熊猫——那一次令人担忧的震动

2008年5月份发生的地震撼动了华中地区,粗略统计有70 000人遇难。地震也惊扰了63只圈养在卧龙自然保护区的大熊猫。卧龙自然保护区位于距离震中不足20英里的山区。一只名叫"毛毛"的卧龙大熊     

Dissonance in first-year students’ reflections on their learning

This paper presents the findings of an interview study of first-year engineering students’ approaches to study. Data is presented to illustrate the construct of “dissonant study orchestration” as it is manifested in the everyday academic reality of these students’ learning behaviour. This data is theorised within a student’s-experiences-oflearning framework and patterns of study approach considered atypical of or theoretically undesirable within, the model used to determine them are presented and discussed. Individual-level, qualitatively different patterns of “dissonant” orchestration are articulated. The conclusion to the paper argues that the qualitative distinctions apparent amongst dissonant approaches present particular challenges to academic practitioners whose aim is the improvement of these students’ learning behaviour.     

Values education in the Soviet State: The lasting contribution of V.A. Sukhomlinsky

Vasily Sukhomlinsky (1918-1970) was arguably the most influential Soviet educator of the post-war period. He was a practising teacher, and from 1947 to 1970 was principal of a school in the Ukrainian village of Pavlysh. One of Sukhomlinsky's primary concerns was to inculcate in his students the values of compassion and service, combined with sensitivity to beauty in nature, art and human relationships. For Sukhomlinsky, there were thousands of connections between physical, moral, aesthetic, intellectual and vocational education. His approach to values education is unusual in the extent to which it permeated the whole school program, and also in the extent to which it was accompanied by practical training in good works.     

Transformative learning and identity formation on the ‘smiling coast’ of West Africa

This paper outlines research undertaken during a study visit to The Gambia (2008) and our thinking about the value of this, and other such visits for education students. The qualitative methodology made use of interviews and reflective journals. We argue that such visits may have the power to transform peoples’ values and, drawing on literature on identity and positioning, we tentatively suggest some possible explanations for such transformative processes. This kind of experience is thought to be of considerable potential benefit to beginning teachers and the paper indicates some of these benefits, with illustrations drawn from interview data.     

Psychometric properties of a youth self-report measure of neglectful behavior by parents

Objective

This study aimed to empirically assess psychometric properties of a multi-dimensional youth self-report measure of neglectful behavior by parents.

Method

Data were gathered from 593 12-year-old youth participating in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) consortium; 272 also had data at age 14. Youth responded to a 25-item measure of their experiences of neglect. Expert raters classified items into 4 factors, followed by confirmatory factor analyses. We evaluated cross group measurement equivalence by gender and longitudinal measurement equivalence from age 12 to age 14. Validity was assessed by the relationships between factor scores and (1) neglect reports to child protective services (CPS), (2) quality of parent-child interactions, and (3) parental monitoring.

Results

A 3-factor model (Physical Needs, Emotional Support, and Parental Monitoring) of neglect was obtained, with equivalence across gender and longitudinally (age 12-14). The pattern of correlations between the factor scores, CPS reports, and measures of the parent-child relationship offered modest to moderate support for convergent validity.

Conclusions

The findings suggest a promising and relatively brief youth self-report measure of neglect to help advance research in this area.     

Full service and extended schools,disadvantage, and social justice

Despite successive waves of school reform, the English education system, like many others, continues to be characterized by marked inequalities of outcome. These seem to be related to factors in students’ family, community and wider societal contexts that schools traditionally have been powerless to tackle. This paper argues, however, that schools can intervene in these contexts by offering a wider range of services and activities to children and adults under the aegis of ‘full service and extended’ approaches. The paper outlines how these approaches have evolved in England and elsewhere, and reviews the evidence for their effectiveness. It concludes that their current limited impacts could be enhanced if the work of schools were aligned with wider social strategies. Such a move, it suggests, raises questions about how school systems are governed and about what kind of society schools are expected to help build.