This article responds to Henry Tam's article in this issue of FORUM by exploring opportunities for co-operative problem-solving for staff and students of the Royal Docks Community School in the London Borough of Newham. Becoming a co-operative trust helped the school move out of special measures and develop a strategy of participation and…

This essay is a reflection on my teaching of "Jane Eyre" to a small intervention class in a large London secondary school. It is a reflection on the nature of reading as set out historically in educational policy and within hierarchies of power in school, in juxtaposition with the lived experiences of reading in the classroom. It is an…

Within the spirit of conspiration, this article brings together contributions from participants of the PhD-led UCL Reading and React Group 'Colonialism(s), Neoliberalism(s) and Language Teaching and Learning', which ran in 2019/20. Weaving together various perspectives, the article centres on the dialogic nature of the decolonial enterprise and…

This paper assesses the growing UK private sector in education and questions whether it is, as its supporters suggest, a valuable addition to an already diverse national system. An earlier "Perspectives" paper (Woodfield et al 2011) explored the emerging partnerships between public and private sectors. This follow-up explores the roles…

In this essay I explore the constraints and opportunities confronting me as a newly qualified teacher and how these affect my pedagogy. I have reflected on my own development from beginning to newly qualified teacher and considered how such forces have shaped my identity as a teacher, my values and my approach to the job. As part of my exploration…

In this article we consider data arising from student-teacher-researcher interactions taking place in the context of an experimental teaching program making use of multiple modes of communication and representation to explore three-dimensional (3D) shape. As teachers/researchers attempted to support student use of a logo-like formal language for…

For over 20 years, researchers and evaluators worldwide have criticised the traditional formula of family learning courses for their narrow vision, and have emphasised their potential to provide a bridge between home and school experiences, building on resources that parents already have, but which are unknown or unacknowledged. This article…

Teachers in complementary schools are often assumed to be using outmoded teaching strategies and an authoritarian approach to discipline. However, it is rare for mainstream teachers to have visited these community-run after-school or weekend classes, which remain on the margins of educational provision. This paper argues that complementary…

London is the paramount example of a city that is not bounded by its geography and cannot be grasped in isolation. The U.K.'s national capital and the prime focus for business, finance and creative industries, London also transcends the U.K.'s borders as a hub of the world economy. This paper argues that London, a city riddled by the socioeconomic…

Academics can be too snug in their institutional silos. They sometimes think of one another as competitors for students, and as a result they duplicate scarce resources in mutually damaging ways. In this article, the author wants to argue that teaching-focused institutions have much to gain from partnerships with research universities on the…