Struggling in the Mainstream: The case of Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, children with special needs who are studying in mainstream schools are struggling for integration amidst the competitive and elitist culture of the educational environment. The purpose of the present study is to examine the accounts of parents of students with special needs and their children's experiences, and also to compare the integration experiences of children with different types of special needs in mainstream schools. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire, of which 515 valid examples were returned and analysed. Academic requirements were found to be a great burden to children and parents. Children with intellectual impairment, autism, and hyperactivity encountered more problems in peer relationships. These results suggest there is a need to devise target-specific strategies and supportive measures for children with different types of special needs.     

Identifying individual- and family-level coping strategies as sources of resilience and thriving for undocumented youth of Mexican origin

Drawing from resilience theory, we explored the strategies that Mexican immigrant youth used to cope with stressors from being undocumented. On the basis of semi-structured interviews with 30 high school students who emigrated from Mexico to the United States, we identified several stressors from being undocumented, including having limited opportunities, fear of deportation, and exposure to negative reminders of their undocumented status. To manage such stressors, students utilized individual coping strategies (e.g. diversion, reframing, normalizing). In addition, the families of undocumented youth employed various coping strategies to help buffer their children against stressors from being undocumented (e.g. protecting the family unit, positive future, emotional support, limited communication). From our findings, we developed a preliminary model that describes the stress and coping of the undocumented youth in this study, which can extend past theorizing on resilience and thriving, as well as inform the design of community-based programs and policies for undocumented youth and their family.     

Provision of early field experiences for teacher candidates in Singapore and how it can contribute to teacher resilience and retention

While teacher retention is a pressing issue for many jurisdictions, Singapore has a relatively low teacher attrition rate. Drawing on the experiences of student teachers from the sole institute for pre-service teacher education in Singapore, this article argues that it is important to expose teacher candidates to a substantial period of school experience as part of the teacher recruitment process. Before they are officially enrolled into pre-service teacher education, the Ministry of Education in Singapore requires all teacher candidates in the Postgraduate Diploma of Education program to go through a compulsory school stint. The authors' research findings show that this exposure to the realities and complexities of teaching can be an important contributor to teacher retention in terms of assessing and promoting teacher candidates’ resilient qualities, such as passion for teaching, self-efficacy beliefs, and positive emotion. In other words, early field experiences can help teacher candidates understand themselves as teachers and assess their own suitability for a teaching career. This study sheds new light on the policies and practices of teacher retention and teacher recruitment strategies.     

Student Teachers in Primary Schools: the views of mentors and headteachers

Four year initial teacher education courses have recently undergone radical reform, in particular in relation to the time that students spend in schools. Through the introduction of mentorship programmes, teachers have become very much more involved in training the students whilst they are in school. How do teachers view the changes that have been introduced? Do they agree with the principles and models that guided the developments? Headteachers and class teachers who acted as mentors for students from the University of Reading have supplied some answers. They are very committed to the model of student learning upon which the mentorship programme is built, the belief that schools and the university must work in partnership to implement and further develop the mentorship programme and the view that schools need to adopt a whole school approach to their involvement in initial teacher education. These findings indicate that the teachers agree with the underlying principles that guided the development of the mentorship programme in which they are involved and they are supportive of the resulting changes to school experience.     

‘Read a hundred times and the meaning will appear ...’ Changes in Chinese University students’ views of the temporal structure of learning

It has been shown earlier that while some high school students (younger on the average) do not differentiate between memorization and understanding, others (older on the average) do so (Marton, Watkins and Tang, Learning and Instruction 7, 21–48, 1997). Those who do differentiate impose a sequential ordering on the two: When you learn you memorize first and understand subsequently or When you learn you understand first and memorize later. This sequential ordering is expressed both through the students account of their theory of learning and their account of their own study practices. In the current study a group of 20 students of an elite University in mainland China were interviewed about learning, memorization and understanding in the context of their studies upon entering the University and 1.5 years later. It was found that while on the first occasion the predominant mode of talking about memorization and understanding was by discussing them in terms of either of the two above ways of sequentially ordering them. On the second occasion the most frequent way of talking about memorization and understanding was in terms of two simultaneous events, simply two different aspects of the very same learning process. The students spoke about using both repetition and variation in their study practice at the same time. Unlike when you read the same presentation of something several times in the same way and thus repeat the same thing again and again, when you read different presentations of the same thing or when you read the same presentation in different ways, something is repeated and something is varied. To the extent that repetition enhances remembering and variation enhances understanding – as the students seem to believe – they will likely remember that which is repeated and understand that which is varied. And when the two are intertwined they will remember what they understand.     

Determinants of Teachers’ Decision to Help Students with Behaviour Problems

The present study explored the link between teachers’ perceptions of students’ problem behaviours, their emotional reactions, and their likelihood to help such students. One hundred and thirty five teachers responded to four written vignettes which depicted students with either aggressive or withdrawal behaviours. The effects of teacher gender and the nature of problem behaviours in male and female students on teacher's willingness to help were also explored. Results showed that teachers were least sympathetic and most angry with aggressive students. These students were more likely to be held responsible for their behaviours. Teachers were, however, willing to help all students regardless of their problems. Female teachers were more willing to help students than male teachers. The results supported the “empathy‐altruism” hypothesis with regard to helping behaviour. The influence of role expectation of teachers in the context of Chinese culture was also discussed.     

Singapore: Review of Educational Events in 1994 and 1995

The period under review, 1994-1995, is best regarded as one of consolidation with some fine-tuning following the adoption of a range of educational initiatives in the preceding three years. As reported in the earlier two reviews in 1992 and 1993 (in the Singapore Journal of Education), some of these initiatives stemmed from the recommendations of the report entitled Improving Primary School Education (1991). Refinements made to other aspects of the education system were also announced in the period under review. All these refinements principally ensure that the central aim of the education system continues to be achieved.     

Is choosing to go on placement a gamble? Perspectives from bioscience undergraduates

In the biosciences, a professional placement experience in academia or industry is intended to contribute to a student’s personal and professional training. While there is a general acknowledgement that a placement experience is beneficial for students, recent years have seen a decline in the number of students choosing to go on placements. Using a mixed‐method research design, this paper explores the attitudes that influence the bioscience students’ decisions on whether or not to undertake a year in a professional placement. Other questions considered in this study were whether placements influence student attitudes towards learning and if students achieve a better degree classification and better employment because of placement. Perspectives from academic staff and employers were compared with student perspectives on the added value of undertaking an extended placement during a period of study at university. While our findings reaffirm some of the perceived advantages of a professional placement in terms of learning and employability, it identifies important factors that influence student decisions not to undertake placements, revealing interesting questions on the placement perspectives between the student, academic tutor and employer.     

Exploring quality of life through an online international collaboration

ABSTRACT

In today’s classrooms, learning does not have to be bounded by physical space. By having access to a range of digital communication technologies, students and teachers can synchronously and asynchronously engage in authentic learning opportunities extending beyond the local community. They can be learning and interacting with others from around the world. This occurred with Grade 3 students from a school in Alberta, Canada, and Lima, Peru who investigated how their physical environments influence their quality of life. Over a seven-week period, the two groups engaged in synchronous and asynchronous activities in addressing this topic. A case study approach was used to research the project. Four key findings emerged from the data to inform teaching practice for designing and facilitating online international collaborative learning.     

Violence on television in Asia

Tan Yew Soon and Soh Yew Peng The Development of Singapore's Modern Media Industry Times Academic Press, Singapore 1994, pp. 263