Project Report from the year 2014 in the subject Pedagogy - School System, Educational and School Politics, language: English, abstract: This book reports on a research project which was carried out between 2002 and 2013. The focus of the research was the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) and its education and training and development programmes for inspectors. Claims and disputes: The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) defines itself as the statutory watchdog for the preservation and management of the standard of education in England. And by its own accounts, Ofsted has claimed, firstly, that it is the promoter and upholder high standard of educational achievements, secondly, that it is the bulwark against 'weak teaching' and weak leadership, management and governance, and, thirdly, that it is the champion and protector of the interests of the constituents of education in England (Ofsted 2012: 4). This research does not dispute the fact that the above claims came with the provisions of the Education (schools) Act (1992) and the Education and Inspection Act (2006) and that the Act delegated the statutory duties to inspect, evaluate and judge and report on the standard of education in England to Ofsted. Instead the research is disputing Ofsted's claims as follows: firstly, the research disputes the extent to which Ofsted has achieved the statutory duties delegated to it under the provisions of the 1992 and 2006 Acts. And, secondly, the research is questioning whether in its current structure Ofsted is fit for purpose and whether Ofsted and a significant proportion of its inspectors have the operational and intellectual capabilities to continue to inspect specific educational remits, and to evaluate and judge and report on the standard of education in England. Thus the research has advanced the following arguments against Ofsted's and its inspectors' capabilities and fitness for p

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2010 in the subject Pedagogy - Adult Education, grade: -, University of London (Goldsmiths College), course: Education, language: English, comment: The thesis has the potential to make an important contribution to the research literature in the field of post compulsory education. The discussion of the concept of inclusion provides the thesis with its originality: although there have been studies of inclusion in FE I have not seen it tacked in this way. It is an ambitious and innovative thesis written in a strong voice. The findings shed valuable light on the ways in which adult learners perceive their experiences of studying on a range of programmes within colleges that reflect the diversity of the communities in which they sit., abstract: The focus of the research in this thesis concerns the meanings of inclusion. The thesis explores the meanings of inclusion within the post-compulsory education policy subsystem of the national education policy system. The thesis uses ethnographic analysis of policy documents, ethnographic interviews and surveys to explore the meanings of inclusion and the experiences of learners, teachers, College policy-makers, curriculum managers and course co-ordinators together with the factors that influence those meanings and experiences in the cross-cultural contexts of further education colleges. The thesis begins with a critical review of theoretical models of inclusion before embarking on historical explorations of the evolution of inclusive policy 1945 - 2010 and thence the meanings of inclusion from the perspectives of adult learners, teachers, College policy-makers, curriculum managers and course co-ordinators. From the results of the analysis of ethnographic interviews, surveys and documents it was found that the meanings of inclusion, the experiences of inclusion and the factors that influenced these meanings and experiences were varied and contested. The thesis argues that irrespecti