STORRE Collection: Electronic theses from legacy departments related to the Faculty of Social SciencesElectronic theses from legacy departments related to the Faculty of Social Scienceshttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/26772024-03-23T01:20:38Z2024-03-23T01:20:38Z"It would help if others could live in my autism for a day": Understandings of autism, autistic identities and pupils', parents', and staff experiences of support in mainstream secondary schools.Graham, Elizabeth-Annehttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/356422023-12-12T09:53:12Z2022-12-31T00:00:00ZTitle: "It would help if others could live in my autism for a day": Understandings of autism, autistic identities and pupils', parents', and staff experiences of support in mainstream secondary schools.
Author(s): Graham, Elizabeth-Anne
Abstract: Support for autistic pupils is increasingly recognised within educational establishments. However, little research exists which brings together the needs of pupils alongside those who are key to this support, parents and school staff. This sociological study explores the challenges and support that autistic pupils, parents and staff experience and the ways in which the relationships and communication plays out between all three groups. The data was gathered using a variety of methods, including task-based activities, informal discussions within the home, and semi-structured face-to-face, email and Skype interviews.
The findings reveal that autistic pupils face stigma, and numerous sensory, emotional and practical challenges that largely relate to the social environment of school life. These challenges are experienced at home and in the space between home and school. For parents, challenges stem from the pressure and responsibility of supporting their children, advocating on their behalf and protecting their well-being. Staff challenges consist of institutional constraints and meeting the needs of individual pupils. Pupils, parents and staff do receive some forms of support; however it fails to meet their emotional and practical needs and consequently impacts on the pupils’ education. The qualitative data shows that positive relationships are typically built on acceptance and understanding. In contrast, negative relationships can lead to pupil victimisation, exclusion and masking, with devastating impacts on their wellbeing and education. The findings also reveal that relationships among and between all participant groups are key to successful support and effective communication, which ultimately bridges the gap between home and school. It emerged from the data that although parents and school staff have an understanding of autism, all participant groups acknowledge that more training and education is required. This thesis argues that understanding autism and autistic identities plays a significant role in the inclusion and support of autistic pupils in mainstream secondary school.2022-12-31T00:00:00ZChanging assessment in higher education : policy, practice and professionalismHolroyd, Colinhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/330472021-08-06T14:02:31Z2003-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Changing assessment in higher education : policy, practice and professionalism
Author(s): Holroyd, Colin
Abstract: The research reported in this thesis focused on the assessment of student learning in higher education. The study aimed to provide practitioners and policymakers with a research contribution which would increase understanding of change in student assessment by refining simple assumptions about the relationships among policy, practice and professionalism.
The research was carried out in one Scottish university. One strand involved participant observation of a formal group, which had a remit to generate new assessment policy, and documentary analysis of its policy products. The second and major strand was based on semi-structured interviews with thirty-six assessment practitioners in four subject areas (chemistry, philosophy, medicine and design) chosen with the aid of a theoretical model to be as different as possible. These interviews sought the practitioner perspective on significant past changes in assessment (and the reasons for them) and on future changes desired or thought likely to be required. The data were analysed to provide answers to research questions, to identify emerging issues of concern to the participants and to explore imported issues which allowed inferences to be made about the conceptualisation of 'assessment-professionalism'.
The policy group intended to deliver policy-products which would result in greater consistency of assessment practice across the University and generally to enhance assessment practice. It achieved three main things: agreement on a set of underpinning principles sufficiently broad to allow widely differing interpretations in different faculties/departments; the adoption of a Code of Practice dealing with administrative aspects of assessment and designed to make unacceptable practice less likely; the promotion of policy activity relating to assessment.
Significant past changes were of four types, each associated with a different pattern of causal factors. The types were: evolutionary trends, policy-related shifts, in-course innovations and new-course introductions. The overall amount of assessment change was less than predicted from recent assessment literature. Local innovations within existing courses were very rare. The most striking assessment changes had occurred where new courses had been introduced. Practitioners did not identify policy as a major, direct factor bringing about past changes (except in policy-related shifts), but they expected policy to become more pervasive and prescriptive in future. Policy had a greater indirect influence in that it had sensitised staff to the priorities embedded within evolutionary trends and had required assessment to be considered as an integral part of course planning procedures.
Emerging issues showed clear disciplinary differences, but there were common themes in most subject areas. Firstly, epistemological alignment (of assessment with the perceived nature of the subject) was more dominant than constructive alignment (of assessment with educational aims and methods).
Secondly, staff were increasingly concerned about the integrity of their assessment methods. Thirdly, the burden of the assessment workload and its management were becoming severe worries. What interviewees said on the imported issues permits the following claims about their assessment professionalism. (a) Assessment was readily accepted as an implicit contractual obligation. (b) The high seriousness of assessment was acknowledged but not translated into sufficient time being made available for it. (c) Not all assessors possessed a desirable level of assessment expertise. (d) Assessment practice was not the subject of much critical reflection or creative thought. (e) Commitment to individual ethical action was high, but there was less commitment to communication and interactive professionalism.
The research had some positive impact on both assessment policy-activity and on assessment practice. It contributes to our understanding of how academic staff can be encouraged to engage with important ideas and the links, `real' or imagined, between them. Participation in the research affected assessment in ways that policy did not.
Future debate on assessment could helpfully centre on (i) the nature of, and effective responses to, student dishonesty in assessment(,i i) encouraging the frequency and depth of communication about assessment(,i ii) introducing sustainability into assessment and (iv) the regeneration of academic professionalism around the concept of the academic as educator and assessor. There is huge scope for further research in the area; it should include critical policy research, observational studies of professionalism-in-action and attention to the student perspective.
The simple theoretical framework with which the research began was not abandoned, but was elaborated to emphasise that the causes of human action are not single and direct but multiple and interactive.2003-01-01T00:00:00ZHalf of them are dying on their feet but they still have strength for that: sexuality, dementia and residential care work : a disregarded and neglected area of studyArchibald, Carolehttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/311872020-05-27T09:46:53Z2002-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Half of them are dying on their feet but they still have strength for that: sexuality, dementia and residential care work : a disregarded and neglected area of study
Author(s): Archibald, Carole
Abstract: Sexual expression by people with dementia has tended to be pathologised in biomedical
debates or ignored in person-centred discussions. The thesis therefore brings together
the study of sexuality, older people with dementia and residential living and makes
connections between ideas, theories and practice reaching the 'interior' of social life
that has hitherto been neglected. A postmodern feminist approach was used to explore
this subject, which is 'seen' primarily through the lens of (mainly) female care workers'
experience with ethnographic and grounded theory methods used to obtain the data. A
postal survey involving 28 social work residential homes was undertaken followed by a
period of fieldwork using observation, participant observation and in-depth interviews
in one social work residential home.
The overall research question addressed the neglect of the topic, others looked at what
staff said about sex, how they responded to residents' expressed sexuality, what they
found most difficult, the part dementia played and how context affected response.
Resident-to-resident sexual expression was more widely discussed than resident-to-staff expression. The latter was reported to be the most difficult area for staff to manage and
one that appeared to carry emotional costs. There was also a tension between what staff
said and how they responded in practice. Ambiguity was a key constituent with the
defining of dementia sometimes a contested area between care workers. Where the
resident was very advanced in their dementia, the extenuating circumstances of the
illness seemed to engender more forbearance. The difficulties arose when the diagnosis
was not so apparent. The data point to the subject being a difficult area with staff
sometimes choosing to ignore or remaining silent about resident sexual expression.
Researchers' neglect may in part be due to difficulties in obtaining research funding or
the possibility of their career prospects being compromised.2002-01-01T00:00:00ZStudent self-direction in the theoretical and practical contexts of nursing/midwifery education.Kwansa, Theodora Dedehttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/310802020-04-29T11:28:03Z2003-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Student self-direction in the theoretical and practical contexts of nursing/midwifery education.
Author(s): Kwansa, Theodora Dede
Abstract: Student self-direction in Nursing Education was explored in this study. Four institutions in the central and eastern regions of Scotland participated. The research participants consisted of cross-sectional year intakes of students undertaking their professional education through the Diploma route and those engaged in Degree level studies. Academic teachers and clinical mentors/preceptors also participated.
Instrumentation comprised semi-structured interview schedules designed for each of the subject groups and a self-rating questionnaire of 56 item Likert-type, five-point scale administered to the students. A total of 130 students completed the questionnaire, 85 of whom were also interviewed. The number of educators who were interviewed was 30.
Content analysis of the interview responses focused on the subjects’ conceptualisations of student self-direction, perceptions about the implementation techniques, supervision of the students and the factors influencing these.
Exploratory Factor analysis of the questionnaire responses allowed for extracting the different factor dimensions built into the questionnaire items. Cross-tabulation of the raw data with Two Group Independent T-Test and ANOVA were also produced based on the calculated factor scores for each student. These allowed for establishing how much of the total variance of the factor scores was accounted for by personal and course variables.
The findings from the interviews revealed varied interpretations of the concept. There was evidence to suggest that distinctive differences between the two groups of students were associated with the nature of educational programmes and stage of academic and professional progression. Peer interdependence and participation in peer study groups was more prevalent among the Undergraduates than among their Diploma counterparts. Institutional and statutory influences on student supervision emerged in the theoretical and practical settings and indicated constrained student empowerment by the clinical preceptors. The systems of academic supervision and facilitation also differed between the two programmes.
The factor analysis yielded 4 main factor dimensions of individuals’ perceptions of themselves in the self-directed learning situation and their self-concept of personal autonomy in other aspects of their lives. No association could be established between personal autonomy in the non-academic context and readiness to function in the self-directed, autonomous capacity in the academic context.
This study revealed a need for:
• a re-conceptualisation of student self-direction if the intention is to encourage greater standardisation in its implementation in all the higher academic institutions in Scotland involved in Nursing/Midwifery education.
• appropriate preparatory programmes for educators and students to ensure better insight and understanding of the related concepts and effective implementation of student self-direction.2003-01-01T00:00:00Z