On the back of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, this collection brings together a wide range of authors to consider what has worked well in evaluation of UK research, what could have worked better and where the UK's higher education system should go from here. Chapters in the volume include: (1) The REF: A hydra-headed beast or an…

Early childhood disruptive behaviors are common mental health problems among American youth, and if poorly-managed, pose costly psychological and societal burdens. Outcomes accountability systems in clinical practice are vital opportunities to optimize early intervention for common mental health problems; however, such systems seem rare. A scoping…

This article draws upon Roland Barthes' theory of "myth" to unpack how "student progress" is conceptualised and measured in the curriculum and assessment of GCSE English in secondary schools in England. Using case studies of three Year 11 students, I critique aspects of the government's Progress 8 accountability measure, their…

Cheating behaviors have been construed as a continuing and somewhat vexing issue for academic institutions as they increasingly conduct educational processes online and impose metrics on instructional evaluation. Research, development, and implementation initiatives on cheating detection have gained new dimensions in the advent of artificial…

Institutional ethics review procedures aim -- in principle -- to minimise harm and evaluate risks, providing an important space to consider the safety of participants and researchers. However, literature has questioned the effectiveness of the process, particularly for reviewing 'risky' topics in a risk-averse environment. This article reports the…

Educating for LGBTQ+ inclusivity continues to be both challenging and controversial for many teachers and often falls on the shoulders of sexual minority teachers or motivated individuals rather than taking a school wide approach. Deeper understanding is needed of how school communities can better support one another to develop knowledge, practice…

In education systems across the world, teachers are under increasing quality assurance scrutiny in relation to the provision of feedback comments to students. This is particularly pertinent in higher education, where accountability arising from student dissatisfaction with feedback causes concern for institutions. Through semi-structured…

Reviewing institutional governance arrangements through a European lens has the benefit of broadening the argument away from differences between pre-1992 and post-1992 constitutions or between research-intensive and teaching-led university perspectives. In the last two decades in Europe is a massive increase in student numbers and institutional…

This article asks the question of what documentation is doing, rather than what documentation means in the context of early childhood education. By focusing on the documentation of a young child's playful exploration with water that inhabits a classroom wall, new materialist theories are put to work to ponder documentation's agentive capacities…

This study aims to compare the school inspection reports prepared by educational inspectors in Turkey and the United Kingdom. In Turkey, educational inspection is carried out by the Educational Inspectors of the Ministry of National Education. On the other hand, educational inspection in the UK is carried out by Ofsted education inspectors. In…

Despite previous research claiming surveillance emerges from student evaluations of teaching (SET), there is an absence of research using surveillance theory to determine whether it emerges, the nature of the surveillance should it emerge, and how academics resist its effects. Through an analysis of four university business schools, a top-down…

This article exposes the fear that is at the heart of the Ofsted inspection process. It presents a challenge to Ofsted's Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. She must tread carefully if she is to reform Ofsted and our broken accountability system.

Constructive Alignment (CA) is neither the panacea, nor the unalloyed evil depicted in the majority of higher education discourses. But rather, the theory is a heuristic and accessible representation of commonly agreed upon aspects of modern curriculum and educational theory, designed explicitly to support learning and teaching. However, when…

Academic work demands behavioural ambidexterity: the ability to simultaneously demonstrate exploration (creativity in research and/or in innovative teaching and learning practice) and exploitation (compliance with quality assurance). However, little is known about the effects of behavioural ambidexterity on the well-being of individual employees.…

This article discusses the intensification of research performance demands in UK universities in relation to the complex terrain of academic identity formation. It considers whether a demand for academic researchers to produce and evidence economic and societal impact -- in the rewards game of the UK's performance-based research funding system,…