An investigation into regional differences in educational performance in the National Child Development Study

The National Child Development Study (NCDS) is used to investigate factors which affect children's educational performance over time. Multilevel modelling techniques are used on a subset of the NCDS to investigate variation in educational performance in 11 regions in the UK, and in local education authorities within these regions. Social characteristics of the NCDS members are also analysed. Differences between regions and education authorities are found to be negligible, the main source of variation in achievement being due to differences in social background.

Aspects of care 5: the continuing educational needs of midwives

This is the fifth in a series of six papers presenting key findings from a national study that was undertaken to investigate the role and responsibilities of midwives and to identify continuing educational need. The background to the study and the titles of the other papers in the series have been outlined in the first paper. This paper focuses on the methods used to identify the continuing educational needs of midwives, and provides an overview of the findings related to midwives' perceived confidence/competence to practice and their continuing educational needs.

Aspects of care 6: continuing educational needs of midwives 2

This is the last in a series of six papers presenting key findings from a national study that was undertaken to investigate the role and responsibilities of midwives in England and to identify and address continuing educational needs. The background to the study and the titles of other papers in the series have been outlined in the first paper. The first five papers have provided an overview of the main research findings that have been used to determine the continuing educational needs of midwives. This paper provides a more detailed picture of the issues that were identified in relation to educational need, and an overview of the way in which an educational package was developed on the basis of the research findings for use by midwives nationally.

An investigation of assessment policy and practices in terms of broad social and educational purposes

Based upon relevant literature, this study investigated the assessment policy and practices for the BSc (Hons) Computing Science programme at the University of Greenwich (UOG), contextualising these in terms of broad social and educational purposes. It discusses Assessment, and then proceeds to give a critical evaluation of the assessment policy and practices at the UOG. Although this is one case study, because any of the features of the programme are generic to other programmes and institutions, it is of wider value and has further implications. The study was concluded in the summer of 2002. It concludes that overall, the programme's assessment policy and practices are well considered in terms of broad social and educational purposes, although it identifies and outlines several possible improvements, as well as raising some major issues still to be addressed which go beyond assessment practices.

Using EMGs and kinematics data to study the take-off technique of experts and novices for a pole vaulting short run-up educational exercise

This study attempts to characterise the electromyographic activity and kinematics exhibited during the performance of take-off for a pole vaulting short run-up educational exercise, for different expertise levels. Two groups (experts and novices) participated in this study. Both groups were asked to execute their take-off technique for that specific exercise. Among the kinematics variables studied, the knee, hip and ankle angles and the hip and knee angular velocities were significantly different. There were also significant differences in the EMG variables, especially in terms of (i) biceps femoris and gastrocnemius lateralis activity at touchdown and (ii) vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius lateralis activity during take-off. During touchdown, the experts tended to increase the stiffness of the take-off leg to decrease braking. Novices exhibited less stiffness in the take-off leg due to their tendency to maintain a tighter knee angle. Novices also transferred less energy forward during take-off due to lack of contraction in the vastus lateralis, which is known to contribute to forward energy transfers. This study highlights the differences in both groups in terms of muscular and angular control according to the studied variables. Such studies of pole vaulting could be useful to help novices to learn expert's technique.

Twenty years of schooling: student reflections on their educational journeys

[From cover and SRHE website] Nearly half of young people go into higher education today compared with around one in five 20 years ago. What do those who have grown up during this time make of their educational experiences? These chapters give an insight into how one group of students at the University of Greenwich experienced the 'education, education, education' stressed so much throughout their lives at school, college and university as the most tested and intensively taught generation in history. They bring sociological ideas to bear on their personal reflections, which are written in a lively style accessible to other students elsewhere, whether in higher education or thinking of going there. They will also be revealing for their teachers and parents. These reflections are a starting point for comparisons across the new system of 'lifelong learning'.

A new 14+: vocational diplomas and the future of schools, colleges and universities. An educational and campaigning pamphlet

Written in an accessible and campaigning style, this pamphlet affords a valuable context to the introduction of the first group of specialist diplomas for 14 year olds in September 2008. The diplomas are the latest in a line of failed initiatives that have sought to provide vocational ‘alternatives’ for those young people staying in full-time education and not considered ‘academic’. Rather than developing any useful employment skills, Allen and Ainley argue that their introduction reflects the changing significance of education in the division and social control of learners that now extends from school to college and on to university. Those who are opposed to the current post-14 agenda, must not only put forward radical alternatives to the current curriculum offer but also, the authors argue, address issues of democracy and accountability. To do this, teacher trade unionists must make new types of alliances with local communities and also with their students.

Mobile authoring of open educational resources for authentic learning scenarios

The proliferation of smartphones in the last decade and the number of publications in the field of authoring systems for computer-assisted learning depict a scenario that needs to be explored in order to facilitate the scaffolding of learning activities across contexts. Learning resources are traditionally designed in desktop-based authoring systems where the context is mostly restricted to the learning objective, capturing relevant case characteristics, or virtual situation models. Mobile authoring tools enable learners and teachers to foster universal access to educational resources not only providing channels to share, remix or re-contextualize these, but also capturing the context in-situ and in-time. As a further matter, authoring educational resources in a mobile context is an authentic experience where authors can link learning with their own daily life activities and reflections. The contribution of this manuscript is fourfold: first, the main barriers for ubiquitous and mobile authoring of educational resources are identified; second, recent research on mobile authoring tools is reviewed, and 10 key shortcomings of current approaches are identified; third, the design of a mobile environment to author educational resources (MAT for ARLearn) is presented, and the results of an evaluation of usability and hedonic quality are presented; fourth, conclusions and a research agenda for mobile authoring are discussed.

Summary statistics, educational achievement gaps and the ecological fallacy

Summary statistics continue to play an important role in identifying and monitoring patterns and trends in educational inequalities between differing groups of pupils over time. However, this article argues that their uncritical use can also encourage the labelling of whole groups of pupils as ‘underachievers’ or ‘overachievers’ as the findings of group-level data are simply applied to individual group members, a practice commonly termed the ‘ecological fallacy’. Some of the adverse consequences of this will be outlined in relation to current debates concerning gender and ethnic differences in educational attainment. It will be argued that one way of countering this uncritical use of summary statistics and the ecological fallacy that it tends to encourage, is to make much more use of the principles and methods of what has been termed ‘exploratory data analysis’. Such an approach is illustrated through a secondary analysis of data from the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales, focusing on gender and ethnic differences in educational attainment. It will be shown that, by placing an emphasis on the graphical display of data and on encouraging researchers to describe those data more qualitatively, such an approach represents an essential addition to the use of simple summary statistics and helps to avoid the limitations associated with them.

Constructions of locality and gender and their impact on the educational aspirations of working class children

Over recent years the moral panic that has surrounded 'boys' underachievement' has tended to encourage crude and essentialist comparisons between all boys and all girls and to eclipse the continuing and more profound effects on educational achievement exerted by social class and 'race'/ethnicity. While there are differences in educational achievement between working class boys and girls, these differences are relatively minor when comparing the overall achievement levels of working class children with those from higher, professional social class backgrounds. This paper argues that a need exists therefore for researchers to fully contextualise the gender differences that exist in educational achievement within the over-riding contexts provided by social class and 'race'/ethnicity. The paper provides an example of how this can be done through a case study of 11-year-old children from a Catholic, working class area in Belfast. The paper shows how the children's general educational aspirations are significantly mediated by their experiences of the local area in which they live. However, the way in which the children come to experience and construct a sense of locality differs between the boys and girls and this, it is argued, helps to explain the more positive educational aspirations held by some of the girls compared to the boys. The paper concludes by considering the relevance of locality for understanding its effects on educational aspirations among other working class and/or minority ethnic communities.

Teachers and pupils: educational experiences and school based responses to the conflict in Northern Ireland

This article describes a study which examined (a) the impact of the political conflict on teachers' and ppils' experiences of education in Northern Ireland and (b) the impact of curricular-based interventions designed to support the ppils and reduce prejudice. The focus of the second part of the article is on the prejudice reduction initiatives identified. A total of 44 staff and 78 pupils spread across 8 schools participated and both teachers' and ppils' perspectives were identified, the latter being an extremely important dimension which has rarely been addressed in previous studies of this area. The findings, which highlight the complexity of the impact of the political conflict, are considered to have both practical and theoretical implications for prejudice reduction programs.