This research paper explores the effects of promoting empowerment in the key stage three history curriculum. For this research the term 'empowerment' relates to engaging pupils, enlightening them to the world around them and encouraging them to use their voices. Through applying an empowering approach to the history curriculum we can teach pupils…

Play and playfulness have been central to progressive pedagogies since the birth of the kindergarten. Yet their position in many contemporary education discourses is often ambivalent and at times fragile. In the Global North, many critics warn of a 'play crisis' and 'play deficit'. This essay attempts to trace a cultural and intellectual history…

The first years of the 20th century saw an intriguing partnership between two high-profile figures in elementary education. Between them they offered a tantalising progressive vision for primary schooling. Harriet Johnson gained followers for Sompting School as far away as the USA and Japan, and the chief inspector of elementary schools, Edmond…

The Curriculum for Wales 2022 and the enabling learning approach, which informs the development of early years provision and foundation learning, have provided a strong focus on the benefits of outdoor learning. Such learning promotes children's curiosity, exploration and holistic development. This article describes the ethos and approach of the…

In this article we share the work we have done as teacher educators in developing a third-year undergraduate module which nurtures our students to develop their own pedagogic vision and to consider themselves 'change agents' able to orient themselves within social and political structures rather than merely adapting to the status quo. We locate…

The aim of the Department for Education's recent market review of England's initial teacher training (ITT) was ostensibly to enable the provision of consistently high-quality training in line with the ITT core content framework (CCF). Its intention may possibly have been welcomed had it built on the judgments from Ofsted at the time, which…

Further education (FE) is both the most diverse and the most misunderstood sector in English education. FE colleges are sites of social and economic inclusion and personal and collective transformation, offering routes to citizenship, employment and lifelong learning. But the sustained funding squeeze over the last decade means that FE is also in…

In the light of the government's recent White Paper, we outline the history of the academisation programme, positioning it as part of the neo-liberal privatisation drive which has been sustained since the 1988 Education Reform Act under governments of all stripes. We contest central claims made for the supposed benefits of academisation, and call…

The intention of government to create a fully academised school system in England, whereby every academy will belong to a large multi-academy Trust (MAT), further erodes community engagement and accountability. This paper illustrates how the policy of academisation has enabled a top-down governance framework to emerge, replacing the power and…

This article outlines Labour ideals and values, and demonstrates the tensions between egalitarian and meritocratic imperatives for the reform agendas Labour governments pursued in office and the educational settlements reached. It challenges 'common sense' interpretations of elites and elite education and fixed 'ability' thinking, and promotes the…

The UK education system is becoming increasingly dominated by exclusive economic and political ideology. The neoliberal agenda marketises young people and encourages them to take part in a competitive system. The rise of multi-academy trusts (MATs) further exacerbates an already inequitable system in which young people with special education needs…

This article discusses the astonishing ignorance at all levels as to how Britain has become a multiracial, multicultural society in a post-imperial age, the hostility towards changes in the education system which would help clearer understandings of the imperial past, and the efforts of teachers and other educators to assist in the creation of a…

As an educator, and a student myself, I believe that the current system of graded assessments used ubiquitously in education systems worldwide is quite flawed. Although certain issues arise in its implementation, a suitable alternative might be to consider gradeless assessments. Thus, rather than completely advocating for a change in the way…

The author's previous articles for "FORUM," some co-authored with Dr. Andrew Allen, propose a radical restructuring of English schooling to enable more effective engagement with the community and a reassessment of the purposes of schooling. What follow here are a few suggestions that individual schools and academy trusts might take up to…

This article considers the experiences of two teacher educators working with undergraduate and postgraduate trainee teachers in the School of Education at the University of Brighton. It foregrounds reflections shared within education studies seminars and on conversations with early career teachers on how trainees and new teachers negotiate their…