LAW STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS ASSESSMENT

This paper outlines the research method used in Phase II of the Law Student Assessment Project; it indicates the trend of the results and shows how they relate to the findings of Phase I of the project.(1 TRIBE, D. and TRIBE, A. J. 1988. “Assessing Law Students: Lecturers Attitudes and Practices”. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 13(3): 195[Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar])     

TERMS OF INCLUSION: UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN PUBLIC EDUCATION

Abstract In this review essay, Harvey Kantor and Robert Lowe explore the history of the culture wars in public education in the United States. Drawing on three books — David Tyack’s Seeking Common Ground, Jonathan Zimmerman’s Whose America? and Amy Binder’s Contentious Curricula— Kantor and Lowe review the history of struggles over the content of history texts and over the place of religion and religious values in the classroom. They suggest that while these struggles have been partially successful in freeing public education from the racial and ethno‐religious particularisms that informed its origins, the more inclusive curriculum that resulted from these efforts has been rendered largely symbolic by the persistence of segregation and the inequality of resources that accompanies it.     

Hostility ratings by parents at risk for child abuse: impact of chronic and temporary schema activation

OBJECTIVE: Two studies examined whether accessibility of hostility-related schema influenced ratings of ambiguous child pictures. Based on the social information processing model of child physical abuse (CPA), it was expected that CPA risk status would serve as a proxy for chronic accessibility of hostile schema, while priming procedures were used to manipulate temporary accessibility of hostility-related schema. METHODS: Participants included 108 parents (79 low and 29 high CPA risk) in Experiment 1 and 88 parents (43 low and 45 high CPA risk) in Experiment 2. Parents were randomly assigned to either hostile or neutral priming conditions. Following the priming procedures, all parents rated pictures that depicted children who appeared ambiguous with regard to the extent to which they were being hostile/cooperative. RESULTS: In both experiments, high, compared to low, CPA risk parents rated the ambiguous child pictures as more hostile. Further, both supraliminal (Experiment 1) and subliminal (Experiment 2) exposure to hostility-related words independently increased hostility ratings. In both experiments, the influence of chronic and temporary activation of hostile schema was additive and not interactive. CONCLUSION: Findings from these experiments are consistent with the proposition that high CPA risk parents are more likely to infer hostility in response to ambiguous child cues. Further, accessibility of hostility-related schema in parents increases the likelihood of hostile inferences, which in turn may increase attributions of hostile intent and aggressive parenting behaviors.     

Fully Professionalised Teacher Education: An Australian study in persistence

The article proposes that the proper status for teacher education, both historically and in terms of its research‐demonstrated importance, is one of full professionalism alongside other professional training regimes in universities. It proposes furthermore that the many reviews and reports of the past quarter‐century have been attempting to move the field in this direction. It has been the failure of governments, policy makers and other stakeholders to grasp this agenda that has left teacher education exposed to ongoing criticism for its perceived status and lack of effect. The article argues that, in spite of this failure professionalism has been achieved, evidenced by the demand for university places in teacher education and the international demand for its graduates. The article concludes with a case study that illustrates the long‐term benefits of a fully‐professionalized, university‐based program over and against the populism around notions of apprenticeship.     

Case study: what supports students to improve their grades?

Abstract

This case study considers students who achieved ‘borderline’ (40–45%) grades in their first assignment on a module, but went on to markedly improve their grades over the course of the module. The students were studying nursing and social work at the UK Open University, and they were all sponsored by employers. Semi-structured telephone interviews were used to explore the experiences of the students, including the way in which they reacted to assessment feedback and how this contributed to their learning and development. Other themes that emerged from the study include the emotions experienced by the students, sometimes challenging their self-confidence and evoking feelings associated with emotional vulnerability, and the tendency for students to initially approach assessment independently, but later to create and take advantage of opportunities for social learning. The role of the tutor in helping students to prepare for assessment appears to be significant, as does the fact that students are sponsored by their employers, which provides an additional incentive to complete the module.     

Morning and afternoon nursery sessions: can they be equally effective in giving children a positive start to school?

This paper analyses the effects of gender, attendance period and age on children's adjustment to nursery classes as measured by the teachers using the Child at School Schedule. The sample consisted of 820 children in sixteen nursery classes attached to primary schools in one Local Education Authority. Within the sample three age groups were distinguished: Oldest (4:3 — 4: 8 years); Middles (3:9 — 4:2: years); Youngest (3:1 — 3:8 years). The results of a three‐way analysis of variance showed that boys and afternoon attenders were perceived to be less well‐adjusted to school than girls and morning attenders (at 1% level). In addition, the oldest children were perceived as better adjusted than younger ones: with the exception of three items the youngest were perceived as the least well adjusted. Strategies to help boys and afternoon attenders to experience as positive a start to nursery education as girls and morning attenders are discussed. The key role of the adults in helping children to develop personal and social skills is highlighted as is the need for home/school partnership. The implications of gender for play and classroom organisation are also considered.     

Exploring the potential of constructionist therapy: deaf clients, hearing therapists and a reflecting team

This article explores the use of constructionist therapy with a reflecting team of hearing therapists seeing deaf clients. Using findings from two in-depth interviews, postsession reflections and a review of the literature, we propose that this model has the potential to cater to the diversity of the lived experiences of deaf people and also to address issues of power and tensions between medical, social, and cultural models of deafness. The interviews found there was real value in sharing multiple perspectives between the reflecting team of hearing therapists and these deaf clients. In addition, the clients reported feeling safe and comfortable with this model of counseling. Other information that emerged from the interviews supports previous findings regarding consistency in interpreting and the importance of hearing therapists having an understanding of the distinctions between Deaf and hearing worlds. As the first investigation of its kind in Australia, this article provides a map for therapists to incorporate reflecting teams with interpreters, deaf clients, and hearing therapists. The value of this article also lies in providing a much needed platform for future research into counseling outcomes and the efficacy of this constructionist model of therapy.     

The Use and Impact of Explicit Instruction about the Nature of Science and Science Inquiry in an Elementary Science Methods Course

Teachers' understanding of the nature of science(NOS) and science inquiry (SI) can be linked to the use of the teaching methods advocated by the currentscience education reforms. The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate an elementary science methodscourse in which the NOS and SI are embedded and explicitly taught. As a result of the course, incomingconceptions of science as primarily a body of knowledge changed to a more appropriate, blended view of science as abody of knowledge generated through the active application of scientific inquiry.