Exploring socioeconomic inequalities and access to elite postgraduate education among English graduates

Higher Education - A worldwide trend towards high levels of participation in higher education, paired with concerns about the post-university destinations of an increasing pool of graduates, have...     

Key components of learning ecologies: A Delphi assessment

The educational landscape has changed in recent years, requiring reflection about new pedagogical methods and theories. There are three important perspectives as drivers of pedagogical reflection: lifelong and life-wide learning, the idea of learning as a social construct in which internal elements and changing external factors converge, and the recognition of technology as a resource that can promote ubiquitous and expanded learning. Learning ecology has been proposed as a conceptual and empirical framework, but its still emergent nature along with its multidimensionality and complexity require further exploration. The Delphi study we present as part of a broader research project aims to identify the components of learning ecologies. Three panel rounds with international experts were carried out, after which two important dimensions emerged in the structure of learning ecologies. The first is related to intrinsic “learning dispositions,” which is made up of three categories: the subject's ideas about learning, their motivations and expectations. The second dimension, called “learning processes,” comprises four components: relationships, resources, actions and context. The identification of the components of learning ecologies and their influence on formal, non-formal and informal training processes will provide guidance for educational policies and help to better organize training programmes.     

基于复合型人才培养的体育课程创新研究

本文运用文献资料法、逻辑分析法等方法,针对高校开展复合型人才培养的必要性加以分析,并在复合型人才培养的背景下对体育课程进行创新和改革,旨在为高校体育教学提供理论性服务。     

Varieties of hybrid systemic governance in European Higher Education

Over the last 30 years, governments have continuously adjusted their Higher Education policies to make universities more efficient (achieving more by spending less) and more effective (by increasing the percentage of graduates, by reducing the number of university dropouts and by focusing more on the third mission). At the core of governmental endeavours to reform Higher Education lies the redesign of the actual governance mode: governments have not only changed the general principles of Higher Education governance but also continuously changed the mix of those policy instruments they have chosen to adopt. The steering at a distance/supervisory/supermarket model appears to be unable to cover these differentiated trends; in fact, scholars have underlined that each country has designed its own hybrid interpretation of the common template. This paper focuses on this issue, describing how governance has been hybridised at the systemic level and detailing the content of these changes, operationalised with regards to policy instruments together with two financial dimensions. It emerges that three types of hybrid systemic governance modes are actually present in Europe: a performance‐based mode, a re‐regulated mode and a systemic goal‐oriented mode.     

Action research through lesson study for the reconstruction of teachers’ practical knowledge. A review of research at Málaga University (Spain)

ABSTRACT

This article aims to set out our discussions, reflections and research at Málaga University (Spain) in relation to Lesson Study (LS), as a cooperative action research process. The paper aims to summarise the main findings of ten years of research, addressing the concepts and dilemmas found both in forming teachers’ practical thinking and in the complex processes of reconstruction through LS. The results of our research provide evidence that it is a useful way to deal with the reconstruction of teachers’ practical knowledge in teacher training. Teachers’ practical knowledge should be more broadly seen as an active combination of theoretical knowledge, procedural knowledge and skills, attitudes, emotions, believes, and values: i.e. teachers’ practical thinking. Most of these personal and professional resources are unconscious, or rather sub-conscious. Changes in teachers’ practical thinking require more practical experience and reflexion: a dialectical process based around two key components: theorisation of practice and experimentation of reconstructed theory. The results of our research show that these dialectical process could be developed with LS as a particular way of developing AR, adding a complex, systematic, flexible and cooperative way of dealing with specific and contextual curricular innovation projects. We therefore conclude that LS could be a very useful path to follow in reconstructing teachers’ practical thinking from within, strengthening the professional teaching community.     

Comparing paper-based and electronic multiple-choice examinations with personal devices: Impact on students' performance,self-efficacy and satisfaction

Nowadays the size of university classes along with the growing number of students to be tested for final examination raise unprecedented challenges relating to the management, monitoring and evaluation of learning. Technology may provide some solutions that deserve to be investigated. This paper explores the potentialities and limitations of Computer-Based Testing (CBT), specifically BYOD e-test, compared to traditional Paper-Based Testing (PBT) to verify whether, and to what extent, an electronic mode of assessment can become a suitable alternative to PBT. It is based on a study carried out at the University of Florence during 2016/17. 606 students participated in the study, of whom 443 opted for CBT using their own devices, while 163 preferred PBT. Participants who experienced CBT also answered a survey on perceptions, self-efficacy and satisfaction. The results show that students' performances were better with CBT, and that a positive relationship exists between the perceived level of self-efficacy and the propensity to adopt digital tests. In addition, students greatly appreciated the electronic system, especially for the possibility of immediate feedback. Some critical issues emerged relating to on-screen reading, which suggests the need for careful design of testing tools.     

江苏文化分区及其影响因素述论

作为行政区的江苏省，是不符合自然区、经济区与文化区的区划。而综合考虑方言与饮食二者，可以尝试着将江苏省域内部划分为四大文化区以及典型与非典型的八个文化亚区。分析这些复合性质的文化区与文化亚区的现状及其形成与演变过程，自然因素的影响相对弱小，行政区划的影响相对强大，而作为文化载体的人的作用则最为根本，其间的复杂与细微之处当然又各自有说。至于相关的行政区的适当调整，也是目前值得考虑的方面。     

Patterns of ‘public‐school markets’ in the Finnish comprehensive school from a comparative perspective

The article examines school choice in the context of the Finnish, publicly owned and governed comprehensive school system, the ‘named public‐school markets’, and compares findings to similar studies done in other countries. Parental choice is used in addition to traditional catchment areas and has now settled in the educational policy of big cities since its introduction in Finland in the mid 1990s. The focus of this article is on the extent and direction of pupils' preferences between the schools in relation to the characteristics of the schools in order to understand what kind of patterns have been formed along with the school choice. At the turn of the year 2000, half of the age group transferring to the 7th grade applied for a place in an other than catchment area school in the capital city, and on average one‐third of those in the other four big cities. The local public school markets touched every school in the urban areas. The schools were divided into popular, rejected, and balanced schools on the basis of net gains in request flows. A detailed analysis of the preferences between schools is presented in a map. Patterns of operation of the local school markets in the four case cities showed astoundingly similar features to those reported in studies conducted in other countries.