This study investigates whether the completion of an optional 'sandwich' work placement enhances graduate starting salaries. We use a variety of multivariate regression techniques to investigate this issue and find that the graduate starting salaries of students who took professional work placements were significantly higher by £1686 ($2105)…

In the context of threats to their financial sustainability, this paper uses Resource Dependency Theory to explore the challenges being faced by a sample of 10 small new public universities in England. It discusses the responses being taken and prospects for the future in this segment of the sector. It concludes that some of the most important…

This article examines a national policy of performance-related pay for teachers in the educational context of England, as understood in relation to the concept of New Public Management. Using a mixed methods approach employing surveys and in-depth interviews, the article considers the perspectives of working teachers, thus engaging directly with…

The working lives of teachers and leaders study is an annual survey of teachers and leaders in state schools in England. The survey explores teachers and leaders': (1) workload, wellbeing and flexible working arrangements; (2) attitudes to pay; (3) experiences of professional development; (4) views on pupil behaviour; (5) career reflections; and…

The 2022 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Review in England has proposed changes to the way in which SENCos are trained before working in English schools. Although the DfE collects data relating to the demographics of all teachers, the 2022 SEND Review Green Paper does not draw on this to support or inform the changes being…

Previous research has found school working conditions--particularly school leadership--to be linked to teacher retention. At the same time, evidence from the management literature has suggested that obtaining 'buy-in' from staff is critical to employee performance and instigating change. This paper brings these two literatures together, being the…

This report looks at why men are more likely than women to achieve first-class degrees at Oxford and Cambridge. This situation stands in stark contrast to the UK higher education sector as a whole, where women are generally more likely to achieve both first-class honours and 'good' honours. The author argues that the first-class awarding gap…

This report presents an analysis of childcare providers' finances based on a survey carried out in 2023, during the period leading up to significant reforms in the funding of childcare in England. In the 2023 Spring Budget, the government announced that, from April 2024, government-funded childcare would be expanded to younger children, and that,…

This original study presents findings from a study of members of the first cohort of legal degree apprentices. Introduced in the UK in 2016, legal degree apprenticeships (LAs) remove uncertainty towards legal qualification in an otherwise competitive graduate recruitment environment and could help to increase social mobility into the professions.…

This paper looks at the flexibilisation of teachers' employment relations in England in the context of an accelerated deregulation of work and employment conditions and of educational provision. It brings to light a contrasted picture, where external flexibilisation, through the recruitment of unqualified teachers, seems to be contained by a…

Since 2021, unprecedented increases in energy costs, rapid increases in food costs and substantial increases in the cost of housing via higher rent/mortgage costs have driven a dramatic rise in the cost of living across England. Despite inflation having fallen from its peak in winter 2022, costs remain high compared to incomes and cost pressures…

England has been facing a significant teacher supply challenge, marked particularly by undersupply of the maths, physics and chemistry teachers required to deliver a high-quality science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education across the country. There has been chronic under-recruitment and higher-than-average leaving rates for maths…

The article reports research aimed at identifying factors relating to retention in English intellectual disability services, drawing on a study of the social care workforce. The research involved two rounds of interviews with social care managers and staff between 2009 and 2014. The study uses social exchange theory, particularly the idea of…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the degree apprenticeship labour market and employers' strategies for apprenticeship recruitment using job advertisement data. Specifically, this study identifies the skills, attributes, experience and qualifications that employers look for in IT apprentices. The study also identifies the…

The cost-of-living has been rising sharply across England since 2021, including unprecedented increases in energy costs, rapid increases in the costs of food and significant increases in the costs of housing via higher rents/mortgage costs. Drawing on online surveys of over 2700 teachers and senior leaders in April and May 2023 in mainstream and…