Design as a social practice: the design of new build schools

In this paper we present the findings of an investigation into the ways in which the discourses and practices of school design produce educational spaces which influence the discourses and practices of teaching and learning when the building is occupied. It expands notions of post occupancy evaluation (POE) research by exploring how the objects/motives of an educational vision which informed an initial school design, those of the final build, and those of the people who occupy that building interact in a way which influences experiences of the end users. Crucially we looked at the social interactions that arose within a building as it was used over time. The focus is on the changing relationships between design and practice through time.     

革新学校建筑设计:建构新的研究视角

现代学校建筑不仅是遮蔽场所,更是之所以称为"学校"的学习空间。超越仅从建筑学出发的学校建筑设计,重视建筑的润物育人和文化传承创新价值,新一代学校建筑设计需要建构基于现代教育学、心理学、建筑学、艺术学和文化学等多学科视角的新理论,从而夯实本领域的未来发展基础。     

Changing schools: a study of primary secondary transfer using Vygotsky and Bernstein

ABSTRACT

This article is concerned with the influences that are brought to bear on the design of school buildings and the effects that the design of these buildings have on those who teach and learn in them. The article also focuses on the ways in which design is altered in and through the practices of these occupants. We argue that there is a mutual shaping of design and practice in these schools. We deploy the theory of socio-genesis developed by Lev S. Vygotsky and the sociology of pedagogy developed by Basil Bernstein in order to study the consequences for students of different trajectories of transfer between different designs and pedagogic cultures of primary and secondary schools in England. Our intention is to contribute to current debates about the effects of new school designs and the enduring concerns raised by difficulties that some students encounter in transitions between schools.     

Developing the role of schools as research organisations: the Sunfield experience

We are entering a new phase in learning about childhood disabilities. While we have found out much of what we need to know about their causes and aetiology, solutions to many of the challenges we will face in the future will come from the evidence base held by practitioners. Practitioners are ideally placed to carry out 'real world' research but they often need support in carrying out setting-based enquiry. In this article, Barry Carpenter, Chief Executive and Director of Research at Sunfield, discusses the relationship between academic and practitioner research and the role of practitioners as researchers. He goes on to explore the development of a research culture in special schools, focusing on Sunfield, a residential special school for children with severe and complex learning disabilities. Barry Carpenter shows how research projects at Sunfield have generated evidence which has guided the school's development. The inter-disciplinary approach adopted in this setting has encouraged involvement in research from many staff in diverse professions throughout the school.     

聋校艺术与职业教育校本课程开发案例研究

衢州聋校从“以文化教育为中心,以职业教育和艺术教育为两翼”的办学策略出发,创建艺能特色之学校,培养“一专多能”的聋人毕业生,由此进行了艺术和职业教育校本课程开发实践。通过实践,形成了比较科学的校本课程体系,总结出了适合学校实际的教学实践方法,并对校本课程的评价策略进行了积极探索。校本课程的实施在一定程度上促进了聋生职业能力的发展和艺术潜能的开发,也进一步促进了教师专业水平的提高。     

谈盲校课程设置的依据

１９９３年国家教委颁布的《全日制盲校课程计划》,集中了全国视力残疾儿童领域的集体智慧,参考了国际视障教育的先进经验,试行近五年来,得到很多盲校的肯定。总结其经验受益于当年课程设置的科学依据是：参照普通教育的课程设置（按照国家统一的教育目标、依据课程的基础理论、遵循最优化的设置原则）,结合盲校教育对象及其教学的特点,坚持共性与特性相结合的原则,学习国外的先进经验,并注意结合中国的实际,注意继承过去教学计划中优秀成果,以及注意结合社会的发展     

Between ethos and practice: are Ireland’s new multi-denominational primary schools equal and inclusive?

This article explores the ethos of multi-denominational primary schools in the context of increasing cultural and religious diversity in the Republic of Ireland. In particular, it investigates how the official ethos is played out in day-to-day school interactions. The mixed-methods study draws on data collected from 11 community national schools focussing on the perspectives of principals, teachers and pupils. The data indicates while schools’ formal ethos sets out guiding principles and standards, a closer look reveals the specific identity of each individual school within the broader formal framework. The article presents a new perspective on school ethos research by exploring the extent to which it guides the promotion of diversity and tolerance in a multi-faith context. While the study is carried out in Ireland, it is also of interest to other jurisdictions where schools are faced with increasing religious diversity among their student population.     

Negotiating the constraints of schools: environmental education practices within a school district

The purpose of this study was to explore environmental education (EE) practices within elementary and secondary schools. Using complementary mixed-methods (survey and focus groups), we detail these practices in schools (n?=?58) within one school district. Our findings are categorized according to classroom teaching conditions affecting EE, and whole-school perspectives of the supports and resources for EE in these schools. Our analyses reveal that while typical normative teaching and cultural constraints of schools are still evident (e.g. curriculum standards, school-level organization), there are identifiable practices involving administrators and teachers negotiating these challenges due to their personal commitment to schools and the environment. In particular was a provincial environmental certification program called Ecoschools supporting environmental educators’ initiatives at their respective schools. We conclude with a discussion of recommendations based on an interpretation of our findings in relation to the school reform literature on how to enhance EE in schools and propose future research opportunities.     

Planning a competence-based curriculum: the case of four secondary schools in England

Despite the belief that schools tend to be resistant to change, it is possible to find secondary schools in the UK which are investing in the design of an innovative curriculum for their Year 7 (11-year-old students). This article focuses on four of these schools and discusses some of the challenges they face in planning and implementing their competence-based curricula (CBC). Such curricula tend to be based on the rationale that they better prepare all students for the constant changes of human knowledge and understanding. They develop transferable skills rather than subject-specific content, which are considered necessary requirements for learners as future productive members of society in the twenty-first century. Advocates of CBC argue that such curricula are more inclusive and emancipatory than traditional curricula, although this view is contested. Employing Bernstein's concepts of framing and classification of the curriculum, this article describes the challenges and constraints encountered by four schools which have endeavoured to develop a competence-based curriculum.     

Learning social responsibility in schools: a restorative practice

Vygotsky regarded the site of learning to be within a matrix of relational action. From this perspective, learning social responsibility will involve a focus on the learning environments that are made available in schools. Adapting the concept of restorative justice to a school context, restorative practice offers a range of relevant learning opportunities. These learning opportunities relate to episodes of wrong‐doing, and to actions that reflect the values and principles of a socially responsible school culture. The importance of dialogue, respect for “the other” and social collaboration will be evident in school‐based restorative practices.     

Exploring the social inclusion of deaf young people in mainstream schools,using their lived experience

Research suggests that children with hearing loss face a number of difficulties in the education system, including socially. Although there has been much research with the severe to profound deaf population there has been little research into the life experiences of children with moderate hearing loss who attend mainstream secondary schools. This research sought to examine the experiences of social inclusion for five young people with moderate hearing loss. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews in the young person’s school setting and were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Although each participant had distinctive experiences, there were a number of common themes that emerged indicating the factors that support social inclusion and those which create barriers for deaf children in schools. Implications for educational psychologists are considered and the limitations of the research are outlined.     

我国村级小学面临的困境与对策分析

分析了现阶段我国村级小学面临的困境:在校学生逐年减少,办学规模日趋萎缩;教师素质不高;办学条件差等。提出了:调整农村小学布局;加强村级小学师资队伍建设;以政府投入为主,改善村级小学办学条件。以此提高办学效益和教学质量,使村级小学走出目前的困境。     

室内设计中的光环境设计艺术之探讨

在室内设计中,光环境的设计是重要部分,其对于建筑功能的完善、空间氛围的营造、环境特色的强化、场所性质的定位等具有重要意义和作用。伴随着经济的发展和社会的进步,人们对生活环境的要求不断提高,笔者在此结合自己多年实践经验,对室内设计中的光环境设计艺术进行探讨,以期能够充分发挥光环境设计艺术的积极作用。     

谈盲校课程设置的理论基础——兼探索我国特殊教育学科的理论基础

文章通过探讨盲校课程理论基础———哲学基础、心理学基础、社会学基础、康复学基础、教育学基础,提出了我国特殊教育学科的理论基础,对指导当前盲校特殊教育学校的课程改革,乃至特殊教育整体改革,进一步提高我国特殊教育的质量有积极的意义     

The governing of international schools: the implications of ownership and profit motive

There are in excess of 5000 English-medium international schools worldwide. This article reports a study of the governing of such schools that explored in particular the implications of ownership and profit motive. The research entailed a questionnaire-based survey of international school head teachers and interviews with representatives of accrediting organisations, owners and head teachers of international schools. Governors in all settings found maintaining a strategic as opposed to an operational role difficult. The distinction between privately owned for-profit and not-for-profit categories of international schools could be unclear. It could change over time and private owners may gain financially personally in not-for-profit institutional settings. Head teachers in privately owned schools, even those schools operated for financial profit, viewed the governing arrangements positively, perhaps because they often had considerable autonomy over educational matters even though they may be excluded from the governing of financial/resource matters. This arrangement has implications for the governing model. Governing bodies of community-owned schools, which in the sample were all not-for-profit, were typically fully elected or self-perpetuating or a hybrid of the two. Fully elected boards, especially fully elected parent boards, and fully self-perpetuating boards can be problematic and the hybrid model has distinct advantages.     

Building colleges for the future: pedagogical and ideological spaces

This article focuses on the Building Colleges for the Future (BCF) initiative (2008) which saw a wave of new-build Further Education (FE) colleges spring up across England in the final years of the New Labour government. It draws on qualitative data from a research study focusing on four new-build colleges in the West Midlands of England to theorise the BCF initiative. Using theory derived primarily from Lefebvre, the paper contextualises BCF within a frame of neoliberalisation and discusses the impact of the ‘production of space’ represented by the initiative with a research focus on two areas: pedagogy and ideology. The main findings are that these new-build colleges can be interpreted as spatial expressions of policy-makers and others’ perceptions of teaching and learning; in ideological terms, they also trumpet a ‘new lifestyle’ and a ‘new art of living’ for FE staff and students that is however, in tension with residual pedagogical practices and values. The article concludes that despite being an expression of neoliberal abstract space, these new-builds can still be seen as providing a frame for alternative individual and collective encounters with education which may subvert and outlast the processes of neoliberalisation that they appear to embody.     

Fallacies affecting policy and practice in the teaching of English as a foreign language in state primary schools in Asia

This article discusses the impact of the worldwide trend to introduce English as a foreign language (EFL) into primary schools at ever younger ages. This trend has gained momentum in recent years, affecting millions of children in countries throughout Asia. A policy decision of this kind has far-reaching implications but it is often made without consideration of the availability of human and material resources for its implementation. The result is that children may end up learning little or no English, frustrating the intentions of national governments to develop English proficiency amongst the wider population which is, in turn, supposed to contribute to economic development. Drawing on evidence from India and Thailand, this article questions the economic rationale for introducing English into primary schools and argues that decisions on the starting age at which to teach English should, instead, be considered from an educational perspective, taking into account system constraints.     

Special educational resources in the Swedish upper secondary schools: a total population survey

This paper analyses the special educational resources in the Swedish upper secondary schools using a total population survey that covers all upper secondary schools. Special educators and special teachers together constitute the special educational resources at each school. With two types of regression models (logistic and linear regression), the study investigates which variables at school level determine the presence and availability rate of special educational resources. The main findings are that there is a great difference between public and independent schools in the presence and accessibility of special educational resources, where many independent schools do not offer special educational support for their students. It also shows that what kind of provider (public or independent school) and the size of the school are especially important variables for predicting presence of special educational resources. When analysing the variance of availability rate of special educational resources, student variables (grades from compulsory school and parental educational level) on the school level, together with school size, are especially important.     

Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools

This paper examines the enactment of instructional leadership (IL) in high-performing secondary schools (HPSS), and the relationship between leadership and learning in raising student outcomes and encouraging teachers’ professional learning in the highly centralised context of Greece. It reports part of a comparative research study focused on whether, and to what extent, IL has been embraced by Greek school leaders. The study is exploratory, using a qualitative multiple case design to examine two HPSS in Athens. The research design involved a qualitative approach using several different methods, including semi-structured interviews with school principals, deputy heads, subject teachers and subject advisers, plus observation of leadership practice and meetings and scrutiny of relevant policy documents. The findings show that IL is conceptualised as an informal collaborative leadership practice, interwoven with the official multi-dimension role of Greek principals and their ‘semi-IL’ role. In the absence of official IL ‘actors’, teachers’ leadership has been expanding.     

Working with students as co-researchers in schools: a matter of inclusion

The research reported in this paper focuses on the process of involving students as co-researchers in schools. The study involved a process of collaboration with two secondary schools in an economically deprived city in the north East of England. Use was made of a framework for developing inclusion that emerged through earlier work. The framework has students' voices at its centre. Through an analysis of the research process, factors that are important when involving students as co-researchers in schools are discussed. The understandings gained through the study have implications for future research. It is argued that such approaches, which place students at the heart of the research process, can be viewed as a matter of inclusion.