This study carried out as practitioner-research explores the new online collaborative learning experiences of a class of thirty-seven college students studying A-level chemistry in a blended learning context. It is a case-study with a multi-method interpretivist approach using observations, unsolicited meetings, VLE tracking system, students’ reflective journal, online informal discussions, questionnaires, focus groups and individual interviews. The students, used to traditional non-collaborative learning methods in the face-to-face class, demonstrated complex online behaviour patterns. Findings showed that the factors affecting these behaviours were of a situational, infrastructural and persona-related nature. Four key learning dispositions – resourcefulness, resilience, reciprocity and responsibility were identified as persona-related enablers. These dispositions were instrumental for changes in the students as learners. These included changes in epistemological beliefs, study patterns, study habits and above all, in learner roles and learning identities. Notable changes occurred in a group of learners who were initially reluctant to learn from the online environment. This study suggests that online learning can not only support a socio-constructive approach to learning to students in the online setting, but also induces similar student learning behaviours in the face-to-face class. The study also gives evidence of transformation in the academic and the positional student learning identities. The new interacting student learning identities projected a sense of belonging, of being valued and of connectedness in both the online and the face-to-face class community. This research is significant as a study of the impact of online experiences on college students in a blended learning context. Similar research contexts were scarce in the literature. It is valuable to the current teaching community in Malta, where the recent National Curriculum Framework (2012) has emphasised a socio-constructive approach to learning and where several educational institutions have started using VLEs to provide blended learning experiences.

The phenomenon of prior knowledge is deep rooted in the rhetoric of education. There is much discourse within pedagogy about its value and pivotal role in the formulation of new learning. However teachers are not able to use prior knowledge effectively as they do not have a working sense of it, but are using it intuitively and colloquially. While researchers provide a multitude of definitions of prior knowledge, no one has examined its elemental structure in a way that provides a model for teachers to use and support learning. This deficit is surprising as prior knowledge is a universally accepted pedagogical notion. The aim of this thesis is to fill the deficit and establish a structure of prior knowledge. The research was situated within Year 1 primary mathematics classrooms following eight teachers across five schools over one academic year. Using naturalistic research methodology, the data were gathered through audio recordings of the interactions between teachers and children during mathematics lessons. These recordings were analysed using grounded theory and content analysis. The research explored and produced a partial model of prior knowledge emerging from the data which includes at least eight interconnected elements – abstraction, acculturation, cognition, context, individual motivation, metacognition, perception and social group. These can be seen as elements which can shape children’s memory – the central feature of the prior knowledge that they bring to each mathematical task. Children may manifest different degrees of these elements, and possibly of others which did not appear in these data, in different proportions and balances. Such a prior knowledge model, even though it remains partial, gives a deeper understanding to a common but widely misunderstood term. The implications of knowing and understanding more and in more depth about the structure of prior knowledge are potentially far-reaching for children, schools, teachers and curriculum development.

The present study examines „relating‟ between Vietnamese teachers of English (VETs) and native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) when teaching EFL students at tertiary level in Vietnam. The aim is to understand the interpersonal dynamics between them and the factors influencing their relationships. A qualitative research study was carried out employing multiple data collection methods including semi-structured interviews, class observation, note-taking, audio/video recording of classes and interactions, and gathering of documents. Data were collected in two phases. In Phase 1 nine teachers were interviewed about their experiences of team-teaching, including the collection of data on 'rapport sensitive' incidents that they experienced when team-teaching. In Phase 2, two teaching pairs were studied through a longitudinal case study, gathering unfolding, narrative accounts of their experiences of team-teaching during one term. The data were analyzed from power relations and rapport perspectives in order to find out how the pairs related and what key factors influenced their relationships. A wide range of factors were found to impact on the smoothness of the teaching pair relationships, including role-related issues, time constraints and unequal workload share in team-teaching, pedagogic beliefs and teaching methods/styles, and communication issues. However, the teachers often formed good relationships outside class, and this ameliorated the relational challenges they experienced professionally. It is argued that since there has been little detail in the education field on theoretical concepts for analyzing team teachers' relationships and few empirical findings, this study contributes to research on 'relating' in team-teaching and suggests that future research into team-teaching would benefit from drawing on conceptual frameworks from within pragmatics.

In this introduction to the publications selected for examination for the degree of PhD in Education, at the University of Warwick, I will begin by outlining some the contextual influences on my published work. During my career, spanning over 30 years, I have had the privilege to be a head-teacher, local authority adviser, government policy adviser and a researcher. The publications that follow therefore focus on professional collaborative learning from these different vantage points, as these have inevitably influenced my writing.

As of 2015, forty golden years have passed since the language learning strategy (LLS) concept was first brought to wide attention by Joan Rubin (1975). Most previous LLS research, however, has been based on the cognitivist theoretical framework and conducted quantitatively, using survey tools. Surveys have essentially failed to capture the ‘situated experiences’ of language learners and their actual and dynamic use of LLSs across time and space. With the above in mind and being motivated by my personal experiences as one of thousands of Arab students moving abroad to pursue education through the medium of English, this thesis reports on a longitudinal phenomenographic inquiry into Arab university students’ creative efforts and engagement in learning English prior to and after their coming to the UK to attend both short and long academic programmes (i.e. the pre-sessional language course and a postgraduate programme). Underpinned by a sociocultural viewpoint, the inquiry consisted of four research stages, and espoused qualitative research methods for data collection, which lasted for 17 months. A series of individual semi-structured interviews provided the main data, with other qualitative methods such as learner diaries and written narrative supplementing the validity and reliability of the study. For data analysis, Braun and Clarke’s (2006, 2013) systematic guidelines for conducting thematic analysis (TA) were adopted to identify and interpret patterns of meaning (themes) across the qualitative data in rich detail. The data revealed that participants’ strategy use was non-static and always directed towards the achievement of a specific learning goal. As LLSs did not operate alone, a conceptual framework was proposed in this study to discern the distinctive features of participants’ situated strategy use in both contexts. This framework was based on Dörnyei’s (2009) distinction between two types of possible selves (i.e. the ideal self and the ought self), Higgins’ (2000) distinction between the promotion and prevention aspects of instrumentality, Malcolm’s (2013) concept of ‘required motivation’ and my own distinction between immature, short-term and long-term learning goals and that of compulsory (i.e. largely regulated by cultural beliefs) and voluntary (i.e. basically internalised within the self) strategies. The participants’ changing language learning goals and associated strategies in their homelands and the UK were largely shaped and regulated by their situated social networks, including family members, teachers, peers and others. The changes in assessment modes and the availability of language learning resources (e.g. technologies) were also found to have mediated their strategy use. This study concludes by providing recommendations for Arab students who are considering pursuing their studies abroad in English-speaking education systems, for study abroad programme designers and teachers in the host country, and for educators in the Arab and Asian countries by suggesting specific practical steps such as ‘adopting a near peer role modelling approach’ and ‘fostering the motivational force of International Posture and National Interest among students’. Further research is needed to examine the key role of contextual realities on learners’ strategy use, and to help teachers provide appropriate support to language learners in particular learning contexts.

This research project primarily focuses on the civic emotions and their relation with educational drama. Emotion and Reason are not always at odds and when combined contribute in the upgrade of our awareness of the world and the intelligence of our decision making processes. Emotions that are beneficial towards others and seem to cherish social solidarity are considered virtues, which are ‘other’-oriented. The practice of such virtues in social life can be regarded as a precious characteristic of a vigorous civic identity. Civic emotions are inextricable from the concept of citizenship, when seen as a bond that unites all citizens in their common space and fate. This thesis explores specifically the fundamental ‘other-regarding’ emotion of compassion, as a natural inclination of human kind which needs to be educated to be expressed appositively. Empathy can be strongly connected to the expression of compassion and becomes the way in which participatory drama works towards the direction of the cultivation of the civic emotions. Justice is viewed as the core essence of every healthy society and should become an irreplaceable trait of each citizen. It is closely related to compassion as the power that triggers the relevant thoughts and motivates kindness in public life. This research venture investigates how educational drama may provide opportunities for the cultivation of the civic emotions but also for the way children perceive the notions of civic emotions as they emerge in the space of educational drama or in real life. My ethnographic study involved a series of drama workshops in a class of students. The data gathered in this case study illustrate the way children face the issue of compassion, portraying the elements that encourage the expression of kind behaviour and also the factors that inhibit the practice of acts of care.

This thesis analyses the influence of the Hypnotherapy National Occupational Standards (H.NOS) on teaching and learning, and professionalism, amongst four groups: hypnosis and hypnotherapy practitioners, researchers, educators and professional organisations. H.NOS describe effective performance of a role, in terms of the knowledge, understanding and actions. The hypnotherapy profession has recently encountered voluntary regulation with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council. Practitioners whose training meets H.NOS are eligible for registration. In response to government initiatives, there is a progression towards professionalism of hypnotherapy, yet wide-spread review of the literature considered the lack of agreed definitions for hypnotherapy and hypnosis, despite a long history and diverse applications. There is little current research investigating any potential influence of the H.NOS, despite implications for current and future practice. Online quantitative questionnaires completed over a nine-month period assessed awareness of H.NOS and the consultation process, together with their influence on teaching and learning, professional bodies, competence and professionalism. Developed for this study and a unique contribution, the T.A.P. model (Thought, Action, Professionalism), was employed in the questionnaires, to enable respondents to classify their past training in relation to the model, where the H.NOS fits into the model, and where qualifications for practitioners and researchers would be located. Exploration and inferential analysis with chi-square tests and textual analysis of questionnaire comment boxes, indicated positive outcomes for both research questions regarding the influence of the H.NOS on teaching and learning, and the influence of H.NOS on professionalism. Original contributions to knowledge and practice comprise the T.A.P. model; the review of a diverse range of literature, and the unique survey and resulting data analysis, together with a range of planned and potential disseminations. Future directions for research include greater research following raising of H.NOS awareness, together with deeper exploration of the potential of the T.A.P. model and surveying practitioners about engagement in research. Recommendations are for an increase in awareness of H.NOS, more access for practitioners to research, and for an externally verified Hypnotherapy National Vocational Qualification for all using hypnosis, undertaken prior to specialisation.

Teachers are entering deputy headship and then deciding not to become headteachers. This is a double problem for the profession. Firstly, potential headteachers are being lost to that role, and secondly, career deputies block the route to headship and prevent ambitious deputies from getting that essential management experience that will effectively prepare them for headship. In Bromley, where this study was carried out, some deputies are getting good advice and support from their headteachers, are given real leadership development opportunities and are going on to become effective headteachers. However, some deputies are given low grade tasks and do not receive the support and encouragement from their headteachers that will lead them towards headship. Finally, there are some deputies who, although in a supportive environment, have decided that headship is not for them. Initially, a short survey of all primary schools in Bromley was conducted to gain an overall picture of deputy headship in Bromley. All schools were contacted to find out whether the deputy at the school was interested in becoming a headteacher at some stage in the future. During a period of twelve weeks, eleven primary headteachers were interviewed together with a senior Local Authority adviser. The aim of the work was to gain a picture of the state of deputy headship in one London Borough and establish what experiences and opportunities were given to deputy headteacher to prepare them for headship. This inquiry found that the majority of deputies in Bromley did not want to be headteachers and that their preparation experiences differs greatly from school to school. The study suggests that deputies should be given the opportunities and experiences that will prepare them for headship. Information from the literature review, the survey and interviews are analysed to construct a model for effective preparation for headship and to make recommendations for improved practice.

This study examines the balance of HEI-school responsibilities for secondary PGCE courses, and extends previous work in this dimension of partnership by moving beyond the perspective of HEI course managers through content analysis of HEI course documentation and interviews with HEI course leaders. The views of mentor, school ITT co-ordinator, university tutor, and student participants in these courses were also examined, through a questionnaire survey across ten HEI-school partnerships. More specifically, the aim has been to examine the balance of HEI-school responsibility for: course planning and organisation; the assessment of students' teaching; and the assessment of students' work other than teaching. Here, as in other aspects of the study, the experience of participants has been analysed at the level of the overall course, and from the perspective of each of the participant roles. A second, more extensive, aim of the study has been to establish the nature of these courses, particularly within a framework of what may be ailed 'technical', 'interpretive', and 'critical' conceptions of teaching This model has also been extended to the importance placed upon the foci of students' reflection, and other aspects of the nature of teachers', tutors' and students' work on PGCE courses. The implications of these course characteristics in terms of the forms of teacher professionalism associated with them provides a complementary theme which runs through the study. The latter part of this thesis includes a survey of four School Centred Initial Teacher Training Schemes. Differences between data from the HEI documentation, and the perspectives of HEI course leaders, and the teacher, tutor, and student participants have been examined. The association between the balance of HEI-school responsibilities and the nature of courses was also examined, with particular reference to the evident association of shared HEI-school course responsibilities with course experiences, which may support the development of extended forms of professionalism.

The assumptions underpinning this study are that in order to understand the real use of technology in teaching it is necessary to examine the everyday world of the university (Eisner & Peshkin, 1990, p. 99) and then to ‘tell it as it is’. The enquiry process is approached from a disciplinary context by capturing the views and actual practice of technology use in teaching of thirteen academics from different disciplinary fields within one university. A case study methodology framed the design of the study, requiring the collection of data from a variety of sources in order to describe the university which defined the study. My intention was to answer the following question: How is the use of technology shaped by the everyday teaching practice of academics within a university? The aim of the study therefore was to explore the use of technology by examining the academic’s views about how technology affected the way that they understood teaching. A feature of contemporary research into technology and teaching is an emphasis on small, context specific case studies. These often separate teaching and learning from other aspects of cultural practice, such as disciplinary and other institutional influences. In this study Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse and his categories of recognition and realisation, along with the concepts of classification and framing provided a detailed coding structure as a way of analysing the resulting interview data. Analysis of practical examples of technology use in teaching revealed that academics are influenced by ideological conceptions of epistemic and social relations that are inherent within their own values and beliefs about their own roles and those of students. The coding structure revealed a variety of pedagogic practice linked to vertical (i.e complex) language use or horizontal (i.e everyday) language use. The detailed case studies of technology use by the individual academics gave rise to four different categories of teaching - knowledge and knower modes of teaching, with a vocational or non-vocational focus. This thesis contributes to professional knowledge in this field because of the use of a social theory which highlights the complex relationship between technology and pedagogic discourse and the institutional and disciplinary forces that shape the relationship.