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Embedding Interdisciplinarity into the first year Undergraduate Curriculum: Drivers and Barriers to a Cross-Institutional Enhancement Project
Get PDFEngaging with interdisciplinary learning during higher education (HE) study, can provide students with skills and modes of thinking informed by multiple worldviews. Opportunities for interdisciplinary learning in the English HE system are limited; associated primarily with postgraduate study or later undergraduate stages. This paper reports on an enhancement project that sought to engage first year students with interdisciplinary learning. Drawing on data gathered from staff interviews, student focus groups and module enrolments, we examine drivers and barriers impacting on the planned curriculum transformation. Whilst drivers emerged from many directions (e.g. professional bodies, staff advocates), these were overwhelmed by the barriers – both administrative and ideological. Student responses were mixed. Some would have liked a wider choice of truly interdisciplinary modules, but it was clear many students did not understand the rationale for the modules, and felt that they needed more support to participate
Learning with and from each other: A cross-university approach to student-led knowledge exchange
Get PDFUK Food Surplus Sector: distribution & processing business model guide
Get PDFThis guide will help you consider and create a business model which will work in your particular context. We will take you through a simple process to help you consider each element of your operations which will lead to you creating a viable business model. This process should also help you demonstrate how you are adding value to your community and protecting the planet. Overall, it is meant to be an easy-to-use, practical and inspirational guide
An enquiry into children’s political consciousness through Roleplay Learning
Get PDFIn today’s complex world, it is increasingly important for children to develop an understanding of the multifaceted and intersecting socio-economic and political forces that shape their lives. This includes systems of government and economy, and also the impact of military conflict, systemic injustice and climate change. This paper explores aspects of a participatory research project undertaken in a semi-rural school in south-west England. Utilising Roleplay Learning (RL), a game-based methodology employing roleplay and dramatisation, the researchers were able to elicit and discern children’s social, cultural and political perspectives. The results of the study suggest that children’s speech, interactions and reflections demonstrate nascent political consciousness, and that RL holds potential as an approach for researchers seeking to describe and evaluate complex aspects of children’s thinking
Teaching as a high-status profession: Improving teacher supply Recommendations for the education white paper 2022
Get PDFThe All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Teaching Profession’s Special Interest Group (SIG) for Teacher Supply was established in January 2022. The Teacher Supply SIG aimed to provide a regular opportunity for experienced professionals in all sectors of Education in the United Kingdom (UK) to share insights and information about issues relating to teacher supply.
We are committed to supporting the government in matters relating to the teacher profession. This report meets a function of the APPG SIG: Teacher Supply to - ‘2.3 Advise APPG on fitness for purpose of policies and practices of the government relating to teacher supply and their function in supporting qualified teacher numbers as needed.’ (APPG SIG: Teacher Supply Terms of Reference, 2022).
The Teacher Supply SIG have considered the question:
‘What action will support a high-status and sustainable teaching profession in English primary and secondary schools?’’
We recognise that schools operate within a complex environment that is subject to social and system level variables, such as the alignment of education to party political policies and local authority/school/multi-academy trust culture. We also recognise that schools and colleges experience teacher supply1 in different ways. Therefore, this report will focus on schools only
Trial Evaluation Protocol Research Learning Communities (The RLC programme)
Get PDFThe Research Learning Communities programme aims to improve Literacy and Mathematics outcomes of Children in Need (CIN) and Looked After Children (LAC), by supporting Subject Leads, Designated Teachers and year 5 and 6 teachers in primary schools to further develop and implement research-informed teaching strategies.
The RLC programme will be developed and delivered by the School of Education in Durham University, between October 2021 and May 2022. Although the programme was previously delivered to schools and was evaluated, it is the first time that it will be focusing on supporting teachers to develop evidence-based teaching strategies specifically for CIN/LAC.
To do so, trained facilitators will develop and deliver a series of six workshops, preceded by an introductory session, and closed by a final ‘moving forward’ session, with Subject Leads and Designated Teachers across 240 primary schools in 6 local authorities (LAs).
To evaluate the RLC programme, this study will conduct an impact evaluation, an implementation and process evaluation, and a cost analysis using a mixed methods approach. In summary:
• The impact evaluation will involve a randomised control trial (RCT) of year 6 pupils’ CIN/LAC KS2 scores in Literacy and Mathematics, supplied by the National Pupil Database (NPD); and an assessment of teachers’ knowledge of academic/action research, attitudes towards the use of research, use of academic/action research in practice, and implementation of improved teaching practices for CIN/LAC, assessed through a pre- and post- teacher questionnaire.
• The implementation and process evaluation (IPE) will also draw on the pre- and post- teacher questionnaires, and, in addition, include a series of case studies, (consisting of interviews with school leaders and teachers in intervention and control schools) and observations of RLC workshops.
• The cost analysis will collect data on delivery team costs for the implementation of the programme, teacher cover costs to attend RLC workshops and sessions, programme costs (such as costs incurred by virtual schools to recruit schools into the programme), as well as costs for facilities, equipment, and materials, among others. This data will be gathered by the delivery team and through teachers in the teacher questionnaire.
Note: Since recruitment for the programme is still ongoing at the time of writing, this trial protocol has been developed based on an estimated number of schools and local authorities provided by the WWCSC. We have also estimated the number of teachers and CIN/LAC per school based on publicly available data. An updated protocol will be published after school recruitment has been finalised
Spotlight on: Humanities in speech and language therapy
Get PDFIn this ‘Spotlight on: Humanities in speech and language therapy’, we argue the case for the arts and humanities to find its way into speech and language therapy (SLT) course curricula, clinical practicum, and other areas related to SLT professional practice. We have a long-held belief that the arts and humanities have much to offer the discipline of speech and language therapy. This review begins with a consideration of what is meant by health humanities, within the more traditionally termed ‘medical humanities’. Considerations for curricular inclusion are also presented. An example from a literary autobiographical work is used to illustrate the possibility and potential of integrating a humanities’ approach to a speech and language therapy curriculum in order to better understand and appreciate communication and communication breakdown. Finally, although the case is made in this review for the discipline of speech and language therapy to embrace the humanities, by implication, there is no reason why other healthcare programmes cannot consider the possibility, where better understanding of the human condition of health and illness is core to teaching and learning
31: Sport, Animals, and Humans
No full textSociologists have documented an array of cultural contexts and practices in which humans and animals collide by design, or accident, through the practice of human sport and leisure. From early studies of animal violence/rights and companionship in sports to more recent debates regarding the deep punctuation of animals within more-than-human sports and leisure networks, sociologists of sport have produced key works contributing to the larger sociology of animals library. Nevertheless, the pervasive confusion about the explicit or implicit goals of a sociology of or for animals in sport raises important questions about the actual purpose or meaning of sociological research for the animals themselves. This chapter provides a topographical view of major issues and sociological problems covered, theoretical and methodological preferences, and unresolved debates in the field. In the end, a case is made for the development of an interspecies physical cultural studies, and suggestions are offered for a more robust and meaningful critical analysis of how humans and other animals interact in and outside of sport
The Early Career Framework: Origins, outcomes and opportunities
No full textTeacher quality is widely reputed to be the key determinant of educational success for students. Teachers at the beginning of their career need support and guidance in providing a sustained, high quality experience for their learners. The role of continuing professional development (CPD) is crucial in honing and refining the knowledge, understanding and skills of teachers. Effective CPD can also provide teachers with the self-efficacy needed, particularly when they start teaching, to stay in the profession. With teacher shortages reported across the globe, and up to one third of teachers in England leaving the profession by their fifth year in teaching, CPD is an attractive solution to retain teachers.
The Department for Education have established a mandatory CPD framework for all early career teachers (ECTs) teaching in schools in England -The Early Career Framework (ECF). Tanya Ovenden-Hope (Editor) brings together insights from those most closely connected to the ECF; the training providers, school leaders and academics involved in understanding the efficacy of professional development and learning in schools. Ovenden-Hope offers an historical record of the ECF, showing where it came from, what it offers now for schools and early career teachers (ECTs) and the challenges and opportunities for development in the future.
Part One of the book focuses on the origins of the ECF. It opens by explaining the context for developing a national programme of CPD and the links to the Retention and Recruitment Strategy launched by the Department for Education in 2019. The pilot programmes of the ECF are explored in turn and illuminated by an evaluation of the pilots' efficacy. Part Two extends into the outcomes of government planning for the ECF and invites comment from the training providers on their vision for their programmes and their experience of rolling it out at a national level. The experiences of school leaders are also appreciated through consideration of Special School ECT needs and through an Education Trust undertaking the development of their own resources to support their ECTs with the ECF. Part Three deliberates the opportunities presented by the ECF for enhancing ECT self-efficacy and supporting greater retention in the profession. Academics consider the complexity of past programmes, such as the Masters in Educational Practice supported by the Welsh Government, and the effective use of key CPD elements, such as coaching and mentoring; providing insights for the future of the ECF
