Relational pedagogy for student engagement and success at university

The Australian Government's policy to transform higher education by 2020 includes plans to significantly raise the levels of undergraduate enrolment by people of low socio-economic status. In light of this policy direction, this article examines how a group of undergraduate students of low socio-economic status work to maintain their desire for learning and to remain included in the university system despite experiencing cultural processes of exclusion. As the students reflect on the cultural and pedagogical conditions that promote, support and enhance their participation and engagement in higher education, a picture emerges of the importance of students' relationships with academics. Whilst positive relationships help students to remain engaged, negative experiences work against continuing participation and engagement. Given the desire of the Australian government to increase participation in higher education by students from under-represented groups, this research identifies some challenges and possibilities for both universities and academics

Effective primary pedagogical strategies in English and mathematics in key stage 2: a study of year 5 classroom practice drawn from the EPPSE 3-16 longitudinal study

Reference:DFE-RR129 Publication Type: Research Audience: Researchers, Statisticians, Teachers The Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16) project is a large scale, longitudinal, mixed-method research study that has followed the progress of 3000+ children since 1997 from the age of 3 to 16+ years. A continuing question for EPPSE was whether pre- and primary school experiences or children's early home learning environment (HLE) could reduce inequality. The study aimed to examine the differences between poor, average and excellent teachers, and how their teaching practices could be linked to the effectiveness of schools. While the original studies found that parents' socio-economic status (SES) and qualifications were significantly related to child outcomes, they also found that the quality of the early HLE was important. Also important, and particularly relevant to this study, was the extent to which educational influences (pre-school and primary school quality and effectiveness) also shaped children’s educational outcomes. During the primary phase (EPPE 3-11) of the longitudinal study the research team conducted contextualised, value-added analyses for all primary schools in England across three years (2002 – 2004) from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. These analyses, based on multi-level modelling, considered children’s progress and attainment while controlling for a range of background factors (e.g. gender)

Development of reading comprehension with graphic organizers for students with dyslexia

This academic work has the aim of analyzing the impact of graphic organizers in the development of reading comprehension accordance with the level of English of each student. The theoretical foundation is constructed by the contents previously defined in the problem; with specific bibliography for the scientific content. Statistical analyses of information were taken into consideration. The implementation of this research will permit the creation and design of a handbook with easy-to-read stories that would increase students receptive abilities in a foreign language in the learning process, especially for students with learning disabilities (dyslexia). These analyses determined the importance of the application of a handbook that would include a short and a long text, vocabulary in context, strategies to improve reading skills, and unit assessments to evaluate the knowledge of students in each unit. This will let the students to develop multiple skills with the guidance of the teacher. This innovative material has as a main target to help the learner to decode phonemes and to identify structures of the story through charts and picturesPeer Reviewe

How can countries use cross-national research results to address "the big policy issues" ? (Case studies from Francophone Africa)

The “Program on the Analysis of Education Systems“ (PASEC) was launched in 1991 at the conference of francophone education ministers (CONFEMEN) in Djibouti and carried out its first country evaluation one year later in the same country. Since then, 13 individual country evaluations have been carried out in francophone sub-Saharan Africa, including panel studies following primary students from 2nd to 6th grade within a given country. The primary objective of PASEC evaluations is not the comparison of student achievement across countries, but the analysis of key factors relevant to foster educational quality. Created at the initiative of education ministers with the clear objective to inform educational decision making, the translation of PASEC results into actual education policy has yet not been automatic. This paper will discuss specific procedures and measures adopted in order to ensure that PASEC results are actually taken into account by policy makers and other target groups within the education sector. Moreover, this paper will illustrate to what extent PASEC has already contributed to concrete educational policy reform.Cross-national studies ; Educational quality ; Educational policy ; Subsaharan Africa

Agency as the Acquisition of Capital: the role of one-on-one tutoring and mentoring in changing a refugee student's educational trajectory

Current research into the experiences of refugee students in mainstream secondary schools in Australia indicates that for these students, schools are places of social and academic isolation and failure. This article introduces one such student, Lian, who came to Australia as a refugee from Burma, and whom the author tutored and mentored intensively during his final year of schooling. The article provides an empirically derived understanding of how one-on-one tutoring and mentoring became a platform through which this student was able to succeed in a structure which systematically tried to exclude him. Here, agency is conceptualised in terms of Bourdieu's concept of capital. The analysis highlights the ways in which one-on-one tutoring and mentoring provided the necessary platform by which this refugee student was able to acquire the necessary capital that effected a positive change in his educational trajectory