Race,school choice and transfers to opportunity: implications for educational stratification in South Africa

This study investigates the links between race, school choice and educational stratification in South Africa. It focuses on racial differences in families’ efforts to take advantage of choice by transferring to opportunity (i.e., transferring to a school perceived to offer students better access to educational opportunity than their current school) and explores the implications of those transfers for emerging patterns of racial stratification in access to high quality schools. Findings reveal significant racial variation in transfers to opportunity and suggest a complex link between race and the ways in which historically disadvantaged groups have engaged with the post-apartheid educational opportunity structure.     

STEM in England: meanings and motivations in the policy arena

STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is widely used in science education. There is confusion, however, as to its provenance and meaning which is potentially problematic. This study examines the purpose of STEM practice in education in England and asks if there are differences in perceptions of STEM between science and mathematics educator stakeholders. The study’s contribution to the literature is its unusual focus on those who were responsible for making and enacting national STEM policy. A two-phase qualitative approach was followed comprising an analysis of government documentation together with semi-structured interviews with key contributors to the science and mathematics education discourse. Findings suggest that there is a disconnect between the interpretations of the science and mathematics educators with a danger-advantage dichotomy to participation in STEM being perceived by the mathematics educators. Early aims of the STEM agenda, including increasing diversity, gave way to a focus on numbers of post-16 physics and mathematics students. We conclude that if the term STEM is to continue to be used then there is a need for greater clarity about what it represents in educational terms and a wider debate about its compatibility with the aims of science education for all.     

政府规模及其保护职能与经济增长——基于经济自由指数的研究

本文使用经济自由指数研究经济自由与经济增长的关系。通过分解该指数的第一部分,研究了政府规模与经济增长之间更深层次的联系;对政府的保护职能与经济增长的关系做了敏感性分析。此外,还始终将OLS和稳健回归方法分别得到的回归结果进行比较。     

Preserving the literary past, looking to the future： the first Hong Kong Literature Database

INTRODUCTION In the last two decades of the 20th century, there was an emerging interest in and emphasis on the study of Hong Kong literature among academic scholars. Since the first biennial conference “Conference on Taiwan and Hong Kong Literature (Tai Gang Wen Xue Xue Shu Tao Lun Hui)” held in 1982 in Mainland China, various conferences with diverse themes on Hong Kong literature have been held both locally and overseas in these twenty some years (Huang, 1988; Liu, 1997). The…     

Attachment insecurity mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and eating disorder psychopathology in a clinical sample: A structural equation model

Objectives

Childhood maltreatment occurs often among those with an eating disorder and is considered a nonspecific risk factor. However, the mechanisms by which childhood maltreatment may lead to an eating disorder are not well understood. The current study tests a model in which attachment insecurity is hypothesized to mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and eating disorder psychopathology.

Method

Treatment seeking adults with eating disorders (N = 308) completed questionnaires about childhood maltreatment, eating disorder psychopathology, and adult attachment.

Results

Structural equation models indicated that childhood trauma had a direct effect on eating disorder symptoms. Also, attachment anxiety and avoidance each equally mediated the childhood maltreatment to eating disorder psychopathology relationship.

Conclusions

Attachment insecurity, characterized by affect dysregulation and interpersonal sensitivities may help to explain why eating disorder symptoms may be one consequence of childhood maltreatment in a clinical sample. Clinicians treating primarily those with trauma might assess for disordered eating as a potential manifestation of the sequelae of trauma and attachment insecurity.     

Focusing on the Classical or Contemporary? Chinese Science Teacher Educators’ Conceptions of Nature of Science Content to Be Taught to Pre-service Science Teachers

Drawing from the phenomenographic perspective, an exploratory study investigated Chinese teacher educators’ conceptions of teaching Nature of Science (NOS) to pre-service science teachers through semi-structured interviews. Five key dimensions emerged from the data. This paper focuses on the dimension, NOS content to be taught to pre-service science teachers. A total of 20 NOS elements were considered by the Chinese science teacher educators to be important ideas to be taught. It was also found that among these educators, whether focusing on the classical or contemporary NOS elements in NOS instruction was a prominent controversy. After explaining the criteria for differentiating between classical and contemporary NOS elements, this paper reports the specific NOS elements suggested by Chinese science teacher educators in this study. Afterward, it describes how all educators in this study were categorized in term of NOS content taught by them to pre-service science teachers. In the end, it discusses three factors influencing the decision on NOS content to be taught, i.e., view of the concept of NOS itself, vision of teaching NOS, and belief in general philosophy.     

Child Care in Infancy and Cognitive Performance Until Middle Childhood in the Millennium Cohort Study

This study used a British cohort (n = ～13,000) to investigate the association between child care during infancy and later cognition while controlling for social selection and missing data. It was found that attending child care (informal or center based) at 9 months was positively associated with cognitive outcomes at age 3 years, but only for children of mothers with low education. These effects did not persist to ages 5 or 7 years. Early center‐based care was associated with better cognitive outcomes than informal care at ages 3 and 5 years, but not at 7 years. Effect sizes were larger among children whose mother had low education. Propensity score matching and multiple imputation revealed significant findings undetected using regression and complete‐case approaches.     

Effects of Perceptually Rich Manipulatives on Preschoolers' Counting Performance: Established Knowledge Counts

Educators often use concrete objects to help children understand mathematics concepts. However, findings on the effectiveness of concrete objects are mixed. The present study examined how two factors—perceptual richness and established knowledge of the objects—combine to influence children's counting performance. In two experiments, preschoolers (N = 133; M_age = 3;10) were randomly assigned to counting tasks that used one of four types of objects in a 2 (perceptual richness: high or low) × 2 (established knowledge: high or low) factorial design. Findings suggest that perceptually rich objects facilitate children's performance when children have low knowledge of the objects but hinder performance when children have high knowledge of the objects.     

Listening to Student Voices

This study explores the perspectives of rural and suburban adolescents on the nature of schools, teaching, and leadership that influences learning. Middle and high school students with and without disabilities offer relevant insights to educators who are seeking to promote greater engagement, community, and success in their schools. Results suggest that student voices can be a powerful tool for school improvement.