Rousseau and the Education of Compassion

In this paper I examine Rousseau's strategy for teaching compassion in Book Four of Emile. In particular, I look at the three maxims on compassion that help to organise Rousseau's discussion, and the precise strategy that Emile's tutor uses to instil compassion while avoiding other passions, such as anger, fear and pride. The very idea of an education in compassion is an important one: Rousseau's discussion remains relevant, and he has correctly understood the significance of compassion for modern life. But in linking compassion to self-interest, he creates a tension between Emile's natural sentiments, including compassion, as a way of bringing him into the social order. The Buddhist and Christian views of compassion help to clarify some of the difficulties with Rousseau's account.     

The Dishwasher's Child: education and the end of egalitarianism

This paper argues that egalitarianism, in itself and as a basis for educational policy, is unacceptable. Three recent defences of it are examined and rejected. Three anti-egalitarian positions, however, all of which stress sufficiency rather than equality, pass muster. Educational implications are followed through, with reference to mixed ability grouping, selection, equal opportunities in education and conflicting views about the minimum content of a common school curriculum.     

What Can PISA Tell Us About Teacher Shortages?

The OECD's recent research initiative, Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers ( OECD 2002 ), has highlighted teacher supply and demand as an area of international concern. Using data collected in this area as part of a wider OECD initiative (the PISA 2000 study) an individual‐level analysis was conducted on the views on teacher recruitment and retention of 5416 headteachers, principals and administrators working in secondary schools in 25 countries. The findings showed considerable variation between countries in terms of perceptions of the impact of teacher shortages, inadequacy and turnover. Surprisingly, however, differences in the reports of headteachers working in the same countries were only rarely related to the size, location, or other characteristics of the schools in which they worked. Although there has been considerable previous research into headteachers’ views on this issue, much of this research has been, by necessity, small scale and restricted to a single nation. This article provides a much larger scale perspective and allows international comparisons to be made.     

THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENTIAL WEIGHTING OF INDIVIDUAL ITEM RESPONSES ON THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF AN APTITUDE TEST

An empirical investigation of the effect of choice weight scoring on predictive validity and reliability. Choice weight scoring refers to the procedure whereby different weights may be assigned to all the options of an item. Four groups of subjects were included in the experiment. Weights derived from each group were used to score tests for another group in order to assess the cross-validity of the weighted scoring. In no case did the increments in reliability and validity due to the weighted scoring exceed .03.