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Jurgen De Wispelaere and Lindsay Stirton point out that basic income must be designed in light of the features of the society in which the policy is to be implemented. Yet, in Canada, scholars and politicians have neglected one crucial aspect of the context in which basic income stands to be implemented – namely, a settler-colonial one. In a settler-colonial context, we must consider the compatibility of such a policy proposal with the worldviews of Indigenous peoples who continue to assert, apply, and revitalize their laws on this land. As such, in this paper, I consider the compatibility of a basic income with Anishinaabe worldview and legality. Ultimately, I find that while dominant justifications for basic income are not compatible with Anishinaabe worldview, the implementation of the policy may nonetheless support the urgent imperative of Indigenous law revitalization.

Female correctional staff face multiple challenges when working in a male prison environment. Perceptions of competence and gendered divisions of labor are prevalent in the negotiated order of a prison. Sexuality is a dynamic that is irrelevant to the demands of a correctional officer yet a significant identity to be managed and negotiated in interactions with both colleagues and prisoners. This study adopts an auto ethnographic approach to highlight discrimination in prison officer occupational culture. Drawing upon personal narratives whilst working in an adult male prison in England, lived experiences of homophobia and sexism are presented to identify the challenges faced as a gay female prison officer. Themes of sexual objectification, homophobia and workplace incivility identify failings within the English prison service in supporting workplace diversity and inclusivity.

This article explores how peer support work gives male prisoners opportunities to develop and perform positive masculinities within prison. As a former prison officer, I returned to the same prison (a category B local in England) in 2014/2015 to conduct a qualitative/ethnographic study with ( n = 19) male prisoners around engagement with peer support work. Data was analysed thematically to extract narratives relating to expressions of masculinity that challenge existing assumptions of hegemonic masculinity. ‘Insider’ positionality is a key aspect of this article when exploring the dynamics between researcher and researched, especially around building trust and rapport with male prisoners who express emotions and vulnerability. Findings suggest that peer support workers adopt a range of strategic and healthy masculinities, including protective approaches to support vulnerable prisoners. Peer support workers form homosocial bonds with each other and flows of male intimacy and generativity are evident in the care and concern shown towards others. However, there are challenges for peer support workers who have to negotiate multiple audiences to ensure personal safety and survival in prison, thus placing them in a precarious liminal position. In addition, peer support workers can be exploited by staff through neoliberalist policies and practices. Recommendations to support and develop male peer support work schemes concludes this article, which has relevance for prisons internationally that may model progress made within His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service.

Entering higher education is a critical moment for many students and one where their educational experiences may change dramatically, but are students academically prepared? From a structured and supported environment, they enter a more autonomous and independent setting and little is known about their preparedness for this transition. This paper explores, through the voices of teachers in schools and colleges, two aspects of preparedness for higher education, independent learning and academic confidence, in order to more closely examine the challenges faced by thousands of new students each year. The findings highlighted differences in both terminology and approach between the two educational layers and contributes new insights to support universities in enhancing practice through a deeper understanding of the prior experiences of their new students through the lens of their teachers. Overall the paper highlights some significant messages about the gap between these two levels of education which cannot simply be left to the student to navigate.

Internationally, prisons are challenging environments for officers and prisoners, and suicide and self-harm have ramifications for both parties. Suicide and self-harm in prison far exceed prevalence in the general population and officers experience many psychological and emotional impacts including distress, bereavement, guilt, shame, accountability, desensitisation and PTSD. This article explores relational and institutional dynamics and cultural expectations placed upon officers when dealing with suicide/self-harm. Prison officer culture can be limited in supporting officers around trauma and it can be perceived as stigmatising and a weakness to seek help. This article explores a former prison officer's experience of dealing with trauma around self-harm and suicide including the first experience of suicide, moral conflict and the impact of losing a colleague to suicide. I worked as a prison officer at a category ‘B’ local prison in the (UK) between 2003 and 2009 and kept a reflective journal during service. Drawing upon Autoethnography (AE), I seek to explore the lived experience of trauma from an ‘insider perspective’ using prison research to interpret retrospective accounts. Concepts around emotional labour, occupational morality and prison officer occupational culture/ socialisation are used to highlight the complexities of prison officer work around suicide/self-harm. The prison service (UK) needs to reduce stigma in officers who need help and support around mental health and coping with trauma, with strategies like peer support programmes, regular supervision/mandatory counselling and extensive debriefs to support officers in the aftermath of traumatic critical incidents.

Desistance is the study of pathways out of offending and desistance narratives are expressions of ‘going straight’. This paper explores the impact of using desistance narratives in criminology teaching. A lecture around desistance was delivered and students at an English University completed a questionnaire (n = 82) to establish perceptions of offenders, the UK criminal justice system and the relationship between desistance and peer work, which is one possible “hook for change.” Data was also collected around students’ future employability aspirations in the criminal justice system. Key findings suggest that real-life desistance narratives challenged expectations of the criminology syllabus, humanized offenders and proved effective when delivered by an ex-criminal justice practitioner. The session allowed some students to envisage a future self in the criminal justice system. As future practitioners, criminology graduates need to understand desistance theory and application. Desistance is absent from the Quality Assurance benchmark for criminology in the UK.

Peer work and peer mentoring are dynamic social processes that have reciprocal benefits for both mentor and mentee in tackling issues around reoffending and substance misuse. Narratives of peer mentors and desistance were collected from probation peer mentors, Criminal Justice Drugs Team mentors and health trainers, to explore identity transformation and how the criminal justice system supports ex-offenders in desistance. Criminal justice practitioners were also interviewed to explore the importance of relational support networks. Themes that emerged from the research include the transformative potential of peer work and how peer workers can become role models for other offenders. Peer workers are ‘experts by experience’, using personal narratives of desistance to inspire hope in others. Influential criminal justice personnel are key to this process. Peer work can be the start of building a desisting identity, acting as a ‘hook for change’. Peer workers are given spaces within criminal justice organisations to work, which fosters a sense of purpose, belonging, trust and responsibility. Seeing ex-offenders from a strengths-based perspective is integral to supporting ex-offender transition. However, peer workers are inconsistently validated by criminal justice personnel, which can impede their desistance, placing them in a liminal position.

Involving students in the design and development of their curriculum is well established in Higher\ud Education but comes with challenges and concerns for both the staff and students. This is not a\ud simple concept and understanding more about the experiences of the student co-creators supports\ud others in developing this aspect of curriculum design. This small scale project uses the individual\ud and collective voices of five second year students who worked with one programme team to\ud co-create a transition module to support new learners entering university. The study explores the\ud co-creation experience and the student’s response to the feedback their co-created curriculum\ud received when it was run for the first time. The study was designed to consider if co-creation of a\ud module was beneficial to the students involved in its co-creation. The findings explored issues in\ud relation to the experience, the actual design of the materials and how this could be developed. The\ud students enjoyed the co-creation, felt appreciated and listened to and felt that this was a positive\ud learning experience. They realised how difficult it is to please everybody and gained a much better\ud appreciation of building learning experiences for others to use. The research highlights the fact\ud that with regards to curriculum development within universities that students should be involved\ud in co-creation as they have an understanding of the requirements of learning form a student perspective.\ud Whilst student satisfaction cannot be necessarily be measured directly, the anecdotal\ud comments from students involved in this project as they graduate are the values they place on the\ud opportunities afforded to them.

Staff and students coming together to enhance learning is a key educational challenge facing the higher education sector. Literature proposes different ways of achieving this through co-creation, partnership, and collaboration. This paper focuses solely on staff perspectives of a staff-student partnership project aimed at improving feedback strategies. Through a mixed-methods approach, staff in four disciplines in one UK university were questioned in regard to collaborating with students, asked to take part in a co-creation experience, and then invited to take part in a follow-up interview. Findings indicated that staff initially supported greater student engagement in curriculum development but were wary of substantial change in the design of curriculum content. Some doubted the experience and abilities of students in this context. The overarching response was a positive statement followed first with a “but” and then with the issues that could be caused by a partnership approach.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline an innovative method of delivering staff development in an higher education (HE) setting. The paper evaluates the processes behind the “Focus on Inspiring Teaching” week and outlines its initial impact on staff. Design/methodology/approach – This is a descriptive case study which highlights how an immersive staff development event can be used to enable HE teaching practitioners to utilise more inspiring approaches to teaching and learning. The paper draws on questionnaire evaluations (n = 43). Findings – The paper highlights how staff development events can be used to foster communities of practice for teaching staff. For this to be successful, staff needs to be committed to reflecting on their own practice and be sufficiently engaged to partake actively of staff development events. By establishing these communities, inspiring practice in teaching can be developed with successful outcomes. The paper outlines a model for staff development which could be established in other HE settings. Practical implications – Immersive staff development events are effective in achieving sustainable impact. To achieve success effective leadership and a team of committed teaching staff are needed. Success was also fostered by not making sessions compulsory whereby the staff could opt in for sessions to fit around teaching schedules. Originality/value – This paper will be of interest to those working in staff development and training and academic managers. It indicates how immersive staff development can have a positive impact on staff practice to bring about improvements to the student experience.

The Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) was formed in 1993 combining a number of predecessor organisations, including the Standing Conference for Educational Development and the Staff Development Group of the Society for Research in Higher Education. It was later joined by the membership of the Association of Educational Training Technology, SEDA Scotland and Flexible Learning in Higher Education. SEDA was set up to support members of the emergent profession of educational development, originally in the UK and subsequently internationally. In this article, the case is made that SEDA became a highly successful community of practice of individuals working in higher education institutions. It is proposed that features of communities of practice as proposed within the literature in the field can be evidenced in SEDA’s activities and in comments collected from SEDA members whose views were sought for this article.

Curriculum design is crucial to maximising the students learning experience and is often overlooked and underutilised. The way that learning is delivered, supported and assessed can enhance employability attributes as the individual becomes more aware of their skills and abilities. Within this study, all elements (delivery; content; assessment and feedback) of one final-year module were redesigned to enhance the learning experience and aid self-development. The approaches taken were adapted from ideas gained from the Apprentice television show. The students (n = 30) on the module were asked for their views on the aspects of redesign and how these had impacted on their skill development. The findings showed that this group of students had benefitted from the changes made, liked this way of learning and felt they had improved in a range of skills. Overall, the redesign and the subsequent student learning experience was a success and changing the approach in all aspects of the module developed a much stronge...

Metaphors are widely discussed within educational research and this paper adds to the body of knowledge in relation to students using these as a tool to support meta-learning. Metaphors free up space for creative thinking by moving the mind from one place to another and have been found to be an effective cognitive device for learning. This project focuses on what students are like when they are “learning at their best” and discusses what knowing this information does for both individual self-awareness and working with others. Six final year students spent half a day exploring, developing and pictorially representing their “learning at best” metaphors. All six metaphors were different and showed the internal representations of the individuals when they were learning at their best. However out of the discourse common themes arose from the group in relation to what was needed to support learning these included time of day, mood, pace and environment. All six students were positive that the development of personal learning metaphors was beneficial and thought that it was important that these were developed systematically over time. The benefits were highlighted to be both for the individual working on their own and for understanding others in group work situations.

Using a qualitative approach drawing on the experiences of four HE lecturers, this study provides an exploration of and insights into a peer review of teaching (PRT) scheme, which focused on teacher immediacy and communication skills. Within the United Kingdom, limited research has been undertaken in relation to teacher immediacy even though international research, particularly in the United States, suggests it enhances lecturer–student interaction. The study identified three key factors that can enhance teaching through the development of immediacy skills. These were: voice and verbal qualities; body language; and location in the teaching space and environmental factors. This article suggests that, based on the evidence from the four lecturers, any PRT scheme that wishes to focus upon enhancing teacher effectiveness should consider addressing these themes in order to facilitate enhanced lecturer–student interaction.

Failure to establish meaningful and effective transition for undergraduates can lead to academic underachievement. Student engagement represents a key component of student success. This study sought to investigate the impact of a bespoke transition programme featuring a wide range of innovative, student-centred activities on enhancing students’ engagement with educationally effective practices through examining student relations with others, learning and the discipline. For the study 104 undergraduates on a Sport Development course at a British university undertook a five-week transition programme. Data were collected via weekly questionnaires and focus groups at the end of weeks 1, 3 and 5. The investigation revealed that transition programmes require a high-intensity, novel and varied timetable supported by a student-centred staff team. Effective transition programmes can enhance students’ engagement with educationally effective practices. Future research should investigate the longer-term impact of such programmes.

Research within Higher Education in the United Kingdom has reported conflicting findings when investigating the relationship between undergraduate entry routes and gender, with successful performances across the degree cycle. This paper adds to this body of knowledge and examines the relationship between entry routes and gender on student outcomes in a sport-related degree at an UK HE institution. Students’ demographic data, entry qualifications and grade point averages (GPAs) across the 3 year degree programme were retrospectively analysed. In relation to entry routes the findings of this study revealed that no significant difference existed between entry level qualifications and all outcomes measures. Indicating that although entry routes into HE may differ this did not impact on student success for those who completed the programme. Further findings revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) between genders, in that females outperformed their male counterparts at levels 5, 6 dissertation and final GPA. Additionally, females were also more likely to achieve a first degree qualification. This study adds further weight to findings which have shown gender differences but in contrast adds to the complexity of predicting successful performances from entry qualifications.

Effective and informative feedback is an essential part of learning and improving performance that is influenced by a number of issues, such as time constraints, ambiguous communication and emotional barriers (Hattie, 1998). Feedback should facilitate the learning process and the teaching performance. Accordingly, in this article we examine the “clean feedback” model developed by Walker and Doyle (2006) and explore its impact on the learning experiences of a purposeful sample of eleven beginning physical education teachers undertaking a one year postgraduate Qualified Teacher Status course at a post-92 university in the North West of England. After two days of staff and student training in using the model, the data in the form of lesson evaluations and self feed- back were collected at staged time intervals during their second placement school. The findings indicate that the model has improved the students’ ability to give and receive both positive and negative feedback and to improve students self awareness and understanding of their own learning and teaching styles. The implications of our findings are discussed in relation to the observation and feedback of the beginning teachers and mentors might be improved on such courses for physical education trainee teachers.

Following a three-year staff development initiative within one faculty in a UK university, the authors reflected on inspiring teaching and the role that staff development can play in enhancing individual practice. Teaching is a core component of Higher Education and is complex and multi-faceted both theoretically and in practice. Through individual reflections to a set of pre-determined questions, a group of Higher Education teachers (n = 5) with a responsibility for the development of learning, teaching and assessment, share their thoughts, feelings and beliefs on inspiring teaching. The interpretive analysis of the data shows from a staff perspective that the notion of inspiring teaching has three main components which are all interrelated, those being; the actual teaching and learning experience; the design of the curriculum and the teacher/student relationship. Staff development initiatives were found to help people explore and develop their own teaching philosophy, to develop new practices and to share and learn from others. However, individual’s mindset, beliefs and attitudes were found to be a challenge. Teachers can frame their development around the different aspects of inspiring teaching and with support from senior leadership as well as a positive culture, teaching communities can work together towards inspiring teaching.

This article examines the outcomes of a study across four discipline areas in order to develop course-based assessment strategies in closer co-operation with students. Second year students (n=48) from different disciplines were engaged in two phases of activity-orientated workshops. Phase one sought their perceptions of feedback. Phase two saw students design a proposed strategy to present to the respective staff teams. We discuss the emerging themes which appeared to be very similar amongst this diverse cross-section of students: a lack of faith in marking consistency; the need for clear guidelines and criteria; the greater use of positive feedback language and a close association with tutors. The emergence of strategies specific to each course is discussed along with the alignment of the outcomes of this approach with pedagogic knowledge. It is suggested that enhanced dialogue enabled staff and students to develop a common understanding, and gave impetus to improving, assessment feedback practices. Outcomes recommended here include changes to practice such as the benefits of a team approach to feedback development, the content and style of feedback; developing the usefulness of feedback for future work and; the need for teams to periodically revisit staff development in this area.

Students spend 12 to 14 years in school settings learning in what could be considered a carefully controlled and structured environment. Higher education may not offer the same landscape to students and it appears that many enter with unrealistic conceptions of what is expected of them and are faced with different approaches to aspects of teaching, learning and assessment. This qualitative study explores the perceptions of second-year and final-year students in relation to their expectations whilst studying at university. Focus groups were used across two programmes in one university faculty to ascertain student expectations and what they perceived as important. From the thematic analysis, four areas were highlighted by the students as key to the transition into university these were directed time, non-directed time, support and relationships. Overall these students where positive about the university experience and the levels of support offered to them, particularly noting that working in peer learning groups (PLGs) was beneficial. Issues were raised around the timetabling of face-to-face contact time and the value of the experience and this is an area that needs further research as is understanding the complexity of the students’ lives outside of the institution.