Can You Make an Artist?

The novelist Andrew O’Hagan remembers his own early days and suggests writers are both born and made. Now the university – creative writing courses, in particular – may become the clearing houses for new literary talent as book publishing shrinks.     

Securitisation,Counterterrorism and the Silencing of Dissent: The Educational Implications of Prevent

This paper outlines some of the implications of counterterrorist legislation, including Prevent, for the pedagogical relationship and for educational institutions. The concept of ‘radicalisation’, central to the Prevent Strategy, is one that is contested in the field of counterterrorism, yet educators are now expected to identify and refer students ‘at risk of radicalisation’. Such students are described as vulnerable throughout the policy documentation; however, the way in which vulnerability is conceptualised is resonant with colonial discourses of contagion and immunity, and it risks silencing and even pathologising the person labelled vulnerable. Prevent does not clearly define central concepts such as extremism, radicalisation, vulnerability, and this may make both students and staff fearful speaking freely in classrooms and lecture halls. Based on the experience of teaching IRA and INLA prisoners in the Republic of Ireland, the author outlines a set of philosophical and ethical principles that ought to underpin education. It is argued that education must not be subordinated to security and intelligence agendas on pragmatic, educational and ethical grounds.     

Statement of Theme

School accountability and student assessment are closely associated in educational jurisdictions’ attempts to monitor student achievement, focus instruction, and improve subsequent student and school performance. The research reported in this article examines the School Effectiveness Framework in Ontario, Canada, exploring the foundations upon which the framework is based and educators’ efforts to use assessment information to monitor the effectiveness of their reform efforts. Through document analysis and interviews, the researchers highlight the challenges and opportunities surrounding the accountability and assessment partnership.     

Book reviews

This paper explores the relationship between parents and schools. Over the last 30 years the importance attached to parents’ views on education has increased significantly throughout the Western world. Policy‐makers encourage parental participation and involvement through the creation of councils in which parents have a say. In Flanders in Belgium in 2004 a new participation law was passed. We study the impact of this law on the micropolitical relations between parents, school heads and teachers. We conducted in‐depth interviews with teachers, parents, school heads and members of the organizing body in four primary schools and observed parents’ gatherings. Starting from the partnership–conflict opposition, we focus on the functioning of the parents’ associations and the way parents’ associations, school heads and teachers are dealing with this new law. We found that the parent–school relationship differs greatly from school to school. While the socio‐economic middle class predominates in the four parents’ associations, the results show that parental empowerment is enhanced only in those schools with mainly socio‐economically weak families.     

How are the Perceptions of Learning Networks Shaped Among School Professionals and Headteachers at an Early Stage in their Introduction?

This paper draws on the findings of a research project funded by the Liverpool City of Learning consortium in the UK. The aim is to explore the process of introduction of ten authority wide learning networks, the impact these have on school professionals practice, the opportunities they offer for CPD and the extent to which they may impact on pupil learning. The research presented here draws on findings from a questionnaire distributed to school professionals and key issues emerging from their analysis point to the influence of national government agendas on school professionals’ interpretation of the purpose of the networks. They also point to the views of staff regarding the impact of the attainment agenda as well as the extent to which an increased emphasis on social inclusion and wider understandings of learning and achievement (which are less well represented by results-based performance monitoring) are having on their hopes for what Learning Networks might deliver. The expectations of staff of the opportunities offered by learning networks for long term professional development provide some interesting insights, and perhaps, some useful pointers as to how networks of this kind might develop in the future.     

化工反应工程实验教学改革与实践

分析东南大学成贤学院化工反应工程实验课程的现状,介绍化工反应实验在教学设备开发和改进、教学内容、教学方法和教学手段等方面进行改革的具体做法。实践表明,改革有利于学生反应工程实验技能和综合素质的提高,确保教学质量的提高。