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There is a perceived increase in the use of internal and external indicators and measures of quality within UK universities, such as the National Student Survey and The Times HE league tables (Bryde and Leighton, 2009). This has resulted in the adoption of more corporate styles of management involving increased control (Melo, Sarrico and Radnor, 2010). This has also been referred to as a New Public Management approach (Hood, 1995). The purpose of this management approach was to rationalise government bureaucracy to a more efficient and effective state via the introduction of market mechanisms to implement policy decisions (Van Thiel and Leeuw, 2002). This policy approach was observed in the introduction of student fees and the requirement for performance data to enable informed decisions for prospective students. This has resulted in a period of turbulence within higher education, as organisations attempt to find their place within this new regime. The aim of this research is to explore this phenomenon using an action research project. This has a dual purpose; to enable the improvement of the situation of a particular higher education institute and also provide data to develop substantive and potentially generalizable theory. The theoretical perspective used is interpretive involving exploration of the perceptions of stakeholders within the case study organisation. Data were collected using participant observations and interviews. The data were analysed using a form of grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006), both initial and axial coding. The analysis produced a conceptual framework to demonstrate understanding of the context, consisting of the following categories; direction; deliver, dialogue and develop. The emergent core category relates to the impact that performance indicators, created by policy, have within an organisation. The findings have added to the organisational development and performance management knowledge domains by the production of an interpretive, substantive framework that can be used to articulate understanding of an organisational sub-unit responding to transformative policy change.

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Environmental education in schools has a critical part to play in the reorientation of social attitudes and behaviours that address the perception of a looming environmental crisis. Many believe there is a need for a debate about the purpose of education. In the UK, government imposed educational change by introducing the Education Reform Act in 1988. There was a clear opportunity to address environmental education within this reform. In 1992 government made a commitment to Agenda 21 (UNCED) that included the proposal that, within 3 years, governments should prepare or update strategies to integrate environment and development into all areas of education. This thesis considers whether any of the rhetoric has been realised. It recognises the crucial role of teachers in implementing reform and it uses a Grounded Theory methodology to `give teachers a voice' in an attempt to understand the impact of teachers' beliefs on environmental education development in English secondary schools. The study was carried out in 3 schools that were participating in an environmental education pilot project in Cumbria and also in 3 schools in Merseyside. Interviews took place with 27 teachers, with one external consultant and with the co-ordinator for the Cumbria project. The key finding is that the limitations on environmental education provision at its most profound, socially reforming level are beyond the locus of control of teachers. The outcomes of the ERA (1988) with its imposition of a restorationist curriculum and the accompanying myths about the nature of knowledge are such that the role of teachers as experts-in-knowledge and a didactic mode of teaching have been reinforced. Neither of these promotes the collaborative endeavour of knowledge construction that would be prerequisite for reforming education to meet the needs of a complex, rapidly changing world. Within these constraints, environmental education is likely to remain in its infancy with provision being limited to the knowledge and skills defined in conventional subject areas.

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Background: Within the United Kingdom media reports suggest that students and teachers are experiencing high levels of disruptive behaviours or ‘incivilities’ (a term used in the literature from the USA) within higher education classrooms. There is however no published empirical UK based research that identifies the extent or severity of these claims. Furthermore, literature from the USA indicates that staff may be equally as responsible as students in instigating classroom incivility. Aims: The aim of this research was to explore the problematic issue of students’ uncivil behaviour in higher education classrooms within a UK context. Specifically the prevalence, types and context of incivility were identified and the role that teachers play in instigating incivility was explored. Method: This exploratory study utilised a concurrent mixed-methods, multi-case study design. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously within the same time frame utilising the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction in Higher Education (QTIHE) and semi-structured classroom observations. Results: Student incivility was prevalent to varying degrees in each of the cases included in this UK based study. Furthermore, a statistically significant negative correlation between the frequency of classroom incivility and student ratings of positive personal attributes and student-focused teaching is reported. Conclusions: This exploratory research has utilised a mixed-methods approach to investigate an issue that has raised concerns from students and teachers in UK higher education; that of classroom incivility. Results of the study are pertinent to higher education practitioners and provide recommendations for future practice and research.

This research is concerned with children’s experience of the repeated procedures and activities in schooling, for example, registration, dismissal, assembly, discipline and sanctions. Built on a critical review of previous studies on school ritual, the current investigation deals with two sets of issues: ritual in the context of schooling, and children’s experiences of the rituals of schooling. Without being initially constrained by any theoretical framework or any particular conceptualisations of ‘ritual’, the research emphasises the exploration of real-life phenomena, and attempts in this way to achieve better understanding of children’s experience of the ritual aspects of school life. A case study is carried out with a Year Four class in an English primary school. Detailed classroom observations and extensive group interviews with children are employed for the inquiry. Children’s experience of routines, collective activities and classroom management are depicted through the researcher’s observation and by their own accounts through interviews. Focusing on registration, dismissal, assembly, class organization and grouping, discipline, the teacher’s instructions, children’s attention-seeking, and children’s distractions and disruptions, the current research provides an in-depth examination of the normal life of the classroom, putting children’s everyday schooling experience under the microscope in order to identify and analyse its authentic significance. The inquiry falls into three stages in its exploration of children’s experience of the everyday realities of life. Firstly, normal teacher-child interactions and children’s responses to their trivial everyday experiences and the fleeting moments that are usually ignored or taken for granted by adults are examined through detailed observation and critical reflection by the researcher. Secondly, the children’s accounts and descriptions in their interviews gradually present their own versions of the ‘normal day’, thus revealing the way they themselves understand schooling, the teacher’s role and relationships among themselves, as well as the specific aspects of school life in question. The final step in the researcher’s interpretation identifies three different but co-existing responses on the part of the children to the rituals of schooling: acceptance, resistance and reflectiveness. The research arrives at an understanding of children as autonomous or potentially autonomous agents against a backdrop of the taken-for-granted ‘structuring’ power of the rituals of schooling

This research investigates cultural differences and similarities in the perceptions of four British Pakistani and four British white children aged eleven with learning difficulties. This is pursued through four main aims that examine how aware pupils are of their learning difficulties; how they and their significant others perceive their learning difficulties; how they respond to key labels used to refer to them; and to what extent there are cultural differences and similarities between the two groups of pupils. This work has been carried out because there is currently limited research in this area. The pupils’ views are explored in two contrasting Bradford (West Yorkshire) primary schools where the cultural population is either predominantly Pakistani or white. A variety of data collection methods, including semi-structured interviews, a self-image profile, focus group interviews and observations have been used to collect data. The findings indicate that there are more commonalities between the Pakistani and white cultures than there are differences, for example although Pakistani and white children enjoy coming to school and want to do well, they are unhappy, embarrassed, and humiliated about having a learning difficulty and hence face these additional pressures in school. Pakistani children expressed more of an interest in attending university and then embarking on professional careers compared to white children. Peers of average/higher ability perceive children with learning difficulties to be more prone to bullying, slow learners, unpopular and these peers have low expectations of what the children with learning difficulties are able to do. Staff view children with learning difficulties as lacking in confidence and selfesteem, experiencing unhappiness, having a low self-image, working at a slower pace and often lacking motivation. The implications of this research indicate that schools needs to raise the selfesteem and confidence of children with learning difficulties, so that these children are able to view their learning difficulty in a positive way. Schools need to be aware of the pressures that children in the low ability groups face, and schools therefore need to maintain a balance in providing children with a basic skills curriculum matched to the individual needs of children and yet continue to promote their personal development and well-being.