Implementation of Educational Innovation: The Case of Speaking Assessment in the BGCSE English Examination

This paper examines the factors why the BGCSE English syllabus provision to assess speaking skills have not been implemented 14 years after the syllabus was introduced. It is based on a study that was conducted with eight education officers responsible for English language education and assessment at policy making level at senior secondary school level. The officers were interviewed on the factors that were delaying or hindering theimplementation of the BGCSE English syllabus recommendation to assess speaking. The findings have indicated that there are two main contending categories of education officers who have a stake in what is taught and assessed in BGCSE ESL classes. While one group is concerned about the possible negative consequences of implementing the BGCSE English syllabus provision to assess speaking, the other is concerned about what they consider to be the negative impact of the non-assessment of speaking in the BGCSE English examination on teaching. It is concluded that because of two different views held by the two contending groups of education officers with regard to the main functions of the examination, there is reduced cooperation and consultation between departments that should be working together, thereby impeding educational innovation.Keywords: curriculum, reliability, assessment, examination, syllabus, implementatio

The use of visual aids in first-year science textbooks used at the University of Botswana

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‘I am not someone who gets skin cancer’: Risk, time and malignant melanoma

‘Delay’ is a term used in the cancer literature since the 1930s to describe the period between self-detection of a concerning sign of possible disease and presentation to a health professional. This linguistic choice carries an implication of blame for apparent failure to manage a risk appropriately, drawing attention away from the contemporaneous perspectives of those who respond to suspicious indicators more or less quickly. We present findings from a grounded theory study of accounts given by 45 patients about their slower or quicker journeys to a diagnosis of cutaneous malignant melanoma, a cancer which can ‘hide in plain sight’. There has been little research exploring in qualitative detail patients’ perspectives on their decision-making about what subsequently turn out to have been signs of this most risky of skin cancers. The findings frame referral time-lapses in terms of normalisation of symptoms, sometimes buttressed by reassurance derived from health promotion messages, disconfirmation of patients’ concerns by their general practitioners and prioritisation of other life concerns. We argue that a shared sense of urgency surrounding melanoma self-referral derives from a clinical representation of current knowledge which conceals numerous evidential uncertainties

The student experience of piloting multi-modal performance feedback tools in health and social care practice (work)-based settings

The aim of this study was to evaluate newly developed performance feedback tools from the student perspective. The tools were innovative in both their mode of delivery and the range of stakeholders they involved in the feedback process. By using the tools in health and social care settings, students were able to engage in interprofessional assessment of common competences and obtain performance feedback from a range of stakeholders not commonly involved in work-based learning; these included peers and service users. This paper discusses the ways in which the performance feedback tools were developed by a collaborative programme and compares their delivery, across a wide range of professions and work-based settings, in paper-based, web-based and mobile formats. The tools were evaluated through a series of profession-specific focus groups involving 85 students and 7 professions. The data were analysed thematically and reduced to three key categories: mode of delivery, assessment tool dynamics and work-based issues. These will be discussed in detail. The students agreed that the structured way of capturing and documenting feedback from several sources would support their practice placement learning. The reflective nature of the tools and the capacity for guiding reflection was also welcomed. The concepts of gaining service user, peer and/or interprofessional feedback on performance were new to some professions and evoked questions of reliability and validity, alongside appreciation of the value they added to the assessment process