Leading professional learning in an Australian secondary school through school‐university partnerships

As the limitations of one‐off and disconnected professional learning programs for teachers are recognised, there is widespread interest in building learning communities and professional learning teams within schools. When considering how to build local learning communities, school and university partnerships are seen as offering rich possibilities for transformative professional action. Set in the context of the international agenda of “Education For All” (UNESCO, 2005 UNESCO. (2005). Education for all: Global monitoring project. Retrieved January 8, 2007, from http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php‐URL_ID=36004&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=36004&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html)  [Google Scholar]) a model of sustained on‐going professional learning, developed in one large secondary school in Australia, is analysed. The social practices that generate action and participation for partnership members are then scrutinised for the legitimacy of school‐university partnerships and the contribution to enhancing teacher learning.     

Do comprehensive school teachers perceive themselves as active professional agents in school reforms?

This article focuses on exploring comprehensive school teachers’ professional agency in the context of the most recent school reforms in Finland (i.e., developing undivided basic education). In this article, the emphasis is on analyzing the premises on which teachers view themselves and their work in terms of developing their own school, catalyzed by the national school reform. Teachers’ perceptions and the relation between their perceptions of the development work and their educational backgrounds were empirically examined by means of essays entitled “Remembering the Future.” Results suggested that both teachers’ perceptions of undivided basic education and their perceptions of themselves in the development process varied considerably. Further investigation showed that teachers’ perceptions of the reform and of themselves within the reforms were interrelated. More specifically, perceiving oneself as an active subject in the development work seemed to promote a holistic and functional perception of the object of the development. On the basis of the results, it seems that as highly educated professionals, teachers were very capable of identifying and analyzing what should be changed in schools and/or the school districts. However, a challenge for the teachers’ active professional agency in educational reforms seems to be the lack of shared and informed assumptions of how change can be brought about.     

Leading a school through change – principals’ hands-on leadership strategies in school reform

Principal’s hands-on strategies reflecting their theories of changing have a substantial effect on the development of their schools and on how the large-scale reform takes root. The study explores five comprehensive school principals’ leadership strategies during a large-scale school reform in Finland. The principals’ strategies in the middle of reform acknowledged the process nature of leading and involved coherence-making. The inclusive and learning-oriented strategies were applied quite consistently in terms of the horizontal, but not so much in the vertical coherence-making. Exclusive strategies we used to decrease teachers’ workload. Principals’ theories of changing seem to focus on creating and protecting teachers’ opportunities for meaningful learning.     

The mediating role of social relationships in the association of adolescents’ individual school self-concept and their school engagement,belonging and helplessness in school

It is well known that teachers frequently observe a decline in the scholastic motivation of many adolescent students, which in turn is often associated with a decline in students’ individual school self-concept. In contrast, less is known about the association between students’ individual school self-concept and school engagement, or the related concepts of school belonging and helplessness in school. The current study explored social relationships as mediators in the association between individual school self-concept and adolescents’ school engagement, belonging to school and helplessness in school in a large sample of 7th and 8th grade students (N?=?1088; M_Age?=?13.7) in secondary schools in Brandenburg, Germany. The results of two structural equation models showed that the teacher–student relationship mediated the association between individual school self-concept and school engagement, belonging to school and helplessness in school, respectively. In contrast, the student–student relationship did not mediate any of these associations.     

The Chinese high school student’s stress in the school and academic achievement

In a sample of 466 Chinese high school students, we examined the relationships between Chinese high school students’ stress in the school and their academic achievements. Regression mixture modelling identified two different classes of the effects of Chinese high school students’ stress on their academic achievements. One class contained 87% of the students. In this class, the students’ stress negatively predicted their academic achievements. For the other 13% of the students, their stress did not predict their academic achievements. Furthermore, we found that gender did not moderate the relationships between Chinese high school students’ stress in the school and their academic achievements.     

Student planners in school and out of school: who is managing whom?

This paper examines the use of student planners (agendas) with elementary school students. It asks how teachers, students and parents in two classrooms engage in the literacy practice of using student planners. A literacy object originally introduced to manage schoolwork in and out of school for students with learning difficulties, planners are now used widely in school districts across North America. In this cross‐case analysis, planners are shown to be used for a number of functions beyond organising students’ schoolwork. The student planners were tools through which teachers, parents and publishers extended their spheres of influence – objects used to manage others when an individual was not physically present to do so and objects used to gain entry to the classrooms and homes for particular purposes.     

High school students’ difficulties in understanding osmosis

Preconceptions and misconceptions of 500 secondary students in years 9‐12 regarding osmosis were studied through the use of five different kinds of instruments: prior learning inventory, self‐report knowledge inventory, true/false test, definitions and clinical interviews. Some of the major findings were: (1) The most frequent explanation offered to osmosis is ‘a desire or drive towards equalizing concentrations’. (2) Hardly any student uses the concept ‘water concentration’. (3) Most students fail to realize that in dynamic equilibrium water molecules keep moving. (4) Students have special difficulty in understanding osmotic relations in plants. (5) Many students have difficulty in grasping solute‐solvent and concentration‐quantity relations. (6) Students often perform laboratory experiments without really understanding the underlying principles. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

What did I do in school today?

Rina went to school 1 she was six yearsold.She liked her first day 2 .Her teacher,Miss Yates,was very nice,and 3 in her classwere 4 ,too.But at the end of the secondday,when the other children 5 the class-room,Rina stayed behind and waited.     

What did I do in school today?

Rina went to school 1 she was six years old.She liked her first day 2. Her teacher, Miss Yates,was very nice,and 3 in her class were 4,too.But at the end of the second     

Learning in and for cross‐school working

In this study we report some of the outcomes of a study of professional learning that took place in cross school partnerships as they worked towards promoting creativity in schools. The methodology developed by Engeström and his colleagues at The Centre for Developmental Work Research in Helsinki was adopted. This form of intervention involves the preparation and facilitation of workshops in which the underlying structural contradictions that are in play in emergent activities are highlighted and articulated in such a way that participants may engage with what may otherwise remain hidden and unexamined tensions. This approach is based on the writings of the early 20th‐century Russian school of social scientists—Vygotsky, Luria and Leontiev. A principal claim is that the development of creativity requires tools and contexts for such innovatory forms of practice. This study suggests that this claim is a partial representation of the development of creative activity.     

Who's calling the plays in school psychology?

This paper reviews several forces, singly and in interaction, that are producing an impetus for change in both the practice of and training in school psychology. Imperatives for change in professional training and practice are reviewed.     

Will I succeed in middle school? A longitudinal analysis of self-efficacy in school transitions in relation to goal structures and engagement

The current study aimed to explore the concept of transition self-efficacy, which is defined as individuals’ subjective evaluation of their ability to execute the actions required for a successful transition from elementary to middle school. The study followed a sample of 128 sixth-grade students for 2 consecutive years (before and after the school transition). A path analysis based on structural equation modelling revealed that the students’ perceptions of the teachers’ emphasis on mastery goal orientations predicted academic and social aspects of self-efficacy. The social aspect of self-efficacy in turn predicted changes in the students’ emotional and behavioural engagement after the transition. The results were robust when we controlled for self-reported GPA and gender. An interaction between gender and aspects of self-efficacy was also observed. The findings emphasise the importance of transition self-efficacy for adaptive school transitions and provide evidence that teachers’ goal emphases play a significant role in promoting self-efficacy.     

Humanities in the primary school – philosophical considerations

ABSTRACT

Drawing on a range of philosophical traditions, this article argues that the humanities are essential aspects of the development of the whole child. The humanities help children to understand themselves and other people in relation to place, time, belief, identity and culture and to become empathetic, thoughtful and critical citizens. Learning the content, language, concepts, skills and ways of working associated with separate disciplines is important, as is exploration of key ideas related to human experience and culture, including controversial ones. Defining the humanities in the primary years by the types of knowledge, qualities and values involved may be more appropriate than by subject. These can be learned, and reinforced, in all subject areas, with some offering particularly fertile opportunities, and through cross-curricular approaches. An emphasis on factual knowledge is too limiting, with active, first-hand experience helping to engage and include children. To teach and demonstrate appropriate ways of working and thinking, teachers require pedagogical content knowledge and enthusiasm as well as subject knowledge.     

Improving primary school practice and school–college linkage in Ethiopia through collaborative action research

In Ethiopia, as elsewhere in the world, action research is recognized as a valuable and cost-effective form of inquiry to improve classroom and school practices. It has been given due consideration, both by the Ministry of Education and teacher education institutes of the country. Nevertheless, studies conducted on the practice of action research unanimously reported that, due to many factors, its status in the country’s education system is at its lowest stage. One of the factors for this problem is lack of adequate knowledge, skills and dispositions essential for action research. Hence, this action research project was initiated and implemented collaboratively between one teacher educator and school teachers working in a nearby primary school (in Debre Markos, Ethiopia). After a tiresome implementation of selected action strategies, for more than six months in four different phases, the project was found to be helpful in enhancing the practitioners’ knowledge skills and confidence of action research. The project was also found to be important in improving the action research practice of the school. Our evaluation of the project also implied that collaborative action research, if properly and wholeheartedly conducted, is an effective strategy in strengthening school–college linkage that ultimately helps each institution to learn and benefit from the other.     

Teachers’ views on risk factors for problematic school absenteeism in Swedish primary school students

In the present online survey, 158 teachers in regular and special education teaching in grades six to nine were asked to rate the importance of probable reasons for problematic school absenteeism. On average, the teachers estimated that among their students, 19 students had presented with problematic school absenteeism over the last five years. Teachers viewed school absenteeism as a multifactorial problem. Family factors were considered to contribute most and low mood or depression were rated as one of the five most contributing factors. Teachers in special education viewed school factors as more influential than teachers in mainstream education did (t₁₅₆ = ?3.94, p < 0.05). The current findings stress the importance of collaboration between the school, parents and the student to be able to address all factors that may lead to problematic school absenteeism.     

Longitudinal analysis of Chinese high school student’s stress in school and academic achievement

In previous research, few studies have examined the effects of adolescents’ stress in school on the change rates of their academic achievement. In the present study, we seek to examine the longitudinal relationships between adolescents’ stress in school and the change rates of their academic achievement. The results indicated that for those whose academic achievement significantly declined over time, the students’ stress from teacher–student interaction significantly predicted the change rates of their academic achievement. The findings provided support to the notion that stress was a risk factor in students’ academic development.     

Inequalities in school leavers’ labour market outcomes: do school subject choices matter?

Abstract

Despite a wide international literature on the effect of vocational and general education on school-to-work transition, relatively little is known about the role of having studied specific subjects in explaining inequalities in young people’s labour market outcomes. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining differences in employment chances of young people who left education early, either at the end of compulsory schooling or at the end of secondary school. Using data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study, a large-scale linkage study created using data from administrative and statistical sources, we found little gender differences but strong parental background differences in school leavers’ employment status and type of occupation entered. Social inequalities in labour market outcomes were only partly explained by curriculum choices. Moreover, after controlling for social origin and grades, only history and business for lower-secondary leavers and maths for upper-secondary leavers were associated with a reduction in the chances of being unemployed/inactive.     

Learning opportunities in the outdoor school–empirical findings on outdoor school in Germany from the children’s perspective

This article examines learning processes and learning opportunities in the outdoor school based on 13 focus-group interviews with children (ages 8–9) at three German elementary schools. For 1 year, cross-curricular teaching had taken place once a week outside the classroom—in natural settings, at cultural sites or on school grounds. The article discusses the learning potential of the outdoor school in terms of activities that the children perceive as dominant, i.e. playing, moving and social cooperation. It will discuss and reflect upon the learning opportunities that arise as well as on the limitations of learning in out-of-school settings and the role of learning in the children’s perception. The study reveals that the outdoor school as a place of teaching, play, exploration and experience offers formal and informal learning opportunities and encourages children to engage among themselves and within their social and inanimate surroundings by challenging them physically, cognitively, perceptually and socially. Learning processes initiated through play, activity and social cooperation are often not perceived by the children as ‘learning’ in the formal sense. Apparently, a significant proportion of the outdoor school’s potential lies in the combination of teacher-structured and informal learning processes that arise spontaneously.     

Faith in school: immigrant families’ attitudes towards education in Spain

This paper is based on a preliminary exploration of the in‐depth interviews and focus groups that are part of a more extensive research project on the education of children of immigrants in Spain. In the process of migration, families undergo profound transformations that are often complicated by extended periods of separation—not only from extended family members, but also from the nuclear family. Though many immigrant families are involved in transnational separation and reunion processes of this kind, there has been little research on the impact of these forms of family transformations on the vision of education held by immigrants. This impact seems to be two‐fold. On one hand, family separation and living or work conditions hamper educational support and monitoring; on the other, the experience of migration poses a tremendous faith in the benefits of education and makes families highly motivated in education. The main idea underlying this paper is that an accurate knowledge of the schooling experience of the children of immigrants has to be related to the moral and psychological effects of this adaptive transformation and, in a very special way, to the weave of projects, expectations and frustrations that permeate the life of an immigrant family. The psychosocial consequences of the processes of adjustment and relearning that immigration entails, the need for a comparative perception of success and the willingness to make an effort and work hard make immigrant families strongly meritocratic and—contrary to some common beliefs—able to show a high level of commitment and expectations in relation to the education of their children.     

A charity school in the nineteenth century: Old Swinford hospital school, 1815–1914

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Ideology and the Imagination. By Fred Inglis. Pp. 244. London: Cambridge University Press, 1975. £4.90 hard cover. £2.00 paperback.

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