While there are many different frameworks seeking to identify what benefits young people might derive from participation in informal STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning (ISL), this paper argues that the sector would benefit from an approach that foregrounds equity and social justice outcomes. We propose a new model for…

Purpose: The growing awareness of climate change, biodiversity loss and the wider global environmental emergency has led to calls for decisive and immediate action from all sections of society. This paper aims to consider the question of how universities should respond and what role they might best adopt in current circumstances.…

While mainstream schools have seen an increasing focus on performance and attainment in recent years, this focus has often been resisted by special and alternative educational provision in the United Kingdom. However, concern is now growing about the low levels of achievement for children and young people educated outside mainstream schools. This…

Special education critics' vigorous appraisals of the social model of disability, along with their analysis of its implications for special education, provide a valuable forum for meaningful dialogue about how educators are to understand the nature of disability. In this article, we offer our response to their recent articles. As advocates of the…

In "The Higher Education System", Burton Clark provides a model for the organisational analysis of higher education institutions and systems. Central to the model are the concepts of knowledge, beliefs and authority. In particular, Clark examines how different interest groups both inside and outside the university shape and subvert the…

The further education sector hasn't always been portrayed in a positive light. However, over the last 15 years the sector, which includes all FE general colleges, sixth-form colleges and specialist FE colleges across the United Kingdom, continues to increase the diversity of its services to the individual, business and the wider community in a way…

This paper explores definitions and understandings of restorative practices in education. It offers a critique of current theoretical models of restorative justice originally derived from the criminal justice system and now becoming popular in educational settings. It questions the appropriateness of these concepts as they are being introduced to…

This article presents a model for conceptualising learner involvement in online environments. It takes as its starting point the emerging approach to service-user engagement in public-sector change in the United Kingdom. This is focused upon civic inclusion and empowered decision making. In turn this personalisation is related to issues…

Racial and cultural diversity issues have been a source of some interest amongst outdoor and environmental educators. Early research was framed in terms of the "under-participation" of people of colour, which led to the development of ethnocentric and methodologically problematical "marginality" and "ethnicity"…