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The purpose of this paper is to outline the challenges and potential solutions of initiating a Sharia law module within a UK law school.

The approach is practical with focus placed on the local and international dimensions.

Sharia law is a popular module which adds to a law graduate's portfolio of international legal experience alongside the supplementary benefits provided to students attending from other disciplines. The advantages of interactions with local communities are also discussed.

Only a relatively small number of UK law schools run a module concerning Sharia or Islamic law, thus the paper facilitates other schools furthering the international aspects involved in the teaching and practice of law.

As the predicted escalation in the litigation becomes a reality for universities in the UK, increasing importance is placed on the consideration given to the integrity of institutional protocols regulating decision making at all stages of student progression. The purpose of this paper is to outline the structures that are in place to provide an analysis of the issues that arise when these protocols are activated.

This paper first, provides a brief yet accessible overview of the literature concerning the institutions involved in student appeal, second, explains the principles that should be applied when using and analysing university protocols, third, analyses the role that mediation can play within the sector, and finally, discusses the disability dimension within a complaints context.

It can be seen that disputes between student and institution are on the rise for a number of reasons, be it finance, complexity of legislation or otherwise. The robust nature of what the office of the independent adjudicator (OIA) does seems evident from the lack of successful challenge by way of judicial review, even though the process has been held to be reviewable in a limited way at least. Perhaps this will give some reassurance to the aggrieved student that their version of events will be heard and judged fairly, but the overwhelming message to institutions must be to address potential issues early by means of well drafted protocols, management of student expectation and possibly the establishment of some sort of campus ombudsman which may help deter, deflect or even solve disputes. The role of the OIA seems here to stay and the amount of business it does is likely to increase.

Increasing importance is placed on the consideration given to the integrity of institutional protocols regulating decision making at all stages of student progression. A wide variety of elements can impact on the quality of service expected compared with that provided to a student cohort, and this results in a diversity of potential complaints which have to be covered by university protocols. The value of this paper lies in the applicability of the themes that are discussed.

When school leaders advance strategic plans focused on improving educational equity through data-driven decision making, how do policies-as-practiced unfold in the daily work of science teachers? The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This ethnographic study examines how data-centric accountability and improvement efforts surface as practices for 36 science teachers in three secondary schools. For two years, researchers were embedded in schools alongside teachers moving through daily classroom practice, meetings with colleagues and leaders, data-centric meetings, and professional development days.

Bundled initiatives created consequences for science educators including missed opportunities to capitalize on student-generated ideas, to foster science sensemaking, and to pursue meaningful and equitable science learning. Problematic policy-practice intersections arose, in part, because of school leaders’ framing of district and school initiatives in ways that undermined equity in science education.

From the perspective of science education, this paper raises an alarming problem for equitable science teaching. Lessons learned from missteps seen in this study have practical implications for others attempting similar work. The paper suggests alternatives for supporting meaningful and equitable science education.

Seeing leaders’ framing of policy initiatives, their bundling of performance goals, equity and accountability efforts, and their instructional coaching activities from the point of view of teachers affords unique insight into how leadership activities mediate policies in schools.

Participation of people with learning disabilities in the United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentary Elections has previously been found to be lower than that of non-learning disabled peers. This paper aims to consider whether an intervention to support the right to take part in democratic and political life may result in increased participation rates.

Data were gathered by social workers from 135 learning disabled people about their voter registration and voting in the May 2019 UK local government election. Social workers subsequently ran a promote the vote campaign with this cohort and gathered the same data in respect of the December 2019 UK Parliamentary Election.

Following the campaign, there were statistically significant increases in both the proportion of people who registered to vote and in the proportion who voted.

People with learning disabilities are more likely to vote if made aware of their rights and supported to do so.

Presents work that addresses the issue of decision support for the operational management of subcontract manufacture. Theoretical study has been combined with empirical research and practical industrial investigation with regard to distributed manufacturing systems which incorporate subcontract manufacturing arrangements. There has been a particular focus on the study of resource planning and scheduling for subcontract manufacture in SMEs in the UK electronics assembly industry. This work led to the analysis, modelling, implementation and test of an object‐oriented advisory system to assist with scheduling for this domain which demonstrated the utility of a proposed concept of captivity‐based scheduling. Contemporary research in this area and existing commercial decision support solutions for manufacturing planning, scheduling and control in SMEs have been explored. Concludes that current commercial software systems for subcontract manufacture are underdeveloped. Further argues that software development tools and platforms are increasingly available to facilitate the creation of practical decision support systems for distributed organizational forms of manufacture.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of prevailing issues in UK legal education in terms of current developments and changing patterns.

The paper is designed to bring together a range of perspectives which inform how legal education is changing in terms of key spheres of influence. The authors are directly involved with the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools in the UK and also have extensive experience of managing law programmes in business and management environments. This experience provides a dynamic opportunity to lead ideas for change whilst being at the forefront of policy and strategy.

Globalisation of legal, business and management education indicates that the stimuli operating in one jurisdiction are not without response to others. Universities are subject to external influences which impact on the extent to which law schools are able to operate. Political, social, economic and technological factors shape the nexus between external factors and internal spheres of influence. In many ways, law schools appear well‐placed within business or management schools to maximise opportunities to lead change most effectively. This wider perspective provides the ability to transcend local influences and create a more contemporary environment in which to enhance legal education in a global context.

The value of this paper is to highlight current challenges for those in positions of policy‐making and strategic responsibility in law schools. It provides an awareness of prevailing issues in order to inform thinking about how best to position legal education given the changing influences which shape legal education in a global context.