Identifying high-quality centre-based childcare using quantitative data-sets: what the numbers do and don't tell us

Quantitative approaches to defining and measuring quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) have provided a key platform for policy development. Yet their strengths and limitations as informants of high-quality ECEC have not been tested. In this study we examine two sources of quantitative data collected over a five-year period for 74 long day care centres: (1) the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised and Infant-Toddler Environment Rating Scale instruments which are well-established observational measures; and (2) Australia's nationally administered Quality Improvement and Accreditation System which involves a self-study and validation process. Correspondence over time and across measures was more consistent for the centres identified as providing lower quality ECEC. Variability in ratings of quality was more evident in lower quality centres, whereas high-quality centres showed less variability over time. High quality, however, was less consistently identified across measures. Discussion focuses on the strengths and limitations of these measures of quality, and the implications these have for policy development and future research.     

The Part-Time Student’s Experience 1996-2007: An issue of identity and marginalisation?

Tertiary Education and Management - Part-time study is one of the foci of the widening participation agenda in the UK. The experiences of part-time students, however, have received remarkably...     

Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education

Raising the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds progressing to higher education has been a key policy objective for successive governments in the UK since the late 1990s. Often this has been conceptualised as a problem with their ‘aspirations’, with the solution being seen as the provision of ‘aspiration‐raising’ activities to promote higher education to those thought to have the potential to progress. Recent large‐scale studies cast strong doubt on this hypothesis by demonstrating that aspirations are not generally low, that different social groups have similar levels of aspiration and that school attainment accounts for nearly all the differences in participation rates between social groups. This article draws on data from a national project exploring efforts to widen participation across two generations of practitioner‐managers in England, focusing on their conceptualisations of the field and their constructions of ‘successful’ activities. It uses the lens of ‘possible selves’ (Markus & Nurius, 1986 ) to argue that too much policy emphasis has been placed on the aspirations of young people, rather than either their academic attainment or their expectations, which are shaped by the normative expectations of the adults surrounding them. In addition, the more expansive concepts of widening participation that were present a decade ago have become less common, with a shift towards activities with a clear role in institutional recruitment rather than social transformation. The article concludes with alternative suggestions for policy and practice.     

Boundary Crossing during Pre-service Teacher Training: empowering or hampering professional growth?

Yuli Rahmawati’s paper presents an auto-ethnographic inquiry into her lived experiences as a science teacher in different countries. Through her reflections and analysis of events, Yuli captures and builds a model of her identity and explores the influence of inter- and intra-cultural perspectives in shaping how she recognizes herself and brings meaning to her professional life. Yuli’s insights and explanations of teaching within different cultural contexts highlight the importance of personally relevant and meaningful knowledge, where expectations and accepted norms, that might fit well within one community, may be seen quite differently in another. While for Yuli, this led to professional growth as she inquired and made sense of her new context, my concern is that the social and cultural change could, in some instances, lead to disengagement rather than professional growth. My concern is that the conflict that arises from boundary crossing may be experienced even stronger by inexperienced professionals, such as pre-service teachers. The learning trajectory of pre-service teachers is steep; they need to gain stronger knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy and an awareness of how their students learn. They also need to build confidence in their professional self and what they can do to support and trigger student learning. For this to happen, in the tight time frames available on teacher education courses, pre-service teachers need to understand and engage with the new community that they are placed in very quickly, to make sense of both their role and that of others within the community. This paper suggests that pre-service providers should carefully consider the learning opportunities offered by school contexts, that may vary dramatically from the social and cultural contexts experienced by their teachers as part of their own education, to prevent disengagement or misunderstanding hampering professional growth.     

Evaluation of the Redesign of an Undergraduate Cell Biology Course

This article offers a case study of the evaluation of a redesigned and redeveloped laboratory-based cell biology course. The course was a compulsory element of the biology program, but the laboratory had become outdated and was inadequately equipped. With the support of a faculty-based teaching improvement project, the teaching team redesigned the course and re-equipped the laboratory, using a more learner-centered, constructivist approach. The focus of the article is on the project-supported evaluation of the redesign rather than the redesign per se. The evaluation involved aspects well beyond standard course assessments, including the gathering of self-reported data from the students concerning both the laboratory component and the technical skills associated with the course. The comparison of pre- and postdata gave valuable information to the teaching team on course design issues and skill acquisition. It is argued that the evaluation process was an effective use of the scarce resources of the teaching improvement project.     

Urban Minority Ninth-Grade Students' Health-Related Fitness Knowledge

The purpose of the study was to examine Hispanic and other minority ninth-grade students' health-related fitness (HRF) knowledge, using FitSmart, a standardized test for high school students. The test consisted of 50 weighted multiple choice items, measuring six subcontent components. Means and standard deviations of the overall scores and the subcontent scores were computed. The findings suggested that students demonstrated mastery of one subcontent component but failed to meet passing values for all other subcontents and overall HRF knowledge. Female students outscored their male counterparts, but there was no difference for ethnicity. More efforts are needed to ensure that Hispanic and other minority high school students master fundamental HRF knowledge.     

Faculty and Male Football and Basketball Players on University Campuses

Abstract

Four experiments examined the influence of observing a correct model (CM), a learning sequence model (LSM), and an incorrect model (IM) on the performance of two motor skills. The results of experiment 1 showed that the CM and LSM conditions facilitated performance on the first 10 trails, but not thereafter when compared to the IM group and a control group. Experiment 2 showed that performance estimation was improved by observing the CM and LSM conditions, indicating that information was conveyed by observing these models. Experiment 3 revealed pronounced modeling effects on a difficult motor skill for the CM and LSM conditions which were sustained throughout the 60 practice trials. Experiment 4 showed no differences in performance between a live model demonstrating correctly and a filmed model demonstrating correctly. The findings from the 4 experiments were discussed in terms of the information conveyed through observation and its function in the development of the cognitive components of a motor skill.     

Perceptions of African American Faculty in Kinesiology-Based Programs at Predominantly White American Institutions of Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of African American faculty on their organizational socialization in kinesiology-based (i.e., sport pedagogy, exercise physiology, motor behavior, sport management/history) programs at predominantly White American¹ institutions of higher education (PW-IHE). Participants were 9 African American tenure-track faculty members from various kinesiology-based programs at PW-IHE. Data were gathered via interviewing and analyzed within the framework of critical race theory (Ladson-Billings, 2000). Findings are presented using storytelling and thematic narratives. Interviews with the participants revealed four major recurring themes with regard to: (a) resources, opportunities, and power structures; (b) programmatic neglects and faculty mentoring needs; (c) social isolation, disengagement, and intellectual inferiority issues; and (d) double standards, marginalization, and scholarship biases. This study suggests that faculty and administrators at PW-IHE should develop sensitivity toward organizational socialization issues relevant to faculty of color.     

Throwing and catching movements exhibit post-activation potentiation effects following fatigue

Many sport and exercise activities require powerful movements of the upper body. Despite their importance, there is a paucity of research examining stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) activities occurring in the upper limbs. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of fatigue on throwing performance (height of throw) and biomechanical factors of the upper limbs (reactive strength index; hand contact time) using a specially constructed sledge apparatus for the upper body. Ten male subjects aged between 19 and 21 years performed a series of rebound throws (RBT) in a non-fatigued state to obtain a maximal baseline throw score. Subjects then performed a RBT fatiguing protocol on the upper body sledge followed by further RBT, at 15, 45, 120 and 300-seconds post fatigue. Markers on the subjects' limb and the sledge were analysed using Motion Analysis Corporation 3-D kinematic analysis system (200 Hz). Throwing height, contact time and reactive strength index were determined. Mean throwing height and reactive strength index showed significant decreases following fatigue and increases during recovery (p < 0.05). The results confirm the presence of post-activation potentiation (PAP) in RBT performance. This finding could be useful when optimising recovery periods in training or implementing complex training methods.