Crisis? What crisis? The academic professions in the 'knowledge' society

At present, the higher education systems in most highly developed countries find themselves amidst a difficult process of change that will obviously have an impact on the positioning of their principal workers. We live in times of great uncertainties about the future of the academic profession. This article reflects on the analytical problems research on the academic profession has to face and summarizes recent trends and debates on the entrenched profession. Possible future developments of the academic profession are highlighted in the context of four scenarios -- 'key profession', 'academic worker', 'mediator' and 'antiquity'. Selected findings and results of the International Study on the Academic Profession are resumed to discuss the contribution of survey studies to the ongoing debate on the academic profession and to draw some preliminary conclusions on the challenges for further research in this area.     

Student evaluation of courses: what predicts satisfaction?

The main goals of course evaluations are to obtain student feedback regarding courses and teaching for improvement purposes and to provide a defined and practical process to ensure that actions are taken to improve courses and teaching. Of the items on course evaluation forms, the one that receives the most attention and consequently the most weight is the question, ‘Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this course.’ However, no attention has been placed on examining the predictors of students being ‘satisfied with the quality of this course’ overall. This study attempts to address this gap. The findings show that while student characteristics and reasons for enrolling in a course are predictors of overall satisfaction, it is the evaluation questions that predict the majority of the variation in course satisfaction. The findings also reveal that faculty‐selected optional questions are stronger predictors of overall satisfaction than compulsory questions.     

Student engagement in neo-liberal times: what is missing?

Quality teaching is increasingly prioritized in higher education. One reason is that government funding requires students to succeed in their studies and be ready for employment. In response, educators throughout the Western world have generated large quantities of evidence-based, practical, often uncritical research about what works to improve teaching, learning and student success. Much of this research carries the label student engagement. But student engagement is a complex construct used to identify what students do, think and feel when learning and how teachers can improve that doing, thinking and feeling in instructional settings. Despite its extensive coverage of learning and teaching, the paper asks whether something is missing from student engagement. It recognizes the complexity of the engagement construct and examines its key ideas but identifies three missing elements: critique; learning agency/democracy; as well as purposes, knowledge and values that transcend powerful political discourses in neo-liberal times.     

Teacher change and “high-stakes” assessment: what happens to professional development?

This study explored the impact of learning a new instructional practice in a US school district that places great value in a statewide student assessment. Grounded Theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1998, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, 2nd Edition, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA) was used to analyze interview and observation data from 20 teachers undergoing professional development in a new reading strategy. We found that teaching in a “high-stakes” assessment environment impacts the implementation, fidelity, and sustainability of new teaching methods. Most importantly, our results suggest that some teachers may use “high-stakes” assessments as their primary reference point in which to gauge the merit of innovative teaching practices. Furthermore, decisions regarding which components to implement, how often to use these components, and what materials to utilize in their implementation may be influenced by the preparation for and expected results of these tests.     

Teachers’ virtual communities of practice: A strong response in times of crisis or just another Fad?

Education and Information Technologies - The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived effectiveness of a virtual community of practice (vCoP) designed to support knowledge and...     

Global Crisis: Local reality?: An international analysis of ‘crisis’ in the early years

Abstract

In a recent keynote speech Paul Standish noted ‘there is agreement in judgments. But how the response to those judgments is realised is always cultural’ (paper presented to PESA Conference, Taiwan, 2012, p. 2). Making judgments about what constitutes ‘crisis’ for children is not necessarily agreed universally, though clearly there are some commonalities across many countries, as evident in United Nations on the Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) agreements. This article examines the local rhetoric and reality of ‘crisis’ for children in countries across the world. What constitutes a crisis for children, and how this plays out in the contexts of nine countries is explored by the authors based on the insights of each countries’ (OMEP) (www.omep.org.gu.se) Chapter representatives. Policies will be juxtaposed with provision based on the experiences of OMEP members reporting from their various contexts. Taken together they provide a contextualised perspective on ‘crisis’ and its relationship to a non-absolutist foundation to children’s rights. The article concludes that what constitutes crisis from a global perspective warrants consideration in the context of local reality—in this locale the concept of every child as having access to ‘rights’ is far from realisation.     

Agency–structure dynamics in an indigenous mathematics education community in times of an existential crisis in education

Educational Studies in Mathematics - This article is a synthesis of the historical account of the ongoing suppression of Māori indigeneity (language and cultural knowledge) in mathematics...     

Escaping into a master's degree in times of crisis? Master's degree applications and enrolment over the business cycle

The consequences of graduating in a recession could be severe and long-lasting. Bachelor's graduates can, however, avoid entering the labour market by continuing their education. Using a Norwegian dataset containing information on all graduates and their applications to and enrolment in master's degree programmes over a 15-year period, we find that a one percentage point increase in the field-specific unemployment rate results in a 6.5 percentage points increase in applications and a 3.9 percentage points increase in enrolment. Moreover, using a survey of the 2020 bachelor's graduates cohort, that is, the Covid-19 cohort, we find evidence indicating that those pushed into a master's degree by conditions in the labour market differ substantially from those whose decision to enrol in a master's degree is not driven by labour market conditions.     

Teacher educators for new times? Redefining an important occupational group

Teacher educators are an occupational group currently experiencing increased scrutiny by international policy makers and researchers alike. This occupational group however is increasingly difficult to define and identify in a complex, internationally changing teacher education policy reform environment. The question posed is an enduring one: who is a teacher educator? The answer is more complicated. To better understand this occupational group, a literature review and local policy analysis study using the Australian context was conducted to reveal more about their identity; career trajectories and; professional learning needs. Analysis revealed that three sub-groups belonging to the broader teacher educator occupational group have emerged as a result of shifting teacher education policies. Namely, university-based; school-based and community-based teacher educators, each with an important role to play and each positioned differently within the research and policy landscape. Findings suggest that all three groups are important to educating teachers across their career and to best meet the needs of all students for new times. Recommendations are made for future research and practice into how these groups can work collectively together, within and across the multiple sites of learning to teach.     

Teacher empowerment as an important component of job satisfaction: a comparative study of teachers’ perspectives in Al-Farwaniya District,Kuwait

The present comparative study investigates the perceptions of male and female teachers regarding the relationship between empowerment and job satisfaction. The study aims to look at factors that empower teachers and lead to job satisfaction from teachers’ perspectives. For that purpose, teachers were selected from three educational levels (primary, middle and secondary) in Al-Farwaniya District in the State of Kuwait. A total of 231 teachers from the Al-Farwaniya School District responded to a questionnaire. Both t-test and one-way ANOVA were applied. Data analysis reveals a lack of job empowerment and a high degree of dissatisfaction among teachers. The study concludes with several suggestions including opening up a dialogue with teachers in order to understand their problems and needs and involving them in the process of decision-making and change.     

Crisis in the Curriculum? New Counselors' Crisis Preparation,Experiences, and Self‐Efficacy

Professional counselors are responsible for providing crisis assessment, referral, and intervention ( Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2009 ); however, little is known about their preparation and experiences in these areas. This study examined new professional counselors' (N= 193) crisis intervention preparation, crisis intervention self‐efficacy, and crisis intervention experiences. Although participants had limited crisis preparation during their master's programs, most engaged in crisis intervention during their field experiences. Implications for continuing education and counselor education are explored.     

Storytelling in troubled times: what is the role for educators in the deep crises of the 21st century?

This essay examines the role of educators in the tangled economic, social, environmental and technological crises of the present time. It argues that a central purpose of education in this period is to support students to imagine and make liveable futures on their own terms. To do this, the paper proposes that the colonizing, optimizing and catastrophic stories that dominate accounts of the relationship between education and the future should be replaced by a recognition of students and worlds as co‐emerging. It introduces resources from the fields of anticipation, temporality and decolonial studies that gesture towards a new educational practice. It concludes by arguing that supporting students to make, tell and listen to stories has a critical role to play in enabling students to identify and articulate desires, hopes, fears and dreams for the future and to engage with the rich complexities of the present.     

Teacher beliefs in ‘testing’ times: a lesson from Singapore

International benchmarking and national testing of students at all levels of schooling have provoked teachers to critically reflect on their place in this endeavour. Many of the curriculum and pedagogical approaches associated with this type of assessment and accountability conflict with long-held beliefs about the role of teachers and the work of schooling. Singapore is recognised for significant achievement in the international schooling arena and also has a long history of national testing. This study draws specifically on positioning theory to investigate teacher beliefs and positioning in these times. A large qualitative research project located in Singapore sought the ways experienced teachers positioned themselves and their work as they negotiated multiple and sometimes conflicting discourses of teaching. A rigorous process was used to elicit teacher beliefs and resultant teacher positions.     

Leading change in reading for young adolescents: what is happening in New Zealand?

Effective school leadership in supporting outcomes for all students is critical. This study focuses on six New Zealand principals as they endeavour to make a difference to reading outcomes for 11 to 13 year-old students. In New Zealand, there are approximately 20% of students who are underachieving in reading. Once they reach the final years of primary schooling, this is the final opportunity to rectify this underachievement before these at-risk students enter secondary schooling. Interviews were conducted with the six principals at six case study schools, which represented a range of schools. Findings showed that there was widespread use of standardized testing results in reading to provide accountability for the New Zealand National Standards requirement, and also to inform next teaching steps. However, principals differed in the manner that they led the schools-wide analyses of the data. There was a stark diversity in the implementation of sustained and focused professional development in reading. The use of teacher aides to support our most vulnerable students, low-progress readers and English Speakers of Second Language was widespread, with only two schools providing in-school support and training of these paraprofessionals.