Predictors of school readiness in five‐ to six‐year‐old children from an Australian longitudinal community sample

This paper reports on school readiness (SR) and its predictors in five‐ to six‐year‐old children from a prospective, longitudinal study of children from eight months to seven years (the Early Language in Victoria Study – ELVS). The ELVS children came from a representative sample of children recruited though the State Government Infant and Child Health Centres at the age of eight months who were studied at yearly intervals with a combination of parent surveys and face‐to‐face assessments. The study had a focus on language, pre‐literacy and behavioural development. In pre‐school and preparatory grade, teachers of the children completed a brief questionnaire rating SR characteristics, including cognitive, language and personal/social competencies. The data bank on these children provided a set of hypothesised child and family predictors of the SR score which were tested via factor analysis and regression analyses. Significant predictors of SR in the equation were evident from two years of age, and were all related to language and pre‐literacy factors from two to six years. Twelve per cent of the children showed language impairment (LI) at five years according to their scores on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 4th edition (CELF‐4). In an additional analysis we found that these children were significantly lower on SR; they were also of lower social class compared with the remainder of the sample. The most influential factors in readiness for school were child language competencies and pre‐literacy capacities, including phonemic awareness and letter knowledge. Preparation for school involving systematic emphasis on language and pre‐literacy enrichment is recommended for all children before school entry and particularly for children at risk, including those coming from socio‐economic disadvantage and those with delayed and impaired early language development. This addition to pre‐school programmes can have lasting positive effects into pre‐school and beyond, and prevent early school failure.     

Connecting with the World of Work: horizontal accountability processes in institutions providing Vocational Education and Training (VET)

In VET systems, connectivity with the world of work has been on the agenda for many years: for Western and Southern European countries, since the 1980s as a consequence of the 1973 oil crisis, and then for Central and Eastern European countries, since the early 1990s. In the last few decades, awareness has grown that European prosperity depended heavily on the skills of the workforce and the innovativeness and competitiveness of the economy. In the EU, it has long been acknowledged that VET plays a key role in integrating young people in the labour market and providing skills and competences that foster innovation and entrepreneurship. More recently, VET has also been seen as a precondition to overcome the current economic crisis in Europe. This article analyses how institutions that provide VET can address these demands. It begins by describing European VET policy, characterising it as soft governance. Furthermore, based on data and insights from CEDEFOP and OECD research and publications, an overview is given of strategies and measure es and of the practice of VET providers connecting and cooperating with the world of work throughout Europe. The article goes on to analyse in greater depth the concept of horizontal accountability and stakeholder theory, providing a framework to study the external orientation and connectivity with the world of work of VET colleges in The Netherlands. The Dutch VET system is described and compared with other systems in Europe. Drawing on empirical data, the horizontal accountability processes in which Dutch VET colleges engage are unravelled, examining with which parties and about what they connect. Finally, some conclusions are proposed.     

Designing and Developing Assessments of Complex Thinking in Mathematics for the Middle Grades

Designing an assessment system for complex thinking in mathematics involves decisions at every stage, from how to represent the target competencies to how to interpret evidence from student performances. Beyond learning to solve particular problems in a particular area, learning mathematics with understanding involves comprehending connections among mathematical ideas and applying them in ways that may not have been taught directly. A challenge in characterizing mathematical competency is to capture not only the variety of skills and concepts, but also their connections. Designing assessments based on learning progressions may be one way to respond to this challenge. We discuss our experience developing a learning progression and an associated task model for mathetical functions.     

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Book reviews

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Institut national d'Etude du travail et d'Orientation professionnelle

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UNESCO