Science Curricula and the Organization of Secondary Schooling

This paper explores the substance of competence-driven changes in teacher education curricula by testing the possibility of using a framework distinguishing between the German pedagogical culture of Didaktik and the Anglo-Saxon Curriculum culture to describe the substance of these changes. Data about the perceptions of competence-driven changes in teacher education curricula has been collected in 30 in-depth interviews with teacher educators, student teachers, and their school mentors in Serbia, and analysed with the help of qualitative data processing software. The coding procedures involved classification of utterances into five groups relating to the perceptions of (1) teacher evaluation, (2) teacher competence in subject matter, pedagogy, and curriculum, (3) understanding of the education system and contribution to its development, (4) teacher competences in dealing with values and child-rearing, and (5) changes in teacher education curricula related to these groups of competence. The perceptions in each group of utterances were interpreted in terms of their alliance with Didaktik or Curriculum cultures. The findings indicate that the framework cannot be used as a continuum since the utterances aligned with the two cultures co-exist in the individual responses, but could be useful as a reflection tool in teacher education curricula.     

The Balance between Vocational Secondary and General Secondary Schooling in France and Australia

Some of the most difficult problems facing governments today are linked to their increasing involvement in the global economy. One of the most pressing problems faced by developed economies is chronically high youth unemployment. As labour markets have tightened, the jobs which have disappeared, and look unlikely to re-emerge as labour markets become more buoyant, are the jobs which young people have traditionally held - unskilled entry level jobs. The creation of the French Baccalauréat Professionnel saw the development of a programme that balanced the needs of a vocational qualification with those of a general education. This paper will look briefly at the background to the debate between general education and vocational education, in particular the low status of vocational education. The paper looks at the manner in which two developed countries in different hemispheres, France and Australia, have attempted to solve an increasingly complex problem: the transition from school to work. It suggests how the McGaw Report [(1997) Shaping Their Future ( Sydney, Department of Training and Education Co-ordination)] tackles this problem of high and low status educational pathways in Australia. The use of 'school-workplace learning' in Australia represents a relatively new specific programme, highlighting the NSW government's direction in school to work transition. In France the Baccalauréat Professionnel (Bac Pro) will be used as an example of a diploma that provides a useful bridge between the vocational and general education streams.     

Religiosity and the Impact of Religious Secondary Schooling

Using a nationally representative longitudinal survey and incorporating propensity score matching methods, we follow secondary school students post-graduation to determine how Catholic and private religious schooling impacts religiosity. There is an established literature examining the Catholic school impact on collegiate and labor market outcomes, although many families may choose Catholic or private religious schooling in efforts to instill religiosity. Our results show that Catholic and private religious secondary schooling exhibits relationships related to increasing religious participation shortly after high school graduation, although as time progresses these effects are less consistent. The largest and most robust finding is for male Catholic school attendees.     

Subtractive Schooling and Identity: A Case Study of Ethnic Minority Students in Vietnam

This article examines the impact of subtractive schooling, including language use in education, on the identity of a group of ethnic minority students in Central Highlands of Vietnam. Drawing on semistructured interview data, a deeper look is taken into the ways in which these students identify themselves with their languages, cultures, and social relations. Findings reveal that the subtractive power of the school language and the institutional milieu profoundly influenced their identity construction by creating the conditions for (a) the devaluation of their language and cultural identity as a consequence of the invasion of their sociocultural territory by the dominant language and culture and (b) the segregation and disunity that affected their identity construction through social relations. Although subtractive schooling apparently facilitated students’ integration into the mainstream, its invisible power forced them not only to integrate but also to bear the full burden of constructing new identities to adjust to the school environment and the mainstream society.     

丹麦中小学教育的特点及未来走向

丹麦的小学和初中教育是一体化的，高中教育则以其灵活、多样而著称。2002年丹麦发布的名为《更好的教育》的政府文件将深刻影响丹麦高中教育的未来走向，同时丹麦福利制度的变革将影响中小学教育的经费。     

中小学校办学理念探析

探讨和分析办学理念的目的是正确认识和科学把握办学理念,引领中小学校走上理性发展之路。办学理念是教育思想的集中反映,是办学理想的特殊表达,是学校精神的“内核”。办学理念来源于办学实践并作用于办学实践,要体现教育的本质要求,应成为学校的灵魂。办学理念必须与时俱进。     

运用现代教育技术发挥学生主体性

当今教育的根本任务就是要不断提高受教育者的主体意识,并成为能进行自我教育和自求发展的社会主体,充分满足学习型社会的要求。运用现代教育技术可以确立学生的主体性,实现人的主体解放,实现我国教育的跨跃式发展。     

Racialised Schooling, 'Ethnic Success' and Asian-Australian Students

Based on discussions with Asian-Australian young women at a mixed-sex, Australia State high school, this article argues that the pro-school conformity of Asian-Australian young women sets them in a problematic and precarious relationship to the material and symbolic and processes of racialisation. The first part of the article identifies the limitations of research into the pro-school/anti-school orientations of minority students, arguing that most accounts are based on theories of culture, acculturation, class and gender, and class and race that neglect an analysis of race and sex. I then argue that practices of racialisation and sexualisation actually sustain pro-school culture and Asian female group associations. While these formations are effective in securing Asian female educational success, they are also problematic because they limit the educational possibilities and employment opportunities of Asian young women in Australia.     

An Exploratory Study of a Gender Equity Program for Secondary School Students

This paper examines the effectiveness of an experiential program designed to make secondary school students in Canada more aware of the barriers to women in the workplace. Two studies are reported. In the first study, the researchers taught individual themes within the instructional module to small groups of students. In the second study, grade 11 students were given the complete instruction as part of a curriculum unit. Data were gathered from analysis of artifacts (in both studies) and audiotapes of sessions (in the first study). In addition, for the second study, students were compared to a matched control group on a pre-test/post-test assessment. The instruction proved effective in increasing student knowledge. Implications and suggestions for future studies are given.     

提高学习的主体性--大学生学习改革的时代主题

当今时代是高扬人的主体性和创造性的时代．因此，提高学习主体性应成为我国大学生学习改革的时代主题。学习主体性是学习改革之本，是全面发展之基．是学习社会之魂。     

Adult Students at Two-Year Colleges: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Adults constitute a continually increasing proportion of students at two-year colleges. While adult students presumably have special needs, little is known about them. This study focused on the characteristics and needs of 17,137 students enrolled in 100 randomly selected two-year colleges across the country, separately for different age levels. Using a wide variety of variables collected at entrance, after one term, at graduation, and three years after graduation, differences by sex among the following four age groups were ascertained: age 19 or younger, 20–24, 25–39, and 40 or older. Major trends with age, differences among age groups, and interactions between age and sex were found for a number of variables: abilities, grades, attrition, self-perceptions, aspirations and goals, competencies, job values and preferences, satisfaction with and rating of various aspects of the college, expressed needs for help, extracurricular participation, outside work during school, postgraduate jobs obtained and how obtained, job satisfaction, percent going to and graduating from four-year programs, and preference for entering a two-year program if they had to do it all over again. Adult students do have many special needs that vary with age level. We think a repeat of the study but comparing across other groupings of adults would be desirable, even though extreme diversity also exists within such groups. Another consideration is that many new kinds of adult students will in the future be entering postsecondary education in large numbers.     

主体性视阈下的大学生思想政治教育精细化探析

主体性是思想政治教育对象的本质属性,精细化是现代大学生思想政治教育发展的必然要求。实现思想政治教育的主体性和精细化,必须建立教育者与学生双向型互动关系。要尊重制度均衡的规律,通过促进学生自教自律,达到培养和提升人并发挥人的主体性的目标。     

分流教育研究与实践

农村初中的分流教育与普及九年义务教育密切相关，是实现普及九年义务教育的有效措施之一。要提高认识，转变观念，切实把分流教育摆上重要位置；结合实际，求真务实，把分流教育的具体工作落到实处；科学规划，规范管理，努力提高分流教育的质量，大力推动农村中学办学模式改革不断向纵深发展。     

对我国中小学生评价的历史研究

我国中小学生评价的历史从清末开始至今可以分为两个历史阶段,第一个阶段是清末至改革开放之前,主要特征是：引进西方教育测量运动、评价带有明显的政治色彩;第二个阶段是改革开放之后至今,经历了从重视评价的客观性、科学性到重视评价的综合性、发展性。     

浅议课堂教学中的主体性回归

课堂教学中能否发挥学生的主体作用,直接影响课堂效益。当前的课堂教学中,学生主体功能的缺失依然严重。本文就此问题的成因进行分析,并提出相应对策。     

Motivational Profile and Academic Achievement Among Students Enrolled in Different Schooling Tracks

From the contextual perspective, researchers argue that the relevance and weight of motivational variables of students' functioning vary depending on different dimensions related to individual, cultural or situational characteristics. The first objective of this study examined this contention by comparing self-perceptions of competence, learning goals and judgments of usefulness of school subjects as motivational determinants of high school students' commitment and achievement according to their assignment to their learning abilities. The second objective was to compare how these variables related to academic commitment and achievement according to the type of student and two school subjects. Two-hundred-and-twenty-six high school students from a same school participated sixty-one were learning disabled students, 60 were high achievers and 105 were average students. Findings suggest that the relevance of the motivational variables did not vary much across either the type of student or the school subjects. They also support Bandura's view about the primary role of self-perceptions of competence in students' academic commitment and achievement.     

农村中小学布局调整对学生学习时间的负面影响

农村中小学布局调整后学生上学距离变远使得学生上学的在途时间普遍增加.在相同的学校作息制度下,在途时间变长对学生的学习时间产生了挤占效应,导致部分学生的课余学习时间不足,有效学习时间相应缩短.农村中小学布局调整通过影响学生的学习时间投入进而影响学生的学习结果,已经成为影响农村义务教育过程公平和结果公平不可忽略的因素.     

A Longitudinal Study Showing how Students use a Molecule Concept when Explaining Everyday Situations

In this paper we present results from a 10‐year (1997–2006) longitudinal study in which we, by interviews once or twice every year, followed how students, throughout the compulsory school, developed their understanding of three situations in which transformations of matter occur. We believe that students have to meet scientific ideas early in order to gradually, in social cooperation with classmates, friends, teachers, and other grown‐ups, elaborate the meaning of a concept. We followed 23 students all born in 1990. In 1997 we introduced the idea of the particulate nature of matter. We have conducted interviews allowing students to explain the transformation of matter in fading leaves left lying on the ground, burning candles, and a glass of water with a lid on. In the interview at 16 years of age, less than one‐fifth of the students use molecular ideas in scientifically acceptable ways. The overall conclusion is that most students do not connect the knowledge they gain in school about the particulate nature of matter to these everyday situations. On the other hand, the students seem capable of using a simple particle model and the model can help them understand the invisible gas state. The question of how to use this capability in order to develop students’ scientific ideas is still not solved and more research is argued for.     

Upper Secondary Chemistry Students in a Pharmacochemistry Research Community

This study deals with the participation of 10 upper secondary chemistry students, aged 16–17, and their chemistry teacher in a pharmacochemistry research community on anti-allergy medicines at VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Participation of students in scientific research raises the question of how to bridge the gap between an upper secondary school inquiry practice and a scientific research practice. To bridge this gap, a design based on 6 principles derived from an educational model of a community of learners was proposed. The study first aimed at revealing whether the proposed principles were necessary according to the students, their teacher and three pharmacochemistry researchers for successful participation of the students in the research community. Second, the study examined whether the students' understanding of discipline-specific content knowledge, interest in scientific research and knowledge about the nature of science changed during the course of the study. Data were obtained from questionnaires, interviews and video tapes. The results indicated that according to the teacher all 6 principles were necessary to bridge the gap, whereas according to the students 1 principle and according to the pharmacochemistry researchers 2 principles were necessary but difficult to achieve. Furthermore, all students gained discipline-specific content knowledge. Their interest in scientific research exhibited a positive change and their knowledge about the nature of science increased. The implications for further research and practice are discussed.