The paper addresses workplace learning; vocational pedagogy, education and knowledge; and the transformation of practice. It draws upon discussions of vocationalism, vocational pedagogies as well as the constitution of vocational knowledge(s), debates which are set within particular historical and socioeconomic as well as national contexts. It…

This article draws on a small-scale case study of English pre- and in-service Further Education (FE) trainee teachers from a northern university. It explores their understanding of notions of well-being and health. In particular, it examines trainees' orientation to care as well as their constructions of learners. It analyses two contradictory but…

The current paper draws on data derived from a small-scale ongoing longitudinal study of further education trainee teachers. It examines their experiences during and after the completion of their training. The study was conducted at a university in the English Midlands and sets trainees' experiences within the socio-economic and policy context.…

The paper examines the relationship between research and practice. Its starting point is a consideration of the difference between policy science and scholarship. This leads to an analysis of the current importance attached by the state to evidence-informed practice and systematic review. Such research strategies will, it is claimed, lead to…

Engagement in communities of practice has increasingly come to be seen as an important aspect of adult learning. Participation within such communities is thought to provide a dialogic space in which learning can take place. These ideas are increasingly being applied to the work of teachers, lecturers, and trainers. This reflective paper addresses…

The article examines trainee lecturers' perceptions of teaching and learning in the sector, drawing upon a small-scale study of trainees on a full-time further education teacher-training programme at an English new university. The article explores how current changes may be affecting the development of lecturers' professional practice. It seeks to…

Focus groups and questionnaires elicited responses from new lecturers in British further/higher education indicating that they were more involved in survival under constraints than in professional practice. Conditions work against development of communities of practice. They have similar expectations of learners but higher education lecturers were…

Analysis of 11 further education staff development officers' conceptions of learners, learning, and teaching practice suggests a gap between a professed focus on learners and an actual emphasis on performance management and continuous improvement. Emphasis on individualizing learners and learning marginalizes the social context of teaching and…

Explores ways in which researchers gathered and analyzed data from time-log diaries kept by further education instructors in order to illuminate the social conditions of teaching. Describes the process of refinement of diaries and the combination of qualitative and quantitative data. (Contains 40 references.) (SK)