Suchergebnisse

Education Policy Unravelled examines the nature of contemporary education policy, its purposes and political formation. It charts the continuity of policy development along neo-liberal lines, taking an historical perspective and moving from New Labour to the emerging position of the Coalition government. Contrary to popular belief about recent radical change in education policy, the author team draws attention to the fact that there have been strong similarities and nuanced disagreements between successive modern governments. Written in an accessible style, the book contains a number of activities and pedagogical features designed to appeal to students, to inform thinking and understanding around key policy issues. This is an invaluable guide for engaging with education policy as it uses a variety of key elements of policy theory in order to support students through some of the complexities involved in contemporary policy analysis and critique.

The article is based on data from the Knowledge Production and Educational Leadership Project (funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council RES-000-23-1192) where we investigated the relationship between the state and public policy and knowledge in England during the New Labor governments from 1997. The relationship between the state and civil society is one of institutionalized governance where the public institution in the form of the national ministry and the establishment of Non-Departmental Public Bodies remain important in policymaking but is increasingly inter dependent with networks of advisors and private consultants who "enter" government as policy designers and deliverers. We intend to develop this through using the National College for School Leadership as a case study based on primary documentation and interview data.

This small-scale study explored effective practice and provision in early years settings to support children's learning. The research was funded by an Opportunity Area programme, a government policy for dealing with social mobility through education. The research investigated the experiences and perceptions of early years practitioners in relation to the Understanding the World area of learning which incorporates three of the seventeen Early Learning Goals contained within the Early Years Foundation Stage. These Early Learning Goals are; 'People and Communities', 'The World' and 'Technology'. The study was conducted within the city of Stoke-on-Trent in England where official published data reveals only 71% of pupils achieve or exceed the expected standard against the Understanding the World area of learning where the national average is 83%. The research adopted a mixed methods approach comprising an online survey and semi-structured interviews with practitioners working with children in private and maintained day nurseries and primary school reception classes where good and outstanding results are achieved for the city's disadvantaged children. The findings of the study include the identification of best practice examples along with features of effective provision. Barriers to children's progression and attainment of these specific Early Learning Goals were also ascertained. The implications for practice and further research are presented.