Wer liegt am Ende der Grundschulzeit vorn?

The number of students enrolled in private schools has been growing continuously in the past years, especially in elementary schools. There is a variety of reasons for this development. Among other expectations, parents anticipate a superior education for their children and hope for bigger academic success. However, empirical results on the effectiveness of private schools are inconsistent and ambiguous, partly because many studies used cross-sectional data. Longitudinal studies investigating the development of elementary school students are especially lacking.The present study compares academic achievement gains of students enrolled in public schools to students who learned in the so-called BIP-creativity elementary schools. BIP schools are private schools that aim to promote the development of the talent, intelligence and personality of their students. This study investigates the development of students in mathematics, reading and orthography over a 4-years period.As the group of BIP-students is selected in terms of their socio-economic background, analyses were run in two ways. First, multilevel analyses controlling for student and class characteristics were performed. Second, a Propensity Score Matching based on school enrollment data was used in order to select a comparable group of students from public schools. Each BIP-student was matched to a student from the public schools that had a comparable socio-economic background and similar cognitive characteristics. Neither multilevel analyses nor mean comparisons of the matched samples could reveal any differences between the two groups of students in the three domains of academic achievement at the end of fourth grade.     

Mathematische Literalität unter einer sprachlich-kulturellen Perspektive

Im Beitrag werden zun?chst die verschiedenen in der mathematikdidaktischen Diskussion zu mathematical literacy vertretenen Positionen referiert sowie die Umsetzung von mathematical literacy als erkenntnisleitende Bildungskonzeption in der internationalen PISA-Studie sowie die Orientierung der deutschen Erg?nzungsstudie an dem Konzept einer mathematischen Grundbildung reflektiert. In einem zweiten Teil wird der Frage nachgegangen, welche Anforderungen an eine Konzeption mathematischer Literalit?t zu stellen sind, die den Bedingungen einer mehrsprachigen Schülerschaft gerecht wird. An einem Beispiel aus der eigenen empirischen Forschung wird dabei die Notwendigkeit der Berücksichtigung sprachlicher Prozesse beim Mathematiklernen aufgezeigt. Anschlie?end werden auf dieser Basis überlegungen zu einer eigenen Auffassung mathematischer Literalit?t als Bildungsziel mathematischer Erziehung formuliert.     

Continuing professional development designed as second-order action research: work-in-progress

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to describe how Lesson Study as second-order action research can be applied and how we planned to evaluate and improve course design, learners’ progress, team members’ roles and learning objectives of a 2-year university course for English as a Second Language teachers. The article describes the concept of a Lesson Study conducted in a course for teachers with a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience, rather than for students or undergraduates as in traditional concepts of the Lesson Study approach. PFL (‘Pedagogy and Subject Didactics Programme’) is a 2-year programme consisting of three seminars and five groups meetings in which the participants focus on the reflection of their professional practice in their specific school situation. All participants are required to plan, carry out and document their own action research project. The team provides input on action research and current topics in language teaching and learning, and advises participants. The methodology follows a mixed-method approach based on action research methodologies including questionnaires, interviews and observations. Analyses are conducted qualitatively and quantitatively. The article presents the concept of the project but not yet findings at this stage due to curriculum development and approval issues.     

Inclusion,exclusion and children's rights

Abstract

This case study examines the experiences of a student who was excluded twice from a mainstream school while preparing for GCSE examinations. The authors are the student and his aunt. The exclusions were for an indefinite period and were triggered as a result of the school's inability to respond adequately to recurring epileptic seizures. The student, who has Asperger syndrome and a statement of special educational needs, had not broken any disciplinary code. Teachers' understanding of the label ‘special educational needs’ is questioned. The SEN and Disability Act 2001 has far-reaching implications for school ethos and culture. Schools' failure to anticipate the needs of students with disabilities or SEN may well lead to unlawful discrimination. Inclusive schools will need to recognize that in meeting students' individual needs the institution itself may need to change. Barriers to genuine parent partnership in education must be overcome, and children's participation rights, as confirmed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, must be respected.     

The Bologna Process in Italy

Italy was among the promoters of the Bologna Process and the early adopters of the reform. If one looks at its impact on the formal structure of curricula and study programmes, the reform undertaken under the Bologna banner seems to have been one of the major educational reforms ever achieved in Italy. This article describes how the Bologna Process has unfolded in Italy, looking at the reasons why a reform that for long eluded Italian policymakers and higher education managers finally succeeded. The theme is approached from the point of view of the contemporary theories of institutional change, looking at the actors and interactions that made this reform possible despite strong opposition. In fact, it was a series of contingent events that weakened the balance of powers governing Italian HE, thus making institutional change possible.     

Language learning and antiracism: some pedagogical challenges

It is often argued that the study of a foreign language can influence the attitudes and behaviour of learners. One of the goals of language teaching is to challenge stereotypes and encourage learners to engage with the cultural forms that can be accessed through a new language. Through learning a language it is hoped that learners will draw on their experiences to reflect critically on their own cultures and identities. We set out to examine these claims with respect to an advanced Open University French course for adult speakers of English. This article reports on a documentary analysis of the course materials for a particular unit and of a very small opportunity sample of student work and tutor comments. The unit sets out to provide a positive view of France as a multicultural society. The analysis focuses on the extent to which the materials and the tasks help learners engage with issues of racism, xenophobia, antiracism and human rights. We found that issues of race and racism are not presented in their complexity and that the materials and learning tasks unwittingly tend to reinforce stereotyped views. We suggest that attention should be given to helping students develop skills of intercultural evaluation. This requires an understanding of human rights on the one hand and of the various forms and manifestations of racism and xenophobia on the other. We conclude by proposing some guidelines for course writers and teachers that invite them to include a range of perspectives, including those of minorities. This attention to materials and pedagogy should enable students to engage critically with issues of race, identity and culture as they learn a foreign language.     

Educating ‘the new Norwegian we’: an examination of national and cosmopolitan education policy discourses in the context of extremism and Islamophobia

Across Europe there are growing concerns about Islamophobia and far-right and anti-democratic movements. Until Anders Behring Breivik’s July 2011 attacks in which 77 died, Norway’s vulnerability was not perceived as great as that of other jurisdictions. Breivik declared his abhorrence of multiculturalism but also drew the world’s attention to intolerance and xenophobia in Europe, increasingly directed towards Muslims. In response, Prime Minister Stoltenberg spoke widely of ‘the new Norwegian we’, cautioning against exclusionary discourses and underlining that minorities are an equal part of Norwegian society. This paper examines education policy in the context both of extreme right political activity and national and international debates about nationalism and cosmopolitanism, considering ways in which policy supports an inclusive notion of nationhood, and ways in which it promotes an exclusive model of national identity. Drawing on framing questions from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s 1995 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (1995). National case studies final guidelines. Amsterdam: IEA. [Google Scholar] civic education study, relating to national identity and social cohesion, it examines how programmes address social cohesion, human rights, cultural diversity, and conceptualise minorities. It assesses the effectiveness of cross-curricular approaches to contribute to justice and equality and challenge racism in a multicultural society, proposing an inclusive model of education for cosmopolitan citizenship, which incorporates diversity.     

Validation of the Attitude-Older Adult and Aging-Visual Analogue Scales (At-O-A)

ABSTRACT

Occupational therapy programs have been developed in order to promote health in older adults. However, no published studies have yet been identified for the Spanish population. This study explores the benefits of an occupational therapy health promotion program called EnvejeHaciendo (AgeDoing). The study was conducted with 15 elderly Spanish adults, examining health perception and meaningful occupational participation using the Model of Human Occupation, as well as the pedagogical methodology See, Judge, Act. The results showed an increase in the perception of health with reference to social functioning and the number of roles in which the participants wanted to get involved in the future. The participants changed their own negative perception of elderly people, they adapted to the changes provoked by aging, and they got involved in meaningful activities such as physical exercise or social activities. This program allowed participants to engage in meaningful occupations with other people and to increase perceived health status through raising awareness of difficulties.     

Results of an empirical study into gender differences in attitudes towards mathematics

Differences in attitude towards mathematics between boys and girls were evaluated in an empirical study carried out in (west)German secondary schools during 1989 on a group of 748 students aged 14–19. The main focus of the study was to ascertain whether the results from previous studies of the last decade, which reported significant differences between boys' and girls' attitudes to mathematics, were still valid.This study shows there are still significant gender differences in many areas, such as: interest in mathematics, importance of high attainment in mathematics, willingness to consider entering a career involving mathematics and mathematical activities and themes from the real world which interest the pupils. Despite these still prevailing gender differences, the study nevertheless shows that girls' and boys' views on gender roles and corresponding areas of activities have changed considerably in recent years (note 1).