'It's Pretty Difficult to Fail': The reluctance of lecturers to award a failing grade

Graduates from initial teacher education institutions in New Zealand are assumed to be fit to take up positions as beginning teachers. To this end lecturers make judgements at various stages during the teacher education programme about the quality of student performance with regard to coursework and teaching practice. Findings from a field-based project at a large metropolitan college of education in New Zealand revealed that making such judgements was not a straightforward activity. In particular, there was a reluctance to award failing grades. The college's published guidelines referred to the passing and failing of courses and the programme as dependent on the quality of submitted work or demonstrated performance. The everyday discourse and observed practice of lecturers and student teachers suggested, however, that both groups construed a fail grade as a judgement of personal worth. This shift from judgements about performance to judgements about personal worth was associated with the utilisation of criteria other than those outlined in published documents. The use of 'other' criteria enabled positive judgements to be made about students who did not meet course requirements and/or whose work failed to meet the minimum standard. Lecturers thus appeared to be reluctant to act as gatekeepers to an initial beginning teacher position.     

关于解决农村教师工资拖欠问题的思考

目前 ,在苏北地区特别是在淮北地区逐步形成的拖欠教师工资的问题 ,有一定的普遍性和较重的危害性。笔者认为 ,解决农村教师工资拖欠问题须问计于以下三个方面。首要之计在于深化改革。教师工资拖欠现象的存在 ,一方面表明教育自我生存能力不强 ,另一方面表明县乡 (镇 )财政供给能力不强。因此 ,解决这一问题既要抓教育自身改革 ,增强自我生存与发展能力 ,也要抓好供给教育的财政体制改革 ,以满足教育生存与发展的要求。进一步深化教育改革。突出做好三点 :一是加快中小学校布局调整 ,使有限的教育资源发挥更大的效益。二是加快教育内部管理…     

Evaluation of fellowships awarded to developing countries — What do the studies tell?

Despite the expansion in the developing countries of institutions of higher education the award of fellowships to nationals from these countries for study abroad, in particular in developed countries, is still important. In order to learn about the effectiveness of various elements of the fellowship programmes - for example, the selection process, the relevance and use of the training, and the brain drain - many donor agencies as well as a few recipient countries have evaluated the activity. However, as most of these studies are never published, there is very little readily available information about the outcome of the fellowship training. Against this background, the present article analyses and discusses the findings of a number of evaluations undertaken. The analysis points out the more important problem areas in the activity. It also draws attention to some methodological issues which, if not considered, may invalidate the findings of studies.     

To tell a story,to write it: developmental patterns of narrative skills from preschool to first grade

In this 1-year longitudinal study, the authors explored the development of narrative skills between the oral and written form. The authors aimed to assess the predictive power of textual narrative competence on early narrative text writing skills taking into account the impact of spelling ability. Eighty children (M age?=?5.3 years, age range?=?4.9–5.7 years; SD?=?0.29) were followed longitudinally until entering the first grade of primary school. During kindergarten, they were tested with an oral story production task and in first grade with a written story production task. Narratives were evaluated in terms of structure, cohesion and consistency. In the first grade, children were also submitted to a dictation task to evaluate their spelling competence. Repeated measures ANOVAs were performed in order to examine narrative competence development, also considering gender differences, and regression analyses were implemented to evaluate the predictive capability of textual abilities expressed by oral narratives on textual abilities expressed by writing. The results showed some significant differences when scores in kindergarten were compared to scores in primary school. Moreover, the ability to tell well-structured, cohesive and consistent stories predicts the ability to write stories with the same qualities in the sample of participants without spelling difficulty. Instead, the predictive link is not apparent considering those children with difficulties in orthographic ability. This research allows us to reflect about how the medium of writing might interfere, on the basis of the level of mastery, with the opportunity to express narrative skills in the transition from the oral to written code. The central role of writing instrument functionality opens the way to practical implications.     

追求卓越加强示范中心的文化建设

实验教学示范中心的文化建设是示范中心建设重要的方面,在"大力倡导追求卓越的文化,不断优化学校资源配置与健全学校激励约束机制,着力提升学校学术水平"的背景下,示范中心文化建设不断显示特色,努力实现精神文化、物质文化的突破,在学校实践育人环节中发挥不可替代的作用。     

高校思想政治理论课“学进去讲出来”教学行动研究

"学进去讲出来"的学讲方式是通过研究性学习、自主性学习、合作性学习等方式实现学、做、练一体化的教学方法。以提高高校思想政治理论课的实效性为出发点,本着"从行动中养成道德行为的习惯"的理念,提出了符合大学生身心特点的学讲方式及具体的行动策略:通过拍摄微视频,以影音的形式"讲出来";通过撰写读后感、倡议书,以文字的形式"讲出来";通过辩论赛,以言语的形式"讲出来";通过制作漫画、宣传板,以图文的形式"讲出来";通过备课、组织教学,以授课的形式"讲出来";通过问卷调查、践行道德规范,以行动的形式"讲出来"。     

建设飞行器系统仿真实验中心,强化学员能力培养

为适应教学任务的调整,把原有分散实验室有机组合成飞行器系统仿真实验中心.根据学院具有时代特征的教育观念,结合专业教学实践要求,确定了实验中心建设思路,即:强化专业基础实验室,夯实专业基础;构建创新实验平台,培养创新能力;以装备发展为牵引,提高第一任职能力;培养实验师资力量,科学建设管理实验室.     

依托物理实验教学示范中心,完善创新实验平台建设

根据河北大学物理学院开放实验室在培养学生创新意识和实践能力方面所获得的成效,阐释了如何建立并完善具有针对性的创新实验室,如何构建增强学生的动手能力,提升学生发现问题、自主解决问题能力的创新实验平台,该平台在提高学生综合素质培养方面起到了重要作用。     

加强医学基础实验教学中心建设提高“回归基础”教学质量

介绍了“回归基础”教学和医学基础实验教学中心的基本概况,阐明了医学基础实验教学中心在“回归基础”教学中的优势,提出了今后的目标及方向,即在不断摸索的过程中总结经验,充分发挥其融合的作用.进一步阐明医学基础实验教学中心的成立对提高回归基础教学质量的重要意义.     

从边缘到中心:大学生就业指导的演进历程及重要转变

大学生就业指导工作在我国发展虽然巴有二十余年了,但是依然处于不成熟的状态.近日教育部办公厅印发的<大学生职业发晨与就业指导课程教学要求>的通知,对课程开展进行了详尽、全面规划,同时也促成了大学生就业指导内涵、性质及发展方式的转变.     

制度创新是民校减除办学风险的关键——兼谈一批品牌民校"夭折"的警示

中国民办教育发展大趋势不可逆转,但它面临着激烈的竞争成本挑战,尤其是体制性利益格局调整下的制度考验。为此,民办教育举办者、管理者要强化抗风险意识,做制度创新的先锋,打造出具有可进可退、可张可弛的制度“壁垒”,以尽快形成内部减震消除机制,全面抵御办学风险。     

Multiple risks and educational well being: A population-based investigation of threats to early school success

The current research study used a developmental–epidemiological approach to examine the prevalence and impact of multiple risks on educational outcomes for an entire population of second grade children in a low-income, urban public school system. The Kids Integrated Data System (KIDS) provided information about children's entire histories of involvement with public services from birth through the end of second grade. Educational risk factors identified through these systems included poverty, child maltreatment, homelessness, low-maternal education, and biological birth risks. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed the differential impacts of type and amount of risk on multiple academic and behavioral outcomes. Findings emphasized the disproportionate educational challenges that fall squarely in the purview of other publicly funded service providers outside the education system. Implications of this study include the increasing of the collaborations between early childhood educators and public service systems such as child welfare and homelessness. Enhancing the educational well being of young children with disproportionate risks requires intentional, systematic, and comprehensive interventions that can only be done through such collaboration.     

结合地域和民族特色创建国家级基础医学实验教学示范中心

对国家级基础医学实验教学示范中心的发展历程,树立现代基础医学实验教学理念与改革思路,构建实验教学课程体系、提高实验教学质量,以及在突出新疆地域和民族特色方面开展基础医学实验教学工作中取得的成就予以论述。     

文科综合实验教学示范中心建设的探索与实践

为培养适应国家经济社会发展要求的人文社科类人才,浙江工业大学文科综合实验教学中心就实验教学观念、实验教学体系、实验教学环境3个方面进行了有益探索与实践。     

BTEC模式：解决“中心与本位”的途径

我国职业教育界近年来一直在探讨的“以学生为中心,以能力为本位”这个议题,是职业教育改革的根本所在,是我国教育思想与国外先进教育思想的差距所在,也是我国职业学校一直没能很好地解决的问题。通过实践我们认为,英国的BTEC教育模式是解决“中心与本位”问题的好途径。