Participation has been discussed as a multi-layered concept with varied outlooks on children's lived experiences. Children's participation occupies a complicated terrain in that whose participation counts and how it manifests itself within complex adult-child relations are enduring questions in the early childhood field. This qualitative study…

Purpose: The aim of this empirical study is to identify the relationship between student accommodation characteristics (SACs) and academic performance (AP). SACs, considered as the single independent variable, were divided into three further constructs: perceived location advantage (PLA), perceived facilities (PFs) and perceived safety and…

This article presents the findings of a comparative study of values-based adult learning and education (ALE) fields; specifically, in Austria, critical-emancipatory adult basic education; Scotland, learner-centered, community-based adult learning; and South Tyrol, Italy, the "Winterschule," a radical-critical popular education format. We…

Although fostering values is promoted within environmental and sustainability education (ESE) and a shift in values is seen as essential for a sustainable future, recent international findings indicate that this aspect of ESE is being neglected. Previous research has shown there to be common ground between ESE and the field of character education…

Co-authored by Scottish secondary school teacher Kerry Abercrombie and film education practitioner Jamie Chambers, this article explores School of Media, a specialist pathway within a Scottish secondary school in which young people are able to engage with film education potentially throughout their entire experience of high school. First exploring…

This paper outlines the journey of one Scottish primary school in taking nurturing approaches forward over a 5-year period, with the aims of improving staff understanding of their role and feeling skilled in using nurturing approaches and improving pupil's health and well-being and confidence. Using an action research methodology and the local…

Uearning for Sustainability (UfS), as conceived by Education Scotland and the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), spans all curricular areas and it is positioned as the responsibility of all - teachers, learners and educational leaders (Scottish Government 2016). Yet, such comprehensiveness has the potential to render the term and its…

In Scotland, the "Curriculum for Excellence" ("CfE") provides education practitioners with the opportunity for transformational change through the delivery of a holistic, broad and general education. This paper explores the extent to which play can be used as a pedagogical tool in developing the capabilities of children to…

In this paper the spread and direction of nurture within the context of Scottish schools is outlined. Through the process of interacting with key education stakeholders and consideration of the evidence base a picture of the development of whole establishment nurturing approaches in Scotland has emerged. The views of 27 of Scotland's 32 local…

Higher education institutions increasingly expect students to work effectively and critically with multiple modes, semiotic resources and digital tools. However, assessment practices are often insufficient to capture how multimodal artefacts represent disciplinary knowledge in complex ways. This study explores and theorises the design and…

Since 2010, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, has offered an MSc in studies in mindfulness degree programme within its School of Education. The programme has attracted over 200 students from multiple professional contexts, providing the authors with the opportunity to gather and analyse demographic data, as well as data regarding student…

Introduction: The unique challenges to learning and participation in education associated with visual impairment are well documented in the literature, as is the importance of addressing these challenges through ensuring practitioners who support them are equipped with appropriate knowledge, understanding, and skills. We use a bioecological…

This Introduction provides an overview of the distinctive contribution of the late David Raffe to educational research in the UK and internationally over a 40-year period. His wide-ranging research on post-compulsory education and training systems was enriched by the development of conceptual distinctions that have become part of the lingua franca…

The attainment gap associated with socio-economic status is an international problem that is highly resistant to change. This conceptual paper critiques the drive by the Scottish Government to address the attainment gap through the Scottish Attainment Challenge and the National Improvement Framework. It draws upon a range of theoretical…

In recent years there has been a heightened interest in educating for well-being; the belief that even when beset by economic gloom, schools can be a civilising force for good and can help make young people's lives more fulfilling and meaningful. However, the relative lack of conceptual analysis on well-being values and how they can flourish in…