This is a conceptual paper that examines the emergence of the 'therapeutic university' and considers its potential implications for policy and practice in Higher Education (HE). Concern over the well-being and mental health of university students both in the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally has recently intensified in media, academic and…

This Point of Departure ponders the question of decolonizing assessment of learning in higher education. In addressing this question, we, as scholars of color who work in the academy in the US and the UK, have leaned on the work of Shahjahan, Estera, Surla, and Edwards' (2022) '"Decolonizing" Curriculum and Pedagogy: A comparative review…

In the field of education, evidence means an objective ground for setting or judging an educational policy, plan or method, as an effective means to attain a given political end or educational objective. Evidence-based education has been regarded as a decisive device to pursue the accountability and improve the quality of education by connecting…

We explored the relationships between social contexts and factors that promoted and inhibited curriculum change at two universities. Thirty interviews were analysed using a general inductive approach to identify factors and forces in three social contexts (lecturer, departmental, and institutional). Curriculum change was characterised by six…

This article explores policy and practice in relation to support for speakers of community languages in Northern Ireland primary schools against the backdrop of the broader UK context, with reference also to the Republic of Ireland and wider European and international experiences. After an initial discussion of the educational, social and…

This article discusses the data obtained from an online survey of academic staff who are involved in module design and who are employed within one university. The survey was used as a baselining tool to explore the nature of current module design practice within the survey sample. Do academics consistently employ the pragmatic approaches…

In a global society, all educational sectors need to recognise internationalism as a core, foundational principle. Whilst most educational sectors are taking up that challenge, vocational education and training (VET) is still being pulled towards the national agenda in terms of its structures and systems, and the policies driving it,…

The representational space of teachers and children in schools has changed beyond all recognition. Drawing on the idea that the school is a socio-spatial landscape, a highly significant institutional space with which children engage, we can understand forms of educational inequality as consequences of spatial production. This article contributes…

Despite all intentions in the course of the Bologna Process and decades of investment into improving the social dimension, results in many national and international studies show that inequity remains stubbornly persistent, and that inequity based on socio-economic status, parental education, gender, country-of-origin, rural background and more…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the choices learners have in steering their way through the educational system in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on data from two studies, one conducted in a state secondary school and the other in a Further Education College, both based in the north-west of England. Both used…

Although the development of policy towards inclusive education in the UK is well advanced, very little is known about the social outcomes of existing inclusive arrangements in primary settings. A recent study sought to fill this gap by systematically investigating the social impacts of inclusion on children accredited with Special Educational…

Background: This paper develops an analysis of how "educability" and "physical ability" are socially configured through the practices of physical education (PE) in schools. We pursue this interest as part of a broader project, shared by many in the wider community of social science researchers in PE, to better understand how…

This paper is concerned with the relationships between students' social identities, their experiences of schooling and educational exclusion. Drawing on data generated through an ethnographic study in a comprehensive public high school in outer-Western Sydney, the paper demonstrates the nuanced institutional and interpersonal processes through…