The importance of teamwork skills as part of employability has been widely acknowledged and accompanied by active research on successful cooperative learning. However, relatively few studies have focused on the effects of gender on students' group work, and only a limited number of empirical studies exist that examine students' group…

This study explores the perspectives of three girls, identified through progressive sampling, from an original study of over 100 children's behaviour in, and feelings towards, literacy and, in the latter stages, all subjects, across one academic year. Through observational and semi-structured interview data, the girls' dissatisfaction,…

This paper will report on the findings from classroom observations and focus group discussions conducted on the topic of popularity and fitting in at school with girls and boys from four government secondary schools in Antigua. The findings show that whilst boys did experience difficulties negotiating academic success and acceptable masculinities,…

Increasing post-compulsory participation in science and science-related subjects is seen as a key education policy priority in England and more widely. This paper uses descriptive analysis of national data to investigate the effects of science attainment at 16, gender, socio-economic status, and school science pathway on progression into post-16…

School science courses have widely varying participation rates across a range of student characteristics. One of the stated aims of the 2006 Key Stage 4 science curriculum reforms in England was to improve social mobility and inclusion. To encourage students to study more science, this reform was followed by the introduction in 2008 of an…

Despite possible negative effects, many children do not tell their teachers when they have been bullied. This study examined junior school pupils' ("N" = 294) reports of instrumental, emotional and validation social support received after disclosing being bullied to teachers, and associations with intentions to disclose in the future. Overall,…

Labour market outcomes of undergraduates' choice of subject are important for public policy and for students. Policy interest is indicated by the prominence of "employability" in public discourse and in proposals to concentrate government funding in England in supporting STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). As students…

The adoption of streaming in the primary school (where children are placed in a class on the basis of measures of attainment and remain in that class all of the time) was commonplace when the 11 plus examination was used to select children for grammar school places. During the 1950s and 1960s the practice died out with most children being taught…

This paper reports on data drawn from an "Economic and Social Research Council"-funded project investigating the experiences of UK-based students training on level-2 and level-3 childcare courses. We focus on the concept of emotional labour in relation to learning to care for and educate young children and the ways in which the…

This article presents findings from a documentary analysis of 300 disciplinary orders against teachers from the General Teaching Council (GTC) for England. While the extant literature concerning teacher misbehaviour focuses primarily on pedagogical practice, this article draws on the wider organisational misbehaviour paradigm and views teachers as…

There is disagreement in the literature regarding the influence of social and cultural factors on the propensity for young people to undertake higher education. This study draws upon a national data set of over 45,000 young people to assesses their propensity to progress to bachelor level study, while controlling for their ethnic backgrounds,…

This article presents multivariate analyses of the characteristics associated with both participation in adult education and the intention to participate in future learning. It uses questionnaire data from more than 47,000 individuals collected by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) over the course of nine annual surveys…

Early school-leaving exerts substantial costs on the individual and society. The literature indicates that quitting school early is predicted by an enmeshed group of indicators including academic and behavioural difficulties in school, deprived economic background and disengagement with the educational process. The attitudes and background of a…

Few students (particularly few girls) currently choose to take their Final School Examination (FSE) in advanced mathematics, chemistry and physics, a combination of subjects that is the best preparation for a science-oriented study in higher education. Are these subjects attainable by more students than is currently the case? This study examined…

Recent high-profile rape cases in Australia involving Muslim and Indigenous minority groups have heightened contention around issues of culture, gender and justice. The article critically examines the culturalising of rape as an ethnic minority issue in the public and legal discourse associated with these cases. This examination problematises the…