Working class educational transitions to university: The limits of success

Educational transitions experienced within a context of wide and growing inequalities such as England result in very different transition experiences to those experienced by young people growing up in relatively equitable societies with strong communal links. Transitions of working class young people in England are beset with competition, individualism and low expectations. Employing Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, the article argues that working class transitions to university reveal the failure of the English educational system to provide anything like a level playing field to support working class young people who are seen to be educational successes. Focusing on those working class young people who are particularly successful by gaining access to elite universities the paper argues that even this small select group face discrimination, set-backs, and a degree of social exclusion. The paper concludes that the vast majority of working class young people, including many of those who are the most academically successful have very different transitions to higher education, and experiences within it, from their middle and upper class peers.     

Kindergarten Teachers’ Ratings of Children’s Behavioral and Learning Competencies: Predictive Impact on Children’s Third and Fourth Grade Achievement Trajectories

Early Childhood Education Journal - Teachers’ valid observational assessments of children’s competencies in kindergarten are critical, as formal classroom testing is not prevalent....     

The limits of social class in explaining ethnic gaps in educational attainment

This paper reports an analysis of the educational attainment and progress between age 11 and age 14 of over 14,500 students from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Young People in England. The mean attainment gap in national tests at age 14 between White British and several ethnic minority groups was large, more than three times the size of the gender gap, but at the same time only about one‐third of the size of the social class gap. Socioeconomic variables could account for the attainment gaps for Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students, but not for Black Caribbean students. Further controls for parental and student attitudes, expectations and behaviours indicated minority ethnic groups were on average more advantaged on these measures than White British students, but this was not reflected proportionately in their levels of attainment. Black Caribbean students were distinctive as the only group making less progress than White British students between age 11 and 14 and this could not be accounted for by any of the measured contextual variables. Possible explanations for the White British–Black Caribbean gap are considered.     

Extra‐credential experiences and social closure: Working‐class students at university

Human capital theorists perceive of educational expansion as beneficial to individuals, corporations and national economies, while social closure theorists have claimed that inflation of credential requirements maintains traditional status inequalities. In this paper I argue that status inequalities are not only maintained by credential inflation, but also the inflation of extra‐credential experiences. As undergraduate degrees become more common, access to employment and further education opportunities increasingly depend on extra‐curricular and ‘enriching’ educational experiences. Using qualitative data from a longitudinal study of working‐class university students in Canada, I will address the mechanisms by which they have gained or were denied access to such experiences. The data suggest that working‐class students’ relative lack of financial resources and social networks are barriers to the development of extra‐credential experiences, which in turn leads to the change of educational and career plans for some.     

Global pedigree and national imperative: Hong Kong universities’ response to China’s grand strategies

Higher Education - Literature offers a theoretical framework exemplifying the inherent tensions between “becoming Chinese” and “remaining global” in the evolution of the...     

Difficulties and outlets: On paradigm of China’s pedagogy

In this paper, the paradigm of China’s pedagogy means a way of thinking followed and adhered to by Chinese educationists from the establishment of New China till now when they consider, study and conceive problems of pedagogy. This way of thinking guides educationists to have particular study directions, unique modes of pedagogy establishment and special framework of problem solving. And furthermore, it forms the study tradition of China’s pedagogy and stipulates the developing orientation of China’s pedagogy. From the establishment of New China till now, we have been edified by the paradigms in the Soviet Union and the Western countries and restricted by “Western paradigm” and “Soviet Paradigm”, without any paradigm of our own. The paradigm crisis in the development of China’ pedagogy has obstructed the healthy development of China’s pedagogy. The establishment of China’s pedagogy should start with establishing the subject—educationists and establishing the object—“paradigm system”. The establishment of China’s pedagogy paradigm will contribute greatly to the origination of China’s pedagogy and its academic schools.     

教育期望中的社会阶层差:父母的社会地位和子女教育期望的关系

To achieve the overall goals and purposes of education is closely related to the living environments of students. Different family backgrounds will put children into a situation where they face unfair competition. According to a survey conducted in China’s Urumqi and Changchun about parents’ awareness of educating their children, this paper will suggest that families with different backgrounds have different expectations for their children’s education. Moreover, it suggests that parents’ social status is related to their children’s education expectations. Therefore, we can find that parents’ social status influences their children’s education, and their positions in social class are related to education. __________ Translated from Qinghua Daxue Jiaoyu Yanjiu 清华大学教育研究 (Tsinghua Journal of Education), 2006, (4): 71–76     

Researching class in the classroom: addressing the social class attainment gap in Initial Teacher Education

The social class attainment gap in education is now attracting an increased level of concern. Despite the efforts of the British New Labour government to address the continuing underachievement of working class pupils in England, there has been little progress. This paper reports on one aspect of a wider research study carried out in an Initial Teacher Education department in which this persistent educational problem was explicitly addressed. In this study student teachers were prompted to explore their own understandings of social class and underachievement by acting as school‐based researchers. The data collected by the student teachers revealed both silence and resistance surrounding social class in educational contexts. They identified social class and underachievement as overlapping constructions that were inextricably linked to the perceptions and practices of the teacher. Importantly, in reflecting on their experiences of the research process the student teachers were able to identify significant implications for their own future professional practice. This paper concludes by emphasising that Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provides an important context in which to raise social class issues and to ensure that student teachers are effectively prepared to recognise and address the institutional barriers to learning faced by underachieving working class pupils.     

Peripheral Voices: Parental involvement,social class,and educational disadvantage

This paper presents the views of working-class parents on home-school links. Group interviews with parents of pupils in a primary school in the disadvantaged areas scheme in the Republic of Ireland suggest that parental involvement in school is limited to the giving and receiving of information, restricted consultation, and engagement in some supplemental responsibilities. Although parents were interested, informed and concerned regarding their children's education, they felt excluded from participation in decision-making about school management and organisation, about matters that affected them personally and financially, and about their children's progress. We suggest that heterogeneity in working-class voice merits further research; that the gendered nature of parent-school links needs further refinement to take account of being a primary carer; and that hearing working-class parents' voices can increase understanding of how parent groupings occupy spaces that are relatively peripheral or proximal to the school site and to their children's experiences of schooling.     

Female computer science students: A qualitative exploration of women’s experiences studying computer science at university in the UK

Education and Information Technologies - The under-representation of w omen in computer science education courses is well documented, and the social and commercial need to address this is widely...     

Experience of disadvantage: The influence of identity on engagement in working class students’ educational trajectories to an elite university

Pervasive socio‐economic differences in relation to participation in higher education in the United Kingdom are particularly prominent in the most prestigious institutions. This study provides insight into why some individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are successful in being admitted into one of these institutions. Underpinned by phenomenology, semi‐structured interviews were carried out to examine the lived experiences of high‐achieving students from socio‐economically disadvantaged backgrounds throughout their educational trajectories from primary school to a Russell Group university. Two main themes emerged from the data: identity and educational engagement. Various sources of disadvantage associated with material hardship, socio‐cultural and interpersonal factors were strongly linked to identity and students’ perceptions of their own social status. In turn, these factors and identity‐related constructs associated with peer‐group memberships, low expectations and negative group stereotypes affected how individuals engaged with education, contributing, for instance, to their lack of active involvement at school/college and poor attendance. However, identity‐related factors were also found to influence individuals’ educational engagement positively, including their motivations for overcoming obstacles, achieving high grades and pursuing HE. The barriers and facilitators discussed by these individuals have important implications for widening access to HE and thus require further consideration.     

Parental practices and educational achievement: social class,race, and habitus

A large, nationally representative database of American elementary school students was used to quantitatively assess the complex ways in which race intersects with social class, affecting parenting strategies that in turn produce various educational outcomes among children. The determinants and consequences of parental practices associated with middle‐class families – what Lareau terms ‘concerted cultivation’ – among White and African American students were examined. The findings reveal that cultural differences in child‐rearing occur along class, race, and gender boundaries.     

深化我国工程学科专业硕士培养模式与考核要求

根据我国政策及国外专业型硕士的培养经验,深化工程学科全日制专业硕士的培养模式。通过教学过程和综合能力培养矩阵的关联性分析,将培养目标及过程划分为五级培养目标及七级能力体系。并提出将部分工科专业课程改编为综合课程设计形式的实践类课程,例如工程经济学、建设工程造价等以增强研究生的实践能力。建立专业硕士的考核体系以适应不同阶段的能力考核要求。     

The social field(s) of arts education today: living vulnerability in neo-liberal times

The arts are often seen as peripheral to the ‘real business’ of school and schooling. While this has been the case for some time now, the increasing pressures of high-stakes testing and ever-more draconian public funding schemes (particularly in the wake of 9/11) have created something of a ‘perfect storm’ for those working in the arts. Arts proponents today live and operate within a culture of scarcity, having to justify their increasingly marginalized vocations while competing for continually shrinking resources. The result is an often deep-bodied sense of vulnerability, one which saturates the social field (both micro and macro) of arts education in ways not often publicly acknowledged. In this article, I explore this notion of ‘vulnerability’ as a framework for understanding qualitative data which emerged from a three-year arts and education project I conducted in a large, northeast city in the USA beginning in 2003. In so doing, I look to open up a broader discussion about the oft-ignored intersection(s) between the material and aesthetic in arts and education – a discussion which is sober about the future of such work in times of economic scarcity and conservative retrenchment.     

The role of educational developers in the expansion of educational technology

This paper explores how academic staff are supported in attempts to develop their use of educational technologies. It identifies the work undertaken by academic staff in the development of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) application and relates this to the direct support (helping staff to teach using ICT) and professional development opportunities (helping staff to develop their skills) available to them. These broad areas of support are seen as a continuum, with varying proportions of direct support and professional development available in different circumstances. The paper concludes that increasing use and expectations of ICT to support student learning in traditional universities are leading to a greater need for team‐based approaches to support learners, and the issues that this change raises are explored.     

Household head's educational level and household education expenditure in China: The mediating effect of social class identification

Fairness in education is an issue of great concern for China's development. At the same time, household education expenditure is a key factor and objective material embodiment of the educational resources and educational opportunities for Chinese children. Using the data of the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS2016), this study analyzes the mechanisms of action in household education expenditure affected by both the educational level and the social class identification of household heads. The empirical results indicate that the Chinese household heads' social class identification is affected positively by their educational level. After controlling for the potential endogeneity, the education expenditure tends to increase as the subjective social class identification of the household heads is promoted. Class identification plays a partial mediating role in the process of the household head's educational level, affecting the household education expenditure. The findings provide important insights for understanding the intergenerational transmission mechanism of cultural capital in China.     

大学教育研究机构的主要任务是进行院校研究

以单个院校的实际问题为研究对象,以改进管理实践为目的,具有自我研究、咨询研究、行动研究为特征的院校研究,应该成为多数大学教育研究机构的主要任务。为此,要明确大学发展过程是一个创造过程;决策者和研究者都要转变观念、提高认识;通过制度设计,使院校研究活动“组织化”。     

An Estranged Perception: Metatheatricality of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Children's Literature in Education - Oscar Wilde was described by W. B. Yeats as “a man of action, a born dramatist.” Although people did not recognize him as a serious...     

社会工作专业学生的学习动机和教学对策研究

以授课班级的42名社会工作专业的大学生为被试对象,使用修正后的学习动机量表,研究社会工作专业学生的学习动机现状、学习动机与学习成绩的关系。统计产品与服务解决方案(SPSS)软件的数据分析结果表明:社会工作专业的大学生学习动机不高;女生外生学习动机和总评成绩显著高于男生;整体动机变量进入成绩的直线回归方程。针对社会工作专业的大学生学习动机的研究现状及面临的具体问题,在自主学习、学习质量认知和学习兴趣这三方面提出了相应的教学对策。