This thesis documents the evolution and evaluation of a conceptual model for developing and researching student teachers’ online pedagogical practice. The research is set against a backdrop of significant investment in web-based technologies in formal schooling in the United Kingdom (UK). Thus, the research questions some of the factors that affect the development of student teachers’ online professional and pedagogical practice faced with new opportunities to utilise web-based tools. As the project evolved it became apparent that a more fundamental research question was: How do we research student teachers’ professional learning and development with new technologies in a manner that recognises their active agency in the process?

This research focuses on youth practitioners’ professionality set within in the landscape of neo-liberal performativity and re/de-professionalism present in public services in the UK over the period 2005-2014. In response to this contextual landscape, portrayals of six practitioners reveal differentiated constructed identities and professional narratives; arising from these portrayals, the study contributes a model of ‘narrative capital’ as a resource for professional resilience and development.

Students’ expectations and experiences have been the focus of attention in the literature and in research for a number of years. But despite the body of research in this area and efforts made by universities to ease students’ transition, many students are still unprepared for higher education level study, unsure what learning at university will involve and have difficulty integrating into university life.

There has been little research into physiotherapists‘ role in patient education in the UK. The purpose of this case study was to understand to a greater extent the perceptions and concepts of physiotherapists in relation to their role in patient education with a view to generating new perspectives, informing debate and course development, and providing a springboard to further research. Physiotherapists (16) who were all associated with one Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the UK participated in the study and represented a spectrum of experience from novice to expert. The participants included 4 final year students on the brink of qualification, 9 qualified physiotherapists who were MSc students and 3 physiotherapy academics who taught on practice educator role development modules and were research active. A qualitative, interpretive approach was based on semi-structured interviews which were recorded and transcribed. A two-stage approach to analysis was adopted, with a thematic approach to the total data set followed by deeper analysis of key themes drawing on interpretative repertoire, focussing particularly on the use of metaphor.

The research in this thesis investigated an innovative experience In medical education history and its practice in two medical schools in Brazil. As a former member of a curriculum reform committee I examined the limits of recent curriculum reforms in Brazilian medical schools, namely in regard to the integration of subjects. The thesis describes how in the 1960s, Prof Silvio Carvalhal (1917 -2008) developed an innovative teaching method and promoted an effective integration of teaching into the main medical subject course, namely, Internal Medicine. As a graduate and then a teacher his medical career spanned 37 years, during which time he set out to implement his 'method' in two medical schools in the Silo Paulo state, at UNICAMP (state run) and PUCC (private). The study aimed at locating the patterns of resistance and the sustainability of the method over time. The research examined the historical institutional context and the dynamics of political situations that ranged from, dictatorship, to re-democratisation and the neo-liberalism of the 1980s. The fate of innovation was examined, as was the impact of teachers' life cycles, personal factors and individual choices. I also examined the different subject traditions: the academic, the pedagogical and the utilitarian. A comparison sought to understand their influence on the paradigm of medical education. In the course of my analysis I examined individual experiences, individual concepts, generational viewpoints, changing contexts over time, the characteristics of change at specific periods and how these factors culminated in continuity or change. The analysis looked at a convergence of factors that contributed to the decline in the practice of 'method' in both schools. To some extent at UNICAMP the innovation left its mark, but eventually it succumbed to the external and internal factors of university dynamics and a policy that favoured the development of an academic and scientific community that mirrored international standards. At PUCC, the effects of financial constraints; the curriculum reform and the major obstacles posed by internal dynamics within its group of supporters were major obstacles for continuity or rediscovery of the method.

Theories exist on the causes, nature and impacts of emotions on qualified teachers. There is, however, limited research on the emotional demands on trainee teachers as they navigate towards Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The central aim of this study was to develop an explanatory theory of the emotional demands of learning to become a PE teacher. The study used trainees’ experiences of confronting the common problems of obesity and sedentary behaviour to focus discussion on the management of complex situations in their everyday practice.

This study addresses the concept of developing professionalism and its association with instructional practice. It was conducted against a backdrop of political change affecting the military and the vocational education sector between 2006 and 2014. The political decision to revitalise the Army Reserve will place the organisation under greater levels of scrutiny and is likely to result in an increased focus on professionalism. This may be directed at both individual and organisational levels thus understanding the perceptions from a practitioner level can inform future training and support.

The government initiative Every Child Matters was introduced in 2003 in the wake of a number of high profile cases of the abuse and deaths of children. Every Child Matters was identified as an educational responsibility and its philosophy represented the convergence of a number of developments that are explored in the opening chapters of this study. The central concern here is the delivery of Every Child Matters and this is examined through the processes of legitimation, formulation, adaptation and mediation. Particular reference is made to the role played by teachers of religious studies, citizenship and personal, social, health and economic education. The initial fieldwork was conducted by structured interview and in the subsequent phase an unstructured mode was employed in a sample of four schools. A distinctive characteristic of the method practised was the voice given to the participants. Social constructionism is the theoretical tradition within which the data were interpreted. This tradition has been practised by Robert Jackson within religious studies and was the method adopted within this study. There emerged five significant themes, identified in the thesis as Incorporation, Invisible matter, Inclusion, The mentor's role and The climate of the classroom. It was found that the prevailing concept of Every Child Matters, mediated by teachers had undergone a character change since 2003; it is recognisable but not attributable to the original vision. It is an irony that a measure to make children safe claims little security for itself. The emergent implications include the need to protect initiatives within schools, the hazards of transient fashions and vocabulary, the benefit of teachers' instincts to adapt initiatives and introduce new ideas and the need to address student well-being in initial and in-service training.

Using a case study approach this research explored the research question 'How did the powering and participation of a group of actors tasked with implementing a School for Dental Care Professionals influence implementation?' The School, an important case, changed the nature of Dental Care Professional education in the United Kingdom being the first of its kind to be based on a University campus, remote from a traditional dental school and in the primary care dental setting. Partnership characterises the nature of modern day health and education policy-making in the United Kingdom and the implementation of the School, a complex multi-agency project between a University, a National Health Service education commissioning body, the local dental profession and the Department of Health, was no exception to this. Ten actors tasked with implementing this policy episode took part in the study. A body of knowledge associated with policy implementation, powering and participation (specifically group development theory) underpinned the conceptual framework informing this research. Data were captured via participant observation and semi-structured, one-to-one interview. Data were analysed using a long table qualitative approach. Vignettes or extended quotes are given as meaningful support in terms of making explicit the conceptual grounds that informed the interpretation of this case. The findings of this research offer three original contributions to the body of policy implementation literature. The first is that powering and participation are inter-dependent in the puzzling of policy implementation; previously a theoretical assumption alluded to in the literature. The second is that the processes of group development do not necessarily follow the theoretical hypotheses of development previously described within the literature. The third is that complex multi-agency implementation partnerships can successfully implement policy outcomes under certain conditions. The thesis argues the need for further research which recognises the inter-dependence of powering and participation on implementation. Key words: policy implementation, dental care professional education, powering and participation.

Diagnostic ability occupies a pre-eminent position in the skills of a doctor in modern society. Underpinning this attribute is a number of cognitive strategies which are gradually developed through a mixture of experience, acquired knowledge and training. These strategies include processing and structuring information, decision making, and the emergence of higher cognitive skills. The apprenticeship model in medicine assumes that students assimilate such skills during training, without ever questioning how they view or engage with the diagnostic role. The conceptual focus of this study is to use dimensional analysis (DA) to build theory from the perspective or ‘lens of the medical student’. This will use symbolic interactionism as its theoretical framework. DA acknowledges the relationship between the researcher‘s perspective and experience, the data and the participants using a constructivist, relativist epistemological philosophy. Filmed data has been analysed from real time simulated consultations between 3rd year medical students and a trained actor working from a standardised case (dyspepsia). Each participant completed a filmed consultation and a discussion of diagnostic ideas based upon the history alone. Diagnoses were re-evaluated in light of further examination data and the filming watched back with the researcher using a reflexive discussion approach. Nine participants completed the study providing a rich diet of interactive and reflective data from the simulations focussing upon diagnostic ideas. Emergent themes point to the central organising theory of intermediary cognitive adaptation during an important transition in the curriculum. This is characterised by the use of learnt cognitive strategies which act as failsafe mechanisms in maintaining process within the simulation. However, there are examples of naive cognition in applying aspects of conditional reasoning and interpreting clinical probability rules. The diagnostic process is driven by the clinical history with little integration of the physical examination features. This finding may explain the emergence of cognitive errors during undergraduate training, and links normative theory with diagnostic errors seen in clinical practice. Reconstruction of clinical skills and diagnostic thought through reflective analysis are evident. Under the right conditions, simulations can provoke a constructive (intrinsic) perspective on cognitive skills which can advance professional development in the diagnostic reasoning process.