Both the language of performance management and the target-setting culture of our schools lead to a "depersonalisation" of education--a failure to respect young learners as persons. They become a "means" to some further non-educational "end". John Macmurray challenged this depersonalisation in terms not only of its impoverished educational…

The arguments at Oxford about the start of teacher education within the University have been repeated many times and in many ways, not least in the 1972 James Committee. The strong advocacy there for much greater attention to, and investment in, continuing professional development may not have won the day in England, but, through the influence of…

Developing a coherent 14-19 phase of education and training has been a major feature of the last ten years of the Labour government. This has been the case, too, of the Welsh Assembly Government since its establishment in 1999 with its separate education policy and arrangement. The English "project" might be characterised by (i) a more holistic…

The paper, first, outlines the official policy regarding education and training 14-19, second, picks out five areas within which that policy might be assessed, and, finally, raises questions about the educational thinking which underlies the policy.

The government, through several White and Green Papers, has promoted the 'Skills Revolution'. This requires central direction and coordination of a wide range of policies, practices and partnerships. But there are several difficulties: the impossibility of micromanaging the complex social and economic system; the dominance of the rather limited…