Nick Foskett

The influence of the school in the decision to participate in learning post‐16

The primary aim of this study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, was to identify the nature and influence of school‐based factors in the choices of young people about their post‐16 education, training and career pathways. The study also contributes to the wider understanding of ‘choice’, and identifies implications for the development of careers education and guidance and decision‐making awareness amongst pupils and students in schools. It also further enhances the modelling of pupil decision making in education and training markets, and in labour markets. The research is based on a series of qualitative interviews in 24 schools across nine local education authorities. Focus groups were undertaken with young people in years 10, 11 and 12. Interviews were also conducted with head teachers, heads of year and heads of careers. A postal survey of parents was also undertaken. Four key school‐based factors were found to have a very strong influence in the choices and decisions of young people a...

Evolution or Extinction?: Reflections on the Future of Research in Educational Leadership and Management.

Consideration of the quality, relevance and utility of research in educational leadership and management has been a growing concern of researchers, policy-makers and practitioners, but there is little agreement about its current state or priorities for development. The article reflects on the key criticisms that have been made of research in educational leadership and management in this issue, and elsewhere. It considers how we might begin to devise better ways of understanding its audiences, judging its quality and identifying priorities for the future. It argues that the research reflects its capture by those with particular interests or values, and impacts in ways which are complex and indirect. If educational leadership and management research is to be secure in its perceived value and contribution in the future, several developments are needed, including a greater emphasis on interdisciplinarity, an expansion of the range of methodologies, particularly qualtitative studies; and these shifts must be evident in training researchers as well as in the conduct of research.

Educational marketisation and the head's psychological well-being: A speculative conceptualisation

One of the most important changes in the environment of schooling during the last decade has been the establishment of educational markets and inter–institutional competition which, in turn, has led to the development of a new management culture in schools. In the light of these developments, this paper draws together the research on heads’ responses to marketisation and suggests theoretical hypotheses on the impact of its underlying features on their psychological well–being. Our argument is that the major features of educational marketisation may promote the emergence of both the determinants of professional growth and self–renewal and of occupational stress and job burnout among headteachers. These determinants, in turn, lead to the appearance of two types of well–being among school heads. To support our hypothesis we refer to the work of others and empirical findings from various fields of study.

Invisibility, Perceptions and Image: Mapping the Career Choice Landscape.

Abstract The education and training market, particularly for 16 year olds, is highly competitive and an understanding of how young people make decisions about careers and how that affects and interacts with choice of further and higher education pathways is a crucially important issue. The complexity of the decision-making process has been largely under-estimated in favour of an oversimplification of the economically rational view of choice. However, young people make choices which have an impact on the relationship between labour supply and demand and, therefore, an insight into how young people make choices is fundamental to the operation of both post-compulsory education and training markets and the labour market. The models presented in this paper attempt to provide a broad picture of some of the complex perspectives and processes at work in career choice and the link between perceptions of careers and post-compulsory education and training pathways – career ‘invisibility’ and the range of complex ima...

Internationalization and Culture in Higher Education

Internationalization has attained great significance in Higher Education, driven by both educational philosophy and commercial imperatives. Cultural change is implied as both a related process and as a goal. The article considers the multifaceted ways in which culture might be conceived and linked to different orientations to internationalization. The metaphor of ecology is used to highlight the dilemmas faced by leaders attempting to use cultural exchange as a market product while they may be simultaneously eroding the distinctiveness of cultures on which such a strategy relies. The short termism of humans in general and business in particular is argued to militate against action to protect cultural assets other than one’s own. The article suggests considered and careful leadership of internationalization, preserving distinctiveness and promoting equality among cultures is in the long term commercial interest of universities, as well as offering individual and societal benefits.

Objectives and Constraints in Geographical Fieldwork: Teachers’ Attitudes and Perspectives in Senior High Schools in Taiwan

This paper considers the objectives for geographical fieldwork within senior high schools in Taiwan, and the constraints on the implementation and development of fieldwork. It introduces briefly the position of fieldwork in geography education in Taiwan, then uses a model adapted from the work of Boardman in 1974 and Smith in 1996 in England to examine teachers’ perspectives on the objectives and constraints in geographical fieldwork. The paper concludes that teachers in Taiwan have a balanced range of objectives for fieldwork across cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains, while they see safety, the impact of lessons missed by teachers supervising fieldwork, and large classes as the main constraints to developing fieldwork. Whereas the detailed prioritisation of objectives and constraints shows some differences between Taiwan and England, the broad pattern shows strong similarities between the two educational settings.

Gambling in the Careers Lottery: a consumer approach to career choice?

Abstract One of the principal aims of the education and training ‘business’ as emphasised by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) is ‘supporting economic growth by promoting a competitive, efficient and flexible labour market’ (Rajan et al, 1997). Existing models of occupational decision-making, however, have proved inadequate to explain the behaviour of individuals in relation to their entry into and mobility within the labour market, and have, therefore, provided difficulties for policy makers in their planning to achieve intended labour market outcomes. The assumption that young people will make choices based on the need to acquire the skills most in demand in the labour market has not been supported by this research. The models presented in this article provide a broad picture of some of the complex perspectives and processes at work in career decision-making among young people, supporting the notion that the macro-scale character of the labour market can be seen as the sum of long- and ...

Changes in the Subject Matter of Geography Textbooks: 1907–1993

This study is centred on changes in subject matter in 15 sets of British geographical textbooks from 1907–1993. Measurements of eight variables were undertaken. Major findings are: first, classic content such as physical geography has decreased about 50%, and the traditional regional geography has been replaced by the new form of local study; second, new themes such as human geography earlier in the period, humanistic geography later, and the integrated paradigm more recently, dominate the content; and third, the approach to studying geography has switched from emphasising cause–effect relations in the past to geographical enquiry at present. It is concluded that the nature of the subject, which was formerly a mixture of place knowledge, physical science and social studies, is now focused on the development of childrens sense of place, the sense of the globe, and the sense of environment.

Marketing imperative or cultural challenge? embedding widening participation in the further education sector

Abstract The governments widening participation agenda places financial imperatives on further education (FE) sector colleges to re-focus their institutional vision and their marketing strategy. At first sight widening participation may be seen as essentially a marketing issue, with two key challenges. Facilitating choice involves enabling an engagement with learning for those who have considered FE but have rejected it because of economic, social, cultural or community barriers. Increasing demand requires colleges to reach out to those for whom engagement with learning has traditionally never been part of their lifestyle horizons. Both are new, but recognisable, marketing objectives which colleges can address. Pursuing traditional FE marketing models based simply on ‘selling’ and a functional view of marketing is destined for failure, however, for widening participation is inherently a challenge to internal institutional culture that requires colleges to change fundamentally their modus operandi, their view of the world and their values. This article explores in the context of FE the relationship between widening participation as a concept and policy, the developing marketing perspective of institutions, and the emerging cultural challenges that face senior managers in colleges. Drawing on case study evidence from a number of FE colleges the article examines how far colleges are responding to this ideological and management imperative. The article concludes that widening participation is firmly established as both a moral and strategic imperative at senior level in FE. However, there is not yet much evidence of this culture permeating more widely through institutions because of the dominance of a project view of widening participation and limited awareness of the complexity of needs and wants in the diverse group of communities that are currently non-participants in FE.