Research on Divorce, Separation and Family Change: Messages for Practitioners

The JRF has supported a series of twelve research projects about the effects of divorce and separation. This paper highlights key messages and common themes that emerge for practitioners working with children and their families.     

Up to the Job? Graduates’ Perceptions of the UK Higher Education Careers Service

This article investigates graduates' perceptions of their careers guidance needs and the extent to which these are met by the higher education careers service. It reports the findings of a survey conducted by the Employment Studies Research Unit in support of the work of the recent Higher Education Careers Service Review Group chaired by Professor Sir Martin Harris. It places the findings in a context between recent and ongoing research on transitions from higher education to employment and considers the implications of these, and of wider changes in recruitment practices, for the role of the higher education careers service.     

Teacher planning in the development of collaborative cultures

The value of collaborative working practices in schools and other institutions has been studied by a number of researchers, eg Fullan (1991); Hargreaves (1994). Researchers generally agree that collaborative practice is an important factor in teacher development and school improvement.

The significance of planning in primary schools is widely acknowledged. However, limited research has been carried out into the planning of primary teachers in Britain and much of what is written and advocated as good practice has little evidential basis.

This article explores the symbiotic relationship between planning and collaboration. In particular, it discusses the significance of this relationship to the individual teacher and to the school as an institution.     

Putting journals out to tender: guidelines for societies and other sponsors

Many journals are sponsored by one body and published by another. These notes are intended to guide sponsors by outlining the stages, processes, and timetable involved in obtaining and comparing tenders. Sponsors are advised that detailed analysis and open communication are more likely to result in satisfactory long‐term publishing arrangements.     

Values and Imagination in Teaching: With a Special Focus on Social Studies

Both local and global issues are typically dealt with in the Social Studies curriculum, or in curriculum areas with other names but similar intents. In the literature about Social Studies the imagination has played little role, and consequently it hardly appears in texts designed to help teachers plan and implement Social Studies lessons. What is true of Social Studies is also largely reflected in general texts concerning planning teaching. Clearly many theorists and practitioners are concerned to engage students' imaginations in learning, even though they use terms other than 'imagination' in doing so. This article suggests that a more explicit attention to imagination can make our efforts to engage students in learning more effective. We provide, first, a working definition of imagination, then show how students' imaginations can be characterized in terms of the 'cognitive toolkits' they bring to learning. We look at such 'cognitive tools' as stories, images, humor, binary oppositions, a sense of mystery and how these can be used to engage students' imaginations in learning Social Studies and other content from kindergarten to about grade four. We then consider 'cognitive tools' commonly deployed by students from about grade four to grade nine, including a sense of reality, the extremes of experience and limits of reality, and associating with the heroic. We also provide examples of how using such tools could influence planning and teaching Social Studies topics.