Charles Desforges

AUTHENTIC ACTIVITY AND LEARNING

Abstract This article describes the tension that exists between the views of learning as a means of knowledge transfer and the alternative idea that it is socially situated and not separable from the activities in which it is developed. It concludes that the ‘authentic practices’ of particular academic domains should be employed in schools to encourage learning rather the culture of schooling itself.

Teaching Knowledge Application: Advances in Theoretical Conceptions and their Professional Implications

We describe and examine a view of knowledge application in schooling developed from aspects of contemporary learning theory. To situate our perspective in contemporary practice, we establish the significance of the issue of knowledge application as an educational challenge. We then review some enduring theoretical conceptions of the problem and their educational ramifications following which we introduce some developments in educational learning theory and consider their implications for teaching knowledge application.

Assessment at Key Stage One: its effects on parents, teachers and classroom practice

Abstract As part of the 1988 Education Reform Act, standardized assessment procedures have been introduced in England and Wales within an explicit market philosophy in which schools are seen as ‘traders’ supplying a product for the benefit of their ‘consumers’ ‐‐ the parents. This market model of education is based on a number of assumptions about the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of both parents and teachers. The research reported here aims to examine some of these assumptions in the context of national assessment at Key Stage One. A sample was drawn up of 123 children (mean age, 7 years) from 20 contrasting schools in the South and South‐West of England. All the children underwent standardized assessment in the summer of 1992. The parents and teachers of these children were interviewed individually before the administration of standardized assessment tasks (SATs) and again after the SAT results had been reported to parents. Observations of ongoing teacher assessment were also made after the SAT p...

The Role of Informal Assessment in Teachers’ Practical Action

Summary This research informs two questions; in what ways do teachers distinguish between children, and, how do these perceived differences relate to the provision for learning made for children in practice in classrooms? A sample of three teachers of 5‐7 year‐olds had their classroom action videotaped. The technique of stimulated recall was used to collect data on teachers’ thinking on action as taped. Findings were that all three teachers made considerable distinctions at the conceptual level between the children. They did not make distinctions at the level of planning activities and in providing materials, nor were there significant differences in interaction patterns between each teacher and their target children. The study raises a number of questions relevant to understanding life in classrooms and to the improvement of practice.

Parents and Entitlement: a fair deal for all?

Recent legislation in England and Wales has aimed to bring a market philosophy into education. Schools are under increasing pressure to provide the kind of education that parents value, or face extinction. It is therefore of crucial importance that teachers are aware of what parents want and can respond accordingly. Our research, based on over 240 in‐depth interviews with both teachers and parents, has focussed on two issues: the extent to which parents and teachers hold differing views and differing values, and the extent to which each group is aware of the perceptions of the other. The focus had been on assessment and reporting at Key Stage one: its usefulness, implementation and parental involvement. Our findings show that most teachers think that parents know enough about the new assessment procedures and do not wish to know more, whereas most parents want to know more and to be more involved. Furthermore a quarter of the teachers show evidence of pre‐judging certain parents according to social class....

On subject differences in applying knowledge to learn

Abstract There is a view underpinning current perspectives on learning, teaching and the curriculum that children apply their knowledge to learn in different ways according to the academic subject. In line with this view, since the 1988 Education Reform Act, the National Curriculum has insisted on the learning and teaching of distinct and separate subjects as a means not only of learning distinct bodies of knowledge but also as a means of learning different ways of knowing. There is, however, scant evidence to support the assumption that childrens application of knowledge to learn in the classroom is different from subject to subject. The aim of the study reported here was to explore what children do to learn in classrooms at the level of cognition, and to investigate whether they apply their knowledge to learn differently in different academic subjects. A qualitative study was designed to investigate twelve 10‐year‐old children as they engaged with a task in each of the three core subjects of the Nation...

Teachers’ Beliefs about Concept Formation and Curriculum Decision-Making in Early Mathematics

Our invitation to contribute to the program of Working Group 1 asked us to address the third theme of the Group—namely, the mathematics curriculum for young chil dren. In particular, we were asked to address the following questions: How are decisions made about what the content should be in a class room for young children, and how do these decisions reflect the teacher ‘s (or curriculum writer ‘s) beliefs about how concepts are formed by young children?