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This paper draws on an oral history project which focuses on former coalminers' experiences of education and training. It presents the stories of five participants, all of whom undertook significant programmes of post-compulsory education during or immediately after leaving the coal industry and achieved a degree of social mobility over the course of their working lives. The paper compares and contrasts their experiences with those which now exist in Britain's former coalmining communities which, it is argued, have been substantively attenuated over time, especially for young men. Whilst it is evident that individual choice and motivation can play an important role in helping (or hindering) young people's journeys through education and employment, the central argument of the paper is that individual labour market success lies at the intersection of structure and agency -- although the data presented also demonstrate the extent to which opportunities available to young men in the former coalfields have been diminished by de-industrialisation.

Previous studies have identified a deficit with the higher education (HE) decision-making support offered by further education (FE) colleges, compared with other post-16 providers. However, there has been little research as to why this might be the case. This paper explores this issue by considering the HE choice-making experiences of Level 3 Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) students and the staff supporting them in an FE college in England. Data are viewed through the theoretical lens of the Theory of Practice Architectures, a framework which illuminates the pre-existing conditions holding the practices of HE choice-making in place. The investigation reveals inconsistent College HE choice support, with a reliance on tutors and local universities that can both enable and constrain the programme. Factors underlying the construction of the programme include the structural parameters of both the BTEC qualification and the College, competing College priorities and the varying relationships the College has with different types of universities. The paper concludes by highlighting the complexity of the tensions and conflicts inherent in FE and making a number of practical recommendations as to the underlying conditions that would need to change in order for FE HE choice support to fulfil its potential.

The first year of university can be a vulnerable time, especially for students who describe themselves as shy and who may be reluctant to engage socially. Shyness, which can be closely aligned with social anxiety, often reduces opportunities for students to belong. This paper presents the experiences of two students negotiating experiences of shyness and belonging during their first year at university. Scholars have focused on how young people "negotiate" belonging(s) in multiple spaces. These negotiations provide insights into complex, varied and multi-faceted relationships which contribute to the lives of young people and which are integral to their identity development. The paper foregrounds four common trends in scholarship on belonging (space/place, memory/nostalgia, temporality and relationships) to structure the analysis of positionality, shyness and intersubjectivity during a transitional time. How both these students "come to belong" in reference to everyday social practices complicates a psychological or disability-studies approach to the study of shyness and provides insight into the realities of student experience, personal hardship and familial responsibility.

The paper problematises conceptualisations of Vocational Education and Training (VET) and its relationship to social justice by examining a number of debates. It explores a post-structural policy analysis which is sensitive to the manner in which, through research, we constitute the object of our inquiry and as a result of this process subtly change it. This initial discussion leads into an examination of hegemonic constructions of VET. Subsequently, the paper addresses the contours of inequality as they apply to VET and English further education. This is followed by an examination of conceptualisations of equity, equality and meritocracy. In conclusion, the paper poses a question -- how far can VET be shifted from its occupational moorings in order to contribute towards a socially just society, or is it compromised by its close association with the needs of capital and employers? This is not merely an empirical but also a political question that hinges on conceptualisations of social justice and power as well as the manner in which these are addressed in the struggle for a fairer more just society.

This paper explores the enterprises artist-teachers in adult community learning (ACL) engage with and how these form their identity. This is significant to consider as artist-teachers in ACL are overlooked in the published literature. ACL is comprised of community-based learning delivered by local authorities and general further education colleges. Thornton defines the artist-teacher as an individual dedicated to both art and teaching. This is visualised in his Artist Teacher Model. However, Thornton ignores other enterprises that an artist-teacher could be involved in. This paper then considers Daichendt's use of Wallace and Gruber's networks of enterprises. Using the earliest recorded artist-educator, George Wallis, as a case study, Daichendt highlights how one is often engaged in several enterprises and uses the network of enterprises to visualise this. Participant interviews and focus groups test if this is more appropriate for the artist-teacher in ACL than Thornton's model. The impact of this research on practice is an improved understanding of the multifaceted identities of artist-teachers. The paper helps to produce new knowledge around the identity and introduces newly developed visual tools for tracking this, including the Tetrad Identity Model, and the ATLS. These tools may also be used for other professionals with multifaceted identities.

This paper focuses on the colleges and institutes of higher education (CIHEs), major providers of HE, almost sixty of which existed in England and Wales between the 1970s and the early twenty-first century. Its central argument is that a failure to develop the CIHEs as specialist institutions of advanced professional learning along the lines of the German Berufsakademien (rather than being recast as universities of moderate standing) was a significant error, especially in terms of failing to provide a viable alternative to university-based higher education in England and Wales. This alternative trajectory would, I argue, have been beneficial both for the CIHEs as institutions and for those sections of the labour market most associated with them, especially in terms of resolving some of the long-standing tensions between academic and work-related learning in preparing aspiring professionals for employment in a range of people-centred occupations. The paper traces the historical development of the CIHEs and critically considers how they might have been alternatively fostered following the 1978 Oakes Report, a possibility, which, it is argued, was effectively extinguished following the neoliberal turn, which took place from the end of the 1970s onwards.

The dominant public discourse regarding the recruitment and retention of teachers is one that is often framed in terms such as 'crisis'. Data from the Department for Education, the National Audit Office and bodies such as the Education and Training Foundation highlight challenges in filling vacancies across each part of the education sector. This is particularly acute in subject areas relating to Science, Engineering and Technology (SET). This paper analyses discourses relating to teacher training amongst tri-service personnel in the English context. Sources from publications such as FE Week and CTP (Career Transition Partnership) are addressed. In doing so, the paper compares educational and military sources in order to examine how the representation of a civilian teaching career varies between the two. This is about adding to the wider societal narrative regarding the ways in which military to civilian transition can be aided by the reframing of skills and experience acquired during military service.

This paper examines staff perspectives on institutional representations of a range of areas of diversity and inclusion in a key post-compulsory education sector: that of UK Higher Education (HE). The paper focuses on comparing representational statements made by institutions with the reality of their lived experiences as perceived by staff. The paper first reviews literature around key issues of promoting and progressing in these areas, and how these areas are represented by institutions and the sector as a whole. It presents and discusses data from a survey (n = 300) to show strong agreement with representational statements as mirroring those of institutions, yet statistically significant differences between representations and the reality of lived experiences, particularly in relation to the lived experiences of staff. These data are discussed in the light of progress made by institutions, and the challenges faced in translating representations into real lived experience. Suggestions for institutions and policy makers are made to help better align reality with these representations in the UK Higher Education sector and, theoretically, for post-compulsory education sectors elsewhere.

This paper addresses the problem of the development of postgraduate education in Poland. It aims to analyse how the different types of higher education institutions (HEIs), such as public universities, public universities of applied sciences (UAS) and private sector organisations, engage in postgraduate learning. It draws data from 11 case studies of HEIs which were individually studied with the help of an analysis of institutional strategic documents, as well as 49 individual in-depth interviews with university leaders and academic staff involved in postgraduate education. Drawing on this data, the paper offers two major conclusions. The hierarchy of organisational resources determines the institutional policy of HEIs and provides an account of different levels of institutional involvement in the development of postgraduate studies. It demonstrates the reason private HEIs are the most active in the market of postgraduate education followed by UAS. Second, private HEIs depict typical features for the "complete organisations" helping them to acquire the lion's share of the postgraduate market. However, public universities with traditional governance models remain relatively passive in this field, allowing individual academics to perform their business.

Recruiting and retaining vocational education and training (VET) educators is an increasing challenge in countries across the world. So understanding their transition and retention is vital to the development of a sustainable workforce. This paper draws on interviews with senior administrators of Australian training providers and survey data from practising VET teachers and trainers to identify factors that most influenced these educators to remain in what was, for most of them, a second or later career. The research found that the major influences on retention of new educators in VET were partly extrinsic, including employment conditions, lifestyle balance and support for professional development, and partly intrinsic, including a supportive culture and job satisfaction through enjoyment of teaching and giving back to industry. The findings provide training providers with a clear indication of what encourages educators to make a long-term commitment to VET teaching and what motivates them to perform at their best once they have made the transition.

The closure of higher education institutions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a sudden and unexpected transition from face-to-face to online teaching and learning. This paper draws on data from a broader study focusing on higher education students' perceptions and experiences of online learning during the first lockdown in 2020. In total, 2,718 students from different Portuguese institutions participated in the study. Findings indicate that students who felt they had been provided with more feedback reported less difficulty in online teaching and learning. Students reported more perceived difficulty than perceived feedback in online teaching and learning. Findings point to the importance of feedback in fostering self-regulation of learning, thereby helping students better adapt to online teaching and learning.

This small-scale qualitative research project is located within post-compulsory education in England and explores some of the strategies and responses employed by three initial teacher educators to carry out their professional role while responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The central argument is that teacher identity was significant as a pedagogical tool to respond to the pandemic. Therefore, more consideration should be given to the interconnectedness of "who I am," "what I do" and "why I do it," when pedagogical responses are needed to address emergent issues. The first part of the paper paints a picture of the available literature related to learning during COVID-19, followed by an articulation of the research design. The second part discusses the relationship between identity and pedagogy, which is the central theme constructed from the data gathered from the research participants. It closes with a reflection about how educators as a collective have shown resilience and creative ways to deal with challenges, thus adding new layers of their identity, and this can be pedagogically powerful.

This paper presents an innovative narrative data analysis approach, used in a narrative research project exploring student values. The work of three different authors was drawn upon to create a novel, rigorous and synergistic analysis tool. A novel approach to data analysis, using the stories told by one Generation Z (Gen Z) student and the personal values elicited, which are drawn from Schwartz's theory of universals in basic human values is presented. This leads to a restorying of the data, from which the reader finds meaning. The participant was interviewed at the beginning of their first year as undergraduate and is presented as an example from the larger study of seven Gen Z students. How this approach is effective is examined, demonstrating that combining theory and the narrative analysis approach enabled the values of self-direction, security, benevolence and power to be exposed within the resulting restorying. This is a new and innovative approach to narrative analysis that can be applied in a wide range of contexts internationally and utilised in future studies.

The paper, based on a primary survey, explores the inequalities in access and household investment on the market-based 'supplemental educational services' (SESs) in post-compulsory school education (i.e. secondary level of education) in Haryana, a northern state in India. We find that around 44% of students access SESs in secondary education in Haryana, and it varies considerably across socioeconomic groups such as class, caste and gender. Results from the two-step Heckman selection model suggest that access to and household investment in SESs is significantly determined by household factors and school characteristics. We also find that SESs in Haryana are not homogenous, vary widely in content delivery and private costs. Nearly 56% of the students (mainly from socio-economically underprivileged groups) attend the low-cost and low-quality private tuition centres, while their better-off counterparts attend the more organised medium- and high-cost tuition services, and this widens the already existing inequality in educational opportunities in the state. The study suggests to stringently regulate the flourishing commercial SESs market to minimise growing educational inequality in the state.

The article is concerned with the research approaches and nature of methodologies and epistemologies used by practitioner-researchers in a range of occupational areas. The authors use the experiences of candidates on a generic Doctorate in Professional Studies who undertake a module on research and development for professional practice. They also bring their experience as tutors and programme leaders and the results from focus groups with their peers in other universities to this current and topical area of the higher education curriculum. Part of the module asks candidates to write an assignment in which they investigate the methodologies and epistemologies used as a practitioner-researcher. A close analysis of ten of these assignments reveals that the methodologies selected for practice-based projects may be as a result of the candidates' personal, professional and disciplinary backgrounds as well as a time imperative and desire for brevity that arises from an immediacy in the situation. The authors also conclude that a range of factors were important to the practitioner-researchers and that these have important epistemological implications. The social-science-oriented approaches introduced on the programme offer tried and tested ways to research, but more practice-based approaches to practitioner-research could be developed further. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper examines responses to the trend for increasing participation in tertiary education, linking developments in higher education with those in apprenticeship systems, in Australia and the United Kingdom. In both sectors, expansion proceeded for several decades, but was robustly criticised in both countries. The expansion of access to these two forms of tertiary education, therefore, was contested and potentially precarious. The paper finds, through analysis of official data, that participation in higher education and in apprenticeship was actually almost static, or fell, in both countries in the 2010s. Yet criticism of expansion continued in media commentary during this decade. The paper both explains and takes issue with the arguments against expansion, which have been influential in both sectors. It discusses some ways forward to understand the phenomenon better, and also the need to address the problems caused by the restriction of opportunities. Comparative analysis between the two sectors has not previously been undertaken. It is argued in the paper that such analysis enriches the theoretical lenses through which expansion of access may be viewed, and that it may suggest avenues for future research, and perhaps, for advocacy.

This paper examines how governance in the further education (FE) sector in Northern Ireland (NI) has been shaped by policy frameworks implemented at local, regional, national and UK levels. Despite the unique ways in which FE policy has developed alongside the other devolved nations, very little research has considered the NI context and its complexity. In this paper we first examine the history of FE provision in NI, and the development of FE in NI in relation to the rest of the United Kingdom (UK). Following this, we examine the impact of recent FE policy on governance structures and governing practices across the six regionalised colleges operating in NI today by presenting some insights gained from ethnographic observations of governing boards in action and interviews with key policy actors. Our analysis of the empirical data reveals key challenges facing FE governing bodies in NI in relation to financial and budgetary concerns, the multiple relationships between colleges and the various government departments, and the uncertainty presented by the suspension and subsequent reinstatement of Stormont and the EU Exit (Brexit). We conclude by offering reflection on these analyses in relation to FE governance in NI going forward.

This paper explores the definition of 'bilingual provision' in vocational subjects in the Further Education sector in Wales, according to practitioners. The research is situated in the political context of the Welsh Government's policy of increasing the number of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050. The research is based on a sample of four different areas across Wales and draws on semi-structured interviews with staff in schools and Further Education colleges. The study explores to what extent there is a consistent definition of bilingual provision. In the context of the debate regarding flexible and separate bilingualism, the article analyses the following components: teaching materials, delivery, assessment and bilingual teaching methods. It finds that there is an inconsistency in the definition of bilingual provision in the FE sector, driven by an emphasis on learner choice of language medium. The paper argues that there is a need to move away from this emphasis on ad hoc learner choice and offering provision, towards conscious language planning which will increase the number of learners following provision.

This paper explores the implementation of an innovative three-year (2017 to 2020) community learning initiative led by a partnership of third sector organisations in a district in the north of England. It explores the initiative's arrangements for the design and delivery of a varied curriculum and assesses its impact on the lives of participants in a range of community learning activities delivered in diverse settings throughout the district. Around forty formal interviews were conducted with commissioners, providers and participants; informal discussions were held with more participants during thirty observations of community learning activities. The findings demonstrate how a person-centred approach engaged marginalised and vulnerable individuals (many of whom had struggled previously to engage in formal learning programmes) in learning activities. Examples illustrate the transformational potential of community learning in addressing the needs and interests of individuals, contributing to their progression towards higher level learning opportunities and the workplace as well as to enhanced social and emotional outcomes. As society emerges from the constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic, the paper foregrounds this kind of sympathetic community learning provision as a means of supporting the continued engagement and development of individuals likely to be further marginalised by the impacts of the crisis.

A systematic review of qualitative primary data (2010-2021) was undertaken to understand how inequality is experienced by undergraduate students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds transitioning to the UK labour market. A ten-step protocol for qualitative synthesis was adapted to guide the study, whilst the PRISMA flow diagram was used to report the search. Data was extracted from 14 papers with thematic synthesis used to analyse the results inductively. This review illustrates multiple barriers faced by disadvantaged socio-economic students in a competitive graduate labour market and the severe impact this may have on student career development. Disadvantaged students often apply more effort than advantaged counterparts in seeking work and internship opportunities and live more precariously, as they lack finance to buffer them. In contrast, advantaged socio-economic status students can act quickly to build their employability profiles from the beginning of their degree studies, with the strategic application of social, cultural and economic capital. The qualitative papers in this review complement previous quantitative research, illustrating that despite participation rates in high education increasing for disadvantaged students, their career outcomes have not generally improved relative to their more advantaged peers. The review includes recommendations for stakeholders including government, universities, careers services and employers.

The month in which we are born affects our experience of and progress through the education system and is known as the relative age effect. This study reports on a project in which the author conducted mixed methods research into the impact of different birth months on enrolment patterns and participant experiences within further education in England, a neglected sector for this research area. This paper challenges the current view that the negative impact of being born later in an academic year cohort dissipates with age. Analysis of the findings shows that enrolment patterns are skewed towards the summer months for those entering the further education college in the study and that the month of May should be included in the definition of summer months. Summer-born study participants were aware of their relative age at a social and physical level, but made no connection to their academic progress. This paper argues that relative age is a significant driver for enrolment to and, therefore, subsequent performance within further education, which should be monitored alongside other better known disadvantage factors, with the aim to reduce and eliminate this systemic disadvantage.

A notion of being a professional and acting with professionalism suggests particular standards associated with identity and practice. For vocational education and training (VET) educators in Australia, the notion of 'professional' that is encased within association and registration does not apply. Yet these educators operate in contexts where a discourse of professionalism influences their enactment of their vocation. This paper reports on the findings from an exploration of professional identity in relation to vocational teachers in the VET/further education sector in Australia. Twenty-six TAFE teachers from a large government training provider in Australia participated in semi-structured interviews that explored current practices associated with continuing professional development, key motivations to act as a professional, and the consideration of appropriate qualification levels for VET teaching. The aspects of the research reported and discussed in this paper relate to the teachers' perceptions of themselves as professionals and the bases on which they made those judgements. The findings reveal a clear belief in themselves as professionals, and ultimately as dual professionals. The teachers were strongly grounded in their industry vocation but regarded their second vocation, teaching, as legitimising their right to be regarded as professionals, even without teacher registration or membership of a professional association.

This paper explores curiosity of Further Education (FE) lecturers in the United Kingdom through personal narratives and focused group discussions. The paper identifies how curiosity is viewed by FE lecturers as a positive trait for learners to possess, yet when discussing their own curiosities, views changed. Narratives emerge of curiosity being more of a problematic trait to possess whilst lecturing within the business-like structures and an outcome driven environment of FE. The lack of space for lecturer's curiosity was viewed not as a specific institutions problem, but as a system wide problem across the culture of FE. Lecturers felt that creating curiosity, created more work for themselves and was neither celebrated nor embraced within their FE settings.

Transition has an impact upon the emotional and social development of the individual as well as academically. This paper argues that transition is not a one-off event but is an ongoing process that is repeated over time. In entering further education (FE) the impact of transition in the move from formal schooling to post-compulsory education is no less daunting. Emerging independence and exploration of self-identity are fundamental in adulthood; however, individuals often need guidance and support during this process. Using an interpretive methodology, the voices of key stakeholders in the transition to FE were sought and recorded to explore and inform good practice. Data was collected using online and paper questionnaires, interviews and focus groups. Findings concluded the value of active and supportive relationships between learners and practitioners and between learners and their peers during the transition process. Nurturing effective practitioner-learner relationships, with opportunities to visit the setting promoted increased engagement by learners and facilitated learner identification with the learning environment, thus ensuring smooth transition.

The recent shift towards more practice-oriented doctoral training programmes relevant for non-academic settings raises the important, but still largely unexplored, question regarding how the relationships between research and professional practice are understood, experienced, and developed in contemporary doctoral education. Drawing on a mixed-methods study, combining a survey (n = 188) and individual interviews (n = 14), this paper explores the nature of the research-practice nexus in doctoral education from the perspective of PhD candidates and graduates with different professional backgrounds in social and health sciences in Poland and Portugal. Overall, the study findings suggest that this nexus is viewed as a dynamic, multidimensional relationship imbued with both connections and tensions. While the majority of the participants reported that their doctoral research influenced their professional practice positively and vice versa, there were also some respondents who identified negative impacts of their research on their practice and vice versa. The paper ends with some implications, thus providing a basis for reappraisal of current doctoral education provision in terms of deepening the relationship between research and professional practice.

As Australian higher education grapples with its colonial history, there has been significant attention to recruiting Indigenous students. However, while we have seen increases in Indigenous participation, males lag significantly behind. Very few Indigenous males enter university and even fewer enter the upper echelons of the stratified higher education sector. In this paper, we investigate the experiences of four Indigenous young men who attended an elite Australian higher education institution. Central to our analysis is how their identities are realised in relation to their sense of Indigeneity and Western ways of knowing, being and doing. In capturing the complex identity work of young Indigenous men, we report on three themes present in the data: feelings of alienation and isolation; identification with their Indigenous identity; and how they view higher education in shaping their futures. How these young men navigate selective institutions speaks to debates regarding non-traditional and historically excluded student populations in elite spaces as well as the decolonisation of higher education.

When attending predominately residential universities, commuter students are the minority and typically have poorer outcomes than residential peers. Research demonstrates commuter students identify factors impacting on their persistence and success, include time taken to commute, lack of social integration and a poor sense of belonging. In contrast, most students studying in UK college higher education are commuter students. They are already embedded in local communities, with their family and friends outside of university, and have a different sense of university belonging. Data collected during 13 online focus groups over six months explored college higher education commuter students' sense of belonging and persistence. Reflexive thematic analysis identified that in contrast to the much-researched notion of belonging being important to students' persistence, in this group of non-traditional commuter students, the notion of mattering was more important. Students spoke about how college higher education staff, particularly their personal tutors, demonstrated students mattered, and this feeling was reciprocated. Feeling like they mattered helped them to engage with learning and persist with their studies. This paper offers insight for higher education providers with high proportions of commuter students, and recommendations about how providers can foster mattering in their students to develop their persistence and success.

Approximately one in three people worldwide suffers from mathematics anxiety, with scholarly literature demonstrating that it has significant consequences for both individuals and wider society. While underlying related concepts, such as self-efficacy and emotional regulation, have been studied, there has been less research into accessible, practical approaches that teachers, support staff, carers and learners can use to overcome emotional barriers to learning mathematics. However, one exception is the Mathematical Resilience Toolkit by Johnston-Wilder et al. This paper reviews the research underpinning the Mathematical Resilience Toolkit, introduces the concept of psychological safety, and presents and evaluates the results of a small-scale study. The Toolkit was used with eight mature GCSE mathematics learners in a further education college. In this exploratory study, data were collected from interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The key themes that emerged highlight the importance of addressing emotional aspects of learning mathematics in the classroom for those returning to mathematics from adverse prior experiences. All participants rated the Mathematical Resilience Toolkit as 'extremely useful' and would advise using it as a practical strategy for any adult with anxiety in mathematics learning. This approach warrants further research to establish its efficacy in different contexts.

Professionalism in the English Further Education (FE) system has been traditionally discussed in terms of superior teaching practices, attitudes and behaviours. The concept of 'good work' is therefore central to this paper's analysis. Following a Bourdieusian tradition, professionalism is treated as a 'site of struggle' between FE teachers and managers, where managers hold the power to change the definition and substance of 'good work'. This has implications for how teachers understand and speak about professionalism and highlights the discord that arises when teachers hold different viewpoints from managers. Drawing on a survey of 461 responses, the analysis makes three contributions: first, professionalism is theorised as a form of symbolic capital which actors attain by acquiring and deploying cultural, social and economic capital. Second, it shows how inequalities in capital can affect teachers' perceived opportunities for professional recognition. Finally, it reveals that senior managers, with the greatest power, enforce a compliance model of professionalism based on the production of 'good data', which is the legitimate capital in the FE field, even when this is shown to be deprofessionalising to teachers.

This paper explores the experience of acting as a personal academic tutor (PAT) at a medium sized University in the West Midlands. The researchers aimed to establish the robustness of the PAT system, with a focus on wellbeing of both staff and students. This research took place within the context of growing concerns for student and staff wellbeing. A thematic analysis (n) 26 full time employees with at least 1-year PAT experience identified 3 key themes; self, others/ systems and resilience. Subordinate themes within each include; Burden, self as context, mental health, resilience, boundaries, deployment, experience systems and support. The researchers then re-examined the thematic data through the lens of Transactional Analysis. Karpmans' (1968, 40-42) drama triangle became evident in the development within the PAT student relationship and its incumbent complexity. The effects on staff wellbeing were discussed and found to have both positive and negative consequences. As part of future PAT training the researchers would suggest using the drama triangle for staff to reflect honestly on current positions in their PAT relationships. This should present possibilities in each relationship of movement towards the winner's triangle and reduce the emotional burden of the PAT while increasing student self-efficacy.

This paper is based upon a collaborative research project with a group of eight second-year students studying on an Early Childhood BA at a Midlands (UK) University. The empirical research project emerged as a response to the concerning levels of disengagement demonstrated by this group post-pandemic. Because the focus of their module was research approaches, as module lead, I took the decision to engage the students in "real world" research. I reasoned that if the stakes were raised, they might feel more compelled to interact with the content in a meaningful way. An anonymous survey, exploring student health, wellbeing and motivation, was the result. Although the survey added little to the existing discourse concerning the drivers and barriers for Higher Education students in 2023, the process provided an extremely rich learning experience for the students, particularly in relation to the complexity of the ethical decisions required for research and researcher positionality. This article focuses upon the process of the research and the barriers encountered, but it also considers the ethics of using the incidental data that resulted.

This paper considers the application of a professional reflective journal to support the role of the clerk to the college governing body in England. Background detail regarding the role of the 'clerk to the corporation' in England is provided. The paper explains the basis for the formation of a reflective journal using a critical incident analysis methodology. The critical incident of most importance to clerks to college governing bodies is assumed to be the meeting of the governing body. The paper also provides a theoretical framework within which to locate this approach to the formation and application of a reflective journal. Two applied studies of the use of a reflective journal are described, including responses from participating clerks from their reflective experience. The paper concludes with a summary of the usefulness of this innovative approach to professional development for clerks to college governing bodies and explores some possible next steps in the application of this reflective methodology within leadership of colleges.

This paper studies the motivations of 130 women who returned to education after the genocide against Tutsi. After 1994, Rwandan mature women embraced university education in greater numbers due to marginalisation at work, inhabiting a subaltern position as a consequence of their gender and secondary level of education. One way of overcoming work marginalisation was to enrol in an undergraduate programme that coincided with their current job or their prospective career. This article explores how attending university increased female students' critical thinking skills. It will examine the impact of the university on their social and professional lives. By using a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, this paper will explore the motivation of mature female students from four private and public universities in Rwanda. This paper, which draws upon a constructivist approach, argues that the female mature students who participated in this study became critical thinkers whilst at university, after acquiring both theoretical and practical skills. This was further reinforced by the critical thinking, research and self-directed study skills that they developed, which in turn enabled them to continue learning by themselves. Consequently, participation in tertiary education enabled female mature students in Rwanda to become lifelong learners.

This paper uses the work of Pierre Bourdieu to understand the lives of a set of young White working-class men living in a deprived urban locale in the north of England. All participants were classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training) throughout the research and had spent lengthy periods of time outside education and work before the study commenced. Although none took part in formal employment, many participants engaged in illicit activities, often for material gain, during the course of the fieldwork. The data presented is drawn from ethnographic fieldwork and deals with participants' attitudes to education, work and social life more broadly. Whilst some findings are troubling, the paper challenges dominant discourses about the attitudes, values and aspirations of NEET young people, especially those from White working-class backgrounds.

It would be easy to assume that social trust is a normatively good value to promote within institutions. Trust encourages cooperation between actors, and thus normalises policies, practices and behaviours that tend to work towards collective social good. To assume this would also be to assume that trust should be a central aspiration for policy design. However, this conceptual paper argues that the competitive landscape of the English Further Education sector does not lend itself to such values. The extent to which competition has become normalised makes concerns over financial health commonplace around the boardroom in FE Colleges. In this context, perhaps the benefits associated with building and maintaining trust in this context are problematic. Perhaps it is important to consider whether in fact, distrust is fundamental to institutional survival? This paper offers three theoretical concepts from the trust literature which conceptualise how the FE policy environment enlists organisations and individual actors towards objectives which are linked to competition, centrally devised standards and institutional survival. In this way, I suggest that strategies based upon distrust may be put to greater use in the design of institutional policy, as the need to establish control takes primacy over cooperation.

This paper aims to contribute to the contested body of work about the factors influencing student motivation, expectations, engagement and satisfaction in higher education (HE). Policy surrounding the deployment and use of the National Student Survey (NSS) and the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) constructs social relationships between teachers and students as calculated instrumental exchanges, whereby, in exchange for the fee they pay, students expect to receive an education designed to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and innovative capabilities required by businesses and the economy in the competitive global market place. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2015; and using narrative data obtained from face-to-face conversations and email interviews with sampled cohorts of post 30s students enrolled on two vocational degree programmes in a post 1992 university; the paper aims to highlight the flawed assumptions about student expectations, engagement and satisfaction, which fail to acknowledge the positive life-changing impact the higher education experience can have on students and in their work. Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field, capital and illusio, and Goffman's classic pieces on 'The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life', 'Stigma' and the 'Cooling out the marks' process, are used to develop this argument.

Given the emergence of English as a global lingual franca, English proficiency has become necessary for workers in many sectors and therefore should be given special attention in vocational education and training. While there is no shortage of research on vocational education and training in general, this body of work lacks a focus on English language education. In view of this gap, this study adopts a desk research approach to examine research published in journal papers, book chapters, dissertations, and websites to provide an overview of vocational English language education in Singapore, and examines how policy makers, educators and researchers in Singapore and beyond may benefit from the knowledge of Singapore's practices. The findings of this study are presented with a focus on (1) Singapore's language policy; (2) historical changes in English language education in Singapore schools; and (3) vocational English language education in Singapore's secondary schools, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), and other institutions. This success story of the city state can offer practical reference to other nations, particularly in addressing issues of diversity resulting from a multilingual and multiethnic population and also the varied ability of students in the education system.

Drawing upon a wider piece of research, this paper focuses on students' views of assessment in higher education. It reports on data collected from a total of 5,549 students in five Portuguese public universities. The study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of two scales, one measuring the purposes and effects associated by students with assessment; and the other determining the most commonly used assessment methods. Both scales demonstrated adequate validity based on internal structure and acceptable reliability. Findings indicate that students reported more purposes and effects associated with a summative dimension of assessment than with a formative dimension. The most commonly used methods were written tests/exams and collective methods. Statistically significant differences were found in assessment methods, purposes and effects.

The paper captures the professionalisation of teachers in the further education sector by shining a light on their everyday struggle to uphold their ethical goals in support of their students in a climate of performative and regulatory expectations. It reports on a small-scale qualitative study in which the six participants were either on the Postgraduate Certificate in Post Compulsory Education course (PGCE in PCE) or on the Masters degree in Professional Practice and Lifelong Education (MA PPLE). They were therefore either student teachers or experienced teachers with different lengths of experience. Students were asked to rank order a set of cards and clarify their decisions. Semi-structured interviews were then undertaken in which the participants were asked to bring artefacts of their choice (potentially from their course of study). Reflection points included the construction of self as teacher and the tensions and impact of a range of expectations nationally and locally. Participants shared responses to continuous change in the sector, their institutions and within their practices. All expressed a common and sustained mission to make a difference, no matter how small, to their students' lives.

The paper analyses how educators employed on non-permanent contracts in the non-compulsory education sector in Ireland have fared during the COVID-19 pandemic. These employees were starting from a low base in relation to the terms and conditions of their employment when their places of work dramatically pivoted online in March 2020. We argue the impacts of the pandemic were disproportionate, with people reporting such things as increased workloads, exclusion from HR update communications and little supports in creating workspaces in their homes. In this sense, we foreground how participants' places of work often assumed that all employees, precarious and permanent, had the same level of access to resources. Furthermore, given the gendered nature of caring responsibilities and the high proportion of women respondents in the research, we highlight the extent to which the pandemic increased caring responsibilities and impacted on female participants' capacity to work. Overall, we demonstrate how the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't, in itself, created unsatisfactory working conditions, rather, it has both exposed and accentuated existing shortfalls and further proved, if such proof was needed, that short-term actions compound the many problems with precarity in post-compulsory education work.

This paper provides a perspective on learning in which training and situated learning complement each other in developing cabin crew competence. Traditionally, airlines have approached cabin crew training from a competency-based, behavioural perspective with limited engagement in the actual work context. This ethnographic study builds on contemporary learning theories to argue that participation in social practice is essential for developing cabin crew competence. More importantly, it was found that learning arises in the frictions and negotiations between identity, knowledge, and values fostered in training and the workplace experience of the cabin crew. These findings contribute to the situated learning literature by expanding the notion that training may also have characteristics of social practice. Likewise, understanding learning arising from the negotiation of different contexts offers a broader perspective of situated learning. These findings in the learning processes of cabin crew may contribute to the improvement of the airlines' training programmes and potentially to other contexts of high social interaction, such as hospitality and healthcare.

Comparatively few young white males from poorer backgrounds progress to university. This paper considers evidence gathered from a study that explores the educational ambitions of these young men from five areas of educational disadvantage in North West England, at two stages in their learner journeys. The first stage relates to school year 10 (14-15 year olds), as pupils work towards their level 2 qualifications. The second focuses on year 12 (16-17 year olds), as post-16 options are embarked upon and attention is turned to longer-term plans. What emerges from this study are a number of shared concerns over higher education as a destination. In supporting claims made in various other studies that have considered learners from widening participation backgrounds more generally, it is argued that these can be expressed in terms of costs. For this group, the potential benefits of HE must be weighed against a range of consequences that, in scale and extent, are unlikely to be encountered by their more affluent peers, and that may not be so acutely felt by those from some other under-represented populations. The study concludes by arguing that practitioners should acknowledge these consequences when developing outreach interventions for this group.

At a time of the British government's heightened interest in Further Education (FE) college governance, this paper explores Academic Staff Governor (ASG)'s professional and power status at three colleges in England. The study draws upon relevant literature to identify concepts related to ASGs' power and professional status in governance. An interpretivist stance is used to collect predominantly qualitative data through a combined methods approach. During fieldwork, evidence from semi-structured interviews; questionnaire responses, observations of governance meetings and governance documents was analysed. Findings suggest that ASGs' insiderness; relationships, professional status and the decision-making circumstances may limit their influence in the governance of the colleges, with implications for governance quality. From the exploration, 'The Restricted Professional Model' has been developed to highlight the restricted nature of the ASG role with implications for good governance. For governors, organisations and policymakers, the research recommends avoiding low-power and low-status governance roles; taking action to develop ASGs' professionality as educators; removing structural and power barriers and allowing more opportunities for ASGs to contribute to governance. Finally, future research is identified including research to establish ASGs' professional profiles in FE and the wider impact educators' professionality has on governance in a variety of educational institutions.

There has been an increasing emphasis placed on the skills and attributes that university students develop whilst studying for their degree. These 'narratives of employability' often construct extracurricular activity (ECA) as an essential part of gaining post-graduation employment. However, these future-oriented drivers of engagement often neglect the role ECAs have within contemporary student life-worlds, particularly with respect to lower-income students. Drawing on a 3-year longitudinal study that tracked a cohort of 40 undergraduates throughout their student life cycle, this paper examines how students in a northern English red brick university understood the purposes of ECA, and how they chose to engage with it. The results suggest ECAs appear to be somewhat stratified in terms of timeliness of engagement and motivation to participate. By extension, the paper argues that those recent attempts to measure and use ECA to narrate future 'global' employability are likely to reproduce well-established inequalities. As such, any further pressure to engage with ECAs solely in terms of employability could result in the further marginalisation of lower-income students.

This paper presents insights from a qualitative case study in Glasgow, Scotland, using semi-structured paired interviews to explore the aspirations of BME Muslim young people labelled by policy as requiring More Choices, More Chances as they prepare to leave compulsory education. The young people were identified by their schools and affiliated agencies as having the propensity to fall out of education, employment and training upon exiting compulsory education, therefore requiring support to transition from compulsory education to a positive destination of further or higher education, employment or training. The study found that five of the 11 young people perceived themselves to be treated differently from other students in school, where they were overlooked, ignored, discriminated against and offered limited support with studies and transition. Three young people spoke of conflict and miscommunication, but were supported with their studies and transition, and were not aware of any discrimination from their teachers. Three students chose not to answer questions. This paper adds to evidence in England that although the Muslim population is diverse, and there is no single Muslim 'experience', young Muslims face similar challenges of 'othering' in Scotland.

This paper reports on Phase Two of a small-scale qualitative research project. Phase One (2015-2016) focused on pre-service student teachers' perceptions of observation and feedback in relation to their developing identity as teachers. In Phase Two, two previous participants reflected on the research findings as qualified and beginning teachers. New participants were invited to contribute their perspectives of the transition they had made from the Postgraduate Certificate in Post-Compulsory Education (PGCE PCE) one-year full-time course to their first year of teaching. Phase Two considers constructs of teacher identity and theoretical models of communities of practice and ecological learning systems. Participants reviewed transitions from PGCE PCE into their first year of teaching in relation to a continuum of practice that saw them taking increased levels of ownership of their development. They described the extent to which and the ways in which they identified themselves with the teacher role and as members of a community at work. Applications of the community of practice model were discussed and occasionally compared unfavourably to the community of practice context of the PGCE PCE course. Community of practice concepts such as 'membership' and 'validation' are re-explored in this paper.

This paper reports on the results of a research study conducted in two colleges of further education in Scotland and Wales. The aim of the study was to begin to understand the ongoing effects of initial lecturer education programmes. Using the accounts of respondent lecturers and detailed documentary analysis, an accurate picture of the professional learning provision in the two colleges and devolved sectors was constructed. The research found that induction practices, mentor support, model of initial lecturer education programmes and engagement with practice focused work-based learning all had significant impact on ongoing engagement with professional learning. The paper concludes with suggestions for practice related to the structuring of professional learning from induction to continuous career-long provision.

This paper examines "innovative" governance in the English further education and skills (FE) sector. Drawing on the work of Lyotard, Foucault and Ball, the paper explores how practitioners enacted innovative governance in a sector facing increasingly performative conditions. Analysis identified the key category of opportunity and risk where innovative governance was seen as paramount in leading change and changing practice. Innovative governance was not a "golden bullet", rather, innovation was a complex set of interrelated understandings, strategies, values and norms. The paper concludes by suggesting that, in the cases reported here, innovative governance was at the forefront of defending the very essence of FE during a time of extraordinary funding, and philosophical, challenge.

This paper explores notions of professionalism amongst vocational teachers in the United Kingdom and Australia, through an analysis of voluntarism/regulatory frameworks and professional body frameworks. In terms of empirical evidence, the paper reports on data drawn from a documentary analysis of government policy documents, standards for the education of teachers, and regulatory frameworks in both countries. It is located within a broad range of literature exploring contemporary concepts of professionalism amongst vocational teachers. Documentary analysis implies that whilst there is an expectation and assumption that vocational teachers are, and should be, professional, this is not necessarily translated through initial teacher training requirements, some of which fail to address concepts of professionalism at all. Further, it offers evidence to suggest that where notions of professionalism are addressed, the concept is described in largely reductive and utilitarian terms, and that this is the case in both countries. The paper considers the implications of this for teachers, students, and wider practice within the sector, arguing that meaningful understandings of the notion of professional, which are effectively applied in practice, are fundamental to broader understandings of key issues in further education, such as those associated with in/equalities and in/exclusion in education contexts. The paper concludes that such understandings are unlikely to be drawn from utilitarian, Competency Based Training (CBT) based teacher-training programmes.

The post-incorporation further education (FE) sector has experienced a number of quasi-markets over the past 23 years designed to incentivise college agents (managers and lecturers) to meet government objectives. To create such quasi-markets principal-agent (P-A) solutions have been introduced in the form of a series of funding incentives and inspection frameworks under the Conservative administration (1993-97), New Labour (1997-2010), the coalition government (2010-15) and currently under the new Conservative administration. This paper reviews the FE literature to assess the effectiveness of these P-A solutions as a means of improving students' skills for employability, needs-based equity for disadvantaged students and the wider benefits of education. The conclusion is that such P-A solutions have been ineffective at realising these goals because distant government diktats are unable to accommodate local knowledge of communities and businesses, leading to the creation of incomplete contracts which limit professional values, intrinsic motivation and tacit knowledge in the production process. Centralised funding incentives and inspection frameworks have also led to gaming behaviours and impression management activity as a means of presenting colleges as auditable commodities. More particularly, P-A solutions have encouraged a performative culture where students are viewed as commodities (of financial and presentational value) to the detriment of both needs-based equity for disadvantaged learners and student employability. Significant caveats are provided in this paper for the current Conservative government to consider in its planned policy of improving skills for employability through localism and devolution in the FE sector. It suggests that if single-minded P-A solutions are used at the local level, through the continued use of funding and inspection targets and incentives, they will not improve skills for employability or needs-based equity for disadvantaged students, nor will they facilitate a regard for the wider benefits of education due to the creation of incomplete contracts. New forms of local governance and accountability will be required to facilitate more flexible principal-agent relations which accommodate decision-making, intrinsic motivation and professional values at the local level.