This thesis is an ethnographic study of intercultural education discourses and everyday practices in an urban Greek-Cypriot primary school. The pupil population is comprised of Greek-Cypriots, Eastern European economic migrants and increasing numbers of newlyarrived Iraqi-Palestinian asylum-seekers. Despite the introduction of intercultural education policy in 2001, the education system prescribes a monoculturalist and nationalist ethos. At the same time, the limited opportunities for intercultural education training leave teachers uncertain as to how to respond to the increasing diversity. Informed by ethnographic, discursive and intersectional approaches, this study analyses data from fieldwork conducted in this school for a total of three months over a period of three years. The analysis identifies the discursive resources from which teachers draw to talk about diversity in Greek-Cypriot society and construct the Other, mainly in essentialist and negative ways. It also identifies teachers’ constructions of racism on a societal and educational level, including racism denials, minimizations and justifications. The thesis argues that teachers’ constructions of racism inhibit them from recognizing and challenging institutional racism and racialized incidents they observe among their pupils. The study also demonstrates how minoritized children become differentially racialized as groups and individuals through institutional, teachers’ and children’s discourses and practices, regardless of intentionality. As a result, many minoritized children experience school in an environment of harassment. The study discusses the experiences of an Iraqi-Palestinian boy as an example of how intercultural education is implemented. Some teachers’ resistance to the dominant discourses of colourblindness and racism denial, and minoritized children’s negotiation of their racialized positionings create the spaces of ambivalence that are necessary for change. The findings bear implications for policy and practice in terms of teacher training, development of antiracist policies and supportive networks for teachers, changes in the curriculum, and, structural transformations, so that educational opportunities are equally provided to all children.

Four studies were conducted to examine the nature of cyberbullying in Swedish schools using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The first two studies investigated what reasons/issues may be involved in the negative feelings that a victim of bullying may feel and how these related to different types of bullying. The content analysis yielded seven themes: helplessness, persistency, fright, anonymity, no avoidance, embarrassment and loneliness. Study Three used quantitative methods to examine various issues such as gender and age differences, but especially the distribution of the bullying material, the role of bystanders, and whether cyberbullies feel more or less remorse compared to traditional bullies. Findings showed that cyberbullies not only targeted their victims, but quite often showed the material to other people and/or uploaded it onto the Internet. The bystanders of cyberbullying mostly did nothing further to distribute the material, however when they did, they tended to help the victim more often than bully him/her further. When asked about feelings of remorse, cyberbullies expressed less remorse than traditional bullies. The findings are discussed in relation to the definition of bullying, and the need for empathy raising awareness for bullies within the cyberbullying context. Study Four, a qualitative study, involved 10 pupils and examined issues such as what the pupils had experienced (as victims, bullies or bystanders), how it felt (impact), and how it was resolved. Practical implications of the findings include the highlighted need for different coping strategies to be applied for victims of cyberbullying and traditional bullying, as well as starting preventive strategies for cyberbullying in pupils as young as 7 years. In addition, the need to investigate cyberbullying in a different manner than that of traditional bullying is raised. This could have practical implications for researchers, but is also a theoretical concern related to the definition of cyberbullying.

The aim of this study was to explore how children with ASD predominately educated in special schools experience inclusion in mainstream schools. Method: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to explore interview data from four participants who were primarily educated in the boarding provision of a special school sixth form, but who spent some time each week included in mainstream settings. Results: From the analysis of the data, seven super-ordinate themes were developed. These were: Independence, Belonging, Comparisons, Managing Self Presentation, Sense of Self, ‘Who Knows?’ and External Factors. The different school contexts highlighted different aspects of these themes and all appeared to be affected by the participants’ differing levels of social understanding. Conclusion: The key findings were: 1) For most participants the move into a different setting appeared to result in an increased awareness of factors related to how they saw themselves and how others saw them; 2) The participant’s level of social understanding appeared to affect the extent to which the move into a new context prompted them to reevaluate themselves and manage how others saw them; 3) Participants valued the independence that mainstream settings provided and did not report bullying. This was unexpected as evidence suggests that bullying is a significant problem for autistic pupils included in mainstream education; 4) Problems were experienced regarding who should know about the participant’s diagnosis of autism; 5) The generally positive experiences of these participants add to the debate regarding the inclusion of autistic children in mainstream settings.