Student teachers' concerns and accomplishments on main school placements: what school mentors can learn from them

The article highlights the concerns and accomplishments of secondary school student teachers during their main attachment to schools. It also reports on the things school mentors do that student teachers find helpful and unhelpful. While the author does not make any ‘grand’ claims, he does offer a number of grounded good practice pointers that school mentors might want to engage.     

Access to languages other than English in Australian universities: an educational pipeline of privilege

ABSTRACT

This article explores factors contributing to unequal patterns of access to languages other than English (LOTE) in Australian universities. A critical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data generated through interviews, surveys and document analysis reveals that underrepresentation in LOTE courses in Australian universities is attributable to: (a) unequal access to LOTE learning areas at the school level; (b) low tertiary entrance scores that do not grant access to elite universities that offer broad LOTE course options; (c) differential prior international learning experiences that inform dispositions towards intercultural competence, including proficiency in LOTE; and (d) limited provision of LOTE courses in regional university campuses. We conclude that access to foreign language courses in Australian universities is not equitable, and in the context of globalisation opportunities, this poses a risk of reproducing social disadvantage alongside other structural factors such as socio-economic status and regional background.     

First-generation students: what we ask,what we know and what it means: an international review of the state of research

In the course of educational expansion, student populations have become more diverse. This paper represents an international literature review on the topic of first-generation students (FGS), i.e. students whose parents have not obtained a higher education qualification. On the basis of more than 70 research articles and reports on FGS from several countries, we find that the focal points in FGS research concern their pre-college characteristics, mobility factors, decisions about institution, degree and subjects, FGS’ experiences at university, and academic outcomes. Summarising the state of research on these topics, we point to two problems: (1) the international incommensurability of data on FGS due to differences in how FGS are defined and researched; (2) the depiction of FGS’ problems as individual rather than structural problems. We recommend that structural changes such as making organisational structures in higher education institutions more transparent are in order instead of offering special support programmes only for FGS.     

The role of mass media in education policies: a Chinese case study

The role of mass media in education policy processes is increasingly complex, but research on its contribution is far from adequate. This study uses the higher education quality assurance policies issued in China at the beginning of this century to explore the roles played by mass media in the creation and implementation of education policies. Mass media’s current influence on Chinese education policies mainly includes promoting policy agenda setting, enhancing policy legitimacy and monitoring the process of policy implementation. However, its role in constructing a platform for public discussion and improving policy design needs to be strengthened.     

Designing effective,contemporary assessment on a flipped educational sciences course

ABSTRACT

Evidence shows flipped learning increases academic performance and student satisfaction. Yet, often practitioners flip instruction but keep traditional curricula and assessment. Assessment in higher education is often via written exams. But these provide limited feedback and do not ask students to put knowledge into practice. This does not support the tenets of flipped learning. For two years, the author flipped instruction but retained traditional curricula and assessment. However, on the author’s current course, all three aspects were redesigned to better support flipped learning. The aim of this research is to test the effectiveness of this redesign regarding student engagement and satisfaction. Thus, it is asked: How, on this course, can meaningful, continuous assessment be provided as well as effective, personalized feedback, while staying in line with the philosophy of flipped learning? Action research took place from September 2016 to June 2017. Quantitative data from a student survey, and qualitative data from a research diary and student focus group were gathered. What emerged is: a little-and-often assessment approach is effective for learning and engagement; tasks must be authentic and test demonstration of knowledge, not memory; quality, not quantity, is key for student learning; and students desire individualized feedback.     

中国的职业阶层与高等教育机会

对20世纪90年代以来的多次调查资料的深入分析表明:高等教育的阶层差距在许多方面超过了城乡经济差距。在被调查的37所本科院校中,农民与非农民子女接受高等教育机会的整体差距悬殊。更进一步的问题在于,导致这一结果的制度性原因并没有随着高等教育的爆炸性扩张而消除,相反,大幅度增加的高校收费使低收入弱势阶层的子女在面对高等教育时遭遇更大的障碍。这样,在中国的高等教育基本实现大众化的同时,如何实现其质的结构性转变,促使位于高校金字塔顶端的“一流”或“重点”大学更多地向着低社会阶层开放,就成为一项新的制度和政策课题。     

从教育服务承诺看高等教育的政策调整

我国加入WTO签定的教育服务承诺具有鲜明的政策性意义。履行这一承诺要求对现行的教育政策尤其是高等教育政策作出一些必要的调整。高等教育政策调整主要包括宏观管理政策、招生政策、财政政策和高校教学政策等方面。调整教育政策又特别需要加强政策研究。     

构建高等教育公平的政策体系

高等教育公平是政治、经济领域的公平在教育领域的延伸,具有独立的价值意义。现阶段,由于我国教育制度的体制性缺陷,导致高等教育不公平现象的出现。政府应制定相应政策,保证高等教育公平的实现。     

Children as readers: what we learn from their conversations about reading

This article analyses a conversation about reading with three Year 8 students. Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning and elements of discourse analysis, it explores not only details of what the students read, but also how the process of the conversation itself shapes their perception of themselves as readers. Analysis of the data suggests that close attention to conversations such as these can affect our understanding of young readers and the reading practices in which they engage, in ways which may be valuable for classroom teachers of English.     

The problem of cultural fit—what can we learn from borrowing the German Dual System?

Culture impedes educational transactions between developed countries, and is often an area of tension when developing countries try to borrow models, or have models imposed upon them. This article uses the German Dual System as a case for examining issues surrounding the adaptation of borrowed models. Since attempts at borrowing models can fail for cultural as well as non‐cultural reasons, a contention here is that culture needs to be unpacked and laid bare, to avoid it becoming the too easy answer for failure. Borrowed models have a greater chance of taking hold, if the conditions that forged them are understood, and if conditions of the receiving country are likewise internalized. Limits imposed by culture have to be recognized. Four approaches to cultural borrowing that conceivably can reduce the tensions are proposed namely, partial borrowing, pilot borrowing, customization and conceptual borrowing.     

Developing a framework for effective audio feedback: a case study

The increase in the use of technology-enhanced learning in higher education has included a growing interest in new approaches to enhance the quality of feedback given to students. Audio feedback is one method that has become more popular, yet evaluating its role in feedback delivery is still an emerging area for research. This paper is based on a small-scale study which examined the perceptions of first and final-year undergraduates who received feedback from tutors in audio form and considers the impact of this method of feedback delivery as a formative process. The paper examines the extent to which students respond to and engage with audio feedback, and how the method might facilitate a better understanding of the role of feedback amongst teachers and students alike. The two cohorts in the study express differences, but also commonalities in what they require from audio feedback. A conceptual framework is developed from the study’s findings, which highlights best practice and guides practitioners in their effective utilisation of this form of feedback.     

Policy development and educational research: The Hungarian experience

Heather Eggins (ed) Women as Leaders and Managers in Higher Education Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press, July 1997. ISBN 0335 19879 1 Price: hb £45.00 pb £16.99 160 pp     

The college student grant study: The effectiveness of student grant and scholarship programs in promoting equal educational opportunity

During the last few years there has been an increased emphasis on the use of student scholarships and grants to promote postsecondary access and choice. This study of scholarship and grant programs in California, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania examines the extent to which this goal is being achieved. Highlights of the findings are that these state aid programs (1) induce a substantial number of students from low-income families to attend college, although they fail to have much impact on the very lowest income students; (2) are particularly helpful to women; and (3) overall, are responsible for the postsecondary attendance of nearly one half of the aid recipients.     

Effects of ICT: Do we know what we should know?

Many decades after the introduction of ICT into classrooms there are still unanswered questions about the impact of technology in the long and short term on students’ learning, and how it has affected simple and complex learning tasks. These are important for (a) forming government policies; (b) directing teacher education programmes: (c) advancing national curricula; (d); designing or reforming classroom implementation and (e) analysing costs and benefits. While a plethora of studies has been conducted on the effects of ICT in education, major policy and methodological problems have precluded an unambiguous answer to such questions as:—“Does the way in which ICT is implemented have a major/minor impact on students’ knowledge and understanding?” and “Does the impact affect the surface or deep structure of students’ thinking and acting?” To date we have had no large-scale longitudinal studies of ICT’s impact in education such as we have in the form of studies of earlier major curriculum development projects. Nor have we had many comprehensive studies of the complex interactions between various types of ICT implementation and the effects of other factors such as school-based interventions, socio-economic status and school expenditures which have been shown to have a greater impact on education compared with other previous innovations in education. Furthermore we do not know if previous research studies have used research methods that matched learning objectives to instruments/procedures. Many previous studies are vague as to the actual measures used but we can infer that standardized tests were a frequent measure. In other instances, ad hoc analyses, with criteria that may have varied from analyst to analyst and were not “blind” analyses were certainly used to measure “success.” All of these limitations and uncertainties and many more point to the need for a thorough, rigorous, and multifaceted approach to analysing the impact of ICT on students’ learning. This paper draws on previous research evidence to identify relevant research strategies to address the gaps in our knowledge about ICT and students’ learning explained above.     

Changing the System of Student Support in Norway: Intended and Unintended Effects on Students

In 2002 the student finance system in Norway went through a major restructuring. The changes included an increase in student support and an introduction of progression‐dependent grants. Using two student welfare surveys conducted in 1998 and 2005, the paper analyses the effect of the changes on the students. The analysis compares the risk of study delays, the students’ weekly working hours, and the students’ concerns about student loan repayments before and after the changes among different groups of students. Contrary to the intended policy goals, the findings indicate no decline in study delays. However, the findings reveal an increase in the amount of time students spend in paid employment. This may indicate that students respond to short‐term economic incentives. Furthermore, the findings suggest increased social differences in the students’ concern for the student loan repayment after the changes.     

我国西北少数民族地区高等教育入学机会均等问题的现状调查--以甘南藏族自治州为例

本文以甘南藏族自治州为研究对象,以高等教育大众化为研究背景,采用访谈法和问卷调查法,从甘南州高等教育入学机会均等的现状入手,对甘南州高等教育入学机会均等的现状进行了调查分析并指出了存在的问题。     

我国西北少数民族地区高等教育入学机会均等问题的现状调查--以甘南藏族自治州为例

本文以甘南藏族自治州为研究对象,以高等教育大众化为研究背景,采用访谈法和问卷调查法,从甘南州高等教育入学机会均等的现状入手,对甘南州高等教育入学机会均等的现状进行了调查分析并指出了存在的问题。     

Losing sight of Humboldt: a synoptic review of Australian government policy over the last 35 years

Over the last 35 years Australian higher education policy, like that of most countries, has undergone radical changes. This article reviews these changes in terms of four key periods, beginning with the abolition of student fees, through to the recent unprecedented levels of government control and intervention. Policies are compared with each other and common themes across periods, attempts at reinvigorating or reintroducing old ideas, and genuinely new policies are discovered. Finally, the impact of these policies over the last 35 years on the higher education sector, particularly its academics and institutions, is discussed.     

Not just another evaluation: a comparative study of four educational quality projects at Swedish universities

In this study, four recent self-initiated educational quality projects at Swedish universities are compared and analyzed. The article focuses on how the universities have handled the tension between external demands and internal norms. The aim is to contribute to an improved understanding of quality management in contemporary universities. On the one hand, the projects are found to be built on similar rationales associated with accountability, reputation building and strategic management. This is interpreted as a response to the shared external policy context. They are also found to mirror similar ambitions regarding raising the status of education. On the other hand, the projects are found to differ considerably in their actual design, methodology, implementation, stakeholders and outcomes. This is interpreted as an active adaptation to the unique internal academic norms and cultures that exist in each university.     

我国民办高等教育发展中政府的角色——基于美国私立高等教育政策类型分析

当前我国民办高等教育虽然得到了的较大发展,但在整个高等教育体系内仍处于"二级市场"的地位,面临产权不清、办学水平不高等问题.这种状况的形成与我国民办高等教育相关政策的影响密切相联.本文对美国各州政府管理私立高等教育所采取的三种不同政策类型进行梳理,对各自的优缺点予以探讨.在此基础上,对我国2002年以来民办高等教育政策的特点及所带来的影响进行分析,并据此提出政策建议.