Constructing the rural in education: the case of Outback Kids in Australia

The majority of the still limited literature on education in non-metropolitan areas adopts an understanding of rurality as a fixed and known geographic entity. This paper departs from such a functionalist perspective to explore how rurality is constructed in a programme for at-risk teenagers in remote Australia. Drawing on a range of texts about the programme, including a documentary series entitled Outback Kids, we examine how the rural space is imagined as simultaneously therapeutic and disciplining and therefore appropriate for troubled youth. Alongside this discussion we map the way in which other qualities and values associated with bifurcated definitions of the rural as a place of tradition and authenticity, and the urban as a place of disorder and pretence, are engaged in the texts to endorse the programme and its practices.     

Cascading the use of Web 2.0 technology in secondary schools in the United Kingdom: identifying the barriers beyond pre-service training

This paper reports on research that took place at two universities in the United Kingdom, over two years. The research focuses on the use of Web 2.0 technology, specifically blogs, with pre-service teachers, both during their university programme and the first year of teaching as full-time newly qualified teachers (NQTs). The purpose of this research was to add to a developing body of knowledge by identifying whether technology used by pre-service teachers during their training course can be cascaded into their practice once qualified. Key findings identify a number of enablers and barriers to cascading technology in the classroom; these include curriculum time, pupil skills and support. The research concludes that early professional support and development should continue during the early years of teaching and assumptions about new teachers as champions of cascading innovative use of Web 2.0 technologies into their practice as NQTs may be over-optimistic.     

Creating the golden triangle of evidence-informed education technology with EDUCATE

EDUCATE is a London-based programme that supports the development of research-informed educational technology (EdTech), allowing entrepreneurs and start-ups to create their products and services, and simultaneously grow their companies in a more evidence-informed manner. The programme partners businesses with researchers who mentor, guide and support this research journey, a key aspect of which is the evaluation of the company’s EdTech product or service. However, conducting impact evaluations of technology in education is challenging, particularly for early stage technologies, as rapid cycles of innovation and change are part of their essence. Here, we present the pragmatic approach to evidence-informed education technology design and impact evaluation, as developed and adopted by the EDUCATE programme. The research process is shaped by the core principles of evidence-informed decision making detailed in the paper. The contributions of the paper are threefold. First, it defines and details an academia-industry-education collaboration model centred on a research training programme. Second, it presents emerging impact results of the programme. Third, it provides clear reflections on the challenges encountered during the implementation of the model in the EdTech ecosystem of London, which should be addressed if we are to move towards evidence-informed EdTech globally.     

广西壮族农村地区民俗旅游开发对策研究

广西壮族农村地区具有丰富的民俗旅游资源,但在民俗旅游开发方面,存在管理水平滞后、人才缺乏、基础设施薄弱、旅游产品缺乏创新、资金不足、宣传力度不够等问题。应通过发挥资源优势、搞好旅游规划、多元开发旅游商品、加大景区宣传力度、加强壮族文化研究、培养民俗旅游专门人才等对策,全力提升广西壮族农村地区的民俗旅游业。     

乡村旅游开发与管理模式研究——以成都农家乐为例

20世纪90年代以来,我国的乡村旅游发展非常迅速,涌现了一大批具有鲜明乡土特色和时代特点的乡村旅游地与乡村旅游区。乡村旅游地区的开发与建设,不仅为城市居民提供了新的旅游休闲地域和空间,而且为农民增收致富及新农村的产业结构调整与经济发展,又开辟了一条新的途径。乡村旅游的发展对我国农村的影响初露端倪,虽然具备一些资源等方面的优势,但市场条件、管理水平和经济转型等因素在一定程度上制约了乡村旅游的现代化进程。     

农村幼儿园建设本土课程的意义与策略

随着教育价值取向、内容和方式不断趋于城市化,农村幼儿园加强本土课程建设,不仅可以为农村幼儿创设一个更为适宜的学习与发展环境,完善和优化农村幼儿园课程体系,而且有助于传承和弘扬农村优秀本土文化。当前农村幼儿园在建设本土课程时普遍面临着缺乏理论指导与制度支持、教师开发与建构本土课程的能力较低等问题。为此,应加强对农村幼儿园本土课程的理论研究与指导,不断提高农村幼儿园教师课程开发与建构的能力,建立农村幼儿园本土课程开发研究共同体,建设农村幼儿园本土课程资源库,持续提升农村幼儿园对本土资源的利用效率与质量。     

西部地区农村基础教育课程改革面临的问题与对策

课程改革是当前我国基础教育领域重要的改革之一,也是全面推进素质教育、提高人才培养质量的有效策略。当前西部地区农村基础教育课程改革中存在着领导重视不够、课改经费严重不足、教师对新课程不适应、班额过大制约新课程实施等问题。针对这些问题,提出了加强领导、加大新课程的宣传力度、建立课程改革专项经费、推广校本培训与校本教研、实施发展性评价等具体对策。此外,还就如何建立长效机制、深化课程改革,促进西部农村基础教育可持续发展提出了相关政策建议。     

Disadvantaged preschool children from rural areas: the importance of home practices and nursery attendance in the development of early literacy skills / Niños preescolares vulnerables de sectores rurales: importancia de las prácticas del hogar y la asistencia a jardín infantil en el desarrollo de habilidades de alfabetización temprana

Abstract

This research analyses the impact of home practices, sociodemographic variables (family income and parents’ education) and attendance at a formal education programme prior to the development of early literacy skills of 240 children (four years old) from rural and urban disadvantaged families starting nursery school in Chile. The results show that the development of literacy skills was higher in urban children. In rural areas, family practices (words games) and family income had the most predictive weight on the performance of children and no differences were found between those who attended a prior educational programme and those who remained at home; while in urban areas, programme attendance had the highest impact, so that children who remained at home attained a lower developmental level, similar to those of rural areas. The implications of these findings for educational practice and policy are discussed.     

少数民族地区实施民族文化校本课程的意义——以贵州部分民族地区为个案的分析

在民族地区基础教育中实施民族文化校本课程,不仅能优化民族地区教育,更能促进民族文化的传承与发展,有利于国家和地区在全球化背景中保持民族性,有利于民族地区旅游经济的长远发展,有利于民族地区经济发展资源的延续,全面推进民族地区新农村建设和发展。     

网络语境下高校写作教学的立体化培养模式探索——以柳州师专中文系为例

互联网时代,高校写作教学受到前所未有的冲击。面对新的形势,柳州师专中文系对写作教学进行积极探索,经过多年改革与实践,从课程体系、能力训练模式、教学模式、课程评价模式等方面,摸索出一套立体化的写作能力培养模式。     

景乡一体化:內涵、原则及实践——以昆明市西山风景区为例

景乡一体化的实质是通过"景乡一体"的建设和管理模式达到:乡村社区居住环境景区化、乡村社区基础设施景区化、乡村社区基本福利城镇化等目标,让乡村社区与景区共享旅游发展的成果.按照"乡村景区化、农业产业化、农民员工化、管理一体化、生活城市化"的建设原则,文章以昆明市西山为例分析了景区实施"景乡一体化"的可行性与必要性,提出了"健全管理机制、加强基础设施建设、提高乡村旅游发展水平、建设休闲产业发展集群"的"景乡一体化"工作内容和阶段性实施步骤,最后从机构、政策和资金三个方面提出了景区实施"景乡一体化"的保障措施.     

Art,Design and Environment: A Programme for Teacher Education

This account of a programme for PGCE Art/Design students at University College Bretton Hall, Wakefield (UK) describes an attempt in initial teacher training to develop a course of study which links art, design, environment and education. It seeks to develop a range of perceptions of the built environment, including those of the artist, the critic and the designer. The ideas and methods of working developed on this programme support students’ work in schools. The paper explains the rationale and describes the intensive workshop programme, which includes streetwork, studio sessions and critique. It reports on students’ research and their work in schools. Issues include the place of built environment studies in the Art/Design curriculum, the use of the environment as an educational resource and learning methods and teaching strategies. It comments on the satisfactions and frustrations of developing such a programme in initial teacher education. It presents the work at Bretton Hall as a case study in a wider range of work currently being developed by students, tutors and teachers involved in other courses. They have come together through the ‘Site Specific Project’ to create a research network to support curriculum innovation and teachers’ professional development.     

基于产学合作教育的应用型本科人才培养模式——来自于旅游管理专业的微观案例

将产学合作教育贯穿于人才培养模式的全过程、渗透于人才培养的每个环节是应用型本科教育的基本教育规律。金陵科技学院旅游管理专业人才培养模式为:制定具有行业化特点的人才培养目标和规格,优化课程体系,实施实践教学,培养"双师型"师资和"双证式"学生,科研反哺企业,深化产学合作。旅游管理专业产学合作中的校企矛盾,其本质是产学合作各方的利益诉求未得到充分满足所致。应用型本科院校在科研方向选择上,应综合考虑当地旅游产业(企业)发展需要、自身的能力优势、竞争院校的学科优势等因素,突出自身的科研特色,"弱弱联合",争先进位。     

The significance of context for curriculum development in engineering education: a case study across three African countries

Curriculum reform is a key topic in the engineering education literature, but much of this discussion proceeds with little engagement with the impact of the local context in which the programme resides. This article thus seeks to understand the influence of local contextual dynamics on curriculum reform in engineering education. The empirical study is a comparative analysis of the context for curriculum reform in three different chemical engineering departments on the African continent, located in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. All three departments are currently engaged in processes of curriculum reform, but the analysis shows how the different contexts in which these efforts are taking place exert strong shaping effects on the processes and outcomes for that reform.     

农村学校校本课程开发的困境及出路

农村校本课程的开发和实施能有效地弥补其在教学改革中的不利现状,但在具体的开发中存在着观念、管理、教师和支持上的诸多问题。依据课程开发的理论,须树立正确的理念,加强师资建设,加大支持力度,充分开发农村校本课程资源,以促进农村教育的发展。     

Cultural diversity in the curriculum: perceptions and attitudes of Irish hospitality and tourism academics

Academics are facing significant challenges in preparing indigenous students for employment in the multicultural working environment of hospitality and tourism organisations. In dealing with the impact of the new skills and flexibilities demanded by increasing globalisation, the indigenous workforce needs to possess a multicultural perspective and the adaptive skills and mindsets to integrate more inclusively in diverse work settings. This article explores the nature of cultural diversity within the Irish hospitality and tourism workforce (in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). An attempt is made to identify the challenges that hospitality and tourism educators face in implementing education for cultural diversity within the curriculum in order to prepare indigenous students (and indeed local industry staff) for employment within a multicultural workforce. The main themes analysed include: training requirements; educators’ requirements; programme content and learning outcomes; assessment methods; and methods of programme delivery.     

Education for disability equality through disabled people’s life stories and narratives: working and learning together in a school-based professional development programme for inclusion

This paper reports on the findings of an action research project that took place in a primary school in Cyprus. A professional development programme was devised with contributions from teachers involved in the research. The programme was aimed at helping teachers to map the difficulties they encounter when working with their students on disability-related issues (e.g. attitudes towards disabled children and adults, disabled people’s rights, disabled people’s views about social inequalities). Theoretical concepts from Inclusive Education and Disability Studies informed the design of a programme in which disabled people’s own views and narratives of their lives or significant life incidences (e.g. found in interviews and published work) were used to help teachers confront their preconceptions about disability issues and think of new approaches to discuss disability with their students. The findings suggest that this is a promising approach. These include teachers’ understanding of disability as a social rather than a medical issue, increased confidence in discussing disability issues with students and curriculum enrichment through the use of disabled people’s narratives. This discussion maps the process through which teachers learn and teach using disabled people’s life stories, and draws links with international research and theoretical standpoints.     

Changing Epistemological Beliefs in Pre-service Teacher Education Students

A teaching programme designed to foster the reflection on and development of more sophisticated epistemological beliefs was implemented with 29 pre-service graduate teacher education students at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. As part of the year-long teaching programme, students were required to reflect in journal entries on the content of an educational psychology unit in relation to their epistemological beliefs. The students engaged in this teaching programme (the research group) were interviewed in relation to their beliefs at the beginning (Time 1) and conclusion (Time 2) of the teaching programme. Students in a comparison group were not encouraged to explicitly reflect on their epistemological beliefs. They were asked to complete written statements about their beliefs about knowing at the beginning (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of the year-long unit. Schommer's (1988, 1990) epistemological beliefs questionnaire was administered to both the comparison and research groups at Time 1 and Time 2. This questionnaire measured beliefs about knowing. The results of both the quantitative and qualitative data analysis indicated that the group of students engaged in the teaching programme experienced more growth in sophisticated epistemological beliefs. The success of the teaching programme has implications for how teacher educators develop learning environments.     

高职旅游类专业产学研合作创新实践研究

产学研合作是高等教育发展到一定阶段的产物,是培养应用型人才的重要途径。高职旅游类院校必须适应经济建设和社会发展对人才培养规格的要求,探索出适合自己发展的产学研合作模式。校企双方可从课程开发、培训、学生实习实训等方面进行深度合作,达到高职人才培养目标。     

高职旅游电子商务课程建设探究

信息时代的旅游专业人才培养工作,要充分考虑行业企业的信息化发展要求。在高职院校旅游人才培养工作过程中,旅游电子商务作为提升学生旅游信息素养的核心课程,需要在人才培养工作过程中予以特别关注。从旅游电子商务课程设置的必要性、课程教学目标出发,提出了旅游电子商务课程体系构建的基本思路及框架,为高职院校旅游类专业开设旅游电子商务课程提供了有益的参考。