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To foster children and young people's skills, dispositions and understanding that underpin a voice agenda, practices need to be developed that support this from the earliest age. This article explores issues relating to this complex, challenging and under-researched area from the perspective of practitioners working with children aged from birth to seven. Using vignettes of practice, we explore practical and pedagogical examples and take the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the elicitation of voice through the lens of the eight factors previously identified in the "Look Who's Talking" Project. Through this approach we highlight practices that elicit voice as a key element of children's rights in a localised way, and exemplify productive connections between theory and practice.

Grounded in children's rights, this article advances understanding of the affordances and constraints in implementing Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in educational settings with young children -- those under 7. It starts from the premise that if we are to foster democratic skills and understanding in children and young people, we need to develop practices that support this from the earliest age. The article presents the outcomes of a seminar series facilitating dialogue among international academics working in the field and a range of early years practitioners. This opportunity for extended dialogue led to the development of a rich and sophisticated conceptual clarity about the factors that need to be considered if Article 12 is to be realised with very young children. Eight factors were identified as pivotal for consideration when facilitating voices with this age group: definition; power; inclusivity; listening; time and space; approaches; processes; and purposes. This article explores each in turn and proposes a series of provocations and questions designed to support practitioners in their endeavour to elicit young children's voices.

This paper is both a reflexive report on an attempt to operationalise 'doctorateness' in a specific case context and a synthesis of theory from the philosophy of education and curriculum design. Using the context of a new Professional Doctorate programme in Law (the DLaw) at a University in the North-East of England, it is an exploration of the conceptual framework of the students and the curriculum designer. All participants have consented to the use of their reflections and contribution to discussions, recognising the potential for them to be identified through publically available data about the programme and cohort members. This was the focus of discussion in the group and the decision --that whilst individuals are not directly identified, there has been no attempt to conceal the identity of the institution or programme -- was made collaboratively. The paper articulates the particularity of the 'Category 3' doctorate and its position as a pathway for staff development and recognition (within post-1992 institutions in particular) as a way of setting the boundaries and context of what follows. Experiential data in this paper describes both my aspirations for the DLaw and how that initial model has been developed through dialogue with the first cohort of students as a vehicle for illuminating the theoretical discussions.

The author has been asked to respond to Lodge, Hansen, and Cottrell's recent (2015) paper in this journal and they have done a very thorough and scholarly job of dissecting the weaknesses of modality preference theories. They clearly and carefully analyse the nature of the evidence for modality preference and conclude that there is little if any warrant for the use of modality preference, particularly because task appropriateness has a stronger influence. The author wonders, why have they had to write it? Why was--to pick one out of many--the thorough review by Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, and Bjork (2009) which formed a special issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest not sufficient? What is it about learning styles that is so resistant to critique? In this commentary, the author will share some of the intellectual process background to a previous review (Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone, 2004a, 2004b; Hall & Moseley, 2005), consider how the work can be said to have impact in terms of academic conversations through published work, and finally, reflect on the many conversations the author has had with teachers in schools, colleges and universities. The author will conclude with her current working hypothesis about the attraction of learner-centred frameworks compared to the ongoing personal challenge of being an interesting and effective teacher. [For the article that the author is responding to, "Modality Preference and Learning Style Theories: Rethinking the Role of Sensory Modality in Learning," see EJ1186493.]

This paper draws on data collected during a longitudinal collaborative project with teachers in England from schools and further education colleges. The project investigated "Learning to Learn" in partnership with teacher-researchers with a focus on how metacognitive awareness can be improved by enquiring into creative combinations of pedagogy, environment and learners' dispositions. The paper is an attempt to make clear the theoretical underpinnings of our belief that the project teachers were enacting something different, something metacognitive. We present a pragmatic model of metacognition development based on ideas collaboratively produced across the project. The five cycles of development are exemplified from the pedagogic and the professional learning perspective with quotes, vignettes and case study excerpts. We show a catalytic relationship between the pedagogies used by the teachers to develop their students' metacognition and the teachers' own learning and metacognitive knowledge and skilfulness.

This paper demonstrates how teachers who were working in a range of developmental relationships with researchers used Coaching Dimensions to understand, describe, analyse and improve the quality of their coaching and mentoring conversations. The findings are based on analysis of transcriptions of case studies of one-to-one professional dialogue practice. The dimensions of coaching provide a language and mechanism through which teachers can analyse and reflect on their "coaching" practice. They can act as a metacognitive tool for teachers, providing them with the opportunity to engage with the complexity of their practice. Such self-knowledge enables productive practice development, and an ability to talk with peers about how their practice is developing. This can help teachers to plan for, and be more responsive within, coaching or mentoring meetings. Use of the dimensions allows the relationships between the nature and the intent of practice to be explored and may help to clarify the roles of different types of professional dialogue, securing them within continuing professional development structures in schools. As relationships and trust within coaching and mentoring partnerships can be vulnerable, gaining greater awareness of the significance of the semantics of the dialogue can support the participants to match intent with outcome.

In research textbooks, and much of the research practice, they describe, qualitative processes and interpretivist epistemologies tend to dominate visual methodology. This article challenges the assumptions behind this dominance. Using exemplification from three existing visual data sets produced through one large education research project, this article considers the affordances and constraints of the research process focusing particularly on analysis. It examines how and when the visual can be incorporated, gives some critical reflections on the role and use of visual methods to fulfil different research intents, and, in particular, considers combining large, open-ended data sets with acceptable and rigorous analysis techniques. We then explore arguments about the nature of visual data, what is considered epistemologically appropriate and the decision-making which accompanies any appraisal of process in education research. The intention is to challenge ourselves, and fellow visual methods researchers, to develop a more complete understanding of the theory and practice of visual research. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)

It has been argued by both educationalists and social researchers that visual methods are particularly appropriate for the investigation of people's experiences of the school environment. The current and expected building work taking place in British schools provides an opportunity for exploration of methods, as well as a need to establish ways to achieve this involvement of a range of school users, including students. This article describes a consultation that was undertaken in a UK secondary school as part of a participatory design process centred on the rebuilding of the school. A range of visual methods, based on photographs and maps, was used to investigate the views of a diverse sample of school users, including students, teachers, technical and support staff and the wider community. Reported here is the experience of using these tools, considering the success of different visually-based methods in engaging a broad cross section of the school community and revealing useful information. Using a range of visual methods allows a complex, but coherent, understanding of the particular school environment to be constructed and developed. It is further argued that such a range of visual and spatial methods is needed to develop appropriate understanding. The study, therefore, contributes to knowledge about specific visual research methods, appreciation of the relationship between tools, and a general methodological understanding of visual methods' utility for developing understanding of the learning environment.

The connection between teacher inquiry, professional development and school improvement was recognised 30 years ago by Lawrence Stenhouse. Stenhouse contributed many valuable insights into the role of practitioner enquiry in creating and utilising knowledge about teaching and learning, much of which is still to be applied systematically in teacher education and professional development. This paper draws on the Learning to Learn Phase 3 Evaluation, a three-year-action research project in which teachers in primary and secondary schools across the UK completed three cycles of practitioner inquiry to explore tools, pedagogies and other innovations which would promote dispositions of "learning to learn" (L2L). The paper focuses on identifying those aspects of being involved in L2L that support teachers' learning and the way that the teachers themselves understand the impact on their professional development. Data from over 60 semi-structured interviews undertaken over the three years of the project, the case study reports compiled by teachers at the end of each year of the project and collaborative workshops involving teachers and university researchers as co-inquirers are used to explore teachers' learning. Qualitative methods are used to develop a thematic analysis of the interviews, case studies and the teachers' understanding of the relationships between inquiry, research and continuing professional development (CPD) in order to identify categories and generate key concepts that can inform a theoretical understanding of the impact of professional inquiry on teachers' learning. The findings contribute to our understanding of the role of inquiry and research in schools in supporting professional learning by suggesting how tools and models of working are developed. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables, and 1 note.)

This paper investigates how the use of Pupil Views Templates (PVTs), a tool designed to elicit, record and analyse the development of students' awareness of their own learning processes, supports teachers' professional learning. This paper reports on a three-year collaborative practitioner enquiry project involving more than 30 primary and secondary schools in England. The data set includes practitioners' case studies, interviews, questionnaires and cross-project analysis completed by the university team. Analysis focuses on the role of feedback, stimulated through the use of PVTs, in teachers' learning through three dimensions: the influence of student feedback on teachers as part of the pedagogical encounter; the influence of student feedback on schools within the context of the practitioner enquiry projects; the influence of feedback on the lead teacher researchers. Links between the tools used, the source of the feedback, and teachers' learning are mapped from a "second order perspective" derived from the diverse data sources. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

This article first investigates historical trends in both the practice and the understanding of consultation, considering the often contrasting perspectives of architects and designers, compared to teachers and educationalists. Differing assumptions held by these two broad groups of professionals can lead to conflicting aims and objectives for school buildings, even where there is determination to communicate effectively and find common ground. Our exploration of this issue will centre on the potential contribution of users of the educational environment and, in particular, what happens to the student perspective. Consultation over school buildings has tended in the past to centre on educators, and so miss out direct involvement of students (Woolner et al., 2005). However, there is increasing conviction that children should participate in decision-making (Burke and Grosvenor, 2003; Clark et al., 2003), including about school-design (DfES, 2002), and methods are being developed to do this (Wall and Higgins, 2006). The historical analysis will bring us to a point where, using the example of one school, the consultation procedure in practice can be reflected on. This will form the second element of the article, exploring consultation within the modern context of participatory school design and student voice. The experiences of a school undergoing redesign of a classroom space will be discussed in light of the dichotomy previously established, the perspective of architecture in contrast to that of education. The role of the child's view in influencing design solutions will be considered, together with the consequences for teaching and learning, consultation procedures and the re-design of school buildings. (Contains 1 note and 6 figures.)

This article draws on an action research project in primary and secondary schools which was funded through the Campaign for Learning, and supported by Newcastle University with a focus on "Learning to Learn". This is a potentially useful concept for teachers and academics as attempts are made to move beyond curriculum-driven and assessment-dominated education towards inclusive and lifelong learning. At the end of the academic years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, a total of 43 teachers from schools involved in researching Learning to Learn completed questionnaires and were interviewed about the progress of their individual research projects in the context of the wider programme. They were asked to discuss issues of autonomy and control, expectations and motivation and how change was manifesting itself in their contexts. Clear messages about the need for teacher ownership of the research balanced with the need for scaffolding emerged from the analysis. (Contains 2 tables and 8 figures.)

The use of computers in early years has become a contentious issue, with advocates calling for more Information and Communications Technology (ICT), more machines, better software, and more training for professionals, while other groups call for "a moratorium on the further introduction of computers in early childhood and elementary education" (Cordes & Miller, 2000). The authors of this article would like to declare their allegiances here: they are in favour of computers in the same way that they are in favour of books, pencils, worksheets, Lego, jigsaws, junk modelling, role play, and circle time. Activities and equipment in early years are, in themselves, neither positive or negative: it is the way in which they are used which is meaningful. Any of the things on their list can (and have) been criticised as retarding or limiting children's development. They believe that children need opportunities to interact with the world at developmentally appropriate levels, to "own" the interactions, forming personal, relevant "mental furniture," organising their learning in partnership with peers and sensitive, scaffolding adults. Such activities are appropriate in that they actively engage learners and developmental in the sense that they help to support the development of children's learning. ICT has a place in this, and the burning questions are not "whether" computers should be used but "where" and "how" ICT can be used to enlarge and enrich young children's experience of learning. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

Reevaluation of Bookstart, a British project to promote library use and book sharing with babies, found that 53% of pilot families had never used the library; younger caregivers were less likely to use libraries. However, data may have been miscalculated if parents used their own instead of children's library cards. Many parents spoke positively about the early literacy experience. (SK)

A project developed and evaluated an intermediate form of presentation that provides a virtual dynamic tactile display for use with computers that could complement static tactile displays of graphical material. The device is a two-dimensional extension of the tactile mouse and provides contour and slope information to the user. (Contains nine references.) (Author/CR)

Explored the extent to which shared aims, values, and understanding exist between parents of nursery school children and nursery school professionals and among professionals. Found that differences between parents and teachers in attributions made for children's behavior and learning influenced how children were understood, and could lead to teachers blaming children and parents for perceived deficiencies. (JPB)

Different expectations are placed on service providers in employment according to their gender. Women are more likely to flirt, experience difficulties with customers because of their low status. Men can overcome low status of service providers by their higher male status. Female servers were considered to be more friendly than males, according to a survey, but have less authority. Therefore a gendered organization model can be formed. Female servers report that they experience conflicts due to their treatment as servants by customers, whereas this is less of a problem with male waiters.