This article offers a response to some recent critiques of character education in a UK context, in general, and the approach promoted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, in particular. The article argues that critiques of current UK character education betray an inadequate grasp of significant factions within its group of advocates,…

The educational integration of Newly Arrived Migrant and Refugee (NAMR) children and youth in a host country is complex. It requires educational systems responding to their diverse needs. Some of these needs are exacerbated by NAMR young people and their families' limited understanding of the host country's policies, structures, and procedures.…

This is the first briefing in a new European University Association (EUA) series focused on evolving university governance. The present publication explores the governance set-up of the European University Alliances formed under the EU's European Universities Initiative. For the first time, the document presents a comparative overview of the…

Purpose: This article explores the policy context in the UK around securing impact from academic research, particularly from the perspective of a social science education researcher. Approach: The article locates impact studies within debates about broader accountability frameworks. Insights from this literature are applied to a case study about…

Drawing on the experiences of a novel collaborative project between sociologists and computer scientists, this paper identifies a set of challenges for fieldwork that are generated by this "wild interdisciplinarity. Public Access Wi-Fi Service" was a project funded by an 'in-the-wild' research programme, involving the study of digital…

Formal peer mentoring schemes are often viewed as supportive mechanisms enabling individuals to engage with role models to scaffold the acquisition of social capital that aids successful transition between different educational or professional environments and to inspire and motivate decision-making processes. This study explores the findings of…

How and with whom academics develop and maintain formal and informal networks for reflecting on their teaching practice has received limited attention even though academic development (AD) programmes have become an almost ubiquitous feature of higher education. The primary goal of this mixed-method study is to unpack how 114 academics in an AD…

Recent articles on the problems of 'locus of enunciation' have focused on research and publication as well as on theoretical development of the concept. It is an issue in teaching and learning too, and this is the focus of this article which argues that to reject teaching approaches in 'the South' because they come from 'the North' is, first,…

Intermediaries--also referred to as bridge builders, boundary spanners, conveners, and other names--fill the critical role of connecting all the parties in the system to empower people with the skills required in the labor force. Those parties generally include employers, educators, workers, and prospective workers. Within these categories may…

'Extending the welcome', a symposium convened in March 2019, brought together participants from a dozen countries across public, private and academic spheres to discuss the education gap faced by refugees and displaced people and what universities can do to help bridge that gap. Through a discussion of findings and best practice from already…

The most productive learning experience for students whether online or in face-to-face classes can often be the interaction among students and with an instructor. Online teaching and Social Network Analysis (SNA) offer the opportunity to examine intellectual social networking and strategies that promotes student interaction which can enhance…

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) lays strong emphasis on task-based language teaching (TBLT). However, this approach constitutes a challenge for many foreign language teachers, not so much because they are not familiar with the approach or its benefits, but because of the requirements and practical conditions to be met. Most…

Within the background where education is increasingly driven by the economies of scale and research funding, we propose an alternative online open and connected framework (OOC) for building global learning communities using mobile social media. We critique a three year action research case study involving building collaborative global learning…

Drawing upon a project on British transnational education (TNE) programmes offered in Hong Kong, this paper interrogates the capacity development impact of TNE on the students, the Hong Kong Government and the programme providers. It addresses the questions: "What capacity is being developed in TNE operations?" and "For whom?"…

Professional development for distance tutors is traditionally delivered through texts or websites, supplemented by face to face workshops. However, one of the major challenges is to ensure that they engage with the materials and carry away something which is of value to their practice. At the Open University (UK) our 8000 tutors work from home,…