This project explores 'meaningful' student voice development in an evaluation of project-based Character lessons taught by teachers and students. In the context of a secondary school in a deprived urban ward, within a Multi-Academy Trust using value-based instruction, this evaluation is grounded in the notion that student empowerment is essential…

This paper draws on a longitudinal qualitative study exploring the influence of the social class identities of novice teachers on their emerging teacher identities. The paper focuses on the ways in which, even at an implicit level, many novice teachers appear to recognise that their own (or perceptions of their own) class identity and the…

This paper describes and evaluates the "Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) in Schools" project; which was designed as a public health intervention to explore the extent to which focusing on schools as community assets can promote well-being for pupils, their school and the local community. The paper reviews the literature in…

As a result of the association of autism with speech and language difficulties, autistic school children can be subject to interventions ostensibly intended to remedy these problems. However, my study, based in five mainstream primary schools in England, which incorporated the views and experiences of school staff (n = 36), autistic children…

In England, globalisation and neoliberal political agendas have created an environment in which teachers are constantly measured and ranked and subjected to a discourse of marketisation, managerialism, and performativity. This measuring, ranking, and subjection is particularly strongly felt in urban schools, where a discourse that recognised the…

Steven Vertovec (2006, 2007) has recently offered a re-interpretation of population diversity in large urban centres due to a considerable increase in immigration patterns in the UK. This complex scenario called superdiversity has been conceptualised to help illuminate significant interactions of variables such as religion, language, gender, age,…

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of the Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED), declared a "new wave" of Local Area Under-performance Inspections (LAUI) of schools "denying children the standard of education they deserve". This paper examines how the threat of LAUI played out over three mathematics lessons taught by a teacher…

This study builds on recent research into young children's pretend play. Social literacy practices and events in which children engaged were investigated to reveal features of their meaning making. Drawing on Vygotsky's view of the social nature of symbol use and writing, it stresses the significance of cultural and social features of meanings and…

In the turbulent "dog eat dog" environment of the learning and skills sector in England the provision and expansion of higher education taught in further education colleges (HE in FE) offers potential opportunities for greater diversification of higher education. However, it also presents significant challenges, which include developing…

This article presents the findings of a pilot professional development programme designed to support police community support officers (PCSOs) to become effective school link officers (SLOs) within urban secondary schools in the English West Midlands. Findings are presented via perceptions of key stakeholders: SLOs themselves; school-based mentors…

This article, written by a team of research-active teachers who are also senior leaders in a large, urban, comprehensive high school in the North of England, reports on their joint teacher inquiry project. This work has school-wide significance, given recent history, progressing from being graded as a "failing" school by the Office for…

With rising pupil numbers, shortfalls in the number of trainee teachers and an increasing proportion of teachers leaving the profession, retaining teachers who are already in the profession is vital for managing the current and future supply of teachers. This report draws out a number of key factors impacting on teacher retention and makes…

Background: There is some evidence that vocabulary intervention is effective for children, although further research is needed to confirm the impact of intervention within contexts of social disadvantage. Very little is known about the effectiveness of interventions to increase adolescent knowledge of cross-curriculum words. Aims: To evaluate the…

The Education Act 2011 passed responsibility for careers guidance in England from local authorities to schools, providing no extra funding or staff training. This paper reports on a project conducted in two schools in East London, which aimed to enhance careers work in response to the new requirements. It argues that whilst schools can enhance…

This article is co-authored by two urban school Heads in the north of England with the support of an academic partner. The article begins with the phenomenon of official judgements of urban schools, made by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, a semi-privatised and supposedly independent arm of government. The…