Librarians and information specialists' involvement during the development of grant applications for external funding can save researchers' time, provide specialist support, and contribute to reducing avoidable waste in research. This article presents a survey of information specialists working for the National Institute for Health Research's…

This study explores the current knowledge and understanding about animal biology of zoo visitors and investigates whether knowledge of animal biology influences the ability of people to understand how human activity affects biodiversity. Zoos can play a role in the development of scientific literacy in the fields of animal biology and biodiversity…

The past decade has seen an increase in the number of students with autism attending mainstream educational provision. Improving outcomes for this group is a complex issue given the deficit of evidence-based practice. A new peer mentoring programme developed for students with autism in mainstream secondary schools was evaluated using a combination…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate children interaction in cyberspace and their use of Web 2.0 technologies. It sought their perception of internet risks as well as their knowledge and experience with electronic safety (e-safety) measures. It also considered parents', teachers' and other stakeholders' perception of internet risks, e-safety…

Missing data is endemic in much educational research. However, practices such as step-wise regression common in the educational research literature have been shown to be dangerous when significant data are missing, and multiple imputation (MI) is generally recommended by statisticians. In this paper, we provide a review of these advances and their…

This paper is concerned with a small pilot study to ascertain the use of, and changes in the use of e-learning to promote the learning of foreign and additional languages in a variety of countries in Europe. It was undertaken by individual researchers in an attempt to examine how the drive towards the teaching of new languages, encouraged by the…

Much comparative research into education-related beliefs has exploited questionnaires developed in one culture for use in another. This has been particularly the case in mathematics education, the focus of this paper. In so doing, researchers have tended to assume that translation alone is sufficient to warrant a reliable and valid instrument for…

Parents play a crucial role in their children's education, and their active involvement can lead to better outcomes. However, evidence suggests that parental engagement and confidence among perhaps the most vulnerable group of learners--those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)--may be lower than for those without difficulties.…

Music Education Hubs (MEHs) were created to provide access, opportunities and excellence in music education for all children and young people. A total of 123 MEHs were established and started work in 2012. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) carried out secondary analysis of a survey conducted by Arts Council England in Autumn…

The UK Government has set a goal that the "vast majority" of students in England will be studying mathematics to the age of 18 by the end of the decade. The policy levers for achieving this goal include new Core Maths qualifications, designed for over 200,000 students who have achieved good grades at the age of 16 but then opt out of…

Early childhood (EC) leadership literature indicates few theoretically based studies identifying and testing different models and characteristics of leadership. Objectives were thus to identify, describe and analyse what leadership meant to key EC participants; to consider roles, responsibilities and characteristics; to investigate core…

Aims: This study investigated the commissioning and delivery of advocacy for problem drug users. We aimed to quantify provision, describe the commissioning of advocacy services in Drug Action Teams (DATs) and to identify factors influencing advocacy provision. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of a randomly selected sample of 50 English DATs. The…

In this article, different inspection models are compared in terms of their impact on school improvement and the mechanisms each of these models generates to have such an impact. Our theoretical framework was drawn from the programme theories of six countries' school inspection systems (i.e. the Netherlands, England, Sweden, Ireland, the province…

The article reports the evaluation of a small-scale-supported employment project in a local authority in England. The study examined whether or not the peer support model could be used to deliver supported employment to a group of young people with intellectual disabilities. We utilised a mixed-method approach involving activity data, family…

In this paper two premises are set out: first, that within Children's Services educational psychologists (EPs) have a distinctive contribution to make towards policy and practice in relation to "dyslexia"; second, that they may be well placed to lead development work at an organisational level within a local authority. Building on…