Using the curriculum emphasis concept to investigate teachers’ curricular beliefs in the context of educational reform

This paper reports a study on teachers’ domain‐specific beliefs about the chemistry curriculum for upper‐secondary education in The Netherlands. Teachers’ beliefs were investigated using a questionnaire focused on the goals of the chemistry curriculum. The design of the questionnaire was based on three curriculum emphases: ‘fundamental chemistry’, ‘chemistry, technology and society’, and ‘knowledge development in chemistry’. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of Dutch chemistry teachers. The results indicate that, on the whole, the curriculum emphasis ‘fundamental chemistry’ received the strongest support. This is in accordance with the content and the tradition of the Dutch chemistry curriculum. When the two types of upper‐secondary education were compared, it appeared that ‘chemistry, technology and society’ was almost equally valued for both types of education. However, the curriculum emphasis, ‘knowledge development in chemistry’, was considered much more important for pre‐university education than for senior general secondary education.     

Discrepancies in purposes of student course evaluations: what does it mean to be “satisfied”?

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Student evaluation of teaching is a multipurpose tool that aims to improve and assure educational quality. Improved teaching and student...     

Overeducation in developing economies: How can we test for it, and what does it mean?

A worker is said to be overeducated if he/she has acquired more education than is required to perform his/her job. In the absence of data measuring the number of years of schooling required to perform particular jobs, we propose a new approach to testing for overeducation. Overeducation is confirmed if we observe that education levels rose in jobs that offer very low returns to education and that underwent little technological change. Using labor force surveys from four developing countries, we find evidence of overeducation in unskilled jobs in the Philippines, mild evidence in Mexico, and little evidence in India and Thailand. We show that a job's mean and modal years of schooling are poor proxies for required education. We also show that overeducation sometimes increases within unskilled jobs, even while a growing share of educated workers enter skilled jobs. This may be because the quality of education segments the labor market.     

The multiple deficit model of dyslexia: what does it mean for identification and intervention?

Research demonstrates that phonological skills provide the basis of reading acquisition and are a primary processing deficit in dyslexia. This consensus has led to the development of effective methods of reading intervention. However, a single phonological deficit is not sufficient to account for the heterogeneity of individuals with dyslexia, and recent research provides evidence that supports a multiple-deficit model of reading disorders. Two studies are presented that investigate (1) the prevalence of phonological and cognitive processing deficit profiles in children with significant reading disability and (2) the effects of those same phonological and cognitive processing skills on reading development in a sample of children that received treatment for dyslexia. The results are discussed in the context of implications for identification and an intervention approach that accommodates multiple deficits within a comprehensive skills-based reading program.     

What does the decline in the international ranking of the United States in educational attainment mean for community colleges?

This article was written in response to concerns that have been expressed about the possible consequences of an increasing number of countries overtaking the United States in educational attainment. International statistics on educational attainment were analyzed, questions about comparability of data were discussed, and the impact of different approaches to the organization of higher education on attainment rates was examined. The author concluded that comparing the rate of attainment of subbaccalaureate credentials between the United States and other countries is problematic both because of definitional issues, and as a consequence of the major transfer function of American community colleges. The article explains how colleges that previously offered short term vocational training in many European countries have evolved into vocationally-oriented baccalaureate granting institutions that have enabled their nations to achieve rapidly rising levels of baccalaureate degree attainment. It suggests that the experience of these countries may provide useful lessons—and cautions—for policy makers and educational leaders with respect to expanding the role of community colleges in awarding baccalaureate degrees.     

Callous-unemotional interpersonal style in DSM-V: what does this mean for the UK SEBD population?

The definition of conduct disorder in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSMV) includes a new ‘limited prosocial emotions’ specifier, designed to assist in the identification of those with more severe and persistent difficulties and the better targeting of interventions. This study set out to investigate its relevance to pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in the United Kingdom who might meet the criteria for a diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD). Limited prosocial emotions were assessed using a measure of callous-unemotional (CU) interpersonal style, and their relationship with social behaviour, social status and self-concept was investigated among children aged 8–11 years with identified SEBD (N = 54) using teacher, peer and self-report measures. Findings demonstrated that higher scores on the specifier were associated with more severe problems in all but one of the domains investigated. Higher CU scores were positively associated with teacher and peer-assessed antisocial behaviour and with social rejection. The association between CU scores and social acceptance by peers was negative. However, associations between CU scores and self-perceptions, including social self-perception, were small and non-significant. Thus, despite being socially rejected and rated more negatively by peers than children with low CU levels, the social self-concept of children with elevated CU levels was not lower. Implications for assessment and the differentiation of interventions are considered.     

New medical technology: to what does it lead?

In this paper I first discuss the concept of medical technology. (I thank Knut Arnesen, Arvid Fennefoss, and Aslaug H?ye for many informative and educational conversations about problems pertaining to technology). Then, I review some different meanings of the term, and then discuss the relationship between ethics and the scientific method. Finally, the understanding that emerges from this account is applied to a special problem: the relationship between technology and deafness.     

Children participating as researchers in primary schools: what’s in it for the teachers?

Whilst within universities, research on rather than with children/pupils is a well-established methodology, this paper reports on teachers’ responses to a schools and university-based partnership project, ‘Pupils as Research Partners in Primary (PARPP), which works to co-create pupil-led research opportunities for pupils in research projects informed by pupils’ experiences in primary schools. A previous paper, French and Hobbs, [(2017). “‘So How Well Did It Really Go’? Working with Primary School Pupils as Project Evaluators: A Case Study.” TEAN Journal 9 (1): 56–65] reported on how one PARPP project had a beneficial effect on pupils and their school environment. For this paper the project team interviewed a number of teachers whose pupils in the partner schools were involved in the pilot study phase of the project. Specifically, the teachers were interviewed to ascertain if the involvement of pupils, as lead researchers in projects exploring various aspects of the school environment, had impacted on their perceptions of pupil-led research. Findings suggest that the experiences of teachers in schools where PARPP projects had taken place had led them to re-evaluate the practicality and desirability of encouraging pupils to actively to research their school environments.     

The Scholarship of Teaching in Teams: What does it look like in practice?

The extent to which teaching in universities should reflect scholarly values has received increased attention over the past few years. There has, however, been little attention paid to what the scholarship of teaching might look like in practice and no attention to what the scholarship of teaching would look like from the perspective of a teaching-team. This paper reports on a study of five groups of university teachers working in teaching-teams. It considers how their practice as a team matches what is claimed to be scholarly and collaborative in the existing literature on scholarship and teaching and learning, on the one hand, and on collaboration and teamwork, on the other. A model of scholarship of teaching is further developed to include the scholarship of teaching in a team. The ways in which the teaching-teams in the study fit this model are explored and implications for improved practice are considered.     

Peer‐tutoring: what’s in it for the tutor?

Drawing on role theory and socio‐constructivist ideas about learning, this study explores how peer‐tutoring can support tutors’ learning. The sample comprised ten 16–17‐year‐old biology tutors, working with twenty‐one 14–15‐year‐old students from a science class over eight weeks. Data were collected through an online wiki, tutor interviews, paired tutor discussions and video recordings. Tutors’ perceptions of their role motivated them to learn the material, and their learning was supported by discussion and explanation, revisiting fundamentals, making links between conceptual areas, testing and clarifying their understanding, and reorganising and building ideas, rehearsing them, and working through them repeatedly, to secure their understanding. When tutors employed long answer questions, there was evidence of reflection on their learning and links made between conceptual areas. When preparing to tutor, tutors could focus on key points and engage with basic ideas from alternative perspectives. Mental rehearsal of peer‐tutoring episodes helped them appreciate weaknesses in their own subject knowledge.     

Is action research a contradiction in terms? Do communities of practice mean the end of educational research as we know it? Some remarks based on one recent example of religious education research

(Action) is frequently a taken-for-granted aspect of educational action research. Proponents often focus on how research will benefit educational practice without explaining what is meant by educational practice or action. Here, the author reverses that emphasis: exploring his interest in how different conceptions of action lead to diverse relationships with research. He uses Arendt's tripartite division of human action into labour, work and action to show how each version of practice involves a different link to theory, knowledge and research. Educational labour research focuses on finding better means to achieve predetermined ends and educational work research concentrates on developing new ends. Arendtian educational action research, however, attempts to use research to understand how human freedom might be exercised in dialogue with others. The argument is illustrated with examples drawn from his own practice and from articles in one issue of Educational Action Research.     

What does it mean to be Irish? Children's construction of national identity1

Ideas relating to identity and belonging are central to the public discourse around citizenship that has emerged in Ireland and internationally in recent years. One thread of that discourse relates to the role of national identity in societies that are increasingly diverse and multicultural. In view of the growing importance of citizenship education, understanding children's ideas about national identity is vital if educators are to engage children in the construction of an hospitable, critical and reflective citizenry. This research was undertaken in two phases during 2003 and 2004. Participating in the study were 119 children, drawn from a range of social contexts. Premised on a social constructivist view of children and childhood, the research drew on participative and democratic methodologies. While the study suggests the existence of an essentialist conception of Irish identity, it also demonstrates the capacity and willingness of children to engage in critical reflection on their constructions of Irishness.     

Conditions for Choice? The context for implementation of curricular pathways in the curriculum, 14‐19, in England and Wales

The Dearing reviews of 1993 (the National Curriculum and its assessment) and 1996 (Qualifications for 16‐19 year olds) have created the context for a renewed discussion of educational ‘flexibility’ and ‘choice’. This article seeks particularly to analyse ‘choice’ within the educational and wider social contexts and to identify how far the conditions for choice exist. It suggests three main areas of difficulty: (1) contradictions in education policy, which is a site of contestation rather than coherence at a national level, and provides therefore an unstable context for choices; (2) ambivalence in the social context, in so far as ‘autonomy’ is now both the goal of education and also a prerequisite for access to education; (3) specific characteristics of educational provision which offer limited evidence of the capacity to adapt to the kinds of support and guidance for ‘choice’ which are the pre‐requisites of any meaningful implementation of the Dearing proposals.     

Perfect presence: What does this mean for the design of virtual learning environments?

One of the advantages of building a virtual reality system is that it allows students to enter new worlds which in these instances include trips to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, a field visit to an Oak Wood and a close encounter in a 3D maze. In all these environments the factors affecting a sense of being there or presence was investigated. Enhanced audio feedback increased a subjective sense of presence but did not increase students' conceptual learning scores. We have also found that a sense of social presence enhanced the notion of being there together with measures of collaboration. However being there can take its toll on students and our findings suggest it imposes a cognitive overload. Where students have a choice, they try and reduce this overload by asking for conceptual tools to assist them in their learning tasks. The studies reported in this paper provide some benchmark data about these issues which deserve further investigation if we are to design effective virtual environments for conceptual learning.     

‘I know what you are about to enter’: lived experiences as the curricular foundation for teaching citizenship

ABSTRACT

This qualitative multiple case study documents how two African American women social studies teachers utilise their lived experiences as the curricular foundation for teaching differing notions of citizenship to African-American students. Particular events, experiences, and relationships helped shape their perception of their roles as teachers and how they approached crafting a curriculum that was representative of their lived experiences as well as those of their students and community. This study hopes to shed light on how experiences may be used as valuable sources of knowledge in creating a more inclusive curriculum that mirrors the diversity seen in classrooms.