The so-called "soft skills" utilised by teachers--including relationship building, awareness of the pupil's context and background and the demonstration of authority--to develop an appropriate learning culture in their classrooms have long been recognised as being a major contribution to effective promotion of positive behaviour. This…

Further education (FE) colleges have long been regarded as the "Cinderella service" of English education. From their origins in the technical institutes of the nineteenth century, through the years of haphazard growth in the early twentieth century, and for most of the era of local authority control from 1944 until the early 1990s, FE…

This study, based on in-depth interview data from a sample of schools in the midlands of England, offers an analysis of UK teachers' perceptions and understandings of school self-evaluation at a point when national accountability procedures have required that all schools complete and constantly update a web-based self-evaluation schedule, which is…

A current characteristic of governance in the public services in England is the advocacy of a permeation of once-discrete organizational and professional structures. New configurations are being called for. Examples are extended schools, workforce re-modelling, and multi-agency working. At issue here is a further indication of this loosening of…

Purpose: The implementation of e-learning can help SMEs to develop skills to cope with their operational environments, but current literature suggests they are not effectively engaged, partly due to a lack of understanding and mistrust of vendors. This paper considers the potential for a more effective transfer of marketing knowledge to firms…

This paper is a reflection on the reflections of pupils about being "reflective learners", one of the Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills of the secondary National Curriculum for England. A teacher and a lecturer worked together in a collaborative action research project generating co-constructed knowledge of practice across a…

In an effort to intentionally create the level of deep learning necessary for practitioners to make meaningful changes in their classrooms, professional networks are increasingly being promoted as mechanisms for knowledge creation that can lever the kinds of changes that make a difference for students. This paper explores the way networks function…

This paper draws on interview data from national policy makers in England, Scotland and the European Commission to illustrate differences in the referencing of "Europe" in education policy-making in England and Scotland in order to highlight the emergent complexity of post-devolution policy-making in education through a focus on…

Purpose: A recent development in England is the emergence, under various names, of groups of schools working together in a variety of collaborative ways. Such diversification enjoys broad political support. In this paper, the author aims to argue that the trend is potentially a radical transformation of the school system as a whole. The concepts…

In contrast to the prevailing image of monitoring systems as technical systems, it is proposed that they should rather be conceived of as social endeavors at exchanging information. Drawing on the monitoring and evaluation framework of Cornford, Doukidis, and Forster, the concept of information agreement is suggested as a way of assessing the…

The rhetoric of "partnership" is ubiquitous in UK policy at national, regional, local and organizational levels. Self-styled partnership activity is espoused by most schools in England and Wales. This article considers the implications of the growth of partnership for conceptualizing leadership. It draws on evidence of interviews with…

The Commonwealth consists of fifty-three independent nations that have associated in order to facilitate better international communication and cooperation. These sovereign nations are not bound by a constitution, but do issue statements outlining Commonwealth agreements, beliefs, and recommendations. In September 2004, a Commonwealth Teacher…

Universities transform lives. Going to university leads to new ways of seeing the world, to new horizons and networks, and to significantly enhanced job opportunities, but not everyone benefits in the same way. Fewer students from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds go to university, and when they do they tend not to do as well as…

The professional status of further education lecturers has been widely debated and contested within the published literature. This article presents the results of a series of semi-structured interviews undertaken with a small sample of college lecturers working within a partner college network in south-west England. Regardless of the level of the…

This paper reflects on experiences of working with schools in urban contexts as they have attempted to improve the quality of learning. Set within the context of the English education system during a period of intense national pressure to "raise standards", these experiences have been focused around issues of performance and leadership…