This study investigates knowledge structures and scientific communication using bibliometric methods to explore scientific knowledge production and dissemination. The aim is to develop knowledge about this growing field by investigating studies using international large-scale assessment (ILSA) data, with a specific focus on those using Programme…

A growing policy emphasis on measurement and outcomes has led to cultures of performativity, which are transforming what educators do and how they feel about themselves in relation to their work. While most analysis of performativity in education has focused on schools, this article investigates parallel developments in youth work. Youth work is a…

This report is an updated version of an analysis undertaken last year (Gill, 2017) which looked at the impact of the introduction of new accountability measures (Attainment 8 and Progress 8) on the qualifications and subjects taken by students at the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4). It adds in data from the 2016/17 academic year, which was the second…

This article draws on research in one teacher education course in England and examines the ways in which the programme prepares student-teachers for inclusive practice in science teaching. We frame our analysis by drawing on aspects of institutional mediation of official policy in teacher education, as well as theories around inclusion and…

COVID has highlighted significant weaknesses in how the education system in England is currently managed and resourced. England needs to build a more resilient education system post-pandemic. The Institute of Education's project, "Learning Through Disruption," set out to explore what headteachers, teachers, other school staff and parents…

The Pupil Premium policy was introduced in 2010 by the UK coalition government to tackle the attainment gap disproportionately affecting children from low-income families. Semi-structured interviews and policy documents are examined for the way the policy has been enacted in a single comprehensive secondary school in England. In 2014, this school…

Focussing on academics' professional identity, this paper analyses the challenges academics experience when adopting new technologies in their pedagogical practices. Notions of "economies of performance" and "ecologies of practice" as well as the concept of liminality are employed to understand this identity work. The paper…

This paper reports an original examination of the well-being of early career secondary school teachers in England, which extends the evidence bases relating to early career teachers' working lives, teacher well-being, self-determination theory and performativity, respectively. Drawing on a secondary analysis of qualitative data generated for four…

School inspection has formed part of both English and Swedish approaches to governing education for some time now. But latterly due to the neo liberal drive for educational excellence, both countries have remodelled their inspector workforce. Using Jacobsson's theory of governance as a regulative, meditative and inquisitive activity, this chapter…

In March 2013 the government announced that it was to provide funding to improve provision of Physical Education and sport in primary schools in England. Entitled The Primary Physical Education and Sport Premium, this ring-fenced annual funding has been allocated to schools that are free to choose how the money is spent but are accountable for its…

This report provides an overview of the current financial health of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded higher education sector in England. This does not include directly funded further education or other colleges, or alternative providers of higher education. The analysis covers financial results for the academic year…

The Skills for Jobs White Paper and funding and accountability consultation set out the Government's plans to introduce a greater focus on the outcomes of learning, including a new Skills Measure that looks at the employment and other outcomes that learners achieve. Will this give colleges and providers greater freedom to deliver for learners, or…

This article considers a recent policy initiative in assessment in English primary schools (ages 5-11 years) in which curriculum 'levels' used by teachers to judge pupils' attainment were suddenly removed. Previous work has largely focused on assessment of pupils, but we examine assessment as an activity through which teachers reproduce their…

This briefing note is intended to prompt discussion on how to repair the fragilities in the education system that COVID has revealed. Over the length of our research project we have seen a gulf open up between government policy announcements and primary schools' experiences of the crisis on the ground (Bradbury, 2020). Our data show teachers, head…

The aim of this paper was to analyse how teachers and government may differ in their views regarding the qualities required to be an effective middle manager with responsibility for Physical Education (PE). Lines of inquiry were based upon the practices associated with a performative work culture and how this has affected teacher language. There…