Formative assessment: the role of participatory action research in blending policy and practice in Uganda

This paper documents teachers’ assessment practices and pupils’ learning to read and write in large classes. To gain insights into the assessment practices and pupils’ learning, the principles of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and participatory action research (PAR) design were adopted. Collaboratively, teachers reflected on their assessment practices, developed, implemented and monitored the assessment practices. Through observation, in-depth interview and review of exercise books, data were obtained. We argue that teachers’ involvement in PAR has contributed to changing assessment practices in large classes and in improving pupils’ competencies in reading and writing. On the other hand to promote better assessment practices, we advocate for reduced number of pupils in a class and teachers’ workload to enable them offer more support to the pupils during assessment of reading and writing.     

Re-imagining roles: using collaborative and creative research methodologies to explore girls’ perspectives on gender,citizenship and schooling

Often girls are the objects of the camera’s lens and subjects of the researcher’s gaze. This article describes a qualitative study using a collaborative, creative and critical methodology to explore girls’ perspectives on gender, citizenship and schooling. The seven adolescent girl participants used Photovoice to engage with their roles as girl-citizens. Despite Canada’s international reputation as a leader in gender equality, evidence reveals that challenges still prevent their full participation, particularly in formal politics. This research raises questions about what life is like for girls and women in Canada beyond the rhetoric and global rankings, and adds to the often disconnected bodies of literature on girlhood, citizenship and education.     

Advancing intercultural competency: Canadian engineering employers’ experiences with immigrant engineers

This paper explores Canadian engineering employers’ perceptions of and experiences with internationally educated engineers (recent immigrants to Canada) employed in their organisations for varying lengths of time. Qualitative data were collected from employers using focus group methodology. Findings reflected employers’ observations of culturally different behaviours and characteristics in their internationally educated employees, employers’ reactions to cultural differences ranging from negative attributions to tolerance, and the implementation of largely ad hoc intra-organisational strategies for managing cultural differences in employer–employee relationships. Findings exposed the lack of corporate intercultural competency in the Canadian engineering profession. Equity and gatekeeping implications are discussed.     

Speech and language therapy and the Knowles Edge Standards Fund Project: an evaluation of the service provided to a cluster of primary schools

In 2000, 25 speech and language therapy projects were established in schools in England, funded through the Standards Fund. An evaluation commissioned by the Government reported positive results and gave an overview of all the projects at a point approximately six months after their inception. Although there were common themes, it was quite clear that the projects differed widely in their structure and interpretation of the original brief.
In this article, Sue Roulstone, Professor of Speech and Language Therapy at the University of the West of England, and Rosalind Owen and Lucy French, both specialist speech and language therapists working for the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust, provide an in-depth report of one of the projects and its evaluation after 18 months.
The project, based on a systems analysis approach, targeted its interventions at the individual child, the parents, the teachers and therapists, the classrooms and schools, and more strategic levels in the health and education services. The article gives details of the 'interventions' for each component. An independent evaluation gathered qualitative and quantitative data that suggest that the new service had a positive impact on all aspects of the system. Children made gains in their speech and language; parents were informed and involved; therapists and teachers were more satisfied about their knowledge base; and systems changed within the schools to reflect and support the collaboration. The outcomes of the project led to a rolling out of the model to two more cluster groups of schools. A number of organisational structures were identified which support the ongoing collaboration. Details given in this article will enable others to identify whether or not this model might suit their local circumstances and be replicable in their context.