ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Some Predictors of Constructivist Teaching in Elementary Education
Author: Topolovcan, Tomislav
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Elementary School Students,Grade 8,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Questionnaires,Student Characteristics,Self Efficacy,Technological Literacy,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Predictor Variables,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Computer Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Attitude Measures,Likert Scales,Consultants,Educational Environment,Surveys,Access to Computers,Internet,Telecommunications,Social Media,Handheld Devices

The aim of this research is to examine the extent to which certain sociodemographic characteristics of students and teachers, along with computer self-efficacy, attitudes towards the new media and the frequency of using the new media in instruction, can be regarded as predictors of constructivist teaching. The research was carried out on a sample of a group (N = 1528) of eighth-grade students (n = 1026) and class and subject teachers (n = 502) in primary and lower secondary school (ISCED level 1 and 2). Data was collected through survey questionnaires with relevant instruments. The results show that, in terms of students, their sociodemographic characteristics, a higher level of computer self-efficacy, more positive attitudes towards new media and more frequent use of new media, as separate factors, are significant predictors of constructivist learning. In terms of teachers, their attitudes and computer self-efficacy are significant, but their sociodemographic characteristics and the use of new media are not. The entire final series, both in terms of teachers and students, is a significant predictor of constructivist learning, where certain separate dimensions of predictor factors are more significant than others. The greatest variance of constructivist teaching, both in terms of students and teachers, can be explained by the attitude towards new media and computer self-efficacy rather than the use of new media in instruction, as confirmed by some previous theoretical assumptions. Although significant correlations were obtained, the results point to an occasional organisation of constructivist teaching. The possible reasons and implications of such results are explained in this paper.
Quality, Social Justice and Accountability--Crucial Determinants of Excellence in Education
Author: Rossouw, J. P.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Educational Quality,Social Justice,Benchmarking,Excellence in Education,Accountability,Standards,Foreign Countries

Internationally, the quality of education, social justice and accountability can be regarded as key elements of successful school systems and societies. Separately or jointly, these elements can be analysed and debated as distinct fields of study, and linked to an education system to determine the success thereof. Being a pivotal element of education, much has been said about quality education. The exact nature and definition still seem to evade many scholars and practitioners, though. Governments worldwide may be content that its young citizens' right to education has been fulfilled by merely making it available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. Many countries reach such a basic benchmark, but without the expected high quality education, real progress will not follow. Social justice can be regarded as one central ideal and vision for an education system, a concept that includes both juridical and social elements. Similar to quality, scholars admit that the real nature, social intent and exact action associated with social justice is difficult to capture. Societies define social justice differently, and in some contexts it often also includes political undertones. What can be stated, is that social justice discourses are mostly prevalent in societies marred by inequality and injustice. The vision of social justice offers hope for a better future. The level of accountability amongst public officials, school managers, teachers and students, in turn, is another indicator of the success of an education system. Closely linked to the notion of moral blameworthiness, accountability is a social obligation, based on the boni mores of the specific community. While legal systems are largely built on accountability, the standard eventually reached in an education system depends inter alia on their understanding of the level of accountability demonstrated by its role-players. Regulations guide the functions and responsibilities of stakeholders associated with a specific activity. Once promulgated, such a law establishes accountability and legal liability. The central claim of this paper is that a categorically successful education system succeeds in providing an education of a quality higher than mere accessibility, in which social justice is achieved for the students, teachers and the society. These ideals can only be accomplished if a high level of accountability, as is expected by those stakeholders who expect an individual, department or institution to give account of own actions, prevails amongst all role-players. A bibliography is included. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
Teachers' Perceptions of and Solutions for Student School Failure
Author: Maksic, Slavica
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Teacher Attitudes,Academic Failure,Student Development,Qualitative Research,Elementary School Teachers,Change Strategies,Correlation,Time Perspective,Teacher Competencies,Grades (Scholastic),Low Achievement,Student Behavior,Foreign Countries

School failure is an important aspect of students' development and their progression through the process of education, as well as for the functioning of the education system itself. The paper reports the results of a qualitative study exploring the relationship between primary school teachers' perceptions of student school failure and the solutions suggested for its overcoming. Obtained data pointed to the differences of the solutions for the problem of student school failure suggested by teachers with respect to their own time perspective (an orientation towards past, present or future). There were also certain differences in the suggested solutions for the problem of student school failure depending on teachers' conceptualisation of school failure (poor grades or misbehaving), but these differences were less prominent. It has been concluded that it is needed to include the knowledge about the role of personal time perspective into in-service teacher training in order to raise teachers' skills for coping with the problem of student school failure. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
Competence-Based Approach in the Education of Pedagogues--Comparative View
Author: Ermenc, Klara Skubic
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Comparative Analysis,Qualitative Research,Teacher Attitudes,Competency Based Teacher Education,College Faculty,Semi Structured Interviews,Questionnaires,Teacher Competencies,Teaching Experience,Foreign Countries

The paper presents some of the findings of a comparative qualitative study conducted at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and University of Belgrade, Serbia. It discusses the findings related to the opinions and experiences of the university professors about the role of competences in the pedagogy study programmes. Competence-based approach has been introduced with the Bologna process and raised many dilemmas and controversies among the university teaching staff. Many respondents are critical about the mainstream competence discourse, and associate it with narrow behaviouristic concept. They however express the stance that holistically conceptualized competence-approach could positively influence the students' ability to use theoretical knowledge and research skills when dealing with complex occupational challenges. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
Assessing Selective Sustained Attention in 3- to 5-Year-Old Children: Evidence from a New Paradigm
Author: Fisher, Anna
Date: 2013-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Attention Control,Psychometrics,Models,Preschool Children,Young Children,Cognitive Ability,Developmentally Appropriate Practices,Early Childhood Education

Selective sustained attention (SSA) is crucial for higher order cognition. Factors promoting SSA are described as exogenous or endogenous. However, there is little research specifying how these factors interact during development, due largely to the paucity of developmentally appropriate paradigms. We report findings from a novel paradigm designed to investigate SSA in preschoolers. The findings indicate that this task (a) has good psychometric and parametric properties and (b) allows investigation of exogenous and endogenous factors within the same task, making it possible to attribute changes in performance to different mechanisms of attentional control rather than to differences in engagement in different tasks. [This paper was published in the &quot;Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,&quot; v114 n2 p275-294 Feb 2013 (EJ1006825).]
Educating Teachers for Intercultural Education
Author: Ermenc, Klara Skubic
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Multicultural Education,Teacher Education,Cultural Pluralism,Cultural Awareness,Teacher Competencies

The paper begins with a short overview of the development of intercultural education and proposes a definition of interculturality in education as a pedagogical principle that guides the entire process of planning, implementing, and evaluating education at the systemic, curricular, school, and classroom levels to enable recognition and empowerment of all minority groups. Measures appropriate for the different levels are discussed. The paper concludes with an overview on teacher education for the implementation of the principle of interculturality and proposes a framework model of such an educational plan. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
In-Service Training Programmes for Inclusive Education in Serbia--Offer and Implementation
Author: Matovic, Nataša
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Inservice Teacher Education,Inclusion,Regular and Special Education Relationship,Disabilities,Program Content,Teacher Competencies,Content Analysis,Documentation

The initial education and in-service training of all educators, particularly teachers, play a vital role in strengthening competences necessary for implementing inclusive educational practice. This paper analyses offered and implemented inservice training programmes for educators in the field of inclusive education or, more precisely, for working with children with disabilities in the period 2012-2014. The findings of the analysis indicate that the programmes aimed at all categories of children with disabilities are prevalent; most of the programmes address teaching and learning strategies and are intended for various profiles of educators at different education levels; approximately three quarters of the offered programmes were implemented. The paper also tackles unresolved issues about strengthening competences for implementing inclusive practice. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
Michigan School Privatization Survey 2016. A Mackinac Center Report
Author: Hohman, James M.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Surveys,State Surveys,Privatization,Public Schools,School Districts,Outsourcing,Food Service,School Maintenance,Transportation,Satisfaction,Telephone Surveys,Educational Trends

Public school districts are government entities, but they rely on the private sector to support their function of delivering educational services to students. Private contractors, for example, construct district buildings, write textbooks and manufacture the supplies necessary to keep the district operational, among other things. And over the past several years, there has been a slow and steady increase in the number of school districts tapping the private sector to perform services that were once performed directly by district employees. The results of the survey presented in this report show that 70.1 percent of districts in Michigan use private sector contractors to provide food, custodial or transportation services--a slight increase from last year's findings. These supporting operations are performed by an array of businesses, some even specialize in providing services to public schools. This is the 14th edition of this survey of school districts, which has been performed in 2001, 2003 and every year since 2005. It has documented a steady increase in contracting out, from 2001 when 31 percent of districts contracted out services to the more than 70 percent today. Also, it found that districts rarely contracted out custodial and transportation services when the survey began. Now more than half of districts use private vendors to provide custodial services and more than a quarter contract out transportation services. The following are appended: (1) Revisions to Previous Publications; and (2) Map of Survey Findings by School District.
The Flexibility of the Curriculum as a Strategy for Exercising Social Justice in Public Universities
Author: Molina García, Amelia
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Job Skills,Social Justice,Public Colleges,Undergraduate Study,Global Approach,Curriculum Development

This paper is guided by two principal ideas, the first one is about curriculum flexibility in the context of globalization and the second one is about the function of generating skills for the job market. Both are challenges that the Institutions for Undergraduate Education (IES) have to face in training their alumni. In this case we considered as a point of reference some aspects from the Science in Education Program of the Autonomous University of Hidalgo (UAEH). [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
Government Expenditures on Education as the Percentage of GDP in the EU
Author: Galetic, Fran
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Expenditures,Educational Finance,Federal Aid,Economic Factors,Statistical Analysis,Models,Computation,Scores,Comparative Education,Investment,Specialization

This paper analyzes the government expenditures as the percentage of gross domestic product across countries of the European Union. There is a statistical model based on Z-score, whose aim is to calculate how much each EU country deviates from the average value. The model shows that government expenditures on education vary significantly between EU countries. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
A Strong Start for Families: Voluntary Home Visiting in California
Author: Children Now
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Home Visits,Early Intervention,Family Programs,Family Needs,Child Development,Parent Education,Well Being

Home visiting programs are voluntary, family-centered programs that match new and expectant parents with trained professionals who provide ongoing, individualized support during critical points throughout pregnancy and a child's first year(s) of life. By reaching families early in their transition into parenthood, and linking them with needed resources and information, voluntary home visiting programs are a critical piece of a broader, multi-faceted system of family support. In order to effectively reach parents and meet the diverse needs of families, California must take a two-pronged approach to home visiting: (1) universal screening, triage, and referral; and (2) a portfolio of home visiting programs, of varying intensity. Across California, there is a diverse array of home visiting programs, anchored within local public and private organizations, and funded by various federal and local sources. California does not dedicate general fund dollars or coordinate home visiting, and current program capacity falls far short of reaching the hundreds of thousands of families who may benefit. This document provides information on home visiting programs available in California, including total counties, families served, and funding sources. Recommendations for improving California's home visiting programs in 2017 are included.
Social Justice and Music Education: Toward a Multicultural Concept of Music Education
Author: Dobrota, Snježana
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Social Justice,Music Education,Vocabulary,Multicultural Education,Cultural Awareness,Consciousness Raising

One of the primary goals of multicultural education is to change the current structure of the educational system and to bridge the widening gaps between students of different background. Similarly, multicultural art curriculum fosters the formation of attitudes and perceptions that help people confront their sociocultural biases. The aim of this article is to clarify the terminological issues related to multicultural (music) education, to present the ways of performing world musics in school and to show how multicultural music education can be used as a tool for expanding students' cultural knowledge and tolerance. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
School Led Training: An Examination of the School Direct Recent Policy Initiative in England Making Schools Leaders in the Education of Teachers
Author: Hilton, Gillian L. S.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Education Programs,Alternative Teacher Certification,Training Methods,Educational Change,Teacher Shortage,Barriers,Performance Factors,Program Effectiveness

The School Direct training initiative has had a marked effect on the production of new teachers in England. The role of university education departments has been curtailed, and the belief that learning from doing, is better than a more theory based approach has caused politicians to radically change teacher education processes. Challenges are also being experienced by schools and other training establishments. Long term effects are as yet unclear, but already the programme has resulted in the closure of some university departments of education and concerns that school mentors do not have the expertise to provide the depth of subject and educational theory required by trainees, or sufficient knowledge of education research. There are questions too about the variation in the quality of provision in those schools and consortia undertaking this new type of training. At present the major concern seems to be that this change could severely affect teacher supply. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
Teaching and Assessment Practices at the National University of Lesotho: Some Critical Comments
Author: Tlali, Tebello
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries,Universities,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty,Faculty Development,Educational Quality,Class Size,Educational Facilities,Student Evaluation,Program Improvement,Qualitative Research

This paper explores the teaching and assessment practices of some lecturers at the National University of Lesotho in view of the negative perception that was created in the press and also suggested in limited research findings about quality-related issues. We adopted a qualitative approach and drew from Constructivism's theoretical lens to appraise the teaching and assessment practices at this institution. We interviewed one lecturer from each of seven faculties, and analysed samples of papers provided by them. Findings suggest that lecturers are mostly overwhelmed by overcrowded classes and poorly equipped lecture halls, together with a lack of training regarding teaching and assessment and are generally content driven in their teaching and assessment approach. We propose that the institution address these deficits by strengthening its staff development and support programmes. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
The Local Control Funding Formula: An Opportunity for Early Childhood &amp; Children in Foster Care. Increasing Resources for Early Childhood through the Local Control Funding Formula: A Guide for Early Childhood Advocates
Author: Children Now
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Funding Formulas,School Districts,Early Childhood Education,Foster Care,Outcomes of Education,Accountability,Trauma,Developmental Delays,Advocacy

According to the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) law, most school districts in California are responsible for using LCFF funds to improve outcomes for children in the foster care system. Each district has created a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), the expenditure plan for LCFF. The LCAP is reviewed and revised annually by each district. Early childhood programs have been proven to have the greatest impact on improving outcomes for foster children. There is no other investment that has been proven to deliver as consistent an impact on students or as high as a return on investment as those made in support of high quality early childhood education. Many districts have recognized this value and have included early childhood strategies in their LCAPs, while others have not. This document shows what the research has found regarding improving overall outcomes of foster children, statistics of young children in the foster care system in California, and steps early childhood advocates can take to urge their districts to include early childhood in their LCAPs. [For the accompanying LCFF and Early Childhood documents, see &quot;The Local Control Funding Formula: An Opportunity for Early Childhood &amp; Dual Language Learners&quot; (ED568651) and &quot;The Local Control Funding Formula: An Opportunity for Early Childhood &amp; Low-Income Students&quot; (ED568650).]
Social Justice, Education and School Social Work in Turkey
Author: Nadir, Ural
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Social Justice,Social Work,Social Services,Integrated Services,School Community Programs

This study focuses on welfare state, social justice and school social work interaction. In this paper, these three concepts' reflections in Turkey were mentioned. Researchers aimed to discuss how school social work (which is brought to the agenda recently) is important in the provision of social justice in Turkish public service delivery. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]
School Led Training: An Investigation into the New School Direct Initiative for Teacher Education in England, the Experiences of Trainees and Trainers
Author: Hilton, Gillian L. S.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Investigations,Teacher Education,Student Experience,Trainees,Trainers,Mentors,Tutors,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Mixed Methods Research,Semi Structured Interviews,Beliefs,Teacher Education Programs,Alternative Teacher Certification,Educational Change

This paper presents research undertaken with trainees, mentors and tutors who are associated with the new School Direct initiative in England. Introduced quickly in 2012, this was a new way of training teachers which is seen as school-led. That is, schools, not higher education institutions, are the leaders of this programme and in many cases universities have been cut out of the process of training teachers. The change has had serious implications for schools, education departments in universities and trainees. This research, with primary sector trainees, attempted to discover the views of recent and current trainees, mentors in schools and tutors from programme providers. Though at present the research is small and focussed on the primary phase, some serious issues have arisen including the theoretical content of the programmes and the mentors' ability to underpin practice with educational theory and subject knowledge and to use the government's qualified to teach standards correctly. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]