What is distinctive about art and design as a subject in secondary schools?What contribution does it make to the wider curriculum?How can art and design develop the agency of young people?Understanding Art Education examines the theory and practice of helping young people learn in and beyond the secondary classroom. It provides guidance and stimulation for ways of thinking about art and design when preparing to teach and provides a framework within which te...

Do the arts improve academic achievement? What does it mean to ‘teach’ art? What should the balance of classic and pop be in the music curriculum? Should we encourage young children on the stage? How do we judge whether what a child produces is good? How do we justify the arts in the curriculum? What should be the balance between form and content when teaching art?The arts in education inspire considerable commitment and passion. However, this is not always matched by clarity of un...

Since its first publication, Action Research: Principles and Practice has become a key text in its field. This new updated edition clearly describes and explains the practices of action research and its underlying values, and introduces important new ideas, including:all professionals should be reflective practitionersthey should produce their personal theories of practice to show how they are holding themselves accountable for their educational influences ...

In Management Research the authors provide a stimulating and critical overview of the key theoretical debates on research paradigms and methodologies, demystifying the process and providing invaluable insights into the politics and practice of research.Conceived by Chris Grey as an antidote to conventional textbooks, each book in the ‘Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap’ series takes a core area of the curriculum and turns it on it...

Artist, Researcher, Teacher explores the relationship of three professional identities that often intersect in the lives of art practitioners, educators, and students.Challenging conventional wisdom about specialization and professional identity, Alan Thornton shows that many individuals have complex, varied, and evolving relationships with visual art—relationships that do not fit into any single category. Against the backdrop of an expanding research culture and current e...

Do we have a literacy crisis?Fierce debates in the media over how to teach children to read and write have reached new heights in recent years. The intensity of the debates is not surprising as literacy education matters to everyone, but there is collateral damage. Public confidence in literacy teachers has been undermined and many believe we have a literacy crisis in our schools.The Literacy Wars explains the reasons for the often bitter disagreements between the ...

Although educators are increasingly interested in art education research, there are few anthologies tackling the subject. Research in Art & Design Education answers this call, summarizing important issues in the field such as non-text based approaches and interdisciplinary work. Contributions from internationally renowned researchers explore a broad range of topics in art education, highlighting particular problems and strengths in the literature. The collection features examples of resear...

Explaining theory and research in an accessible but thorough manner, Gender and Social Psychology critically evaluates the contribution that psychology has made to the study of gender, examining key issues such a family roles and parenting, inequalities in education, jobs and pay, and the effects of media representation of the sexes.

What stories can we tell of ourselves and others and why should they be of interest to others?Exploring Learning, Identity and Power through Life History and Narrative Research responds to these questions with examples from diverse educational and social contexts. The book brings together a collection of writing by different authors who use a narrative/life history approach to explore the experiences of a wide range of people, including teachers, nurses, young people and a...

Leading family sociologist David Morgan revisits his highly influential 'family practices' approach in this new book. Exploring its impact, and how it has been critiqued, Morgan shows the continued relevance of the approach with reference to time and space, the body, emotions, ethics and work/life balance.

Issues in English Teaching invites primary and secondary teachers of English to engage in debates about key issues in subject teaching.The issues discussed include:*the increasingly centralised control of the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy in the school teaching of English in England and Wales as a result of initiatives such as the National Literacy Strategy*new technologies which are transforming pupils' lived experience of literacy or literacies...

Schooling, Society and Curriculum offers a much needed reassessment and realignment of curriculum studies in the UK and international contexts. Comprising a collection of eleven original chapters by prominent, nationally and internationally known experts in the field of curriculum studies, the book leads and fosters critical, generic debates about formal education and its relationships to wider society.Focusing on key debates that have been present for as long as formal st...