Is the National Numeracy Strategy Research-based?

The British Government has recently agreed proposals for a National Numeracy Strategy which claims to be based on evidence concerning 'hat works'. This article reviews the literature in each key area in which recommendations are made, and makes a judgement of whether the claim is justified. In some areas (e.g. calculators) the recommendations run counter to the evidence.     

Learning to live together on a small planet

International understanding, once a humanitarian virtue, is now a dramatic, urgent necessity: the interdependence of the different regions and countries of the world and the strain on limited resources are such that without understanding leading to co-operation there will be disaster. The following article by Lester Brown, head of the Worldwatch Institute, should serve to remind our readers that unless we all become educated to the grave problems facing humanity, the technical skills and general knowledge imparted by our shool and university systems may well become superfluous. [Ed.] D. C.-based non-profit research organization created to analyse and to focus attention on global problems. Author of In the Human Interestand The Twenty Ninth Day: Accommodating Human Needs and Numbers to the Earth's Resources.     

Using the DYSA Programme to Reduce Stress and Anxiety in First-year University Students

With recent increases in the number of students attending universities without a proportional increase in resources, it is likely that there has been a decrease in the quality of life students experience and an increase in the stress they feel. This is of course added to by tuition fees and the need to take out student loans. The writers review research into student stress and highlight the fact that many researchers have noted the need for stress-reduction courses, though this has been a recommendation that has not generally been taken up. A specific stress-reduction programme for school pupils and university students is described. This programme was tested with first-year undergraduates. The students involved all felt that the programme had been valuable. Apart from its clear relevance to the support of university students, this paper raises issues which are of importance to those working with sixth-form students.     

Engaging employers in assessment

The authors describe a pilot project in which formative feedback from industry professionals creates a genuine learning experience for students.     

Managing Difference: secondary English in the National Curriculum

The article analyses the 2007 orders for secondary English by charting their development and comparing them with those for other subjects. Their account of literature is incoherent in relation to national identity. Their implicit model of individual identity is likewise flawed, partly because of an unexamined drift towards rhetoric. These problems are partly attributable to a lack of interest in dialogue within the orders themselves and in their creation. They do, however, make Foucauldian sense as part of a system for generating the knowledges by which state education is run – knowledges which teachers and pupils alike are expected to internalise.