Neoliberal freedoms,privatisation and the future of physical education

Focussing on the ideological aspects of privatisation, this paper explores ways in which ‘freedom’ has been activated discursively to justify actions involving changes to both the structure and the content of formal education in the UK. Empirically, the paper will analyse examples in England of UK Government ‘new provider’ rhetoric relating to ‘Academies’ in order to address both the claims and the counterclaims made by governments, educational producers and others for the privatisation of education and physical education (PE) within it. The paper suggests that such changes may have significant implications not only for teachers of PE, but also the educational entitlements of pupils and specifically, their opportunities to enjoy a liberal, comprehensive, high-quality PE. Privatisation may also consolidate rather than help erode and eradicate existing social hierarchies and associated distributions of educational social and physical capital.     

The LEP project

The Rutherford/Bohr concept of atomic structure was pleasingly simple but later research revealed a bewildering multiplicity of elementary particles. Recently, however, a ‘new physics’ has emerged according to which all these particles can be interpreted in terms of only four fundamental ones—two quarks and two leptons. To test this theory very powerful new machines are required, among the most important of which is the proposed electronpositron storage ring (LEP) at CERN.     

Muslim Egyptian and Lebanese Students’ Conceptions of Biological Evolution

In this study, we investigated distinctions among the diversity of religious traditions represented by Lebanese and Egyptian Muslim high school students regarding their understanding and acceptance of biological evolution and how they relate the science to their religious beliefs. We explored secondary students’ conceptions of evolution among members of three Muslim sects—Sunni, Shiite, and Druze—in two cultural contexts; one in which the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim (Egypt) and another in which there is a sizable Christian community (Lebanon). Data were collected via surveys that examined students’ scientific and religious understandings of evolution among 162 Egyptian students (all Sunni Muslims; 63% females and 37% males) and 629 Lebanese students (38.5% Sunni, 38% Shiite, and 23.5% Druze; 49% females and 51% males). Additional data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 30 Lebanese students to allow triangulation of data for accuracy and authenticity. Results indicate that many Egyptian and Lebanese Muslim students have misconceptions about evolution and the nature of science which often lead to rejection of evolution. Also, Lebanese Sunni and Shiite students and Egyptian Sunni students tend to exhibit high levels of religiosity, and these students report that their religious beliefs influence their positions regarding evolution. Finally, Sunni and Shiite Lebanese students have religious beliefs, conceptions of evolution, and positions regarding evolution similar to those of Sunni Egyptian students. These conceptions and positions, however, are substantially different from those of Druze Lebanese students.     

Teaching a Selection of Heaney’s Troubles Poetry to Upper Post-primary Pupils in Northern Ireland’s Divided Schools: Educational Contexts and Pedagogical Opportunities

Centred on a carefully chosen selection of Heaney’s Troubles poems, this paper explores pedagogical opportunities that the poems present in the context of upper post-primary classrooms in Northern Ireland’s divided schools. Five poems are evaluated in total. These are: ‘The Other Side’, ‘A Constable calls’, ‘The Toome Road’, ‘The Strand at Lough Beg’ and ‘An Ulster Twilight’. While these five poems represent only a small selection of Heaney’s Troubles poems, they nonetheless cover an interesting spectrum in terms of their politico-cultural perspectives. The analysis of the poems focuses on exploring how teachers could use the poems to enable pupils to examine their traditional identities and allegiances and perhaps re-evaluate them in the light of new insights provided by the poems. While suggestions for this pedagogical exploration is at the heart of the paper, the early section establishes some relevant theoretical and educational contexts and the concluding section situates the paper in the context of previous, related curricular initiatives with Northern Ireland. It is to be hoped, finally, that the curricular initiative proposed by the paper could contribute, if even in a small way, to the ongoing search for peace and reconciliation between Northern Ireland’s two main, and still divided, communities.     

“No Excuses” Charter Schools: A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence on Student Achievement

Many most well-known charter schools in the United States use a “No Excuses” approach. We conduct the first meta-analysis of the achievement impacts of No Excuses charter schools, focusing on experimental, lottery-based studies. We estimate that No Excuses charter schools increase student math and literacy achievement by 0.25 and 0.17, respectively, for approximately each year of attendance. These are large and meaningful gains. Moreover, these effects are substantially larger than those of attending other kinds of charter schools. We discuss policy implications and offer necessary caveats.     

Not seeing the wood for the trees: developing a feedback analysis tool to explore feed forward in modularised programmes

This paper considers feedback in the context of modularised programmes in higher education in the UK. It is argued that the self-contained nature of modular assessment may limit feedback dialogue between staff and students to assignment-specific issues, and may impede student progress towards holistic programme-level aims and outcomes. A feedback profiling tool was developed to categorise feedback on draft and final work. The analysis of feedback on 63 samples of draft work and 154 samples of final work showed different patterns. There were more feedback comments on draft work, and the feedback comments were dominated by advice and critique, while the feedback comments on the final work were overwhelmingly dominated by praise. This pattern of feedback is problematised in terms of feed forward from one module to the next, as students work towards the development of programme-level outcomes. Ipsative feedback (on progress) and feed forward in terms of disciplinary-specific skills and programme-level outcomes are recommended to enable students to act on feedback on end-of-module work, and develop students’ capacity to recontextualise disciplinary-specific skills throughout a programme. Some developmental applications for the feedback profiling tool are also suggested.     

Older Workers’ Learning Within Organizations: Issues and Challenges

As increasing numbers of older adults stay in the workforce or engage in encore careers, they are subjected to diverse issues and challenges. The new dynamics of the workplace in a global market exert pressure on older workers and employers alike in which training and development has a potentially significant function for achieving greater productivity and job satisfaction. This article discusses the changing workplace and the diverse range of learning opportunities that may be available to older workers. The article then addresses selected issues of overcoming stereotypical assumptions about the capabilities of older workers, age stratification at work, and the differing perspectives of managers and employees to learning opportunities. The article argues for a negotiated process of learning where significant autonomy is assumed by workers.     

创新、相互依存与公平参与--在线学习知识建构过程分析

知识建构领域研究者认为知识建构不仅包括个体的知识获得,更强调共同学习者的知识细化、知识创新和知识发展,并提出知识建构中关于观念、社区和手段的十二条原则。为了对混合式灵活课程( HyFlex)中在线学习的知识建构过程进行分析,研究小组根据知识建构的基本观点和原则,建立了在线学习对话分类表,从观念改进、公共知识发展和资源应用三个维度对在线对话过程和内容进行分析。通过分析四门课程每次教学的视频记录、文本聊天记录和语音对话记录,本研究根据对话发出方、接收方和对话类型形成对话交互矩阵,然后结合对话矩阵及内容分析,形成在线知识建构过程中质性资料的量化统计数据、内容分析数据和社会网络分析参数等。基于这些数据对观念改进、公共知识发展和资源应用三个维度分析的结果显示,在线学习成员能积极主动地承担公共知识建构的集体责任,用“回答问题”及“反馈和评论”方式促进社区的知识发展;彼此间平等对话,呈现开放均衡的交互形态,相互依存地进行学习;开展的对话平等而有效,所有成员在其中发展自身的观点,实现了知识创新;积极分享资源,并建议和分享应用的经验和方法,促进了实践中建构性地利用资源。可见,创新、相互依存和公平参与在本研究中所分析的在线知识建构中得以实现,并成为其鲜明的特色。     

Creativity Counts: Why Study Abroad Matters to Technical and Professional Communication

Technical communication programs preparing students to perform as symbolic analytic workers can improve a student's creative problem-solving abilities by offering study-abroad opportunities. Newer research from the field of psychology is used as a conceptual framework for discussing the author's development of curriculum for a study-abroad offering within a professional writing program. Details on the study-abroad curriculum proposal such as course assignments, readings, credit hours, and program destination and logistics are included.