Are British Universities in a Position to Consider Implementing Total Quality Management?

Accompanying the removal of the binary divide between polytechnics and universities, the Department of Education and Science (DES) also specified the requirement that the British higher education sector should give more emphasis to the effective management of quality. Some writers have suggested that this can be achieved by institutions introducing the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM). A vital aspect of TQM is the integration of multiple functions across the organization with the objective of establishing a quality conscious workforce. A recommended practice is to use the concept of internal marketing as a mechanism to persuade departments to work together in the creation of internal customer chains. To determine the current status of internal customer management practices in British Universities, a survey of academics was undertaken using a modified version of the Parasuraman SERVQUAL model. The majority of respondents indicated the existence of Type 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Gaps in the internal customer management process within their institution. Major influencers of these service gaps include minimal effort to gain further understanding of internal customer requirements and a lack of formal quality standards for managing internal customer relations. Respondents consider their faculties are unable to enhance internal quality if the issue was given higher priority by senior management. Identified obstacles to greater emphasis on an internal customer philosophy include insufficient trust between departments and low confidence levels of ability to manage the process. Under these circumstances, it does not appear that for the foreseeable future, British universities are in a position to adopt TQM philosophy. Hence it seems more advisable that these institutions should restrict their quality management activities to the simpler assessment-based approach recommended by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) Academic Audit Unit.     

Apprenticeship in England – the continued role of the academic–vocational divide in shaping learner identities

Successive governments have pledged to enhance the quality of apprenticeship in Britain so as to achieve ‘parity of esteem’ with academic study. Yet, at the same time, the discourse of the academic-vocational divide has dominated the academic, policy-maker and practitioner debates. This paper draws on two recent studies designed to explore the learner identities of apprentices on different apprenticeship programmes: motor vehicle maintenance (level 2) and engineering (level 3). Through this work, we are able to explore the role of the academic–vocational divide in identity construction and to challenge assumptions about vocational learners. It will be argued, that, far from being ‘naturally practical’, the young people draw on normative discursive categories in their construction of continuous identities. The findings raise important questions about the UK apprenticeship system as currently conceived, while at the same time drawing attention to the possibility for change.     

Pre-reading format and learner proficiency level in L2 reading comprehension

The article describes two related experiments into the effect of pre-reading on the text comprehension of a population of L2 learners at three proficiency levels. Four sets of pre-reading materials were used, two in each experiment. All were geared to content-schemata activation, but differed in terms of the type of stimulus provided. The materials used in experiment I (a text summary and a set of pre-questions) involved the provision of a relatively elaborated set of interpretive cues; those used in experiment II (topic prediction and a vocabulary-based task) were more open and allowed for a greater degree of learner-based schemata activation. Two main lines of investigation were pursued: the first relates to the relative effectiveness of the different pre-reading formats, and the second to the possibility of an interaction between pre-reading format and L2 proficiency level. Results indicated the more constraining, schemata-provision formats used in experiment I to be more effective as aids to text comprehension. No level-treatment interaction was observed, though comprehension facilitation was observed only among the lower proficiency groups — the higher proficiency group deriving no benefit from any of the pre-reading formats used.     

Mind the gap: accountability,observation and special education

There is an absence of observation-based tools designed to evaluate teaching in special education classrooms. Evaluations derived from classroom observations are integral to the accountability process, adding value to understanding teaching and learning by providing a lens into the classroom that test scores cannot capture. The present paper systematically examined existing classroom observation tools, identifying constructs measured and noting elements unique to special education classrooms. Results demonstrate that most extant tools tap into three primary categories of teacher behaviours, but overlook the role paraprofessionals play as well as teacher professional behaviours. Taken together, results reflect the need for a tool designed specifically for special education classrooms. Limitations and implications for practice and policy are discussed.     

Teachers’ work in complex times: the ‘fast policy’ of Swedish school reform

This paper analyses recent educational reforms on teachers’ work in Sweden following the 2010 Education Act, and up to the School Commission Report released in April 2017. We draw upon key policy texts and associated documents from the Ministry of Education, and the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket). We consider the background to the reforms, their relations with one another and how they have played out in the Swedish educational policy context. We argue that these reforms exhibit features of ‘fast policy’ in terms of how they have taken on an increasingly centralised and neoliberal character, and the rapid-fire way they have been directed at teachers as individuals, rather than broader schooling structures. We show how the fast policy reforms have recentralised schooling and teachers’ work—effectively de-professionalising educators.     

The Maintenance of Order and Use of Space in Primary School Buildings

An empirically grounded discussion of relationships which can exist between the maintenance of order in teaching situations and the use of space in primary school buildings is offered in this paper. Attention is specifically focused on verbal directives issued by teachers to their charges about what they deem acceptable behaviour in teaching areas during lesson periods. Examples of these directives are presented in order to illustrate both how teachers may manipulate children's use of space to impose on them particular definitions of educational order and also how they may use space as a means of disciplining those who transgress against that order.     

Exploring Changes in Student Engagement through the RULER Approach: An Examination of Students at Risk of Academic Failure

The present paper examines if developmental pathways for students at risk for academic failure can be improved through social and emotional learning (SEL). Specifically, we test this hypothesis by accounting for shifts in student engagement, a highly studied and malleable construct often inclusive of SEL interventions, as the pathway by which to impact student achievement outcomes. Using longitudinal data from a randomized control trial, we identified students at risk for school failure (n?=?318) within a larger sample of fifth graders (N?=?1,352). Multigroup path model revealed that participation in RULER significantly impacted the relationship between student engagement and conduct behaviors for at risk students: students who experienced RULER demonstrated increased engagement a year later (at sixth grade) and improved conduct the following year (in seventh grade). The potential for and limitations of SEL programs on developmental trajectories for students at risk for school failure are discussed.     

Metalinguistic Awareness,Reading and Spelling: Roots and Branches of Literacy

Studies on the role of metalinguistic awareness in emerging literacy have established that metalinguistic abilities at phonological, syntactic, print and pragmatic levels are linked to later attainments in literacy. Few have examined the interplay among these skills and developing reading and spelling. Using time-reversed path analyses, this study explores the possibility that metalinguistic awareness registers stronger direct effects on literacy than early pre-conventional reading and invented spelling skills. Sixty children aged 54 months (initially) were given measures of metalinguistic abilities, pre-conventional reading and invented spelling on three occasions. This allowed the exploration of reciprocal relationships between pre-conventional reading, invented spelling and metalinguistic abilities. On the fourth occasion, standardised tests of reading and spelling were administered. Results from time-reversed path analysis show that pre-conventional reading and invented spelling influenced each other across development and had stronger direct effects on subsequent literacy than did aspects of metalinguistic awareness. Pre-literate metalinguistic abilities were shown to affect pre-conventional reading and invented spelling skills and combine with these to influence further growth in literacy. The study’s results have implications for current models of literacy development.