Alan Bain

The Design of Inclusive Education Courses and the Self‐efficacy of Preservice Teacher Education Students

This study examines whether participation in a 13‐week undergraduate inclusive education course covaried with an improvement in the self‐efficacy of preservice elementary education teachers. We sought to determine whether self‐efficacy was influenced differentially by the type of field‐based placement experienced by students in the course. The results showed that an improvement in student self‐efficacy co‐varied with participation in the inclusive education course, although the field‐based placement did not differentially affect self‐efficacy at a statistically significant level.

The Design of Pre-Service Inclusive Education Courses and Their Effects on Self-Efficacy: A Comparative Study.

This study compared two versions of a 13-week mandatory undergraduate inclusive education course to determine their effects on the self-efficacy of pre-service elementary education teachers. For the purposes of the research, the self-efficacy construct was applied specifically to working with students who have inclusive educational needs. The study sought to determine whether there were differential effects of the two approaches – one based on a field-based placement and the other employing a course design approach derived from complex adaptive systems. The results showed statistically significant gains in self-efficacy for both approaches, although there were no statistically significant differences between versions of the course. The implications of the findings are discussed for the design of mandatory inclusive education courses.

Embedding evidence-based practice in pre-service teacher preparation

In this study, the authors sought to establish the differential effects on achievement of embedding evidence-based practice in the design of an inclusive education teacher preparation course. Embedded design involves creating self-repeating patterns in the instructional design of a course by expressing essential design features at multiple levels in the teaching and learning experience. The results indicate that pre-service educators attained a mastery level knowledge of the course content that covaried with the application of the embedded design principle. The authors also found a statistically significant difference in student achievement as a function of the teaching approach (cooperative learning, peer-assisted learning, or self-study) employed as part of the embedded design process. The findings are discussed within the context of building more rigorous teacher preparation programs and the role of embedded design in pre-service inclusive education.

Self-organisation and capacity building: Sustaining the change

Purpose – The paper aims to describe the application of theoretical principles derived from a study of self‐organisation and complex systems theory and their application to school‐based capacity building to support planned change.Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a case example in a Hong Kong School to illustrate the application of the principles and discuss their potential to sustain the effect of capacity building in schools.. The descriptive case study is used to illustrate six theoretical propositions of self‐organization. The case is then unpacked using each of the propositions to illustrate the application of the theory to capacity building in a secondary school setting.Findings – The case illustrates the way each of the principles are reflected in a design process undertaken by the schools principal and its leadership team to create a self‐organizing approach to capacity building.Originality/value – The value of this paper is threefold. First it shows the way in which capacity buildi...

Peer tutoring with ESL and below-average readers

A multiple baseline research design across subjects (pairs) was used to examine the effectiveness of a peer tutoring reading intervention which involved the systematic use of delayed attention, prompting and praise. Eight, fourteen year old, below average readers were trained to tutor eight students of similar age for whom English was a Second Language (ESL). Continuous data collection indicated that peers were effective in their use of the tutoring behaviors while both peer tutors and ESL readers made statistically significant gains in reading accuracy and comprehension over the course of the intervention.

If all you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail – how wicked is the problem of measuring productivity in higher education?

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the wicked problem of measuring the productivity of learning and teaching in higher education. We show how fundamental validity issues and difficulties identified in educational productivity research point to the need for a qualitatively different framework when considering the entire question. We describe the work that needs to be done to reshape the way learning and teaching productivity is determined and show what a university needs to know and do about its approach to learning and teaching in order to understand quality and productivity. We also examine whether educational work is in fact ‘wicked’, as has been supposed. The concept of an Emergent Feedback Organization (EFO) is introduced along with the six things an organization needs to do to become an EFO capable of making a valid and reliable determination of productivity.

How do institutional practices for course design and review address areas of need in higher education

ABSTRACT Universities are under stress and pressures to critically evaluate and reform curriculum and the way learning and teaching are implemented. Tensions appear to exist among the external pressures, the organisational structure of universities and their daily operations that are often conflicted and appear to work against coherence and depth in courses. In this study, the course design and approval process of Regional University was examined in light of four areas of need identified in the higher education literature to determine the extent to which the organisational structures (policies, regulations and guidance to course developers) reflect these. It is argued that knowledge about such a process is of considerable value for quality institutional practice in the sector.

Teacher Attitudes toward Social Skills Training.

Social skills training has become a popular intervention for teaching prosocial behavior to handicapped and nonhandicapped adolescents. While there has been extensive research on the use of social skills training, there has not been an accompanying examination of the willingness and preparation of teachers to implement this intervention. This study addressed this issue by surveying the staff of five urban secondary schools regarding their attitudes toward social skills training. More than 82% of teachers surveyed supported the inclusion of social skills training in the school curriculum; 75% indicated that they were willing to conduct the intervention in secondary schools, though they reported that certain aspects of the training may be difficutt to implement. While the majority of teachers were supportive of social skills training, significant differences were found in willingness to be involved when respondents were categotized according to their subject area and the school in which they taught. The implications for school-wide social skills education are discussed.

The role of collaboration in a comprehensive programme design process in inclusive education

This study focused on the role of collaboration in a comprehensive programme design process in inclusive education. The participants were six members of an inclusive education team and an educational designer who together comprised the design team. The study examined whether collaboration was evident in the practice of programme design and associated institutional processes. This was determined through an examination of institutional documents and reflections on collaborative practice provided by design team members in semi-structured interviews about their experiences. The study found that designing the programme collaboratively was more time intensive and at times challenging but ultimately produced a more coherent programme with transparent design, structure and content for students and teachers.

A longitudinal study of the practice fidelity of a site-based school reform

In this study, four years of formal observations of classroom teaching practice were employed to ascertain the practice fidelity of a site-based school reform in a secondary school setting. Those observations were then used as a criterion variable in an examination of differences in the perspectives of administrators, teachers and teaching peers about the reform’s implementation. The results showed sustained levels of practice fidelity and statistically significant differences in the ratings of administrators, teachers and peers although those differences reduced overall as the reform progressed. The perspective of administrators was the best predictor of classroom practice in the first three years of the reform although less so in the latter year when teacher and peer responses became better predictors. The implications of the findings are discussed as they relate to the practice fidelity and evaluation of site-based school reform.