Education to employment: complicated transitions in a changing world

The editorial presents a collection of papers which highlight the complex nature of supporting all young people as they move out of statutory education. They illuminate some of the real concerns and problems related to the NEETs phenomenon. By drawing together this body of research and interrogating it, it has been possible to peel back the label ‘NEET’, look beyond the rhetoric and highlight an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the limitations and applications of the label that can provide the basis for international exchange of research findings. Above all, taken together, the papers suggest that the experience of NEET is not homogeneous. This is something that needs to be understood and acknowledged to a far greater extent if policy is to result in actions that truly support young people’s transitions from education to employment

Evaluation of City Challenge Leadership Strategies : overview report

This report provides an overview of findings from the independent national evaluation of the City Challenge Leadership Strategies. The evaluation was carried out between November 2009 and March 2011 by a team from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) with funding from the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services (the National College). Detailed findings relating to the Leadership Strategies in the Black Country, Greater Manchester and London are available in three separate area reports. City Challenge Leadership Strategies were designed to break the cycle of under-achievement among disadvantaged pupils in primary and secondary schools in the urban regions of London, the Black Country and Greater Manchester. School leaders were seen as central agents for change and, therefore, city-wide Leadership Strategies were a major element of the wider City Challenge initiative. Based on the concept of school-to-school support (system leadership), these strategies promote a more systemic approach to the sharing of expertise and knowledge amongst school leaders, local authorities and other stakeholders through local networks

Sex determination: The fishy tale of Dmrt1

The idea that the Dmrt1 gene provides a unifying sex-determining mechanism in non-mammalian vertebrates is left high and dry by recent observations in fish