Exploring supplementary education: margins,theories and methods

Existing knowledge of supplementary education, that is education organised and run by political, faith or ethnic groups outside of formal schooling, is patchy. This article is an exploration of the histories of supplementary education in the twentieth century. It is organised into three sections. The article begins by reviewing some existing literature and argues that supplementary education has been a topic of marginal concern for social historians, sociologists and historians of education. This marginal status has often been reflected in the way in which a dominant account of the history of supplementary education has entered the research literature despite a rather selective evidential base. The second section of the article deploys an expansive definition of education, and presents some new historical evidence concerning African Caribbean and Irish supplementary education. A final arguments section reflects on the significance of supplementary education and suggests some topics for a future research agenda.     

Same Science for All? Interactive association of structure in learning activities and academic attainment background on college science performance in the USA

This US study investigates interactive associations between structure in inquiry‐type learning activities and academic attainment in high school science with introductory college science performance as the outcome. Past studies of this type have tended to use smaller samples and shorter‐range methods of assessing the influence of interactions. This study used a large‐scale nationally representative sampling of science students and investigated the existence of long‐range associations between high school and college. Replicated across three different disciplinary data‐sets (biology, chemistry, and physics) totaling over 8,000 surveys, the analysis discovered an interaction between structure and attainment associated with differences in long‐range student performance. The implications for these findings in terms of theory and practise are discussed in the conclusions.     

Empowerment in Science Curriculum Development: A microdevelopmental approach

This study characterizes how learning and teaching differs as the responsibility for choosing curriculum goals and the strategies to reach those goals shifts between teacher and the students. Three different pedagogical approaches were used with 125 seventh‐grade and eighth‐grade students. All three curricula focus on electromagnetism, and were taught by two teachers in different schools over a two‐week period. When students had control over the strategies employed to reach goals, their engagement stayed high. All three curricula advanced student understanding to some degree; however, large and significant gains were seen only for the pedagogy in which teachers set the specific learning goals and students had control over how to achieve them. Microdevelopment, a principle by which short‐term learning recapitulates the stages seen in long‐term developmental growth, is found to be a useful framework for curriculum development and for analyzing changes in student understanding. In general, initial “tinkering” activities are best followed by attempts at representing phenomena, only then to be followed by abstract conceptualization. On balance, we find that students benefit most from freedom to control the procedures that they generate in response to well‐structured goals presented by the teacher.     

Multi‐level Assessment of Scientific Content Knowledge Gains Associated with Socioscientific Issues‐based Instruction

This study explored the impact of using a socioscientific issue (SSI) based curriculum on developing science content knowledge. Using a multi‐level assessment design, student content knowledge gains were measured before and after implementation of a three‐week unit on global warming (a prominent SSI) that explored both the relevant science content and the controversy surrounding global warming. Measures of student content knowledge were made using a standards‐aligned content knowledge exam (distal assessment) and a curriculum‐aligned exam (proximal assessment). Data were collected from 108 students enrolled from two schools. Quantitative analysis of the distal assessment indicated that student post‐test scores were statistically significantly different than their pre‐test scores (F = 15.31, p<0.001). Qualitative analyses of student responses from the proximal assessment indicated that students, on average, expressed more accurate, more detailed, and more sophisticated understandings of global warming, the greenhouse effect, and the controversy and challenges associated with these issues following the three‐week unit. Combined results from the proximal and distal assessments explored in this study offer important evidence in supporting the efficacy of using SSI as contexts for science education. In addition to a discussion of the components of an SSI‐based curriculum, this study provides support for the use of SSI as a context for learning science content.     

Bourdieu,Department Chairs and the Reform of Science Education

Using the insights of the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, this article considers the role of the science department chair in the reform of school science education. Using Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ of ‘field’, ‘habitus’ and ‘capital’, we case study the work of two teachers who both actively pursue the teaching and learning of science as inquiry. One teacher, Dan, has been a department chair since 2000, and has actively encouraged his department to embrace science as inquiry. The other teacher, Leslie, worked for one year in Dan’s department before being transferred to another school where science teaching continues to be more traditional. Our work suggests that there are three crucial considerations for chairs seeking to lead the reform of science teaching within their department. The first of these is the development of a reform-minded habitus, as this appears to be foundational to the capital that can be expended in the leadership of reform. The second is an understanding of how to wield power and position in the promotion of reform. The third is the capacity to operate simultaneously and strategically within, and across, two fields; the departmental field and the larger science education field. This involves downplaying administrative logics, and foregrounding more inquiry-focused logics as a vehicle to challenge traditional science-teaching dispositions—the latter being typically dominated by concerns about curriculum ‘coverage’.     

Deschooling and the Web: Ivan Illich 30 Years On

In 1971 the anarchist philosopher Ivan Illich published a slim volume that advocated the unthinkable: ridding the world of schools. His arguments were so persuasive that the book caused many people to question the assumptions on which we base our ideas of education. Illich advocated the replacement of institutionalised schooling by community-driven "opportunity webs" that would enable learners to be in control of their own learning and teachers to offer their services in an entrepreneurial fashion. As persuasive as his ideas were, they were not really practical given the technology of the 1970s, but perhaps Illich was ahead of his time as today the World Wide Web has created opportunities for both learners and teachers to do exactly what he described. This paper examines Illich's propositions in terms of their antecedents in the free education movements of the past century and their potential in the global anarchy of the World Wide Web. Déscolariser l’école: 30 ans après Illich, le WEb . . . En 1971, le philosophe et anarchiste Ivan Illich, publia son fameux livre "Pour une société sans école" dans lequel il se faisait l'avocat du diable: éradiquer les écoles du monde. Ses arguments étaient À ce point convaincants qu'il amena bien des gens À remettre en cause les conceptions fondamentales sur lesquelles se sont construits nos systèmes éducatifs. Illich prÔnait l'abandon des formes institutionnelles de l'éducation au profit de communautés et de réseaux d'intérêts qui rendraient les élèves autonomes dans leurs apprentissages tandis que les enseignants offriraient leurs services sur un mode entrepreneurial. Bien que convaincantes, ces idées ne connurent aucune mise en oeuvre dans le contexte technologique des années 1970. Sans doute Illich était-il en avance sur son temps ... Mais aujourd'hui le Web crée les conditions pour réaliser ses prédictions en ce qui concerne tant les élèves que les enseignants. Cette contribution analyse le rÔle des propositions d'Illich dans l'histoire des mouvements de l'éducation libre et leur actualité par rapport au mode de fonctionnement non hiérarchique du WWW. Entschulung des Bildungssystems, das Web : 30 Jahre nach Ivan Illich. Der überzeugte Anarchist Ivan Illich gab 1971 ein dünnes Buch heraus, welches das undenkbare befürwortete : Befreiung der Welt von der Schule. Seine Argumente waren so überzeugend, dass das Buch bei vielen Leuten Zweifel an den Annahmen sähte, auf denen unsere Vorstellung von Erziehung basieren. Illich verwarf das institutionalisierte Schulsystem und skizzierte eine Lerngemeinschaft mit einem Netz aus unterschiedlichen Interessen. Dieses Netz würde den Schülern Autonomie in ihrer persönlichen Bildung einräumen, während die Lehrer ihre Dienste in unternehmerischer Art und Weise anbieten. Bei aller Ueberzeugungskraft seiner Ideen, sie waren praktisch mit der Technologie der 70er Jahre jedoch nicht umsetzbar. Ohne Zweifel waren Illichs Ideen ihrer Zeit voraus, denn das World Wide Web bietet nun Schülern als auch Lehrern die Möglichkeit diese Ideen in die Realiät umzusetzen. Dieser Beitrag analisiert Illichs Vorschläge bezüglich der Vorgeschichte von Bewegungen in der freien Bildung, und deren Aktualität in der globalen Anarchie des World Wide Web.     

The impact of placing pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools on the achievement of their peers

Background Over the past 20 years or so policy and practice on the education of children with special educational needs (SEN) has been aimed at placing increasing numbers of children in a mainstream school environment. Although this policy has been supported in principle by many teachers, parents and local authority officers, there has been much less agreement about whether this principle can be realized in practice, and even if it can, about what the impacts might be on the achievements of pupils with SEN in mainstream schools and, in particular, on their peers.

Purpose This paper discusses the key findings from a systematic review of the literature carried out by the Inclusion Review Group, on behalf of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information (EPPI)-Centre, the purpose of which was to review research evidence on whether the placement of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) within mainstream schools has an impact on academic and social outcomes for pupils without SEN.

Design and methods The methodology followed the procedures adopted by the EPPI-Centre. Having agreed on the inclusion and exclusion criteria for studies that could be included in the review, an initial pool of 7137 papers were identified through electronic databases. After having screened all their titles and/or abstracts and having marked out possible papers to be included in the review, 119 paper copies were obtained—all of which were read by one or more of the authors of this paper. This led to a further reduction to 26 studies that were subjected to the EPPI data extraction process and synthesis.

Conclusions Overall, the findings suggest that there are no adverse effects on pupils without SEN of including pupils with special needs in mainstream schools, with 81% of the outcomes reporting positive or neutral effects. Despite concerns about the quality of some of the studies that were reviewed and the fact that the great majority were carried out in the USA, these findings should bring some comfort to headteachers, parents and local authority officers around the world at a time when concerns have been raised about the problems that schools face in responding to the twin agenda of becoming more inclusive and, at the same time, raising the achievements of all their pupils.     

Learning in context: Technology integration in a teacher preparation program informed by situated learning theory

This investigation explores the effectiveness of a teacher preparation program aligned with situated learning theory on preservice science teachers' use of technology during their student teaching experiences. Participants included 26 preservice science teachers enrolled in a 2‐year Master of Teaching program. A specific program goal was to prepare teachers to use technology to support reform‐based science instruction. To this end, the program integrated technology instruction across five courses and situated this instruction within the context of learning and teaching science. A variety of data sources were used to characterize the participants' intentions and instructional practices, including classroom observations, lesson plans, interviews, and written reflections. Data analysis followed a constant comparative process with the goal of describing if, how, and why the participants integrated technology into their instruction and the extent to which they applied, adapted, and innovated upon what they learned in the science teacher preparation program. Results indicate that all participants used technology throughout their student teaching for reform‐based science instruction. Additionally, they used digital images, videos, animations, and simulations to teach process skills, support inquiry instruction, and to enhance student engagement in ways that represented application, adaptation, and innovation upon what they learned in the science teaching methods program. Participants cited several features of the science teacher preparation program that helped them to effectively integrate technology into their instruction. These included participating in science lessons in which technology was modeled in the context of specific instructional approaches, collaborating with peers, and opportunities for feedback and reflection after teaching lessons. The findings of this study suggest that situated learning theory may provide an effective structure for preparing preservice teachers to integrate technology in ways that support reform‐based instruction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50:348–379, 2013     

Towards an integration of the theory of planned behaviour and cognitive behavioural strategies: an example from a school-based injury prevention programme

Adolescent risk-taking behaviour has potentially serious injury consequences and school-based behaviour change programmes provide potential for reducing such harm. A well-designed programme is likely to be theory-based and ecologically valid; however, it is rare that the operationalisation process of theories is described. The aim of this paper is to outline how the theory of planned behaviour and cognitive behavioural therapy informed intervention design in a school setting. Teacher interviews provided insights into strategies that might be implemented within the curriculum and provided detail used to operationalise theory constructs. Benefits and challenges in applying both theories are described with examples from an injury prevention programme, Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth.