Gender,school management and educational reforms: a case study of a primary school in Hong Kong

Across the globe, many countries have incorporated new managerialism and marketization to reform their education systems. Feminist studies have already pointed out that these changes are gendered and masculinized and have documented their impacts on women teachers in secondary, higher and further education. Yet interestingly, while primary teaching is a feminized occupation, the ways that these changes and the associated practices are gendered and affected women teachers are relatively under‐researched . This article, based on a case school in Hong Kong, attempts to fill this gap. By teasing out the gendered assumptions embedded in management strategies, it will show how an entrepreneurial school has attempted to succeed in a competitive educational market by exploiting young women, discriminating motherhood and forging competition among women of different educational qualifications. While making visible the patriarchal interests and masculine norms of the school, the article also aims to illuminate the contradictions and tensions inherent in, or generated, by those strategies.     

教育游戏在小学英语教学中的应用评价

二十一世纪随着社会经济的不断发展,教育也在不断的变革中紧跟时代的发展潮流,在教学过程中坚持以学生为主体,创新教学方式,提出新的教学理念,从各个方面培养和提高学生的综合能力。在这样大的时代教育背景下,小学英语也在不断地创新教学方式,在教学过程中加入教育游戏,激发学生的学习兴趣,提高课堂效率。本文主要分析了教育游戏在小学英语教学中的教育价值,并在此基础上提出了教育游戏在小学英语教学中的具体应用方法,以提高小学生学习英语的效率。     

教育游戏在小学英语教学中的应用研究

随着新课标的提出,传统的教学方法已经无法适应现代教学的需要,在小学英语教学中,教育游戏的模式打破了传统教学模式的局限,对提高教学效率起着重要的作用。经相关研究表明,教育游戏的模式能够有效的提高学生学习的积极性,同时对英语教师的综合素质有了更高的要求,教师应该不断提升其教学水平和专业素养,正确的引导学生,充分发挥教育游戏的作用,提高学生的主动性,才能够有效提升英语教学的水平及效率。     

人教版小学数学教材中蕴含的数学文化

文章探讨人教版小学数学教材中蕴含的数学文化,主要从数学家的故事、数学发展史、中国古代典籍《九章算术》、数学的广泛应用这四个方面来阐述。     

小学数学中几个概念的理论探讨

本论述了在继续教育中引导小学教师运用较高的数学观点研究小学数学概念，以达到准确、深刻、全面理解概念之的必要性，并对整除、有余的数的除法和分数3个概念作了深入的探讨，旨在为培训机构的教师和广大小学教师提供这方面的参考。     

数学游戏与初中数学课堂教学

数学游戏作为数学知识的一种载体,兼具知识性、趣味性和娱乐性,因而在课堂教学中引入数学游戏,能有效地激发学生的兴趣,使学生在已有的知识和经验的基础上,主动建构知识,获得数学思想。本文从什么是数学游戏、数学游戏对数学课堂的作用、选用标准以及初中课堂教学实践中如何引入数学游戏和收获体会等几方面等方面进行充分地阐述,结合若干具体的案例进行分析,提出合理运用集数学和游戏于一体的数学游戏,挖掘和发挥数学游戏的作用,对优化数学教学和推进课程改革都具有重要的现实意义。     

小学数学课堂教学评价的质性研究

Through the qualitative interviews of five implementers of primary school mathematics curriculum, this study addresses the ways in which mathematics lessons are evaluated. Results show that each evaluator recognizes different aspects of a “good lesson,” however, among all criteria, the design of the lesson plan, realization of the lesson goals, active student participation, and mathematical thinking are seen as key indicators in lesson evaluation. The study also shows that student performance is a major point of concern in lesson evaluation, and some extreme teaching practice has drawn attention and being reflected by some implementers of the New Mathematics Curriculum.     

职业中学数学课程教学改革和实践

本文结合作者自身教学体会，通过分析职业中学数学教学现状，从五个方面提出教学改革措施。     

The use of a school value-added model for educational improvement: a case study from the Portuguese primary education system

This article focuses on the use of a value-added approach for promoting school improvement. It presents yearly value-added estimates, analyses their stability over time, and discusses the contribution of this methodological approach for promoting school improvement programmes in the Portuguese system of evaluation. The value-added model is applied to longitudinal data gathered from a representative sample of students enrolled in primary school, using mathematics scores as outcome variable. The estimates are used to determine a systematic positive or negative school value-added effect. Results indicate that at least 41% of schools remain at the same level over 3 years, 15% present an instable pattern, and approximately 40% show a positive or negative trend. It is argued that these results, especially those that reveal systematically underperforming schools, could have relevant implications for educational policy geared towards school improvement.     

Assessment for learning in Norway and Portugal: the case of primary school mathematics teaching

In this study, we aim to understand the forces driving assessment for learning (AfL) in primary school teaching. By applying a case study design, including the two cases of Norway and Portugal and using mathematics teaching as an example, available policy documents and research reports are analysed to identify the differences and similarities that might explain the assessment practices previously observed in the two countries. Many similarities are found at the school and national levels. In particular, AfL is introduced as a national policy in both countries. Still, AfL practices are not common in primary mathematics classrooms in either country, although this is true for different reasons in each country. It is suggested that the assessment culture caused by national policies, such as curriculum reforms, national professional development projects and teacher autonomy, explains the similarities in the observed outcomes.     

小学数学教材的使用误区及对策

以北京师范大学出版社出版的小学数学教材为例,按照《义务教育数学课程标准(2011年版)》的要求,通过分析小学数学教师的课堂教学,从教材定位、主题图使用、习题使用、综合与实践等方面进行了使用误区分析,并提出了相应的对策.     

Factors affecting teachers' adoption of educational computer games: A case study

Even though computer games hold considerable potential for engaging and facilitating learning among today's children, the adoption of modern educational computer games is still meeting significant resistance in K‐12 education. The purpose of this paper is to inform educators and instructional designers on factors affecting teachers' adoption of modern educational computer games. A case study was conducted to identify the factors affecting the adoption of Dimenxian, which was a new educational computer game designed to teach Algebra to middle school students. The diffusion of innovations theory was used as the conceptual framework of this study. The results indicated that compatibility, relative advantage, complexity and trialability played important roles in the game adoption. These findings were compared with the existing literature on (1) the adoption of educational software, and (2) the barriers in the use of educational computer games in K‐12 settings to help guide future research and practice. The comparison showed that (1) adoption attributes for the games and other educational software had a similar pattern from high to low significance: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability; and (2) the game adoption factors were more inclusive than the barriers of using the computer games.     

Science teaching self-efficacy in a primary school: A case study

Bandura's theory of self-efficacy predicts that teachers with high, self-efficacy should persist longer, provide a greater academic focus in child-centred classrooms and exhibit different types of feedback than teachers who have lower self-efficacy. This paper reports on the science teaching self-efficacy in a group of teachers at a state primary school. The research was conducted in two stages using firstly the Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (STEBI-A) to identify cases, and secondly, a semistructured interview coupled with classroom observations. Thirty seven teaching staff were surveyed with the STEBI-A instrument. The five highest and five lowest scoring teachers on the personal science teaching self-efficacy subscale of the STEBI-A were interviewed. The analysis of interviews and observations indicated that teachers with high personal science teaching self-efficacy have had a long interest in science and a relatively strong background of formal science studies with opportunities for exploring out of school activities. Although they may have experienced negative science experiences in their own schooling other ameliorating factors existed which maintained their interest. Their instructional strategies in science lessons were more child-centred than those reported by teachers with lower personal science teaching self-efficacy. The implications of the results for the inservice training of teachers are discussed.     

数学文化在海南省小学数学教育中的普及研究

本文主要阐述数学文化的内涵,数学文化在小学数学教育中的重要作用,海南省小学数学教育中数学文化的薄弱与缺失,以及在海南省小学数学教育中普及数学文化要采取的措施。     

Collaborative teacher learning in different primary school settings

During the last two decades there has been a growing awareness of the potentially strong role teacher collaboration can play in relation to teacher and team learning. Teachers collaborate with their colleagues in different formal and informal settings. Because most studies have focused on teacher learning in one collaborative setting or are related to a specific innovation, little is known about how teachers learn within the different collaborative settings that emerge out of their teaching work. The aim of this exploratory study was to gain deeper insight into collaborative teacher learning during regular work at primary schools. Collaborative teacher learning was investigated within multiple settings, taking into account both the undertaken learning activities by teachers and the learning outcomes. Teacher and principal perceptions were collected through semi-structured interviews that were conducted with two teachers and one principal per school, including seven primary schools. Results show that teacher learning occurred within different collaborative settings in schools, however, with different degrees of intensity and outcomes across these various settings. Thus, depending on the collaborative setting, more or less different learning activities and learning outcomes were reported by teachers and principals. The results suggest that high quality team meetings can be a powerful context for teacher learning.     

Capacity building for school improvement: a case study of a New Zealand primary school

Capacity building is now mentioned synonymously with school improvement in much of the literature with an absence of debate on the implications of political, social and economic trends. This article explores capacity building in one low decile, multicultural, New Zealand primary school. The research, positioned within an interpretivist paradigm, utilises a case study and grounded theory approach to explore four aspects: 1. processes that enhance improvement; 2. internal and external influences on capacity building; 3. wider societal factors that influence the development of capacity; 4. links between capacity building and improvement. This article suggests that capacity building for school improvement is time and context dependent and is unique to the setting. It occurs in response to individual, collective and systemic need in ways that sustain equilibrium while moving towards improvement. The paper explores key attributes of capacity building: vision; stakeholders as change agents; school culture; professional development. Practices that are examined include knowledge production and utilisation; division of labour; roles and responsibilities; a switching-on mentality. These groups of factors lend themselves to a discussion of four important themes in the capacity building and school improvement process: situated activity; connectedness; leadership, governance and management; outcomes. This article concludes that the confluence of these contributing factors enables tensions and needs of context to be managed in ways that ensure equilibrium of people, school and system while moving in the direction of improvement.     

Socioeconomic school segregation in a market-oriented educational system. The case of Chile

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the socioeconomic status (SES) school segregation in Chile, whose educational system is regarded as an extreme case of a market-oriented education. The study estimated the magnitude and evolution of the SES segregation of schools at both national and local levels, and it studied the relationship between some local educational market dynamics and the observed magnitude of SES school segregation at municipal level. The main findings were: first, the magnitude of the SES segregation of both low-SES and high-SES students in Chile was very high (Duncan Index ranged from 0.50 to 0.60 in 2008); second, during the last decade, SES school segregation tended to slightly increase in Chile, especially in high schools (both public and private schools); third, private schools – including voucher schools – were more segregated than public schools for both low-SES and high-SES students; and finally, some market dynamics operating in the Chilean education (like privatization, school choice, and fee-paying) accounted for a relevant proportion of the observed variation in SES school segregation at municipal level. These findings are analyzed from an educational policy perspective in which the link between SES school segregation and market-oriented mechanisms in education plays a fundamental role.