Assessing the impact of a university teaching development programme

Four different indicators are used to assess the impact of a year‐long university teaching development programme in an Australian research‐led university. All four indicators show small positive outcomes. Teachers who complete the programme have higher rates of receipt of teaching awards and teaching development grants than their colleagues who do not participate in the programme. Students in the classes of teachers who complete the programme report, on average, higher satisfaction scores than students in the classes of the same teacher before she/he completed the programme. Students in the faculties where the programme is completed by a higher proportion of academic staff report greater change to levels of satisfaction in the quality of their degree over the seven‐year period of the study. The methodology adopted involves several new approaches to evaluation and confirms the need for the use of an evaluation framework and multi‐indicator strategy.     

Programme theory,programme documents and state standards in evaluating teacher education

Across the USA as well as worldwide, numerous universities offer teacher preparation programmes and award such degrees. However, there are no consistent valid or reliable indicators for determining the coherence and quality of these programmes. An effective way of starting to evaluate these programmes is by looking at their standards and their documents. The combination of both could be considered the basis on which all major decisions about the programme are based. Using the example of a Midwestern university in the USA, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a method of examining the coherence between the various sets of standards that university programmes have to adhere to (e.g. whether the teacher education standards of the university correspond to the standards for the state that the university is in, as well as to the programme documents). This article ends with some suggestions that could lead to a higher level of coherence within such programmes.     

Back to school in Afghanistan: Determinants of school enrollment

One of the first achievements of post-conflict Afghanistan was to bring almost 4 million children back to school. Issues remain daunting, however, with low primary enrollment especially for girls and in rural areas and very weak learning achievements. We review some key features of the education system in Afghanistan. By matching household and school data, we assess the impact of various factors on enrollment. Overall, the analysis indicates that further increasing supply alone is unlikely to lead to higher enrollment. The analysis confirms the importance of demand factors such as the education of parents, the family language, and other community and ethnic factors.     

Evaluating the impact of an environmental education programme: an empirical study in Mexico

This study draws on information from 11 in‐depth interviews, two focus groups and 72 written questionnaires to evaluate an extra‐curricular environmental education programme on forestry designed for preparatory school students from a small rural community in Mexico. Specifically, the study assessed the impact of the programme on the ecological knowledge of 72 students. Qualitative feedback suggests that students learnt about forestry, acquired greater awareness of the importance of conservation for the local environment and enjoyed the participatory teaching methods used in the programme. Quantitative results show a positive and significant association between the number of times a student participated in the programme and the student’s ecological knowledge. Students who participated in the programme once had a 16.3% higher knowledge on ecological concepts and knew, on average, 1.5 more local forest plants than students who never attended it (p<.001). Findings suggest that the inclusion of participatory environmental education programmes in preparatory schools would improve the acquisition of ecological knowledge. Further research could consider the consistency of the findings by replicating participatory methods presented here and by using an experimental research design.     

The conceptual change approach to improving teaching and learning: An evaluation of a Hong Kong staff development programme

This paper reports a study ofthe effectiveness of an innovative approach tostaff development, the conceptual changeapproach, which attempts to change teachers'frameworks for conceptualising teaching andlearning. The evaluation investigated theprogramme at three levels: the impact on theconceptions of teaching of the participants,the resultant impact on teaching practices, andthe consequential effect on student learning.Encouraging results were obtained. Theprogramme brought about detectable conceptualchange or conceptual development in two-thirdsof the sample group. Subsequently, all the`changed' teachers received better ratings ontheir teaching practices from their students inthe following academic year while none of thosewho did not change their conceptions showedsimilar gains in student rating scores. Aresultant positive impact on their students'studying approaches was observed for half ofthe teachers who changed their conceptions.     

Domestic and international power relations in a Cameroonian mission school system

This paper is a critical ethnography of mathematics teachers in a Cameroonian private, mission school system. Findings from in-depth interviews with secondary mathematics teachers indicate that most of these teachers perceive their educational situation as disconnected, in several ways, from their cultures. However, most participants look to western processes as models for their own development. An analysis of state and international postcolonial hegemonies which influence these teachers is presented, including allocation of resources, curricular agendas, and professional development opportunities.     

PISA在中国:教育评价新探索

本文通过对当前国际上颇具影响力的大规模教育评价项目——"学生能力国际评价("PISA)的评价理念和技术的解析,结合教育部考试中心开展PISA2006中国试测研究实践收获的启示,阐述了作者对我国教育评价研究与发展的思考和建议。     

Evaluating the quality of BEd programme: Students' views of their college experiences

Quality assurance of teacher training has become of a great concern nowadays. This paper addresses the quality of BEd programme of the University of Education (UE) Lahore. The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of BEd programme with regard to the internal efficiency of Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETs), the affiliated institutions of UE. The study was conducted on a random sample of 600 BEd students drawn from 11 GCETs in Punjab province. Data was collected through a questionnaire which was validated through a pilot study in 2006. The reliability of the final questionnaire was established at 0.863 allowing the researcher to launch the study at large scale (Gay, 2000). The findings revealed that BEd programme was effective in terms of updating student teachers' knowledge and skills. Student teachers favoured the quality of BEd curriculum, lesson planning and presentation by themselves and their teacher educators, and had some reservations about the proper use of audio-visual aids for effective classroom teaching learning processes. Female gender showed more satisfaction with the quality of BEd curriculum and teaching than their male counterparts. No significant difference was found in the opinion of the students of GCETs having low, medium, and high enrolment.     

我国农村中小学布局调整的总体评价

通过对中西部地区的湖北、河南、广西、云南、陕西和内蒙古等6个省(自治区)38个县市177个乡镇实地调研所收集的资料和现有文献对我国农村中小学布局调整进行总体性评价,以大量的事实证明农村中小学布局调整的力度较大,中小学的服务人口和服务范围都有显著增加和扩大,学校规模的扩大更加明显,以前存在的学校规模过小、布局分散、资源利用效率低的问题得到了相当程度的改善,布局调整取得了良好的成效。     

特殊学生思想特点及教育对策分析

特殊学生寄宿,是他们适应社会生活的第一步,也是培养特殊学生社会生活适应能力的重要途径。本文以特殊学生为对象,阐述了智障生、肢残生、自闭生等在学校寄宿生活中的思想特点,并围绕学生寄宿生活,对他们的思想教育对策进行了简单的分析。     

Promoting inclusive education in secondary school in Norway: a national programme for teacher development

There is a great need in many countries for extended and new teacher competence to meet the challenges of inclusive education. This paper presents a national programme for developing new teacher competence in secondary schools in Norway. The programme was developed and implemented during the 1990s, its aim being to start a continuing process in schools directed at promoting inclusive education and improving the quality of education for pupils with special educational needs. Further, the paper presents some findings from a national survey of 2240 teachers and school administrators in 104 schools one year after the implementation of the programme. The survey partially replicated a survey carried out before the programme started. The purpose was to give an overall picture of the situation with respect to teacher competence in special needs and inclusive education, and the impact of the competence building programme on teacher practice, and to identify possible system changes in schools.     

Education collaboration to promote school participation in northern Ghana: A case study of a complementary education program

This study explores the perceived benefits and challenges of the collaboration model of a complementary education program which operates in marginalized communities in northern Ghana. The scope of the paper includes the background, collaboration as a transformative process, research methodology, findings, and discussion. The study revealed that: (a) the collaborative partners’ “shared values” were a major drive of the collaboration; (b) the collaboration model was fluid, contextual, and an unstructured process; (c) the process provided new strategies promoting school participation in northern Ghana; and (d) the collaborative partners’ idiosyncrasies posed a major challenge to the collaboration.     

中国城市和农村小学教师对融合教育态度的比较研究

This study investigated the attitudes of primary school teachers from the selected rural and urban areas in China toward inclusive education. The results indicated that, (1) teachers’ attitudes are composed of three dimensions: positive and negative effects of inclusion, and benefits of segregated special education; (2) most surveyed teachers demonstrated positive attitudes toward segregated special school education while supporting inclusion; (3) rural and urban teachers held significantly different attitudes toward inclusion, and urban teachers were more negative toward inclusion than rural ones; and (4) teachers’ attitudes were not essentially influenced by resources, teaching years or relevant special education training.      

中小学科技素质教育中存在的问题及对策

科技素质教育是技术创新的基础。面对知识经济的挑战，我国的中小学教育模式，已不适应经济变革和社会发展的需要。特别是科技素质教育十分薄弱，具体表现在科技师资水平偏低、教学内容陈旧、教学方法单一、重科学知识传授轻科学能力培养、教育经费短缺等，惟有提高教师的科技素质，改革旧的课程内容、教学方法，改善办学条件，才能提高中小学校学生的科学素质。     

Impact of school readiness program interventions on children's learning in Cambodia

To reduce the high repetition rates in early years of primary school, the government of Cambodia piloted a school readiness program (SRP) in the first two months of Grade 1 of primary school. This study examines whether such intervention has effects on students’ immediate acquisition of school readiness skills as well as students’ longer term achievement of formal curriculum. The study finds that children who participated in SRP outperform children that did not participate in both outcomes, controlling for pretest score and background variables. The findings suggest that the intervention may be one alternative model to preschools in countries where access to pre-primary education is limited.     

关于农村中小学教育现状的思考

我国农村人口总数大,从某种意义上讲,农村的发展靠教育,农村的教育决定了我国的未来。文章通过对农村中小学教育现状的分析,指出其办学过程中存在的问题,并就具体存在的问题有针对性地提出改革发展的建议。     

International education as a novel entity in a public education system: the establishment of a new public international school in Israel

Abstract

This study traces the founding process of Eastern Mediterranean International School (EMIS) by analysing the motivations and interests of different stakeholders involved in the establishment process. In this novel initiative students from Palestine, Israel, and other countries study within the Israeli public school system towards an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with founders, educators, Ministry of Education officials, a parents’ survey, and content analysis of related documents, the authors show how the school was established and approved despite the supposedly contradicting hegemonic discourse of the official Israeli policy. They conclude by suggesting some implications for scholars and policy-makers.     

Evaluating the FRIENDS programme in a Scottish setting

This study used an “indicated prevention” approach to attempt to replicate very positive international evaluations of the FRIENDS for Life programme. Using standardised self‐report measures of anxiety, low mood and self esteem with groups of children from four schools, the study found significant improvements in all of these measures following the 10‐week programme, which were sustained four months later. Positive findings were also obtained from an examination of the programme’s impact on children’s social skills. Implications for improving emotional well‐being and educational outcomes for children in Scottish schools are discussed.