Richard Harris draws on their own and others' research to take stock of where the history teaching community is in terms of curriculum thinking. Harris argues that despite a number of positive developments in recent years, certain issues continue to have undesirable effects on curriculum design. Such issues include inertia and unclear rationales…

In history curriculum design in England, currently at least two loci of authority -- the history teachers' 'extended writing movement' and the national awarding body Pearson Edexcel -- present somewhat contrasting portrayals of the narrative mode for the purposes of historical causal explanation. Nonetheless, both loci suggest they are…

This article provides an up-to-date list of reasons for teachers to create a case for residential fieldwork. The list was developed as part of a project examining 'learning journeys' of inner-urban school visits to residential field centres in England. Uniquely, it draws from the perspectives of students and teachers in light of the changes to…

Omitted prior achievement bias is pervasive in international assessment studies and precludes causal inference. For example, reported negative associations between student-oriented teaching strategies and student performance are against expectations and might actually reflect omitted prior achievement bias. Namely, that these teaching strategies…

This article addresses the problem of "education for all," and offers a research proposal that replaces procedural learning by a learning practice whereby all are engaged. Although educational research since 1990 of dialogical learning (DL) and collaborative learning (CL) have shown that it is possible to promote the learning practices…

Assessment is a useful process as it provides various stakeholders (e.g., teachers, parents, government, employers) with information about students' competence in a particular subject area. However, for the information generated by assessment to be useful, it needs to support valid inferences. One factor that can undermine the validity of…

The role of phonics instruction in early reading development has been the subject of significant conjecture. Recently, England implemented a phonics screening check to assess the phonetic decoding of 6-year-old students, to ensure that all students master this foundational literacy skill and attain adequate phonemic awareness in the early years of…

The Republic of Ireland has a history of high reading scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Analysis from PISA 2018 shows that although the country has many cultural similarities to the four UK nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), 15-year-old pupils in the Republic of Ireland achieved…

This study investigated the metalinguistic reflections of 12 students, aged 14-15 years, undertaking a unit of work focused on reading and writing non-fiction. The unit embedded contextualised grammar teaching into preparation for English Language examinations. Students were interviewed twice, with prompts to discuss a sample of argument text in…

Mathematics education is a high-stakes indicator of success in 'über' performative systems. The search to address England's mathematics underperformance resulted in cross-national attraction toward, and policy borrowing of, 'teaching for mastery' from the high-performing education systems of Shanghai and Singapore. We argue that the cultural…

To consider how processes of education governance linking the work of international organisations and national and regional policy-making in two contrasting policy environments affect policy enactment in schools, differences in mathematics teaching between English and German secondary schools were analysed using Bernstein's account of pedagogic…

It is now five years since the introduction of the current National Curriculum for English in England; it is just over 50 years since the Dartmouth Conference drew together American and English educationalists. This paper reports on a hermeneutic study that presents voices from the field of English teaching in England. It asks questions of today's…

This article draws on current literature leading to the development of a holistic framework to support practitioners in observation and assessment of childrens evolving inquiry skills. Evidence from the 2011 Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) in England identifies a decline of year five student achievement in science. A…

This article reports on an exploratory project in which technology and dynamic social network analysis (SNA) are used for modelling classroom interaction. SNA focuses on the links between social actors, draws on graphic imagery to reveal and display the patterning of those links, and develops mathematical and computational models to describe and…

Curriculum and its associated assessment are at the heart of educational systems worldwide. In light of perceived national educational stagnation or decline, as well as of performance in international league tables such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), countries have embarked on curriculum and assessment reforms. This is…