Challenges to the counsellor in a changing world — The impact of environmental changes in universities on the concepts of student counselling

This article will first consider in a systematic way how student counselling is related to change. In doing so it will refer to the development of student counselling in Germany. Formulating the thesis that student counsellors find themselves symptomatically confronted with changes which hint at deeper challenges than those they have known before, it will then explore new dimensions of change in universities and show how they may be linked with impulses and answers given by counselling and psychotherapy. Finally it will take a look at the professionalization of student counselling in the light of those changes.Bergische Universität — Gesamthochschule Wuppertal     

Effects of a reform high school mathematics curriculum on student achievement: whom does it benefit?

This study compared the effects of an integrated reform-based curriculum to a subject-specific curriculum on student learning of 19,526 high school algebra students. Using hierarchical linear modelling to account for variation in student achievement, the impact of the reform-based Core-Plus Mathematics curricular materials on student test scores is compared to the subject-specific curriculum. Findings from this study indicate that students enrolled in integrated mathematics outperformed subject-specific students on an Algebra I exam (highly aligned with content), and performed equally on an Algebra II exam (poorly aligned). High minority students in high-need schools demonstrated higher performance when they were enrolled in integrated mathematics.     

The planning illusion: does active planning of a learning route support learning as well as learners think it does?

Is actively planning one’s learning route through a learning domain beneficial for learning? Moreover, can learners accurately judge the extent to which planning has been beneficial for them? This study examined the effects of active planning on learning. Participants received a tool in which they created a learning route themselves before accessing learning material and, for comparison, also worked with a tool in which the route was planned automatically. Eighty-three participants participated in learning sessions with both tools over two topics in statistics. Both tools were found to influence the learning process. However, results indicate inconsistency between participants’ judgement of the relative effectiveness of the two types of tools and their actual learning outcomes. Although participants thought they had learned more when they actively created a plan themselves, knowledge tests showed no differences on performance between actively planning a learning route or receiving it ready-made.     

Does the discussion help? The impact of a formally assessed online discussion on final student results

While there is agreement that participation in online asynchronous discussions can enhance student learning, it has also been identified that there is a need to investigate the impact of participation in online discussions on student course performance. This paper presents a case study based on an undergraduate engineering management unit employing a formally assessed online discussion area. It was observed that while many students read a significant number of discussion postings, generally, the posting of new and reply messages occurred at the minimum level required to qualify for the assignment marks. Based on correlation and multiple regression analysis, it was observed that two variables were significantly related to a student's final unit mark—prior academic ability and the number of new postings made to the online discussion. Each new posting contributed three times as much to the final unit mark as its nominal assessment value, suggesting that the work in preparing their new discussion postings assisted students in the completion of a range of assessable tasks for the unit. The number of postings read was not significantly correlated with the final unit mark, suggesting that passive lurking in this online discussion did not significantly contribute to student learning outcomes.     

The curriculum as a site of counter politics: theorising the ‘domain of the sayable’

Whilst there has been increasing focus on the impact of neoliberal education policy on the curriculum covered in schools, as well as on teacher and student subjectivities, less research has been done on the possibility, or otherwise, for teachers to challenge curriculum constraints. Arguing that these curriculum constraints are not simply imposed by an external censor, this article takes up Judith Butler’s concept of the ‘domain of the sayable’ to theorise what it is possible to imagine teaching in the primary school classroom in the first place. I draw on two different ethnographic data episodes to explore the parameters of the domain of the sayable in the space of the classroom in which I taught, mapping the silences and sudden swerving away from topics that seem to be straying close to what is impossible to say or hear. This process offers new insight into how we might conceptualise teacher resistance and counter politics within the current educational policy milieu in the United Kingdom.     

Is the remedy worse than the disease? The impact of teacher remediation on teacher and student performance in Chile

I study the impact of remedial training for low-performing teachers in Chile. Taking advantage of the fact that assignment to remediation is mainly based on teacher evaluation scores, I use a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and find that teachers barely assigned to remediation improve their pedagogical practices as measured by their next evaluation scores. While there is suggestive evidence that these teachers’ students obtain higher standardized test scores after the training is complete, this result is not robust, and the suggestive positive impact disappears after one year. I also find that during the year of their teacher’s reevaluation, the students of teachers assigned to remedial training obtain significantly lower test scores. Teachers assigned to remediation report lower prestige and job satisfaction, suggesting that the stigma of being labeled as a low performer leads teachers to put more effort into preparing their teaching evaluations, causing a temporary drop in student learning.     

Why do experts disagree? The role of conflict topics and epistemic perspectives in conflict explanations

The present study examined the role of conflict topics and individual differences in epistemic perspectives (absolutism, multiplism, and evaluativism) in students' explanations of expert conflicts. University students (N = 184) completed an epistemic thinking assessment and a conflict explanation assessment regarding two controversies in biology and history. Additionally, thirty students were interviewed and provided detailed conflict explanations that were used to interpret and extend the quantitative results. In the biology problem, conflicts were predominantly attributed to topic complexity and to research methods. In the history problem, conflicts were also predominantly attributed to topic complexity, but also to researchers' personal backgrounds and motivations. Epistemic perspectives were related to specific conflict explanations, suggesting that these perspectives have a role beyond topic differences. Thus, both conflict topics and epistemic perspectives shape lay explanations of experts' conflicts. The findings highlight differences in students’ interpretations of the roles experts play in knowledge construction.     

Stirring it up or stirring it in? Perspectives on the development of sexualities equality in a faith‐based primary school

This article examines what happened within one Church of England primary school during an action research project concerning sexualities. No Outsiders aimed at exploring how teachers developed classroom practices that promoted greater inclusion of sexual minorities, at the same time as working to eradicate homophobic bullying and heterosexism. This examination engages current research methodologies, including post‐structural analytics and narrative ethnography, to consider the viewpoints of headteacher and researcher, with a particular reference to faith issues. Various intersections are considered – between different faith positions and between different theoretical approaches – to conclude that while there are risks involved in straddling critical boundaries, there are also benefits in terms of creativity and motivation.     

Whose curriculum is it anyway? Stakeholder salience in the context of Degree Apprenticeships

A Degree Apprenticeship model has recently been introduced into the United Kingdom (UK) Higher Education system as part of wider changes to vocational training. The system has experienced numerous rapid changes in regulation and funding, and it is now little understood by many stakeholders. Distinguishing different phases in UK Higher Education, and using a salience model as a lens for analysis, this article identifies and examines stakeholders with regards to their influence on the Higher Education curriculum. The new Degree Apprenticeship model is funded by an employer payroll levy and it requires Higher Education institutions to deliver training to specific standards. This research explores the implications of the model for the Higher Education curriculum, concluding that the direct involvement of employers in the design and delivery of vocational Higher Education introduces untried elements into UK Higher Education on the assumption that the funding requirement will lead to a change in employer behaviour. This, coupled with the opening of Higher Education provision to private providers, transfers power over the curriculum to those with potentially no commitment to wider public values, and may offer a threat to the international standing of UK Higher Education. This article contributes to research in understanding how Higher Education systems respond to, and actors cope with, imposed change.     

Quantitative skills as a graduate learning outcome of university science degree programmes: student performance explored through the planned–enacted–experienced curriculum model

Application of mathematical and statistical thinking and reasoning, typically referred to as quantitative skills, is essential for university bioscience students. First, this study developed an assessment task intended to gauge graduating students’ quantitative skills. The Quantitative Skills Assessment of Science Students (QSASS) was the result, which examined 10 mathematical and statistical sub-topics. Second, the study established an evidential baseline of students’ quantitative skills performance and confidence levels by piloting the QSASS with 187 final-year biosciences students at a research-intensive university. The study is framed within the planned–enacted–experienced curriculum model and contributes to science reform efforts focused on enhancing the quantitative skills of university graduates, particularly in the biosciences. The results found, on average, weak performance and low confidence on the QSASS, suggesting divergence between academics’ intentions and students’ experiences of learning quantitative skills. Implications for curriculum design and future studies are discussed.     

Who becomes a teacher? The characteristics of student teachers in four countries

This paper reviews the characteristics of students entering initial training in four countries—Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Trinidad and Tobago. First a brief overview of the teacher education systems is provided. Second, biographical data is reviewed on age, religious affiliation, ethnic group and mother tongue, parental occupations and academic achievement, and students’ educational qualifications. Third, some insights into trainees’ perceptions about teaching and the teaching profession are presented. Finally, comparisons are made for two countries on cross-sectional data comparing the perceptions of entering and exiting trainees and newly qualified teachers. The results draw attention to the qualities and perceptions that those on initial training programmes bring to the teacher education curriculum. They provide a reminder that teacher education curricula should recognise these characteristics and be designed to respond to needs that they create.     

The Scholarship of Teaching in Teams: What does it look like in practice?

The extent to which teaching in universities should reflect scholarly values has received increased attention over the past few years. There has, however, been little attention paid to what the scholarship of teaching might look like in practice and no attention to what the scholarship of teaching would look like from the perspective of a teaching-team. This paper reports on a study of five groups of university teachers working in teaching-teams. It considers how their practice as a team matches what is claimed to be scholarly and collaborative in the existing literature on scholarship and teaching and learning, on the one hand, and on collaboration and teamwork, on the other. A model of scholarship of teaching is further developed to include the scholarship of teaching in a team. The ways in which the teaching-teams in the study fit this model are explored and implications for improved practice are considered.     

Reproducing peace? A CRT analysis of Whiteness in the curriculum and teaching at a University of The UN

Peace and conflict studies (PACS) higher education is a blossoming field. Literature (both conceptual and conjectural) and research (theoretical and empirical) has proliferated in recent decades. This paper details case findings from an ethnographic study with university-based PACS educators completed at one University of The United Nations in 2015. The six-month ethnography involved document analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with 25 peace scholars and 108 postgraduate students. Data was thematically coded and analyzed using concepts from critical race/critical Whiteness studies. This paper outlines the study and explores the theme of Whiteness that emerged from data. Findings point toward the cultural reproduction of Whiteness in the faculty, pedagogy, and institution. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications concerning global equity and ‘post-structural violence’ in PACS education, as well as a call for further research into the role of peacebuilding education in broader social change.     

Incorporating critical thinking in the pedagogical content of a teacher education programme: does it make a difference?

Recent educational policies, national reports, and voluminous literature stress that critical thinking (CT) is an essential skill in any stage of schooling for producing critical thinkers and ensuring better learning. The importance of teaching CT has been raised in teacher education programmes because students are supposed to teach this skill in schools in the future. This study therefore assesses the effects of a CT-based pedagogical course on student teachers’ content knowledge and CT disposition. A pre-test–post-test experimental study was carried out in a vocational pre-service teacher education programme in Turkey. Although the students who were exposed to CT-based instruction showed better progress in both academic achievement and CT disposition than in traditional instruction, this result was not statistically significant according to the Mixed Factorial ANOVA and ANCOVA results.     

What's in a name? The impact of reputation and rankings on the teaching income of English universities

This study examines the impact of universities’ reputation on teaching income and demonstrates how strongly reputation may affect the fees that they can charge. Higher Education is increasingly competitive and international, and institutions are preoccupied with national and international prestige. Research output is demonstrably central to reputation and, specifically, to global rankings, but less has been written about the benefits of high prestige for teaching income and the ability to charge high fees. This article uses English data to show the impact when fees are partially deregulated. Public universities with high rankings in global league tables and on domestic measures can command teaching income per student which is very much higher (in this case typically more than a third) than lower‐prestige institutions. This financial return to prestige further increases universities’ incentives to seek high positions in league tables and establish a reputational brand.     

Is the enhancement of student experience a strategic priority in Australian universities?

Universities in many countries are developing strategies to enhance the student experience. This focus has never been so important since the development of rankings and the use of student experience measures in institutional performance assessment. Australian government policies to link student experience measures to performance funding were a key driver to increase the prominence of the student voice between 2004 and 2008. This paper analyses the strategic plans of 33 Australian universities with the aim of outlining the extent to which the enhancement of student experience is embedded as one of their key priorities. This review comes at a time when universities in Australia and elsewhere are realigning their future strategies and directions to achieve government aspirations for tertiary education with the introduction of various policy instruments including the possibility of rewarding universities on the basis of student experience measures. The paper also provides a comparative analysis of government policies in Australia and the UK on the measurement and enhancement of the student experience.