Illustrated with case studies, this practical guide develops a new way of understanding educational improvement – one which focuses on the formation and transformation of the practices through which students learn.

Through its unique theoretical framework - a cultural understanding of teaching and learning – this book develops a new way of understanding educational improvement, one which focuses on the formation and transformation of the practices through which students learn. Based on detailed ethnographic research of seventeen learning sites in further education colleges, this book generates a unique insight into a wide variety of practices of teaching and learning. Illustrated by case studies, it is structured around three key questions: what do learning cultures in FE look like and how do they transform over time? how do learning cultures transform people? how can people (tutors, managers, policy makers, but also students) transform learning cultures for the better? Through a combination of theory and analysis, Improving Learning Cultures in Further Education makes a strong case for the importance of a cultural approach to the improvement of teaching and learning in further education, and provides practical guidance for researchers, policymakers and practitioners for implementing change for the better.

Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education is a unique portable library of exceptional readings drawing together seminal extracts and contemporary literature from international sources from books and journals to support both initial study and extended career-long professionalism for further, adult and vocational education practitioners. Introductions to each reading highlight the key issues explored and explain the status of classic works. This book, along with the core text and associated website, draw upon the work of Andrew Pollard, former Director of the TLRP, and the work of many years of accumulated understanding of generations of further, adult and vocational professionals. Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education, the core text, Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education, and the website, provide a fully integrated set of resources promoting the expertise of further, adult and vocational professionals. The associated website, www.reflectiveteaching.co.uk offers supplementary resources including reflective activities, research briefings and advice on further readings. It also features a glossary of educational terms, links to useful websites and showcases examples of excellent research and practice. This book forms part of the Reflective Teaching series, edited by Andrew Pollard and Amy Pollard, offering support for reflective practice in early, primary, secondary, further, vocational, university and adult sectors of education.

The collection features the cutting-edge work of 14 doctoral graduates from the University of the West of England (UWE), exploring the issue of education policy and its impact on professional identities, including changing professional and policy contexts confronting doctoral candidates and their peers.

Jonathan Tummons has sensitively updated Curzon's long-established Teaching in Further Education, ensuring that not only does this new edition provide the academically rigorous approach of previous editions but it also offers an up to date guide to current practice and research. Topics covered include: - Theories of learning - The teaching-learning process - Instructional techniques - Assessment and evaluation - Intelligence and ability This is the complete guide for those training to work in the Further Education sector.

This book uses research and personal stories from university lecturers to explore pedagogical strategies that illuminate how students’ minds can be ‘switched on’ in order to unlock their extraordinary potential. It presents diverse ways to create inspiring learning environments, in chapters written by internationally respected experts in the broad field of the social sciences. Each author illustrates how – through their unique teaching philosophies and practices – they seek to enhance students’ experiences and promote their critical thinking, learning and development. The respective chapters provide conceptual arguments, personal insights and practical examples from a broad range of classrooms, demonstrating various ways in which students’ sociological imagination can be brought to life. As such, the book is both practical and theoretical, and is primarily aimed at educators working in both higher and further education institutions who wish to develop their understanding of classroom pedagogy as well as gain practical ideas for teaching and learning in the social sciences.

This thought provoking book from a major research project looks at the roles of learners, tutors, managers and institutional leaders in Further Education Colleges, Adult and Community Learning Centres and in Work based Learning sites.

This volume explores new ideas about globalised virtual learning environments and in particular the implications for learners, teachers and institutions.

This book offers a rich account of how quality improvement agendas, informed by neoliberalism, create contradictory and complex contexts in which teachers produce different types of practices for specific purposes. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s analytical tools, archaeology and genealogy, this book weaves together findings from classroom observations, field notes and interviews to explore the dichotomies between practices focussing on day-to-day pedagogies and practices concerned with performance management and accountability initiatives. By attending to a Foucauldian conception of power and counter conduct, it explores new means of defining quality in teaching spaces. After considering existing quality assurance judgements, the book illuminates the significance of moving slightly away from an institutionalised enterprise culture and loosing relations with reductionist approaches as a starting point. While doing so, it reworks the idea of quality by presenting other ways of looking at the complex character of pedagogical real(s) with new insights into an emergentist and process-oriented conception of teaching practices. The book argues that we need to unlearn our existing knowledge of quality that overlooks contextual constraints and opportunities enmeshed in teaching practices. It questions the assumptions that the existing methods of observation are capable of quantifying the quality of education in a classroom or in a college in toto. By introducing the idea of documentisation, the book breaks new theoretical ground to show that this so-called system of robust accountabilities is not as self-evident as we believe and why we must rethink quality by unthinking our current common sense. Written for researchers in educational studies, practising teachers and policy makers, this book combines profound insights from theory and contemporary teaching practices with clear guidelines as to how educational policy making should be approached.

Further education colleges now deliver education and training to more students than any other institutions in the post-compulsory sector. Presenting a practical guide to teaching and learning within the context of the changing FE environment, this book addresses the diverse nature of the curriculum and of the student body for which it is designed. This new edition looks at recent developments in policy, legislation, the organisation of the FE sector, student profiles and other contextual factors, which have an impact on the everyday life of colleges. Topics in this third edition include: 14-16 year olds in college and the impact of the Increased Flexibility Programme marginal groups in college, including second language learners and asylum seekers workplace learning, college/workplace links, e-learning and individualised learning developments in e-assessment, and personal records of achievement Full of practical activities and case study examples, Teaching and Learning in Further Education helps the reader to consider differing student needs and how these might best be served. It is essential reading for lecturers, tutors and teaching assistants in higher and further education.