‘Things change but names remain the same’: Higher Education Historiography 1975–2000

This is an analytical survey of the history of higher education – primarily but not exclusively in England – as written in the last quarter of the twentieth century. It examines the history of liberal education, of the rewriting of the history of Oxford and Cambridge, and of nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century institutions. It addresses new methodologies and data, and the search for more comprehensive and less parochial and antiquarian approaches to the history of institutions. It examines how accounts of new sectors of higher education and national agencies relate to social hierarchies and developments. It includes discussion of the contribution of non‐historians to the history of higher education. It concludes that historical writing has firm roots in historians’ contemporary environment. Bibliographical sources are suggested, and the references themselves constitute a bibliography of the historiography of the period.     

Multimodal approaches to reflective teaching and assessment in higher education

Reflection is not a new concept in the teaching of higher education and is often an important component of many disciplinary courses. Despite this, past research shows that while there are examples of rich reflective strategies used in some areas of higher education, most approaches to, and conceptualisations of, reflective learning and assessment have been perfunctory and inconsistent. In many disciplinary areas, reflection is often assessed as a written activity ‘tagged onto’ assessment practices. In creative disciplines, however, reflective practice is an integral and cumulative form of learning and is often expressed in ways other than in the written form. This paper will present three case studies of reflective practice in the area of Creative Industries in higher education – Dance, Fashion and Music. It will discuss the ways in which higher education teachers and students use multimodal approaches to expressing knowledge and reflective practice in such a context. The paper will argue that unless students are encouraged to participate in deep reflective disciplinary discourse via multi-modes then reflection will remain superficial in the higher education context.     

Books Received

This article is concerned with the ways in which historians may write about post‐1945 British education. In particular, it argues that accounts of education policy and practice may be distorted by the race and ethnic discourses embedded in both the analytical frameworks which historians employ and in the primary source materials with which we work.

We begin by exploring the problems which inhere in the concepts race and ethnicity, arguing that the historian should be wary of importing common sense constructs into historical analysis. Discussion then turns to a critical review of a number of texts written by educationalists and policy‐makers from the early 1960s to the publication of the Swann Report; these texts constructed a particular “race relational” reading of pupil populations and educational “problems”. We summarise the key themes of the period‐texts and consider some new directions for education history‐writing.     

On the Affective Challenges of Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education

This article reports on the affective challenges I experienced while attempting to develop a pedagogy of teacher education during my first three years in teacher preparation. Data were collected systematically over the course of the study in the form of written interpretive accounts of my experiences. Analysis of these accounts revealed how certain ongoing, and at times paradoxical, tensions influenced my thinking about my initial practices as a teacher educator. Even as I came to understand the content and pedagogy of my instruction in more sophisticated ways, I simultaneously exhibited fear of regression, displayed apathy or exhaustion, exhibited frustration and restlessness, and struggled to navigate interpersonal relationships with my students. The implications of these affective challenges for developing a pedagogy of teacher education are discussed and avenues for further research are considered.     

The three duties of the historian of education

The origins of modern schooling in early nineteenth-century Africa have been poorly researched. Moreover, histories of education in Africa have focused largely on the education of boys. Little attention has been paid to girls’ schooling or to the missionary women who sought to construct a new feminine Christian identity for African girls. In the absence of personal accounts of African girls’ schooling from that period, this paper draws on a slim body of 71 letters written by women and girls associated with one British mission society in Sierra Leone between 1804 and 1826 to suggest a fluid and at times contradictory construction of gender and racial identity, which sits at odds with the ideology of domestic femininity that the missionaries sought to impart through girls’ schooling. The handful of letters written by African women and girls also casts doubt on the assumed subservience of black subjects to white officialdom.     

A critical ethic in a knowledge economy: research degree candidates in the workplace

This paper provides a philosophical viewpoint to questions regarding the role and purpose of the research degree. Drawing on non‐binary accounts of knowledge within the philosophical tradition, it argues against the instrumentalist conception of applied knowledge evident within higher education policy. The paper identifies a critical ethic at work within the views of research candidates who do a research degree to complement an established professional career. A parallel is identified between the critical ethic that is evident within professional's conceptions of the role and value of a research degree and the notion of philosophy as a way of life that was prevalent in antiquity. The implications for research pedagogy of treating criticality as a way of life are then explored through Ronald Barnett's alternative model for higher education as a facilitator of ‘critical being’.     

Impact of feedback request forms and verbal feedback on higher education students’ feedback perception,self-efficacy,and motivation

ABSTRACT

In higher education, students often misunderstand teachers’ written feedback. This is worrisome, since written feedback is the main form of feedback in higher education. Organising feedback conversations, in which feedback request forms and verbal feedback are used, is a promising intervention to prevent misunderstanding of written feedback. In this study a 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 128) was conducted to examine the effects of a feedback request form (with vs. without) and feedback mode (written vs. verbal feedback). Results showed that verbal feedback had a significantly higher impact on students’ feedback perception than written feedback; it did not improve students’ self-efficacy, or motivation. Feedback request forms did not improve students’ perceptions, self-efficacy, or motivation. Based on these results, we can conclude that students have positive feedback perceptions when teachers communicate their feedback verbally and more research is needed to investigate the use of feedback request forms.     

Higher education experiences of elite student-para-athletes in the UK

This article presents the narrative accounts of six elite student-para-athletes attending higher education full time in the UK. Whilst literature concerning the student-athlete population in the UK is growing, there is no research at present that brings to the fore the voices of student-athletes who represent their country in Paralympic sports. In addition, research concerning the experiences of higher education students with disabilities in the UK is heavily concerned with the experience of learning as opposed to the more nuanced experiences of ‘being’ a university student. Accounts concerning the lived experience of higher education were gathered via semi-structured interviews and analysed through a process of interpretative phenomenological analysis producing an intricate, intimate and personal theme for each participant. Analysed and presented as individual case studies, the research demonstrates the uniqueness of experience despite the existence of common and shared life environments. The accounts explore three life-worlds – university, elite sport and disability – and expose the difference in meaning-making by each participant to the identities of ‘athlete’, ‘student’ and ‘disabled’, specifically within the context of higher education. The accounts are presented as three themes that illuminate the contrast in experience: (1) university as a normative and positive experience; (2) university as a disappointing and hindering experience; and (3) university as an experience of personal salvation and purpose. Findings are mapped to the social-relational model of disability to better understand the relationship between individual perception, impairment and environment.     

追问研究本意 纾解"学科情结"

追根溯源,回到出发点,反思高等教育研究的本意、目的和使命,是要研究和解决高等教育活动自身的发展问题和变革策略,还是纯粹"源于研究兴趣"和"学术情怀",或者是为了获得某种"资质"和地位?追问研究的本意,有助于我们廓清迷茫,凝聚焦点,纾解"学科情结"。发展、提高我国高等教育研究的基本路径可以归纳为:深入实践,研究问题,解决问题(影响决策、指导行动),进而增进知识、丰富理论。本文提出,需要重视关乎"高等教育学科建设"的四个问题:其一,高等教育学的知识体系有何特性?是否存在一个慎密、精致、井然有序的理论大厦?其二,高等教育的理论体系如何建构?教科书式的理论著述是否应当"改弦更张"?其三,如何理解"范式"?是否要重视库恩替代"范式"的"专业基体"?其四,由谁来推进高等教育学科的发展?如何确保这一研究领域的开放性?     

Stigmatised learners: mature-age students negotiating university culture

Research on the socially-situated nature of learning shows how practices and identities are affected by participation in communities, but very little is known about how mature-age students experience the relational dynamics of university. Based on data from a qualitative study of first-year students, we consider written accounts by older learners to examine how they negotiate the culture of higher education. We found that mature-age students encounter a university culture dominated by younger students, who draw separating boundaries between the social and the academic and stigmatise older students because of their academic practices. Drawing on Lave and Wenger’s learning theory, we examine the way mature-age students negotiate the process of becoming legitimate members of the learning community, and the resistance they face in doing so. Knowing how mature-age students learn, and how to support them, depends on examining their negotiation of university culture, as well as their differing aspirations and needs.     

‘Frictional’ relationships … tension in the camp: focusing on the relational in under-represented students’ experiences in higher education

Drawing upon data collected as part of a research project exploring diversity in Irish higher education, this article focuses on the relational realm of under-represented students’ experiences. It commences with a brief overview of the background and context as well as the methodology of the study. The article then presents and explores a number of interrelated findings with regard to the relationships experienced by these undergraduates, both with other students and with their external friends and acquaintances. Friction was evident in the accounts of the respondents and this article argues that an increased focus on the relational is required by institutions, given the central role played by the social experience in the retention of students in higher education. Further, it is argued that education for diversity and inclusion be incorporated as an explicit and integrated component in all higher education curricula in order to foster mutual understanding and respect between student groups, within the broader educational community and ultimately in the wider society.     

《应用数学》模块化教学模式探讨

针对高等职业教育特点,分析了高职《应用数学》课程在实现专业培养目标中的作用,探讨了高职《应用数学》课程改革的必要性、紧迫性,提出了《应用数学》模块化教学模式,包括：针对专业的模块划分及各模块的要求。     

近二十余年我国学前教育学教材的内容分析

近二十余年,我国学前教育学教材建设取得了可喜的成绩。但到目前为止,尚无人专门对我国近二十年来的学前教育学教材作一专门研究。采用内容分析法对我国学前教育学教材建设进行纵向研究和比较研究,结果表明,二十年来学前教育学教材建设具有四个特点：学前教育学教材以合著为主,独著为辅;学前教育学教材涉及的主题广泛性有余,集中度不够;学前教育学教材的学科意识初现,研究有待展开;学前教育学教材的学术水平有待提高,学术服务意识需要加强。高校学前教育学课程论亟待成为一个被关注和研究的领域。     

Canadian Teaching and Learning Centres on Facebook and Twitter: An Exploration Through Social Media

Teaching and Learning Centres (TLCs) play a role in the professional development of faculty, staff and teaching assistants in higher education institutions. One of the functions of many TLCs is that of outreach, not only to the individuals within their institutions who are their primary clientele but also to the greater higher education community. This paper presents an introductory review of Canadian TLCs’ use of social media, seeking to address questions regarding the extent to which Canadian TLCs use social media and the ways in which these are used. Based on frequency of accounts, and on the content of posts in these accounts, the authors found that social media are used by nearly half of all Canadian TLCs to a wide range of purposes. Areas for further inquiry are suggested.     

Inclusive education in the academy: pedagogical and political imperatives in a master’s course

Many universities offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in inclusive education. There has been much research into the impact of these courses, but little is written about their design. This article focuses on a master’s course in inclusive education in a South African university. The course positions inclusive education as a critical education project and is designed around the four propositions presented by Slee in The Irregular School (2011. Milton Park: Routledge). Using Bernsteinian ideas about pedagogising knowledge, this article accounts for the pedagogical choices made in content selection and course design. The focal questions in the course are described, together with an indication of the range of additional texts that students read. Given that Slee asserts that inclusive education is a political project, and that Allan (2010. “The Inclusive Teacher Educator: Spaces for Civic Engagement.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31 (4): 411–422) urges inclusive teacher educators to reorientate themselves towards civic duty, I argue that producing a pedagogic discourse of inclusive education is a political task that should result in both the teacher educator and the students being oriented towards a critique of existing exclusionary arrangements and an activism that leads to change.     

Use of the ‘Stop,Start, Continue’ method is associated with the production of constructive qualitative feedback by students in higher education

Students in higher education are increasingly asked to give feedback on their education experience, reflecting an increase in the importance attached to that feedback. Existing literature demonstrates that qualitative student feedback is valued and important, yet there has been limited evaluation of the means by which qualitative student feedback is collected, and how collection method influences the depth of feedback from students. We evaluated the depth of feedback written by students on programmes at three different universities in the United Kingdom, using an established evaluation instrument. We found that the use of a structured pro forma (Stop, Start, Continue) was associated with feedback of greater depth than that produced using free text entry. We then evaluated the effect of switching from a free text to a structured pro forma at one institution and found, again, that the structured pro forma was associated with feedback of greater depth. In addition, students indicated a preference for the structured pro forma.     

Interplay among technical,socio-emotional and personal factors in written feedback research

The centrality of written feedback is clearly seen from the proliferation of research in the context of higher education. As an increasingly expanding field in research, the majority of written feedback studies have been interested in investigating the technical aspect of how feedback should be given in order to promote student learning. More recently, researchers have focused on the socio-emotional factors at work in the feedback process, and advocated a dialogic approach to giving feedback in order to increase students’ understanding and active participation in the process. Moreover, to empower students to reflect on and make sense of the written feedback they receive, students’ personal characteristics, such as their prior and current knowledge, also play an important role. Nevertheless, reviewing studies on written feedback in the context of higher education shows a lopsided focus on the technical factors of written feedback, with little attention paid to the socio-emotional and student factors. This commentary aims at providing a broader definition of written feedback and identifying the dominant factors reported in research. A conceptual framework for looking into the factors at work in the feedback process is proposed and future research directions are suggested.     

Preservice Teachers' Stories Of Mathematics Classrooms: Explorations Of Practice Through Fictional Accounts

This report describes four preservice secondary teachers' fictional accounts about mathematics classrooms. The narrative structures and meanings of the preservice teachers' stories, written while the preservice teachers were enrolled in a secondary methods course, were examined with the goal of gaining insight into the preservice teachers' emerging identities as mathematics teachers. Although past research has examined experienced teachers' stories, little research, if any, has focused on stories written by preservice mathematics teachers or on intentionally fictional stories about mathematics classrooms. This report uses methods of narrative analysis to develop understandings about preservice teachers' storied identities and specifies areas for further investigation into the role of narrative in mathematics teacher education.     

试论现代大学的专业教育与普通教育——约翰．S．布鲁贝克著《高等教育哲学》读后感

通过研读布鲁贝克的《高等教育哲学》，对高等教育从自由教育到专业教育，再到专业教育与普通教育携手并进，有了进一步的理解，循着高等教育发展的历史轨迹，可以认识到，目前我国高校实施的素质教育是高等教育发展的必然，用具有中国特色的素质教育的思想指导我国的高等教育，无论在理论上还是在实践上都有重要的意义。