Even while they teach, newly-qualified teachers learn

The Training and Development Agency sets national standards in the UK for qualified teacher status. These standards set out the areas of knowledge and skills that aspiring teachers should acquire during their training. One of these areas of knowledge and skills concerns the identification and teaching of pupils with special educational needs yet the effectiveness of current training routes for teachers in this area remains a matter of ongoing debate. In this article, Nicola Barber, a senior educational psychologist working in Medway, and Mark Turner, who runs an online training company and is a part-time tutor at the University of East London and senior educational psychologist in Medway, focus on the experiences of newly-qualified teachers during their induction and first year of teaching. These authors sent out questionnaires to newly-qualified teachers working in primary schools in two local authorities and received 60 responses. Their results suggest that these teachers, during this opening phase of their careers, experienced an increase in confidence in relation to special educational needs and report that they feel more skilled in this area at the end of their first year of teaching. Nicola Barber and Mark Turner analyse the factors that contribute to this scenario and begin to draw out implications for future approaches to the training and induction of teachers with regard to special educational needs and inclusion.     

How children learn to read and why they fail

The present article considers the contrast between conceptions of reading as a natural and as an unnatural act, relying on the simple view of reading as a theoretical framework (Gough and Tunmer 1986). According to the simple view, reading comprehension is a product of both listening comprehension and decoding. Here it is argued that the comprehension aspect of reading depends on those same—natural—forces that govern acquisition of spoken language, whereas decoding depends on explicit tutelage, with little evidence that children will induce the cipher from simple exposure to written words and their pronunciations (sight-word instruction). Rejecting both sight-word and phonics instruction as inadequate in and of themselves, evidence is reviewed suggesting that successful readers require explicit awareness of the phonological structure of spoken words, which can and should be taught in kindergarten, prior to formal reading instruction. Beyond this point, reading success depends on a modicum of phonics instruction together with extensive practice with reading itself.     

Helping Hong Kong business students to appreciate how they learn

Hong Kong students enrolling in the tertiary sector exhibit tendencies to passivity and non-participation. There is also some evidence that, in common with other countries, the tertiary educational environment in Hong Kong may encourage the adoption of inappropriate approaches to learning. A programme was developed within the first year of a business studies degree with the purpose of enhancing students’ approach to learning. This was attempted by making them aware of different approaches, giving them the analytical tools to examine their own conceptions of and approaches to learning and by involving them in different forms of learning experience. Most students conceived ofieaming as a quantitative increase in knowledge. They exhibited similar patterns in respect of SPQ scores to other Hong Kong students, scoring slightly higher than their Australian peers with respect to “deep” and “achieving” approaches and slightly lower on the “surface” approach. Evaluation of the programme was based on a range of sources including unprompted views using the “slip” technique, course evaluation questionnaires and a second administration of the SPQ at the beginning of the students’ second year. The evaluation shows that student reaction to the programme was mixed, though with an overall balance in favour. The SPQ results showed.that although the mean scores for the “surface” approach rose and those for the “deep” and the “achieving” approach fell, they did so to a much lesser extent than on similar programmes.     

Towards Inclusive Teacher Education: Sensitising individuals to how they learn

Higher education has struggled to acknowledge and translate into better teaching and learning practices that sizeable literature base suggesting a link between cognitive style, learning preferences, and performance. Research is reported in which 80 undergraduate students on a primary education degree were studied to examine the relationship between their cognitive style, their learning preferences, and perceived impact on their teaching practices. All students completed the CSA measure of cognitive style, the ASSIST, two further questionnaires exploring learning preferences and perception of good teaching during the course, and an evaluation at the end of the teaching unit. Significant differences were found between the three cognitive styles investigated: wholist, intermediate, and analytic. In terms of learning preferences, using ANOVA statistically significant differences were found between the three styles with wholists being most concerned about speed of delivery and least liking computer‐assisted learning. In addition, wholists preferred less structure than analytics in their teaching and claimed to use more images while analytics claimed to use more speech in their teaching. Intermediates demonstrated a greater preference for tangential approaches to teaching and were least happy with the nature of the teaching they had received while at university. Many of the differences reported in the literature between the different cognitive styles were not evident in this study. However, the interpersonal and intrapersonal characteristics of wholists and analytics, respectively, were evident and perceived to impact on planning and delivery in the classroom. While further school‐based research involving greater numbers is required, interest in learning styles remains especially relevant if one intends to offer a truly inclusive education for all learners.     

Parental involvement in child abuse prevention training: what do they learn?

This study examined the impact of parent education meetings on preschool parents' knowledge of child abuse. One hundred sixteen parents participated in the study. Parents were selected from seven preschool sites across California. Parent education appeared to have little effect upon (1) parents' knowledge of the prevalence of child sexual abuse, (2) indicators of abuse, or (3) parents' appropriate response to disclosures. Results from the parent data show the negligible effect of parent education as it is presently delivered. Few parents attend the meetings, and those who do learn very little.     

A support program for siblings of children with disabilities: What siblings learn and what they like

This study surveyed reactions and preferences related to a support program for siblings of children with disabilities. Following participation in a support group, 40 school-age siblings of children with disabilities completed a questionnaire about what they learned from the program and what program components they preferred. The results identified the benefits the participants received and the program components they preferred. Clinical utility is suggested for school personnel planning or implementing support programs for siblings of children with disabilities. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

学习动机的激发原理

本文是对学习动机的激发原理所作的一种概括。这些动机激发原理源自课堂学习的研究，它们回答了成就动机、内部动机和目标定向这些基本问题．也包括转变动机信念、激发动机的策略和增强意志力等问题。     

Choosing to learn

European Journal of Psychology of Education -     

学会赏识--新课标下的素质教育感悟

教育教学的技巧和艺术在于使每一个学生的潜能充分发挥出来，使他们能充分享受到学习和成功的乐趣。赏识性教育是使学生生动活泼主动发展的教育，是最大限度地理解、宽容、善待学生的教育，是一种爱的教育，是相信人人能成才的教育观。