The development of a situational judgement test of personal attributes for quality teaching in rural and remote Australia

Education authorities in Australia are calling for valid tools to help assess prospective teachers’ non-academic attributes, with a particular need for identifying those attributes necessary for effective teaching in specific contexts. With the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education, we aimed to develop a scenario-based tool to help assess the non-academic attributes necessary for beginning teachers working in rural and remote settings. Using a situational judgement test (SJT) methodology, we worked with experienced teachers (n = 19) to develop scenario-based items, which were then reviewed by school principals (n = 13). The teachers also adapted items previously developed and piloted in the UK. Next, prospective NSW teachers (n = 99) tried 32 new and adapted items targeting four clusters of attributes: empathy and communication, resilience and adaptability, organisation and planning, and culture and context. Item quality analyses revealed 22 acceptable items. We conclude by suggesting SJTs for promoting non-academic growth of prospective and beginning teachers.     

Knowledge production in a constructed field: reflections on comparative and international education

Adopting Maria Manzon’s theoretical framework, which draws on Foucault and proposes that comparative education as an academic field is socially constructed, I suggest that the field is neither stable nor well defined. To demonstrate this, I conduct a content analysis of the Comparative Education Review, using Klaus Krippendorff’s methodological framework to study comparative and international education (CIE) researchers’ understanding of the national—and of their related knowledge production in the field. Many comparativists express interests in multiple countries, and their knowledge production takes the form of individual country studies. The countries are habitually studied using a “problem approach” focusing on one specific aspect of the country under investigation and using an associated social science methodology deemed appropriate. Few comparativists are making explicit use of or reference to any methodology that is unique to comparative education. Efforts to catalog and systematize CIE research have demonstrated that the field is becoming so inclusive that it hardly is distinguishable from educational studies as a whole. Hence, I suggest that instead of speaking about unifying features of the field, it may be more relevant to speak about frequent elements, such as a focus on the national, and a knowledge production characterized by the academic practitioner who desires to improve the education systems studied. A third frequent element may be the focus on educational development, thus justifying the label of “comparative, international, and development education.” One challenge of the field is its dependence on Western social science discourses, which may be marginalizing other voices.     

Sport education-based irregular teaching unit and students’ physical activity during school recess

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare the effect of a Sport Education-based irregular teaching unit on the high-school students’ physical activity (PA) during school recess. A sample of 91 adolescents (45 girls) aged 13–16?years old met the exclusion criteria. The six classes were cluster-randomly assigned to the Irregular Sport Education group (Sport Education methodology with competitions in recess), Traditional Sport Education group (Sport Education methodology with competitions in Physical Education lessons), or to the control group (non-intervention). The students’ PA during school recess periods were objectively assessed by GT3X accelerometers. The results of the repeated-measures nested analysis of variance showed that the Sport Education-based irregular teaching unit significantly improved the students’ PA during recesses (p?<?0.001). The competitions phase of the Sport Education model performed at school recesses seems to be a valuable strategy for increasing students’ PA contributing to the achievement of the daily recommendations.     

Issues in the development of national education indicators in the United States

This chapter examines the challenges before the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as it responds to rising expectations for better education indicator data. The first section summarizes the issues raised by the Congressionally-mandated report, Education Counts: An Indicator System to Monitor the Nation's Educational Health (U.S. Department of Education, 1991), and the report's implications for NCES. The second section takes up the challenges that NCES must face before an indicator system can meet policy makers' demands.     

Supporting the implementation of curriculum reform through learning communities and communities of practice

This article looks at the role that teacher training can play in implementing curriculum reform, specifically in studies conducted in French-speaking Africa by researchers at the UNESCO Chair in Curriculum Development. After reviewing the effects that reform has on the school as an organization, it establishes a link between the concept of change and the notions of communities of practice and learning communities. As any change in organizations depends on human resources, the article describes how teacher training can enable teachers to develop such communities, as an effective strategy for implementing certain aspects of curriculum reform. It also outlines the importance of training that focuses on class management and the ways that such communities can empower teachers. Finally, it shows how a learning community that developed in one class extended throughout a school.     

Use of Print Media in Teacher Training 1

Abstract

Primary Education is seen as a critical element for general improvement of the economic and social future of Honduras and the most significant action currently underway is the work being done through the Primary Education Efficiency Project which is financed by a major grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Project has as its major objective the improvement of the quality of educational services at the primary level through the development of new textbooks for grades one through six and extensive in‐service teacher training which is described here. This article presents the three essential elements of a specific training implemented; the contents, the media to be used and the methodology for its delivery. The medium chosen for the training was a printed document in a newspaper format which was given the name Accion Educativa. The general reaction from the teachers to this form of presentation was highly positive and the success of the use of the print medium led to the conclusion that the project should continue using similar publications, and should study the possibility of establishing Accion Educativa as a monthly periodical for primary school teachers.

     

Reciprocal learning between Canada and China in teacher education and school education: Partnership studies of practice in cultural context

In this introduction we describe the purpose and structure of the Canada–China Reciprocal Learning in Teacher Education and School Education Partnership Grant Project sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC) in 2013?2020, and describe the project’s practice-based methodology along with a discussion of selected preliminary results. The papers presented in this special issue of Frontiers of Education in China animate our discussion by bringing forward important school-based activities and results. The heart of this work is the collaborative activity and voices of Chinese and Canadian educators. We illustrate our concept of reciprocal learning and how we apply this concept in our Partnership Grant Project. We believe that we have heavily benefited from the productive work and impact that has been made in the field of comparative education and we have put our emphasis on Reciprocal Learning as Collaborative Partnership throughout our project.     

The high school science library for 1933–34

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is, quite possibly, the most comprehensive and systemic education reform act passed by Congress in the last 40 years. Given only 17 states ever fully complied with NCLB's predecessor, the 1994 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, it is only proper that legislators, policymakers, and researchers are now asking how we, as a nation, are doing implementing the law this time around? The Education Commission of the States (ECS) attempts, in the following article, to answer the question. The article covers information ECS has harvested and some of the insights ECS has gained since first examining state policy enactments related to NCLB. It provides information on the structure of the database, the methodology used to gather and verify the information, major findings of the tracking and reporting activity, specific gains made by category, key issues that merit immediate attention, and finally specific actions for consideration should federal officials and state policymakers be inclined to make changes to the law.     

The need for attention to the issue of rural education

This paper argues that strategies for vocational education in Africa, with particular regard to rural communities, which were highlighted as a key aspect of development strategies in the '60s and '70s — such as Education for Self Reliance or the Brigades of Botswana (see Nyerere, J., 1967. Education for Self-Reliance. Ministry of Information and Tourism, Dar es Salaam; Foster, P., 1969. Education for self reliance: A critical evaluation. In: Jolly, R. (Ed.), Education in Africa: Research and Action. East African Publishing House, Nairobi, pp. 81–102) and the World Bank programmes in support of Non-Formal Education (Coombs, P., Ahmed, M., 1974. Attacking Rural Poverty: How Non-formal Education Can Help. World Bank/Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore) — have never been replaced with a viable alternative in subsequent years. Whatever the reasons for the failure or demise of such programmes, which aimed at linking the school curriculum to the world of (rural) work in the past, the need for careful attention to that linkage has increased rather than decreased in the interim given the overall decline in access to secondary and tertiary education and the prospects for finding alternative employment in the formal sector. The paper focuses on recent reform initiatives in South Africa and seeks to make the point that new policy, in so far as it has been shaped by global trends, has failed to engage with the specific interests of the rural poor.     

高校潜性教育理论框架的构建

“素质教育”作为目标教育,多年来很难真正付诸实施。为了实现“素质教育”,必须研究作为方法论的“潜性教育”。构建潜性教育的理论框架是研究潜性教育的首要任务,从它的内容、特点、实施方法及其在高校品牌战略中的地位来考虑构建,是一种可行的尝试。     

Teaching Environmental Education through PBL: Evaluation of a Teaching Intervention Program

If our chosen aim in science education is to be inclusive and to improve students’ learning achievements, then we must identify teaching methodologies that are appropriate for teaching and learning specific knowledge. Karagiorgi and Symeo (2005) remind us that instructional designers are thus challenged to translate the philosophy of constructivism into current practice. Thus, research in science education must focus on evaluating intervention programs which ensure the effective construction of knowledge and development of competencies. The present study reports the elaboration, application and evaluation of a problem-based learning (PBL) program with the aim of examining its effectiveness with students learning Environmental Education. Prior research on both PBL and Environmental Education (EE) was conducted within the context of science education so as to elaborate and construct the intervention program. Findings from these studies indicated both the PBL methodology and EE as helpful for teachers and students. PBL methodology has been adopted in this study since it is logically incorporated in a constructivism philosophy application (Hendry et al. 1999) and it was expected that this approach would assist students towards achieving a specific set of competencies (Engel 1997). On the other hand, EE has evolved at a rapid pace within many countries in the new millennium (Hart 2007), unlike any other educational area. However, many authors still appear to believe that schools are failing to prepare students adequately in EE (Walsche 2008; Winter 2007). The following section describes the research that was conducted in both areas so as to devise the intervention program.     

Knowledge about word structure in beginning readers: what specific links are there with word reading and spelling?

The present study had two aims: (1) to examine kindergarten (Kg) and first grade (G1) children’s early word structure knowledge, that is letter, phonological, morphological, and orthographic knowledge, and (2) to provide evidence of specific links between these various types of knowledge and word reading and spelling performance assessed in G1. A short longitudinal study was conducted with French-speaking children. Beyond phonological and morphological knowledge, identified here as in many other studies, the results provided evidence of a level of orthographic knowledge in the Kg children who exhibited an ability to process graphotactic constraints (i.e., legal combinations of letters). Moreover, whatever the type of items (affixed, pseudo-affixed, regular, or irregular words) being processed, either in reading or in spelling, letter naming was seen to be the strongest predictor of reading and spelling performance. The second important predictor related to phonological knowledge and more particularly phoneme extraction as a proximal predictor. Morphological knowledge appeared to be less important, and finally, the smallest contribution was made by orthographic knowledge.     

Education in developing countries: the view from Mount Olympus

In a recent issue ofProspects we published a review of the World Bank's recent publication,Education Sector Working Paper. This publication represents a major policy statement by the Bank on the subject of education and significant (not to say radical) departure from previous policies. It is a document all the more important in view of the enormous funding power of the World Bank and the undeniable influence of its policies on national governments and even on international organizations. TheEducation Sector Working Paper, which has been generally welcomed in international circles, is certainly not without its critics both in the developing countries and in the industrialized world. We feel that at a time when there is a push for examining educational policies and concepts on an international level, we can contribute to the debate by publishing some criticism and rejoinder centring around the World Bank publication, much as we did in 1973 and 1974 on the subject ofLearning to Be, the report of the International Commission on the Development of Education. In this issue, therefore, we open the discussion with an article by Peter Williams, originally written for a one-day review meeting to consider the World Bank publication, held on 19 May 1975, at the University of London Institute of Education, and which he revised forProspects. The institute hopes to publish a report of its meeting, together with the papers, before the end of this year. Peter Williams' critique seems to us to be particularly interesting because it is based on the author's disagreement with the prevailing pessimism in the world, reflected by the World Bank, on the state of education in the developing nations. As always, our readers are warmly invited to contribute their reactions in any form they choose.     

The Contribution of the Competency-based Approach to Education for all in Cameroon

Taking place in a context where national policy is concerned about Education for All (EFA), where the educational provision to satisfy political, economic and social demands for a changing world falls well below the minimal requirements, and where international organizations demand signs of more significant progress, this article presents in an analytical manner the contribution made by the competency-based approach to EFA in Cameroon. In fact, the introduction of this approach in an effort to tackle primary school repetition led to remarkable results including not only an improvement in classroom practice with teaching/learning experiences that take into account the principles of the competency-based approach within the provision of remedial teaching, but also by the significant positive contribution towards the achievement of EFA in general and a more effective and equitable school in particular. This analysis ends with a presentation of the implications of the widespread introduction of these positive effects. Original language: French J.C. Bipoupout (Cameroon) Doctorate in Educational Sciences. National education inspector at the Ministry of Basic Education. Lecturer in Educational Sciences at the University of Yaoundé 1, after more than two decades of teaching in primary, secondary and teacher training establishments. Since 2001, member of the Multilateral Pool of French-speaking educational sciences experts of the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie. He contributed to the development of the competency-based approach in Cameroon and in other countries. Currently engaged in research on the pedagogy of integration. E-mail: bebey1260@yahoo.fr.     

对高职院校通识教育中外来文化教育的思考

外来文化是通识教育中不可忽视的一部分。笔者分析高职院校的教育现状,提出在英语课堂中输入外来文化,增强学生的跨文化交际能力。提出了通过主题教学和多样化文化导入教学的输入方式,并对教师提出了树立通识教育理念和提升外来文化涵养的自身素质要求。     

Researchers’ positions and construction of curricula of education for sustainable development in France

The article sets the international context for the development of a curriculum of education for sustainable development and shows the directions being taken in the Francophone community. Building on a significant number of studies carried out in France, we constitute a typology of the positions of French-speaking researchers involved in those studies and contributing to the establishment of the national curriculum. This typology is constructed using a methodology based on the frequency of lexical occurrences in a bibliographic database, combined with a methodology of research on the social representations of the researchers of this community. We first present a broad comparison with the Anglo-Saxon sphere, we postulate that these positions influence the curriculum construction and raise the issue of the social responsibility of education science researchers in the face of international political demands.     

“We’ve got you pegged”: programme choice in the transition to,and passage through,higher education

A 2010 paper published in Higher Education investigated the relationship between South African Grade 12 students’ programme preferences in 2001 for study in higher education, student enrolment in higher education programmes in 2002, and student graduations in 2006, devising what the author dubbed a preference-enrolment-graduation (PEG) model. The current paper, while recognizing the value of that model, points up its design limitations, proposing an alternative methodology for comparing student preferences, enrolments, and graduations that, using centralised Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) student record data, tracks the 2005 cohort of Grade 12 students along their higher education trajectories for the next 5 years (2006–2010), investigating the consistency of choice between programme preference, enrolment, and graduation.     

The Education and Care Divide: the role of the early childhood workforce in 15 European countries

International reports on early childhood education and care tend to attach increasing importance to workforce profiles. Yet a study of 15 European countries reveals that large numbers of (assistant) staff remain invisible in most international reports. As part of the CoRe project (Competence Requirements in Early Childhood Education and Care) we conducted a cross-national survey among experts in Belgium (Flemish- and French-speaking communities), Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK (England and Wales). The survey explored professional and training profiles not only for formal ‘teaching’ staff, but also for the entire workforce, making visible the assistants who are often omitted from international reports. The proportion of assistant staff varies from a very small percentage in some European countries to half of the entire workforce in many others. Whereas job profiles for higher qualified staff often focus on ‘education’, profiles for assistants typically focus on ‘care’. Consequently a divide between care and education can be observed, both in split systems and in integrated systems. In these cases, the concept of ‘education’ may be narrowed down to schoolified learning and ‘care’ may be regarded as subordinate to education. In several cases, assistants also have less entitlement to ongoing professionalisation than educational staff. Consequences of the findings for practice as well as policy are discussed.     

解析教育研究方法论也需要艺术方法

叶澜在其《教育研究方法论初探》中指出教育研究方法体系由于研究对象的复杂性、综合性及在实践中的动态生成性决定了其多层次性与复杂性，表现在哲学、科学、艺术等方法的综合运用上。其首次提出了教育研究需要艺术方法的见解，可以说为我们的教育研究领域开拓了新的思维空间。教育研究中需要艺术方法可以从教育的活动本性及实践的内在本质等方面来观察。     

The Impact of FEFC Funding 1997‐99: Research on 14 colleges

This article is based upon research undertaken by NATFHE and the Lifelong Learning Group, Institute of Education, University of London (Lucas et al., 1999). It looks at the impact of funding on 14 FE colleges (spread across England and including inner city, suburban and rural colleges, two sixth form and an agricultural college) and follows up the research carried out in 1996-97 by NATFHE and the Institute of Education: Learning Funding: the impact of FEFC funding, evidence from twelve FE colleges, (1998). The research we examined focuses on the effects of the FEFC funding methodology upon colleges and the further education curriculum during the period immediately following the crisis in 1997 over the 'demand-led element' of funding (DLE). A full report can be obtained from NATFHE or the Institute of Education.