Verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory in children: are they separable?

This study explored the structure of verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory in children between ages 4 and 11 years. Multiple tasks measuring 4 different memory components were used to capture the cognitive processes underlying working memory. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the processing component of working memory tasks was supported by a common resource pool, while storage aspects depend on domain-specific verbal and visuospatial resources. This model is largely stable across this developmental period, although some evidence exists that the links between the domain-specific visuospatial construct and the domain-general processing construct were higher in the 4- to- 6-year age group. The data also suggest that all working memory components are in place by 4 years of age.     

What is not working in working memory of children with literacy disorders? Evidence from a three-year-longitudinal study

The goals of this study were to explore the deficits in working memory associated with literacy disorders (i.e. developmental disorders of reading and/or spelling) and the developmental trajectories of these working memory deficits. The performance of 28 children with literacy disorders was compared to a non-disabled control group with the same group size at five bi-annual times of measurement in a three-year-longitudinal study beginning at the end of primary school (9.5 years of age). Storage capacity and central-executive working memory were assessed in phonological and visual-spatial modalities, the latter under static and dynamic conditions. Overall, children with literacy disorders were outperformed by their typical developing peers in all phonological and in dynamic visual-spatial storage and central-executive tasks except for the static visual-spatial storage task. Results at single times of measurement revealed that the most consistent deficit was found in the storage capacity of the phonological loop. An additional central-executive impairment is supported by low backward spans. The causes for output deficits in dynamic visual-spatial tasks and good performance under static visual-spatial condition are discussed.     

How do we know research and development projects in vocational education and training are cost‐effective?

This article reviews a recent U.K. study which sought to identify the steps that have to be taken to improve the efficacy of research and development (R&D) projects in Vocational Education and Training (VET). The review is facilitated by making reference to the approach and findings of a parallel study in Switzerland.

The review seeks to highlight the importance of more rigorously establishing what really happens to the results of R&D projects after they are completed. In particular, it seeks to identify what is necessary to ensure that each R&D project has a positive impact on practice. It does this in order to ensure that the now substantial investment in R&D for VET is cost effective. On the basis of the review the article proposes an agenda for an effective and coordinated approach to action and research in the area.     

Transfer to and study at secondary school in Finnish school culture: developing schools on the basis of pupils’ experiences

This chapter is a based on a study that examined, first, Finnish comprehensive school pupils’ transfer to secondary school and, second, the ways in which pupils’ experiences of schooling can contribute to the development and planning of an undivided comprehensive school system. Traditionally, Finnish discourse on the flexibility of the transfer has concentrated on the teacher's role as the central transformative force in bridging the gap between primary and secondary school. The voice of the pupils, who experience the changes, has tended to be regarded as of minor importance. When moving towards a fuller understanding of the transfer experience, it is important not only to include the pupils’ perspective but to examine, first, the school community and the factors promoting and/or preventing its functioning and, second, the learning environment of the adolescent. The results of the study clearly show that the pupils are able to assess the qualities of their school as a learning environment and to cope with the changes that result from the transfer to secondary school. Pupils were also ready to participate in developing a more unified comprehensive school system, but expressed their school experiences in a manner reflecting their developmental stage of adolescence and the prevailing school cultures. Thus, it remains the professional task of the teacher to analyse and interpret these messages in order to identify the key ingredients needed for developing such a system.     

What did schools experience from participating in a randomised controlled study (PLAY) that prioritised risk and challenge in active play for children while at school?

‘Risky’ play is an important component of play, which positively affects the cognitive, social and emotional development of children. However, a growing culture of ‘risk aversion’ may be limiting the degree of risk that children are allowed to encounter. We undertook qualitative interviews with eight schools to examine the acceptability of an intervention designed to increase risk and challenge in the school playground (e.g. more rough-and-tumble play and tree climbing). Schools were overwhelmingly positive about the approach and all enjoyed participating. Each school believed many benefits occurred from increasing risk and challenge within play, including better behaviour, improved cooperation between children and increases in physical activity. There were some challenges for schools, but these were generally research related, and all were viewed as acceptable. Indeed, schools found the process enlightening, and upon completion of the two-year intervention often viewed play in quite a different light.     

How working memory relates to children’s reading comprehension: the importance of domain-specificity in storage and processing

Working memory is considered a well-established predictor of individual variation in reading comprehension in children and adults. However, how storage and processing capacities of working memory in both the phonological and semantic domain relate to reading comprehension is still unclear. In the current study, we investigated the contribution of phonological and semantic storage, and phonological and semantic processing to reading comprehension in 123 Dutch children in fifth grade. We conducted regression and mediation analyses to find out to what extent variation in reading comprehension could be explained by storage and processing capacities in both the phonological and the semantic domain, while controlling for children’s decoding and vocabulary. The analyses included tasks that reflect storage only, and working memory tasks that assess processing in addition to storage. Regression analysis including only storage tasks as predictor measures, revealed semantic storage to be a better predictor of reading comprehension than phonological storage. Adding phonological and semantic working memory tasks as additional predictors to the model showed that semantic working memory explained individual variation in reading comprehension over and above all other memory measures. Additional mediation analysis made it clear that semantic storage contributed indirectly to reading comprehension via semantic working memory, indicating that semantic storage tapped by working memory, in addition to processing capacities, explains individual variation in reading comprehension. It can thus be concluded that semantic storage plays a more important role in children’s reading comprehension than previously thought.     

Family Group Conferences—are they an effective and viable way of working with attendance and behaviour problems in schools?

Improving pupil attendance and behaviour are essential to improving teaching and learning in schools. Pupils who have the most problems in these respects are likely to need support that recognises the wider influences on these issues. Family Group Conferences (FGCs) are family‐led decision‐making meetings, that include the family and significant others in the formulation of a plan to help address the needs of a child. The research reported upon here included a quasi‐experimental element in the design in which levels of attendance and school exclusion were key before and after outcomes for the intervention (FGC) and comparison (Education Welfare Service, EWS) groups. The research shows that attendance and exclusion data did not improve in the FGC group but that the comparative gains made in attendance by the EWS were very modest. Nevertheless, responses to the survey of referral agents and interviews with Educational Welfare Officers and FGC coordinators suggest that FGCs are considered to be a viable approach in schools that may be effective in individual cases.     

Can instructional and emotional support in the first-grade classroom make a difference for children at risk of school failure?

This study examined ways in which children's risk of school failure may be moderated by support from teachers. Participants were 910 children in a national prospective study. Children were identified as at risk at ages 5-6 years on the basis of demographic characteristics and the display of multiple functional (behavioral, attention, academic, social) problems reported by their kindergarten teachers. By the end of first grade, at-risk students placed in first-grade classrooms offering strong instructional and emotional support had achievement scores and student-teacher relationships commensurate with their low-risk peers; at-risk students placed in less supportive classrooms had lower achievement and more conflict with teachers. These findings have implications for understanding the role that classroom experience may play in pathways to positive adaptation.     

How to support and engage students in alternative forms of education and training? A qualitative study of school staff members in Flanders

This study focuses on how students, who for a variety of reasons struggle in mainstream secondary schools, can be supported and engaged by alternative forms of education and training to attain a (formal) qualification. Interviews and focus groups are carried out with school staff members of distinct types of alternative learning arenas in Flanders (northern part of Belgium): second chance secondary education, part-time apprenticeship track and part-time work-based vocational education. Our analyses reveal that, due to the selectiveness of mainstream secondary education, staff members in alternative learning arenas mainly struggle with the ways to develop inclusive curricula/practices and with the actual content of the curricula of their educational training or programme they are supposed to teach. Staff members struggle with putting into practice the fundamental aim to prepare socially vulnerable students for their future lives. Debates within the school team focus upon the relative importance of transferrable, specialist and social skills and competences. Results of this study are discussed to further enhance the professionalisation of school teams, and can be seen as the starting point to specify and develop the curriculum taught in both alternative learning arenas and mainstream secondary education.     

How effective is the cascade as a method for disseminating ideas? A case study in Botswana

The cascade method of dissemination works on the principle that a small team of trainers will train a larger group, who will in turn pass on their knowledge and skills to a further group. In theory there is no limit to the number of links in the chain before the final target population is reached; in practice the number of intermediary stages is usually limited to three or four. This article looks at some of the advantages and disadvantages of the system as illustrated through an education in-service project in Botswana.     

Who are the young children for whom best practices in reading are ineffective? An experimental and longitudinal study

The primary purpose of this study was to identify student characteristics that reliably predict responsiveness and nonresponsiveness to generally effective early literacy interventions. Participants were 104 children, including 7 with special needs and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), who were tested in kindergarten and first grade. Responsiveness/nonresponsiveness status was determined after 2 years during which children participated in best practice instruction (a) in kindergarten and first grade, (b) in kindergarten only, (c) in first grade only, or (d) in neither year. This facilitated the study of three groups. Always responsive students met responsiveness criteria in both years. Sometimes responsive students met the criteria in only one year. Nonresponsive students did not meet the criteria in either year. Multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant function analysis indicated that the three groups were reliably different from one another on measures of problem behavior, verbal memory, sentence imitation, syntactic awareness, vocabulary, naming speed, and segmentation. A combination of naming speed, vocabulary, sentence imitation, problem behavior, and amount of intervention correctly predicted 82.1% of nonresponsive students, 30.0% of sometimes responsive students, and 84.1% of always responsive students. Fifty students from kindergarten and first grade were tested again at the end of what should have been their third-grade year. All but 1 of the nonresponsive students who received intervention had been identified as requiring special education and had an IEP with reading goals.     

Disciplining the disciplines? How qualification schemes are written up at study program level in Norwegian higher education

Qualification frameworks are spreading rapidly, not least in Europe following the introduction of the European Qualification Framework. The impact of such frameworks are contested, and the article contributes to this debate by analyzing how a selected group of different study programs in Norwegian higher education is adapting to the newly launched national qualification framework. The findings show that there are distinct differences as to how universities and colleges, as well as how different disciplines write up their study programs according to the new framework. In the conclusion, we discuss the implication of the findings for current debates about the relevance and function of qualification framework in higher education.     

Does learning the alphabet in kindergarten give children a head start in the first year of school? A comparison of children’s reading progress in two first grade classes in state and Montessori schools in Switzerland

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine whether the age at which children start to learn to read affects their later progress. The study was conducted in Zürich, Switzerland, and compared a first grade class in a local school with two first grade classes in a Montessori school. It was found that although the Montessori children had an advantage over the local children in alphabet knowledge at entry to Grade 1, this was not translated into a significant advantage at the end of Grade 1 in either phonemic awareness or reading ability. Further analysis revealed that pretest alphabet knowledge for the whole group was significantly related to progress. In addition, scatterplots showed that some children started school with high levels of alphabet knowledge but did not make progress, indicating that alphabet knowledge is necessary for literacy progress but not sufficient.     

How do L2 learners and L1 writers differ in their reliance on working memory during the formulation subprocess?

Reading and Writing - L1 and L2 writers attend to different aspects of the formulation subprocess of writing. L2 writers devote more time and attention to low-level aspects such as grammar...     

How closely related are the national curriculum and the global dimension? A content analysis of the global dimension in elementary school textbooks in Taiwan

Over the past few decades, researchers, educators, and policymakers have become increasingly concerned about preparing future generations for life in the rapidly changing global society; thus, interest in the global dimension of school curricula has been growing. However, as tension often exists between this global dimension and national education, infusing the former into the latter is not an easy task. Although some countries claim their national curriculum has a global dimension, and many global educators emphasize the relevance of global education in all curriculum areas, little empirical evidence supports such claims. To bridge this gap, the extent to which school textbooks reflect a global dimension must be explored. Therefore, this study conducted a content analysis of 84 elementary school textbooks in Taiwan to examine the scope of their global dimension. We found that around 10 % of the textbooks’ content was related to the global dimension, the majority of which was in the learning areas of social studies and integrative activities. The most evident global education concepts were ecological sustainability and world peace, whereas human rights and social justice were underrepresented. The ideal of linking the global dimension with all aspects of education and all curriculum areas remains a challenge. We provide suggestions for teachers, educational authorities, and textbook publishers and authors regarding revisions to current textbooks to enhance the global dimension.     

How can children with mild literacy difficulties be supported at the transition to secondary school? A small‐scale quasi‐experimental study

There is evidence that pupils with weak literacy skills struggle on transition to secondary school. Many experience a drop in attainment in the summer break between the two. A British government‐funded programme of rigorously designed research on boosting literacy at transition had (by 2015) found only four of 15 interventions evaluated had positive effects. This small‐scale quasi‐experimental study investigated the effectiveness of support for pupils with mild literacy difficulties on transition to secondary school. Thirty‐two pupils in three schools were involved; half received the programme. Pairs were matched on reading, spelling, age and gender. Intervention was designed around the individual needs of each pupil, focusing variously on language skills, writing, reading and spelling. The group receiving the programme made modest gains in spelling, reading efficiency and single word reading. The comparison group lost ground, relatively, in all three areas. The results suggest a promising line for more rigorous investigation.     

How are the Perceptions of Learning Networks Shaped Among School Professionals and Headteachers at an Early Stage in their Introduction?

This paper draws on the findings of a research project funded by the Liverpool City of Learning consortium in the UK. The aim is to explore the process of introduction of ten authority wide learning networks, the impact these have on school professionals practice, the opportunities they offer for CPD and the extent to which they may impact on pupil learning. The research presented here draws on findings from a questionnaire distributed to school professionals and key issues emerging from their analysis point to the influence of national government agendas on school professionals’ interpretation of the purpose of the networks. They also point to the views of staff regarding the impact of the attainment agenda as well as the extent to which an increased emphasis on social inclusion and wider understandings of learning and achievement (which are less well represented by results-based performance monitoring) are having on their hopes for what Learning Networks might deliver. The expectations of staff of the opportunities offered by learning networks for long term professional development provide some interesting insights, and perhaps, some useful pointers as to how networks of this kind might develop in the future.     

How are the Perceptions of Learning Networks Shaped Among School Professionals and Headteachers at an Early Stage in their Introduction?

This paper draws on the findings of a research project funded by the Liverpool City of Learning consortium in the UK. The aim is to explore the process of introduction of ten authority wide learning networks, the impact these have on school professionals practice, the opportunities they offer for CPD and the extent to which they may impact on pupil learning. The research presented here draws on findings from a questionnaire distributed to school professionals and key issues emerging from their analysis point to the influence of national government agendas on school professionals’ interpretation of the purpose of the networks. They also point to the views of staff regarding the impact of the attainment agenda as well as the extent to which an increased emphasis on social inclusion and wider understandings of learning and achievement (which are less well represented by results-based performance monitoring) are having on their hopes for what Learning Networks might deliver. The expectations of staff of the opportunities offered by learning networks for long term professional development provide some interesting insights, and perhaps, some useful pointers as to how networks of this kind might develop in the future.