Description:
The tendency in education writing on globalization has been to examine the congruence of educational policies in western societies and the international effects of global governance of education by powerful transnational institutions such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union. The authors tend to identify massive changes in approaches to educational governance, including the establishment of a broadly common policy and management agenda that is characterized by 'new managerialism', devolution, and rigid accountability structures, entrepreneurialism, and school effectiveness, that have been imposed largely as a result of globalization. These measures are often seen as being directly related to the 'hollowing out' of the state, and the emergence of neo-liberalism as the informing ideology of both international capitalism and residual nation-states. There are few studies, however, of the dynamics of educational life and micro-political activities that enable or challenge or bring about the kinds of educational reshaping and renorming that are typically associated with globalization. This study attempts to analyse such micro-shaping, which, through reporting an ethnographic study in a site of educational practice, examines how school managers and teachers dealt with government policy intervention and, in the process, both willingly and unwillingly implemented significant educational change.
Description:
The tendency in education writing on globalization has been to examine the congruence of educational policies in western societies and the international effects of global governance of education by powerful transnational institutions such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union. The authors tend to identify massive changes in approaches to educational governance, including the establishment of a broadly common policy and management agenda that is characterized by 'new managerialism', devolution, and rigid accountability structures, entrepreneurialism, and school effectiveness, that have been imposed largely as a result of globalization. These measures are often seen as being directly related to the 'hollowing out' of the state, and the emergence of neo-liberalism as the informing ideology of both international capitalism and residual nation-states. There are few studies, however, of the dynamics of educational life and micro-political activities that enable or challenge or bring about the kinds of educational reshaping and renorming that are typically associated with globalization. This study attempts to analyse such micro-shaping, which, through reporting an ethnographic study in a site of educational practice, examines how school managers and teachers dealt with government policy intervention and, in the process, both willingly and unwillingly implemented significant educational change.
Description:
This chapter provides the backdrop and sets the tone for the book. It begins by scoping out some of the challenges and injustices facing working-class youth, and by highlighting some of the mismatches between the structures and processes of education and the lives of many working-class young people. It then goes on to develop an alternative agenda which, it is argued, is necessary to engage working-class youth in relevant and meaningful ways, and to challenge the dominant structures of schooling and education which systematically disadvantage so many young people. The chapter finishes by proving a brief overview of the chapters which follow, and by highlighting some of the key themes explored in the rest of the book.`
Description:
This thesis examines the role of teachers’ emotions in their work, particularly during times of school reform and highlights the important role they play during change processes.
Description:
This thesis examines the role of teachers’ emotions in their work, particularly during times of school reform and highlights the important role they play during change processes.
Description:
Improving young people's engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is being promoted worldwide as a means of addressing projected shortfalls in expertise needed to further nations' economic, social and environmental goals. Responding to this, schools are reforming traditional discipline-based curricula into interdisciplinary approaches based on problem and project-based designs, to make STEM learning more relevant and meaningful for students. This study drew on a dataset of 449 Australian principal and teacher interviews, to identify factors influencing STEM curriculum in their schools. It utilised Ecological Systems Theory to build understanding relating to the influence of activities and outputs originating at macro, exo and meso system levels, on STEM curriculum and practices in classrooms. Results demonstrated how many innovative schools were able to successfully leverage community, business and national resources to enhance their STEM curriculum, while others struggled due to limitations imposed by geographic or socio-economic factors, or limited access to resources, expertise or advice. Central to achieving this was the powerful influence of principals' and teachers' 'proximal processes and developmental assets' in establishing effective and engaging interdisciplinary STEM curricula, despite constraints imposed by, at best, ambiguous national and state curriculum and policies, rigid assessment regimes and compliance-focused reporting requirements.
Description:
To address the upcoming reform curriculum initiative following competency-based learning in Vietnam, this study examines how variations of a contextualized task allow students to experience the mathematical modelling process. We explore how Grade 10 students respond to tasks with different levels of authenticity when they first attempt such tasks. Adapting the Theory of Authentic Task Situations, we designed variations of the Goat Cage task and implemented them with six small groups of students. Results showed that the modelling processes that the students progressed through differed in mathematical models used and real-world considerations, with diverse approaches when solving the more-authentic variation. Not all phases of the modelling process were observed explicitly when they engaged in the tasks. Students showed a positive disposition towards tasks with more authentic contextual information. The study suggests ways to adapt contextualized tasks to make them more authentic, which allows students to experience a holistic modelling process.
Description:
Science experts across the globe are requesting educators to teach science in authentic and inquiry-driven ways to prepare graduates to be scientifically literate citizens. Shifting from traditional teacher-centred approaches to models of authentic learning requires new and innovative resources. In an inquiry-driven human physiology curriculum an etextbook, 'How to Do Science: a guide to researching human physiology', was developed as an alternative to a traditional textbook and is an example of how professionally designed electronic textbooks can support new approaches to learning. While the advantages of OER have been documented internationally, there is little empirical evidence to indicate benefits of open etextbooks for students in Australia. This study found a majority of students prefer etextbooks compared to hardcopy textbooks, most often due to accessibility, ease of use and convenience. Regarding How to Do Science specifically, a majority of students rated accessibility, attractiveness, ease of navigation, and the quality of the content as high or very high. Students reported that the etextbook contributed most to their learning through assisting in completion of authentic scientific assessment tasks. The etextbook was designed for local use, however, the release as an OER has meant wider dissemination with more impact. We encourage educators to incorporate OERs into their practice. [Author abstract]