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…

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 Scotland, as in other legislations, the government and its agencies commission educational research to inform policy and practice development. This provides opportunities for academic researchers, who are under pressure to engage in funded research, to carry their interests forward with some assurance of social usefulness and impact. Many…

This paper explores the field of post-compulsory English Language Teaching (ELT) management research, enquiring into its identity, legitimacy and development, by identifying and discussing issues, problems, and controversies. It reviews the nature of the ELT sector as a predominantly commercial educational service with a significant role in "inner…

This paper provides a reflective focus on the concept of change to the professional identity of FE lecturers. Traditional perceptions of FE staff as vocational specialists are contested and the emergence of a new professional with an extended professionality is discussed. The changes analysed deal with the emergence of the HE in FE sector and the…

The literature on bullying is vast and this social phenomenon has been studied in depth in relation to schooling and the workplace. Between school and workplace lies higher education (HE), but there is a marked absence of published work regarding undergraduate student-to-student bullying in this setting. This theoretical paper explores possible…

This paper is a reflection on my journey in a work-based (WB) research project while completing my PhD at a large Australian university. The paper explores issues that arose as I studied strategic change in the university and my role evolved from that of a "change agent" working as part of a project team to that of a researcher. A case study…

Within education, the term "research" is used in a multiplicity of ways. This paper draws on my own reflection of how educational practitioners experience shifting relationships to research. It suggests that within the further education (FE) sector, professionalism in teaching is measured through observation in the form of the Ofsted inspection.…

Much has been written about the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in distance learning environments. A quick Google search turns up as many as 178,000 links to the term. ICT has been less used and discussed as a means of communication between research student and supervisor--particularly where this is the major means of student…

As with other sectors of education, further education seems to be locked in endless change with policy unable to resolve what have become to be regarded as intractable problems. In turn, much is expected of teachers who are left to resolve the competing pressures they are placed under. Evidence suggests that they expend much emotional labour and…

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…

This article reports on a research project undertaken on behalf of the Standards Unit to research the impact of the Teaching and Learning National Transformation Programme for the Learning and Skills sector. The transformational programme is best described as having three enablers, namely teaching and learning resources to support practitioners,…

Accompanying awareness of the potential for lifelong learning to secure social inclusion and economic survival, e-learning has grown in significance and a fragile consensus about its purposes has emerged among stakeholders. The University for Industry (Ufi) and its e-learning arm, learndirect, have focused efforts especially (but not entirely)…

This article examines the development of nationally funded vocational education and training (VET) research in Australia since the mid-1990s. The provision of nationally competitive funding through the Australian National Training Authority has led to an explosion of VET research guided by a national strategy that outlines the key priorities for…

Through a substantive grounded theory case study emerged conceptual categories related to the craft of experienced graduate research supervision: temporal-futurizing, ruling-requiring, motivating-alliancing, critiquing-comprehending, intellectualizing-presiding. These were compared with the qualities of novice supervisors. (Contains 41…