The aim of this paper is to provide a positive case for increasing the role and importance of religious morality within the subject of religious education in British schools. The argument is structured in the following way. First, attention is given to the diminished role accorded to moral education within religious education that followed the…

This article begins by outlining the historical and political context of "parent partnership" within the UK. It locates the perspectives of early years' practitioners within this context, drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded study of eighteen English early years settings, including interviews and…

In what ways do Jewish and Muslim faith schools in Britain play a role in promoting and contributing to community cohesion? What 21st-century skills around intercultural understanding do they foster? This book examines the nuances of faith in school settings and draws on a case study of Jewish and Muslim faith schools. The authors show how these…

This article begins by outlining the UK Government policy context, offering a brief critique before moving on to summarise recent research into "quality" in the early years. The main body of the article locates the perspectives of early years practitioners within this context, drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research…

In this article, the author talks about a life with the sociology of education. He begins by describing the "old" and "new" sociologies of education. Then, he discusses the sociology of education policy and the relevance of Basil Bernstein, who remained the dominant presence within the sociology of education in the UK until his…

At the time I began work in university, I entered a world which was leisured, privileged and patriarchal, in the United Kingdom at least...I came from a world in which only 3% of the population aspired to university. I belonged to a world in which, having got where I was through the eleven-plus and "A" levels, there was almost a sense…

The second part of this account of struggles over literacy begins in the later seventeenth century. From the 1670s, the new dissenting academies, backed by rising business classes, made teaching in English for a wider curriculum their goal. Thus was Defoe's mastery of a new spoken style developed, while in Scotland, the eighteenth century…

Education is often seen as a contrast (or even contest) between being a process of liberal education (with the aim of fostering life-long independent, innovative and creative thinking useful throughout life) and delivering vocational education (immediately applicable skills and competencies, ready for the world of work--"employability").…

Forest kindergartens are a new idea in the United States but have been around in Germany, Norway, and other European countries for decades. Forest "kindergartens" are preschools for children ages 3-6 and focus on being outdoors and learning through interacting with nature. Instead of building with blocks or doing puzzles at a table…

The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board has just celebrated 30 Years of Fully Inclusive Education for All. Their mission statement: "EACH BELONGS". This remarkable book by Jim Hansen collects the history--including an extensive collection of documents and letters from teachers and families--that tell the stories of the…

This study aimed to elaborate on the practices of INSET (in-service education and training) activities based on two different countries. The UK example has been taken as the practice of a developed and more advanced system, and the Turkish example of INSET is taken as the developing one. The study is based on analysis of literature search. The…

Gender has long been implicated in geographic education, though generally implicitly until the late twentieth century. Emphasizing British and American examples, this paper examines gender representation among geographic educators, in student participation, and in learning. It then turns to pedagogical issues that arise as content and strategies…

This article examines the approach to "character training" in the early years of the Outward Bound movement in Britain between c.1940 and c.1965. It examines the key components of the concept of "character-training" promoted in the Outward Bound schools by Kurt Hahn and his early followers, and some of the criticisms to which…

The history and meaning of the term "microelectronics" is reviewed, followed by a discussion of the key inventions of the Intel microprocessor in 1971 and the Texas Instruments electronic pocket calculator in 1975. The six characteristic features of microelectronic components are then defined. The UK prime minister Jim Callaghan's…

Muslims live in a "modern" world where subjects such as the English language, mathematics, sciences, and information and communication technology (ICT) are highly valued and enthusiastically transmitted in schools. How some Islamic schools attempt to equip their students with "modern knowledge" while remaining faithful to their…