Students’ representations and experiences of personal development and PDP at one British University

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThose who teach in Higher Education in the UK face with the growing internationalisation and diverse landscape of the sector as well as an obligation to provide students with opportunities for personal, professional and academic development. Whilst a great deal has been written about both internationalisation and Personal Development Planning (PDP), a structured and supported process, which is intended to enable individual students to reflect upon their learning and plan for their future (QM, 2000), relatively little is known about international students' perceptions and experiences of such development and planning. This thesis aims to explore issues that are under-represented in the literature, experiences, perceptions and meanings of personal development and PDP among international students, and cast some light· on the complexities of individuals' development and growth. It employs a broadly phenomenological perspective, attending to individual representations and understandings of a small group of culturally diverse students in one university setting, captured with the use of qualitative research methods (concept maps and interviews). Methodologically, it attends to the researcher's specific insider/outsider positioning and highlights reflexivity as the key feature of the research process. It documents the research journey in a transparent and conscious way, evidencing the methodological experimentation and the development of the researcher. This research raises key questions about uncritical application of concepts such as PDP as well as other pedagogic practices in increasingly diverse classrooms that are underpinned by Western philosophical and scholarly traditions. It challenges a narrow perspective of personal development as centred on agency, individuality, self-promotion, independence and personal achievement and gain by inviting a consideration of personal development and learning as socially constructed processes with a wider range of purposes than traditionally articulated by PDP. It also challenges the perception of international students as 'bearers of problems' and 'empty vessels' and contributes to the shift in the literature from the rhetoric of blame and deficiency to the rhetoric of resource - respectful of students' experiences and knowledge. Whilst not claiming generalisability from a small sample of participants, this project nonetheless has broader implications for researching and teaching across cultures, raising awareness of complexities of multicultural education. In this research I focus on students' ideas of personal development (PD) and personal development planning (PDP). By looking for things that support, not hinder their personal, professional, social and academic development I am able to offer some insights into students' conceptions, beliefs, experiences, hopes and aspirations and suggest ways of improving educational practice (especially in terms of PDP)

Being an immigrant academic

It was estimated that in 2014, almost a third of all academics working in Higher Education in UK were non-UK nationals (HEFCE, 2016). Many more are non-UK born. The presence of these academics in the UK offers both opportunities and challenges to them, their colleagues, their students and the higher education institutions they work for (Hosein, Shu-Hua Yeh, Rao N., & Kinchin, in preparation). We are two of those academics who left their countries of birth and have worked at the same university in the UK for some time. This article is based on conversations we have had over several years and, more specifically, a recent one that started when one the authors (MJ) shared an article with the other (AG) entitled ‘Pathways through life: Development at the junctions, inflections, disruptions and transitions of life' (Jankowska, 2016). The manuscript, which was initially part of MJ's ‘personal learning ecology’ (Jackson, 2016), served as the ‘learning object’ around which we could converse. It afforded further joint co-construction of knowledge and a new shared understanding of what it is like to be an immigrant academic. Through our conversations we have come to recognise some striking similarities, as well as some differences, in our experiences prior to and during our working lives in the UK. The broad and complex range of experiences we have had in the in this country relate to the concept of 'cosmopolitanism', understood as 'a perspective, a state of mind, or to take a more processual view- a mode of managing meaning', which 'entails first of all an orientation, a willingness to engage with the Other’ (Hannerz, 1990, pp. 238-239). Although we work in higher education, a sector that accepts many kinds of Others (staff and students) and prides itself on being diverse and gaining from diversity, as individuals, we have always had to work to understand this way of doing things (the British way) and of being academics, while at the same time, being aware of that other way of being academic that is rooted in our backgrounds and our surviving links. We want to draw on the notions of 'articulation' and 'dislocation' to try to elucidate our experiences and relationships with people, institutions and knowledge. We use these notions to examine the extraordinary opportunities to see the world from multiple perspectives and grow personally and professionally open to immigrant academics, but also want to highlight the psychological cost for such individuals.

The distribution agreements. The subject of the agreements made between the distributor and the entity that operates a cinema.

W niniejszej pracy magisterskiej została podjęta tematyka umów dystrybucyjnych zawieranych pomiędzy dystrybutorem a podmiotem prowadzącym kino. Problematyka jest warta uwagi, choćby ze względu na fakt ewolucji pozycji dystrybutora oraz zmiany sposobu traktowania samego procesu dystrybucji, jak również cyfryzacji utworów audiowizualnych. Co więcej, kształt tych kontraktów wynika z ugruntowanej praktyki, a nie z przepisów bezwzględnie obowiązujących. Praca ma charakter eklektyczny ze względu na fakt, iż na sposób zawierania umów o rozpowszechnianie utworów audiowizualnych wpływa wiele gałęzi prawa.Z uwagi na objęcie tematyką pracy umów z zakresu prawa autorskiego, których przedmiotem jest utwór audiowizualny, za punkt wyjścia przyjęto przedstawienie metod zdefiniowania tegoż utworu oraz podjęto próbę sformułowania własnej definicji przy uwzględnieniu rozwoju technologicznego. W niniejszej pracy zostały również podjęte rozważania, czy twórcą może być tylko osoba fizyczna oraz przeprowadzono analizę dotyczącą możliwości uznania producenta oraz dystrybutora za współtwórcę utworu audiowizualnego. Następną kwestią, jaką poruszono jest charakter oraz konkretne postanowienia umów o wyświetlanie utworów zawierane pomiędzy dystrybutorem a podmiotem prowadzącym kino. Poruszona zostaje tematyka pól eksploatacji oraz zaprezentowano sposób definiowania sposobu korzystania z utworu, jakim jest wyświetlanie. Na zakończenie podjęto się krótkiego omówienia problematyki prawa konkurencji w tego typu umowach licencyjnych.Całość pracy zwieńczona jest podsumowaniem, które zawiera przekrojowo zaprezentowany temat. Podkreślone zostają w nim najważniejsze wnioski płynące z pracy – zakres eksploatacji utworu audiowizualnego, zasada swobody kontraktowej oraz potencjalne zagrożenie wykorzystania pozycji dominującej przez dystrybutora.The following thesis discusses the matters concerning distribution agreements which are made between a distributor and a entity operating a cinema. This important issue is worth analyzing, not least because of the evolution of the position of the distributor, but as well because of the change in perceiving the sole distribution process, and also the process of the digitalization of the audiovisual work. Moreover, the final shape of the contracts made between the distributors and cinemas often stem from the practice rather than law regulations. The thesis is of eclectic nature, which is a result of the fact that the way the distribution agreements are constructed and signed are affected by many different areas of law.The subject of the thesis being the Copyright and Related Rights which are concerned with the audio-visual work, the author has presented different methods of defining such work and has undertaken to construct his own definition taking the technological development into consideration. In the following thesis different aspects concerning the audio-visual works are being considered, such as the question whether only a natural person can be an author or whether the distributor can be considered a co-author of an audiovisual work.The second matter which had to and had been discussed in the thesis is the character and specific provisions of the agreements relating to the screening of the works which are made between the distributor and the entity operating a cinema. Different fields of exploitation are presented by the author as well as the different ways of defining the process of the screening of an audiovisual work which is a way of using the work. Finally, the thesis describes different issues concerning the competition law contained in the distribution agreements.The thesis is completed by the conclusion which summarized the subject. The most important conclusion that can be drawn from the thesis are presented – the fields of the exploitation of the audiovisual work, the principle of freedom of contract and potential threats of the abuse of the dominant position by the distributor

In the Dragon Kingdom - the analysis of bhutanese cinematography using selected examples

Mając na względzie znikomą znajomość bhutańskiej kinematografii, niniejsza praca będzie stanowiła próbę przybliżenia różnorodnej, choć wciąż ubogiej, kultury filmowej tego kraju. Głównie za sprawą ułatwionej dostępności do dzieł w dobie XXI wieku współczesne kino bhutańskie pozwala widzowi zanurzyć się w jeden z najbardziej niedostępnych rejonów świata, w którym lokalne formy artystyczne przeplatają się z buddyjską filozofią. Biorąc pod uwagę właśnie wpływ tradycji oraz wierzeń na wizualną oraz werbalną treść filmów, w pierwszej kolejności analizie zostanie poddana problematyka tak zwanego Trzeciego Kina, czyli kinematografii krajów niezachodniego kręgu kulturowego. W dalszej części przedstawiona zostanie kultura i historia Bhutanu w zakresie, w jakim w kluczowym fragmencie pracy będzie niezbędna do analizy wybranych produkcji bhutańskich celem zwrócenia uwagi na najciekawsze środki wyrazu filmowego.Kinematografia bhutańska licząca niewiele ponad dwadzieścia lat z każdym rokiem poszerza swoje zasoby - na potrzeby samego rynku lokalnego powstaje kilkanaście produkcji rocznie. Bhutańskie filmy prezentowane są przede wszystkim rodzimej publiczności, a ich estetyka wyraźnie odwołuje się do produkcji bollywoodzkich. Jednocześnie tworząc filmy, twórcy silnie czerpią z rodzimej tradycji, religii oraz form narracji, co nadaje bhutańskiemu kinu niepowtarzalnego wyrazu.Considering fairly low knowledge about Bhutanese cinematography, the following work will concentrate on trying to unravel the secrets of diverse, yet still poor film culture of this country. Mainly due to easier access to the film works in the twenty-first century, contemporary Bhutanese cinema allows the viewer to immerse themselves into one of the most inaccessible regions of the world, in which the local art forms interweave with the Buddhist philosophy. Taken very traditions and beliefs into consideration, and their influence on the verbal aspect of the movies, the author will firstly analyze the issue of so-called Third Cinema, namely the cinematography of the non-western social circle. In the following part, the topic of the culture and history of Bhutan will be presented, in the scope required to analyze selected Bhutanese productions and draw attention to some of the more interesting means of expression of the films in the focal point of this work.Bhutanese cinematography that exists for little more than twenty years, with each year expands its scale - to the needs of the local market, a dozen movies is created annually. Bhutanese movies are being presented mainly to the native people of Bhutan, and their aesthetics refer strongly to the Bollywood film productions. At the same time, creating new films, the creators find deep inspiration in their indigenous tradition, religion and forms of narration, which shapes the Bhutanese cinema, giving it a unique appeal

Dvikalbystė (vienakalbėje) anglų kalbos pamokoje : iššūkiai anglų ir lenkų kalbomis kalbantiems vaikams ir jų tėvams, mokykloms

Poland is one of the biggest countries among the accession states, and between 2004 and 2008, Poles constituted the largest migrant group, and currently, Polish is the second most widely spoken language in England and Wales, with more than half a million people speaking Polish as their first language. It is predicted that the number of Polish-English bilingual children in the UK will continue growing; therefore, the needs of these children need to be studied and addressed. This article will provide some background information on the nature of Polish migration and its key features, as this knowledge may facilitate better understanding of the Polish-English bilingual pupils within the English system of education. It will consider some of the challenges for Polish parents, their bilingual children and the teachers of these children within English monolingual curriculum and assessment which seems to be largely outdated and inappropriate for an increasingly diverse population. Three in-depth cases studies will be presented to illuminate specific issues and challenges, highlighting how myths about bilingualism are still alive and at play and how they can impact on the children psycho-social development and behaviour as well as put strain on the relationship between schools and parents. Some tentative recommendations will be made and future research directions will be discussed.Lenkija – viena iš didžiausių naujųjų Europos sąjungos narių. 2004–2008 m. lenkai sudarė gausiausią emigrantų srautą Europos Sąjungoje. Šiuo metu lenkų kalba yra antroji labiausiai paplitusi kalba Anglijoje ir Velse bei gimtoji kalba daugiau nei pusei milijono gyventojų. Manoma, kad Jungtinėje Karalystėje lenkų ir anglų dvikalbių vaikų skaičius ir toliau augs, o tai lemia būtinybę stebėti ir analizuoti jų poreikius. Šiame straipsnyje apibūdinama lenkų emigracija bei jos pagrindiniai bruožai, padedantys geriau suprasti lenkų ir anglų dvikalbių vaikų situaciją angliškoje švietimo sistemoje. Nagrinėjami iššūkiai, su kuriais susiduria lenkų tautybės tėvai, jų dvikalbiai vaikai ir šių vaikų mokytojai, dirbdami pagal angliškas vienakalbes ugdymo ir vertinimo programas, kurios atrodo gerokai pasenusios ir neatitinkančios visuomenės lūkesčių augančios įvairovės kontekste. Siekiant atkreipti dėmesį į specifinius klausimus ir problemas, pateikiamos trys išsamios atvejo analizės bei atskleidžiama, kad su dvikalbyste susiję mitai vis dar gyvi; jie lemia vaikų psichosocialinį vystymąsi ir elgesį. Straipsnyje pateikiamos preliminarios rekomendacijos bei aptariamos tolimesnių tyrimų kryptys

Learning from Experience : A Report from Mexico’s Turtle Trip 2000

Student participation in saving endangered sea turtles