Engineering Education in Ireland: the past and the future

In Ireland, content and level of engineering courses have in the past been influenced by views of professional institutions. Demands of industry are leading to provision of a wide range of courses at different levels with closer contact with industry, not all of which meet the requirements of professional institutions; the major increase in courses has been at sub-degree level.     

The Role of Language in the Internationalisation of Higher Education: an example from Portugal

This article discusses the impact of internationalisation on the strategy and language policy of the Portuguese University of Aveiro. In addition, it analyses how the Department of Languages and Cultures of the University contributes to the language policy. For the University of Aveiro, internationalisation is a priority and a distinctive feature of its profile. It is a member of many international networks and consortia in Europe and participates in a wide range of international study and research programmes. The principles of the Bologna Process have challenged UA policy makers to adopt a language policy and to give study programmes a more international profile by considering the option of English as a medium of instruction.
At the same time, and paradoxically, the role of the Portuguese language will become increasingly important in the near future because many of the foreign students at Aveiro come from the former Portuguese-speaking colonies. We conclude that the question of language has led to local dilemmas, discussions and sometimes tensions about the role of the English language in processes of internationalisation and curriculum change at the University of Aveiro.     

Cattell–Horn–Carroll cognitive ability profiles of poor comprehenders

This study examines cognitive ability profiles of children with specific age-based normative weaknesses in reading comprehension and compares those profiles to the profiles of (a) children with at least average achievement in reading comprehension, reading decoding skills, and mathematics and (b) children with low achievement across the 3 achievement areas. When compared across 9 cognitive ability composite scores derived from Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory and measured by the Woodcock–Johnson III [Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather (2001). Woodcock–Johnson. Itasca, IL: Riverside], groups differed in overall level of performance. When individual abilities were considered, the poor comprehenders scored significantly lower than the average achievement group on all nine composite scores and significantly lower than the normative population on all composite scores except Processing Speed and Long-Term Retrieval. In contrast, the poor comprehenders also scored significantly higher than the low achievement group on all composite scores except for Visual–Spatial Thinking and Phonemic Awareness. Although the poor comprehenders as a group scored lowest on composite scores measuring language- and knowledge-based abilities, review of the profiles of individual poor comprehenders revealed no consistent pattern of performance across cognitive ability composite scores.     

Adjustment of Black Students at a Historically White South African University

The adjustment of black African students to what, under apartheid, were white universities has long been a concern for South African educators. Dimensions of adjustment to university were examined for 339 African black and white freshmen attending a historically white South African university, using the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. No significant differences were found between black African and white participants on academic adjustment or institutional commitment. However, black African participants reported significantly poorer levels of social adjustment, and somewhat poorer levels of personal-emotional adjustment. Further investigations found relationships between academic performance, race and additional variables hypothesised to be associated with adjustment.     

Aligning Deweyan Pragmatism and Emersonian Perfectionism: Re-imagining Growth and Educating Grown-Ups

This essay examines in detail the triangulated conversation Naoko Saito constructs, in The Gleam of Light , among the voices of R. W. Emerson, John Dewey and Stanley Cavell. The pivot around which everything turns is the Emersonian ideal of moral perfectionism and, in particular, the implications of this ideal for the philosophy of education. As explicated by Cavell, this ideal concerns 'the dimension of moral thought directed less to restraining the bad than to releasing the good'. For the conscientious person, it is, at once, unavoidable and unattainable. In constructing a conversation among these and other authors, Saito establishes herself as an arresting voice by her thoughtful contributions to many contemporary controversies bearing upon our educational practices, not least of all ones about curricular reform as well as personal transformation.     

Does Every Child Know They Matter? Pupils' Views of One Alternative to Exclusion

Schools are now urged to make every child matter. In this paper we present the case of the Coalfields Alternatives to Exclusion (CATE) strategy in which pupils at risk of permanent exclusion are offered the opportunity to start afresh in a new school. Without the stigma of exclusion, pupils are able to develop new relationships with peers and teachers and enhance self-esteem. We argue that this system of managed moves, despite some difficulties and challenges, offers an insight into the ways in which feelings of mattering can be translated into new behaviours and intentions. This we suggest provides pupils with a positive opportunity to resume their education and to be genuinely included in the life of their new school.     

Using the Copenhagen Process to Facilitate National Qualification Framework Strategies in South Eastern Europe

This article presents and discusses a perspective on the implications of the Lisbon Process for education and training in a selected group of partner countries of the European Union — the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro). It presents the reflections of a member of staff of the European Training Foundation responsible for managing the six country regional project underway since 2003 on developing strategies for national qualification frameworks. The reflection aims to assess the potential contributions of a major strategy of the European Union on the reform processes underway in the social and economic transitions in the Western Balkans. It draws on the broader experience of the Foundation in supporting reforms in vocational education and training systems. Qualification reform is taken as an illustrative example of the use, relevance and constraints of EU ‘processes’ in accompanying education and training reform. Although the Copenhagen process partially provides a broad structure and there is a shared history between the countries of the region, each country is sufficiently different in its local contexts to suggest that the manner and pace of adoption will diverge. The emphasis on further development to suit local circumstances essentially gives partner countries an approach or set of tools with which they can shape and form their own initiatives with some confidence that the result will be in line with general European trends.