This collection contains the Doctoral and Masters by Research theses produced within the department.

Recent Submissions

  • An Exploration of the Perceived Gendered Impact and Implications of Shared Parental Leave on the Career Progression of Solicitors in England and Wales

    Davies, Chantal; Morrow, John; Newton, Jethro; Gillard, Niel (University of Chester, 2023-07-31)
    Over 100 years since the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 lifted the prohibition of women practicing law in England and Wales the number of women practising as solicitors has overtaken men. However, women continue to be underrepresented in the senior positions in the solicitors’ profession. Existing literature has identified that the solicitors’ profession is underpinned by a masculine workplace culture, and that sex, motherhood, and childcare responsibilities present obstacles for women to progress to the senior positions in the solicitors’ profession. In 2015 the UK Government introduced shared parental leave (SPL), a modest reform of childcare leave, enabling working mothers to transfer maternity leave and pay to the father from as early as two weeks after the arrival of a child. SPL is intended to help women to retain and improve their position in the UK labour market by encouraging fathers to share childcare more equally from birth. The object of this research is to examine whether SPL effectively addresses the gendered obstacles related to childcare responsibilities faced by women to career progression in the solicitors’ profession. To achieve this, the research employs a socio-legal methodology with a qualitative empirical approach using a student focus group, a qualitative questionnaire and 24 interviews with participants with experience working at solicitors’ firms based in England and Wales. This research finds that childcare and the perception that women will become mothers with childcare responsibilities is an underlying obstacle to career progression in the solicitors’ profession. This research also finds that shared parental leave is ineffective at challenging the obstacles to career progression because of barriers preventing parents from taking up SPL. Participants recommended changes to SPL and the introduction of additional mechanisms to encourage higher levels of take-up of SPL by parents working in the solicitors’ profession. This research proposes pointers for action by individual law firms, regulatory bodies, and the UK Government to increase the efficacy of SPL at addressing the gendered obstacles related to childcare responsibilities faced by women to career progression in the solicitors’ profession.
  • A Game Changer? The Use of Positive Action to Address Racial Disadvantage within Professional Football Coaching

    Healey, Ruth; Cowell, Sophie L. (University of Chester, 2021-09)
    This research considers the use of positive action to address the underrepresentation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) managers and coaches within English professional football. It focuses on the English Football League’s (EFL) Recruitment Code as an example of such a measure and explores whether the Recruitment Code can be considered an effective or flawed form of positive action to redress the racial inequalities faced by BAME managers and coaches. Twenty-five percent of professional footballers within the English professional leagues are BAME, significantly higher than the general BAME population within the United Kingdom of 14% (Sports People’s Think Tank ‘SPTT’, 2015). Despite this, the number of BAME managers and coaches employed within senior positions in professional football remains disproportionately low at 4.6% (SPTT, 2017). At the beginning of the 2016/17 season, the EFL introduced a positive action measure requiring clubs to interview at least one candidate from a BAME background for coaching and management positions (EFL, 2017). Whilst there exists a body of research into the experiences of BAME managers and coaches and barriers to their career progression, the issue is still largely unexplored from an anti-discrimination law perspective (Veuthey, 2013). Further, research on the EFL’s Recruitment Code is limited. This research aims to fill this gap, by utilising a mixed-methods approach to explore stakeholder perceptions of positive action and the EFL’s Recruitment Code as a form of positive action. It considers the extent to which the Recruitment Code may fit within the legal framework and whether it may demonstrate the legislative approach of reflexive regulation working effectively. This research identified several barriers to BAME manager and coach career progression, including higher standards, extra pressure, lack of role models, the recruitment practices used, and the specificity of football. It found that whilst most participants within this research supported the use of positive action, they perceived significant confusion between positive action and positive discrimination amongst the general public. On the EFL’s Recruitment Code, participants pointed to a lack of transparency and a general lack of understanding, believing the Code would not succeed in isolation and should form part of a package of measures. When considered in light of reflexive regulation, participants also pointed to factors including a perceived lack of consultation, monitoring and enforcement that suggest that features of successful reflexive regulation, as outlined by Hepple (2011), are missing. However, some participants commended the EFL for implementing the measure in light of this perceived lack of understanding of, and support for, positive action. This thesis provides Pointers for Action at Micro (Club), Meso (Sector) and Macro (National Policy) Levels, including the need for greater education and awareness, transparent monitoring and senior buy-in, as well as a need to rephrase the concept of positive action. The thesis outlines how the EFL’s Recruitment Code has the potential to be successful if introduced as part of a holistic life cycle approach to addressing underrepresentation, but in its current format can be considered a flawed form of positive action that is unlikely to redress the racial disadvantage that BAME managers and coaches face. It concludes by detailing the impact that a successful positive action measure within such a high-profile arena could have on both football and the use of positive action generally, if the EFL’s Recruitment Code is adapted in line with the suggested implications and pointers for action.
  • Law students with Dyslexia and their experience of academic assessment

    Newton, Jethro; Davies, Chantel; Healey, Ruth L.; Morrow, John W. (University of Chester, 2017-10)
    The research explores the experience that students with Dyslexia, on law degrees, have of academic assessment, and the environmental factors that influence their experience and perceptions. The research is situated in one HEI (the Research Institution), which has a student population of 18,800, of which 634 had declared a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) (including Dyslexia) during the academic year 2014/15. Previous research has shown that students with Dyslexia are disadvantaged by traditional forms of academic assessment. Whilst little research has been carried out on Dyslexia and law degrees, the predominance of traditional approaches to assessment is commonly believed to disadvantage students with Dyslexia. This potential disadvantage is explored within the Research Institution (RI). In light of their obligation under the Equality Act 2010 to take reasonable steps to alleviate such disadvantages, specific consideration is given to the RI’s response to potential disadvantages faced by such students. In order to facilitate this objective a multiple-methods approach has been utilised for gathering data. Data has been collected through questionnaires, focus groups and interviews, with law students with and without Dyslexia, with lecturers inside and outside the law school, and with student support staff and other professionals. The range of data was then analysed, utilising an inductive approach. Five main themes emerged, and were explored using a social model of Dyslexia and from an emancipatory perspective. The themes are: 1) diagnosis and categorisation of Dyslexia; 2) the students’ experience of academic assessment; 3) the students’ experience of adjustments to academic assessment; 4) the impact of the law school environment on the experience of students with Dyslexia, and 5) the effect of the wider institutional environment and institutional policy and practice on the experiences and perceptions of how students with Dyslexia, and how they are responded to. The data collected pointed to the fact that students with Dyslexia struggled with traditional academic assessment, to a more significant degree than students without Dyslexia. While reasonable adjustments were provided by the institution to help students with Dyslexia overcome such difficulties, and whilst these were helpful to some extent, their overall effectiveness was shown to be limited. The main reasons for the student experiences that emerged from the research were related to the fact that, due to their Dyslexia, the forms of assessment used by their department presented a direct difficulty for students. Traditional forms of assessment utilised on law degrees are therefore considered to be a ‘disabling barrier’, as they inhibit students with Dyslexia from fully demonstrating their academic ability. The thesis then presents pointers to how law degree providers can respond to this issue. It is argued that this can be achieved by adjusting assessment methods in a way that removes, or at least reduces, the ‘disabling barriers’ faced by law students with Dyslexia. The research suggests that this is made possible by utilising a broader range of assessment methods beyond those traditionally utilised in law degrees. It also details how the individualistic nature of Dyslexia means that the most effective means of improving inclusivity for all students is to provide them with elements of choice as to the form of assessment adopted. The research concludes with proposals for alleviating the disadvantage experienced by law students with Dyslexia in respect of their experience of the academic assessment process and academic assessment outcomes. It is argued that to enhance the quality of their learning opportunities, and in order to be inclusive, academic assessment policy and practice should be informed by/premised upon a social interpretation of Dyslexia.
  • The Church of England’s Influence on the Divorce Reform Act 1969

    Kay, Roger; Bolton, Mike; Sinclair, Rosemary M. (University of Chester, 2017-02)
    This study traces the Church of England’s influence on the development of the Divorce Reform Act 1969 from 1964, with the setting up of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s group to examine divorce law, to the end of the 1970s, by which time the special procedure was used in all undefended divorces. The first chapter analyses the Archbishop’s Group itself, its formation, membership, deliberations and conclusions, contained in its report, Putting Asunder: A Divorce Law for Contemporary Society. The second chapter examines the negotiations which took place between the Group and the Law Commission, from which emerged a document known as The Consensus. The third chapter demonstrates how The Consensus evolved, first into a draft bill, and subsequently into the Divorce Reform Act 1969, as a result of its passage through Parliament. The final chapter examines the statutory interpretation of the Act by the courts to assess how much of the recommendations of the Putting Asunder remained ten years after the law was implemented. The methodology used is that of a legal historian and thereby the work differs in emphasis from studies done on this legislation by theologians, historians and sociologists. It focuses primarily on a detailed analysis of the change in the law during that period, as influenced by the Church of England. Thus, it closely examines the workings of law reform groups, negotiations and drafting of the Bill, the Bill’s passage through Parliament, and statutory interpretation of the Act in the courts. It builds on the work of others, particularly that of Professor Stephen Cretney, an eminent academic lawyer who analysed the part the Archbishop Group’s Report played in the process of divorce reform. This work develops this theme but appraises that role of the Church of England more comprehensively. It uses some of the historical and legal materials used by others, but also some material not previously used such as the Dunstan Papers, the papers of D. R. Dunstan, a member of the Archbishop’s groups and biographical materials of other members of the Group and their own writings. This gives a more detailed understanding of why the Church of England contributed in the way it did. The thesis concludes that whilst the Church of England appeared a powerful influence on the Divorce Reform Act 1969, its influence was constrained by its agreement with the Law Commission. It did contribute to the Divorce Reform Bill becoming an Act, but was not able to safeguard the conditions on which its support for the new concept of law, irretrievable breakdown of marriage, was based.
  • Great expectations: A qualitative examination of restorative justice practices and victim interaction

    Dutton, Kathryn; Armstrong, Jac R. B. (University of Chester, 2012-10)
    This thesis presents original empirical research concerning a restorative justice practice currently operating within England. Specifically, it examines the expectations and experiences of victims participating in a restorative practice. It establishes the extent to which victims‘ expectations may impact upon their experiences of the restorative justice process. Throughout this research, original empirical data is presented which demonstrates that victims possess a limited understanding of restorative principles and practices, which persists despite preparatory meetings. This research suggests victims place almost exclusive reliance upon gatekeepers of the process, specifically the police or restorative facilitator, in both the formation of their expectations of the process and in their decisions to participate. This thesis argues that the existence of restorative practices as complex interactionary processes enables victims to experience aspects of the process negatively, whilst continuing to view the process as beneficial. It is submitted that negative experiences can arise from an expectation-reality gap, which the preparatory meetings fail to rectify. Throughout the restorative process, this research demonstrates that victims continue to possess a punitive perspective and continue to rely upon aspects of the traditional criminal justice system and courtroom imagery. Such reliance exists in contradiction to central themes of restorative justice theory, including victim rejection of an empowered decision making role during the process, and the irrelevance of offender remorse.