Informal Learning in the Workplace: A case study of new teachers

This paper focuses on the learning of new teachers in England where all such teachers have to complete a statutory induction year, with a particular emphasis on the part that may be played by non-formal or informal learning. Drawing on the work of Eraut, and Guile and Griffiths, it uses interview and survey data from work with new teachers to identify three aspects of work-place learning which, it is suggested, may not be best accommodated within current induction arrangements. Concluding that much of new teachers' professional learning is informal rather than formal, reactive rather than deliberative and collaborative rather than individual implications for the ongoing improvement of induction practice are considered.     

Taking Students Seriously: Their rights to be safe at school

In a broader study of students' rights at school, high school students in New Zealand were asked about whether gay/lesbian/bisexual students would feel safe at their school. Data are reported from a nationwide survey of 107 high schools involving 821 students (aged 15-16 years) and 438 staff who responded to a questionnaire. The article focuses on how students and staff describe attitudes to lesbian/gay/bisexual students, and identifies the most prevalent discourses, including a counter-discourse of acceptance. Although attention to a discourse of acceptance risks the effect of undermining the implications of extreme violence against lesbian/gay/bisexual students, it also challenges the pervasive construction of lesbian/gay/bisexual students as victims. The authors argue that attention to discourses of acceptance might open up further discursive and material strategies for working towards the safety of all school students, including lesbian/gay/bisexual students.