This thesis explores the concept of learning styles as they relate to the education of deafblind children. A literature review concludes that assessment of learning may be more effective than assessment of skills. The practice of assessment in the UK is researched through the use of a survey of teachers of deafblind learners. This survey indicates that teachers favour informal observational assessments, and that they do not currently assess learning style, and may not know what it is. A second literature review and other arguments show that the concept of learning style is relevant to deafblind learners. A series of case studies of deafblind children is then described. Methods for studying learning styles are developed through these case studies. These methods initially explore the concept of style through prompt modality preference, and then through wider aspects of style. The assessments demonstrate that each child has her own individual learning styles, notwithstanding the shared impairment of deafblindness. The application of learning style preferences to teaching shows some evidence of improved learning. In addition, the outcomes of the studies challenge some accepted pedagogical principles for the education of deafblind children, such as the priority of communication skills above self-help skills.

This study explores the experiences of being a SENCO in mainstream schools in England. It examines how the role is operationalized and compares this to the guidance offered by national policy documents, such as the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (DfES, 2001b). These issues were investigated through a questionnaire and in depth semi structured interviews with SENCOs working in primary and secondary school settings. The development of the SENCO role as a leader or manager is explored, including the potential benefits and limitations of such an approach. The relational aspect of SEN with pupils, staff and parents is also explored along with pressures and expectations placed on SENCOs by the current education system. Findings suggest that a SENCO will find a particular way of interpreting and responding to the needs of the role, which cannot easily be defined as either a leader or manager. This is influenced by not only by national guidelines and school based pressures, but also by the values that SENCOs have. Many SENCOs valued the interactional nature of the SENCO role, whether that is with pupils, staff and colleagues. Most wanted to maintain this aspect of the role, but increase the opportunities they had to influence strategic responses to learning and teaching across the school, as well as increasing the involvement of colleagues in SEN related issues.

This is a collection of texts that speak of experiences of the education of one woman, me. I have learned more of who I am. This autoethnography seeks to ground personal experiences in social and cultural contexts. I seek to tell truthfully and deeply of personal experiences. I draw upon others‟ voices to legitimate mine. The words of others facilitate my own. I come to realise that I do belong in this work; the work takes form and from this I take form. I find a home in this work. This work is an educational experience. Stories of emotions founder education. Reflective and reflexive journal writing have been stimuli. Educative experiences are communicated in both content and forms of my stories. I believe meanings are always in process. Process affects the stories told, story-tellers and those listening. Meanings are not inherent but produced and reproduced challenged by the communities in which they are practised and their languages. The meanings I attribute to the person I am, my personal experiences, are those I construct from the groups to which I do and do not belong. My emotions drive the meanings I experience, particularly in relation to experiences of education.

This research project involved the collection of data from pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBD), who were not attending a mainstream school, in order to gain an improved understanding of their behaviour. The factors and processes that they perceived as having influenced their behaviour were explored and analysed from a broad theoretical base. Data were collected through taped interviews with the pupils and analysed both within individual cases in order to better understand individual pupil’s experiences, and also across cases in order to highlight common experience and perception. The results revealed that EBD pupils perceive a wide range of factors and processes within the school system, wider social systems and their own individual selves, as significant in influencing their behaviour, and they are often able to describe the nature of and motives for their behaviours in some detail. It is hoped that this research will contribute to the current theoretical debates concerning the behaviour of EBD pupils, and in addition that it will encourage professionals to value and respect the pupils’ own perspective, to improve techniques and strategies for obtaining these perspectives, and to use them to ensure appropriate and successful support or provision for these pupils.

The study was conducted to investigate Kenya’s milestones in realising the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All goals with regard to educational provision for children with SEBD in Kenya. A multiple case study design involving a mainstream school and a rehabilitation school was adopted. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis, which was then systematically coded before proceeding to cross-case analysis for interpretation and to draw conclusions. The study findings revealed that despite the efforts made by the Government of Kenya to achieve the EFA goals by 2015 and to improve the quality of education for children with SEN, there was evidence that children with SEBD remained marginalised, with most receiving no education at all. This was largely attributed to an unwillingness by mainstream school teachers to accommodate children with SEBD; an exam-oriented curriculum, which did not accommodate learners with SEN; lack of alternative education for children with SEBD who could not cope within the mainstream school system; and lack of clear policy guidelines on behaviour management and the educational provision for children with SEN in general.

Volume 1 of this thesis contains a critical literature review paper and a full length report of a study to examine the decisions of parents’ of children with SEN when choosing a secondary provision for their child and the factors that influence this. The review presents the results of a literature scoping exercise looking at two linked areas: educational provision for pupils with a statement of Special Educational Needs in England and the decisions parents of these children make when choosing a secondary placement to send their child to at change of phase. The research paper uses a multiple case study design to explore this issue in the context of one LA. Pupils in the study had attended their local primary school in year 6 but then transferred to differing provision: mainstream high; resource provision within mainstream; or special school. An exploration of the factors leading to these different outcomes is considered. The study uses socio-cultural and activity theory as a framework in the design and data gathering phase of the research and subsequently to discuss and explore the results. Implications for future research and practice of Educational Psychologists are considered.

This thesis sets out to investigate two aspects, first to explore written academic feedback as a genre and second, to use corpus approaches to investigate any significant strategy revealed by the genre study. Feedback reports were gathered from two Humanities departments from undergraduate students who were doing an English programme in a UK higher education institution. The first aim of this research is to identify the rhetorical structures or functions of feedback by analyzing its moves, steps, and acts structure. A genre analysis was carried with 100 feedback reports. Although both departments used different templates in giving feedback, the findings from the genre analysis show some distinctive patterning of feedback, indicating that written academic feedback is a genre. The second part of this research was developed in the process of genre analysis where one of the salient features of feedback is in tutors’ use of hedging. The EdEng corpus was compiled from the feedback reports. From the findings of the corpus study, hedging is often expressed through four sub-components: modal verbs, vague language, stance adverbs, and submodifiers. Through the findings of this study, I hope to be able to raise awareness of the current feedback writing system and to provide salient ways for tutors to give feedback in essays.

Cyberbullying is a relatively recent phenomenon originally coming to the forefront of the public agenda following a number of anecdotal accounts. It has been defined as “any behaviour performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups that repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intended to inflict harm or discomfort on others” (Tokunaga, 2010: 278). This study is designed to explore cyberbullying issues in school settings from the perspective of teaching professionals. This area is of consequence given that research focussing on face-to-face bullying has suggested that teaching professionals and school staff can have differing definitions and understandings of bullying behaviour and the high prevalence of unreported cyberbullying in schools. The participants in this research were Anti-Bullying Co-ordinators in eight schools in one Local Authority. The staff who participated were employed in a range of settings (Primary, Secondary, Middle and High schools). The views of teaching professionals were obtained using semi-structured interviews and the data were analysed using Thematic Analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The results indicate that teaching professionals are beginning to develop an understanding of issues relating to cyberbullying and acknowledge the unique features of this type of behaviour. The findings also highlight that consideration has been given to the level of involvement schools should have when dealing with cyberbullying issues. Furthermore schools are aware of the impact of this type of behaviour and have employed a range of methods to prevent and intervene in cyberbullying. However schools still require additional support to understand how to respond to this phenomenon more comprehensively.

It is a truism that children make greater educational progress when their parents are included in their educational journey from childhood to adulthood. A key focus of this thesis is the particular role accorded to parent-school partnership as a means of engaging parents in the decision-making process concerning their children’s schooling. The study was particularly interested in pupils deemed to have special needs and school-related difficulties. The issues addressed related to parents’ understanding of disability and SEN issues; disabling barriers experienced when parents sought to get involved in the schooling of their children, particularly barriers which determined their level of participation in parent school partnerships; and the development of inclusive education based on good practice. The methodology for conducting the research consisted of the life history method and focus groups: specifically, twelve individual case histories and three focus groups. Life history interviews and focus group sessions were conducted over a one-year period with twenty-four parents living in one urban locality of the United Kingdom. A particular emphasis was placed on the experiences of Black parents including parents who are themselves disabled and have children with special educational needs. The findings revealed that parents experienced many personal, social and instructional barriers with the education system. These barriers shaped their sense of identity and circumscribed their level of participation in parentschool partnerships. In particular, parents felt undervalued. Though parents thought that the longevity of these barriers would require a concerted effort before change could be effected, they were willing to propose a number of suggestions that could be incorporated into good practice in order to develop an inclusive education system. Overall, there was a call for initiatives to provide a range of specialist support, practitioners and training to parents in order to address home and school-related issues, particularly those relating to managing special needs and school exclusion. The results of the research offer insights into what it is to be a parent whose voice is not always heard when their child comes into contact with the state education system.

The context for this qualitative case study is the primary school classroom and the Wider Opportunities instrumental teaching programme. The rational for the research is based on the premise that there is real potential for professional collaboration in the teaching of music when two bodies of knowledge are brought together, combining the class teacher’s expertise in pedagogy and the visiting instrumentalist’s expertise in music. The study investigates the nature of the professional collaboration between the generalist class teachers and the visiting instrumentalists in five primary schools in an outer London borough. The theoretical bases developed from the literature are framed by the concept of collaboration; the theories of behaviourism, progressivism and constructivism and their contribution to learning and teaching; and the writings of Swanwick (1979, 1988, 1994, 1999) on music education. The methodology used to examine the experiences of class teachers, head teachers, pupils, instrumental teachers, associates connected to the local music education hub and experts from the field of music education comprised questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and the observation of twenty Wider Opportunities lessons over a twelve month period and analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006, 2012; Howitt and Cramer, 2011). The themes that emerged from the data included detached collaboration; uncertainty about the aims of the Wider Opportunities programme; incomplete discourses of music education; and missed opportunities for professional learning. The key findings from this study identified that rich collaborative practices were an underused resource in the schools. Several factors prevented meaningful collaborations, including a crowded curriculum which limited the time available for curriculum planning and professional discussions, and the status given to arts and music education in primary schools. Although rich collaborative practices were not fully embedded in the case study schools, there was evidence to suggest that some teachers would have welcomed closer collaboration. The Conclusions to the study highlighted the need for closer communication between the music education hubs and the schools involved in the Wider Opportunities programme in order to clarify the aims and approaches. Furthermore, the promotion of professional collaboration in the Wider Opportunities programme should be strengthened in schools by providing more opportunity for professional discussions between teachers and the sharing of expertise.