William Horsley: music master at Miss Black’s boarding‐school for young ladies, 1828–1840

William Horsley (1775–1858) was active in London from the late 1790s. A founder member of the Philharmonic Society, Horsley was at the heart of the musical establishment, working as a composer, organist, commentator and teacher. His teaching career spanned over 50 years, during which time he took private pupils, trained choristers and organists and taught at many boarding‐schools for young ladies. In 1809 Miss Ann Black took up residence at 37 Kensington Square, where she opened a boarding‐school and engaged Horsley as music master in 1828. Her school prospectus and surviving correspondence offer an insight into the difficulty of sustaining a viable school business in a competitive market. Horsley’s papers shed light on the business dealings between masters and school proprietors, both depending on income from pupils to sustain them. Through his correspondence and published work we learn more of Horsley’s teaching method and of his working relationships with his pupils.     

School Teachers' Continuous Professional Development in an Online Learning Community: lessons from a case study of an eTwinning Learning Event

A social revolution is occurring in the way information is shared, knowledge is generated and innovation takes place over the Internet and there is renewed interest in the social concept of ‘community’ to support online learning. This article describes action research conducted in the context of an eTwinning Learning Event (LE) that provides useful insights into how an online learning community can support the continuous professional development (CPD) of school teachers. Using the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison et al., 2000), it offers empirical evidence of how cognitive, social and teaching aspects impact competence development. It suggests that online learning communities offer an appropriate environment for teachers' intellectual and emotional reflection, characterised by trust, mutual respect and shared values centred on improving pupils' learning. It also suggests that the educational experience within such a community is significantly influenced by the tutor's design and moderation of activities aimed at fostering critical thinking. The article concludes that online learning communities offer a valuable alternative to traditional teacher training by supporting teachers to learn in the context of their everyday practice, whilst collaborating and reflecting on their experience with peers across regions and countries. Concerning the wider use of social networking for learning, it suggests that educators still have a valuable role to play in ensuring that collaboration leads to an effective educational experience.     

Employers’ support for adult higher education students in liberal post-socialist contexts

In most European countries, the proportion of adult students among both full-time and part-time workers has increased significantly over recent decades. Undertaking paid work is also increasingly common among traditional students. The opportunities to work while studying depend largely on the role of employers in promoting learning. However, both theoretical frameworks and empirical studies typically focus on the behaviour of firms in providing training. The support of employers for formal adult education has remained a marginal topic. The aim of this article is to analyse the contributions of employers to the acquisition of higher education from the perspective of the adult learners; we investigated how employers support their staff in higher education studies. We also tried to identify which kinds of learners have a better chance of receiving various benefits. We used two different data-sets: quantitative data from a study of adult students in higher education and qualitative data from interviews with managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises and at least one employed participant in formal adult education, collected in the framework of the international research project Towards a Lifelong Learning Society in Europe: The Contribution of the Education System supported by the EU Sixth Framework Programme.     

Peter Jarvis and 30 years of the International Journal of Lifelong Education

We live in a time of constant change—in liquid modernity—and this has created a rapidly growing need for Transformative Learning (TL): we must be able to constantly change and develop ourselves in order to keep pace with the changes in our environment and life situation. However, the need for change has grown so fast and in so many directions that the term of TL has itself become uncertain or even confused. In 2000, Robert Kegan posed the question ‘What “Form” Transforms’? He advocated a new approach to TL but did not propose any new definition; this situation still remains: among several proposals for new approaches to TL, there is a general agreement that the traditional definition of the term as changes in the learner’s ‘meaning perspectives’, etc. is too narrow and too cognitively oriented. In this article, it is argued that TL should be re-defined as ‘changes in the learner’s identity’. The article explains why this definition is better and more up to date. Through discussion of range of issues, the article shows that the linking of the concepts of TL and identity open the way for new understandings and possibilities.     

Bridging the teacher/researcher divide: Master’s-level work in initial teacher education

There is much current debate about the purpose and usefulness of educational research and the perceived communication gap between teaching professionals and academic researchers. UK government intervention into initial teacher education has in recent decades contributed to this divide by favouring school-based training. The most common route into teaching in England remains, however, the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, provided by higher education institutions and therefore required to comply with the higher education qualifications framework. The majority of initial teacher education in England therefore lies at the cusp of these two worlds, pulled in apparently opposing directions. The ‘teacher-as-researcher’ movement is widely seen as a bridge spanning these tensions, though there is discussion about the quality of practitioner research as well as about the appropriateness of a rigorous academic approach for investigating practice. This article offers examples of the use of small-scale research projects as a valid means of ‘discovery learning’ in pre-service teacher education. It argues that induction into research techniques as a means of exploring practical challenges can lead to knowledge production and ownership.     

Master’s thesis projects: student perceptions of supervisor feedback

A growing body of research has investigated student perceptions of written feedback in higher education coursework, but few studies have considered feedback perceptions in one-on-one and face-to-face contexts such as master’s thesis projects. In this article, student perceptions of feedback are explored in the context of the supervision of master’s thesis projects, using review studies with respect to effective feedback in coursework situations. Online questionnaires were administered to collect data from three cohorts of master’s students who were either working on their thesis or had recently finished it (N?=?1016). The results of the study indicate that students perceive the focus of feedback in terms of a focus on task and self-regulation; they perceive the goal-relatedness of feedback in terms of feed up (goal-setting) and feed back-forward (how am I going and where to next?); and elaboration of feedback is perceived in terms of positive and negative feedback. Furthermore, students that perceive the feedback to be positive, and to provide information on how they are going and what next steps to take, are the most satisfied with their supervision and perceive they are learning most from their supervisor. The findings are discussed in relation to findings in coursework settings, and are explained using goal orientation theories.     

A comparative study of the child bereavement and loss responses and needs of schools in Hull,Yorkshire and Derry/Londonderry,Northern Ireland

This paper reports the findings from a study of schools' responses to child bereavement in Hull, Yorkshire and Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. In order to gain an insight and compare how schools in both geographical areas respond to and manage bereavement, the questionnaire ‘Loss in schools’ was selected as an appropriate tool. It has been utilised on previous occasions in Hull and shown to be an effective method of highlighting the issues, needs and concerns of schools. Some significant and important issues emerge in the results of the present survey. While schools rate child bereavement and parental separation highly in terms of their priorities, there is a shortfall in the number of schools in both study sites that have a formal procedure or policy in place around the management and response to death and loss. Although there is evidence that a number of staff have attended training in loss and bereavement, schools in Derry/Londonderry and Hull report that they have sought help from other agencies in times of need. For example, the Western Education and Library Board Bereavement Team and Cruse Bereavement Care (Derry/Londonderry) and the Educational Psychology Service (Hull) are identified. Schools are asking for help and support to develop policies and to gain the knowledge and skills they require to respond with confidence to a child who experiences a loss.     

Exploring the views of parents of high ability children living in relative poverty

Background: This study is located in the general context of recent research on family life in England, ‘gifted and talented’ education policy and the significance of parental engagement. There is strong evidence that parental involvement has a significant and positive effect on children’s development and achievement. Although a great deal of work has been done on identifying general patterns of good practice, there is a gap in the literature regarding the support needs of parents of gifted and talented children from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Purpose: The aim of this UK-based study was to explore what support such parents had received and what support they felt they needed to better promote their children’s development and achievement.

Sample: An opportunity sample of 21 parents with youngsters aged 14–16 identified as ‘gifted and talented’ by their schools, as part of UK government policy, took part in the study. The students attended a university-based intervention programme, which was designed to raise the students’ aspirations and achievement. The students were from schools within areas of relative social deprivation and, most qualified for free school meals.

Design and Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out to capture the authentic voice of the parents. Data was analysed using both pre-determined and emerging codes.

Results: Sixteen of 21 of the parents had good, supportive relationships with their children and 15 of 21 had high aspirations for them. However, 18 of 21 of the parents felt unable to engage with their child’s learning in the home. They also felt inadequate in their knowledge and experience to help their children with subject choices and advise on matters relating to Higher Education. Parents did not perceive their wider family or the wider community as supportive, nor did they expect them to be. Peer groups were seen as threats to their children’s well-being and advancement. Schools were highly rated for relationships but offered no specific support to these parents.

Conclusions: We conclude that although parental involvement is acknowledged in defining children’s life chances, parents in our sample, nonetheless, seemed to be being forced to ‘go it alone’. Within the limitations imposed by our small sample, we raise questions about the implications of the study.     

Children’s friendships in diverse primary schools: teachers and the processes of policy enactment

Abstract

Drawing on data from a project exploring children's and adults’ friendships across social class and ethnic difference, this paper focuses on the enactment of national and institutional policy around children’s friendships as realized in three primary schools in diverse urban areas in London. Through a focus on the way in which social and emotional learning (SEL) and teachers’ understandings of children’s friendships seek to govern children’s friendship behaviours, we turn to Foucault’s work to explore how power shapes relations between policy frameworks and teachers’ practices, and between those who teach and those who are taught. We discuss the disciplinary potential of SEL and teachers’ ‘common sense’ understandings of children’s friendships, but conclude by noting possibilities for teachers to create spaces in which all children can safely explore the nature of friendships.