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In this paper we argue that postgraduate education forms an important, but hitherto neglected, element in the distinctive institutional landscape of the City of London. In particular, and drawing on research into early-career financial and legal elites in the City, we show how postgraduate education tailored to the demands of employers within London plays an important role in indoctrinating early-career elites into situated, Cityspecific, working practices and, in so doing, helps to sustain the City's cultures and norms of financial practice. Specifying the role of postgraduate education in reproducing these situated City practices is significant because, although geographical variegation in working practices between international financial centres has been widely reported, less attention has been paid to how such institutionally embedded differences are created and sustained. By identifying education as one mechanism of creation and sustenance, our analysis enhances understanding of how the institutional landscapes that underlie financial centres might be maintained or, when necessary, challenged; challenge being significant in relation to attempts to reform practices and cultures in international financial centres in the wake of the 2007-08 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The General Medical Council's call to modernize medical education prompted the University of Liverpool Medical School to develop a new undergraduate programme, integrating palliative medicine as 'core' curricula. Following successful piloting, the palliative medicine training programme was further developed and expanded. This paper examines whether the additional investment produces improved outcomes. In 1999, fourth year undergraduate medical students (Cohort 1, n=217) undertook a 2-week pilot education programme in palliative medicine. Subsequently, the training programme was refined and extended, incorporating advanced communication skills training, an ethics project and individual case presentations (Cohort 2, n=443). Congruent with the study's theoretical driver of self-efficacy, both cohorts were surveyed pre- and post-programme with validated measures of: (i) self-efficacy in palliative care scale; (ii) thanatophobia scale. No significant differences between cohorts' pre-programme scores were identified. Within each cohort, statistically and educationally significant post-education improvements were recorded in both scales. Further post-education analysis indicated that the extended programme produces significantly greater improvements in all domains of the self-efficacy in palliative care scale (communication, t=-7.28, patient management, t=-5.96, multidisciplinary team-working t=-3.77 at p<0.000), but not thanatophobia. Although improvements were recorded in both cohorts, participation in the extended education programme resulted in further statistically significant gains. Interpreted through the theoretical model employed, improved self-efficacy and outcome expectancies will result in behavioural change that leads to improved practice and better patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: On January 29, 2008 the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) approved a city-wide Africentric elementary school under their Alternative School policy, sparking a contentious debate. Calls for Black-focused schools also arose in 2008 in London in response to the disengagement of African Caribbean youth. The historical record indicates, however, that community campaigns for Black educational programs stretch back over 40 years in both cities. Focus of the Study: This paper analyzes the development of Black-focused education in Toronto and London from 1968 to 2008 through the responses of Black parents and community activists to the historic underachievement of African Caribbean students (particularly males) in the public schools of both cities. Black-focused education is situated within the larger social, political, and national contexts and the critical incidents that fueled the development of race equality policy. The article explores how the "politics of place" influenced the trajectory of Black-focused education in each city. Research Methodology: Two parallel historical case studies were conducted using primary source material from community-based archives, secondary sources on the history of African Caribbean immigration and the development of Black community organizations, and oral history interviews with 10 Black education activists in Toronto and 7 activists in London. Conclusions: This comparative study conceptualizes this transnational phenomena as "resistance to racism" and examines how Black-focused curriculum and ideology was adapted to local conditions in Canada and Britain. Parents and community activists aimed to develop the citizenship rights of African Caribbean students, establish a diasporic sensibility, and promote the right of children of African descent to a quality education wherever they may reside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For three years from 2008 every school in England had a designated school improvement partner (SIP), portrayed as a critical friend, whose role was to support and challenge the headteacher. A mixed-methods study involving a national survey and face-to-face interviews evaluated the enactment of the national policy from the perspective of the direct recipients – the headteachers/school principals. Headteachers’ perceptions of their school improvement partners, and their experiences of the support and challenge provided by SIPs, varied. Much seemed to depend on individual SIP’s expertise and conduct. The SIPs’ prescribed agenda was seen as too focused on data rather than discussions about learning and teaching, and requirements for SIPs to report to the local authority and governors were in tension with trustful relationships with headteachers. The SIP programme could be interpreted as a commitment to the entitlement of headteachers to support and challenge, or as a mechanism for surveillance and discipline. Lessons are drawn for the ‘national’ and ‘local leaders of education’ who have replaced SIPs, and for anyone internationally concerned with support and challenge for school principals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent reforms in England’s education system have been justified on the grounds that other countries have pursued similar approaches to education reform. Many such policies that by-pass or otherwise diminish meso-level institutions demonstrate a commitment to the idea of devolving authority to local actors. The current reforms in England and elsewhere reconfigure governance structures to diminish intermediate-level institutions on the grounds that these reforms lead to more effective and equitable educational systems. But in lieu of compelling evidence of such an impact, it appears that such policies are often instead simply a political attack on meso-level authorities, and may in fact represent an opportunity for new policy players to occupy the space left by receding meso-level institutions. This article surveys some of the specific policies that have emerged from recent policy trends, particularly those that have undercut established intermediate-level institutions in the USA and New Zealand. Reviewing the empirical record from these cases, I argue that, rather than simply devolving power away from intermediate authorities to local actors in order to produce more effective or equitable outcomes, many of these reforms have been more successful instead in creating the conditions in which new, non-state actors are able to accrue policy power for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research to date about the English government’s policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the ‘macro’ level of national policy and at the ‘micro’ level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part, explores changes at the ‘meso’ level – the locality. The article analyses interviews in three LAs with 15 headteachers whose schools were well positioned locally. We sought to understand how and why they responded to the changing policy environment. We applied Bourdieu’s concepts of forms of capital to model the relationships between schools and to ground explanations of their responses as positioning themselves in the local field. The article develops this general approach by identifying the varieties of capital available and actually possessed. The most important was categorization as a result of the inspection process. Many of the headteachers felt impelled to lead their schools into various associations with other schools. Some individuals were becoming notably more powerful in their competition arenas. The power of these elite schools to further accumulate advantage and the withdrawal of the LA role as an arbiter of conflict between schools in the interests of the whole community are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The structure of the English school system has been the subject of almost continuous change since the late-1980s. The most recent was commenced by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition government, which was elected in May 2010. This policy set in train, very quickly, processes through which all schools have been encouraged, and in some cases required, to become independent of local authorities (LAs) and funded directly by central government, the government’s vision being to create a complete system of publicly funded ‘independent’ schools. This article considers some of the implications of these aspirations and the ways in which they have been translated into policy and implemented. It begins by setting the policies of the Coalition government within a context of trends in education policy since 1988, showing how these can be related to three dominant themes: school autonomy, central control and diversity of provision. It then proceeds to consider how these developments can be theorized, suggesting that diversity of governance, legitimacy and agency provide a suitable framework for analysing the emerging English experience. These ideas are then used to examine this experience and draw conclusions about key issues for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article looks at the policy on Academies in England in a broad perspective. It covers issues of democracy, autonomy, governance and accountability in the education sector. It suggests to concentrate not on an Academy or Academies in isolation but on their relationship with the rest of the school system. It also advises to compare the Academy model with other frameworks of governance.

The last couple of years have brought a rise in the number of institutional repositories throughout the world and within UK Higher Education institutions, with the majority of these repositories being devoted to research output. Repositories containing teaching and learning material are less common and the workflows and business processes surrounding these types of repositories were unclear. The user motivations to contributing to and downloading from repositories were also unknown. This article reports on two studies: a wide- scale survey carried out with HE staff to identify barriers and incentives to contributing to teaching material repositories; and inter- views carried out as part of a workflow study at Loughborough University, to identify existing practice in the creation and sharing of teaching material. Confusion is reported with regard to the difference between a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and a repository. However, many different purposes of a teaching and learning material repository are highlighted. This article discusses how repositories could successfully interoperate with other institutional applications and highlights the benefits of teaching material repositories to the user, through scenarios. Recommendations relating to the key aspects of the design and implementation of a repository service are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the education system for workers under the Trade Union Congress in the universities of Great Britain. Sheffield University's origin in Firth College was part of the university extension movement. The development of higher education in a variety of non-university institutions was an attempt to overcome an exclusiveness and conservatism in universities and to meet new technological and social needs. Steelworkers were given the opportunity of attending courses at technical colleges in Rotherham and Scunthorpe. The Area Council of the Derbyshire Miners was prepared to commit union funds to the payment of traveling and subsistence expenses and make up lost wages for students attending courses. A potent factor on the demand side has been, the confidence of individual trade unionists in the staff of the university. The primary aim of the universities was the full educational and social development of individuals and to the development of new adult education initiatives.