‘I know it’s not proper research,but…’: how professionals’ understandings of research can frustrate its potential for CPD

This article draws upon the work of two researchers who facilitated practitioner research with school professionals in Liverpool. The researchers themselves had not been involved in practitioner research before. In this account, the researchers reflect critically upon their own experience. The discussion presents the learning curve that the researchers underwent as well as what they discovered about the relationship between practitioners and researchers when engaged in school‐based research. Crucially the issue of practitioners’ understandings of what constituted ‘good’ research emerged as a significant issue. In particular, positivist notions of research that drew from popular scientific understandings, as well as the culture of numerical targeting in the schools system, seemed to shape these practitioners’ sense of what was expected of them as practitioner‐researchers. The article finishes by reflecting upon the possible lessons that this work presents for education managers considering practitioner research approaches for continuing professional development (CPD).     

The inclusion of students with BESD in mainstream schools: teachers' experiences of and recommendations for creating a successful inclusive environment

Since the election of the Labour government in 1997, England has seen policy changes leading to increased rights for students with special educational needs (SEN), including those with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD), to be educated in mainstream schools. The present paper reports on the findings of a small-scale study conducted with a sample of mainstream secondary school teachers across the UK. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate their experiences and approaches to including students with BESD in mainstream education. Teachers spoke of the challenges to effective inclusion centring on lack of resources and level of expertise. Despite identifying a variety of strategies for working with students with BESD, the issues raised by teachers bear striking resemblance to those acknowledged in policy over 20 years ago suggesting that regardless of Labour's changes, longstanding obstacles to inclusion have yet to be addressed.     

General Communication

Virgina P. White's Grants for the Arts (New York: Plenum Press, 1980---$19.50)

Phillip W. Burton and William Ryan's Advertising Fundamentals (Columbus, Ohio: Grid Inc., 1980---$20.95)

Donald Jugenheimer and Peter Turk's Advertising Media (Columbus, Ohio: Grid Publishing, 1980---$24.95)

Paul A. Kolers, et al, eds. Processing of Visible Language: Volume I (New York: Plenum, 1980---$39.95)

Jerry McWilliams' The Preservation and Restoration of Sound Recordings (American Association for State and Local History, 1400 8th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn. 37203---$7.95, paper)

Robert G. Meadow's Politics as Communication (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing, 1980---$24.95)

Laurell E. Schuerman, et al. Native American Media Needs: An Assessment (Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium, P.O. Box 83111, Lincol-i, Neb. 68501---no price given, paper)     

Foreign Systems

Burton Paulu, Television and Radio in the United Kingdom (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981---$39.50)

Annual Review of BBC Audience Research Findings, both Numbers 5 (1977/78) and 6 (1978/79) (BBC Broadcasting Research, The Langham, Portalnd Place, London WIA IAA---L1.50 and £5.00 respectively, paper)

Elias Hedinsson, TV, Family and Society: The Social Origins and Effects of Adolescents' TV Use (Almqvist & Wiksell International, Gamla Brogatan 26, P.O. Box 62-5-101, 20 Stockholm, Sweden---125 Swedish kroner)

Nordicom Review of Nordic Mass Communication. Research (Nordic Documentation Center for Mass Communication Research, Department of Political Science, Yniversity of Goteborg, Storgaten 13, S-411 24 Goteborg, Sweden---no price or frequency of issue given)

Copyright Reporter (GPO Box 3793, Sydney 2001---A$90 in Australia/A$120 by air mail outside of Australia for 12 monthly issues)

Media Information Australia (P.O. Box 305, North Ryde, NSW 2113---A$18 per year to overseas readers)

Fixing the News: Critical Perspectives on the Australian Media by Keith and Elizabeth Windschuttle, eds. (Sydney: Cassell Australia, 1981---A$9.95, 321 pp.)

Australia into the 80s by Phillip Bell and Kathe Boeringer, eds.; and Media in Crisis by Kathe Boeringer, et al, eds. (Communication, Technology and Control Foundation, P.O. Box 217, Broadway 2007---A$8.00 and A$5.00 , paper)

The Last New Movie: The Australian Film Revival (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1981-- 4377773, 337 pp.)

Les Langues Modernes, Vol. LXXIV, Nos. 5-6 for 1980 (Association des professeurs de langues vivantes de l'enseignement public, 19 rue de la Glacire, 75013 Paris---price not given, paper)     

What is the nature of the achievement gap,why does it persist and are government goals sufficient to create social justice in the education system?

The ‘achievement gap’ – the term typically used to refer to differences in pupil attainment associated with social class, ethnicity and gender – remains an enduring obstacle to government goals of creating a socially just society. This article explores the nature of the achievement gap and some of the mechanisms that serve to perpetuate disadvantage in education systems providing a context in which to consider the appropriateness of government policies aimed at addressing the gap. Accessing predominantly English research but also consulting studies conducted in other education systems including the US and elsewhere in the UK, we argue that in contrast to its noble rhetoric, government approaches to addressing the achievement gap are preoccupied with standardised assessment and accountability (such as the latest attempt at raising pupil standards in England, the introduction of Academies) while paying little more than lip service to the persistent, underlying roots of inequality.