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This thesis uses the personal narratives of six long-serving former Tutor Organisers to explore the impact of the state's educational policy on the WEA and its special educational mission. Although this historic mission has changed many times since its creation in 1903, its core values still maintain a commitment to provide educational opportunities to those who need them most and through socially purposeful adult education, achieve, 'a better world, just, equal and democratic' (WEA, 2013a). These rich biographical accounts - which span over 20 years - offer fascinating insights into the identities and practices of some of the WEA’s key agents, and in doing so, they reveal much about the organisational identity itself, and how over time and under certain conditions, these identities have been subject to change. Using Archer’s theory of human agency to analyse the narratives, a meta-narrative emerges to illustrate the importance of the structure/agency relationship between the WEA and its agents: a relationship which appears to have altered since the WEA's reorganisation in 2004. Based on a critical realist approach which appreciates the formation of identity over a lengthy timeframe, the findings of this study reveal that the WEA's identity has always been a contested site of struggle, and subject to powerful internal and external influences that result in an organisation that is not so much in crisis, as in contradiction. The evidence also suggests that the recalibration of the Association’s structure/agency relationship following the radical restructure of 2004 may be compromising its agents' practices and the WEA’s distinctive identity.

This investigation was designed to explore how occupational therapists working in higher education perceived their professional identities, and how they described their experience of the change in those identities when they moved from clinical practice to employment in higher education. The study is small scale and qualitative. The data was collected by individual career narratives, participant-led focus groups and individual interviews. There were sixteen participants all of whom offered career narratives; two of these gave individual interviews but did not participate in the focus group. There were two focus groups one of six participants and one of eight. One person from the larger focus group did not undertake an individual interview; all the others did so there were fifteen individual interviews in all. This data collection was supported by member and colleague commentary, field notes and a research diary. The commentary of colleagues expanded the number of participants to forty one whose comments were all considered and formed a part of the data base and triangulation. Analysis was by researcher immersion in the data, by continual checking, rechecking, and reconsideration until key themes emerged which were felt to be authentic by researcher and participants. The findings were presented and discussed in three broad areas: professional identity, personal journey and belonging and becoming, supported by participant quotations which were seen as the central voice of the study. The investigation suggested that the power and meaning of professional identity as an occupational therapist cannot be underestimated. Participants described a challenging, and sometimes painful, personal journey in their changed professional role, which was located in the central dilemma of the thesis: the transition from expert to novice. Contrasting workplace cultures were noted as causing some confusion in expectations. The need to belong to a suitable community of practice was seen as important, and support for the notion of several overlapping belongs was indicated. An acknowledgement of the meaning and experience of the transition from expert in onearea to novice in another needs to be more fully understood, acknowledged and managed to support the best interests of individuals and communities of practice.

The interpretations and practices of widening participation are explored using a case study of an academic School within a post-1992 University. The research is based upon the assumption that there are no shared understandings of the agenda and that policy may be reinterpreted by stakeholders. Consequently individuals' interpretations and practice of widening participation were explored. Semi structured interviews with apposite staff were used to uncover their understandings of the agenda. The individuals held a range of posts, as it was believed important to explore differing perspectives of the agenda, but all were identified with the decision making process attached to widening participation. The research uncovers the multiple and complex factors which affect the interpretation and practice of widening participation. The role of government is important to that practice as it is argued that the University and School engage with it in a reactive manner. The impact of government policy is complex, and is seen to operate in both a direct and indirect manner upon the Institution. What is evident is that the relationship of government and the higher education institution is contested and that the practice of widening participation within the Institution is in part an outcome of this. Through the data the role of the university and academics was identified as important to the interpretation and practice of widening participation, as was the binary divide. However for both academics and Institution there were more pressing and important priorities which side-lined the agenda. In particular widening participation appeared to challenge perceived academic roles and purposes. The agenda was not seen as being a defining function of that role and hence was not owned by academics; a consequence of this is the way that it was interpreted and practiced. The implication for practice is that government needs to acknowledge the culture of higher education during policy construction, in order for it to be owned. In addition there is a need for academics to reflect upon their own practice and to reject instrumental constructions of the agenda. Rather, they need to engage in a redevelopment of their role which affords the learner an opportunity to contribute to the meaning of higher education. It is at this level, it is concluded, that the agenda can become transformative and move beyond quantitative definitions.

The concept of leadership has become of considerable importance in the development of policy and practice in educational settings (Bennett, Crawford and Cartwright, 2003). For universities leadership is a key issue and, at a time of major change, is increasingly regarded as beneficial to improved performance across all activities. Research by academics is one area where discussions are often couched in terms of leadership. This study investigated research undertaken by university academics and took the leadership of research as its theme. The aim of this research was to develop a deeper understanding of the role of leadership as it relates to research by university academics. To this end a critical review of the literature was undertaken to examine the university context and concepts and theories of research and leadership. Through two case studies a particular focus was given to the leadership of hospitality university academics in research. More specifically the objectives of the study were: To examine the university and hospitality management education contexts and theconcepts of research and leadership. To conceptualise and theorise leadership for university research. To investigate leadership in hospitality management research at the subject group level and to explore the leadership activities of recognised research leaders. To evaluate perceived factors which influence research leadership. To field test the relevance of research leadership to the conduct of research. The primary research employed a qualitative research design and a case study strategy was adopted. Twenty semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with a range of academics from heads of school to lecturers in a pre-1992 and a post-1992 university. The findings derived from interview transcripts, the review of documentary materials and the analysis of reflective notes. Detailed insights and examples of academic leadership in universities were revealed and new ways of thinking about research leadership developed. A view of research leadership emerged which included that research leadership is important; the context of leadership is crucial; leadership is both formal and informal and varies according to social systems; that it is dispersed; that self-leadership exists; that it is complex and possesses many relationship patterns and that it is concerned with the leadership of people and the leadership of the subject. One of the main conclusions is that the presence of formal research leaders in universities does not mean that the leadership of academics in research will occur. Furthermore, any leadership of university academics in research is often accidental. This implies that a planned approach to the leadership of academics in research requires attention being afforded to the role and practices of the formal research leader.

Occupational therapists are known to use storytelling and storymaking in their clinical practice to assist people with disability to visualise and work towards a positive future which they, themselves, can construct. Little work seems to have been done using the same medium of storytelling with occupational therapists in order to explore aspects of their professional life, career and possible future. The aim of this study was thus to investigate the use of narrative in research and in occupational therapists' clinical practice, and to examine its potential for exploring occupational therapists' career stories. Qualitative research was undertaken drawing on the biographical tradition, life history research and narrative inquiry for its methodology. A total of seven taped interviews were recorded with die agreement of two female occupational therapists who had been in practice for a minimum of eight years. In conversation, they told the story of their entry to the profession and of the ups and downs of their career as an occupational therapist. Emotions such as pleasure and pain seemed to be experienced as their stories emerged. Their narratives produced rich data. Systematic analysis revealed characteristics of both the storytelling process and of the narrative itself. The nature of the occupational therapists' careers and the context in which they were played out became apparent. Despite there being only two participants, their stories illustrated how their work was strongly guided by their personal values. Their stories revealed that triumphs and setbacks at work could be experienced in different ways. Their reflective comments made during the storytelling process sometimes offered new insights into these experiences, so that telling the story became, for them, a way of reviewing the issues and seeing them in a new light. The findings also showed that the therapists' career could not easily be isolated from their home life. The two appeared to be inter-dependent, and in this study were perceived to be in balance. Both occupational therapists expressed satisfaction about their professional and personal life and, as a result, were unwilling to project too far into the future about how their career might develop. It was concluded that storytelling, and the reflection involved in producing the narrative, could assist a therapist to explore issues and dilemmas that occurred at work. The process of telling the story could help to redefine the situation in relation to the context in which it was occurring and could help to determine a satisfactory future course of action. It is possible that storytelling in a confidential relationship with another could assist the professional development, not only of occupational therapists but also of other health professionals. A forum, such as in a mentorship arrangement, could allow work-related issues, career options or opportunities to be explored for their costs and benefits and enable better informed career decisions to be made.