Designing professional learning for effecting change: Partnerships for local and system networks

This paper presents (i) a purpose-built conceptual model for professional learning and (ii) a leadership framework designed to support a large-scale project involving diverse sites across the state of Queensland, Australia. The project had as its focus teacher-capacity building and ways to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for students at educational disadvantage. It involved 15 intersectoral clusters and brought together Middle School teachers, principals, curriculum leaders and management personnel from Education Queensland, the Association of Independent Schools Inc., and the Catholic Education Commission. In the paper we discuss how the project worked at the interface of research and practice. Further, we discuss how professional learning was facilitated by a multi-layered approach that acknowledged the importance of research-based learning, curriculum and pedagogic leadership by principals, and strong opportunities for teacher agency through cross-cluster and intersectoral collaboration. In conclusion, we invite readers to consider how the approach represents a radical new way to think about what could count as valued professional learning interactions.     

Touch your toes! Developing a direct measure of behavioral regulation in early childhood

Behavioral aspects of self-regulation, including controlling and directing actions, paying attention, and remembering instructions, are critical for successful functioning in preschool and elementary school. In recent years, several direct assessments of these skills have appeared, but few studies provide complete psychometric data and many are not easy to administer. We developed a direct measure of children's behavioral regulation, the Head-to-Toes Task, and report performance of participants aged 36–78 months, including a group of Spanish-speaking children, from two different sites (N = 353; N = 92). We examined construct validity, examiner reliability, sources of variation, and associations between task scores and background characteristics. Results showed that the task was valid, reliable, and demonstrated variability in children's scores. A cross-classified hierarchical growth curve analysis indicated that girls, participants assessed in English, and higher-socioeconomic status (SES) children achieved slightly higher average scores than did boys, Spanish-speaking and lower-SES children, but effect sizes were small. Older participants achieved higher scores than did younger children, and there were no effects for site. Results suggest that the Head-to-Toes Task is an informative and easy-to-administer direct assessment of children's behavioral regulation. We discuss implications for its use in early childhood settings.     

Using conjoint analysis to examine bias in referral to a behavior intervention program

Research in the United States suggests that teachers view Black students' misbehavior as more likely to reoccur, but such research has not disentangled the effect of race from related factors. We used conjoint analysis to experimentally test the effect of multiple student characteristics on the chances of being referred for a behavior intervention program. Although preservice teacher participants were not more likely to refer Black students, they were more likely to refer students who had lower grades, lived in poverty, lived with a single mother, and had been retained. We interpret these results and highlight directions for future research and practice.     

Greening steel work: Varieties of Capitalism and the ‘greening’ of skills

An important driver of change in work, employment and skills is European Union policy aims of sustainable economic growth and the cultivation of a green economy. Part of the latter – which is supported by increasing environmental regulation – focuses on the development of a ‘green skills agenda’, which involves the ‘greening’ of existing occupations as well as meeting the skill needs of new environmental sectors and occupations. In this paper, we compare attempts to ‘green’ work and skills through an examination of engineering apprenticeships within the German and British steel industries. We argue that efforts to ‘green’ skills are taking place at varying degrees of intensity, mostly because of variations in institutional context. The evidence we present suggests that implementation of change is much more dynamic in the context of Coordinated Market Economies such as Germany, where development is shaped by robust VET frameworks and wider processes of environmental innovation. In contrast, within Liberal Market Economies such as the UK, there are significant barriers to the vision for and investments in skills generally, as well as those necessary for greening the labour process, with an extant development paradigm that is driven by short-term benefits and a limited focus on environmental compliance.     

Using feedback to promote student participation in online learning programs: evidence from a quasi-experimental study

Educational technology research and development - How should learner analytics and different media be used to optimize feedback to increase students’ motivation and sense of learning...     

Electronic Course Surveys: Does automating feedback and reporting give better results?

This paper discusses an electronic course survey system designed to support evaluation of a modular programme in management taught through distance education. The scale and communication issues raised by distance education, when compounded by a complex rolling modular programme, make conventional evaluation complicated, slow and expensive. To overcome these problems, an automated evaluation process was introduced, partly based on web-based surveying, but significantly emphasising the reporting process and allowing performance indicators and complex analyses to be embedded in high quality word-processed reports, that can be quickly and easily generated after each presentation of a module. The paper discusses the system and the impact that it has had on the evaluation process, before looking to future opportunities for developments in this field, and discussing some of the implications - both expected and unanticipated - that have come out of using automation in the evaluation process.     

The relationship of intelligence,self‐concept and locus of control to school achievement for Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal Children

This research examines variables related to the school achievement of Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal students. Thirty‐five indigenous students and fifty‐eight non‐Aboriginals in Grade eight completed a Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventory and the Intellectual Responsibility Questionnaire. These scores, together with information on intellectual ability, school achievement on teacher‐made English and mathematics tests, sex, school and ethnic origin, were entered in a multiple regression equation. No difference between the two groups emerged on scores of self‐esteem and locus of control. However, the predictors of achievement for each group differed significantly. Intellectual ability was the best predictor of achievement for non‐Aboriginals, while locus of control was the most important predictor for the indigenous group. Results are discussed in relation to recent research and classroom implications.     

Analysis of Personality,Suicide, and Self‐Injury in Emerging Adulthood

Nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) is a maladaptive coping strategy that is of significant clinical concern for behavioral health professionals in college settings. Relationships between NSSI, acquired capability for suicide, interpersonal cognitions, and five‐factor model personality traits were assessed in a survey‐based study that included 192 young adults in a college setting. Results indicated that those with an affirmative suicide attempt history, greater acquired capability for suicide, and elevated neuroticism had an increased likelihood of lifetime NSSI.