Automation and education

Summary An attempt has been made in this paper to describe automation, both as an industrial process involving flow and control and as an intellectual system involving planning and decision-making. General effects on education in the areas of curriculum and program of studies, administration, general education, organization for instruction, the necessity for teaching new patterns of thinking, vocational and technical education were discussed. The concept of the possibility of automatizing the instructional process itself was introduced, and the outlines of a new content for education as a discipline were suggested. The following paper will deal with the problem of automatizing instruction through audio-visual means, and the third and last paper in the series will consider the dangers and difficulties involved in such a process. This is the first in a series of three articles that will discuss one of the most important and timely problems that educators face today-the effects of automation upon education.     

Quality Psychological Advice for Teachers,Parents/Carers and LEA Decision‐makers with Respect to Children and Young People with Special Needs

The educational psychologist can be a very important resource to a school. The psychologist’s knowledge of the school and its context is key. Through regular consultation with schools, educational psychology services can provide help in clarifying problems and devising problem solving strategies; in carrying out specialised assessments, including techniques in managing behaviour and evaluating pupil progress. (DfES, 2001 Department for Education and Skills (DES). 2001. Special educational needs code of practice, Nottingham: DfES Publication.  [Google Scholar], Code of Practice, Section 10.8)     

Think aloud: using cognitive interviewing to validate the PISA assessment of student self-efficacy in mathematics

Cognitive interviewing (CI) provides a method of systematically collecting validity evidence of response processes for questionnaire items. CI involves a range of techniques for prompting individuals to verbalise their responses to items. One such technique is concurrent verbalisation, as developed in Think Aloud Protocol (TAP). This article investigates the value of the technique for validating questionnaire items administered to young people in international surveys. To date, the literature on TAP has focused on allaying concerns about reactivity – whether response processes are affected by thinking aloud. This article investigates another concern, namely the completeness of concurrent verbalisations – the extent to which respondents verbalise their response processes. An independent, exploratory validation of the PISA assessment of student self-efficacy in mathematics by a small international team of researchers using CI with concurrent verbalisation in four education systems (England, Estonia, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands) provided the basis for this investigation. The researchers found that students generally thought aloud in response to each of the items, thereby providing validity evidence of responses processes varying within and between the education systems, but that practical steps could be taken to increase the completeness of concurrent verbalisations in future validations.     

Why is it difficult for schools to establish equitable practices in allocating students to attainment ‘sets’?

Research has consistently shown ‘ability’ grouping (tracking) to be prey to poor practice, and to perpetuate inequity. A feature of these problems is inequitable and inaccurate practice in allocation to groups or ‘tracks’. Yet little research has examined whether such practices might be improved. Here, we examine survey and interview findings from a large-scale intervention study of grouping practices in 126 English secondary schools. We find that when schools are encouraged to allocate students and move them between groups according to equitable principles by participation in a ‘best practice’ intervention, there is some increased equity of practice (i.e. a reduction in non-attainment factors used in allocation). However, the majority of schools continue to use subjective and potentially biased information to group students. Furthermore, some schools that claim to be using attainment setting appear to be using the inequitable practice of streaming. Our findings show that improvements in equity are constrained by operational and strategic factors, including timetabling, finance, and teachers’ values and beliefs relating to student ability and progression. We suggest strategies for encouraging schools to change their grouping practices, drawing on approaches for working with complex organisations.     

Horseracing and liberal governance in nineteenth century Leicester

The old Leicester racecourse, which in 1866 was renamed Victoria Park, was a location in which opposing views of the proper use of public space played out. The reformers who took power in Leicester in 1836 aimed to advance liberal governance by abolishing the races and creating a place for rational recreation. For the aristocratic supporters of the races, led by the Rutland and Howe interests, the racecourse was a place for the display of symbolic power, and for exercising the military force of the county yeomanry. In an open political confrontation in 1850, the county interest, supported by people of all classes in the town, won. In the following decades, the Liberal council was reluctantly drawn into direct management of the racecourse and in doing so was reliant on the symbolic authority of the institutions of the county. This article is further demonstration of the popularity of race meetings with all classes in nineteenth-century society, and evidence of the contested nature of the project of liberal governance. It argues that aristocratic interest in urban race meetings as opportunities for the exercise of political and social influence extended well beyond the reforms of the 1830s and points to the need for broader consideration of the role of landed society in the shaping of urban popular culture.     

Effect of acute L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine and electrolyte ingestion on cognitive function and reaction time following endurance exercise

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine dipeptide (AG) on cognitive function and reaction time (RT) following endurance exercise. Twelve male endurance athletes (23.5 ± 3.7 y; 175.5 ± 5.4 cm; 70.7 ± 7.6 kg) performed four trials, each consisting of running on a treadmill at 70% of VO₂max for 1h, then at 90% of VO₂max until exhaustion. One trial consisted of no hydration (DHY), another required ingestion of only a sports electrolyte drink (ED) and two trials required ingestion of a low dose (LD; 300 mg·500 ml^?1) and high dose (HD) of AG (1 g·500ml^?1) added to the ED. Cognitive function and reaction tests were administered pre- and post-exercise. Magnitude based inferences were used to analyze ? cognitive function and ? reaction test data. Results indicated that DHY had a possible negative effect on number of hits in a 60-sec reaction test compared to LD and HD, while ED appeared to have a negative effect compared to HD. Analysis of lower body quickness indicated that LD and HD were likely improved in comparison to DHY. Performance on the serial subtraction test appeared to be possibly better in ED than DHY, while other comparisons between groups regarding cognitive function were unclear. In conclusion, rehydrating with AG during submaximal exercise may maintain or enhance subsequent RT in upper and lower body activities compared to DHY. These same effects were not apparent when participants consumed ED.     

Including Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Pupils in a Mainstream Comprehensive: A study of the behaviour of pupils and classes

A group of twelve pupils from an emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) school were transferred to a mainstream comprehensive school. They were supported by a specialist teacher and two Educational Support Assistants. The behaviour of the pupils was monitored. The behaviour of the EBD pupils was found to be very similar to that of the other pupils in the school. Only two of the EBD boys showed behaviour significantly worse than their peers. On the whole, the EBD pupils behaved extremely well in well-run classes, but their behaviour deteriorated in less well-organised lessons. Their behaviour tended to decline over the course of the school day, and the behaviour of all the pupils in the school was shown to be worse for the last period of the day. The implications of this research on the whole concept of EBD is discussed, as is the role, attitudes and practice of both teachers and educational psychologists.