Reviewing the Impact of the National Strategies Design and Technology Framework for Key Stage Three: A small-­‐scale evaluation of the Design and Technology Framework in England

Since the beginning of Design and Technology (D&T) in the English secondary school curriculum, the teaching of design has been identified as less effective than that of making. Research Questions: What are the experiences of pupils between the ages of 12 and 14 of design learning? Purpose of Study: In 2004 as part of the National Strategies, the D&T framework was launched, aiming to support the teaching of design skills. This is a small-­‐scale study, which begins to explore the experiences of pupils and teachers in four schools in the Northwest of England. Research Methods: The study used a mixed methods approach, gathering quantitative and qualitative data in a questionnaire with a convenience sample of school pupils. The questionnaire responses are analysed alongside qualitative interviews with D&T teachers from the schools. Findings: The findings indicate that many pupils had a clear understanding of the role of designing. However, some common assumptions of the nature of design activity centering on the act of sketching or drawing were evident. The majority of pupils were unable to accurately identify the names of many of the design activities introduced as part of the framework. Conclusions: Whilst some progress has been made in the teaching of design, through the use of design activities introduced in the D&T Framework, the support experienced by teachers was limited and were not sustained beyond the initial training. There are implications for initial teacher educators in supporting beginning teachers and balancing the tensions trainees experience whilst on placements in school. Key Words: Design, designing, pedagogy, teacher educatio

A Systematic Review of Music Teacher Education Research within the United States:1982-2010

Music education researchers have explored several issues within music teacher education (MTE) including: coursework, teacher and musicianship skills, design and implementation of undergraduate programs, and music teacher identity development. An examination and discussion of this research will assist those responsible for educating future music teacher educators with developing meaningful and effective teacher training programs. In this systematic review, I examined the research published in peer-review journals between 1982 and 2010 and defended music education dissertations between 2005 and 2010. The purpose of the current synthesis was to synthesize peer-review research relating to MTE and to recount the findings and connections of existing research for current music teacher educators. Before studies were included in the synthesis, I reviewed each one to ensure they met the following inclusion criteria: (a) relevant to the proposed research questions under consideration; (b) published in a peer-review journal or a defended dissertation between 2005-2010; (c) printed in English; (d) published between 1982 and July 2010; (e) involved subjects who were members of an undergraduate teacher preparation program in the United States; (f) detailed in the presentation of the methodology; and (g) presented the content so that relevant information could be attained. To further explore the implications of the current synthesis' findings, three practicing music teacher educators completed a two-part questionnaire designed to elicit information about their perspectives of MTE research and opinions of the current findings. I reviewed, categorized, and reported responses from each questionnaire as part of the research synthesis intending to identify the role of research in MTE, commonalities, possible concerns, and possible future research needs for meaningful research agendas specific to music teacher education

Internationalising Chinese Maritime Higher Education: Developing Content and English Language Integrated Teaching and Learning

This thesis examines how new maritime nations, which are engaged in the export of seafaring labour, need to respond to the demands of the international maritime industry. In particular, traditional maritime nations are calling for greater internationalisation of maritime education and training. The global labour market for seafarers, which is dominated by employers from traditional maritime nations, demands internationally minded graduates. China’s response to these demands for quality labour exports from new maritime nations is the subject of exploration in this thesis. Within the specific context of Maritime English teaching and learning, a significant opportunity for innovation and change is identified. The research took the form of an international collaborative education project in pursuit of the following question: What teaching and learning development opportunities are there for improving the communicative competence of Chinese Navigation officers? The author of this thesis, formally a seafarer, is a teaching practitioner in higher education in the UK. For the purposes of this thesis, the author became a visi ting researcher, and later a teaching practitioner, at the case maritime higher education institution in China. Becoming a member of the teaching staff at the host institution was a necessary step in order to establish and carry out teaching practitioner -led research as a member of a professional learning community. The aim of this professional learning community has been to collaborate on a Maritime English teaching development project. This development work has since continued beyond this PhD study into a commercially funded project, which demonstrates the necessity and timeliness of the research. This thesis sets out to report on the collaborative process of an international education development project as it was experienced. Research was carried out over a 15.5 month period spent in-situ at the case institution. The institution was selected as it is the most influential maritime university in China in terms of national maritime higher education policy reform, due it being under the direct authority of the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China rather than the Ministry of Education, as is the case with other universities. The author had to work very hard to overcome a number of cultural issues to become accepted as a teaching practitioner in the research setting. Once accepted as a participant researcher, research-based professionalism founded on previous teacher training and experience allowed for a living theory approach to improving both own teaching practice and that of new-found colleagues. The outcomes of this PhD study are multiple: The ethnographic account of the development process in the form of this PhD thesis. The establishment of a professional learning community between teaching practitioners and continued research and development work. The local teaching and learning innovation in the form of a new content and language integrated syllabus for Maritime English teaching, suitable for Chinese learners at maritime higher education institutions. The continued collaboration between an industry stakeholder and the local teaching practitioners in the further development of a new Maritime English syllabus and accompanying teaching resources to ensure that it meets the needs of employers. As understanding grew of how Chinese maritime higher education institutions are preparing their students for employment in the global labour market for seafarers, the research objectives emerged while in-situ. The aim of the research centred on working with local teaching practitioners and industry stakeholders to improve the quality of maritime education graduates’ transferable skills, in terms of their intercultural communicative competence. The key feature of the study was to collaboratively identify teaching and learning development opportunities for improving the preparedness of Chinese maritime higher education graduates to work in a safety critical environment, where they will need to communicate effectively in English. The internationalisation of the Maritime English syllabus, and the wider Navigation curriculum, through content and language integrated learning and teaching is the main recommendation of this thesis. The evidence presented in this thesis has led to the conclusion that this curriculum intervention is necessary for improving the transferable skills of Chinese Maritime Higher Education graduates. The content and language integrated learning approach to teaching was found to offer Chinese maritime higher education institutions with a solution to boost intercultural communicative competence in meeting the demands of the international maritime industry for professionally skilled, and competent-in-English seafarers for labour export.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

A professional agenda: An initial step toward enhancing the quality of teaching in University Malaysia Sarawak.

This paper was originally written as a proposal to the management of the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in the bid to enhance the quality of teaching on a university-wide basis. The recent quality assurance movement on teaching in UNIMAS is an important step to foster excellence in teaching and to eventually meet one of Malaysia’s visions of being a center for quality education by year 2020. Although teaching is one of the core businesses in institutions of higher learning, it is ironic that academics in many universities are not required to possess preparatory training in teaching, unlike schoolteachers. As a forwardlooking university, one of the initial mechanisms suggested in this paper is to conduct a workshop series to all UNIMAS academics. The workshop series comprise topics such as Introduction to University Teaching, How Humans Learn? Assessment, Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, and Learning from the Teaching Practice. The aims of the workshop series are to train the UNIMAS academics in teaching on a short-term basis, to initiate a long-term commitment toward excellence in teaching, and to develop a collaborative academic community that places special commitment to excellence in teaching. The required institutional commitment, the success factors, and the long-term plans for enhancing teaching at UNIMAS are also discussed in this paper

Leadership in medical ward rounds

Leadership in Medical Ward Rounds: Abstract Medical ward rounds are an under researched area. The medical post take ward round has been cited as being a source of anxiety for new consultants. The non-technical skills involved may well be those that new consultants feel underprepared for in contrast to clinical skills. Ward rounds historically have been a principal vehicle for teaching junior doctors. There have been many changes in how junior doctors work which has potentially impacted their training and preparation towards being a consultant. The overarching aims of this thesis are firstly to expand our current understanding of the incorporation of training into medical ward rounds, and secondly to translate this understanding into an instrument that evaluates senior trainees or consultants skills in leading a ward round. Ultimately, improved training and assessment of the ward round process should enhance patient safety and effectiveness of care on medical wards. This thesis incorporates a narrative review on training and ward rounds. There is also a literature review on non-technical skills tools used in hospital medicine, how they were developed and their psychometric evaluation. The second review of non-technical skills tools leads to a choice of tool on which to base the development of a ward round leadership tool. The review on training and ward rounds, provides background to the thesis but also some of the findings are used for the instrument development. A post take ward round simulation was developed alongside the ward round leadership tool, which serves 2 purposes. One is to develop a training program by which to train senior medical registrars to lead post take ward rounds, and secondly, it is used to psychometrically evaluate the developed medical ward round leadership tool. There is also a chapter reporting an interview study of medical consultants and patients about training and post take ward rounds. The findings from this chapter feed directly into the tool and simulation development. The development of the simulation and tool are described and evaluated in detail. The tool is evaluated in terms of reliability and validity.Open Acces