Societal culture and teachers’ responses to curriculum reform: experiences from China

Educational change is intrinsically bound to the cultural characteristics of the society. However, the relationship between educational change and societal culture is rarely explored, especially in the context of mainland China. Following a 3-year qualitative research project, the present study explored the influence of societal culture on teachers’ responses to the national curriculum reform of upper secondary education in mainland China. The results generated three themes highly relevant to teachers’ responses to curriculum reform in Chinese culture, namely teachers’ obedience, teachers’ facework and teachers’ collaboration. These teachers’ responses reflected some Confucian ethics rooted in Chinese culture and explained the absence of radical teacher resistance to the national curriculum reform. It was suggested that a culturally sensitive approach to change leadership may have been more fruitful for facilitating the aims of curriculum reform in mainland China.     

Interventions in schools’ curricula to achieve quality in learning: experiences from the Commonwealth Caribbean

Abstract

For some four decades governments in Commonwealth Caribbean (CC) countries have been introducing interventions in their school systems to provide quality education for all. Examples of these are learner-centred teaching pedagogy and the integration of technology into teaching and learning. The data for the paper is based on published research and evaluation studies of these interventions. How successful have these interventions been? Following a discussion of how quality in education and learning has been interpreted, this paper seeks to answer this question through a review of selected interventions in schools in three CC countries. Challenges that CC countries need to address as they pursue goals relating to quality education are: the intersection of quality with access and equity, limitations in teacher training which have militated against change in teaching pedagogy, and resources and infrastructure.     

Impact evaluation from quality assurance agencies’ perspectives: methodological approaches,experiences and expectations

Starting from the main objective of external quality assurance (EQA) procedures to assure and improve the quality of higher education institutions and its provisions, the paper examines expected impacts of EQA procedures on institutions from the perspectives of three European quality assurance agencies. First, the paper examines the expected impacts of different standard parts of a typical peer review procedure on higher education institutions and assesses when a procedure is most likely to have an effect on the institution. The second part presents the current practices of the three EQA agencies, AQU Catalunya (Spain), Evaluationsagentur Baden-Württemberg (evalag) (Germany) and the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (Finland) on assessing the impact of their EQA procedures.     

Enhancing quality with a research-based student feedback instrument: a comparison of veterinary students’ learning experiences in two culturally different European universities

This paper explores the value of a research-based student inventory from the quality assurance point of view in two culturally different European higher education institutions for veterinary education. Perceived heavy workload is a well-known problem in veterinary studies and is a challenge to the quality of learning. First- and third-year students in both institutions responded to an inventory consisting of items regarding their approaches to learning, self-efficacy, study workload and the teaching-learning environment. There were differences in students’ approaches to learning and perceived workload between the two institutions. In both contexts, the strongest predictor of the workload turned out to be the surface approach to learning. Self-efficacy showed a positive correlation with the deep approach to learning and organised studying. The strengths of the teaching-learning environment varied between the institutions. Moreover, the present study discusses how the gained information could be used in improving the teaching-learning environment and students’ learning.     

Place-responsive pedagogy: learning from teachers’ experiences of excursions in nature

The nature-based excursion has been a significant teaching strategy in environmental education for decades. This article draws upon empirical data from a collaborative research project where teachers were encouraged to visit natural areas to provide an understanding of their roles and experiences of planning and enacting excursions. The analysis indicates that teachers’ sensitisation towards place was aided by collaboration, advance planning visits and the very practice of making place-responsive excursions with pupils. The authors build on the analysis to propose a theory of place-responsive pedagogy. At its core, place-responsive pedagogy involves the explicit efforts to teach by means of an environment with the aim of understanding and improving human–environment relations. Some implications for teacher professional development are offered.     

Teachers’ learning experiences in relation to their ownership,sense-making and agency

The aim of this study was to gain understanding of how teachers familiarise themselves with a new pedagogy during their everyday practice, in this case the implementation of the coaching role in vocational education. For this purpose, 11 teachers reported their learning experiences in a digital log. An identity perspective was used as a lens to reflect and interpret these learning experiences. More specifically, it was looked at the extent to which teachers expressed ownership in their learning experiences with this new pedagogy, the ways they made sense of their learning experiences, and the extent to which they expressed agency in their learning experiences. On the basis of their initial positioning in terms of their ownership, sense-making and agency, these teachers were divided into an engaged and a reserved group. Differences were found in the learning experiences both between and within these groups. The digital logs of the engaged teachers showed more ownership than those of the reserved group and their sense-making was more active and explicit. Agency was present in the digital logs of both groups. Within the two groups, differences were found, particularly between teachers in the reserved group.     

Engineering students’ experiences from physics group work in learning labs

The development and validation of a test of biology‐related attitudes (TOBRA) is described. This instrument was developed for science students in grades 10‐12 in Indonesia; however, the procedures for validation of the instrument will be of general interest to science educators. These procedures included the use of latent partition analysis to examine the conceptual structure of TOBRA.     

Being professional: accountability and authority in teachers’ responses to science curriculum reform

The science curriculum is a focus of repeated reform in many countries. However, the enactment of such reforms within schools rarely reflects the intended outcomes of curriculum designers. This review considers what we know about the experiences and reflections of teachers in the enactment of externally driven school science curriculum reform. ‘Externally driven’ signals a focus on studies of teachers who did not make a proactive choice to adopt a particular curriculum reform initiative. This is a very common experience for teachers in many school systems, and one likely to highlight issues of professionalism and authority that are central to the work of teachers. The review analyses 34 relevant studies. These include studies of teachers’ experiences of national curriculum reform, and also studies focusing on more regional or local curriculum reform activities. The studies examine individual teachers’ beliefs, practices and reflections associated with curriculum reform, the response of teacher communities to reform (e.g. within school departments), and teachers’ (and other stakeholders’) experiences across school systems. A wide range of factors influencing teachers’ responses are identified. These are characterised in terms of personal, internal and external contexts of teachers’ work. The review also highlights issues of authority, professionalism and the process of meaning-making in response to external curriculum reform. The discussion section identifies important areas for future research and gives recommendations for the design of curriculum policies that recognise and support the professionalism of science teachers.     

‘Quality revolution’ in post-Soviet education in Russia: from control to assurance?

Employing the analytical framework of a discourse-driven social change, this paper unpacks the neoliberal concept of ‘educational quality’ in the course of Russian education modernisation reform from 1991 to 2013. Since the early 1990s, the global neoliberal discourse has served as the backbone for post-Soviet educational ideology. Alongside other major reform initiatives, the ‘quality revolution,’ proclaimed by the Russian Government in the early 1990s, signified a rhetoric shift away from the Soviet-era quality control towards a neoliberal quality assurance paradigm. Through fine-grained textual analysis of policy documents and political statements by key educational stakeholders, the analysis unpacks the discursive underbelly of the new quality paradigm, in an attempt to determine whether a paradigmatic transformation has taken place. The paper argues that despite the nominally proclaimed shift towards a quality assurance model of educational governance, the representation of educational stakeholders and responsibilities within the new quality paradigm continues to correspond to the Soviet-era command-and-control authoritarian model. The study challenges the popular claim of a neoliberal turn in Russian education and suggests that a neoconservative authoritarian approach to education governance has been smuggled in under the disguise of ‘quality assurance.’     

Self-regulated learning: the role of motivation,emotion, and use of learning strategies in students’ learning experiences in a self-paced online mathematics course

Enrollment in online remedial mathematics courses has increased in popularity in institutions of higher learning; however, students unskilled in self-regulated learning (SRL) find online remedial mathematics courses particularly challenging. We investigated the role of SRL, specifically motivation, emotion, and learning strategies, in students’ learning experiences in a remedial online mathematics course. With an online survey of 229 college students, we found that student motivation explained a small portion of variance in achievement; whereas student motivation and emotion explained a significant portion of variance in satisfaction. In addition, significant differences in motivation and emotion were found in passing and nonpassing students; however, learning strategies did not influence student achievement and satisfaction. Implications for teaching and learning in self-paced online remedial mathematics courses are discussed.     

Passionate pedagogy and emotional labor: students’ responses to learning diversity from diverse instructors

This qualitative study examines emotion themes reflected in student evaluations from required diversity courses at a predominantly white, US public university. We analyze two years of student evaluations for 29 instructors. Situated by the work of Acker, Jaggar, and Hochschild, we find contradictory themes of perceived instructional bias and the value of diversity lessons. Student evaluations result in systematic disadvantage for minority instructors that may be heightened for female instructors of color. Non-minority instructors (both male and female) gain privileges by avoiding dealing with diversity directly which is reflected in student evaluations through the process of “ducking diversity”. The organizational structure of required diversity courses marginalizes the scholarship and emotion work of minority instructors and inherently reproduces the very inequalities they are designed to combat.     

Becoming a guidance counsellor in Ontario: formative influences from counsellors’ perspective

Contrary to guidance counsellors elsewhere in North America who hold a master’s degree, career and guidance counselling services in secondary schools in Ontario are delivered by teachers who have completed additional undergraduate studies. Guidance counsellors are pivotal components of the school as they complete tasks that promote students’ overall development. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how teachers perceive and describe the process of becoming guidance counsellors in Ontario. The thematic analysis revealed four major themes that articulated the process of becoming a guidance counsellor in Ontario: peer guidance, contextual factors, professional experience, and theoretical knowledge.     

Teachers’ professional learning to affirm transgender,non-binary,and gender-creative youth: experiences and recommendations from the field

Abstract

This paper critically examines the professional learning needs called for by educators working to support transgender, non-binary, and gender-creative (trans) youth and makes recommendations for practice. Interviews were conducted with 26 educators (preschool to secondary) who have worked directly with trans students (any child whose behaviour does not match stereotypes for their sex category assigned at birth, or who identifies with a gender different from their sex category assigned at birth). We examine two new concepts related to professional learning and educator preparation that emerged from theorising the data and related literature: pedagogies of exposure and culture of conversation. The limits and possibilities offered by these approaches are critically examined through the research base on teacher learning. Recommendations are made for teacher preparation, professional development and related practices to better create and sustain learning environments that affirm gender diversity.     

Group size and organisational conditions for children’s learning in preschool: a teacher perspective

Background:?There is a limited amount of research about group size in preschool, and how it impacts on teachers’ working conditions and their ability to support children’s learning and knowledge development in line with curriculum intentions.

Purpose:?From a perspective on quality, this article examines the organisational conditions for children’s learning in preschool in relation to group size. The questions at issue are: how do teachers explain how they organise the child group and the learning environment in preschool, and why?

Sample:?The sample consists of 12 preschools from different parts of Sweden. The preschools selected for the study are stratified in order to represent small and large group sizes in Swedish preschools as defined by the Swedish National Agency for Education. The sample contains both urban and rural regions and represents districts that differ geographically, demographically, ethnically, and which include varied socioeconomic structures. The 12 preschools had children in three age groupings: 1–3, 3–5 or 1–5. The number of children in the participating preschools ranged from 12 children to 45 children, with seven of the preschools having more than 30 children in their groups.

Design and method:?The article is based on interactionist perspectives, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, a critical ecology of the early childhood profession, theories of children’s learning, and four dimensions of pedagogical quality. Together, these theoretical perspectives contribute to an understanding of the relationships between policy issues, educational goals, group size and teachers’ competence in organising and creating conditions for children’s learning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two teachers from each of the 12 preschools. The interviews lasted between 40–60 minutes and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The analytical process was conducted in three steps and can be described as an analytical process of abduction. The four dimensions of pedagogical quality were used as analytical lenses to discern and understand critical aspects related to the teachers’ understanding of group size.

Result: Irrespective of group size, most of the children participate in different group constellations throughout the day, some organised by the teachers and some by the children themselves. Teachers’ competence to organise the children in such ways that good conditions for learning were created, differed between preschools, and depended on the teachers’ approach, which can be described as either intentional or unintentional learning.

Conclusion: Teachers’ organisational approaches influence the quality of the preschool and conditions for children’s learning in distinct ways.     

Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment

This study aims to provide a greater insight into how formative assessments are experienced and understood by students. Two different formative assessment methods, an individual, written assessment and an oral group assessment, were components of a pathology course within a medical curriculum. In a cohort of 70 students, written accounts were collected from 17 students and group interviews were carried out to explore the students’ experiences of these two forms of assessment. All students were engaged in both assessment methods, which were conducted a few weeks apart, and data were collected soon after each assessment. Our findings suggest that formative assessments motivate students to study, make them aware of what they have learned and where they need to study more. Thus, formative assessment can act as a tool for learning, contributing to the process and outcomes of learning. A closer look at students’ experiences of each form of assessment reveals interesting differences.     

Academics’ participation in quality assurance: does it reflect ownership?

Academics’ support for quality assurance (QA) depends on several factors, including their sense of ownership, which seems to be influenced by academics’ participation in QA’s implementation. This paper aims to understand whether this participation is indeed contributing to academics’ ownership of QA. Findings from a survey of Portuguese academics’ on their participation in study programmes accreditation suggests that this may not be the case. Academics present a partial withdrawal towards effective participation in study programmes’ accreditation, especially regarding external assessment. Furthermore, they do not seem willing to enhance this participation nor are they very critical about it. Since academics’ sense of ownership is essential for the successful implementation of QA, these results may represent a challenge for both institutions and QA agencies.     

Understanding students’ experiences of professionalism learning: a ‘threshold’ approach

Professionalism is a core element of curricula in many disciplines but can be difficult to teach and learn. This study used audio-diary methodology to identify professionalism threshold concepts in a small group learning setting in undergraduate medicine and to understand factors that might facilitate students to ‘get’ such concepts. Fifteen students and seven tutors kept audio-diaries over two terms. Data were analysed qualitatively for content. The key themes were then cross referenced to threshold concept criteria (e.g. where language indicated that learning was troublesome, integrative or transformative). Seven potential threshold concepts were identified which centred on students’ developing professional identities including working with uncertainty, considering the bigger picture, not needing to know everything and professional culture. Reflection on workplace experiences within a small group helped students ‘get’ these concepts. The study concludes that threshold concepts and audio-diaries are useful tools for understanding lived experiences of professionalism learning.