This research looks at an area of materials design where little research has previously been conducted: English for very specific academic purposes (EVSAP). The research looks at related literature in EAP, ESP and ESAP, conducts a multi-stakeholder needs analysis, and incorporates the students into the materials design process itself. An analysis…

This article draws on a survey conducted with primary school trainee teachers in a university in England. The survey set out to investigate their knowledge, understanding and their view about the role that Collective Worship (CW) plays in schools. A sample of 125 participants contributed to the findings of this inquiry by completing a…

Children's Centres are widespread in England and comprise multi-professional staff teams seeking to work with families with children aged 0-5 years. Although parent-child group music sessions appear frequently in Children's Centre activity programmes, the rationale for their inclusion remains unclear. This article presents the results from phase…

This article reports the learning achieved by a group of trainee teachers about acts of collective worship (CW) organised in English primary schools. Using data gathered from non-participant observation questionnaires, it describes, from the viewpoint of observers, three main findings related to children and their learning, the position of CW in…

This exploratory study investigated an educational psychologist's use of a strengths-based development tool with head teachers, in the context of influencing and supporting leaders in school organisations. Nine head teachers completed the "Realise2 Introductory Profile" online strengths assessment and then received a structured debrief…

In the autumn term of 2011, it was identified that a programme of support for developing science in the curriculum was required at a newly opened special school, Beacon Reach, in Lancashire, which caters to children with autism spectrum disorders. Staff wanted to provide a relevant and meaningful curriculum, accessible even to young people who…

Background: Language development has been characterised by significant individual stability from school entry. However, the extent to which trajectories of language growth vary in children with language disorder as a function of co-occurring developmental challenges is a question of theoretical import, with implications for service provision.…

This article brings together the authors' previous work on co-created curricula (Bovill, 2013a, 2014; Bovill et al., 2011) and on partnership and ethics (Taylor, 2015; Taylor and Robinson, 2014), to develop the concept of co-created curricula as an ecology of participation. In doing so, it deploys Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy to…

The benefits of peer mentoring in school settings are well-documented, however, the focus has been on the perceptions of teachers, as opposed to teaching assistants, who report distinct beliefs about their professional development. A mixed methodology was used in which 304 primary school teaching assistants completed questionnaires regarding their…

This paper invites the reader to investigate the importance of developing an understanding of the 'Big Picture' that puts specific events or periods within an historical context. It argues for the importance of developing wider historical perspectives for children to begin to make relevant connections, locally nationally and globally. It is only…

Roman Catholic schools have been part of the state-funded system of education in England and Wales since the 1850s. Currently, Roman Catholic schools provide places for around 10% of students attending state-maintained primary and secondary schools. The present study employed data collected during the 1990s to compare a range of religious, social,…

The provision of constructive feedback gives meaning to educational assessment and is an important requirement in every good educational system. In addition to the value of summative and formative judgements about a learner's progress, when pupils are given opportunities to assess their own work, they can develop a sense of ownership and…

The quality of a child's early language and communication environment (ELCE) is an important predictor of later educational outcomes. However, less is known about the routes via which these early experiences influence the skills that support academic achievement. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n = 7,120) we…

The aims of this working paper were to investigate whether taking part in out of school activities during primary school is linked with end of primary school attainment and social, emotional and behavioural outcomes, for all children and specifically for children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The analysis is based on the Millennium…

How student teachers experience their transformation into serving teachers in the liminal social spaces of the school-based practicum (teaching practice) is of key importance to them, their future students and their educators. The practicum is a challenging experience for student teachers, even with help from university and school-based mentors,…