Community languages in higher education : towards realising the potential

This study, Community Languages in Higher Education: Towards Realising the Potential, forms part of the Routes into Languages initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). It sets out to map provision for community languages, defined as 'all languages in use in a society, other than the dominant, official or national language'. In England, where the dominant language is English, some 300 community languages are in use, the most widespread being Urdu, Cantonese, Punjabi, Bengali, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Gujerati, Hindi and Polish. The research was jointly conducted by the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (Scottish CILT) at the University of Stirling, and the SOAS-UCL Centre for Excellence for Teaching and Learning 'Languages of the Wider World' (LWW CETL), between February 2007 and January 2008. The overall aim of this study was to map provision for community languages in higher education in England and to consider how it can be developed to meet emerging demand for more extensive provision

Reflections on the implementation of the Gifted and Talented policy in England, 1999–2011

This paper, as part of an on-going study looking at the impact of gifted and talented policies on an inner-city school, explores the role of the local authority in implementing the various gifted and talented initiatives since 1999, when local authority gifted and talented co-ordinators were first appointed under the Excellence in Cities (DfEE, 1999) programme

Reflections on the implementation of the Gifted and Talented policy in England, 1999–2011

This paper, as part of an on-going study looking at the impact of gifted and talented policies on an inner-city school, explores the role of the local authority in implementing the various gifted and talented initiatives since 1999, when local authority gifted and talented co-ordinators were first appointed under the Excellence in Cities (DfEE, 1999) programme

Staff perceptions of the success of an alternative curriculum: Skill Force

This paper describes staff perceptions of the implementation of an alternative curriculum, skill force, for disaffected pupils in the UK. The perceptions of skill force and school staff were compared based on data from questionnaires completed by 62 skill force and 84 school staff, and interviews with representative samples of each. While the data indicated that the programme had been successful in re-engaging the students with education, the improvement was more marked in relation to the skill force programme than the wider school context.<br/

Parenting ‘gifted and talented’ children in urban areas: Parents' voices

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright © 2014 by SAGE Publications.International evidence demonstrates the importance of engaging parents in the education of their ‘high-potential’ children, yet limited research has focused on the involvement of parents from differing economic strata/backgrounds. The current study explored the dilemmas of parenting academically high-ability children from economically deprived urban areas in the UK. Data were gathered from a sample of parents whose children attended a university-based sustained intervention programme for designated ‘gifted’ pupils aged 12–16. Parental perceptions were sought in relation to (a) the usefulness/impact of the intervention programme, (b) parents’ aspirations for their children growing up in economically deprived urban areas and (c) parents’ views on the support provided by the extended family, peer groups and the wider community. The findings have significant implications for both policy and practice and, more specifically, for engaging parents in intervention programmes offered by universities and schools to children in order to increase their access to higher education and for enhancing their life chances

From evidence-base to practice: implementation of the Nurse Family Partnership programme in England

The aims of this article are to highlight the issues that are relevant to the implementation of a rigorously evidence-based programme of support, the Nurse Family Partnership programme, into a national system of care. Methods used are semi-structured interviews with families in receipt of the programme in the first 10 sites, with the nursing staff, with members of the central team guiding the initiative and with other professionals. Analyses of data collected during programme delivery evaluate fidelity of delivery. The results indicate that the programme is perceived in a positive light and take-up is high, with delivery close to the stated US objectives. Issues pertaining to sustainability are highlighted - in particular, local concerns about cost set against long-term rather than immediate gains. However, local investment is predominantly strong, with creative methods being planned for the future. Overall, the study shows that within an NHS system of care it is possible to deliver a targeted evidence-based programme

Schools and civil society : corporate or community governance

School improvement depends upon mediating the cultural conditions of learning as young people journey between their parochial worlds and the public world of cosmopolitan society. Governing bodies have a crucial role in including or diminishing the representation of different cultural traditions and in enabling or frustrating the expression of voice and deliberation of differences whose resolution is central to the mediation of and responsiveness to learning needs. A recent study of governing bodies in England and Wales argues that the trend to corporatising school governance will diminish the capacity of schools to learn how they can understand cultural traditions and accommodate them in their curricula and teaching strategies. A democratic, stakeholder model remains crucial to the effective practice of governing schools. By deliberating and reconciling social and cultural differences, governance constitutes the practices for mediating particular and cosmopolitan worlds and thus the conditions for engaging young people in their learning, as well as in the preparation for citizenship in civil society

Raising the participation age in historical perspective : Policy learning from the past?

The raising of the participation age (RPA) to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015 marks a historic expansion of compulsory education. Despite the tendency of New Labour governments to eschew historical understanding and explanation, RPA was conceived with the benefit of an analysis of previous attempts to extend compulsion in schooling. This paper assesses the value of a historical understanding of education policy. The period from inception to the projected implementation of RPA is an extended one which has crossed over the change of government, from Labour to Coalition, in 2010. The shifting emphases and meanings of RPA are not simply technical issues but connect to profound historical and social changes. An analysis of the history of the raising of the school leaving age reveals many points of comparison with the contemporary situation. In a number of key areas it is possible to gain insights into the ways in which the study of the past can help to comprehend the present: the role of human capital, the structures of education, in curriculum development and in terms of preparations for change

Herding cats or getting heard: the SENCo–teacher dynamic and its impact on teachers’ classroom practice

This article is based on two key findings of doctoral research into the impact that Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos) in England have on teachers’ skills when addressing the needs of children with SEN in mainstream primary schools. I use data from questionnaires and interviews with SENCos, teachers and headteachers to argue that key indicators for successful teaching of children with SEN include SENCos skilling teachers in their roles as ‘agents of change’ in relation to SENCos’ views of their teaching colleagues, as well as the evolving nature of their own professional identity