Reports on the responses of headteachers and teachers in 570 primary schools in England and Wales to the introduction of the national curriculum in art. Finds that a significant majority of the respondents welcomed the national curriculum. (CFR)

This article analyses the increasingly diverse and sophisticated critique of "outcomes approaches" in vocational qualifications; critique which has now moved well beyond the early claims of reductivism and behaviourism. Avoiding a naive position on extraction of points of consensus, this article attempts to extract key issues which have…

This paper considers practitioners' beliefs about the literacy curriculum in four early years settings in England and the impact on the literacy experiences of the children in these settings. All four settings were working with the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA/DfEE, 2000) and represent the range of provision in England. One…

The Bullock Report, published in 1975, described English teaching practices in England and offered recommendations for improving those practices. This paper examines the background of the report and discusses topics in the report that are of particular interest to Americans, including the setting and monitoring of reading and writing standards,…

Discusses the results of two questionnaires given to two groups of newly certified primary teachers in England. The cohorts answered questions concerning the training they had received and, 20 weeks into their new jobs, the nature of the demands they had experienced. Includes statistical and tabular data. (MJP)

This report presents the main findings of the first phase of an ongoing study on improving the quality of children's early learning in England and Wales. The purpose of the project is to investigate the ways in which early learning in group settings can be improved by raising the quality of the practice of those professionals who work with young…

The Increased Flexibility for 14-16 year olds Programme (IFP) was introduced in 2002 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to provide vocational learning opportunities at key stage 4 for those young people who would benefit most. The programme, which entailed FE colleges and training providers working in partnership with schools to…

In December 2005, the General Teaching Council for Wales, acting on behalf of the General Teaching Councils' (GTCs') Five Nations Group, commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to conduct research into the contents of the standards and routes to teaching qualifications in the UK nation states and the Republic of…

Although the National Targets for Education and Training in England and Wales include indicators for lifelong learning, and the progress towards the targets set for these indicators has been lauded by politicians and other observers, much of this apparent progress is actually accounted for by changes in these same indicators. However, once the…

The development of leadership and management in postcompulsory learning in England was examined in a survey of managers and leaders at English colleges, work-based learning (WBL) providers, and adult and community learning (ACL) providers. Of the 22,000 questionnaires distributed, nearly 2,000 were completed. The respondents were predominately…

The Increased Flexibility Programme for 14 to 16 year olds (IFP) was introduced in 2002. The aim of the programme was to "create enhanced vocational and work-related learning opportunities for 14 to 16 year olds of all abilities who can benefit most", including supporting provision of the GCSEs in vocational subjects. The first cohort of…

This ongoing study is designed to examine the quality of early childhood education in England and Wales, identifying key aspects of professional ability crucial to the quality of children's learning. It also seeks to generate criteria for promoting the development of these aspects of professional ability and to develop consequent criteria for…

The key skills: communication, numeracy, interpersonal, information technology, learning, and problem-solving have been identified as underlying good performance in the labor market now and in the future. The factors most important to development of key skills and ways of facilitating young people's development of those skills were examined in a…

This paper examines the extent, nature, and implications of spatial variations in skill levels across England. Section 2 sets out reasons why skill levels should be important to localities and their economic potential by outlining their growing importance and the way in which they are connected to economic well-being. Section 3 sets out the extent…

In the last two decades a number of studies, State, regional and nation-wide, have been made of the academic and professional training, the educational experience, and the social and economic status of elementary and secondary school teachers. Three notable studies have been made of the city superintendent of schools. The status of the high-school…