Implementing curriculum evaluation: case study of a generic undergraduate degree in health sciences

This case study presents a longitudinal, evidence‐based approach to health science curriculum reform and evaluation. Curriculum in higher education must meet the needs of diverse stakeholders and must respond to dynamic local, national and international contexts, and this creates challenges for evaluation. The long lead time prior to the introduction of new or revised university curriculum (at least two years), the length of degree programmes (three to five years) and the lag time in the availability of objective indicators of degree outcomes (at least one year post‐graduation) mean that findings may be obsolete before an evaluation can be completed. Few would argue that evaluation is important and methods and approaches for conducting curriculum evaluation are proposed in the literature, although few published reports of the outcomes of comprehensive evaluations are evident. This paper discusses potential for evaluation to establish responsive communication between students, teaching staff and programme administrators, ensuring a match between the intended, implemented and attained curriculum.     

Parents’ and teachers’ beliefs about children’s school readiness in a high-need community

This study compared the beliefs of preschool teachers, kindergarten teachers, and parents in one mostly Hispanic and Black high-need urban school district to learn their views of what children should know and be able to do at kindergarten entry. Beliefs regarding the importance of 12 school readiness “resources” were assessed with the CARES survey designed for this study. Parents held remarkably similar beliefs, regardless of ethnicity or education. Parents and teachers also agreed that children must be healthy and socially competent, and be able to comply with teacher authority, although parents rated this latter resource higher. However, parents rated all classroom-related readiness resources as more important than teachers did. They believed it was necessary for a child to be able to communicate in English and to have basic knowledge and skills, which was more important than a child’s approach to learning. Preschool teachers also believed that knowledge was more important than kindergarten teachers did. Directions for further research and implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Mentor Programmes-A Shortcut for Women's Academic Careers?

This article reports on a formal mentoring project that ran for eighteen months at the University of Uppsala, in Sweden. It investigates the experiences of fourteen women academics at junior and mid-level who were paired with senior academics. Mentoring occurs informally in academic as well as in other types of organizations, yet little in terms of hard evidence is known about its effects. In this case, the investigators wished to learn if mentoring in an academic context could contribute to a narrowing of the gender gap in Swedish higher education. The conclusion was that mentoring makes enough of a difference to the junior faculty concerned that it should be undertaken openly and made available to all junior faculty members wishing to be mentored.     

Coincidences: the truth is out there

We give a simple way of demonstrating that coincidences really are “out there”, as probability theory predicts- if we take the trouble to look.     

Book Notes

Science &; Education -