Investigating teachers' educational beliefs in Chinese primary schools: socioeconomic and geographical perspectives

This empirical study explores the nature of and profiles in primary teachers' educational beliefs in the Chinese educational settings. A survey of 820 primary school teachers was conducted using a questionnaire focusing on teachers' traditional and constructivist beliefs about teaching and learning. Analysis of variance and cluster analysis were applied. Results show that gender and subject domain affect traditional educational beliefs. Significant differences appear considering economic and geographical context variables. Cluster analysis helps to delineate four teacher belief profiles: a constructivist profile, a mixed constructivist/traditional profile, a traditional profile, and a mixed low constructivist/traditional profile. Inter-relation between teacher belief profiles and school categories are discussed.     

Coping and buoyancy in the workplace: Understanding their effects on teachers' work-related well-being and engagement

Given the high levels of attrition in the teaching profession there is a need for research to better understand factors that lead to greater teacher well-being and engagement. The present study explores the roles of coping and buoyancy in predicting teacher well-being and engagement. In particular, a process model is hypothesized in which the use of ‘direct’ coping strategies (mastery orientation and planning) predict high levels of buoyancy, well-being, and engagement, while ‘palliative’ coping strategies (self-handicapping and failure avoidance) predict low buoyancy, well-being, and engagement. Amongst a sample of 515 teachers from 18 schools, results generally supported this model with particularly strong direct effects for buoyancy and strong direct and indirect effects for mastery orientation. Failure avoidance, self-handicapping, and planning also produced significant direct and/or indirect effects via buoyancy on teacher well-being and engagement. Implications for school executives and future research are discussed.     

Reworking practice through an AfL project: an analysis of teachers’ collaborative engagement with new assessment guidelines

In recent years, the concept of Assessment for Learning (AfL) has travelled across countries, giving rise to a range of educational policy initiatives and school development projects. While researchers have focused on issues such as how formative assessment can support student learning and lead to more efficient classroom practices, less attention has been paid to the collaborative work required to develop shared assessment practices at the school level, and to the integration of AfL‐related principles and tools in the collective practice. This paper focuses on the challenges emerging for a teacher team engaging with an AfL project in a lower secondary school in Norway. By employing concepts and perspectives from social practice theory, AfL is understood as a problem complex that needs to be explored and developed locally. We have analysed data from seven video‐recorded meetings of an AfL team, supplemented by interviews and field notes, in order to make visible the micro processes of teachers' collaborative work. The analysis shows how the teachers needed to rework historically established practices and principles, which in turn called for a negotiation and re‐contextualisation of new concepts and artefacts in their efforts to develop shared assessment practices. This again required ways of representing existing practices and imagining future scenarios. Based on these observations we recommend that AfL projects be understood in their wider curricular, institutional, and social contexts, and that the constructive dimensions of teachers' collaborative work in such projects should be acknowledged.     

The Scaffolding of Emergent Literacy Skills in the Home Environment: A Case Study

The ways in which parent-child interactions can encourage the development of emergent literacy skills in young children remains to be fully explored. The present report describes how one parent scaffolded her young child’s emergent writing and letter knowledge in the home. Environmental print provided many rich and meaningful examples for the parent to show that print conveys meaning and is constructed with letters that have names and make sounds. The parent used idiomorphs, a multisensory approach incorporating the tracing of letters and whole body movements, and common household objects to guide the child’s learning of letter names, sounds, and shapes. Emergent writing skills were scaffolded by using directional language and by the child copying environmental print. The strategies and examples that are described may give guidance to parents and teachers on how to provide engaging opportunities for literacy learning in the home environment or in an early educational context.     

Curriculum Design Strategies in Emergent Literacy: The Role of Developmentally Appropriate Literature Selections

Literature-rich interactions provide strategies that help emergent readers to develop knowledge about print, including the production and recognition of letters, and generate familiarity with the basic purposes and mechanisms of reading. Yet teacher understanding of these multiple dimensions of emergent literacy does not ensure that a child will break the code and learn to read. Effective teachers, administrators, and curriculum specialists integrate a variety of information to formulate design principles and develop and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum and concomitant teaching strategies. Gunn and colleagues in the National Center to Improve the Tools of Education Report (1995) suggest this may include conspicuous strategies, scaffolding, strategic integration, primed background knowledge, and thoughtful review. The relationship among these four curriculum design strategies and developmentally appropriate literature selections are discussed. Twelve current children’s books are suggested for consideration when implementing various curriculum strategies with emergent literacy learners.     

Exploring individual and item factors that affect assessment validity for diverse learners: Results from a large-scale cognitive lab

A cognitive lab technique (n = 156) was used to investigate interactions between individual factors and item factors presumed to affect assessment validity for diverse students, including English language learners. Findings support the concept of access — an interaction between specific construct-irrelevant item features and individual characteristics that either permits or inhibits student response to the targeted measurement content of an assessment item. Access issues of 3rd and 5th grade students were explored at three stages during problem solving on mathematics items: 1) apprehension of task demands; 2) formulation of a solution; and 3) articulation of a solution. Adequacy of access at these levels appears to affect student performance. In particular, where students were able to experience increased apprehension in the first stage through the provision of item variations consistent with their individual access needs, they were more likely to formulate correct solution strategies. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Preservice teachers' initial conceptions about assessment of science learning: The coherence with their views of learning science

This study utilized responses from Taiwanese preservice elementary teachers to describe and analyze their conceptions about the assessment of science learning and the extent that these conceptions were coherent with their views of learning science. A methodological framework of phenomenography was used for the study. The results revealed that the preservice teachers' mode of assessment was coherent with a traditional view of learning but their performance mode of assessment was not well developed. Improving preservice teachers' conception of assessment requires clarifying and reconstructing their conceptions of and coherence between assessment, curriculum, pedagogy, and learning.     

The provision of sexual health education in Australia: primary school teachers' perspectives in rural Victoria

In Australian schools, one significant component of whole-school learning in sexuality education is to provide students with developmentally appropriate curriculum and learning opportunities, with the intention of influencing positive health and well-being. In the situation where the usual classroom teacher is under-prepared or unwilling to teach sexuality education to their students, the use of external providers who are experts in puberty and sexual health is crucial. While the provider is a key influential factor in any sexual health programme, reliance on external providers for the provision of sexuality education in regional Australian cities is not well documented. This mixed-method study aims to address this gap in the literature with a specific focus on Ballarat, where the provision of sexuality education, particularly in primary schools, is heavily reliant on several external providers. Participant schools highlight the need for further positive synergies between the classroom teachers, external agencies and the accessibility of a rigorous curriculum to sustain the delivery of an effective programme to young people in schools.     

Feed-forward: students gaining more from assessment via deeper engagement in video-recorded presentations

Presentation feedback can be limited in its feed-forward value, as students do not have their actual presentation available for review whilst reflecting upon the feedback. This study reports on students’ perceptions of the learning and feed-forward value of an oral presentation assessment. Students self-marked their performance immediately after their presentation, after reviewing a video recording of their presentation and wrote a reflection relating to their experience. Survey data revealed that most students viewed all aspects of the assessment task positively and they rated the process as providing substantial learning value. They also indicated that the video review and overall assessment exercise provided valuable feed-forward information that would assist them to improve future presentations. These data were further supported by content analysis of the qualitative data. Students noted that they perceived the video review task as self-enabling. They also noted that the self-reflection and self-marking exercise provided time for thought although it was personally challenging. Therefore, via carefully designed assessment, it is possible to provide a deep learning opportunity from oral presentations that can feed-forward to enhance students’ future presentations.     

The National Environmental Literacy Project: A Baseline Study of Middle Grade Students in the United States

The authors discuss environmental literacy in the United States and present a brief summary of the results of a major national study designed to attain a baseline measure of environmental literacy among middle school students in the United States The authors include events that led up to the study and desctibe future directions for environmental literacy assessment.     

Same Assessment,Different Practice: Professional consciousness as a determinant of teachers' practice in a school-based assessment scheme

The forms that assessment takes are widely recognised as determinants of educational practice. This paper, however, argues that a teacher's professional consciousness is a more fundamental determinant of teaching practice. To explore the issue, this paper examines data from a larger study which set out to examine the relationship between teachers' practice and their beliefs in the context of a mandatory school-based assessment scheme. Using a theoretical framework that advocates an emancipatory approach to educational changes, it was found that some teachers adopted a passive role regarding policy interpretation and implementation while others adopted a more critical stance in interpreting the policy requirements, demonstrating a more proactive approach in its implementation. The emancipatory approach is conceptualised in terms of three key dimensions: professional confidence, professional interpretation and professional consciousness. The findings of the study carry implications for teacher professional development.     

Making space for democracy through assessment and feedback in higher education: thoughts from an action research project in education studies

This paper reports on an action research project into the development of a ‘democratic feedback model’ with students on an education studies programme at a post-1992 university in the UK. Building on work that has explored the dialogic dimensions of assessment and feedback, the research explored the potential for more democratic practice in this area. Although much learning and teaching on the programme in question took a collaborative and dialogic approach, assessment and feedback were modelled entirely differently, around the concept of an ‘expert’ marker and ‘novice’ marked. The findings of the research indicate the elements necessary for ‘democratic feedback’, and illustrate the emotional impact of moving from more transmission-based models, grounded in notions of expertise, towards democratic practice. They also highlight the ways in which such work can alert students to the imperfect, messy and human nature of the assessment process. Although the model has limited applicability in its extant form, its constitutive elements might be usefully incorporated within existing practice to promote democratic learning.     

Bridging Realty to Virtual Reality: Investigating gender effect and student engagement on learning through video game play in an elementary school classroom

The purpose of this study was to examine students' learning of simple machines, a fifth‐grade (ages 10–11) forces and motion unit, and student engagement using a teacher‐created Multiplayer Educational Gaming Application. This mixed‐method study collected pre‐test/post‐test results to determine student knowledge about simple machines. A survey ascertained the time spent using the computer for general purposes, and the time spent playing computer games as a function of gender. The pre‐test and post‐test design involved 74 students, 31 males and 43 females, who played the Dr. Friction Multiplayer Educational Gaming Application for several days in the middle of the unit. Results showed the females averaged using the computer more than their male counterparts and males played video games more than females. Analysis of covariance suggested no significant difference between the factor gender (p > .05) but statistically significant differences in gain scores (p = .001). Observations and qualitative focus groups suggested high student engagement and how video game technology can scaffold learning of simple machines.     

The assessment of lesson plans in teacher education: a case study in assessment validity and reliability

This paper forms part of an exploration of assessment on one part‐time higher education (HE) course: an in‐service, professional qualification for teachers and trainers in the learning and skills sector which is delivered on a franchise basis across a network of further education colleges in the north of England. This paper proposes that the validity and reliability of portfolio‐based assessment, a key component of many HE programmes in addition to the course being researched here, is contestable. Analysis of the processes of compiling portfolios for assessment, through the conceptual framework of the New Literacy Studies, suggests that the ways in which portfolios are assessed and the ways in which the crucial requisites of validity and reliability are assigned to them, mask complexities and contradictions in their creation by the student. This paper argues for a new, critical analysis of portfolio production and raises a number of questions about the validity, reliability and authenticity of the assessment process that the portfolios reify.     

校外学习时间和数学素养对财经素养的影响:来自PISA的结果

使用来自上海市155个学校的1197名中学生参加PISA2012年数学素养测试的数据,探讨校外学习时间和数学素养对财经素养的影响作用,建构并验证一个中介效应模型。研究结果显示,学生的校外学习时间正向影响其财经素养水平,这一影响作用是通过学生的数学素养而达到的,即数学素养在校外学习时间与财经素养之间起完全中介效应。     

Assessment of prior learning in higher education: a review from a validity perspective

The process of giving official acknowledgment to formal, informal and non‐formal prior learning is commonly labelled as assessment, accreditation or recognition of prior learning (APL), representing a practice that is expanding in higher education in many countries. This paper focuses specifically on the assessment part of APL, which undoubtedly is central to the whole process, through a review of research in this area and an analysis of the reviewed studies from a validity perspective. The research reviewed (published 1990–2007) is categorised into empirical as well as more theoretically oriented publications, with a quantitative dominance of the latter. According to the validity analysis, a majority of the studies conducted in this area relate to the evidential basis of test interpretation and use, primarily providing theoretical rationales and theories for a variety of practices. The consequential basis of test interpretation and use has not been studied to any larger extent, resulting in a lack of both theoretical and empirical studies dealing with this aspect of validity.     

2007年师范生免费教育政策有效性预测评估——从农村教师补给的角度分析

本文采用发生学的分析模式,运用"政策减法"的理论框架,从农村教师补给的角度对2007年师范生免费教育政策的有效性进行了预测性评估,并据此提出政策建议.