Skills shortages in STEM sectors represent a real threat to the UK’s capacity for growth. Even in the current recessionary period, employers cannot find enough future employees suitably qualified in STEM to meet demand. Although young people value mathematics and science education, many do not study STEM subjects beyond GCSE and too few are currently...

Today there is growing agreement that literacy is at the center of all learning. Expectations for what it means to be literate are rising, and all educators must play a role in helping students meet these expectations. The new Common Core State Standards (CCSS), recently adopted by forty-six states and the District of Columbia, require...

This report reviews research into assessment, especially in schools, analyses the pivotal role of assessment in learning and argues for its reconceptualisation by practitioners and policy makers to better support learning. Section 1 outlines some current pressures for assessment reform, introduces the concept of a learning assessment system designed to establish where learners are in...

This is the third and final installment of Maxim’s series of Research Notes on charter schools. Research Note 3: Are for-profit schools a good idea? interrogates whether for-profit operators should be allowed to operate schools under the Government’s proposed partnership school programme. • The NZ Government intends to pilot “Partnership Schools” (Kura Hourua) from 2014...

This publication contains statistics of children's enrolment and attendance at preschool programs across Australia in 2012. Key findings: In 2012, there were 7,594 service providers delivering a preschool program in Australia. Delivery models of preschool in Australia were comprised of 'Preschool' service providers and 'Long day care' (LDC) service providers that delivered a preschool program...