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Previous international work has shown that clustering pupils with similar characteristics in particular schools yields no clear academic benefit, and can be disadvantageous both socially and personally. Understanding how and why this clustering happens, and how it may be reduced, is therefore important for policy. Yet previous work has tended to focus on only one kind of clustering at a time. In the USA, for example, black:white segregation of pupils has been the key issue. In the UK, and across Europe, the focus has been on social background, especially on the segregation from their peers of pupils living in poverty. With access to high-quality national data sets in England, it is now possible to track the between-school segregation of numerous pupil characteristics over a 14-year period. This paper uses school-level figures for all state-funded secondary school pupils in England from 1996 to 2009, including free school meals, special needs, ethnicity, and first language. The paper investigates, more fully than has been attempted before, whether segregation in terms of these indicators has a common pattern. It presents evidence for the existence of at least three different processes of between-school segregation over this period, and proposes a possible determinant for each, and some future work that could be done to clarify the situation. The paper therefore provides an important corrective to previous work that sought explanation for only one type of segregation. In the allocation of school places, pupils are being clustered in several distinct ways. The standard previous explanations for pupil clustering such as selection by ability or housing, faith-based enrolment, and increased parental choice, apply only to some of these forms of segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent 'decolonising the curriculum' movements have called for Higher Education to rethink how it engages with diversity and colonialism in its lectures and syllabi. But what can these ideas mean for science subjects in secondary schools? Grounded on a decolonial perspective around the Science and Technology Studies (STS) field, this paper explores the implications from decolonial perspectives for school science by addressing the following questions: how can science teachers decolonise mainstream science curricula such as the National Curriculum in England with inputs from the STS field? And, what can this endeavour bring to the teaching and learning of science? To support this investigation, a collaborative curriculum development endeavour with a science teacher at a comprehensive school in London/UK is explored. This experience involved planning and teaching four science topics from the National Curriculum in England to a year 8 classroom (students aged 12–13) and a qualitative investigation was carried out through interviews, observations and informal conversations over the school year. Findings reveal that rather than competing for space in an already overcrowded curriculum, decolonial ideas can help teachers to enrich and better integrate different science topics, while also addressing contemporary concerns about critical thinking and representativeness in (science) education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from an ethnographic study of three secondary school geography departments in England is drawn on to describe aspects of the relationships between examination boards and school subjects. This paper focuses on one department, in ‘Town Comprehensive’, and the argument is illustrated through a discussion of observed lessons with a teacher in this department. Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) have recently announced that examination boards may continue to endorse commercially available teaching resources. The argument presented in this paper extends possible areas of ‘risk’ identified beyond those they currently consider. Specifically, it is argued that chief examiners play multiple roles in the recontextualisation of knowledge, holding substantial power over school subjects. The strong role of accreditation as a rationale is argued to restrict knowledge taught in school geography to horizontal discourses, limiting students’ access to powerful knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question: How do teachers and school leaders respond to high stakes testing of pupils transitioning from primary to secondary school? It explores how a new test, the Level 6 test, operated with regard to primary/secondary school relationships in England. It draws on an analysis of qualitative interviews with teachers and school leaders in 20 primary schools that took part in the test, 40 school leaders that chose not to and 20 secondary-school leaders. Theoretical work on social boundaries is utilised to develop an argument that this test and its results acted as a boundary signifier, crystallising many of the tensions between primary and secondary schools. These tensions included the role of accountability regimes in requiring schools to demonstrate progress; narrowing of the curriculum and teaching to the test; and the extent to which test results can provide a true representation of pupil attainment. We conclude by suggesting the potential of the boundary signifier concept in relation to other tests at the primary/secondary boundary and other key transition points in education, and consider whether such tests can act as an ideal boundary object, serving to help overcome, rather than cement, barriers between schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing on a Levinasian ethical perspective, the argument driving this paper is that the technical accountability movement currently dominating the educational system in England is less than adequate because it overlooks educators’ responsibility for ethical relations in responding to difference in respect of the other. Curriculum policy makes a significant contribution to the technical accountability culture through complicity in performativity, high-stakes testing and datafication, at the same time as constituting student and teacher subjectivities. I present two different conceptualizations of subjectivity and education, before engaging these in the analysis of data arising from an empirical study which investigated teachers’ and stakeholders’ experiences of curriculum policy reform in ‘disadvantaged’ English schools. The study’s findings demonstrate how a prescribed programme of technical curriculum regulation attempts to ‘fix’ or mend educational problems by ‘fixing’ or prescribing educational solutions. This not only denies ethical professional relations between students, teachers and parents, but also deflects responsibility for educational success from government to teachers and hastens the move from public to private educational provision. Complying with prescribed curriculum policy requirements shifts attention from broad philosophical and ethical questions about educational purpose as well as conferring a violence by assuming control over student and teacher subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper begins by identifying what it sees as the current crisis in curriculum theory. Following a brief history of the field, it argues that recent developments have led to it losing its object––what is taught and learned in school––and its distinctive role in the educational sciences. Arising from this brief account of the origins and nature of this ‘crisis’, the paper argues that curriculum theory must begin not from the learner but from the learner’s entitlement to knowledge. It then develops a framework for approaching the curriculum based on this assumption which is illustrated by an example of how the Head Teacher of a large secondary school in England used these ideas. Finally, it examines three widely held criticisms of the knowledge-based approach developed here and the issues that they raise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking England as our case study, this paper reviews secondary school environmental education from a policy perspective. By drawing on Stevenson's typologies for environmental improvement and Lucas' categorisation of environmental education, we analyse national policy documents, local authority and Multi-Academy Trust policies; and individual school planning documents. Our findings suggest in these areas a general absence of environment education policy, and where identified a rhetoric towards conservative reform framed as technology solutions, where learning is about the environment, rather than for the environment. We explain how the (lack of) environmental education rhetoric is a result of global economic changes and national austerity policies, and offer insights and signposting for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political importance of mathematics in post-16 education is clear. Far less clear is how mathematics does and should relate to vocational education. Successive mathematics curricula (e.g. core skills, key skills) have been developed in England with vocational learners in mind. Meanwhile, general mathematics qualifications remain largely disconnected from vocational learning. Following a brief historical survey of mathematics within vocational education, the paper presents findings from a nested case study of student groups in three large Further Education colleges in England. The primary unit of analysis herein is student groups learning Functional Mathematics in two vocational areas: construction and hairdressing. We show how approaches to organising teaching, developing connected curricula and classroom pedagogy tend toisolateorintegratemathematics from/with the vocational experience.Integratedapproaches are shown to impact positively on student engagement and attitudes to learning mathematics. The paper concludes by discussing the potential impact of academic qualifications displacing vocationally relevant mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents selected findings from a wider study on the expression of health within physical education (PE) curricula in secondary schools in England and Wales. The study revealed that the expression of health in PE broadly reflected ideologies associated with promoting ‘fitness for life’ and ‘fitness for performance’ and that representations of both discourses were present, to a lesser or greater extent, in all schools in the study. Curiously, however, rhetorical ‘fitness for life’ discourses were commonly expressed through ‘fitness for performance’ practices in the form of testing and training activities. This paper attempts to explain this mismatch between health-related policy and practice by focusing on what was revealed about the influences on the expression of health in PE. A case study approach was adopted, involving five state secondary schools, three in England and two in Wales. Data sources included health-related school documentation, interviews with PE teachers and observation of a health-related unit of work in one of the schools. The reasons that testing and training activities were the most common contexts for the delivery of health-related learning included the following: conceptual confusion and limited understanding, leading to a belief that training and testing activities are unproblematic and result in increased health, activity and fitness levels; the resolution of pragmatic issues associated with large groups, limited space and minimal equipment as well as preparation for accredited courses in PE; tradition and a desire by teachers to remain with familiar content and teaching approaches, and limited awareness of alternative ‘fitness for life’ pedagogies. This study has served to increase awareness of the influences on and tensions between health-related discourses in secondary school PE curricula in England and Wales and has provided further demonstration of and insight into the complex relationship between health-related policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The question of where to locate teaching about the relationships between science and religion has produced a long-running debate. Currently, science and religious education (RE) are statutory subjects in England and are taught in secondary schools by different teachers. This paper reports on an interview study in which 16 teachers gave their perceptions of their roles and responsibilities when teaching topics that bridge science and religion and the extent to which they collaborated with teachers in the other subject areas. We found that in this sample, teachers reported very little collaboration between the curriculum areas. Although the science curriculum makes no mention of religion, all the science teachers said that their approaches to such topics were affected by their recognition that some pupils held religious beliefs. All the RE teachers reported struggling to ensure students know of a range of views about how science and religion relate. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications for curriculum design and teacher training. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Curriculum and its associated assessment are at the heart of educational systems worldwide. In light of perceived national educational stagnation or decline, as well as of performance in international league tables such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), countries have embarked on curriculum and assessment reforms. This is particularly true in England, where currently wholesale changes are being introduced throughout the system. The curriculum and qualification system in England privileges that which is tested over any other expression of knowledge, which leads teachers to concentrate on teaching what is assessed, either externally through examination papers or internally through coursework. In the summer of 2012, following curriculum and assessment reforms to General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications, serious concerns were raised about the marking and awarding processes for GCSE English, culminating in legal action. Using that experience as an example of assessment policy and practice gone awry, this article explores the ramifications of rapid qualifications changes and posits that some of the problems that plagued GCSE English in 2012 could be repeated, albeit in different guises, after revised qualifications are introduced in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on data from a broader study, the central object of which was to explore the place of sport and physical activity in young people's lives. More particularly, the paper reports the findings of 24 focus groups conducted with 153 15-16 year olds in north-west England and north-east Wales in order to examine young people's views towards activity choice in physical education (PE). In this regard, it is suggested that despite their deep-seated preferences for 'traditional', games-dominated PE curricula and the constraints imposed upon them from the existence of a national curriculum for PE and government policy over the past two decades, PE teachers continue to provide young people with a degree of activity choice in the later secondary school years. The 15-16 year olds in this study considered activity choice to be a very positive feature of their experience of PE at key stage 4 and viewed it as a vehicle for greater enjoyment of and engagement with PE. It was also the case that the 15-16 year olds appeared to attach a great deal of importance to the ways in which the activities provided them with the opportunity to engage in activities within PE that they also do in their leisure-time, and which they are likely to do in the future. At the same time, however, many young people expressed dissatisfaction with what they perceived as unnecessary and undesirable limitations on the number and range of activities made available to them. Restrictions on choice were particularly felt among girls and those from lower social class backgrounds who were evidently dissatisfied with what they saw as the over-representation of a small number of traditional team sports and activities in PE. It is concluded that if PE teachers and policy-makers want to increase their impact upon young people's participation in PE and 'modernise' further the curricula provided for pupils, then they need to appreciate more adequately the significance of the twin processes of democratisation and informalisation, since both processes help explain young people's growing preference for choice in PE and in other social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If education is a solution in working toward a sustainable future then initial teacher training (ITT) provides a strategic opportunity for ensuring that all teachers are able to teach for sustainability when they begin their teaching careers. This paper reports on a study of how four Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) student teachers planned and taught education for sustainable development (ESD) through geography during a school placement. It was carried out to provide exemplification of the nature of student teachers' planning and teaching about ESD in secondary schools in England and to identify ways of improving their PGCE course. The findings are based on interviews with student teachers after the school placement, as well documentary evidence. Policy-driven changes in the provision of both ITT and school curricula and pedagogy in England are an important context for the study. The paper concludes by arguing that ITT faces considerable challenges if it is to be reoriented towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a small-scale study of wider reading at Key Stage 3 in current English classrooms in secondary schools in the south of England. Six English teachers, three of whom were relatively new to teaching, were interviewed on what they thought about wider reading. The findings indicate that because of a lack of time and absence of demand for such reading in the current English curriculum, the more experienced teachers felt ambivalent about encouraging and assessing wider reading. The less experienced teachers were uncertain about how to encourage it and whether to respond positively to students' preferred reading patterns, such as the serial reading of books by a particular author. In several of the schools concerned, it appeared that school librarians had taken over the role of encouraging wider reading, as the English teachers focused on the technical skills required by the National Literacy Strategy. Where teachers did initiate wider reading, this was sometimes against departmental practice, a semi-illicit addition to their workload and could thus be seen almost as a form of ‘bootlegging’. In addition to wider educational effects, the lack of support for this practice has implications for students' future success in English at General Certificate of Secondary Education and Key Stage 5 (16–18) as both require students to read whole texts widely and confidently. The paper argues that it might be more productive to prepare students for this than to expect such reading to develop spontaneously as a ‘happy accident’. [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]

This paper discusses the ways in which teachers exploited a set of curriculum materials published as a vehicle for curriculum innovation, and the relationship between chosen modes of exploitation and teachers' own perceptions of how the materials had 'added value' to their teaching. The materials in question were developed by the Nuffield Design and Technology Project ('the Project') to offer a pedagogy appropriate to the statutory curriculum for secondary school design and technology education in England and Wales (DFE/WO 1995). The Project had sought both to inform the statutory curriculum, and respond to its requirements. An earlier case study (Givens 1997) laid the foundations for the survey that is reported here. This paper focuses on the teaching of pupils aged 11–14. It finds that while most teachers made at least some use of all the various components of the publications, they were selective. While the Study Guide, which carries out a meta-cognitive dialogue with pupils, was generally underused, those teachers who did use it perceived greater value added by the materials as a whole to the quality of pupils' work, their effectiveness in design and technology and their autonomy. [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]

This paper reports on an innovative approach for teaching creativity in Design and Technology education based on the notions of authentic learning. Working with secondary schools in England and Ireland, the research team has been developing an intervention known as ‘Designing Our Tomorrow’ (DOT) which introduced students to the important principles of Inclusive Design (also known as Universal Design). Through interview and survey data, the team gained insights into students’ responses to the DOT intervention and they found that students’ creativity and empathy were enhanced following their engagement with the intervention materials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Importance of Teaching: The Schools White Paper 2010, which grants schools increased autonomy in curriculum development and implementation, heralded a new era of curriculum reform in England. This article critically examines how this process took place in a Catholic secondary school that decided to use the RSA Opening Minds (OM) curriculum with its Year 7 students. The discussion will be shaped by a range of perspectives, including the RSA point of view, literature on cross-curricular learning and Catholic education, student responses to a post-transition questionnaire, and the experiences and perceptions of the school’s OM coordinator. From this, the following aspects have been identified as warranting critical consideration and further investigation: adequate staffing and resourcing; staff expertise to ensure teaching competence across a wide range of subject areas; achieving a balance between creative approaches to learning that promote engagement and a focus on in-depth subject knowledge and academic achievement. Finally, we pose the question whether the implementation of the OM curriculum as practised in this particular school can assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who may have limited access to life-transforming educational experiences outside of school, to acquire cultural capital and ‘high status knowledge’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the potential role of schools and teachers in the character development of pupils aged 10-19. It is based largely on the views of 5207 pupils in England, drawn from 25 state schools, including five primaries. Data include document contents, interviews and surveys with pupils and their teachers. Pupil accounts suggest that formal education has not done much to develop their character, and this is especially true of secondary pupils. They do suggest that their values can be shaped by their school experiences outside the curriculum. This is in some contrast to the views of teachers who report formal activities intended to promote character development. While teachers advocate the need to be good role models, pupils do not always see such qualities in their teachers. Teachers need to reflect in their behaviour, the kind of behaviour they want to see in their pupils and in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language and culture are interconnected and teaching a language should also be concerned with offering learners a wide range of opportunities to gain insights into other cultures. Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approaches have an invaluable contribution to make towards developing learners' intercultural understanding (ICU), by making the content culturally relevant to the language of instruction. Within this paradigm, this paper presents the findings of an action-based research project seeking to develop ICU among secondary learners of French in England, through the teaching of a series of lessons following a CLIL approach. Stemming from its findings, it is proposed here that a renewed understanding of CLIL be defined, in which CLIL would stand for Content and Language Intercultural Learning. Within this framework, the content would be conceptualised through the lens of culture, to offer learners opportunities to compare and contrast experiences and viewpoints, to develop their cultural knowledge, as well as their intercultural skills and attitudes - by means of exposure, independent exploration and collaborative work. The language, still driven by the content, would encompass both the language of learning, and the language required through the learning processes - and would be language that is both accessible and cognitively challenging. Learning would occur through cognitively demanding content that is real, relevant and engaging, yet accessible to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Grouping students into classes by ability on a subject-by-subject basis, also known as setting, is a common practice in many educational systems. An important issue is therefore the way in which setting decisions are made. While educators and policy-makers favouring setting claim that ability or achievement is the sole criterion used, critics counter that there is a tendency for factors such as pupils' socio-economic status background, gender and ethnicity to influence teachers' setting decisions. Purpose: This paper aims to examine the extent to which factors other than prior achievement influence setting decisions in England. In particular, we wish to study both schools' declared policies on setting and what data may reveal as to predictors of which set pupils will be placed in at year 7, the first year of secondary school. Research questions are therefore: (1) what factors do teachers say influence setting decisions in their schools; and (2) what variables are significant predictors of set membership of students? Sample: To test these hypotheses, we conducted a survey of schools and analysed national datasets. Twelve Local Authorities (LAs) in England were selected on a purposive basis to represent areas of ethnic diversity and social disadvantage. Within these LAs, 100 secondary schools were randomly sampled and contacted with a request to complete a survey consisting of questions on whether the schools set, how setting decisions were made, how often sets were reviewed and which pupils were in which sets (using Unique Pupil Numbers). In total, 44 surveys were returned completed. Methods: Data from the questionnaires was linked to data from the National Pupil Database. Pupil level analyses were conducted using statistical tests and multinomial logistic regression models in which set membership was regressed on prior attainment (National Curriculum Test Scores at the end of primary school), social background, special educational needs (SEN) status, ethnicity and gender. Results: In the survey, schools indicated that setting decisions were based on prior attainment and ability. Results showed that prior attainment was indeed the main predictor of the probability of being assigned to a particular set for both English and mathematics. However, although mentioned by respondents as being the main factor in their decisions regarding setting along with ability, it was a relatively poor predictor. Social background (as measured through ACORN categories and free school meals eligibility) and SEN were also significant predictors of probability of set assignment. Conclusion: These findings suggest that over and above the effect of attainment, pupils with no SEN and pupils from higher socio-economic status backgrounds are more likely to be assigned to higher sets and less likely to be assigned to lower sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some of the findings from the science subject design initiative team in the ESRC Interactive Education Project at the University of Bristol. The subject culture of secondary school science, characterised by a content-laden curriculum and assessment, but also with a tradition and requirement for practical work, is briefly described to give a picture of the environment in which the use of ICT was planned. Six science teachers, working in UK comprehensive schools, with between 2 and 18 years experience in the classroom planned subject design initiatives (SDI) in which practical work was simulated by software. Team discussions and individual interviews following the SDIs are summarised and early conclusions presented about the resulting shift in pedagogic approach and subject culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging pupils to develop a sense of European identity is one of the implicit aims of the ‘European Schools’. This paper reports on a small case study that was carried out in 2004 that investigated how the European School at Culham attempts to develop in its pupils a sense of European identity. In particular, the study looked at the secondary school’s organizational features, its curriculum, extra-curricular activities and teachers’ conceptions of European identity. The research findings reveal that above all else, pupils’ sense of European identity is encouraged indirectly through the many opportunities the school provides for these children from diverse European backgrounds to integrate and interact with one another. Teachers at the school believe that it is through such interactions, which take place both in the classroom and through extra-curricular activities, that pupils learn about each others’ cultures and languages and develop a feeling of being European. [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]

This article provides an historical case study of an abortive attempt to revise policy and legislation relating to Religious Education (RE) in English schools in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Drawing upon published sources, including parliamentary debates, as well as previously unutilised national archival sources from the Department of Education and Science, it comments upon events which have hitherto been omitted from the historiography of RE, but which help to contextualise significant changes in RE theory and practice at that time. Moreover, it demonstrates that the current parlous state of RE in schools is in part the result of latent and longstanding issues and problems, rather than a consequence of present-day government policy alone. Therefore, in reviewing and developing RE policies and practices, all stakeholders are urged to look more closely at both changes and continuities in the subject’s past and the contexts in which they occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

The article discusses the role of multicultural literature in challenging the cultural assumptions of English teaching. It examines the National Curriculum, which states that the range of literature taught should include tests or writing from different cultures and traditions as part of Key Stages 3 and 4 (KS3 & KS4). It also explores the importance of resources available for teaching literature from different cultures and traditions in secondary schools in England.

Assessment is widely considered to be the most significant issue affecting art and design practice at secondary level. The article begins with an historical overview of developments in and critiques of assessment procedures in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since the inception of GCSE examination. This is followed by a report of an attempt to carry out a systematic review of research on the impact of assessment on the art and design curriculum in secondary schools. Author conclusions and findings from eight studies subjected to in-depth analysis are discussed together with the implications of the review exercise for art education policy, practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on research with a group of one‐year Postgraduate Certificate in Education secondary trainee teachers during their initial teacher education and training in England. It considers tensions between trainees’ prior experiences and conceptions of teaching and their training programme. In doing so, it seeks to examine how a trainee’s dispositions as revealed through practice in various contexts are reflective of Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’. Associated with this, the paper also examines how particular forms of pre‐existing cultural capital and manifestations of biographical identity also pre‐dispose trainees to form affinities and disaffinities within particular fields. Lacanian concepts of the symbolic, imaginary and real are used to help explain how trainee teachers articulate resonance and dissonance during their field experiences, particularly in relation to ontological concerns of securing a professional stable sense of self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes a national survey of biology teachers visiting Field Studies Council (FSC) centres in England and Wales. It provides data on levels of biology fieldwork at ages 11-16 (Years 7-11), and factors affecting A-level biology fieldwork provision at ages 16-19 (Years 12 and 13). The results are compared with similar data from geography teachers. Clear differences are demonstrated: in levels of lower-secondary provision; in teachers' perception of factors affecting fieldwork provision; and in the periodicity and timing of fieldwork. Recommendations are made towards improving the status and level of provision of A-level biology fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about the purpose and content of history education in schools have been prevalent in most Westernised democratic nations over the last 30 years. Under discussion are essential questions concerning national identity/ies, competing narratives and the aims of history education. The impact of ‘history wars’ has been felt within both Australia and England, as conservative commentators – including politicians and historians – have raised concerns about the depth and effectiveness of history education and have sought to make significant changes to the history curriculum for schools. This analysis examines the history wars in Australia and England, exploring the view that history education has been in danger and/or crisis and examining the curricular implications of a move toward greater recognition of national narratives. It raises some essential tensions that remain regarding two aspects of history teaching in both nations: (1) historiography and (2) chronological understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines changes in curriculum policy in secondary education in England. It is concerned with recent curriculum policy and reform, and the proliferation of non-government actors in curriculum policy creation. It examines the emergence of a loose alliance of third sector organisations and their involvement in a series of alternative ‘curriculum experiments’. The third sector curriculum policy network revolves around a policy vision of decentralisation constituted by public–private partnership, media-friendliness, social enterprise and an ‘open source’ or network-based organisational logic. It assembles a policy ideal of ‘centrifugal schooling’ which links together ideas about ‘networked governance’ with ‘flexible’ learning and ‘entrepreneurial’ curricula. The article traces and discusses some of the inter-organisational relations, materials and discourses of the third sector network of alternative curriculum policy developments, and provides a case study of a prototypical third sector curriculum programme. It examines the organisational relations and practices by which the project was produced and the conditions leading to its failure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses some key findings about secondary schools from a mapping study of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education in England. The secondary school elements of the study combined a nationally representative survey of 617 secondary schools with follow-up in-depth case studies in five of these schools. These case studies involved interviews and discussion groups with pupils, parents and key school staff members, as well as governors and school improvement partners, and local authority support staff. Results reported here relate to the models and methods of delivery; frequency and curriculum coverage; the purpose and value of schooling, and PSHE education, and issues about staffing, expertise and credibility. Where appropriate, comparisons are made with primary schools. In doing so, the article raises issues about the diminished status and priority of PSHE education in secondary as compared with primary schools, and how this may stem from the ways in which schools do/do not value the subject, and its relationship to broader attainment and education policy contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the context of a major reform of the school science curriculum for 14-16-year-olds in England, we examine the aims ascribed to the reform, the stakeholders involved, and the roles of differing values and authority in its development. This reform includes an emphasis on socioscientific issues and the nature of science; curriculum trends of international relevance. Our analysis identifies largely 'instrumental' aims, with little emphasis on 'intrinsic' aims and associated values. We identify five broad categories of stakeholders focusing on different aims with, for example, a social, individual, political, or economic emphasis. We suggest that curriculum development projects reflecting largely social and individual aims were appropriated by other stakeholders to serve political and economic aims. We argue that a curriculum reform body representing all stakeholder interests is needed to ensure that multiple aims are considered throughout the curriculum reform process. Within such a body, the differentiated character of the science teaching community would need to be represented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an account of a 'Mantle of the Expert' enquiry in a school in the North of England. Combining GCSE Shakespeare coursework with Speaking and Listening assessments (25% of the total GCSE grade), the English department in the school improved achievement while remaining committed to developing a creative approach to teaching and learning. The article is most concerned, however, with the 'incidental' outcomes of the process: the insights offered into the 'real life' contexts of the participants, the place of role in research, and the presentation of data in playscript form. It seeks to explore how the researcher can sit within a dramatic process and present its outcomes as authentically as possible, while recognising that narrative accounts, however they are framed, are subjectively presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2008 testing of student attainment, over their first three years in English Secondary schools, was abolished. In this article I will argue that, though this was a much welcomed move, one of the possible consequences of this volte-face by Government was that Shakespeare study is becoming marginalised. After a brief introduction, my past life and current Action Research, Parts One and Two of this article will develop the argument that Shakespeare is in danger of becoming an endangered species, and make the case for the pedagogic added-value that Shakespeare study offers the curriculum, based on the need to make the plays relevant to the student's life world. In Part Three, I will describe a series of lesson plans which I used to make Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet relevant for 11-14 year old learners. And in Part Four I will highlight three beneficial results of this work, namely: Shakespeare 'become their (the students) buddy'; the students understood the relevance of the story to their personal and social development; and, tangentially, the teachers got to know their students on a deeper level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research data gathered from a sequence of English lessons in a London secondary school are used to interrogate the ways in which reading is conceptualized in policy and realized in practice. Analysis of a PowerPoint presentation, created by two 13-year-old students, suggests the students’ ability to operate as sophisticated, multimodal sign-makers, using the resources of digital technologies in ways that are not acknowledged within the domain of schooled literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contrary to what has usually been asserted, the 'New English' that became a near-orthodoxy in the later 1960s and '70s had its essential origins in the apparently less promising setting of the later 1950s. Current research into English teaching in three postwar London secondary schools is revealing that in at least one working-class school in Southwark the pupils' experience of their urban environment came in a quite new way to constitute the matter for talking and writing in English lessons. The vigorous reconstruction of English that took place in Walworth School was one fruit of the London County Council's idealistic creation in 1946 of five 'experimental comprehensive schools'. The article argues for the historic significance of the local and environmental focus of English at Walworth between 1956 and 1963. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores the professional learning of novice teachers of Religious Education (RE) in secondary schools in England. The focus is on the impact of an enquiry-based approach to Initial Teacher Education on the development of two cohorts (n = 35) of Post Graduate Certificate of Education Secondary RE students during a one-year course as they work towards achieving Qualified Teacher Status; a sub-sample are also tracked into their induction year as classroom practitioners. Their beliefs and values regarding the role of RE in the state school curriculum and the role of practice evidence, research evidence and theory in finding an approach to teaching RE are explored through an analysis of their documented enquiries and interviews. The study makes a contribution to the wider debate regarding the professional development of teachers and the role of the university in teacher education. [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 article cites a study on the quality of geography education provided in the secondary schools in England. The study carried out in the geography departments of 17 schools reported variations in results. The study also reported that geography education has maintained its place as a compulsory and separate subject in lower secondary school curricula and as an elective subject in the upper secondary, college and university levels. The study concluded that the curricula of geography education need a better policy to sustain their position in the future.

This article focuses on testing for quasi-market forces in secondary education. The organization and quality of state education has been a recurring cause for concern in both Great Britain and the U.S. A prime reason for this concern is that poor schooling is believed to adversely affect productivity growth and international competitiveness. The quality of schooling, it is argued, is determined by the way in which education is provided and financed, and more generally by the way the education system is organized. Debate on the appropriate way of organizing the system has a long history, but in recent times can be traced to the work of few economists. These studies suggest that there are alternative ways of organizing education, ranging from complete centralization to a decentralized market-based approach. In a centralized system the state provides and finances education, one outcome of such a system being that there is little, if any, parental choice of schooling, and educational provision is highly standardized.' In contrast, the market-based approach is decentralized with complete freedom of choice and with each school having control over curriculum design and content. The outcome is a highly diversified educational provision.