British Educational Research Journal最新文献

Mindfulness has all but become a mainstay in modern education. Yet despite the incredible enthusiasm and increased application in schools, there remains significant divergence between advocates and critics. Advocates assert that mindfulness practice promotes individual and societal health and well-being. Meanwhile, critics question the intention and the social and political implications of promoting these ancient practices in schools, arguing that the Buddhist ethics underlying mindfulness remain incompatible with the neoliberal ideology and instrumentalism of contemporary schooling. As mindfulness has been commodified, instrumentalised and used as a therapeutic tool for acute coping, its broader potential for human growth and development may be undermined. Furthermore, scholars caution that the fledging nature of mindfulness research leaves critical questions unanswered, especially the potential for adverse effects. The work herein examines these critiques, presenting three critical considerations for mindfulness in education, and articulates practical recommendations for educational leaders, policy makers and stakeholders. We aim to empower educators and others to make judgements about the promotion and integration of mindfulness into educational settings, considering context-specific factors such as developmental needs and capacities, as well as recommendations to support effective and ethical practice of mindfulness in education.

This paper examines three questions: (1) (How) Is democracy promoted in secondary schools in England? (2) How is the promotion of democracy understood in education and teacher education policy? and (3) To what extent does existing education policy benefit the promotion of democracy in schools in England? To explore these questions, we first discuss the policy landscape surrounding democratic education in England. We then outline our data collection and analysis methods, which comprised (a) the coding of ten different policy documents, including curriculum specifications, teaching standards and inspection frameworks, and (b) the utilisation of an original survey of more than 3000 teachers working in approximately 50% of all secondary schools in England. Together, our data allow us to raise three important points. First, education and teacher education policy neglects to specify ‘how’ democracy should be promoted and by ‘whom’. Second, schools are offering scant provision of democratic education. Third, the majority of teachers feel fundamentally underprepared to teach democracy. We conclude this paper by arguing that, if policymakers do wish to promote democracy, there is a need for a cohesive policy and teacher education approach that guarantees democratic education for all.

The imperative to address the complex problem of degree awarding gaps within UK higher education institutions is multifaceted and messy. Various studies have continually highlighted this persistent undergraduate awarding gap (racial equity gap or/ethnicity gap) between White and racially minoritised students. This disparity in educational outcomes, where racially minoritised students compared to their White counterparts are less likely to graduate with good honours degrees, has gained considerable attention from policymakers and scholars. This underscores the need for comprehensive strategies that transcend conventional approaches and boundaries to achieve systemic change. Efforts to close the awarding gap have predominantly focused on decolonising the curriculum, which is vital. Still, it is also crucial to recognise personal tutoring (PT) as a pivotal and often underestimated role in addressing the awarding gap. The PT role, with its potential to provide a joined-up experience for students, promoting student engagement and enabling them to navigate the ever-changing academic landscape, can be a catalyst for racial equity and an antidote to the degree awarding gap. By reviewing the literature, empirical studies, policy frameworks and practical implementations, this paper sheds light on the diverse ways PT can serve as a potent tool for promoting equity and inclusion and enhancing equitable outcomes for all. Through a synthesis of existing literature and critical analysis, this scoping review highlights ways PT in higher education is conceptualised nationally and internationally and how it can drive transformational change in higher education when aligned with principles of equity.

There is an extensive international literature on different forms of ability grouping in schools, much of which describes their impact on students' academic achievement, motivation, self-concept and/or attitudes towards learning. Comparatively little research has focused on students' perspectives of these practices, while the research that has been conducted has primarily focused on mathematics, English and science. There is a conspicuous and arguably significant absence of research that explores students' perspectives on different forms of ability grouping in other areas of the school curriculum, including physical education (PE). In contrast to the relative privacy of classroom-based subjects, students' bodies, physical competencies and performances are very openly on display in PE, which potentially accentuates the importance of grouping strategies from students' perspectives. This study sought to extend current grouping and ability research by generating large-scale data relating to students' preferences for setting, mixed-ability grouping or a combination of these approaches in secondary school PE. Data were collected through an online survey administered to 4908 students in 48 mainstream state-funded secondary schools located in all nine regions of England. The responses showed that overall, most students preferred setting to mixed-ability grouping or a combination of these approaches. Variations in preferences are discussed in relation to demographic and situational factors, including gender, self-identified ability, school year group, previous experiences and the nature of the learning environment. Implications of the findings for policy, practice and future research are discussed, and the need for ability to be problematised and further explored in PE research and practice is highlighted.

Longitudinal research is crucial to fully assess the putative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with an intellectual disability in special school settings—ideally drawing on data pre-pandemic to be able to evaluate later impact. Data on challenging behaviour and adaptive skills were collected annually for 348 students in one special school across four time points pre-pandemic and one time point post-pandemic. Data were analysed using multilevel models with repeated observations over the five time points. There was a decrease in aggressive and destructive behaviours and a decrease in adaptive skills at the post-pandemic time point, after accounting for other important covariates. There was no evidence of a change in stereotyped or self-injurious challenging behaviours. Other research using longitudinal methods is rare, but the current findings are consistent with previous research reporting on the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people, particularly from parent reports. Future considerations for schools include adopting appropriate strategies to support learners to reintegrate back into education. Further research is needed to look at the longer-term impact of the pandemic on challenging behaviour in children with an intellectual disability.

Pekrun and his colleagues highlight the significance and diversity of emotion in education. Their analysis suggests that these emotions can be categorised by their stimuli into those related to the classroom: activities, outcomes, relationships, topics and knowledge processes (epistemic). Most research in this area has focused on achievement emotions, with relatively limited research exploring topic emotions. This paper develops a framework for conceptualising topic emotions. It reports on a design-based study that captured children's expressions of emotion in response to a climate change education programme using picturebooks. The data brought together emotional responses to climate change, to learning about climate change and to climate-related picturebooks. Qualitative analysis of these responses highlights how they differ not only with regard to the emotions expressed, but also the structure of the emotional experience. Emotional responses to the broad topic of climate change were expressed as ongoing analytical judgements, where those related to learning about climate change were immersive and finite. Reading climate-related picturebooks involved exploring how emotion is communicated and evoked. This supported quasi-emotional experiences, where the reader imagines the emotions of the characters. The picturebooks are also shown to create vicarious emotional experiences, involving ethical-based responses to the behaviour and circumstances depicted. Based on this analysis, the paper proposes a framework for disaggregating these differing emotional experiences related to topic.

In England the 2014 Children and Families Act introduced wide ranging changes to the assessment of and provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Guidance underpinning implementation was then published in the Code of Practice. Our study focuses on a key component of that legislation, known as the ‘local offer’, which requires local authorities to establish and maintain, clear, comprehensive, accessible and up to date information for children and young people with SEND, and their families, about available SEND provision. Local authorities are expected to involve children and young people and their families in co-designing and reviewing their local offer, alongside other key stakeholders, to ensure provision is responsive to local needs and aspirations. To support our assessment of local offers we first established six categories based on the criteria in the Code of Practice about expected availability of SEND-related information (e.g. financial support, health service information, accessibility information). We used these categories to evaluate the relevant local offer websites of all 151 English local authorities with legal responsibilities for SEND assessment and provision. We further assessed whether each local offer website included three common website accessibility functions. Our findings demonstrate variation in the availability of information at local authority level, therefore limiting the ability of some young people and families to make informed decisions about the support available to them. This provides further evidence to support growing concerns about ‘postcode lottery’ inequities for families and their children with SEND.

This study fills a major gap in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education by examining the integration of pedagogical tact (PT) in an EFL teacher education programme in Turkey. Through an in-depth examination of the programme and semi-structured interviews, this study investigated to what extent PT, including empathising with and motivating learners, effective classroom management, differentiated instruction and support for meaningful decision-making, is integrated. The qualitative content analysis of the programme demonstrated that many courses in the EFL teacher education programme are consistent with aspects of PT. However, there were a few areas where the programme could be further enhanced to better include all aspects of PT. This includes offering courses on effective communication and decision-making. The interviews conducted with 21 pre-service EFL teachers also revealed that most of them acknowledged that the programme is based on their potential teaching needs and challenges. However, they offered suggestions to improve the programme such as adding more technology courses and practice-based implementations. Throughout the study, recommendations are provided regarding how EFL teacher education programmes could be developed and implemented with more emphasis on PT. Hence, the study's findings have important implications for teacher education programme developers in Turkey and international contexts.

Global and national education agendas are concerned with improving the quality and equality of learning outcomes. School systems involuntarily continue to produce new and perpetuate existing inequities and injustices, particularly for minority students. While previous research has highlighted the potential causes and effects of educational inequity, little is known about the perspectives of teachers with minoritised backgrounds regarding the persistence of and responses to educational disparities. This research draws on the literature on deficit thinking and culturally responsive teaching to explore the views of ethnic minority teachers on students' academic achievement disparities in an ethnically diverse region of China. Interviews with 12 ethnic minority teachers show ethnic, biological and cultural deficit thinking when discussing students' schooling. Participants attributed their deficient-oriented thinking to their earlier teacher education experiences, where they acquired the discourse of zhiguo minzu concerning the different sociohistorical developments of minority groups in China. However, teacher participants stated that they also engaged in culturally responsive teaching to support the ethnic identities of their students. These findings draw attention to the multi-layered perspectives of ethnic minority teachers, which comprise both the reproducing and the challenging of inequities about minorities.

This article sets out and critically analyses the state of current knowledge on Widening Participation at higher education institutions in Scotland and sets forth avenues for further research. Through a semi-systematic review of the literature, six discrete but overlapping themes relating to Widening Participation are identified, namely, (1) factors affecting the decision to apply to university, (2) the transition from high school or further education into university, (3) contextualised admissions, (4) completion and level of attainment, (5) economic, social and cultural capital and (6) equality, diversity and inclusion. The study finds that while clear progress has been made by higher education institutionstowards achieving quantitative government targets for student recruitment from underrepresented groups, there is an absence of studies and knowledge about the qualitative lived experiences of students as they transition through university, how students negotiate a sense of fit with institutional systems, and what targeted supports they may require to succeed. Avenues for further research which addresses these gaps in the knowledge base are put forward, namely, (1) broaden the academic base and interdisciplinarity of Widening Participation research, (2) reform and extend measures of success beyond admissions and attainment, (3) evolve institutional level support for transition into higher education, (4) develop more nuanced understandings of contextualised admissions and (5) investigate and gain deeper understandings of how the lived experiences of Widening Participation students shape and inform their journey through, experience of and attainment at university.