This mixed-methods longitudinal study investigated the academic, sociocultural, and psychological adjustment trajectories of international students undertaking one-year postgraduate degrees in the humanities and social sciences at a single British university. It also sought to re-examine the applicability of 'U-curve' hypothesis. Three waves of…

This paper assesses prospects for the relationship between educational studies and educational practice, with reference to the current institutional and policy context in England. Drawing on the sociology of educational knowledge and practice, it is argued that educational studies can be conceptualised in contrasting ways, by considering internal…

This paper provides a critical interrogation of government-led reform of higher education (HE) in England. Its focus is marketisation, and in particular, the concepts of 'value for money' (VFM), teaching excellence, and students as educational consumers. Hitherto, research on VFM in HE has been largely quantitative in nature and primarily focussed…

Our connection with nature is important for mental and physical well-being and this connection depends on how we understand, value and engage with the natural world. However, there is persistent evidence that young people remain disconnected from nature. In this article we discuss reasons why many secondary schools in England are having difficulty…

As HE professional educators in Social Sciences, we teach a curriculum which foregrounds inequalities. This includes inequalities related to diverse social groups and differences of race, class, gender, disability and sexuality, underpinned by global approaches. Learners are asked to reconsider the social world through a critical lens with perhaps…

Imperatives to eliminate racial inequalities in higher education (HE) have led to calls for diversification of curricula. Qualitative evidence is growing about racially minoritised students' perceptions of their curricula and its impact on them. Yet there are no specific instruments to facilitate evaluation of curricular diversification and its…

In England, higher education is more marketised than ever before as the difference between students and consumers is increasingly blurred, propelled by the rise in tuition fees. With students demanding more for their money, the role of university lecturers continues to change. This study explores the ways in which lecturers re-evaluate and…

A number of studies demonstrate that quantitative teaching provides social science students with analytical and critical skills. Accordingly, the skills acquired during quantitative teaching are assumed to enhance students' progress in and after their degree. However, previous studies rely on subjective measures of students' evaluations of their…

Mathematics education is highly valued in advanced economies due to its role in developing skilled workforces, economic resilience and social well-being. However, university academics across disciplines regularly bemoan undergraduate students' under-preparedness for the mathematical and quantitative demands of undergraduate degree programmes. In…

Many science educators have argued in favour of including socioscientific issues (SSI) in general, and ethical issues in particular, in school science. However, there have been a number of objections to this proposal, and it is widely acknowledged that such teaching places additional demands on science teachers. This study examined the curricula,…

This article draws on a pedagogical case study in order to reflect on the value of using a Humanities disciplinary practice (the "close reading" of literary studies) as a method of educational enquiry and to provide a worked example of this approach. We explore the introduction of a pedagogic strategy--students writing abstracts for…

"Educational administration and the social sciences", the landmark text coedited by Baron and Taylor in 1969, represented the study of educational administration as an applied interdisciplinary field. George Baron's own academic career reveals the struggles involved in the construction of this new field and the resistance and opposition…

This article considers a conundrum in research methodology; the fact that, in the main, you have to use a social science-based research methodology if you want to look at what goes on in a classroom. This article proposes an alternative arts-based research method instead based on the work of Eisner, and before him Dewey, where one can use the more…

The term "boundary-work" is used to refer to the constant effort to draw and re-draw the boundary of science; it has long been portrayed as constructed by the stakeholders of science to demarcate science from non-science to establish the authority of science. Twenty-nine semi-structured interviews were carried out with students from one…

Prior research has shown that students from less educated families are less likely to study both science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and arts and humanities subjects. This article used a large representative sample of university students in England to explore the relationship between students' enjoyment, perception of…