This thesis presents a study of three and four year old children attending preschool at a time of rapid expansion of this phase of education. There is strong evidence that the quality of the experience is the determining factor in the long term effectiveness of early years provision. However, quality is a contested concept with a range of viewpoints, defined by different stakeholders including children. The study builds on previous research and aims to clarify children’s perspectives on the quality of their preschool experiences and to consider how their viewpoint might influence policy and practice. The study examines successive policy initiatives in relation to children and families including the development of quality frameworks for early years practice. It considers policies that promote children’s participation based on children’s rights, and related theories of children as social agents, active in their own lives. The study discusses different approaches to quality early years provision, identifying two main positions, ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. The study explores alternative, co-constructed approaches to quality that involve children assessing their learning together with trusted adults, to prepare for future learning. This is a qualitative study using an ethnographic approach. Data were collected employing an adapted version of the Mosaic Approach which combines multiple methods. The study takes a case study approach to present the research stories of six children by detailing their perspectives on quality. These findings are presented as a taxonomy of viewpoints, focussed around a common framework of re-occurring categories. This represents the contribution to knowledge of the study. The taxonomy is presented both in the language of children and that of adults in order to emphasise the extent to which the voice of children is currently absent from discourses on quality. Children’s responses are presented as indicators of quality that could inform day to day practice and policy.

This research aims to develop understanding of how teachers’ experience of practising creative writing influences pedagogy in schools. The research is located within a literary studies domain, responding to the context in which creative writing is most commonly taught in schools and in higher education. The central research question explored is: • How is the pedagogy of creative writing in schools influenced by teachers’ creative writing practice? The research explores the premise that creative writing practice has the potential to raise teachers’ ‘confidence as writers’, enabling them to ‘provide better models for pupils’ (Ofsted, 2009: p.6). This thesis examines what ‘creative writing practice’ means in the context of developing pedagogy; considers how creative writing is conceptualised by teachers; and investigates how teachers’ creative writing practice connects to pedagogic methods and approaches. The research sub questions that underpin the research are: • How has creative writing been conceptualised in educational policy, and how do these conceptions influence pedagogy in schools? • Does the practice of creative writing influence teachers’ conceptualisations of creative writing, and, if so, what is the impact on pedagogy? • Does the practice of creative writing influence teachers’ perceptions of themselves as writers, and, if so, what is the impact on pedagogy? • Does the experience of working with writers influence teachers’ pedagogic approaches in the classroom, and if so, how? The research includes a case study involving 14 primary and secondary school teachers, engaged in developing their own creative writing practice under the guidance of professional writers. The case study approach enables exploration of the research questions through analysis of participants’ lived experience of creative writing practice and pedagogy. The analysis of the case study at the heart of this research is situated within an interpretive framework, acknowledging the complexity of multiple meanings at play in socio-cultural learning contexts. The analysis draws on Bruner’s exploration of how pedagogical approaches imply conceptions of the learner’s mind and pedagogy (Bruner, 1996), and considers the interplay between teachers’ experiences of creative writing, and their choice of pedagogical methods and approaches.

This doctoral study sets out to investigate how Key Stage 2, primary school children (aged between 7 and 11 years) are being taught to develop information seeking skills and strategies that will allow them to become critical and literate users of information. The methodological approach adopted for this research study is that of interpretivist ethnography. This represents a move away from the traditional quantifiable approaches used in Library and Information Science (LIS) and focuses on gathering data in the natural setting in order to offer a rich picture of the information seeking behaviour of a small group of Key Stage 2 children. In order to become an integrated part of the natural setting it was necessary to become immersed in the school for an extended period of time, one academic school year. Taking a grounded theory approach meant that it was possible, right at the beginning of the fieldwork, to identify situations as they occurred. During the field research, a rich picture emerged of the information seeking strategies and skills of the group of children participating in the study. As the field research progressed, themes and patterns were identified which were then examined against previous research in order to identify similarities or differences in the findings of this study with other studies. The themes that unfolded from the data offered an information seeking model that was specific to the group of Key Stage 2 children. Within the model a further theoretical framework is offered that postulates that a zone of optimal learning exists. The theory suggests that there is an optimal cognitive zone that is the place where new information is assimilated so that it can become knowledge. The zone of optimal learning is the place where a child moves from incomprehension of new information to a cognitive understanding of that information. Investigatingth e influencesu pont he children'si nformations eekingb ehaviour served to highlight both strengths and weaknesses in the ways in which the children developed their information seeking skills and strategies and with this in mind a set of four suggestions are offered that aim to support the way in which information seeking strategies are delivered to Key Stage 2 children based on the children that participated in this study.

Mathematical reasoning can be considered to be the pursuit of a line of enquiry to produce assertions and develop an argument to reach and justify conclusions. This involves processes such as conjecturing, generalising and forming arguments. The pursuit of a line of mathematical reasoning is not a routine process and perseverance is required to overcome difficulties. There is a lack of research on pedagogy to foster children’s perseverance in mathematical reasoning, hence this study sought to answer the research question: how can primary teachers improve children’s perseverance in mathematical reasoning? The study took place in two year 6 classes in different English schools. The study group comprised eight children, purposively selected for their limited capacity to persevere in mathematical reasoning. An action research approach was used to develop and evaluate two interventions. Data relating to the children’s cognitive and affective responses and the focus of their attention, a conative component, were collected by observation and interview. Data analysis synthesised the children’s reasoning processes with their affective responses and their conative focus. The use of this tripartite psychological classification to analyse children’s mathematical reasoning offered a new approach to analysing the interplay between cognition and affect in mathematics learning and revealed the role that engagement and focus play in both restricting and enabling children’s perseverance in mathematical reasoning. The interventions comprised providing children with representations that could be used in a provisional way and embedding a focus on generalising and convincing in mathematics lessons. These enabled children to improve their perseverance in mathematical reasoning; they were able to strive to pursue a line of enquiry and progress from making trials and spotting patterns to generalising and forming convincing arguments. This study found that children were not necessarily aware of when they encountered a difficulty. This lack of cognisance impacted on their capacity to apply the self-regulatory actions needed to monitor and adapt their use of reasoning processes. One outcome of this was that they tended towards repetitious actions, in particular, creating multiple trials even when they had spotted and formed conjectures about patterns. Their perseverance in mathematical reasoning was further compromised by their enjoyment of repetitious actions. When the children engaged in activities involving reasoning, their common affective response was pleasure, even in instances when they demonstrated limited perseverance. However, when they were able to persevere in reasoning so that they generalised and formed convincing arguments, they expressed pride and satisfaction. They attributed these emotions to their improved mathematical understanding. The bi-directional interplay between children’s cognition and affect in mathematics is discussed in literature; however, the impact of children’s focus on their cognitive understanding and affective experience augments existing literature.

An appreciation of the extent of one's own knowledge is known as metaknowledge and it has been argued that students' ability to distinguish between what they know, and what they do not, is an important influence on academic success. However, previous research suggests a general tendency for individuals to display overconfidence in their knowledge, by overestimating how much they know. This study assessed the ability of learners studying business in higher education to appreciate the extent of their own knowledge and investigated the association between this capability and academic achievement. It therefore contributes towards answering broader questions regarding how well individuals are able to assess their own capabilities and what the implications of this are. Quantitative methodology was employed and multiple-choice tests used to investigate how accurately students were able to assess the extent of their knowledge of issues addressed in their study programmes. Analysis of over 12,500 judgements provided by 508 respondents revealed a general tendency for overconfidence and indicated that this was greater for males, older participants and particularly, for Chinese students. Consequently, interventions designed to moderate overconfidence may be particularly valuable for these sub-groups. In terms of its potential implications for learning, the research indicated that better metaknowledge was positively associated with higher levels of academic performance, particularly for those in their first year studying at the university. Consequently, while metacognitive skills, such as accurate self-monitoring, are typically poorly addressed in business schools, the findings from this study suggest that initiatives to improve self monitoring accuracy may be effective in enhancing student learning. Additionally, such interventions have other potential benefits for learners, since metacognitive monitoring skills may also usefully inform lifestyle decisions, as well as improving the chances of success in business and may therefore be particularly beneficial for business students.

This work constructs a bridge across the "knowing-doing gap" of international staff exchange: the gap between strategy formulation and its execution within the constraints of a post-1992 university business school in the UK. It goes beyond the common, well-intentioned and yet vague statements involving the "encouragement" of international staff exchange to propose a model of execution through strategic entrepreneurship. The promotion of international staff mobility is a founding principle of the "Bologna Process", designed to create a converged system of higher education across Europe. Many UK "new" (ie post-1992) universities are engaged in the development of internationalisation strategies which include staff exchange. Meanwhile, the failure to execute strategy is increasingly acknowledged as a major problem in organisational performance. Using a first-, second and third-person Insider Action Research (AR) approach, the author initiated, planned, organised and implemented an international staff exchange between universities in the UK and France. Data generated were subjected to a double process of analysis in order to construct the new model. A policy of "subjectivity with transparency" and transcontextual credibility throughout enables the reader to judge transferability. Duality is the nature of this "bridge" and the simplistic transplant of the expatriation policies of commercial organisations is avoided. Concepts from the theoretical literature in three domains - strategic management and entrepreneurship in higher education, internationalisation of higher education and strategy execution through strategic entrepreneurship - are combined with the research analysis to propose that "strategic entrepreneurs" can execute the riskier elements of an internationalisation strategy, such as staff exchange. Members of the creative class, strategic entrepreneurs are attracted and motivated by the foundation of a diverse environment and entrepreneurial culture promoted by a university's values-driven, holistic approach to internationalisation. Their autonomous strategic behaviour must be facilitated by an execution-focussed organisational architecture. In a university, the overall approach to staff exchange should combine central and local (school-based) functions and resource both to develop strategic initiatives and to exploit tactical opportunities. This work broadens AR from education into strategic management, specifically linking the areas of strategic execution and strategic entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this research is to further understanding of faculty-based academics’ views on what influences their understandings, behaviours and attitudes towards their continuing professional development. Informed by critical realist ontology, it is argued that it is necessary to explore academics’ understandings and accounts of professional development in their practice context in order to gain a better understanding of the complexity and differential practices that underlie professional development in academia. In doing so, the research addresses the current under-representation in the literature of the voices of faculty academics about what influences their approaches to professional development. The data collection was carried out during the academic year 2007-8, using a qualitative multi-case study approach. Methods included semi-structured, narrative interviews with academics, more structured interviews with ‘key informants’ and examination of relevant institutional documents. Findings from this research have enabled new themes and areas for reflection to emerge about the constraints and enablements academics perceive in respect of their professional development. In particular, themes such as issues of interpretation and meaning; concepts of professional status and academic values; misaligned initiatives and priorities; the influence of supportive networks; and emergent personal, individual concerns have surfaced. The conclusion is drawn that the significance of agency raises the importance of opening the debate and responding to the ‘voices from below’.

Teachers' thinking underpins their actions, in various ways, consciously or nonconsciously, and therefore it is necessary to understand their thinking in order to understand their teaching. Part of such thinking concerns subject knowledge, which is an important, albeit often assumed, feature in professional practice. For primary school teachers who cover the breadth of the National Curriculum there are particular issues. In music, despite frequent reports from Ofsted referring to the good quality of teaching, there still appears to be considerable lack of confidence among such teachers, frequently linked with a perceived lack of subject knowledge. Subject knowledge in music is under-researched in this country and this small-scale study was intended to explore the nature of teachers' beliefs about music in education. In a qualitative case study approach, the teachers in a two-form-entry, inner-city primary school talked individually, in three separate sessions over the course of an academic year, about various aspects of music in education. They also constructed concept maps to represent their thinking. A process of inductive and iterative analysis led to the identification of four main findings concerning enjoyment, the value of music, issues relating to instrumental teaching and the use of schools' broadcasts. These aspects form the basis of a discussion which moves beyond the original research questions to build an orthogonal model that conceptualises and contextualises teachers' thinking within two dimensions representing their professional/non-professional lives and the formal/informal contexts of musical involvement, nested in their beliefs regarding the nature and value of music. It is suggested that this model might also apply to other subjects. There are implications from this study not only for teachers themselves and for the schools in which they work, but also for those involved in supporting student and practising teachers through ITE, INSET and CPD, as well as for policymakers.

Among educationalists there is some uncertainty about how best to teach children drawing skills and among psychologists there is uncertainty about how different approaches might influence children's drawing development. In the National Curriculum children are taught both expressive and representational drawing ability, but there is concern that the arts are being 'squeezed out' in favour of more 'academic' subjects. In contrast, children in Steiner schools experience less directive instruction in drawing, but experience an education where the arts and creativity are highly valued. However, little is known about the home drawing experiences of these pupils and the views of their teachers. This thesis aimed to identify similarities and differences in the drawing abilities and styles of pupils and the drawing attitudes and practices of the pupils, their parents and teachers. In study one expressive, representational and free drawings of 180 pupils (age 6 to 16 years old) were assessed for ability, style and creative intention. In study two 180 pupils, their teachers and parents were surveyed about attitudes and practices relevant to children's drawing experiences. Steiner pupils were found to have superior representational drawing ability but no consistent between-school differences were found in expressive drawing ability. Stylistic difference were evident in the free drawing. Drawing attitudes and practices of children were generally positive and few between-school differences identified. Parents and teachers associated with the Steiner schools tended to value drawing more highly, were more aware of the wider benefits of children engaging in art. However, National Curriculum teachers and parents tended to be more involved with children's drawing experiences. The studies presented in this thesis represent ground breaking research comparing drawing ability, and the art attitudes and practices that shape children's artistic experience in their respective Steiner and National Curriculum schools as well as their homes. More similarities were identified than anticipated. This suggests that school and home drawing environments may be less influential than previously thought. Alternatively, there might be fewer differences between the school types than the curricula suggest. Consequently, future research should consider the artistry of teachers and parents and observational data of classroom art lessons and home drawing experiences.

In the increasingly popular area of research into creativity in education; students’ perceptions of creativity are an important consideration for developing a creative environment. Consequently, student’s perceptions of creative thinking and practice are a key resource for educators to be innovative in creating educational excellence. The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ perceptions about their art classroom environments which either stimulate or inhibit the development of creative thinking and practices, in girls’ intermediate schools (12-15 years) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It addresses the following research question: Is it possible to improve perceptions of creative thinking and practices, of adolescent girls in Saudi Arabia, through control of art classroom environments? There were three parts to this study: firstly, the pre-intervention study to explore and identify a range of factors with potential to influence perceptions of creative thinking and practices; secondly, the main part of the study was the intervention to determine the impact of manipulating classroom variables with potential to influence perceptions of creative thinking and practices; and thirdly, follow up visits to determine whether the environmental changes, and the changes in perceptions, had continued. The samples used in the intervention study were students (n = 225) all from second year classes in nine secondary schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The research findings were obtained by observation using behaviour mapping and Likertscale questionnaires indicated that students’ perceptions of creative thinking and practices were improved through changing table and seating arrangement and wall displays. The contribution to new knowledge in this study will inform participants working within and related to the field of education and in particular art education, proposing considerations for appropriate improvements to learning environments by: · Developing a research process for identifying and testing environmental influences upon the perception of creative thinking and practices. · Evidencing how table and seating arrangement, and wall display, can improve perceptions of creative thinking and practice in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.