Student–student mentoring for retention and engagement in distance education

This article argues that in the drive to develop e‐learning initiatives in distance learning, simpler ways of supporting students for retention may be overlooked; for example, the linking of students in the form of mentoring and peer support networks. The article reports on three mentoring projects, in the United Kingdom, Korea and New Zealand, and shows that apparent retention gains of up to 20% with a return on investment of the order of magnitude of several hundred per cent may be possible. Whilst accepting the limitations of these studies, the article argues that there needs to be a clearer understanding of the benefits of such initiatives when deciding to invest time and funding in distance education support. It suggests that there is still much mileage to be made out of mentoring and ‘study dating’.     

Locked out,locked in and stuck: exploring migrant academics’ experiences of moving to the UK

Current understanding of international academic mobility tends to view migrant academics as career-oriented actors who can follow opportunities across borders with relative ease. This paper offers a more nuanced reading of international mobility in academia by analysing how the professional context influences migrant academics’ decisions to come to and remain in the United Kingdom (UK). Drawing on data from 62 semi-structured interviews with foreign-born academics employed in the UK, the paper argues that the availability of (relatively) good-quality employment shapes international academic mobility more than country preferences. However, academics may become ‘stuck’ in the country of residence even when employment conditions deteriorate, not only because they are gradually tracked into country’s higher education system and culture but also because they lose the credentials, work experience and networks that may be needed to make another international move. This paper therefore shows that ‘stickiness’ in international mobility involves not only being ‘locked into’ a country but also being ‘locked out’ of another, and in so doing contributes to knowledge about the ways in which migrant academics become stuck whilst working abroad.

     

Teacher training in K–12 student mental health: A systematic review

Teachers are in a unique position to identify and support students who experience mental health concerns. The purpose of this systematic review was to (a) identify current available evidence-based teacher training programs related to students' mental health, (b) review the content and delivery methods of the training, and (c) evaluate the quality of the research designs and evaluation methods of the training. Most training programs are delivered face-to-face and include interactive discussion and content knowledge. Content varied among the training programs. Most studies found improved knowledge among teachers; however, no studies found improvement in effective communication.     

New Technology and Learning: Policy and Practice in the UK, 1980–2010

A previous version of this paper was first presented in October 1998 as an inaugural professorial lecture at the University of Huddersfield. It focuses mainly upon issues related to policy and practice in schools, with some cross-referencing to higher education. It is divided into three sections: the politicised nature of policy for new technology in education in the UK; key issues from the author's research on new technology and learning; and speculations on re-organising schooling with the help of new technology. The first section provides an analysis of the aspirations of politicians and how these shaped policy, as well as assessing the successes and weaknesses of policy implementation. The second section surveys the outcomes of a number of research studies, carried out over fifteen years, and from these identifies some generic findings about the impact of new technology on learning and ways of maximising its beneficial effects. The third section suggests an approach to re-structuring schooling to make best use of the lightweight, mobile, new technology tools, which are about to be widely available.     

Teachers’ knowledge and confidence for promoting positive mental health in primary school communities

This paper reports an investigation into Australian primary school teachers’ knowledge and confidence for mental health promotion. Questionnaires were delivered to 1397 teachers. In-depth interviews were held with 37 teachers. Quantitative results showed that half to two thirds of teachers felt efficacious and knowledgeable about selected components of mental health promotion. Independent judgments by staff about students’ mental health status concurred with students’ scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in about 75% of cases, indicating a good level of staff awareness about students’ mental health status. Exposure to the KidsMatter Primary mental health promotion initiative was associated with improvements in teachers’ efficacy, knowledge and pedagogy, with small to medium effect sizes. Qualitative analysis indicated that teachers’ subject-matter and pedagogical knowledge were heavily reliant on curriculum resources. Implications of the findings for the implementation of school-based mental health promotion initiatives are discussed.     

Three versions of ‘localism’: implications for upper secondary education and lifelong learning in the UK

As part of the international debate about new forms of governance and moves towards decentralization and devolution, this article discusses the increasing interest in the concept of ‘localism’ in the UK, marked recently by the publication of the UK Coalition Government’s ‘Localism Bill’. A distinction is made between three versions – ‘centrally managed’, ‘laissez-faire’ and ‘democratic’ localism. The article draws on two research projects funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and one by the Nuffield Foundation, as well as sources by specialists in local government, political analysts and educationalists. It explores the broad features of the three versions of localism and their implications for upper secondary education and lifelong learning. The article concludes by examining the strengths and limitations of the first two models and suggests that the third has the potential to offer a more equitable way forward.     

University–industry relations in Bolivia: implications for university transformations in Latin America

This article examines the implications of how academics respond to the debate on the production of knowledge and its transfer to the productive sector, for the transformation of Latin American universities. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 349 lecturers from Bolivian public universities, which inquired into aspects of university–industry relations (UIR). Although the results indicate that lecturers are in favour of relations with firms, there are several barriers to such relationships, such as lack of institutional support, generally unfavourable atmosphere in universities, and an industrial structure comprising few firms in knowledge-intensive sectors and firms with low absorptive capacity. In the context of Bolivia, unlike what occurs in developed countries, UIR have been configured around scientifically unimportant activities—technological support and internship schemes to place students in firms—which has had a negative effect on the consolidation of research, an academic activity, to which lecturers devote little of their time. The results of our study show the tensions that exist in efforts to change the university model; there is a reluctance to intensify the commercialisation of research results, and a lack of enthusiasm for introducing complex relationship mechanisms, such as the creation of hybrid structures.

Causes and consequences of academics’ emotions in private higher education institutions: implications for policy and practice through the lens of affective events theory

Educational Research for Policy and Practice - This study aims at testing a few tenets of affective events theory (AET) from a predictive perspective in the context of Malaysian private higher...     

Parents’ son preference,childhood adverse experience and mental health in old age: Evidence from China

BackgroundSon preference is an enduring phenomenon in China and may often be related to childhood adverse experiences. According to a life-course perspective, adverse experiences during a childhood period may have a long-term effect on mental health in later age. However, little is known about this relationship between parents’ son preference, childhood adverse experiences and adulthood mental health in China.ObjectiveThe study aims to evaluate the association of parents’ son preference and individual mental health in old age in China. The mediating role of childhood adverse experiences was also estimated.Participants and settingThe China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2015 combined with CHARLS life history survey was analyzed (N = 11,666).MethodsMental health was measured by a shortened modification of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale including seven items, and higher scores indicated worse mental health status. A four-step mediating model was applied.ResultsRespondents growing in families with son preference had on average 0.75 (P < 0.001) points higher on the mental health scale than their counterparts, and the effects were consistent for both males and females. Childhood adverse experiences measured by physical maltreatment, emotional adverse experiences and witnesses of inter-parent violence mediated the relationship between parents’ son preference and individual adulthood mental health by 47.87%. For females, physical maltreatment and emotional adverse experiences explained the most parts of health effects of parents’ son preference, whereas witnesses of inter-parent violence was the most influential mediator for males.ConclusionParents’ son preference led to adverse childhood experiences, which influenced mental health in adulthood.     

Lending a helping hand for English-Chinese bilingual children’s idiom comprehension and retention: implications for early childhood educators

Idiom comprehension and production reflect a child’s language competence. Research suggests that there is a positive relationship between children’s reading comprehension skills and their idiom understanding. This study examines whether adult verbal scaffolding, in conjunction with the deliberate use of iconic gestures, can facilitate young bilingual children’s comprehension and retention of idiomatic expressions in their different languages. Twenty-three five-year-old English-Chinese bilingual children learned novel idioms across two experimental conditions. In Experiment 1, a native Chinese-speaking adult and a native English-speaking adult, respectively, taught children a set of Chinese and English idioms via speech only. In Experiment 2, the same adults, respectively, taught a different set of Chinese and English idioms via speech–gesture combinations. The results suggest that children could comprehend more idioms in both languages after being taught via the speech–gesture modality than the speech-only modality. They also tended to retain more idioms taught in the speech–gesture modality than in the speech-only modality in both languages. Moreover, those children who scored high in their idiom comprehension and retention also scored high both in their recast of the gestures used by the adults and in their rate of speech–gesture mismatches. Educational implications for early childhood settings are discussed.     

Experienced academics’ pedagogical development in higher education: time,technologies, and conversations

This paper focuses on extending our limited understanding of how the teaching and assessment practices of experienced academics develop. The development of academics as teachers is increasingly seen as a key focus but much of the research in this area has focused on formal educational development initiatives. The analysis presented here investigates how experienced academics describe what has shaped their emerging pedagogical practices over time. The emphasis is on participants’ informal experiences. Three foci were identified as the most important for these participants’ developing practice: the choices participants made about using time in pressured contexts; the interplay between digital technologies and participants’ practice; and the conversations which participants had about their teaching and assessment. The implications presented for future research and development work emphasise influencing the institutional policy context and the value of working creatively with the complexities of emerging academic practices.     

Supporting students’ mental health in schools: what do teachers want and need?

There is a growing expectation in the UK for teachers to have an understanding of common mental health problems in young people. This study aims to identify the training needs of secondary school teachers to enable them to adequately support and educate their students around mental health. Nine focus groups, each with between four to eight participants, were conducted with secondary school teachers in the UK. Discussions were centred on the needs and wants of teachers in terms of mental health training, provision and advice. Participants were also shown three online resources as an example of existing training. Thematic analysis was used to structure the data. Participants wanted training on how to identify and provide early support for students who are struggling, without taking on the perceived role of a therapist. Participants also emphasised the strong need for practical, interactive and expert-led training that provides resources that can be adapted to individual settings. Implications and recommendations are discussed.     

‘It's a different world out there’: improving how academics prepare health science students for rural and Indigenous practice in Australia

Rural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) health content in undergraduate health science curricula in Western Australia has been limited. In 2008, a three-and-a-half-day, rurally-based, intercultural and inter-disciplinary programme for academics from three universities aimed to improve how academics prepared health science students for work in this area. Situated learning theory underpinned the programme's design, which prioritised context and participation in the construction of knowledge: academics lived ‘on country’ and participated in the lived experience of a rural and Indigenous community. Semi-structured phone interviews with 21 academics four months later indicated this approach had radically changed thinking and led to a desire to improve rural and Indigenous health and teaching practice. Targeting academics to learn about rural and Indigenous health in situ is one promising strategy for improving undergraduate health science education in this priority area.     

Transgender young people’s narratives of intimacy and sexual health: implications for sexuality education

Abstract

Sexuality education as pedagogy is often fraught by the perceived requirement to balance the informational needs of young people with an investment in notions of childhood ‘innocence’. Nowhere is this perhaps more evident than in sexuality education that seeks to be inclusive of transgender young people, often resulting in the failure of such education to address the needs of such students. In an attempt at addressing the relative dearth of information about what transgender young people would like to see covered in sexuality education, in this paper we explore transgender young people’s accounts of intimacy and sexual health and consider what this means for school-based sexuality education. To do this, we analyse discussions of intimacy from the perspectives of transgender young people as narrated in a sample of YouTube videos. We conclude by advocating for an approach to sexuality education that largely eschews the gendering of body parts and gametes, and which instead focuses on function, so as to not only address the needs of transgender young people (who may find normative discussions of genitals distressing), but to also provide cisgender young people with a more inclusive understanding of their own and other people’s bodies and desires.     

Field dependence–independence as visuospatial and executive functioning in working memory: implications for instructional systems design and research

Field dependence–independence (FDI) has long been conceptualized and discussed as a cognitive style relevant to numerous educational approaches and outcomes. However, the FDI construct is most often measured as a cognitive ability, as opposed to a style, using instruments such as the Group-Embedded Figures test (GEFT) or the Hidden Figures Test (HFT). Specifically, FDI is typically measured as visuospatial ability and executive functioning in working memory. While measurement and use of FDI within psychological and educational research has often resulted in misleading or inconsistent discussion about cognitive styles, this review examines how the long history of FDI research continues to be relevant to contemporary instructional contexts. A broader recognition of FDI as ability is suggested in order to (a) better distinguish ability measurements from those of styles, (b) encourage a reinterpretation and awareness of theoretical connections among past studies that use instruments such as GEFT or HFT, and (c) highlight suggestions for future research and application, particularly with contemporary interactive multimedia learning tools.