Crisis at Summerhill: An Educational Simulation

Syllabi can be useful in engaging students and creating an effective classroom atmosphere, yet discussions of their effective use rarely appear. In light of current research and theory on syllabi, we review their typical uses (structural, motivational, and evidentiary), commonly included components, and attributes that positively impact the teaching and learning process.     

Malaysia: Review of Educational Events in 1998

1998 saw a period of consolidation in implementing the education agenda of the country. There was a focus on reforms for modernization, democratization, privatization and liberalization. Despite the economic downturn, the Ministry of Education introduced policies and measures to prop up and liberalize the education sector. Significant developments and events took place in public and private education alike.

New strides in public education which were phenomenal included the move to accord all school children 11 years of minimum public education. Yet another major change was the introduction of the ‘open certification’ system for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (Malaysian School Certificate) examination. All pre‐university students are now required to sit for an English test called the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) from 1999.

In private education, the first branch campus of a foreign university, the Monash University Sunway Campus was set up in Kuala Lumpur, to be followed by Curtin University in Sarawak and the University of Nottingham in Semenyih. Private colleges which run twinning programmes with foreign universities have also been granted permission to conduct all of their degree programmes locally (i.e. all 3 years of study in Malaysia) to enable students affected by the economic slowdown and devaluation of the ringgit to qualify for foreign degrees at a much reduced cost. Malaysia's first virtual university, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak was launched by the Education Minister on 21 December 1998 to further consolidate Malaysia's education reform via information technology. Apart from analysing in greater depth the major education events cited above, this review will also cover a wider spectrum of significant events throughout 1998, from pre‐school to tertiary education and the attention given to teacher training and the teaching service.     

Development of object permanence in the New Zealand parakeet (Cyanoramphus auriceps)

Eleven young kakarikis (Cyanoramphus auriceps) were tested on 15 object-permanence tasks in a standardized scale that has been used to assess the development of human infants, some nonhuman primates, and other mammals. The birds successfully completed all tasks in this scale, and many aspects of their testing were similar to human results, such as evidencing the A-not-B error. However, the birds differed slightly but significantly from human subjects in that some of the “invisible displacements” of the later tasks were performed before the earlier visible displacement tasks. These results may relate to common ecological activities of this species. Six of the birds were parent-raised; 5 were hand-raised. The hand-raised birds achieved criteria more quickly than did the parent-raised birds possibly because the former were more accustomed to the investigator and less distractible in the test situation.     

An exploratory study of the impacts of an employer-supported child care program

Although employer-sponsored child care programs have become more common, there is little empirical research on whether these programs affect employees’ satisfaction with child care or their work-life balance, and if effects vary across employee characteristics. In this exploratory study, we administered a survey to employees with children at one large university to gather information on their child care arrangements and experience with their employer's child care voucher program (N = 776). Satisfaction with child care varied with employee and child care characteristics, but not with voucher receipt. Families with preschool children, White families, and those using paid home-based care were more satisfied with their child care arrangements than those with school-age children, minority families, and those using center-based or before/afterschool care. Nearly half of voucher recipients (47%) reported benefits in work-life balance as a result of the voucher. Although demand-side vouchers appear to be a promising employer approach to address child care challenges, these results suggest that attention must also be given to the structure of child care supply as satisfaction and work-family stress are affected by more factors than child care cost only.     

Two readiness measures as predictors of first and third-grade reading achievement

Multiple-regression procedures were used to assess the effectiveness of the ABC Inventory and the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT) in predicting first and third-grade reading achievement. Sex and chronological age were included in the first-grade analysis (N = 62) and the first-grade PMA intelligence test score was added to the equation in predicting third-grade reading (N = 65). MRT performance accounted for 11% of the variance in first-grade SRA reading scores (R = .34). In predicting third-grade reading, the MRT accounted for 26% of the variance and the PMA IQ scores accounted for an additional 6% (final multiple R = .57). No other predictor made a significant contribution to explaining variance in first or third-grade reading achievement.