Time is a fundamental part of our daily life. We live in a rapidly changing world and many parents and children are caught up in the hectic pace of daily living. What has not been considered is how children interpret time and how they respond to being hurried. Heidegger (1924/1992:6E) suggested that to fully understand time it is necessary to consider our Being in relation to time. Our Being or existence inhabits a set of relationships and possibilities that require exploration and reflection. Using a qualitative research method, based on Interpretative enquiry, I have looked at notions of time and Being in the everyday lives of families. A phenomenological approach allowed me to make sense of the lived experiences of children to examine their perspective of time and Being. These accounts have identified that a young child's understanding of time differs to that of adults. Through processes of normalisation and regulation (Foucault 1977; 1988), a child's use of time can be restricted and controlled as a result of the power relations that are embedded in Western culture. This study examines the impact that adults perspectives of time may have on children and childhood. The investigation of the relationship between time and Being, and the complex issues faced by families, teachers and children in current contexts has allowed me to uncover new ways of thinking about time in relation to young children.

This exploratory study is about self-perception and its affects upon adult learners. It explores the question of why adults often believe it will be difficult for them to engage in formal learning, and in particular, the extent to which self-perception plays a vital role in this process. Research examining adult and workplace learning is plentiful; however, there is a paucity of conceptually sound and methodologically rigorous research that addresses the relationship between learner's self-perception and motivation to learn. For the purposes of this study, self-perception is defined as an adult learner's own interpretation and understanding of himself or herself as a learner. The major contribution of this thesis to knowledge and practice is to provide insights into the thinking undertaken by learners during the learning process, as well as the mechanisms they use to internalise their thoughts in ways that affect their future processes of, and attitudes towards, learning. The study employed a qualitative research paradigm in which the focus was on developing a 'rich' understanding, based on the experiences of participants, of why things happen and the meaning that participants themselves have ascribed to events. A multi-method design was used that involved semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and participant observation. The theoretical perspective employed for the study was 'Grounded Theory', so that an inductive rather than deductive approach was used with inferences being drawn from the data after rather than before it was collected.