The Development of Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS) Courses in Two West Midlands Colleges: A Case Study

This article is based on a study prepared as part of the University of Birmingham Certificate of Education course.     

From hardback to paperback:The Chocolate War,by Robert Cormier

This article is the first in an occasional series in which books recently published in paperback will be introduced to readers.Cle will select titles which seem particularly suitable for school students to read together. Our intention is to choose books readily available in North America as well as countries served by British publishers. Our first selection,The Chocolate War, appeared in the USA in 1974, in the UK in 1975 and in paperback in the USA in 1975 and in the UK in February, 1978.Robbie March-Penny read English at Birmingham College of Commerce and York University. She has taught English in comprehensive schools in Birmingham and Bristol and is now an editor of children's books for a London publisher.     

Higher Education Literature Revisited: Citation Patterns Examined

The discourse of the field of higher education is complex, as is its analysis. Citation analysis is means of examining communicative processes. This study investigates citations in the papers of three core journals in higher education, Research in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, and Journal of Higher Education. The results demonstrate that citation practices have remained relatively stable over time with regard to the format of cited items and the people and sources cited. The consistency applies, even with the electronic availability of a greater amount, and greater diversity, of materials. Some differences from past practices are also presented.     

Book Reviews

Steve Adams, Derbyshire LEA/University of Nottingham, Perspectives on Pastoral Care, Woocester, A. and Hall, E. 1986, University of Nottingham School of Education, (No. 5 in Human Relations in Education Series)

Eileen Callely, University of Cardiff, Educational Systems for Disruptive Adolescents, Topping, Keith 1983, Croom Helm Ltd., Beckenham, Kent, U.K. (also St. Martin's Press Inc, New York) £7.95

Susan Heyes, Essex Institute of Higher Education, All in a day's work, Walker, D. 1985, Edward Arnold; Them and Us, Parkes, R. 1985, Edward Arnold

Peter Ribbins, University of Birmingham, GO 87: Graduate Opportunities, Pierce, Liz, (Ed), 1986, Newpoint Publishing, £15.00 pp. 920

Barbara Sharples, Worden High School, Lanes, Child Psychology in Action , John Harris, 1986, Croom Helm

Colin J. Smith, University of Birmingham, Special Need in Ordinary Classrooms, G. Hanko, Publisher: Basil Blackwell     

Self and peer appraisal in higher education

This paper applies the mathematical technique of Data Envelopment Analysis to the problem of appraisal in Higher Education. The technique can be understood as an idealised self and peer appraisal: evaluating others in the same way that we would optimally evaluate ourselves relative to those others. The technique is applied to examples of student and staff appraisal. Although the main focus of this article is on the technique itself (its rationale, the prerequisites for use, and the insights that it yields), we also discuss the wider implications of having and using such a technique to assist appraisal.     

成人高等教育评估的三个飞跃

成人高等教育是中国高等教育中一个不可忽视的部分,社会发展需要成人高等教育,成人高等教育对社会的服务质量和效果需要来自行业和社会的监督与评价。其中,如何通过行业监督与评价促进成人高等教育提高教学水平是重要一环。本文就如何开展成人高等教育教学水平评估工作,提出了一些值得探究的视点。     

Social stratification in Higher Education: What it means at the micro‐level of the individual academic scientist

The academic profession is internally divided as never before. This cross‐national comparative analysis of stratification in Higher Education is based on a sample of European academic scientists (N = 8,466) from universities in 11 countries. The analysis identifies three types of stratification: academic performance stratification, academic salary stratification, and international research stratification. This emergent stratification of the global scientific community is predominantly research‐based, and internationalisation in research is at its centre; prestige‐driven, internationally competitive, and central to academic recognition systems, research is the single most stratifying factor in Higher Education at the level of the individual scientist today. These stratification processes pull the various segments of the academic profession in different directions. The study analyses highly productive academics (‘research top performers’), highly paid academics (‘academic top earners’), and highly internationalised academics (‘research internationalists’) and explores the implications for individual scientists.     

Staff appraisal in higher education — a study of performance review at Nene College,Northampton

This paper describes a study of staff appraisal in Higher Education and, in particular, of the appraisal system—called Performance Review—at Nene College, Northampton.The study comprised a review of the recent literature describing some experiences of appraisal systems in a number of British universities and a survey of the opinions of appraisees, appraisers and senior Nene College management with regard to various aspects of the Performance Review system.In the survey, most appraisees and appraisers thought that appraisers should be line managers rather than peers and that classroom observations should be part of the appraisal system. The opportunity for staff to air views and raise issues during the appraisal interviews was identified as a particular advantage of appraisal for staff. Comparison of the survey findings with the experiences of appraisal in other institutions confirmed that major issues of concern include the importance of organisational commitment; the provision of adequate resources; the effects on the role of heads of departments; the setting and communication of clear, limited goals; consistency of good practice; the provision of adequate follow-up to appraisal interviews and the costs incurred in the operation of appraisal systems.     

Staff appraisal: Lessons from United Kingdom industry?

Abstract

This paper examines staff appraisal and development in industrial and commercial organizations in the United Kingdom and discusses the extent to which the educational system can learn from them.

The appraisal and development programmes in three large organizations in the East Midlands region of England are reviewed and the extent to which the sort of models found in business might be applied to education is considered.

It is argued that industrial/commercial models of staff appraisal can be applied effectively in the educational context as long as they are tied in with the staff development process. A tenative list of recommendations felt to be applicable to the introduction of appraisal in education, and particularly further education, is provided.     

The Evolution of Leadership Research in Higher Education for Two Decades (1995-2014): A Bibliometric and Content Analysis

ABSTRACT

The present study aims to examine the leadership research in higher education in order to shed light on its development during the last two decades by revealing the evolving trends in research on leadership in higher education, the most prominent scholars working on related research, the most popular topics in related research, and the countries in which the related studies are based. Bibliometric method was employed in the analysis of the original research and review papers published in five prominent higher education journals between 1995 and 2014: Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, The Journal of Higher Education and The Review of Higher Education. The results of this bibliometric analysis show that the majority of the related articles come from three countries: the U.S.A., the UK and Australia. It is also found that the leadership research in higher education is still very scarce and has not shown any meaningful increase during the last two decades. In addition, content analysis is used to provide more in-depth information about the topical focus, purpose and methodology of the selected articles. The results of content analyses are discussed in detail, and suggestions for the future research are provided.     

Conductive Education in a New Context

This month an independent research team from Birmingham University is due to report to the Department for Education on its assessment of the first three years' work of the Birmingham Institute for Conductive Education. Its findings, if published, will arouse wide interest. Meanwhile, Mike Lambert, director, Centre for Research and Development at the Birmingham Institute, reviews the way the National Curriculum has been introduced and how far it seems compatible with conductive education. This is the first journal article to examine this issue.     

Invisible Statues of Colonisation: Regulatory Curriculum Requirements in South African Higher Education

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, the South African higher education (HE) system has become increasingly regularised. All programmes offered at South African public universities have to be registered and accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET); the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) under the auspices of the Council on Higher Education (CHE); as well as the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Such accreditation, registration and quality assurance is subject to a growing series of stringent regulatory frameworks that must be adhered to, chief amongst which are the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) and the Classification of Educational Subject Matter (CESM) manual and the later Addendum. Increased calls from both students and government for curriculum transformation and the decolonisation of HE require a critical review of the regulatory regime as one of the barriers to curriculum transformation at South African universities. The aim of this article is to present a conceptual analysis of the CESM and its regulatory context within a decolonial framework in order to show that the regulatory requirements for curricula have created a rigid and colonised conception of what universities may and may not teach. The CESM categories and their concomitant requirements have become the so-called invisible statues of colonisation based on narrow and morally decadent Western conceptions of academic disciplines in current university curricula.     

高职公共英语的窘境如何超越

高职院校英语教学正面临一个难以摆脱的窘境,究其原因,主要是因为方向性不明确与教学内容定位不准。该窘境的破局需要明确高职英语的教学目标,并据此构建具有职业特色的高职英语课程标准体系,包括编写具有职业特色的课程内容,推行新的分级(分层)教学模式并构建灵活的、多元化的课程评价标准。     

Autistic spectrum disorders: a challenge and a model for inclusion in education

Rita Jordan, Professor in Autism Studies at the School of Education, University of Birmingham, gave last year's Gulliford Lecture at the University of Birmingham on 4 October 2007. This article is based upon that lecture. In it, Professor Jordan discusses the role of education in the lives of people with autistic spectrum disorders. She traces the growth in our knowledge about autistic spectrum disorders and the development of a variety of ways of responding to autism, from the highly specialised, and frequently strictly segregated, to the explicitly inclusive. She uses her analysis to draw distinctions between 'therapeutic' models of education and education as 'entitlement'– and identifies problems with either paradigm. Professor Jordan closes her article by setting out her vision for a future in which there is greater flexibility and diversity and in which specialisation has a key role to play in making inclusion a working reality. The challenge of teaching pupils with autistic spectrum disorders will, argues Professor Jordan, help us all to imagine a truly inclusive model for education in which equity is achieved by treating all learners differently.     

Use of the Touch Sensitive Screen with Children who have Special Educational Needs

This article is based on the dissertation for the degree of B. Ed (Honours) awarded by Birmingham University in July 1987 to the author when she was a student at Westhill College Birmingham. Beverley Elf is now teaching at Mandeville School, Ealing.     

In Search of Staff Development: A study of academic staff appraisal

The academic award restructuring of 1991 established a trial period for academic staff appraisal for the purposes of staff development. The trend in Australia towards more formal performance management for academics has occurred during a period of substantial change to the structure of higher education and institutional management, and brought debate on whether appraisal, for either summative purposes (where performance assessment is for remuneration or promotion purposes) or formative purposes (where the emphasis is on planning personal development), is appropriate for academic staff. Arguments have been put forward for the benefits of appraisal processes with primarily developmental intent. Thus far there have been reports of the characteristics and processes of appraisal schemes, but less data on outcomes; in particular, little evidence to indicate the extent to which schemes lead to worthwhile staff development. This paper reports selected findings of a study of the evolving appraisal scheme of The University of Melbourne. The study was conducted after the scheme's second year of operation by the Centre for the Study of Higher Education which played an advisory role in an internal review of the scheme. The findings reveal some uncertainty among staff about the intentions of the scheme, and tensions between summative and formative purposes, perhaps not surprising given the contentious issue which staff appraisal has been in higher education. Nevertheless, positive outcomes were identified, but possibly too few to claim that the scheme was fully achieving a developmental objective. These findings raise questions about the effectiveness of academic staff appraisal nationally and suggest that it is time to reconsider the policy linkage between appraisal and staff development.     

Sex Education for Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties

This article is based on the dissertation for the degree of B.Ed. (Honours) awarded by Birmingham University in July 1986 to the author when she was a student at Westhill College, Birmingham. Karen Giles is now teaching at Rosemary School, Islington, in the Inner London Education Authority.     

Adaptation of Kirkpatrick’s four level model of training criteria to assessment of learning outcomes and program evaluation in Higher Education

Assessment of educational effectiveness provides vitally important feedback to Institutions of Higher Education. It also provides important information to external stakeholders, such as prospective students, parents, governmental and local regulatory entities, professional and regional accrediting organizations, and representatives of the workforce. However, selecting appropriate indicators of educational effectiveness of programs and institutions is a difficult task, especially when criteria of effectiveness are not well defined. This article proposes a comprehensive and systematic approach to aligning criteria for educational effectiveness with specific indicators of achievement of these criteria by adapting a popular organizational training evaluation framework, the Kirkpatrick’s four level model of training criteria (Kirkpatrick 1959; 1976; 1996), to assessment in Higher Education. The four level model consists of reaction, learning, behavior and results criteria. Adaptation of this model to Higher Education helps to clarify the criteria and create plans for assessment of educational outcomes in which specific instruments and indicators are linked to corresponding criteria. This provides a rich context for understanding the role of various indicators in the overall mosaic of assessment. It also provides Institutions of Higher Education rich and multilevel feedback regarding the effectiveness of their effort to serve their multiple stakeholders. The importance of such feedback is contextualized both in the reality of stakeholder pressures and in theoretical understanding of colleges and universities as open systems according to the systems theory (Katz and Kahn 1966). Although the focus of this article is on Higher Education, core principles and ideas will be applicable to different types and levels of educational programs.     

Academic stress of international students attending U.S. universities

This study investigated factors associated with the academic stress experienced by international students (N=412) attending graduate school in the United States. The study was grounded in a cognitive framework in which academic stress is understood as the consequence of students' appraisal of the stressfulness of role demands and their perception of their ability to cope with those demands. These two appraisals, in turn, were posited to be a function of cultural distance, students' social support network, and their role competencies. Results indicated that the primary determinants of the two types of appraisals differed. While self-perceived English-language skills and, to a lesser degree, cultural distance were the predictors of primary appraisal, self-perceived English-language, academic, and problem-solving skills and social support network were the main determinants of secondary appraisal. Implications for how universities might work more effectively with international students are discussed.