Pupils' perceptions of setting and beyond—a response to Hallam and Ireson

This article examines the important data on pupils' perceptions of setting and mixed‐ability classes in 45 comprehensive schools in England collected by Hallam and Ireson. It is argued that the finding that most pupils prefer setting to mixed‐ability classes requires closer scrutiny and more careful interpretation. The conclusion that such preferences are because setting matches pupils' needs to their abilities is not compelling. Pupils' perceptions may be a product of transmitted ideology and wider cultural and organisational factors inside and outside school. Moreover, it is not clear what the implications of Hallam and Ireson's data on mixed‐ability classes are for mixed‐ability teaching. While, Hallam and Ireson propose more differentiated teaching and learning in mixed‐ability classes, this article contends that their data could be interpreted to imply just the opposite. Finally, the implications of their data for the debate about the nature of comprehensive education in Britain are considered.     

Learning to argue: A study of four schools and their attempt to develop the use of argumentation as a common instructional practice and its impact on students

This article reports the outcomes of a project in which teachers' sought to develop their ability to use instructional practices associated with argumentation in the teaching of science—in particular, the use of more dialogic approach based on small group work and the consideration of ideas, evidence, and argument. The project worked with four secondary school science departments over 2 years with the aim of developing a more dialogic approach to the teaching of science as a common instructional practice within the school. To achieve this goal, two lead teachers in each school worked to improve the use of argumentation as an instructional practice by embedding activities in the school science curriculum and to develop their colleague's expertise across the curriculum for 11‐ to 16‐year‐old students. This research sought to identify: (a) whether such an approach using minimal support and professional development could lead to measurable difference in student outcomes, and (b) what changes in teachers' practice were achieved (reported elsewhere). To assess the effects on student learning and engagement, data were collected of students' conceptual understanding, reasoning, and attitudes toward science from both the experimental schools and a comparison sample using a set of standard instruments. Results show that few significant changes were found in students compared to the comparison sample. In this article, we report the findings and discuss what we argue are salient implications for teacher professional development and teacher learning. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50:315–347, 2013     

Social,Moral and Religious Attitudes of Secondary School Students

In Australian schools, "inclusion" is a term that is used to challenge a previously narrow focus on students with disabilities and their integration within and distribution amongst "mainstream" schools and classrooms. Nevertheless, this article argues that, as a concept, "inclusion" requires further broadening and deepening, particularly in arenas of practice, if it is to serve the interests of all students. Informed by notions of recognitive justice, the paper advocates rethinking inclusion to accommodate student differences in more socially just ways - emphasising students' contributions rather than their disabilities - and what this means for the organisation of classrooms and schools. Within the article, research data are focused primarily on students with learning disabilities and draw on twenty semi-structured interviews conducted with parents and teachers across six Australian state primary and secondary schools. Three sets of conditions are proposed as necessary for inclusive classroom and school processes: specifically, those that promote self-identity and respect, self expression and development and selfdetermination and decision-making.     

Mastery Learning in Theory and in Practical Innovation

Lahdes, E. 1983 Mastery Learning in Theory and Practical Innovation. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 27, 89‐107. Mastery learning strategies represent a bold attempt to develop an ‘encouraging’ theory and practice of teaching. It has a theoretical and philosophical foundation, as a result of which mastery learning stands out from many other more narrowly‐based innovatory schools of thought. In this article main traits of the theory are sketched as well as some of its main relations to other educational innovatory approaches. Against this background a Finnish school experiment is presented in which the experimental group's curriculum followed the principles of mastery learning theory. The positive results are discussed as well as the mastery learning strategy's advantages and the practical difficulties restricting its usage in schools.     

Writing and pseudo‐writing from Internet‐based sources: implications for learning and assessment

In recent years, plagiarism has been on the increase across the Western world. This article identifies Internet access as a contributory cause of this trend and addresses the implications of readily available Internet sources for the teaching and assessment of writing in schools. The basis for the article is a previous study showing a wide incidence of plagiarism in the Internet‐based writing of students in three classes at upper secondary school level in Norway. I relate the students' choices to writing as a cognitive process and as a cultural practice. My basic assumption is that the students' writing is work. It is this work we have in mind when we relate writing to learning and when we assess students' skills on the basis of their written texts. Access to the Internet changes the premises for this work because writing can be replaced by ‘pseudo‐writing’. ‘Pseudo‐writing’ is a work reducing writing practice, which neither excludes nor coincides with what we traditionally associate with plagiarism in schools. The main point in this article is that when students have access to the Internet during essay writing, the result is unavoidably a product of both writing and pseudo‐writing. Internet access thus leads to greater uncertainty about the role writing plays in student learning and makes it more difficult to take written assignments into account in assessing students' school results and effort.     

‘They do it anyway’: a study of Primary 1 teachers' perceptions of children's transition into primary education

Almost all 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds in Scotland now experience some form of pre‐school provision prior to school entry. Given such high rates of participation, the impact of pre‐school experiences on children's readiness for primary school has become an important issue for those involved in the early stages of compulsory schooling. Teachers in early years classes need to be aware of the experiences and achievements of individual children in their pre‐school setting to enable each child to transfer into mainstream education with the least amount of disruption to their learning. This study was carried out in one small Scottish local authority and explored the perceptions of early years teachers, from a diverse range of primary schools, of what information is important for them as children start school. This article presents the perspectives of Primary 1 teachers on children's readiness for schooling. It reports the factors, which these teachers identified as having an impact on successful transition from the pre‐school setting into the primary school.     

Examining the implementation of the mathematics strand of the Key Stage 3 Strategy: What are the bases of evaluation?

This article presents findings from a comparative case study examining the implementation of the mathematics strand of the Key Stage 3 Strategy in two contrasting schools—one using setting and whole‐class teaching, the other incorporating mixed‐ability grouping and individualised learning. A number of ‘outcomes’ of implementation are considered, including teachers' and students' experiences, changes in pedagogic practice and students' attainment. Whilst both schools achieved highly in relation to similar schools, higher attainment gains between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 in the school using setting/whole‐class teaching were associated with increasing student disaffection and dependence on teachers. In contrast, the attainment gains at the school using individualised learning were associated with increasing enthusiasm and independence. The mixed picture of outcomes and their complex interconnections suggest that evaluations of implementation resting on attainment‐based outcomes are problematic in terms of longer‐term aims of increasing the proportions of students choosing to study mathematics and developing the skills of independent learning.     

Paying the price for being inclusive: the story of Marshlands

This article illustrates, through the story of one mainstream primary school, the tensions between the inclusion agenda and the standards agenda. The school is situated in an area of social deprivation and nearly half of the school population have been identified as having special educational needs. The story presented in this article illustrates powerfully the inherent injustice of the performative culture which pervades education and the effects of this discourse for children with special educational needs and their teachers. I argue that a policy change is needed to create a more equitable education system and that, in the absence of such a change, schools such as the one presented here will risk being categorised as failing schools. This will have disastrous consequences for the teachers' careers, children's self‐concepts and the inclusion agenda itself.     

The Relationship between Students' Connections to Out‐of‐School Experiences and Factors Associated with Science Learning

This study examined the relationship between students' out‐of‐school experiences and various factors associated with science learning. Participants were 1,014 students from two urban high schools (secondary schools). They completed a survey questionnaire and science assessment describing their science learning experiences across contexts and science understanding. Using multilevel statistical modelling, accounting for the multilevel structure of the data with students (Level 1) assigned to teachers (Level 2), the results indicated that controlling for student and classroom factors, students' ability to make connections between in‐school and out‐of‐school science experiences was associated with positive learning outcomes such as achievement, interest in science, careers in science, self‐efficacy, perseverance, and effort in learning science. Teacher practice connecting to students' out‐of‐school experiences was negatively associated with student achievement but has no association with other outcome measures. The mixed results found in this study alert us to issues and opportunities concerning the integration of students' out‐of‐school experiences to classroom instruction, and ultimately improving our understanding of science learning across contexts.     

What Do Teacher Mentors Tell Student Teachers About Pupil Learning in Infant Schools?

Abstract

Recent emphases on experiential classroom learning in the induction into expertise of student teachers may over‐estimate the learning support that class based practitioners offer students. Current understandings of teachers' thinking and planning suggest that expert practitioners may not be best placed to provide student teachers with frameworks for understanding what Shulman (1987) categorises as general pedagogical knowledge. Data from a sample of 11 UK infant school teacher mentors in the form of 5 hours of taped planning and evaluatory conversations with 20 students have been content analysed. Teacher‐talk related to explanations of how pupils learn forms the focus of the paper. Implications for mentor training and school‐university partnerships are drawn from the analysis of the data. Finally the need to confront the language difference that obtains between schools and universities in order to develop the theoretical base of teacher education is asserted.     

Questions to assess learning as a communicative routine for inclusion

In the context of rapid policy transformation from segregation to inclusion in the education of children with special educational needs in Ireland, a study was conducted to investigate the interplay between policy and principles of inclusion, resource teachers' and class teachers' interpretations of this and the manner in which policy and principle is enacted in their practice. Based on nine resource teachers and nine class teachers each paired in a particular school, interviews to elicit teachers' interpretations combined with observations to document the detail of practice generated data from which nine case studies were crafted. Findings revealed that teachers' interpretations and constructions of inclusive practice are grounded in the central tenets of communicative routines, attunement and coherence‐fragmentation. As such, the pedagogical practices central to facilitating inclusion are as follows: teachers' use of questions to assess learning and mediated talk; transactional teaching–learning interactions contributing to transformational teaching‐learning episodes; and optimal interfacing of resource teachers and class teachers. This article, by Órla Ní Bhroin of St Patrick's College, Dublin City University, focuses on teachers' use of questioning to assess learning as a communicative routine for inclusion.     

Are small classes better? Understanding relationships between class size,classroom processes and pupils' learning

Twelve years ago Blatchford and Mortimore's authoritative review of class size research appeared in this journal. They concluded that a major problem with class size research was the lack of detailed studies of complex classroom processes that might mediate class size effects on pupils' learning. This article reviews two UK class size reviews and quantitative, qualitative and mixed method class size research. Evidence from research, and insights from 30 years of classroom‐based inquiry, form the basis for the development of theoretical models of relationships between class size, classroom processes and pupils' learning. Recent research evidence from secondary school classrooms calls into question simple one‐way relationships between class size and pupils' learning. Politicians are challenged to face up to the complexities involved and to be open to more flexible approaches to reforming the organisation of teaching and learning in schools that go beyond expensive programmes of crude across‐the‐board class size reductions. Further class size research is recommended that incorporates sophisticated qualitative methods in order to adequately understand and represent the kinds of teacher and pupil expertise involved in promoting and maximising opportunities for high quality learning in different large and small class contexts in primary and secondary schools.     

Interview with Princess Dusdi of Thailand

Abstract

This article focuses on the possibilities that information technology and mass media offer to learning environments of children and grown‐ups, and in what way they are different from the reality a decade ago, inside and outside school. It takes into consideration the norms valid in learning in schools, including the teachers’ role, and looks into how they coincide with or contradict the modern technological possibilities. In the rapid changes of society and values, the school should serve many ages, children and adults, which would require a greater variety of jobs than at present. Understanding the value of one's own language and culture does not come through isolation; it comes through learning about different societies and cultures, through considering, comparing and categorizing. The article discusses several practical examples from the recent experiences of Iceland.     

Pedagogical Thinking in a Student's Mind: A conceptual clarification on the basis of self‐determination and volition theories

This article suggests that educational psychology should pay more attention to the role of the curriculum when the optimal motivation to learn in school is considered. The curriculum frames the teaching‐studying‐learning process in school. This fact has several implications on the motivation to learn in school. After the child starts school, his or her motivation to learn seems to change from an intrinsic motivation to an extrinsic motivation. To develop pedagogical thinking in a student's mind means that the student must become acquainted with the aims and goals of the curriculum, assimilate them into his or her integrated sense of self and, thus, fully accept them as their own. If this succeeds, it will have positive effects on the student's motivation at school and especially on the motivation to study and learn. The concept of pedagogical thinking in a student's mind is analogous to the concept of teacher's pedagogical thinking. Based on previous studies, this article provides an example of how joint‐planning can offer a learning environment that promotes students' pedagogical thinking and the internalisation of the aims and goals of the curriculum in school. This article calls for new theoretical syntheses and research programmes that better take into account the normative nature of learning and teaching in school.     

‘Our garden is colour blind,inclusive and warm’: reflections on green school grounds and social inclusion

In the interest of enhancing children's environments, communities around the world are ‘greening’ school grounds, replacing asphalt and manicured grass with a diversity of design elements such as trees, shrubs, gardens, water features, artwork and gathering areas. Despite a growing body of research from a number of disciplines exploring the potential of these spaces, very little is known about the ways they can promote social inclusion with respect to gender, class, race and ability. This paper explores the relationship between school ground greening and social inclusion in a Canadian public school board where approximately 20% of more than 500 schools have begun the greening process. A mixed methods approach was used: (1) 149 questionnaires were completed by administrators, teachers and parents associated with 45 school ground greening initiatives; and (2) 21 follow‐up interviews were conducted with administrators, teachers and parents at five schools across a range of socio‐economic statuses. The study revealed that green school grounds are more inclusive of people who may feel isolated on the basis of gender, class, race and ability, suggesting that these spaces promote, in a very broad sense, social inclusion.     

The Contribution of the Characteristics of Schools Programmes to their Use in English Primary Schools

This article looks at the contribution of the characteristics of schools television programmes to their use in English primary schools: what made the programmes a useful teaching and learning aid, and how such characteristics influenced children's reactions to and facilitated their learning from the programmes. A qualitative case‐studies research into four English primary schools found that the popularity and usefulness of schools programmes lie in the inclusion of the following characteristics: (a) coverage of Attainment Targets and Programmes of Study; (b) accompanying resources of programmes; (c) broadcasting length; (d) target age groups and the use of language; (e) broadcasting pace and forms; (f) the insertion of visual pictures and humorous features; (g) the presence of children and familiar presenters.     

Lower secondary school teachers' judgements of pupils' problems

Lower secondary school teachers from six different schools in one Norwegian municipality reported on the prevalence of problems among pupils entering lower secondary school and types of problems among pupils in Grades 8–10. Teachers report that the transition from Elementary to Lower secondary school is problematic for approximately 30% of the pupils. About 70% of the teachers report that 25% or more of pupils transitioning to Grade 8 lack academic experiences and skills and have problems following directions. There is also a tendency for teachers who report higher values on professional (un)certainty about pupils' learning and on two efficacy variables included in the study, to be more favourably inclined towards inclusion of children who are perceived as having learning or behaviour problems. Additionally, teachers who report higher values on efficacy scales tend to report lower values on problems among pupils, and teachers who are less favourable towards inclusion report higher numbers of pupils having problems. The results are discussed in relation to schools as workplaces and professional development for pre‐service and in‐service teachers.     

The Free Schools “Riddle”: Between traditional social democratic,neo‐liberal and multicultural tenets

The question of what role free schools should perform in the Swedish educational system has been a contested subject between three ideological, theoretical, political and policy tenets. The first, “contribution to pedagogical diversity in a controlled school market” reflects a traditional social democratic view. The second, “contribution to a better education on a competitive school market” reflects a neo‐liberal approach. The third tenet, “contribution to the maintenance of groups' and individuals' cultural and religious identity” reflects a multicultural view insisting on the thesis that a family's cultural and religious identity should be a steering motive for the school choice. The aim of this article is to take a closer look at what the three tenets that constitute the “riddle” contain—including their claims, responses to critics, arguments and empirical evidence—and to discuss some of their practical impacts on the shaping of educational policy.     

Pupils' views on inclusion: moderate learning difficulties and bullying in mainstream and special schools

This study examined the views of 101 boys and girls aged 10–11 and 13–14 with statements of special educational needs for moderate learning difficulties. Questions centred on their experiences of school, teaching and learning in mainstream and special schools. The study is set in the context of the international move towards more inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream schools and the greater importance attached to the child's voice in decision‐making in education. Most children expressed positive evaluations of their schools and the teaching they received, while a significant minority expressed mixed views. A significant proportion in the mainstream preferred learning support in withdrawal settings. While the majority in both settings preferred their current school, a significant minority in special school preferred to be in a mainstream setting. A notable emergent theme from the study was the high incidence of ‘bullying’ that was experienced. Though experienced in both settings, those in special schools experienced far more ‘bullying’ by children from other mainstream schools and from peers and outsiders in their neighbourhood. These findings are discussed in terms of the tensions or dilemmas about difference that were experienced and their implications for the move towards greater inclusion.