Mike Blamires

Over fifty years ago, Seymour Papert invented the Turtle, the world’s first educational robot. In doing so, he created tools that supported a Constructionist approach to education. A hero to many people, he challenged the established teaching methods and principles, upsetting traditional educators. What were Papert’s educational ideas? When he bega...

The rapid introduction, impact and ubiquity of digital technologies and tools in the past forty years means that educational professionals and students largely inhabit a level playing field in terms of skills and knowledge. Whilst education systems are still predicated on information transmission young people have embraced non-sequential learning....

In 1969, Seymour Papert invented the first educational robot called a Turtle. It was an addition to the computer language Logo, which he’d designed in 1965 specifically for educating children. Papert did not simply invent some technology, he offered a revolutionary way of educating children. He gave teachers practical tools to realise constructioni...

Access to high-quality evidence has been cited as central to the enhancement of teacher professionalism. This is not a given and teacher access to high-quality evidence requires significant planning and effort. This paper considers the creation of quality-assured reviews to build sustainable quality-assured evidence sources that inform the training...

Mike Blamires was recently on a working group to develop the Open Access policy for academic publication at Canterbury Christ Church University. In this article he discusses some intriguing implications for universities and their Departments of Education. His expressed views are his own and are not intended as a representation of any policy guideli...

This article considers the role of constructions of creativity in the classroom and their consequences for learning and, in particular, for the assessment of creativity. Definitions of creativity are examined to identify key implications for supporting the development of children’s creativity within classroom. The implications of assessing creativi...

This paper considers inclusion in the early years from the perspective of a social model of learning articulated by Wenger (1998). This model is used to highlight key areas of teaching and learning in the early years that enhance participation and achievement. Implications for change in early years settings are considered alongside some priorities...

The title appears to be about science teaching but, don’t be fooled, it isn’t. This article takes a look at the fashions and soundbites that underpin policy and practice in relation to learners experiencing barriers to their participation and achievement in education. In the context of evidence informed practice in education, it might be important...

The original educational robots were the Logo Turtles. They derived their rationale from constructionism. How has this changed? This paper postulates ten principles that underpin the effective utilisation of robotic devices within education settings. We argue that they form a framework still sympathetic to constructionism that can guide the develop...

En este artículo se considera el impacto de la movilidad y la migración de las poblaciones; y las políticas de respuesta a este fenómeno, cuando existen conflictos entre los grupos étnicos y culturales existentes y los nuevos. Se consideran los diferentes enfoques de multiculturalismo y cohesión social con su repercusión educacional. Se critican es...

This chapter will consider how thinking and practice has developed over the last 25 years in relation to the use of technologies to provide access and engagement with all aspects of education for learners experiencing barriers to learning and inclusion. It will relate the developments in the conceptualisation of special educational needs to advance...

This paper considers the evidence underpinning barriers and levers to the successful use of Information Communications Technology in Early Years settings. It responds to some of the reluctance to use technology and challenges received opinion about the use of technology in this phase. Factors for successful implementation are explored in the contex...

The original educational robots were the Logo Turtles. They derived their rationale from constructionism. How has this changed? This paper postulates ten principles that underpin the effective utilisation of robotic devices within education settings. We argue that they form a framework still sympathetic to constructionism that can guide the develop...

The Educational Robotic Application (ERA) Principles provides a framework for evaluating Educational Robots and their activities. This paper presents the rationale behind the proposed e-Robot Project, an online community based research resource aimed at gathering data on the use of educational robotics. Collating the data against ERA is an iterativ...

This considers the potential of the Teacher Training Resource Bank (TTRB) as a resource for professional development with primary education. Although, the portal was designed with the needs of Teacher Education in mind, the resource has been evaluated as highly valuable for primary teachers who seek to enhance their evidence informed practice. This...

This paper considers the accountability frameworks that are intended to determine the quality of teachers graduating from training programmes and considers how these frameworks may need to take more account of evidence for enabling and assistive technologies if they are to enable new teachers to make effective use of this technology for inclusion.

This article explores the legacy of Adlerian approaches to behaviour. Mike Blamires offers an opportunity to consider the impact of Adler's premise that education is fundamentally about encouragement and the promotion of democratic principles. In so doing he challenges us to interrogate the term ‘behaviour management’, and its current use by policy...

In this paper, we describe work in progress on the UK Teacher Training Resource Bank. This is an online database of articles, artefacts, materials and resources which have been compiled from the history of teacher education. The inclusion criteria for the site are being evolved in an organic and resourceful partnership between Canterbury Christ Chu...

Schools are sometimes unaware of what support services can do for them while support services need to perform a credible and relevant function. This book will help either party to: make ideas work by being aware of implementation issues; benefit from those lessons learned by successful partnerships; and succeed with the right criteria for effective...

Many education professionals believe in the potential of ICT to enable the voice and increase the inclusion of learners experiencing barriers to learning due to physical and/or learning disabilities. For example, adults with learning difficulties have created accounts of their experiences using symbols with a talking word processor, thus overcoming...

This paper considers differentiation in teaching and learning as a means to aid inclusive planning and practice and then utilises concepts from the work undertaken on Universal Design for Learning as a means to clarify and guide thinking and action in order to create a versatile school that can meet the challenges of inclusion.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded a Social Communication and Understanding Project in Higher Education (ASPIHE) for a period of two years during 2000-2002. This was a strand two disability project, which aimed to promote and disseminate existing expertise and good practice across the higher education community. The foc...

This chapter compares the three dominant educational models that address concerns traditionally lying within the areas of difficulty, disaffection and disability. In doing so the potential and limitations of each model will be explored. Allan (1999) has suggested that 'Foucault's toolbox' for analysis has been under utilised within this area of edu...

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This edited book provides a conceptual framework for the use of technology to enable the learning and participation of pupils experiencing difficulty and/or disability in their education. It includes chapters illustrating different uses of technology to overcome barriers to learning.

This series about individual education plans (IEPs) focuses on significant areas of SEN as documented in the 1994 Code of Practice. It provides key principles, institutional self-reviews, and ideas for action with additional photocopiable INSET activities sheets and case studies. The series recognizes progress made since 1994 and considers IEPs as...

This series about individual education plans (IEPs) focuses on significant areas of SEN as documented in the 1994 Code of Practice. It provides key principles, institutional self-reviews, and ideas for action with additional photocopiable INSET activities sheets and case studies. The series recognizes progress made since 1994 and considers IEPs as...

Aims to help in developing working partnerships to meet special educational needs. The book defines what it means to practice and how to achieve it, asking "How can parent-teacher partnership become a reality for all concerned and why is there resistance to it?".