The unintended consequences of school inspection: the prevalence of inspection side-effects in Austria,the Czech Republic,England, Ireland,the Netherlands,Sweden, and Switzerland

It has been widely documented that accountability systems, including school inspections, bring with them unintended side effects. These unintended effects are often negative and have the potential to undo the intended positive effects. However the empirical evidence is limited. Through a European comparative study we have had the rare opportunity to collect empirical evidence and study the effects (both intended and unintended) of school inspections (a key system of accountability) in a systematic way, across seven countries. We present the findings of the unintended effects in this paper. Survey self-report responses from school principals in each country, with differing school inspection systems, are analysed to measure the prevalence of these unintended effects and to investigate the part played by pressure to do well in inspections. A key finding is that increasing pressure in school inspection systems is associated with the undesired effect of the narrowing and refocusing of the curriculum and instructional strategies. We also show that a proportion of school principals admit to misrepresenting the school in data sent to the inspectorate and show evidence for formalisation/proceduralisation (excessive focus on records) and ossification (fear of experimentation in teaching), although these factors are less related to changes in pressure.     

Administration for innovation in higher education

The paper commences from the premise that the major paradigms of administration are not appropriate to higher education. Structural approaches place too great an emphasis on the organization and its mission, subjectivist approaches fail to acknowledge the constraints and enablements of structure and the role of continuity and radical change approaches fail to provide a positive basis for administration. The paper outlines an approach to educational administration which addresses these difficulties. It is based on structuration theory together with cooperative learning theory and group work. The paper reports an investigation of an attempt to apply this approach to the administration of a program of teaching awards in an Australian university. It reports some success and some limitations.Peter Ling is engaged in education quality assurance and educational development at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He is the President of the Victorian Branch of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia. Dr. Ling's current research is in faculty responses to educational development activities. He holds M.Ed, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Melbourne. Lorraine Ling is Chair of the Teaching Center at LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia. The focus of her research and publication is analysis of administrative systems in education. She has wide experience in schools and in teacher education. She has engaged in educational consultancy, including faculty development, in Australia, Europe, and Asia. She holds an M.Ed, from Deakin University.     

Relations of Children's Effortful Control and Teacher-Child Relationship Quality to School Attitudes in a Low-Income Sample

RESEARCH FINDINGS: The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of children's effortful control and quality of relationships with teachers to school attitudes longitudinally in an ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged sample. Data were collected as part of a larger intervention project during mid-fall, winter, and late spring (ns = 823, 722, and 758, respectively) for 2 cohorts of 3- to 5-year-olds (collected during 2 different school years). Children's effortful control was assessed in the fall with parents' and teachers' reports and 2 behavioral measures. Teacher-child relationship quality was assessed mid-year with teachers' reports of closeness and conflict. Attitudes toward school were assessed in late spring using teachers' and students' reports of school avoidance and liking. Effortful control, in general, was positively correlated with teacher-child closeness and school liking and negatively correlated with conflict and school avoidance. Using structural equation modeling and controlling for sex and ethnicity, we found that effortful control was positively related to teacher-child relationship quality, which in turn was positively related to school attitudes. Furthermore, the relation of effortful control to school attitudes was mediated by teacher-child relationship quality. PRACTICE OR POLICY: Results provide evidence for the importance of relational processes that take place within the classroom context and have implications for teachers and clinicians working to increase school success in ethnic minority and low-income children.     

Engendering habits of mind and heart through integrative learning

Students are often exposed to an almost breathtaking array of curricular and cocurricular learning experiences, but how do we help them make meaning of their diverse learning? Simone Himbeault Taylor suggests pedagogical processes that promote reflection across learning experiences in a student‐centered approach to integrate learning.     

Development of student knowledge in competence-based pre-vocational secondary education

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the development of student knowledge in pre-vocational secondary education schools which differ in the manner and extent to which they have implemented characteristics of competence-based education. The implementation of these characteristics was examined using a teacher questionnaire and the development of knowledge was investigated using concept mapping. The results showed that students developed slightly more knowledge in learning situations with fewer characteristics of competence-based education. The organisational characteristics of the learning situations were further found to be distinctive for the development of knowledge.     

Students’ perceptions of classroom instructional environments in the context of ‘Universal Design for Learning’

Using a sample of 867 students in Grades 5–12, the present study investigated whether students’ perceptions toward the instructional environment in classrooms that employed Universal Design for Learning differed by school grade level and teacher gender. High-school students in the study showed higher perception scores than upper-elementary or middle-school students in the personalisation and participation aspect of the classroom environment. The results for teacher gender indicated that students in the study perceived a more personalised classroom environment with female teachers than with male teachers. Policy implications and methodological considerations are provided for future study.     

An analysis of how and why a TAFE course was changed: The implications

The Federal government has indicated that vocational education, especially education that is technically oriented, is essential to Australia’s economic future. The Federal government has also expressed concern at the educational inequalities faced by certain groups in society. The Associate Diploma of Technology (Computing) a cross-accredited course giving access to a university degree, was designed to address both of these concerns. This article examines how the course has been altered and the forces behind these changes. This examination is carried out by exploring different perspectives of the course, such as: the government, TAFE, and the students and the teachers. The resulting evidence suggests that students have taken up the government’s rhetoric; they believe they will be snapped up by industry and gain employment in high technology areas, and think that social issues are a waste of time. The evidence also indicates that the course is being targeted more towards young adults who have failed to get into a university course than towards the original target of women and immigrants.     

Designing Instructional Examples to Reduce Intrinsic Cognitive Load: Molar versus Modular Presentation of Solution Procedures

It is usually assumed that successful problemsolving in knowledge-rich domains depends onthe availability of abstract problem-typeschemas whose acquisition can be supported bypresenting students with worked examples.Conventionally designed worked examples oftenfocus on information that is related to themain components of problem-type schemas, namelyon information related to problem-categorymembership, structural task features, andcategory-specific solution procedures. However,studying these examples might be cognitivelydemanding because it requires learners tosimultaneously hold active a substantial amountof information in working memory. In ourresearch, we try to reduce intrinsic cognitiveload in example-based learning by shifting thelevel of presenting and explaining solutionprocedures from a `molar' view – that focuseson problem categories and their associatedoverall solution procedures – to a more`modular' view where complex solutions arebroken down into smaller meaningful solutionelements that can be conveyed separately. Wereview findings from five of our own studiesthat yield evidence for the fact thatprocessing modular examples is associated witha lower degree of intrinsic cognitive load andthus, improves learning.