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The General Certificate of Education (GCE) A* grade was first awarded to students in 2010. It was introduced to assist higher education institutions in differentiating between the highest performing students and to promote and reward greater stretch and challenge. This paper, based on a synthesis of key policy documents, an analysis of quantitative data and a review of existing research, provides an analysis of the GCE A* grade. The paper begins by introducing the historical and political context that led to the introduction of the A* grade, drawing together policy documents and research carried out by the awarding bodies. The paper then presents an analysis of 2011 A-level data, considering the characteristics of students who achieve the grade and addressing concerns around equality and fairness. A further line of evidence concerns public confidence in the new grade, especially in relation to whether it is fulfilling its purposes. The paper concludes by identifying a number of policy lessons for the future of the GCE A* grade. Forthcoming reforms to the A-level will necessitate a reappraisal of the way A* is calculated: this paper will be a useful source of evidence with which to consider the issues.

This paper analyses the opportunities for presenting knowledge that are created when assessment allows senior high school biology students to draw on linguistic and visual resources when constructing meaning in response to short-answer examination-style questions requiring a sequential explanation. Students within one senior high school biology class were given the opportunity to respond to an examination-style question through both written and visual representations. Analysis of the student responses for high and middle-achieving students, from a systemic functional linguistics perspective, indicates that high-achieving students use a broader range of grammatical forms more often than middle-achieving students to present key understandings of classification and composition within both written and visual representations. Including opportunities within assessment for students to express knowledge through written and visual representations allows for students to elaborate within their short-answer responses and to construct the broader range of representations that is valued within the discipline, but explicit guidance is required to support all students to make use of the complex grammatical patterns within written and visual representation. For senior high school biology students to be successful in the final stages of schooling, explicitness about the complex grammars of visual and written representations is required within curriculum and pedagogy.

Whether a broad undergraduate curriculum prepares students well for academic and professional specialization is a much-debated question. This discussion is particularly relevant in the context of European liberal arts bachelor's programmes, which recently re-emerged as an exception to the continental norm of specialized undergraduate curricula. While liberal arts proponents contend that the broad foundation of knowledge and generic skills provided by this educational model facilitate specialization rather than hindering it, critics point to the relative lack of disciplinary depth. To investigate this problem, the paper looks at three specialized master's programmes at Maastricht University--in international business, psychology, and neuroscience. It compares the academic performance of two groups of students in these programmes: graduates from University College Maastricht, a liberal arts institution, and their peers with discipline-focused bachelor's degrees in a matching field. Results from probit and OLS regression models show that there are no major differences between the two groups in terms of dropout rates, GPA, and master's thesis grades. Despite having less subject-specific knowledge, university college graduates proved to be prepared equally well for specialized master's studies as their counterparts with a matching disciplinary background. These findings suggest that an undergraduate curriculum that offers more breadth and flexibility does not represent an obstacle to further specialization.

In this paper, we identify patterns of subject and qualification choices made at age 14. Much of the previous research on 'subject choice' has focussed on the later stages of educational trajectories, particularly Higher Education. However, the choices made at early branching points can limit pupils' subsequent options, potentially contributing to educational inequalities. This paper identifies the patterns of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) subjects chosen by a cohort of young people born in 1989/1990. We make use of the Next Steps data (formerly the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE)) which is linked to the National Pupil Database. We develop an approach to measuring the academic selectivity of subjects and qualifications. We examine the roles of social class, parental education, income, gender and ethnicity in determining participation in these curriculum groupings. Using measures of prior attainment from age thirteen, we address the question of whether curriculum differentials simply reflect differences in prior attainment or whether they actually operate above and beyond existing inequalities. We find clear socio-economic, gender, ethnic and school-level differences in subjects studied which cannot be accounted for by prior attainment.

The first year in Higher Education (HE) is an international priority because of its importance to the retention of students. While initiatives to improve students' commencing experience continue to develop one area that has received limited consideration is the first-year curriculum. The aim of the research reported in this paper was to enhance the student experience in HE by expanding understandings of the first-year curriculum. Focus groups and an online questionnaire were the research methods used to, explore students' experiences of learning in a newly developed First-Year Block Model (FYBM) curriculum, implemented at a university in Australia. Findings from the research revealed that features in the design of the FYBM framed and permeated the students' experiences of learning. The students explained that a sense of familiarity, curriculum leadership, teaching and teachers and curriculum customisation influenced their engagement and achievements. The study highlights that HE requires staff who possess deep knowledge and expertise in the first-year curriculum because this valuable asset can positively influence student learning and success.

Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low socio-economic status (SES) schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. The paper shows that teachers and school managers have an ambivalent attitude to tests, wary of the reputational costs they can incur, but also curious about the differentiated picture test results can give them as they learn to "read" the underlying codes embedded in the results. The paper concludes that a focus on what tests make visible and a recognition of the pedagogic agency of teachers points to potential pedagogic benefits of systemic tests.

While Ontario has received international accolades for its enactment of province-wide standardised testing upon the formation of the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), a closer look at provincial assessments over a 20-year span reveals successes as well as systemic tensions and fissures. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it offers a socio-historical account of EQAO policy and programme enactment. Second, it offers insight into the less-publicised politics of enactment within systems with respect to principles and methods of accountability and their link to instructional systems. Data and findings from various sources shed light on the realities of struggles, tensions in macro-political consensus and dissensus among various stakeholders, and the micro-politics at the school and district levels.

The New Zealand education system is recognised internationally for its overall high quality. At the same time, there is a persistent gap in achievement between students in low socio-economic status (SES) schools in which there is an over-representation of Maori and Pasifika students, and students in more affluent communities. In this paper, we present the findings of a study that explored the participation and achievement rates of secondary school students in selected literacy standards, and used classroom observations to record practices and resources used in literacy teaching. Our findings show the extent to which unequal opportunities to learn (OTLs) for Maori and Pasifika and other students from low SES communities exist at the systems level as well as at the level of classroom instructional offerings. We discuss the factors specific to the New Zealand curriculum and assessment systems that contribute to the current situation and suggest possible ways to achieve a more equitable outcome for all students.

VISOLE (Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Environment) is a teacher-facilitated pedagogical approach to integrating constructivist online game-based learning into formal curriculum teaching in school education. This paper reports a case study on the implementation of VISOLE in secondary Geography education. We compared the pedagogical effectiveness of VISOLE and the traditional classroom teaching approach, in terms of students' knowledge acquisition with respect to a formal curriculum. One hundred and ninety-eight students from top, middle, and bottom academic-banding schools were selected and divided into three experimental groups and three control groups to participate in the research. Results showed that, in comparison with the traditional approach, VISOLE had a positive pedagogical effect on both low and moderate academic-achievement students, but not on high academic-achievement students. The findings shed light on enhancing the existing design of VISOLE, and provide researchers and educators with new insights into harnessing online games in formal school education in practice.

The argument has been propounded that academic disciplines and school subjects provide a powerful, authoritative knowledge which is key to enabling children to better understand the world in which they live. Inherent in this perspective is that children's experience, knowledge and understanding are poorly formed and of limited everyday use and value. Yet it is appreciated that children's naive knowledge can be a pedagogic starting point to initiate them into academic subjects. While appreciating the purpose and roles of academic subjects, this article challenges these assumptions, arguing that children's ethno-knowledges provide powerful learning bases of equivalent authority to subjects. Using the example of younger children's everyday or ethno-geography, the case is that children bring to school powerful (geographical) knowledge of their own. This can and should be recognised and valued in dialogue with authoritative (geographical) subject knowledge, not as subservient to it. It is argued that this perspective goes beyond that of the child/subject co-construction of knowledge to interrelate the developmental nature of children's everyday (geographical) learning with (geography) sense-of-subject evolution. This case is set in the context of geography but is applicable to other school subjects, where children's and subjects' powerful knowledges can mutually engage with and enhance each other. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper explores the possibilities of using a pedagogical model for working with adolescent girls in physical education as a means of balancing the challenge of external prescription from outside the school with teacher and pupil agency. We report data from a study involving four schools in Glasgow. We note that the national curriculum for Scotland, Curriculum for Excellence, is a broad and bold type that provides teachers with ‘spaces for manoeuvre’ in order to shape local curricula that best meet the needs and interests of girls. This is particularly the case in physical education, which in the Basic General Education phase for 12-15 years olds there is no well-established assessment regime. We identify four spaces for manoeuvre for teachers and pupils within an activist model: new forms of communication based on authorising pupil voice; offering choices and opening up learning possibilities; the co-construction of a safe class environment; opportunities to rethink traditional structures based on the multi-activity curriculum form. We conclude that an activist pedagogical model provided teachers and pupils with spaces to explore alternative practices to traditional forms of physical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a move in some countries, including England, towards less curriculum control by government. This stands in contrast to a national curriculum which may be universally applied in all schools within a state/country. National curricula tend to use either content-based (subject mastery) or process (skills)-based models. More localised curricula have the potential to be more issue- and problem-centred using local resources and people as part of their building blocks. However, marketisation and globalisation typified by Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ‘effect’ on national policies have discouraged teachers' creativity and curriculum innovation and negated teacher agency. Unfortunately, schools and community partners can find it hard to work together because of logistical, communication and cultural impediments, which gives significance to the role of curriculum brokers who can bridge these divides. This paper offers a case study of two brokers in order to describe, understand and conceptualise their role in curriculum development. The wider implications for curriculum development are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about students in a particular grouping hierarchy are shaped by their ideological views. Within education systems that have high international profiles, such as Singapore, what has been less explored is how teachers think about and interact with students who are seemingly positioned as being ‘low-ability’ or ‘low achieving’ within disadvantaged education contexts. This paper accordingly examines teachers’ perceptions of ‘Normal Technical’ students in Singapore. The findings underscore the need to understand teachers’ interpretations and thinking about teaching and learning processes that influence classroom practice. This is a necessary starting point for pedagogical innovation and change in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Zealand education system is recognised internationally for its overall high quality. At the same time, there is a persistent gap in achievement between students in low socio-economic status (SES) schools in which there is an over-representation of Māori and Pasifika students, and students in more affluent communities. In this paper, we present the findings of a study that explored the participation and achievement rates of secondary school students in selected literacy standards, and used classroom observations to record practices and resources used in literacy teaching. Our findings show the extent to which unequal opportunities to learn (OTLs) for Māori and Pasifika and other students from low SES communities exist at the systems level as well as at the level of classroom instructional offerings. We discuss the factors specific to the New Zealand curriculum and assessment systems that contribute to the current situation and suggest possible ways to achieve a more equitable outcome for all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that Assessment for Learning (AfL) strategies are effective in teaching and learning. Approaches within this framework include the use of formative feedback, self and peer assessment and setting and discussion of learning intentions (LIs) and success criteria (SC). There has been a great deal of research into AfL strategies, but perhaps less into the way that the use of LIs and SC are actually perceived by teachers and their pupils. The purpose of the research described in this paper was to investigate teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of AfL strategies, focusing specifically on LIs and SC within lessons. Findings showed that while both cohorts agreed on the usefulness of LIs and SC, in practice they were rarely discussed in class. Teachers displayed a variety of understandings regarding their purpose, and some learners, while appreciating their value for revision purposes, also expressed frustration at the tokenistic way in which they were implemented. The results of this study could be helpful in informing the wider education community about how LIs and SC are viewed by teachers and learners with a view to ensure understandings are consistent with research and policy through focused professional development courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the main findings of the International Instructional Systems Study (IISS), conducted by the UCL Institute of Education and funded by the Center on International Education Benchmarking (CIEB). The study examined the instructional systems and intended curricula of six ‘high performing’ countries and two US states. The study ultimately focused on nine specific aspects of those systems: the aims of the education system; how centralised or decentralised management of the instructional system is; principles and methods of accountability; what compulsory and optional subjects are included in the programmes of study; the degree to which curriculum is organised by discipline or integrated across disciplines; whether curriculum is common or differentiated; how twenty-first century skills are embedded in the curriculum; the clarity and content of curriculum for secondary vocational pathways; and how assessments are created and what stakes they have and for whom. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent research suggests that Muslim boys have become the ‘New Folk Devils’ of British education, who are characterised by resistance to formal education, especially at secondary level, and under-achievement. Since the 1990s, British Muslim boys would appear to have become increasingly alienated from compulsory schooling, especially in the humanities subjects which lack obvious instrumental value. This mixed-methods study of the performance of 295 secondary school British Muslim boys in their compulsory school history provides evidence which interrupts this narrative of the academic under-achievement and educational dis-engagement of Muslim boys, especially in the humanities subjects. When viewed through the prism of a laminated, non-reductive model of educational success, this indicative sample of British Muslim boys could be considered to have had significant success at a traditional humanities subject such as history intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, instrumentally and civically. This paper therefore proposes that history can provide a vital meaning-making tool to generate the success of Muslim boys in a variety of significant dimensions both in and out of school. It suggests how history can be more fully and effectively harnessed by teachers, parents and policy-planners to encourage internal integration and external social engagement in British Muslim pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reports findings from a large-scale research study exploring female attainment and male underachievement in a representative sample of students and case-studies from the Caribbean island of Barbados. The article shows that simplistic gender-based (matrilineal and male marginal) explanations are not adequate explanations for school attainment. The representative survey of 2255 primary and secondary school children used both simple and complex comparisons between children. Dependent on statistical approach, females can be shown to attain at higher levels than males or that 'gendered' explanations disguise more important factors including type of school attended, pre-school attendance, with whom the student lives and occupation of mother and father. Two small case-studies are included to further describe how cultures of top and bottom performing secondary schools may affect attainment, especially as the top performing school was co-educational with no sex differences in curriculum attainment and the bottom performing school was female only. These attainment effects occur through school personnel, attitudes to students and the learning process, and student involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature and interpretation of differences between the achievements of females and males in senior secondary school studies in Australia, and the implications for policy and practice of these perceived differences, are showing signs of change. The way-s in which these issues are discussed publicly across Australia are reviewed and then matched against indications that have emerged from data in one state (Queensland) and from other, published studies. This analysis suggests that there are important notions of gendered achievement that may not be receiving due consideration by those who formulate policy or analyse practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study is based on interviews with 19 immigrant parents from Eastern European countries, whose children attend elementary schools in the province of Ontario, Canada. It uses the concept of curriculum orientations (academic rationalism, social efficiency, humanism and social reconstruction) to explore the connections between parental satisfaction with school and their involvement in children's education. I found that interviewed parents were split between supporters of academic rationalism and the blend of social efficiency and humanism. Parents who adopted social efficiency and humanism were satisfied with their children's education and followed normative school‐based involvement. Parents who preferred academic rationalism were not happy with their children's school and expected more emphasis on academic development. They were mostly active at home and faced difficulty communicating with teachers. Mismatch in curriculum orientations of immigrant parents and host country teachers results in additional barriers to their parental involvement and might shape such involvement in profound ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment for learning (AfL) has become a widespread approach across many educational systems. To date, AfL research has emphasized teachers' knowledge, skills, and practices, with few studies examining students' responses to an AfL pedagogical approach. The purpose of this research was to focus directly on students' perspectives on their use and value of AfL approaches through a survey of 1079 K-12 students and portfolio-based interviews with 12 purposefully selected students. Survey data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics across grade levels. Interview data were analyzed using standard thematic coding processes. Students most frequently used and valued teacher feedback and success criteria to support their learning. Peer feedback was the least valued AfL approach for all students. Some significant differences between grade levels were noted. Our results suggest that using AfL approaches is a learned behaviour; students need to be explicitly taught about AfL concepts, terminology, and use over time. This study also highlights that AfL implementation requires sustained focus, research, and support in schools and classrooms for students to value and fully benefit from assessment-based teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergraduate students' experience of assessment in universities is usually of summative assessment which provides only limited information to help students improve their performance. By contrast, formative assessment is informative and forward-looking, possessing the leverage to inform students of their day-to-day progress and inform teachers of how to better tailor their instruction to students' immediate learning needs. Despite these potentials, studies carried out on the use of formative assessment in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts are somehow rare. The current study reports on incorporating formative assessment in an L2 writing course in Iran. The analysis of data from pre- and post-study writing tasks, pre- and post-study questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews revealed that first-year undergraduate students were offered opportunities to improve various aspects of their writing and to develop positive attitudes toward writing as well as formative assessment. However, the students reported several challenges that could have implications for the further implementation of formative assessment in similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback is central to successful teaching and learning. Despite extensive research on the relationship between feedback, pedagogy and learning, there remain no conclusive answers as to how feedback can be effectively utilized by learners. Recently, there is emerging research exploring how feedback is conceptualized as dialogic processes to facilitate provision and uptake of feedback; and how feedback utilization is best supported by learner active involvement in the iterative feedback process for future learning. Drawn from this knowledge base, this article aims to review four aspects of feedback scholarship including nature, paradigms, issues and trends which serve as a theoretical basis, together with instructors’ interviews, to inform how five common assessment tasks in one social sciences faculty could be strategically revamped to promote feedback utilization. The article concludes with pedagogical insights to suggest three conditions wherein feedback could be made sustainable to support learning through a redesigning of conventional assessment tasks in the higher education contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades have seen unprecedented interest in science curricula, with many governments seeing improvements in the performance of their school students in science as key to future economic prosperity. We present the results of an analysis of the curriculum documents for primary and secondary science in Australia (New South Wales and Queensland), Canada (Alberta and Ontario), Finland, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and the United States (Florida and Massachusetts). Beyond our specific findings, we note a degree of convergence across these 11 very different jurisdictions. The Asian ones have made and are making changes to encourage students to be more creative and better able to apply their science knowledge and develop their scientific literacy; the ‘Western’ ones are becoming more knowledge focused. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Within the new framework set out in the final report of the Working Group on 14-19 Reform (2004), an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) was proposed in England to foster the development of students' independent study skills. Widespread national provision of a fully accredited EPQ, as a stand-alone Level 3 qualification, began in September 2008, preceded by a fully evaluated pilot. A survey of students taken during the pilot explored the relationship between students' approaches to learning and their achievement on the EPQ, in addition to assessing the extent to which the new qualification fulfilled its aims. On the basis of questionnaire responses from students, a set of models was fitted to describe the extent to which attainment and engagement with the pilot EPQ were influenced by learning approach. Results showed that, notwithstanding the contribution of previous academic achievement, attainment on the EPQ was positively related to intrinsic motivation; clearly a desirable attribute for lifelong learning but also an indication that the qualification may encourage students to be more innovative and creative about their learning. Furthermore, students' engagement with the project appeared independent of their prior achievement - a feature which has the potential to help lower the barriers to participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of subject knowledge for effective teaching. Policymakers have implemented regulatory requirements for entry to a postgraduate teacher training course to address issues related to effective teaching. The question of disciplinary knowledge can be easily embroiled in some of the political rhetoric around education. The relationship between knowledge and pedagogy is an important one and needs further exploration.

This article discusses some of the issues raised in the early stages of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) study. The first phase of the project involved an analysis of end of Key Stage 2 (children aged 10-11) Standard Assessment Test (SAT) data within a Midlands and a London local education authority (LEA(M) and LEA(L) respectively). The LEAs were identified according to the quality and accessibility of the data and their socio-economic and socio-cultural diversity. The analysis was used as an instrument for selecting schools in each LEA that displayed specific but consistent patterns of high, low and average achievement which were cross cut by large differences between boys' and girls' achievement in all three SAT subjects (English, maths and science). On one level, this article discusses the difficulties we encountered in identifying schools with consistent patterns of gendered achievement as well as signposting the 'political' significance of these difficulties for present and future education policies. On another level, it is a vehicle for the development of the theoretical lenses of learner identity and post-Vygotskian analysis that have shaped our understanding of gendered achievement which we use to 'speak' to and influence the development of the test procedures highlighted in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) has been conducting national surveys of performance of pupils in Scottish schools since the early 1980s. The main aim is to monitor what children know and can do in English language, mathematics and science. In 1996, we conducted the fourth survey of performance in science. For the first time we included a questionnaire for pupils, designed to elicit their views on their learning experiences in science. The sample included approximately 2000 pupils at each of the three stages — Primary 4 (8/9 years), Primary 7 (11/12 years) and Secondary 2 (13/14 years). The focus in this article is on the section of the questionnaire which asked children how much they thought they knew about some common science topics, such as weather and electricity, and where they thought they had acquired this knowledge. While this was essentially designed as a feasibility study, there are clear age differences in children's responses indicating aspects of learning science which warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]