http://hdl.handle.net/1893/55 This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by the Faculty's staff and students. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:41:39 GMT 2026-10-09T00:41:39Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38387 Title: Beyond Material Disadvantage: Living Conditions, Immigrant optimism, Aspirations and Attainment among Immigrant and non-Immigrant Pupils in Scotland Author(s): Shapira, Marina Abstract: This article examines the living experiences, aspirations and attainment of immigrant and non-immigrant pupils in Scotland. Drawing on immigrant optimism theory, the study uses the Scottish subset of PISA 2022, which includes measures of young people’s aspirations and attainment, to explore the relative roles of family socio-economic background, housing circumstances, educational and cultural resources, family and school support, and student dispositions in shaping aspirations and attainment, with particular attention to first- and second-generation immigrant pupils. Based on ran-dom-effects regression modelling, the findings suggest that, despite less favourable material and housing circumstances, immigrant pupils in Scotland, especially first-generation pupils, have stronger educational and occupational aspirations than non-immigrant pupils, as well as mathematics performance that matches or surpasses that of non-immigrant pupils with comparable family characteristics. Family educa-tional and cultural resources, student dispositions and particular forms of school sup-port were associated with aspirations and/or attainment. First-generation pupils’ mathematics advantage is linked to dispositions such as perseverance and growth mindset, as well as to the higher occupational aspirations of this group. However, im-migrant pupils’ higher educational and occupational aspirations cannot be explained by family, individual or school characteristics: the regression results show that their aspirations remain higher than those of non-immigrant pupils even after these differ-ences are taken into account. The article therefore contributes to debates on immigrant optimism and segmented assimilation by showing that material disadvantage does not necessarily translate into lower aspirations or attainment. While socio-economic dep-rivation and constrained living conditions matter for immigrant children’s educational outcomes, these effects may be mediated and, in part, offset by educational and cultur-al resources, family engagement and school support, and learner dispositions. The study therefore highlights the importance of looking beyond material disadvantage alone in order to understand immigrant pupils’ aspirations and educational attain-ment. Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38387 2026-09-30T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38386 Title: Beyond the Team Talk: Half-Time as a Coaching Environment in Elite Women's Field Hockey Author(s): Wright, Jennifer; McDougall, Michael; Fullerton, Christopher Abstract: Half-time represents one of coaching’s most compressed and constrained environments. Beyond tactical instruction, coaches must make sense of an evolving match situation while working with players and support staff to shape the conditions for a coordinated second-half performance. Guided by a social-relational perspective, this qualitative study explored half-time experiences in an elite women’s national field hockey team. Data were generated through observations, interviews and focus groups with players and coaching staff. Reflexive thematic analysis was organised around four themes: Leading the Way, Inside the Room, Against the Clock, and From Reflection to Readiness. Findings suggest that effective half-time practice depends on recognising that coaches and players do not always experience or prioritise half-time in the same way. Reflecting on how half-time routines are structured may help establish shared expectations and better balance competing tactical, emotional and relational demands. More fundamentally, by framing half-time as a distinct coaching environment rather than vehicle for tactical instruction, this study encourages coaches to critically reflect on what half-time is intended to achieve and how its limited time can be used most effectively. Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38386 2026-06-08T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38382 Title: Organisational learning in dementia practice Author(s): Bartle, Caroline Abstract: This thesis presents a sociomaterial perspective on how dementia care practices and the digital systems through which care is increasingly situated shape one another. Conducted across two residential aged care providers in Aotearoa New Zealand, the study suggests that training delivered to individuals cannot meet the complex realities of dementia care, and connects local practices. Learning in dementia care is situated, collective, ongoing, and materially mediated. Building on foundational dementia theories, the study extends that tradition through practice-based theory within a post-qualitative frame, positioning dementia learning as assemblages of human and non-human relations, and relationship-based care as enacted through co-constitutive relationships with the digital infrastructures around it. Following eight months of fieldwork across four sites, the findings suggest learning is often oriented around emergent challenges. Sociomaterial arrangements influence how problems show up, who and what gets enrolled, and how new ideas are mobilised. Within these arrangements, data performed in different ways, and what mattered was the material arrangement and how leadership supported sensemaking. The relational and psychosocial dimensions of care were not always visible within the digital arrangements in ways useful for organisational learning. Methodologically, the thesis contributes a post-qualitative, practice-based approach to researching learning in dementia care, one that follows practices and materials rather than measuring individual competence. Conceptually, it introduces digitally informed practice leadership, a capacity that supports emergent learning, working from within rather than above a network. It also introduces epistemic architecture, making recommendations on the sociomaterial arrangement of digital systems, working practices, and practice leadership through which organisational learning could emerge. Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38382 2026-07-17T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38361 Title: Penal Supervision in Comparative Context: 5 Nations Research Author(s): Graham, Hannah Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38361 2026-06-03T00:00:00Z