‘Letting the right one in’: Provider contexts for recruitment to initial teacher education in the United Kingdom

We exploit policy differences within the UK to investigate provider context and recruitment to initial teacher education (ITE). We identify three dimensions of variation: conceptions of professionalism, universal or context specific preparation and costs and benefits to providers. University-led ITE programmes used similar criteria and processes in each jurisdiction, but there were differences between university-led and school-led recruitment. Our study suggests that the current shortfall in recruitment to ITE in England may be a product of the contextual constraints which schools experience. It also suggests that school-led recruitment may tend to emphasise short-term and school-specific needs

The ‘Quality’ of Nursery provision: an exploration of the relationship between inspection and the development of education and care

There has been a significant increase in interest in the development of childhood education and care in England in recent years and this has been supported by a plethora of initiatives and policy reforms. During this period of change there has also been a debate concerning the nature of „quality‟ in Early Years provision. However, little research has focussed upon the quality standards and systems that are part of this evolution of Early Years Education and, in particular, the area of Early Years inspection has been given only limited consideration. This study explores stakeholder notions of „quality‟ in Early Years Education and their perceptions of the new integrated approach to Early Years inspection within five distinct types of nursery provision in the state and private sector in the West Midlands. This study captures insights which could inform the future research agenda in Early Years education and care, in particular the findings connected to the parental questionnaire highlight the need for an informed and documented dialogue between stakeholders. This work concludes by suggesting strategies including the establishment of evaluative partnerships between state and private settings, encouraging and developing collegiate critical reflection on practice whilst fostering the collaborative culture