Self-assessment of diversity competence as part of regular teaching evaluations in higher education: raising awareness for diversity issues

Tertiary Education and Management - Higher education institutions face the challenge to promote diversity competence. We suggest a procedure which can help raise awareness for diversity issues...     

What Knowledge is Worth Knowing?

Science & Education - The paper reports a study that used a Bernsteinian analysis in order to investigate the association between higher primary science curriculum and social equity in four...     

Assessing Multiliteracies and the New Basics

This paper addresses the skills and characteristics required of successful learners, workers and citizens in the knowledge economy. The authors trace the shifting commercial, technological and cultural conditions characteristic of this economy, and highlight the key qualities now required for individual success. Effective learners will increasingly need to be autonomous and self-directed, flexible, collaborative, of open sensibility, broadly knowledgeable, and able to work productively with linguistic and cultural diversity. While still prevalent, it is held that standardised testing and a 'back to basics' approach to curriculum are unable to promote and measure effectively these skills and sensibilities. Instead, a broader and more creative approach to curriculum and assessment is recommended. A 'new basics' is argued for at the level of curriculum, with correlative assessment techniques such as analysis of portfolios, performance, projects and group work.     

Children’s use of drawing as a pre-writing strategy

In this study the writing products of 60 third-grade students, who drew before writing a story on a self-selected topic, was compared with the writing products of 59 third-grade students who wrote without drawing. The students in the group which drew before writing tended to produce more words, more sentences and more idea units, and their overall writing performance was higher than the students who wrote without drawing. These findings were consistent for boys as well as girls. Implications for writing research and instruction are discussed.     

III. FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE STUDENT

This article constitutes Chapter I in the author's significant new book, “Church Education For Tomorrow,” published by Westminster Press on September 19, 1960, and is used here by permission of the author and publisher. The book is reviewed by Frank M. McKibben on pages 387‐388 of this issue.     

An evaluation of local teacher support strategies for the implementation of inquiry-based science education in French primary schools

This article presents the results of an evaluation of local teacher support strategies for implementing inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in French primary schools. The research objective was to determine which aspects of the French model of IBSE are implemented in class, and the efficiency of each teacher support strategy. Data were recovered through class observations. Findings confirm the need for long and continuous forms of teacher support, and expose the advantages and disadvantages of support delivered by pedagogues and support delivered by university science students. Writing in science class, which isa fundamental aspect of the French IBSE programme, is far from being implemented according to advocated practices.