Art Education in Initial Teacher Education: A Negotiated Education

In this article we aim to highlight the issues we have encountered in teaching art curriculum courses on the primary BAEd degree programme. The main issues addressed are student self-confidence and the conditions which form barriers to active engagement in art activities. These we have addressed in the context of the wide changes taking place since the Education Reform Act of 1988. Our concern is that students develop the confidence to implement change in accord with their own convictions. We describe how we support them in their developing autonomy through the various strategies we have developed including the recognition and transfer of prior knowledge and reflection on the process of their own learning.     

Achieving Quality in the Short Cycle Sector of Higher Engineering Education in Europe: The UK Scenario

The formation process in the UK for a professional engineer is a combination of academic learning, a period of training and experience, and a peer review. This paper sets out the minimum standards required by the Engineering Council and describes in detail the Routes to Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In particular it concentrates on how the educational base is satisfied by the accreditation of individual degree courses that meet the academic requirements, and the procedures adopted. It reviews the current thinking and possible changes to ensure the maintenance of standards.     

Contextualising Authentic Assessment

The term 'authentic assessment' has recently gained widespread use in education. This paper explores various ways in which authentic assessment is being interpreted and the relationship between these different interpretations and the original focus of authenticity in learning. The paper explores briefly the ways in which implicit and explicit beliefs about the nature of learning and knowledge formation direct the ways in which authentic assessment is interpreted and used. Educational issues that arise from some implementations of authentic assessment, identified as camouflage, simulation and abstraction, are discussed. The need for authentic assessment to be contextualised through a coherent teaching, learning and assessment domain is stressed.     

留学小语种国家

能学一门专业还能再掌握一门外语,无疑在职场中独具竞争力,工薪阶层也可以选择去留学,小语种国家的费用优势开始突显出来——有的国家只收注册费,还可以打工等优惠条件更吸引了不少生源前往小语种国家去留学。