How does writing for publication help professional development of teachers? A case study in China

Publications by teachers reporting results or case studies of school-based teacher inquiry activities benchmark their professional development by indicating they have a ‘stance of inquiry’. Such papers also disseminate valuable knowledge to the education community for sharing. Essay or case writing has always been a part of school-based teacher learning in China. The small-scale qualitative study reported here examines the impact of producing publications on the professional development of teachers within the context of educational reform. Findings show that producing publications contributes to teacher development in three ways. First, an expanded knowledge base gives the teachers new understandings of student-based learning. Second, teachers obtain insight into their practices by making their tacit knowledge explicit. Third, teachers have a sense of achievement by theorising personal experience. Publications serve as ‘boundary objects’ which can potentially help teachers achieve and develop their professionalism by disseminating individual knowledge into the public knowledge domain with transformative learning. Such developments, however, normally tend to focus on expanding local pedagogical practice. More emphasis on the notion of ‘teachers as researchers’ through critical reflection may help teachers perform as transformative intellectuals whilst searching for ways to retain teachers’ voices in their written publications.     

Teaching for well-being? Introducing mindfulness in an undergraduate course

Student mental health and well-being are increasing concerns in higher education. This exploratory study examined students’ learning in a mindfulness programme incorporated into an undergraduate class. Six brief mindfulness-based practices were introduced: mindfulness meditation, walking meditation, body scan, mindful eating, loving-kindness and Tonglen meditation. Fourteen students were interviewed after completion of the course to explore their conceptions and use of mindfulness and other self-care practices. Results of thematic analyses suggest that there were variations in students’ adoption of mindfulness-based practices and students’ preferred mindfulness techniques. Most participants reported that mindfulness instruction and practice were beneficial but this was not universal; some students reported that mindfulness was ‘not for them’. Findings suggest that mindfulness fostered self-reflection, self-awareness and relaxation for many students and incorporating mindfulness at the beginning of class improved the overall quality of discussion and facilitated students’ learning. Findings further suggest that students incorporated mindfulness into existing self-care practices that included a variety of other preferred techniques to enhance self-reflection, self-awareness and relaxation. Overall, our findings suggest that students should be helped, through explicit instruction, to develop a ‘toolbox’ of self-care approaches that may include, but are not necessarily limited to, mindfulness techniques.     

Use of Facebook,students’ intrinsic motivation to study writing,writing self-efficacy and writing performance

The study aimed to scrutinise how incorporating Facebook into a conventional writing class might impact on students’ intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy and writing performance, and to uncover how best to provide corrective feedback on students’ writing posted on Facebook. Sixty-four subjects from an intact group were recruited by means of purposive sampling. All participants sat the pre-test measuring intrinsic motivation to study writing, writing self-efficacy and writing performance. Following the pre-test, participants attended a regular conventional writing class incorporating Facebook for four months. At the conclusion of the study, participants sat the post-test and were interviewed regarding their learning experience. Participants were also requested to indicate which type of feedback provided on FB is preferred and to justify their responses. It was found that students’ intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, as well as writing performance, improved markedly in the post-test and that direct corrective feedback is more favoured by students. Overall, the study suggests that not only does incorporating Facebook into a conventional writing class benefit students academically, but it also helps boost their intrinsic motivation to study writing and writing self-efficacy – two critical variables that dictate success in foreign language learning.     

How multicultural is the school in “multicultural society”? A Belgian case study

The competition for efficiency that governs the production of goods and services throughout the world is in part determined by the structure of the non-man-made material world. Not all techniques are equally efficient. Formal education in complex societies is trying to stay attuned to the system of production and the labor market. The compulsory use of languages and the school curricula are powerful tools which regulate the distribution of culture and the hierarchy of ethnic groups in multi-ethnic societies. Most elements of immigrant culture which are not in harmony with the school culture or with the preferences of the labor market are eroded. What is emerging is not an egalitarian “multicultural society” in the true sense of the word but a stratified multi-ethnic society with a flourish of cultural ethnic markers.     

Can models of distributed leadership be used to mobilise networked generated innovation in schools? A case study from England

There is now an increased focus on using networks to drive school improvement. Achieving the benefits of engaging in networks requires leaders to think and act differently; specifically, to benefit all teachers and students, the leaders of schools participating in networks must actively support the mobilization of networked-driven innovations. One approach to mobilization is enabling distributed leadership-type approaches. At the same time, distributed leadership, as a means of facilitating the take-up of network-led innovation, is relatively understudied. This paper explores how distributed leadership approaches can support innovation mobilization (or not) and what is required for them to do so effectively.     

How effective is the cascade as a method for disseminating ideas? A case study in Botswana

The cascade method of dissemination works on the principle that a small team of trainers will train a larger group, who will in turn pass on their knowledge and skills to a further group. In theory there is no limit to the number of links in the chain before the final target population is reached; in practice the number of intermediary stages is usually limited to three or four. This article looks at some of the advantages and disadvantages of the system as illustrated through an education in-service project in Botswana.     

How do students perceive the educational value of peer assessment in relation to its social nature? A survey study in Flanders

This study explores the relationship between students’ perceptions of peer assessment (PA) and its social nature. A quantitative survey study (N = 3680) was conducted in secondary education in Flanders, examining the students’ perceptions of PA interpersonal variables and their beliefs on the educational value of PA. The structural equation modeling (SEM) results show that the educational value students attribute to PA was positively predicted through trust in their own and their peers’ evaluative capabilities, awareness of negative interpersonal processes (e.g. fear of disapproval and friendship marking), and beliefs about PA accuracy. The importance attributed to anonymity appeared to be a negative predictor of PA conceptions. Tests of mean latent differences were performed to explore the differences between educational levels, PA experience and gender.     

How do university teachers combine different approaches to teaching in a specific course? A qualitative multi-case study

Teaching approaches in higher education are at the general level well researched and have identified not only the two broad categories of content-focused and learning-focused approaches to teaching but also consonance and dissonance between the aspects of teaching. Consonance means that theoretically coherent teaching practices are employed, but dissonance occurs when two broad approaches are combined. Previous studies researched teaching approaches at the general level, whereas the present study, researched approaches to teaching at the course level. Three university teachers were interviewed in depth about their teaching approach to one particular course. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. While previous studies have found that dissonance occurs between different aspects of teaching, this multi-case study revealed that dissonance can also be found within a single aspect. The present study suggests that neither content- nor learning-focused approaches to teaching are mutually exclusive and therefore may co-exist in individual teachers’ practices.     

Exploring students’ perceptions of service-learning experiences in an undergraduate web design course

Service-learning is an experiential learning experience where students learn and develop through active participation in community service to meet the needs of a community. This study explored student learning experiences in a service-learning group project and their perceptions of service-learning in an undergraduate web design course. The data showed that the service-learning project helped students learn the course material, feel more connected to the surrounding community, and improve their communication and problem-solving skills for their careers. The participants appreciated the opportunity to work with the service-learning partner and will be likely to look for more opportunities to get involved in the community. Time constraints, group work, working with real clients, and technical limitations were reported as major challenges in the group project.     

Integrating social responsibility into an entrepreneurship education program： A case study

Entrepreneurship education in the South Africa is often presented as a neutral discipline. Yet fundamental to any entrepreneurship education program should be the integration of key issues, such as ethics, values and social responsibility. This paper reports on a study that set out to explore student teachers experiences of engaging in an entrepreneurship education program specially enhanced to create an awareness of the link between entrepreneurship and social responsibility. It argues that exposure to a program of this nature is a powerful means to dispel the myth that entrepreneurship is a neutral discipline and that such exposure creates useful avenues for student teachers to examine their own constructions and perceptions of entrepreneurship and social responsibility. This paper draws on data constructed in a qualitative research project that engaged the tenets of symbolic interactionism in order to understand how students experienced the program and to understand their changing perceptions.     

Interest in an expository text: How does it flow from reading to writing?

This study investigated the flow of interest in a reading-to-write activity. It was hypothesized that (a) different contents in a text would stimulate different types of interest and (b) different writing tasks would impact differently students’ use of interesting text segments. Participants were 247 11th- and 12th-grade students, who were divided into 6 groups according to a 2 (interesting vs. uninteresting topic) × 3 (type of writing task) design. While reading, students rated novelty, curiosity, impressiveness, importance, and willingness to reflect on each text segment. Participants were then assigned to one of three writing tasks, namely argumentation, text designing, and composition. Results showed that concepts were regarded as important, events/activities as impressive, and evaluations as most worthy of reflection. Topic interest was explicitly expressed mainly in the argumentation condition, where increased topic interest scores after reading and writing were also found.     

Students’ perceptions of the flipped classroom model in an engineering course: a case study

The flipped classroom model is an innovative educational trend that has been widely adopted in the social sciences but not engineering education. In this model, an active instructional approach shifts the educational strategy from a teacher- to a student-centred approach. The purpose of this study is to compare the learning outcomes of engineering students attending a flipped-model section of the Dynamics of Structures course with students attending a traditional, lecture-based section of the same course taught by the same instructor. The results confirm previous research showing that test scores in the flipped course sections were slightly higher than traditional sections. Although the improvement in test scores was statistically insignificant, student statements indicated that the flipped model promoted a deeper, broader perspective on learning, facilitated problem-solving strategies and improved critical-thinking abilities, self-confidence and teamwork skills, which are needed for a successful engineering career.     

Does learning happen? A mixed study of online chat data as an indicator of student participation in an online English course

Education and Information Technologies - Student participation, as a significant indicator of class learning, has been investigated from various perspectives. The present research seeks to explore...     

How do students’ accounts of sociology change over the course of their undergraduate degrees?

In this article we examine how students’ accounts of the discipline of sociology change over the course of their undergraduate degrees. Based on a phenomenographic analysis of 86 interviews with 32 sociology and criminology students over the course of their undergraduate degrees, we constituted five different ways of accounting for sociology. These ranged from describing sociology as a form of personal development focused on developing the students’ opinion to describing sociology as a partial way of studying the relations between people and society. The majority of students expressed more inclusive accounts of sociology over the course of their degrees. However, some students’ accounts suggested they had become disengaged with sociology. We argue that the differences in the ways that students were disengaged were not captured by our phenomenographic categories. In conclusion, we argue that our analysis illustrates the crucial role that students’ relations to knowledge play in understanding the transformative nature of higher education.     

Is undergraduate debt an impediment to postgraduate enrolment in England?

Changes to undergraduate student funding arrangements in England have prompted concerns that increased indebtedness will deter graduates from postgraduate study. While it is clear that student debt has increased substantially in recent years, international evidence is equivocal on whether such debt is a deterrent to further study and there is hardly any prior research on this topic in the UK context. Using a large‐scale survey of 2009 and 2012 graduates from six selective English universities, we investigate the association between undergraduate debt, other graduate characteristics and progression to postgraduate study. We find some association of higher debt levels with lower rates of progression to postgraduate study, although this reduces when controlling for other factors, such as degree‐level attainment and subject discipline. Within a multivariate logistic regression model predicting progression to postgraduate study we find that debt is not a statistically significant predictor, although other characteristics are important. This indicates, we suggest, that underlying financial resources, rather than debt per se, are critical in enabling access to postgraduate study. We consider the implications of recently announced loans for postgraduate study in England given these findings.     

Do intentions and perceptions always meet? A case study regarding the use of a teacher appraisal scheme in an English language teaching environment

This article reports research examining a group of English language teachers’ perceptions of the teacher appraisal scheme with a developmental purpose. Specifically, the researchers tried to find out if there is a discrepancy between what the institution intended to achieve and how teachers perceived the scheme before and after their participation in it. The findings of the study, which were obtained by analysing the data collected from the teachers and appraisers in the form of two structured interviews revealed some significant clues for the institutions which are involved in or interested in running teacher appraisal schemes in their workplace.