Kathryn Ecclestone

• The University of Sheffield

In 2018, the UK Conservative government issued a ‘non-negotiable’ instruction for universities to make ‘positive mental health’ a strategic priority. This was responding to growing pressure from a variety of stakeholders including mental health organisations, student groups and higher education (HE) management who claimed a worsening crisis of stud...

Enthusiastic policy rhetoric and academic activity around ‘wellbeing’ obscure the ways in which particular meanings gain traction in a particular political and socio-cultural context. Focusing on three educational policy texts, this chapter explores the ways in which the policy trajectory from text to practice is dominated by a narrow interpretatio...

Vulnerability has become a ubiquitous description in policy and everyday educational settings as well as a foundation for a progressive politics, inside and outside education. Increasingly embedded in apocalyptic discourses about mental health, a psycho-emotional interpretation of vulnerability has elevated its status as a powerful and highly norma...

Social injustices, structural and personal crises as well as intensifying stress on some citizens seem increasing preoccupations in contemporary society and social policy. In this context, the concept of vulnerability has come to play a prominent role in academic, governmental and everyday accounts of the human condition. Policy makers and practiti...

Apocalyptic crisis discourses of mental health problems and psycho-emotional dysfunction are integral to behaviour change agendas across seemingly different policy arenas. Bringing these agendas together opens up new theoretical and empirical lines of enquiry about the symbioses and contradictions surrounding the human subjects they target. The pap...

Contemporary discourses of social justice in education, disability, mental health, social policy and feminist studies are refracted increasingly through concerns about psychological and structural vulnerabilities created by the crises of late capitalism. Focusing on developments in British social policy generally and educational research specifical...

Pessimistic discourses about crises in youth and children's well-being, mental health and vulnerability permeate English educational policy and practice. These generate vague and slippery elisions of wellbeing and mental health, and the related rise of an ad hoc, confusing market of psycho-emotional interventions promoted by new types of 'pay-exper...

In numerous countries, pessimism about enduring social and educational inequalities has produced a discernible therapeutic turn in education policy and practice, and a parallel rise in therapeutic understandings of social justice. Focusing on developments in England and Finland, this article explores the ways in which radical/critical conceptualisa...

Contemporary discourses of social justice in educational settings are refracted increasingly through three intertwined trends: (i) concerns about psychoemotional and psychological vulnerabilities created by socio-economic exclusion and alienation; (ii) the rise of universal interventions to develop “emotional wellbeing”; and (iii) the legitimizatio...

Contemporary discourses of social justice in education, disability, mental health, social policy and feminist studies are refracted increasingly through concerns about psychological and structural vulnerabilities created by the crises of late capitalism. Focusing on developments in British social policy generally and educational research specifical...

Kathryn Ecclestone worries about inappropriate educational interventions that promote emotional openness and pathologise normal responses, but Ben Robinson and Sarah Wheeler point to evidence showing better outcomes in patients who have been encouraged to express what they are feeling An unchallenged consensus exists across health and education p...

‘Resilience’ has become a popular goal in research, social policy, intervention design and implementation. Reinforced by its conceptual and political slipperiness, resilience has become a key construct in school-based, universal interventions that aim to develop it as part of social and emotional competence or emotional well-being. Drawing on a cas...

In numerous countries, pessimism about enduring social and educational inequalities has produced a discernible therapeutic turn in education policy and practice, and a parallel rise in therapeutic understandings of social justice. Focusing on developments in England and Finland, this paper explores the ways in which radical/critical conceptualisati...

Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence offers an example of a different approach to national curriculum development. It combines what are claimed to be the best features of top-down and bottom-up approaches to curriculum development, and provides an indication of the broad qualities that school education should promote rather than a detailed descript...

It is difficult to challenge a strong consensus that governments must intervene in a worsening crisis of emotional and psychological well-being. The article relates rising estimates of problems and corresponding calls for intervention in educational settings to the increasingly blurred boundaries between a cultural therapeutic ethos, academic resea...

How can teachers be helped, at relatively little expense, to improve their professional practice? This problem was addressed in ‘Improving Formative Assessment in Vocational Education and Adult Literacy, Language and Numeracy Programmes’ – the IFA project. Adopting a specific problem-based methodology as part of an action research approach, the IFA...

Emotion is a growing focus for contemporary thinking about leadership in public policy and corporate arenas. In British education systems, three imperatives are evident: the idea that transformation is essential; leadership succession in crisis; and, more recently, that leaders must be able to run organisations that address the emotional well-being...

Motivated by very different goals, various interest groups argue that the British government should address problems with citizens’ emotional well‐being. Concerns about emotional vulnerability and poor emotional well‐being amongst growing numbers of children, young people and adults produce ideas and approaches from different branches of psychology...

The nature and quality of the outcomes of learning are central to any discussion of the learner’s experience, from whichever perspective that experience is considered. For those outcomes to be assessed it is also necessary to articulate in some way the constructs on which such judgments are based. The relationship between the intended outcomes of l...

Current debate about assessment in higher education raises educational and political issues. Lecturers who wish to make their assessment more reliable and rigorous, as well as more effective in improving students' learning, need more than technical help to do so. This paper reports findings from an action research project which focused on assessmen...

Claims that emotional well‐being is synonymous with successful educational practices and outcomes resonate with contemporary political portrayal of well‐being as integral to ‘social justice’. In Britain, diverse concerns are creating an ad hoc array of therapeutic interventions to develop and assess attributes, dispositions and attitudes associated...

There is growing interest amongst researchers, policy makers and teachers at all levels of the British education system in assessment that encourages engagement with learning, develops autonomy and motivation and raises levels of formal achievement. These goals have been influenced by developments in outcome-based and portfolio-based qualifications...

In discussing the relationship between curriculum and assessment it is commonly argued that assessment should be aligned to curriculum or, alternatively, that they should be congruent with each other. This article explores that relationship in five educational contexts in the UK and in Europe, ranging across school education, workplace learning, vo...

Research and development on formative assessment has paid little attention to part‐time adult basic education in informal community‐based settings. A three‐year project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the National Research Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, and the Quality Improvement Agency addresses that gap in vocational and...

In contrast to theoretical and empirical insights from research into formative assessment in compulsory schooling, understanding the relationship between formative assessment, motivation and learning in vocational education has been a topic neglected by researchers. The Improving Formative Assessment project (IFA) addresses this gap, using a socioc...

The silent ascendancy of a therapeutic ethos across the education system and into the workplace demands a book that serves as a wake up call to everyone. Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes' controversial and compelling book uses a wealth of examples across the education system, from primary schools to university, and the workplace to show how ther...

Developing people's emotional well-being and emotional engagement are official aims in social policy. A growing number of initiatives respond to diverse, often contradictory public, political and professional concerns about individuals' emotional needs. These concerns are a powerful discourse in 'personalised learning'. The article contributes to d...

In early 2007, the Department for Education and Skills issued the ‘Making Good Progress’ (1) consultation document seeking views on ‘… what more we could do, without compromising improved standards, to help schools, parents and pupils to focus even more on individual progress’. The document looked in detail at the rates of progress that pupils were...

Research evidence that well-executed formative assessment raises achievement and enhances motivation and autonomy has influenced policy and practice in schools and universities in the United Kingdom. Formative assessment is also built into the aims and assessment activities of outcome-based qualifications in post-compulsory education. Behind these...

This pamphlet results from the Assessment Systems for the Future project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The project was set up by the Assessment Reform Group in September 2003 to consider evidence from research and practice about the summative assessment of school pupils, and to propose ways in which such assessment can benefit their education...

This pamphlet results from the Assessment Systems for the Future project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The project was set up by the Assessment Reform Group in September 2003 to consider evidence from research and practice about the summative assessment of school pupils, and to propose ways in which such assessment can benefit their education...

This pamphlet results from the Assessment Systems for the Future project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The project was set up by the Assessment Reform Group in September 2003 to consider evidence from research and practice about the summative assessment of school pupils, and to propose ways in which such assessment can benefit their education...

Los países del Reino Unido tienen gran tradición en lo que respecta a rendición de cuentas y pruebas estandarizadas externas, similares al Simce que se realiza en Chile. Sin embargo, en las últimas décadas ha surgido una corriente crítica de académicos que se ha dedicado a investigar las políticas de evaluación, sus propósitos e impactos. El Assess...

Cultural and political interest in people's emotional well-being encourages the idea that education should play a prominent role in fostering students' emotional intelligence, self-esteem and self-awareness. This resonates increasingly with a broader therapeutic ethos that supporters claim promotes better personal relationships and democratic proce...

The Assessment Systems for the Future (ASF) project is a project of the Assessment Reform Group ARG, led by Wynne Harlen. Its focus is summative assessment and the role that assessment by teachers can take in it. This paper begins, in part 1, with a statement of, and rationale for, the learning outcomes that an effective summative assessment system...

The Assessment Systems for the Future (ASF) project is a project of the Assessment Reform Group ARG, led by Wynne Harlen. Its focus is summative assessment and the role that assessment by teachers can take in it. In Part 1 (sections 2 and 3) of this paper we explain the reasons for the focus on summative assessment by teachers, the project procedur...

The Assessment Systems for the Future (ASF) project is a project of the Assessment Reform Group ARG, led by Wynne Harlen. Working Paper 1 offers an analytical framework that can be applied to any context in which teachers assess, for summative purposes, their own students’ work. Working Paper 2 summarises the evidence from two systematic reviews of...

The Assessment Systems for the Future (ASF) project is a project of the Assessment Reform Group ARG, led by Wynne Harlen. Its focus is summative assessment and the role that assessment by teachers can take in it. This paper summarises the research evidence revealed by the latest in a series of reviews of research that have explored what can be lear...

In February 2003, the group embarked on a two-year plan of review work focused on the use of assessment by teachers for summative purposes. This focus was in response to evidence from previous reviews (Black and Wiliam, 1998; Crooks, 1988;) that, on the one hand, formative assessment can raise standards of achievement, and that, on the other, claim...

Contemporary educational goals place increasing emphasis on conferring recognition and building self-esteem for people deemed to be marginalised and vulnerable. Such goals coalesce with the language, symbols and practices of therapy inscribed within a broader ‘therapeutic ethos’. The paper relates these trends to broader cultural demoralisation abo...

Despite numerous problems with outcome-based assessment systems, claims that they enhance learners' motivation and autonomy resonate with research interest in how young people develop cultural and social capital. However, research has not yet explored the ways in which assessment systems affect the forms of capital embedded within them. This paper...

The ALRSG was created as one of the first wave of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) Review Groups in 2000 and undertook its first review from February 2001 to January 2002. This was entitled 'A systematic review of the impact of summative assessment and testing on students' motivation for learni...

The growing popularity of notions such as "self esteem" and "emotional intelligence" reflect people's shifts in thinking. From the pages of self-help manuals and women's magazines, self-esteem, emotional well-being and emotional intelligence have gone mainstream. This is leading to new professional activities in emotional management, life coaching,...

16 learning A systematic and critical review LSRC reference LSRC reference Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning A systematic and critical review This report critically reviews the literature on learning styles and examines in detail 13 of the most influential models. The report concludes that it matters fundamentally which instrument is...

Two increasingly important strands in current educational thinking are reflected in growing interest amongst researchers, policy-makers and qualification designers in formative assessment strategies that motivate learners and enhance their educational attainment. In addition, a body of research suggests that learners develop 'learning careers' from...

Incl. abstract and bib. Social capital theory has been widely debated across the social sciences. Its core idea is that relationships and norms have a value, in that they enable individuals and groups to co-operate for mutual benefit. The role of social capital appears to be changing in the context of the self-aware reflexivity that characterises c...

Assessment in higher education is criticised for subjective and norm-referenced criteria. It is widely assumed that clear learning outcomes and criteria make assessment more accessible to students and enable teachers to make more reliable grading decisions. Meanwhile, university programmes are increasingly fragmented amongst other departments or fr...

The assessment regime for General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) has been radical, influential and controversial. Its numerous changes, and the debates, which have accompanied them, illuminate the political and organizational struggles that characterize assessment policy in the United Kingdom. The paper draws on interviews with represen...

Concerns about non-participation in lifelong learning may indicate an emerging moral authoritarianism arising from pessimism about the future. Low expectations of potential for social progress, human agency and learners' motivation to take part in formal learning, exacerbate moves towards a ‘minimalist pedagogy’ regulated by government agencies and...

This article reports on a project based on the authors' concerns about assessment practice in higher education in the United Kingdom. These concerns stem from their experience as university lecturers, and from knowledge of research evidence and policy issues relating to assessment in higher education. Given the complex nature of higher education, i...

Trends towards more prescriptive formats of outcome-based assessment in higher education are integral to proposals by the Dearing Committee to create national degree standards and a new system of external examiners. Potentially, outcome-based assessment can enhance students' motivation and autonomy and have positive effects on curriculum developmen...

A growing research enterprise surrounds the implementation of General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs). It encompasses a diverse array of researchers and consultants from different organisations who work to different agendas and imperatives. Between 1992 and 1997, the National Council for Vocational Qualifications developed a large resear...

Problems with National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) have not undermined the impact of both qualifications on research, policy making and curriculum development in the post-compulsory sector. In particular, the creation of a multi-million pound research programme for GNVQ, set up by the Nati...

Increasing numbers of universities are incorporating National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) into vocational and professional programmes. In spite of a growing body of informed academic criticism about their drawbacks, many programme providers appear to be adopting NVQs with little concerted debate in their institutions. This paper argues that pr...

Political insistence on implementing higher level National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) currently dominates the ideological high ground for professional development for the post‐compulsory sector. There is a widespread and mistaken belief that GNVQs might redress NVQs’ shortcomings by adding ‘underp...

The right to create and reject new forms of knowledge and challenge received wisdom is becoming the privilege of a shrinking professional elite. Glib adoption of liberal rhetoric can disguise antihumanist objectives, wherein empowerment could merely mean choosing competencies defined by others and personal development means becoming economically us...

Interest in professional development based on competence‐based education and training (CBET) is growing. Competence models undoubtedly pose some important, constructive challenges to traditional arrangements for developing knowledge and expertise at all occupational levels. However, CBET's impact goes far beyond this. Its processes profoundly affec...

Competency-based models such as Britain's National Vocational Qualifications should not be adopted for adult education professional development. The values underlying competency models are incompatible with the values of reflective practice, such as ownership of curriculum and entitlement to lifelong learning. (SK)

INTRODUCTION Much of the influential work in the UK on ideas about formative assessment and assessment for learning has been developed in the compulsory sector in the context of a highly prescriptive summative testing system at five stages of children's schooling (Black and Wiliam, 1998; Black et al, 2005). While the theoretical and empirical work...

Full-text of this document is available at https://crm.lsnlearning.org.uk/user/order.aspx?code=052284&src=xoweb This study was commissioned to investigate whether or not use of different assessment methods makes a difference to learner achievement and progress in the learning and skills sector. The research found that clarity in assessment process...