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This special issue focuses on an important contemporary concern - inclusive technologies and learning. Since the 1960s there has been a continued development and diversification of digital technologies used across societal sectors (Bijker, Hughes, Pinch & Douglas, 2012), enabling applications not solely within business and commerce, but significantly within educational and social settings (such as those discussed by The Metiri Group, 2006, for example), supporting communication and learning (for example, shown by Richardson, 2012), providing opportunities to widen and deepen reach and interactions (as indicated, for example, by Kim, Hagashi, Carillo, Gonzales, Makany, Lee & Gàrate, 2011). It can be argued that such developments have created many divisions and challenges too (Resta & Laferrière, 2008); individuals as well as nations may not have the same access or facilities as others (ITU, 2015); and issues such as exploitation and exclusion are regularly highlighted (Dutta, Geiger & Lanvin, 2015). This special issue is concerned with inclusive technologies and learning, related to social inclusion.

As a government, regional or local authority, as an adviser or teacher, do you have an interest in educational effectiveness, efficiency, enhancement, or improvement? If so, where do you think the focus of that interest should be (on a school as a whole, on the curriculum or its assessment, on leaders, on teachers, on students directly, or on their parents)? So, how do teachers change and develop in terms of their professional practice over time? Is their professional practice discernibly different over a 10 or 20 year period? And if teachers have not changed in their professional classroom practice over time, then why is this the case?

International audience ; The United Kingdom (UK) government, in common with those in many other countries, recognises the significant numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) from the age of 16 years. Perceptions associated with this group of young people have often been negative, yet recent research suggests that reasons for the lack of involvement of this group of young people often arises from situations where there is extreme trauma, linking to desires of individuals to seek alternative forms of educational and economic involvement from the traditionally cognitively focused opportunities accessible normally in schools. Alternatives, sometimes involving uses of technology, are being offered in a range of school and support situations. The importance of management information systems in both identifying and positively tracking these young people is recognised, yet the development of systems to cope with policy and support needs is currently at an early stage. This paper offers an overview of the current, largely UK, context, and indicates how data management information systems are likely to support important policy, practice and research needs.

This report has been produced by the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University for the MLEARN project, to support the development of a training programme for in-service teachers focusing on mobile learning through appropriate pedagogic uses of mobile or handheld technologies. The MLEARN project, a European Union (EU)-funded project, will explore and promote teacher development of mobile learning practices in four member states – The Netherlands, the UK (England), Greece and Italy. To support this development, a training needs analysis has been conducted and completed by the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University. For this training needs analysis, two target groups were involved: 1) trainers and partners in each country; and 2) teachers to be involved in the training. Four countries were involved, where there were known to be substantial differences in terms of handheld devices' acceptance within teaching practices, and resources in place to implement mobile learning initiatives and other activities. The survey was devised, using findings from the previous background report (Passey & Zozimo, 2014).

This report has been produced by the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University for the MLEARN project, to support the development of a training programme for in-service teachers focusing on mobile learning through appropriate pedagogic uses of mobile or handheld technologies. The MLEARN project, a European Union (EU)-funded project, will explore and promote teacher development of mobile learning practices in four member states – The Netherlands, the UK (England), Greece and Italy.

Higher education plays a crucial role in the growth and nation development in social, economic, cultural, scientific and political respects. Education empowers people to transform from a human being to having human resources. In present context of globalization, quality higher education is needed to uplift creativity, talent, adaptability and research mindset. In order to fully utilize the outcomes of education, it is important to ensure that education is meeting the minimal prescribed standards to fulfill ever-changing requirements worldwide. Accreditation, a powerful tool of quality assurance, is used to assess the national system of higher education. Accreditation is considered as a quality stamp, which ensures that an accredited institution/programme has undergone a rigorous process of external peer evaluation based on predefined standards/principles and complies with the minimum requirements. This paper focuses on the outcomes of accreditation to enhance excellence in higher education institutions (HEIs) based on a literature review and empirical research. Previous studies in various national contexts are reviewed here, based on which, the question of whether accreditation can really enhance the excellence of HEIs is answered and factors behind it are explored.

[full article, abstract in English; abstract in Lithuanian]
Many countries are adopting computing (or informatics) in schools, for pupils from 5 years of age. Educational philosophies (and learning theories) that such curricula might be based on are not clear in curriculum documentation. Many Western countries' curricula are based on developmental concepts of cognitive constructivism, with activities progressing through sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages. Social constructivism and constructionism add new dimensions to this learning framework, both fundamentally important for developing computing practices. We review selected learning theories, and investigate features that should underpin computing curricula if practices and outcomes are to develop computing practitioner competencies of a software developer.

Intro -- Preface -- Organization -- Contents -- Computer Studies - Developing Practices and Involving Stakeholders -- Fathers and Male Guardians Are Important Stakeholders in Children's Education: Do Lego Building and ... -- Abstract -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Roles of Parents and Guardians (Particularly Males) in Children's Learning -- 3 The Lego Build and Scratch-like Programming Project -- 4 Methodological Approaches and Methods -- 5 Findings from a Multiple Case Study -- 6 Discussion -- 7 Conclusions, Implications and Recommendations -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Measuring an Impact of Block-Based Language in Introductory Programming -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Related Work -- 3 Method -- 3.1 Tool: Bidirectional Translation System -- 3.2 Research Question -- 3.3 Educational Environment Descriptions -- 3.4 Metrics -- 4 Results -- 4.1 Results of Statistics -- 4.2 Grid Representations -- 5 Discussion -- References -- Curriculum Issues, Competence Models and Informatics Education in Austrian Secondary Schools: Challe ... -- Abstract -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Curriculum Issues in a Broader Context -- 3 Competence Models and Educational Standards -- 4 Curricula for Upper (General) Secondary Education -- 4.1 Curriculum for the Obligatory Subject Informatics in the 9th Grade -- 4.2 Informatics from Grade 10 to 12 as an Elective Subject -- 5 Discussion -- References -- Modelling Competency in the Field of OOP: From Investigating Computer Science Curricula to Developin ... -- Abstract -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Background and Related Work -- 2.1 On the Concept of Competency -- 2.2 The COMMOOP Project -- 2.3 Learning Metrics, Psychometric Models and Item Development -- 3 Analysis of K12 Computer Science Curricula and Standards -- 4 Developing Test Items -- 5 Summary and Outlook -- References -- Introducing Collaborative Practices to Undergraduate Studies.