The increasing numbers of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) being educated within mainstream schools and the deployment of Teaching Assistants (TAs) to work with them has resulted in significant challenges in relation to the support and training TAs require when working with pupils who have ASD. Whilst there is a significant body of literature relating to the development of specific interventions for children with ASD there has been little that looks at the relationships formed between professionals, particularly Teachers and TAs, and these pupils. In order to extend the limited evidence base on the relationships that TAs form with pupils who have ASD this research explored the experiences of a group of six TAs working directly with pupils who had ASD and were in mainstream primary schools, and the relationships that they formed with them. The data collected from the TA interviews was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and subordinate and superordinate themes identified. The findings were then discussed in the context of Interdependence Theory, particularly the investment model put forward by Rusbult and Buunk (1993). The study found that TAs described their relationships with the children through four main superordinate themes, that is, attachment to the relationship; the difficulties presented by the child; the position they took as TA in the relationship and the personal and professional satisfaction they got from the relationship. The data from the transcripts showed that TAs invested significant amounts of time, effort and energy into developing their relationships and this resulted in rewards and costs for the TAs. These contributed to how satisfied the TAs were with the relationships and how committed they were to them. The implications for TAs, Schools and Educational Psychologists were discussed, as were the implications for future research.

This study is about the ways in which the term subject knowledge is conceptualised and interpreted by student teachers, university tutors and school mentors in the context of undergraduate primary initial teacher training (ITT) in two post-1992 university providers. Subject knowledge has been a consistent feature of the policy context of ITT over decades, although disparities are apparent between the rhetoric of policy directives, the theoretical knowledge base and how primary teachers’ subject knowledge is represented, and enacted, in communities of practice in primary ITT. The conceptual framework for the research is underpinned by Shulman’s (1987) theoretical knowledge bases for teaching, and draws significantly on the conceptual tools of culture, practice and agents in educational settings, provided by Ellis’s (2007) situated model of subject knowledge. The perspective of the individual is developed further by utilising Kelchtermans’s (2009) personal interpretative framework. An additional lens is provided by the external political context, within which primary ITT is located. The research adopted an inductive, interpretative approach that incorporated multiple methods to construct a bricolage. Data collection included semi-structured questionnaires, semi-structured interviews that incorporated the production of visual data, and content analysis of documents. The study indicates that subject knowledge was understood by participants as an umbrella term representing general teacher knowledge, rather than as a critically distinct concept. Overall, there was a general lack of emphasis on subject-specific pedagogical knowledge evident in the discourse around subject knowledge for primary teaching. Conceptualisations of subject knowledge were highly individualistic. The findings indicated that the culture and practice in different contexts is interpreted and experienced in very different ways by individuals to influence their interpretations of subject knowledge and its place in pedagogy. Thus, this study makes an original contribution to knowledge in the field by: 1) mapping the details of the conceptualisations of subject knowledge held by student primary teachers, university tutors and school mentors in the context of undergraduate primary ITT, to identify commonalities, and disparities, with the theoretical knowledge base; and 2) identifying and examining cross-contextual and personal influences on conceptions of subject knowledge and in so doing, extending and adapting Ellis’s (2007) model of subject knowledge, to the specific context of undergraduate primary ITT.

No description available.

This study focuses on primary foreign language teaching and learning. It seeks to reveal the perspectives and practice of three different stakeholders: specialist teachers, generalist teachers and head teachers. The study then places these beliefs and practice within a local, national and international context, considering the supporting factors for Primary Foreign Languages (PFL), as well as the challenges. It is a timely piece of research as it was conducted during the period when foreign language learning, for the first time in England, became statutory in primary schools. Furthermore, it took place during a timeframe of rapid change at all levels of education, which has had an effect on the translation of policy to practice. Data collection took place in two phases. In Phase One, an initial PFL practice mapping online questionnaire was sent to all schools in the Local Authority (LA) (n=69). Three schools agreed to participate. In Phase Two data collection methods employed in each of the three schools consisted of participant observations, semi-structured interviews, a self-reflective diary, informal conversation with staff and analysis of policy documents. The findings of the study show that all stakeholders in each school were supportive of PFL. However, this support did not translate into practice as the responsibility for PFL often rested solely with the specialist. As a result, the subject and specialists could be described as annexed, not fully integrated into the curriculum, and the specialists sought support from private companies instead of internally within the school. The majority of generalist teachers did not feel qualified to deliver the subject and there was a lack of future training options open to teachers wishing to train as PFL specialists. Those teachers who did express an interest in learning how to teach PFL felt that they could not engage fully with this endeavour due to internal and external pressure imposed upon them to achieve the highest possible pupil attainment in English and Maths. A disconnect was also revealed between the teachers’ most popular rationale for PFL teaching, which was preparing children to be ‘21st century global citizens’, and their actual practice. The teachers in the study recognised that, through learning a language and experiencing its culture, it may be possible to move from “egocentricity and ethnocentricity to a more altruistic sense of mutual benefit” (Byram, 2008:131). However, while espousing support for the teaching of intercultural understanding (ICU), the study reveals a lack of understanding in practice from stakeholders, policy writers and teachers. Overall, there is much goodwill for PFL as a subject, however, due to national and international drivers, it occupies a vulnerable place within the curriculum.

No description available.

No description available.

Como as crianças significam amizade na escola? Esta é a pergunta que procuro problematizar nesta dissertação. Busco analisar a amizade entre crianças na escola, tendo como foco de investigação as formas como as crianças fazem amigos e se relacionam entre si neste ambiente. Através dos signos produzidos pelas crianças desta pesquisa – um grupo de dezoito crianças, oito meninas e dez meninos, na faixa etária entre sete e onze anos, cursando o segundo ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública de Porto Alegre –, intento conhecer como as mesmas se produzem e são produzidas a partir das relações de amizade entre si. Para tanto, os conceitos de signo e linguagem, de Charles Sanders Peirce (2008), e de amizade, particularmente de Friedrich Nietzsche (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 e 2012), Michel Foucault (2010) e Francesco Alberoni (1989), constituíram-se no aporte teórico principal para a análise dos dados produzidos. Pela amizade, as crianças vivem um aspecto fundamental de suas infâncias no período em que estão na escola, como um exercício de experimentação e transitoriedade, em que lhes é possível aprender o Outro e aprender a si mesmas através do Outro. / How do children assign meaning to friendship at school? This is the question I intend to discuss in this thesis. It is my intention to analyze friendship among children at school, having as my investigative focus the ways in which children make friends and relate to each other in such environment. Based on signs produced by those children involved in this research – a group composed of eighteen children, eight girls and ten boys, aged seven to eleven, attending the second year of an elementary public school in Porto Alegre – I attempt to understand how they engender themselves and are engendered based on friendship relations built among them. In order to do so, the concepts of sign and language, by Charles Sanders Peirce (2008), as well as the concepts of friendship, particularly as referred to by Friedrich Nietzsche (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2012), Michel Foucault (2010) and Francesco Alberoni (1989), have become the main theoretical contribution used to analyze the collected data. Children live a fundamental aspect of their childhoods through friendship. As they attend school, they become part of an exercise in experimentation and transience, where they can learn about the Other and learn about themselves through the Other.

Como as crianças significam amizade na escola? Esta é a pergunta que procuro problematizar nesta dissertação. Busco analisar a amizade entre crianças na escola, tendo como foco de investigação as formas como as crianças fazem amigos e se relacionam entre si neste ambiente. Através dos signos produzidos pelas crianças desta pesquisa – um grupo de dezoito crianças, oito meninas e dez meninos, na faixa etária entre sete e onze anos, cursando o segundo ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública de Porto Alegre –, intento conhecer como as mesmas se produzem e são produzidas a partir das relações de amizade entre si. Para tanto, os conceitos de signo e linguagem, de Charles Sanders Peirce (2008), e de amizade, particularmente de Friedrich Nietzsche (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 e 2012), Michel Foucault (2010) e Francesco Alberoni (1989), constituíram-se no aporte teórico principal para a análise dos dados produzidos. Pela amizade, as crianças vivem um aspecto fundamental de suas infâncias no período em que estão na escola, como um exercício de experimentação e transitoriedade, em que lhes é possível aprender o Outro e aprender a si mesmas através do Outro. / How do children assign meaning to friendship at school? This is the question I intend to discuss in this thesis. It is my intention to analyze friendship among children at school, having as my investigative focus the ways in which children make friends and relate to each other in such environment. Based on signs produced by those children involved in this research – a group composed of eighteen children, eight girls and ten boys, aged seven to eleven, attending the second year of an elementary public school in Porto Alegre – I attempt to understand how they engender themselves and are engendered based on friendship relations built among them. In order to do so, the concepts of sign and language, by Charles Sanders Peirce (2008), as well as the concepts of friendship, particularly as referred to by Friedrich Nietzsche (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2012), Michel Foucault (2010) and Francesco Alberoni (1989), have become the main theoretical contribution used to analyze the collected data. Children live a fundamental aspect of their childhoods through friendship. As they attend school, they become part of an exercise in experimentation and transience, where they can learn about the Other and learn about themselves through the Other.

M.Ed. / The major problem in this research is that middle managers at the Foundation Phase seem not to be satisfying their roles of managing other educators, and learners’ activities and implementing curricula in class. The main aim of the research is to probe how the management roles impact on the Foundation Phase middle managers’ performance and to suggest ways and means to assist in the running of their daily activities as both managers and educators. The other aim is to suggest how the middle managers could synchronise the two roles maximally and to make recommendations regarding the way the two roles could be executed with ease. This is a qualitative research. The techniques and tools to be used are a phenomenological approach, in depth interviews, questionnaires and observations for data collection, while a descriptive analytical approach is used for data analysis. The findings are that middle managers at the Foundation Phase have a responsibility far above their capabilities. They are overloaded, overburdened and over- worked. The recommendations are that the middle managers should be supported by all stakeholders in education particularly the department of education which should reduce the educator-learners ratio and also provide them with assistants in classes. It is further recommended that future research should focus attention on establishing benchmarks for workloads in schools and colleges.

Many studies have shown that using music and songs while learning a new language can be of great benefit to students in aspects such as grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. However, the use of songs in class as motivation to learn English is a subject that has not been explored thoroughly. The purpose of this study is to explore how the use of songs in English helps motivating students while learning English as a Second Language (ESL). The participants were primary school students at a private school located in the Lima Metropolitan Area. This study used a mixed-method design that included observations carried out by the research team and questionnaires completed by students. The results show that students are motivated to participate and become more engaged in classroom activities when songs are used in their English classes. This result was more strongly confirmed with the observations than with the questionnaires.