Paul S. Boyer was the youngest of the three Boyer brothers, with Bill the oldest and Ernie in the middle. Paul served on the faculty in the history department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and was referred to by the "New York Times" upon his death on March 17, 2012, as "an intellectual historian who wrote groundbreaking…

This paper analyzes whole language and code-based skills approaches in early literacy and the specific patterns of interaction present in both approaches. Nineteen hours of video data were coded to analyze the nature of whole language versus code-based skills instruction and document the allocation of time spent on each approach in a reading…

The educational research community has made great strides in clarifying and enhancing our understanding of professional development and how it occurs. Yet in relation to one question--How do people develop professionally?--this knowledge base falls short, for while much research has been directed at addressing the question, findings have tended to…

Debate about the definition of a "child" occurs in multi-disciplinary contexts, most recently located in the new sociology of childhood where social constructionism is the dominant discourse. Given that the child's voice has become an increasingly valued component of research, this paper reports on one aspect of a study which…

This article considers the role of constructions of creativity in the classroom and their consequences for learning and, in particular, for the assessment of creativity. Definitions of creativity are examined to identify key implications for supporting the development of children's creativity within the classroom. The implications of…

This paper reports on the significance of social capital in relation to education, exploring its relevance to teachers and other professionals as well as among young people. It draws on aspects of five case studies undertaken by the Schools and Social Capital Network, within the Applied Educational Research Scheme in Scotland. These case studies…

This article reports the findings of a one-year longitudinal study that investigated the impact of group work on the development of students' critical thinking in Hong Kong secondary schools. It explores whether the participation of teachers in a group-based teaching intervention adapted from an earlier study conducted in the United Kingdom…

In the last decade, educational scholars have studied various aspects of adolescents' citizenship narratives. This paper reports on a qualitative study into the narratives about democracy of 27 adolescents from an urban area in the Netherlands. The aim of the study was to gain an insight into the type of democratic engagement that Dutch…

This paper's focus is on an alliance of schools in England that came together as part of the National Teaching Schools initiative. Drawing on interviews from Head Teachers within the alliance, the paper explores issues of school collaboration from a premise that such collaboration is paramount to school improvement within the current climate…

Student transition into higher education has increased in importance in recent times, with the growing trend in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development nations towards universal higher education provision and the concomitant widening of participation to include previously under-represented groups. However, "transition" as a…

This four-year mixed method longitudinal study utilises data collected from four cohorts of Outdoor Education (OE) students to compare "fresher" and "graduate" identities and to explore the impact of identity on graduate employment. Findings demonstrate that compared to other programmes, and the university as a whole, OE…

This paper presents a societal perspective on academic leadership by exploring the preoccupations of academics as citizens rather than as employees, managers or individuals. It uses a listening post methodology to ask "what is it like to be a citizen of an academic institution in contemporary Britain?" Three listening posts, comprising…

Doctoral supervision continues to be an interesting pedagogical site. As the university changes, so do the expectations and circumstances for doctoral education, including supervision. Although it is unhelpful to overstate the homogeneity of the doctoral student body of the past, there is no doubt that global and local changes to higher education…

In the Netherlands, university programs increasingly use the binding study advice (BSA) to select students after the first year. Students with insufficient progress after the first year and who therefore do not conform to pre-defined BSA norms have to quit their program. This study investigated whether the introduction of the BSA is associated…

The funding of students in UK higher education (HE) has undergone radical reform over the past two decades. Using a unique dataset, this paper investigates student expectations of debt. We find that a student's gender, ethnicity, and year of study play an important role in determining their expected debt. Students in receipt of financial…