异地高考政策对随迁子女高等教育机会的影响——比较乡-城、城-城两类流动人口的差异

大多数学者认为异地高考政策更加有利于家庭条件较好的随迁子女,少数学者则认为该政策能有效保障农村随迁子女的教育权益,但已有文献仍缺乏关于异地高考政策对两类流动人口高等教育机会影响差异的比较研究。基于2017年中国流动人口动态监测调查数据,本文探讨了异地高考政策对城乡随迁子女高等教育机会的影响,并探究了该政策的调节作用。研究发现,异地高考政策对农村随迁子女高等教育机会的促进作用显著高于城镇随迁子女,且这种效应仅在高政策门槛地区存在,低门槛地区不存在。从政策的调节作用来看,异地高考政策有助于提高农村流动人口子女随迁的意愿,且对农村随迁子女高等教育机会的促进作用要显著高于农村留守子女。同时,异地高考政策可显著降低农村随迁子女家庭社会经济地位对其子女高等教育机会的影响。为此,各地方政府应坚持并完善异地高考政策,充分发挥该政策促进高等教育公平的杠杆作用;流入地政府要进一步提高本地高中教育服务能力;中央政府要进一步推进、完善高考录取制度改革。     

Spanish-Speaking Children's Social and Language Development in Pre-Kindergarten Classrooms

The current study examined the social and language development of 345 Spanish-speaking pre-kindergartners who attended pre-kindergarten programs that varied widely in how much Spanish was spoken in the classroom by the teacher. Previous studies on English language learners have focused on how the language of instruction impacts children's language proficiency, ignoring the context in which children are learning. The current study found better social skills and closer teacher—child relationships in classrooms where teachers spoke some Spanish. Teacher ratings of children's peer social skills and assertiveness were positively associated with increased amounts of Spanish being spoken. More Spanish language use in the classroom was also related to a decrease in children's likelihood of being victims of aggression as rated by independent observers. The findings have implications for better understanding how policy decisions regarding language of instruction impact children in the social domain. As early education programs are faced with the challenging task of developing best practices for English language learners, it is essential that programs are attentive to the social implications of language.     

Regional Identity,Language and Education Policy in Switzerland

This article argues that identity and language issues exert a powerful influence on the politics and policies of education in Switzerland. Regional and local linguistic and cultural differences affect the education policies of the Swiss federal government, the 26 Swiss cantons, and the more than 3000 Swiss communities. Switzerland's highly decentralized political system and its mechanisms of direct democratic citizens' participation force educational policy-makers at the national, regional, and local level to take into account not only their own locality's culture and language, but also that of their neighboring towns, cantons, and regions. The article uses the example of the introduction of second language instruction as a case study to illustrate why and how education policy at all levels of the polity reflects Switzerland's cultural and linguistic diversity and the strong local and regional identities of the Swiss citizenry.     

Teaching in linguistically diverse classrooms: difficulties in the implementation of the language-in-education policy in multilingual Kenyan primary school classrooms

Kenya’s language-in-education policy supports mother-tongue education as the ideal approach to developing language and literacy skills of young learners. The policy has been informed by findings of various past national education commissions as well as international declarations such as the UNESCO declaration on the use of Vernacular Languages in Education of 1953, the World Declaration on Education for All of 1990 and the Dakar framework of 2000. The country’s Constitution of 2010 re-affirms this policy. However, available reports indicate that little progress has been made in implementing the use of Kenyan mother tongues in education. This paper reports on impressions gained in the process of collecting and analysing data for a doctoral study still in progress. Preliminary findings indicate that in most urban and peri-urban schools, where the learner population is highly multilingual, the policy has been implemented in such a way that in effect either the notion of ‘mother tongue’ seems to have been redefined or the term is used in an unconventional way. Even in rural areas where, comparatively, there is minimal diversity, practical aspects of the use of mother tongue in education seem not to be in accordance with policy provisions. Learning materials and assessment systems are not suitably structured to enable mother-tongue education to take place. The paper (1) gives an impression of the status quo regarding use of language in multilingual primary school classrooms in Kenya, (2) considers the different interpretations given to the term ‘mother tongue’ in current classroom practices and (3) provides pointers to the gap between de jure and de facto policy, which may eventually be helpful in improving the implementation of the current language-in-education policy, in such a way that it will strengthen mother-tongue literacy and facilitate eventual transfer to English as medium of instruction.     

Language proficiency and language policy in South Africa: Findings from new data

This study explores new data from 2008 on language proficiency and labour market outcomes in the context of South Africa's language-in-education policy. We show that the economic returns to English language proficiency are large and higher than those to home language proficiency for the majority of employed South Africans. This helps explain why there is little incentive to switch to an African language as the language of instruction in schools. However, we show also that African adults are significantly more likely to be proficient in English if they are proficient in their home language. This finding supports the arguments of additive bilingualism, which identify the benefits of extended mother-tongue education for the acquisition of second-language skills.     

Who makes it to secondary school? Determinants of transition to secondary schools in rural India

Despite considerable progress made, a significant proportion of children continue to drop out before reaching secondary school in India. This study investigates factors influencing parental decision-making with regard to children's secondary schooling in the context of a rural area of Uttar Pradesh. The study finds that cost, distance to the nearest secondary school, membership in traditionally marginalised social groups, and being a girl child have a significant effect on a child's chance of transition. It also finds that factors influencing participation at the primary level may influence the transition decision, having key implications for education policy formulation across education levels.     

Multilingualism in democratic South Africa: the over-estimation of language policy

The article focuses on the increasing mismatch between South Africa's stated official policy on language and its gradually evolving linguistic realities. Whereas the country's institutional documents (the Constitution and the national policies being developed) proclaim linguistic pluralism to be the national objective the country seems to be regressing to its pre-apartheid situation of monolingual practice—a situation of “English only”. This phenomenon is illustrated with reference to language-in-education, particularly the issues of language of learning and teaching (“medium of instruction”), language study and language and certification. The article then debates three possible reasons for the inability of the Government of the country to take positive steps towards policy implementation, concluding with the view that language planning is not enough, and that the lack of a meaningful political will in the political (and educational) leadership of the country is the chief obstacle to giving substance to multilingualism in South Africa.     

Meeting the needs of children with specific speech and language difficulties

Clinical and diagnostic approaches to special educational needs do not translate easily into educational models. In some cases, these approaches can serve to limit understanding of children's wider needs. Children with specific speech and language difficulties (SSLD) are a case in point. Clear criteria exist for identification, but identification mechanisms may not relate to the child's wider educational needs. This paper addresses the ways that children with SSLD present in mainstream educational settings. The study aimed to identify all Year 3 children with SSLD in two English local education authorities. One hundred and thirty-three children (95 boys and 37 girls were identified). Sixty-five per cent of the children were in mainstream schools, 14.3 per cent in mainstream schools with designated units and the remainder in special schools. Half were at stage 5 of the Code of Practice, with most of the remaining participants at stage 3. Children experienced a wide range of difficulties, in addition to their primary speech and language problems. Patterns of difficulties varied across children, and associations existed between particular forms of language problems and learning and relationship problems. Professionals (teachers, educational psychologists and speech and language therapists) varied in their understanding of the children's needs. The data highlight the range and diversity of the needs of children with specific speech and language difficulties and the need for a multi-professional approach to these children. It is argued that ‘best practice’ for these children must consider the impact of speech and language problems on children's access to the curriculum and their social and behavioural needs. Narrow diagnostic models do not provide the appropriate information to inform educational practice and support inclusive policies.     

Urban teachers’ perceptions of inclusion of migrant children in the Chinese educational institution: a comparative study

Recently China has been undergoing an unprecedented urbanisation process which has resulted in millions of rural families living in urban areas. As part of a study of Chinese migrant children's educational experiences, surveys and interviews were conducted with primary school teachers in a metropolitan city in East China. The objectives of this study were to describe teachers’ perceptions of migrant children's education in both migrant schools and in public schools, and to investigate differences in their beliefs between school types. Results found that urban teachers’ perceptions of educational inclusion of migrant students were slightly negative in general. However, teachers in public schools showed significantly more positive attitudes to inclusion of migrant students than migrant school teachers. In the light of these findings, the paper concludes with implications for practice and policy for education of migrant children in China.     

Language-in-education policy in South Africa: The challenge of sign language

Abstract

Although there is an extensive and growing literature that addresses issues related to most aspects of language-in-education policy in South Africa, one area in which the literature remains fairly sparse has been that of the implications of current government policy for South African Sign Language (SASL). This article presents an overview of the complex issues presented by the case of SASL for language-in-education policy, and offers a series of recommendations for how these issues might best be addressed. Given the relatively small research base that currently exists dealing explicitly with SASL, the article makes use of both the South African research literature and the far more substantial international research that addresses issues of sign language, education, and language policy.     

Rural Neighborhood Context,Child Care Quality,and Relationship to Early Language Development

Research Findings: Prior research with older urban children indicates that a disadvantaged neighborhood context is associated with poorer early development, including poorer verbal ability, reading recognition, and achievement scores among children. Neighborhood disadvantage in rural communities and at younger age levels may also be related to development; however, this relationship has received little examination. In this study we utilized data from the Family Life Project, a representative sample of babies born to mothers in poor rural counties in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, to address questions related to the relationship between neighborhood context (disadvantage and safety) and children's early language development. We examined the mediation of this relationship by child care quality. We also examined geographic isolation and collective socialization as moderators of the relationship between neighborhood context and child care quality. Results indicated that although neighborhood disadvantage did not predict children's development or child care quality, neighborhood safety predicted children's receptive language, with child care quality a partial mediator of this relationship. Collective socialization but not geographic isolation moderated the relationship between neighborhood safety and child care quality. Practice or Policy: Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed, including improving community safety through community policing, neighborhood watch, and social networks and increasing access to quality child care.     

Preschool Teachers' Sense of Community,Instructional Quality,and Children's Language and Literacy Gains

Research Findings: This study investigated relations among preschool teachers' (n = 75) sense of community, classroom language and literacy instructional quality, and children's (n = 398) gains in vocabulary and print concept knowledge during an academic year. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results indicated that teachers' language and literacy instructional quality significantly predicted children's gains in print concept knowledge. Also, HLM results revealed significant interactions among teachers' sense of community, language and literacy instructional quality, and vocabulary and print concept knowledge gains. Higher levels of teachers' sense of community were associated with greater gains in children's vocabulary and print concept knowledge when children were in classrooms with higher quality language and literacy instruction. Practice or Policy: Findings underscore the importance of evaluating both language and literacy instructional quality and teachers' sense of community when considering high-quality preschool education.     

Primary level science in Kenya: constructing meaning through English and indigenous languages

This article is concerned with the use of English and indigenous languages in creating contexts for understanding primary level science in Kenya. Through an ethnographic study of instruction in three rural schools, it was found that important ideas were more easily conveyed when teachers did not adhere strictly to the English‐only language of instruction policy. Explanations of culturally foreign concepts were given along with concrete, familiar examples through a complex pattern of code switching, including the near exclusive use of the local language. The paper underlines the importance of sociolinguistic study of the instructional process itself for educational planning, teacher training, and other reforms that are meant to increase the educational foundations of national development.     

Languages,development and reconstructing education in South Africa

The educational crisis in South Africa is examined against the history of language-in-education policy over the last 25 years. The Soweto student revolt in 1976 is identified as a pivotal point, resulting in educational responses which have exacerbated academic failure amongst the majority of school students.The vexed role of African languages in education, vis-à-vis structural constraints, including international `aid', across the continent is discussed as a textured background from which innovative South African educators have had an opportunity to take cognisance.The argument in this article is that curriculum and language-in-education policy changes which came into force in 1997, whilst based on the goal of an equitable school system, are unfortunately flawed both in the conceptualisation process and implementation strategy. The role of African languages, despite policy statements to the contrary, is not adequately addressed.Suggestions which are influenced by developments elsewhere on the continent are offered as alternatives to reconstructing viable education in the country.     

‘Behind the teacher's back’: an ethnographic study of deaf people's schooling experiences in the Republic of Ireland

Historically, the valuing of deaf children's voices on their own schooling has been underrepresented in educational policies, curriculum frameworks and discursive practices and, in particular, in the debates and controversies surrounding oralism and Irish Sign Language in deaf education in Ireland. This article discusses children's everyday lived experiences of oralism and Irish Sign Language using ethnographic interviews and observational methods. The data yielded narrative understandings of how deaf children's schooling experiences served as a cauldron for the development of time, space and relational domains for individual and collective self-expression, cultural production and reproduction of the secret lore and understandings of Irish Sign Language and development of a hidden curriculum of sign language in a policy and practice context dominated by oralism. This paper concludes with recommendations for the development of a sign bilingual curriculum across the full scope and sequence of schooling in Ireland.     

Differing expectations: an account of home and school factors affecting EAL learners from Arabic-speaking backgrounds

This article considers research from a preliminary study of Libyan children's accounts of their experience learning English as an additional language (EAL) within mainstream schools in the LJK. The analysis of interviews and classroom observations suggests that for equal opportunity to take place, local education authorities need to place greater emphasis on language and educational provision for newcomers to UK primary schools. In addition, there is still a communication barrier as well as a language barrier between home and school which needs to be addressed in order for children to adjust to and meet school requirements. In a similar way, parents of newly arrived children need to have clear expectations. The implications of this piece of research are extremely relevant for additional language acquisition in British schools and, in particular, for the education of newcomers whose circumstances are similar to those of the children in this study. This research also enables the voice of Arab children, as learners of the English language, to reach educators and policy makers, and empower them further in the research processes which inform British education policy.     

“Doing the Math”: Maternal Beliefs About Early Mathematics Versus Language Learning

Research Findings: Little is known about how parents approach preschoolers' mathematics learning and how this aligns with early mathematics education research and policy. This study examined these questions by contrasting parents' approaches to early mathematics and language and by exploring key themes in parents' talk about mathematics learning and education. Consistent with current research and policy, parents reported helping preschoolers learn mathematics and attempting to connect this learning to children's interests and everyday experiences. However, parents admitted to lacking goals for and knowledge about early mathematics. In addition, compared to language, parents reported that mathematics was taught less often at home, should be emphasized less in preschools, was less interesting to preschoolers, required more direct instruction, and was less of a personal interest and strength. Practice or Policy: Parent interventions could capitalize on parents' beliefs and practices by providing parents with concrete examples of what mathematics preschoolers learn through daily activities, how to maximize children's mathematics interests, and what the similarities are between early mathematics and language. These efforts will also need to help parents overcome their mathematics anxieties and show parents why early mathematics education is important. Similar strategies could be used to help early childhood teachers improve their mathematics practice.     

Chaos,poverty, and parenting: Predictors of early language development

Studies have shown that distal family risk factors like poverty and maternal education are strongly related to children's early language development. Yet, few studies have examined these risk factors in combination with more proximal day-to-day experiences of children that might be critical to understanding variation in early language. Young children's exposure to a chronically chaotic household may be one critical experience that is related to poorer language, beyond the contribution of SES and other demographic variables. In addition, it is not clear whether parenting might mediate the relationship between chaos and language. The purpose of this study was to understand how multiple indicators of chaos over children's first three years of life, in a representative sample of children living in low wealth rural communities, were related to child expressive and receptive language at 36 months. Factor analysis of 10 chaos indicators over five time periods suggested two factors that were named household disorganization and instability. Results suggested that after accounting for thirteen covariates like maternal education and poverty, one of two chaos composites (household disorganization) accounted for significant variance in receptive and expressive language. Parenting partially mediated this relationship although household disorganization continued to account for unique variance in predicting early language.     

以行动进入文明： 杜威手工训练课程一解

本文以杜威创办的芝加哥实验学校中的手工训练课程为讨论对象，集中解析其中蕴含的教育原理与文明关怀。由于过分突出语言学习课程，美国镀金时代的基础教育丧失了根本的生命力和行动力。杜威以手工训练取代语言学习，开启了进步主义教育改革。从心理学层面看，手工训练解放了儿童的自然力量，让儿童恢复积极的行动力。从社会学层面看，手工训练实现了“去社会的社会化”，让个体沿着特定的社会方向成长。而在更普遍的意义上，手工训练充当了个体与文明之间的教育中介，为整全人格的塑造和现代公民教育奠定了坚实基础。对于手工训练的解读，有助于我们更加深入地理解杜威的教育思想与现实关怀，同时反思中国当前的教育状况与课程改革。     

Rural Math Talent,Now and Then

This article interprets inequality evident at the intersection of three realms: (a) mathematical talent (as a cultural phenomenon); (b) rural place and rural life; and (c) future economic, political, and ecological developments. The discussion explains this outlook on inequality, contextualizes interest in rural mathematics education, presents the conventional view of rural mathematics achievement as deficient, and then elaborates an alternative perspective. Illustrating the alternative, the essay embeds an analysis of a national data set to derive comparisons of the equality of math talent across locales (rural, suburban, and urban), demonstrating the greater equality of math talent in rural places. The essay concludes with principles for (a) making mathematics instruction more responsive to rural context, and (b) reorienting the instruction of gifted teachers in rural schools to an educational purpose that exerts better stewardship over local mathematical talent.