Considering trade union education as a community of practice

This paper contributes to the continuing discussion about participation and non-participation in formal education by employing the notion of ‘community of practice’ to provide a framework for the study of trade union education. This notion provides a useful form to take account of social context and an appropriate vehicle to mediate the transformation of perspectives. This is a study that demonstrates the importance of social context and participant perspectives as important features of individual transformation. This paper draws on evidence from a local study of trade union education to explore the transformation of non-participants into learners. This transformation was the consequence of engagement by the participants in their trade union practice.     

LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF TEST-WISENESS

Longitudinal studies were conducted to examine test-wiseness (tw) with respect to (a) grade differences, (b) grade by sex interaction, and (c) stability. Included in the tw measure were stem-option, absurd-options, similar-options, and specific-determiners. Ss were students in grades 5 through 11; 539 Ss were observed twice with a 2 year interval between observations.
Results indicated (a) significant increases on tw in four of five cases, (b) no sex by grade interaction, and (c) tw as a stable characteristic over the grade levels studied.     

GRADE LEVEL,SEX, AND SELECTED ASPECTS OF TEST-WISENESS1

Measures of four selected aspects of test-wiseness (TW) were constructed for use in grades 5 through 11, and administered to students in two school systems. In each case the grade effects were significant at the .05 level, with a linear trend indicated. There was no evidence of sex, or sex by grade interaction effects.