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The thesis investigates variations in effectiveness of six Malaysian primary schools in three kinds of geographical sites: urban, rural and resettlement areas. It also focuses on the perceptions of headteachers, deputy headteachers, and teachers about school effectiveness, leadership/ management style of headteachers and collaborative management culture. The research explores the tensions that exist between the ingrained assumptions of Malaysian education and the practices and attitudes of headteachers, deputies and teachers. Detailed interview research on effectiveness and managerial collaboration is highly significant in enhancing understanding of education in Malaysia. The findings also make a further contribution towards international and cross-cultural perspectives of `school effectiveness' and `collaborative management'. Although generally the understandings of what constitutes collaborative management and what constitute the effectiveness of schools are still in their infancy in Malaysia, however, this does not mean that they are not important to the Malaysian educators. The need for collaborative management in Malaysian primary school is getting greater as the country moves towards `Vision 2020' and obviously this need is not adequately provided for in the present education system despite the Ministry's directive. More emphasis on policy making, awareness, commitment and training are needed for better application of the collaborative management. At the same time better communication and relationship between headteachers, teachers, DEDs, SEDs and the Ministry should be enhanced. This research also suggests ways in which training for headteachers in the area of collaborative management may be helpful for the more effective function of the schools. For collaborative management to be a success, artistry is required, to know when and how to exercise the various components of leadership so that a collaborative culture that brings success can be developed and maintained in schools. Although there is relatively little disagreement concerning the belief that headteacher's management styles have an impact on the lives of teachers and students, both the nature and degree of that impact continue to be open to debate.

This thesis is in three parts. Part One reviews the general literature on the integration debate and looks at the debate in relation to the specific field of visual impairment. This examines the issues and gives a broad context to the particular area of the visually impaired student in mainstream further education. Part Two is a review of the field of integration support with particular reference to further education and individuals with visual impairment. There exist real concerns about the ability of the mainstream to provide an environment that will ensure that these individuals maximise their learning potential. These concerns seem principally related to making appropriate support services available so that the advantages of mainstreaming are not outweighed by the disadvantages of reduced levels of support. Part Three is a research project based on further education colleges in the Midlands. It attempts to identify and examine the support services that enable successful integration of visually impaired students. It also attempts to evaluate these factors to establish their relative value in this mainstreaming process. The evaluation is from the perspective of visually impaired students in fur.ther education rather than that of professionals in the visually impaired field. This perspective is clearly relevant and has not been given due weight in the literature to-date. The thesis goes on to compare these findings to the data from other surveys which were concerned to identify and evaluate these support services from the perspective of the professional in this field.

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This study, the first of its kind in Singapore, attempted to explore and examine the reasons for participation, nonparticipation and dropout. The research is focused on two adult basic education (ABE) programmes that are offered on a national scale, viz., Basic Education for Skills Training (BEST) and Work Improvement through Secondary Education (WISE). The reasons for participation, nonparticipation and dropout were explored from the perspective of the teachers, organisations and workers, who formed the main sample population. The research was guided by the following questions: 1) What are the profiles of the BEST & WISE teachers?, 2) What are the experiences of the teachers?, 3) What are the reasons for the participants enroling in these programmes?, 4) What are the profiles of organisations participating in these programmes?, 5) What are the issues and perspectives of these organisations in relation to the BEST & WISE programmes?, 6) What are the reasons that have 'caused' the participants to cease attending classes before the end of the course term and also for not taking the BEST & WISE examinations?, 7) Why are some workers reluctant to participate in the BEST & WISE courses and also in other continuing education programmes? Againstt his backdrop,t he thesisi s organiseda s follows: Chapter 1 lays the foundation, and examines the factors which might have affected participation, nonparticipation and dropout. It presents the nature of the BEST and WISE programmes and their rationale. Definitions of ABE are examined and the context under which ABE occurs in Singapore is then explored. ABE is also discussed from an organisational context. The rationale and significance of the study, the research questions and the definitions in relation to this research are presented. In Chapter 2, a literature riew of the inquiry is undertaken. Chapter 3 discusses the philosophical basis for the research approach and analyses the methods used to collect the data (methodological triangulation was used (questionnaire surveys, interviews (semistructured/unstructured), telephone surveys) that involved all the teachers, a sample population of the organisations, participants, nonparticipants and dropouts. This chapter also discusses the ethical considerations that were taken into account, and presents an overview of the research approach through the design of a conceptual framework. The data gathered from the BEST & WISE teachers are presented in Chapter 4 which includes a heuristic model that was used in the analysis of the BEST & WISE programmes, while Chapter 5 presents it from the perspective of the participating organisations. Chapter 6 provides an analysis of the data gathered from the participants, dropouts and nonparticipants. Chapter7 concludes with a summary, the limitations of the study, the conclusions and implications considered to be of relevance and value to the collaborating organisation of this study, in particular, the Technical Institute of Education, researchers, practitioners, curriculum designers, policy makers,amongst others,and for future research.

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This qualitative study considers the experiences of three small cohorts of students whose disability has affected their walking, as they attempted to secure places on courses in higher education. It is based on a series of interviews with the students and with staff at their further education college who were responsible for applications procedures. Further information was obtained from a variety of documentary sources - confidential references, communications from the higher education institutions, etc. In order to place the experiences in context, the process is also examined from the perspective of higher education institutions. The approach adopted is to use case studies of a university and a polytechnic. The data again derives from interviews and from analysis of documentary evidence. The third dimension of the study concerns change both in relation to the spread of good practice and also the implications for people with disabilities of the new government policies affecting higher education. The focus is on the part played by Skill: The National Bureau for Students with Disabilities and its efforts to safeguard and improve provision. The little evidence currently available suggests that people with disabilities encounter negative discrimination when they try to enter higher education. The nature of this, how it operates both in terms of contacts with individual applicants and in the determination of policies within institutions, has not been investigated previously. This study can be viewed as a contribution to debates about equality of opportunity and about civil rights. More recently, there has been increased concern about the widening of access to higher education. This investigation is timely and relevant to this development.