Assessment in higher education in the professions: action research as an authentic assessment task

The argument of this article is that assessment in higher education in the professions can benefit from quality assessment tasks linked to professional practice. Such an assessment task would need to be authentic requiring considerable intellectual skill as well as attending to the realities of professional demands. The idea of authentic assessment is developed by using five of Boud et al.'s propositions in higher educational assessment. This idea is illustrated by the use of action research in a teaching internship, that is, data driven learning in the workplace which also serves as an assessment task in the final year of a professional Bachelor degree. Some difficulties and some illustrative, positive student reactions are presented.     

When ‘becoming a 50% school’ is success enough: a principal–agent analysis of subject leaders’ target setting

Using the perspective of principal–agent theory, we suggest that the target setting process imposed by the government has shifted teachers’ focus away from their personal educational priorities. Our evidence suggests that schools with a higher proportion of students with high academic achievement differ in their practice of target setting from schools with a below average proportion of students achieving high examination grades. We examine possible explanations for variations in teachers’ practice and suggest some implications for policy and school leadership and management.     

The unfinished nature of rights-informed HIV- and AIDS-related education: an analysis of three school-based initiatives

Over the past 25 years, there has been growing investment in concepts of rights in the areas of HIV prevention, care and treatment, including HIV- and AIDS-related education delivered in schools. Despite this increasing commitment to the notion of rights, few efforts appear to have been made to understand the varying conceptions of rights that underpin different kinds of initiatives. Engaging with a multi-disciplinary body of literature on the issue of rights, and through a focus on three rights-informed HIV- and AIDS-related initiatives, this paper seeks to address this gap in the current literature. In so doing, it also examines a central tension within human rights discourse, namely between the construal of rights as shared and universally applicable to all human beings, while being created in and limited by the location in which they were elaborated, as well as by the language used to formulate them. More explicit engagement with the diversity of approaches made possible through a commitment to human rights may facilitate forms of HIV- and AIDS-related education that are more meaningful to young people.     

Editorial

This article shows that an awareness of students' use of their own experiences and a consistent promotion of critical literacy skills throughout a child's, adolescent's, and adult's life strengthens awareness of the social, political, economic, and cultural implications of education. The article expands on John Dewey's (1938) theory of experience as the means and goal of education to show that middle school and college graduate students use their different levels of both personal and academic experience to respond to and interpret similar issues in the same text. Specifically, the authors discuss their use of Roald Dahl's (1983) The Witches to show how teachers might approach a children's book as the backdrop for teaching different age groups an increased awareness of gender issues, the effects of stereotyping, and the influence of popular culture on students' lives. They argue that educators need to use creative teaching strategies to provide opportunities for students at all educational levels to expand their literacy skills. The final section of the paper provides possible ways in which teachers can use literary texts at various levels to engage students not only with the material itself but also connect the text with their personal/ professional experiences and their own literacies.     

Notes on Contributors

Abstract

This article reports on research analysing how primary initial teacher educators define and participate in research activities. A representative sample of teacher educators in one institution in the UK were interviewed in depth to identify individuals' perceptions of the place of research in their work. All the interviewees saw their most important role as teaching and supporting students. In all cases, research was seen as a low priority. Engagement in research was seen as moving away from the practical, school and student centred world of primary initial teacher education towards a more conventionally ‘academic’ world. The established researchers within the teacher education community were seen as a privileged elite.

Two clusters of factors which influence these perceptions are defined as: firstly, the effects of the changing nature of the institution and internal structures it has generated in response to national changes; and secondly, the ways in which the interviewees define their work its conditions and its underlying values. These factors and the tensions they cause are explored in relation to the pressures placed on the teacher education communities by the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise and the development of increased partnerships with schools.     

The Transition Lynchpin: The Voices of Individuals with Disabilities Who Attended a Community College Transition Program

Nearly 60% of students with disabilities who attend postsecondary institutions attend community colleges. Individuals with disabilities paralleling their peers without disabilities need the postsecondary education opportunity to develop vocational skills, the time to mature, and the experience of living with others. A transition program, a K–12 and community college partnership, was developed to support students in this mission. A narrative inquiry methodology was utilized to understand the community college experience of students with disabilities in a transition program. Findings indicate that the program benefited the individuals. It did this by supporting completion of a vocational program leading to gainful employment and as a transition into adult roles and status. The program also provided opportunities that enhanced the individuals' self-esteem, and it facilitated the individuals becoming more independent and responsible.     

PEER AND STUDENT-FACULTY RELATIONS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

This study investigated differences in peer and student?faculty relationships of male and female community college students. Men reported more frequent participation in college activities, whereas women reported more frequent involvement in less formal activities such as studying with other students. Women had less difficulty than men meeting and making friends. For both men and women, little student?faculty interaction outside the classroom was reported.     

SPECIAL-EDUCATION DELIVERY MODELS IN A GENERAL-EDUCATION TEACHINGPROGRAM: A COMMUNITY COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY INITIATIVE

ABSTRACT

This article describes the process of integrating special-education content into 2 delivery models used in 2 different general-education teacher-preparation programs for elementary-education majors at the University of Wyoming and Casper (Community) College. One program was the traditional 4- year undergraduate elementary-teacher preparation program; the other was a creative and resourceful way of offering the same program at one of the state's community colleges. The models were based on theoretical and practical applications of current teaching practices. These included the integration of special-education students into the general-education classroom. Students' reactions to what they were learning and implications for practice are included.