Creating Citizenship Communities: Final Report

The full data are stored at the Department of Education and the National Foundation for Educational Research, University of York, and can be made available on request.The project ‘Creating Citizenship Communities’ was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation during the period 2011–2013. The project team was based at the Department of Education at the University of York and the National Foundation for Educational Research. The project investigated the thinking and actions of professionals in schools and young people about forms of citizenship that relate to strong communities and developed educational materials designed to enhance understanding and skill development. The key stages of the project were a literature review, secondary data analysis, a national survey of schools (completed by relevant professionals) and focus groups of young people. There is widespread agreement about the importance of community but there are different perspectives about its meaning. A great deal of work is undertaken by schools to support the development of citizenship communities. However: (a) schools could do more to create a sense of community within schools themselves and (b) schools could do more to help young people engage with their local communities. The teaching and learning about citizenship and communities in schools does not have the same status as other areas of the curriculum. Young people suggest that schools should take citizenship education more seriously and that the content of citizenship education could be more directly relevant to their lives. The co-ordination of curricular and whole-school approaches to citizenship and community is not always strongly developed. There is at times relatively little attention paid to young people’s existing knowledge and experience in the development of education to explore and support citizenship communities.Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, UK (Grant 10-1102)

Equity in mathematics and science outcomes: characteristics associated with high and low achievement on PISA 2006 in Ireland

Equity in education is a key concern internationally; however, it is rare that this issue is examined separately for low- and high-achieving students and concurrently across different subject domains. This study examines student and school background characteristics associated with low and high achievement in mathematics and science on the Programme for International Student Assessment. Based on the results of a multilevel multinomial model of achievement for each domain, findings indicate that a greater number of the variables examined are associated with low rather than high achievement. At student level, home language, intention to leave school early, socioeconomic status, grade level, cultural capital, and books in the home are significantly associated with achievement in mathematics and science. At school level, only school average socioeconomic status is statistically significant in the models. Significant gender differences are found in the distribution of high and low achievers, which vary across the domains. In mathematics, females are more likely to be low achievers while males are more likely to be high achievers. In science, gender interacts with early school-leaving intent whereas males intending to leave school early are more likely to be in the low-achieving group than females intending to leave early. Conclusions emphasise the need for targeting resources aimed at promoting equity in outcomes at student level as well as at school level. Future work may extend the current analyses by incorporating domain-specific variables or examining cross-country differences

The teacher as street-level bureaucrat: science teacher’s discretionary decision-making in a time of reform

This article explores teacher discretion in the context of the English 2014 science curriculum and assessment reforms. The study positions primary and secondary school science teachers as ?street-level bureaucrats? in which they are not just mere implementers of policy but instead pivotal actors with much agency. Through the analysis of questionnaire and interview data drawn from a sample of 26 science teachers in England, this empirical research advances our understanding of teachers? discretionary decision-making considering policy change and reform. The findings indicate that discretion varied, not simply between the secondary and primary sectors, but within each key stage. With the introduction of the new curriculum, secondary teachers expressed higher levels of autonomy and more discretion teaching key stage 3 than with key stage 4 and key stage 5. Despite this, we argue that it has become more difficult for teachers to circumvent the ?rules? associated with the attainment measures in the ways that were previously possible. We conclude that the embodiment of teachers as street-level bureaucrats is not perfect as the boundaries around teacher?s discretion and decision-making are heavily dependent on the school and national policy context, but it remains a useful theory in advancing our understanding of teacher

Diversity, difference and communities in secondary schools in England

This paper discusses secondary school pupils’ understandings and experiences of diversity and communities in England. It draws on qualitative data from a field study conducted in 8 schools as part of a larger project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. The larger project, which included a review of literature, analysis of Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LYPSE) data and a national survey of school staff, aimed to explore current thinking and practice about citizenship and community cohesion. For this article field notes, and 16 audio-recorded focus group discussions with year 10 and year 11 students were analysed thematically, through multi-disciplinary team dialogue, informed by literature on diversity, community cohesion, belonging and citizenship education. Despite some variation in responses across schools, the results clearly demonstrate that student discourses of diversity grapple with notions of sameness and assimilation. We argue that citizenship education practice must be informed by robust research that addresses boundary notions and practices of identity and citizenship.Esmee Fairbairn Foundatio

Virtsarakon katetrointi : Opetuspäivä Vaasan Validia-palveluiden henkilökunnalle

Tämän toiminnallisen opinnäytetyön tarkoitus oli järjestää opetuspäivä virtsarakon katetroinnista Vaasan Validia-palveluiden työntekijöille. Opetuspäivän aihe valittiin tekijöiden toimesta ja hyväksytettiin palvelutalon sairaanhoitajalla ja johtajalla. Opetuspäivän tarkoituksena oli muistuttaa ja ohjeistaa palvelutalon työntekijöitä oikeaoppisesta katetroinnista sekä aseptiikan tärkeydestä. Opetusmateriaalina opetuspäivänä käytettiin kuvallista PowerPoint -esitystä, jonka opinnäytetyön tekijät olivat itse tuottaneet. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin yhteistyössä Vaasan Validia-palveluiden kanssa. Opinnäytetyön keskeiset käsitteet ovat virtsarakon katetrointi, aseptiikka ja komplikaatiot. Teoreettinen tieto haettiin Medic-tietokannasta, hoito- ja lääketieteellisestä sekä hoitotyön perusteita käsittelevästä kirjallisuudesta. Palvelutalon työntekijät kokivat opetuspäivän tarpeellisena ja hyödyllisenä, joka ilmeni kyselomakkeista. Opetuspäivänä käytetty PowerPoint -esitys annettiin palvelutalon käyttöön. Tulevaisuudessa opetusmateriaalia voidaan hyödyntää työntekijöiden koulutuksissa sekä uusien työntekijöiden perehdyttämisessä.The aim of this practice-based bachelor’s thesis was to make a PowerPoint presentation for training purposes, and to organize a staff training day on the catheterization of the urinary bladder for the employees of Validia Service Unit Vaasa. The topic of the training day was chosen by the authors and approved by the registered nurse and the manager of Validia Service Unit Vaasa. The main topics were the correct catheterization and the importance of the aseptic procedures. The staff training day was carried out in co-operation with Validia Service Unit Vaasa by using PowerPoint presentation including photos taken by the authors. Keywords in this thesis are: catheterization, urinary bladder, aseptic procedure and complications. Theoretical information was searched in Medic-database and in nursing and medical science literature. The employees evaluated the subjective benefit of the stuff training day by using a questionnaire. The training day was considered to be necessary and useful. The PowerPoint presentation will be used for teaching purposes also in the future in Validia Service Unit Vaasa