Teachers’ perspectives of lower secondary school students in streamed classes – A Western Australian case study

Streaming in secondary schools is not beneficial for improving student outcomes of education with vast amounts of educational research indicating that it does not improve academic results and increases inequity. Yet teachers often prefer working in streamed classes, and research shows that teachers mediate the effects of streaming on students. This study sought to add to the understanding of teachers’ role in student learning by investigating how teachers conceptualise the students in streamed classes. A qualitative case study approach was used, where 18 teachers were interviewed in-depth to create narrative examples, three of which are presented here. These narratives summarise the research findings that teachers saw students in high and low streams as having homogenous characteristics according to five dichotomous categories: approach to learning, attitude to learning, learning style, autonomy and background. Students in mixed-ability classes were viewed along these same continua, but as more heterogeneous groups. Furthermore, these views of students had direct implications for how teachers planned for learning and the expectations that they held of their students. The discussion links streaming research with teacher expectation research, suggesting that teachers of streamed classes in this secondary school hold specific whole-class ideas that affect student learning. The article concludes with recommendations for further inquiry that links these two important fields of educational research.     

Vaille Dawson,Grady Venville,Jennifer Donovan (eds): The Art of Teaching Science: a Comprehensive Guide to the Teaching of Secondary School Science, 3rd Edition

Research in Science Education -     

Using a World Café to Explore New Spaces and New Models for Front Line Services: A Case Study from the Irish University Library Sector

World Café, sometimes termed Knowledge Café, is now an established method of facilitating productive dialogue between a group or groups of people around an issue that matters to the group as a whole. Now a world movement, the methodology is straightforward and uses conversation as a key process to connect people, who may be from different organizations, age groups, cultures, continents, and so forth. Café conversations draw on the wisdom and creativity of the participants to explore issues of concern to them and to confront real life challenges. Following some background information and a brief review of the literature relating to the World Café, this article presents a case study of the application of the model to facilitate discussion and learning around a topic of common concern, frontline desk services, for 61 staff from 11 Irish academic libraries at Maynooth University (MU) Library in October 2015. This was part of a one-day staff development event: MU Library Innovation Day. The application of the World Café methodology is described. The results of the evaluation of the event are presented and discussed. Actions and outcomes are provided. Limitations of the case study are presented.     

Addressing plagiarism in online programmes at a health sciences university: a case study

Plagiarism continues to be a concern for all educational institutions. To build a solid foundation for high academic standards and best practices at a graduate university, aspects of plagiarism were reviewed to develop better management processes for reducing plagiarism. Specifically, the prevalence of plagiarism and software programmes for detecting plagiarism was investigated. From that information, best practices for responding to plagiarism were developed and a process to enhance academic integrity was instituted. The results were impressive, the incidence of plagiarism offences reduced by half in three years, and by 75% among the English as a second-language student population.     

The role of Action Learning in supporting cross-cultural adaptation of international students

ABSTRACT

We explore the reflections of a lecturer using Action Learning (AL) meetings for the dissertation module on a one-year Master’s programme with a predominantly international student cohort. We focus on two concerns: to what extent does AL mitigate against the negative experiences of cross-cultural adaptation? And can we surface and share the learning that occurs when (international) scholars become practitioners and practitioners become (international) scholars? In the AL groups, many students seem more at ease with themselves, others and content in AL meetings than in other sessions. We scrutinised AL and our AL meetings to explore what makes it different and perhaps a better learning experience for the international student. This paper emerged following discussions with David, an e-learning and pedagogic specialist. Before continuing, note that there are two terms discussed in the literature: ‘cross-cultural adjustment’ and ‘cross cultural adaptation’. ‘Adjustment’ refers to minor changes to cope with when facing a new situation, ‘adaptation’ to larger scale changes [Haslberger, Arno, and Chris Brewster. 2007. “Domains of Expatriate Adjustment with Special Emphasis on Work.” Presented at the Cadiz University’s VI International Workshop on Human Resource Management, Jerez, Spain]. We suggest that AL be used more often and earlier with international students.     

Training program in child abuse for community health workers

A wide range of health workers in the community provide care for families that abuse or have a potential for abusing their children. Frequently these workers are unable to work effectively because of difficulty dealing with feelings aroused by contact with such families.An experimental child abuse training program for community health workers was designed by a pediatrician, a social worker, a public health nurse and two child psychiatrists. This program included a six-month study group which met weekly to focus on feelings and conflcts aroused during the course of work with abusing or potentially abusing families.Through analysis of the group experience, the leaders identified eleven sets of feelings or conflicts which seemed to interfere consistently with effective delivery of care: 1)anxieties about a) being physically harmed by angry parents and b) about the effects of a decision; 2) denial and inhibition of anger; 3) need for emotional gratification from clients; 4) lack of professional support; 5) feelings of incompetence; 6) denial and projection of responsbility; 7) feeling total responsibility for assigned families; 8) difficulty separating personal from professional responsibility; 9) feelings of being a victim; 10) ambivalent feelings a) toward clients and b) about one's professional role; 11) need to be in control.This type of group experience seems to be an effective method for exploration and resolution of feelings and conflicts.