This paper reports on findings from a Leadership Foundation for Higher Education funded project exploring the role of associate deans in UK universities. While the number of associate deans leading cross-curricular and inter-disciplinary initiatives appears to be on the increase, there has been very little research focusing on the exact nature of…

This article is based on the findings of an externally funded, mixed-methods research project conducted at one English university. This small-scale project aimed to examine leadership, barriers to becoming a leader and the support needed to overcome them, from the perspectives of disabled staff. An online questionnaire was sent to all 66 members…

Objective Structured Professional Assessments (OSPAs) were developed and evaluated at three universities in the United Kingdom, to supplement supervisor assessments of trainee educational psychologists' placement practice. Participating second year students on three educational psychology doctoral programmes (n = 31) and tutors (n = 12) were…

This paper evaluates the implementation of Learning Design on the production of a core FHEQ level 6 (QAA, 2008) unit of study at a UK distance learning institution. By comparing student (n = 656) and tutor (n = 42) survey data with questionnaire responses (n = 9) from the unit of study's core production team, this paper assesses the impact of…

The transition between school and university can be problematic for students. Understanding students' expectations about the system they are entering is crucial in effecting a smooth transition. The school system involves small classes, often with teachers who know their students well. In contrast, university involves large class sizes and a…

The rise in personal ownership of touch-screen technology such as iPads and smartphones in the UK in recent years has led to the increasing use of such technology by babies and very young children. This article explores this practice via an online parental survey with 226 UK parents of children aged 0-3 years within the context of the current…

A sample of 1047 parents completed an online survey about their experiences and opinions regarding the process of attaining a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder for their children. The results revealed that parents usually waited a year from when they first had concerns about their child's development before they sought professional help. On…

Whilst group work has many benefits for enhancing collaborative learning, it can cause anxiety in summative assessments when group members do not contribute equal effort. Increasing understanding of student perceptions of group assessment, and in particular their motivation to persevere to overcome the challenges, has the potential to lead to…

There are arguably many factors that affect the way a student learns. A recent report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) on student academic experience in the UK states that class size is an important factor in the quality of the student experience and that smaller class sizes provide greater…

This paper considers students' economic motives to attend university. Drawing on selected results from a tri-national survey involving online questionnaires and interviews with students at English, German and Portuguese universities, it examines and compares this particular extrinsic motivational dimension, alongside the influence of the national…

Sustainable design when used in educational building design has large effect or features the buildings possess and it also effects the users interaction with the building. This effect needs to be determined whether it is positive or negative one. Multiple case studies and a main case study of The Loughborough Design School were researched and…

The true power of comparative research around the impact and use of open educational resources is only just being realised, largely through the work done by the Hewlett-funded OER Research Hub, based at The Open University (UK). Since late 2012, the project has used a combination of surveys, interviews and focus groups to gather data about the use…

This article focuses on an exploratory study, undertaken in 2009-2012, which explored student transitions from a foundation degree (level 5) into the third year of a BA honours degree (level 6). Direct entry students and staff from an early years programme at a post-1992 British university and second-year foundation degree students and staff from…

It is essential that physics undergraduates are appropriately prepared for the mathematical demands of their course. This study investigated physics students' perceptions of post-compulsory mathematics as preparation for their degree course. 494 physics undergraduates responded to an online questionnaire about their experiences of A-level…

As part of a large-scale survey of over 4000 undergraduates at British universities, 238 economics students reported on their experiences of studying post-compulsory secondary mathematics qualifications (A-levels) and the preparation they provided for their degrees. Participants were positive about their experience of post-compulsory mathematics…