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:  This paper synthesises a collaborative review of social capital theory, with particular regard for its relevance to the changing educational landscape within Scotland. The review considers the common and distinctive elements of social capital, developed by the founding fathers – Putnam, Bourdieu and Coleman – and explores how these might help to understand the changing contexts and pursue opportunities for growth.

A critical reading of the Donaldson Report on teacher education in Scotland revealswhat might be termed a 'panacea approach' to addressing perceived current problems in relation to the quality of teacher education. In particular, the essence of the Donaldson Report is that teachers need to embrace 'twenty-first century professionalism' through a partnership approach to teacher education. However, neither 'professionalism', nor 'partnership' are defined or justified explicitly. Through critical discourse analysis we offer possible interpretations of professionalism and partnership within the context of the Donaldson Report. These interpretations include accepting the use of such terms as simple unconscious and uncritical adherence to a dominant discourse, and the idea that the wholesale embracing of partnership is a much more insidious attempt by the state to promote network governance, thereby limiting potential dominance of any one particular stakeholder group. Through systematic consideration of the immediate textual context of phrases relating to professionalism and partnership, and through a more holistic analysis of the wider policy agenda, we offer a critical reading of the Report. We conclude with a plea that as the rush to attend to the more tangible, operational aspects of the proposed reform gather momentum, such a panacea approach to solving perceived problems needs to be critiqued openly.

As Technical education strains to find a niche in the educational market place, are teachers suffering from a crisis of confidence? How comfortable are they with the everchanging curriculum, with the subjects they are teaching and the reasons why they are teaching them? The broadening of the Technical curriculum in secondary schools to include Practical Craft Skills has proved popular with some teachers, while others perceive a drift back to a purely skills based curriculum along with a further deterioration of the status of Technical departments. This paper explores the present state of Technical Education in Scotland through the analysis of an online survey of 95 practising teachers and an investigation of employers' entrance requirements for apprenticeships in the engineering and construction industries. The results indicate a degree of conflict among staff regarding the role of Technical education, coupled with limited recognition for Technical subjects among employers.

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