In this project I explore two teachers’ experiences, as ‘key informants’, of educational technology in a UK inner-city comprehensive school. I examine the meditational role of technology in these teachers’ activities and suggest that such an examination can improve what we understand about educational technology at the school. I discuss how technology is socially shaped and therefore not neutral, and of technologically mediated change being ecological change (Postman, 1992). I examine discourses of ‘techno-romanticism’ which locate technology as a transformational panacea for educational challenges - discourses which seemingly ascribe technology its own agency. This thesis challenges such viewpoints, and the technological hegemony they support, by examining technology not as state-of-that-art but as the ‘state-of-the-actual’ (Selwyn, 2010a). The project was an in-depth examination of the experiences of two key informants using a case study, ethnographic research design, with interview and observational methodologies generating qualitative data. I have positioned the project as both critical in its examination of technology, and sociocultural in its epistemology – in particular drawing on Sociocultural psychology (Wertsch 1991) and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as the theoretical framework, and ‘activity theory’ (Engeström, 1987b, 1999a) as the analytical lens. The analysis has two stages – the first being a ‘grounded theory’ (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) coding and categorisation of contextual data; the second the modelling of activity systems, and the identification of contradictions and conflicts in those systems. My analysis is of the key informants’ experiences, provides a reading of how technology mediates not just the ‘what’ of these teachers’ activities, but also the ‘how’ and ‘why’. I challenge the dominant discourses and assumptions of the inevitability of technological improvement. In doing so, I call for the educational technology research community to be both sympathetic toward what technology means for these teachers’ professional identities, and critical of overly technocentric school environments.

The main aim of this research was to investigate how children's collaborative storytelling could be scaffolded through technologically mediated resources and how these resources can be made more effective by scaffolding around them. The benefits of providing children with resources, encouraging them to construct their own representations and to interact with each other while they make their story were investigated with respect to the quality of their subsequent storytelling. The first piece of work presented in this thesis is a qualitative case study aimed at exploring how the collaborative storytelling task could be resourced with and without technology, as well as the effectiveness of scaffolding around the technology through adult guidance, and whether the potential benefits could be maintained once the additional guidance was withdrawn. Although the study found that the (technology mediated and non-technological) resources provided did not support for children's engagement in discussion and storytelling, providing scaffolding around these resources was effective at promoting discussion and good collaborative storytelling. Specifically, adult guidance designed to encourage children to articulate their story ideas through questions was shown to benefit children's engagement in discussion and the quality of their collaborative storytelling. Moreover, the children continued to engage in discussion and to produce well structured, rich and coherent stories once the additional guidance was withdrawn. The second study presented in this thesis was of an experimental nature. It built on the findings from the case study by employing more structured resources as well as making the task more ecologically valid for the children through the introduction of a real audience and the matching of the participants with familiar peers (i.e., school mates). The study investigated the benefits of encouraging children to construct their own representations by comparing a task where children were presented with pictures they could manipulate and a task where children were encouraged to construct their own dynamic drawings over these pictures. The study found that children's collaborative stories were longer when the children were encouraged to construct their own dynamic drawings. The stories were also qualitatively better, as they contained more structural elements and were richer in style. However no differences were found between the stories in the two tasks with respect to extent to which children were able to build coherently on each others' contributions. This is argued to have been due to the fact that little shared understanding was established among the children about their collaborative story as a result of a lack of engagement in interactive discussion. The third study was also experimental in nature, and it investigated the benefits of complementing children's construction with scaffolding specifically aimed at encouraging them to discuss their story as this was being made. The study compared a task where children making a story together were encouraged to construct their own dynamic drawings with a task where they were also required to use a set of question prompts to discuss their ideas. It was found that when they were required to engage in reciprocal questioning, the children discussed their story more. The quality of the children's collaborative stories was also better when the children were supported through question prompting. Not only were the stories longer, but they also contained more structural elements and were richer in style. Moreover, when they were telling their stories, the children built more coherently on each other's contributions. Finally, a correlation was found between the number and type of questions asked by the children while they were making their stories together and the quality of the stories produced. These findings suggest that the engagement in discussion combined with the construction of dynamic drawings encouraged children to articulate and elaborate on their story ideas, therefore enabling the production of longer and better stories. Also, the children's engagement with each others' ideas may have facilitated the establishment of a shared understanding about the collaborative story, thus making it possible for children to build on each others' ideas during storytelling.

Teacher motivation can be conveniently interpreted within a framework of motivation theories that are related to the fulfilment of needs (Herzberg, 1968, Maslow, 1954, McClelland, 1961). This thesis argues that mid-career teachers’ motivation is context-specific and relates to the fulfilment of teachers’ needs. Grounded in phenomenology and drawing on semi-structured interviews with twelve mid-career teachers, six headteachers, and six focus groups with thirty-eight students in six lyceums in Cyprus, this qualitative study presents the factors that can motivate secondary teachers with 11 to 20 years of teaching experience to become (more) active in their schools. These factors which constitute the key findings of my study and the contribution of my study to the field of teacher motivation are: the ‘moderators’: recognition, inspection for evaluation, personal life, and experience; and the ‘needs motivators’: satisfaction, collaboration, fairness, and decision making. The ‘moderators’ may determine the extent to which teachers’ ‘needs motivators’ are fulfilled. This study makes a significant contribution to policies designed to enhance leadership practices related to the motivation of mid-career teachers.

This thesis lifts the lid' on the educational practices within a medical education programme, which is based upon a Problem-Based learning (PBl) approach. It is an ethnographic case study that sets out to understand the practice and facilitation of PBl situated within a hybrid curriculum at a graduate-entry medical programme in England. Data was collected by audio-visual recording of PBl sessions, audio recording and observing facilitator meetings and through the author's experiences as a participant observer working as a facilitator within the research setting. The study exposes a variety of PBl practices within a single curriculum setting that have not previously been examined in detail within medical education, in particular through use of direct observational methods. The findings pose a challenge to a core educational objective, upon which the 'PBl' programme was founded, that being to develop students' skills as self-directed learners. While this is highlighted within the literature as a central component to the PBl process, the findings raise questions about how these assumptions are reflected in the practice of PBL.

The research question which guided this exploratory case study is, in essence, looking at causes in non-implementation of change, specifically consideration of how confidence and emotions have been factors not taken into account when considering Continued Professional Development programmes and the implementation of the ICT initiative. The research was carried out as a three-case case study. There was no intent in this study to determine causal effects. Rather, it was more to consider the role of factors such as confidence, what part it plays and how this could impact on Continued Professional Development (CPD) which would lead to effective classroom practice. In considering such an approach, the questions of what constitutes change and confidence and how it is manifested in the classroom situation will be considered using a 3D mathematical metaphor to help demonstrate change. The data gathering was accomplished through a number of different instruments: a survey questionnaire based around the questionnaire used by the IMPACT project (slightly modified to take account of the different project) (Harrison, et al, 1998). The specific information obtained from the instrument included specific computer uses, computer experience and training background; Pre- and Post-classroom observation interviews; a free response narrative; and to aid in communicating their thoughts on their current attitude and usage of ICT and to further help gain an insight as to the affect of emotion on ICT diffusion, each participant was also asked to complete a mind map task (Buzan and Buzan, 2003) based around the main subject of “Computers and Me”. The case study suggests that effective CPD for an ICT initiative is best approached through a bespoke programme taking into account teachers’ individual emotional needs, backgrounds and experiences.

This case study examines the changing role of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority with a view to identifying the way forward for it to enhance its effectiveness and inform future assessment development. The research questions are: 1)What functions do public examinations serve in Hong Kong and how effectively are they serving these functions? 2)What is the role of the Authority in the education system of Hong Kong and how effective is it in delivering this role as expected by its stakeholders? A historical approach is adopted to trace and analyse the development of public examinations through literature and document review. In order to gain new insights into the implicit forces working behind public examinations and form a more balanced view of examination bodies, reference is also made to the internal documents of the Authority. It has been found that due to an exponential growth in public education since the 1970s against a background of rapid social changes, the functions expected of public examinations have expanded from those of a selective school system to include also those of an inclusive one. Despite improvement measures introduced by the Authority over the years, it was only until the introduction of an education reform initiated by the Tung Chee Hwa Government in the 2000s that more fundamental changes towards the inclusive end have been brought about. To enable this to be effectively done, three critical success pre-requisites on the part of the Authority can be identified: first, the technical competence to design assessments that can reconcile the traditional functions with the more progressive ones; second, the strategic competence to ensure the intended use of assessments is within the acceptability limits of the value systems of the concerned stakeholders and the society as a whole so that it is more likely that the assessments are used as expected; and third, if necessary, take steps to manage or narrow the differences. Being structurally segregated from school education by design, the Authority was expected by the Government, its creator and the most influential stakeholder, to be the gatekeeper of the education system when it was established. Since the 2000s, with a much closer partnership with the Curriculum Development Institute, the introduction of the TSA and HKDSEE as cornerstones of the education reform, and provision of support of an unprecedented scale to schools in respect of assessment implementation, it is argued that the Authority has effectively become the Government’s quality monitoring and enhancement agent of the school education system. For other stakeholders, with the HKDSEE recognising a much broader range of student abilities while up-keeping the selection function and widely recognised internationally and locally, the Authority has transformed itself from a gatekeeper to a gateway in addition, enabling our youngsters with different potentials to pursue their future through multiple pathways. Looking ahead, apart from continuing with the success pre-requisites, this thesis recommends that the Authority should lever its achievement in Hong Kong to establish itself internationally for further enhancement of its organisational capacities.

Assumptions are made by policy makers, service planners and providers that their aspirations for early childhood are shared by professionals, parents and children. Policy makers consistently use words such as holistic, integration, partnership and collaboration to describe the ways they wish early years practitioners to engage with children and families. In order to explore these assumptions and expectations this thesis utilises data from early years settings themselves (focus groups/interviews with parents and staff and child based activities) to critically examine the connections between participants’ ideas of childhood, Scottish Government policies and staff roles/responsibilities. It specifically utilises the experiences of staff, parents and children in selected early years settings in Scotland to critique the Scottish Government’s key policy document, the Early Years Framework (2008). In this thesis I identify four main themes from the data. These relate to early childhood experience: • in the home and the impact of work on family life • in the community and a child’s ability to participate • living independent lives with peers and the ability to take risks • in the inner life of the child and the impact of commercialism on her self image. I conclude that there was a measure of shared aspiration for young children between participants in my research and the Framework document in relation to the importance of building family and community based experiences. However, there were also wide differences in expectations relating to existing capacities of families and communities to support young children. In particular there was a lack of recognition in the Framework of the considerable pressures experienced by families and communities from wider economic and social forces driven by a neo-liberal marketised economy. This finding enabled the illumination of gaps and mismatches between policy objectives relating to family and community strength and the lived experiences of children, families and communities in Scotland. I identify in the thesis how such mismatches impact significantly on the ways in which services are organised and the ways in which practitioners understand their roles and responsibilities. Current professional responses are based in an assumed power and authority emanating from a restricted sense of professional identity. As such, they may act in a detrimental way on the development of collaborative, strengths based relationships between staff and parents and children. The thesis contributes to knowledge in this field by exposing, for the first time, the policy, practice and experience divides relating to creating strength and resilience in young children and their families in Scotland, and in discussing the implications for theoretical and policy based understandings of the relationships between the four themes identified above and professional responses.

This thesis is a practitioner based inquiry into how I can support the development of reflective dispositions within Early Childhood Studies (ECS) undergraduate students. The students involved in this research were all level 4 (first year, new entrants) who started their studies at an English University in September 2009. The study takes a Social Constructivist approach through pedagogical action research and was informed by a Reflective Methodology. My own beliefs regarding ontology lie in the notion that there is no one truth; that is multifaceted and that truths are ‘socially constructed multiple realities’ (Patton, 2002, p. 134). This is what Denzin and Lincoln (2008, p. 32) refer to as ‘relativist ontology’. It used qualitative methods to explore my own experiences and the experiences of students in establishing an understanding of expectations to use reflective practice to inform their developing professionalism. My own reflective journey has been a central part of this project and has enabled me to identify how my practice can be improved to enhance the development of a reflective culture within the Centre for Early Childhood in my institution. Reflective lenses of self, colleagues, students and literature have been used to create an understanding of the existing landscape of reflective practice within this particular context. Focus Group Discussion Forums (FGDF); reflective accounts; peer observation and Post-it Note response were all methods used to collect the data. A grounded theory approach to the data analysis was used which was both an inductive and deductive process. The findings of this research have been both enlightening and confirmatory. The pedagogical cultural differences between most new ECS students’ previous educational experiences, and those introduced when they start their programme in HE, entails a shift from a predominantly transmission approach to one of transformative learning. This requires an understanding of the tutor team to create an environment that is conducive to supporting students through this transition that is underpinned by Social Constructivist concepts. The data highlights that strategies already used within the ECS programme are complementary to this transition; however, it also highlights that tutors’ assumptions about students’ capabilities to demonstrate reflective practice is sometimes unreasonable. This research journey and the findings from the data of this project have enabled me to identify some key considerations when supporting the development of reflective dispositions within ECS students and in enabling a ‘Reflective Community of Early Childhood Practice’. These considerations include: • Transitional needs of students • Becoming professionally self-aware and developing a professional artistry • The significance of practical experience and its relationship to theoretical perspectives • Opportunities for collaboration within a community of practice The other significant finding from this inquiry is that of self-discovery and identifying that my own reflective limitations require consideration. My adaptation of Brookfield’s (1995) four lens theory, which includes a new ‘fifth dimension’ that uses a ‘peripheral socio-cultural lens’ to widen and enrich the critical reflective process, has been created. Post viva voce examination has prompted an additional section to this thesis (Section 6). This post script is a critically reflective piece from my perspective as a researcher. Applying my own theory of a wider perspective through a Socio Cultural peripheral lens (Figure 7) which has allowed me to explicitly communicate the significance of this project and demonstrate the relationships between the arguments I make and the impact of these within the early childhood sector and within extended fields of professional practice.

It has been recognised that there is a need to get a better understanding of the user of technology in work as information technology progressively saturates users' everyday working environments. One motivating force has been a perceived need to link the design of new technology with the work actually being done. One way to do this has been to turn to ethnography as an analytic approach when studying work, and then try to relate the results to design in different ways. The main question in this thesis is precisely how technology is being used in everyday work activity. The individual papers include discussions about what the resulting analyses can do for design. The contributions from the analyses do nog guide design in any 'linear' way but can be brought to the 'design table' and serve as points of departures for design considerations.

This work consists in a theoretical overview of positioning theory, the construction of a methodology for interaction analysis, and its application to classroom interaction. The latter part is based on transcripts from audio-video recordings of 15 hours of lessons in mathematics and physics or science in England and in France, with children aged between 11 and 12. These transcripts were divided up into episodes, units displaying coherence in theme and purpose; and each episode was coded according to the types of behaviour the teacher displayed in them. The same types of behaviour were found in plenary interaction as those found by previous research into group work. Analysis carried out to highlight co-occurring types of behaviour (seen as rights and duties) only yielded two co-occurring rights – asking a scientific question and validating a statement, consistently with the previously noted prevalence of IRE/IRF sequences. A frequency analysis of the levels of occurrence of individual types of behaviour highlighted the scarcity of unsupported teacher statements. Further analysis of the episodes featuring teacher statements showed that the teacher may only introduce new elements on the basis of their own authority in highly specific circumstances: (a) after a student’s mistake, in which case the teacher’s statement is limited to explaining why the aforementioned mistake is one; (b) after a student’s question or (c) after a student’s unsolicited statement. In the last two cases, the teacher’s statement may go beyond the remit of the question or statement. Content introduced in such a way appears to have a longer-lasting legitimacy than that introduced with the help of official content. Some implications of these results are discussed: the need to take into account student agency in further research; and it is suggested that a lecturing style of teaching might be beneficial for learning.