This thesis investigates the effect of social background on pupils’ choices of educational and career pathways. A group of 18 pupils, chosen from a single Comprehensive School in the North West of England, was followed from the ages of 13 to 16 as they encountered the options available to them when they chose their GCSE subjects. Data were collected principally through focus group interviews with the pupils. The interviews were timed to coincide with key stages in the options process before and after the choices were made. Additional interviews were carried out with individual parents and members of staff at the school. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and cultural capital were used in the analysis of the data, which revealed evidence to support Bourdieu’s notion that forms of capital are reproduced through investment by the family. Pupils with disadvantaged backgrounds were less likely to opt for Higher Education especially if it involved study at a significant distance from home. A survey of the development of the English education system since the 1944 Education Act is used to support the conclusion that schools are also a significant agent for cultural reproduction. The school at the centre of the survey used data supplied and processed by the Fischer Family Trust to assist with the target setting process, and evidence suggested that this process was employed by the school as a mechanism to support progress towards targets set for it by the National Government. The support given to individual pupils to achieve targets set for them therefore became disconnected from the educational need of the individual.

Both the oral reading errors and the metalinguistic knowledge of 52 eleven year old Secondary school remedial readers were investigated during 9 reading task/structured interview sessions. The children read three texts which were of similar linguistic difficulty but which differed in terms of their 'accessibility': SELF-texts (based on the readers' oral language); PEER-texts (the 'self-generated' texts of their peers) and a CLASS-text passage from a typical class-reader. The results of the analyses performed on the children's REFUSAL, OMISSION, INSERTION, and SUBSTITUTION errors showed that reading accuracy and the pattern of errors on each type of text was very similar and that all the children were capable of utilising the graphic, semantic and syntactic cues provided by the texts. However, the 'quality' of the SUBSTITUTION errors differed according to text-type and to reading ability. On the SELF and PEER-texts the errors of the 'Poorer' readers in the sample were, by and large, as 'good' as those of the 'Better' and 'Fair' readers whilst the CLASS-text performances showed the errors of the Poorer readers to be qualitatively inferior to those of the other children. These results were interpreted to suggest that, whilst the reading strengths and weaknesses of the children did not differ per Se, the strengths of the Poorer readers were the least 'portable' across texts of differing accessibility. The children's reported metalinguistic knowledge of their own problem-solving strategies showed evidence of a 'mismatch' between what they said they did when they encountered an 'unknown' word and what the analysis of their reading errors suggested they actually did. Readers seemed particularly unaware of their ability to make use of the linguistic context in solving 'difficult' words although their ability to do this was clearly indicated by the analysis of their errors.

Evidence from examination boards and successive governments’ research into gender show that examination success in RE and the numbers opting to take the subject at GCSE and ‘A’ level remain heavily skewed towards female learners. Drawing from poststructuralism and masculinities theory, the aim of my research is to critically investigate key stage four boys’ relationship to religious education and explore the factors which produced association or disassociation with RE. My findings indicate that the boys who had a positive relationship to RE valued the epistemological openness of pluralistic RE as it helped them make sense of social and cultural difference. The boys who associated with RE were able to use it as a discursive resource for their on-going project of the masculine self, linking it to their imagined futures and career trajectories. Interviews with the boys who disassociated from RE showed that where the boys had a negative view of religion they tended to conflate religion with RE. In some cases the pluralistic nature of RE was rejected and for others it was simply seen as irrelevant to their masculine identity work and was a resource they chose not to use. Throughout this study the boys’ wider gendered practices are illuminated through their relationship to RE as the discursive site for the on-going construction of gendered subjectivity. The boys’ narratives also show their relationship to other dominant masculinising processes at work in their lives such as their relationship to sport, physicality, violence, subject choice and authority. The findings presented offer new insights into adolescent identity work through the use of a poststructuralist analytic, to examine the construction of the adolescent masculine subject. The findings also suggest new directions for critical RE at a time of political change and curriculum review.

Authentic early experience describes new medical students undertaking ‘human contact in a social or clinical context that enhances learning of health, illness or disease, and the role of the health professional’ (Littlewood et al. 2005). This thesis provides three original research contributions: a critical analysis of the application of socio-cultural and educational theories to authentic early experience; empirical data addressing two inter-related research questions; ‘How and why do students construct useful knowledge and meaning-making from authentic early experience?’ and ‘How and why do students make authentic early experiences work for them?’; and an interpretation of social processes and resultant consequences embedded in authentic early experience. Multiple theoretical perspectives were used to create a framework incorporating mixed qualitative methods. Scott’s concept of Mētis (1998) guided interpretation of not only how students created meaning but also when and how they chose to use it, and value it, relative to formally recognised knowledge. The study identified six specific findings which provide understanding of the complex consequences arising from authentic early experience. (1) Faculty and placement provider expectations of students were simultaneously too high and too low. (2) Dynamic social interactions are fundamental to meaning-making and knowledge construction (which are inextricably intertwined with identity evolution). (3) Social processes influencing authentic early experience can be described through dyads of variables which form intersecting workplace and educational spectra. (4) A holistic social view identifies unpredictable and unintended consequences of authentic early experience. (5) Students do not align the locus of ‘real learning’ with the locus of ‘real practice’. (6) Students create their own Mētis which crucially includes understanding about how to handle knowledge and meaning and how to make experiences work for them. The implications and potential applications of these findings are discussed.

This thesis investigates the experiences of internationalisation among academics from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, focusing on the role of internationalisation in the construction of academic identity, practice and approaches to university reform. The research is situated in the context of profound policy and ideological change in higher education systems in this region during the transition period, and in a wider discussion of global trends in higher education. The study adopts a qualitative and biographical approach, drawing on data from life story narratives elicited in interviews with twenty individual academics. Thus, the thesis presents an alternative look at internationalisation conceived not as an institutional policy but as individual experience responsible for the formation or reformulation of academic identity, values, dispositions and academic practices. The concept of individualisation is used as the main theoretical tool through which experiences of internationalisation can be studied and understood as elements of individual life story. The findings of this research concern the different ways in which a novel and hybrid or multiple set of academic identities and practices have been constructed on the basis of significant internationalisation experiences among academics located in particular (and partially shared) historical and policy contexts. Among the interviewed academics, internationalisation is found to be a very productive tool in the shaping of academic identity, practice and attitude towards university reform, which is reflected through a specific individualised life story.

Recent developments in European dental education are student-focused, concerned, for example, with competency-based and problem-based learning. The development of dental educators has so far received little consideration. This study aimed to agree curriculum content for developing dental educators so that they are better able to support changing undergraduate dental education. Adopting consensus methodology, a two-round Delphi was conducted in 2012. Fifty-three dental educators attending the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) annual conference 2010-2011 and 39 dental students attending the European Dental Students Association (EDSA) volunteered to take part. The Delphi questionnaire was developed based on literature, piloted, and sent to participants to gather opinions of and seek consensus on educational content using rating-scales and open-ended questions. Numeric data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed thematically. This study identified required educational content for undergraduate-teachers and practical issues for developing dental educators. This study revealed seven domains of curriculum content for dental educators. Four domains were deemed essential in which all educators should be competent:educational principles; educational practice in dentistry; curriculum, quality, and improvement; and educational professionalism. Three domains were optional which could be tailored to local needs include: educational principles in specific context, educational research, and educational and healthcare management. When developing training for dental educators, factors which need consideration are: scope and type of educational content; academic position and teaching experience of educators, roles and responsibilities of educators, the nature of undergraduate dental education, and local and cultural contexts. The results are beneficial for (1) individual educators to inform professional development plans, (2) institutions to devise faculty developments, (3) ADEE to inform policies on developing European dental educators, and (4) other disciplines to inform training for their educators.

This thesis reports some of the complex issues encountered, researched and addressed in the context of participatory, practitioner action research to support student learning in educational settings. Research methods were devised in response to genuine school-based situations working with colleagues within communities of practice. The focus is the interplay between teachers’ communicative competence and teaching styles and students’ communicative competence and learning abilities. A series of four linked studies are reported which involved several hundred participants from pre-school to adult in a range of socio-economic and cultural settings, using mixed methods including interviews, observations and a comparative study. Improvements are reported in the cognitive-linguistic ability of students in relation to their narrative abilities following interventions conducted in classroom settings. The interventions involved support for narrative thinking and communication skills based around exploratory talk. The results suggest a positive relationship between students’ communicative and narrative competences and the potential for effective academic learning. Nursery school observations and interviews in Japan revealed informed and effective educational and cultural support for young children’s narrative competence and Japanese participants’ comparatively advanced development in narrative thinking. The results of the studies suggest that teachers’ classroom interactions involving exploratory talk serve to support and help improve students’ narrative competence and inner speech to support formal academic learning. The findings are discussed in terms of pedagogical knowledge, school culture and the UK educational climate.

The benefits and drawbacks of email have been widely researched using a number of approaches in a variety of contexts. Whilst there has been a general consensus regarding these there has been no unified approach to tackling the issues presented. Methodological limitations, contextual differences and focus on recipient behaviour have limited toe tools that have been presented to users to enhance use. A mode was proposed to overcome these limitations and provide a basis upon which email use can be enhanced and the effectiveness maximised. A large scale study was undertaken in the Welsh Further Education sector which included all institutions both pre and post-merger. A total of 1198 survey responses were received with 1010 used for analysis. A follow up exercise comprised of fifteen in depth interviews to build upon the survey responses. Descriptive and content analysis was undertaken along with Chi Square, ANOVA and Bivariate Correlation tests. Results have demonstrated that role culture has a significant part to play in the use email. This analysis has also used email to demonstrate the divide between managers and non-managers. Usage statistics have shown an upward trend in the volume of email use and the extent to which it exceeds perceived manageability, an indicator of overload. The importance of working relationships has been investigated and linked to email behaviour. The future perceptions of email have been explored to show how users perceive unsustainable increases to be likely and that behavioural modification is necessarily. Finally, the proposed conceptual framework has been refined and justified along with recommendations for the development of appropriate and robust training to replace current training which is poorly engaged with.

Certaines cyanobactéries photoautotrophes sont capables de fixer l’azote atmosphérique grâce à des cellules spécialisées, les hétérocytes. De plus, en aérobiose, comme ces cellules peuvent excréter de l’ammonium lorsque leurs activités glutamine synthétase sont partiellement inhibées. Elles sont considérées comme usines cellulaires potentielles pour une bioproduction d’engrais azoté. Nous utilisons une souche mutante de Anabaena variabilis PCC 7937-C9, cyanobactérie hétérocytée à taux de croissance élevé, pour étudier la capacité à produire de l’ammonium en photobioréacteurs. Les caractéristiques de croissance de cette souche ne différent pas significativement de celles de la souche sauvage, avec un taux de croissance spécifique maximal de 3.0 j–1 à 30°C. Nous montrons qu’une partie de l’azote excrété dans le milieu de culture est entrainé sous forme de NH3 par la phase gazeuse, expliquant ainsi des sous-estimations antérieures. Cette production dépend de la température, l’irradiance, le taux d’aération et la concentration en MSX. Des études cinétiques confirment que la production d’azote ammoniacal en phase liquide et en phase gazeuse est corrélée aux variations de pH. Une régulation pulsée de pH permet d’accroitre la production de NH3. Des cultures en chemostat confirment que les productions de NH3 gazeux sont maximales à pH 8.8. Une variation cyclique des teneurs en NH4 +/NH3 dissous semble réguler les teneurs en NH4 +/NH3 en dessous d’un seuil critique de 1.5 mmol L–1 via une consommation par les cellules végétatives. Ces caractéristiques physiologiques sont analysées pour une application potentielle à la fourniture d’azote à des cultures de microalgues oléagineuses. / Some photoautotrophic cyanobacteria species are able to fix dinitrogen thanks to specialized cells, the heterocyts. Moreover, these cells are known to secrete ammonia when the glutamine synthase activity is partially inhibited under aerobic conditions. They are considered as potential cell factories for fertilizer. The present study uses a mutant strain of Anabaena variabilis PCC 7937-C9, a fast-growing heterocytous cyanobacterium, to investigate the potential use of diazotrophic cyanobacteria in photobioreactors for ammonium production. The growth characteristics of this strain cultivated in chemostat cultures are not significantly different from those of the wild strain, with a maximal specific growth rate of 3.0 d–1 at 30°C. A part of the combined nitrogen excreted in the culture medium is shown to be stripped through the aeration of the cultures as NH3, indicating previous underestimation of NH4 +/NH3 excretion. This process is shown to be affected by parameters such as temperature, irradiance, gas flow rate and MSX concentrations. Kinetics study reveals that the dissolved NH4 +/NH3 as well as the gaseous NH3 productions are correlated to pH variations production; a pulse regulation of pH is used to increase the NH3 production. Chemostat cultures with pH regulation are used to confirm that maximal gaseous NH3 is produced at pH 8.8. A cyclic variation of dissolved NH4 +/NH3 seems to regulate the NH4 +/NH3 concentrations under a threshold level of 1.5 mmol L–1; uptake of NH4 + by vegetative cells seems to be involved. These physiological features are discussed in view of operative conditions for efficient nitrogen supply for production by oleaginous microalgae.

A single case study was conducted to explore how schools might better engage fathers in their children's education. Women traditionally mediate early years education, and communication from schools to parents is directed to mothers. Some fathers are more involved in the day-to-day care of their children than others, but the predominant culture, both in the reception class and at home, is feminine. Where fathers are involved in education, irrespective of mothers’ involvement, children achieve better educational outcomes. There is no existing research on what fathers say about transition to school. Fatherhood and masculinities literature using discourse analysis reveal a theoretical, functional psychoanalytic discourse in Western culture. The research question posed here is: ‘What might be learned from what a father says about his son’s transition to school?’ A qualitative research design from a relativist ontological stance and social construction epistemology was used to explore what one father said on this topic, and to emancipate his voice. Willig’s (2013) stages of Foucauldian discourse analysis provided the framework for the analysis of a researcher- transcribed interview. Transition to school was discursively constructed: constructions were compared, contrasted and located in the masculinities, feminist, psychoanalytic, educational and economic discourses. Actions and subject positions available to challenge gender roles and stereotypes in early years education and to promote fathers’ involvementwere noted. The findings revealed a complex subjectivity inthe father’s many ways of seeing and being in relation to transition to school and the theoretical collective unconscious in functional psychoanalysis. The role of educational psychologists is discussed in influencing policy to includefathers in their children’s education.