This study followed a small but diverse group of biology teachers through the first two years of the pilot for a new Advanced Level Biology course--Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology. SNAB aims to modernise A-level Biology using real world contexts and examples as the starting point, promoting conceptual understanding rather than factual recall,…

Pupils transferring to secondary school are positive about science and look forward to practical work. The research reported here explored Y6 and Y7 pupils' perceptions of practical science in school and the world of work. Pupils at both ages saw practical work as a natural and enjoyable consequence of scientific endeavour and of use to society.…

Recent Government policy has been strongly in favour of encouraging entrepreneurship and partnerships with industry. A flagship project backed by 68 million British Pounds was launched by Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1999. Due diligence exercises by the DTI failed to ensure that value for money was obtained. What had been planned…

In January 2006 the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) launched its draft publication, "A Professional Development Framework for e-Learning" (ePD) for consultation with the post-16 education and training sector. In March 2006 the Learning and Skills Council funded the Learning and Skills Network (LSN) to run a pilot to…

Describes an evaluative study of the use of interactive video in elementary and secondary school mathematics in the United Kingdom. The "Stepping Stones" game is described; and issues for the design of interactive media are discussed, including high quality sound and visuals, interactivity and pupil support, and activity off the…

Objective: The project's objective was to provide a course in community and career development to enable women with a diversity of educational and ethnic backgrounds to move into appropriate employment or to enter mainstream education or training. Design: The course was developed using action research with continuous feedback from participants.…

Higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are subject to a variety of pressures to encourage a more inclusive and broader based student body. This has resulted in an extended range of flexible course delivery patterns for mature, part-time students. This article discusses a pilot to extend the academic year for a small cohort of such…

The Real Game is a Canadian career education simulation for 12- and 13-year-olds that is currently being adapted for the United Kingdom. The game emphasizes the following five main messages: remember that change is constant; understand that learning is ongoing; focus on the journey; follow your heart; and access your allies. The game's…

This article reviews recent policies and government initiatives that have aimed to improve the uptake of vocational qualifications amongst hard-to-reach groups in the working population. The Employer Training Pilots and the Sector Skills Pilots have been designed to trial new ways of engaging employers in training and encouraging the take-up of…

This paper focuses on a 1997 pilot project carried out in five secondary schools in South Africa that examined children's reading and information use. This study (n=958) was part of a larger study from 1995 and 1996 carried out in the United Kingdom. The primary goal was to examine what young people are reading at the end of the 20th century. The…

This paper examines the experience of some of the teachers participating in the Multimedia Portables for Teachers Pilot, one of 25 projects composed the United Kingdom Education Department's Superhighways Initiative. The Pilot put 1,138 high-specification portable computers in the hands of practicing teachers in a range of schools. The teachers…

In 1998 the authors published research with NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) "Family Numeracy Adds Up" showing how parents and children had gained from fourteen pilot family numeracy programmes. It showed strong evidence of the double benefits of work with families. Children have an early boost in their learning and…

The UK-I-Can Program is an adaptation of the Amer-I-Can Program, introduced in 1988 to help individuals meet their full potential and improve the quality of their lives. The focus of the program is equipping young people with life management skills necessary to lead fulfilling and productive lives, based on the belief that individuals' self-esteem…

The United Kingdom's Modern Apprenticeships were introduced in September 1994 to provide young people in the United Kingdom with a route to achieving the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) at Level 3 or above, including a progression into higher education. The pilot implementation of Modern Apprenticeships involved 2,400 teenagers and…

This document contains information from and about the Family Numeracy program, a 1-year pilot program conducted in 14 local education authorities throughout the United Kingdom to identify the most effective methods of achieving the following goals: raise the level of home support for numeracy; improve the numeracy skills of 3- to 5-year-old…