Higher education curriculum orientations and the implications for institutional curriculum change

This research is based on an empirical study exploring how academics make curriculum decisions and their perceptions of the influences that shape their decisions. Interviews were held with 20 academics from diverse disciplines, who were both research active and committed to teaching. The higher education curriculum was conceptualised as a field of decision-making shaped by academics’ beliefs about educational and contextual influences. The study identified five distinctive curriculum orientations representing coherent patterns of curriculum decisions aligned with academics’ beliefs about educational purposes. Case studies are presented to elucidate each of the curriculum orientations. Curriculum orientations were also found to shape academics’ responses to educational change. The following higher education change drivers are explored: graduate employability and the skills agenda, teaching–research relationships, changing understandings about teaching and learning, educational technologies and flexible delivery. The findings suggest implications for institutional curriculum change initiatives and academic development programmes.     

Identifying threshold concepts in the careers of educational developers

The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify threshold concepts in the careers of educational developers. Twenty-one common threshold concepts emerged, with one threshold concept common among all participants: Facilitating a change process. The remaining 20 threshold concepts were captured in the following three categories: (1) Ways of knowing and being that facilitate change in individuals and in groups; (2) Ways of knowing and being that facilitate systemic change and (3) Core ways of knowing and being. Study results may provide guidance for the design of initial and ongoing formation programmes in educational development.     

Co-teacher noticing: implications for professional development

ABSTRACT

Federal laws require schools to incorporate co-teaching environments, often comprised of an inclusion specialist and content specialist. Research shows individual teachers can make improvements to their practice by engaging in critical reflection through noticing. The authors present a research-based professional development model designed for teachers to improve and enhance their co-teaching practices. Findings included: teachers’ beliefs on teaching became more aligned; teachers’ beliefs on collaboration were inconsistent; teachers tended to focus on their teaching, not on student learning; and, teachers were non-cognizant of their beliefs toward teaching and co-teaching. We articulate ideas resulting from these findings for enhancing professional development experiences for co-teachers.     

First Day in Secondary School: Learning to Be a ‘Professional Pupil'∗

The first school day of four groups of school students starting secondary school is described and analyzed. The article is based on ethnographic research conducted in two secondary schools in Finland by a group of six researchers. Initial encounters between students and the school and its teachers are discussed. The focus is on how the construction, negotiation and learning of the ‘profession’ of being a pupil in a secondary school begins.     

Comparison of Quebec and British teachers' beliefs about,training in and experience with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

This study compares belief patterns of teachers from Quebec and Britain about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It also compares teacher training in ADHD in both countries, as well as their experience with students who have this disorder. The results indicate that: (1) teacher belief patterns about ADHD in Quebec and Britain are different, although teachers from both countries have predominant beliefs about ADHD that are of an allopathic medical nature; (2) British teachers have received less information on ADHD in their initial training than Quebec teachers; and (3) British teachers are contacted more often than Quebec teachers by doctors when they have a youngster using medication to treat ADHD in their classroom. Results are discussed from a sociological and an educational perspective.     

Translation and validation of the Epistemic Belief Inventory with Turkish pre-service teachers

The purpose of this study was to translate the original version of the Epistemic Belief Inventory developed by Schraw, Bendixen, and Dunkle (2002) for pre-service teachers in a Turkish context and validate its construct. Studies on the epistemological beliefs of Turkish students have been heretofore limited in number and have been largely conducted using adapted versions of the Schommer (1990) instrument. First, the original questionnaire was translated from English to Turkish and then was scrutinized by experts in language, content, measurement, and evaluation. Then, the revised questionnaire was administered to 166 Turkish pre-service teachers. The results of exploratory factor analyses suggested 3 epistemological belief dimensions – quick learning, innate ability, and certain knowledge. The results of the study further revealed support for multidimensional theories of epistemological beliefs among pre-service teachers. In order to verify the results of the present study, further examination of pre-service teachers' epistemological belief systems is necessary.     

‘I hope someone castrates you,you perverted bastard’: Martin Cole's sex education film,Growing Up

This paper concerns the response to the sex education film Growing Up, made in 1971 by Dr Martin Cole, which used a combination of animation and live action to offer a frank and uncompromising account of sexual reproduction. As part of this, both male and female masturbation and an unsimulated act of male–female coitus featured in the film. Cole was widely denounced both by religious conservatives including the members of the Nationwide Festival of Light and by others involved in sex education. The former objected to what they took to be his promotion of precocious and promiscuous sex, and the latter charged him with setting back the cause of ‘responsible’ sex education by years or decades. However, evidence from various schools in which Growing Up was seen suggests that it was apparently well received by pupils. But an ad hoc alliance of religious conservatives and ‘responsible’ sex educators ensured that Growing Up was not widely distributed, and a tactic agreement of sorts has arisen that such explicit sexual imagery will not be featured in school sex education materials in the United Kingdom. Sources include selected media reports/discussions, parliamentary debates, letters sent to Cole, teachers' comments and an interview conducted in 2007.     

‘Marching at the Speed of the Slowest Man’: The Facilitation and Regulation of Student Autonomy in a Pluralist Jewish Day School

ABSTRACT

Faith schools are often perceived as restricting students’ autonomy through inculcating a single religious ideology and compelling participation in collective worship. Based on interviews and focus groups with parents, students and senior staff, this article investigates how England’s one pluralist Jewish secondary school has, in contrast, attempted to accommodate various forms of Jewish practice and facilitate students’ agency to determine their Jewish identities as desired. It reveals that students enjoy opportunities to actively negotiate Judaism, but that their autonomy is not without limits, and issues inherent to pluralism exist in executing an ethos accommodative of diverse, personalized expressions of Jewishness.     

高职院校大学生宗教信仰状况调查报告——以辽宁机电职业技术学院为例

为了了解高职学生宗教信仰状况,本文通过"辽宁机电职业技术学院大学生宗教信仰调查问卷"进行调查分析,阐述了本院学生的宗教信仰状况,以期引起高职院校学生党建工作者的高度重视。     

俄罗斯文学中圣愚文化以及圣愚人物形象分析

所谓圣愚就是对基督盲目炽热的信仰,圣愚人物被看作是一些内心完美而外表丑陋的东正教信徒之类的人物.尽管学术界对于圣愚的准确概念一直保持着不一样的态度,在各种俄罗斯的文学作品中,“圣愚”更是常常被理解为“弱智”、“白痴”、“疯子”的形象,但是我们不可否认的就是圣愚所具有的宗教性质.一般认为,圣愚文化是俄罗斯的本民族文化与拜占庭愚人的古老传统结合在一起的产物,是一种极具宗教性质的现象.然而它的影响已经超越了宗教的范畴,并且渗透到俄罗斯文化的方方面面,从俄罗斯的绘画和文学到俄罗斯的现代电影,我们都能够看见圣愚文化的痕迹.