Philosophy and Education: a personal retrospective

This article reports a follow‐up study of students who had failed or had not completed the first year of an Advanced General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ‐‐an academic qualification with a vocational focus intended mainly for 16‐18 year‐olds) in Business Studies in 1995‐96. Failure is usually attributed to student deficiency or deficient course‐related factors. Yet student accountability assumes capability, understanding and lack of coercion in making choices. In the present research these assumptions were critically examined and found misleading. The students’ career histories since the end of the course first year are sketched and the way in which the subjects made sense of their decisions and experience is reported. It is argued that simple ideas of choice, while supporting assignment of blame to failing students and exonerating their institutions, do not illuminate factors involved in making poor choices, or the way in which students who are ‘at risk’ can be supported.     

Mentoring in Action on a Primary PGCE Course

Abstract

School‐based mentors are taking increased responsibility for the initial training of student teachers as a result of government policy to lengthen the proportion of time students spend in school during their training. The role of the mentor is critical in the development of a partnership model of initial teacher education (ITE), involving close collaboration between higher education institutions (HEIs) and schools. This article draws on our research into the practice of mentoring on the one‐year Primary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at the Chichester Institute. Through observations of mentoring sessions at school we analyse the process of mentoring in action. Drawing on mentor observations and interviews with mentors, students and college (link) tutors we examine the diverse nature of mentoring and identify some of the common qualities of good mentoring practice.     

Anxiety in Science Classrooms: its measurement and relationship to classroom environment

This paper considers the role of a new vocational science qualification in the UK (Intermediate General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) science) and how it relates to science-based employment. Studies into employers' requirements are reviewed and found to indicate that an ability to understand and evaluate scientific evidence is valued highly. This part of science is not currently taught explicitly either in GNVQ or elsewhere in the science curriculum. The authors report the results of a small intervention study in which ideas about evidence were explicitly taught within Intermediate GNVQ science. The findings suggest that it is feasible to incorporate such teaching into the qualification but that, if it is not part of the formal assessment process, the teaching tends to be undervalued by the students. By contrast, the teaching staff involved in the project recognised that these ideas fill a gap in the qualification and valued the teaching materials developed for this purpose. A means of incorporating the assessment of such understanding into the current assessment procedures is put forward. Such a modification to the assessment process would add rigour to the qualification and provide a better preparation for employment in science-based industry.     

Independence and Prescription in Learning: Researching the Paradox of Advanced GNVQs

This article outlines the context in which General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) have been developed with particular reference to the independent learning dimension of their principles and practice. It provides an overview of the problems associated with the GNVQ approach from the literature and from a study by the authors of twelve post-16 institutions in the process of implementing Advanced GNVQ programmes. It analyses the dimensions of independent learning and argues that GNVQs provide a hybrid learner experience in which autonomy in the organisation of the individual learning process is mediated by a heavily prescribed GNVQ framework. The article concludes by locating this paradox in four central dilemmas characterising post-16 curricular policy in the UK.     

An analysis of student teachers' understanding of integration of science and technology activities

Abstract

The research reported on in this article was conducted to determine if student teachers enrolled in a Bachelor of Education programme at a South African University are able to integrate science and technology in their teaching. The participants were a cohort of students registered for a course aimed at preparing them to teach grades 4 to 6 in the primary school. The theoretical framework applied in the study is Rogan's Zone of feasible Innovation (ZFI) which uses the analogy that curriculum strategies are good when they proceed just ahead of current practice. Students' understanding of integration of two learning areas was compared to their knowledge base. The findings suggest that students who have very little knowledge of science and/or technology have difficulty in understanding what the scientific and technological processes mean and without this understanding are unable to integrate science and technology effectively in their teaching. It is recommended that the B.Ed programme at this university focuses more on providing opportunities for students to acquire sound knowledge of the two disciplines before attempting any form of integration.     

New Qualifications in IT: A Pilot Study at Hull College

Abstract

The General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) is enjoying growing popularity in the further education (EFE) sector in England and Wales. GNVQs have been recently introduced in the Information Technology (IT) vocational area, to augment or replace existing qualifications. These new courses have been piloted (academic year 1994‐199S) at several centres, including Hull College. This paper focuses on the Advanced level GNVQ in IT, contrasting it with existing qualifications (A level and National Diploma); reflections on the Hull College experience are also provided

The GNVQ (Advanced) is seen not only as leading directly to employment (like the traditional National Diploma), but also as a route into higher education (HE). Growing numbers of universities now accept the GNVQ as an entry qualification. For the first time, a vocational course is now perceived increasingly as a genuine alternative to the A level. The implications for universities are examined, with predictions as to the likely strengths and weaknesses of different categories of university entrant. The importance of choosing the right HE course, now that university provision has become increasingly diverse in the computing area is also highlighted. This paper extends and provides full discussion of the preliminary findings introduced at the 3rd Annual Conference on the Teaching of Computing held at Dublin City University in August 1995.     

Fun with Computers and GNVQ: Performing to Criteria and the Confidence to Improvise

This article examines the development and assessment of communication skills at GNVQ. It does this by reflecting on a project using multi-media technology to deliver communication skills to ESOL students. The author argues that current models of communication skills in GNVQ can be narrow and limiting and suggests that stimulating imaginative uses of language is more constructive in raising student confidence and achievement.     

From Access to Widening Participation: Responses to the changing population in Higher Education in the UK

An emphasis on widening participation, on making higher education accessible to students who have never traditionally considered it as an option, is being increasingly stressed. The article examines tutors' responses to non-traditional students in an institution with a well-established access policy. The responses reveal that the emphasis was on helping students to adjust to the existing undergraduate provision rather than engaging in a radical rethink on possible approaches appropriate to a more diverse population. Recent policy initiatives (ILT and QAA) are considered in order to identify to what extent they might achieve a cultural change at the micro level. In addition, their limitations are considered, in the light of competing demands. The article concludes that the current top-down approach to policy implementation, supported by related research, should be modified; account needs to be taken of how tutors, in interaction with students, interpret policy initiatives. In drawing attention to practice at the micro level, the article should be relevant to both policy makers and tutors in higher education.     

Proposing a center on aging and well-being: Research,education, and practice considerations

ABSTRACT

This environmental scan aimed to discover research interests and educational needs of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students to inspire research, education, and practice in the development of a center on aging and well-being for older adults. The scan consisted of a search of university faculty and researchers regarding research on aging; a survey of graduate students and faculty about interests in aging research and needs of undergraduate students; and key informant interviews. Results offer a conceptualization based on the pillars of research, education, and practice. An inventory of researchers with various levels of expertise and interested in aging was created. Participants offered their perceptions of strengths, as well as challenges and strategies for success. These results will be a catalyst for planning and successful development of a center on aging and well-being. This article addresses a gap in the literature and will assist others undertaking a similar initiative in various geographical and cultural contexts.     

Reflective and Reflexive Practice in Initial Teacher Education: a critical case study

Abstract

This article outlines approaches that are being adopted to encourage students training to be teachers on a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course to reflect upon their teaching. It takes the form of a special case designed to nurture good practice in Teacher Education. Applications for those working in higher education are discussed. A distinction has been made between reflection and reflexivity (Ashmore, 1989; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). It was found that engaging students in reflexivity can have benefits in terms of classroom effectiveness and reflective writing can play an enhancing role in this process. It was found that many students were judged to have exhibited reflexivity in their teaching and in their written work. Ways in which the emphasis on reflective practice has led to the development of classroom skills were identified.     

Student Self‐evaluation Processes in Student‐centred Teaching and Learning Contexts of Australia and England

Student self‐evaluation processes and their impact on pedagogy, in the promotion of sound reflective student [1] practices, are the focus of this article. The ways in which students self‐evaluate and teachers integrate these self‐evaluative processes into their teaching practice in Australian and English contexts are analysed. The educational sites chosen for focus are engaged in implementing student‐centred teaching and learning practices. This article is based on research that draws on data analysed using case‐study methodology. For a period of 6 months student self‐evaluation processes were examined in both an Australian secondary high school and an English Further Education (EE) college which was piloting the advanced General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) science programme. The introduction of the skills of self‐evaluation to students offers an added dimension to the current learning environment. It provides students with opportunities to take increased responsibility for, and a more active role in, their own learning. An underlying assumption of this research is that there exists a need to examine how learning in the classroom is structured, and that it is this dimension to teaching and learning that makes a difference. A fundamental premise is that student self‐evaluation is an educative activity.     

Increasing student voice and empowerment through technology: not just listening to the voice of the learner but using their digital capabilities to benefit a whole college community

ABSTRACT

Perceived as fostering democracy in educational institutions, approaches which encourage student voice are being promoted as supporting greater social equalities and strengthening students’ commitment to their learning. Using student voice as a theme, research funded by Jisc set out to hear learner views and explore their digital preferences when learning in a vocational context. The aim of this research was to enhance digital student practice by exploring how learners experience, use, and wish to work in, a technology-rich environment. A literature review was undertaken to inform the research ?ndings. This article focuses on innovative practice, discovered by serendipity, that went beyond the tenets usually described in the literature on student voice. Using a case study approach this article reports on work underway in one FE institution where students have been appointed as ‘Digi-Pals’ and given a key role to embed the use of digital 25technologies into student and sta? practice. Two theoretical lenses, one focused on technology and the other on student voice, are applied to explore innovative practice. The community of Digi-Pal practice is described and recommendations made for further adoption across the FE and Skills sector.     

Breaking Free from the Needs Paradigm: A Collaborative Analysis of Inclusion

ABSTRACT

This self-study, based on research, conducted over five years, focuses on my leadership role employing an inclusion model of education in a school in Iceland serving students from ages 6 to 16. In this article, we examine how Edda’s practice helped support inclusion for the students, their families, and the teachers who engage with them. This multilayered self-study research project included feedback and insights from others in order to inform my understanding of my practice within the context of inclusion. Findings reveal Edda’s focus on the discourse of diagnosis as a dominant structural issue within her practice. The resulting themes on perceptions of inclusion, coordination of support, deployment of people, and collaboration across different entities have informed my understanding about my practice and my perspective on the meaning of a support system within inclusive education and improved student performance.     

Aretaic pedagogy: how we can transform the aesthetics of good teaching

Abstract

The article aims to introduce the epistemology of aretaic pedagogy as a refreshing paradigm of good teaching, situating at its centrality, instead of a knowledge-based perspective, a virtue-based approach to education. Its origins are in Aristotelian virtue ethics, which premise the acquisition of intellectual and ethical virtues as the highest good of the good life. Aretaic pedagogy is therefore constructed on the basis of the theory of virtue development and deliberates teaching as an ethical, virtue-driven practice. Its epistemological framework depends largely on three components: the notion of teaching as a practice, the embodiment of internal goods in teaching/learning and the harnessing of students’ private knowledge. Dialogue, beauty and play are proposed as the main internal goods within the students’ learning, which can act as key sources of their practice of virtues. As concerns a teacher’s pedagogical presence, it is argued from a dual professional prospect: the technological and the ethical. Therefore, a teacher is called to exercise a nexus of epistemic, technical, poetic and ethical virtues.     

Humanising Writing centre Practice: Peer tutor Reflections at a University of Technology

Abstract

Traditionally, universities of technology (UoTs) have focussed on education to prepare students for the workplace. The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is currently undergoing a pedagogical transformation with the inclusion of a general education curriculum that aims to prepare students for an increasingly complex globalised work environment. This critical paradigm shift in curriculum design foregrounds new ways of teaching, thinking and learning based broadly on humanistic principles. Writing centres in universities are positioned to sustain a teaching and learning environment in which students grow as critical citizens. This article reports on research that explored – through the thematic analysis of tutor reflections – how a humanising pedagogy underpins a responsive writing centre practice within the changing South African context. Thematic analysis of the tutors’ reflections revealed their self-awareness of the significance of communities of practice in their work. These communities of practice could be seen to cultivate a humanising pedagogy within writing centre work, which might contribute to the aesthetic, socio-political and cultural environments in which students live and work.     

Double Blind: Supervising women as creative practice-led researchers

Abstract

Many women creative practice-led researchers appear inhibited by a number of factors directly connected to their gender. This article discusses these factors, including the culture of visual arts professional practice, the circumstances surrounding women postgraduate students and unproductive self-theories about intelligence and creativity. A number of feminist strategies are discussed as potential interventions that may assist women creative practice-led researchers and their supervisors to reap more personal and professional rewards from their postgraduate research.     

A Model for Using Research Methodologies in Practice

Abstract

Practice domain and needs of a profession should determine development and use of research methodologies. The complexity and broad range of social work interventions require an approach to research that is more far-reaching, with greater depth, than offered by either the positivists or post-modernists. In this article, a model presents research as skills of social work practice, integrating the contentious practice research dichotomy. Acknowledging that differences in language and perceptions of practitioners and researchers create enormous challenges, a basic assumption in the model is that good practitioners conduct research in their implementation of practice. Juxtaposing practice components with research methodologies, case material illustrates the professional helping relationship as a shared conceptualization of reality, social work assessment as theory construction with need for validity and reliability, and use of triangulation to prevent drift and unplanned shifts in the intervention.     

Expectation effects: Pygmalion and the initial 20 years of research1

ABSTRACT

This article reviews Rosenthal and Jacobson’s (1968) seminal study, Pygmalion in the Classroom (PC). We consider what preceded PC, the actual study, immediate criticisms of it, Rosenthal’s reactions to the criticism, and, importantly, the research that followed PC from 1968 to roughly 1990. Despite critical criticisms of it, we conclude that PC had a tremendous impact because it stimulated researchers to study expectation effects in the classroom that established that some teachers do form and communicate differential expectations to their students and that some students internalise these expectations in ways that manifest in their actual performance. The research that followed PC has yielded rich concepts and findings that are relevant for theory, practice, and social policy.     

The Socialisation of Mature Women Student Teachers: The importance of ethnographic accounts to educational research

The article examines the processes of change and adaptation which a group of undergraduate mature women students underwent as they learned to become student teachers. The study sits firmly within the qualitative paradigm and offers a holistic analysis of student teacher socialisation in which the complexity of adaptation is revealed through the inter-relationship of gender, identity, life course, coping strategies and the negotiation of change. A major theme of the study examines the uneasy blend of struggle, contestation, guilt and success which became a daily feature of their lives as mothers, wives and full-time student teachers. The article argues that the ethnographic research approach was the most appropriate method for revealing new insights about student teacher socialisation. Moreover, it is suggested that ethnographic accounts have an important contribution to make to educational theory and knowledge provided that they go beyond minimalist criteria for good practice.     

Supporting the transition to secondary school: The voices of lower secondary leaders and teachers

ABSTRACT

Background: The primary-secondary transition is recognised as a challenging time for students, and poor transition processes can negatively affect the students’ development. School professionals play an important role in enhancing the students’ transition experience, but international literature calls for more research concerning their perspective on this transition.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate what lower secondary school leaders and teachers in Norway emphasise when supporting the primary to lower secondary school transition.

Methods: A qualitative single case study approach was used. The participants were ten form teachers, their team leader and the principal (n = 12) within one lower secondary school. These were the individuals overseeing the transition process on behalf of a cohort of students who transferred to their school in August 2017. Data were collected through observations and focus group interviews. The data were transcribed and analysed qualitatively, inspired by the constant comparative method of analysis.

Findings and conclusion: Framed by their own experiences, the leaders and teachers emphasised ensuring predictability, establishing a safe psychosocial learning environment, giving the students time to learn to be lower secondary school students, and collaboration at the school level and with the families. These efforts are largely in line with what the research recommends. The findings indicate, however, that the teachers need more support during this process. The article concludes that a closer dialogical interaction with colleagues at the primary and secondary levels, parents and students could support the leaders and teachers to promote an even better transition.