New educational provision for young children in Italy

A widespread latent demand for educational provision for under 3s exists in Italy. This demand emerges from different material and psychological needs of families. In the last twenty years a large network of day care centers for infants and toddlers, asilo nido, have been installed by local governments in many regions of Central and Northern Italy. These facilities provide daily child care within an educationally oriented context. More recently, new types of facilities have been set up. They stem from the public asilo nido in both cultural and organizational terms and are integrated, together with all the other services, into a local network of educational facilities for young children and their families. The new facilities are aimed at quantitatively expanding the supply of educational provision and at broadening the range of choice for families with respect to their different needs. This paper provides an overview of the new facilities.     

Multiple Policy Innovations: the impact on special educational needs provision

Sally Brown, Professor of Education at the University of Stirling and the new Chairperson of the Editorial Board of BJSE, has based this article on her keynote address to the Joint Conferences of the Scottish Support for Learning Association and NASEN on 23rd April 1994.     

大学计算机公共课教学改革探析

随着计算机信息技术的发展,社会对大学生应具有的计算机水平和应用能力提出了更高的要求.而当前大学的公共计算机教学效果并不乐观,只有对教学大纲、教学目标、教学手段、教学内容、实践教学等诸方面进行改革,才能切实提高人才培养质量.本文就大学计算机公共课教学改革的现状和应采取的对策进行了分析和探讨,以期推动计算机公共课教学朝着健康的方向发展,满足社会对人才的需求.     

Guidance on the use of physical force by staff in educational establishments

Dave Hewett, independental consultants, and Andy Arnett, Hertfordshire Social Services Department, attempt to clarify the present legal position on the use of physical force by staff in schools. The authors, who conducted an informal survey of education authorities in England and Wales, report their findings and discuss the implications.     

Civic values and the subject matter of educational courses

In a previous article (Benton, 1999) which focused on the teaching of poetry in secondary schools, teachers' responses to a survey undertaken in 1998 were compared with those of a similar survey in 1982. It was suggested that a major change was that where the teachers registered concern it was a concern for poetry itself rather than a concern about poetry teaching. By and large they were much more confident in handling the reading and writing of poetry in class than formerly: what appears to exercise them most now are the effects of the National Curriculum and of SATs on their teaching and of changes in the way poetry is examined. These, taken together, are seen by some as having a detrimental effect on the students' experience of poetry. Others, however, see positive advantage in some of the changes. It is these concerns which are the focus of the present paper.     

The changing American college student: implications for educational policy and practice

New students entering higher education institutions in the United States have undergone dramatic changes during the past two decades. This paper summarizes some of the major trends observed in these surveys and discusses possible implications of the findings for educational policy and practice.Each fall since 1966 the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles has been conducting a national survey of new college freshmen. A typical survey involves 250,000 students and a nationally representative sample of 550 higher education institutions of all types. Between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s American college students became much more focussed on material goals and less concerned with altruism and social problems. These value changes were accompanied by dramatically increased student interest in business careers and a sharp decline of interest in school teaching, social work, nursing, the clergy, and other service careers. These changes are perhaps best illustrated in the contrasting trends in two values: being very well off financially, which doubled in popularity during the period of survey and developing a meaningful philosophy of life which was the top student value in the early 1970s but was endorsed by fewer than half as many students by the late 1980s.During just the past two or three years most of these trends seem to have ended or, in certain cases, shown signs of reversing direction. At the same time, there is growing evidence that students are increasingly oriented toward social activism. Protecting the environment appears to be the single greatest concern among American college students at the turn of the decade.Portions of this talk were given at the January 6, 1989 meeting of the Commission on the University of the 21st Century, Council of Higher Education, Richmond, Virginia: portions have also been adopted from an earlier article in Change magazine (Astin, A. W. Competition or Cooperation, September/October 1987).     

A time of transition: exploring special educational provision in the Republic of Ireland

Special educational provision in the Republic of Ireland has experienced significant changes in the past decade. A combination of interrelated factors including litigation, legislation, parental advocacy and international developments has radically altered the landscape of special education. As a result of these changes the move towards establishing inclusive learning environments appears irreversible though many critical issues remain to be addressed at this time of transition. This study examines how key stakeholders in primary education perceive the challenge of responding appropriately to increased diversity. The results indicate that many barriers remain in the development of inclusive learning environments. The conceptual understanding of special educational needs (SEN) was seriously deficient and this affected the coherence of policy and service delivery. The system lacked strategic leadership, according to participants, and this restricted the capacity to support schools. School capacity to deliver quality education for children with SEN was constrained by the serious shortfall in the range and level of skills required and opportunities for professional development available. There was strong support for the principle of inclusion into mainstream though this was principally perceived in terms of the development of socialisation skills. It was concluded that in this transition phase schools required strategic leadership from policy‐makers to address the many challenges that remain in the establishment of inclusive learning environments.     

A consumer survey of educational provision for deaf and hard of hearing students

The researchers report the results of a survey of 140 deaf and hard of hearing students attending integrated or self-contained high school classrooms in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The survey was designed to gather information about educational experiences and preferences for various types of educational placements. There were no gender differences in placement, but there were hearing status differences (81.6% of the students in segregated placements had severe or profound hearing losses, compared to 52.4% of the students in integrated settings). Even though students were aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the different placement options, 80% indicated that they were generally satisfied with their current placement. One implication is that a range of options seems to be more appropriate than a one-size-fits-all model, at least from students' perspectives. The views and preferences of students should be considered when educational provisions are designed for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.     

Foreign students as teachers: An untapped educational resource

This paper examines the idea of viewing the many foreign students studying in the colleges and universities of this country as educational resources. It is argued that foreign students have a unique educational perspective and specialized knowledge about their culture to offer to their American counterparts. An overall scheme for using foreign students in a teaching capacity is discussed. An experimental class at the University of Minnesota, which uses foreign students as teachers to illustrate the processes of development on the three countries of Nigeria, Thailand and Turkey, is examined in some detail. The results of a formative evaluation of this class are presented. Some implications of the widespread development and implementation of similar types of courses at other colleges and universities are suggested.     

师专现代教育技术公共课程教学改革探索

对培养中小学教师的师范专科院校而言,为学生开设现代教育技术课程,培养学生现代教育技术能力刻不容缓。本文立足于临沧师范高等专科学校,通过对本校现代教育技术公共课程教学现状的分析,提出了针对教学内容、教师、教学模式和教学评价四个方面进行教学改革的看法。     

多元智能理论在《思想道德修养与法律基础》课教学中的应用

多元智能理论认为,人的智能是多元的,每个正常的人都在一定程度上拥有其中的多项技能。人类个体的不同在于所拥有的技能的程度和组合不同。借鉴这一理论,有利于充分发挥高职院校《思想道德修养与法律基础》课的思想政治教育作用,形成科学的教学观、学生观、师生观和评价观。促进学生的全面发展,增强教学实效性,提高教学质量。     

中师心须重视和加强教育类课程的教学和实践

“百年大计，教学为本。”，在目前大力提介素质教育的形势下，中等师范学校更是面临着前所未有的挑战和压力，要在激烈中，市场竞争中生存下去，中等师范学校就得确实加强教育类课程和实践，使之名副其实。     

论学生差异资源的教育学价值

个体的差异性和独特性是人类社会文化多姿多彩的重要源泉,是人类社会文明不断进步的推动力。差异是教育教学生态系统发生发展的基本条件,没有差异课堂生态也就失去了存在的基础。尊重差异,把学生带来的东西作为一种学习环境的资源,其教育学价值就是促进主体间互动、激励、协作和共生共长,追求高水平、高质量,促进每个人最大限度的发展;教师是学生差异资源的促进者、开发者和组织者。     

教育技术公共课教学问题与对策探析

本文就高等师范学校教育技术公共课开设的意义及存在问题进行探讨,力图使该课程的教学质量得到提高,使学生牢牢掌握教育技术,适应新世纪素质教育的需要。     

Globalization and educational restructuring: University merging and changing governance in China

This article sets out in the context of globalization to identify, examine and discuss issues related to structural adjustment and educational restructuring in China, with particular reference to university merging and changes in higher education governance models. While it is basically an historical and documentary analysis of policy change in Chinese higher education, this article focuses on restructuring strategies that the Chinese government has adopted to make its university systems more competitive and efficient in the global market context. University merging in China should not be simply understood as a pure higher education reform but rather a fundamental change in higher education governance model from an ‘interventionist state model’ to an ‘accelerationist state model’. Rather than globalization bringing about the decline of the nation state, this article shows transformations taking place in Chinese universities may not necessarily diminish the capacity of the state but instead make the Chinese government a more activist state in certain aspects.     

A framework to design open educational resources-integrated online courses for undergraduate learning: A design-based research approach

Open Educational Resources (OER) integrated online courses provide a rich and a flexible learning environment to acquire knowledge and skills among undergraduates. A significant issue with OER-integrated online courses is the poorly addressed instructional design features. Instructionally rich online courses will have a greater impact on both teaching and learning. This study is aimed at exploring different support systems in relation to the undergraduate learning process through the design of OER-integrated online courses. It explored design features under four main Instructional Design (ID) aspects, being: Information Design, Instruction Design, Interface Design and Interaction Design. The study adopted a Design-Based Research approach through analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation of an intervention in multiple phases, using mixed methodologies. This resulted in a design framework with reusable design principles for OER-integrated online learning. The outcomes of this study will contribute to enhance OER-integrated course design and to develop undergraduate education.

     

古典诗学原则：现代语文教育的宝贵资源

古典诗学原则作为中国古典美学的核心成份,是中华民族重要而又富有魅力的精神文化。它的诸多范畴以及重境界、重性情、重风骨、重体悟、重涵泳、重生成等基本精神,完全可以成为现代语文教学的重要资源,而且,与今天教育界通过新课标所倡导的基本理念有许多内在契合点。这样一种古代与当代的契合,是文化的契合、资源的契合、发展的契合,所以,值得我们充分重视,尝试去操作实施。