Teachers, students and professionals have confirmed the need to introduce skills into business administration and accounting education in Spain. However, this change has not taken place at any desirable level. This paper uses the New Institutional Sociology (NIS) to analyse the pressures to introduce the policy that consists of the incorporation…

This article looks at one of the dominant themes of English education over the past twenty years. It examines the various ways in which privatisation has affected schools and schooling since the early 1980s. It may no longer be possible to indulge in a blanket defence of the public sector; but we do at least have to recognise that privatisation in…

This article comments on international consequences of performativity cultures and curriculum standardization, focusing particularly on the situation in England. It highlights the divide between youth culture and school learning, and the particular damage for poorer students. It argues the impact of the English performativity regime on teacher…

Schools and teachers in England have found themselves coerced into a situation where high-stakes testing, scrutiny of "performance" and the generation of data for competitive league tables have dominated the educational experience of young people. There is a growing recognition from all quarters that this model is failing and that…

The National Challenge, whereby all secondary schools had to attain 5 A*--Cs by 2011, was launched in June 2008. In this article, Richard Riddell outlines the main provisions of the National Challenge, which he characterizes as shallow, mechanistic and playing an old "performativity" tune. Although the new benchmark will be achieved by…

With the sharp rise in students who are English language learners (ELL), research on identifying and serving the needs of gifted and talented (GT) ELL students offers fertile ground for best practice guidelines. The current study describes GT/ELL identification practices based on an in-depth case study of one diverse school district in the…

This article discusses Michael Apple's contribution to the sociology of education and education policy analysis and the politics of education. It focuses on ways of "reading" Apple as an intellectual and an activist and looks at the trajectory of his work over a long and illustrious career.

This issue of "The Link" newsletter contains the following articles: (1) Potential for Change: Public Attitudes and Policy Preferences for Juvenile Justice Systems Reform; (2) Rehabilitation versus Incarceration of Juvenile Offenders: Public Preferences in Four Models for Change States; and (3) Juvenile Justice Bulletin Brief (John Tuell).…

Background: Peer sexual harassment is a significant social problem with consequences for both students and schools. Four out of 5 students report experiencing sexual harassment. These experiences have been linked to poor psychological health and academic withdrawal. Recognizing the seriousness of sexual harassment in schools, Supreme Court rulings…

Analysis of casual work in British Columbia is an important issue given that the increase in casual work has been greater in this province than in other provinces in Canada and given that the labour market has been substantially deregulated since 2001. In this paper, we analyse how individuals' casual employment status affects their economic…

This article explores the transnational regulation of temporary work. Analyzing the terms of the EU "Directive on Fixed-Term Work (1999), the ILO "Convention on Private Employment Agencies" (1997), the ILO "Recommendation on the Employment Relationship" (2006), and a draft EU Directive on "Temporary Agency Work"…

When Congress passed the GI Bill, it linked the accreditation process with the distribution of federal funds. As Congress saw it, accreditation would ensure accountability without subjecting institutions to harmful external controls. While accreditation began as a voluntary system, it has now become virtually mandatory. Policymakers and trustees…

"The first law of unintended consequences is that you can never know what they will be or how far they will reach." Professor Ellis examines the injuries American higher education has sustained through the unintended consequences of diversity. (Contains 4 footnotes.)

This research note discusses a current project that aims to develop an understanding of influences on the continuing professional development practices of academics (academic development) working in higher education in England. In this piece, the author outlines the research, its theoretical basis and key concerns before concluding by inviting…

Under the emerging rural development paradigm, we argue that to be multifunctional an activity must add income to agriculture, it must contribute to the construction of a new agricultural sector that corresponds to the needs of the wider society and it must reconfigure rural resources in ways that lead to wider rural development benefits. By…