Prometheus, Daedalus or Jesus? Remembrance of an elementary school teacher in the 19th century in Hungary

In Hungary, the second half of the 19th century was the time for the wide spread of public education and the initiation of compulsory school attendance. This led to the emergence of a new role in the society, that of elementary school teacher. In my research, I was keen to examine the characteristics of the teacher figure formed in the minds of the contemporaries,as well as the traditional idea about being a teacher, and the traces of the new conceptualframework in this modernising and professionalized occupation. I conducted a metaphor analysis on texts of 1898 and 1906 – the years of the 25-year jubilee and the death of a particular teacher – and found that instead of modernising, they depicted the well-known heroes of ancient myths. Eulogizing people portrayed the teacher in various sacrale roles, such as ’the apostle of Christ’, ’an evangelistic man’ who ’was building the realm of God’and a mourning person even stated that ’He is not here. He was resurrected!’.In Hungary, the second half of the 19th century was the time for the wide spread of public education and the initiation of compulsory school attendance. This led to the emergence of a new role in the society, that of elementary school teacher. In my research, I was keen to examine the characteristics of the teacher figure formed in the minds of the contemporaries,as well as the traditional idea about being a teacher, and the traces of the new conceptualframework in this modernising and professionalized occupation. I conducted a metaphor analysis on texts of 1898 and 1906 – the years of the 25-year jubilee and the death of a particular teacher – and found that instead of modernising, they depicted the well-known heroes of ancient myths. Eulogizing people portrayed the teacher in various sacrale roles, such as ’the apostle of Christ’, ’an evangelistic man’ who ’was building the realm of God’and a mourning person even stated that ’He is not here. He was resurrected!’

Guidance on the principles of language accessibility in National Curriculum Assessments : research background

This review accompanies the document, which describes the principles which should guide the development of clear assessment questions. The purpose of the review is to present and discuss in detail the research underpinning these principles. It begins from the standpoint that National Curriculum assessments, indeed any assessments, should be: - appropriate to the age of the pupils - an effective measure of their abilities, skills and concept development - fair to all irrespective of gender, language, religion, ethnic or social origin or disability. (Ofqual, 2011) The Regulatory Framework for National Assessments: National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage (Ofqual, 2011) sets out a number of common criteria which apply to all aspects of the development and implementation of National Assessments. One of these criteria refers to the need for assessment procedures to minimise bias: “The assessment should minimise bias, differentiating only on the basis of each learner’s ability to meet National Curriculum requirements” (Section 5.39, page 16). The Framework goes on to argue that: “Minimising bias is about ensuring that an assessment does not produce unreasonably adverse outcomes for particular groups of learners” (Annex 1, page 29). This criterion reinforces the guiding principle that any form of assessment should provide information about the knowledge and understanding of relevant content material. That is to say that the means through which this knowledge and understanding is examined, the design of the assessment and the language used should as far as possible be transparent, and should not influence adversely the performance of those being assessed. There is clearly a large number of ways in which any given assessment task can be presented and in which questions can be asked. Some of these ways will make the task more accessible – that is, easier to complete successfully – and some will get in the way of successful completion. Section 26 of the Fair Access by Design (Ofqual, 2010) document lists a number of guiding principles for improving the accessibility of assessment questions, although the research basis for these principles is not made completely clear in that document. The aim of the current review is to examine the research background more closely in order to provide a more substantial basis for a renewed set of principles to underpin the concept of language accessibility. In the review, each section will be prefaced by a statement of the principles outlined in Guidance on the Principles of Language Accessibility in National Curriculum Assessments and then the research evidence underpinning these principles will be reviewed

Students’ perceptions of online reading behaviour at an institution of higher learning in South Africa: A pilot project

Technological advances and the internet have altered the way people engage with reading material. Students’ reading preferences are increasingly screen-based as most students prefer and are required to use online reading in higher education institutions. The research explored the perceived impact of online reading on students’ reading comprehension and academic performance. A non-experimental research design was utilised for this survey, typically including the quantitative domain and, to a lesser extent, the qualitative domain. Seventy-one students who were available and consented completed the survey and included 20 first year, 19 second year, 22 third year and ten fourth year students. The results from a pilot study conducted on first to final year students at a department from a Health Care Sciences University indicated mostly positive feedback regarding the perceived effect of online reading on reading comprehension and academic performance. Most students prefer online reading as it is easily accessible, visually interactive and provides unlimited access to information. The results showed correlations and contradictions to the findings presented in the literature. Conclusions, recommendations and implications are made based on the findings of the study. The findings indicate that students, especially first-year entering students, should be prepared for online reading and be made aware of online reading techniques to support them in attaining academic literacy. These reading techniques could improve the throughput rate and lower the dropout rate in higher institutions in South Africa

CLIL and comprehensive sexual education : a case of innovation from Argentina

Social issues are believed to enrich English language teaching with meaningful topics. In this article we describe and reflect on an innovative practice which combined content and language integrated learning with comprehensive sexual education at a state secondary school in Argentina. By law, comprehensive sexual education must be included across the Argentinian curriculum and English language learning cannot be the exception. Therefore, we designed and implemented a collaborative-driven innovation that allowed learners to learn English and comprehensive sexual education with a focus on authentic materials, purposes, and tasks. The innovation was developed over a month and it involved learners delivering presentations on comprehensive sexual education topics. Reflections on the effect of the innovation and possible future directions are included