THE LOBBY IN TRANSITION

The 2009 MPs' expenses scandal was one of the most significant political stories of modern times. It raised questions, not just about the ethics and behaviour of MPs but also about the relationship between politicians at Westminster and the political correspondents who follow them on a daily basis, known as ‘the lobby’. For the significance of this scandal, in media terms, was that the story was not broken by members of the lobby but came from outside the traditional Westminster news gathering process. This paper examines why this was the case and it compares the lobby today with that which was described and analysed by Jeremy Tunstall and Colin Seymour-Ure in their respective studies more than 40 years ago. The article concludes that the lobby missed the story partly because of the nature of the lobby itself and partly as a result of a number of specific changes which have taken place in the media and the political systems over the past 40 years.     

The danger of inadequate conceptualisation in PISA for education policy

Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other comparative studies as instruments of policymaking, its accuracy is essential. This article attempts to demonstrate omissions in the conceptualisation, and consequently in calculation and interpretation, of one of the central points of PISA 2006 and 2009. The authors point to the danger of such omissions for possible evidence-based education policymaking. With regard to the reproduction of social inequalities through education, we focus on variance in student performance between schools and within schools on the science scale (PISA 2006) and in the mother tongue (PISA 2009). The thesis of the PISA study is that there are countries (Finland, Iceland and Norway) where between only 14 and 29% of the average OECD variance (33%) is attributed to between-school variance – which is good – and there are countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Slovenia, the Netherlands, etc.), where the variance between schools is at least ‘one-and-a-half times that of the OECD’ – which is bad. For Slovenia, we demonstrate a significantly different share of variance explained by between-school variance of the same or similar cohort if we move the point of research by only nine months. Our main argument is that such a difference in the share of variance is not the result of a substantial change in the results (grooving difference in the performance) but the result of formal organisational change – the transition of the cohort to upper secondary education. The difference in calculations also radically changes policy implications, which is crucial. While PISA data suggest the necessity of policy measures to reduce between-school variance, our calculations suggest the need for reconsideration of policy measures aimed at the reduction of within-school variance, gender differences, and differences in performance between native and immigrant students.     

On explaining curriculum change: H. B. Beal,organizational categories and the rhetoric of justification

ABSTRACT

In response to a perceived reluctance to engage with poetry on the part of teachers and trainee teachers, a questionnaire was administered to a group of 48 trainees in their second year of training, before they undertook the part of their course dealing with the teaching of poetry. Their responses indicated that they had had a positive experience of poetry during their own primary education but had ceased to enjoy or understand poetry at secondary level. In discussing the responses, attention is drawn to the importance of understanding the difference between poetry as a specialist subject and as a vehicle for teaching other things. The difference between ‘enjoyment’ and ‘appreciation’, as outlined by Wittgenstein, is defined and applied to the study of poetry. Ways of extending trainees’ understanding and ability to teach poetry are explored. It is concluded that in order to get ‘on the inside of the subject they should (a) be allowed to respond freely to poetry at their own level and (b) be initiated into the kind of skills and knowledge which will enable them to identify the progressive features of poetry itself as well as the instrumental aspects of poetry teaching in the primary school.     

A Sport for All Project in Eastern Europe: 1990-2001

The question of providing the citizens of London, Ontario, Canada with public bathing facilities emerged in the late 1860s and persisted through the early 1920s. Initially concerns over the financial costs of such a venture trumped the need to protect public morals and ensure the physical safety of bathers. Not until the first decade of the 1900s did serious interest arise within local government to provide public facilities, prompted primarily by concerns over the moral and physical safety of the city's children. Whereas concerns related to the provision of public bathing facilities are relatively well documented for larger Canadian cities including Montreal and Toronto, attempts to secure public space to bathe in smaller centres such as London provide clear evidence of how broader social forces, including the critical influence of the playgrounds movement, served to promote swimming and bathing in Canadian towns and cities after the turn of the twentieth century.     

How chemists use the literature

In the light of current developments in information technology, coupled with the pressure on library budgets and the increasing interest in document delivery systems as a alternative to purchasing journals (“just in time instead of just in case”?) this paper considers the need for some quantitative information as to how researchers in chemistry currently meet their needs for access to material of interest to them.     

‘Trendy Theory’ and Teacher Professionalism

The attempt to stigmatise theory as trendy theory denotes an attempt to demean and demote educational theory. Likewise the advocacy of practice driven theory marks an attempt to drive theory onto a particular highway, possibly a narrow one with many cul‐de‐sacs on either side. We should do well to remain on the broad highways on which the best theory has traditionally travelled.     

Exploring alternative perspectives in educational research

This paper advocates the use ofsocial constructionist perspectives in the development of collaborative educational research studies. The perspectives described were developed during our project work in Canada on “Curriculum and Context in the Use of Computers for Classroom Learning” (Ontario Ministry of Education Grant, 1989–1993). The paper explores the interrelated epistemological and ethical implications of such perspectives. These include the requirement that participants be treated as sense-making agents in the construction of the social reality, and the recognition of inequities in the production and distribution of knowledge. Social scientists must recognize their own roles within the structures of power and prestige which condition educational research, and design research strategies which take them into account. An example of the difficulties encountered in applying an alternative model of research is related, and some lingering ethical dilemmas are raised.