The symbolic violence of setting: A Bourdieusian analysis of mixed methods data on secondary students’ views about setting

‘Setting’ is a widespread practice in the UK, despite little evidence of its efficacy and substantial evidence of its detrimental impact on those allocated to the lowest sets. Taking a Bourdieusian approach, we propose that setting can be understood as a practice through which the social and cultural reproduction of dominant power relations is enacted within schools. Drawing on survey data from 12,178 Year 7 (age 11/12) students and discussion groups and individual interviews with 33 students, conducted as part of a wider project on secondary school grouping practices, we examine the views of students who experience setting, exploring the extent to which the legitimacy of the practice is accepted or challenged, focusing on students’ negative views about setting. Analyses show that privileged students (White, middle class) were most likely to be in top sets whereas working‐class and Black students were more likely to be in bottom sets. Students in the lowest sets (and boys, Black students and those in receipt of free school meals) were the most likely to express negative views of setting and to question the legitimacy and ‘fairness’ of setting as a practice, whereas top‐set students defended the legitimacy of setting and set allocations as ‘natural’ and ‘deserved’. This paper argues that setting is incompatible with social justice approaches to education and calls for the foregrounding of the views of those who are disadvantaged by the practice as a tool for challenging the doxa of setting.     

Metacognitive online reading strategy use: Readers' perceptions in L1 and L2

This study aimed to explore whether first‐language (L1) readers of different language backgrounds would employ similar metacognitive online reading strategies and whether reading online in a second language (L2) could be influenced by L1 reading strategies. To this end, 52 Canadian college students as English L1 readers and 38 Iranian university students as both Farsi L1 and English L2 readers were selected. After completing three reading tasks on the Web, their perceptions about their use of strategies were assessed via a survey of reading strategies. Analyses of the data, using an analysis of variance and the Scheffé post hoc test, revealed certain differences. The Canadian readers perceived themselves to be high‐strategy users employing mostly a top‐down approach, whereas the Iranian readers in both Farsi and English appeared to be medium‐strategy users, favouring mostly a bottom‐up approach. Additionally, the correlation between readers' perceived use of strategies and their reading scores was statistically significant.     

Imagining the flowers,but working the rich and heavy clay: participation and empowerment in action research for health

Participation of the ‘target group’ is a key concept in working on empowerment in health education. However, it raises many questions and is not without struggle. I will discuss the findings from a study into the state of the art of empowerment in health education, which includes a literature review and the analysis of eight Dutch health‐promotion projects. An important finding is that participation is not an unequivocal concept. Professionals working in health education strongly disagree on the value, goals and meaning of participation. Moreover, in working on empowerment, a tension exists—between the ideal of participatory, ‘bottom‐up’ approaches on the one hand; and the ‘top‐down’ structure of health education programmes, on the other. I will argue for a ‘realistic approach’ in which the practice of health promotion is taken as the starting point to work on empowerment. After all, imagining the flowers is easy, but working the rich and heavy clay is the challenge.     

Scaling up as catachresis

The metaphor of scaling up is the wrong one to use for describing and prescribing educational change. Many of the strategies being employed to achieve scaling up are counter‐productive: they conceive of practitioners as delivery agents or consumers, rather than as co‐constructors of change. An approach to educational innovation based on the concept of taking local innovations to scale carries the danger of turning schools into franchises and of reducing the global diversity of educational ideas. Sound educational ideas get scaled up not only (or primarily) through a linear, top‐down model that begins with a laboratory test and ends with a road show of workshops and training sessions. They also get scaled up—in the sense of disseminated and then adapted in ways that change practice—through researchers sharing with practitioners thickly described, contextualized examples of innovative practices and then inviting practitioners to decide how best to adapt these innovative practices for their local settings.     

6 Urban schools as organizations: political perspectives

Reformed at the turn of the century toward top‐down, centralized administration, city school systems are frequently being reorganized today toward a bottom‐up, decentralized construction. The most radical of these is Chicago. But Chicago, in a condition shared widely throughout the USA, is a city school system experiencing serious budgetary and infrastructure decline ‐ a condition tending anew toward organizational centralization. Such political forces may not mesh well ‐ as a new politics of adaptive realignment at the grassroots encounters renewed strength in an ‘old politics’ of bureaucratic centralization. Largely unstudied and unknown at this time are the effects on the internal politics of the organization in city schooling ‐ a politics that may adapt in some unforeseen way to new battles between top‐down and bottom‐up.     

Routing Strategies and Optimizing Design for Multistage Testing in International Large‐Scale Assessments

This study investigates the effect of several design and administration choices on item exposure and person/item parameter recovery under a multistage test (MST) design. In a simulation study, we examine whether number‐correct (NC) or item response theory (IRT) methods are differentially effective at routing students to the correct next stage(s) and whether routing choices (optimal versus suboptimal routing) have an impact on achievement precision. Additionally, we examine the impact of testlet length on both person and item recovery. Overall, our results suggest that no single approach works best across the studied conditions. With respect to the mean person parameter recovery, IRT scoring (via either Fisher information or preliminary EAP estimates) outperformed classical NC methods, although differences in bias and root mean squared error were generally small. Item exposure rates were found to be more evenly distributed when suboptimal routing methods were used, and item recovery (both difficulty and discrimination) was most precisely observed for items with moderate difficulties. Based on the results of the simulation study, we draw conclusions and discuss implications for practice in the context of international large‐scale assessments that recently introduced adaptive assessment in the form of MST. Future research directions are also discussed.     

Bureaucratic response to policy change: implementation of adult education policy in Norway

Our main concern was to investigate the implementation of the new Education Act, giving adults the statutory right to complete upper secondary education. Referring to a ‘top‐down’ and a ‘bottom‐up’ perspective we have investigated how the representatives of the county authorities (the bureaucrats) interpret and practise the specific section of the Act in relation to their definition, moral evaluation and economic view. The interpretation of the section in the Act and the practice varied. Two counties were proactive, result‐oriented and generous, while four counties were passive, act‐oriented and restrictive in their implementation. The implementation was influenced by the bureaucrats’ attitudes, decisions and actions. They had their own agenda, moral standard, interest and so on, which influenced their interpretation and practice. Our study indicates that it is not enough just to formulate a right. How it is formulated, and how it is interpreted and perceived may affect the implementation process.     

Fears for tiers: are candidates being appropriately rewarded for their performance in tiered examinations?

Tiering is a multi‐stage test design whereby teachers allocate students to a particular difficulty level (tier) of a test. This approach to the challenge of delivering assessments to students with a heterogeneous ability distribution is normal practice in UK public examinations at the age of 16. This study uses Item Response Theory number‐correct score equating to examine the relative standards that are set between tiers on certain GCSE assessments. It finds evidence to suggest that candidates on the foundation tier are being over‐rewarded, while those on the higher tier are being under‐rewarded. It concludes that the use of IRT test equating could help improve standard setting on tiered tests and that the issue of restricted grade ranges on these tests may need to be reconsidered.     

User design: A case study on corporate change

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of implementing user design strategies within the corporate culture. Using a case study design approach, this article explores the change process within a Fortune 100 company in which users were given significant decision‐making powers. The main focus is on the unique nature of user design in a corporate environment where users become stakeholders in the process, a very different approach from the more typical top‐down management style. The study found that allowing users to design their own day‐to‐day processes gave them a sense of empowerment in their jobs because they could manage how they worked as long as they were meeting company goals. As a result, users were better able to manage their jobs, solve process‐related problems, and increase efficiency.     

From ‘bored’ to screen: the use of the interactive whiteboard for literacy in six primary classrooms in England

In recent years, interactive white boards (IWBs) have been introduced into many primary classrooms in England. This enquiry examines the ways in which they are being used in the context of literacy teaching, in six primary classrooms in the south‐west. Drawing on the perspectives of teachers and pupils, this report reflects on the impact of IWB use on the teaching and learning of literacy. It concludes that, while IWB use appears to have some general effects, such as supporting a more cross‐curricular approach to literacy and raising the level of student engagement, their use is not identical in all classrooms. In the classrooms studied, IWBs are used in various ways, according to teachers' technical expertise and experience. To help more teachers towards effective use of the IWB, it is suggested that, rather than the ‘top‐down’ commercial or professional models of transmission training, teachers need a ‘bottom‐up’ approach, that is more practitioner focused.     

The development, design and delivery of a retail simulation

theRetailGame.com is a web‐based package of e‐learning materials designed to support students on retailing courses. It uses the focal point of a ‘store opening’ to draw attention to key operational variables. The web‐based package allows students to explore the impacts of variable combinations in a risk‐free environment. This paper outlines the rationale for developing this new package; explains the design principles underlying its construction; and describes the delivery and assessment mechanisms in which it has been embedded. The case history of the project is reviewed, and actor‐network theory is used to characterise the alignment of requisite time and expertise as a feat of engineering, facilitated by top‐down support but dependent upon the creative manoeuvrings of the bottom‐up enthusiast.     

浅谈大学英语中的交互阅读法

阅读在我国英语教学中占有十分重要的位置,通过对阅读过程的本质的分析,比较了自下而上的阅读方法、自上而下的阅读方法及交互阅读方法等几种不同的阅读方法,提出在大学英语阅读教学中采用交互阅读方法,适当运用阅读策略,从而提高学生的阅读能力。     

The Dilemmas of the Reform of Romanian Education: Shock Therapy,the Infusion of Innovation,or Cultural Decommunization?

The recent presidential election in Romania has reawakened public interest in the reform of education at all levels. The author proposes a comprehensive approach to reactivate the reform process by what he calls reform through infusion. A reform programme reflecting this approach would give pride of place to centres of excellence scattered throughout the country and acting in an administrative environment of subsidiarity, decentralization, and diversity of provision. It would be the successful compromise between top‐down and bottom‐up reform strategies that in their pure forms have not worked very well. The result would be successful systemic reform moving in five main directions: an end to the state monopoly in educational provision; identification of new sources of funding; improved quality assessment; a humanist, democratic, and European approach to education; creation of a system of life‐long learning. New programmes, however, should be derived from existing ones that they will gradually supersede.     

图式理论与英语听力理解

在大学英语听力教学中设法启动学生已有的图式知识和为学生创造新的图式知识是英语听力课成功的关键所在；在具体操作过程中，运用图式知识理论所注重的“自下而上”和“自上而下”这两种信息处理方式能让学生较全面地理解和把握文章内容。     

Use of concept mapping to integrate the different perspectives of designers and other stakeholders in the development of e-learning materials

Multi-disciplinary teams and stakeholders are involved in the production of e-learning materials and all have differing and valuable perspectives. A range of factors such as availability of new learning technologies, pedagogy or the learning market, may direct the design process. This article argues that a constructivist methodology for course design enables a project manager to build on all contributors' perspectives in a "bottom up" rather than a "top down" approach and be aware of any weaknesses and undesirable dominating influences. Concept mapping provided the basis for an e-learning development project at the University of Surrey to develop such a constructivist methodology. The design team and wider stakeholders each produced individual concept maps and were analysed to identify both commonalties and unique contributions that might influence design. The project manager then integrated the individual maps to produce an overall map of the project and found the process valuable for a more critical and holistic approach to directing the project.     

Cross‐ and mono‐linguistic text processing in bilingual children

Bilingual German fourth‐graders are expected to develop greater linguistic awareness than monolingual children and therefore should habitually apply different text‐processing strategies compared with German monolingual fourth‐graders when comprehending and recalling a text. Bilingual children are expected to process texts from the bottom up, from the text base to the gist, whereas monolingual children should engage in top‐down processing, which is indicated, for example, by more text intrusions and inferences. This research attempts to clarify whether bilinguals show this shift in direction of processing when they process cross‐linguistic versus mono‐linguistic texts. The results of Experiment 1 supported our main hypothesis. Monolingual German fourth‐graders had more intrusions than same‐aged German–English (L1–L2) bilingual children. In Experiment 2, nearly balanced German–English and German‐dominant children were tested separately in within‐language free recall in both languages and in across‐language text recall. For nearly balanced bilingual children, within‐ and cross‐language recall was equally efficient in both languages but not for German‐dominant bilingual children – in their recall, more intrusions appeared in their L2 recall. Top‐down processing seems to increase when it is in the weaker language. Engaging in bottom‐up processing apparently is associated with cognitive functioning in L1.     

The backyard human performance technologist: Applying the development research methodology to develop and validate a new instructional design framework

Development research methodology (DRM) has been recommended as a viable research approach to expand the practice‐to‐theory/theory‐to‐practice literature that human performance technology (HPT) practitioners can integrate into the day‐to‐day work flow they already use to develop instructional products. However, little has been written about how it can be applied in a workplace setting to allow HPT practitioners to consider this research approach for adoption into their own activities. This article provides a real‐world application of the DRM to help close this literature gap. After providing background information to establish the case context, the article presents an overview of how this research approach was applied to an effort to develop and validate a new instructional design framework for potentially training National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts for deep space exploration missions. The result of this case indicates that this research methodology provides a viable approach that HPT practitioners can integrate into their current practices to provide a practice‐based research baseline to contribute to the practice‐to‐theory/theory‐to‐practice literature.     

Utopia vs. reality: the effectiveness of in‐service training courses for EFL teachers

The article explores the long‐term effectiveness of in‐service teacher training courses for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in the Greek educational context. It presents the results of a questionnaire designed and issued to teacher‐trainees a year after the completion of 60‐hour courses. The questionnaire assessed, among others, (a) teacher trainees' beliefs regarding the relevance of the knowledge acquired to their individual needs, (b) the extent to which they used the materials provided in the course, and (c) the usefulness of the subjects offered. The data are discussed in relation to strategies for optimising teacher training services and implications are drawn for the implementation of change in a broader educational context. A ‘cooperative model' is proposed for the promotion of change involving active cooperation between all agents involved in the educational process and necessitating top‐down and bottom‐up cooperation.     

网络路由备份技术设计及实验仿真

为了解决由于网络长期超负荷使用而园区网会出现不可预测主路由出口中断的问题,提出了浮动的静态路由备份技术、动态路由协议备份技术和接口备份技术等网络路由备份方法,通过冗余措施实现网络的高可靠性,利用路由备份策略实现网络链路的自动切换。在Dynamips模拟实验环境进行了网络路由备份仿真和实验设计,当主路由器发生故障,备份机就会自动接管主机的任务,保证了网络的稳定性和通畅性,为园区网主路由备份提拱了一种新方法。     

现代科学中基于个体的新思维

在现代科学中,一种新的基于个体的思维方式受到越来越多的科学家的关注。与自上而下的分析范式以及强调中心因素主导作用的中心控制范式不同,基于个体的思维范式主要采取的是自下而上的综合策略:即从个体出发,重点模拟简单的单位,而不是复杂的单位;主要运用局部控制,而不是全局控制;让行为从底层突现出来,而不是自上而下地做出规定。基于个体的思维范式已经成为现代科学,特别是复杂性科学探索的一种新思维。