Dangerous learning in edgy contexts: creativity and innovation in the South African arts domain

In this paper, we outline a pilot project aimed at exploring the role of contextual factors in the facilitation of creativity and innovation within a range of South African art forms. Interviews with 11 people who have rich experience of the South African art domain delivered an insightful perspective on the contextual factors driving lifelong creativity and its continuous realization in innovative outcomes within these art forms.     

The learner experience of Curriculum 2000: implications for the reform of 14–19 education in England

In September 2000, new qualifications for 16–19 year olds, known as Curriculum 2000, were introduced in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland with the aim of broadening the advanced level curriculum. It was left to schools, colleges, and their learners, however, to decide how these new qualifications would be used to build learner programmes of study. In this voluntarist context, the views and actions of learners have been an important factor in determining the course of the reforms. This article, which is based primarily on a study of 42 learners in a school/college consortium in the south west of England, provides a chronological account of learner experiences of these reforms during their first 2 years of implementation. The consortium discussed here offered a high‐volume study programme similar in size and content to those being proposed by the Tomlinson Working Group on 14–19 curriculum and qualifications reform in England. Learners found their expanded programmes onerous, due in part to the nature of the new qualifications and in part to the context of their implementation. The article concludes by identifying a number of policy lessons for 14–19 reform arising from this research.     

New Labour's cultural turn: some tensions in contemporary educational and cultural policy

The election of a Labour government in Britain, after 18 years of Conservative rule, has seen the emergence of a new educational discourse, based on a distinctive combination of cultural, economic and social themes. In this article, we identify the components of the discourse, and explore how it is currently deployed in arguments for educational change. Specifically, our focus is on two recent documents: All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education (NACCCE 1999), produced by an Advisory Committee appointed by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); and Making Movies Matter (FEWG 1999) by the Film Education Working Group, set up by the British Film Institute at the request of the DCMS. Embodying in separate ways the features of the emergent discourse, these texts also position themselves very differently in relation to current educational policy. Through a critique of the reports, we identify some of the broader difficulties of the ‘cultural turn’ in education, and the possibility of a more productive alternative.     

Middle years and middle schools: an analysis of national policy

The terms ‘primary education’ and ‘primary schools’ were in use long before 1945. However, it was not until 1 April 1945 that primary education became the first of three statutory stages of the English education system. At that time, primary education faced an uncertain future because of the enormous problems it had inherited from the elementary school tradition. This article charts the early challenges that were faced during the years of World War II and immediate post-war period.     

From course assessment to redesign: a hybrid-vehicle course as a case illustration

Assessment has become a central aspect of engineering education for evaluating student learning, attaining accreditation, and ensuring accountability. However, the final step of the assessment process, which requires assessment results be used to redesign courses and programmes, is appreciably underdeveloped in the literature. As such, this work suggests a process, based on the engineering problem-solving method, to analyse and act on problems and successes identified in the assessment results. The process is illustrated through an application to Colorado State University's new programme for Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Engineering, for which the redesign process was originally created. Readers will benefit by simplifying and systematising the essential aspect of the assessment process – application to course redesign – for use in both research and practice applications.     

PUSH(ing) Limits: Using Fiction in the Classroom for Human Behavior and the Social Environment

The use of fiction and autobiography in social science course work has been shown to enhance students' learning experience. Using the novel PUSH, by Sapphire, we designed a curriculum supplement for the social work course, human behavior and the social environment (HBSE) that encourages students to integrate course content in an innovative way and enables them to apply the material to life-like situations. The HBSE supplement allows students to explore poignant and problematic issues that push them past intrapersonal and interpersonal limits. Classes are infused with energy and the critical consciousness of the students. Final projects are a systematic case study of a chosen character (or characters) in the book and are a testament to student critical thinking and creativity. Methods, assignments, and student experiences in an introductory BSW course are described.     

Implementing the Ecosystemic Approach to Changing Chronic Problem Behaviour in Schools

The present paper discusses a study of the ecosystemic approach to changing chronic problem behaviour in schools undertaken with a group of 33 primary and two secondary teachers. The impact of the ecosystemic techniques and the main theoretical issues are discussed. Three case examples are presented and conclusions are drawn on the potential of this new approach.