Strengthening ‘the foundations’ of the primary school curriculum

The low status of the foundation subjects (e.g. Music and Physical Education (PE)) in English primary schools is well documented. Using PE as an illustrative example, a thematic analysis of 51 PE trainee students’ assignments, based on their perceptions of a two-week experience in a primary school, highlighted a number of areas of concern (e.g. limited/inadequate preparation; insufficient teacher knowledge/confidence; variable/limited subject leadership and non-qualified teachers delivering the curriculum). The possibility of teachers, coaches and other external specialists learning collaboratively with and from each other within a community of practice/learning is proposed as one way of strengthening the foundation subjects within the primary school curriculum.     

Students’ views of environments for learning from the primary to the secondary school

Research on transfer has alerted us to the anxieties that students experience as they move from a smaller school to a bigger school, and how the sudden differences in space, size, and their own position within a large organization can affect their identities as learners. Drawing on interviews with students in their first year in secondary school, this chapter examines the differences that students see as important in moving from the primary school to the secondary school. Three topics are discussed: freedom of movement, seating, and classroom display.     

Learning for the future: the emergence of lifelong learning and the internationalisation of education as the fourth way?

This article explores the discourse of international educational reform that aims at meeting the various challenges of globalisation and a knowledge-based economy and preparing students for a better future in the twenty-first century. Specifically, it reviews the dominant themes, trends and goals of modern education. It does so by exploring the shared themes of curriculum adaptation, the emerging models of learning and innovation, the trend towards lifelong learning for all and the growing need for the internationalisation of education. It concludes by suggesting an overall trend of the sectorisation and de-sectorisation of education emerging under new social and economic circumstances in the twenty-first century.     

Assessing graduate attributes for employability in the context of lifelong learning： The holistic approach

To promote economic and personal growth, higher education students＇ employability, ensuring their preparedness for the workforce, is emphasized. From the employer＇s perspective, judging whether a graduate is employable depends upon whether the graduate exhibits the attributes which employers value. Yet, with the growing emphasis on lifelong learning, it is important for higher education to re-consider and reframe the development and assessment of attributes of graduates in the context of lifelong learning. In this paper, these attributes will be explored in that context, and the issue of how assessment helps the development of graduate attributes is to be considered. Student engagement is proposed in this paper as the holistic, useful approach for the development of employability and lifelong learning. The holistic approach reflects the fact that what is required in a workforce is not the acquisition of knowledge, skills and dispositions per se, but the capability to make an engagement through which knowledge, skills and dispositions are connected as a whole. The lack of emphasis on students＇ engagement could lead to mistakenly selecting as important for the focus of assessment simply the acquisition of skills, knowledge or dispositions, rather than the holistic connection of these to their application in the workforce.     

Switching on the learning society? - questioning the role of technology in widening participation in lifelong learning

The creation of technologically-based ‘virtual education’ has been portrayed as a means of widening access to learning opportunities for those currently excluded from participation in lifelong education and training. Now in the UK these claims are being operationalized under the ‘University for Industry’ initiative and associated Virtual College programmes all of which aim to make real the concept of Britain as a ‘learning society’ for all with an emphasis on reaching those traditionally seen as non-participants in learning. This paper examines these claims in the light of current knowledge about the characteristics of non-participants in lifelong learning and the barriers that they face. It is suggested that the application of ‘technological fixes’ to underlying socio-economic determinants of participation will solve some problems, create others, and leave many unaffected. In this way the paper argues for independent research on the impact of the ‘virtual college’ movement, and begins to outline the form such research could take.     

From lifelong learning to youth employment: back to the future for higher education in Scotland’s colleges

This article explores aspects of the experience of higher education students in a Scottish college within the context of widespread contemporary concern about youth unemployment. Analysis of published data reveals a marked shift in the demographic profile of higher education students in colleges in favour of young people. An unseen consequence of this change has been a decline in opportunities for older students, particularly women wishing to study part time at an advanced level. Survey data from one college follows up an earlier case study and explores new dimensions of the work/life/study balance. In this study the respective experiences of school leavers, young adults and adults are compared. Over half of the students were in paid work, an increase compared with the previous survey. The relationship between work or family life and study was significant in influencing the quality of the students’ experience. Young part-time students, many of whom were following modern apprenticeships, achieved a more successful work/life/study balance compared with full-time students who were in paid work. It is recommended that colleges should devote attention to enabling students to maximise the benefits of combining work with study, to prepare them for transition into a difficult labour market. It is also argued that the different priorities of older lifelong learners should continue to be recognised as their numbers decline.     

Exploring the characteristics of an optimal design of non-programming plugged learning for developing primary school students’ computational thinking in mathematics

Existing computational thinking (CT) research focuses on programming in K-12 education; however, there are challenges in introducing it into the formal disciplines. Therefore, we propose the introduction of non-programming plugged learning in mathematics to develop students’ CT. The research and teaching teams collaborated to develop an instructional design for primary school students. The participants were 112 third- and fourth-grade students (aged 9–10) who took part in three rounds of experiments. In this paper, we present an iterative problem-solving process in design-based implementation research, focusing on the implementation issues that lead to the design principles in the mathematics classroom. The computational tasks, environment, tools, and practices were iteratively improved over three rounds to incorporate CT effectively into mathematics. Results from the CT questionnaire demonstrated that the new program could significantly improve students’ CT abilities and compound thinking. The results of the post-test revealed that CT, including the sub-dimensions of decomposition, algorithmic thinking, and problem-solving improved threefold compared to the pre-test between the three rounds, indicating that strengthened CT design enhanced CT perceptions. Similarly, the students’ and teacher’ interviews confirmed their positive experiences with CT. Based on empirical research, we summarize design characteristics from computational tasks, computational environment and tools, and computational practices and propose design principles. We demonstrate the potential of non-programming plugged learning for developing primary school students’ CT in mathematics.

     

Does learner expertise matter when designing emotional multimedia for learners of primary school mathematics?

Educational technology research and development - Recent research on multimedia learning has considered the integration of cognitive and affective aspects of media processing. The literature...     

Children's political learning in primary school – evidence from Germany

Recent political socialisation research focuses almost exclusively on the orientations of adolescents, even though the literature seems to agree on the assumption that politically relevant orientations and attitudes are acquired much earlier in the life span. This article argues that it is essential to look at the beginning of socialisation if we want to shed further light on the processes underlying the development of democratic citizenship and therefore looks at children aged six to eight years. It examines the influence of primary school institutions on children's political learning by looking at three important school contexts on children's political knowledge, (1) teaching, (2) class, and (3) school context. The empirical analyses draw on data from a German study that includes several hundred children at the beginning and at the end of their first school year, as well as their teachers. Even though individual factors can account for a good portion of the variance, school factors are also important but depend on the respective knowledge domain. The findings can contribute to the ongoing discourse about a broadening of children's political and civic rights and are meant to trigger a discussion about a re-orientation of civic education in primary school.     

Portfolios as ‘learning companions’ for children and a means to support and assess language learning in the primary school

This article explores the idea of portfolios as a way to collect evidence of pupils' learning and achievement in their language learning in the primary school. The emphasis is on portfolio work as an active and reflective process to underpin and support learning and to show evidence of achievement and progression. Pupil choice and reflexivity are essential in the process. The process can encourage learners to draw on their learning experiences across the curriculum. Whilst a means of providing evidence of learning, and for showcasing work pupils are proud of, portfolios are seen as central to and embedded in the day-to-day learning and underpinned by the principles of formative assessment. Designed to be used with other modes of assessment including the European Languages Portfolio, portfolios are in essence flexible, inclusive and a dynamic record of learning, achievement and potential for every learner. In this article, the use of portfolios from an early age as a means to promote development and learning and a way of assessing learning are inextricably linked. Teachers working to develop portfolio work, and some of their pupils, add their voices to the discussion of portfolio development towards an enhanced dialogic assessment culture.     

Promoting children’s participation: the role of teachers in preschool and primary school learning sessions

The aim of this study is to provide insights into the social construction of participation in joint activities in Finnish preschool and primary school classrooms. The article deals with two issues: How do teachers promote participation in a preschool classroom as compared with a primary school classroom? What similarities and differences are found? It also considers the question of how the similarities contribute to the continuity from preschool to primary school in terms of participation. Based on observation data insights are provided into the interactions between teachers and children by using extracts from teacher‐led learning sessions. The teachers used a diversity of strategies to promote participation in both contexts. In the preschool the focus was on participation and interaction as such, whereas in the primary school the emphasis was more clearly on academic learning. The findings suggest that teacher support of active participation and friendly relationships, together with creative and playful activities in the preschool, enrich children’s curiosity, and nourish children’s motivation for and interests in academic learning.     

Challenges in evaluating the EU’s lifelong learning policies

Since the early 1990s, lifelong learning has become a major policy concern for the European Union, being seen as a means for enabling individuals to be more competitive in social and economic contexts that are continually changing. After a series of white papers and strategies in the field of lifelong learning, the EU launched the Lifelong Learning Programme in 2007, which dealt with the most pressing issues in the field. In light on the complexity of this programme, we need to ask ourselves if traditional evaluation models and approaches are appropriate for evaluating complex educational policies and programmes in the educational field. Thus, the stake of this article is to explore the challenges which arise when evaluating the EU’s lifelong learning policies and programmes in general, and the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 in particular, as well as to propose several new directions for overcoming these challenges.     

Taking active learning into the primary school: a matter of new practices?

This paper examines the extension of active learning pedagogical practices familiar in preschool settings to the first class of primary school. Policy and practice guidance in the UK is advocating the benefits of experiential learning as a way of engaging young children as they move into primary school but for teachers this means a move to new practices which can be in tension with other expectations. In this paper, the rationale for active learning is considered along with an account of the classroom activities of teachers and children in five primary schools that were implementing the policy shift to active learning. The children in these classes spent varying amounts of time in whole class activities led by the teacher or in small groups directed to engage with specific activities. They had opportunities to engage and respond verbally, through manipulating objects and with physical actions but the emphasis was on planned, teacher-directed learning activities. The characteristics of active learning as introduced in these innovative classes are compared with the expectations of practice guidance and theorising about early learning.     

Active learning for active ageing: Chinese senior immigrants’ lifelong learning in Canada

This paper explores the intersection between migration, aging and lifelong learning with the aim of expanding our understanding of how lifelong learning enhances older migrants’ active aging in a foreign land. Our study also offers insights into the learning activities of older immigrants in general. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed a conceptual framework of active aging, which has greatly influenced aging policies and seniors’ everyday practices. Yet, there is a paucity of research that explicates and fully integrates lifelong learning into active aging discourse, and focuses on senior immigrants’ lifelong learning in an aging society. Based on interviews, textual materials, and participatory observation in five Chinese seniors’ immigrant associations in Toronto, we explore how Chinese senior immigrants’ learning has been (re)shaped and practised through re-settling in Canadian society. Five categories of learning are explored, including a) learning language and computer skills, b) learning culture and history, c) learning civic engagement, d) learning leisure, and e) learning health. We argue that ‘active learning’ can be used as a dynamic conceptual framework that interacts with active aging theory, demonstrating how senior immigrants actively participate in the lifelong learning project for participation and integration in Canada. This paper provides insights to the understanding of culturally sensitive policy-making on integration, health, and lifelong learning of older immigrants in Canada and beyond.     

Primary school size and learning achievement in Senegal: Testing the quantity–quality trade-off

The literature on the effects of primary school size on learning achievement in sub-Saharan Africa is rather limited. To address this gap, we examine the causal relationship between primary school size and learning achievement of two cohorts of students, followed with collection of three rounds of data in Senegal. These two cohorts attended grades 2 and 4 at the beginning of the 2009–2010 school year. We implement an empirical strategy that hinges on value-added models estimated with a doubly robust approach; we find that fourth/fifth graders (and not second/third graders) attending mid-sized schools perform significantly better than their counterparts attending smaller or larger schools. These results are robust to a number of sensitivity analyses. The potential mechanisms through which school size operates include student’s gender, family socioeconomic status, class size and the urban/rural location of the schools. Importantly, we suggest optimal sizes of primary schools for both policymakers and parents. These optimal sizes are contingent upon schools’ urban or rural location.     

Mine the process: investigating the cyclical nature of upper primary school students’ self-regulated learning

The present study investigates primary school students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) process by exploring the sequence in which SRL activities are conducted during learning. The aims of this study are twofold: investigating the presence of the theoretically hypothesized cyclical nature in students’ SRL process, as well as potential differences herein for high, average, and low achievers. Think-aloud data of 104 upper primary school students were analysed by means of process mining analysis. The results indicate that students commonly adopt a cyclical approach to learning by implementing preparatory, performance, and appraisal activities during learning. However, the results indicate clear differences in the quality of students’ SRL process. High achievers, compared to low and average achievers, show a more strategic and adaptive approach to learning during all phases of their learning process. They more strategically and effectively orient on and plan assignments, combine different cognitive strategies, and adopt self-evaluation to regulate their learning process.

     

Towards a learning or a certified society? Contradictions in the New Labour modernization of lifelong learning

This paper examines the ‘Learning Society’ goal espoused by the new Labour government and inherited from preceding Conservative administrations. Section one notes the wide‐ranging consensus on this Learning Society target. Agreement reaches further than education and training (learning) policy to include other areas of policy associated with the proposed reform of the welfare state. Whether the social and administrative changes under previous Conservative governments ‐ changes that can be conceptualized in different ways the paper briefly indicates ‐ amount to the end of the welfare state is discussed in section two. The position of post‐compulsory or ‘lifelong’ learning in relation to compulsory or ‘foundation’ learning in the new ‘post‐welfare’ or Contracting State is then discussed in section three. Contradictions in New Labour's programme of modernizing lifelong learning are exposed. In conclusion, the question is posed how far a New Labour government will be prepared to reverse previous Conservative substitution of the market for representative democracy in the new type of Contracting State, or whether it will merely extend and further consolidate it. Throughout, evidence is presented, particularly from post‐compulsory education and training, to argue that the new government is bent upon pursuing the latter option.