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Actual accounts of the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since colonization remain largely misunderstood and misrepresented within Australian education systems and the broader social consciousness. Culturally sensitive practice and ethnic diversity are challenging topics to teach social work students when truth-telling is absent. Social workers need to develop an understanding of intergenerational trauma experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, critically reflect on perpetuated stereotypes, and confront internalized beliefs about peoples of diverse ethnic and cultural identities in preparation to work respectfully with Indigenous communities. A course focused on building students' knowledge and skills for culturally responsive practice is described in this paper, along with suggestions for enhancing teaching and learning. The paper argues for the importance of truth-telling about Australia's continuing racism in social work education to create cultural safety for service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the characteristics, implementation and contribution of narrative pedagogy to the professional development of novice teachers through the example of two case studies. A holistic analysis of each case reflects a narrative pedagogy model, which includes four stages of the teaching-learning process: telling a personal life story, eliciting and analysing issues, interpreting and contextualising, and reflecting/integrating personal and theoretical knowledge. Findings show that (1) narrative pedagogy relies on a dynamic curriculum (2) the role of the instructor is changed in the learning process (3) It can bridge the gap between emotional-personal and theoretical knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue comprises a series of six papers selected from a large pool of papers originally presented at the CBUS 2003 conference. The special issue highlights the important role of educational research in designing and evaluating learning environments for scientific thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognising the changing landscape and financial costs, changes in the higher education sector continue to challenge the purpose and operations of universities, notably the shift towards student consumerism. Given this, what it means to be a student in contemporary higher education can evolve and would arguably have implications about the expectations of university students and staff for learning and teaching practice. To promote greater transparency of expectations, this paper develops the concept of the ideal student further with closer look into the spheres of influence that shape university students' construction of the ideal student. We draw on 23 focus groups with 105 university students to explore the key factors that contribute to how the ideal student is developed and recognised. Our findings indicate that students' construction of the ideal student is closely shaped by and rooted in their prior educational experiences, interaction with their peers and the curriculum, and perceptions of lecturers, institution and employer expectations. All these influences lead to a fluid and complex negotiation process as students navigate the meanings of being a university student. We conclude with practical implications for learning, teaching and curriculum development in higher education. The paper therefore provides a platform for key stakeholders to discuss different influencing factors as we support student transition and progression and manage their expectations of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical education is expected to play a significant role in developing pupils' health. This is the case in Scotland, where physical education is located in a prioritised cross-curricular area of Health and Wellbeing (HWB). However, there is a lack of evidence on the extent to which physical education contributes to pupils' HWB under the new curriculum. Given that there is a growing interest in exploring how teachers enact pedagogies as a response to mental health issues, this study seeks to examine the practices of teachers who identify as being committed to pedagogies of affect within a sample of Scottish secondary schools. The purpose of this study was to report how pupils and teachers talk about the contribution of physical education to pupils' HWB, with a particular focus on the affective domain. The study on which this paper is based used qualitative methods within a grounded theory approach. Six physical education teachers who were from four different secondary schools participated in semi-structured interviews. Pupils were selected by the teachers and participated in focus group interviews. We outlined two main themes: (1) teachers' and pupils' practices in building confidence in pupils, which was exclusive to the female pupils and teachers; (2) teachers' concerns with building relationships with pupils. A notable finding was that teachers who had an explicit and direct intention for affective learning among their pupils sought to build a trusting relationship with pupils as a basic concern to implement teaching for affective learning, rather than the need for an emphasis on lesson contents and specific teaching approaches. This study could be a valuable resource for teacher professional learning as the findings referred to teachers' regular practices and their knowledge of the curriculum, especially for those who recognise a need to enact pedagogies of affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fostering a Community of Learners (FCL) exemplifies a class of pedagogical approaches aimed at having students become reasoners and sense-makers in various content domains. While the pedagogical practices among these approaches vary to some degree, they tend to overlap in philosophy and general pedagogical style. Hence issues confronted by those attempting to implement FCL will be confronted by those hoping to implement similar activities. The three-level commentary in this paper begins with specific reactions to the preceding papers, which focused on attempts to implement FCL in different content areas. It continues with a discussion of what counts in FCL: for example, is it a set of participant structures such as jigsawing, or a set of underlying principles? It concludes with a discussion of systemic issues that will be faced by any pedagogical approach focusing on having students engage in reasoning and sense-making in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to move beyond a critique of historically dominant ways of thinking about teaching and learning relationships to offer a conceptualization of relational pedagogy from a theological perspective. It offers commentary on the potential of relational pedagogy for Christian faith-based schools informed by the scholarship of German theologian Karl Rahner and the dialectical child psychotherapy of D. W. (Donald) Winnicott. An argument for a theological-relational pedagogy is outlined, followed by discussion of three features linking Rahner, Winnicott, and relational pedagogy: realizing our human-ness through relationships with others; the role of a dialectical unity between self and other; and the mystery of human subjectivity. The paper concludes by signalling some of the implications for faith-based curriculum and pedagogy arising from our argument, centred on the emergence of a new theology of childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an undergraduate project, Making:Archives — Narrative Artefact, as an exemplar of collaborative good practice, expanding on its case study in the National Archives and History UK's Guide to Collaboration for Archive and Higher Education. The paper examines the expected and unexpected impacts of the Making:Archives collaborative project for the stakeholders involved: the Institution, the Archive Service, its depositors, and in particular the students. Students have both struggled and excelled in the project, with the most engaged developing a range of creative and transferrable skills that have been repurposed in the creation of work beyond Making:Archives. The paper also reflects on the challenges faced, and numerous opportunities presented, during the co-creation, delivery and evaluation of the project, drawing extensive data gathered from student participants. The project is presented in the context of relevant literature from both the textile education, industry, and archive sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which there has been a shift towards disciplinary knowledge in recently developed curriculum documents in New Zealand and evaluates whether a new 'Understand, Know, Do' structure for the curriculum has the potential to facilitate coherent design of teaching programmes and 'deep learning'. Using a social realist lens, Bernsteinian theories on knowledge structures and recontextualization, and the principles of a Curriculum Design Coherence Model, the analysis identifies instances of both conceptual coherence and epistemic confusion which raises questions about the underlying principles upon which the curriculum documents are being developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is how to improve a course using a blended learning approach. The paper advocates a methodology that is pedagogically driven. The nature of the blend is determined by an analysis of the range and nature of the problems faced by learners. The components and relationships in the blend are developed to tackle these problems systematically to produce an overall solution that makes a measurable impact on student performance. The methodology is illustrated by a major case study where a marked impact on student performance was demonstrated. The paper concludes by discussing how better conceptual representation can underpin the evolution of more powerful methodologies for blended learning development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informationists and nurse educators launched a pilot program that integrates a Sectra Virtual Dissection Table into a Critical Care Nurse Residency Program (CCNRP) curriculum. CCNRP is a mandatory education program for novice, critical care registered nurses at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC). After nurses complete the seven-week course, they take a post-course survey. This survey measures satisfaction with the virtual dissection table and resident perception of anatomical knowledge gained. In total, 106 nurses have utilized and evaluated the Sectra Table. This paper will discuss Sectra Table education within the CCNRP and lessons learned from the post-course survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twenty-first century higher education sector has come a long way after undergoing continuous metamorphosis from pedagogy to andragogy. Most of the educational approaches adopted in medical schools are directed towards developing more of competencies and less of capability, which is the ability to use competencies in novel contexts. Competencies alone are not sufficient to thrive in the present day work place as medical profession subsumes complex contexts; it is in this scenario that, medical educators are entrusted with the challenging task of developing “capable learners”. In the heutagogical approach, learners are required to decide upon what to learn and how to learn and therefore the control of the learning process is on the learner and the role of the teacher becomes that of a navigator. This paper highlights the current higher educational practices based on heutagogy, considers its application in the context of Problem-based learning and also discusses a few challenges in incorporating this approach in the existing undergraduate medical curriculum. The article proposes the use of social media in order to support learner autonomy, which in turn improves learners’ cognitive engagement with content and tasks, thereby assisting the development of attributes associated with capability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents information on Unité de Coordination de la Documentation et d'Incitation à la Recherche (UCODI), an international educational research programme of the University of Louvain in Belgium. The educational program which is funded by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is based on media-based teaching. This program has two broad aims, that is, to initiate research into the use of educational technology and to disseminate information on research in this field. The UCODI Newsletter provides detailed information on worldwide educational projects, reports on conferences and new literature and the latest UCODI activities in the field of educational technology. It also provides bibliographic listings on specific topics and publishes a working paper series. Some of the topics included are: the optimal ordering of taught subject matter, the role of cybernetics in educational methods, learning by discovery, the use of computers in curriculum planning and a comparative evaluation of traditional and computer-based testing.

In interdisciplinary or intercultural groups, it is highly important that the members of the group are able to apply and share knowledge across the standard boundaries that exist around disciplines and practices. Often, a lot of effort is required to avoid pitfalls such as misunderstandings, judgemental discussions or just the inability to understand each other's professional, social or cultural way of thinking. This paper introduces the creative platform as a didactic approach for enabling a group to apply and share their knowledge without limitations coming from professional, social or cultural patterns of thinking and doing. In that sense, the creative platform is a mental meeting place where people with different professional, social and cultural backgrounds can meet and create new thoughts and actions together. The key in developing the creative platform as a learning environment is the use of 3D cases, which are learning exercises where the simultaneous use of brain, body and attitude constitutes a 3D access to learning. The core of a 3D case is an uncompromising use of three fundamental principles: parallel thinking, task focus and no judgement. At the end of the paper, we give examples of implementing the creative platform using 3D cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adventurous activities are established as an integral aspect of The National Curriculum for 5–16-year-olds. Securing a place in the curriculum provides adventurous activities with an unparalleled opportunity to reach more pupils than any other form of delivery during these formative years. However, little consideration has been given to adventurous activities as curriculum pedagogy in recent years. This paper refers to an alternative models-based approach to teaching and learning that presents adventurous activities with the best opportunity to fully realise the specific contribution it makes to young people's physical education learning. Secondly, it considers key challenges a models-based approach to adventurous activities might present for schools and teachers and suggests ways to build a rigorous evidence base to underpin its continued inclusion as an essential component of physical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the ways in which UK higher education (HE) has become increasingly commercialised and commodified in the post-1980s. It critiques the strategies adopted by successive UK governments to reinvigorate the relationship between educational and economic life, and to facilitate a more corporate and entrepreneurial spirit within the academy in line with the pressures of a 'knowledge-based economy'. Arguing for a more critical exploration of teaching and learning within HE, the paper presents evidence from work carried out by the Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching in Learning (CETL) which adopts a research-based learning approach to teaching and learning at undergraduate level.1 Within the context of ongoing debates surrounding the relationship between teaching, learning and research in UK HE, the paper advocates a reinvention of curriculum design through an engagement with the broader principles of critical pedagogy, and in so doing, presents a critical engagement with the commercialisation of HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a practitioner study of a first-year undergraduate service course that aligns a web-based, student-lecturer communication system with the mathematical curriculum. The report presents and analyses data from students and from the lecturer and outlines the nature of the technical interface. The paper indicates how communication of the students' affective learning needs had a positive influence on the professional development of the lecturer himself. Furthermore, it is claimed that the success of mathematics/statistics teaching that integrates emotional responses from learners is intimately related to the knowledge, skills, beliefs and values of the lecturer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of how practice courses in an administration and planning concentration have been redesigned to be multi-paradigmatic and to intentionally elevate subjugated knowledge. Rational and nonrational theories are used to guide diverse program designs. Assignments are engaging educators, practitioners, and students in the teaching/learning/grading processes. These efforts are geared to preparing future leaders for practice in diverse organizations that advocate for, plan for, fund, and/or deliver human services within the United States and beyond. Early evaluative information suggests success with students. Challenges remain with colleagues who do not recognize the merits of a multi-paradigmatic approach to organization practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports upon a study addressing teaching and learning about solubility to Turkish first-year secondary school students (age 14-15). The principal aim of the research was to investigate the impact on students' understanding of solubility, of introducing a simple particle model of matter. A teaching intervention to fit within the existing chemistry curriculum was designed, which explained macroscopic and quantitative aspects of solubility in terms of particles. To this extent, the teaching intervention met the requirements of the existing curriculum, and the teaching intervention was conducted under all the time and other restrictions imposed by the Turkish system. Students' performance on test questions about solubility was assessed before and after instruction, and after 6 months. In addition, students in a similar class, following typical teaching about solubility, completed identical test questions. Findings suggest that it is possible to design a teaching sequence that introduces a simple particle model of matter in such a way that students can successfully use it to explain various solubility phenomena. However, students who followed such instruction did not significantly out-perform others who did not follow it, in all aspects of the conceptual domain. There is some evidence of long-term retention of particulate ideas by students, suggesting the possibility that this might be drawn upon in future teaching and learning. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the kinds of claims that can be supported from a study such as this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an account of the development of a project entitled `Educational Objectives in Applied Science' at the Universities of Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt. The first part focuses on the project's choice of style and approach to the replanning of engineering courses within an established system. Although every such project faces unique hazards, some issues are common to any activity which aims to influence teaching and learning within universities. The second part of the paper examines how course development might best be encouraged within science and engineering faculties. It points to some of the resulting problems and to ways of overcoming them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of an evaluation of an introductory Management Accounting subject and in the context of the changing business environment, staff teaching Management Accounting saw a need to reconsider the course programme. The focus of this paper is on the re-development of the undergraduate Management Accounting curriculum. The paper's broader aim is to provide a framework for those concerned with developing accounting curricula by clearly documenting processes involved, making explicit underlying principles, and identifying some difficulties which impact on the successful completion of such a project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The documentary film is a popular curriculum tool, and the goal of this paper is to expand the educational significance of the documentary genre I argue that current understandings of this genre are limited and limiting, and offer an alternative perspective on the genre. This alternative will be built from Stanley Cavell’s philosophy of education, in particular, his understanding of the role that ‘representativeness’ plays in teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recent publication of The New Zealand Curriculum calls for students to become connected, creative, confident life-long learners. To realise this vision, fundamental change is required in the way teachers and students think about and participate in classroom-based teaching and learning. This paper discusses one aspect of an action research study that examined the development of a sociocultural approach called a community of learners in four New Zealand primary school classrooms. The results showed that developing a learning community required teachers and students to form reciprocal connections across intellectual, social, emotional and physical dimensions. This paper illustrates the emergence of dialogue as an essential component of developing a learning community. Results show the importance of teachers challenging their assumptions about teaching and learning and guiding students to engage in the reciprocal and responsive processes of dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore how mathematics department leaders manage curriculum (what is taught), teaching (how it is taught) and learner progression (what results) for 14-19 year olds. The background to the study is a range of national, and international, concerns about participation rates in university entrance level mathematics. Given the recommendation of the Smith Report (2004) that new pathways models be developed for 14-19 mathematics, this paper explores some of the strategies employed, and issues faced, by schools as they seek to maximise attainment and participation in mathematics. Following a thematic analysis of data from interviews with heads of department in 15 schools we look in more depth at one school to see how it manages the mathematics learning trajectories of young people. The theme of performativity is all pervasive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the teaching and learning of computing in a Web-conferencing environment. A discourse analysis of three introductory programming learning episodes is presented to demonstrate issues and effects that arise when teaching computing using such an approach. The subject of discussion, the interactive nature of discussion and any actions performed by both the teacher and students were coded in order to determine how the approach to teaching impacted upon discourse. Student participation increased under student-centred approaches as the responsibility for the direction of curriculum-based discussion was devolved from the teacher to the students. However, teacher-led approaches incurred less of a collaborative overhead relating to coordinating activity between people and operating the technology. The data analysed and the approach adopted represent a subset of outputs from a PhD thesis investigating the teaching and learning of computer programming using Web-conferencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment for learning framework in education has become big business: huge quantities of time, money and energy have been invested in England, Wales and more recently the USA. This article shows that the assessment for learning theory is inefficient and often contradictory. Black and Wiliam's earlier work provides much of the theoretical rationale for this paradigm and evaluating three papers will serve to illustrate how existing anomalies arose. Their work has been little challenged, partly because of their seniority and position, and the respect accorded to them in the academic community, and also because of the undoubted contribution which their work has made to providing an ethical and practical working philosophy of institutional learning which prioritises formative assessment and, therefore, learning over assessing. However, respect for their achievements also includes building on and improving their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to manage within schools the introduction of a revised Primary School Curriculum in the Republic of Ireland, the Department of Education and Science instigated a seven-year national support programme. Learning from the experiences of other national systems, there was recognition of the strong role of continuing professional development in providing a mechanism through which to embed these changes. Drawing on data gathered during the evaluation of the Primary Curriculum Support Programme, this paper discusses one aspect of the study that investigated the complex interaction between externally initiated professional development and the physical characteristics, working, teaching, learning and leadership environment within the school. Our interpretation of the data indicates that although the Primary Curriculum Support Programme provided schools and teachers with a good grounding in the revised curriculum, systemic and structural issues around primary schooling will potentially undermine any long-term effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the personal experiences of three researchers: an “outsider” (or western‐oriented) science teacher, a science teacher educator who has lived in Melanesian countries for almost a decade, and a national researcher who was born and educated in Melanesia. During a recent interpretative research study of the problematic relationship between the traditional world‐views of Melanesian villagers and the official school science views of young Melanesian people, Bruce became increasingly aware of the importance of conducting culture‐sensitive interpretative research. Bruce and Joe describe three people with different experiences and approaches to education. Mindful of the important role of the outside teacher researchers in providing essential information for the local contextualisation of school science curricula, we propose a number of culture‐sensitive practices when working in Melanesian cross‐cultural contexts. Karsoon: I like Melanesian ways. I wanted to learn Western ways and so when mission came, I went to school [so that I could] learn their ways. I thought I would learn new ways. I use school ways no more.Karsoon: The white man didn't want us to learn about his ways but only about his religion. (Waldrip & Taylor, 1999a, p. 297)I've studied overseas where I came across Papua New Guineans suffering from the “dry coconut syndrome”—brown on the outside, but white on the inside. These are the people who suddenly forget their own ways because they are living in another country. (Pamba, 1999, p. 17) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bernstein (1996) suggests that we need to engage critically with what it would mean to extend democracy in schools through pupil consultation. This paper explores the ways in which pupil consultation can uncover aspects of both pupil peer group cultures and classroom dynamics that work against fairness, collegiality and a sense of community in classrooms. Often it is the disruptive and the underachieving pupils who are the focus of teachers' concerns. However, the findings of this study suggest that consultation can also reveal the detrimental impact that a fractious, competitive peer group riven with power struggles can have on well behaved, high achieving pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the ways in which successive UK governments have regulated and controlled the teaching profession since the 1980s. Key initiatives relating to curriculum, school effectiveness and individual teacher performance are considered in some detail, because these issues have arguably had the greatest impact upon teaching and learning. New developments in government thinking are considered, developments which may create greater autonomy for schools and teachers in the future. The extent to which these will involve any radical change to the current system of accountability and quality assurance is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore an approach to academic development that focuses on developing and using research as a means of understanding the complexity of teaching and learning within specific discipline environments. This approach shifts the attention of the academic developer from the enhancement of teaching using traditional methods such as workshops, formal courses, or in-faculty curriculum and assessment advice, to encouraging and supporting participant research on learning and teaching, and disciplinary-based research. Focusing on research development gives academics the opportunity to develop their teaching scholarship, prepare publishable work, and cultivate teaching and learning practices that are aligned with their specific discipline environments. We discuss the philosophy of this approach to the enhancement of academic work through the synergy between teaching and research. We illustrate our discussion with some recent examples in which we have used this approach successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All teaching and learning in the school classroom involves a range of modes including speech, writing, gesture, gaze, body-posture, movement, and so on-in other words teaching and learning are multimodal. This is as true of school English, where common-sense would have it that teaching and learning are fully realised in language, as it is of school Science where the role of action is firmly established in the curriculum. While all teaching and learning is multimodal, the use of computers in the classroom serves to emphasise the multimodal character of pedagogy. Computer applications introduce new kinds of texts into the classroom and these demand different practices of students. In turn this suggests the need to re-think conceptions of literacy, learning and assessment-to move beyond the narrow definition of literacy apparent in recent government policy to a broader definition that realises the connections between literacy and social practices in a multimodal digital era. The questions raised by the move from a language-based curriculum to a multimodal curriculum are explored in this paper through an illustrative example of computer mediated learning in the school English classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses some contemporary educational contexts that teachers should consider for their puberty education programmes and/or curricula, for primary and secondary school students. The educational contexts addressed here include significant international puberty education framework documents, socio-biological factors including earlier puberty and a developmental approach, demographic and technological factors, and school factors including what students want from such education, and its professional teaching standards. Teachers and course designers may use these educational contexts to guide their planning, accommodate students’ needs and motivation, identify goals, processes and solutions, and respond to international policy directions encapsulating the accelerated change that is the spirit of the age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we introduce and discuss the itinerary of a 2nd year architectural design course, led by ourselves at Beykent U's Dept. of Architecture. The terms of our discussion traces Deleuze's reworking of Bergson's theory of duration. We retain the critical, hermeneutic and creative moments of Deleuze's selective reading of Bergson while appropriating these moments as our own means of problematizing duration in the context of architecture through performance. In the first part of the article, we follow through the methodological implications of Bergson's three rules of intuition so as to be able to propose a critical outline of “the metric logic of architecture” as an architecture-of-space. Characterized as it is by a lack of precision, this logic fails to regard for the singularity of the body by adopting repertories of knowledge that are static, mediated, and too general. In the second part, we describe the three individual yet inter-connected stages of our design studio process, with references to several student projects in detail. Our main aim here is to counter-attack the logic of metrics with the basic premises of a “parametric logic,” an architecture-of-time, which is inherently performative in nature and is based on dynamic, immediate and singular repertories of knowledge. In the third and final part, we try to highlight those aspects of intuition that in turn may provide us with a model of teaching and learning that capitalizes a re-engagement of architecture with duration. Our guiding questions in elaborating each part are: (1) What does it mean for architecture to embody time instead of representing it? (2) How can intuition turn into a design method and an experiential model in architectural education? (3) What kind of a relation between instructor and student is evoked by elan vital when taken as a pedagogical principle? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As continuing professional development is now mandatory in the UK for health and social care professionals, teaching reflection skills is commonplace in many higher education institutions. However, getting health and social care students to engage with activities developing their reflection skills has been problematic at one Scottish university. This paper describes action research carried out to improve first-year university students’ enthusiasm and engagement with reflection on an inter-professional module. Teaching and learning activities were based on the principle of constructive alignment. Students were given an interactive lecture and two tutorials; each successive tutorial consolidated knowledge and skills gained from the previous learning activity. Responses from a small percentage of students to an online questionnaire indicate students saw the reflection activities as advantageous, however, a majority felt both tutorial activities did not improve their confidence, with peer feedback having less impact than tutor feedback. Further iterations of the action research cycle will be undertaken to improve students’ engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summer 2009 saw the introduction in England of the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL). Funded in full by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, the MTL aims to improve the quality of teaching and to raise standards in schools. In this paper we discuss what the MTL might mean both for in-service teacher education and initial teacher training. We explore issues relating to the structure and delivery of MTL including the tension between standardisation and personalisation of its content as well as the lack of focus on research and the costs of this to its reputation and appeal of the qualification. Furthermore, we question the extent to which newly qualified teachers are ready to benefit from undertaking the MTL and consider how availability criteria may give rise to equity issues. With these concerns in mind we discuss the future of the MTL and whether this Labour initiative will have a chance to prove itself under a Conservative-led coalition government at a time of severe austerity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curricula teachers teach are intimately bound with who they are. The literature on multicultural and anti-oppressive education does not adequately examine teachers' emotions in this type of teaching and learning. What are the emotional subtexts that accompany classroom celebrations of diversity? What may help teachers engage in more courageous teaching that confronts resistance, is not afraid of conflict, and leads to genuine communication and learning across difference? The first question refers to what is termed here a pedagogy of cordial relations that is akin to anaemic love, whereas the second question alludes to a pedagogy for difference, which involves Self-Other transformation. The goal is to help educators recognize where they stand in terms of these two pedagogies and move towards the latter. This study uses inquiry methods and a socio-psychological theory of emotions in organizations to explore purposely selected narratives by white teachers of classroom critical incidents that bring hidden emotions into view. Three key moments are highlighted: coming to awareness of the hidden emotions that support cordial relations; translating such awareness into a transformed role for the teacher; and changing the classroom environment to foster this learning in students. This paper concludes with a thought experiment, whereby the knowledge gathered through this inquiry transforms one of these difficult moments, and with some reflections on policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instructional practices in schools have been constantly changing over the years, and educators' knowledge about these practices is an important factor that influences their effective use. This paper presents an examination of teachers' knowledge and perception of 24 instructional practices commonly used in the field of education, especially in the field of technology-based teaching and learning. Data from 162 experienced teachers who had enrolled in teacher education courses in two universities were collected from 2005 to 2007. Consistent with the literature, findings suggest that teachers with higher degrees and more teaching experience are aware of and understand more about educational practices. A predictive model was developed from this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research about the benefits of formative assessment as a means of improving student learning has encouraged policy-makers and teachers in countries like the UK, Australia and New Zealand to promote and use classroom-based assessment for learning in the qualifications arena. However, recent research suggests teachers are implementing a narrow interpretation of formative assessment in classrooms using techniques that focus on assessment procedures and practices to assure students comply with criteria and achieve awards for external qualifications. This variation on 'teaching to the test' has led to the coining of the phrase 'assessment as learning' to indicate the instrumentalism that results from such restricted practice. This paper reports on findings from case studies of two schools in New Zealand where secondary school students are learning how to perform science investigations under direction, for a curriculum standard that is a component of a national standards-based qualification. The findings reveal that students' assessment and learning experiences reflect the emerging international trend of 'assessment as learning', but strategies for redressing some of the undesirable aspects of this limiting form of formative assessment in this New Zealand context are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of giving young people a say in casework has received much attention in recent years. Little attention, however, has been given to the question of how to educate youth workers as a way of ensuring young people's involvement in such professional practices. This paper reports on a model for preparing youth workers for participatory casework practice. It is a curriculum grounded in a collaborative-based pedagogy. Such educative frameworks that invite student's participation align with effective theories and models on youth participation. Educators interested in developing youth work students' capacities to engage in direct practice that encourages young people's involvement in decision making need to 'practise what they teach' and teach in ways that encourage students' active participation. The teaching and learning activities engage students with rationales of youth participation and what we know about young people being given a say in casework. The possible influence of personal experiences and broader social and economic arrangements are explored. And a scenario-based activity invites students to assess the implications of current knowledge, biography and context, to identify challenges and opportunities for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a commentary upon a number of recent documents from different countries concerned with the reform of school science education. It identifies and considers in turn four issues drawn from the documents: the way in which science is defined; the reference to science as a whole rather than as discrete disciplines; the nature of science; and the teaching and learning of science. A concluding discussion offers a number of suggestions for the improvement of future prescriptions for school science curriculum reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades have seen increased threats to agricultural landscapes in Israel. Key factors include population growth, strong pressure from construction entrepreneurs and possible profit to land owners who benefit from a legal conversion of farmland into lands allocated for construction. While each Israeli elementary school student used to participate in agriculture classes, most students no longer experience this and their overall exposure to farming in schools is limited. The main objective of this study was to explore the ways farming is presented and addressed in the national curriculum and in learning materials. Additionally, it examines the actual status of teaching about agriculture and explores how farming is addressed in teachers' pre-service programmes. The main finding is that very little teaching about agriculture and land management is carried out at most school levels. Only one college prepares agriculture teachers and science education programmes rarely address agriculture as a course topic. The paper also outlines an education for sustainability framework for integrating science, agriculture and environmental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a survey conducted to investigate students' knowledge of geography, such as an accurate understanding of the basic vocabulary and essential concepts associated with the representative geographic locations, described here as 'spatial landmarks'. The factors that influence their learning, and how their perceived levels change after one year in all classroom levels, are also discussed. Students from a range of classroom levels participated in the survey: 229 middle school (12–15 years), 158 high school (16–18 years) and 66 university students. The results demonstrated that although the geography community has spent significant time and energy developing and disseminating alternative instructional strategies for use in all classroom levels, the limited conceptual gain experienced by students suggests that a different curriculum-development approach is warranted. In particular, the effects of curriculum and pedagogy on student conceptual understanding as well as the mechanisms for conceptual change in all classroom levels need to be studied in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning outcomes have become widely used in higher education, but also misused to the point of being controversial and a bureaucratic burden. This paper distinguishes three kinds of learning outcome found in current literature: (1) those used in individual teaching events; (2) those specified for modules or short courses; and (3) those specified for whole degree programmes. The nature of each is explored and their use in assessment and auditing is discussed, together with related notions such as the 'corridor of tolerance', emergent outcomes, etc. It is concluded that learning outcomes used in individual teaching events (1) are the most useful kind if employed flexibly, but that they cannot be specified exactly or used for auditing performance, and their relationship with assessment is complex. Learning outcomes specified for modules or short courses (2) state little more than a list of contents; they cannot be stated precisely and have limitations in guiding assessment. Learning outcomes specified for whole degree programmes (3) is a misuse of the term 'learning outcome'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent graduates of degrees in the mathematical sciences were interviewed in depth about their work and the skills required to perform those tasks. One common undertaking could be described as teaching: demonstrating to colleagues, training their assistants or explaining mathematics to their managers. The paper describes how this understanding of teaching in the workplace can inform curriculum design at university level to better prepare graduates for work. Examples of assessment activities that lecturers can adapt for use in their classes in the mathematical sciences are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, we propose an alternative, based on constructivism, to the conventional way of teaching basic physics courses at the university level. We call this approach 'coherent teaching' and the underlying philosophy of teaching science and engineering 'need-based learning'. We have been applying this philosophy in practice in a basic physics course at the Department of Engineering Physics and Mathematics of Helsinki University of Technology. Here we present the main ideas of the new approach and how we have implemented them, as well as discuss how coherent teaching has affected the students' opinions about the course and how it has changed the learning results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by reviewing some of the different models of third-party observation of university teaching that can be found in the literature. Having analysed these, it argues that - if 'peer' is taken to indicate equality of status - only one is genuinely a model of peer-observation. It proposes an alternative categorisation of third-party observations of teaching dependant on who controls the information generated by the process. A preferred six-dimensional model based on control by the person being observed of the data-flow, and other procedural aspects, is presented and explored. Evaluative comments, by university teachers who have undertaken the process, are presented to illustrate the benefits of adopting this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides an analysis of Core Skill policy and practice in the UK. The author presents a conceptual basis for re-thinking generic Core Skills within educational approaches in teaching and learning. The discussion looks at whether universal notions of generic skills are appropriate when considering post-compulsory pedagogic approaches to the design of the curriculum. The arguments are framed within wider cross-disciplinary debates in linguistics, the psychology of work and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early part of the twenty-first century schools face the challenge of ensuring that both enterprise and citizenship are accommodated within the same curriculum. This paper attempts to identify the political, social and cultural motivations that have led to the reconciliation of enterprise and citizenship and the principles and perspectives that underpin the dual agenda. In addition, it reports on evidence from an exploratory study of 10 primary schools and seven secondary schools in Scotland, in order to examine the main causes of the consistency and inconsistency in the way those principles are translated into practice. Data emerging from teacher interviews and pupil discussion groups is examined, and key findings discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationalistic, technical curriculum planning has been the dominant model underpinning student teachers' lesson‐planning for a generation or more in England and Wales. In recent years, this process has become embedded in documents that direct initial training. The paper argues that this model leads to a limited view of teaching and learning as well as a restricted approach to learning to teach. Building on recent developments in socio‐cultural theory, an alternative, dialogical model of lesson planning is offered which not only emphasizes context‐dependency but also sees planning itself as a practice. This process is the key to developing reflective engagement across the different phases of the professional learning cycle [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]