Independence and Prescription in Learning: Researching the Paradox of Advanced GNVQs

This article outlines the context in which General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) have been developed with particular reference to the independent learning dimension of their principles and practice. It provides an overview of the problems associated with the GNVQ approach from the literature and from a study by the authors of twelve post-16 institutions in the process of implementing Advanced GNVQ programmes. It analyses the dimensions of independent learning and argues that GNVQs provide a hybrid learner experience in which autonomy in the organisation of the individual learning process is mediated by a heavily prescribed GNVQ framework. The article concludes by locating this paradox in four central dilemmas characterising post-16 curricular policy in the UK.     

The Effects of Class Size on Classroom Processes: 'It's a Bit Like a Treadmill – Working Hard and Getting Nowhere Fast!'

Despite current moves in the UK to limit class sizes for young children in school, there is still a disturbing lack of research evidence on the effect of class size differences on pupils' educational progress and experience. Past research has concentrated on the effects on outcomes such as pupils' school attainments in basic areas. Much less is known about classroom processes that might mediate any such effects, though such knowledge is more useful for practice and policy. Drawing on a current programme of research at the Institute of Education, University of London, this paper identifies five processes likely to be connected to class size: within class grouping practices, the nature and quality of teaching, pupil attention in class, pupil adjustment to school and effects on teachers' morale, stress and enthusiasm. Relevent research is reviewed, and in line with this research the paper concentrates on the primary school years.     

Organizational socialization and induction in universities: Reconceptualizing theory and practice

This paper argues that the theory and practice of induction and socialization of new academic staff in universities have been based on a partial, corporatist, perspective influenced by now defunct structural-functionalist theory. We develop a more sophisticated theoretical understanding of organizational socialization and explore its consequences for the practice of induction of new academic staff. These ideas are based on secondary data derived from a number of studies of new academic appointees (NAAs), 27 in-depth interviews we conducted with academics in ten Canadian and English universities, both chartered and unchartered, and a five year ethnographic study of academic staff in a single unchartered English university.     

Networks of law encoding diagrams for understanding science

Understanding science involves the mastery of complex networks of concepts. To design effective computer based systems for learning science it is essential to adequately characterize the nature of those conceptual networks, so that clear and appropriate instructional goals can be defined and fed into the design process. This paper considers a novel class of representations for science instruction — Law Encoding Diagrams (LEDs) — and describes the nature of scientific understanding based on these representations. A framework of four classes of schemas has been proposed to characterizes problem solving and learning with LEDs. How the framework encompasses complex networks of concepts is discussed and the implications for the design of computer based learning environments based on LEDs are considered.     

Renewed Hopes and Lost Opportunities: early childhood in the early years of the Labour Government

The first 2 years of the Labour government have seen unparalleled attention and resources devoted to early childhood services. However, behind the current flurry of activity, a larger opportunity may be slipping away: the opportunity to transform a neglected and incoherent confusion of services into an integrated and coherent early years service. Rather than thinking the unthinkable, government seems to have settled for a process of reform, opting for more and better of the same. Transformation required six major issues to be fully addressed: what constitutes early childhood: administrative integration; staffing; funding; the type of early childhood services that the UK needs; and identifying critical questions about early childhood and the purposes of early childhood services. So far, however, they have not been. Having waited years for change, it would have been better to have waited a bit longer for a White Paper setting out the vision of a transformed early childhood service and the steps needed to achieve that vision over the next 5 to 10 years     

Patterns of perceptual deficits in academically deficient juvenile delinquents

Patterns of perceptual deficits were investigated in a population of academically deficient juvenile delinquents. Comparisons were made with a group of youthful offenders with adequate academic skills. Auditory perceptual deficits appeared to be a more significant factor in accounting for the severe academic deficiencies observed in the delinquent subjects than did visual-perceptual deficits. However, multiple perceptual deficits involving both auditory and visual perceptual skills formed the basis of the majority of academic deficiencies and social maladaptation. The results indicate the potential ill effects of an undiagnosed and untreated learning disability on subsequent emotional development. Prevention of delinquency may begin with the preschool child who is at high-risk for developing behavioral problems in later years.     

数字仓储库的发展

综述数字仓储库的发展现状,归纳总结仓储库的类型和内容特点,详细分析仓储库建设过程中的典型用例,重点对出版商用例和多机构用例的数据处理、服务管理和效果进行归纳和分析,详细说明其建设过程和方法。并结合仓储库管理者的意见和仓储库目前存在的问题,提出下一步仓储库建设的重点和发展的方向。