The paper seeks to identify how teacher expertise is implicitly and explicitly conceptualised in current English education policy in respect of the professional development of teachers. We focus specifically on conceptualisations of expertise in the Early Career Framework (ECF), both in terms of the policy documentation produced by the Department…

Political impetuses for raising the professional status of the careers sector in England have spanned more than a decade, driving an assiduous pursuit for professionalisation linked to the training and upskilling of its workforce. This paper builds on previous work by the authors and explores the necessity, and integration of theory for practice…

The use of external providers to deliver primary school physical education (PE) shows no signs of slowing in England. Longstanding concerns into outsourcing primary school PE have highlighted the extent to which external providers often lack appropriate teaching qualifications and pedagogical knowledge. That said, when compared to primary school…

The importance of teacher subject knowledge as key professional knowledge has been emphasised in successive studies over the past thirty years, yet there are very few empirical studies which address either content or pedagogical knowledge for teaching writing. At the same time, in a number of international jurisdictions, writing attainment lags…

This study explores the approach taken to teaching agriculture in further education colleges in England. There is almost no literature that focuses specifically on this group and therefore little is known about the teaching of this specialist subject area. The article begins by providing background both to the FE sector and agriculture. It then…

This article utilizes a framework for classifying different scientific methods suggested by a philosopher of science (Brandon "Synthese," 99, 59-73, 1994) called Brandon's Matrix. It presents findings from teachers who took part in a funded project in England that looked at the nature of scientific methods in science investigations.…

We report on the design of a close-to-practice research project situated in Southwest England exploring the relationship between developing teachers' "powerful knowledge" of inter-religious dialogue in religious education (RE) through a teacher fellowship model for RE specialists, including a specialist curriculum development programme…

Alongside new models for government-funded professional development, England's academisation policy has significantly changed access, provision and responsibilities for teacher learning. This article reviews this impact on professional learning in primary mathematics, pointing to increased variability for teachers in the development they…

Conservatoires train musicians to high levels of proficiency in performance and other 'principal study' disciplines, but often, teaching is perceived as a second-class profession, and little is known about how music students learn to facilitate music making in others. Yet, conservatoires have a responsibility to contribute to the development of…

Following the unexpected lockdown of education in March 2020 and again in February 2021, this research looks at the subsequent online learning that took place during the second lockdown at a vocational further education college located in the south of England. These online sessions used Google Meet as a forum and teachers at the college suddenly…

Initial teacher education (ITE) needs to respond to the huge increase in research in neuroscience that informs our understanding of learning. Educational applications of cognitive psychology, in particular from the field of memory, are strongly evident in government policy documents in England, but as yet the wider contribution of educational…

As the pedagogy of teachers depends partly on their earlier life experiences, investigating the prior reading practices of student teachers is crucial. This study investigated Finnish and English student teachers' (N = 353) own reading, the importance of their own reading to their reading pedagogy, and the relationship of these to teachers'…

The study explores the Delphi consensus technique's application in educational research, focusing on identifying barriers and facilitators to educational attainment for children speaking English as an Additional Language (EAL) from the perspective of their teachers. It discusses the methodology's advantages and considerations within an educational…

This paper reports on an investigation examining provision of physical education continuing professional development (CPD) in European countries undertaken to identify the types of practices being employed. We begin by providing a brief overview of what we currently know about CPD internationally in general education and physical education. Data…

Schools play a key role in the lives of young refugees and asylum seekers, yet it is unclear to what extent educators are prepared to effectively teach this population. In this study, we examined how educators acquire knowledge relevant to teaching refugee pupils through a survey (n = 295) and nestled case studies of 17 teachers at two schools in…