Improving Schools

In the last decade, inclusive education (IE) has become a trending topic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This small-scale, qualitative Saudi study reports on how some teachers view IE in their country and whether students with a disability (autism) could be educated in mainstream schools. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted and recorded using a smartphone. The analysis of interview data identified three themes related to IE and the concept of mainstream schooling for students with autism. Findings showed that the participants had some knowledge and understanding of IE. However, whether students with autism could be taught by general education teachers in mainstream schools reported mixed results. Some teachers spoke positively about the possibility, while others focused on existing barriers. These included the need for general education teachers to receive specialised training and professional learning in the form of authentic mentoring networks, training in special needs education to link theory with practice and how the scarcity of classroom resources hampers quality educational experiences and outcomes for some students. These findings provide a starting point for further research into the emerging phase of IE in Saudi Arabia.

The secondary school transition is considered a critical life event by practitioners and researchers alike, and the challenges presented by the pupils during this transition continues to be high-profile in educational, social and political contexts. This study focused on Year 7 pupils aged 11 to 12 years old in their first year of secondary school. Classroom observations of around 120 pupils using an open framework recording procedure offered real-time insights into the everyday lived experiences of these adolescents. The paper illustrates the skills and behaviours that children brought to their secondary school transition, and as such reveals how the transition should be perceived as both an event and a social and emotional learning process. The findings of this study highlight the challenges of flexibility and diversity within peer networks after the move to secondary school and the impact the transition can have on the pupils’ sense of self. The analysis is discussed in terms of implications for schools, practitioners and researchers with suggestions for further studies with this under-researched and vulnerable group.

The purpose of this article is to address student absenteeism through the theoretical lens of ecological agency and to encourage the use of ecological agency in a school setting to address student absenteeism more holistically. We align absenteeism research within the ecological agency framework and suggest that absenteeism is a manifestation of agency influenced by contextual factors unique to the student’s ecological context and reinforced through punishment. Observing absenteeism through the lens of ecological agency provides an alternative, unique viewpoint giving insight into the process of how students choose to engage in absenteeism based on their ecological factors. The article also intends to illustrate pragmatic use of viewing absenteeism through the lens of ecological agency by providing a sample of interventions that are used to resolve contextual factors and improve student attendance.

This paper introduces a partnership between researchers in Education Sciences and high school students and discusses the students’ perceptions of the effects of taking on the role of researchers in Education Sciences. These partnerships were established to develop a project in which high school students researched their school’s everyday life in collaboration with academic researchers. The partners are introduced, as well as the partnership and the steps for supporting the student researchers in developing their projects. Drawing on student voice literature, a qualitative evaluation of the students’ products and perspectives regarding their experiences as researchers pointed to the potential of these partnerships for the students’ engagement in discussions about educational trajectories and pathway choices with their peers, teachers and researchers. Moreover, the students’ perceptions indicate an improvement in their inquiry skills and valuing of research in Education Sciences. This paper adds to the existing literature on student voice in schools, by discussing processes to engage students as researchers of school issues and by highlighting the importance of student voice to early awareness and recognition of research in Education Sciences.

The assumption that research is out-of-reach, irrelevant, or unusable for practitioners has been a theme echoed throughout academia. Research alliances such as Research-Practice Partnerships (RPP) attempt to alleviate this problem by having researchers, practitioners, and/or community-based organizations form a collaborative partnership that uses research to solve tangible problems of practice. Previous works have highlighted the complexities inherent with forming and maintaining these long-term partnerships including politics, trust building, time, and available resources. In this paper, we engage in reflective analysis of our own RPP around three key elements we believe are at the heart of RPPs: politicized trust, mutualism, and use of research. This paper illustrates successes and points of failure in each of these areas, which have been previously unconnected in RPP literature. We conclude with recommendations for school and university partners and future research on RPPs.

This article presents findings from an innovation research project titled School-In, focusing on school staff’s reflection. Teachers in four schools participated in focus group discussions in the beginning and at the end of the innovation. Wackerhausen’s theory is used to understand reflection and how it develops in professional learning communities. Findings from the study indicate: (1) in the beginning of the innovation, reflection mainly of first order – focusing on how things are or should have been, and (2) at the end of the innovation, reflection mainly of second order – critical reflection on the school’s practices. Change is promoted by use of different reflective work forms in mixed groups, focusing on collective capacity and common expectations. The innovation releases teachers’ knowledge and experiences, enabling them to carry out second-order reflection and to critically analyzing their personal and the school’s practice.

Since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has initiated major reforms to upgrade its education system. However, significant disparities exist in the quality of educational provision in rural and urban schools. This study presents the stakeholders’ – school leaders, teachers, students, parents, and education managers – vision, priorities, and aspirations of quality of education, as well as the opportunities, resources, and support available to them, and the disparities and challenges they face in achieving the quality of education they aspire for.

Teaching is understood to be a highly stressful profession. In England, workload, high-stakes accountability policies and pupil behaviour are often cited as stressors that contribute to teachers’ decisions to leave posts in the state-funded sector. Many of these teachers leave state teaching to take jobs in private schools, but very little is known about the nature of teachers’ work in the private sector. This research addresses this gap in knowledge and compares the sources of stress experienced by 20 teachers in the state sector to those of 20 teachers in the private sector. The paper is based on qualitative data from a larger study. It analyses data collected in interviews and focus groups with classroom teachers and middle leaders working in mainstream primary and secondary phase education in England. The results emphasise state school teachers’ acute distress in relation to workloads driven by accountability cultures. In comparison, private school teachers report less intense experiences of work-related stress, but some identify demanding parents as a concern. The research’s novelty lies in this comparison between sectors and these sector specific insights may help to focus school leaders’ efforts to improve teaching conditions in both sectors.