Digital connections: transforming literacy in the primary school

Much has been written about the transformative influence of new technology on the school curriculum, but only a small number of studies have focused on the practical implications for primary literacy. The dominant paradigm seems less concerned with transformation, instead favouring a view of ‘technology as enrichment’. This case study examines the possibilities of transformation through an electronically mediated partnership between two primary schools in the North of England. Children's digital texts are analysed alongside interview and observational data in order to document what transformation might look like in practice. The study illustrates how technology can be used to promote new literacy practices in the classroom, through the production of new kinds of texts. It also documents the emergence of peer‐based learning relationships and changing perceptions of the teacher's role.     

北京市小学生习字教育情况

2002年9月-11月对北京市各区部分小学进行关于写字教育的调查,了解北京市小学生习字教育的基本情况,发现问题,提出建议,希望引起教育工作者、家长和社会重视.     

Conceptions of literacy in primary and secondary school teachers

Recently, teachers have been described as lacking an organised and consistent understanding of how children acquire literacy. Arguments about falling standards have been aired in the media, and links drawn between methods currently in favour in UK schools, and an apparent failure of children to acquire ‘basic skills'. Proposals have now been made by the Department for Education which give greater prominence to more structured, skill-based primary teaching which, it is claimed, will raise standards and better prepare children to meet the demands they face as they move into secondary school. This study analyses teachers’ conceptual maps of literacy teaching as the preliminary phase of a research programme aimed at describing and enhancing pupils’ functional use of literacy across the curriculum. The analysis is based on a four-quadrant model of adult-child proximation. Using a questionnaire format, important similarities and contrasts were found between the views of primary and secondary teachers. However, the study does reveal that teachers have complex models of literacy which underpin their work and do not adhere to simplistic, uni-dimensional methods.     

专科师范生语文专业知识素养调查

我国的基础教育正面临着一场深刻的改革,推进这场变革的关键在于素质教育的实施。小学教育师范专科学生是未来基础教育的中坚力量,因此,他们的语文专业素养对我国小学教育的发展担负着重要的使命,经调查：他们具备了从事小学语文教学的必备的专业知识,欠缺关于基础教育课程改革的新理念。这源于他们对自我角色定位有深刻关系,应引起这类学校教师和管理者高度重视。     

Literacy and disadvantage: learners' achievements in the early primary school years

Abstract

Worldwide, research shows that it is not easy to educate children from poor environments. Poor literacy achievement and poverty tend to go hand in hand. In developing countries, where education tends to be characterised by inequalities and disadvantage, there is a dire need to explore ways of boosting literacy levels in highpoverty schools. This article examines the effects of an out-of-school literacy enrichment programme on the literacy skills of Grades 1 and 4 learners at five disadvantaged schools in rural KwaZulu-Natal. A brief overview is given of the Family Literacy Project of which this study was a component, followed by the methodological details concerning the materials and procedures used in the assessment of the Grade 1 (Zulu) and Grade 4 (Zulu and English) learners' literacy skills. The learners' literacy performance is compared with those of learners who had not been in the programme. The findings indicate that greater exposure to literacy activities such as storybook reading in Zulu had a discernible impact on the learners' literacy accomplishments. The article concludes by identifying some educational implications that follow from the findings.     

Access,poverty and learning achievement for primary school leavers in Kenya: analysis of evidence from 47 counties

To what extent, if at all, did the introduction of free primary education in Kenya in 2003 have positive equity effects, in terms of both access and achievement. Access is based on the number of candidates sitting the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination and the KCPE score is used to measure achievement levels. The study uses data that reflects Kenya’s 47 devolved governance counties. A quantitative measure of poverty in all 47 counties was then entered as an independent variable of regression analysis, and a negative association with KCPE performance noted (high poverty levels associated with low KCPE scores). Also noted was a contrast between counties showing high enrolment impact and improved KCPE scores, and those showing high enrolment impact and lower KCPE scores. Counties in the former group are located almost entirely in arid and semi-arid areas, those in the latter group in the coastal region.     

Gauging primary school teachers’ environmental literacy: An issue of ‘priority’

Over the past thirty years, it has often been stated that primary school education should endeavour to improve and protect the environment through producing an ‘environmentally informed, committed and active citizenry’. Even so, existing research shows that the implementation of environmental education in primary schools is problematic and has had limited success. However, the reasons for these shortcomings are far from clear, with present research merely speculating about barriers to effective implementation. This paper presents a detailed discussion and analysis of primary school teachers knowledge and beliefs about environmental concepts and environmental education. In so doing, the paper identifies a perceived gap within the field of environmental education research and literature. This field has neglected studies of Australian primary school teacher’s knowledge and beliefs about environmental education as a factor affecting the capacity of schooling to achieve environmental education goals. To these ends, we utilise the concept of ‘environmental literacy’ to assess primary school teacher’s knowledge and beliefs about environmental education. Based upon preliminary data analysis, we tentatively claim that current Queensland primary school teachers are variably committed to and demonstrably lack content knowledge of environmental concepts and environmental education. More significantly, these primary school teachers tend to dismiss the importance of content knowledge, preferring to focus upon attitudes towards environmental education and environmental concepts. Clearly these levels of environmental literacy are inadequate if environmentally literate students and thus an environmentally literate citizenry are to be achieved within schools. We conclude that the introduction of environmental literacy in educational policy would advance the goals of environmental education, namely the production of an informed, committed and active citizenry.     

儿歌促进小学语文有效识字教学探究

小学语文识字教学是小学语文教学的重要内容,识字教学效果的好坏直接关系到小学低年级学生今后语文知识的积累和语文学习的质量,因此小学语文识字教学一定要有效才行。在小学识字教学中,可以巧借儿歌有效促进小学语文识字教学。儿歌促进小学语文有效识字实施方法有:按顺序巧安排、引兴趣巧识字、创情境激热情、重整体快认读。儿歌识字教学法是韵语教学法的一种,以儿歌为识字载体进行识字,通过儿歌的吟诵学习,可以有效提高小学语文识字教学的质量和效率,让孩子们感受到识字的无穷快乐。     

Emergent literacy and reading acquisition: a longitudinal study from kindergarten to primary school

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study explores the predictivity of an emergent literacy model on the acquisition of reading in primary school in a language with a transparent...     

中小学教师数据素养评价指标体系构建

教育数据在教育领域不断渗透,教师的数据素养水平对于有效利用教育数据、合理判断学生的行为具有重要影响。本研究旨在用德尔菲法构建中小学教师数据素养评价指标体系,为评估中小学教师数据素养提供参考依据。通过文献分析梳理中小学教师数据素养评价指标,选择相关领域专家12人,采用德尔菲法进行2轮专家意见征询,根据专家打分计算指标权重,形成中小学教师数据素养评价指标体系。问卷征询专家的积极系数为100%,专家权威程度均值为0.72,确定的一、二级指标重要性均值均大于4.00,变异系数均小于0.25,符合德尔菲法要求。最终形成了包含数据意识、数据知识、数据操控技能、数据应用能力、评价交流数据、数据思维6个一级指标和19个二级指标与40条具体内容的中小学教师数据素养评价指标体系。对46位教师进行小范围试用,验证了其科学性与可靠性,该评价指标体系可作为评价中小学教师数据素养发展水平的参考测量工具。     

美国中小学理财教育实施路径研究

理财教育是美国学校课程的一项重要内容,文章把美国中小学理财教育的实施路径归纳为立法、理论研究、课程模式、社会组织参与等方面,以期为美国中小学理财教育的后续研究做好铺垫。     

Changing practice: The National Literacy Strategy and the politics of literacy policy

Drawing on a recent ESRC‐funded research project, 1 this paper will explore some of the contradictory structural features of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS), which have helped shape its evolution over time, and reflect on some of the tension points which have arisen at different levels of implementation as the Strategy unfolds. In the process, the paper will consider NLS not so much as a neutral means of transferring ‘what works’ from one site to another, but rather as itself constituting a new social context in which literacy teaching and learning take place. It will pay particular attention to the new pace of teaching that NLS has ushered in and the way in which this is driven by the kind of planning regime that NLS introduced.     

谈“小学生高效识字写字”教学策略

"小学生高效识字写字"注重的是识字写字的效果,教学效果是衡量教师教学质量的标杆,因此"高效识字写字"是许多小学语文教师追寻的最高境界。教师根据汉字的构字规律和小学生的年龄、心理特点,从激发学习兴趣、把握规律、改进方法等入手,融知识性、趣味性和实践性于一体,让"识字写字教学"化抽象为具体,变枯燥为愉悦,使学生在学习汉字的过程中既能高效完成识字写字的学习任务,又能陶冶性情,提升能力。     

The educational quality of early school leavers and the cross-national variation of their income disadvantage

The average quality of available educational resources varies significantly across Europe. This not only affects school success and failure but also subsequent labour market outcomes. The main research question in this paper is to what extent this compositional variation among early school leavers (ESLrs) in particular can account for the cross-national variation of their income disadvantage relative to higher educated individuals. Findings from 3 consecutive years of cross-sectional data (EU Statistics on Income & Living Conditions [EU-SILC], 2005–2007) show that, controlling for the influence of other important country-level indicators, both educational expenditure and a country's mean PISA achievement test score interact with the effect of early school leaving on gross personal income. The income disadvantage of ESLrs is smaller in countries where the average quality of available educational resources is higher. Furthermore, this also applies to educational resources currently available to ESLrs, with the prevalence of lifelong learning yielding the same moderating effect on the income disadvantage of ESLrs.