Convergent cognition

In an attempt to address shortcomings revealed in international assessments and lamented in legislation, many schools are reducing or eliminating elective courses, applying the rationale that replacing “non-essential” subjects with core subjects, such as mathematics and language arts, will better position students in the global market. However, there is evidence that systematically pairing a core subject with another, complementary subject, may lead to greater overall learning in both subjects. In this paper, we analyze two subject area pairs—first and second language, and computer programming and mathematics—to demonstrate in what ways two subjects might complement each other. We then analyze the relationships between these pairs to better understand the principles and conditions that encourage what we call convergent cognition, the synergistic effect that occurs when a learner studies two complementary subjects.     

From City Technology Colleges to Sponsored Grant-maintained Schools

During the 18 years of Conservative government in Britain, only two attempts were made to stimulate the 'supply side' of the quasi-market of schools. These were the introduction of City Technology Colleges and sponsored grant-maintained schools. This paper draws comparisons between the two initiatives. It is shown that, while the CTCs were largely a 'top down' policy, and the sponsored grant-maintained schools might be seen as the result of 'grass roots' pressure group activity, there were many similarities between the two programmes. In practice, both initiatives stalled at just 15 schools, but it is argued that their significance is far greater than their numerical strength would indicate. Both can be seen as examples of increased privatisation and selection, and it is shown that what may develop from them is a greatly changed education system.     

Educational Contestability

ABSTRACT The paper considers the implications of the concept of the essential contestability of education for the professional independence of teachers. Its conclusion is that liberal educational ideas provide the strongest theoretical framework for such independence, with child-centred ideas a not very close second. Potential dangers to teachers' professional autonomy from transcendentalist, instrumentalist and reconstructionist theories of education are highlighted. The paper does not endorse unlimited contestability or unrestricted professional independence for teachers and outlines conditions, related to the Paradox of Freedom, in which restrictions are fully justifiable. However, it concludes that in contemporary liberal-democratic societies constraints on educational contestability should be as minimal as possible.     

A Policy Adventure: Sponsored grant-maintained schools

This paper examines the implementation of that part of the 1993 Education Act for England and Wales that concerned sponsored grant-maintained schools. The 1993 Education Act for England and Wales introduced changes that allowed the expansion of the supply side of the quasi-market of schools. As a result of that Act, since April 1994, it has been possible for groups of parents or independent sponsors to apply to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in England or the Secretary of State for Wales to establish their own grant-maintained schools. Additionally, existing faith-based or other private schools could apply to become re-established as grant-maintained schools. This paper gives an account of the results of this 'policy adventure', and suggests that insights can be gained about the nature of the policy process through a consideration of 'policy as text' and 'policy as discourse'.     

Holocaust Education in Ontario High Schools: An antidote to racism?

The premise underpinning this article is that if the Holocaust is taught well it can help to promote anti-racist goals. The need to realise the Holocaust's anti-racist potential is self-evident, but is arguably greatest where conventional anti-racism (aimed at enhancing the life chances of visible minorities) is under threat. Such a situation currently obtains in Ontario, where the right wing Progressive Conservative party was elected to office in June 1995. The uncertain future of anti-racism in the province provides the background to this article. It examines the teaching of the Holocaust in Ontario high schools and reports the findings of a survey carried out among history staff in May 1998. Various ways are suggested in which the teachers involved (and others elsewhere) might alter their approach to the Holocaust in order to strengthen its contribution to anti-racist education.     

A conducive environment? The role of need support in the higher education workplace and its effect on academics' experiences of research assessment in the UK

Little is known about how researchers in higher education institutions (HEIs) experience and respond to support received from their departments. The present study investigated how support for researchers' autonomy (choice and self‐expression), relatedness (through connections with colleagues) and competence (feeling effective in one's work) influenced their attitudes towards an external assessment of research. To do so, we surveyed 598 academics from four HEIs in the UK about their attitudes towards one such external assessment: the Research Excellence Framework (REF), a nationwide assessment of research quality and the subject of debate about research evaluation. Our findings, drawing on self‐determination theory, show that departments can shape responses to the REF: individuals whose psychological needs were supported by their academic departments held more positive, and less negative, attitudes towards the REF. This occurred both directly and indirectly through researchers' recognition that the REF had a more positive influence on their research activities and outputs.