The teaching technique of the secondary school

Mimeographed.

Of Elephants and Toothaches : Ethics, Politics, and Religion in Krzysztof Kieslowski's 'Decalogue' /

This collection is the first to offer a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to Krzysztof Kie?lowski’s Decalogue, a ten-film cycle of modern tales that touch on the ethical dilemmas of the Ten Commandments. The cycle’s deft handling of moral ambiguity and inventive technique established Kie?lowski as a major international director. Kie?lowski once said, “Both the deep believer and the habitual skeptic experience toothaches in exactly the same way.” Of Elephants and Toothaches takes seriously the range of thought, from theological to skeptical, condensed in the cycle’s quite human tales. Bringing together scholars of film, philosophy, literature, and several religions, the volume ranges from individual responsibility, to religion in modernity, to familial bonds, to human desire and material greed. It explores Kie?lowski’s cycle as it relentlessly solicits an ethical response that stimulates both inner disquiet and interpersonal dialogue.

Teachers’ perception of the concept of intercultural competence in teaching English

Intercultural competence (IC) as an essential part of conceptualization of the cultural dimension in FLT has been promoted by educationalists as the most preferred type of competence. One of the challenges of incorporating IC into FLT is to move from the recognition of IC as a model of teaching (Byram, Nichols and Stevens, 2001) to the development of practical applications. This can be due to the fact that teachers do not have sufficient knowledge of the theory behind the concept and consequently, have difficulties to implement the curriculum requirements with regards to IC into their teaching. The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers of English in upper secondary schools in Sweden interpret the concept of IC and, accordingly, what is their view of culture in English language teaching. In order to answer the research question, I used an exploratory investigation by adopting a qualitative research method in form of semi-structured interviews. The results are similar to the previous studies (Lundgren, 2002; Larzén, 2005) and suggest that teachers lack theoretical background and central guidance with regards to IC and do not always integrate language and culture into an intercultural model of the English language pedagogy.

Ethics and intervention: The 'humanitarian exception' and the problem of abuse in the case of Iraq

This article investigates the ethics of intervention and explores the decision to invade Iraq. It begins by arguing that while positive international law provides an important framework for understanding and debating the legitimacy of war, it does not cover the full spectrum of moral reasoning on issues of war and peace. To that end, after briefly discussing the two primary legal justifications for war (implied UN authorization and pre-emptive self-defence), and finding them wanting, it asks whether there is a moral 'humanitarian exceptions to this rule grounded in the 'just war' tradition. The article argues that two aspects of the broad tradition could be used to make a humanitarian case for war: the 'holy war' tradition and classical just war thinking based on natural law. The former it finds problematic, while the latter it argues provides a moral space to justify the use of force to halt gross breaches of natural law. Although such an approach may provide a moral justification for war, it also opens the door to abuse. It was this very problem that legal positivism from Vattel onwards was designed to address. As a result, the article argues that natural law and legal positivist arguments should be understood as complementary sets of ideas whose sometimes competing claims must be balanced in relation to particular cases. Therefore, although natural law may open a space for justifying the invasion of Iraq on humanitarian terms, legal positivism strictly limits that right. Ignoring this latter fact, as happened in the Iraq case, opens the door to abuse.

Levinasian ethics and the representation of the other in international and cross-cultural management

In this paper, we seek to further the discussion, problematization and critique of west/east identity relations in ICM studies by considering the ethics of the relationship – an issue never far beneath the surface in discussions of Orientalism. In particular we seek to both examine and question the ethics of representation in relation to a critique of what has come to be known as international and cross-cultural management (ICM). To pursue such a discussion, we draw specifically on the ethical elaborations of Emmanuel Levinas as well as his chief interlocutors Jacques Derrida and Zygmunt Bauman. The value of this discussion, we propose, is that Levinas offers a philosophy that holds as its central concept the relationship between the self and Other as the primary ethical and pre-ontological relation. Levinas’ philosophy provides a means of extending the post-colonial critique of ICM, and ICM provides a context in which the Levinasian ethics can be brought to bear on a significant issue on contemporary business and management.

Mapping teaching, learning and assessment in the MPharm in UK schools of pharmacy

Aim To undertake a national study of teaching, learning and assessment in UK schools of pharmacy. Design Triangulation of course documentation, 24 semi-structured interviews undertaken with 29 representatives from the schools and a survey of all final year students (n=1,847) in the 15 schools within the UK during 2003–04. Subjects and setting All established UK pharmacy schools and final year MPharm students. Outcome measures Data were combined and analysed under the topics of curriculum, teaching and learning, assessment, multi-professional teaching and learning, placement education and research projects. Results Professional accreditation was the main driver for curriculum design but links to preregistration training were poor. Curricula were consistent but offered little student choice. On average half the curriculum was science-based. Staff supported the science content but students less so. Courses were didactic but schools were experimenting with new methods of learning. Examinations were the principal form of assessment but the contribution of practice to the final degree ranged considerably (21–63%). Most students considered the assessment load to be about right but with too much emphasis upon knowledge. Assessment of professional competence was focused upon dispensing and pharmacy law. All schools undertook placement teaching in hospitals but there was little in community/primary care. There was little inter-professional education. Resources and logistics were the major limiters. Conclusions There is a need for an integrated review of the accreditation process for the MPharm and preregistration training and redefinition of professional competence at an undergraduate level.

A tudományterületi sajátosságok következményei a kutatásban, az oktatásban és a felsőoktatási intézmények vezetésében (The consequences of disciplinary difference on teaching, research and institutional management of higher education)

A szerző tanulmányában vizsgálja a tudományterületek különbségeinek következményeit az oktatásban, a kutatásban és a felsőoktatási intézmények irányításában. A tanulmány első felében a tudományterületek episztemológiai és közösségi különbségeit tárgyalja Becher és Trowler (2001) népszerű kategorizálása alapján. A tanulmány második felében a tudományszerveződésre, a publikációs gyakorlatra, a doktori képzésre, az oktatás céljára és formáira, a diákok tudásképére, valamint a menedzsmentfelfogásra gyakorolt hatást mutatja be. A konklúzióban egyrészt a minőség- és teljesítményértékelési rendszerek differenciált megközelítésének szükségességére hívja fel a figyelmet, másrészt arra, hogy a Bologna-rendszer és az élethosszig tartó tanulás erősödésének következményeként egy-egy mesterszakon nemcsak a hallgatóság háttere, előismerete lesz sokszínű, hanem a tudásról alkotott képe is. Ez újfajta oktatói szerepeket és oktatási megközelítéseket tesz szükségessé. ________ In the article the consequences of disciplinary difference on teaching, research and institutional management is examined. In the first part of the paper the epistemological and sociological differences of scientific disciplines are summarized based on the popular typology of Becher and Trowler (2001). In the second part the influence of differences on organisation of sciences, publication practices, PhD studies, the goal and form of teaching, students’ conception of knowledge as well as on the understanding on management and leadership are discussed. In the conclusions, attention is drawn on the necessity of differentiation in quality and performance management processes. Another conclusion is that new roles for teachers and approaches for teaching is required if students’ conception of knowledge become more heterogeneous which is the result of result of life long learning and Bologna-reform.

The effects of using an alternative method for teaching badminton to post secondary level students in Taiwan

The effect of teaching method in physical education is an important issue and has been a concern of the expert teacher. Teachers are expected to create a model of teaching in their field; therefore, it is reasonable to question what is the effect of an alternative teaching method on student performance in physical education. This study explores whether teaching methods with advanced planning, behavior and belief in high enthusiasm, use of instructional strategies and evaluation, together termed a systematic teaching approach, used in a physical education activity would provide an effective environment for learning which supports student achievement in the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains. This study also investigated whether there was a difference in performance between students who were taught with a systematic teaching approach and students who were taught with the traditional teaching model. Information was collected using two performance skills, a written test, and one questionnaire. The 68 participants were randomly assigned into either an experimental group or a control group. Two teachers were assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. The teaching experiment took place at Tamsui Oxford University College in Taiwan and lasted eight weeks. ^ Research questions were analyzed using the t-test. Results indicated that a significant difference in students' performance was found between the experimental group and the control group on both the skill tests and the paper test. Analysis of student attitude toward their teacher and their course on the questionnaire indicated a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group. ^ The findings of this study imply that students who were taught with a systematic teaching style were significantly superior to students who were taught with the traditional model on these measures. This finding supports the contention that effective teaching in physical education is related to advanced planning, high enthusiasm, instructional strategy and evaluation and that all physical education teachers should implement these planning elements in the development of the teaching strategies. ^

A comparison of the effects of social constructivist and traditional approaches to teaching on students' attitude and achievement in high school chemistry

Current views of the nature of knowledge and of learning suggest that instructional approaches in science education pay closer attention to how students learn rather than on teaching. This study examined the use of approaches to teaching science based on two contrasting perspectives in learning, social constructivist and traditional, and the effects they have on students' attitudes and achievement. Four categories of attitudes were measured using the Upper Secondary Attitude Questionnaire: Attitude towards school, towards the importance of science, towards science as a career, and towards science as a subject in school. Achievement was measured by average class grades and also with a researcher/teacher constructed 30-item test that involved three sub-scales of items based on knowledge, and applications involving near-transfer and far-transfer of concepts. The sample consisted of 202 students in nine intact classrooms in chemistry at a large high school in Miami, Florida, and involved two teachers. Results were analyzed using a two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with a pretest in attitude as the covariate for attitudes and prior achievement as the covariate for achievement. A comparison of the adjusted mean scores was made between the two groups and between females and males. ^ With constructivist-based teaching, students showed more favorable attitude towards science as a subject, obtained significantly higher scores in class achievement, total achievement and achievement on the knowledge sub-scale of the knowledge and application test. Students in the traditional group showed more favorable attitude towards school. Females showed significantly more positive attitude towards the importance of science and obtained significantly higher scores in class achievement. No significant interaction effects were obtained for method of instruction by gender. ^ This study lends some support to the view that constructivist-based approaches to teaching science is a viable alternative to traditional modes of teaching. It is suggested that in science education, more consideration be given to those aspects of classroom teaching that foster closer coordination between social influences and individual learning. ^

Professional Ethics and Welfare Reform: The Importance of Ethical Competence

This paper explores the professional ethics of welfare reform providers and its influence in the achievement of welfare reform goals. Four themes address the professional ethics and ethical competence of welfare reform providers.

Ethical Challenges of the Industry: Are Graduates Prepared?

Hospitality graduates often enter their first jobs unaware of the difficult ethical dilemmas they will face. By having ethics teaching in a curriculum, the authors of this article believe that the perceptions of ethics of senior hospitality students at Northern Arizona University were comparable to those of operating industry managers.

Gaining Insight into Teaching: The Lived Experiences of Teachers of the Year

What qualities describe outstanding teachers? Many stakeholders in education argue that student achievement indicates teacher quality. Ten Teachers of the Year participated in this qualitative study, showing their lives as outstanding teachers personify four roles and two phenomena. Findings indicate the need to investigate the moral dimension of teaching.

Content and methodology of predoctoral Geriatric Dentistry teaching in Europe

Objectives: To explore the content and methodology of predoctoral Geriatric Dentistry teaching amongst European dental schools.
Methods: The study was conducted by the European College of Gerodontology (ECG) Education Committee. Αn electronic questionnaire has been developed with close and open-ended items, including information on the prevalence and institutional anchorage of Gerodontology programs, the educators, the content and the methodology of teaching. An electronic mail, including a hyperlink to the questionnaire, was sent to 216 dental schools in 39 European countries (Winter/ Spring 2016). The Deans were asked to either answer themselves, or forward the link to faculty members with knowledge on Gerodontology teaching at their respective schools. Repeated reminders or telephone calls were used for non-respondents and personal networks were exploited to identify potential contact persons.
Results: Until August 2016, 121 dental schools from 29 countries responded to the survey (response rate 56%, EU response rate: 60%). Gerodontology was included in the predoctoral curricula of 86% of the respondents and was compulsory in 68%. The course was mainly offered in senior students and was interdisciplinary in 30% of the schools, delivered mainly by dentists (79%), physicians (21%), psychologists (10%), and nurses (5%). It was conducted as an independent lecture series in 40% of the schools and a course director was assigned in 44% of the respondents. When embedded in other disciplines, these were mainly Prosthodontics (31%). The content included a large number of items, such as epidemiology of oral health, medical problems in old age, prosthodontic management, xerostomia, and caries risk assessment. Lectures were the most common teaching format (69%), followed by small group seminars (27%). The most common types of educational material used were scientific articles (48%), printed textbooks (44%), lecture notes (40%) and e-learning material (21%). Clinical training was offered by 64% of the respondents, within the dental school clinics (49%) and/or in outreach locations (40%).
Conclusion: Amongst the respondent European dental schools (66%) there is an increasing number that teach Gerodontology at a pre-doctoral level with significant variations in content and methodology. Official guidelines and the dissemination of the ECG pre-doctoral curriculum guidelines might help to increase the prevalence and improve the status of Gerodontology teaching in Europe.

Teaching boys in neoliberal and postfeminist times: Feminization and the question of re-masculinization in the education system and policy field

This paper focuses on teaching boys, male teachers and the question of gendered pedagogies in neoliberal and postfeminist times of the proliferation of new forms of capitalism, multi-mediated technologies and the influence of globalization. It illustrates how a politics of re-masculinization and its reconstitution needs to be understood as set against changing economic and social conditions in which gender equity comes to be re-focused on boys as the ‚new disadvantaged‘. This re-framing of gender equity, it is argued, has been fuelled by both a media-inspired backlash discourse about ‚failing boys‘ and a neo-positivist emphasis on numbers derived primarily from standardized testing regimes at both global and national levels. A media-focused analysis of the proliferation of discourses about ‚failing boys‘ vis-a-vis the problem of encroaching feminization in the school system is provided to illuminate how certain truths about the influence of male teachers come to define how the terms of ensuring gender equity are delimited and reduced to a question of gendered pedagogies as grounded in sexed bodies. Historical accounts of the feminization of teaching in the North American context are also provided as a basis for building a more informed understanding of the present, particularly as it relates to the contextualization of policy articulation and enactment regarding the problem of teaching boys. In light of such historically informed and critical media analysis, it is argued that what is needed is a more informed, evidenced based policy articulation of the problem of teaching boys and a more gender sensitive reflection on the politics of masculinities in postfeminist times. (DIPF/Orig.)