Conclusion: what have we learned?

The results of the nine studies reported on in this special issue suggest quite clearly that a book-based program consistently accelerates the language acquisition of school children in situations where (1) they are learning a second language; (2) they have minimal access to interesting reading materials; and (3) their teachers are themselves teaching in a second language. In this closing chapter, a set of generalizations derived from these studies is presented. More specifically, three areas are discussed: (1) the link with other empirical studies; (2) theoretical issues raised by the results of the studies; and (3) policy questions raised by the results of the studies.     

Embracing and harnessing diversity in the US workforce: what have we learned?

Cultural diversity in the US includes race, ethnicity, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, and other aspects of culture. American ethnic and racial minorities currently account for 31% of the US population, and growing. Their career development issues include the barriers they regularly encounter, such as discrimination; inequitable access to resources; and language, religious, and cultural differences. Career counselors and vocational psychologists in the US have been actively studying these issues for many years and have some successes to report.     

Rhetoric and reality: are integrated schools in Northern Ireland really making a difference?

This article explores perspectives on the current contribution of integrated schools to society in Northern Ireland and asks whether there is a mismatch between what some expect from the schools and what they may be able to provide. It suggests that integrated education may for some be a magic panacea, whilst those leading the sector see the benefits of integrated education as emerging over a much longer and more realistic timeframe. Based on a series of interviews with principals and with other leaders, this article explores how integrated schools balance the practice and evaluation of integration with other conflicting priorities. It questions the extent to which the schools show variation and argues that greater coherence within the integrated sector might be helpful in the current climate.     

Environmental education program evaluation in the new millennium: what do we measure and what have we learned?

We conducted a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed research studies published between 1999 and 2010 that empirically evaluated the outcomes of environmental education (EE) programs for youth (ages 18 and younger) in an attempt to address the following objectives: (1) to seek reported empirical evidence for what works (or does not) in EE programming and (2) to uncover lessons regarding promising approaches for future EE initiatives and their evaluation. While the review generally supports consensus-based best practices, such as those published in the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence, we also identified additional themes that may drive positive outcomes, including the provision of holistic experiences and the characteristics and delivery styles of environmental educators. Overall, the evidence in support of these themes contained in the 66 articles reviewed is mostly circumstantial. Few studies attempted to empirically isolate the characteristics of programs responsible for measured outcomes. We discuss general trends in research design and the associated implications for future research and EE programming.     

From policy to practice?: the reality of play in primary school classes in Northern Ireland

As more countries align their curricular frameworks with play-based and experiential pedagogies, this paper provides a critical insight into the benefits and challenges that arise in practice when a play-based approach to learning and teaching becomes a political directive in Northern Ireland primary schools. Drawing on socio-constructivist and post-structural thinking, the messages from Foundation Stage teachers and the learning experiences provided are unravelled through the researchers' interpretive lens, exposing for critique two key discourses about the relationship between play as policy and practice – namely play as learning and play as pedagogy. Although this study may have raised more questions than answers about the debate, the authors conclude, in so doing, it has facilitated an original troubling of the established discourse and added to the knowledge base about the politicisation of play as practice in the early years of primary schooling.     

The existence of school‐related stress in two grammar schools in Northern Ireland: contributing factors and moderation

Recent educational policies have altered scholastic experience. It is the contention of the authors that contemporary school experience may therefore, for some individuals, be distressing. This study is concerned with the identification of stress‐related behaviours of sixth‐form pupils within female single‐sex, selective, scholastic environments. The sample consisted of 420 girls drawn from two comparable schools. The study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methods. Administration of a questionnaire at three intervals within one academic year permitted sustained reflection upon responses. The qualitative questionnaire findings permitted generation of themes, later investigated through focus groups. SPSS was used to analyse responses to scaled questions. The keeping of a research diary served to illuminate meaning and to capture anecdotal evidence, which is so easily lost within a busy school environment. In addition, the opinions of a number of relevant professionals were sought. The study concluded that some members of the sample population encounter demands emanating not only from assessment incidents, but also from a range of other sources inherent to the system of sufficient magnitude, duration and intensity to engender school‐related stress. Within the study the ways in which school‐related stress may present are identified; these include, for example, physical effects, subjective effects, effects upon work and effects upon relationships. An evaluation of current relevant support mechanisms is offered and recommendations for change are made.     

Chinese primary school mathematics teachers working in a centralised curriculum system: a case study of two primary schools in North‐East China

Mainland China has a highly centralised curriculum development system. A study of two schools in northeast China, one in a rural area and the other in an urban area, indicates that the primary mathematics curriculum has been widely adopted by teachers at the classroom level. Feeling the intense pressure generated by the national mathematics Olympiad,1 1. The mathematics Olympiad is a type of ‘extracurricular’ activity that aims to promote students' interest and improve their ability in mathematics. Students participating in the competition are required to complete some challenging and non‐routine mathematical operations. The international mathematics Olympiad is held every year. In Mainland China, this competition is commonly organised at city, provincial and national level. Students who perform exceptionally well are exempted from the highly competitive national university entrance examinations for entry to universities View all notes teachers in the urban school tended to give more difficult mathematics problems to their students in the hope that above‐average students would perform well in the competition. In the rural school, the ability of students was more varied and generally lower. Teachers there worked very hard to push their students to meet the national requirements. The driving force behind this was the county‐wide public examination in which students' performance was taken as an indicator of teachers' competence. Teachers in both schools also have not taken effective steps to adapt the curriculum for students' individual differences. A comparison of the practices between the teachers in the two schools suggests that teachers' beliefs, their professional knowledge and skills shape their inclination and ability in curriculum adaptation and differentiation.     

Citation analysis and Northern Ireland: a quality measure?

Research evaluation is used to identify “success” and relate this to funding. Citation analysis is one of many performance indicators but has been largely set aside in the U.K. This paper describes the use of bibliometric data and examines the “parochialism” of Northern Irish research. Papers produced in Northern Ireland between the years 1981 to 1994 and listed with the ISI are used to exemplify the issues. The analysis indicates that some fields are underrepresented in the ISI database. Small research systems can also be significantly influenced by one or two individuals. Publication in a highly visible, Anglo-American, internationally refereed journal will enhance the citation rate. Northern Irish research has a relative lack of international impact, seemingly a function of topics and the journals used. While there is an increasing amount of joint authorship, particularly with the rest of the U.K., relatively little collaboration has taken place with colleagues in the rest of Europe. Citation analysis is an important initial indicator of research impact, useful to establish questions and narrow an overall field of inquiry.     

Beyond the boundaries: resistances to school‐based youth work in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, attention is currently focused on youth work in the context of wider changes associated with the integration of services for young people. Policy‐makers there have identified youth work as having potential to link formal and informal education. However, youth work has often been understood as predominantly out‐of‐school provision embodying different values and principles from that of schooling. Increasingly, and as ideas about education shift, schools have become an important setting for youth work, generating much debate amongst policy‐makers, youth workers and teachers. One important question is whether the school setting is an appropriate context for informal learning. This article draws on interviews completed with teachers and youth workers and explores their experiences of school‐based youth work in one part of Northern Ireland.     

Sustainable schools programmes: what influence on schools and how do we know?

This paper focuses on our experience of researching the influence of ResourceSmart Schools, a sustainable schools programme in Victoria, Australia. Drawing on ideas from programme theory and realist synthesis, we illustrate and reflect upon our approach to conceptualising, investigating and generating evidence about the programme’s impacts and influence in participating schools. This distinction is deliberate: it helps distinguish between efforts to understand the impacts that a programme has within schools (programme impact), and efforts to understand what it is about a programme that is influential in bringing about those impacts (programme influence). Drawing on evidence from our work in this project and the wider literature, we argue for a more nuanced discussion and more sophisticated investigations into the complexities of programme influence, rather than impacts only. Our conclusions suggest key areas of development for our own work, the provision of environmental and sustainability education, and their evaluation and research more broadly.     

Back to the future: do lessons from Finland point the way to a return to model schools for Northern Ireland?

The paper examines the school-based element of initial teacher education (ITE) and the ways in which it contributes to the professional learning of student teachers in Finland (University of Helsinki) and Northern Ireland (University of Ulster). In particular it seeks to assess the potential of Training Schools for Northern Ireland. Universities in Finland that provide teacher education have at least one designated training school in which all student teachers have the opportunity to undertake a practicum. The Finnish model was selected for comparison because of the country’s consistently excellent results in the OECD’s Programmes for International Student Assessment which is undoubtedly due, in part, to the quality of the teachers. Teaching/training schools have featured prominently in recent reviews of teacher education in England and Scotland and, while not specifically mentioned in the Northern Ireland (NI) review document, the overall concept could enrich the school-based element of ITE in NI, using existing collaborative networks of schools.     

School‐based teacher collaboration in Sweden and Greece: formal cooperation,deprivatized practices and personalized interaction in primary and lower secondary schools

During recent years, educational restructuring efforts have commonly regarded schools as both learning communities and sites for teachers’ professional development. A plethora of attributes influence prerequisites as well as outcomes of the efforts, while teachers’ local cultures constitute a cornerstone. More specifically, enhanced school‐based teacher collaboration is associated with upgraded school effectiveness and enhanced professional growth. However, the comparative study of school‐based teacher collaboration remains a subjective research area. The overall aim of this study is to highlight teacher collaboration in Sweden and Greece utilizing nationwide surveys with physical education teachers in both countries. The final sample consisted of 707 Swedish and 451 Greek professionals. The high response rate combined with restricted internal dropout forms the basis of the generalization of the findings. The presentation of the results is connected with issues of formal cooperation, deprivatized practices and personalized interaction in four teachers groups: primary and lower secondary schools in Sweden and in Greece. According to the data, formal cooperation and deprivatized practices occur more frequently in Sweden than in Greece. However, personalized interaction is rather high in Greek lower secondary schools. Despite differences between the four contexts, a second order model represents obtained information adequately with very good fit indexes. It seems that school‐based teacher collaboration in authentic settings can be connected to complex processes with multifaceted characteristics in different national contexts as well as in educational stages within one country as well. Manipulating distinct aspects of schooling may consequently jeopardize expected outcomes, as development ambitions should be targeting several interdependent dimensions. Swedish schools generally and lower secondary schools specifically constitute original examples of enhanced school‐based teacher collaboration, while an intensification of combined endeavours is needed in Greece. The comparative mapping of interconnected collaboration characteristics might contribute to more holistic restructuring struggles towards schools as learning communities and sites for teachers’ professional development.     

Girls and Science: Does a core curriculum in primary school give cause for optimism?

The low numbers of students, particularly girls, pursuing science after the age of 16 continues to give cause for concern, despite the inclusion of science as a core subject in the curriculum of primary schools in England and Wales. This article explores the perceptions of primary pupils with regard to science since its introduction as a compulsory component of the curriculum. The findings tend to replicate those of earlier studies, indicating that primary pupils, both girls and boys, view science positively while at primary school and look forward to science at secondary school. However, results show that, within science, girls' and boys' preferences are different. Girls have greater preference for biological topics while boys demonstrate a wider range of interests. Furthermore, the introduction of the National Curriculum appears to have had negligible effect in broadening the interests of girls. It is argued that intervention strategies are needed in order to make all fields of science attractive to girls and that this should begin in the primary phase of education.     

Investigating inclusive education in primary schools in Ghana: what inclusive cultures,environment, and practices support implementation?

Schools create an inclusive environment and cultures and enact inclusive practices to cater for the learning and social needs of learners. Using an adapted Ghana Inclusive Education Monitoring Tool (IEMT), which is based on the Index for Inclusion, we collected data from 74 headteachers of primary schools. Data analysis involved percentages and frequencies of multiple-scaled items of the adapted IEMT. Findings revealed headteachers admit learners with special needs and disabilities (LwSEND) to set the stage for inclusion, while teachers accept these learners in schools. Collaborative cultures among teachers, parents, and other community stakeholders support inclusive education. While classrooms had somewhat good ventilation and lighting, school facilities were less accessible to all learners. Knowledge to adapt the curriculum and the flow of inclusive knowledge among teachers was limited. Suggestions to improve inclusive education include school-wide professional development for sharing inclusive knowledge, enhancing teachers' pedagogical competence and promoting supportive inclusive cultures.     

Balancing the workload equation in English primary schools: a continuing story?

This article traces the gradual increase in primary teachers' workloads over several decades to the point where workforce reform was introduced to ameliorate the problem. A central feature of the reform was the use of teaching assistants to undertake various duties, so that time should be available for primary teachers to plan and prepare future lessons. Although official sources have described this initiative as a success, recent research that examines the consequences of these changes, from both the teachers' and the teaching assistants' viewpoints, would challenge these claims. This research is described in the article and shows that primary schools in England have increasingly come to rely on poorly paid untrained assistants to teach classes. The article concludes by looking at the implications for the future status of the profession as a result of this practice.     

Children participating as researchers in primary schools: what’s in it for the teachers?

Whilst within universities, research on rather than with children/pupils is a well-established methodology, this paper reports on teachers’ responses to a schools and university-based partnership project, ‘Pupils as Research Partners in Primary (PARPP), which works to co-create pupil-led research opportunities for pupils in research projects informed by pupils’ experiences in primary schools. A previous paper, French and Hobbs, [(2017). “‘So How Well Did It Really Go’? Working with Primary School Pupils as Project Evaluators: A Case Study.” TEAN Journal 9 (1): 56–65] reported on how one PARPP project had a beneficial effect on pupils and their school environment. For this paper the project team interviewed a number of teachers whose pupils in the partner schools were involved in the pilot study phase of the project. Specifically, the teachers were interviewed to ascertain if the involvement of pupils, as lead researchers in projects exploring various aspects of the school environment, had impacted on their perceptions of pupil-led research. Findings suggest that the experiences of teachers in schools where PARPP projects had taken place had led them to re-evaluate the practicality and desirability of encouraging pupils to actively to research their school environments.     

Adapting the primary‐school curriculum for multigrade classes in developing countries: a five‐step plan and an agenda for change

This paper draws on the findings from an international programme of research that has demonstrated the need for teachers in many developing countries to be given more support in adapting monograded curricula to the needs of their multigrade classes. It describes four empirical models of multigrade practice and examines the models of curriculum construction and child learning that inform them. It then presents a five‐step process that can be used by curriculum planners to adapt monograded curricula, taking account of the different empirical models of multigrade practice. Finally, it outlines a strategy for implementing such a process by providing further support to strengthen curriculum units and improve teacher education.     

Custodians of silences? School principal perspectives on the incidence and nature of homophobic bullying in primary schools in Ireland

The research reported in this paper sought to determine the level of awareness among school principals in primary schools in Ireland where homophobic bullying is concerned. International research has previously shown that school leaders as animators of school climate are often lacking in their responses to this type of bullying [Walton, G. 2004. “Bullying and Homophobia in Canadian Schools: The Politics of Policies, Programs, and Educational Leadership.” Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education 1 (4): 23–36; Pizmony-Levy, O., and J. G. Kosciw. 2016. “School Climate and the Experience of LGBT Students: A Comparison of the United States and Israel.” Journal of LGBT Youth 13 (1–2): 46–66; Taylor, C. G., E. J. Meyer, T. Peter, J. Ristock, D. Short, and C. Campbell. 2016. “Gaps Between Beliefs, Perceptions, and Practices: The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-Inclusive Education in Canadian Schools.” Journal of LGBT Youth 13 (1–2): 112–140]. We sought to ascertain whether school principals in Ireland have had experience of dealing with this type of bullying, whether they believe it is a significant issue and what they perceive their role to be in relation to addressing homophobic bullying. The research focused on the views of school principals because of the critical role they play in policy implementation and school organisation. The research revealed that one in every two school principals had responded to homophobic bullying and that these same principals did not always consider the use of homophobic pejoratives to constitute homophobic bullying. The paper points to the need for further education and training for school leaders on the topic of homophobic bullying otherwise their perspectives will contribute to the many silences that surround this topic in primary schools in Ireland.     

Contradictions in educational policy: implementing integrated problem‐based environmental health curriculum in a high stakes environment

In this paper, we focus on the efforts of educators at nine different research sites within the United States, funded by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), to develop and implement innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum on the relationship of the environment and human health. The NIEHS correctly maintained that the interdisciplinary nature of learning about environmental health would improve students’ learning across several subject areas and should, therefore, contribute to students scoring higher on state’s subject area based standardized tests. However, these goals were undermined by state polices linking standardized tests with student promotion and graduation, and the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that required public schools and districts to aggregate test scores which might have negative consequences, such as reducing school funding or privatizing school administration and state policies. These policies resulted in deleterious effects that undermined implementing environmental health curricula.