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This paper examines a literacy book study group as a potentially useful vehicle for the delivery of teacher professional learning in a primary setting. A small group of teachers, in conjunction with a university lecturer, participated in weekly workshop sessions centred around a chosen literacy-based text. The goal of this project was to provide practitioners with a safe space in which to examine, reaffirm and extend their current knowledge base and classroom practices with the intention of engaging with ideas that may be unfamiliar or potentially daunting. At the core of its design, was the desire to provide 'grassroots' professional learning opportunities which recognise and honour the participants' professional acumen and in turn, build their confidence. Data was gathered via the creation of voice files in response to a short post-project questionnaire. This was supplemented by the on-line discussion threads that took place during each weekly workshop session. Overall, the study was found to be affirming while also bringing a sense of welcome camaraderie from across various schools. Encouragingly, it was found that the ideas explored were authentically-applicable to the classroom without the weight of extraneous paperwork or arduous study commitments.

Support for school-age children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) usually takes place within the school setting. Successful outcomes for children with SLCN rely on effective collaborative working between speech and language therapists (SLTs), school staff and families. We need to understand the current evidence regarding the joint working practices, relationships and collaboration experiences of SLT and teaching staff within mainstream primary schools, in order to identify whether sufficient research exists for a systematic review within this field, and to inform practice. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify what research currently exists regarding collaboration, roles and relationships of SLTs and teaching staff within mainstream UK primary schools, and clarify the nature, participants and concepts described within this literature. A scoping review framework was used, consisting of identification of the review objectives, identification of relevant studies, study selection and iterative searches, data charting and reporting of the results. Information regarding research question, participants, data collection and analysis and terms used for key concepts was extracted. This scoping review identified 14 papers, however, collaboration was the primary focus of only 5 of these. Clarity and perceptions of roles were key themes within six of the papers. Whilst facilitators and barriers to collaboration are discussed in all 14 papers, only 4 studies aimed to investigate barriers and facilitators. Teaching assistant (TA) views are underrepresented within the research. Drawing conclusions from the body of research is challenging due to the varied ways in which the key concept 'collaboration' is used. Currently, there is insufficient literature to carry out a systematic review. This scoping review highlights the need for research that considers collaboration within the complex social network of school staff (including TAs) and SLTs, in order to ensure that future guidance is rooted in research.

Instructional leadership is widely recognized as important for school improvement and a significant tool for creating an effective teaching and learning environment. The British Council is committed to promoting and developing instructional leadership and is offering programmes to develop it in several African countries, including Tanzania. These programmes focus on developing and improving instructional leadership in schools. The programme is provided by British Council facilitators to school leaders and is delivered over a period of six to nine months, including time for a school-based project. Previous research shows that leadership in many sub-Saharan African countries, including Tanzania, is primarily administrative and that instructional leadership is often neglected. Data were collected with 20 participants of the British Council programme, all primary school leaders, chosen through volunteer and purposive sampling. The findings show many reported gains from participation, notably greater understanding of key concepts such as vision and missions distributed leadership, and instructional leadership processes, notably classroom observation.

This article evaluates Make it Happen Summer School according to Bernstein's writing on classification, framing, and recontextualisation. The project was a collaboration between a university and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) that aimed to develop a curriculum for creative practitioners so they could learn to propose successful socially-engaged arts projects for funding and commissions. NPOs are arts organisations that are funded by the UK Government and the UK's National Lottery via the Arts Council England. This article draws upon quantitative and qualitative data collected in relation to this project to evaluate the curriculum and pedagogy. In order to do this, models developed from Bernstein's work guide the analysis of the findings. It was found that while many gained powerful knowledge from the project, some did not. The processes of recontextualisation demonstrated how ideologies based on accountability and performativity shaped the curriculum reflecting the depoliticisation of socially-engaged practice.

The developments of joint study programmes and their quality practice in the European Higher Education Area are studied. Such programmes are subject to the environment of institutional complexity. Guided by a multi-level approach and the institutional work framework of analysis, the research demonstrates how a particular quality practice is co-created and maintained by the means of policy work, inter-organisational cooperation and everyday work. The relational nature of quality practice is driven by a recursive interaction of processes, events and activities at macro-meso-micro levels. The joint programme quality practice is tied to the concept of fitness-for-purpose with focus on value-added and innovation. The situated nature of quality work is explicated through the empirical account of day-to-day activities and the practical-evaluative agency of joint programme staff. The idealised value of 'jointness' in curriculum integration and joint degree award, and quality evaluation culture are addressed with organisational adaptations in a cross-border context.

Purpose: Many veterans struggle with the civilian world and the loss of identity associated with leaving the service. This research investigates the Building Heroes Charity's role in assisting service leavers transitioning to civil employment, in the United Kingdom (UK) and what can be learnt from the training and support. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory case study design was chosen to investigate the transition from military to civilian employment. The case study consisted of 12 in-depth interviews consisting of nine veterans, who had attended the Building Heroes courses and three course tutors. Findings: The Building Heroes Charity does have an important role to fulfill in the transition of military personnel from the service to civilian work. There are positive outcomes that complement the work done by the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), but there still needs to be recognition that the needs of veterans do differ by age, transferability of competencies and the financial resources available. Research limitations/implications: The limitations of this research are the sample size is small and the majority of the veterans are from the Army. This is mostly because the Army is the largest of the services. Originality/value: Though there is limited research into the employment of veterans, there is evidence to demonstrate that veterans are more likely to suffer from depression and potential homelessness than nonservice personnel. This research is unique in investigating the role of a charity whose main purpose is to improve the employability of veterans by reducing the competency skills gap between the military and construction industry.

This survey-based research explores data from a diverse range of 54 professionals involved in collaborative team working to support children with specific needs. The survey investigated the individual's perception of their own role, and the interactions within the team. The survey collected some quantitative data, such as age and length of time in role, to explore correlations, but it also asked open-ended questions, providing a wealth of qualitative data. While we have focused on relationship dynamics between professionals in previous work, in this article we revisit the data with a specific focus on the positionality and voice of the child and their parents within multi-professional teams. In doing so we find that professionals frequently forget that the child themselves is entitled to a say in the decisions made about them and that the concept of the parent as an expert on their own child is rarely recognised in practice. There is also evidence that the challenging emotions that many parents struggle with during multi-professional working can easily be misread as reluctance or disinterest. All of these findings highlight a need for professionals to take a far more reflective approach to their collaborative work with colleagues, families and children.

According to Government guidance in the UK, improving attendance is everyone's business. This article sets out the work of one local authority to develop their own multi-agency approach to reduce rates of emotionally based school non-attendance. The Research and Development in Organisations model provided a structure for the action research process, which consisted of cycles of action and reflection, including awareness raising, reflections on current practice, and the integration of stakeholder views, resulting in an organisational culture shift and the production of professional guidance materials. Content analysis suggests that the development of a localised approach required time, with multi-agency collaboration to promote shared ownership of the products and processes across all stakeholders and to enhance uptake of positive changes to practice. Factors that facilitated the process included response to local need, multi-agency collaboration and positive feedback, while diminished capacity and misconceptions about roles and responsibilities in monitoring and improving attendance were barriers to change. The findings provide further evidence for the role of multi-agency working in the development of strategic support for school attendance difficulties to promote organisational change. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches to better inform future support at an organisational level.

In-person teaching abroad experiences, where pre-service teachers spend a defined period teaching in schools in a foreign country, have received considerable research attention in recent years. However, virtual alternatives have yet to be explored. This exploratory study sought to understand the effects a virtual teaching abroad experience had on pre-service teachers' professional learning. Data included teaching logs and reflective writings of two groups of pre-service teachers from Hong Kong who participated in a virtual teaching abroad experience hosted by a university in the United Kingdom and interviews with their course coordinators. The findings suggest that the PSTs found the virtual teaching abroad experience novel and unique, contributing to professional learning. Specifically, the experience (a) increased the PSTs' confidence and flexibility; (b) improved their synchronous online teaching skills; (c) gave them greater awareness of learner differences and needs; and (d) exposed them to innovative pedagogical approaches. The study suggests that virtual teaching abroad experiences could have a place within initial teacher education, especially as the financial costs associated with them are lower than in-person experiences. However, they do not seem adequate to replace a sustained period immersed in an overseas school context.

This paper reflects on the systematic interconnections between creative workers and higher education institutions (HEIs). Despite the latter representing key intermediaries in creative industries' development and creative workers' career trajectories, the relationship between the two has rarely been framed in a relational and systemic framework. To do so, we chose the UK theatre sector as the case study and adopted a mixed methodology: UK Higher Education Statistical Agency quantitative data, which informed us on the employment state of workers 6 months after graduation, were combined with 21 semi-structured interviews with actors and actresses to understand the complexity of their relationship with HEIs. HEIs emerge as the initial door to paid jobs and professional networks for graduates and as employers for those in the later stages of their careers: the lack of formal ways to access jobs and the precarious working conditions for performers make hence HEIs a crucial force in shaping workers' careers. Furthermore, HE remains throughout the career of theatre workers an important part of their portfolio, providing reliable income and more stable working patterns when needed. The paper concludes with the findings' policy implications and the future role of HEIs in creative and cultural ecosystems.

Home-school partnership has often been lauded as a key contributor in raising educational attainment. However, the level of partnership experienced by parents who use English as an Additional Language (EAL) can be limited by poor English-language proficiency and other unique challenges. This paper is concerned with a systematic review and analysis of the evidence of home-school partnership for learners with EAL in primary schools. It identifies international research trends, and gaps in research in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The analysis demonstrates that there is a dearth of literature pertaining to home-school partnership interventions in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It also identifies a global necessity for interventions aimed at instigating attitudinal change among teachers and systemic institutional change.

The practice of student-staff partnerships is fundamentally about relationships. As new partnerships are formed, and existing power relations challenged, people experience a range of emotions. Despite their importance, there are few studies that have systematically researched the emotional challenges of student-staff partnership. Through a humanistic approach focused on analysing participants' experiences of partnership we found that varying degrees of hope, pride, anxiety, and frustration were experienced by both students and staff in a curriculum development partnership project. We argue that effective partnership practices should recognise and support the emotional wellbeing of student and staff partners. Drawing upon the effective characteristics of partnership support found in this research and the broader literature, we propose a flexible support model drawing on: (1) peer support, (2) mentoring, and (3) independent reflective writing. Partnership practice that actively supports the emotions involved in working in the partnership may encourage more partnerships in the future.

This article responds to Olof Franck's vision of a less didactic and more creative approach to Education for Sustainable Development. We consider how a multidisciplinary applied theatre project, bringing together Earth Sciences, Ancient Rock Art, storytelling, digital technology, and drama education knowledges and techniques can foster a more creative approach. The article is rooted in our analysis of the "African Rock Art: protecting the past, facilitating the future" project. We reflect on the challenges and possibilities of engaging with issues of climate crisis, responsibility, agency, and action in the Korogocho informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mathematics in early years settings is often restricted to learning to count and identifying simple shapes. This is partly due to the narrow scope of many early years curricula and insufficient teacher training for exploring deeper mathematical concepts. We note that geometry is an area particularly neglected. In an innovative year-long project, a group of university-based mathematicians and early years teachers collaborated on a child-led exploration of 'patterns in nature.' The early years teachers ran the project within the setting, meeting regularly with the mathematicians to discuss potential areas of interest, and to highlight the children's mathematical thinking. We found that, with the appropriate environment and guidance, the children naturally displayed deep levels of geometrical thinking and found enjoyment and satisfaction in the exploration of mathematical ideas. We define what we mean by the term 'deep geometrical thinking' and demonstrate this by looking at three excerpts through the lens of the van Hiele levels of geometric thought, finding that the children are capable of exhibiting thought at level 3 (abstraction), more advanced than previously thought of children of this age. Using a second taxonomy we also assess the range of skills across which they are demonstrating such geometric thought.

Work-Based Learning (WBL) in higher education is a field of study established in the UK that has developed since the early 1990s. The possibility for this development came when several universities across the UK were awarded a grant in 1992, from the then Department for Employment, to develop learning from work, in the curriculum. The 1992 government funding had the intention of providing a curriculum model for people working full time and studying part time and to form partnerships with organisations as well as students who worked part time or had placement opportunities. It started in some universities by using the model of 'Independent Learning Studies' (Osborne et al 1998) and Adult Learning. The development of university accreditation services supported the development of the WBL curriculum by providing the facility to recognise prior experiential learning (RPL) at the individual level but also learning from high level external courses e.g., in-company programmes. The Learning from Experience Trust and Higher Education for Capability (HEC) movement informed the development of the WBL curriculum.

Transnational higher education (TNHE) of UK universities has been noticeably expanding during the last two decades in the Arab Gulf region, but few studies investigated qualitatively the different ways in which students in that region experience both teaching and learning. The aim of this study is to understand the ways that students conceptualise their learning and educational experiences at a British TNHE in Qatar. Employing a phenomenographic approach, we interviewed forty students in a TNHE UK programme within a Qatari higher education institution (HEI). The outcomes of our interviews generated three hierarchically related categories as follows: developing academic skills, acquiring self-learning skills, and acquiring employability skills. Our findings also suggest themes of interdependence in learning and transferability of skills developed by students. This study offers HEIs a better understanding and insight into the design of TNHE programmes that would respond to the students' learning experiences and educational development.

In the past decades, society in general has become strongly diverse. This change also affects schools. As a result, learning groups cannot be seen as homogeneous and taught in this way. One of the challenges is students' linguistic skills. Dealing with different linguistic competencies should not only be a focus of formal education in schools but supported by non-formal education such as student laboratories. Thus, there is a need for practical examples that are effective for teaching and learning of diverse groups of students and enables them to be an active part of the learning process. At the Ludwigsburg University of Education, learning settings for student laboratories that enable active participation for all students irrespective of their linguistic competencies are developed and implemented following the model of Participatory Action Research in three cycles. In a cyclical approach, language-sensitive and language-supportive learning materials are developed, implemented, and evaluated focusing on different chemical contents. Qualitative data are collected during the experimentation phase using a semi-structured observation sheet. In three phases, we evaluated semi-structured observations of eight learning groups of different grade levels and school types with a total of 163 students. The observations are analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis. The results show an optimal composition of approved methods, tools, and activities as succesful examples. Furthermore, interdependence between different factors could be identified that have positive relations with active participation of all students.

This paper investigates the impacts of recent, macro-level developments in transatlantic relations on the ability of United States and European Union higher education institutions (HEIs) to leverage international partnerships in achieving their traditional missions of teaching, research, and service. Using literature to place international education within the broader context of transatlantic relations from the post-World War II era to today, the connection between geopolitics and HEI international partnerships is made explicit. Comprehensive internationalization theory is then applied to illustrate the importance of HEI international partnerships in realizing international education outcomes that are congruent with traditional HEI missions. After establishing the link between transatlantic relations, internationalization in higher education, HEI international partnerships and overall HEI performance, recent developments within transatlantic relations are directly analyzed with regards to HEI international partnerships, highlighting impacts on their ability to function. Finding that progressive transatlantic relations result in improved performance outcomes through HEI international partnerships for US and EU HEIs, and that regressive transatlantic relations produce the opposite outcome, the study offers implications for policy makers and HEI administrators.

This article offers a global overview of the burgeoning field of micro-credentials and their relationship to lifelong learning, employability and new models of digital education. Although there is no globally accepted definition of micro-credentials, the term indicates smaller units of study, which are usually shorter than traditional forms of accredited learning and courses leading to conventional qualifications such as degrees. The paper aims to provide educators with a helicopter view of the rapidly evolving global micro-credential landscape, with particular relevance to higher education leaders, industry stakeholders and government policy-makers. It addresses five questions: (i) What are micro-credentials? (ii) Why micro-credentials? (iii) Who are the key stakeholders? (iv) What is happening globally? and (v) What are some of the key takeaways? Drawing on a European-wide perspective and recent developments in The Republic of Ireland, the paper concludes that micro-credentials are likely to become a more established and mature feature of the 21st-century credential ecology over the next five years. While the global micro-credential landscape is currently disconnected across national boundaries, more clarity and coherence will emerge as governments around the world increasingly align new credentialing developments with existing national qualification frameworks. The micro-credentialing movement also provides opportunities for governments and higher education institutions in partnership with industry to harness new digital learning models beyond the pandemic.

Marketization of education in South Africa accelerated at the crossroads of the postapartheid democratic transition and global neoliberal turn, reflecting both educational policy impacts of the country's protracted negotiated settlement and transnational trends. A controversial 2018 provincial amendment further entrenched marketization in the Western Cape by introducing "collaboration schools," public-private partnerships modeled on charter schools from the United States and academy schools from the United Kingdom. This article employs critical policy ethnography to argue that racial capitalism shapes transnational policy borrowing and to illustrate that a perceived portability of marketized reforms rests on racialized notions of the function of schooling for marginalized youth across contexts. I draw on Cedric Robinson's analysis of capitalism as a ubiquitously racialized, interconnected global order and Neville Alexander's insistence that antiracism must be anticapitalist, particularly in education, a site and strategy of struggle with dual potential to perpetuate or undermine racial capitalism.

This study at The Open University in the United Kingdom examined the effectiveness of specifying internship opportunities for underrepresented student groups in two faculties. Our data, gathered through intern focus groups and supervisor interviews, demonstrate that the virtual internship scheme has been successful from both intern and supervisor perspectives, providing flexible and supportive opportunities which help interns to develop transferable skills and confidence. The virtual internship approach therefore provides opportunities for large-scale distance learning institutions to routinely offer work experience to their students, supported by the further development of effective remote working practices. Unexpected benefits of this program emerged through the staff-student partnerships developed in university-based internships. Future research will focus on mechanisms to further improve and scale up the virtual internship program to enhance access for underrepresented students and to explore how virtuality contributes to new perspectives of employability.

In the UK, speech and language therapists (SLTs) and educational psychologists (EPs) are professionals who support children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Legislative and socio-economic changes within the UK and continuing concern about poor outcomes for children with SLCN provided the impetus for a focus on interprofessional collaboration between these two groups. An online survey was distributed to qualified EPs and SLTs in the UK enquiring about facilitators and barriers to collaboration. Responses from 125 EPs and 182 SLTs were content analysed. Responses indicated that communication and working environments were key factors impacting interprofessional collaboration. Relationships and commitment to joint working were also cited as facilitators. Challenges related to reduced resourcing, staffing and changes to working environments as a result of austerity. A framework illustrating possible inter-relationships between factors is presented, indicating hypothesised pathways that could underpin planning for development and change. In summary, despite positive moves towards shared policy and guidance for children with SLCN, findings suggest that a continued focus on maximising effective interprofessional collaboration is crucial to ensure that assessment and early intervention are available to support children with speech, language and communication needs.

The paper focuses on the importance of Internationalisation at Home, access and support mechanisms which are provided and co-created by students and university departments to encourage sanctuary scholarship. The paper gives particular attention to activities that encourage meaningful interaction with local communities and widen international participation of marginalised groups, such as students from the global south and asylum seeker communities. The paper presents two case studies. The first case study focuses on a student-led project developed by the students and staff of Canterbury Christ Church University. The second case study projects students' voices from the global south and refugee communities at The University of Kent and University College London (UCL). The experiences of these students highlight the importance of welcoming and supporting students from marginalised backgrounds. They also demonstrate the need for both curriculum-based and co-curricular activity and student services which provided tailored support and encouragement.

There is currently renewed interest in transnational education (TNE) amongst UK universities as a means of taking education to the 98% of tertiary students worldwide who are geographically immobile. In this discourse, the home universities are characterised as the dominant players, seeking strategic opportunities to commercially expand into foreign markets. This paper argues that, in contrast, there are four key stakeholders in TNE--the home university, the partner organisation, the host government and students in the host country--and a TNE partnership is shaped by their relative power and motivations. The paper finds that unless the motivations of stakeholders are broadly aligned to the form of TNE partnership, it is unlikely to succeed. It highlights the fluid nature of these motivations which change over time--often slowly, but sometimes abruptly when there is a change in university strategy or policy on the part of the host government.

In recent years, arts partnerships have gained increased popularity as a means of delivering arts education and art-in-education in schools. Creating opportunities for both teachers and artists alike, arts partnerships can enhance a shared sense of purpose and mutual respect, while also developing creative skills, knowledge and expertise. Although many studies on both national and international levels have identified the successes and challenges of arts partnerships in schools, a gap in how these partnerships can enhance teachers' professional development regarding arts education still exists. Therefore, this article discusses the potential impact of arts partnerships and whether these collaborations can act as a professional development initiative, to potentially enable and support teachers in their enhancement of arts education. The evidenced impacts, possibilities and indeed, challenges of such arts partnerships in schools are explored while arts partnerships approaches, policies and directions on a both national and international level, are also discussed. Literature is also critically reviewed regarding the facilitation of, and teacher professional development in, arts education.

Examining academics 'engagement with non-academics in industry, public agencies and charities, this paper examines gender gaps between men and women. Using a large-scale survey of UK academics, we find that although there is difference between women and men in the commercial areas of engagement, with men being more active in this domain than their women colleagues of a similar age and experience and of the same rank, discipline, and university, this pattern is reversed for academic engagement with the third sector, with women more likely to engage with charities, regardless of career stage and research field. We explore the gendered nature of academic engagement, and discuss policy implications arising from it.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an example of best practice towards enhancing employability in the cross-sectoral labour market for doctorate-holders. This was achieved through an Erasmus+ KA2 (Strategic Partnership) skills development project which created a training programme (TRANSPEER) involving a multi-disciplinary cohort of researchers at a range of career stages, drawn from universities in Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the UK. Design/methodology/approach: Research support staff designed and delivered four transnational training events for the cohort, with the overarching theme of enhancing researcher employability. An initial skills awareness survey of the researcher cohort was undertaken prior to the start of the programme; this survey was repeated after each event. An additional aim of the project was the development of the consortium's research support staff through exposure to the facilitation techniques and methodologies of their international colleagues. Findings: The findings indicate that transnational collaboration in researcher development enhances the learning environment for participating researchers and provides significant professional development opportunities for both researchers and researcher developers. The findings further suggest the benefits of mixing cohorts across career stages and engaging researchers with novel and interactive approaches on themes not typically addressed in academic competence development offerings. Originality/value: Transversal skills development cooperation between universities--especially transnational cooperation--is rare. Even more so is the professional development of research support staff in a transnational context. This paper outlines the benefits of such collaborative activities.

This article discusses an example of public engagement involving university staff and students, a local charity and older residents in a community oral history project. It is based on participants' oral and written accounts of their involvement. It critically examines the meanings of public, engagement and public good created through the project in relation to neoliberalism. It discusses publics as 'emergent' and various public engagement activities as 'assemblages', formed in particular historical and ideological discursive contexts, and reflects critically on the usefulness of these conceptualisations. It also reviews the operation of a potential counterpublic and its implications.

Accompanied by an emergent 'strategy' and 'sustainability' discourse, international higher education (HE) partnership building has become increasingly orchestrated by non-academic (i.e. operational, and managerial) agents, thereby shifting away from universities' 'academic heartland.' The purpose of this article is to scrutinise the frequently used, yet often ill-defined, 'strategic' and 'sustainable' nature of international partnership building and the way it transforms power dynamics and sense of agency both across and within universities. Drawing on qualitative research with university staff at two partnering higher education institutions (HEIs) in UK and China, this article explores different interpretations of what strategic and sustainable partnership building means and sheds light on the conflicts that emerge between academic and non-academic stakeholders in this process. In doing so, it highlights the all-pervasive influence of managerialism in HE and the potential effects it can have on the success or failure of international partnerships.

Purpose: Apprenticeships for higher education institutes (HEIs) at degree and postgraduate levels in the UK have been challenging to provide, requiring increasingly complex collaboration and investment. This questions longer-term viability, creating a new perspective investigating evidence of value and impact for UK HEIs. This integrative literature review examines existing apprenticeship literature and showcases new knowledge for HEIs to update and inform future decision-making. Knowledge created offers a new framework, an "apprenticeship knowledge-based checklist model" and a perspective to explore further. Design/methodology/approach: This integrative literature review examines apprenticeship provision viability for UK HEIs across several disciplines since commencement. Findings: Analysis of selected studies across three research themes critiques potential apprenticeship practice for HEIs--stakeholder collaboration, widening participation and work-integrated learning. Results provided a new integrated perspective via governance levels: strategic, academic department, and teaching team. Research limitations/implications: The research draws from multiple disciplines representing current literature in the HEI Apprenticeships field. However, the context in which programmes are delivered by HEIs and employers differs significantly, so factors continue to emerge. Practical implications: Practical implications drawn from these findings aim to cultivate dialogue before embarking/withdrawing from HEI Apprenticeship programmes. It offers employers guidance expectations when partnering with university providers. For global apprenticeship provisions, it offers a checklist for re-valuating practice. Originality/value: The research identified new knowledge implications from existing literature in a field experiencing rapid growth. It offers valuable contributions: a knowledge-based checklist model constructed for HEIs to evaluate existing and future viability provisions at each governance level. It is a catalyst for new practice approaches and an agenda for further research.

This paper assesses how UK universities seek to maintain their global dominant position post-Brexit through comprehensive strategic partnerships with key European institutions as part of their internationalisation strategies. Drawing on 24 semi-structured interviews conducted from November 2017 to July 2018 in 12 UK universities vertically differentiated and spread along the highly hierarchised spectrum of British universities in all four nations, we aim to examine which types of universities are most inclined to form international comprehensive university-wide strategic partnerships, and how they identify their partners. The analysis is framed within Bourdieu's theory of "economy of practices" which considers all university practices as economic practices that are ultimately tailored towards maximising either material or symbolic profit. Unlike in business and industry, where organisations traditionally compete to maximise profit, universities must both compete and collaborate with one another in order to improve (or maintain) their position in the field. UK universities will need to navigate the post-Brexit space they find themselves thrown into, and in the process will need to review international institutional links with both European Union (EU) based and non-EU universities. This paper will assess how UK universities seek to maintain their dominant position in the field through comprehensive strategic partnerships with key foreign institutions.

In this paper we explore collaboration in the context of the educational services industry (ESI). We look to literature from the communication field to consider ethical strategies and methods for ensuring the validity of the outcomes of collaborative working. Drawing on Collaborative Product Development and conversation theory we devise four principles that can guide the collaborative process within an education-based partnership project. We then use a case study to consider how these principles supported the outcomes of a cross-national partnership project. Finally, we draw on these principles to consider the lessons for project management in education public private partnerships.

In recent years significant emphasis has been placed on staff and students as partners in higher education in order to address issues of engagement and transferable skills. However, the concept covers a wide range of meanings. On the one hand it can refer to module feedback questionnaires. At the other extreme it can include student input in curricular design, particularly constructing course materials. These very different experiences require different levels of academic preparation and student engagement. For the purpose of clarity in discussion it would seem useful to have a framework for the different levels of student-instructor partnerships, which emphasizes this range of experience rather than the activity content. This paper presents a framework based on the levels of student initiation of the partnership and of student involvement in the outcomes (referred to as ownership and autonomy respectively). The scheme was arrived at following study of the collaborative activities in two cognate programmes, the Natural Sciences degree programme at the University of Leicester and the Honours Integrated Science program at McMaster University. These programmes adopt pedagogical models which encourage the formation of strong, cohesive learning communities, thereby providing a rich variety of examples and an international perspective.

This article considers the extent to which the legal framework of Higher Education in the UK (2000- 2010) responded to the needs of the professional work-based student, while in both employment and study. Drawing on Case Law, Education Law and the body of literature on Work-Based Learning (WBL) it discusses the context of the professional student and the relationship between the learner, the employer and the HEI, primarily from a legal perspective. Professional work- based students usually gain highly work-applicable learning through creative academic and experiential methodologies, however they are situated between the provisions of education law and employment law without specific legal protection for their position. This article argues for a more creative approach to brokering an innovative, ethical and productive relationship between the HEI, the employer and the employee as a work-based learner. More effective relationships between these key stakeholders would enable the proper recognition, accreditation and safeguarding of a highly creative way of adult learning.

The education of entrepreneurship is considered the most effective method to stimulate entrepreneurship within a society (Aaltio & Eskelinen, 2016); hence, creating jobs and encouraging economic growth (Lackéus, 2015). There are nevertheless structural difficulties in teaching entrepreneurship (Yang, 2016), and institutions are often left with the question: 'learning-by-doing-what?' This is particularly worrisome for partner universities who are supposed to collaborate to benefit the student. This study examines which initiatives two partner universities have integrated regarding the concept of entrepreneurship education, and to what extent these initiatives are in accordance with the already established literature. The analysis of the results from the qualitative data gathered through interviews shows that both universities lack certain important aspects of entrepreneurship education in their current offerings. It was found that University A seems to lack cohesion between the different faculties, has not integrated a global approach, has weak links with SMEs and social impact companies, and offers experiential-based learning mainly with in-class activities. University B, on the other hand, shows an improper use of terminology regarding the concept of entrepreneurship, lacks the collaboration with large corporations and social impact companies, and has a short-term approach for its programs as opposed to the more effective long-term approach. In addition, both universities fail to widely integrate entrepreneurship across the university. The research shows that there is no generally accepted understanding of how universities should structure their entrepreneurial environment. This study aims at discovering and contrasting the current initiatives to stimulate entrepreneurship at university level by comparing two partner universities in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands.

Public engagement is recognised as having an increasingly important role in the changing landscape of higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), and is promoted as a 'pathway to impact' by many higher education funding bodies. However, there is limited evidence to support the outreach and impact gained by higher education institutes that undertake international public engagement activities. Similarly, little is known about higher education staff and student's experiences of participating in such public engagement activities. This study focusses on a Global Festival of Learning (GFoL) in delivering public engagement on an international stage through an integrated approach involving the fusion of education, research, and professional practice, and the perceived impact on staff and students. This paper proposes an adaptive model for public engagement founded on five strategic public engagement areas that can be transferred to other higher education institutes with an interest in developing their international outreach and impact.

This paper engages with challenges of localism, collaboration and reflexivity in thinking about the conceptualisation and development of partnership learning communities between higher education and criminal justice institutions. Grounded in experiences of partnership working in the UK and Australia, our arguments are twofold: First, drawing on missions, policy and practice challenges, that there is a case to be made for partnership--working between higher education and criminal justice institutions; and second that, although there is a need to think about collaborative international structures, there is also a need to reflect critically on how different socio-political and cultural realities (both within and beyond national borders) might shape the particular nature of partnership working. Therefore, while warmly welcoming international collaboration in this field, we urge caution in importing or exporting different "models" of partnership working. We make the case, instead, for open-textured theoretical and empirical reflexivity.

In this paper we argue that education--particularly higher education (HE)--has the potential to offer socially, economically and culturally transformative learning opportunities. Yet, for prisoners, the opportunity to engage in HE as active social citizens are often limited. Using a Freirean model of democratic, pedagogic participatory dialogue, we designed a distinctive prison-university partnership in which prison-based learners and undergraduate students studied together. The parallel small-scale ethnographic study, reported here, explored how stereotypes and "othering"--which compromise social citizenship--could be challenged through dialogue and debate. Evidence from this study revealed a positive change in "de-othering" attitudes of participants was achieved. Furthermore, participants reported growth in their sense of empowerment, agency, and autonomy--the cornerstones of social citizenship. Findings from this study contribute further evidence to the developing body of knowledge on the value of partnerships and dialogue in prison education. We conclude that policy makers, and respective institutions, need to work harder to establish prison-university partnerships, thus providing the space for dialogue--"real talk"--to take place.

Open online courses could provide stepping stones for audiences that are underrepresented in higher education (HE). However, there are concerns that these instead proliferate forms of exclusion and do not address known difficulties for widening participation. We explore how organisations that represent the perspectives of particular underserved audiences for HE can act as 'Learner Representative Partners' to support the creation of appropriate courses and to highlight practices that exclude. Six course development processes where a university worked with different partners are analysed using interviews, documentation of resource use, and data on learner behaviour. The analysis utilises previously identified challenges to widening participation and collaborative course creation. Getting partners to directly engage in authoring the course was particularly beneficial but all partners prompted critical thought and greater understanding of the intended audiences. We suggest principles to support such partnerships effectively. These include adapting to a variable capacity of partners to contribute, to encourage reuse or creation of resources by partners, and to facilitate partners to feel confident in expressing their views.