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In the past 60 years there have been considerable developments in the policy and politics of schooling for disabled children, including a shift of rhetorical emphasis from more segregated to more inclusive approaches. Previous research with disabled children in England has raised questions about the educational and social impact of segregated educational provision, and about the role of special schools in an inclusive society. Specific concerns have also been raised about the social implications of policies and institutions that require some disabled children to live away from their families. Yet analysis of disabled people's own accounts of special schooling has focused primarily on the educational experience rather than on the implications for family life and friendships. This paper combines critical policy analysis with examples of qualitative life history data to examine how segregated educational provision has affected disabled children's family lives and relationships in England since the 1940s. In this way, it also demonstrates the potential for connecting public and private accounts of disability by linking macro and micro levels of analysis over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we adopt Bernstein's notion of the pedagogic device to serve as a framework for explaining conflict and change in the field of literacy education across the past few decades, particularly in England, the USA and Australia. Following an overview of the pedagogic device and related constructs, we examine the relationship between the field of knowledge production and how this has been recontextualised into curriculum policy, firstly in the period when 'progressivist' pedagogy was in the ascendant, exemplified by the whole language movement, and then when a more 'skills' orientation took sway, with phonics as its touchstone. We argue that the pedagogic device provides a useful context for exploring how ideology operates both within fields and at the interfaces between fields. In particular, the sets of binary oppositions proposed by Bernstein can be used in crude form to describe the entrenched polarisations experienced in the field of literacy education - or they can be used in a more nuanced way to open up new possibilities for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 7 out of 10 pupils in England choose to exercise their right to drop history as a school subject as soon as they are able to do so (at the age of 13 or 14). However, this 30% overall take‐up rate conceals massive variations between schools, with over 80% of pupils continuing to study the subject in some schools, and under 5% in others. The study which was funded by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority sought to gain greater insight into the factors influencing post‐compulsory take‐up of history, with a complex range of factors emerging as influencing these figures. The findings should be of interest to those involved in history education in high schools and for those involved with other subjects that are similarly affected by the freeing up of the post‐14 curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

James and Pollard appropriately insist that the articulation of general, 'evidence-informed' pedagogical principles that can inform teacher judgments and policy-makers rather than detailed instructional prescriptions that tell teachers what to do is the most useful way to improve classroom practice at scale. This is surely right: teaching and learning are deeply contextual and highly contingent. Certainly, our experience in Singapore strongly supports this claim, particularly if backed up by appropriately designed in situ, iterative, authentic and extended professional learning experiences. Moreover, the specific generative principles that James and Pollard identify are substantial and important. However, I am not convinced, given my experience in Singapore and my understanding of research findings more generally, that the principles they isolate are either adequately specified or jointly sufficient to optimise improving the quality of teaching and learning in British schools. But certainly what James and Pollard, and the TLRP team more generally, have achieved makes a unique and significant contribution to that effort and to the broader international movement to design and deliver educational research that is rigorous, relevant and useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1989, the progressive introduction of a National Curriculum of subjects to all maintained schools in England and Wales brought compulsory science education into the primary sectors of these two countries for the first time. Such was its considered importance, science was placed alongside English and mathematics in what became known simply as 'the core'. As a result of its elevated profile and an immense amount of hard work and effort by teachers and other professionals responding to requirements, science education provision appeared to benefit enormously. Successive revisions of the national primary science curriculum have brought about many changes, however, each impacting on the primary profession individually in different ways and as a whole. Findings from a recently completed 'preparation to teach' survey across several geographically distinct regions of England are presented here which contribute to our ongoing understanding of the overall status of science teaching within primary schools. Twenty years on from when the national primary science curriculum was first introduced and independently evaluated, attention is drawn to the continued progress being made at the 'chalk-face' and to those factors widely perceived as continuing to inhibit delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study took place in a climate of an intensified focus on approaches to whole school improvement through 'embedding' technology in teaching, learning and management. It examined the evolution over time of classroom practice supported by information and communication technology (ICT) and its wider implementation within and outside of subject departments. Three years earlier a group of teachers in five secondary schools in England had participated in a collaborative programme of ten small-scale research projects in which they developed a range of pedagogical strategies involving use of ICT. These spanned six main Curriculum areas: English, classics, geography, history, science and technology, plus a language support group. The present study investigated the extent of development and dissemination of these practices over time, and identified the underlying mechanisms and supportive or constraining factors. This follow-up study comprised an interview survey of the 16 teachers and nine of their colleagues. Pedagogical approaches to using new technologies proved to be robust over time, to be spreading from subject teachers to their colleagues, and to be integrated into departmental schemes of work. However, findings indicated that evolution of practice depends on adequate access to reliable resources, and development of ICT as a school priority in turn leads to soliciting further resources and expanding practice. Individual teachers' confidence, skills and motivation towards using ICT to promote learning develop in response to other contextual factors, most prominently a supportive organizational culture and a collegial environment, and they play a critical role in the processes of developing and disseminating new practice. These processes are thus complex and iterative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which professional knowledge is presented in initial teacher education (ITE) in England and Wales is significant. Not only is it emblematic of the way teaching itself is conceived, but it is likely to influence the way that students engage with their development. The following analysis therefore describes and critiques the kinds of knowledge presented within the predominant model of primary ITE in England and Wales. Bruner’s concepts of paradigmatic and narrative modes of thought are used to frame this analysis. Firstly, the presentation of professional knowledge within different dimensions of primary ITE is examined: in the curriculum; in higher education institutions; and in school. Next, life history research from the last 20 years is used to explore what practising teachers have seen as significant in the formation of their professional knowledge in order to create a critical perspective on the kind of knowledge evident in ITE. Various tensions between paradigmatic and narrative orientations towards knowledge located within both ITE and within teachers’ lives are explored and ultimately seen as contributing in complex and ambiguous ways to what Clandinin and Connelly refer to as a ‘professional knowledge landscape’ (1998). Ultimately, it is argued that recognizing this notion of a ‘professional knowledge landscape’ is useful in framing the kind of teacher professional knowledge required in ITE. The implications of this for primary ITE programmes are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 August 1989, the introduction of a National Curriculum of subjects to all maintained schools throughout England and Wales brought compulsory science education into the primary sector for the first time. As a direct result of its elevated profile and an immense amount of hard work and effort by teachers and other professionals responding to requirements, science education provision benefited enormously. Despite this, however, successive overhauls and radical revisions of primary science have brought about many questionable changes, some not necessarily for the better or resulting in improvement. This article presents a critical, analytical and personal review of the history and development of science in the primary school and draws attention to the need for care at times when classroom practices and expectations are driven by national science curricula that remain to be fully informed. Astronomy is used to contextualize some of the changes at their most extreme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Government's Key Stage 3 Strategy (KS3S) aims to transform teachers' approaches, including pedagogy, and pupils' expectations in England. It places new demands on specialist subject teachers to undertake cross-curricular work in the fields of literacy and numeracy development. However, there are insufficient research data concerning trainee teachers' readiness for such a broadening of their responsibilities, and it is also unclear whether, or how, teachers will be trained in the underpinning pedagogies associated with literacy and numeracy. This study, funded by the British Academy, investigated how trainee teachers across a range of disciplines conceive of literacy and numeracy, as such pre-concepts are likely to frame their approaches to teaching, and, thus, impact on the effectiveness of the cross-curricular elements within the Strategy. It discovered differences according to subject background and between attitudes to literacy and numeracy. The interview process was found to be helpful in getting trainee teachers to `think through' their views on these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]