Forecasting the value of training

The Predictive Evaluation (PE) model is a training and evaluation approach with the element of prediction. PE allows trainers and business leaders to predict the results, value, intention, adoption, and impact of training, allowing them to make smarter, more strategic training and evaluation investments. PE is invaluable for companies that struggle to define the success of training, fight to justify its value, or view training as an expense rather than an investment with predicted return.     

Developing policies for inclusive education: a study of the role of local education authorities

In many parts of the world there is evidence of initiatives aimed at finding ways of creating forms of mainstream schooling that can respond to pupils with disabilities and others seen as having special educational needs (UNESCO 1995). There is also a growing research literature that throws light on how schools and classrooms can be developed in relation to this idea (e.g. Rouse and Florian 1996, Sebba and Sachdev 1997, Thomas et al. 1998, Ainscow 1999, Clark et al. 1999). However, few studies have considered the contributions and roles of local administrative arrangements to such developments, even though there is evidence that these can be highly influential in relation to policy implementation in general (Spillane 1998). Drawing on the evidence of a recent study carried out in England, this paper starts to fill this gap. Specifically, it addresses the question: in what ways do local administrative arrangements bear on attempts to develop more inclusive ways of working in schools? In considering the evidence and arguments presented it is important to recognize that the peculiarities of each national context mean that district level arrangements for the management of education in one country cannot be assumed to be similar to that in other countries. Consequently, transporting conclusions from one situation to another is impossible. Nevertheless, a detailed engagement with the experiences of particular countries can provide a useful basis for reflection on what happens elsewhere. Before considering this specific agenda, however, we summarize certain relevant international trends.     

Effective Strategies for Information Technology in Teacher Education: the use of an evolving permeation model

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the debate in recent years about the most effective strategy for establishing the use of information technology in teacher training establishments in the United Kingdom. Evidence is presented to support the notion that efforts should continue to permeate the use of information technology throughout the courses of such establishments. However, the paper suggests that staff development and the degree of permeation of information technology within the culture develop alongside each other. As one of these variables change, it feeds the development of the other; neither is an independent variable though both are influenced by external factors. Recognising this as a relatively slow process, the paper proposes a model of evolutionary permeation.     

An Examination of Black Science Teacher Educators’ Experiences with Multicultural Education, Equity, and Social Justice

Diversity, multicultural education, equity, and social justice are dominant themes in cultural studies (Hall in Cultural dialogues in cultural studies. Routledge, New York, pp 261–274, 1996; Wallace 1994). Zeichner (Studying teacher education: The report of the AERA panel on research and teacher education. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, pp 737–759, 2005) called for research studies of teacher educators because little research exists on teacher educators since the late 1980s. Thomson et al. (2001) identified essential elements needed in order for critical multiculturalism to be infused in teacher education programs. However, little is known about the commitment and experiences of science teacher educators infusing multicultural education, equity, and social justice into science teacher education programs. This paper examines twenty (20) Black science teacher educators’ teaching experiences as a result of their Blackness and the inclusion of multicultural education, equity, and social justice in their teaching. This qualitative case study of 20 Black science teacher educators found that some of them have attempted and stopped due to student evaluations and the need to gain promotion and tenure. Other participants were able to integrate diversity, multicultural education, equity and social justice in their courses because their colleagues were supportive. Still others continue to struggle with this infusion without the support of their colleagues, and others have stopped The investigators suggest that if science teacher educators are going to prepare science teachers for the twenty first century, then teacher candidates must be challenged to grapple with racial, ethnic, cultural, instructional, and curricular issues and what that must mean to teach science to US students in rural, urban, and suburban school contexts.     

Autism,Intensive Interaction and the development of non-verbal communication in a teenager diagnosed with PDD-NOS: a case study

In this paper, the authors report on the importance of using Intensive Interaction for the development of non-verbal communication for people with autism. The complexity of learning non-verbal communication means that it cannot be taught in any sense in a traditional, didactic manner. While a person may have the cognitive abilities to follow instructions and be taught the need to behave a certain way in social situations, which will not allow them to properly assimilate and understand social expectations and how to operate in social contexts. This paper suggests that the use of Intensive Interaction creates frequent opportunities for a person to take part in face-to-face interactions and consequently allow for the gradual development of non-verbal communication.