The Petty Scots novel

CHAPTER I - Introduction. CHAPTER II - The Cottagers of Glenburnie, 1808. Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton CHAPTER III - Marriage, 1818; The Inheritance 1824; Destiny, 1831. Susan Ferrier. CHAPTER IV - Some Passages in the Life of Adam Blair, Minister of the Gospel at Cross Meikle. 1822. The History of Matthew Wald - 1824. John Gibson Lockhart. CHAPTER V - The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - 1824. The Brownie of Bodsbeck - 1818. James Hogg. CHAPTER VI - The Ayrshire Legatees (Oct. 1820 - Mar. 1821). The Annals of the Parish 1821. The Provost 1822. Sir Andrew Wylie of that Ilk 1822. The Entail; or the Lairds of Grippy 1823. Ringan Gilhaize 1823. The Last of the Lairds 1826. John Galt. CHAPTER VII - Mansie Mauch - Tailor in Dalkeith. David Macbeth Moir CHAPTER VIII - Conclusion. Bibliograph

Understanding performance measurement from a social systems perspective

This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 3 December 2019 to 3 December 2021.Performance measurement (PM) systems fail to predict organisational outcomes reliably because organisations face futures so inherently unknowable that it is impossible to comprehend the full range of potential outcomes open to them. Organisations are complex, adaptive, social systems whose distinctive activity is decision-making. They are heterogeneous entities whose capabilities, behaviours, and circumstances are unique, emerging from their histories and previous decisions. Organisational reality is a social construct delivered through practice. This thesis investigates whether considering PM from a social systems perspective improves PM’s effectiveness. The argument made is organisations connect through social systems and operate through practice with people, processes, and their interactions fundamental to how they perform. A middle-range management theory is presented aimed at making organisations the best they can be with the resources available to them and in the economic circumstances they find themselves. It does this by understanding and reconfiguring the organisation’s social system using a structured approach to optimise business processes and performance measures based on a combination of emergent behaviour and practice. Given the reality of radical uncertainty the focus is not on predicting outcomes but on uncovering the explanatory mechanisms behind events caused by specific managed improvement interventions. Understanding the behaviour of dynamically interacting components is done using realist evaluation based on social interactions, emergent powers and social intervention mechanisms. This approach changed behaviours and performance outcomes in case study organisations. The use of an ‘inside-out’ social systems perspective, coupled to critical realism with its focus on explanation, enabled the causal relationships of importance to be identified and the performance ‘black box’ to be opened up. This research contributes to closing the PMM theory-practice gap by proposing the performance focus needs to be on the social system rather than the measures, that is, on the ‘means’ rather than the ‘ends’. It also offers a competing theoretical framework to organisational control theory for PMM, one grounded in social systems and practice theory. The social systems perspective is not considered specific to PM and potentially can be applied to all other business processesPerformance measurement (PM) systems fail to predict organisational outcomes reliably because organisations face futures so inherently unknowable that it is impossible to comprehend the full range of potential outcomes open to them. Organisations are complex, adaptive, social systems whose distinctive activity is decision-making. They are heterogeneous entities whose capabilities, behaviours, and circumstances are unique, emerging from their histories and previous decisions. Organisational reality is a social construct delivered through practice. This thesis investigates whether considering PM from a social systems perspective improves PM’s effectiveness. The argument made is organisations connect through social systems and operate through practice with people, processes, and their interactions fundamental to how they perform. A middle-range management theory is presented aimed at making organisations the best they can be with the resources available to them and in the economic circumstances they find themselves. It does this by understanding and reconfiguring the organisation’s social system using a structured approach to optimise business processes and performance measures based on a combination of emergent behaviour and practice. Given the reality of radical uncertainty the focus is not on predicting outcomes but on uncovering the explanatory mechanisms behind events caused by specific managed improvement interventions. Understanding the behaviour of dynamically interacting components is done using realist evaluation based on social interactions, emergent powers and social intervention mechanisms. This approach changed behaviours and performance outcomes in case study organisations. The use of an ‘inside-out’ social systems perspective, coupled to critical realism with its focus on explanation, enabled the causal relationships of importance to be identified and the performance ‘black box’ to be opened up. This research contributes to closing the PMM theory-practice gap by proposing the performance focus needs to be on the social system rather than the measures, that is, on the ‘means’ rather than the ‘ends’. It also offers a competing theoretical framework to organisational control theory for PMM, one grounded in social systems and practice theory. The social systems perspective is not considered specific to PM and potentially can be applied to all other business processe

Evaluation of curriculum online: Report of the third survey of schools

This report, based on interviews with a range of teachers and pupils in a sample of primary and secondary schools in England, examined, in depth, how schools responded to the third year of the curriculum online programme. Report on the industry impact of curriculum onlin

Evaluation of the Adult Learning Grant cohort 2 (wave 1)

"The Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) at Loughborough University and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) are evaluating ALG on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills and the National Office of the Learning and Skills Council... The Adult Learning Grant (ALG) aims to support adults who have not yet obtained their first Level 2 or first Level 3 qualification. The ALG is intended to help adults with the additional costs of learning (for example, books, travel) through the provision of a means-tested monetary grant." - pp. i-ii

Evaluation of the Adult Learning Grant cohort 1 (waves 1 and 2)

"The Adult Learning Grant (ALG) was announced as part of the Government’s Skills Strategy in 2003. The ALG pilot began in September 2003 in ten areas across England. The ALG aims to support adults in learning through the offer of a meanstested monetary allowance... Throughout the report (except for ALG experiences), [this] analysis focuses on comparisons between ALG applicants (or sub-groups: awardees or recipients) and qualification-eligible non-applicants." -- pp. i & iii

Call for research – the consuming child-in-context in unhealthy and unsustainable times

Childhood obesity is a highly complex issue with serious health and environmental implications. It has been postulated that young children (preschool-aged in particular) are able to internalise positive environmental beliefs. Applying a socioecological theoretical perspective, in this discussion paper we argue that although children may internalise such beliefs, they commonly behave in ways that contradict these beliefs as demonstrated by their consumer choices. The media directly influences these consumer choices and growing evidence suggests that media exposure (particularly commercial television viewing) may be a significant “player” in the prediction of childhood obesity. However, there is still debate as to whether childhood obesity is caused by digital media use per se or whether other factors mediate this relationship. Growing evidence suggests that researchers should examine whether different types of content have conflicting influences on a child’s consumer choices and, by extension, obesity. The extent to which young children connect their consumer choices and the sustainability of the product/s they consume with their overall health and wellbeing has not previously been researched. To these ends, we call for further research on this socioecological phenomenon among young children, particularly with respect to the influence of digital media use on a child’s consumer behaviours

Students' experiences of academic play within transitional space in higher education

This thesis argues that Donald Winnicott's theory of transitional space and play casts new light upon the ontological dimensions of students' experiences of transition within Higher Education. Winnicott enables the illumination of the different ways that students might react, cope and personally develop when faced with similarity, difference and change, demonstrating this can have powerful influences upon the facilitation and hindrance of individuals’ transitions. The qualitative case study, conducted at a Russell Group University, involves an in depth exploration of eight second-year undergraduate Biological Science students' transitional journeys during their study of one module. The students' study included designing their own experiments, working with others, presenting orally, analysing their data and individually writing a scientific report, as part of a creative group project. I argue throughout this thesis that this module invited learners to engage in adult, transitional academic play spaces. Here, learners had the freedom to risk putting him or herself into relation with sameness, uncertainty, difficulty, challenge and change. The study reports that the potential and enjoyment of transition, as Winnicott proposed, might be only fully realised when the conditions are 'good enough' in the mind of the learner. This involves achieving a delicate balance between firstly, the provision of a teaching and learning environment that provides the freedom and opportunities to engage with transition and secondly, the capacities of students to engage with change which might include, toughness, resilience and a will to learn. In the light of the empirical findings it is argued that students' transitional journeys are both idiosyncratic and complex and students emerge in different ways. It is found that at this stage in their degree study all students required the sensitive support of teaching staff in order to have the confidence to engage within transitional space