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,…

This article draws on reflections offered by 80 post-compulsory education and training initial teacher training (PCET ITT) mentors on a mentor-training programme that has been designed by a UK higher education institution and delivered to its four partner colleges since October 2009. The findings are based on questionnaire data that has been…

This paper is based on in-depth interviews carried out with students in their first and final years of undergraduate study. The paper examines how students approached career decision-making and the rationale underpinning the approach they adopted. The research found that students were not utilising the type of rational approaches to career…

The aim of this research was to clarify the characteristics of Finnish upper secondary school students as vocational decision-makers. The focus was especially on what skills and competences were related to decision-making at different phases of the decision-making process. Altogether, 216 upper secondary school students filled in the…

The English education sector is undergoing major restructuring with the coalition government placing great emphasis on two key principles of policy: deregulation and marketisation. This development follows on two decades in which the British state has sought to raise performance levels and reduce costs through a variety of policies that are drawn…

Each year, around 250,000 16-year-olds in the United Kingdom finish their GCSEs and begin studying for their Advanced (A-) levels, many of them at further education (FE) college. Students study their A-level courses at FE college for a number of reasons, including a more mature relationship with teachers. As we approach the 64th anniversary of…

This paper presents findings of a research project that aimed to critically examine the pedagogical beliefs of work-based learning teachers, and their potential implication on practice and expectations of learners and employers. Based on an online tool, qualitative and quantitative (descriptive) data were generated from a purposive sample of some…

This research aimed to develop and validate a psychometrically sound and convenient measure of the professional identity questionnaire (PIQ) and to determine the level of professional identity among faculty members employed by higher education institutions in Jordan. The PIQ was administered to a sample of 551 faculty members employed by three…

Expectations for higher education providers to produce graduates ready for the workplace have shaped provision, with the introduction of the Foundation Degree, and expectations of an employability component within higher education programmes. This paper reports on an intervention for three groups of foundation degree students, which introduces…

In order to understand the changing nature of professionalism we must consider how the work of teachers has changed in recent years and place this into its wider political and social context as the British State moved from a social democratic model of the State to one based on neo-liberal ideology. Although much of the literature of teacher…

Acknowledging the general difficulty of new e-learning pedagogical approaches in achieving wide acceptance and use, the study described in this article examines a class of MBA students' adoption of a proposed online interactive learning environment. To this end, a web-based, case-based constructivist learning environment was developed, embedding…

How young people make career/occupational choices and why they enter particular careers/occupations are questions to which the answers are complex. One hundred and ninety seven-students drawn from two non-selective comprehensive schools and two further education (FE) colleges in the North of England took part in a questionnaire survey relating to…

This article considers the views and perceptions of lecturers delivering Higher Education Business Programmes (HEBPs) in Further Education Colleges (FECs) about whether they desire to undertake research, thus enabling them to both become and be viewed as specialists in their subjects. The methodology employed took an interpretivist perspective,…

This case study shows the imaginative methods adult learners use to stay motivated while studying. Respondents used social network sites and texts to motivate themselves, and each other, to continue studying. I call this innovative application of technology "e-motivation". Students used communication technology to transform their attitude, to…

This paper explores the concept of culture within Further Education Colleges (FECs) from the perceptions of 26 lecturers delivering Business Higher Education Programmes (BHEPs). It offers a brief overview of the history of both Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) in England, and how they have evolved. This then will provide an…