This paper describes the mixed methodology evaluation of the Own-Voice Intensive Phonics (OVIP) programme with 33 secondary students with persistent literacy difficulties. The evaluation involved a quasi-experimental evaluation in which 33 students in years 7-9 in four schools used OVIP over an 8 week period and were monitored at three times for…

Effective school leadership in supporting outcomes for all students is critical. This study focuses on six New Zealand principals as they endeavour to make a difference to reading outcomes for 11 to 13 year-old students. In New Zealand, there are approximately 20% of students who are underachieving in reading. Once they reach the final years of…

After 2005, approximately two million Poles emigrated, choosing mostly Britain as their destination. Quantitative reports paint a picture of the typical Polish immigrant as a person between the ages of 31-39, who, with a vocational (or equivalent) education, is active on the labor market. This paper reports on a qualitative study of six typical…

This qualitative study examines the identities of three secondary special education teachers in self-contained classrooms. Nationally, there is a serious shortage of special educators interested in and successful working with students exhibiting emotional and behavioral disorders. An understanding of teacher identity and the personal and…

REACH is a targeted reading support programme designed to improve reading accuracy and comprehension in pupils with reading difficulties in Years 7 and 8. It is based on research by the Centre for Reading and Language at York and is delivered by specially trained teaching assistants (TAs). This evaluation tested two REACH interventions, one based…

This article focuses on the concerns expressed by three female Muslim educators who are support staff at an English comprehensive school. Consistent with the debates associated with multiculturalism, group rights and feminism, the article illuminates spaces of gender constraint and possibility within the discourses shaping these women's lives and…

This research gave voice to teaching assistants, exploring their experiences and perceptions. A small-scale case study approach was adopted, which aimed to interpret and explain human actions and thought through descriptions, capturing first person accounts. Qualitative data was collected from two focus group interviews. Participants were employed…

The number of pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who join mainstream schools in the UK has been increasing over the last decade. Given the difficulties in social and emotional understanding which these children have, their inclusion in schools is likely to be challenging. Their ASD-related manifestations, moreover, tend to allow for…

Catch Up® Literacy is a structured one-to-one literacy intervention for pupils between the ages of 6 and 14 who are struggling to learn to read. It teaches pupils to blend phonemes (combine letter sounds into words), segment phonemes (separate words into letter sounds), and memorise particular words so they can be understood without needing to use…

Nurture groups (NGs) are increasingly being established in Scottish secondary schools yet research in this context is limited. The current study explores the purpose, features and value of two NGs in a Scottish secondary school through interviewing current and former NG members, parents/carers, NG staff and other school staff. A thematic analysis…

The purpose of this research study was to increase the understanding of the state of discipline of a suburban high school by interrogating the factors that affect the perception held by the school's various stakeholders. The stakeholders in this study consisted of those individuals who have the responsibility for the formation of the school's…

This study investigated the perceived benefits of five adolescents with an intellectual disability functioning as tutors or teacher assistants in physical education. Their personal experiences and interpretations were ascertained by interviews, video recording, photographs, and field observations. An interpretative phenomenological analysis…

This study aims to explore how high school students collaboratively solve problems in a web problem-based learning (WPBL) system in an 8-week digital logic course using discourse analysis. Employing in-depth interviews, this study also investigated the students' attitudes toward the WPBL system. The number of teaching assistants' responses had a…

Growing numbers of pupils with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are attending mainstream schools, and increasing numbers of teaching assistants (TAs) are being deployed into classrooms to support them. Evidence suggests, however, that pupils who have a TA may underperform academically, receive less attention from their teachers and be isolated…

Science teachers in the England have always relied on the support of largely self-taught technicians when preparing classroom practicals. The technicians have acquired some of their expertise through ad hoc mentoring by senior colleagues, but very few have had any extended training. This research set out to explore the changing attitudes of 40…