STUDENT ASSESSMENT IN MEDICAL EDUCATION: A CANADIAN CASE STUDY

The assessment system of a Canadian medical education program is described. The M.D. Program at McMaster University features the central use of clinical cases as the basis for learning, and the fostering of independence in learning by students. The assessment system, designed to match the objectives and methods of learning, is guided by several principles. These include a balanced emphasis on a range of objectives, the use of on‐going informal feedback, defined and shared responsibilities in assessment, and the design and use of measures which most appropriately match the objectives. More than ten years of experience has pointed out several lessons: if self‐directed learning is held as important, there is a trade‐off between excessively specific objectives, on the one hand, and too little guidance on the other. This attempt to create a balance between these extremes produces a degree of unevenness in the assessment system. External influences such as the national licensing examinations have some effect on the learning climate. It is predicted that the basic elements of the assessment system will remain in place, but some specific changes will occur. These include a clearer statement of objectives on which assessment can be based, the improvement of measurement tools, and an increased emphasis on the training of those who participate in the assessment system.     

Pre-service Teachers’ False Beliefs in Superstitions and Pseudosciences in Relation to Science and Technology

Science & Education - In order to increase scientific competence within the general population, it is important that teachers and educators have a realistic image of science and scientists,...     

Impact of a computer-based intervention in Chilean children at risk of manifesting reading difficulties / Impacto de una intervención basada en ordenador en niños chilenos con riesgo de manifestar dificultades lectoras

Reading difficulties have reached a prevalence of 3–10% in school-age children. Those who present these difficulties avoid reading and benefit very little from school-based learning opportunities, resulting in maladjustments, dropping out of school and having to repeat grades. Presented here are the results of an intervention based on a computer game intended for explicit phonic training in first-grade school children at risk of possessing reading difficulties. Fifty-six children from a low socioeconomic status (SES) and 31 children from a high socioeconomic status, divided into two groups (control and experimental), participated in the study. After the intervention, participants from the low-SES experimental group had enhanced their skills regarding letter sound recognition, whereas the high-SES experimental group had improved their naming speed. The results are discussed in light of the impact of interventions based on computer games and of the importance of the development of sublexical skills in children at risk of manifesting reading difficulties in transparent orthographies.     

Cognitive Empathy and the Transition to Independent Graduate Study in Mathematics

Thirteen Ph.D. students took part in interviews focussed on the nature of their own learning of mathematics. In analysing these interviews an unexpected category emerged concerning the students awareness of others as having particular types of learning goal. In this paper we explore the three levels which we discerned within this category and link them to the notion of cognitive empathy. We suggest that differences in ones own cognitive style are linked to differences in the ability to empathise with those who have alternative learning goals. We also consider how these two features – cognitive style and cognitive empathy – may come to be linked.     

Supporting the work arrangements of cooperating teachers and university supervisors to better train preservice teachers: a new theoretical contribution

This longitudinal case study examines whether a school-based training scheme that brings together different categories of teacher educators (university supervisors and cooperating teachers) engenders true collective training activity and, if so, whether this collective work contributes to pre-service teacher education. The scheme grew out of a recent French reform policy. The study is based on an original theoretical conception of teacher education that borrows postulates from a theory of learning and collective action (Wittgenstein 1996). Illustrated by excerpts from post-lesson meetings and self-confrontation interviews, the results suggest that the training scheme does not always lead to collective training activity. The difficulties are notably due to disagreement between the educators about attributing meaning to the pre-service teacher’s classroom activity, which hampers professional development. On this basis, proposals are made to contribute to an effective and authentically shared supervision process and to reposition training activity at the heart of the processes of pre-service teacher professional development.     

PIAAC results on opportunities for informal learning in the workplace in Spain / Resultados PIAAC sobre las oportunidades para el aprendizaje informal en el puesto de trabajo en España

This article uses data from the PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences) Background Questionnaire to describe conditions related to informal learning (IL) in the workplace and opportunities to learn informally in organizations in Spain. PIAAC data indicate that in Spain, informal learning processes in organizations are a common, everyday practice. However, some differences have been found in the intensity of this learning by gender, the position that the employee occupies and the business sector in which the organization is framed. This study opens some future avenues to develop further knowledge about IL mechanisms and practices in the workplace, as a strategy to help towards the development of people and organizations.     

Can educational engagement prevent Early School Leaving? Unpacking the school’s effect on educational success

There is growing evidence that school engagement, or more specifically disengagement, is a key indicator for predicting Early School Leaving. The aim of this article is to explore the impact of secondary schools in student (dis)engagement and subsequent opportunities to succeed in school. Drawing on data from a qualitative study in five secondary schools in Barcelona, the article discusses the role of school context in inhibiting or facilitating school engagement by exploring compositional effects, organisational and pedagogical practices, and teachers’ expectations. To do so a twofold perspective is adopted: firstly, we look at the main school features and their impact on students’ educational opportunities; and secondly, a systematic analysis of the dimensions of school engagement (behavioural, emotional and cognitive) is carried out. As a result, the article contributes to the identification of the most significant variables at school level that influence student engagement and their opportunities for school success.     

Exploring the link between experienced teachers’ learning outcomes and individual and professional learning community characteristics

The continuous professional development of teachers is crucial in our current knowledge-based society, yet empirical research on experienced teachers’ learning outcomes is scarce. In this study, we examine perceived changes in classroom practices and in competence as outcomes. By making these outcomes measurable, we can relate them to several individual teacher characteristics and professional learning community characteristics. A questionnaire was administered to 490 experienced teachers from 48 Flemish (Belgian) primary schools. Multilevel analyses show that of the professional learning community characteristics, only reflective dialogue is significant for perceived changes in practices. As for individual characteristics, self-efficacy relates positively to both perceived changes in practices and in competence. The relationship between teaching experience and both learning outcomes, however, is negative.     

Decolonial innovation in teacher development: praxis beyond the colonial zero-point

ABSTRACT

Despite a rich repertoire of inventive and robust practices, and stated commitments to equity, social justice, and diversity, teacher education has continued to struggle to produce educators capable of enacting culturally sustaining pedagogies, and providing historically marginalized youth and communities with meaningful learning opportunities. This paper contends that ontological distance between educators and youth of colour, and the ways Eurocentric epistemologies exist as a colonial ‘zero point’ in teacher education praxis, are a core element of this existential crisis facing teacher educators. Drawing on decolonial theory and epistemologies of the global south, I suggest that teacher education is in need of epistemic innovation; radically revising our approaches to preparing educators by anchoring them in the epistemic and ontological perspectives of the global south, and in so doing, crafting pedagogical imaginaries through which we might disrupt the ways coloniality lives (often invisibly) in, and is reproduced by, our assumptions about best practices, ways of being, and measures of success. Such a decolonial approach to innovation in teacher education holds promise for ensuring our praxis, and the educators we prepare, are positioned to engage with a hyperdiverse world in humanizing ways.     

Physical discipline and children's adjustment: cultural normativeness as a moderator

Interviews were conducted with 336 mother-child dyads (children's ages ranged from 6 to 17 years; mothers' ages ranged from 20 to 59 years) in China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand to examine whether normativeness of physical discipline moderates the link between mothers' use of physical discipline and children's adjustment. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that physical discipline was less strongly associated with adverse child outcomes in conditions of greater perceived normativeness, but physical discipline was also associated with more adverse outcomes regardless of its perceived normativeness. Countries with the lowest use of physical discipline showed the strongest association between mothers' use and children's behavior problems, but in all countries higher use of physical discipline was associated with more aggression and anxiety.