Tests as boundary signifiers: level 6 tests and the primary secondary divide

This paper addresses the question: How do teachers and school leaders respond to high stakes testing of pupils transitioning from primary to secondary school? It explores how a new test, the Level 6 test, operated with regard to primary/secondary school relationships in England. It draws on an analysis of qualitative interviews with teachers and school leaders in 20 primary schools that took part in the test, 40 school leaders that chose not to and 20 secondary-school leaders. Theoretical work on social boundaries is utilised to develop an argument that this test and its results acted as a boundary signifier, crystallising many of the tensions between primary and secondary schools. These tensions included the role of accountability regimes in requiring schools to demonstrate progress; narrowing of the curriculum and teaching to the test; and the extent to which test results can provide a true representation of pupil attainment. We conclude by suggesting the potential of the boundary signifier concept in relation to other tests at the primary/secondary boundary and other key transition points in education, and consider whether such tests can act as an ideal boundary object, serving to help overcome, rather than cement, barriers between schools.     

Variation as Unalikeability

This article discusses concepts of variability and suggests a possible alternative measure that appears to support some students’ intuition.     

The Relationship Among Wellness,Psychological Distress,and Social Desirability of Entering Master's‐Level Counselor Trainees

Two‐hundred and four entering master's‐level counseling students from 9 programs in 5 states participated in a study testing the only counseling‐based wellness assessment measure, the Five Factor Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle (J. E. Myers, R. M. Luecht, & T. J. Sweeney, 2004), for its relationship to 2 other constructs: psychological distress and social desirability. There was a statistically significant negative relationship between level of wellness and psychological distress; the relationship between level of wellness and social desirability was found to have no statistical significance; and there was a statistically significant negative relationship between level of social desirability and psychological distress. Implications for counselor education and clinical significance are included.     

Levelling the playing field between rural schools and urban schools in a HE context: A Scottish case study

At a time when interventions in widening access to, and participation in, higher education aim to maximise impact by engaging with schools located in the most deprived communities, school pupils in rural communities, and who experience deprivation, are, in practice, less likely to benefit. Using statistics available from the Scottish government, we show that state secondary schools located in Scottish remote or rural areas are not well served by the indicators capturing socio-economic, educational, or geographical deprivation widely used in the selection of schools for these outreach interventions. We construct a marker that identifies schools facing higher levels of deprivation than the Scottish average. We argue that (1) this marker is a step in the direction towards levelling the playing field between remote or rural schools and urban schools; and (2) it selects a wider range of schools for outreach interventions.     

Sketching,not representational competence,predicts improved science learning

Representational competence is a target of novel learning environments given the assumption that improved representational competence improves learning in science. There exists little evidence, however, that improving representational competence is positively correlated with learning outcomes across science disciplines. In this report, we argue that the previously reported weak relationships between representational competence and science learning outcomes have resulted from designs that do not explicitly analyze the discipline‐specific skills related to the representational competence construct. Here, we demonstrate through a detailed analysis of students' representation use that at least two demonstrated skills comprising representational competence (e.g., construction and selection) are not strongly related to improved conceptual understanding in the domain. We discuss the implications of these results for the design of future learning environments that aim to improve learning through improved representational competence.     

Reflections on knowledge management from a critical systems perspective

This paper considers some significant aspects of knowledge management (KM) from a critical systems thinking (CST) point of view. CST prides itself on theoretical awareness and methodological sophistication, and these are the traits brought to bear in analysing the organisational models and well-known concepts used in KM. The results call into question the idea that the Japanese version of KM is best seen as resting upon an organic model and the notion that the Eastern tradition of thought has a monopoly on recognising the significance of tacit knowledge. The need for a prolonged dialectical debate between KM and CST is established.     

Context matters: increasing understanding with interactive Clicker Case studies

Although interactive technology is presumed to increase student understanding in large classes, no previous research studies have empirically explored the effects of Clicker Cases on students?? performance. A Clicker Case is a story (e.g., a problem someone is facing) that uses clickers (student response systems) to engage students in understanding the meaning of the science contained within the story. Using an experimental randomized Solomon design across 11 institutions, we found that Clicker Cases increased student understanding more than PowerPoint lectures in large introductory biology classrooms, although there was variation across institutions and topics. By examining student performance in conjunction with faculty experience, we found that strong Clicker Cases created dissonance, captured attention and involved students in interpreting data or making decisions. This study provides a model for collaborative research across multiple institutions and demonstrates the need for using multiple institutions and topics in research on education.