‘Operating on a Basis of Student Consent’: Peter Medway’s Work in Finding a Language

Written nearly 40 years ago, Peter Medway’s Finding a Language continues to be an arresting read, which offers a powerful vision of what might be possible in education. In this brief introduction, I set the work in context, referring to ideas that Pete engaged with and recalling a little of the times.     

Destined to Design? How and Why Australian Women Choose to Study Industrial Design

Despite over three decades of legislation and initiatives designed to tackle the traditional gender divide in the science, technology and design fields, only a quarter of the registered architects in Australia are women. There are no statistics available for other design disciplines, with little known about why women choose design as a career path and who or what influences this decision. This qualitative research addresses this knowledge gap, through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews conducted with 19 Australian women who completed an industrial (product) design degree. Thematic analysis revealed three key themes: childhood aptitude and exposure; significant experiences and people; and design as a serendipitous choice. The findings emphasise the importance of early exposure to design as a potential career choice, highlighting the critical role played by parents, teachers, professionals and social networks.     

高校学生党支部工作的几点思考

随着经济的发展和改革的不断深化,高校学生参与政治的热情有淡化的趋势。高校学生党支部面临着一系列新的挑战。必须加强党支部的培训和发展工作,改变工作方法,增强党支部的吸引力和凝聚力。     

“双‘三维一体’”协同教育观研究

"协同教育"是协同学理论在教育领域应用而形成的新的教育理论。"双‘三维一体’"协同教育是在整合"三维一体"协同教育优点,总结"三维一体"协同教育在实践过程中出现的不足和缺陷而形成的新的理论。"双‘三维一体’"协同教育强调纵向"三维一体"——学校、家庭、社会各系统教育力量的互相结合、协调统一,同时强调横向"三维一体"——哲学、科学、实践的结合、协调、同步,同时还强调纵向与横向"三维一体"的彼此融合、协调、协同发展。     

中学生主体性与心理健康的相关研究

运用ZTX和MHT量表对郑州市两所中学学生进行问卷调查结果表明：中学生主体性水平与其心理健康水平存在显著负相关;中学生主体性水平越高,其心理健康水平则越高。     

Teachers' perspectives of changes in their practice during a technology in mathematics education research project

Teachers' perception of changes to their teaching practice, with respect to digital technology use in secondary school mathematics, during their participation in a research project are reported. Two case studies are presented of teacher perspectives illustrative of the range of perceived changes teachers made to their practice and positions along the ‘path of change’ during their participation in the project. Participating in a project supportive of teacher change and resulting in perception of substantial change was necessary, but not sufficient, to meet the goal of transformative use of digital technologies to increase the level of cognitive demand experienced by students.     

System-wide improvement of early-grade mathematics: New evidence from the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy

This article reports on a two-year evaluation of the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS), an innovative system-wide reform intervention designed to improve learning outcomes in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Using data from universal testing of all learners in 2008 on a provincial systemic evaluation, as well as data from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Annual National Assessment tests, this article investigates whether or not the GPLMS improves the numeracy skills of learners in early-grade mathematics in underperforming schools. Using as identification strategy, the natural experiment that resulted from a miscalculation of the provincial systemic evaluation test scores in 2008, which had been used to assign schools to the GPLMS intervention, the study shows that the GPLMS intervention is positively associated with improvements in early-grade mathematics performance of schools in the neighbourhood around the assignment threshold. The findings of the study contribute to the growing body of knowledge that shows the effectiveness of combining lesson plans, learner resources, and quality teacher capacity building.     

What does the greek model of parallel support have to say about co-teaching?

Parallel Support (PS) is a co-teaching program designed to deliver education services in inclusive settings in Greece. In this quantitative study, 236 special education PS teachers from six major educational regions participated in a survey. The findings indicate that PS is similar to the One Teach, One Assist approach, constituting a static model, which typically provides services to one or two students with disabilities. Deeper cultural characteristics of the Greek educational system may shape the PS's peculiarities. In our transcultural hypothesis, the PS model is a compromise between a highly demanding collaborative approach and a pre-existing low collaboration school culture.     

How can children with mild literacy difficulties be supported at the transition to secondary school? A small‐scale quasi‐experimental study

There is evidence that pupils with weak literacy skills struggle on transition to secondary school. Many experience a drop in attainment in the summer break between the two. A British government‐funded programme of rigorously designed research on boosting literacy at transition had (by 2015) found only four of 15 interventions evaluated had positive effects. This small‐scale quasi‐experimental study investigated the effectiveness of support for pupils with mild literacy difficulties on transition to secondary school. Thirty‐two pupils in three schools were involved; half received the programme. Pairs were matched on reading, spelling, age and gender. Intervention was designed around the individual needs of each pupil, focusing variously on language skills, writing, reading and spelling. The group receiving the programme made modest gains in spelling, reading efficiency and single word reading. The comparison group lost ground, relatively, in all three areas. The results suggest a promising line for more rigorous investigation.     

Gender-preferential intergenerational patterns in primary educational attainment: An econometric approach to a case in rural Mindanao,the Philippines

This study investigates the factors determining children's educational attainment, focusing on gender-differential intergenerational patterns, by employing a case study from rural Mindanao. The result mainly shows, unlike general trends in developing countries, educational attainment is more favorable for girls; maternal education level is equally associated with daughters’ and sons’ education levels, and paternal education level is preferentially favorable to their sons. To reduce the disparity, suggestions include providing boy-specific interventions to enhance the magnitude of the father–son educational virtuous circle and comparing the magnitude of gender-equal maternal and boy-preferential paternal education influences to specify which effect is larger.