From Curriculum to Activism: a graduate degree program in literacy to develop teachers as leaders for equity through action research

This article presents findings from a 2-year reflexive action research study of a cohort-based Master's degree program in literacy for practicing teachers. Questions revolved around whether and how the program brought about changes in candidates' conceptions about literacy, expertise in literacy, and leadership/activist skills to foster equity in their classrooms and schools. Faculty used data from action research to make cyclical changes to the program each semester. Data sources included candidate interviews, e-mail correspondence, course notes, classroom observations, questionnaires and a survey. The candidates own evolving action research projects within their schools also became data sources. A qualitative analysis suggests that the program was generally successful in meeting its goals. The elements of the program contributing to its success were: the evolving program design based on action research data; the collegiality of the cohort; broadening conceptions of literacy; learning action research; and developing leadership skills. Factors contributing to factors around which candidates failed to meet these goals are also explored.     

Planning a competence-based curriculum: the case of four secondary schools in England

Despite the belief that schools tend to be resistant to change, it is possible to find secondary schools in the UK which are investing in the design of an innovative curriculum for their Year 7 (11-year-old students). This article focuses on four of these schools and discusses some of the challenges they face in planning and implementing their competence-based curricula (CBC). Such curricula tend to be based on the rationale that they better prepare all students for the constant changes of human knowledge and understanding. They develop transferable skills rather than subject-specific content, which are considered necessary requirements for learners as future productive members of society in the twenty-first century. Advocates of CBC argue that such curricula are more inclusive and emancipatory than traditional curricula, although this view is contested. Employing Bernstein's concepts of framing and classification of the curriculum, this article describes the challenges and constraints encountered by four schools which have endeavoured to develop a competence-based curriculum.     

Losing All Interest in School: Social Participation as a Predictor of the Intention to Leave Upper Secondary School Early

Early school leaving in upper secondary education is a serious problem for both students and society. Several reviews have shown that there is no simple cause of early school leaving, but it seems to relate to demographic variables, social factors, academic achievement, and school factors. In this study, data from 2,045 students aged 16 from upper secondary schools in Norway were analyzed using a hierarchical regression model. Their intention to leave school was the dependent variable. Our analyses found that teacher support and loneliness in the school context were strong predictors of such intension. The effects of peer acceptance and friendship were minimal.     

Dynamics of community participation,student achievement and school management: the case of primary schools in a rural area of Malawi

School management in many sub-Saharan African countries has been enhanced through community participation in an attempt to improve education quality. This study uses field research in a rural district of Malawi to assess how community and parent participation differs between schools, the intentions of communities and parents when carrying out activities in schools, and the mechanism promoting active participation in schools. In high-achieving schools, but not in low-achieving schools, communities and parents were actively involved in events aimed at improving student achievement. Communities and parents considered most highly prioritised activities that directly influenced student achievement, including hiring volunteer teachers, arranging extra classes and holding mock examinations. Community participation did not directly improve student achievement. Instead, when communities and parents actively participated in a school, school management improved, ensuring better student achievement. The implications of this finding are discussed in relation to community participation.     

英国高校改革:学生资助与教育参与

英国工党上台后,奉行第三条道路的政治纲领.在高等教育领域,政府一方面延续了新自由主义的市场化政策,对大学生资助方式进行改革,进一步革除福利社会的弊端;另一方面又通过政府的管制,化解市场化造成的不良后果,扩大社会各界对高等教育的参与.本文从学生资助方式的改革和高等教育参与面的扩大两个方面介绍了英国高等教育改革的最新动向和措施.     

Levelling the playing field between rural schools and urban schools in a HE context: A Scottish case study

At a time when interventions in widening access to, and participation in, higher education aim to maximise impact by engaging with schools located in the most deprived communities, school pupils in rural communities, and who experience deprivation, are, in practice, less likely to benefit. Using statistics available from the Scottish government, we show that state secondary schools located in Scottish remote or rural areas are not well served by the indicators capturing socio-economic, educational, or geographical deprivation widely used in the selection of schools for these outreach interventions. We construct a marker that identifies schools facing higher levels of deprivation than the Scottish average. We argue that (1) this marker is a step in the direction towards levelling the playing field between remote or rural schools and urban schools; and (2) it selects a wider range of schools for outreach interventions.     

Promoting diversity in creative art education: the case of Fine Art at Goldsmiths,University of London

Students studying art at university in the United Kingdom tend to be female, from higher social classes and from majority ethnic groups. This paper considers some of the complex and deeply-rooted social and economic factors that militate against wider participation in the arts and describes how we started to tackle under-representation at Goldsmiths using a participatory action research approach. Working in partnership with local colleges, the project aimed to increase student diversity and widen participation in the Goldsmiths BA Fine Art Degree. The need for university applicants to have the ‘right sort’ of cultural capital is particularly marked in Fine Art, indicating that standard widening participation aspiration-raising activities would not solve the problem. A range of interventions were developed to support potential applicants, underpinned by participatory action research. The flexibility and responsiveness of the research model allowed us to reflect on and respond to issues as they arose and to achieve immediate positive impact.     

Negotiating the constraints of schools: environmental education practices within a school district

The purpose of this study was to explore environmental education (EE) practices within elementary and secondary schools. Using complementary mixed-methods (survey and focus groups), we detail these practices in schools (n?=?58) within one school district. Our findings are categorized according to classroom teaching conditions affecting EE, and whole-school perspectives of the supports and resources for EE in these schools. Our analyses reveal that while typical normative teaching and cultural constraints of schools are still evident (e.g. curriculum standards, school-level organization), there are identifiable practices involving administrators and teachers negotiating these challenges due to their personal commitment to schools and the environment. In particular was a provincial environmental certification program called Ecoschools supporting environmental educators’ initiatives at their respective schools. We conclude with a discussion of recommendations based on an interpretation of our findings in relation to the school reform literature on how to enhance EE in schools and propose future research opportunities.     

人本主义学习理论对职业学校语文教学的启示

职业学校语文教学面临着教师教育观念落后、学生学习动力不足、教学情境缺失等困境,直接影响了学生语文综合素质的培养。人本主义学习理论关于知识、学习和教学的阐释给职业学校语文教学改革提供了理论指导和实践范式,对改变语文教学的现状具有积极意义。     

The role of teacher trust in segregated elementary schools: a multilevel repeated measures examination

This study aims to investigate how teachers’ trust in their students relates to reading comprehension achievement in socially and ethnically segregated elementary schools in Flanders (Belgium) by taking into account class composition characteristics. It is examined how student variables, ethnic diversity and the proportion of non-native students in the class, and teachers’ trust in their students relate to reading comprehension achievement and learning growth. A 3-level multivariate repeated measures analysis was conducted. At 2 measurement occasions, reading tests and questionnaires were administered to a sample (n = 417) of 7- and 8-year-old students in 32 classes. Teachers’ trust in their students was found to be a key factor relating to learning growth in reading comprehension, and mediated the relationship between the level of ethnic diversity in the class and learning growth. Teachers with a higher level of trust in their students seem to foster more learning growth in reading comprehension.     

Widening participation in higher education: the role of professional and social class identities and commitments

Since the neoliberal reforms to British education in the 1980s, education debates have been saturated with claims to the efficacy of the market as a mechanism for improving the content and delivery of state education. In recent decades with the expansion and ‘massification’ of higher education, widening participation (WP) has acquired an increasingly important role in redressing the under-representation of certain social groups in universities. Taken together, these trends neatly capture the twin goals of New Labour’s programme for education reform: economic competitiveness and social justice. But how do WP professionals negotiate competing demands of social equity and economic incentive? In this paper we explore how the hegemony of neoliberal discourse – of which the student as consumer is possibly the most pervasive – can be usefully disentangled from socially progressive, professional discourses exemplified through the speech and actions of WP practitioners and managers working in British higher education institutions.     

Special educational resources in the Swedish upper secondary schools: a total population survey

This paper analyses the special educational resources in the Swedish upper secondary schools using a total population survey that covers all upper secondary schools. Special educators and special teachers together constitute the special educational resources at each school. With two types of regression models (logistic and linear regression), the study investigates which variables at school level determine the presence and availability rate of special educational resources. The main findings are that there is a great difference between public and independent schools in the presence and accessibility of special educational resources, where many independent schools do not offer special educational support for their students. It also shows that what kind of provider (public or independent school) and the size of the school are especially important variables for predicting presence of special educational resources. When analysing the variance of availability rate of special educational resources, student variables (grades from compulsory school and parental educational level) on the school level, together with school size, are especially important.     

The financial circumstances associated with high and low wellbeing in undergraduate students: a case study of an English Russell Group institution

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between a student’s mental wellbeing and their financial circumstances. In England, successive governments have adopted a strategy of shifting the cost of university from the state to the individual as a means of increasing participation in higher education. In recent years, some have attributed the significant rise in the number of students accessing university mental health services to this increased financial pressure. Drawing data from a large-scale questionnaire completed by undergraduate students at a London-based Russell Group institution (N = 1171), this article explores the interaction between financial factors such as part-time work, debt, bursary receipt and parental contribution, and a student’s score on a validated scale of mental wellbeing. Taking this further, it explores the relationship between a student’s wellbeing score and the extent to which they feel that their financial situation has impacted their university experience. Two main research questions will be addressed: which financial circumstances are associated with high and low mental wellbeing in students, and what role does a student’s perception of their financial circumstances play in relation to their wellbeing? The impact of demographic factors will also be explored. This article finds that, compared to students in the top 20% for wellbeing (Q5), students in the bottom 20% for wellbeing (Q1) were more likely to be in receipt of a bursary, less likely to receive parental financial support and less likely to be debt-free. Most notably, there was a clear relationship found between a student’s mental wellbeing and their financial wellbeing.     

关于农村中学开展以生态农业为主题的环境教育活动的思考

发展生态农业 ,改善农业环境 ,是农村环境治理的根本途径。农村中学开展以生态农业为主题的环境教育活动意义重大。本文针对目前农村中学环境教育中存在的问题 ,提出了在教学中以多种形式渗透生态农业教育的建议。     

School leadership and professional learning community: case study of two senior high schools in Northeast China

Abstract

This article presents findings of a qualitative study on school leadership and professional learning community in two high achieving senior high schools in Northeast China. The findings show that teachers participated in school-based communities of professional learning, such as Teaching and Research Groups, Lesson Preparation Groups, and Grade Groups. While the term professional learning community (PLC) was not commonplace, the actual practices of PLC characterized by collective enquiry and collaborative learning became the norm in the two schools. School leaders demonstrated strong instructional leadership and visionary stewardship for school continuous improvement. They played a critical role in developing and communicating a shared vision, shaping a culture of trust, supporting and monitoring collegial learning. Teacher leadership was evident in collaborative teams and expertise leadership was acknowledged. Emotional bonds and shared responsibility in these teams strengthened professionalism. Concerted efforts were made to create aligned structures and processes that support collective enquiry, and to develop a culture of collaborative learning that builds collective capacities. Developing and sustaining the embedded PLC process within a school seems to provide a promising infrastructure for supporting school improvement in the Chinese school context.     

History,nation and school inspections: the introduction of citizenship education in elementary schools in late nineteenth-century Sweden

It was in the late nineteenth century that teaching in Sweden’s elementary schools began its transformation from a religious education to a broader, national citizenship education that included history and geography. International research has pointed to a connection between the introduction of school inspections and the reform of public education during this period. In Sweden, however, the practice of inspection has not been explored at any length. This article therefore considers the part played by school inspections in the implementation of a more extensive curriculum in Swedish elementary schools in the period 1860–1900, with a particular focus on the subject of history, using a study of inspection reports from the diocese of Uppsala. It is argued that school inspectors had a key role in initiating reform at the local level, but also that the move towards broader-based citizenship education was not a simple, straightforward process.     

Parental involvement in secondary education schools: the views of parents in Greece

The present study explores Greek parents’ views on parental educational involvement and its impact on adolescent scholastic and social development. Specifically, aspects of parental involvement such as the achieved objectives of current parent–school communication, the psychological climate dominating teacher–parent interactions and parents’ suggestions for improvement of current policies and practices are examined. Four hundred and seventy‐five parents participated in the study. Findings showed that family–school communication is believed to be insufficient in Greece, despite the fact that parents tend to: (1) regard their cooperation with teachers as determinative of adolescent academic and psychosocial development; (2) consider teachers to be friendly and caring; and (3) believe that secondary school provides some opportunities for constructive parental involvement. These paradoxes are discussed and explained as a result of radical changes in current social and educational values, principles and objectives.     

Leveraging the power of peer-led learning: investigating effects on STEM performance in urban high schools

The Peer Enabled Restructured Classroom (PERC) is an instructional innovation developed to address gaps in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in urban high schools. The PERC model changes instruction from teacher led to peer led by bringing peer students into the classroom to lead small-group work. Our study sought to provide empirical evidence in support of the peer-led model as a means of improving STEM learning for tutored students in urban schools. We used propensity score matching to evaluate the innovation's impact on students’ achievement on standardized end-of-course tests in two 9th-grade courses – Integrated Algebra and Biology. Results suggest that by the 2nd year of implementation, enrolment in PERC Biology increased the likelihood of passing. Similar effects were not observed for PERC Integrated Algebra, but when comparing cohorts, we found that the 2nd year was twice as likely to pass as the 1st year. We discuss implications for programme improvement.     

学校在教育结果公平进程中的作用——基于学校对学生成绩影响的视角

学校作为教育教学活动的主要载体,其作用的发挥受多重因素影响,推进教育结果公平应从教育作为社会系统组成部分的角度明确各类机构和组织的职责和分工。学校的生源结构、资源、教育教学过程是构成学校的重要组成部分,在学校资源基本得到保障的前提下,生源结构和教育教学对学生成绩的影响显得更为重要。教育教学是学校可控因素,也是教育结果公平进程中学校的职责所在。对学校来说,生源结构和学校资源更多受外部控制,尤其是生源结构将学校与学生成绩的关系与社会流动机制和社会融合等问题联系了起来。提高社会流动的开放性,提高社会融合程度是实现教育结果公平的基础性工作,但责任在政府而不是学校。