The role of the university tutor in school-based work in primary schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland     

Michael Ievers  Ken Wylie  Colette Gray  Bernadette Ní Áingléis  Brian Cummins 《欧洲师范教育杂志》2013,36(2):183-199

There has been much international debate on the role of the university tutor in the supervision of student teachers during school-based work. This study focuses upon the Irish context, where there has been little research. It involves a comparative study of the views and attitudes of university staff, student teachers and class teachers from the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. Data collection methods comprised questionnaires to university tutors, class teachers and students (n = 150), focus groups and one-to-one interviews. This project reveals a reservoir of goodwill between tutors, teachers and students, along with a willingness to engage in dialogue and collaboration. Importantly, this study concludes that it is the university tutor who should have the lead role in collaborative models of school-based work partnership, with significant consultation and input from the class teacher and consultation with the student in the evaluation process.  相似文献   

‘I've adopted a tiger’: enhancing teaching and learning with infants through an active and integrated approach     

Henry Maitles  Colette McAlpine 《Education 3-13》2013,41(5):515-531

In Scotland, A Curriculum for Excellence [Curriculum Review Group. 2004. A curriculum for excellence. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/11/20178/45862 (accessed January 6, 2010).] is being implemented in every school from August 2010. This gives teachers greater responsibility, flexibility and professional autonomy when planning and delivering the curriculum. A Curriculum for Excellence is the major priority in every school’s Improvement Plan, and schools should be adopting teaching, learning and assessment strategies that support the four capacities of A Curriculum for Excellence (successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, effective communicators). The Curriculum for Excellence describes experiences and outcomes for children's learning in ways that will support a more active and integrated approach to teaching and learning within the curriculum. This article reports on one infant teacher’s attempt to plan and implement a programme of study for the social studies topic ‘The Zoo’, adopting an active and integrated approach to teaching and learning for her Primary 2 class (children aged 5–6 years). Dealing with children of 5–6 years requires a varied methodological approach. The approaches involved questionnaires to parents, observations of pupil involvement in lessons and focus group interviews with pupils. There was a strict ethical approach taken, which involved both parental and pupil consent as well as allowing pupils to opt out at any time.  相似文献   

Current and predicted staffing patterns in post‐primary schools: the perception and experience of school principals     

Colette Gray  Sarah Behan 《牛津教育评论》2013,39(3):443-458

Evidence suggests that teacher shortages in Western Society, largely attributable to social and economic change, are threatening the future of school education in many developed economies. Questions concerning the subject areas affected and the impact teacher shortages have on schools and on pupil learning are topics of mounting speculation. In contrast to the increasing body of research undertaken to explore these issues in other parts of the UK, much less is known about staffing patterns in post‐primary schools in Northern Ireland. This paper seeks to inform the debate and to present findings from the perceptions and experiences of 136 post‐primary school principals. Results suggest that most principals have experienced recruitment difficulties in a range of subjects; those most frequently cited include the sciences, particularly physics, mathematics, technology and design, home economics and ICT. Principals believe that staff shortages not only have a negative impact on teaching and learning but are also set to increase. This paper discusses these findings and argues the need for intervention and a change in government policy to break this self‐perpetuating cycle.  相似文献   

Chinese and Australian Year 3 Children's Conceptual Understanding of Science: A multiple comparative case study     

Ying Tao  Mary Colette Oliver  Grady Jane Venville 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(6):879-901

Children have formal science instruction from kindergarten in Australia and from Year 3 in China. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact that different approaches to primary science curricula in China and Australia have on children's conceptual understanding of science. Participants were Year 3 children from three schools of high, medium and low socio-economic status in Hunan Province, central south China (n?=?135) and three schools of similar socio-economic status in Western Australia (n?=?120). The students' understanding was assessed by a science quiz, developed from past Trends in Mathematics and Science Study science released items for primary children. In-depth interviews were carried out to further explore children's conceptual understanding of living things, the Earth and floating and sinking. The results revealed that Year 3 children from schools of similar socio-economic status in the two countries had similar conceptual understandings of life science, earth science and physical science. Further, in both countries, the higher the socio-economic status of the school, the better the students performed on the science quiz and in interviews. Some idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses were observed, for example, Chinese Year 3 children showed relative strength in classification of living things, and Australian Year 3 children demonstrated better understanding of floating and sinking, but children in both countries were weak in applying and reasoning with complex concepts in the domain of earth science. The results raise questions about the value of providing a science curriculum in early childhood if it does not make any difference to students' conceptual understanding of science.  相似文献   

What a Difference a Label Makes: Positioning and Response in an Afterschool Tutoring Program     

Erin McCloskey  Colette N. Cann 《Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning》2013,21(4):338-355

In this qualitative case study, we used the framework of positioning to show how college-age tutors and their middle school tutees interact in an afterschool tutoring setting with regard to ability. The authors show how educational tracking and understandings of disability permeated tutoring spaces and influence tutors’ instructional decisions. Even though the tutors’ participation in this program was framed as an act of social justice, the tutors do not feel empowered to use a critical lens when discussing tracking and/or disability because, as the authors posit, the framing of the college students as role models and these middle school students as “needy” prohibits conversations that do not have easy answers.  相似文献   

Promoting Career Development through Teamwork and Mastery Learning Course Requirements in Criminal Justice Research Methods Courses     

Lucy Edwards Hochstein 《Journal of Criminal Justice Education》2013,24(1):56-74

An innovative semester long small group research project, that required collecting and analyzing original data, regular written reports, and an oral presentation, was included in a senior level criminal justice research methods course to promote career development for those close to graduation. Over five years approximately 446 students were surveyed at the end of their classes to assess their response to the group project. Results suggest senior level students are capable of sustained small group participation where they utilize strategies that reflect practitioner group processes, such as decision‐making autonomy, planning, and coordinated activities. Mastery learning techniques resulted in high quality project outcomes and associated competences.  相似文献   

Work and Life Balance Support of Female Midlevel Noninstructional Staff at Community Colleges     

Stephanie J. Jones  Colette M. Taylor 《Community College Journal of Research & Practice》2013,37(12):936-953

Two-year public institutions are known for their nurturing academic environments that support students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. One would assume that these nurturing and supportive environments would also go beyond the students to include employees. Family-friendly working environments support the needs of employees to balance work and life obligations without affecting career advancement opportunities. To decide whether two-year public institutions are family-friendly working environments, this quantitative study explored the perceptions of female midlevel noninstructional professional staff in various administrative positions at 215 two-year public institutions. A survey designed to obtain participant perceptions of their working environments and institutional policies pertaining to work and life balances was completed by 590 respondents. By understanding the perceptions of midlevel noninstructional professional staff, institutions can address the areas of concern by establishing formal policies that support the needs of working adults to help them balance work and life obligations without affecting future career advancement opportunities.  相似文献   

Ten Years of Change: National Library of Medicine TOXMAP Gets a New Look     

Colette Hochstein  Darren Gemoets  Jeanne Goshorn 《Medical reference services quarterly》2013,32(4):428-437

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) TOXNET® databases <http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov> provide broad coverage of environmental health information covering a wide variety of topics, including access to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. The NLM web-based geographic information system (GIS), TOXMAP® <http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/>, provides interactive maps which show where TRI chemicals are released into the environment and links to TOXNET for information about these chemicals. TOXMAP also displays locations of Superfund sites on the EPA National Priority List, as well as information about the chemical contaminants at these sites. This column focuses on a new version of TOXMAP which brings it up to date with current web GIS technologies and user expectations.  相似文献   

SDG 4 and the COVID-19 emergency: Textbooks,tutoring, and teachers     

Chabbott  Colette  Sinclair  Margaret 《Prospects》2020,49(1-2):51-57

PROSPECTS - COVID-19 once again revealed the inherent weaknesses in relying on classroom-based schooling and ICT to sustain learning, a danger already familiar from earlier man-made and natural...  相似文献   

University reputation and undergraduates’ self-perceived employability: mediating influence of experiential learning activities     

Oluyomi S. Pitan  Colette Muller 《高等教育研究与发展》2019,38(6):1269-1284

ABSTRACT

Stratification, in the form of silent exclusion that is experienced by some groups of students because of the perceived low reputation of the university attended, and which the students have no control over, has been observed as a social menace that works against the concept of equity in education. To address this problem, a need exists for universities with lower reputations to go the extra mile to develop the employability skills of their students, which, in turn, will enhance their self-perception of employability. The major objective of this study was to investigate the influence of experiential learning activities on the relationship between university reputation and self-perceived employability among undergraduates in South African universities. Data were collected by means of an adapted questionnaire from 402 respondents drawn from two universities in the same province in South Africa. To achieve our objective, four hypotheses were formulated and tested through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 25. The findings show that both direct and indirect effects of university reputation on undergraduates’ perceived employability through experiential learning activities are positively significant. To minimise the negative effects that universities with low reputations are likely to have on undergraduates’ acquisition of experiential learning, on their self-perceived employability, and subsequently on their employment prospects, the government, the Department of Higher Education and universities (particularly, the low-rated ones in South Africa) need to put in place some timely interventions, some of which are suggested in the study.  相似文献