Introduction: Researchers exploring how coaches can best support the development of their players decision making within team invasion sports have often been conducted from a cognitive or ecological approach, which differ in their views regarding the presence and absence of memory representations. This difference has, in turn, resulted in…

Mentoring is a favoured practice in many fields, including teacher education. This article challenges the uncritical acceptance of the beneficial effects of mentoring, by developing a novel conceptual model which allows to theorise and study mentoring as a discursive practice, focusing on the relations between all actors involved (i.e. teacher…

The role of a manager within any organisation is often complex and multifaceted. Overtime management theory has developed in an effort to appreciate these complexities and suggest frameworks from which managers should operate. However, should management and the role of a manager be considered generic? Or, instead should we appreciate the…

Turnover in middle management can be very expensive for a school, not just financially, but also in terms of providing continuity of leadership, sustainability of management practices, and quality student experiences. Therefore, a rigorous understanding of why middle managers in schools are thinking of leaving post can provide senior leaders an…

Purpose: This article aims to explore, by drawing on, and coordinating and combining Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Community of Practice theoretical perspectives, what we might learn about how to design for Lesson Study that best supports both collective and individual learning. Design/methodology/approach: The article primarily makes a…

There have been several calls for more transparency in realist methods, particularly in the complex process of programme theory development and refinement. This paper will describe the way in which Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software, specifically, NUD*IST Vivo (NVivo), was used to build and refine programme theories (using…

This paper explores the relationship of teachers' intelligence beliefs and classroom instruction, in particular teachers' use of intelligence language. According to Dweck's (1999) theory of intelligence, individuals can hold intelligence beliefs on a continuum from an entity theory, where intelligence is fixed, through to an incremental theory,…

Assessment literacies are finding leverage, but there is little exploration of links between theory, practice and perceived understandings in higher education (HE). This article builds on and consolidates research that has taken place over ten years that evaluates assessment literacies among HE lecturers in education and science, and in staff…

Existing characterisations of student conceptions of teaching excellence (TE) implicitly position it as an objective construct. This study investigated gendered differences in student-submitted nominations (n = 418) for an excellence award in a mid-sized university in England. Biernat's shifting standards theory, which proposes that evaluative…

Ian Cushing's 'Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England's Schools' draws on raciolinguistic theory to offer a detailed and compelling critique of language policies and teaching practices in contemporary urban schools in England. It argues that 'minoritised' pupils and teachers are consistently positioned in deficit…

Tests, especially high-stakes ones, occupy a prominent role in education and impact on students' personal and professional trajectory. Therefore, it is crucial that they are well understood. Enhancing understanding of the workings of tests requires a multidisciplinary approach, one that treats tests not only as assessment instruments, but also as…

This article focuses attention on influences that affect Early Career Teachers' (ECTs') professionalism during their process of learning to teach. The main purpose is to generate an approach informed by Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and evaluate the relevance of this approach to research influences affecting ECTs' professionalism and…

Aim: This article examines the impact of new psychoactive substances (NPS) on drug service interventions using a case study of professional practitioners in South East England. We assess how professionals seek to develop an innovative approach towards providing 'sensible drug information.' Methodology: The research methods include observations,…

This article seeks to explore the development of the relationship between a group of early childhood academics from the same university and practitioners from a particular early years setting in the north of England into an innovative professional development and research project (2-Curious). The article uses Foucauldian notions of heterotopia to…

Teachers face considerable and increasing pressure in their working lives. Labor intensification compels teachers to work faster, harder, and longer. However, teachers also experience increasing external control over what they teach and how they teach. These processes are increasingly made possible by the "datafication" of teaching,…