This article takes the author's personal experience of being a Head of Department (HOD) in an English University, and frames this experience as a transition narrative. The format draws on the work of Sandra Acker, who framed her own experience as a Head of Department in Canada, in three areas. Utilising literature both on Higher Education…

As part of the Transforming Learning Cultures in Further Education (TLC) project, questionnaire data were collected from three consecutive cohorts of students in a wide range of learning sites, initially four in each of four Further Education (FE) colleges in England. This paper focuses on changes in perceived learning environment as mapped by…

Examines the effects of classroom acoustical problems on children, including those at risk for underachievement. Suggests ways to optimize classroom listening, especially through sound-field classroom amplification. (SK)

This paper emphasizes the need to look for causes of school phobia and maladjustment not only in the pupil, but also in his peer interactions and in aspects of the school, particularly teachers' attitudes toward communication and the use of language in learning. (Author/SJL)

Demonstrates the problems of attempting to lay down hard and fast rules for teaching controversial issues. Teachers must consider the circumstances of each classroom, the specific constraints operating in each school, and the knowledge, values, and experiences that students already have. (JOW)

Three issues in the debate over reading are (1) choice of instructional materials; (2) methods of teaching and testing; and (3) national standards for reading. Advocates a rational approach that recognizes limitations of tests to assess reading attainment and uses social dimensions and links with other language modes. (SK)

Provides a methodological critique of articles in this special issue and identifies problematic aspects of the application of research to practice. (SK)

Critical evaluation of Leila Berg's book on Risinghill, a controversial London secondary school, suggests that her depiction of the headteacher's struggle against the London County Council emphasizes a deprivationist discourse that distorts the reality of the school and its neighborhood. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Rapid global changes have transformed education for the elite into mass education, resulting in the following: new teacher responsibilities, less educational activity by families, mass media access to learning, multicultural education models, change in the social worth of education and status of teachers, fewer resources for education, decline of…