A Better Way to Begin Again Together: the value of a comparative approach to teaching poetry in school

This paper suggests a particular value to treating the teaching of poetry in school comparatively. It argues that the justification for this claim derives from the ways in which peculiar symbiotic dependencies between poetry, languages, cultures and uniquely individual consciousness‐‐and between poetry, childhood learning and children's achievement of literacy‐‐can be represented in a teaching methodology. It refers to a unique teaching and research project, directed by the author at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, which has developed principles and strategies for building a new pedagogy with children and in teacher education.     

TEACHING JEWISH STUDIES “UNDER GENTILE AUSPICES” VERSUS THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF RELIGION,INCLUDING JUDAISM: RESPONSE TO ZACHARY BRAITERMAN

Zachary Braiterman's essay, “Teaching Jewish Studies in a Radically Gentile Space: Some Personal Reflections,” demonstrates the cost of pursuing a secular, postmodernist agendum rather than teaching about a discipline‐‐Judaism‐‐under auspices of the academic study of religion. Braiterman's students did not learn about the richness of Judaic thought, but rather learned about their own opinions. Braiterman's position demands revision.     

Transforming Teacher Education in South Africa: a space‐time perspective

South Africa's most urgent and difficult project is to reconstruct all spheres of public life so as to establish enabling conditions for a flourishing and peaceful democracy. A viable education system with committed, competent and confident teachers is a primary condition for accomplishing these ends. This article offers a critical account of current attempts to transform teacher education and development. Against a sketch of inherited ways of using time and space in teacher education in South Africa, the article assesses change in three ‘spaces‘‐‐public space, evaluative space and pedagogical space‐‐and related changes in time. A fourth space of change‐‐institutional space‐‐is mentioned in so far as it affects the other three. I argue that the main direction of change is from insulated space and interrupted time to porous space and continuous time. While this direction has promising possibilities, it is not without pitfalls.     

Computer Majors’ Education as Moral Enterprise: a Durkheimian analysis

Abstract

Recent commentators on Durkheim have stressed his work's emphasis on the moral dimensions of social reality. Building on this premise and using it to explore the contemporary education of aspiring computer professionals, we think many of Durkheim's claims are verified in the process. We posit that the college computer department studied has developed an interlocking set of images, maxims and operating assumptions‐‐a collective moral account‐‐which frames its curriculum, courses and student evaluation. In short, we contend that even in a profession dealing with arguably the most advanced edge of late 20th‐century technology, only a very thin boundary separates its technical professional education from its essentially moral claims.     

Moral Reasoning and Conduct of Selected Elementary School Students

Abstract

In order to explore the relationship between moral reasoning and conduct, 38 Grade Six students, deemed by their teachers to display ‘delinquent’ or ‘non‐delinquent’ characteristics, were administered Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Instrument (Kohlberg et al., 1973) and an IQ test. Subjects were then randomly assigned to three treatment groups: a) experimental‐‐discussion of moral dilemmas; b) placebo‐‐social studies games; c) control. A month later Kohlberg's instrument was readministered.

Findings indicated that ‘delinquents’ and ‘non‐delinquents’ differed significantly (p = .001) on moral reasoning scores at both testing times. There was no statistically significant treatment effect (p = .06). Intelligence quotient was significantly and positively related to moral reasoning for ‘non‐delinquents’, but not for ‘delinquents’.     

Funding Government Training Schemes: Mechanisms and Consequences

Abstract

This paper follows the path of public funds allocated to private institutions‐‐Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs)‐‐which, in turn, fund the delivery of Youth Training (soon to be replaced by Youth Credits) and Training for Work. The paper argues that the terms on which funds are allocated to TECs offers little financial incentive for TECs to support high cost, high quality training since their success and cost effectiveness is measured by indicators which take no account of the type of training provided, to whom it is provided and by whom. A TECs performance rating can only be improved if it devotes more of its resources to support for the cheapest, easiest and quickest routes to the government's set of output measures. However, this will do little to cure Britain's well‐known deficiencies in intermediate skills in occupations in which it is costly and lengthy to train.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of School Inspection: a stressful experience

Research into inspection is increasing, although in the past much of it tended to focus on either the perspective of the school management or the inspectors themselves. As part of a 3 year study into inspection, Brimblecombe, Ormston and Shaw have completed a national questionnaire survey and in‐depth interviews focusing on the classroom teacher's experiences of inspection. Whilst the analysis is still in the preliminary stages, several interesting issues have emerged. This paper focuses on one of them‐‐the stress on teachers generated by inspection‐‐and examines what causes it, how it is managed, what forms it takes and what impact it has on the inspection process, the inspection outcomes and the teachers themselves     

SIMULATIONS AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Simulations differ from games and informal dramas and their benefits have not been fully realized because of misunderstandings and a subject‐bound approach. Most simulations have been used at college level or with adults, and little has been done in the secondary schools, partly due to a shortage of suitable material. The author's eight graded simulations are designed to give practice in communication skills‐‐discussing, organizing, interviewing, assessing materials, presenting a case and speaking in ‘public’,‐‐all on the level of adult responsibility. Although intended mainly for sixth‐form and college level, experiments have been carried out with fourth forms in secondary schools. There was a high degree of motivation and involvement and the simulations achieved their aim of giving practice in communication skills.     

STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND “THE FOURTH REVOLUTION”

The paper‐‐an abbreviated version of the author's Conference address‐‐argues that we are in the midst of a learning revolution with which all of us, academics and students alike, must come to terms. The lecture and the printed word, as the sole means of communication in tertiary education for the large percentage of teachers and students, may be challenged. As student needs diversify, teachers will no longer be able to function using traditional skills but will need to develop new skills. It should be their duty to acquire these skills before they begin a life time of teaching     

Rising from the Ashes: the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project and the corporatization of university‐based scientific research

A plethora of books and articles have appeared recently that announce the global triumph of corporate capitalism and its attendant ideologies. Nowhere are these articles more scathing in their critique of corporatization than in the field of education. However, few have taken a historical perspective in examining the institutional policies and practices that paved the way for private‐sector influence and the adoption of business and administrative sensibilities in higher education. This article examines the University of Michigan (U‐M) between 1945 and the early 1960s as a case study of the kinds of physical and philosophical changes that occurred to usher in the process of corporatization at a major research university. I focus predominantly on one major research effort‐‐the Phoenix Memorial Project‐‐that set in motion many of the forces that would effectively reshape the school's philosophy and practices. The article begins with a discussion of the ideological and political tensions that characterized the course of U‐M scientific research after World War II, particularly the complex intermingling of university, government and corporate interests. Next, I document the Phoenix Project itself and the emphasis on institutional restructuring for capital investment that it inspired. Despite conflicting and contradictory ideas about links between education and both military and corporate research interests, U‐M's top administrators restructured the university to attract venture capital by constructing innovative mechanisms for integrating investors’ needs into the work of academic (mostly scientific) inquiry. Finally, I want to look at some of the cultural narratives that enabled this triumph of corporate interests to infuse itself into the U‐M's institutional and social mission.     

Motivation and Morality

Abstract:

Of the three aspects of moral development‐‐the development of empathy, moral reasoning and related problem‐solving strategies‐‐we know least about empathy. Possible reasons for this are explored. Some of the relevant literature is reviewed. A new stage‐theory by M. L. Hoffman is described which shows how the development of person permanence, the capacity for role‐taking, and the awareness of personal identity may create the conditions under which the young child moves from a primitive response to the mother's physical distress to sympathetic distress, altruism, and eventually to guilt. The article concludes with implications for socialization, comments relating to future research, and a comprehensive bibliography.     

IS RELIGION SUFFICIENT?

Is religion as we interpret, teach and practice it today capable of motivating life? Can religion qualify or control conduct and so shape character? In common with lower forms of life, we respond to the drive of hunger, to the desire for a mate, to the compulsion of fear and anger, to the urge to live and to defend our lives. These motivations are all very simple and direct. They spring from nature's demand that the race shall not end, but shall go on.

But is there another source of motivation‐‐call it a higher source if you wil‐‐which is able to condition these more primitive and subjective drives and cause men to act with reference to values outside themselves? Is there a source of constraint capable of making men serve ideal ends? And is religion this source, has it this power over men?     

>How to avoid implying that physicalism is true: a problem for teachers of science

It is difficult to teach science without implying, in a broad sense, that physicalism is true. This is a problem for teachers, regardless of whether they accept or reject physicalism, as well as for students. Physicalism‐‐it used to be called materialism‐‐is not a single doctrine, but a family of doctrines. Six of these are described and it is argued that they are not logically favoured by science. Since alternative metaphysical schemes exist (e.g. Whitehead's) which are consistent with scientific facts, evidence which supports a scientific theory over rivals, even decisively, does not have the logical power to decide in favour of physicalism. Science teaching's insinuation of physicalism can be avoided by deliberately stressing such uncontroversial features of science as: the unfinished nature of research; the use of idealizations in scientific theories; how all scientific theories at best only approach the truth; and that older theories are now known to be, strictly, false, although they still fit the facts to some degree.     

A Conceptual Change Approach to Learning Science

Summaries

English

Learning science is complex‐‐a student has at different times to acquire new information, reorganize existing knowledge and even discard cherished ideas. In addressing this issue, the analogy between individual learning and conceptual change in scientific disciplines has been fruitful in providing aspects of a suitableframework for analysing science learning. In this paper a model of learning as conceptual change is developed. It investigates the conditions under which an individual holding a set of conceptions of natural phenomena, when confronted by new experiences will either keep his or her conceptions substantially unaltered in the process of incorporating these experiences, or have to replace them because of their inadequacy. The model illuminates the importance of addressing an individual's existing conceptions. It also pinpoints the importance of an individual's metaphysical commitments in influencing scientific learning.     

Common Core History for Young Europeans

The prospect of European integration calls urgently for educational provision which will enable Europe's school‐leavers to understand and appraise the process. Essentially, this provision is historical. What is distinctive about Europe? What made us what we are? It is suggested that modem Europe is, at bottom, the result of two related things‐‐conflict and ideas‐‐and that the conflicts have arisen because of the ideas, and have constituted their final working‐out. Three ideas, with their related conflicts, seem fundamental, and these three pairings indicate the appropriate content for a history course for Europe's senior pupils. The three ‘ideas ‘ are the Reformation, the Enlightenment and Nationalism, and the related conflicts are the 30 Years’ War, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the World Wars of this century. The coverage of the first pairing is sketched as an example of how the whole course may be mounted and to introduce a master theme of European history for the last 300 years. The paper ends with a brief discussion of why other seemingly crucial factors are not selected and discussed.     

A Course in Social and Ethical Issues in Computing

In recent years many computer science educators have struggled with the problem of how to include instruction on social and ethical issues in the computing curriculum. This article describes one approach to solving this problem. It outlines a course called Perspectives in Computing that the author has taught for junior and senior computer science majors. One unifying theme of the course is that computers alter human relationships‐‐they create relationships that would not have existed otherwise and they change existing relationships. The course both examines the nature of those relationships and studies the ethical dimensions of the computer's impact. A second unifying theme is that computing as a discipline affirms a set of professional values. The course attempts to help students discern those values and to develop a thoughtful critique of them.     

A Retrospective View of the Countrywide Classroom in India

The introduction of television in conventional higher education has been experimented with worldwide since the early 1950s. Several ways of putting television to effective use in higher education have been developed. One of the successful educational projects in the developing countries is the Countrywide Classroom Project in India. The traditional educational system at all levels remains compartmentalized which makes it necessary to use new and innovative means of education. With the intention of overcoming some of the numerous obstacles to knowledge and learning in the Indian context, the University Grants Commission initiated a unique educational experiment‐‐the Countrywide Classroom‐‐in 1984. Beginning with 1 hour of telecast of Countrywide Classroom programmes on all working days in Doordarshan, India's National Public Service Television network, it has now evolved to 20 hours of telecast per week. Over a period of time, a decentralized production system, using countrywide creative talent, came into being. The Countrywide Classroom has created a niche audience of youth and adults in cities, small towns and remote areas devoid of adequate educational facilities. This paper presents a discussion of the Countrywide Classroom Project, its infrastructure, production, transmission, limitations and future directions.     

Science Teachers' Spontaneous,Latent or Non‐attendance to the Validity of Conclusions in Reported Situations

In today's science curricula, especially the Science‐Technology‐Society (STS) approach, ‘process skills’, including aspects of critical thinking and logical analysis, are heavily stressed. Many studies—globally‐‐have shown serious deficiencies in secondary schools, and also in (student‐) teacher populations. The question arose whether, and to what extent, science teachers critically and spontaneously attend to the logical structure of situations, do so only after prompting, or completely fail to do so. The ‘Analysis of Scientific Passages Test’ (ASPT) was constructed to ascertain whether respondents would spontaneously identify invalid conclusions as the common denominator of logically isomorphous situations, would do so only after being informed that the conclusions were invalid and be able to give reasons for this fact, or would be unable to do so at all. The test was administered to 76 practising science teachers attending an STS summer course at a major university in the mid‐western USA. Zero scores were obtained by 13% in the test, 17% obtained full scores, the rest occupied transitional positions; but no less than 51% did not attend to the logical structure and conclusions of the situations without being told to do so. The findings‐‐in line with previous ones on similar aspects of ‘process skills’ by this and other authors‐‐were interpreted to represent serious shortcomings in science teachers' pre‐ and inservice education, leading to their failure to allocate the same emphases and priorities to their teaching activities as one might expect them to do considering curricular demands and expectations.     

Exporting Failure: the strange case of NVQs and overseas markets

At a time when Britain's vocational education and training (VET) system and vocational qualifications are undergoing a major review and restructuring in response to critical reports about the model established under the former National Council for Vocational Qualifications, the British Council and associated agencies is currently trying to market National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) overseas. The chief weaknesses and failings of NVQs and the competence‐based education and training (CBET) system on which they are based are outlined in terms of assessment anomalies and the needs of firms, trainees and employers. Since these shortcomings are so so serious, it is suggested that‐‐until they have been remedied through the current reforms under the aegis of the new Qualifications and Curriculum Authority‐‐it is ethically unjustifiable to export a failed VET system to countries which may be unaware of the critical research surrounding NVQs and CBET.     

Understanding Energy as a Conserved Quantity‐‐Remarks on the Article by R. U. Sexl

Summaries

English

A series of learning difficulties hamper the understanding of energy as a conserved quantity. For example, the aspect of conservation is not covered by the everyday use of the word ‘energy’, and the idea of energy conservation is formed very late in the course of children's development. Empirical investigations about learning the energy concept indicate clearly that learning the conservation aspect of energy causes the students greater difficulties than learning the conversion aspect. Taking the remarks of R. U. Sexl on the didactics of the energy concept (see the preceding article) into consideration, it is discussed how students‐‐as early as the 5th to 10th grades‐‐can be guided to comprehending energy as a conserved quantity.