Improving the transfer to secondary school: how every child's voice can matter

Children in their final year of primary school (Year 6) were asked about their experiences of transition to high school so far. This multi‐method study included questionnaires, discussion, drawing and writing. The children raised a range of issues including mixed feelings; friends; bullying; getting lost; race; being the only child from their primary school; teachers; growing up; and school choice. Learning issues were rarely raised, suggesting that the social aspects of the move are most important for children at the end of Year 6. Most students wanted as much experience of their new school as possible, before they start attending there as a pupil. A key finding from this study is that children can be a very valuable resource in improving transition. Given accessible opportunities, which need not take up large amounts of time or resources, all children can inform the transition process and contribute to ongoing improvement.     

Current Perceptions of the Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Education Degrees in Counselor Preparation

Results of a survey of program coordinators of counselor preparation programs addressing current perceptions regarding the doctor of education and doctor of philosophy degrees are presented and implications are discussed.     

Through the Lens of Theory: Perspectives on an International Library Association

This paper discusses a study of the International Association of School Librarianship with the goal of offering a useful alternative model for studying associations: combining theory with a case-study design. While findings of the study are summarized, discussion centers on the case-study methodology and a multi-faceted theoretical framework. The theory applied is traditional and recently emerged theories of organization and the sociological theories of convergence and global integrity ethics. Aims of the paper are threefold: to present the value (to the associations and to scholars) of applying theory to the study of international associations; to provide insight into such associations; and to inspire further research in this field.     

Engineers as Information Processors: a Survey of US Aerospace Engineering Faculty and Students

US aerospace engineering faculty and students were surveyed as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Research Project. Faculty and students were viewed as information processors within a conceptual framework of information-seeking behavior. Questionnaires were received from 275 faculty members and 640 students which were used to determine (1) use and importance of information sources, (2) use of specific print sources and electronic data bases, (3) use of information technology and (4) the influence of instruction on the use of information sources and products by faculty and students. As information processors, US aerospace faculty and students are ‘information naïve’, seek out information alone or with the help of co-workers, tend not to make use of the information products and services oriented to them, make limited use of librarians, and make considerable use of computer and information technology. Little evidence was found to support the belief that instruction in library or engineering information use has significant impact either on broadening the frequency or range of information products and sources used by US aerospace engineering students.     

Adult learning for citizenship: towards a reconstruction of the social purpose tradition

This paper seeks to review and re-frame the idea of social purpose adult education in the context of a contemporary Risk Society and the interface between modernist and postmodernist influences on learning. After interrogating and critiquing the social purpose tradition in adult education, it relates this to the changing nature and widening scope of adult learning within a developing Learning Society. The paper puts forward the idea of Adult Learning for Citizenship as a way of maintaining and reconstructing social purpose learning within a Risk Society and as a necessary challenge and counter-focus to the dominant discourse of Lifelong Learning shaped by the economic imperative and framed very much in terms of human capital. In developing this argument, the paper proposes a new framework for Adult Learning for Citizenship which consists of four different but overlapping dimensions of social purpose learning: learning for inclusive citizenship, for pluralistic citizenship, for reflexive citizenship and for active citizenship. Within this framework, it develops new rationales for social purpose adult learning linked to instructive examples of practice from a range of international contexts. In conclusion, it examines the implications of such a framework for the praxis of adult educators.     

DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS OF STUDY STRATEGIES CONNECTED WITH COLLEGE GRADE SUCCESS IN DIFFERENT MAJOR FIELDS

A study techniques questionnaire was administered to 538 students enrolled in upper division college classes. Multivariate analysis of variance was employed to compare the centroids of questionnaire responses of students in four major fields who had above and below average grades. There were significant differences in group centroids for the comparison between major fields and between grade levels. There was no significant interaction. The major differences between students with above and below average grades appeared to be reflected in "clerical diligence" and cognitive "activity." Successful students were not only more diligent in their study habits, but also more likely to transform actively scholastic information. For the comparison of major field groups, two discriminant functions were significant. One function seemed to reflect mathematical-logical thinking while the other reflected "applied-subjective" thinking. The major field groups formed a science-nonscience continuum on the first function but not on the second.     

A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Special Education Referral Process: A case study

In this article, I explore a case study of the special education referral process as an institutional site of exploring the intersection of power, discourse and subjectivities. I engage with critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis: the critical study of language , New York, Longman, 1995; Language and Power , London, Longman, 1989) as an analytic and social tool to uncover the webs of discursive practices involved in institutional decision-making. I focus on the process through which identities are constructed through discourse. I present three different interpretations from the beginning of the referral process: (1) the classroom teacher, (2) the remedial reading teacher, and (3) the parent of the child who was referred. In juxtaposing these interview texts I demonstrate how the teachers and June Treader, the parent, perceive the intention of the referral process differently. The school views the referral process as definitive while the mother views the referral as exploratory, to learn more about her daughter. I call on CDA--particularly the domains of discourse and style--as a means to explore and explain the differences in assumptions at the beginning of the referral process. This analysis demonstrates that despite the differences in interpretation at the beginning of the process there is remarkable similarity between the three participants around the values, beliefs and assumptions of 'schooled literacy'. This research suggests the need to expand on frameworks that conceptualize 'conflict' between discourse practices to consider the consequences of alignment.