Creative partnerships? Cultural policy and inclusive arts practice in one primary school

This article traces the ‘cultural turn’ in UK educational policy through an analysis of the Creative Partnerships policy (New Labour's ‘flagship programme in the cultural education field’) and a consideration of an arts project funded under this initiative in one primary school. It argues that current educational policy foregrounds the economic importance of cultural activity and its contribution to the social inclusion agenda. However, ‘creativity’ is seen as being located outside mainstream school structures, in projects rather than in the National Curriculum, and in artists rather than in teachers. The emphasis is on enjoyment and inclusion rather than cultural or social critique, or significant curriculum change. The transformative potential of involvement in the arts is marginalised in favour of a relatively weak form of social inclusion.     

The preservice microteaching course and science teachers' instructional decisions: A qualitative analysis

The purpose of this investigation was to qualitatively investigate the effects of a microteaching course on preservice science teachers' perceptions of teaching, instructional decisions, and changes in beliefs which occur throughout the course. A total of 17 preservice teachers constituted the sample for this investigation. In addition to viewing and self-critiquing the videotapes of their lessons, students received both oral and written feedback from peers and instructors. Subjects were also required to complete a reaction questionnaire concerning their beliefs/perceptions prior to the first presentation as well as following each of the four required presentations. Systematic comparisons among students' self-critiques and reaction questionnaires yielded a total of 12 categories of concerns/beliefs about teaching. These categories pertained to either “Concerns for Self” or “Concerns for Students.” Although the subjects appeared to proceed through a developmental process beginning with concerns for self and moving toward concerns for students, analyses of subjects' comments about students revealed that such remarks were actually egocentric. Additionally, the data indicated that preservice teachers view planning as a complex, two-component process (i.e., the physical act of writing a plan and the subsequent mental rehearsal of that plan.).     

Shifting relations with the more-than-human: six threshold concepts for transformative sustainability learning

Using the iterative process of action research, we identify six portals of understanding, called threshold concepts, which can be used as curricular guideposts to disrupt the socially constituted separation, and hierarchy, between humans and the more-than-human. The threshold concepts identified in this study provide focal points for a curriculum in transformative sustainability learning which (1) acknowledges non-human agency; and (2) recognizes that the capacity to work with multiple ways of knowing is required to effectively engage in the process of sustainability knowledge creation. These concepts are: there are different ways of knowing; we can communicate with non-human nature and non-human nature can communicate with us; knowing is relational; transrational intuition and embodied knowing are valuable and valid ways of knowing; worldview is the lens through which we view reality; and the power of dominant beliefs (represented in discourse) supports and/or undermines particular ways of knowing and being as in/valid.     

Large-scale assessment as professional development: teachers’ motivations,ability beliefs,and values

In this study, conducted in the United States, the authors examined the motivational characteristics of teachers in the context of a large-scale performance assessment program. Teachers received professional development through their participation in the assessment program by writing items, reviewing items, and reviewing scoring criteria. An expectancy-value theory framework and embedded mixed-methods design were used to examine teachers’ (n = 119) motivations, ability beliefs, and values related to their professional development. Survey results showed that teachers generally had a high degree of intrinsic motivation for and associated social and pedagogical utility value with the professional development. Teachers reported positive ability beliefs, a high degree of usefulness, importance, and interest associated with the professional development, and positive changes to instruction and assessment. Results of multiple regression analyses showed teachers’ intrinsic motivations and ability beliefs predicted changes to instruction and assessments. Interview results illustrated the ways in which knowledge gained from involvement in the assessment program translated to practice. Results provided insight into the complexity of participants’ values, identifying factors that enabled or constrained changes to instruction and assessments.     

The impact of the Wolf reforms on education outcomes for lower-attaining pupils

Between 2004 and 2012, there had been a significant rise in so-called ‘equivalent’ qualifications taken by young people in England in the final years of their compulsory schooling. These were qualifications other than GCSEs that were approved for young people under the age of 16 under Section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000. This rise was checked by the Wolf review of vocational education, which led to wholesale changes in the set of qualifications that schools offered to pupils, and which primarily affected lower-attaining students. We quantify the impact of this reform on these pupils with respect to the qualifications they entered and what they achieved. We do so by comparison to previous national cohorts of pupils unaffected by the reform, including the estimation of counterfactual outcomes for the group of pupils most likely to be affected. These pupils tended to enter fewer qualifications overall after the reform than their predecessors, but with a higher fraction of GCSEs. Age-16 attainment fell, with a lower percentage achieving level 2 of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). This finding is repeated in the post-16 outcome measures, which were stable throughout this period. There is no evidence from the attainment data that these reforms helped low-attaining pupils.     

A comparative analysis of the perceived influence of advanced placement and honors programs upon science instruction

These are two major models for advanced science instruction in American high schools, the traditional honors program and the Advanced Placement (AP) program of the College Entrance Examination Board. Using the self-reports of teachers who were experienced in teaching honors and AP courses to students of similar academic preparation and ability, the author examined the perceived influences of program format upon the use of basic teaching techniques, the laboratory experience, the pace of the course, curricular freedom, and student creativity. One of the most notable aspects of the AP program is the speed at which teachers move through the curriculum. In the rush to prepare students for the exam, most AP teachers adopt a strong lecture format and minimize student-centered activities such as laboratory experimentation, student projects, and student presentations. When laboratory work is not assessed on the national AP examination, such experiences are sacrificed to provide time for lecture. When laboratory experiments are assessed, however, teachers respond by allocating more time for laboratory work, and by upgrading their exercises to make them more quantitative and experimental than those used previously or those used in honors classes. Although AP is associated with a loss in curricular freedom and flexibility, teachers perceive no clear influence of program format upon student creativity.     

Career decision-making of high school students in Kenya

The aim of this study was to identify importantfactors that influence career decisionmaking of highschool students in Kenya. The study indicates thatrural students tend to seek help from parents andteachers more than urban students, and that parents,more than career teachers, play a major role in thecareer decision-making of students. Findings alsoindicate that gender, selfconcept and vocationalstereotyping are among the major factors thatinfluence career decisions of high school students inKenya.