Flaunting one's academic pedigree? Self‐presentation of students from elite French schools

This article starts from the puzzle that although French elite institutions enjoy extremely positive and attractive images, students from these schools generally choose to conceal their academic pedigree in their daily interactions. We show that, in a context of growing inequalities of access to grandes écoles, the strategy of hiding one's student identity may be understood as the desire to avoid six core threats associated with declaring one's association with an elite school: not conforming to group norms, confirming a negative reputation, not living up to a positive reputation, reducing one's identity, losing control of one's identity, and threatening the identity of the other. The conclusions highlight the implications of this microsociological study on a host of much wider questions useful in better understanding the ambivalent relations that exist between French society and its elites issued from the grandes écoles.     

The French Lycées de jeunes filles in International Perspective, 1878–1910

In preparing the law that established the French system of public secondary schools for girls, Camille Sée and his supporters conducted a major survey of female education in other countries. Yet they used the information gathered much more to demonstrate French backwardness than to provide guidelines for the new schools; with regard to the possibility of male directors and of teaching ancient languages to girls, foreign evidence was brushed aside. Alternative models of municipal or private schools, as well as of coeducational institutions, received little attention. After creation of the girls' lycées, many foreign observers commented on them but only Belgium adopted a similar law. Contrary to the usual picture of German influence on French institutions in this era, several Germans did advocate imitating aspects of the girls' lycées.     

法国科研体制与当前改革

法国公共科学研究实际上由专门研究机构和高等教育机构共同承担。本文概述了法国科研体制与法律环境,法国高等教育科研"增值"的机制、过程与结果,同时简析法国大学、科研机构和企业三足鼎立的特点。法国国家科学研究中心与大学的合作提高了法国大学的创新力,但大学与大学校的联系不够密切,影响了各自科研能力的发挥。     

Patterns of institutional self-recruitment of young Ph.D.s: Effects of academic markets on career mobility

In social science research on academic careers and mobility, a persistent finding is the substantial effect of doctoral origin on the prestige of the first institution at which one works. There also seems to be a substantial tendency among academic institutions to follow institutional self-recruitment. That is, an academic is more likely to be recruited by an institution in the same prestige category as that which produced him or her. From the period of large expansion to the slowdown of growth in higher education, how have patterns of institutional self-recruitment changed? While elite institutions tend to recruit Ph.D.s from a similar group of institutions, as we go down the line of institutional prestige hierarchy there is a diminishing trend of self-recruitment among similar institutions. This study suggests that there is a general downward mobility in prestige for newly recruited Ph.D.s in a period of a tighter market. While Ph.D.s from elite research universities have continued to increase their chances for being employed at lesser institutions, Ph.D.s from less prestigious graduate institutions have trickled down in the prestige hierarchy. The data used for our analysis are from the National Research Council's Doctorate Records File covering the period from 1969 to 1981, which is marked by significant changes in higher education. The techniques applied are developed by Leo Goodman's loglinear models.     

Academia and community action: actionaid,a community-based united kingdom parents' project

A fundamental challenge for research in the twenty-first century may necessitate consideration of the extent to which the goals and aspirations of research includes a renewed commitment to combining the knowledge and experience of the research community, the educational practitioner community and local communities. A cohesive triangular alliance is conceptualised, which takes account of the epistemological variation in these triple communities. The challenge is to forge collaborative relationships with links that provide support for new constructions of knowledge, rather than chains that may act as a restriction to innovatory and potentially constructive connections. This article investigates the potential for fresh links between the ‘community triangle’ of research, education and local communities with reference to ‘Actionaid’, a case study of a community-based parents' project, arising in conjunction with a doctoral study, combining the writer's academic and research knowledge, community based knowledge, education practitioner knowledge as well as her cultural knowledge and understanding as an African Caribbean woman. In describing this study the researcher will draw attention to questions surrounding ‘positionality’ and professionalism, in particular their impact on the development of knowledge formulations, which encompass methodological, professional and community credibility across the three communities     

Choosing to compromise: women studying childcare

Reporting on a study of mature women training to work in childcare, this article demonstrates how some women choose to be part-time mothers, workers and students, wanting ‘the best of both worlds’. It presents a theory of integrated lives that contrasts with customary deficit models and shows how a series of reciprocal links bind the women's different roles together, introducing an adaptation of Coser's theory of greedy institutions to demonstrate how this is an inherently stable position. Whilst the theory can stand alone, it is usefully recast as a localised example of a capability set as it frames the co-realisable choices open to the women. Making further links with Amartya Sen's capability approach, it is suggested that we should encourage governmental interventions that enable individual choice and support those women who want to integrate their lives alongside those who seek parity in the public sphere.     

An Investigation of the Profiles of Satisfying and Dissatisfying Factors in E‐Learning

ABSTRACT Various factors influence e‐learners' feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their e‐learning experience, but from an extensive search with six major academic research databases we did not find any research that demonstrated comprehensive profiles of satisfying and dissatisfying factors in e‐learning. We conducted a qualitative study to initiate the effort. We used Thorndike's law of effect and Herzberg's motivation‐hygiene theory as the conceptual frameworks for our study. Thorndike's law of effect applied to human psychology suggests that people would try to avoid annoying stimuli whereas they would try to preserve satisfying stimuli. Herzberg's motivation‐hygiene theory suggests that different factors influence extreme satisfaction and extreme dissatisfaction on the job. Using the two theories as the conceptual frameworks, we revealed profiles of satisfaction‐dissatisfaction factors in e‐learning by analyzing extant data of course evaluation obtained from 17 e‐learning courses. In this article, we provide recommendations on how other e‐learning institutions might utilize the research findings to optimize their e‐learning programs and we discuss the potential impact of such interventions on overall institutional outcomes such as learner retention.     

British and French Evaluation of International Higher Education Issues: an identical political reality?1

In both Britain and France, evaluation has been seen as one element of national strategies to internationalise higher education (HE), with the spread of evaluation indicating policy convergence. However, there are dangers in describing the cross‐national adoption of evaluation as an instance of policy transfer in higher education. This article compares two evaluation agencies, the French Comité National de l’Évaluation des Établissements Publics à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel (CNE) and the British Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), which have both been seen as guarantors of the quality of domestic HE, and concomitantly as elements in international HE promotion. It indicates considerable differences in the evaluation reports produced by each agency, and links these to the context in which they were produced: the institutional relationships between each agency, higher education institutions, and the state; and the general context of ‘evaluation’ in each country's public sphere. The article thus challenges analyses which have seen the proliferation of evaluation across national contexts as evidence of ‘policy transfer’ or of ‘homogenisation’. Instead, it shows how differences in an ostensibly similar ‘product’, the ‘quality reports’ produced by each agency, reflect the institutional context of evaluation and its role in public policy writ large.     

课程实施中地方教研机构作用的个案研究

当前课程改革已进入全面深化阶段,课程标准的落实是其中的关键环节。地方教研机构在课程标准的落实中扮演着重要角色,对其发挥的作用进行研究有利于推进课程实施。根据古德莱德的五级课程理论,课程标准转化为实际的教学需要经历三个环节,每个环节中都可能会出现偏离课程标准的情况。为了顺利地落实课程标准,X区教育学院主要通过开发细化课程标准的文本促进教师对课程标准的理解;通过开发教学范式引导教师基于标准的教学;通过完善评价机制为课程的实施提供反馈;探索新的教师研修模式为教研机构的作用发挥提供保障。     

基于链接诱饵的网站外链建设

网站的外链建设对搜索引擎优化有着重要的意义,链接诱饵是网站外链建设最有效的方法之一。该文从链接诱饵的含义与原则出发,重点讨论链接诱饵的策略,并提出链接诱饵策略的模型和注意事项。文章提出的链接诱饵策略主要包括,做好网站内容建设、适当地进行造势、以服务换取外部链接等。研究表明,链接诱饵的成功是有方法可循的,且最重要的是要做好网站内容建设。     

Releasing the socio-imagination: children's voices on creativity,capability and mental well-being

With increasing concerns in the UK about the positive mental well-being and flourishing of children, this research, using drama and creative writing with primary school teachers, children and a theatre company, looks at the links between creative processes and children's well-being. This pedagogy applies a capability approach and we use this lens to examine children's critical reflections on the project. Interview data highlight the link between agency, social imagination and subjective well-being. The study offers some concrete examples of the ways in which creative processes can move beyond an outcome-based understanding of the curriculum by offering a legitimate space for children to explore their values and develop competencies which are crucial for well-being in the 21st century.     

Conceptions of Contemporary European Universities: to do research or not to do research?

The article examines the extent to which the notion of a publicly-funded university as an institution engaging in both teaching and research is likely to be sustained in the European higher education space of the future, given the variety of pressures (including funding and mass higher education) on such a conception of a university and changes in how national governments regard the purposes of higher education. Relevant literature on the changing purposes of universities is reviewed. For illustrative purposes, the article uses an example of recent legislation, the 2004 Higher Education Act, in England, whereby research degree awarding powers are no longer a pre-requisite for the conferral of university status. The position in England's higher education system with regard to research and teaching is contrasted with that of a second UK country, Scotland, which has contrasting policies on teaching and research in universities. The article examines the research-teaching debate from the perspective of individual academics, universities and policy-makers, using recent empirical data where available. It is suggested that whilst academics and their institutions (for different reasons) may be in favour of retaining a link between teaching and research and may resist changes to this, policy-makers faced with rising demands on the public purse may see such links as suited only to an academic elite. Such pressures apply equally to other member countries of the European Higher Education space, so the outcomes of this policy debate about the centrality of research and teaching to universities have many implications for the future shape of European higher education.     

Research productivity and teaching effectiveness

This study investigated the relationship between research productivity and teaching effectiveness to shed light on the long-debated question of whether performance in one area enhances performance in the other. The academic field and the stage of a faculty member's career were both considered in the analyses. Two samples — one of 2,973 and the other of 1,623 faculty members from a variety of institutions — were studied. In considering results of both analyses, teachers of social science courses were the only group for which there were consistent though modest relationships between the number of published articles and student ratings of instructor effectiveness. Thus spillover effects, or a general ability factor, or other reasons for a possible link between research and teaching performance are not totally supported. The relationship between performance in the two areas is either nonexistent or, where it appears, too modest to conclude that one necessarily enhances the other.     

The Orientation Law for Higher Education

The French students hurling their protests in Paris, Nanterre, and other places lent urgency to the widely recognized need for reform and expansion in the French university system. In November 1968, after long and important debates, the National Assembly unanimously adopted the "Loi d 'Orientation de I'Enseignement Supe'rieur"—a framework for fundamental changes involving all institutions of higher learning. The essential characteristics of these changes are democratization and modernization.     

Transmitting Faith in the Republic:Muslim Schooling in Modern Plural France

This article explores and analyzes private Muslim schooling in France using ethnographic research performed in 2013–2014 in Lille-, Lyon-, and Paris-based Muslim schools. The article discusses the course content and the interpretations of Islam that are taught, demonstrating how French republican values are fused together with Islam to promote a specific brand of French Muslim citizenship and identity. I argue that Muslim schools should be seen as part of the process of the normalization of Muslim-based civic engagement and that they represent a particular response to France's new plurality that reinterprets the boundaries of “French” and “Muslim.”     

Cross‐Curricular Gallery Learning: A Phenomenological Case Study

This article examines the strategies that can be used to enhance students' understanding of how subjects link together and whether cross‐curricular approaches, through a gallery project, have any real impact on students' understanding of the links between subjects. A substantial part of this article, however, describes the methodological aspect of the project. A phenomenological case study approach was used in order to engage fully with individual students' learning experiences. It was found that the students who were involved directly with the study felt that the links between subjects had more relevance to their learning when the teacher made such links explicit. They were unaware of the relevance of many cross‐curricular links made in lessons, but the study indicated that cross‐curricular learning can enable students to transfer skills and knowledge in order to understand concepts more fully.     

Mission Creep and Teaching at the Master's University

Abstract

The accusation of mission creep at master's institutions is not erroneous. It has been occurring for decades. The imitation of the research universities by other institutions is not good for the institutions, for their faculty members, or for the cause of college teaching. Research and scholarship need to be differentiated so that scholarliness, not research activity, is seen as the foundation for good teaching. The model master's institution professor will engage in modest amounts of disciplinary research, as a complement to, not as a support or replacement for, scholarly teaching and scholarly engagement with the community.     

Theorizing Gender for Community College Research and Practice

Feminist theory uses gender as a lens to evaluate society's institutions and power hierarchies. Gender evolves as a social construction rather than an essential difference between the sexes, and it supports the so-called “hegemony of dominant men” in society. Socialization by gender enables discrimination in gender roles and occupations, and its main tool of segregation is a major strategy used by employers and other decision makers to engage effectively in discrimination. The extent to which the principle of gender organizes selection of field of study by students and faculty, and other facets of the community college campus, provides for a number of ongoing research questions.