The politics of education policy in England

In this appreciative discussion paper I provide an overview of the reforms made to education in England, and engage with the politics of education through examining the simultaneous and inter-related processes of politicisation, depoliticisation and repoliticisation of educational matters. I engage in a discussion of the papers in this special issue through this framework.     

The Analysis of Multivariate Group Differences Using Common Principal Components

Although it is simple to determine whether multivariate group differences are statistically significant or not, such differences are often difficult to interpret. This article is about common principal components analysis as a tool for the exploratory investigation of multivariate group differences and its relation to traditional statistical methods and structural equation modeling. Real data are used for illustration.     

Teachers,time and work: findings from the Evaluation of the Transforming the School Workforce Pathfinder Project

Teacher's work and workload have been major factors in the recruitment, retention and revitalization of the profession. In January 2003 the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) launched a major reform known as remodelling, by which the work–life balance would be improved by freeing teachers up to teach, and using other members of the workforce (teaching and learning support assistants, administrators and bursars, technicians and welfare and counselling staff) to take on work that teachers need no longer do. This reform is in progress, and while there is anecdotal evidence of both the benefits and concerns of remodelling, there is no formal research evidence. However, prior to this initiative the DfES trialled these changes in 32 pilot schools, and a team from the University of Birmingham evaluated it. In this paper we examine this data with regard to the possibilities and opportunities afforded by remodelling and we consider how the pilot data generates important questions and illuminates contradictions in the modernization project.     

The History of Science Cases (HOSC): Nine Units of Instruction in the History of Science

Summaries

English

As a result of the strongly historical discussion of the structure of science and its social role, the history of science has become indispensable educational subject matter. The fulfilment of the widely recognized requirement for scientific orientation of learning seems no longer possible without a conception of the history of science.

Historical topics in science instruction were previously mostly limited to biographical notes. At best, occasional references can be found to the ‘discovery’ of laws considered by science as being of central importance. An explanation for this unsatisfactory situation must be the lack of appropriate instructional resources. This is especially true for the secondary‐school level. Thus, it is worthwhile to bring to mind a project which was completed in the USA several years ago, but which has so far not received much attention in Europe: the History of Science Cases by Leo E. Klopfer, which consists of nine teaching units in the history of science which are suitable for use in instruction at the ninth and tenth grades.     

Filtering Data for Detecting Differential Development

The amount of data available in the context of educational measurement has vastly increased in recent years. Such data are often incomplete, involve tests administered at different time points and during the course of many years, and can therefore be quite challenging to model. In addition, intermediate results like grades or report cards being available to pupils, teachers, parents, and policy makers might influence future performance, which adds to the modeling difficulties. We propose the use of simple data filters to obtain a reduced set of relevant data, which allows for simple checks on the relative development of persons, items, or both.