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Rising inflation and slow growth globally have led to governments focussing on value for money, and in the sphere of higher education policy that is often translated into graduate outcomes. In England, the Office for Students (OfS) has created the progression metric which for full-time, first degree and UK domiciled students requires courses to have 60% of graduates with positive outcomes 15 months after graduation. This paper utilises simulations to evaluate the likelihood that the OfS’s approach will fail to identify courses below the threshold (false positives) and incorrectly identify courses at or above the threshold (false negatives). The simulation adapts the levels of positive outcomes within the population (20-90%), sample size (40–1000), percentage sampled (30-90%) and crucially confidence intervals applied (90%, 95% and 99%) to identify courses below threshold. The three main findings are: the choice of 90% CI minimises the likelihood of false positives compared to 95% or 99% CIs; second, larger samples are essential to reduce likelihood of false positives; and third, preferring the 95% confidence interval instead of 99% for taking regulatory action will result in more courses incorrectly identified as below threshold. Governments that choose a statistical approach to regulate educational standards, like the application of confidence intervals to identify provision below quality standards, should utilise simulations to check the likelihood of false positives and false negatives since failure to do so could lead to both: (a) courses below standard not being identified and (b) regulatory action taken incorrectly against provision at or above standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though teacher well‐being (TWB) has been decreasing over time, there is an identified lack of awareness in schools across England on how settings can support TWB. To address this gap, this study provides teachers with a space to share their conceptualizations of well‐being, evaluate current school‐level TWB provisions, and provide recommendations for ways that existing TWB support could be enhanced. Semi‐structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 16 primary school teachers across England. Reflexive thematic analytic findings indicated that participants defined well‐being in relation to their unique contexts, and cited some current school practices, including school and academy‐wide support and social support, as being effective for TWB. However, participants emphasized that they perceived current TWB provisions as tokenistic, which was suggested to be accentuated by poor understandings of TWB and pressures from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and COVID‐19. To address these issues, participants outlined the need for improvements in communication, the attitudes and approaches of Senior Leadership Teams toward TWB, increased provisions to both manage and decrease workload and increasing the amount of time that they have to meet expectations. Implications for policy and practice to enhance TWB are discussed. Practitioner points: Teachers' definitions of well‐being were rooted in their experiences of their school. Specifically, they explained their definition was informed by relationships with other staff and their perceptions of the organizational structures of their settings.Support from schools, academy‐wide, and social networks was identified as the most beneficial for supporting teacher well‐being (TWB) in primary schools across England.Future TWB support should include enhancing the quality of communication between teaching staff and Senior Leadership Teams, increasing provisions to both manage and decrease workload and providing sufficient time for teachers to meet demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out original findings from analyses of the English National Pupil Database of Key Stage 1 (KS1) attainment, to examine educational outcomes of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The schooling of these children has been entirely within the context of the current SEND system, defined by the 2014–2015 policy of the Children and Families Act and Code of Practice. With a strong focus on children's needs and outcomes, the policy intends to achieve high educational outcomes for children with SEND. Our new results show, however, that children with SEND are one of the most disadvantaged groups in education, and they are far less likely to meet expected learning standards than their peers at KS1. For instance, about 44%, 31% and 23% of children with SEND met the standards in phonics, reading and writing, respectively, compared to 88%, 83% and 78% of children with no SEND. Further, our spatial analysis shows for the first time that this disadvantage displays large spatial variability across Local Authorities: there is a postcode lottery in the education of children with SEND. The new findings provide strong evidence that the new SEND policy is failing many children with SEND, and that this performance varies markedly across space. This adds further weight and evidence to a growing recognition, even from government, that the SEND system needs to change, and that the ambitious aims of the transformation of education and care for children with SEND in 2014 and 2015 are not being realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This systematic literature review aims to explore the effectiveness of school-wide interventions in reducing disciplinary exclusion from mainstream secondary schools. Rationale: In England, head teachers have government support to use exclusion as a disciplinary sanction if deemed necessary (Department for Education, 2017a). Research has suggested that disciplinary exclusion is associated with an array of negative long-term outcomes; despite this, the latest statistics indicate that the rate of fixed period exclusions are increasing in England. Method: The seven-stage systematic review process described by Petticrew and Roberts (2006) was employed. A database search, grey literature search, hand search and reference harvesting were carried out, yielding five studies for in depth review. The EPPI Centre Weight of Evidence tool (Gough, 2007) was used to assess study quality. Findings: All studies were conducted in the USA; four studies implemented School-Wide Positive Behaviour Intervention and Supports, and the remaining study implemented a restorative approach. Most studies reported a small effect of the intervention on reducing exclusions. Limitations: All studies were conducted in the USA and differed considerably, possibly compromising the generalisability of the findings and making reliable comparisons difficult. Conclusions: School-wide interventions may contribute to a reduction in exclusions in mainstream secondary schools, however the evidence is not clear. Further research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn regarding what type of intervention should be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fairness in assessment has become increasingly topical and controversial in recent years. Assessment theoreticians are writing more about fairness and assessment practitioners have developed processes and good practice to minimise unfairness. There is also increased scrutiny by students, parents and the wider public – not only of the fairness of assessments themselves and their outcomes, but of their use, notably for selection for college or university. This is in a context of continued awareness of inequalities in society and their impact on education and assessment. And on top of all these questions has been the impact – and the continuing long shadow – of Covid. Can there be fair assessment in such an unfair world? We consider three types of challenge to fair assessment: •Theoretical challenges •Challenges from thinking about social justice •Challenges from the way that statistics were used to award assessment outcomes in 2020 (particularly in England) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant proportion of pupils move school during their school career for reasons other than standard structural moves between educational stages. Little is known about the underlying causes of these moves and the characteristics and experiences of mobile pupils are challenging to research. There is currently a large disconnect between the macro level of system structures, data and policy and the individual experiences and journeys of mobile pupils. This article brings together international literature around school mobility and mobile pupils, with analyses of the English National Pupil Database (NPD), tracking a cohort from age 5 to 16, to better understand when school moves occur and the characteristics of mobile pupils. Findings reveal a sizable underlying rate of moves in England of about 1.5–2% per term and identify differences in mobility related to disadvantage, school phase, ethnic group and SEND status. The predictive power of the data, however, is low, highlighting the need for more research, policy and practice in this area to better understand individual mobility circumstances. By bringing together the literature and the data, the article concludes with a discussion of what is known about school mobility and recommends further areas for research into the characteristics, experiences and outcomes of mobile school pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries around the world are striving to improve their educational systems with a view to improving their economy and society. In this global competition, national and international test results are of considerable interest. In this paper, we show that national testing in England and the USA have shown little or no improvement over the years. This finding is not isolated; it appears to be a global phenomenon. Data from large-scale international assessments such as PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS are remarkably stable over time. This paper reviews the trends from country-specific and international data and explores some of the reasons which have been offered for such stability. We argue that these explanations are insufficient and ways forward are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cumhuriyet Ilahiyat Dergisi / Cumhuriyet Theology Journal is the property of Cumhuriyet Universitesi, Ilahiyat Fakultesi / Cumhuriyet University, Faculty of Theology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The ongoing marketisation of higher education in England can be understood both conceptually – in terms of its ideological commitment to competition and accountability; and practically – in terms of the way that it has altered higher education structurally in a variety of ways. Methods of standardisation and quantification offer validation and reward to institutions through criteria aligned with marketised principles, leading to institutions shaping their operations to suit these forms of justification. Historically, many arts subjects have operated conceptually and organisationally outside the traditional higher education paradigm, and pedagogic approaches and values that are attributable to this subject area could clash with marketised understandings of education, which are becoming more prevalent and influential. This article presents analysis of reflections from creative arts educational practitioners working within higher education institutions in England on explorations of an ontology of the creative arts, as well as experiences of the marketisation process. A series of values relating to the concept of 'the personal', inherent to the creative arts are discussed and an exploration of how these principles clash with the priorities of the marketised educational economy are articulated. The values and principles that are inherent to educators and practitioners working in the creative arts are competing with 'marketised' motives imposed on them by the institutions in which they work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of faith schooling in countries such as England raises important questions about their appeal in multicultural societies. Through a case study approach, this article aims to understand the influences behind parents' decisions to send their children to Jewish schools. It illustrates a tension experienced by Jewish parents between a desire for their children to be educated as a community of 'similar' peers, and the segregation that might result as a consequence. In order to 'justify' their choice of separate schooling, parents constructed a desirable, essentialized notion of Jewishness that coalesced their two main selection criteria, academic standards and the presence of other Jewish students. By operationalizing their Jewishness for 'secular' purposes in such a way, they were able to secure a perceived superior academic education whilst avoiding disfavoured 'others' in multicultural comprehensive schools, and in the process defined multiculturalism on their own terms. Consequently, the article foregrounds the broader dynamics of multiculturalism and community that are implicated in questions of (faith) school choice, and the complex intertwinement of parents' school selection criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical analysis of a report by the Office for Standards in Education in England based on a survey of practitioners' perspectives of play, focusing on children age 2–5 years in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The report, 'Teaching and play in the early years – a balancing act? A good practice survey to explore perceptions of teaching and play in the early years' addressed the 'recurring myth' that teaching and play are disconnected endeavours. Critical discourse and critical policy analysis are used to interrogate this report alongside interrelated texts, the socio-political context of production, the methods used to define policy versions of 'good practice' in play, and the resulting power effects within early childhood education (ECE). It is argued that this report exemplifies how the remit of Ofsted has extended to provide policy-led evidence that is based on the construction of 'problems' of practice, and the proposed solutions. The Ofsted version of teaching and play relies on circular discourses that reinforce the government's standards and accountability agendas. This analysis reveals the extension from Ofsted's remit of inspection, to a mandate for defining 'quality' and 'good' practice. These actions, relationships and processes constitute the 'meaning-laden architectures' [Fairclough, N., P. Graham, J. Lemke, and R. Wodak. 2004. "Introduction." Critical Discourse Studies 1: 1–7] that connect discourse and power. Using the metaphor of a kaleidoscope, it is proposed that 'Teaching and Play', and related reports, represent unbalanced and unbalancing acts in which policy-led evidence, based on flawed and biased 'research', exerts power effects for children, families and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the proper place of science on the school curriculum in England and in the U.S. According to experts, the approach to the questions that arise when one reflects on the placement of science in the instructional system depends upon the existing pattern of education. Since that pattern is modified by social and historical factors, it is not surprising there is a significant difference in England from that in the U.S. Aims such as social integration or life-adjustment, or whatever we may call them, are far less explicit than they are in the U.S., and, indeed, are regarded with some suspicion by the English teacher.

Results from Rasch analysis of GCSE and GCE A level data over a period of four years suggest that the standards of examinations in different subjects are not consistent in terms of the levels of the latent trait specified in the Rasch model required to achieve the same grades. Variability in statistical standards between subjects exists at both individual grade level and the overall subject level. Findings from this study are generally consistent with those from previous studies using similar statistical models. It has been demonstrated that the alignment of statistical standards between subjects based on the Rasch model would likely result in substantial change in performance standards of the examinations for some subjects evidenced here by significant changes in grade boundary scores and grade outcomes. It is argued that the defined purposes of GCSE and A level qualifications determine how their results should be interpreted and reported and that the existing grading and results reporting procedures are appropriate for supporting these purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imperative of continuous improvement has now become normative in education policy discourse, typically framed as setting ‘aspirational’ targets for pupil performance as a prerequisite for gaining competitive advantage in the global economy. In this context, teachers, leaders, teacher assistants and other practitioners working in schools across England have been under increasing pressure to raise standards. This article focuses on how values are deployed in reculturing and regulating practitioners to develop identities and work orientations which are congruent with the policymakers’ agendas. G.H. Mead’s concept of ‘cult’ values illuminates the process of fostering homogeneity with the dominant policy discourse through an inclusion/exclusion dynamic. Interview data collected in two primary schools revealed a significant convergence of practitioner discourse with policy objectives. Delivering improvement affects how practitioners talk about their work and see themselves as educators. The ‘cult’ of continuous improvement appears to inhibit a critical approach to the implementation of education policies by school practitioners in their everyday work. [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]

Recent demands by conservative politicians in England and the USA for improved standards in literacy and numeracy have seen sweeping changes introduced to music education. Australia is in the process of introducing similar changes. Today, education has become a highly competitive industry, clearly evident in the PISA tests (The Guardian, 2014).1 Finland, a high achiever in PISA, does not concentrate on only teaching language and mathematics education (Sahlberg, 2014a). The history of classroom music in England (Spencer, 2014) the USA (Kratus, 2007) and Australia (Department of Education Science and Training, 2005) since the 1960s has been one of short-term curriculum developments that have gradually eroded the viability of school music education in many disadvantaged schools. Similar to the 1950s, students in England, will now learn music theory and the history of Western music. During the 1960s, John Paynter (1970) highlighted the difficulties of teaching naïve lower secondary music students' notation. In the USA, the limited time for integrated music will again impede what students will be able to learn (Purdum, 2014a). Frequent curriculum changes are making music teachers sceptical about the future of school music (Kratus, 2007; Savage, 2014b; Spencer, 2014). Harry Broudy (1905-1998) an American Arts educator suggested if you stand still long enough in education you will lead the parade next time it came around (Broudy, 1978). This paper discusses the effect these changes are having on music education in England, the USA and most likely Australia. This is then contrasted with the Finish education system and its approach to music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, written by a research-active teacher, reports on efforts to embed quality teaching in a local urban primary school in the north of England, under pressure from the Local Authority to raise standards because it is well below national expectations on SATs tests. The school has concentrated over recent years on embracing the Office for Standards in Education 'First wave quality teaching' notably through its Teaching and Learning Strategy and professional learning opportunities, including joining a city-wide network of practitioner researchers. This is a mark of the trust placed in staff by the school Head. The teacher inquiry project reported here began with identifying and naming professional concerns about student achievement and what this meant for classroom practices, including pedagogies or instruction as it is called in the USA. The teacher set out to investigate student learning needs and develop responsive schemes of work. The social realities of the Year 3 classroom, and the research evidence, all point to recognition that official versions of 'quality teaching' are not enough to improve student learning outcomes. There is simultaneously a need to confront the inequitable opportunities that exist in this local urban school community and to acknowledge the need for a contextualised understanding of school improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, written by a team of research-active teachers who are also senior leaders in a large, urban, comprehensive high school in the North of England, reports on their joint teacher inquiry project. This work has school-wide significance, given recent history, progressing from being graded as a 'failing' school by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) in 2009, to being judged a 'good' school in 2013. The team's work developed in response to Ofsted's recommendation to identify features of 'effective' pedagogies in their own subject-department lessons, with a view to disseminating these through school in an attempt to progress further. However, despite the pedagogical improvements made thus far, the data used to measure the success of the school still reads unfavourably when compared to similar schools nationally. The co-authors will challenge what 'counts' as knowledge, achievement and success, and will argue that constraints placed on the school by budget, the standardized reform agenda, and high stakes accountability restrict attempts by the school to work in a more creative way as it strives to raise achievement and aims for an 'outstanding' judgement from Ofsted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is co-authored by two urban school Heads in the north of England with the support of an academic partner. The article begins with the phenomenon of official judgements of urban schools, made by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, a semi-privatised and supposedly independent arm of government. The discussion places in question its work in raising achievement, particularly in areas of deprivation. It points to deep flaws in the operation of policy-as-numbers and high-stakes accountability, contrasting the punitive style and consequences with collaborative principles of leadership and school change. The article looks at how summative judgements gloss over the complexities of students' lives and teachers' work, and ignore evidence of what is actually being done to meet policy expectations. Our conclusion is that more intelligent forms of school accountability are needed which do not constantly undermine the improvement processes of urban schools and damage reputations with labels such as 'requires improvement' 'special measures' or more colloquially 'failing school'. This 'intelligent accountability' might begin to support a more community-orientated moral purpose in leadership and pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Religious Education Council’s (REC) 2013 Review of Religious Education in England consists of a National Curriculum Framework for RE (NCFRE) designed to unite the RE community around a shared programme of study for pupils aged 4–14, and a set of six policy recommendations for the consideration of the RE community and government in England. The new NCFRE includes a statement of the purpose of study, shared educational aims and agreed range of content in terms of religions and world views, in parallel with national curriculum documents for other subjects. The policy recommendations, which spring from the same evidence base as the programme of study, address some pressing issues for RE in England, including assessment and qualifications, professional support and development of RE teachers, the structures of the RE professional community and the legal settlement around RE in England. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since its inception in 1992 Ofsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) has inspected schools under Section 9 of the Education (Schools) Act 1992; Section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996; and Section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Pressure on England to improve its system of education has not only emerged from the national need for all schools to serve their pupils well, but has also been prompted by an increasing emphasis on international league tables such as that produced by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). In tables such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), England is viewed as underperforming against comparable countries. As a result, Ofsted has introduced what the agency terms to be one of the most stringent and demanding inspection frameworks since its inception. This framework reduces the previous 29 inspection judgements to just four, purportedly placing a far greater emphasis on the professional judgement of the inspector and representing a major departure from the ‘tick box’ approach which characterised previous frameworks. This paper examines the paradoxical fate of inspector professional judgement and concludes that whilst this may appear to signal a rapprochement between inspectors and teaching profession, there are considerable tensions when professional judgement is considered alongside quality control within a highly complex system. The study concludes that in order that inspection attains credibility as a method by which to govern education, this shift requires a more considered approach to ways in which this professional judgement can be effective within the challenging environment of the English education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the King's Oxfordshire Assessment Project, which took place in the UK and explored the use of coursework as a means of terminal assessment. In particular, it considers the findings of the six English teachers who were involved. In a standards-based curriculum all six teachers supported 100% coursework. The paper looks at how, in the ritual of atomised standards-based assessment, a basis for holistic coursework can be maintained. It considers the importance of guild knowledge within the system as well as the need for structural support. It considers also some of the difficulties that can be found with this type of assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the concept of misrecognition as advanced by Pierre Bourdieu in the development and implementation of educational leadership standards in the USA and in England. The line of argument advanced is that leadership standards were promulgated as an agenda to control and dominate a contested field in both countries by certain individuals and agencies. The analysis proffers that the steps involved in the creation of national leadership standards will not lead to reform since they are embedded in reified current roles and practices. The net result explains why a nation's educational leadership standards cannot become excellent via standardisation, and why significant educational reform is highly unlikely as a result of the processes employed to construct and impose them on practitioners, universities, schools, and school systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

'Pupil voice' is a movement within state education in England that is associated with democracy, change, participation and the raising of educational standards. While receiving much attention from educators and policy makers, less attention has been paid to the theory behind the concept of pupil voice. An obvious point of theoretical departure is the work of Jürgen Habermas, who over a number of decades has endeavoured to develop a theory of democracy that places strong significance on language, communication and discourse. This paper is an attempt to gauge the usefulness of Habermas' approach to understanding the theory of pupil voice, in particular how his theory of universal pragmatics lends itself to a 'philosophy of between', a philosophy that finds echoes in the conflicted nature of schooling that 'pupil voice' is supposed to rectify to some extent. The paper also explores the drawbacks of a Habermasian approach, in particular his overreliance on rationality as a way of understanding communication. Lacan's concept of the objet petit a is introduced as an alternative way of understanding pupil voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English primary schools are considered quasi-collegial institutions within which staff communicate regularly and openly. The activities of staff, however, are bound by institutional norms and conditions and by societal expectations. Wider agendas of governmental control over the curriculum and external controls to ensure accountability and learning standards have influenced the development and purposes of middle leaders’ roles. This is a conceptual paper that explores issues around the agency of primary school middle leaders within a wider context of the political and educational agenda. Through a reconsideration of research conducted by one of the authors since the inception of the notion of ‘subject leaders’, we exemplify ways in which primary school middle leaders’ attitudes have developed and changed over the past 15 years. In this paper we identify attitudes to leadership, the influence of distributed leadership on primary school role-holders and possible ways forward for middle leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing initially on evidence assembled by the Cambridge Primary Review, and acknowledging Maurice Galton’s trenchant critiques of recent educational policy, this paper tracks the rise and decline of the flagship standards agenda which was launched by the Blair government in 1997 and came to dominate the work of England’s primary schools during the next 13 years. The official claims about educational standards are assessed against the evidence, as are contingent claims about the regime’s efficacy. The analysis finds both positive and negative outcomes from Labour’s reforms, but also methodological problems, collateral damage, a suspect definition of ‘standards’ and a corrosive political discourse that has frustrated the proper pursuit and application of evidence. England’s experience is then placed in an international context: first, by reference to the increasing use of high stakes testing in the United States and elsewhere; second, through the quest for ‘world class’ standards and schooling to which, prompted by the international surveys of student achievement, more and more governments are signing up, often copying each other’s policies in the hope of outperforming them. Not only is the phrase ‘world class’ almost meaningless in practice but it is also informed by a supremacist mindset which is at odds with twenty-first century global imperatives and sensibilities, and by international comparisons which make indefensibly selective use of such evidence as is available to explain why some countries outperform others. Although the initial focus is on the period 1997–2010, the paper ends by warning that the conditions exposed here are unlikely to be unique to the government that was defeated in the 2010 general election. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Specialist Schools Programme in England was predicated on the idea that designating a school with an identity centred around one subject specialism and providing additional funding for its development would raise standards in that specialism and across the school as a whole, as well as spreading excellence to other schools. This paper presents findings from an empirical study investigating one such specialism, the Specialist Language College (SLC), from the perspective of key stakeholders in both SLCs and non-SLCs. The study findings suggest that on designation as a Specialist School, strong impact is felt in terms of improved resources, information and communication technology (ICT) provision and most importantly on the status of languages in SLCs. The amount of contact and the impact of any contact between the SLCs and non-SLCs are reported as negligible, however, suggesting that aspects of the partnership aims of the specialist schools initiative are not being met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces and analyses some of the key features of 14-19 education and training in England over the 30 years since such a phase was first mooted. It does this through an introductory narrative outlining the key policies and initiatives and the development of six themes drawing on analysis of a body of research and policy. The themes are: the waxing and waning of policy in relation to a 14-19 phase; policy imperatives driving 14-19 education and training; curricular commonality, differentiation and unification; pathways and progression; qualifications-led curriculum change and partnership, institutional autonomy and competition. The article concludes by outlining the implications of the analysis for the current political and policy context in relation to education and training for 14- to 19-year-olds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the authors' comments on the national school curriculum in England. According to the authors, the aims the National Curriculum were to create high standards and coherence in what is taught in schools and to ensure that all children get the opportunity to acquire basic essential knowledge in the key subject disciplines. The author says that Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove set up an advisory committee for the review for the new National Curriculum.

This study examined the barriers to inclusion in one primary school in the north of England. Qualitative data were collected from teachers and teaching assistants through the use of a focus group. The evidence suggested that practices within the school were varied and ranged from highly inclusive to highly exclusive. Some teachers worked in good faith to develop effective inclusion for learners with special educational needs. Conversely, other teachers displayed negative attitudes towards these pupils and this impacted negatively on the school's commitment to inclusion. Lack of funding, resources and training were identified as key barriers to inclusion. Parental resistance to inclusion was also evident within the context of this school and there was a strong feeling that the inclusion agenda was problematic in the context of the standards agenda. Despite these issues there was a strong sense that practitioners should be willing to commit to the principles of inclusive education and the study considers some ways in which schools can advance their practice in this respect. Within this study the term 'practitioner' is used to represent teachers and teaching assistants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academic literature and higher education benchmark statements identify groups of skills that are desirable both for students seeking employment and for employers seeking to recruit students. Professional accounting education pronouncements also stipulate skills that are necessary for an individual to possess in order to act as a competent accountant and auditor. Through a questionnaire survey, this research examines: (i) which of these skills audit and accounting practitioners expect UK universities to teach; (ii) which skills audit and accounting academics believe are important for students to acquire; (iii) which skills audit academics believe that employers require; and (iv) which skills audit academics teach in the UK. Institutional theory is used to develop and interpret this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summer 2009 saw the introduction in England of the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL). Funded in full by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, the MTL aims to improve the quality of teaching and to raise standards in schools. In this paper we discuss what the MTL might mean both for in-service teacher education and initial teacher training. We explore issues relating to the structure and delivery of MTL including the tension between standardisation and personalisation of its content as well as the lack of focus on research and the costs of this to its reputation and appeal of the qualification. Furthermore, we question the extent to which newly qualified teachers are ready to benefit from undertaking the MTL and consider how availability criteria may give rise to equity issues. With these concerns in mind we discuss the future of the MTL and whether this Labour initiative will have a chance to prove itself under a Conservative-led coalition government at a time of severe austerity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spanish Journal of Comparative Education / Revista Española de Educación Comparada is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper offers an analysis of creativity in educational discourse in England over the Labour government's three terms in office. It traces the changing definitions and uses of the term in relation to agendas about raising standards in schools, promoting the arts and cultural education, and developing entrepreneurialism. In particular, it offers an analysis of the ways that these changing definitions influenced the Creative Partnerships programme, a national initiative to encourage schools in England to work in partnership with the creative sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This profile explains the assessment system in England, concentrating on those aspects that are related to government policy. It begins by putting the system in context; it then describes the national educational structure, curriculum and assessment arrangements. The government agencies responsible for carrying out education policies are introduced. In order to illustrate the intersection of curriculum and assessment development and political policy, the profile describes and discusses assessment issues that highlight the role of government and its agencies in the development, implementation and monitoring of England's national curriculum tests and 14-to-19 qualifications. It argues that successive governments have increasingly intervened directly in curriculum and qualifications development, and observes the growing governmental policy influence over assessment issues and the repercussions of that influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a report by a Parliamentary Committee, the Higher Education Funding Council for England is consulting the sector about a strengthened national quality assurance system, with an enhanced role for information about quality and a closer focus on academic standards. This article provides a critical review of the main proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author offers her opinion on the article "Towards Standards for the Publication of Performance Indicators in the Public Sector: The Case of Schools," by Sjoerd Karsten, Adrie J. Visscher, Anne Bert Dijkstra, and René Veenstra, published in the same issue. She expresses her disagreement with the authors that an international set of performance standards for education would contribute to improved educational outcomes. She suggests that all educational standards are politicized and considers the problems inhibiting educational success in England.

The Education (Schools) Act 1992 established a new body, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), with responsibility regularly to inspect and report upon the standards, effectiveness and efficiency of all schools in England and Wales. The first cycle of inspections of secondary schools began in September 1993 and was extended to all other state-funded schools the following year. Also in 1992 the then government Department for Education and Skills (DfES; since relabelled as the Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF]) began to publish national data about schools' performance. It was one element in a strategy designed to improve their effectiveness as institutions for teaching and learning and to raise the general standard of pupils' educational attainment. This initiative, encouraging greater scrutiny and accountability through the publication of test and examination results and also of school inspections, has proved to be valuable to researchers providing both the quantitative (test and examination scores) and qualitative (inspection reports) sources to generate data sets for the purpose of school comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to explore the influence of the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) in England in supporting aspirant heads to make the transition to headship. It draws upon a sample of NPQH graduates confirming their perceived readiness for headship prior to the commencement of their NPQH programme. A questionnaire survey of 156 NPQH graduates and subsequent interviews with 15 of the graduates secured perceptions from those who had already made the transition to headship, those who were still intending to and those who were now no longer intending to seek headship. These perceptions encompassed transition preparedness with respect to 20 facets drawn from the National Standards for Head Teachers published by the Department for Education and Skills, the benefits and shortcomings of the NPQH taught element, as well as NPQH-related experiences in schools, outside schools and in non-professional life. Interpretation of findings draws upon a transition framework, developed by T. Brown-Ferrigno in 2003, encompassing role conceptualisation, initial socialisation, role-identity transformation and purposeful engagement. Findings depict the importance of a journey aided by timely leadership experience, support, confidence-building, networking and direct contact with incumbent senior leaders prior to NPQH. Although NPQH also provides some of these essential elements, it may not, in itself, mend the broken journeys of some individuals who are unable to overcome personal and professional difficulties and overturn deeply rooted perceptions of the difficulties associated with headship and hence fail to make the transition to headship. A recent revision of the NPQH programme has sought to better address personal needs analysis and readiness for headship beyond that available in the programme experienced by the NPQH graduates included in the present sample. This may further assist in improving transition rates. The study recommends identified successful elements of development be retained or extended in subsequent revisions of NPQH and suggests that candidate experiences prior to NPQH require additional intervention nationally and better accommodation within NPQH if it is to provide maximum support for transition at a time of leadership shortages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Great importance is placed on the results of England's end of Key Stage 2 statutory assessments. They are used to monitor the progress of individual pupils, to judge the effectiveness of teachers, schools, and local authorities, and, at a national level, to monitor the standard of education over time. This article discusses the reliability of these assessments and whether they are appropriate measures for high-stakes use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper outlines the findings from a literature review of the English government's response to the issue of training pre-service teachers in the delivery of effective special educational needs support. The review's findings detail that although educational practice in mainstream classrooms has changed considerably since the 1970s the training of pre-service teachers with regards to special educational needs has seemingly changed very little. The paper argues that the government needs to re-think radically its policy of inclusion to ensure that a coherent plan is formulated which enables higher education institutions' initial teacher training programmes to train students who are competent and confident in their abilities to work with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author compares the Swedish and English educational systems. She notes that Sweden has moved from central control towards a market and consumer orientation, while England has moved towards more central control, thus making the two systems more alike. In England, she states, the national testing stakes are high, thus more attention is paid to the design and validity of the tests than in Sweden, where the stakes are lower. She argues the importance of designing tests around their purpose.

In this paper, I will consider the lessons that can be learnt about literacy policy and its role in large-scale education reform programmes, with particular reference to policy-making in England since the election of New Labour in 1997. New Labour's promise to the electorate in 1997 was that state-funded education could be fixed and turned into a high-quality delivery system from which all would benefit. It could be fixed by direct intervention from politicians committed to overhauling the public sector and applying new principles which would see standards rise. The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was the main vehicle for change, whilst the target for achievement in literacy became one of the most public and obvious measures of the government's success in reforming education. Over the decade that followed New Labour's election, early optimism about what government could achieve has been tempered by the twists and turn of events, which saw the education performance data plateau just short of the government's targets, and the NLS morph into the Primary National Strategy as it gradually moved from the centre of political action to a more peripheral position. Within government itself the NLS's progress has acted as an important catalyst for reflection on what works in public sector reform more generally and the challenges those running such programmes face. This paper takes as its central points of analysis the evolution of literacy policy within the policy cycle. The paper reflects on the array of actors within government and beyond who have been involved in trying to make that policy work, or who may have acted as (dis)interested bystanders commenting from the sidelines. What are the lessons that can be learnt which might contribute to the development of literacy policy elsewhere? [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]

This paper is a research-informed response to the paradigm shift that has taken place in the world of teacher education for the further education sector in England during the last few years. We begin by outlining the various changes that have taken place in terms of regulation of the sector and show how this has impacted upon the agency of those who have been involved in the 'delivery' of a curriculum based on a set of new and prescribed standards. Making use of a life history approach, we compare and contrast two very different stories: one of a lecturer new to teacher education and the other of a lecturer who has been involved in teacher education for more than 25 years. Drawing upon these two cases we show that the myriad changes and prescriptions introduced into the further education sector have not closed down the achievement of agency of those involved in teacher education programmes. Rather, the changes have transformed the ways in which their agency can be articulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]