The classroom learning environment as perceived by students in Arab elementary schools

In this study, students’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment in Arab elementary schools were investigated. The sample included 261 students from Grades 5 and 6. The questionnaire was developed at an Arab college of teacher education by 16 fourth-year student teachers who were completing their studies toward a BEd degree. Articles on classroom learning environment were distributed to the students, who then wrote items to assess learning environment. The items were evaluated for content validity in relation to the Arab school culture, language, teachers’ teaching, students’ learning styles, teacher–student relations, order and organisation, discipline and behaviours. The Classroom Learning Environment of Elementary Students (CLEES) questionnaire consists of 32 items in four scales: Teacher’s Image, Group Work, Students’ Participation, and Order and Organisation. The CLEES was used in a pilot study in two Grade 5 and 6 classes in order to validate it. The student teachers administered the questionnaire to students in elementary schools. Data were analysed using SPSS (e.g. factor analysis and one-way ANOVA) to validate the CLEES. No significant differences were found between boys and girls in classroom learning environment. However, significant differences in CLEES perceptions were found between students from different grades (Grade 5 vs. Grade 6), age groups and schools. The results are explained in the discussion section in relation to the characteristics of their schools.     

Action learning in ActionAid Nepal: a case study

This article describes an example of how action learning was used as a framework for an organisational intervention to fundamentally change the organisational culture over a period of time. It also identifies our learning over that period of time and what worked well (and not so well) in an International Non-Governmental Organisation in Nepal.     

NEW PRODUCTION CONCEPTS

Flexibilty within a framework of internal labour markets is now widely seen to be an important factor in the ability of manufacturing firms to respond quickly to changes in market conditions — which is increasingly coming to be the form that competitive advantage takes in advanced industrial economies. An emerging and flourishing literature has identified a number of ‘new production concepts’ being developed in manufacturing industries, that depart from time-honoured Taylorist systems of job fragmentation and skill minimisation. The new concepts, such as ‘flexible specialisation’, ‘human-centred production’, and ‘diversified quality production’, are all in one way or another seeking to characterise a form of ‘functional flexibility’, that both enhances productivity and offers workers themselves a greater sense of involvement with their activity. The new concepts rest on the identification of a critical linkage between work organisation, skill formation and advanced manufacturing technology; they point to a convergence between the previously separate worlds of work and of learning.

In this paper the new production concepts are characterised as elements of an emergent ‘post Fordist’ technoeconomic paradigm. The present period of uncertainty can be construed as a transition between the Fordist paradigm centred on mass production, and its successors. There is nothing predetermined about the shape of these successors: this will be the outcome of a prolonged economic, industrial and political process as much as of a technical process. The choices are identified as falling between a continuation and intensification of Fordism, dubbed Computer-Aided Taylorisation; or a break with Fordism, dubbed Skill-Dependent Innovation. The new production concepts are characterised as instances of the latter approach to manufacturing management and technology. It is through this notion of ‘competing paradigms’ that this paper formulates an approach to the ‘politics’ of technological change.     

Setting or mixed ability? Teachers’ views of the organisation of pupils for learning

This paper examines how staff in schools formulate decisions about pupil organisation. A small sample of primary and secondary schools from across Scotland was involved in the study.
In 1996 Her Majesty's Inspectors published a report entitled Achievement for All (SOEID, 1996) which, it was envisaged, would form the basis of school evaluations into the effectiveness of classroom organisation. This report, and in particular the six principles on which it suggested effective organisational arrangements should rest, formed the organising framework for the study.
The study had three main aims:

• 1. 

  to ascertain the extent to which the principles outlined in the HMI report had been used by school staff when making decisions about which form of organisation to use

       

‘System leader’ consultancy development in English schools: a long-term agenda for a democratic future?

Within the policy rationale of a ‘self-improving’ school system, there are now several thousand National College designated ‘system leaders’ working as consultants in English schools on aspects of school to school support. So far, there has been no systematic consideration of the long-term development of these consultants in ways that are consonant with values and concerns of education professionals. This article addresses this challenge by presenting an agenda for consultancy development in English schools which will also have wider relevance for the international community. Six areas of enquiry and propositions for action are identified and the principles and practicalities of implementing them in a school-led system examined. Conclusions are drawn about the importance of being proactive in setting a long-term agenda for ‘system leader’ consultancy development in schools that is historically grounded in democratic process and notions of public value.     

Dances in migratory,community and school contexts: identity marks and folklorised presences

ABSTRACT

In this research, I analyse the practice of caporales dances in community and school contexts. I put forward some debates around the position of dances in the processes of education and identity definition. I delve into the identification of the caporales with Bolivian migration, poverty and contexts of discrimination. The references are centred on the teaching and performance of these dances in workshops and festivities held by organisations of Bolivian migrants in a town near the city of Buenos Aires. I continue with the analysis of the practices of this dance in school situations and its coexistence with current trends of nationalism in Argentine schools.     

数字测图实习的组织实施与体会

介绍数字测图实习的要求,对数字测图实习的组织实施过程中的若干问题进行了探讨,给出了数字测图实习中的经验与体会。     

开创新时期高校离退休教职工党支部建设新局面的几点构想

作者从新时期党的奋斗目标、任务出发,针对高校离退休人员的特点,围绕如何保持共产党员先进性,如何发挥离退休党支部战斗堡垒作用,提出了一些新思考,供进一步研究探讨高校离退休党支部建设参考。     

通过规章制度助力大学组织建设

高校实现快速发展有赖于内部行政权力与学术权力协调均衡。本文分析了国内高校管理权力结构,从建章立制的角度就如何加强大学组织建设提出了建议。     

Organisational change: a solution-focused approach

This study investigates the effectiveness of a solution-focused approach to organisational change. Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH) is an intervention more commonly applied to individuals. In this study the intervention is used with groups of people working in educational organisations to help manage the change process. The approach allows group members to plan a way forward to manage change. Semi-structured interviews took place with six education officers involved in the interventions. The design of the research study follows an interpretative case-study model, and uses content analysis to identify key factors. Findings show the importance of PATH acting as a catalyst for change, giving a sense of immediacy, and allowing participants to shape their own future. For change to be sustained and be successful it cannot occur in isolation. Based on the conclusions of the research study, a number of issues for professional practice are discussed and considered.