This contribution reviews how four European countries--England, Germany, France and the Netherlands--use the concept of competence in the process of developing vocational education and training. Competence in England is set in the context of the National Vocational Qualifications; in Germany within action competence and the approach to learning…

Can education for sustainable development (ESD) policies help to create a more sustainable society? In the article I argue that contemporary secondary school curriculum policies relating to ESD are rhetorical devices that will achieve little towards resolving global problems. I suggest that the conceptualization of SD is itself fundamentally…

As with education as a whole, as a field of study and research, educational leadership and management has, notably in the UK but also elsewhere, experienced a period of critical and self-critical examination. The accusations claim much of it is second rate, ideologically orientated, methodologically inadequate, small-scale, non-cumulative, poorly…

Purpose: This case study aims to provide a critical evaluation of the decision by the University of Wolverhampton's School of Legal Studies to develop a number of work-based learning modules, offered as part of the undergraduate programme. It seeks to examine why the School has taken the approach of embedding work-based learning into what has…

This article is part of a larger study which presents findings from an in-depth longitudinal case study of a student's Ph.D. journey. It shows how criticism is produced and managed in the supervisory relationship. As well as an overview of types of criticism produced across a range of supervisory interactions, the article presents a micro-analysis…

The idea of a personal style in learning has grown during the past decade to dominate teacher discourse in the UK. The theory supporting this idea is work in understanding cognitive and learning style. A recent review of learning styles for the Learning and Skills Development Agency in the UK has been widely publicised and is deeply critical of…

Purpose: This paper is the second in a series of conceptual, contextual and empirical contributions that, individually and cumulatively, seek to analyse, develop and link two important fields of research: "entrepreneurship" and "entrepreneurship education". Part 2 aims to provide a critical evaluation of entrepreneurship…

In the past 150 years, educational systems have expanded and become integrally linked with economic, political, and social status in modern nation-states. As the stakes for education have risen, so has the call for more and improved use of scientific evidence as a basis for educational policymaking. Evidence from averaged scores on international…

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse an initiative to provide learners on "career-based" programmes with opportunities to reflect upon their values within the context of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: An international literature review relating values and behaviour to the sustainability agenda led to the development of…

Guidance and legislation in the UK suggest that it is becoming increasingly important to listen to the voices of pupils, to acknowledge their rights and to consult and collaborate with them in the development of personalised approaches to their education. In this article, Jackie Ravet, lecturer in inclusive practice at the University of Aberdeen,…

This essay examines the rhetorical persona of the "Fool" as employed by General Charles Gordon in six volumes of journals recorded during the siege of Khartoum by Mahdist forces from September to December, 1884. After identifying the particular rhetorical aspects of the "Fool" as social critic/site of ideological contestation,…

Background: National curriculum assessment (NCA) in England has been in place for nearly 20 years. It has its origins in a political desire to regulate education, holding schools accountable. However, its form and nature also reflect educational and curriculum concerns and technical assessment issues. Purpose: The aim of the article is to provide…

This paper explores the relation between love, learning and knowledge as found in three dialogues of Plato, "Symposium", "Phaedrus" and "Republic". It argues that the account of the ascent from carnal desire to the love of beauty, as set out in the "Symposium", is best seen in terms of a genealogy of love in…

This article advocates an approach for teaching critical and contextual studies in secondary art education based on Wittgenstein's philosophy of language in relationship to meaning as use, custom, rule following, and physiognomy. The references to meaning form four metaphorical points on a compass for directing the will for making judgments about…

Purpose: The paper aims to describe research undertaken in two post-1992 universities into staff perceptions of and reactions to the rhetoric of the national quality agenda in the UK as expressed by bodies such as the Quality Assurance Agency and the discourse about quality implicit in that agenda. The research examined how academic staff engaged…