Purpose: This paper seeks to investigate the potential role of emotional intelligence (EI) abilities within learning in teams. The research focuses on examining how EI abilities are enacted within team contexts and how these are associated with critical reflection and team processes associated with learning. Design/methodology/approach: A…

National policy stresses the key role of adult learning and skills in securing economic recovery. This close linking of adult learning policy to the recession agenda raises important questions. How has the recession impacted on the implementation of adult learning policy? What has it meant for service delivery? And what have been the consequences…

The Languages Ladder--a new framework for accrediting language proficiency--is a core element of the National Languages Strategy. This paper presents Asset Languages, the system being developed by Cambridge Assessment to implement the Languages Ladder, aiming to set it apart from existing qualification frameworks by accrediting clearly defined…

The call to be strategic--and with it the concept of strategic management--can bring to mind a wide range of definitions, and there is now a huge array of academic literature supporting the different schools of thought. At a basic level, however, strategic thinking is probably most simply about focusing on the whole, rather than the part. In…

Diana Wilkinson, Chief Social Researcher with the Scottish Government, assisted National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) to facilitate a forum to discuss the development of national research priorities for the vocational education and training sector. This paper summarises Diana Wilkinson's impression of the forum and uses two…

Despite the declarations of international documents on minority language rights, provision is patchy for supporting minority languages in the UK, where since the 1980s governments have deliberately or unwittingly greatly raised the profile and comparative standing of English. The partial exception to this trend has been the treatment of…

Expansion of higher education (HE) into the further education (FE) sector has resulted in a renewed period of growth as colleges strive to create a culture and environment appropriate for HE. This article presents findings from interviews with lecturers delivering HE in FE within the University of Plymouth Partner College network and explores the…

The aim of this research was to investigate the approaches being taken by local authorities (LAs) and partner organisations to improve how young people are perceived, especially in relation to crime and antisocial behaviour. The study also looked at the challenges for and benefits of activities aiming to improve public perceptions of young people,…

The CACTUS project was concerned with command and control training of large incidents where public order may be at risk, such as large demonstrations and marches. The training requirements and objectives of the project are first summarized justifying the use of knowledge-based computer methods to support and extend conventional training…

This paper assumes that language and educational policies are manifestations of the interdependence between linguistic thought and the prevailing "zeitgeist", and hence that an investigation of these policies from an historical perspective falls squarely within the history of linguistics. The policies discussed here are those by the…

Ground-coupled heating-cooling systems (GCHCSs) exchange heat between the built environment and the subsurface using pipework buried in trenches or boreholes. If heat pumps in GCHCSs are powered by "green electricity," they offer genuine carbon-free heating-cooling; for this reason, there has been a surge in the technology in recent…

This evaluation aimed to provide: (1) findings on the effectiveness of different activities and approaches to delivering science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), including leading practice and challenges; (2) a clear understanding of the impact of activities on pupils, teachers, the school and partners; and (3) a set of…

This survey was a joint initiative between Society of College, National, and University Libraries (SCONUL) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), that since 2004 has sponsored a program to assist libraries with the assessment of services that they offer their users and the processes that support those services. It was based on an ARL…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine an early articulation of some of the key factors in building capacity and the potential for knowledge exchange (KE) within a small, learning and teaching-oriented organization. Design/methodology/approach: An action research study is planned as a practical enquiry. In common with other action research,…

The University of York is among the top universities in the United Kingdom, yet has not adopted all manner of electronic media. The University Library attempts to meet the demands placed upon it by its academic and student users for electronic media of all kinds, while working within a sometimes frame work that does not encourage exploitation of…