In a political and economic climate in which school performance is made public, performance tables and inspectors' reports can only tell a partial story.This is a unique book. It tells the story of one school seen through the eyes of a pupil, a parent, a teacher, a headteacher and a critical friend. The story is a compelling journey through the process of school improvement; theories of school effectiveness and school improvement are progressively clarified.This book is based on a well-known and well-documented research project that represents eighteen European countries, which clearly sets it in a European Policy context. It includes a wealth of practical tools for raising standards for teachers and school managers to refer to, and guidance on how to use them.This eagerly awaited follow-up to Schools Must Speak for Themselves by John MacBeath (RoutledgeFalmer 1999) is a vital and useful source of good ideas, challenging insights and practical strategies for real schools.

Have you ever thought research is boring? "Research" writes Umberto Eco "should be fun". It seems unlikely that Umberto Eco has read many of the standard social science or education research texts. But social research does offer the possibility of involvement in projects that are informative, sometimes revealing, and fun to do. This book shows us that teaching, learning and research are essentially social and deeply personal activities and that fun needs to be an integral part of this. This is not a conventional text, although it is about ways in which research can be used by those in various areas of professional practice. Its main concerns are with qualitative research, action research and case study methods, and it goes back to first principles arguing for research that is concerned with the nature of personal memories and of perception, the use of drawings and photographs, the emotional relationships implicit in any kind of research and the context of the contemporary workplace. The authors develop new directions and new possibilities for research and find ways of bringing together theory and practice, the personal and the social, organisations and their clients. It is an important resource for all who are interested in doing research but are sceptical or critical of most studies that are currently available.

Product Description: By neglecting the "human" factor in the process of research analysis, much has been lost and researchers are looking for ways to broaden the social reality in their research. In this volume, the research perspective adopted shows new methods of dealing with the world of education, including ethnographic studies and action research...read more