Do new information and communications technologies have a role to play in the achievement of education for all?

Many commentators have suggested that the use of new information and communications technologies (ICTs) has significant potential in providing access to, and improving the quality of, teacher education. Such an idea is particularly relevant for the Global South, it is argued, where tens of thousands more qualified teachers are required if universal primary education (UPE) is to be achieved. This article explores six arguments commonly used to critique the relevance of ICT for development, encompassing technical, cost, philosophical, cultural and pedagogic issues. The arguments are categorised as the ‘technological’ view; the ‘donor’ view; the ‘anthropological’ view; the ‘standard’ view; the ‘individual’ view; and the ‘transmissional’ view. Drawing on empirical research into ICT and teacher education in sub‐Saharan Africa, including the work of the Digital Education Enhancement Project, six responses are used to review these arguments (‘developmental’, ‘democratic’, ‘cultural’, ‘deep’, ‘community’ and ‘pedagogic’). The author concludes that these contemporary data offer new ways of thinking about such debates and concludes with recommendations for policy makers, educators and the donor community.     

How is a professional development programme related to the development of university teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and teaching conceptions?

This study explores how the impact of a five ECTS professional development programme for university teachers affects their self-efficacy beliefs and teaching conceptions using a mixed methods approach. For the quantitative part of the study, participants completed pre-post surveys. From these surveys, we find that the programme led to an overall significant increase in reported self-efficacy beliefs. A sub-sample of ten participants participated in the qualitative part, which consists of four phases: three reflective assignments and an interview. Individual teachers demonstrate a dominant teaching conception in each phase and in almost half of the sub-sample it developed over time, moving from a teacher-centered to a more student-centered conception. When examining the development of self-efficacy and teaching conceptions collectively, three development groups are identified. Noteworthy is that teacher development is credited to the programme as a whole and not to a specific aspect.     

‘To be informed’: understanding the role of feedback information for Flemish/European policy

The aim of this article is to argue that the evident exchange of information on performance (and its supply, demand and use) should be regarded as a symptom of a new governmental regime that installs less evident power relations. Educational policy in Flanders (Belgium), and in particular the need for feedback information from the Flemish government, will be used as a case to describe this regime. Based upon the analytical framework of ‘governmentality’ (Foucault), the article focuses on the ‘governmentalization’ of Europe and Flanders that accompanies the need for feedback information. The main result of the analysis of European and Flemish policy documents can be summarized as follows: government or the ‘conduct of conduct’ currently takes the form of ‘feedback on performance’. This means that the strategy of the governmental regime is to secure an optimal performance for each and all (member states, schools), and acts upon the ‘need for feedback’ and ‘will to learn’ of the actors involved. On the basis of these findings, the article introduces in conclusion the notion ‘synopticon’ in order to grasp the exercise of power in ‘feedback on performance’.     

What kind of citizenship for whom? The ‘refugee crisis’ and the European Union’s conceptions of citizenship

The European Union (EU) plays a dominant role in coordinating the responses to the massive inflow of refugee-migrants into Europe; consequently, the conceptions of citizenship and future integration which are embedded in its policies are significant. We explore and analyse the key EU education policy documents that refer to immigrants to identify the forms of citizenship attributed to various types of incomers by the EU. Our analysis demonstrates that the EU’s conception of refugee-migrants is more closely affiliated with the notion of ‘Global citizens’ rather than with that of ‘European citizens’. Furthermore, we suggest that the EU distinguishes and navigates between various migratory flows, namely internal-European, desired external-European and undesired external-European (refugee-migrants), each associated with a distinctive conception of citizenship as well as with related policy discourses. In the light of the migratory flows into Europe, the particularistic conceptions of citizenship shaping the EU’s educational policy carry considerable implications for the future integration of refugee-migrants in Europe.     

Development of an instrument to measure Faculty’s information and communication technology access (FICTA)

The phenomenon of “digital divide” is complex and multidimensional, extending beyond issues of physical access. The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to measure a range of factors related to digital divide among higher education faculty and to evaluate its reliability and validity. Faculty’s Information and Communication Technology Access (FICTA) scale was tested and validated with 322 faculty teaching in public and private sector universities. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation confirmed an 8-factor solution corresponding to various dimensions of ICT access. The 57-item FICTA scale demonstrated good psychometric properties and offers researchers a tool to examine faculty’s access to ICT at four levels – motivational, physical, skills, and usage access.     

Factors influencing teachers’ innovative teaching behaviour with information and communication technology (ICT): the mediator role of organisational innovation climate

The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation among teachers’ perceived acceptance of technological innovation, organisations’ innovation climate, and innovative teaching using information and communication technology (ICT) in Taiwan. The participants (N?=?482) responded to a questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale for each factor, and their responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). This research found that an organisation’s innovation climate is significantly and positively related with innovative teaching using ICT, and that the acceptance of technological innovation is significantly and positively related with innovative teaching using ICT, as supported by the organisation’s innovation climate. The influence pattern and empirical data of the acceptance of technological innovation and the organisation’s innovation climate on innovative teaching with ICT exhibited a good fit. The implications of such findings were discussed.     

Towards the ‘informed use’ of information and communication technology in education: a response to Adams’ ‘PowerPoint,habits of mind,and classroom culture’

PowerPoint, the widely‐used slide‐show software package, is finding increasing currency in lecture halls and classrooms as the preferred method of communicating and presenting information. But, as Adams [Adams, C. (2006 Adams, C. 2006. PowerPoint, habits of mind, and classroom culture. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(4): 389–411. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) PowerPoint, habits of mind, and classroom culture. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(4), 389–411] attempts to show, users may not appreciate that PowerPoint invites and seduces educators to reshape knowledge in particular ways to the detriment of analytical thinking and interpretive understanding. Using Adams’ material as a stimulus, we argue that digital presentation tools (along with other items of information and communication technology) can be utilized to facilitate conversational dialogue between students, their instructor, and their peers without much additional knowledge or effort. The key that unlocks the affordances of PowerPoint is ‘informed use’. This concept is explained and illustrated with an example that shows technology being used in a particular context to achieve a particular set of instructional outcomes.     

Testing the mediating role of teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between sources of efficacy information and students achievement

The purpose of this study is to test the mediating role of teachers?? self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between sources of efficacy information and students achievement. For achieving this aim, this study suggests two alternative models, tested by Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. In the first model, sources of efficacy information and teachers?? sense of self-efficacy independently influenced student achievement. In second model, we examined a dependent 2-factor model, consisting of: (a) antecedent variable: sources of efficacy information, (b) mediator variable: teachers?? sense of self-efficacy, and (c) criterion variable: student??s achievement. Among 284 teachers who participated in this study, Sources of the Self-Efficacy Inventory (SOSI) and Teachers?? Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) were distributed. Findings of this study indicated that between two suggested models, the dependent model showed the best overall fit to the data. In this model, teachers?? self-efficacy had mediational role between sources of teachers?? self-efficacy and student??s achievement.     

Higher education ‘massification’ and challenges to the professoriate: do academics’ conceptions of quality matter?

Ensuring and assuring the quality of higher education have become dominant policy discourses in many jurisdictions across the globe. Yet, the pressures of massification and its attendant problems mean that academics now have increasingly demanding roles to improve student learning, particularly so in systems ravaged by a paucity of resources. The study reported in this article explores the experiences of and the challenges faced by academics in a large public university in Ethiopia during a period of graduate education expansion. The study found that academics hold onto ‘exceptional’ and ‘transformative’ notions of quality as they made judgements about the quality of education, which they saw as declining since the onset of expansion. As well, academics associated the entire expansion effort with burden, alienation, enhanced workload and loss of autonomy for the professor. The study suggests that policies intended to improve the quality of higher education should, inter alia, attend to the concerns of front-line academics.     

The impact of the teacher’s role and pupils’ ethnicity and prior knowledge on pupils’ performance and motivation to cooperate

How can the teacher bring about effective cooperative learning (CL) in multiethnic elementary classrooms? To answer this question we hypothesized that when the teacher stimulates pupils’ helping behaviour (experimental group), this increases pupils’ performance and CL motivation more than when the teacher lets pupils fend for themselves (control group). Subjects were 166 pupils from 10 schools. The results show that national pupils in the experimental group outperformed pupils in the control group and teams with low and medium prior knowledge performed better in the experimental group. Additionally, immigrant teams with high prior knowledge in the control group outperformed their low prior knowledge counterparts and had a higher CL motivation. Our results suggest that, next to the teacher’s role, attention has to be paid to both the pupil background characteristics ethnicity and prior knowledge and the teacher’s experience with CL.     

Cases of incongruity: exploring the divide between adolescents’ beliefs and behavior related to academic dishonesty

The past several decades of research has produced many important insights into prevalence and correlates of academic dishonesty. While these studies have offered important contributions to our understanding of such cheating, we are in need of research that allows us to hear what students have to say about it. This paper begins to fill the relative void of student voices by presenting results from individual interviews with a sample of adolescents who acknowledge cheating despite believing that is wrong to do so. Specifically, the present investigation uses a multi‐case research design to explore the phenomenon of belief–behaviour incongruity, as it relates to academic dishonesty, among a demographically and academically diverse group of high school students. Four distinct cases of BBI are presented, each representing a complex configuration of psychological, social, cultural and situational factors: unable, under‐interested, under pressure and unrepentant. Educational implications and suggestion for further research are discussed.     

Science teachers’ interpretations of Islamic culture related to science education versus the Islamic epistemology and ontology of science

The debate about Islam and science extends to a debate about the relationship between Islam and science education. In this paper, I explore Egyptian teachers’ views of the relationship between science and religion within the Islamic context. Teachers’ key vision of the relationship between science and religion was that “religion comes first and science comes next. I will argue that teachers’ personal religious beliefs are among the major constructs that drive teachers’ ways of thinking and interpretation of scientific issues related with religion. Then, I discuss how teachers’ personal religious beliefs have been formed and influenced their pedagogical beliefs related to science and religion issues. Finally, I will argue, how we use the personal religious beliefs model as a framework of teaching/learning scientific issues related with religion within sociocultural (Islamic) context.      

‘I'm going to bring my sense of identity to this’: the role and contribution of bilingual teaching assistants

In recent years there has been a considerable growth in the number of teaching assistants (teacher aides in the USA) in UK schools and in the diversity and range of their roles and responsibilities. Although these roles vary in different parts of the UK, an increasing number of assistants now work alongside teachers to support children's learning. Some teaching assistants and instructors are bilingual in the languages spoken by children in their schools and draw on their knowledge of other languages in providing support for children's cognitive and language development. Many bilingual teaching assistants carry out similar roles to their monolingual colleagues but, in addition, are involved in facilitating communication and mediating interaction between home, school and local communities. However, their roles and contribution to children's learning are often not clearly defined and are certainly under‐researched.     

Situation of China’s solar water heater industry, related national standards, testing and the Golden Sun certification program

China is the largest solar water heater producer and market in the world. Despite the fast growth and an installed capacity that accounts for the majority of the global gross, China＇s per capita solar hot water capacity is still very low, implying a huge margin of market potential; and the recognition of the industry in the global market is handicapped by the scattered scale of production and inconsistent product quality. To ensure continued growth of China＇s solar water heating （SWH） industry, Chinese Government has established a series of national SWH standards, three national testing centers, and a certification program to lay the foundation for the development of the Golden Sun product labeling system. China General Certification Center （CGC） developed the Golden Sun product certification and labeling system on a pass/fail basis evaluating with established criteria. The system was designed to help manufacturers acclimate to explicit consistent requirements and to identify and fix the deficiencies in the design and execution of the program itself. Timely revision and integration of the national standards are recommended to accommodate the test procedures and requirements to new technologies and the evolving SWH ,market. Strict implementation of the Golden Sun certification and labeling system are suggested to avail improving the quality control and forging internationally reputable brands of Chinese solar water heating products.     

How do different stakeholders utilise the same data? The case of school leavers’ and graduates’ information systems in three European countries

This paper analyses how three European countries produce and use data within a specific educational policy field, that of school leaving and graduation. It compares how stakeholders in England, Finland and the Netherlands know what happens to the leavers from schools and universities. Through gathering evidence about the methodological underpinnings of the school leavers’ and graduates’ information systems (SLGIS) and whose data needs they aim to satisfy, this research provides insight into the discrepancies of data production. Moreover, as stakeholders from the policy and the institutional level are represented to a different extent when SLGIS are set up, the utility of the resulting data in their work is of differing degrees. The paper models the problems of how SLGIS are set up and utilised, thus suggesting some of the possible solutions. Using this particular example, the paper highlights the discrepancies of data production and utilisation in terms of the focus, the timing, the methodology and sampling as well as the processes of dissemination. To provide a wider relevance, the paper outlines key issues around the utility of research evidence.     

The Transformation of China’s Key Science and Technology Universities in the Move to Mass Higher Education of Community Youth in Relation to Career Guidance

China’s key science and technology universities are modelled on the French école Polytechnique. As such, they are utilitarian institutions, rooted in the concept of cultivating manpower for society’s economic progress, and tending to ignore the development of the individual. As China’s elite higher education system took in a rapidly increasing number of students in the recent massification process, China’s key science and technology universities underwent reform to become more comprehensive in curricular offerings and more research-oriented in function. The authors have uncovered an interesting phenomenon: Despite repeated discussion in academic circles, this transformation was never actually a conscious strategic choice for universities. Only when the Chinese government launched a program of higher education “massification” did universities develop their own unique reform strategies in a move to become more comprehensive and more research oriented. The authors have adopted a multi-stream analysis framework to describe and analyze three case study universities: University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), and Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU). It was found that Chinese universities already have quite a high level of autonomy, but that the government still has the power to make strategic decisions. Each university’s decision-making mechanism has been an independent process within the constraints of the political economic structure over this period, and policy-making has combined top-down and bottom-up processes.     

Teaching evaluation: antecedents of teachers’ perceived usefulness of follow-up sessions and perceived stress related to the evaluation process

This study examines teaching evaluation based on student feedback which is intended to contribute to teachers’ professional development. Although studies have highlighted that teaching evaluation is a potential source of professional development and that follow-up sessions are crucial to this benefit, little attention has been paid to the usefulness of follow-up sessions as perceived by the teachers involved. Based on 217 teacher responses and analysis done with Structural Equation Modelling, this article provides additional insight into teaching evaluation by investigating possible antecedents for teachers’ perceived usefulness of follow-up sessions and for evaluation-related stress. Our results indicate that the perceived developmental purposes of teaching evaluation, recognition of the person conducting follow-up sessions and perceived clear communication from leaders are positively related to teachers’ perceived usefulness of follow-up sessions. Higher levels of perceived control purposes are related to higher levels of reported stress among the evaluated teachers.     

Japan’s colonial policies – from national assimilation to the Kominka Movement: a comparative study of primary education in Taiwan and Korea (1937–1945)

The eight-year-long period from Japan’s initiation of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to its unconditional surrender in 1945 forced Japan to invest its national economy and industrial and scientific technologies in the war. In addition, in the name of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Japan initiated its assimilation and Kominka (Japanisation) policies (皇民化政策) in the colonies Korea and Taiwan. Japan used education as a tool to expand its influence over members of society, and attempted the frequent use of Japanese and Kominka (皇民化) in daily life to penetrate the awareness of people in the colonies. Japan also started to enforce various assimilation policies. A comparison of the implementation of Kominka policies (皇民化政策) in Taiwan and Korea shows that, in terms of school admission rates and frequency of use of Japanese, the proportion of school admission rates for frequent speakers of Japanese to primary education in Taiwan are significantly higher than those in Korea. Moreover, in terms of primary education, national schools were implemented in both Taiwan and Korea according to the “National School Order” promulgated in 1941. Japan made use of the term “education equality” to win people over. In fact, it aimed to strengthen the concept of Kominka (皇民化), the education of militarism, and to force the Taiwanese and Koreans to become “imperial citizens” loyal to the Emperor. Japan’s ultimate objective was to create an environment that met military needs for civilian and military resources.     

Helping students with LD to succeed: the role of teachers’ hope,sense of coherence and specific self-efficacy

Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the academic achievements of students with learning disabilities (LD). The personal resources of teachers, such as sense of coherence (SOC) and hopeful thinking, may predict self-perception of the competency and efficacy they possess to help students with LD acquire needed learning skills. Several studies have shown the importance of SOC and hope to the success of students with LD, but research has not focused on how the hope of their teachers may help these students succeed in inclusive classrooms. The goal of the current study was to identify profiles of teachers, based on their personal resources of SOC and hope, and to examine their self-efficacy (SE) in helping students with LD acquire learning skills. The sample consisted of 624 teachers (567 females and 57 males) from inclusive classes; 143 teachers in this sample had special education training. Using cluster analysis four distinct clusters were identified suggesting that both SOC, as a global personality measure, and hope, as a measure of future expectations, contributed to the SE of teachers: their belief in their ability to help the students with LD acquire learning skills. In each cluster, teachers with special education training had higher levels of hope and SE. The results highlight the important role of teachers’ personal resources in predicting their belief in their professional ability to help students with LD.