Narrating neoliberalism: alternative education teachers’ conceptions of their changing roles

The signifier ‘alternative’ in education has largely shifted from progressive or humanizing pedagogies to deficit framings requiring alternate graduation criteria. This development is part of broader neoliberal educational reform efforts that disrupt longstanding conceptions of teachers’ roles. This study serves to investigate long-term teachers’ understandings of their shifting roles in one secondary-level alternative education program in New York City. Specifically, this narrative analysis study explores participating teachers’ meanings around agency and their ability to form the relationships that they argue are central to meaningful pedagogies. Findings demonstrate a sense of loss regarding teacher agency and relationships, and a belief that neoliberal reform efforts have limited possibilities for a shared sense of purpose and collaboration.     

Translating theory into practice: integrating the affective and cognitive learning dimensions for effective instruction in engineering education

Learning in the cognitive domain is highly emphasised and has been widely investigated in engineering education. Lesser emphasis is placed on the affective dimension although the role of affects has been supported by research. The lack of understanding on learning theories and how they may be translated into classroom application of teaching and learning is one factor that contributes to this situation. This paper proposes a working framework for integrating the affective dimension of learning into engineering education that is expected to promote better learning within the cognitive domain. Four major learning theories namely behaviourism, cognitivism, socio-culturalism, and constructivism were analysed and how affects are postulated to influence cognition are identified. The affective domain constructs identified to be important are self-efficacy, attitude and locus of control. Based on the results of the analysis, a framework that integrates methodologies for achieving learning in the cognitive domain with the support of the affective dimension of learning is proposed. It is expected that integrated approach can be used as a guideline to engineering educators in designing effective and sustainable instructional material that would result in the effective engineers for future development.     

Spatial Contiguity and Spatial Split-Attention Effects in Multimedia Learning Environments: a Meta-Analysis

Spatial split-attention effects have been noted in the research literature, where, under split-attention conditions, integrating text and diagrams has been shown to be effective. From this literature grew the spatial contiguity principle (or spatial contiguity effect), which states that people learn more when related words and pictures are displayed spatially near one another. Research has shown both effects to influence learning; however, little is known about the conditions in which integrated designs are most effective. This meta-analysis examines the influence of integrated designs across numerous moderator variables in order to improve our understanding of under which conditions integrated designs influence learning. A random effects meta-analysis of 58 independent comparisons (n?=?2426) produced an overall effect size of g?=?0.63 (p?<?0.001). Moderator analyses indicated that integrated designs have benefited learning across many intervention-related and context-related moderator variables. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are provided.     

Learning Physics in Context: A study of student learning about electricity and magnetism

This paper re‐centres the discussion of student learning in physics to focus on context. In order to do so, a theoretically motivated understanding of context is developed. Given a well‐defined notion of context, data from a novel university class in electricity and magnetism are analysed to demonstrate the central and inextricable role of context in student learning. This work sits within a broader effort to create and analyse environments that support student learning in the sciences.     

Creating and maintaining online communities of practice in Malaysian Smart Schools: challenging realities

Wenger describes an educational community of practice (CoP) as a group of professionals who share a passionate concern for practice‐based issues and who voluntarily choose to deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills through collaborative and critical dialogue. Peer collaboration of this kind, which involves social interaction, reflection and a critical engagement with practice issues, has been widely suggested to be effective for teacher learning and professional development. The online continuing professional development for teachers (e‐CPDelT) Vision 2020 model outlined here aims to bring about innovation in practice through an online or virtual CoP (VCoP). Twenty Malaysian teachers in five Smart Schools were invited to take part in a Higher Education (HE) project, funded by one of the main universities in Malaysia. By participating collaboratively in this CoP, it was anticipated that the teachers would form an active online CoP that would lead in turn to innovation in teaching and learning practices in the schools. An action research approach was used in tracing the developmental process of the three subject‐based CoPs (namely, Mathematics, Science and English) and identifying challenges faced by the higher education institution (HEI) project team in fostering the active participation and commitment of the teachers. Preliminary data generated from mentor forum discussion, focus groups and blogs suggested that low levels of participation in VCoP activities were a result of low levels of trust and social affiliation, performance anxiety, time pressure and failure to see the relevance of online interaction as directly related to their individual needs as practitioners. Approaches to remediating these challenges and promoting more authentic teacher engagement are outlined.     

Educational innovation and the knowledge society: development and issues of the clusters of excellence initiative in Malaysia

As nations worldwide strive to compete in a globally interconnected knowledge society the importance of innovative forms of education is being increasingly recognized. In doing so, many education systems look to comparative and international experience for guidance and inspiration. Malaysia aims to become a regional hub for high quality education and economic creativity by 2020, and educational reform is seen as a central component in this strategy. This article examines the key factors, at home and abroad, that have influenced changes in the Malaysian education policy context. It then documents the origins, nature and development of one contemporary educational innovation – the Malaysian Clusters of Excellence Policy. Conclusions reflect upon the place and potential of this key initiative in supporting broader development goals designed to transform the nation into a leading knowledge society within the Southeast Asia region.     

A Survey of Jewish Day Schools in America

It is Only in recent years that the systematic study of Jewish educational systems, particularly in a global context, has become a subject of serious concern. Since 1945 a succession of education conferences and surveys provides evidence of an awareness that the future of World Jewry—in Israel as well as the Diaspora—is inextricably linked with the future of its educational institutions. The World Conference on Jewish Education in Jerusalem in 1962 and the subsequent formation two years later of the World Council on Jewish Education are but two examples of this awareness. The establishment of a Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem marks a further practical step toward attaining some form of coordination on the part of world Jewry.     

Challenging the Gaze: The Subject of Attention and a 1915 Montessori Demonstration Classroom

The child's attention, how this attention is reasoned about, and how attention works as a surface for pedagogical intervention are central to understanding modern schooling. This article examines "attention" as an object of knowledge related to the organization and management of individuals. I address what we might learn about attention by studying one specific Montessori classroom, the glass‐walled public demonstration set up at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair. The pedagogy of attention on display and the spectatorship of the classroom provide an opportunity to rethink how power and subjectivity play in the formation of human attractions. I argue that thinking through Montessori offers important and relevant suggestions for present-day examinations of attention. The 1915 demonstration classroom can help us theorize the relation of attention to normalizing and governmentalizing practices. This specific study of how attention operates in one locale has implications for tactile learning theories and for the analytics of power to be used in studies of attention.     

Can transformational leadership influence on teachers’ commitment towards organization,teaching profession,and students learning? A quantitative analysis

This study investigates the impact of transformational leadership as idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration on teachers’ commitment towards organization, teaching profession, and students’ learning. A quantitative survey method was applied, and four broadly hypothesized relationships were tested with a sample of 1,014 trained non-graduate and graduate teachers serving in twenty-seven secondary schools in Sarawak, Malaysia. The results indicate a moderate level of teachers’ commitment and a low level of transformational leadership qualities among the respondents. This study found that inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation were the factors contributing towards teachers’ commitment to teaching profession, and there was no dominant factor influencing commitment to students’ learning. Moreover, it was discovered that inspirational motivation was a factor to teachers’ efficacy and teaching experience. Besides, teachers’ efficacy and teaching experience were predictors to teachers’ commitment to organization, teaching profession, and students’ learning, respectively. These findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between transformational leadership and teachers’ commitment to organization and teaching profession, but not students’ learning. The results of this study indicate the necessity for leadership development of school leaders so that they could systematically acquire and internalize the effective transformational leadership qualities that are crucial in changing teachers’ attitude and improving their commitment towards their profession.