The impact of tracking by attainment on pupil self-confidence over time: demonstrating the accumulative impact of self-fulfilling prophecy

Abstract

The impact of self-fulfilling prophecy in education, and of attainment grouping on pupil self-perception, remain topics of longstanding debate, with important consequences for social in/justice. Focusing on self-confidence, this article draws on survey responses from 9,059 12-13 year olds who were tracked by subject (‘setting’). They provided survey responses when placed in ‘ability’ sets at the start of their secondary schooling, and again late the following year; enabling analysis of impact over time. After controlling for prior attainment, the gap in general self-confidence between students in the top and bottom sets for mathematics is shown to widen over time, and high set students’ self-confidence in English had also grown significantly; although there was not further widening in the cases of self-confidence in mathematics or in general self-confidence between students in the top and bottom sets for English. Implications of these findings for interventions directed at addressing educational disadvantage are discussed.     

Structural technological direction in AIS design for regional analytical services

Results are presented, which were acquired by the author during research and development activities on the design, adaptation, introduction and elaboration of automated information systems of different types and purposes used in a variety of technologies for planning and making managerial decisions, namely: national corporate STI information centers, departmental systems of management (DSM), scientific production associations, firm analysis systems (FAS), and information analytical services at the federal and regional levels.     

Immigration and supplementary ethnic schooling: Ukrainian students in Portugal

Immigration from Eastern European countries to Portugal is a recent phenomenon. Within the last decade, economic migrants from Ukraine, Russia, Romania and Moldova set up a number of supplementary schools across the country. No academic attention has been given to the phenomenon of supplementary ethnic schools in Portugal, whilst there is a growing interest in and beyond Europe in the ways they serve as cultural, social and political sources for identity negotiation, and structures for social capital formation in migrant communities. This study addresses this gap in knowledge. Drawing on a survey completed by 184 students between the ages of 12 and 20, attending eight Ukrainian supplementary schools, this paper contributes to wider international research through its mapping of the population of Ukrainian schools in Portugal and examining students’ reasons for attendance, highlighting both positive and negative aspects of their experiences. Recommendations are made for schools in light of the findings.     

Innovations and the information society of Russia

This paper considers the problems of the information society in Russia and their interrelationships in solving the tasks of the innovation Strategy-2020 and in forming the innovation infrastructure and systems for the management of innovations. The urgency and necessity of using the intellectual resources of the VINITI RAS Databank, as well as the preparation of new analytical products in the Analysis of Innovations series are substantiated. The problems of creating classification systems and lists of classification headings on innovations are mentioned; and an algorithm for developing the concept of the information society is presented.     

Themes at the intersections of theory and practice in online and blended education

This is a reflexive account of my experiences teaching online and blended doctoral research methodology courses and seminars. Vacillating between skepticism and affirmation, my thoughts mirror the many issues that arise from my daily professional practice and from what I have discovered in my quest to better understand the nature and workings of online and blended education through scholarly discourse. The purpose of sharing my experiences and points of view is to test a set of my truths among the community of experts on the subject. I refer to these truths as evocative discourses – emergent themes at the intersection of theory and practice of online and blended teaching and learning.     

Nurturing learning or encouraging dependency? Teacher constructions of students in lower attainment groups in English secondary schools

‘Ability’ or attainment grouping can introduce an additional label that influences teachers’ expectations of students in specific attainment groups. This paper is based on a survey of 597 teachers across 82 schools and 34 teacher interviews in 10 schools undertaken as part of a large-scale mixed-methods study in England. The paper focuses on English and mathematics teachers’ expectations of secondary school students in lower attainment groups, and explores how low-attaining students are constructed as learners who benefit from specific approaches to learning justified through discourses of nurturing and protection. The authors argue that the adoption of different pedagogical approaches for groups of low-attaining learners to nurture them may in some cases be fostering dependency on teachers and cap opportunities for more independent learning. Furthermore, more inclusive whole-school learning-culture approaches may better allow for students across the attainment range to become independent learners.