English Perspective Research Articles

Writing, the Novel and Genres — an English Perspective

This article shows how the Genre Teaching Methods developed in Australia can be adapted to the study of literature in secondary English classrooms. The theoretical position taken by those in Australia needs to extend beyond the textual focus to take account of the processes and culture of the reader and writer. It will be seen how the genres of Narrating, Describing, Explaining and Arguing can be used to analyse specific features of literature analysis — plot, character, setting, theme and style. Modelling texts and providing scaffolds for pupils’ writing are a part of the systemic and structured approach to ensure progression and understanding in pupils’ writing about English literature.

A national curriculum for the education and training of teachers: an english perspective

This article presents a review of the development and potential impact of National Curricula for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and draws parallels with the implementation of the National Curriculum for schools. It reviews changes in ITT arising from the development of ITT partnerships between schools and higher education and suggests that some of the collaborative initiatives that have been emerging from joint research and development, partly led by previous government requirements, may not be fully evaluated before they are inhibited by central definition of course content. Specific concerns about the ITT National Curricula requirements for subject specialist teaching in primary schools are discussed in terms of the Teacher Training Agency's (TTA) assumption that greater subject knowledge per se will lead to improved standards of teaching and learning, without taking sufficient account of other pedagogy and management factors. the article suggests that if the quality of ITT is to improve, there needs to be a continued dialogue about the nature of teaching and learning, and the curricula for training to meet the national standards, between school and HEI partners locally, regionally and nationally

The professional duties of the lawyer in business insolvencies: An english perspective

The professional duties of the lawyer in business insolvencies: An english perspective

Mentally incapacitated adults and decision-making: The English perspective

Mentally incapacitated adults and decision-making: The English perspective

Legislative Reform of Remedies for Breach of Contract: The English Perspective

This paper,first delivered on 21 October 1995 at ajoint seminar ofthe Scottish Law Commission and the Faculty of Law, University of Edinburgh, on the subject of breach ofcontract, is an examination ofthose areas ofremediesfor breach ofcontract that are, or have been, the subject of review by the English Law Commission. The following topics are addressed: aggravated, exemplary and restitutionary damages; contributory negligence as a defence to breach ofcontract; interest on late payment of contractual debts; damages in contracts for the benefit of third parties; penalty clauses; and limitation periods. In addition some comments are made on remoteness ofdamage. It is concluded that there should not be a codification ofthe law in this area, although there is room for incremental reforms.

Balancing the priorities of the classroom teacher with the imperatives of high stakes assessment of reading: An English perspective

The question underpinning this paper, and the international symposium on reading assessment at the University of Nottingham which preceded it, is this: “In what ways can we learn from each other how to improve reading assessment, at the personal, classroom, local and national levels?” This paper will attempt to answer the question “How can we learn from each other?” in the following ways: first some background information on the New Paradigms in Reading Assessment (NPRA) seminar will be presented; second, an account will be offered about what has been happening in language arts assessment (the subject termed ‘English’) in the United Kingdom, which goes some way to explaining why in England there has been a particularly urgent need to learn from the experiences of other countries; third, some examples will be given of new approaches to assessment in other countries, particularly the United States, Australia, and Scotland (which has the same government, but a different education system from that in England and Wales) from which those of us in England might learn; fourth, some principles which might underpin new assessment approaches within the English system will be put forward; and finally, an indication will be given of how some of these principles are being put into practice in classrooms in England, as pilot work on an international collaborative study.

The Political Power of Farmers: An English Perspective

England has one of the longest histories of industrialisation and urbanisation of any West European country. This has inevitably had a formative influence in the structuring of its social science research. For political scientists it has involved an almost overwhelming concern with urban political systems and industrial cleavages. An analysis of class based voting has been a major focal point with its implicit assumption that any other cleavages based, for example, on religious or regional identities are marginal or atavistic. Certainly there has been little acknowledgement of any significant urban–rural divide. In consequence the study of rural politics has been something of an intellectual backwater and there has been no attempt to define or identify rural politics as an object of study. The blinkered vision of political scientists is disappointing. It unduly ignores a number of studies that have engaged with mainstream debates and frequently made worthwhile contributions, most notably, with reference to the case of agriculture, in the understanding of relations between government and industry (Cox et al, 1986; Grant, 1983). There are also signs that some political scientists are beginning to reject models of national (i.e. urban) voting behaviour and political systems in favour of more spatially sensitive work in which greater prominence is given to regional and local differences (Dunleavy, 1990; Johnston, 1985, 1987; Johnston et al, 1988).

A Perspective on Inclusion from England

Abstract I argue that it is not possible to provide a single English perspective on ‘inclusion’ or ‘integration’. Instead, I set out my perspective and compare it with the way ‘inclusion’ and ‘inclusive education’ have been defined by others. My view starts from an assumption of diversity within common groups and is linked to the development of comprehensive community education. It is concerned with fostering participation for all and reducing all exclusionary pressures. I indicate the conflicts between this approach, the discourse of ‘special needs’ and the selective pressures from recent legislation and official policy. I relate two studies to my perspective; the first concerned with the inclusion of students with Down's Syndrome in mainstream secondary schools and the second with exploring the participation of all students in a community high school.

Community and Fortress-Politics in France in the Lull Before the Hundred Years War in English perspective

Community and Fortress-Politics in France in the Lull Before the Hundred Years War in English perspective

The Teaching of Mathematics in Japan: an English perspective

Abstract The difference between the education systems of Japan and England are briefly summarised, together with the evidence for mathematical attainment of secondary school pupils. The identification of factors related to the relative success of Japanese pupils as measured by international tests of mathematical attainment is attempted: these are categorised as cultural, organisational, pedagogical and process factors. Mathematics education in England is considered in relation to each of these groups of factors. Much of the ethnographic material is based on personal observation of classes in a number of Japanese secondary schools, presented from the perspective of a secondary school mathematics teacher in England. The practice of mathematics teaching in Japan is in marked contrast in many ways to that prevailing in English secondary schools and is presented as a mirror for English teachers to consider their own practice.

An English Perspective on Change in Initial Teacher Education

Abstract This paper describes the changes which have taken place recently in England with respect to the control, the content and the location of secondary initial teacher education. It identifies ways in which control of initial teacher education has been moved away from higher‐education institutions, which prescribe content more and emphasise competence‐based course requirements, and how the location has moved significantly from the higher‐education institution into the school. Some implications for Australian practice are considered in the context of recent criticism of the current situation.

Roman Arbitration: An English Perspective

In all societies disputing parties have similar reasons for choosing to arbitrate rather than to use the regular legal process as a means of resolving their differences. Arbitration may be conducted in private, so that the publicity inevitably attendant on the public hearing which is part of the regular legal process is avoided. Arbitration may be speedier, since the parties do not have to wait until the court is ready; arbitration will normally be less beset by formalities than the legal process and it may be cheaper. These considerations apply whatever the character of the regular legal process.During the formative periods of Roman law and English law, however, disputing parties had a particular reason for preferring to arbitrate and that derives from the nature of a legal action in Rome and in England. Both in the classical Roman procedure and in the classical common law procedure the plaintiff was constrained to bring his claim within one of a number of specified forms of action. These forms of action were set out in the praetor's edict in Rome and the Register of Writs in England. They specified the circumstances in which a legal action could be brought, and directed the plaintiff to the appropriate formula or writ which was required to set the action on the way to a trial.

Training the European legal practitioner: An English perspective on vocational training and the role of the Academic Law School in its provision

Abstract. This is a slightly modified text of a paper given to the 1992 annual conference of the Society of Public Teachers of Law, Oxford. It concerns the legal education of English lawyers as European legal practitioners, particularly their education in community law, the current position revealed by empirical research into the education and training of solicitors, and likely future developments in vocational and academic stages of training, and the relationship between them.

Christian and Jew in Early modern English Perspective

We don't need anthropologists to tell us that the position of being the recipient of gifts inevitably carries with it an element of humiliation. A large part of Christian attitudes towards the Jews can be explained by the constant need to differentiate themselves from their older brother and to demonstrate that the new religion was superior in important and even cosmic ways. What was perceived as the correct stance towards the Jews changed over time, and it is instructive to look at the English example during the early modern period to see exactly what this involved. As will become apparent, broadly speaking there were three different general attitudes towards the Jews there, as can be seen from three specific consecutive examples: learning from them in the Renaissance (Christian Hebraism), copying them in the seventeenth century (strict Sabbatarianism), and actively opposing them in the eighteenth (Hutchinsonianism), as the Jews became less necessary for the self-history of English Christians.

The Lost Key: Secure Accommodation and Juvenile Crime: An English and Welsh Perspective

This paper discusses aspects of a study of children in secure accommodation conducted in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. Secure accommodation is analysed as an ambiguous disposal designed to hold both offenders and other youngsters causing concern. Reflecting a western cultural tendency to assume the existence of a technical solution to every problem, professional responses to the uncertainty accompanying ambiguity include the pursuit of more knowledge to identify the “key” to the problems the youngsters present. Some implications of this approach for the youngsters themselves are discussed, and it is suggested that rather than focussing predominantly on system input, reformist endeavour might concentrate on what children have to do to be discharged.

Freedom of expression: An English perspective

Freedom of expression: An English perspective

:Cooperation to Competition: English Perspective and Policy on Anglo-Dutch Economic Relations during the Reign of James I

For centuries English overseas trade depended on economic cooperation with the Low Countries. By the seventeenth century Dutch commerce had produced the highest standard of living in Europe, and the English viewed the Dutch with a mixture of awe and resentment. With the accession of James I, Anglo-Dutch relations began to change. The English perspective and policy response to their economic relationship with the Dutch shifted from cooperation at the beginning of James I's reign (1603-1625) to rivalry at the end of it.

Cooperation to Competition: English Perspective and Policy on Anglo-Dutch Economic Relations during the Reign of James I.

Cooperation to Competition: English Perspective and Policy on Anglo-Dutch Economic Relations during the Reign of James I.

To Die or Not To Die?: Cross-Disciplinary, Cultural, and Legal Perspectives on the Right to Choose Death

Preface Cross-Disciplinary Views The Right to Die: Perspectives of the Patient, the Family, and the Health Care Provider The Right to Die: Perspectives from the Catholic and Jewish Traditions Ethical Perepectives on the Right to Die: A Case Study Cross-Cultural Views On the Question of the Right to Die: An African View An Islamic Perspective on Terminating Life-Sustaining Measures Japanese Perspectives on Euthanasia Cross-Legal Views Euthanasia: An English Perspective Indian Legal Concepts of the Right to Die Active Euthanasia in the Netherlands Last Rights: The View from a U.S. Courthouse Appendices Selected Bibliography Index

Modernism in English Perspective

Modernism in English Perspective