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The article focuses on the history of education in Surrey, England. The Surrey county authority has taken advantage of the 1944 Education Act which permits local authorities, with the approval of the Minister, to make a provision for conducting or assisting the conduct of research as appears to the authority to be desirable for the purpose of improving the educational facilities provided for their area. For such advantages, a former Chief County Inspector made an association which has been exploring the possibility of making a comprehensive and well documented survey of the County's educational history. This association approved a preliminary master plan for the schools of the County that prepared many school biographies. These biographies focused on some topics like school's environment; school's origin and foundation; buildings and equipment; staff: their training, salary, etc.; pupils: age and sex distribution, attendance, attainments, health, dress, games and hobbies, holidays, employment; curriculum: textbooks, methods of instruction, discipline, inspection and other external influences and many more. The association has been surveying the study of the County's educational history against the wider background of historical studies generally.

The article presents information on the First World Conference on Medical Education was held in London, England in August 1953. The general theme was undergraduate medical education. No fewer than 32 countries contributed papers. Sectional discussions covered complex and various aspects of almost the whole field of medical education, including requirements for entry into medical schools, the aims and content of the curriculum, techniques and methods of medical education, and preventive and social medicine. As is common with conferences of this nature, what was sometimes really most valuable were the questions raised rather than the answers provided. For the historian of education Professor J.F. Fulton of Yale address on the History of Medical Education. In it he showed the supreme importance for medical education of an intimate teacher-pupil relationship, drawing his evidence from Sanskrit medical literature of 500 B.C. as well as from Plato, Hippocrates and Galen. After tracing the story through the Middle Ages to modern times he pays what is perhaps an overdue tribute to British Government-sponsored studies and reports.

This article present information on the proceedings of the first world conference on medical education, held in London, England, in August 1953. The entire proceedings of the conference has recently been published by the Oxford University Press under the title "Proceedings of the First World Conference on Medical Education, London 1953, Held Under the Auspices of the World Medical Association," edited by Hugh Clegg. This publication covers major issues related to medical education that were discussed during the conference. The discussions cover: requirements for entry into medical schools; aims and content of the medical curriculum; techniques and methods of medical education; and preventive and social medicines. In the discussions on entrance-requirements the case for the humanities was put strongly, while resisting however the implication that science is in some way inferior. It was felt that entrance-requirements should be kept flexible. There was considerable support for the view that much of the traditional anatomy teaching is unnecessary and that a student should have the opportunity of watching an operation, where he will have a better opportunity of learning anatomy than in the dissecting-room.

The article presents information on the new determinants of Keele University in Staffordshire, England curriculum which paved the way for new University curriculum. From the first, demands for a University in North Staffordshire were made with an eye to the local industries. This early activity bore fruit not in a University College, but in a North Staffordshire Technical College. Yet subsequent demands for a University continued to have a peculiarly local flavour although from 1914 the Technical College was providing educational facilities related to the industries of North Staffordshire. There was a renewed and again unsuccessful demand for a local university in 1919 when the idea was canvassed in the local press by Tutorial Class Students, who emphasized that ones needs are peculiar to oneself and cannot adequately be met by facilities provided by other centers. It is hardly surprising therefore that when the idea of a North Staffordshire University was again broached in 1945 it represented a direct continuation of earlier demands for a North Staffordshire University. The 1943 Report of the Association of University Teachers emphasized on technology and social studies as two fields in which regional attachment' would provide a valuable stimulus. The Report also called for more active extension work by the Universities.

The article examines the individual factors involved in the academic success of the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in England. According to a study, ratings of the total achievement, professional suitability, and other characteristics worthy to success in Town and Country Planning were given by year masters. On the other hand, psychometric evaluations of intellect, study habits, and twenty personality factors were also created. Results show that Good Town and Country Planning students have certain personality characteristics.

The article offers information on Open University, a school and educational program in England which would allow individuals who are enthusiastic to study to enroll in the course they would like to pursue. The program serves as a way for everyone to make the most of a second chance to obtain a university education and to prospect a better job in the future. The idea of an Open University was first disclosed by a notable person in the field of education in England, Harold Wilson, during a speech he had delivered in Glasgow. Open University offers various degree in the undergraduate level and are awarded to students who have gathered the requisite number of credits required of the course one took. The students will receive learning resources as their correspondence material.

Examines the efficiency of first geological lecture course at the University of London in England in 1831. Design of the lecture course; Appointment of first professors at the University in 1827; Contribution of Yorkshire Museum keeper John Phillips in the geological course at the London University.

In 1968 a postgraduate degree course leading to a Master of Science in Environmental Resources was initiated by the Department of Biology at the University of Salford, U.K. At first there were between ten and twelve students per year on the Course; there are now more than forty. The Course has a multi-national, multi-disciplinary intake and although based on the Department of Biology of a University it draws staff and lectures from other departments and organisations. This report describes and discusses the way in which the Course is run and how the various problems encountered during its development have been overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the role of resource based learning in the undergraduate curriculum in engineering at Exeter, England. It was recognized from the start in 1965 that the new syllabus proposed for Engineering Science would present pedagogic difficulties. In the view of academic colleagues elsewhere, it was an attempt to cram the contents of traditional civil, electrical and mechanical syllabuses into a single three year course, and as such it was considered impossible to teach. The objective adopted for the new course was to educate students for a competent approach to problems involving innovation or relating to failure situations. The syllabus was divided into five subject-oriented lecture streams with conventional names: 'Electricity', 'Mathematics', 'Materials', 'Mechanics and Structures', and 'Thermofluids.' It is convenient to recognize two natural subdivisions in the resource material: programs that replace lectures and those that support laboratory classes. A program that re places a lecture must allow the student to go at his own pace making his own notes and it must be readily available.

Examines the problems with combining different disciplines in the production of a course about the theory of curriculum design at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England. Arousal of barriers-between-disciplines in the teaching strategies; Relationship between autonomy and needs-analysis; Importance of considering factors to promote cooperation between interdisciplinary teams.

This article focuses on the development of a remedial Keller-plan course in the Physics department of Nottingham University, Nottingham, England, in 1974. This course has successfully evolved over a four-year period through repeated evaluations and modifications. A viable Self-Instructional Centre is being developed for Physics students at Nottingham University. The second year course in Physics at Nottingham University is not easy. In order to generate the maximum flexibility for various specialist courses, certain fundamental lecture courses are concentrated toward the beginning of the second year. For example, the Wave Mechanics, Statistical and Thermal Physics and Mathematical Physics courses are regarded as foundations from which the development of the Solid State Physics, the Nuclear Physics and the Electromagnetism core courses can proceed. A Keller-plan programme was offered to students in October 1974 as an optional, remedial or reinforcement course in parallel to the parent Wave Mechanics course. Three-quarters of the subject matter of the 10 week course was divided into 10 Keller-style units. Each of these units comprised an Objective list, a Preknowledge list, a Preamble and a Study Guide section complete with self-assessment questions and their solutions.

The impact of disasters is heaviest upon the poorest classes of the population. We describe here an attempt to present this radical interpretation of disasters by way of theatrical methods. The evolution and content of an educational experiment carried out at the University of East Anglia in November 1976 Is described. We conclude that it is essential to include affective learning opportunities in course design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of interest in, and use of, field and laboratory techniques in the various branches of physical geography have led to the development of a second-year course at Southampton University. A self-paced format has been adopted in preference to traditional lecture and practical instruction, and the development of the course, its objectives and the methods of assessment devised are reviewed in the light of the experience gained during four years of operation. A tape-slide programme is used as the core of each of 12 units. The instruction and exercises are provided in weekly workbooks, and assessment of the course includes a seen examination paper devoted to subjects not included in detail in the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to synthesise two models of innovation processes which seek to explain why some innovations are successful while others fail. The history of the Course Evaluation Scheme at the University of Birmingham provides a case study through which the value of the perspective derived from these models is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been recognised that students enter higher education lacking some of the essential elements of geographical knowledge and understanding. In a systematic investigation of these factors, a survey of five years of Leicester University geography freshers shows them to have good factual knowledge, but alarmingly low levels of understanding. It further suggests that A level grade is a poor predictor of performance in higher education and confirms suspicions of grave deficiences in the grasp of quantitative methods. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which these problems might be tackled without resorting to undesirable repetition in first-year college and university courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The range of computing skills needed by geography students is outlined and the issues involved in teaching such skills are discussed, drawing on the experience of the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. The resources needed are outlined in terms of hardware, software, documentation and teachers. The problems involved in using those resources in an effective way are treated and exemplified by reference to courses taught to geography students at Leeds. An evaluation is made of the degree of success in achieving course objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several issues related to the training of geography teachers in England. Initial teacher-training is an extremely small part of the total picture of higher education, and it is easy for geographers to ignore teacher-training altogether. The quality and quantity of pupils applying to study geography in higher education could be gravely affected, in the longer term. There is a small number of geographers involved in initial teacher training in England. A series of historical accidents, both modern and quite ancient, have resulted in the distribution of geography teacher-training courses. There is no current map of courses available, but they are clearly listed in the annual Graduate Teacher Training Registry handbook. The public-sector contribution to this area, in the last decade, has been decimated. In PGCE Geography courses, new universities are hardly represented, with the exception of Keele, Sussex, and Bath. There is only one "team" of geography teacher-trainers still in existence in England--at the University of London Institute of Education.

The paper describes the role taken by a subject association in defending the position and status of geography in schools in England and Wales. This has involved a risky, but eventually successful, pro-active approach, and has implications for higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much work on school effectiveness has been based on cross-sectional comparisons between schools. Longitudinal studies of schools over time may complement this approach. Changes in both school practice and pupil outcomes were monitored in a five year study of change in six London secondary schools. This paper reports on changes in outcomes, illustrating marked improvements in some areas. A companion paper (Ouston, Maughan & Rutter, in press) explores associated changes in school practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information Technology (IT) is currently included in all aspects of the National Curriculum for England and Wales. At the same time, the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE) has endorsed the recommendation of the Trotter Report (HMSO, 1989), that it should be a condition of approval for all initial teacher training (ITT) courses that they provide students with at least a minimum training in IT capability. Students are also required by other CATE criteria to acquire an understanding of the different ways in which pupils develop and learn. This paper therefore reports on an experiment in which an essential requirement of an assignment on ‘learning’ in the Education Studies component of a Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education (PGCE) course was that it be word processed or desk top published. One hundred and fourteen secondary students following one of seven main methods courses took part in the experiment. It was found that despite initial misgivings on the part of most of the students, they all learned to word process to an acceptable standard and all gained some insight thereby into the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the similarities and differences of curriculum scene in Australia and England. Analysis of Austrlia's social needs and its implications for education; Conclusion.

Technology is changing not only our material reality, but also our social roles and power positions within the social structure. Whilst its increasingly widespread applications in industry, on the one hand, facilitate production processes they also contribute to the marginalisation and displacement of particular groups of people within the labour force (Swanandan, 1989; Pollert, 1988). Thus, technology can "embody specific forms of power and authority" (Winner, 1986, p. 19). This article considers the view that Technology as a reconstituted subject in the National Curriculum in England and Wales functions to a large extent as a means of naturalising evolving work practices and specific worker awarenesses required within the technological production process. It also serves to legitimate real and symbolic differences created between the new 'technical' knowledge elites and the functionaries within the production process. The accommodation in the technology curriculum of new structural changes occurring within society can then be regarded as an attempt by the state to rationalise, in pupils' consciousness, the basis of a reformulated capitalist economic order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the medical anthropology courses offered at University College London (UCL) in London, England. The courses taught as a regular component of undergraduate and postgraduate program. The masters in science students in medical anthropology at UCL have their own tutorials and workshop and a special weekly public seminar.

The article provides information on the medical course, which is the Master of Science in Intercultural Therapy, offered at the University College London in England. This three-year part-time degree has been run since 1990 in association with the Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Center. Lectures in medical anthropology, ethnic relations, social policy and psychodynamic psychotherapy are complemented by tutorials, a once-weekly experiential group and individual psychotherapy supervision.

Traditions of 'Curriculum Theory' in the US and of 'Didaktik' in Germany and other European countries both accept that decisions about what to teach should be based on principled arguments about the purpose of the curriculum of the school. But what about England, where neither curriculum theory nor Didaktik have ever exercised significant influence? To what extent, if at all, has there been a principled basis for curriculum making? This paper argues that the English tradition has been based largely on pragmatism rather than principle, and that this situation arose from the role and influence of the old universities and the public schools in the late nineteenth century. Efforts to institute principled approaches to curriculum making in the critical period 1868-1918 were seldom inspired by direct contact with continental sources, and were most often mediated by Scottish scholars. But their impact was never sufficient to extend discussion about content and teaching beyond questions affecting individual subjects. English schooling has been and continues to be shaped by discussion of subject-based 'Method' rather than by consideration of the whole curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) that has been operating since 1980 at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in England. Rating of UROP by students; Best aspects of UROP; Most difficult aspects of UROP; Development of UROP.

Focuses on the relationship between research and music education practices in England. Evolution of music education in the country; Goals of education officials for the reform of national curriculum in education; Role of teachers for the implementation of the curriculum.

Presents a study that investigated whether the introduction of the science National Curriculum has had any significant effect on the way pupils in England and Wales perceive science. Degree to which pupils enjoyed their science classes; Pupils' perceptions of the importance of science; Attitudes toward practical and non-practical activities in their lessons; Views on how difficult science is to learn; Conclusion.

The paper draws on research with 4-7-year-olds in a South London primary school to provide a longitudinal case study of one child's relationship to mother tongue literacy within the classroom. The findings demonstrate how this child, from the age of 4, actively combined Gujarati and English to enhance her literacy learning, and to construct texts which synthesised home and school experience, It is argued that the current emphasis on a monolingual curriculum in English primary schools denies such opportunities to most bilingual children. Even for the child in this study, her biliteracy development was restricted by institutional constraints due to the lack of status afforded to literacies other than English in the educational system. The relevance of these issues for bilingual education in other English-dominant countries is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how policy developments in the last decade in England have impacted on and 'shaped' the curriculum for literacy in early childhood and views about how young children learn about literacy. It argues that these views are contradicted by well-established research in the field of emergent literacy, which reveals young children as active and competent literacy learners. The possibility of 'reconstructing' existing practice is examined through contrasting curricula approaches, which offer different understandings about children and the early childhood curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research-based paper attempts to describe a continuum of delivery choices available to school and college managers by which Key Skills can be introduced as part of Curriculum 2000. It describes the pressure to integrate, the illusion of contextualisation and the consequent pre-eminence of staff competence as a determining influence on the effectiveness of the delivery structure. It describes some problems associated with integration and the relative efficiency and effectiveness of discrete and integrated delivery. The paper goes on to define a continuous array of mixed modes of delivery, the levels of support required to underpin them, the external influences that impinge on the process of their selection and the effectiveness of monitoring and tracking systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the impact of the educational policy from 1997 to 2000 on class structures in England. The New Labor government, elected to office in May 1997, adhered to the Conservative faith in choice and competition, and education as a market driven by consumer demands fueled by league tables of exam results, specialist schools and failing schools. The period saw an enhanced commitment to the view that all educational institutions should be managed along the lines of private business, while at the same time there was increased emphasis on state regulation and control of the curriculum, assessment, inspection, teachers and local education authorities. The emphasis of the educational policy was on "learning to compete" in a global economy. Studies on social mobility studies have indicated that the pattern of unequal social mobility chances has remained basically the same throughout most of the twentieth century, despite the advent of welfare states, universal free education and redistributive tax regimes.

This article focuses on the new 'Citizenship' component of the National Curriculum in England and the National Priorities for Education in Scotland. It argues that the principal elements in these initiatives should have been incorporated into the education system some time ago in order to conform to the UK's international obligations. The international requirements will be examined with the citizenship elements being measured against these requirements. It will be concluded that even should the UK succeed in implementing the full citizenship agenda, compliance with the full range of international requirements is not guaranteed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an economic analysis of market forces in schooling, this paper investigates change and diversity in the 14-19 curriculum of 16 schools in three local education authorities in England. Using qualitative data from interviews with several teachers in each school, it focuses on changes in the schools' curriculum for modern foreign languages, economics, and business studies. During the period studied, schools had some freedom to choose the courses they offered in these subjects. The interaction between the policies of promotion of competition through comparison (i.e. league tables) and the promotion of competition through specialization is considered. Evidence is found of the influence of local schoolingmarket hierarchies on curriculum change in these schools, and this operated chiefly through changes in school enrolment. Some evidence was found of schools' curricula being influenced by trends set by key schools and the occupation of niches pre-empting choices by other schools. These processes were slowly developing and deepening as market changes exert stronger constraints on school behaviour over time. It is concluded that the impact of quasi-markets on schools' curricula may only be apparent when these processes have had the opportunity to develop more fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher Specialist Training (HST) has been radically reformed in the last decade, and specialties have been urged to conduct further reform. This paper reports on an explorative investigation into curriculum provision and assessment within four specialties in the West Midlands. Methods include analysis of curriculum documents; observation of the RITA process; and interviews with consultants (4), specialist registrars (5) and members of the regional higher specialist training management team (3). Three major themes identified within the interviews are discussed: the content and use of the curriculum; the impact of service-based learning; and issues around assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the demands of the revised National Curriculum for Physical Education in England (DfEE/QCA, 1999) and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination Act (DfES, 2001a), this paper presents some preliminary observations on how PE teachers endeavour to include pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in secondary school physical education (PE). Findings from a small-scale study revealed that whilst teachers expressed a commitment to providing pupils with SEN with `equal opportunities'--to participate in the same learning contexts as their `more-able' peers--in practice, this was not always the case. The paper concludes by suggesting that the apparent tendency of teachers to prioritise `traditional' team games within PE serves to exclude, rather than facilitate the full inclusion of many pupils with SEN. Moreover, it appears that these pupils are in effect being integrated into, rather than included in, PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Examines the importance of religion in the school curriculum in England. Promotion of good practice in teaching and learning in religious education; Preparation of graduate students to teach religious education; Contribution of religious studies in the context of the school curriculum; Interrelationship among religious studies, theology and religious education..

In this paper, we examine the methods by which candidates are selected for the Oxford Medical School in the light of the literature on assessment in general and candidate selection in particular. We review changes in the process that attempt to capture the best of evidence-supported practice while preserving or enhancing the features identified as being peculiar strengths of the Oxford learning environment. These changes aim to improve fairness, reliability and validity, while permitting candidate-specific approaches that allow for differences of prior experience and opportunity. Over the last three years, the outcome has been a marked convergence between the approaches to selection in Oxford with commonly accepted standards of assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results are presented of a series of focus-group sessions held at Lancaster University during May 2002. Participants consisted of 12 undergraduate geography students chosen from amongst those identified as having strong antipathy towards quantitative material. The intention was to mine these students' perspectives on courses covering quantitative techniques in geography degrees, in order to deduce ways of making such courses more effective. Primary findings included a need for (i) textual equivalents of algebraic equations; (ii) vivid and relevant examples; (iii) thorough explanation of all mathematical jargon; (iv) face-to-face tutorials; and (v) worked examples and exercises as stepping stones to more advanced, problem-based learning type approaches to assessment. [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]

This article examines the respective roles of the training of teachers and educational studies at the London Day Training College (LDTC), 1902-1932. Following an introduction that indicates different models within the United Kingdom and summarizes the subsequent history of the LDTC's successor, the Institute of Education of the University of London, three major themes are examined. These are control and status, staffing, and students and courses. Conclusions are drawn concerning the nature of educational studies in England and the relative contributions of different groups of staff to the development of educational studies in this period. Future developments in respect of disciplinary dimensions are noted. Although the Institute of Education is now a research-led postgraduate institution it remains committed to the initial training and education of teachers at primary, secondary and further education levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is part of an ongoing, funded project, which seeks to develop workable criteria for the identification of talented pupils in physical education. Using interviews with teachers and qualitative data analysis, it focuses on the experiences of practitioners in the secondary phase of schooling in one English city. The study found a considerable degree of commonality in teachers' experiences, in terms of the strategies employed, the timing and the focus of identification. There were also some tensions, especially with regard to the interplay between professional judgements and National Curriculum guidelines. The study suggests that the teachers in our sample would benefit from more formal guidance to inform their identification procedures for talented pupils. Indeed, the absence of such support poses significant limitations on the effectiveness of current arrangements both in terms of the reliability and equity of identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study described is part of a larger research programme designed to investigate primary aged children's learning during a visit to the Eden Project. Children from eight primary schools were interviewed approximately four weeks after a one-day, teacher-led visit to the Eden Project (EP) in Cornwall. Their responses revealed that the children enjoyed their visit to the EP and were affected by the sensory experience of being immersed in such a profusion of plants from around the world. The children showed interest in the plants that were relevant to their lives but were often unsure of the relationship between plants, people and resources. The analysis highlights the need for teachers to integrate a visit to the EP within their school's curriculum, particularly in respect of prior preparation and mediation, in order to capitalize effectively on the children's experiences during their visit to the Eden Project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1864 and 1868, the Schools Inquiry Commission carried out enquiries into the education provided in secondary schools in England, producing the ever first official and systematic comparison of girls' and boys' performance in school. In 1869, following the publication of the Commission's report, Dorothea Beale, Principal of Cheltenham Ladies College, published a small book called Reports Issued by the Schools Inquiry Commission on the Education of Girls. This book, which contained only the sections relating to girls, was intended to make the issues relating to their education available to a wide readership, and thus promote reform. Changes in girls' education immediately following the Commission's report suggest that there was indeed progress and reform, but that many constraints had remained or were forged anew. While the historiography has shown that these constraints were based on a variety of contemporary concerns about the relation of girls to education, what has generally been ignored is that a number of these concerns were themselves inherited from late eighteenth-century educational thought and moral prescription. This paper argues that a re-reading of key comments about girls' education in the Schools Inquiry Commission in the light of this continuity helps historicize a number of critical concepts in the history of education and that Miss Beale's Reports provides the essential base from which to trace this legacy. By bringing together the various comments about girls scattered over the 20 volumes of the Commission's report, it created the most coherent and powerful statement about girls' education in the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market-based reforms of state schooling systems have been justified by the benefits anticipated from encouraging greater inter-school competition in local schooling markets. Promoting increased school choice and competition by comparison were seen as a means of stimulating greater allocative, productive and dynamic efficiency in the schooling system. However in England, school effectiveness research suggests that once adjustment is made for pupil characteristics, variations in pupil attainment levels between secondary schools are small and unstable over time. Some evidence suggests that differences in pupil attainment by subject within schools are larger, indicating the potential to raise attainment levels by increasing choice within schools. In this paper we seek to extend the school choice debate by examining the rationale for increasing competition within secondary schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government inspection of initial teacher training (ITT) courses in England is frequent, relentless and high-stakes. How confident should providers be about the consistency of judgements made through inspection? This paper researches outcomes of the 1999–2002 round of inspections of secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses. It focuses, through critical document analysis, on aspects of consistency and inconsistency in three secondary humanities subjects. The courses concerned were awarded the maximum possible grades following inspection. The reports from the providers are analyzed for different aspects of consistency: length, descriptors used, matching against specific criteria and reference to Standards. They are also analyzed, for one of the inspected cells, against the detailed, published criteria for the inspection of that cell. Several important consistencies and inconsistencies are highlighted and discussed, along with recommendations to enhance consistency in subsequent inspections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher workload has been a recurrent concern in education in England and Wales for a number of years. One possible solution that has been put forward is the greater use of information and communications technology (ICT). In the spring of 2002, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) launched a 1-year initiative called the Transforming School Workforce (TSW) Pathfinder Project, and this was evaluated by a team from the University of Birmingham. One of the ways of reducing teachers' workload envisaged by the DfES was increased use of ICT. The data presented in this article comes from the aforementioned evaluation and concerns teachers changing perceptions of, access to, issues relating to training in, and use of ICT, and their beliefs concerning the use of ICT. Overall, teachers believed the TSW Project helped to reduce workload, making them more productive as teachers. Changes likely to have contributed to this included: far greater access to ICT facilities both in terms of hardware at home, and sole access at school; increased daily use of ICT by teachers; an increase in teachers' confidence in the use of ICT and changes in teachers' views on the quality of ICT training (although their satisfaction with training received was still not high). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents some of the results of the questionnaire-based Relevance of Science Education Project (ROSE) carried out in England in the latter half of 2003 as part of a wider international comparative study based at the University of Oslo. Data, drawn from 1277 students, most of whom were 14 or 15 years old, indicate their views about their school science education, their choice of careers and what they would most like to learn about in their science lessons. The findings are placed in the context of other accounts of the ‘student voice’ in science education and their implications for policy and science curriculum reform are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One way to manage marking error, in a large-scale educational testing context, is to establish a mechanism through which appeals can be lodged. While, at one level, this seems to offer a straightforward technical solution to the problem of marking error, it can also result in unintended consequences, with political, social or educational ramifications. It is therefore important to monitor the operation of any appeal system, to determine how effectively it meets its objectives. The present paper was based on an evaluation of the system which operates for National Curriculum testing in England. Four underlying objectives were identified: the measurement objective, the political objective, the educational objective and the psychological objective. Although there is reason to believe that such goals can be achieved through appeal systems, there are major threats to achieving them, many of which appear to be inevitable. These threats are examined within the paper and implications for policy and practice are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]