Authority and control in the maltese educational system

This study of educational policy in Malta¹ exemplifies in microcosm the obstacles faced by teachers who seek a higher degree of professional emancipation. It points to the frustrations that educators are likely to encounter in situations where central authorities attempt to curtail teachers' autonomy through stricter administrative control. The paper argues that teachers' professional status cannot be enhanced by the granting of honorific titles when they have to go on working in a highly bureaucratic and authoritarian environment that pervades the educational system and dominates teachers' occupational perspectives. Malta's traditions in public administration, which it inherited from the British, militate against teachers' bid for full professionality. In a small developing country striving to shed its colonial past, legislative measures and industrial agreements do not suffice to change the traditional mentality of its public service. Genuine attempts to professionalise the teaching corps require measures that reduce teachers' dependence on central authority, and opportunities that promote occupational initiatives to a high degree.

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Zusammenfassung Diese Studie über Bildungspolitik in Malta¹ veranschaulicht im Mikrokosmos die Schwierigkeiten, denen Lehrer, die ein höheres Maß an beruflicher Emanzipation anstreben, gegenüberstehen. Die Frustrationen, die Ausbilder wahrscheinlich in den Situationen erleben werden, in denen zentrale Behörden die Autonomie der Lehrer durch strengere administrative Kontrolle beschneiden, werden aufgezeigt. Der Autor argumentiert, daß der Berufsstatus der Lehrer nicht durch das Verleihen von Ehrentiteln aufgewertet werden kann, wenn sie weiterhin in einer stark bürokratisierten und autoritären Umgebung arbeiten müssen, die das Bildungswesen durchdringt und die beruflichen Perspektiven der Lehrer dominiert. Maltas von den Briten ererbte Tradition in der öffentlichen Verwaltung behindert die Bemühungen der Lehrer um vollständige Professionalität. In einem kleinen Entwicklungsland, das sich bemüht, seine koloniale Vergangenheit abzulegen, reichen legislative Maßnahmen und Industrieabkommen nicht aus, um die Traditionsmentalität des öffentlichen Dienstes zu ändern. Ernsthafte Versuche, den Lehrberuf zu professionalisieren, erfordern eine verringerte Abhängigkeit der Lehrer von zentralen Behörden, sowie Möglichkeiten zur intensiven Förderung beruflicher Initiativen.

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Résumé La présente étude sur la politique éducative de Malte¹ illustre dans un microcosme les obstacles rencontrés par les enseignants recherchant un degré élevé de liberté professionnelle. Elle montre les frustrations que les enseignants sont susceptibles d'éprouver dans les situations oû les autorités centrales tentent de restreindre l'autonomie des maîtres en appliquant un contrôle administratif plus strict. On prétend dans cet article que le statut professionnel des enseignants ne peut être rehaussé par la remise de titres honorifiques s'ils doivent continuer de travailler dans un environnement hautement bureaucratique et autoritaire qui pénètre le système éducatif et détermine les perspectives professionnelles des enseignants. Les traditions de l'administration publique maltaise, léguées par le système britannique, vont à rencontre du désir des maîtres d'accéder à un plus grand professionnalisme. Dans un petit pays en développement qui s'efforce de se défaire de son passé colonial, les mesures législatives et les accords industriels ne suffisent pas pour changer la mentalité traditionnelle de son service public. Les véritables tentatives pour professionnaliser le corps enseignant requirèrent des mesures qui réduisent la dépendance des enseignants de l'autorité centrale, et des occasions qui favorisent les initiatives professionnelles à un haut degré.

     

Infant Temperament Profiles,Cultural Orientation,and Toddler Behavioral and Physiological Regulation in Mexican-American Families

This study sought to (a) replicate infant temperament profiles from predominantly White samples in a sample of low-income, predominantly first-generation Mexican-American families, (b) investigate associations between infant temperament profiles and toddler behavioral and physiological regulation, and (c) explore whether mothers’ cultural orientation would moderate those associations. Mothers and infants (n = 322; 46% male) were assessed during pregnancy and at infant ages 9, 12, and 24 months. Latent profile analysis yielded three temperament profiles that were consistent with those from extant research. Compared to the high positive affect, well-regulated profile, the negative reactive, low regulated profile was associated with poorer behavioral and parasympathetic (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia) regulation, but associations depended on mothers’ Mexican and Anglo cultural orientation.     

Longitudinal Effects of Student Mobility on Three Dimensions of Elementary School Engagement

Working within the developmental science research framework, this study sought to capture a dynamic and complex view of student mobility. Second‐ through fifth‐grade data (N = 1,003, predominantly Caucasian) were drawn from a longitudinal study, and growth curve analyses allowed for the examination of mobility effects within the context of other factors that put children at risk, including behavior problems and family stress. School changes predicted declines in academic performance and classroom participation but not positive attitude toward school. Time‐varying factors such as peer acceptance and teacher support had a positive influence on the growth trajectories of child outcomes. Additionally, teacher support had a particularly strong influence on positive attitudes toward school among children who had more school changes.     

Does peer assessment promote student learning? A meta-analysis

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing use of peer assessment in classrooms and other learning settings. Despite the prevailing view that peer assessment has a positive effect on learning across empirical studies, the results reported are mixed. In this meta-analysis, we synthesised findings based on 134 effect sizes from 58 studies. Compared to students who do not participate in peer assessment, those who participate in peer assessment show a .291 standard deviation unit increase in their performance. Further, we performed a meta-regression analysis to examine the factors that are likely to influence the peer assessment effect. The most critical factor is rater training. When students receive rater training, the effect size of peer assessment is substantially larger than when students do not receive such training. Computer-mediated peer assessment is also associated with greater learning gains than the paper-based peer assessment. A few other variables (such as rating format, rating criteria and frequency of peer assessment) also show noticeable, although not statistically significant, effects. The results of the meta-analysis can be considered by researchers and teachers as a basis for determining how to make effective use of peer assessment as a learning tool.     

Development of social category representations: early appreciation of roles and deontic relations

Three experiments explored the significance of deontic properties (involving rights and obligations) in representations of social categories. Preschool-aged children ( M = 4.8), young school-aged children ( M = 8.2), and adults judged the centrality of behavioral, psychological, and deontic properties for both familiar (Experiments 1 and 2, N s = 50 and 52, respectively) and novel (Experiment 3, N = 64) social categories. Preschool-aged children were the most consistent in treating deontic properties as central: Knowing a person's social category membership was more informative about obligations than about behavioral frequencies or psychological preferences. Adults treated deontic properties as central to some categories but also recognized a set that was primarily predictive of psychological dispositions. The results argue for the significance of deontic properties in the development of social cognition.     

Adult development and disciplinary content: A guide to effective teaching of adults

Most of the literature dealing with effective teaching of adult students deals with particular teaching methods. As important as suchprocess suggestions are, it may be even more important to help adults find connections between thecontent of the disciplines and the issues they experience personally as they move through the life cycle. A discussion of ways to do this is provided by an interdisciplinary team. These ideas are then integrated into a view of the disciplines as a tool for helping students mediate course content as well as their life experiences in the service of learning and individual development.Dr. Charles S. Claxton is Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Center for the Study of Higher Education. His major research interests include effective teaching of adults, student learning styles, and use of adult development theory to enhance the college curriculum. Dr. Susanne B. Darnell is Associate Dean of University College, a unit in which students design individualized baccalaureate degrees in professional or liberal studies. She was formerly a member of the Department of Sociology. Dr. Geneva B. Reid is an Instructor in the Department of English and has extensive teaching experience with traditional age and adult students. Dr. Cecil G. Shugart is Professor in the Department of Physics and has long been active in the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society.     

From “Innovation for Education” to “Education for Innovation”: The 22<Superscript>nd</Superscript> Global Chinese Conference on Computers in Education

The 22nd Global Chinese Conference on Computers in Education (GCCCE) was held May 25–29, 2018, at South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China. Broadcasting live on the Internet, the Conference had 424 onsite participants with 299,816 online viewers from different countries and regions. The Conference hosted five keynote speeches, two expert symposiums, over 200 concurrent presentations, eight workshops, three teacher forums, one doctoral consortium, and two poster sessions. This report synthesizes the keynote speeches and award-winning presentations to share some of the Conference highlights with readers.