In England, Scotland and other countries, policy-makers often depict the targeted recruitment of men to the teaching profession as a panacea for male underachievement and disaffection from school. It is commonly assumed that the gender gap in achievement stems from the dearth of male role models in teaching, especially at primary level. Giving…

Over the past decade international discussions of pedagogy have increasingly clustered around a few ubiquitous and popular ideas drawn ostensibly from psychological research. The internet has been a powerful force in disseminating and globalising pedagogically relevant research into such matters as metacognition, multiple forms of intelligence,…

Considerable activity has occurred in the recent past regarding policy-making around Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the school curriculum. Teaching about sustainable development involves complex and contested ethical and political issues. This case study research investigates how four student teachers taking part in a one-year…

A group of postgraduate (secondary school) student teachers attending a teacher training course in York (England) and Stavanger (Norway) completed a questionnaire at the start (N = 174) and at the end (N = 128) of their course which explored their views regarding the factors accounting for pupil misbehavior, the frequency of pupil misbehavior, the…

This paper describes a three-year research partnership between Roehampton University in London and VT Four S Ltd, providers of school support services in Surrey, a county in the south east of England. The project, named "New Partnerships for Learning" (NPfL), was centred on the delivery of a professional development programme to equip…

This paper focuses on recent and innovative moves towards flexible learning in initial teacher education programmes in England and Wales, as part of the "widening participation" agenda in higher education and in response to changes in teacher recruitment patterns. We take as our perspective our own experience as two course tutors in a…

This paper investigates how teacher education programmes provide adequate preparation for its prospective teachers. It uses adult numeracy teacher education in the post-compulsory education sector in England as exemplar. Using findings from two research projects on adult numeracy teacher education courses, the article investigates the applications…

Educational reformers in New Zealand and England have turned their attention towards network creation as a way of facilitating school improvement. The idea is that greater collaboration can drive school improvement through building professional learning communities, spreading best practice, and driving innovation in education. It is based on a…

The social class attainment gap in education is now attracting an increased level of concern. Despite the efforts of the British New Labour government to address the continuing underachievement of working class pupils in England, there has been little progress. This paper reports on one aspect of a wider research study carried out in an Initial…

This article discusses the three "Rs" of teacher education in the twenty-first century: recruit, retain, and re-train teachers. The author argues that, as with other "caring" professions, such as nursing and social work, the marketisation of the professions will impact to such an extent that all three "Rs" will be…

This paper reviews significant events of the last 25 years in schools and teacher education in England and looks ahead to the next 25 years. Various scenarios for the future are examined and the potential is considered for new forms of teachers' initial education and continuing professional development using information and communications…

England's Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) requires that students, in order to qualify for teacher status, must undertake the study of law. This article reviews the TDA standards and considers its rationale for the selection of law. Such selection and the need, if any, to study law are contrasted with texts written for teachers…