Talking about Assessment: Mentor-student dialogues about pupil assessment in initial teacher training

This is an account of a study, conducted over the period of one extended school placement lasting a term, which monitored the dialogues between student teachers undertaking their school-based initial training and their mentors. The study took place in the context of the increasing emphasis placed on pupil assessment in England and Wales and the increasing prominence of school-based work in initial teacher training. This particular analysis focuses on the extent and kind of attention within the dialogues given to the assessment of pupil learning, and the ways in which school-based mentors model assessment practice through their formative discussions with student teachers. The evidence suggests that the dialogues are tending to define assessment in terms of examinations, tests and class control rather than in terms of pupil learning. While this suggests that there is scope for continued development of the mentoring role and the interpretation of initial teaching competences, it also adds to existing evidence that pupil-assessment is an area of difficulty for many experienced teachers.     

Copyright: past,present and future

Copyright has developed over the years from an instrument of taxation and censorship to a complex set of rules, primarily to protect the creator, but now having to grapple with cyberspace. This article examines that development, and looks at some of the arguments for and against the existence of copyright. It is argued that copyright is flexible enough to cope with the electronic world. The article examines the lessons learned from the past, and asks whether the Gowers Report helps or hinders. The author also raises the question ‘what is the future of copyright?’, given the intense interest not just of the UK government but also of the European Commission, which is determined to provide a ‘level playing‐field’ across the countries of the EU. Lastly, the author examines the five main pressure points relevant to the future of copyright and asks who the publisher of the future will be.     

Modern Languages in the School Curriculum: a philosophical view

This article is based on an analysis of two types of argument, called utilitarian and educational respectively, which are commonly used to justify the teaching of modern/foreign languages in schools. Serious flaws are identified in the utilitarian arguments often employed to defend the teaching of modern languages and different educational arguments which might be offered as justification for their inclusion in the school curriculum are distinguished and appraised. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of the foregoing analysis for the place of modern languages in the school curriculum.