Reciprocal peer tutoring in a physical education setting: influence of peer tutor training and gender on motor performance and self-efficacy outcomes

Students often do not take full advantage of peer tutoring instructional strategies because they are not sufficiently prepared to fulfill the role of tutor. This study examined whether implementing a peer tutor training program prior to the beginning of reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) sessions might help overcome this issue. Gender differences were also explored. In a physical education setting, 48 novice ninth-graders were assigned in symmetric dyads to a physical practice associated with trained RPT condition (TRPT; n = 24) or a physical practice associated with spontaneous RPT condition (SRPT; n = 24). Moreover, 24 participants were assigned to a physical practice without any form of RPT control condition (PP). The peer tutor training, based on an original group interview technique, aimed at enhancing the explanatory potential of the tutor and his/her sensitivity to the specific needs of the tutee. Results indicated a superior motor performance for the TRPT condition and no difference between the SRPT and PP conditions. Interestingly, a positive relation between motor performance and self-efficacy beliefs was found for TRPT females. The assumption that the development of metacognitive awareness is one of the mechanisms underlying RPT’s effectiveness was thus supported.     

Preparing information literate teachers: A metasynthesis

This metasynthesis of empirical and nonempirical literature analyzed 39 journal articles and book chapters that examined issues related to the preparation of information literate teachers in the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the U.K. All 39 items were published after March 1998 (when the Association of College and Research Libraries reported that teacher education programs had made no real progress in modifying course requirements and performance expectations to address information literacy concerns). The literature indicates that teacher education programs have made significant progress in addressing information literacy concerns during these last 10 years; however, much work remains to be done. Increased opportunities for collaboration between educators and librarians at the preschool–Grade 12 (P-12) and postsecondary levels are needed to prepare information literate teachers who can effectively teach information literacy skills and research strategies to their P-12 students.     

Two-year-olds will name artifacts by their functions

Do young children take functional information into account in naming artifacts? In three studies of lexical categorization, 112 children 2 years of age learned new names for novel artifacts with novel functions and then extended the names to new objects. The objects were designed to have functions that were causally related in simple and compelling ways to perceptible aspects of their physical structure. Despite only minimal opportunity to familiarize themselves with the objects, children generalized the names in accordance with the objects' functions. This result obtained even when children had to discover the functions of the named objects on their own (Experiment 2) and when all the test objects had some discernible function (Experiment 3). Two-year-olds name by function when they can make sense of the relation between the appearances and the functions of artifacts.     

Educational administration and supervision in Japan

The administration and supervision of education represents one of the most controversial issues in post-war Japanese education. The basic issue is one of centralization or decentralization. The left wing teachers union favours local control, the conservative government, central control. The American Occupation established a system of local school boards which, as a result of political lobbying, were largely controlled by teachers union sympathisers. In 1956, four years after the end of the Occupation, the Japanese government eliminated the election of board members and replaced voluntary compliance with compulsory compliance with Ministry of Education objectives. This compulsory compliance was most clearly demonstrated in the central authorization of textbooks and in the implementation of theshunin system, which, the teachers union claims, introduces too many administrative positions into schools and further bureaucratized education. The Ministry claims that theshunin positions serve a guidance rather than an administrative function; the union on the other hand foresees the disruption of the unity of its rank and file members as a result of the insertion of a middle management wedge. Theshunin controversy clearly demonstrates how the administration of Japanese education has become enmeshed in partisan politics and Japanese history and tradition.

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Zusammenfassung Die Verwaltung und Inspektion des Bildungswesens ist eine der umstrittensten Fragen im Nachkriegs-Japan. Die Grundsatzfrage dreht sich um Zentralisierung oder Dezentralisierung. Die linksgerichteten Lehrergewerkschaften bevorzugen örtliche Kontrolle, die konservatieve Regierung zentrale Kontrolle. Die amerikanische Besatzung führte zu einem System örtlicher Schulverwaltungsräte, die durch den Einsatz politischer Lobbyisten in einem grossen Masse durch Sympathisanten der Lehrergewerkschaften kontrolliert wurden. 1956, vier Jahre nach dem Ende der Besatzungszeit, schaffte die Regierung die Wahlen zu den Räten ab, und ersetzte die freiwillige Beachtung der Lernziele des Ministeriums durch zwangsweise Beachtung. Das zeigte sich besonders deutlich in der zentralen Anerkennung von Schulbüchern und in der Einführung desshunin-Systems, welches, so wird von den Lehrergewerkschaften behauptet, zu viele administrative Stellen in die Schulen einführt und das Bildungswesen damit weiter bürokratisiert. Das Ministerium dagegen behauptet, dassshunin-Stellen eher beratende als verwaltende Funktion haben; auf der anderen Seite sieht die Gewerkschaft ein Auseinanderfallen ihrer Führung und der Mitglieder voraus, hervorgerufen durch den Keil des mittleren Verwaltungsapparats. Dieshunin-Kontroverse zeigt ganz deutlich, wie die Verwaltung des japanischen Bildungswesens verwickelt worden ist in Parteienstreit, die japanische Geschichte und Tradition.

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Résumé L'administration et l'inspection scolaires au Japon constituent deux des sujets les plus polémiques de l'enseignement d'après-guerre au Japon. Le point crucial de la polémique est celui de la centralisation ou de la décentralisation. L'union syndicale des enseignants de gauche favorise l'inspection au niveau local, tandis que le gouvernement conservateur soutient l'inspection centrale. Le gouvernement militaire américain avait établi un régime de comités scolaires à l'échelle locale qui, à la suite de l'emprise par les politiciens partisans, ont été dominés en grande partie par les sympathisants du syndicat enseignant. En 1956, quatre années après la fin de l'occupation, le gouvernement japonais abrogea l'élection des membres de comités et remplaça l'acquiescement volontaire par l'acquiescement obligatoire aux objectifs formulés par le Ministère de l'Education. L'acquiescement obligatoire a été démontré très clairement par l'autorisation de livres de classe ainsi que par la mise sur pied du régime ditshunin qui, aux dires de l'union syndicale des enseignants, implante de trop nombreuses situations administratives dans les écoles ainsi qu'un surcroît d'enseignement bureaucratisé. Le Ministère affirme que les situations ditesshunin ont été implantées à titre de gouverne plutôt qu'au niveau d'une fonction administrative. L'union syndicale, par contre, anticipe une scission de l'unité du gros de ses membres suite à l'intercalation d'une administration à un niveau intermédiaire. La controverseshunin démontre clairement jusqu'à quel point l'administration de l'enseignement japonais s'est prise dans les filets d'une politique partisane ainsi que de l'histoire et de la tradition japonaises.