Living and learning as an international postgraduate student at a Midlands university

This paper investigates the views of 20 full-time international postgraduate students, many of whom were Chinese, on living, learning and becoming successful students at one university in a multicultural city in the Midlands of England. The qualitative study built on findings from the International Students’ Barometer (ISB) survey for the university, in that it seeks to understand how students’ experience of context (living) interacted with their experience of learning in building their identities as successful learners. Student participants were sampled opportunistically within a purposive framework. Data was collected through audio-recorded individual semi-structured interviews, using as a stimulus participant-constructed concept maps of their perceptions of learning in the university and living in the city. Interview data were transcribed and analysed thematically. The main findings showed that participants enjoyed living in a city with an international culture, although some found it strange initially because they encountered different styles of life and food, albeit including some that they enjoyed at home. They welcomed studying at a university with high international prestige, a wide range of excellent facilities and generally approachable tutors but were shocked by having to undertake unfamiliar styles of independent learning with brief teaching hours. They perceived culture shock as transitional, which declined as they made friends, often with co-linguists, and became familiar with life in the city, work in the university and the extensive support of tutors.     

Boundary Crossing and the Professional Learning of Teacher Educators in New International Contexts

In this collaborative self-study, two teacher educators examine their experiences of working in new international contexts and the impact of those experiences on their professional learning and identities. Mandi moved from a major research university in one country to another, while Judy co-led a group of pre-service teachers on an international practicum for three weeks each year for three years. Using the concept of boundary crossing as a theoretical and analytical framework, each teacher educator identified a boundary-related critical incident or experience that occurred during her work in new international contexts. Through individual and collaborative analysis of their critical incidents, they found that working as a teacher educator in new international contexts involves the crossing and re-crossing of multiple personal, professional, linguistic and cultural boundaries. Working in these boundary spaces involved learning how to negotiate new kinds of relationships with colleagues and students, manage changed roles and responsibilities and, ultimately, a search for a renewed sense of self, as each sought to understand herself differently within a new professional context.     

International large-scale assessments: what uses,what consequences?

Abstract

Background: International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) are a much-debated phenomenon in education. Increasingly, their outcomes attract considerable media attention and influence educational policies in many jurisdictions worldwide. The relevance, uses and consequences of these assessments are often the focus of research scrutiny. Whilst some argue that the assessment outcomes provide an effective basis for informed policy-making, critics claim that the use of international assessment data can result in a range of unintended consequences, such as the shaping and governing of school systems ‘by numbers’.

Purpose: This article explores and analyses the arguments about the uses and consequences of ILSAs. In particular, the discourse about the assessments’ consequential validity will be discussed and evaluated.

Sources of evidence: Literature relating to the uses and consequences of large-scale assessment was analysed, with a focus on research on the consequential aspects of validity.

Main argument: Much research suggests that ILSAs have unintended consequences that affect and influence educational policy. However, the influences on educational policy are complex and interwoven: for example, it is not clear-cut whether effects such as converging curricular are, necessarily, direct consequences of large-scale assessments. Further, it is suggested that a beneficial consequence of large-scale assessment is the infrastructure they provide for studies in the social sciences, although caution must be applied to causal claims, in particular because of the cross-sectional design of the assessments.

Conclusions: The considerable literature discussing the uses and consequences of large-scale assessments tends to point out potential negative aspects of the studies. However, it is also apparent that large-scale international assessments can be a valuable resource for studying global trends and evolving systems in education. Despite the extensive debates around large-scale assessment outcomes both in the media and in educational policy arenas, empirical educational research all too often appears underused in the discussion.     

国际法的基本原则在历史性不公平案件中的运用

在国际法领域,历史性不公平案件的处理引人注目,文章在简要介绍历史性不公平案件的背景、类型的基础上,阐述历史性不公平案件的处理与国际法基本原则的关系,特别是与国际人权法的关系,即一个国家违反其所承担的国际义务并造成他国国民损害的必须赔偿,进而阐述个人、国家在历史性不公平案件中的地位,最终形成要妥善处理历史性不公平案件就需要运用国际法的基本原则。     

世界主义的价值诉求——国际关系规范理论的视角

世界主义是一种具有悠久传统的哲学理念,它主张世界是一个单一的共同体,所有人皆为其中的平等成员。近年来随着国际关系规范理论的复兴,世界主义再次走向前台。在当前全球化的背景下,面对国际政治、经济秩序的重大变迁,一系列关乎人类命运问题的显现,以个人主义的价值前提和全球共同体的道德理想为基础,世界主义在人权的普遍性、全球范围的分配正义和世界主义民主等不同领域都表达了自己的道德诉求。然而,作为一种普遍性的价值目标,其在具体实施过程中可能产生的负面影响同样不容忽视。     

Measuring Attitudinal Change in Mathematics and English Over the 1st Year of Junior High School: A Multidimensional Analysis

Changes in student self- and task evaluations, subjective valuation, and achievement behavior in mathematics and English over the 1st year of junior high form the basis of this study. The transition to junior high has been found to negatively affect students' self-concept and subjective valuation in mathematics and English, but previous research has not addressed changes in task evaluations and achievement behaviors. Gender and level of academic achievement effects are also relevant to the nature of changes in student attitudes. The participants (N =400) were from 3 coeducational Australian government schools in metropolitan Sydney of comparable socioeconomic status. When changes in perceptions occurred, they were negative, and gender differences favored boys in mathematics and girls in English. However, the nature and extent of change was dependent on school and level of achievement.     

现阶段地方医学院校留学生招生工作现状分析及对策

随着我国国际化办学水平的快速提高,来华的医学留学生规模日益扩大.抓好留学生的招生工作,保障留学生的生源质量,成为地方高校面临的首要问题.基于此,对目前医学留学生招生现状进行深层次的分析,并提出解决的对策,以期进一步提高医学留学生的教育质量.     

Challenging the premises of international policy reviews: an introduction to the review symposium

In 2009, a think tank called the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) announced the results of a study entitled Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Response from Education. Intended for a policy audience, the study offered a glimpse into the status of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and an early look at the emergence of Climate Change Education (CCE), in 10 different nations. As with most international reports, the IALEI report provoked many questions, some of which are more broadly relevant to scholarship and practice. This paper introduces a review symposium that addresses three such questions: (1) How coherent is the concept of ESD across national contexts and what conceptual tensions continue to surround ESD and CCE? (2) Can nation-level analyses tell us anything useful about countries where education is not centrally governed? and (3) In light of the evolving relationship between educational research and policy, how should researchers engage with ongoing policy debates?     

The role of culture,competitiveness and economic performance in explaining academic performance: a global market analysis for international student segmentation

A nation's culture, competitiveness and economic performance explain academic performance. Partial Least Squares (PLS) testing of 2252 students shows culture affects competitiveness and academic performance. Culture and economic performance each explain 32%; competitiveness 36%. The model predicts academic performance when culture, competitiveness and economic performance vary. A three-tier market categorisation enhances academic performance.     

An international perspective on civic participation in Irish post-primary schools: results from ICCS

Ireland was one of the 38 countries/education systems that participated in the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) in 2009. This is the first international comparative study in this area in which Ireland has participated since 1971. The study measured the civic knowledge of 14-year-olds and their attitudes towards, and beliefs about, various civic and citizenship issues. The current paper focuses on indicators of students' and (to a lesser extent) parents' participation in school life. Although active participation in school is emphasised in, for example, the Education Act of 1998, little empirical work in Ireland has defined or examined actual levels of participation in post-primary schools, or students' views of their opportunities to participate, and ICCS provides information on these issues in an international comparative context. Findings indicate that despite a relatively strong civic knowledge base among students in Ireland, levels of participation compare less favourably with other countries. Results are discussed in the wider context of the Irish education system.