Skills for inclusive growth in South Africa: Promising tides amidst perilous waters     

Salim Akoojee 《International Journal of Educational Development》2012

Skills development is critical to South Africa's development. It has been argued that South Africa's twin post-Apartheid challenges, poverty and unemployment requires a level of skills development not undertaken before (0300 and 0045). The creation of a separate ministry, the department of higher education and training (DHET), which has incorporated institutional entities from former Ministries of Education and Labour has engendered an expectation for the realisation of a co-ordinated and integrated post school education and training system. The establishment of this entity for the first time anticipates a coherent response to the education, training and skills development challenges faced by the country. The initial anticipation that this development will provide the basis for a coherent post-school education, training and skills development system, that is responsive to national development encapsulated by the notion of inclusive growth, have waned somewhat. In an attempt to link education and labour market more deliberately, it attempts to respond to both the education and labour market constituencies for greater synergy. The reality of success of a new institutional structure, within a wider structure embedded in the older pre-merged configuration, has proved more difficult than anticipated. The notion of ‘policy as boundary object’ is considered a critical missing element in the current re-positioning and the changed political circumstances represent a golden moment to do things differently. This paper explores the current structural re-configuration, as it has, and is likely to, impact on the skills development provisioning in the country. In particular, it focuses on the impact of current developments on the delivery of intermediate level skills, and the likely role of the beleaguered public FET Colleges (FETCs) in this regard. Whilst it is accepted that the current development is new and unlikely to have a track record, the current context is critically evaluated in terms of the potentials and challenges identified against the empirical experience of ten years of skills development in the country.  相似文献   

Writing to learn writing skills – a case study     

António S.C. Fernandes 《European Journal of Engineering Education》2012,37(2):179-192

The paper describes a case study in which the main objective is to understand how engineering students can improve their writing skills, regarding spelling and syntax, when taught specifically on these issues. The methodology Writing To Learn is applied in two courses and, making use of the written texts, the students’ writing skills are assessed and evaluated. In one course, writing skills are taught and assessed and in the other they are only assessed. The comparison allows conclusions on the success of teaching writing skills, the influence of text styles and the differences between basic and advanced writing skills. It was found that writing skills were successfully taught, particularly with regard to basic writing skills. Advanced writing errors are twice as common as basic writing errors. Schematic writing styles favour a reduced number of writing errors.  相似文献   

Empathy among students in engineering programmes     

Chato Rasoal  Henrik Danielsson  Tomas Jungert 《European Journal of Engineering Education》2012,37(5):427-435

Engineers face challenges when they are to manage project groups and be leaders for organisations because such positions demand skills in social competence and empathy. Previous studies have shown that engineers have low degrees of social competence skills. In this study, the level of empathy as measured by the four subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, perspective taking, fantasy, empathic distress and empathic concern, among engineering students was compared to students in health care profession programmes. Participants were undergraduate students at Linköping University, 365 students from four different health care profession programmes and 115 students from two different engineering programmes. When the empathy measures were corrected for effects of sex, engineering students from one of the programmes had lower empathy than psychology and social worker students on the fantasy and perspective-taking subscales. These results raise questions regarding opportunities for engineering students to develop their empathic abilities. It is important that engineering students acquire both theoretical and practical knowledge and skills regarding empathy.  相似文献   

Equal Opportunities and Post‐Sixteen Education: strategies for institutional change,possibilities and constraints     

《Journal of Further & Higher Education》2012,36(1):54-61

In this paper we describe findings from a research project in the South West of England that enquired into the impact of the changing requirements of programmes leading to teaching qualifications in the FE sector. We utilise the metaphor of ‘learning journey’ as a heuristic to discuss the professional formation of student teachers in training. In so doing, we challenge oversimplified models and assumptions of progress and learning as a linear progression by demonstrating the complexity of student transitions during professional formation.  相似文献   

Facilitating experiential learning of study skills in sports students     

《Journal of Further & Higher Education》2012,36(1):11-22

In recent years the student population in the UK has grown considerably, and students are entering higher education with a more diverse range of qualifications and skills. This is particularly the case in post‐1992 universities with a widening participation agenda, as these institutions have a larger share of students from non‐traditional backgrounds. Universities therefore need to consider ways in which they can encourage achievement and success amongst a diverse population of students, many of whom enter higher education without the skills needed to study effectively. Within this article the authors consider the use of experiential learning tasks to facilitate the development of study skills, as it has been suggested that such tasks aid student learning and the acquisition of skills.

The authors outline a Level 1 module, delivered to a large cohort of students at a post‐1992 university in the United Kingdom, and designed to facilitate the development of study skills in a way that is consistent with Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Their small‐scale and provisional examination of the first iteration of this module suggests that they have produced an initiative that encourages student engagement and facilitates learning in each of the four stages of Kolb’s cycle. However, wider investigation is required to ascertain the effectiveness of the initiative in allowing student access to some of the key aims of higher education.  相似文献   

Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Yvonne Anders  Hans-Günther RossbachSabine Weinert  Susanne EbertSusanne Kuger  Simone LehrlJutta von Maurice 《Early childhood research quarterly》2012

This study examined the influence of the quality of home and preschool learning environments on the development of early numeracy skills in Germany, drawing on a sample of 532 children in 97 preschools. Latent growth curve models were used to investigate early numeracy skills and their development from the first (average age: 3 years) to the third year (average age: 5 years) of preschool. Several child and family background factors (e.g., gender, maternal education, socioeconomic status), measures of the home learning environment (e.g., literacy- and numeracy-related activities), and measures of preschool structural and process quality (e.g., ECERS-E, ECERS-R) were tested as predictors of numeracy skills and their development. The analyses identified child and family background factors that predicted numeracy skills in the first year of preschool and their development over the three points of measurement—particularly gender, parental native language status (German/other), socioeconomic status, and mother's educational level. The quality of the home learning environment was strongly associated with numeracy skills in the first year of preschool, and this advantage was maintained at later ages. In contrast, the process quality of the preschool was not related to numeracy skills at the first measurement, but was significantly related to development over the period observed. The results underline the differential impact of the two learning environments on the development of numeracy skills. Interaction effects are explored and discussed.  相似文献   

中小学教师资格制度：问题与出路     

程伟 《四川教育学院学报》2012,28(4):94-96

教师专业化是现代教育发展的必然结果,是进一步完善教师资格制度的主要依据。作为教师专业化的重要维度,教师资格制度对于优化教师队伍、提高教师综合素养、促进教师专业发展具有极为重要而深远的意义。但是,随着教师专业化时代的到来,目前我国中小学教师资格制度在专业知识、专业技能、专业情意的规定上还存有诸多隐忧,无以满足教师专业化发展的时代诉求。为此,确立非师范生教育理论知识的课程标准或学分要求、规定教育实习的时间及其评价标准、实行教师资格定期认证制度、就成为完善教师资格制度,促进教师专业化发展的必由路径。  相似文献   

论学前教育专业本科生舞蹈教育技能的培养     

赵幼珍 《幼儿教育》2012,(Z3):17-20,37

学前教育专业本科生舞蹈教育通常以基本功训练、三大民间舞、幼儿舞蹈为主要内容。学前教育专业本科生的舞蹈教育要采用适宜的策略,以促使他们具备一定的舞蹈素质和能力,掌握一定的舞蹈素材,掌握幼儿舞蹈表演、创编与教学的基本知识和技能。  相似文献   

高职电子商务专业工学结合的实训研究   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

姚菊英  洪华秀  金灏  夏克坚 《江西教育学院学报》2012,33(3):73-75

基于高职电子商务专业学生实训的难度,通过分析电子商务学生的就业岗位,制定符合市场需求的工学结合的实训计划。学生通过参加比赛、与企业合作教学等方式实施电子商务实训。  相似文献   

Ready to Learn: Teaching Kindergarten Students School Success Skills     

《The Journal of educational research》2012,105(5):286-292

Abstract

Studies have indicated that children have difficulty learning when they do not demonstrate certain prerequisite learning skills that involve attention, listening comprehension, and social skills. The authors evaluated the Ready To Learn (RTL) curriculum for its effectiveness in improving the prerequisite learning skills in 12 kindergarten classes (260 students) in 3 demographically similar elementary schools. Teachers in target classrooms were trained to deliver the RTL curriculum and 5 specific teaching strategies for use throughout the day. Students who received the intervention in those classrooms scored significantly higher than did comparison students on a listening comprehension measure and a student behavior rating scale. These findings may be an indicator that entire classrooms of students can be taught prerequisite learning skills as part of the daily curriculum and, as a result, show increases in school success behaviors.  相似文献