This paper discusses the neglected theme of job design in education. It argues that the traditional top-down method of designing work roles ignores the interests, abilities and needs of employees and leads to individuals adopting an unsanctioned approach to job design, "job crafting". It is posited that a third approach is needed, that…

This paper investigates the experiences of secondary teachers within their workplace as they take on the role of leading subject knowledge development days for small groups of student-teachers through a case-study approach. Semi-structured interviews, the reflective journals of these teachers and the evaluations of the days by the student-teachers…

Objective: To explore the perceptions of General Medical Practitioners and pharmacist supplementary prescribers of the training provided for qualification as a pharmacist supplementary prescriber, and the experience of pharmacist supplementary prescribers of subsequent continuing professional development in practice. Design: A qualitative study of…

With teachers under pressure to meet curriculum targets, responsibility for including students with behavioural emotional and social difficulties (BESD) in mainstream schools falls heavily on non-teaching staff. In this article, semi-structured interviews were conducted with special educational needs coordinators (SENCos) and support staff in a…

In this review I explore the connections between debates about the transformation of work in a service-dominated economy and those about classed and gendered identities. I suggest they might usefully be connected in analyses of disadvantage and exclusion among working-class young people. Youth involvement in protest and unrest in English cities,…

This article explores the practice narratives of a group of 25 caregivers who work with babies in daycare settings in England and seeks to illustrate awareness of, resistance to and compliance with powerful discourses. It is argued that multiple voices exert an influence over baby room practice, disempowering the caregivers and reducing their…

The project Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE) has studied the longitudinal effects of an early foreign language (FL) start in seven European contexts. This article presents a sub-study of ELLiE that investigates the impact of out-of-school factors on learners' listening and reading skills in year four of formal FL instruction. More…

The aim of the article is to identify those factors that drive the high participation in immediate post-16 and higher education of some minority ethnic groups in the UK. What could we learn from these examples to encourage higher aspirations more generally? The article reports a summary of a formal and systematic review of 1678 studies dated 1997…

Recent investigations into the UK National Health Service revealed doctors' failures to act with compassion and professionalism towards patients. The British media asked questions about what happens to students during their learning that influences such behaviour as doctors. We listened to 200 medical students' narratives of professionalism…

While there are significant differences between England and Scotland in the politics, the policy environment and the management of schools, leadership development both north and south of the border is charged with addressing what has been termed a recruitment and retention "crisis". An emerging phenomenon in both jurisdictions is that of…

This article draws on an analysis of relevant research and an illustrative case study of one teacher educator's learning to debate how well-framed practitioner research might give some ways forward in devising appropriate professional learning provision for teacher educators entering Higher Education from work in schools. One of the starting…

Using the five-stage model of skill acquisition originally proposed by Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986), this study investigates the professional development of Rehabilitation Workers (RWs) in the UK through analysis of their practice in training people with a vision impairment in the area of orientation and mobility. From interviews with RWs a clearer…

The present study examines the predictive power of socialization variables for thinking styles among adults in the workplace. One hundred and seventeen managerial personnel (aged between 18 and 55 years) in England responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised based on Sternberg's theory of mental self-government and to questions concerning…

Learning at the workplace is an important development in teacher education in secondary education. In this study we look at the school-linked models for teacher education that exist in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The characteristics of these models and their possible consequences for the quality of teachers are…

In an age of greater government control and direction of schools, and yet simultaneously a greater devolution of responsibility, there is an international literature suggesting that many in leadership positions feel so pressured that they are seeking early retirement, or simply not coming forward in the first place (e.g. Gronn, 2003; Fullan,…