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The argument for a pedagogy which embraces visual and multimodal representation is well established in academic circles (and a plethora of literacies congregate around the ever-expanding subject English as the prime site for innovation and development. This paper will focus on one exploratory case study from the Economic and Social Research Council InterActive Education Project 1 to examine how working with multimodal texts creates tensions for English teachers as well as creative opportunities for pupils. Questions around what might be an appropriate pedagogy and metalanguage for the new literacies involved were tested against the models put forward by the New London Group. The process has shown that the development of a viable metalanguage for teaching and assessing multimodal texts is highly problematic and is in need of further empirical study. This cultural work is constrained by the current assessment requirements for English in England and needs to be considered against discussions of what definition of English and literacy we need in the 21st century.

Universities have a special status in society because of the position they hold within their communities and their responsibilities for civic leadership. Consequently, there are increasing calls on universities to make their processes, teaching and finances more transparent to the general public in order to promote greater accountability. Guidance from the Association for Research Ethics Committees includes openness as one of the key principles for research ethics governance but little is known about whether universities are making information about these processes available to the public. Additionally, given the central importance of children and young people as stakeholders in education research, there is particular interest in what the available information would reveal about their inclusion in social research. A search of the websites of 33 social science research-leading institutions in the UK found that only 20 (60%) had publicly accessible information about ethics review and governance. The available information was highly variable in terms of detail, format and procedures and not very easy to locate. Information about the involvement of children and young people in social research was even more limited and variable; tending to emphasise the 'vulnerable' status of children as participants and yet providing little or no information about how to effectively support children to provide informed consent. The article concludes with discussion of the potentially concerning impact of this on the involvement of children and young people in research and the need for universities to do more to generate, share and encourage greater innovation in this area.

The provision for every pupil in schools of 1:1 digital devices such as tablets and laptops is claimed to offer a range of benefits, both practical and educational. Opinions are still divided as to whether the benefits for teaching and learning in fact outweigh the cost, disruption to established teaching practice, and distraction for learners. This paper presents studies carried out in three different settings where such schemes have been implemented, in order to consider the extent to which the benefits as presented in the research literature are working out in reality, and whether such benefits constitute an adequate argument in support of investing further in these technologies. The paper finds that there is considerable evidence of practical benefit for processes of teaching and learning from the availability in schools of 1:1 devices, but limited evidence of concerted or systematic strategies on the part of schools for helping young people to engage profitably and wisely with the digital world, with respect both to their learning and their wider lives.