Holding the axe: equivalence, selection and justice in the reform of school-based assessment in Sweden

This article is an analysis of the social and political implications of changes in school assessment practices. It is based on two interview surveys carried out by the Swedish National Agency for Schools. These surveys, commissioned by the Swedish government, sought answers to questions raised about the consequences of a criterion-referenced grading system implemented in 1994. Public schools in twenty municipalities took part in this survey during 2000, together with twenty independent (i.e. free-standing) state-funded Swedish schools in 2002. Politicians, administrators, teachers, head-teachers, parents and pupils were interviewed. Issues discussed in this article include decentralisation, accountability, co-operation and competition among schools, teachers' attitudes towards grading, and problems surrounding the promotion of pupils from the 9-year grundskola (comprehensive school for 7-16-year-olds) to the non-compulsory gymnasieskola (gymnasium or upper secondary school).     

Teachers and productive pedagogies: contextualising, conceptualising, utilising

Improving students' outcomes from schooling requires schools to be learning organisations, where both students and teachers are engaged in learning. As such, knowledge and talk about pedagogy need to be at the core of the professional culture of schools. This article argues that this will require the valuing of teachers' work, that is, their pedagogical practices, to be a central focus of educational policy. Dangers are associated with this argument in terms of understating the impacts of poverty, lack of funding to disadvantaged schools and other social factors such as the pressures of globalisation upon students' educational opportunities. Hence, while acknowledging the importance of pedagogy to students' outcomes, the article contextualises the argument through a recognition of the policy and structural conditions that work against the valuing of teachers and their work. It then conceptualises how, within this context, a focus on pedagogies can make a difference to students' academic and social outcomes from schooling. This conceptualisation utilises the productive pedagogies model of classroom practice, developed in a large Australian study of school reform, as an example of the forms of pedagogical practices that support students' achievement of academic and social outcomes. It is argued that such pedagogical practices ought to be a concern of teachers, school administrators, education systems and local communities interested in schools as learning organisations.     

Be yourself: class, race, gender and sexuality in South African schoolchildren's accounts of social relations

The article examines understandings of class, race, gender and sexuality in the writings of secondary school students in two working-class schools in Durban. The analysis of students' questions and responses to a problem page 'agony aunt', indicate how class and race come to be expressed through accounts of sexuality. In the letters many children highlight the importance of family relationships and their belief in schooling. These themes, while not surprising in themselves, contrast with the neglect of these issues in the literature on the sociology of education in South Africa, which has mainly been concerned with class and race inequalities.     

Schooled mathematics and cultural knowledge

In this article it is argued that due recognition of the cultural nature of schooled mathematics requires an analysis that locates these practices in their social-political context. That analysis will need to provide an account of the social valorisation of mathematical practices and its impact on learning. It is suggested that the link between this dimension of the social plane, and the personal development of the learner could be conceptualised in terms of links between social representations of mathematical practices and the development of social identities. Drawing selectively on findings from the authors' studies with schoolchildren in multiethnic primary schools in England to illustrate their approach they propose how the processes of (i) 'identifying the other', (ii) 'being identified' and (iii) 'self identification' each play a complementary role in the formation of schooled mathematical identities.     

The 'problem' of discipline in light of modern post-modern discourse

This article argues that pedagogical assumptions underlying disciplinary practices require radical revision. The needs of today's globalised society, with the resultant broad interaction and communication among different persons, challenge the pedagogical principles that have prevailed across Europe from the Enlightenment to the end of the 20th century. There are three basic assumptions upon which the disciplinary systems of today's schools are based and which require rethinking, as follows: the nature of the 'rules' which are defined by the indisputable acceptance of rationalism in everyday life and in all school relationships; the insistence on similarity of behaviour and the tendency to categorise students according to common behaviour (the bright ones, the lazy, etc.); and discipline based on a system of punishment and reward. In contrast, the meta-modern approach highlights the promotion of social and emotional development in a personalised and reflective world through communicative and interactive action.     

The importance of social sources of cigarettes to school students

Objective: To discover the importance of social sources of tobacco to young people as opposed to commercial sources; to describe the peer market for cigarettes in schools and the consequences for young people of their involvement in it. Study design: Cross sectional questionnaire survey, one-to-one interviews, and focus groups. Setting: Seven schools in Birmingham, UK. Subjects: All students in two randomly selected classes from each school completed the questionnaire, and never smokers, occasional smokers, and regular smokers were interviewed. Results: Two thirds of occasional smokers and one quarter of regular smokers obtained cigarettes socially, mostly for free. A few smokers regularly bought their cigarettes from others. Among friendship groups, both smokers and non-smokers were involved in the exchange of cigarettes, often for money, which is a common activity. A few young people use the selling of cigarettes to fund their own smoking. Some young people, smokers and non-smokers, are involved in semi-commercial selling of cigarettes. All school students are aware of where to purchase cigarettes from non-friends, which is only used "in emergency" because of the high price. One school had a strong punishment policy for students caught with cigarettes. In this school, more people bought singles from the peer market and the price was higher. Conclusions: The passing and selling of cigarettes in school is a common activity, which from the young persons perspective, ensures that all share cross counter purchases. A few people are prepared to use the peer market for monetary gain and it appears to be responsive to external conditions. The peer market might mean that efforts to control illegal sales of cigarettes are not as effective as hoped.     

Liminality and in/exclusion: exploring the work of teaching assistants

This is an exploratory study concerned with understanding the role and experiences of teaching assistants (TAs) within primary schools. The analysis suggests that TAs are constructed within a policy discourse that tends to posit their role as peripheral to teaching and learning. I offer an alternative account, deploying a concept of liminality which acknowledges the creative, open, ambiguous and ambivalent nature of the TA's role. My argument is supported by an interpretation of data drawn from a small qualitative study of TAs within two selected multi-ethnic inner-city schools. It draws attention to the boundary work of TAs, both within schools and between the inside and outsides, the schools and their wider social and cultural contexts, which is important in understanding processes of in/exclusion within schools and the TAs' contributions, both overt and hidden.     

Secondary Education for All? The Hungarian Case

The postwar development of Hungary under state socialism can be described as a quasi-development in some fields and as a failure in others. The development of education falls into the first category, as both in quantitative and qualitative measures it has fitted rather well in with broad tendencies of European development of schooling. Therefore present educational changes during the transitional period from state socialism into market economy can be described as continuity rather than discontinuity, compared to other spheres of social and economic changes. At present, though, it is secondary education where discontinuity is probably the most seriously felt within the school system. It is here, where the bad side-effects of highly ideological social engineering, that covered real social processes and hindered open discussion of future alternatives, are the most frequently experienced. The article introduces present conditions of secondary restructuring, perhaps not entirely unfamiliar to an international audience, and also describes some of its rather special social context in Hungary.     

Subject Choice and Occupational Aspirations among Pupils at Girls' Schools

Various studies have found that British girls' curriculum subject preferences and future aspirations have changed and diversified in recent years. Other work has suggested that girls educated in single-sex schools might have a different (perhaps less gender-stereotypical) experience of education in comparison with their contemporaries at co-educational schools. This article draws on a study of the preferences of girls in English single-sex schools to explore these issues of subject choice and occupational aspiration further. It is argued that, like girls in mixed-sex secondary schools, single-sex schoolgirls' subject preferences have become more diverse and less gender-stereotypical than was the case twenty years ago. But where single-sex schoolgirls might have been expected to rate maths and science more highly than their counterparts in mixed-sex schools, the reverse was the case. Our findings support the argument that girls are now significantly more academically focused and ambitious for their future occupations than they were twenty years ago. However, we argue that a gender dichotomy remains evident in the types of future occupation chosen by girls.     

Microbial contamination and good manufacturing practices in school kitchen

This study evaluated microbial contamination and good manufacturing practices (GMP) in school kitchens. Thus, the kitchen of four municipal schools have been assessed through microbiological analysis performed in their cutting boards (n = 12), kitchen sinks (n = 12), dish cloths (n = 12), hands of food handlers (n = 22), kitchen sponges (n = 12), milk (n = 10), and water (n = 10). A questionnaire was also applied to food handlers in order to access their profiles and get to know their daily practices inside school kitchens. The results this study showed that all samples (surfaces, cutting boards, kitchen sponges, milk, and water) were contaminated with heterotrophic bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus was found on the surface of sinks, dish cloths, cutting boards, and on the hands of food handlers. Fecal coliforms were found on sinks, water, and milk. Results from the survey reveal that food handlers know about GMP, but they do not perform these activities in school kitchens.

Practical applications

The presented study shows that the schools there are failures in good manufacturing practices (GMP), which increase the risks of food contamination. In addition, we also showed microbial contamination on surface, cutting boards, kitchen sponges, and in food (milk and water) on schools which it make a risk for the development of foodborne diseases, since children have a relatively lower immunity than adults, additional safety measures are needed to protect them from foodborne pathogens and high microbial contamination in school. The microbial contamination in schools show that although the food handlers know about GMP, but there is a necessity for correct surface cleaning in food preparation to avoid foodborne illnesses proliferation in schools     

Cigarette and waterpipe smoking among Lebanese adolescents, a cross-sectional study, 2003-2004.

Waterpipe or "argileh" is a form of smoking other than cigarettes that is currently spreading among people of all ages. The objective of the present study was to assess tobacco smoking practices (waterpipe and/or cigarette) among public and private adolescent school students in Beirut, Lebanon. A sample of 2,443 students selected from 10 private and 3 public schools with intermediate/secondary classes filled out a self-administered anonymous questionnaire that inquired about sociodemographic characteristics, and behavior about tobacco smoking. Binary analysis was performed as well as three regression models for the relationship between exclusive cigarettes smoking, exclusive waterpipe smoking and both cigarettes and waterpipe as the dependent variables and gender, type of school, and class as the independent variables. The current prevalence of cigarettes smoking was 11.4%, and that of waterpipe smoking was 29.6%. Gender was significantly associated with cigarettes (OR=3.2, 95% CI 1.8-5.6) but not waterpipe smoking. Public school students were, respectively, 3.2 (95% CI 1.8-5.6) and 1.7 (95% CI 1.4-2.1) times more likely to be exclusive cigarettes smokers, and exclusive waterpipe smokers. Class was not significantly associated with exclusive cigarette smoking; however, students attending secondary classes were 1.3 (95% CI 1.1-1.6) times more likely to be exclusive waterpipe smokers. The reasons behind the high prevalence of both types of smoking are presented and discussed. The present study calls for school-based prevention programs and other types of interventions such as tax increases, and age-restrictions on tobacco sales. More aggressive interventions to disseminate education and awareness among parents and students altogether are warranted.     

Inequality as a way of life: education and social class in Latin America

This article presents a regional analysis of educational inequalities in Latin America, drawing on a variety of sources at the national and cross-national levels. It traces how inequalities in education tend to manifest themselves and which population groups tend to be the most affected. The persistence of inequalities is a curious social phenomenon that operates between the interstices of the political promise and pervasive social acceptance that schooling serves to promote social mobility, and the tangible evidence that there are serious gaps in the schooling of the poor, rural children, ethnic minorities, and women. The analysis of Latin America is particularly illustrative because it suggests that educational systems may grow more unequal over time, especially as private schools function as outlets for those seeking to escape the poor quality of public schools and as global norms disseminate the idea of education as simply another tradeable commodity.     

The constitutive values of Swedish schooling: a challenge to the inner life of schools

Schooling has always been a tool for transferring values to future generations. Despite social changes such as globalisation, information technology and the retreat of national capital, schools are still institutions where a civic identity is promoted. In a multicultural society, the challenge is to advocate constitutive values without excluding citizens. The Swedish curriculum identifies educational goods by emphasizing constitutive values such as democracy, solidarity and equality in accordance with ethics linked to Western Christian humanism. In addition, these values have to be interpreted and concretised in local contexts. This article examines these aspects of curriculum and the national question. It has three sections. It discusses constitutive values in Swedish schooling; it links deliberation to the localisation and concretisation of these national values, and it reflects on the implementation of these values in a Swedish school. Overall, the article focuses on possibilities for deliberative practice in a multicultural school.     

Masculinities and ethnicities at play: a discourse analysis of conflict in a Norwegian classroom

Empirical research into the complex field of teachers' work is an important basis for teacher education. Although there exists a large literature of school-based ethnographic research, relatively little empirical research has been dedicated to research on the intersection of masculinities and ethnicities at play in school. Even fewer provide insights into how teachers act as agents of such processes as seen from their own perspective. Teachers' accounts of students can provide an insight into complex institutional and discursive practices of school. In this article, I demonstrate how everyday discourses of discipline and control, as well as professional discourses of problem behaviour intersect with ethnicity and masculinities. This involves a detailed examination of the way a male teacher describes a boy in his class     

School and ethnicity: the case of gypsies

The schooling of Gypsy children has become a major challenge for the Spanish educational system. After centuries of, first, exclusion and then segregation in separate schools, an egalitarian policy and a sudden enforcement of compulsory schooling have resulted in difficulties and conflicts in numerous Spanish schools. The specificity of the Gypsy way of life, paradoxically, brings to light the arbitrariness of the school system, i.e. its dependence on a particular culture and way of life marked by nation-state, market economy, wage labour, sedentariness, nuclear family, rule of formal law, etc. After the initial stages of exclusion and segregation, educational policy towards Gypsies is now going through a reinterpretation of the idea of equality, departing from formal egalitarianism to arrive at some form of multiculturalism. Yet this reinterpretation is always on the basis of an external appraisal of the needs and opportunities of this ethnic minority by different professional groups.     

学校食堂实施食品卫生监督量化分级管理前后的卫生状况

为加强学校食堂的食品安全工作 ,对新泰市 4 9处学校食堂实施食品卫生监督量化分级管理 ,通过对“管理”实施前后学校食堂卫生管理、基础卫生设施和加工销售卫生状况比较 ,对量化评分结果、存在问题进行了讨论及分析。认为新的监督模式较传统的监督模式规范、实用 ,在促进学校、部门及社会监督方面有着积极的推动和激励作用 ,并对加大学校食品卫生宣传、加强监督执法力度 ,规范执法行为 ,进一步提高学校食品卫生安全均有积极意义。     

Metaphors of space in educational theory and practice

Space is largely ignored in both the theory and the practice of education. At the same time, however, there is an abundance of spatial metaphors that are used to describe schooling, the curriculum and educational processes. Some of these (top of the class, department) have their origins in spatial arrangements that once dominated schools and schooling, while others (curriculum area, field, baseline assessment) seem to derive from a spatial imagination that has crept into educational discourse despite its overt privileging of issues of time. This article examines the variety of spatial metaphors used in educational discourses and demonstrates how they are used in different ways for different aspects of and approaches to educational processes. The discourses around these various spatial metaphors both illuminate and constrain the ways in which we think about educational processes and learners' relationships with them.     

Words without deeds: between special schools and inclusive education in Norway

The compulsory primary school for all, or the inclusive school, is very important in Norway, at least rhetorically. Children with special educational needs, for instance, attend the same school and have the same education as all other children. Children no longer attend special schools or any other system of segregated education. Initially, this article briefly presents and analyses the formulation and the realisation of this educational policy in Norway. As indicated in the title, there is a gap between the formulation and the realisation of this policy. In the main part of the presentation the reasons behind this lack of realisation are discussed, and related to the nature of stability and change in education more generally.     

Enveloping pedagogies: the codification of instructional technologies

A multitude of new technologies and curricula are being introduced in schools as the panacea for equalizing student differences and facilitating student success. However, we can find a pattern in how teachers have historically employed instructional innovations in the spaces of their classrooms. This article examines the manner in which two White elementary teachers codify instructional technologies with institutional systems of knowledge. Drawing on poststructuralist theories of discourse and practice, the author analyses the speech acts and pedagogical practices of these teachers to identify the process and knowledge in which they codify instructional resources with a psychological/individual discourse in order to give them meaning. The article illuminates how the social practice of codifying curriculum materials, computer technology and texts within this system of reasoning bounds how instructional resources can be used, and by whom. Furthermore, the analysis builds upon other empirical work to describe the entwinement of the codes that envelop instructional technologies and those that inscribe subjectivities upon students.     

浅谈中职服装专业课程的设置--基于工作过程的服装制作与生产管理专业课程体系开发

中职学校的课程体系建设正处于转变模式、建立特色、与时俱进的重要时期,只有围绕地区产业经济的变化进行课程改革,才能适应社会的发展。服装专业的课程设置在中职学校的发展中展示出其不足,例如创新能力欠缺、实践机会较少等,但是也拥有得天独厚的优势,要正视不足,取长补短,根据国外的先进经验进行多方面的改进,促进我国中职服装专业课程更上一层楼。