Contemporary educational reforms emphasise school autonomy, performance-based management, and accountability as necessary policies for attaining improvement goals. Despite their widespread adoption, the configuration and enactment of these policies are discretionary and contingent, deeply influenced by the interaction of local contexts,…

In Barbados, there has been an increase in violence and disruptive behavior among students at urban secondary schools. The problem is that some Barbadian urban secondary principals struggle to implement the Schools' Positive Behavior Management Program (SPBMP), while other principals successfully reduce disruptive behaviors. This basic qualitative…

This qualitative study explores how Black and Global Majority faculty at an English university with an ethnically diverse student population perceive race and racism on campus. Informed by a theoretical framework drawing on Critical Race theory (CRT), CRT methodology and critical whiteness studies, we adopt counter-narrative story telling as a…

In this study, we reflect on our work with 10- and 11-year-olds in an inner London primary school developing a multimodal school play that integrated digital animation into a more conventionally structured Year 6 production. We are media literacy, drama and cultural studies researchers and teachers, arguing for more inclusive, holistic and…

Growing global debates surrounding parental school choice underscore the relevance of school place allocation. While there is much research on school choice, the enactment of such allocation policy is rarely analysed. Responding to this research gap, this article investigates how local politicians in Berlin put public primary school place…

It is assumed that digital tools with ubiquitous classroom use have affordances for student agency and a range of social skills. However, few studies have explored the generalised impact of everyday digital classrooms on self-regulation and empathy, perspective taking and prosocial skills. Ten and 11 year old students' (n = 115) ratings of…

This study investigates computer programming ('coding') activities of Primary School Children; we ask if there is evidence of gender differences in their coding activities. The research took place in an English urban school with around 180 children on role, mostly from a middle-class social background. The study involved a class of 17 boys and 15…

Early childhood development research typically focusses on populations that are either of upper or lower socioeconomic status. A population especially overlooked is the 'missing-middle', represented by middle-income, urban populations. Knowledge of children's development from middle-income populations to guide the implementation and customisation…

Supportive teacher--student relations are crucial to stimulate academic success and well-being of students. These relations can become more strained in urban schools characterised by high levels of socio-economic inequality and ethnic diversity. However, supportive relations between teachers and students can be nurtured and be part of school…

In this study, we investigated how secondary students interpret algebraic expressions that contain literal symbols to stand for variables. We hypothesized that the natural number bias (i.e., the tendency to over-rely on knowledge and experiences based on natural numbers) would affect students to think that the literal symbols stand for natural…

This study contributes to the discussion of children's participation in educational practices. In particular we are interested from the moments that reach beyond formal modes of participation. For this purpose, we use the concept of micropolitics and examine happenings in which children's actions collide with everyday school practices and larger…

This study examines the connection between studying in selective classes and students' alcohol use using data from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) from Finland. Linear probability models were used to investigate whether (1) studying in selective classes is associated with students' recent heavy episodic…

The researcher investigated the effects of learning in an integrated curriculum environment in a Midwestern urban school among 7th grade students. The control group consisted of students who were enrolled in just a 7th grade social studies class. The test group consisted of students who were enrolled in both a social studies class "and"…

In the present study, we explore the perceptions of urban middle school students' representations of nature using participatory photography and their nature connectedness. Preadolescents (N = 108, 6th grade, age 11-13) were asked to take a photo of what nature is to them and write a short description of what is in the image. In a mixed method…

Inquiry and disciplinary literacy are approaches in history and social science education that center students as active inquirers who investigate in multiple sources and come to their own conclusions regarding relevant questions and complex issues. These approaches have been gaining momentum in research and practice internationally, but have not…