Inclusive educational leadership to establish a co-operative school cluster trust? Exploring perspectives and making links with leadership for learning

ABSTRACT

One remarkable feature of the contemporary school landscape in England is the number of schools that have chosen the co-operative framework to shape their work and relationships. When a group of schools decides to become a co-operative trust, leadership challenges arise both in the process of establishing an inclusive collaborative cluster and in living out co-operative values. To add to the limited literature on co-operative school leadership, a study in a school cluster trust explored headteachers’, governors’ and teachers’ perspectives and beliefs through interviews, group discussions and questionnaires. These data sources revealed some of the motivations for, benefits of, and strategies to support inter-school collaboration guided by the co-operative values of democracy, solidarity, equality, equity, self-help and self-responsibility. Importantly, a range of perspectives on the extent to which leadership was viewed as, and appeared to be, an inclusive practice undertaken by all members of the cluster was identified. A particular contribution of this work is that it exemplifies resonances between the values and principles of the co-operative movement and those of the Leadership for Learning framework. Since these two models are being increasingly adopted and integrated into a variety of educational settings, the research findings may inform leadership practice more widely.     

Algorithmic culture,networked learning and the technological horizon of theory

ABSTRACT

Going via Bernard Stiegler’s theorisation of technology, and his response to Chris Anderson’s claim that the era of hyper-networked, algorithmically driven digital technologies signals the end of theory, this paper aims to place the educational practice of networked learning as a space to think the edge, excess or limit of this proposed algorithmic dominance. The author discusses how networked learning can negotiate the border between educational theory, the practice of teaching and learning, and the processes and systems of educational technology, but suggests that to do this it must engage these disciplines through a thinking of technology which does not decide upon its status in advance. He argues that affirming this particular relation to technology is increasingly urgent given we are at a moment in which educational institutions are asking how to prepare our students for an age of continuing technological disruption.     

Effects of different sequences of examples and problems on motivation and learning

Recent research has shown that example study only (EE) and example-problem pairs (EP) were more effective (i.e., higher test performance) and efficient (i.e., attained with less effort invested in learning and/or test tasks) than problem-example pairs (PE) and problem solving only (PP). We conducted two experiments to investigate how different example and problem-solving sequences would affect motivational (i.e., self-efficacy, perceived competence, and topic interest) and cognitive (i.e., effectiveness and efficiency) aspects of learning. In Experiment 1, 124 technical students learned a mathematical task with the help of EEEE, EPEP, PEPE, or PPPP and then completed a posttest. Students in the EEEE Condition showed higher posttest performance, self-efficacy, and perceived competence, attained with less effort investment, than students in the EPEP and PPPP Condition. Surprisingly, there were no differences between the EPEP and PEPE Condition on any of the outcome measures. We hypothesized that, because the tasks were relevant for technical students, starting with a problem might not have negatively affected their motivation. Therefore, we replicated the experiment with a different sample of 81 teacher training students. Experiment 2 showed an efficiency benefit of EEEE over EPEP, PEPE, and PPPP. However, only EEEE resulted in greater posttest performance, self-efficacy, and perceived competence than PPPP. We again did not find any differences between the EPEP and PEPE Condition. These results suggest that, at least when short training phases are used, studying examples (only) is more preferable than problem solving only for learning. Moreover, this study showed that example study (only) also enhances motivational aspects of learning whereas problem solving only does not positively affect students’ motivation at all.     

Revisiting the effects of project-based learning on students’ academic achievement: A meta-analysis investigating moderators

Project-based learning is generally considered an alternative to traditional, teacher-led instruction. However, there is a noticeable lack of meta-analyses with regard to determining its overall effects on students' academic achievement, and what study features may moderate the impacts of project-based learning. This study thus performed a meta-analysis to synthesize existing research that compared the effects of project-based learning and those of traditional instruction on student academic achievement. Forty-six effect sizes (comparisons) extracted from 30 eligible journal articles published from 1998 to 2017 were analyzed, representing 12,585 students from 189 schools in nine countries. The results showed that the overall mean weighted effect size (d₊) was 0.71, indicating that project-based learning has a medium to large positive effect on students' academic achievement compared with traditional instruction. In addition, the mean effect size was affected by subject area, school location, hours of instruction, and information technology support, but not by educational stage and small group size.     

新媒体平台下增强大学生党支部理论学习的探索

在党中央提倡创新精神的时代背景下,学生党建工作也需要创新思路和手段以便把学生党支部理论学习的内容、质量提升一个新的台阶,而以新媒体为媒介平台开展学生党支部学习生活正是学生党建工作的一种创新,符合党建创新的精神。通过建设新媒体平台创新学生党支部理论学习思路与实践,有利于加强学生党建工作的成效,进一步提高学生党员理论素养。     

基于经验学习理论的我国开放大学先前学习认定实践的反思

随着高等教育的普及和终身学习理念的传播,英美等国开始对学习者的先前学习成果进行评价并为其提供相对应的教育课程和学分,逐步形成了各自的先前学习认定模式。我国开放大学也已经开始在小范围内开展先前学习认定的实践探索,但由于缺乏理论指导,存在着诸多问题和困难,急需对已开展的先前学习认定的实践进行梳理和反思。基于“经验学习理论”对开放大学先前学习认定实践中的核心问题进行回应和反思,是解决实践中存在的困惑和问题,推动我国开放大学先前学习认定实践进一步开展的重要依据,也为我国构建学习型社会提供实践参考。     

全球视域下成人参与学习的障碍及解决路径——基于GRALE Ⅳ的分析

成人全面而有效地参与学习是保障2030年可持续发展目标实现的关键因素之一。但联合国教科文组织2019年发布的第四份《成人学习与教育全球报告》显示,当前全球范围内成人学习与教育(Adult Learning and Education, ALE)的平均参与率仍然不高,而且不同国家和地区之间的差异明显,一定程度上影响了可持续发展目标的实现。究其原因主要是成人参与学习的主观意识不强、社会环境欠佳、保障体制待完善等。为破除这些障碍,需从激发成人个体学习意识、构建社会支持系统、塑造有利于成人学习的社会环境出发,帮助更多的成人参与学习和接受教育,促进全球化时代全民学习社会的早日实现。     

反思与重构:高校数字思政教育研究

面对“流量一代”的当代大学生,高校思政教育从内容到手段都显滞后,整体缺乏现代感,现代技术的进步正潜在倒逼着高校思政教育改革。大数据视域下,需要增强思政工作者的技术敏感性,树立思政工作战略新思维,促进传统教育与现代技术相融合,挖掘科学价值背后的社会价值和教育资源,研究开发以数字技术呈现党的理论和实践发展最新成果,以网络空间培植和传播意识形态新型产品,开启数字化思政教育新范式,有利于改革创新高校思政教育学习模式、课堂方式和评价体系,使思政教育更具针对性和实效性。     

“自由”抑或“规制”能缓解“空心”？——高校学习环境对本科生目标感的影响机制研究

我国不少大学生存在学习意义感低下、未来规划迷茫等目标感缺失体验,高校学习环境的影响值得关注。基于对1010名本科生的问卷调查和对35名本科生的深度访谈,研究表明：第一,学习自由和学习规范环境均对目标感缺失有显著的负向预测作用,学习自由的影响力大于学习规范。学生的外部学习动机越强,学习规范对其未来迷茫感的负向预测作用越强。学习自由有利于学生形成长远目标,对其目标感发展具有深远价值。学习规范虽能缓解学生的目标感缺失体验,但维持的是短期目标。第二,学习压力环境对目标感缺失有显著的正向预测作用,容易导致学生在学业失败后懈怠或限制其自我探索。第三,学生在自我探索过程中的迷茫是建立长远目标的必经之路,但我国“高中-大学”教育的系统性脱节增加了学生从短期目标明确状态陷入懈怠而迷茫状态的风险。     

Do students learn what they teach when generating teaching materials for others? A meta-analysis through the lens of learning by teaching

Students can generate teaching materials for others. However, solid evidence of the learning effect for the student creating the material is needed. This meta-analysis aims to explore current evidence of the learning-by-teaching potential effect on students’ learning of the content they teach. A total of 23 articles were included in the meta-analysis, providing 62 comparisons between an intervention in which students were required to create a teaching material and an alternative condition. Possible moderators were examined as well (i.e., product, educational level, content area, and access to source material). Results show statistically significant differences in favour of creating teaching materials when compared to business-as-usual or alternative interventions, with an overall effect of 0.17. However, the type of product and the access to source material significantly moderate the findings. Audio-visual and visual materials considerably outperform textual materials. Having no access to the source material is better than having full access to it. No publication bias was detected. However, the type of control group moderates the findings: creating teaching materials shows a significant effect when compared to nonbeneficial interventions rather than to other expected beneficial interventions. Nonbeneficial interventions refer to business-as-usual or alternative interventions that are not expected to influence the outcome much, while beneficial interventions are those that are known or expected to have a positive effect. The findings are discussed based on the different views on the underlying learning-by-teaching mechanisms. Limitations as well as implications for practice, policy, and future research are underlined.