Assessing ethics education through national tests—an advantage or not?

The purpose of this study is to describe, critically analyse and discuss the Swedish system of assessing ethics education in compulsory school through national tests. The publicly available tests from 2013 for grades six and nine have been studied as have the assessment instructions for teachers. Staff responsible for the test construction have been interviewed. The aims, core content and knowledge requirements of the curriculum were also studied. The concept ‘ethical competence’ was used as an analytical tool in the qualitative content analyses. Through the design of this study, the actual test, its process of construction and the curriculum were examined. The results suggest that ethics education, given (a) the curricular construction of what ability to assess, (b) complexities of test construction in ethics and (c) possible teach-to-the-test effects, runs the risk of being limited to an argumentative, conceptual competence, with ethics education being emptied of crucial content. However, being included in national testing can strengthen the position of a school subject. Is it then an advantage for ethics education to be tested in this way? The critical problems the study raises make the author conclude it to be a disadvantage for ethics education to be tested through national tests.     

武术内家拳与道教文化

武术内家拳是中国武术与道教文化体系结合的产物。其技法的原则受到道教文化的影响,从道教文化的角度去审视武术内家拳,进而客观地认识它,充分发挥其功能。     

Reading and listening progress in segregated primary schools: Does ethnic and socioeconomic classroom composition matter?

This study aimed to investigate the relationship of classroom composition factors with reading and listening comprehension achievement and progress in socially and ethnically segregated primary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Specifically, using a three‐level multivariate repeated measures analysis, it examined the association of reading and listening achievement and progress with ethnic diversity, the proportion of non‐native students and the average socioeconomic status of the class, taking into account student characteristics. At the beginning and end of the school year, reading tests, listening tests and questionnaires were administered to a sample of 7‐ and 8‐year‐old students (n = 683) in 42 second‐grade classes. Students' listening comprehension achievement at the beginning of the school year was negatively related to having a home language other than the language of instruction and to classes with a high proportion of non‐native students. However, progress in listening comprehension was not significantly associated with any student or classroom composition factors. Students whose mothers had a lower level of education performed lower on reading comprehension at the beginning of the school year, while at the end of the school year students whose mothers had a higher level of education were at a greater disadvantage. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.     

Orienting Schools Toward Equity: Subgroup Accountability Pressure and School-Level Responses

Abstract

This article examines school-level responses to subgroup accountability pressure through an ethnographic case study of a school cited for failing to make adequate yearly progress for student subgroups. Concerns about the calculations and measures used to derive the citation and reservations about acting on accountability data delegitimized the citation and rendered the identified subgroups irrelevant to daily practice. Under district guidance, compliance with subgroup accountability was independent of the school's internal efforts to promote equity.     

北方游牧民族文化与中原汉文化的交汇融合

民族文化交融，是历史的必然，中华各民族的文化交融由来已久，当然，北方游牧民族与中原的文化交融亦在同步进行。而最广泛的交融体现在广大人民的生产劳动、衣食住行及巫术、宗教和民俗活动诸方面。     

提高小学教育专业本科生双语教学能力的思考

论述了对师范院校小学教育本科生进行有计划性、有针对性的培养的重要性,指出这是从根本上提高小学双语教学师资能力的重要途径。通过对培养形式的比较,以增设双语教学选修课的方式来培养小学双语师资,比较符合当前本科院校实际情况。在分析双语教师应具备的基本素质和双语教学目标的基础上,提出了培训方案。     

初中道德与法治课骨干教师专业发展的个案研究

初中道德与法治课教师作为中学德育课程的实施者,其专业水平直接影响着育人的效果。本文选择某初中道德与法治课M教师作为研究对象,对其专业发展的四个阶段,即初入教坛的稚嫩教师、教学一线的新秀教师、笃行教辅的优秀教师、教研领军的骨干教师进行了深描,分析了影响M教师专业发展的影响因素,揭示其专业发展重要启示,以期为更多的初中道德与法治课教师提供专业发展的思路和借鉴。     

比较文学与比较文化

文学是文化的一种表现形式,比较文学离不开比较文化。随着文学研究向文化研究的进一步发展,比较文学学科独特的跨文化研究性质也促使其向比较文化的方向发展。     

喜剧意识与狂欢化

文章通过中外喜剧理论对比,探讨了喜剧、喜剧意识及狂欢化,指出在当今多元的文化语境下,喜剧的核心是喜剧意识,喜剧意识的集中反映是狂欢化,狂欢要做到自由与约束的和谐统一.     

The problem-solving process as part of professionals’ boundary work in preschool to school transition

ABSTRACT

A successful transition from preschool to school demands continuity in education between the institutions: continuity in pedagogy, values and institutional structures. One way to achieve continuity is to learn how to do boundary work in the borderline of two activity systems. This article examines what kinds of discourses frame the problem-solving process in the context of inter-professional collaboration. The data consists of video-recorded, inter-professional discussions in the 2012–2013 (a total of 22.5?h). The project, called Flexible Preschool and School, aims to develop a new model for a smooth transition to school. In the project, professionals from preschool and school create joint activities and co-teaching, which is assumed to bridge the gap between pedagogies and assure the continuity of learning. The professionals’ cultural thoughts in different kinds of problem-solving situations become visible in the discourses produced in the talk. These discourses describe their capacity for solving shared problems. Creating new innovations demands an understanding that complex problems require diverse knowledge. Considering the shared knowledge as valuable enough to put into practice is the way to create new forms of problem-solving. This is implemented by taking on the responsibility to be an active actor.