Showing papers in "Educational Review in 2002"

Mind over matter: Transforming course management systems into effective learning environments

Abstract: The quick acceptance - indeed, the enthusiastic embrace - of course management systems (CSMs) by college and university faculty and students is leading to numerous questions: What is happening in he general slow-to-change environment of teaching and learning that is permitting this swift adoption? Why would an often clunky, nothing-new-in-the-software application become so swiftly de rigueur in disciplines across higher education? Why would pedagogy that changes at the pace of a snail on holiday suddenly adopt the CMS for an anytime, all-the-time classroom experience?

Social Science and Evidence-based Everything: The case of education

Abstract: Recent moves in academic and policy circles to strengthen the social science research evidence base have raised questions about the quality and status of educational research. They have suggested a need for systematic research synthesis, for greater accessibility of sound educational research evidence, and greater respect for the perspectives of the different stakeholders in the educational research process. This paper looks at the background to 'the evidence movement', and discusses a particular government-funded initiative designed to take forward the challenge of systematic reviews of educational research. It considers some of the ways in which this activity poses challenges for social science methodology.

The Role of Representation in Teaching and Learning Critical Thinking.

Abstract: Curriculum design in recent years reflects the growing belief in the importance of developing thinking skills. In this paper, we focus on a particular theoretical approach to the study and teaching of thinking: cognitive science. We first give a very brief review of the recent research on critical thinking. We then concentrate on what cognitive science can add by looking at models of how people learn and how they transfer what they learn from one context to another. The main concept we focus on is representation and the crucial aspects of systems of representation and the meaningful transformation of information. We present examples of how representations can support, or hinder, problem solving and communication. We also discuss the social aspects of representation, the challenges of language use, and the paradoxes thrown up by attempting to guide students to be more critical thinkers.

Schooling as Violence: An exploratory overview

Abstract: Le debat lance par l'auteur permet de demontrer de quelle maniere les ecoles peuvent d'une part etre des institutions violentes et d'autre part peuvent favoriser et encourager le developpement de comportements violents chez les eleves. Les ecoles sont desormais considerees dans certains pays comme des institutions militarisees, dans le contenu de l'enseignement qui leur est propose (aux Etats-Unis et Venezuela notamment). La standardisation, la regulation, l'obligation de performances qui sont aujourd'hui les maitres mots dans les systemes educatifs modernes provoquent egalement des dommages au niveau physique et psychologique chez les enfants, dans un systeme base sur la classification et la competition.

A Calm After the Storm? Beyond Schooling as Violence

Abstract: Media coverage of schooling around the world from the US and the UK to South Africa convey images of violence. Many academic texts confirm the seriousness and prevalence of violence in schools. An obvious conclusion to be drawn is that schools, far from being peaceful and safe places of learning are sites of violence. Some views go so far as to suggest that schools actually produce violence. The theme of this special issue--schooling as violence--picks up on this view. In this article I shall discuss and interrogate various definitions of violence in order to get some sense of what violence is understood to be, who is (and is not) affected, and how seriously. I will be arguing that violence is best understood using a gender perspective. A gendered analysis allows an examination of violence in terms beyond victim and perpetrator. It allows one to get inside violence, to see how people are implicated. Finally, I will critique discourses of violence and argue that they actually stand in the way of successful...

Corporal Punishment: The brutal face of Botswana's authoritarian schools

Abstract: Corporal punishment is part of the penal system in Botswana, however, in schools the regulations governing its use are honoured more in breach than observance. This article uses qualitative research methods to explore the prevalence of caning in the teaching methods of seven new teachers, neophytes, in five junior secondary schools. The neophytes' espoused and enacted beliefs about caning are examined in the context of socialisation at their homes, during their own schooling, at colleges of education and their new workplaces. Contrary to the teachers' beliefs that caning is inherent in 'African culture', this article argues that it is part of a historically embedded cycle of authoritarian coping strategies of teaching, from schools to colleges of education and back to schools, bequeathed to the country by colonialism.

On the Upgrading of Vocational Studies: Analysing prejudice and subordination in English education

Abstract: The upgrading of vocational studies in general--and vocational education and training programmes and qualifications in particular--has never been so high on the political agenda. Current policy initiatives include reconstructing Modern Apprenticeships, reorganising the 14-19 phase to enhance vocational A-levels and GCSEs, and introducing Foundation Degrees incorporating a central work-based element. Whether all these reforms will prove more successful than the many failed experiments of the last half century depends upon on how far they present a fundamental challenge to the deep-seated prejudice and negative valuing of vocationalism that is endemic in the system. An anatomy of this prejudice is presented against the background of the most popular strategies for enhancing vocational studies and creating parity of esteem for programmes and qualifications in this sphere. It is concluded that changing terminology and tinkering with pathways will not bring about the necessary values transformation required to...

Encouraging Active Citizenship

Abstract: This paper is based on intensive data collection and analysis during part of April-May 2001 within one local education authority (LEA). Questionnaire, interview and documentary data have been gathered from teachers, academics, LEA employees, workers in a range of community based organisations, as well as young people. We suggest that those who are currently engaged in citizenship education in a variety of roles reveal a wide variation of understandings about citizenship and preferences for particular types of citizenship education. The data seem to reveal very positive general support for citizenship education, some uncertainty about current practice, and a creative uneasiness about the prospects of further developments. Respondents suggest that citizenship education should focus on content that is relevant and 'real', employ a participative process, be inclusive, ensure that outcomes are valued by a range of people, be primarily (but not exclusively) locally based, and is organised realistically. We do n...

From an Industrial to a Post-industrial Society: changing conceptions of equality in education

Abstract: The paper studies the change that happened in the ethos of educational politics in Finland from the 1960s to 1990s. In the 1960s, the comprehensive school reform was carried out under the auspices of the welfare State ideology. School was seen as an instrument of social justice, and education was expected to be socially inclusive and ensure an equal educational opportunity for all young people. The role of State as the equaliser of opportunity was considered crucial. Since the 1980s, with the coming of the post-industrial society, the new middle classes, with their individualistic aspirations appeared. At the same time, neo-liberalist economics affected the public services, advocating competition instead of regulation and individual opportunity instead of equal opportunity. The industrialists appeared as a new agent of educational reform. School legislation was changed towards the rules of market. However, a deep economic depression of the early 1990s shook the social and ideological scene and made civil ...

The Role of Secondary Data in Combining Methodological Approaches

Abstract: This paper contains a plea for the greater use of numeric secondary data as a routine part of all studies, whatever their primary method. It starts with a rehearsal of the current poor public image of UK educational research, and some of the possible reasons for that. This rehearsal includes consideration of the limitations in some examples of influential work by established researchers. The paper continues with a summary of the reasons for using secondary data, and one example of a project based solely on secondary data. It concludes that the purportedly poor quality of some UK educational research, allied to the potential of secondary data, might actually empower novice researchers, enabling them to critique established work and to conduct powerful and informative analyses of their own.

Developing positive values: a case study of Holocaust Memorial Day in the primary schools of one local authority in Scotland

Abstract: Many schools and local authorities saw the initial Holocaust Memorial Day as an important stimulus to develop lessons and events in Holocaust history amongst young people of vital importance for today. The focus of this paper is to examine the potential for Holocaust education in the primary curriculum in Scotland and whether the instance of Holocaust Memorial Day and the undertaking of a serious commitment to it by a local authority had an impact on the teaching and raising of Holocaust issues in the primary schools in that area. The authors previously argued (Maitles and Cowan, 1999) that there needed to be a major commitment from the Scottish Executive and/or local councils to encourage teachers and schools to coordinate or introduce Holocaust education in the schools. To test this, the field research for this survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire to every primary school in the local authority and achieved a 91% response rate. Strong national commitment to Holocaust educational activities, backed up by commitment from the local authority in terms of staff development and teaching materials, ensured a quality of experience as well as the quantity. Linked to this was an effective structure in the schools, with a designated Holocaust education coordinator and the involvement of the wider community. This led teachers in schools to imaginatively develop pupil skills, knowledge and understanding and informed attitudes in Holocaust history which potentially has a resonance in the wider citizenship area.

Educating the female citizen in a post-war world: competing ideologies for American women, 1945-1965

Abstract: Women in the post-World War II United States found themselves caught between competing patriotic, economic, cultural, and psychological ideologies dictating their proper behavior. These expectations sometimes recognized but never resolved the contradictions facing women as postwar citizens. Each ideology addressed a particular concern in American culture. But each also concealed within it ways in which postwar women were already challenging behavioral norms. This paper explores these four sets of expectations, suggesting that the confusion surrounding them led to difficulties in planning an appropriate type of higher education for postwar female citizens. It also suggests that the differences between expectations and behavior provoked tensions around the education of American women that lasted until the resurgent women's movement of the late-1960s.

Implementation of inclusive education in Flemish primary schools: A multiple case study

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a qualitative multiple-case study on the implementation of inclusive education and the factors that support or hinder this innovation process in Flemish primary schools. Semi-structured interviews with all persons concerned have been analysed making use of an innovation process model. This resulted in a detailed description of the innovation process in 10 mainstream primary schools. The results of a cross-site analysis show that in the sample schools the first steps had been taken towards inclusive education but that the initiatives were on a very limited scale and the results were variable. Internal and external cooperation and consultation seem to be important positive factors in this implementation process. The fact that teachers still consider children with special educational needs to be a special ('defective') group hinders the development of a truly inclusive vision and practice.

From Ruskin to the learning country: education policy, the state and educational politics in England and/or Wales, 1976-2001

Abstract: The period 1976-2001 was an immensely significant one in the history of education in England and Wales. It began with the speech by a Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan on 18 October at Ruskin College, Oxford which signalled the so-called 'Great Debate' on education, and ended with the publication of two important White Papers on education, also by a Labour government. In the meantime, of course, the period was dominated by successive Tory governments, which set about attempting to transform the educational system in a series of ways. This paper discusses the nature of these changes by focusing attention upon three important years--1976, 1988 and 2001. A central argument is that Welsh education has always had distinctive elements, but that after 2001, the duality between England and Wales is likely to be more radically pronounced in the future.

Developing reflective writers in primary schools: findings from partnership research

Abstract: Despite some reservations over the efficacy of practitioner research, there have been positive moves to engage teachers, as classroom researchers, in partnership with Institutes of Higher Education. In England the Teacher Training Agency (1996) has provided bursaries for teachers to undertake small-scale research and the Department for Education and Skills (2000/1) has encouraged the development of school-based inquiry through the Best Practice Scholarship scheme. This article describes work undertaken as part of a university-funded school partnership programme initiated to encourage collaborative research between teachers and tutors. In the Teaching Reading and Writing Links project (TRAWL)14 teachers, working as research partners in seven primary schools, explored ways of developing children as reflective writers. Some findings are illustrated and the impact of the partnership on pupils and teachers is examined.

Civic Education and Changing Definitions of American Identity, 1900-1950

Abstract: Definitions of American identity changed dramatically between 1900 and 1950, challenged by millions of immigrants who came to the US early in the century. Responding to this challenge assimilationists demanded that immigrants shed their ethnic identities entirely, while cultural pluralists emphasised maintaining ethnic roots. Although public schools created programmes to 'Americanise' immigrant children, that goal was realised in an ironic way as children blended their American and ethnic identities. During the Great Depression and World War II, civic education played a role in this process by encouraging students to redefine American identity as a commitment to broad civic ideals, including respect for diversity rather than strict assimilation of Anglo-American Protestant norms.

The Invisible Citizens Roaming the City Streets

Abstract: Children living in the streets and supporting themselves through various kinds of street-based jobs have become a visible social phenomenon in urban Sudan. This article analyses the making of street children's subcultures by discussing their everyday street lives within the cultural, social, political and educational settings. In order to understand street children, not only as an urban social phenomenon, but also as active social agents who are categorised by the State and the urban privileged classes in very specific terms, I have employed a multi-pronged approach to interview them to contextualise their everyday lives and discourses to reveal their abilities as agents for the nation's future, and to push the society's efforts to make them into capable but loyal citizens.

Schools Ethos and the Construction of Masculine Identity: Do schools create, condone and sustain aggression?

Abstract: This article presents the finding of an action research project examining the dynamics of classroom relationships and perceptions of how rights and identities operated in an all boys' comprehensive school in the English West Midlands in the late 1990s. The research was conducted over 4 years. The paper describes how the research school explicitly and implicitly creates, condones and sustains aggression through an authoritarian management style. The experiences of students and staff are reflected on, articulating their discomfort with non-participation and divisive practices. Commitment to the individual is at best transient and this undermines self-confidence and development. The paper advocates active exploration of identities within a trusted and inclusive environment. A strong sense of self was found to be essential. Current practice plays no attention to the personal, negating its importance. This was found to be detrimental to all, with implications far beyond the school context. In conclusion, the p...

The Intellectual Supermarket.

Abstract: Inhis landmark work The Sources of Innovation, Eric von Hippel spoke about the inhibitions that prevent innovation: “Subjects who use an object or see it used in a familiar way are strongly blocked from using that object in a novel way. Furthermore, the more recently objects or problem-solving strategies have been used in a familiar way, the more difficult subjects find it to employ them in a novel way.”1 A prime example of this dilemma involves technology-based innovation in higher education. Although there has been an explosion in the use of technology, many of the applications remain captive within current industry structures and assumptions. As long as the problemsolving continues to be defined in familiar terms—how to be more costefficient, how to make the best use of land-grant institutions, how to understand the impacts on existing institutions—higher education is unlikely to generate radical new approaches for using technology. SUPERMARKET

Identity of a Christian school: conceptions and practical significance. A reconstructive comparison

Abstract: L'article propose une reflexion sur l'existence des ecoles confessionnelles aujourd'hui. Leur existence est-elle legitime dans un contexte culturel et religieux divers et dans les societes democratiques pluralistes actuelles ? Les auteurs s'interrogent sur l'identite des ecoles chretiennes et mettent en lumiere les defis et dilemmes specifiques auxquels elles sont soumises dans des environnements precis. Ils discutent en outre des resultats d'une analyse d'etudes realisees aux Pays-Bas, en Grande-Bretagne et Etats-Unis ainsi qu'en Allemagne portant sur les ecoles secondaires et primaires repondant a ces caracteristiques.

Using Dictionaries in Modern Language GCSE Examinations

Abstract: In 1998 the GCSE examination boards permitted candidates to use bilingual dictionaries in their Modern Language written examinations. In the run-up period to this change several publishers updated their dictionaries and in the process it became uncertain whether the 'playing field' for candidates using different dictionaries remained level. The dictionary project described here was funded by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and studies the effects of three groups of candidates each using a different type of dictionary. In addition to comparing the quantitative impact, time was also spent observing how the candidates used their dictionary and the impact the dictionary had on their use of language.

Risinghill and the Ecology of Fear

Abstract: This piece attempts what may be the first significant published reconsideration of the circumstances surrounding the rise and fall of the controversial Risinghill School, a secondary co-educational comprehensive school established by the London County Council (LCC) in 1960 and closed 5 years later. This is accomplished through a critical re-evaluation of Leila Berg's book Risinghill: Death of a Comprehensive , a 'biography' of the eponymous school and of its first, and only, headteacher, Michael Duane. The translation of events at Risinghill by Berg into the narrative of Risinghill , the semi-mythical, Manichaeian story of Duane's enlightened struggle against the LCC is analysed as a set of rhetorical/discursive practices with theoretical insights borrowed from the US scholar Mike Davis. Berg is charged with subscribing to a distorting deprivationist discourse.

The Black Box Theater and AV/IT Convergence: Creating the Classroom of the Future

Abstract: comes commonplace in the classroom, it is a logical and relatively easy next step to make those materials available to students on the campus network. Many instructors recognized this early on and started making class materials accessible via the Web. Today entire programs have begun to supplement class materials with audio and video recordings of the lectures that compose a course. Sometimes those signals are delivered in real time to remote students and are also stored for retrieval by students both on and off campus for subsequent review. At least one university is creating a new college that is deliberately doing away with large lecture sections for classes such as Introductory Chemistry and is using interactive, Web-based software in place of routine, three-hundred-student lectures.1

The Deviant Child and Larrikin Youth in Colonial Towns: State intervention and social control through education in New Zealand

Abstract: This paper examines the role of schools in the socialisation of settler children and families, beginning with those who were believed by the State to need 'civilising' in order to be fit for citizenship. It analyses the ways in which government policies reflected the shifting balance of power and responsibility between the State, children and families in New Zealand between 1867 and 1935. The focus is the increasing populations in colonial towns that forced a reluctant State to face up to a range of social ills associated with deviant children and youth that led to the establishment of industrial and reformatory schools.