In a contemporary society dominated by visual media, critical visual literacy (CVL) is a significant skill to inculcate, and yet, in some educational systems, its integration in teaching and education has not (yet) achieved enough recognition, especially in a context like Pakistan. As it is assumed that students will develop the necessary…

Under Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence, the health and wellbeing of school pupils is the 'Responsibility of All'. Mental health is included in this though the extent to which secondary teachers feel confident to deal with the many and varied issues which their pupils present with is less clear. This pilot study seeks to explore the potential…

Impairments of emotional awareness and regulation are recognised features of autism spectrum conditions and are known to impact school experiences and outcomes. However, most research in this field takes place within clinical settings, and there is a scarcity of literature describing how these difficulties are addressed within schools,…

This paper presents a qualitative case study which explores the perceptions of teachers who are responsible for students on the cusp of leaving compulsory education, and in particular, students who have been identified as having the propensity to fall out of education, employment and training. With a disproportionate percentage of young people…

This paper proposes the concept of 'Curricular Epistemic Socialisation' as a process through which the school curriculum shapes the disciplinary epistemologies and identities of high school (11-18) teachers. Drawing on a survey of history teachers in Scotland (n=101), a cohort comparison is made between those trained since the introduction in 2010…

Differentiated instruction for diverse learners has been generally applied to compulsory education. However, the challenge of learner diversity is faced by other educational institutions. In Malta, most children attend evening classes twice a week in Christian formation at the centres of the Society of Christian Doctrine. The aim of this study was…

This paper explores the professional learning needs identified by teacher educators in Higher Education Institutions in Scotland, with a particular focus on their "researcherly dispositions" (Tack & Vanderlinde, 2016), and identifies some of the implications for the professional learning of teacher educators more broadly. The…

This paper explores some of the unique issues in accessing Higher Education (HE) faced by pupils living in some Scottish rural communities in Argyll & Bute, Highland, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. Many of these communities are hard to reach and in some of the least deprived areas of Scotland. Despite this,…

Key to the effective enactment of policy and high quality learning and teaching in schools is a contemporary understanding of teachers' beliefs, and an awareness of the professional issues which are particularly important to them. Despite a surge in academic and policy interest in physical education in Scotland, only two studies have examined…

There is growing awareness of the contribution teachers can make to school leadership, particularly in relation to improvements in curriculum and pedagogy. Teacher leadership offers the potential to engage teachers in bottom-up approaches to school improvement and liberate the professional creativity of teachers. Despite such positioning, clearer…

This article outlines a research study into the perceptions of a small sample of New Zealand school leaders about the nature of leading in a high-needs school environment. Reflective data collected from leaders indicated that a broad-based concept of high needs centred on the socially disadvantaged world of families, student-related factors both…

This paper examines the frequency and nature of outdoor learning provision in Scottish schools, with specific attention paid to teachers' approaches to learning outdoors, and it considers what further support and professional development teachers need to progress their practice. This enquiry is timely as limited data has been gathered over the…

One of the aims of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in Scotland is greater inclusion of interdisciplinary learning and teaching in school education. There is, arguably, a limited amount of guidance in the CfE literature to advise and support secondary teachers in the practical implications of the planning, preparation and implementation of…

Contemporary efforts to reconceptualise the teaching profession in Scotland as seen with the Donaldson (2011) "Review of Teacher Education," the McCormac (2011) "Review of Teacher Employment" and the GTCS (2012) "Review of Professional Standards" are aligning themselves to certain principles. Among them, is the core…

Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence typifies many international trends in curricular policy, through its emphasis on generic skills and competencies, its focus on pedagogy and its apparent extension of autonomy to teachers as agents of change. Such curricula pose considerable challenges to school systems, where prevailing practices are often at…