1993 research outputs found
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An Exploration of the Adequacy of Support for EAL and ALN Learners in Curriculum for Wales
Get PDFProviding students with the skills and knowledge to become 21st century citizens as part of Wales’ new purpose-driven curriculum: CfW should be uppermost and pervasive across its blueprint. Alongside embracing the 4Ps, enabling students to become,
1) ambitious, capable learners;
2) enterprising, creative contributors;
3) healthy, confident individuals;
4) ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world (Welsh Government, 2015)
forms the curriculum’s core. The concept behind CfW is for inclusivity and equity, however, this appears more opaque when considering students who may be disadvantaged.
As CfW is in its relative infancy, very little research has been conducted into its rollout and there is currently no literature which combines the curriculum’s implementation and learning, and the provision for EAL learners. Whilst much has been written about CfW’s offering initially proposed by Professor Donaldson, including its content, no consideration has yet been afforded to those EAL and ALN students who may not be part of the mainstream. When greater demands are placed on disadvantaged learners to become more independent, they could potentially become more ostracised as they may not be able to access learning without adequate support. Moreover, far from becoming ambitious, capable learners who are confident and informed (Welsh Government, 2015), most compellingly the research suggests these students will be marginalised and disadvantaged and therefore fail to learn.
This research thesis considers CfW’s inception and early introduction, looking at how learners could be supported to realise the 4Ps. Using student questionnaires, it focuses on those learners across two large secondary schools who may have ALN, or follow a curriculum through EAL. The data considers how their needs are catered for and whether they are able to access this new curriculum. Those who work directly with these ALN and EAL students: Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinators (ALNCOs) and teaching assistants (TAs) also took part using semi-structured interviews. New evidence through data acquisition as part of this research demonstrates how ALN and EAL learners have not been considered and therefore may not be adequately supported as learners by CfW as they will not be able to access the language required to embrace the 4Ps
The Impact of Community Governance Participation on the Sustainable Development of Chinese Property Management Companies
Get PDFThis thesis explores how Chinese property management companies’ (CPMCs) involvement in community governance affects corporate sustainability, using neo-institutional theory (NIT) as a framework. A qualitative case study approach is adopted, incorporating thematic analysis of interviews with property managers, Local Street Office officials, Residents’ Committee members, industry experts, academics, and residents representatives. Thematic analysis reveals four key themes: CPMCs’ participatory roles in community governance, the institutional pressures they face, their institutional entrepreneurship pathways, and their contributions to corporate sustainability.
The findings show that CPMCs operate within a complex institutional environment shaped by regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive pressures, alongside contradictions such as efficiency, nonadaptability, misaligned interests and interinstitutional incompatibility. These institutional field characteristics intersect with CPMCs’ social positions, enabling divergent change through institutional entrepreneurship. The study develops a novel typology of CPMCs highlighting their social positions and strategic variations in their responses to institutional environments. Through institutional entrepreneurship pathways, CPMCs adapt to governance challenges, strengthen alignment with sustainability goals, foster stakeholder trust, and drive innovation, as evaluated through the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework.
The study introduces the Institutional Community Governance and Corporate Sustainability Framework, which bridges community governance participation and corporate sustainability. It provides theoretical contributions to NIT and offers practical recommendations for CPMCs, policymakers and practitioners with strengthening community governance collaboration and advancing sustainable development in China
“Playing the game”: performativity, power and panopticism in the context of school inspection in Wales
Get PDFSchool inspection is recognised across the world as an important accountability mechanism designed to evaluate performance and maintain standards. In the United Kingdom, research related to school inspection has tended to focus on England’s inspectorate, Ofsted, and its influence on teachers and leaders there. This small-scale study is distinct in that it considers for the first time the Welsh inspectorate, Estyn, and its perception amongst school leaders in Wales. Drawing heavily on the work of Foucault, it explores how performativity, power and panopticism are manifested in the inspection process, from the perspective of school leaders. A series of semi-structured interviews were undertaken and used to explore how those responsible for the day-to-day running of schools interpret and respond to Estyn judgements. The study provides new empirical evidence that the behaviour and practice of some school leaders is driven almost entirely by the inspection process, which calls into question the efficacy of inspection as a robust and reliable accountability mechanism
An Exploration of the Terms Educational System Leader and Educational System Leadership
Get PDFThis thesis explores the concept and practice of system leadership within the context of Welsh education reform. In the context of significant policy change and curriculum transformation, the study investigates how leadership that transcends individual schools can contribute to system-wide improvement. It specifically examines the terms educational system leader and educational system leadership, using an interpretivist approach (Thomas, 2017) to understand how these are perceived by educational leaders, advisers and policy influencers.
Grounded in sociocultural theory (Rogoff, 1990, 1995, 2003), the research is framed by two
central questions:
What is understood by the term educational system leader?
What is understood by the term educational system leadership?
To address these questions, the study employed two qualitative data collection methods: an online questionnaire distributed to a purposive sample of global education professionals and follow-up interviews with four headteachers from across Wales. Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022), supported by Rogoff’s (2003) analytic framework, led to the development of seven themes. These findings culminated in the identification of five core principles of a system leader and eight essential aspects of system leadership, together forming an empirically derived model of system leadership in action.
The study argues that system leadership in Wales is not merely an extension of traditional within-school leadership, but a distinct and necessary form of leadership that supports collaboration, coherence and reform across the education system. It contributes to the field of educational leadership by offering a contextually grounded understanding of system leadership and its role in driving sustainable change. The model developed through this research provides valuable insights for policy, practice and future research, particularly in supporting the ongoing transformation of education in Wales
For the love of the sea: technocratic environmentalism and the struggle to sustain community-led aquaculture
Get PDFThis article argues that sustainability governance in small-scale regenerative aquaculture arises less from formal regulation than from the relational, ethical, and temporal labour of practitioners. Based on an ethnographic study of Câr-y-Môr, Wales’s first community-owned regenerative ocean farm, the research combines over 250 h of participant observation, 25 interviews, and document analysis with transdisciplinary humanities-informed sustainability science (THiSS). The study shows how technocratic environmentalism, reliant on auditing, reporting, and standardised procedures, often clashes with the shifting rhythms of tides, weather, and the embodied work of marine labour. Ethnography uniquely reveals the embodied knowledge, improvisation, and moral commitment through which practitioners continually remake governance, translating bureaucratic rules into ecologically and socially meaningful practice. The findings demonstrate that adaptive governance requires recognition of local and experiential expertise, proportionate regulatory frameworks, and protected spaces for experimentation and learning. Seen in this way, sustainability shifts from a fixed goal to a relational process. When governance learns from practice and care is recognised as a form of knowledge, it becomes more adaptive, situated, and responsive, revealing both the constraints of technocratic control and the possibilities of care-based policy and practice
The 'OECD machine' - using a negative universality gaze to examine the OECD and its positive universal engineering fantasy.
Get PDFRecently, there has been a greater emphasis, especially inspired by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on the creation of educational policy
that appears to want to control the future. This is evidenced by promoting an engineering
fantasy in/for education that embodies positive universalism. We critically examine such
positive universalism by drawing on the notion of negative universality (Kapoor & Zalloua,
2022ab) along with concepts of fantasy, desire and sublime objects (Zi ˇ zek, 1989), and Rosa ˇ
(2020) cultural criticism. We illustrate our concepts through the story of a skiing holiday
where the fantasy of the perfect snowscape always fails to deliver what it promises. Here,
travellers who desire the experience of skiing on ‘perfect snow’ are seduced by powerful
advertising campaigns. Due to the unpredictability of nature, travellers are often faced
with intrusive snow machines that noisily – and in a ‘vulgar’ way – engineer and manufacture the snowscape which spoils and punctures the fantasy of the perfect skiing
conditions. Our paper critically examines the OECD’s (2019b) Learning Compass
2030 document, discussing the universal engineering fantasy that promises to produce
certainty, moral improvement and control in/with education. We also analyse the accompanying OECD’s attitudes and values document (OECD, 2019a) that identifies a list of
sublime objects such as respect, justice and Bildung to which all countries must aspire if they wish to succeed. We conclude that the policy documents of the OECD present a
positive universal engineering fantasy that promises a non-antagonistic and harmonious
future. However, such a future will be impossible to achieve. Hence, we call for educators
to critically engage with negative universality to expose the lacks and contradictions
always inherent in global policies. This would provide educators with an opportunity to
reflect on and critically confront seductive policy and its engineering fantasy that captures
their desires
Innovative insole to reduce focal plantar pressure
Get PDFIntroduction
Focal excessive pressure is a risk factor in forming hyperkeratosis, and inducing lesions of the foot, such as corns and calluses [1], which are common foot problems and can cause pain and impact quality of life [2]. A podiatrist may provide treatment that includes specially made soft pads or insoles to take pressure off the painful area. ZeroSole insoles were designed with a modular cell structure allowing cells to be removed to create a cavity to offload the customized areas, before the hard corns or calluses get to the wound stage. Is such innovation effective to offload plantar pressure for users who have not developed with any lesions?
Methods
Fifteen healthy participants performed the tests. Ultra-thin, in-shoe F-Scan sensors were put between the foot and the ZeroSole to capture the plantar pressure distribution and temporal gait parameters. Participants walked on a 9-m walkway under 4 ordered conditions – C1: No ZeroSole, C2: ZeroSole No Cavity, C3: ZeroSole One Cavity, C4: ZeroSole Two Cavities. The cavity was created around the second metatarsal-phalangeal joint (MPTJ) area by removing three modular cells from the insole in a triangle shape, which was covered by a target zone of the F-Scan pressure measurement system. After the walking test, user experience data were collected about insole fitting, comfort rating and balance feeling. Gait parameters were examined in the middle gait cycles, with mean and peak pressure of the target zone, plantar forces and pressure heatmaps.
Results
No significant difference existed between conditions for all gait parameters (stance time, swing time, gait cycle and Robison symmetry index [3]). The mean pressure of the target zone showed a decreasing trend from C1 to C4, similar as the peak pressure (example pressure distribution at averaged peak stance shown in Figure 1), as well as force changes in the metartarsal, heel and the whole foot regions. Compared to normal footwear walking (C1), using the ZeroSole with one cavity (C3) decreased the mean pressure about 28% in the target zone for the same side of the foot and 23% for the other side, and using insoles with both cavities (C4) decreased by 29% and 27%, respectively. User experience data showed users’ satisfaction in comfort, no imbalance feeling and provided insights for future design development.
Discussion
Wearing the ZeroSole insoles could effectively take pressure off the target area, redistribute the pressure under the feet without affecting gait. The insoles offered cushioning effects, evidenced by reduced plantar forces. In a similar study, using another two types of pixelated insoles had the percentage reduction over 40% when pixels were removed [4], which might be due to extra pad added under the MPTJ for elevated focal pressure. Both objective and subjective responses suggest the ZeroSole is promising to benefit people as an over-the-counter product. More clinical research would further test their effects in a long term
The need for a systemic entrepreneurial solution to the sustainability challenge; evidence from the Welsh circular economy and beyond.
Get PDFThe study examines entrepreneurship and the concept of the circular economy, particularly the claim by Bosschaert (2022) that there is a need for a systemic, holistic, long-term approach to the sustainability challenge. The research analyses three Welsh businesses that have embraced the circularity concept in line with the Welsh Government's plan to become a leading circular economy. The study reveals that to address the challenge, entrepreneurship must recognise the systemic nature of the sustainability problem and reject Friedman's (1970) doctrine that the responsibility of business is to maximise its profit and satisfy its shareholders. It suggests that while circularity is essential, it alone is insufficient to address the sustainability challenge. The study concludes that entrepreneurship must adopt a systemic, holistic approach that generates profit while taking into account the welfare of both people and the planet. The chapter proposes a new business model, "Harmonious Entrepreneurship" that emphasises the harmony between profit, people, and the planet and requires all the actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to work in harmony with each other. It acknowledges the need for further research in other politico-economic contexts and provides further examples beyond Wales
The Deaf Working Age Population in the United Kingdom: Investigating the Barriers for Those Within Employment.
Get PDFAim of this research-The aim of this research is to explore and identify the barriers experienced by deaf adults in the workplace.
Background and research purpose-Deafness remains one of the most common disabilities within the UK, however deaf adults continue to experience barriers and inequalities in the workplace. Deaf individuals are more vulnerable in the workplace, because of significant challenges related to their hearing which can pose stress risk factors and barriers. The unemployment rate of deaf adults compared to hearing adults also remains higher within the UK although there are claims of effective support services for deaf workers to begin and remain in work. There was an absence of systematic reviews found in relation to this research topic, therefore it is essential that this is performed to rigorously and effectively fulfil this gap in literature and investigate such barriers and forward influential recommendations for future research, policy and practice, to further address such barriers identified, and enforce an inclusive working environment.
Methodology-A systematic review was conducted. Databases such as the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Library, SAGE journals, Google engine, and Taylor and Francis were utilised to perform this systematic review. An exclusion and inclusion criteria were implemented within this systematic review to obtain the most relevant data, whilst also effectively setting research boundaries. A thorough search was completed across all databases, using search strategy tools, which included the Boolean Operators to retrieve the most relevant qualitative and mixed-method data. The data found was thoroughly analysed on the relevancy, quality, and reliability through both the PRISMA diagram and critical appraisal. The included data was extracted and sorted into themes to effectively answer the research question.
Findings-17 qualitative and mixed-method studies were identified which met this research
inclusion criteria. Through the performance of thematic analyses six themes of barriers for
deaf adults in the workplace were identified. The findings consistently outline that deaf adults experience significant ongoing barriers within the workplace. The four main themes included stigma, effective communication, accommodations, and fatigue. Two sub-themes which emerged included deaf awareness and building relationships.
Conclusion-The findings forward strong evidence that deaf workers experience ongoing barriers which can be detrimental to their quality of working life, inclusion, and positive relationships in the workplace. Recommendations for future research, practice, and policy were discussed from the conclusion of these findings to improve the support, inclusivity, and awareness for deaf workers
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