Learners’ perceptions of being identified as very able: insights from Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education

While learners’ attitudes to Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and to Physical Education (PE) in the UK have been widely investigated in previous research, an under-explored area is learners’ feelings about being highly able in these subjects. The present study explored this issue, among 78 learners (aged 12-13) from two schools in England, a Specialist Language College, and a Specialist Sports College. Learners completed a questionnaire exploring their feelings about the prospect of being identified as gifted/talented in these subjects, and their perceptions of the characteristics of highly able learners in MFL and PE. Questionnaires were chosen as the data collection method to encourage more open responses from these young learners than might have been elicited in an interview. While learners were enthusiastic about the idea of being highly able in both subjects, this enthusiasm was more muted for MFL. School specialism was related to learners’ enthusiasm only in the Sports College. Learners expressed fairly stereotypical views of the characteristics of the highly able in MFL and PE. The relevance of these findings for motivation and curriculum design within both subjects is discussed.

English history teachers’ views on what substantive content young people should be taught

Public and policy discourse about the content of history curricula is frequently contested, but the voice of history teachers is often absent from such debate. Drawing on a large scale on-line survey of history teachers in England, this paper explores their responses to major curriculum reforms proposed by the Coalition government in February 2013. In particular it examines teachers' responses to government plans to prescribe a list of topics, events and individuals to be taught chronologically that all students would be expected to study. Nearly 550 teachers responded to the survey, and more than two-thirds of them provided additional written comments on the curriculum proposals. This paper examines these comments, with reference to a range of curriculum models. The study reveals a deep antagonism towards the proposals for various reasons, including concerns about the extent and nature of the substantive content proposed and the way in which it should be sequenced. Analysis of these reactions provides an illuminating insight into history teachers’ perspectives. While the rationales that underpin their thinking seem to have connections to a variety of different theoretical models, the analysis suggests that more attention could usefully be devoted to the idea of developing frameworks of reference.

Kritisk diskursanalys av Gy2011 med fokus på kulturkontexten : Politiska diskursers relation till svensk läroplansutveckling

This research aims to relate the modern Swedish curriculum development to the political discourses liberalization and European integration through a critical discourse analysis of the Swedish curriculum Gy2011. These political discourses constitute the cultural context of Gy2011, which according to critical discourse theory is synonymous with the terms social sphere or praxis. The term cultural context includes the environment in which the text has been created as well as its intertextuality – in this case its relations to earlier curricula. The analysis of Gy2011 exhumes scientific research done in the field of curriculum studies, which enables future research. The Gy2011 analysis shows that the political discourses liberalization and European integration stands out within the texts cultural context, and have done so for more than 70 years, a fact that is illustrated by an overview of Swedish curricula history. This research also illuminates how the liberalization discourse accelerated during the 1980’s, by both social democrats and the political right, and that the European integration process has gained momentum in recent years.

O centro de pesquisas como agente de motivação realizadora no ensino tecnológico

Durante o longo período de experiências de magistério no ensino tecnológico de segundo e terceiro graus, o autor desta dissertação de mestrado vem aplicando uma metodologia que consiste em cativar os estudantes através de projetos inusitados, elaborados de conformidade com as habilitações específicas dos cursos, empregando-os como elemento motivador para realizar empreendimentos, paralelamente ao ensino curricular. Esse motivo, escolhido e planejado pedagogicamente, serve de estímulo para concentrar as atenções dos alunos na solução de problemas sócio-econômicos do país e da humanidade em geral, com o propósito de integrá-los no desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico, despertando o interesse pelo estudo e pela pesquisa, nas atividades dos projetos realizados por grupos de colegas de vocações afins. o projeto, caracterizado por um complexo cibernético ou biônico, tem a propriedade de efetivar a conjugação das diversas disciplinas, cujos conhecimentos são aplicados nessas oportunidades, ajudando os alunos a compreenderem melhor o sentido pragmático do conjunto curricular do seu curso. Atuando, de início, autodidatamente, mas orientado pelos princípios da Psicologia Educacional e mais tarde apoiado na Pedagogia de Dewey, o autor aprimorou sua metodologia nos trabalhos de Decroly, Kilpatrick, Skinner e Mc Clelland. A aplicação desse método de ensino suscitou a criaçao de um Centro de Pesquisas, integrado na organização escolar, através de uma de suas assessorias, sendo dirigido por um professor responsável e estruturado na forma de um setor onde se reunem as equipes de Planejamento Educacional e Pesquisa, Planejamento Técnico, Desenvolvimento de Atividades e Apoio, todas formadas por professores convidados, especialistas nos assuntos envolvidos pelos projetos. Este setor-ambiente, bem arquitetado,é instalado com recursos auxiliares didáticos e motivacionais, pequena biblioteca, museu, arquivo, uma pequena oficina de precisão, um laboratório para pesquisas tecnológicas e outro para tratamento fotográfico. Evidencia-se, assim, que o Centro de Pesquisas, como agente de motivação realizadora, atua na escola produzindo mudanças significativas no processo de ensino e consequentemente na formação dos alunos, pela sua metodologia e dinâmica das atividades a que estes se dedicam,manifestand sua capacidade de produzir, aplicando a criatividade aliada à sua aprendizagem, ao mesmo tempo valiosas para sua educação e para a sociedade. Fundamentado nos bons resultados obtidos com a aplicação dessa metodologia de ensino, o autor sugere a conveniência de serem implantados nas demais Escolas Técnicas e nos Centros Federais de Educação Tecnológica, centros ou núcleos de pesquisas semelhantes ao descrito nesta dissertação de mestrado.

The First Child In A Chinese Family Who Could Read Prior To Entry Into Elementary School: A Qualitative Intrinsic Case Study

ABSTRACT This study is an account of the literacy-related human environment a Chinese girl experienced as the first person in the history of her family who was able to read prior to entry into elementary school. Temporally speaking, the study spanned more than a decade from the initial, tentative research question to the formal, primary research question. Spatially speaking, it crossed three cultures: the Chinese, Korean, and American cultures. The study was inspired by the Zero Project in China, known as the "Project of Quality Education and Implementation for Children Aged Zero (fetus) to Six." The significance of the content issue in a child's literacy curriculum was explored in an interdisciplinary way. Case study served as a holistic research approach and provided the researcher with free temporal and spatial distance to pursue the indefinably multi-dimensional intricacies of a child's early literacy acquisition among generations in the family. Interpretation of the case was based on the relevant concepts within the scope of the researcher's knowledge of Chinese culture. Major findings revealed that the child's literacy acquisition was inseparably related to her parents' background as well as their awareness of and attitudes towards literacy, and that the foundation of all this was the harmony of the family. Through the lens of generational attitudes towards literacy and especially the lens of the researcher's multicultural life experiences, this study contributes to the field of curriculum studies in general and early literacy curriculum in particular by stimulating people to reconsider what to read to children, besides how to read to them. It calls attention once again to the classic curriculum question, "What knowledge is of most worth?" as well as what is the most essential spiritual food human beings need besides physical needs. This study suggests that Chinese philosophy should be included in a child's early literacy curriculum in China and calls for dialogues on the content issue of curriculum to gain a deeper understanding of human nature so that humans might co-live peacefully with all beings in the universe.

Education pamphlets

A collection of miscellaneous pamphlets.

Developing students' critical literacy: Exploring identity construction in young adult fiction

The authors use a critical literacy stance to engage students in a discussion of young adult literature from Australia and America. They offer a framework teachers can use to initiate discussions based on critical literacy in their own classrooms.