Understanding early school leaving (ESL) remains a key issue on political and academic agendas. Most research focuses on the experiences of young people who intend to leave or have left school early without a qualification from secondary education. In addition, most studies focus on regular secondary schools. We aim to add to this literature by…

A growing evidence base has demonstrated the value of Forest School as an outdoor learning approach which supports a range of benefits including improved physical, social and mental wellbeing, increased confidence and self-esteem and the development of problem-solving skills. However, critics of Forest School have argued that a lack of theoretical…

Although fostering values is promoted within environmental and sustainability education (ESE) and a shift in values is seen as essential for a sustainable future, recent international findings indicate that this aspect of ESE is being neglected. Previous research has shown there to be common ground between ESE and the field of character education…

The wellbeing of young people has become an important education policy issue, with suggestions that mental health problems amongst young people have increased in recent years. Experiences at school are thought to be a key factor contributing to mental ill-health amongst adolescents. Yet surprisingly, little is known about how mental health…

Evidence from intervention evaluations suggests that achieving meaningful and lasting social, behavioural and attitudinal change from relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in schools requires more than just a curriculum. Whole-school approaches appear particularly promising since they work at multiple levels. For instance, they may:…

This paper examines ideas about mental health, wellbeing and school education to illustrate important issues in the relationship between mental health and education. The COVID crisis has amplified the pre-existing mental health problems of children and young people in England and recognition of the opportunities in schools to address these. The…

As places of learning, schools inevitably foreground cognition. Neglected in schools and in the literature is the body, often an inconvenience or barrier to learning rather than a site of perception and understanding. Where the body is considered, it is primarily concerned with pedagogy and children rather than analysing the broad range of…

With greater linguistic diversity in educational settings around the world as a result of international migration, and a rise in autism diagnoses, educators are more frequently teaching children who are both neurodiverse and linguistically different to their peers. The aim of the present study was to uncover the perspectives and experiences of…

This article juxtaposes the evolving scholarship investigating the influence of cultural capital on student learning and the developing trajectory of sociologists employing quantitative research methods. It critically reviews results from 34 studies analysing PISA or ASPIRES data to generate three key insights demonstrating complexities in…

Home education, or home schooling, is a rapidly growing global educational phenomenon. Given the emphasis that educators, policy makers and researchers have placed upon the arts as an important element in a holistic education, the ways in which the growing home education community are facilitating arts learning warrants consideration. Facilitating…

This article problematises the place of religion within publicly managed Education and Training Board (ETB) schools in the Republic of Ireland. The study draws on interview data from 43 school personnel across 18 ETB second-level schools, as well as eight interviews with ETB Education/Chief Executive Officers. Having established the legal and…

Primary school children develop literacy practices in various domains and situations in everyday life. This study focused on the analysis of literacy practices of children aged 8-12 years from the perspective of their families. 1,843 families participated in the non-experimental explanatory study. The children in these families speak Spanish as a…

The objective of this study [Susinos, T. (Dir.), 'Schools moving towards inclusion: Learning from the local community, the student voice and educational support' (I+D+I, EDU2011-29928-C03-03)] is to gain a deeper understanding of the analysis of the discourses that different education professionals in the Spanish education system have on student…

Based on fieldwork conducted in five alternative provision schools across three large cities in England, this article explores the relationship between young people's involvement in urban street gangs and their attitudes and behaviour in school. By applying and developing a lens of social field theory, the article highlights the ways in which…

"Setting" is a widespread practice in the UK, despite little evidence of its efficacy and substantial evidence of its detrimental impact on those allocated to the lowest sets. Taking a Bourdieusian approach, we propose that setting can be understood as a practice through which the social and cultural reproduction of dominant power…