Until recently, higher education institutions (HEIs) had been relatively free to pursue their own individual strategies, on the assumption that their combined effect would add up to a national strategy for higher education. As long as demand outstripped supply, market failures were not an issue. With supply and demand more in balance, the number…

The last decade has seen significant interest in research associated with outdoor education and outdoor learning in the UK. However, there has been little research into the perspectives of those staff, particularly women, who make available outdoor experiences to various groups in different situations and locations. The importance of understanding…

Recruitment onto pre-registration learning disability nursing courses has decreased considerably over the last decade. This paper reports the findings of the first stage of a longitudinal study that investigated the factors that influence students to train as learning disability nurses, and those that influence their decision to continue or leave…

Case study of a school development plan discusses how a school that had used a top-down approach went about fostering staff participation and dealt with initiative overload. (MLF)

Over the last few years there has been increasing interest in process-based approaches in higher education administration, including "business process modelling" for development of information systems, "process redesign" to remove duplication and bottlenecks, and "process management" to improve operational…

This study examined pathways to retirement and the role of circumstances at work and at home (including the introduction of financially-enhanced early retirement schemes) on retirement-related decision-making. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted within 2 years of retirement with 59 British civil servants participating in the Whitehall…

This article is a review of the literature concerned with leadership effectiveness in higher education at departmental level. The literature derives from publications from three countries: the UK, the USA and Australia. Surprisingly little systematic research has been conducted on the question of which forms of leadership are associated with…

Teacher leadership is a concept that is gaining increasing interest from both practitioners and researchers. This article presents findings from three case studies in the UK that can be characterized as exhibiting developed, emergent and restricted teacher leadership. Differences and similarities between the schools were examined, leading us to…

Partnership is a concept that is increasingly being used in the UK political arena. This article seeks to contribute to the existing understanding of the theory and practice of educational partnerships. It argues that although partnerships are usually defined as necessary, pragmatic and benevolent ways of organizing social welfare, in practice…

Recently in the UK there have been dramatic changes in the state provision of early years education and care, most notably the introduction of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's "early learning goals" in 1999 and "curriculum guidance for the foundation stage" in 2000. Outlining the context in which these changes came…

The research reported in this paper concerns the development of children's skills of interpreting and evaluating evidence in science. Previous studies have shown that school teaching often places limited emphasis on the development of these skills, which are necessary for children to engage in scientific debate and decision-making. The research,…

Explores some implications of individual perceptions for management development. Suggests that logic is necessary but not sufficient in dealing with problems and opportunities and that the perceptual side of problem solving is becoming more dominant. (JOW)

Interviews with 115 British high school students revealed their career decision making to be pragmatically rational. Assumptions that good guidance and better information will help them make "correct" career decisions are fallacious. Changes of mind and career decision are normal and should be accounted for in training policy and…

Case studies of the contemporary UK sail training movement are used to illustrate the competing expressions of purpose in this field. Two sail training organisations are described and a case study voyage under the aegis of each is presented. The differences between the approaches are analysed as "traditions" or ideologies, articulated…

Learning participation only makes sense if it is purposeful. From our perspective its primary purpose is to achieve more effective managing in situations of complexity and change. We describe our evolving understandings and practices (a praxeology) for Systems Practice for managing complexity, built on 30 years of developing supported open…