Infant Educators’ Use of Pedagogical Questioning: Relationships With the Context of Interaction and Educators’ Qualifications

Research Findings: This study investigated the prevalence of pedagogical questions posed by 27 early childhood educators as they interacted with infants in each of two naturally-occurring contexts: book-focused interactions and educator mediated play. The pedagogical questions expressed by educators to infants were coded as confirm (yes/no), specify (what, who, where, when) or explain (why, how) on the basis that these question types present infants with different opportunities to use their developing communication skills to provide information to others. We sought to determine associations between question use, activity context and educators’ qualification levels. Explain questions were used very rarely, while confirm and specify questions were more frequent, comprising 7.60% and 8.32% respectively of the messages expressed by educators to infants. A 2 (activity context) × 2 (qualification level) mixed factorial MANOVA, supplemented with post-hoc qualitative analyses, demonstrated that, in specific activity contexts, degree qualified early childhood teachers used pedagogical questioning in ways which differed from their less-qualified counterparts. Practice or policy: The findings provide much needed data on how educator questioning is used with children under two, how questioning affords context-specific language learning opportunities for infants in ECEC centres, and how educator qualifications may be implicated in these opportunities.     

In-class examinations in college-level science: New theory,new practice

Every faculty member knows that exams drive student behavior. Testing and grading are part of every course, but generally of lesser importance to faculty members than course content itself. Recently, instructional methods and pedagogy. But as issues of grade inflation, student attrition, accountability, and authentic assessment grow in importance, we see some interesting innovations in testing methods and some interesting innovations. The authors are publishing a collection of some of these as described in their own words, by faculty themselves. Two questions underlie the study: 1) why is it so difficult to change tests and testing traditions in college-level science and 2) will the enormous efforts underway to reform pedagogy and curriculum in these disciplines have any lasting effect if testing does not have a prominent place on the reform agenda?     

Educators’ use of commanding language to direct infants’ behaviour: relationship to educators’ qualifications and implications for language learning opportunities

This study investigated the manner in which 56 infant educators used language to direct the behaviour of infants (defined as children aged birth to two years), on the basis that the ways in which educators frame their commands represent an important component of young children’s learning experiences. Underpinned by systemic functional linguistic theory, the study analysed the frequency and type of command produced by educators with university, diploma and certificate qualifications. Suggestive and indirect commands convey a sense of negotiation, as if the addressees’ subjective opinions and thoughts are considered, while nonsuggestive and direct commands foreground the speakers’ power and authority. The findings demonstrate that commands feature frequently in educators’ talk to infants, with nonsuggestive and direct commands being most commonly used. Individual differences were related to the qualifications of staff. University-qualified early childhood teachers used significantly fewer nonsuggestive and direct commands than did diploma and certificate-qualified educators, and they were more likely to provide infants with a reason for the command. These findings have implications for the way in which learning opportunities are created by the language that educators use, and for the overall quality of infant early childhood programmes.     

How policy impacts on practice and how practice does not impact on policy

The TLRP project reported on in this article attempts to understand how the Learning and Skills sector functions. It traces how education and training policy percolates down through many levels in the English system and how these levels interact, or fail to interact. The authors first focus upon how policy impacts upon the interests of three groups of learners: unemployed people in adult and community learning centres, adult employees in work‐based learning and younger learners on Level 1 and Level 2 courses in further education. They focus next upon how professionals in these three settings struggle to cope with two sets of pressures upon them: those exerted by government and a broader set of professional, institutional and local factors. They describe in particular how managers and tutors mediate national policy and translate it (and sometimes mistranslate it) into local plans and practices. Finally, the authors criticise the new government model of public service reform for failing to harness the knowledge, good will and energy of staff working in the sector, and for ignoring what constitutes the main finding of the research: the central importance of the relationship between tutor and students.     

A national survey of current supervision and evaluation practices of school psychologists

This paper presents findings from a national survey of school psychologists regarding current supervision and evaluation practices. Thirty‐seven percent of usable surveys were returned. Overall results suggested that the sample of school psychologists were somewhat to moderately satisfied with current supervision and evaluation practices. However, wide variation in how supervision, evaluation, and professional development are obtained was indicated. The evaluation process is most often conducted by an administrator who may not be familiar with school psychology; and it is not viewed as an opportunity for professional development. In addition, evaluation criteria often are not tailored specifically to the roles of the school psychologist. Most alarming, and consistent with previous research, is that many school psychologists do not have enough supervision available to meet either their wishes or standards for the profession. Higher satisfaction with supervision was found when participants were provided with more regular and formal supervision contacts. Participants also indicated a person knowledgeable about school psychology could best provide supervision. Implications of the results and future directions are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Recapturing imaginations and the gender agenda: reflections on a progressive challenge from an English perspective

Study careers of minority students in Dutch higher education are still less successful compared with the careers of majority students. Minority students still seem to experience more difficulties than majority students. Vincent Tinto’s twin concepts of academic and social integration are used here to explore the experiences of minority and majority students in Dutch higher engineering education. Based on a small‐scale interview study, it is shown that ethnic background does not seem to be a decisive, unequivocal factor in the extent to which students are integrated in institutions of higher education. Student answers show differences according to ethnic background in both social and academic integration, and these differences vary according to the year in which the students are found. The paper ends with some suggestions for further exploration.     

The Role of School Managers in Monitoring and Evaluating the Work of a School: inspectors’ judgements and schools’ responses

The paper presents an analysis of inspection findings for 22 secondary schools, selected from a larger sample of 100, in order to explore the nature of, and the responses to, OFSTED inspectors’ recommendations about the use of internal monitoring and evaluation to improve classroom practice. Inspectors’ reports, and schools’ action plans, were examined in order to determine inspectors’ expectations of senior managers in schools in relation to monitoring responsibilities and the means managers intend to use to meet these expectations. In their action plans some schools respond with bureaucratic procedures, while others indicate a more collaborative approach. This paper describes the first stage of a research project; the differences in implementation of the planned changes in schools will be the subject of further research.     

Educational/Instructional Media

Sheila Mahony, Nick DeMartino, and Robert Stengel's Keeping PACE with the New Television (New York: VNU Books International, 1980---price not given, paper)

Don Agostino and Jayne Zenaty's "Home VCR Owner's Use of Television and Public Television: Viewing, Recording & Playback" (CPB, 1980---free on request, paper)

The Communications Revolution and the Education of Americans (Council on Learning, NBW Tower, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801---$6.95, paper)

Ted Carpenter's Calling the Tune: Communication Technology for Working, Learning, and Living (National Institute for Work and Learning, Suite 301 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington 20036---$12.00, paper)

The Economics of New Educational Media: Vol 2, Cost and Effectiveness (Paris: Unesco/New York: Unipub, 1980---$18.00, paper)

A Guide to Rules and Regulations for Public Radio (National Federation of Community Broadcasters, 1000 11th St. NW (3rd floor), Washington, D.C. 20001---$50.00, loose-leaf format in notebook)