Learners and Learning in Environmental Education: A critical review of the evidence

Recent analyses of the field of environmental education research have highlighted its rapidly expanding size and increasingly diverse nature (e.g. Hart & Nolan, 1999). This article reports on a review of a particular part of this field - namely, recent empirical studies of learners and learning in primary or secondary school environmental education. The review focuses specifically on the nature and quality of the evidence generated by the work in this area. The concern with evidence is motivated by the tendency of previous reviews to focus on methodological trends more than research findings. Claims have also been made that environmental education theory and research have overlooked 'the children who are the subjects of environmental education' (Payne, 1998a, p. 20). This review contends that efforts to address such shortcomings need to be informed by a thorough and grounded understanding of what studies have, and have not, been undertaken on students and learning, and what is known, and not known, from the evidence that these studies have generated. In its methods, the review seeks to be systematic, comprehensive and analytical. Its findings are based on careful scrutiny of over 100 journal articles, books and reports, published between 1993 and 1999. It proposes that the current evidence base on learners and learning can be understood in terms of six concentrations or nodes of evidence. Three of these are well established (students' (i) environmental knowledge (ii) environmental attitudes and behaviours, and (iii) environmental learning outcomes), while three can be regarded as emerging (students' (i) perceptions of nature, (ii) experiences of learning, and (iii) influences on adults). The recent research evidence and key messages associated with each of these nodes are discussed in successive sections of the review. Overall, the review suggests that the evidence base on learners and learning, while considerable in size, is less diverse in terms of methodological and theoretical approaches than the wider environmental education research field within which it is situated. The evidence base also provides more information about students' environmental knowledge and attitudes than about their educational experiences and preferences, and more about learning outcomes than about learning processes . These characteristics, however, are not static. The research and evidence base on learners and learning is developing and changing as new foci emerge, bringing with them different methodological and conceptual approaches. The review identifies issues and challenges arising from the recent evidence on learners and learning for research users, researchers and future reviews of the field. As well as highlighting possible practical implications of the research, it makes a case for studies focused more explicitly on learning and the role learners play within this process. It also suggests a need for user reviews as well as academic reviews in the field of environmental education.     

Investing in Technical and Vocational Education: a review of the evidence [1]

ABSTRACT

This paper categorises rationales used to support investment in technical and vocational education programmes. It reviews a range of general approaches that have been pursued and comments on the different purposes which can be identified. The penultimate section reviews evidence on the cost‐effectiveness of technical and vocational education interventions. Concluding remarks summarise and comment on the consensus that appears to have emerged from experience with many different projects.

     

The 'digital natives' debate: A critical review of the evidence

The idea that a new generation of students is entering the education system has excited recent attention among educators and education commentators. Termed 'digital natives' or the 'Net generation', these young people are said to have been immersed in technology all their lives, imbuing them with sophisticated technical skills and learning preferences for which traditional education is unprepared. Grand claims are being made about the nature of this generational change and about the urgent necessity for educational reform in response. A sense of impending crisis pervades this debate. However, the actual situation is far from clear. In this paper, the authors draw on the fields of education and sociology to analyse the digital natives debate. The paper presents and questions the main claims made about digital natives and analyses the nature of the debate itself. We argue that rather than being empirically and theoretically informed, the debate can be likened to an academic form of a 'moral panic'. We propose that a more measured and disinterested approach is now required to investigate 'digital natives' and their implications for education.     

Social support and child maltreatment: a review of the evidence

Parents who maltreat their children have long been thought to lack support from informal and social networks. Recent writers have taken the position that this relationship is a proven, causal one, with social isolation seen as a necessary antecedent condition for the occurrence of child abuse. Concurrently, initial enthusiasm for social support as a powerful explanatory variable in other areas of psychological and health research is giving way to cautious reevaluation of the evidence. The present review was undertaken to bring into sharper focus what is now known regarding the relationship between child maltreatment and parental isolation from informal helping networks. Existing research is fraught with both conceptual and methodological problems. There is, at present, little research evidence that lack of social support plays a significant role in the etiology of physical abuse. Stronger evidence exists that neglectful parents are socially isolated, but the data are consistent with the hypothesis that this is one manifestation of the character problems of these parents. Future research must give closer attention to clearly defining social support and using reliable and valid instruments to measure it, while exploring multivariate models of child maltreatment.     

比较教育研究中的分析架构——从《香港和澳门的教育及社会》一书谈起

1999年9月,CERC出版了由马克·贝磊及拉姆齐·考主编的《香港和澳门的教育及社会：对连续性及变迁的比较》一书。该书以教育的连续性及变迁这个切中两地所面临的共同课题为主题,对两地各级教育进行了比较。全书目录如下：...     

A review of the evidence for a learning-disabled, hearing-impaired sub-group

Hearing-impaired students are known to encounter significant difficulty achieving appreciable levels of academic achievement. Recently, many professionals have advanced the concept that some hearing-impaired students' lag in achievement may owe to learning disabilities in addition to hearing impairment. Definitional differences, survey data and studies are discussed in an exploration of whether or not a discernible hearing-impaired-learning-disabled sub-group exists.     

The importance of school quality as a determinant of earnings in a developing country: evidence from Honduras

Educational expansion is a prominent feature of the economic development strategies of many developing countries. While the potential benefits of greater schooling attainment for subsequent labor market earnings are acknowledged, the potential role played by school quality has largely been neglected for developing countries. This paper combines detailed household survey data with unique data on school quality for Honduras to investigate the importance of school quality for earnings. We employ a structural equations model that treats school quality as a latent variable. Our objective measures of school quality capture teacher training, school infrastructure, and two measures of school crowding. We find strong positive effects of school quality on earnings across a variety of model specifications. In addition, we find that teacher training and school infrastructure are the most important indicators of school quality.     

Higher Education Funding and Incentives: evidence from the Norwegian funding reform

In this article we examine how the introduction of an output-based funding scheme in Norwegian public higher education in 2003 affects pass requirement standards. Based on a survey of faculty at the institutions concerned, we find that the propensity to expect that the new funding model will affect the failing/non-failing decision in exams is higher among faculty at the regional colleges than among traditional university faculty. This result is robust when we verify a range of individual characteristics of the respondents.     

Adult education and earnings: A 45-year longitudinal study of 834 Swedish men

Consistent with previous research, the findings indicate that acquired level of youth education, including tertiary education, functions as a socioeconomic stratifier through its effects on occupational status and earnings at the age of 30, 35, 43 and 52. The direct effect of youth education on occupational status is found to decrease from age 30 to 52, whereas the effect of adult education on occupational status augments from age 35 to 52. Adult education appears to mediate and reinforce the effects of youth education on occupational status. The inclusion of adult education does not necessarily alter the predictability of earnings. The probability of acquiring adult education is significantly greater the higher the initial level of youth education.     

Leadership development in Higher Education: A literature review and implications for programme redesign

Leadership development (LD) activity and its effectiveness has not been explored rigorously across changing university settings globally. As Higher Education settings change radically throughout the world, Higher Education professionals are operating in more uncertain environments, and leaders are taking increasingly complex and diverse approaches to their leadership roles. LD activities therefore become important in supporting this highly complex context, yet little is known in the literature about LD and its impact in Higher Education. We examine peer‐reviewed work on LD in Higher Education settings globally to understand what may be learned about its content, processes, outcomes and impact. Our results suggest the current literature is small‐scale, fragmented and often theoretically weak, with many different and coexisting models, approaches and methods, and little consensus on what may be suitable and effective in the Higher Education context. We reflect on this state of play and develop a novel theoretical approach for designing LD activity in Higher Education institutions.     

A review of Education and Social Media using conflict and functionalist theories

Education and Social Media: Toward a Digital Future (2016), edited by Christine Greenhow, Julia Sonnevend, and Colin Agur, is a compilation of essays by leading contributors to the digital and social media movement in education. The chapters within this volume provide a granular look at the current landscape of how digital media is utilized across educational levels, fields of study, and geographic areas. The book is divided into three sections discussing the emerging use of social media in education, challenges in its implementation, and potential directions as tech-based education continues to evolve. In this review, we situate the ideas presented in Education and Social Media in the functionalist and conflict theories of educational perspective to further illuminate the potential of digital learning in supporting increased access to education for marginalized student populations. We discuss how these competing views are both given voice in Education and Social Media, prompting the reader to critically reflect on advantages and dangers presented by increased use of technological platforms in educational settings. Topics discussed include online universities, peer-developed curriculum, and differential use of technology based on school socioeconomic demographics. We also suggest areas that have emerged in need of further discussion since the book’s publication.     

Social Skills Training with Children and Adolescents: a review of the evidence on effectiveness

Interest has increased recently in the use of social skills training with children and adolescents. A review of the literature shows, however, that the evidence on effectiveness has been mixed. The theoretical and methodological issues involved are discussed in an attempt to identify the features associated with good research and practice. The conclusion reached is that while social skills training may be a necessary component in bringing about real life changes for children lacking in social competence, it may not always be sufficient. Any attempts to improve an individual's social functioning must also take account of contextual factors and a restructuring of the child's social environment may also be required in order to bring about any lasting change.     

The Initial Education of High School Teachers: A critical review of major issues and trends

This paper draws on major research findings in international literature in order to provide a critical review of a number of key issues and trends in the initial education of high school teachers. Firstly, this paper contextualizes the prevalent discourse surrounding the field of initial teacher education (ITE) and explores the effect that this discourse has on the conceptualization of teachers' work. Secondly, this paper focuses on the debates regarding the most propitious site for the teacher education enterprise, the programme structure for ITE, the field placement or practicum, the relationship between subject study and pedagogy, and the overall effectiveness of teacher education. The paper concludes by considering the new challenges that the field of initial teacher education must confront and the implications of such challenges for the ITE curriculum.     

Students’ misconceptions of statistical inference: A review of the empirical evidence from research on statistics education

A solid understanding of inferential statistics is of major importance for designing and interpreting empirical results in any scientific discipline. However, students are prone to many misconceptions regarding this topic. This article structurally summarizes and describes these misconceptions by presenting a systematic review of publications that provide empirical evidence of them. This group of publications was found to be dispersed over a wide range of specialized journals and proceedings, and the methodology used in the empirical studies was very diverse. Three research needs rise from this review: (1) further empirical studies that identify the sources and possible solutions for misconceptions in order to complement the abundant theoretical and statistical discussion about them; (2) new insights into effective research designs and methodologies to perform this type of research; and (3) structured and systematic summaries of findings like the one presented here, concerning misconceptions in other areas of statistics, that might be of interest both for educational researchers and teachers of statistics.     

Labor force experience and earnings: Women with children

Married women with children are observed to earn less than men, and less also than women without children. Differences in the hourly wage rates of individuals of the same age and with the same educational attainment may reflect, in part, differences in labor force experience. While interruption in the work experience of women is recognized as an important cause of lower current wage rates, less attention has been directed to the impact of child-related reductions in hours worked when women are in the labor force. This paper examines the impact of hours worked in all past periods on the current wage rate. Our model, in which the ‘intensity’ of an individual's work experience in any period can vary from 0 (no work) to 100% (full-time work), is contrasted with the standard human capital earnings function, in which intensity is assumed to be 100% in every period subsequent to the completion of school. Using a new data set, both models are estimated for a sample of working mothers. Contrasting the wages of the women in this sample with the wages of their husbands, we find that differences in the intensity of prior work experience account for approximately half of the observed sex-related wage gap.     

The national literacy strategy: a critical review of empirical evidence

Abstract This article examines three areas that are of central importance to the pedagogy of the National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching (FFT) at primary level: inspection evidence; school effectiveness (SE) research; and child development evidence. Analysis of national inspection reports on the teaching of English illustrates that these cannot be used as a reliable source of evidence. A focus on the claims made in support of an objective‐based framework in SE research shows that there is very little evidence to support the particular use of objectives in the FFT. A synthesis of child development research in relation to language and literacy finds that the FFT does not adequately reflect the evidence. It is concluded that there is an urgent need for a formal review of the FFT.