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In higher education, disabled students constitute at least 4.82% of the whole student population in the United Kingdom with 98,030 (known via self-assessment) disabled students, with the largest sub-group of 1.74% being those with dyslexia (n = 35,435; Higher Education Statistics Agency, 2001/2002). The aim of this study was to explore the emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses from student teachers in post-compulsory education to teaching this cohort. The sample groups were drawn from three different institutions in the United Kingdom (n = 40) and data was collected via five 1-hour group interviews. The findings illustrate a lack of practical and psychological preparation during teacher training for teaching diverse groups. The study suggests that if lecturers are not prepared to meet the challenges of teaching disabled students, the severity of the disabling condition presented to them determines their attitudes towards the notion of inclusion. In relation to pedagogy, this study's findings of teacher and student deficit models suggest that teachers are both perpetrators and victims of attribution. Finally, there appeared to be a general acceptance and desire for inclusion as an educational ideal, tempered by a pragmatic response, which acknowledges that educators' understanding of how to achieve inclusion is as yet limited; no more starkly illustrated than by opinion that the inclusion of disabled students can be to the detriment of their non-disabled peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are subject to a variety of pressures to encourage a more inclusive and broader based student body. This has resulted in an extended range of flexible course delivery patterns for mature, part-time students. This article discusses a pilot to extend the academic year for a small cohort of such students using a web-based learning environment. The pilot used the web-based learning environment BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) to deliver the course outside the traditional teaching period (in the summer vacation period). The article first introduces the background to the pilot and details its aims. This is followed by a review of the pilot that was devised for evaluation purposes and an analysis of its implementation Finally, by way of summary, there are general comments on the pilot, on BSCW and specific comments on encouraging collaboration and site usage, on training, on lurking and on flaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in the number of research degree students in the United Kingdom has brought with it added pressures of research supervision. One of those pressures is the concern for quality of supervisory provision. To offer quality and consistency of supervision it necessitates the development of the craft of supervision, especially for novice supervisors. This article adds to the deficient stock of empirically grounded literature on the subject of research supervision. Through the application of grounded theory methodology emergent conceptual categories highlight the craft of the experienced supervisor ('Temporal-Futureising', 'Ruling-Requiring', 'Motivating-Alliancing', 'Critiquing-Comprehending', 'Intellectualising' and 'Presiding') supported by their underpinning properties. In addition, properties elicited from a novice supervisor, explicate a coherently represented substantive case study. Applying the principles of reflective practice, the article concludes with a discussion on its findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British government wants 50% of people under the age of 30 to have experienced higher education by 2010. However, do students really want to stay on into post-compulsory education and what factors shape their intentions? This article presents an empirical investigation into the factors that influence the intentions of full-time students to stay on in education at the age of 16. Focus is placed on the school-specific effects captured via fixed effects nominal logit regression analysis using data from the Bradford Youth Cohort. Results indicate that school-specific effects have a significant impact on intentions to stay on in education. This has implications for policy formation, and the achievement of government targets of student numbers in further and higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]