Solving Sewing Machine Problems

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National evaluation of Diplomas: cohort 1 - the second year

The introduction of Diplomas for 14-19 year olds represented a major innovation in educational opportunity for young people in England. The Diplomas are being offered at three levels and across 14 subjects and have been implemented in three phases (from September 2008, 2009 and 2010). Following the establishment of the Coalition government in May 2010, a number of changes to the implementation and delivery of the Diploma qualification were introduced. The Minister of State for Schools announced that development of new Diplomas in science, humanities and languages, which were due to be introduced from September 2011, would be discontinued. Additionally the Diploma entitlement, whereby all young people within an area would be able to access any of the Diploma subjects, would be removed and that the decision about which Diploma subjects would be available to students would in future be made by schools and colleges. Moreover, it was decided that the Gateway application process whereby consortia (of schools, colleges, training providers, employers and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)) had previously submitted an application to the Department for Education (DfE) for each Diploma subject they wanted to offer would no longer be required for provision commencing from 2012. Other changes included the freedom for institutions to decide whether or not they wanted to work collaboratively to provide Diploma provision

Effective computer-aided assessment of mathematics; principles, practice and results

This article outlines some key issues for writing effective computer-aided assessment (CAA) questions in subjects with substantial mathematical or statistical content, especially the importance of control of random parameters and the encoding of wrong methods of solution (mal-rules) commonly used by students. The pros and cons of using CAA and different question types are discussed. Issues surrounding the selection and encoding of mal-rules are highlighted, especially for multi-choice and responsive numerical input questions. These generate mal-rule-specific feedback, the mal-rule used being deduced 15 from the student’s selection or input. Student answer file data from the use of over 800 questions and their embedding within an overall assessment regime is analysed and presented to show that this has had a very beneficial effect on the examination performance of a large cohort of first-year economics students in their mathematics module over the last 6 years. Question analysis of over 270,000 question attempts, identifying the most 20 difficult/discriminating questions, shows that the questions are robust, valid and span an appropriate range of difficulties. The idea of underlying mal-rules is examined to see how far this explains this range

Mesoscale patterns in the Cape Sao Vicente (Iberian Peninsula) upwelling region

The coastal upwelling region near Cape Sao Vicente, the southwestern tip of the Iberian Peninsula where the southern zonal coast meets the meridional western coast, was studied using over 1200 advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) satellite images of sea surface temperature and time series of sea level height, wind velocities, and nearshore sea surface temperature recorded at coastal sites within 200 km of the cape. Summer upwelling is more intense and persistent off the western coast than off the southern coast, where a recurrent warm coastal countercurrent flows westward, and at times turns northward along the western coast after reaching the cape. In this region the equatorward current jet of cold water upwelled off the western coast is no longer bounded by a coast. Three preferred directions for the spreading of this water are identified. The most persistent is eastward along the southern shelf break and slope, possibly merging with waters previously upwelled locally, which becomes separated from shore by the coastal progression of the warmer counterflow. The second preferred direction results in the southward development of a cold filament feature fed by cold waters upwelled farther north and represents the southernmost extent of the intense coastal upwelling jet, which overshoots the cape. The least frequent feature to develop is a cold filament that grows westward at the latitude of the cape, appearing to result from the meandering of the equatorward jet. The coastal countercurrent is seen to interact with the equatorward jet at times of relaxation, not only by separating the cold upwelled water from the coast but, when it is energetic enough, breaking westward offshore through the equatorward cold flow and separating the eastward and southward cold features from the upcoast cold waters. Empirical evidence shows the presence of an alongshore pressure gradient, stronger in summer, driving the coastal progression of the warm counterflow. Wind forcing plays an important role in the circulation by augmenting or diminishing the effect of the preexisting alongshore pressure gradients. The extent of the progression of the warm coastal countercurrent along the southern and western coast is dictated by the the strength of the upwelling favorable wind stress, which is able to balance and reverse the alongshore flow, at least in the upper layers

Performance-related pay: the views and experiences of 1,000 primary and secondary head teachers

This is a postprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in Research Papers in Education© 2003 Copyright Taylor & Francis; Research Papers in Education is available online at http://www.informaworld.comThis is the first of two papers describing a study of the introduction of performance-related pay into the teaching profession in the UK. It reports the views and experiences of a national random sample of 1,000 primary and secondary head teachers in over 150 local education authorities in England who were responsible for implementing one strand of the government's performance-related pay scheme, Threshold Assessment. The second paper describes the views and experiences of teachers who were unsuccessful in crossing the threshold and therefore did not obtain a pay increment. Head teachers did not find it difficult to assess the five standards that teachers had to meet in order to receive their 2,000 additional performance payment, but they were very critical of the training they received, the amount of time they had to spend, and the changing ground rules. The success rate was 86% of all teachers eligible, but 97% of those who actually applied were awarded the additional payment. Most heads dealt with the applications entirely on their own, though one in six, mainly in the secondary sector, shared the task with senior colleagues. Unsuccessful candidates were few in number, but most were deemed to be failing on more than one aspect of their teaching. While those who were successful in crossing the threshold were pleased and relieved, unsuccessful applicants were said to be bitter, threatening action, in several cases leaving the school. External Threshold Assessors had to visit every school. In only 71 cases out of 19,183 applicants in our sample of schools was there disagreement. Three-quarters of heads felt Threshold Assessment had made a little or no difference to what teachers did in the classroom. This is confirmed by our other studies, which suggest that teachers simply keep more careful records, rather than change how they teach. Some 60% of heads were opposed to performance-related pay, but 39% were in favour of it in principle, though most of these were unhappy about the way it had been put into practice.The Teachers' Incentive Pay Project (TIPP) is funded by the Leverhulme Trust