Showing papers in "British Journal of Educational Studies in 2009"
TL;DR: Exploring Talk in Schools - Edited by Neil Mercer and Steve Hodgkinson Pp 189 London: Sage 2008 £2099 (pbk), £6500 (hbk) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Exploring Talk in Schools - Edited by Neil Mercer and Steve Hodgkinson Pp 189 London: Sage 2008 £2099 (pbk), £6500 (hbk) ISBN 978-1-84787-379-8 (pbk), 978-1-84787-378-1 (hbk)
90 citations
TL;DR: The case that hostile critics have urged against Newman's The Idea of a University is impressive as mentioned in this paper, and it is worth noting that J.M. Roberts wrote nearly twenty years ago that "it is no longer possible to write a book with such...
Abstract: The case that hostile critics have urged against Newman's The Idea of a University is impressive. J.M. Roberts wrote nearly twenty years ago that ‘it is no longer possible to write a book with such...
76 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that emotional, cognitive, cognitive and socio-communicative multiculturalism are seen as essential traits for good performance in transnational corporations, and they are strongly encouraged in the IB curriculum.
Abstract: In the 1970s and the 1980s, multicultural education spread in many countries. However, in the mid-1980s the golden age of multiculturalism came to an end. Neo-conservative political forces attacked multicultural policies and progressively a neo-liberal discourse pervaded economic and social policies, also affecting national education systems. In contrast, multicultural approaches have emerged with tremendous vigour in the field of business management. Juxtaposing cognitive, emotional and socio-communicative multiculturalism found in organisational studies onto multiculturalism in the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum indicates whether multiculturalism in international schools aims to respond to the needs of global capitalism. The findings show that emotional, cognitive and socio-communicative multiculturalism are seen as essential traits for good performance in transnational corporations, and they are strongly encouraged in the IB curriculum. The relevance of multicultural skills in g...
75 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that the introduction of access agreements following the establishment of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has consolidated how English higher education institutions (HEIs) position themselves in the marketplace in relation to widening participation.
Abstract: This paper argues that the introduction of access agreements following the establishment of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has consolidated how English higher education institutions (HEIs) position themselves in the marketplace in relation to widening participation. However, the absence of a national bursary scheme has led to obfuscation rather than clarification from the perspective of the consumer. This paper analyses OFFA's 2008 monitoring report and a sample of twenty HEIs’ original 2006 and revised or updated access agreements (2008) to draw conclusions about the impact of these agreements on notions of ‘fair access’ and widening participation. The authors conclude that, unsurprisingly in an increasingly market-driven system, institutions use access agreements primarily to promote enrolment to their own programmes rather than to promote system-wide objectives. As a consequence of this marketing focus, previous differences between pre-1992 and post-1992 institutions in relation to widenin...
64 citations
TL;DR: However, it is questionable whether overall achievement in countries such as the USA or England has improved by any significant amount over thirty years as discussed by the authors, and the attribution of causality is problematic and knowledge of the conditions under which such phenomena are likely to be replicated is limited.
Abstract: School improvement is much sought and often claimed. However, it is questionable whether overall achievement in countries such as the USA or England has improved by any significant amount over thirty years. Several school improvement programmes have been claimed as successful, but evaluations, even where they exist, are generally poor: based on the perceptions of participants, lacking any counterfactual or reporting selectively. Accounts of improvement in individual schools are numerous, but are inevitably selective; the attribution of causality is problematic and knowledge of the conditions under which such phenomena are likely to be replicated is limited. School effectiveness research also has yet to identify specific strategies with clear causal effects. In short, many claims of school improvement are illusory. Nevertheless, there are some improvement strategies that are well-defined, feasible and robustly shown to be effective. In future, we need greater clarity and agreement about what cons...
49 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors seek a clearer rationale for the liberal dimensions and aspirations of higher education and argue that the main role of universities is to provide professional and vocational education and training and their benefits are to be measured in terms of social or economic utility.
Abstract: The purposes of higher education in general and of university education in particular have long been subject to controversy. Whereas for some, the main role of universities is to provide professional and vocational education and training and their benefits are to be measured in terms of social or economic utility, their value for others is to be seen more in terms of the liberal development and promotion of certain intrinsically worthwhile qualities of mind and intellect. In this context, indeed, much recent literature on university education has been concerned to reaffirm what are usually taken to have been the liberal purposes of bygone university education over the more instrumental or vocational agendas of much contemporary university and higher education. While recognising, along with other treatments of this issue, that it is to some extent implicated in a false dichotomy between the liberal and the vocational, this paper seeks a clearer rationale for the liberal dimensions and aspirations...
48 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a longitudinal analysis using the Youth Survey from the British Household Panel Survey (BHP Survey) is presented, which shows that most children can express intentions with regard to future participation very early in their secondary school careers and that these intentions are good predictors of actual behaviour five years later.
Abstract: The issue of levels of participation in post-compulsory education has been emphasised by the current policy initiatives to increase the age to which some form of participation is compulsory. One of the acknowledged weaknesses of research in the field of children's intentions with regard to participation is the lack of longitudinal data. This paper offers a longitudinal analysis using the Youth Survey from the British Household Panel Survey. The results show that most children can express intentions with regard to future participation very early in their secondary school careers and that these intentions are good predictors of actual behaviour five years later. Intentions to stay on are more consistent than intentions to leave and most children who finally leave at 16 have at some point said they want to remain in education post-16. The strongest association with participation levels is attainment at GCSE. However, there are also influences of gender and parental background and these remain, even...
44 citations
TL;DR: A systematic review of the literature and video data from an empirical study of oral re-rehearsal can be found in this paper, where the authors define oral rehearsal as a strategy for reducing cognitive load during writing; for post-hoc reviewing of text; for helping writers to hear their own writing; or for practising sentences aloud as a preliminary to writing them down.
Abstract: The principle that emergent writing is supported by talk, and that an appropriate pedagogy for writing should include planned opportunities for talk is well researched and well understood. However, the process by which talk becomes text is less clear. The term ‘oral rehearsal’ is now commonplace in English classrooms and curriculum policy documents, yet as a concept it is not well theorised. Indeed, there is relatively little reference to the concept of oral rehearsal in the international literature, and what references do exist propose differing interpretations of the concept. At its most liberal, the term is used loosely as a synonym for talk; more precise definitions frame oral rehearsal, for example, as a strategy for reducing cognitive load during writing; for post-hoc reviewing of text; for helping writers to ‘hear’ their own writing; or for practising sentences aloud as a preliminary to writing them down. Drawing on a systematic review of the literature and video data from an empirical st...
42 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored how recourse to deliberative democratic theory, and in particular to the principle of contestatory deliberative democracy found within recent republican writing, may be useful in helping educators to consi...
Abstract: Discourse between pupils represents a core element of citizenship education in England. However, as it is currently presented within the curriculum, discourse adopts the form of the rather broad terms of ‘discussion’ and ‘debate’. These terms are diffuse, and in themselves offer little pedagogical guidance for teachers implementing the curriculum in schools. Moreover, there has been little academic reflection in England as to how theoretical ideas on civic dialogue may usefully inform approaches to pupil discourse. For this reason, how pupils experience discursive learning activities is likely to depend on how individual schools and teachers understand the terms ‘discussion’ and ‘debate’ and the way in which this understanding is translated into pupil learning activities. This article explores how recourse to deliberative democratic theory, and in particular to the principle of contestatory deliberative democracy found within recent republican writing, may be useful in helping educators to consi...
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the appropriateness of models developed to understand why students do or do not complete their courses in higher education is examined, and it is suggested that emphasising integration above regulation has taken attention away from a possible anomic interpretation.
Abstract: This paper examines the appropriateness of models developed to understand why students do or do not complete their courses in higher education. It is suggested that emphasising integration above regulation has taken attention away from a possible anomic interpretation. A more contextualised, nuanced and psychosocial approach to understanding student participation and retention is needed to address difficulties and inequalities in the transition to higher education.
35 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the compliance of universities in the European Union with the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the status of higher education teaching personnel, which deals primarily with protection for academic freedom.
Abstract: This paper examines the compliance of universities in the European Union with the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher–Education Teaching Personnel, which deals primarily with protection for academic freedom. The paper briefly surveys the European genesis of the modern research university and academic freedom, before evaluating compliance with the UNESCO recommendation on institutional autonomy, academic freedom, university governance and tenure. Following from this, the paper examines the reasons for the generally low level of compliance with the UNESCO Recommendation within the EU states, and considers how such compliance could be improved.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined understandings of community and safety for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) groups in schools in a metropolitan borough and found that a GRT community with strong local attachments, socially negotiated and maintained, figured very strongly.
Abstract: This paper examines understandings of community and safety for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) groups in schools in a metropolitan borough. One school in particular was identified as being the ‘Gypsy school’ and was attended by the majority of GRT children in the borough. The school was recognised as a model of ‘good practice’ reflecting its holistic approach towards the GRT community but it was also successful for wider reasons. A picture of the intersection of different communities emerged from interview accounts in which a GRT community with strong local attachments, socially negotiated and maintained, figured very strongly. The GRT community was also identified as sharing racist attitudes towards other non-white immigrants. This article examines children's perspectives of their engagement with the education process and how the strong GRT community played an important part in their understandings of safety and belonging.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on the work of Basil Bernstein to offer a re-conceptualisation of creativity for the English further education (FE) sector, arguing that teaching and learning is constrained by an instrumental remit for the sector, which prioritises perceived economic needs over broader conceptions of education and training.
Abstract: This paper draws on the work of Basil Bernstein to offer a (re-) conceptualisation of creativity for the English further education (FE) sector. It begins by locating creativity within the political economy of FE and argues that teaching and learning is constrained by an instrumental remit for the sector, which prioritises perceived economic needs over broader conceptions of education and training. The paper goes on to analyse the FE curriculum, relating Bernstein's work on generic modes to critiques of competence. It proposes a central role for knowledge and broad conceptions of skill in FE in order to contest an instrumental approach to teaching and learning arising from official discourse on competitiveness. The paper uses Bernstein's typology of vertical and horizontal discourse to argue that creativity needs to be re-defined in a way that recognises the value of principled, conceptual knowledge in vocational education whilst acknowledging the socially constructed nature of creativity and kno...
TL;DR: In the context of a tightly controlled state regulating schooling through a highly controlled educational system, the government expected teachers to obey these policy documents, political statements and the prescribed curriculum as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: States commonly employ education policy to build a strong sense of citizenship within young people and to create types of citizens appropriate to the country. In Singapore the government created a policy to build citizenship through both policy statements and social studies in the school curriculum. In the context of a tightly controlled state regulating schooling through a highly controlled educational system, the government expected teachers to obey these policy documents, political statements and the prescribed curriculum. What do teachers understand about citizenship in this context? In schools do teachers demonstrate independence of thought on citizenship education or do they acquiesce to government policy? This article reports on a small group of social studies teachers’ understandings of citizenship, and explores the nature of these understandings in the context of government policy. The study showed an unexpected diversity of conceptualization amongst Singaporean teachers with their unde...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the findings from a study of admission arrangements for all secondary schools in England and answer questions about the scale and extent of selection by attainment or aptitude including an account of partially selective schools, consider the similarity and differences between selection by aptitude and by attainment and analyse some of the issues associated with both kinds of selection.
Abstract: This paper presents the findings from a study of the admission arrangements for all secondary schools in England. We sketch the history of selection, answer questions about the scale and extent of selection by attainment or aptitude including an account of partially selective schools, consider the similarity and differences between selection by aptitude and by attainment and analyse some of the issues associated with both kinds of selection.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss problems raised when free speech is heard by others as harmful and offensive to their beliefs and values, and offer a set of suggestions to ensure that the university may envision itself as a space of freedom, pluralism and tolerance.
Abstract: the university is promoted as ‘a place from where to speak’ Academic freedom is examined as a crucial value in an increasingly uncertain age which resonates with Barnett's concern to encourage students to overcome their ‘fear of freedom’ My concern is that the putative university space of freedom and autonomy may well become constricted by those who would limit not just our freedom to speak but also our freedoms to be and to do Without academic freedom students and teachers, who might be able to fly, will not be permitted to fly I review issues of academic freedom and free speech raised especially by Berlin, Voltaire, von Humboldt, Mill, Milton and Rorty I discuss problems raised when free speech is heard by others as harmful and offensive to their beliefs and values I offer a set of suggestions to ensure that the university may envision itself as a space of freedom, pluralism and tolerance Finally, I reflect that the university, of all democratic institutions, should be the one which best
TL;DR: In this article, several key arguments for limiting academic freedom are identified, examined and placed in an historical context, and contextualisation shows that with the disappearance of social and political struggles to extend freedom in society there has come a narrowing of academic life and a new and impoverished concept of "academic freedom" for a diminished idea of the human subject, of humanity and of human potential.
Abstract: Discussions about freedom of speech and academic freedom today are about the limits to those freedoms. However, these discussions take place mostly in the higher education trade press and do not receive any serious attention from academics and educationalists. In this paper several key arguments for limiting academic freedom are identified, examined and placed in an historical context. That contextualisation shows that with the disappearance of social and political struggles to extend freedom in society there has come a narrowing of academic life and a new and impoverished concept of ‘academic freedom’ for a diminished idea of the human subject, of humanity and of human potential.
TL;DR: The classical conception of academic freedom associated with Wilhelm von Humboldt and the rise of the modern university has a quite specific cultural foundation that centres on the controversial mental faculty of 'judgement' as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The classical conception of academic freedom associated with Wilhelm von Humboldt and the rise of the modern university has a quite specific cultural foundation that centres on the controversial mental faculty of 'judgement'. This article traces the roots of 'judgement' back to the Protestant Reformation, through its heyday as the signature feature of German idealism, and to its gradual loss of salience as both a philosophical and a psychological concept. This trajectory has been accompanied by a general shrinking in the scope of academic freedom from the promulgation of world-views to the offering of expert opinion.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that TTCs are social technologies that work to open up social spaces in and around schools for governing relationships between schools and other community stakeholders, particularly businesses and families.
Abstract: Prior to its election to office in 2007, the Australian Labor Party announced a commitment to introduce Trade Training Centres (TTCs) into all Australian secondary schools as an initiative of its Education Revolution. TTCs were proposed as a key element of Federal Labor's education and training policy that aimed to manage future risks to Australia's competitiveness in the emerging global economy and to support school-to-employment transitions for young people. This analysis adopts a governmentality framework to conceptualise the Federal Government's introduction of TTCs alternatively as a key strategy for nationalising social investment politics in Australia. The paper draws on recent Australian policy documents to argue that TTCs are social technologies that work to open up social spaces in and around schools for governing relationships between schools and other community stakeholders, particularly businesses and families. The paper concludes by examining policy implications, including those of...
TL;DR: Cyril Norwood and the Ideal of Secondary Education as mentioned in this paper, by Gary McCulloch. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2007. Pp 208.
Abstract: Cyril Norwood and the Ideal of Secondary Education. By Gary McCulloch. Pp. 208. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2007. £40.00. ISBN 1-4039-6793-8.
TL;DR: Academic freedom does not refer to freedom to engage in any speech act, but to the freedom to hold any belief and espouse it appropriately in an appropriately academic manner as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Academic freedom does not refer to freedom to engage in any speech act, but to freedom to hold any belief and espouse it in an appropriately academic manner. This freedom belongs to certain institutions, rather than to individuals, because of their academic nature. Academic freedom should be absolute, regardless of any offence it may on occasion cause.
TL;DR: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers as mentioned in this paper is a good reference book for mobile learning for teachers and trainers, which includes a survey of mobile learning resources and resources for teachers.
Abstract: Mobile Learning. A Handbook for Educators and Trainers. Edited by Agnes Kukulska-Hulme and John Traxler. Pp. 208. London: Routledge. 2005. £25.99 (pbk). ISBN 0-415-35740-3 (pbk)
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that freedom of speech is in principle inimical to some of the goals of education, while being essential to the objectives of others, and it is important to distinguish between a freedom and its exercise and between different philosophies of education.
Abstract: Why is freedom of speech so seldom raised as an issue in philosophy of education? In assessing this question, it is important to distinguish (i) between a freedom and its exercise, and (ii) between different philosophies of education. Western philosophies of education may be broadly divided into classes derived from theories of knowledge first articulated in ancient Greece. Freedom of speech is in principle inimical to some of these, while being essential to the objectives of others.
TL;DR: In this paper, Anne Brockbank and Ian McGill present the second edition of the Reflective Learning in Higher Education (Second Edition) book, which facilitates reflective learning in higher education, and the authors propose a framework to support reflective learning for higher education.
Abstract: Facilitating Reflective Learning in Higher Education (Second Edition). By Anne Brockbank and Ian McGill. Pp.368. Maidenhead: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press. 2007. £29.99 (pbk), £65.00 (hbk). ISBN-13 978-0-335-22091-5 (pbk), 978-0-335-22092-2 (hbk).
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the efficacy of teamwork in ten SBM-designated Arab-Bedouin elementary schools in Israel, and found that true teamwork does not exist in the schools studied, despite their SBM official status, primarily because the concept of teamwork clashes with the social/cultural norms of traditional Arab Bed...
Abstract: Throughout the western world a leading example of the educational reforms that have been implemented in the late twentieth and twenty-first century is School-Based Management (SBM), a system designed to improve educational outcome through staff teamwork and self-governance. This research set out to examine the efficacy of teamwork in ten SBM-designated Arab-Bedouin elementary schools in Israel. Two explicit issues were examined: (1) What impact did SBM have on the development of teamwork among the schools’ staff? (2) Does the Arab-Bedouin social-cultural context influence implementation of teamwork in SBM schools? The research method consisted of a questionnaire to which 361 teachers/school principals replied, and a semi-structured interview with 30 of the respondents. Results of this study demonstrate that true teamwork does not exist in the schools studied, despite their SBM official status, primarily because the concept of teamwork clashes with the social/cultural norms of traditional Arab-Bed...
TL;DR: Gereluk et al. as mentioned in this paper discuss the importance of education and community in the development of a better education system. London and New York: Continuum. 2008. Pp. 224.
Abstract: Education and Community. By Dianne Gereluk. Pp. 224. London and New York: Continuum. 2008. £24.99 (pbk). ISBN 9781847060396.