China's quest for world-class teachers: a rational model of national initiatives and institutional transformations

Teacher education has been undergoing significant transformations worldwide in recent decades, and China has made continuous efforts in its quest for world-class teachers. This paper aims at a comprehensive investigation of the complex policy process in China's national initiatives to nurture a world-class teaching force, with qualitative findings from a case study. It focuses on policy initiatives in China's unique sociocultural context, system transformations and developmental challenges from a rational prospective. Meanwhile, the challenges of institutional change and the limitations to change are examined within two frames – the contextually less amenable to change and the institutionally remediable. Policy implications for teacher education reform in the future are illustrated within these two frames. Lastly, this paper concludes that, along with its rising status, in terms of excellence in educational performance and students' academic achievement as shown in PISA 2009, China provides an alternative model for building a world-class teaching force and this may have multiple implications for the international community in an age of globalisation.     

Transforming supervisors? A critique of post-liberal approaches to research supervision

Preparation for research supervision has assumed greater importance in academic departments of universities with the increase in the number and diversity of both research candidates and supervisors and the financial incentives for on-time completions. Over the past decade a body of literature by both academics and academic developers has emerged and more recently post-liberal theories and frameworks (feminism, postmodernism and post-colonialism) have been used to problematise the field of postgraduate supervision. Central to the feminist and post-colonial critiques is the belief that supervisors are best equipped for their roles by a process of personal self-transformation which allows them to achieve an appropriate balance between emotional and rational elements in their supervisory practice. We wish to set critical and post-modern approaches in historical perspective. We seek to show that feminist and post-colonial approaches are heir to a form of critique, which was founded upon the assumption that certain institutions and practices of modern society are dehumanising because they fragment human beings’ essential unity. We argue that engaging supervisors in a process of self-transformation reinforces the idea that successful supervision is a function of the supervisor's recovery of a fully integrated and higher self.     

The chameleon on a tartan rug: adaptations of three academic developers’ professional identities

This paper builds on discussions of academic developers’ identity experienced as a discomfiting, troubled, and often marginal space. Three experienced academic developers, located in research-intensive institutions in three different countries, using auto-ethnographic writing and a shared narrative inquiry, explore moments of congruence and conflict. While there are elements that sustain them in their job, the categorisation of their role can impact on their ability to do their job, undermining their credibility. This can prevent them from engaging in research that could enrich practice in their institutions and inform institutional strategy or change the culture in teaching and learning. Instead they are forced into discomfit: having to defend their right to be involved in the institutional discussions. The most worrying issue is the pervasive trend in the change of academic developers’ status (from tenure-track academic peers to professionals).     

Managing successful universities

Institutional Research (IR), as a concept, has been gaining traction in the UK and across the world, as evidenced by the growing number of European, African, Australasian and North American associations, communities, conferences and publications. This paper stresses the need for high-quality (Institutional) research behaviours, aligned with and embedded in quality assurance (QA) and enhancement approaches as part of the ‘systematic’ functions required by the QA Agency. Terenzini's ‘three tiers of organisational intelligence’ are offered as a benchmark for framing IR as a highly credible, efficacious, pursuit. It is argued that when IR has the expected features of academic research, it is more likely to be supported and have positive impact on practices and policy development.     

Allowing Idiosyncratic Learners to Thrive

Abstract

School-within-a-school programs are an alternative school choice that can provide differentiated learning opportunities for academically gifted students, but they are often politically contentious. In a recent study, we interviewed 530 students and teachers in gifted and regular streams in three publicly funded secondary schools with different approaches to high-ability school-within-a-school programs: gifted, International Baccalaureate, and science-focused. Although teachers and students across conditions expressed strong satisfaction with the academic challenges provided by the special programs, they also expressed serious concerns about the relationship between these programs and the larger schools within which they are housed. Taking into consideration concerns about gifted education usurping resources from more urgent educational and societal goals, we discuss policy implications of our findings, considering ways to “allow idiosyncratic learners to thrive” (in the words of a teacher interviewed in this study), while minimizing misconceptions, prejudices, and perceptions of elitism.     

从微博反腐现象论反腐必须依靠人民群众的参与

近两年微博反腐引发新一轮反腐高潮,从这一现象看出,反腐败不仅是新时期加强党的建设和提高党的执政能力的重大战略部署,同时也必须依靠人民群众的支持和参与,只有这样,反腐才能达到效果。腐败行为和腐败分子必然难逃人民群众的眼睛,因此,反腐败一定要从制度上保证人民群众积极参与,要健全民主政治,充分发挥人民群众反腐败的重大作用。     

非母语英语教学课堂参与度调查与分析

The reasons for various types of participation and the main influence on enhancing active class participation are contin?uously debated. By investigating the performance of TESOL students, practical ...     

我国庭前会议的功能和制度分析——结合《刑事诉讼法》第182条第二款规定之评析

2013年实施的新《刑事诉讼法》确定了我国的庭前会议制度,这是我国第一次对于庭前审查规定专门性程序,将回避、出庭证人名单、非法证据排除等问题纳入了审查的范围,规定审判人员可以就相关问题"了解情况,听取意见",从而实现程序分流、确定庭审中心、防止法官预断的功能。然而,庭前会议制度在效力、主持者、参与人、启动方式等方面还缺乏系统性的规定,需要在司法实践中不断予以完善。     

论高职院校的公共学习社区功能

高职院校建设公共学习社区是正向处理高校四大职能后的位移,在U型理论指导下建设区域协同创新中心是高职院校的制度安排。制度设计过程中,要关注三大力量,适应发展的新环境;要着眼于培育四大特性,应对发展的新要求;要着力于建设三大共同体,协同社区幸福美好发展。     

企业政治关联文献综述及其研究展望

政治关联是近年来国内外引人注目的研究领域。本文依照文献的发展脉络与逻辑关系从政治关联的广泛存在性及其产生机理出发,对政治关联与公司价值的影响路径,包括融资便利性、危机救助、税收优惠、产权保护等及其经济后果的相关研究进行梳理和归纳,以期能增进人们对企业政治关联的认识,并为进一步研究政治关联提供一些思路。