The impacts of new governance on teaching at German universities. Findings from a national survey

In this article we will present findings from a national survey questioning the actual impact of the new governance structures at German universities on academic teaching. To begin with, we give a theoretical underpinning to the economization of higher education institutions (HEIs) according to Principal-Agent Theory. This allows for the development of hypotheses about the influence of new selective incentives (merit pay, performance-related budgeting, Management by Objectives, teaching awards) on the professors’ academic teaching behavior. Instructed by critical considerations on Principal-Agent Theory we extended the axiomatics of this economic theory by incorporating concepts like work task motivation and academic socialization for a supposedly more comprehensive explanation. Data from a nationwide German survey allows us then to test our theory-driven assumptions. Our target population was the entire collectivity of all professors at German universities from which we could draft a sample 8,000 individuals. An estimation of four different OLS-regression models shows that the hypotheses derived from Principal-Agent Theory must be rejected whereas the hypotheses based on motivational aspects and socialization processes can be confirmed. Based on our analysis we can conclude that for the status quo of implementation there are no direct influences of new selective incentives on the actual teaching performance whereas we have strong indications for altered mechanisms of enculturation in the field of universities. New Public Management (NPM) seems to produce a new breed of professors whose preferences and practice are conditioned by the imperatives evoked by this new managerialism.     

How teaching science using project-based learning strategies affects the classroom learning environment

This study involved 458 ninth-grade students from two different Arab middle schools in Israel. Half of the students learned science using project-based learning strategies and the other half learned using traditional methods (non-project-based). The classes were heterogeneous regarding their achievements in the sciences. The adapted questionnaire contained 38 statements concerning students’ perceptions of the science classroom climate. The results of the study revealed that students who learned sciences by project-based teaching strategies perceived their classroom learning climate as significantly more Satisfying and Enjoyable, with greater Teacher Supportiveness, and the Teacher–Student Relationships as significantly more positive. The differences between the experimental (project-based learning strategies) and control (non-project) groups regarding their perceptions of the science classroom learning climate could be explained by differences between the two science teaching and learning strategies.     

科研成果与大学教师教学效果的关系研究

As an empirical study based on undergraduate ratings of 2364 teachers lecturing in different courses during four semesters in Beijing Normal University, this paper studies the relationship between teaching effectiveness and research productivity. The results show that both of them are positively correlated, that is to say, teaching effectiveness benefits from research productivity. Translated from Xinli Fazhan Yu Jiaoyu 心理发展与教育 (Psychological Development and Education), 2006, (2): 85–88     

The teaching:research nexus : a model for institutional management

Teaching and research lie at the heart of higher education. The interaction between teaching and research has therefore attracted the attention of both researchers and policymakers. Much has been written about this relationship, looking in particular at the perceived mutual benefits between teaching and research. This paper presents some findings from a research project which, using a comparative approach, aimed to examine the nature of the teaching:research nexus and, in particular, to consider the response of institutional management. Based on the observations collected through the project, a new model is proposed for institutional management of the teaching:research nexus. This model is based on a range of contextual factors, classified as ideological or environmental, and two contrasting approaches to institutional management of the relationship between teaching and research, active and passive. This model offers a new approach to understanding the operation of the teaching:research nexus within institutions of higher education.     

Establishing the foundations for an inclusive education system in Iraq: reflection on findings from a nationwide survey

This paper reports a national study on the prevalence of childhood disability designed to inform initiatives promoting improved school attendance by children with disabilities in Iraq. The study was commissioned by UNICEF, coordinated by the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, and designed by academics in the UK in consultation with Iraqi academics and professionals. The mixed methods study included a major household survey, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups across four of Iraq's 18 governorates (Erbil, Baghdad, Najaf and Basra). An initial scoping study collected background data through interviews, site-visits and document analysis, establishing the context and informing the design of the main study. In this paper, we provide an overview of the educational context in Iraq, data on school attendance and disability among children aged 6–18 years, and the perspectives and vision for education in Iraq verbalised by key stakeholders. This research provides insights into current patterns of school attendance, and considers some of the implications for inclusive education in Iraq. We conclude by discussing the potential for implementation of Iraqi policy initiatives to impact on the rights of disabled people within education and wider social provision.     

Exemplary senior faculty at research universities: Their guiding principles for balancing teaching and research

A qualitative, exploratory study consisting primarily of in-depth reflective interviews with ten exemplary, senior faculty at a large, southern, research university was conducted in 1993. One of the major goals of the study was to identify how exemplary senior faculty have balanced the roles of teaching and research within an institutional context that emphasizes research. The findings from this study indicate that how exemplary, faculty members balance the demands of teaching and research lies, in part, in ten guiding principles.Patricia Kalivoda works in the Office of Instructional Development at the University of Georgia. She holds an Ed.D. in higher education from the University of Georgia. Her scholarship focuses on faculty career development and faculty vitality.     

和谐社会背景下高校人性化教学管理研究

人性化教学管理是一种新形式下的人际管理。在当今和谐社会背景下,采用和探讨人性化教学管理并以此促进和谐校园建设,有利于保证和提高教学质量,符合不断变化的高校人才培养需求。     

非研究型大学科研与教学关系的思考

非研究型大学是指除研究型大学以外的所有本科高校。非研究型大学应以教学为中心,但由于多种原因,我国相当多的非研究型大学过度重视科研,以至严重冲击教学。这与科学研究由"小科学"走向"大科学",高等教育从精英教育走向大众化教育的趋势相悖,既不利于教学也不利于科研,必须切实加以转变。     

Struggling to handle teaching and research: a study on academic work at select universities in the Chinese Mainland

In order to raise the international reputation and quality of higher education in China, the Ministry of Education initiated new university employment reform, which pressed academics to produce more research. Recent employment reform has aggravated the conflict between teaching and research. This study uses mixed methods to investigate how academics perceived the employment reform and how they employed various strategies to handle teaching and research. Our study indicates a trend of deprofessionalization in academic work and an increasing tension between teaching and research. Handling teaching and research required a strong and conscientious effort on the part of academics. Concerted efforts should be made to offer a more supportive environment for academics to balance teaching and research.     

Financing at the leading 100 research universities: A study of financial dependency,concentration, and related institutional characteristics

This paper presents results of a National Science Foundation sponsored study to examine the financing of the leading 100 research universities. The study examines the changing dependence of these institutions on the federal government for overall financial support, the shifts in the concentration of federal funding to and within higher education, and the various programmatic and resource characteristics of these leading research institutions. The study covers five fiscal periods, 1975 through 1979.Presented at the Twenty First Annual Forum of The Association for Institutional Research, Minneapolis, May 1981.     

德中应用型高校机械类本科专业模块化教学体系的比较研究

以德国康斯坦茨应用科技大学与南京工程学院的机械类本科专业为对象,分析比较了德中高校专业设置中“模块”概念的内涵及模块构成要素。结果表明：德中高校模块化教学体系的指标有差异;但双方的模块化教学体系中各要素之间的相互关联性比较接近,模块体系蕴含的教学理念和实际运作方式类似,能够互相借鉴。     

Support services for higher degree research students: a survey of three Australian universities

A survey was conducted across three Australian universities to identify the types and format of support services available for higher degree research (HDR, or MA and Ph.D.) students. The services were classified with regards to availability, location and accessibility. A comparative tool was developed to help institutions categorise their services in terms of academic, administrative, social and settlement, language and miscellaneous (other) supports. All three universities showed similarities in the type of academic support services offered, while differing in social and settlement and language support services in terms of the location and the level of accessibility of these services. The study also examined the specific support services available for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students. The three universities differed in their emphases in catering to CALD needs, with their allocation of resources reflecting these differences. The organisation of these services within the universities was further assessed to determine possible factors that may influence the effective delivery of these services, by considering HDR and CALD student specific issues. The findings and tools developed by this study may be useful to HDR supervisors and university administrators in identifying key support services to better improve outcomes for the HDR students and universities.     

Child protective services' response to prenatal drug exposure: results from a nationwide survey.

OBJECTIVE: This survey was conducted to: (1) document child protective services (CPS) agencies' actual practices regarding prenatal drug exposure; (2) examine urban and rural differences in CPS responses; (3) explore whether CPS practices varied as a function of county median income, birth rate, population size, or percent minority births; and (4) assess respondent satisfaction with their county's current responses. METHOD: Data were collected via a nationwide telephone survey of child welfare supervisors from two urban and two rural counties in every state (N = 200). RESULTS: Ninety percent of counties (100% of urban and 80% of rural) reported receiving referrals of infants with prenatal drug exposure. Among those receiving referrals, extreme variations in practice were found; all possible response options (from very inactive to very aggressive) were equally represented on key questions (e.g., filing court petitions, taking custody). Rural counties tended to have stronger responses than urban counties (t[175] = -2.26, p = .024). County response did not vary with county-level median family income, percent minority births, or birth rate. Despite wide variations in practice, the majority of respondents (69%) felt their county's response was appropriate. Of respondents who did indicate that their county's response was inappropriate, most (85%) felt that the county needed to do more to protect children. CONCLUSIONS: There is currently tremendous variation across US counties in CPS responses to, and beliefs regarding, the issue of prenatal drug exposure. Some of this variation is due to differences between urban and rural counties, with little variation explained by differences in median income or percent minority births at the county level. There is a need for research-based guidance and consensus building in CPS practice in this area.     

Interpretations of formative assessment in the teaching of English at two Chinese universities: a sociocultural perspective

Formative assessment is increasingly being implemented through policy initiatives in Chinese educational contexts. As an approach to assessment, formative assessment derives many of its key principles from Western contexts, notably through the work of scholars in the UK, the USA and Australia. The question for this paper is the ways that formative assessment has been interpreted in the teaching of College English in Chinese Higher Education. The paper reports on a research study that utilised a sociocultural perspective on learning and assessment to analyse how two Chinese universities – an urban-based Key University and a regional-based Non-Key University – interpreted and enacted a China Ministry of Education policy on formative assessment in College English teaching. Of particular interest for the research were the ways in which the sociocultural conditions of the Chinese context mediated understanding of Western principles and led to their adaptation. The findings from the two universities identified some consistency in localised interpretations of formative assessment which included emphases on process and student participation. The differences related to the specific sociocultural conditions contextualising each university including geographical location, socioeconomic status, and teacher and student roles, expectations and beliefs about English. The findings illustrate the sociocultural tensions in interpreting, adapting and enacting formative assessment in Chinese College English classes and the consequent challenges to and questions about retaining the spirit of formative assessment as it was originally conceptualised.     

Recent educational research on developing countries by German researchers: A survey of the literature

How have recent trends in German educational research applied to developing countries? In order to outline the immediate state of this research in the FRG (1980–1983), the contribution first gives a brief review of its process from the beginning. The first part examines educational research until 1980, and then differentiates three main types of research on educational problems in Third World countries (on the implementation of projects; on the evaluation of education programmes and measures of educational aid; on education systems and the correlation between education and development). Through a survey of the literature published since 1980, the article aims to give an idea of the contemporary topics of this research and furthermore tries to show how German educationists try to come to terms with the failures of educational aid projects, also how they try to construct new and adequate theoretical models.     

Creating world-class universities in China: strategies and impacts at a renowned research university

In recent years, creating world-class universities has been an important project on the Chinese mainland. With the all-encompassing internationalization of higher education in the global market, it is of the utmost importance that the quality of universities be improved and that some of the top universities are pushed to become world-class. Influenced by the stimulating policies and financial incentives, some of China’s top universities are striving to earn the prestigious label of “world-class university” by conducting a series of reforms. The aim of the study discussed here was to explore the effects of the ongoing reforms and present the current dilemmas of top-down actions at elite universities. The data were obtained through in-depth interviews. First, we found that a personnel reform had been implemented to comply with the performance benchmark, but that it had subsequently been suspended owing to conflicts among different stakeholders. Second, it appeared that the humanities department at the selected university is at a disadvantage for both internal and external reasons. Third, it was found that the policy of recruiting returnees (graduates returning from study abroad) to lecturers’ positions is partly responsible for the further decline in students’ confidence in domestic universities. Fourth, the policy of admitting international students has triggered domestic tensions on the issue of educational quality and equality. Lastly, finding a way of coordinating the features of “World-Class” and “Chinese Characteristics” is not easy to be achieved.     

How teaching the English Revolution (or not) became a landmark debate in German history didactics

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the development of history teaching in West Germany from the 1970s onwards. When in the early 1970s the relevance of history – both as an academic discipline and as a school subject – was challenged, this led to fierce debates as a multitude of new concepts were being developed. One of these was Annette Kuhn’s revolutionary concept of teaching history which immediately came under attack. This debate – and others – had far reaching consequences. At first glance it was a debate about how to model objects like the English Revolution in a way to make them suitable for the history classroom. At second glance, however, this debate revolved around fundamental issues like the role of history in school, the relation between social sciences and didactics, and history’s relevance for today in general. The debate and its eventual outcome are explained within the framework of Bourdieu’s field theory. The study re-examines the consequences of this debate. In discussing alternatives to Kuhn’s approach, it shows how debates forced upon traditional history led historians to readdress the essentials of historical thinking and thus to gain new theoretical strength which resulted in a stronger position for history at universities and schools as well as in history didactics. This resulted in a specific construction and role of Geschichtsdidaktik in Germany which helps to explain why there is a difference in comparison to other countries.     

Hidden in plain sight: findings from a survey on the multi-major professional writing course

In this article, the authors report on findings from a survey of writing instructors who teach the multimajor professional writing course (MMPW) across diverse institutional contexts. The authors marshal these findings to advance a series of arguments about the situation of the MMPW course in U.S. higher education.     

高等院校教学督导职能界说:课堂中心论

一般认为,高等院校教学督导要贯穿教学质量管理的全过程,对教学工作进行全面监督和指导.本文通过分析高等院校教学督导工作的性质、教学过程的特点以及课堂教学的地位,强调高等院校内部教学督导工作应坚持以课堂教学质量监控为主要职能,以教师的课堂教学行为和学生的课堂学习行为为督导的主要对象,真正发挥教学督导应有的作用.