Knowledge,education and research: Making common cause across communities of practice

This article considers how knowledge, education and research interact as the institutional structures that support them change. Many efforts at large‐scale education reform depend upon the proposition that what counts as useful knowledge can be easily defined, without reference to the specific contexts in which that knowledge will be set to work. Yet ?useful knowledge’ as it appears to policymakers does not always translate into ?useful knowledge’ from the perspective of practitioners. Distance and context matter. Based on studies of the development of literacy policy in England under successive governments, the paper assesses the dislocations and divisions of labour that characterise the contemporary knowledge landscape and asks how the research community can continue to act for the common good in an increasingly crowded and contested education field.     

School pupils' reactions to flexible learning

The article describes a survey of the attitudes of sixth form students towards an Advanced level course in sociology taught by open learning strategies. The problems of open learning for the 16–19 year age group are highlighted and suggestions made for the use of key questions in performance monitoring which may identify learning difficulties for other open learners in this age group. The findings suggest that younger students entering such open learning programmes may need study methods counselling and additional tutorial support.     

Leading professional learning in an Australian secondary school through school‐university partnerships

As the limitations of one‐off and disconnected professional learning programs for teachers are recognised, there is widespread interest in building learning communities and professional learning teams within schools. When considering how to build local learning communities, school and university partnerships are seen as offering rich possibilities for transformative professional action. Set in the context of the international agenda of “Education For All” (UNESCO, 2005 UNESCO. (2005). Education for all: Global monitoring project. Retrieved January 8, 2007, from http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php‐URL_ID=36004&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=36004&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html)  [Google Scholar]) a model of sustained on‐going professional learning, developed in one large secondary school in Australia, is analysed. The social practices that generate action and participation for partnership members are then scrutinised for the legitimacy of school‐university partnerships and the contribution to enhancing teacher learning.     

Defining'science-based targets'

The 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below 2℃above pre-industrial levels and aim towards limiting warming to 1.5℃marked a wa-tershed in planetar...     

人类发展报道

The United Nations Human Development Program has released its yearly study on the quality of life for people around the world. The U-N report was started in 1990 to measure the progress of nations based on the lives of their citizens.This year's report lists 173 countries. It is based on the length of time citizens are expected to live, their education level and the amount of money they earn. Norway was listed as the country providing the best     

The Construction of Meaning from Text: possible effects of different reading strategies

An examination is reported of the effect of differences in reading strategies on the construction of meaning from novel length text. Following a brief review of psychological theory relevant to the question of how particular strategies could constrain meaning construction, specific differences are hypothesised in relation to Orwell's classic tale, Animal Farm. The results of an experimental examination using post‐graduate Diploma in Education students as subjects, and multidimensional scaling as the analytic technique, support the contention that reading strategies are important in the construction of differential meanings. The educational implications of the results are discussed in relation to the change in school practice from teacher‐directed reading to students reading more books but on their own or in small groups, without direct teacher intervention.     

Poor relations in the preschool family: the funding of playgroups 1

Playgroups provide for more children under five than any other preschool service, and now regard themselves as an alternative to, rather than a substitute for, nursery education. There are, however, a number of major issues concerning their funding: income depends largely on parental fees and fund‐raising; playgroups are less well resourced than nursery education; and current resourcing may be too low to ensure quality. Based on research in 45 playgroups in three areas (rural, inner city, and suburban), the paper looks in more detail at the consequences for playgroups of their current funding position and, more specifically, at the impact on various aspects of playgroups ‐ including premises and equipment; opening hours and usage; the position of playgroup workers; the satisfaction of mothers and playgroup leaders; and the playgroup environment ‐ of different funding policies pursued by local authorities in the three study areas. One local authority provided substantial support to individual playgroups, while the other two gave minimal support. The paper concludes by considering three options for the future funding of playgroups.