Life skills for ‘real life’: How critical thinking is contextualised across vocational programmes

Background: This article presents an analysis of how critical thinking is contextualised in everyday teaching in three vocational education and training (VET) programmes: Vehicle and transport, Restaurant and management, and Health and social care.

Purpose: The main question addressed is: What knowledge discourses permeate different VET-contexts, and hence what kinds of opportunities for critical thinking do they offer students?

Method: The qualitative analysis draws on data from a four-year ethnographic project exploring learning processes that can be characterised as civic education in Swedish vocational education. The analysis presented here used data collected during 85 days of observations of teaching in six VET classes, interviews with 81 students and 10 teachers, and collected teaching material. To explore why some contextualisations provided more opportunities and encouragement for critical thinking than others, we applied Bernsteinian concepts of ‘horizontal and vertical knowledge discourses’ and ‘discursive gaps’.

Findings and conclusions: Overall, teaching that was observed focused primarily on ‘doing’. However, in all three programmes, the analysis identified that there were also situations that touched upon critical thinking. Three major themes were identified: critical thinking related to ‘Personal experiences’, ‘The other(s)’ and ‘Wider perspectives’. It appeared that the frequency and nature of such situations varied with the knowledge discourses permeating the programme. Furthermore, we discuss the manifestations of critical thinking in relation to the wider context of what Bernstein refers to as pedagogic rights; individual enhancement, social inclusion and development of the competence and confidence to participate in political processes.     

The Influence of the European Communities on the Emergence of Competence‐Based Models of Vocational Training in England and Wales

Abstract

This paper presents an interim report on research into the influence of the European Communities (EC) on the emergence of competence‐based models of vocational training in England and Wales between 1979 and 1987. Interactions between the development of the New Training Initiative objectives and the development of EC vocational training policy are analysed. Similarities between EC training levels and the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) training levels proposed by the Review of Vocational Qualifications are examined. These issues are so neglected in the official literature that, rather than present a definitive account, this paper outlines an agenda for further research intended to deepen our understanding of the historical, political milieu from which competence‐based vocational training emerged.     

Reflecting on international educative experiences: Developing cultural competence in preservice early childhood educators

ABSTRACT

Given urgent need for culturally competent early childhood educators and the strategic encouragement by colleges for students to travel internationally, this analysis focuses on the question: What is the relationship between international experiences and preservice early childhood educators’ cultural competence? More specifically, three questions were examined: 1) What theories are applied to explain this relationship? 2) What pedagogical strategies are most frequently used during international experiences to develop cultural competence among preservice educators? and 3) What evidence is provided that preservice educators changed (if at all) as a consequence of international experiences? PRISMA analysis of the literature from 2002 to 2016 revealed pedagogical strategies such as immersion and critical reflection led to preservice educators’ self-reports of gains in personal and professional growth, cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and cultural competence. Faculty using international travel to develop cultural competence should consider engaging preservice educators in higher order thinking assignments before, during, and after international experiences.     

Combining the best of two worlds: a conceptual proposal for evidence-informed school improvement

Abstract

Background: Data-based decision-making (DBDM) and research-informed teaching practice (RITP) are key to teacher and school improvement. Currently, however, DBDM and RITP represent two distinct approaches to developing evidence-informed practice (EIP) and do not correspond to the all-encompassing notion of EIP envisaged by many academics and commentators.

Purpose: DBDM and RITP are usually employed independently of each other. Each is associated with its own theoretical perspectives and research base, and each has its own pitfalls and strengths. Yet the approaches employed appear to be complementary, suggesting that there might be value in combining DBDM and RITP into one overarching process for achieving EIP. This paper presents the conceptual analysis and arguments for this proposal.

Sources of evidence: Drawing from literature and previous research in the fields of DBDM, RITP and EIP, we describe both DBDM and RITP, before comparing and contrasting the integral aspects of each.

Main argument: Our analysis leads us to suggest that not only is there overlap between these two approaches, but the strengths of each appear to mirror and compensate for the weaknesses of the other. As such, we argue that it is important that decisions in education are based on a combination of personal judgement, research evidence and local school data. This is because such a combination is likely to lead to equitable, effective and efficient decisions that are informed by values and preferences, grounded in context and steeped in practices that have been shown to be effective elsewhere.

Conclusions: We suggest that an effective strategy for EIP might be to achieve ‘the best of two worlds’ by integrating DBDM and RITP. In line with evidence-informed practices in medicine and management, this means EIP in education can finally be engaged in as a holistic approach to educational decision-making that critically appraises different forms of evidence before key improvement decisions are made. Our proposed approach, Evidence informed School and Teacher Improvement, is thus designed with the aim of enhancing the quality of educational provision by employing these evidence types as part of a systematic cycle of inquiry, focused on continuously improving the quality of learning in schools.     

Promoting Race Pedagogy in Higher Education: Creating an Inclusive Community

ABSTRACT

The current study reports outcomes of a professional development model intended to strengthen faculty members’ cultural competence and skills for teaching about diversity and inclusion. Creating Inclusive Communities (CIC) was developed collaboratively by faculty from across social science disciplines based on a theoretical framework emphasizing learning principles, critical consciousness, and White racial identity development. This study examined the outcomes of the model on student cultural competence based on pre-post survey analysis. Findings indicate that students perceived a benefit from course activities related to race pedagogy and showed statistically significant results in two of three courses. These findings indicate that the infusion of an inclusive model, including in courses not directly related to diversity topics, has potential benefits to students. Additionally, the impact is strengthened through a more integrated approach over the course of the semester.     

‘Educare’ in Australia: analysing policy mobility and transformation

Abstract

Background: Early childhood education and care has been an area of significant policy attention, public investment and private market activity in Australia over the past three decades. Australian educationists and policy-makers have looked to international examples for evidence, policy design and institutional models. However, this area is under-researched in Australia, with regard to how these knowledge flows are theorised, and how policy is implemented on the ground.

Purpose: The paper’s purpose was to contribute new Australian-focussed conceptual and empirical insights on the trajectories, development and implementation of evidence-based policy in the field of early childhood education and care.

Sources of evidence: The paper is based on three main sources of evidence: ? the critical literature on policy transfer and policy mobility

? policy statements, reports and planning documents produced by national- and state-level governments

? data from fieldwork analysis of new capital works and programmes in the early childhood field.

Main argument: International research and evidence on the benefits of investment in early learning has had a significant impact on the framing of Australian policy. So too has a move in several countries to align early childhood institutions with schools. However, a dominant paradigm of policy transfer, reliant on pluralist and rationalist frameworks of policy-making, fails to account for the dynamics of policy development and implementation across and within jurisdictions and geographical space. Conceptualising a new alignment in Australia between children’s centres and schools as ‘educare’, this article employs the theoretical lens of policy mobility to account for the circulation and transformation of educare policy in Australian settings. Through an empirical analysis of a new educare centre in the growth corridor of western Melbourne, the article demonstrates the extent to which neoliberal policy settings outside the educational sphere, around public finance, partnership, place and infrastructure provision, influence the implementation of ‘educare’ policy.

Conclusions: The educare discourse in Australia addresses a complex and multiscalar set of policy problems that associate child development with concerns around human capital formation, economic efficiency and productivity, place making and community building, and the role of the public sector in neoliberal democracies. International circuits of knowledge, policy design and institutional models in the educare field have been significant in shaping recent Australian policy, despite well-publicised views expressed in Australia on the disconnection between academic research and policy. The strength of policy mobility as a theoretical lens to assist our understanding of these influences lies in its critique of formalism in policy-making and in its attention to fluidity and transformation. The mobility lens encourages new empirical research that focuses on spatial and institutional dynamics, assisting our reading of on-the-ground developments in Australia’s fastest growing city.     

State intervention and teacher education for vocational educators in England and Scotland

Background:?The paper compares and contrasts the policy context of teacher training for vocational educators (VETT) in Scotland and England and locates this in its European setting. It explores the wider socio-economic context, one that emphasises lifelong learning, competitiveness and social justice.

Purpose:?In particular, it addresses the UK Coalition government‘s orientation to vocational teacher education and the way in which this impacts upon VETT in the two home nations.

Sources of evidence:?It draws on a small-scale illuminative case study of teacher educators in England and Scotland.

Main argument:?It explores the limits and possibilities for the development of radical and critical practices embedded in VETT policy and practice.     

Purpose,Value and Competence: Contextualising competence based assessment in the civil aviation sector

Abstract

This paper outlines some of the issues emerging from research in to competence based training and assessment, and National Vocational Qualifications. A model for analysing the key purposes of formal assessment systems is suggested and a conceptual framework is presented which uses the notions of use and exchange value for gauging the worth of qualifications. The author presents material collected during a study of the training and assessment of student air traffic controllers to illustrate how contextual features, particularly at the occupational level, can affect the purpose and design of a qualification as well as the value attached to it by recipients and employers. It is suggested that elements such as: ‘purpose’, ‘perceived value’ ‘qualification design’ and ‘context’ provide a conceptual framework within which further understanding of the role of qualifications can be achieved. The longer term aspiration of the analysis begun in this paper is the development of a context‐sensitive theory of occupational qualifications.     

Recruitment to the secondary technical schools

Abstract

There has developed over the last few years a growing interest in the Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) as a route to vocational qualifications. This is a system, supported by the major awarding bodies, whereby evidence of competence based on past experience and achievements is given credit towards qualifications. In a recent number of The Vocational Aspect of Education, Slusarchuk and Nicholl (1990) reviewed issues surrounding the creation of “an advocacy portfolio” designed to compile such evidence. The present article describes an approach to evaluating or assessing this evidence of prior learning with a view towards awarding National Vocational Qualification Units. A methodology is offered, through which the validity and reliability of APL assessment decisions may be enhanced.     

Philosophical debates on curriculum,inequalities and social justice

Abstract

The paper provides an historical but critical context for examining the relation of the pursuit of greater equality in schooling to the development of curriculum. This requires a brief account of what one means by the principle of equality, before showing the different ways in which there have been curriculum responses underpinned by philosophical understandings which need to be examined closely. These different ways are explained in terms of: ? ‘rational curriculum planning’ with its detailed definition of ‘aims, objectives, methods and evaluation’—and thereby a ‘science of teaching’;

? ‘forms of knowledge’ or ‘realms of meaning’ to enable all pupils to have a basic understanding of the physical, social, and moral worlds they inhabit;

? the pursuit of enquiry through which, for all learners, understanding is enlarged;

? provision of common curriculum experience as a basis for citizenship;

? taking diversity seriously; and

? equalisation of opportunities through a common system of national standards and assessments.

However, in the light of greater government involvement in the minutiae of curriculum reform, mainly through changes in qualifications and examinations, there is clearly a need to ask what sort of evidence is relevant to ‘what works’.     

Recurring phases of engaging life pursuits: Functionality,intuitive excellence,conceptual understanding,and self‐transcendence as they relate to teacher education

Abstract

Acquiring teaching competence in teacher preparation programs involves the phases of functionality (the technology of teaching), intuitive excellence (the art of teaching), conceptual understanding (the science of teaching), and self‐transcendence (the spiritual aspect of teaching). These phases are recurring as each task involved in the teaching act is undertaken during the life pursuit of teaching competence.     

“No Excuses” in New Orleans: The Silent Passivity of Neoliberal Schooling

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic data, this article critically analyzes pedagogy in “no excuses” charter schools in New Orleans. Employing Ladson-Billings's framework for culturally relevant pedagogy, the author describes the level of academic rigor, cultural competence, and critical consciousness development across classrooms. This study provides empirical evidence that within a market-based system, the purpose of schooling shifts toward the production of assessment data at the expense of culturally relevant practices.     

Concepts and figures in geometrical reasoning

The paper opens with the theoretical construct of figural concepts. It is argued that geometrical figures are characterized by both conceptual and sensorial properties. A geometrical figure is a mental abstract, ideal entity, the meaning of which is governed by a definition. At the same time, it is an image: it possesses extensiveness (spatiality), shape and magnitude. In geometrical reasoning the two categories of properties should merge absolutely, with the sensorial components providing the dynamics of invention and the conceptual component guaranteeing the logical course of the mathematical process.

The paper investigates the effects of interaction between the conceptual and the figural components of a number of geometrical figures under the impact of age and mathematical competence. It has been found that age does not improve the control of the conceptual component on the interpretation of figures (between ages 14 and 17) in contrast to what one could expect. Usually, as an effect of age (grade) the interpretation gets worse. On the other hand, there are striking differences between the three competence levels considered. Strong mathematical students are characterized by their capacity to overcome the apparent contradiction between the figural, direct, impressions and the definitory properties. Their decision is, ultimately, determined according to the formal constraints (axioms and definitions).     

Classroom conceptual change: philosophical perspectives

Researchers of students’ concepts and conceptual change frequently draw analogies to the history of science. The analogy is generally presented when comparing students’ scientific concepts to similar ones in the history of science. We have tried to show the importance of this analogy on a higher level ‐‐ that of understanding the process of conceptual change in general among students.

This article outlines a number of lines in the philosophy of science and analyses differences between the perspectives of a number of broadly constructivist positions which have developed during this century.

The analysis is used to clarify the theoretical basis on which research into student conceptual change is conducted and interpreted.     

Changing policy contexts and teachers´ work-life narratives: the case of Estonian vocational teachers

ABSTRACT

In recent decades, the work of teachers worldwide has undergone deep change. We have seen that teachers have encountered recent challenges differently and adapted to educational changes to a different extent depending on their personal disposition, but also school leadership and workplace support. This study focuses on the example of Estonian vocational teachers that serves as an interesting case for analysing how the interplay of the transitional context and neo-liberal policy trends adopted since Estonia regained its independence in 1991, after 50 years under Soviet rule, have affected the individual trajectories of teachers’ lives. This paper aims to understand how the interplay of the institutional context and individual (work) lives shapes Estonian vocational teachers’ understandings of their work and professionality. We suggest that certain periods of practice are visible in teachers’ narratives and those periods might be considered as enabling different degrees of agency. However, our interviews also revealed that different reform periods have been perceived and responded to differently. In the context of 25 years of the educational reform process, the policies and requirements introduced have been refracted at different levels (Goodson & Rudd, 2017), including that of the vocational field, the schools and individual teachers. Our results confirm that teachers individual, social, cultural and material resources such as competence, career stage, relations and networks, school leadership and prevailing culture at schools have their role in enabling or hindering the agency of teachers.     

Strategies for the Assessment of Competence

Abstract

The paper examines three different strategies for the assessment of competence. The strategies are different because they base their Judgements about competence on different forms and amounts of evidence and they adopt different procedures for obtaining this evidence. Each strategy is illustrated by means of an analysis of an assessment programme in operation. The programmes are drawn from an investigation of competency‐based training programmes in TAFE colleges, industry and various training institutions carried out in Australia and Great Britain during 1992. The analysis brings out the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy as well as the particular problems and difficulties associated with the assessment of competence and the procedures that must be followed to ensure that principles of sound assessment are adhered to.     

Staff Care and Development

Children with emotional and behaviour problems provide a daily challenge for parents, teachers and the wider community. The perception of this challenge and how to address it varies according to the assumptions made about the underlying causes of the problems. In this paper the nature of emotional and behaviour problems will be explored with a brief outline of traditional interventions adopted when difficulties arise within the context of school. The conceptual approach of systems theory is then outlined. This is followed by a critical examination of its relevance for teachers as a theory, as a language for dealing with difficulties and as an approach to intervention.     

Paulo Freire’s critical and dialogic pedagogy and its implications for the Bahraini educational context

Abstract

This paper is a conceptual analysis in methodology. The purpose it fulfils is that of analysing the critical and dialogic pedagogy of Paulo Freire, to arrive at implications of Freire’s philosophy and approach for the current educational context of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Bahraini context is currently one of major economic, social, and educational reforms. Despite several reform initiatives, however, schools in Bahrain are still not advancing as they should be and deficiencies continue to exist in students’ development of higher-order thinking skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and analysis. Among the implications made by this study are ones related to: teaching and learning practices within a classroom, cultivation of 21st Century skills, curriculum development and planning, and the role played by the teacher. The paper ends with a number of significant recommendations for teachers and policy-makers, which can enhance education in Bahrain and help it progress faster. These recommendations can also prove to be useful to other parallel contexts regionally and internationally.     

Critical race and LatCrit theory and method: Counter-storytelling

Using critical race theory as a framework, the article utilizes counter-storytelling to examine the different forms of racial and gender discrimination experienced by Chicana and Chicano graduate students. After describing the critical race theory framework and counter-storytelling method, the article moves to a story of two composite and data-driven characters, Professor Leticia Garcia and graduate student Esperanza Gonzalez. Various theoretical and conceptual issues such as self-doubt, survivor guilt, impostor syndrome, and invisibility are woven into Esperanza's graduate school and Professor Garcia's pre-tenure experiences.