Advocating for a Social Roles Curriculum Framework at the Secondary School Level

A rationale is presented for using social roles as the basis for developing a social roles curriculum framework at the secondary level. The construct social role is defined as a pattern of behaviours and attitudes related to a specific function or position as expected by society. Havighurst's social role concept provides background information for the current research project. This study attempts to revitalise Havighurst's social role theory within a contemporary context. Data were collected from 300 adults on a community survey that was distributed within the Tampa Bay Area, USA. The survey controlled for an equal number of respondents grouped by age, gender, and SES level. Particular social roles emerged from the analysis as salient for certain adult groups. It was found that students need to be prepared for the various new social roles they will fill as adults, and that secondary school curricula should be rethought along these lines. The importance of such under-valued social roles as friendship is contemplated for formal school learning. Finally, perspectives are advanced for integrating the research findings into the secondary school curriculum.     

‘Think about what our industry stands for….’: exploring the impact of external factors on line manager perceptions of graduate employability

ABSTRACT

Increasing emphasis is being placed upon employer expectations in research on graduate employability, in response to the widely claimed gap between employer expectations and graduates’ understanding of these expectations. For graduates, being uncertain of their employer’s expectations may threaten the ease of their transition into the workplace and their job satisfaction, even leading to issues around graduate retention for employers. External influences on the graduate labour market such as differences in industry/sector level expectations and economic/political factors, can pose further complications. This paper presents a cross-industry analysis of employer expectations of graduates, drawing from four selected case study vignettes aimed at uncovering insights into these variances. Findings offer implications for policy makers and higher education providers around the design and delivery of a curriculum that appropriately prepares students for the graduate labour market, whilst also catering for industry-level expectations particularly in light of the UK’s forthcoming departure from the EU.     

Status and Developments of eLearning in the EU10 Member States: the cases of Estonia,Hungary and Slovenia

This article summarises research carried out between 2006 and 2008 by IPTS (Institution for Prospective Technological Studies) in collaboration with a consortium of experts from 10 member states, led by ICEGEC. The project gathered information on eLearning developments to assess drivers and barriers and to suggest implications for policy and research in the 10 member states that joined the European Union in 2004. Three examples of countries (Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia) demonstrate that, while the group is not homogeneous, commonalities can be detected. Reports show that all the EU10 countries have been catching up with the older member states in ICT penetration and skills, but large digital divides remain due to regional, social and economic divides. Educational institutions are equipped with ICT, but not always at the same level in classrooms as in EU15. Universities are using ICT in education, but mostly for material provision purposes. Enterprises seem to have higher usage of eLearning solutions than in EU15, but these are not equally available for all employees. Lack of focus and coordination in policies to support eLearning developments has been assessed to be a major barrier. In general, EU10 seems to be facing similar challenges to other European countries, although specific efforts are needed to help close the divides and engage people in lifelong learning with the new opportunities ICT could provide.     

Exceptional Scholarship and Democratic Agendas: Interviews with John Goodlad,John Hoyle,Joseph Murphy,and Thomas Sergiovanni

This portraiture study of four exceptional scholars in education – John Goodlad, John Hoyle, Joseph Murphy, and Thomas Sergiovanni – provides insight into their scholarly work and life habits, direction and aspirations, assessment and analysis of major trends in the profession, and advice for aspiring leaders and academics. Telephone interviews with the leading scholars (4) and their referral colleagues (8), in addition to document analysis, validated the following criteria for the selection of exceptional scholarship previously generated via survey respondents (educational leadership professors): The scholar (a) publishes widely, (b) has broad impact, (c) has multiple spheres of influence, and (d) has established mentoring systems. Democratic concepts and agendas for education emerged from the interviews focused on exceptional scholarship, an outcome incorporated within the results.     

Program reflections on the role of longitudinal digital portfolios in the development of technology competence

Abstract

Digital portfolios in teacher education provide opportunities to conceptualize learning and growth over time. The digital portfolio experiences of two secondary teacher education students in the context of an entire preservice teaching experience are presented. These vignettes, along with programmatic observations from the past four years, indicate that high‐level uses of educational technology are difficult to facilitate in large teacher education programs using a technology infusion model that emphasizes general skills. Whereas many teacher education programs have abandoned required technology courses to jump start National Educational Technology Standards‐based competence, the authors argue that advanced courses in educational technology for teacher education majors are still necessary for curricular integration with technology. This article concludes with a discussion of the nature and level of technology competence in relation to portfolio development and makes recommendations for how programs might pursue similar models.     

The relationship of theatre of revolution and theology of revolution to the black experience

The purpose of this study was to determine if nonrespondendents to speech communication survey research differ demographically from respondents. As a follow‐up investigation of a questionnaire study, 1,604 subjects were compared across six dimensions to establish if differences existed between respondent and nonrespondent populations.