9,144 research outputs found

    An exploration of the language within Ofsted reports and their influence on primary school performance in mathematics: a mixed methods critical discourse analysis

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    This thesis contributes to the understanding of the language of Ofsted reports, their similarity to one another and associations between different terms used within ‘areas for improvement’ sections and subsequent outcomes for pupils. The research responds to concerns from serving headteachers that Ofsted reports are overly similar, do not capture the unique story of their school, and are unhelpful for improvement. In seeking to answer ‘how similar are Ofsted reports’ the study uses two tools, a plagiarism detection software (Turnitin) and a discourse analysis tool (NVivo) to identify trends within and across a large corpus of reports. The approach is based on critical discourse analysis (Van Dijk, 2009; Fairclough, 1989) but shaped in the form of practitioner enquiry seeking power in the form of impact on pupils and practitioners, rather than a more traditional, sociological application of the method. The research found that in 2017, primary school section 5 Ofsted reports had more than half of their content exactly duplicated within other primary school inspection reports published that same year. Discourse analysis showed the quality assurance process overrode variables such as inspector designation, gender, or team size, leading to three distinct patterns of duplication: block duplication, self-referencing, and template writing. The most unique part of a report was found to be the ‘area for improvement’ section, which was tracked to externally verified outcomes for pupils using terms linked to ‘mathematics’. Those required to improve mathematics in their areas for improvement improved progress and attainment in mathematics significantly more than national rates. These findings indicate that there was a positive correlation between the inspection reporting process and a beneficial impact on pupil outcomes in mathematics, and that the significant similarity of one report to another had no bearing on the usefulness of the report for school improvement purposes within this corpus

    Victims' Access to Justice in Trinidad and Tobago: An exploratory study of experiences and challenges of accessing criminal justice in a post-colonial society

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    This thesis investigates victims' access to justice in Trinidad and Tobago, using their own narratives. It seeks to capture how their experiences affected their identities as victims and citizens, alongside their perceptions of legitimacy regarding the criminal justice system. While there have been some reforms in the administration of criminal justice in Trinidad and Tobago, such reforms have not focused on victims' accessibility to the justice system. Using grounded theory methodology, qualitative data was collected through 31 in-depth interviews with victims and victim advocates. The analysis found that victims experienced interpersonal, structural, and systemic barriers at varying levels throughout the criminal justice system, which manifested as institutionalized secondary victimization, silencing and inequality. This thesis argues that such experiences not only served to appropriate conflict but demonstrates that access is often given in a very narrow sense. Furthermore, it shows a failure to encompass access to justice as appropriated conflicts are left to stagnate in the system as there is often very little resolution. Adopting a postcolonial lens to analyse victims' experiences, the analysis identified othering practices that served to institutionalize the vulnerability and powerlessness associated with victim identities. Here, it is argued that these othering practices also affected the rights consciousness of victims, delegitimating their identities as citizens. Moreover, as a result of their experiences, victims had mixed perceptions of the justice system. It is argued that while the system is a legitimate authority victims' endorsement of the system is questionable, therefore victims' experiences suggest that there is a reinforcement of the system's legal hegemony. The findings suggest that within the legal system of Trinidad and Tobago, legacies of colonialism shape the postcolonial present as the psychology and inequalities of the past are present in the interactions and processes of justice. These findings are relevant for policymakers in Trinidad and Tobago and other regions. From this study it is recognized that, to improve access to justice for victims, there needs to be a move towards victim empowerment that promotes resilience and enhances social capital. Going forward it is noted that there is a need for further research

    How to Be a God

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    When it comes to questions concerning the nature of Reality, Philosophers and Theologians have the answers. Philosophers have the answers that can’t be proven right. Theologians have the answers that can’t be proven wrong. Today’s designers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games create realities for a living. They can’t spend centuries mulling over the issues: they have to face them head-on. Their practical experiences can indicate which theoretical proposals actually work in practice. That’s today’s designers. Tomorrow’s will have a whole new set of questions to answer. The designers of virtual worlds are the literal gods of those realities. Suppose Artificial Intelligence comes through and allows us to create non-player characters as smart as us. What are our responsibilities as gods? How should we, as gods, conduct ourselves? How should we be gods

    Epistemologies of possibility: social movements, knowledge production and political transformation

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    Urgent global problems - whether military conflicts, economic insecurities, immigration controls or mass incarceration-not only call for new modes of political action but also demand new forms of knowledge. For if knowledge frameworks both shape the horizons of social intelligibility and chart t he realms of political possibility, then epistemological interventions constitute a crucial part of social change. Social movements play a key role in this work by engaging in dissident knowledge practices that open up space for political transformation. But what are the processes and conditions through which social movements generate new ways of knowing?'What is politically at stake in the various knowledge strategies that activists use to generate social change? Despite a growing literature on the role of epistemological dimensions of protest, social movement studies tend to neglect specific questions of epistemological change. Often treating knowledge as a resource or object rather than a power relation and a social practice, social movement scholars tend to focus on content rather than production, frames rather than practices, taxonomies rather than processes. Missing is a more dynamic account of the conditions, means and power relations through which transformative knowledge practices come to be constituted and deployed. Seeking to better understand processes of epistemological transformation, this thesis explores the relationship between social movements, knowledge production and political change. Starting from an assumption that knowledge not only represents the world, but also works to constitute it, this thesis examines the role of social movement knowledge practices in shaping the conditions of political possibility. Drawing from the context of grassroots queer, transgender and feminist organizing around issues of prisons and border controls in North America, the project explores how activists generate new forms of knowledge and forge new spaces of political possibility. Working through a series of concepts-transformation, resistance, experience, co-optation, solidarity and analogy - this thesis explores different ways of understanding processes of epistemological change with in social movement contexts. It considers processes that facilitate or enable epistemological change and those that limit or prohibit such change. Bringing together a range of theoretical perspectives, including feminist, queer, critical race and post-structuralist analyses, and drawing on interviews with grassroots activists, the thesis explores what is politically at stake in the different ways we conceptualise, imagine and engage in processes of epistemological change

    Techno-economic analysis for local hydrogen production for energy storage and services

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    The energy industry is quickly changing, with more renewable energy technologies emerging and sustainable sources growing in their capacities, which is slowly reducing the need for fossil fuel sourced energy supply. But with it come challenges, with energy storage becoming increasingly more important to help balance the gap between the energy supply and demand. The interest in hydrogen has accelerated in recent years as it can be used for several end uses, for example power-to-power, power-to-gas and power-to-fuel. It could therefore potentially decarbonise several industries, not just the energy sector. For hydrogen produced by renewables through water electrolysis to become competitive, the issues of low roundtrip efficiencies, high costs and the need of scaling up a new infrastructure needs to be addressed. This research project is a collaboration between University of Edinburgh and Bright Green Hydrogen (BGH). BGH is a non-for-profit company that created and launched the Levenmouth Community Energy Project (LCEP) in 2014 (operational from 2017) to explore electrolytic hydrogen’s ability to decarbonise energy supplies. The LCEP consists of: 750 kW wind turbine, 48 kW roof PV, 112 kW ground PV, 250 kW PEM electrolyser, 100 kW PEM fuel cell, two 60 kW hydrogen refuellers and a total of 17 hydrogen vehicles of three different models. This project used the data, information and observations from the LCEP to build an energy system model that included hydrogen with real-world aspects. The model was used to explore different ways that the economics and self-reliance for energy of small-scale hydrogen systems can be improved by conducting a techno-economic analysis on a number of alterations. The electrolyser control system was improved to help the electrolyser behave more energy efficiently, components were changed in sizing and a Lithium-ion battery was added into the model to help optimising the main electrolyser’s performance. The first novelty of this work was a new electrolyser model that was developed specifically to account for energy consumption and hydrogen production at low load, which appeared frequent and significant in this type of system. The model was found to represent the plant data better than existing ones. One general conclusion from this work was the impact of operation at low load, which is difficult to avoid at all times and yet should be minimised for good technical and economic performance. The second contribution to knowledge in this work is the methods and findings of the technoeconomic assessment. Several possible improvements were explored to find a balance in techno-economic performance of the small-scale hydrogen production facility. It was found that a control system that made adequate use of forecast weather and energy supply data was critical for effective and efficient use of the electrolyser, without excessive shutdown time and parasitic loss at times of low energy supply. In addition, changes in the respective capacities of the components (electrolyser, storage, solar energy supply) for the same demand could result in significant improvements in economic performance, and so could the incorporation of batteries within the system in support of the electrolyser. Batteries helped both electrolyser standby load (to help with grid independence) and hydrogen production (to improve electrolyser’s output). However, there is a balance between battery storage size and system benefits. In the particular case of the LCEP as built, the system struggled to perform well while it had two end uses (energy storage for buildings and fuel for vehicles) without more energy and hydrogen supply. Also, the main electrolyser was oversized for its needs, resulting in poor capacity utilization and high parasitic load. But a significantly smaller electrolyser with sufficient storage had a notable technical benefit to the system. Finally, there were several adjustments that could lead to a technically well-performing smallscale hydrogen system, but none that made it economically feasible. Capital costs, operating costs, maintenance costs, major replacement costs and durability of components are still major factors that need to be addressed for hydrogen at this scale to be feasible. However, this work clearly identified required areas of progress to achieve economic viability without subsidies, in particular, improving the longevity of the electrolyser and fuel cell stacks would alone enable a positive Net Present Value. In addition, recent and ambitious policy decisions and more widely deployed demonstration projects can stimulate volumes of productions of these components, and the significant cost reductions that these would allow

    The social and psychological work of metaphor: a corpus linguistic investigation

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    This thesis investigates the triangular relationship between metaphor use, community, and state of mind, to ask the question: what social and psychological work does metaphor do, in the computer-mediated discourse setting of an online forum. The thesis goes beyond the finding and grouping of metaphors for analysis to consider the pattern of metaphor use over time in terms of (i) surrounding language style; (ii) density of use; and (iii) use by different participant groups. In achieving its aim the thesis provides insights into (i) the effect of metaphor use in terms of state of mind; (ii) the role of metaphor in the characterisation of a community; and (iii) methods for considering linguistic metaphor in naturally occurring discourse in terms of its psychological effect, which also creates insights into metaphor theory. The primary novel contribution of the thesis is to combine an analysis of metaphor use with an analysis of the language style that surrounds it, using established research relating language style to state of mind to consider the social and psychological work that metaphor does. The primary prediction of the investigation is that where metaphor is used to characterise a concept, the surrounding language will be of a style that has been found to be associated with better mental health. This is related to and supported by the second novel contribution of the thesis, which is to consider the role of metaphor in the formation and evolution of a community over time, by considering change in density of metaphor and other key variables in the data as a whole, and for comparative participant groups. The third novel contribution of the thesis is that, alongside more established corpus linguistic techniques, new techniques from the fast-evolving areas of data science and natural language processing are explored and evaluated in terms of (i) finding metaphors in the corpora; (ii) analysing language style; and (iii) diachronic analysis. It is shown that use of the identified dominant metaphor themes in each community co-occurs with specific language styles associated with mental health, and that this work of metaphor evolves over time as a consensus which becomes normative within the group for a period, such that it shapes community members as well as being shaped by them, while the flexibility of metaphor still leaves that work open to further evolution. The adaptation and prominence of particular metaphor themes over time to do particular work in each forum also underpins the characterisation of it as a particular community

    Heritage languages in plurilingual secondary school cohorts: Exploring students’ diverse linguistic repertoires.

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    The three studies in this thesis each look at a different aspect of harnessing linguistic diversity in secondary schools in England. The first study examines the characteristics of a sample of heritage language (HL) speakers in a mainstream context. Data is crucial to responsive pedagogies but accurate representation of the languages spoken in schools is not prioritised in official data collection. The sample was explored in order to find out what linguistic survey data reveals about the characteristics of HL speakers and how such data can be applied to other plurilingual secondary school cohorts. Findings highlight a current misrepresentation of the linguistic diversity of schools. A wide range of HL proficiencies is exhibited and a number of contributing factors emerge, which should be considered by schools and policy. The second study examined student responses to a programme of activities which promoted plurilingual awareness, encouraging HL use in a mainstream setting. The study considers ways in which student responses can inform practitioners when harnessing learners’ linguistic repertoires. Findings indicate that activities such as discussions about language and identity, and language portraits, are important in developing translingual approaches that encourage and support HL use. While such pedagogies can have diverse impacts for different students, legitimatising plurilingual practices is a crucial first step in embracing plurilingual pedagogies in the mainstream. The third study takes into account that while most of the research in the field focusses on theory and strategies for implementation, what students think about the approach has been neglected so far. The study explores HL students’ perceptions of plurilingualism and how these perceptions shape the potential for plurilingual pedagogical approaches in ideologically monolingual environments. The findings show that pedagogies need to be responsive, and a range of activities need to be available which suit the wide variation of receptions that they may have
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