In the context of a global teacher recruitment crisis, the English department for Education has responded by implementing a new, highly prescriptive curriculum for initial teacher education called the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework. Using a combination of content analysis and an original approach entitled "doppelganger as…

Recent changes to the law in England require all primary schools to teach Relationships Education and all secondary schools to teach Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Our focus in this article is on the voices of teachers and other educational professionals in relation to this change. Discussion in three focus groups held with 16 educational…

The canon forming the backbone of most conceptions of Western music has been a feature of musical culture for decades, exerting an influence upon musical study in educational settings. In English school contexts, the once perceived superiority of classical music in educational terms has been substantially revised and reconsidered, opening up…

This paper reports the results of an international survey on ethics education in initial teacher education. The survey collected data in relation to four main questions: How common is a required ethics-related course? What are the objectives of dedicated ethics-related courses for teacher candidates where such courses exist? How do teacher…

The subject of computer science (CS) and computer science education (CSE) has relatively recently arisen as a subject for inclusion within the compulsory school curriculum. Up to this present time, a major focus of technologies in the school curriculum has in many countries been on applications of existing technologies into subject practice (both…

An ongoing reform programme of the post-16 Advanced "A"-level qualifications in England and Wales means that pre-university mathematics content and assessment will change from 2017. Undergraduate engineering is a subject that relies heavily on mathematics, and applicants to engineering degree programmes in the UK are required to have…

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,…

Despite a broad consensus on the ethical dimensions of the teaching profession, and long-standing efforts to align teacher education with wider trends in professional education, little is known about how teacher candidates are being prepared to face the ethical challenges of contemporary teaching. This article presents the results of an…

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…

This article explores how Bourdieu's notion of "habitus" might be employed to shed light on the self-efficacy of primary teachers as they take on an additional specialism when modern foreign languages becomes statutory in primary schools in the new English National Curriculum in 2014. The article argues that Bandura's four principles of…

In 1989, the progressive introduction of a National Curriculum of subjects to all maintained schools in England and Wales brought compulsory science education into the primary sectors of these two countries for the first time. Such was its considered importance, science was placed alongside English and mathematics in what became known simply as…

Concerns about pupil disengagement from school and society have led to compulsory citizenship education in state schools in England. However, there is little evidence that the new citizenship education is meeting its goals. The research described here assesses a new approach to citizenship education that appears to overcome some of the identified…

A survey of nursing students at the University of the West of England revealed a need to improve practical cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills. Compulsory training was implemented, partly funded by providing basic life support training to the general public. (SK)

This article explores the policy and practice of choice, flexibility and differentiation within the 14-19 curriculum in England. After first locating these issues within contemporary curriculum policy it adopts a historical analysis tracing perspectives and practice since 1945. This narrative exposes complex oscillation in policy and practice in…

French postsecondary education for 16- to 19-year-olds is divided into programs that lead to the Baccalaureats--general, technical, and vocational--and to the lower-level Certificat d'Aptitude Professionnel (CAP) and Brevet d'Etudes Professionnelles (BEP). A common mathematics core curriculum is specified for all CAP students, regardless of…