Revisiting the vocational school fallacy: a tribute to Philip Foster

More than four decades ago, Philip J. Foster (1927–2008) published an essay on the The vocational school fallacy in development planning, drawing on research on schools in Ghana. That essay has been reprinted in numerous texts and remains frequently quoted in recent research literature. What were his main general insights about vocational education and how have these stood the test of time?     

试论中学语文课堂提问的有效性

现阶段提倡课堂有效性的研究,而课堂提问是一种最直接的师生双边活动,是课堂教学的主要形式,对提高课堂有效性有着不可忽视的作用。著名教育家陶行知先生说:"发明千千万,起点是一问"、"智者问得巧,愚者问得笨"。本文就如何实现语文的有效性这一问题进行了探讨。     

论职业学校组织结构与效能

当前,职业教育出现的问题很大程度上根源于职业学校的效能低下。其主要原因之一是职业学校组织结构不合理。因此,应该重视对职业学校组织结构的改革和建设,使其为提高职业学校效能服务。     

Assessing school effectiveness: Evidence from the Irish context

Abstract

This paper considers the theories of language educaation and infant pedagogy of Professor Timothy Corcoran, Professor of Education in University College, Dublin. He played a pivotal role in the debates on education at the 1920s. These opinions were to become decisive in the formation of the New Free State's education programmes and policies. He held that infant classes ought to be the prime agents in the revival of the Irish Language. As a result the National Programme of Primary Instruction (1922) required that all the work in the infant classes should be conducted through Irish. He castigated the enlightened principles of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel and Montessori arguing that Irish education should not give up its sane traditions for doctrines derived from ‘poisoned sources’. His antagonism towards the thinking of the progressive educational theorists meant that the infants of Ireland had to wait until 1948 for a revised programme that would be more in line with the thinking of the day.     

The school effectiveness movement: origins,shortcomings and future possibilities

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the school effectiveness/school improvement movement has provided an antidote to the pessimism and fatalism of the 1970s. However, it is deficient in four important respects: (1) it places too much emphasis on the notion of progressive school management as the dynamic of change; (2) it fails to take full account of the characteristics of the education system as a whole; (3) it shows little regard for issues of social class; (4) it has little to say about issues of curriculum content and pedagogy.     

Progress at school and school effectiveness: non-cognitive dispositions and within-class markets

The New Zealand Progress at School project, designed to investigate school effects, found that individual progress at school is associated with a set of non-cognitive dispositions, most importantly, aspiration, self-concept, and acceptance of the institutional regime. The few schools identified as over-and under-performing were distinguished by the favourable and unfavourable dispositions of their students. School composition - or mix - effects proved in this study to be minor and relative to the output criterion, and some implications of that, including the selective effects of within-class markets, are discussed with particular reference to another contemporary New Zealand study, the Smithfield project. It is concluded that the study of school effectiveness might usefully include in its models the relationship between the properties of systems, the level of disposition, and the forms of practice they generate.     

Reasoning and working memory as predictors of school grades

The present paper contributes to individual difference research in the field of working memory (WM) and reasoning and their contribution to the prediction of real-life criteria. Therefore, a broad WM test battery, a well-established measure of reasoning, and school grades were applied. It is argued that abilities as assessed with the WM component coordination are relevant for good performances at school, especially for science courses. The verbal task of the WM component storage in the context of processing was assumed to be relevant for the prediction of performance in language courses. As expected, reasoning turned out to be the best predictor of school grades. However, it was also confirmed that variance shared by coordination and reasoning can explain school performance, especially as concerns science courses. The verbal storage in the context of processing task significantly accounted for variance in language courses above and beyond reasoning. Thus, the present study provided further insights into the differential validity of different WM components.     

Accountability,school reform,and equity: The troubling case of Sylvan school district

Most educational accountability systems draw upon relatively simplified indicators of student learning. Despite sufficient criticism and evidence of their misuse, test scores continue to be emphasized—even though they have a deadening effect on the very school district these accountability systems intend to primarily influence. This paper focuses on one of these low-performing school districts. The case study of Sylvan One reveals that the influence of state policy is especially circumscribed in a district like Sylvan's that is beset by such prevailing conditions as the politics of race, the culture of poverty, vacuums in communication and leadership, and the uncritical mass of human resources. Each of these conditions limits change and reform dramatically. Account-ability and reform must focus on a rigorous curriculum and well-understood standards—but only in the context of this community, replete with its problems ofrelationships, resources, andracism. These are the “three Rs” that are tantamount to creating and sustaining reform. And this approach is more about political development than anything else. Recommendations for moving beyond the traditional policymaking tools of mandates and inducements are suggested, recognizing that policy may at best promote equality, but not necessarily excellence and equity.     

Rethinking school effectiveness and improvement: a question of paradigms

The purpose of this article is to contribute to progressive school change by developing a more systematic critique of school effectiveness (SE) and school improvement (SI) as paradigms. Diverse examples of paradigms and paradigm change in non-educational fields are used to create a model of paradigms for application to SE and SI, and to explore the implications of their hegemony, their rootedness in a neoliberal policy environment, and their limitations as theories and methodologies of school evaluation and change. The article seeks to identify reasons for the inadequacy of orthodox SI in helping schools face contemporary challenges, including schools serving populations burdened by poverty, and finally identifies some alternative approaches to educational change. The article draws examples from an English context, but with international resonances.     

学校变革型领导行为效能的多维测度研究

自1978年巴斯提出变革型领导以来,变革型领导逐渐在行政管理、工商管理和教育管理等领域引了起广泛关注.本研究自编问卷并在江苏、湖北、重庆3省(市)展开调查,对学校变革型领导行为效能展开多维测度.研究发现:学校变革型领导行为水平相对较高,但行为效能水平相对较低;学校变革型领导行为效能差异相对较大,但整体效能水平相对稳定;学校变革型领导行为效能影响因素相对较多,但可预测性相对可靠,逐步多元回归模型的联合解释变异量达52.8％.因此,学校领导者要转变领导方式,以提高学校领导行为的效能.     

浅谈高中数学课堂的有效性

寻求教学效率,提高教学质量,是每个中学教师教学活动中的根本目标,有效教学是解决这一问题的重要途径,而让学生有兴趣是课堂有效性的前提,让学生有收获是课堂有效性的体现。     

The construction of national identity through primary school history: the Irish case

Much recent sociological work on education makes reference to gender, sexual, ethnic, local and political ‘project’ identities, yet there remains a need to bring the nation, and the state, back in; to also question the way in which ‘national’ identities are constructed in a context of globalisation and localisation. Through an analysis of Irish primary history curriculum statements from 1971 and 1999, I identify some key features of the state’s response to identity construction in a globalised context. They include a focus on pupils becoming skilled in reflexively producing identity, and a focus on a ‘boundless’ globalised identity. These changes are not unproblematic.

You will know all too well that Ireland is a country at war with its past—or, at least, with conflicting versions of its several pasts. But we are each of us in a struggle with those … on a much more deeply personal level than we sometimes know. (The character ‘Sr. Mary Rose Kennedy’ in Joseph O’Connor’s novel Inishowen) (O’Connor, 2000 O’Connor, J. 2000. Inishowen, London: Secker & Warburg.  [Google Scholar], p. 42)     

心理距离对合取谬误的影响

为了探讨在解释水平理论下心理距离对于合取谬误是否有影响,以在校大学生和研究生为被试,采用了两个单因素组间实验设计,分别从时间距离(近距离,远距离)和社会距离(近距离,远距离)上探讨心理距离对合取谬误的影响.本研究通过系列情境实验检验了心理距离对合取谬误的影响.结果发现:时间距离和社会距离对合取谬误的影响都有显著差异.与近距离相比,被试在远距离条件下,对合取事件的决策判断,都较少地出现合取谬误.     

Value-added measures of school effectiveness in the United Kingdom

Conclusion This paper has mostly focused on the performance of schools in terms of examination and test results. On their own, such results are insufficient for proper judgements about schools’ performance. Other pupil outcomes such as pupil attendance, capacity for independent learning, attitudes towards school and learning, behaviour and selfconcept are also important. School effectiveness research aims to investigate a broad range of educational outcomes. Examples of this approach are provided by the Junior School Project (Mortimore et al., 1988), the Lancashire project (Thomas & Mortimore, 1996) and the ISEP in Scotland (MacBeath & Mortimore, 1994) which involves collecting pupil, teacher and parent attitude data in addition to academic outcomes. Nevertheless, the main performance indicator for schools continues to be how successful they are at ensuring that as many pupils as possible achieve their full academic potential. Original language: English Sally Thomas (United Kingdom) Sally Thomas (United Kingdom) This research paper was completed via a grant awarded by the United Kingdom Economic and Social Science Research Council. I am very grateful for the helpful comments of my colleagues Louise Stoll, Pam Sammons, Harvey Goldstein and Hillary Street on a previous version of this paper.