Primary Education

Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share in Education: The Children in Permaculture Manual is a ground-breaking book, which shines a permaculture lens to inspire child-friendly, sustainable education.

Full of innovative information, a new curriculum, hundreds of inspirations for activities, session plans, holistic pedagogy and reflection questions, this book will inspire educators to get outdoors and learn from nature.

It is for primary, nursery and kindergarten teachers, policy makers, permaculture designers, Forest School leaders, Scout leaders, parents, carers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and anyone else who is interested in holistic education for sustainability and resilience.

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"This research project examines teachers’ Continuing Professional
Development (C.P.D.) within two clusters of rural primary schools in the north of England. The research considers teachers’ attitudes to, and their understanding of, the meaning and purpose of C.P.D., and how it affects themselves and the pupils they teach. The research, which is set within its historical context with particular reference to the impact of the Education
Reform Act (1988) and the raft of initiatives that have influenced the direction of teachers’ C.P.D., reflects on teachers as professionals.

Through a combination of survey and case study, quantitative and qualitative approaches to data collection were used and the initial questionnaires were followed up by semi-structured interviews in the two case study schools. Using Bolam’s (1993) tripartite definition as an analytical framework C.P.D. is subdivided into the areas of training, education and support. The data analysis showed that across both clusters teachers’ C.P.D. was driven by national government initiatives and, in some cases, the national initiatives became the schools’ priorities, leaving little opportunity for an individual school based approach to C.P.D. Across the clusters there was an established relationship between the School Development Plan (S.D.P.), performance management and C.P.D. The one year performance management cycle appeared to dictate the length of the C.P.D. cycle and promoted short term development, reducing opportunities for longer courses, such as advanced diplomas and higher degrees. The constraints of the cycle, along with the emphasis on the deficit model of C.P.D., is viewed as contributing to the general deprofessionalisation of teachers."

Community schools are currently an important part of the Zambian education system, however there are substantial differences in terms of performance and quality among them. Therefore, the aim of this review was to critically assess the school factors to understand why certain community schools can provide quality education for pupils to reveal how the quality of education can be improved in other community schools.

A critical realist systematic review has been chosen as a methodology to identify underlying mechanisms. Case studies and reports from the period of 1992 and 2018 in the topic of primary education in Zambian community schools have been searched. Outcome was measured by grade 7 national exam pass rates.

The search yielded 24 studies of reasonable quality, out of which 20 studies included outcome information for comparison. The results provided high level evidence that community schools in the reviewed studies were successful because they met all the three components of education quality conceptualized by humanist, economist and organisational approaches. This included Effective processes, Provision of inputs and Satisfaction of stakeholders.

Three critical underlying mechanisms have been identified to achieve quality education: Effective management due to external help and community involvement in educational processes through active PCSCs; Effective pedagogy due to committed teachers; and Satisfaction of teachers due to instructional supervision or training. Without these mechanisms quality education could have not been achieved. Once these mechanisms were provided to the schools, other mechanisms could further improve education quality. These were satisfaction of parents/pupils due to extra services or relevant curriculum along with provision of inputs due to qualified teachers or TLMs.

The researcher concluded that government should assist these schools to source partnerships with donors or local businesses to supplement government support. Government-paid qualified teachers should be continued to be deployed to remove financial burden from parents and regular salaries should be paid to volunteer teachers.

This article presents empirical evidence from household and firm survey data collected during 2009−2010 on the implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law and effects on China’s workers. The Government and local labor bureaus have made substantial efforts to enforce the provisions of the new Law, which has likely contributed to reversing a trend toward increasing informalization of the urban labor market. Enforcement of the Law, however, varies substantially across cities. The article analyzes the determinants of worker satisfaction with the Law’s enforcement, workers’ propensity to have a labor contract, their awareness of the Law’s content and their likelihood of initiating disputes, and finds that all are highly correlated with education level, especially for migrants. Although higher labor costs may have had a negative impact on manufacturing employment growth, this has not led to an overall increase in aggregate unemployment or prevented the rapid growth of real wages. Less p...

This study examines some aspects of the quality of Alternative Basic Education (ABE) provision in Ethiopia. Educational indicators of quality were formulated under two general topic areas of ABE programme process and content, and pupil learning outcomes. A qualitative-interpretative research approach and survey design was used to collect data from primary and secondary sources and to provide separate case descriptions of the five regions and two city administrations studied. The study’s main findings give clear indication of a broad spread of ABE conceptions and practices in ABE Centres in Ethiopia. The approaches and experiences of the five participating regions reveal factors that have an impact on quality ABE delivery, as well as measures that can improve quality if supported with an appropriate institutional environment.

As provided by Finnish law, the aim of compulsory schooling is to secure adequate equity in education throughout the country. In recent years, however, there have been signs that music education in primary schools may not be living up to the aim of equity (Suomi 2019; Vesioja 2006). The concern about music education provision in grades 1–6 is shared by many countries around the world. In this study, we examined the variation in how teachers (N = 133) experience their ability to support pupils in realising the objectives for music eduction in the national curriculum and how principals (N = 82) describe the organisation of music education in their schools. Data was generated through an online survey in Swedish-speaking primary schools in Finland and analysed with both quantitative and qualitative methods (descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, regression analysis, qualitative content analysis). The findings suggest that there is a wide and significant variation in how the music...

This paper examines the relationship between policy and politics in relation to the development of public- sector primary education through Breton and Gaelic, considering closely the patterns of power through which such provision is delivered. Brittany and Scotland present many similarities as culturally distinctive territories, contained within larger state-nations, which until recently allowed very little scope for minority language education. Initiatives to develop public-sector education through Breton and Gaelic were finally launched in the 1980s and have now became significantly institutionalised, even if they remain small in scale. The dynamics of institutionalisation have been very different in the two territories, however: parallel problems have been tackled in different ways, and issues that have proved fraught in one have presented few complications in the other. Both case studies demonstrate the importance of ‘bottom-up’ dynamics as a source of innovative energy.

There is a particular urgency in this political moment to understand children's experiences with current events. Drawing from data generated following the 2016 presidential election, this paper focuses on three racially and linguistically diverse children's persuasive compositions. Within a critical literacies writing unit focused on (im)migrant experiences, children called on legislators to act on the Republican administration's policies. Building on the understanding that all literacies are political and that teaching and learning are value-laden tasks, the author engaged a cultural rhetorics orientation-grounded in the understanding of texts, bodies, materials, and ideas as interconnected aspects of communication-for data generation and analysis. The findings highlight how children strategically employed rhetoric to persuade. They used logos, pathos, and ethos, as well as story, a central tool for meaning-making and building practices in the world. Ultimately, this study demonstrates how children, when properly supported, can agentively participate in critical literacies and act on real-world politics. Through the stories of young children, this study emphasizes what children have to tell adults and what a cultural rhetorics orientation, through its emphasis on story, enables literacies researchers and educators to understand about children's composing.

This article provides perspectives on the promoting of environmental education by using senses. As underlain by the different environmental education models, the base of environmental educational ideas lies on positive attitudes to nature. Thereby it was studied to which extent attitudes could be affected by emphasising senses in a lesson held outdoors. The study is a qualitative phenomenographic case study in which a total of 18 pupils participated voluntarily in the research. The empirical data was gathered in the April 2012. The conceptions of third and fourth graders children of age 9 and 10 were studied. They were given outdoor education that was mostly based on using different senses, namely sense of hearing, touch, sight, smell, and taste. Children drew images on how they perceived the nearby forest and lake area before and after the outdoor lessons. The data was analyzed by using deductive content analysis. Based on the drawings, five children were interviewed before and after the outdoor lessons. The outcome was that even a short teaching period in nature has a positive effects on the pupils attitudes to nature.

This article considers the role of theorising in the daily work of teachers and looks at some practical techniques teachers can use to move their practice on.  Although the context is primary science, the strategies are applicable much more widely.

The version offered is the accepted manuscript.  The published version (Primary Science 114 Sept 2010) may be found online at: http://www.ase.org.uk/journals/primary-science/2010/09/114/

This work has the assumptions that the nature and the complexity of the reading procedures, for the educators and investigators, is a continuous challenge of the schools. It has two central objectives: a) to propose an explanatory model of the factors that take part in the reading understanding in primary education; b) to describe the characteristics of the professor in its reading understanding. The results demonstrated that the level of reading understanding of the professor, so and as was formed in the investigation, is very below the awaited one. In addition, the results show that the development of the reading ability of the professor must comprise of policies of education by means of the initial formation or continued.

Students come to formal schooling with prior probabilistic conceptions developed through informal experiential events. One such concept is that of chance outcomes being inherently equiprobable, even when not the case. In the design-based research described here, a class of 3rd Grade students was posed an inquiry problem embedded with non-equiprobable outcomes: What is the best addition bingo card? Argumentation was employed as a pedagogic approach to challenging students’ equiprobable beliefs, with students supported to develop an evidence-based argument in response. Students initially experienced conflict with the realisation of unequal frequencies, then developed representations to act as theoretical evidence. A shift from conceptualizing equiprobable outcomes towards responses reflecting theoretical distribution was observed. This exploratory research suggests potential for an evidentiary focus to challenge probabilistic conceptions.

Over the past decade, the achievement of universal primary education, under the somewhat misleading rubric of ‘Education for All’ (EFA), has steadily built momentum in international forums as a focus for discussion and action. The present study looks critically at the evolution of consensus about EFA within the international community. The first section of this contribution provides an overview of ‘education for development’ in the form in which it has been inherited from the 20th century. The second describes what has changed in the context, rhetoric and practice of such ‘education for development’. The final section reflects on two questions: ‘Why has EFA now moved beyond international rhetoric to action?’; and ‘What can our experience with EFA tell us about the prospects for multilateralism and global governance in the 21st century?’ über die letzten zehn Jahre hat die Errungenschaft allgemeiner PrimÄrbildung unter der ein wenig irreführenden überschrift, Bildung für alle’ (Education for All/EFA) in internationalen Foren als ein Zentrum für Diskussionen und Aktionen stetig mehr Beachtung gefunden. Die vorliegende Untersuchung wirft einen kritischen Blick auf die Entwicklung von Einigkeit in Bezug auf EFA innerhalb der internationalen Gemeinschaft. Der erste Abschnitt dieses Beitrages bietet einen überblick über, Bildung für Entwicklung’ in der Form, in der das Konzept aus dem 20. Jahrhundert ererbt ist. Der zweite Abschnitt beschreibt, was sich im Kontext der Rhetorik und der Praxis einer solchen, Bildung für Entwicklung’ verÄndert hat. Der letzte Abschnitt stellt Reflexionen über zwei Fragen an: Warum ist EFA nun über internationale Rhetorik hinaus zur Umsetzung fortgeschritten, und was kann uns unsere Erfahrung mit EFA über die Aussichten für multilaterale VerhÄltnisse und globale Lenkung im 21. Jahrhundert sagen? Durant la derniére décennie, la réalisation d’une éducation primaire universelle, sous la rubrique quelque peu trompeuse de 1’« éducation pour Tous » (EPT) a continuellement donné une impulsion aux forums internationaux en étant au centre de la discussion et de l’action. La présente étude jette un regard critique sur l’évolution du consensus à propos de l’EPT au sein de la communauté internationale. La premiére section de cette contribution offre une vue d’ensemble de « l’éducation pour le développement » selon la forme qui nous a été léguée par le XXe siécle. La seconde décrit ce qui a changé dans le contexte, la rhétorique et la pratique d’une telle ‘éducation pour le développement’. La derniére section est une réflexion sur deux questions : ‘Pourquoi l’EPT a-t-elle maintenant dépassé la rhétorique internationale pour favoriser l’action’ ; et ‘Que peut nous apprendre notre expérience de l’EPT à propos des perspectives du multilatéralisme et du gouvernement global au XXIe siécle ?’ A lo largo de la ultima década, el objetivo de lograr una educación primaria universal bajo el titulo un poco equivoco de “Educación para Todos≓ (EPT) ha impulsado permanentemente los foros internacionales como foco de debates y de acción. El présente estudio echa una mirada critica a la evolución de un consenso en cuanto a la EPT dentro de la comunidad internacional. La primera parte de esta contributión provee una visión sinóptica de la ‘educación para el desarrollo’ en la forma en la que este objetivo se ha heredado del siglo XX. La segunda, describe qué es lo que ha cambiado en el contexto, la retórica y la práctica de esa ‘educación para el desarrollo’. La parte final reflexiona sobre dos interrogantes: ¿Por qué la EPT no ha pasado de la retórica internacional a la actión?; y ¿Qué nos puede decir nuestra experiencia con la EPT sobre las perspectivas de multilateralidad y gobernabilidad global en el siglo XXI? НА пРОтьжЕНИИ пОслЕ ДНЕгО ДЕсьтИлЕтИь УспЕхИ, ДОстИгНУтыЕ В О ВсЕОБЩЕМ НАЧАльНОМ ОБРАжОВАНИИ, пРОВОжг лАшЕННОМ пОД лОжУНгОМ «ОБРАжО ВАНИЕ Дль ВсЕх» (EFA), сООБ ЩАУт НЕпРЕРыВНыИ ИМпУльс И НАхОДьтсь В цЕНтРЕ ДИскУссИИ И РЕ шЕНИИ МЕжДУНАРОДНых ФОРУМОВ. ДАННОЕ ИсслЕ ДОВАНИЕ кРИтИЧЕскИ РАссМАтРИВАЕт ЁВОлУ цИУ ЕДИНОгО ВжгльДА НА EFA ВНУтРИ МЕж ДУНАРОДНОгО сООБЩЕс тВА. В пЕРВОИ ЧАстИ ДАННОИ стАтьИ пРЕДлАгАЕтсь ОБжОР «ОБРАжОВАНИь Д ль РАжВИтИь» В тОИ ФОРМЕ, В кОтОРОИ ОНО БылО жАИМ стВОВАНО Иж 20 ВЕкА. ВО В тОРОИ ЧАстИ стАтьИ РАссМАтРИВАЕтсь, ЧтО ИМЕННО ИжМЕНИлОсь В к ОНтЕкстЕ, ДИскУссИьх И НА пРАктИкЕ тАкОгО «ОБР АжОВАНИь Дль РАжВИтИ ь». В жАклУЧИтЕльНОИ ЧАст И ОБсУжДАУтсь ДВА ВОпР ОсА: «пОЧЕМУ В НАстОьЩ ЕЕ ВРЕМь EFA ВышлО жА РАМкИ ОБсУжДЕНИИ НА МЕжДУН АРОДНОМ УРОВНЕ И пЕРЕ шлО к пРИНьтИУ кОНкРЕтНых РЕшЕНИИ?» И «ЧтО НАш Оп ыт пО EFA гОВОРИт НАМ О пЕРспЕктИВАх МНОгОстОРОННОстИ И г лОБАльНОгО УпРАВлЕН Иь В 21 ВЕкЕ?»

Een Pedagogisch-Didactische KernStructuur® (PDKS®) bestaat uit een diagnostische, met name op kerndoelen en curriculumspecificaties gebaseerde systematiek voor het ontwerpen en realiseren van ‘Optimaliserend Onderwijs’ en de bijbehorende speel-/leerprocessen voor elk kind of elke leerling. In dit document wordt een nieuw ontwerp van een praktijkgerichte PDKS®-systematiek uitgewerkt die is ingebed in een webapplicatie ten behoeve van gebruik in instellingen voor vóór- en vroegschoolse educatie en in scholen voor PO en VO. Doel van dit digitale curriculumbeheersysteem is om het voor genoemde instellingen, scholen en leerkrachten / docenten gemakkelijker te maken het onderwijs en de speel-/leerprocessen verantwoord te individualiseren. Dit wil zeggen: deze onderwijs- en leerprocessen adequaat voor te bereiden en in te zetten ter ondersteuning van de ontwikkeling en de leerbehoefte, het leerniveau en het leertempo van individuele leerlingen en groepjes leerlingen in een flexibel groeps- of klasverband. De groeps- of klasorganisatie van leerlingen wordt onafhankelijk(er) van leeftijd en leerlingen kunnen verantwoord, individueel of samen, de eigen speel-/leerprocessen méér zelf reguleren. Via de hier ontwikkelde, informatietechnologisch ingebedde PDKS® kunnen essentiële onderwijs- en leerprocessen worden geïntegreerd. Bijvoorbeeld diagnostiek gebaseerd op individuele én landelijke indicatoren (dubbele diagnostiek), passende instructie en speel-/leerprocessen, vrije curriculumactiviteiten, curriculuminformatie en -beheer, en systematische evaluatie op verschillende onderwijsniveaus (leerling, groepje, groep/klas, school, bovenschools, landelijk). Samenwerking met jeugdzorg wordt eenduidiger, gemakkelijker en méér preventief. De combinatie van resultaten van landelijk genormeerde toetsing en de schoolgebonden evaluatie van leerarrangementen levert tevens concreet zicht op de feitelijke ‘schoolkwaliteit’.

Weight gain is a well-known and unwanted complication of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer. We observed that the female Turkish cancer patients frequently gain weight with adjuvant treatment of breast cancer and planned to examine the magnitude of this problem in early breast cancer patients treated at our hospital. A total of 176 early breast cancer patients who received their adjuvant systemic therapy in Marmara University Hospital between 2003 and 2007 are included in the study. We recorded their weight before and after chemotherapy and also a year after chemotherapy to find out whether the change with weight is transitory. We have also recorded demographic information, including the educational level, menopausal status, the type of chemotherapy or hormonal treatment administered stage of disease, marital status, occupation and the underlying diseases to analyze the relationship between change in weight and these parameters. Median age of patients was 53 and 72% of patients were postmenopausal. Educational level was equally distributed for primary education (27%), high school (40%), and university (33%). The majority of the patients (76%) was married, had two children (69%) and was housewife (60%). Family history of any cancer was high (32%). Most of the patients had stage II cancer (56%), received anthracyclines+/− taxane based chemotherapy (98%) and had no underlying disease (68%). The majority also did not smoke (73%) or drink alcohol (93%). A total of 67% and 72% patients gained weight upon completion and one year after completion of chemotherapy. Mean weight before the chemotherapy, upon completion of chemotherapy and one year after completion of chemotherapy were 68.9 kg, 70.6 kg (P = 0.000) and 71.9 kg (P = 0.000) respectively. Mean body mass index was 27.1 at baseline, 27.8 upon completion of chemotherapy (P = 0.000) and 28.3 one year after completion of chemotherapy (P = 0.000). Age, menopausal status, multiparity and presence of comorbid diseases had statistically significant impact on weight gain following adjuvant therapy in breast cancer patients (P = 0.000, P = 0.008, P = 0.015 and P = 0.017 respectively). This study shows that Turkish women with early breast cancer gain weight after adjuvant systemic therapy, in line with European and American counterparts. This increase in weight is maintained at least one year after adjuvant therapy. Given the adverse consequences of weight gain in terms of both breast cancer prognosis and general health, it is necessary to inform patients about this change and to develop strategies for weight maintenance during and after systemic therapy.

In this paper we are giving an example of how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can enhance the process of Teacher training, and how this can be used for Lifelong Competence Development of teachers. We show how one particular methodology for teaching and training soft skills can be further enhanced by the use of ICT. We show how the use of Learning Design centred software platform for lifelong competence development can enhance the in-service training of teachers.

Education is the basic way for accelerating the human development process of a country. Under the sphere of education system, primary education gets the highest priority regarding itself as the base of formal education. Primary education in West Bengal, as all over the country, suffers from many deficiencies including problems of infrastructure, shortage of schools, shortage of teachers, the financial handicap of the parents, and so on. These deficiencies have long been recognised and formed part of the popular discourse on the shortcomings of primary education in the state.
The student teacher ratio have been an effect on school management where the number of student is very low in number, but according to our Right to Education Act 2009, it have been clear by our general observation that the 30: 01 pupil teacher ratio (PTR) effect on the primary school in both rural and urban areas. In where, mainly two or three teachers primary school, situated in different parts of India as well as West Bengal. There are so many works which are very essential to do for a head teacher as well as teacher-in- charge to maintain the official works which are also effect on the class as well as the teaching learning process in a primary school. Beside this also effect on the student achievement, it is also leads to minimize the learning quality in a primary school.
Mainly by this study we would try to understand the effect of student teacher ratio on the primary school management in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, according to Right to Education Act, 2009. On the basis of this background we would try to understand the original effect of Student teacher ratio on the primary level.