Aspirations in the educational context have been a topic of interest for researchers, practitioners and policy makers for many decades. This is not surprising as aspirations function as motivators and young people who develop ambitious but achievable aspirations are more likely to achieve positive outcomes. Some evidence does indeed suggest that…

Four drama programmes for at-risk youth run by a community theatre formed the basis for a 9-month participant observation and interview study. This paper focuses on the concept of roles, using this as a lens to explore participants' experiences, and to suggest ways in which taking part in the programmes enabled young people to "be Other"…

This article concerns further education (FE) as a post-16 destination for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) young people. It addresses: (1) the size and characteristics of the DHH population within the FE sector; (2) the perceived functions of FE for DHH young people; (3) the trends, progress, and achievements of DHH learners within FE provision. A…

Openness to experience is the broadest personality domain of the Big Five, including a mix of traits relating to intellectual curiosity, intellectual interests, perceived intelligence, imagination, creativity, artistic and aesthetic interests, emotional and fantasy richness, and unconventionality. Likewise, creative achievement is a broad…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between implicit theories of ability and competence perceptions to changes in approach-avoidance goal adoption in two specific activities in the curriculum. Four hundred and thirty pupils, aged 11-15 years, completed measures of approach-avoidance goals, perceived competence and implicit…

This paper considers young learners' construction of agency in the context of classroom writing lessons. It draws on data from the Esmee Fairbairn-funded project, "From Talk to Text: Using Talk to Support Writing", which investigated the relationship between talk and writing in early years classrooms. The paper reports on results from…

Reports the findings of evaluations of the trial versions of the course, concentrating on the aspects that appear to have significance for biology teaching in a wider context." (AL)

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by Kent County Council (KCC) to conduct an independent survey of children and young people in Kent. The council and its partner agencies wanted to find out what children and young people thought about a range of issues related to the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes.…

Reports the results of evaluation of specified student and course objectives by teacher ratings and test results. Includes a discussion of the evaluation of the materials as a result of formative evaluation. (AL)

Biological examinations given to 16-18 year olds were analyzed over an eight year period for the number and type of mathematical questions. There was an increase in the number of questions which included skills in graphing, rate, percentage, and statistics. Difficulties with graphs, calculations and indices are discussed. (AJ)

Teacher motivation, class size, type of school (administrative arrangement), and instructional facilities available had little differential influence on student achievement in the trials of the Nuffield A-Level Biology course. The mean achievement of the students in the schools tended to reflect the general calibre and aspirations of past and…

To study sex differences in test performance, the performance of males and females on 16 General Certificate of Education exams was analyzed in England. Results show that males perform better on objective tests than females. (Author/JJD)

An evaluation of the findings on the effect of contrasting teaching methods on children's progress in primary schools in relation to similar studies in America is discussed. (Editor/RK)

Describes a study of gender differences in science achievement in England and Wales. Finds that the most pronounced gender differences in favor of males occurred in the higher-level papers taken by more able students, especially in physics. Also, more discriminating questions exhibited larger gender gaps in favor of males. Contains 21 references.…

In a 1998 study of effective British principals, school staffs agreed that successful heads were values-led, people- centered, achievement-oriented, inward/outward facing, and able to manage ongoing tensions and dilemmas: leadership/management, development/maintenance, autocracy/autonomy, personal time/professional tasks, personal…