Personal Context and Continuity of Human Thought as Recurrent Themes in a Longitudinal Study

The present study of personal context and continuity in 23 students' thinking builds upon data from a longitudinal study of the students' conceptualisations of ecological processes. Each student was interviewed 11 times from age 9-15 about these processes. At the ages of 15 and 19, the students listened to what they said at the age of 11 and 15, respectively, and described how they thought their understanding had developed. The occurrence of charac teristic individual elements in the students' conceptions can be followed as themes in the interviews year by year. The students could, as 15- and 19-year-olds, often reveal concrete experiences from an early age that they referred to repeatedly in the interviews. Even if there was a substantial conceptual development, there was also a very strong element of personal continuity. Conceptions that had developed at an early age seemed to be important for future conceptual development.     

"Thinking the Practice": Academic adult educators' reflections on mediating a summer institute as a multicultural learning journey for graduate students

In this paper we research our roles as academic adult educators who worked with 40 graduate students during a 10 day summer institute, which we developed using the theme "Culture and Diversity in Education for Adults". We discuss how we framed the development and delivery of this summer institute in the context of a transgressive and transformative learning journey that heeds Paulo Freire's (1998) call to "think the practice" by reading and comprehending the word and the world critically. From this perspective, we examine our positionalities that situate us as present, sometimes strong, yet sometimes vulnerable educators who use insurgent theories and positional pedagogies to shape alternative learning experiences. We also examine how these positionalities impact our conceptions of pedagogy and multiculturalism, and we explore how they helped to shape the inclusive teaching-learning interactions that we designed to query being, acting, becoming, belonging, and surviving in education and the larger Canadian and global cultures. In this regard we investigate how our learning journey emerged as one deeply textured by engagements with issues of educator and learner positionalities as well as matters of context, disposition, relationship, and affiliation. We explore how our learning journey with institute participants took us into the uneasy intersections of the personal, professional, and political where pedagogical practices and associated challenges, risks, possibilities, and liabilities emerge.     

A transcontinental job exchange

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Telling It Like It Is: Developing Social Stories™ for Children in Mainstream Primary Schools

In this article, the author reports on a practical strategy originally developed for use with pupils with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). Based on a small-scale research project, the article focuses on the use of Social Stories to promote pro-social behaviour with a group of non-ASC pupils. The topic was chosen for systematic enquiry by the author, herself the parent of a child with autism, following requests from colleagues to develop the strategy for use with other pupils with behavioural difficulties. The tensions arising from the extension of use of the strategy, devised for a particular group with specific needs, are highlighted, in particular recognising the need to maintain the integrity of the original work. The report concludes that Social Stories involve a complex strategy that relies upon sound relationships between teacher and pupil and suggests that, instead of determining success by behavioural outcome, Social Stories might be judged in terms of self-esteem and perceptions of self of the pupil during the key process leading to the writing of the story. The strategy may be effective in helping all parties to recognise challenging situations, particularly with pupils who have difficulties in taking the perspective of others. The author also makes practical suggestions for consideration by teachers who are concerned with the pastoral care and well-being of pupils.
The words 'Social Story' and uncapitalised variants are the trademarks originated and owned by Carol Gray. References to 'stories' hereafter indicate 'Social Stories^™' as the full citation .     

Support or Control -- or Both? The Role of a National Agency

The article aims at critically discussing the role and position of a buffer agency from the point of view of some of its different tasks, viz. accreditation, quality audit, support of academic leadership and internal quality enhancement. The contribution seeks to illuminate the conflicting roles of a buffer organisation in the light of these tasks and pressures from the government and higher education institutions. It concludes that the different roles can support and complement each other, and that change is best accomplished by emphasising support in the early stages of the establishment of a national quality assurance system.     

Marketing of services in secondary schools in the Republic of Croatia

The goals of the research were to determine the quantity, variety and quality of service, the extent to which certain marketing activities are applied in Croatian high schools, to explore the attitudes of teachers in respect to the need for marketing activity application in secondary schools in Croatia, and the knowledge teachers have about the marketing of services. In order to achieve these goals, we conducted a survey including 271 teachers of public, private and religious high schools. Even though the research confirmed that all schools apply numerous marketing activities, teachers in religious (85%) and public (72%) high schools believe these activities are not present at all. Teachers in public (26%) and religious (48%) high schools share the opinion that marketing activities should not be applied since they work in non-profit institutions. This opinion indicates a lack of knowledge about marketing and even a wrong attitude toward it.     

Public and Private Higher Education Institutions--Joint or Separate Evaluation and Ranking: The Polish Perspective

Since 1989, Polish higher education has been characterized by the emergence of a private sector of higher education as well as by the development of procedures and institutions for the evaluation and accreditation of higher education institutions and programmes in both sectors. Currently, the two sectors are evaluated separately by separate institutions. The authors call for the convergence of the two higher education sectors. Not only would evaluations of Polish higher education institutions thus be made more accurate and comprehensive, but the two sectors would learn from one another, and the private institutions and their students would become eligible to receive state grants.     

THE USE OF A FACTOR-ANALYTIC MODEL FOR ASSESSING THE VALIDITY OF GROUP COMPARISONS

This paper assesses the validity of a comparison of mean test scores for two groups of students, and of a longitudinal comparison of means within each group. Using LISREL, confirmatory factor analyses were carried out (a) to test the hypotheses of similar factor patterns, equal units of measurement, and equal accuracy of measurement between the two groups, and (b) to estimate the correlation between the latent traits measured by two successive test administrations in each group. The results indicate (a) that a comparison of the group means may be invalid because, although the factor pattern was the same for both groups, the factors were not measured in the same units, and (b) that longitudinal comparisons within each group are seriously complicated by evidence of structural change.     

Comenius and Sweden,and Bengt Skytte's Sophopolis

In 1642 the Swedish government persuaded Comenius to come to Sweden in order to improve its educational system and, especially, to produce textbooks for the teaching of Latin. Comenius worked as an educational advisor to Sweden for six years. This paper describes his influence on and contact with the Swedish government and learned world and how his ideas of international cooperation and tolerance inspired men such as Bengt Skytte, who developed the idea of a 'Sophopolis', a centre or city of the learned and wise men drawn from many countries.     

THE EIGHTEEN‐MONTH EXPERIENCE OF THE NATIONAL EVALUATION COMMITTEE IN FRANCE

This article describes the origins of and the rationale for the creation of the French National Evaluation Committee, the niche which it fills within the context of French higher education, its make‐up, details of its first year of activity, its typical procedures for the evaluation of. a given institution and, in general terms, its evaluation criteria. An annex lists the current members of the Committee, the President of which is Laurent Schwartz, a member of the French Academy of Sciences.