Despite evidence for the importance of playtime for children, the use of the withdrawal of playtime is a sanction that is used throughout schools in the UK. In light of this, there have been recent arguments highlighting the need to explore alternatives to this sanction in order to protect opportunities for playtime. This exploratory action…

Children with special needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools have a wide range of complex conditions rendering it impossible for teachers to fully understand all the complexities of their needs. Difficulties with understanding and self-control lead to much of the behaviour that is considered unacceptable within schools and that can…

Using Giddens' theory of structuration as a theoretical framework, this paper outlines how five prominent United Kingdom universities aimed to integrate top-down and bottom-up approaches to the adoption and diffusion of e-learning. The aim of this paper is to examine the major challenges that arise from the convergence of bottom-up perspectives…

The use of systems of rewards and sanctions within behaviour policies has now been adopted formally in UK schools. Such systems potentially represent competing theoretical ideas when considered alongside current approaches to teaching and learning. There is also opportunity for inconsistent use of rewards and sanctions resulting from the absence…

Athletes with learning disabilities have had a difficult time being included in the Paralympics. They have faced a lot of discrimination, including from other disabled athletes, and just when they were finally included (at the Sydney games in 2000), the Spanish Basketball team cheated by having players on their team who did not have learning…

This paper examines the introduction of Restorative Approaches (RA) in schools in the UK, contextualising this within a discussion of international concerns about school safety, (in)discipline and school violence. It explores questions about the compatibility of RA with zero tolerance and positive/assertive discipline approaches and the use of…

The adoption of more corporate models of governance is a contemporary trend in higher education. In the early 2000s, the Australian Government legislated national governance protocols for universities, using the policy lever of financial sanctions. These more corporate-style governance protocols followed similar changes in the UK, consistent with…

This paper explores the phenomenon of cyberbullying. The argument here is that, although there is a case for sanctions, schools also have a critical role to play in preventing and reducing cyberbullying through a process of awareness-raising, the education of the emotions and active participation of children and young people themselves.

Since the 1990s the educational community has witnessed a proliferation of "bullying" discourses, primarily within the field of educational developmental social psychology. Drawing on ethnographic and qualitative interview data of primary and secondary school girls and boys, this article argues that the discourse "bullying"…

"Sony Music v. Easyinternetcafe" has introduced a new facet to the debate concerning the copyright legality of peer-to-peer file transfer. The judgment and subsequent settlement has highlighted that companies offering services that are used to infringe copyright may be held to account in the UK courts. Liability may extend from the…