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This paper has as its focus the life and thinking of the educational theorist and schoolmaster J. H. Simpson (1883-1959), who was not only a reforming teacher at Rugby School but was also the first headmaster of the progressive Rendcomb College. His ideas around education were outlined in a number of books. At the heart of his thinking lay concerns around democracy and self-government and the article explores how these were enacted at various points of Simpson's life with a particular focus upon his work until 1932. Attention will be paid to how his thinking evolved, moving from simple democracy in the classroom to wider decision-making within an entire school. Linked to these concerns were a number of curricular initiatives that sought to offer a point of contrast to more traditional public schools. The article will conclude by attempting to offer consideration of the legacy of Simpson's ideas.

Purpose: The study aims to investigate the state of higher education (HE) leadership research after the intensified focus on teaching and learning (TL) in academia. Design/methodology/approach: The authors clarify the use of key concepts in English-medium empirical journal articles published between 2017 and 2021 by analysing 64 publications through qualitative content analysis. Findings: The analysed papers on leadership of TL in HE activate a number of concepts, the commonest concepts being academic leadership, distributed leadership, educational leadership, transformational leadership, leadership and transformative leadership. Even if the papers highlight partly overlapping aspects of leadership, the study finds a rationale for the use of several concepts in the HE context. Contrary to the expectation raised in earlier scholarship, no holistic framework evolves from within the recent research to reveal the contribution that leadership of TL makes to leadership in HE generally. Research limitations/implications: Limitations: Nearly 40 per cent of the analysed articles are from the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Australia and Canada, which leaves large areas of the world aside. Implications: The found geographical incoherence might be remediated and the research of leadership of TL in HE generally led forward by widening the cultural and situational diversity in the field. Originality/value: This research contributes to an enhanced understanding of the field of leadership in TL in HE in that it frames the concepts used in recent research and makes the differences, similarities and rationale between concepts visible.

Distributed Leadership is a conceptual and analytical approach to understanding leadership that is focused on interactions between leaders and those they lead with the goal of driving instructional improvement and improving student outcomes by developing high-quality teaching and an educational culture that enables all students to thrive. This article provides an overview of the state-of-the-art research available on distributed leadership. As new social and educational demands emerge, leadership responses need to be reformed at all school levels to ensure a school's ability to provide a high-quality education. These transformations must be promoted from within each school center. The author describes and covers a deep review of the literature between 1981 and 2020. The source data for this research, (321 articles), is derived from SCOPUS, Biblometrix Studio, and VOSviewer. The terms and their clusters were illustrated on graphs, and density maps were utilized. General recommendations are provided and challenges are identified for the incorporation of DL changes into the management of schools. The findings show that the literature refers explicitly to DL, wherein there are a number of interesting insights provided by theoretical articles. A conclusion is given with recommendations for further multidisciplinary research at the intersection of the fields in order to show the holistic landscape of this field. [Note: The volume number 2 and the issue number (6) shown on the PDF are incorrect. The correct citation for this article is v4 n2.]

This article explores the nature of leadership in Brazilian complementary schools in the UK. Such schools are typically parent-driven, voluntary and financially vulnerable. Using data from a questionnaire survey (n=14; more than three-quarters of Brazilian complementary schools) and three in-depth case studies, leadership is examined in relation to five established approaches: directive, instructional, transformational, distributed and collaborative. The study found that the size of the school and the personality of the leader appeared to influence the type of leadership adopted. In terms of effectiveness, a combination of instructional leadership with an approach that motivated staff and volunteers (whether directive, collaborative or transformational, depending on the school's circumstances) seemed most appropriate to the context of complementary schools. The research illustrates the complexity of school leadership and the overlap between different models. Leadership flexibility was important in responding to the needs of staff, students and parents. The findings are transferable to mainstream schools with contexts similar to those of complementary schools, particularly small primary schools and free schools.

Background: Overmedication of people with intellectual disabilities, particularly when psychotropic medications are used for challenging behavior (CB) in the absence of a psychiatric disorder, is a significant public health concern. Support staff play a pivotal role in influencing the prescribing process. Staff views and attitudes toward medication use for CB are therefore of paramount importance. Method: We have conducted four focus groups involving support staff (n = 8), home managers (n = 5) and trainers (n = 3), two of which primarily explored participants' experiences and views on using medication for CB and medication withdrawal. Results: Some participants felt medication use was justified, but others saw that as a form of chemical restraint. Most agreed that polypharmacy of psychotropics might lead to side effects. Some acknowledged the lack of shared decision-making involving people with intellectual disabilities and their families. There was universal anxiety about withdrawing the medication. Conclusions: All agreed on the need for more medication-related information.

Governments and other stakeholders in education are beginning to recognize the important roles school leaders can play in school development and efforts are being made to allow them to become more involved in managing schools. However, despite these efforts, head teachers are challenged with the perfect leadership style to improve schools. Many scholars have lauded the positives of distributed leadership as one if not the best leadership for school improvement. This study sought to explore distributed leadership across primary schools in Accra-Ghana and Northampton-UK. The study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed method design. In this design, face-to-face interviews and non-participants observations were employed while closed ended questionnaires were given to 65 head teachers and 10 out of the 65 head teachers were sampled and interviewed. Two schools were purposive sampled and observed. The findings of the study revealed that head teachers from both countries understood the concept of distributed leadership as giving leadership opportunity to other teachers to meaningfully accept and take full responsibility for their leadership roles. Despite these findings, head teachers from the two countries have their own style of distributing leadership in the school. Admittedly, head teachers echoed that team work and trust is a necessity for effective and successful distributed leadership in schools. Notwithstanding these benefits of distributed leadership, head teachers from both Northampton and Accra are confronted with some challenges such as who should be involved and to what extent. The researchers recommend that head teachers should find ways of giving freedom to teachers who have the requisite expertise and ready to lead particular areas of the school even if it is for a shorter time. Additionally, a well-structured programme of high quality in-service training should be developed and offered to every head teacher and teacher in order for every school to develop appropriately.

Governments and other stakeholders in education are beginning to recognize the important roles school leaders can play in school development and efforts are being made to allow them to become more involved in managing schools. However, despite these efforts, head teachers are challenged with the perfect leadership style to improve schools. Many scholars have lauded the positives of distributed leadership as one if not the best leadership for school improvement. This study sought to explore distributed leadership across primary schools in Accra-Ghana and Northampton-UK. The study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed method design. In this design, face-to-face interviews and nonparticipants observations were employed while closed ended questionnaires were given to 65 head teachers and 10 out of the 65 head teachers were sampled and interviewed. Two schools were purposive sampled and observed. The findings of the study revealed that head teachers from both countries understood the concept of distributed leadership as giving leadership opportunity to other teachers to meaningfully accept and take full responsibility for their leadership roles. Despite these findings, head teachers from the two countries have their own style of distributing leadership in the school. Admittedly, head teachers echoed that team work and trust is a necessity for effective and successful distributed leadership in schools. Notwithstanding these benefits of distributed leadership, head teachers from both Northampton and Accra are confronted with some challenges such as who should be involved and to what extent. The researchers recommend that head teachers should find ways of giving freedom to teachers who have the requisite expertise and ready to lead particular areas of the school even if it is for a shorter time. Additionally, a well-structured programme of high quality in-service training should be developed and offered to every head teacher and teacher in order for every school to develop appropriately.

Concerned about the limits of normative deliberative pedagogies, we designed and organized a workshop to explore to possibilities of an agonistic pedagogy for global citizenship education. We brought together a range of participants including national and international primary and university students, researchers and curriculum developers and we created pedagogical activities in which disagreement was fostered. We aimed to normalize conflict, create channels for the expression of political emotions and generate opportunities for the emergence of new subjectivities. Our findings suggest that the plurality of participants and the conflict-orientated pedagogies facilitated the normalization of conflict, the participants' affective engagement with Others and the creation of new subjectivities. They also indicate that older participants had less positive attitudes towards conflict-orientated pedagogies and discussions on abstract topics did not foster 'affective' engagement. We examine potential implications for further educational research and practice considering the singularities of this project.

Aims: Digital living is now an integral part of many children and young people's (CYP) everyday experience. Practitioners who work with them are increasingly focused on effectively deploying technology to help those with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. Throughout all aspects and phases of work, practitioners must adhere to legal and professional best practice standards in involving service users, person-centred working and in enhancing accessibility for all. Methods: Measures introduced to reduce the spread of COVID-19 triggered significant service delivery change in a specialist multi-disciplinary child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) team. The majority of assessment and intervention work moved to an online audio and web conferencing platform. A shared decision-making approach was developed to support service user understanding of online appointments and to giving informed consent, in line with the i-THRIVE Framework for system change (Wolpert et al., 2019). Three Guides were developed and distributed ahead of online appointments: written, easy-read and video. Findings: Data collected within a Quality Improvement (QI) framework indicated that the Guides supported practitioners to prepare service users, as well as themselves, for digital working. The Guides supported service access, collaborative decision-making and increased CYP autonomy. Their introduction also led to conversations about equity and cultural responsiveness, as well as serving as a model for the development of aids to support shared decision-making for autism diagnostic assessments. Limitations: This paper outlines the first phase of the QI project with a small participant sample and requires further engagement with service users to review the use of Guides and shared decision-making decision aids. Conclusions: Digital approaches present new possibilities and are rapidly changing service delivery across CAMHS. The importance of involving service users in shared decision-making when developing digital practices must be held in mind as part of this change process.

Purpose: There is a growing consensus among human resources researchers and professionals that a participative environment can enhance job satisfaction, commitment, employee motivation and productivity. Moreover, globalization has caused that organizations operate in a huge number of culturally diverse countries. Studies suggest that understanding national culture as a prerequisite to implementing management initiatives such as employee participation in decision-making (PDM) acquires special interest. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of cultural values on PDM in European organisations. The fulfilment of this purpose entails the following specific objectives: to measure the level of PDM in each European country; to examine the relationship between the six cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede in 2010 (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/feminity, long term/short term and indulgence) and the PDM level of the organisations studied; and to define the national cultural profile of organisations that promote PDM the most and those that do the least. Design/methodology/approach: One factor analysis were applied to test the proposed hypotheses on a sample of almost 25,000 workers in 31 European countries (from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey) to identify direct employee PDM corresponding to each organisation included in the sample. Multiple linear regression was performed to test the hypotheses about the relationship between PDM and Hofstede culture values. Previously, a correlation analysis was performed between the independent variables of the regression model to examine the possibility of bias in coefficient significance tests because of multicollinearity. Finally, it presented a ranking of the analysed countries according to their PDM, including the value of their cultural dimensions. This information could be used to define the cultural profile of European participative countries. Findings: The findings advance our understanding of how culture influencing on employee PDM in European organisations. Indulgence and masculinity are the most influent cultural dimensions. Moreover, results provide the cultural profile of those European countries that promote PDM the most and the least. Research limitations/implications: The research is based only on the perceptions of workers about their PDM but does not consider the managers' opinion. Moreover, the document analyses the national culture as a single value shared by all the inhabitants of a country without considering the subcultures existing in it. Furthermore, future research should be conducted to analyse the influence of other conditions (such as activity sector, company size and owner public or private) on PDM--culture relationship. Practical implications: This study can be aid to managers in understanding the cultural profile of the country where their companies operate and the cultural differences between their employees. In this manner, they could implement the appropriate practices to promote the direct participation of employees in decision-making. Originality/value: To broaden the knowledge, this is the first study investigating PDM across six cultural dimensions. The globalized and international business environment generates new challenges to multinational organizations that could pursue to increase direct PDM to get its benefits (a higher efficiency, performance, motivation, commitment and loyalty by the employee) in culturally diverse societies. The cultural values of the countries where organizations are located affect direct employee PDM. In particular, in this study, this occurs primarily with the variables masculinity, long-term orientation and indulgence. Moreover, this is a finding of high relevance because there is no empirical evidence in the effect of indulgence and long-term orientation on PDM because they were added later to Hofstede's values.

Student-staff pedagogical partnership is a rapidly expanding practice documented by a growing body of scholarship. That scholarship includes a wide range of empirical examples of what students and staff experience through pedagogical partnership, an emerging set of theoretical frameworks for analysing those experiences, and practical guidelines to support participant engagement in this work. Many publications have focused on identifying the possibilities and the challenges of pedagogical partnership and on developing premises and approaches that can create common ground on which to build such countercultural collaborative efforts. In this discussion, we provide an overview of that scholarship to situate our findings from a study focused on what happens when staff and student partners might find common ground for collaboration but nevertheless disagree about basic pedagogical questions. Using a narrative analysis approach, we examined qualitative data gathered through an ethics-board-approved survey that asked about pedagogical disagreements in classroom-focused pedagogical partnership as experienced by students and academic staff at 16 colleges and universities across Canada, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Our findings suggest that when pedagogical disagreements arise, they can help clarify perspectives and pedagogical commitments, and when they do not arise, it may be due to the receptive and responsive stance students and staff take within their partnerships. These findings are important for the ways they normalise disagreement as a productive aspect of pedagogical partnership. They also point to opportunities for further research into how all staff and students might consider managing differences of perspective and disagreements.

Preparing students to be critical thinkers and effective communicators is essential in today's multinational and technologically sophisticated environment. New electronic technologies provide opportunities for creating learning environments that extend the possibilities of "old" but still essential technologies: books, blackboards, and linear, one-way communication media. Such technologies contribute to engagement and meaningful learning in the higher education sector. Greater understanding in educational psychology and the effectiveness of educational interventions has motivated the development of various student-centred pedagogies (e.g. Problem-Based Learning [PBL]) addressing perceived shortcomings of traditional didactic instruction. PBL as a pedagogy promotes meaningful learning due largely to its power to stimulate critical, reflective and creative thinking. Can teaching staff, then, adopt technology-based approaches to create multi-disciplinary interactive PBL environments that enhance learning and excite students, inspiring them to take ownership of their own education? This paper presents a cross-case analysis of four cases that explore how classroom-based learning activities have been transferred to online formats in universities to improve critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and other learning attributes across a range of disciplines.

One common way of conceptualising recent changes in university governance is by stating that the universities are being pushed towards a market-like setting where the uniqueness of each university's strategy and capacity for introducing organizational change is seen as necessary to improve the functioning of the university. We argue that the strategic functioning of the university is conditioned by the extent to which key decision makers, in the strategic decision-making process, share interpretations of the university's strategic advantages and hence have a coherent view of the strategic choices to be made. Our discussion is based on an analysis of a unique survey among principal decision makers at 26 universities in 8 countries in Europe.

In this paper, we take a semiotic/dialogic approach to investigate how a group of UK 12-13-year-old students work with hierarchical defining and classifying quadrilaterals. Through qualitatively analysing students' decision-making processes, we found that the students' decision-making processes are interpreted as transforming their informal/personal semiotic representations of "parallelogram" (object) to more institutional ones. We also found that students' decision-making was influenced by their inability to see their peers' points of view dialogically, i.e., requiring a genuine inter-animation of different perspectives such that there is a dialogic switch, and individuals learn to see the problem "as if through eyes of another," in particular collectively shared definitions of geometrical shapes.

British universities have historically excluded sections of society from entering and from participating in decision-making. The neoliberal university has entrenched these inequalities in insidious ways that are resistant to change. By drawing on critical feminisms, we delineate a politics of careful solidarity that can mitigate the erasure of marginalised young people in university governance structures. We outline a participatory methodology that uses arts-based evaluation to provide channels for democratic discussion and listening. Our methodology centres the voices of young people with an experience of the care system -- a cohort who are heavily excluded, and whose knowledge is stigmatised.

Background: There is relatively little published data that report the experiences and views of family carers of people with intellectual disabilities who display challenging behaviour who are prescribed psychotropic medication. Materials and methods: An online structured questionnaire was created by the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, a UK charity, and family carers of people with intellectual disability. Questions concerned the management of challenging behaviour and asked family carers about their experiences and views on the use of psychotropic medication. Responses were gathered between August and October 2016. Results are summarised using descriptive and inferential statistics and descriptive analysis of free-text comments. Findings: Ninety-nine family carers completed the survey. Family carers reported gaps in the holistic and proactive management of challenging behaviour. Whilst some felt involved in decisions around psychotropic medication prescribing, others described feeling marginalised and lacking information and influence. The decision to prescribe psychotropic medication evoked complex emotions in family carers and medication use was associated with mixed outcomes in those prescribed. Family carers identified areas of good practice and those areas where they believe improvements are needed. Conclusions: Psychotropic medication should be only one option in a multimodal approach to challenging behaviour, but this may not always be reflected in current practice. Greater effort needs to be made to ensure that services are equipped to provide optimum care and to embed shared decision-making into routine practice.

This paper reports on findings from a Leadership Foundation for Higher Education funded project exploring the role of associate deans in UK universities. While the number of associate deans leading cross-curricular and inter-disciplinary initiatives appears to be on the increase, there has been very little research focusing on the exact nature of the role and its importance, or otherwise, in the leadership and management of universities. Drawing on mixed-methods data from 15 semi-structured interviews and a follow-up online survey (n = 172), this paper reports on how the role is defined and positioned in relation to university organisational structures and identifies what the similarities and differences are between associate deans working at traditional and modern universities. As the first national survey of the role, it is argued that this paper makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge. By drawing on the concept of distributed leadership, the paper also offers new theoretical insights into how different types of universities in the UK are responding to external pressures as a consequence of the fast-changing and increasingly complex sector environment.

Children's Centres are an under-researched type of organisation, and leadership practices within Children's Centres are yet more neglected and unknown. This action research reveals how leaders of these Children's Centres understand and verbalise their leadership practices, which leadership practices are serving them well and can be levered for further good and which leadership practices are areas for development that need further improvement. The research also questions what constitutes 'action' within action research and the complications of analytical 'mess' in such endeavours.

This study investigates the impact of lecturers' leadership practices on students' experiences of participation within a case university in the UK's HE sector. The qualitative phenomenological research strategy, specifically the focus group interview approach, was used for data collection. Two key focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 15 participants. The thematic template and content analysis techniques were used for data analysis with NVivo 11. Findings showed that lecturers in the case university were transformational in their approaches to teaching and learning. Second, findings revealed that four highly coded themes characterized participants' positive experiences of academic participation and they include: Teaching and learning quality; Academic versatility; Supportive academic leadership and Lecturers' accessibility. This study makes theoretical contribution as it validates the relevance of transformational leadership theory. This study is original because it is the first to propound the "transformational teaching and learning framework" which comprises four themes.

Studies of the interaction between professional and academic staff in leadership in higher education institutions have focused on distributed leadership. Whilst such studies have considered the leadership of the whole university, aspects of this model also apply to the relationship between programme leaders and administrators. This paper aims to explore the usefulness of this model in leadership of professional doctorates. The study is an exploratory one, reporting on the reflections of how one programme is managed through the eyes of the programme leader and lead administrator. The results provide evidence for the usefulness of this model in understanding the working relationships between programme leaders and administrators. We also show that a long-term appointment in the role of programme administrator is vital in ensuring a good student experience. This is linked both to general good practice of programme administration and to the unique characteristics of professional doctorate students.

This article outlines a small-scale research project that attempted to involve primary aged pupils actively in the redesign of their school playground. The project stemmed from concerns raised by school staff regarding the frequency of problematic behaviours during unstructured times, particularly lunchtimes, and the decision to redesign the playground was one component of a larger scale research project. This article provides a critical account of this process, and an overview of the approach taken to involve children as co-researchers to ensure that their views were not only heard, but that they played a key role in decisions that would affect them. This offers an alternative way in which educational psychologists (EPs) can address teacher concerns regarding behaviour by attempting to involve and empower young people in the process.

Whilst personalization offers the promise of more choice and control and wider participation in the community, the reality in the United Kingdom has been hampered by local council cuts and a decline in formal services. This has left many people with intellectual disabilities feeling dislocated from collective forms of support (Needham, 2015). What fills this gap and does peer advocacy have a role to play? Drawing on a co-researched study undertaken with and by persons with intellectual disabilities, we examined what role peer advocacy can play in a context of reduced day services, austerity and individualized support. The findings reveal that peer advocacy can help people reconnect in the face of declining services, problem-solve issues and informally learn knowledge and skills needed to participate in the community. We argue that peer advocacy thus offers a vital role in enabling people to take up many of the opportunities afforded by personalization.

Whilst young children are affected by educational policy decisions based on research evidence, their abilities to make decisions based on evidence are often disregarded by policymakers and professional adult researchers. This article reports on elements of the Young Children As Researchers (YCAR) project, an interpretive empirical study that sought social justice in the field of early childhood by conceptualising ways in which young children aged four to eight years are researchers and may be considered to be researchers. Adopting a principled approach framed by a "jigsaw" methodology, the YCAR study engaged professional adult researchers (n = 34), young children aged four to eight years (n = 138) and their practitioners (n= 15) in three English primary schools. Drawing on the study findings, this article argues that decision-making based on evidence is an important research behaviour undertaken by young children that deserves recognition by policymakers, practitioners and the academy as a potential vehicle for realising children's participation rights.

Participation, voice and control have long been central concerns in the research at Norah Fry. This paper focuses on inclusive research relating to choice and control, as experienced by people with learning disabilities who use personal budgets and direct payments, and aims to question how the process of inclusive research can be linked to wider outcomes. The paper gives a brief overview of two studies carried out by Norah Fry Research Centre, which were in partnership with self-advocacy groups and employed people with learning disabilities, between 1999 and 2007. Both in research and in everyday life, we question individual notions of "choice and control", showing how relational autonomy was at the heart, both of the process of the inclusive research and also of the outcomes and findings. However, all social research seems to have greatest impact when there is a "bandwagon effect" of policy and practice initiatives. The discussion considers how the impact of inclusive research designs can be at policy, practice and "direct" user level and is often achieved by people with learning disabilities having a voice at the dissemination stage.

This article reviews the process and achievements of leadership of an improvement and development programme for children's centres in the context of public value and Ofsted inspection. It analyses how the capacity has been developed of children's centre managers to work more strategically and collectively. Distributed leadership theory is applied to this context, which has received limited attention from this perspective. It has helped to clarify how leadership is distributed in such complex multi-professional public sector contexts and placed emphasis on the dialogue and facilitation of the leadership practice. A model of an improvement cycle is constructed, and leading this programme is likened to turning a heavy flywheel. Although there has been a shift in thinking within the leadership team of the centres and more evidence of a collective professional will, regular input by the programme leader has been necessary to maintain the momentum of improvements. Ofsted grades have improved, and these centres are now in a stronger position to demonstrate their impact, which is important for maintaining funding at a time of austerity.

Faulty group processes have harmful effects on performance but there is little research about intervention protocols to pre-empt them in higher education. This naturalistic experiment compared a control cohort with an inducted cohort. The inducted cohort attended a workshop, consultations, elected a leader and used tools (a group log and group contract) designed to minimize social loafing, optimize coordination (by boosting good information sampling) and orient group dynamics towards the task. In the absence of inductions, a faulty system of processes was in play and this had a significant impact on group performance. In contrast, the inductions created a buffer. Structural equation modeling showed that the intervention made both group cohesion and conflict beneficial to group performance. The induction protocols enhanced students' individual accountability, a sense of unique responsibility and dissent during group decision-making (which improved its quality). The implication is that inductions help optimize the processes within student teamwork.

This review essay examines three new books on higher education and sustainability. It explores a number of the issues raised in the books, in particular, the meaning of a transformative orientation towards sustainability. The idea of loose and tight conceptual framings of sustainability is employed. A tight framing is where an institution embodies a vision, values and values-informed practices that have been shifted to fit a particular conceptualisation of sustainability which gives meaning, not just to what that institution does, but also to what it is trying to become. A loose framing is where an institution takes sustainability seriously in what it does, without having in place values, dispositions and orientations, and an appropriate conceptually grounded vision. It is argued (i) that the essential distinction here is between that of doing sustainability, and a shift to being sustainable as a whole institution; (ii) that any developmental journey to a tight framing would need to be a deliberate one; (iii) that changes to curriculum, management, leadership and governance would need to be in place before this can start; and (iv) that an important step "on" the journey will involve institution-wide deliberations on the conceptual framing(s) to adopt.

This article explores parental involvement in the educational trajectories of children in Europe. The analysis is embedded in the framework of the three dominant contemporary social processes that have been acknowledged as crucial factors for the educational and life trajectories of young people today, i.e. familialization, institutionalization, and individualization. The article draws on qualitative data gathered during interviews with parents of lower secondary school students in disadvantaged city areas within the research project, GOETE, in eight European countries. The analysis focuses on specific behavioral aspects that were identified as the most relevant in our empirical evidence: parental educational aspirations and future plans for their children, the role of parents in decision-making in educational transitions and trajectories, parental participation in the school, and parental support with schoolwork. The most striking finding is the persistent emphasis on individual responsibility for both students and parents in terms of education. Parents realize that the future of their child not only depends on the work of the teacher but also to a great and growing degree on parents as coeducators. This parental awareness results in a high level of confidence in the power of education, which is met by parental skepticism when they experience a lack of school support and distant parent-teacher relationships and communication.

Background: Person-centred planning has played a key role in the transformation of intellectual disabilities services for more than a decade. The literature has identified clear advantages for service users when service delivery is planned around the individual rather than the user is made to fit into service structures. Researchers however have pointed out that there is a lack of evidence that person-centred planning positively influences outcomes for users. Method: Our study examined the application of person-centred planning during transition for young people with intellectual disabilities. We investigated the nature and content of 44 person-centred reviews of transition planning for this population in a local authority in the UK. We carried out a documentary analysis of all person-centred plans and conducted telephone interviews with all families participating in the programme. We focused on the issue of attendance at review meetings and what was discussed during the meetings. Results: Analysis of the data shows an increase in the participation of young people and carers at review meetings and a significant shift in topics discussed during the transition planning process compared with previous programmes. However, some of these effects may dissipate once young people are actually leaving school as planning well is not synonymous with having an improved range of placement options. Conclusions: The findings suggest that person-centred planning can impact positively on some aspects of transition planning, while it may be too optimistic to expect radical improvement in other area. Key to further improvements is to complement person-centred planning with consistent involvement of all relevant stakeholders in planning for individuals.

Recent literature has emphasised the distributed nature of leadership in higher education (HE) and the multitude of actors and factors that contribute towards organisational outcomes. Gronn suggests, however, that rather than using such evidence to provide broad, normative accounts of leadership practice, greater attention should be directed to mapping the "hybrid configurations" through which leadership practice emerges. This article responds to this call through an analysis of employer engagement activities in UK HE. Using a qualitative case study approach, it illustrates the complex, interdependent and contested nature of leadership practice in cross-boundary environments. The article concludes by suggesting how a hybrid perspective may enhance leadership theory and practice in tertiary education.

Distributive leadership, which has been described as a distribution of power within the sociocultural context of universities, provides a valuable model for encouraging scholarship and innovation in learning and teaching. By nurturing, rather than imposing, leadership responsibilities, and relating them to personal, as well as institutional priorities, there is potential to foster creativity and support career progression. This paper explores the impact of this approach through a university-wide initiative which has firmly established itself as a key aspect of continuing professional development. The case study describes how the initiative has benefitted from the experiences and findings of national and international developments and adapted them to the local context by supporting, encouraging and acknowledging evidence-based practice across the curriculum, including the integration of learning technology. It provides an overview of evaluation findings which indicate that scholarship and innovation in learning and teaching are being enhanced through increased staff engagement and institutional acknowledgement.

In recent years, education and family policy in the UK has sought to incorporate the views of children and young people through an active participation agenda, in the fulfilment of children's rights under the obligations of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child. Drawing on empirical evidence, this paper suggests that this aspiration is flawed. The inclusion of young people's voices in decision-making is context dependent, and influenced by individual relationships, both positive and negative. It is framed by policies that subjugate children within disciplinary technologies that determine a regime of "truth" about effective and appropriate participation. Drawing on data gathered as part of a wider study on the relationships between services users and services providers in special educational needs, this paper demonstrates that active inclusion of the voice of the child can be illustrated to be at least variable, and at worst prejudiced. It is suggested that the notion of participation produces tacit forms of "government" that further classify and divide young people, magnifying their marginalization.