The use of citations in educational research: the instance of the concept of ‘situated learning’

This article provides a citation analysis of Lave and Wenger’s work on ‘communities of practice’ and ‘situated learning’ over the period 1991–2001. The data relate to educational research in the UK, although comparisons are made with the USA. The findings indicate that although the text was incorporated and heavily used within educational research over the period of the study there were very few citations that could be identified as cumulative. The discussion considers the value of using citations as an indicator of quality within any research excellence framework and argues the case for taking a broader, more qualitative approach to assessing research quality in the social sciences.     

The use of experimentation in educational reform: The case of the finnish polytechnic experiment 1992–1999

Abstract

The building up of a non‐university sector of higher education in Finland was realised in a form of educational experiment. Polytechnic (ammattikorkeakoulu) reform contained at the outset several elements of a genuine social experiment. Quite soon the experimental set up was transformed into a reform in which experimental elements were minimal. The article explores the factors which hindered the realisation of experimental method and raises general questions about the possibilities and limits of social experiments.     

The use of ICT in the teaching and learning of physical education in compulsory education: how do we prepare the workforce of the future?

This paper reports on research into the use of ICT within a one‐year initial teacher education (ITE) course in the UK, specialising in physical education (PE). The study examined how the course, which operates in both university and school‐based settings, endeavoured to support trainees' use of ICT in PE and then to identify areas where the programme could be improved in this respect. It also noted any specific training or resourcing needs which may be required to implement the recommended improvements. The findings showed the high level of enthusiasm of the trainees, university tutors and school‐based PE teachers for making more use of ICT in teaching and learning PE, and their willingness to make changes in their practice to accommodate this. It also revealed a severe shortage of subject‐specific professional development, and a widespread lack of understanding of needs, which was felt to have contributed to the lack of relevant ICT resources to which most school PE departments had access.

Cet article résume l'étude sur l'utilisation de l'informatique en Angleterre durant la première année de formation à l'enseignement de l'éducation physique (EPS). Cette étude examine comment le cours basé à la fois à l'université et à l'école, encourage les étudiants en formation à utiliser l'informatique en EPS et à identifier éventuellement les différents points d'amélioration à apporter à ce programme. Il est également rapporté la liste de toutes les formations où les ressources qui pourraient éventuellement être nécessaires à l'application de ces points d'amélioration. Les résultats montrent le haut niveau d'enthousiasme des étudiants en formation, des tuteurs de l'université et des professeurs d'EPS dans les écoles pour une extension de l'utilisation de l'informatique durant l'enseignement et l'apprentissage en EPS, ainsi que leur volonté d'apporter les changements nécessaires pour accommoder le programme dans la pratique de leur cours. Il est également révélé un sévère manque de sujets spécifiques au développement professionnel et une large incompréhension des besoins requis, qui ont ralenti le développement des ressources pour l'informatique, ressources auxquelles la plupart des département de EPS des écoles avaient accès.

Dieses Paper berichtet über die Forschung im Gebrauch von Informatik im Rahmen einer Einjahr‐Lehrerausbildung im Sportunterricht in Grossbritannien. Die Studie untersuchte, wie die Ausbildung, die sowohl auf der Universität als auch in der Schule stattfindet, versuchte, Auszubildende im Gebrauch von Informatik zu unterstützen. Infolgedessen identifizierte sie Gebiete, in denen das Programm in dieser Hinsicht verbessert werden könnte. Auch merkte die Studie spezifische Ausbildungs‐ bzw. Resourcingsbedürfnisse, die erforderlich sein könnten, um die empfohlenen Verbesserungen zu fördern. Die Ergebnisse zeigten unter Auszubildenden, Universitätstutoren und Sportlehrern eine hohe Begeisterung, eine erhöhte Verwendung von Informatik im Sportunterricht und Änderungen in der eigenen Praxis einzuführen. Die Studie zeigte auch einen schweren Mangel an fachbezogener Berufsausbildung und ein weitverbreitetes, mangelhaftes Verständnis für die entsprechenden Bedürfnisse, was zum Mangel an Informatikressourcen, zu denen die meisten Sportfachbereichen Zugang hatten, beigetragen habe.

Este papel informa de la investigación del uso de la informática dentro de un curso de la formación inicial de profesores que se especializa en la educación física en Gran Bretaña que duro un año. La investigación estudió como el curso, que tiene lugar en las universidades y en los colegios, tuvo la intención de apoyar los aprendices a usar la informática dentro de la educación física y de identificar aspectos donde se podría mejorar la programa. También, la investigación notó la formación específica y los recursos que podrían ser necesarios para realizar las reformas recomendadas. Los resultados mostraron el entusiasmo alto de los aprendices, de los profesores de las universidades y de los profesores de la educación física en los colegios por el uso de la informática en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la educación física y por su deseo de cambiar su práctica. También, la investigación mostró una falta severa de la formación profesional y de la comprensión de necesidades que han contribuido a una falta de recursos apropiados para la mayoría de departamentos escolares de la educación física.     

The use of ‘Ethos indicators’ in tertiary education in Japan

Japanese universities’ total capacity to accommodate new entrants will reach 100% before 2009. Partly to attract students as ‘courted customers’ (Kitamura 1997 Kitamura, K. 1997. Policy issues in Japanese higher education. Higher Education, 34: 141–150.  [Google Scholar], 147), and, with a growing trend towards university accountability and assessment to meet the needs of homogeneously skilled students with diverse study backgrounds, administration of Student Evaluation of Teaching surveys (SETs) has become mandatory. This is problematic, however, as the effects of different ‘dominant cultures’ (McKeachie 1997 McKeachie, W. 1997. Student ratings: the validity of use. American Psychologist, 52(11): 1218–1225. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar], 1221) may influence students’ attitudes towards evaluation. If ratings reflect how learners feel as well as the way they think (Kulik 2001 Kulik, J. 2001. “Student ratings: validity, utility, and controversy”. In The student ratings debate: are they valid? How can we best use them?, Edited by: Theall, M., Abrami, P. and Mets, L. 9–25. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass.  [Google Scholar]; Kerridge & Mathews 1998 Kerridge, J. and Mathews, B. 1998. Student ratings of courses in HE: further challenges and opportunities. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 23(1): 71–83. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]), evaluation results may be influenced by the environment around them on the day of the administration. This questionable discriminant validity of SETs suggests the need to consider additional evaluative measures that address the potential effects of the school environment or ‘ethos’ or culture. This paper examines the dominant culture in a tertiary establishment in Western Japan through an adaptation of an ‘ethos indicators’ questionnaire (MacBeath & McGlynn 2002 MacBeath, J. and McGlynn, A. 2002. Self evaluation: what’s in it for schools?, London: RoutledgeFarmer.  [Google Scholar]). Tentative suggestions are offered for how this tool could be adapted for use in tertiary education in Japan and beyond as a counterweight to SETs. Adding another perspective to evaluation is a way to understand the effectiveness of the learning environment for student learning.     

The use of digital storytelling in elementary Math teachers’ education

Technological devices are widely used in various forms and for various purposes with educational systems. Teachers are required to not only use technology with the utmost efficiency, but to also act as role models for students in terms of appropriate use of technology. However, many teacher candidates are not aware of the educational use of technology classroom; hence, technology must be especially integrated into undergraduate teacher training programs through courses and field experience. Various methods, techniques, tools, and equipment are utilized in order to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning processes in the classroom, of which digital storytelling is one of them. The use of digital stories in education is beneficial both for teachers and students. For this reason, this research investigates the use of digital stories in mathematics education as well as the opinions and experiences of mathematics teacher candidates about creating, using, and evaluating digital stories. Data of the study were collected via semistructured interviews, transcribed, and content analyzed. The results of the study showed that prospective math teachers preferred GoAnimate program to create digital stories due to its ease of use, design, and the characters and visuals it suggests. Furthermore, the prospective teachers were found to aspire to use digital stories in their future careers.     

The children of the educational expansion era in Germany: education and further training participation in the life‐course

In this article, we examine the social dimension of inequality in educational participation. We look at the social transmission and gender‐specific channelling of education and further training in the context of employment and family. Based on quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data collected from a multi‐level empirical life‐course study (Hamburg Biographical and Life‐Course Panel: 1980–2006) conducted with a sample of the 1979 cohort of secondary school graduates in Hamburg, Germany, we discuss the education and further training practices in their lives – with special emphasis on social class of origin and gender.     

The use of cost-benefit analysis in funding continuing education: steering the fifth wheel?

This article builds upon recent interest in models of funding Continuing Education (McGivney 1990, Berrell and Smith 1996, Matkin 1997). It is based on an EU-funded project which examined inter alia current funding models for Continuing Education (CE) within four European Union countries - France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. The article firstly discusses the breadth of CE. It then investigates the existence of funding models by examining the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in determining course provision in the relevant countries. We argue that while costs and benefits form part of providers' everyday thinking, expression of CBA was generally implicit and never articulated in technical terms. We suggest that providers' value-systems, or ideology, militate against simplistic use of CBA. We conclude by returning to the question of models of funding CE.     

What’s the use of ethical philosophy? The role of ethical theory in special educational needs

This article examines the relevance of modern moral philosophy to education, with particular reference to special educational needs. Where moral philosophers explore the tension between utilitarian and deontological reasoning, they often consider the balance between the rights of the individual and the benefits or costs for the majority. I argue that the debate is predicated on a false dichotomy between minority and majority which is best overcome by a return to virtue ethics. In exploring this ethical debate, I draw on a case study from Australia of a student excluded from mainstream education on the basis that inclusion will not serve the greater good of the majority of students. My intention here is not to offer practical guidance in the complex day-to-day deliberations of educators dealing with issues of inclusion, but to elaborate the structure of the present thinking about inclusion. It is hoped that an appreciation of the deeper basis of ethical reasoning will itself lead to a greater recognition of the need for exploring the ethical grounds of teaching and learning. I will argue that any dichotomy between the utilitarian happiness of the many and the deontological commitment to the rights of the individual is based on a misconception of human identity. The false choice between the many and the one rests upon the assumption that morality is fundamentally about restricting personal preferences in favour of the good of the majority, that there exists a fundamental conflict between what is good for the individual and what is good for society as a whole. This will lead me to argue that we need to reinterpret human identity as constituted by its social relations and that this reorientation is best achieved by reference to virtue ethics.     

The case for mixed methodologies in researching the teacher’s use of humour in adult education

Inconsistencies within the literature result in teachers not having sufficient guidance to develop their humour use in support of learning without risking their professionalism. This article argues for more comprehensive evidence to guide teachers’ use of humour, based on mixed methodological approaches. The case is also made for the Interpersonal Communication Competence Model (ICCM) to be used as a consistent theoretical framework when researching teachers’ use of humour. A methodological literature review design is deployed to explore the conceptualisation, methodologies and situational factors within the selected research. The selected research is analysed in accordance with the ICCM’s five key concepts of motivation, knowledge, skills, outcomes and context. Comparisons are made against a depiction of humour based on the ICCM. The analysis reveals a diversity of conceptualisations of humour and different situational factors influencing teachers’ use of humour, and shows that findings conflict with ‘competent communication’. No research studies linked the various influencing factors together to provide all-embracing guidance for teachers. Studies based on mono-methodologies using qualitative or quantitative research designs only appear to provide the teacher with pieces of the jigsaw pertaining to humour use in teaching. Although mixed methodologies have their own design concerns, the author argues that they offer an opportunity to merge multiple situational factors to produce a more accurate representation of humour use within a teaching context. In conclusion, he proposes that future research utilises a mixed methodological approach along with the ICCM to capture supportive and contradictory perspectives of humour use.     

Reflective journals: making constructive use of the “apprenticeship of observation” in preservice teacher education

Many scholars have characterized the “apprenticeship of observation” as a “pitfall” to be avoided or a barrier to be overcome in preservice teacher education, but directly challenging students’ experience-based beliefs often leads to resistance, making students feel discounted or disrespected. In my introductory educational psychology course, students write biweekly journals reflecting on their own lived experiences in light of course concepts and ideas. These reflections are then shared in a variety of ways, serving as a vital context for further investigation and discussion of how these concepts and ideas translate into the classroom. In this paper, I share typical journal questions and excerpts from the responses of two recent classes to show how students can engage journal questions at differing levels; how even the experiences of my mostly privileged and successful students have at some points echoed, and thus can illuminate, the struggles of the less privileged, the rebellious, and the failed students who most need good teaching; and how students’ own shared reflections can be used nonthreateningly to help them confront their unconsidered assumptions about teaching and learning. Finally, I discuss choice, respect, and agency as three essential conditions for effective use of student journals in preservice teacher education.     

The “new normal” in education

PROSPECTS - Effects rippling from the Covid 19 emergency include changes in the personal, social, and economic spheres. Are there continuities as well? Based on a literature review (primarily of...     

The significance of ‘participation’ as an educational ideal in education for sustainable development and health education in schools

This article examines the significance of the concept of participation for teacher meaning-making processes in education for sustainable development and health education. In Scandinavian public schools, education for sustainable development and health education focus on a wide palette of societal problems rather than on narrow curricula. Drawing on selected reviews of research literature on education for sustainable development and health education, Lacanian psychoanalysis provides inspiration for our analysis of the concept of participation, and how it is positioned and enacted in these fields of practice. Essentially, we argue that the concept of participation has a dual nature: it serves both as an educational ideal and as a teaching strategy. We also explore how the failure to achieve the ideal of ‘true’ participation may serve a positive purpose for the teacher; the acknowledgement that participation is not always as genuine as desired establishes a pedagogical situation where ideals of engaging pupils through true participation can continue to exist side by side with clear signs of a less consequential participation.     

The historical formation of modern education and the junction of the ‘educational lower class’: Poor education as the denominator of social position and status in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Finland

Modern industrial society liberated the sources of livelihood, gave birth to salaried labour and began to cater for social mobility, i.e. broke the foundations of traditional estate society. Traditional trades and socialization mechanisms attached to families were replaced by mass production and education. Education played a crucial role in the project of modern industrialized society. Its task was, besides production of a productive labour force, i.e. good workers, also the production of good citizens and decent personalities. Education always works, however, in the other direction, too. By opening up life‐paths and chances for some, it simultaneously closes them off from others. It also plays the key role as the producer of social exclusion and indigence and eventually as the producer of normality and deviance permeating through the entire society. This paper is based on a comprehensive, long‐term research project funded by the Academy of Finland. Its goal is to locate the historically changing meaning of scarce education and no education at all as the denominator, producer and outcome of social exclusion and indigence. The authors are also interested in the change in the whole way of life or ‘habitus’ or moral citizenship demanded of the modern educated man and as its reverse side the habitus of the non‐educated man. The analysis of exclusion is extended from as early as the time of ‘absolute poverty’ of the nineteenth‐century European modern society to the time of ‘relative deprivation’ of postindustrial welfare societies in the late twentieth century. The research seeks answers to how education and indigence have been linked at various points in time and especially how the so‐called modern Nordic welfare model defines the interrelations of education, citizenship, labour market citizenship and exclusion, i.e. the borderlines classifying the population. The criteria of social exclusion have to be defined in the context of historical time and nation and it is not possible to use the same criteria in a historically comparative analysis. ‘Educational lower class’ is used as the tool referring to the excluded. The aim is to define its criteria, composition, outcomes and birth mechanisms at a certain point in time by means of concrete sociohistorical research. Theoretical interest is focused on clarification of the concept ‘educational lower class’ as a ‘zero‐line’ concept of the theory of marginal utility, although we are well aware that the explication of that line is as ‘relative’ as the frequently presented efforts to draw the line between relative poverty and relative deprivation. The concrete part of this research is concentrated on the formation of the modern Finnish educational system in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is based on comprehensive and versatile historical data. The educational ‘zero‐line’ is located both from above, i.e. from the direction of official educational discourse, and also from the middle and below, i.e. from the viewpoints of public discourse and the users of education. Committee reports, legislation, public documents, clarifications and statistics are used as sources for outlining the official discourse. The intermediary level of discourse is analysed with the help of historical data from the press and periodicals. The ‘citizen's viewpoints’ of the objects of education are searched for in written biographies, interviews and archives of enterprises.     

Explaining the persistence of “decentralisation” of education in Egypt

This study examines how and why decentralisation remained central to education reform in Egypt over the period 1990–2016 despite the mixed outcome at both the national and international levels. Three decentralisation models were examined: community schools, public-private partnerships and school-based management. Network analysis was combined with a process-tracing approach to identify the key actors and mechanisms causing policy persistence. Analysis revealed international agencies used coercion through funding and persuasion by framing the models to match political sponsors’ interests. There was also bounded-rational learning by national actors from foreign experts and experiences and several complementary mechanisms with minor influence.