Goals Of Secondary Education Research Articles

Advantages and Problems of Integrated Teaching: The Role of Neurodidactics in Partnership Pedagogies

The article is pertinent as the approach to education in school is presently undergoing a troublesome period. Secondary education goals are evolving, with more and more new curricula and teaching approaches being developed, and activity-based education provisions being established and implemented. The quality of one’s knowledge is determined by how one can use one’s abilities and skills. Observed tendencies are closely connected with the creation and implementation of modern pedagogical technologies in the educational process. Non-traditional ways and forms of organizing education, including integrative ones, are beginning to be used in education. They encourage students to apprehend the world more promptly and shape an activity-based approach to learning. The objectives of integrated teaching are to generate the perfect environment for the expansion of students’ thought processes throughout the teaching of different topics; to confront any disparities in the learning process; and to boost and develop students’ eagerness for the referred to subjects. The article defines the purpose of integrated learning; outlines the conditions for effective integrated learning; investigates the principles on which integrated learning, its forms and models are based: the advantages and problem points of integrated learning are identified; the concept of cooperation in integrated learning is given; the role of neurodidactics in integrated learning is defined.

Self-Actualization Needs a Panacea for Enhancing Teachers’ Commitment in Accomplishing Secondary Education Goals

The study investigated safety needs for achieving secondary education goals in Awka-South Local Government Area of Anambra State. One research question and one hypothesis guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted. 6 principals and 60 teachers were sampled from 19 principals and 516 teachers in 19 public secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra. Simple random sampling technique was employed to obtain 10% of the respondents. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire. The validation of the instrument was done by three experts who are lecturers in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. This yielded reliability co-efficient of .97. Data obtained were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test statistic. Findings revealed various safety practices that will aid in achieving secondary education goals in Awka-South Local Government Area. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the government should provide the appropriate security facilities to the schools to enable them get prepared in case of any emergency.

Principals’ Leadership Practices for Successful Achievement of Secondary Education Goals in Anambra State

The study ascertained principals’ leadership practices for successful achievement of secondary education goals in Anambra State. The study was guided by three research questions. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all the 263 principals in the state government owned schools in Anambra State. They were all used for the study. Data was collected using a 33-item researchers’ developed instrument titled “Principals Leadership Practices Questionnaire”. Data analysis was done using arithmetic mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The findings revealed that principals’ administrative, curriculum and disciplinary roles are the leadership practices for successful achievement of secondary education goals. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that State Education Board should develop and equip principals in administrative, curriculum and disciplinary management skills

Educated for welfare services—The hidden curriculum of upper secondary school for students with intellectual disabilities

Accessible Summary Studies show that very few students with intellectual disabilities get a job after secondary school. Most graduates end up depending on benefits and social services. The aim of this study is to understand this contradiction between the goal of employment and what actually happens. We found parts of secondary school and social security which hinder employment. Secondary schools prepare students for what they see as the most realistic future: a life on welfare and benefits. AbstractBackgroundIn many countries, the goal of secondary education for students with intellectual disabilities is to transition to the labour market. However, research and reviews consistently show that employment rates are very low for graduates with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this article is to scrutinise the preparation for school‐to‐work transition in Norwegian upper secondary education and employment services to elicit what really goes on.MethodsThis article is an in‐depth interpretation of two earlier published, empirical Norwegian studies of upper secondary education for students with intellectual disabilities and their school‐to‐work transitions.FindingsAnalysis of the characteristics of Norwegian upper secondary education identified a trajectory away from the labour market—reinforced by the social security and support systems.ConclusionDrawing on Argyris & Schön’s (Organisational learning: A theory of action perspective, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1978) classic work on “espoused theory and theory‐in‐use,” the analysis identified a hidden curriculum based on a perception of “realistic” ambitions which pave the way for a graduate life consisting, mostly, of welfare services.

Teachers’ Collective Efficacy as a Predictor of Students’ Academic Performance in North Central Nigeria

Public secondary schools in Nigeria occupy a significant position for providing qualitative education, yet there has been increasing public discontent with the quality of students being produced in the country’s public secondary schools. Teachers are regarded as one of the resources necessary for achieving the goals of secondary education. It is against this backdrop that this study examined teachers’ collective efficacy as a predictor of students’ academic performance in North Central Nigeria. Three research questions and hypotheses were generated to guide the study, which made use of a correlation-type descriptive research design with a population consisting of all teachers in the North Central region. An instrument titled the Teachers’ Collective Efficacy Questionnaire (TCEQ) was developed to elicit pertinent data from the participants. Also, students’ academic achievement was measured. The results of the study revealed that no substantial nexus existed between the teachers’ experience and the students’ academic achievement. However, the teachers’ verbal encouragement was found to be an important predictor of the learners’ academic success. Similarly, the teachers’ academic emphasis was a significant predictor of the learners’ academic performance. Based on this, it was established that teachers’ collective efficacy is an important predictor that can be used to improve students’ academic achievement. The study recommended that education administrators should acquaint their staff with the importance of collective efficacy towards improving students’ academic performance. It was also recommended that the government should organize workshops, seminars, and conferences for the supervisors, principals, and teachers of schools on efficacy issues and that teachers should be well motivated to maintain a high degree of efficacy in their various schools.

Principals' quality management skills as determinants of goal attainment in secondary schools in Ahiazu Mbaise local government area, Imo state

Globally, education is regarded as an instrument per-excellence for the development of any nation. Nigeria, like other developing countries, needs to combat unemployment, poverty, social ineptitude, scientific and technological backwardness. The paper examined quality management skills adopted by school principals to enhance attainment of secondary education goals in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The 26 principals of public secondary schools in Ahiazu Mbaise LGA constituted the sample for the study using the census approach. An instrument titled: Principals' Quality Management Skills as Determinants of Goal Attainment Questionnaire (PQMSDGAQ) with a reliability coefficients 0.89 was used for data collection. Data was collected and analyzed through the Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis. The results showed a significant relationship between effective 'instructional supervision, teachers’ performance evaluation and secondary school goal attainment. It was therefore recommended that principals should constantly carry out routine, and periodic instructional supervision and teachers’ performance evaluation to fast track secondary school goal attainment.

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Secondary education aimed at developing individual for useful living. Among its specific goal is the provision of diverse curriculum in technical knowledge, vocational skills’ acquisition, and commerce. These objectives no doubt equip learners with entrepreneurial skills needed for socio-economic development. This is to say that there is a link between secondary education goals and socio-economic development in Nigeria. Unfortunately, there seems to be poor socio-economic development which ranges from high rates of corruption, social vices, unemployment, low wages and income, among others. In view of these, it appears there is a missing link between secondary education goals and the present socio-economic development in Nigeria. Thus, the researchers show that the bridge between secondary education goals and the socio-economic development is quality assurance in secondary education. Hence, this paper examined the concept of quality assurance, socio-economic development and above all, ways school principals can enhance quality assurance in secondary education in order to achieve socio-economic development in Nigeria. It is hoped that the result of the study will assist school principals in designing relevant managerial skills that can enhance quality assurance in secondary education for socio-economic development in Nigeria. Article visualizations:

Research skills in upper secondary education and in first year of university

ABSTRACT The acquisition of research skills is an important goal of secondary education. Still, insights on what learner characteristics stimulate and hamper research skills are lacking. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between students’ research skills (assessed by means of the Leuven Research Skills Test (LRST) and students’ gender, educational track, grade, autonomous and controlled motivation. The LRST was administered to 405 11th and 12th grade students, and to 156 first-year university students in Flanders. Multiple regression analyses reveal a significant relationship of grade and track with students’ research skills in upper secondary education. Also in higher education, a significant relationship was found between students’ former educational track and their research skills. In both groups, no significant differences were found in research skills based on gender and on students’ controlled and autonomous motivation. This study contributes to future research by stressing the importance of curricular characteristics for fostering students' research skills.

Multimedia Approach in Teaching and the Attainment of Secondary Education Goals

Educational media contribute immensely in the attainment of educational goals at all levels, Media approach is an aspect of educational technology that discusses the utilization of materials and equipment in solving educational problems for positive attainment of educational goals at all school levels. This paper, therefore, discusses educational, media, multimedia approach to instruction, the Nigerian experience, and remedy to problems of multimedia approach in teaching and learning at, the secondary school level for quality assurance.

Sustaining Secondary School Education Beyond School Fees; Advocacy for Income Generation through Entrepreneurship Development

Education remains the fulcrum of societal development as the progress of a nation depends on the quality and level of the educational pursuit of its citizenry. This paper is on sustaining secondary school education beyond school fees. Entrepreneurship Development as an alternative for income generation for secondary school education is advocated. This proposition is in consonance with the National Policy on Education (NPE) in Nigeria that provides for specific goals of secondary education. Though open to private and corporate participation, the educational sector is regulated as such; proprietors have set roles and obligation while running and managing Secondary School. Faith/Church based institution with evangelism as topmost rely on charity of missionaries in sustaining Secondary Schools rather than school fees. This paper advocates for more income generation through entrepreneurship development.

SUPERVISION AND INSPECTION AS VERITABLE TOOLS FOR QUALITY CONTROL IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Secondary education occupies a unique position in the educational system of Nigeria. This level of education is the intermediary between the primary level of education and tertiary levels of education. Due to the unique position of this level of education in Nigerian Educational System, the National Policy of Education (2014), states that the broad goals of secondary education shall be to prepare individual for useful living within the society and higher education. It would be realized that the extent to which these goals can be actualized will depend on the quality of education provided in the secondary school. School supervision and inspection are carried out as an instrument for maintaining standards and quality control, so that the school system can be put on the right track in the course of achieving its goal. This paper, therefore, examines school supervision and inspection as veritable tools for ensuring quality control in selected secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The research instrument designed for the study was a questionnaire tagged School supervision and inspection and quality control in secondary schools (SSIQCSS). The population of the study comprises teachers in Ekiti State. A total of 100 teachers were purposely selected, this formed the sample of the study. Findings revealed that supervision and inspection served as a measure for quality control in our secondary schools, school Principals also embarked on regular routine school inspection, also, routine inspection carried out by school inspectors serve as a means to maintain quality control in secondary schools in Ekiti State. Thus, based on the findings of the study, the need to embark upon more modern techniques of supervision and inspection to improve the quality of education in secondary schools was recommended. The educational system must be adequately funded so that there would be high level of quality and efficiency. Modern techniques of supervision should be adopted or replaced with old ones. Finally, there is the need for collaborative efforts on the part of all education stakeholders to devise more quality control measures that can save the educational system from total collapse. KEY WORDS: Supervision, Inspection, Quality Control, Secondary Schools

Managing Science Teachers’ Productivity Challenges for Quality Science Education

Teachers are individuals trained to possess the technical know-how and the elements of what it takes to inculcate the expected national education goals through various curriculum subjects at various levels of education. The ability of these teachers to produce graduates with the expected goals indicates teacher’s productivity or effectiveness. Majority of secondary education graduates in Nigeria and other third world-nations do not adequately manifest the expected goals of secondary education and national education goals at large. This ugly situation negates the current emphasis on achieving quality science and technology driven economy in the nation. The study therefore examined issues in managing Science Teachers’ productivity challenges for quality science education in Anambra State of Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Three research questions guided the study. A sample size of 708 science teachers (i.e. 342 Biology, 218 Chemistry, 113 Physics and 35 Basic science teachers), were selected through proportionate stratified sampling. A thirty-item-researchers-made questionnaire built on a 4 point scale was used for data collection. Mean and grand mean were used to answer the research questions. Findings revealed a low extent provision of supportive services for enhancement of teachers productivity in implementing science education reforms. Eight strategies for enhancing science teachers productivity were identified. Based on the findings, sponsoring science teachers to conferences on education reforms and challenges to teachers productivity by ministry of education and corporate organizations were recommended.

Child Education and Economic Crisis: Challenges for Sub-Saharan African Countries

This paper attempts to examine as to what extent the economic crisis could impact on the human capital development process, viz., education for the children and the youth of the Sub-Saharan African region on the basis of using data from 41 economies. For this, we specify a model to explain the net enrollment ratio in terms of the respective per capita GDP, public spending on education in the respective economies and per capita overseas development assistance for the recipient countries, and subsequently estimate by using a panel data framework. The results of this study provide some crucial insights on the primary and secondary education goals of the Sub-Saharan African economies.

Genres of high-stakes writing assessments and the construct of writing competence

Abstract High-stakes writing assessments currently exert a strong influence on the writing curriculum and instruction in schools across the United States. Under these circumstances it is important to examine the construct of writing competence on which these assessments are based, as well as the extent to which this construct supports the goals of secondary education. In this paper we conduct an exploratory analysis of the genre demands of high-stakes writing assessments from three states – California, Texas, and New York – with the aim of discerning, comparing, and evaluating the role that genre knowledge plays in the construct of writing competence measured by these assessments. Our method of inquiry includes both task analysis of the prompts and genre analysis of high-scoring benchmark papers written in response to these prompts. For the analysis of benchmark papers we employed both structural analysis and quantitative counts of key linguistic features to characterize the genres represented in these assessment tasks. Our results suggest a lack of alignment between the genres of the benchmark papers designated as exemplary and the genre demands of the prompts to which they were written. Exceptions to this pattern were most common on the New York assessments, which contextualize writing tasks in tests of subject–matter knowledge. Findings from our exploratory analysis lead us to argue for greater consistency and clarity of expectations in the design of high-stakes writing exams, and for the design of writing tasks that adequately represent the demands of discipline-specific forms of written discourse.

Curriculum Policy Seen Through High-Stakes Examinations: Mathematics and Biology in a Selection of School-Leaving Examinations From the Middle East and North Africa

A study of curriculum goals set forth in school-leaving examinations in mathematics and biology from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia benchmarked against the French baccalaureat examinations. This investigation uncovers and contrasts the goals of secondary education as they are put forward in the tests that are used in the certification of completion of secondary studies in these countries. The work takes advantage of a metric developed for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study efforts to measure educational goals for school mathematics and science. Tests from the sample of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries are found to emphasize traditional content and the ability to recall and apply routine procedures and algorithms. These goals are contrasted with French school-leaving examinations and the implications of these findings for understanding and assessing curriculum policy in MENA, in a context of educational reform and the challenges of economic competiveness are considered.

Talk is Cheap: Cultural and Linguistic Fluency During Field Research

********** A great attraction of geography for many practitioners is an opportunity for the kind of field research that regularly takes us from our natal culture and plunks us, Cinderella-style, into places with significantly different pumpkins and coachmen. Our projects generate basic information, test the efficacy of current theory, and allow us to serve as bridges across cultures through our research, teaching, publications, and outreach. Field research serves as a vital check against the unguarded surety of theoretical abstraction. Frankly, the inductive/deductive cycle is seldom possible without field-based research that allows both the collection of data and the verification and analysis of existing explanatory models. All of this is possible only if we really understand what is going on around us and can ask questions. Successful field research and productive communication skills go hand in glove. Few scholars would disagree on this principle, but somehow intensive language training is less than a central goal of secondary education in the United States; nor are language courses well represented in the undergraduate and graduate geography curricula in many a Canadian and U.S. university. Beyond brushing up on the French, Spanish, or German learned in halcyon undergraduate days, two-year master's programs and four-year doctoral programs in geography seldom have space for four to six semesters of a language. Furthermore, seldom are opportunities seized to continue to upgrade language training once we find ourselves in the traces and hames of a professional career. Field research has to be fitted with on-the-job language training, for language classes are overlooked perhaps even more frequently than are courses on field-research methods. Yet language proficiency is a centerpiece of successful fieldwork, and achieving real co mpetence in language is the prerequisite for a kind of cultural fluency that allows a genuinely successful career. Lofty ideals, you may scoff, but the fact remains that for most of us cultural and linguistic fluency is a work in progress. Caring about the quality of our research, we continually improve our language skills. Well-considered strategies can facilitate language acquisition while bettering field research. Yes, the way to Carnegie Hall is via practice, practice, practice, but there are concrete strategies that simultaneously improve language skills and assure research of high quality. In this essay I take the ideals of linguistic and cultural fluency as givens for most successful field projects, but I wish to bridge the gap between this often end-of-career ideal--it's a lifelong process--and the reality many of us face. In short, how do we conduct a successful field project while improving our language and cultural fluency, so that our future projects are even better? Fieldwork is so personal, so tied up in who and what we are at the time of any given project, that generalizations risk being trite. Lest I slide headlong into a least favorite debate--the classic ideographic/nomothetic tar pool--what follows is specific to my own experiences, mostly in rural China but with one diversion to South Korea. Beginning in 1985, when I bungled through my first project in Taiwan, I've spent at least a month or two in China each year, conducting field projects largely related to agricultural aspects of rural development. Twice I've been able to stay for a year or longer. For each project I work with Chinese friends or acquaintances to design, administer, and analyze household surveys addressing issues such as crop-production efficiency, land-use decisions, or the evaluation of alternative cash crops. All of this isn't rocket science, but I look forward to the projects and trips each year--they let me live in China. Granted, not all of the ideas I propagate here will succeed for researchers in China or other locations. A number are nice touches I learned from the Old China Hands who work in rural China and have kindly shared their ideas. …

General Education and Vocational Training on a Qualitatively New Level

School reform is a lawful phenomenon: education must prepare man for life, but life moves onward, its demands change, and education must therefore change as well. Reform is aimed at bringing the goals of secondary education into line with the conditions and needs of the society of developed socialism that will be characteristic of the end of our century and the beginning of the next century.

Goals in Secondary Education—A Conflict of Interests?

The output of three simultaneous Delphi studies in which educators, students, and community leaders individually rated their preferences in secondary education goals was analyzed. The consistency of the data within goal areas by each judge type was first evaluated by hypothesis tests which utilized the radomization distribution developed from the transformed ordinal responses. The existence of any significant goal area preference differences between judge types was then similarly analyzed for all goal areas in which two or more categories of judges exhibited consistency in preference.

Analysis of Aims and Content as a Basis for Assessment of School Courses

IN RECENT YEARS the key issues in educational reform have been concerned with the organization of the system and the structure of the curriculum. The first problem, the pattern of schooling to be followed, has been fraught with political, social and pedagogical arguments. The solutions arrived at have in some cases been radical; the measures taken to implement them are quasi-permanent, because educational institutions must eventually take shape in bricks and mortar. By contrast, the nature of the curriculum to be followed in them is easier to modify. Since, as Gaston Berger expresses it, we must 'install ourselves in mobility', the kind of learning that goes on in the schools (no less than the means to effect it) must be continually revised to meet the demands of the individual and of society. Because this is so, the evaluation of the curriculum, in order to assess its effectiveness and, where necessary, to revise it, is a task of prime importance. At the upper secondary level educationists are seeking to devise ways of assessment that will break the 'iron collar' of the once-and-for-all ordeal of the terminal examination, with its deleterious repercussions upon teaching and upon the pupils. One answer has been provided by M. Capelle, with his concept of the examen-bilan. Another is that being tried in Sweden, where evaluation is carried out at discrete intervals in the last years of secondary schooling. But, whatever the techniques of assessment adopted, it is clear that the prime consideration must be the goals and content of the curriculum. What is taught and, more important, why it is taught are therefore being subjected increasingly to critical scrutiny. The French Instructions of 1890 condemned encyclopedism and stated that the goal of secondary education was 'learning to learn', but half a century later Recteur Sarrailh was constrained to condemn the baccalaureat programmes as dementiels. Few would deny that until very recently the syllabuses of the English G.C.E. examining boards, particularly in science, have merely grown by accretion, with the amount of knowledge to be mastered swelling disproportionately. Nor are these two countries exceptional. Whilst all subscribe to the doctrine that at this level secondary schools must realize the concept of a 'liberal' or 'general' education'), the rationale for inclusion of individual subjects-or their omission-in the programme of study has never been clearly worked out. This, although the ultimate and fundamental issue, is too broad a question to be discussed here. We must rather take a leaf from our German colleagues' book and adopt the principle of exemplarische Lehre, looking at goals and content in particular relation to individual subjects, and seeing what role they play in the process of evaluation.

Evaluation of their High School Curriculum by Prospective Teachers

IN ALL PROBABILITY the most widely accepted statement of the goals of secondary education in the United States is the one which appeared in Educa tion for All American Youth, prepared by the Educational Policies Commission and published in 1938. This statement of goals was presented in terms of ten imperative needs of secondary school students. How effectively the schools are coping with these needs has been the subject of many studies reported in numerous articles and books. Altogether too infrequently, however, have there been inquiries directed to high school graduates themselves to discover their judgments concerning the adequacy of the curriculum they have experienced. It would seem, therefore, that the evaluations of the consumers of the secondary school program have been neglected and that greater attention should be given to their appraisals . Extent to which needs were met in high school?In this article there are re ported the responses made by three hundred prospective teachers enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, in evaluation of the curriculum in the high school which they had attended. The UCLA students were enrolled in an introductory education course and were, in the main, graduates from high schools located in Southern California. Since they had expressed the intention to become teachers, it was assumed that their opinions concerning the high school curriculum would be discriminating and possibly more favorable than opinions from other groups of high school graduates. First of all the UCLA students were asked to read carefully the list of im perative needs as stated by the Educational Policies Commission and then to indicate to what extent they believed their own high school curriculum had been useful in helping them meet each of the needs. They were asked to us e num bers from 0 through 10, the number 0 to be used if it was believed that no help whatsoever was given them in meeting the stated need and the num ber 10 if great help was believed to have been given. Table I shows the mean average rating given by the 300 students with regard to each of the ten needs. As shown in Table I, the prospective teachers considered their high school curriculum to be most effective in meeting their needs for (1) citizenship ed ucation, (2) health education, and (3) aesthetic appreciation. Other needs be lieved by these students to be rather well met in the high school were (4) ethi cal and human-relations education, (5) science education, and (6) 3 R edu cation. A mediocre rating was given the high school's contribution to meeting