Academic Pupils Research Articles

The infrastructural context of the school as a factor in lowering students' academic results: municipal aspect

Creating conditions for improving the quality of general education is seen as one of the targets of the state educational agenda, actualizing research into the causes of declining academic success of schoolchildren under the strategy of providing equal educational opportunities. The search for mechanisms of leveling the negative factors influencing the academic success of schoolchildren, especially in those educational organizations, the students of which have been demonstrating low results in independent evaluation procedures for several years, is of great importance. The article includes a summary of theoretical concepts and lines of research on inequality of educational potential and factors of low academic pupils’ results of Russian and foreign scientists. The study of the qualitative education conditions tries to connect the factors "Territorial location of the school", "Infrastructural equipment of the educational process" and the academic results of students of secondary school, categorized as schools with low educational results through independent evaluation procedures. Based on the analysis of federal and regional statistical observation data, the study of equal conditions for general education in "basic", "moderately" and "highly" underachieving schools located in Irkutsk. The hypothesis about the relevance of the degree of impact of the factor of school location in relation to the city center on the educational results of students has not been confirmed. The nonlinearity of the relationship between the degree of failure of students and the level of material and technical provision of the educational process with both modern equipment and specialized spaces for practical classes in academic subjects, which can become triggers for further decline in the performance of educational programs, was recorded.

Why teach crime scene management to forensic university students?

Despite enhanced forensic collaborations between law enforcement agencies and universities, crime scene management remains a domain seen more as technical than scientific, largely carried out by sworn police officers qualified as scene of crime officers (SOCOs), confining forensic graduates to specialized expertise fields. Under such circumstances, we must ask ourselves why and how do we provide a generalised dedicated course to academic pupils who are not primarily intended to join such teams, excepting sometimes to assist them on a specialized field (explosion, arson, etc.)?Currently in Quebec, forensic graduates cannot join crime scene units attached to police forces, mainly because of unions, which argue about the need to be an experienced police officer before qualifying for a crime scene course.Based on the operational experience of the author, who created the foundational graduate forensic programme in Quebec, Canada, this paper will explain why such an academic course is still of high importance, its rationale within an academic curriculum, its goal and its implementation. Challenges are still to be considered, but selected feedback from students who understood that the aim of this course is distinct from their formal support disciplines, encourage such an approach.

The Nuffield Physics Ordinary-level Curriculum Project in the 1960s: a Transnational Project?

The Nuffield Physics curriculum project was the first national curriculum project held in the UK. The Ordinary-level Nuffield physics project, developed between 1962 and 1966 for academic pupils in grammar schools, was one of the most interesting and innovative projects of the 1960s. It had many transnational features, with influences of ideas and practices running across national borders, as well as national characteristics. It owed many of its distinctive ideas around physics for the inquiring mind to Eric Rogers, and ultimately to the progressive school Bedales in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as American reform under the banner of the Physical Science Study Committee. These were played out at a local level, for example in Worcester, led by Ted Wenham and John Lewis. During and after the project, although there was some resistance to sharing these ideas as they developed, key figures began to engage with other national systems and projects in spreading the word about Nuffield physics. Transnationalism was at the heart of the significance and achievements of Nuffield O-level physics, no less than of its problems and limitations.

Factors of Academic Performance in the Perception of Participants in Education: Secondary Schools in the Republic of Mali

The aim of thy article is to share a part of the results of our research dealing with the analyzing of the factors of academic performance of pupils in two types of secondary school: public (Torokorobougou B, commune VI, Bamako) and communal (Katiorni of Kadiolo, Sikasso region). We have asked to ourselves the following questions: what are the factors of the academic performance of the pupils of this schools in the eyes of educational staff? In order to answer these questions we analyzed their attitudes towards the role of external and internal facts in academic pupil success. As a result we descripted the role of some objective (type of school, class and type of teacher) and subjective factors (pupil’s attitude to school and self-esteem) in academic success. Interviews were used in the study. The sample consists of 444 people, including 112 secondary school teachers, 56 administrators (school directors and education advisors) and 276 pupils.

An analysis of student characteristics within the student decision making process

ABSTRACT Young peoples' decision making when considering extending their education, obtaining training or deciding on their careers is a complex interactive process. Interests and choices can change due to the information available, which may also be modified by influential parties such as peers, teachers, careers officers, parents and other significant adults. They may also be affected by their own life experiences, either within or outside the class. By examining the selection of a university as a decision making process, much can be learnt which will provide recruitment personnel with a means of choosing more functional tools in achieving their enrolment goals. Many researchers (particularly from North America) have focused on higher education (HE) decision making itself and the information that adolescents require when arriving at their decisions, but there has been very little work performed within the UK. The aim of this article is to report research findings from a large-scale survey (n=674), incorporating a variety of further education institutions (sixth form departments, schools and colleges) within the north west of England, whose pupils were planning on entering HE within the next 12 months. The institutions (some of which were in affluent areas or deprived areas, some of which contained highly academic pupils whilst others did not, some of which were single-sex institutions) were selected using a convenience-based sampling method so that a variety of pupil characteristics were captured. The survey asked questions concerning the early period of who first stimulated the pupils to apply to university (problem recognition), how and when this occurred, through to the final decision of where to attend and why (evaluation of alternatives). Results showed that in the problem recognition phase, boys were more likely to be introduced to HE by their parents than were girls, and those pupils who made their minds up earlier to enter HE (more academic pupils) were less likely to rely upon teachers but more upon parents. In the information search phase, the prospectus was the most important source of information and the majority spent at least three months searching, although females took longer to gather their data than did males. With the evaluation of alternatives phase, course content was more important to females, whereas reputation was more important to males and the most critical factor in causing apprehension was that of grade expectations (particularly by the less academic pupils), with females being less confident than males in achieving the necessary entry qualifications. Another reason to cause one to change one's mind was the 'social atmosphere', as obtained on an open day visit. Also, females were more anxious about moving away from home than were males.

Consumption, knowledge and attitudes of high school pupils towards alcohol and alcoholism: the Israeli experience

Five hundred nine high school pupils from Holon (a city in the center of Israel) were surveyed about their consumption, knowledge and attitudes towards alcohol use and alcohol dependence. Two hundred fifty-nine pupils attended a vocational high school and 253 attended an academic high school. Forty percent of the pupils attending the academic school reported that they had drank beer between one to nine times during the last 2 months. In comparison with 72% of the vocational pupils, 42% of the academic pupils and 47% of the vocational pupils drank other alcoholic beverages (such as hard liquor, cognac, whisky or vodka) between one to nine times during the last 2 months. Boys drank alcohol more frequently than girls did. An earlier mean age of beer consumption was found among pupils in the vocational schools—12.8 years; as opposed to pupils in the academic school—13.4 years. Knowledge of most pupils concerning alcoholic beverages and its potential harmful effects was lacking and pupils in the academic school showed a higher level of knowledge in comparison with the vocational pupils. Pupils in the vocational school had more liberal attitudes concerning recurrent consumption of alcoholic beverages than pupils in the academic school. Among the three leading reasons for drinking in the two schools were helping foster a sense of belonging, wish to feel like an adult and desire to forget daily anxieties and conflicts. Pupils in vocational schools are a target population with a higher risk for consuming alcoholic beverages. Discussion groups should be held in school and include personal stories of recovering alcoholics.

NATURAL RATES OF TEACHER APPROVAL AND DISAPPROVAL IN BRITISH SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS

Summary. A sample of 130 secondary school teachers was systematically observed teaching mixed classes varying in age from 11 to 16 years. The OPTIC schedule was employed to record teachers' rates of approving and disapproving responses and the amount of time pupils spent on‐task. Although rates of approval were generally higher than disapproval rates, most of the approval was directed at academic pupil behaviours whereas most of the disapproval was for inappropriate social behaviour. Mean on‐task behaviour of classes at 80 per cent was higher than that observed in a similar sample of primary classes.

Remodeling Your Commercial Department

S OMETHING like two million high-school pupils are studying business subjects today. Is that number too many? Are these pupils being effectively trained for business careers by the courses which are given them, or are they following an outmoded plan which does not fit modern needs? Are the ancient and honorable subjects of typewriting, bookkeeping, and shorthand the best possible portals for entry into the present-day business world? Is there a possibility that academic pupils who have had little, if any, business education might profit from education in consumer business activities and economic problems? Should high-school commercial departments give these academic pupils a thought, or should they continue to center attention only on pupils majoring in commercial subjects? Vocational education has at last come to be considered respectable and endowed with a certain odor of sanctity. The struggle was long, but it seems to have been won. Unfortunately, however, commercial education has come to be classified as primarily vocational education. It is still thought of as existing chiefly for the purpose of training boys and girls for initial business positions and possible job series of a promotional nature. Little consideration has been given to the possibility that all secondary-school pupils need education for common business activities met in home, school, and social situations, or to the possibility that all pupils need at least a minimum degree of intelligence about the major economic problems which face America today and which will be facing our graduates when they leave school to take their places in modern adult life. Yet forward-looking school administrators and the more alert business educators are giving thought to such possibilities. Two million commercial pupils is a stupendous number, and the job of training them effectively for business occupations is one worthy of the school's best attention.