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‘Teaching wellbeing’ in secondary schools in the 2020s: a qualitative interview and focus group project with secondary school teachers in England
Get PDFThe state of mental health and wellbeing for young people and their teachers has been a rising concern in recent decades. Across OECD countries, there has been an increased focus on wellbeing in schools within policy and practice. Teachers are at the frontline of these issues. In 2020, the covid-19 pandemic arose, adding further complexity. In England, the teaching profession was required to absorb new policy requirements and “teach” wellbeing. Scant research existed to explore the practice implications for teachers as increased emphasis on wellbeing expectations emerged.
This interpretive qualitative project conducted with teachers (n=25) from regional state-maintained secondary schools (n=15) investigated: a) teachers’ concept of wellbeing, b) their experience of wellbeing in teaching practice and c) tensions and barriers. Informed by Etienne Wenger’s communities of practice approach, fieldwork took place in three rounds of data collection from Autumn-Winter 2020-21 to Summer-Winter 2021-2022, and is published in three individual articles.
Findings demonstrated dual conceptions of wellbeing as ‘doing well’ and ‘being well’, where ‘being well’ was conceived as relational rather than individual, and foundational to ‘doing well’. Measures to promote wellbeing during return from school pandemic closures were seen as thwarted by the drive for attainment outcomes. As behavioural challenges arose, related to the disaster recovery and trauma resultant from the pandemic, teachers talked of ‘survival’. Multiple wellbeing initiatives based on philosophies of embodiment, person-centred traditions and inter-disciplinarity were emergent in teachers’ practice and school settings, yet teachers saw initiatives for wellbeing as resting ‘out of the realm of the classroom’ whilst schooling remains so strongly tethered to neoliberal governance. Teachers’ imaginaries for a ‘turning’ towards relational pedagogy, engaging with students’ living and complex communities/world were considered little practicable within neoliberal ‘education as usual’ despite hopes for an ‘education reset’. Yet this project also points to openings whereby policy and practice shifts offer levers for integrative rather than additive approaches to wellbeing through schooling
Assessing the sustainability gaps of food sharing platforms: a mixed-method approach
Get PDFFood waste and food poverty are two interlinked global crises with significant environmental, economic, and social implications. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), nearly one-third of all food produced worldwide for human consumption is lost or wasted each year, contributing to vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and the depletion of critical resources such as water, land, and energy (FAO, 2017). At the same time, around 805 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition worldwide, highlighting the moral urgency of addressing both food waste and its contributions to food insecurity (Sharma et al., 2016). This dual challenge underscores the need for innovative and sustainable solutions that not only reduce food waste but also tackle the widespread issue of food poverty.
In this context, digital food-sharing platforms have emerged as potential solutions, facilitating the redistribution of surplus food, mitigating waste, and contributing to the alleviation of food poverty. However, despite their promise, these platforms face significant barriers to widespread acceptance and the sustainability of long-term user engagement. Key challenges include concerns about food safety, quality, and freshness, as well as the perceived practicality and reliability of using such platforms compared to traditional food sources. Furthermore, maintaining long-term user engagement is difficult, as initial enthusiasm often wanes due to inefficiencies and the fading novelty of the platform. Without addressing these barriers, the potential of food-sharing platforms to significantly reduce food waste and alleviate food poverty remains limited.
To fill this knowledge gap and advance the understanding of the factors driving the adoption and sustainability of food-sharing platforms, this thesis addresses two critical questions. The first examines the key factors influencing user acceptance of food-sharing platforms, while the second explores the determinants of sustained user engagement. By answering these questions, the research aims to offer practical guidelines for improving the adoption and sustainability of food-sharing platforms.
To investigate these questions, a systematic literature review was conducted to consolidate existing knowledge on the sustainability of food-sharing platforms. This was followed by qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews, guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2), to explore factors influencing consumer acceptance of these platforms. Key determinants identified include perceived usefulness, ease of use, social influence, and concerns related to emotional and risk issues. A subsequent quantitative survey examined the factors influencing continuous usage, with a focus on perceived value and perceived risk.
The evaluation framework developed from these findings integrates both qualitative and quantitative insights, highlighting economic benefits, performance expectancy, social influence, and hedonic motivation as key drivers for both adoption and long-term engagement. The framework offers practical recommendations to improve user experience and enhance the long-term viability of food-sharing platforms as a solution to food waste and food poverty. This thesis contributes to a broader understanding of digital platform sustainability, supporting sustainable development goals through more effective food redistribution strategies
Digital storytelling authoring tool to support transformative learning in education
No full textDigital storytelling has been a powerful and innovative pedagogical tool that cultivates 21st century skills through an integrated and constructivist approach. Digital storytelling engages learners in reflection which is the prerequisite to meaningful learning and transformative learning. Transformative learning enhances critical-thinking skills to help learners relate new knowledge to their own life experiences through reflective practices. While there are numerous existing pedagogical digital storytelling authoring tools developed with emerging technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality and VR (Virtual Reality), a paucity of these tools is designed to facilitate transformative learning. In this research, we explore different emerging technologies to be incorporated, and how to design a digital storytelling authoring tool that supports transformative learning. Systematic literature review on digital storytelling authoring tools in education from last 10 years was conducted to identify research direction. Findings suggested that while research has explored Artificial Intelligence (AI) in language learning and reflective practices, its integration to enhance both simultaneously remains underexplored. An artificial intelligence storytelling chatbot, Dutch Lady, was designed and evaluated during the Malakka Dutch hybrid exhibition to explore how to design to support reflection and to investigate user acceptance towards chatbot as a storytelling authoring tool. Interviews and user observations were conducted with 13 participants from physical exhibition and 13 participants from digital exhibition. Findings suggested that Dutch Lady, the AI storytelling chatbot enhanced cultural heritage learning experience. Technical infrastructure and environment (digital or physical spaces) are significant in shaping user engagement. To effectively support reflection, a storytelling chatbot needs to be able to ask in-depth questions and respond in a context-aware and emotionally intelligent manner. Tale-It, an AI-assisted storytelling authoring tool for reflection was developed and evaluated with four international schools in Selangor. The user study was conducted with 278 students ranging from 11 to 16 years old. Comparative study was conducted to identify learning outcome and measure level of reflection in participants engaging with non-AI Tale-It and AI-assisted Tale-It. Findings revealed that AI-assisted Tale-It is effective in enhancing organisation, content and vocabulary of a story. Additionally, the reflection questions in AI-assisted Tale-It prompted in three cycles successfully triggered reflective practices, prompting participants to not only reflect on their work but also to set future goals for improvement. The contribution of this research is a Transformative Reflection Framework that facilitates structured reflection during learning process, leading to transformation learning. In addition, the research provides design guidelines for educational digital storytelling authoring tools
The Genetic Domestication of Clostridium carboxidivorans
Get PDFThe continued use of fossil fuels to produce energy and chemicals is becoming increasingly untenable. They are a finite resource responsible for the release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, directly contributing to global warming and climate change. If the consumption of fossil fuels remains unabated then drastic environmental consequences are inevitable. A promising alternative is exploiting the potential of microorganisms as biological catalysts to produce renewable energy and chemicals. To this end, autotrophic bacteria that are capable of fixing inorganic carbon in the form of CO2 and CO are of particular interest. Clostridium carboxidivorans is one such bacterium, an anaerobic acetogen capable of producing ethanol, butanol, hexanol, and their conjugate organic acids from CO or CO2 and H2. However, C. carboxidivorans possesses an expansive Restriction Modification System (RMS) rendering DNA transfer impossible.
In this study, the RMS of C. carboxidivorans is bypassed to deliver CRISPR-Cas9 vectors targeting RMS-associated nuclease-encoding genes to create a fully genetically domesticated strain, C. carboxidivorans Δ7RM. Then, a metabolic engineering approach is adopted whereby the gene hytA of the domesticated strain is deleted to increase autotrophic growth and ethanol, butanol, and hexanol production. Finally, an alternative Retrotransposition Activated Marker is developed for the ClosTron mutagenesis system. This is characterised in several members of Clostridium, including C. carboxidivorans Δ7RM
Bridging the automated machine learning transparency and usability gap for non-experts: a user-centered design and evaluation study
Get PDFThe inherent complexity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools creates significant barriers for non-expert users. Traditional ML workflows require specialized programming and statistical knowledge, limiting widespread adoption across various domains where these technologies could provide substantial benefits. This research aimed to develop and evaluate VisAutoML, an automated machine learning tool specifically designed to provide non-expert users with a transparent and user-friendly ML development experience for tabular data. The study sought to identify key factors influencing tool acceptance, understand specific challenges faced by non-experts, and create novel design principles to address these challenges. The research employed a five-stage iterative user-centered design methodology. This included a mixed-method study utilizing an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to identify acceptance factors and user challenges. The design integrated technology-enhanced scaffolding and Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) principles tailored for non-experts, featuring visualizations of activities, demonstration of scaffold functions, contextually relevant support, and progressive disclosure of XAI visualizations. Two versions of VisAutoML were developed and evaluated against both commercial alternatives and established benchmarks. Initial comparison between VisAutoML 1.0 and H2O AutoML showed significantly higher System Usability Scale scores (61.5 vs 38.5) for VisAutoML and a 20.94% increase in correct answers on knowledge assessments. The redesigned VisAutoML 2.0 demonstrated substantial improvements, with 75% of participants completing ML model development tasks in under 5 minutes. User Experience Questionnaire results showed 'good' scores for pragmatic quality (M=1.60, SD=0.912) and 'excellent' scores for hedonic quality (M=1.59, SD=0.899) and overall usability (M=1.60, SD=0.851). Trust measures were moderate (M=26.11, SD=4.67), while perceived explainability ratings were high (M=161.9, SD=36.24). This research contributes to the field by extending the TAM framework for understanding non-expert AutoML requirements, introducing empirically grounded design principles for usable and transparent AutoML systems, and successfully developing VisAutoML 2.0 with demonstrably enhanced usability and transparency. These contributions provide valuable guidance for making ML more accessible to broader audiences, advancing the democratization of AI technologies beyond technical specialists. Future work should explore additional application domains and further refinements of scaffolding and XAI approaches
Evaluation of biochar from palm oil waste as a carbon sink and as sustainable cement replacement in building materials
Get PDFOver the years, there has been a high demand of concrete in the construction industry due to its strength and durability. However, the production of cement, a key component of concrete, has caused high carbon dioxide emissions, negatively affecting the environment. To address this issue, recent research has explored sustainable supplementary cementitious material such as biochar, which offers increased strength and enhanced properties for concrete and mortar composites. This research focuses on the usability, efficiency, and sustainability of palm oil waste biochar as a cement replacement for carbon sequestration. The selected biochar palm kernel shell and empty fruit bunch were produced through pyrolysis. By recycling palm oil waste and converting it into biochar for construction, this approach promotes sustainable practices within the palm oil industry. This study investigates both the optimisation of biochar production through pyrolysis and its utilisation as a supplementary cementitious material. Response surface methodology was used to optimise pyrolysis parameters. The optimised pyrolysis parameters are 409°C, 15°C/min, 120 minutes for palm kernel shells and 455°C, 15°C/min, 20 minutes for empty fruit bunch. Cement replacement from 1 to 8% was casted with biochar mortar composites and mechanically tested through compressive strength, density, porosity, water absorption and flexural strength to understand the behaviour of biochar with cement. Mortar composites with 4% empty fruit bunch biochar pyrolysed at 455°C were found to be the optimum percentage with improved mechanical properties. Concrete composites with 4% biochar were compared and evaluated by the same mechanical tests. The concrete composites with 4% palm kernel shells pyrolysed at 409°C proved to be the optimum mix.
The carbon dioxide sequestration potential of the biochar, biochar concrete and the mortar composites were tested and analysed. The results show that palm kernel shell biochar, which was pyrolysed at 409°C had the highest carbon dioxide sequestration potential. Both biochar mortar and concrete composites also showed potential, but this was mainly due to physical adsorption rather than chemical adsorption within the tested time frame. Finally, to assess the environmental impact, life cycle assessment was conducted for the biochar mortar and concrete composite using the OpenLCA software. All composites showed a decrease in environmental impact compared to the control. The composite with 4% empty fruit bunch pyrolysed at 500°C had the lowest impact of 17.2% for mortar and 38.1% for concrete in reference to the control. Based on the combined evaluation of enhanced mechanical properties and carbon sequestration potential, the optimised biochar from both biomass sources, palm kernel shells and empty fruit bunch are proposed as an effective sustainable replacement of cement. The approach by this research determines the importance and feasibility of using a specific type of biochar as a carbon sink and as a supplementary cementitious material. The findings highlight that the utilisation of palm oil waste biochar as a supplementary cementitious material will enhance mechanical properties, promote waste management and additionally reduce the use of landfill
Cosmopolitan capital the compass of global finance: a study of international finance and international student mobility
Get PDFSince the early 2000s, researchers have grappled with understanding the nature of transnational human actors operating within the international financial centres (IFC) that emerged following the deregulation of global capital markets in the 1980s. These discussions have centred around the evolution of a new class structure, reproduced through global capitalism with scholars adopting a cultural economy approach to explore how situated practices and norms shape global capitalism through key events such as the Asian financial crisis, dot com bubble and global financial crisis. Primarily this research has focused on the transnational elite and their role in corporate networks, the reproduction of cultural norms and their spatial mobilities through IFCs such as London, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Thus far however little attention has been given to the role of educational geographies in the reproduction of this new transnational class.
The thesis addresses this question, by exploring one aspect of education, that of international student mobility (ISM) and universities as key sites in the reproduction of transnational elites. The thesis takes a novel approach; by incorporating methodologies from the sociology of education it examines the infrastructure that reproduces transnational actors before they enter the elite labour markets of global capitalism. The thesis conceptualises ISM and universities as key geographies in the reproduction of cosmopolitanism, a form of cultural capital that has been demonstrated to provide transnational distinction in elite labour markets. It considers pre-career ISM as a new point of research for exploring the makeup and composition of global capitalism.
The study addressed a methodological gap by positioning ISM as a new geography of investigation in the global financial system. The research involved collecting and analysing university policy documents, conducting interviews with university staff, and gathering reflections from recent international graduates. To facilitate this analysis, the thesis developed a new framework of cosmopolitanism to create a common language across financial geography and the sociology of education. Additionally, the thesis expanded on existing models of spatial trajectories, placing ISM as a new process in the world economy and story of international capital.
Significantly, the thesis advances the study of financial geography by highlighting the role of education as a central mechanism for creating distinction among the transnational elite. It emphasises cosmopolitanism as a crucial aspect of social and cultural practice and demonstrates how it can be reproduced through pre-career international student mobilities to specific university landscapes. The research not only underscores the importance of this area for further investigation but also illustrates how the sociology of education and cultural economy approaches within financial geographies provide a novel lens for exploring the nature of global capitalism and its associated inequalities.
In paper one, I explore how cosmopolitanism is conceptualised within the educational strategies of select London-based universities. I conducted a thematic analysis of 11 policy documents from universities in London. The findings underscore the significance of these diverse conceptions of cosmopolitanism and how they might influence labour market dynamics in IFCs.
In paper two, I investigate how British Universities support international students to develop agency and employability to enter transnational labour markets. The paper explores how the two economic sectors are closely interconnected through interviews with employability and alumni officers and Home Office figures obtained through a freedom of information request (FOI).
In paper three I map the spatial trajectories of early career financial professionals, conceiving ISM as an inception point and springboard for transnational class making. The paper draws on interviews with early career professional to develop a series of narrative portraits, identifying amongst other things how students pre-position themselves around IFCs.
Through the three papers I demonstrate how ISM represents a hitherto neglected geography in the global capitalist system and key site of social and cultural reproduction for international finance. I identify how British universities serve as manufactures of cosmopolitanism and how specific stance of cosmopolitanism act as a compass gilding global capitalism and those who work within in
Can the Power Threat Meaning Framework be Adopted into Educational Psychology Practice? Exploring Relevance and Challenge through a World Café Approach
Get PDFThe Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) (Johnstone & Boyle, 2018b, 2018a) offers an alternative conceptualisation of mental health or ‘emotional/behavioural distress’. First proposed as a substitute for psychiatric diagnoses, it is suggested that the framework can be applied across various disciplines. However, existing literature highlights both advantages and challenges encountered during the initial adoption of the framework in applied psychological practices. Little is known about the PTMF’s applicability to practice in Educational Psychology (EP) services.
Using a World Café methodology, this study aimed to explore Educational Psychologists' (EPs) views on the perceived relevance of the PTMF and potential challenges to applying it in EP practice. In line with the exploratory sequential design and the World Café principle of creating ‘networks of conversations’, two phases of research took place. In total, three EP services participated.
Each service engaged in a session introducing the PTMF and a World Café where participants discussed the PTMF’s potential application to EP practice through iterative small group discussions. Aligned with the exploratory focus, the PTMF was suggested as relevant to EPs’ reflective practice and explicit practices with children and young people, adults, school systems, and wider systems. Conceptual and practical challenges to translating the framework to EP practice were also identified.
The findings are examined alongside existing literature, highlighting the tensions EPs face regarding their role in therapeutic practices, interpreting meanings, and operating within complex power dynamics that shape their influence and scope of practice. Utilising Rogers’ (2003) ‘diffusion of innovations’ theory within a contextualist epistemological framework, the findings emphasise various elements EPs should weigh when implementing the PTMF in their contexts. Implications for EP practice are offered as reflective questions for EPs, guided by the PTMF and current research insights. The study's strengths and limitations, along with suggestions for future research, are also discussed
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