Learn how exemplary countries are dealing with the challenges and joys of advancing the development of their youngest citizens. In this book, Sharon Lynn Kagan and her contributors systematically examine how six diverse countries go about envisioning, designing, and implementing their services to young children and their families. "The Early…

This article contains important messages for all those with an interest in enhancing the effectiveness of professional development supported by websites. It is informed by the findings of a Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) funded evaluation of the use and effectiveness of three websites whose development the TDA had supported.…

The article reports on an empirical study into underachievement of 14-year-old students in four English schools by drawing upon learning power theory and practice. The study examined the characteristic learning power profiles of underachieving and overachieving adolescents, and then used student learning profiles diagnostically to support the…

This paper is based on findings from ethnographic research which explored the impact of the Connexions initiative on the lives of young people. The fieldwork took place in three drop-in centres for young people, all of which were delivery sites for Connexions. Utilising the theoretical concepts of identity and self-esteem, it grounded this…

This paper describes the findings of a qualitative evaluation of an early years' intervention, I Can's Early Talk (ET) programme. ET was designed to improve speech, language and communication outcomes for children aged 0-5 by focusing on enhancing practitioners' knowledge and skills. The research focused on children aged 3-4 years and was…

When faced with a multitude of tasks, any opportunity to "kill two birds with one stone" is welcome. Drama has always excited the author: as a child performing in plays, later as a student and now as a teacher directing performances and improvising within lessons. The author was lucky enough to have inspirational teachers during his…

The study purpose was to investigate predictive associations between adolescent girls' motivational predispositions to physical education (PE) and habitual physical activity. Two hundred girls (age 13.1 [plus or minus] 0.6 years) completed the Physical Education Predisposition Scale and the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children.…

Like many other history departments nationally, Ed Podesta and his colleagues face a daunting practical challenge: redesigning three years' historical learning so that it can fit into a compressed two-year Key Stage 3, whilst enhancing, rather than compromising, the quality of students' historical learning. Podesta's article reports the beginning…

This article reports a quasi-experimental study on the effects of multimedia teaching and learning in English Literature--a subject which places high cognitive load on students. A large-scale study was conducted in 4 high-achieving secondary schools to examine the differences made to students' learning and performance by the use of multimedia and…

This paper examines the expansion of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and associated growth in the influence of the OECD's education work. PISA has become one of the OECD's most successful "products" and has both strengthened the role of the Directorate for Education within the organization and enhanced…

Drawing on a recent research project, this paper questions the literature's dominant representation of children with special educational needs (SEN) as holding negative perceptions of themselves and being socially isolated. The study examined dimensions of pupils' self-concept and their social position in their class network. Contrary to previous…

Purpose: The goal of this exploratory empirical article is to analyse managers' beliefs about learning and their reports of enabling workplace learning for both individuals and teams. It aims to discuss the managers' rationales for prioritising development, detail the learning methods used and evaluate the types of outcomes which were targeted.…

The authors discuss findings from the project "Political Literacy in Japan and England". They do so to follow up on work published in this journal in 2011. The now completed project involved two schools in England and three schools in Japan, and had the aim of exploring what teachers would do in each country when asked to use the same…

GeoCapabilities is a transatlantic collaborative project for researching the purposes and values of geography education through a "capabilities approach." Inspired by the writings of philosopher Amartya Sen and economist Martha Nussbaum, the capabilities approach provides a normative framework for understanding the broader aims of…

The purpose of the present review of literature and research is to examine the benefits the arts provide as enhancements for teaching and learning provided for both educators and students in PK-12 school settings. The relationship between exposure to the arts and student achievement within the academic disciplines such as mathematics,…