Education & Pedagogy

An in-depth assessment of cooperative (co-op) education training programs is presented. For the purposes of this research, cooperative education is defined as work and school experiences designed to complement each other. Five questions are addressed: (1) Are the training programs teaching the right things? (2) Is the training being done competently? (3) What are the outcomes of training? (4) Is training reaching the people who need it? and (5) What does training cost? Data were collected from the training directors of 16 workshops that were funded by federal grants to improve instruction in cooperative education. Questionnaires were also completed by training program participants, training program faculty, employers of co-op students, and co-op personnel who had never participated in training programs. Results indicate that: co-op education training workshops should concentrate on participant outcomes and learning objectives, the workshop faculty are competent, and more workshops for experienced co-op educators should be offered. Significant outcomes of the workshops included: a better understanding of the role of the co-op coordinator, knowledge of the benefits of co-op for employers, opportunities to meet with colleagues involved in co-op education, and increased knowledge of the relationship of co-op education to career education. Recommendations for pre-workshop needs assessment, the workshop program, and post-workshop activities are provided as well as general recommendations and ideas on the role of the U.S. Office of Education in co-op education. The survey instruments and tabulated results are appended. (BH)

This dissertation describes the educational system of Transkei, South Africa. Chapter One describes the purpose of the study and examines the method of investigation. The purpose of the research was to provide guidelines for future planning. Methods used in the investigation include personal observation, interviews, and the study of primary and secondary sources. Chapter Two describes the geography, population, economy, government, and history of Transkei. It also discusses the origin and development of education in Transkei. Education began with traditional informal education. The main purpose was to transmit the cultural heritage from one generation to the next in order to bring about the harmonious integration of the individual with the group or tribe. This chapter then examines missionary education, the start of secularisation, government involvement, and ethnic differentiation and counter reaction. Chapter Three describes the educational system as it is today. The legal, economic, demographic, and linguistic factors in the formation of this system are examined. Recommendations and core suggestions are made in Chapters Four and Five. The problems in Transkei are such that a complete revision of the present educational system as a whole is essential. Day care centers should be provided and teachers should be trained for preschool education. Compulsory free education should be introduced for all children of primary school age. Junior high and secondary schools should be separated from primary schools and the curriculum should be more than a series of school subjects. Vocational and technical education should be expanded. (Author/RM)

The Alliance for Career and Vocational Education is a consortium of school districts that was formed by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education so participating districts could pool resources and address common needs in career and vocational education. Through the Alliance, career exploration, awareness, and planning materials were developed for use at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. Some of these materials have been adapted by the Alliance for use with educable mentally handicapped and bilingual students. A study was conducted in the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public School System to determine the effect of the use of these materials with approximately 560 exceptional students (mentally handicapped, emotionally impaired, and learning disabled) in junior high/middle schools. Based on in-depth interviews with twenty individuals representing administrators, teachers, and exceptional education students, nine primary effects on involvment in the Alliance and use of the materials were identified. Also, administrators at the Milwaukee site reported the Alliance materials to be a valuable core career education package, and the special edition for mentally handicapped students was valuable as a core exceptional education career education program. The investigation concluded that the use of Alliance materials served as a springboard for more extensive career education programs, helped initiate a career education program for exceptional education students, enhanced credibility of the programs and ability to secure local funds, increased the knowledge of career options and related skills for both teachers and students, and stimulated district and classroom innovation. (KC)

This document is a curriculum outline for a unit of a course in educational administration; it offers an overview of the educational system in Great Britain, with special emphasis on education of sixteen- to nineteeen-year-olds. The objectives of the unit are the following: (1) to explain the curricular traditions that influence the provision made for the sixteen- to nineteeen-year-olds and to describe the range of institutions that serves this age group; (2) to outline the policy problems raised in providing for sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds and analyze the factors that policy-makers would need to take into account were they to seek the objective of overall, coordinated control at the institutional, local, and central government levels; and (3) to discuss the running of the colleges of further education, and compare and contrast the government and control of these colleges with those of the schools. Material covered in the unit includes curricular traditions: academic, vocational, industrial, sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds; institutional arrangements: the school sixth form, colleges of further education, teachers' associations in further education, the tertiary college, and the 16-19 Federation; the question of the break in education at age sixteen; and an overall view and conclusion. Activities are provided for the various information areas. (KC)

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION ARE REVIEWED IN THIS YEARBOOK OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION. THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN OUR CULTURE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE HUMANITIES AND TO SOCIETY ARE DISCUSSED. THE OBJECTIVES OF SCIENCE TEACHING ARE CONSIDERED FROM THE VIEWPOINTS OF THE RESEARCH SCIENTISTS, THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR, THE COLLEGE DEAN, THE INDUSTRIAL RESEARCHER, AND THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST. A SURVEY OF LEARNING THEORY INCLUDES INFORMATION RELATED TO CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT, CRITICAL THINKING, AND SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDES AND METHODS. THE NATURE OF CREATIVITY, SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE, AND PERSONALITY ARE ANALYZED AS FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CAREER CHOICES OF SCIENTISTS. CHAPTERS DEALING WITH SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE ARE CONCERNED WITH THE EXISTING STATUS AND WITH THE IMPROVEMENT OF PROGRAMS BY MEANS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND REORGANIZATION THROUGH THE COOPERATIVE EFFORTS OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND PROFESSIONAL GROUPS. CHAPTERS DEALING WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE CONSIDER (1) EXISTING PROGRAMS, (2) PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT, AND (3) TEACHING AND EVALUATION. A SECTION ON COLLEGE SCIENCE DESCRIBES CURRENT TRENDS AND TEACHER EDUCATION FOR GENERAL EDUCATION COURSES. SECTIONS ARE DEVOTED ALSO TO (1) CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, (2) SUPERVISION, AND (3) FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS. CHAPTERS ON TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH CONTAIN INFORMATION ABOUT (1) SCIENCE IN THE GENERAL EDUCATION OF TEACHERS, (2) SUBJECT MATTER COURSES, (3) PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION, AND (4) OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIVIDUAL PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT. FINAL CHAPTERS DESCRIBE NEEDED RESEARCH AND PROBLEMS AND ISSUES IN SCIENCE EDUCATION. THIS DOCUMENT IS ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, 5750 ELLIS AVENUE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60637, FOR $4.50 CLOTH, $3.75 PAPER. (AG)

A two-volume report of a survey to identify current school activities and interests in 16 program areas related to citizenship education in New Jersey is presented. These program areas include environmental studies, involvement of community members in the schools, citizen-related social and cognitive skills; law-related education; family life education (for students and parents), moral/ethical/values education, student involvement in school governance, student activities in the community, measures of social development, global education, analysis of the mass media, and inservice training on students' social development. Separate sections of the report discuss the purpose of the survey, questionnaire development, data collection and processing, and results. The sample consisted of 202 elementary, junior, and senior high school principals who responded to a questionnaire. Results indicate that the single item of interest in all schools was involvement of community members in the schools. The need for conducting inservice workshops for staff on students' social development was also expressed. Other items of high interest included the study of legal rights and responsibilities in a democratic society, ethnic studies, and environmental education. Low interest items included student involvement in the community and workshops for parents of junior high and high school student's on family life. Volume II of the report contains statistical tables to which the text of Volume I refers. (KC)

The state of ethics teaching at the undergraduate and professional school levels is examined in these comprehensive monographs sponsored by the Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences/The Hastings Center. "The Teaching of Ethics in Higher Education (I)" encompasses: (1) the number and extent of courses in ethics, (2) the status and quality of present ethics teaching, (3) both general and specific problems raised by attempts to introduce ethics into the curriculum, and (4) the steps that need to be taken in order to improve the teaching of ethics in higher education. The other monographs on the teaching of ethics are: Legal Ethics and Legal Education (II) (Michael J. Kelly); Teaching Ethics in Journalism Education (III) (Clifford G. Christians and Catherine L. Covert); Teaching Bioethics: Strategies, Problems, and Resources (IV) (K. Danner Clauser); Ethics in the Education of Business Managers (V) (Charles W. Powers and David Vogel); The Teaching of Ethics and the Social Sciences (VI) (Donald P. Warwick; Ethics and Engineering Curricula (VII) (Robert J. Baum); Ethical Dilemmas and the Education of Policymakers (VIII) (Joel L. Fleishman and Bruce L. Payne); Ethics in the Undergraduate Curriculum (IX) (Bernard Rosen and Arthur L. Caplan). Each monograph deals with the history of ethics in its field, recent data on the quality of courses, evaluations, and recommendations for improving the teaching of ethics. Notes and a bibliography are provided with each monograph. (LC)

The proceedings of the 28th annual Legislative Work Conference of the Southern Regional Education Board are presented. Facts and issues surrounding faculty salaries and compensation are discussed in articles by David Spence and Richard Chait. Among trends to emerge from the articles is the fact that faculty salaries in the South have halved the gap between that region and the rest of the nation in the past five years. Senator Pat Frank (Florida) and Gordon Davies discuss access, quality, and competition in graduate education. The articles stress the need for upgrading the quality and concentrating graduate education in urban centers. The Chairman's Address by Governor Bob Graham of Florida focused on a governor's ability to influence state policy and funding decisions about higher education. Robert Stoltz reported in his paper on teacher education and certification that states should adjust their certification procedures and not rely solely on a test at the end of the teacher education program to improve teacher quality. Robert Berdahl reviewed current state developments and offered suggestions for evaluating state coordination and governance. In articles on governor's perspectives on higher education, George Busbee and Julian Carroll emphasized the importance of goal-setting and the need for state officials to work together to arrest declining national productivity. In a paper on vocational/technical education Gene Bottoms suggested several actions for states to improve this area of their educational programs. A roster of delegates is appended. (Author/PHR)

Based on several New York State studies of adult education, some conducted under Higher Education Act funding, this report is one of several on the educational needs of adults conducted in preparation for the Regents 1976 Statewide Plan for Postsecondary Education. The central argument is that the Regents' goals for postsecondary education can only be fully achieved if the lifelong learning needs of adults are met, and New York, therefore, should conceive of postsecondary education in terms of its contribution to meeting the needs of all its adult citizens through opportunities provided by formal postsecondary institutions for adult students (usually part-time students) and through such nonformal agencies as libraries, museums, media, and community organizations. Following brief assessment of educational practice with respect to the Regents goals for postsecondary education, specific recommendations are detailed for how the needs of adults can be met within the framework of each of the four goals: (1) open access for all citizens without regard to age, sex, race, creed, national origin, geographic location, or economic status; (2) quality education guaranteed through the maintenance and monitoring of appropriate standards, the assurance of academic freedom, and the acceptance of academic responsibility, (3) provision for special needs through efficient allocation of resources without regard to geographic location, and (4) a responsive system attuned to the changing needs of society, which is sufficiently flexible to adapt to those needs in a timely fashion. (JT)

This document contains two reports on the Classrooms beyond Walls Career Education Project conducted by the Mamaroneck Union Free School District and the Sound Consortium for grades K-12 in the 1975-76 school year. The final report summarizes the project's major objectives (increasing self-awareness and decision-making skills, training teachers in curriculum modification for career education, and coordinating more closely in the world of work and education), the learning activities of the school districts in the Consortium, the dissemination activities and goals of the Consortium, and the special problems of financial support and staff hiring and training. The summative evaluation report which was prepared by a third party discusses the preparation, administration, and analysis of (1) career education pretests/posttests for senior and eighth-grade English classes, high school science classes, and fifth- and sixth-grade newspaper units; (2) a pretest/posttest for the Career Internship Program, and (3) a staff questionnaire on attitudes toward career education. Recommendations in the evaluation report include the following: since community involvement is fundamental to this project, teachers and students need to learn more about and utilize more fully community employers and opportunities for educational experiences; career education classroom materials, such as curriculum guides, need to be developed; and a conceptual framework for career education should be created, describing the program content, its relationship to other subjects, and its sequencing over grades K-12. (ELG)

The purpose of the study was to determine to what extent the administrators, counseling staff, and full-time faculty members of the Frederick Campus of Tidewater Community College were aware of and influenced by career education in the development of new and modification of existing programs. A four page, 12-item, locally constructed questionnaire was used. The sample consisted of 13 administrators, seven counselors and 81 full-time faculty members. The results of the tabulation were evaluated to identify the three groups' understanding of career education, the extent to which they used career education in their respective areas, to what extent the Campus Career Education services were used, and needs for future institutional planning in this area. A majority of those surveyed indicated that career education was important to their academic discipline, that it was part of their personal educational philosophy, and that it was positively affecting their program content through greater student interest. The majority also agreed that the best definition of career education was providing students with skills for selecting, preparing for and finding employment. However, their explanations of the method used to incorporate career education in the classroom indicated that they were providing occupational information and not teaching career development skills. This suggested a contradiction between the acknowledged, and defined goal of career education, and the type of information provided in the classroom. This contradiction resulted in the recommendation that a second phase of defining the skills and implementation methods be initiated. (Author/LBH)

The current state of teacher education is reviewed to compare what is being done now with predictions of future needs. An attempt has been made in the last year or so to achieve greater accountability through competency-based teacher education programs. Moskowitz's attempt to discover how and why master teachers are effective has been helpful, but many characteristics possessed by master teachers are not, and perhaps cannot be, taught in methods courses. Successful preservice education techniques (micro-teaching, use of media, shock lessons, instructional objectives) continue to be used. Several new areas have emerged: the increasing program development in bilingual/bicultural education and English as a second language, a greater emphasis on students' involvement and participation in their own training, and a greater flexibility in methodology. The training of teaching assistants, virtually unknown fifteen years ago, has become an established practice in colleges and universities. Its necessity and legitimacy as a part of graduate programs are still controversial issues. It has been determined that there are many career opportunities outside education, and that these careers are increasing in number and type as the world shrinks. For the most part, higher education is not preparing foreign language majors for the world of work outside teaching. As students gain expertise for careers in business, government, industry, and other institutions, they will fill a real need in the interdependent society. Foreign language majors who do choose to become teachers will be a select group, ready to respond to the constantly changing students and world. (Author/SW)

This study had three objectives: (1) design a competency based teacher education curriculum model for vocational-technical education (agriculture, home economics, and vocational-industrial); (2) validate the competencies by field testing them with regular vocational teachers, vocational directors, and state personnel; and (3) field test the competencies in three sub-models with prospective teachers in the regular undergraduate vocational teacher education programs at Purdue University. An existing list of competencies developed by the Center for Vocational and Technical Education at Ohio State University was reviewed and supplemented through a review of the literature and other competency based teacher education programs. From the list those competencies considered part of the undergraduate program were clustered into ten sub-models which list new or existing courses offered at Purdue University. Three sub-models were selected for field testing, one in each of the three program areas. Performance objectives for each competency statement in the sub-models were written and then used as a pre- and post-test self measure. In conjunction with the field test, the complete list of competency statements was validated with vocational administrators through the use of an opinionnaire. From the findings it was concluded that vocational administrators have a tendency to rate nearly all professional competencies as having greater importance than the teachers, both teachers and administrators rate instructional methods and management the highest, and the competencies can be achieved in an undergraduate teacher education program. (Questionnaires and the competency lists are appended.) (JH)

This paper conceptualizes basic education and examines its ability to deliver benefits, particularly to the poor in developing nations. Education for basic human needs is interpreted to include skills to communicate, skills to improve the quality of life, and skills for production. The premise is that the main obstacle to the expansion of basic education is the desire of the socio-economic elite to keep their privileges, which are generally reinforced by existing administrative and social structures. The document is presented in three major sections. Section I discusses the limits of organized education, possible responses of education to basic needs, and ways of conceptualizing educational policy so that it can meet the skill needs of people in nations experiencing various stages of economic development. Specific steps suggested for consideration by educational policy planners include building schools, training more teachers, initiating mass campaigns to encourage people to seek schooling, developing extension activities, supporting cultural activities, and developing paraprofessional cadres of instructors. Section II discusses how plans to expand educational facilities and services can be affordable, cost-effective, and acceptable to governments and other administrative bodies which allocate funds. One main point emphasized throughout this section is that basic education cannot take firm roots until all fundamental human services are extended to the population. Case studies are presented to show that, in some areas, investing in education in the absence of other services can be counterproductive. The final section suggests steps toward implementing a policy for universalizing basic education including reducing costs of delivering education and seeking funds from international agencies. (DB)

The ideal of good citizenship is examined in light of current social and political unrest brought about, at least in part, by the agitation of special interest groups. Emphasis is placed on the role of citizenship education in the schools. The monograph is intended particularly for educators who want to improve citizenship education programs. The document is presented in five chapters. Chapter one identifies the major citizenship education challenge of the 1980s as the conflict between privatism in politics (due to a deterioration of national trust in the political system) and pluralism in education (resulting from attitudes that glorified doing one's own thing and from the belief that authority for education should rest primarily with the diverse pluralistic communities in American society). Chapter two contrasts ideas of citizenship in modern democratic societies and in Greco-Roman republics. Chapter three presents an historical perspective on citizenship education in the United States from the 1770s to the 1970s. Chapter four identifies major approaches to reform of civic education, including academic disciplines (particularly, history and sociology), law related education, social problems, critical thinking, values education, moral development, community involvement, and institutional school reform. The final chapter offers suggestions for improving citizenship education programs, including incorporating political values, political knowledge, and the skills of political participation into the curriculum; encouraging common understanding of and commitment to democratic values; and encouraging student understanding of citizenship concepts such as justice, freedom, equality, diversity, authority, privacy, due process, participation, and international human rights. (DB)