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This historical exploration of the development of the academic workforce in the UK and France was triggered by the observation of significant similarities in contemporary debates on casualisation, and segmentation despite their distinctive HE systems. We develop a quantitative history of academic staff to understand why the differences in the two HE systems are not as significant in respect to labour market and working conditions. The new data show that connected processes of casualisation, professional segmentation, and sectorial differentiation are used to manage tensions between massification and staff recruitment in both countries, in a context of declining and increasingly unequal distribution of resources, producing inequalities within institutions, as within the profession itself. The reorganisation of the academic workforce during three periods of growth of HE systems under traditional, Fordist and managerial influences has incrementally produced three groups of permanent, casualised, and precarised staff and a dual academic labour market.

International research suggests that increasing numbers of autistic people are entering higher education. Currently, very little is known about this population. For example, the rates of autistic people enrolling at UK-based higher education institutions, the demographics of this population, the subjects they study and particularly their graduate outcomes are unknown. This study is an exploratory analysis of autistic graduate outcomes. We compare outcomes between autistic students, other disabled students and non-disabled students, by sex. The article draws upon population data collected by the Higher Education Statistical Agency in the United Kingdom (N = 1,326,416) across the years 2012-2018. Our findings indicate that the academic programmes studied at university by autistic students are more diverse than typically assumed. We also found that graduates make the transition into a range of employment sectors following graduation, but experience persistent and disparities in economic activity and income. We argue that higher education institutions must focus greater attention on developing more robust and effective employment transition support for autistic students and graduates.

This research investigated how the bug tracker database of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Moodle is developed as an application of crowd work. The bug tracker is used by software developers, who write and maintain Moodle's code, but also by a wider public world of ordinary Moodle users who can report bugs. Despite many studies of the phenomenon of open source bug fixing and software building, much remains to be answered. Specifically, we sought to analyse the implications of this massively distributed collaborative development process for education and educational technology. The research examined the ways educators interface and contribute to the development of the VLE Moodle at the granular level of bug fixing as an example of a global crowdsourced activity. In this study, twenty community participants were interviewed, from fringe members, to key actors, including lead developers from the Open University, Moodle HQ and Moodle founder Martin Dougiamas. We uncovered rich stories of practices of community members. We found that projects are complex interplays of many actors assuming different roles and identities, and that brokers, or "kindly souls", play a key role in activities such as filing reports on behalf of others, or inducting new members.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented levels of grief and psychological distress in community samples. We examined unique pandemic grief risk factors, dysfunctional grief, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, general psychiatric distress, disrupted meaning, and functional impairment in a treatment-seeking sample of people bereaved from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. A sample of 183 participants (91.80% female; M = 47.40 years) completed an online survey as part of an intake assessment for a grief support and referral service. Most reported clinically elevated PTSD symptoms (83.1%), psychiatric distress (64.0%), and functional impairment (56.8%). A smaller, but still concerning percentage (39.3%) reported clinically significant symptoms of dysfunctional grief. Disrupted meaning substantially mediated the relationship between risk factors and all four outcomes. Counsellors should address the breadth of psychological distress in those bereaved by COVID-19 and hone their skills in promoting meaning making in the wake of the trauma and loss generated by the pandemic.

Recent discourse about the impact of university research has focused on "what" research impact is and less on "how" it manifests. To explore these two questions, we draw on knowledge theory and build on the distinction between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. We propose that tacit knowledge and knowing are necessary conditions for impact to occur and illustrate our conceptual model through two highly ranked research impact case studies as well as an analysis of 26 research impact cases from the UK and Australia. Our findings and model extend our understanding of research impact by helping researchers, university leaders and research funders to increase the impacts of research by focusing more on how such impacts are achieved.

Many autistic people do not learn they are autistic until adulthood. Parents may wait to tell a child they are autistic until they feel the child is "ready." In this study, a participatory team of autistic and non-autistic researchers examined whether learning one is autistic at a younger age is associated with heightened well-being and Autism-Specific Quality of Life among autistic university students. Autistic students (n = 78) completed an online survey. They shared when and how they learned they were autistic, how they felt about autism when first learning they are autistic and now, and when they would tell autistic children about their autism. Learning one is autistic earlier was associated with heightened quality of life and well-being in adulthood. However, learning one is autistic at an older age was associated with more positive emotions about autism when first learning one is autistic. Participants expressed both positive and negative emotions about autism and highlighted contextual factors to consider when telling a child about autism. Findings suggest that telling a child that they are autistic at a younger age empowers them by providing access to support and a foundation for self-understanding that helps them thrive in adulthood.

This study aimed to examine university students' perceptions of teacher care overall and in the three constructs of pedagogical care, holistic care and relational care, to consider their inclusion in quality enhancement models. Quantitative research using self-administrated online survey was conducted with undergraduates in Hong Kong, Macau, Republic of Fiji, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Based on the descriptive and paired-sample t-test analyses, empirical results have shown that university students perceived teacher care as important. They ascribed the highest importance to relational care, followed by pedagogical care and holistic care. This research advocates recognising the importance of teacher care in university education and integrating it into higher education pedagogy. This article proposes a caring quality mechanism for enhancing teaching quality, to address the inadequacy of the audit-focused quality system.

This paper systematically identifies, maps and evaluates specific types of provision for autistic students published on university websites at 120 institutions throughout the UK. Within these data we identify trends in relation to geographical region, university group, and the Teaching Excellence Framework rating. We employ Nancy Fraser's theory of social justice to unpack the reasons that underlie the differentials in provision across UK higher education institutions. Findings identify eight categories of provision tailored specifically for autistic students from 'supporting transition to university' to 'social groups' and suggest that there are institutions across the UK with evidence of more developed provision. Our data show, however, that resources and provision are not distributed equitably, raising implications for autistic students' parity of participation in higher education.

There is a growing population of young people with autism entering higher education and successfully completing qualifications, however, their postgraduate outcomes are often some of the poorest. This study responds to the gap in research regarding the transition out of higher education and into the labour market for this group. It outlines a two-phase qualitative research design to examine barriers and pathways to competitive employment for graduates with autism. Findings report the heterogenous experience of autism, the importance of natural supports such as family, universities, or supported employment for success, and the impact of attitudes regarding autism and inclusive practice expressed by employers and wider society. The study further analyses how people, practices and policies often interact contingently to open up or close down opportunities for graduates with autism within the ecosystem of competitive employment.

Introduction: The United Kingdom's Department for Education's advice on behaviour focuses on the power of staff and the strength of the policy in challenging behaviour, via rules, sanctions and rewards. We designed a video-feedback intervention for staff teams in a special educational setting who were working with children with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour. The intervention aimed to raise reflective capacity on relational mechanisms that offer new response possibilities in everyday practices within trans-disciplinary teams. Method: We conducted research with three teams (between five and seven participants in each). We report findings from two teams who were working with children (aged between 10 and 14) who staff identified as having behaviour that challenged. The intervention consisted of two video-feedback intervention sessions, using clips of good interactions between themselves and the child and a review. These sessions took place over three or four months. Qualitative analysis was conducted to analyse changes to the language and depictions of the children. Changes to the participants' goals during the intervention were also analysed. Results: The staff's focus on the child's challenging behaviour reduced. Children who were originally depicted as isolated became depicted in relationship with peers and staff. Participants became more curious about the child and his interactions in the school and home environment. The participant's personal goals emerged through their understandings of what it meant to be good. Conclusions: Working with staff teams using video feedback can change the interactions around the child and the relational conceptualisation of the child and family. Further adaptations to the intervention are needed to raise critical reflection on the concepts that circulate around 'behaviour' that structure policy and shape everyday practices.

This paper explores the historical relationship between the expansion of the UK HE system through sectorial diversification, processes of differentiation/convergence and (in)equalities since the 1960s. It examines the extent to which the connections and tensions between three stories of resource, mission and social differentiations might be influenced (alongside other forces) by the emergence and crisis of successive socio-economic regimes. The empirical analysis of the three types of differentiation compares and contrasts new historical data on funding, enrolment and qualifications for the whole system and its institutional segments. The analysis shows that the ongoing tensions between resource, mission and social differentiations were exacerbated by the effect of the crises of 1973 and 2008 which provoked their misalignment and the destabilisation of the phases of expansion started in the 1960s and the 1990s. This pleads for a new social compromise to overcome the 2008 crisis to which a new HE expansion based on a realignment of, rather than a trade-off between the three dimensions of differentiation might contribute. This realignment requires a reversal of the public/private substitution of funding ensuring that a less unequal resource differentiation reflects and drives fairer processes of mission differentiation or convergence rather than stratifying social inequalities.

This paper explores how teachers respond to the requirement to promote 'fundamental British values' (FBV) to their pupils. It offers a preliminary analysis of data drawn from interviews with teachers and (mostly lesson) observations in schools. It argue that, first, the policy cannot be understood without a consideration of the multi-layered context in which it is being enacted in schools. Second, it locates the policy to promote FBV as a liberal nationalist one and considers some of the problematic issues that arise from this philosophy. Third, it turns to schools and teachers to consider their reactions and responses. It is concluded that teachers and schools in this research often did attempt to neutralize potentially exclusionary readings of the policy and were effective in absorbing the requirement to promote British values. However, doubt is cast on the policy's ability to meet its aims and the paper also raise concerns about the limited amount of time given to pupils' engagement with the values.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways in which religious students manage the dual identities of student and member of faith. If an "identity clash" occurs, how is it managed? A total of 17 students from a British university were interviewed to investigate the nature of this identity management. The results show that many of them experienced conflict in some way, ranging from dissonance between religious beliefs and assessment, to issues regarding "safe spaces" on campus. These results, in relation to current controversies in identity politics, suggest that more work needs to be conducted on the experience of religious students in higher education, for the purposes of understanding the student experience and for policy making.

Drawing on empirical data, this article makes a contribution to knowledge through bringing together the apparently disparate elements of contemporary education policy, religion, civic virtue and values teaching, in particular, the teaching of 'fundamental British values'. I illustrate, through a discussion of the linkages between these elements, how religion remains a strong influence on contemporary education policy, both explicitly with regard to the integration of Muslim 'others' and implicitly through the growing popularity of values education in schools. In order to develop this argument, I first outline the extent to which Christianity, often de-theologised, shapes normative Western European values and permeates apparently secular spaces. Second, I identify some school responses to the British values policy and note the importance of the political and social context informed, I argue, by acute anxiety around Islam and extremism. Third, through the discussion of one particular school site, I identify the trend towards emphasising values education in secular schools, and the implicit religious undertones within this. I suggest that we can understand this trend as an instance of the post-secular where religious influences remain strong in apparently secular places, but argue that there are limitations to such an approach to values education in terms of increasing pupil voice and agency.

Experiences of bullying predict the development of paranoia in school-age adolescents. While many instances of psychotic phenomena are transitory, maintained victimization can lead to increasingly distressing paranoid thinking. Furthermore, paranoid thinkers perceive threat in neutral social stimuli and are vigilant for environmental risk. The present paper investigated the association between different forms of bullying and paranoid thinking, and the extent to which school-age paranoid thinkers overestimate threat in interpersonal situations. Two hundred and thirty participants, aged between eleven and fourteen, were recruited from one secondary school in the UK. Participants completed a series of questionnaires hosted on the Bristol Online Survey tool. All data were collected in a classroom setting in quiet and standardized conditions. A significant and positive relationship was found between experiences of bullying and paranoid thinking: greater severity of bullying predicted more distressing paranoid thinking. Further, paranoid thinking mediated the relationship between bullying and overestimation of threat in neutral social stimuli. Exposure to bullying is associated with distressing paranoid thinking and subsequent misappraisal of threat. As paranoid thinkers experience "real" and "overestimated" threat, the phenomena may persist.

Psychology undergraduates need to produce good quality essays in order to succeed at university. Students find the transition to university writing difficult. Using a rubric, a profile of student weakness in psychology essay writing was described. The students were generally poor at the structural organisation of their essays. A pilot intervention to improve essay structure was designed based on the profile of student weakness. The intervention was trialled with a group of 23 psychology undergraduate students. Those students who took part in the intervention programme had higher exam essay marks with longer and more clearly structured essays after the programme than a matched group of controls. The intervention group students produced essays that linked evidence more clearly to topics and provided better conclusion sections. Psychology tutors were able to show improvement in student writing with a short explicit lesson based on a discipline-specific profile of writing. However, there was no improvement in vocabulary for linking topics and the structure of the introductions remained poor. Ideas for the further development of this intervention are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

The assessment of children's writing raises technical and practical challenges. In this paper we examine the potential use of a curriculum based measure for writing (CBM-W) to assess the written texts of pupils in Key Stage 2 (M age 107 months, range 88 to 125). Two hundred and thirty six Year three, five and six pupils completed a standardized assessment of writing quality. Pupils also responded to two writing probes, one expository and one narrative, at baseline and five months later. In response to the probe pupils wrote for five minutes. Transcribed texts were scored for productivity (total words produced, correct word sequences, number of punctuation marks and sentences produced) and accuracy (proportion of words spelled correctly, correct word sequences and punctuation marks). The CBM-W measures were differentially sensitive to development and showed construct validity as evidenced by their association with the norm- referenced test measuring writing quality. Change over time was also evident and significant differences between narrative and expository texts were found. Pupils with special educational needs scored significantly more poorly on the CBM-W. Potential implications for research and practice are considered.

Numerous studies have been undertaken demonstrating that online learning is an effective teaching tool, working best when combined with more conventional teaching methods. There is a paucity of data both examining the longitudinal blending of an e-module with more conventional modes of curriculum delivery and also relating to the time and financial costs involved in successful delivery of such a module. The study reported in this article was performed over an academic year in a cohort of 101 year 5 medical students. It demonstrates that there are significant set-up costs involved in designing and implementing an online module, although these costs will diminish following initial set-up. Surveys performed throughout the year demonstrated consistently high levels of student satisfaction, with appreciation of the educational benefits provided by e-learning. Successful clinician engagement and effective IT support are essential ingredients to success. Future research is likely to focus on outcome evaluations of e-learning and how it may affect learner knowledge, skills or attitudes. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

Student nonparticipation in electronic surveys represents a challenge to educators as it may impact significantly on the implementation or evaluation of the associated teaching activities. We here study the student evaluation of a pedagogical project consisting of prelecture online polling followed by linked revision lectures. This investigation involves studying the responses from 43 undergraduate students following a course in accounting at a British university. With regard to the students' views on the use of prelecture polling, our study shows that there are no statistically significant differences between those who did not participate in the online polling and those who did. Both groups of students were generally positive about the use of (1) polling results in structuring the revision lecture, (2) online survey in helping them prepare for the examination and (3) online polling as a teaching platform in other courses. Our findings therefore suggest that prelecture electronic surveys can help engage students with follow-up lectures, including those who did not participate in the prelecture survey.

This paper reports on data drawn from an "Economic and Social Research Council"-funded project investigating the experiences of UK-based students training on level-2 and level-3 childcare courses. We focus on the concept of emotional labour in relation to learning to care for and educate young children and the ways in which the students' experiences of emotional labour and the expectations placed upon their behaviour and attitudes are shaped by class and gender. We consider the ways in which students are encouraged to manage their own and the children's emotions and we identify a number of "feeling rules" that demarcate the vocational habitus of care work with young children. We conclude by emphasising the importance of specific contexts of employment in order to understand workers' emotional labour and argue for more recognition of the intense demands of emotional labour in early childhood education and care work. (Contains 4 notes and 1 table.)

This paper draws on qualitative data exploring the experiences of first-generation middle-class Black Caribbean-heritage parents, their own parents, and their children. We focus on the different ways in which race and class intersect in shaping attitudes towards education and subsequent educational practices. We argue that the nature of racism has changed, but it still remains, mainly in more subtle, insidious forms. We conclude that race cannot be simply "added on" to class. Race changes how class works, how it is experienced, and the subjectivities available to individuals. The paper illustrates how the two intersect, in complex ways, in different historical "moments".

This paper looks at the current challenge facing higher education by exploring the historical relationship between higher education funding and long economic cycles in the UK, USA and France. It examines the consequence of the transformation of public-private income in higher education that followed the 1970s downturn, questioning whether the rise of private resources acted as additional or substitutive resources for public spending. The paper suggests that there is a risk that the cost-sharing strategy could be turned into a policy of public-private substitution of funding and provision, leading to a transfer rather than an increase of resources with strong implications on quality and equity. However, the Kondratiev cycle suggests an alternative route by designating the impact of the 1970s economic downturn on education as unique. Previous economic crises were contemporary of accelerations of public funding towards education which in fact contributed to economic recovery. The current crisis could represent an opportunity to revive counter-cyclical policy by looking not only at efficient public spending but also at developing fairer taxation. A revival of public funding complemented by an additional rather than substitutive diversification of income would rebalance the public-private structure of funding and drive a sustainable higher education system capable of playing a key part in these counter-cyclical transformations. (Contains 8 figures.)

Writers typically produce their writing in bursts. In this article, the authors examine written language bursts in a sample of 33 children aged 11 years with specific language impairment. Comparisons of the children with specific language impairment with an age-matched group of typically developing children (n = 33) and a group of younger, language skill-matched children (n = 33) revealed the role of writing bursts as a key factor in differentiating writing competence. All the children produced the same number of writing bursts in a timed writing task. Children with specific language impairment produced a shorter number of words in each burst than did the age-matched group but the same as the language skill-matched group. For all groups, spelling accuracy and handwriting speed were significant predictors of burst length and text quality. The frequency of pauses at misspellings was related to shorter bursts. These results offer support to Hayes's model of text generation; namely, burst length is constrained by language and transcription skills. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)

This paper reports on qualitative data that focus on the educational strategies of middle-class parents of Black Caribbean heritage. Drawing on Bourdieu's key concepts of habitus, capital and field, our focus is an investigation of the differences that are apparent between respondent parents in their levels of involvement with regard to schools. We conclude that, within a broadly similar paradigm of active involvement with and monitoring of schools, nuanced differences in parental strategising reflect whether academic achievement is given absolute priority within the home. This, in turn, reflects differential family habitus, and differential possession and activation of capitals. (Contains 8 notes.)

The article discusses the findings of an ESRC funded project (RES-062-23-1880) which used in-depth interviews to explore the educational experiences and strategies of 62 Black Caribbean parents; the biggest qualitative study of education and the Black middle class yet conducted in the UK. The article focuses on the parents' interactions with their children's teachers and, in particular, their experience that teachers tend to have systematically lower academic expectations for Black children (alongside a regime of heightened disciplinary scrutiny and criticism) regardless of the students' social class background. The parents' accounts highlight the significance of a cumulative process where a series of low level misdemeanors sometimes build into a pattern of seemingly incessant and unfair criticism that can have an enormously damaging impact on their children. Although our data suggest that these processes can involve children of both sexes and of any age, the parents report a particular concern for Black young men, whom they perceive to be especially at risk. Our findings demonstrate the continued significance of race inequality and illuminate the intersectional relationship between race and social class inequalities in education. This is particularly important at a time when English education policy assumes that social class is the overwhelming driver of achievement and where race inequity has virtually disappeared from the policy agenda. Our findings reveal that despite their material and cultural capital, many middle-class Black Caribbean parents find their high expectations and support for education thwarted by racist stereotyping and exclusion. (Contains 1 table and 6 notes.)

Fever-induced refractory epileptic encephalopathy in school-age children (FIRES) is a clinically recognized epileptic encephalopathy of unknown aetiology. Presentation in previously healthy children is characterized by febrile status epilepticus. A pharmacoresistant epilepsy ensues, occurring in parallel with dramatic cognitive decline and behavioural difficulties. We describe a case of FIRES in a 4-year-old boy that was associated with elevated voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC) complex antibodies and a significant clinical and immunological response to immunomodulation. This case, therefore, potentially expands the clinical phenotype of VGKC antibody-associated disease to include that of FIRES. Prior to immunomodulation, neuropsychology assessment highlighted significant attention, memory, and word-finding difficulties. The UK version of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence assessment indicated particular difficulties with verbal skills (9th centile). Immunomodulation was initially administered as intravenous methylprednisolone (followed by maintenance oral prednisolone) and later in the disease course as regular monthly intravenous immunoglobulin infusions and low-dose azathioprine. Now aged 6 years, the seizure burden in this child is much reduced, although increased seizure frequency is observed in the few days before his monthly immunoglobulin infusions. Formal IQ assessment has not been repeated but there is no clinical suggestion of further cognitive regression. VGKC complex antibodies have been reported in a range of central and peripheral neurological disorders (predominantly presenting in adulthood), and the identification of elevated VGKC complex antibodies, combined with the response to immunotherapies in this child, supports an autoimmune pathogenesis in FIRES with potential diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Policy in England identifies pregnant schoolgirls as a particularly vulnerable group and emphasises the importance of education as a way of improving the life chances of those who become pregnant while young. This paper draws on repeat interviews conducted over a twelve-month period to compare and contrast the stories of four young women. The narratives show that despite a common policy framework, there is great variability between schools in staff attitudes towards and responses to pupil pregnancy which produce different accommodations and support for pregnant girls, and seem likely to produce very different outcomes. We mobilise Iris Marion Young's five faces of oppression to conduct a second reading of the stories. This situates the specificity of the girls' school experiences into a wider socio-cultural and economic framing and indicates what might be involved in actually initiating and implementing the kinds of changes that the first "face value" reading suggests are necessary. (Contains 3 notes.)

This article draws on data from two recently completed Economic and Social Research Council funded projects in order to examine class differences and similarities in choice of school and choice of childcare. The authors argue that there is every reason to believe that in many circumstances, within its particular mechanisms and practices, choice produces specific and pervasive forms of inequity. The processes by which working-class parents in one study chose care settings and schools could be seen as less skilled, less informed, less careful than the decision making of many of the middle-class respondents. However, this is not an argument that the authors advance, noting instead that the practices and meanings of choice are subject to significant social, cultural and economic variations in terms of who gets to choose, who gets their choices, and what, how and why people choose when they are able to. The authors argue that there are alternative sets of priorities in play for the working-class respondents, involving attachments to the communal and the local. (Contains 1 table and 6 notes.)

This article draws on initial interviews with students on childcare courses at levels 2 and 3 in two Further Education colleges in Greater London. The authors argue that the morally worthy nature of childcare makes it an excellent site in which students who had often operated at the margins of their schools, sought to reinvent themselves as mature and responsible students both in their placements and at college. In this they appear to embody the claims of those theorists that argue for the opportunities available for individuals, freed from traditional ties, to create their own biographies. The authors draw attention to the amount of labour on themselves that this reinvention involved for the students, and consider the extent to which students can be understood as having chosen childcare. (Contains 1 table and 5 notes.)

There is a tendency in a good economic climate for research to focus on the sources of economic growth. Reactions to what is commonly called the credit crunch are worth having a look at. At first, analysts believed this crisis would be short-lived and that some adjustments would correct external turbulences. Then, the idea emerged that the exogenous factors were in fact revealing internal dysfunctions at the heart of the economic system. In other words, most economies are facing a systemic crisis and the mechanisms which drove the growth could be the same as those which had provoked the crisis. In this article, the author revisits and reflects on the historical relationship between education and economic prosperity as well as economic downturn. The author focuses on the Kondratiev cycle (or long wave) named after the Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev (1892-1938). In the 1920s, Kondratiev analysed historical economic and financial statistics in major industrialized countries and identified a succession of 20- to 25-year-long phases of prosperity and depression. The purpose of this article is to discuss the potential contribution of history to a better understanding of the current economic crisis and its impact on education within the British and French contexts.

Speech technology--especially automatic speech recognition--has now advanced to a level where it can be of great benefit both to able-bodied people and those with various disabilities. In this paper we describe an application "TalkMaths" which, using the output from a commonly-used conventional automatic speech recognition system, enables the user to dictate mathematical expressions in a relatively straightforward way. These then get converted into electronic formats, so that they can be embedded in a document and/or displayed in an editor or web browser. This process can be used for preparing teaching material, assignments, or entering mathematical content for online tests. Our system does not require the user to have extensive knowledge of the syntax of any markup language or mathematical document specification language, so that learning to use it should be relatively straightforward for non-specialists. The way in which our system analyses, converts and encodes the spoken mathematical expressions is a novel approach. (Contains 4 figures.)

This article assesses developments in public library provision for Black and minority ethnic [BME] communities in the UK since the publication in 1969 of the results of research into the needs of "Indian and Pakistani communities". It includes a brief discussion of some major societal issues, and then sets public library services in this context. It ends with some highlights of current provision, but also with suggestions of next steps. (Contains 1 table.)

This study examined the writing performance of 58 students with a history of specific language impairment, assessing them at ages 8, 11, 12, 14, and 16 to evaluate longitudinal trajectories of writing performance and relationships with oral language, reading, and handwriting fluency. At age 16, participants continued to experience problems with oral language and literacy: Their writing evidenced short texts, poor sentence structure, and difficulties with ideas and organization. Concurrent measures of vocabulary and spelling were significant factors in explaining writing performance. Handwriting fluency remained a particular difficulty for the current cohort and directly affected writing performance. Path analysis indicated that previous levels of literacy mediated the impact of oral language skills. (Contains 6 tables and 3 figures.)

Effective integration of learning technologies into classrooms is a continuing issue, with many instances of new technologies making minimal impacts on classroom practice. Reports on the introduction of interactive whiteboards into UK schools over the past decade have revealed that their impact on both pedagogy and learning is at best neutral. Interactive whiteboards have become common in Australian schools in the past three years, and in that time the authors have been involved in studies investigating professional development models to help integration of interactive whiteboards into classrooms. Video-recordings were analysed using two coding schemes, a modification of a pedagogical hierarchy developed by Beauchamp which was christened HoPS (Hierarchy of Pedagogical Stages), and the other developed from Bernstein's model of pedagogical framing. Using the two models it was possible to analyse shades of pedagogical behaviour. It became clear that peer non-expert mentoring was highly effective in helping teachers develop modified teaching behaviours that exploited the affordances of the technology. In this paper we will report on the application of the two models to the understanding of the impact of professional development on classroom pedagogy in a Victorian secondary school. (Contains 6 figures.)

This paper proposes a critical reflection on the use of quantitative sources for the historian of education. It identifies and discusses key promises and challenges related to the construction and interpretation of historical statistics in education, drawing on a number of British and some French historiographical examples. Ultimately, the article encourages, where possible and appropriate, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in order to identify trends and patterns in education and facilitate their contextualisation in terms of processes and meanings. (Contains 104 footnotes.)

This paper explores the ways in which working class mothers negotiate mothering and paid work. Drawing on interviews with 70 families with pre-school children, we examine how caring and working responsibilities are conceptualised and presented in mothers' narratives. Mothers showed a high degree of commitment to paid work and, in contrast to findings from an earlier study with middle class and professional mothers, did not feel that keeping their children at home with them was always the best option for the children. We suggest that working class mothers in the labour market remain at risk of being defined as inadequate mothers because of a middle class emphasis on intense maternal engagement with the child as a key aspect of "good" mothering. (Contains 3 tables and 1 note.)

Government guidance in the United Kingdom encourages groups of schools to take collective responsibility for supporting and making provision for excluded pupils and those at risk of exclusion. Managed moves are one way that some schools and authorities are enacting such guidance. This article presents the results of an evaluation of one such scheme. The scheme, involving seven neighbouring secondary schools, was nearing its first year of completion. The article draws primarily on interview data with pupils, parents and school staff to describe a number of positive outcomes associated with the scheme and to explore how these were achieved. We found that while some of these could be attributed directly to the managed move, others arose from the more inclusive ethos and practices of particular schools. The concepts of tailored support, care and commitment emerged as strong themes that underpinned the various practical ways in which some schools in the cluster were able to re-engage 'at-risk' pupils. As managed moves become more widely practised it will be important to remember that it is how the move proceeds and develops rather than the move itself that will ultimately make the difference for troubled and troublesome pupils.

This paper explores the role of sex and relationship education (SRE) in reducing teenage pregnancy rates. It critically examines some of the assumptions underlying the emphasis placed on SRE within the teenage pregnancy strategy ( SEU, 1999)--in particular, the view that ignorance of sexual matters plays a key part in teenage conception. An analysis of these assumptions is used to explore the reasons why the research evidence on the efficacy of sex education in changing adolescent sexual behaviour is mixed. Attention is drawn to the wider contexts within which adolescent sexual behaviour occurs--and the wider contexts within which schools are operating to provide SRE. Also highlighted are suggestions from the literature about what young people want from sex education and the possible implications for reducing teenage pregnancy. The paper concludes that although important, SRE, on its own, is unlikely to be the panacea sought by politicians to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom.

Background: It is well established that handwriting fluency constrains writing quality by limiting resources for higher order processes such as planning and reviewing. According to the "simple view of writing" then slow keyboarding speed should hinder the quality of keyboarded essay compositions in the same way that slow handwriting hinders handwritten essay compositions. Given a lack of touch-typing instruction in UK schools it was hypothesized that children's written compositions produced via the keyboard would be worse than produced by hand. Aims: To extend the work of Christensen (2004) and Rogers and Case-Smith (2002) by examining the relationship between handwriting fluency and keyboarding fluency throughout the primary school and studying the link between word-processed compositional quality and keyboarding fluency. Samples and methods: The handwriting fluency and keyboarding fluency of 300 children in primary school were measured. Year 5 and year 6 children completed a measure of compositional quality by hand and by keyboard. Results and comment: There was a high correlation between handwriting and keyboarding speed and handwriting speed was consistently faster than keyboarding speed across all ages. Only a small minority of children in years 5 and 6 had faster keyboarding than handwriting speed. Results showed that children's compositional quality was superior in the handwritten scripts as opposed to the keyboarded scripts. Keyboarded scripts were up to 2 years behind handwritten scripts in development. Writing by keyboard does not necessarily lead to improvements in script quality, compared with handwritten scripts. Explicit keyboarding instruction (touch-typing) is needed to develop keyboarding fluency and unlock the full potential of the word processor for children's writing.

Earlier studies of France, Germany and the UK suggest that a common framework exists to explain the relationship between public expenditure on education and economic growth in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This article shows that while a similar relationship exists in the USA, US policies were particularly committed to the educational expenditure required to produce citizens.

The UK 2004 Higher Education Act generated important debates about the relationships between higher education (HE), economic growth and social progress. The range of positions expressed in relation to the increase of annual tuition fees raises crucial questions about the public and private funding of higher education and its individual and social economic benefits. Such controversies have a strong resonance in France where discussion about HE underfunding has already emerged. This article seeks to inform these current debates by combining economic and historical perspectives within a quantitative approach. The analysis of new historical series on funding and development of UK universities since the 1920s and the comparison with similar data for France has put into evidence a long-term link between HE funding and economic fluctuations. In both countries, the expansion in university resources was not linear and may be related to the impact of long economic cycles on public funding. Moreover, in the UK case, private funding periodically increased in order to replace diminishing public funding, rather than taking the form of additional resources. In consequence, private funds did not provide an overall rise in the universities' income. The considerable fluctuations of funding, combined with a more consistent growth of enrolment, led to a recurrent mismatch between resources for and access to higher education. This can explain the wide fluctuations of resources per student over the period and the current underfunding situation. Such historical trends question whether, in the future, increased fees will be a substitute for public spending. Or will variable fees be combined with even greater increases in public funding as part of a national project to support HE students from all social backgrounds and to boost expenditure per student?

In the United Kingdom the educational phase that exists between compulsory school (for ages 5-16) and universities is dominated and controlled by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). This body was established in late 2000 as a state funded quasi-governmental educational agency. This small scale qualitative study of educational provision in the Midlands region of the UK has taken for its focus the declared intent and vision of a dominant, if not sole, education provider--the LSC--to put the individual student at the heart of its processes. It has attempted to juxtapose this vision with the views and perceptions of those who have engaged with the organisation's processes and have dropped out. The reasons for this are varied but suggest, overall, a dissonance between the vision promulgated and the experiences and satisfaction levels of students. This apparent dysfunctional state of affairs is worrying at both micro and macro levels. Special cause for concern are the perceptions of the black and Asian ex-students. Some recent findings highlight the need to pay attention to the issues they raised. Despite the government's commitment to ensure that all 16 year olds continue in education, this qualitative study found a high level of individual dissatisfaction with the way that the LSC provision operated in one specific region. This calls into question the LSC's stated vision and mission to raise educational participation and engagement by "putting individual learners at the heart of the system." The authors believe that there is much to be gained by listening to students and keeping them at the epicentre of any educational process. Based on the experiences gained during this work, the authors suggest a strategy for improving retention that centres on the student.

Attempts to show the value of a cross disciplinary approach to historical studies about the relationship between education and economic growth. Focuses on four points and notes two areas needing further research: (1) development of new indicators to measure educational quality; and (2) application of the indicators to provide more sophisticated comparisons. (KDR)

Reports on the design, implementation, and results of a project structured as a means to investigate the potential of long-distance, collaborative student learning on an international basis. Offers an overview of the project's design and conclusions in order to encourage collaborative instruction using the Internet and the World Wide Web. (CMK)

Focuses on a parent education group that offers an accredited practical skills course aimed at familiarizing parents with educational activities suitable for young children. Examines the content of the course and the experiences of female students; the discourse of "sensitive mothering" and its application; and the relationships between teachers and those taught. (DSK)