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Background: Concept maps have been used extensively for developing higher order thinking skills and are considered significant artefacts in constructing understanding in educational contexts. Increasingly, they are being used as a tool to chart a way towards ‘new understanding’ rather than recording ‘accepted knowledge’. This study is set in an academic development department in a UK higher education institution in which previous research projects have utilised concept map-mediated interviews as a tool in data collection. This paper reports on the relationship between the process of the concept map-mediated interview and the resulting concept map and focuses on the talk during the interview process. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the co-constructed nature of the concept map which resulted from the concept map interview. The research question was: how is the concept map accomplished through and in the interview talk? Sample: The three researchers and authors of this paper are colleagues in an Academic Development department in a UK higher education institution. The focus of the interview was to probe the research perspective underpinning the practice of one of the authors. Design and methods: The study used a qualitative, unstructured concept map interview. The aim of the interview was to elicit an understanding of one of the authors’ research frame and how it influenced her work with staff. The interviewer noted labels on post-it notes during the interview which both participants then arranged on a sheet of paper. The interview lasted 36 minutes and was transcribed verbatim. Sociocultural discourse analysis was used to examine the trajectory of concepts in the interview talk. Results: The results highlight the collaborative nature of the interview and how the concept map is co-constructed through the interview talk. We demonstrate how the concept map is co-constructed through and in the dialogue between interviewer and interviewee, not as a result of the interview. Results also reveal how the context of acquaintance interviews impacts on the co-construction and thus the resulting concept map. Conclusions: A concept map which results from such an interview is co-constructed with the interviewer playing a pivotal role in the talk and the mapping. The implications are that the interview as research tool needs to be recognised as a site for the co-construction of ideas and perspectives. Concept maps resulting from interviews need to be recognised as co-constructed. A further implication for research methods is that the transcripts from the interview itself can be used as data to provide a richer understanding of the concept map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study undertaken at a University in England investigates what influences the development of undergraduate students' socio-emotional intelligence (SEI). Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with students and lecturers, the study highlights various approaches that the learning environment, both physical and cultural influenced their development of SEI. Learning in small groups where students felt safe and supported impacted on their sense of self, and helped develop their confidence. Reflecting on their own experience without constraints or assessed outcomes was also beneficial to these students. The lecturer's knowledge and expertise, and how they modelled SEI were seen as imperative and meaningful to the development of students' SEI. This paper concludes that students must be supported to develop holistically, integrating cognition and emotion, making practical suggestions as to how this may be achieved. Given the paucity of research in this area, opportunities for further research are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time when 'personal development planning' is being rolled out across the UK higher education sector, this paper explores young adults' inclinations to plan for the future in relation to work, relationships and other aspects of life. Although Giddens has emphasised the prevalence of strategic life planning (or the 'colonisation of the future') in all strata of contemporary society, du Bois Reymond has argued that there are important differences by social class, with young people from more privileged backgrounds more likely than their peers to engage in such life-planning activities. This paper draws on interviews with 90 young adults (in their mid-20s) to question some of these assumptions about relationships between social location and propensity to plan for the future. It shows how, within this sample at least, there was a strong association between having had a privileged 'learning career' (such as attending a high-status university and identifying as an 'academic high flier') and a disinclination to form detailed plans for the future. In part, this appeared to be related to a strong sense of ontological security and the confidence to resist what Giddens terms 'an increasingly dominant temporal outlook'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the impact of the transition into higher education upon facets of students' academic self-concept. Drawing upon data collected from undergraduate students at three universities in the north of England it considers the question: does moving from a relatively small pond (sixth form or college) where many students are likely to feel like fairly 'big fish', to a larger pond (university) where most students are likely to feel like much 'smaller fish', affect academic self-concepts? Results suggest that self-concept changes are gender-specific. Overall, female students displayed a significant decline in academic self-concepts in some domains over the transition into higher education, whilst the self-concept levels of the men did not change significantly. A number of possibilities are explored to explain the gendered nature of this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As student numbers in higher education in the UK have expanded during recent years, it has become increasingly important to understand its cost structure. This study applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to higher education institutions in England to assess their cost structure, efficiency and productivity. The paper complements an earlier study that used parametric methods to analyse the same panel data. Interestingly, DEA provides estimates of subject-specific unit costs that are in the same ballpark as those provided by the parametric methods. The paper then extends the previous analysis and finds that further student number increases of the order of 20-27% are feasible through exploiting operating and scale efficiency gains and also adjusting student mix. Finally the paper uses a Malmquist index approach to assess productivity change in the UK higher education. The results reveal that for a majority of institutions productivity has actually decreased during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of Foundation Degree qualifications in the UK (HEFCE, 2007) has lead to a more active view of employer engagement with Higher Education. Many full time Foundation Degree students are now taking up work placements with employers as part of their study. As a result, a three-way conversation between learners, employers and tutors needs to take place on an ongoing basis throughout placements. An online environment utilising blogs, e-portfolio and online work-based contracts can facilitate this 'conversation'. Employers can be further supported through provision of online materials to support the process of mentor training. This paper reports on an HE Academy, ICS funded mini-project to create such an environment at Hull College for students on the Foundation Degree course in Software Design and Development. The project is still underway, and is in the middle of its year-long span. The environment has been chosen, developed and tested. The next phase will be to use the system for work-placement study. This paper outlines the use of Elgg as a means of maintaining communication with students, employers and tutors and encouraging reflection during Foundation Degree work placements. We aim to present the experience of using the online environment at the 8th Annual Conference of the ICS HE Academy in August. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses Pierre Bourdieu's multi-faceted understanding of the higher education process by considering the evolution of this domain since the end of the 1970s both in France and England. Following a brief review of Bourdieu's main interpretations of higher education, several theoretical shifts in his thought and practice over time are identified that have sought to accommodate the rapid changes that have occurred in the higher education sector in recent years. This theoretical repositioning is used to reflect on ideas of homological reasoning advanced by Bourdieu and others, and their limitations in the cross-national comparative exercise. Using the findings of her own comparative study of the evolution of the French and English higher education sectors, the author tests some of the conceptual tools developed by Bourdieu mainly during the 1960s and 1970s, and discusses claims for their universal validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning is high on the political agenda for post-compulsory education and training in England. Official discourses about learning assume a predominantly individualist stance, despite the development of theoretical models that stress the contextual and situated nature of learning. In a study following 50 young people through further education over 4 years, it became apparent that the institutional culture of the colleges had a significant impact upon students’ dispositions towards their learning. In this paper, we explore the nature and significance of this impact in a case-study sixth form college: an under-researched sector of educational provision. This is followed by a brief discussion of the implications of our analysis for issues of access, widening participation and inequality in relation to current proposals to reform age 16–19 educational provision in England. We conclude by identifying some of the questions about the fine-grained nature of that college culture that our data does not permit us to address directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the annual SCSE conference held on December 16, 1983 at the King's College in London, England. Theme adopted for the event; Number of people present; Attendance of people concerned with higher education and educational studies.

During 2007/8, Southampton Solent University worked on a Leadership Foundation project focused on the utility of the multi-functional team approach as a vehicle to deliver innovation in strategic and operational terms in higher education (HE). The Task-Orientated Multi-Functional Team Approach (TOMFTA) project took two significant undertakings for Southampton Solent as key areas for investigation, one academic and one administrative in focus. The academic project was the development of an innovative and novel degree programme in knowledge management (KM). The new KM Honours degree programme is timely both in recognition of the increasing importance to organisations of knowledge as a commodity, and in its adoption of a distinctive structure and pedagogy. The methodology for the KM curriculum design brings together student-centred and market-driven approaches: positioning the programme for the interests of students and requirements of employers, rather than just the capabilities of staff; while looking at ways that courses can be delivered with more flexibility, e.g. accelerated and block-mode; with level-differentiated activities, common cross-year content and material that is multi-purpose for use in short courses. In order to permit context at multiple levels in common, a graduate skills strand is taught separately as part of the University's business-facing education agenda. The KM portfolio offers a programme of practically-based courses integrating key themes in knowledge management, business, information distribution and development of the media. They develop problem-solving, communications, teamwork and other employability skills as well as the domain skills needed by emerging information management technologies. The new courses are built on activities which focus on different aspects of KM, drawing on existing content as a knowledge base. This paper presents the ongoing development of the KM programme through the key aspects in its conception and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of recent policy on the nature of competition within English higher education (HE) for students. Revisions made to the method of allocating Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) teaching funds and the introduction of performance monitoring and targeted recruitment premiums have changed the incentives facing higher education institutions (HEI)s when designing recruitment strategies. We consider the extent to which the experience of similar market-based reforms on the English secondary schooling system is being replicated in HE. Promoting increased competition by comparison was advocated as a means of stimulating greater allocative, technical and dynamic efficiency in both schools and universities. Similarly, relaxing institutions’ capacity constraints and introducing targeted financial incentives have been touted as effective mech-anisms to assist the attainment of policy objectives. However, the experience of market-based reforms of state secondary schooling indicates that dysfunctional responses occur and that the overall impact on market behaviour is more complex than anticipated. We consider whether similar processes are evolving in HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ESRC-funded research (RES-000-22-0832), this article examines the accounts of men participating in London access and foundation programmes in relation to their shifting masculine identifications. I consider how the men's early memories of schooling shape their student masculinities. Their accounts are contextualised in relation to hegemonic discourses of widening participation and neo-liberalism. Drawing on feminist critique, I pay attention to the men's self-regulating practices in their struggle to be recognised as deserving of higher education access and participation. The interconnections and contradictions within men's identifications across a range of differences are considered in relation to their experiences and imaginaries of accessing higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses some of the key issues involved in the attempt to redefine the nature of teacher professionalism in England. During the 1980s, the various attempts to find new ways of training teachers had led to the development of a number of shortened courses, extended courses, and part-time courses. Each of the successive reforms has been announced before earlier changes have been properly evaluated and they have all been accompanied by well-orchestrated media attacks on the role of higher education in teacher education. The process of deprofessionalisation and reprofessionalisation of teaching involves a combination of measures to open up the market to new producers of qualified teachers and to foster a different ideology amongst new entrants to the profession. First, to locate the reforms in the broader context of other changes taking place in education and, more particularly, in the nature of teachers' work. Government interventions in education have sought to introduce a competitive market system for the supply of educational services. This has resulted in changes to the governance, content and outcomes of schooling.

The article discusses some of the key concepts, debates and issues concerning the political economy of markets. Identification of problems and sources of tension and dysfunction which mark the points at which market failure might occur and the impact on teacher education of the introduction of market principles. In common with many other areas of education and sectors of the public services, teacher education in England and Wales is experiencing a period of intense change. There are now several summaries of recent developments in teacher education. The major elements of these have been identified as firstly the establishment of alternative routes into teaching. Secondly the requirement for Higher Education Institutions to enter into partnership arrangements with schools to provide initial training. Thirdly a move away front specification of course content and towards the use of profiles of teacher competences as exit criteria specifying student achievement. The proposal to shift to the new Teacher Training Agency both the control of funding from the Higher Education Funding Council and also the accreditation of courses and institutions, from the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. If government policy were seriously intended to make education more receptive to a market orientation then it would not be unreasonable to expect some specification of the relevant market form or forms.