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Aims: Empirical evidence demonstrates successful expert nurses appointed as nurse lecturers in higher education find themselves as 'newcomers' to the role and organisation. New nurse lecturers often find their transition to higher education confusing and challenging. Using the conceptual framework of communities of practice, this study aims to provide original research into what induction means for new nurse lecturers, and gain an in-depth understanding of their perceptions and experiences of their induction into working in a multi-sited university. Method: A qualitative research methodology was employed, using the theoretical approach of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) developed by Smith, Flowers, and Larkin (2009). Eight lecturers, with between one to three years' experience as nurse lecturers, were recruited from one university in the North West of England. Purposive sampling was utilised and data was obtained through one-toone semi-structured interviews. Verbatim transcripts were analysed following the principles of IPA. Findings: Three super-ordinate themes emerged (partial transition, dual communities of practice, introduction), along with six sub-ordinate themes (expectations of the nurse educator role, career change, contextual influences, location and culture of sites, tick box exercise, and the limited role of the mentor). New nurse lecturers found transition stressful: key aspects included the culture shock and the career change of adopting their new academic identity. Changing identity from a nurse to an educator, working across the boundaries of both practice and academia, was a struggle, particularly in participants with visiting lecturer experience who had mistakenly perceived this would prepare them for the role. Early role preparation was essential to understanding the different cultures and processes within the university. Formal mentoring supported development of self-confidence, but its value was undermined due to the mentors' workload and lack of understanding of their role, which affected relationship building. Supportive heads of department, and informal mentoring and peer support, were essential in developing new academic identities. Conclusion: This study contributes to practice through the development of an induction framework for new nurse educators. This framework acknowledges the relevance of maintaining a dual community of practice for new nurse educators, in supporting their new identity and their dual continuing professional development. Practical outcomes include: development of an informational resource for new lecturers (including visiting lecturers); development of a community of learning with facilitated workshops and online information resources; development of mentor training and resources for mentors; and mentors being thoughtfully designated by heads of department, with hours attached to their workload for mentoring. A long term online community of practice is needed for new staff to keep in touch and share information. Heads of department need to take ownership of inductions to ensure that their staff feel welcomed and supported in their new environment, with regular evaluation taking place.

The purpose of this research is to discover how university lecturers in management subjects respond to the mix of local and international students in their classes. The aim is to develop a substantive theory based on a conceptual understanding of the main concern of lecturers working in a changing Higher Education context. The aim of developing theory rather than providing rich description led to the choice of Orthodox Grounded Theory as the methodology. Grounded Theory is an inductive methodology that provides the methods to conceptually generate the patterns that explain the behaviours of participants in the substantive area. This was relevant for the current research as I commenced with no explicit hypotheses and there was limited literature on the responses of university lecturers to teaching diverse groups of students, particularly a mix of local and international students. Interviews and observations were conducted with lecturers from both traditional and newer universities in Melbourne, and data analysed using open coding, categorising, constant comparison, theoretical sampling and coding, and frequent memoing. The main concern of respondents emerged as balancing professional capability with the requirements of a heterogeneous student population. The Basic Social Process and Core Category that resolves this concern is Maintaining Competence. Maintaining Competence is both a causal-consequence model, and a typology model consisting of four strategies � Distancing, Adapting, Clarifying and Relating. The emergent Grounded Theory of Maintaining Competence contributes to the extant literature, in particular the literature on professional competence, and the literature on teacher centred and student centred approaches and on contextual and contingency models of teaching. It adds to the latter by demonstrating the importance of the interplay of moderating variables, specifically Forces in the Lecturer and Forces in the Environment. The thesis adds also to the Grounded Theory literature in its explicit presentation of Orthodox Grounded Theory methods and its discussion of the research journey of a novice grounded theorist.

University lecturers have a job that is characterized by flexible working conditions and lack of boundaries. This study investigates how this is experienced by lecturers at a Swedish university and how they manage the flexibility in order to achieve a balance between work and leisure. The empirical part of the study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with five senior lecturers within the Faculty of Social Sciences. Boundary theory and Work / Family Border Theory are used to interpret the informants' stories. The study shows that senior lecturers have a mixed experience of flexible working conditions. On the one hand informants expressed positive aspects of having choices in their work in terms of time, space and content; on the other hand, informants recounted the difficulties that can arise when it comes to finding an appropriate balance between work and leisure. The strategies individuals deploy to manage flexible working vary in line with variations in experience and awareness.

Many studies evidence the importance of metacognition in successful learning. Metacognitive skills improve the academic outcomes of learners. Additionally, metacognitive skills build lifelong learning skills, which are transferable to employment and other contexts. As such, developing metacognition in students is of great value to universities as society as a whole. This study explores the perceptions of lecturers and student teachers in a College of Education at a University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) regarding the presence and promotion of metacognitive skills at the University in which the study took place. The study spanned three departments in the College, namely Kindergarten, Special Education, and Art Education. The study employs an interpretive research approach and case study methodology to gather this rich understanding of lecturers’ and students’ perceptions. Data were collected from twelve lecturers and twelve undergraduate students through a combination of lecture room observations, semi-structured interviews, and group interviews. The most significant finding emerging from this study is the lack of lecturer participants’ knowledge regarding metacognition generally. My study found that skills such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating skills were sometimes present in their teaching, but were not used to engage students in thinking metacognitively or developing their own metacognitive abilities. I found that metacognition was not present consistently or intentionally in lecture rooms. The findings further exposed some obstacles which could inhibit the promotion of metacognition in higher education in KSA. For example, traditional methods of rote learning were shown to discourage metacognitive thinking. Large student numbers and lecturers’ lack of time could prohibit lecturers from investing in teaching metacognitive skills to their students. Students’ apathy towards anything other than memorising facts to pass examinations and acquire grades could also demotivate them to learn valuable skills like metacognition without comprehensive changes to educational norms. The study identified multiple ways in which metacognition could be promoted in higher education in KSA. For example, diversifying teaching practices to include more active learning methods such as discussion and questioning would be more effective than the current prevalent method of lecturing and learning by memorising. Lecturers could role-model metacognitive skills to their students by incorporating metacognition into their own practice, and thus incorporate it into existing courses. Students could be motivated to develop metacognitive skills by discovering the benefits to them of metacognition on both their academic success and their future careers. The study’s findings supported the importance of including metacognition in higher education and advocating it to students as a valuable skill. Thus, there is a need to establish mechanisms or frameworks for integrating metacognition into higher education in KSA, and communities of practice which support the development of metacognitive skills among lecturers and student teachers who will be the teachers of tomorrow. I therefore offer a model with recommendations for practical uptake to expedite this, and support it with this study's evidence.

Submitted by Magalhães Madeira Ana Verena (madeira@ufba.br) on 2015-06-11T19:57:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE AVMADEIRA CD.PDF: 2140230 bytes, checksum: 6d2732fe6a352ffe3ed4d73fc2c4a490 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2015-08-28T17:23:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE AVMADEIRA CD.PDF: 2140230 bytes, checksum: 6d2732fe6a352ffe3ed4d73fc2c4a490 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-28T17:23:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE AVMADEIRA CD.PDF: 2140230 bytes, checksum: 6d2732fe6a352ffe3ed4d73fc2c4a490 (MD5) / CAPES - Programa de Doutorado Sanduiche no Exterior (PDSE) / Este trabalho trata de investigação acerca dos processos formativos, identitários e implicacionais de professores universitários, que lecionam disciplinas específicas, na formação de seus alunos como professores de Ciências e Biologia. Foi desenvolvido no âmbito dos cursos de licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas da União Metropolitana de Educação e Cultura (UNIME) e da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS), cujos Projetos Pedagógicos de Curso (PPC) estão em consonância com as normativas legais sobre formação de professores para a educação básica, derivadas da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (LDB). O estudo teve abordagem qualitativa, de cunho etnometodológico com centralidade nos princípios da etnopesquisa crítica e implicada. Como dispositivos de coleta de informações constam as narrativas dos docentes (Memoriais de Formação e Entrevistas Semiestruturadas), bem como os Diários de Observação de aulas e reuniões nas duas IES e respectivos PPCs. As informações assim produzidas foram analisadas a partir de procedimentos da Análise de Conteúdo. A interpretação, de base hermenêutica, se deu ao longo da pesquisa e valorizou o contexto de produção da linguagem, das práticas e dos etnométodos dos docentes. No processo de categorização dos processos formativos foram agrupadas as experiências relativas ao contexto familiar; à escolha profissional; à formação formal; à atividade profissional, incluídas pessoas de referência. Destacam-se a ênfase ao aprendizado pela prática, caracteristicamente isolada e pouco refletida, a falta de ações de formação continuada e a imitação. As identificações dos docentes com a profissão docente ou de biólogo, bem como os conflitos e tensões de identidade reflete um fenômeno de hibridação epistemológica e formativa. Na análise das implicações dos docentes na formação dos seus alunos a ênfase nos processos afetivos e libidinais como forma de vinculação à função de formador foi surpreendente. Os docentes também estabelecem implicações relativas à dedicação ao ensino; ao envolvimento com ações do curso (inclusive proposta curricular); às ações de articulação teoria/prática e ao investimento no desenvolvimento profissional. A legislação educacional pósLDB representa um marco acerca da formação de professores no Brasil, que está relacionada à Prática como Componente Curricular (PCC) e suas formas de recontextualização curricular. O Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (TCC) também se mostrou relevante. Assim as opções da UNIME e UEFS, ao favorecerem a implicação dos professores de disciplinas específicas na formação do aluno, avançam em superar dicotomias das licenciaturas, notadamente a formação inicial/prática profissional, bem como as dimensões pedagógica/específica no curso. No entanto, fica evidente a necessidade de investimento pessoal e institucional na profissionalização da docência por processos que considerem os estudos sobre educação de adultos e as experiências de caráter colaborativo de forma a transformar a realidade da formação de professores na universidade brasileira. / ABSTRACT This research involves the investigation of formative, identity and implicational processes for university lecturers who teach specific subjects to train their students as Science and Biology teachers. This was developed within the domain of degree courses in Biological Sciences at the Metropolitan Union of Education and Culture (União Metropolitana de Educação e Cultura - UNIME) and State University of Feira de Santana (Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana - UEFS), whose Pedagogical Course Projects (PPCs) are in line with the legal regulations on training teachers for basic education, deriving from the Law of Directives and Bases for National Education (LDB). The study had a qualitative approach, of an ethnomethodological nature, centered on the principles of critical and implied ethnoresearch. The lecturers’ accounts (training memoirs and semi-structured interviews), and Observation Diaries from lessons and meetings at the two higher education establishments (IES) and respective PPCs comprise information collection devices. The information produced was analyzed using Content Analysis procedures. Interpretation, of a hermeneutical basis, took place throughout the research and gave value to the context of the lecturers’ language production, practices and ethnomethods. Experiences related to the familiar context when categorizing the training processes were grouped together: professional choice; formal training and professional activity, including references. The emphasis on practical learning which is characteristically isolated and receives little reflection, the lack of continued training activities and imitations are highlighted. The lecturers’ identification with the teaching profession or as biologists and the conflicts and tensions of identity reflect a phenomenon of epistemological and formative hybridization. On analyzing the lecturers’ involvement when training their students, the emphasis on affective and libidinal processes as a way of linking to their role as teachers was surprising. The lecturers also establish involvement with regards to dedication to teaching and course actions (including the curricular proposal); connecting theory/practical activities and investment in professional development. Educational legislation following the LDB represents a landmark for teacher training in Brazil. This is related to Practice as a Curricular Component (PCC) and its forms of curricular recontextualization. The Course Completion Project (TCC) was also seen to be significant. Therefore the options at UNIME at UEFS, which favor the involvement of lecturers of specific subjects when teaching students, make progress in overcoming the dichotomies of degree courses, notably initial training/professional practice and the pedagogical/specific dimensions of the course. However, the need for personal and institutional investment to professionalize the teaching staff using a process which considers studies on adult education and collaborative experiences in order to transform the reality of teacher training in Brazilian universities is clear.