Domestic abuse prevention education: listening to the views of young people

This paper reports on findings derived as part of a two-year project funded by the European Union's Daphne III scheme, involving collaboration between seven partner organisations across six European countries. The project involved an evaluation, using questionnaires and focus groups, of domestic abuse prevention education programmes delivered in schools in the UK, France and Spain. This paper presents the findings from the UK focus group discussions, conducted with young people aged 10–11 years, and 13–14 years to explore their opinions about the intervention delivered in their school. The focus groups revealed the following challenges for service providers in this area: young people can misunderstand issues related to domestic abuse, especially the role of power and control within relationships; there is a tension between educators giving young people free expression to share their opinions and challenging sexism and other prejudices; and boys can become disengaged with gender-based interventions. These issues point towards three key considerations when implementing a domestic abuse prevention education intervention: programme content (the what); the teaching methods used (the how); and whether teachers or external organisations should deliver the programme (the who).     

Gender Relations and the Production of Difference in School-based Sexuality and HIV/AIDS Education in Australia

HIV/AIDS discourses have not only made people aware of HIV as a disease entity but have opened up new ways of thinking and talking about sex and sexuality. This article draws on findings from an evaluation of a pilot sexuality education programme, conducted in secondary schools in Victoria (Australia), to examine gender relations and the production of difference. Participating schools were required to incorporate teaching and learning experiences which normalised and affirmed sexual diversity and explored issues around HIV-related discrimination and homophobia. Two examples, gender, power and menstruation and heterosexism and homophobia, are used to analyse the language and practices students engage in as part of the process of achieving a (hetero)sexual identity. It is argued that HIV/AIDS education and sexuality education, more broadly defined, presents a particular challenge to dominant forms of masculinity and that programmes need to address gender, power and heterosexuality and its discontents if they are to have a positive impact on HIV-related discrimination and homophobia.     

Influence of a Non-formal Environmental Education Programme on Junior High-School Students’ Environmental Literacy

One of the solutions implemented by schools for conducting value-based environmental education (EE) is outsourcing: allocating external environmental organizations that develop and conduct EE programmes. This study addressed such a programme—the Green Council Programme (GCP)—developed and implemented in schools by the Israeli Society for Protection of Nature. A pre-test/post-test design was used to investigate the influence of participation in the GCP on components of junior high-school students' environmental literacy. Conceptualizations of ‘environment’, environmental attitudes and sense of ability to act on environmental issues were studied employing quantitative and qualitative tools. Contribution of the programme to the cognitive domain, in developing a systemic understanding of the environment, was limited. On the other hand, participating in this programme heightened students' sensitivity to human–environment interrelationships and developed a more ecological worldview. After the programme, students demonstrated greater perception of humans as part of the environment, an increased sensitivity to human impact on the environment and their value for non-human nature moved from an anthropocentric to a more ecocentric orientation. While students' internal locus-of-control increased, when environmental protection entailed personal economic trade-offs, their support was limited and remained unchanged. The article concludes with recommendations, based on the findings, regarding supplementing the school (science) curriculum with external EE enrichment programmes.     

Helping Prospective Principals Understand the Mathematics Curriculum: a Singapore experience

Principals should play an important role as curriculum leaders in their schools. To discharge this role effectively, the principals must understand the nature of curriculum not only of the disciplines in which they have been trained, but also of other key disciplines commonly included in the school programme. A way must be found to train the principals to acquire up‐to‐date knowledge of the practices and trends in various subject curricula, so that they can carry out informed discussions with the heads of subject departments to set goals and directions for these programmes. This article focuses on such a programme, called the Diploma in Educational Administration (DEA), which has been developed at the Institute of Education, Singapore to train prospective principals. In particular, the paper shows how local research has been integrated into the training programme to help participants understand the mathematics curriculum.     

School Environmental Education Programme Impacts upon Student and Family Learning: A case study analysis

This article uses a case study approach to explore the impact of two school environmental education programmes, from the perspective of participating students, their teachers and their parents. A total of 152 students (79 from primary schools and 73 from a secondary school), 3 teachers and 62 parents contributed their perceptions regarding the impact of the programmes. Each programme is described in detail and students' responses compared across the two programmes and across different class groups participating in each programme. It is concluded that both programmes were successful in engaging students in thinking and learning about environmental issues, although some programme features were more likely than others to lead to impacts beyond the bounds of the classroom. Recommendations are made regarding those features that need to be included in school environmental education programmes in order to maximise student and family learning outcomes.     

Alternative education programmes and middle school dropout in Honduras

Honduras has made steady progress in expanding post-primary school coverage in recent years, but many rural communities still do not provide a middle (lower secondary) school. As a result, Honduras has implemented a number of middle school alternative programmes designed to meet the needs of at-risk populations throughout the country. This article analyses dropout in three of the four main alternative lower secondary school programmes in Honduras over a three-year period for a cohort of roughly 5,500 students. The results show that these programmes are indeed reaching a vulnerable population in the country, but dropout rates are generally very high – upwards of 50 per cent in some cases – between Grades 7 and 9. Furthermore, even in the control school comparison samples made up of formal lower secondary schools, about 25 per cent of children leave school between Grades 7 and 9. The authors’ analysis includes propensity score matching (PSM) methods that make more focused comparisons between students in alternative programmes and control samples. These results show that dropout rates in alternative programmes are not much different than in control schools, and only significant in one programme comparison, when taking into account family background characteristics like socioeconomic status (SES). Multivariate analysis within alternative programme samples finds that attrition is lower in those learning centres which have adopted key features of formal schools, such as university-educated teachers. The results highlight the tremendous variation in the alternative middle school sector in terms of programme features, school quality and student outcomes, as well as the challenges of expanding this sector to meet the growing demand for lower secondary schooling in Honduras.     

Preventing and confronting school bullying: A comparative study of two national programmes in Norway

Efforts to prevent and curb school bullying have resulted in a proliferation of anti‐school‐bullying programmes, many based on intuitive appeal rather than systematic evidence. This article presents a comparative analysis of two Norwegian programmes whose developers have demonstrated the effectiveness of their interventions: the Olweus Programme and the Zero Programme. By probing the key components of these programmes, the article provides schools with information about two prominent anti‐school‐bullying programmes that, to varying degrees, and mainly based on quantitative evaluations, have been found to work. In weighing up the potential of lesson drawing (both nationally and cross‐nationally), schools will attach significance to the probability of positive effects, to issues concerning intensity of implementation, and to the prospect of adapting programme content to school culture and school‐specific problems. It is important too that schools keep up to date with current research in the field, including studies that offer qualitative insights.     

Building resilient schools in Russia: effective policy strategies*

The article uses the framework of resiliency to examine the strategies of principals in schools working under challenging socio-economic conditions that show higher-than-expected educational results. We collected a unique set of data within the Russian ‘National monitoring of education markets and organisations’ programme. This work continues the study, begun in 2014, of the peculiarities of the functioning conditions, management and educational strategies of different groups of schools (urban, rural, implementing higher-level programmes, private, etc.), where authors supplement the economic indicators of school performance with socio-economic contextual factors. A contextualisation model was applied to distinguish the resilient schools studied and the socio-economic characteristics for each school. The typical strategies of principals of resilient schools are as follows: recruiting more successful students from other schools, the branding of the school, creating a culture of high expectations for staff and students, and a less bureaucratic management style.     

The UK 14–19 education reforms: perspectives from a special school

The pilot research reported in this article is part of the Centre Research Study (CReSt) which evaluates the impact of the educational reform programme on schools, colleges and other centres in England. The article reports findings from one special school, based on interviews with teachers (including the headteacher), students and a parent. The aim of the article is to identify factors that appear to be having an impact on this special school, and these are presented under four headings: curriculum choice and flexibility; partnership challenges; concerns about Foundation Learning; and curriculum opportunities. This is a small‐scale study, and the conclusions are tentative – future research will reveal whether the findings apply over time and to other special schools.     

Adapting an anti-bullying programme for UK special schools

Bullying is a public health priority but to date, there is a lack of evidence-based anti-bullying programmes or interventions designed for use in special schools. KiVa is a successful anti-bullying programme for mainstream schools currently used in 23 countries. This brief paper outlines the co-development and adaptation of two KiVa lessons into KiVa-SEND lessons and their implementation in two special schools in the UK. One school supports pupils with a primary need of Autism, the other supports pupils with severe and complex learning disabilities. Engagement with the lessons was high from both pupils and staff; the content was perceived as acceptable by staff, complementing the curriculum and perceived as suitable for their pupils. Minor adjustments need to be made to ensure all pupils can comprehend and access the concepts. Further development of the KiVa-SEND programme and testing its potential effectiveness to reduce bullying and associated negative outcomes in special schools is now warranted.

Key Points

• There is a lack of evidence-based anti-bullying programmes for use in special schools. This paper details the piloting of an adaptation of KiVa (a successful, evidence-based anti-bullying programme for mainstream schools) for use in special schools.
• The adaption (KiVa-SEND) was a co-design between a couple of special school teachers, and educational and psychological researchers to ensure the materials and approach were in line with school requirements and teaching practices.
• The KiVa-SEND lesson engagement was excellent from the 12 staff and 62 learners involved and the materials were deemed acceptable via direct feedback and researcher observations. Suggestions were provided on how to make the materials even more suitable for diverse learning needs.
• KiVa-SEND has the potential to be embedded within the special school curriculum and then be tested for its effectiveness at reducing bullying and associated negative outcomes of bullying amongst the special school population.

     

Practicing a new curriculum in Turkey: loose coupling,organisational and social milieus,and their practical capital formations

This paper analyses tuitional practices after a major curriculum change (2005) in primary schools of Turkey. Group discussions conducted with teachers and parents in five maximally contrasting schools (e.g. schools in a squatter and a middle-class neighbourhood of Istanbul) show that tuitional practices, being only ‘loosely coupled’ with the official curriculum, are strongly influenced by generation-specific orientations in teachers’ organisational milieus, by orientations prevalent in the social milieus of pupils and their parents, and by different forms of capital on the part of teachers, parents and school organisations. Combined with empirical analysis, the paper proposes a theoretical framework that complements the assumptions of New Institutionalism by using the basic concepts of the sociology of knowledge and Bourdieu’s concept of capital. This framework offers a new way to understand the intrinsic logic of the growing differences and inequalities within and between school organisations in complex societies.     

The role of school leadership in the implementation of the Transition Year Programme in Ireland

Introducing an educational innovation into any school context involves some challenge to existing practices. Transition Year is an innovative, optional, one-year programme taken by approximately half the 15–16-year age cohort in schools in the Republic of Ireland. Based on data from an extensive study of TY operating in six different schools, programme co-ordinators and school principals are identified as having key roles in the successful implementation of TY. However, exercising the collegiality both roles demand goes against established cultures of isolated individualism in Irish schools. Furthermore, maintaining TY's coherence and integrity in the face of threats from more established programmes offers particular challenges. For this innovation to be successful, active curriculum leadership by school principals is seen as crucial. The paper interrogates the evidence through the lens of the 2008 OECD study on school leadership and poses questions about the relevance and value of the OECD perspective.     

Sharing best practices in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago: patterns of policy implementation and resistance

This article outlines policies from multilateral organisations that advocate sharing best practices between developing nations. The article discusses the degree to which these best practices are implemented by small states as indicated by teachers, academics and policymakers in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. For the purpose of this article, a best practice refers to pedagogy, curriculum or programme that contributes to student achievement. Currently, a number of influential multilateral organisations advocate that developing nations should share their best practices in education with each other. Despite encouragement by multilaterals however, best practices are not shared. At best, foreign ideas are used to legitimise local policies. While these policies are intended to help countries reach their Education for All (EFA) goals, they do not account for the differences between islands and their vulnerability towards larger countries. Attempts to innovate the curriculum by implementing foreign ideas failed due to the forces of tradition. It can thus be concluded that resistance – non‐compliance or opposition – to sharing educational best practices, as well as to the implementation of new curricula, stems from echoes of colonialism and globalisation. Although this study focuses on two islands, there are implications for other developing countries and small states as they fall under the same policy auspices of UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat.     

Addressing individual difficulties in reading: issues relating to Reading Recovery and Pause,Prompt, Praise

Recently the DfES has issued guidance on ways to address the needs of students who experience difficulties in literacy through Wave Three provision in the National Literacy Strategy ( DfES, 2002 ). This guidance raises the issue of what kind of programmes might be initiated in mainstream schools that will improve what is available generally for pupils who experience difficulties. The original Literacy Taskforce report (1997) named Reading Recovery (RR) as one programme suitable for this purpose. It is not the only programme with 'proven' efficacy, however. This article compares RR and another New Zealand‐based programme, Pause, Prompt, Praise (PPP) with which it has a number of characteristics in common, in order to examine particular issues which are important to ensure that a particular programme can meet individual children's literacy needs and also have the potential for adoption by LEAs and schools in the current national curricular context. These issues are the underpinning rationales, assumptions about the reading process and questions of resources, ownership and control ( Openshaw et al., 2002 ).     

An international model of world-class education: The International Baccalaureate

This article posits that world-class education is international education, as defined by UNESCO, and presents International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes as examples of this phenomenon. It begins with the IB??s 1960s origins in international schools, which educated the children of globally mobile parents who worked principally in the UN and its agencies, and in embassies and multinational companies. Its origin led to its perception as elitist, but it has since been democratised in public (state) schools in quite a number of countries, notably in North America; starting in 2012, the IB offers the IB Career-related Certificate (IBCC) programme for students following vocational courses. Then follows an overview of the four education programmes of the IB, in order of creation: Diploma Programme (1970), Middle Years Programme (1994), Primary Years Programme (1997), and the IB Career-related Certificate (2012). Attributes of a world-class education are suggested: the concept of interdependence between nations, the shaping of attitudes, the relevance of curriculum content and teaching methods, and the importance of including an international perspective. The article concludes with a list of competencies for a world-class education based on the IB Learner Profile.     

Educators‘ perceptions of an in-service training programme

Abstract

In-service training programmes for educators (INSET) in South Africa have a common objective, namely to support unqualified or underqualified educators to teach their subjects well. The Science, Technology, Environmental and Mathematics Education (STEME) outreach programme is an initiative of the University of South Africa to support these educators with skills and knowledge to teach these subjects efficiently. This article reports on an INSET programme for science teachers who took part in STEME and serves as a case study to investigate educators’ perceptions of the programme. The study, which involved a total of 13 educators, had two phases which were conducted during and after the INSET programme respectively. A focus group interview was conducted in the first phase while individual interviews were conducted in the second phase at the participants’ schools. Participants valued facilitators’ knowledge, continuous support and demonstration of new skills in practical real-life situations. Their main concern was applying the skills at their schools within present circumstances. This case study can serve to inform other service providers on what educators expect from INSET programmes.     

Schools as Learning Organisations - Effects on Teacher Leadership and Student Outcomes

This article examines the nature of organisational learning and the leadership practices and processes that foster organisational learning and, more importantly, the impact of these variables on teacher leadership. A path model is used to test these school variables as well as school characteristics such as availability of resources and community focus against the impact of SES and school size on students' views of teachers' work in the classroom and student outcomes such as attendance, and participation in and engagement with school. The importance of reconceptualising schools as learning organisations to promote successful school change is discussed.     

The learner experience of Curriculum 2000: implications for the reform of 14–19 education in England

In September 2000, new qualifications for 16–19 year olds, known as Curriculum 2000, were introduced in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland with the aim of broadening the advanced level curriculum. It was left to schools, colleges, and their learners, however, to decide how these new qualifications would be used to build learner programmes of study. In this voluntarist context, the views and actions of learners have been an important factor in determining the course of the reforms. This article, which is based primarily on a study of 42 learners in a school/college consortium in the south west of England, provides a chronological account of learner experiences of these reforms during their first 2 years of implementation. The consortium discussed here offered a high‐volume study programme similar in size and content to those being proposed by the Tomlinson Working Group on 14–19 curriculum and qualifications reform in England. Learners found their expanded programmes onerous, due in part to the nature of the new qualifications and in part to the context of their implementation. The article concludes by identifying a number of policy lessons for 14–19 reform arising from this research.     

A case study of lifelong learning in Japan: objectives,curriculum, accountability and visibility

Various conceptualizations of lifelong learning have been developed and various practices of lifelong learning have been identified. This paper introduces several recent conceptualizations of lifelong learning before considering the case for Japan, both in general and through examination of the state of lifelong learning in a rural prefecture and a case study of one lifelong learning programme in a rural city. While the case for the prefecture as a whole mirrors the literature on lifelong learning in Japan, the case study presents four specific characteristics that may direct future development of lifelong learning programmes as well as research: a clearly stated societal objective, a knowledge and skills curriculum, participant accountability, and social visibility and presence.