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This article deconstructs the language of the 2010 UK Coalition Government's White Paper, The Importance of Teaching. It uses analytical frameworks related to rhetoric established by Aristotle and Cicero. It explores the mechanisms of language using both critical discourse analysis and content analysis, offering quantitative data on the content of the paper and qualitative data on the literary strategies employed. It is concerned not only with how what is communicated persuades but also the ethics of persuasion; what is suggested and to what end. The article suggests a mutually reinforcing relationship between poverty of language and poverty of thought. The Coalition Government asserts an heroic stance to act radically to free victimised teachers from the burdens of bureaucracy imposed by the previous government. However, rather than radical action to make change, the findings suggest that the White Paper presents an illusory carapace of change that conceals fundamental continuity. It reassures all of the commitment of government and audiences to change while sustaining education as fundamentally unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to encourage re-reading and re-evaluation of a series of educational polemics published in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, the Black Papers. These works proposed, for the most part, avowedly conservative views on education: condemning so-called "progressive" teaching methods and the re-organisation of secondary schools in the UK (especially England) into non-selective comprehensives. It is argued, however, that much said and written about the Black Papers since has concentrated only on selected "high profile" contributors, to the neglect of other contributors, often anonymous, whose comments were sometimes more measured/thoughtful. Design/methodology/approach - The work proceeds first by re-visiting the facts surrounding the writing of the Black Papers and their critical reception. It then analyses the nature of the contributors and describes selected essays not usually referred to when the Black Papers are discussed by historians and others. Findings - The work finds that the Black Papers are often infuriatingly and unhelpful polemical in nature but that much written about them since has concentrated only on selected contributors, ignoring others who were more measured. Originality/value - The work is perhaps the first critical re-reading of the Black Papers in any depth in several decades. It does not simply dismiss them as hysterical rants by ill-informed authors and suggests that they re-pay careful attention, despite their often polemical nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses papers which attempted to devise methods of measuring the performance of universities in Great Britain. Defence of the institutional profiling method; Critical weaknesses presented by the first-destination survey data used; Issues on institutional progression rates and the employability of its graduates.

Shena Simon (1883–1972), a leading English socialist and educationist, actively called for the reform of secondary education in the 1930s and 1940s in order to bring the ideal of ‘equality of opportunity’ into the English educational system. This paper explores the continuity and changes in Simon’s proposed reforms in relation to her ideals of social democracy from the appearance of the Spens Report (1938) to the publication of her book,Three Schools or One?(1948). In addition, Simon’s transnational visits to the Soviet Union, the USA and Scotland, as well as the impact of her international and comparative perspectives on different educational systems on her policy agenda, are also examined. It concludes that as many policy issues shown in the current paper continue to be debated, Simon’s democratic ideals and discourses are still relevant in the present and suggest implications for the future of secondary education in England. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fred Clarke (1880–1952), an English educationist, emerged as a leading figure with his liberal approach alongside such key figures as R. H. Tawney and Cyril Norwood in the reform leading to the 1944 Education Act. Many of his reform proposals, which were provided by the new Act, reflected his ideals of liberal democracy. Nevertheless, his contribution to the process of the legislation has not been examined thoroughly. Therefore, this paper explores his positions on educational issues in various debates and his approaches towards the reform. It also evaluates the extent to which the 1944 Education Act was in line with Clarke’s ideals and proposals so that a comprehensive assessment of Clarke’s contribution to the legislation can be made. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Analyzes the proposals and assumptions in the Consultation Paper `Teachers Meeting the Challenge of Change.' Two tasks that the consultation paper addresses; Tradition of teacher criticism; Changes in the organization of work and productivity; Modernization of the teaching profession in Great Britain.

In the context of a proliferation of post-16 options, the need for substantial individual financial investment in university education, and uncertainties of employment outcomes, this paper explores student agency and structural constraints around career planning and progression into Higher Education (HE). Analysing data collected on behalf of a National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) hub in England, this research considers the views of students and staff at further education colleges (FECs). It draws on fourteen in-depth interviews with students undertaking qualifications that facilitate university entry, and seven interviews with staff involved in delivering information, advice and guidance (IAG) in some capacity within FECs. The paper explores the similarities and differences in how IAG is perceived, regarding its timing, depth, focus and scope. Students and staff broadly agreed that IAG in their FEC was often too broad, generic and insufficiently tailored to individual needs. In the cost-benefit analysis on university progression, students weighed up individual circumstances, calculating their best option whilst negotiating the structural constraints. Self-sufficiency was a common desire and ambition, and as such, the financial risks of entering university needed to be mitigated by a clear promise of stability in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R.H. Tawney (1880–1962), a leading English economic historian and prominent socialist, was vigorously involved in educational reconstruction during the Second World War. For Tawney, the war was a war for social democracy. His ideals of social democracy formed a basis for his case for Public (independent) School reform and free secondary education for all. Despite this, the connection between Tawney’s ideals and his perspectives on educational issues has not been addressed fully by historians and thus there has been a lack of a proper explanation for his often criticised sympathy for the public schools and his indifference towards the multilateral school. Hence, this paper aims to re-examine the link between them in greater depth. It concludes that, according to Tawney’s ideals of social democracy, the abolition of the public schools was not necessary for the establishment of a democratic educational system. Moreover, Tawney did not launch an attack on the tripartite system proposed by the Norwood Report of 1943 since it was not against his ideal of equality as long as different secondary schools were equal in quality and status. Equality, he believed, must be advanced through the raising of the school leaving age to 16 and the abolition of fees in all secondary schools. Thus, he laid more emphasis on the school leaving age and tuition fees than on the multilateral school. In brief, on various issues pertaining to secondary education, Tawney’s opinions and actions were deeply grounded in his distinctive ideals of social democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The December 2008 special issue of the Oxford Review of Education provided a review of education policy during Tony Blair's tenure as Prime Minister. This paper forms a response to the ten contributions to that special issue and discusses some of the issues raised in them. While a few positive aspects of education under New Labour were identified in the special edition, it focused more on the failures of New Labour than its achievements. A common theme to emerge from the papers included the government's pursuit of neo-liberal market policies at the expense of its professed commitment to social justice. While accepting that the government's failure to tackle the differences in educational outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils constitutes a major failing, the present author argues that significant achievements, such as early years provision, were neglected in the special issue. He also discusses the electoral considerations facing New Labour and the personal role of Tony Blair in determining policy. The paper goes on to consider whether New Labour's education policy has changed since the departure of Blair and identifies some hints of a potentially more progressive approach developing under Brown. It concludes by suggesting that contributing towards a debate about alternatives to Blairite policies should now become a priority for the 'educational establishment'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers questions of ‘employability’, a notion foregrounded in the Green and White Papers on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). The paper first questions government imperatives concerning employability and suggests a series of mismatches that are evident in the rhetorics in this area. This summary opens up elements of what I am calling the first ‘folly’ in the field. The second section of the paper considers recent research with individual academics engaged in employability activity. This research suggests another series of mismatches in the aims and outcomes of ‘employability initiatives’ and opens up a further series of ‘follies’ in the day-to-day practices of academics and students’ responses to them. The third section of the paper turns to academics’ reports of student behaviour in relation to the outcomes of their degree. This section develops an argument that relates to the final ‘folly’ associated with the current focus on employability. I argue that students’ focus on outcomes (which at face value suggests they have internalized the importance of employment) is contributing to the production of graduates who do not have the dispositions that employers – when interviewed – say that they want. The highly performative culture of higher education, encouraged by the same metrics that will be extended through the TEF, is implicated then innotpreparing students for the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Shortly after taking power following the May 2010 UK general election, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government published its education white paper, The Importance of Teaching. In this, certain features for primary school pedagogy can be discerned. Using the lens of the “position call”, this article examines the discourses implicated in the white paper to highlight the position calls offered to the primary profession concerning pedagogy. These are compared to those made by New Labour in its previous 13 years in power. Accordingly, the article proposes that whilst the previous administration offered the position calls for primary education of pedagogy as collective craft and pedagogy as collective performance, continuity and discontinuity can be seen in the recent white paper, namely that the position calls now being made are for pedagogy as individual craft and pedagogy as individual performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]