Search

It is well documented in both the British press and mathematics education literature that many consider A-levels (qualifications for secondary school leavers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) to be insufficient preparation for undergraduate mathematics study in the UK. A-level Mathematics and Further Mathematics are not solely intended for those wishing to go on to study undergraduate mathematics, though this is often the only mathematics study and preparation available to, and done by, most students. A number of British universities now require applicants to perform well on entrance examinations or "extension" papers in addition to achieving certain grades in A-level Mathematics and, sometimes, Further Mathematics. This article outlines research which used the Mathematical Assessment Task Hierarchy (Smith et al., 1996) and builds upon the work of Darlington (2014) to describe the mathematical skills required to answer the questions in extension papers. These are then contrasted with skills required at A- and undergraduate level. Each of the three extension papers analysed (Advanced Extension Awards, Sixth Term Examination Papers and university admissions tests) were found to differ from each other, as well as from A-level and undergraduate examinations. This suggests that there are benefits for students doing such papers before university mathematics study. The advantages of doing these papers are not only for admissions tutors, who can use them as additional indicators of candidates' aptitudes, but also for the students themselves as they gain insights into the nature of undergraduate mathematics and related further mathematical challenges.

In Ireland and the UK it is accepted practice that agencies with formal responsibility for delivering school examinations allow examination candidates, and in many cases their teachers, to see their examination papers once they have been marked. Returned papers can carry various pieces of information; as well as the total score given for a performance, additional information is included in the form of the annotations left on the examination paper by the marking examiner. As far as we know there has been no research into how this information affects those who come into contact with it. The study uses teacher interview and survey data to explore whether a sociocultural approach to analysis can illuminate the factors that might influence their interpretation of those annotations. These analyses suggest that a key influence on the valid interpretation of an examiner's annotations is a teachers' involvement in examining activity. The analyses support further conceptualisation that these teacher-examiners' interpretative capacity is related to their positioning in a boundary zone between two different activity systems. (Contains 3 figures, 4 tables and 4 notes.)

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for the post-compulsory sector (PCE) in the UK is currently under review. Despite earlier plans to substantially increase the use of technology in ITE the Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) consultation findings recommend that "we will expect that teachers do develop their skills in this area to a limited extent on a mandatory basis" (LLUK, 2011b:12). This is a disappointing departure as other commissioned work such as that from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) (2009: 8) review of workforce development identified that this area was in need of continuous updating. This article will consider the need more than ever before to explore what Barnett identifies (2007: 1) as the links between teaching and learning in higher education and "pedagogic bungee jumping" with the development of cultures supportive to experimental technology use in ITE focusing upon a group of teacher educators in a West Midlands ITE Partnership (higher education institute (HEI) and partner colleges).

In the United Kingdom, the number of young people (16 to 24 years-old) not in education, employment or training (NEET) was estimated to be c.763,000 in October to December 2019. The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of NEET young people attending alternative education provisions that focus on physical and mental health in promoting positive outcomes. Semi-structured interviews with young people (n = 18), parents (n = 10), and staff (n = 8), analysed using Constant Comparative Method, were conducted in an alternative education provision in England and Wales. Analysis led to the identification of themes around motivation, empowerment, and confidence. The findings illustrate that young people in alternative education provisions benefit from an approach that placed health, well-being and confidence building at their core. This paper outlines the implications for policy-makers and practitioners in designing alternative education provisions with physical activity as part of the core curriculum.

Each year, the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Special Interest Group organises an Invisible College which precedes the annual BERA conference. The day opens with a Scholar Lecture which is delivered by an academic who has made a significant contribution to the field. This paper represents the 2019 Scholar Lecture, which charts the journey of health within physical education over recent decades through to the present day. Whilst the notion of maintaining health through physical education is long standing and contributing to healthy active lifestyles is generally accepted to be a key goal of the subject, it is argued that the road to securing and retaining the position of health within the curriculum has at times been tricky to navigate. There have certainly been many successes en route, but equally some challenges and seemingly even a few obstacles and diversions. Specifically, this paper outlines the journey of health from the 1980s, during which time there was revived interest in health and a significant growth in health-related courses within physical education curricula within and beyond the United Kingdom. This coincided with the introduction of the National Curriculum in England and Wales, as well as with my own doctoral studies and initial physical education practice. Consequently, I highlight key influences and influencers in the area and on my thinking during this period, as well as some of the key developments, outcomes and messages emanating from this early work. Equally, I explore some of the issues and challenges health and health-related learning within physical education have and continue to face. The paper then turns to focus on recent progress and positive developments in the area and concludes with some proposed future directions for research and practice and reflections on the next leg of the journey for health within physical education.

The lives of children within Armed Forces (Service) families often pass unnoticed by wider society. Working with schools that have a high percentage of Forces families, it was realised that understanding of particular issues they face was largely limited to teachers in schools where they were concentrated, mostly close to Services accommodation. Various changes taking place within society, and the likely increased geographical spread of Service pupils throughout the UK, suggested that the particular needs of Service children should be embedded within initial teacher training (ITT), in order to offer parity with children with other particular educational and social needs. Kingston University timetabled sessions on Service families within initial teacher training and built a range of extension activities. This paper reports on the processes involved, their delivery and associated outcomes. It draws on a range of feedback and analysis, from questionnaires sent to participants, interviews with staff involved, and a wider circle of influencers including military units, welfare support agencies, associated charities, research organisations and university colleagues. Suggestions are made for how this work could be built upon, developed and extended in future, to the benefit of all involved.

Abstract In this paper, we present the findings from our critical analysis of the health discourses evident with physical education (PE) curricula in each UK home nation--England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We carried out a critical discourse analysis of those curriculum documents that talk directly to PE teachers about how to organise, enact and assess PE curricula in schools. The results from our analysis uncovered that, with the exception of the curriculum in England, all PE curricula conceptualise health and wellbeing holistically. However, our analysis also uncovered complex health landscapes within curricula, where discourses move from notions of supporting and enabling pupil health and wellbeing towards a more concrete (and measurable) concept of health-related learning, often associated with public health goals of promoting physical activity. Furthermore, although the public health discourses are presented in a way that suggests that young people will develop knowledge and skills to support their health, closer scrutiny reveals that they may be more associated with discourses of risk, promoting 'healthy' behaviours to avoid 'ill health'. We conclude by suggesting that PE teachers need to develop a critical understanding of the health discourses within their PE curriculum. This will help them to navigate, interpret and enact curricula in an informed way, enabling them to challenge discourses that are deficit in nature, where pupils are taught how to be healthy, rather than having the freedom to learn about themselves and their health.

This paper considers the potential significance of a concept of lifelong learning in the context of digital disruption. Having noted some contemporary contrasts in the visibility of lifelong learning policy, it revisits the earlier more widespread dominance of the concept, identifying not only variety but also tensions that are inherent and constituent. Drawing on examples from England and Singapore, difficulties arising from compass, scope and fluidity of goals are discussed, illustrating how lifelong learning can lose its meaning. The paper then turns to the prospects for a new concept of lifelong learning that may be more sustainable and meaningful in a context characterised by digital and other changes to the nature of work, suggesting that such a concept must be both life-facing and work-facing.

In the light of the government's recent White Paper, we outline the history of the academisation programme, positioning it as part of the neo-liberal privatisation drive which has been sustained since the 1988 Education Reform Act under governments of all stripes. We contest central claims made for the supposed benefits of academisation, and call for a national campaign to bring all schools and education services under democratic local authority oversight, in line with policy endorsed at the 2019 Labour Party conference.

This paper provides a 'home international' comparative analysis of education policy on social and emotional wellbeing, drawing on the case of the UK and its four distinct education systems of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have developed more holistic policy in this area, which stands in stark contrast to the disparate policies of England. These divergences in policy are likely to account for differences observed in the awareness, perceived value and 'take up' of policy by schools -- what we refer to here as differences in 'policy traction' between the different systems of education. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had the highest rates of 'policy traction' compared to England where schools appeared adrift about policy in their jurisdiction. We consider these findings in light of challenges and opportunities for policy learning.

This paper reports the findings of a project "Digital Futures in Teacher Education" (DeFT) undertaken as part of the third phase of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) UK Open Educational Resources (OER) programme. It builds on previous work (Gruszczynska and Pountney, 2012, 2013) that has addressed attempts to embed OER practice within the teacher education sector, and which has informed practice in teaching and learning in the school system involving digital literacy (Burnett and Merchant, 2011; Davies and Merchant, 2009). A framework for digital literacy is outlined, drawing heavily on socio-cultural models of digital practice (Merchant, 2011), that has the potential to re-imagine teachers and teaching, as well as learners and learning and which, at the same time, address the 'why' as well as the 'how' of digital literacy. This framework takes into account current debates (primarily within the UK but of relevance to European perspectives) focusing on issues of ICT, digital literacy and media literacy in the curriculum, which reflect a tension between digital literacy as a set of skills and competencies on the one hand and understandings that arise from sociocultural and communicative practices on the other. Current understandings of digital literacy in the context of teacher education and OERs are explored and the potential for digital literac(ies) for openness is examined. This draws on data collected in the context of the DeFT project and includes meanings and perspectives on digital literacies as expressed by project participants. The effectiveness of a methodology that prizes reflexivity and participation is examined including a range of voices, including children's voices, in the meaning-making process and recommendations on the basis of the findings are made. In terms of a digital future for teacher education the paper highlights the need for practices, learning packages and tools to continue to evolve, in close cooperation with their potential users, and linked directly to classroom and schools as the site of this production.

This paper examines the King's Oxfordshire Assessment Project, which took place in the UK and explored the use of coursework as a means of terminal assessment. In particular, it considers the findings of the six English teachers who were involved. In a standards-based curriculum all six teachers supported 100% coursework. The paper looks at how, in the ritual of atomised standards-based assessment, a basis for holistic coursework can be maintained. It considers the importance of guild knowledge within the system as well as the need for structural support. It considers also some of the difficulties that can be found with this type of assessment. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Further education (FE) has traditionally been a rather unspectacular activity. Lacking the visibility of schools or the prestige of universities, for the vast majority of its existence FE has had a relatively low profile on the margins of English education. Over recent years this situation has altered significantly and further education has undergone profound change. This paper argues that a combination of related factors--neo-liberalism, globalisation, and dominant discourses of the knowledge economy--has acted in synergy to transform FE into a highly performative and marketised sector. Against this backdrop, further education has been assigned a particular role based upon certain narrow and instrumental understandings of skill, employment and economic competitiveness. The paper argues that, although it has always been predominantly working class in nature, FE is now, more than ever, positioned firmly at the lower end of the institutional hierarchy in the highly class-stratified terrain of English education.

Religious education was established as a compulsory curriculum requirement in all schools by the 1944 Education Act. It was intended to provide instruction to all pupils in the basic tenets of the Christian faith and ensure that every successive generation of pupils understood the role of Christianity in British history and the national sense of British identity. In examining the sociohistorical context in which this groundbreaking education act emerged it is evident that at that time religious education had a very clear purpose and unambiguous raison d'être. It was a key element in the socialisation process of children which familiarised them with the prevailing societal norms of behaviour, social values and dominant beliefs. By the second decade of the twenty-first century this certainty about a rationale for RE had been lost. Widespread confusion had developed about what the point of religious education actually was, and inspections of RE teaching revealed the subject to be in a parlous state (OFSTED in: Religious education: realising the potential, 2013; in: School inspection handbook, 2019). In 2016 the Religious Education Council of England and Wales established the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE) in an attempt to bring some clarity back into the subject. In the years between 1944 and 2021 social norms, values and beliefs had changed significantly and consequently the world RE teachers were seeking to socialise children into was and is very different. The solution proposed by the CoRE is to concentrate on teaching 'worldviews' to prepare pupils to respect the diversity of beliefs in contemporary society. Far from saving the subject, however, this shift of focus can be seen in many ways which are explored in this paper to be more likely to hasten the end of RE as a curriculum subject and to accelerate its replacement by an enhanced form of citizenship education.

Developing sustainable professional development which facilitates teachers of mathematics to develop effective mathematics pedagogy has been a key aim in recent years. This paper examines how lesson study can be used with networks of teachers as a vehicle to promote and sustain professional development. Drawing on findings from a year-long study involving four schools, the paper highlights how through the process of collaboratively planning a lesson, observing and discussing it, teachers were facilitated to adopt approaches to mathematics teaching that are aligned with the factors identified as effective mathematics pedagogy. It also illustrates how lesson study can support teachers to engage in a collaborative network, develop their professional knowledge, and reflect on their teaching practice. (Contains 1 table.)

How do teachers respond to a mathematics curriculum innovation? This paper reports some of the findings from a UK Research Council (ESRC)-funded project investigating how teachers in English secondary schools (students aged 12-16 years) responded to innovation. A Gatsby Foundation funded program implemented new materials; the project investigated processes and expectations of implementation. In this paper, we consider the "gap" between innovation and proposed practice from the position of the practitioner, employing the work of Foucault (1995) and Deleuze and Guattari (1998) as a framework for analysis. The paper takes a theoretical position, arguing that teachers construct individual and constantly changing amalgams of practice. These are founded on "difference" and understood in ways, which are shifting, and partial rather than "known" via a sense-making process. Expectations of a strong correspondence between innovation and teacher response have undermined alternative perspectives that regard the interruption and re-routing of innovation as productive of viable outcomes in sites of practice.

This paper focuses on widening participation and accessibility in relation to mental health issues and undergraduate psychology students. Sections 1 and 2 set the context and outline the scope and aims of this paper. Section 3 presents evidence of the student experience from the Improving Provisions for Disabled Psychology Students (IPDPS) project. Students in this project all had some form of disability as defined by the DDA (2005). Section 4 provides examples of ways in which learning and teaching about mental health can be designed from an inclusive and accessible perspective. These examples are drawn from work done by the Mental Health in Higher Education (mhhe) project in conjunction with the Psychology Network. Finally, Section 5 notes that research into other minority groups studying psychology reflects very similar findings to those reported about mental health and psychology teaching and learning, and also highlights the need for further research into these areas.

In the international context of concerns about standards in writing, this article addresses the role of grammar in the teaching of writing. It considers both current and historical perspectives on the teaching of grammar and offers a critique of research which attempts to determine the impact of grammar teaching on writing, but which does not investigate how the grammar teaching was pedagogically linked to teaching writing. The article argues that there has never been a critical theorisation of how grammar might support the development of writing, and thus there has been very limited research which has explored this relationship. Drawing on the findings of a current research enquiry, the article offers a possible theorisation for a pedagogically robust role for grammar in the teaching of writing. (Contains 2 footnotes and 2 figures.)

In "The English Patient: English Grammar and teaching in the Twentieth Century", Hudson and Walmsley (2005) contend that the decline of grammar in schools was linked to a similar decline in English universities, where no serious research or teaching on English grammar took place. This article argues that such a decline was due not only to a lack of research, but also because it suited educational policies of the time. It applies Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse (1990 & 1996) to the case study of the debate surrounding the introduction of a national curriculum in English in England in the late 1980s and the National Literacy Strategy in the 1990s, to demonstrate the links between academic theory and educational policy.

There are growing expectations on schools to promote health and physical activity and helping schools to effectively do so is considered a priority. This paper reports on selected findings from a research project that was concerned with supporting secondary schools in the effective promotion of physical activity and establishing their needs in this regard. Specifically, the paper explores secondary school teachers' experiences of and perspectives on promoting physical activity. The study involved an online survey with secondary schools across the United Kingdom, plus interviews with teachers from eight schools from different regions in England. The findings highlighted a number of issues concerning the promotion of healthy, active lifestyles generally, many of which seem to be long-standing. For example, issues associated with the status and place of health, the amount and nature of the training and support provided or accessed by teachers in the area, and schools' effectiveness in promoting and engaging all pupils in healthy, active lifestyles were identified. These findings led to questions regarding the extent to which teachers are adequately and appropriately equipped to effectively promote physical activity and to recommendations to improve the support for and practice of schools in this area.

Those in the teaching profession are facing additional challenges when responding to cyberbullying due to the unique features of publicity and severity. Such features are known to negatively impact on young people's cyberbullying experiences. Teachers' views on publicity and severity of cyberbullying are currently unknown. The current research draws on data from 10 focus groups with 63 teachers (10 males) who taught across primary, secondary, and college educational levels in the UK. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three themes: (a) role of severity, (b) differential roles of publicity, and (c) bystander intentions. Participants discussed the role of severity, where visual acts of cyberbullying were perceived more severe than written forms, suggesting the type of cyberbullying is an important indicator in perceived severity. Participants acknowledged how cyberbullying can transition from private, semi-public, and public incidents, which influenced their perceived intervention strategies. Finally, levels of publicity were discussed regarding young people's bystander intentions, with public incidents of cyberbullying instigating positive and negative bystander intervention. The findings are discussed in relation to practical implications, especially the need to promote awareness for teachers on the issues of publicity and severity in cyberbullying.

In UK higher education, minority ethnic students are less likely to graduate with a good degree than their White British counterparts, even when prior attainment is considered. Until recently, concerns about this ethnicity degree awarding gap have not received the research attention it deserves. In this paper, we contribute to this gap in knowledge with a focus on how students make sense of the difference in degree outcomes by ethnicity. Informed by 69 in-depth interviews with minority and majority ethnic students at a UK university, we explore their views towards the ethnicity degree awarding gap, why it exists and what would be their solution to reduce this difference. Although some students perceived the awarding gap as a reflection of individual aptitude, others have attributed social barriers for degree outcome differences. We present five recommendations as suggested by students for policy and practice. Firstly, the provision of greater economic support for minority ethnic students, which will improve access and a more diverse student population. Secondly, to establish an institutional commitment to challenge and eradicate all forms of racism on campus, including microaggressions. Thirdly, to increase representation of minority ethnic staff and students in higher education to improve students' sense of belongings and aspirations, with the emphasis on greater staff diversity. Fourthly, to diversify the curriculum with a wider range of values and perspectives incorporated into teaching. Finally, universities need to be proactive and reflective to ensure structural barriers are reduced or eliminated through additional support or alternative provisions.

This paper makes the claim that student teachers' learning depends a great deal on the individual school department where they are working, its social practices and the relationships of the teachers involved in initial teacher education (ITE). The paper considers how using a Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens to view data generated on school ITE activity helps to focus vital social, cultural and historical dimensions of practice. The research uses an activity system as a descriptive heuristic to explore whether understandings of the object and tools of school-based ITE activity systems are shared. The findings illustrate differences in the kinds of teacher learning possible, afforded in relation to the ways in which the object of the ITE activity system was constructed, and the tensions that emerged in interaction with other related activity systems. The necessity of negotiating and renegotiating the system's object regularly is emphasised in order for collaborative work in ITE to be successful in helping create opportunities that develop teachers through expansive learning. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

The author has been asked by the Editor-in-Chief to write about the impact of fees on the sector. He does so with concern for the impact on and implications for applicants, students, graduates and their families. Home and European Union undergraduate tuition fees are of course only part of the fee picture for higher education institutions (HEIs), but are by far the most topical and controversial, especially in England. From the Browne Review (Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance (2010), the Government's White Paper on higher education (BIS 2011) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) consultation document on teaching funding (HEFCE 2011) they know the key ingredients but they do not yet know how the cake will come out of the oven. In this commentary he attempts to identify some of the trends that may develop as a result of these policies and how they may affect students and their families, employers and existing or new providers of higher education, all in the context of international developments in higher education.