Search Results for
"learning"

[No abstract available]

This article reports research in three Nottingham schools, concerned with (1) The school as fertile ground: how the ethos of a school enables everyone in it to benefit from the presence of artists in class'; (2) 'Children on the edge: how the arts reach those children who otherwise exclude themselves from, class activities, for any reason' and (3) 'Children's voices and choices: how even very young children can learn to express their wishes, and then have them realised through arts projects'. The research methodology was rooted in two modes of inquiry, philosophical investigation and action research. The article draws on this research to argue that arts-based work in school has helped disadvantaged and/or disaffected children to engage in activities (both arts-based and others), and to be able to lay the groundwork, for exercising voice and agency as they did so. If social justice is to flourish there is a need for particular kinds of public spaces and a need to create conditions such that children can learn to participate in those spaces, whether or not they are comfortable with the usual settings for 'rational argument' or 'deliberative democracy'. It is suggested that arts-based education, in some forms, is one good way of creating these conditions. © 2006 SES.

The concept of 'therapeutic education' is being increasingly used in contemporary education policy studies to identify learning initiatives which are dominated by objectives linked to personal and social skills, emotional intelligence and building self-esteem. Contemporary educational goals connected with such strategies have been criticised for encouraging a 'victim culture' which marginalises learners and replaces the pursuit of knowledge and understanding with the development of personal values relevant to a life of social, cultural and economic risk and uncertainty. In relation to vocational education and training (VET) and post-school policy trends in particular, Hayes has argued that preparation for work has abandoned vocational/occupational knowledge and skills in favour of providing learners with personal skills for emotional labour in low-level service jobs. This paper interrogates such analyses and questions whether the therapeutic role of VET really is incompatible with the traditional objectives of developing knowledge, understanding and values in work environments. Links are made between new emphases on work-based learning and the 'caring' conceptions of learning in post-school education. It is concluded that - although therapy should not dominate VET - an attention to the important values dimension of learning in the field does involve a therapeutic dimension of some kind.

Instruction and learning are increasingly based on competencies, causing a call for assessment methods to adequately determine competency acquisition. Because competency assessment is such a complex endeavor, one single assessment method seems not to be sufficient. This necessitates Competency Assessment Programs (CAPS) that combine different methods, ranging from classical tests to recently developed assessment methods. However, many of the quality criteria used for classical tests cannot be applied to CAPS, since they use a combination of different methods rather than just one. This article presents a framework of 10 quality criteria for CAPS. An expert focus group was used to validate this framework. The results confirm the framework (9 out of 10 criteria) and expand it with 3 additional criteria. Based on the results, an adapted and layered new framework is presented. © 2006 Elsevier Science Ltd.

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[No abstract available]

This paper examines recent empirical work on the lived experience of learners in postcompulsory education. The starting point is a brief examination of the socioeconomic context of the sector. Despite the sophistication of analyses of learning cultures, a more radical approach is needed. Failure to do so renders these analyses amenable to appropriation by 'new labour modernisers.

Purpose: This paper seeks to explore undergraduate placement experiences in tourism and hospitality SMEs, focusing on the notions of surprise and sense making. It aims to argue that surprises and sense making are important elements not only of the adjustment process when entering new work environments, but also of the learning experience that placements provide. Design/methodology/ approach: In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 students who had recently completed a 48 week placement. Findings - The paper finds that the surprises students encountered were not as dramatic as the literature on organisational entry suggests. This is partially explained by students already having gained substantial amounts of work experience prior to the placement. A number of SME-characteristic employment experiences were confirmed while others were questioned. Research limitations/implications: Further detailed research is required that takes a more holistic account of the placement experience in order to understand more fully the impact of placement on learning and career choices. Practical implications: The paper raises important questions about the value of undergraduate placements in an age of mass higher education where many students work part-time. Originality/value: An apparent lack of reflection hindered the sense making process, which raises questions as to whether placements are achieving their potential for experiential learning. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Engagement in communities of practice has increasingly come to be seen as an important aspect of adult learning. Participation within such communities is thought to provide a dialogic space in which learning can take place. These ideas are increasingly being applied to the work of teachers, lecturers, and trainers. This reflective paper addresses a number of issues: firstly, it locates communities of practice within a discussion of situated cognition and ‘mode 2 knowledge’. This is followed by an engagement with Lave and Wenger’s notion of communities of practice and situated learning. There is an affinity between these ideas and those developed by David Hargreaves, particularly his discussion of on‐line learning communities and ‘teacher tinkering’. In a number of respects these arguments are couched in overly optimistic and progressive terms. The concluding section seeks to raise a note of caution, considering the limits and possibilities of the previous arguments for the development of progressive and transformative educational practices, with the application of Gramscian ideas that call for the wider politicisation of practical education. © 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

In this paper I begin by outlining the key characteristics of a view of learning that has been preeminent in the past 30 years in the United Kingdom. The focus of this discourse has been less upon understanding the processes and practices of learning as a complex process and more upon improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the curriculum and of teaching to meet takenforgranted needs. Making use of two case studies, I exemplify a connective approach, as a transaction with the environment, which acknowledges both the contextual and incremental character of knowledgemaking, and the interplay between different cultural factors and influences, including discourse and identity, that playupon learning. This recognises the importance of all the different learning opportunities available to young people while lending support to claims for approaches to both the design of the curriculum and teaching that allow young people to learn in formal and informal contexts.