This article explores how candidates discuss cultural topics that overlap with their sociocultural background during the Cambridge undergraduate admissions interviews, an academic gatekeeping encounter. On the one hand, discussion of this kind can be a source of epistemic authority for these candidates. On the other hand, such an affordance does…

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for social research. However, little is known about the impact of social distancing measures on research with hard-to-reach populations. This paper provides methodological reflections on the efficacy of socially distanced recruitment and interviewing methods for research with disabled…

Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical commentary on the potentially devastating consequences of market logic for pedagogy. In this paper, we consider the student-consumer prominent in these debates as a contested yet under-analysed entity. In contrast to the dominance of "homo…

Although interest in the experiences of international students has increased, the theoretical frameworks that are used to explain their experiences (such as culture shock, models of acculturation, cultural learning or intercultural dimensions) all share a tendency to use culture to explain behavior, denying agency, and leaving changes in the way…

This paper discusses the use of Burnett, Merchant, Pahl and Rowsell's (im)materiality literacy analysis framework to explore online and offline literacies in the lives of globally mobile children. The voices of these children have been little explored in New Literacies research. Globally mobile 'third culture' children who attend International…

Drawing on the findings of a Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) funded, multi-institutional, regional project, "Transitions West Midlands", this paper works with Further Education (FE) students' transition narratives as they look forward to, and back from the move from FE to HE and explores the role of the local,…

This paper contributes to an understanding of the ways in which not being bound to the nation of education, in legal and cultural terms, excludes international students. Based on narrative interviews with 20 students from 6 countries, the paper considers a range of difficulties international students encounter in social and educational domains in…

With the increasing mobility of international students to UK universities, the appropriate facilitation of their transition remains a critical issue in terms of higher education practice and research. Much existing research and practice is characterised by assimilationist approaches to transition where international students are seen to 'adapt to'…

In this paper we explore how students can experience the relevance of mathematical modelling activities. In the literature we found that relevance is a connection among several issues (relevance of what? to whom? according to whom? and to what end?). We framed this concept in terms of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), a theory for…

Classroom-based assessments have the potential to enhance validity by facilitating the assessment of important skills that are difficult to assess in written examinations. Such assessments tend to be marked by teachers. To ensure consistent marking standards, quality assurance procedures are needed. In the context of continued debate over the…

This article reports on the complex web experienced by young people when making decisions to report bullying in school. The study was conducted in the secondary school of an independent day and boarding school in the east of England. A Participatory Action Research approach was used with student voice and perspective at its core. This study…

This study investigated changes made to the Childhood Studies placement journey of one post-1992 University in England. The Childhood Studies degree includes "practitioner options" that requires students to complete 200 h placement experience, including 50 h in year one. In 2014, the participant university responded to this expectation…

The research examines further education (FE) students' engagement with virtual learning environments (VLEs) and, in particular, the barriers that may affect the students' access and use of Moodle. To date, existing research related to VLEs has been conducted primarily within higher education (HE) contexts. In contrast, this study explores the…

Currently, science in England is distinctive at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in comparison to most other subjects, in that there is a notable stratification of award routes. The most prestigious of these, "Triple Science" (the route for entry for three separate science GCSEs), is championed by English government and…

Based on fieldwork conducted in five alternative provision schools across three large cities in England, this article explores the relationship between young people's involvement in urban street gangs and their attitudes and behaviour in school. By applying and developing a lens of social field theory, the article highlights the ways in which…