In this paper, I theorize fantasies of idealization at work in narratives of educational research. I take as an example one of the very first psychoanalytically oriented studies in the field: Marion Milner's, "The Human Problem in Schools," published in 1938. Evidence is drawn from Milner's published book as well as from the historical…

Michael Young's work is central to debates about knowledge and the school curriculum. In recent years he has renounced his early argument that school subjects represent the "knowledge of the powerful", arguing instead that access and equality for all students are dependent on ensuring that all get access to "powerful…

This article examines the synergy between a long established discipline, geography, and the younger discipline of educational studies, especially its component, comparative education. Although this synergy was recognised by the founding father of comparative education, Michael Sadler, and one of his principal followers, George Bereday, the…

This paper provides an overview of the contribution of Professor Geoffrey Sherington to the study of the history of Australian education and immigration. His academic and leadership roles are summarised and the main themes of his work are briefly discussed. These themes comprise: Australia as an immigrant nation, British colonial values and…

The co-operative movement is currently exploring ways of engaging with changes in government education policy to develop schools with a distinctive co-operative ethos. While drawing on the opportunities in changing policy, these initiatives can also be seen as offering alternatives to the prevailing tenor of government thinking. This is not the…

In 1983, the UK Open University (OU) offered its first women's/gender studies (WGS) course. Although a late entrant to the area, OU WGS courses were influential nationally and internationally for many feminists and WGS teachers and scholars. Not only did OU WGS courses have the largest WGS student cohort of any UK institution with over 8000…

There is confusion surrounding "Inclusion". The aims and drivers of inclusive education (IE) as experienced in the 1990s to early 2000s, in the UK and globally, emerged from a "successful" disability rights movement with its depiction of the medical model as pejorative and promotion of the social model. In education, what we…

Despite numerous criticisms of the UK National Student Survey (NSS) institutional managers still strongly support its use in informing student choice, quality and assurance and quality enhancement activities. This article outlines a granular and nuanced benchmarking system for the NSS which provides both a "raw" score (weighted student…

The Committee of Vice-chancellors and Principals (CVCP) was a leading collective body for British universities for most of the twentieth century, yet there has been very little historical study of its organisation and work. Brief references tend to be dismissive of its effectiveness, although some authors have been more favourable. This article…

Health literacy research and scholarship has largely overlooked the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities (ID), though growing concern about the health inequalities they face has increasingly given rise to health promotion interventions for this group. However, these interventions reference a rather limited vision of health literacy…

Computer science in UK schools is undergoing a remarkable transformation. While the changes are not consistent across each of the four devolved nations of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), there are developments in each that are moving the subject to become mandatory for all pupils from age 5 onwards. In this article, we…

This paper examines the educational policy implemented by the British for the Malays, the indigenous community of Malaya. Underpinned by the policy of divide and rule, the British implemented a dualistic system of education for the indigenous Malays: one for the Malay peasantry and another for the Malay nobility. The two systems of education…

The decision by ex-Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove to send his daughter to a state school caused much press comment and was discussed in a widely read article by Gove's spouse, the "Daily Mail" columnist Sarah Vine. In this piece, Vine praised non selective state education, drawing on her own personal experience and that of…

The internationalization of tertiary education has given rise to student mobility of industrial proportions and affects and is affected by, national economies. Currently British universities are host to the second highest number of international students in the world; the proportionality of international students in the student body in UK higher…

This article develops the argument that students in initial teacher education benefit in terms of who they are becoming from developing awareness of and engagement in the history of mathematics. Initially, current school mathematics practices in the UK are considered and challenged. Then the role of teachers' relationship to mathematical subject…