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This paper is inspired by, and constructed around, a number of fundamental questions that are relevant to teacher educators working within the context of the government policy initiatives and implementations that are influencing Higher Education in the UK at the present time. Using teacher education practices as sites of inquiry, and a number of figures from the work of Deleuze, the paper investigates approaches to teaching and learning that are described as having an aesthetic and ethically sensitive character. Mindful of such approaches and of the pervasiveness of policy influences, the paper also encourages a careful and thorough re-thinking of the theory and practice of teacher education as a terrain of complexity, multiplicity and interconnectedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the ways in which UK higher education (HE) has become increasingly commercialised and commodified in the post-1980s. It critiques the strategies adopted by successive UK governments to reinvigorate the relationship between educational and economic life, and to facilitate a more corporate and entrepreneurial spirit within the academy in line with the pressures of a 'knowledge-based economy'. Arguing for a more critical exploration of teaching and learning within HE, the paper presents evidence from work carried out by the Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching in Learning (CETL) which adopts a research-based learning approach to teaching and learning at undergraduate level.1 Within the context of ongoing debates surrounding the relationship between teaching, learning and research in UK HE, the paper advocates a reinvention of curriculum design through an engagement with the broader principles of critical pedagogy, and in so doing, presents a critical engagement with the commercialisation of HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the sociological issues raised by a recent study on school councils in England. This study revealed a lack of clarity among policy-makers and schools regarding the purpose of provision for pupil voice. The paper argues that this allows important questions about the functions of pupil voice to be avoided. While suggesting ways in which schools could refine their provision, the paper asks whether more effective pupil voice would make the concept less attractive to policy-makers and schools in the first place. It goes on to highlight more fundamental questions raised by critiques of notions of 'voice'. Connected to this, the paper outlines the potential for pupil voice to support neo-liberal as well as progressive ends. It concludes by arguing that teachers must grasp the opportunities provided by pupil voice to ensure that it serves 'collaborative' rather than 'managerial' professionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of Intensive Interaction in interactive pedagogy for students with severe and complex learning difficulties. It begins with an overview of the theoretical context for interactive pedagogy and then goes on to describe how one particular approach, Intensive Interaction, can, within a flexible curriculum, support sociability and communication development for pupils who are hardest to reach because they have not yet learned the fundamentals of early communication. Findings from one case study are drawn upon to illustrate the efficacy of this and to discuss how teamwork can affect optimal outcomes. The paper argues for more pupil-centred, flexible curricula and the wider adoption of approaches such as Intensive Interaction in inclusive mainstream schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]