Working Memory and Children’s Mathematical Skills: Implications for mathematical development and mathematics curricula

This study examined the contributions of the different components of the working memory (WM) model to a range of mathematical skills in children, using measures of WM function that did not involve numerical stimuli. A sample of 148 children (78 Year 3, mean age 8 years and 1 month, and 70 Year 5 pupils, mean age 9 years and 10 months) completed WM measures and age‐appropriate mathematics tests designed to assess four mathematical skills defined by the National Curriculum for England. Visuo‐spatial sketchpad and central executive, but not phonological loop, scores predicted unique variance in children’s curriculum‐based mathematical attainment but the relative contributions of each component did not vary much across the different skills. Subsequently, the mathematics data were re‐analysed using cluster analysis and new performance‐related mathematics factors were derived. All three components of WM predicted unique variance in these performance‐related skills, but revealed a markedly distinct pattern of associations across the two age groups. In particular, the data indicated a stronger role for the visuo‐spatial sketchpad in the younger children’s mathematics performance. We discuss our findings in terms of the importance of WM in the development of early mathematical ability.     

Who says we are not attracting the best and brightest? Teacher selection and the aspirations of Australian school students

Internationally, the quality of teachers is a growing focus of educational reform, with new policies attempting to ensure that only the ‘best and brightest’ are selected for the teaching profession. This article tests the assumption underpinning these developments that prospective teachers lack the desired academic and personal qualities. Drawing on data on the career aspirations of 6492 Australian school students in Years 3–12, we investigated who, among these students, expressed interest in teaching and their reasons for doing so. Using logistic regression, we found that interest in teaching was widespread and prior academic achievement was not a significant predictor. Thematic analysis of reasons expressed for interest in teaching indicated that working with children and/or in specific subject areas, altruism, and perceptions of personal suitability for the job dominated student responses. These data provide a counter-narrative to the primacy, in policies for teacher recruitment and selection, of needing to attract ‘better’ students. We argue that policies for improving teacher quality should also capitalise on the widespread interest in teaching among school students. Without such a discursive broadening, we caution that current attempts to attract the ‘best and brightest’ risk undermining the very goals espoused.     

Effects of self‐monitoring,token reinforcement and different back‐up reinforcers on the classroom behaviour of retardates

Following a baseline observation period, a class of intellectually handicapped boys were given opportunities to monitor and record their own behaviour as on‐task or off‐task. Following this self‐monitoring phase, the self‐administered check‐marks were used as tokens and exchanged for back‐up consequences, which were initially low‐value objects for consumption (possession). These were later increased in value, and finally changed to access consequences (the opportunity to play with but not possess). Self‐monitoring alone produced a significant increment in the externally assessed level of on‐task behaviour. Only when access back‐up consequences were introduced was there a further significant increment. Provision of high‐value consumption consequences was followed by a loss of accuracy in self‐monitoring, and reduction in on‐task behaviour to baseline levels. The study demonstrated the extension of a self‐control procedure to retardates, the importance of separately measuring the effect of self‐monitoring on the target behaviour, and the need for appropriate selection of back‐up consequences.     

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE NEW UNIVERSITIES: HOW TO APPROACH HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The view taken in this article is that Total Quality Management (TQM) in the new universities (the former Polytechnics) and the development of a so‐called managerialist ideology has led to the inevitable adoption of an approach to Human Resource Management (HRM) policy and practice that is functionalist. The criteria favoured by managerialism represented by TQM is not only inappropriate in higher education, but more importantly, it limits the productive activity of individuals. This limitation occurs to the extent that at the level of the individual academic in higher education organizations, quality control and assurance, that has traditionally been a localized process of self‐ and close‐peer review, has become formalized by externally imposed systems and procedures ‐ a necessary condition under the current funding arrangements for enabling internal quality assurance systems to meet the requirements of external agencies. However, the authors suggest that only a truly professionalizing, soft, individualistic, and user‐focussed collegial culture will provide a sufficient condition for total quality enhancement to become a reality.