Educationalfutures February 2011

This file contains the Educationalfutures Volume 3(1) cover and journal contents

This file contains the editorial for Educationalfutures Volume 3(1).

As universities in Wales seek to demonstrate the extent of their internationalisation both to themselves and the wider academic community the subject of student mobility or study abroad programmes has become an increasingly relevant area of higher education development. In this context, a programme known as the ERASMUS is the largest provider and for most institutions the only provider of student mobility for another European study destination. Engagement in the ERASMUS programme, however, is not evenly spread across all institutions. In Wales there is a stark divide between the pre and post 1992 institutions participating in the ERASMUS programme. Post 1992 institutions, are those former polytechnics and institutes of higher education that gained their university status after 1992, pre-1992 institutions gained their university status beforehand. This article indicates the disparity between Welsh universities and notes that although the Welsh post and pre-1992 institutions represent around 50 per cent of the students each, this same ratio does not project itself into student mobility. The post 1992 institutions send less than three percent of the Welsh ERASMUS student total, whereas the pre 1992 institutions provide a massive 97 per cent of this total. This article therefore, through the use of primary research, and a case study on the Humanities Department of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, seeks to find some of the reasons as to why post 1992 students and institutions do not engage fully with ERASMUS to the same extent of the pre-1992 universities.

Code-switching has been documented widely in the literature. The sociocultural approach to the study of classroom interaction as described by Mercer (2000) is based on a detailed analysis of the discourse of language classrooms. Mercer identified various linguistic techniques used by teachers.

I wanted to analyse trainee teachers beliefs about code-switching as a classroom practice. In the study, an examination of classroom practice was carried out with two bilingual Welsh English trainee teachers. Both trainees were observed and their teaching recorded. The trainees were also interviewed about their attitudes to the use of L1 in the L2 secondary English classroom. Both sequences and interviews were recorded in secondary schools in North Wales, where the language of the schools is predominantly Welsh.The data obtained was analysed using critical discourse analysis. The focus is on the extent to which the trainees have been able to make their teaching accessible to the bilingual pupils in their care. The instances where the teachers switched briefly from English into Welsh seemed to correspond to the functions of code-switching identified by Camilleri. The code-switching suggests a legitimate way of using shared language resources to scaffold pupils learning.

The article outlines the main points in my new book with Martin Allen. Published by Continuum in April 2010, it questions whether young people today really are a lost generation as they have been called by the media. Or whether new strategies for youth and education can bring together student and non-student youth in new forms of learning with their teachers through which the latter could recover their expertise if not their professionalism. This question is critical to the future of Education Studies to which our book sees itself as a contribution. It is addressed to teachers and students alike and builds upon our previous publication Education make you fick, innit? (Tufnell Press 2008). This was developed from an Education Studies core course in education policy. Now we suggest that, rather than being lost, many young people know perfectly well where they are but are stuck. Anxious to enter employment, repay debts and move on with their lives, they are a generation all dressed up but with nowhere to go. Inevitably, amongst the immediate consequences of this will be even more pressure for top grades in examinations to gain HE places with higher fees combined with pressure for shorter, local and more vocational courses. Concomitantly, many young people may begin to believe that education is losing its legitimacy as an agent for moving their lives forward into a meaningful and productive adult world. Hopefully the article can contribute to debate in Educationalfutures on how best to confront this development.

Keywords: student and non-student youth, apprenticeships, transition, Education Studies

This paper details the development and operation of a system of inclusive education in England during the latter part of the 20^th and the beginning of the 21^st Century. Through the employment of a literature review and in-depth semi-structured interviews the study sought to determine how teachers defined and operationalised inclusive education in their schools. The studys conclusion details that although many teachers had struggled to understand and operationalise inclusion they had tried very hard to make this initiative work for them, their pupils and their schools. Where inclusion had been most successful was in schools where levels of training were high and ones in which the ethos was positive and supportive of this important educational initiative.

Key Words

Inclusion, Disability, Special Educational Needs, Integration

This paper describes and explores the methodologies underpinning the development of the North West Network of the Higher Education Academy's Art, Design & Media Subject Centre(ADM-HEA). Founded in 2006 the networks members are drawn from a range of institutions across the North West(NW) including pre and post '92 Universities and Further Education (FEC) Colleges with Higher Education (HE) provision. To date it has completed and disseminated two major collaborative research projects looking at research informed teaching and aspects of the student experience. The network provides opportunities for staff working at different levels, in different areas of the sector, to work together, to share good practice and to feed these experiences into teaching. It provides a model of co-operation which circumvents the problems posed by increasing competition between institutions, the difficulties presented by limited funding, and time constraints. Here, in order to promote debate about the hierarchies and perceived barriers to collaboration, are outlined the means by which the group has been sustained; the network's research has been achieved; and the ethos of the group developed. The projects outlined here demonstrate that it is possible to provide opportunities for staff working at different levels, in different areas of the sector, to work together to undertake research and to share good practice.