The Viability of Combining Academic and Career Pathways: A Study of Linked Learning

In an attempt to reform high schools and prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed for the 21st century, educators and policymakers have turned to programs that combine career and academic pathways. One such program, Linked Learning, has taken up the reform challenge by relying on technical adjustments, rearranging students’ schedules, and integrating career technical education (CTE) with a set of courses that support students’ eligibility for their state and university college system. Linked Learning has attempted to avoid the pitfalls often associated with an earlier vocational education model. This article reports findings from a year-long study of eight schools in five districts whose district leaders and principals have placed Linked Learning at the core of their platform for school reform. Interviews with these educators reveal that while changing the structure of students’ course schedules offered some advantages for students, school principals were challenged to keep their academic and career promises. This qualitative investigation has shown that to understand reform challenges it is essential to examine the broader school, district, and state context in which the reform is embedded. Both structural and cultural considerations must be addressed if high school reform is to more effectively support students.     

促进艺术性教学在高校体育教学中应用的研究

高校体育教学是培养大学生的一种教学活动,其目的能使大学生获得体育知识,掌握体育技术与体育技能,更重要的是能使大学生懂得如何做人的道理。在体育教育与教学活动中从体育教师的基本动作姿态到体育教师的风度神情,从体育课的组织形式到学生的活动体验无不包含着艺术性的教学。体育教学中的艺术性教学是一种高品位、高质量的教学形式。     

Contrived collegiality versus genuine collegiality: demystifying professional learning communities in Chinese schools

Drawing on data from a larger study on Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and School Leadership in China, this article investigates the practices of teacher collaboration and PLCs in two urban, high-performing secondary schools in Northeast China. Qualitative data were collected from observations, documents and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 participants. The findings reveal that intentionally arranged organisational structures support teacher professional learning and collective inquiry. Collaborative teams in two schools are characterised by genuine collegiality, promoting disciplined collaboration and shared responsibility, which is different from contrived collegiality imposed on teachers. Professional learning is ongoing, supported and fully integrated into the culture and operation of the school system. Emotional bonds, trust and an inclusive school culture contribute to genuine collegiality. These learning communities establish a system of focused collaboration, peer mentoring and collective responsibility, which leads to improved teaching and student learning.     

班级学习共同体内隐性知识的共享障碍与对策分析

随着信息通信技术和学习理论的发展,学校越来越重视班级学习共同体的建构以及知识共享在促进个体成长和共同体发展方面的作用。然而在班级学习共同体内部隐性知识的共享存在着诸多的障碍,如何克服隐性知识共享上的障碍、有效地挖掘和利用这些知识,应该成为当前教育领域高度关注的问题。本文仅对“班级学习共同体”隐性知识的共享作尝试性的分析,指出隐性知识共享的障碍并提出克服障碍的方法。     

Educator Perceptions and Use of Technology in South African Schools

ABSTRACT

South African schools experience diverse access to educational technology. Further, South African educators have limited opportunities to attend educator professional development workshops focused on technology integration. These differences can have a tremendous impact on students’ educational experiences and educators’ levels of self-efficacy toward implementing technology in their school settings. To provide further support and training opportunities to educators in South African township schools, administrators are able to partner with nongovernmental organizations and institutions of higher education. This article provides an overview of South African educational contexts and how partnerships can be formed to provide educator support to integrate educational technology in township schools.     

Laboratory Approach to Secondary Teacher Professional Development: Impacting Teacher Behavior and Student Engagement

Abstract

The Literacy Lab Professional Development provided a laboratory approach to professional development for 42 high school teachers in two schools. Three main activities included: (1) planning and professional development days, (2) lab and professional development days, and (3) individual coaching. The targets of the Literacy Lab Professional Development and its associated guiding questions focused on student engagement and understanding, teaching students how to make meaning from text, teaching students to write, and the structures, systems, routines, and rituals needed to create a classroom culture of thinking and learning. Results from this study point to positive differences between participating and matched-nonparticipating teachers in their instruction, student grouping, nature of tasks, task demands, types of knowledge expectations, personalization, tone, and authority structures.     

Educational reforms and the practices of professional learning community in Hong Kong primary schools

Abstract

This study explored the characteristics of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Hong Kong primary schools. It investigated the profiles of the strengths of professional learning community in schools under study and particularly examined the practices in schools which were identified as strong PLCs. It extends research on PLCs in the Hong Kong context and formulates a quantitative perspective to compare and validate PLC variables across schools in Hong Kong. The Professional Learning Community Questionnaire (PLCQ) for Hong Kong schools was developed to assess the PLC practices in six different areas: leadership for teacher learning, collaborative learning capacity, student-focused orientation, a culture of sharing, mutual understanding and support, and continuous professional development. A composite construct, the Professional Learning Community Index (PLCI) expressed in quantitative terms was utilized to assess the strength of PLC in a school. The research findings show that within the schools which were identified as strong professional learning communities, both the school leaders and teachers had strong emphases on the six subscales of the PLC practices.     

Exploring organisational perspectives on implementing educational inclusion in mainstream schools

Achieving equality remains a major challenge in schools globally. In Hong Kong, the current education policy has a core value that all students have the right to learn. Policy-makers and school personnel are struggling to find ways of catering for diverse learning needs in schools. Early in 2006, a self-initiated inclusive educational project has linked one mainstream school and a special school. Their project can be seen as a pioneer in the field of education, for it provides concrete recommendations to other education practitioners on initiating whole-school participation and joint-school partnerships, integrating such collaborations into the culture of the school, and encouraging teachers committed to student voice and engagement. This article records the qualitative case study comprising the teachers' self reports to demonstrate how teachers re-shaped their perceptions, beliefs and behaviours as they developed and implemented a school-based inclusion project. It is expected that the findings of this study will assist educators to further understand present challenges in the school system regarding managing diversity and attaining inclusive education goals. In particular, local schools are now facing the challenge to implement inclusive education.     

“The student drives the car,right?”: trans students and narratives of decision-making in schools

Abstract

With growing awareness of the negative school experiences of trans students, more schools in North America are working to support such students and create more inclusive educational environments. This paper analyses how 60 educators in British Columbia, Canada talked about the involvement of trans students in decision-making processes at their school. It focuses on a prominent narrative, the ‘student in charge’ narrative, which suggests that educators should follow the lead of the young trans person to best support them. By centering the expertise of trans student, this narrative has the potential to disrupt cisnormativity in schools and traditional understandings of youth as unreliable. However, educators have also to negotiate dominant discourses about undue adult influence, young age, safety and gender fluidity that tend to undermine their initial commitment to young trans people’s self-determination. This paper analyses the effects of these contradictions on how educators respond to demands for recognition by trans students, and discusses the limits of student-led change. It concludes by arguing for more systemic changes that do not require the presence of trans bodies and instead offer possibilities for educational spaces in which all students would experience fewer pressures of gender and sexual conformity.     

News and Communications

ABSTRACT

The author examined how local charter school educators respond to the accountability measures being imposed on them. Encouraged by early indications of increased test scores, state and federal policymakers continue to support accountability as an effective means to improve schools. Surprisingly, there has been little research on local educators’ experiences with and responses to such reforms. This lack of research is striking because teachers, principals, and superintendents are directly responsible for the implementation of accountability mandates, including administering tests, teaching to the state standards, and implementing state-approved curriculum packages. In an effort to understand teachers’ and administrators’ experiences with public school accountability, the author explores how educators in 4 charter schools in Michigan understand recent accountability mandates with respect to school reform.     

推进手机移动学习：中小学教师态度与需求

能否在中小学校普及手机移动学习,这是当前国际教育组织、教育行政部门和产业界共同关注的焦点问题。来自北京市4城区11所学校450名教师和管理者的调查数据表明,绝大多数教师都具有积极的技术产品教育应用意向,但反对中小学生持有手机和利用手机进行移动学习。不同学段的教师对推进手机移动学习的需求差异非常显著,小学教师最为积极,初中教师最不积极。在中小学校推进手机移动学习,应引导学校管理者、教师转变理念,客观认识学生手机,逐步认同手机移动学习;应加强宣传,推进本土实践,吸引学校管理者、教师乐于尝试手机移动学习;应增强手机移动学习产品、资源、服务与教育者、学习者、教学过程、学习过程的融合;在政策推广方面,可以先从小学进行试点推广,中学生手机移动学习可以走社会化推进、产业推动的道路。     

What do educational tests test? 1

Helping students to obtain command of important areas of human knowledge is the primary job of the schools. Most of the tests used in education are intended to indicate how well this job has been done, through the joint efforts of students and teachers. In order to do this job educators must determine what areas of knowledge are most worth teaching, and how to manage the process of instruction so that it will be learned. Learning is only part of living, but it is the part for which schools were established. Tests do not test native intelligence, at least not directly. They do not predict future achievement precisely. They continue to be used extensively despite some opposition from humanists, liberals and other critics, and some interference from educational mystics.     

Negotiating teacher professionalism: governmentality and education reform in Hong Kong

This research investigates how the Hong Kong state controls and disciplines the education sector through the regulation and manipulation of discourses. The authoritative narratives are that some schools are failing the students and parents for not being able to provide quality education, and that these schools are not subject to public scrutiny while spending public money. This article seeks to understand the role of such narratives in neoliberal politics and the marketisation of education which lead to governance in the form of initiatives in school quality assurance mechanism; how different actors (Education Bureau, Professional Teachers' Union and individual teachers) are involved in the process; how they negotiate this governance of education; how such governance transforms the self-perception of teachers as well as the perception of teachers by others; and how teachers interpret, appropriate and resist such discursive power.     

An examination of the interactions between museum educators and students on a school visit to science museum

Today, science is a major part of western culture. Discussions about the need for members of the public to access and understand scientific information are therefore well established, citing the importance of such information to responsible citizenship, democracy, socially accountable scientific research and public funding (National Research Council [2009] Learning science in informal environments: People, places, and pursuits. National Academies Press). In recent years there has been an increased interest in investigating not just what visitors to informal environments have learnt after a visit, but also how visitors interact and engage with exhibits during the visit (Davidsson & Jakobsson [2012] Understanding interactions at science centers and museums: Approaching sociocultural perspectives. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers). Within the field of school visits to science museums, however, interactions between students and museum educators (MEs) remain relatively unexplored. In our study of such school visits, we are mainly interested in the interactions that take place between three agents—the students, the museum educator and the physical setting of the exhibit. Using moment-to-moment fine grain analysis of multiple interactions allowed us to identify recurring patterns between students and the museum educators around exhibits, and to examine the MEs’ mediational role during the interactions, and the practices they employ to engage students with exhibits. Our study revealed that most interactions between MEs and students consist of technical explanations of how to operate the exhibits. The interactions that do move past this stage often include two main practices, which the MEs use to promote students’ engagement with the exhibits: physical instruction and engaging the students emotionally. Understanding what is actually happening in the learning process that occurs during students’ interactions with exhibits can help museum educators and exhibit designers improve the experiences of students on school visits.     

Forms of support and challenges to developing international-mindedness: a comparative case study within a national and an international school in Turkey

ABSTRACT

This paper uses mixed methods to explore perceptions of international-mindedness within two case study schools in Istanbul, Turkey: a national school with mostly Turkish students and an international school with students from many nationalities. Using a conceptual framework developed by an international education programme, the authors critically analyse pillars of international-mindedness: multilingualism, intercultural understanding, and global engagement. Findings reveal that the national school was striving to overcome limitations of homogeneity, while the international school struggled to address its assumptions that a heterogeneous population alone would be enough to encourage intercultural understanding. Neither school had developed clear conceptual links among multilingualism, intercultural understanding, and global engagement. Thus, deliberate efforts are needed to provide students with experiences that foster international-mindedness. Other researchers and educators can use this framework and associated methods to examine how international-mindedness is implemented in different schools in other regions of the world.     

职业中学体育教学改革新思路探究

职业中学与一般中学在体育教学上有着相同之处,但也存在着差异。职业学校的体育教学改革应将自己的培养目标与学生所学专业、工种的特点及学生心理与生理发育特征结合起来,这是当前职业中学体育教学改革的重要课题。     

Professional learning community process in the United States: conceptualization of the process and district support for schools

Abstract

As the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process becomes embedded within schools, the level of district support has a direct impact on whether schools have the ability to re-culture and sustain highly effective collaborative practices. The purpose of this article is to share a professional learning community conceptual framework from the US, and to highlight recent findings relating to district level support for the PLC process in schools. The professional learning community conceptual model is organized around five dimensions: shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collaborative learning and application, shared personal practice, and supportive conditions. The overarching question guiding this qualitative research study is: How do school district personnel (central office staff) support schools in the professional learning community process? Findings reveal the importance of transformative and proactive district involvement, and the use of transparency, trust, accountability, and autonomy in school re-culturing. It was also found that developing leadership capacity, embedding professional development, and focusing the culture on student success were critically important. As districts provide support for the PLC dimensions and themes, school leaders will have a foundation of curricular strategies, collaborative skills, and necessary resources to serve teachers and students through continuous school improvement.     

The student voice in well-being: a case study of participatory action research in positive education

Positive education blends academic learning and student well-being. Although research and application in positive education is growing, most has involved psychologists and educators applying strategies in schools, with little research that involves student voices in the development and implementation of a school’s positive education strategy. Assumptions are frequently made about what is best for student well-being, with little input from the students themselves. This paper describes a case study of participatory action research (PAR) carried out by students (N = 10) at a publically funded Australian school aiming to implement positive education. PAR is a form of collective inquiry undertaken by the people that the issue directly affects. The PAR group researched the school community regarding well-being during the school year. Mixed methods examined PAR student’s well-being, self-efficacy, autonomy, social and emotional assets, and other competencies before and after the process. Student involvement allowed the school to better understand their students’ well-being, and student-led communication about positive education laid the groundwork for its implementation. Results suggested benefits for the PAR students, particularly in engagement and self-efficacy. This realistically scaled study suggests that involving students using a framework of PAR is a promising, accessible, evidence-based, and developmentally beneficial approach to the implementation of positive education.     

Making the implicit explicit: Supporting teachers to bridge cultures

In this paper, we report the results of a longitudinal action research project in which elementary teachers used a cultural framework (individualism–collectivism) to understand differences between the culture of immigrant Latino families and the culture of U.S. schools. Making explicit the culture-based beliefs implicit in home and school practices allowed teachers to think differently about their students and their own teaching, and with that change in thinking came the immediate and ongoing creation of a wide range of innovations to bridge home and school cultures. Shifting to a preschool emphasis, we discuss how the individualism–collectivism framework has been used in professional development for early childhood educators. A broad view of professional development is discussed including the role of college faculty, early childhood program administrators, teachers, and families. We suggest how such professional development might be mounted through use of methods and materials that promote explicit models of immigrant cultures to reduce home–school cultural mismatches for immigrant children.     

试论学校体育与学生终身体育思想的形成

随着终身体育思想的出现,终身体育对学校体育提出了新的要求,学校体育必须适应时代的要求,不断探索,让学生养成良好的体育锻炼习惯,培养学生终身体育的意识。