In May 2012, the Higher Education Academy (HEA) asked HOST Policy Research (HOST) to conduct an intensive review of the impact of teaching development programmes in higher education (HE). This is a timely assessment, which coincides with the adoption of a revised framework for professional standards by the HEA and growing policy interest in…

In this paper we report on a whole school literacy research project, Embedding Literacies in the KLA's (ELK). The starting point for this endeavour is the theory of knowledge development conceptualised within the sociology of education as the semantic wave (Maton, forthcoming). As discipline knowledge typically resides in the "high…

Voucher systems are based on the theoretical assumption that giving parents a choice of schools subjects institutions to the mechanism of market forces, which, in turn, pushes them to reform their services. While the ability of parents to make sound educational choices on behalf of their children is questioned by opponents of school choice,…

During a review of undergraduate programs at the University of California at Los Angeles, Judith L. Smith, vice provost for undergraduate education, was struck by an uncomfortable realization: Too many majors demanded too little from students. Some students could graduate without ever taking a senior seminar or completing a substantial research…

In today's ethnically and linguistically diverse classrooms, teachers need a notion of "relevant" that allows students from vastly different backgrounds to make personal purposeful connections with their academic work. To make instruction relevant, the author suggests that it has to be meaningful and engaging to a broad range of students.…

Many adults return to formal learning situations to pursue lifelong learning goals because their lives are in transition from dealing with real-life problems such as divorce and re-marriage. The purpose of this study was to describe what couples learned that contributed to the success of their subsequent marriages and how they learned it. The…

Given the flexibility to revise their academic goals under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a vast majority of the states that received federal waivers are setting different expectations for different subgroups of students, an "Education Week" analysis shows. That marks a dramatic shift in policy and philosophy from the original law.…

What is at stake for K12 education in next month's presidential election? Both President Barack Obama (Democratic Party) and Gov. Mitt Romney (Republican Party) say improving education will be a top priority in their administrations, but their policies and initiatives would likely be quite different. While political platforms rarely offer detailed…

Effective leadership is on everyone's mind this presidential election year as the country's citizens look for a strong candidate to guide them through the next four years. Effective leadership is just as critical in the nation's school districts where people prepare their young people to be the global citizens of tomorrow. In most school…

In line with international trends, assessment policies and practices have increased in importance in New Zealand over the last two decades. The focus in this article is on examining the contested nature of the development of an assessment culture in New Zealand--one that meets the needs of the government by providing information on school…

Teachers know that establishing a robust independent reading program takes more than giving kids a little quiet time after lunch. But how do they set up a program that will maximize their students' gains? Teachers have to know their students' reading levels inside and out, help them find just-right books, and continue to guide them during…

This paper describes the research process undertaken in a pilot study conducted at the University of South Australia's Centre for Regional Engagement (CRE), and reports the feedback collected in relation to this process and the project overall. Academic staff and students from CRE's two sites located in the rural and regional cities of Whyalla and…

During 2011, a team from the Centre for Science Education (CSE) worked with four local schools and five Sheffield city region engineering organisations on a project to identify ways to increase the input into young people's awareness of engineering that comes from activities they do in school science. The project also tested an hypothesis that…

On many college campuses, the 21st century classroom is the exception rather than the norm. Here's what usually happens: A forward-thinking administrator pushes for a pilot program to redesign a handful of classrooms. The resulting learning spaces are cutting edge and successful--in high demand among faculty and students alike. And that's as far…

Many college students struggle with the literacy skills needed to be successful in higher education (Bettinger & Long, 2009; Snyder, Tan, & Hoffman, 2004). The difficulties emerge within students' capabilities in reading and writing. Students must be taught the skills needed to be successful to complete the tasks assigned in college classes and in…