Edinburgh University,schools and the civil service in the early twentieth century

This article is a case study of the relation between urban schooling and university education, using two main sources. Data on the schools attended by history students at Edinburgh University between 1899 and 1933 illustrate the diversity and social ranking of schools in the city. New higher grade schools had a key role in increasing access to university education for both men and women, especially for prospective teachers; the significance of the Education (Scotland) Act of 1918 for Catholic schools, and the continuing importance of small private schools for girls, are also shown. The second source analyses the school origins of successful Edinburgh candidates in civil service examinations between 1896 and 1944, supplemented for other parts of Scotland by the report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service of 1912. This elite career drew mainly from older schools, and contemporary claims for equality of opportunity in Scotland need to be treated with reserve.     

Assessment in special schools: national early assessment procedures and pupils attending special schools in England

An implicit assumption that fostering inclusion means having shared systems encompassing the needs of all children is evident in many aspects of policy development over the past decade. Reflecting this, the implementation of ‘baseline assessment’ schemes (i.e. testing at around age 5 years) is a statutory requirement on all state-maintained special and mainstream schools in England since 1998. Our argument is that the enthusiasm for commonality has obscured the need to question the value and validity of baseline assessment schemes for children with special educational needs (and possibly some others such as children having English as an additional language). We illustrate this position with reference to data from our recent study on baseline assessment in England. The study encompassed survey data from a national sample of 982 schools, of which 107 were special schools. Between them, these special schools used 42 different baseline assessment schemes. Comparisons between our mainstream and special school respondents indicated that there were similarities in the nature and perceived value of the schemes used. However, special schools were less satisfied with their schemes. We suggest that a reappraisal of the nature and purpose of baseline assessment for pupils with special educational needs warrants greater critical debate. Without this, there is a danger that a stress on commonality, veiling an inclusion orthodoxy, will ultimately be counterproductive.     

浅谈改革幼师地理教学培养学生地理能力

提高学生地理能力是幼师实施素质教育的组成部分.教师应在加强地理基础知识教育的基础上,从地理问题情境的设置,以及正确引导学生的地理思路等两个方面培养和提高学生的地理能力.     

An examination of the oral language competence of junior infant pupils attending DEIS and Non-DEIS schools

Educational disadvantage remains a serious issue in Irish society. Research has suggested that differing styles and levels of competence in oral language may have implications for educational attainment across socio-economic groups. The current study involved an examination of the oral language competence of Irish children in Junior Infants in DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) and Non-DEIS schools. DEIS schools are those which have been granted entry to DEIS, the most recent governmental scheme for tackling educational disadvantage in Ireland, following identification of a significant level of need. Non-DEIS schools are those which have not gained access to the scheme due to a lower level of assessed need. Two samples of children were assessed. The first sample included 23 children from a DEIS school and 27 children from a Non-DEIS school, located in the East of the country. The second sample included 35 children from 2 DEIS schools located in the Southwest and 28 children from 2 Non-DEIS schools located in the Northwest. Children's receptive language was assessed using the British Picture Vocabulary Scale III, which is a standardised measure of receptive vocabulary. Their expressive language was assessed through the collection of a language sample, which enabled the calculation of variables representing gross language development (Mean Length of Utterance), vocabulary diversity and syntactic development. The results demonstrated that differences between the two groups of children in both samples were largely of small or trivial effect size and not statistically significant, suggesting a negligible to small effect of socio-economic status on oral language competence.     

幼儿早教的人性观基础

本文首先对我国早期教育现状做了简单分析,然后分析了人性观以及早期教育中人性观基础,从而进一步阐述了"实现倾向性"在早期教育中的作用。最后简单分析了我国现阶段早期教育存在的人性误区。     

Siblings as models in early infant learning

4 groups of infants, 2 at 6 months and 2 at 12 months, were tested on the Stage IV-V and V-VI object concept tasks. All groups were then retested on the same tasks 1 week later. Retesting of the experimental groups was preceded by an all-correct demonstration of the 2 search tasks by the infant's preschool sibling; control groups were not exposed to any model prior to reassessment. No effect of exposure to the sibling model was initially found in either age group. If, however, infants' initial stage of development was taken into account, cognitive performance on the lower-level task did show a significant improvement after modeling. Overall, the results suggest that sibling modeling could possibly be an effective method of facilitating cognitive development in infancy, but that the success or failure of any modeling attempt may be stage- rather than age-dependent.     

向基因分子水平进军的三大学派

不同领域的科学家从不同方向研究基因的化学本质,在分子遗传学的酝酿时期形成了3大学派:信息学派、生化学派与结构学派。     

Assessment in French and English infant schools: Assessing the work,the child or the culture?

This article is based on a comparative study of French and English infant schools. The first section examines the understanding of 'mistakes' from a socio-cultural perspective, relating assessment to teachers' culturally situated practice and values. While mistakes and failure for some are an inevitable outcome of French pedagogic choices, they are less acceptable to English teachers and less relevant to the experience of infant school children. The second section considers the scope of assessment: teachers in France seek to dissociate their assessment of a piece of work from the pupil who has produced it, whereas English infant school teachers remain more holistic in their approach, assessing the 'whole child' through their work. The form and content of teacher assessment thus reflect socially constructed and culturally situated conceptions of pupils and of learning. Routine assessment in the classroom constitutes a prism through which one can examine teachers' beliefs and values, as well as the priorities of the two education systems.     

Evaluation of a computer‐based reading intervention in infant and junior schools

Recent studies (Fawcett et al, 1999; Nicolson et al, 1999) have demonstrated that 6 and 8 year old children found to be at risk of reading failure can be provided with very cost‐effective support using traditional teaching methods. Nonetheless, a significant minority of children failed to make sufficient progress. The present studies undertook a replication of these studies, using the RITA computer‐based literacy support system. The RITA system assists, rather than replaces, the teacher in providing support tailored to each child’s profile of reading attainments. The results indicated that the RITA support was both educationally effective and economically effective, with comparable cost effectiveness to the traditional approach when used with infant school children (6 year olds), and somewhat greater cost effectiveness when used with junior school children (8 year olds). All groups of children reacted very positively to the RITA lessons. It is suggested that computer‐assisted reading support can be effective in supporting children at risk of reading failure, even at junior school level.     

Children's early child care and their mothers' later involvement with schools

Theory and policy highlight the role of child care in preparing children for the transition into school. Approaching this issue in a different way, this study investigated whether children's care experiences before this transition promoted their mothers' school involvement after it, with the hypothesized mechanism for this link being the cultivation of children's social and academic skills. Analyses of 1,352 children (1 month-6 years) and parents in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development revealed that mothers were more involved at their children's schools when children had prior histories of high-quality nonparental care. This pattern, which was fairly stable across levels of maternal education and employment, was mediated by children's academic skills and home environments.     

香港开埠初期中文学塾发展述论

香港开阜初期,教育不发达,中文学塾是主要的教育形式之一,并在此基础上形成香港的官办教育事业。中文学塾来源于香港私塾,后经政府资助改造成为公立教育。其发展经历了自由发展时期(1840—1847年)、政府资助时期(1847—1854年)和官办学校教育制度的确立(1854—1859年)三个历史阶段。通过对中文学塾的改造,使香港教育步入近代化发展轨道。     

Dividing at an early age: the hidden digital divide in Ohio elementary schools

Computers are now a ubiquitous part of US elementary school education. With policy reports suggesting that inequities in information and communication technology (ICT) access across US schools are a thing of the past, investigating how such resources and their use may nonetheless continue to vary becomes all that much more important. Through a survey of a statistically representative sample of teachers in Ohio, this research examined computer use among third grade students, including in relation to an array of ICT resources and other key factors. The results indicated that such use was more sophisticated among students in affluent suburban schools when compared to students in all other locations, including various rural and urban locations. These differences were correlated with numerous ICT resource discrepancies. Overall, the discrepancies in ICT use and resources can be understood as not only symptomatic of persistent, broader social inequalities, but also factors that reinforce such inequalities as well.     

Establishment of academic standards for early twentieth century Texas high schools: The university of Texas affiliated schools program

During the last quarter of the century several universities including those in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas launched initiatives to ensure that high schools’ academic standards prepared students for admission to the state university. This paper illuminates affiliation programs that foreshadowed the accreditation movement. Not only did affiliation serve the expectations of the universities, it also enabled high schools to emerge from their confused origins into increasingly stronger institutions.