This is an account of qualitative ethnographic case study research investigating the identity construction of English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. This study was conducted at a higher education (HE) college, namely, Public High College (PHC) in Oman over a period of six months. In this study, I explore teacher identities in relation to the particular spatial locations of the teachers as well as the ways that networking and social capital and institutionalised cultural capital intersected with their nationalities and linguistic backgrounds to produce complex hierarchies. The thesis provides a rich exposition of teacher identity construction in Omani HE as theorised through the lens of Bourdieu, recognising the different educational practices, such as assessment and teacher evaluation, as well as the influence of space in the field of struggle within which teacher identities were implicated. The methodological approach and research design adopted in this study was dictated in part by the nature of the research questions and the theoretical framework adopted. Because I was interested in the embedded struggles in different educational practices between different groups and how these groups articulated and expressed these struggles, I positioned my research within a constructivist-interpretive paradigm. I adopted a case study approach and drew on ethnographic methods, such as semi-structured interviews, observation, and field notes. Over thirty-five local and non-local ESL teachers from western, Arab, African, and Asian contexts took part in this study. Furthermore, I kept a research diary to record my own experiences and decisions about my research. In addition, I analysed official documents from macro, meso, and micro levels. Both content analysis and thematic analysis were conducted to trace the tensions which were observed during my ethnography of teacher identity construction at Public High College in part produced by the emergence of new assessment procedures, and quality assurance agendas, and the Global North's influence on the Omani HE system. In the analysis chapters (Chapters Five to Seven), I problematise how educational practices were implicated in the production of hierarchical, spatial, and at times, male-female positioning of teachers. In the first analysis chapter, I conduct a documentary analysis of the national standards for the General Foundation Programmes to trace back potential tensions that were embedded in the new assessment processes and teacher appraisal procedures and the potential importance of these for teacher identity production. In Chapter Six, I examine the significance of space in producing hierarchical relations between local and non-local teachers and other hierarchies that cut across these groupings. My analysis shows that research respondents gained social capital from networking and highlights the complexity of this networking. In my final analysis chapter, I examine both assessment and teacher evaluation as the key processes through which teacher hierarchies at Public High College were produced. My analysis shows that assessment was one of the fields where struggle for positioning and legitimacy took place so that teacher identity production was bound up with assessment practices at Public High College. In addition, my analysis focuses on teacher evaluation processes in this chapter as another field where struggles for teacher positioning and legitimacy took place. My analysis interrogates both implicit and explicit teacher evaluation processes and the implications of such processes for the production of teacher identities. Through its ethnographic approach, the thesis shows the tensions, nuances, and power relations that pervade this HE institution, and examines how these were central in the production of teacher identities. It also shows the importance of taking teacher identity construction into account in the expansion and reform of Omani HE.

This research explores the purpose of the ‘teacher' in an increasingly mediated world. It focuses on the teaching of immigration and explores a pedagogic response attuned to the conflicting attitudes aroused by this controversial topic. Given the pendulum swings between ‘knowledge' and ‘skills-based' forms of study, this research explores the political nature of media learning and the role of media teaching beyond instrumental transmission on the one hand and mere facilitation on the other. Following the work of Biesta (2016), it emboldens the teacher to not shy away from an engagement with ‘difficult questions or inconvenient truths' inherent in teaching a topic such as immigration. This practitioner action research contrasts traditional (Media Studies 1.0) and ‘new' (Media Studies 2.0) approaches to the study of film, press and social media through the teaching of media representations of immigration and immigrants in a predominantly White school in the South of England over a nine month period as part of an A level Media Studies course. In doing so, the research reassesses a conceptual model of media study for the social media age. There are many threats to media studies as a school based subject. Some of these emanate from within the subject itself. The Media Studies 2.0 (Gauntlett, 2007) manifesto argues that formal media studies has failed to grapple with a qualitatively changed media ecology augured by the shift from broadcast to online/social media. This, the critique contends, has resulted in the conflation of the previously fixed phases of media production, distribution and consumption and their pedagogic cousins of teaching, classroom and learning. Within school-based education, media studies is thus seen as losing its distinctive edge with other curriculum subjects using media forms as intrinsic components of the e-Learning experience for both teachers and students. This research questions this overly positive view of social media's potential to act as a nascent pedagogic space for students to develop new technical skills and engage in meaningful cultural debate. The topic of immigration invites explicit teaching through the media concept of representation contrasting two pedagogical approaches. Through the lens of teaching this potentially socially divisive issue, the distinctive features of media studies are explored in presenting a complex, nuanced and sensitive position from which to foster civic engagement in young people. Using a Critical Realist (Bhaskar, 1975) ontological and epistemological framework, the research constructs a theoretical position rooted in what to study (a modified version of the influential BFI model, Bowker, 1991), how to study media (Multiliteracies, Kalantzis, 2008), the purpose of media study (framing and classification, Bernstein, 1975)) and anti-essentialist classroom relations as they pertain to race (Critical Race Theory, Ladson-Billings, 2004). This research asserts the importance of developing a self-reflexive pedagogical response to issues of racial tolerance, social justice and economic power. Additionally, the research presents insights into the multimodal teaching and learning that traverse traditional divides between home/school, public/private spaces and real/imagined spaces. In this context, it reasserts the value of school-based media study as fostering critical, analytical, practical and technical competences that offer the structured self-reflexive space not afforded in general social media consumption practices.

Recent reports on mathematics education in English secondary schools have consistently expressed concern about students' performance and enjoyment as well as their progression into studying mathematics post-16 (Smith, 2004; Ofsted, 2006, 2008a; Royal Society, 2008, 2010; Vorderman et al, 2011). Too often students were expected to follow rules and procedures without mastering underlying concepts and connections, and hence without developing their mathematical understanding (Ofsted 2008a). Boaler (2008a) provides evidence for the introduction of Complex Instruction (CI) as an effective alternative approach to teaching and learning mathematics. The CI pedagogy combines rich mathematical tasks and instructional strategies that foster collaborative group work and problem solving. The approach emphasises effort over ‘ability' and challenges beliefs that only some students can do mathematics and that they should be taught in ‘ability' groups. This thesis explores factors which facilitate or militate against the adoption of such an approach by drawing upon Stigler and Hiebert's (1999) concept of a ‘cultural script' and Dweck's (2000) ‘theory of self and others'. It aims to build a better understanding of what influences teaching in mathematics classrooms in order to inform teacher development. The study combines quantitative and qualitative methods through the use of questionnaires, interviews and a reflective research journal over a two year period and includes:  Secondary analysis of interviews with 20 teachers in schools with high numbers of students studying mathematics post-16;  Course evaluations from 27 teachers attending a workshop on CI and interviews with a sample who were willing to use the approach;  Pre and post study interviews with a lead mathematics teacher at two contrasting schools; one using CI with mixed ability groups and the other not.  Questionnaires completed by 221 Year 7 students and their mathematics teachers at the two contrasting schools. Open coding analysis of the teacher interviews was used to produce themes. The questionnaires were statistically analysed to explore teachers' and students' frameworks of intelligence and personality in relation to learning and performance goals in mathematics. The findings support the notion of a ‘dominant cultural script' for teaching mathematics in English secondary schools. Teachers refer to ‘expected national norms', where the expectations are driven by their understanding of National Strategy/Ofsted guidelines and the judgements upon them are based upon students' exam performance. This performance goal orientated model, coupled with teachers' anxieties about unacceptable behaviour in the classroom together with concerns about finding time to plan and resource a different approach, offers strong reasons for teachers' reluctance to change. The findings demonstrate that the teachers using CI still adhered, to some extent, to aspects of the ‘dominant cultural script'. They felt vulnerable in terms of examination results and inspection. The extent to which they deviated from the ‘script' was contingent upon factors such as having a strong supportive department with collaborative sharing of resources; seeing students as actively involved in the learning process and continuing professional development opportunities both within their schools and with university departments of education. Whilst these teachers, though mindful of exam performance and inspection, held other beliefs and goals for their students, these were not necessarily shared by the students. A high proportion of students, particularly amongst the lowest attaining students and girls, were found to hold fixed frameworks of intelligence and personality coupled with a preference for performance over challenge in mathematics. Dweck (2000) suggests that having such beliefs is unlikely to lead to mastery orientated qualities in students, which are the key to improvement in progress. Hence, given a dominant script for teaching mathematics which also emphasises performance goals, the likelihood of all students achieving their full potential in mathematics in such a climate is jeopardised.

This thesis explores how small group interactions around problem-solving in secondary school mathematics can be understood using a theoretical framework of Communicative Action inspired by Habermasian Critical Theory. How does cognition express itself socially? What are the technical features of communicative acts that afford access to the development of mutual understanding? A case study approach was used to investigate episodes of interactive speech acts. Participants included three Year 7 mathematics teachers and 87 students in 3 different English secondary schools, who were engaged in adopting aspects of a 'Complex Instruction' pedagogical approach to design and coordinate problem-solving groupwork. Tasks were collaboratively designed with the participating teachers, followed by participant observation of the lessons, and post-lesson interviews with the teachers. Small group interactions were recorded using Flip cameras at each table that captured audio and video of student interactions around the tasks, and whole class video was also recorded. Initial analysis of small group interactions led to the development of codes and models focused on understanding interactions from an intersubjective perspective informed by Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. These models and codes were then iteratively used to generate and refine analytical statements and working hypotheses from further interrogation of the data. The pragmatic focus of this study is on the content of episodes of utterances. These episodes are part of the intersubjective level at which teaching and learning take place. The findings from this analysis add to the field by developing a technical and critical treatment of evidence of intersubjectivity in mathematics education. Understanding the intersection of meaningful communication, action, and practices at the small group level is argued to provide novel insights into practice and design for problemsolving groupwork in mathematics education. The contributions of this thesis include the development of an Intersubjective Framework for Analysis of small group interactions, evidence that this framework can be productively used to identify ways in which the development of collaborative understanding expresses itself at the small group level, how it breaks down and how it can be supported. Methodologically this work makes a claim to knowledge in the development of microanalyses of situated cognition informed by Habermasian social theory. This work explores the merits and limitations of the communicative perspective in understanding small group interactions in mathematics problem-solving situations. A central claim is that Habermas' sociological approach can be used productively to investigate small group interactions in mathematics classrooms. Theoretically this work makes a claim to knowledge in the development of a novel set of codes and models that can be used to analyse evidence of intersubjectivity through analysis of episodes of utterances in situ. This analytical framework is used to argue that small group interactions can be understood productively from a theoretical perspective of Communicative Action. These contributions suggest that insights from a perspective of Communicative Action can give educators critical pragmatic insights into curriculum design, structuring groupwork and associated pedagogy, and communicative (as opposed to instrumental or strategic) intervention in the support of intersubjective understanding.

This thesis is about change, and the impact of change on the restructuring of special educational needs provision. The impetus for my research came from my work with the National Association of Head Teachers, supporting school leaders in managing the education of a more diverse pupil population. The research relates to the Labour Government's policy to increase the number of children with more complex needs in mainstream schools. Following Baroness Warnock's (2005) call for a review of special educational needs, the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee carried out an ‘Inquiry'. Their final report (SEN: Third Report of Session 2005-06), identified high levels of dissatisfaction amongst parents and teachers, and it concluded that the Special Educational Needs framework was no longer fit for purpose. In response, the Labour Government stated that it was too early to carry out a review because their ‘Every Child Matters' initiative was still developing. However, they stated that, in future, local authorities would be required to demonstrate improved special educational needs provision when restructuring their overall educational provision. This significant response prompted me to explore the implementation of the restructuring of provision as several authorities were putting forward proposals for change during 2007-08. The research began in 2008. It is a piece of small-scale educational research which explores the perspectives of school leaders in one local authority and the local authority's documented evidence. The concepts of ‘inclusion' and ‘change' provided the foundation to develop my research study within a broad ‘constructivist interpretative' paradigm and, the direction to review relevant literature on inclusive education and on strategies for implementing change. It discusses the qualitative methods used to investigate my overarching research question: What is the nature and impact of change, in the restructuring of special educational needs provision? I set out to explore two aspects of the nature of change: the first objective was to investigate the process and the second was to investigate the impact of change. My intention was to tease out whether school leaders in mainstream schools, subject to competing government policies (‘inclusion' and ‘market' ideologies) would choose to increase their provision and the impact of proposed change on the individuals and schools involved. My fieldwork was carried out during 2008-09, and follow-up interviews were carried out with those respondents, who were directly involved in the restructuring of provision, during 2010-11. The findings illustrate the influence of individual values and attitudes and the importance of effective school leaders in driving forward reform. It describes the actions of the local authority during the process of implementing change and highlights the improvements that could be made during the stages of transition. Importantly, the significance is considered of internal and external influences that impact on the actions of school leaders and how they influenced the policies of the local authority. Each individual's, or body's, interaction within and between each level (i.e. national, local, school and individual levels), created an impact on the other levels, a process that was far from straightforward. A significant finding of the research was the importance of the interrelationship between these four dimensions, building on Fullan's (2003) tri-level reform. Although the findings demonstrated that to implement progressive change requires motivated school leaders, it also depends on the collaborative effort of all stakeholders involved. However, even with a concerted effort other unexpected events may alter its course: change may be influenced but it cannot be controlled. It is therefore important to develop and understand those strategies and dimensions that contribute to the effective implementation of ‘change' because, in the world of education, change is on going.

O presente trabalho se propõe a uma discussão sobre como pode ser encarada a questão da responsabilidade penal em relação às violações massivas de direitos humanos praticadas durante situações de repressão, considerando o caso brasileiro da edição da Lei n 6.683. Para tanto, apresenta-se o conceito de justiça de transição e o seu surgimento, que é acompanhado pela afirmação da proteção internacional dos direitos humanos. Este processo é dividido em três fases distintas, relacionadas ao fim da Segunda Guerra e o estabelecimento dos Tribunais de Nuremberg e Tóquio; à onda de democratização em algumas nações com o fim da Guerra-Fria e à criação dos tribunais internacionais e do TPI. Como forma de efetivação da justiça de transição, são apresentados os Princípios de Chicago, diretrizes a serem seguidas pelos Estados na transição democrática, que sugerem abordagens de diversas naturezas em relação às violações de direitos humanos. Como fundamento da justiça de transição, dando destaque à questão da responsabilização penal, são trazidos os dispositivos sobre o tema presentes em normas e tratados internacionais, enfatizando os aspectos do Sistema Interamericano de Direitos Humanos. Parte-se, em seguida, à apresentação do exemplo argentino na realização da justiça de transição sob o aspecto da declaração de inconstitucionalidade de suas leis de anistia, como meio de reflexão para o caso brasileiro. Conjugando os elementos anteriores, apresenta-se a situação brasileira no contexto da realização da justiça de transição, com o julgamento da ADPF 153 e com a condenação do Estado pela Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos. / This paper proposes a discussion on how it can be given to the issue of accountability in relation to the massive human rights violations committed during times of repression, considering the case of the Brazilian edition of the Law No. 6683. To this end, we present the concept of transitional justice and its appearance, which is accompanied by the statement of the international protection of human rights. This process is divided into three distinct phases, related to the end of World War II and the establishment of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, the wave of democratization in some countries with the end of the Cold War and the creation of international tribunals and the ICC. As a way of realization of transitional justice, presents the Chicago Principles, guidelines to be followed by states in democratic transition, suggesting approaches of different nature in relation to human rights violations. In support of transitional justice, highlighting the issue of accountability, the devices are brought on the present subject standards and treaties, emphasizing the inter-American Human Rights. Breaks, then the presentation of the Argentine example in the realization of transitional justice in the aspect of the declaration of unconstitutionality of their amnesty laws as a means of reflection for the Brazilian case. Combining the previous elements, it presents the situation of Brazilian the realization of transitional justice, with the trial of ADPF 153 and the condemnation of State for Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Este trabalho se constitui em um estudo de caso sobre as possibilidades e os limites da assunção de princípios democráticos na gestão escolar, tendo como cenário uma escola estadual situada no Município de Duque de Caxias. Nele, descreve-se e analisa-se a gestão escolar, considerando-se as interferências advindas da estrutura gestionária de ensino; além disso, apresenta-se um resgate sócio-histórico do processo que resultou na mudança de enfoque do termo administração para o termmo gestão escolar, aborda-se, ainda, a eestrutura e a organização da Secretaria Estadual de Educação do Rio de Janeiro e sua interferência na prática da gestão escolar. A metodologia utilizada lançou mão dos seguintes instrumentos: pesquisa bibliográfica, observação, análise documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas. Tais instrumentos possibilitaram identificar que: a gestão educacional da Rede Estadual de Ensino, do Rio de Janeiro, desenvolve uma prática pautada na concepção técnico -científica; a gestão da escola onde se realizou a pesquisa enfrenta limitações decorrentes das interferências da Rede de Ensino a que ela pertence e, a prática da gestão escolar apresenta alguns dos elementos essenciais para a assunção dos princípios democráticos. / The present work constitutes itself on a case study on the possibilities and limits of the assumption of democratic principles in school management, having as backdrop a state school situated in the city of Duque de Caxias. It describes and analyzes the practice of the school management at the investigated school, considering interference from the managerial presented a socio -historical process that resulted in the change of focus of the term school administration to the term school management; it is approached, still, the structure and the organization of the State Board of Education of Rio de Janeiro and its interference in the practice of school management. The used methodology was comprised by bibliographical research, observation, analysis of do cuments and semi- structured interviews. Those tools allowed to identify that: the educational management of the State Schools of Rio de Janeiro develops a practice based in the technical-scientific conception; the management of the school where it was mad e the survey has been facing limitation caused by the Education Network that it belongs, and the practice of school management presents some of the essential elements for the assumption of democratic principles.

Orientador: Plácida Leopoldina V. A. da Costa Santos / Banca: Mariângela Spotti Lopes Fujita / Banca: Marcos Luíz Mucheroni / Resumo: A informação é essencial neste limiar do Século XXI, assim como sua transmissão. A catalogação descritiva, como área da Biblioteconomia responsável por transmitir as informações contidas em acervos de qualquer natureza, por meio da construção de formas de representação, deve acompanhar a evolução das necessidades dos usuários. Esta constatação preocupa especialistas da área. A padronização, na representação das informações e documentos é imprescindível e também o objeto de trabalho da catalogação descritiva como forma de garantia do intercâmbio de registros bibliográficos. A preocupação cresce com a rapidez com que as informações são geradas e disponibilizadas em diferentes formas. Este trabalho propõe-se a analisar o estado da arte do esquema Resource Description and Access (RDA) elaborado pela International Federation of Libraries Associations (IFLA), para uso de catalogadores e bases de dados bibliográficos. A análise baseia-se em pesquisas bibliográficas on-line. A evolução da catalogação e seus códigos de regras; a influência das tecnologias nos meios de comunicação, especificamente na troca de informações bibliográficas; a compatibilidade de conceitos visando a comunicação eficiente entre máquina, catalogador e informações codificadas para atendimento dos usuários foram utilizadas para a construção da parte histórica do trabalho. O estudo do RDA foi elaborado reunindo-se as necessidades informacionais, a catalogação descritiva e o novo esquema para compreender sua abrangência e a sua possível aceitação internacional, como uma forma de possibilitar o controle bibliográfico e ampliar o acesso e uso das informações disponíveis nos mais diversos ambientes informacionais. O RDA, por ser um esquema em fase de elaboração somente pode ser analisado do ponto de vista teórico. Nossa análise verificou que o RDA é um esquema eficaz, por aliar a teoria à prática. / Abstract: Information and its transmission are essentials at the threshold of the XXI century Descriptive cataloging being an area of the Library Science is responsible for transmitting information existing inside of holdings of all types. This is made by building forms of representation and must follow the evolution of the needs of users. This affirmation worries specialists of the area. Standardization is indispensable in the representation of information and documents and it is also the aim of descriptive cataloging work; it is a grant for the exchange of bibliographic records. The worry increases as fast as the creation of new information available in different forms. The goal of this work is to analyze the state-of-the art of the standard "Resource Description and Access (RDA)" developed by the International Federation of Libraries Associations (IFLA) for catalogers and workers in bibliographic database. This work is founded in on-line bibliographic researches. The building of the historic of this work was based in the following factors: evolution of cataloging and its codes of rules; influence of technology in the communication media specifically in the exchange of bibliographic information; compatibility of concepts to reach an efficient communication between machine, cataloger and coded information to attend the user. This study of RDA was elaborated getting together the informational needs, the descriptive cataloging and the new standard, in order to understand its scope and if it is possible the international acceptance of it, as a form of bibliographic control as well as a way to enlarge the access and use of information available in the most different informational environments. Since RDA is a standard that is being developed, it may only be studied at the theoretical point of view. We verified that RDA is an effective standard since it links theory and practice. / Mestre

The work is concerned with development of valuation principles in German accounting from the history to the present with respect to recent reform on the modernization of the accounting system. Emphasis is placed on international intervention in the internal accounting system with definition of the major influences that have on valuation. Furthermore, changes are captured in the approaches to the valuation methods for selected assets and liabilities. The aim is to provide information on the method of accounting regulation in Germany and to evaluate the current accounting system in terms of classical balance theories. The work focuses on the principles of valuation, first from a general perspective and then from the perspective of specific valuation procedures.

Procurando obter ganhos sustentáveis de produtividade e qualidade no desenvolvimento de software, diversos modelos, formas de organização do trabalho e abordagens inovadoras foram desenvolvidos para auxiliar os gerentes de projeto. O presente trabalho propõe um modelo de gerenciamento de projetos, baseado nas metodologias ágeis de desenvolvimento de software (Extreme Programming e o Scrum), e nos princípios e valores do pensamento enxuto, originado na manufatura automobilística japonesa. Após a proposição do modelo, ele é aplicado em um estudo de caso, avaliando os resultados obtidos na combinação entre as metodologias ágeis e nos princípios e valores da produção enxuta. Em seguida, este modelo é analisado qualitativamente com o intuito de determinar suas vantagens de utilização e seu escopo de aplicação. Para tanto, recorreu-se a uma avaliação do modelo proposto e o tradicional modelo cascata, ainda amplamente adotado no setor de software, e mapeando como este modelo contorna os problemas apontados na literatura, advindos da utilização do modelo cascata. / Looking for sustainable gains in productivity and quality in the development of software, several models, forms of work organization and innovative approaches were developed to support software development managers. The present work proposes a model of project management, based on agile software development methodologies (Extreme Programming and Scrum) and on lean principles and values borrowed from the Japanese automobile manufacturing. After describing the proposed model, it is applied in a case study, describing the results of combining the agile software development methodologies with the lean production principles and values. After this, the model is qualitatively analyzed to determine its advantages and its scope of application. For this, the proposed model is evaluated with the traditional waterfall model - until now widely adopted in the software industry - and mapping how it addresses problems, cited in the literature, derived from the use of the waterfall model.