Will Marketing Go to the Head of the Class?

No abstract available for this article.     

‘Back to the future’: the impact of political ideology on the design and implementation of geography in the National Curriculum

ABSTRACT

The use of drama to promote children's engagement with and motivation to study history is now commonplace at sites of historical interest and in many primary and secondary classrooms. Researchers interested in this area have often measured children's engagement and interest through the oral contributions made both during the drama and afterwards in discussion, whereas the written responses of children to their experience of history through drama have not been systematically analysed. OFSTED has recently reported that while they have observed many examples of high standards of oral work in history, the standard of writing at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 has been disappointing by comparison. This article seeks to provide direction for teachers trying to develop children's historical writing through drama, and shows how drama can be used to promote analytical as well as empathetic responses to historical questions and problems.     

Who Benefits Most From Head Start? Using Latent Class Moderation to Examine Differential Treatment Effects

Head Start (HS) is the largest federally funded preschool program for disadvantaged children. Research has shown relatively small impacts on cognitive and social skills; therefore, some have questioned its effectiveness. Using data from the Head Start Impact Study (3‐year‐old cohort; N = 2,449), latent class analysis was used to (a) identify subgroups of children defined by baseline characteristics of their home environment and caregiver and (b) test whether the effects of HS on cognitive, and behavioral and relationship skills over 2 years differed across subgroups. The results suggest that the effectiveness of HS varies quite substantially. For some children there appears to be a significant, and in some cases, long‐term, positive impact. For others there is little to no effect.     

How to Improve the Effectiveness of Teaching Writing under the New Curriculum?

The requirements of "Curriculum standards" for high school students to write have greatly improved than ever. Thus,in high school,teachers should seriously study teaching materials and "curriculum standards" and pay attention to the importance of English writing instruction,guide and organize students to do English writing to train and improve students’ writing skills and to improve their writing instruction effectiveness.     

Whatever happened to entitlement in the National Curriculum?

ABSTRACT

In this article I recount the origins of the concept of entitlement in relation to the com‐ pulsory curriculum, particularly the government position (DES, 1987) as stated in the proposal for a National Curriculum. I suggest that the term ‘entitlement’ was then in clanger of being little more than a legitimating shibboleth, employed to lend authority to an educational programme that was substantially political rather than educational. With reference to my own doctoral research, and to subsequent National Curriculum developments, I observe that the passing of a decade has lent weight to this view, even as Sir Ron Dearing's major review (SCAA, 1994) continued to make various claims for entitlement being conveyed upon children.     

Will the Curriculum Caterpillar Ever Learn to Fly?

This paper examines New Labour's curriculum policies since its election to office in May 1997. It begins with an overview of the curriculum legacy inherited by New Labour from the previous Conservative government. New Labour's curriculum polices are then analysed in relation to the continuities and disjunctures with those of its predecessor. It is argued that under New Labour ‘standards’ has replaced ‘curriculum’ as the discursive hub of educational policy making. This discursive shift has led to the government imposing greater control over classroom pedagogy in order to meet prespecified educational targets. Moreover, it has engendered policies that substantially erode the principle of a broad and balanced curriculum entitlement, generally regarded one of the redeeming features of the 1988 Education Reform Act. The paper concludes with some tentative suggestions for a conception of curriculum that will more effectively meet the challenges of the 21st century     

Reform of Mathematics Curriculum and Open-ended Problem Solving

The basic assumption of reform mathematics is that ＂no one can teach mathematics＂. Therefore, the important teachers＇ role is to stimulate students to learn mathematics and support their development. Open-ended problem solving is an instructional strategy that creates interest and stimulates creative mathematical activity in the classroom through students＇ collaborative work. Lessons using openended problem solving problem solving activities result. emphasize the process of rather than focusing on the     

Why Are Children So Distractible? Development of Attention and Motor Control From Childhood to Adulthood

Distractibility is the propensity to behaviorally react to irrelevant information. Although children are more distractible the younger they are, the precise contribution of attentional and motor components to distractibility and their developmental trajectories have not been characterized yet. We used a new behavioral paradigm to identify the developmental dynamics of components contributing to distractibility in a large cohort of French participants balanced, between age groups, in gender and socioeconomic status (N = 352; age: 6–25). Results reveal that each measure of these components, namely voluntary attention, distraction, impulsivity, and motor control, present a distinct maturational timeline. In young children, increased distractibility is mostly the result of reduced sustained attention capacities and enhanced distraction, whereas in teenagers, it is the result of decreased motor control and increased impulsivity.     

Education: From telos to technique?

A preoccupation with technology has helped bury the philosophical question: What is the point of education? I attempt to answer this question. Various answers to the question are surveyed and it is shown that they depend upon different conceptions of the self. For example, the devotional‐self of the 12th century (which was about becoming master of the self) gave way to the liberal‐self (which was to facilitate social change). Education can only be satisfactorily justified, I argue, by appeal to transcendent values such as mastery of the self, which is incipient in liberal education.     

From ‘Year 9 dropout’ to doctoral candidate: An autoethnographic journey of becoming (with friends)

ABSTRACT

In this article, I am joined by two academic colleagues to explore my personal narratives and experiences as a doctoral student, and to explicate the challenges and achievements of my pathway into doctoral studies. Positioning itself within the growing field of doctoral research, the article focuses on an exploration of three vignettes which identify important points in my unfolding stories of formation in becoming a doctoral student as an older person. This autoethnographic study draws on Transformative Learning Theory and the critical discourse understandings of Gee to examine my stories of becoming from school-leaver at 15 to doctoral student over four decades later. The study has three implications. First, it is important to recognise and appreciate alternate pathways to doctoral education. Second, that there is a need to better understand the complex formation of doctoral students within an academic research community; especially in regard to those from diverse or challenging backgrounds. Finally, the significance of seeing doctoral education as identity work and work of the soul, built as much on affective experiences and reflexivity as learning to perform and write as an academic, is key.     

From Engagement to Impact? Articulating the Public Value of Academic Research

This paper reviews recent culture-change in British higher education (HE) and an increasing emphasis on academics evidencing, in meaningful and measurable ways, the value and contribution of their work to national societies. Discussion focuses on what is purported to be a shift from a focus on academics rationalizing the benefits of their work in terms of public engagement to a more contentious signifier of research worth, “impact”. The primary argument herein is that an impact agenda, framed in terms of assessment and by the upcoming Research Excellence Framework 2014, has not eclipsed an engagement initiative for HE in the UK but actually provided greater credence and tacit momentum. Where public engagement “pre-impact” was viewed by sections of the academic community as frivolous, faddish and tokenistic, it is now elevated as an integral component of impact-capture work and in plotting the pathways between research producer and research intermediary/end-user/collaborator. Where “impact” is a statement of the value of academic work, engagement is the method of its articulation and the means by which impacts are mobilized.

     

Aspects of Intercultural Education and Curriculum Decision‐making

This article presents an analysis of intercultural education from the viewpoint of the dynamics of agenda building as a political process. In this analysis, particular attention is given to the theoretical and ideological assumptions on which the concept of intercultural education is based. The author contends that the employment of this concept serves the purpose of issue containment within the arena of conflict where educational policy alternatives are determined.

     

Priorities for primary education? From subjects to life-skills and children's social and emotional development

To what needs and purposes should the primary curriculum be chiefly directed in the coming decades? In a first step towards revising the primary curriculum, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) invited responses to an open online call to ‘have your say’ on priorities for primary education. Respondents were asked to share their views in 100 words or less. Six priorities for primary education were identified across the 960 responses. These focused on developing children's life-skills; communication skills; well-being; literacy and numeracy skills; motivation and engagement; and their sense of identity and belonging. Across the priorities, there is recognition that skills learned in the primary years are related to one another and the extent to which children develop these is likely to have wide-ranging effects on their future experience as learners. Findings call for a revision of traditional, content-based curriculum subjects towards a better alignment with the needs of today's primary school children beginning with a more explicit focus on life-skills, and children's social and emotional development. Finally, we note the common ground across early childhood, primary and post-primary sectors and highlight the potential to align our values and vision for children and young people's education from the earliest years through adulthood.     

Caroline Pratt’s Idea of Curriculum and Imagination

Caroline Pratt, the founder of the City and Country School, is one of the few educators who tried to work out a program that would engage and develop students’ imaginations. Along with other progressive educators, however, she has been criticized for her child-centeredness, that is, valuing children’s spontaneity at the expense of planning and structure. In this paper, I will argue that this criticism does not apply to Pratt and describe her ideas of curriculum. The examination is largely historical, but it also has a conceptual component in that I try to show how the ideas of imagination and curriculum are compatible.     

Curriculum coherence and national control of education: issue or non‐issue?

Recent studies show that national control of K–12 curriculum yields important payoffs in terms of greater curricular coherence and, as a result, higher test performance on international tests such as those used in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. This paper examines the connection between national control of curriculum and curricular consistency and coherence, a variable known to have a positive impact on student test‐score performance. The results of several analyses reveal that national control of curriculum, viewed apart from the most important ‘function’ associated with such control (i.e. enhanced credibility), makes no contribution to curricular consistency or coherence.