The conflicts and contradictions of working in a mass higher education system

Education must be a force for opportunity and social justice, not for the entrenchment of privilege. We must make certain that the opportunities that higher education brings are available to all those who have the potential to benefit from them, regardless of their background (DfES, 2003 Department for Education and Skills. 2003. The Future of Higher Education, London: The Stationery Office. Cm 5735 [Google Scholar] : 67).

We will continue to widen participation in higher education and encourage students of all backgrounds with academic potential to go to university (Queen’s Speech, 15 November 2006).     

The Lag in Teacher Education

Making Consistent Judgments (MCJ) was a systemic professional development program designed to increase teachers’ capacity to make consistent judgments about students’ achievement of educational standards in government schools in Western Australia; the MCJ program was in operation from 2004 to 2007 (Department of Education and Training 2007 Department of Education and Training. 2007. Department of Education and Training annual report 2006–2007, East Perth, Western Australia: Government of Western Australia. Available at www.det.wa.edu.au/education/AnnualReport/docs/det0607.pdf [Google Scholar]; 2008). The author describes the MCJ program as a case study in the context of the educational environment in which it was implemented and evaluated. Data were collected as a result of participant observation, documentation, and artefacts. Examples are drawn from the English learning area.     

Quality Psychological Advice for Teachers,Parents/Carers and LEA Decision‐makers with Respect to Children and Young People with Special Needs

The educational psychologist can be a very important resource to a school. The psychologist’s knowledge of the school and its context is key. Through regular consultation with schools, educational psychology services can provide help in clarifying problems and devising problem solving strategies; in carrying out specialised assessments, including techniques in managing behaviour and evaluating pupil progress. (DfES, 2001 Department for Education and Skills (DES). 2001. Special educational needs code of practice, Nottingham: DfES Publication.  [Google Scholar], Code of Practice, Section 10.8)     

An Evaluation of the Use of the Behaviour Questionnaire

Effective and efficient assessment is essential to support school improvement, the progress of individual pupils and teachers’ classroom management. A group of educational psychologists used the items for measuring pupils’ emotional and behavioural development found in Supporting school improvement: Emotional and behavioural development (2001 Department for Education and Skills. 2001. Supporting school improvement: Emotional and behavioural development, Sudbury: QCA.  [Google Scholar]) to develop a questionnaire for use in their schools. Following the introduction of the Behaviour Questionnaire (BQ) its usefulness, ease of completion and potential as a tool to monitor intervention were evaluated. Most users found the Behaviour Questionnaire useful and easy to complete. Changes in the behaviour of pupils were identified indicating that the Behaviour Questionnaire has potential for use in monitoring and evaluating interventions.     

Individual Perseverance: A theory of home tutors’ management of schooling in isolated settings

This article reports a study of parents’ management of the education of primary school‐aged children in their care in remote and rural locations of Western Australia. It presents a theory of the ways in which these parents, in the role of home tutors, “manage” the schooling of their children in a distance education regime in isolated settings. The home tutors in this study were mothers in families isolated by physical distance from centres in Western Australia, which usually provide educational, medical, financial, and retail services. In this environment, at the time of data collection, schooling was supported by print, that is, “sets” of learning materials, and by a regular schedule of interactive lessons through Schools of the Air when atmospheric conditions permitted. The conditions of outback Western Australia “present some of the worst conditions for use of electronic equipment” (Tomlinson, Schooling in rural Western Australia: The ministerial review of schooling in rural Western Australia. Perth, Australia: Education Department of Western Australia, 1994 Tomlinson, D. 1994. Schooling in rural Western Australia: The ministerial review of schooling in rural Western Australia, Perth, , Australia: Education Department of Western Australia.  [Google Scholar], p. 91). Moreover, the nature of station life on isolated sheep or cattle properties (stations) is such that mothers frequently have multiple and sometimes conflicting roles (that is, cook, housekeeper, station hand, business partner, accountant, first aid officer, wife, mother, and teacher). This qualitative study was concerned with how parents “manage” their schoolroom work as “home tutors,” using grounded theory techniques for gathering and analysing data. The term “manage” comes from the theoretical framework of symbolic interaction (Blumer, Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969 Blumer, H. 1969. Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.  [Google Scholar]), and in this article refers specifically to the ways in which the home tutors juggle their multiple roles.     

Moving to a Global Stage: A Media View

The Times Higher Education Supplement was the first newspaper to publish an international ranking of universities in November 2004 Jobbins, D. 2002. “The Times/The Times Higher Education Supplement – League Tables in Britain: An Insider's View”. Higher Education in Europe, 27(4): 383–389. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]. This article describes the evolution of the international rankings from their origin in a limited peer review exercise through the gradual refinement of a national ranking based on, as far as possible, publicly available, verifiable, and accepted data. The author describes the methodology of the international ranking and presents the case for the integrity of commercially produced rankings, national and international, which can be as objective, robust, and transparent as initiatives from within the university community itself.     

Toward “Good Enough Methods” for Autoethnography in a Graduate Education Course: Trying to Resist the Matrix with Another Promising Red Pill

Educational research suggests that the response biases of educators can negatively influence student performance and aptitude (Blanchett 2006 Blanchett, Wanda. 2006. “Disproportionate Representation of African American Students in Special Education: Acknowledging the Role of White Privilege and Racism.”. Educational Researcher, 35: 24–28. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Bloom 2001 Bloom, Leslie. 2001. “I'm Poor, I'm Single, I'm a Mom and Deserve Respect: Advocating Schools as and With Mothers in Poverty.”. Educational Studies, 32: 30–316.  [Google Scholar]; Darity et al. 2001 Darity, William, Castellino, Domini and Tyson, Karolyn. 2001. Report on Increasing Opportunity to Learn via Access to Rigorous Courses and Programs: One Strategy for Closing the Achievement Gap for At-risk and Ethnic Minority Students, Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.  [Google Scholar]; Gordon 2005 Gordon, Jenny. 2005. “Inadvertent Complicity: Colorblindness in Teacher Education.”. Educational Studies, 38: 135–152. October[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; and Skiba et al. 2000 Skiba, Russell J., Robert, S. Michael, Abra, C. Nardo and Peterson, Reece. 2000. The Color of Discipline: Sources of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Punishment (Report #SRS1), Bloomington: Indiana Education Policy Center.  [Google Scholar]). This article introduces “good enough methods” for autoethnography as an alternative approach to this problem. Luttrell (2000 Luttrell, Wendy. 2000. “Good Enough Methods for Ethnographic Research.”. Harvard Educational Review, 70: 499–523. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 13) conceptualizes “good enough methods” researchers as those seeking to understand and appreciate difference and accept errors often made because of their blind spots and intense involvement. Evidence of this approach via autoethnography is provided here from cases of graduate student-practitioners and their Intergroup/Intercultural Education professor. Moreover, the article highlights (a) a connection of autoethnography to research in Education, (b) five key decisions of a “good enough methods” approach to autoethnography, and (c) how this approach can be applied to expose and address educator biases relating to “the matrix” (Hill-Collins 1990 Hill-Collins, Patricia. 1990. “Black Feminist Thought in the Matrix of Domination.”. In Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, 221–238. London: HarperCollins. Patricia Hill–Collins [Google Scholar]) of race, class, and gender.     

Raising standards 1988 to the present: a new performance policy era?

This article explores the context of the period following the Education Reform Act 1988 in terms of the efforts by successive governments to raise academic standards. These attempts are illustrated by discussion of the impact of the introduction of market forces and parental choice, a centralised National Curriculum and associated assessment regime, the increasing cultures of performativity and surveillance in schools and the resulting commercialisation of education. The article then examines the current Secretary of State for Education, Mr Gove's, plans for the future standards agenda1 ¹Department for Education, The Importance of Teaching: Schools White Paper (Runcorn: Department for Education, 2010). View all notes, speculating that the current trend of raising standards and emphasising standards and performance is nearing the end of its useful life. Finally, drawing on Barker's2 ²Bernard Barker, The Pendulum Swings: Transforming School Reform (Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham, 2010). View all notes advocacy of progressive community schools and the best of the progressive tradition the article suggests a counter argument to the creeping commercialisation and narrow results-based focus on standards in schools since 1988.     

Religion and literacy: observations on religious education and the literacy strategy for secondary education in Britain

The target for the year 2004 is that 70% of all 14-year-olds should achieve Level 5 English. This figure rises to 85% for 2007. ‘Schools that are beginning to work on literacy across subjects … are asked to prioritise objectives from the Framework for teaching English: years 7–9’ (Department for Education and Employment, 2001 Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) (2001) Key Stage 3 National Strategy. Literacy across the Curriculum Ref DfEE 0235/2001  [Google Scholar], p. 3). When Literacy Across the Curriculum (LAC) is introduced in these terms, the implication is that all teachers should assist English in improving its standards. Even in the model lessons that appear in official documents, there are signs that religious education is expected to yield its learning objectives to English. This paper, however, is about LAC not for the sake of English but for the sake of religious education. It proposes an approach to literacy beyond the narrow conceptions of some LAC strategists, such as the collection and classification of subject-specific vocabulary.     

Research on training wheels – embedding academic literacy and numeracy in vocational pedagogy through action research

Concerns about developing academic staff capability in literacy and numeracy development led members of the Academic Literacies Team in a New Zealand institution to research ways for achieving and sustaining educational change. The findings indicated that enquiry through action research could be beneficial for supporting the process of integrating literacy and numeracy development with the educational practices of lecturers (Tertiary Education Commission 2008 Tertiary Education Commission. 2008. “Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy and Numeracy: Background Information.” edited by Tertiary Education Commission. Wellington: Tertiary Education Commission. [Google Scholar]; Whatman, Potter, and Boyd 2011 Whatman, J., H. Potter, and S. Boyd. 2011. Literacy, Language and Numeracy: Connecting Research to Practice in the Tertiary Sector. Wellington: Ako Aotearoa. [Google Scholar]) to improve existing vocational pedagogy (Lucas, Spencer, and Claxton 2012 Lucas, B., E. Spencer, and G. Claxton. 2012. How to Teach Vocational Education: A Theory of Vocational Pedagogy. London: City &; Guilds. [Google Scholar]). This article introduces the approach taken with the second Literacy + Numeracy Enquiry Group and the research methodology that combines the gathering of impact data and process evaluation. Overall evaluation findings are outlined. Lecturers shared their challenges, successes and perceptions of how participating impacted on them. The findings show that participants clearly appreciate action research enquiry as a means of achieving change in their teaching. Moreover, the results of the evaluation also indicate the value of employing action research methodology to improve learning and teaching as evidenced by the participants of this study.     

Education Policy Borrowing: Professional Standards for School Leaders in China

Abstract

Realizing there is a global policy convergence that emphasizes the standardized key qualities of and expectations for “successful” school leaders, this article provides an in-depth analysis on the initiation of the Professional Standards for Compulsory Schools Principals (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China 2013 Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China. 2013, February 16. Notice of Introducing the Professional Standards for Compulsory Schools Principals. Available at: http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s7148/201302/xxgk_147899.html [Google Scholar]) in China. Using policy borrowing as an analytical framework, this study sheds light on critical questions concerning why this standards-based leadership policy is borrowed, and how this policy document responds to local Chinese contexts. In alignment with an understanding of national policy across the local-global nexus, which is derived from critical policy analysis, this study uncovers the influences of global leadership discourses on its formation. It also focuses on the ways in which neoliberal ideology and Chinese sociocultural contexts have intertwined, and how this negotiates and shapes this policy. Finally, this article concludes that the introduction of this initiative suggests China’s efforts in its quest for a world-class education system, through the standardization of school leaders’ practices, which is both locally and internationally situated. It argues that while understanding the contested positions on standards-based policies around the globe, China did not blindly borrow this policy from “the West,” but rather employs it as a strategy for legislation, to reposition itself in the global order and gain broader international recognition.     

Making sense of pre-service teachers’ dispositions towards social justice: can teacher education make a difference?

Given Australia's diverse student population, the need for pre-service teacher education to prepare what is a predominantly Anglo-Australian and middle-class profession to be effective teachers of diverse students is critical. In Lortie's (1975 Lortie, D. 1975. Schoolteacher: A sociological study, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  [Google Scholar]) classic study, however, he argues that the predispositions of teacher education students are a much more powerful socialising influence than pre-service education. This article explores dispositions towards social justice in pre-service teachers from two teacher education programs within one Australian metropolitan university. Drawing on notions of distributive, retributive and recognitive justice (Gale & Densmore, 2000 Gale, T. and Densmore, K. 2000. Just schooling: Explorations in the cultural politics of teaching, Buckingham: Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]) as a way of making sense of socially just dispositions, interviews with four pre-service teachers – two beginning their Graduate Diploma in Education program (a one year program) and two beginning their final year of the Bachelor of Education program (a four year program) – are analysed. Differences in the dispositions of teachers from the two cohorts are examined and implications for teacher education discussed.     

Modifying Achievement Test Items: A Theory-Guided and Data-Based Approach for Better Measurement of What Students With Disabilities Know

Federal regulations allow up to 2% of the student population of a state to achieve proficiency for adequate yearly progress by taking an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS). Such tests are likely to be easier, but as long as a test is considered a valid measure of grade level content, it is allowable as an AA-MAS (U.S. Department of Education, 2007b U.S. Department of Education. 2007b. Standards and assessments peer review guidance, Washington, DC: Author.  [Google Scholar]). In this article, we examine procedures for developing, modifying, and evaluating items and tests using an evolving modification paradigm, as well as a classic reliability and validity framework. Theoretical influences, such as principles of universal design, cognitive load theory, and item development research, are discussed. The Test Accessibility and Modification Inventory, a tool that provides systematic and comprehensive guidance to help educators modify grade-level tests, is introduced. Cognitive lab methods and experimental field tests are then described, along with examples and key findings from each, relevant to AA-MASs. The article concludes with a discussion of precautions, lessons learned, and questions generated about the methods used to improve both access and test score validity for the students who are eligible for this new alternate assessment.     

The Early Literacy Support Programme (ELS) and the blend and clash of national educational policy ideologies in England

In this article we consider the development of key policy issues in England, related to the area of literacy learning and children who are considered to have difficulties in literacy in their early years. We trace the tensions which have arisen since the 1980s between different policies and practices in these areas. These tensions include pressures to raise standards of literacy and to support children with difficulties, and the establishment of a prescribed curriculum for young children. In particular, we focus on the blend and clash of national educational policy ideals in areas related to literacy and children who have been categorised as having ‘special educational needs’, and how these have influenced the development of the Early Literacy Support Programme (ELS) (DfES, 2001 Department for Education and Skills 2001a Early Literacy Support Programme, materials to support teachers working in partnership with teaching assistants London DfES  [Google Scholar]a; 2001 Department for Education and Skills 2001b Early Literacy Support Programme, session materials for teaching assistants London DfES  [Google Scholar]b). This is a programme set up by the Department for Education and Science in England for children in Year 1, aged 5 to 6 years old.     

Inclusive education: Ireland's education provision for children with special educational needs

The concept of inclusive education is a relatively new phenomenon within the Irish education system, with considerable developments in government policy only occurring since the early 1990s. These developments are aiming to advance special education provisions and legislation for individuals with disabilities and special educational needs (SEN). This increased attention is illustrated by the Special Education Review Committee (SERC) report, the report of the Government Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, A Strategy for Equality (1996 Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities (1996) A strategy for equality , Report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities . [Google Scholar]), the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) Discussion Document (1999), Special Educational Needs: Curriculum Issues, the Education Act, the Equal Status Act and the recently published Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill and the Disability Bill (2004). However, despite these advancements in SEN developments, it can be argued that the Irish government and education system still fall short of providing a rights-based education to all children with a disability or SEN in the state. This article discusses the educational provision for children with SEN from 1990 to 2004.     

Vader-Mccormick,Nancy (2011). the Engaged Teacher: What Works with Today's Students.

Community colleges have responded to the increased use of technology for instruction by providing support and professional development opportunities for faculty. However, differences in perceptions, expectations, and opportunities exist between full-time faculty at community colleges and their adjunct colleagues when it comes to adopting technology into instruction. Because adjunct faculty represent 68.5% of faculty teaching at community colleges (U.S. Department of Education, 2007 U.S. Department of Education . ( 2007 ). National Center for Education Statistics, 2007 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 2007–08. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/index.asp  [Google Scholar]), it is imperative to understand their intentions to integrate technology into instruction. This study adopted the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) as a theoretical framework to survey 130 community college adjunct faculty member's intentions to participate in technology integration. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that DTPB was useful in explaining much of the variance in the intention to integrate technology into teaching by community college adjunct faculty. Results also suggested that community college administrators can play an important role toward increasing technology integration by adjunct faculty through leveraging types of influence in support of behavioral intention. Research implications for instructional technologists at community colleges indicated that professional development programs should be designed based on the significant predictors in the DTPB.     

Constructing men who teach: research into care and gender as productive of the male primary teacher

This paper argues that in order to begin loosening the ties that bind care and gender in primary education, we need to re-examine the knowledge sought and found by educational research about teachers. The focus is primarily on how we understand men who teach. Through an examination of two scholarly texts – Ashley, M., and J. Lee [2003 Ashley, M., and J. Lee. 2003. Women Teaching Boys: Caring and Working in the Primary School. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham. [Google Scholar]. Women Teaching Boys: Caring and Working in the Primary School. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham] and King, J. [1998 King, J. 1998. Uncommon Caring: Learning from Men Who Teach Young Children. New York: TCP. [Google Scholar]. Uncommon Caring: Learning from Men Who Teach Young Children. New York: TCP] – I argue that we must be mindful that our research can effectively produce and reiterate common-sense understandings of men that binds them to the hegemonic masculine ideal. It is argued that mixed-method qualitative research that untangles the layers of context influencing the lives of men who teach is important. The paper also suggests that the study of male teachers' emotions, as at once individual and social, and private and public, can disrupt the rational–emotional binary that cements care to gender and reveal new configurations of the gender order.     

Repositioning of special schools within a specialist,personalised educational marketplace – the need for a representative principle

This paper considers how notions of inclusive education as defined in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Salamanca Agreement (1994 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 1994. The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education, Paris: UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/education/information/nfsunesco/pdf/SALAMA_E.PDF (accessed September 1, 2003) [Google Scholar]) have become dissipated, and can be developed and reframed to encourage their progress. It analyses the discourse within a range of academic, legal and media texts, exploring how this dissipation has taken place within the UK. Using data from 78 specialist school websites it contextualises this change in the use of the terms and ideas of inclusion with the rise of two other constructs, the ‘specialist school’ and ‘personalisation’. It identifies the need for a precisely defined representative principle to theorise the type of school which inclusion aims to achieve, which cannot be subsumed by segregated providers. It suggests that this principle should not focus on the individual, but draw upon a liberal/democratic view of social justice, underlining inclusive education’s role in removing social barriers that prevent equity, access and participation for all.     

Moving towards transdisciplinarity: an ecological sustainable focus for science and mathematics pre‐service education in the primary/middle years

One reason we have difficulty finding sustainable solutions is in part because we are unable to see the bigger picture. Capra (2000 Capra, F. 2000. The challenge of our time.. Resurgence, 203: 18–20.  [Google Scholar]) argues, “To become ecologically literate we must learn to think systemically – in terms of connectedness, context and processes” (p. 270). We have attempted to structure connected learning experiences through our transdisciplinary approach to teaching for learning science, mathematics and ecological aspects of society and environment. We support Jucker's (2002 Jucker, R. 2002. Our common illiteracy: Education as if the Earth and people mattered, Frankfurt: Peter Lang.  [Google Scholar]) view that we must have lateral rigor across disciplines and vertical rigor within disciplines in order to best prepare students for teaching. This paper explores the theoretical underpinning of this complex approach to undergraduate teaching and reports on how our teaching team has worked collaboratively to structure a sequence of three, one semester integrated, core courses that explicitly uses an educating for ecological sustainability theme as the basis for each course and associated assessment.