Government research evaluations and academic freedom: a UK and Australian comparison

Performance management systems have been an inevitable consequence of the development of government research evaluations (GREs) of university research, and have also inevitably affected the working life of academics. The aim of this paper is to track the development of GREs over the past 25 years, by critically evaluating their adoption in the UK and Australian higher education sector and their contribution to the commodification of academic labour, and to highlight the resultant tensions between GREs and academic freedom. The paper employs a literature-based analysis, relying on publicly available policy documents and academic studies over the period 1985–2010. GREs are a global phenomenon emanating from new public management reforms and while assessments of university research have been welcomed, they have attracted critique based on their design, the manner in which they have been applied, and the unintended consequences of their implementation on academic freedom in particular. Consistent with international research on the impact of GREs, Australian research assessments appear to be undoing the academic freedom that is central to successful research. Further empirical research on the impact of GREs on academics is urgently needed.     

‘White British girls on free school meals’: power,resistance and resilience at secondary school transition

This article explores the perspectives of 10 White British girls eligible for Free School Meals as they transfer from English primary to secondary schools. Having identified the discourses relevant to the girls at transition – good girl, girl power, hyper-femininity, authenticity, ‘challenges at home’, ‘friends as family’ and standards – the article uses Foucault to theorise these examples, reflecting on the complexity of associated power, resistance and resilience. The article continues by drawing on the multiplicity of resistance to these discourses to identify the girls’ developing intrinsic strengths, and argues that these should be used both a starting point and a structure for supporting them through discourse negotiation at secondary transition and beyond.     

Understanding students’ experiences of professionalism learning: a ‘threshold’ approach

Professionalism is a core element of curricula in many disciplines but can be difficult to teach and learn. This study used audio-diary methodology to identify professionalism threshold concepts in a small group learning setting in undergraduate medicine and to understand factors that might facilitate students to ‘get’ such concepts. Fifteen students and seven tutors kept audio-diaries over two terms. Data were analysed qualitatively for content. The key themes were then cross referenced to threshold concept criteria (e.g. where language indicated that learning was troublesome, integrative or transformative). Seven potential threshold concepts were identified which centred on students’ developing professional identities including working with uncertainty, considering the bigger picture, not needing to know everything and professional culture. Reflection on workplace experiences within a small group helped students ‘get’ these concepts. The study concludes that threshold concepts and audio-diaries are useful tools for understanding lived experiences of professionalism learning.     

You can’t ignore us: what role does family play in student engagement and alienation in a Ghanaian university?

Much of the existing literature on student engagement focuses on what happens within the higher education environment or what the institution has direct control over, restricting understanding of how issues outside of the institution affect engagement. This paper argues that efforts to improve student engagement should be broadened to incorporate issues relating to the family. It employed a case study design in order to develop a broad and more in-depth understanding of how family influences the amount of time and effort students invest in their learning in a large public university in Ghana. It was established that engagement is influenced by family expectation, financial and social support, as well as monitoring of students’ academic performance. The unique contribution of the study is that it broadens current understandings of engagement because it adds an aspect that has not been highlighted in current work on engagement, making a case for institutions to work more with families to get a broader understanding of challenges students face in order to provide comprehensive support.     

Prior learning in biology at high school does not predict performance in the first year at university

Students in their first year of university face a number of transition issues that can make realising their academic potential difficult. In the sciences, first-year courses cover a large amount of material across broad subject areas, which can make them troublesome for students without background knowledge, and students need to adapt to typically large class sizes and develop active, independent learning skills. We expected a student's prior learning to be important to their academic performance in a large, first-year introductory biology subject and analysed the relationships between students' results in this course with their senior high school results in related subjects over three years from 2007 to 2009. We predicted that students with prior learning in biology would have higher results than those without it, but that chemistry might also be important, given the biochemical nature of much of the course content. Students who completed biology at the senior high school-level did perform better than those who had not, but only if they also completed chemistry. Prior learning in biology was of no benefit to students in first-year biology, except when combined with chemistry, suggesting that potential differences in biology curricula between high school and the first year at university may need to be addressed.     

Embedding resilience within the tertiary curriculum: a feasibility study

Mental health problems can significantly impact on the ability of university students to both meet their individual potential and contribute positively within society. This study evaluates the feasibility of embedding a strength‐focused resilience‐building seminar within a university curriculum. Participants were 247 students enrolled in an undergraduate psychology subject. The Staying on Track seminar, consisting of six building blocks for resilience, was delivered within a normal lecture period. Students completed post‐measures on satisfaction and usefulness, as well as follow‐up reflective journals entries noting changes made as a result of seminar participation. The seminar received high scores for satisfaction and 90% of students reported at least one of the six building blocks as being useful to them. Satisfaction also translated into self‐reported positive behaviour change for many students. Implications for the role of curriculum‐based resilience‐building programs within universities are discussed.     

Videobased lesson analysis: Effective science PD for teacher and student learning

The Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) project is a videobased analysis‐of‐practice PD program aimed at improving teacher and student learning at the upper elementary level. The PD program developed and utilized two “lenses,” a Science Content Storyline Lens and a Student Thinking Lens, to help teachers analyze science teaching and learning and to improve teaching practices in this year‐long program. Participants included 48 teachers (n = 32 experimental, n = 16 control) and 1,490 students. The STeLLA program significantly improved teachers' science content knowledge and their ability to analyze science teaching. Notably, the STeLLA teachers further increased their classroom use of science teaching strategies associated with both lenses while their students increased their science content knowledge. Multi‐level HLM analyses linked higher average gains in student learning with teachers' science content knowledge, teachers' pedagogical content knowledge about student thinking, and teaching practices aimed at improving the coherence of the science content storyline. This paper highlights the importance of the science content storyline in the STeLLA program and discusses its potential significance in science teaching and professional development more broadly. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., J Res Sci Teach 48: 117–148, 2011     

Three‐year results of the Friendly Schools whole‐of‐school intervention on children's bullying behaviour

A group randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of the Friendly Schools program to reduce student bullying behaviour. This socio‐ecological intervention targeted the whole school, classroom, family, and individual students to reduce bullying behaviour. Self‐report data were collected in 29 schools over three years from a cohort of 1968 eight to nine‐year‐olds. Surveys measured frequency of being bullied, bullying others, telling if bullied and observing bullying. Results indicate that intervention students were significantly less likely to observe bullying at 12, 24 and 36 months and be bullied after 12 and 36 months, and significantly more likely to tell if bullied after 12 months than comparison students. No differences were found for self‐reported perpetration of bullying. The findings suggest whole‐of‐school programs that engage students in their different social contexts appear to reduce their experiences of being bullied and increase their likelihood of telling someone if they are bullied.     

Embedding Mathematical Dialogue in Parent–Child Shared Book Reading: A Preliminary Investigation

Research Findings: Shared book reading provides a meaningful context for rich conversations to occur between a child and an adult and offers opportunities for children to be exposed to a range of vocabulary and concepts that often extend beyond their everyday experiences. Few studies have examined parent–child shared book reading as a context for embedding mathematical discussion. The purpose of this study was to examine systematically the effect of training parents to focus on mathematical concepts and vocabulary during shared book reading. Specific research questions were as follows: (a) Did parents increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading following training? (b) Did parents generalize intervention strategies? And (c) did children increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading? Results from a yoked multiple-baseline design with 6 dyads indicated variability across the dyads with 2 general patterns. Math talk increased following training for 3 of the dyads, whereas verbal mathematical behavior did not show consistent change for the other 3 dyads. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in the context of home support for early mathematical development.