The marketization of education in countries like the UK may be seen as part and parcel of the rise of neoliberalism as the dominant shaper of policy and practice in many societies from the late twentieth century onwards. This paper explores how marketization has impacted on two initial teacher preparation programmes and focuses on the Cambridge…

In today's digital age, Languages graduates need more specific skills than fluency in the foreign language and intercultural competence. Employers expect from all applicants a high level of computer literacy and a set of soft skills such as creativity or the ability to solve problems and work on team projects. Modern Foreign Language (MFL)…

This paper looks at the importance of mechanisms that give formal recognition to vocational skills acquired through work-based learning and how such mechanisms might be developed. It describes how skill recognition can benefit individuals, employers and society as a whole, and identifies in which contexts skill recognition has the highest…

The first years of life lay the foundations for a child's future development and learning. Many countries have increased their financial support for provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) over the past years. More recently, the focus of debate has been shifting from expanding access to affordable ECEC to enhancing its quality. A…

Improving students' psychological literacy has become a key part of the new British Psychological Society accreditation. This is fuelling an emphasis on helping students to apply their degree knowledge critically and innovatively, both to enhance their chances in a competitive job market and to give them the skills to make a real-world difference.…

As a result of the "fragmented and largely isolated traditions of pedagogy" in the vastly diverse further education (FE) sector, initial teacher training (ITT) courses have been difficult to design and implement. Nevertheless, the historical requirement for FE teachers to possess a teaching qualification--although now removed--has raised…

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…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the benefits of reclaiming the idea of professional competence and challenges fragmented approaches to academic qualification and professional recognition. It is argued that academic programmes that are integrated with the requirements for professional recognition can resolve the potentially…

This research paper is one in a series produced as part of the Cedefop project The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18). The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of how CVET is conceptualised in various international level policy documents and how it is referred to across countries. It discusses national conceptions of CVET, the…

This article draws on insights taken from Lacanian psychoanalysis to rethink and resituate notions of the self and subjectivity within the theory and practice of experiential leadership development. Adopting an autoethnographic approach, it describes the author's own experience as a participant in a program of equine-assisted learning or…

Teachers in academia are usually not required to have teacher training but must often be evaluated by their students who expect them to have much better teaching qualifications than their high school teachers. However, teachers in elementary and high schools are required to go through several years of teacher training, resulting in a teaching…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have and continue to change the way in which nontraditional learners' access education. Although the free element of these has been linked to low completion rates due to no invested interest, the MOOC platform enables innovative technologies and practices to be trialled. Therefore, rather than attributing varied…

There is still a preference for native speaker teachers in the language teaching profession, which is supposed to influence the self-perceptions of native and nonnative teachers. However, the status of English as a globalized language is changing the legitimacy of native/nonnative teacher dichotomy. This study sought to investigate native and…

It is well documented in both the British press and mathematics education literature that many consider A-levels (qualifications for secondary school leavers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) to be insufficient preparation for undergraduate mathematics study in the UK. A-level Mathematics and Further Mathematics are not solely intended for…

This article examines the "integrated conception of competence" as conceived by Paul Hager and David Beckett and suggests that its characterization in terms intended to distance it from behaviouristic and reductionist notions of competence is not sufficient to differentiate it from other models. Taking up Hager and Beckett's idea that…