Historically, there have been differences in the musical instruments played by boys and girls, with girls preferring smaller, higher-pitched instruments. This article explores whether these gender preferences have continued at a time when there is greater gender equality in most aspects of life in the UK. Data were collected from the 150 Music Services in England as part of a larger survey. Some provided data regarding the sex of pupils playing each instrument directly. In other cases, the pupils' names and instruments were matched with data in the national Common Basic Data Set to establish gender. The findings showed distinctive patterns for different instruments. Girls predominated in harp, flute, voice, fife/piccolo, clarinet, oboe and violin, and boys in electric guitar, bass guitar, tuba, kit drums, tabla and trombone. The least gendered instruments were African drums, cornet, French horn, saxophone and tenor horn. The gendered pattern of learning was relatively consistent across education phases, with a few exceptions. A model was developed that sets out the various influences that may explain the continuation of historical trends in instrument choice given the increased gender equality in UK society.

The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractIn the UK there have been concerns that some primary teachers lack the necessary skills to teach the National Curriculum. The aim of this research was to ascertain the level of confidence of students completing a one-year primary teacher training programme in relation to teaching in general and teaching music in particular. 341 students from four higher education institutions in the UK completed a short questionnaire. While almost all teachers had confidence in their ability to teach only about half were confident about teaching music. There were statistically significant differences in response depending on whether the students played one or more musical instruments. Instrumentalists were more confident, those playing more than one instrument exhibiting the highest levels. Most students believed that more time should be spent on training, although they praised its quality. The implications of the findings are discussed and alternative ways of addressing the problem are considered.

Over the last 10 years the system for training further education (FE) teachers in England has been the subject of almost continuous government reform. Following a critical Office for Standards in Education report in 2003, a new set of standards and associated regulations were introduced in 2006 by the then Labour Government to replace the earlier standards and regulations introduced by the Further Education National Training Organisation in 1999, which had had little time to bed down. The research reported in this article has been carried out with the support of the University Council for the Education of Teachers Post-16 Committee. Employing socio-cultural perspectives, it evaluates how the most recent regulatory regime is shaping trainees' learning and professional development. It explores how the 2006 standards, assessment units and regulations are influencing the curriculum offer, qualifications structure and pedagogical practice of teacher educators and trainees following courses run by university-led initial teacher training (ITT) partnerships in England. The broad finding is that despite a decade of reform, there is little evidence of the enriching of the experience of trainees on ITT courses that the government reforms envisaged. The fragmentation and impoverishment experienced by trainees learning to teach in the FE workplace remains a constant theme that the barrage of national standards, regulations and assessment units have done little to address. ContextIn contrast to initial teacher training (ITT) for schools, until the late 1990s the training of teachers in further and adult education (FE) in England 1 had been the subject of little regulation by government. This system was largely voluntarist with ITT dependent on the attitudes of college employers, and haphazard, reflecting the diverse nature of FE and the marginalisation of vocational and technical *Corresponding author.

Telephone 0207 612 6371 2 Ability grouping in the secondary school: attitudes of teachers of practically based subjects SummaryThis research aimed to explore the attitudes of teachers of practically based subjects (arts and sports) towards ability grouping. Teachers from 45 secondary schools adopting different levels of ability grouping completed a questionnaire which elicited their responses to statements of beliefs about ability grouping and its effects. Overall, the physical education teachers exhibited the most positive attitudes towards ability grouping, drama teachers the least, with the music and art teachers in between. The best predictor of teachers' attitudes was the subject that they taught. These findings support the notion that, overall, teachers of practical subjects have positive attitudes towards mixed ability teaching.

In this article, Professor Susan Hallam, of the Institute of Education, University of London, Lynne Rogers, lecturer in psychology at the Open University, and Jacqueline Shaw, music teacher, researcher and educational psychologist in training, report the key outcomes of their recent research into parenting programmes. The survey suggested that most local authorities in England were at a relatively early stage in their preparations for meeting demand for programmes focused on developing parenting skills in order to improve the attendance and behaviour of children in school. Here the authors present case studies of five local authorities that had well‐developed provision based on contrasting approaches. Two of these authorities used existing programmes available through alternative providers or early years provision; the others offered programmes in schools, one based on established and internationally‐available material and two that used content developed within the local authority. Longer term needs relating to parenting programmes are considered in relation to these case studies and the implications for schools, that may be actively encouraged to take on responsibility for these programmes, are explored.