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Emergency legislation introduced internationally since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the closure of all levels of educational settings and a shift to remote teaching. Drawing lessons from an independent child rights impact assessment (CRIA) in Scotland, United Kingdom, this paper reviews the impact of COVID-19 measures on children and young people's rights to, and experiences of, education during the current crisis. Findings highlight that while measures sought to preserve the best interests of children and their basic rights to safety, a distinct lack of consultation on the impacts of the measures undermined the interdependency and indivisibility of children's human rights. Three human rights principles – participation and inclusion, non-discrimination, and mutual accountability of family and the State – were identified as being particularly significant in this assessment. Looking forward, findings point to the need for extending the range of perspectives involved in child rights impact assessments in times of crisis – where human rights are at even greater risk of being breached – and the significance of a children's rights-based perspective for re-imagining education altogether. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite science's central role in European culture, public perception of, and participation with, science is characterised by contradictions and conflicting agenda. School curriculum reform, for example by Scottish Government, promotes ‘science for citizenship’, yet teachers' understandings of the nature of science and its relationship with society are often underdeveloped. This article reports on the experiences of a group of first-year students enrolled in the course ‘socio-cultural perspectives in science learning’ within a primary teacher education programme. Drawing on sociocultural theory, attention was given to language as a system for constructing symbolic realities. Through participation in activities, which explored science knowledge production and communication, students were encouraged to reflect on the nature of science and the dynamic relationship between content, methods and value-frameworks. Findings cluster around interconnected themes: students' views of knowledge, language genres across communities and knowledge–power negotiations. The course attempted to move from a space for knowledge consumption to an intermediary space between science and society for students to inhabit in the dual roles of citizens and co-constructors of knowledge. In this transition, linguistic genres pointed to the complexity of interactions between curricular materials offered by the course and newly established social networks. The article argues for further consideration of linguistic practices in science education as a means for disclosing interpretations and cultural framings and a necessary step in equipping teachers to understand ‘science for citizenship’ issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into initial teacher education has come to prominence in recent years, with governments and international organisations advocating reforms in teacher education to serve the needs of a 'knowledge economy'. In this context, educational research plays a central, albeit controversial, role. On the one hand governmental focus on increasing global economic competitiveness frames the discourse of teacher education within agendas of scientific rationality and the search for 'what works' in education; on the other hand, teachers working on the ground are confronted with a plethora of multiple, and sometimes contrasting, interests and needs. Drawing on the experience of an ongoing Scottish Government funded project in initial teacher education in Scotland, this paper examines the tripartite tensions created by differing perspectives and rationales with respect to teacher education: policy, research and practice. Juxtaposed against recent thinking with regard to complexity theories the paper goes on to reflect on what we see as the changing attributes of practice-relevant and ethically grounded research for education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which student teachers' attitudes towards inclusion change over the course of a four-year Bachelor of Education programme in Scotland. Using a mixed methods design, the study employed a quantitative survey, a qualitative interview and survey to obtain data from two cohorts of student teachers. Results indicate significant changes in student teachers' attitude towards educational inclusion. The student teachers' conceptualised inclusion as an interrelated component of support, belongingness, sensitivity and fairness. Their evaluation shows that programme inputs on inclusion contributed to an enhancement of their attitudes and understanding. However, there is a need for further practical knowledge in the area of inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching is acknowledged to be complex, multifaceted and dynamic. Curriculum revisions in Scotland, and elsewhere, call for teachers who are adaptable and capable of change. Yet the skills and attributes traditionally valued and acquired by teachers during their education do not necessarily equip them to cope with the shifting landscape of educational change. This article draws on a collaborative review of literature relating to teacher education, undertaken for the Scottish Teachers for a New Era project. It examines the nature of knowledge for teaching generally and in relation to science education in particular to discuss contested aspects and to develop a conceptual framework for future research and development in this area. The main argument for this study is that a reformulation of teacher education is required. This involves changing the way teachers are educated within an accompanying shift in epistemology and a move to interdisciplinarity. It calls for a more egalitarian way of learning as a means to facilitate change within schools for the creation of a more equal and just society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]