It is now widely accepted that exclusion from school and/or poor attendance are related to low academic achievement. The result of this can be less stable career patterns, greater unemployment and generally fewer opportunities for self-development. In some cases the young people concerned may engage in anti-social activity and/or become involved in criminal behaviour. The poor behaviour of some pupils can also disrupt other pupils' learning, reducing educational opportunity for all.In England, overcoming truancy and bad behaviour in schools has been an important goal for many years.

Raising students' achievement in science has been, and remains, one of the pre-occupations of educational systems the world over. In the UK, for example, the science curriculum has undergone a series of structural changes dating from the late 1980s to the present time. However, many science education practitioners would argue that whilst the structure and to some extent the content have undergone change during this period, far less attention has been paid to teaching and learning processes in science classrooms and laboratories.

Inclusion, that is, 'reducing the barriers to learning and participation for all pupils', is a challenge for many schools. Some of these barriers to learning and participation are inevitably found in the classroom, so if inclusion is going to be fully realised it requires the engagement and involvement of classroom teachers.This TLA research summary explores a project in which small groups of teachers were inspired to improve inclusive practice in their schools by engaging in action research.

In this TLA research summary we feature some of the findings from a major five-year study into the teaching and learning of mathematics in British primary schools.The work is derived from the Leverhulme Numeracy Research Programme, a six-strand study which began in 1997 to investigate primary school mathematics teaching at a time of national and international concern about standards of children's achievement in the subject.

Learning leadership is not, of course, solely the province of school leaders. The learning and work of every pupil and teacher is influenced by (and influences) the work of school leaders.

In response to the popularity of our TLA research summary about Lev Vygotsky, we decided to feature the work and contemporary relevance of another influential educational thinker - Jerome Bruner (1915- ).Bruner has made an enormous contribution to our understanding of the education process. As a professor of psychology at Harvard, he was particularly interested in the cognitive development of children and what appropriate forms of education might be.

This TLA research summary is based on the work of a three-year network project on consulting pupils about teaching and learning. It was part of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP).

Teachers and researchers have been concerned with how best to help pupils overcome their difficulties with mathematics for many years. This TLA research summary* describes an approach that has helped some teachers address these difficulties.

There's an old saying in teaching, 'Don't smile before Christmas' (meaning 'don't show your nice side before you've shown them who's boss'). But Carl Roger's work led him to believe passionately that teachers should do precisely the opposite. He believed that teachers should seek to create emotionally warm, supportive environments in which they worked collaboratively with their students to achieve mutual goals.   In such environments, he suggested, students came to 'love' learning.

Bringing teachers and researchers together