Uninterrupted,Sustained, Silent Reading: the rhetoric and the practice

The study investigated whether the rhetoric of uninterrupted, sustained, silent reading (USSR/ERIC) was evident in primary classrooms where the practice was professed to operate. Nine primary schools in three different counties were surveyed, and the sample included both urban and rural schools. Structured interviews were undertaken with the headteacher and two members of staff in each school, followed by classroom observations, focusing on what do teachers do in practice during USSR/ERIC. From both interviews and observations it was evident that teacher interpretation of how the sessions should be organised and managed was not specifically that of the rhetoric, with only one school closely following the prescribed model. Whilst the value of a quiet reading time was generally acknowledged and much good practice observed in sessions, it would appear that many models which operate under the guise of ‘uninterrupted sustained silent reading’ are governed by teacher preference or pupil need.     

School‐based peer mediation as a strategy for social inclusion

This paper focuses on the impact of peer mediation as a strategy for promoting social inclusion in primary school settings. Peer mediation constituted one of the interventions in the UK Government‐sponsored On Track programme and evaluative data from this project are reported. The paper reports on trends in bullying and anti‐social behaviour in nine schools where peer mediation was deployed. Quantitative results from ‘My life in School’ checklists and a questionnaire measuring teacher perceptions are reported. Qualitative evidence is also reported from focus groups undertaken with pupils. The benefits of mainstreaming and further dissemination of the approach are discussed.     

Students ‘at‐risk’ policy: competing social and economic discourses

Within a context of global reform agendas that promote economic ideologies in education the discourses surrounding ‘school failure’ have shifted from ‘individual risk’ to ‘a nation at‐risk’. Enhancing the quality of schooling through improving educational outcomes and standards for all, and thereby reducing ‘school failure,’ is simultaneously constructed as enhancing both social justice and a nation’s economic advantage in the global marketplace. Within this broader context, this research explores the complexity of issues related to policy for students at educational risk through an analysis of the Education Department of Western Australia’s ‘Making the Difference: Students at Educational Risk Policy.’ This research adopted a theoretical framework of a ‘policy cycle’ (that allowed for an exploration of power relations within the policy process. Primarily, consideration is given to the competing social and economic discourses found within the policy text and subsequent tensions reflected and retracted throughout the policy process from macro (system), to meso (district) and finally to micro levels within the schools and classrooms.     

EDUCATIONAL ORIENTATIONS OF THE AGED: AN ATTITUDINAL INQUIRY

This study examines various attitudinal components of the educational orientations of the aged. An index was developed to measure: (1) perceived ability to learn, (2) interest in education (as a concept), (3) perception of educational needs, (4) desired availability of. educational opportunities, and (5) use of free time. Locus of control was also examined in relation to these perspectives. Six significant relationships were found to exist between these components. Barriers to educational involvement are examined and discussed in relation to the attitudinal dimensions. Findings of the study do not support a number of the commonly held stereotypes about older adults and their learning interests. Barriers rather than attitudes may be a greater factor in determining participation in educational activities.     

Children's perceptions of primary science assessment in England and Wales

This study builds on and contributes to work on assessment of children in primary school, particularly in science. Previous research has examined primary science assessment from different standpoints, but no studies have specifically addressed children's perspectives. This article provides additional insight into issues surrounding children's assessment in primary school and how the assessment of science might develop in England after the science SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) were abolished in 2009. Some research suggests that primary science assessment via SATs is a major reason for the observed decline in children's engagement with science in upper primary and lower secondary school. The analytic focus on engaging children as coresearchers to assist in the process of gathering informed views and interpreting findings from a large sample of children's views enables another contribution. The study, based on a survey of 1000 children in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, reveals that despite being assessed under two different regimes (high‐stakes national tests in England and moderated teacher assessment in Wales), children's views of science assessment are remarkably consistent. Most appreciate the usefulness of science assessment and value frequent, non‐SATs testing for monitoring/improving science progress. There was a largely negative impact, however, of science assessment on children's well‐being, particularly due to stress. The paper demonstrates that children provide an important perspective on assessment and that including their views can improve policy‐making in relation to primary science assessment.     

The recontextualisation of ‘quality’ in Australian higher education

In the education policy arena, the notion of ‘quality'as a mechanism for increasing accountability to stakeholders has risen to prominence in the 1990s, as part of the micro‐economic reform agenda of many national governments. This study analyses the way in which policy makers in Australian higher education have recontextualised the notions of quality adopted in other countries to reconstruct a uniquely Australian version. Further, the study analyses how this recontextualisation continues from the ministerial level, through the Higher Education Council (HEC), and then the Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (CQAHE), to the site of intended policy effect ‐‐ individual universities. A theoretical framework, in part offered by Stephen Ball's policy trajectory studies, is employed to examine the negotiation, resistance and even transformation of the original ministerial quality policy of 1991. A central contention is that the operation of the subsequent 3‐year cycle of quality reviews between 1993 and 1995 provides an example par excellence of a government strategy of ‘steering at a distance’.     

Postgraduate Supervision Practices: Strategies for Development and Change

This paper describes strategies for enhancing postgraduate supervision procedures and practices developed at Sydney University in response to a national focus upon improving the quality of postgraduate research education. The results of needs analyses conducted in Departments and Faculties and amongst postgraduate coordinators, supervisors and students are reported, and the subsequent development of an ongoing and systematic training program for supervisors of postgraduate students is described. The structure of the program, training methods adopted, and participant evaluations of the constituent workshops and seminars are discussed. Finally, consideration is given to aspects contributing to or militating against the success of the program and to alternative or complementary strategies for improving the quality of postgraduate research supervision.     

Does Doing Scientific Research in High School Correlate with Students Staying in Science? A Half-Century Retrospective Study

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has declared in an advertising campaign that “you can’t start young enough” in science. However, there is no long-term data evaluating the effect of early exposure to original scientific research on producing career scientists. To address this issue, we examined a hands-on summer science research program for high school students that ran from 1958 to 1972. We compared participants in that program with science students that only began their hands-on research experience once in university. Our data indicate that students who are interested in science and have an opportunity to participate in original scientific research while in high school are significantly more likely (p < .005) to both enter and maintain a career in science compared to students whose first research experience didn’t occur until university. Our data suggest that more hands-on high school science research programs could help increase the number of students entering and maintaining scientific careers, relieving the growing concern that North America is losing its leadership status in the international scientific community.