AbstractThe University of ManchesterMichael Lewis Humphreys Doctorate in Educational and Child PsychologyAn Exploration into Children’s Experiences of Pupil Mobility2012Pupil mobility, defined as “a child joining or leaving a school at a point other than at the normal age at which children start or finish their education at that school” (Dobson & Henthorne, 1999 p. vi), is a complex phenomenon that is linked to the academic, social and emotional outcomes of children and young people (Gagnon & Malmgren, 2005; Mehana & Reynolds, 2004; South & Haynie, 2004). There is limited published research that has illuminated pupil mobility through eliciting the views of the pupils, their families and class teachers. This qualitative study explored how children experienced pupil mobility when it was combined with a residential move and the factors that were perceived to affect the experience. A multiple case study design with embedded (multiple) units of analysis was adopted (Yin, 2009). Each case study consisted of a Key Stage 2 aged child who had moved into a northern coastal Local Authority within six months of the data collection. The data was gathered through semi-structured interviews in two primary schools. Four children, five parents and five class teachers took part in the study.The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed before being analysed through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The analysis identified key themes raised in the interviews in relation to how the children experienced pupil mobility and the factors that were perceived to have impacted upon this experience. The findings of this study highlight that pupil mobility is a challenging experience for children that elicits a contrasting range of emotions which are affected by a series of interactions between the children and the systems around them. The findings are discussed in relation to psychological theories and previous research. Implications are considered for the practice of Local Authority personnel, school staff, parents and educational psychologists and suggestions for future research are highlighted.

The impact of test anxiety on children’s wellbeing is of increasing concern to educationalists (National Union of Teachers/Exam Factories, 2015). In addition, the impact of SATs on children’s well-being is currently at the heart of much media interest (refer to articles in The Guardian 30.4.17 and The Independent 1.5.17). Despite a growing research base, the focus has been largely on the experiences of secondary or college students, and has primarily been investigated using quantitative approaches. The aim of the current study was to develop an understanding of the emotional impact of national assessment on primary aged children, and to explore how the construction of children’s identities might relate to these experiences. Initially twelve children from two schools were identified with Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) on the basis of them representing a range of social backgrounds, and emotional and cognitive abilities. A total of eleven children were interviewed twice. The data from five children from year six and a child from year two were then further analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four superordinate themes emerged from analysis, each with a number of subordinate themes. The theme ‘Support from others’ illustrates the way in which the children’s learning was situated within a social context, from which testing created a rupture, as described in the theme ‘Tests create anxiety’. Children described a tendency to keep negative feelings about testing to themselves, creating a split between the private and the public self. Performance in tests informed children’s sense of value, beyond the confines of the target ability (‘Self-evaluation from feedback’). The theme ‘Who I want to become’ captures a process of negotiation as children became immersed in reflection on their identities, negotiating a compromise between self-evaluation on the basis of the tests and possible future selves. Due to the research method and size of this study, implications from the results have to be treated cautiously. However, it would seem advantageous for schools to address the potential negative effects of testing on emotional well-being, identity and aspiration. Suggested ways of achieving this are increased opportunities for children to express their private anxieties with regard to testing, including discussion with adults in non- teaching roles, and specific interventions that promote well-being and self-esteem in relation to test anxiety and the implications of results. In addition, policy and practice should consider ways to minimise the rupture to learning created by testing.

This thesis aims to understand the multi-layered experiences of children with English as an additional language (EAL) in changing contexts by focusing on academic and social experiences in their transition from primary to secondary school. Although EAL is often linked with knowledge and proficiency in the English language as a means to access learning, this study builds on the complexity underlying the term that incorporates background, culture, agency and power in the ways children navigate their schooling. This is achieved through in-depth longitudinal accounts of children’s experiences and engagement co-constructed with participants and triangulated through interactive qualitative methods. The main focus is the active role of children in finding and embracing opportunities for social and academic engagement as part of their educational trajectories, identifying their agency in processes of change in the contrast between formal academic contexts and informal research discussions. In order to learn more about young people’s academic and social experiences, the study is theoretically informed by two perspectives. The first perspective is Bourdieu’s field analysis and the concepts of habitus, dispositions and agency. The analysis emphasises how and where children use their agency to engage with and manage expectations and options highlighted by institutional discourses and teachers. Looking at children’s engagement explicitly, the research highlights overlooked agency of children too easily categorised as EAL or ‘vulnerable’. The second analytical perspective explores engagement and trajectories in a classroom context and draws on Bernstein’s constructs of classification and framing with the aim to explain how children engage and reflect on their experiences across differently structured classroom contexts. Drawing on theoretical constructs and research in the area of EAL and diversity more widely, I present six case studies of experiences and show that in the case of children with EAL invisible agency, misinterpreted engagement and negotiating positioning both socially and academically are more complex than the notion of learning English to access learning. I argue that in the light of gaps in teachers’ understandings of children’s experiences, practical adjustments to classroom processes and communication could provide better understanding of the wider scope of EAL and schooling experiences.

This thesis investigated the experiences of children who have a parent with a mental illness, using qualitative methods. It is divided into three separate sections, the first two written as standalone journal papers. Paper 1 is a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies exploring children's experiences of having a parent with a mental illness. The review used specific databases, a search of qualitative journals and a general internet search to identify relevant studies, and the subsequent application of inclusion/exclusion criteria and a quality appraisal assessment. 14 studies meeting inclusion and quality criteria were identified exploring the experiences of 163 children and young people aged between 5 and 22 years, from a range of countries, with a variety of parental mental health diagnoses. The review then involved synthesising the findings of these studies to generate five overarching themes which were found to influence children's experiences. Children who had some knowledge and understanding of their parent's mental illness were more likely to use effective coping strategies, have a more positive relationship with their parent, and experience fewer negative effects on them as a child. Paper 2 is an original research study which explored the experiences of children who have a parent with bipolar disorder, to see how this might impact on the child's emotional wellbeing. This qualitative study used 'In My Shoes', a computer assisted interview tool, to explore the experiences of ten children from England aged between 4 and 10 years. Subsequent comparison with their parent's accounts enabled greater insight into family life. Child and parent interview data was analysed using thematic and content analyses. The four main themes that emerged from the child interviews were: knowledge and awareness of bipolar disorder; perception of parents; managing family life with a 'bipolar' parent; and living in a family with bipolar disorder. The study concluded that further research was needed to understand children's perspectives, which should be taken into account when developing appropriate services and interventions to support children and parents with mental illness, including bipolar disorder. Finally the third section of the thesis was a critical appraisal of the literature review, research study and research process as a whole, including methodological reflections, implications for future research and clinical practice, and the researcher's personal reflections in undertaking the research. The findings were deemed vitally important for the future of families in which a parent has bipolar disorder.

This narrative inquiry examines the stories told by eight young New Zealanders who have experienced specific difficulties with learning. At the time of being interviewed, they were aged from 9-14 years and participating in regular school classes. For the purposes of the study, being a student was identified as a key occupational role and failing to achieve tasks associated with this role was viewed as failure to achieve role competency. The issue of learning difficulties has been extensively researched but rarely from the perspective of young people. A primary goal of the study was to obtain young people's perceptions of the experience of learning difficulties. This is consistent with international moves to obtain the views of young people through research. Narrative interviewing procedures were used and participants were invited to talk about the things they enjoyed doing and felt they are good at doing, as well as the things they had trouble doing. They proved to be capable informants and provided a rich range of narrative data. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed and interview transcripts were synthesised into a story format. Each participant had the opportunity to check their story and give their final consent to its use as data in this thesis. As part of the analytical process, core narratives were constructed to capture the essence of each participant's story, their unique narrative voice, relationship with others and fundamental message. These narratives are presented in full, introducing participants as characters in their own story and revealing the nature of the stories told. In addition, thematic narratives drawn from the stories have been collated into three key categories, which relate to self and learning efforts, relationship with the social world and being occupational. The narrative analysis found that learning difficulties occurred as a negative interruption in the progressive course of participants' story, with the potential to compromise their sense of identity and well-being. However, the study also found that when participants chose to characterise themselves in relation to occupations or roles in which they felt most successful, they were able to express a more positive and holistic identity than that of being "learning disabled". Furthermore, in the context of an occupational narrative that included their talents and abilities, learning difficulties were not necessarily the determining factor in how life was for them or where their lives might go. The implication of the study's findings relate to the importance for young people of not only experiencing competency in significant occupations and roles, but also being seen to be competent. This underpins a positive sense of identity and well-being, which is likely to link to their future. They need to understand for themselves and for those around them to understand, that it is possible to be intelligent yet have trouble with basic numeracy and literacy skills. Empathetic adults have a vital role to play in providing the information, opportunities and supportive context in which young people develop an understanding of their occupational competencies and become competent human beings. There is a place for further narrative research with young New Zealanders; there are many stories from other perspectives yet to be told. Ongoing research conducted through an occupational lens is needed to understand the way in which young people with learning difficulties develop, or fail to develop, an understanding of themselves as competent occupational beings and how this supports or constrains their transition through adolescence into adulthood.

This narrative inquiry examines the stories told by eight young New Zealanders who have experienced specific difficulties with learning. At the time of being interviewed, they were aged from 9-14 years and participating in regular school classes. For the purposes of the study, being a student was identified as a key occupational role and failing to achieve tasks associated with this role was viewed as failure to achieve role competency. The issue of learning difficulties has been extensively researched but rarely from the perspective of young people. A primary goal of the study was to obtain young people's perceptions of the experience of learning difficulties. This is consistent with international moves to obtain the views of young people through research. Narrative interviewing procedures were used and participants were invited to talk about the things they enjoyed doing and felt they are good at doing, as well as the things they had trouble doing. They proved to be capable informants and provided a rich range of narrative data. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed and interview transcripts were synthesised into a story format. Each participant had the opportunity to check their story and give their final consent to its use as data in this thesis. As part of the analytical process, core narratives were constructed to capture the essence of each participant's story, their unique narrative voice, relationship with others and fundamental message. These narratives are presented in full, introducing participants as characters in their own story and revealing the nature of the stories told. In addition, thematic narratives drawn from the stories have been collated into three key categories, which relate to self and learning efforts, relationship with the social world and being occupational. The narrative analysis found that learning difficulties occurred as a negative interruption in the progressive course of participants' story, with the potential to compromise their sense of identity and well-being. However, the study also found that when participants chose to characterise themselves in relation to occupations or roles in which they felt most successful, they were able to express a more positive and holistic identity than that of being "learning disabled". Furthermore, in the context of an occupational narrative that included their talents and abilities, learning difficulties were not necessarily the determining factor in how life was for them or where their lives might go. The implication of the study's findings relate to the importance for young people of not only experiencing competency in significant occupations and roles, but also being seen to be competent. This underpins a positive sense of identity and well-being, which is likely to link to their future. They need to understand for themselves and for those around them to understand, that it is possible to be intelligent yet have trouble with basic numeracy and literacy skills. Empathetic adults have a vital role to play in providing the information, opportunities and supportive context in which young people develop an understanding of their occupational competencies and become competent human beings. There is a place for further narrative research with young New Zealanders; there are many stories from other perspectives yet to be told. Ongoing research conducted through an occupational lens is needed to understand the way in which young people with learning difficulties develop, or fail to develop, an understanding of themselves as competent occupational beings and how this supports or constrains their transition through adolescence into adulthood.

Parental bereavement has widely been considered, in the context of child development and well being, to be one of the most traumatic events that can occur in childhood. Parental bereavement through substance misuse is a previously unresearched aspect of bereavement research, and a previously unresearched aspect of ‘hidden harm.’ This qualitative research looks at the lived experiences of four girls who have been parentally bereaved through substance misuse, using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). IPA serves the dual purposes of ‘giving voice’ to these previously unheard voices, and interpreting their experience of dealing with bereavements, through the lens of psychological theory and the wider canon of bereavement research. The information for the analysis was collected in individual meetings with each of the girls, gathered through semi structured interviews which took place over one to four meetings. Life for all the girls was difficult and complicated as a consequence of their parents’ troubled lives, and for all the girls their lives were marked by multiple losses and adverse childhood events both before and after their mother’s or father’s death. The analysis tries to capture the children’s narratives about their lives as a journey in which one girl is managing to stay ‘on track’, whilst the others have gone ‘off the rails.’ None of the girls had made a deliberate choice to be ‘off the rails’, yet the environment in which they live meant their life journey is a stormy one, with no safe haven, and their lives have not offered them the ‘lifelines’ they needed in order to stay ‘on track’, and navigate their way through this traumatic event. They feel shame for their disruptive manifestations of grief, for the ways in which they ‘cope ugly.’ They now have ‘spoiled identities’, and are struggling to achieve a sense of self that will help them to make the transition to adulthood. The experience of the fourth girl demonstrates the ways in which she works to achieve her personal identity, preserve her ‘reputation’, and the secure attachment she needed, in order to police her potentially disruptive manifestations of grief. In the context of this research ‘on track’ or ‘off the rails’ are positioned as more helpful constructs than ‘normal’ and ‘complicated’ grief. The findings of this small scale research demonstrate the risks and inaccuracies in accepting the conclusion of large scale research studies which seem to indicate parental bereavement is not a risk factor for child wellbeing when family variables are taken in to account. Instead it demonstrates the ways in which dealing with parental bereavement, especially when compounded by other complex life events and insecure attachments, can result in children being positioned as ‘bad’ rather than ‘sad’ as villains rather than victims, children for whom their troubled lives and loss offer ‘no excuse’ for their troubled grieving. More research is needed to understand more about the lives and experiences of this vulnerable sub group of parentally bereaved children.

Placering i familjehem är en vanlig insats när barn och unga inte bedöms kunna få sina behov tillgodosedda i sin ursprungsfamilj och utgör i Sverige majoriteten av placeringar i samhällsvård. Instabilitet i denna typ av placeringar är vanligt förekommande då många familjehemsplaceringar avbryts och kännetecknas av en brist på kontinuitet. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att utforska barn och ungas upplevelser av instabilitet i familjehem, samt deras upplevelser av inflytande och delaktighet i instabiliteten. Detta gjordes utifrån frågeställningarna Hur upplever barnet/den unge instabiliteten? och Hur uppfattar barnet/den unge sin egen delaktighet och sitt inflytande i perioder av instabilitet i placeringen?. De studier som inkluderades bearbetades genom tematisk syntes och ett antal analytiska teman användes för att förstå empirin. Resultatet visade att många barn och unga upplever instabilitet som en oundviklig del av att vara i samhällets vård. Instabiliteten upplevs som emotionellt påfrestande och får negativa konsekvenser för måendet även i vuxen ålder. En del av påfrestningen i instabiliteten är att inte få tillräckligt med information från vuxna samt att inte bli hörd. Upprepad instabilitet kan också bidra till svårigheter att bygga stabila och långvariga relationer. Att uppleva instabilitet i familjehemsvården kan dock föra med sig vissa färdigheter, lärdomar och erfarenheter som är till nytta i vuxenlivet. / Foster care placement is a common arrangement when children and youth are unable to have their needs met in their family of origin, making up a majority of social care placements in Sweden. Instability in such placements is common due to many foster care placements being interrupted and characterized by a lack of continuity. The aim of this literature review was exploring children and youth’s experiences of instability in foster care, as well as the experiences of influence and participation in the instability. This was done through the following questions: How does the child/youth experience the instability? and How does the child/youth perceive their own participation and influence during times of instability in foster care placement?. The studies included was processed through a thematic synthesis, and a number of analytical themes was used to understand the empirical data. The results showed that many children and youth experience instability as an unavoidable part of being in social care. Instability is experienced as being emotionally taxing and leads to negative consequences for the individual’s well-being, even in adulthood. Part of the emotional taxation during instability comes from the lack of information provided by adults, as well as feeling unheard. Repeated instability in foster care can however contribute to some skills, lessons and experiences that are beneficial in adulthood.

Denna studie grundar sig i en tanke om att lyfta kunskap om sår i undervisningen och låta barnen bilda sig ny kunskap genom att dela erfarenheter och samtala med varandra. Syftet med studien är att ta fram, och låta förskollärare utpröva ett undervisningsmaterial i form av en bok, som möter äldre förskolebarns erfarenhet och intresse för sår. Två frågeställningar följer med längs denna process. Den ena riktar sig till hur förskollärarna upplever förskolebarns respons på boken vid en undervisningssituation och den andra till på vilket sätt förskollärare upplever bokens relevans för att möta förskolebarns erfarenhet och intresse om sår. Data har samlats in genom intervjuer med två förskollärare, där de har fått besvara olika frågor som kan kopplas till undervisningssituationen. Utifrån denna data har man använt sig av tematisk innehållsanalys för att bilda sig en uppfattning och få studiens frågeställningar besvarade. Resultat och sammanfattning av studien visade på att utifrån intervjusvar samt analysarbete var barnens upplevelse med boken en gynnsam process, där erfarenhetsutbyte och gemensamma samtal bidrog till ny kunskap och förståelse. / This study is based on the idea of raising the knowledge of wounds in teaching and allowing children to form new knowledge by sharing experiences and conversations with each other. The purpose of the study is to develop, and let preschool teachers test a teaching material in form of a book, which meets older preschoolers experience and interest in wounds. Two issues follow along this process. One focuses on how preschool teachers experience preschool children´s response to the book in a teaching situation and the other on how preschool teachers experience the book´s relevance to meeting preschool children´s experience and interest in wounds. Data have been collected through interviews with two preschool teachers, where they have answered various questions that can be linked to the teaching situation. Based on this data, thematic content analysis has been used to form an opinion and get the study´s questions answered. The results and summary of the study showed that based on interview answers and analysis work, the children´s experience with the book was a favorable process, where exchange of experiences and joint conversations contributed to new knowledge and understanding.

Denna studie syftar till att studera barns perspektiv kring vad de har för erfarenheter av att vistas på en förskola för att bidra med kunskaper om de äldsta förskolebarnens upplevelser genom att svara på tre frågeställningar vilka är; hur beskriver barnen sina upplevelser av leken, vilka upplevelser har förskolebarnen av de vuxna samt vad upplever barnen att en förskola behöver. Studien är kvalitativ och baseras på tre genomföranden där samtalspromenader och fokusgrupper som metod använts. Daniel Sterns intersubjektivitetsbegrepp har utgåtts ifrån, vars innebörd behandlar en ömsesidighet samt hur upplevelser delas i grupp, och resultatet har bearbetats utifrån en tematisk analys. Barnens upplevelser och erfarenheter presenteras på ett heltäckande plan för att på ett övergripande vis presentera ett resultat. Resultatet belyser tre teman där leken, vuxnas roll och barns perspektiv kring vad en förskola behöver lyfts fram. Leken ställer barnen i relation till att få utöva inflytande samt skapa kamratrelationer varpå temat rörande vuxnas roll bearbetar både en delaktighetsaspekt samt en kritik mot de vuxnas regler och beslut där en maktposition träder fram. Det sistnämnda temat presenterar barnens perspektiv kring vad en förskola behöver i förhållande till omsorg och fantasi. Studiens resultat påvisar barnens värde av att bli lyssnade till och inkluderade på förskolan.