How can I as an educator and Professional Development Manager working with teachers, support and enhance the learning and achievement of pupils in a whole school improvement process?


Abstract of PhD
Mike Bosher



This thesis is a personal journey through an educational world of continuing professional development. It is located at school level, and the fields of School Effectiveness and School Improvement act as a context within which this learning process is framed. I claim three aspects of originality in this thesis.

The first claim is the manner in which the thesis has engaged in a personal learning process using insights from the paradigm of Action Research, and the fields of School Effectiveness and School Improvement. These are combined and grounded in my day-to-day professional life as an educator and provide a means of showing how my learning is integrated into a school improvement process. It also shows how my living educational theory develops.

My second claim is that I develop my critical judgement and living theory as I evaluate a school's development. This is in terms of improving the teaching and learning experiences with its staff and pupils and as I engage with, and use the ideas from others.

I express my originality of mind and critical judgement in creating my own living educational theory as I show how the scholarships of discovery, integration, application and teaching, are included within my scholarship of educational enquiry.




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CONTENTS


Tables and Figures 2
Acknowledgements 3
Abstract 4
Preface 5
Introduction 13
Chapter 1 A Cultural Context 18
Chapter 2 An Autobiography 25
Chapter 3 Methodology 40
Chapter 4 The School's Action Research Cycles 89
Chapter 5 School Effectiveness and School Improvement 107
Chapter 6 Vignette 1 Alan Shelton a Teacher 'Par Excellence' 120
Chapter 7 Some More Vignettes 158
Chapter 8 A Personal Development Review 184
Chapter 9 The Circle is Completed 190
References 234

Vol 1.2 Appendices


Appendix 1 An Historical Account of Development and Synergy of School Effectiveness and School Improvement 262
Appendix 2 Yr 11 Mentoring Report 286
Appendix 3 Soft Indicator Tool 291
Appendix 4 Raising Achievement Working Party 295
Appendix 5 My Personality as Seen by Others 300
Appendix 6 The History of My Teaching 306
Appendix 7 My Journeys Through the Thesis 324
Appendix 8 The Diary 334
Appendix 9 Successes and Failures 372
Appendix 10 Mathematics Sets at St John's 379
Appendix 11 The Teacher and Teaching in the New Millennium 383
Appendix 12 Alan Shelton's Videos - A Commentary 392
Appendix 13 Yr. 9 Examination Results 408
Appendix 14 Self-Esteem Test Score Sheet 410
Appendix 15 Susan Gibbs Personality Validation 412
Appendix 16 An Interview with Dr Hazlewood 418