Unintended knowledge learnt in primary science practical lessons

This study explored the different kinds of unintended learning in primary school practical science lessons. In this study, unintended learning has been defined as student learning that was found to occur that was not included in the teachers learning objectives for that specific lesson. A total of 22 lessons, taught by five teachers in Korean primary schools with 10- to 12-year-old students, were audio-and video recorded. Pre-lesson interviews with the teachers were conducted to ascertain their intended learning objectives. Students were asked to write short memos after the lesson about what they learnt. Post-lesson interviews with students and teachers were undertaken. What emerged was that there were three types of knowledge that students learnt unintentionally: factual knowledge gained by phenomenon-based reasoning, conceptual knowledge gained by relation- or model-based reasoning, and procedural knowledge acquired by practice. Most unintended learning found in this study fell into the factual knowledge and only a few cases of conceptual knowledge were found. Cases of both explicit procedural knowledge and implicit procedural knowledge were found. This study is significant in that it suggests how unintended learning in practical work can be facilitated as an educative opportunity for meaningful learning by exploring what and how students learnt.     

Academics job satisfaction and job stress across countries in the changing academic environments

This study examined job satisfaction and job stress across 19 higher education systems. We classified the 19 countries according to their job satisfaction and job stress and applied regression analysis to test whether new public management has impacts on either or both job satisfaction and job stress. According to this study, strong market driven countries are in the high stress group and European countries are in the high satisfaction group. The classification implies that market oriented managerial reforms are the main source of academic stress while the high social reputation of academics in their society and academic autonomy are the source of job satisfaction. Our regression analysis also shows that the new public management which is measured by the performance-based management in this study is the main source of academic job stress. In addition, this study highlighted the higher education systems that are classified as the high satisfaction and high stress group. These countries represent the conflicting nature of current academic society—on the one hand they are satisfied, but on the other they are highly stressful.     

Higher Education Research in Asia: a Publication and Co‐Publication Analysis

This study explores higher education research in Asia. Drawing on scientometrics, the mapping of science and social network analysis, this paper examines the publications of 38 specialised journals on higher education over the past three decades. The findings indicate a growing number of higher education research publications but the proportion of Asian publications in relation to the total world publications in higher education research remains stationary. The higher education research community in Asia is heavily concentrated in a few countries and universities, resting on a relatively small number of core scholars who publish research in the international specialised higher education journals. In response to increasing challenges in Asian higher education systems, the paper suggests that the higher education research community in Asia needs to be expanded and include more regional and international collaborations     

Academics’ job-related stress and institutional commitment in Hong Kong universities

Tertiary Education and Management - Recent developments in higher education have placed greater emphasis on performance and accountability and raised concerns about increasing levels of stress...     

Unintended Learning in Primary School Practical Science Lessons from Polanyi’s Perspective of Intellectual Passion

This study explored, from the perspective of intellectual passion developed by Michael Polanyi, the unintended learning that occurred in primary practical science lessons. We use the term ‘unintended’ learning to distinguish it from ‘intended’ learning that appears in teachers’ learning objectives. Data were collected using video and audio recordings of a sample of twenty-four whole class practical science lessons, taught by five teachers, in Korean primary schools with 10- to 12-year-old students. In addition, video and audio recordings were made for each small group of students working together in order to capture their activities and intra-group discourse. Pre-lesson interviews with the teachers were undertaken and audio-recorded to ascertain their intended learning objectives. Selected key vignettes, including unintended learning, were analysed from the perspective of intellectual passion developed by Polanyi. What we found in this study is that unintended learning could occur when students got interested in something in the first place and could maintain their interest. In addition, students could get conceptual knowledge when they tried to connect their experience to their related prior knowledge. It was also found that the processes of intended learning and of unintended learning were different. Intended learning was characterized by having been planned by the teacher who then sought to generate students’ interest in it. In contrast, unintended learning originated from students’ spontaneous interest and curiosity as a result of unplanned opportunities. Whilst teachers’ persuasive passion comes first in the process of intended learning, students’ heuristic passion comes first in the process of unintended learning. Based on these findings, we argue that teachers need to be more aware that unintended learning, on the part of individual students, can occur during their lesson and to be able to better use this opportunity so that this unintended learning can be shared by the whole class. Furthermore, we argue that teachers’ deliberate action and a more interactive classroom culture are necessary in order to allow students to develop, in addition to heuristic passion, persuasive passion towards their unintended learning.     

Influence of university prestige on graduate wage and job satisfaction: the case of South Korea

ABSTRACT

Obtaining a tertiary degree no longer guarantees entry to the best occupational positions in today’s labour market. Success is no longer about ‘more’ education, but about ‘better’ education for university graduates. This study aims to understand whether university prestige in Korea accounts for occupational outcomes in both monetary and non-monetary aspects, such as salaries and job satisfaction. The study particularly focuses on the way different levels of university prestige are affected by gender. The fourth wave data from the Korean Education and Employment Panel were used, providing information from the results of a panel survey of university graduates in terms of their social and academic background and job employment status. Results show that university prestige continues to matters in occupational outcomes in particular, for wage, but it is not significant for job satisfaction. The effect is more significant among male graduates than among female graduates.     

USING IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING TO INCREASE TEACHERS’ ADHERENCE AND QUALITY TO BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLANS

Evidence‐based practices within a response‐to‐intervention framework must be implemented with adequate treatment integrity to promote student outcomes. However, research findings indicate educators struggle to implement interventions and logistical considerations may limit the utility of performance feedback, an evidence‐based treatment integrity promotion strategy. This study evaluates the effect of implementation planning, a treatment integrity promotion strategy that includes detailed logistical planning and barrier identification adapted from an adult behavior change theory from heath psychology (i.e., the Health Action Process Approach). A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate teachers’ adherence to a behavior support plan as well as their quality of implementation. Results indicated that after intervention training, adherence was initially low and variable, and quality of implementation was moderate to high and variable, but both adherence and quality increased and became less variable after implementation planning. The increases in implementation were more pronounced for two teachers, whose students also had subsequent improvements in their academic engagement and disruptive behavior. These findings highlight the relationship between adequate levels of treatment integrity and student outcomes as well as provide initial support for implementation planning.     

诚信是立身之本

我国是一个文明古国，素称“礼仪之邦”，但由于种种原因，现在出现了诚信失范现象，分析其产生原因，阐述了诚信的重要性，并对存在问题的解决方法进行了一定思考。     

Exploring regional and institutional factors of international students' dropout: The South Korea case

With an increasing number of international students in South Korea, the issue of retaining these students and reducing their dropout rates has become important. This study explores the multilevel factors that affect the institutional dropout rate among international students in Korea. The research questions are as follows: (a) to what extent do international students drop out from undergraduate or short‐term programmes in Korean universities?; (b) what are the regional and institutional factors that determine international students' dropout rates? This study uses the panel data on educational institutions as found in the Higher Education in Korea report, which has been updated annually by the Ministry of Education since 2013. According to the pooled ordinary least square and panel analyses, the results indicate that a range of institutional factors (such as type, size, tuition and research performance of academics) and regional factors (such as regional gross domestic product, inflation and the numbers of foreigners in the region) are all associated with the dropout rates of international students. This study suggests that we need to consider various factors to improve the international students' learning experiences both inside and outside of the campus.     

Research productivity by career stage among Korean academics

This study explores Korean academics’ changes in research productivity by career stage. Career stage in this study is defined as a specific cohort based on one’s length of job experience, with those in the same stage sharing similar interests, values, needs, and tasks; it is categorized into fledglings, maturing academics, established academics, and patriarchs. Academics’ research productivity in each career stage is analysed, and these characteristics are compared across academic disciplines. In addition, the factors influencing research productivity in different career stages are examined. The results indicate that research productivity among academics changes according to their career stage, and its pattern differs across academic disciplines. Thus, there is a need to provide proper reward systems or career development programs in consideration of such differences.