Participation in transition review meetings: a case study of young people with learning disabilities leaving a special school

Transition into adulthood has been identified as a critical period in the lives of young people with learning disabilities, with national guidance and legislation emphasising the role of participation and inclusion as central to the transition process. In this article, Steven Carnaby, a clinical psychologist working with adults with learning disabilities in London and a lecturer in learning disability at the Tizard Centre, University of Kent; Patricia Lewis, head of the sixth form and SENCo; Di Martin, senior teacher and former SENCo; John Naylor, deputy head of the sixth form and head of arts; David Stewart OBE, headteacher, all from the Shepherd School, Nottingham, report the outcomes of a small-scale case study exploring these issues. The project ran for four years and, in Phase 1, evaluated the ways in which students with learning disabilities were involved in their transition review meetings as they entered their final year at school. This first phase found that many students were excluded from meaningful discussion in their planning meetings, highlighting students with more severe disabilities as being more vulnerable to exclusion. After a series of recommendations were made for improving practice in terms of inclusion and participation, Phase 2 of the study assessed ways in which practice in these areas had improved. The school had developed more individualised ways of working using person-centred techniques to enhance meaning for students. At the close of this article, the authors summarise these improvements and propose further strategies for enhancing the participation process.     

Caring for Children: Some Long-term Issues

Using Felicity Fletcher-Campbell's work on 'looked-after children' (children in care) as a starting point, John Wilson considers an appropriate response to the decline of traditional support networks such as the extended family and the community in which it is situated. In his view, this should not involve separate pastoral care but a reconceptualizing of our whole picture of what the school is for. At the centre of this is the idea that, to be effective, much learning requires a personal relationship. He goes on to discuss the nature of relationships, and suggests that they must be informed by some form of clear values. The remainder of his paper discusses what it might be about a community (school) that would promote real engagement and partnership.     

The Closing of the Gender Gap in Schooling: The case of Thailand

The results from the 1990 national census indicate that the long standing gender gap in educational attainment favouring boys over girls has closed in Thailand at all levels. This occurred as responses to generalized questions on attitudes about schooling for boys and girls on nationally representative surveys are showing a substantial reduction in the preference for educating sons more than daughters, although some preference for sons persists. Qualitative data from focus group discussions in rural areas reveal that parental views on gender and schooling are complex and do not operate uniformly to favour one sex over the other. Moreover, the changing socioeconomic context of schooling decisions in Thailand are likely to encourage parents to favour girls at least as much as boys in education. While gender inequality in schooling is no longer important, the socioeconomic level continues to influence starkly Thai children's chances for higher levels of education.     

Writing in Mathematics: An Alternative Form of Communication for Academically Low‐Achieving Students

Abstract. Classroom communication figures prominently in current math reform efforts. In this study, we analyze how one teacher used writing to support communication in a seventh‐grade, low‐track mathematics class. For one school year, we studied four low‐achieving students in the class. Students wrote in journals on a weekly basis. Using classroom observations and interviews with the teacher, we developed profiles of the four students, capturing their participation in class discussions. The profiles highlighted an important similarity among the four students: marginal participation in both small‐group and whole‐class discussions. However, our analysis of the students' journals identified multiple instances where the students were able to explain their mathematical reasoning, revealing their conceptual understanding, ability to explain, and skill at representing a problem. In this respect, journals potentially facilitate another important form of classroom communication. The promise of writing is that it offers an alternative to the visions of classroom communication that are strictly oral in nature.     

On School Choice and Social Class: a response to Ball,Bowe and Gewirtz

The work of Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz is probably the most important research to be published on the implications of recent ‘school choice’ reforms in England and Wales. One of their most notable conclusions points to the relationship between social class and school choice. Their conclusions are challenged on methodological grounds. First, it is not clear that their qualitative method can support the generalisation about class and choice which they make. However, even as regards more modest conclusions, difficulties arise with the operationalisation of their concepts. For the details of how particular families are fitted into their analytical framework raises severe problems. This leads to their judgements about the allocation of families to categories being controversial, hence undermining even localised conclusions about social class and school choice. Drawing on this analysis, general lessons are sketched for the conduct of qualitative research and its reporting to the research community.     

Appropriateness of Teachers' Test-Preparation Practices

What two standards can teachers and administrators use to decide whether a particular way of preparing students for a test is appropriate? How do five commonly used test-preparation practices stack up to these standards? How do educators and school board members view these five practices?     

Academic Science as a System of Markets

It is instructive to think of UK academic science as in interlocking system of 'markets', where 'vendors' offer 'commodities' to 'customers' in return for 'currencies'. In the institutional market, higher education institutions compete commercially as research contractors. Money is also the effective currency in the markets in projects, academic jobs and intellectual property rights. But these are linked with the metaphorical reputational and research claims markets where academics compete fiercely for intangible 'recognition'.
Some typical market imperfections, such as research customer monopsony, arbitrary variations of project pricing, inadequate information on quality, and rigidities of staffing, could be reduced by systematic reform. But some current structural problems are deep-seated. For example, damaging conflict between institutional and individual interests is being generated by the introduction of commercial 'market forces' into the traditional academic marketplace, where competition was always by quality, not by price, and where individuals could enter and leave at minimal personal cost.     

Development, Implementation, and Validation of a Computerized Test for Statewide Assessment

How does a testing component function in an integrated learning system? How can you customize computerized tests to meet local specifications? How are computerized tests implemented and evaluated? Is the pay-off of computerized testing justified?