This paper examines how Save the Children--an international non-governmental organisation (INGO)--assesses the changes it has brought about in children's lives around the globe. The paper begins with a discussion of the role of INGOs. It moves on to examine how we know we are making a difference and gives an explanation of "Global Impact…

This article examines a national applied theatre programme coordinated through the Department of Child, Youth and Family in New Zealand. The programme uses dramatic processes to create opportunities for communities to discuss and find their own answers to the issues of child abuse and family violence. The programme utilises a sophisticated in-role…

This paper analyses a community theatre project initiated in 1991 in Ratones, a community in Southern Brazil. It began as an extension project of the State University of Santa Catarina and became an independent project coordinated by former participants, still in collaboration with the university. Aiming to evaluate the benefits of this theatre…

Using video recordings of lessons and interviews with teachers, this article explores the way in which teachers enact Assessment for Learning (AfL) practices in their classrooms. Starting with the hypothesis that AfL is built on an underlying pedagogic principle that foregrounds the promotion of pupil autonomy, we analyse the ways in which…

A "mapping task" was used to explore the networks available to head teachers, school coordinators and local authority staff. Beginning from an ego-centred perspective on networks, we illustrate a number of key analytic categories, including brokerage, formality, and strength and weakness of links with reference to a single UK primary school. We…

Achieving lasting and deep-seated change in schools through the embedding of a new set of practices with associated values is a familiar goal. This paper draws upon interviews with school coordinators and head teachers participating in the Learning How to Learn Project to explore the nature of embedding and the related challenges for leadership.…

The Learning How to Learn (LHTL) Projects study of learning was comprehensive in attempting to explore learning practices from several different perspectives. This paper reports one of these explorations: into the beliefs and attitudes of pupils. This was carried out using questionnaires composed of questions exploring beliefs about, and attitudes…

This article provides an introduction to the TLRP Learning How to Learn Project and a context for the articles that follow in this special issue. The origins of the research, in a concern to investigate the organizational and network conditions that support innovation in teaching and learning, and in a perceived need to align research on pedagogy…

This article addresses the question, "What organizational conditions foster successful classroom promotion of Learning How to Learn?". Data are reported from the ESRC Learning How to Learn Project's Staff Questionnaire administered in 2002 and 2004. In 2002, 1212 Questionnaire returns were obtained from primary and secondary support staff,…

This paper stems from the ESRC TLRP Learning How to Learn--in Classrooms, Schools and Networks Project, and explores how Assessment for Learning (AfL) relates, conceptually, to learning how to learn (LHTL). The term LHTL was intended to draw attention to a primary focus on learning practices, and we have related the processes of AfL to LHTL. A…

There is no published empirically based research on the new GCE synoptic assessment. Consequently no published research has been undertaken on its role, how it is taught or how pupils are prepared for the assessment. Neither is there a published evaluation of the effectiveness of teaching the synoptic units. It is these issues which are addressed…

The way in which professional knowledge is presented in initial teacher education (ITE) in England and Wales is significant. Not only is it emblematic of the way teaching itself is conceived, but it is likely to influence the way that students engage with their development. The following analysis therefore describes and critiques the kinds of…

This article begins by examining the Scottish Executive's published figures on exclusion from school to argue that while they show small reductions in the use of temporary exclusions from year to year, there is as yet no evidence of a substantial reduction. In addition it argues that the published data fail to give an accurate picture of the…

This paper outlines the main substantive findings from the latest stage of a research programme which began in 1982. The most recent project was designed to provide an interim snapshot through a questionnaire survey of the progress of a group of young men and women whom we have been following since the start of their secondary education when they…

Although health, safety and risk education for school pupils has received growing attention in recent years, for the most part related education programmes and research aimed at assessing those programmes have focused on health education, with relatively little attention paid to the array of immediate safety risks that are confronting pupils…