The decision to enter higher education: The case of polytechnic sociology students     

Harrison  B.  Pidgeon  J.  Rigby  M.  Vogler  C. 《Higher Education》1977,6(4):453-476

This paper examines the decision to enter higher education by students who entered British polytechnic degree courses in sociology/social studies. It is concerned with the extent to which occupational considerations affect the decision to enter and with relating these findings to theories of occupational choice. The paper commences with an examination of three models of occupational choice and summarises the findings of studies that have focused on the entry into higher education and occupational decision-making. The results of our own study, based on questionnaire and interview data, indicate that occupational considerations are of limited importance in the decision to enter sociology/social studies courses at polytechnics. Rather our data favours a model emphasizing the role of socio-cultural background of home and school creating expectations for higher education. Data on past decisions which affect educational careers indicated that entry into higher education was seen in terms of an automatic process rather than a conscious decision made for particular goals. In our population there was, however, a small vocationally oriented group who differed from other students, in which females and those under 18 years of age were over-represented, and who were predominantly from two colleges which offered vocational training in their courses. Our results, we conclude, lend support to a fortuitous model of occupational choice in respect of the decision to enter higher education. Expectations derived from socio-cultural backgrounds of the students were more important in determining entry than conscious occupational goals.The research on which the paper is based is located in the Department of Social Science, Polytechnic of the South Bank, and supported by the Social Science Research Council.Work on this project has also been carried out by Dr I. C. Cannon and Ms. A. Scambler. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Standing Conference of The Sociology of Further Education, London, June 1975.  相似文献   

Accounting for the Relationship Between Initial Status and Growth in Regression Models     

Sean Kelly  Feifei Ye 《Journal of Experimental Education》2017,85(3):353-375

Educational analysts studying achievement and other educational outcomes frequently encounter an association between initial status and growth, which has important implications for the analysis of covariate effects, including group differences in growth. As explicated by Allison (1990 Allison, P. D. (1990). Change scores as dependent variables in regression analyses. Sociological Methodology, 20, 93–114.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), where only two time points of data are available, identifying a preferred model can be difficult or impossible. In this paper we extend Allison's inquiry by considering multiple sources of the association between initial status and growth simultaneously, including measurement error but also intrinsic associations between initial status and growth. We illustrate the potential trade-offs between the change-score model specifications (models without a control for initial status) and regressor-variable specifications (with a control for initial status) using simulated data.  相似文献   

Retrieval Practice Benefits Deductive Inference     

Luke G. Eglington  Sean H. K. Kang 《Educational Psychology Review》2018,30(1):215-228

Retrieval practice has been shown to benefit learning. However, the benefit has sometimes been attenuated with more complex materials that require integrating multiple units of information. Critically, Tran et al. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 135–140 (2015) found that retrieval practice improves sentence memory but not the drawing of inferences from the same sentences. In three experiments, we investigated whether this lack of benefit of retrieval practice for inferential ability was due to the presentation format of the material. Participants studied four sets of seven to nine related sentences by practicing retrieval for two sets and rereading the other two sets. A final test was given 2 days later. When sentences were presented one at a time during study/practice as in Tran et al., we found no effect of retrieval practice on a test requiring inferential reasoning. When sentences in a set were presented simultaneously during study/practice, retrieval practice in the form of fill-in-the-blank testing (experiments 1 and 2) and free recall (experiment 3) aided later deductive inference more than rereading. Our findings suggest that retrieval practice can improve deductive inference, but in order to optimize its utility, the format in which the material is presented during practice must not hinder relational processing of the individual sentences.  相似文献   

Culturally responsive peacebuilding pedagogy: a case study of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierre Leone     

Sean Higgins 《International Studies in Sociology of Education》2019,28(2):127-145

Recent research on the peace-promoting agency of teachers in conflict-affected contexts has critiqued the dominance of a menu of curriculum initiatives circulated within aid organizations which ignore or dismiss indigenous cultural resources available within local communities. On the other hand, the turn to local culture in peacebuilding interventions has also been critiqued for idealizing the local. This paper presents a case study of the work of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierra Leone which aim to support teachers in drawing on local practices, rituals and symbols. Using an interpretative approach, alert to the meanings teachers ascribe to their pedagogical practices, it finds that teachers respond to local culture in multiple, sometimes contradictory ways. These range from celebration of indigenous practices as resources for conflict resolution that resonate with their pupils and communities to critique of their oppressive gender norms and inability to address structural drivers of conflict.  相似文献   

Using <Emphasis Type="Italic">I am Moving,I am Learning</Emphasis> to Increase Quality Instruction in Head Start Classrooms     

Ishonté Allar  Emily Jones  Sean Bulger 《Early Childhood Education Journal》2018,46(1):93-102

Quality teacher-child interactions are characteristic of effective classrooms resulting in benefits for all children, but may be particularly important for children from low-income families. The purpose of this study was to explore the perception of Illinois Head Start teachers related to how I am Moving, I am Learning (IMIL) could improve the quality of their instruction as measured by the Classroom assessment scoring system (CLASS^®), an observation instrument used to assess the quality of teacher-child interactions across three broad domains and their supporting dimensions. While the study found that early childhood professionals perceive IMIL as a meaningful resource, additional research is needed to substantiate the preliminary findings as well as to guide training initiatives that would help Head Start professionals to make the connection between IMIL and the CLASS^®.  相似文献   

Accounting for Model Uncertainty in the Prediction of University Graduation Rates     

Cullen F. Goenner  Sean M. Snaith 《Research in higher education》2004,45(1):25-41

Empirical analysis requires researchers to choose which variables to use as controls in their models. Theory should dictate this choice, yet often in social science there are several theories that may suggest the inclusion or exclusion of certain variables as controls. The result of this is that researchers may use different variables in their models and come to disparate conclusions with respect to predicted effects and their statistical significance. In such cases one is uncertain of which particular set of regressors forms the model that represents the data. The approach used below accounts for uncertainty in variable selection by using Bayesian model averaging (BMA). Accounting for uncertainty, we demonstrate that BMA provides better out-of-sample prediction for university graduation rates than results based on alternative variable selection methods.  相似文献   

Why Are Partnerships Necessary for Computer Classroom Administration?     

Sean D. Williams 《Technical Communication Quarterly》2002,11(3):339-358

Computer classrooms (CCs) have been an important part of writing instruction since the mid 1980s, yet little scholarship concerns the roles that directors of computer classrooms play in maintaining these facilities. Based on a review of scholarship of CC administration and an informal survey of CC administrators, this article argues that CC directors walk a tightrope between the role of teacher and manager and that we need to focus on building partnerships to maintain our facilities, because we simply cannot do by ourselves everything that this complex role requires of us.  相似文献   

The Determinants of Students' Perceived Learning Outcomes and Satisfaction in University Online Education: An Empirical Investigation*   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Sean B. Eom  H. Joseph Wen  Nicholas Ashill 《Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education》2006,4(2):215-235

In this study, structural equation modeling is applied to examine the determinants of students' satisfaction and their perceived learning outcomes in the context of university online courses. Independent variables included in the study are course structure, instructor feedback, self‐motivation, learning style, interaction, and instructor facilitation as potential determinants of online learning. A total of 397 valid unduplicated responses from students who have completed at least one online course at a university in the Midwest were used to examine the structural model. The results indicated that all of the antecedent variables significantly affect students' satisfaction. Of the six antecedent variables hypothesized to affect the perceived learning outcomes, only instructor feedback and learning style are significant. The structural model results also reveal that user satisfaction is a significant predictor of learning outcomes. The findings suggest online education can be a superior mode of instruction if it is targeted to learners with specific learning styles (visual and read/write learning styles) and with timely, meaningful instructor feedback of various types.  相似文献   

Promoting Parents' Social Capital to Increase Children's Attendance in Head Start: Evidence From an Experimental Intervention     

Teresa Eckrich Sommer  Terri J. Sabol  P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale  Mario Small  Henry Wilde  Sean Brown 《Journal of research on educational effectiveness》2017,10(4):732-766

Improving children's attendance is a high priority for Head Start and other early childhood education programs serving low-income children. We conducted a randomized control trial in a major northern city to evaluate the impact of a low-cost intervention designed to promote parents' social capital as a potential influence on children's attendance in Head Start centers. The intervention assigned children to treatment group classrooms based on (a) neighborhood of residence (geography condition) or (b) the geography condition plus the opportunity for parents to form partnerships in support of their children's attendance, or to control group classrooms according to Head Start guidelines only. We did not find impacts on average attendance throughout the year. However, the intervention did lead to increased attendance during the winter when average center attendance was lowest. There were no impacts on fall or spring attendance. Follow-up exploratory analyses of focus groups with parents and staff suggested that parents' level of connection and trust, self-generated partnership strategies, and commitment to their children's education may be factors by which parents' social capital expands and children's attendance improves.  相似文献   

A review of primary and secondary influences on sport expertise     

Joseph Baker  Sean Horton 《High Ability Studies》2004,15(2):211-228

Sport scientists have examined numerous factors influencing the acquisition and manifestation of high levels of performance. These factors can be divided into variables having a primary influence on expertise and variables that have a secondary influence through their interaction with other variables. Primary influences on expertise include genetic, training, and psychological factors while secondary influences include socio‐cultural and contextual elements. This paper reviews the factors affecting the development of expert performance in sport and suggests directions for future research.  相似文献