Moving from primary to secondary school can be a difficult time for young people and may be viewe... more Moving from primary to secondary school can be a difficult time for young people and may be viewed as an ecological transition or disruption (Rudolph et al. 2001). As Rice (2001) has noted, institutional discontinuities are to be found in the areas of school climate, ...
This report is a summary overview to highlight the key findings of a two-year development and res... more This report is a summary overview to highlight the key findings of a two-year development and research project focused on the impact of one-to-one personal ownership of mobile devices. The research was carried out in partnership with primary and secondary schools in two local authorities, which have taken part in projects that supplied handheld devices to each pupil in a year group.
In this article we explore our experiences of researching children and families in the home setti... more In this article we explore our experiences of researching children and families in the home setting. We trace the impact of the home setting on some ethical and methodological issues which arose in the course of conducting our field work and consider issues of consent, ...
The aim of this research was to provide new evidence on the key influences on the decisionmaking ... more The aim of this research was to provide new evidence on the key influences on the decisionmaking of disadvantaged learners with high potential from different types of low-performing institutions 1 . Using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods, this research investigated which home, school, and personal characteristics of KS5 students are the key influences on decision-making potentially leading to HE and RG university participation. The focus was on evaluating the relative importance of individual factors such as: the nature of career aspirations; financing considerations; knowledge of opportunities and the "system"; self-confidence; and perceptions of school and teacher support; and school-and teacher-level factors, such as: school ethos; leadership focus on HE/RG attendance; and use of mentors and role models. In the first strand of the research a set of key influences was identified from quantitative analysis of a largescale nationally representative dataset of learners at Key Stages 4 and 5 who potentially started HE in 2010. A set of 48 case studies of young people across 6 institutions then investigated further the influence of these factors on learners in the most recent cohorts as they go through the decision-making process, particularly in the context of the current economic recession and increased tuition fees, indicating that financial considerations are likely to play a considerable role. 1. Among high-potential students in low-performing institutions, which experiences and beliefs, as perceived by learners themselves, are most strongly associated with who does and does not go on to: a) achieve entrance to HE and b) attend RG universities? 2. What are the roles of the nature of career aspirations; financing considerations; knowledge of opportunities and the "system"; self-confidence; and perceived school/teacher support? 3. How does the relationship between these factors and HE/RG participation depend on characteristics such as gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status? 4. What are the key individual-level and school-/teacher-level factors in the decision-making processes involved in university choice among high potential A-level students from institutions with below-average performance?
Current approaches to teaching mathematics in English primary schools pay little attention to the... more Current approaches to teaching mathematics in English primary schools pay little attention to the kind of mathematics which children engage in outside of school. This paper attempts to redress the balance by describing the nature and characteristics of children’s out-of-school mathematics, and looking at how connections might be made between in-school and out-of-school mathematics. At home, mathematics is frequently encountered during play and games, and in authentic household activities such as cooking and shopping. There are also more school-like mathematical activities such as homework and commercially available maths schemes. The paper argues that it is important for connections to be made between home and school mathematics, but this is often impaired by teachers’ lack of knowledge about home mathematics and by parents’ lack of knowledge about school mathematics. One solution to this problem lies in knowledge exchange activities, and examples are provided of activities which op...
Moving from primary to secondary school can be a difficult time for young people and may be viewe... more Moving from primary to secondary school can be a difficult time for young people and may be viewed as an ecological transition or disruption (Rudolph et al. 2001). As Rice (2001) has noted, institutional discontinuities are to be found in the areas of school climate, ...
This report is a summary overview to highlight the key findings of a two-year development and res... more This report is a summary overview to highlight the key findings of a two-year development and research project focused on the impact of one-to-one personal ownership of mobile devices. The research was carried out in partnership with primary and secondary schools in two local authorities, which have taken part in projects that supplied handheld devices to each pupil in a year group.
In this article we explore our experiences of researching children and families in the home setti... more In this article we explore our experiences of researching children and families in the home setting. We trace the impact of the home setting on some ethical and methodological issues which arose in the course of conducting our field work and consider issues of consent, ...
The aim of this research was to provide new evidence on the key influences on the decisionmaking ... more The aim of this research was to provide new evidence on the key influences on the decisionmaking of disadvantaged learners with high potential from different types of low-performing institutions 1 . Using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods, this research investigated which home, school, and personal characteristics of KS5 students are the key influences on decision-making potentially leading to HE and RG university participation. The focus was on evaluating the relative importance of individual factors such as: the nature of career aspirations; financing considerations; knowledge of opportunities and the "system"; self-confidence; and perceptions of school and teacher support; and school-and teacher-level factors, such as: school ethos; leadership focus on HE/RG attendance; and use of mentors and role models. In the first strand of the research a set of key influences was identified from quantitative analysis of a largescale nationally representative dataset of learners at Key Stages 4 and 5 who potentially started HE in 2010. A set of 48 case studies of young people across 6 institutions then investigated further the influence of these factors on learners in the most recent cohorts as they go through the decision-making process, particularly in the context of the current economic recession and increased tuition fees, indicating that financial considerations are likely to play a considerable role. 1. Among high-potential students in low-performing institutions, which experiences and beliefs, as perceived by learners themselves, are most strongly associated with who does and does not go on to: a) achieve entrance to HE and b) attend RG universities? 2. What are the roles of the nature of career aspirations; financing considerations; knowledge of opportunities and the "system"; self-confidence; and perceived school/teacher support? 3. How does the relationship between these factors and HE/RG participation depend on characteristics such as gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status? 4. What are the key individual-level and school-/teacher-level factors in the decision-making processes involved in university choice among high potential A-level students from institutions with below-average performance?
Current approaches to teaching mathematics in English primary schools pay little attention to the... more Current approaches to teaching mathematics in English primary schools pay little attention to the kind of mathematics which children engage in outside of school. This paper attempts to redress the balance by describing the nature and characteristics of children’s out-of-school mathematics, and looking at how connections might be made between in-school and out-of-school mathematics. At home, mathematics is frequently encountered during play and games, and in authentic household activities such as cooking and shopping. There are also more school-like mathematical activities such as homework and commercially available maths schemes. The paper argues that it is important for connections to be made between home and school mathematics, but this is often impaired by teachers’ lack of knowledge about home mathematics and by parents’ lack of knowledge about school mathematics. One solution to this problem lies in knowledge exchange activities, and examples are provided of activities which op...
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