The French zones d’éducation prioritaire: Much ado about nothing?

We provide an assessment of the French ZEP (Zones d’Education Prioritaire), a program started in 1982 that channels additional resources to schools in disadvantaged areas and encourages the development of new teaching projects. Focusing on middle-schools, we first evaluate the impact of the ZEP status on resources, their utilization (teacher bonuses versus teaching hours) and key establishments characteristics such as class sizes, school enrolments, teachers’ qualifications and experience, and student composition and mobility. We then estimate the impact of the ZEP program on four measures of individual student achievement: obtaining at least one diploma by the end of schooling, reaching 8th grade, reaching 10th grade and success at the Baccalauréat (the national examination at the end of high school). We take into account the endogeneity of the ZEP status by using both difference in differences and instrumental variables based on political variables. The results are the same in all cases: there is no impact on student success of the ZEP program.     

Service quality ideals in a competitive tertiary environment

Drawing on the experience of an Engineering School in Singapore, the paper explores the success factors of service quality in higher education by integrating the characteristics of SERVQUAL (an instrument for assessing students’ experience of higher education) and SQA (Singapore Quality Award). Data were collected by means of structured interviewing from a variety of faculty within the School. Customer orientation, quality course design and delivery as well as support services were found to have a direct impact on the total experience of students. The study reinforces the emerging educational paradigms that seek to challenge norms and assumptions, gearing educators to do the right things rather than doing things right.     

Effects of knowing the task duration on players’ pacing patterns during soccer small-sided games

The aim of this study was to identify the influence of prior knowledge of exercise duration on players’ pacing patterns during soccer small-sided games. Twenty semi-professional male soccer players participated in this study. In the first game scenario, players were not informed how long they would be required to play the small-sided game and the activity was terminated after 20 min (Unknown Condition). In the second game scenario, players were told that they would play the small-sided game for 10 min, but immediately after completing the 10-min game, they were asked to complete another 10 min (Partially Condition). In the third game scenario, players were instructed that they would play the small-sided game for 20 min and then they completed the 20-min game (Known Condition). The results presented a tendency of higher values in all performance variables in the [0′–10′] min compared with the [10′–20′] min. As the players’ previous knowledge about the tasks duration increased, the performance between two moments tended to be similar. Considering the entire 20-min game duration, the Partially Condition of the exercise was the most demanding condition. In conclusion, the knowledge of shorter durations of the exercise seems to lead to an increase of exercise duration demand, and longer exercise durations possibly tend to decrease differences between full knowledge and not knowing the exercise duration.     

What is the subject matter of physical education?

The school subject Physical Education (PE) deals explicitly with the body and movement. Therefore, it is essential to define the content of PE based on these two aspects. Historically, school is mainly oriented towards the mind, which has recently been named competency. For that reason, the mind-body problem is omnipresent in PE. Additionally, the recent shift to developing competencies in PE is intensifying the dualism of mind and body by opposing knowledge and knowing-how. In a first step, this categorical difference between mind and body will be explained in the course of a philosophical discussion and illustrated with appropriate examples. As will be shown, the mind-body contrast should be considered as a continuum instead of a dualism. Therefore—in a second step—Green’s teaching continuum will give an answer to the question if the subject matter of PE is a combination of cognitive and motor activity or not. In a third step, Dewey’s concept of experience will be outlined, based on which the practice of doing sport is explained and developed. A fourth step will be to develop a complementary curricular model that attempts to connect the two poles “mind” and “body” by linking performance with content standards (forms of sport), based on the current discourse on competencies and standards. In this manner, the presentation of a curricular model for PE overcomes the Cartesian contrast between mind and body. Additionally, it gives an answer to the current discussion about competencies and standards in PE that emanates from other disciplines and should be self-confidently discussed in our own discipline.     

Beyond automation and control: Manufacturing information systems from a strategic perspective

This paper reviews the application of computer-based information systems for manufacturing, which has found a lack of strategic orientation. Critical factors for a strategic-oriented information system, i.e. external information scanning, data refining and information reporting, are discussed. A strategic-oriented system model that incorporates information scanning-refining-reporting into manufacturing automation and control systems is proposed. A case study of a corporate strategic information processing system in a UK company is explored. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are made.     

Neural Differences in Bilingual Children's Arithmetic Processing Depending on Language of Instruction

Many children in bilingual regions follow lessons in a language at school (school‐language) that they hardly ever speak at home or in other informal settings. What are the neural effects of this phenomenon? This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigates the effects of using school‐language on brain activity during a high cognitive task in two groups of French/Dutch bilingual children. Participants were asked to assess the correctness of 3‐operand (e.g., 5 ? 2 = 3) and 4‐operand (e.g., 3 ? 2 = 1 + 4) equations, respectively. Instructions about the task were given either in the children's school‐language or in another language that they only used at home. It was found that although both groups recruited a visuomotor occipitofrontal network in the left hemisphere, the children who performed the task in their school‐language showed less activation than the children who did not, indicating the importance of language of instruction for bilingual children's arithmetic processing.