Student voice is a construct that has come to mean many things to many people. In this article the author is interested in forms of student voice practice that generate a shift in status for students, from passive recipients of schooling to governance partners with teachers in the classroom. She argues that governance partnerships that include…

Embedding setting (subject-based ability-grouping) into the primary school environment creates structural conflict--physically and culturally--fundamentally changing the nature of primary schools through the imposition of secondary practices and cultures and the loss of pastoral care. This article examines the hidden implications for teachers and…

Rachel and Margaret McMillan created an open-air nursery in Deptford, London that has influenced early years education for 100 years. Their vision for young children living in poverty and deprivation to have access to fresh air through outdoor learning, nutritious meals, and an enriching environment to explore and develop has been embraced and…

This article addresses questions of workplace democracy, particularly in relation to school education. Following Luciano Canfora in treating democracy as "the rule of the many", it traces the post-1945 rise of workplace democracy, and its post-1979 decline. Analysing the constitution of contemporary schooling in England, the article concludes that…

Zero exclusion schools are possible. More realistically, clusters of schools, with support, coordination and brokering by the local authority (LA) or through local partnerships, can organise and sustain an inclusive educational community. Exclusion from school is a quiet mockery of "Every Child Matters." Even with the coalition government's…

"Forest schools" are an increasingly well-known feature of the educational landscape, having been adopted by many local authorities across the United Kingdom in an effort to build children's confidence and self-esteem through learning outdoors in a woodland setting. Their origins are usually described as deriving from a Scandinavian (particularly…

This article sketches some implications for education of interpreting a key orientating idea of environmental education--sustainability--as a receptive-responsive frame of mind. It argues that, so interpreted, sustainability has extensive implications for the life of schools as places of learning, particularly with regard to the implicit scientism…

In this article the author considers some aspects of the egregious error or "howler". What effects does the "howler" have as a social practice? What questions are raised when a teacher shares beyond his or her own school a student's mistake for the amusement of others?

"Every Child Matters" (ECM), an agenda for agencies working with children, was introduced following the tragic death of Victoria Climbie in 2001. Lord Laming produced a report that proposed a new way of working for all professionals working with children. In June 2003, under a Labour government, the first Children's minister was appointed and the…

This article tracks recent developments in the debate about secondary school size. It looks at the growth of the small schools movement in the United States and at initiatives currently underway in the United Kingdom. The article explores various strategies for reconfiguring secondary schools into smaller learning communities or "schools within…

This article discusses some of the arguments and values underlying the issue "Does size matter?" Using findings from inspection evidence (his own and others') the author explores possible answers to the question as it applies to primary education in England. He concludes that in determining whether "size matters" evidence has to be considered and…

Children have much to learn from the natural environment and from working in partnership with each other. This article explores the real-life challenges of encouraging creative adventurous play within the perceived confines of the primary curriculum. The author shares the story of a whole-school learning adventure and aims to remind us of the…

This article looks at the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and its stated intention to "transform learning" from the perspective of the author's involvement as an architect/facilitator. Reflecting on his experiences, he focuses on the possibilities of the programme as a learning and change process, rather than as simply a…

The author argues that the interests of transgendered children are being ignored by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and that the publication of guidance on homophobic bullying only serves to highlight deficiencies in the way these children are excluded within the education system. (Contains 4 figures and 11 notes.)

The author reflects on the way that the Plowden Report is represented in the historical record. Simple narratives of education policy are inadequate to capture the Report's significance in a decade of cultural turmoil, and the professional contention that it generated. Historical accounts will vary according to the viewpoint of the historian, and…