Should Spirituality be Taught in Post-compulsory Education? Justifications for its Inclusion in the Further Education Curriculum

Marilyn Tatarkowski points to Dearing's suggestion that all providers of education and training should take spiritual and moral issues into account in the design and delivery of the curriculum. In her own FE college she found that social science students were generally positive about the idea of a forum to discuss religious and spiritual issues, and that a high percentage of them had become more interested in this area since moving into HE. Having provided a detailed analysis of the concept of spiritual development, she ends by providing both a justification for the inclusion of spiritual development in the FE curriculum and some suggestions as to how this might be done.     

The Implementation of Curriculum Change in School Science in England and Wales

Summaries

English

Science curriculum development in England and Wales started some 20 years ago and has led to the development of science curricula covering all major subjects, age levels and ability ranges. Dr Waring reviews, in this article, the successes and failures of the curriculum reform activities, and examines the underlying causes. In this review she draws extensively on the findings from researches into curriculum implementation, conducted in Britain and elsewhere.     

Promoting Spiritual Development in the Curriculum

This paper asserts that the spiritual is rooted in the essence of being human. Human beings search for meaning, purpose and direction in life and spiritual development is inextricably linked with this process. The spiritual manifests itself in the feelings and emotions of human beings, as well as the values, beliefs, aspirations and intellect. Spiritual development in this sense must be holistic. The spiritual dimension of education must engage the body, mind and heart. Spiritual development implies change, with a progression from immaturity towards maturity, from the simple to the complex, from the superficial to the profound. In relation to this the writer discusses what spiritual education should involve and the contribution different aspects of the curriculum can make.     

Legislating for change: Missed Opportunities in the Further and Higher Education Act

Abstract

This paper considers the likely impact of the FE and HE Act (1992) in conferring corporate status on Further Education. It takes a critical look at the present pre‐occupation with market forces as the means of improving Post 16 participation, raising skill levels and meeting national training targets. Its principal argument is that the FE and HE Act has more to do with politically and administratively repositioning FE in the market, than with establishing a coherent curricular framework to secure its future. It also argues that the current national obsession with qualifications has confused the relationship between qualifications and curriculum and, as a consequence, has restricted new thinking about Post 16 Education and Training practice. Lost in all this is any serious consideration of what remains the most pressing issue, namely the further education of young people, and what constitutes effective teaching, learning and curriculum change. The paper maintains that legislation, competition and quality assurance alone determine neither the content, quality or delivery of Post 16 curriculum. In the wider policy vacuum now characterising Post 16 provision there is, the paper concludes, a need to go beyond markets, and to give more thought to the qualitative determinants of FE practice. First, background issues to the recent debate are considered.     

Caring for the Pastoral Carers

Kevin McCarthy sees a slight irony in the idea of inspecting the spiritual dimension of education. Nevertheless, he argues strongly that schools' response to this should be creative. The resulting policy must be a whole-school one that involves both horizontal and vertical curriculum development. In the second part of his paper he describes how, in his own school, a programme is being developed which goes beyond the mechanistic approach to science typically found in examination syllabi. Starting from the students' own perceptions, this programme considers the big issue which underlies science: that of ‘the spiritual dimension’.     

Achieving clarity: principle to practice. The difference reflection makes in implementing a policy for information technology in a primary school

Abstract

This article considers two pivotal issues in school development: first, the epistemological foundations by which a curriculum area is generally held to be constructed, and how this knowledge base can be accepted or reconstructed by individual interpretation. Secondly, the paradigm, and therefore the methodology, by which change agents represent their understanding of curriculum areas to those participants of curriculum change. The article has an unusual structure, as it is written in two separate sections. The first section relates in a simple narrative style the actions the author undertook in her role as a coordinator for information technology, seeking change in classroom practice within a large primary school (ages 5–11 years) in a London suburb. It is told retrospectively, for the author then undertook a period of study and reflection which led her to reconsider both her understanding and the method by which she introduced change. Hence, the second section, written at the end of this period of reflection, enters the realm of ‘paradigm shift’ in that it examines the author's past rationale, her actions and the consequent results within her new epistemological and ontological understanding. Essentially, she deconstructs her actions and reconstructs them as ‘what-should-have-happened!‘ The implicit tenet is that her actions did not lead to the change she sought because she did not have clarity in understanding or direction, hence the article's title: ‘Achieving Clarity … The Difference Reflection Makes …’. The axiom of her revised understanding is that enduring and profound change cannot occur without the change agent having this clarity of understanding, which can achieve consistency between principle and practice with both rigour and credibility. At least, that's the first step, for innovation is never that simple; it's a long process.     

Moral Education in a Plural Society: Malaysia

Abstract

Moral education is being phased into the state‐approved curriculum in Malaysia and is designed for non‐Muslim pupils in the school population. The stated aim of the curriculum is the development of a ‘morally‐mature’ person who will be able to make independent judgements in a moral conflict situation. This paper gives an account of the processes involved in the evolution of the moral education programme, while commenting on issues that impinge most centrally upon it.     

Computer Simulation in Teacher Training

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a survey of 156 FE librarians which examined the provision of library support for franchised HE courses in FE colleges by determining the involvement of the library in the franchising process and assessing the practical issues of provision. A significant finding is that the problems cited by librarians tend to be of a practical issues, such as stock management, whilst the benefits are perceived to be more of a managerial or professional nature.     

Disabled Students in Transition: A tale of two sectors' failure to communicate

This article explores in particular the need for proactive communications between the Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) sectors to ensure that disabled students in transition are appropriately supported. The need for two-way communication was identified along with other significant issues in a research project at the University of Nottingham. The project explored the provision for disabled students available in HE against that which disabled students in both FE and HE institutions stated they required. Issues relating to transition are explored within this short article.     

Relationship between developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices of pre‐service teachers

Abstract

This article explores the meaning of professionalism as it relates to early childhood teacher education. The poignant need for such professionalism is timely within the context of contemporary policies that have the potential to de‐skill educational professionalism as well as minimize the breadth and depth of early childhood education. After exploring problems/issues associated with a number of specific policies with such potential, an action plan and strategies for implementing such a plan are proposed. Now that early childhood teacher certification has been receiving increased attention in several states, the author concludes with what she feels is a problem worthy of immediate attention—greater school administrator preparation in early childhood curriculum.     

Critical inquiry into emergent‐oriented curriculum practice

Abstract

This theoretical paper characterizes and explores emergent‐oriented curriculum practice through the experiences of an early childhood education (ECE) prospective teacher, in the context of the U.S., as she co‐constructs the meaning of emergent‐oriented curriculum with culturally diverse pre‐K (4–5‐year‐old) children during her field experience. The paper examines how the prospective teacher understood emergent learning, how she and the children created and shaped their curriculum, and what critical aspects pertain to emergent‐oriented curriculum work from the perspective of developmentally meaningful and culturally responsive practice.     

Continuous assessment as a selfinitiated teacher development strategy in Swaziland: practice and challenges for effective implementation

Abstract

The paper reports on a study that clarifies the challenges that a teacher in Swaziland faced in using continuous assessment (CA) as a self-initiated professional development tool. Drawing mainly on post-Fordist ideals we analyse the assessment tasks she gave to learners to establish the degree of agency, reflectivity and creativity she invested in the choice, adaptation and re-design of assessment tasks that were suggested to the teachers by education authorities. Items within these tasks and how they were employed to serve the lesson objectives are drawn on to illustrate how she took advantage of the professional autonomy the CA programme afforded her to judge the appropriateness of what was officially suggested. The curriculum expertise that informed her choice of items to reinforce or remedy learning is understood in terms of how she conceptualised CA as a tool to track learners’ cognitive competence and as a resource for a self-directed professional development strategy. In conclusion, an attempt is made to provide cues for the conditions under which the self-empowering elements of CA can function to improve learning and teaching.     

全人教育：理工科大学课程开发新视角

近年来,很多理工科大学针对学生整体素质欠缺的问题进行了通识教育课程改革,但课程设置中依然较少关注人的精神层面、缺少全人类与生态的视角,使得理工科院校所培养的学生在个性心理和精神等方面的发展仍然不够完善。文章试图从全人教育的角度进行理论探讨,澄清全人教育的历史渊源、当代全人教育的目标,分析当前全人教育理念的特点,在此基础上针对当前理工科教育的课程问题提出基于全人教育理念的理工科课程开发原则。     

The Adaptation of Science Curricula‐‐an Exploratory Analysis of Some Relevant Decisions

Summaries

English

The paper attempts a systematic analysis of some of the issues involved in the adaptation of science curricula. The meaning of adaptation is defined and adaptation as a process is distinguished from adaptation (or ‘adaptedness') as a quality of a curriculum.

The ‘situation variables’ affecting the ‘adaptedness’ of a curriculum in a given setting are analysed; modifications which differences in such variables may necessitate are discussed and a simple classification proposed. The feasibility of adapting a given curriculum for use in a different setting depends both on differences in the situation variables and on characteristics of the curriculum itself. Some relevant characteristics are identified and their effects assessed.

Finally the paper directs attention to the wider issues of a socio‐economic character which, in practice, affect the desirability, or the wisdom, of opting for adaptation as a curriculum development strategy in a given context.     

Developing Managers in Further Education Part 2: the process of development

Abstract

This article is the second of a two‐part article which reports research on the development of managers in further education (FE). It draws on a survey of all general FE colleges in England, and two case study colleges, Peterborough Regional College and Leicester South Fields College. The first part of the article reported on the number of managers in FE, the allocation of responsibility for their development and the extent of development activity.

The second part of the article explores the process by which the development needs of managers are identified, showing that two parallel processes exist, a systematic approach based on appraisal and an ad hoc process based on individual initiative and serendipity. The choice of development activity is also analyzed, concluding that cost is the major factor driving the process, but that other attitudinal and resource issues are part of the overall picture.

The links with strategic planing are also described, questioning the extent to which such links are happening in practice, and how far they may be viable, given the difficulty of prioritizing managers’ personal development needs against other more concrete college goals.

Finally, the article returns to the Pedler et al. (1988) framework used as an analytical tool in the first part of the article, to conclude that colleges appear to have made some progress in introducing systems to the development of managers, but that there are still many barriers to the implementation of systems which embrace management development in the widest sense.     

The scientific method,Nintendo, and Eagle feathers: Rethinking the meaning of "culture-based" curriculum at an Ojibwe tribal school

In this article, the author analyzes the assumptions people make about culture and curriculum and asks what prevents the idea of culture-based curriculum from making radical changes in Native American schooling. She attributes the segregation of "culture" from "academic" curriculum to an internalization of colonial structures. In this scenario, "culture-based" (Native American)curriculum is superimposed on a curriculum that is already based in culture (Western European.) She discusses some of the ways a static notion of culture is played out at one tribal school and what the implications of these hegemonic practices are. Further, she discusses some classroom practices that refuse an essentialist definition of "Ojibwe" culture as a basis for curriculum and instead act to engage students in the process of making meaning in their classroom. It is suggested that by thinking of culture as creating relationships and meaning, we shall be able to move beyond the destructive dichotomy that associates intellectual rigor with Whiteness.     

Does Russia need sex education? The views of stakeholders in three Russian regions

Objective To investigate the attitudes of the main stakeholders towards the introduction of sex education in schools in Russia.

Design Qualitative semi-structured interview study.

Setting Altai Krai, Volgograd Oblast, Moscow, Russian Federation.

Participants One hundred and fifty-three interviews with Intersectoral HIV/AIDS Committee members, government officials responsible for HIV policies and interventions, non-governmental organisation and private-sector representatives.

Main outcome measures Perception of and attitudes towards the introduction of sex education in schools.

Results Ninety-one per cent of stakeholders welcomed the introduction of sex education in schools and emphasised its importance for a child's personal development, public health, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS control, and pregnancy planning. The majority of respondents suggested providing different information for each age and grade. Despite the claimed support of interviewed policy-makers and main HIV stakeholders, there has been no action to introduce sex education. The majority of respondents were of the view that wider positive support through propaganda about health, sex and healthy lifestyle should be gained prior to introducing sex education in schools by addressing the stigma surrounding sexual issues.

Conclusions There was little opposition to the introduction of sex education in Russian schools expressed in our survey, but there are uncertainties regarding curriculum quality, teaching methods and the starting grade of teaching about sex, and there is a need to cover local sensitivities in the territories. These concerns could and should be addressed during curriculum design, development and programme implementation by the federal and local authorities. Wider involvement of educational specialists, peer-adults, health workers, celebrities and religious representatives in discussion of the curriculum could help prevent opposition to its implementation.

Contribution to knowledge Discussion of sex-related topics has been taboo in Russia and there has been little research into opinions on issues related to sex education. The contribution of this research is in gaining theoretical in-depth understanding of the attitudes of the interviewed stakeholders in Russia about the introduction of sex education in schools.     

Resource Dependence in the Further Education Marketplace: considerations for the managers of college mergers

Abstract

In 1993 all institutions designated by the government as ‘further education providers’ were removed from local authority control (under the provisions of The Further and Higher Education Act 1992). All such colleges are now responsible for institutional self‐management, a task which, in the context of the current post‐16 education environment, presents a number of challenges.

Allied to a range of government generated targets, further education (FE) institutions find themselves subject to increasingly intense competition from their perceived local rivals. This is significant because a substantial proportion of college funding is based upon student recruitment (as well as the retention upon and the completion of programmes by students). Thus, there is an inevitable emphasis placed upon competing for the available student cohort. At the same time the FE sector is also subject to wider government measures, including the ongoing capital expenditure cuts for the sector introduced in the 1995 Budget.

In the context of considerable external influence and growing competition, many FE colleges are consequently exploring alternative strategies for coping with a complex and uncertain environment. In particular, a growing number of institutions have examined a merger strategy as a response to the pressures within the sector. By 1998, it has been suggested that 100 FE colleges will disappear due to college mergers. It would therefore appear that integration between institutions is at least being explored by a number of colleges, whilst it has been undertaken by a small number of other providers of FE.

The main focus of this article is to examine the motives of colleges seeking to merge with another FE institution, to identify the advantages and disadvantages associated with such a strategy and to explore the important issues for institutions involved in the merger process.

The article is a preliminary study of college mergers within FE and will initially note that the FE market is fundamentally different to an unrestricted, free market. In the context of government regulation it will be asserted, using a resource‐dependence model, that colleges are locked into a financial dependence upon the government. In turn, the government is then able to demand that specific criteria are pursued across the FE sector. On this basis, it will be noted that the merger is an increasingly prominent strategic option for those institutions responding to this financial dependence.

Given the nature of the FE market, the established resource dependence and the characteristics of FE colleges, the article will subsequently examine the perceived advantages and disadvantages derived by institutions pursuing a merger strategy. This will then be extended to embrace an examination of the key management issues that colleges will encounter when considering integration.

The article will therefore be of interest to academics and practitioners focusing on the nature of the external environment and markets in the public sector, the response of FE colleges to markets, competition and the government, and those examining mergers as a strategic option.     

Practitioner Views on the Wider Benefits of Further Education

In this paper, the views of further education (FE) practitioners regarding the 'wider benefits' of FE are examined. The wider benefits are defined as encompassing both non-pecuniary private benefits (such as improved self-esteem, health and quality of life) and those impacting on society as a whole (such as community regeneration and cultural development). Through quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaires distributed to practitioners in 35 FE colleges in conjunction with the Learning and Skills Development Agency, the types of benefits arising from FE and the mechanisms involved in the production of those benefits are examined. Results indicate that esteem, self-efficacy and the development of social networks are important benefits of FE and that purposive social interaction is a major factor in producing social benefits. This is particularly the case in health and humanities subjects. The policy implications for FE are that a diverse, socially integrated and less administratively burdened sector is required if wider benefits are to be realised.     

Training Culturally Competent Social Workers

ABSTRACT

Many social work educators have expressed a commitment to including information aboutdiverse populations in their teaching yet this is often easier said than done. Limited class time is available to cover many important issues and in spite of the best of intentions, diversity issues often receive inadequate attention. In particular, content on Native American people is often left out of the social work curriculum. Specific recommendations are made about how social work educators can teach students to work effectively with Native people. Suggestions on what content should be taught, how it can be taught, and where it can be integrated into the social work curriculum are included.