The value and feasibility of evaluation research on teacher development: contrasting experiences in Sri Lanka and Mexico

This article discusses the value and feasibility of carrying out evaluation research on teacher development and uses as points of reference the author's experiences in two countries, Sri Lanka and Mexico. In Sri Lanka, an evaluation study was designed to understand the effectiveness and costs of teacher development at the elementary level linking teacher preparation with classroom practice and student achievement. The study also evaluated costs and analyzed the possible impact of the results for future policy. The study in Mexico illustrates the challenges of doing evaluation research in an environment dominated by a central state and teacher union politics, and where systemic empirical research on teacher development has been rare. It constituted an initial attempt at looking at the content and the anticipated effects across different approaches to teacher development in Mexico. New calls for greater accountability and better understanding of the reach and limitations of general education worldwide are prompting systems to examine teacher development program effectiveness. In this analytical article, the author discusses strategies and possibilities in the emerging field of teacher development program evaluation.     

Comparing the effectiveness and costs of different approaches for educating primary school teachers in Sri Lanka

The effectiveness and costs of three approaches to elementary teacher education in Sri Lanka — preservice, conventional inservice, and distance inservice — are examined. The effectiveness of these approaches was measured by teachers' theoretical and applied knowledge, classroom performance, and pupil achievement. Costs borne by the sponsoring institution and the teachers were evaluated. Although distance education was the most cost-effective of the approaches, graduates of colleges of education were significantly effective in producing high achievement in their pupils in mathematics and language. This finding is particularly important given the more difficult teaching situations in which they taught.     

A study of the emergence of the free education scheme in Sri Lanka and a critical analysis of policies formulated for its survival

Sri Lanka is the first Third World country to have inaugurated, as early as 1945, a Free Education Scheme embracing primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Though introduced with a view to eliminating privilege in education, no feasibility study had been done to ascertain its economic and administrative implications. This scheme resulted in an unprecedented demand for education by an increasing population which in turn created a massive financial burden for the state. Consequently policies geared to reducing expenditure were adopted often without giving due consideration to long term adverse effects. The government has now permitted the establishment of fee levying educational institutions, a trend which indicates that free education in future is bound to be limited to the underprivileged.     

斯里兰卡开放大学的质量保证与启示

为应对高等教育发展所带来的挑战,斯里兰卡逐步建立了一个强大且全面的、内外部质量保证相结合的高等教育质量保证体系。在该体系框架下,斯里兰卡开放大学在课程管理、学生管理、师资管理、信息管理等方面采取了一系列质量保证措施,形成了一些基本经验,为我国远程开放教育的质量保证提供了借鉴与启示:遵循统一的国家资格框架、开展内外部质量保证活动、围绕学习者需求开发课程、引入第三方学生评价机制、注重教师的激励与培训、建立有效的信息沟通机制。     

Development and initial validation of a scale to measure emotional abuse among school children aged 13-15 years in Sri Lanka

OBJECTIVE: To develop a scale to measure emotional abuse among school children aged 13-15 years in Sri Lanka that can be used in field settings. METHOD: Emotional abuse was defined based on available literature. Review of literature and discussions with a panel identified 85 items indicating abusive behaviors. Content validity and social acceptability were achieved by getting the views of this same panel and parents, respectively. Item analysis and assessment of validity were carried out based on the responses to the draft instrument by 105 children aged 13-15 years attending a school in an urban slum area. The test-retest reliability of the scale was assessed using the responses from 144 students from a different school. Criterion validity was established by comparing the independent assessments of a psychiatrist for the presence or absence of emotional abuse with the respective scores of the children on the scale. RESULTS: The scale developed to assess emotional abuse included 46 items having a Cronbach alpha of .89. The test-retest reliability was .73. A cutoff score of 95 was identified at a sensitivity of 76.9% and a specificity of 51.4%. CONCLUSIONS: A scale that had a satisfactory level of reliability and validity was socially acceptable, which could be used in school settings in Sri Lanka was developed to enable identification of emotional abuse among school children aged 13-15.     

Education and social cohesion: developing a framework for education sector reform in Sri Lanka1

There is increasing interest in understanding and describing the links between education and ‘social cohesion’. However, the theoretical and empirical base for understanding these links is limited. There is also a shortage of practical tools for education policy‐makers and planners, to help them assess the impact of policies and investments, and to plan for future reform. This paper describes the initial development of an analytical and planning framework for addressing education and social cohesion within the context of a sector‐wide approach to education reform in Sri Lanka. A brief literature review suggests three inter‐connected domains in which links between education and social cohesion might be usefully analysed, together with three working hypotheses: (i) political economy/governance: education affects social cohesion through transparency and participation in education policy formulation, planning and management; (ii) equity/equality of opportunity: education affects social cohesion through the distribution of education resources, opportunities and outcomes; (iii) teaching/learning: education affects social cohesion through the development of certain competencies in students. Drawing on this analytical framework, research conducted in Sri Lanka is used to identify a set of interventions to promote social cohesion, with corresponding baseline, process and outcome indicators as benchmarks for measuring the progress and impact of intended policy measures. This process is described within the context of a ‘sector‐wide approach’ to education reform, intended to bring together the activities of the government and external partners within a single comprehensive medium‐term planning and budgetary framework.     

Some cultural and economic factors leading to neglect, abuse and violence in respect of children within the family in Sri Lanka

The paper provides an overview of the present position. It attempts to identify the causational factors in situations of child neglect, abuse and violence and to pinpoint areas where there is a lacuna in information and knowledge. The study takes prevalence of abandoned children, failure to meet a child's basic needs and underutilization of services provided free by the state as indices of neglect. Measured in these terms it seems that though in Sri Lanka children are considered a blessing, yet they are also subject to neglect though this is not deliberate on the part of parents but arising from numerous factors, mainly poverty and ignorance. Other influences also operate such as cultural values and weaknesses in the delivery systems. Today females of all socioeconomic levels seek employment, both locally and abroad. This can lead to child neglect since community services for child care are inadequate and traditional help is dwindling. The negative impact on children of certain aspects of modernization is also considered. Abuse of children manifests itself mainly in child domestic labour and the exploitation, particularly of malformed and diseased children, in the trade of begging. Violence as judged by reported cases is minimal. But considering social attitudes regarding physical punishment, its prevalence may be wider than generally believed. The need for statistics and studies on all aspects of child care and child behaviour have come out in the study.     

Considered evaluation of clinical placements in a new medical school

This article suggests that quality assessment in the UK has been largely set apart from learning and teaching and reports on a pilot project at the Hull York Medical School which attempted to integrate students’ evaluation of their clinical placements into the curriculum. It outlines the operational demands of this integrated method and compares the student experience of different evaluation methods. It argues that, when properly prepared and considered, evaluation can help students to practise useful skills and suggests that integrating this type of evaluation into the curriculum could be a step towards encouraging academic staff to engage with quality processes.     

中学教师课堂教学主导作用的测量和评价

采用自编“教师教学主导性问卷”、在学学生评价现任科任教师的方式进行调查,认为中学生对教师教学主导性的评价含有5个维度:教给学习方法、促进个性成长、培养动手能力、培养创新精神和激发学习兴趣;可以清楚地区分主导性发挥得好和不好的教师;不同学校类型、学历、任教科目、职务(是否班主任)在教师教学主导性各维度上存在一定差异。     

发展与民族冲突的困境－－斯里兰卡现代化的经验与教训

斯里兰卡独立后,其现代化经历了3个阶段。斯里兰卡大规模的社会福利开支与经济发展相对缓慢的矛盾、长期的种族冲突与经济发展的矛盾,是斯里兰卡现代化一直面临的难题。社会福利制度为发展中国家提供了一个模式,而它的长期的种族冲突值得许多多民族国家引以为戒。     

Class,Ethnicity, and Language Rights: An Analysis of British Colonial Policy in Lesotho and Sri Lanka and Some Implications for Language Policy

This study examines language policy in two British colonies, Basutoland (Lesotho) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It finds that mother tongue education and the concomitant restriction of the teaching of English for the working classes in these colonial contexts constituted a form of industrial education. On the basis of these data, a critique is offered of some of the problematic assumptions of the language rights literature, which tends to reduce language rights to those that have reference to national, national minority, and ethnic group affiliations. There is, therefore, a tendency to treat language users as carriers of national (or national minority) rights and to abstract from their membership in other types of sociological groups, most prominently, socioeconomic class. Such assumptions are problematic because they abstractly identify the interests of national (or minority or ethnic group) members as identical or at least as nonantagonistic. This article also discusses some problematic notions of constructing language identity on the basis of ethnicity and suggests that when the lines of ethnolinguistic identity become blurred-as is now happening throughout the world-notions such as "mother tongue" and "language group" lose their meaningfulness as guideposts to language policy.     

Some comments on the curriculum for training teachers for the primary school system in Bendel State Nigeria

This study was designed to determine the adequacy of the quality of training in terms of the programme of studies offered to the teacher‐trainees in Bendel State, Nigeria, in preparation for their role as primary school teachers. When the content of the training was evaluated against the general aims and objectives for teacher‐education in Nigeria and the objectives of primary education, it was found that:

• The aims and objectives for teacher‐education at the teachers’ grade II level in Nigeria are not sufficiently plausible to facilitate their meaningful translation into concrete and observable actions.

• The grade II teacher‐trainees are not adequately equipped, in terms of the content of their training, to discharge their responsibilities effectively in order that the objectives of primary education may be realized.

It is, therefore, suggested that teacher education at the level under consideration demands a new direction whereby the trainees will be equipped with appropriate skills, knowledge, attitudes and values.     

新课程标准中学生必做实验的评价方案的探索与实践

随着江苏省新高考的日益临近,新高考方案中对物理实验的考查也摆到了前所未有的重要地位.随着新版人教版教材的投入使用,新课标中学生必做的21个实验亟需一套评价方案可供教师们参考.本文基于物理学科核心素养,针对这21个实验进行分类梳理,并根据不同的实验类型提供了对应的评价方案.     

建立新型高职就业质量评价体系的研究

针对采用初次就业率来衡量就业质量的局限性,从分析就业质量的内涵着手,深入阐述影响高职就业质量的因素———就业率、工资、社会保险、专业对口情况、适应工作能力和工作稳定性等含义,分析近年国内形势状况及对高职生就业质量的影响。综合地域、个人、家庭和社会等各柔性因素建立一套科学、全面、可量化的就业质量评估系统,根据各项目对就业质量影响的程度,确定各项的权重,并制定了评价标准。     

Analysis of policies for allocating university resources in heterogeneous social systems: a case study of university admissions in Sri Lanka

This paper focuses on the complex nature of designing andeffectively implementing policies, assuring fair access to universityeducational opportunities in heterogeneous societies. First, the universityadmission problem is modeled as a load balancing, scheduling and resourceallocation problem in a heterogeneous distributed system with policies toallocate student loads in university resources. Then the paper analyses thedifferent policies implemented in Sri Lanka for the last three decades todistribute the limited university level training resources in theengineering and medical faculties equally among the citizens.It is observed that in Sri Lanka, the schools in thirteen out of twentytwo districts did not produce a single engineering or medicine student until1974. Two districts enjoyed several times their fair share. Other districtshad less than their fair share in access to free higher education resources.It is also observed that no standardisation methods have been used in bothadding and comparing the marks received in multiple-language examinationsfor different subjects.The policy changes helped the talented low-income students who live indisadvantaged areas to set access, to begin, complete and get ahead on theirown. Furthermore, it generated a new wave of regional economic development.The same policies badly affected the happy few who enjoyed more than theirfair share of the university resources. Dube claimed the policy wasdiscriminatory and contributed to the on-going civil war (1995) .     

Stakeholders’ perceptions and recommendations of a high school leadership development programme for athletes in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This study examined the perceptions of key stakeholders of a high school athlete leadership development training programme. Participants included 36 athletes (males = 23, females = 13) from two team sports (rugby n = 11 and volleyball n = 6) and two individual sports (bowling n = 8 and table tennis n = 11), as well as four coaches representing each of these sports and four teachers. Individual interviews were conducted for coaches, teachers, and athlete leaders, while athletes took part in focus group interviews. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse all data sets. Results showed that the athlete leadership programme developed qualities such as responsibility, role modelling, motivation, communication, perseverance, and team unity that would help athlete leaders perform their roles and responsibilities. The results also highlighted some limitations including earlier involvement from key stakeholders, tailored training for athlete leaders, and a more effective transfer of learning.