Rural schoolteachers and the pressures of community life: local and cosmopolitan coping strategies in mid-twentieth-century Finland

This article discusses rural schoolteachers’ relationships with local village communities in mid-twentieth-century Finland. At the time, Finnish rural teachers were typically very public figures in their local community. To deal with the pressures of their position, teachers resorted to coping strategies which the authors name ‘local’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ after Robert K. Merton’s well-known categories. The local strategy required that teachers adapt themselves to the social demands of community life, whereas the cosmopolitan strategy was manifested in the teachers’ efforts to distance themselves from the local community, reflecting the increasing professionalisation of Finnish schoolteachers as well as a general social transition in which traditional community ties were gradually replaced by modern individualism.     

‘And all our classes turned into a flower garden again’ – science education in Soviet schools in the 1920s and 1930s: the case of biology from Darwinism to Lysenkoism

The purpose of this article is to outline the evolution of biology education in Soviet schools in the 1920s and 1930s. After some introductory consideration of the ideological changes taking place in the field of genetics that impacted on the teaching of science and led to botany being favoured over biology in schools, the first part outlines the development of the natural sciences curriculum in the context of the Soviet reform of the school, which, after the October Revolution, abolished traditional teaching methods in favour of the active methods of American schools. The second part reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of biology through analysis of the biological station for young naturalists, ‘K. A. Timiriazev’, a centre created in 1919 by the famous biologist Boris V. Vsesviatskii (1887–1969). The third part illustrates the characteristics of botany education in schools of the 1930s, with a focus on the dissemination of the new scientific anti-genetic conception (known as Lysenkoism) and teaching practices in city and rural schools after the publication of Vsesviatskii’s textbook. The fourth demonstrates a progressive assimilation of the anti-genetic doctrine of Lysenkoism by teachers, with particular attention to the question of the natural sciences school curriculum and teacher training in the field of botany.     

The dynamics of supply and demand chain of English-medium schools in Bangladesh

This research concerns English-medium schools (EMSs), which are emerging as a popular new educational sector in Bangladesh. Because these schools have gained immense popularity, we seek to identify how these schools respond to parental demand and retain their clientele. In addition to English language demand, our findings reveal a symmetrical relationship between the supply of EMSs and parental demand. EMSs’ strategic business planning and market forces, which emphasise deficiencies in the supply chain of Bangla-medium schools (BMSs), have motivated parents to send their children to EMSs. We conclude that although English-medium education is a high-cost educational alternative, its introduction as a new educational initiative is based on its transnational quality and acceptance.     

Between ethos and practice: are Ireland’s new multi-denominational primary schools equal and inclusive?

This article explores the ethos of multi-denominational primary schools in the context of increasing cultural and religious diversity in the Republic of Ireland. In particular, it investigates how the official ethos is played out in day-to-day school interactions. The mixed-methods study draws on data collected from 11 community national schools focussing on the perspectives of principals, teachers and pupils. The data indicates while schools’ formal ethos sets out guiding principles and standards, a closer look reveals the specific identity of each individual school within the broader formal framework. The article presents a new perspective on school ethos research by exploring the extent to which it guides the promotion of diversity and tolerance in a multi-faith context. While the study is carried out in Ireland, it is also of interest to other jurisdictions where schools are faced with increasing religious diversity among their student population.     

中小学语文综合性学习的呈现与把握

综合性学习开展有助于培养学生学习和探究的兴趣,中小学语文教材的综合性学习内容,从编排形式和活动方式上呈现出学科综合、校本主题综合、自由兴趣综合、跨学科综合等类型及特点。现阶段中小学综合性学习在教学中应如何把握,如何实施的教学策略是我们努力探讨并需要逐步解决的。     

Effects of the Zippy’s Friends Programme on Children’s Coping Abilities During the Transition from Kindergarten to Elementary School

This article explores the effects of participation during kindergarten in Zippy’s Friends, a 24-week school-based programme to help young people better cope with everyday adversities, on their adaptation to first grade. The experimental group consisted of 140 children in the first year of primary school who had participated in the Zippy’s Friends programme the preceding year when they attended a kindergarten in a different school. Results show that, compared to a control group of 106 children, participation in Zippy’s Friends is related to better adaptation to the transition from kindergarten to first grade. The experimental group was higher in behavioral and emotional adaptation to school, had more positive reactions to the new school environment and used more appropriate and more diversified coping strategies, when compared with the control group. The discussion explores why Zippy’s Friends may be related to better adaptation to transition from kindergarten to first grade.     

Teacher strategies to support the social participation of students with SEBD in the regular classroom

It is known that schoolteachers have difficulties supporting students with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD) in inclusive classroom settings. Despite the literature providing strategies for schoolteachers, little is known about strategy use in daily practice to influence the social participation of students with SEBD, and whether different strategies are used for students with different types of SEBD. Accordingly, the aim of this study was twofold: (1) to identify which strategies are suggested by primary schoolteachers as influencing the social participation of students with SEBD in the inclusive classroom; and (2) to investigate whether primary schoolteachers suggest different strategies for students with internalising and externalising behavioural difficulties. Qualitative data were collected through focus group meetings with Dutch primary schoolteachers (N = 41) and analysed with a multi-grounded theory approach. This resulted in a conceptual model demonstrating that the participants not only suggest strategies primarily focused on supporting social participation, but also suggest pre-conditional strategies, despite the differences between internalising and externalising behavioural difficulties in terms of characteristics and needs. The results are discussed in light of further investigation for schoolteacher support to meet the specific academic and social needs of all students, with or without SEBD.     

Working with schools in identifying and overcoming emotional barriers to learning

This paper reports a case study on working closely with a secondary school, to enhance understanding of disruptive behaviour, through the use of bespoke Continuing Professional Development (CPD) materials. This project evolved from the researchers’ previous research on the extent to which teachers believe disruptive pupils can control their behaviour. A notable finding was the sizeable minority of teachers in both primary and secondary schools who appear to be unaware of the psychological underpinnings of disruptive behaviour. That is, that such behaviour frequently communicates unresolved emotional needs, rather than wilful defiance. The current project aims to develop, implement and evaluate CPD resources developed by the researchers, for a one-day staff training day at a secondary school in north England. Prior to training, school staff completed a questionnaire to “audit” their perceptions of disruptive behaviour in school. Following evaluation, the CPD materials will be made available to other schools. It is anticipated that the materials will enable greater mutual understanding and respect for the ways in which disruptive behaviour is perceived by practitioners and school staff. Moreover, they will provide an urgently needed means of facilitating a shared knowledge base and a shared language for addressing emotional barriers to learning.     

How to link geography,cross-curricular approach and inquiry in science education at the primary schools

Pupil research in school lessons in the sense of Inquiry-Based Education (IBE) is one of the constructivist approaches to education. Inquiry strengthens the positive approach of pupils to natural science subjects, encouraging them to study phenomena and processes taking place in the natural environment around them and use the acquired knowledge in their practical life. Geography as a school subject, due to the multidisciplinary nature of geography as a science, is close to natural sciences as well. This is because of the broadness of the subject of geographical studies, the complex (natural and cultural) landscape. The close links of geography to all cross-sectional themes make it a good support for teaching classical science subjects at schools such as mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology, environmental education. Moreover, the field teaching is one of the strong assets of the implementation of IBE in the school geography. Presented case study on the ‘effect of noise on the surroundings’ explores the facts mentioned above, in geography teaching. It verifies the pupils’ knowledge and skills to adopt the basic principles of IBE in the practice. At the same time, it presents the concrete experiences how the children master the individual stages of IBE during the process of education.     

Capacity for (quality) instruction: a framework for understanding the use of resources to promote teaching and learning in schools

Abstract

The inception of no-fee schools and a school-fee exemption policy has become a contentious issue but also an exciting one for school managers in South Africa. Managers opposed to the policy have cited amongst others things, academic standards dropping, as well as parents who can afford to pay jumping on the bandwagon and refusing to pay. While the advocates for no-fee schools argue that it is not only a moral obligation for the authorities to ensure that every child is able to get basic education, it is also a basic human right. Notwithstanding these contrasting views, an overwhelming majority (62%) of the purposively sampled principals of public schools in the Free State Province expressed relief and agreement with this decision to declare poor school nofee schools. This article, therefore, intends to explore not only the background to the policy but also the possible impact of this decision on overall school performance as perceived by the school principals.     

Between secularism/s: Islam and the institutionalisation of modern higher education in mid-nineteenth century British India

This paper problematises clean distinctions between secular and religious by tracing the history of modern higher education of Muslims in British colonial India. Grounded in the interpretive research tradition and with an empirical focus on the formative mid-nineteenth century, the article argues that relational notions between singular secularism and multiple secularisms best capture this historical trajectory. The institutional imaginary of colonialism constituted a significant milieu that, on the one hand, resulted in British policies in India that were at a tangent to similar developments in England at the time and, on the other, informed Muslim agency in its own institutionalisation of higher education. Muslim educational philosophy, politics and even theology were shaped in a concrete, historical, power-laden context. One of the consequences of this was a peculiar construction of ‘secularism’ in relation to Islam – again, related but at a tangent to the same notion in Europe. With a view on contemporary Pakistan, it is argued that such relational histories must be accounted for if policy and academic discourse is to move beyond largely stale and unhelpful binaries of Islam vs. Western modernity in religious education.     

Measuring Spanish orthographic development in private,public and subsidised schools in Chile

The current study has a twofold purpose: first, to determine the reliability of a tool for assessing orthographic development in Spanish; second, to assess differences in students’ performance on the measure across multiple types of primary schools in a large city in Chile. A Spanish developmental spelling inventory that contained words of increasing orthographic difficulty was administered twice to students in first through fifth grades in three types of schools: public, private and partially subsidised. These school types in large part represent varying levels of student socio-economic status because of costs associated with attending them. Results demonstrate that (a) the Spanish spelling inventory is able to reliably measure the development of orthographic knowledge in Spanish, and (b) there is a relationship between school type and student achievement. The authors describe individual cases to highlight the qualitative nature of differential performance for students in greater- or lesser-resourced schools.     

Differences between secondary schools: A study about school context,group composition,school practice,and school effects with special attention to public and Catholic schools and types of schools

The results indicate that in Flanders secondary schools of different denomination and of different school type (based on their curriculum offerings) differ with respect to several characteristics. With respect to the educational framework, learning environment and learning climate differences between schools are small and differences are more situated within schools. Multilevel analysis reveals that almost 19% of the variance in mathematics achievement is at school level. The effect of denomination is small and disappears when student background (which is related to school practice) is taken into account. The effect of school type remains important when controlled for student background and denomination. Group composition, the social and learning climate, and the opportunity to learn seem to matter and explain almost 90% of the school effect. They also explain more than four fifths of the effect of school type (and denomination together) which accounts for 65% of the school level variance.     

浅谈小学问题学生情感教育

由于家庭因素和学校因素的影响,一部分小学生被贴上“问题学生”的标签,这严重影响了学生的身心发展和自我认识.采用情感教育的渗透,培养学生的自尊心自信心,可以让问题学生走出内心的困扰,重新树立正确的人生价值观.     

小学全科型卓越教师的内涵、特征与培养路径

儿童的认知世界并无学科之分,在启蒙教育阶段实施综合性养成教育,可以更好帮助儿童从立体的生活世界过渡到具有整体图式的认知世界,全科型卓越教师的提出与素养教育的现实诉求相契合。儿童认知规律和国内外全科教师研究都表明,小学全科型卓越教师的本质内涵不是能胜任全部科目的教学,而是能否遵循儿童认知发展规律,有效整合各学科知识,并具备设计和实施这类整合性课程教学的能力,更好促进儿童品性的发展。但是,目前小学全科型卓越教师的培养在教师教育的课程体系和师资队伍中都还存在若干挑战。可从师资队伍建设、课程与教学改革和增强职业吸引力三个路径入手,探索小学全科型卓越教师的有效培养。     

创建教师发展学校的思考——乌鲁木齐地区首批教师发展学校工作初探

文章通过对教师发展学校内涵、特征及乌鲁木齐市建立教师发展学校迫切性等方面的阐述,针对乌鲁木齐市中小学教师培训的现状,提出了建立教师发展学校的思考。     

1920年前后中国社会的粮食短缺与社会矛盾

1920年前后的中国社会,战火频仍,农业危机。灾岁农民农业生产下降;丰年农产品价格不振,造成粮食产量急剧下降。粮食产量降低,粮食调剂不便,加之政府的不作为,造成粮食供应愈发紧张,最终酿成社会人群中普遍的粮食恐慌,出现了一系列的社会问题与矛盾,并由此引发了各式各样的社会冲突。     

Historical thinking about sources in the context of a standards-based curriculum: a Swedish case

The increased interest in basing teaching on disciplinary thinking has had a profound impact on the syllabus for history in Sweden. Within this context, we examine how students demonstrate one aspect of disciplinary thinking in history, namely reasoning about historical sources. The material used is written answers to an assignment about historical sources in the national test in history for year 6. The analysis shows that many students are able to show at least some aspects of disciplinary thinking about sources, though the vast majority has problems with contextualising the source in the assignment. One explanation put forth is that the syllabus is not yet fully enacted in teaching practices.     

数学新课程实施中学生合作能力的培养

培养学生的合作学习能力可通过合作＂做＂数学、＂思考＂数学、＂体味＂数学等途径实施师生合作,而在学生之间的合作应特别培养合作的主动性、和谐性和交互性。