The opportunism of the 'glocal': Malta's education policies     

Mary Darmanin 《International Studies in Sociology of Education》2013,23(3):277-302

This article examines the dynamic of the relationship between the global and the local in education policy through a case study of recent policy initiatives in the small island state of Malta. The main initiative has been the setting up of a Foundation for Educational Services, which is now competing with services previously offered by the state Division of Education. It is argued that whilst the global, in this case the transnational company (TNC) HSBC Bank and the supranational European Union (EU), has particular power and can develop opportunity structures, this power is never closed or complete. The local has the power to enter or exit the global discursive field, including specific practices and structures. When the local interprets its needs to coincide with the global, as with the Foundation for Educational Services, HSBC Malta plc and the EU, then there is evidence that some political, economic or cultural 'opportunism' leads to the development of 'glocal' policy making. In this process, new and promiscuous actors and structures may take the place of older and more democratic ones. Moreover, the 'Trojan horse' politics of TNCs lead to new policy agendas in which the TNCs may be the major beneficiaries. The 'glocal' is a contested terrain over which we need to struggle.  相似文献   

When students are failed: 'love' as an alternative education discourse?     

Mary Darmanin 《International Studies in Sociology of Education》2013,23(2):141-170

This article explores how classist education practices are constituted through education systems and structures and through the habitus of key agents. This school and classroom ethnography focuses on the education practices and habitus of the head teacher of a girls' secondary school, who is also a key agent in the Maltese national education policy community. Though structured through the discourses and institutional practices of the highly selective national system, Ms Sicura's habitus is also a response to the challenges the present conjuncture poses to her. This includes the biographies of her low socio-economic status students and the complex needs they bring to school, as well as the increasingly contradictory demands placed by the decentralisation process of the selective education system. Overwhelmed by these and struggling to offer a valid school experience for her low-achieving students, Ms Sicura responds with a discourse of 'love'. However, this replaces a programme for educational progress. It reproduces the global and national classist education discourses, in which low socio-economic status students are contained by 'care', while middle-class students are offered quality education in competitive market.  相似文献   

Verbal reasoning test scores and their stability over time     

Alison F. Primrose  Mary Fuller  Michael Littledyke 《Educational research; a review for teachers and all concerned with progress in education》2013,55(2):167-174

As part of an extended study into school assessment practices the use of verbal reasoning tests and their possible contribution to measuring pupil progress is being investigated. One phase of the study has involved testing the stability of individual verbal reasoning scores over time. The findings of this phase are presented here and located within the broader context of intelligence testing. The discussion concludes with a number of questions relating to the use of pupils’ academic achievements as appropriate measures of school success. The ongoing work considers how pupil success could be measured fairly, taking into account individual pupil differences, including both genetic and socio-economic factors. The work being developed has potential for both formative and summative assessment procedures and also as a tool for reporting the achievements of individual pupils and educational establishments. The full work will be published in due course.  相似文献   

Students' Agentic Engagement Predicts Longitudinal Increases in Perceived Autonomy-Supportive Teaching: The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease     

Lennia Matos  Dora Herrera  Mary Claux 《Journal of Experimental Education》2013,81(4):579-596

Recognizing that teachers' motivating styles predict students' classroom engagement, we investigated whether students' classroom engagement might predict a change in teachers' motivating styles, though we investigated only students' perceptions of these changes. Using a self-determination theory framework and a classroom-based longitudinal research design, 336 Peruvian university students self-reported their teachers' perceived autonomy-supportive teaching and four aspects of their own engagement (behavioral, emotional, agentic, and cognitive) at the beginning (T1) and end (T2) of a semester. As expected, earlysemester perceived autonomy-supportive teaching predicted longitudinal increases in all four aspects of students' late-semester engagement. More importantly, students' early-semester agentic engagement predicted longitudinal increases in perceived autonomy-supportive teaching, which suggests that students' classroom engagement may recruit greater perceived autonomy support.  相似文献   

Not One More! Feminicidio On the Border     

Mary E. Triece 《Quarterly Journal of Speech》2013,99(4):541-545

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Midwifery on Trial: Balancing Privacy Rights and Health Concerns after Roe v. Wade     

Mary M. Lay 《Quarterly Journal of Speech》2013,99(1):60-77

Because Roe v. Wade left ill-defined or derivative just who could be a medical caregiver for pregnant women, courts struggled in the post-Roe medico-legal environment to decide just who could be a medical advisor in this newly recognized zone of privacy. The courts also were challenged to balance individual privacy rights, state interest in health and potential life, and medical authority when dealing with alternative caregivers. This article examines five court cases involving traditional midwives in the 1970s in California and in the 1990s in New York. The cases afford the opportunity to examine emerging legal definitions of medical caregivers and the success or failure of certain forms of resistance to these definitions.  相似文献   

A School—University Collaborative Journey Toward Relevance and Meaning in an Urban High School Physical Education Program     

Mary O'Sullivan  Deborah Tannehill  Nancy Knop  Clive Pope  Mary Henninger 《Quest (Human Kinetics)》2013,65(3):225-243

The promise and potential for collaborative teams of school and university colleagues to address substantive issues in physical education were the focus of an international conference and a series of high-profile articles in the late 80s and early 90s. However, school-university partnerships have seldom focused on school reform. Few scholars address secondary school physical education, save for the occasional article describing its eminent demise. Successful implementation of innovative practices, such as curricular and instructional revisions, requires significant investments in teacher development. This paper details a specific collaborative effort in physical education that makes a case for systematic long-term commitments to improve young people's physical education experiences. Stories from a 4-year collaborative highlight the complexities and challenges faced by any subdisciplinary group that commits to connecting professional preparation and practice for the benefit of our respective constituencies.  相似文献   

Building Strong Academic Programs for the Future: Practical Experience at the University of Colorado–Boulder     

Connie S. Collier  Mary O'Sullivan 《Quest (Human Kinetics)》2013,65(2):198-213

Preparing physical educators for the 21st century will require professional preparation programs to address both a growing diverse studentlclient population and a more technologically advanced society (Tyson, 1996). How well do the pedagogical practices within our preparation programs represent these transformations? The case method has potential to be the pedagogy change in physical education higher education. The selected research in this review describes the use of cases to reform other professional preparation programs. Possibilities and pitfalls for using case method to address reflection, multicultural education, and technology integrative practice also are outlined. In 1915, John Dewey challenged us to modify our methods of instruction to incorporate more active and constructive processes. Physical educational professionals are entering work environments that demand skills reflecting a changing world, and our pedagogical practices also need to mirror these complex decision-intensive environments. The case method deserves consideration.  相似文献   

The teacher as reflexive professional: making visible the excluded discourse in teacher standards   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Mary Ryan  Terri Bourke 《Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education》2013,34(3):411-423

In the current climate of accountability, political manoeuvring, changing curriculum, increasingly diverse student cohorts and community expectations, teachers, more than ever, need to develop the skills and abilities to be reflective and reflexive practitioners. This study examines national teacher professional standards from Australia and the UK to identify the extent to which reflexivity is embedded in key policy documents that are intended to guide the work of teachers in those countries. Using Margaret Archer's theories of reflexivity and morphogenesis, and methods of critical discourse analysis, we argue that these blueprints for teachers’ work exclude reflexivity as an essential and overarching discourse of teacher professionalism.  相似文献   

Beneath the patchwork quilt: unravelling assessment     

Mary Richardson  Mary Healy 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2013,38(7):847-856

The role of assessment is constantly evolving and systematically scrutinised within the realm of higher education. It is often argued that students learn faster and more effectively when they have a clear sense of how they are doing and how they can improve through the use of consistent and timely feedback. This paper presents research with a group of second-year undergraduates, using an adapted patchwork text assessment method to explore wider issues of the ethical environment within which assessment takes place.  相似文献