This ethnographic study was initiated by the concern that elementary art education is an endangered subject, not only marginalised but expendable. This concern was based on informal conversations with pre- and in-service teachers and observations during pre-service teacher evaluations in elementary schools in Ontario, Canada. From these conversations and observations, it seemed that the emphasis in elementary schools is on core subjects with anything else deemed to provide balance alongside initiatives to improve literacy, numeracy, character, and inclusion. The school day is teeming with subjects and initiatives and the resulting crowded curriculum may be affecting teaching and learning in non-core subjects, such as art, negatively. In addition to such external issues are individual challenges faced by generalist teachers with little or no background in visual arts. These teachers’ lack of comfort with art might, I surmised at the start of this study, impede the effective planning, implementation, and assessment of art education. To understand what impacts art education, specifically visual arts instruction, I used a variety of interpretive enquiry methods to interrogate what makes art in elementary schools a vulnerable if not an expendable subject. Initially seeking to find out if art was expendable, I went beyond this to explore perceptions of teachers on teaching art through a localised small-scale study involving 19 elementary teachers in two school boards in north-eastern Ontario. I conducted interviews, recorded observations, and read related documents to answer my research questions, which were as follows: Why is art education important, or not, for students, educators, parents, and other stakeholders? Is art jettisoned in favour of implementing other policies and curricular subjects? Do teachers use other programmes and initiatives as an excuse not to teach art? How do teachers feel about teaching art? Is art expendable? Nussbaum’s (1997) capacities (critical self-examination, connectedness with the world, narrative imagination, scientific understanding) provide the theoretical framework for the study, support the analysis of the state of art education, and help defend its importance at the elementary level. Possible barriers to effective art education (history, policy, practice, economics, geography) and how they may affect learners’ ability to connect with the capacities through visual arts instruction are also analysed and discussed. Through this study, I found that elementary art education is threatened in the participants’ schools for a number of reasons including external issues (minimal attention to, inconsistent delivery of, and poor funding for the mandated art curriculum; a high focus on literacy, numeracy, and other initiatives) and internal issues (discomfort with teaching art; wide range of concepts of art). The study concludes with concerns regarding overall problems with miscommunication and disconnection that threaten effective elementary art education. Recommendations for addressing external and internal issues, and these overall problems are outlined, along with plans to improve art education in pre-service teacher education, in-service practice, and the world beyond the classroom.

This thesis examines the learning experience of a group of students in a further education college. This group, mainly adult returners, (there was a small cohort of school leavers) with few academic qualifications, succeeded in gaining Higher National awards and some went on to complete a degree. Students from 1995-2002 on one course in a college of further education were surveyed and interviewed. Findings from 95 questionnaires and 60 interviews on what factors they considered important to their success, how they learned best, and what elements of the learning experience were important to them, were all used to examine the learning of this group of students, both with Highers and without Highers, adult returners and school leavers, with a view to designing a teaching model for both sets of students. The initial hypothesis that those without Higher qualifications required something radically different from those with Highers, was disproved. Three case studies were used to give a more chronological and holistic picture of the student experience. The study shows that discussion, group communal learning and the trust and reciprocity exhibited within the dynamics of this particular FE classroom contributed to the efficacy of the learning experiences. Concepts of learner identity, discourse, student and teacher identities and pedagogical traditions were explored in the light of the data. Social capital was used as a heuristic device to examine the mechanics of classroom activity, the bonding of the group and how the small world of an FE classroom related to the larger networks of the workplace, the community and higher education. The final outcome, the model, was presented as a broad set of principles based on the students’ comments, the teacher/researcher’s experience and education theories. It was to be “learning focused” rather than “training focused” (Eraut et al. 2000: 240). Relationships between staff and students, students and students, modes of thinking linked to critical discourse and collaborative activity were the key factors in their successful achievement. The workplace context and the use of the practical setting were seen as important in making the learning link to “real life” but were not seen as the pivotal force. This combination of social and cognitive forces was translated into a model. The principles contained in the model were an expression of the way the students changed in their thinking, and in themselves, and what classroom dynamics brought these changes about.

Introduction: Protected learning time (PLT) has been adopted by a number of NHS primary health care organizations throughout the United Kingdom as a resource for learning. Primary health care teams are protected from service delivery by Out-of-hours services for a small number of afternoons per year. Learning events are generally of two types: practice-based PLT events organised by the primary health care team and usually held in practice premises; and large centrally organised meetings held in large conference venues, and arranged by a PLT committee. PLT schemes were started by NHS Ayrshire and Arran in 2002 after a pilot study in 2001 was considered successful. A quantitative evaluation of the PLT scheme in two Community Health Partnerships within NHS Ayrshire and Arran in 2004 showed a significant difference in the views of Administrative and Clerical staff (A & C staff) and practice managers compared with clinicians in the team. Only 41% of A & C staff and 51% of practice managers wanted PLT to continue in one of the areas surveyed. An additional questionnaire study answered by practice managers in 2005 in NHS Ayrshire and Arran suggested that attendance of community nurses (health visiting and district nursing teams) at practice-based PLT events had fallen sharply, and that only a few were attending regularly. The questionnaires were unable to give the reasons for the low attendance, nor could they explain why some wanted the scheme to end. Two research questions were developed to improve the understanding of what was happening during PLT: 1. What are the perceptions and experiences of A & C staff, and of practice managers with regards to PLT? 2. What are the perceptions and experiences of the community nursing team (community nurses and nursing managers) with regards to PLT? Method: A Charmazian grounded theory approach was adopted, both as a method of data analysis, and as a research strategy. The data collection consisted of two phases: A & C staff, and practice managers (2005); and the community nursing team (2007). Focus groups were recruited, and the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Transcriptions were coded, and themes and categories of themes were constructed from the codes. Mind mapping software was used to show the connections between the participants’ quotes and the themes and categories. A grounded theory was then constructed from the three categories. Findings: 12 focus group interviews were held with a total of 88 staff members participating. Details of the categories constructed are as follows: Structures in primary health care Physical structures were important. There were perceptions of the organizational schism between individual practices and the community nursing team. Community nurses valued co-location with their general practice as this improved close working. Different working patterns of district nurses meant that they could not always be protected during PLT, and they felt their managers did not provide sufficient cover. The introduction of the 2004 GMS Contract emphasized the separation of community nurses from general practices. Some nurses felt that practice-based PLT was irrelevant as it was centred on the learning needs of the practice. Some practices were strongly hierarchical resulting in separate learning events for individual staff groups during PLT. Relationships in primary health care: Relationships between community nurses and practices varied greatly. Some health visitors felt very isolated from the general practice. Community nurses wanted to work closely with practices and wanted their work to be visible and valued. Relationships between A & C staff and GPs varied considerably. Those practices with a high degree of hierarchy found collective learning difficult to do. Other practices had good relationships between different staff groups, and made good use of PLT. Learning processes: In general, participants did not feel their learning needs were identified or acted upon. As a result, learning offered to them was usually considered irrelevant, and based on the needs of others. A & C staff found some events to be dull and uninteresting, when passive learning methods were employed. Some practice managers perceived a lack of resources for learning events, and pharmaceutical representatives were keen to provide learning for clinicians. In some teams, practice-based PLT could be uncomfortable for community nurses, and some felt unwelcome by GPs. Practice managers were considered to be the natural leaders of practice-based PLT. Grounded theory: A theory with three elements was constructed from the findings. Proximity was an important factor in the ability of teams to learn from each other. Those teams who were not co-located, or did not work together in the provision of patient care, found PLT to be difficult. Perceptions of power affected the experiences of PLT. GPs usually had learning based on needs, and they could influence who attended PLT with them, and what was learnt. Some staff groups had little power, namely A & C staff and community nurses, and at times, the quality of learning for these groups was low. Authenticity was important. Participants wanted PLT to be for the whole team and to involve everyone in learning together. Many were disappointed when this was not achieved, and considered it to be contrary to the original aims and objectives of the scheme. Comparisons with other theories: The grounded theory was compared to Bourdieu’s theory of practice. This helped with the understanding of issues relating to the element of power. The element of proximity had similarities to Wenger’s theory of Communities of Practice. Those primary health care teams who displayed high levels of proximity were working as a Community of Practice. Conclusions: A deeper understanding of participants’ perceptions and experiences was gained and explored by the thesis. A number of recommendations were made to improve PLT in the future. These included improved learning needs assessment and aiding practice managers with the delivery of practice-based events. Individuals within primary health care teams need to improve team-working and need learning to help them with this endeavour. Health authorities need to value teamwork more, and require to locate teams together to facilitate the delivery of primary health care.

Drama as education is a relatively young concern, which has been primarily occupied with developing a strong tradition of practice. As a result it has suffered from a dearth of theoretical and critical engagement. This situation has led to the existence of a range of unquestioned beliefs and practices that underpin much of the governance, traditions, knowledge and operation of drama in educational settings. The thesis examines the existence and location of the community of drama as education, reviews the discourse of the community, and seeks to understand previous attempts at demythologising. This thesis proposes a critical understanding of the idea of myth in order that it can be used in a positive and beneficial manner. Utilising a post-modern critical research methodology, it constructs a bricolage of theoretical perspectives that collectively are used to locate, identify and interrogate areas of myth. A new typography of myth reveals four dominant areas of operation, and examines the manner in which myths impact upon the educational and cultural institutions in which they occur. The forces that conceive of, operate and perpetuate myth are understood to be language, power and ideology. These elements operate in conjunction with each other, with human agency at the helm. The thesis is in nine chapters. Chapter 1 sets the scene and introduces the range of the research. It is followed by Chapter 2 which seeks to put in place a range of theoretical perspectives upon which the methodology is constructed. Chapter 3 provides further theoretical insight into the location of the research, and Chapter 4 constructs a critical mythic bricolage, defines its usage, and proposes a contemporary typology of myth. Chapter 5 identifies the ‘Point of Entry Text’ – the primary school drama curriculum in the Republic of Ireland, and deals with the category of governing myths. Chapter 6 is concerned with traditional myths, Chapter 7 examines epistemological myths, and Chapter 8 teases out operational myths. Finally, Chapter 9 looks to the future of myth after demythologising, and seeks to begin engaging with the inevitable process of remythologising.

This is a study of how UK public sector organisations both build and define capacity for improvement. Public service quality in the UK remains a subject of ongoing importance, not least because of its contribution to economic growth of the country as a whole but also because of the needs and wants of the civil population as consumers of those services. It is considered that in order to improve service in a continuous and sustainable manner, organisations must develop the capacity for improvement through the process of capacity building. The research is based in the field of Education, at school level, from which the implementation and effects of a particular capacity building policy can be examined. The policy in question is PPA time (Planning, Preparation, and Assessment time), which forms part of the government's agenda for Workforce Reform. In conducting this exploratory research, a qualitative approach to a case study based research design is adopted. An interpretive analysis of cases facilitates a richness and depth of understanding. Six detailed case studies are carried out at schools serving Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils in one Local Authority in the West Midlands. A number of research methods are employed to facilitate triangulation of the data, including semi-structured interviews, observation, a survey, and a diary study. This thesis makes three contributions to new knowledge. Firstly, it develops understanding of the role of certain influences on internal capacity. Some are found to influence internal capacity directly through their impact upon internal capabilities. Others are found to influence internal capacity indirectly through the way in which they impact upon implementation of a capacity building policy. Influences are further found to be `enablers', which if present would enhance internal capabilities; `qualifiers'; without which, particular influences would `inhibit' internal capabilities, and which had the potential to become `enablers'; and `inhibitors', which had detrimental effects on internal capabilities. Secondly, it examines the relationship between direct influences and internal capacity to find that several of the influences in the extant literature are less significant in the context of a policy designed to build capacity. Further, it finds that particular influences affect other influences and so are `higher order' influences. Thirdly, it interprets the literature and research findings to conclude that `capacity building' is best understood as: the process of developing the necessary resources to meet improvement objectives, and of maximising the benefits of those resources through organisational capabilities.

What do people need to live functional and flourishing lives in today’s global society? They require sophisticated socio-economic skills and the prowess of political and cultural participation to undertake duties as world citizens. Can schools in the United Kingdom, adequately prepare all young people for these challenges? Data published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF, 2009b) show that two in five children do not acquire key literacy and numeracy skills before leaving primary school. Some young people leave the education system altogether with no qualifications and limited understanding of their rights and responsibilities as global agents. Most of the young people in this category have multiple and sometimes complex disadvantages; they may live in poor and deprived neighbourhoods, experience poor physical and mental health or lack the support of adults who are able to model successful, flourishing and capable citizenry. Sen (1992) argues that the instruments needed for individuals to flourish are “capabilities”. These are the “potentials to be and do”. This study examines the means by which voluntary organisations improve the capabilities of vulnerable young people. It focuses on three major vulnerable groups: young people who have been excluded from mainstream education, those in cared for by the State and young people with learning difficulties. The research uses a mixed methods approach, skewed in favour of qualitative methods to analyse diverse trajectories of vulnerable young people towards capability. It relies on the capability approach to investigate the methods used in Voluntary Organisations which support the participants’ transformation to functional individuals. Organised as communities of learning, Centres of non-formal education provide the space, expertise and pedagogies for transformative learning processes to take place. The study shows vulnerable individuals need to combine and convert specialised capabilities in specific suites to enable them make the transition to capability successfully.

Personal and collective emotions play an important role in our private and social lives. Educational research suggests that emotions are powerful motivational forces that can impact upon leadership practices as well as on teaching and learning at individual and classroom level. However, less is known about the role of emotional experiences and displays in relation to leadership practices and school outcomes at organisational level. In order to develop more substantial knowledge, this mixed method study aims to explore the relationship between leadership styles, emotions and school outcomes from an organisational perspective in several urban schools from Timisoara, Romania. A sample of 408 teaching and non-teaching staff from 18 schools took part in a survey and 14 participants from two selected case study schools took part in semi-structured interviews. A widely used model of leadership is proposed by Bass & Avolio (1994) who identify transformational, transactional and laissez-faire practices. In this study, the quantitative data analysis using the Multifactorial Leadership Questionnaire developed by Bass and Avolio (ibid) suggests that a hybrid leadership that combines transformational and transactional elements such as contingent reward, individual consideration and charismatic behaviours is positively associated with positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm and hope and with better outcomes such as perceived school success. The survey findings identify more variation and subtlety of negative emotions compared to positive emotions and also examine the role of self-other rapport in experiencing and displaying emotion at work. Secondly, the qualitative data reveal various contextualized meanings of leadership, emotions and school success, provides an integrated perspective of findings and allows for comparison of the overall results with previously published literature. Furthermore, the thesis presents emergent theoretical models for the study of leadership, emotions and school development and performance. Finally, the implications of the overall findings for policy and practice are discussed by taking into consideration the Romanian cultural and educational context.

No description available.

This study focuses on the notion that adults’ response to children’s literature is profoundly different from that of children, and aims to identify a pattern in texts by which adults’ response can be systematically explained. The study suggests that adults respond to certain elements in the text that resonate with their assumptions about children’s literature. On this basis, the concept of adultness is introduced to refer to these textual elements, and the way in which they can be identified in the narrative is investigated. This study concentrates on literary books, mostly published after 1960, since the issues discussed are more directly relevant to literary works than to popular fiction or classic children’s literature. Brief surveys of historical development of children’s literature and changes in the social perceptions about the relationships between adults and children are undertaken in order to understand the backgrounds of adults’ assumptions about children’s literature. Discussions about adults’ perceptions of children’s literature today are also reviewed. Texts from a wide range of children’s literature are examined within the theoretical framework of narratology with a particular reference to the functions of the narrator. The examination has identified two types of adultness: direct adultness which is largely related to adults’ ideas about childhood, and indirect adultness which is related to adults’ interest in what may be relevant to the child readers of the book. The third type of adultness is termed as Haddon’s ring, which refers to the textual features that are used by authors to keep the narrative safe for child readers. It can be used without losing the narrative integrity or it can be used to manipulate the narrative development. The study concludes that adults’ response could be explained by referring to the three types of adultness. Adultness can be broadly understood in terms of the textual signs that indicate the presence of the mutual understanding between the author and the adult reader on what has been left out from the text and why the author has held it back.

This thesis reports a qualitative case study exploring the connotation and implementation of reflection as an educational concept in a PGCE (secondary) programme at a UK university in the light of the perceptions of university tutors and student teachers. Reflection has been an important concept in many teacher education programmes but it has consistently been intricate in terms of its connotation and implementation and despite a vast amount of research aimed at deconstructing its complexity, the matter does not seem to have been resolved. Despite its conceptual complexity it has often been taken in its common sense meaning by practitioners in educational programmes and is, at times, turned into a slogan. This study was, therefore, aimed at an exploration of the meaning and implementation of the concept and the various factors that influence it in the programme under study. The findings of the study reveal that, true to its reputation, the concept defies any agreed upon understanding. On a conceptual level there was recognition of its complexity among the university tutors, although this did not come out in the case of student teachers who predominantly defined it in its common sense meaning. At the implementation level the common sense practice-oriented connotation appeared to prevail among both groups. Factors influencing this orientation included the practical emphasis of the PGCE, the focus on response to the centralised QTS standards, the time-work balance and the under-appreciation for theory in its technical-rational conceptualisation in the predominantly skill-oriented and subject-teaching focused structure of the training. The study implies that for reflection to be appreciated and implemented at the deeper, conceptual and critical level, it should be put into practice more overtly with elaborate theoretical underpinnings. This would call for changes in this and similar programmes in terms of structure, content and aims.