Supplementary tutoring in Trinidad and Tobago: Some implications for policy making

Globally, private supplementary tutoring is a huge business and the practice is expanding rapidly in many regions of the world where it never existed before. In some of these regions it is posing a novel set of challenges for education planners and policy makers. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which supplementary tutoring is impacting on the goals of the formal education system in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). The participation rate in supplementary tutoring at primary school level in T&T was found to be high (88.2 per cent at Standard Five level), with the majority of the students being privately tutored by their regular school teachers. Their main motivation for taking private tutoring lessons was to try to secure a place in one of the few elite secondary schools in the country. The authors of this paper admit that there is no quick solution to the problem, especially if it is understood as a part of the process of cultural change. They contend that the key to breaking the elitist tradition lies in modifying public understanding about education and convincing parents and citizens at large that a wide range of options and opportunities exists outside the narrow confines of the old colonial economy and the old colonial schools.     

The role of educational choice in occupational gender segregation: Evidence from Trinidad and Tobago

We analyse the role of educational choice on the degree of occupational segregation in Trinidad and Tobago during a period in which educational policies intent on equating gender opportunities in education were implemented. To this end we utilize waves of the Trinidad and Tobago labour force survey over the period 1991–2004. Our results show that while educational segregation has fallen substantially over our sample period, this has not translated into less occupational segregation. This suggests that the educational policy has not been sufficient to combat occupational segregation. However, results at a more disaggregated level show that experiences have been heterogeneous across educational and occupational groups.     

The use of state-to-state college migration data in developing a hierarchy of higher educational regions

States are frequently grouped into regions for higher educational purposes. This paper shows how systems of regions within which interstate migration flows are relatively great can be determined using state-to-state college migration data. Measures of the strength of regional identities are computed. New England and the northwestern states of Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, for example, are found to be well-defined regions. Comparisons between regional systems obtained when intrastate flows are taken into account, and when they are not, are made.     

Global transformation and the search for a new educational design

This paper reports on an investigation of collaboration between schools and adult education providers in relation to some case-study examples of ‘parent education’ and ‘family literacy’ programmes. It examines how these organizations' different conceptions of their purposes and their under-pinning values can lead to different outcomes particularly in relation to their conceptualization of the role of the ‘parent’. It argues that schoolteachers and adult education staff come from distinct cultures and have different ideas about education and learning. They have, however, distinctive and complementary roles to play in promoting learning and education and creating a fairer social order. Using a parent centred, dialogic approach positions parents as people with an important contribution to make rather than as ‘problems’ that need to change to the school's way of seeing things. The paper suggests that whilst learning alone cannot abolish inequality and social divisions it can make a real contribution to combating them, not least by tackling the ways in which social exclusion is reinforced through the very processes and outcomes of education and training. If parents can be helped to challenge deficit views of the culture of their homes and communities then a small step has been taken in enabling their voices to be heard in the learning of their children and in their own educational development. For this to happen, however, some of the control that professionals have imposed on schooling for so long will have to be released and parents would need to be regarded as people with important contributions to make as collaborating educational partners.     

Towards a model for research on the effects of school organizational health factors on primary school performance in Trinidad & Tobago

This article presents a model for research on the effects of school organizational heath factors on primary school academic achievement in Trinidad and Tobago. The model can be applicable for evaluating schools in other developing countries. As proposed, the model hypothesizes relationships between external factors (exogenous variables), school-level factors (endogenous variables), and school outcomes (student achievement and positive school climate). The endogenous variables are sub-scales of school organizational health. They include principal leadership, psycho-social environment, school–home–community relationships, teacher characteristics, curriculum quality, and school culture. These subscales are partially influenced by the Organizational Health Inventory OHI (Hoy and Feldman, 1987) and by school health indices set forth by the World Health Organization (1996). It is hoped that this school organizational health model can provide a conceptual tool for formulating a more comprehensive measure of healthy schools.     

Constructing knowledge: An effective use of educational technology for teaching Islamic studies in the UK

The 21st century as a digital age is characterized by the increased accessibility of information and knowledge through the medium of sophisticated technological tools. The main aim of this article is to show how educational technology can be used effectively to help students construct knowledge when teaching Islamic studies in the UK. The first part of this paper summarizes the differences between information sharing and knowledge construction with reference to the essence of knowledge as Aristotelian ‘episteme’ (theoretical knowledge) and technê (practical knowledge: know-how); and the extent which the former process is created by the use of Information Technology (IT) while the latter is enhanced by Educational Technology (ET). The second part explores how ET can be used effectively to ‘provide training in critical and creative thinking skills of students’ as an integral part of producing useful tools and generating practical benefit during their learning process (Felder et al. 2000, p. 26; Callaos 2009, p. 3). The third, then, explains why a student centred and research-based teaching is preferred to traditional research-led method in order to support the construction of knowledge. The paper concludes by presenting some reflections and limitations on how effective use of ET and research-based teaching can help students to become critical thinkers while studying Islam and Middle Eastern politics as part of international politics curriculum in the UK.     

Like a Stone: A happy death and the search for knowledge

Abstract

This article explores the story of ‘the other Mersault’ whose narrative is published in the posthumous and arguably incomplete work A happy death. That this work is incomplete and that it appears (particularly through a reading of Camus’ notebooks) to be a precursor to The outsider, has arguably limited scholarly analysis of its character and plot. However, the themes that are explored in A happy death are significant in their distinction to those themes that are experienced by the other, younger, Meursault. In A happy death the world must be conquered by the will of a young man to find his happiness. He is not an outsider, and he is not content with his lot. Given an opportunity to address this latter concern, he acts upon his life in a search for happiness and in so doing engages in an ultimately frustrating, yet in some way enlightening, quest. In this article Mersault’s search for happiness is plotted in relation to his thinking about time, childhood, happiness and death. His journey is considered in relation to other stories of the search for some greater human condition. It is argued that his will to be happy reveals the absurdity of searching or not searching. This absurdity is considered in relation to the nature and purpose of school in the sense that such a relation to the search for knowledge might free school from its disciplinary tasks … and frees the learner, the child, the teacher, from the violence of having to want to know.     

The value of the IEA mathematics study for educational policy making: Tasmania a viewpoint from a state department of education

Conclusion There are no broad generalisations to be drawn, comforting or otherwise. A number of issues are thrown into sharp relief. The first group of these relates to mathematics performance and can only be answered when the new courses have had time to show effect and when further IEA applications can aid analysis. The second group of these relate to educational expectation, occupational aspiration, interest and occupational selectivity. The Australian schools in general have moved a good distance towards an open and mobile system as distinct from a selective one, academically or socially. Tasmania has not moved so far and should encourage a greater secondary retention, not merely to improve mathematical yield but for wider social and educational purposes.     

Investigating the use of student perception data for teacher reflection and classroom improvement

This article reports a study involving: (1) developing and validating a learning environment instrument, (2) investigating whether reflection on feedback generated using the instrument led to improvements in the learning environment and (3) examining how teachers used the feedback. For the new learning environment instrument, validity was supported for a sample of 10,345 secondary students over 3 years (2,042 students in 2008, 4,467 in 2009 and 3,836 in 2010). To investigate whether reflection on feedback from this instrument led to improvements in the learning environment, multivariate analysis of variance and effect sizes were used to examine pre–post differences. Statistically significant improvements in students’ views of the learning environment were found for 8 of the 11 scales. Finally, we examined how teachers used the student feedback. Of the 459 teachers, 45 focus teachers used the feedback as part of a formal action research approach involving entries in reflective journals, written reports, discussions and participation at a forum. These data were analysed to provide an overview of the ways in which the information was used, and to provide a more detailed account of the journey of one of the teachers.     

南昌地区大专院校数字化教育资源利用现状研究

随着互联网的迅速发展,我国信息化进程的不断加快,数字化教育资源越来越受到国家教育部门的重视。大专院校作为国内高校的重要组成部分,也逐渐地引入了数字化资源。了解南昌地区大专院校数字化教育资源,通过分析回收的问卷形式,找出影响该地区学生数字化教育资源利用的因素,提出相关对策和建议,以便推动数字化教育资源在该地区的发展。     

Collaborating for educational change: The role of parents and the community in school improvement

Following the attention given by the Jomtien Declaration to the need for new partnerships and collaboration in the promotion of educational improvement, the International Institute for Educational Planning has initiated a programme of case studies and workshops to examine how partners involved in education can be empowered and encouraged to improve the education in which they have responsibilities or interest. Cases which have been studied fall into three categories: those which enhance collaboration within and across schools, those which centre on school—community interaction and those which involve collaboration among a range of government officials and agencies, NGOs, village organizations and private enterprises. Collaboration in each of these groups may involve changes in the stimulation or control of resources or innovations in educational content or delivery methods. This paper identifies the problems inherent in collaborative exercises, including poverty, institutional or individual inertia and structural obstacles within political or cultural systems. Finally the factors or conditions which affect collaboration are examined along with the implications for staff training, structural re-alignment and skill development at all levels of the educational system.     

Educating Immigrants in the Netherlands: Migration flows and educational policy in the twentieth century

The first part of this article describes some general tendencies in migrant and school populations in Western Europe. Then it focusses upon some specific migration flows in the Netherlands in the twentieth century. A distinction is made between three migration parameters: colonies, labour force, and asylum. The second part of this article discusses the policy initiatives taken to educate the different migrant groups and their offspring. A distinction can be made between the first 70 years of the twentieth century and the remaining decades. In the first part of the century the education of immigrants was in the hands of private initiatives set up by churches, welfare institutions, migrant organisations, and employers. Later the Dutch government became a major player.

     

Adaptive navigation support in educational hypermedia: the role of student knowledge level and the case for meta-adaptation

Adaptive hypermedia is an alternative to the traditional “one‐size‐fits‐all” approach in the development of hypermedia systems. Adaptive hypermedia (AH) systems build a model of the goals, preferences, and knowledge of each individual user, and use this model throughout the interaction with the user, in order to adapt to the needs of that user. Adaptive navigation support is a specific group of adaptive hypermedia techniques that become especially popular in educational hypermedia systems. This paper provides a brief overview of main adaptive navigation support techniques and analyzes the results of most representative empirical studies of these techniques. It demonstrates an evidence that different known techniques work most efficiently in different context. In particular, the studies summarized in the paper have provided evidence that users with different knowledge level of the subject may appreciate different adaptive navigation support technologies. The paper argues that more empirical studies are required to help the developers of adaptive hypermedia systems in selecting most relevant adaptation technologies. It also attempts to build a case for meta‐adaptive hypermedia systems, ie, systems that are able to adapt the very adaptation technology to the given user and context.