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The feminisation of migration is absent in policy and programmatic discourses on adult education in the USA and England. This paper uses an intersectional framework and feminist transnational methodology to probe this concept and its implications for women migrants and their education and advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do researchers and practitioners understand and interrogate education reform when it is heralded as the solution to many problems, not all of which are educational? As importantly, how can applied educational researchers delve 'beneath the skin' of 'given' problems to solve or report, and suggest a range of explanations? In this article, the issue is leadership for 'citizenship' and the research project, conducted in 2007-2008, refers to participants' understandings about 14-19 Reforms to 'produce' confident and responsible citizens. From contested theoretical and policy as well as research perspectives, this paper explores how citizenship is being framed and understood. Specific attention is given to students' voices. Findings suggest that educating for citizenship is far from uppermost in the minds and reported activities of many who work or study in the organisations sampled. Implications for practitioner and academic communities are considered, not least the appropriate promotion of education for citizenship that is coherent, holistic, and feasible rather than peripheral or rhetorical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines and reflects upon initial findings from a longitudinal study evaluating the experiences and views of students on professional social work programmes across four higher education institutes in the North West of England, on the BA and the MA routes. The paper focuses on one aspect of this study; the students' experience of assessment. In particular it examines how students experienced the process of learning, assessment, support and feedback, which was found to be in part shaped by previous educational experiences. The range of assessment methods previously experienced by students was diverse, some of which were more helpful than others in preparing them for their professional training. Lack of foundation subject knowledge presented a challenge to students on both courses, in particular for MA students who were being assessed at 'M' level. Unmet expectations of both the amount and type of support created anxiety, frustration and even anger for some. The 'search for certainty' led to anxiety amongst many first year students who believed that academics could facilitate the assessment process by providing 'the answer'. This exploration of assessment reveals, we believe, a growing divide in the expectations of social work students and their educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors focus on the investment into school leadership in England during the New Labour governments from 1997, and through this they make a contribution to an ongoing scholarly conversation about leadership development. They are concerned to both understand and explain leadership as a policy intervention into the professional practice and identities of the school workforce. They argue that one of the dominant genres of contemporary media - the makeover - has become part of the policy-making “game”. The paper uses the metaphor of makeover to critically examine the current approach to leadership development and to examine the policy game at play in English education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the changes and continuities to apprenticeship in England since the 1960s. It argues that apprenticeship is primarily a model of learning that still has relevance for skill formation, personal development and employer need. It also argues that, since the late 1970s and the introduction of state-sponsored youth training, apprenticeship has been transformed into an instrument of State policy, primarily for the control of young people and as part of new legislation to keep them in some form of education or training to the age of 18. In that sense, the holistic notion that apprenticeship had in the past as being a journey within which young people learned to be morally upright citizens as well as acquiring occupational expertise, is being reinvented. Now, however, the State's dominant role has profound implications for the role of employers in apprenticeship and the extent to which skill formation is being underplayed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a 'death' of class in popular and policy discourse, this paper argues that social class is still a major force at work in young people's lives, particularly in the context of schooling. We argue that young people's subcultural groups are classed, in the way in which they are constructed in discourse. Drawing on a data set of 68 interviews with white, middle-class young people in three different cities in England, we argue that class can be seen and felt in young people's constructions of the 'chav', where white, working-class young people's ways of being and doing in the context of schooling, stand in stark contrast to the normative middle-class subject, and become pathologized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interviews with 14-19 year olds in England and Wales are analysed to explore young people's perceptions of the experience of school and of alternative settings for learning such as further education colleges or work-based learning. Many experience school as oppressive, suggesting a defeasance of their rights as human beings. The paper posits that conceptualisations of childhood, rather than offering protection, may lead to vulnerability, and that in secondary schools there are negative and disabling relationships between teachers and learners. If secondary pupils are conceived as vulnerable and marginalised, frameworks to address issues of social justice and inclusion for disadvantaged groups may be relevant. A capabilities approach to assuring the well-being of young people is explored as an alternative theory within which to evaluate schooling and to adjust relations between young people and staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of research examining practitioners' beliefs, understanding and attitudes towards the teaching of dance in England. In order to address this gap in the evidence, this paper reports on a recent survey of dance practitioners (n = 198) living and working in Yorkshire, the largest county in England, on what they consider to be the most important aspects of dance teaching in schools, as well as their own capabilities in teaching this subject. The survey data were analysed using SPSS to provide descriptive and inferential results. The qualitative survey data focusing on practitioners' responses to the most important aspects of dance teaching were recorded and analysed using a coding frame to capture frequently occurring responses. Systematic analysis of the quantitative data from the Likert-type practitioner responses provided correlatory evidence of variables which were reduced through Varimax Rotation to create new variables. The new variables underwent two-way analysis of variance tests. The findings provide information on practitioners' perceptions on what they consider to be the most important aspects of dance teaching in schools and suggestions on teachers' pedagogical approaches for the teaching of the subject in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent policy in England has suggested that educational outcomes will be raised if schools specialise in particular subjects. In contrast, calls for the reform of 16-19 education have suggested that these outcomes will be improved if students become less specialised in their studies. At present, there is a limited evidence base from which to judge these arguments. In particular, we do not know the extent to which students' achievements in 16-19 education are higher when they choose subjects which play to their perceived strengths. We also do not know whether students are more likely to choose to study subjects taught by more effective departments. That is, outcomes may be affected by the relative strengths of students or departments in circumstances where there is freedom to choose. In this paper we provide evidence of the existence and strength of these relationships. This evidence suggests that reducing the scope within schools for specialisation or competition will reduce average student attainment and these effects ought to be taken into account when evaluating alternative curriculum policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizenship education was introduced as a statutory subject in England in September 2002 with the aim of promoting civic and political engagement. However, whilst education is undoubtedly a powerful socialisation force, it is not the only factor that is likely to influence young people's civic and political participation. Political science theories regarding adult participation highlight the role of variables such as socio-economic background, political efficacy, individuals' assessments of the costs and benefits of participation and interest in politics. The questions therefore arise as to how much citizenship education can influence young people's participation above and beyond these other factors and whether this is more likely if a school adopts a particular approach to the subject's delivery. To answer these questions, this paper draws on data from the nine-year Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS), and more particularly from its 2004-05 survey of 13,646 English students aged 13-14. Structural equation modelling is used to examine students' intentions to participate and ascertain the relative contribution that education and other factors make to young people's intentions to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutions in higher education routinely collect evaluation data from students on a wide range of issues relating to the quality of their learning experience. However, it has been recognized that often this data is under utilized in enhancing teaching quality and that there problems in 'closing the loop' which are common across higher education programmes including medicine. This paper reports on the outcomes of a national workshop held at University College London intended to gather good practice ideas and innovations on how to effectively use collected evaluation data from students. A range of strategies was generated by participants including centralization of systems, the need for flexible and spontaneous approaches, a culture of student participation and staff and student dialogue. The outcomes from the workshop are set out as 12 top-tips and are intended to be workable ideas to support the practice of medical teachers and those responsible for quality assurance processes in 'closing the loop'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to identify those school-level and locality-level factors that significantly affect each of the three stages in a young adult's educational trajectory in North West England: GCSE results, track taken at age 16 and 'A'-level scores. By applying three-level models to data collected as part of the EFFNATIS project, we find no evidence of any locality-level effects. Overall, none of the explanatory variables conventionally considered to affect educational attainment had a consistent effect across all three stages. Rather, each explanatory variable had a contingent effect at specific points within the overall trajectory of educational outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enabling pupils with special educational needs to participate more fully in the assessment, planning and evaluation of their own learning has become a principle enshrined within the legislation of many countries in recent years. Educational policy in both England and the Republic of Ireland has recognised the desirability of increased pupil involvement, and this is reflected in policy documents and in legislation which highlights the requirement of schools to take greater account of the views of pupils. This paper documents the approaches to increased pupil involvement in decision-making adopted in England and Ireland and provides an overview of the key challenges that face policy-makers and educators in ensuring meaningful participation for children and young people with special educational needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings about placement questions relevant to disability in education. It is part of a larger international study of the perspectives of 132 education practitioners and administrators in England, the USA and The Netherlands to several dilemmas of difference. Participants were interviewed about their perspectives to a presented placement dilemma about the consequences of having inclusive/separate placements for children with more severe disabilities/special educational needs. The data are presented in quantitative terms (degrees of recognition and resolution of dilemma) and qualitative terms (reasons, justifications and suggested resolutions). The findings show the continued recognition of this dilemma and commonalities in the resolution of the dilemma across the countries. Variations in responses to the dilemmas that relate to national differences are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Asian women's experiences of belonging to communities of practice within higher education in Britain. The research explores the ways in which women engage in friendship and support networks, how they negotiate their identities and their experiences of being marginalised and 'different'. The research argues that Asian women within the university environment are engaged in 'communities of practice', which act as mechanisms through which they are able to find support, mutual engagement and understandings of shared belongings and shared identity. The paper draws on the work of Wenger (1998) to examine the processes of identity construction as experienced by Asian women in higher education. The research is based on 20 case study interviews conducted with Asian women in a university in the South East of England. The interviews were tape-recorded and the data transcribed. The data was analysed by using methods of grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin 1990). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students in Further Education colleges in England read and write in many different kinds of ways in different areas of their everyday lives. As part of their participation in Further Education, these students face a multitude of literacy demands: through the bureaucracies of the college, the pedagogic content of their courses, the textual nature of assessment, and the development of new practices of reading and writing relating to their intended workplaces. Drawing upon evidence from research with students and staff at four FE colleges in England and Scotland, this paper presents the argument that students actively participate within this textual world. They elect to engage with some texts and to ignore others, depending upon the value they judge the text to have, the relevance they think it holds to their lives or courses, and the extent to which they are able to access the text and its meanings. This challenges a popular deficit discourse which assumes FE students' lack of literacy: rather than seeing the student as the 'problem' behind the lack of engagement with some texts, the text can be seen as the 'problem' if it has failed to engage the student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses biographical approaches to recover the contribution of hitherto neglected figures in the history of education and the political history of the Left in London. Place and location are important since it is important to grasp the uniqueness of the London County Council within the framework of English local government and of the London Labour Party within the framework of the Labour Party. In the 1920s and 1930s, under Herbert Morrison's leadership, the London Labour Party made a deliberate policy of encouraging able women to run for election to the London County Council, particularly those who had received a good education. By the 1950s Labour women were well represented in this public-sector site and the Education Committee was dubbed “the Shrieking Sisterhood”. By this time, three women had been appointed to the chairmanship of the Education Committee (one Conservative and two Labour) and women formed the majority of its membership, although they later lost ground. When a biographical approach is adopted a more spacious idea of politics emerges to accommodate hitherto neglected figures. This article tells the stories of two Labour women whose participation in English educational policy-making has been missed: Helen Bentwich (1893-1972) and Eveline Lowe (1869-1956). It is based largely on a new source of manuscript material, personal papers in the Women's Library at London Metropolitan University and the archive of Homerton College, Cambridge, and is part of a larger project examining the role of Labour women in London government. It contributes to revisionist debates about the place of women in the history of education, by providing new interpretations of urban education evolution that begin to appreciate the significance of women's political journeys and the impact of their involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which political devolution has influenced the nature of education policy-making in Scotland, taking initial teacher education and early professional development as a case. Pre-devolution studies of the policy community in Scotland stressed the close relationships between the various stakeholders and the inherent conservatism that sometimes appeared to ensue from this. It might be anticipated that the removal of formal responsibility for education from the UK government in London to the Scottish Executive in Edinburgh might have unsettled such 'cosiness' and also that the influence of New Labour approaches may be less prevalent in Scotland than in England. The processes of change in Scotland appear to have been less radical and at a slower pace than in England; however, they have been achieved through a more consensual process and so in the long term are likely to be more embedded than those in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 15 years, initial teacher education in England has been established as a national system, closely controlled by the government. One of the consequences of this move is that teacher education is now intimately bound up with changing national politics and policy priorities which reach down into the finest of detail of provision. In this paper, we focus on the way in which politics and policy have impacted on one of the defining features of teacher education provision in England - that of 'partnership'. In particular we examine the way in which the concept and practice of partnership has been transformed in line with New Labour's 'Third Way' politics. In order to do this, we reflect on our recent evaluation of the National Partnership Project, an initiative established by the Training and Development Agency for Schools to increase the quality and quantity of schools' involvement in initial teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published in London between 1839 and 1852 and aligned with the commercial objectives of the New Zealand Company, the New Zealand Journal included letters from emigrants. This paper studies letters written by a small cohort of rural labourers who emigrated from Ham House in Surrey to Wellington in 1841. Following Dorothy Smith, I read them as ethnographic data, interrogating them in relation to ruling-class texts including Company records, newspaper reports and correspondence between capitalists, professionals and politicians. The labourers' letters depict capital-labour (class) and colonial (race) relations in embodied form. The everyday actualities of their activities were co-ordinated by extra-local social relations of colonialism and flows of capital and labour. Their schooling in England had been designed to 'keep them in their place'. With reference to the sparse archival resources remaining from the first years of commercially-driven settlement, before there was an apparatus of state, I consider how changing material conditions in the settlement enabled and constrained learning opportunities for these labourers' children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the experience acquired in teaching materials science/engineering to first year university students. It has been observed that students struggle with some of the fundamental materials concepts addressed in the module/course. This applies to delivered lectures but extends to the incorporation of tutorial sessions provided after lectures. Moreover, when students miss a lecture or seminar the acquisition and application of knowledge and concepts becomes problematic. Consequently, or perhaps inevitably, these students perform poorly in their assessments and their motivation for the subject suffers. A careful analysis of this situation and of the nature of interaction and engagement was performed to gain an insight into the reasons for this lack of performance. A common factor is that students do not dedicate sufficient time for reading and consolidation using the chapters/sections prescribed after each topic. They also do not attempt solving tutorial problems outside the formal contact hours. This reflection and personal evaluation is difficult to administer, resource intensive and yet potentially enables each student to monitor and evaluate their own learning and understanding. A multimedia learning technology-based environment was created in which students could engage. This was located within the University of Wolverhampton Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called WOLF. The students were able to progress independently but with access to tutor and peer support, help and advice. The use of non-text animations and structures was used and seen as fundamental by the students in enhancing the taught course and in developing a deeper understanding of complex atomic and crystal structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's comments on an article of Ruth Woods, an author, regarding primary schools in London, England. The author states that the Wood's paper was thought provoking, however, his analysis is predominantly located in an understanding and positioning of Zak, a 9-year-old Somalian boy, at an individual level. She states that Wood's analysis lacks the intersected complexities of race, gender and social class.

This paper is based on a Keynote presentation delivered at the AUA Annual Conference at the University of Nottingham in April 2007.[image omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is part one of a paper based on a Keynote presentation delivered at the AUA Annual Conference, Promoting excellence in HE Management, at the University of Nottingham, 2-4 April 2007.[image omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports research into the effect on 11-year-old pupils of introducing more cognitively challenging, practical, and interactive science lessons. Our hypothesis was that such lessons would increase the children's enthusiasm for science and their engagement with the scientific process, thereby improving educational performance. Schools in England are under pressure to raise achievement, as measured by the results of national tests. This has an impact on teaching, where revision of subject knowledge often dominates and can be particularly detrimental to more able pupils. The research was a controlled trial which took place in thirty-two English primary schools as part of a project "Conceptual Challenge in Primary Science". Teachers from 16 intervention schools participated in continuing professional development (CPD) and developed science lessons that had more practical work, more discussion, more thinking and less (but more focused) writing. The proportion of pupils achieving the highest level (level 5) in the national science tests at age 11 was compared in the matched-school pairs before and after the intervention. Focus group interviews were also held with a group of pupils in each intervention school. There was a 10% (95% Confidence Interval 2-17%) increase in the proportion of children achieving the top score in the intervention schools. The pupils and teachers reported greater engagement and motivation. These findings suggest that moving from rote revision to cognitively challenging, interactive science could help improve science education. They merit replication in other international settings to test their generalisability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compulsory citizenship tests and ceremonies are some of the ways in which new British citizens must prove their commitment to their adopted nationality. Existing citizens, on the other hand, have to make no such outward show of commitment; neither do they have to prove any level of knowledge about the UK in order to claim their citizenship. These differing relationships to citizenship create different relationships to ideas of nation, nationality and belonging. This paper will examine two approaches to performances of citizenship. The first one was encountered in a citizenship ceremony in Manchester registry office and demonstrates a largely epistemological approach to citizenship. The second one was in a teaching situation with British undergraduate drama students, where a more ontological approach to citizenship was observed. Examining these two models of the pedagogy of citizenship through the lens of performance allows for a more subtle and complex understanding of current discourses of citizenship and belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the beginnings of courses of teacher training for teachers in technical and further education in England. First the development of the technical education sector and its distinctive part-time nature is traced, alongside the activities of the three associations representing the colleges and their staffs. The views of these on the proposals of the Board of Education to introduce an experiment in technical teacher training in the late 1930s are considered. The wartime planning of technical teacher training as part of the emergency teacher training scheme is discussed, and the setting-up of three centres for teacher training in technical colleges and their work up to 1950 are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys three strands of development in the further education of young people in England since the Second World War: its institutional evolution, some aspects of the experience of its students and staff, and the political and economic imperatives that have given it shape and direction. The account draws upon a wide range of primary secondary sources, from the literatures of professional and social research, economics, political science and political history. Toward the end of the paper, a broader comparative perspective is adopted in order to pin down the distinctiveness of the English experience, before overall conclusions are drawn. These discuss the extent to which further education in England remains a local enterprise and the areas of continuity that, as whole, account both for its identity and its place in English culture and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the significant characteristics of many poor neighbourhoods is that the schools which serve them are characterised by poor performance in terms of attainment and other measures. This feature is seen as critical in the reinforcement of disadvantage, its transmission between generations, and as a barrier to social integration. Government policies in the UK have increasingly targeted improved school standards and performance, while other policies on urban regeneration and housing may interact with this issue. This paper examines the particular role of homeownership tenure alongside the other factors (notably poverty) which affect school attainment. After reviewing existing literature it presents new analyses of attainment based on linked pupil, school and small area-level datasets for selected areas in both England and Scotland. This provides some evidence to support the contention that homeownership has an additional effect on school attainment, beyond that explained by poverty and other associated variables, although there is some uncertainty about how separable these effects are at school or neighbourhood levels. It also points out the significant role of changing tenure mix in housing regeneration in transforming the overall profile of neighbourhoods and schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, supervisors work with students on an individual basis and postgraduate development programmes are run on site. However, with increasing numbers of part-time and international students, supervisory relationships are likely to be conducted at a distance as students study alongside other commitments. Isolation can often be a key feature for many postgraduates, whether based in the same institution as the supervisor and more particularly for international students or those studying at a distance. It can also be an issue for their supervisors. However, in this age of electronic communication, interactions at a distance should be able to be at least as robust as many of those conducted face to face. More broadly, the international research community is something generally cited as the context for research work, supervision, study and publication more generally. Entry firstly into the university academic community, and then into the larger global research community can be enabled, we would argue, by the support of communities of practice from the outset of postgraduate students' and supervisors' interactions. In this context, considerable numbers of international postgraduates at Anglia Ruskin University (UK) and their supervisors are being effectively supported through three innovations which build institutionally related communities of practice: (1) Guardian supervisors work with the students on research development programmes, with accompanying meetings organised during and round programme workshops, which focus throughout on strategies of meta-learning. Subsequently they support students' work at a distance with emails, and webcam correspondence. (2) PhD students are empowered to develop mutual, critically focused support for each other's work through the enhanced use of the cohort in the compulsory research development workshops and through ongoing discussion lists, self-help groups and symposia. (3) Supervisors of international postgraduates are supported as a community of practice through the revision of online supervisory discussion and development. This paper is based on action research carried out with current and graduate students, guardian supervisors and supervisors as collaborators to explore the rationale, problems, practices and the richness of the experience of working with a system which fosters communities of practice, involving guardian supervisors, distance supervisors and postgraduate cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article enquires about why some countries have specialised their further education provision more than others, focusing on three types of specialisation: by subject, by geographical area and by age group. The article proposes an analytical framework to understand the drivers for further education provider specialisation, based on four variables: inputs to the further education system, regulatory framework, demand and supporting clusters. It then applies this framework to review the experience of Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands in recent years. Drawing on this review, the last section of the paper provides some lessons for England and issues for further debate. It is concluded that the model proposed helps to explain the evolution of provider specialisation in the countries covered and that the UK's current specialisation profile suggests that greater efforts should be made to increase geographical specialisation, whereas action in stimulating further specialisation by subject and age group should be subject to caveats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some results from a review of evidence on the barriers to participation in further and higher education in England, organised around the life-course of an individual from birth to the decision to participate in FE/HE at the traditional age. It is clear that inequalities between socioeconomic groups appear early in life and remain important in attainment at school, in the range of the options available and selected at age 14 and 16, qualifications at age 18 and in the decision to participate in higher education or not. Overcoming the identified barriers to participation may be an important step for some individuals, but the evidence is that the role of these barriers is marginal. Also marginal, therefore, is the role of institutions in widening participation during the transition at ages 16 and 18. Policy levers to widen participation must be applied elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) contains a highly diverse range of learners and covers all aspects of post-16 learning with the exception of higher education. In the research on which this paper is based we are concerned with the effects of policy on three types of learners - unemployed adults attempting to improve their basic skills in community learning settings, younger learners on Level 1 and 2 courses in further education colleges, and employees in basic skills provision in the workplace. What is distinctive about all three groups is that they have historically failed in, or been failed by, compulsory education. What is interesting is that they are constructed as 'problem learners' in learning and skills sector policy documents. We use data from 194 learner interviews, conducted during 2004/5, in 24 learning sites in London and the North East of England, to argue that government policy assumptions about these learners may only be 'half right'. We argue that such assumptions might be leading to half-right policy based on incomplete understandings or surface views of learner needs that are more politically constructed than real. We suggest that policy-makers should focus more on systemic problems in the learning and skills sector and less on problematising groups of learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues of gender equity in English secondary schools over the last decade have been dominated by a concern with the "under-achievement" of boys, implicitly acknowledging the apparent success of strategies developed in schools in previous decades to improve equality of opportunity for girls. This paper presents evidence to challenge this interpretation of the debate, arguing that policy-makers need to engage more centrally with diversity and heterogeneity of gender constructions and take note of inclusivity of needs rather than framing strategy within essentialist structures. We argue here, through exemplification developed with teachers in English secondary schools over the period 2000-2004, that there is a need to revisit policy and practice frameworks in England, as in Australia, to reassert the needs of girls as well as boys and to develop gender-relational policies which acknowledge and value difference and which have at their core the transformation of traditional aspirations and expectations of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the key findings of a DfES-funded study that explored the relationship between achievement and inclusion in mainstream schools in England. The methodology involved a statistical analysis of nationally held data on all pupils at the end of key stages 1-4, together with a series of site visits to 'inclusive' mainstream schools. These were carried out in order to explore school processes that might explain how some schools can manage to be both highly achieving and inclusive. Findings indicate that there is a small, but for all practical purposes, insubstantial relationship between inclusion and academic achievement at the school level although there is also a large degree of variation suggesting strongly there are other factors within a school's make up, rather than its degree of inclusivity, that impact on the average academic achievements of its pupils. This was confirmed from the analysis of the school site visits. The overall conclusion, therefore, is that mainstream schools need not be concerned about the potentially negative impact on the overall academic achievements of their pupils of including pupils with SEN in their schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to some authors (Thomas & Loxley, 2001), 'inclusion' has become something of a cliché, even being 'evacuated of meaning' (Benjamin, 2002). In England, teachers and teachers' assistants are required to implement inclusion but, in the absence of any universal definition of what the term means, the way in which they enact it varies depending on their understanding of this concept. In this paper, which was originally given as a performance text, we will be re-presenting data collected in the course of narrative and autobiographical investigation of mainstream teachers and teaching assistants' experiences and understandings of inclusion. Through these re-presentations our aim is to illustrate and bring about an engagement with the range of perceptions and conceptualizations portrayed. These demonstrate the tensions and resistances between systemic and personal elements in their understanding of inclusion. Our focus is primarily methodological in that we explore what 'narrative and the performance turn' (Denzin, 2003) have to offer to research which seeks to investigate practitioners' articulations and understandings of educational inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a growing awareness of the implications of the changing nature of literacy due to the impact of technological innovations, literacy pedagogies in educational institutions across the world continue to be predicated on a performative model, in which emphasis is placed on transmitting narrow concepts of literacy that privilege the alphabetic principle. However, an examination of recent developments in England indicate that there is, increasingly, a disconcerting relationship between new literacy practices as experienced by children and young people outside of schools and the development of literacy curricula and pedagogy by policy-makers. This paper draws on Bernstein's (2000) conceptualization of the 'recontextualizing field' in order to explore how national literacy policy in England is selectively appropriating aspects of new literacy practices and reformulating them in ways which dissipate their potential for innovation and transformation. Berstein's 'Official Recontextualizing Field' (ORF) and 'Pedagogic Recontextualizing Field' (PRF) in which these developments are taking place are analysed in order to determine how the out-of-school discourses of children and young people are being ideologically transformed as they start to inform national policy. Instead, it is suggested that account needs to be taken of the way in which children and young people are engaged in innovative literacy practices, drawing from current uses of social software on 'Web 2.0' as an illustrative example. In taking account of these developments, schools can adopt 'productive pedagogies' (Lingard, B., Ladwig, J., Luke, A., Mills, M., Hayes, D. & Gore, J. (2001) The Queensland school reform longitudinal study, Vols 1 and 2 (Brisbane, Education Queensland)) in order to ensure that all pupils become successful literacy learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the relationship between sound broadcasting and adult education, looking at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) during the period of post-war reconstruction and austerity of the 1950s. It considers in particular one of the Corporation's most innovative educative programmes of the period, The Fifty-One Society'. This was produced in Manchester by the Talks Department of the BBC North Region and first broadcast on 1 November 1951. The format was a discussion, along the lines of the old literary and debating societies, and featured a small group of northern academics drawn from the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, many of whom had personal experience as adult education tutors. Each week a topic was introduced by a guest speaker and then discussed by the 'resident experts' in the studio. The discussion was then edited and broadcast. The Fifty-One Society aimed to bring to listening audiences ideas, informed views and argument on a wide range of topics relating to science, the arts, industry, education, literature, government, politics, religion, war and peace. The paper examines the programme's underlying philosophy: 'the belief of the liberal imagination' and attempts to evaluate its success and its educative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores changes in the pre‐school education market in England since the Labour Government came into office in 1997. It focuses in particular on quality, availability and affordability and in so doing explores issues of equity. It will be argued that whilst overall levels of pre‐school educational provision have increased, there are still not enough places, costs are too high for some and the quality is variable. In the light of research evidence indicating greater cognitive and social progress in certain types of pre‐school provision, it is argued that there is a particular need to improve access to such forms of provision as they can enhance the educational and social outcomes of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. A number of policy changes are proposed in order to enhance the quality, availability and affordability of pre‐school education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A credit-rated tandem course unit has been running at the University of Manchester for the past six years and an element of peer assessment has always been present in the assessment procedure. Unfortunately, the course leaders found that this element was not entirely satisfactory. Although there were clear criteria in the course documentation for students to award up to 10% of their partners' final marks, there were obvious indications that students found these difficult to apply. As a result, this element was unsuccessful in discriminating between students' performance, with the majority awarding each other fairly high marks across the board, and -- except in a few rare cases -- with students demonstrating minimal engagement in the assessment process. In an attempt to remedy this situation, it was decided to ask students to devise their own criteria upon which to assess each other. This task became one of the six learning assignments which students were required to submit in their end-of-semester portfolio. The results of this innovation were felt to be very satisfactory: students took this element of the assessment process more seriously; they looked in depth at what they and their partner considered important in the tandem relationship and the learning environment; and they produced some very pertinent criteria which had, until then, escaped the course leaders. This paper focuses on the practicalities of how this change was effected and will give an account of some of the very insightful work produced by our students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores what kinds of advantages and strengths the process of learning to read simultaneously in different languages and scripts might bring about. It is based on a socio-cultural view of learning and literacy and examines early literacy in three parallel literacy classes in Watford, England. It analyses the learning experiences of five bilingual children who are of second or third generation Pakistani background. At the start of the study the children are five years old and they attend the same school and class. They learn to read in English during their daily literacy hour lessons; their home language is Pahari . They attend weekly Urdu lessons that take place in a community language school. They also learn to read in classical Arabic - in a language they do not speak or understand - in their daily Qur'anic classes and, typically, in the local mosque. The data shows that the children learn to switch between three literacy systems. They talk about their literacy learning in terms of `how you got to do it' and `do it properly', which varies from class to class. They use a different range of learning strategies in establishing how to read with meaning. Rather than finding these - or the different related languages and scripts - confusing, they have a powerful impact in enabling the children to see literacies as systems that change and that can be manipulated. This kind of analytical approach of understanding `proper' reading is based on the children's varied experiences of parallel literacy classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the Spring 2005 Colloquium, which took place in London, England. Believing that there was still much to be gained from gathering more intelligence about the future, nonetheless the steering group believed that certain dimensions, absent in the earlier events, were now considered desirable, voices from different parts of the world, and from different disciplines as well as those familiar in teacher education and training. Six people were invited to give brief discussion papers to a group of participants, who would then discuss and digest their ideas as a stimulus to informing strategy for the future.

This paper considers the role of the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO), the teacher responsible for the implementation of policies relating to the teaching and learning of children with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools in England and Wales. SENCOs also have a role to play in the inclusion of children with learning difficulties/disabilities in mainstream schools. Yet research indicates that despite the revision of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice in 2001, many SENCOs are still overwhelmed by the operational nature of the role with little support, time or funding to consider more strategic aspects of inclusion and SEN. The article draws on research by the author and offers the voices of SENCOs from two unitary authorities in the north of England which suggest that where the SENCO is supported by senior management within the school, the role can be a powerful one in relation to inclusion. It concludes by arguing that the role of the SENCO needs to be re-conceptualized, redefined and remunerated as a senior management post within mainstream schools. If this were to be enforced by national policy, every mainstream school could have at least one powerful advocate for the inclusion of children with learning difficulties/disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction of agency and context in workplace learning is explored through a micro-analysis of the implementation of networked learning communities in schools in England. Interviews with local activists show evidence of co-participation between individuals' responses and their workplace roles and experience as they take up the opportunity to create a networked learning community for their schools. The paper raises issues about the community of practice model as promoted for workplace learning, with its emphasis on group participation rather than individual agency. Activists make strategic use of existing power relationships in order to facilitate networked learning, and develop skills in influencing and communicating across existing practice communities. Sustaining the network also depends on continuing intervention and strong support from activists' personal communities of trusted peers and colleagues with whom values and goals are shared. The opportunities, challenges and risks of using a networked approach to foster workplace learning are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 30 years have witnessed ongoing calls for the reform of post-14 education, to make it more responsive to the needs of employers and the economy, and overcome the academic-vocational divide. This article maps out recent proposals and changes in 14-19 education to remind us that they are rooted in a complex past, and while they might appear to be a solution to current problems, they often give rise to other issues. The publication of the most recent White Paper 14-19 Education and Skills marks no more than another episode in the development of this crucial phase and the failure to address wholesale reform simply adds to the complexities of the inherent incrementalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite there being significant numbers of state maintained Catholic schools in England, they have until recently proved to be of interest only to a minority of researchers, usually those directly involved in their promotion. New Government initiatives encouraging further diversity in the provision of schools have proved controversial and, in reopening the religious debates of the 19 th and early 20 th centuries, have prompted interest in the academic performance of Church schools. This paper takes a longitudinal approach in reviewing information already in the public domain, as well as presenting new evidence based on national examination performance data. Standards of academic attainment at Key Stage 4 in Catholic schools compare favourably with national norms. Such schools are particularly effective with more socially disadvantaged pupils and, as such, appear to offer much to the common good of society. Further areas for research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government inspection of initial teacher training (ITT) courses in England is frequent, relentless and high-stakes. How confident should providers be about the consistency of judgements made through inspection? This paper researches outcomes of the 1999–2002 round of inspections of secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses. It focuses, through critical document analysis, on aspects of consistency and inconsistency in three secondary humanities subjects. The courses concerned were awarded the maximum possible grades following inspection. The reports from the providers are analyzed for different aspects of consistency: length, descriptors used, matching against specific criteria and reference to Standards. They are also analyzed, for one of the inspected cells, against the detailed, published criteria for the inspection of that cell. Several important consistencies and inconsistencies are highlighted and discussed, along with recommendations to enhance consistency in subsequent inspections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market-based reforms of state schooling systems have been justified by the benefits anticipated from encouraging greater inter-school competition in local schooling markets. Promoting increased school choice and competition by comparison were seen as a means of stimulating greater allocative, productive and dynamic efficiency in the schooling system. However in England, school effectiveness research suggests that once adjustment is made for pupil characteristics, variations in pupil attainment levels between secondary schools are small and unstable over time. Some evidence suggests that differences in pupil attainment by subject within schools are larger, indicating the potential to raise attainment levels by increasing choice within schools. In this paper we seek to extend the school choice debate by examining the rationale for increasing competition within secondary schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluations, tied to specific programmes, need to be complemented by research that is more sensitive to context at the classroom level. A comparative approach may be used as a platform to move into a two-way conversation with the perspectives of practitioners in ‘developing’ countries and hence scrutinize internationally dominant notions of good teaching that are often assumed in applied research, such as evaluations. This paper draws on findings from a theoretically oriented study of primary school teacher identity in Tanzania, in which explicit comparisons are made with teacher identity in England. The analysis shows how Tanzanian teachers see their social identity and professional responsibilities as being co-constructed and shared with parents, the local community and education administration. A comparison is made with English constructs of professional responsibility and accountability in order to draw some lessons for the conduct and interpretation of evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers issues in religious education that ought to be addressed by the recent non-statutory framework for England. It outlines problematic features of the current situation and paints a generally welcoming picture of the educational opportunities afforded by this new initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]