The paper is based on interviews with a sample of 200 teachers from the Limpopo province about their life histories, particularly those aspects related to their choice of teaching as their first career path, and their expectations, experiences and perceptions in this regard. It argues that current approaches to teacher education in South Africa…

The higher skills policy of the UK New Labour Government emerged from the recommendations of the Leitch Review of Skills, and was implemented in England between 2007 and 2010. The policy aimed to encourage higher education (HE) institutions to engage with employers and employer representative bodies to design and deliver HE provision that…

Collaborative learning can, if designed and implemented properly, contribute to student learning outcomes and prepare them for teamwork. However, the design and implementation of collaborative learning in practice depend on beliefs of lecturers about teaching and learning in general, and collaborative learning in particular. One hundred and…

Higher education research is, by its nature, rather an introspective field of study. It is also highly dispersed within and beyond the academy: inherently, therefore, it is a multidisciplinary field of study. An analysis of 567 articles published in 15 leading higher education journals in 2010 demonstrates both the breadth of interest in higher…

This paper contributes to understanding why curriculum design in a discipline with a horizontal knowledge structure is difficult, time-consuming and contested. A previous paper on the same case study in one sociology department reported that students who had completed the general sociology major found it lacking in coherence. To illustrate the…

One hundred and twenty students successful at entering four of the most famous French "grandes ecoles" ("Ecole Normale Superieure" Ulm, Polytechnique, HEC, Sciences Po) were questioned about their institution's image. We focus on how the prestige of these institutions in the French society played a role in students' attraction and contributed to…

This paper presents an analysis of ethnographic data collected by researchers as part of the process of rewriting an institutional learning and teaching strategy in an English university. The research was driven by a desire to understand what work a learning and teaching strategy might accomplish, and the form/s of address in strategy documents.…

This paper surveys the extent of religious segregation in teacher education in Northern Ireland and notes that there are elements of separation within a general context of (increasing) common teacher education. With reference to liberal and communitarian theories the case for separate teacher education is considered. It is acknowledged that a case…

Much contemporary theorising on educational decision-making starts from the premise that the process of decision-making is a deeply embedded social practice, which is inextricably linked to behaviours, attitudes and dispositions which hold sway within an individual's social network. Drawing on data from a project focusing on decision-making…

Educational and psychological research suggests that gender and musical genre can influence musical learning and the development of musical identities, particularly during adolescence. However, there is a relative paucity of educational studies in higher education (HE) concerning the possible impact on musical learning of gender and musical genre,…

We explore the conditions under which students engage with, or disengage from, learning at university within the context of increased student diversity. We discuss the concept and use of academic engagement and disengagement but focus on the dynamics of disengagement in two comparable first year computing modules at a pre- and a post-1992…

This paper questions whether participation in vocational education and training (VET) provides a successful progression route into UK higher education (HE). Following an overview of the UK policy agenda two inter-connected aspects of HE access are investigated: students' choice of institution and choice of subject. Analysis of administrative data…

Colleges and universities that provide both further and higher education are a key component of government policies to expand participation in English undergraduate education. The opportunities for access and progression made available by these organisations are regarded as central. At the same time, the division of further and higher education…

This paper reports how students talk about their aspirations in regard to higher education (HE) and their mathematics, what "repertoires" they use to mediate this discourse, and how students' predominant "repertoire style" relates to their cultural background. Our analyses draw on an interview sample (n=40) of students selected because they are…

This paper summarises our research into the relationship between pupil assessment at age 14 (Key Stage 3) and participation in age 16+ education. We question whether a systematic gap between teacher-based assessment and externally marked tests indicates assessment bias or uncertainty, either in testing procedures or through teachers' perceptions…