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Medical education has historically relied on high stakes knowledge tests sat in examination centres with invigilators monitoring academic malpractice. The COVID-19 pandemic has made such examination formats impossible, and medical educators have explored the use of online assessments as a potential replacement. This shift has in turn led to fears that the change in format or academic malpractice might lead to considerably higher attainment scores on online assessment with no underlying improvement in student competence. Here, we present an analysis of 8092 sittings of the Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA), an assessment designed to test the prescribing skills of final year medical students in the UK. In-person assessments for the PSA were cancelled partway through the academic year 2020, with 6048 sittings delivered in an offline, traditionally invigilated format, and then 2044 sittings delivered in an online, webcam invigilated format. A comparison (able to detect very small effects) showed no attainment gap between online (M = 0.762, SD = 0.34) and offline (M = 0.761, SD = 0.34) performance. The finding suggests that the transition to online assessment does not affect student performance. The findings should increase confidence in the use of online testing in high-stakes assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a response to Cotton, Miller and Kneale's 2017 paper on the current state of higher education research within UK universities. It seeks to contribute to the debate surrounding the inclusion of pedagogic research (PedR) via SoTL in the UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the context of researchers who reside within a disciplinary context. The inclusion of PedR in the REF continues to be contentious, despite recommendations in the Stern Report which could make its inclusion more feasible. This paper focuses on PedR which is conducted, published and disseminated by academics situated within Life Science departments, rather than Schools of Education. The twenty-one teaching-focused academics in this study discussed their commitment to PedR integral to their academic identity, the challenges they faced in carrying out PedR, and their thoughts on REF 2014. Their opinions and conclusions give food for thought on decisions regarding inclusion of PedR in REF 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance assessment is permeating increasingly diverse domains of higher education, even in areas previously perceived to be too complex and idiosyncratic to quantify. The UK's attempts to assess 'research impact' within the Research Excellence Framework (REF) are illustrative of this trend and are being closely monitored by several other countries. A fundamental rationale for employing narrative case studies to assess impact within REF, rather than taking a (less resource intensive) quantified approach, was that this would allow for the variation, complexity and idiosyncrasy inherent in research impact. This paper considers whether this promise of narrative flexibility has been realised, by analysing a combination of REF impact case study reports and interviews and focus group discussions with actors involved in case study production. Informed by this analysis, our central argument is that the very quality which allows narratives to govern is their ability to standardise performance (albeit whilst retaining a degree of flexibility). The paper proposes that REF impact case studies position narratives of impact as technologies of governance in ways that restrict the 'plot line' and belie the far more complex accounts held by those working to achieve research impact. This is partly because, as research impact becomes institutionalised within universities' measurement infrastructures, higher education institutions become impact gatekeepers, filtering out narratives that are deemed overly complex or insufficiently persuasive, while perpetuating particular approaches to recounting tales of impact that are deemed likely to perform well. Crucially, these narratives not only describe impact but actively construct it as an auditable phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequality in students' degree outcomes has been a concern for the higher education sector and the UK government for more than a decade. Since its inception in 2018, the Office for Students in England has prioritised the need for evidence of causality through requiring institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of their initiatives as set out in Access and Participation Plans. This policy development responds to several reports which identify a dearth of evidence-based interventions and scant knowledge of 'what works'. This paper traces the interplay between policy and research, focusing on the assumptions they make about causality. It concludes that unwarranted positions are taken in both spheres of practice, making progress unlikely. A conception of causality situated in extant formal theory on evidential pluralism and that draws on current practices would help us address inequality more effectively. Alternative framings of the problem of inequality in students' degree outcomes is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether gender stereotypes of boys outperforming girls in physics and girls outperforming boys in biology are still present. The paper will consider the performance on individual question parts of a UK examination for 16-year-olds. The question parts that solely involved retrieving scientific information from memory were identified and the existence of gender differences was verified for them. The memory processes involved in answering these question parts were considered and related to the gender differences in science in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private schools have long played a crucial role in male elite formation but their importance to women's trajectories is less clear. In this paper, we explore the relationship between girls' private schools and elite recruitment in Britain over the past 120 years – drawing on the historical database of Who's Who, a unique catalogue of the elite. We find that alumni of elite girls schools have been around 20 times more likely than other women to reach elite positions. They are also more likely to follow particular channels of elite recruitment, via the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, private members clubs and elite spouses. Yet such schools have also consistently been less propulsive than their male-only counterparts. We argue this is rooted in the ambivalent aims of girls elite education, where there has been a longstanding tension between promoting academic achievement and upholding traditional processes of gendered social reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the experiences of students with chronic illnesses in UK universities. Sixty-seven students with chronic illnesses completed an online survey with open-ended questions about their experiences in higher education. Questions covered four main topics: academic work; university staff; social and extracurricular activities; and participants' miscellaneous opinions. Using thematic analysis, the data were analysed with references to the social model of disability and social representations of chronic illness. Participants wrote of misconceptions surrounding chronic illnesses, a sense of inequality, and feeling undervalued. Many staff members seemed to lack understanding and so 'policed' academic regulations rather than accommodating for their chronic illnesses. However, some participants wrote of social and academic 'allies' who offered understanding and proactive support. The findings add substance to the chronic illness literature with the focus on students at university, and we offer recommendations to universities for improving inclusivity for students with chronic illnesses. Disabled students with energy-limiting chronic illnesses are frustrated by a lack of support and feel that they have fewer opportunities than non-disabled students. Some university staff may hold negative views of disabled individuals, and so provide inadequate support. This can lead to students' reluctance to disclose chronic illnesses. Students with chronic illnesses felt that some staff and peers did not class chronic illnesses as 'real' disabilities and felt that they were perceived lesser than those with visible disabilities. Some students proudly owned the label of 'disabled' to educate others, including staff, who sometimes used university regulations inappropriately to excuse not adjusting support for disabled students. Some staff and students were perceived as supportive allies. Universities must listen to disabled students and those with chronic illnesses to ensure they fulfil their legal and moral obligations of providing equality of opportunity, enabling all students to succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently much interest in the interconnections between research and teaching in Higher Education. This relationship is usually termed 'the research/teaching nexus' (RTN). However, within this wide body of literature, there has been little attempt to explore the emergent experiences of students across the entire length of their degree programme. Drawing on the results of a three-year qualitative study that followed 40 students through their whole student lifecycle, this paper explores how undergraduates in an English university experienced the RTN, how those experiences developed over time, and how these changes can be variously enabled or constrained. Situating the findings in the context of the 'post-truth' society and the uncertainty of employment futures, the paper highlights how the nexus can also often serve to exclude students as much as it includes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the subjective experiences of PhD holders from Switzerland and the UK who pursue careers beyond academia. Drawing on the concepts of organisational culture and culture shock, we examined the challenges that characterise this passage from academia to non-academic workplaces. With an exploratory aim, we analysed 32 semi-structured interviews conducted with PhDs engaged in non-academic careers in private, public, or parapublic sectors for ten years or less. It emerged that, when they entered non-academic workplaces, half of our participants devoted a large portion of their time and energy to understanding a new organisational culture, including their workplaces' daily functioning, the values shared within their organisations, and the statuses to which they were assigned. This puzzling experience, which we define as organisational culture shock, was reported more frequently by those who entered non-academic workplaces directly after the PhD and those with little or no work experiences prior to the PhD. These findings contribute to the ongoing global conversation about how to prepare PhDs for careers beyond academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, there has been considerable literature on the predictors of academic performance in higher education. However, the empirical findings are still limited in Cambodia; therefore, this paper was conducted to examine the determinants of academic performance of 329 undergraduate students selected from a university in Cambodia. Based on the findings from the multivariate regression analysis, a number of variables, namely high school grade, English ability, class attendance, study effort, academic self-efficacy, and family socio-economic status were found to be positively associated with academic performance. Term-time employment and family size had an adverse impact on academic performance. However, there was no sufficient evidence to indicate age, gender, household location, parental education, parental involvement, and teaching evaluation to have predictive power on academic performance. Hence, the study concluded that the personal backgrounds played the potential role in predicting academic performance of undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside the usual exam-level cut-score requirement, the use of a conjunctive minimum number of stations passed (MNSP) standard in OSCE-type assessments is common practice across some parts of the world. Typically, the MNSP is fixed in advance with little justification, and does not vary from one administration to another in a particular setting—which is not congruent to best assessment practice for high stakes examinations. In this paper, we investigate empirically four methods of setting such a standard in an examinee-centred (i.e. post hoc) and criterion-based way that allows the standard to vary appropriately with station and test difficulty. Using many administrations (n = 442) from a single exam (PLAB2 in the UK), we show via mixed modelling that the total number of stations passed for each candidate has reliability close to that of the total test score (relative g-coefficient 0.73 and 0.76 respectively). We then argue that calculating the MNSP based on the predicted number of stations passed at the 'main' exam-level cut-score (i.e. for the borderline candidate) is conceptually, theoretically and practically preferred amongst the four approaches considered. Further analysis indicates that this standard does vary from administration to administration, but acts in a secondary way, with approximately a quarter of exam-level candidate failures resulting from application of the MNSP standard alone. Collectively, this work suggests that employing the identified approach to setting the MNSP standard is practically possible and, in many settings, is more defensible than using a fixed number of stations set in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role that social characteristics play in determining the academic success of students who begin university with roughly similar entry grades. The data used were drawn from the administrative records of over 38,000 UK-domiciled undergraduate students from one British university between 1998 and 2009. Results show that the characteristics of entrants have varied only slightly over this period and intake is still largely in favour of ‘traditional’ entrants: namely those from professional occupational backgrounds, the privately educated and those of traditional age. The relationship between background characteristics and eventual academic success also reflects patterns seen at earlier education stages. However, when prior attainment was taken into account, the link between degree outcome and many social characteristics does diminish – notably for students who were privately educated and who came from professional occupational groups. This suggests that once students have overcome barriers to admission, it is entry grades rather than social characteristics that may most strongly influence eventual academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in 2016 has placed the practice and quality of teaching centre of the UK university agenda, with concerns around contact, delivery, research/teaching balance and facility support framing debates within institutions. Situating the implementation of blended learning on a year 2 cultural geography in the broader context of these discussions, this paper explores some of the challenges and opportunities this approach has in addressing some of these broader concerns, whilst improving student engagement and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine digital literacy and explicate how it relates to the philosophical study of ignorance. Using data from a study which explores the knowledge producing work of undergraduate students as they wrote course assignments, we argue that a social practice approach to digital literacy can help explain how epistemologies of ignorance may be sustained. If students are restricted in what they can know because they are unaware of exogenous actors (e.g. algorithms), and how they guide choices and shape experiences online, then a key issue with which theorists of digital literacy should contend is how to educate students to be critically aware of how power operates in online spaces. The challenge for Higher Education is twofold: to understand how particular digital literacy practices pave the way for the construction of ignorance, and to develop approaches to counter it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how community, national and ethnic identities are affirmed, negotiated, marginalized as a part of hegemony-making and resistance in the context of English education in Indian universities. We argue and demonstrate that a complex and ambivalent hegemony that has been operational since the colonial times, continues to shape English education in India. Today, English and English education play a major role in articulating, binding and dividing multiple identities and knowledge systems. In the first part of the paper, we critically review debates and discussions on the significance of English language education in institutes of higher education in India. Specifically, we focus on discourses on the rationale behind continuing and contesting English education. The second part examines how in the postmodern context, English is being taught differently to different groups and highlights how these contexts of teaching have been defining knowledge systems, patterns of dominance and also, articulating resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research-based learning in taught courses develops the skills needed to judge knowledge sources and think critically in a post-truth world. In viewing research skills as threshold concepts, the paper argues that transforming a student cannot be a one-off event. Research capacity must build over a programme and this requires coherent research skill development and assessment that is progressive (ipsative). A study of five programmes each with a different design of research 'throughline' showed that such integrated research-based learning generates three challenges. Firstly, conceptualising the research skills and progression is not easy. Secondly, the accumulation and enrichment of research skills is not readily visible to students. Finally, providing a clear support system across the programme is not straightforward. The paper concludes that these challenges need to be addressed if the potential of research-based education to enable future citizens to interrogate populist claims and reject misinformation is to be realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic development has played a significant role in creating university 'learning and teaching' as an object of policy scrutiny and intervention. While academic development is a new field, its practices have been productive of new learning and teaching regimes in both the global 'north' and 'south'. This paper explores the emergence of academic development as a practice and the agentic understandings of its actors in creating the academic development project in the face of global unevenness. The paper offers a critical account of the emergence of academic development practice in both the global 'north', drawing on the intertwined histories of the UK and Australia, and in the global 'south', drawing on the example of South Africa. In looking at the ongoing debates about academic development the paper argues that in constituting teaching and learning as its object, other more radical, feminist and critical pedagogies, which are capable of dealing with the power and curricula, were marginalised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with the argument that within modern-day society, engineering has shifted from being the scientific and technical mainstay of industrial, and more recently digital change to become the most vital driver of future advancement. In order to meet the inevitable challenges resulting from this role, the nature of engineering education is constantly evolving and as such engineering education has to change. The paper argues that what is needed is a fresh approach to engineering education – one that is sufficiently flexible so as to capture the fast-changing needs of engineering education as a discipline, whilst being pedagogically suitable for use with a range of engineering epistemologies. It provides an overview of a case study in which a new approach to engineering education has been developed and evaluated. The approach, which is based on the concept of scholarship, is described in detail. This is followed by a discussion of how the approach has been put into practice and evaluated. The paper concludes by arguing that within today's market-driven university world, the need for effective learning and teaching practice, based in good scholarship, is fundamental to student success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the last 20 years, the use of administrative data has become central to understanding pupil attainment and school performance. Of most importance has been its use to robustly demonstrate the impact of socio-economic status (SES) on pupil attainment. Much of this analysis in England and Wales has relied on whether pupils are eligible for free school meals (eFSM). However, very little is known about the validity of this measure as a proxy for SES. Using a recent major birth cohort study, this paper examines the relationship between pupils' eFSM and their more detailed socio-economic circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high achievement of British Chinese students in the British education system is established in the official literature and has recently been subject to increased attention and comment; albeit it remains the case that few studies have asked students or their families about the factors contributing to their success. This paper revisits findings from an earlier research project that investigated the extent to which British Chinese students and their parents value education (and their rationales), their experiences of British education, and the construction of British Chinese students by their teachers. The study revealed the ‘hidden racisms’ experienced by British Chinese students, the problematisation of their perceived approaches to learning by British teachers in spite of their high attainment, and the benefits, costs, and consequences of their valuing of education. This article contextualises these prior findings within more recent discourses and debates around ‘Chinese success’, precipitated by increased policy attention to the educational attainment of different groups of students, especially from low socio-economic backgrounds. It argues that these discourses on one hand elevate Chinese successes and teaching methods (in contrast to prior narratives), but on the other they continue to exoticise and ‘Other’ the British Chinese, misrecognising educational practices common among White middle-class parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a central paradox that affects the nature of the student experience in the U.K. On the one hand, the marketisation of higher education, with its associated emphasis on performativity indicators, may be seen to have reduced students to numbers, with the attendant consequence that the affective domain of studying and learning has been lost. On the other hand, there is more attention given to student feelings than was ever the case in the past and questions about student satisfaction have become more prominent. This paper will explore this paradox using empirical data gathered from a longitudinal study of ‘non-traditional’ students at one ancient university in Scotland. We indicate the ways in which the tension between the technicist spaces of the neoliberal university and its empathetic, caring spaces are mediated by students as they make their way through their degrees. We argue that caring relationships with staff are of central importance to students’ well-being and success at university, and that students actively seek to construct support when and where they need it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This case-study, drawing on an unanticipated theme arising from a wider study of ability-grouping in primary mathematics, documents some of the consequences of educational triage in the final year of one primary school. The paper discusses how a process of educational triage, as a response to accountability pressures, is justified by teachers on the basis of shared theories about ability and potential. Attainment gains show that some practices associated with the triaging process work for the school, pushing selected pupils to achieve the Government target for the end of primary school. However, other practices appear to coincide with reduced mathematical gains for the lowest attaining pupils and a widening of the attainment gap. This case-study examines the mechanisms behind this, focusing on resource allocation, and assumptions about learners and their potential. The paper suggests a need to create dissonance, challenging shared assumptions, such as fixed-ability, which currently support triage processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant focus in this paper is on issues of school context and, in particular, on the dimensions of context at a large English comprehensive school that enable it to thrive within the current demands of the contemporary audit culture. Featuring interview data gathered from a number of senior educators, the paper draws on Braun et al's. (Braun, A., S. Ball, M. Maguire, and K. Hoskins. 2011. "Taking Context Seriously: Towards Explaining Policy Enactments in the Secondary School." Discourse: Studies in the Politics of Education 32 (4): 585 -596) heuristic device for thinking about the 'situated', 'professional' and 'external' dimensions of context at the school. This device supports an analysis of the school's intake (in particular the high cultural and class related aspirations of parents and students) and its values (namely the school's traditional ethos of academic and behavioural excellence). The central argument of the paper is that these contextual dimensions contribute significantly to the school's capacity to forge a worthy school identity within the current hyperaccountable and competitive environment where academic achievement (along increasingly narrow and conservative lines) and maintaining standards in relation to this achievement are utmost priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on current literature leading to the development of a holistic framework to support practitioners in observation and assessment of childrens evolving inquiry skills. Evidence from the 2011 Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) in England identifies a decline of year five student achievement in science. A further review of research suggests that learning dispositions towards science should be fostered at a young age when children are intrinsically curious about the world around them. This paper explores how young children engage in scientific inquiry through socialisation and active learning. This paper argues that there are further opportunities to record the scientific episodes of young children in their play within early years settings. An evaluation of various assessment methods and strategies has led to the development of a model and a supplementary tool to record the unique ways in which children demonstrate scientific inquiry skills. Together the model and tool form this Framework for Assessing Science in the Early Years (FASEY). FASEY documents the developing skills within scientific domains as well as socio cultural perspectives of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides an in-depth, ‘case study’ style analysis of the experiences of two 13-year-old British Asian girls from a larger qualitative study investigating minority ethnic students' aspirations in science. Through the lens of identity as performativity and Bourdieu's notions of habitus and capital, the ways in which two girls engage with the field of science is examined. Samantha is British Indian and Fay is British Bangladeshi and they are both ‘top set’ students in science, but only one aspired to study triple science, while the other desired to be ‘famous’. The experiences of the two girls are explicated in this paper, teasing out their experiences and constructions of science. It is argued that cultural discourses of family, peers and teacher expectations can shape students' perceptions of science and education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

British Muslim women lag far behind other sections of the British society in educational achievement, particularly in higher education. This paper examines the conservative culture of first-generation Muslim immigrants that discourages social interaction and learning in a liberal Western setting. It surveys the underlying theological aspects of Islam to show that no racial, cultural or gender bias is promoted when it comes to who should learn and pursue knowledge; on the contrary, learning in Islam is an obligation for all. It then explores two of the critical factors that influence British Muslim women's participation in education namely, the issue of arranged marriages and the wearing of modest dressing and veils. These issues have become somewhat of obstacles to Muslim women in their participation in educational institutions and career progression in Britain. Do these factors necessarily hinder Muslim women? What other aspects of British life contribute to their lack of academic achievement? If so, what is the way forward? The paper attempts to answer some of these issues in an exposition limited by both length and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the achievement of Turkish-speaking students in Britain has been evaluated by taking various factors into consideration. The Turkish community resident in the United Kingdom dates back to the 1930s, when the first settlers arrived and the current population of the Turkish community is estimated to be around 150,000. However, Turkish immigrants and settlers have never been counted as “Turkish” in either surveys or in the national census. This made them invisible, and their diverse needs have not been taken into consideration. In addition, as language ability, culture, gender and schooling had a great effect on achievement, Turkish-speaking pupils struggled in the British educational system. Although, the data relating to the existing Turkish community and its educational history in the United Kingdom are limited, a wide range of literature and government papers have been accessed to support relevant findings. The result of this extensive evaluation shows that Turkish-speaking pupils when compared with other ethnic groups under-achieve in British schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the model of professional doctorate (D.Prof) as a route for those immersed in professional practice but who wish to undertake research at the doctoral level. One definition of the professional doctorate given by the United Kingdom Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE) describes it as 'a programme of advanced study and research which, whilst satisfying the university criteria for the award of a doctorate, is designed to meet the specific needs of a professional group external to the university'. Central to the heart of the D.Prof is professional practice. It has been described as developing 'researching professionals' rather than 'professional researchers', and as part of the move towards the knowledge economy in higher education, can be seen as part of the transformation from 'autonomous scholar' into 'enterprising self'. This paper explores my choice of a professional doctorate over a traditional PhD, and the role that reflection and reflexivity have in informing the research focus, methodology and practice development aspects of my study. It is argued that as social work is a practice based discipline, and one in which research is aimed at providing practice improvement, models of doctoral study which have at their heart the centrality of professional practice are more appropriate vehicles for those practitioners who wish to become 'scholarly professionals'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'feedforward' is increasingly employed in higher education, and this paper focuses on the way in which it fits into contemporary debates about feedback and its impact on practitioners. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate the practices academics associate with feedforward and the ways in which their intentions and understandings varied. The term resulted in practices being framed as a process and prompted academics to consider the points in the future when students were expected to deploy information and improve. Three future horizons were identified: the 'within-module' future horizon dominated, while the challenges of 'beyond-module' and 'beyond-programme' horizons became apparent. Written comments, guidance, formative assessment and design practices were associated with feedforward, comprising both transmission and student-focused approaches. It is concluded that the modular system restricts longer-term future horizons and sustainable practices, and more must be done to address the divide between theoretical and practitioners' perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to explore the school experiences of mixed white/ black Caribbean children in English schools. The overarching findings of this research confirm that although the mixed-race population as a whole is achieving above the national average, the mixed white/ black Caribbean group is consistently the lowest performing mixed-race group in the country. Views of pupils, their parents and teachers in two London secondary schools suggest various reasons why mixed white/ black Caribbean pupils might continue to be the lowest performing mixed group in the country. These included experiences of marginalization and invisibility in school life, the low expectations that teachers held about them, the lack of knowledge about how to support them at school and how all these issues were exacerbated by the friendship groups they mixed in. This research paper discusses these critical factors in detail and their implications for policy and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including one by Sammons and colleagues who tested the claim that networked learning activity contributes to increasing standards of student achievement and another by Earl and Katz reports results from phases two and three of Great Britain's government-initiated Networked Learning Communities programme.

This paper reports the effect of continuous summative assessment on the behaviour and learning environment of students. Assessing the performance of students is considered to be the most important thing a teacher can do for their students and it can have a profound effect on their learning. Continuous summative assessment was introduced as a form of assessment on a module within an undergraduate degree at a UK university. Student perceptions of the process were sought via a questionnaire and interviews. The paper describes the effect the assessment had on student motivation, their approach to learning and the change to their learning environment. The conclusion reached is that while continuous summative assessment may be time‐consuming to administer, the rewards of an enhanced learning environment for students outweigh the additional burden on staff. The results should be of interest to those academics who are concerned with assessment and its impact on behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the performances and the progress made by pupils of minority ethnic origin between Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 in British secondary schools. The data used in this paper were collected as part of a PhD study by Haque (1999). The paper discusses findings from multilevel modelling analyses carried out on 12 of the 20 schools in the research study. In particular, it reveals that whilst differences exist in the performances and the progress of pupils of minority ethnic background in their Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 examinations, these differences become substantially reduced when background factors (other than ethnic origin) are taken into account. The paper concludes that in order to identify accurately and reduce the nature of disadvantages for pupils from particular minority ethnic groups, policy-makers, schools and teachers need to differentiate these groups beyond their national origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social mobility has been a central tenet of UK Government public policy, viewed as a silver bullet to creating a socially just and ‘fair’ society as well as an economically successful one. Within policy discourse young people's aspirations are deemed of critical importance to achieving educational success and in turn social mobility. However, within both popular and policy rhetoric ‘place attachment’ is routinely posited as a serious hindrance to successful realisation of aspiration, putatively because it embeds young people in ‘place’ (e.g. a particular community or geographical location) and prevents them from accessing employment in national labour markets. This paper, however, problematises the notion that ‘place attachment’ and ‘spatial mobility’ are necessarily mutually exclusive. Calling on data from a qualitative study of young people's aspirations in two distinctive regions of South Wales, UK, the analyses reveal that despite the largely localised ‘imagined futures’ of these young people they held very ‘high’ aspirations for professional forms of employment, which for some young people meant moving away from home and locality in order to achieve. The paper calls for a rethinking of how young people's aspirations are conceptualised both in government policy and academic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are large social class inequalities in educational achievement in the UK. This paper quantifies the contribution of one mechanism to the production of these inequalities: social class differences in school ‘effectiveness’, where ‘effectiveness’ refers to a school’s impact on pupils’ educational achievement (relative to other schools). It builds on the small number of existing studies, whilst overcoming a number of their limitations. It estimates the effectiveness of the (state) schools attended between ages 7/8 and 10/11 by a cohort of children born in the 1990s in Avon, a former county of England, and then compares the effectiveness of the schools attended by children from different social classes. It finds that ‘higher’ social class children attend more effective schools, on average, and that these social class differences in average school effectiveness between ages 7/8 and 10/11 account for 7% of social class differences in average educational achievement age 10/11. This is not a causal analysis, however. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discourses about the value of effort and hard work are prevalent and powerful in many western societies and educational contexts. Yet, paradoxically, in these same contexts effortlessachievement is often lauded, and in certain discourses is heralded as the pinnacle of success and a sign of genius. In this paper we interrogate discourses about effort and especially ‘effortlessness’ in Swedish and English educational contexts. Informed, in particular, by interview data generated in upper secondary schools in Sweden and secondary schools in England, we address the questions: why is effortless achievement attractive, and for whom is it possible to be discursively positioned as an effortless achiever? We argue that the subject position of ‘effortless achiever’ is not available to all categories of students equally, and for some it would be almost impossible to attain; the intersections of gender, social class, ethnicity and institutional setting are influential. We end by considering the problematic implications of effortless achievement discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that knowledge is not a passive product of learning that can be possessed, but rather that it represents an active engagement with ideas, arguments and the world in which they reside. This engagement requires a state of 'knowing' - a complex, integrative, reciprocal process that unites the knower with the to-be-known. Exploring the notion of knowledge, this paper considers the roles of truth and belief in knowledge production, the relationship between knowledge and the disciplines, and knowledge as a social and cultural product. These ideas are contextualized in higher education practice with an example of a course designed to help science and engineering students develop criticality and a sense of 'knowing' about the world. The students are challenged to consider what it requires to turn facts and information into knowledge, and to unite their knowing with their own personal experiences and ideas about the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the nature of higher expertise in society and the role of higher education in constituting that expertise. It is argued that higher expertise relies on disciplined norms against which expert activity can be evaluated, and such norms are the basis not only for knowledge communities in higher education but also for other societal institutions. However, expertise in these communities and institutions is challenged by 'post-truth' developments that are fuelled by the marketisation and commodification of expertise, and by a collapse in deference and trust throughout society to which expert institutions and communities have not yet adequately responded. The consequences for higher education can be usefully explored via Durkheim's discussion of the social organisation of religion and magic. Bernstein's pedagogic rights of enhancement, inclusion and participation are subsequently examined to offer insight into how higher expertise may be sustained in such a context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of quantitative research in the social sciences generally and social work specifically has been highlighted in recent years, in both an international and a British context. Consensus opinion in the UK is that quantitative work is the 'poor relation' in social work research, leading to a number of initiatives. However, Sharland's UK work involves interviews with academics, representing consensus opinion. We have little independent measures of their accuracy. This paper is the first to focus on the academic impact of quantitative research in social work developing measurable outcomes. It focuses on three leading British-based generic journals over a 10-year period, encapsulating 1490 original articles. Impact is measured through three indices: Google Scholar and Web of Science Citations, and downloads. These provide measures of 'revealed preference' in relation to individual scholars' impact (though to use them for a particular methodology is novel), whose particular qualities, strengths and limitations are noted. Contrary to received opinion of quantitative work as the 'poor relation' of social work research, findings show that it is not significantly disadvantaged relative to qualitative work in its 'reach' as measured by citations and downloads. The implications of this, including caveats and nuances, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perhaps the most prevailing inequalities in educational achievement in England are those associated with socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity and gender. However, little research has sought to compare the relative size of these gaps or to explore interactions between these factors. This paper analyses the educational achievement at age 11, 14 and 16 of over 15,000 students from the nationally representative longitudinal study of young people in England. At age 16, the achievement gap associated with social class was twice as large as the biggest ethnic gap and six times as large as the gender gap. However, the results indicate that ethnicity, gender and SES do not combine in a simple additive fashion; rather, there are substantial interactions particularly between ethnicity and SES and between ethnicity and gender. At age 16 among low SES students, all ethnic minority groups achieve significantly better than White British students (except Black Caribbean boys who do not differ from White British boys), but at high SES only Indian students outperform White British students. A similar pattern of results was apparent in terms of progress age 11–16, with White British low SES students and Black Caribbean boys (particularly the more able) making the least progress. Parents’ educational aspirations for their child and students’ own educational aspirations, academic self-concept, frequency of completing homework, truancy and exclusion could account for the minority ethnic advantage at low SES, but conditioning on such factors simultaneously indicates substantial ethnic underachievement at average and high SES. Accounts of educational achievement framed exclusively in terms of social class, ethnicity or gender are insufficient, and the results challenge educational researchers to develop more nuanced accounts of educational success or failure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Self-leadership is a concept from the organisational and management literature broadly combining processes of self-goal setting, self-regulation and self-motivation. Research has typically focused on the impact of self-leadership on work performance outcomes, with little attention to potential benefits for learning and development. In this paper, we employ a longitudinal design to examine the association of a number of processes of self-leadership with higher educational attainment in a sample of business students (N = 150). Self-reported use of strategies related to behavioural, cognitive and motivational aspects of self-leadership were measured in the first semester of the academic year, and correlated with end-of year grade point average. We found that in particular, self-goal setting, pro-active goal-related behaviour, behaviour regulation and direction, motivational awareness, and optimism were all significant predictors of educational attainment. We discuss implications for educational research and for teachers and tutors in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the development of teaching practice of the multinational staff delivering UK programmes in a higher education institution in Oman hosting these programmes. It presents a tool to evaluate the teaching practice, and points to those elements of an academic development framework that were found to be most useful in supporting staff in moving towards a student-centred, learning-focused teaching approach. The majority of the lecturers made this shift. We therefore conclude by arguing for long-term CPD aimed at enhancing teaching quality to be part and parcel of a partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical Religious Education (CRE) is a contemporary pedagogy of religious education developed by Andrew Wright and various colleagues over the past two decades. There has been widespread academic discourse about the pedagogy in theory but increasingly commentators have called for examples of it in practice. Over the past seven years a writing group associated with The Forum of Religious and Spiritual Education at King’s College London have been developing practical materials aimed at supporting teachers in embedding the pedagogy in practice. Of particular relevance to this paper is the development of an introductory scheme of work, aimed at year 7 students, which has been trialled in a number of schools in and around London. In 2013, focus group interviews took place in four of these schools in order to ascertain the reception that the materials had received. The data suggests a very positive response to the introductory scheme of work and the CRE approach in general, partially dispelling some criticisms levelled at it in academic discourse. The author has thus suggested that the approach and the work of the writing group need further exposure, especially in schools, at conferences and on initial teacher education programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers whether subject choice at 14–16 influences post-16 transitions, taking into account prior academic attainment and school characteristics, and if so, whether this accounts for socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic differences in access to post-16 education. We consider post-16 progression to full-time education, A-levels, and studying two or more facilitating subjects at A-level. We use ‘Next Steps’, a study of 16,000 people born in England in 1989–1990, linked to administrative education records (the National Pupil Database). We find that students pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum at 14–16 had a greater probability of progression to all post-16 educational outcomes, while the reverse was true for students taking an applied GCSE subject. Curriculum differences did not explain the social class differences in post-16 progression, but an academic curriculum was equally valuable for working-class as for middle-class pupils. Pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum particularly strongly increased the chances of girls and white young people staying in the educational pipeline, whereas applied subjects were particularly detrimental for girls. An EBacc-eligible curriculum at age 14–16 increased the chances of studying subjects preferred by Russell Group universities at A-level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An unprecedented number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) have arrived in Europe over the last decade, and young Afghans account for the highest proportion of UASC across England, Scotland and Wales. Despite a wealth of UK policies aimed at ensuring positive outcomes for young people who have been through the care-system, and a rich body of research exploring the experiences of child refugees and asylum-seekers, less has been documented about the experiences of former UASC after they reach the age of eighteen. An example of practice-based research, this article draws on three new primary data sources to examine the factors that facilitate and impede the socioeconomic integration and wellbeing of young Afghans who arrived in the UK as unaccompanied children but who are now aged eighteen or older. We demonstrate the important role of educational achievement in creating socioeconomic opportunities, shed light on the ubiquitous influence of unresolved immigration status in detracting from wellbeing, and consider the future of these young people in the UK's current socio-political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a qualitative study of 32 UK student teachers, this paper asks what constitutes the vocational culture of teaching by exploring contradictory discourses of care and authority as they are presented to, and interpreted by, trainee teachers along their journey to becoming newly qualified teachers. Introducing the concept of ‘vocational habitus’ in relation to teaching, ‘ideal teacher narratives’ recounted by respondents are examined and mismatches between the expectations of individuals, institutions and wider policy contexts are explored. The later part of the article focuses specifically on three trainee teachers who struggled more than other research participants with their new roles as teachers. Their experiences suggest that simultaneous and gendered notions of caring and commanding respect can present considerable obstacles for the acquisition of a ‘successful’ vocational habitus. In light of proposed changes to teacher training in England, this paper argues that for government teacher education policies to be successful, they need to demonstrate an awareness and consideration of these contradictory notions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether the inter-generational benefits of parental adult education exist over and above the achievement of parental educational qualifications during schooling and whether returns to parental adult learning are greatest for children of parents with low levels of education. Using data from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, ALSPAC, results show that mothers' participation in adult education is not associated with improvements in their children's academic attainment in English and mathematics at age 14 once the previous parental academic qualifications are included. This lack of relationship was found for the overall sample, and for subgroups defined by the type of adult education (accredited, unaccredited or informal learning), the intensity of learning (duration and engagement) and by mothers' prior educational qualifications. Although our results suggest that maternal adult learning is not a key factor for improvement in children's test scores at age 14, further research is needed to investigate the role of parental adult learning at other stages of children's cognitive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the ways girls appropriate gender through actions, gesture and talk to achieve things in primary school science classrooms. It draws on socio-cultural approaches to show that when everyday classroom practices are viewed from multiple planes of analysis, historical, institutional and in the micro dynamics of classroom interaction, gender comes into view in a variety of ways and not only via dominant discourses. Focused observations and interviews were carried out in Year 3 primary school science classrooms in four schools in the UK and the USA (children aged 7 and 8 years). The paper suggests how teachers can work with gender to open up new spaces in primary science classrooms for girls. This remains a priority irrespective of the contemporary anxieties around boys' achievement if girls are to grow up feeling that science is a legitimate arena in which to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on case-study research in four English secondary schools. It explores the pressure placed on English and mathematics departments because of their results being reported in annual performance tables. It examines how English and maths departments enact policies of achievement, the additional power and extra resources the pressure to achieve brings and the possibility of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about progression in further and higher education for migrants to the United Kingdom who are users of non-standard varieties of English. The focus is on the struggles of Tobi, a first-generation migrant Nigerian student. Tobi's story describes the local barriers he must navigate in order to gain access to the courses he wishes to follow, both at the college where he is studying and at the local university to which he wishes to progress. These barriers include mastery of academic English and assessments of literacy. The contrast is drawn out between Tobi's aspirations to progress 'up' along an educational trajectory, and his actual experience of moving 'downwards'. Widening participation and the stratification of higher education are seen in relation to other processes and structures that impact on Tobi's experience: migration, social class and capital, language and language ideologies, and academic literacy. Tobi's trajectory also exemplifies the tension between his own language use and the variety of English he is expected to orient towards. We end the paper with a discussion of models of academic literacy, which may provide a starting point for addressing the pedagogic challenges faced by Tobi and his teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]