Film Preview Seminar: Our Future: Young People’s Views of Higher Education in Scotland, by Sarah Minty, Research Fellow, CREID, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh (Friday 10th January 2014, 12.30-13.30pm, St John's Land Seminar Room 4.22, Moray House School of Education, Holyrood Campus).

2 New CES Briefings
Governing by Inspection (1): The work of the European Inspectorates, Jenny Ozga, Sotiria Grek and Martin Lawn
Governing by Inspection (2): Redesigning school inspection in England and Scotland, John Clarke, Sotiria Grek and Jenny Ozga

CES Briefings prompt radio programme: CES Briefings on PISA and how international data and comparisons of student and school performance are shaping national education policies have prompted a BBC Radio 4 programme on the topic. The Briefings (Nos. 44 and 45) by Sotiria Grek and Jenny Ozga are available to download. The programme 'PISA - global education tables tested' will be broadcast on Monday 25th November at 8pm on BBC Radio 4, a week before the announcement of the latest PISA results.

Conference: David Raffe gave a keynote address to the annual conference of the Chilean National Council for Education, in Santiago, October 2013. His presentation discussed issues in designing and introducing a national qualifications framework, drawing on Scottish and Irish experience. He has been asked to address the same topic at a seminar in Japan in February 2014.

Report: The full report on the study of the impact of pupils’ use of career websites has now been published. The research figured prominently in a Parliamentary question Neil Findlay MSP asked of the Minister for Youth Employment, Angela Constance, on 2 October (see www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/scotland-24374178). The Minister’s office subsequently requested a copy of the report.

Seminar: Governing by Inspection: inspecting as a learning act, by Dr Sotiria Grek, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh (Wednesday 23rd October 2013, 15.30-17.00, Simon Laurie Seminar Room 1.05, Moray House School of Education, Holyrood Campus).

Seminar: Structuring student experiences: lower secondary education in the Republic of Ireland, by Dr Emer Smyth, Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin (Friday 11th October 2013, 12.30-14.00, St John's Land Seminar Room 4/22, 4th Floor, St John’s Land, Moray House School of Education, Holyrood Campus).

Seminar: A well-attended seminar on “Educational attainment and inequality in Scotland: How does Scotland compare with the rest of the UK?” was held in Edinburgh on 28 August 2013. This was co-sponsored by the ESRC Fellowship project on Higher Education in Scotland, the Devolution Settlement and the Referendum on Independence. The supporting documents and presentations, including the presentation by David Raffe, are available through this link.

Presentation: David Raffe and Cathy Howieson gave a presentation focused on themes from CES research on school to work transition systems and the Scottish system for lifelong learning, to a delegation from the Culture, Youth and Sport Committee of the Baden-Wűrttemberg Parliament when they visited the Moray School of Education on 26th June.

Presentation: Cathy Howieson and Sheila Semple presented the findings of their research on the impact of career websites at an event hosted by MSP Neil Findlay at the Scottish Parliament on 18th June. Copies of the Briefing summarising the research and the presentation are available online.

Seminar presentations: Changing Inequalities and Access to a Differentiated Higher Education System on Friday 14 June 2013. To see the seminar presentations please click here.

Seminar: Changing Inequalities and Access to a Differentiated Higher Education System to disseminate the findings of the project "Changing Transitions to a Differentiated Higher Education System" funded by the Nuffield Foundation (Friday 14th June 2013, 14.00-17.00, Godfrey Thomson Hall, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh).

Press release: Andrew Denholm of the Herald Scotland and Chris Marshall of the Scotsman wrote articles based on the press release issued on 10 June 2013 about the final report for the project "Changing Transitions to a Differentiated Higher Education System".

Think Tank 1: The funding of higher education in Scotland, the UK and internationally, organised by Centre for Research in Education Inclusion and Diversity (CREID) (Wednesday 22nd May 2013, 09:30-16:00, Godfrey Thomson Hall, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh).

Seminar: Deliberative democracy and parental participation in Mexican secondary schools by Dr Pedro Flores-Crespo of the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico (Wednesday 24th April 2013, 16.00-17.30, Genomics Seminar Room, 3rd Floor, St John’s Land).

On 17 April 2013 the Scottish Funding Council held its annual Learning for All conference, to coincide with the publication of its seventh Measures of Success update report. David Raffe's presentation to the conference, on "University Outcome Agreements and Legislative Duties: Opportunities and Threats for Equality and Widening Access" can be accessed here.

Darcie Gillie's presentation on The career destinations of widening participation graduates 2004-2009 is now available. Copies of Widening participation First Destinations Report 2004 and Widening participation First Destinations Report 2007 are available for download.

New CES Briefing
The Paradox of Scotland: limited credit transfer in a credit-based system, Cathy Howieson and David Raffe

In December 2012 Linda Croxford and David Raffe gave three presentations based on their research for the Nuffield Foundation project on Changing Transitions to a Differentiated Higher Education System.
Linda Croxford presented work in progress on the components of institutional differentiation in HE to a meeting of the Applied Quantitative Methods Network (AQuMeN) in Edinburgh.
David Raffe made two presentations to the annual conference of the Society for Research in Higher Education in Newport, South Wales. The first summarised the project's findings to date on institutional differences; the second analysed cross-border applications and entry to HE for the four home countries of the UK (this will appear shortly in the journal Higher Education Quarterly). Two seminars on the project's findings will take place in London and Edinburgh in spring 2003. The London event is provisionally scheduled for the afternoon of Monday 22 April, at the Nuffield Foundation.

Also in December 2012, David Raffe made a keynote presentation to a workshop of the new Irish national qualifications body, Quality and Qualifications Ireland, to establish a vision for the country's qualifications system.

European Conference for Educational Research (ECER): Cadiz 18-22 September 2012
Cathy Howieson presented a paper entitled 'The Paradox of Scotland: limited credit transfer in a credit-based system'. The presentation was based on a recent study on credit systems for lifelong learning.
Linda Croxford presented a paper entitled 'Changing transitions to a differentiated higher education system: 1996-2010'. The presentation was based on ongoing analysis from the Changing Transitions to a Differentiated Higher Education System.

Two new briefings:
CES Briefing No. 59: Knowledge and policy in education in Scotland: findings from a five-year research project (Sotiria Grek, Evgenia Katartzi, Martin Lawn and Jenny Ozga)
CES Briefing No. 58: How do policy-makers learn? The role of international tests and the 'meeting' (Sotiria Grek)

CES has submitted a response to Skill Development Scotland's consultation on a new Career Management Framework for Scotland

Cathy Howieson has accepted an invitation to join the International Editorial Advisory Panel of the British Journal of Guidance & Counselling.

On 5 April 2012 Professor Harvey Krahn of the University of Alberta presented a seminar on "Exploring or Floundering? The meaning of employment and educational fluctuations in emerging adulthood".

Professor David Raffe presented a paper entitled Widening access to higher education policy in post-devolution UK: Preliminary findings from research funded by the Nuffield Foundation at the Widening Access to Higher Education: Scottish, UK and European Policy Dimensions Conference on Thursday 1 March 2012. This paper was based on the Changing Transitions to a Differentiated Higher Education System project.

Reconstructions of Secondary Education: Theory, Myth and Practice since the War has been re-published by Routledge in its Library Editions: Education series. The book, by John Gray, Andrew McPherson and David Raffe, was first published in 1983.

New CES Briefings
Briefing No. 57
Policy borrowing or policy learning? How (not) to improve education systems, David Raffe
Briefing No. 56
Help yourself: can career websites make a difference?, Cathy Howieson and Sheila Semple

CES Associate awarded OBE
CES Associate, Dr Deirdre Hughes, has been awarded an OBE for services to the careers profession. Her award is recognition of her significant achievements as a policy adviser, academic, researcher, trainer and advocate for careers guidance. Deirdre is former President of the Institute of Career Guidance and currently a UK Commissioner for Employment and Skills.

Review of UK school systems

A review by Dr Linda Croxford which describes the differences between school systems in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland published by RISE (Research and Information on State Education).

Parliamentary research seminar

Presentation given by Professor David Raffe to a Parliamentary research seminar on how to improve school systems on 28 June 2011.

National Qualifications Frameworks

David Raffe made a keynote presentation to the European Peer Learning Activity on National Qualifications Frameworks: An International Perspective, in Brussels in December 2010. His presentation drew on CES research on qualifications and qualifications frameworks as well as research by colleagues in other countries. The event, attended by policy-makers, framework developers and researchers from 40 countries, was organised by the European Commission, CEDEFOP (the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) and the European Training Foundation.

International Labour Organisation Report

The International Labour Organisation has published The Implementation and Impact of National Qualifications Frameworks: Report of a study in 16 countries, the final report of the most rigorous attempt so far to develop a comparative evidence base on NQFs. It is written by Stephanie Allais, who recently completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the CES. Stephanie Allais and David Raffe also contributed to two Working Papers: Researching NQFs: some conceptual issues and Learning from the First Qualifications Frameworks. The latter includes Stephanie's case study of South Africa, and David's case study of Scotland, which the study identified as a relatively successful NQF. All publications from the project, including reports on the other NQFs studied, are available at: http://www.ilo.org/skills/what/projects/lang--en/WCMS_126588/index.htm.

Robertson Bequest Seminar

Post-16 Education Policy Making - examples from the devolved systems of the UK and Australia: Dr Dennis Gunning
Tuesday 22nd February 2011 @ 5.30pm, St John's Land Seminar Room (4th Floor, Room 4/22), Moray House School of Education, Holyrood Road

The post-16 education and training systems in the UK and in Australia both operate within a mix of national and devolved responsibilities – and both share the same challenges across a range of strategic issues in senior secondary, further and higher education. The seminar will use case studies to illustrate some of these strategic issues and to discuss the direction of travel of the two countries in the balance between national and devolved powers. Issues covered will include senior secondary school qualifications, qualifications and credit systems, post-school quality assurance and funding.

New CES Briefing

Briefing No. 55: National Qualifications Frameworks: what's the evidence of success?, Stephanie Allais

Social Network Analysis Workshop Series

Sotiria Grek (CES) and Heide Weishaar (Centre for Population Health Sciences) received the Roberts Fund for Research-led initiatives to develop the ‘Social Network Analysis in Scotland’ (SNAS) researcher group. Social Network Analysis is a quantitative method which visually maps and measures relationships between individuals, organizations and other entities, and helps to analyse the structure and characteristics of networks, ties and actors. SNAS will run a workshop series (April-October 2011), aiming to provide postgraduate students and staff at the University of Edinburgh and across Scotland with an opportunity to explore SNA and its utility for their own work, to get to know other researchers interested in SNA and to establish collaborations for potential projects. The workshop series will provide an induction to SNA and create a platform for exchanging ideas on SNA.

More on the dates of the workshops and how to book will be advertised here soon so please do check! The workshops are also supported by AQMeN and the Institute of Education, Community and Society, MHSE.

Poverty and Education: breaking down the barriers

Dr Linda Croxford of CES was invited to present research findings by the Educational Institute for Scotland (EIS) at the launch of their new report.

Project graded as "Outstanding" by ESRC

The Project "Education and Nationalism: The Discourse of Education Policy in Scotland" has been recognised as "Outstanding" by the Economic and Social Research Council. ESRC has told the Centre that the recent "Education and Nationalism Project" has received an "Outstanding" grade in its evaluation.

New Publications on National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs)

The Framework Implementation and Impact Study for the Irish National Framework of Qualifications was published on 8 September 2009 by the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland. David Raffe, a member of the study team, will present a paper comparing the Scottish and Irish qualifications frameworks at the European Conference on Educational Research later in September. His report on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Frameworks, and a paper analysing the dynamics of introducing an NQF, will be published by the International Labour Office later in 2009 in Working Papers of its project on NQFs: Implementation and Impact. NQFs were the subject of CES Briefings 48 and 49, published in June 2009.

The National Evaluation of the Local Collaborative Projects on Recognising Achievement

This project, funded by the Scottish Government, involves a cross-site evaluation of the Scottish Recognition of Achievement Collaborative Enquiry Projects set up to investigate and pilot different approaches to recognising young people’s wider achievements beyond formal certification.. The aim of the national evaluation is to identify the lessons from the projects to assist the SG in developing guidance and support for local authorities, schools and other education providers about giving young people opportunities for achievements of all kinds and helping them gain recognition for them. The project is being carried out in conjunction with Enterprising Careers at Strathclyde University and runs from December 2008 to November 2009.

Self-Help and Career Planning

In recent years, the focus of career guidance services in many countries has moved towards promoting self-help by clients. This project was commissioned by Skill Development Scotland (Careers) to investigate how the impact of self-help services might be measured and to what extent does the use of self-help tools promote young people’s career self management skills and decision–making. The study was led by Enterprising Careers at Strathclyde University and was completed between January and March 2009.

Europa Seminar Series: ‘Practicing EU Government: Problematisation, Mobilisation and Legitimation’

With the School of Law and School of Social and Political Studies, CES has successfully applied for an Edinburgh Europa Institute Seminar Series 2008-2009 engaging with and taking a lead in the consolidation of a ‘political sociological’ approach to EU studies. To provide direction and focus, the seminar series will critically appraise the ‘distinctiveness’ of political sociology in two concrete ways: first, regarding the object of study, we ask a sociology of ‘what’?; second, regarding methodological tools, we ask ‘how’ it should be studied.

New Project: Education and Nationalism: The Discourse of Education Policy in Scotland: ESRC: August 2008 - May 2009: PI: Dr Margaret Arnott (Glasgow Caledonian University), Co-I: Jenny Ozga (CES)

The project will look at the connection between nationalism and education policy in post-devolution Scotland, following the election of a nationalist government there. It has 3 main objectives: (a) to map and analyse the discursive use of the idea of 'the nation' in making education policy in Scotland; (b) to explore how Scottish education policy relates to UK-wide policy making, as reflected in this discourse; (c) to assess the relative significance of global, state level (UK) and national (Scottish) discourses in shaping and promoting policy in education.

The Centre has been awarded a Marie Curie intra-European Fellowship for Career Development on the topic of ‘Post-enlargement Migration, Integration and Education: Polish Immigrants in Scotland’. The Fellowship will be held in CES  by Dr Marta Moskal, from the Institute of European Studies, Faculty of International and Political Studies, the Jagiellonian University of Kracow from March 2008 for 18 months.

Scotland’s Working Pupils: The Nature and Implications of the Part-time Employment of Secondary School Pupils, by Cathy Howieson, Jim McKechnie and Sheila Semple. This research just published challenges some commonly held assumptions about school pupils’ involvement in part-time work. The study shows that part-time employment is common and is not limited to just ‘pocket money’ jobs such as paper rounds and babysitting. Pupils work in a wider range of jobs, often in the adult labour market and much of their work provides opportunities for learning and attaining skills, especially certain core and employability skills. The study, carried out by CES and colleagues at Paisley and Strathclyde Universities, was funded by the Scottish Executive. Copies of the summary Research Findings, the full report and press release are available online.

Consultation on the Demerger of Careers Scotland. CES has made a submission with the Centre for Studies in Enterprise to the consultation on the demerger of Careers Scotland. [more ...]

Martineau Society: 12th Annual Conference, 13-16 July 2006. The Martineau Society’s 12th Annual Conference took place from 13-16 July 2006 in the University of Edinburgh at the Moray House School of Education and was hosted by the Centre for Educational Sociology and the Department of Education and Society. The conference was organised by Honorary Professor Gaby Weiner and Moira Burke from CES. [more ...]

New Researcher in CES. Sotiria Grek has been appointed to the Research Fellowship in Education Policy and Politics on the ESRC/ESF project on Fabricating Quality in European Education. She takes up her post in September. The 3 year project looks at the ways in which data are produced and used in quality assurance and evaluation processes in compulsory schooling in England and Wales, with parallel studies in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Sotiria is currently completing her PhD thesis on Museum education, theory, policy, practice in the Department of Community and Higher Education at the Moray House School of Education. She holds a BA (Hons) degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and an MPhil from the same institution, as well as an MLitt from the University of St Andrews.

The Value of Longitudinal Data: Using the British Cohort Studies to Understand Women's Employment from a Lifecourse Perspective, by Dr Jane Elliott, Research Director at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies, Institute of Education, University of London. Under the auspices of Dr Iannelli's ESRC Research Fellowship this seminar was held on 29 June 2006. The abstract and slides of the seminar are now available on-line.

New Research Project: Knowledge and Policy: The role of Knowledge in the construction and regulation of health and education policy in Europe: convergences and specificities among nations and sectors (KNOW&POL), 2006 - 2011. A European Commission 6th Framework Integrated project, priority 7 Citizens and governance in a knowledge-based society. This project is co-ordinated by a research team from the University of Louvain, and involves 12 teams from 8 countries, including two from the University of Edinburgh (CES and the School of Social and Political Studies). The project will explore how knowledge is mobilised in making decisions and addressing problems in these policy areas. There is extensive involvement of policy makers in workshops and seminars and a strong focus on how policy makers learn.

New Research Project: Fabricating Quality In European Education (FAB-Q): May 2006 - April 2009. An ESF/ESRC 'EUROCORES' Project. This project, co-ordinated by CES' involves 4 partner countries (the UK-(England and Scotland), Denmark, Finland and Sweden) in a comparative study of the ways that data are produced and used in quality assurance and evaluation processes in compulsory schooling. The study explores the relationship between processes of data collection, selection and ordering and the negotiations around these processes at trans-national, national, local and school levels in order to assess the extent to which data may be understood as a form of 'governing by numbers'. This is one of only 7 social science projects funded under the highly competitive Eurocores scheme, and the only one in education. Assessors for the European Science Foundation and ESRC described the project as 'making an outstanding contribution to high quality social science research'.

Three CES Special Briefings for the Education and Youth Transitions in England, Wales and Scotland, 1984-2002 (EYT) project.
No. 40: Social-Class Inequalities in Education in England and Scotland, by David Raffe, Linda Croxford, Cristina Iannelli, Marina Shapira and Cathy Howieson.
No. 39: Education and Youth Transitions across Britain 1984-2002, by Linda Croxford, Cristina Iannelli, Marina Shapira, Cathy Howieson and David Raffe.
No. 38: The Youth Cohort Surveys - How Good is the Evidence?, by Linda Croxford