The Department of Education in Northern Ireland has been reviewing the procedures for suspending and expelling pupils from school. This article reports the views of a random sample of 114 children (11-16 years) towards the proposed changes. Pupils' thoughts on: dealing with misbehaviour; setting rules; the decision-making process; appropriate…

Although issues of inclusion, diversity and achievement have become a powerful agenda for change in teacher education policy in England, bilingual pupils are still conceptualised in policy terms as a problem. This absence of linguistic integration in English teacher education is in tension with the increasing number of school pupils speaking a…

This article explores the recent policy concerning the education of disabled children and young people, and the debate of special education versus mainstream inclusion propelled by Warnock. It argues that the formal and informal practices, designed by non-disabled adults, to facilitate the inclusion of disabled students in mainstream schools may…

The attitudes and behaviour of 1040 pupils aged 12-14 years have been measured at the beginning and end of the school year with a battery of attitude, motivation and personality tests in an investigation of the differential effects of group work compared to whole-class learning. A total of 44 secondary teachers of English, mathematics and science…

This paper is based upon the findings of an interpretative, school-based study of pupil, teacher and parent perceptions of disengagement within the primary classroom. It examines how pupil and parent perceptions support or challenge professional discourses about pupil behaviour, raising questions about the nature of disengagement and the…

Children's ideas about the Earth in space have been of interest to science educators and cognitive psychologists for some time. By focusing almost exclusively on shape and gravity alone, however, other important Earth attributes have been largely neglected or overlooked. Findings from a quasi-experimental study of knowledge acquisition and concept…

Concerns about the recruitment and retention of teachers have prompted recent studies into the status of teaching in several different countries. This paper analyses the findings of a survey designed to investigate public perceptions of the teaching profession in the UK. It was undertaken as part of a broader DfES-funded longitudinal project that…

This paper represents the final layer of analysis carried out in a study investigating the conceptions of and approaches to creativity of three expert specialist dance teachers within late primary age dance education in the UK. This research journeyed through a number of phases culminating in an analysis of the pedagogical dilemmas encountered by…

This paper aims to address two related themes. The first theme is the current provision for practical skill development for disabled dance students within Higher Education in the UK, and the extent to which inclusive pedagogical approaches challenge conceptions of the disabled body, both within and beyond dance. The second theme draws on the first…

This study explores the potential contribution of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to our understanding of student teachers' strength of intention to teach dance prior to and following an intensive eight-hour module before beginning their school-based practice. Students attending a primary Postgraduate Certificate in Education Course (PGCE)…

This paper examines the relationship between narrative and spectacle in the Hollywood musical, with reference to the work of Busby Berkeley and Gene Kelly. It discusses Busby Berkeley's "backstage" musicals in terms of his "aggregate" approach to dealing with the narrative/spectacle relationship, and considers the effect of the backstage musical's…

This research explored how middle school students construct meaning from their dance-making experiences in comparison to the meaning attached to these experiences by an outside observer, the researcher. An interpretive methodology was used to study two nine-week-long dance classes taught at a private K-12 school. Eleven students enrolled in the…

In response to concerns about the place and nature of dance history in British higher education curricula, a database was compiled of representative but significant examples of modules which focused directly on the teaching and learning of history, or had history as a key component. An analysis is presented of these modules in terms of the place…

Dance education experiences of boys and male youth are investigated in terms of dominant constructions of contemporary Western masculinity and the potential limitations these hegemonic discourses may place on male participation. Recent research on boys and male youth in dance, although limited, suggests prevailing social stigma, heteronormative…

This study is the second phase of a large project examining young people's experiences in dance education. It draws on multi-modal data from over 700 young people, diverse both demographically and in terms of degree and kind of dance experience. This phase focuses on data reflecting engagement and disengagement in dance, and illuminates them from…