Michael Fielding looks at what the Labour Government has achieved in the last four years with its policy of 'education, education, education'. There has been widespread disappointment in New Labour's education policies, which on the whole have not steered too far wide of those put in place by Margaret Thatcher, including issues of marketisation, testing and performativity. Michael Fielding has called on the key policy thinkers in education to offer their opinions on what has happened in education over the first three to four years of the New Labour Government. Education policy is a controversial subject and with a General Election expected within the next few months, this book will be read widely by people within education, politicians and journalists and by others anxious to get to facts and avoid the spin. The subject matter and the presence of so many high profile educationalists make this an essential read.

This collection discusses and illustrates how educational research is affected by the economic, institutional and physical contingencies of its time, and in our time even increasingly is driven by them. It is argued that the antidote to this is, however, not to aspire to ‘thought itself’, but instead to do justice to its own rootedness in the ‘material’, including textuality. From an historical point of view such an innovative approach can itself revamp the material scholarly culture and the way it is represented. The chapters address a variety of topics such as the cultural heritage of the school desk, the significance of images for research into long-term educational processes, the way iconic signs function, and how modes of enquiry relate to the materiality of education. Attention is also given to standards for reporting on educational research studies and how these limit the scope and communication and moreover shape researchers, to the forms of citation practices as substantially influencing methods and content, and to the centrality of conversation not just as the means to an end but as what matters; further to representational and to non-representational theories for educational research. Some examples are drawn from the area of arts-based educational research, from mathematics education, and from the discourse on universities.

Michael Fielding looks at what the Labour Government has achieved in the last four years with its policy of 'education, education, education'. There has been widespread disappointment in New Labour's education policies, which on the whole have not steered too far wide of those put in place by Margaret Thatcher, including issues of marketisation, testing and performativity. Michael Fielding has called on the key policy thinkers in education to offer their opinions on what has happened in education over the first three to four years of the New Labour Government. Education policy is a controversial subject and with a General Election expected within the next few months, this book will be read widely by people within education, politicians and journalists and by others anxious to get to facts and avoid the spin. The subject matter and the presence of so many high profile educationalists make this an essential read.

More than ever before, children are apparently being recognised as social actors and citizens. Yet public policy often involves increased control and surveillance of children. This book explores the contradiction. It shows how different ways of thinking about children produce different childhoods, different public provisions for children (including schools) and different ways of working with children. It argues that how we understand children and make public provision for them involves political and ethical choices. Through case studies and the analysis of policy and practice drawn from a number of countries, the authors describe an approach to public provision for children which they term 'children's services'. They then propose an alternative approach named 'children's spaces', and go on to consider an alternative theory, practice and profession of work with children: pedagogy and the pedagogue. This ground breaking book will be essential reading for tutors and students on higher education or in-service courses in early childhood, education, play, social work and social policy, as well as practitioners and policy makers in these areas.

This book returns us to some fundamental questions about the purpose of schools, the nature of learning and the qualities of leadership which make schools authentic places of learning.

Lecturers, why waste time waiting for the post to arrive? Request your e-inspection copy today! 'Highly readable and comprehensive introduction to education studies.' - Robert Legg, Senior Lecturer, Westminster Institute of Education at Oxford Brookes University Education Studies is a broad, multi-disciplinary and rapidly growing field. Introduction to Education Studies has proven itself to be the key text for students of the subject for over a decade, leading readers through the field's key strands, concepts and applications without assuming any prior knowledge. Bartlett and Burton provide first-time students and those engaged in more advanced aspects of the subject with all the tools that they need to approach Education Studies and also encourage a critical, questioning approach which will put them in good stead for further study and professional practice. The new edition includes: A new chapter on globalisation and international comparative education A new companion website featuring online journal articles relating to each chapter More guidance on how to critique research More 'Reader Reflection' boxes, encouraging students to reflect on their own practice throughout A new framework for analysing policy New sections within the curriculum and the history of schooling chapters reflecting the latest UK developments Complete update of education policy issues Additional online resources at www.uk.sagepub.com/bartlett3e Also available are free journal articles accompanying each chapter of the book, enabling discussion and further reading to deepen students knowlege of each chapter subject. Steve Bartlett is Professor of Education Studies at the University of Wolverhampton. Diana Burton is Professor of Education and Pro Vice Chancellor at Liverpool John Moores University.