaluation of training outlined by Kirkpatrick (1994) and proposes the use of confidence scales as a means of demonstrating levels of evaluation in this field of training. Trade unions are reliant on the many members that volunteer to be local (unpaid) representatives in their own work places. To ensure the union provides an adequate service to its fee paying membership it needs to support and train its volunteers so they become competent, capable and confident in their roles. This research considers the effects on those volunteers who have attended training courses provided by the union trainers. It draws on the research on confidence levels and examines practice from a range of trade unions across European countries. Three types of training course are the focus for the study; as the thesis will look at whether or not the confidence levels of trade union representatives differ depending on the type and delivery method of the course they attend and whether or not this will have an impact on their post-course behaviour in the workplace. A research tool (questionnaire) was developed to measure the responses of participants attending courses and the results compared using Chi-square statistical tests to consider any results that were of statistical significance. The study concludes that statistically significant higher confidence levels are reported on the 2+2+2 mode of delivery of the six day training course in comparison to either the traditional 5 day or the mixed method modes of delivery. It recommends the use of confidence measures as a useful concept in the evaluation of training courses for union representatives as a way of improving value for money and return on investment for unions and a better developed trade union representative for the future.

The thesis aims to explore the viability of using a quantitative instrument to measure language learner autonomy and investigate whether such an instrument has a function in supporting teachers and learners in the development of learner autonomy. The research developed into a critical reflexive approach which probed the theoretical and design issues surrounding the development of a quantitative autonomy-measurement instrument by actually attempting to produce such an instrument. This approach means that I could experience and examine first-hand the theoretical and practical issues which the quantified measurement of autonomy would involve. The main conclusions of this research were, firstly, that the aim of measuring learner autonomy needs to be recast in the light of the research which indicated that it is necessary to understand autonomy as a quality which has only an abstract existence if it is not instantiated in a context. This means that the aim of producing an instrument which measures an abstract universal learner autonomy cannot be achieved. However, such an instrument can be used to monitor learners in autonomyrelevant areas and can serve a useful purpose in scaffolding the learners in their environment in order to facilitate the dialogue which enables a teacher to support the learners better in the development and maintenance of their autonomous learning. Secondly, teacher estimates of their learners' autonomy can be complemented and assisted by using the data provided by the quantitative instrument developed in this research. Another outcome was that the translation of instruments in second language teaching research is an issue which needs to be given more serious consideration and should be carried out in a more principled way than it is currently.

Hyogen (expression) education, which I received at elementary school and later university, has been one of major drama activities in the Japanese field of drama in schools. It originates in the Taisho Liberal Education Movement (the first progressive education movement in Japan) in the 1920s and 1930s and has been strengthened by Creative Drama in the U.S.A. and Drama-in-Education in England. Similarly to Winifred Ward (1930), Peter Slade (1954) and Brian Way (1967), specialists of hyogen education, such as Akira Okada (1985), believe that drama contributes to the development of a whole person, self-expression and individuality. However, I will argue that a concept of whole person has been re-conceptualised as a result of the emergence of new generations of drama teachers, and consequently hyogen education has become a limited dramatic method and has failed to achieve the development of a whole person. Therefore, in my PhD thesis, I reconsider hyogen education, or drama for a whole person, through the following three questions: 1. What different positions of drama are there in the Japanese field of drama in schools? (And how have they been genetically and historically constructed?) 2. How, and for what purposes do Japanese drama teachers use drama in their classrooms today? 3. How has the philosophy of education developed in the field of education? Each of the questions uses hyogen education as a starting point, while exploring the field from a different angle. Hopefully, this will provide Japanese drama teachers with three different, theoretical frameworks to look at the field objectively and understand issues and problems within it. This study adopts bricolage (Kincheloe & Berry, 2004) and cross-cultural comparison (Ember & Ember, 1998) as main research methods, and explores each of the three questions with additional research methods. Above all, with Pierre Bourdieu's (1993) theory of field, the study emphases that there is the field called 'drama in schools' and it is influenced by wider fields (the field of theatre and the field of education), especially the field of power (politics).

The increased presence of religious diversity among the population of the United Kingdom, particularly over the past century, is particularly noticeable through population studies such as the national census, and tangible signs including the increase in public celebrations of religious festivals, the increase in the presence of religious dress and food, and the increase in construction of religious architecture for faiths other than the historic religion of Christianity. This change in the United Kingdom signifies the need to assess and understand attitudes toward this evident religious diversity among young people living in the United Kingdom. This dissertation is contextualised and conducted through a studentship role on the Young People’s Attitudes Toward Religious Diversity Project, funded by the AHRC/ESRC as part of the Religion and Society Programme, conducted by the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit. This mixed methods project employed quantitative methods to profile students aged 13- to 15-years in the different nations and school types of the United Kingdom, alongside findings from qualitative focus group interviews among 13- to 16 year-old students. The findings draw two conclusions; first, that attitudes toward religious diversity vary according to nation, with students in London and Northern Ireland exhibiting signs of particular difference in attitudes from the students in the other nations of the United Kingdom; and second, that attitudes toward religious diversity vary according to school type. The mixed methodology of the research in the setting of the United Kingdom, the comparison of nations and school types, and the large scale on which the research was conducted all offer an innovative contribution to scholarship within the field of the social scientific study of religion. The conclusions also contribute to a better understanding of the national contexts of the United Kingdom and the different values which the different methods of educating young people in the United Kingdom can promote.

Abstract This study seeks to identify the issues that need addressing in the Ministry of Education in Oman as it seeks to expand and improve its education system. The aims of this are (1) to highlight the issues that need addressing in the Ministry of Education, (2) to present a background survey on different approaches of managing change (3) to survey the literature about TQM in order to discover the underlying philosophy of TQM, its gurus, its development and its tools and techniques, (4) to review the experience of TQM in education, its success in this field and to also identify limitations of TQM, (5) to examine the feasibility of applying TQM in the MOE and (6) to design a model for implementing TQM in MOE . Firstly, an overview of the context of the study is presented. The major internal and external challenges that face the Ministry of Education and call for change are highlighted. This is followed by a description of the Sultanate of Oman, its location, climate, economy, employment, population and how all these affect education and calls for change. After that, education in Oman, its development and structures are examined. To ascertain an understanding of the key issues in relation to the working of the MOE a preliminary study was carried with four focus groups of MOE’s central headquarter directors, regional directors, head teachers and teachers. The sample consists of 40 persons, 10 from each group. From this study the following issues were identified; centralization, weak communication, insufficient management support, weak teamwork motivation and faulty planning. Secondly, seven different approaches for managing change are discussed; the problemsolving approach, the learning organization, the three-step model, the action research model, the reengineering, Fullan’s theories of managing change, and Total Quality Management. It is argued that six of these approaches were highlighted as effective approaches in dealing with change but do not fully match the development needs of the Ministry of Education in Oman. However, TQM seems to provide a possible approach for developing the Ministry of Education Central Headquarters in Oman to be able to deal with the internal and external challenges, to solve the existing issues highlighted by the pilot study and fulfil the aspiration of the country and its demands. Drawing on the data from both the pilot study and the literature on TQM, a draft of TQM Model for the MOE was generated. The proposed TQM Tree Model consists of seven TQM principles that suit the MOE; commitment toward TQM, focus on stakeholders, involvement and empowerment, Maryam ALNabhani, 2007 iii continuous improvement, training and education, tools and techniques, and rewards. The views of different groups -top management, internal stakeholders and external stakeholders- on the proposed model of TQM and views on issues related to implementation -were also- gathered. The third part of the thesis reports on the methodology; the data collection and analysis; and the conclusions and recommendations. This stage of the research used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. It used a closed item questionnaire to gain a broad feel for the acceptability of the TQM ideas and to establish a broad baseline. In addition, open-ended questions in the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used for the same purpose and to provide additional information regarding the TQM implementation; the possible obstacles and facilitating factors. The analysis showed that TQM Tree Model was seen to be a possible approach by top management and stakeholders to develop the Ministry of Education in Oman. The final stage of the study was to gather the views of those in executive positions in the MOE regarding the proposed model of TQM and to identify issues to be considered in an implementation framework. Thus semi-structured interviews were conducted with six of the key personnel in the MOE. Some issues arising from the analysis of all the data collected including final set of the interviews with the executives led to the modification of the proposed TQM Tree Model. Three supportive factors were added as roots for the model; teamwork, budget and communication. In the light of the results from this study, the TQM principles and implementation in education, an implementation framework for the TQM Tree Model in the MOE in Oman is proposed. This implementation framework consists of five stages: the decision, the preparation, the implementation, the evaluation and rewards, and the continuous improvement. Finally the thesis concludes with some recommendations for education development in the light of TQM, some recommendations for the MOE regarding the TQM and some recommendations for further studies.

The research problem of this study was based on the existing skills gap between education and employment in Saudi Arabia. The Institute of Public Administration like other educational institutions has established Co-operative education programmes (Co-op) in order to build a partnership with the private sector. Co-op was one of the objectives of the state’s sixth development plan (1414 – 1420h), (1995 – 2000) and is used to increase education sufficiency and improving its quality. It is argued that, to meet the future demands for appropriately skilled managers and workers, ongoing collaboration and consultation with industry is required to ensure the goals of all primary stakeholders - students, educators and industry employers - are met (Walo, 2000). The primary objective of the study was to explore the effectiveness of the Co-operative education programmes, which are provided by private sector companies and some government agencies under the supervision of the Institute of Public Administration, in developing the students’ awareness of the importance of generic competencies required for IPA’s Post-secondary Diploma degree for graduates entering the workplace. Through a quantitative and qualitative study, this research compared the perceptions held by employers, teachers and students (before and after particpating in the Co-op) about the importance of the generic competencies required for IPA's post-secondary graduates entering workplace today, and employers’ and teachers’ perceptions of the most important competencies required to be developed in the graduates. A survey questionnaire adapted from the research tool used in studies by Hodges and Burchell (2003) and Lin (2005), based on Spencer and Spencer’s work (1993) was administered to 38 of IPA’s eastern province’s organisations which participated in IPA’s Co-op programme in the last 3 years, 38 teachers from IPA’s Dammam branch, and 99 students from IPA’s Post-secondary programmes (before and after particpating in the Co-op). Employers were interviewed as a further qualitative component to give more depth to the study. The frequency distribution, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA plus post-hoc Seheffe, Kruskal-Wallis test plus post-hoc Mann-Whitney, and ‘Direct Ranking’ statistical methods were used to identify the differences between the participant groups. The findings revealed that there is a good agreement between the four groups on the importance of a broad range of competencies. The study has revealed the impact of Co-operative education programmes. This was clear for example when students (after particpating in the Co-op) joined employers in ranking English language (writing), English language (speaking), and English language (overall) among the ten most important competencies, and their awareness of the importance of competencies remained high across a broad range of competencies. This study has also shown the importance placed on ethical competencies by educators and industrial professionals. The study has also shown that employers’, teachers’, and students’ perceptions of the importance of competencies were affected by their different demographic characteristics. The study showed that all groups perceived both hard and soft competencies as important, and there was consistency between the four groups in favouring soft competencies over hard competencies. The results showed that there was an agreement between employers and teachers in the need to improve IPA’s Post-secondary graduates’ performance in the competency of English language (overall), as a priority as well as some ethical competencies, and the hard competency of computer literacy. The study showed that Post-secondary Programme (PSP) was ranked in first place as the most important source that developed students’ awareness of the importance of competencies, whether in an individual area or under the two categories hard and soft. Second was home/family/community, third came the Co-op Programme, fourth was school, and self-taught came in the last rank The study clearly reflected the effectiveness of IPA’s Post-secondary Programmes in developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies, and the impact of home/family/community in this objective. The study also asserted that Co-operative education programme was effective as well; based on its short-term impact in comparison to the long-term influence expected by other sources. The study revealed a lack of effort in schools directed to developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies. The results in general revealed the positive impact of Co-operative education in developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies to be closer to the requirements of employers.

This thesis sets out to describe and discuss, to analyse and criticise post-compulsory education in the francophone part of Switzerland, or Suisse romande. A further object is to see whether this part of the oldest confederation in the world might have lessons on the educational front to offer the European Community or indeed whether there might be practices in the EC whose adaptation to Suisse romande's situation and circumstances might be beneficial. The remaining object is to propose a series of models for educational structures - autonomous, synthetic and pluralist - and to determine which model fits which part of Suisse romande's post-compulsory education. After describing the rationale behind the work, the thesis moves on to set out the historical, geographical, economic and cultural background to the area in question in order to provide a context for the main body of the discussion. This reduces the need for tangential digressions to explain particular aspects of education in Suisse romande. The main text covers post-compulsory school (with a description of the end of compulsory school), vocational training, adult education and higher education with a concluding chapter devoted to drawing together some of the threads spun in the course of the thesis. The writer found that Suisse romande in particular and Switzerland in general have much experience which the EC might do well to examine. There is, for example, the creation of national certificates in vocational training which, although of equal value throughout the country, bear the clear stamp of their Canton of origin. Autonomous structures have been brought together, in the case of schools, by negotiation between Cantonal authorities (with the encouragement of Federal government).

Greater centralised control over teacher education across the United Kingdom over the past twenty years or so, driven by neo-liberal managerialist approaches to education in general and the ‘standards’ agenda in particular, has led to a discourse of competence-based preparation for teaching. The locus of all teacher education in Scotland has moved from ‘colleges of education’ and become firmly situated within university faculties or schools of education; achieving the Standard for Initial Teacher Education is inextricably linked with an undergraduate degree or post-graduate qualification. Thus school teachers who make the move into teacher education must enter the different world of Higher Education. This professional doctoral thesis had the aim of identifying key issues in the transition of teachers from a school setting to working as teacher educators in a university Faculty of Education and investigates the experiences of a group of educators, including the author, who moved from teaching posts in schools or local authorities into teacher education in a single Scottish faculty of education within a year of each other. Through examining the narrations of their transition into the world of Higher Education, gathered after approximately three years in post, issues of professional identity and its construction, conceptualisations of learning and teaching in HE, and factors relating to induction and ongoing professional development for those entering the new work context are identified. Some of the particular moral and ethical considerations in relation to ‘insider research’ are highlighted throughout the thesis, and there is reflection on the process of the research itself, with significant analysis and justification of the narrative approach used in the project. While the experiences of the participants mirrored those of new teacher educators in England and Wales, the small-scale nature of this project allowed a closer look to be taken at some of the individual factors which impact both on transition into HE and on the development of professional identity of educators. Comparisons are drawn between political and professional factors impacting on teacher educators in Scotland and England. In addition, issues relating to the development of research cultures in relatively new faculties of education have been identified. The stories told by the participants reveal some interesting and important issues. They suggest that the teachers were surprised by the extent to which the culture of Higher Education is different from schools; this leads to some initial, unexpected, difficulties in the new post. On the other hand, however, they demonstrate that most did not feel that their role as ‘teacher’ had significantly changed with the move into Higher Education (HE), and expressed professional identities did not tend to be located in HE. Issues relating to the structure of the faculty are identified as being relevant to this. In addition, it is suggested that the role of ‘university teacher’, taken on by most participants, is an important factor in limiting the sense of movement into a different context. Some of the narrations revealed a strong sense of hierarchy amongst the different educational sectors. Also evident is the fragile nature of teacher confidence which, it is suggested, is due to a significant extent to the way in which teachers’ lives and work are organised, both within institutional structures and also in relation to society’s changing perspectives on the teaching profession. Importantly, this research identifies that connection to individual disciplines seems to be fundamental to the professional identities of participants, both before and after the move to Higher Education. Most took on roles located in particular curricular areas and tended to have little engagement with issues relating to ‘education’ or to teacher education as subjects in themselves. It is argued that this is likely to sustain the gap between the theory and practice of education in the minds of both staff and students. In addition, it is suggested that, when new teacher educators enter particular ‘communities of practice’ (Wenger, 1998) linked to disciplinary ‘tribes’ (Becher & Trowler, 2001), assumptions, implicit theories and recurrent practices relating to learning and teaching within specific disciplines may not be identified or critiqued beyond each particular group. These findings lead to the conclusion that in addition to extending their knowledge of learning and teaching into the context of HE on transition, teacher educators should have opportunities during induction and in ongoing professional development to reflect on and develop their understanding of the pedagogy, discourse and philosophy of teacher education, and the discipline of education itself.