Search

"Community education would be an act of courage. A leap of faith. A reimagining of ourselves and each other." Participant 42. The intention of this research is to re-think English community education through a set of posthuman lenses, in order to re-imagine how it might adapt to make an effective contribution to twenty-first century lives. The definition of 'community education' proved slippery throughout, and my conception of it shifted a great deal throughout the lifetime of this research. If I could not pin it down, I hope at least to have held it still enough to stabilise the findings. Posthumanism offers the research a set of navigational tools, rather than a philosophy for life(though it can do that too). Instead of a traditional literature review, a posthuman 'cartography' attempts to map a political and theoretical landscape which guides the development of a bespoke methodology and inspires activist projects which run alongside the research and inform it in turn. Overlaid on this theoretical map is the material from amass observation survey which engaged just under 400 participants from an intentionally broad demographic (not just community educators). A final layer is provided by the mapping of an affirmative 'posthuman' ethics. The threads of enquiry which emerged are presented as a Community Education Imaginary, with existing and potential activist projects woven in and some recommendations for action identified. Five 'lines of flight' were identified, for research and activism. The writer is accompanied by a symbolic 'companion species' in the posthuman style: the figuration of the Bowerbird represents the affirmative ethics of the piece, which are woven through the narrative. The Imaginary presents a whole-hearted vision of community education as being a practice of care, diversity, equality, joy, love, openness, place, trust and unity. This has implications for the role of the educator, 'teacher'-training and professional identity, design and pedagogy, political influence, funding and organisational 'structure'. It is both practical and unapologetically utopian, containing within it the seeds of radical hope. The research narrative sprawls across centuries, philosophies, services and projects. I hope to find enough 'crossing places' to tell a coherent story.

This thesis examines the role of education for working-class pupils at 'Lillydown Primary', a state school for 3-11 year olds, in a former mining community in South Yorkshire. Through examining teachers' perceptions and practice, this critical ethnography engages with the complex ways in which pupils' experiences of education are not only shaped by wider structures and relations in capitalist society, but also by historical class-based performances and codes. The thesis enhances our understanding of how historical transmissions materialise and affect pupils' experiences of schooling and illustrates how particular values, relations, and performances, specific to the locale, are transmitted and retraditionalised across various spaces within the school, in often subtle and multiple ways. The research draws on neo-Marxist analyses of education and society, and uses Avery Gordon's notion of 'social haunting' to understand the socio-historical context in which schooling takes place. This, it is argued, provides a powerful way of conceptualising the educational experiences of children at Lillydown Primary, and those of working-class communities more broadly. Whilst the notion of social haunting provides the backdrop to the thesis, I argue that we must move beyond conceptualisations of social haunting as always registering the harm, the loss, and social injustice if we are to fully understand the interplay of class, education, and social change, and potentially transform experiences of schooling for the working class. A haunting, this thesis suggests, must also register the 'goodness' of our ghosts. We must reckon with and harness the potentiality of all facets of the ghosts of those we study - the loss, the social violence, and the goodness - to reimagine and transform the nature of schooling in contemporary capitalist society.

This thesis includes and reviews six publications, drawn from the contexts of adult literacy and higher education, and sets them in the context of the learning of adults. There are two underpinning concepts that guide the thesis: that ideas structure the social spaces we inhabit through dominant discourses; that learning is socially negotiated, shaped by social structures and is part of a social process of identity formation. These concepts are followed by two main themes. The first is that conceptualisations of the relationship between policy, pedagogy and equity have a strong impact on learning because the dominant neoliberal discourse shapes the expected outcomes of education through its focus on the economic and this narrows the pedagogic options available to students. This discourse also leads to narrow conceptions of equity that focus on improving individual skills deficits so that people become more employable. However, although this economic focus favours narrow skills-and qualifications-based outcomes, practitioners have been able to resist these limiting outcomes by prioritising participants' own goals and including the affective dimension of learning. This results in a broad conceptualisation of social justice that prioritises change that leads to redistribution, recognition and democratic decision-making. The second theme is focused on changes in learning identities, which are conceptualised not as differences that are inherent to the individual, but rather as being created in interaction between the individual and their social worlds. This means that, although relationships of power shape what are assumed to be valuable practices, when knowledge and experiences are recognized and students are members of supportive groups then these assumptions can be questioned and changed.

This ethnographic study examines the role of public libraries in supporting lifelong learning (LLL) activities. It was undertaken in a library in the North of England. This study adopted the community of practice (CoP) as a conceptual framework to highlight the importance of the public library as a lifelong learning institution and to explore the significance of the knowledge and skills that are developed through social interaction with learners (users of the library) and librarians and the effects of that on users’ learning and identity. Fieldwork was conducted in the library during a period of nine months. Participant observation and unstructured interviews with 11 librarians, semi-structured interviews with 48 users, along with documentary analysis, were used to generate qualitative data on the library as a lifelong learning institution and the role of librarians in supporting lifelong learning activities. The findings reveal the potential for the public library to be a lifelong learning institution which are: the stimulating learning environment of the library; diversity in the library; a variety of learning resources and accessible facilities as well as cooperation with other organisations in the community. The findings also suggest that the library has integrated social, economic and educational effects on both individuals and communities. The library offers equal and free learning opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background, which provides learners with on-going skills. In this sense, the library is considered as key to unlocking inequality. The findings reveal that the library achieves social justice, fosters social cohesion and prevents social isolation. In addition, the public library plays a vital role in promoting individuals’ health and well-being through bibliotherapy sessions. The findings also show that the library constructs learners’ identities as they become confident, independent learners, critical thinkers and active citizens. On an economic level, the library has a direct and indirect economic impact on individuals, as well as on the whole community. The direct role has been demonstrated by saving users money and supporting people to find jobs as well as starting up their own businesses. Its indirect role is demonstrated though saving money for the public Exchequer, such as the NHS. However, the library faces challenges which affect the quality of delivering those services such as funding cuts, leading to the closure of library buildings, lack of public perception of the library’s value and misunderstanding the rules by the users. The study also highlights that the librarians play a significant role in supporting lifelong learning activities. The librarians deliver the learning sessions as proficient teachers. They also support library users by guiding them to access the valuable information resources and learning sessions which meet their needs. This study shows that there are criteria for librarians to be able to support LLL activities. However, the data indicates that the librarians face challenges such as replacing them with volunteers to run the library services. In addition, there is a lack of public awareness about their significant role in the community.

This is a narrative inquiry in which I asked six master's level students at a University in the North of England to reflect on their experience of using social media as the learning platform for part of a taught module. I was motivated by the growing ubiquity of such approaches in higher education and by the need to develop rational, just and sustainable online pedagogies that are alert to both the opportunities and threats of this shift in medium. My research questions, framed from a Bourdieusian perspective were: - To what extent is symbolic violence evident within a social learning network for master's level students at a UK University? - What forms does such symbolic violence take and how are these forms affected by the medium? - What kinds of dispositions, abilities and assets constitute and confer capital in this setting? In answering these questions, I trace symbolic violence in the online exchanges between participants and in the consequences of those exchanges. I develop an index of digital capital to describe the dispositions, abilities and assets that they needed to profit from learning in this way, along with a notion of digital hiatus to describe what happened when they lacked such capital. At the same time, I acknowledge the positive impacts of this approach on some of the participants. I locate this research within the literature on social media use for education and more specifically within the subset of that literature that uses Bourdieu's ideas to explore digital inequality. I also locate it within the institutional context of a post-1992 UK university, the national policy context and the economic context for the growing use of technology in Education. I conclude by reviewing the benefits and limitations of the methodology and theoretical frameworks adopted and by considering the potential uses of my index of digital capital, identifying how this might be explored in future studies.

This study explores the impact of government-driven change (DfEE, 198; DfES, 2006, DCSF, 2008; DfE, 2017b), within a sector largely comprising privately owned and managed organisations, on how individual practitioners understand their role and their professional identity. Workforce reform strategies included the introduction of sector-endorsed degrees to promote the use of critical reflection to raise the quality of practice, a skill understood to develop confidence, autonomy and agency in practitioners (Moss, 2006; Osgood, 2010), for which a personal vision of practice (Dyer and Taylor, 2012) is required. This raises a potential tension between the empowering nature of reflection, and expectations of compliance with government-led standards and practice guidance. This study explores how this shapes graduate practitioners’ understanding and articulation of professional identity, and their understanding of their professional status and agency. 23 semi-structured interviews were conducted, within which participants shared narratives of their practice experience, discussing what they considered to be strong and weak practice, and how they prioritised the different aspects of their role. These were analysed using the Listening Guide (Doucet and Mauthner, 2008), an approach selected for its effectiveness in drawing attention to the voice and the stories of narrators, to understand how they perceive their world and themselves within it. The data analysis draws on literature exploring the nature of early years practice, power relations within the sector, and the formation of professions. This study shows that these participants understand professionalism and their role in terms of the relationships they form within their own organisations, privileging interpersonal skills over abstract, high level knowledge, and presenting these as personal values rather than professional ethics. By using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; 1986), this study identifies that these participants engage with their sector largely within the micro-and meso-systems of early years practice, limiting their agency as a professional workforce. It is isolation, rather than lack of knowledge, that restricts their agency, from other practitioners within the workforce, from the politics that drive change within the sector, and also from the research community that produces the knowledge they use to underpin their practice. This study concludes with curricular and pedagogic implications for professional educators within the sector, and also identifies how the workforce itself might more closely engage with the wider systems that impact on their sector.

Oral communication apprehension,particularly its subset public speaking anxiety,has been widely reported as a problem for Accountancy students and a concern for employers who often find graduates underprepared for roles that no longer fit the stereotype of the reticent accountant. This thesis provides a case study of an intervention in which year one accountancy undergraduates deliver three group presentations which aim to develop presentation skills and ease the anxiety felt by many towards presenting. The intervention is part of a core module which aims to help students develop a range of skills relevant to study and employability. The main aim of the study is to develop a theoretical framework for the intervention underpinned by Illeris's (2009) three dimensional conception of learning. The study also aims to map the changes in public speaking anxiety exhibited by the students, identifies factors which influence student apprehension towards public speaking on entering university and assesses, with a particular focus on self-efficacy, what features of the intervention the most apprehensive students believe help ease apprehension towards presentations. The study is a critical realist investigation, drawing on evidence from McCroskey's (1970) widely used PRCA-24 questionnaire as well as reflections and research conversations provided by the most apprehensive presenters. Consistent with most previous studies, public speaking anxiety was found to be the mode of oral communication that created the greatest apprehension amongst students. The study also found that average apprehension for public speaking fell across all cohorts as well as for the highly apprehensive students. The research revealed previous experiences of presenting to be a key factor in helping those who claimed that they had overcome apprehension towards presenting. Those indicating high apprehension were often most concerned about aspects of the audience, while confident students most frequently cited knowledge of the topic being presented and adequate preparation as the reasons for their assuredness. During the intervention, highly apprehensive students revealed a variety of factors as contributing to reduced apprehension, many of which were sources of self-efficacy. The study demonstrates that Illeris's three dimensional model of learning should include self-efficacy as an element of the incentive dimension of learning. The study has a number of implications for future research and practice, including the need for further studies into interventions which have a similar purpose,in order to gain a broader view of what can work in helping apprehensive students develop skills and confidence as presenters. For practitioners, the study supports the use of a multifaceted intervention as well as the implementation of a progression from simple low stakes to more complex high stakes presentations.

This thesis analyses the mediation of globalisation on higher education in Vietnam (VHE) in policy (the Agenda of reforming VHE 2006-2020–the Agenda), the universities (public institutional changes), and individual practitioners (reform imaginaries). Using the critical interpretive paradigm, it draws on Appadurai’s (2001) vernacular globalisation, Ball’s (1993) textual and discursive sides of policy, Gale’s (2003) the “who” in realising policy, Rizvi and Lingard’s (2010) globalising education policy, and Weaver-Hightower’s (2010) policy ecology. It was designed in two parts: the analysis of the Agenda and the comparative case studies of three public universities. Data include policy documents, 22 semi-structured interviews with three groups of university leaders and retired senior policy-makers, and fieldwork notes. This thesis argues for the indirect but significant influence of globalisation on the Agenda’s reform aspirations, public institutional changes, and individual perspectives. It demonstrates changes and transformations of VHE from an inward to an outward system; from the State-controlled system to the State-supervised system; from the State-owned system to the multiple-owned system; and lastly from national to global and back. Despite the Agenda’s great expectations, it is unknown to leaders of three public universities. Thus, its reform solutions remain policy aspirations whilst institutional changes are ongoing without their direct link to the Agenda. These public universities are at the threshold of transformation marked by their beginning of being autonomous institutions. If the Agenda focuses on the VHE’s future scenarios, reform imaginaries generate insight into the present unsettled practices. This study contributes to the discussion of globalisation and higher education in Vietnam where what is global about reforming VHE is present but less powerful than what is national about it. The country’s historical consequences, cultural traditions, and ideological commitments alter the nature and method of global influences that are manifested in policy and institutional changes.

For too long, transnational higher education (TNE) has been linked to discourse predominately focused upon strategic implementation, quality assurance and pedagogy. Whilst these are important when designing and managing cross-border programmes, there is a lack of research which focuses on the way in which social interactions influence the pace, and development of TNE partnerships. How faculty members engage with each other across borders and interpret each other’s actions and associate meanings are arguably critical to the way international partnerships develop. The research presented aims to positively contribute towards an understanding of how activity undertaken by faculty members at the operational stage of TNE ‘joint’ partnerships, affect the development of social capital, and the effect this has on a partnership’s overall transformation. Embedded within a critical realist paradigm, representing a stratified and transformational ontology, appreciative of both the objective and subjective dimensions of reality (Bhaskar, 2008) a multiple-case study design comprising of two Sino-British ‘joint’ partnerships provides the method in which to analyse the operational practices of faculty members. Drawing upon data taken from interviews conducted in China and the UK, data is analysed using various theoretical frameworks, including third generation cultural historical activity theory (CHAT)(Engeström 2001), transformational model of social action (TMSA) (Archer, 1995) and elements of social action theory (Weber, 1978). This research concludes, that for Sino-British ‘joint’ partnerships to positively progress and become institutionalised (Eddy, 2010) over time, those tasked with initiating international alliances should consider the development of relationships between operational faculty members. Partnership design and construction is critical in enabling these relationships to develop. Findings suggest that three underlying mechanisms, time, historicity (legacies), culture and motive, influence the activities of faculty members. Structures and systems that develop over time must consider these dimensions, so that faculty member communication and emotional responses remain positive, thereby encouraging the access and mobilisation of resources embedded in the partnership network. Moreover, the consequences of such social interactions are to produce affective regard, respect, trust and confidence amongst operational employees. Faculty member relationships are fundamental in ensuring Sino-British partnerships positively transform, and strengthen over time.

This thesis investigates the perceptions of former Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees in the post-compulsory sector, in an attempt to identify how their ITT influenced their practice as teachers within the sector. It analyses the perceptions of former trainees, gleaned through 21 semi-structured interviews and 35 completed questionnaires; together with semi-structured interviews of 5 managers of teaching staff from the sector, who employ university-led ITT for the development of their staff. The research employed a phenomenographical approach, in that it considered the perspectives and interpretations of the respondents to be wholly paramount. The study has found that initial teacher training in the post-compulsory sector produces teachers who experience perceptions of enhancement in three key ways. The first is that they are more connected with the sector, connected with their institutions and connected with the realities of teaching following their teacher education. The second is that they have a greater sense of self, together with a greater sense of professionalism, and carry more practical and pedagogical skills into the workplace following their teacher education. The third relates to their commitment to continuing professional development, and their ability to identify opportunities and necessities for their own development. The contribution to knowledge involves the creation of a middle range theory of the influence of initial teacher training on professional practice, developed from the three factors alluded to above, and postulated in the form of a model of conceptions demonstrating the influence of post-compulsory teacher training on its trainees. Additionally, it also makes recommendations to policy makers in ITT, including that the current emphasis on subject specialist teaching is reconsidered and clarified; and that the current government’s removal of compulsory completion of ITT for teachers in the sector is dissonant with the concepts of professionalism existing in both academic literature, and the perceptions of the participants in this study.

This thesis has been developed around a qualitative research project which explores the development of an inclusive school vision that school leaders hold for their schools. The research project employs life history methods, and the knowledge claims made are generated through narratives created from interviews with six (6) head-teachers of primary schools in Greece. The research builds its theoretical concepts upon an interdisciplinary context using literature from the fields of inclusive education studies, educational leadership, organisational management, and complexity theory. The study focuses on the exploration of the experiences and life histories of the head-teachers, and aims to explore the content of their vision and the process of its emergence in the school organisation. The analysis process relates the stories of the participants around major themes emanating from thematic analysis, and employs tenets of complexity theory to conceptualise the development of vision formation as a change process. The discussion developed discloses the importance of the individual meaning and contextual circumstances in the understanding and implementation of what constitutes an inclusive form of education. The findings of the study, as formulated through interpretation, suggest that the formation of an inclusive vision is a complex and ongoing process driven by personal values and incentives, and developed through empowering practices. The theoretical discussion that emerges from the study highlights the contribution to knowledge of this thesis by discussing the concept of vision as a process of leadership development in the context of inclusive education. The study offers valuable insights over the process of vision formation as its emergence is an under-researched area in the field of inclusive education. This thesis results in a discussion over the significance of a complexity theorisation over the meaning of inclusive education by considering the conceptual and research implication that such a view entails.

This thesis is an investigation of the reasons why and ways in which teachers in English Further Education practise critical pedagogy within a neoliberal policy context. It presents new findings in terms of how and why teachers engage in critical pedagogy; it also presents an original contribution to the field by offering a hermeneutical tool, drawn from Slavko Splichal’s work in communications studies, for understanding the operation of neoliberal hegemony in education and elsewhere. This analytic tool illuminates potential practical and theoretical approaches which may be helpful in the development of counter-hegemonic resistance to neoliberalism. The thesis argues that neoliberalism has become hegemonic through a reversal of Enlightenment values and priorities and that it is therefore possible to combat the neoliberal advance by a return to the Enlightenment emphasis upon the use of critical reason in public life, but with an added recognition of the impact of power relations shaping both public and private spheres. The approach is interpretivist and critical and has both theoretical and practical aims and outcomes. It is based on ten semi-structured interviews with teachers in a range of professional contexts in English Further Education. In terms of practice, the thesis resulted in the establishment of a collaborative group of critical educators in the north of England, as well as the founding of a new sixth form college as a site where critical approaches are welcome and encouraged.

The radical and transformative potential of Web 2.0 tools to impact on learning has been widely discussed. Their promise is of participative, collaborative learning in which students are producers of knowledge, connected in learning communities. This thesis examines Web 2.0 tools in use in teaching and learning in a ‘post 1992’ university in the United Kingdom between 2009 and 2012. The focus is on how lecturers make use of the tools in their teaching; how the radical potential of these tools is harnessed in practice and how tensions and contradictions between Web 2.0 and traditional ways of learning are mediated. This phenomenological in-depth study utilises a small sample of lecturers, the ‘early adopters’ of Web 2.0 technologies, and focuses on their personal journeys in relation to making changes in their pedagogic and broader academic and professional practices. The study concludes that early adopters have similarities, independent of the subject that they teach, in terms of their beliefs and attributes: they are willing to experiment with change: they are confident in their approach to Technology Enhanced Learning: they understand the radical pedagogical possibilities of the application of Web 2.0 tools: they balance risks associated with adopting new practices with an understanding of their potential: they are willing to invest time in exploring and evaluating Technology Enhanced Learning. The motivation that drives the early adopters to adopt new Technology Enhanced Learning practices is their commitment to enhancing their students’ experience by making the learning more participative and collaborative. They believe that Web 2.0 practices have the potential to support this objective. Whilst change can be ontologically challenging when adopting practices which are disruptive to existing norms and routines, these early adopters do not experience adoption of Web 2.0 tools in this way. This thesis argues that this is because the changes are concomitant with the early adopters’ orientation to teaching and learning. The study also highlights the complexities of the decision to adopt new practices which can be emotionally challenging, associated with feelings of uncertainly or liminality, and involve juggling conflicted notions of the self and ideas of ‘giving up’. The study adapts Sharpe and Beetham’s Digital Literacies Framework and proposes the Digital Practitioner Framework depicting lecturers’ characteristics in relation to the adoption of Technology Enhanced Learning practices. The model is holistic, in that it represents not just the skills associated with being a digital practitioner, but also beliefs and values, practices and access. The model is used to understand the process of adoption of technology mediated learning by the early adopters in this higher education institution. The implications for lecturers’ development are also discussed.

There is a paucity of literature in transition to H.E. which examines transition through the context in which students learn. Much of the transition research is under theorised and draws upon a student deficit discourse. However, in recent years there has been a shift in the transition literature to consider socio-cultural influences. Such understandings demand ethnographic data to fully explore the interaction of person, process and context. The research utilised the ethnographic method to investigate the experiences of first year undergraduate psychology students making the transition in to Higher Education. A socio cultural approach to teaching and learning was taken drawing upon the work of Vygotsky, Lave and Wenger and Bronfenbrenner to understand the practices which influence transition. The study explored and analysed the academic practices which construct the transition environment leading to a reflection on professional practice in planning undergraduate curricula. The data sources included observation, informal conversation, semi structured and focus group interviews and document analysis. Narrative and theoretical thematic analyses were undertaken. The analysis considers practices which enabled participation during transition and also practices which delayed or prevented successful engagement. The key findings indicate that the notion of independent learning in H.E. influenced transition and shaped the identities and participation of both students and academics. Both proximal and distal socio cultural influences were seen to shape participation in the community. A central recommendation is made to reconceptualise the foundation year as a transition year. This would involve critical reflection on practices at the institutional, departmental and individual level.

This study examines the Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) policy initiative, which was instigated by the „New Labour‟ Government in 2003. The policy was intended to create an employer demand-led system of curriculum development for education and training in the Learning and Skills Sector within the United Kingdom. Sector Skills Councils (SSC) were tasked with implementing this policy initiative. This study explores the reasons why the SSA policy initiative failed to achieve the ambitions that the Government had for it. The methodology utilised by this study was grounded in reflexivity, with the author acting as a participant/key informant in the primary data collection. The primary data underpinning this study was obtained predominantly from email correspondence and was complemented by documents emanating from the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) and the governments‟ of the devolved nations‟ of the UK and the then nine English regions, as well as the SSCs. The study argues that existing theorisations of policy fail to grasp the complexity of the processes surrounding the development of SSAs and consequently need to be developed further. Neo-pluralism provides a vehicle to advance theoretical understandings of policy processes in general and the SSA process in particular. The study concludes that a number of issues resulted in the failure of the SSA process, key amongst which was the involvement of the devolved nations and English regions of the UK in this process, whereby these constituencies appropriated the SSA to serve their own agendas, which were not those of the national government.

This investigation analyses the production and reproduction of class-based social inequality within the Further Education and Skills system in England, with a particular focus on the years of Labour government following the 1997 General Election. New Labour policy on further education (FE) continually emphasised the importance of reforming the sector for a dual role: contributing to UK economic competitiveness by expanding the skills base; and promoting social inclusion by integrating vulnerable people into job markets and society more broadly. The published work submitted here investigates how this 'reform agenda' unfolded in three key aspects of FE provision, and examines the ways in which inequality continued to be produced and reproduced, in spite of the proposed key role for FE in social inclusion. The aspects considered are the training and workplace development of FE teachers, the rehabilitation of creativity within discourses of knowledge economy and social cohesion, and programmes for young people at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training). In addition to the published work, a commentary outlines the context and main arguments of each paper, explains my contribution to the three co-authored publications and discusses the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the investigation. The commentary concludes by discussing the overall contribution to knowledge of the work and its theoretical significance.

The aim of this research was to determine whether cultural diversity had any impact on the quality of learning interactions used in Problem Based Learning (PBL). This qualitative, interpretive study followed one culturally diverse group of 11 students on their first year of an undergraduate Diagnostic Radiography programme. Data comprised video footage of 10 PBL tutorials, and individual and focus group interviews, collected over the period of one academic year between 2007 and 2008. A Grounded Theory (GT) approach was used to manage the data and construct the argument. Interactions were explored using Discourse Analysis (DA), employing the constructs of Face, Politeness and Rapport Management (RM) to understand how students managed the communicative demands of PBL to achieve their learning goal. The study found that PBL requires students to engage in face-threatening behaviours to a greater extent than more traditional learning methods, because it expects the students to discuss subjects of which they have little prior knowledge and then puts student centre-stage for planning learning objectives and delivering the learning to others. Members of culturally diverse learning groups may have difficulty in finding a common strategy of communication for PBL because their differences make it difficult to predict how they will be judged by others in the group. Furthermore, reducing social distance, which would overcome this dilemma, is more difficult in groups where the individuals are culturally diverse. Age diversity, as an influential factor, featured highly in the group studied. A Sociopragmatic Interactional Principle (SIP) of equity-autonomy predominated in the group’s interactions as a result of these issues. This ethos meant that the students opted for superficial learning interactions which were confirmative rather than critical. It appears the strength of Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) in PBL is extremely high for such a group and that the impact of socialisation for reducing social distance, inhibited because of cultural diversity, has an influential role in reducing the impact of face. The findings of this study can be used by tutors to understand the communicative demands made on students in PBL. Face threat might be lessened either by giving students more freedom to feel they are in control of the PBL tutorial rather than being constrained by notions of the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’ way to participate, or conversely, providing a more structured process to legitimise FTAs. The developing ethos of the group may help to identify which of these approaches is most suitable to the needs of the group. The study also highlights the importance of promoting off-task social engagement for PBL groups, especially culturally diverse groups where members do not normally socialise outside the tutorial.

This study identifies and analyses issues pertinent to the expanding Higher Education (HE) in Further Education (FE) provision through partnerships as they relate to policy implementation, particularly of the widening participation agenda of the New Labour government, 1997 - 2010, and the resulting impact on the actors in such partnerships. It explores the perceptions of the students and FE staff who are participants in partnerships and the role partnerships play in the government’s policy objectives in responding to the perceived demands of the economy within a neo-liberalist policy position. The function of how such partnerships have contributed to the positioning of HE in FE and how HE in FE is positioned within the emerging stratified HE landscape; an envisioned model of this landscape is produced. It focuses on foundation degree students as these are said to epitomise the type of students that are found within such partnership provision during this period. Student perceptions of their studies are highlighted, revealing some differences between younger, full-time students and those who are older and part-time. The study uses a critical approach, and in particular critical hermeneutics, to inform the research, frame questions and analyse both the present landscape of partnerships between HE and FE, as well as the findings from the empirical study. The application of a critical approach to this domain will be interrogated and the value of such an approach will be evaluated, including future possibilities and dissemination.

This thesis analyses the college placement element of pre-service initial teacher training (ITT) and its impact on ideas about teaching in Further Education (FE). It considers both trainees and serving teachers to investigate this impact on ideas in relation to individuals’ experiences of placement and in relation to ideas held in general society by distinguishing cultures and questioning how they each shape notions about teaching. The placement experience is examined within the broad context of work-based learning (WBL) and the thesis draws on and assesses the explanatory power of three theorisations commonly adopted within WBL research; communities of practice; Cultural Historical Activity Theory; and Bourdieu’s concepts of field and habitus. Though trainees’ experience of the placement is characterised by messiness and diversity, the small groups they work within at colleges generally cannot be defined as self-sustaining cultures. Moreover, ideas about teaching held in society are often more influential on trainees’ development than the particular situation of their placement during training, even where trainees are placed within distinctive cultures. Trainee and serving teachers in FE, therefore, experience a hierarchy of influences, including government policy, as well as concomitant tensions between agency and control, all relating to the unequal structures of society. This understanding exposes the weakness of some theorisations in describing how ideas about teaching are formed and disseminated. This thesis argues that the Marxist concept of alienation more adequately describes the situation of trainees and teachers in FE and the formation of their ideas and practice. It finally argues for ITT for FE to be constructed around a body of professional knowledge as a counterbalance to the limitations of the experience of placement.

This submission contains eight papers and a synoptic commentary to be examined for the award of PhD on the Basis of Published Work. The papers focus upon the further education (FE) system in England. Each examines significant contemporary or historical issues and provides a critical analysis of the changing nature of FE. Collectively, the publications constitute an original and significant contribution to understanding further education and the social and economic context within which it is placed. The commentary highlights the links between the different papers and demonstrates their coherence; it locates the publications within an overarching analytical framework; and it shows how the work submitted makes a significant contribution to knowledge. It also explains my contribution to the three coauthored papers that constitute part of this thesis. It is argued that, taken together, my work provides a sustained and consistent critique of the English further education system from a critical materialist perspective.