Education Degree Course Research Articles

Edublogs in the Development of the European Higher Education Area: An Initiative in the Primary Education Degree Course at the University of Cordoba (Spain)

The birth of the Internet and 2.0 tools, and their successful application into University classroom dynamic is an undeniable reality. The development of European Higher Education, have supposed of redefinition of the class methodology and in this the 2.0 tools have a more important paper. Amongst these tools blogs are one of the most meaningful ones. This article presents the design of an innovative methodology based on EEES structure and recommendations. Used with students of Primary Education of University of Cordoba (N=123), inside of the scholar curriculum, this main goal is to foster collaborative and group work, as well as to support the learning of a content subject carrying three different subareas. After 4 months working with this recourse the principal result have been that the student have learned work in group, skills about the reflection, search and selection the information, and its most outstanding result has been the positive evaluation of students working within this frame.

The Experiences of Indigenous Health Workers Enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing at a Regional Australian University

In Australia, the Indigenous health workforce is in urgent need of Indigenous health professionals with credible qualifications in higher education that they can draw upon when attempting to influence government policies and health strategies. One way that this can be addressed is by Indigenous health workers gaining a Bachelor of Nursing degree. This paper reports on a study that focused on the experiences of Indigenous health workers, and how they have met and overcome significant and specific challenges in higher education to become registered nurses. The active involvement of five Indigenous health worker participants is described and their experiences discussed in relation to cross-cultural awareness; financial, cultural, academic, family and peer support; stress factors; staying motivated; and the many and varied issues that impact on confidence levels. The paper provides a number of recommendations for improving the student support mechanisms for Indigenous health workers to overcome barriers to successfully participating in, and graduating from, higher education degree courses.

University Admissions and the Prediction of Degree Performance: an Analysis in the Light of Changes to the English Schools’ Examination System

AbstractThe United Kingdom's Department for Education has recently changed the nature of the AS‐level examinations normally taken by students aspiring to enter higher education degree courses one year into their post‐compulsory education. In the face of protests from universities and other institutions that this would both harm students’ progression towards the A‐level qualifications, on which entry to English universities is normally based, and make it difficult for universities determining which of their applicants were best placed to benefit from their degree courses, the Department conducted research which it claimed showed that degree outcome could be predicted as well from the results of GCSE examinations taken one year before AS‐levels as from AS‐levels themselves. This paper critiques those analyses and their conclusions showing, through a re‐analysis and extended interpretation of the Department's data, that AS‐levels provide a more reliable predictor of degree performance in 2011 than GCSEs and that many students who performed better at AS‐level than at GCSE gained a place, and performed well, at a university with high entrance standards.

Mídias na formação em Educação Física: análise de uma disciplina optativa

The contemporary society has shown us more and more the need for education to the media or the media-education. Because of that there is a new challenge for the degree courses in general: the deployment of political strategies/educational qualified and spaces in initial and continued training in view of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Seeking for the preparation of teachers to teach with, in and for the media (BIANCHI, 2009). This article search collaborate with such discussion from the analysis of a optional discipline of the degree course in Physical Education at the Federal University of Sao Joao del Rei call Media and Physical Education during the months of December 2012 to April 2013.

Investigating Rural Pre-Service Teachers' Mathematics Anxiety Using the Revised Mathematics Anxiety Scale (RMARS)

Engaging successfully in the modern technological society requires a command of mathematics. Hence, successfully engaging with mathematics has social, economic and political implications. There has been a history over a long period of time of significant numbers of people not forming productive relationships with learning mathematics. Failure in mathematics can have an impact that may extend far beyond the classroom. Mathematics anxiety leads to avoidance of mathematics, limiting opportunities for people to reach their full potential. Mathematics anxiety is an important research topic in the mathematics education community. Significant numbers of students come to their tertiary teacher education with limited mathematics understandings, and a pattern of avoidance and anxiety. International researchers of primary pre-service teachers report high levels of mathematics anxiety, low confidence levels to teach mathematics and low mathematics teacher efficacy. Pre-service primary teachers‘ mathematics anxiety affects their engagement with and future teaching of mathematics, as high levels of teacher mathematics anxiety can be perpetuated in classrooms (Martinez, 1987, Furner & Berman, 2005). The project investigated the range of mathematics anxiety in a sample of pre-service teachers (PST) starting a teacher education course in an Australian university. 219 first year primary PST enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) degree course from two campuses completed the survey in the first few weeks of the first semester of their university course. PST responded to the Revised Mathematics Anxiety Scale (RMARS) (Alexander & Martray, 1989) and a set of demographic questions. Sample 1 was from a campus in a regional city and Sample 2 from a metropolitan campus. Age differences in anxiety were found to be significant, and relationships were found between the RMARS scores and students‘ self-perceptions of their current mathematics anxiety levels. Pre-service teachers who had attended rural high schools demonstrated a range of levels of mathematics anxiety. This research showed that these anxieties may present differently when taking a mathematics test, doing mathematical computations, or undertaking a mathematics course. Teacher educators should be aware of the extent of range of anxiety that PST may present with at the beginning of their teacher education course, and hence that the needs of students coming to their teacher education mathematics units may vary considerably.

Motivation to Learn: A Research on University Students

Frequent cases of university drop-outs highlight various issues related to learning motivation. This work is based on Finn's “partecipation-identification” model and on Goal Theory. Studies highlight the importance of teacher-student relationship and achievement goals on students motivation. We want to analyze if there are significant differences between: regular students and student who have not passed their exams within the prescribed period of time; Psychology Degree Course's students and Primary Education Degree Course's students; working students and students who don’t work.We considered the following variables: personal goals dimension; university belonging feelings; perceived teacher-student relationship; perceived school goals dimension.This is a descriptive study and it uses an inquiry method on a sample of 100 Italian university students, using Anova, by.SPSS.It was possible to highlight that students who are not regular have a less positive perception of teacher-student relationship and also of task goal structure than regular students. There aren’t any significant difference between Psychology students and Primary.Education students and between students who have a job and students who haven’t.The results have demonstrated that regular students have a significantly more positive perception of teacher-student relationship. This means that the regular students feel better integrated in University than not regular students. For students who have not.passed all their exams within the prescribed period of time, the perspective changes dramatically.In order to better explain this situation, we want to start from the theory of self-worth, which assumes that school performance should be understood in terms of students’ attempts to maintain a positive self-image. To defend that image the students can implement a variety of defensive and self-protective strategies.From the data obtained, it was found that regardless of the degree course the levels of motivation are the same. First of all we can infer that they do not depend on length or facility of degree programs and neither on older age of Primary Education students.than Psychology students. They depend on the other hand, probably, by the fact that the students have acquired an optimal level.of self-regulation in learning.

A concepção de corpo dos estudantes de graduação em Educação Física

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar quais concepções de corpo/corporeidade têm os estudantes dos cursos de graduação licenciatura em Educação Física da Universidade Estadual de Londrina. Orientado sob a ótica da pesquisa qualitativa em educação, abordagem antropológica de cunho fenomenológico, realizou-se pesquisa de campo por meio de entrevista semiestruturada buscando informações e conhecimentos. A amostra foi selecionada a partir da estratificação proporcional da população que compunha as 05 turmas em conclusão dos cursos no ano de 2008, composta de 15 estudantes, sendo 10% de cada turma, nomeadamente: licenciatura generalista (CFE, 03/87) e licenciatura atual (CNE 01 02/2002). Após análise dos resultados verificou-se que a concepção de corpo/corporeidade assimilada pelos estudantes do currículo licenciatura generalista aproximou-se de corpo físico, dualista e instrumental. Os estudantes do currículo licenciatura atual estão construindo uma concepção de corpo/corporeidade sob a égide do paradigma da unidade e da totalidade, compreendendo o humano que se movimenta intencionalmente.

Predicting success on a Bachelor of Arts Primary Education degree course

Background: Successfully selecting students for undergraduate courses and for teaching is notoriously difficult. Traditionally, in England, A level grades and interviews have been used in conjunction with a variety of other approaches. Purpose: This paper examines the predictive validity of students’ A level grades and of scores from a structured interview on their subsequent degree classification as well as the ratings from their final teaching placements. Sample: A cohort of 71 students who started studying for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Primary Education in 2007 and graduated in 2010. Design and methods: The A level grades and the ratings from structured interviews, carried out prior to the start of the course, were linked to the final degree classification and to the teaching placement grades. Results: A-level scores correlated significantly with degree classification but not with the placement grade whereas the interview grades correlated significantly with both outcome measures. Conclusions: These results are discussed in the light of the restricted range available for A-level grades.

ANÁLISE COMPARATIVA DO PERFIL DOS ESTUDANTES DOS CURSOS DE LICENCIATURAS PRESENCIAL E A DISTÂNCIA EM EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA DA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE GOIÁS

This paper reports the findings of a study that analyzed the profile of the students compared the distance mode with the presence of the degree course in Physical Education - EF Federal University of Goias - UFG. A questionnaire was administered to all students who entered the selection process in 2009 with the return of 268 which corresponds to 85.7% in the distance and 40 which corresponds to 51.7% in the face. As a result, we highlight significant differences among socioeconomic and demographic indicators, a greater familiarity of the students in attendance with the Information and Communication Technologies-ICT, and a close relationship with the experience of bodily practices. Keywords: Teacher Education. Comparative Analysis of Profile. Media and Physical Education.

Crossing the Primary and Secondary School Divide in Teacher Preparation

Teacher education courses at universities qualify graduates to teach in age-related contexts of primary/early childhood/secondary that reflect the organisational structure of schools. In terms of teacher employment, for some considerable time, these longstanding organisational divisions have been by-passed whereby a shortage of teachers in particular areas (for example a perennial shortage of science and mathematics teachers) has resulted in schools employing teachers in subjects and grade levels for which they are not qualified. More recently, the development of middle schooling, P/K to 10 and P/K to 12 colleges, has created demand for teachers with generic skills able to teach across a wide age range. As universities design teacher education courses that are required to meet the demands of teacher registration organizations, flexibility can be compromised. The intent of this article is to challenge the restrictions of early childhood/primary/secondary divisions and to advocate for more flexibility in the design of teacher education courses. An example of a K-12 Bachelor of Education degree course that produces graduates who meet teacher registration requirements for all three divisions, providing the option to teach across all years of school, is presented. A graduate from this program has enhanced employment opportunities as well as a more flexible career pathway.

Digitally distanced learning: a study of international distance learners’ (non)use of technology

This article considers the uses and non‐uses of digital technology by international distance learners. It draws upon data from in‐depth interviews with 60 learners from around the world following distance education degree courses provided by a large UK federal university. The article focuses firstly on learners’ descriptions of technology’s role in the processes and practices of their studying. The article then goes on to consider how the process of studying with technology fitted with learners’ perceptions and understandings of distance learning and higher education in general – as well as temporal constraints of work and domestic commitments. The article concludes by considering how the ambivalences and contradictions that appear to characterise student (non)use of technology during their studies serve to reinforce, rather than overcome, a traditional didactic ‘grammar’ of university education.

Quality assurance in higher education: analysis of grades for reviewing course levels

In quality assurance, degree courses in European higher education have to demonstrate the course level by means of results. These courses produce many results, among them grades, referring to teachers’ evaluations of students’ performances, and it is our proposal to use them as an effective mean to reflect the course level. Our study examines the criteria that are needed to analyze grades as significant indicators for course levels. We considered what might constitute empirical proof of valid grades and from this analysis we established that the main proof of valid grades consists of measurements of construct validity, scale reliability, intercorrelation and face validity. The analyses delivered insights into the relationship between the proof of valid grades and elements of the curriculum. In the light of these insights we developed four characteristics as reference points for curricula realizing the course level. Following these points, we draw up a procedure to create such curricula. This procedure is explored in a study with eight bachelor degree courses. The conclusion is that the procedure traces the causes of invalid grades and confirms that valid grades are significant indicators of the course level.

SE02 AN ACADEMY OF SURGICAL EDUCATORS – WHY, WHO AND HOW

Major challenges now impact on the development, delivery and sustainability of programs provided by the College and its specialty partners, in surgical education, training and continuing professional development. In response to these challenges and to meet the increasingly sophisticated educational requirements involved in higher level education, an Academy of Surgical Educators has being established.The purpose of the Academy is to promote high quality patient care by providing expert guidance and advice to the College and the Specialty Associations and Societies regarding the development and delivery of educational programs for trainees and Fellows and through the advancement and application of educational research.The Academy will consist of an Executive, staff and membership. The Executive will include rotating representatives from the Specialty Associations and Societies and the Academic Departments of Surgery. Staff will include Fellows expert in surgical education. Membership will be open to all Fellows and trainees able to demonstrate their interest and proficiency in surgical education. The extent of an applicant's involvement, achievements and experience in education will determine their category of membership. The Academy is entering into partnerships with universities to develop appropriate degree courses in surgical education to be delivered predominantly on‐line.The Academy will provide the means by which the College and its partner Specialty Associations and Societies will ensure those who develop the educational programs, provide the teaching and assessment and undertake educational scholarship will be equipped, supported, recognised and rewarded for their efforts so necessary to sustain surgical education, training and life‐long learning.

Student teachers go online; the need for a focus on human agency and pedagogy in learning about ‘e-learning’ in initial teacher education (ITE)

This paper argues that student teachers' developing pedagogical approaches achieve expression within the virtual classroom in much the same way as they would in the `real' classroom; that is to say through language as the primary tool of mediation. Whilst the advent of new communications technologies affords new arenas in which learning can take place--Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), online communities, Managed Learning Environments--the importance of human agency and the significance of language remains pivotal to the effective use of such technologies. As such it is argued that student teachers need opportunities to engage in authentic online dialogue with children as they endeavour to find their online pedagogical voice. The key findings emerge from a case study carried out with a group of Year 3 ICT specialists on an undergraduate initial teacher education (ITE) degree course in the UK, leading to qualified teacher status (QTS) in the primary and lower secondary phases of education. Funding from the University of Brighton, Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP), was used to design and resource a module, which facilitated opportunities for student teachers to engage in online learning dialogues with children from a local primary school, having initially met with the children face-to-face. Fourteen student teachers participated in the study. Interviews were carried out and their online dialogues with the children were analysed to establish both the issues and potential advantages of such a situated approach to learning about the educational use of new communications technologies with children.

Exploring the nutrition and lifestyle knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of student home economics teachers: baseline findings from a 4‐year longitudinal study

AbstractIt is widely acknowledged that obesity linked with reduced exercise contributes to health problems, and that, conversely, individuals who embark on weight reducing diets may become deficient in key nutrients. It is often advocated that these problems, which can be grouped together as poor dietary practice, be tackled through education. This study attempts to examine the relationship between nutrition education and lifestyle behaviours in a select group of third level students. The Irish Home Economics curriculum aims to teach secondary school pupils about nutrition and lifestyle practices conducive to health. However, the attitudes and lifestyle practices of those teaching this subject have never been examined in Ireland. The purpose of the present 4‐year longitudinal study, whose first year findings are presented here, is to investigate the nutrition and lifestyle knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of a cohort of Irish student home economics teachers over the 4 years of their Bachelor of Education (Home Economics) degree course. The study was designed to explore possible changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices over the course of their professional education. Nutritional knowledge was measured using a 220‐question adapted version of the test devised by Parmenter and Wardle. Attitudes were measured using a questionnaire adapted from the Pan‐EU Survey on Consumer Attitudes to Physical Activity, Body‐weight and Health. Food, alcohol consumption and exercise were measured using a 7‐day reported dietary/exercise diary. Nutrient intake data were determined using dietary analysis. Weight, height and waist circumference were measured and body mass index (BMI) calculated. When starting college, student home economics teachers have broadly similar anthropometric, dietary and lifestyle characteristics to those of their contemporaries. Mean BMI was identical [24.4 kg/m2 (SD 4.3)] to that reported in the North/South Ireland Food Consumption Survey (NSIFCS) for those aged 18–35 years, although energy intakes were significantly higher in the cohort of student teachers (P = 0.000). Thirty‐eight per cent were overweight or obese vs. 33.6% in the NSIFCS. Only 17% (n = 6) of students achieved an intake of 300 µg/day of folate as recommended by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and only one the recommended intake of non‐starch polysaccharides (18 g/day). One in three students in this study smoke (16 of 48) and alcohol consumption was high. Only one student was very active. Students scored a mean of 55% (SD 8%) on the knowledge test, with similar scores attained for specific aspects of nutritional knowledge (i.e. food groups, constituents of foods, current dietary advice, nutrients, lifestyle practices). However, knowledge of nutrition definitions was weaker with a mean score of 31% (SD 8.6%). Students had a positive attitude towards food choice, the link between food and health and control over their own diet. Similar attitudes towards exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption were displayed despite students perceiving themselves as not having a balanced diet, having insufficient exercise and having regretted something done as a result of consuming alcohol. They appear to display optimistic bias in relation to health risks. These findings provide baseline data for the longitudinal study and indicate that those choosing to pursue a career as a home economics teacher in Ireland have similar nutritional and lifestyle characteristics to those of their contemporaries.

As percepções docentes sobre a dimensão metodológica no processo ensino-aprendizagem

This article analyses the reports of Science and Maths’ teachers, who were students on a Master’s degree course in Sciences and Mathematics Education. The research aims at identifying the principles which underpin the pedagogic work of the teachers involved in the research. In order to identify these principles, an analysis was made of the texts written by the teachers answering questions related to their pedagogic practices. Among the several conclusions, the paper emphasises that it is necessary to diversify methodological procedures in the classroom, contextualizing the content, and departing from the students’ previous knowledge, aiming to guarantee them the development of more complex knowledge which contributes to the formation of critical citizens.

Geometer’s Sketchpad and MSW logo in mathematics classroom instruction: a comparative analysis

Geometer Sketchpad and MSW Logo programs have been introduced in Bachelor of Science Education degree courses along with other software programs including a course on ICT in mathematics education at the University of Botswana. Sketchpad is known as a tool of dynamic geometry and Logo, basically as a programming language. Current trends of instruction involving technology tend to avoid programming language and some critics argue that the language was now given less prominence in enhancement of thinking skills. In this paper, both programs are used to illustrate how to integrate ICT into the teaching the topic on Rotational Symmetry from the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE). While the programs indicate that the topic can be taught in two ways that were not similar, it is illustrated that the two programs can be used to describe and investigate rotational geometry to achieve the same stipulated objectives with a difference. At the end of the paper, some differences in instruction using the two programs are identified as well as advantages and limitations.

Pre-service professionals' constructs of adolescent risk-taking and approaches to risk management

The research explored constructs of potentially harmful adolescent risk-taking of 220 university students in their final year of degree courses in education, law, medicine, nursing, psychology and social work, who anticipated they would be dealing with young people professionally. Their personal risk hierarchies, and their own experience of risk-taking when they were teenagers, were investigated as potential influences upon the normative orientations of their future professional roles, expressed in their support for varying social policy options including zero tolerance and harm minimization. Findings suggest that their commitment to underlying value positions regarding risk-taking and risk-management were not significantly related to gender, age or personal risk-taking profiles but to professional socialization in their degree course. The implications of respondents' preferred ways of dealing with adolescent risk-taking as compared to young people's choices for themselves are explored, along with concepts of risk management in current policy frameworks.

Outdoor Leisure and the Sustainability Agenda: Critical Pedagogy on Neo-liberalism and the Employment Obsession in Higher Education

The economic rationalist values of neo-liberalism are the foundation of our Western social systems and, as authors have noted, the advocates of this ideology believe it to be the panacea for all of our social ills and problems. The success of this ideology, however, is yet to be supported and there is a growing awareness of the myth of neo-liberal capitalist ideals of sustained economic growth. This paper will argue that higher education is a core avenue for critical reflection of neo-liberalism and education for social change towards holistic sustainability and that the current attempts to impose neo-liberalist values through solely vocationally aimed degrees undermines and oppresses this opportunity. The focus of this discussion will look at how outdoor leisure, through outdoor learning degree courses in higher education, may provide a forum for raising awareness and understanding of knowledges on alternative ideologies to neo-liberalism, particularly those with more pro-environmental foundations. In doing so, it is posited that outdoor leisure can be utilized as the mechanism for providing practical opportunities for critical reflection on neo-liberalism, and for education on holistically sustainable social and cultural systems in higher education curricula.

Playing with an unstoppable force: Paddling, river-places and outdoor education

Abstract This paper presents the findings of a recent research study into participants' experiences of rivers through outdoor education programs that utilised paddling activities as a means of participation and travel. The study collected written and oral data from 64 participants from three undergraduate Australian university outdoor education degree courses. The major findings of the research are presented and discussed here, revealing how the participants' recollections of their experiences were dominated by the technical requirements of the activity and the cultural expectations for encountering a wild river. The paper concludes that such responses continue to be problematic for outdoor educators who hope to extend, or replace, the traditional personal and social development aims of outdoor education with a more place-responsive pedagogy. An introduction to the research In this paper I explore how perceptions of nature and adventure are implicated in participants' experiences of river places in outdoor education. The discussion is based on my research into the experiences of outdoor education participants from three undergraduate university degree programs on river paddling trips that were conducted in south-eastern Australia between 1995 and 2004 (through kayaking, rafting and canoeing, and in training, touring and expedition style experiences). My interpretation of data from 64 participants invites outdoor educators to consider the pedagogic significance of river places as they are encountered through paddling activities. This is particularly relevant for two reasons. First, the research considered shifts in the discourse of outdoor education that argues an extension, or for the replacement of, the traditional aims of personal and social development with a focus on sustainable nature-relations. What might such developments in professional outdoor education discourse require in practice? What new pedagogies might be need to emerge? Second, given the perilous ecological condition of many of our rivers and current political and community debates over water resource management and river health, how might outdoor education practices on rivers contribute to a more optimistic future for both river ecologies and the communities that they sustain? In an attempt to respond to these difficult questions I have presented this paper in three parts: (a) an introduction to the research, including its methodological orientations; (b) a presentation and discussion of the major findings of the study; and, (c) a consideration of the consequences for experiencing river places through paddling encounters. The focus of this paper reflects the dominance of responses by participants in the study who narrated their experiences with white water rivers in terms of adventure, risk, and the desire for an encounter with the wild river. A second paper is planned, Moving on an effortless journey: Paddling, river-places and outdoor education, which intends to focus on participants' responses to their experiences on slow flowing sections of rivers where there were minimal or no perceived white water risks. Payne (2002) has challenged outdoor educators to undertake a more earnest reflexive turn to critically assess the contribution and environmental appropriateness of the activities which form part of the staple diet of outdoor education programming (such as paddling, rock climbing, bush walking etc.). In recent years a number of authors have begun to research and write about the ways that students experience Australian rivers through outdoor education where paddling activities have been central to the program (see Payne, 2002; Stewart, 2004a, 2004b; Thomas and Thomas, 2000; Wattchow, 1999, 2001a, 2001b, 2003). This work has raised very interesting questions about the role of language and naming for both the activity of paddling and the river, the influence of socially constructing the river as wilderness, and the significant challenge of trying to represent or recapture the experiences of participants through written research texts. …