the iafor

journal of
education
Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017
Editor: Bernard Montoneri

ISSN: 2187-0594

The IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume 5 – Issue I – Spring 2017

IAFOR Publications
The International Academic ForumIAFOR Journal of Education
EditorBernard Montoneri, Tamkang University, Taiwan
Co-editor
Lucy K. Spence, University of South Carolina, USA

Published by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
IAFOR Publications, Sakae 1-16-26-201, Naka-ward, Aichi, Japan 460-0008

Executive Editor: Joseph Haldane
Design: Bernard Montoneri

IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017

IAFOR Publications © Copyright 2017
ISSN: 2187-0594
iafor.org/iafor-journals/iafor-journal-of-education

Cover Image: Pixabay/stevensokulski

IAFOR Journal of Education
Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017
Edited by Dr Bernard Montoneri

Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors

1

IAFOR Journal of Education Editors and Reviewers

5

Editors’ Introduction
Bernard Montoneri and Lucy K. Spence

11

Towards Building Science Teachers’ Understandingsof Contemporary Science Practices
Greg Lancaster
Deborah Corrigan
Lisa Fazio
Joanne BurkeDavid Overton

17

Respond to Diversity: Graduate Minority Students’ Perceptions
on Their Learning Experiences in an American University
Huanshu Yuan

33

Measuring Diversity in Higher Education Institutions:
A Review of Literature and Empirical Approaches
Ferdi Widiputera
Kristof De Witte
Wim Groot
Henriëtte Maassen van den Brink

47

Applying the CREAM Strategy for Coaching Teaching Practices
Marine Milad

65

SMART Teaching in New and Old Classrooms
Gunter Saunders
Federica Oradini
Mark Clements

85

Rehabilitating Ex-Offenders Through Non-Formal Educationin Lesotho
Nomazulu Ngozwana111

A Survey of the University Students’ Perspectives about Using
Digital Technologies in Education: Zimbabwean Case
Sibusisiwe Dube
Elsje Scott

123

Facebook Posts as Complementary Teaching Material for a French
University Course in Taiwan
Bernard Montoneri

141

Orchestrating French Music Conservatories:
European Political Interventions and Local Governance
Elena Raevskikh

165

English, Education, and Globalisation: A Bangladesh Perspective
Mohammad Akteruzzaman
Rakibul Islam

185

Bildungskrise – PISA and the German Educational Crisis
Wolfgang Odendahl

209

Guide for Authors

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017

Notes on Contributors
Greg Lancaster is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia, and along standing member of the Faculty’s Science Education Research Group. His research fields
are physics education, the use of new media and argumentation to enhance conceptual
understanding in physics and science education, and team teaching in schools. He has taught
physics method to pre-service teachers and assisted in developing professional learning
programs for in-service science teachers over a number of years. He continues to act as theFaculty of Education academic liaison to the specialist John Monash Secondary Science School
since its opening in 2010 and regularly presents his research findings at international scienceeducation conferences.
Professor Deborah Corrigan is Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Education, Monash University,
Australia. She currently leads the Faculty’s Science Education Research Group in the Centre
for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. She has extensive research anddevelopment experience in the areas of science education, particularly chemistry education,and teacher education/professional learning (both pre-service and in-service). Her researchinterests include industry and technology links with science, local and international STEM
education policy and the values that underpin science education. She has developed anddelivered many professional learning programs for both pre-service and in-service scienceteachers for the Victorian Department of Education and the Science Learning Hub for the New
Zealand Ministry of Research. She regularly presents her research findings at international
science education conferences.
Lisa Fazio was the recipient of the Emeritus Professor Peter Fensham (the first Professor of
Science Education in Australia – 1970) PhD scholarship awarded to candidates undertaking
important research in the area of STEM education in Australian schools. Her research focuseson understanding how recent Australian Government policies on science innovation and STEM
education will impact on the development of STEM programs and their implementation inAustralian schools. She is also an acting joint ReMSTEP coordinator with the Faculty of
Education, Monash University.
Joanne Burke is a lecturer and acting joint ReMSTEP coordinator with the Faculty of
Education, Monash University, Australia. She has worked as a teacher of science andmathematics and a school administrator in secondary schools in Melbourne and Asia for morethan 25 years. During her involvement with the Faculty of Education she has gained extensive
experience in the development and delivery of teacher professional learning programs and iscurrently undertaking a PhD focusing on the qualities and traits of “excellent” science teachers.
Dr David Overton is a lecturer and education officer with the School of Chemistry, Facultyof Science, Monash University, Australia. Prior to his appointment at Monash University his
career in the UK included many years as an industrial scientist, a teacher of both primary andsecondary school children, and a pre-service and in-service teacher educator. He has extensive
experience in sharing his professional practice with pre-service and in-service teachers inclassroom settings and contexts outside of classrooms.
Huanshu Yuan holds a Master of Education degree with distinction in Bilingual andMulticultural Education and is currently a PhD candidate with a major in Multicultural
Education at College of Education, University of Washington in the United States. She is afrequent presenter at national and international education conferences. Her teaching and1

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017

research interests are multicultural and social justice education, culturally responsive teaching,curriculum development and reform, ethnic studies and teacher education. Her current researchconcentrates on creating multicultural learning environments for students from diverse
backgrounds, as well as preparing culturally responsive teachers for future students.
Ferdi Widiputera is currently a PhD candidate at the Top Institute of Evidence Based
Education Research, Maastricht University, the Netherlands. He was born in Hamburg,
Germany. He completed a Bachelor’s degree in Economics at Trisakti University, Jakarta,
Indonesia in 2000. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University ofIndonesia, graduating in 2004. He has several years of work experience in multinational
companies from 2001 to 2009. From 2010 he worked in the government sector at the Ministryof Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia.
Professor Kristof De Witte is a tenured associate professor at the Faculty of Economics andBusiness at KU Leuven, Belgium, and he holds the chair in Effectiveness and Efficiency of
Educational Innovations at the Top Institute for Evidence Based Education Research (TIER)
at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. In addition, he is an affiliated member of the CESifo
Research Network (Ludwig-Maximilians-University and Ifo Institute, Germany).
Professor Wim Groot has been Professor of Health Economics since 1998 and Professor of
Evidence Based Education since 2008, both at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. In 1986
he received an MA in Economics from the University of Amsterdam and in 1992 a PhD in
Economics from the same university. He is the co-founder and scientific-director of the
Teachers Academy of Maastricht University and the Top Institute for Evidence Based
Education Research. In 2015 he also became Professor of Evidence Based Education and Labor
Market Policy at the University of Amsterdam.
Professor Henriëtte Maassen van den Brink is Professor of Economics (Education, Labor
Market and Economic Development) at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the
Department of General Economics at the University of Amsterdam and professor of Evidence
Based Education at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. She obtained her MA (cum laude)in 1988 and her PhD in Economics (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam in 1994. Since2008 she has been the Scientific Program-Director of TIER (Interuniversity Top Institute forEvidence Based Education Research). In 2015 she also became the chair of the Dutch
Education Council. Her research interests are in the areas of education, labor and healtheconomics. Her publications can be found on www.tierweb.nl.
Dr Marine Milad is a PhD holder and Assistant Professor of English Language and Applied
Linguistics at Arab Open University (AOU), Kuwait. Her PhD major was “Developing
Reading and Writing Research Skills in a Blended Learning Environment through CriticalThinking and Problem Solving” and her MA major was “Technical Writing for BusinessCommunication”. Moreover, she attained a Master Graduate Course in TEFL/TESLAssessment Techniques from Indiana University, Bloomington, in the United States. Currently,
she is the general course chair/coordinator for the reading comprehension course and theacademic writing and composition course across eight branches of the AOU. Her present
research interests are in Constructive Learning by Doing, Blended Learning, Multiple
Intelligence, Learning Styles, Brain Colors and Changing Minds, Assessment for Learning,Technology in Learning, Research Skills, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Coaching.

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Professor Gunter Saunders has worked in higher education for over 30 years teaching andresearching in the area of Microbial Genetics and developing approaches for the integration oftechnology into teaching. He is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy,
nationally recognised for his contributions to the support and development of learning andteaching, including classroom design. He is currently leading the University of Westminster’sdevelopment of technology-enhanced working and learning. This includes overseeing a fiveyear rolling programme of classroom renewal that has been designed to deliver classrooms,
informed by student and staff feedback, that are adaptable and technology-enabled and thatwill support student-centred learning.
Federica Oradini is Senior Lecturer in eLearning and the University Mobile Learning andDevelopment Co-ordinator at the University of Westminster. She is a HEA Senior Fellow. She
designs and implements e-learning and blended learning courses in collaboration with the
University’s faculties, by providing expertise in instructional design and advice on pedagogicalaspects. She has been an e-tutor on a variety of online distance learning courses since 2009.
She also supports professional development for academic staff, conceiving and running staff
development workshops about the use of online platforms and web tools to enhance andsupport learning. Recently her role has been focusing on the use of mobile technologies.
Professor Mark Clements is the Director of Education/Chair Science Education within theCollege of Science at the University of Lincoln. He is a HEA Senior Fellow and Fellow of theRoyal Society of Biology. He is interested in innovative in learning and teaching and has
contributed to a number of large-scale projects on assessment and feedback, mobile learningand interdisciplinary art/science collaboration. In 2015 he received the Royal Society ofBiology’s Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award.
Dr Nomazulu Ngozwana is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Africa. She
obtained her PhD in Adult Education from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg
Campus, in South Africa. She holds Master’s and Bachelors’ degrees in Adult Education fromthe University of Lesotho. She has substantial practitioner experience in community
development needs in marginalized communities in Lesotho and South Africa. Her researchinterests are in democracy, citizenship, governance, HIV/AIDS, correctional education andcivic education.
Sibusisiwe Dube is a PhD candidate in Information Systems at the University of Cape Town,
South Africa. She has worked as a lecturer at the National University of Science andTechnology in Zimbabwe since 2008. She also worked as a teaching assistant at the Midlands
State University in Zimbabwe from 2004 to 2008. She worked as a secondary school teacher
for six years from 1994 to 2000. She has a Master of Science degree in Computer Science, aBachelor of Science Honors degree in Information Systems, a Post Graduate Diploma in
Higher Education and a Diploma in Education. She is interested in technology-enabledteaching and learning using social theories intended at emancipating the social actors.
Dr Elsje Scott is an associate professor at the Department of Information Systems, Universityof Cape Town, South Africa. She has been teaching object-oriented programming for the past
20 years. She has a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics and has a keen interest in Set
theory and Graph Theory. For her PhD she developed a theory of coherent practice for capstone
courses in Information Systems with the emphasis on as-lived project experiences and thedevelopment of project practitioners. This research was underpinned by theories and models
for cognition and learning in order to develop IS competence and lifelong learning.

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Dr Bernard Montoneri earned his PhD and his BA in Chinese from the University ofProvence, Aix-Marseille I, France. He taught literature (European, Children’s, American andBritish) and languages (French, English and Italian) at Providence University for 16 years. He
is currently an associate professor at Tamkang University, French Department, Taiwan. He hasaround 40 publications, including journal papers (including SSCI, SCI and THCI), conference
papers and books and has obtained many teaching and research projects. His research interests
include French literature, children’s literature, English writing, automated scoring systems,
teaching and learning evaluation, data envelopment analysis, networking, and teaching
methods.
Dr Elena Raevskikh is a research fellow at the French National Center for Scientific Research(CNRS), at the Centre Norbert Elias in Marseille. She presented a PhD thesis in sociology on“The Genesis and Renewals of Institutional Forms of Culture: A Study of Music
Conservatories and Their Territorial Anchors”. She graduated in International Public Law from
the Moscow Lomonosov University Law Faculty, Russia. She is currently involved in the
ANR-Curricula research project on European Capitals of Culture, and is developing newconceptual and methodological approaches to identify the creative territories and the sociocultural dynamics of artistic innovation.
Md Mohammad Akteruzzaman obtained his Bachelor of Arts in English and his Master ofArts in ELT from the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. After graduation, he initiated his
career as an English teacher at BRAC University, Bangladesh, and published research articles
on collaborative learning, L2 pronunciation and linguistic imperialism. Currently, he isworking as Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of English at Sheikh Fazilatunnesa
Mujib University (SFMU), Bangladesh.
Md Rakibul Islam, a classmate of Md Mohammad Akteruzzaman, started his career as an
English teacher at Leading University, Bangladesh, and throughout his career, sociolinguistics,
discourse analysis and classroom management have been his research interests. At present, heis serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman Science and Technology University (BSMRSTU), Bangladesh.
Dr Wolfgang Odendahl earned his PhD in 2009 (Sinology, Japanology and German
Literature) from Cologne University in Germany. His thesis focuses on the affirmation ofChinese cultural identity through the immensely popular kung-fu fiction written by Jin Yong
(1924–). Dr Odendahl has been teaching German as a Foreign Language at Taiwanese
Universities since 1999 and currently works as a full-time assistant professor at National
Taiwan University. His research interests include teaching techniques, computerized solutions
for grouping and grading, didactics of interpretation, and assessment and evaluation. He iscurrently working on a project to provide Intercultural Sensitivity Training for Taiwanese
students going to Germany.

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IAFOR Journal of Education Editors and Reviewers
Editor: Dr Bernard Montoneri
Tamkang University, Taiwan
Bernard Montoneri is the co-founder of the IAFOR Journal of Education. He earned his PhD
and his BA in Chinese from the University of Provence, Aix-Marseille I, France. He taught
literature (European, Children’s, American and British) and languages (French, English and
Italian) at Providence University for 16 years. He is currently an associate professor at
Tamkang University, French Department, Taiwan. He has around 40 publications, including
journal papers (including SSCI, SCI and THCI), conference papers and books and has obtained
many teaching and research projects. His research interests include French literature, children’s
literature, English writing, automated scoring systems, teaching and learning evaluation, dataenvelopment analysis, networking, and teaching methods. He is a reviewer for top academic
journals such as Review of Educational Research (ranked #1 in Education), American
Educational Research Journal, Teaching and Teacher Education, and European Journal ofOperational Research.
E-mail: montonerishu@gmail.com
ResearchGate: www.researchgate.net/profile/Bernard_Montoneri
Co-editor: Dr Lucy K. Spence
University of South Carolina, United States of America
Lucy K. Spence received her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University
in the United States in 2006 and her BS in Teaching from Grand Canyon University in 1989.
She has taught multilingual students since 1989. She is currently an associate professor in theCollege of Education at the University of South Carolina in the United States. Her current
research interests are teacher perceptions of multilingual student writing, bilingual education,
and writing instruction in Japan and the United States. In 2013 she was invited to Kansai
University in Osaka, Japan, as a visiting researcher, and then returned for a sabbatical research
project in 2015. Her book on student writing was published in 2014. She has published articles
in national and international journals and reviews books and articles for top journals related toher interest area, such as Teacher's College Record, Language Arts and English Education.
e-mail: lucyspence@sc.edu
Associate Editor: Dr Cassandra Atherton
Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Australia
Cassandra Atherton is an award winning writer, critic and senior lecturer at the Alfred Deakin
Research Institute, Australia. She held the position of a Harvard Visiting Scholar from August
2015 to September 2016 to work on a project concerning public intellectuals in academe. A
Visiting Fellow at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, in 2014 and an affiliate of the Monash
Japanese Studies Centre in 2015, she is currently working on a book analysing Miyazaki
Hayao’s anime. She has published eight books and was invited be on the judging panel of theVictorian Premier’s Literary Awards Prize for Poetry in 2015.

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Associate Editor: Vasileios Paliktzoglou
University of Eastern Finland, Finland & Bahrain Polytechnic, Bahrain
Vasileios Paliktzoglou has several years of experience in universities such as the University of
Pisa, the Aegean University, Robert Gordon University, Mediterranean University College andthe University of Wales, having an active role as a researcher, tutor, supervisor, lecturer andprogram manager. He is active in research, with papers presented at international conferences
and published in academic journals. His research interests are in the fields of social media, web2.0, communities of practices, e-learning in which he is actively involved in several
international research projects. He is currently a doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern
Finland and a faculty member at Bahrain Polytechnic.
Members of the Editorial Board
Dr Santosh Kumar Behera, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, India
Santosh Kumar Behera is Assistant Professor in the Department of Education, Sidho-KanhoBirsha University, India. He holds a PhD from Visva-Bharati University, India. His interests
include Educational Technology as well as Measurement and Evaluation.
Dr Yilin Chen, Providence University, Taiwan
Yilin Chen is Associate Professor at the Department of English Language, Literature andLinguistics, Providence University in Taiwan. She holds a PhD in Drama and Theatre fromRoyal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom. Her current research interests are
the global dissemination of Japanese manga Shakespeare and the representation of gender andsexuality in manga adaptations of Shakespeare.
Dr Ivy Chia, SIM University, Singapore
Dr Ivy Chia is the Head of Programme (Education) at the School of Human Development andSocial Sciences, SIM University, Singapore. She earned her PhD (Education) from the
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Her research interests include teaching andlearning within the higher education sector, e-learning and the use of analytics for improving
teaching, curriculum and instruction, work-based learning and quality assurance.
Dr Shiao-Wei Chu, University of Idaho, United States of America
Shiao-Wei Chu teaches ESL at the University of Idaho in the United States. She holds a PhD
with an emphasis in professional development for ESL and EFL instructors from College of
Education at the University of Idaho. Her research focuses are English as a second and foreign
language teaching and professional development for English language teachers in both faceto-face and web-based environments.
Prof Dr Raymond Q. Datuon, Chiang Kai Shek College, Philippines
Raymond Datuon is presently the School of Education Dean at Chiang Kai Shek College,
Philippines. He holds a doctorate in Educational Management from the Polytechnic Universityof the Philippines.
Dr Heloísa Orsi Koch Delgado, Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Heloísa Orsi Koch Delgado is Adjunct Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages,
Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She holds a PhD in Language Studies fromthe Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Her major fields of interest are medical and legal
terminologies, translation pedagogy and multicultural/multidisciplinary education.

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Dr Luisa Daniele, National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies, Italy
Luisa Daniele conducts research for the Italian Institute for the Development of Vocational
Training of Workers. She holds a PhD in Adult Learning – Evaluation of Vocational Education
and Training Systems from Roma Tre University and Paris X – Nanterre University. She
specialises in adult learning in Italy and comparitive adult learning in European countries.
Dr Alaster Scott Douglas, University of Roehampton, United Kingdom
Alaster Scott Douglas is Assistant Director of Education and Reader in Education andProfessional Practice at the University of Roehampton, United Kingdom. He holds a PhD inteacher education from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. His research interests
include cultural-historical activity theory and developmental work research in general. Current
research is focused on universities and schools in the preparation of teachers.
Dr Alice Schmidt Hanbidge, Renison University College, University of Waterloo, Canada
Alice Schmidt Hanbidge is Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Renison
University College, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She holds a PhD in Social Work
from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. Key research areas of interest include advancing
technology in the teaching of social work, community mental health children’s programmingand evaluation, evidence-based group work methodology, and furthering field education insocial work.
Dr Leda Kamenopoulou, University of Roehampton, United Kingdom
Leda Kamenopoulou is Senior Lecturer in Special and Inclusive Education at the University of
Roehampton and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research expertise is insystematic literature reviews, qualitative, mixed methods and evaluation research designs,
participatory research with children and young people, and sensory/multi-sensory andemotional needs.
Eddy Li, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Eddy Li is a lecturer in the English Language Teaching Unit at the Chinese University of HongKong. He received his initial teaching training from Hong Kong and Cambridge. His researchinterests include inclusive pedagogy in Confucian-heritage culture, e-learning strategies,
professional craft knowledge, and second language teacher education. He is particularlyinterested in constructing/deconstructing the cultural model of inclusion, and exploring how
quality education for all could be fostered in Chinese communities.
Jillian Marchant, James Cook University, Australia
Jillian Marchant is a PhD candidate with the School of Education at James Cook University inAustralia. She is committed to exploring the ways in which adult tertiary education may befacilitated to assistant the inhabitants of fragile areas. Her research interests include the impactof adult education on the life chances of individuals and other practices that interrupt socialand political stratification.
Dave E. Marcial, College of Computer Studies, Dumaguete City, Philippines
Dave Marcial is Dean of the College of Computer Studies, Dumaguete City, Philippines. He
is currently on the Board of Trustees of the Philippine e-Learning Society (PeLS). He is also amember of the Technical Committee for Information Technology of the Philippine
Commission on Higher Education. His research interests lie in e-learning, local knowledge
computing and information systems.

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Dr Yvonne Masters, University of New England, Australia
Yvonne Masters is currently Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Professional Classroom Practice in the
School of Education at the University of New England, Australia. She was awarded her PhD
in October 2010. Her research interests centre on teacher education, professional experienceand virtual worlds, with a particular focus on distance education students.
Dr Richard Mather, Buckinghamshire New University, United Kingdom
Richard Mather is a course leader in the Department of Computing at Buckingham New
University, United Kingdom. His pedagogic research and PhD supervision include adaptive
assessment practices, technologies and collaborative behaviors for learning computer science
subjects. His geospatial project outputs provide a rich source of case studies for undergraduate
and postgraduate teaching.
Dr Catalino N. Mendoza, University of Batangas, Philippines
Catalino Mendoza is Director for Publications, Research, Linkages and Liaison and a professor
in the Graduate School, College of Business and Accountancy, College of Engineering, Collegeof Tourism and Hospitality Management and College of Education at the University of
Batangas, Philippines. He holds a Doctor of Management Science (DMS) and PhD in Human
Resource Management.
Dr Alyson Miller, Deakin University, Australia
Alyson Miller is a writer, critic and scholar from Geelong, Australia. Her research focuses onscandalous literature, and the representation of freaks in literary and popular texts, as well as
gender, feminism, postmodernism and dystopian Young Adult fiction. She currently teaches
literary studies and professional and creative writing at Deakin University.
Dr Massoud Moslehpour, Asia University, Taiwan
Massoud Maslehpour is Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Foreign
Languages at Asia University in Taiwan. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy from the
University of Missouri-Columbia in Industrial Technology. His major areas of interest aremarketing, management, culture and foreign languages.
Dr Suja R. Nair, Jain University, India
Suja Nair has a PhD in Retail Marketing from Jain University, Bengaluru, India. Her major
fields of interest include Ethics, Education Management, Retail Marketing and Consumer
Behavior.
Dr Ilana Ronen, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Ilana Ronen holds a PhD in Science Education from Tel Aviv University, Israel. Her researchinterests include alternative conceptions in science education; emergent knowledge incommunities of learners; improving science education via professional development schools
access; community service learning; collaborative learning; and ICT implementation in
education.
Dr Raimond Selke, Osaka University, Japan
Raimond Selke is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Language and Culture,
Osaka University, Japan. He holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Regensburg(Bavaria, Germany), specialising in 19th-century Victorian Painting and Art of the Weimar
Republic. His research interests are in Teaching German and Fine Arts and Business Studies.

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Dr Andrzej Sokolowski, Texas A&M University (Integrated Math & Science
Department), United States of America
Andrzej Sokolowski earned his PhD (Curriculum and Instruction, emphasis in Mathematics
Education) from Texas A&M University and his MS (Physics, emphasis in Didactics ofPhysics) from Gdansk University, Poland. His interests include research in mathematicalmodelling; in particular, its effects on students’ learning of mathematics. He is the author ofseveral articles and book chapters. He is a reviewer for journals such as Review of Educational
Research, International Journal of STEM Education and Journal of Research in Mathematics,
Science, and Technology Education.
Dr Anna Toom, Touro College, United States of America
Dr Anna Toom is Associate Professor of Psychology and Education at Touro College Graduate
School of Education, United States of America. In 1991, she attained her PhD in Psychology
from Moscow State University of Management, Russia. She is a pioneer of distance educationin New York City. She has been designing, developing and instructing various online
psychology courses for 17 years. She now teaches Child Development and Learning in Cultural
Context and History of Education Internet-based courses. Her primary scientific interest
concerns learning in the virtual environment. She studies online students’ adjustment,
motivation, cognitive activity and communication in the virtual classroom.
Dr Daniel Velasco, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, United States ofAmericaDaniel Velasco earned his BA in both English and French from UCLA and his MEd from
National University in the United States. He spent the first part of his career in the field ofinternational/cross-cultural education as an instructor, administrator and academic director at avariety of post-secondary institutions. He continued on to The Chicago School of Professional
Psychology, where he earned a PhD in International Psychology. Dr. Velasco currently resides
in Japan, where he is a mental health counselor, associate professor, researcher and public
speaker. He regularly lectures on intercultural communication, teaching strategies, positive
psychology, and counseling strategies with a focus on adaptation and acculturation. He is anactive member of the Japanese Psychological Association (JPA), the American Psychological
Association (APA), the International Council of Psychologists (ICP), the International Mental
Health Professionals Japan (IMHPJ), the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT),
and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Dr Yoshihiko Yamamoto, Shizuoka University, Japan
Dr Yoshihiko Yamamoto is currently teaching English at Shizuoka University and has lived inboth Australia and New Zealand for more than 10 years. He holds a PhD (Education) and an
MA in TESOL from the University of Canberra, Australia, as well as a BA in Education and
Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His research areas are
Discourse Analysis (gender talk), Sociolinguistics (gender stereotypes) and Applied
Linguistics (in general).
Dr Tony Yeigh, Southern Cross University, Australia
Tony Yeigh is a lecturer in the School of Education at Southern Cross University (SCU),
Australia, where he teaches in the areas of educational psychology and classroom management.
His research interests are in the areas of working memory (WM) and classroom instructional
design, and in this respect his PhD thesis examined the relationship between cognitive load andcognitive inhibition, an executive function of the WM system. Dr Yeigh is a research associate

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017with the Centre for Children and Young People (SCU), as well as a member of the Association
for Mindfulness in Education (AME) and of the Teacher Education Research Group (SCU).
He is also leader of the School of Education Learning Sciences Research Group, which focuseson the cognitive-psychological, social-psychological and cultural-psychological foundations ofhuman learning. Based on these research affiliations Dr Yeigh has published widely in highquality education research journals and texts, and is currently pursuing research in the areas ofpre-service teacher training, educational mindfulness and social-emotional wellbeing.
Reviewers
Dr Sonal Mobar Roy, National Institute of Rural Development and PR, India
Sonal Mobar Roy is Assistant Professor at the Center for PG Studies and Distance Education
at the National Institute of Rural Development and PR, India. She has worked as a consultant
at the Center for Equity and Social Development at the same institute and carried out
monitoring and evaluation of sponsored government projects on the right to education andeducation for all. Her doctoral study focused on stigma related to TB and HIV in the Ladakh
region of India, and the fieldwork was sponsored by Parkes Foundation, United Kingdom. Her
research interests include Sociology of Education and Health, Culture Studies, Rural
Development, Ethnography and Crowdsourcing. She has been involved in teaching, researchand training at her institute and is currently working on compiling a compendium of bestpractices in rural development in India. She has national and international publications to hername and strives to bridge the gap between theory and practice through her writings andresearch.
Toya N Bhatta, Tribhuwan University, Nepal
Toya N Bhatta obtained his MPhil in Educational Leadership from Kathmandu University,
Nepal (thesis defended on April, 2015). He received his first degree, MA in English in 2000
and MA in Linguistics in 2005, from Tribhuwan University, Nepal. He worked as a research
assistant from 2007 to 2009 in DOBES Documentation of Endangered Languages programme
funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany. As a researcher he was involved in Language
Documentation Projects and contributed to preserve the endangered languages of Nepal, as
well as carrying out educational research. As a qualitative researcher, his main interest ofresearch lies in phenomenological study. He has attended several international conferences andhis articles have been published in national and international journals. Since 2005 he has beenteaching Linguistics at Tribhuwan University, Nepal.
Huanshu Yuan, University of Washington, United States of America
Huanshu Yuan holds a Master of Education degree with distinction in Bilingual andMulticultural Education and is currently a PhD candidate with a major in Multicultural
Education at College of Education, University of Washington in the United States. She is afrequent presenter at national and international education conferences. Her teaching andresearch interests are multicultural and social justice education, culturally responsive teaching,curriculum development and reform, ethnic studies, and teacher education. Her current
research concentrates on creating multicultural learning environments for students from diverse
backgrounds, as well as preparing culturally responsive teachers for future students.

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Introduction
It is our great pleasure and honour to introduce Volume 5 issue 1 of the IAFOR Journal of
Education. This issue is a selection of papers submitted directly to our journal as well as studies
presented during:
1.   The European Conference on Language Learning 2016. ECLL2016 was held at The
Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront, Brighton, United Kingdom, from Wednesday, June 29
to Sunday, July 3, 2016. Conference Theme: “Convergence & Divergence”.
2.   The Asian Conference on Education 2016. ACE2016 was held at the Art Center Kobe,
Kobe, Japan, from Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, October 23, 2016. Conference
Theme: “Education and Social Justice: Educating for Equality Within and AcrossBorders”.
3.   The European Conference on Education 2016. ECE2016 was held at The Jurys Inn
Brighton Waterfront, Brighton, United Kingdom, from Wednesday, June 29 to Sunday,
July 3, 2016. Conference Theme: “Education and Social Justice: Democratising
Education”.
The first paper, co-authored by Greg Lancaster, Deborah Corrigan, Lisa Fazio, Joanne Burkeand David Overton, is entitled “Towards Building Science Teachers’ Understandings ofContemporary Science Practices”. This article reports on the experiences of a team of scienceeducation researchers from Monash University, Australia, in designing a new Master of
Teaching unit for pre-service and in-service science educators. The unit is a response to theReconceptualising Mathematics and Science Teacher Education Programs (ReMSTEP), a
recent Australian National initiative designed to respond to the need for improved confidence
and competence in the teaching of mathematics and science as a per-service focus across theAustralian curriculum. The paper starts by providing insights into the Australian context andthe pressing challenges facing science education in Australia and then explores one approach
designed to encourage science educators to consider the changing understandings of the natureof science and contemporary science practices. These understandings are then extended byundertaking interviews with current practicing scientists in cutting edge research facilities.
The second paper, written by Huanshu Yuan, is entitled “Respond to Diversity: Graduate
Minority Students’ Perceptions on Their Learning Experiences in an American University”.
This qualitative study explored learning experiences of racial and ethnic minority students inhigher education as well as examining the “teaching gap” between minority students’ learningneeds and university faculty’s pedagogical responses to them. This study was grounded in thetheory of multicultural education and culturally responsive pedagogy, which played significant
roles in advancing prospective teachers’ awareness and instructional practice of educational
equity and quality. The research findings highlighted the importance of situating teaching andlearning in cultural context, as well as demonstrated the need of embracing multicultural
education in teacher preparation and development both in teacher education programs and postsecondary environments.
The third paper, entitled “Measuring diversity: A Review of the Literature and Empirical
Approaches” is co-authored by Ferdi Widiputera, Kristof De Witte, Wim Groot and Henriëtte
Maassen van den Brink. This paper reviews studies on diversity among academic programmes
and higher education institutions in the Netherlands and explores empirical approaches to11

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measure diversity. The outcome suggests and compares the use of indices, such as the
Herfindhal index, Gini coefficient, Theil entropy index and the Birnbaum (1983) measure. The
results show limited diversity between institutions, disciplines and Bachelor’s programmes,
while the diversity at the Master’s programme and first-year Bachelor’s programme levels has
increased between 2008 and 2013.
The fourth paper, entitled “Applying the CREAM Strategy for Coaching Teaching Practices”
is written by Marine Milad. This article aims to assist the reader apply CREAM strategy on
their teaching practices as a self-assessment tool to measure their Creative, Reflective,
Effective, Active and Motivated performance. The researcher shares her experience in applying
this strategy to coach, not monitor, staff tutors teaching foundation courses at Arab Open
university in Kuwait. She was considered as a source of professional help rather than a threat
to these tutors.
The fifth paper, co-authored by Gunter Saunders, Federica Oradini and Mark Clements, isentitled “SMART Teaching in New and Old Classrooms”. The case study outlines how at the
University of Westminster classrooms have been changed to be more adaptable in order tobetter suit different classroom delivery approaches and encourage more student-centred
learning. The main findings of the work are that in re-developing classrooms it is essential to
pay careful attention to basics (e.g. lighting, acoustics, writing surfaces) whilst experimenting
with different types of furniture and simple, reliable technologies to facilitate tutor mobility
within the classroom space and student engagement. The authors stress the need for effective
support for staff in engaging with new facilities and in the design of classroom sessions to
exploit the new technology and furniture.
The sixth paper, entitled “Rehabilitating Ex-Offenders Through Non-Formal Education in
Lesotho”, is written by Nomazulu Ngozwana. This paper studied the role of non-formal
education and how it addresses the needs and interests of offenders in Lesotho. Moreover, nonformal education was examined in terms of its delivery and the effectiveness in motivating
offenders to change and improve their lives during and after incarceration. The findings
revealed that while adaptive and transformative needs of offenders were met through nonformal education, the holistic approach to learning was recommended. This includes equipping
offenders with skills that addresses their immediate needs including the use of locally available
resources.
The seventh paper, entitled “A Survey of the University Students’ Perspectives about Using
Digital Technologies in Education: Zimbabwean Case”, is co-authored by Sibusisiwe Dubeand Elsje Scott. This study used data collected from students studying at the National
University of Science and Technology, one of the state universities in Zimbabwe. The paper
describes the students’ views relating to digital technologies in education. The findings
highlight the need to be cognizant of the students’ digital technology choices, uses and concerns
prior to the selection and implementation of institutional teaching and learning technologies.
These are the pre-requisites for the successful integration of digital technologies in education
and a significant aspect to guarantee returns on technological innovations.
The eighth paper, written by Bernard Montoneri, is entitled “Facebook Posts as
Complementary Teaching Material for a French University Course in Taiwan”. This article
compares data for 32 students who took a class of French for beginners in Taiwan during two
consecutive semesters, from September 2013 to June 2014. The data is based on informationcollected on a Facebook secret learning group during the second semester and on the university

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official questionnaires completed by students at the end of the two semesters. Only students
from the class and the instructor could join, post, view posts, like and comment during thesecond semester. The objective was to compare the online behavior, motivation, learningsatisfaction, approbation of teaching, and learning progress at the end of the first and second
semester. Students not only improved their reading and writing skills, but also increased theirknowledge of French culture. Using Facebook as a complementary educational tool reveals tobe demanding and time-consuming, but also worth it, notably because students made learning
progress, their learning satisfaction increased, and the instructor’s teaching evaluation
improved.
The ninth paper, entitled “Orchestrating French Music Conservatories: European Political
Interventions and Local Governance”, is written by Elena Raevskikh. This paper describes how
French music conservatories survive through a restructure, and analyzes the role of music incontributing towards the formation of cultural identity. The research approach combines
different sources of spatial and statistical data, and contributes to constructing a comparative
institutional geography of French multi-level territorial divisions. The findings show the new‘horizontal’ relations between French and other European conservatories that promote newmusical networks dissociated from the former administrative and symbolic hierarchy between
Paris and the provinces.
The tenth paper, entitled “English, Education, and Globalisation: A Bangladesh Perspective”,
is co-authored by Mohammad Akteruzzaman and Rakibul Islam. This article attempts topresent the current situation of English in Bangladesh. It explores how English emerged as atool for the Bangladeshi people rather than being a language itself from the perspectives of
linguistic imperialism and the global aspects of English as a language. Through questionnaires
and interviews, data were collected to reach the findings where the researchers tried to evaluate
the real necessity of English that people (university students and working people both) cherish
in their minds and to what extent, they uphold the beliefs nurtured in the National Education
Policy. After analyzing the data, it became evident that the people have moved away from thereal and intended purpose of learning English and their only goal is to obtain a good careerusing English.
The eleventh paper, written by Wolfgang Odendahl, is entitled “Bildungskrise – PISA and theGerman Educational Crisis”. It analyzes the German public’s perception of the PISA test
results in the light of their media presentations. The article questions PISA’s stated goal ofpredicting a nation’s economic success by measuring the success of its school system. It argues
that PISA does not take into account the social role of schools and their educational mandate
to educate citizens capable of furthering their personal fulfillment and contribute to societal
progress. It then links PISA to the utilitarian shift of values in Germany’s educational system
away from education, erudition, general learning, and self-formation towards training for
employability and job qualification. The article notes job-market related vocabulary such as“competencies” and “qualification” permeating all education-related publications as the newyardstick for defining educational goals. Ultimately, the author urges to look beyond marketoriented skill training and view school education as preparation for life-long learning in a
civilized society.
Please note that we welcome original research papers in the field of education submitted byteachers, scholars and education professionals. Authors may send in a manuscript even if they
did not participate in one of IAFOR’s conferences. We also welcome book reviews, reviewsof the literature in the field, and contributions introducing key educational scholars.

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The next issue, scheduled for publication on September 1, 2017, will also be a selection of
papers submitted during the above-mentioned conferences. IAFOR publications are freely
available on the IAFOR website (Open Access).
Note that there are no publications fees, neither for authors nor for readers. Please find theguidelines on our website (iafor.org/iafor-journals/iafor-journal-of-education) and at the end of
this issue. Please ensure that you follow our Author Guidelines before submitting your paper.
Best regards,
Bernard Montoneri and Lucy Spence

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 201715

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 201716

IAFOR Journal of Education

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Towards Building Science Teachers’ Understandings of Contemporary
Science Practices
Greg Lancaster, Deborah Corrigan, Lisa Fazio, Joanne Burke and David
Overton17

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Abstract
Faculties of Education and Science at Monash University have designed a Masters unit to assist
pre-service and in-service science teachers in exploring the practices of contemporary scienceand examine how varied understandings can influence science communication. Teachers areencouraged to explore their current understandings of the Nature of Science (NoS) and tocontrast their views with those known to be widely held by society (Cobern & Loving, 1998).
Teachers are challenged to provide insights into their thinking relating to the NoS. In order tobuild understandings of contemporary science practice each teacher shadows a researchscientist and engages them in conversations intended to explore the scientists’ views of NoS
and practice. Findings suggest that teachers were initially uncomfortable with the challenge toexpress ideas relating to their NoS and were also surprised how diverse the views of NoS canbe among teachers, scientists and their peers, and that these views can directly impact ways ofcommunicating contemporary science practice.
Keywords: scientific practices; the nature of science, science education, STEM workforce.

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Introduction
There has been a worldwide call for greater education in science, technology, engineering andmath (STEM) if we are to meet the workforce needs of the 21st century. Yet at the same time,
there are more STEM students graduating while jobs in both developed and emerging countries
are going unfilled, creating somewhat of a paradox (New York Academy of Sciences, 2014).
In Australia and internationally there is acknowledgement of decreased participation rates1
across the secondary and tertiary sectors of students engaging in the study of science,
mathematics technology and engineering (Kennedy, Lyons & Quinn, 2014; Mack & Wilson,
2014; Smith & Gorard, 2011; Charette, 2013). These decreased participation rates are often
likened to a “leaking pipeline.” However, this metaphor is misleading (Cannady, Greenwald& Harris, 2014) as it:•   fails to describe the experiences for about half of those who become scientists orengineers,•   masks meaningful differences in trajectories, particularly in subfields, and•   informs policies in ways that do not account for diversifying or increasing the size of
the STEM workforce.
Schools and universities are often “blamed” for not educating enough STEM students, but thisdoes not really capture the complexity of the STEM supply and demand issue. There are largely
four main reasons to account for this somewhat paradoxical situation:
1.   A shortage of graduates with soft skills. It is often difficult for graduates to apply theconcepts they have learned to challenges in the workplace and their work is made moredifficult as they often have had little opportunity to develop soft skills incommunication, critical thinking and teamwork, which are essential attributes for
successful employment. For example, Indian employers report serious shortages in theengineering workforce due to graduates lacking interpersonal and critical thinking skills(Bolm & Saeki, 2011).
2.   Lack of qualified technicians. In many countries the education system in not sufficientlyaligned with industry in order to develop student attributes that meet employer needs.
Graduates are often over-qualified for the positions that need filling. For example in
USA manufacturing industries, 67% of manufacturing employers report they are unable
to fill mid-level technical positions (Manufacturing Institute & Deloittes, 2011).
3.   Loss of high-skilled workers. While many countries are producing STEM graduates,
the opportunities for graduates in their own countries can often be limited – resulting
in a “brain drain”. This phenomenon is present in many countries both developed, suchas Australia and emerging such as the Caribbean (UNDESA & OECD, 2013).
4.   Untapped pools of Talent. Women, rural populations, minority ethnic groups, lower
socio-economic groups and other marginalized groups are acutely under-represented in
STEM fields in most developed and developing countries (UNESCO, 2014; Office ofChief Scientist, 2016).

1

Participation rates have been declining; however, the relative numbers of students studying these subjects,
particularly in secondary schools, has remained similar even though more students are completing secondary
schooling.

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These four challenges together create a self-reinforcing global cycle that is difficult to break
and as the loss of talent in STEM diminishes, the pool of capable teachers and mentors who
can assist students in developing the necessary skills (including soft skills) for future employees
in technology and science-based industries diminishes as well. Similarly, poor matches
between educational pathways and employment opportunities discourage and/or prevent
STEM graduates filling the available STEM jobs. Solutions will need to extend beyond thesimple encouragement of more students seeking STEM degrees as this will not guarantee thatthey leave their education with the needed contemporary skills and capabilities. Governments,
schools and industry will need to work together more closely in creating a robust “STEM
ecosystem” (New York Academy of Sciences, 2014) as needed if such a STEM paradox is tobe overcome.
The essential practices required to build a strong STEM ecosystem are (a) government policies
that incentivize companies to invest in innovation and scientific research and development tocreate promising job opportunities for STEM graduates, (b) a strong education system thatcombines learning with real-world experiences in order to promote both technical and personal
professional skills, and (c) a STEM culture embedded in the population in ways that highlightthe importance of developing an understanding of opportunities that exist within STEM.
This paper deliberately focuses on Australia’s response to building a strong STEM ecosystem,
which would be characterized by strength in all three practices above. Some countries such as
South Korea have such strengths in all areas), while many have strength in only one or twoareas. Australia has some strong initiatives in each area, but still has much to do (as many otherdeveloped countries) to build a strong STEM ecosystem. In this paper we will be focusing on
an initiative of the Australian Government that firmly exists within the second set of thesepractices; building understanding of real world contemporary science practices in our future
and current science teachers.
Literature Review – BackgroundAs reported by the Australian Office of the Chief Scientist (Office of Chief Scientist, 2014),
there is growing acceptance by industry employers that scientific and mathematicalcompetencies are essential for productive participation in a growing competitive knowledgebased economy. This report stated that 75% of the fastest growing occupations requiredscience, technology, engineering and mathematics skills and knowledge in order to beinternationally competitive. Twenty-first century workplaces will increasingly rely on
employees having skills in digital communication, information technology and knowledge ofmathematical competencies essential for analytical and financial modelling. Longitudinal
results from the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA (Australian Councilof Educational Research (ACER), 2001; Thomson, De Bortoli, & Buckley, 2013) showed that
Australian students’ performance in Mathematics and Science literacy experienced a decline
between 2000 and 2012, equivalent to a reduction of more than half a year of schooling.
Likewise, in a review of outcomes of school education in Australia by the ACER (Ainley &Gebhardt, 2013), a comparative analysis of 2012 PISA and NAPLAN data shows that student
performance is weakening among both low and high achieving students.
A more recent study (Kennedy, Lyons, & Quinn, 2014) compared subject enrolments of year
12 students in New South Wales between 1992 and 2012. They found that although there wasan increase in participation by more than 30,800 students in 2012, there were 8,000 fewer
students studying physics, 4,000 fewer studying chemistry and 12,000 fewer studying biology

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compared with 1992. These reductions are similarly reflected in other states in Australia. Earth
Science, the least popular science subject was the only science course analyzed whereparticipation rates were shown to increase and this interest was attributed to the global
resources boom active at this time. The percentage of students studying advanced andintermediate mathematics also declined over a similar period but the proportion of students
selecting entry-level mathematics grew by 60 percent. The number of students (Mack &Wilson, 2014) shunning both mathematics and science has also risen, from 2.1 percent (male)and 5.4 percent (female) in 2001 to 5.9 percent (male) and 14.6 percent (female) in 2014.
Similar trends have also been observed for Information Technology participation in schools(Ainley, Kos & Nicolas, 2008).
There has been wide speculation as to the reasons underpinning this decline in student STEM
engagement and although this is seen more or less as a worldwide trend (Langen & Dekkers,
2005; Henriksen, Dillon & Ryder, 2015) little research has been able to authoritatively identify
the key contributors in effect across international contexts. Australian sector experts identify arange of possible reasons for this decline. These include a deficit of enthusiastic, confident, andcompetent teachers in the early years to an Australian secondary system which offers too many
subject choices in the senior years. Others lament a local tertiary entrance scheme whichconsequently rewards the brightest of our final year secondary students for selecting lessdifficult subjects in which they have greater opportunities to achieve outstanding results tomaximize their University admission scores. Less attention appears to be paid to the possiblecombined impact caused by higher education fee increases, diminishing employment
opportunities and declining industry incentives caused by the more widespread use of fixed
contracts and increasing downward pressures on salaries within the industry.
In an interview conducted by John Burgher (Burgher, 2014) with Professor Iwona
Miliszewska, Australian Council, Deans of Information and Communication Technologies,
suggested a comprehensive, multi-pronged approach encompassing many ideas similar to those
proposed by other industry experts, to encourage greater student interest in STEM engagementby:•   Enhancement of compulsory STEM education through a major revision to the national
curriculum that resolves to increase the study hours and content of STEM classes inboth primary and secondary schools. The goal of this initiative would be to improve thequality of basic STEM education nationwide, generating and stimulating interest inscientific topics and thus creating a broad support base for STEM in Australian society.
•   Introduction of programs to nurture and train the best and brightest STEM talent byenhancing “elite” education; such programs would lay the foundation for a STEM “elite
track” from secondary to tertiary levels of education.
•   Facilitation of university-to-career transitions by supporting job placement of graduate
students and post-doctoral researchers who complete degrees in STEM fields.
•   Specifically addressing the under-representation of women in STEM education andcareers by launching targeted initiatives supported through both public and corporate
sector funding.
In acknowledgement of this deepening problem the Australian Government announced its
Students First-Restoring the focus on STEM in schools initiative (Australian Government,2015) that committed 12 million dollars to restore the focus on and increase student uptake ofscience, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects in primary and secondary schools
across the nation. It consisted of four key initiatives:21

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•   Providing innovative mathematics curriculum resources for primary and secondary
school students, focusing on inquiry-led teaching.
•   Supporting the introduction of computer coding across different year levels inAustralian schools leading to greater exposure to logical and computational thinking.
•   An innovative approach to education based on the successful “Pathways in Technology
Early College High School” program originating in the United States of America, and•   The introduction of summer schools for STEM students, to increase the number of girls
and disadvantaged students (including Indigenous students and those from regional andremote areas) engaging with STEM.
The initiative also focused on the preparation of prospective STEM teachers through a numberof targeted learning research grants. One of these grants was the ReMSTEP project.
The ReMSTEP ProjectAs part of the national initiative, the Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching(OLT) provided funding in 2014 for two years to four collaborating universities. The
University of Melbourne, Deakin University, La Trobe University, and Monash University
were charged with exploring how pre-service teacher (PST) education programs could beenhanced in ways to better provide PSTs with greater competence and confidence in theirteaching of science and mathematics. In particular, the focus was on examining productive
ways of integrating the specialist knowledge of practicing scientists, researchers, and STEM
specialists into the school curriculum and teacher classroom practice in order to create greater
engagement and subject relevance for students. The project entitled Reconceptualising
Mathematics and Science Teaching Education Programs, (see www.remstep.org) shares thevision of the Chief Scientist of Australia (Office of Chief Scientist, 2014). This visionadvocates that learning and teaching STEM competencies should introduce students to aspectsof contemporary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics practices in ways thatstudents and teachers find exciting and socially relevant, rather than following a curriculumthat represents STEM subjects as apparently divorced from any real-world applications orsocial contexts.
Monash University’s involvement in the ReMSTEP project offers exciting opportunities as it
involves the development and researching of new PST programs to better address the social
relevance of science, technology and mathematics and importantly the sharing of these researchfindings across all four universities. This paper explores just one of these new initiatives
resulting from collaboration between the Faculties of Education and Science at Monash
University. The Monash ReMSTEP project team was keen to develop new opportunities for
PSTs to experience and better understand many of the contemporary practices of science andmathematics used widely across a range of industry sectors. The assumption underpinning thisinitiative was that teachers who are more informed and better able to discuss these practices
with greater confidence should be more capable of achieving greater classroom engagement
and improved student interest in the future study of STEM subjects. The new Master of
Teaching unit (equivalent to 288 hours of study) was devised with a number of key objectives
consistent with the ReMSTEP project and incorporated successful reflective pedagogicalapproaches informed by past evidence-based science education research undertaken by the
Faculty of Education.

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Unit Objectives
Three key unit objectives were identified to encourage PSTs:•   Understand how sciences (including mathematics) knowledge, processes andcommunication shift over time through the influence of social and technologicalchange.
•   Explore the diverse and changing understandings of the Nature of Science (NoS) whilechallenging participants to re-conceptualize and articulate their own personal
contemporary view.
•   Investigate first hand contemporary practices of science and examine how the creationof new knowledge has significantly changed to become more inter-/multi- and transdisciplinary, e.g. nanoscience, and bio-informatics.
Each of these is briefly discussed. The first objective underpinning the unit focuses on how
science knowledge changes over time. Much of the knowledge and practices of science andmathematics are tentative and undergo constant reappraisal and update. Some ideas prove to
be more enduring than others, however all ideas remain open to question. The creation of newtechnology can often have substantive impacts on how new knowledge is generated and in turn,this can influence the directions of subsequent technology development and applications. The
idea that science knowledge and contemporary practices are tentative and changing is notwidely explored in science or mathematics classes in secondary schools where content is often
conveniently delivered as definitive and enduring.
Present textbooks are more likely to be revised to accommodate changing government
curriculum initiatives rather than contemporary changes in science knowledge, such as new orrevised understandings or the impact of advances in technology. For example, the continuingdebate over the classification of Pluto as a planet and what should constitute a planet in oursolar system may be seen by some as revealing an indecisiveness or a weakness of enduringknowledge and authority in science. However the debate by planetary scientists over the needfor change of such a historical classification system provides insights into the dynamic natureof the sciences and the need for the sciences to constantly reassess and accommodate changing
understandings based on the acquisition of new evidence. To ignore such instances of debate
and review is to ignore a critical aspect of how sciences are undertaken and that all scientificknowledge should remain open to question and revision.
The second objective identifies that contemporary practices of science and mathematics andthe new knowledge arising from such practices, has largely now changed to become more inter/multi- and trans-disciplinary in nature. Increasingly more science research is now being
undertaken at the fringes between the traditional subject disciplines. This requires researchers
to have broad understandings across a number of what were once seen to be independent fieldsof specialization. Emerging areas such as nano-science, nanotechnology, bio-informatics,
regenerative and imaging technology, require complex understandings of multiple disciplines.
However, despite this mix of traditional discipline areas, the key processes by which sciences
are undertaken and the overarching objectives remain equally applicable. This unit aims to
make the processes of sciences and their associated skills more explicit for PSTs andemphasizes the importance for teachers to also make these explicit to their students as a part oftheir regular classroom practice. The unit seeks to identify the importance of science,
mathematics and associated technologies as “a way of knowing and exploring our world”

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where cross-discipline understandings have the potential for convergent investigation to
generate richer understandings and reveal unseen complexity and interdependence.
Interviewing Scientists about their Practice
Although it is possible that some PSTs undertaking the unit may have strong backgrounds inthe sciences, engineering or mathematical studies, including research backgrounds (or evenPhDs) in related sciences or engineering fields, this is not typically the case. In addition, many
PST of early years students often have more limited science and mathematical backgrounds.
Given this diverse mix of science experience amongst the PST cohort it was felt essential that
all PSTs should undertake a visit to a contemporary research facility where they can meet withand interview practicing scientists. The intention of this visit is to provide the PST's with aface-to- face experience in which they can chat with scientists to explore the nature of theirwork and familiarize themselves with the operation and practices of a contemporary researchfacility. The PSTs are then encouraged to share their reflective insights gained from the visits
in brief video reports suitable for sharing with their peers in workshop discussions.
Monash University, as a research intensive university, is fortunate that it has a large number ofworld class “Centers of Excellence” and more than 20 expert research scientists operating
across these have agreed to meet individually with a PST for several hours. In addition, anumber of expert scientists from the Melbourne Museum (Australia) in specialist areas ofentomology, paleontology, and plant physiology have also agreed to be involved in the
program. In almost all cases the scientists have been approached to be involved in this program
because they are engaged in research areas which help to demonstrate the highlyinterdisciplinary nature of contemporary research and they have a demonstrated track record
for seeking to actively communicate their understandings of science to a wide range ofaudiences. Prior to the PSTs visiting the research centers the purpose of the visit is discussed
and scaffolded in the unit workshops to make the intentions explicit and to assist the PSTs inconstructing relevant interview questions that will explore the scientists understandings of the
Nature of Science (NoS) and the purpose and range of audiences that they routinely
communicate with. This approach is intended to assist the PSTs to maximize the learningbenefits achieved from such a relatively brief visit to an authentic research setting.
Five Areas of Science Cognitive Engagement
Examining the effective communication of science, mathematics and technology isperiodically revisited throughout the unit in ways that assist in reinforcing the importance forteachers to embed the investigation of STEM knowledge in a social context. A schemadeveloped by Corrigan (2015), attempts to assist the PSTs in their analysis of the methods andintentions of the different types of science communication engaged in by contemporary
scientists. This approach is seen as innovative as it tries to assists the PSTs to distinguishbetween the broad areas of complex cognitive engagement needed for effective communication
with different audiences for different purposes. The schema attempts to identify 5 areas ofscience cognitive engagement that scientists, technologists and researchers are likely to engage
with:1)   General Public Engagement – this is probably the most basic level of communication,
however even though the sophistication of the science knowledge exchanged is likely to bequite elementary it does not imply that it is not without challenge. Looking to effectively
communicate insights into big ideas or complex processes using appropriate metaphors or

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analogies is a creative and demanding task which confronts many educators on a day to day
basis. Predictably not all scientists are skilled at communicating with the general publicwhich make those that are, such as Tim Flannery, Richard Dawkins and Brian Cox highly
sought after by both the mainstream media and the general public.
2)   Informed Engagement – This describes engagement by those who are conversant with ascientific field or discipline. They are informed and seek opportunities to share and improvetheir knowledge and understanding amongst competent peers with similar interests orexpertise. This form of engagement is practiced widely by amateur interest groups, student
societies and professional institutes and associations, e.g. amateur astronomical societies,
soil science engineers, the Australian Society for Microbiology, the Royal Australian
Chemical Institute, and the Australian Academy of Science.
3)   Applied Engagement – This describes a broad engagement by scientists, engineers,technical designers and science communicators who apply current scientific knowledge todevelop real world applications of technology or to share insights into fundamental
processes of science. Their interests may include fields such as; engineering, medical
imaging, robotics, polymer science or nanotechnology. They use the knowledge of scienceand its processes, e.g. experimental design, analysis of data and scientific modelling to test
and improve technology and its applications.
4)   Focused Engagement – This includes engagement which deals with the more routine
practicalities of communication practices within and between scientific or industry research
centers. Examples could include system approaches for regular reporting on projectchallenges and achievements to project personal, routine laboratory meetings, initiatives
exploring workflow or communication practices and team reviews of technical protocols.
It could also include the reporting of project mile stones to Government and industry or
mentoring practices within specific research fields or scientific organizations.
5)   Expert Engagement – This engagement involves science discipline authorities or researchleaders acknowledged by their peers as experts and visionaries, e.g. Nobel Laureates,industry science prize winners, Australian Eureka Prize and Institute of Physics awards, andAustralian Academy of Science award winners. This could include expert analysis orcommentaries on new technology or recent scientific research discoveries and their likely
societal or cross-discipline impact. Experts regularly provide key note addresses atconferences and their insightful presentations and critical analysis is regularly sought byindustry, field specialists and the general media.
In addition to utilizing this organizational schema, PSTs are also challenged to communicate
their understandings of science using creative multimedia artifacts. The rationale for this is toencourage the PSTs to develop and practice skills in creating and critiquing visual images ormultimedia which has now arguably become very much mainstream in contemporary
educational communication. Multimedia channels such as, YouTube.com, Vimeo.com andVevo.com already provide access to a multitude of video resources from which educators cansource and share useful multimedia artifacts. It is considered essential that PSTs are skilled to
select discerningly from these rapidly growing collections with such diverse quality.
Another innovative approach used in the unit encourages PSTs to review, articulate and defend
their personal view of the Nature of Science (NoS). This approach was initially adopted toencourage PSTs to develop and refine their views of NoS and to assist them to form a more

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coherent view that they felt more confident to share and discuss. Although there has been
considerable research into the views of NoS held by a wide cross-section of the community,from the general public to students, scientists and science educators, there appears to be far lessresearch literature which reports on ways of developing activities by which PSTs caneffectively construct and articulate a coherent personal view of NoS. In initial workshops the
PSTs are introduced to a number of provocative statements about NoS in a collaborative
activity outlined by Cobern & Loving (1998). In line with the approach advocated in Cobern
and Loving's paper the PSTs are encouraged to work initially as individuals and then form
larger and larger groups to select or reject (by consensus) deliberately provocative statements
about science designed to align with one of six broadly identified views of NoS. Through peer
discussion and debate, PSTs are encouraged to construct and revise their view of NoS and toacknowledge changes in their positional understanding.
This activity has been adopted because it does not privilege one view of NoS over another or
encourage all PSTs to adopt one “currently acceptable” view, but reveals how contemporary
understandings of NoS change and will continue to change over time. The NoS theme isperiodically re-examined at key points throughout the unit and is seen as a mechanism for
identifying and tracking changes in individual thinking about attitudes and values of science.
Methodology
This unit was successfully delivered in the second semester of the first year of the project andat the time of writing, is presently being offered for a second time in the project’s final year.
The unit was offered to practicing teachers and PSTs in mixed study mode, consisting of four
face-to-face workshops each of three hours duration, alternating with five online study sessions
providing a mix of research readings, media resources, collaborative activities, and peer
discussion forums for completion. Although the initial unit cohort was small (n = 16) the
findings indicate that greater research and analysis is warranted in the next iteration of the unit
to enable a more effective evaluation of its impact on PSTs attitudes and practices. At thecommencement of the unit all PSTs were invited to participate in the unit research andcompleted an initial online survey aimed at gathering data on their course pathways and areasof teaching specialization. The survey also asked teachers and PSTs to identify how confident
and prepared they felt to successfully undertake the teaching of contemporary science.
At the completion of the unit all PSTs were invited to undertake a 30 minute individual faceto-face interview with an independent researcher. Only two (n = 2) PSTs agreed to beinterviewed due to course workload demands and survey timing. Using a number of set
questions, the interviewer sought to investigate the PSTs’ understandings of the course
intentions and to seek feedback from the PSTs on how successfully they thought the unit
objectives were achieved. The scientists employed at the research facilities visited by the PSTs
were also approached by the independent interviewer, however only two (n = 2) agreed to meetbriefly providing only very limited feedback on their experience with the PSTs and theirinterviews. The impact of PSTs visiting research facilities and interviewing practicing
scientists was explored during several workshops and although PSTs generally reported finding
the experience to be positive and informative, the lack of feedback determined that this aspect
warrants greater research in future programs.

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Findings
The data collected from the initial online survey (n = 3) provided only brief insights into PSTs’
course backgrounds and employment intentions. Understandably the PSTs indicated that they
were choosing to undertake the unit to gain insights into the contemporary practices of scienceand to develop additional skills and understandings which they thought would be helpful for
their classroom professional practice in teaching science and/or mathematics. Not surprisingly
their articulated intentions closely reflected those of the unit objectives. During a unit workshop
at which the lecturers and independent interviewer were present, the PSTs (n = 14) provided
verbal feedback on a number of aspects of the unit. The majority of the PSTs reported finding
the first assessment task, “the creation of a multimedia representation which reflects theirpersonal view of NoS” highly challenging. Many PSTs discussed how they did not feel
confident or skilled in creating and critiquing visual representations compared with the more
traditional argumentative essay assessment task. This lack of confidence was also reflected by
the number of clarifying questions fielded by the unit lecturers regarding the implementationof this assessment task. This view was also reported by the two PSTs who agreed to beinterviewed at the completion of the unit. They both reported feeling apprehensive and illequipped to undertake what they saw as a highly creative task. In conclusion, it was
acknowledged that the PSTs in general reported a lack of confidence in addressing the task ofdesigning and critiquing visual images or multimedia.
One of the more surprising findings was the impact acknowledged by the PSTs that thecollaborative discussions about NoS (in workshops and online discussion forums) had onbuilding their confidence and ability to communicate a coherent and more contemporary viewof science. A majority of the PSTs spoke of how their thinking and view of science had changed
during the unit from one in which they originally privileged understandings of science ormathematical content to one with a broader understanding of the processes by which science
is undertaken. This acknowledged shift was evidenced again by several of the PSTs directly intheir multimedia representations and in comments made in their second assessment task.
However in this first unit completion there were no opportunities to investigate or witness theimplications that this changed view may have on influencing or reshaping their classroom
professional practice.
On reconceptualizing a personal view of NoS, the PSTs reported greater self-confidence inconstructing and justifying a personal coherent view of NoS and an improved ability andconfidence in discussing and communicating NoS understandings across a range ofprofessional settings:
Student (2) – “You know you always start this going, oh [I] already know this, [but] ...
really talking about it [NoS] and kind of expanding that understanding was really
good. ... I came out [after the unit] with a fairly different kind of conception...than I
started with of what science is and what’s core to it.”Student (1) – “Questioning and actually reflecting on ... what I think about science andwhat other people think about science and trying to figure out ... what you know, whata coherent view is because a lot of these things aren’t ... necessarily explicitly looked
at ...”
Student (2) – “If I was doing an interview for a science position I think it gives me abetter understanding to talk about science education in a way that I think would standout to employers, compared to people who hadn’t done this unit or something similar.”

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Several of the PSTs also reported that since visiting a research facility and talking to “real”
scientists they now felt that they had improved understandings of contemporary science
practices and how science is undertaken by scientists. Many of the PSTs acknowledged that
before their site visits they knew very little of how “big” science is undertaken in world leading
centers of excellence and their views were limited to highly contextualized educational
experiences in undergraduate labs or even earlier high school settings:
Student (1) – “Yeah that was really good. I enjoyed ... the interview part [of] the site
placement and talking to a working scientist and finding out what they value ... theimportance of creativity and collaboration and what they ... know.”
Student (2) – “There was a few things that ... I wouldn’t have thought was important[before doing the unit] that when I got to do ... the interview [with the scientist] towards
the end of the subject ... a lot of things came up that we’d talked about ... and it was ...
confirmed ... by the working scientists.”
Student (1) – “For example in science education our experiments work ... [this] is notwhat it's like in actual science. You don't know the outcome of ... the actual experiment.”
Conclusion
The researchers openly acknowledge that the preliminary findings from the single unit offering
are quite limited in scope. However, the general findings from the interviews, workshops, andassessment tasks suggest that many of the approaches and activities used throughout the unit
were largely successful in achieving many of the intended unit outcomes. A surprising finding
was that encouraging the PSTs to re-conceptualize their personal view of NoS proved much
more powerful and engaging than originally anticipated. Participants were keen to revisit andchallenge their ideas throughout the course and to actively explore and debate alternate views.
The changing personal view of NoS also provided insights into how their understandings ofcontemporary sciences were changing over time. Some students were reportedly surprised at
the impact that robust discussion and debate had on changing their long-held views.
Constructing a coherent contemporary view of NoS also appeared to provide participants withlanguage and confidence to engage in professional discourse which challenged and further
enriched their understandings of science. Several participants self-reported improved
confidence and competence in their professional practice when exploring science with theirstudents as a way of knowing and understanding the world.
The research center site visits and interviews with practicing scientists were also reported to behighly informative and although the conversations and experiences were diverse, the workshop
discussions proved very rich in building contemporary views of science practices.
The initial findings raise many questions about the success and impact of this unit on shaping
PSTs views of NoS and adopting teaching with a contemporary view of sciences and theirauthentic practices. Further research will be undertaken and reported when this unit is next
delivered.

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References
ACER (2001). PISA in brief from Australia's perspective: highlights from the full Australianreport: 15-up and counting, reading, writing, reasoning... How literate are Australia's
students? Melbourne: ACER.
Ainley, J., Kos, J., & Nicholas, M. (2008). Participation in Science, Mathematics andTechnology in Australian education. ACER Monograph No 69. Melbourne: ACER
Publishing.
Ainley, J., & Gebhardt, E. (2013). Measure for measure: a review of outcomes of school
education in Australia. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Australian Government (2015). Students First – Restoring the focus on STEM in school
initiative, Department of Education and Training, Retrieved on February 10, 2017 fromhttps://www.studentsfirst.gov.au/restoring-focus-stem-schools-initiative.
Bolm, A., & Saeki, H. (2011). Employability and skill set of newly graduated engineers inIndia. © World Bank. Retrieved on February 10, 2017 fromhttp://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/1813-9450-5640 License: Creative
Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO. Crossref
Burgher, J. (2014, Oct 15). How to reverse the declining trends in STEM participation [Weblogpost].
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Cannady, M. A., Greenwald, E., & Harris, K. N. (2014). Problematizing the STEM Pipeline
Metaphor: Is the STEM pipeline metaphor serving our students and the STEM
workforce? Science Education, 98, 443-460. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21108
Cobern, W. W., & Loving, C. C. (1998). The card activity: Introducing teachers to thephilosophy of science. In W. McComas (Eds.). The nature of science in scienceeducation: Rationales and strategies (pp. 73-82). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
Charette, R. N. (2013). The STEM crisis is a myth. Retrieved on February 10, 2017 fromhttp://spectrum.ieee.org. Crossref
Corrigan, D. (2015). Five levels of science cognitive engagement. Personal communication(March).
Engineers Australia (2015). The Engineering Profession: A statistical Overview, 12th Edition,
ACT, Australia.
Henriksen, E. K., Dillon, J., & Ryder, J. (Eds.) (2015). Understanding student participationand choice in science and technology education. Dordrecht: Springer.
Kennedy, J., Lyons T., & Quinn, F. (2014). The Continuing Decline of Science andMathematics Enrolments in Australian High Schools. Teaching Science, 60(2).
Langen, A., V., & Dekkers, H. (2005). Cross-­‐‑national differences in participating in tertiary
science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. Comparative Education,
41(3), 329-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060500211708

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Mack, J., & Wilson, R. (2015). Trends in Mathematics and science combinations in the NSW
HSC 2001-2014 by gender, University of New South Wales Publishing. Retrieved on
February 10, 2017 from http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/SMS/MMW2015.pdf
Manufacturing Institute (USA), & Deloittes (2011). 2011 Skills Gap Report. Retrieved on
February
10,
2017
from
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A704CD.ashx
Office of Chief Scientist (2016) Australia’s workforce: Science, technology, engineering andmathematics. (March). Canberra: Australian Government.
Office of Chief Scientist (2014). Science, technology, engineering and mathematics:
Australia’s Future. Canberra: Australian Government.
Smith, E., & Gorard, S. (2011). Is there a shortage of scientists? A re-analysis of supply for the
UK. British Journal of Educational Studies, 59(2), 159-177.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2011.578567
Thomson, S., De Bortoli, L., & Buckley, S. (2013). PISA 2012: How Australia measures up.
Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
UNDESA and OECD (2013). World migration in figures, October. Retrieved on February 10,2017 from https://www.oecd.org/els/mig/World-Migration-in-Figures.pdf
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2014). Women in science: Explore the data for countries
worldwide.
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Corresponding author: Greg Lancaster
Email: greg.lancaster@monash.edu

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Respond to Diversity: Graduate Minority Students’ Perceptions on
Their Learning Experiences in an American University

Huanshu Yuan

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Abstract
The increasing population of minority students in higher education in the United States makes
it relevant to focus on the issue of how to improve current educational philosophies, instruction
and curriculum design, investment, and organization to meet the needs of minority students. A“teaching gap” between minority students’ learning needs and pedagogical responses to theseneeds exists in American postsecondary education. This qualitative research study addressed
this knowledge gap by using five semi-structured interviews with five graduate education
major minority students to examine their learning and the teaching practice of faculty in a
specific university in the United States. The results of this study indicated that situatingteaching and learning in a cultural context and improved faculty multicultural awareness were
important to improve minority students’ learning experiences and academic outcomes.
Keywords: multicultural education; culturally responsive teaching; teacher education;
minority student learning; higher education.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
Minority students have been struggling to experience educational equity and excellence in U.S.
society and the educational system, in particular, to receive equal access to qualified
educational resources and academic achievements as their White counterparts do (Banks, 2004).
The increasing population of minority students in higher education in the United States makes
it relevant to focus on how to improve current educational philosophies, instruction andcurriculum design, investment, and organization to meet the need of minority students.
Because of the increasing diversity in students’ cultural and racial backgrounds, research on
minority students’ learning and achievement has increased over the past years (Schofield,2004). However, much of it leaves open the question of the causal direction of empirical links
found among minority students’ racial and cultural backgrounds, their academic performanceand achievement, and reforms of educational policies and practices in the American
educational system (Schofield, 2004). A “teaching gap” between minority students’ learning
experiences – curriculum, pedagogy, interactions, and teachers’ pedagogical responses to them,exists in American higher education. This teaching gap plays an influential role in enhancing
or reducing the likelihood of an achievement gap in higher education for linguistically andculturally diverse students.
Tomorrow’s teachers and university faculty will need to be well prepared to effectively andappropriately deal with issues of race, culture, ethnicity, and language. The higher education
systems, including teacher preparation programs, need to be more responsive to the needs ofthis growing segment of the student population (Villegas & Lucas, 2002). A more specific setof issues and possibilities in terms of teaching practices for multicultural students needs to be
explored in more detail in higher education settings. Inequitable educational practices havebeen documented extensively in K-12 educational settings. But this source of the achievement
gap has been less fully investigated in postsecondary learning environments (Villegas & Lucas,
2002). As students from various minority backgrounds encounter curriculum that may not beframed in ways that resonate with them, pedagogy that is insensitive to their cultural
backgrounds and assumptions, faculty attitudes and expectations that reflect destructive
stereotypes, or other aspects of the learning environment, they may not perform up to theirpotential, thereby continuing a systematic disparity in performance between them and their
white counterparts.
Literature Review
Four bodies of research and theory inform this study, each offering different components to theresearch. These are: teaching attitudes, positive interactions, culturally responsive pedagogy,
and content integration, and are depicted visually in Figure 1.

	
  
	
  

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Positive
Interactions

Teaching
Attitudes

Teaching Practice forMulticultural Students
in a University Setting

Culturally
Responsive
Pedagogy

Content
Integration

Figure 1: Conceptual framework
Some academic research and teacher preparation programs, in general, have viewed studentsof color as genetically inferior, culturally deprived, and verbally deficient (Delpit, 1995). Issuesof teaching attitudes towards minority students are enacted in postsecondary academic
environments, in teaching practice and curriculum design in particular. Previous scholarshipon “racial and ethnic studies of minority students’ achievement and attainment in U.S. higher
education” evoke the reconsideration of the causes of variability in educational gaps among
linguistically diverse students and their White counterparts. An important factor which resultsin minority students’ comparatively lower academic achievements is destructive teaching
attitudes and stereotyped expectations towards students’ cultural and racial backgrounds.
Scholarship on these negative teaching attitudes and expectations are grounded in critical racetheory.
Effective learning requires active peer interactions and positive interactions between students
and teachers. The culturally and linguistically diverse university classroom is at risk ofdeveloping inequities on the basis of difference in student status and teachers’ position of
authority (Cohen & Lotan, 2004). For example, minority students arrive with varied
educational experiences and English proficiencies; this situation leads to variation in theiracademic skills, performances and differences in academic success. Many teachers inuniversity settings are distressed to observe that newcomers and some minority students are
virtual non participants in class discussions and activities (Cohen & Lotan, 2004), as many
minority students have a hard time voicing their opinions and maximizing learning outcomes.
Allport (1954) suggests that the support of authorities and positive equal-status relationships
and interactions among students of all ethnic and racial groups are vital to producing academic
achievement. This finding has implications for increasing positive classroom interactions.
Teachers are important authority figures, who can facilitate positive interactions amongminority students and their White peers by using cooperative learning and alternative grouping
strategies (Schofield, 2004). Teachers can also promote linguistic and cultural pluralism in the
	
  
	
  

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academic learning environment for encouraging minority students’ identity development andlearning processes.
Content integration deals with the extent to which teachers use examples, materials, data, andinformation from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts, principles,
generalizations, and theories in their subject area or discipline (Banks, 2004). Gay (2004)
extends the notion of systematic change in teaching content and materials by identifying
significant ways of embedding culturally relevant components in curriculum and learningmaterials. These include designing curricula that develop understanding of ethnic groups’
cultures, histories, and contributions; teachers becoming multicultural in their attitudes, values,
beliefs, and behaviors; and using action strategies for combating racism and other forms of
oppression and exploitation.
In addition to recognizing that minority students bring rich funds of knowledge to their higher
education learning experiences, faculty in university settings can do much to modify theirapproaches to instruction. Educational equity and excellence for students from all ethnic, racialand cultural backgrounds in the United States are unattainable without the incorporation ofcultural and racial pluralism in all aspects of the educational system. Educational practice, as
Gay (2004) argues, plays a key role in reducing institutional racism and achievement gaps, aswell as rebuilding minority students’ self-esteem, identities and learning engagements.
Culturally responsive pedagogy exists when teachers use cultural heritage and backgroundexperience to facilitate students’ academic achievement (Gay, 2010; Banks, 2004). Addressing
culturally responsive pedagogy also contributes to mutual understandings between minority
students and teachers, valuing diverse cultural and racial heritages, and enabling diverse
students to realize their potentials.
Methodology
The research was a short-term, qualitative study, which incorporated five semi-structured
interviews in a specific university setting. The research followed a “basic” interpretive design(Merriam, 2009), which sought to understand the interaction of individuals with the culture of
the academic learning environment and university context in which they lived and studied. It
is a particularly appropriate way to pursue how minority students interpret their learning
experiences, how they see racial and cultural impact on academic instruction and peerinteractions, what factors benefit their learning, and what issues exclude them from effective
learning and academic achievement.
Due to the research emphasis, the setting of this research was the University of Washington.
Participants from the College of Education were chosen due to the rich diversity of students
and faculty from different cultural and racial backgrounds within the teacher preparation andeducation programs at the University of Washington. The five participants were College of
Education master and doctorate degree minority students. Five interviews provided
opportunities for the voices of research participants to be heard, cultural and racial identities tobe valued, and multiple needs to be fulfilled. Participants enrolled in the College of Education
graduate program were selected according to their multicultural and linguistic backgrounds(English was not the native language), in order to demonstrate how racial and cultural factors
contribute to their learning processes and outcomes.
A demographic summary of the participants is presented in Table 1. Due to the confidentiality
agreements with research participants, all the names are pseudonyms.
	
  
	
  

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Table 1: Demographic summary of study participantsName Nationality Age

First
GenderLanguage

ProgramSunny South
Korea

31

KoreanFemale

Ken

Chile

29

SpanishMale

Curriculum&
Instruction
Teacher
Education

Peter

Thailand

28

Thai

Male

Educational
Psychology

Amy

Hong Kong

30

Cantonese

FemaleTeacher
Education

Mary

Mainland
China

25

Mandarin

FemaleCurriculum&
Instruction

Previous
Academic
Studies
South
Korea

Grade
Level

2nd yeardoctorate
student
Chile
3rd yeardoctorate
student
Thailand & 2nd year
U.S.
doctorate
studentHong
2nd yearKong &
master
U.S.
student
Mainland2nd yearChina
masterstudent

Discussion
Four major findings resulted from this study. The first finding was the misinterpretation ofminority students’ learning styles and cultural knowledge between faculty and students. The
second finding was a lack of culturally diverse representation and responsiveness in learningmaterials and teaching practice. The third finding was the cross-cultural self in interactions.
The fourth finding was a disparity in teacher preparation and practice in higher education.
Personality or Culture: Misinterpretation of Minority Students’ Learning Styles andCultural Knowledge between Faculty and Students
All five research participants indicated that they experienced a gap between their personal andcultural knowledge and mainstream academic knowledge. The concepts, explanations, andinterpretations that students derive from personal experiences in their home, family, andcommunity cultures constitute personal and cultural knowledge (Banks, 1996), which could bechallenged by mainstream White dominant academic knowledge. Four of the five research
participants’ learning styles, communication styles, and in-class performance styles weredeeply influenced by Asian-oriented cultural heritages and educational backgrounds. Insteadof actively participating in class discussions, frequently speaking out their ideas in front of thewhole class, questioning and challenging professor and classmates’ opinions, and taking on
leading roles in group assignments, Asian students were used to listening, memorizing, andfollowing directions and requirements. As Sunny mentioned:
During the past 29 years of studying in Korea, I was educated and trained to be obedientand submissive to my professors’ instructions and requirements. In my home culture
and school culture, students are required to listen to and memorize every word fromtextbooks and their professors. I am so used to accepting and memorizing everythingfrom my professor, and it is my learning style and it is also my culture. It is in my bloodand so hard to change even now I’m starting my doctoral program in America.
	
  
	
  

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The cultural differences between students and faculties lead to cultural discontinuity in the U.S.
higher educational environment. Failing to realize this may result in the cultural clash andlimiting minority students’ academic development. Minority students’ cultural heritage andpersonal experiences not only construct their identity but also influence their learning,communicating, and academic performing styles in U.S. classrooms. Fordham and Ogbu
(1986) indicated that minority students will experience academic difficulties in the school
because of the ways that cultural knowledge within their home and cultural community
conflicts with academic knowledge, norms, and expectations in mainstream classrooms. In
higher education, especially in graduate programs, the population of enrolled minority students
is scarce in comparison with their White counterparts. These demographic differences andrelated cultural mismatches can lead to minority students being misrepresented for their wholeethnic group based on the misreading of their in-class performance.
This issue of misrepresentation can reinforce negative teaching attitudes and practices toward
minority students, which could create a cultural deficit model. As Mary stated: “I realize thatsome of my professors may be aware that Chinese students’ learning styles and in classperformance patterns are grounded in traditional Chinese culture, which emphasizes being
polite and listening rather than speaking out. So they will assume every Chinese student follow
this pattern and they will no longer have high expectations for my Chinese classmates and me.
They won’t expect us to play a leader role in group projects and I can feel the “expectation
distance” from professors between me and my White American classmates.”Peter was frustrated about being perceived as a silent Asian student. He said, “Some professors
categorized me as a quite student based on my Asian appearance and their previous culturally
stereotyped assumptions towards Asian students’ behaviors in class. It hurts sometimes.
Although Asian students may have generally quite personalities, but that cannot fully represent
every student and every Asian culture.”
Misinterpretations of minority students’ learning and performance styles illustrate a
disconnection between teachers’ and students’ personal and cultural knowledge. Mainstream
academic knowledge is more consistent with the cultural experiences of White middle-classstudents than those of most other ethnic groups, so it is important for faculty to understand andinclude the personal and cultural knowledge of minority students when designing thecurriculum, teaching strategies and assignments for today’s multicultural classrooms (Banks,
1996). Moreover, it is equally important for university faculty to obtain knowledge about
cultural and racial diversity to reduce culturally mismatched teaching attitudes and practices inincreasingly culturally diverse classrooms.
Content or Context: Lacking Culturally Diverse Representation and Responsiveness In
Learning Materials and Teaching PracticeAll five research participants indicated that they encountered learning materials andassignments that were not culturally relevant and responsive. The missing voices from theircultural backgrounds and racial heritages created a cultural vacuum for them in the university.
Ken indicated that he had a very hard time reading textbooks and often learning materials inseveral classes that did not relate to his culture or contain international perspectives. He stated,“In one teaching pedagogy class, I found that my perspectives and knowledge were constructed
and limited in Western, or American focused-context. I wanted to hear international voices andlearned more cases from my cultural backgrounds so that I could obtain professional
	
  
	
  

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knowledge and be able to practice it when I return to my home country. But I seldom readmaterials or textbooks that reflect cultural diversity or are relevant to my home culture.”
The absence of cultural responsiveness and relevance in learning materials not only impacts
minority students’ construction of ethnic identity and cultural belongingness, but also shapes
their access to academic opportunities, involvements and achievements. Amy shared how
cultural mismatch affected her learning process and outcomes in her graduate program. She
said:
If learning materials and assignments are totally constructed on American culture or
history, that will create an invisible cultural barrier for me to approach the content
knowledge and engage in discussions. For example, in my first quarter of the graduate
program, we were assigned to discuss Jim Crow case and its historical influences on
educational policy. Being a cultural outsider, I was not so familiar with the American
educational system and policies. It was hard to join in my American classmates’
discussions. All those names, cases, laws became simple English words, which didn’t
make sense to me.
Content knowledge, curriculum, and teaching materials in higher education settings may
exclude and marginalized minority students. Most of the students interviewed claimed that
their cultural knowledge and heritage were not validated or well presented in textbooks,
curriculum and other learning materials used in university classes. When separated from
cultural context, content knowledge can be obstacles that minimize the learning processes andoutcomes of minority students. Dilg (2003) noted that it is important for teachers to realize theways in which minority students’ cultural backgrounds and educational experiences affect how
they understand and respond to learning materials and assignments. Faculty and students inteacher education programs need to learn how to reduce cultural distance for minority students.
Dilg (2003) also indicated that students may connect deeply with a work based on connections
they perceive between learning material and their own cultures, or reject it on the basis of its
lack of “cultural fit” (p. 47).
Amy suggested incorporating culture to learning materials and teaching practices as she
explained that, “If I can feel connections and reflections between my home culture and subject
matter content, I will learn better and with more confidence and active engagement.” Theconnection between learning materials, subject content, teaching practice and students’ cultural
backgrounds need to exist, so that a “safe cultural space” (Dilg, 2003, p. 48) can be created toreduce gaps between minority students and their academic learning materials, practices, andenvironments.
Misplaced Cross-Cultural Self in Interactions
The students interviewed shared feelings of being isolated from their instructors and American
peers by language, academic talk, structured diversity, cultural preference, and classroom
climate. Students who are not English native speakers indicated that their English proficiencies
and non-native pronunciation separated them from their American counterparts and university
faculty. Mary recalled that: “English can be a form of segregation which singles me out becauseof my Chinese accent. Language itself can create significant challenges or biases. For example,
some of my instructors may misread my academic abilities and interaction patterns as a resultof the differences in styles of language uses and proficiencies.”

	
  
	
  

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Another problem related to language is “academic talk” in classrooms. As Dilg (2003)
explained, language can define, divide, embarrass, exclude, isolate, or draw together minority
students, faculty and their White American peers at school. Furthermore, the cultural meanings
behind the language used also makes a difference in minority students’ learning processes andinteractions with instructors. Peter provided an example of this when he first heard theexpression, “the elephant in the room” in his class. All the American students immediately
understood and responded appropriately. Peter added, “So I have to pretend I understand, inorder to show I am listening and engaging. But this happens a lot in my studies. Instructors’
styles of questioning and other academic instructions and talks may not always make sense tome because they are not just about English language; it’s more about culture behind thelanguage.” Many students interviewed said they frequently encountered academic jargon thatblocked their responses and understandings. This culturally embedded language barrier canmislead university faculty in their assumptions about minority students’ interaction patterns,
academic performance, and learning outcomes.
Structured diversity in graduate level classes at the research site presented another challenge
for the interviewed students. According to Bennett (2004), structured diversity means the racialand ethnic diverse students and faculty representation in a particular institutional setting. The
perception of racial and cultural diversity may increase or reduce cultural prejudices andtensions among students and faculties. All five students interviewed indicated that they
expected to see more colleagues, classmates and faculty who “look like us”, and thus secure
their sense of cultural belonging, as well as building a safe and culturally familiar academic
environment. This feeling was similarly conveyed by Peter, Ken, Mary and Amy. As Amy
stated, “If the university’s faculty team could have more faculties of color, or from my cultural
background, I will be more comfortable, because they speak my language and could understandme, as well as be able to provide culturally responsive teaching practice and companionship to
support my academic development and ethnic identity construction.”
A House United or Divided: A Disparity in Teacher Preparation and Practice in Higher
Education
The students who participated in this study recognized that misconnections existed. They notedthat teacher education programs and university faculty were lacking multicultural courses andmaterials needed to educate in culturally responsive ways. This absence of culturally
responsive content and contexts overweighed the subject content knowledge, or “professional
skill” training. It caused a problem easily identified by the five research participants as: Some
professors are experts in their scholarly fields, but they are not very good at transmitting theiracademic knowledge and content knowledge to culturally diverse students.
Ken, as a third year doctoral student in teacher education, expressed his concern regarding lackof multicultural content and training in his program as follows:
Many teacher education students or professors may not have had the multiculturallearning experiences which are necessary to break the conservative assumptions
underlying teacher education at mainly higher education institutions. Lacking sufficienttraining in terms of culturally responsive teaching or multicultural education,
prospective faculties may not be aware of the importance of cultural diversity, racialdifferences and their impacts on minority students’ learning processes and identity
constructions. This institutionalized traditional teacher education model will negatively
reinforce inequitable teaching practices for culturally diverse students.
	
  
	
  

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Mary and Sunny also addressed missing cross-cultural or multicultural education context andcontent in teacher education and faculty preparation. As Mary indicated:
As prospective teachers or university professors, we are educated by what our professors
know about education and instruction, and we will teach our future students in the way
we are trained in the institution. If our instructors are lacking awareness and systematictraining of culturally responsive teaching, how can their teaching practices become
culturally responsive? And we are rarely seeing faculty preparation or training aboutteaching in a multicultural context. The university or higher education institutions are
deeply impacted by the taken-for-granted belief that professors are experts and they canteach effectively. But this may not always work as well as they expect.
The students interviewed agreed with Goodwin (1997) that attitudes and practices and the lackof progress in the area of prompting multicultural teacher education should be re-examined.
They also felt that inequitable teacher preparation in higher education is closely associated with
their inequitable teaching practices that, in turn, expand gaps in the academic achievement of
cultural and racial minority and majority classmates. Thus, systematic improvement in teacher
preparation and faculty teaching practices are needed to address these concerns.
Conclusion
This research indicates a teacher preparation-teaching practice gap in U.S. higher education,
especially among university faculties with increasing numbers of ethnic minority students inclass. Teaching effectiveness in graduate level classes is traditionally defined by professional
content knowledge, instead of the equal concern for faculty attitudes, curriculum design,
teaching practice, and interaction with multicultural students. These missing components resultin inequitable teaching practice and broaden academic achievement gaps between ethnic
minority students and their White peers. This situation provokes the need for a reconceptualization of teacher education in a multicultural educational context to include
culturally responsive perspectives and practices in higher education. Through exploring thelack of multicultural concerns in teacher education and teaching practice in one university
college of education, this study proposes the following suggestions for raising prospective
teachers and university faculty’s awareness of teaching for diversity.
Diversify Teaching Materials and Situate Teaching Practice in Diverse Cultural Contexts
Diverse students’ personal and cultural knowledge and experiences are not addressedsufficiently and positioned adequately in the mainstream academic environment. The cultural,
racial, linguistic, and knowledge diversity in this university’s academic environment calls forfaculties to reduce the discontinuity between what minority students experience and how they
have been educated in their home cultural and educational contexts, and what they experiencein university classrooms and how. In order to achieve academic success, minority students needto study in an academic environment that facilitates their cultural identity and competencedevelopment, when they encounter positive and culturally aware teaching attitudes, and action;
receive real-life connections and cultural relevance from learning materials and curricula; andexperience alternative and culturally responsive pedagogy and interactions with their faculties
and classmates.

	
  
	
  

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Rethink How to Prepare Faculties for Diversity, and Increase Diverse Representation
among Faculties
An important mission of teacher education is improving teacher candidates’ professional
content knowledge and teaching strategies, as well as promoting educational excellence andequity. One of the major aims of teacher education should be to assist teachers to develop theattitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to become thoughtful and approachable for every
student in the multicultural academic environment. To achieve this goal, appropriate andcomprehensive training to foster positive teaching attitudes towards diversity and thedeconstruction of teaching stereotypes and biases is needed. This present study supports thissuggestion especially academic teaching for university level teacher education programs tofoster positive attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Moreover, increasing the diversity of university
professors can benefit and strengthen teacher awareness of multicultural issues, and can reduce
the sense of cultural isolation among teacher candidates of color, and cultural insensitivity
among White candidates.
Preparing Culturally Responsive Faculty and Adding Cultural Components in Teaching
Practice
Adding cultural components in teacher training and promoting faculty cultural competence tobetter serve culturally diverse students are crucial steps toward improving university teachingpractice. It is essential for teacher education programs to present teaching as an intellectual andcultural activity, as well as to develop productive perspectives about the interactions among
race, culture, class, and schooling (Cochran-Smith, 2000). Teacher education programs needto modify content to support collaboration between faculty and teacher candidates in acquiring
culturally responsive teaching skills for practice in schools.
This research study offers a perspective on making prospective teachers and university facultyaware of engaging more effectively with the diverse student populations. This study also
advocates increasing culturally diverse components in teacher education beyond only
mainstream culture and knowledge-focused content to multicultural perspectives andexperiences to maximize efforts to improve the quality of teacher education programs, teachingpractice, and student performance in higher education. This study takes a step towards creatinga pathway to establishing campus climates and academic environments of teacher education
programs where “students of every cultural and racial background feel welcome and areencouraged to reach their highest potential, as well as receive academic achievements”(Bennett, 2004, p. 864).

	
  
	
  

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References
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Change, 19(3), 28-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.1987.9939144
Banks, J. A. (1991). Teaching multicultural literacy to teachers. Teaching Education, 4(1), 135144. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047621910040118
Banks, J. A. (2004). Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd Ed.). San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Bennett, I. C. (2004). Research on Racial Issues in American Higher Education. In J. A. Banks& C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd Ed.)
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Bennett, I. C. (2001). Genres of Research in Multicultural Education. Review of Educational
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Cohen, E. G., & Lotan, R. A. (2004). Equity in heterogeneous classrooms. In J. A. Banks & C.
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Cochran-Smith, M. (2004). Walking the road: Race, diversity and social justice in teacher
education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2000b). Teacher quality and student achievement: A review of statepolicy evidence. Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 8(1). Retrieved January 10,2017 from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v8nl. Crossref
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Dillard, C. B. (1997). Placing student language, literacy, and culture at the center of teacher
education reform. In J. E. King, R. E. Hollins, & W. C. Haymany., (Eds.), Preparing
teachers for cultural diversity (pp. 85-96).
Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children. New York, NY: The New Press.
Gay, G. (1977). Curriculum for multicultural teacher education. In F. H. Klassen & D. M.
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Ethnic heritage center for teacher education.
Gay, G. (1993). Building cultural bridges: A bold proposal for teacher education. Education
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Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. New York, NY:
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Gay, G. (2004). Curriculum theory and multicultural education. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M.
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San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Goodwin, A. L. (1997). Historical and contemporary perspectives on multicultural teacher
education: Past lessons, new directions. In J. E. King, R. E. Hollins, & W. C.
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Haymany, (Eds.). Preparing teachers for cultural diversity. (pp. 5-22). New
York, NY: Teachers College Press.

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Goodwin, A. L. (2000). Teachers as multicultural agents in schools. In R. Carter (Ed.),
Addressing cultural issues in organizations: Beyond the corporate context. (pp.
104-114). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452231297.n7
Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative Research: A guide to design and implementation. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Villegas, A., & Lucas, T. (2002). Preparing culturally responsive teachers: A coherent
approach. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Schofield, J. W. (2004). Fostering positive intergroup relations in schools. In J. A. Banks & C.
A. M. Banks (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd Ed.) (pp.
799-812). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Corresponding author: Huanshu Yuan
Email: yuanshelly67@gmail.com

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Measuring Diversity in Higher Education Institutions:
A Review of Literature and Empirical Approaches

Ferdi Widiputera, Kristof De Witte, Wim Grootand Henriëtte Maassen van den Brink

	
  
	
  

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Abstract
This paper reviews studies on diversity in higher education institutions and suggests empiricalapproaches to measure diversity. “Diversity” in this paper refers to the internal and external
differences among academic programs and institutions. As the empirical literature is relatively
salient about how to measure diversity in higher education, the study suggests and compares
the use of the Herfindhal index, Gini coefficient, Theil entropy index and the Birnbaum (1983)
measure. Applying the indices to data on Dutch higher education, the results indicate limited
diversity between institutions, disciplines, and bachelor’s programs. The diversity at themaster’s program and first year bachelor’s program levels increased between 2008 and 2013.
Keywords: diversity; institutions; indices.

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Introduction
The end of the 1960s marked the start of the democratization of higher education in mostWestern countries and a number of institutions were faced with the challenge of how toaccommodate a growing student intake (Beerkens-Soo & Vossensteyn, 2009, p. 3). In many
parts of the world that have experienced an expansion of higher education, diversity has beenemphasized as a tool to accommodate growing student numbers. In view of these changes,
the student population of universities funded by the Dutch government has growntremendously in the last five-years. Over the period 2009 to 2014, student enrollment grew by
13% to reach approximately 250,000 students (Law, 2016, p. 101).
Diversity in higher education refers to the variety in institutions or systems of higher education.
It concerns the differences among the programs or services provided by institutions and thedifferences among the types of institutions themselves (Meek, Goedegebuure, Kivinen &Rinne, 1996). Diversity can be measured between institutions and programs. Diversity between
institutions includes diversity “in size, in type or mission, in program profiles, in type of control
and in location” while diversity between programs includes diversity “in field, in academic
degree level, in orientation, in quality and in program delivery” (Dill & Teixeira, 2000, p. 100).
Meek, Goedegebuure and Huisman (2000) explained that diversity is a system that “affects
every aspect of higher education including access and equity, teaching methods and student
learning, research priorities, quality, management, social relevance, finance” (p. 1). The Trow
(1995) study defines diversity as characterized by the existence of institutions “within a stateor nation that differ from missions, lifestyles, laws and relationships to government” (as citedin Meek et al., 2000, p. 3). Lang (2003) argues that “diversity is a policy objective” from a“planning, regulation, and funding” perspective (pp. 29 and 40). Van Vught (2007) claims thatdiversity is the “variety of entities in the system within time” (p. 2).
Diversity has long been recognized as uniquely associated with the higher education systems
of many colleges and universities around the world and higher education institutions have useddiversity as a measure to appraise their systems. Studies of diversity have been ongoing sincethe 1980s (Birnbaum, 1983). Although dozens of studies have focused on diversity in higher
education institutions, there has been little review of the empirical findings of these studies.
Moreover, the few existing reviews rarely take into account the strength of the evidence. The
first best-evidence research in favor of diversity was from Birnbaum (1983). He measured theeffect of external diversity in American higher education between 1960 and 1980. Morphew(2009) repeated Birnbaum’s study and found a decline in diversity in the American higher
education system. The literature on diversity in higher education has given limited attention toempirical approaches to measuring diversity (Huisman & Morphew, 1998). This paper
contributes to the literature on diversity in higher education by suggesting and applying
approaches to measuring diversity among higher education institutions.
Several recent reviews have described the findings of empirical studies that focus on measuring
diversity. Horta, Huisman and Hector (2008) studied the use of research funding mechanisms
between institutions and applied the Gini coefficient in order to evaluate the result. Rossi(2009) explained “the relationship between market competition and diversity in higher
education” (p. 390) using the Herfindhal index to measure diversity and diversification.
Bonaccorsi (2010) used the Entropy measure to measure diversity among universities in several
European countries. In order to expand this literature, this paper explores four innovative
approaches for measuring diversity in the Netherlands, which is an Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) country. This focus is addresses the Dutch

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government’s policies to increase and maintain diversity in its higher education system. The
1985 Higher Education Autonomy and Quality (HOAK) claimed that program diversity isachieved “by granting institutions autonomy” (as cited in Huisman & Morphew, 1998, p. 7).
According to the 1985 HOAK policy document, “the government tried to direct the higher
education system with these stringent regulations and extensive control mechanisms” and“strengthen the autonomy of higher education institutions” (as cited in Maassen & Vught, 1988,
p. 66). Furthermore, the government expected to raise the level of quality and stimulate
diversity within the system (Maassen & Vught, 1988, p. 66). The focus of our review lies on
diversity between programs and higher education institutions. It builds on investigations ofexternal diversity in higher education, i.e. the differences between higher education institutions(Birnbaum, 1983). As such, the goal of this study is to assess whether diversity and its
mechanisms provide changes in the higher education systems by applying the Gini coefficient,
Herfindhal index, Theil entropy index and Birnbaum index. These indices were used tomeasure concentration within the context of diversity and to compare institutions and academic
programs.	
  The next section presents an overview of the earlier literature on diversity using empiricalapproaches in higher education systems and diversity indicators that have been used in thesestudies. This is followed by a description of the methods and search strategies. After that, thepaper presents an empirical study and the results. The final section presents the findings andconclusion of the study.
Literature on Measuring Diversity
In this section, we provide a review of the previous literature on diversity in higher education.
The review starts by over viewing the conflicting views on the definition of diversity. It thenhighlights how earlier literature has conducted empirical analysis.
In his seminal study, Birnbaum (1983) studied forms of diversity. He focused on external
diversity and presented “an overview of the various arguments found in the literature” (as citedin Vught, 2007, p. 5). Birnbaum identified seven forms of external diversity: “systemic
diversity, structural diversity, programmatic diversity, procedural diversity, reputational
diversity, constitutional diversity, and values and climate diversity” (as cited in Vught, 2007,
pp. 2-3). Birnbaum (1983) used six variables: institutional control, size, minority enrollment,
proportion of female students, program types and degree levels (as cited in Huisman &Morphew, 1998, p. 5). Birnbaum found that during the study period, external diversity in theAmerican higher education system did not increase.
Four empirical studies have explored diversity at the discipline level. Rossi (2009) defineddiversity as a variety of institution types, with the institutions categorized “according to one ormore specific institutional characteristics, at a certain point in time” (p. 395). Rossi (2009)
argued that the increase in diversity is one of the strategic arrangements in the higher education
system. He measured diversity between universities at a discipline level. He also explored theeffects of competition on diversity using Italian data for the period 1999-2006 in specificdisciplines (Rossi, 2009, p. 391). Rossi used the Herfindhal index to derive a diversity index,
as well as a regression analysis. The study concluded that there was a positive relation between
competition and diversity. However, the relation was not robust. He recommended further
study using other indicators. For example, the quality of the research in institutions or accessto institutions would enrich knowledge of diversity in higher education.
	
  
	
  

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There has been some research focusing on institutional diversity (Horta, Huisman & Heitor,
2008; Bonaccorsi, 2010). Horta et al. (2008), for example, focused on the relationship between
funding for research in higher education and institutional diversity. They argue that funding
might contribute to increased levels of institutional diversity in higher education systems. Theirapplication uses the Gini coefficient. They describe the two main models which havedominated in higher education systems. The first model is “the state control model in which
the government regulates through direct control” and the second is “the market based model,
the autonomy by institutions of higher education” (Horta et al., 2008, pp. 148-149). Horta et al.
(2008) observed that competitive funding rather than direct funding promotes institutional
diversity. As such, institutional diversity can be fostered by “funding mechanisms for academic
research” (Horta et al., 2008, p. 156). In a more recent study, Bonaccorsi (2010) measured
diversity by using an empirical approach. Diversity in doctoral education was measured
between universities in several European countries. The underlying census data originated fromthe project Aquameth, which collected data on all universities in 11 European countries during
the period 1994–2004. Bonaccorsi applied entropy and distance measures and concluded thatdiversity at universities in several European countries had mixed effects on dynamic diversity.
There were both positive and negative effects on diversity between universities.
The four studies reviewed above show a similar point of view regarding diversity. Someauthors (Birnbaum, 1983; Rossi, 2009; Bonaccorsi, 2010) describe empirical approaches tomeasure diversity, while others (Horta et al., 2008) do not use empirical analysis. The studies
clearly measure diversity and describe which variables have been used. The theoreticalframework related to diversity and its effects are clear. The four studies specify which aspectsof the systems in higher education the study refers to. Birnbaum’s (1983) conclusions onwhether government interference could increase diversity are different from those of otherresearchers. Rossi (2009), Bonaccorsi (2010) and Horta et al. (2008) do not explicitly explain
government interference. Finally these four studies provide recommendations or advice forgovernment policies in higher education.
MethodThis study relied on published papers and working papers from the years 2000 to 2014. The
following electronic databases were used: Higher Education and Economic Reviews, ERIC,JSTOR, Taylor and Francis, Wiley Online Library, Springer, and Google Scholar. The
literature review used the following keywords: institutional diversity, program diversity,
diversity and differentiation, diversity higher education, diversity and inequality, and external
diversity. Our search identified thirty articles. Despite our inclusion criteria, we included theolder literature by Huisman and Morphew (1998) and Birnbaum (1983) since these studies
provided the seminal work on this topic. Eight studies attracted our attention in particular(Lepori, Huisman & Seeber, 2014; Bonaccorsi, 2010; Rossi, 2009; Horta, Huisman & Heitor,
2008; Ayalon, Grodsky, Gamoran & Yogef, 2008; Huisman, Meek & Wood, 2007;
Kelchtermans & Verboven, 2010; Huisman, Kaiser & Vossensteyn, 2000). The difference
between the latter eight studies and the other articles is that they specifically focus on diversity
between higher education institutions while the other studies emphasize only general diversity
unrelated to higher education. In the next step, all papers that did not meet our inclusion criteria
were excluded. The decision to include studies was based on a combination of readingsummary abstracts, theoretical framework, methods and results. Included studies also had topresent definitions and measure diversity empirically. After applying these inclusion criteria,
we had four studies left. The four studies are considered in this review.
	
  
	
  

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Table 1 provides the relevant information and a systematic summary of the literature on
diversity as well as the applied empirical procedures. The following information was relevant:author(s), country, type of study, type of diversity, methodology, and outcome.
Table 1: Literature review on the type of diversity and the applied empirical approaches andoutcomes (after the year 2000)
Authors/Scholars/
Researchers
Rossi
Horta, Huisman &HeitorBonaccorsi

Country
and year
Italia(2009)
USA andUK(2008)
European(2010)
Swiss andvariousEuropean(2014)
Israel andUSA(2008)

Type ofstudy
Empirical
approach
Empirical
approach

Topic on type Methods/ Outcomesof diversity
Tools
Institutional
Herfindahl ↓ Diversity
index
Institutional
Gini↑ Diversity
coefficient

Empirical Institutional
approach
Empirical Institutional
approach

Theil
Dynamic
entropy
mixed diversity
Herfindhal ↑ Diversity
index

Empirical Institutional
approach

Gini
Diversification
coefficient affects
andto inequality
acrossnational
andlongitudin
al analysis

Huisman, Meek & OECD
Wood
(2007)

Empirical Institutional
approach

Kelchtermans
Verboven

Empirical ProgramapproachAcross ↑ Diversity
national
andlongitudin
al analysis
Concentra ↓ diversity
tion index

Empirical Institutional,
approach Program

Relativescore

Lepori, Huisman &SeeberAyalon, Grodsky,
Gamoran & Yogev& Belgium(2010)

Huisman, Kaiser & OECD
Vossensteyn(2000)↑ diversity

The Higher Education Institutions in the Netherlands
Higher education in the Netherlands is organized as a binary system (de Boer, Enders andLeisyte, 2007, p. 28). There are three types of Dutch higher education institutions, consistingof government-funded (bekostigde), approved (aangewezen) and private (particuliere)
institutions (Law, 2016, p. 100). The Dutch higher education system is comprised of 13
research universities (wetenschappelijk onderwijs, WO) that are accredited and funded by the
Dutch government and fifty universities of applied sciences (hoger beroepsonderwijs, HBO).
	
  
	
  

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Approved institutions are different; they do not receive funding from the government. Private
institutions also play an important role in the higher education system. They can apply for
accreditation by the Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatieorganisatie (NVAO). Table 2 provides
an overview of the institutions of higher education in the Netherlands.
Table 2: Number of institutions in the Netherlands in 2016
Institutions
Research universities
Universities of applied sciences
Total

Total
13
50
63

How to Measure Diversity
The Herfindahl index can be used to measure concentration in a variety of contexts. One way
is to analyze horizontal diversity between institutions. The Herfindhal supports multiple
variables and allows multiple groups (year, discipline and program level). To use this statisticalmeasure, the study considered the number of degree programs in each institution, for example
the number of disciplines offered by each institution. The Herfindahl index 𝐻𝐻# 	
  can beconstructed and computed for each institution as follows (Rossi, 2009):
𝐻𝐻# =
#

𝑥'# (
𝑥'

Where 𝑥'# is the number of students in a degree program in discipline 𝑖 offered by an institution
in the year	
  𝑐 . 𝑥' is the total number of students in a degree program offered by an institution in
the year	
  𝑐 . Since not all institutions offer each discipline, this index determines the range of
disciplines offered by each institution. The index varies from 0 to 1: the minimum diversity is
indicated by zero and the maximum diversity is indicated by 1 referring to the total number ofdisciplines. A low value of 𝐻𝐻# indicates that the institution is “more specialized” (lowdiversity), and a high value indicates that the institution is “more diversified” (high diversity)(Rossi, 2009, p. 396). The advantage of using the Herfindhal index is that it can be determinedby the range of each discipline in the program offered.
The second method is the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality. The
techniques for calculating the Gini coefficient have been designed for ungrouped data and are
popular “because of their simplicity and accuracy” (Abounoori & McCloughan, 2003, p. 505).
The Gini coefficient has the disadvantage that the cumulative percentage cannot be calculated
if one variable, for example the number of programs or the number of students, is not leveledfrom the minimum to the maximum value. The data required to calculate the Gini coefficientare the total number of programs in each institution and the number of students in each
institution. The Gini coefficient is calculated by comparing the area between the diagonal andthe Lorenz curve (area A) divided by the area of the triangle below the diagonal (area B).

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50

25

A
B

0

50

25
Cumulative student population share (%)

Figure 1: Representation of the Gini – measured as the area A / area B
Alternatively, the Gini coefficient is defined as follows:
𝐺# =

,
(,./)

= 	
  1 − 2𝐵
7

𝐺# = 1 − 2	
   8 𝐿(𝑥)𝑑𝑥 	
  

(1)
(2)

The function 𝐿 = 𝐿(𝑥) is the cumulative proportion of the number of disciplines in each
institution; 𝐿 denotes the cumulative proportion of the number of students. In practice, function
𝐿(𝑥) is unknown. In this formula, 𝐺# = 1 indicates perfect (maximum diversity) and 𝐺# = 0
indicates absolute equality (minimum diversity).
As a third methodology, the Theil entropy index (𝐸# ) can be defined as a “measure of theuncertainty” in a random variable (Mhaskar, 2013, p. 1). If 𝐸# approximates to 0, this indicatesa minimum diversity, and 𝐸# approximating to 1 indicates a maximum diversity. The Theil
entropy can be written as follows:@A

𝐸# = 	
  
#

𝑦#
𝑙𝑜𝑔	
   CBA 	  𝑌
DWhere 𝑦# is the number of disciplines in institution 𝑖. 𝑌 denotes the total number of disciplines.
𝑥# is the number of students in institution 𝑖. 𝑋 stands for the total number of students and 𝑖 isnumber of institutions (1,2,3 ... n).
Finally, this study also replicates the diversity measure by Birnbaum (1983). The Birnbaumindex is applied by measuring institutional diversity based on the largest number ofobservations. Birnbaum (1983) explains that diversity increases as the largest number ofobservations increases. The Birbaum index can be calculated as follows:

	
  
	
  

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𝐷# =
#

𝑌#
𝑋#

Where 𝑌# is the most populated number of students in disciplines in institution	
  𝑖 , and 	
  𝑋# is thetotal number of students in a discipline in institution 𝑖.
Data
The data was obtained from the Dutch Ministry of Education ('Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs',
DUO). The data includes for each institution the number of students in the academic years 2008
to 2013 for each institution. In addition, it provides program-level information on the numberof students in specific disciplines and program types (bachelor’s, master’s and first-yearbachelor’s programs). First, we considered the number of students at the institution level. The
study has information on all fifty institutions in higher education in the Netherlands. Second,
we examined the number of students at program type and sector levels. The data consisted ofprogram type, namely bachelor, master, or first-year bachelor. Third, we applied themethodology to the number of students based at the discipline level (1356 disciplines in total).
Results
Applying the four methodologies described above to data for higher education in the
Netherlands yielded some interesting insights. Table 2 provides a summary of the outcomesfor each of the four indices for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Table 3: Diversity at institution level
Year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Indices
0.0375 0.0374 0.0374 0.0372 0.0370 0.0374
Herfindahl
0.4765 0.4755 0.4749 0.4773 0.4799 0.4778
Gini coefficient
0.5276 0.5233 0.5208 0.5232 0.5274 0.5259
Theil entropy
0.9341 0.9373 0.9385 0.9345 0.9339 0.9301
Birnbaum
Source: Authors’ own calculations, based on the dataset from the Dutch Ministry of Education
The Herfindhal index is close to 0. It can be seen from Table 2 that the index value is 0.0375
in 2008 and 0.0374 in 2013. A lower number of students in each institution generated a low
value on the Herfindhal index. The Gini coefficient and the Theil entropy are both close to 1.
The results also indicate that the Birnbaum index is close to 1. This is because a large numberof students in each institution generated a higher value on the Birnbaum index.

	
  
	
  

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1.01
1.005
1
0.995
0.99
0.985
0.98
0.975

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Herfindhal
Gini coefficient
Theil entropy
Birnbaum
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Figure 2: Comparison between four indices at institution level (2008–2013)
Using the four indices, the trend shows that diversity at the institution level decreased overtime. The decrease means that institutions became more specialized during the period of study.
Similar to the result of the Gini coefficient for 2008 to 2010, the figure decreased slowly from
0.4765 to 0.4749. However the trends significantly increased to 0.4773 and 0.4799 in the years
2011 and 2012, respectively. This increase is probably caused by an increase in the number ofstudents in higher education. In the year 2013, the Gini coefficient decreased to 0.4778. The
decrease of the Gini coefficient shows that diversity in institutions reached a minimum(institutions became more specialized in the period of study), and the Theil entropy index
shows a similar movement. Both indices decreased between 2008 and 2010, then increased in2011 and 2012, but in 2013 they decreased again. The decrease in diversity over time can also
be seen from the Birnbaum index. The overall conclusion is that there is little diversity at theinstitution level. In other words, the institutions are relatively homogenous.
	
  Table 4: Diversity at discipline level
Year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Indices0.0089 0.0101 0.0098 0.0097 0.0094 0.0095
Herfindahl
0.1715 0.1397 0.1441 0.1483 0.1502 0.1481
Gini coefficient
0.6445 0.8400 0.8087 0.7868 0.7686 0.7785
Theil entropy
0.0476 0.0434 0.0316 0.0316 0.0313 0.0320
Birnbaum
Source: Authors’ own calculations, based on the dataset from the Dutch Ministry of Education
The results are based upon a total of 1356 disciplines at fifty institutions. The Herfindhal index,
the Gini coefficient and the Birnbaum index at the level of discipline are low and close to 0.
These low index values may be caused by a small number of students in each discipline. While
the results from the Theil entropy index are above 0.5 in 2008 (0.6445) and in 2013 (0.7785),
they are still below 1.

	
  
	
  

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1.5
Herfindhal

1

Gini	
  coefficient	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  

0.5

Theil	
  entropy	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
Birnbaum

0
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Figure 3: Comparison between indices based on disciplines (2008–2013)
The values vary between 0.0089 (2008) and 0.0095 (2013). However, the overall diversity at
discipline level has decreased. Similar changes are also shown by the Theil entropy index. Bothresults indicate a decrease in diversity (disciplines became more specialized over time). The
overall trends in the Gini coefficient increased from 2009 (0.1397) to 2012 (0.1502) and thendecreased in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, the Gini coefficient decreased somewhat, and overall it
can be concluded that diversity at the discipline level increased (disciplines became morediversified over time). The Theil entropy index increased from 2008 to 2009 and then decreased
significantly until 2012. The Theil entropy index slightly increased in 2013. The overall
comparison between the four indices indicates that diversity at the discipline level decreased(specialization increased).
Table 5: Diversity at bachelor level
Year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Indices
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
Herfindahl
0.8329 0.8319 0.8316 0.8300 0.8298 0.8282
Gini coefficient
0.5549 0.5648 0.5625 0.5589 0.5598 0.5587
Theil entropy
0.6635 0.6821 0.6811 0.6777 0.6807 0.6798
Birnbaum
0.7146 0.7030 0.7043 0.7012 0.6993 0.6945
Source: Authors’ own calculations, based on the dataset from the Dutch Ministry of Education
The results show that the four indices are not close to 1, indicating that the bachelor’s level
programs are relatively homogenous. However the Herfindhal index is high at the bachelor’s
program level. The Gini coefficient is the lowest of the four indices.
1.04
1.02

Herfindhal

1

Gini	
  coefficient	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  

0.98

Theil	
  entropy	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  

0.96

Birnbaum

0.94
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Figure 4: Comparison between indices based on bachelor’s programs (2008–2013)

	
  
	
  

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The Herfindhal index decreased from 2008 to 2013. It can be concluded that bachelor’s
programs during that period had minimum diversity (more specialization). The Gini coefficientand the Theil entropy index decreased from 2009 to 2011. From 2011 up to 2013 there was an
unstable movement. In general, these indices were rather similar concerning the direction of
the movement. The decrease in diversity was also found in the Birnbaum index. The overall
result of these indices supports the conclusion that diversity at the bachelor’s program level
was low. Bachelor programs were relatively homogenous.
Table 6: Diversity at master level
Year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
Indices
0.8604 0.8727 0.8734 0.8752 0.8757 0.8784
Herfindahl
0.6482 0.7082 0.7145 0.7284 0.7264 0.7440
Gini coefficient
0.7659 0.8139 0.8178 0.8277 0.8333 0.8472
Theil entropy
0.7734 0.8191 0.8252 0.8271 0.8281 0.8398
Birnbaum
Source: Authors’ own calculations, based on the dataset from the Dutch Ministry of Education
The results in Table 5 show that the Herfindhal index approached 1. The Gini coefficient hada low value compared with other indices. However, most indices were relatively high. The highvalues of the indices imply that diversity at the master’s program level was large.
1.2
1.15
1.1
1.05
1
0.95
0.9

HerfindhalGini	
  coefficient	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
Theil	
  entropy	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
Birnbaum
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Figure 5: Comparison between indices based on master’s programs (2008–2013)
The Herfindhal index, the Gini coefficient, the Theil entropy index and the Birnbaum index
were similar in their trend from 2008 to 2013. All indices increased during this period.
Diversity in master's programs at sector level increased significantly. This increase wasprobably due to the growth in the number of bachelor’s students who continued in a master’s
program, thus affecting the number of students in master's programs. Master programs wererelatively heterogeneous.
Table 7: Diversity at first year bachelor level
Measurement
Herfindhal
Gini coefficient
Theil entropy
Birnbaum

Year 2009
0.7986
0.46790.5014
0.6637
	
  

	
  

58

2010

2011

2012

2013

0.79970.46930.50500.66590.79810.4666
0.5026
0.6626

0.79780.46620.50730.66440.80120.47350.52200.6705IAFOR Journal of Education

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Source: Authors’ own calculations, based on the dataset from the Dutch Ministry of Education
The results refer to the number of first year bachelor’s students. The Herfindahl index was highcompared with other indices. The Gini coefficient was the lowest among the indices (below0.5). The Herfindahl index had a high value. The high value indicates that diversity at the levelof first year bachelor programs was high.
1.06
1.04

Herfindhal

1.02

Gini	
  coefficient	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  

1

Theil	
  entropy	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  

0.98

Birnbaum

0.96
2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Figure 6: Comparison between indices based on first year bachelor’s program (2008–2013)
The diversity indices presented a dynamic mixed trend movement at the level of first-yearbachelor’s programs. The diversity in first-year bachelor’s programs increased between 2009
and 2010 but decreased in 2011. Moreover, the Herfindhal index and the Gini coefficientdecreased somewhat between 2010 and to 2012 and then increased in 2012 and 2013. This
dynamic mixed movement is probably due to the number of students enrolled in first-yearbachelor’s programs. Generally, the analysis concluded that diversity in first-year bachelor’s
programs was high.
Discussion
The Impact of Diversity
This paper focuses on recent changes that have taken place in the Netherlands’ higher
education system. Diversity is generally considered as an effective strategy in higher education
systems, and in the Netherlands, increasing diversity responds to demands from stakeholders(Rossi, 2009). Scholars have disagreed on whether or not diversity improves higher education.
The current debate between scholars and policy makers about the role of diversity in higher
education has been mired in the ambiguity of whether diversity has a positive or negative effect.
This ambiguity could be attributed to the lack of empirical evidence, theoretical approaches
and methodologies (Mahat, 2014). The previous literature on diversity suggests thatheterogeneity in the types of programs is feasible to study, but it is not clear whether there are
empirical approaches to measure diversity adequately. This study exploits the empiricalapproaches by using four different methodologies (Gini coefficient, Herfindhal index, Theil
entropy and Birnbaum method) to measure diversity. To our knowledge, this is the first study
which suggests innovative approaches in the sense that we can measure diversity not only for
all levels of higher education institutions but also for various programs offered and for several
types of programs, such as bachelor’s and master’s programs. Like many other model-based
measures, our approach ignores differences in program quality as well as the attractiveness ofprograms.
	
  
	
  

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Differences between Institutions, Disciplines and Program Levels
This examination of the dynamics of the composition and the number of enrollments at theinstitutional level provides some insight about the causes for these differences. The analysis
shows that the four concentration indices have decreased over time, although not monotonically(as shown in Figure 2). This indicates that universities have a tendency not to offer degree
courses in specific markets. Universities encounter difficulties when diversifying in order tocater to a wide range of student preferences. Similar results are obtained when we consider
differences at the level of disciplines. Overall, the variation of the four indices decreased
monotonically during the period 2008–2013 (as demonstrated in Figure 3). The reasons for thisdecrease are arguably related to the decrease of diversity at discipline level and are mainly due
to a lower number of students recruited to universities. Our analyses demonstrated the
dynamics of the indices at the bachelor’s level in the period 2008–2013. Furthermore, small
universities and institutions with a good reputation have to compete among each other toincrease enrollment in bachelor’s programs. Competition between institutions decreased thenumber of students enrolling. In addition, our analyses examined program levels frombachelor’s degree and master’s degree. The number of students enrolled increased significantly
because of the increase in the number of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs offered in
the Dutch university system.
Improving Diversity
A major problem that clouds the debate on diversity in higher education systems is a lack ofconsensus on what is required to improve diversity in higher education. In order to research
this question further, future research could construct the Boone-indicator. The Boone-indicator
is a new measure of competition (Leuvensteijn, Bikker, Rixtel & Sorensen, 2007). Thisapproach is able to measure competition at the program level. The main idea of the Booneindicator is that more efficient programs achieve higher profit. The more negative the Boone
indicator is, the higher the level of competition between programs in the market.
Conclusion
The call for more diversity among higher education institutions and programs has coincidedwith the democratization of higher education. One of the earliest studies on this topic wasconducted by Birnbaum (1983), who analyzed the impact of diversity on the higher education
system in the United States. The latest empirical research was conducted by Rossi (2009), who
considered diversity as an effective strategy for the higher education system in Italy. The
present study has contributed to this literature by applying and comparing four indices tomeasure diversity using data at different levels of higher education in the Netherlands during
the period 2008–2013.
The study concluded that diversity at the level of master’s and first year programs increased inhigher education institutions in the Netherlands. The number of students increased and this has
significantly driven the increase in diversity. However, results differ between institutions,disciplines and program levels. The study found that diversity at the bachelor’s level decreased,
but diversity increased at the master’s level. The indices for the first-year bachelor’s programlevel were more mixed over time. The development of diversity over time can be affected by
the number of students who enroll in the programs.

	
  
	
  

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Besides suggesting various ideas to measure diversity, this paper provides several lines for
future research. First, the current study provides separate estimates on diversity between
institution and program level. Additional research is necessary to explore the relation between
diversity at the program level and the number of students. Second, the study measured diversity
across institutions, disciplines and program types (bachelor’s, master’s and first-yearbachelor’s degree) using data on the number of students enrolled. In order to research thisfurther, it is necessary to explore diversity for groups at the program level. Data on the numberof students at the program level investigate the characteristics and attractiveness of program.
Third, the study used a sample of Dutch higher education programs. It would be interesting tocompare our results with results for other countries.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank seminar participants at the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture andSciences, and participants at the TIER Workshop, the LEER Workshop on Education
Economics and the Madrid Workshop on Education. The authors are grateful to the European
Commission for financial support through the Horizon 2020 project EdEN (Economics of
Education Network).

	
  
	
  

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Lepori, B., Huisman, J., & Seeber, M. (2014). Convergence and differentiation processes in
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Corresponding author: Ferdi Widiputera
Email: ferdi.widiputera@maastrichtuniversity.nl

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Applying the CREAM Strategy for Coaching Teaching Practices

Marine Milad

	
  
	
  

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Abstract
Monitoring and evaluating staff tutors necessitates constant follow-up to ensure that they arein line with the University’s mission and vision. This has raised a fundamental educationalquestion: how to coach rather than monitor the tutors. To answer this question, Cottrell’s (2008)
CREAM (Creative, Reflective, Effective, Active, Motivated) strategy was applied to coachthese tutors following the GROW Model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will way forward) as aframework for structuring both team and individual coaching sessions. Cottrell’s strategy was
initially developed for enhancing the learner’s self-directed/autonomous learning. For the
purpose of this implementation, the researchers applied the CREAM strategy as a selfassessment and observation tool. Being pragmatic leaders, they conducted three team coachingsessions and one-to-one individual sessions throughout the academic semester following the
GROW Model to: establish SMART Goals, examine the current Reality, explore possible
Options/Obstacles, and establish the Will. A checklist was developed to measure the staff tutors’
self-assessment of their Creative, Reflective, Effective, Active, and Motivated teachingpractices and the same checklist was used by the head of the program as an observation
checklist to evaluate these practices. The two tools were statistically analysed and a correlation
was found.
Keywords: CREAM strategy; coaching; pragmatic leaders.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
Developing one’s skills is not an easy task whether done by oneself or other individuals. The
true leader tries to be pragmatic rather than dogmatic (Geiger, 2011). Pragmatic leaders havetheir feet on the ground. They are realistic and practical. A pragmatic approach to somethingis the sensible one. A pragmatic way to fix a bike is to use the tools you have rather than theones you wish you had (Biesta & Burbules, 2003). In an attempt to be pragmatic leaders, theresearchers reasoned that they should coach the staff tutors to enhance their teaching practices.
Wade (1997) specified that coaching is a process that enables individuals to achieve their fullpotential. It helps them in making real, lasting changes and facilitating the exploration of theirneeds, motivations, desires, skills and thought processes. Parsloe (1999, p. 32) defines coachingas “a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to improve.
To be successful, a coach requires knowledge and understanding of process as well as thevariety of styles, skills and techniques that are appropriate to the context in which the coachingtakes place.” Through observation, listening and questioning techniques, a coach can help
individuals understand the current situation and identify needed solutions and actions rather
than adopting a wholly dictated method. Whitmore (2002, p. 19) stated that “getting better
performance from any group or individual, yourself included, means permanent change in theway you think [coach]. Change of this kind is not a single transaction but a journey, and thejourney has a specific starting point [reality] and a clear destination [goal].” Coaching guides
individuals to set appropriate goals and methods of assessing their progress in relation to thesegoals. Coaching can be done individually or in groups, taking many forms and applying avariety of techniques which may include one-to-one training, facilitating, counselling andnetworking (Shermon & Shermon, 2016). Thus, the researchers adapted the C.R.E.A.M.
(Creative, Reflective, Effective, Active, Motivated) strategy, which was initially developed forenhancing self-directed autonomous learning, to help the tutors assess their teaching practices
following the GROW model of performance coaching (Goal, Reality, Options, Will way
forward).
Coaching and Performance
Gallwey (2000, p. 40) defines effective coaching as “…unlocking a person’s potential tomaximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”
Whitmore (2002, p. 23) describes coaching as “…the essential management style or tool for
optimizing people’s potential and performance. Commanding, demanding, instructing,persuading with threats, overt or covert, cannot produce sustainable optimal performance, eventhough they may get the job done.” Thus, coaching is not just meant for enhancing poor
performance, it can also be used to help project team members or staff tutors develop andachieve their goals, while producing better results on their projects or enhancing their teachingpractices. Whitmore (2002, p. 28) highlighted the importance of coaching to enhance
performance: “if either the quality of a performance or learning from the experience isimportant, coaching is a must.” This importance of a coach suggests that effective coaching isnecessary for progression of performance.
Coaching offers a vehicle for analysis, reflection and action that ultimately enables individuals
to achieve success in one or more areas of their life or work. It also encourages a commitment
to action and the development of lasting personal growth and change. Moreover, it maintains
unconditional positive esteem in that the coach is at all times supportive and non-judgmentalof the individuals; their views, lifestyle and aspirations. The role of the coach is to encourage
individuals to work within their area of personal competencies; continually improve these
	
  
	
  

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competencies and develop new developmental associations where necessary to achieve theirgoals in light of their qualifications and experience with high performance (Knight et al., 2015;
Shermon & Shermon, 2016). The coach should make sure that individuals are working on
developing their own competencies, not on developing unhealthy dependencies on thecoaching relationship. Individuals will be able to evaluate the outcomes of the coaching process
and use objective measures wherever possible to ensure that the relationship with their coachis successful and that they are achieving their personal goals and maximizing their performance.
GROW Model of Performance Coaching
In the 1980s, Sir John Whitmore and his team of performance consultants developed the
GROW model which is now firmly embedded in the world of business coaching (Whitmore,2009). GROW stands for: Goal, Reality, Options, and Will way forward. For establishing theGoal, the coach should prepare individuals to set their Simple, Measurable, Attainable,
Realistic, Timed (SMART) goals and examine if these goals fit with the overall career
objectives and the team's objectives. Then, the coach should set an observation checklist tofollow up the individuals’ accomplishment of these goals. After that, the coach should guidethe individuals towards examining the current Reality by evaluating what is happening now
and what sort of obstacles stand in the way, setting milestones to take the necessary steps
towards the target goals, picturing the effect of this on the long run, and identifying any
potential conflict of their goals with other goals or objectives. Thus, individuals should be
guided to explore different available Options to solve a present problem or to perform a giventask better out of their understanding of the current reality. Then, the individuals should
evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each option. They should be guided to consider
the weight of each option and what should be done to achieve it. Finally, the coach helps
individuals to set the Will by deciding what they will do next within a certain timeframe keeping
in mind what type of obstacles might hinder their progress and how to overcome them as shownin Figure 1 below (Whitmore, 2009).

Figure 1: GROW Model of Performance Coaching
Adapted from Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore, 4th Edition, 2009. Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-powerful-coaching-questions-ask-performance-choogaicd
A good example of the GROW Model of Performance Coaching is driving a car. Before driving,a Goal should be identified by specifying the destination of the desired location and target.
Then the driver should explore the current Reality, such as checking the car tires, oil level andpetrol. Then, the driver should choose from different Options the most effective route thatwould save time, effort and money to reach the chosen destination. Finally, s/he Will startdriving using his/her competence as a licensed driver to get to the desired destination. Whiledriving the role of the coach is highlighted. The coach should guide the driver to mind the
	
  
	
  

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mirror’s blind spot, announcing that there is another car approaching. Similarly, a coach canalso guide tutors to plan their teaching and improve their performance by highlighting theirstrengths and overcoming their flaws.
Characteristics of an Effective Coach
A good coach should promote an individual’s self-evaluation and reflection of his/her own
performances. In sports, “a coach who is other than consistently enthusiastic, whatever theteam’s results or mood is in the wrong job” (Wade, 1997, p. 22). Thus, an effective coach“…applies intelligence to leadership and can involve persuasion and compelling players to go
along with them” (Wade, 1997, p. 30). In such a field, if players or athletes are not led or steered
properly through training, they may feel unsure of what the coach is trying to achieve andreluctant to change their training or technique. Similarly, if tutors are not inducted or guided
appropriately towards the best teaching methods for achieving the target learning outcomes,
they might lose track of what should be delivered and how to help learners reach these desired
outcomes. Wade (1997) believes that in order for coaching to be effective the coach must
exhibit a number of qualities such as: leadership and intelligence, analytical ability, confidence
and decisiveness, integrity and reliability, vision and imagination, coping with unpleasantness,organization and administration, and enthusiasm. An effective coach should provide formativeevaluation and constructive reflection on individuals’ performance including both areas ofgood execution and areas which need improvement and should suggest suitable models foreach one.
A Coach as a Pragmatic Leader
Adopting the pragmatic leadership approach, the researchers acted as thoughtful leaders,sensitive to the organizational environment, and willing to modify goals or strategies
periodically. Pragmatic leadership means to develop a leadership competence that balances thebest elements of efficiency and context.
In order to meet the needs of stakeholders, clients or customers, you may
need to be flexible to ensure that the day-to-day priorities of your team –and the over-arching priorities of the organization – can adjust to remain
responsive, relevant and competitive……the pragmatic leader is able todeal with the day-to-day issues and challenges in a straight forward,
practical manner…….pragmatic leadership is made up to two essential
components: principles and experience (Bedell-Avers et al., 2009, p. 301).
In pragmatic leadership, one of the most important roles is to coach your team members to dotheir best. By doing this, you get them to be better decision makers, problem solvers,
continuous learners for new skills, and career oriented. For the purpose of this study, theresearchers adopted concepts like honesty, integrity, fairness and transparency to coach theirstaff tutors as pragmatic leaders (Biesta & Burbules, 2003). They followed an open-door policy
with their staff tutors and started coaching and leading with examples. In addition, they worked
hard on building trust and gaining their tutors’ confidence through establishing a friendly
atmosphere, empowering their staff, killing rumours/gossips, acknowledging efforts andproviding financial and/or moral incentives. Once the leaders’ values are aligned withprinciples and built on experience, they could be confident that their chosen approach was thecorrect, defensible and sustainable one (Bedell-Avers et al., 2009). Therefore, the researchers
adapted Cottrell’s C.R.E.A.M. strategy to coach their team’s teaching practices.
	
  
	
  

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C.R.E.A.M. Strategy
Cottrell (2008) recommends the C.R.E.A.M strategy for learning. She focuses on developing
self-learning skills and equipping learners with the necessary study skills to pursue theiracademic major at a university level. In the project described here, the researchers worked on
applying the C.R.E.A.M strategy to coach their staff tutors’ teaching by highlighting theirstrengths and helping them to discover their areas of improvement.
To promote Creativity, the researchers coached their team to increase their confidence in using
their own individual strategies and styles that work best for them. In addition, the tutors wereencouraged to apply their imagination to their teaching practices. As for being Reflective, theresearchers guided their team to reflect on and evaluate their own performance identifying theirstrengths, areas of improvement and what is missing in their class. They were also encouraged
to pay class visits to their colleagues’ classes to learn from each other.
Moreover, the tutors were also encouraged to make their teaching practices Effective by
understanding their students’ needs and having their state of mind, space, time and materials
organized in the ways that best suit their way of teaching. Consequently, with enough planningand preparation, the tutors will make their teaching effective, saving time, effort and money.
Being Active is one of the important dimensions in Cottrell’s strategy (2008). Active teachingexists when tutors are involved in what they are teaching and constantly looking for ways ofgetting their students be more involved in and responsible for what they are learning throughusing games, debates, role plays, simulations, field trips, etc. The tutors should set short-termgoals and involve their students in setting these goals. They should be aware that their level of
Motivation will affect their success and their students’ success as well. Thus, tutors should becoached that motivation is the key for pursuing goals, reaching success, and that attitude is
everything. If students feel that their tutors are not motivated, they will not be motivated. To
sum up, the C.R.E.A.M strategy is a general principle which encourages individuals toconstantly stop, think and reflect on ways of improving the way they teach and learn.
Methodology
Statement of the Problem
Based on a review of the literature, the researchers’ observations, and the lack of a deliberatemodel/strategy for training and coaching the staff tutors at Arab Open University (AOU),
Kuwait Branch, the educational question raised was how to coach rather than monitor AOU
tutors. To answer this question, Cottrell’s (2008) C.R.E.A.M. strategy was applied to coachthese tutors and to help them to discover and develop their teaching performance following the
GROW Model as a framework for structuring both team and individual coaching sessions.
Participants
The implementation of this study involved a sample of 19 staff tutors, 7 of whom were female
and the rest male. The age group of the participants ranged from 24 to 53 years old. Thesetutors were teaching the general English language courses at the Foundation Program, English
Language Unit (ELU), Arab Open University (AOU), Kuwait Branch for not less than two
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Duration
The duration of the project was one academic semester. It started in the fall/first semester of
the academic year 2015/2016 and continued till the end of the academic semester.
Hypothesis
The project aimed to investigate the effect of Cottrell’s C.R.E.A.M. strategy on improving thestaff tutors’ teaching performance following the GROW Model of performance coaching.
Cottrell’s strategy was initially developed for enhancing the learner’s self-directed/autonomous
learning. For the purpose of this project, the researchers applied C.R.E.A.M. strategy as a selfassessment and observation tool to coach their tutors to discover their teaching potentials andmaximize them so as to be able to coach their students towards being self-directed learners.
Measures
Data for this study were collected through fifteen items developed for observing and assessing
the staff tutors’ performance in teaching general English language at the Foundation Program(appendix A). The Observation/Self-Assessment Checklist was designed to test the fivedimensions of the C.R.E.A.M. strategy (Creativity, Reflective, Effective, Active, andMotivation). The checklist was developed by the researchers based on the five dimensions of
the C.R.E.A.M. strategy. The tool was verified by an external assessor the number of thechecklist items was reduced from twenty-three to fifteen to avoid repetition of some items andto give equal weight to each dimension. For the purposes of this study, the checklist was usedby the tutors as a self-assessment tool and by the head of the Foundation Program as a generalsummative assessment tool for teaching performance. The tutors’ self-assessment responses
and the head of the Foundation Program’s observation response for each tutor were statisticallyanalysed and a correlation was explored using SPSS.
Research Design
A descriptive design was adopted to review and survey previous literature and studies related
to the variables (C.R.E.A.M. strategy and GROW model of performance coaching). One group
design with pre-post measure was adopted to assess the tutors’ teaching performance using theobservation/self-assessment checklist.
Setting/Delivery
A two-day coaching/training session was conducted at the beginning of the fall semester of theacademic year 2015/2016 to coach the staff tutors of general English language courses at theFoundation Program. The session also aimed to maximize the tutors’ teaching potentials byfamiliarizing them with the course aims, intended learning outcomes, materials, and assessment
tools, in addition to sharing best teaching practices. This coaching session was to help themdevelop the learners’ general English language skills and equip these learners with thenecessary study skills to pursue their academic major at a university level. After that, two
induction sessions were presented to familiarize the same staff tutors with the teaching methods,
study calendars, assessment rubrics and group/double marking. This is in addition to
conducting a 360-evaluation cycle based on student and peer feedback and the head of theFoundation Program feedback.
	
  
	
  

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Instruments/Assessment Tools
One instrument was used twice to measure the variables of the study. An observation/selfassessment checklist was developed to be used by the tutors to assess their Creative, Reflective,
Effective, Active, and Motivated teaching practices at the beginning of the semester. Then, thesame checklist was used by the head of the foundation program as an observation checklist toevaluate these practices at the end of the same semester. The results were statistically analysed
and a correlation was explored.
Results and Discussion
The 19 tutors responded to the fifteen questions of the self-assessment checklist at the
beginning of the fall semester of the academic year 2015/2016 to assess their Creative,
Reflective, Effective, Active, and Motivated teaching practices. They were asked to provide abrief description of their experience after responding to the questions and analysing their own
data. They were asked to share their findings regarding what they learned about themselvesand how far they were applying the C.R.E.A.M. strategy in their teaching practices. They werealso asked to share their future plans to improve their teaching practices in light of the
C.R.E.A.M. strategy. The tutors’ responses to each dimension of the C.R.E.A.M. strategy andthe observation for each one was statistically analysed and a correlation between each tutor’s
self-assessment and the head of the Foundation Program (Rater) observation were explored asindicated below.

Figure 2: The Overall Correlation Averages between Tutors’ Self-Assessment Responses andhead of the Foundation Program (Rater) Observation on C.R.E.A.M. Strategy
The above radar chart (Figure 2) helped in detecting the correspondence between the two setsof data. It demonstrated the similarities and discrepancies across individuals. As shown in theabove graph (Figure 2), there were a few discrepancies between some of the tutors’ selfassessment responses and the head of the Foundation Program observation. As a result, thehead of the Foundation Program held an individual one-to-one coaching session with each tutor.
During this coaching session, the head of the Foundation Program discussed each dimention
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017of the CREAM starategy to make sure that the concept was clear to this tutor and provided
relevant field examples to clarify each diminsion and how to implement it in teaching.

Figure 3: The Correlation between Tutors’ Self-Assessment Responses and head of theFoundation Program (Rater) Observation on the Creativity Dimension
As shown in the above graph (Figure 3), there were a few discrepancies between some of thetutors’ self-assessment responses and the head of the Foundation Program observation on thecreativity dimension. Thus, the head of the Foundation Program provided a relevant example
that occurred during teaching the Oral and Presentation course. She explained that whenteaching a speaking course, a tutor must be extremely creative to encourage students to comeat the front of the class and speak up for two minutes. In one of the speaking classes, the chapter
was about healthy food, so the head of the Foundation Program came to class wearing a chef’s
hat and an apron. She displayed toy cooking equipment and started the lesson teaching thestudents a funny recipe as to how to cook fried eggs. Then, the students were given five minutes
to prepare a recipe of their own and come to the front of the class to present it. The students
reported that this activity was so much fun for them and created a very comfortable atmosphere
where all students had the courage to participate in the class discussion and speak up. Anothercreative example was in a speaking course. The chapter discussed practising sports, so the headof the Foundation Program arrived in class wearing sports clothes and holding a volley ball.
Then she and the students did an aerobics session before they started passing the volleyball anddiscussing the target topic.

	
  
	
  

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Figure 4: The Correlation between Tutors’ Self-Assessment Responses and head of theFoundation Program (Rater) Observation on the Reflective Dimension
As shown in the above graph (Figure 4), there were a few discrepancies between some of thetutors’ self-assessment responses and the head of the Foundation Program observation on thereflective dimension. Accordingly, the head of the Foundation Program provided the following
example discussing the importance of being reflective on one’s own teaching practices. She
stated that going into a lecture without being ready is very bad and does not sound professional
at all. She shared an authentic experience when she was asked to teach a writing course forbusiness studies with a very short notice to prepare the course. After finishing the first lecture,
she left the class and started crying because she reflected on her teaching practice anddiscovered that the lecture went so bad thus she gave herself a zero-satisfaction degree. Sheadvised the tutors that they should frequently reflect on their teaching practices. Thus,
educators should evaluate and ask themselves every time they finish a lecture: “How did I do?
Did I deliver the information in a suitable/right way? Did the students receive and assimilate
the information I delivered well?” By asking these reflective questions, educators can detect
the areas that need improvement by themselves.

	
  
	
  

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Figure 5: The Correlation between Tutors’ Self-Assessment Responses and head of theFoundation Program (Rater) Observation on the Effective Dimension
As shown in the above graph (Figure 5), there were a few discrepancies between some of thetutors’ self-assessment responses and the head of the Foundation Program observation on theeffective dimension. Therefore, the head of the Foundation Program provided the following
example discussing how organizing and managing one’s own time can lead to effective
teaching practices that would help the tutors reach the target learning outcomes. Being aneffective tutor means that you should be highly productive- saving time, effort and money while
performing any task. You need to know what your students’ needs are. You have to plan yourlecture well. Even though you might be teaching the same subject for more than one semester
using the same course guide, calendar and material, you need to have a clear lesson plan foreach session that might require few adjustments based on your students’ needs. Moreover, you
should realize that you set an ideal example to your students, you cannot ask them to be ontime if you are not.

Figure 6: The Correlation between Tutors’ Self-Assessment Responses and head of theFoundation Program (Rater) Observation on the Active Dimension
	
  
	
  

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As shown in the above graph (Figure 6), there were a few discrepancies between some of thetutors’ self-assessment responses and the head of the Foundation Program observation on theactive dimension. Consequently, the head of the Foundation Program provided the following
example regarding the level of students’ involvement in setting goals and class interaction. The
head of the Foundation Program stated that in all classes tutors must make sure that theirstudents are involved in all sorts of activities. The tutors should divide their students into groups
and ask them to write a short script on a given topic to perform a role-play using their own
words and ideas. Tutors can ask students to use their mobile phones because they like the ideaof using them in class and at the same time, they will be involved in doing something that iscommon among all. Students can use their mobile phones to google a topic or even a word.

Figure 7: The Correlation between Tutors’ Self-Assessment Responses and head of theFoundation Program (Rater) Observation on the Motivation Dimension
As shown in the above graph (Figure 7), there were a few discrepancies between some of thetutors’ self-assessment responses and the head of the Foundation Program observation on the
motivation dimension. As a result, the head of the Foundation Program provided the following
example. As a coach, you need to be motivated first, then, you can ask your staff tutors to be
motivated; same applies for your students. You should be motivated intrinsically andextrinsically so as to be able to get your students motivated. Your staff tutors should see andfeel that you are motivated, thus they will reflect this motivational attitude on their students.
They will reward them since they have been rewarded by their coach/leader. The head of theFoundation Program used a variety of motivational techniques such as sharing motivational
stories, awarding distinguished performance, empowering with needed authority, delegatingtasks and leading with examples. For example, she held an end of semester meeting to
acknowledge each tutor’s effort and share good practices. She bought gifts and rewards todistinguished tutors, group leaders and coordinators to encourage them to keep high teaching
performance and encourage others to do their best so as to be awarded the following semester.
There are many ways of motivating staff tutors and students and encouraging creativity.
After detecting the above discrepancies, a two-day coaching/training session was conducted at
the beginning of the semester to maximize the benefits of the foundation tutors’ potentials by
	
  
	
  

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familiarizing them with the course material, teaching methods, study calendars, and sharing
best teaching practices. The aim of this training session was to help them develop the learners’
general English language skills and equip these learners with the necessary study skills to
pursue their academic major at a university level. After the midterm exams, two induction
sessions were presented to familiarize the tutors with the assessment rubrics and group/double
marking. This is in addition to conducting a 360-evaluation cycle based on students’ feedback,peers’ feedback and head of the program feedback.
At the end of the project, the tutors were asked to respond to the questionnaire again. They
were encouraged to give detailed feedback on what changed in their teaching practice. The
mean scores of the tutors’ self-assessment and the head of the Foundation Program observationin the five dimensions of the C.R.E.A.M. strategy was statistically analysed and Pearson
coefficient was calculated to measure if there was a significant difference between the tutors’
assessment and the head of the Foundation Program observation at the end of the project. The
statistical results presented in table (1) below show the mean scores of the tutors’ selfassessment and the head of the Foundation Program observation in the five dimensions of the
C.R.E.A.M. strategy. There is small difference between the tutors’ self-assessment and thehead of the Foundation Program observation, p 0.027 (p˃ 0.05).
Table 1: Mean scores of tutors’ self-assessment and the head of the Foundation Program (Rater)
observation
Items
analyzed

Participants #Creative
Mean

Reflective
Mean

Effective
Mean

ActiveMean

Motivated
Mean

Tutors’ selfassessment

19

0.89

0.73

0.86

0.85

0.82

Rater’sobservation

19

0.84

0.66

0.85

0.78

0.83

PearsonCoefficient r
0.0.027

0.9
0.8

AXIS	
  TITLE

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

Creative Reflectiv EffectiveeSeries1
0.89
0.73
0.86

Active0.85

Motivated0.82

Series2

0.78

0.83

0.84

0.66

0.85

Figure 8: The mean score of tutors’ self-assessment and the head of the Foundation Program
observation
	
  
	
  

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The findings show between .01 and .07 discrepancies between the mean sores of the tutor’s
self-assessment and the head of the Foundation Program observation. This indicates that the
majority of the staff tutors exhibited distinguished performance in the five dimensions of the
C.R.E.A.M. strategy by the end of the project especially after following GROW model to coach
their teaching practices. All the 19 tutors received group coaching sessions and only three tutors
received individual on-to-one coaching sessions based on the discrepancies detected from theradar charts.
Conclusion
The findings of this study can be summarized as follows. Factors that contribute to the successof coaching teaching practices using the C.R.E.A.M. strategy are leading with examples,
adopting open door policy, building trust and gaining confidence through establishing afriendly atmosphere, empowering staff, killing rumours/gossip, acknowledging effort andproviding incentives whether financial or moral incentives. The most important success factor
was showing empathy and tolerance because we are all human being and we can learn fromour mistakes. In addition, the slight difference in the mean score of the tutor’s self-assessment
and the head of the Foundation Program observation at the end of the project confirms the roleof the GROW model in improving these tutors’ teaching practices.
However, there were a few challenges that have acted as obstacles in front of the success of
this study. These failure factors should be avoided to be able to coach tutors successfully suchas resistance of some tutors to accept change and move out of their comfort zone, emergenceof personal issues that could make the tutors distrust their coach/leader, unconvincing goals
and visions, unclear tasks and instructions, impractical methods, insufficient tools, andunprofessional assessment techniques whether formative and/or summative assessment.
Recommendations
In light of the previous data analysis and the coaching with examples technique, the following
can be recommended. It is advisable to encourage adoption of the C.R.E.A.M. strategy across
AOU branches in the following ways: general course coordinators to coach branch course
coordinators, branch course coordinators to coach their teams, and team leaders to coach tutors.
Finally, it is highly recommended to self assess your own teaching in the light of C.R.E.A.M.
strategy.

	
  
	
  

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References
Bedell-Avers, K., Hunter, S. T., Angie, A. D., Eubanks, D. L., & Mumford, M. D. (2009).
Charismatic, ideological, and pragmatic leaders: An examination of leader-leader
interactions. The Leadership Quarterly, 20(3), 299-315.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.03.014
Biesta, G. J. J. & Burbules, N. (2003). Pragmatism and educational research. Lanham, MD:
Rowman and Littlefield.
Clarke, A. (2008). E-learning skills. UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cottrell, S. (2008). The study skills handbook. UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gallwey, W. T. (2000). The inner game of work. New York: Random House.
Geiger, R.L, (2011). Iconic leaders in higher education: Perspectives on the history of higher
education. Rutgers, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Knight, J., Elford, M. D., Hock, M. F., Dunekack, D., Bradley, B., Deshler, D. D., & Knight,
D.S., (2015). Three steps to great coaching: A simple but powerful instructionalcoaching cycle nets results. Journal of Staff Development, 36(1), 10-18.
Knight, J. (2013). High-impact instruction: A framework for great teaching. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin Press.
Parsloe, E. (1999). The Manager as a coach and mentor. London: Chartered Institute of
Personnel & Development.
Shermon, G., & Shermon, K. (2016). Business of staffing: A talent agenda. Lulu Publishing
Services.
Wade, A. (1997). Principles of effective coaching. Spring City, PA: Reedswain Books &Videos.
Whitmore, J. (2009). Coaching for performance. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Corresponding author: Marine Milad
Email: marinemilad@yahoo.com

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Appendix A
Observation / Self-Assessment Checklist
Applying CREAM Strategy
Tutor’s Name: _____________________________________________________________
Course (s): ____________________

Date: ____________________

CREAM strategy was developed by Stella Cottrell, an international bestselling author, topromote self-directive/autonomous learning. The aim of this self-assessment tool is to measure
how far you apply CREAM strategy on your teaching.
Read each statement carefully and indicate how frequently it applies to your teaching style(always, often, sometimes, rarely or never) by Putting R in the box that best describes yourteaching.
Statement
1.   I have the confidence to use myown individual strategies andstyles that work best for teaching.
2.   I challenge myself to be creative
and apply my imagination to myteaching.
3.   I am a curious person. I ask mystudents some questions to get toknow them well and discover
their needs.
4.   I reflect and evaluate my own
teaching performance throughidentifying my strengths andweaknesses.
5.   I ask myself what is missing in
my class.
6.   I do peer class visits and I makeuse of the feedback I receivefrom other tutors.
7.   I set realistic, measurable minigoals and take things one step at
a time.
8.   I organize and manage my time
properly and be in class on time.
9.   I put myself into an extremely
teaching mood and make myclasses as enjoyable as possible.
10.  I involve my students in myteaching by participating in

Likert Scale
Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never
5
2
4
3
1

	
  
	
  

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11.  I look for links between different
things to facilitate my students’constructive learning.
12.  I take charge of my class andmanage it like a project.
13.  I see difficulties as challenges
and opportunities for progressbecause every problem has asolution.
14.  I believe that my level ofmotivation will affect mysuccess.
15.  When I meet my goals, I reward
myself and set more challenging
goals.

	
  
	
  

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Write your score below:
Creative
1. -----2. -----3. ----------/15

Reflective
4. ----5. ----6. ---------/15

Effective
7. ----8. ----9. ---------/15

Active10. ----11. ----12. ---------/15

Motivated
13. ----14. ----15. ---------/15

Percentage of CREAM Strategy = Total sum of all columns × 100/75------ × 100÷75 = --------%
Reflection on the checklist:
1.   What did you learn about yourself?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.   What do you plan to do to improve your teaching style in the light of CREAM
strategy?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

	
  
	
  

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SMART Teaching in New and Old Classrooms
Gunter Saunders, Federica Oradini and Mark Clements

	
  
	
  

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Abstract
The University of Westminster is undertaking a major classroom refurbishment program thatis linked to a new approach to staff development in mobile learning. Feedback obtained fromacademic staff and students previously highlighted how classrooms should be changed so as topromote more active forms of curriculum delivery. Both technology and classroom furniture
were considered significant enablers for effective in-class delivery, with the simplicity of theformer and flexibility of the latter identified as key. To date nearly 70 classrooms have been
re-designed and the impact of the changes on both staff and students has been assessed.
Generally, the feedback has been positive with high praise for the easy to use technology
solutions provided and the adaptability of the furniture. In addition, the significance of ‘getting
right’ basic features in new classrooms (lighting, acoustics for example) was frequently citedby staff and students. This paper will highlight the features of new classrooms that students
and staff have indicated they feel are most significant for their learning and teachingexperiences. The paper will also assess the extent to which the new classrooms have beensuccessful through analyzing the impact of both new technology and furniture arrangements
on approaches to curriculum delivery. In addition, staff views on the utility of the new staff
development approach will be discussed.
Keywords: learning and teaching; technology enhanced learning; mobile learning; newclassrooms; staff development.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
Students in the United Kingdom are expecting more from Higher Education as the personal
costs for degrees in many countries progressively rise (Douglas, Douglas, McClelland &Davies, 2015; Temple, Callender, Grove & Kersh, 2014). Linked to this are changing
expectations in relation to the ways in which universities prepare students for their future lifein the workplace (Higher education: success as a knowledge economy, 2016) and therecognition that technology must play a key role in that preparation. Digital technology iscentral not only to the personal development of students but also to curriculum delivery inmodern education. School leavers tend to come to university having experienced the use oftechnologies as an integral part of their earlier learning years, and they expect to see technology
being used effectively by their lecturers to support and underpin their learning (Lai, 2011;
Sharpe, Beetham, & De Freitas, 2010).
The current situation, however, is that the use of technologies in learning and teaching, andespecially online and web-based tools and systems, has still generally not led to a fundamental
transformation of teaching and learning from largely lecture based to more student centeredand active approaches (O'Flaherty & Phillips, 2015).
The experience described and analyzed in this paper is of a university seeking to redress thebalance of activity in taught classes from lecturer to student centered. The University ofWestminster is seeking to change the nature of curriculum delivery through a fundamental shift
in the nature of its learning spaces and in the way it provides staff development in new
approaches to learning and teaching.
Literature Review
Web-based tools and systems have considerable potential to change learning and teaching
dynamics and processes (Gilkas & Grant, 2013; NMC Horizon Report, 2014; Saunders &Oradini, 2008) and the literature is full of numerous case studies of its successful use (Sharpe,
Benfield, Roberts & Francis, 2006) However unlike in the commercial world, technology has
still not fundamentally transformed the way in which universities conduct their core businessof curriculum delivery (Huer, 2015). Most UK universities are still trying to make sense of theplace of technology-enhanced learning within overall learning and teaching strategies(Kirkwood & Price, 2014). This is currently a major area of debate specifically in relation to
the concepts of mobile learning and the flipped classroom (Bishop & Verleger, 2013; Saunders& Klemming 2003). We know that students use their mobile devices frequently whilst atuniversity and would like to exploit them in learning (Beetham & White, 2013). Equally, weknow that the majority of academic staff are suspicious of these devices and often see them as
distractions or only useful for surface learning (Garrison & Vaughan, 2012; Greener, 2010;
Hanson, 2009; Outram, 2004). It is quite common in UK classrooms for students to be told toswitch off mobile devices rather than for them to be exploited as part of a curriculum delivery
and engagement strategy.
There are a number of other possible reasons why mobile devices are not used that much bylecturers as part of the learning and teaching approach. The age profile of academic staff canhave an impact, with many not familiar with the features of smartphones beyond telephone
calling, texting, and browsing. Certainly, many academic staffs lack the confidence to engage
with tools or services that can be accessed on mobile devices often for fear of the approach
failing on the day. Thus the technical infrastructure and support for staff are frequently raised
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017as an impediment to progressing attempts to integrate mobile learning approaches intoclassroom teaching (Puentedura, 2006; Sharples, Arnedillo Sánchez, Milrad & Vavoula, 2009).
Allied to this are concerns about the physical nature of the classrooms, for example, poor WiFi
and furniture that makes it difficult to do anything other than seat students in rows facing one
way.
Today’s students enter Higher Education with an increasingly diverse range of prior knowledge,
capabilities, study habits, digital literacies, and expectations than those of previous generations(Valenti, 2015). “Students need a flexible environment that lets them experiment, learn fromeach other, and create their own blend.” (Beetham, 2014, p. 1).
Today's fast-paced business environment demands nearly instant productivity from every hire.
The nature of work today is inherently team-based and collaborative, often virtual andgeographically distant. Employers seek creative, collaborative and dynamic employees,
therefore the student of the future needs to graduate with instantly productive skills and abilities
and educational institutions are being asked to fill in the gap (Valenti, 2015). The blend oftechnology-specific, individual, and team-based skills is a realistic portrayal of the needs of themodern student (Brown, 2012). Pedagogies that encourage a participatory culture need to be
the new focus of educational change (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015).
The physical classroom remains key to curriculum delivery in most traditional campus-based
universities (Fisher, 2016; Graham, 2012; Hakkinen & Hamalainen, 2012; Oradini & Saunders,
2016; Temple, 2007). Curriculum shifts include focusing on various forms of active learning
such as flipped classrooms, scale up, team-based learning (Michaelsen, Davidson & Major,
2014) and problem-based learning environments (Tritz, 2015). Such active learning classrooms
have the potential to enable students to acquire exactly the kind of skills that employers aredemanding of today's graduates.
The general trend towards constructivist approaches in learning and teaching is driving theneed to have more adaptable physical spaces that are suited to a range of teaching and learning
approaches (Mukerjee, 2014; Valenti, 2015). At the University of Westminster, an extensive
review of infrastructure for learning and teaching in 2014 showed clearly that academic staff
felt inhibited by the physical spaces they taught in. They collectively highlighted a range ofissues that made it difficult for them to contemplate more flexible forms of in-class curriculum
delivery, as also observed by Oblinger (Oblinger, 2006). Many problems cited were quite basic
such as lighting, availability of sufficient whiteboard space and room blackout capability.
Classroom furniture was also frequently raised as requiring attention. Audio-visual (AV) andInformation Technology (IT) facilities were also identified as key to the set of lecturer’s tools
within a modern classroom. The ease of use of the AV and IT was critical in determining theextent to which they were used. Current AV/IT configurations were not seen to encourage nor
enable student engagement, again tending to lead to a lecturer-centric model of operating
within the classroom environment.
Methodology
Purpose of the Work
The work described and discussed in this paper was undertaken in order to support a desired
shift by the university to more student-centered, active learning approaches in curriculum
delivery. The changes made to physical classrooms were one major aspect of the university	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017wide project concerned whilst the promotion of mobile learning was the other. Allied to bothof these was an examination of existing staff development in new methods for learning andteaching and a consideration of how best to provide such development support.
Classrooms – The Views of Staff and Students
A range of approaches to obtaining views and opinions from students and staff about existingclassrooms were exploited including surveys, crowd sourcing, as well as individual interviews
and focus group meetings. The discussions and data obtained from over 150 staff and around1000 students were categorized into various themes (see results below).
Having gathered a number of consensus points about new classrooms from across all subject
areas, the next step was to work out how to reflect the views collected in any new classroom
designs. Working through the University’s estates department, a project manager (PM) was
engaged for the work and a single person internal to the University, with teaching experience,
acted as the principal client for the work. The client’s main role was to engage with thecustomers (the academic staff who would use the rooms) to take the themes that had emerged
from the review and start to develop outline plans for a number of rooms.
The university is structured into five faculties and working within the available budget it wascalculated, using sector and internal norms for room refurbishment costs, that potentially 5-6
rooms per faculty might be refurbished. Each faculty was asked to identify a minimum of twolead stakeholders to work with the client on identifying the target rooms and to go on fromthere to specify requirements for each room. The specification/design process was broadly split
into two; the audio visual and IT in each room was one part and the other was what would be
described as the “building works.” To help to ensure that the overall look of the new classrooms
would feel engaging, an external design company (Rock Townsend) was contracted to ensure
this and to provide overarching co-ordination of the entire works. The AV and IT delivery
aspects were managed by a separate external company that had already been engaged to start a
program of AV/IT refresh across the whole of the university that would progressively ensure
uniformity in AV/IT equipment, as well as effective control and monitoring of that equipment.
Through a series of face-to-face meetings, sometimes with single faculties and sometimes withrepresentatives from all faculties, the rooms to be targeted were identified and details of any
specific requirements for each room were developed. Specific requirements were either related
to the precise mix of the technology in the room or the furniture.
Approach to the Development of Mobile Learning
In order to move the University of Westminster forward in relation to mobile learning, aproject-based approach, based on best practice methods developed by sector-wide agencies
was used. Initially, members of the core project team concentrated on exploiting a number ofresources that were specifically focused on mobile learning to gather ideas for moving forwardwith the project in its early stage. These resources were provided through JISC, a not-for-profit
organization for digital services for further and higher education. JISC resources helped indeciding certain paths (e.g. formation of a practitioner group) and gave ideas for quick wins.
In addition, the resources were used as sources for a report prepared by the project team toprovide a basis for engagement with the wider university staff and student community. This
included the gathering of baseline data from stakeholders on their view of mobile technologies
and learning approaches. The JISC resources exploited were:
	
  
	
  

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Mobile Learning infoKit (https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/mobile-learning) – this was the coreresource and helped us to consider where quick wins might be made. For example, this resource
prompted the generation of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) newsletter for staff andstudents and also began to make us think of implementing a secure texting service for use bystaff.
Effective Practice in a Digital Age (www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/programmerelated/2009/eff
ectivepracticedigitalage.aspx) – this provided some useful information on the theoreticalaspects of the report referred to above and also suggested the use of YouTube for storage ofvideos that would then display on mobile devices.
JISCTechDis’ Go Mobile! (http://rscstaffdev.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/jisc-techdis-gomobile.html) – again this provided useful background for the report and also was an importantresource to cite in highlighting the advantages of mobile learning to students with accessibility
issues.
Sustainability Toolkit (https://sustainembed.pbworks.com/w/page/31632855/Welcome) – theproject director was very familiar with this resources having worked with a major contributor
to the resource for some time. We were able to draw therefore on the individual concerned to
guide us quickly through key points to ensure sustainability, which in part has led the project
to work ever more closely and become a small part of wider institutional initiatives. An early
eye on sustainability also led us from the outset to ensure the work was connected to key
institutional committees (in this case Information Strategy Committee and Learning, Teaching
and Student Support Committee).
Results
Audio-visual and IT Equipment
A standard audio-visual arrangement for each room was used, which had been previously
agreed for the entire university. This included a new kind of lectern, touch-screen all in one
networked PC, data projector and a range of wired connectors to which devices brought to theclassroom by the lecturer could be attached to display screens. In addition, as standard, eachroom was also equipped with a microphone and necessary software to allow for capture (asminimum) of audio/audio over slides. The external design company (Rock Townsend) had theprimary responsibility for working with the faculties on room layout and furniture options.
Though not part of the established standard for AV/IT across the estate, all of the rooms were
provided with a Kramer unit (www.kramerelectronics.co.uk/products/#filters?&groupli=57).
This was provided as a solution to an emerging requirement to enable screen-casting inclassrooms from mobile devices belonging either to the lecturers or the students. The Kramer
unit is a wireless presentation and collaboration system that enables more than simple screencasting. So for example with Kramer units, it is possible to have multiple independent wall
displays within one room. In addition, with a Kramer unit up to 6 user screens can be shown
simultaneously on one class display. The AV/IT installed the rooms can be grouped broadly
into 3 types as shown in Table 1.

	
  
	
  

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Table 1. Summary of types of AV/IT configurations beyond the basics across the classrooms
Type
1
2
3
4

AV/IT features

No. ofrooms
One data projector displaying to a designated main wall11
One data projector displaying to a designated main wall but with 7
additional independent displays on other wall(s)Smart display board to main wall
1
Smart display board to main wall with additional independent smart 3
board displays on other wall(s)Although the University of Westminster had a standard lectern shown in Figure 1, 6 of the 22
rooms refurbished in this project were equipped with an innovative non-standard lectern(Figure 2). This wall attached lectern was designed to be side on to the audience thus removing
the potential physical barrier between lecturer and student audience of the standard lectern.

Figure 1: The standard lectern at the University of Westminster

Figure 2: Non-standard side-on wall mounted lectern known as ‘the box’
The variation in the precise mix of AV and IT and furniture allowed the collective group of
faculties to make available a variety of room types at the end of the project but still enabledcertain aspects of AV/IT (such as the control panel on the lectern) to be standardized. Similarly,
although furniture could be different, the general décor and basic features such as lighting,window blinds, and flooring and electric power options was also standardized across the rooms.
In addition, feasible walls became ‘writable’ surfaces to add a further option for group working.
Typically, this included the designated ‘front’ wall and one side wall.
	
  
	
  

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The Furniture
There was variation across the classrooms with respect to furniture. Essentially three types offurniture or furniture arrangements were agreed upon. The first was a standard table and chair(see example room in Figure 3) though the specification from faculty academic staff was thatthese should be much lighter than current tables and chairs typically supplied. The second typeof furniture was an ‘all in one’ unit i.e. a chair on wheels with a small writing tablet built inthat could be pulled across in front of an individual once seated in the chair (see example roomin Figure 4). In the end, the project experimented with 2 types of such chair. Finally, there wasa circular, sofa-based seating arrangement proposed for one of the 22 rooms (see Figure 5) and
one room was planned to have fixed revolving seats (see Figure 6).
The balance of furniture types across the rooms was:
•  
•  
•  
•  

Standard tables and chairs – 8 rooms
All in one chairs on wheels – 12 rooms
Sofa/lounge type circular seating – 1 room
Fixed revolving seats – 1 room

Figure 3: Classroom with standard tables and chairs

	
  
	
  

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Figure 4: Classroom with chairs on wheels with integral writing tablet

Figure 5: Classroom with sofas and additional informal seating

	
  
	
  

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Figure 6: Classroom with fixed, rotating chairs with integral writing tablet
Developing the use of Mobile Learning at the University
Surveying students on their views and use of mobile devices and systems
An online survey (see Appendix 1) was distributed across a range of subject areas at the
University with the help of academic staff with a teaching responsibility in those areas. These
subject areas were Construction, Biosciences, Media Art and Design, Psychology andComplementary Medicine. They were chosen because of the active involvement and interestof specific academic staff which made it more likely that the project team would be able to getreasonable numbers of responses from students. The goals of the survey were to gather
information on students’ use of online technology and tools as well as to get a feel for variationin student views across a range of subject areas. In the end, the survey collected some 413
responses across the 5 subject areas involved.
A summary of the data collected is shown in Tables 2, 3 and 4 below. The tables respectively
report on access to specific hardware or ownership of specific social networking accounts (table1); use of/preference for different communication and social networking systems (table 2) andperceived training/development needs (table 3). The 5 columns represent the 5 subject areasthat took part. The total number of responses for each subject area were respectively:
Construction 129; Psychology 28; Biosciences 180; Media Art and Design (MAD) 47;
Complementary Medicine (Comp Med) 29.

	
  
	
  

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Table 2: Access to specific hardware and use of social networking tools and features
Construction

Psychology

Biosciences

MAD

87%

90%

81%

16%

15%

78%
12%

Access tolaptopAccess totabletSmart phone
No mobileinternet
Have aSocialnetworkaccount (e.g.
Facebook)
Have aTwitter
account
Don’t knowwhat an RSS
feed is

Mean

91%

Comp
Med
97%

19%

11%

17%

16%

79%
18%

53%
30%

68%
28%

66%
24%

69%
22%

77%

86%

77%

91%

76%

81%

20%

36%

23%

49%

13%

28%

64%

54%

67%

55%

66%

61%

Mean

89%

Table 3. Use of communication and social networking systems
Construction
Never read
blogs
Never createdblogs
Never used wiki
Never useddiscussion
boardsRarely use emailascommunication
Never used
web-based
image hosting

Biosciences

Art

38%

Psycholog
y
21%

31%

9%

Comp
Med
28%

86%

61%

78%

26%

90%

68%

72%
54%

29%
29%

42%
41%

40%
45%

34%
52%

43%
44%

4%

4%

2%

6%

0%

3%

53%

61%

57%

26%

72%

54%

	
  
	
  

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Table 4. Stated training/development needs
Construction Psychology Biosciences MAD
Need to developinternet searchingskillsNeed to develop
word processing
skillsNeed to develop
spreadsheet skills

9%

7%

14%

4%

Comp
Med
7%

Mean

5%

4%

9%

6%

14%

8%

29%

18%

27%

45%

31%

30%

8%

Key findings from the student survey included a relatively high percentage of smartphoneownership but low tablet ownership. In addition, students seemed generally to use social
networks but were often ignorant of terms such as RSS feed. Significant percentages of students
had not previously maintained, created or used blogs, wikis and discussion boards. Most
students rated their internet searching skills very highly. More recent data gathered from staff
and students at Westminster indicates these findings were still mostly valid in 2015.
Student focus group discussions were carried out to explore the results of the survey which
generally reinforced and confirmed the impressions gained from the survey data collected. The
focus groups also explored in more detail the student views of the Blackboard Mobile Learn
app used at the university. All of the students found the mobile app was valuable to them as an
aid for keeping up with their studies with the mobile alerts constantly mentioned as a key
feature. None of the students who contributed to these face-to-face discussions had experience
using their mobile device in any formal, directed learning activity. The groups were evenly
split over whether using mobile devices more proactively in learning activities were desirable.
Surveying Staff about Mobile Learning
At the start of the project a short questionnaire designed to obtain baseline information about
current exploitation/interest in mobile learning approaches was distributed to all staff who are
instructors in the University’s VLE, Blackboard. There was a total of 58 completed
questionnaires received with representation from each faculty in the university.
The questionnaire included one closed question asking if staff provided material/content thatthey expected or required students to access on a mobile device. By far the majority of staff
who responded (88%) did not currently do this. Two open questions then explored what
learning activities staff currently provide for mobile devices and how desirable and/or feasible
they thought it was to integrate mobile technologies into learning and teaching either inside oroutside the classroom.
Of the 14% (n = 8) that identified a current use of mobile learning, only 2 could be classified
as being mobile specific. These were, using a mobile to take video footage (Media, Art and
Design), and sharing and pooling group work tasks during seminars on mobile devices (Social
Sciences). The other practices put forward were focused on information retrieval fromBlackboard and were not necessarily mobile dependent i.e., could also be done via a desktop,
or in one case (Computing) the use of puzzles which could be accessed on iOS and Android
mobile platforms but also on a computer desktop. Although 88% (n = 50) of respondents
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017indicated they do not currently provide information, online materials or activities that they
expect or require students to access/use with a mobile device, it was apparent from theresponses to the question about desirability of utilizing mobile approaches for learning that alarge number of the staff who responded were using learning and teaching activities which
could support a mobile learning strategy. Examples of this were:
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  

posting additional [course] information on Facebook accounts
asking students to photograph relevant public scenes [linked to theory learned in class]providing a comprehensive range of learning resources on Blackboard
annotating lecture slides directly onto netbook (small, lightweight, legacy-free, andinexpensive laptop computers) or tablet devices
downloading e-books of key texts to refer to in practical classes on laptop or tablet
encouraging data gathering directly onto smartphones via survey monkey
ensuring multimedia materials are accessible to mobile devices
using Twitter, Flickr, etc. for project work
audio recording of lectures
viewing YouTube videos in class

When asked how desirable or feasible it is to integrate learning and teaching activities utilizing
mobile technology/devices beyond just the provision of information, 77% (n = 45) respondents
gave a positive response. Only a very small number of respondents were unsure of this, withthe common reason being the lack of knowledge of what might be possible (either from notbeing aware of the technology available or the support for this within the University). Some
16% (n = 9) stated that a greater integration of mobile learning approaches was neither feasible
nor desirable. A common theme amongst the negative responses was a concern over the impact
on physical attendance and the subsequent loss of “personal interaction,” “sensorial experience,”
the perception that mobile learning “does not enhance learning” and furthermore is a more
superficial “surface approach to learning’.” Across all respondents, there were concerns about
equality of access given that not all students have access to smartphones or tablets. Finally, a
substantial proportion of respondents 81% (n = 47) expressed a desire to find out more about
mobile learning approaches either through workshops, seminars or newsletters.
Developing a Community of Practice
The work described above led to the formation of a mobile learning practitioner group. This
group had 70 members at the first meeting to discuss how best the University could support
mobile/flexible learning. The group went on to organize an internal webinar series todisseminate more widely some of the examples of practice that bringing the group together had
revealed. The group managed to engage with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the institution
with responsibility for learning and teaching, who personally took part in the webinar series,
and undoubtedly raised awareness at a senior level the need for support development. This led
to specific changes to the technology enhanced learning strategy for the institution. The project
also funded a number of pilot projects, including one designed to measure the impact ofproviding a tablet device to students in small classes to facilitate student co-creation.
Leveraging Additional Institutional Investment in Mobile Learning
As a consequence of the practitioner group as well as the university-wide events the grouporganized to raise the profile of flexible/mobile learning, the university’s central support
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017services added two services to the online learning toolset that could underpin mobile learning
approaches. These were a texting solution that integrated with the VLE and web-based pollingthat could be used both in and outside of the classrooms. In addition, a plan for the progressive
enhancement of the university’s WiFi network was also put in place.
Academic Staff Development
We received clear feedback from staff that what they wanted was simple uncomplicatedsuggestions of how to integrate mobile learning into their teaching and classroom delivery.
Time was cited as a real issue for academic staff. There was little spare time to spend on
complicated systems or excessive pedagogic theory. Experienced staff wanted ideas withwhich they could rapidly engage and consider within the context of their subject area. We
therefore started with a workshop that was around two hours in length when delivered face-toface.
The workshop was discursive and centered around four short video case studies that briefly
highlighted situated learning, the use of video recording, student co-creation and use of online
collaborative spaces including writing walls and blogs. The student co-creation case study wasinternal to Westminster and was based on pilot work supported by the project. Presentation of
the case studies was followed by group work where participants brainstormed “how what they
had seen and heard in the case study video could apply to their teaching.” Initial feedback fromthe first two workshops (15 participants in total) was generally positive. However several
participants did remark that they would like access to additional “how-to guides and videos.”As a consequence, the workshop team developed an online version of the workshop within the
VLE. The site contained the short case study videos plus a recording of the introduction to theworkshop given face-to-face. Wholly online participants were encouraged to keep personal
blogs and to reflect at predefined points with those reflections guided by questions focused on“how what they had heard could help in their context or not.” In addition, there was a course
blog to which all participants at the end of the online course were asked to post an outline planfor taking mobile learning forward in their teaching. The online site also contained a numberof short videos supplementing the core materials and activities used in the face-to-face versionof the workshop. These videos showed how specific tools worked and it also included an area
called the “app store” where all participants could share their experience of apps or web
services they found valuable. Associated with the completion of the online course was theaward of a digital badge that could be passed by the participant from the VLE site to their
Mozilla Badge Backpack. The badge was triggered by completion of personal blog posts at set
points in the course workflow and through completion of the outline plan referred to. The
workshop continued to be offered face-to-face and these participants, as well as those who hadtaken the face-to-face course previously, could gain the badge by writing an outline plan posted
to the workshop in the VLE blog.
Between January and July 2015, around 150 staff attended the workshop either face-to-face oronline and nearly 300 blog posts were made. The views from participants at various points inthe workshop (face-to-face and online) were also collected on Padlet walls.
Academic Staff Reflections on the Workshop and Mobile Learning Approaches
Many unsolicited comments written in the blogs suggest that the workshop was highly regarded
and pitched at the right level. The scope for participants was: to hear about simple approaches
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017that have worked, think with others about how the approach could be adapted to their context
and then find out how to use the technology tools required. In the latter respect, the online site
was considered most helpful not just for the how-to aspects but also because it was a place they
could revisit and benefit from the reflections and views of others. While there were many blog
posts praising the course and highlighting the community aspect of the online site, there was
one part of one post that we reproduce below and which we believe reasonably represents thecollective view of the utility of the course and the community aspect:Thank you for a really useful introduction to mobile learning. I feel much more
confident about starting to implement mobile learning techniques into my teachingsessions and the tools that are available to me now, as well as where to get help andadvice from. It's also been really useful to read some of the blogs from otherparticipants on this course who, having tried and tested some of these tools andactivities, have offered valuable tips and ideas, and others who like me are relatively
new to mobile learning and had similar concerns and ideas also. I am now thinkingof ways in which I can use some of these tools in my upcoming sessions.
Generally, participants who wrote in the online course blog about their plans for going forward
tended to focus on what they had experienced in the workshop/online course. So, situatedauthentic learning was regularly raised, as was reflection, sharing and role-playing. Of thetechnology tools used in the face-to-face workshop, Padlet (online writing wall), Poll
Everywhere (in and out of class web-based polling) and the video/audio capture capability ofsmart devices seemed to exercise individual and group thoughts most frequently. A number ofexamples of simple mobile learning approaches already practiced by participants or planned
for the future, across a range of subjects, are summarized in Table 5.
Table 5: Simple mobile learning approaches done or planned by participants
Subject Area
Politics
Psychology

Languages

Business

What I do or plan to doStudents reflect on visits to political, government or
non-government institutions. Communication andsharing of data to prepare for simulated negotiations,Students are encouraged to experience a musicalgenre culturally different to their own. Reflections
can be enhanced through recordings and shared withpeers.
Students visit a museum to research aspects of the
topic (e.g., history, conceptual issues, professional
issues). Students use mobile devices to gather data.
Students share what they have observed on a visit.
Class responses to translation questions andstrategies.
Brainstorming vocabulary or opinions on different
topics. Recording of role play scenarios.
Sharing reflection and commentary on daily news.
Gathering feedback on curriculum delivery.
Students work in groups and produce podcasts. The
group chose the best podcast to represent their group.
Students work in groups to identify characteristics ofprojects and post comments on these.
	
  

	
  

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Technology
Twitter, blogs,
Padlet, Poll
Everywhererecorder app,
discussion board,
smartphone ortabletPadletPadlet, iMovie,
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Computer
Science

Students attend exhibition and create a group videoof their experience.
Recorded video lectures coupled to student
completing set questions to bring to face-to-facelectures.
Cultural
Providing groups of students with the opportunity toformulate answers to in-class questions.
Studies
Biomedical
Laboratory class recording of observations, andSciencemeasurements made during experiments.
Property and Pre-class sharing of individual and team work.
Construction
HealthStudent teams co-create learning materials.
Sciences
International
Students visit a cultural organization, record aspects
Relationsof the event and then share reflections in relation tolearning outcomes.
Molecular
Students work on placement record and share their
Biosciences
experiences.
History
Creation and sharing of recordings/short films whileon field trips/walks.
Law
Gathering information from students on topics thatthey find difficult to support revision

iMovie app,Padlet, Panopto,
Google Sheets
Padlet, Poll
EverywhereiMovie app
blogs
Group blogs
Smartphone, blogs
blogs
Smartphone, blogs
PadletDiscussion
It is clear that quite basic aspects of a classroom were of importance in helping lecturers tomake classes more flexible or adaptable. While most of the academic staff saw the potential ofsome modern technology approaches in learning, their main concern was to be able to do thebasics with technology easily and reliably. When questioned about this, academic staff cited
two issues consistently. One was a lack of confidence in using new technology in a live
classroom and the other, tightly associated with the first, was time needed to become confident
in dealing with situations where the technology does not operate as expected. A quote fromone member of staff summed it up thus:
When I go into a classroom I am performing and to perform I need to know how
my props work inside out. When my props are harder to operate than a lightswitch or are not tools I can use in my own office or at home I struggle. Teachingis a performance and I don’t have the time to rehearse as much as I would like.
To be honest most classroom technology beyond the PC and PowerPoint is
simply not mature enough for me to engage with confidently.
In addition to the technology, classroom furniture has generated a great deal of debate. While
it is generally accepted that chairs on wheels with integral writing tablet support adaptability,
such chairs do not suit all types of classroom activity across subject areas. Without effective
timetabling, it can be very difficult to ensure that particular classes get the facilities that mostsuit their type and pattern of in-class work.
The university has plans to undertake further research to determine the impact of the changed
nature of these classrooms on the curriculum delivery approaches taken by lecturers and on thestudent experience. In part, this is due to acknowledged limitations associated with the
	
  
	
  

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evaluations carried out to date. The surveys conducted have a relatively low response rate andthe conclusions drawn may not be entirely representative, despite best efforts to checkconclusions through focus group meetings with representative student and staff groups. The
low level of engagement with feedback mechanisms is particularly an issue with staff wheresome lecturers seem reluctant to engage at all. This lack of engagement from non-enthusiasts
makes it harder to fully satisfy the needs of different subject areas while also addressing thefinancial and design constraints that are often faced.
As this research goes on, what has been learned to date is being used to inform the second
phase of classroom refurbishment, this time to encompass 40 classrooms across the estate. In
the second phase, the nature of the AV and IT introduced, beyond the basics, will be examined
carefully to ensure that what is provided generates scope for innovation but is practical for busy
staff. In addition, adaptability may be addressed better through providing classrooms that havea mix of furniture within them and also by improved agility of timetabling.
The work done on developing mobile learning alongside the classroom redesign has clearlyraised awareness as well as exposed real interest in mobile learning approaches. The desire toengage with mobile learning by academic staff is evidenced through the surveys and focus
groups. The pleasing engagement with the staff development workshop, “Flipping Mobile
Learning” is another strong sign of the topical nature of mobile learning, especially when linked
to classroom activities. For students, the surveys generally show their interest in all things
mobile, though this is by no means true for all students and in addition, there is a significant
view that mobile learning for students is more about receiving information and watching videos
than for engaging in classroom-based or out-of-classroom group activities. This may, of course,reflect their experience of the use of mobile learning to date, which would in turn reflect therelatively low level of maturity for this form of learning at the University. It may also be a signthat significant numbers of students are more comfortable with passive roles within classrooms
and may see some mobile learning approaches as potentially a way to make them do more work.
The student survey carried out as part of this study revealed that though many students likeusing mobile devices, they may not be too keen on in-class activities that exploit mobiles. On
the other hand, academic staff surveys and focus groups suggest they struggle to be less reliant
on lecture and want to engage students, but too often find it difficult to do so. Whilstmany staff
seemed able to see the opportunities that mobile approaches present for changing the passive
student role, they are wary of using less familiar technology in the classroom environment.
How does one address this difficult and complex problem?
At the University of Westminster, as at most universities in the UK, new staff has to undertakeat least one module on the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. One of these,
Technology to Enhance Learning, covers mobile learning and flipping the classroom as part ofits timetable. It has undoubtedly led to an increase in interest and practice amongst new staff
in these key areas of teaching development. However, the bulk of the staff at Westminster who
are experienced do not, by and large, have time to take a full module and want brief,
immediately applicable support. This is what the authors feel the workshop described in thispaper is delivering. The feedback to date, on both the design of the course and the readiness tostate concrete plans for action post-completion of the workshop, supports these feelings. The
combination of face-to-face and online delivery for the workshop has worked well to support
diverse learning styles and to develop connections across a community with some common
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It is to be hoped that the wider sector can learn from the experiences of this case study fromthe University of Westminster. These are exciting and interesting times for university within a
rapidly changing higher education environment. The introduction of a new curriculum structure,with an enhanced focus on employability, and new learning and teaching strategies with a focus
on blended learning, signal significant changes ahead. Whilst not by any means the panacea
for success, technology will be central to building the future learning environment and student
experience. To be successful, any university will need to bring academic staff closer to simple
technology solutions and help students to get more engaged in an active learning partnershipwith academic staff.
Future work at Westminster will focus on how to achieve even wider engagement across thestudent and staff base in determining the impact of the new classrooms on what actually
happens in taught sessions and how this impacts the student experience and their learning andachievement. Part of this will include a longer term assessment of the wider adoption andimpact of mobile learning technologies and approaches.

	
  
	
  

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References
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Definition, rationale and a call for research. Higher Education Research &Development, 34(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2014.934336
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Douglas, J. A., Douglas, A., McClelland, R. J., & Davies, J. (2015). Understanding student
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Fisher, T. (2016). Do we need classrooms anymore? Planning for Higher Education, 44(3), 9.
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Graham, C. (2012). Transforming spaces and identities: The contributions of professional staff
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Huer, J. B. (2015). Higher ed disruption in context. Educause Review, 50(6),92-93.
Kirkwood, A., & Price, L. (2014). Technology-enhanced learning and teaching in higher
education: What is ‘enhanced’ and how do we know? A critical literature review.
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Mukerjee, S. (2014). Agility: A crucial capability for universities in times of disruptive change
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Sharpe, R., Beetham, H., & De Freitas, S. (2010). Rethinking learning for a digital age: Howlearners are shaping their own experiences. London: Routledge.
Sharples, M., Milrad, I., Arnedillo-Sánchez, M., & Vavoula, G. (2009). Mobile learning: Small
devices, big issues. In N. Balacheff, S. Ludvigsen, T. de Jong, A. Lazonder, S. Barnes,
and L. Montandon (Eds.). Technology Enhanced Learning: Principles and Products.
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Temple, P. (2007) Learning spaces for the 21st century: A review of the literature. Higher
Education
Academy.
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Temple, P., Callender, C., Grove, L., & Kersh, N. (2014). Managing the student experience ina shifting higher education landscape. The Higher Education Academy. Retrieved on
February 3, 2017 from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resource/managing-studentexperience-shifting-higher-education-landscapeTritz, R. S. (2015). New technologies, pedagogies, and curriculum: A practical perspective,
why IT matters in higher education, [web log post] Retrieved on Jaunary 16, 2017 from:http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/8/new-technologies-pedagogies-and-curriculuma-practical-perspective
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Review, 50(4), 31-38.
Corresponding author: Gunter Saunders
Email: G.Saunders@westminster.ac.uk

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Appendix 1 – Survey of Technology Access and Usage
This is a simple survey of students on University Programs to establish how familiar students
already are with some of the technologies used in connection with your course, and the levelof access you have to technology.
Your responses are anonymous and will not be used to assess you in any way. Please answer
honestly. The results of the survey are only useful to us if we can get a clear picture of students'
current level of access and usage. We aim to use the results of this survey to inform the designof our course content and staff development to best meet your needs.
When you have answered all the questions, simply click on 'Submit'.
Thank you.
Questions* RequiredYour course *1. Please indicate which course you are on
2. Please indicate your year/level of study *
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  

Foundation year (Level 3)
Undergraduate year 1 (Level 4)
Undergraduate year 2 (Level 5)Undergraduate year 3 (Level 6)
Postgraduate (level 7)

3. Please indicate whether you are a full time or a part time student-­‐   Full time-­‐   Part time
4. Please indicate whether you are male or female-­‐   Male-­‐   Female
5. For all of your modules it is essential to have access to a computer with an internet
connection. Which of the following options best describes the type of computer accesswhich you use most frequently in connection with your studies?
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  

I use my own personal laptop or netbook with a wireless internet connection
I use a desktop PC at home with a high speed internet connection
I use the open access computers provided by the university
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6. Please indicate the option which best describes your access to a laptop or netbook, andhow you generally use it.
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  

I don't have access to a laptop or netbook
I have a laptop or netbook and I generally bring it with me to University
I have a laptop or netbook but I do not bring it with me to University
Tablet computers (e.g. iPad or similar)

7. Please indicate the option which best describes your access to a tablet computer, and how
you generally use it.
-­‐   I don't have access to a tablet device-­‐   I have a tablet device and I generally bring it with me to University-­‐   I have a tablet device but I do not bring it with me to University
8. Please indicate the option which best describes your access to a smartphone or othermobile device-­‐   My mobile phone is a smartphone (e.g. iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc) which canaccess the internet-­‐   I don't have a smartphone but I do have a mobile device which can access the internet(e.g.an iPod Touch)-­‐   I don't have any mobile devices capable of accessing the internet
9. Please indicate your level of usage of social networking sites such as Facebook-­‐   I have a social networking (e.g. Facebook) account and I update my status daily-­‐   I have a social networking (e.g. Facebook) account and I update my status occasionallye.g. once a week-­‐   I have a social networking (e.g. Facebook) account but I rarely post anything on it andonly use it to view other people's posts-­‐   I don't have a social networking (e.g. Facebook) account
10. Please indicate your level of usage of Twitter-­‐   I have a Twitter account and I post 'tweets' daily-­‐   I have a Twitter account and I post 'tweets' occasionally e.g. once a week-­‐   I have a Twitter account but I rarely post anything on it and only use it to view otherpeople's 'tweets'-­‐   I don't have a Twitter account
11. Please indicate the extent to which you read blogs on the internet
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  

I read a lot of blogs on the internet and I read them regularly
I occasionally read blogs on the internet
I rarely read blogs on the internet
I never read blogs on the internet

12. Please indicate the extent to which you use RSS feeds

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I use an RSS feed to bring all the blogs I follow together in one place
I have used an RSS feed in the past but I never kept up to date with it
I know what an RSS feed is but I have never used one.
I don't know what an RSS feed is

13. Please indicate whether you maintain your own personal blog, or have done so in the past(please only consider personal blogging - not any course related blogs you have beenasked to contribute to)
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  
-­‐  

I maintain my own personal blog and post to it regularly
I maintain my own personal blog but only post to it occasionallyI have maintained a personal blog in the past but currently do not
I have never maintained a personal blog

14. Please indicate your prior level of experience in using wikis-­‐   I have contributed to wikis regularly in the past-­‐   I have limited prior experience of wikis-­‐   Prior to starting to this course I had never used a wiki
15. Please indicate your level of prior experience in using online discussion boards (Note:
this can include experience in using discussion boards for non-academic purposes, e.g. afootball fans' message board or similar. This does not relate to any current course related
discussion boards you may contribute to)-­‐   I have contributed to discussion boards regularly in the past-­‐   I have limited prior experience of discussion boards-­‐   Prior to starting to this course I had never used a discussion board
16. Please indicate the extent to which you use email-­‐   I send and receive emails every day (including, work, social and university)-­‐   I send and receive emails occasionally (e.g. a few times a week)-­‐   I hardly ever use email as a means of communication
17. Please indicate your level of experience in using web-based image hosting services (e.g.
Flickr or Picasa)-­‐   I have used web-based image hosting services regularly-­‐   I have limited experience of web-based image hosting services-­‐   I have never used web-based image hosting services
18. Please indicate your level of experience in using web-based social bookmarking services(e.g. Delicious or Diigo)-­‐   I have used web-based social bookmarking services regularly-­‐   I have limited experience of web-based social bookmarking services-­‐   I have never used web-based social bookmarking services

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 201719. Please indicate what level you consider your internet searching skills to be-­‐   I consider myself to be highly proficient at internet searching-­‐   I consider myself to be competent at internet searching-­‐   I think I need to develop my internet searching skills
20. Please indicate what level you consider your word processing skills to be at (e.g. inMicrosoft Word)-­‐   I consider myself to be highly proficient at word processing-­‐   I consider myself to be competent at word processing-­‐   I think I need to develop my word processing skills
21. Please indicate what level you consider your spreadsheet skills to be at (e.g. in Microsoft
Excel)-­‐   I consider myself to be highly proficient in the use of spreadsheets-­‐   I consider myself to be competent in the use of spreadsheets-­‐   I think I need to develop my spreadsheet skills

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Rehabilitating Ex-Offenders Through Non-Formal Education in Lesotho
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Abstract
This paper reports on the rehabilitation of ex-offenders through non-formal education. It
examines how non-formal education has addressed the ex-offenders’ adaptive andtransformative needs. Using an interpretive paradigm and qualitative approach, individualinterviews were conducted with five ex-offenders who were chosen through purposive andsnowball sampling. Qualitative data analysis was used to generate the themes from the data.
The findings revealed that ex-offenders were taught basic literacy and life skills through nonformal education. Moreover, non-formal education facilitated the ex-offenders’ transformed
attitudes, including recognizing their identity as a result of transformative non-formal
education. Some ex-offenders in Lesotho demonstrated how by tailoring programs and utilizing
their own personal knowledge, they were able to share skills in spite of the prison bureaucracy
and have consequently established an organization that serves as a link between prison andsociety. However, there should be a holistic approach to learning, which can target theimmediate application of skills once offenders are released from prison. Similarly, offenders
need access to educational resources once they leave prison that can build on what they alreadyknow/have learned so that they can turn their lives around.
Keywords: rehabilitation; ex-offenders; non-formal education; adaptive; transformative;
Lesotho.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
In most African countries, Lesotho included, offenders’ low educational status contributes totheir offending and reoffending (Wade, 2007; De Maeyer, 2001; Biswalo, 2011; Setoi, 2012;
Mkosi, 2013). Even though rehabilitation programs are provided for offenders in Lesotho, there
are challenges facing that section whereby prison sentences do not always match education andtraining schedules, there are shortages of materials and equipment, inadequate funding, and alack of further education and training for the training officers (Setoi, 2012; Tsepa, 2014).
Furthermore, Setoi (2012) reveals that the content for educational rehabilitation programs
offered in most correctional service institutions in Lesotho is inadequate, poorly planned anddoes not receive enough care for it to flourish. In his report, Setoi indicates that the educationalrole is mainly to keep offenders busy and to control them rather than a means for humandevelopment (Setoi, 2012). Research studies on education in general and rehabilitation
programs in particular for offenders in Lesotho are limited, if not lacking, and there seems no
obvious policy on offenders' rehabilitation programs (Tsepa, 2014; Setoi, 2012; Mokoteli,2005). Additionally, what is lacking in the literature (Tsepa, 2014; Setoi, 2012; Mokoteli, 2005)
is whether the adaptive and transformative needs of offenders are addressed throughrehabilitation programs provided in Lesotho's correctional institutions, using non-formal
education.
Several studies have shown that offenders' educational rehabilitation programs facilitates fortheir behavior change, reintegration into societies and prepare offenders for employment
opportunities after release (Biswalo, 2011; Setoi, 2012). According to the United Nations
General Secretary, "education is the fundamental right and the basis for progress in every
country." (UNESCO, 2014). Education in general and non-formal education in particular caters
for all age learners throughout the lifelong phenomenon whereby all individuals' growth andself-improvement are encouraged (Rogers, 2004). This research was done with the purpose ofgaining a deeper understanding about how non-formal education have addressed the adaptive
and transformative needs and interests of certain ex-offenders in Lesotho. In the first section, I
review the literature regarding non-formal education. Secondly, I review the meaning anddiscussion on adaptive and transformative responses. Finally, I show how this type of educationis relevant and necessary for ex-offenders in Lesotho.
Literature Review
Non-Formal Education
Literature has significantly shown (UNESCO, 2014; UIS, 2012; Rogers, 2004) the renewal ofinterest in non-formal education in an effort to meet and reach the targets of the Education for
All goal, which is placed at the center stage of global education and development agendas.
Non-formal education is manifested in traditional societies by using apprenticeships in specifictrades (Peace Corps, 2004). Additionally, on-the-job training is widely conducted through nonformal means of learning. Apart from this, traditional knowledge was passed from generation
to generation through one-to-one teaching or group facilitation using various methods of nonformal education. Thus, non-formal education, as opined by Sevdalis and Skoumios (2014) is
commonly known to be:
Any organized, systematic, educational activity carried on outside the framework of theformal system to provide selected types of learning to particular subgroups in the
population, adults as well as children. (p. 14)
	
  
	
  

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In this definition, the impression is that non-formal education is flexibly organized in order tosuit its participants' environment wherever they may be. In the same way, Rogers (2004) statesthat non-formal education is provided on a continuum: at one point it is closer to formal
education and at the other end it is closer to learner ownership. The author stipulates that nonformal education extends opportunities for job creation and development activities for its
participants (Rogers, 2004). Thus non-formal education has been regarded as remedial
education for people who have missed the opportunity to attend formal education; hence it isregarded as complementing the latter (UNESCO, 2014). In non-formal education, there is no
age restriction and most often what is learned is culturally valuable as it addresses the needs
and interests of the learners. It is likely that non-formal education is the most appropriate
approach to be used with offenders because it is provided outside the formal school system andis nevertheless organized and structured and flexible to fit the correctional environment. The
subsequent section discusses the meanings of adaptive and transformative needs of learners.
Non-Formal Education as Adaptive Outcomes
According to UNESCO (2014), non-formal, location precise strategies are suitable for reachingout to different populations for accomplishing the goals of Education For All. In this way, nonformal education responds to adaptive outcomes, as its provision is mainly to rectify theshortfalls felt by its clientele and to assist them to adapt and adjust to their environment andconditions of life. Consequently, non-formal education addresses specific learning needs andinterests for the achievement of immediate personal outcomes (UNESCO, 2014). These include
education and training, knowledge and skills acquisition, enhancing the quality of life, reducing
poverty and improving livelihood initiatives in regard to socio-economic needs. In this manner,
the initiatives focus on making up what is missing in terms of modifying behavior, adjusting
to an environment and enhancing personal development and other outcomes. These outcomesassist participants in adapting to different situations, hence non-formal education is provided
for adaptive responses (UNESCO, 2014). In the same manner, non-formal education also reacts
to transformative responses of its learners as in the following section.
Non-Formal Education as Transformative Outcomes
Non-formal education further addresses the immediate-to long- term structural outcomes thatentails different peoples' dispositions. This includes but is not limited to: realizing the sociocultural context and creating awareness thereof, identity recognition, empowerment, increased
socio-political participation, breaking the social and economic barriers and other inequalities(UNESCO, 2014). In the same way, UNESCO (2014) identified "experimental and innovative
non-formal education, some of which involves greater independence from governments, torespond to emerging learning needs as societies evolve" (p. 6). Some examples include
education for peace and democracy, citizenship education and education for sustainable
development. Moreover, non-formal education develops human capabilities, improves social
cohesion and creates responsible citizens (UNESCO, 2014). This means that transformative,
non-formal education develops an individual above mere education and learning initiatives. It
can be seen that the focus is mainly to make a difference in individuals and societies in general,thus achieving transformative outcomes. The following section deals with the necessity andrelevance of non-formal education within the correctional facilities in Lesotho.

	
  
	
  

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The Necessity and Relevance of Non-Formal Education in the Correctional Facilities
Recent studies by Biswalo (2011) in Swaziland, Setoi (2012) and Tsepa (2014) in Lesotho,
Mkosi (2013) and Quan-Baffour and Zawada (2012) in South Africa show that there is a rangeof formal, non-formal and informal adult educational programs undertaken by inmates.
However, the extent to which non-formal education meets and addresses the adaptive andtransformative needs of offenders varies from country to country.
According to Biswalo (2011) in the context of Swaziland, the department of Adult Education
at the University of Swaziland in consultation with the prison service conducted needs
assessment between 1997 and 2009. The needs assessment was done before developing the
educational programs to ensure that the felt needs of the inmates were included and addressedby the educational programs offered, followed by monitoring exercises. The needs assessment
was conducted with the inmates through individual interviews and group discussions.
Thereafter, prioritization of needs took place based on the capability and the potential of theinmates to acquire and secure resources for conducting the programs that can develop into
viable businesses after their release from prison. In the whole exercise, activities that required
locally available and less expensive resources were given priority over others. Moreover, thedepartment of adult education provided relevant training that strengthened what the inmatesacquired within the correctional institutions as best practices. Biswalo further outlined thatbaseline assessment and placements were also conducted before developing the content to betaught. The inmates' contributions to their programs enhanced their ownership to the latter,
which also addressed and met their adaptive and transformative learning needs. Biswalo’s,
2011 study stands in contrast with what happens within Lesotho’s correctional facilities.
The Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) provides a variety of programs that are taught by LCS
officers, volunteers and the inmates themselves. Normally, prison populations are less welleducated than the general population in Lesotho and in other countries (Setoi, 2012, Biswalo,
2011; Tsepa, 2014). According to Setoi (2012), the Ministry of Justice and Correctional
Services in Lesotho offers education and training to the inmates as mechanisms to rehabilitate
and reintegrate them into their communities. These education programs are provided as formal
literacy and numeracy classes from Standard 1 up to Form E, which is equivalent to grade 1 to
12 in South Africa. These are basic and continuing education classes that are meant to assist
the inmates to acquire the qualifications for job opportunities for male inmates in certain
correctional centers. The inmates are further provided with skills training such as carpentry andjoinery, stone cutting, building, welding, leatherwork, electrical installation, plumbing,plastering and brick-making, upholstery and sewing. However, the methods used to deliver theabove trainings are not stated, as well as whether the inmates’ needs are met. The next sections
discuss the methodology that was used to conduct the study of non-formal education in Lesotho.
Methodology
An interpretive paradigm using a qualitative approach was followed to gain understandings
into the subjective beliefs and perceptions of the participants (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison,2009). The phenomenon is enlightened by those who live it and construct its meaning(McMillan & Schumacher, 2006; Patton, 2002). A purposive and snowball sampling was used
to select ex-offenders from their homes (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2009), who participatedin semi-structured interviews. Five ex-offenders were interviewed who had been previously
incarcerated in the Male Correctional Institution in Lesotho. I adhered to the necessary ethicalmeasures - willingness to participate in the investigation and informed consent. Ethical
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017considerations were carefully attended to, informed consent, confidentiality, obtaining thenecessary permission, privacy, anonymity and encouraging participants to speak freely without
fear of repercussions (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2009).
All the ex-offenders provided their stories and their viewpoints regarding the educational
programs they embarked on during their incarceration. Although the findings cannot be
generalized to the larger population, the ex-offenders’ role within the environment under which
they carry out their sentences excludes the wider society, while the shared experiences may besimilar for the incarcerated community. Inductive qualitative data analysis was used wherethemes were developed from the data, categories, insights, and understandings were further
formulated. Different theoretical concepts of non-formal education and were mapped acrossthe data as a theoretical lens for discussing the inductively derived themes and for more
abstraction.
Findings
Findings are presented according to the themes that emerged from the data provided in the
responses from the ex-offenders. The themes were basic literacy education and life skills,
transformed attitudes and identity recognition.
Basic Literacy Education and Life Skills
In response to the question of what they learned during the time they were incarcerated, exoffender E bemoaned:
It was very painful for me to be there as an inmate (shaking his head slowly sideways
with his face down). However, I feel happy because I have that experience of being an
inmate and it toughened me… (Clears his throat) I learned how to write and read myname and a few sentences. I can even count the numbers, which was not the case before
I was incarcerated. The prison has taught me several skills that I was not aware of, suchas landscaping, gardening, feeding pigs and cleaning my surroundings (Ex-offender E).
The participant indicated that incarceration has made him become a tough man. He further
showed that he learned how to write and read. The findings reveal that some ex-offenders
acquired basic literacy and numeracy skills, which they learned during incarceration, thus
enabled them to rectify their gap of being illiterate. Additionally, the inmates were assigned
work that taught them life skills, such as how to keep their environment clean, including taking
care of animals that are kept within the correctional facilities. On the same note, ex-offender A
explained:
I approached other inmates about the idea of formal school and I was responsible forseeing that the school was operating. Those who were enlightened and had formal
education background taught the others who were illiterate (Ex-offender A).
Ex-offender A pointed out that some offenders would volunteer to teach others who were
illiterate so that they could also acquire the basic skills of how to write and read their names. It
is noted that the offenders supported each other since they shared the common experience ofincarceration. Additionally, the non-formal characteristics of a flexible environment could beseen in the learning environment of the correctional facilities. This means that learning takes
place everywhere, in particular, using non-formal education approaches. Of great concern was
	
  
	
  

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the inmates’ ability to make decisions regarding whether or not what they learned addressed
their needs and interests.
In regard to the life skills that were offered, ex-offender E indicated that the content that waslearned did not address his needs because he spent the entire sentence of five years doing
gardening, which was not his interest. He emphasized that he was interested in welding andelectrical work. He mentioned that he had basic knowledge about welding since he learned
while as an apprenticeship with another person from his community. However, he showed that
he was comfortable with gardening and landscaping because he realized that there was a
shortage of welding equipment. In his words:
Welding is dangerous because it affects a person’s eyes. All those who joined that team
were having problems with their eyes. It is because there was no proper equipment used
to protect people while they did that work. I decided that it was better for me to dogardening and landscaping because there was no harm in performing those tasks.
Ex-offender E was able to settle for the work of landscaping and gardening as a way of avoiding
endangering his eyes with the welding work he liked. Moreover, the warders seem to be making
the decisions for the offenders in terms of what skills to learn or not. This imposition of skills
refutes the non-formal educational feature whereby curriculum or content has to address thelearners needs and interests, therefore has to be learner-centered. The data also show that theoffenders were never consulted in terms of what they would want to learn as skills for futureuse. Instead what seemed to matter was whether the sentence to serve as punishment was longer
or shorter. This has implications for how the offenders may be transformed with the expectationof being socially reintegrated back into their societies.
Transformed Attitudes
On the other hand, ex-offender B attested that he did woodwork and continued with that work
after his release from prison. He reported to be self-employed and to enjoy his work. He said:
I did woodwork while I was there [under custody] and I learned to do built-in shelves,wardrobes, tables and many other things. I now support my family through the incomethat I generate from my workshop. I am now a new person who has reformed from
criminal acts. I have three people who help me then I pay them monthly. In fact, I wasnever rehabilitated by those officers, I counseled myself and told myself that I needed
to change completely (Ex-offender B).
On the question of whether he chose for himself to do woodwork or not, he responded byshowing that the work was imposed on him. He alleged:(Smiling) Fortunately, I took that work seriously and ensured that I learned everything.
At first, I wanted to join those who did the bricks and building. The warders refused[when I wanted to join the building team] and they instructed me to join the wood work
team. We did not choose for ourselves, they [warders] placed us according to the lengthof our sentences. The ones who were serving long sentences were not allowed to go out,
therefore remained in the workshops. Prison life is tough … (pause), it needs a person
who can accept that instructions had to be followed. But at the same time [one had to]look out for the opportunities and make use of them; that is how I survived for the 12
years that I stayed there (Ex-offender B).
	
  
	
  

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Ex-offender B had a positive story to tell regarding his transformed attitude by learning to dowoodwork, which also follows the purpose for non-formal education. It can be observed thatex-offender B used the acquired skills and started his own workshop, where he was able togenerate income. It is interesting to see that the participant counseled himself and accepted the
instructions that were given. By adapting to prison life, the situation potentially transformed
his attitude and life for the better. His knowledge has further become a resource for incomegeneration, which is economic empowerment. He provided employment for himself and forother people who were able to provide support to their families. Another particular concern isthe notion of ex-offenders’ identities.
Identity Recognition
The ex-offenders in this study significantly changed their behavior in terms of how they
thought as individuals and how they assisted each other including the offenders who are about
to complete their sentences. Learning from what they experienced while incarcerated, evenwhen they received no support from their significant ones, they supported each other as
demonstrated in the following quote:We had an informal support group of peers and we thought about starting an associationfor ourselves. We established this NGO to try and fill that gap for such activities … wehave tried to approach the government to change the way they perceive the ex-prisoners
but we have a long way to go. The issue of a link is an important thing that we do, also
to link them [released-prisoners] with existing members of this NGO in different
districts and their families. Other things do not need money to happen (Ex-offender D).
In the above quote, ex-offender D related a story that while incarcerated, they were able to set
up a peer education program with other offenders. They even went further to establish an
association, which would serve as a link between the offenders who were released and thoseunder custody. Ex-offender D indicated that with the peer support, they managed to establish
Crime Prevention Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Ex-Prisoners Association (CRROA) in
Maseru, Lesotho. Ex-offender D further stated that the association has representatives in all the
districts. In other words, ex-offenders have established an association that made it possible for
their identities to be recognized. In this way, the link between the incarcerated offenders andtheir families is served through the ex-offenders. He illustrated that upon his release, he found
it very hard and difficult to go to his home alone without anyone accompanying him. In his
words:
My family never visited me while I was in custody for eight years. That made me feelless confident when I was about to go there [home] alone, hence I needed someone toaccompany me. By the time of my release, the only people that were closer to me wereother offenders and the prison warders.
Additionally, he said that his release brought everything to an end between him as an exoffender and the prison. It can be argued that when ex-offenders experience unfavorable family
members' attitudes, packed with labels associated with prison and lawbreaking, it becomesdifficult for them to feel and belong as part of their communities. Therefore, the establishmentof CRROA may have been propelled by the fact that ex-offenders felt more comfortable witheach other rather than with the larger population. It can be noted that the organization promoted
a sense of self and belonging for the ex-offenders who support one another. These findings
have implications for how policy should address social reintegration and use such links
	
  
	
  

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between released ex-offenders and those under custody as another mechanism for enabling thereformation of ex-offenders and their avoidance of re-offending.
Discussion
The findings demonstrate that illiteracy is a concern for offenders in custody who never went
to school. It can be argued that to a large extent, their lack of education may have also
influenced their engagement in committing crimes as supported by the literature (Biswalo,
2011; Setoi, 2012; Wade, 2007; De Maeyer, 2001). Moreover, the offenders' relationships
amongst themselves seemed to have been built upon trust whereby the latter facilitated theirlearning from each other in a flexible, relaxed environment. The flexibility of environment is
one of the powerful characteristics of non-formal education that makes it easy for learning totake place everywhere, hence it can be concluded that it is a suitable approach for use withoffenders who are incarcerated under correctional custody. Furthermore, it can be argued that
non-formal education responds to the needs and interests of offenders who rectified theirshortfall of not knowing how to read and write including counting. Hence the data supports
what UNESCO (2014) has shown in terms of non-formal education facilitating the adaptive
outcomes of its clientele.
Additionally, it has been disclosed that offenders learned various life skills such as gardening,landscaping, and woodwork among others; however, these were imposed on them. Here thefindings reveal that the non-formal characteristics in regard to control and who determines what
the learners want to learn is not occurring. The situation with offenders under custody inLesotho differs from the situation of the inmates incarcerated in other contexts like Swaziland,
where the offenders are engaged in a needs assessment and evaluation process, which enhances
their motivation to learn and change their lives (Biswalo, 2011). Therefore, the findings revealthat non- formal education characteristics are often realized in theory but not in practice within
the Lesotho context.
Furthermore, the data reveal that some offenders managed to transform their attitude byaccepting and conforming to the situation in custody. This was expressed by ex-offender B
who developed a positive attitude income-generation by starting his workshop from thewoodworking skills that he acquired while incarcerated. The data confirmed that non-formal
education that was provided within the correctional facilities indeed facilitated the employment
opportunities and rehabilitation of offenders as stated by authors like Biswalo (2011), QuanBaffour and Zawada (2012), Tsepa (2014) and Setoi (2012). Ex-offender B took the
woodworking skills seriously and coped with his prison situation thereby transforming his life
for economic gain. As a result, non-formal education empowered offenders who acquired skills
for the immediate application (Rogers, 2004) as stated by ex-offender B, who used the skills
for positive livelihood benefits.
Regardless of the prison bureaucracy and the difficulties that the ex-offenders felt while undercustody, they managed to set up an association for themselves. It was found that throughmodifying their educational programs and through the peer support amongst them, theyconsequently established an association that identified them as ex-offenders. The association
further served as a link between the released offenders and their families and communities.
Likewise, non-formal education addressed offenders’ transformative outcomes (UNESCO,2014) by facilitating the establishment of an ex-offenders association, which is a long-term
response that served as reintegration for the offenders, promoting their sense of belonging.
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017Conclusion
In conclusion, there is evidence that non-formal education seemed an appropriate approach of
rehabilitating offenders who were incarcerated under correctional custody in Lesotho. This was
illustrated by ex-offender E who reported to have learned several life skills including literacy
and numeracy. Additionally, the findings demonstrated that the adaptive needs of certain exoffenders were met. Also, the data revealed that through the offenders' trust and support foreach other, some (Ex-offender A) volunteered to facilitate the teaching of basic literacy skills
for those who lacked such skills. Furthermore, the life skills acquired during incarceration
facilitated their economic empowerment, and thus transforming their lives for positive
livelihood benefits. This was reflected by ex-offender B's positive story of making use of thewoodworking skills he acquired that changed his economic status and improved his life for the
better. It was noted that non-formal education facilitated the immediate application of skills forsome of the offenders, hence the resulting adaptive outcomes and transformative outcomes.
The findings of this study point to the social identity that ex-offenders share, which also reflects
the strong cohesion and sense of belonging among them. The formation of an ex-offenders’association reflects a collective group identity, which is a strength that can be used to motivate
offenders to engage in other economic empowerment activities. Similarly, non-formal
education resulted in transformative outcomes where an association for ex-offenders wasestablished, which promoted their identity while also serving as a long-term link for otherreleased offenders and their communities. However, it is suggested that non-formal educationand learning should be all-inclusive in its provision and further aim to equip offenders with theimmediate application of skills once they are released from prison. Furthermore, offenders needaccess to educational resources once they leave prison that can build on what they alreadyknow/have learned so that they can turn their lives around.
Acknowledgement
I wish to thank the Association of Commonwealth Universities for awarding me with the Early
Career Grant that enabled me to attend The European Conference on Education 2016, in which
I was able to make an oral presentation of this paper.

	
  
	
  

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References
Biswalo, P. (2011). The role of adult education in the integration of inmates into society after
a jail term: practical experiences from Swaziland. International Journal of Lifelong
Education, 30(1), 37 – 47. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2011.538178
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2009). Research Methods in Education. New York:
Routledge.
De Maeyer, M. (2001). Education in prison. Covergence. 34(2-3), 117 – 129.
McMillan, J. H. and Schumacher, S. (2006). Research in Education: Evidence-based Inquiry.
(6th Ed.). Cape Town: Pearson.
Mkosi, N. G. (2013). Managing a full-time school within a correctional service environment.
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pretoria. Pretoria, South Africa.
Mokoteli, M. F. (2005). Problems facing children in Lesotho prisons: With special reference
to the juvenile training center. (Master’s thesis). University of KwaZuluNatal.Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods (3rd Ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Peace Corps US (2004). Non-formal education manual. Issue 1000 of manual. Peace Corps US.
Information Collection and Exchange. Purdue University.
Quan-Baffour, K. P., & Zawada, B. E. (2012). Education Programmes for Prison Inmates:
Rewards for Offenses of Hope for a Better Life? Journal of Sociology, Social
Anthropology, 3(2), 73 – 81.
Rogers, A. (2004). Non-formal education: flexible schooling or participatory education?
(CERC Studies in Comparative Education 15). Comparative Education ResearchCentre, the University of Hong Kong.
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). (2012). Youth and adult learning andeducation in Lesotho. Johannesburg, South Africa. Setoi Michael Setoi.
Sevdalis, C. & Skoumios, M. (2014). The non-formal and informal science learning: Teachers'
conceptions. The International Journal of Science and Society, 5, 13 – 25.
Tsepa, M. (2014). An investigative study on the causes or recidivism/ reoffending among
inmates in Lesotho. The case of Maseru Central Correctional Institution (Degree
project). Maseru: Adult Education Department, University of Lesotho, IEMS.
UNESCO (2011). International standard classification of education 2011. Montreal: UNESCO
Institutefor
Statistics.
Retrievedon
January
16,
2017
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http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/isced-2011-en.pdf
UNESCO (2006). Non-formal education and basic education reform: a conceptual review.
UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning.
UNESCO (2014). Non-formal education as a means to meet learning needs of out-of-school
children and adolescents. UNICEF: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Wade, B. (2007). Studies of correctional education programs. Adult Basic Education and
Literacy Journal. 1(1), 27 – 31.
Corresponding author: Nomazulu Ngozwana
Email: nomazulungozwana@gmail.com

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A Survey of the University Students’ Perspectives about Using Digital
Technologies in Education: Zimbabwean Case

Sibusisiwe Dube and Elsje Scott

	
  
	
  

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Abstract
This study investigated the perspectives of university students on the use of digital technologies
as tools for teaching and learning. Digital technologies are an essential asset for academic
institutions as they can support strategic teaching and learning objectives for education
institutions. Studies have shown that limited use of digital technologies could lead to a second
order digital divide. This problem negatively impacts the Government and university efforts
and initiatives of increased technological investment. There is therefore a need to uncover andobtain a deeper insight into university students’ perspectives due to the sparse literature
discussing this problem within the Zimbabwean context. Quantitative data on student
perspectives was collected using 100 questionnaires administered to students at a single
university of technology in Zimbabwe. Although the findings concur with existing literaturethat students highly value the integration of technology into their learning process, there were
issues that appeared to be peculiar to the surveyed environment. For example, the surveyed
students professed disappointment with the current traditional teaching methods despite thehigh availability and accessibility to digital technologies within the institution. They indicatedtheir frustration emanating from the disconnection between commonly used teaching methods
and the digital technologies effective for teaching and learning.
Keywords: digital technologies; perspectives; students; teaching and learning; university.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
Digital technologies are information and communication technology (ICT) that include
computers, learning management systems (LMS), digital media such as wikis, blogs, social
media and podcasts. They commonly refer to a broad collection of technologies which capture,process, store and transmit information in digital form. Digital technologies can be both
hardware-based devices such as computers, mobile devices like smart phones, game consoles,
video and audio players, and software-based applications such as web applications, blogs,
wikis, social-networking sites, and chat sites. In addition, Groff (2013) identifies video andimage sharing, simulations, games and gamification, handheld and tablet computing, digital
cameras, scanners, virtual environments, augmented reality and wearable technologies as
emerging digital technologies available for use in higher education. Table 1 depicts somecommon digital technologies which have proved to benefit the teaching and learning practice.
These benefits include the capability of digital technologies to facilitate a more student centric
as opposed to instructor centric approach to teaching and learning. Digital technologies engage
and empower students, promote peer learning and creativity. The students who integrate digitaltechnologies in their learning have been found to develop better literacy and communication
skills than those who do not. More so digital technologies enable students to keep abreast withthe latest technologies and thus bring returns on the costly technological investments.
Table 1: Examples of digital technologies
Digital Technology
ExampleLearning
management systems(LMS)
A blog, or weblog
Wiki
PodcastDefinition
Computer programs that aid e-learning through the formation ofcourse content (Leon & Teasley, 2009)
Online diary where entries are normally written/displayed in reverse
sequential order and in addition to text messages, postings can
include photos, links, video and audio (Baltaci-Goktalay, 2010)
A web site design and authoring tool that permits a group of people
collaboratively to add or edit web site content (Bajt, 2011)
A series of digital-media (audio or video) files which are circulated
over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on mobile
devices (MP3 players or iPods) and computers (Bajt, 2011)

Gamification

Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke 2011) defined Gamification as
the use of game design elements in non-game contexts.

Augmented Reality(AR)

Augmented reality (AR) is a variation of Virtual Reality which
completely immerses a user inside a synthetic environment such thatthe user cannot see the real world around him (Kaufmann, 2003)

	
  
	
  

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From a higher education perspective, digital technologies can assist with better management
and administration of university activities and afford educators and students to create anenvironment that enables different types of social interaction. They also facilitate an increased
access to information and overcome some challenges related to the time and place constraints
associated with teaching and learning. Students can also take advantage of digital technologies
to demonstrate their creativity in knowledge creation. The portability, ubiquity and low costsof digital technologies can enhance communication abilities and interactivity, enabling the
Zimbabwean university students to be technologically savvy like their digital native
counterparts as well as prepare them for survival in an information-rich digital society. In
accordance, Johnson, Adams, Estrada, & Freeman (2013) posit that today’s workforce requires
university graduates to possess communication and critical thinking skills that can be fosteredthrough technology-enabled learning.
Furthermore, for students to compete effectively in this digital age, they must have diverse
digital skills. Emerging digital technologies like cloud computing, mobile learning, big dataand social networks can enable academic institutions in Zimbabwe to capitalize on newopportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness and achieve quality education. More so,there is evidence in literature that students who engage with appropriate digital technologies
can positively impact society (Johnson, Adams, Estrada, & Freeman, 2014). It is on thispremise the study sought to understand the Zimbabwean university students perspectives aboutof such technologies since the latter’s affordnces are not yet realised. It is is paramount toestablish such perspectives since the delays in the integration of digital technologies in
education tends to widen the existing second order digital divide, a problem discussed in thenext section.
Problem Statement
Technology-based teaching and learning is not visible in higher education institutions,particularly in the developing nations. Despite the widespread adoption and high access todigital technologies, their use for learning and teaching in Zimbabwean universities is yet to berealized across programs and institutions (Mbengo, 2014). Contrary to the management,
decision and policy makers’ technological initiatives, an insignificant number of people, in
Zimbabwean higher learning institutions, is fully embracing the affordances of the digitaltechnologies into the curriculum. The problem is rather usage than access since current studies
indicate that even among universities with both high availability and accessibility; use of digitaltechnologies in teaching and learning is still at its infancy (Bhuasiri, Xaymoungkhoun, Zo,
Jeung, & Ciganek, 2012). Nevertheless, the influential causes of the low uptake have a minimal
documentation. It is on his basis that the study sought to establish and document the
Zimbabwean university students’ perspectives about digital technologies, a phenomenon thathas had a narrow focus in developing nations’ context (Mbengo, 2014). In a bid to establish
these perspectives, the subsequent key questions require to be answered through this study:
1. What are the university students’ perspectives about digital technologies in education?
2. Which digital technologies do students own and for what purpose do they use them?
3. What digital technologies do students consider useful for teaching and learning?
The current generation of university students is affectionately considered the digital natives(Prensky, 2001). The kknowledge about the students’ digital technology choices, concerns andpriorities could assist university management, decision and policy makers to make informed
decisions about technological investments from which technological returns could be realized.
	
  
	
  

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Globally the university students have developed an inherent ability and reliance on technology
across all contexts of their lives (Corrin, Lockyer, & Bennett, 2010). The aanswer to thepreceding questions are therefore necessary for making technological investments that favor
the students’ needs. Li and Ranieri (2010) argue that mere access to digital technologies does
not translate to effective use in the learning context, hence the need to establish students’ view
point about what and how digital technologies should be integrated in education. In their study,
Kennedy, Krause, Gray, and Judd (2006) indicated that university students seldom use thevarious digital technologies at their disposal to support learning. According to Echenique(2014) university students’ use of digital technologies for learning is influenced by a range offactors such as subject-specialty more than individual characteristics, differences in technology
access or expertise. This is an observation acknowledged in a study by Selwyn & Facer (2014)
hence the aim and objectives of this study as discussed in the following section.
Objectives
The study aimed at establishing the perceptions and concerns of university students about
digital technologies in teaching and learning. Although a well-researched phenomenon, little
has been done with a focus on university students in developing nations (Mbengo, 2014) such
as Zimbabwe. Much of the existing literature relates to the developed world, a context withstudents of differing experiences and expectations about digital technologies from those in thedeveloping world. For instance, Minocha (2009) examined the use of social software withrespect to UK students’ learning and engagement aimed at uncovering both the benefits andthe challenges students experience from using the digital technologies. Little is known about
how relevant the benefits and challenges are with regard to the developing world context. It ison this background that this study sought to fill this gap in literature through the establishmentof the evidence-based view of the Zimbabwean students’ technological perspectives. The aim
is to contribute this body of knowledge for the benefit of the relevant researchers as well as theuniversity management, decision and policy makers.
It is vital to make informed decisions concerning technology-enabled education if returns on
the costly technological investments are to be realized. More so the appeal of digitaltechnologies in universities varies with the context. In this regard, Kennedy, et al., (2006)
concludes that technological experiences are vital to informing university decision and policy
formulation that can transform the way education is delivered. A consideration of students’technological concerns and priorities is vital since most developing countries seek to achieve
quality education using scarce resources (Aiammary, 2012). Therefore, simply focusing on
adopting digital technologies without a proper operating model or framework can result in
failure (Conole, de Laat, Dillon, & Darby, 2008) that deprives learning institutions ofanticipated returns. This study therefore sought to establish the students’ viewpoints about
digital technologies in education. The other objective was to determine the Zimbabwean
students’ technological choices and priorities as opposed to those of their worldwide
counterparts’ perspectives reviewed in proceeding section.
Related Work
Despite many studies demonstrating levels and patterns of technology access and use ineducation, researchers are still concerned about the underutilization of digital technologies inuniversities (Noguera, 2015; Johnson, et al., 2013), a persisting trend since the 1990s(Dimaggio & Hargittai, 2001). For example, Echenique (2014) examined the use of new digitaltechnologies in teaching and learning in higher education and the findings show that in the
	
  
	
  

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developed world students use a variety of digital technologies and recognize their value asteaching and learning tools
Conole, de Laat, Dillon, & Darby (2008) carried out a series of in-depth case studies on
students’ use and experience of technologies and their findings demonstrate that technology isat the heart of all aspects of university students’ lives and students use technology to support
all aspects of their learning processes. These authors’ findings show that students appreciate
digital technological tools and find them appropriate in teaching and learning in a variety ofways, depending on individual needs and preferences ranging from directed study, resource
discovery, preparation and completion of assignments, communication and collaboration,
presentation and reflection.
Likewise Liaw, Huang, and Chen (2007) as well as Corrin, Lockyer, and Bennett (2010)
explored the learners’ attitudes toward e-learning system usages, and found that learners haveabundant computer related experience in digital technologies such as browsers and electronic
mail. They then concluded that university students believe that e-learning environments are an
efficient learning tool and expect teachers to satisfy their learning needs that are technology
based.
The study by Jones, Blackey, Fitzgibbon, and Chew (2010) indicate that at universities there ismore use of educational technologies such as Power Point, Virtual Learning Environments andWikis. They also reveal that social networking software is valued by university students as an
ideal tool that assist both the students and educators to reflect on their learning and teachingpractice.
On the contrary, an investigation by Margaryan, Littlejohn, and Vojt (2011) on the extent andnature of university students’ use of digital technologies for learning and socializing show thatstudents use a limited range of established technologies with the use of collaborativeknowledge creation tools, virtual worlds, and social networking sites very low Kennedy, etal., (2006) reported that while most students regularly use established and available digitaltechnologies such as email and Web searching tools, only a small subset of students use moreadvanced or newer digital technologies such as such as augmented reality, games andsimulations.
The reviewed literature demonstrates that university students generally appreciate the value ofdigital technologies as demonstrated by the wide use of such technologies in social aspects ofstudents’ lives. The main concern depicted in literature is the limited integration and disconnect
between educational technologies and teaching and learning practice. University students are
frustrated by popular traditional teaching methods that are without technology. They feel thatthe limited integration of digital technologies in teaching and learning robs them of theaffordances enjoyed by their counterparts in the developed world. This practice in the relevant
learning institutions interferes with the students’ technological abilities. The universities
appear to have failed to set up a conducive environment that promotes students’ use of digitaltechnologies in the learning process. With this background, the subsequent section discusses
the methodology used to collect and analyze data from Zimbabwean university students about
their perspectives with regards to digital technologies in education.

	
  
	
  

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Methodology
The research drew data from one of the sixteen universities in Zimbabwe. The choice of thisuniversity case was influenced by the institution’s mission to produce technologicallycompetent human resources and a workforce that is compliant with the current digital society’labor market requirements. A survey method was employed for faster and easier access tocollected data. After an approval of an ethical clearance application, one hundred
questionnaires were administered to both full-time and part-time undergraduate students who
were randomly selected from all the faculties. The students voluntarily participated in thesurvey and the anonymity of the participants was maintained with no disclosure of identities.
Eighty-four questionnaires were returned, achieving an 84% response rate. Of the returned
questionnaires, eighty-two questionnaires satisfied the data cleaning process with twoquestionnaires discarded for missing and incomplete data entries and outliers.
The survey questions were designed on the background knowledge that students’ use of digitaltechnologies is normally influenced by digital technology affordability, availability andaccessibility. In addition, other questions sought to establish the demographic data, students’digital skills and competence, level of education, subject area and mode of study. The questions
were easy to answer as students were mainly required to choose answers provided in the formof a 5 point Likert scale. There were a few open-ended questions for further elaboration. The
collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and thesubsequent findings were obtained.
Findings and Discussion
Through our investigation, we obtained the underlying findings towards answering thequestions asked in the preceding section. Regarding the question on the perspectives of students
about the use of digital technologies in the teaching and learning, the results concur with theexisting literature since the Zimbabwean students’ value of technology based teaching andlearning was very high. The students indicated that digital technologies are convenient andflexible tools that could enhance their learning activities as indicated in Table 2. Table 2 is a
depiction of the value attached to the e-learning system tools by the students. Only 31% of theparticipants found the e-learning system tools not useful while 58% consider them very useful.

	
  
	
  

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Table 2: E-learning portal by subject area

The surveyed students also revealed that the digital technologies are capable of improving theiracademic performance, as evidenced by Figure 1.

	
  
	
  

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Figure 1: Value of social media in the learning practiceIn Figure 1 it is clear that social networking sites are very common among Zimbabwean
university students. For example, less than 10% of the surveyed students regarded these
networks as useless tools for teaching and learning while the rest find them useful in education.
According to the surveyed students, digital technologies are valuable tools for communicatingwith both lecturers and with each other. They also indicated that these technologies aredesirable features that facilitate access to learning material and course content. The students’
sentiments are summarized in Table 3 showing how appreciative they are of social media sites.
	
  Table 3: Subject area-based usability of social networking technologies
Social networking

Subject
Area
Total

Engineering
Languages, Education
Natural Sciences
Creative art and Design
BusinessNot
useful40105Somewhatuseful
8
4
1
2
9

Very
useful
12
6
3
7
20

10

24

48

Total
24
10
5
9
34
82

Table 3 depicts that of the eighty-two surveyed students; only ten students indicated that thesocial networking sites are not useful learning tools, with the students from business andengineering finding them very useful. These positive views are further augmented in the open
ended questions. For instance, one of the students elaborated the benefits drawn from digitaltechnologies in education as follows: “It is of paramount importance because reading a
hardcopy textbook is harassing than reading a soft copy at times due to poor network
connections, this may lead to use of digital technology not being seen as helpful.”
In answering the question on students’ perspectives about the digital technologies, theparticipant rated them very highly and would be very excited if they learning practice could be
driven by these technologies. Table 4 has evidence to this regard.
	
  
	
  

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Table 2: Students’ perceptions about digital technologies in education

Table 4 is demonstrative of the digital technologies most common among the Zimbabwean
students. The most popular and preferred technologies include search engines and journals forresearch purposes as well as the recorders and networking sites. WhatsApp, Wikipedia and
You Tube are also among the most-used technologies by the Zimbabwean students. This could
be attributed to the high availability and accessibility of the technologies and the devices
compatible with them. Figure 2 demonstrates this observation. Of priority concerning students’learning is the search engines used as the primary source of information. 60% of the surveyed
students also confessed to using YouTube to both share and view lectures notes from sources
external to their institution.

	
  
	
  

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Figure 2. Common digital technologies among students
Figure 2 shows the common digital technologies for use by Zimbabwean university students intheir learning. Interestingly, though, the use is concentrated on a limited selection of thesetechnologies such as search engines at 70%. Social media like twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp
have limited use in academia probably due to the idea of separating learning from social
activities.
Table 5 shows that research activities are the fundamental purpose for technology use with
89% of students in favor of this use. These results can be attributed to the flexible, bring yourown device (BYOD) practice where students are free to use their digital devices and software
within the institutional premises.
In answering the question regarding the purpose of using digital technologies, Table 5 showsthat Zimbabwean students use such technologies as tools for finding information. They also
use them for downloading audio and video files, which they then listen to and watch
respectively. These could be both for entrainment and learning purposes. It is clear that the
Zimbabwean students rarely use digital technologies for citing purposes as evidenced by only
25% of the participants. More focus is on documentation, presentation, e-mail andcollaboration activities. This shows that students integrate such technologies despite the low
uptake by their lecturers.

	
  
	
  

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Table 3: Common uses of digital technologies among students

	
  
	
  
These results demonstrate that students focus on digital technologies that support their learning.
As indicated in literature, the students’ digital technology preferences are highly determinedby both task completion and academic performance. For instance, in Figure 3, simulation
technologies are mostly used by the students enrolled in the engineering courses as they findthem handy in completing practical tasks unlike the arts and natural sciences students who haveless need for this application.

	
  
	
  

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Figure 3. Course-related technology preferences
These findings also show that the university students’ digital technology preferences are
dependent on the capabilities of multiprocessing and discovery-based learning. Our researchfindings are contrary to the contention in literature that use of digital technologies by students
is mostly influenced by age, giving rise to the digital natives and digital immigrants’ debate.
According to this research, there are minimal differences in digital technologies usage acrossage. However, it seemed gender shaped the use of certain digital technologies such as social
networks and library websites.
Our findings also reveal that availability, accessibility and affordability were not the major
determinants of using the digital technologies in learning. The findings have evidence of theaffordability, availability and accessibility of the various digital technologies to the students
both personally and institutionally. However, the results also show a gap between access to anduse of such digital technologies as Facebook, twitter, Google docs and WhatsApp for learning
purposes. This second order digital divide is puzzling considering the widespread access,affordability and availability of such technologies to the students. More so, the uptake of such
digital technologies as iTunes, Web-based e-learning portal and the citation tools are not as
common among the surveyed Zimbabwean university students as they are to their counterpartsin the developed nations. This is evidenced by the 2.111 coefficient against a 0.184 value fortwitter technology. It can thus be concluded that the popularity of the digital technology israther consistent with environmental and institutional context than the general notion of age as
stipulated in Prensky (2001).
Contrary to the documented literature, the Zimbabwean students expressed dissatisfaction withthe service provision of the IT infrastructure, campus computers, bandwidth and Wi-Fi. The
students argued that the available institutional infrastructure is out of date and the computers
are old, such that their specifications no longer satisfy the students’ educational requirements.
They also complained about the slow internet connectivity and low bandwidth, which make it
impossible to download the learning material from such current and advanced technologies as
YouTube. Table 3 is a representation of the low uptake of the electronic learning systemcurrently deployed at the institution, which can be attributed to underutilization by the lecturers.
	
  
	
  

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The students were also dissatisfied with the lecturers’ irregular approach to using the available
digital technologies especially the implemented LMS tools. The Zimbabwean students
expressed their disappointment in the current teaching methods without digital technologies,
which they felt deprive them of the technological affordances currently enjoyed by theircounterparts in developed nations. The Zimbabwean learning institutions confirm theobservation in Kolikant (2010) that educators have failed to build on students’ technologicalabilities’ On the contrary, Paul, Baker, and Cochran (2012) show that the trend in the developed
world is toward increased use of such technologies as social networking sites; Facebook and
LinkedIn by academics, to communicate and deliver instructional content. Below is an extractof students’ views in this regard. One student expressed discontent with the technologicalconditions at the university by saying, “The institution is depriving us from using andembracing the technologies by slow internet speed.”
Consequently, the current gap between availability and use referred to the as the second-order
digital divide is existent in higher education environments in Zimbabwe. This divide isdemonstrated in the lesser use of digital technologies for teaching and learning practice. The
second-order digital divide problem could be attributed to institutional factors more than either
technological or individual student factors. This observation is also confirmed in Kennedy etal., (2006, p. 413) that “Universities are still ill equipped to educate a new generation of learners
whose sophisticated use of emerging technologies is incompatible with current teachingpractice.”
The contribution from this research has therefore been to inform the digital divide researchers
on the role played by the institutional context in either enabling or constraining the use ofdigital technologies in teaching and learning. Evidence from the survey shows that there isnothing wrong with the digital technologies owned by the students as they found them both
useful and usable; there is nothing wrong neither with issues related to individual students asthey have access to and the capacity to use the digital technologies on their own apart from theinfluence from the lecturers. However, the findings are useful also to both the university
management and policy makers such that their future ICT policy development and choices ofdigital technologies should rather be bottom up than top down and should be driven by thestudents, who are the intended beneficiaries of such technologies. The available and accessible
digital technologies should improve and enhance students’ learning and academic
performances. The full utilization of these available and accessible digital technologies isbound to prepare the current generation of university students for survival in the current digitalsociety (Aiammary, 2012). Furthermore, it will equip these students with the digital skills
required in the 21st century labor market (Prensky, 2001). It is therefore the duty of university
management and policy makers to ensure that their students neither lag behind nor are deprivedof the digital technology affordances currently enjoyed by the students attending university inthe developed nations. The institutions need to devise the technological implementation models
that that address the perspectives, priorities, choices and concerns of students.
Conclusion
Through this research, it was clear that digital technologies are affordable, available andaccessible to the Zimbabwean students and can be embraced in teaching and learning practice.
Nevertheless, a second-order digital divide persists in Zimbabwean learning institutions despite
the widespread access to several digital technologies. This divide robs the current generationof students from the affordances enjoyed by their counterparts the world over. There isevidence that Zimbabwean students highly perceive the digital technology tools in learning as
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017indicated by the widespread ownership of such technologies as smartphones, computers as wellas the widespread use of social networking sites, search engines and YouTube to search for
information. There is therefore a need for learning institutions to channel their resources
towards facilitation of an increased utilization of both the existing and future digital technology
investments.
Future Research
Despite these findings being based on a single university case in Zimbabwe, the results havean implication on learning institutions of similar situations where a paradox of the second-order
digital divide exists. For a more informed view on students’ perceptions about digitaltechnologies, future studies can focus on multiple cases with a longitudinal background toenable the provision of a more generalizable view that represents the perceptions of students
across institutions and environments. In addition, such studies should also incorporate bothquantitative and qualitative data for the presentation of both valid and reliable results.

	
  
	
  

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References
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Corresponding author: Sibusisiwe Dube
Email: sibusisiwenkonkoni@gmail.com

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Facebook Posts as Complementary Teaching Material for a French
University Course in Taiwan

Bernard Montoneri

	
  
	
  

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Abstract
A growing number of instructors use information and communications technology (ICT) insideand outside the classroom to teach all kinds of programs, including language courses. In thisstudy, the instructor used a traditional way of teaching (lecturing, text-book, conversation, no
technology in the classroom, no social network) during the first semester of academic year
2013-2014 (September-January) in a French course for beginners in a Taiwan public university.
During the second semester (February-June 2014), the teacher added the use of multimedia andFacebook to teach the same students. They joined a Facebook learning group, which they could
access anytime during the second semester; they could post, view posts, like, and comment in
French and sometimes English. They could not use their mother-tongue, Chinese. This study
analyzes data from the first and second semester to measure students' learning progress andhow the Facebook group might influence their motivation and change their behavior. Students
were expected not only to improve their reading and writing skills, but to increase theirknowledge of French culture.
Keywords: Facebook; French I; learning performance; educational tool; Taiwan.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
Mark Zuckerberg famously launched Facebook, the world’s most popular online social
networking service, with his college roommates and fellow students, at Harvard University in
2004. As of March 2013, Facebook claimed having 1.1 billion monthly active users (Facebook,2013). In April 2016, the number of active users grew to 1,590 billion (Statista, 2016).
According to Facebook, the number of monthly active users was 1.71 billion as of June 30,
2016 (Facebook, 2016). Internet World Stats (2016, a and b) estimates there were almost 98
million French speaking Internet users in 2015, including 52 million having a Facebook
account. As to the Internet users in Taiwan, in June 2016 it was estimated there were 19.6
million (including 18 million Facebook users) out of a population of 23.4 million.
This paper focuses on an optional course of French for beginners open to all students at a public
university in Taichung, Taiwan. This study compares data for 32 students who took the classduring two consecutive semesters, from September 2013 to June 2014. The data is based on
information collected on Facebook during the second semester and on the university official
questionnaires completed by students at the end of the two semesters.
The instructor used a traditional way of teaching (lecturing, textbook, conversation, no
technology in the classroom, no social network) during the first semester of academic year
2013-2014 (September-January). During the second semester (February-June 2014), theteacher added the use of multimedia and Facebook with the same students. They joined a
Facebook "secret group", that is a group in which only students from the class can join, post,view posts, like, and comment. The objective was to compare the online behavior, motivation,
learning satisfaction, approbation of teaching, and learning progress at the end of the first andof the second semester. Students were expected not only to improve their reading and writing
skills, but to increase their knowledge of French culture.
Literature Review
The launch of Facebook in 2004 means that specific literature only spans 12 years. However,
because of the immense success of the online platform, a large amount of academic studies
have been published discussing various topics, such as the impact of Facebook on health (Yeh,Ko, Wu, & Cheng, 2008; Steinfield, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008; Lin, Ko, & Wu, 2011), or thesocial network relationships in computer-supported collaborative learning (Ryymin, Palonen,& Hakkarainen, 2008).
The Net Generation, “the cohort of young people born between 1982 and 1991 who have grown
up in an environment in which they are constantly exposed to computer-based technology”(Sandars & Morrison, 2007, p. 85) relies heavily on Information and Communications
Technologies (ICTs) for social and professional interactions. Many studies, such as Oblinger& Oblinger (2005), Barnes, Marateo, & Ferris, (2007) showed that this Net Generation expects
technology to be part of their education. But according to Aydin (2012), “there has been aserious lack of research on Facebook’s use as an educational resource” (p. 1093). Yu, Tian,
Vogel, & Kwok (2010) had also noticed that little attention in the research literature on social
networking’s pedagogical impact on university students.
Hwang, Kessler, & Francesco, (2004) demonstrated that college students’ social networking
with their peers and instructors may help them increase their information and knowledge, andas a result improve their performance. Wang & Wu (2008) showed that in a Taiwan research
	
  
	
  

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university, undergraduates interaction with their peers to get feedback helped them improvetheir learning performance. Studies such as Madge, Meek, Wellens, & Hooley (2009), Bosch(2009), Mazman & Usluel (2010), and Prescott, Wilson, & Becket, (2013) have shown that
Facebook might be used for communication between student and instructor or with peers about
course content, collaboration between students, and other kind of informal learning.	
  	
  Various studies have demonstrated the use of Facebook as an English Language Training(ELT) supportive tool, such as Baran (2010), Anderson (2009), and Greenhow (2011). Social
media and notably Facebook provide students with extracurricular content resources (Bahner,
Adkins, Pate, Donle, Nagel, & Kman, 2012; Pilgrim & Bledsoe, 2011). Shams (2014) analyzed
the effectiveness and impact of Facebook in English language classrooms in Bangladesh.
According to her study, students with poorer English skills were more motivated when using
Facebook during the class. Direct contact between the instructor and the students increased thepositive influence of social media. Manca and Ranieri (2013) showed that students did not wishsocial media to be a unique teaching tool for learning.
Bishop (2006) concluded that “online communities are increasingly becoming an accepted partof the lives of Internet users, serving to fulfill their desires to interact with and help others.”
Some studies have been published in this direction, notably on the impact of opening learninggroups on Facebook. However, there is very little research in Taiwan on the impact ofFacebook learning groups on students’ motivation and performance. Çoklar (2012) andMontoneri (2015) showed that Facebook had an impact on students’ motivation. Montoneri(2015) created a Facebook group for a class of European Literature (option, 3 hours/week,junior students) in order to share teaching material related to the class on a weekly basis. The
course was attended by English majors in a private university in Taichung, Taiwan. The study
notably analyzed students’ motivation, progress in learning and improvement of the
instructor’s evaluation by students. It appeared that students regularly and constantly
participated to the group until the end of the second semester. Teacher evaluation was higher
and the average students’ final score progressed at the end of the second semester. See table 1
for a non-exhaustive presentation of studies on Facebook as an educational tool.
Table 1: Non-exhaustive presentation of studies on Facebook as an educational toolStudy
Yu et al. (2010)

Aydin, S. (2012)

Location, data
Information Systems Department,College of Business, City Universityof Hong Kong. 4 rounds of group
discussions involving 14
undergraduates (Hong Kong,
Mainland China, and US) +anonymous online survey among
university business major
undergraduates in information
systems (187 valid individual
responses).
Review of the literature concerning
Facebook as an educational
environment.
The study compares Facebook usage
in Turkey to its use on a global scale.

	
  
	
  

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Outcomes according to the authors•   University students show zeal for
online social networking•   Facebook directly influences
university students’ learning
outcomes•   Helps the students attain social
acceptance from others and adapt
to university culture•   Peer interaction online is a crucial
source of learning
Six categories analyzed:•   Facebook users•   Reasons people use Facebook•   Harmful effects of Facebook•   Facebook as an educational
environment•   Facebook’s effects on culture,
language, and education

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Kayri & Çakır (2010)

Department of Computer andInstructional Technology, Yuzuncu
Yil University, Turkey. The attitudesof the group towards Facebook were
measured after interactively
conducting “Computer Networks
and Communication” lesson on
Facebook during one term.

English & DuncanHowell (2008)

Department of Business
Administration, Queensland
University of Technology, Australia.
Creation of a group page to examine
their experiences and behaviours
during their teaching practicum
placements.

Di Capua (2012)

Review of more than one hundredstudies on Facebook. Focuses on FB
use, six categories identified:initiating and maintaining
relationships, learning about others,
recognition, personality andwillingness to communicate, social
influence, and experience.

•   Relationship between Facebook
and subject variables.
•   The students reported that
Facebook could beneficially be
used in education•   Significant correlation between FB
adoption and the amount of timespent on it•   Students who spent much time on
FB perceived it as an educationaltool•   Most of the students actively
participated in virtual environment
during the study.
•   Facebook could be used as asupplemental tool in education.
•   The majority of posts wereassociated with affective
communication such as groupreinforcement, encouragement, andsupport•   The sense of community was strong
in this group.
•   Methodologies employed in mostof the studies consist of surveys•   Researchers preferred aquantitative approach and based
their studies on self-report•   Scales such as that of Likert restrict
the participants’ choice and makethe results more likely to follow the
researchers’ predictions•   Most surveys were conducted
online hence limiting themonitoring effect on theparticipants.

Methodology
The Data Source
The study case is a public university founded in 1919 as an academy in Taipei; the academy
later moved to Taichung in 1943 and became a national university in 1971. The data comesfrom the university’s online student rating system, which provides student feedback toprofessors at the end of the first semester (September 2013-January 2014) and of the second
semester (February-June 2014). Participants were studying French I as a 3 hour/week option at
the Language Center and were majors from varied departments, including Chinese, Marketing,History, Business. The characteristics of the data source and research object are as follows:
1.   French I was an optional, three-credit course open to all the students of the university.
Thiswas a course for beginners. Students had never studied French before, but they all
understood English.
2.   The instructor used English to teach during the class because students did not know Frenchyet. The textbook (Picture 1) was published by the instructor in 2009. It was written in
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Picture 1: French textbook for beginners I published in 2009 and used during the class in
2013/20143.   This study compares data for students who took the class during both the first and thesecond semesters. Students who failed, dropped or had to leave at the end of the firstsemester (at this time, exchange students from Mainland China could only study for one
semester in Taiwan) or who joined later during the second semester were excluded fromthis research.
4.   Thirty-two students learned French I during the two consecutive semesters, that is, from
September 2013 to June 2014.
5.   The data was based on questionnaires divided in 2 parts: Part 1 concerned students’learning behavior (2 questions) and part 2 concerned the degree of approbation concerning
the teaching. The questionnaires were filled out by the students at the end of each semester.
Each question was rated from one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree).
6.   All the students were required by the university to fill out the questionnaires online if theywanted their grades to be validated. The study progressed with the assumption that all
students participated.
7.   All of the 32 students in this study had a Facebook account at the beginning of the second
semester. They joined the Facebook secret group created by the instructor.
8.   None of the 32 students was English majors; none of them belonged to a department offoreign languages. They all came from various departments. Among the 32 students, forexample, 7 studied in the Chinese Department, 6 in the Department of History, 3 in the
Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and 2 in the Department of Forestry.
Empirical Study
The Facebook secret group for French I was founded and opened on February 27, 2014. All
the students registered in the class joined quickly thereafter and the first post was uploaded by
the teacher on February 25, 2014 (Post 1); the last post was uploaded June 19, 2014 (Post 24).
	
  
	
  

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Picture 2: French I secret group, 33 members, from class 102-2 French (2-6/ 2014)
There were 33 members in the group; including the students and the instructor. The group was“secret” in the sense that only the students who joined the class could participate, that is join,read the instructor’s posts, post, like, comment and share posts with the other members of thegroup. Picture 2 shows the cover picture for the Facebook secret group: Mont Saint Michel,
Normandie, France.

Picture 3. Post 13 uploaded by the instructor
I used my French given name and Chinese family name in Chinese pinyin (Bernard Meng).
Student names were hidden for the sake of privacy and anonymity. Post 13 included two tables
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017and one hyperlink (Picture 3). This post was uploaded on March 22, 2014; it was viewed by 29
students and 8 students liked it. The purpose of this post was to help students learn verb
conjugation. The table on the left shows how to build French tenses. For example, most verbs
at present tense finish by –e at the first person, je mange, -es at the second singular person, tu
manges. The table on the right presents the conjugation in the present tense of the two mostuseful verbs in French: to have, avoir and to be, être. The hyperlink is a website created by the
French newspaper Le Figaro which provided conjugation of all French verbs.

Picture 4: Post 16 uploaded by the instructor
Picture 4 includes hyperlinks to translation websites, French to English and French to Chinese.
One link gives students access to verb conjugation and an online dictionary. This post was
uploaded on April 17, 2014; it was viewed by 28 students and 8 students liked it. This type of
post helped students find useful online learning material they could view anytime, during theclass (phones are allowed during the classroom for educational purpose) as well as outside theclass. The instructor noticed that students checked the group as soon as there was a new post;
however, they were more likely to check in the morning, before the class.

	
  
	
  

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Picture 5: Post 18 uploaded by the instructor
Post 18 (Picture 5) was quite successful as it was viewed by 28 students and liked by 11. To
motivate students and to interest them to French language and culture, I introduced the storyof The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1844). Students watched the movie during
the class and I gave them detailed information about the writer, the story as well as the infamous
Château d’If, situated about one mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille in southeastern France.
Students’ interest increased as I posted my own pictures of the château taken in July 2013. “If”
(the French word for the Yew tree) used to be an ideal escape-proof prison, very much like theisland of Alcatraz in California. It became one of the most feared and notorious jails in France.
It is now opened to the public. One of the boats which carry tourists to the island was named
after the hero of the novel, “Edmond Dantès”.

	
  
	
  

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Picture 6. Post 20 uploaded by the instructor
Picture 6 introduces French culture, in particular Versailles Palace and related stories, such as
The Man in the Iron Mask with Leonardo DiCaprio (1998) and Marie Antoinette with Kirsten
Dunst (2006). This post was uploaded on May 15, 2014; it was viewed by 28 students and 7
students liked it. The French for beginners course is 3 hours long. During the third hour, I
generally introduces French culture, including French tourist areas, cinema, literature, andmusic. By the end of the second semester, students were able to read in the French, extracts
from various novels and tales, including The Little Prince and Beauty and the Beast.

	
  
	
  

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Picture 7: Post 22 uploaded by the instructor
Picture 7 introduces French culture as well; French cuisine is quite famous around the world.
This time, I just wanted to introduce some international dishes French people enjoy eating,such as couscous (North Africa), pizza (Italy), French fries and mussels (Belgium), paella(Spain), and some French sea food (Provence). This post was uploaded on May 19, 2014; it
was viewed by 28 students and 11 students liked it. During the class, I also introduced
traditional French dishes and told students the Chinese translation for most famous French andChinese/Taiwanese dishes, such as le bœuf bourguignon 紅酒燉牛肉 (beef Burgundy), lesnouilles au bœuf 牛肉麵 (beef noodle), l’omelette aux huîtres 蚵仔煎 (oyster omelet), anddrinks like le thé aux perles 珍珠奶茶 (bubble tea).

Picture 8: Post 23 uploaded by the instructor.
Picture 8 is a short message to students regarding the coming final exam. This post was
uploaded on May 19, 2014, in the morning, before the exam; it was viewed by 28 students and
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 201716 students liked it. This is the highest number of likes during the whole second semester. Who
knew students like exams more than pizzas? I suppose the likes mean that students enjoyedthe class and were ready for the final exam. I note that the number of students who viewed theposts was high and quite stable.

Picture 9: Post 24 uploaded by the instructor
Picture 9 is the last post of the second semester, uploaded on June 19; it was viewed by 27
students and 16 students liked it. This post is a message to students notifying them that thecourse is over, and wishing them a nice summer vacation. Nobody left the group after the endof the semester, but I eventualy closed it as well as the Facebook account. I added a picture ofa famous motivational quote encouraging students to work hard and never to give up.
Analysis of Various Types of Teacher’s Posts and of the Timing of Posts
In a previous study on Facebook as an educational tool (Montoneri, 2014), I defined six typesof posts, such as quotation of texts, PowerPoint, pictures or photos, movie information andmusic adapted from books, and external links. I demonstrated that students showed little
interest toward PowerPoint presentations posted in the group in a class of European Literature.
In the present study, I focus on four types of posts: photo, that is the sharing of pictures takenby the instructor and photos found on Internet; film, referring to everything related to Frenchcinema; song, means the sharing of French songs found on Youtube and information about
French singers; link, referring to additional information about French grammar, syntax,
vocabulary, and pronunciation. During the class and in the Facebook group the students learned
about the influence of French Literature and the numerous adaptations on screen of Frenchnovels, notably in Hollywood (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Count of Monte
	
  
	
  

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Cristo, The Little Prince, and so many others). Table 2 and Figure 1 show that almost all thestudents in the group viewed all the teacher’s posts. They were obviously more attracted by theposts with pictures, photo in French (5.2), and information concerning French cinema, film in
French (5.0); surprisingly, students were less interested by posts on French music or song(chanson in French) (2.3). The posts called link (lien in French) were quite appreciated (4.5),
because they gave complementary information about French vocabulary and various points ofgrammar studied during the class.
Table 2: Average number of views and likes for various types of posts

Nombre moyen de views et de likes

Type of posts Number of views Number of likes
photo
28.6
5.2
film
29.0
5.0
song chanson
28.7
2.3
link lien
28.5
4.5

35
30

29.0

28.6

28.7

28.5

25
20
# views

15
10
5
0# likes
5.2

photo

5.0

2.3

film
chansonStyle de posts

4.5

lien

Figure 1: Comparison of various types of posts
Posts’ Timing: At What Time of the Day Posts Might be More Successful?
It might be interesting and useful for teachers to have some insight into students’ online
behavior, which may of course vary from country to country. According to Pring (2012), almost
50% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up – 28% before even getting out ofbed. It seems that students in Taiwan are online day and night. However, in my experience, it
seemed that posts uploaded in the morning before the class might have more chance to beviewed by a larger number of students. The time of the week that would have the lowest successrate or impact would be on Sunday morning, very early.
Student behavior was interesting here and a little difficult to analyze as each student had his or
her own problems and deadlines. This course was an option for beginners in French. It was
impressive enough that students would spend so much time for a 3-hour class when they wereso busy with their major. Moreover, none of the students in the group belonged to the
	
  
	
  

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department of foreign languages. Seven were Chinese majors; the other students did not belong
to a department of languages. We can see in Table 3 and Figure 2 that some students werehighly motivated; they took on the habit of viewing and liking posts as soon as they got
uploaded. Other students tended to go online some time later and to view many posts at once.
As people who regularly use social media might suspect, posts are viewed the most just after
they are uploaded, that is in the next 24 hours. This study demonstrates the overwhelming
importance of timing. People react very quickly and almost immediately when information isposted online. However, students who did not have the opportunity or the time to view a post
so quickly (exams in other courses, assignments, school activities, part-time job…) still cameback to check previous posts. As a result, one month later, a few students were still viewing
older posts. With the exception of post 1 on week 2, all the other posts from week 3 to week
14 were mostly viewed within a day after posting (in red, Figure 2).
Table 3: Average number of views and likes for various types of posts
Week

Time*

8.0

3
11.
0
2.7

4
15.
0
0.0

5
11.
0
0.0

7
10.
0
1.0

9
21.
0
0.0

10
19.
0
0.0

11
16.
0
1.0

12
13.
0
3.0

13
12.
0
2.0

14
12.
0
2.0

4 days-1 week

8.0

7.3

4.0

4.0

8.0

0.0

1.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

3.0

1-2 weeks

6.1

1.0

0.0

1.5

7.0

0.0

0.0

1.0

0.0

1.0

5.0

3-4 weeks

0.7

1.0

4.0

9.0

1.0

0.0

0.0

2.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

2
1 day
2-3 days

2.0

1 month~
4.1
6.0
6.0
3.5
2.0
7.0
8.0
7.0
6.0
5.0
0.0
Proportion for the first week
29.
29.
29.
29.
29.
28.
28.
28.
28.
28.
28.
(%)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Proportion the two first weeks
62
72
66
52
66
75
71
64
64
61
61
%
%
(%)
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
Proportion for the first month
83
76
66
57
90
75
71
68
64
64
79
(%)
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
* “1 day” means that students saw a post within the next 24 hours after the upload of the post. “1 month~” means
after a month and more.

	
  
	
  

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Figure 2: Views of weekly posts and timing* semaine, week; j for jour, day; 1s for une semaine, one week; 1m for un mois, one month.

Analysis of Teacher’s Evaluation
The questionnaires were originally written in Chinese and translated into English by the
instructor/researcher. Table 4 shows student evaluation of the instructor for two consecutive
semesters. The questionnaires are divided in two parts: Part 1 concerns student learning
behavior (two questions) and part 2 is the degree of approbation concerning the teaching.
S1 represents the amount of time students believed they were absent or late during the twosemesters, from never absent to absent more than 19 hours during each semester. Between thefirst and second semester there was a -6.43% progress (from 1.71 to 1.6). This means thatstudents were less absent or late during the second semester. To decrease absenteeism is noteasy. Some students are often late early in the morning. The class was 3 hours long, from 9 am
to 12. Using Facebook seemed to have motivated some students to be on time and to attend theclass more often. The instructor also noticed that when some students were late or absent, they
took on the habit of sending a message on Facebook before the class (asking for a sick leavefor example).
The amount of work represented by the score of S2 decreased from 2.5 to 2.2 (-12.0%). The
course during the second semester became more demanding (workload, difficulty of thelessons) and more severe (notably concerning the scoring); as a result, students’ average scores
were relatively lower. They were able to progress and maintain a certain level, despite the factthat they had the impression they needed less time and effort to progress in French. Learning
the basics in French (ABC, pronunciation, numbers, gender of nouns, verb conjugation, accentsand liaisons) required a fair amount of hard work at the beginning. Once they learned andassimilated the rules, students needed less effort to speak and write in French. By the end of
the second semester, they were able to read extracts from French Literature. This is the firsttime the instructor could get beginners to read literature in French during the class.
	
  
	
  

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Morevover, despite the fact that students’ scores decreased during the second semester, theinstructor’s evaluation increased (average score T1 to T12: 4.08 to 4.34 from the first to thesecond semester; 6.37% increase), which shows that scores and approbation of the teaching are
not related, in part because students felt their grades were “justified and fair” (T10: firstsemester 4.18; second semester 4.33; 3.59% increase).
T2 rates how clearly and coherently the teacher speaks. This rating increased at the end of thesecond semester. Additional explanation and online feedback helped students better understandthe instructor’s lecture during the class. Perhaps, because students made progress in both
French and English during the academic year, they could more clearly understand the teacher.
It is noteworthy that the class was teaching French using English to Chinese students who are
not majoring in English. It takes tremendous effort to learn a foreign language, French, throughthe medium of another foreign language, English.
T5 rates the informative content of the educational material. This rating was very important inrelation to the use of Facebook. As we saw earlier in this paper, the instructor added a large
number of posts about French culture, which were quite successful. The 8.37% increase
concerning this question is an important encouragement for teachers using social network
during and outside the classroom. Students seemed to appreciate the additional amount of
information and course content. According to the detailed data, more students appreciated theteacher’s open attitude toward communicateing with them online during the second semester.
T7 rates the availability of the instructor to help students and to guide them to solve problems.
This rating was interesting. Facebook concretely helped students in their perception that theteacher was helping them, during the class as well as outside the classroom. They could send
messages and ask questions any time. They had therefore more opportunities to practice French
and more feedback from the teacher. Many students wrote short texts in French, asking the
instructor to correct them (even during the weekend, which was also more demanding for theteacher, increasing his workload).
T8 rates the punctuality of the instructor. This rating showed some subjectivity in the way
students answered. Since the instructor was never late or absent during the entire academic
year, it seems that the score should be higher.

	
  
	
  

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Table 4: Teacher evaluation at the end of the first and second semester
Part 1: Students’ learning behavior
PeriodQuestions
S1. This semester, after the dropping out period, for thiscourse, circumstances of absence (including being late,leaving the class early, authorizations of absence andabsenteeism) are : 1. never absent, 2. absent 1-6 hours, 3.
absent 7-12 hours, 4. 13-18 hours, 5. absent more than 19hours.
S2. This semester, I worked for this course an average per
week after school of about: 1. Less than an hour, 2. between
1-2 hours, 3. between 2-3 hours, 4. between 3-4 hours, 5.
More than 4 hours.

Semester
1

Semester
2 withFacebook

Progress
(%)

1.71

1.6

-6.43%

2.5

2.2-12.0%Part 2: Degree of approbation concerning the teaching (1 strongly disagree, 5 strongly agree)
PeriodQuestions
T1. The instructor at the beginning of the semester can explain
clearly the content of the syllabus for this course
T2. The teacher speaks clearly and is coherent
T3. The instructor’s teaching methods have helped me to learn
T4. Weekly progress for this course is appropriate
T5. The content of the educational material is informative
T6. The instructor is highly enthusiastic in the teachingprocess
T7. The instructor is available to help students and to guidethem to solve problems
T8. The instructor is rarely absent or late with no reason
T9. The scoring method can reasonably reflect students’learning results
T10. Until now, students’ grades are justified and fair.
T11. Until now, the instructor can immediately provide theresults of the evaluation for each student.
T12. Overall, the results concerning the teaching of this course
are good
Average score T1 to T12

Semester
1

Semester 2
withFacebook

Progress
(%)

4.03

4.47

10.92%

3.94
4
3.97
4.06

4.27
4.2
4.13
4.4

8.38%
5.00%
4.03%
8.37%

4.29

4.53

5.59%

4.09

4.53

10.76%

4.24

4.4

3.77%

4.06

4.2

3.45%

4.18

4.33

3.59%

4.06

4.33

6.65%

4.06

4.27

5.17%

4.08

4.34

6.37%

Figure 3 and Figure 4 below highlight the progress made between the first and second semester.
Concerning part 2 of the questionnaires, it indicates improvement for all of the questions from
T1 to T12; T1 and T7 show the highest progress (10.92% and 10.76% respectively). The
progress of question 3 and 6 implies that the posts provided on Facebook gave extra
information, which helped students to better understand the curriculum content.

	
  
	
  

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Average value for eachquestion

Semestre 1

Semestre 2

5
4
3
2
1
0
S1

S2

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12
QuestionsFigure 3. Comparison Semester 1/Semester 2, without and with FB

Progress of the evaluation

15%

10.9%
8.3%

10%

6.8%

5.6%

5.0% 4.1%

5%

10.7%

8.4%

3.9% 3.5% 3.8%

5.1%

0%
-5%

S1

S2

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T8

T9 T10 T11 T12-10% -6.4%-15%-12.0%

Questions*Figure 4. Progress of the evaluation for the second semester after using Facebook* S1~S2 represent the evolution of students’ learning behavior, T1~T12 represent the evolution of the degree ofapprobation concerning the teaching of this course.

Conclusion
Facebook can be a useful complementary educational tool for teachers who wish to improve
the presentation and organization of their courses. The teacher plays the roles of instructor,
group administrator and group member; this situation gives them the opportunity to observe
and analyze students’ improvement, their motivation, their behavior, and their needs. Teachers
may do real-time adjustment and have a better relationship with their students who have one
more way of communicating with their instructor, during and outside of the class. This way ofteaching is obviously more demanding and time-consuming, but it is worth it, as students cansee their level in French progress faster while using online technology and social networking.
We note that they did not communicate with each other in the group and did not share
information with the teacher or with their classmates. Further studies could concentrate on
encouraging students to participate more actively in the group, that is, to share their knowledge,
ask questions and chat with their classmates.

	
  
	
  

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Suggestions for Future Use of Facebook as a Language Learning Tool
l

l
l

l

l
l
l

l

We saw that Facebook allows instructors to create groups that are easy to open and to
manage. Teachers can collect data to do research, notably concerning the impact ofFacebook on their students’ motivation, learning progress, behavior, tastes,
communication and language skills.
Facebook might help the instructor share his or her own teaching material and also findnew teaching material online (flashcards, drawings, tables and figures) which can beviewed by students anytime, anywhere, during and outside the classroom.
Students become more engaged in the learning process, further studies could encourage
students to be more active in the group, that is, to post and to share their classmates’ posts,
to comment posts in the language they study, to share their experience and what they know
about the country and language they study.
Facebook may help improve the relationship and communication between the instructor
and the students. Shy students can also have another way to communicate with theirteacher. Taiwanese students are quite shy and rarely ask questions during the class. They
might feel more confortable asking questions online about things they did not understandduring the lecture.
Facebook can be a useful tool to schedule events and exams, to make announcements, aswell as to send messages concerning unexpected absences or problems.
Students in Taiwan are very confortable with Facebook and before the instructor createdthe learning group, all of the students in the class already had a profile for years. They
easily connect with their teachers and generally enjoy reading posts related to their courses.
The instructor may also help students connect to relevant websites, such as the Bureau
français de Taipei (functioning as a de facto embassy), the Alliance Française
(international organization promoting French language and culture around the world),
webpages teaching French online or helping students pass the DELF (diploma awarded
by the French Ministry of Education to prove the French-language skills of non-French
candidates); students might also have the opportunity to meet future employers in the
French community.
Teachers should find some balance and make sure that being the group administrator does
not become time and energy consuming. It is therefore advised to post one or two times
per week and to choose the posts “wisely”, in relation with what was actually taught
during the class. Sharing too many posts or unrelated posts might be counterproductive.

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic ofChina (Taiwan) for financially supporting his attendance of The Asian Conference on Society,
Education & Technology 2016, held in Kobe, Japan (October 20–23, 2016).

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Corresponding author: Bernard Montoneri
Email: montonerishu@gmail.com

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Orchestrating French Music Conservatories:
European Political Interventions and Local Governance

Elena Raevskikh165

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Abstract
Supported by the omnipresent State in the past, French music education leans increasingly
towards a more liberal and competitive model. In the current context of a decentralized
economy and European integration, music conservatories are called upon to contribute toregional and municipal development and enhance European student mobility. How doconservatories react to the restructuring of the competitive field? How do they affect European
territorial cohesion? Are they managing adaptive or hybrid strategies with new conceptions ofmusic education? Alternatively, do they gradually move away from the marketplace andbecome an obsolete and difficult heritage to maintain? To answer these questions, it isnecessary to analyze the current balance of power among the different elements of the French
multi-level system of conservatories, including communal, inter-communal, departmental,
regional, national and European institutions. By combining different sources of spatial andstatistical data, this paper contributes to constructing a comparative institutional geography ofFrench multi-level territorial divisions. Extraction and treatment of the small data with SPSS
statistical software allowed us to build a number of small-scale datasets that were merged tobroader geographical databases from the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic
Studies (INSEE). The geographical units that structure the INSEE databases (the zip anddistrict codes, codes of regions, departments, GPS coordinates) made possible the location ofeach conservatory within municipal, departmental, regional and national spaces. A
cartographic approach to studying music conservatories allows the identification of problems
that deserve further detailed qualitative and statistical study in the future.
Keywords: cultural policies; music education; cultural institutions; European integration;
territorial administration; institutional geography.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
French multi-level territorial divisions – regions, departments (counties) and communes(districts) – are both administrative channels for central government and decentralized
territorial units. The hierarchy of the French music education system formally corresponds tothis territorial division, and includes National Conservatories, Regional Conservatories,
Departmental Conservatories, Inter-communal and Communal Conservatories.
Since the period of “Cultural Democratization” – the cultural policy launched by the French
Minister of Culture André Malraux in the 1960s – regional conservatories have become themajor territorial instances of music education. The Ministry of Culture assigned the “Regional”
label to the most competitive institutions, promoted by local authorities and strongly involvedin territorial competition. Since their creation in 1967, regional conservatories have been
subsidized not by the regions themselves, but mainly by the central state and cities.
The political and artistic networks were mobilized to spread the elitist and selective
pedagogical approach to orchestral musical disciplines and solfeggio over the country. Wellknown pianists, violinists, and conductors were appointed directors of regional conservatories.
The regional conservatories played the role of “selection agencies” (Boudon, 1979) that
regulated the access for the best students from provinces to the National Superior Conservatoryof Paris. Low enrollment fees and scholarships for the best students were established by theState to guarantee democratic access to high-level music education.
In early 1980s, the socialist government and the new Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, criticizedthe “Democratization of Culture”, as a “top-down” elitist homogenizing approach to culturethat ignored cultural expression and practices outside the mainstream canon. As an alternative,
Jack Lang launched a new inclusive policy called “Cultural Democracy” that enlarged thenotion of “culture” and promoted ordinary cultural practices. Typically situated in cities’
downtowns, the conservatories had to find the new inscriptions in the local and urban realities
and attract populations that were previously poorly integrated into local cultural life.
Newly created peripheral annexes of conservatories were dedicated to teaching improvised and“popular” music (rap, rock, etc.) that should be accessible to every music lover, regardless ofage and musical capacity. At the same time, the old “central” annexes of conservatories
maintained their role as “selection agencies” for the National Superior Conservatory of Parisand the National Superior Conservatory of Lyon (founded in 1980), that maintained thenational monopoly on professional music education. Students from provinces who wished topursue their musical education in these institutions were required to train in regional
conservatories according to the nationwide standard and the curriculum established by theState.
The nationwide standard of music education, because of its rigidity, allows an accuratetransmission of traditional musical values and skills. By contrast, the relative flexibility ofcontemporary and improvised musical forms question the institutional legitimacy ofconservatories that seek to preserve their traditional values. The nationwide standard of jazz,rock, and contemporary music education has not yet been established. Moreover, the French
political vision that associates contemporary music expression with popular values andperipheral neighborhoods creates new obstacles for its integration in the performance-oriented
conservatories. Consequently, conservatories have interpreted “cultural democracy”
differently, according to the local authorities and musical networks involved in the functioning
	
  
	
  

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Contradictory political interests and ideological debates divide cultural policy-makers (as wellas musicians, directors of conservatories and instructors), and place the conservatories between
two competing forces: (1) the “centripetal” legitimacy of the National Superior Conservatories
focused on national prestige and pedantic “written music” education, and (2) the “centrifugal”
legitimacy of regional and urban needs, typically associated with contemporary music,
inclusive cultural policies, and territorial concurrence.
The New Decentralized Economy of Music Education
In the 1960s and 1970s, the state had the means to support its ambitions in the field of music
policy. In 1969, the so-called "ten-year plan for music” established by Marcel Landowski
transformed the economy of the music profession; state intervention in musical life in France
was funded up to 51 million francs. In 1974, the state budget dedicated to the musicalinstitutions reached 162 million. The conservatories were subsidized according to their formal
territorial ranking. For instance, government endowments for Regional Conservatories varied
in different years from 12% to 20% of participation in the budget of each institution.1 Regularministerial inspections of the provincial conservatories were organized to evaluate theirperformance, and guarantee their strong “centripetal” links with the National Superior
Conservatories of Paris and Lyon as well as their curriculum.
During this period, the music education system was in tune with the marketplace, strongly
supported (and partly created) by the government itself. The “ten-year plan for music”
expanded the number of ensembles subsidized by the State. France was divided into ten “music
regions” each of which had at least one symphony or chamber orchestra in addition to a lyric
ensemble or opera troupe. The main effect of this “ten-year plan for music” was to promotecultural decentralization and secure employment opportunities for musicians (Drott, 2011).
We are currently faced with a different situation. The central state has devolved the
management of cultural institutions to the territorial authorities and the State-based music
marketplace has been liberalized. Since 2008, the government has been entirely disengaged
from the management of communal and inter-communal conservatories that became entirely
endowed to territorial authorities. In 2015, the central state was almost completely disengaged
from the funding of regional and departmental conservatories. Following the acute publicdebates provoked by this decision, in 2006, €13.5 m was allocated to the conservatories withthe best “institution projects”, regardless of their formal territorial ranking.2
The “institution projects” of conservatories are, in theory, based on State cultural policies ofyouth inclusion, territorial equality and cultural diversity. Each conservatory is expected tojustify its focus on the marketplace and establish a durable cooperation with local cultural andeducative organizations and associations. This approach, based on selection of the mostcompetitive structures, has replaced the previous distributive model based of territorial ranking,and weakened hierarchical links among national, regional, departmental, inter-communal andcommunal conservatories.

1

Rapport d'information n° 458 (2007-2008). Décentralisation des enseignements artistiques : des préconisations
pour orchestrer la sortie de crise. URL : https://www.senat.fr/rap/r07-458/r07-458_mono.html
2
Projet de loi de finances pour 2016 : Culture. URL : http://www.senat.fr/rap/l15-164-37/l15-164-378.html

	
  
	
  

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Innovations Induced by the Bologna Process
The selective approach to the attribution of static endowments was established in the particular
context of inscription of the French conservatories in the Bologna Process, designed to ensurecomparability of the standards and quality of higher education qualifications.
Until now, French conservatories could not afford to offer a general education, and took thecultural values of music for granted. The student, therefore, was expected to possess a general
education or to acquire one at an institution best suited for this purpose. That was simply not
feasible for most people (Sorce Keller, 1984). In consequence, regional conservatories turned
out trained technicians who did not have an intellectual understanding of what they were
performing. The major opportunity for these technicians was to succeed in auditioning for thehighly selective National Superior Conservatories of Paris and Lyon. However, the number ofplaces in the National Superior Conservatories is strictly limited and disproportioned comparedto the number of potential candidates. The growing number of unemployed Regional
Conservatories’ alumni questions both the monopoly of the National Superior Conservatories
and nationwide music education standards. The equivalency of the French music diploma with
European counterparts has also been compromised.
This systemic inconsistency has been resolved through the creation of new decentralized
Superior Conservatories of Performing Arts (“Superior Poles”) that reunite the departments ofmusic, dance and theatre studies. The Superior Poles are founded based on the mostcompetitive regional and departmental conservatories. In 2016, €5.8 m was allocated to theseSuperior Poles. Another €4.4 m3 was attributed to the “clusters of artistic education” – regionaland departmental conservatories associated to the Superior Poles and engaged in their
institutionalization. The Superior Poles are typically installed in contemporary buildings that
contrast with the classical aesthetics of the old Regional conservatories (see Photo 1).

Photo 1: The premises of the Regional Conservatory of Versailles (since 1951) and the newbuilding of the Superior Pole of Nantes (inaugurated in 2016)

3

Stroesser, N. (2015). Financement des établissements d’enseignement artistique par l’Etat : chronique d’unretour annoncé et attendu, mais…? http://conservatoires-de-france.com/blog/2015/12/03/financement-desetablissements-denseignement-artistique-par-letat-chronique-dun-retour-annonce-et-attendu-mais

	
  
	
  

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The Superior Poles deliver, in collaboration with universities, the new diploma: National
Superior Professional Diploma of Musician (DNSPM) equal to a License (bachelor) level (1stcycle). The “hybridization” of the conservatory and university curriculum is innovative for the
French music education system. The university is called upon to fill the gap in the “general
education” of musicians, as well as to give knowledge in the theory of music making andpractice, historical and aesthetic doctrines, etc. Practice-oriented academic courses such as arts
management or music pedagogy are geared to keep young musicians in tune with society andjob market.
The European standard of the Superior Poles’ curriculum facilitates the enrollment of French
students in foreign conservatories at a Master’s (2nd cycle) or Ph.D. (3rd cycle) levels. In
France, not only The National Superior Conservatories of Paris and Lyon, but also the Superior
Poles of Poitiers and Strasbourg deliver Master diplomas. The Ph.D. in Music is delivered
exclusively by the National Superior Conservatories.
Analyzing the Territorial Dynamics of Music Education
In the current context of the decentralized economy of music education, French conservatories
are called upon to strengthen regional and municipal development and enhance European
student mobility. Analyzing the differences between American and European visions of musiceducation, Marcello Sorce Keller observes:
Schools must survive economically, and if they fail to attract students, they may haveto close down. While it is at times regrettable that education be linked to mercantile
considerations, there is little doubt that total independence from the marketplace
generates isolation and estrangement from the real world. The Italian case shows itvery clearly. There is a need for scientific research, especially where technologicalbreakthroughs are feasible, and colleges are unable to fulfill that need. There is a needfor a variety of music, and conservatory graduates can provide only one kind. It would
indeed be marvelous if we could have the best of both worlds (Sorce Keller, 1984).
Supported by the omnipresent State in the past, French music education leans increasingly
towards a more liberal and competitive model. How do conservatories react to this restructuringof the competitive field? How do they affect European territorial cohesion? Are they managing
adaptive or hybrid strategies with new conceptions of music education? Alternatively, do they
gradually move away from the marketplace and become an obsolete and difficult heritage tomaintain?
To answer these questions, it is necessary to analyze the current balance of power among thedifferent elements of the French multi-level system of conservatories. However, the absence ofcoherent national or regional statistics prevents a quantitative analysis measuring the overall
territorial impacts of the cultural and educational policies.
Several sources of small data – for instance, forms filled by administrators of each conservatory
containing data on the taught disciplines, territorial ranking, addresses, management andequipment of each conservatory – can be found on specialized open source websites, such as
lalettredumusicien.fr. Data concerning the conservatories recognized by the European
instances can be found on the site of European Association of Conservatories (AEC): www.aecmusic.eu.
	
  
	
  

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Methodology
By extraction and treatment of this small data with SPSS statistical software, we were able tobuild a number of small-scale datasets that were merged to broader geographical databases
from the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). The
geographical units that structure the INSEE databases (the zip and district codes, codes ofregions, departments, GPS coordinates) allow for the location of each conservatory withinmunicipal, departmental, regional and national spaces.
A combination of spatial and statistical data allows us to build tailor-made institutional
comparative cartography of these territorial levels. The Map 1 below is an example of a twodimensional cartography that combines (1) territorial indications and (2) the proportion
meaning of regional and departmental conservatories. Obviously, we observe a low cohesion
between the two territorial levels: (a) the departments with the highest density of departmental
conservatories (in red), and (b) the regional metro-areas with a strong presence of regional
conservatories and their peripheral annexes (in blue).

Map 1: Graduated symbol map of the Regional conservatories and their peripheral annexes (inblue) and Departmental conservatories (in red)
A cartographic approach to analyzing music conservatories allows us to identify the problems
that deserve further detailed qualitative and statistical study in the future. In the present paper,
we focus on three main questions:
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017(1)   Could the Superior Poles be a priori qualified as “European conservatories”? Which
French conservatories are recognized by the European instances?
(2)   Music education and decentralization: How has the recent reform and mergers ofFrench regions affected the territorial balance of music education?
(3)   Analyzing the effects of « Cultural Democracy »: How baroque and contemporary
music are taught in Regional and Departmental conservatories?
Results
1. Could the Superior Poles be a priori qualified as “European conservatories”? Which Frenchconservatories are recognized by the European instances?
What makes a conservatory “European”? Is the “European” administrative status capable ofamplifying the real international influence of an institution? Is this status as important as theorientation of musical and political networks that aim for international cooperation – or avoid
it? Or maybe the transversal “European” curriculum of music education is essential - even if
the perfectly balanced compromise between the national traditions of music education seems
to be unfeasible?
From the administrative viewpoint, the success of a Europe-oriented superior conservatory ismeasured by the relative concordance of its curriculum at the European level, augmented
European mobility of students, and the creation of new European networks of artistic
cooperation. The European Association of Conservatories (AEC) and the Erasmus network formusic “Polifonia” are two European organizations that address the European higher musiceducation issues.
The European Association of Conservatories (AEC) was created in 1953, and was initiallybased in Utrecht, Holland. Now, the AEC has moved to Brussels, and has been empowered by
European political instances as the representative of the EU in the area of music education.
AEC experts are engaged in the “Quality Enhancement Process” that elaborates the insights
and recommendations for European conservatories. Three European countries are the mostrepresented among the members of AEC: Italy (55 music schools), Germany (24 music
schools) and France (20 music schools).
The blue circles on the maps below show the proportion meaning of the Superior Poles andother institutions that deliver the DNSPM in France (Map 2), but also point out the French
members of the AEC (Map 3). Both of the maps indicate the proportion meaning of regional
conservatories and their annexes at the departmental level (in red).

	
  
	
  

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Map 2:
Map 3:
Proportion meaning of the Superior Poles Proportion meaning of the Frenchand other institutions that deliver the institutions recognized by the European
DNSPM (in blue)
Association of Conservatories (in blue)
Proportion
meaningofRegional Proportion
meaningofregional
conservatories and their annexes at the conservatories and their annexes at the
departmental level
departmental level(in red)(in red)As we see, the two maps are similar. However, the list of French conservatories recognized by
the AEC as “European” (Map 3), includes not only 7 Superior Poles, but also 10 regional
conservatories, 2 national conservatories (Paris, Lyon) and 1 National Centre of Education ofMusic Pedagogues (CEFEDEM).
Most of these heterogeneous institutions are situated in the same cities as the Superior Poles(Map 2). Whereas some of the newly created Superior Poles are still not recognized by the
AEC, the spatial proximity between the Superior Poles and previously existing territorial
institutions recognized by the AEC (i.e. the Regional Conservatories of Strasbourg, Nantes,etc.) creates the illusion of the almost identical appearance of the two maps. The only
exceptions are the institutions based in the metro-areas of Rouen and Metz: neither the
Regional Conservatories nor the Superior Poles are recognized by the AEC.
Obviously, most of the Superior Poles were created based on previously existing clusters ofmusic education that have been often recognized by the AEC before the equivalency of Frenchmusic diploma with its European counterparts. At this level, top-down European policies havemet pre-existing bottom-up dynamics of the territorial political and musical networks strongly
implicated in territorial concurrence.
The other visible particularity consists in the low correlation between (1) territories with ahigher proportion of regional conservatories and their annexes (in red) and (2) territories witha higher proportion of Superior Poles and the other institutions recognized by the AEC (inblue). Indeed, most Superior Poles are currently based in departments with one centralized
Regional Conservatory (in yellow).
	
  
	
  

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Obstacles to the creation of new Superior Poles based on the strongly decentralized Regional
Conservatories with several peripheral annexes (such as the institutions situated in the Atlantic
Pyrenees, Oriental Pyrenees and Var (in red)) deserve more detailed ethnographical andhistorical study in the future.
2. Music education and decentralization: How has the recent reform and mergers of French
regions influenced the territorial balance of music education?
Encouraged by the European Union, regions become the frame of reference for European
regional politics, aiming to promote the development of competitive territories. Since 2016,
the number of French regions has decreased from 22 to 13. This territorial reform aimed toaccelerate the decentralization process and empower the regional metropolis (Marseille,
Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nantes, Nice, Rouen, Grenoble, Montpellier, Rennes and Brest), as wellas cities ranked as “European metropolis” (Lille, Strasbourg). The initial project ofdecentralization reform also provided the erasure of departments. Although growing conflicts
between regional and departmental competencies are still being debated, the final decision on
this question has been delayed until 2020.
The new French Regions are highly impacted by the intense development of local smart
specialization strategies, based on the assumption of attractiveness to higher social fractions,or the “most educated and talented people”, being able to migrate and reach the most culturally
attractive regions and cities. If one believes the scenarios presented, investment in cultural
capital in the broadest sense should lead to a concentration of social capital itself. In turn, social
capital must generate economic capital for regions practicing the implementation of this newform of cultural policy and promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in all EU regions
and cities. From this perspective, European conservatories contribute to territorial competition
by attracting the young talented people that are potentially able to enhance local cultural andeconomic dynamics.
Map 4 below shows the distribution of regional conservatories and their annexes (in blue) andthe Superior Poles (in red) before the reform of French regions.

	
  
	
  

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Map 4: Graduated symbol map of regional conservatories and their annexes (in blue) and theSuperior Poles (in red) before 2016.
In terms of implication in the Bologna process, only 13 among 22 French regions were
equipped with Superior Poles, and were ready to integrate into the European marketplace ofmusic education. The Parisian region and Rhône-Alpes – pre-existing centers of musiceducation due to the presence of the National Superior conservatories of Paris and Lyon – werethe most saturated in both regional and European conservatories.
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, featuring the biggest Regional Conservatory in France, theConservatory of Toulon (11 territorial annexes), as well as the regional conservatories of Nice,
Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Avignon, had the only Superior Pole: the National Center of
Education of Music pedagogues (CEFEDEM), based in Aix-en Provence.4
Montpellier and Perpignan – the most dynamic cities of Languedoc-Roussillon – featured
important regional conservatories that were not implicated in European dynamics. The opposite
situation was observed in Midi-Pyrenees: the only regional conservatory in this region, theConservatory of Toulouse, has become, since 2011, an influential European cluster of musiceducation.
After the mergers of French regions in 2016, the situation changed. Map 5 below shows the4

The European conservatory that delivers the DNSPM diploma in music practice has not been installed in the
PACA Region because of concurrence issues among the regional conservatories. In-depth interviews with theadministrators of the Conservatories of Aix-en-Provence, Avignon and Toulon revealed cleavages of institutional
logics and disagreements concerning the installation of a Superior Pole in this Region.

	
  
	
  

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current distribution of regional conservatories and their annexes (in blue) and the Superior
Poles (in red).

Map 5: Graduated symbol map of regional conservatories and their annexes (in blue) and theSuperior Poles (in red) after 2016.
Mergers of the regions resulted in a consolidation of the macro-regional units that brought
together previously existing cultural institutions; and decreased gaps between the different
regional structures of music education.
Although the Parisian Region is still the most concentrated of the Europe-oriented conservatory
regions in France, the new macro-regions have reinforced their positions by uniting territorial
institutional resources. Areas previously poorly integrated in the new European dynamics ofmusic education have joined regions with the pre-existing Superior Poles.
The Superior Poles, formally attributed to a city, have an impact on the entire region, and evenbeyond national borders. For instance, the Superior Pole of the Region Picardy-Nord Pas deCalais is based in Euro metropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai that reunites several French andBelgian cities. “New horizontal” relations between French and other European conservatories
promote new musical networks dissociated from former administrative and symbolic hierarchy
between Paris and the provinces.

	
  
	
  

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3. Analyzing the effects of “Cultural Democracy”: teaching of baroque and contemporary
music in Regional and Departmental conservatories
Since 1980s, the French conservatories have been strongly impacted by Jack Lang’s “Cultural
Democracy” political program. European inclusive policies strengthen and support a similar
approach to music practice open to everyone; regardless of income, cultural origins, age, andeducation level. Contemporary disciplines (rock, rap, hip-hop, etc.), as well as disciplines that
historically existed outside conservatory frameworks (flamenco, baroque music, ancient music,etc.) have been integrated in the curriculum of the most regional and departmental
conservatories.
However, regardless of the “Cultural Democracy” program’s long-term implementation, theinstitutional geography of concerned institutions is far from homogeneous. In this paper, we
reflect upon the teaching of (1) baroque music and (2) contemporary music. How are theconservatories that teach these disciplines distributed at the regional and departmental levels?
The lack of official statistics to answer this question leads us to data available from specialized
directories, such as lalettredumusicien.fr, containing information communicated by theadministration of each conservatory on the disciplines taught in each institution. Here we will
present the results of the cartographical analysis of these data.
a. Regional level
According to the directory, only 29 Regional Conservatories among 71 (40.8%) integratebaroque music into their curriculum. Map 6 below shows the overall proportional meaning ofregional conservatories and their annexes (in red), and the regional conservatories that teachbaroque music (in blue.)

	
  
	
  

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Map 6: Graduated symbol map of regional conservatories that teach baroque music
Most conservatories that teach baroque music are situated in the following regions: ParisianRegion (6 institutions), Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region (3 institutions based in Marseille,
Nice and Toulon, but also several territorial annexes of Toulon Regional Conservatory), the
new macro-Regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (3 conservatories based in Annecy, Chamberyand Saint-Etienne) and Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrenees (3 conservatories based inToulouse, Montpellier and Perpignan).
Concerning the teaching of contemporary music, only 26 regional conservatories among 71
referenced in the directory (36.6%) have included this discipline in their educational program.
Most of these institutions are based in the same regions as regional conservatories opened tobaroque music. However, there are some particular exceptions. For instance, the Regional
Conservatory of Marseille teaches baroque music, but is still resistant to the teaching of thecontemporary music.5 Several institutions that teach contemporary music are also gathered in
Pays de la Loire (Conservatories of Nantes and Angers), as well as in the new macro-region of
Aquitaine Limousin Poitou-Charentes (Conservatories of Poitier and Bordeaux).

5

Raevskikh, E. (2014), Genèse et renouvellements des formes institutionnelles de la culture: une étude desconservatoires de musique et de leurs ancrages territoriaux. Doctoral dissertation, EHESS-Marseille.

	
  
	
  

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Map 7 below shows the overall proportional meaning of regional conservatories and theirannexes (in red), and the regional conservatories that teach contemporary music (in blue).

Map 7: Graduated symbol map of regional conservatories that teach contemporary musicb. Department level
At the departmental level, baroque music is taught in 40 departmental conservatories among
179 referenced in the directory (22.3%). Map 8 below shows the overall proportional meaningof departmental conservatories and their annexes (in red), and the departmental conservatories
that teach baroque music (in blue).

	
  
	
  

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Map 8: Graduated symbol map of departmental conservatories that teach baroque music
The departments in the Parisian area (Seine-et-Marne (77), Yvelines (78), Essonne (91),
Hauts-de-Seine (92), Seine-Saint-Denis (93), Val-de-Marne (94) house 10 institutions.
Important centers of baroque music teaching are also based in the Departments of Tarn (81),Aveyron (12) and Haute-Vienne (87), which are also strongly saturated with the territorial
annexes of local department conservatories (marked in deep red).
Contemporary music is taught in 76 departmental conservatories among 179 (42.4%). Map 9
below shows the overall proportional meaning of departmental conservatories and theirannexes (in red), and departmental conservatories that teach contemporary music (in blue.)
Although contemporary music is more widely disseminated at the departmental level than thebaroque music, we can observe the concentration of both disciplines in Parisian area, as wellas in the departments of Tarn (81), Aveyron (12) and Haute-Vienne (87) (in deep red).

	
  
	
  

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Map 9: Graduated symbol map of departmental conservatories that teach contemporary music
Conclusion
In the current context of the decentralized economy and European integration, French music
conservatories are called upon to contribute to regional and municipal development andenhance the European student mobility. Previously existing territorial clusters of musiceducation have become a moving force for the equivalency of the French music diploma with
its European counterparts. Although the formal European compatibility of the new French
diploma (DNSPM) itself does not give an immediate increase in European mobility,
conservatories become gradually engaged in territorial concurrence between the regional
metropoles, which seek to define their smart specialization strategies. New “horizontal”
relations between French and other European conservatories promote new musical networks
dissociated from the former administrative and symbolic hierarchy between Paris and theprovinces. We expect to witness, in the upcoming decades, considerable changes in the way
we conceive and understand the French music education system.

	
  
	
  

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Passeron J.-C., & Grignon, C. (1989). Le savant et le populaire. Paris: Seuil.
Polanyi, M. (2008). The Tacit Dimension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Poirrier, P. (2002). Les collectivités locales et la culture. Paris: La Documentation Française.
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Raevskikh, E. (2014). Genèse et renouvellements des formes institutionnelles de la culture :une étude des conservatoires de musique et de leurs ancrages territoriaux. Doctoral
dissertation, EHESS-Marseille.
Revel, J. (2005). Penser par cas. Paris: Série Enquête, Ed. de l'EHESS.
Sassen, S. (2006). Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Silver, D. A., & Clark, T. N. (2016). Scenescapes: How Qualities of Place Shape Social Life.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226357041.001.0001
Sorce Keller, M. (1984). Music in Higher Education in Italy and the United States: The Pros
and Cons of Tradition and Innovation. College Music Symposium, 24(1), 140-147
Sorce Keller, M. (2011). What Makes Music European: Looking beyond Sound. United
Kingdom: Scarecrow press.
Weber, M. (1995). Economie et société, T.1. Paris: Plon.
Weber, M. (1995). Economie et société, T.2. Paris: Plon.
Corresponding author: Elena Raevskikh
Email: elenaraevskikh88@gmail.com

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English, Education, and Globalisation: A Bangladesh Perspective
Mohammad Akteruzzaman and Rakibul Islam

	
  
	
  

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Abstract
As a third world country and a former British colony, Bangladesh has seen a dramatic upsurge
in the use of the English language. Built on the concept of imperialistic aspects of the English
language, this paper draws on responses from anonymous survey results and interviews andattempts to provide deeper insights into the global aspects of English as a language and thecredibility of this language in the minds of the populace. This paper assesses the English
language as a feature of globalization where English is considered to be of the utmost value.
Questionnaires were designed and interviews were arranged to evaluate the commercial andlinguistic aspects of English in Bangladesh to reach a conclusion whether the mass perceives
this very language as it should be or there are any other economic and cultural aspects. The
findings were presented graphically and the study showed that English fails to meet the
expectations of the stakeholders and policy makers of Bangladesh. The paper concludes withsome recommendations that could help resolve the situation and present English to the people
in a better light.
Keywords: linguistic imperialism; English as a global language; language contact; bilingual
education.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
Phillipson (1992) quoted a sentence from the Annual Report of British Council (1987/88, p.8)
which states ‘Britain’s real black gold is not North Sea oil but the English language’ (Phillipson,
1992, p. 49). From the ongoing trends, one is likely to perceive that the report writer was a far
better fortuneteller than Paul the Octopus, with a success rate beyond a hundred percent.
English is flourishing, English is in the air and above all and people are living in English now.
Even in a remote corner of a village, you will be enjoying great views of posters, banners or
festoons proudly upholding the prodigy of this great language, directly or indirectly. This is
not a one-way process; rather, the mass is merging themselves into the same flow. The
prominence and promotional activities of English have caused the spread of English teaching,teachers and obviously, a lot of learners. English is highly promising in providing them with
better chances in the fields of jobs, in society and at the ideological level (Phillipson, 1992). In
the case of Bangladesh, English is a mandatory subject for the learners from the very beginningof their academic life until the tertiary level. On the other hand, English still enjoys an EFL
status in Bangladesh. This survey research paper was by collecting and analysing the dataobtained from anonymous surveys, case studies, and interviews that had three very rudimentaryresearch questions at the roots:
a. What does English mean to the people of Bangladesh?
b. What is the most significant reason for learning English for the people of Bangladesh?
c. How far can the education policy of Bangladesh justify itself with the actual needs of thepeople learning English?
The Unquestionable Significance of English
The proliferation of English in the world can be effortlessly perceived only by elaborating on
the fact that it is the number one ‘lingua franca’ in the whole world (Jenkins, 2007; Kirkpatrick,
2010; Mackenzie, 2014) and the officially accepted language of more than 85% organizationsin the world (Crystal, 2012). It is often taken as the entryway to the modern world. Learning asecond language often comes in handy in terms of maintaining communication with the people
around the world as multilingualism helps greatly in this regard (Mansour, 1993; House &Rehbein, 2004). If this is the case, English has to be the first and foremost alternative next tothe mother tongue. However, the learners of English as a second language often face difficulties
as they have to bridle all the four horses namely Reading, Writing, Listening & Speaking at thesame time. Keeping these complications in mind, the English language courses are designed toassist them in the best possible ways. To supplement the process, numerous organisations offer
English language courses for the mass and there are some state organisations that have opened
the gates through which one can authenticate himself to be a potential and prominent speakerof English. In a word, English is in the air nowadays where one finds his ‘Querencia’ (Heard,
1995). Hemingway (1932) defines ‘Querencia’ denoting it to be ‘a place the bull naturally
wants to go to in the ring, a preferred locality... It is a place which develops in the course of thefight where the bull makes his home’. In addition, it is fairly out of any doubt that English
makes someone a part of the global village (McLuhan, 1964) due to the radical upsurge in theareas of mass media. The axiom of English has crossed the borders of any state transforming
the regular neighbourhoods into the segments of a globalised world (Crewe & Axelby, 2012;
Wolff, 2014). Everyone living inside the premises of a third world country bears the sense thatthey need something to get themselves merged with the people in the Inner Circle and English
inclines to be the easiest and the most accessible choice to acclimatize and implement in
	
  
	
  

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pursuing the dream to become a part of the Inner Circle or, at least, go close to it (White, 2016;
Kachru, 1985; Nejad, 2011; Phillipson, 1992).
English in Bangladesh
English has been in the veins of Bangladesh since the periods of colonisation. Being a part of
the Indian Subcontinent, it has seen dramatic developments of English as the language of thedominators, rulers, oppressors and the decision makers. However, English was not taken into
the parts of the then society as a part of the subsidised class or the subdued section of the colony
and their popular culture. People had a disdainful stance towards English as the tongue of the‘Firingees’ (equivalent Bangla term for an Englishman), the patois of the authority, the voiceof their plunderers and anything that suits the same context. After that came the epochs ofPakistan government as India and Pakistan derived two different entities in 1947. Without
going much into that narrative, it can only be mentioned that the present national language of
Bangladesh, Bangla, is the outcome of a long lasting protest against the Urdu language and anationwide movement to give Bangla the place it deserves. Commemorating that blood marksin the history of language development in Bangladesh, UNESCO declared 21 February as theInternational Mother Language Day celebrated every year with remarkable grandeur andceremonial fashion. Now, it stands profoundly as the eighth language in the world by the total
number of speakers that engulfs 190 million native speakers and 20 million non-native speakers(List of languages by total number of speakers, 2016).
Generally, Bangladesh is taken as a monolingual country where the national language, Bangla,
is spoken by 98% of the people (LLC, 2010; Kirkpatrick, 2015; Kachru, Kachru, & Sridhar,2008). Kachru, Kachru, & Sridhar (2008) explain further that even the native speakers are notaware of the minority languages spoken inside the borders of their country and some of them
have not even heard the names of some dialects. Although there are 36 marginal groups with
their own languages (Mohsin, 2003), the government of Bangladesh denies the existence of
any indigenous people in Bangladesh (Chittagong Hill Tracts: “There are no indigenous people
in Bangladesh”, 2011). By this, it can be affirmed that, linguistically, Bangla is the only
language that has been serving the purposes of communication throughout the history.
However, with the emergent demand of global and intercultural communicative competence(Jackson, 2014; Dai & Chen, 2014), it became essential to cultivate an education policy thatwould serve the goals of creating global citizens (Dower & Williams, 2002; Mayo, 2005) as
well as reflecting the needs of the learners. In the case of education policy in Bangladesh, there
have been several testimonies of power practice and hegemony. Though literacy is always inthe focal point in designing educational policies (Datta, 2007), studies have revealed several
occasions that should be considered while taking account of educational policies. These
policies have moved from their traditional strands and now tend to integrate into a ‘postmodern
critical approach’ (Paciotto & Delany-Barmann, 2011). Mohsin (2003) asserts that ‘thegovernment of Bangladesh has deeply hegemonic and chauvinistic policies of its own’ whichputs it into a problematic situation. As more and more countries are reshaping and redesigning
their policies to keep a sustainable demand of English (Tsui & Tollefson, 2008), Bangladesh,along with the other third world countries, is forced to provide more and more space to English.
So far, the education policy of Bangladesh has been through significant number of amendments
and modifications e.g. introducing the English version of the national curriculum in the late
1990s, enactment of Private university Act 1992 that inculcated the classroom instructions in
all the private university to be completely in English, and, establishing mandatory English
courses in all the universities of Bangladesh in 1994 (Rahman, 2015). On the other hand, a
	
  
	
  

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third world country like Bangladesh is rigorously affected by the ‘imperialism’ imposed on thelanguage policies through the gates of ‘aids’, ‘English language promoting organisations’ and‘language agents’ (Phillipson, 1992) and from the sociolinguistic aspects, this very nation isstill to find it’s way to the global prospects of English. Phillipson (1992) also affirms that ‘thedominance of English is asserted by the establishment and continuous reconstruction of
structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages’ (p. 47) andunfortunately, in our case, Bangla represents the other language. He terms this as ‘linguicism’that occurs when ‘there is a policy of supporting several languages, but priority is given onteacher training, curriculum development and school timetables to one language’ (p. 47). Suchprocesses have also been labelled as ‘neocolonialism’ in education (Altbach, 1971) as ‘theeducational systems of most developing countries, on almost all levels, remain rooted in theadministrative structures of the former colonial rulers. The colonial power may not be the directcause of this situation, but the fact that the structure and organisation of the schools reflect a
foreign model necessarily has an impact on the nature of the education provided’ (p. 237).
Contemporary Practices in English Teaching
To match with the advent of English, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) for teaching
English was first introduced in the secondary and higher secondary levels of Bangladesh in the
1990s by the National Curriculum and Textbook Bard keeping the notion of developing
communicative competence in the global context (Binoy, Sultana, & Basu, 2007). In
Bangladesh, English is taught as a compulsory subject (English Part I & II) included in thesyllabi of Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate examinations(Secondary Curriculum, 2016; Higher Secondary Curriculum, 2016). However, there havebeen several disputes over the success of CLT in Bangladesh and most of them concern thecomplications regarding classroom management, less supportive infrastructure and a shortageof competent teachers (Haque, 2015; Rahman & Karim, 2015; Islam & Bari, 2012). One more
peculiar specimen can be the passing rate of Dhaka University. A newspaper report publishedon 25 September 2014 in www.bdnews24.com reported hat only two students could make it to
the gates of admission into the English Department of Dhaka University. Furthermore, English
courses have been made obligatory by the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh forthe undergraduate levels of all disciplines and the latest reform in educational policy (2010)
evidently projects that ‘English will be taught as a compulsory subject at the degree level of allcolleges and universities. It will carry 100 marks/3 credits’ (National Education Policy 2010,
p. 32, clause 09). Along with these aids, students have better chances of receiving alternative
assistance from the international organisations, e.g. British Council, to replenish their skills of
the English language. Moreover, there are different streams of learners with their own
curriculum and teaching system. Right now, the mainstream of the students falls under the
category of the national curriculum or, the Bangla curriculum that follows the national
curriculum of Bangladesh designed by the government. All the books are distributed free ofcost to the learners which are written in Bangla and the testing system aims at evaluating theiranalytical abilities which is termed as ‘Creative Learning and Teaching’. The second majorgroup comprises of the students from the English medium schools. These schools follow thecurricula designed internationally and Edexcel is the most common one of them. The next
cluster encompasses the pupils who follow the English version of the national curriculum.
These books are the English translations of their original Bangla counterparts and the same
system of testing & evaluation is followed in this case. The fourth group consists of the learners
opting for the Islamic system of learning and teaching referred as ‘Madrasa Education’ with
their own authority or, education board and individually designed books. At last, there isanother stream of education namely ‘Vocational Learning’ that is dedicated to occupational
	
  
	
  

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elaborate over the higher-secondary education of Bangladesh, it would be enough to say that
all these secondary levels have their own advanced or higher level examinations. Also, students
have the freedom to switch to any module of teaching at certain periods which enables them toopt for any mode of teaching they prefer (An overview is provided in Table 1). Considering allthese viewpoints, it is certainly conceivable that English is already in the brains, minds, andhearts of the students who have gone through the national curriculum or English medium
curriculum before they begin their tertiary education.
Table 1: Overview of the secondary and higher secondary examinations
Secondary Exams

Target learners

Secondary School
Certificate (SSC)
DakhilSSC (Vocational)

Students following the national curriculum (bothBangla & English version)
Students following Islamic system of teachingStudents aspiring for job placement training morethan institutional education
Students following international curricula

O LevelHigher Secondary
Counterparts
Higher Secondary School
Certificate (HSC)
Fazil
HSC (Vocational)
A LevelBesides, there is one more underlying society that consists of the working people. For thesepeople, most of whom have obtained their education in a Bangla-medium environment, English
often poses to be a threat and sometimes burden. The above case study or, seemingly
unnecessary elaboration in the introduction part is just a casual phenomena.
Methodology
The respondents for this survey research paper come from versatile socio-economic
backgrounds. The first portion comes from the university students. The university students
were selected from four public and private universities in Bangladesh specifically Universityof Rajshahi (RU), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University(BSMRSTU), Hamdard University Bangladesh (HUB) & United International University(UIU) among which the first two are government-run universities and the other ones are
privately owned educational institutes (University Grants Commission of Bangladesh, 2016).
The second group of informants are the people working in various sectors of the country. The
first part was comprised of the members of the upper class (economically or intellectually), forexample, directors or managers of public and private organisations, university teachers,
journalists, writers, education researchers and experts. The second part involved the middle
layer of the organograms, for instance, executives, officers, medical promotion officers,
reporters and filed workers of different organisations. The last part incorporated the people
from the grassroots level like fruit sellers, small grocery owners, rickshaw pullers, street
hawkers, road-side tea sellers and drivers of public vahicles. For ensuring the objectivity of theresearch, their names have not been revealed, however, their occupations and positions areincluded in the transcriptions.
Data were collected through two different methods. The first method included the distributionof 240 copies (including both Set A and B) of questionnaires among the respondents and thesecond method involved interviews in the form of researchers’ notes. It was made sure that the
respondents had a clear understanding of the survey and the impacts before starting delivering
the responses. Only the respondents enthusiastic for participating were approached and noneof them had been persuaded by any means to contribute to the survey. All the responses are
	
  
	
  

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deliberate & spontaneous derived from a group of respondents with Informed Consent(Switankowsky, 1998; Marshall, 2007). Also, all of them were aware of the fact that theirnames or any sort of identifiers would be kept undisclosed thus preserving a thorough level ofConfidentiality and Anonymity (Kulakowski & Chronister, 2008; Wiles, 2012).
The first set of questions was designed for the students studying at the above-mentioned
universities. In total, 120 copies were distributed and all of them were submitted with responses
as both the researchers have direct access to all the universities. After that, another set ofquestions was distributed among the working people of the country. The rest 120 copies weredivided into three parts and distributed in groups. It is also to mention that there was a third set
as well which was the Bangla translation of the second set. This was used in case the situationnecessitated one. Findings from both of them have been analysed and incorporated under one
figure. Out of 120 of them, only 89 were submitted.
To obtain a clearer view of the selections made by the respondents and inquire about additional
responses, five short interviews were conducted. All the interviews have been recorded andtranscribed by the surveyor. The findings have been presented (in percentile) through Figures
1 and 2 and the transcriptions are included in the Appendices. The responses of thequestionnaires were tabulated and have been presented in the Findings.
Findings
All the figures provided below are the results of an anonymous survey conducted in Bangladesh
where all the figures represent the percentile of the responses for each choice. The
questionnaires are provided in the Appendices section along with the transcriptions of theinterviews. Studying the finding has brought some interesting facts to light.
Table 2: Responses to Set A (in percentile)
Strongly
Agree
23

Agree

NeutralDisagree

22

26

7

Strongly
Disagree
12

48

16

12

17

7

S3. I believe that without English I cannot shine in life.

53

3

14

13

17

S4. I want to achieve fluency in speaking rather than inwriting or reading.
S5. English courses are highly effective in my university.

69

16

7

5

3

17

21

16

31

15

S6. My goal is to achieve a decent command over English
only to maintain external communication.
S7. I want my English classes focus more on real life
communications rather than theoretical aspects.
S8. English does not attract me as a subject other thanbeing a part of the core courses.
S9. I do not want to study English after finishing the
mandatory credits for my degree.
S10. English is only necessary for my future career andhigher studies abroad.

57

24

6

8

5

61

19

2

12

6

54

27

1

7

11

76

19

1

4

0

64

9

12

14

1

S1. I learn English because I love to enrich my knowledgeof English.
S2. English is necessary for me to get a better job.

	
  
	
  

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Table 3. Responses to Set B (in percentile)
Strongly
Agree
42

Agree

NeutralDisagree

27

5

15

Strongly
Disagree11

S2. I cannot communicate with my clients without
English.
S3. I use English for all my local correspondences.

12

31

9

39

9

1

2

0

14

83

S4. I use English for all my internationalcorrespondences.
S5. It is alright for me if I can make sense in my writing
without maintaining accuracy.
S6. I try to avoid speaking in English with my bosses andclients.
S7. I would not even try to learn English if I had option to
do so.

56

19

11

12

2

82

13

1

1

3

67

21

6

4

2

41

34

8

12

5

S1. English is necessary for my job.

Discussion
It becomes obvious from the survey results that the current practices in teaching English in thetertiary levels clearly reflect the government’s aspirations underlying ‘…we need to upgrade
the quality of our higher education to match the international standard. It is very important for
the young people to acquire professional skills and we will have to take all necessary steps toensure this.’ (National Education Policy 2010, p.5) and it is obvious that in the echelons ofhigher studies in Bangladesh, the significance of studying English is irrefutable. It has been socompelling on the parts of the learners that they believe that English is a mandatory part intheir career and without English they do not stand a chance of survival in the global world.
There also lies a shortage in their intrinsic motivation as they are learning English merely as apart of their education, not as a subject that can enhance their future learning or has the capacity
to aid them in entering the world of great scholars and literature (S1, S2, S3, S9, S10 from Set
A & S1, S2 from Set B).
Keeping this focus in mind, it is expected that the learners will have a firm grip on the English
language before starting their higher education. However, the present competency level of thelearners does not comply with this picture completely. The findings produce a clear image ofthe discrepancies that are eventually built inside the learners and transformed to them throughthe faulty teaching system in the secondary and higher secondary levels. The findings alsosuggest that the learners are not satisfied with the effectiveness of the English language courses
at the universities (S5 from Set A). One of my professors, Md. Jahurul Islam, from the
Department of English, University of Rajshahi, once expressed his view regarding the
vocabulary used by an average learner at a university and he was shocked to discover students
using sentences like ‘I have ill’, ‘I absent for sick’ and many more. While attending the classes,
we had to bear his reconciliations over the students and he termed these sentences as ‘Mad
English’. As he was one of the designers of the National Textbook of English (Higher
Secondary Level) in Bangladesh, he doubted whether these books are actually followed as they
meant to be or not. If these books were used in the real sense in the secondary and higher
secondary classes, the learners would have gained at least six thousand new words before
entering the premises of the universities. Our findings point directly to the faulty teachingsystem in the lower levels which created a fearful appearance of English in the minds of theyoung learners. S6, S7, S8, S9 from Set A & S5, S6, S& from Set B clearly indicate that thelearners are at a stage where they try to avoid the use of English as the teaching system of
secondary and higher secondary levels does not provide them with an opportunity to practice
	
  
	
  

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English, mainly speaking and listening, for real life communications and when they have tointeract with the people using English, they become frightened. It is also a noticeable in the
English language classrooms at the universities where the learners are highly reluctant to speakin public although they are very good at writing and reading.
Moreover, the previous studies had found that CLT stumbled in its roots because of integrating
unsuitable approach in response to the social setting of Bangladesh, less motivation in thenorms of T-S interaction, and above all, insufficient and indecorous training facilities for the
EFL teachers (Rahman & Karim, 2015). Earlier researchers also found that CLT becomes very
hard to implement as Bangla is the medium of instruction in the lower levels and this severely
hampers the communicative practices intended to be carried out (Siddique, 2004). Barman,
Sultana and Basu (2006) pointed out several issues that had negative impacts on theimplementation of CLT in Bangladesh which included unavailability of expected number of
proficient facilitators, socio-economic limitations, less reliable administrative system,
inadequate infrastructure and management system, mismatch of the method with the culture,class size, seating arrangement and assessment. They also blamed the poor remuneration for
the teachers of schools and colleges and less funding support as the leading causes for the lessqualified populace of educators in these levels. All these problematic factors have an overall
effect in the minds of the learners and in the findings, S4 from Set A and S5 from Set B
evidently express that the learners are doing the same mistake in their higher education. As
speaking and listening has not been enforced in the lower levels, they tend to put more emphasison speaking & listening which creates another problem. They take it granted that the use ofEnglish is all about oral communication with the people giving less importance on writing or
reading.
Furthermore, Hamid and Baldauf (2008, p. 17) stated that the English teaching of Bangladesh
in most cases is ‘basically the same over two decades’. Collectively, these issues are reflected
in a broader spectrum when these students enter the tertiary education and are put into thecommunicative practices of English. The findings (S6, S8, S9, S10 from Set A and S6, S7 fromSet B) also suggest that these learners fail to internalise the aspects of English as it is anticipatedto be and they consider English merely as a means of accomplishing their higher studies andobtain the degree. This situation compels them to overlook the literary and ornamental featuresof English that can be used in enhancing their own language aptitude and leaves English simply
as a means of survival in the world. For both the groups, the students and the working people,
English does not possess a position that could be utilised in gathering more knowledge,
developing an understanding of the contemporary trends, augmenting a sense of progressive
thoughts and literary acquaintance. As most of them generally keep themselves away from theuse of English, they fail to keep pace with the world of scholars as most of the books are written
in English. Apart from the specific situations mentioned in the questionnaire, the best exposure
they have in English relies mostly on the use of social media and computers.
Another study focused on less available opportunities for in-class activities, students
inclination towards accuracy over fluency and deficiency in necessary ELT materials (Islam &Bari, 2012). Furthermore, Ansarey (2012) adds some other issues e.g. inconsistency between
the curriculum and testing system and learners’ low level of motivation and communicativeskills. At last, Farooqui’s (2014) case study presents that in most rural or semi-rural institutions,
Grammar Translation Method (Byram & Hu, 2013; Tetzner, 2006) is used for teaching English
and Bangla is used as the medium of instruction. This unswervingly affects their exposure to
the target language as well as their Critical Period of language learning as this hypothesis
considers the younger age to be the better age for language acquisition (Birdsong, 1999;
	
  
	
  

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Penfield & Roberts, 2014; Singleton & Ryan, 2004). Thus, from the findings, it can beeffortlessly assumed that the apathy towards English is not born overnight, rather, it is the resultof instigated practices that have created an anxiety towards English in their minds and thelearners have taken it granted inwardly that English is tough to learn and we should not messwith it.
Moreover, they tend to make haste while preparing for this very subject which generates more
complications. The ever growing demand of English makes it harder on their parts by getting
dissolved with their fear. In fact, they cannot match their knowledge of English with the
expected level in their higher studies or job sectors because of having a superficial
understanding of English. To add more, the learners of Bangladesh are more dependent on theirteachers in terms of classroom teaching and they can hardly accept the communicative normsof English as a major focus is premeditated on improving reading and grammar skills (Rahman& Karim, 2015). They fail to realise that English teaching in a university is not the same as it
happened to be in their schools and colleges. As more and more qualified ELT practitioners
join the crowd of university teachers every year, it can be undoubtedly presumed that thelearners can interact with better and more skilful educators than they used to encounter in theirpast. Still, the learners cannot internalise the concepts of English for a greater benefit whichmust be addressed on an urgent basis. It can be associated with the concept of ‘banking’education as defined by Freire (2005) where:(a) the teacher teaches and the students are taught(b) the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing(c) the teacher thinks and the students are thought about(d) the teacher talks and the students listen-meekly(e) the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined(f) the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply(g) the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher(h) the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt
to it(i) the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority,
which she or he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students(j) the teacher is the subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects (p.73)
As an aftermath, pupils struggle with their credibility in writing and cannot harvest an expectedlevel of oratory skill when they are exposed to the physical situations in the universities. As
projected earlier through different studies, they rely on the teacher completely who will guidethem through the annulled realms of English. Students cogitate about English in a way thatthey just want to get over with it anyhow. They fail to intellectualise the significant aspects ofthis language and take it as customary that it is only a technique for their lives which isevidently identifiable through the responses (S1, S2, S3, S7, S9, S10 from Set A and S1, S2,
S3, S6, S7 from Set B).
Another finding can be addressed as the incapability of realising the real benefits of learning a
new language. Bearing the importance of learning English in mind, learners should be
motivated enough to conceptualise this language and comprehend that learning will help themin their own higher studies as most of the books are written in English. This will also bebeneficial to their L1 and future career as well as improving their cognitive and analyticalabilities (Trimnell, 2005; Smith, 2016). On the other hand, Hasan (2015) describes that ‘many
people in our country are interested to learn French because it may help them to get UN jobs
	
  
	
  

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and jobs in Multinational companies’ which can be taken as another indicative of the treatmentof English in the hearts of the people of Bangladesh. English still enjoys an EFL status in
Bangladesh where people are adhering to it only for a better prospect in future that may include
a handsome salary, migration to a developed country and so on. It is evident that these people
are just the common victims of a third world country who aspire to reach the pinnacle which is
fashioned to them as the Adam’s Apple namely the English language. English has proved itself
to be the elixir that can turn the table of anyone’s fortune. In Bangladesh, one will find a lot of
persons who completed tertiary degrees in English just to move on swiftly in the job market
without any intention of serving the mankind. The responses undoubtedly provide evidencesof such attitudes towards English.
One more alarming point is the number of students enrolling in the Department of English of
Bangladeshi universities. Either they are forced to get themselves admitted just because they
could not make it to their dream subject or they want to enjoy a hassle-free life during theirhigher education. So, the complicated factors are on the rise from both the parties e.g. those
who did not opt for studying English and those who opted for it in reclusion. However, both
the groups have one common intention which is to achieve a sound knowledge of English. By
any means, the education policy of Bangladesh does not conform to this state. Still, English iscelebrated to the fullest as remarked by Phillipson (1992) that the expansion of English isbacked by ‘ethnocentricity’ and ‘professionalism’ that creates a ‘regression’ in the minds ofthe people leading them to become more and more calamitous to learn English. He further
designates the ‘ideological functions’ of English where it is taken as a goal for material
advancements and a means for efficiency thus placing English in the pinnacle of ‘patriarchal
mode of production’ (p.68). In our context, Imam (2005) justifiably notes that ‘In Bangladesh
it is now essential for even factory worker, who earns less than the minimum wage, to knowsome English, the language of the labels on goods and packaging’ (p.480). In terms of survival
and job opportunity, the people are swivelling towards English at their levels best. As depicted
by Gramsci, this vision turns them to an objective form of knowledge, rather than a subjective
one which is not palpable for society in the long run as ‘knowledge’ should be used as ‘science’,
not as a ‘technique’ (Hoare & Smith, 1971). Also, by achieving a shallow knowledge of English,
a massive part of our population is transforming into ‘traditional intellectuals’ (Brooker, 1999)
who only hold the information of bits and pieces of English and are bound to the order that is
bestowed upon them as a result of hegemony, unlike ‘organic intellectuals’. This study also
reveals that 53% of the respondents of a particular group think that they cannot even do
anything better in life without knowing English. That is why they have turned their attention
towards English allowing the erroneous notion of ‘knowledge’ sink in which results from the“coercion” and conformation to the state without any resentment (Gramsci, 1980).
The massive globalisation of English similarly takes it one step forward by creating a sense of
superiority by using English mixed with Bangla. A large portion of the respondents evenbelieves that they will never shine in life without English (S3 from Set A). The young
generation is so obsessed with the use of English in their speaking, that currently, we have a
new dialect which is often termed as ‘Banglish’ that involves the concoction of Bangla andEnglish words (Manzoor, 2006; Nordquist, 2016). It can be mentioned that the education policy
and current teaching practices fail to propagate the effects of ‘language attrition’ (Schmid,
2011; Seliger, 1991; Köpke, Schmid, Keijzer, & Dostert, 2007) and as a process, more spacefor English to sink in is getting fashioned day by day. The education policy is a puzzle in itself
considering some perilous issues. For example, English is never used in dispensing any official
document by the government except few instances and English is never reinvigorated in thegovernment offices the way English is proliferated in the educational institutions. This creates
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017a void backwash effect in the minds of the learners which forces them to accept that English is
only necessary for their student lives and that is why 76% of them do not want English any
longer after the completion of their mandatory credits. The education policy, by any means,does not propagate this belief it itself. The findings do not project any intense circumstancethat could prove the success of the education policy and reforms.
Recommendations
Grounded on the findings, some recommendations have been listed below:a.   English teaching has to be made more contemporary and either the existing educators haveto fathom the implication of modern approaches leaving their cocoons or they have to makespace for newer, more enthusiastic and more energetic teachers who have a passion for teachingrather than reading out the texts to the class. Still, in most schools and colleges, the teachers
follow the traditional grammar translation method making it a habit for the learners to be
carried forward even in the universities. CLT should be practised to its accurate perception.
b.  Infrastructure and funding have always been our common problem, however, educators haveto be aware of the fact that beavering on this issue, they cannot let go the future of the learners.
They have to meditate over the alternatives so that the learners can get the utmost benefit. Theircongression should be more focused on the real life practices so that the students canpromulgate their authentic potentialities in learning English and nurture this language from the
beginning of their academia.
c.   The government has to be more vigilant in appointing the English teachers, especially in thesecondary levels to shape the learners from the roots. The learners are fearful to English interms of speaking mostly as they get the prospect of English speaking hardly. To sort out thisissue, more exertions should be given on dragging them to the podium and let them replenish
their skills in front of the audience from the very beginning. If possible, Task Based Learning(Ellis, 2003) can be applied. Prabhu (1987) has set some decidedly competent and practicalapplications of TBL which can also be adopted.
d.  The stakeholders have to be more thoughtful in designing and implementing the education
policy so that it equals with the current practices. By any means, it cannot be accepted that thenational education policy has been crammed up by the stimuli arising from globalisation andlinguistic imperialism. The modification of education policy can never be an erratic process
without paying admissible attention towards the tangible level of the individuals who will beessentially under the practice of the policy. Canagarajah (1999) has conferred the aspects ofimperialism in language teaching detailing the looming realities in curricula design andpedagogical practices that can also be taken into consideration while formulating the policy in
our context.
Conclusion
This was a small-scale survey to inquire into some impending facts of English learning and thisstudy divulges some of the realities from the minds of the participants. The results and findings
project that the driving force behind the policy makers is immensely ill-advised which demands
an apposite amalgamation of needs analysis and enactment for a fruitful output. If this disputeis not rehabilitated on an urgent basis, the days are not far when it will get over the heads ofthe learners in the course of their fight in terms of escalating the concrete resolutions of learning
	
  
	
  

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and Bangla will facing more language attrition in the process of paving more pathways forEnglish. It is also to be clearly itemized that our intention is not to demean the education policy,
current practices in teaching English in Bangladesh or the substantial diffusion of English as a
global language; rather, our insignificant venture is to point out some conjectures that mightprove to be fruitful for the betterment of the teaching practices in Bangladesh.

	
  
	
  

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Corresponding author: Mohammad Akteruzzaman
Email: shumon0413@gmail.com

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AppendicesA. Questionnaire Set 1 (for the university students)
Please select only one option for each statement that suits your standpoint.
1. I learn English because I love to enrich my knowledge of English.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
2. English is necessary for me to get a better job.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
3. I believe that without English I cannot shine in life.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
4. I want to achieve fluency in speaking rather than in writing or reading.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
5. English courses are highly effective in my university.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
6. My goal is to achieve a decent command over English only to maintain external communication.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
7. I want my English classes focus more on real life communications rather than theoretical aspects.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
8. English does not attract me as a subject other than being a part of the core courses.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
9. I do not want to study English after finishing the mandatory credits for my degree.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
10. English is only necessary for my future career and higher studies abroad.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
Thank you.
B. Questionnaire Set 2 (for people working in different sectors)
Please select only one option for each statement that suits your standpoint.
1. English is necessary for my job.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
2. I cannot communicate with my clients without English.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
3. I use English for all my local correspondences.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
4. I use English for all my international correspondences.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
5. It is all right for me if I can make sense in my writing without maintaining accuracy.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
6. I try to avoid speaking in English with my bosses and clients.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
7. I would not even try to learn English if I had option to do so.
Strongly Agree
Agree
NeutralDisagreeStrongly Disagree
Thank you.

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C. Translated version of Set 2অনুগ্রহপূর্বক প্রতিটি তর্র্ৃতি থেকক শুধুমাত্র একটি তর্কল্প তনর্ব াচন করুন থেটি আপনার
দৃতিককাকের সাকে সামঞ্জসযপূেব ৷
১. ইংরেজি আমাে চাকজেে িন্য প্রর ািন্ ৷জিাোর াভারে সম্মত
সম্মতজন্েরেক্ষ
অসম্মত
জিাোর াভারে অসম্মত
২. আজম ইংরেজি ছাডা আমাে ক্লার ন্টরেে (মরে রেে) সারে জ াগার াগ কেরত োজে ন্া ৷জিাোর াভারে সম্মত
সম্মতজন্েরেক্ষ
অসম্মত
জিাোর াভারে অসম্মত
৩. আজম আমাে সে স্থান্ী জ াগার ারগে িন্য ইংরেজি েযেহাে কজে ৷জিাোর াভারে সম্মত
সম্মতজন্েরেক্ষ
অসম্মত
জিাোর াভারে অসম্মত
৪. আজম আমাে সে আন্তিজাজতক জ াগার ারগে িন্য ইংরেজি েযেহাে কজে ৷জিাোর াভারে সম্মত
সম্মতজন্েরেক্ষ
অসম্মত
জিাোর াভারে অসম্মত
৫. এটা আমাে িন্য ঠিক আরছ জে আজম জ রে ভাে প্রকাশ কেরত োজে, জসটা জন্ভভজ ন্া হর ও৷জিাোর াভারে সম্মত
সম্মতজন্েরেক্ষ
অসম্মত
জিাোর াভারে অসম্মত
৬. আজম আমাে েস এেং ক্লার ন্টরেে (মরে রেে) সারে ইংরেজিরত কো ে াে এডারন্াে জচষ্টা কজে৷জিাোর াভারে সম্মত
সম্মতজন্েরেক্ষ
অসম্মত
জিাোর াভারে অসম্মত
৭. জেকল্প োকর আজম ইংরেজি জশোে জচষ্টাও কেতাম ন্া ৷জিাোর াভারে সম্মত
সম্মতজন্েরেক্ষ
অসম্মত
জিাোর াভারে অসম্মত
আপনাকক ধনযর্াদ
D. Questionnaire for interview
Q.1. Do you speak English? (আেজন্ জক ইংরেজি ে রত োরেন্?)Q.2. Why do you think English is necessary? (আেন্াে জকন্ মরন্ হ জ ইংরেজি প্রর ািন্ী ?)Q.3. In what circumstances, you use English? (জকান্ জকান্ জক্ষরে আেজন্ ইংরেজি েযেহাে করেন্?)Q.4. Do you use English always, even if it is not necessary? (আেজন্ জক সেসম ইংরেজি েযেহাে
করেন্, প্রর ািন্ী ন্া হর ও?)
Q.5. Do you enjoy using English or, you do it as you have no other option? (আেজন্ জক ইংরেজি
েযেহাে উেরভাগ করেন্ ন্াজক উো জন্ই ের েযেহাে করেন্?)E. Audio transcriptions of the interviews203

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All the interviews have been conducted in a secure & convenient environment without theintervention of any third person ensuring an entirely stress-free mental condition of theinterviewees. Nobody has been persuaded by any means and all the responses have beenrecorded as they sentences have been uttered out by the actual participants. However,corrections have been made only in the cases of grammatically inaccurate, incomplete,fragmented or run-on sentences and to guarantee the objectivity, all the names have been
omitted mentioning only their speculative role in the society as a participant. In addition,translations have been provided where applicable.
Interview A: A CNG (auto-rickshaw) driver
Q.1. Do you speak English? (আেজন্ জক ইংরেজি ে রত োরেন্?)Answer: অল্প অল্প োজে ৷ (I know bits and pieces of English.)Q.2. Why do you think English is necessary? (আেন্াে জকন্ মরন্ হ জ ইংরেজি প্রর ািন্ী ?)Answer: ইংোজি ছাডা জকমন্ কইো হইরো কন্? একটভ আরগই একটা ভাডা ই া ন্ামা আই ামএ ােরোরটজ ৷গু শান্, োজেধাো, উত্তো এই সে িা গা জতা ইংোজি ন্া িান্র অরন্ক ভাডা জমসহই া া গা ৷ (What can be done without English? I just dropped a passenger at the airport.
A lot of deals are missed at Gulshan, Baridhara, Uttara and places like these if you don’t know
English.)Q.3. Q.3. In what circumstances, you use English? (জকান্ জকান্ জক্ষরে আেজন্ ইংরেজি েযেহাে
করেন্?)
Answer: আজম শুধভ ভাডা ইোে টাইম কই াইরো ক টাহা জেরো এইডা জিগাই আে জকছভ ন্া
৷ (I only ask about my fare and destination, not more than that)
Q.4. Do you use English always, even if it is not necessary? (আেজন্ জক সেসম ইংরেজি েযেহাে
করেন্, প্রর ািন্ী ন্া হর ও?)
Answer: ন্া ন্া ৷ েেকাে ন্া োকর আজম কইোে ামভ কান্ ইংোজি? শুধভ জেেে আেে এোইগা ২–৪ টা শব্দ জশো ইজস ৷ মারে মারে ভাে ইরত হ জতা জেরেশীরগা সামরন্ ৷ (No no!
Why would I use English without necessity? I have just learned some words for circumstantial
cases. It helps create an impression in front of the foreigners.)
Q.5. Do you enjoy using English or, you do it as you have no other option? (আেজন্ জক ইংরেজি
েযেহাে উেরভাগ করেন্ ন্াজক উো জন্ই ের েযেহাে করেন্?)Answer: ন্া মিা ইর জতা আরো জশো ইতাম ৷ এইডা হই জেকা েইডা জশো আে জক ৷(No, I would have learned more if I enjoyed it. It’s just I have no other way to overlook it.)Interview B: Senior Officer of a private bank
Q.1. Do you speak English?
Answer: Yes, I do.
Q.2. Why do you think English is necessary?
Answer: It is necessary for communication mainly.
Q.3. In what circumstances, you use English?

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Answer: To be frank, I do not need to use English for speaking. I hardly use it for writing as
we have to write emails sometimes and in most cases, we have a preset template.
Q.4. Do you use English always, even if it is not necessary?
Answer: No.
Q.5. Do you enjoy using English or, you do it as you have no other option?
Answer: Not really. I use it only when I have no other option.
Interview C: A lecturer of a public university
Q.1. Do you speak English?
Answer: Yes of course.
Q.2. Why do you think English is necessary?
Answer: For me, it’s necessary for teaching and my research.
Q.3. In what circumstances, you use English?
Answer: I use English for writing papers and sometimes in class for lecturing.
Q.4. Do you use English always, even if it is not necessary?
Answer: No, I don’t.
Q.5. Do you enjoy using English or, you do it as you have no other option?
Answer: I only enjoy it if I can find someone to converse with, otherwise, no.
Interview D: A government employee
Q.1. Do you speak English?
Answer: Yes.
Q.2. Why do you think English is necessary?
Answer: For talking in some cases when we have foreign guests.
Q.3. In what circumstances, you use English?
Answer: Only when we have to talk to foreign delegates, though, it is very rare for me.
Q.4. Do you use English always, even if it is not necessary?
Answer: No, never.
Q.5. Do you enjoy using English or, you do it as you have no other option?
Answer: No, I use it when I have no choice.
Interview E: A university student
Q.1. Do you speak English?
Answer: Yes, but, I hardly use it.
Q.2. Why do you think English is necessary?
Answer: It is necessary to understand some parts of my class lecture and give presentations.

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Q.3. In what circumstances, you use English?
Answer: I only use it in my presentations.
Q.4. Do you use English always, even if it is not necessary?
Answer: No, I do not.
Q.5. Do you enjoy using English or, you do it as you have no other option?
Answer: To be honest, I prefer using Bangla while speaking. English makes it hard for me totell exactly what I am thinking. However, for writing, I have no option other than English.

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Bildungskrise – PISA and the German Educational Crisis
Wolfgang Odendahl

	
  
	
  

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Abstract
After consistently bad results in every PISA test (Programme for International Student
Assessment) and an accompanying prediction of lack of skills in its future workforce, Germany
might be on track for losing out in international competition. Because of PISA’s overwhelming
marketing presence, its results are a major political influence. The OECD PISA committee’s
recommendations based on the results are challenging the fundamental structure of Germany’s
three-tiered educational system, aiming to eliminate its segregational effects on social classes.
In order to analyze PISA’s effects on German society from the angle of educational policy, thisstudy compares the goals stated in its documentation with its effects on the public perceptionof Germany’s future workforce. Three fields of research are considered: Education as a concept
for furthering society as a whole, assessment logic, and the educational system as a functional
module of the nation state. The study will show that PISA’s test results are valid in indicating
an urgent necessity to improve the teaching of basic skills, such as mathematics, reading, andwriting. The interpretations of and recommendations based on these results, however, arereflecting a solely utilitarian view of educational systems as supplying human resources forindustry.
Keywords: PISA; Germany; schools; educational policy; shift of values.

	
  
	
  

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Introduction
In 1997, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), anintergovernmental organization of industrialized countries, devised PISA (Programme forInternational Student Assessment) as a testing program to measure how schools around theworld prepared their pupils to act as contributing participants in a globalized economy. Its
results are designed to predict a nation’s economic success. They are presented as a side byside comparison with their competitors. The triennial surveys exclusively test 15-year-old
pupils in all participating nations and economies; they cover the three basic skills of reading,science, and mathematics applied to problem-solving and cognition in everyday life.
The results of the first PISA test, published in December 2001, were a shock for Germany. In
international comparison, Germany’s pupils ranked at 21 out of 32. This indicated that schools
didn’t provide adequate proficiency in basic life skills and that Germany might soon fall behindin the global race for economic well-being. What made the situation even worse was the factthat Germany continued to score badly in all four subsequent PISA tests. German media
revived the 1960s battle-cry of educational crisis or Bildungskrise.
This paper argues three major hypotheses. First, Germany’s educational system is undergoinga shift of values by substituting the traditional concept of Bildung – an untranslatable word
incorporating education, erudition, general learning, and self-formation – with training for
employability and job qualification. PISA has contributed to this shift of values by focusing on
the economic impact of schooling and by being the most publicly visible test program of its
kind. Second, PISA’s prominent role in the public debate about education is in large part due
to its huge marketing machinery, rather than objectifiable contributions. Third, PISA is not
actually measuring educational success, because it reduces education to its economicallyquantifiable output. This paper concludes that PISA does not take into account the social roleof schools and their duty towards educating citizens capable of furthering their personalfulfillment and – by extension – society.
What Makes PISA Successful?
Background
Development of the PISA assessment was commissioned in 1997 by the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is a standardized assessment of 15-yearolds still in school and has been jointly developed by participating countries. Its goal is toprovide decision makers with quantifiable data for improving the output of human capital fromschools. Prior to commissioning the PISA studies, OECD published the basic framework it
would be based upon:
OECD countries are undergoing economic changes with important implications for theways in which human capital is acquired and used. Exploring these trends leads to an
analysis of the information and decisionmaking systems that shape human capitalacquisition and utilisation. In turn, this analysis of the methods and institutions ofhuman capital measurement, accounting and valuation, leads to the conclusion that
improvements to these systems are a key factor in helping a nation's firms to compete.
(OECD, 1996, p. 7)

	
  
	
  

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PISA was first administered in the year 2000 in 32 countries, all but four of them members of
the OECD (OECD & UIS, 2003, p. 3). By 2012, that number had risen to 65 participating
countries and economies, including all 34 OECD member countries, 28 non-OECD member
countries, plus the three economic entities of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau (OECD,
2015c). With over half a million 15-year-olds tested in 2012, PISA has become the largest
international comparison of the output of educational systems. In the media, PISA results areusually presented as a ranking table from highest to lowest with national flags next to the namesof the countries.
Assessment Logic
Central to the PISA test design is the concept of literacy, which focuses on how well candidates
are able to apply knowledge to challenges of modern life. PISA consists of three assessment
areas, measuring literacy in the domains of reading, mathematics, and science.
Starting from the year 2000, a PISA assessment is conducted every three years, each year, inturn, emphasizing one of the three focus areas. Tests are mostly pencil and paper, latelyinterspersed with computerized modules. They are conducted in selected schools and last twohours for each student. Each PISA test cycle covers a total of about seven hours of test items,with different candidates taking different combinations of items. Test items are a mixture ofclosed multiple-choice and open questions requiring candidates to formulate their own
responses. Most items are organized in groups based on a real-life setting, with each item
designed to be progressively harder to answer. In addition to taking the test, candidates answer
a background questionnaire, providing information about themselves, their study environment
and their homes. School principals are given a 20-minute questionnaire about their schools.
The data collected during the main test is analyzed separately as well as in combination with
the questionnaires on the pupils’ social and educational background. Contextual indicators
relate results to student and school characteristics, while trend indicators show how resultschange over time. The data provided by each test cycle is presented in several specialized
volumes by the PISA consortium of OECD, treating issues of gender and economic equality(OECD, 2013a), student’s motivation (OECD, 2013b), reasons for school success (OECD,
2013c) and others. These analyses1 often form the knowledge base for policy changes.
PISA’s Marketing Machine and the Public Debate
PISA’s brochures state very prominently that its results indicate a nation’s future prosperity,
while they are presented in a sports-like list for international comparison. The resulting media
exposure puts enormous pressure on politicians to fix an educational system that so obviously
seems to be broken.
PISA is not the first international assessment of its kind. Educational planning depends verymuch on comparative data in order to be able to learn from the experiences of others. Largescale international comparisons are a relatively new trend made possible by the globalizedcooperation and technical advancements in analyzing large amounts of data. Other large-scale
1

Or, since most decision makers do not have the time to read six large volumes of dense data results, their“executive summaries”, a 30-plus page compressed version of the results, which is provided for each test cycle
and available for download from the official OECD website at http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts (visited on
201-01-05).

	
  
	
  

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studies include PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), which runs on a 5year cycle since 2001, and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study),
which is deployed every four years since 1995. While these two focus on single faculties, PISA
claims to cover the whole of school education by evaluating reading, mathematics, and science
literacy. Whether PISA actually owns up to this claim will be discussed in a later section, but
it is a very powerful argument for marketing purposes that makes journalists and politicians
pay attention to its results.
The ultimately new feature of PISA though, which distinguishes it from all other studies, is its
easily understandable, sports-like ranking presentation. Although the PISA consortium
publishes several thick volumes on the various findings of each assessment cycle, the compact
ranking presentation with national flags next to a country’s2 score is what is the most easily
picked up on. In combination with this strikingly understandable presentation of complex
results, PISA’s claim to measuring the success of participating country’s educational systems
and thereby predicting the future economic well-being of that country’s citizens makes forexcellent headlines. The above-mentioned volumes published on basic PISA results – six for
2012, together amounting to 2,444 pages of high-quality in-depth analyses – play acomparatively insignificant role in the marketing process. Each of those volumes could beacquired for around 35€, but they are accompanied by a host of readily downloadable brochures,summaries, data tables, blogs, webinars and highlights (cf. OECD, 2015b); these free materials
make it easy to ignore the in-depth studies. All of PISA’s marketing uses affirmative language,leaving no doubt of its importance for a country’s future:“What is important for citizens to know and be able to do?” That is the question that
underlies the triennial survey of 15-year-old students around the world […] (OECD,
2014, p. 24)
PISA is not only an accurate indicator of students’ abilities to participate fully in society
after compulsory school, but also a powerful tool that countries and economies can use
to fine-tune their education policies. (OECD, 2014, p. 4)
Once quoted by the press, these claims put enormous pressure on politicians – especially if, as
in the case of Germany, their country’s PISA results do not match up with its self-image of aleading industrialized nation.
All PISA publications, including the complete volumes, use easily quotable language, which
would normally be associated with commercial marketing material. Journalists can take theirpick from short bits to more elaborate passages and mix those with all kinds of graphs andpictures – all readily available in high quality from OECD’s official website. The media
attention creates a feedback loop where the public attention increases the importance of the
PISA studies themselves and urges more and more participants to snowball into the testing
cycles.

2

Not all of PISA’s participants are countries (cf. OECD, 2015c). The official nomenclature uses the term
economies, but since the vast majority of these are sovereign countries represented in the result tables by theirflags, this text uses the terms countries and nations, tacitly including participants such as Shanghai, which are notinternationally considered sovereign, or a country.

	
  
	
  

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PISA’s Role in Measuring Educational SuccessCentral to the whole concept of PISA is the claim to measure the success of a country’s school
system (OECD, 2013c, p. 31). Put simply, the reason for inaugurating such a tool is that schools
teach knowledge and skills that prepare pupils for the workforce. The test is designed tomeasure whether pupils who are about to leave school can employ what they learned to read inorder to participate in society, put mathematical knowledge to real world use, and do the samewith science. PISA does a very good job of measuring the ability of pupils to apply knowledge
acquired in school to real world problems and therefore can make a meaningful contribution to
the data on which educational politics aiming to improve these results are based.
By claiming to measure and compare a school systems’ success internationally, PISA reduces
the role of schools to providing knowledge and skills in the three areas its tests cover. This
makes sense from a purely economic perspective but ignores an important part of theeducational mandate of schools, which is to convey personal, practical, and political formationin addition to facilitating the capacity for training. The goals set for pupils can be summarized3
as “attitudes, skills, and knowledge” (KMBW & LEU, 2004, pp. 11–13).
In addition to stressing the value of the tested skills for the economy, PISA publications
consistently include references to the future role of students as citizens: In the definition foreach of the three test areas, reading literacy is described as “understanding, using, reflecting on
and engaging with written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge
and potential, and to participate in society” (OECD, 2010, p. 39), mathematical literacy“measured 15-year-olds’ capacity to reason mathematically and use mathematical concepts,
procedures, facts and tools to describe, explain and predict phenomena, and to make the wellfounded judgements and decisions needed by constructive, engaged and reflective citizens”(OECD, 2014, p. 17), and scientific literacy includes “an individual’s […] willingness toengage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen”(OECD, 2007, pp. 34–35).
This paper argues that while reading, mathematics, and natural sciences are indeed essential
tools for producing constructive, engaged, and reflective citizens, they can only be seen as anindirect part of the basis for achieving this kind of enlightened citizenship. This is to say that,without reading, it would be impossible to acquire a worldview nourished by literature, art,
music, and ethics. In other words, PISA actually tests the foundations on which citizenship canbe built, while suggesting measuring the whole building.
PISA’s Impact on the Public Debate
The fact that the crudest summary of PISA's results – in the form of international comparison
tables – is readily available to the press and easily interpreted by the general public makes PISA
and its concept of literacy central to the public debate on education. In 2001, when reports ofGermany’s pupils’ abysmal scores reached the general public for the first time, the news cameas a shock. The press had a feast, titling “The Bill for our Outdated Education System”(Lehmann, 2001, p. 2), “Abysmal Report Card for Obsolete School System” (SZ, 2001, p. 8)“Outcome Could Not Have Been Worse” (Schubert, 2001, p. 27), “Many Pupils in Germany
3

These citations follow the wording in the school law of the state of Baden-Württemberg, which summarizes therole of primary schools in an exemplary manner. The spirit of schooling having a greater goal than the facilitationof knowledge permeates the school laws of all 16 of Germany’s Länder.

	
  
	
  

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on Lowermost Level” (FAZ, 2001, p. 4), “A Disaster in Almost Every Respect” (TAZ, 2001,
p. 14), and the like. Being in the last third of the overall ranking was a huge blow to the Germans’
self-esteem, so there were many protests against PISA’s methodology, resulting in the additionof the new category “Problem Solving” to the test round of 2003. Nevertheless, this addition
had not the desired impact of improving Germany's results, which stayed very low throughout
all subsequent PISA studies. In Germany, PISA became synonymous with educational
mismanagement, which was widely perceived to be the main cause of pupils’ ineptness ininternational competition.
PISA’s Political Pull
PISA was commissioned by the OECD for assessing and internationally comparing schoolacquired skills with regard to their use in job-related settings. The outcomes of each test cycledeliver a basic profile of knowledge and skills across 15-year-old pupils in all participating
countries.4 Decision makers use its results to decide budget allocations for the school systemand to consider the policies of other contestants in order to find a method of tweaking theirrespective systems to accommodate their own agendas. Test results are meant to be interpreted
as indicators of future economic competitiveness and welfare in a globalized economy, wherea skilled, productive workforce is key to international economic success.
The results are persuasive by design, and the subsequent political pressure is very high, even
without considering the public pressure from media reporting. One academic study famously
states that if a country succeeds in raising its average PISA score by 25% (and keep it there),“GDP will be more than 3% higher than what would be expected without improvements inhuman capital” after 30 years, when those higher achieving pupils start playing more prominentroles in the labor market (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2010, p. 22). For Germany, that would
mean an increase by over 8 trillion USD in addition to the GDP with “education as usual”(ibid.).
Germany’s Educational Shift of Values and PISA’s Role in It
The traditional concept of Bildung in the sense of self-formation, as envisioned by Wilhelmvon Humboldt (1767-1835), sees the role of schools in cultivating socially responsible citizens
for a lifetime of learning. On the verge of the 19th century, after Prussia lost its struggle against
Napoleon, the Prussian king Frederick William III (1770-1840) was forced to modernize most
aspects of his government and administration, including the school system. These
modernizations were in part connected to the movement of enlightenment, which was sweeping
over all of Europe.
At the time, Humboldt was Prussian minister of education. He took advantage of his King’squest to strengthen his domestic position to start creating a school system consisting ofelementary school, secondary school (Gymnasium), and university. These schools would be
open to everybody and were intended to lead to a society of enlightened citizens. The selling
point of this plan was that during the Napoleonic wars Prussian soldiers lacked the spirit and4

The underlying reasoning for choosing 15-year-olds still in school as test subjects is that they represent theoutcome of 9 years of basic schooling, which corresponds to the duration of compulsory education in most OECD
countries. These pupils are seen as being on the verge of finding their place in the job world, so the reasoning isthat if they function well in a professional environment, they will contribute to the economical welfare of theirfamilies, their employers, and ultimately the economy they live in.

	
  
	
  

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unifying national identity to resist French citoyen soldiers. If a change in the schooling system
could be expected to bring about more patriotic thinking citizens, Germany might still be able
to compete internationally while at the same time paying large sums in tribute payments toFrance. In 1809, in a report to the King, Humboldt wrote:
There is a certain kind of knowledge that has to be made general, and furthermore acertain form of formation of attitude and character, that cannot be missing in anybody.
The requirement for being a good craftsman, merchant, soldier, or businessman isbeing, without regard to one’s particular profession, a good, decent, and enlightened
citizen according to one’s social class. If school education provides all that is necessary
for this purpose, he will later acquire the specific skill of his profession easily andalways be free to change from one to the other, as it happens so often in life. (Humboldt,
1903, p. 206) [Author’s translation]5
Humboldt promoted a schooling system, which would teach basic knowledge in order to be
utilized later in acquiring job-specific skills (Humboldt, 1903, p. 207); on top of that, it would
also emphasize ethical values. Based on what they had learned at school, graduates would not
only be able to later pick up job-specific skills easily, but society as a whole would draw profit
from the fact that all citizens have a similar ethical mindset. Regardless, Humboldt’s ideas ofuniversal school attendance were too far-reaching for the King of Prussia, who had halfheartedly implemented some reforms to gain stronger domestic footing against Napoleon. It
was not until a century later, in 1919, that the unified Germany of the Weimar Republic madefree-of-charge school attendance compulsory until the age of 18.
Today, most Germans think of the Humboldtian view on education as an idealized educational
concept which starts with Humboldt's idea that schools should teach pupils to maximize theirpotentials in order to fully realize their humanity and take an active role in society. The
implementation of this concept nowadays includes the teaching of practical skills such as
modern languages and natural sciences, which Humboldt was fervently opposed to.6
Over time, with its fruition around the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), Germany developed
today’s school system, which selects pupils at an early age in order to place them into one ofthree different tiers. At the age of ten, after four years of primary school, pupils who show no
ability or inclination to submit themselves to prolonged academic studies are placed into
Hauptschule (secondary I). Those pupils who do well in practical subjects and show no
inclination to pursue further studies at the university are placed into Realschule (secondary II).
Pupils who show academic prowess and want to prepare themselves for the university areplaced in Gymnasium (secondary III). Germany’s tiered school system with its early
segregation is accompanied by an elaborate vocational apparatus; it will be discussed in moredetail in the next section.
Shortly after the end of World War II, western countries were wealthy again and international
corporations began to emerge; global competition began to challenge western nation’s school5

Es giebt schlechterdings gewisse Kenntnisse, die allgemein sein müssen, und noch mehr eine gewisse Bildung
der Gesinnungen und des Charakters, die keinem fehlen darf. Jeder ist offenbar nur dann ein guter Handwerker,
Kaufmann, Soldat und Geschäftsmann, wenn er an sich und ohne Hinsicht auf seinen besondern Beruf ein guter,anständiger, seinem Stande nach aufgeklärter Mensch und Bürger ist. Giebt ihm der Schulunterricht, was hiezu
erforderlich ist, so erwirbt er die besondere Fähigkeit seines Berufs nachher sehr leicht und behält immer die
Freiheit, wie im Leben so oft geschiehet, von einem zum andern überzugehen.
6
An often forgotten oddity about the Humboldtian model of higher education is that practical skills and jobspecific training did emphatically not belong in his concept, where schools tach enough basic knowledge andskills that anything specific can be acquired easily when it’s needed.

	
  
	
  

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systems. Starting in the 1950s and reaching its first peak in the early 1960s, society began todemand that schools should teach job-applicable skills instead of what was perceived as deadknowledge. Germany's educational system underwent a gradual shift, where output substituted
input in the design of school curricula. Formerly curricula were based on criteria concerning
the contents pupils should be taught, hours allotted for certain subjects, and teacher
qualification; in the hope that this input would naturally lead to the desired result of self-reliant
citizens. With the shift towards an output-oriented school education, curriculum design
experienced the 180-degree-revolution of crafting curricula to produce pupils with certain
standardized skill-sets and knowledge that could be quantified in standardized tests. Thisrevolution culminates in the reforms after PISA and is the key to the shift in values of the wholeof Germany’s educational system.
In 1964, the educator Georg Picht (1913-1982) declared an educational catastrophe(Bildungskatastrophe)7 for the first time in German history. With a lot of media attention, hevoiced concerns that had been building up for some time in German society: Germany’s
expenses for education were very low in international comparison, not enough pupils reachedAbitur8, there was a huge performance gap between rural and urban school districts, and thethree-tiered school system needed fundamental reforms. Picht’s message got kidnapped by the
media, which simplified it into reporting that schools were not delivering the skills andknowledge necessary for their pupils to be economically successful in later life, thus
endangering Germany’s future prosperity.
The fact that Germany’s educational system is undergoing a shift of values by substituting
Bildung with job qualification can be linked to the usurpation of Picht’s warnings by media
and politics. While Picht – himself being a music lover and an ardent enthusiast for Plato’s
philosophy – aimed for equity in education and better school funding, his message wasdistorted to the need of teaching practical skills for immediate use and thus marginalizing
subjects that have no economic application. PISA can be seen in the tradition of this first waveof school criticism and has contributed to the shift of values by focusing on the economic
impact of schooling and by marketing to be the most publicly visible test program of its kind.
The nowadays ubiquitous term qualification constitutes a direct connection to the workplace;
within PISA’s publications, it is used synonymously with employability. Consequently, for theGerman public, PISA 2000 was a wake-up call comparable to Picht’s, showing that Germany’s
next generation would not be able to compete in a globalized economy.
Policy Reactions to PISAPISA results, if taken as an accurate measurement of a limited resource, have enormous
persuasive power. Official reactions of the “Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education
and Cultural Affairs” (KMK)9 were issued the same day as the PISA 2000 results, which had
been illegally leaked before their official release date. In their statement, KMK demanded
improvements in all major fields of schooling: Language competence should be raised,
Kindergarten and primary school were to be interlocked, the lack of reading competence should7

The original series of newspaper articles from the protestant weekly Christ und Welt was published in book form
as Picht, G. (1964): Die deutsche Bildungskatastrophe: Analyse und Dokumentation. Freiburg: Walter.
8
Abitur is the matriculation examination that completes graduation from secondary III, the Gymnasium.
9
As de-facto governing body, the Standing Conference unites the ministers and senators of the Länder responsible
for education, higher education and research, as well as cultural affairs. It deals with “issues relating to educational
policy at school and university level and research policy, was well as cultural policy of supraregional importance,with the aim of achieving joint opinion and decision-making and of representing joint concerns” (KMK, 2015).

	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017be addressed as well as pupils’ understanding of mathematical and scientific relations. KMK
also stressed the importance of the advancement of educationally disadvantaged children, ofcommon standards and evaluation across all Länder, of professionalism in teaching; they also
put forward a tentative call for all-day schooling (KMK, 2001).
Although at this stage most of KMK’s demands were lip service without practical backup, it
was clear that PISA results were as unacceptable for educational decision makers as they were
for the general public. One of the early consequences of PISA was the 2002 expansion of
educational research; this turn towards using the empirical arsenal of educational research forpolitical planning is similar to the “Realistische Wendung [turn towards realism]” of the 1960s
as demanded by educators such as Roth (1962) and Brezinka (1989). After the PISA andTIMSS studies, a significant increase in financial resources allocated to education also
followed (Raidt, 2010, p. 247). In 2004, a comprehensive quality offensive called Bildungsplan
2004 swept all Länder, aiming to improve the four sectors of professional competence, social
competence, methodological competence, and personal competence. Four years later theGerman federal government in coordination with the heads of government of the Länder
proclaimed a “qualification initiative”, being a comprehensive educational reform programfrom kindergarten through university (for details, see Raidt, 2010, p. 114).
It is important to note the vocabulary of ‘competencies’ and ‘qualification’ permeating all
education-related publications as the new yardstick for defining educational goals. Judging
from the increased usage of job-market related expressions such as quality, competence, andqualification, as well as the contents of these proposals, they clearly indicate the utilitarian shiftof paradigm in the Germany’s educational consciousness, which abandons the traditional
values of Bildung in favor of utilizing schools as tools towards job qualification.
The Role of Schools in Society
Traditionally, schools convey personal, practical, and political education by facilitating
desirable attitudes, skills, and knowledge. This threefold role of schooling for society isreflected in most legislative frameworks around the world. Lately, German Bildungspläne(educational roadmaps set by education ministers of the Länder to be implemented in publicschool curricula), tend to contain the term Ausbildungsfähigkeit (the ability to receive job
training; KMBW & LEU, 2004, p. 11) with the goal of producing graduates who can makeeconomic contributions.
At this point, the KMK, responsible for German educational politics, does not differentiate
anymore between Bildung and competencies. Their output-oriented standards describe “thesubject-related competencies including underlying stocks of knowledge that pupils should haveachieved up to a certain time in the course of their training” (KMK, 2005, p. 6), while
simultaneously explicitly claiming that
The mission of school education goes far beyond the functional requirements ofeducational standards. It aims at personal development and orientation in the world
arising from the encounter with the central objects of our culture. Pupils should betaught to be empowered citizens who can responsibly, self-critically and constructively
shape their professional and personal lives and participate in political and social life.
(KMK, 2005, p. 6) [Author’s translation]

	
  
	
  

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Young People Seen as an Economic Resource
The modern need for investment in resources naturally leads to the concepts of human capitaland human resources. Human capital theory regards human resources as capital, which is
acquired using time and material costs, and indirectly brings increased benefits to the investor.
In terms of profit, the benefits must at least compensate for the investments made in humancapital. Seen from this angle, Bildung shifts its meaning towards fuel for the engine of
economic development (Knecht, 1988, pp. 41–43).
The OECD, and with it PISA, sees education in its relation to the economy, focusing on theeconomic value of schooling, to then generally affirm “the productive utility of humanknowledge” (OECD, 1996, p. 22). This view has been characterized by the UN as the “humancapital approach” to education (Tomasevski, 2000, pp. 23–24). It stands in opposition to theapproach of education seen as a human right, where “education should prepare learners forparenthood or political participation, enhance social cohesion and tolerance” (ibid: 23).
Because of the traditional idea of education as the formation of the whole person, German
politicians rarely use the term ‘human resources’; but the concept has long found its way into
political decision making (Raidt, 2010, p. 212).
Accompanying the educational shift from Bildung towards qualification are re-interpretationsof formerly positive connoted terms, such as equity in education and lifelong learning, in theparlance of PISA. Raidt (2010, p. 209) notes that PISA’s demand for equity in education seems
to be more accurately described as the demand for efficient use of human resources. The
German Protestant Church (EKG, 2003, p. 7) sees the new usage of the traditional concept oflifelong learning gaining new ambivalence by being interpreted as “lifelong adaption to
constantly changing economic needs and goals”. It demands that “Bildung should be more thanjust knowledge and learning”, its goal should be the understanding of self and the world of
human beings (ibid: 8).
In 2007/8, with a view to international competition and in order to shorten the time needed forfinishing secondary education, many German Länder ordered their Gymnasiums to reduce
schooling before Abitur from 13 to only 12 years. 10 This policy entailed the first wave ofstudent strikes since the seventies. Demands of the students were varied, but in essence, they
can be perceived as protesting the assigned role of students as human capital. A Stuttgart
pamphlet calling for strike stated: “Bildung is being streamlined according to economic use.
[…] We do not want to be turned into Fachidiots [one-track specialists] who are being prepped
for the job market” (Schüleraktionskomitee Stuttgart 2008: 2, cited from Raidt, 2010, p. 218[my translation]).
The main fault for PISA becoming the yardstick after which schooling is shaped seems not tolie with PISA’s own statements, but with its presentation by the media and public perception.
Cum Grano Salis: PISA results for Germany	
  Although the title of each PISA cycle’s recurrent fourth volume, “What Makes Schools
Successful”, implies recipes for changing school systems, results and data from theinternational PISA test have limited value for shaping a country’s educational policies. The
10

Throughout Germany, this policy is known as G8, because pupils would stay in Gymnasium for only 8 insteadof 9 years.

	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017industry might base certain location decisions on the comparison of 15-year-olds’ answers to
PISA’s questions, and general statements concerning the strengths and weaknesses of country’s
youth in global comparison might point to areas where political action is required. Nevertheless,decisions concerning reforms to national educational systems have to be based on data thattakes local conditions into account. In order to produce high-quality results and a data basis for
specific problems, such an assessment must adapt factors like size of test subject group andparticipating schools; as well as goals, objectives, and questions of the assessment, to local
circumstances.
Three-Tiered Segregation in German Schools
In Germany, Kindergarten is generally available for all children between 2 and 6 years of age,
after which school attendance is compulsory. At the age of 10, after four years of primaryeducation in Grundschule, teachers suggest one of the three types of secondary school
according to the pupils’ performance and personality traits. Parents then decide - within certain
constraints set by their progenies academic performance and maturity – into which type of
secondary school they want to enroll their children. This system of early segregation is uniqueworldwide and often seen as problematic. Today, only Austria retains a similarly early
segregation system, while Switzerland and Liechtenstein switched to segregation after grade
six in response to their first PISA rating.
Secondary I (Hauptschule) ends after ninth grade. It is the least theoretically oriented of thesecondary choices. Education combines traditional knowledge acquisition with practicaltraining in manual skills (Holfelder & Bosse, 1990, p. 612). Graduates mostly choose to go
into an apprenticeship, which is a highly regulated combination of schooling and job training
called Dual Vocational Training (Dualer Bildungsweg). Secondary II (Realschule) “provides
an extended general education, which is based on real-life situations […] and creates the basis
for vocational training programs […]” (Holfelder & Bosse, 1990, p. 52). It ends after tenth
grade, whereupon graduating pupils are attested maturity (Mittlere Reife). They can thenfurther their studies at the Gymnasium or enter an apprenticeship, typically in a white-collar
environment. Secondary III (Gymnasium) goes onto grade 12 or 13 and focuses on academic
knowledge. After grade ten, pupils can decide whether to pursue a career similar to that ofSecondary II or enter the upper grades (Oberstufe) which lead to the Abitur, a nationwide
standardized graduation test serving as the qualification exam for entering university (for moredetails, see Holfelder & Bosse, 1990, p. 55). In some German Länder, there is also a fourth
type of secondary school called the comprehensive school (Gesamtschule). It comprises all
three types of Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium under the same roof. The syllabus
offers courses proprietary of all three types of schools and pupils are encouraged to choose
according to their inclination. Up to grade nine and ten, all common subjects are taught inmixed classes. After grade ten, Gesamtschule turns into Gymnasium.
Germany’s three-tiered educational system was originally intended to separate pupils at an
early age and prepare them for the life that best fits their individual abilities and inclinations.
The system allows graduates from every tier of secondary schooling to be economically
successful in their professional lives as well as in their personal aspirations. For example, aplumber, having finished three years of apprenticeship after nine years of compulsory
schooling, has a good chance of passing the standardized Geselle test, which makes her
employable at full salary in enterprises throughout Germany. She might then try the morechallenging four-year second stage of apprenticeship to attain the Meister diploma – a status
	
  
	
  

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Volume 5 – Issue 1 – Spring 2017enabling her to open her own business and be a voting member of her guild, thus influencing
policy in the field of plumbing and beyond.
PISA’s defining principle is testing 15-year-olds11, because they are considered to be “nearing
the end of their compulsory time at school” (OECD, 2015a), and – by extension – on the vergeof entering the job market. Although the wording has become more cautious than before, when
PISA claimed to “measure how well young adults at age 15 […] are prepared to meet thechallenges of today’s knowledge societies” (OECD & UIS, 2003, p. 12), the underlying
suggestion that 15-year-olds are at the end of their education still stands and still contradicts
German reality. Germany’s tiered school system is inextricably paired with Dual Vocational
Training (Dualer Bildungsweg). This puts 15- or 16-year-olds into vocational training after
leaving secondary I and II (Hauptschule and Realschule)12. In most cases, vocational training
takes the form of an apprenticeship in an approved enterprise. Apprenticeships generally last
three years, consist of a combination of vocational school and hands-on training in said
enterprise and conclude with a formal examination for a nationally recognized degree. Thissystem ensures that under-18-year-olds do not actually work in full-time employment, but stayin enrolled in a form of schooling that has been tailored to prepare them for their jobs, while
simultaneously continuing to teach ‘classic’ school subjects. “Even for the two-thirds of all
pupils who leave full-time schooling in Germany at 15/16 to enter an apprenticeship […] parttime attendance at mathematics courses remains obligatory at ages 16–18.” (Prais, 2003, p.
142)
PISA-E, the Policy Reaction to PISA
Since Germany does not have a centralized body governing school education, and each of its
16 Länder have their own educational jurisdiction, it would be virtually impossible to advocate
nationwide changes without collecting detailed data tailored to Germany’s specific educational
problems. Shortly after the first international PISA test, Germany launched PISA-E, testing anational ‘extended’ sample many times larger than that of the original international study.
PISA-E is tailored to and analyses in detail external factors such as regionally different school
systems, curricula, demographics, etc. Data obtained by the tests, which are deployed the day
after each PISA test in the same 200 plus six times as many additional schools13, is used tolocate and address differences in educational opportunities for the sexes, socially divergent
target groups, children with migration background, regions in eastern versus western Germany,etc.
PISA-E uses “entirely different mathematical questions […] to reflect better (a) the
actual school curriculum in Germany and (b) the spread of attainments of German
pupils. In contrast to a total of 31 questions in mathematics in the international inquiry,
the German national extended inquiry had an additional 86 mathematical questions”(Prais, 2003, p. 141)
11

The official definition of PISA’s target population reads: “PISA covers students who are aged between 15 years
3 months and 16 years 2 months at the time of assessment and who are enrolled in school and have completed atleast 6 years of formal schooling, regardless of the type of institution in which they are enrolled and of whether
they are in full-time or part-time education, of whether they attend academic or vocational programmes, and ofwhether they attend public or private schools or foreign schools within the country.“ (OECD, 2014, p. 22)
12
Graduates of secondary III also do not immediately enter the job market; they decide to either enroll inuniversity or take up studies in an advanced vocational training program.
13
In 2000, in addition to the 219 schools, which participated in the international study, another 1,466 schools took
the PISA-E test (Stanat et al., 2002, p. 4).

	
  
	
  

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If we consider the stated goal of PISA – providing decision makers with a quantifiable base formaking changes in the educational system – then it seems strange that the survey is notconcerned with mastery of the school curriculum, instead of testing how successfully pupils
might cope with ‘everyday life’ post-school situations (Prais, 2003, p. 142). Especially notable
are the ‘real life’ situations which include items like calculating the arc length of the blades ofa revolving door to exclude air-flow between inside and out (OECD, 2014, p. 131) and the ageof lichen according to its diameter.14 It is not obvious in what sense this kind of questions test
everyday mathematical literacy.
Conclusion
The PISA study was designed by the OECD – an international organization with the purpose
to consolidate the economic well-being of its members. As such, PISA’s goal is to determine
and compare the usability of future human capital for participating countries and proposechanges to the educational systems in order to maximize profits for their economy. PISA results
point to weaknesses in the abilities of the current set of human capital and compare its quality
internationally.
PISA delivers very detailed and very valuable data for international comparison of the jobrelated skills of 15-year-olds. The alarmist reception of its results is largely due to oversimplified media coverage – which is facilitated by PISA’s own marketing machinery.
Results are indeed disturbing for Germany and should definitely not be ignored; measures must
be taken to improve the ability of young people to put their skills to economic use; not only forthe benefit of the economy they are part of, but also for their personal economic well-being.
One of the most alarming outcomes of the study indicates that a large percentage of 15-yearolds in Germany cannot read. A possible explanation for this phenomenon might be thatchildren with migration background constitute a large part of PISA’s test candidates and do nothave an adequate command of the German language to follow the classes they visit. Schoolingmust include all pupils and training in the basic skills must be intensified for weaker students,
so they too can move on to other subjects, find their personal fulfillment, and be a contributing
part of society.
On the other hand, education – in the Bildung sense of the formation of intrinsically humanvalues – is about much more than the preparation of human capital. Human civilization isdefined by the development of arts and skills whose values are not readily measured inmonetary units. The media and public response to PISA results consisted in blind acceptanceof its reductionist message and consequently cutting down the pillars of society’s educational
system towards a quantifiable, result-oriented supply of human resources to the economy.
The underlying assumption of PISA is that schools should produce students who are able toadapt their skills to the needs of the industrial labor market (Bennett, 2006, p. iii). Following
the detailed plans of action PISA’s analysts suggest for Germany’s school system would help
maintain a skilled workforce and doubtless contribute towards a healthier economy. It would
14

A sample PISA question, quoted after Prais (2003, pp. 142–143) is given as: “The approximate relation between
the diameter (d, measured in mm) of a small plant (called a lichen) and its age (t, measured in years) is d = 7√ (t-12).
Ann found a lichen of 35 mm diameter. Question: What is its approximate age?” Prais’ verdict: “[This question is]particularly ‘unreal’ (even ‘imaginary’, in the technical mathematical sense): what is here supposed to happen in
the first 12 years of the life of a lichen?” (Prais, 2003, p. 155).

	
  
	
  

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not, however, further humanity’s path towards a civilized society. What makes PISA a major
factor for the ongoing crisis in the German educational system is the misconception of it beinga tool for measuring educational success. It tests basic education, not general education and“says something about the preconditions for Bildung, but little about [Bildung] itself. […] The
foundation should not be confused with the building” (Adam, 2004, p. 10). By emphasizing
qualification, skills, and standards, we face the danger of neglecting a content-centered debate
or a culturally and regionally specific educational canon. Linked to this is the risk of neglecting
school subjects with no direct macroeconomic or individual benefit. These include all subjects
that are not part of the basic education defined by PISA, such as philosophy, the arts, and music(cf. Raidt, 2010, p. 247).
The shift of values from Bildung to qualification is deplorable; Germany’s three-tiered
segregational school system might be a chance to first deal with a basic qualification and maybe
move subjects not directly related to job qualification to the higher grades. In spirit, the German
tiered school system is intended to provide each citizen with the opportunity to undergoschooling according to his or her individual abilities and tastes. Unfortunately, the theory does
not hold up to modern reality – especially when mobility between the tiers of secondary andtertiary education is concerned; Students mostly stay in the school where they were put at theage of 10 and follow the path of least resistance for their choice of secondary education.
Moreover, the social background seems to be far stronger in determining pupil’s secondary
school than their academic performance or personal inclination.
PISA’s focus on the application of factual knowledge in the modern work environment
challenges the traditional German understanding of Bildung as lifelong striving to achieve auniquely human mindset. It evaluates schools as a delivery system of skilled workers for theindustry. While PISA results are indeed alarming and political action needs to be taken to better
prepare pupils for the job world, Germany should not forget that Bildung is more than mere
qualification. Maybe there is still a chance to keep subjects such as ethics, arts, literature, andmusic in school curricula while simultaneously renovating the outdated system of tiered
segregation, which may keep late developers from getting the education they deserve.
Wernstedt and John-Ohnesorg (2008, p. 11) might be onto something when they theorize that
German middle-class parents are willing to put up with a flawed educational system as long as
Gymnasium and Realschule keep their children separated from the socially disadvantaged andfrom foreigners.

	
  
	
  

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References
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Bennett, R. (2006). Foreword. In G. Matters, Using Data to Support Learning in Schools:
Students, Teachers, Systems (pp. iii–v). Camberwell, Vic: ACER.
Brezinka, W. (1989). Aufklärung über Erziehungstheorien: Beiträge zur Kritik der Pädagogik.
München: Reinhardt. https://doi.org/10.2378/9783497011698
EKG, Kirchenamt der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (2003). Maße des Menschlichen.
Evangelische Perspektiven zur Bildung in der Wissens- und Lerngesellschaft. Eine
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FAZ (2001, April 12). Viele Schüler in Deutschland auf unterstem Niveau. Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung, p. 4. Frankfurt / M.
Hanushek, E. A., & Woessmann, L. (2010). The High Cost of Low Educational Performance:
The Long-Run Economic Impact of Improving PISA Outcomes. Paris: OECD.
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Nebenbestimmungen und Sonderteil Lehrerdienstrecht (9th ed.). Stuttgart: Boorberg.
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Stuttgart: Neckar. Retrieved February 12, 2017 from http://www.bildungsstandardsbw.de
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Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (KMK). Retrieved February 12, 2017 fromhttp://www.kmk.org/presse-und-aktuelles/pm2001/296plenarsitzung.html
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Lehmann, A. (2001, February 12). Die Quittung für unser veraltetes Bildungssystem. Der
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OECD (1996). Measuring What People Know: Human Capital Accounting for the Knowledge
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TAZ (2001, May 12). Fast in jeder Hinsicht ein Desaster. die tageszeitung, p. 14. Berlin.
Tomasevski, K. (2000). Preliminary Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to
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Wernstedt, R., & John-Ohnesorg, M. (2008). Soziale Herkunft entscheidet über Bildungserfolg.
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Corresponding author: Wolfgang Odendahl
Email: odendahl@ntu.edu.tw

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