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Decolonisation is a socio-political movement which challenges Eurocentrism and post-colonial notions of power. This has numerous implications for higher education institutions (HEIs), where the content and delivery of curricula may be seen as products of colonial legacy. The decolonisation agenda has increasing support from students, the academy, and regulatory bodies, which together are invoking HEIs to act. This paper reports on research undertaken within a UK HEI, which benchmarked the extent to which programmes followed characteristics of (de)colonised curricula. A survey, based on existing open access resources, was completed by 99 staff and 290 students across four schools. Findings suggest differences in how curricula are perceived by staff and students, and between white and minority ethnic student groups. Given growing global interest in decolonisation and associated social justice themes, this research has important applications for other HEIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of the natural environment in the theory, education and practice of social work has increasingly become a matter of interest amongst scholars and social work educators. There is a large and increasing amount of literature on this topic. However, the inclusion of environmental issues in the curricula seems to be evolving very slowly to date. This paper examines 94 social work curricula in four European countries, and notes the presence of environmental issues in their content, by using term categories. Findings show that the natural environment is extremely under-represented in the education of social workers. The paper argues that social work curiccula need to undergo immediate reform on an international level. The discussion section includes suggestions on how the natural environment could be integrated into social work curricula. The first suggestion is to create new subjects with a direct reference to environmental issues and green social work. The second one is to include in existing subjects topics that will draw on environmental sociology and focus on the interconnections between social and environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article synthesizes ideas that emerged over the course of a 10-week symposium titled "Teaching Reproducible Research: Educational Outcomes" https://www.projecttier.org/fellowships-and-workshops/2021-spring-symposium that took place in the spring of 2021. The speakers included one linguist, three political scientists, seven psychologists, and three statisticians; about half of them were based in the United States and about half in the United Kingdom. The symposium focused on a particular form of reproducibility--namely computational reproducibility--and the paper begins with an exposition of what computational reproducibility is and how it can be achieved. Drawing on talks by the speakers and comments from participants, the paper then enumerates several reasons for which learning reproducible research methods enhance the education of college and university students; the benefits have partly to do with developing computational skills that prepare students for future education and employment, but they also have to do with their intellectual development more broadly. The article also distills insights from the symposium about practical strategies instructors can adopt to integrate reproducibility into their teaching, as well as to promote the practice among colleagues and throughout departmental curricula. The conceptual framework about the meaning and purposes of teaching reproducibility, and the practical guidance about how to get started, add up to an invitation to instructors to explore the potential for introducing reproducibility in their classes and research supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent movements to decolonise the university have challenged the ideological and political position of authority, reflecting the power relations between different societal groups. Framed by postcolonial and decolonial perspectives, this paper attempts to represent the experiences, values and viewpoints of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students at an elite British university who speak for themselves about their lived realities at the institution. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with seven undergraduate and two postgraduate students explored their university experience, academic success, sense of belonging, discrimination and racism. The findings revealed that the students lacked a sense of belonging at the university. Among the factors that undermined this are the predominantly White faculty bodies, exclusive curriculum representation and inter-group interactions divided by racial groups. Cultivating an inclusive university experience will allow BME students to feel a sense of belonging and integrate the racial and ethnic cultural diversity that they represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an undergraduate project, Making:Archives — Narrative Artefact, as an exemplar of collaborative good practice, expanding on its case study in the National Archives and History UK's Guide to Collaboration for Archive and Higher Education. The paper examines the expected and unexpected impacts of the Making:Archives collaborative project for the stakeholders involved: the Institution, the Archive Service, its depositors, and in particular the students. Students have both struggled and excelled in the project, with the most engaged developing a range of creative and transferrable skills that have been repurposed in the creation of work beyond Making:Archives. The paper also reflects on the challenges faced, and numerous opportunities presented, during the co-creation, delivery and evaluation of the project, drawing extensive data gathered from student participants. The project is presented in the context of relevant literature from both the textile education, industry, and archive sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK higher education system has become increasingly competitive and stratified prompting calls for a reclaiming of the civic role of universities. This paper argues that, if HE is to reclaim its civic function then civic engagement needs to move beyond being a separate strand of activity for universities, instead becoming a guiding principle. This requires an institution-wide commitment. The paper describes a model developed by a Scottish university to support, recognise and embed civic engagement within the curriculum and wider student experience as part of its core mission. The design and delivery of this development are described and early indicators of its efficacy are provided. Findings indicate that it is possible for universities to operationalise a civic mission by focusing on the curriculum as the mechanism through which to highlight and embed common good attributes. The model described could be replicated in other higher education institutions nationally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers are often portrayed as the recipients of information about widening access initiatives and cast in the role of encouraging their students to engage in these activities. However, recent research has corroborated what might constitute an expected association, given the time pupils spend at school: teachers can have a significant impact on the higher education [HE] intentions of young people. Yet, few studies have considered the classroom practices that may account for this. This study seeks to do this by drawing on the insights and experiences of students and teaching professionals based in two schools and a post-16 college. All three institutions have catchments that encompass educationally deprived neighbourhoods. What this investigation reveals is that certain practices can make a significant difference to educational ambitions. Prominent are those that nurture subject interest, link the school curriculum to HE options, and introduce learners to higher-level study skills. In turn, the effectiveness of these practices is influenced by the ability of teaching professionals to build rapport with their students, most prominently by sharing their own learner journeys. The paper concludes by arguing for the wider recognition of these practices since they have the potential to open up HE to more young people from backgrounds that are underrepresented in HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper comprises findings from three parallel case studies within the broad framework of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). These provide results from classroom-based action research conducted over two years working with Semantics, Specialisation and axiological cosmologies from Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). Each author shares how one or both of these LCT dimensions have guided their practice in the teaching of English for academic writing and specifically, the development of their students' critical dispositions by teaching them how to apply lenses to analyse texts so that they may make informed judgements. Data from classroom interventions and student writing are provided. It is hoped that this paper elicits further discussion in the growing field of applying LCT and may draw attention to the role of the EAP teacher as expert in linguistics and the need to focus more on knowledge in EAP writing courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author considers the contribution of creativity to pastoral care in education. Since its advent in English schools in the early 1970s, pastoral care has placed the affective realm and individual enrichment centre stage in both its curriculum aims and teaching approaches. These principles have, however, had much to contend with over the past 50 years; from the obtrusive effects of state intervention in schools, to the challenges confronting young people growing up in increasingly complex societies. For many teachers and practitioners, engaging young people in creative pursuits has come to be regarded as a necessary counterpoint to increasingly performative school cultures and an essential means to enabling vibrant forms of positive self-expression. The power of creative activities has received new impetus as a pastoral concern in light of two national trends. The first as creative arts provision in the curriculum in English state secondary schools declines as a consequence of Government qualification reforms, and second as an increasing number of young people are referred to Alternative Educational Provision with mental health issues. As a consequence, many pastoral educators have turned or, indeed, returned to creativity and creative practices as a primary means of supporting and enriching the lives of young people, particularly for those who now struggle in contemporary school environments. In light of these developments and drawing on research and practice in the field of creativity and pastoral care, this paper aims to cast further light on creativity in pastoral education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student-led movements have called for the decolonization of the Higher Education (HE) system in the UK, as well as elsewhere. Much of the onus within British geography has been on decolonizing geographical knowledges, recognizing the role of the discipline in the colonial project. This paper expands on these literatures by examining how work on critical pedagogies can deepen the decolonizing agenda within geography. In other words, it is not only what we teach that matters, but how. Using the perspectives of undergraduate geography and international development students at the University of Sussex taking a module entitled "Decolonial Movements", I reflect on how to decolonize the way the subject is taught within the classroom. I make six tentative suggestions: ensuring a diversity of teaching staff, not just reading lists; enabling decolonial pedagogies; encouraging social justice, liberation and decolonization; using creative and innovative teaching tools; decolonizing assessment criteria; and embedding decolonization across the curriculum. To be clear, the aim is not to produce any kind of standardized curriculum but to spark debate over meaningful forms of decolonizing pedagogies in undergraduate geography, as well as to reflect on some of the challenges of implementing a decolonizing praxis within UK universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores notions of professionalism amongst vocational teachers in the United Kingdom and Australia, through an analysis of voluntarism/regulatory frameworks and professional body frameworks. In terms of empirical evidence, the paper reports on data drawn from a documentary analysis of government policy documents, standards for the education of teachers, and regulatory frameworks in both countries. It is located within a broad range of literature exploring contemporary concepts of professionalism amongst vocational teachers. Documentary analysis implies that whilst there is an expectation and assumption that vocational teachers are, and should be, professional, this is not necessarily translated through initial teacher training requirements, some of which fail to address concepts of professionalism at all. Further, it offers evidence to suggest that where notions of professionalism are addressed, the concept is described in largely reductive and utilitarian terms, and that this is the case in both countries. The paper considers the implications of this for teachers, students, and wider practice within the sector, arguing that meaningful understandings of the notion of professional, which are effectively applied in practice, are fundamental to broader understandings of key issues in further education, such as those associated with in/equalities and in/exclusion in education contexts. The paper concludes that such understandings are unlikely to be drawn from utilitarian, Competency Based Training (CBT) based teacher-training programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the responses of nearly 1200 children and young people in Wales who were asked to identify which three famous people they most admired and which three they most disliked. Analysis of these young people's responses reveals a number of sociological and educational issues. Their selections confirm other research which has highlighted the importance of celebrities in the lives of young people. Their ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ are drawn mostly from the worlds of popular music and sport. Their choices are also highly gendered and ‘raced’. Of particular interest is the finding that someone's ‘villain’ is more than likely to be someone else's ‘hero’. Our young people's selection of heroes and villains reflects the broader landscape of celebrity culture, where female fame is as much about appearance as talent and Black and minority ethnic celebrities are to be found largely in the fields of sport or popular music. The paper concludes by discussing the chasm between our young people's ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ and those which are ‘officially sanctioned’ within the school curriculum and considers what schools and teachers might do about it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Children and young people (C&YP) counselling training and art psychotherapy training lead to two distinctive psychological therapy approaches; one is informed by British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy's Competences for work with children and young people (4–18 years) [BACP. (2019a). Competences for work with children and young people (4–18 years). Retrieved from ], the other by Health and Care Professions Council's Standards of Proficiency for Arts Therapists [HCPC. (2013). Standards of proficiency - Arts therapists. Retrieved from ]. In this article we outline the training methods utilised on the Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling C&YP at a British University and share initial observations of how creative and arts-based therapeutic tools form an important part of the curriculum delivery. The aim of this paper is also to outline the role of intentionality application in the use of creative interventions in therapeutic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framed as being in response to terrorist attacks and concerns about religious bias in some English schools, 'British Values' (BV) curriculum policy forms part of the British Government's Counter-Terrorism and Security Act, 2015. This includes a Duty on teachers in England to actively promote British Values to deter students from radicalisation. This paper, first, traces the history of Britishness in the curriculum to reveal a prevalence of nationalistic, colonial values. Next, an ensemble of recent policies and speeches focusing on British Values is analysed, using a psycho-political approach informed by anti-colonial scholarship. Finally, we interrogate two key critiques of the British Values curriculum discourse: the universality of British Values globally, and concerns over the securitisation of education. Findings indicate that the constitution of white British supremacist subjectivities operate through curriculum as a defence mechanism against perceived threats to white privilege, by normalising a racialised state-controlled social order. The focus is on 'British' values, but the analytic framework and findings have wider global significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Ball’s [1998. Big policies/small world: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy.Comparative Education, 34(2), 119–130] policy analysis and Bernstein’s [1990.The structuring of pedagogic discourse. Volume IV class, codes and control. London: Routledge; 2000,Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity. Theory, research, critique(Revised ed.). Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield] conceptualisation of boundaries as a basis for critically examining the notion of policy ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ in contemporary physical education. The paper introduces the notions of policyscape and policy magic to explain ways in which thinking about both policy problems and solutions in education is discursively constrained. Analysis of boundaries is presented as a means of revealing and prospectively challenging such constraint. Research findings from projects spanning different international contexts and phases of education are analysed to illustrate complex inter-relationships between a series of knowledge boundaries that variously define the policy and pedagogical directions that can legitimately be pursued in physical education. The paper presents a case for further critical research and policy action in physical education that draws insight from education policy sociology and that examines ways in which equity in physical education is being (re-) framed by broader policy processes and contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that knowledge is not a passive product of learning that can be possessed, but rather that it represents an active engagement with ideas, arguments and the world in which they reside. This engagement requires a state of 'knowing' - a complex, integrative, reciprocal process that unites the knower with the to-be-known. Exploring the notion of knowledge, this paper considers the roles of truth and belief in knowledge production, the relationship between knowledge and the disciplines, and knowledge as a social and cultural product. These ideas are contextualized in higher education practice with an example of a course designed to help science and engineering students develop criticality and a sense of 'knowing' about the world. The students are challenged to consider what it requires to turn facts and information into knowledge, and to unite their knowing with their own personal experiences and ideas about the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a bilateral university project designed to promote intercultural citizenship and foreign language development simultaneously. It is concerned with developing active and responsible citizenship through content-language integrated learning within an ordinary foreign language classroom. The need and rationale for broadening the scope of language courses and combining them with intercultural citizenship or human rights education has been explained elsewhere and empirical studies reporting on classroom practice are recently available. These studies have connected both types of education (language and citizenship/human rights) and have demonstrated growth in self and intercultural awareness, in criticality and social justice responsibility, as well as the emergence of a sense of community of international peers during the projects. However, the concern remains as to whether this combination leads to language learning and this article addresses this issue. The article describes one transnational intercultural citizenship project in the foreign language classroom in Argentina and the UK and focuses on the research question: Does an intercultural citizenship project lead to language learning? Findings - taken from the Argentinean data - show that students developed procedural knowledge by using the foreign language with a genuine need, engaged in multiliteracies practices and developed their plurilingual competence within a translingual orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the controls and influences over geography teachers' curriculum making. A tension is identified between the teacher's agency to “make” a geography curriculum and a controlling social–economic climate of accountability, performance pressure and technological change which limits the teacher's agency. The paper argues that teachers are responding to this tension by the coping strategy of “banding together” both at the school level and in wider communities. The extent of teachers' reliance on other people in curriculum making is such that curriculum making can be described as becoming “hyper-socialised”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on teacher education in the English further education sector, where the teaching of disciplinary and pedagogic knowledge is an issue. Using research findings, the paper advocates an approach based on collaboration and informed research to emphasize and integrate knowledge(s) in situated teaching contexts despite working in a climate of competition as advocated by the current neo-liberal government. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the perceptions of international students studying in the UK regarding their transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study, the challenges they faced in the process and the factors that supported that transition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 taught international postgraduate students at a UK university. It was found that students initially struggled with the academic demands of the course, particularly the ability to integrate critical thinking into written submissions. Consequently, students looked to develop peer support networks. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for universities, particularly concerning pre-course preparation and ongoing structured support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores teachers’ decision making by examining the topics that 11 history teachers from 10 schools in England chose to teach and how they approached teaching these topics. Data were gathered from curriculum documents and semi-structured interviews in which teachers’ topic choices and approaches to history were explored. Most teachers adopted a disciplinary approach to history teaching but one focused on analytical structures rather than processes. Additionally the findings suggest a large degree of uniformity in the topics chosen despite the freedom provided within the policy documents for history teaching in England. Few teachers had given much consideration to approaches that demonstrate the ‘usability’ of history for young people. This suggests a need to engage teachers more fully in robust curriculum debates given their central role in enacting curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers whether subject choice at 14–16 influences post-16 transitions, taking into account prior academic attainment and school characteristics, and if so, whether this accounts for socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic differences in access to post-16 education. We consider post-16 progression to full-time education, A-levels, and studying two or more facilitating subjects at A-level. We use ‘Next Steps’, a study of 16,000 people born in England in 1989–1990, linked to administrative education records (the National Pupil Database). We find that students pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum at 14–16 had a greater probability of progression to all post-16 educational outcomes, while the reverse was true for students taking an applied GCSE subject. Curriculum differences did not explain the social class differences in post-16 progression, but an academic curriculum was equally valuable for working-class as for middle-class pupils. Pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum particularly strongly increased the chances of girls and white young people staying in the educational pipeline, whereas applied subjects were particularly detrimental for girls. An EBacc-eligible curriculum at age 14–16 increased the chances of studying subjects preferred by Russell Group universities at A-level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses some of the qualitative data obtained from a small number (23) of semi-structured interviews of academic staff who are involved in module design, and who are employed within one UK university. Analysing the interview transcripts produced eight main themes. One of these themes was the perceived pressures or constraints on design. Using verbatim responses given by the interviewees, a discussion of the data used to illustrate this theme compares the findings of this project with those from the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent worldwide trends in curriculum policy have re-emphasised the role of teachers in school-based curriculum development. Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence is typical of these trends, stressing that teachers are agents of change. This paper draws upon empirical data to explore school-based curriculum development in response to Curriculum for Excellence. We focus on two case studies – secondary schools within a single Scottish local education authority. In the paper we argue that the nature and extent of innovation in schools is dependent upon teachers being able to make sense of often complex and confusing curriculum policy, including the articulation of a clear vision about what such policy means for education within each school. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rationale: Public health and preventive medicine (PHPM) has been recognized internationally as a physician specialty, but national parallels and differences exist between training contexts. This paper reviews PHPM training and employment in Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the USA. Methods: Information gathered from relevant accreditation bodies and literature searches was used to create descriptive profiles of national training demographics and structure and a narrative outlining trends and challenges facing the specialty. Results: Notable similarities and differences exist between national contexts. Key themes were differences in training strategies and practice scope, specialty stakeholders, certification structure, and funding. Recognition challenges faced the specialty across all six countries. Other challenges included unclear competencies and training strategies and a need for PHPM specialists to highlight their role in combating population health threats. Additional differences existed between comparator countries on the structure of training, funding sources for training programs, availability of training posts, and linkages with other physician specialties. Conclusion: Highlighting these themes is a first step to fostering training collaborations between PHPM specialist physicians to augment transnational action on global public health challenges and also supports PHPM physician educators with innovative solutions from abroad that might address domestic specialty challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an exploratory trial conducted with 14–15 year-old students in English state schools who were studying business start-ups as part of a course in “Business Studies”. The intervention uses a “Story Grammar” strategy to improve students’ reasoning by increasing the frequency and complexity of their use of “connectives” such as “when”, “if” and “because”. The analysis reports positive effects of the intervention on students’ understanding as judged by the use of a standard examination style mark scheme, and the number and complexity of connectives used by students in their extended writing. By reporting effects on immediate target variables we are able to examine the causation with precision. Effects are reported through standardt-tests and effect size. We also discuss the design of the experiment and comment on its practicability as a model for investigating effects of classroom interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The number and range of school types in England is increasing rapidly in response to a neoliberal policy agenda aiming to expand choice of provision as a mechanism for raising educational standards. In this paper, I seek to undertake a mapping of these school types in order to describe and explain what is happening. I capture this busy terrain from different perspectives: legal status; curricular specialism; pupil selection; types of academy; and school groupings. The mapping highlights the intersections between the current reform agenda and the historical diversity within the English school system to show the dialogue between past and present. Borrowing the geological metaphors of faulting and folding, I argue that long-established school types are not buried under sedimentary layers of reform, but are thrust into the present where they are discursively re-imagined through neoliberalism. Finally, I conceptualise the landscape holistically through the lenses of locus of legitimacy and branding, where I argue that current structural diversification policies enable the enactment of interests other than educational through transferring responsibility for education and related assets away from public and towards corporatised or religious actors and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Michael Young’s work is central to debates about knowledge and the school curriculum. In recent years he has renounced his early argument that school subjects represent the ‘knowledge of the powerful’, arguing instead that access and equality for all students are dependent on ensuring that all get access to ‘powerful knowledge’. This paper provides an interpretation of Young’s work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Physicality in human movement characteristic of indigenous sporting forms in Africa is grounded in a multitude of cultures. During the period of colonial Africa, there was the introduction of British sporting forms, policies, and practices in schools and society. It was through schools and missions that the colonists introduced sport activities, with colonial administrators and officers prioritizing athleticism over other activities, evident in after-school sports and games. Thus, schools along with Christian missions served as the instruments of colonial education, culture, and sport, with resources allocated selectively to advance racialized and classist education. Purpose: This paper explores how colonialism, particularly British forms of sport physicality, impacted African people and deconstructs how curriculum and teaching in physical education (PE) during the post-colonial era is lost to the politics of knowledge in the school–society nexus, revealing how the school curriculum serves as a contested terrain. This contestation discloses how colonial and post-colonial narratives intertwine to influence public policy and school practices in the development and implementation of PE curriculum. Themes: Examination of the literature produced themes associated with stratification of school subjects and marginalization of PE in particular – the exam-oriented and elitist-oriented education – which characterized British Africa, and made British education part and parcel of policy development and implementation, influencing the nature of education, and PE in particular. The elitist education influenced public policy initiatives, frameworks, and corresponding reforms resulting in stratification of school subjects, the use of public school expenditure, and in the type of teacher training followed. In addition, negative school-wide practices became apparent with public policy, rules, and regulations being loosely coupled with school realities, leading PE to be considered as a ‘toothless subject' in the school curriculum. Besides physicality and learning in PE are not distinguishable from sporting forms and practices, bringing out the emphasis on competitive school sport that has been used to promote nation's prestige, social engineering, and economic development. Conclusion: A development of way forward for PE in British Africa is considered critical and warranted for adequate development of children and youth and for promotion of the health welfare of society. PE plays a critical part in the nexus between education and development; including meeting individual and social welfare goals of post-colonial British Africa; and as such the needs of all children should be at the forefront of policy development and implementation. What is warranted is a development of a standard-based reform that is grounded in a strong formulated public policy that acknowledges diversity in the centralized system of education; with its implementation showing a balance of PE with after-school sport programs and incorporation of indigenous sporting forms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Rwandan genocide was perhaps the most paradigmatic human rights catastrophe in the post-Holocaust era, which challenged the mantra of ‘never again’. Yet as we approach the twentieth anniversary, it remains a relatively marginalised entity within mainstream English education. This paper argues that a study of the Rwandan genocide introduces a number of important issues, which are not emphasised within Holocaust education. It also draws upon a small-scale empirical study of 41 teachers’ attitudes in England, perceptions and experiences of teaching the genocide in a range of disciplines and demonstrates emerging patterns on how it is integrated into curricula and individual lessons. It concludes by advocating the study of the Rwandan genocide in its own right and the importance of students appreciating its contemporary relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]