In the UK, further education (FE) colleges play a key role in providing literacy programmes. This article draws upon our research in FE, with a focus on literacy, learning and identity, to explore how different learners are positioned differently depending on the value of the literacy practices they bring with them from home. Indeed, it is…

Higher apprenticeships are celebrated in current policy discourses as an alternative to traditional higher education, with the claim that they will prepare higher apprentices for their future careers and enhance industrial productivity through higher skill levels. This paper aims to scrutinise these claims using notions developed by Bernstein and…

This paper draws on data that formed part of a major three-year longitudinal study (2008-2011), which set out to investigate basic skills (BS) provision and needs in the British army and its relationship to operational effectiveness. Using mixed methods, the findings draw on qualitative data from 60 semi-structured interviews with 26 young…

This paper contributes to the contested body of work on graduate employability, employment and sustained career building. Educational establishments across the world are expected to equip students with the knowledge and skills for employability, sustainable employment and career development. The protean career concept and the boundary-less career…

This paper addresses a recurring theme regarding the UK's Vocational Education and Training policy in which further education (FE) and training are primarily driven by employer demand. It explores the tensions associated with this process on the everyday working practices of FE practitioners and institutions and its impact on FE's…

Young people in society are able to use information and communication technology with ease and exploit the opportunities and benefits of social interaction that has become ingrained in their daily routines. However, as the use of technology has risen, so too has its misuse to harm others. The phenomena of bullying and, more recently,…

For the past decade, I have been observing, researching and reporting on a group of Scottish further education lecturers and schoolteachers, who, through their trade union activities, have had a significant impact on their colleagues' engagement with post-compulsory education and professional development. They are members of the Educational…

Locating post-16 professionalism explores the ways in which teachers in the UK and the USA engaged in digitally mediated communication incidentally narrate their professional selves during extended exchanges about the process of post-qualification registration. Drawing on a theoretical framework derived from participatory democracy, the study is…

Student evaluations can be seen as an opportunity for students to vent their views on the quality of teaching that they receive, and sometimes instructors trivialise the importance of this opportunity for dialogue with students and colleagues and reflection on teaching practice. This paper takes student evaluations of teaching quality seriously…

This paper examines the key role that graded lesson observations have within the measurement of quality in the post-compulsory education sector. Using semi-structured interviews, it looks at their impact on participants and also their execution in light of their stated purpose to "improve teaching and learning". The sample selected…

This study examined how full-time university students cope with part-time working during term time. A qualitative approach was used to examine how students simultaneously manage the two activities, and how part-time working affects their academic study. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain data from a sample of 30 undergraduate business…

Several characteristics are necessary to have a flourishing workplace: one is organisational learning. Modern workplaces call for individual responsibility, ability, and willingness to share expertise, as well as continuous learning. However, critical elements of the process of organisational learning -- participating, knowing, cooperating and…

The purpose of this study was to establish if lecturers in further education colleges (FECs) delivering higher education business courses (HEBCs) undertook research to improve specialist knowledge. A critical analysis of the literature was undertaken, providing an overview of what is understood by the term "research". Lecturers in FECs…

In addition to the familiar occupational standards that underpin National Vocational Qualifications, the UK has a parallel if less complete system of competence or practice standards that are developed and controlled by professional bodies. While there is a certain amount of overlap between the two types of standard, recent research points to a…

Ongoing reform in vocational education and training (VET) has placed significant pressure on leaders in private training organisations in terms of striking an 'appropriate' balance between educational and business imperatives. This paper draws on data from 34 interviews with leaders from 16 private registered training organisations in…