Examining Relations of Power in a Process of Curriculum Change: The Case of VCE Physics

Through interviews with members of the setting panel, this paper probes the process of setting the first external test for the VCE Physics course when it was implemented in 1992. The development of the course itself had been highly contested, but the contest was enacted largely outside the structures set up for formal negotiation between interested parties. Consequently the process was obscure, and the issues never clearly articulated. However, the outcome was that the course was much closer to a traditional course in physics than had originally seemed likely. The test setting panel provided a microcosm in which the contest that had shaped the development of the course was replayed. In the deliberations of the panel, certain discursive mechanisms can be identified as having operated to ensure that particular decisions became inevitable. Once identified in the deliberations of the test panel, similar mechanisms can be discerned during the process of devising the course itself. Some implications are noted for future efforts to reform curriculum and assessment in physics, and for current classroom practice.     

Archives,libraries, museums and the spell of ubiquitous knowledge

This paper describes the convergence of libraries, archives, and museums in Germany from traditional brick-and-mortar institutions to a digital memory institution on the Internet. An implementation of such a digital memory institution is BAM—the joint portal of archives, libraries, and museums in Germany. BAM has the potential to serve as a single point of access to existing, but separate offerings of the several branches of cultural heritage, e.g. union catalogs, and a great number of separate digitization projects offering their content on the German Web. BAM can make an important contribution to the efforts of both the German governments (federal and states) and the European Union, which are in the process of establishing portals to cultural content on the Internet. The article gives an outline of the current undertakings and illustrates how the striving for ubiquitous knowledge delivered by Internet portals relates to the scientific tradition of documentation in Europe.     

Combating low completion rates in Nordic welfare states: policy design in Norway and Sweden

ABSTRACT

Low completion rate in upper secondary education is seen as a big problem in the Nordic countries. School failure has shown to dramatically increase the risks for unemployment and labour market exclusion with severe consequences for both society and the young person. This paper analyses national policy measures to combat low upper secondary education completion rates in Norway and Sweden, often regarded as representing a social democratic welfare model and a universalistic transition regime. The analysis demonstrates that although this issue has received extensive political attention, the two countries display somewhat different policy designs. The Norwegian approach is proactive and targeted while the Swedish policy is more general and directed towards reforming organisational structures in upper-secondary education. In sum, our analysis demonstrates that national governance structures shape and influence policy design in the context of an increasingly diversified Nordic social democratic welfare state regime.     

The Competence Screening Questionnaire for Higher Education: Adaptable to the needs of a study programme

There is a lively discussion on how to evaluate competence-based higher education in both evaluation and competence research. The instruments used are often limited to course evaluation or specific competences, taking a rather narrow perspective. Furthermore, the instruments often comprise predetermined competences that cannot be adapted to higher education needs. The aim of this paper is to provide a flexible screening instrument into which practitioners/evaluators of study programmes can themselves insert the competences they are interested in, i.e. competences students ought to acquire through their study programme. The present study describes the development of the Competence Screening Questionnaire for Higher Education (CSQ-HE) in different domains of higher education. Results show that the CSQ-HE provides plausible screening information whilst fulfilling evaluation standards. It can be integrated into a higher education institution’s internal quality management system to demonstrate a programme’s legitimacy and enhance competence-based teaching and learning. Strengths, weaknesses and implications for practice are discussed.     

Development of School Achievement in the Nordic Countries During Half a Century

The aim is to describe the development of achievement in compulsory school in the Nordic countries from the 1960s. The study relies on published results concerning literacy and numeracy from the international large-scale assessments between 1964 and 2012. Among others, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) for most countries, a small but consistent increase in the level of achievement was observed from the mid-1970s to around 1990 for both literacy and numeracy; (2) Finland improved literacy performance dramatically between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, which is hypothesized to be associated with the introduction of part-time special education; (3) for all countries performance declined from the late-1990s/early-2000s, which is hypothesized to be due to different factors in different countries.     

Highly committed teachers: what makes them tick? A study of sustained commitment

This article focuses on teacher commitment, and particularly on teachers displaying sustained high levels of commitment throughout their teaching careers (over 15 years). Graduates from one Teacher Education programme responded to an open-ended questionnaire conducted on 10 occasions concerning their work as teachers, from graduation in 1993 to 2013. Out of the 72 who responded on all nine occasions, eight teachers stating high levels of commitment throughout their careers were selected for additional interviews. A framework containing four commitment factors was used as the point of departure. Content analyses of the interview and selected questionnaire data then resulted in a revised framework of five factors: personal, teaching, school context, system context and professional development. Accounts from eight teachers with sustained high commitment illustrate the framework. The article offers an extended framework for understanding and categorising the factors that contribute to teacher commitment.     

‘The funeral’: a study of children's shared meaning‐making and its developmental significance

This article argues the need to examine communication in joint play situations rather than individual assessments in solitary play situations when children's development is focused. Informed by Bakhtin's dialogical and Moscovici's interactionist perspectives, observations were made of the interaction between two girls, aged 3½ and 4, playing at holding a funeral ceremony, in the setting of a Swedish pre‐school. The analysis shows that new knowledge occurred through negotiations of appropriate actions in play. The children's interactions resulted in shared meaning‐making of the funeral as a ritual of revival.