Persistent youth advocacy for climate action worldwide, and recent policy activity in England, UK focused on climate change and sustainability education (CCSE), provide the context for this study. Drawing on reflections and insights predominantly gathered whilst working as a geography teacher and geography teacher educator in both England and…

This article details the findings of a qualitative interview study with 30 Religious Education [RE] teachers, working in state-funded, non-faith secondary schools in England. Salient findings included participants' almost unanimous agreement about the role of RE in developing character, virtue literacy, and moral, intellectual and performance…

Religious Education (RE) is more than a single curriculum subject and research should give more attention to that fact. Drawing on a lifetime's engagement with RE, this article identifies ten topics that deserve urgent pursuit if the interests of children and young people are to be more effectively understood and addressed. They begin with a…

Following remarks about the nature and significance of values and values education, generally and more specifically in China, England, Mexico and Spain, we explain the methods used to analyse official policies that apply to moral education, citizenship education and character education. We find similarity across the documents regarding five…

Testing explanations of 'neoliberalism in education', this article explores whether neoliberal policy facilitates curricula that include moral development for the 'common good', or whether unintended consequences actually eviscerate the very nature of moral education. England's contribution to curriculum design in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)…

This paper presents an ethnographic account of the culture of school meal time at Peartree Academy, with a specific focus on notions of social learning. This qualitative study is focused on a collection of interviews, observations, field notes and analyses what happens when the school organises its canteen as a restaurant. The focus moves away…

As part of a revival of interest in character education, English schools are required to teach the new 'three Rs': resilience; respect for 'fundamental British values'; and responsibility for one's own well-being. School inspectors evaluate children's resilience, whilst the Department for Education has offered financial incentives to schools that…

This article discusses the extent to which middle-class Christians, many of whom were progressive liberals, involved themselves in the Moral Instruction League (MIL) to intervene in 'improving' the moral character of the English working class. It considers how they reconciled their motivations and underlying theology with secular goals that sought…

Cyberbullying is a pervasive and troubling moral concern for teachers, schools, parents and pupils. As children and young people in England are now more likely to be bullied online than face-to-face, this article explores if there is a need to rethink traditional educational approaches to dealing with the issue. The article starts with a critique…

This article reflects on how English as a school subject was positioned in the seminal paper "The Teaching of English in England", otherwise known as The Newbolt Report, and its relationship with current government policy in England. Nearly a century after the Report's publication, questions regarding the content and purpose of English…

This article reports the learning achieved by a group of trainee teachers about acts of collective worship (CW) organised in English primary schools. Using data gathered from non-participant observation questionnaires, it describes, from the viewpoint of observers, three main findings related to children and their learning, the position of CW in…

Background: The broad nature of young people's development is internationally acknowledged, which includes physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social elements. In England, schools have a legal obligation to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development. It has been suggested that personal, social, health and economic (PSHE)…

Conservative trends across western schooling contexts are signalling an explicit devaluing of social and moral learning within their official curriculum mandates. These mandates are increasingly privileging the "academic rigour" of traditional subject disciplines. This paper draws on interview and observation data from a case study of a…

Through the analysis of a representative sample of schools' behaviour management policies, we argue that there is a philosophical and tangible tension between the competing views on what ought to be the motivation and rationale for schools to promote good behaviour in England. Our research suggests that typical secondary schools usually opt to…

This article surveys the state of the humanities in English primary schools drawing on evidence from serving head teachers, current literature and policy documents. The findings suggest that whilst the humanities are highly valued in schools, there are serious challenges which threaten the "broad and balanced" curriculum. It is suggested…