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This paper examines the possible relationship between religious education and social justice. A consideration of what it is that education in the public sphere should seek to achieve, in a normative sense, is followed by an explanation of how we conceptualise social justice in this paper. This leads us to be able to explain why the relationship between teacher and child or young person is significant and why it is insufficient to conceptualise religious education only in terms of knowledge. Instead, we propose that the teacher's first responsibility when beginning any course of study is to bring the child to attend to their experience and that of their wider community. We argue that curriculum cannot be made in isolation of the context of the child and that education is not something that takes place in abstraction. Rather, it requires the teacher to be attentive to this particular child, the one who is here now, and in this particular place. Having begun to set out the educational position of our argument, we show how this is working practically guided by a Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education: Living Difference IV, in religious education taught in a school in an area of high deprivation in the southeast of Hampshire. UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the ways in which drawing is taught and assessed in post‐16 UK schools and colleges, with a particular focus on A Level art and design courses. Through an historical survey of the development of syllabi and assessment methods, it traces how the role of drawing in the curriculum has changed over the past sixty years. From a series of prescribed observational drawing exercises, the A level exam has evolved into a holistic exploration of each student's creative process, and drawing is now seen mainly as an integral part of that process. The article demonstrates how the art history element of the syllabus has also been gradually integrated into practice, and thus into the drawing process itself. Questions are raised about how these changes have influenced the nature of the portfolios which students entering higher education bring to interview. In short, this article seeks to answer the question: do we now teach and assess observational drawing skills 'through a glass darkly', obscured by other considerations within the art educational curriculum? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author considers the contribution of creativity to pastoral care in education. Since its advent in English schools in the early 1970s, pastoral care has placed the affective realm and individual enrichment centre stage in both its curriculum aims and teaching approaches. These principles have, however, had much to contend with over the past 50 years; from the obtrusive effects of state intervention in schools, to the challenges confronting young people growing up in increasingly complex societies. For many teachers and practitioners, engaging young people in creative pursuits has come to be regarded as a necessary counterpoint to increasingly performative school cultures and an essential means to enabling vibrant forms of positive self-expression. The power of creative activities has received new impetus as a pastoral concern in light of two national trends. The first as creative arts provision in the curriculum in English state secondary schools declines as a consequence of Government qualification reforms, and second as an increasing number of young people are referred to Alternative Educational Provision with mental health issues. As a consequence, many pastoral educators have turned or, indeed, returned to creativity and creative practices as a primary means of supporting and enriching the lives of young people, particularly for those who now struggle in contemporary school environments. In light of these developments and drawing on research and practice in the field of creativity and pastoral care, this paper aims to cast further light on creativity in pastoral education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practitioner research, as one example of research supported by universities, has developed in unexpected ways, some of them unhelpful and has not always generated the benefits predicted. This paper argues that practitioner research has become shaped more by the needs of universities than by the schools and teachers it was hoped it would serve. The paper goes on to explore the idea that the promise of practitioner research has been so beguiling that it has commandeered more than a wise share of attention in universities and that this has been at the expense of exploring some other avenues of engagement with schools. The paper notes that the evolution of practitioner inquiry has taken place at a time when regimes of accountability driven by central government have been visible globally and when universities and schools each had significant pressures to fulfil policy imperatives. The pressure towards performance has in England drawn the attention of universities and schools away from, rather than towards, each other: schools to revised curricula and performance, universities to research and funding. Practitioner research became developed as a skeleton for higher degrees and in that arena universities came to have a role in promoting and at the same time inhibiting and possibly damaging its development. Hopes that practitioner research would come to contribute to mainstream research were not fulfilled and both educational and more especially practitioner research remain problematic in the wider university research agenda. One response is to renew efforts to improve existing approaches and examples of this are now widespread. However, the paper observes that, at present universities’ support for schools seems to reflect only a small part of their much wider expertise and argues that education departments in universities might think much more radically about the range of expertise that they can offer schools, a more imaginative exploration. The paper continues by noting that the challenge for university departments of education of working together equally with schools and teachers is easy to aspire to, but not to fulfil, and this impacts on working with the authentic concerns of schools and on sharing expertise. Further opportunities are available: beyond education departments: for example, other university departments have expertise that education departments might link with which has hitherto remained unexplored. Additional areas which remain under-researched are the processes of incorporating educational change and in making judgments about educational initiatives. Readers are reminded that the accidental barriers produced by the categories of research, teaching and administration are accountancy categories and may demand creative and determined responses. The paper concludes that there is too much to lose by not exploring these or other wider possibilities and much to gain by doing so including opportunities in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operative and non-technical skills exposure of urology trainees has reduced due to a number of factors, including the European Working Time Directive, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Simulation-based education (SBE) is an innovative addition to clinical experience which can begin to address the skills-based learning deficiency in order to help trainees meet their curriculum requirements and optimise the exposure required for a trainee to become a competent general urology consultant. Surgical simulation is an effective training tool but has a complex implementation process, requiring considerable planning tailored to specific educational targets, to ensure it is sustainable and reproducible. Methodology from the field of implementation science offers an invaluable approach to design an effective simulation-based training adjunct, as exemplified by the example of the UK Urology Simulation Boot Camp (USBC), a comprehensive training course which incorporates core technical and non-technical skills based on the current Joint Committee on Surgical Training (JCST) urological training curriculum to equip newly appointed urology trainees to work as competent junior registrars. Delivered annually in Leeds since 2015, the course has had excellent feedback and results in improving the urological knowledge of trainees, as well as increases in trainees' confidence. This paper will provide a summary of how the course was designed, delivered, reproduced, sustained and evaluated. Its success is demonstrated by its incorporation into the UK urology training programme, and since 2018, it is now recommended to all new urology residents in the UK. The course implementation model would be applicable to other surgical specialties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a global need to expand palliative care services to reach the increasing number requiring end of life care. In developing countries where the incidences of cancer are rising there is an urgent need to develop the palliative care workforce. This paper reports on a UK Department for international development (DFID) initiative funded through the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) where palliative care staff, both clinical and academic, volunteered to help to develop, support and deliver a degree in palliative care in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of the study was to explore the personal impact on the health care professionals of being part of this initiative.Methods: An evaluation approach using a confidential electronic survey containing quantitative and qualitative questions was distributed to all 17 volunteers on the programme, three months after completion of the first cohort. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and content thematic analysis. Ethical review deemed the study to be service evaluation.Results: 82 % (14) responded and several themes emerged from the data including the positive impact on teaching and educational skills; clinical practice and finally personal development. Using a score of 1-10 (1-no impact, 10 maximum impact) 'Lifestyle choices - life work balance' (rating 7.83) had the most impact.Conclusions: This approach to supporting the development of palliative care in Sub-Saharan Africa through skill sharing in supporting the delivery of a degree programme in palliative care was successful in terms of delivery of the degree programme, material development and mentorship of local staff. Additionally, this study shows it provided a range of positive impacts on the volunteer health care professionals from the UK. Professional impacts including increased management skills, and being better prepared to undertake a senior role. However it is the personal impact including lifestyle choices which the volunteers reported as the highest impact. Interestingly, several of the faculty have joined other volunteer programmes to continue to support the international development of palliative care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rwandan genocide was perhaps the most paradigmatic human rights catastrophe in the post-Holocaust era, which challenged the mantra of ‘never again’. Yet as we approach the twentieth anniversary, it remains a relatively marginalised entity within mainstream English education. This paper argues that a study of the Rwandan genocide introduces a number of important issues, which are not emphasised within Holocaust education. It also draws upon a small-scale empirical study of 41 teachers’ attitudes in England, perceptions and experiences of teaching the genocide in a range of disciplines and demonstrates emerging patterns on how it is integrated into curricula and individual lessons. It concludes by advocating the study of the Rwandan genocide in its own right and the importance of students appreciating its contemporary relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: ENT presentations are prevalent in clinical practice but feature little in undergraduate curricula. Consequently, most medical graduates are not confident managing common ENT conditions. In 2014, the first evidence-based ENT undergraduate curriculum was published to guide medical schools. Objective: To assess the extent that current UK medical school learning outcomes correlate with the syllabus of the ENT undergraduate curriculum. Method: Two students from each participating medical school independently reviewed all ENT-related curriculum documents to determine whether learning outcomes from the suggested curriculum were met. Results: Sixteen of 34 curricula were reviewed. Only a minority of medical schools delivered teaching on laryngectomy or tracheostomy, nasal packing or cautery, and ENT medications or surgical procedures. Conclusion: There is wide variability in ENT undergraduate education in UK medical schools. Careful consideration of which topics are prioritised, and the teaching modalities utilised, is essential. In addition, ENT learning opportunities for undergraduates outside of the medical school curriculum should be augmented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ENT is highly under-represented in the saturated UK medical school curriculum, comprising less than 1 per cent of the curriculum. A 1-day course was implemented in order to raise awareness of ENT among medical students, educate them in the specialty and teach a basic skill. Methods: The skills day comprised lectures by consultants followed by a consultant-led workshop teaching tracheostomy. Pre- and post-course questionnaires assessed perceptions of ENT, confidence performing tracheostomy and interest in ENT as a career. Results: Perceptions of ENT as a specialty were improved by up to 80 per cent (p < 0.01). There was improved understanding of and confidence in performing tracheostomies. Interest in a career in ENT was increased by 77 per cent (p < 0.01). Conclusion: A 1-day course run by a student body can be a powerful adjunct to the medical school curriculum, in terms of educating undergraduates in ENT and inspiring the pursuit of ENT as a career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]