Search results
1 – 10 of 209Abduljalil Nasr Hazaea and Sultan Saleh Ahmed Almekhlafy
Students of mixed-ability learning together in one class is a challenge for all educators, especially in English as foreign language (EFL) contexts. Timed reading activity (TRA…
Abstract
Purpose
Students of mixed-ability learning together in one class is a challenge for all educators, especially in English as foreign language (EFL) contexts. Timed reading activity (TRA) is an activity that can help educators address the learning needs of students in such a context. The present study investigated the effectiveness of the TRA in enhancing EFL students' reading rate and reading comprehension as well as in making them aware of potentially wrong reading strategies that they may be using.
Design/methodology/approach
A classroom intervention was designed for a group of preparatory year (PY) students at a Saudi university. The study sample consisted of one intact class of 29 students. Data were collected from pre- and post-tests of students' reading rate and reading comprehension as well as progress charts. In addition, a questionnaire was used to identify the reading strategies used by the students.
Findings
The results showed that the TRA generally enhanced the reading comprehension and the reading rate of EFL mixed-ability students as well as raised their awareness of their use of wrong fast reading strategies.
Originality/value
The results of the study support the use of TRA as a remedial reading activity in EFL mixed-ability classes.
Details
Keywords
For a number of years teachers in Further Education have been making loud public noises about the need for more Industrial Training and Further Education, more day release, and…
Abstract
For a number of years teachers in Further Education have been making loud public noises about the need for more Industrial Training and Further Education, more day release, and how essential it is to the nation to produce high professional and technical standards in Industry, Commerce and the Public Services. Those within the criticised sectors of the working community have replied to the effect that it might be better if FE set an example by putting its own house in order first, perhaps using the beam in its own eye as a starting point rather than the mote it observed elsewhere.
Yeung Chung Lee, Kwok-chi Lau and Valerie Wing Yan Yip
The purpose of this paper is to report the design and evaluation of an inter-university collaborative project entitled “Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the design and evaluation of an inter-university collaborative project entitled “Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects.” The project is a response of the science education faculty of three Hong Kong tertiary institutes to the challenge of catering to the diversity of academic backgrounds among student-teachers.
Design/methodology/approach
E-learning modules have been produced covering four content domains of science. These modules are designed based on the 5E learning model and are delivered to students using the learning management system provided by Moodle. The design of the modules is iterative, based on the evaluation of three consecutive rounds of trials through student surveys, and focus group interviews with students and course lecturers.
Findings
The evaluation findings indicate positive outcomes for certain attributes such as conceptual understanding, eagerness and confidence in learning science, and metacognitive reflection on students’ own learning. There are challenges to be met in relation to instructional design to cater for the diversity of student abilities, and enhance motivation in self-directed learning.
Practical implications
The project indicates the ways to develop students’ basic science knowledge in a mixed-ability setting through the design of self-directed e-learning modules blended with their major courses and possible measures to address the limitations of such design.
Originality/value
The study represents a conscious effort for the science teacher education faculty of different universities to pull together to tackle a perennial teaching and learning problem. The findings provide important insights into possible ways to blend e-learning with face-to-face learning approaches to better cater to the needs of science learners with mixed abilities to prepare them for interdisciplinary teaching.
Details
Keywords
Considerable importance has been attached, in recent years, to the academic aspects of the professional development of secondary school principals. A case is presented for several…
Abstract
Considerable importance has been attached, in recent years, to the academic aspects of the professional development of secondary school principals. A case is presented for several issues to be included in education for administration. The purposes of this education should be clearly stated; principals should be acquainted with ways of evaluating administration in their own schools; the many implications of the changing nature of secondary education should be considered. The writer suggests that administrators should study ways in which the school and its structures can influence pupils' social development. Organisational theory, an enduring issue, is considered in terms of a multidisciplinary approach to the study of educational administration.
The underlying assumption of this chapter is that the pedagogical leadership of school principals is a cornerstone for preservice and practicing teachers’ professional education…
Abstract
The underlying assumption of this chapter is that the pedagogical leadership of school principals is a cornerstone for preservice and practicing teachers’ professional education in schools. The theory–practice divide in teachers’ performance (Koutselini & Persianis, 2000) can be overcome by changing the school ethos and culture from loose associations of students and teachers to communities of learning, a shift which cannot be achieved unless school principals value this effort and support teachers’ leadership in the learning communities of schools. The in-service training program RELEASE, which was funded by the European Committee (Project ID: EACEA-521386: Toward achieving Self-REgulated LEArning as a core in teachers’ In-SErvice training in Cyprus) is presented as an effective project for developing teachers’ leadership, as well as a rewarding experience for student teachers during their School Experience Program or Practicum. The program lasted one school year and aimed to enhance both the school principals’ pedagogic role in supporting participating teachers’ (preservice and in-service teachers’) professional development and leadership for changing teaching routines and enhancing students’ performance. This project productively shaped the life and work of schools, forming a foundation for powerful preservice pedagogies that will follow.
Details
Keywords
Lene Tanggaard, Klaus Nielsen and Christian Helms Jørgensen
Since 2007, it has been mandatory for all vocational schools in Denmark to assess the prior qualifications of all students when they begin at the school and to use this assessment…
Abstract
Purpose
Since 2007, it has been mandatory for all vocational schools in Denmark to assess the prior qualifications of all students when they begin at the school and to use this assessment to divide students into different ability-based courses (streaming) with the aim of increasing the retention of students. The purpose of this paper is to explore students’ experiences of being placed on a low-ability course by using case studies of two classes from separate vocational schools in Denmark with different practices regarding the streaming of students.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on theories of student drop-out and engagement (Rumberger, 1993; Finn, 1989) and on the differentiation-polarization theory (Gamoran, 2010) concerning the effects of streaming students into ability-based classes. Two cases are described, representing on the one hand predominately positive experiences of streaming (better relations to teachers and peers) and on the other hand predominately negative experiences of streaming (low teacher expectations and negative peer-learning).
Findings
The study shows that the two schools have organized streaming differently and that the students have very diverse experiences of being placed in a low-ability class depending on the way the schools organize streaming.
Originality/value
The paper discusses the basic dilemma that schools face when they have to teach students with very diverse backgrounds and levels of engagement. The study shows that the division of students into separate streams involves a risk of reducing the level of engagement among students in the low-ability courses, but it also suggests how streaming can be organized to increase the engagement of students and possibly reduce their risk of dropping out of vocational education.
Details
Keywords
The established global understanding of inclusive education often positions the antithesis of inclusion as segregation, exclusion, marginalisation and its multiple variants…
Abstract
The established global understanding of inclusive education often positions the antithesis of inclusion as segregation, exclusion, marginalisation and its multiple variants. Drawing local articulations from Sri Lanka, this chapter positions the politics of disposability as the primary agitator of inclusive education. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the ways in which disposability is constructed within school systems by imposing deficit frames on students deemed disposable while simultaneously using the same to provide escape routes to those who are deemed worthy. As a result, these realities perpetuate the politics of disposability which incessantly pummels progress toward inclusive education, calling into question established tenets of inclusive education. This chapter draws from a study conducted in Sri Lanka using critical institutional ethnographic inquiry and participatory action research. Specifically, this chapter highlights teacher narratives as commentary on the complex ways in which sociocultural, historical conditions shape their everyday decision making in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Teachers and students described the ways in which students became constructed and confined to disposability based on their backgrounds and assumed deficits.
Details
Keywords
1976 will be remembered as the year when the needs of the 16 – 19 age group were recognised as demanding priority in future policy decisions; but apart from the Government's…
Abstract
1976 will be remembered as the year when the needs of the 16 – 19 age group were recognised as demanding priority in future policy decisions; but apart from the Government's recognition in its statement on Unified Vocational Preparation1 of the need to develop a working relationship between the Department of Education & Science and the Department of Employment, the approach adopted has been predominantly partisan and the outcome fragmentary. There is now a need to “create the badly needed framework within which the needs of the 16 – 19 age group can be considered as a whole” (Times Educational Supplement, 31 Dec. 1976).
S. Mann, J. Harraway, F. Broughton‐Ansin, L. Deaker and K. Shephard
The aim of this paper is to respond to calls for higher education institutions to address sustainability within the curriculum. Institutions that aim to graduate citizens with…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to respond to calls for higher education institutions to address sustainability within the curriculum. Institutions that aim to graduate citizens with prescribed attributes relevant to sustainability may need to develop teaching and learning support‐programmes appropriate to the varied nature of students' worldviews.
Design/methodology/approach
The research described here used the NEP (Revised New Ecological Paradigm) and statistical cluster‐analysis to explore if individuals within cohorts of students could reasonably be clustered into subgroups with identified sustainability attributes relevant to the design of learner‐support programmes.
Findings
All seven programme cohorts in one institution's annual intake clustered into three subgroups with identifiable attributes.
Practical implications
The results are discussed in relation to how post‐compulsory education institutions can define the sustainability characteristics of their students and to the pedagogic literature that addresses diversity in student groups.
Originality/value
The approach may help higher education institutions better understand the needs of individual students within large groups and to develop appropriate support programmes for students with similar attributes and needs.
Details
Keywords
One of the most vital of the many factors behind the teaching revolution of the past decade has been the rapid development of programmed learning. It owes its wide acceptance…
Abstract
One of the most vital of the many factors behind the teaching revolution of the past decade has been the rapid development of programmed learning. It owes its wide acceptance mainly to two accidental and largely unconnected events. By the beginning of the 1960s educational technology (the whole apparatus of audio‐visual aids) had become an integrated part of the equipment of nearly all schools. At the same time, the work of the behaviourist psychologists, and of Professor Skinner in the USA in particular, had taught educationalists a lot about the basic mechanics of the learning processes.