Equal Opportunities in School‐based ITE: A view from one secondary PGCE course

Evidence suggests that equal opportunities issues are neglected in schools and in HEI based initial teacher education courses. It would, therefore, seem reasonable to assume that they will continue to be neglected in school based ITE.

This paper reports the findings of a small scale investigation into what input on equal opportunities students on a one year, school based, secondary PGCE course were receiving. In essence, the findings were that although the majority of students expressed the belief that active, conscious attention to equal opportunities issues is essential for good practice, they were not given the information or guidance they felt was necessary for them to achieve this. Although some students expressed discontent with the treatment equal opportunities were given in the HEI based component of the course, schools received the bulk of the criticism for neglecting this area or for only paying it lip service.

Mentors need to give more attention to equal opportunities if future generations of school students are not to be further disadvantaged.     

The Sorcery of Apprenticeships and New/Old Brooms: Thinking about theory,practice, the practicum and change

Attempts to reform teacher education, and in particular the practicum, often fail to produce the desired results. I apply Bourdieu's notion of field to teacher education, to show how a theory/practice binary maps onto the hierarchically ordered cultural and symbolic capitals of university-school relationships. Reform of teacher education cannot be achieved simply by adding more practice to university courses, nor by inverting the dyad to produce theory-less school-based teaching apprenticeships. Following Bourdieu, I suggest that those arguing for change-in teacher education, schools and leadership-must look at their own investments in the game, as well as working with/against it, in order to produce new forms of partnerships and a new approach to the practicum.     

Not quite university people? Academics teaching on foundation studies programmes in New Zealand universities

ABSTRACT

In the current neoliberal environment in higher education, universities are viewed as a valuable source of income. To generate this income, universities need to attract students, and in order to do so, they need to perform well in global ranking tables. These tables are influenced to a large extent by staff research and postgraduate teaching. Foundation studies programmes (FS) do not usually have a great deal to offer in these categories and this places staff teaching on these programmes in a difficult position. This article explores the perceptions of staff teaching on FS programmes in New Zealand universities, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 22 lecturers from four universities. Although lip service is paid in higher education circles to the importance of widening access to university education for traditionally marginalised groups, it appears that staff teaching on FS programmes do not, on the whole, receive acknowledgement, support or reward for the work that they do. Despite their marginalised status, these lecturers are committed to helping second chance learners. However, their ability to make a positive impact on these students’ lives is limited by their lowly status in the university sector. This article discusses the insights of FS staff and considers the implications of their positioning in the university sector. It offers some suggestions as to how, in a small way, universities could address the difficulties these academics face in their attempts to widen university access.     

Transpromo实现与客户成功交流

在过去的20年里．全世界的公司使用Transpromo（Transpromo=transaction＋promotion,票据广告）已经取得相当的成功。20年!你会认为这不太可能!难道Transpromo技术不需要色彩和数据挖掘以及可变数据印刷吗？事实上．Transpromo有多种不同的形式．从最基本的信息,比如基于客户信息的黑白印刷的声明材料．到最复杂的文档．比如根据客户信息及其需要确定的可变信息、图像．甚至不同的文字大小和格式。     

Teaching Science Through Home and Second Languages as the Medium of Instruction: a Comparative Analysis of Junior Secondary Science Classrooms in Hong Kong

Positioned in the Hong Kong education context, this article evaluates the effects of teaching science through home and second languages (i.e. Chinese and English) in Secondary 2 (or eighth grade) science classrooms. A total of 479 students, divided into two language instruction groups, participated in a teaching intervention comprising 16 lessons on the topic of ‘Making Use of Electricity’. Informed by the results of a mixed-methods study with a quasi-experimental design, with data collected from science diagnostic tests, inquiry questions and focus group interviews, this article reports that Chinese is the most advantageous language of instruction for low- and middle-ability science students, whereas English is more favourable for their high-achieving peers. Whilst Hong Kong students who learnt the focal topic in English were able to rid themselves of certain naive ideas generated from the translation of science terms into Chinese (e.g. pencil ‘鉛筆’ is translated as ‘lead pen’ in Chinese), they were also found to have misconceptions about certain scientific concepts. For example, they were confused about ‘open’ and ‘closed’ circuits because they mixed up the words ‘open’ (‘開放’) and ‘switch on’ (‘開啟’) in English. The study’s broad implications for language support and a mixed-code approach in science teaching worldwide are discussed.

     

Disciplinary regimes of ‘care’ and complementary alternative education

In schools, the notion of ‘care is often synonymous with welfare and disciplinary regimes. Drawing on Foucault, and a study of alternative education (AE) across the UK, and looking in depth at two cases of complementary AE, we identify three types of disciplinary regimes at work in schools: (1) dominant performative reward and punishment, (2) team-building and (3) therapeutic. We argue that while all three regimes aim to steer identified students back to the norm, the two complementary approaches that we saw avoided the narrow instrumental behaviourist approaches of the dominant pattern. In so doing, they also opened up wider horizons of possibility and ways to be and become.     

Effect of sport education on students’ perceived physical literacy,motivation, and physical activity levels in university required physical education: a cluster-randomized trial

Higher Education - Originating from the field of physical education, physical literacy is an individual disposition that accentuates the importance of lifelong physical activity. Sport education is...     

Intergenerational activities

Early Childhood Education Journal - How can we prepare the young children of today for the future, when 20 percent of all Americans will be old? Education about the process of human aging can help...