The Buckingham Journal of Education

Principled Accommodation: A Moral and Spiritual Dimension in Politics

John Woods — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

There are limits to what can be covered in this article. I will not explore the impact of the personal morality of politicians and whether it has an impact on their public life and credibility. This remains a contested issue, not least in ongoing investigations into the behaviour in the office of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Former US President Donald Trump. A recent book by Chris Bryant, who was formerly an Anglican vicar but now is an MP and Chair of the Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges, relates the various ways that MPs have failed to follow the code of ethics expected by those who hold this office. This is a subject that is worthy of an article in its own right, but there is no space for that in this one.

Post General Election Schools Challenges

David Laws — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Policy Mortality and Education Policy: A Response To Gunter and Courtney

Richard Davies — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This note offers reflections, largely by way of questions, in response to an article published by Helen Gunter and Steve Courtney in the British Journal of Educational Studies Volume 71, 2023 – Issue 4. It expresses reservations about what they have to say, especially about their assertion that, for England, governments have adopted ‘failure’ as a deliberate strategy to impel reform – indeed have required failure as central to policy design.

Are We Nearly There Yet?

Max Coates — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This article demonstrates the progression of education policy thought and intervention across successive governments from James Callaghan in the late 1970s to the present. The problem is that we never really know the goal of these policy interventions. Each successive policy represents some adjustment of the system. This raises the plaintive question ‘Are we nearly there yet?’

What is the Meaning of Student Success in Higher Education?

Tom Lowe — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The term ‘student success’ has increasingly been used as the catch-all term for focusing on the student outcomes measures in higher education. In the English Higher Education context, the term is used as part of regulatory pressures by the Office for Students, to assess student retention rates across providers through Access and Participation Plans and annual reporting (B3). Student success has become an amalgamation (in strategies, job titles and now regulation) to address outcomes relating to retention, employability, access, widening participation and student satisfaction, prioritised by political direction and senior management teams. Although the definition and application of this key term differ in use at individual providers. With great pressure and dissonance surrounding this prominent term, this paper looks at the literature regarding what the term student success means in practice for students, academic programmes or professional services depending on the context.

Delivering Better Value in Special Educational Needs or Will We…

Naomi Carter — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper provides a commentary on the national ‘delivering better value’ (DBV) policy devised by the central government, for which various local authorities across the country have been ‘invited’ to take part. It seeks to gain a richer understanding of the reasons for the implementation of this policy and of the overarching system, along with the interconnected agents at play that affect the system, which the DBV is aiming to support and ultimately improve. It is not, however, a potted history as to the reasons why it has been introduced, nor does this paper provide an analysis of the policy. It provides a briefing for educators and academics who work within the system but may not be as familiar with the rationale behind its introduction.

Independent Schools in 2024

Barnaby Lenon — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000