Developing values in primary classrooms and the place of the humanities

ABSTRACT

In this article, I discuss how the context of children’s classroom activities and the quality of their participation and agency are key to learning around values. These pedagogical approaches lie in a socio-cultural theoretical framework which I use to show how ‘empowered’ participation in classrooms and in enquiry activities in curriculum areas is bound up with learning democratic values. Focusing on humanities subjects, I show how such values-based democratic pedagogical approaches in these areas of the curriculum (along with others) can be transformative, promoting values education, personal agency and social change.     

Support for assessment practice: developing the Assessment Design Decisions Framework

There are many excellent publications outlining features of assessment and feedback design in higher education. However, university educators often find these ideas challenging to realise in practice, as much of the literature focuses on institutional change rather than supporting academics. This paper describes the conceptual development of a practical framework designed to stimulate educators’ thinking when creating or modifying assessments. We explain the concepts that underpin this practical support, including the notions of ‘assessment decisions’ and ‘assessment design phases’, as informed by relevant literature and empirical data. We also present the outcome of this work. The Assessment Design Decisions Framework. This provides key considerations in six categories: purposes, contexts, tasks, interactions, feedback processes and learning outcomes. By tracing the development of the Framework, we highlight complex ways of thinking about assessment that are relevant to those who design and deliver assessment to tertiary students.     

What’s the point of moderation? A discussion of the purposes achieved through contemporary moderation practices

An increasingly regulated higher education sector is renewing its attention to those activities referred to as ‘moderation’ in its efforts to ensure that judgements of student achievement are based on appropriate standards. Moderation practices conducted throughout the assessment process can result in purposes identified as equity, justification, accountability and community building. This paper draws on the limited studies of moderation and wider relevant research on judgement, standards and professional learning to test commonly used moderation practices against these identified purposes. The paper concludes with recommendations for maximising the potential of moderation practices to establish and maintain achievement standards.     

FREIRE RE-VIEWED

A bstract .  The work of Paulo Freire is associated with themes of oppression and liberation, and his critical pedagogy is visionary in its attempts to bring about social transformation. Freire has created a theory of education that embeds these issues within social relations that center around both ideological and material domination. In this review essay, Sue Jackson explores three books: Freire's final work Pedagogy of Indignation ; Cesar Augusto Rossatto's Engaging Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of Possibility , which attempts to engage Freire's pedagogy of possibility; and C.A. Bowers and Frederique Apffel-Marglin's edited collection Re-thinking Freire , which asks readers to reconsider Freire's work in light of globalization and environmental crises. Jackson questions the extent to which Freire's pedagogical approaches are useful to educators as well as to "the oppressed," and whether challenges to re-think Freire can lead to new kinds of critical pedagogies.     

Predicting growth of nonword reading and letter‐sound knowledge following rime‐ and phoneme‐based teaching

The present study sought to extend a recent study by Savage, Carless and Stuart , by looking at the pre‐test phonological skills that predicted improvements in letter‐sound knowledge and nonword reading. Results showed overall that phoneme manipulation predicted improvements in nonword reading and letter‐sound knowledge even when pre‐test scores on the respective dependent variables were controlled. Pre‐test letter‐sound knowledge was an independent predictor of nonsense word reading. Overall, onset‐rime manipulation did not add to the prediction of outcome. Onset‐rime manipulation predicted decoding improvements in a subgroup where children were exposed to both rime and phoneme‐based teaching.     

基于城域网的中小学校园网的应用

介绍了武汉市汉阳区西大街小学依托城域网构建校园网，丰富校园网资源库，应用网络教学，实现教学方式改革的成功经验。     

Enhancing participation in primary school and class councils through visual communication

In the context of citizenship education, many UK primary schools have recently set up school councils. Previous research has overlooked the importance of exploring communicative practices specific to school councils and the implications for children's participation. This paper draws on an action‐orientated research project with teachers in three Norfolk primary schools, which began with ethnographic observation of school and class council meetings. By developing alternative visual strategies for facilitating communication in meetings (based on a methodology known as PRA), teachers were able to encourage involvement by more children and enable them to have a greater voice in decision‐making. We argue that the common focus on adult procedures in school councils puts the emphasis on teaching children about their future role as citizens and can limit children's ownership of decision‐making processes. The alternative is to create contexts in which children have a sense of the democratic purposes of their school council in the here and now, by providing children with means (such as the visual strategies) that are consistent with those purposes and prioritizing action as an end.     

An evaluation of the implementation of the junior secondary science syllabus in N.S.W.

Summary and conclusions This paper has reported on two of the methods used to evaluate the implementation of the N.S.W. Junior Secondary Science Syllabus. The study was designed to address a number of questions which formed the framework for the construction of interview schedules. The data obtained using the interview schedules in turn provided the basis for the construction of questionnaires pertinent to science teachers in N.S.W. The questionnaire data reinforced by the interview data suggest that teachers are generally favourable to the notion of a syllabus which allows teachers feedom of choice in selection of contentprovided that they are given the support necessary to take advantage of this freedom with confidence. This study is seen as an integral part of the cycle of Syllabus development. It is distinctly formative rather than summative evaluation. (See Scriven 1967.) Regular and frequent communication with the teaching force is vital to the formation of a Syllabus which is in touch with teacher's needs as curriculum developers and implementers.     

Special educational needs and disability

Issues relating to the categorisation and labelling of pupils, and, the use of the terms 'special educational needs' and 'disability' in particular, have been the topic of debate in BJSE before. In this article, Sue Keil, a research officer at the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), Olga Miller, of the Institute of Education, University of London, and Rory Cobb, a development officer at the RNIB, summarise some of the key findings from a review carried out on behalf of the Disability Rights Commission (DRC). The authors highlight confusion over the use of terms that represent differing ideological perspectives. Despite the social focus that characterises much of the discourse about disability, disability is frequently regarded as an aspect of special educational needs, an area in which a medical model is often dominant. These confusions benefit neither children with disabilities nor those with less clearly-defined difficulties. Sue Keil, Olga Miller and Rory Cobb note with interest recent developments in Scotland where a new framework based on the concept of 'additional support needs' separates disability from educational need and is intended to represent a more inclusive approach to children's learning.     

Role of cognitive prompts in video caregiving training for older adults: optimizing deep and surface learning

Enhancing the cognitive functionality of digital technology can be critical in learning complex topics like caregiving for older adults. This study examines the deployment of cognitive prompts in video-based training to optimize older adults’ cognitive information process in both deep and surface learning. The path analysis revealed the relationship among cognitive prompts, crystallized knowledge and learning outcomes showing crystallized knowledge as a significant mediator between cognitive prompts and learning outcomes. Additionally, cognitive prompts were shown to be significant in activating older learners’ prior knowledge, rendering the learning process more meaningful and purposeful for older adults.