Teacher learning and policy intention: selected findings from an evaluation of a large‐scale programme of professional development in the Republic of Ireland

The study reported on in this paper is set in the context of a national programme of professional development for primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland which has been in operation since 1999 and finished in 2008. The paper explores the acquisition and interpretation by teachers of the elements of the reform. The authors consider the extent to which the professional development experiences facilitated change in teachers’ knowledge and if the teachers interpreted this in the way expected by policy‐makers. The theoretical basis to the study draws on previous research that conceptualises teacher learning/knowledge acquisition and the change process as being dependant on an interwoven mix of factors, including teacher, school and policy‐level contexts and characteristics. To a large degree the findings of this study do not deviate wildly from this prior work, which suggests that policy‐makers and planners of CPD programmes, despite their best intentions, still need to be cognisant of such factors.     

Toward an explanation of conceptual change

In this paper, an alternative ‘explanation’ of conceptual change is offered. It is argued that the problem of explaining conceptual stability and change can be divided into three parts; accounting for conceptual change entails specifying some factors affecting each of the following: old conceptions’ persistence, new conceptions’ acquisition, and cognitive restructuring. Some factors affecting each sub‐problem are discussed, and the literature is reviewed to support the significance of these factors.     

Futsal task constraints promote transfer of passing skill to soccer task constraints

This study investigated how learning a passing skill with futsal or soccer task constraints influenced transfer to a new task. Futsal (n?=?24, 13.6?±?1.2 years old, 7.0?±?1.6 years of experience) and soccer (n?=?24, 13.6?±?1.2 years old, 6.8?±?1.2 years of experience) players performed two 5v5?+?goalkeeper modified games – a futsal-like task (small playing area with the futsal ball) and soccer-like task (large playing area with the soccer ball). Participants’ passing accuracy and their orientation of attention were assessed during the two tasks. The futsal group improved their passing accuracy (ES?=?0.75?±?0.61) from the futsal-like to the soccer-like task, and they were more accurate than soccer players (ES?=?2.98?±?2.96). Conversely, the soccer group’s passing accuracy remained stable across the two tasks (ES?=?0.10?±?0.52) and it was similar to the futsal group in the futsal-like task (ES?=?0.58?±?1.93). This indicates a higher magnitude of transfer (and adaptability) from performing passes in a small playing area with short time to act – futsal task constraints – to a larger playing area with longer time – soccer task constraints – than vice-versa. Furthermore, the futsal group showed a higher adaptation of attention orientation to the affordances that emerged with the soccer task constraints, which is suggested to be one of the main mechanisms promoting skill transfer. These results encourage soccer practitioners to introduce futsal task constraints to fast-track players’ ability to functionally adapt perception–action coupling.     

Faculty perceptions of common challenges encountered by novice doctoral writers

Although learning to write for publication is an important outcome of doctoral education, it has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. Within a socialization and supervisor pedagogy framework, this study uses narratives of faculty who regularly write with their doctoral students for publication to expose challenges students commonly encounter in the writing process. Common challenges include international students' ‘writing problem’, misconstruing the nature of disciplinary writing and not realizing that ‘public’ is part of publication.     

‘Becoming and being writers’: the experiences of doctoral students in writing groups

The use of writing groups to support students undertaking post-graduate research within universities has begun to receive attention from academic supervisors and doctoral researchers. Very little has been written by doctoral students themselves on the benefits of working within such writing groups. In this article, the experiences of working within a doctoral writing group at an Australian University are presented, primarily from the perspective of students. The authors identify two main benefits they have experienced through participating in a writing group using a ‘multi-voiced’ approach. First, they discuss the kind of learning that they achieved through working in a writing group. They do this with reference to key principles of peer learning and of peer review. Second, they focus on the ways the group worked as a community of discursive social practice. An overarching message for them in participating in the group and now writing this article is the shift in their thinking and experience of writing from seeing writing as an essentially private and implicit process to writing becoming a matter of public and shared work. These two notions are bound by the concept of identity building, drawing from the literature on communities of practice.     

Construct validity of self-concept in TIMSS’s student background questionnaire: a test of separation and conflation of cognitive and affective dimensions of self-concept among Saudi eighth graders

The aims of this study are to: (a) assess if cognitive self-concept (competence) and affective self-concept in mathematics and science are different constructs, (b) evaluate the construct validity of self-concept in the context of conflation and separation, and (c) test if the relationships among cognitive and affective variables are invariant across gender. The data for this study were obtained from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 database. Data about 2,687 out of 4,099 eighth grade Saudi students were subject to various analyses. The variables used in this study were mathematics and science self-concepts, and mathematics and science subject value as part of the Students Background Questionnaire. The relationships among constructs were examined with the use of SPSS16 and the structural equation modeling software, AMOS16. The results demonstrated that subject value and self-concept were different constructs. Also, the results demonstrated that cognitive and affective self-concepts were independent, but strongly related constructs, and the structure of the construct was clearer when self-concept was separated into cognitive and affective components than when it was conflated. The relationships among cognitive, affective, and subject value in mathematics and science were invariant across gender. However, their relationships with achievement were not invariant across gender.     

Experiences of young (minor) asylum seekers in further education in Malta

This study appraises the particular challenges that minor asylum-seeking migrants who are in the 16–18 age category confront when pursuing their studies in a vocational college in Malta, a central Mediterranean island which is the smallest EU member state. The study explores how they exercise resilience in their desire to forge a future for themselves and traces their passage from Africa to Malta and their prospective aspirations to eventually settle elsewhere. It also explores how they integrate their lives as college students with these aspirations and how they see this as contributing to their lifelong education and ongoing processes of personal growth.     

The role and impact of the Regional Curriculum Support Service in Irish primary education

The Regional Curriculum Support Service (RCSS) was established to provide locally based advice and support to principals and teachers in relation to the implementation of the Primary School Curriculum (1999). Drawing on data from a large-scale national evaluation, this article traces the purpose, structure and operation of the RCSS and provides commentary on the achievements and challenges associated with this initiative.     

A prototype Semantic Web-based digital content exchange for schools in Singapore

Singapore has many large and educationally valuable digital collections and is planning the development of many more. These digital collections contain historical, cultural and scientific multimedia objects, along with learning objects. At present, school teachers and pupils find it hard to locate many of these resources using traditional search engines. This paper describes a research investigation into the design and subsequent development of a prototype digital resource discovery portal (Digital Content Exchange) based on Semantic Web technologies, and explores some of the educational issues raised. The research project explored how the features of the Semantic Web might offer valuable additional educational benefits and affordances beyond that of those based on existing information retrieval technologies.