This paper reports a survey of primary school teachers' beliefs about working with poor readers. The primary research question was "does the way difficulties with reading are labelled affect the teachers' beliefs about their ability to intervene effectively?" An opportunity sample of teachers was surveyed using 2 questionnaires. One…

Over a decade ago the UK government launched its gifted and talented education policy in England, yet there has been very little published research which considers how schools and teachers are interpreting and implementing the policy. By seeking the views of the gifted and talented co-ordinators (For ease of reference, the term gifted and talented…

The principle of dialogue is the innovative teaching and learning practices with a transformative agenda. This paper argues that through dialogue lecturers can stimulate students to think and argue for themselves, rather than defer to tradition and authority. However, the context that is conducive for dialogic education, especially in a country…

This paper discusses dehumanizing communication reified among undergraduates and lecturers. Dehumanization is the act of degrading people with respect to their best qualities and denial of humanness to others. On the other hand, communication is human interaction and learning. Communication becomes rude when it is deliberately directed resulting…

The article reports findings from a small qualitative investigation into the perceptions of giftedness held by four working-class families in the northeast of England. Each family had a child identified as gifted in England's national program for gifted education. These findings include: intense hostility toward those of their neighbours they…

Labels are firmly rejected by the disability rights movement, yet the complex effects of labeling on lay beliefs are poorly understood. This study examined the effects of labeling on the general public's reactions to people with intellectual disabilities. A sample of 1,233 adult members of the UK general population were randomly presented with…

Chinese children (N = 185, aged 3-7 years) were assessed on their abilities to freely label facial expressions and emotional situations. Results indicated that the overall accuracy of free-labeling facial expressions increased relatively quickly in children aged 3-5 years, but slowed down in children aged 5-7 years. In contrast, the overall…

This paper analyses the relationship between Norwegian school reform implementation and the use of special education. After the introduction of the national reform programme called the "Kunnskapsloftet" ("Knowledge promotion") in 2006, the use of special education has increased dramatically in Norway. As part of the national…

Commitment to an activity forms an essential part of the talent development process, yet little is known about the reasons why young people commit to dance training. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that affect young dancers' commitment to a selective dance talent scheme. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19…

This paper asks whether education is a viable route to better livelihoods and social inclusion for children living in poor urban areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It uses qualitative interviews with 36 students aged 11-16, living in slum and middle-class areas, and also draws on data from a larger, mixed-methods study to provide context. Many children…

This study provides a qualitative examination of the original tenets of Labelling Theory (LT) within the realm of education using a relatively new medical label, developmental coordination disorder. Labelling Theory, although initially proposed in the areas of crime and deviance, has been applied to mental illness and educational labels. However,…

This paper sets out to read closely the National Curriculum Statutory Inclusion Statement in England (2007) alongside "Hard Times" to see if Dickens offers any insights into ethical responsibility and conceptualisations of inclusive education. I begin by presenting some of the meanings and associated problems of the term "inclusive…

This paper explores the determinants of child labour vis-a-vis child schooling. It further examines the influence of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which are engaged in social labelling, on the incidence of child labour and schooling trade-off. The empirical results show that the probability of child schooling increases as well as child…

This commentary addresses the analysis in Persson's (2012a) article. According to the authors, the agenda for change amongst scholars has four productive proposals. These are: (1) that scholars should broaden their disciplinary outlook beyond psychology and education; (2) that they should eschew policy borrowing; (3) that they should clarify, for…

Social stereotyping and prejudice constitute pressing societal problems and have many causes. Terror Management Theory offers a compelling and heavily researched account of individuals' reactions towards "dissimilar others" when faced with thoughts of mortality. Building from previous research with adult samples, the present study aimed…