‘Better policies for better lives’?: constructive critique of the OECD’s (mis)measure of student well-being

ABSTRACT

Facing increasing critique that PISA focuses too narrowly on cognitive achievement and human/knowledge capital, the OECD has recently shifted some of its focus to student happiness. The 2017 Students’ Well-Being report distinguishes between ‘happy schools’ and ‘unhappy schools’, showing that among students who combined high performance and life satisfaction, northern European countries topped the charts. Meanwhile, students in East Asian countries including Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea registered the lowest ‘life satisfaction’ scores among all participating countries. This piece points out some of the problems inherent in the OECD’s recent turn to happiness, problematizing the OECD yardstick of life satisfaction. Attempting to keep the critique constructive, we suggest that the OECD may want to consider using alternative metrics, then briefly highlight one developed in East Asia from different first assumptions: the Interdependent Happiness Scale. In conclusion we flag, but cannot answer, some related educational questions concerning policy, pedagogy, and priorities for the future.     

Rhodes Boyson: a Janus of education?

ABSTRACT

This article examines the career of the educationalist, Conservative politician and published writer on education and politics, Rhodes Boyson (1925–2012). As an educationalist, Boyson established Highbury Grove Boys’ Comprehensive School in Islington, North London: an inner-city school which was antithetical to the wave of progressivism in the 1960s and early 1970s. The article explores Boyson’s educational approach and vision in greater depth than has been the case in previous publications about him and attempts to place him beyond the limitations of a caricature and offer some redemption, seeing him as a paradox: he was welded to educational traditions but at the same time had a vision which can be seen as forward-thinking. This duality, and the sense of Rhodes Boyson as a paradox, makes the Janus metaphor apposite.     

Understanding mathematical literacy: The contribution of research

Amid the current ‘math wars’ in the United States, research evidence is being both demanded and attacked by all sides. A recent study designed to synthesize the literature on mathematics learning and to provide research-based recommendations, advice, and guidance developed an elaborated view of mathematical literacy, termed mathematical proficiency in the study report. Mathematical proficiency can serve as a focus for both research and practice, avoiding the extreme positions with respect to the goals of mathematics learning that are so often found in disputes over school mathematics. The study also demonstrated how research could be synthesized so that evidence from research might be used more productively for changing school mathematics in ways that would yield greater mathematical literacy for all.     

“Score-for-Credit”: An Analysis of AP Chemistry Policies at Medium-Sized,Full-time, 2-Year Undergraduate (MFT2) Institutions

This study aimed to identify a consensus Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry exam score among MFT2 institutions, and determine how this value compared against target schools within the State of Alabama. AP Credit Policies for MFT2 institutions and popular destination schools were researched using The College Board website (https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/creditandplacement/search-credit-policies). The resulting data was analyzed using simple statistical approaches to gain generalized information. Most MFT2 schools were found to offer college credit when the student obtained a 3/5 or higher on the AP chemistry exam. This outcome is one point lower than popular destination universities for our students at Central Alabama Community College. Community colleges can use lower AP chemistry exam scores to attract students who are likely to be college ready, but may not have the ability (academic, financial, social, or otherwise) to thrive at popular destination schools. A word of caution is included.     

Dyads at risk: methadone-maintained women and their four-month-old infants

As part of a longitudinal study of offspring born to substance abusers, we videotaped 17 methadone-exposed and 23 comparison 4-month-old infants interacting with their mothers. Using a scale we developed, we rated communicative functioning in dyadic interaction and related mothers' interactive performance to their psychological and psychosocial resources and infants' interactive performance to their motor functioning as assessed on the Bayley Infant Behavior Record. We found, cutting across drug groups, that mothers who performed poorly on interaction were likely to have poor maternal resources and that infants showing poor communicative functioning were likely to show problematic motor functioning--namely, greater tension and poorer coordination relative to activity level; it was the opposite for mothers or infants who communicated well. Methadone was only one among several risk factors affecting interaction.     

What drives failed policy at the World Bank? An inside account of new aid modalities to higher education: context,blame, and infallibility

This article analyses recent World Bank interventions aimed at improving higher education and local research capacity in low-income countries. Our empirical entry point is a critical analysis of the Development and Innovation Grant (DIG) scheme the Bank rolled out in Cambodia (2010–2015), a virtual carbon copy export of its Academic Initiative Fund in Bangladesh. Offering a rare insider perspective, we argue that the DIG scheme ultimately failed because the Bank so glaringly misunderstood the Cambodian context. We use this case to contemplate the deeper flaws in how the Bank ‘thinks’, highlighting how the world’s most powerful development institution manages to maintain faith in its own infallibility despite failure.     

Professional learning among specialist staff in resourced mainstream schools for pupils with ASD and SLI

Supporting pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream schools is a challenging task. This article proposes a professional development framework for educational psychologists (EPs) to consider when supporting the development of specialist ASD staff. The framework focuses on training content, educator characteristics and organisational elements. Nine mainstream schools developing additional provision to support children with ASD and specific language impairment (SLI) participated in the research. Specialist staff were provided with training and took part in follow up interviews about their developing practice. A pre- and post-questionnaire of participants (N = 30) attending the specialist training is supplemented with longitudinal interview data from specialist staff (N = 20). A paired sample t-test of questionnaire data showed that staff self-efficacy significantly increased pre- to post-training with a large effect size (0.61). Thematic analysis of interviews provided evidence of sustained professional development over time, underpinned by supportive organisational factors.     

Pedagogical devices as children’s social care levers: A study of social care workers’ attitudes towards boarding schools to care for and educate children in need

It has been proposed that boarding schools in England can be used to provide a stable education and care environment for vulnerable children in need, and the government is expanding their use. However, for vulnerable children to be placed in boarding schools, social workers will need to be willing to contemplate boarding as a viable care option. In this study we interviewed N = 21 social care practitioners including directors, senior and middle managers, frontline social workers, social worker-academics and family support workers who work with vulnerable children. Using thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews, seven major themes identified a range of issues and concerns held by social care workers about placing vulnerable children in boarding schools. We present these themes and consider the issues that will have to be addressed prior to changes in policy and practice. The study concludes that many of those within the social work profession are unlikely to consider boarding as an intervention for children in need. Further research in this area is a matter of urgency.