A reappraisal of Wesleyan Methodist mission in the first half of the nineteenth century, as viewed through the ministry of the Rev John Smithies (1802-1872)

The dissertation reappraises Wesleyan Methodist (WM) mission in the first half of the nineteenth century on the basis of its mission statement (`to reform the nation, particularly the Church; and to spread scriptural holiness over the land\u27 ) and a primary WM characteristic, religious experience. The mission statement shapes the outline for the first main section of the dissertation (3.0) utilising the three divisions of the statement only in reverse order, specifically, (1) the spread of scriptural holiness, (2) reform of the church and (3) reform of the land (nation). The second main section (4.0) examines religious experience in the core areas, (1) personal spirituality, (2) conversion and sanctification, and (3) revival

The Deakin Sisters: Becoming ‘New Women’ in Twentieth-Century Australia

Using the rich and largely unexplored archival records of the Deakin sisters, this thesis presents the first in-depth collective biography of their lives. While they were the daughters of Australian Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin (1856-1919), the Deakin sisters, Ivy (1883-1970), Stella (1886-1976) and Vera (1891-1978), are not the subjects of this historical examination because of their connection to a powerful man. They are instead being studied because of the significant insights they provide into individual (elite) women’s experiences of the new opportunities which emerged for Australian women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Examining their lives reveals the impact of both the emancipating ideas and opportunities of the ‘new woman’ era as well as the continuing expectations for women to remain in the domestic sphere and be ‘angels in the house’. The thesis reveals how the Deakin sisters took advantage of the liberating opportunities of the ‘new woman’ era to achieve both their individual ambitions and contribute to women’s advancement and social reform efforts throughout their lives. The sisters enjoyed substantially expanded opportunities compared to women of earlier generations. Stella completed a science degree at the University of Melbourne and travelled to Europe to pursue postgraduate studies. Ivy and Vera studied music, performed in public and later devoted themselves to philanthropic work where they enjoyed significant public prominence, influence and authority. They harnessed their influential positions to advocate for increased rights and freedoms for women and to champion the expansion of women’s involvement in society. They strongly believed that women, including themselves, should play an increased role in the nation’s decision-making processes. At the same time, while each of the Deakin sisters capitalised on new freedoms and opportunities for women, their lives were also curtailed by the obligations and societal expectations of their gender and class, particularly after marriage. Each married an influential man, became a mother, and fulfilled the domestic and social obligations associated with their class and position. They also subscribed to a maternal feminist vision that saw men and women as ‘equal but different’. Due to their connection to a powerfully positioned father, privileged social standing, wealth, and personal ambition, each of the Deakin sisters were able to craft distinct life pathways that allow us to more fully understand the changing and varied conceptions of womanhood that existed between the more radical ‘waves’ of feminism. This examination of their lives thus extends our understandings of how Australian women negotiated their identities as females in this period and navigated patriarchal systems and norms to create a space for themselves in a male dominated public realm. The experiences of women like the Deakin sisters have often been rendered benign in previous scholarship due to their political conservatism and commitment to the ideal of ‘equal but different’. They have suffered by comparison to seemingly more ‘radical’ feminists and their significance has been under-appreciated. This thesis seeks to shift such views by recovering the lives, impact and at times ‘radicalism’ of Ivy, Stella, and Vera Deakin

Making sense of policy in London secondary education : what can be learned from the London Challenge

This thesis presents an examination of the policy process in education, focusing on\ud the London Challenge as an exemplifying case study. The policy problem of the\ud London Challenge was the poorer performance of London secondary schools\ud compared to other regions and considerable between-school variation. Social\ud polarisation was intensified by the relationship between education, 'place' and social\ud disadvantage and so the London Challenge was designed to intervene in this\ud situation.\ud A critique of the London Challenge policy over the course of its eight year life is\ud presented in the thesis, identifying that a significant shift in the leadership of the\ud policy — from policy-maker to practitioner — took place as it evolved, altering the\ud character of the policy. The thesis finds that practitioners, especially headteachers,\ud played a central role in the success of the London Challenge because they re-shaped\ud the policy as they implemented it.\ud An examination of the policy process of the London Challenge follows, together with\ud an empirical study in this thesis. They show that there was a gradual ceding of power\ud from policy-makers to headteachers and London Challenge advisers who led the\ud policy's implementation. It created a 'high trust / high accountability' model for\ud education policy-making which paired professional autonomy and expertise with\ud accountability to government for improvement in London's secondary schools. This\ud took place within a framework of conditions that required shared moral purpose,\ud strong leadership, high challenge with an openness to supportive and fair datainformed\ud scrutiny and a regional commitment to collegial partnership.\ud The thesis concludes that what can be learned from the London Challenge is that\ud `mature' self-improving education systems should provide the right conditions for\ud headteachers to act as system leaders with the transformative power to create and lead\ud education policy to the benefit of all a region's schools and its children

Secondary teachers' perceptions of Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education: A Delivery Plan for Scotland in an era of continuing curricular and assessment development

The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of a group of secondary teachers regarding the curricular reform policy, Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education: A Delivery Plan for Scotland (the Plan), which was introduced during an indefinite period of comprehensive change to the Scottish qualifications system. The changes to the qualifications system represented the final stages of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence and impacted the Senior Phase, while the Delivery Plan impacted the earlier Broad General Education Phase. The catalyst for the reform policy was Scotland’s decline in ranking in Literacy, Mathematics and Science as measured by the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2015. The introduction of the Plan after the new qualifications seemed to increase teachers’ perceived pedagogical dilemmas and heighten existing tensions regarding the curriculum. This study was intended to support understanding of these tensions and curricular contradictions. Rarely, since the National Debate of 2002, has teacher voice been canvassed regarding curricular and assessment reform. This study sought to combine critical analysis of extracts from the reform policy with interviews conducted with a small group of secondary teachers to further comprehension of top-down policy solutions and systemic change. Stimulating the conversation regarding the future challenges facing the Curriculum for Excellence and how these challenges are understood provided the motivation for the study

Reconstructing the emergence of Teach First: examining the role of policy entrepreneurs and networks in the process of policy transfer

Within the disciplines of education and political science, the phenomenon of the voluntary transfer of policy ideas or practices from elsewhere, or “policy borrowing”, is often the topic of intense debate and study. The study of policy transfer also has strong links with the field of diffusion. Scholars in these fields study cases of policy transfer to understand (1) what motives and mechanisms cause policy diffusion and transfer, and (2) how policies are adapted, or reinvented, in the process of being transferred. The majority of such studies have focused on state-to-state cases of policy transfer involving predominantly government actors. Yet, a growing but still limited number of studies have considered the ways policy entrepreneurs have initiated transfer and utilized networks to bring about and implement policy ideas taken from elsewhere. Teach First provides a unique case-study through which to investigate the role of policy entrepreneurs and networks in shaping the process of policy transfer and reinvention. Teach First launched in 2002 as a non-profit organization and innovative teacher training programme based in London. The scheme, proposed and implemented by leaders within the private sector but heavily funded by the central government, was publicly linked to the U.S. programme Teach For America (TFA). Like TFA, Teach First’s purpose was to improve the schooling of disadvantaged pupils by recruiting elite university graduates to teach for two years in under-resourced schools. My research aimed to uncover how and why this policy was first conceptualized and launched as well as how it was reinvented in the process by those individuals and groups involved. Thus, through a case-study of Teach First’s emergence, this study investigates: What roles do policy entrepreneurs and networks play in policy transfer and diffusion processes? and How are policy entrepreneurs and networks involved in reinventing policy during the transfer process? To explore these research questions, I carried out semi-structured interviews with more than 50 individuals from various sectors who were involved in the creation of either Teach First or TFA. After transcribing all interviews, I used a form of narrative analysis to reconstruct the policy story of how Teach First emerged. In the process, I uncovered and accounted for the diversity of motives, institutional pressures, and contextual factors shaping Teach First’s development with a focus on the policy entrepreneurs and networks. Drawing on previous research in policy transfer, innovation-diffusion, and institutionalism to analyze the policy story, I concluded that both policy entrepreneurs and networks were responsible for bringing about transfer of TFA to England and shaping the nature and extent of its reinvention. This temporal process was furthered shaped by the highly politicized nature of initial teacher training in England, which limited the autonomy of policy entrepreneurs and forced further adaptation of Teach First in ways that its original sponsors had not intended. I also discovered that, while the TFA model played an influential role in this process, TFA was not generally used as a guiding model during implementation. Furthermore, I argue that in the process of mobilizing support for Teach First and implementing the idea in its first year, a new network emerged and represented a potentially influential new voice in education. This study aims to contribute to (1) the knowledge of the roles of policy entrepreneurs and networks in policy innovation, diffusion, and transfer and (2) the growing but still limited research on Teach First. This study also provides a foundation for further studies of Teach For All, an organization co-founded in 2007 by Teach First and TFA, which works to spread the programme globally. Through Teach For All, at least thirty-eight other countries now have programmes modeled on TFA and Teach First, though little research has examined how Teach First came about and spread in this way. Finally, the research also illustrates the value of a methodology not often used in transfer studies – narrative reconstruction – through which data is formed into a storied narrative to account for the complexities of the contexts and the socially–constructed views of the diversity of actors involved in policy-making and transfer

Solertia: (vol: 1 issue: 2)

Contents: Imposter phenomenon in trainee teachers How do ability grouping practices affect students’ experiences of mathematics lessons in secondary schools in England? What are practitioners’ and parents’ perspectives on the influence of digital technology on children’s development and learning in early years? MA chance to be better: how does ideology impact on academy freedoms to form curriculum policy? A Historiographical Study of the Soldiers’ Experience of the First World War To what extent did the draining of the Fens during the 17th century affect the local inhabitants

To what extent do Ofsted inspectors' values influence the inspection process (2005-2012)? : an examination of Ofsted inspectors' perceptions

The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) holds a government remit to inspect all schools in England under the 2005 Education Act. Ofsted is required to inspect schools on a regular cycle, with the aim of providing information to parents as well as the Secretary of State for Education, to promote school improvement and to hold schools to account for educational provision and standards. Ofsted’s strapline is ‘Raising Standards, Improving Lives’ and its goal is to ‘achieve excellence in education and skills for learners of all ages’ (Ofsted). Drawing on existing literature the thesis explains the underlying reasons for the introduction of a single national school inspection system in post-war England. The thesis also explores the literature on values, the nature of values in relation to organisations and individuals with particular reference to Ofsted.Empirical research was conducted in the form of questionnaires and interviews into the perceptions of active and retired inspectors about how they carried out their work. The study explored the relationship between inspectors’ values and those of Ofsted, examining the extent to which inspectors’ values influenced their conduct during inspections and in particular how they mediated their work in schools. The degree to which inspectors mediate their work has implications for the perceived objectivity of Ofsted inspections.The results indicate that the majority of inspectors’ values were in alignment with those of Ofsted. However, a small minority group also existed whose values were not always in agreement with those of Ofsted and there also appeared to be a further sub-set of the minority group whose members were trying to change Ofsted from within. This is the first time research has been carried out into the work of Ofsted inspectors and their perceptions of what they do. It concludes that this area is worthy of a further, larger scale study

A case study of the Tatweer school system in Saudi Arabia: the perceptions of leaders and teachers

School reform is a major concern in many countries that seek to improve their educational systems and enhance their performances. In consequence, many global schemes, theories, studies, attempts, and programmes have been introduced to promote education in recent years. Saudi Arabia is one of these countries that implemented educational change by introducing many initiatives. The Tatweer Programme is one of these initiatives and is considered as a major recent reform. The main purpose of this study is to investigate this reform in depth by examining the perceptions and experiences of the Tatweer leaders and teachers to find out which extent they have been enabled to be innovative, and to examine the types of leadership and decision-making that have been undertaken by such schools. This study adopted a qualitative case study that employed interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis. The design of the study has been divided into two phases; the first phase was the feasibility study and the second phase was the main study. The research sample of the feasibility study was head teachers, educational experts and Tatweer Unit’s members. The sample of the main study was three Tatweer schools, Tatweer Unit members and one official of Tatweer Project in Riyadh. The findings of this study identified the level of autonomy in managing the school; the Tatweer schools’ system is semi-autonomous when it comes to the internal management, but it lacks autonomy when it comes to staff appointment, student assessment, and curriculum development. In addition, the managerial work has been distributed through teams and members; the Excellence Team plays a critical role in school effectiveness leading an efficient change. Moreover, Professional Learning Communities have been used to enhance the work within Tatweer schools. Finally the findings show that there have been major shifts in the Tatweer schools’ system; the shifting from centralisation to semi-decentralisation; from the culture of the individual to the culture of community; from the traditional school to one focused on self-evaluation and planning; from management to leadership; and from an isolated school being open to society. These shifts have impacted positively on the attitudes of students, parents and staff