Reaching the students that student‐centred learning cannot reach

Student‐centred learning has the potential to engage a more academically diverse student body than the more conventional teacher‐centred approaches. In spite of the evidence in favour of student‐centred learning, a recent study showed that it was ineffective for around 30% of undergraduates in a large and diverse group studying business operations management. The possible reasons for this are explored in two ways. First, the literature relating to student engagement and participation is reviewed from three different perspectives: the sociological, the epistemological and the approaches to learning perspectives. Second, all three perspectives are applied to data generated from the original study within the context of a post‐1992 university. The advantages of a three‐perspective approach over a single‐perspective approach are discussed. Finally, the development of a holistic model integrating all three perspectives is called for, to be used as a guide for further empirical research into student engagement and as a tool for evaluating and developing inclusive and engaging learning environments.     

Total quality management: Some implications for the management of distance education

Total quality management, which was initially developed as a strategic option for manufacturing industries, means adopting a philosophy of continuous improvement and of putting the customer first. However, the concept is now being widely and successfully implemented in service industries. If translated into educational terms, the philosophy is consistent with a learner‐centred approach and the pursuit of excellence, and offers a constructive and positive method for dealing with the changes occurring in the education sector. This paper examines the concept of total quality management and explores possible implications of distance education institutions adopting the approach.     

Teaching mathematics with a holistic approach

Many mathematics teachers opt for a strictly teacher‐centred curriculum and/or instructional strategy. Given the well‐documented evidence noting the benefits of student‐centred instruction, it is easy to see that teacher‐centred learning on its own cannot best meet the needs of students. On the other hand, some teachers, aware of the importance of a student‐centred mathematics curriculum, adopt an exclusively student‐centred approach to curriculum and instruction. What is less obvious is that this approach can put some students who belong to certain ethnic groups at a disadvantage. Hence, to be more inclusive, mathematics educators need to take a balanced instructional approach. This paper outlines an inclusive instructional strategy that resembles the structure of and exemplifies the values promoted by the Aboriginal model of the Medicine Wheel.     

A Preferred Approach to Management Education has a Learner‐Centred and Problem‐based Emphasis

It will be argued that the education of Australian managers needs to emphasise a Learner‐centred/Problem‐based (LC/PB) approach rather than a Teacher‐centred/Discipline‐based one. In the current study management students reported that they preferred such an emphasis. The results indicated that the courses had insufficient Leamer‐centred and Problem‐based elements and that the students would prefer to see more of these features in the curriculum.     

Supporting the Inclusion of a Student with Asperger Syndrome: A Case Study using Conjoint Behavioural Consultation and Self‐management

Conjoint behavioural consultation (CBC) is an indirect form of service delivery that combines the resources of home and school to meet the academic, social and behavioural needs of children. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of CBC as a service delivery model for supporting the inclusion of a student with Asperger syndrome in a mainstream setting. A case study methodology was employed to assess the effectiveness of an evidence‐based intervention (self‐management) delivered in the context of the CBC model. Results indicated a significant increase in teacher ratings of behavioural control (on‐task and compliant behaviour) from baseline to treatment. Clinically meaningful changes in parent and teacher perceptions of challenging behaviour were evident. Measures of treatment acceptability and effectiveness, treatment integrity and consumer satisfaction also yielded positive results. This exploratory study provides support for the use of CBC as a framework by which to join parents and teachers in the delivery of effective behavioural interventions for students with high functioning autism spectrum disorders in mainstream settings. The findings are discussed in relation to the limitations of the study, and to future research directions and implications for practice.     

The Use of Behavioural Self‐management in Primary School Settings: a review

The present paper attempts to review the studies which employed behavioural self‐management technology as a means of improving aspects of children's academic and social behaviour. The review is limited to those studies which involve primary school children attending mainstream schools. Studies are divided into three categories: those where the treated target behaviour(s) is academic, those where it is behavioural, and those which combine academic and behavioural target behaviours or are collections of two or more studies, some of which are academic and some behaviour‐ally oriented. Special attention was given to the problem of the absence of a ‘common’ language underpinning this area of research, which is considered to be one of the reasons that some of the results reported are equivocal. Finally, the orientation of future research in behavioural self‐management is discussed.     

The relationship between first‐year achievement and the pedagogical‐didactical fit between secondary school and university

Central in this study is the degree to which the pedagogical‐didactical approach in undergraduate programmes aligns with the pedagogical‐didactical approach in secondary schools, and how this is related to first‐year achievement. Approaches to teaching at secondary schools and in first‐year university programmes were examined by interviewing school management, school teachers and university lecturers. The teaching approaches found within the schools were contrasted against the academic teaching approaches, resulting in four types of fit. With multiple regression analysis the relationships between these four types of fit, gender, prior achievement and first‐year achievement were examined. The results showed that prior performance is positively related to first‐year achievement, as well as a fit characterised by more student‐centred teaching in the first year compared to the approach to teaching at secondary school.     

Designing instruction for complex learning: 4C/ID in higher education

Objectives‐based instructional design approaches break down tasks into specific learning objectives and prescribe that instructors should choose the optimal instructional method for teaching each respective objective until all objectives have been taught. This approach is appropriate for many tasks where there is little relation between the objectives, but less effective for teaching complex professional tasks that require the integration of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and the coordination of different skills. For the latter, a task‐centred approach that starts designing instruction from whole, real‐life tasks, is more appropriate. This article describes one task‐centred instructional design model, namely the Four‐Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) model and illustrates its application by reflecting on three educational programs in higher education designed with 4C/ID. The first case presents a design for a course that focuses on the development of mobile apps at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The second case illustrates the integration of information problem‐solving skills at Iselinge University of Professional Teacher Education, a teacher training institute in the Netherlands. The third case is an example from general practice education at the KU Leuven, Belgium. Future developments and issues concerning the implementation of task‐centred educational programmes are discussed.     

Towards a unified theory for HIV/AIDS counselling

The paper explores the introduction of an unified theory for HIV/AIDS counselling. To date the provision of HIV/AIDS counselling has been largely based upon the behavioural theory of counselling. This theory has been adopted by WHO/GPA and its main aims have been the prevention of HIV infection and the psychosocial support for those already infected. It is argued that future counselling interventions should be redirected from a disease-centred approach to a person centred approach. This redirection can be facilitated by the adoption of the self concept as the central measure for evaluating change. It is argued that various ideas should be selected from the behavioural, psychoanalytical and humanistic theories of counselling. These ideas should be amalgamated into a unified theory which provides the theoretical foundation upon which a comprehensive counselling intervention can be based.     

对语言教学交际法的不同解读

外语交际教学法为我国教学界带来三大改变 ,一是以教师为中心转而以学生为中心 ,教师的角色发生大转变 ;二是主张课堂交际活动建立在真实的基础上 ,情景、交际内容及所用材料都必须真实 ;三是课堂活动的目的是培养语言交际能力而不是学会分析句子的语法结构。国内目前两种有关交际法的片面说法 :之一 ,使用交际法不用教语法知识 ;之二 ,使用交际法只需教口语 ,而在高年级阶段就不适合用交际法了。外语教学应该在注意吸收新的经验 ,学习新的方法同时避免盲从 ,随大流 ,不要因企图发展某一理论而排斥其他理论 ,陷入非此即彼的极端的思维模式     

Public Administration Education in Britain

Abstract

Students, quality assessment bodies established by the Government to determine output‐related funding, and other groups in society are placing more and more pressure on tertiary institutions to improve the quality of their teaching practices. Some institutions are responding to this pressure by implementing student‐centred approaches to teaching, where the students and course leaders become equal partners in determining the course work assessment process, teaching methods and learning outcomes. To a certain extent the learning outcomes are set by the Government's quality assessment bodies. However the course work assessment process, teaching methods and interpretation of these pre‐specified learning outcomes, can still be negotiated with the students in a student‐centred manner.

Many disciplines in tertiary institutions currently face, or can expect to face in the future, extremely large class sizes. Many argue that it is not possible to implement a student‐centred approach in the large class setting. Indeed, they suggest that there is a negative relationship between class size and the quality of the learning experience.

This paper examines the application of a student‐centred approach to a final year business studies course involving over 100 students completing their BSc (Hons). A survey of the students at the end of the year indicated that, relative to the other courses being taken by the students, this course achieved an unusual treble: higher levels of student learning, higher student workload, and yet, higher levels of student enjoyment. These results would tend to dispel the myth that student‐centred approaches can only be successful in the smaller class setting.     

Enabling Key Stage 3 Students to Make Improvements to Their Own Writing

This paper reports a school‐based investigation into revision as a means of improving writing in the English classroom. It suggests that although pupils tend to perceive revision as a teacher‐directed, discrete stage in the writing process, during revision they engage in independent questioning, evaluation and employ a working model of audience as a guide to their operations. An approach to revision which involved pupils actively investigating each other's work, combined with an emphasis on multiple‐drafting, was trialled in the English Departments of two different schools. The findings suggest that this alternative approach creates a classroom context for improvement which is not teacher‐centred but embraces all students and highlights the potential for revision as an active learning process.     

Assessing learner‐centredness through course syllabi

One attempt to revitalise undergraduate education has been by shifting the dominant pedagogy to a learner‐centred focus and supporting an emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning. The discussion regarding efforts to refocus undergraduate education to be more intentional by moving towards a learner‐centred paradigm is encouraging, yet it is crucial to acknowledge that most of the effort and literature on the learner‐centred paradigm and the scholarship of teaching and learning have necessarily focused on strategies for the classroom. It is equally important for administrators to consider the impact of the paradigm shift on their roles. Assessment and evaluation are the very core of the learner‐centred paradigm. Assessment is both the single‐most important gage of learning that drives the educational process and the most effective means of implementing institutional change. In this article, the authors offer a means of assessing the degree of learner‐centredness in current teaching practices through a systematic review of course syllabi. Using a rubric developed for this purpose the authors have reviewed course syllabi in order to develop a benchmark for the degree of learner‐centredness present in current teaching practices and employed the results as a vehicle for planning professional development.     

Contextual challenges of implementing learner‐centred pedagogy: the case of the problem‐solving approach in Uganda

This article explores teachers’ experiences of implementing the problem‐solving approach; a learner centred pedagogic innovation prescribed by a centrally mandated curriculum in Uganda. It presents teachers’ interpretations of the pedagogic principles suggested by the innovation as well as their accounts of challenges of implementing the pedagogic approach. The findings suggest that the teachers’ implementation of the problem‐solving approach was far more regulated by contextual affordances and constraints within schools and the broader education system and society than by their interpretations of the official curriculum. These findings highlight the influence of structural contextual factors in regulating pedagogic practice and teachers’ take‐up of learner‐centred pedagogies in Africa. The evidence from this paper suggests the need for education researchers in developing countries such as Uganda to focus on helping teachers develop strategies for teaching large classes as learner‐centred pedagogies have a bleak future in the region.     

Getting the right balance: Effective classroom spelling instruction

Abstract

Historically, spelling approaches have been broadly classified as ‘child‐centred’ or ‘instruction‐centred’ but, in recent times teachers have tended to combine elements of these theoretically different perspectives to design new approaches. The findings of research reporting teacher dissatisfaction with such combined approaches is contrasted with the experiences of staff (teachers of Years 2–5) from one Western Australian primary school. The setting was of interest because compared to populations of children in surrounding areas students at Grove Primary School demonstrated consistently higher spelling results in statewide tests. Rather than subscribing to a particular approach, the teachers reported employing a combined approach that included incidental spelling instruction in the context of literature in conjunction with teacher directed and student initiated word study. At the same time, all teachers reported a commitment to spelling practices aligned with an instruction‐centred approach including separate spelling lessons each morning of at least 20 minutes in duration and weekly or fortnightly pretest‐learn‐test cycles of word lists.     

Ethical Challenges for Student Design Projects in Health Care Settings in New Zealand

Student‐led design projects undertaken within healthcare settings raise considerable ethical challenges, primarily resulting from collaboration with service users. This article emerged out of the experiences of design from a New Zealand university undertaking real world projects in acute health care contexts. A human‐centred approach to design is underpinned by a requirement for students to immerse themselves in the user context to optimise design outcomes. Several issues exist in relation to the management of the ethical complexities arising from these projects. Multiple formal ethical review processes were triggered when students’ projects were defined as research. These processes were perceived as onerous and disproportionate to the scale of the projects, and students were ill equipped to identify ethical issues and engage with formal review processes. This resulted in either abandoned projects or the use of compromised methods. A review of codes of practice and design industry approaches identifies a gap in guidance for both students and qualified designers. Some designers describe their projects as service improvement, and not subject to formal ethical review. This article argues for embedding consideration of ethics in all design projects to enhance the process, to be true to the underpinning philosophy of human centred design and to produce ethically aware graduates. To achieve this, a multi‐pronged pedagogical approach which encompasses both hypothetical, class‐based and real‐world learning experiences is described, with the ultimate goal of normalising the consideration and development of ethical standards for students and best practice across the industry.     

Personalisation: the nostalgic revival of child‐centred education?

Personalisation is an emerging ‘movement’ within education. Its roots reside in marketing theory, not in educational theory. As a concept it admits a good deal of confusion. It can refer either to a new mode of governance for the public services, or it qualifies the noun ‘learning’, as in ‘personalised learning’. The concern here is with its intellectual affinity to child‐centred education, one which the government in England has strongly denied. On balance, the government’s view of personalisation is not of a piece with what may commonly be regarded as child‐centred education. But the strong semantic accord between the terms ‘personalisation’ and ‘child‐centred education’ provokes a question: why does the government not provide a term which unequivocally distinguishes its current ‘vision’ for education from child‐centred education? By retaining the term personalisation, the government purports to do two things: first, because of its focus on personalised ‘tailored’ needs and co‐produced solutions, it adapts education even further to a consumerist society; and second, because the term personalisation strikes a chord with the discourse of child‐centred education, it blurs the fact that little to do with pedagogy or with curriculum has in fact been changed. The term personalisation generates a nostalgic appeal to better times long gone.     

Anger Management Using a Cognitive‐behavioural Approach for Children with Special Education Needs: A literature review and meta‐analysis

This review examines the use of a cognitive‐behavioural approach to anger management in children with special needs in community settings. Eighteen experimental studies involving a total of 408 children were located. The participants were mainly of high school age, with an IQ above 80, and with behavioural or emotional disorders. A moderate effect was observed for improvement in the three dimensions of anger: behaviour, cognition and emotion – although conclusions need to be very tentative. The interventions employed varied greatly in their characteristics and there were concerns about the quality of many studies. Further research is needed to investigate the interaction between intervention features and participant characteristics.     

Beyond the classroom: the inclusion of young people with learning disabilities in UK mainstream counselling services

Counselling is increasingly seen as a way of addressing the psychological needs of young people with emotional, behavioural and academic problems. This paper explores the existing counselling landscape regarding inclusion of young people with learning disabilities in counselling. The research findings are based on data collected from an empirical study (n = 396) and a series of interviews (n = 15) with counsellors. Findings identify inclusion in counselling as a process and highlight inclusive strategies, namely: creative counselling approaches, non‐verbal forms of communication and the use of simple adapted language. The most inclusive counsellors were highly qualified with greater knowledge and experience of this group of young people; awareness of disability issues; eclectic in practice; imaginative and creative; open‐minded, reflective, pragmatic; and proactive in promoting their services. Inclusive counselling practices adopt a person‐centred, psychodynamic or integrative therapeutic approach; take referrals through teachers, parents, carers, care managers and family doctors; have a welcoming attitude towards the young people, their parents and carers; are flexible regarding times and appointments.