On Tilting at Windmills While Facing Armageddon

Since the 1960s, numerous articles, special features, symposia, and conferences have raised perceptive and often troubling questions about the present condition and future directions of the field. In the 1980s, the debates reached a crescendo with issues about specialization, fragmentation, professional versus academic, and what should comprise the academic core. Any profession should periodically evaluate itself; it is now time, however, to marshall our efforts and concentrate on what our collective strengths are—or should be. It is suggested herein that useful lessons might be gleaned from an overview of American medicine at the turn of the century and recent discussions concerning medical education. Medicine combines both clinical and academic/scientific studies and draws upon knowledge ranging from the molecular to the macro levels. American medicine and medical education struggled through uncertainties 100 years ago that are not unlike those that physical education has been involved in for the last 3 decades. To achieve first-class academic and professional respectability, however, more physical education faculty must become producers (rather than consumers) of scholarly and scientific knowledge. Moreover, our professional organization must devote greater attention to fostering research, the foundation upon which the respectability of a profession rests.     

Tilting at Windmills: the problems of challenging the National Council for Vocational Qualifications

The recent Smithers critique of the role of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) has opened up the debate about the effectiveness of this system for achieving the current goals of upgrading vocational studies and reforming the 14‐19 curriculum. It is argued that, although Smithers is broadly correct in his attack on the NCVQ, there are some areas of ambiguity and also ways in which the critique fails to capture the full scope of the problems. The nature and full implications of the inappropriateness of the NCVQ enterprise is illustrated through an examination of the main weaknesses of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and the competence‐based education and training (CBET) strategy which underpins them and, in particular, by reviewing some specific problems of learning and assessment and the findings of a number of recent critical studies. In view of the seriousness of these shortcomings of the NCVQ system it is suggested that perhaps the only genuine solution to the current difficulties lies in the recommendations of the 1993 National Commission on Education report for the abolition of the present system of academic and vocational qualifications.     

Predicting persistence at university from information obtained at intake

This study is part of an ongoing project investigating the first stage of the process of student transition to university. The aim of this study was to determine whether information about student approaches to making their course choices could have been used to identify those who subsequently changed or withdrew from their courses. Retrospective studies of discontinuing students have frequently identified factors based on such information as being associated with withdrawal, however there have been few attempts to use such factors in predictive studies. Multivariate analysis indicated that combinations of the information obtained could discriminate between students who persisted and those who withdrew from their studies. As the proportions of variance accounted for by these combinations were small, it was concluded that the information had value in describing types of conditions under which students were likely to be at risk, rather than in making predictions about individual students. The methodology should be of interest to other researchers as it demonstrates ways in which multivariate strategies may be applied to survey data, in this instance to identify stereotypes of students likely to behave in particular ways with regard to their enrolment.The authors contributed equally to this paper.     

Teaching French Literature at a distance at university level

How does one teach literary analysis and sensitivity at a distance? Examples of the approach of the French National Centre for Distance Education are given for the French Literature examinations at the two‐year degree level (Diplôme d'Etudes Universitaires Generates).     

A Comparison of Pre-Verbal Communication at Home and at School

This study of pre-verbal communication in four young children with severe learning difficulties compares the nature and function of their communications at home and at school. The author teaches at Quince Tree School, Tamworth. The article is based on work carried out in part fulfillment of a B.Ed (Hons.) degree when she was a student at Westhill College, Birmingham.     

嘲弄历史者必定为历史所嘲弄

同志们 :在座的不少人肯定还清清楚楚地记得 ,正是在 1 0年前 ,来自大江南北的高校中青年马克思主义研究工作者 ,汇集在人民大会堂 ,在隆重纪念伟大巴黎公社革命 1 2 0周年的同时 ,郑重宣布首都高校中青年马克思主义研究会横空出世。这个具有现实意义与历史意义的行动表明 :高校中青年马克思主义研究工作者 ,不因国际共产主义运动遭受空前严重挫折而动摇 ,不因建设有中国特色社会主义事业面临严峻挑战而畏缩。他们挺身而出 ,成为捍卫和发展马列主义、毛泽东思想、邓小平理论的中青年近卫军的中坚力量。1 0年后的今天 ,高校中青年马克思主义…     

爱绽放在豆蔻年华

爱,到底是什么?准确地说,爱,是对另一方炽热的情感投入。至少字典上是这么说的,但我却觉得这远远不够。爱,是他用手轻抚我的面颊;爱,是当我依偎在他的臂弯中,回味着他那肌肤中所散发出的缕缕清香;时而开怀大笑,时而卿卿我我、情意绵绵     

Earth at Rest

Focus of this article is the current situation characterized by students’ de-rootedness and possible measures to improve the situation within the frame of education for sustainable development. My main line of argument is that science teachers can practice teaching in such a way that students are brought in deeper contact to the environment. I discuss efforts to promote aesthetic experience in science class and in science teacher education. Within a wide range of definitions, my main understanding of aesthetic experience is that of pre-conceptual experience, relational to the environment and incorporated in students’ embodied knowledge. I ground the idea of Earth at rest in Husserl’s phenomenological philosophy and Heidegger’s notion of science’ deprivation of the world. A critique of the ontological reversal leads to an ontological re-reversal that implies giving lifeworld experience back its value and rooting scientific concepts in students’ everyday lives. Six aspects of facilitating grounding in sustainability-oriented science teaching and teacher education are highlighted and discussed: students’ everyday knowledge and experience, aesthetic experience and grounding, fostering aesthetic sensibility, cross-curricular integration with art, ontological and epistemological aspects, and belongingness and (re-)connection to Earth. I conclude that both science students and student-teachers need to practice their sense of caring and belonging, as well as refining their sensibility towards the world. With an intension of educating for a sustainable development, there is an urgent need for a critical discussion in science education when it comes to engaging learners for a sustainable future.     

哪位是残疾人?

由于天生双目失明,我看不到自己的样子,只能通过别人的眼睛来塑造自己的形象。遗憾的是,迄今为止我连自我陶醉的机会也没有过。有些人认为既然我看不见,当然也就听不见。于是经常有人扯着嗓门儿和我讲话,把每个字都咬得十分清楚;还有人当着我的面儿窃窃私语,认为我眼睛看不见耳朵也就听不到。例如每当我去机场,请机票代理帮我登机时,他(她)总会拿起电话叫地勤服务员,并低声说