Issues of Equity in Special Needs Education from a Gender Perspective

This article is concerned with gender issues in resource allocation for special needs in mainstream schools. The ways in which categories operate in academic life and professional practice in schools raise dilemmas for the development of the concept and practice of equality of opportunity. Data are drawn from a recent ESRC study (R000237346) and used to illustrate some of the ways in which significant problems for the management of special needs services are revealed from the perspective of gender.     

Assessment for learning: Developing formative assessment in the classroom

This article reports on a research project designed to investigate and develop formative classroom assessment in primary schools. The project was a collaborative one, involving two university based researchers and a team of teacher researchers. It used an action research approach to try to bring about changes in classroom assessment practices. The article reports on changes in practice particularly involving the clarification and communication of assessment criteria to pupils.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Provision in further education colleges for 14‐ to 16‐year‐olds with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties

Previous research set out to identify and examine practice and provision for young people exhibiting behaviour problems who may have been placed in colleges of further education for a variety of reasons. In this paper, Natasha Macnab, John Visser and Harry Daniels explore some of the implications faced by college staff and examine some of the key themes that emerged from this previous study. The first of these themes concerns ‘college culture’, which is seen as being ‘adult orientated’ and therefore more likely to appeal to young people who are tired of school. Indeed, college staff suspect at times that schools are using the transition to college as an alternative to exclusion for some young people. This form of ‘managed transfer’ raises real issues in colleges, especially when some members of college staff do not yet appreciate the ‘appeal of teaching young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD)’, regarding them as ‘disaffected’ and ‘switched off’ from education. The authors of this article note the need for ‘skilled and committed adults’ to build relationships with these young people in order to promote their social inclusion. They argue that this work will require professional development for staff but will have real benefits for the young people concerned.     

The balance between teaching and research in Dutch and English universities in the context of university governance reforms

The expectations and demands with respect to teaching and research have been changing for universities due to changes in their institutional environments. Born out of changing national research policies and modern governance arrangements, efficiency, effectiveness and output-oriented cultures have become increasingly important. In this article we ask the question of what the consequences of these changing institutional environments are for the teaching-research nexus as experienced by academics at universities. We explore the changing practices of teaching and research in eight research units in research-led universities in England and The Netherlands. The sources of our empirical investigation are documentary evidence as well as interview data from 48 academics in biotechnology and medieval history. Our findings suggest that teaching and research are increasingly falling apart as two distinct activities. Success or failure in research acquisition and performance assessments has serious implications for the work portfolios in terms of teaching and research load of the research units.