14-19 education reform under New Labour : an exploration of how politics and the economy combine with educational goals to affect policy

The area of 14-19 education and training was a significant priority for the Labour Government of Tony Blair and New Labour. Reforms such as the 14-19 White Paper (Feb 2005) were seen as key to this government’s ‘third term’ agenda. This research has at its heart the desire to identify the true drivers for 14-19 education and training reform, and critically analyse the results against alternative ‘aims’ of education. Much of current policy for this phase of education mentions the economic imperative of providing young people with the skills which both they and businesses need to compete in the global economy. This research intends to question the fact that economic goals appear to be inexorably entwined with this area of education, and analyse if this is an appropriate philosophy on which to base reform of the 14-19 phase. To achieve this, document analysis was used to identify the drivers for education reform contained within five policy documents in an attempt to understand the goals of New Labour’s 14- 19 education and training reform policy between May 1997 and February 2005. The conclusions which came from this analysis point to a consistency in the 14-19 reform programme of New Labour around the theme of the economy, with much of the content of the reforms focusing on adapting the phase in order to promote economic objectives. It is argued that by accepting economic objectives as a basis for educational reform, New Labour confused the influence of the economy for an educational aim

Elucidation of the bonding in Mn(η²-SiH) complexes by charge density analysis and T₁ NMR measurements: asymmetric oxidative addition and anomeric effects at silicon

The bonding in Mn(η2-SiH) complexes is interpreted in terms of an asymmetric oxidative addition whose extent is controlled by the substitution pattern at the hypercoordinate silicon centre, and especially by the ligand trans to the η2-coordinating SiH moiety

Temporal and spatial imaging of hydrogen storage materials: Watching solvent and hydrogen desorption from aluminium hydride by transmission electron microscopy

An in situ thermal desorption study of solvated aluminum hydride (alane) by transmission electron microscopy and selected area diffraction has permitted characterisation of the structural and morphological changes during desorption of solvent and hydrogen in real-time; this powerful technique for studying hydrogen storage materials complements several others already employed. © The Royal Society of Chemistry

A structural study of bis-(trimethylamine)alane, AlH<inf>3</inf>�2NMe<inf>3</inf>, by variable temperature X-ray crystallography and DFT calculations

The structure of AlH3·2NMe3 has been investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction over the range of 296-173 K. Over this temperature range a phase change is observed from Cmca to Pbcm where the methyl groups convert from a statistically disordered conformation to adopt a mutually eclipsed conformation at lower temperatures. Measurement of the unit cell dimensions shows a decrease in the lengths of the a and b axes, and an increase in that of the c axis as the temperature is lowered, with inflections apparent between 223 and 233 K in the region of the phase change. Low-temperature DSC measurements reveal the change from Pbcm to Cmca to occur at 218.3 K, with an enthalpy of 107.7 J mol-1. The molecular structure of AlH3·2NMe3 is compared with those of related amine adducts of Group 13 hydrides, either measured experimentally or calculated using DFT methods. 1H, 13C and 27Al NMR spectroscopy has also been utilized to characterize AlH3·2NMe3 and its 1:1 counterpart AlH3·NMe3. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved