This article presents findings from qualitative research on school exclusion. The study was conducted in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), part of alternative education provision, in England. Mixed methods used included ethnographic approaches, drama-based group work, focus group discussions and interviews. Research participants were teenage boys (age…

Teacher shortages are a global issue. England chose to address this by offering financial incentives (in the form of bursaries and scholarships) to postgraduates in shortage subjects. The impact of these incentives, however, on those training in non-shortage areas remains unclear. A survey of 439 trainee teachers in England (2019-2020) revealed…

This research aimed to explore student teachers' perceptions, experiences, and attitudes towards the inclusion of autistic learners within the post-compulsory sector. Adopting an ethics of care approach, this research was conducted with 10 student teachers in a large college in North-East England. Participants were student teachers enrolled in a…

A theory-practice divide has beset initial teacher training (ITT) for many decades. In England, there are multiple ways to gain qualified teacher status, which can be broadly categorised into school-led or university-led, with underlying arguments about the relative importance of theory and practice, and how far learning to teach should be seen as…

Despite the increasing racial diversity within British and Spanish societies, teacher education and school curricula continue to be Eurocentric and taught by predominantly White teachers. This quantitative research sought to explore the perceptions of student teachers in relation to their attitudes and preparedness to teach in ethnically diverse…

Previous research has shown that a growth mindset can alter the way we think and learn. With teachers' retention being a problem in the United Kingdom, this article presents the findings of a study examining student teachers' mindset and resilience. The participants included student teachers across seven different Post Graduate Certificate of…

School-based placements are often used as a way of preparing prospective teachers for the demands of their future role. However, little is known about the impact of such situated learning experiences on prospective physical education (PE) teachers' confidence and competence. To the best of our knowledge, this article is the first of its kind to…

This paper tells a story of one student teacher's experiences as she considers the choice of fiction texts studied by young secondary learners of English, and how those texts are taught. Based on a series of interviews carried out in the South-West of England and Wales, the narrative provides a perspective on the limitations of current curricula…

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,…

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the role of affect within education. Within this paper, the authors make a distinction between affective pedagogy, which they refer to as ways of teaching that are designed to evoke particular emotional states, and affective knowledge, which they refer to as aspects of knowledge or knowing which…

In England the recommendation and award of qualified teacher status (QTS) is currently linked to the assessment of trainee teachers' competencies against performance criteria descriptors. Q-methodology was used to look for subjective differences in attitudes to the assessment of trainee teachers in school. This is a quantitative approach to…

Student teachers in England are expected to learn from experience in order to become reflective practitioners and to achieve Qualified Teacher Status. This study is a qualitative project studying whether and how different reflective learning activities introduced into a postgraduate teacher training programme promote reflection and increase the…

In the face of increasing teacher burnout, in this paper I explore the theoretical implications of political accountability measures on student music teacher self-efficacy in England. I propose a necessary shift from institutional priorities to weaker personal aspirations as a route towards more sustainable teaching. Through reflecting on my own…

This article gives an account of a qualitative research project which investigated acts of collective worship (hereafter CW) in primary schools through non-participant observations undertaken by second year trainee teachers during one of their placements. The data were gathered from a range of schools across the West Midlands. The findings…

While there is now a considerable body of work on teacher identity in the area of language education, much less attention has been given to the question of the extent to which student teachers are enabled to construct identities that are consonant with the opportunities and challenges of current multilingual classrooms. Drawing on a recent…