Making the difference with active parenting; forming educational partnerships between parents and schools

Although parental involvement is often a priority on the quality agenda of schools for primary and secondary education, it is still not usual to involve parents as an educational partner in the actual learning process of their child. Rather than adopting an open approach, teachers tend to tell parents what they should do or keep them at a safe distance. At the same time, parents are increasingly becoming better informed, more critical and thus are more strongly positioned towards school. They address teachers more directly in case of problems or disappointing results of their child. Clearly, this might lead to a negative impact on the mutual relationship especially when parents’ emotional involvement conflicts with a professional and detached attitude of teachers. Based on the results of several studies that provide ample evidence that parental involvement in the learning process can improve learning outcomes, it is argued that there is much to be gained in forming educational partnerships between parents and schools. Different dimensions of active parenting are discussed, as well as prerequisites for successful implementation.     

Are We All Managers Now?

In comparison with traditional education, distance education requires greater involvement on the part of all staff in the management and administration of constituent systems. Using a case study of the University of Leicester's Centre for Labour Market Studies, it is demonstrated that the team approach adopted by the Centre means that academic, clerical and administrative staff are all in some way involved in the management of the distance learning courses run by the Centre. This has implications for the training and development of staff at all levels.     

Rethinking e-learning support strategies

This paper discusses an e-learning support team model developed as part of a new e-learning strategy within a tertiary education polytechnic. Based upon a community of practice model, the e-Team supports the establishment of e-learning and m-learning (mobile learning) throughout the institution as a catalyst for the adoption of social constructivist pedagogy. The paper reviews and reflects upon the impact of strategies for creating and supporting communities of practice across the institution along with the ways this model is achieving the breaking down of the barriers to ‘e’ and ‘m’ learning adoption among lecturers. This model helped to move lecturers from non-engagement to legitimate peripheral participation and onto full participation within the institution’s e-learning community, and ultimately enabling social constructivist learning environments for students. This model based on a community of practice framework for e-learning support is potentially transferable to other educational contexts.     

Job Mobility and Premature Departure of Principals in Primary and Secondary Education in the Netherlands

As a result of complex school reforms the role of the principal has undergone significant changes, internationally. Consequently, a considerable number of principals leave their positions, both voluntarily and involuntarily. This article presents the findings of a study into job mobility, concentrating on involuntary or premature departure amongst principals in primary and secondary education in the Netherlands. All primary and secondary schools with job mobility over a period of three years were traced: 920 schools reported job mobility for 1009 principals. The authors then examined which part of this job mobility consisted of premature departure. For this purpose, three characteristics of job mobility were investigated: involuntariness, labour disputes and official reasons reported for job mobility. The data were also analysed for male and female principals separately.     

Implementing a new senior secondary curriculum in Hong Kong: instructional leadership practices and qualities of school principals

This paper attempts to identify the leadership practices and qualities of school principals engaged in implementing a curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Based on interview data of school principals, this paper shows that the types of instructional leadership practices that school principals adopt and the contextual conditions in which these practices occur are key factors explaining the differential effectiveness of implementation efforts. Six efficacious instructional leadership practices and two contextual conditions critical to their development were identified. This paper reconceptualises instructional leadership as a collective and transformational endeavour, functioning in communities of practice to support school development at different levels.     

The Different Benefits from Different Gestures in Understanding a Concept

Explanations are typically accompanied by hand gestures. While research has shown that gestures can help learners understand a particular concept, different learning effects in different types of gesture have been less understood. To address the issues above, the current study focused on whether different types of gestures lead to different levels of improvement in understanding. Two types of gestures were investigated, and thus, three instructional videos (two gesture videos plus a no gesture control) of the subject of mitosis—all identical except for the types of gesture used—were created. After watching one of the three videos, participants were tested on their level of understanding of mitosis. The results showed that (1) differences in comprehension were obtained across the three groups, and (2) representational (semantic) gestures led to a deeper level of comprehension than both beat gestures and the no gesture control. Finally, a language proficiency effect is discussed as a moderator that may affect understanding of a concept. Our findings suggest that a teacher is encouraged to use representational gestures even to adult learners, but more work is needed to prove the benefit of using gestures for adult learners in many subject areas.     

PART‐TIME COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY: THEIR NEEDS FOR INSTRUCTION‐RELATED ASSISTANCE

An aura of controversy surrounds the proliferation of part‐time faculty members on community college campuses. The related literature provides evidence that part‐timers have fewer advanced degrees and years of teaching experience than their full‐time counterparts. Nevertheless, the increasing trend toward their employment shows no sign of slowing. As part‐timers comprise a growing proportion of community college faculties, and as they are recruited from nonacademic sources, opportunities should be provided for them to hone their pedagogical skills. The findings of a study undertaken at Arizona State University's Department of Higher and Adult Education reveal part‐timers’ needs for assistance and information in instruction‐related areas such as evaluation, handling paperwork, teaching community college students and community college philosophy. An instructional resource manual developed for part‐time faculty was perceived to be a viable method of providing assistance to part‐timers.     

General Mass Communication

THE KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRY 200: 1983 EDITION—AMERICA'S TWO HUNDRED LARGEST MEDIA AND INFORMATION COMPANIES (White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1983---price not given, paper; with hardback edition available from Gale Research Co., Detroit---$98.00)

MASS COMMUNICATION THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION by Denis McQuail (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1983---$25.00/$12.50)

CREATING MEDIA CULTURE by Robert P. Snow (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1983---$25.00/ $12.50)

THE CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS REVIEW, VOLUME I: LABOR, THE WORKING CLASS, AND THE MEDIA edited by Vincent Mosco and Janet Wasko (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1983---$37.50/$21.95)

MARCONI TO McLUHAN: A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF N.Y. TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE ARTICLES ON COMMUNICATION, 1900-1980 by Gerald V. Flannery (Department of Communication, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA 70504---$12.00, paper)

INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION by Jay Black and Frederick C. Whitney (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1983---price not given, paper)