This study addresses the challenges faced by organisations and individual professionals, as new practices are developed and learned in multi-agency work settings. The practices examined in the paper involve working responsively across professional boundaries with at-risk young people. The paper draws on evidence from the Learning in and for…

This paper focuses on the challenges to their professional identity encountered by both experienced and beginning teachers in the course of research and development work intended to develop student teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. It reports findings from a collaborative action research project within a well-established initial teacher…

This study explores the knowledge-seeking processes among professionals, highlighting three core questions: What induces professionals to engage in continuous learning? What makes them strive for something beyond the immediate obvious goal or situation? How can we theorise practice in a way that allows for engagement and engrossment--the emotional…

We draw on evidence gathered from teachers who had responsibility for initial teacher education in their schools as part of training partnership arrangements with universities, in order to examine how they are working within their schools and with their higher education partners. Evidence consisted of questionnaire returns from 60 teachers,…

Teacher change in mathematics education is recognised to be a difficult and at times painful process. This is particularly so in countries such as England where primary mathematics is taught by non-specialist teachers, who have often had negative experiences of their own school mathematics. In this paper we explore primary teachers' emotional…

The soundscape of higher education is changing. The changes reflect an age of managerialism and an age of uncertainty. These changes call on us to give up on some of the ways we have understood knowledge in the past and prompt us to find news ways of recognizing and understanding the complexities facing higher education research. This paper…

This paper is developed from concern that, despite a number of developments and initiatives in physical education over recent years, there has been little change in the teaching of the subject. This has resulted in many young people being alienated from physical education and therefore physical activity. The paper focuses on how initial teacher…

Analyses of the ordinary concept of intelligence are few and far between in philosophical literature. Such analyses as there have been in recent years are heavily influenced by Ryle's suggestion that to act intelligently is to act "well" or "competently" in a particular domain. Here I show that there are serious problems with Ryle's account and…

Michael Hand's interesting analysis of the concept of intelligence crucially depends upon three assumptions: firstly, that there is an ordinary use of the term which, when applied to an individual is perfectly general and not context dependent. Secondly, that this use is best cashed in terms of aptitude. Thirdly, that the aptitude in question is…

Public policies on training are firmly rooted in the historical, political, economic and social context of their countries. This paper explores the acceptability of such policies to stakeholder groups including learners and employers, and its impact on policy take-up, viability and longevity. The paper uses a comparative analysis of developments…

This paper enquires into curriculum knowledge about sustainable development at advanced level in geography in English schools through a critical look at two concepts. The deconstructive perspective used is drawn from Jacques Derrida. The focus is on school knowledge and responsibility to other ways of knowing that may be neglected within…

In the final paragraph of his 1984 book "From knowledge to wisdom, a revolution in the aims and methods of science," the philosopher Nicholas Maxwell boldly declared that an intellectual revolution was underway in the aims and methods of science, and academic inquiry in general, from what he termed knowledge-inquiry to wisdom-inquiry. Twenty years…

This essay examines the effects of commercialization on education with particular focus on corporatization of academic research. This trend results from a business model of education, which I identify as profit-based inquiry. I contrast profit-based inquiry with Nicholas Maxwell's conception of wisdom-based inquiry and conclude that the business…

This article describes a balance theory of wisdom and applies the theory to the context of schooling. First the article discusses why cognitive skills as assessed by conventional tests are an important, but not a sufficient, basis for education. Second the article discusses the concept of wisdom and why it is important for schooling. Third the…

While research indicates that humans tend potentially to develop towards wisdom in later years, a review of mainly participant-determined groups and courses in 338 lifelong learning centers for older people shows little interest in wisdom or personal development activities. With the suggestion that this apparent lack of interest may be partially…