Drama as method : recontextualizing project learning for HK secondary schools

The purpose of this study is to examine the adult education system from the viewpoint of location and utilization of adult education centres and secondary schools in the U. K. The author intends to compare the adult education programmes, which are related to the urban environments and the locations of the centres in the boroughs of Camden and Kingston upon Thames in London. The centres are classified in two categories; centres only for adult education but originally for other uses, i. e. secon dary schools, ccolleges, libraries, community centres and so on. The subjects offered in the programmes are classified to seven categories; liberal studies, health & sports, foreign languages, test preparation, specialized studies, technical studies and basic skills. The questionnaire survey with respect to after-hours use of secondary schools was given to them and the user's groups in the boroughs. The results are as follows:There are over 35 adult education centres in Camden and 16 in Kingston upon Thames. In Camden, all of the centres were originally for another use; Kingsway College. In Kingston upon Thames, there are 6 centres only for adult education authorized by Kingston Community Education (KCE), Other centres were originally for other uses; 5 for KCE, 2 for Kingston College and 3 for Kingston University.About half of all subjects consists of technical studies and liberal studies in both boroughs. With regard to the location of the centres, there are many subjects such as technical studies and basic skills in north Camden, and there are many subjects such as liberal studies and test preparation in south Camden. In Kingston upon Thames, the curriculum is not so different between various areas in the borough. However, with regard to the 3 authorities, KCE, Kingston College and Kingston University, each imposes a variety of courses. There are many subjects such as liberal studies, health & sports and foreign languages in KCE, test preparation, technical studies at Kingston College, and specialized studies at Kingston University.Within KCE, the number of subjects offered was 1, 182 in 1995/96. There was a wide variety of subjects in all centres, even in small evening centres. From the course timetable, over half of the subjects (637) were provided in the evening (after 18:00).There were 347 subjects in the morning, and 195 in the afternoon. This means that the evening time is important for many students.From the results of the questionnaire survey, secondary schools let out many kinds of facilities (everything except school libraries). Generally, school managers' main concern was not local help for the courses, bututhe maintenance of facilities, especially against violence. Many users' groups answered that than ratio of members who live beyond walking distance to school is larger than within walking distance. In many cases, users' groups rent classrooms, halls and gymnasiums because of the low rental price and their familiarity with schools. It is considered that the location and utilization of secondary school facilities are important for the provision of adult education in local areas.

Levels of reflection in action research. An overview and an assessment tool

This study examines English language teachers' beliefs about action research, their capacity to conduct it, and their actual implementation practices. It also aims to identify the disparities between the participants' beliefs and actual practices. Employing a case study design and a mixed-methods approach, the study focuses on Mettu town in Ethiopia and English teachers from three secondary schools within the town. A non-probability sampling method was used to select 31 teachers for participation. Data was collected through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The findings reveal that the participants hold positive beliefs about action research, possess moderate competency in conducting action research, but exhibit very low levels of action research implementation. Despite their extensive teaching experience, advanced educational qualifications, and high professional status, their competency levels and action research practices fall short of expectations. These findings highlight the need for training, school-based motivation, resource availability, and reinforcement of Ethiopia's teacher development policies. The findings suggest that further research should attempt to explore the underlying contributing factors for the discrepancy between the English language teachers' beliefs and practices about action research.

Performing reflective procedures is among the attempts to improve the quality of professional development in teacher training process. Reflective procedures are assumed to be functional for increasing normative ways of thinking and for encouraging student teachers to develop more enthusiastic attitudes towards teaching profession. Action research, among such procedures, is used to employ numerous teaching drills and to reflect on the teaching practice. Therefore, this study discusses the importance of action research in teacher training process for developing reflective thinking skills of student teachers and for fostering their enthusiastic attitudes towards professional development. In the study, action research was designed with the participation of the student teachers attending English Language Teaching Department at a Turkish university. The results of this small scaled study demonstrated that action research reasonably contributed to professional innovation and renovation of the student teachers, helped them reflect on their inner thoughts about the process, and increased their enthusiastic behaviors towards teaching practices.

The unique affordances of Action Research, including flexibility, playfulness, accessibility, and a focus on practical problem solving provided crucial strategies for generating knowledge and developing solutions to the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The move to online research settings, in particular, required action researchers to find ways to adapt existing research methods and to devise new approaches. This article describes the work of a group of doctoral students in an Educational Leadership program and their instructor in carrying out action research methods in both synchronous and asynchronous online settings. If the months of the pandemic have taught us nothing else, it is that flexibility and willingness to innovate, which are central to action research, are valuable assets in times of uncertainty. The unique affordances of Action Research include creativity, playfulness, accessibility to multiple participants and audiences, transferability of findings, and a focus on the generation of knowledge designed to be pragmatic and problem-focused. These qualities can be harnessed to address the multiple challenges we have encountered during the pandemic including health equity and access, poverty and unemployment, and the interruption of education for vulnerable student populations. They also offer us hope that action research can continue to contribute to addressing the challenges we are sure to face in the future. As students in an educational leadership doctoral program, we focus on examining problems of practice in our schools and districts through action research. As we adapted to online learning in our own schools, we were able to bring these skills to bear in our doctoral studies by developing strategies for conducting these action research methods in both synchronous and asynchronous online settings. This paper describes some of the approaches we developed in the hope that this will enable other action researchers to implement these methods in their own schools, organizations, and communities. The specific action research methods described in this paper are Future Creating Workshops, Citizens’ Juries, World Café, Nominal Group Technique, and Digital Storytelling.

The purpose of this study was to develop EFl second grade secondary language school students' hermeneutical interpretation skills, determine literary fallacies skills and see their effect on the students' literary attitudes through a reflective thinking model based on the phenomenological reading theory. The participants of the study included 60 students who were randomly drawn and divided into two groups: treatment (N = 30) and non- treatment (N= 30). The treatment group received instruction using the reflective thinking model based on the phenomenological reading theory to develop the hermeneutic interpretation, determine literary fallacies and literary attitudes. On the other hand, students in the non – treatment group received their regular instruction. The instruments of the study were: a) a hermeneutic interpretation test to measure the development in the treatment groups' students' hermeneutical interpretation skills, b) a literary fallacies mandating test, to measure the enhancement of identifying the literary fallacies in the treatment group student, C) a literary attitudinal scale to measure how the students' attitudes towards studying the drama in general and the Shakespearean plays in particular have changed positively after conducting the experiment. The model was taught over a period of three months approximately. Having administered the hermeneutic interpretation and literary fallacies mandating test as well as the literary attitudinal scale pre and post teaching/ conducting the model, data were collected and T- test was used for the statistical analysis. Results indicated that there was statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the treatment and those of the non – treatment group in their hermeneutic interpretation and literary fallacies mandating test as well as their performance of the literary attitudinal scale favoring the treatment group. It was concluded that the present study provided evidence for the effect of the reflective thinking model based on the phenomenological reading theory on developing students' hermeneutical interpretation, determining literary fallacies and literary attitudes.

This book guides social researchers and instructors in the practice of interpretive research. Interpretivism has an intuitive appeal to many social researchers, but they often feel ill-equipped to do it. Other social researchers tend to believe that interpretivism is a specialized niche with little relevance to their research practice. What has been lost is the awareness that interpretation is an explanatory logic and form of inquiry that is at the root of all social science research, including quantitative research. This book enables readers to better understand, reflect on, and improve the experience of doing interpretive research. The book’s unique angle is the centrality of experience in learning and teaching interpretive research. It pays special attention to the role of emotions in the learning process, and the way that negative emotions, such as doubt and anxiety, can impart learning. The book provides a novel approach to methods teaching by offering a set of heuristics and open-ended strategies of inquiry and discovery for improving the practice of research. It shows how emotions can be leveraged in the learning process. The book will benefit social researchers who are doing, or are interested in, interpretivism to turn their research into an enjoyable, productive, and imaginative experience.

BLURB FOR TOTAL PROP MAILER Total Propaganda moves the study of propaganda out of the exclusive realm of world politics into the more inclusive study of popular culture, media, and politics. All the participatory functioning elements of the society are aspects of membership in the popular culture. Thus, the values of popular music, media, politics, debates over social issues, and even international trade become everyday propaganda to which everyone may relate. To emphasize the necessity for new thinking about propaganda, Edelstein creates the concepts of the new propaganda and the old, and he devises a language of uninyms to convey their meanings more quickly. Oldprop is characteristic of mass cultures and utilizes totalitarian methods of conflict, hegemony, minimization, demonization, and exclusiveness to achieve its goals. By contrast, newprop is created by members of the popular culture to allow them to engage in accomodation, enhance the individual, and promote inclusiveness. Shifts in the old and the new propaganda are tracked across social issues such as race, religion, sexuality, gender, gun control, and the environment, as well as in fashion, politics, advertising, sports, media, and politics. Central to the concept of total propaganda is that it is not simply additive; it is the product of new energies that are produced by the fusing of propaganda in such related forums as music, art, advertising, sports and politics. It is these synergies, and their production of new energies, that make total propaganda greater than the sum of its parts. Edelstein concludes that the most important distinction that should be drawn between mass culture and popular culture is its text; i.e., its propaganda. In a popular culture, everyone creates and consumes propaganda; in a mass culture almost everyone consumes it but only a few create it. This formulation offers new ways to discuss power and ideology in media texts. As an example, where once the least informed and the least educated were the most subject to propaganda, now the most informed and most educated often are the first to create propaganda and the first to consume it. FORMER BLURB COPY.......It is widely recognized that the mass media provide us with ample information which we use to construct some sense of the world around us. It is not as widely recognized that consumers of media messages are active in this constructive process, making meanings that are sensible to them in particular life circumstances. The media target a younger, more media savvy generation who are more likely to be participants in the messages than members of any previous generation. This participatory aspect of new media is central to what the author defines as the new propaganda. Although critical and cultural theories are often prohibitive for undergraduate students, the author's formulation offers an accessible way to discuss power and ideology in media texts. Without using the critical discourse, he provides compelling arguments that power and ideology are created and maintained through the active participation of audience members. The conceptualization of the old and new propagandas helps move the study of propaganda out of the realm of world politics into the study of popular culture. The author views all of the participatory functioning of the society as aspects of membership in a more embracing popular culture. This point of view recognizes that the mass media are extremely important forces in the consumer's construction of reality and that they are no longer exclusive channels for disseminating the messages of the powerful elites. Instead, the media -- particularly the new media -- are accessible to and used frequently by less powerful members of society -- children, ethnic minorities, and marginal members of society -- to create realities that more satisfactorily fulfill their needs. NEW BLURB COPY FOR GENERAL CATALOGS... Total Propaganda is a fresh answer to the question of the inclusiveness of the popular culture. It demonstrates how the values of popular music, media, politics, debates over social issues, and international trade have become everyday propaganda to which everyone relates in some way. Edelstein demonstrates that the most important distinction that can be drawn between mass culture and popular culture is its text (i.e., its propaganda). In a popular culture, everyone creates and consumes propaganda, whereas in a mass culture, almost everyone consumes but only a few create it. This book presents a new language of propaganda that makes it possible to draw comparisons between mass and popular cultures. The language is used to observe shifts in propaganda across various social issues -- race, religion, sexuality, gender, gun control, the environment, print and broadcast media, new technologies, and politics. It also examines fashion, advertising, sports, and lobbying. Total Propaganda is not defined only quantitatively; it mirrors the synergies that have come about in every social and political realm and the energies that these synergies produce. As such, the sum of total propaganda is greater than the sum of its parts.

The purpose of this review study was to conduct a thematic exploration of prior studies related to the transition between primary and secondary school. The aim of the paper was to discover (1) the extent of earlier research, (2) how earlier research thematises social and emotional issues, and (3) suggestions of those studies concerning how to improve schools. Searches were conducted across four international databases of peer-reviewed research to identify articles published in the last decade on the topic ‘transition between primary and secondary school’. Articles related to social and emotional issues were further selected, and thematic analysis was conducted on the selected 29 articles to identify the topical focus. This review study draws attention to the importance of understanding challenges related to the transition between primary and secondary school. Overall, the analysed studies indicate that this is an important focus for educational research. Key issues related to support and wellbeing/bullying have emerged, which clarify the importance of further research in this field. The present study may also contribute to increasing awareness among policy makers and school leaders of the challenges related to the transition between primary and secondary school.

مشکلة الدراسة: تمثلت مشکلة الدراسة فى ضعف مستوى طالبات الصف الثانى الثانوى فى بعض المهارات الحياتية والتفکير التأملى. إجراءات الدراسة: للإجابة عن تساؤلات الدراسة قامت الباحثة بإعداد: قائمة بالمهارات الحياتية. إعداد برنامج قائم على أنموذج مکارثى(4MAT) . إعداد مقياس المهارات الحياتية وضبطه إحصائيا. إعداد اختبار التفکير التأملى فى مهارات (التأمل والملاحظه – الوصول إلى استنتاجات –الکشف عن المغالطات – إعطاء تفسيرات منطقية- وضع حلول مقترحه) . وتم تطبيق أدوات الدراسة قبليا على مجموعة من طالبات الصف الثانى الثانوى بمدرسة ساحل سليم الثانوية بنات – بإدارة ساحل سليم التعليمية – بمحافظة أسيوط – وبلغت (35) طالبة, ثم تدريس وحدتي الدوافع والانفعالات والعمليات بمقرر علم النفس للطالبات مجموعة الدراسة والمصاغة وفقا لإنموذج مکارثى, ثم تطبيق أدوات الدراسة بعديا على طالبات مجموعة الدراسة, ثم معالجة النتائج إحصائيا, ثم تقديم التوصيات والبحوث المقترحة في ضوء النتائج. نتائج الدراسة: يوجد فرق ذى دلالة إحصائية عند مستوى (0.01) بين متوسطات درجات (عينة الدراسة ) فى التطبيق القبلى والبعدى لمقياس المهارات الحياتية وإختبار مهارات التفکير التأملى, وذلک لصالح التطبيق البعدى التى درست وحدتى الدوافع والانفعالات والعمليات المعرفية بإستخدام البرنامج المقترح القائم على أنموذج مکارثى. Study problem: The study problem was represented in the poor level of secondary school students in some life skills and reflective thinking. Study procedures: To answer the study’s questions, the researcher prepared: 1. A list of life skills. 2. Preparing a program based on the McCarthy Model 4 (MAT). 3. Preparing and adjusting the life skills scale statistically. 4. Preparing a test of reflective thinking in skills (meditation and observation - reaching conclusions - detecting fallacies - giving logical explanations - developing suggested solutions). The study tools were applied in advance to a group of second-grade secondary school students at Sahel Salim Secondary School for Girls - in the Sahel Selim Educational Administration - Assiut Governorate - and reached (35) students, then taught the two units “Motivations, Emotions, and Cognitive Processes” in the psychology course for the students of the study group and formulated according to a model McCarthy, then applying the study tools in the distance to the students of the study group, then treating the results statistically, and then providing recommendations and suggested research in light of the results. Results: There is a difference of statistical significance at the level (0.01) between the mean scores of (the study sample) in the pre and post application of the life skills scale and the reflective thinking skills test, in favor of the post application that studied the two units “motivations, emotions and cognitive processes” using the proposed program based on the McCarthy model.

From the social discipline research approach, there are some problems in ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools: unclear human-centered education concept; decentralized implementation of ecological civilization education; major reversal of ecological civilization education process; and urgent need to strengthen teachers' ecological civilization quality. The inspiration of the social discipline research method of ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools mainly lies in adhering to the public historical view and developing students' subjective activities; mobilizing teachers and students with a human-centered approach; mobilizing students and guiding them to participate in ecological civilization practices; and improving teachers' quality to achieve effective integration of education and ecological civilization. From the perspective of social discipline research methods, ecological civilization education in primary and secondary schools should focus on improving students' personality and moral cultivation, combining personal goals with social practice, combining personal growth with social development, and cultivating moral and intellectual talents of the new era.

This study focuses on the policy issues generated by the reintroduction of Liberal Studies and evaluates the predicted effectiveness of the proposed curriculum in Hong Kong (HK) secondary schools. Theorised by Ball (1992) ‘policy cycle’, approximately 200 newspaper articles and 30 government documents were collected to identify the issues in the process of policy-making. The documentary inquiry shows that ‘Public Recognition’, ‘Learning Objectives’ and ‘Curriculum Structure’ were the three major issues surrounding the reintroduction. Little evidence of any ‘explicit’ political influence related to the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is demonstrated. The interviews conducted later in this study illustrate that there were diversified opinions of the Liberal Studies curriculum. Whilst scholars and teachers disapproved of it, parents showed appreciation. It seems that the stakeholders working in the education field were uncertain, divided and displeased with the process of policy-making. A follow-up questionnaire-based survey clearly uncovered a sharp contrast between the beliefs of the teachers and the expectations of the students with regard to Liberal Studies. In other words, the gap formed between the two showed considerable differences in the level of satisfaction with the proposed curriculum.

<span>This article examines the pedagogical use of action research (AR) in enhancing professional and problem-solving skills of prospective teachers in Kazakhstani secondary schools. The study involved twenty-seven pre-service and novice English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, all of whom were master’s students at Kazakh National University. The study was implemented within the AR course integrated into the master’s program curriculum. To support participants’ understanding and practical application of AR, we designed “AR tree” model, a visual, cognitive and pedagogical scaffold. It was introduced to make the stages of AR more accessible for novice teachers. After presenting the model, semi-structured interviews were conducted with pre-service teachers to explore its pedagogical value for professional learning. The results indicate that the model strengthened connections between theory and practice, promoted reflective professional thinking, and enable novice teachers to systematically identify classroom challenges and develop pedagogically informed solutions. The study does not propose a new form of AR, instead, the model guided pre-service teachers through each phase, from finding a problem to developing interventions, reflecting with learners, and sharing results.</span>

The main aim of the present study with relational screening model was to analyze the relationship between reflective thinking skills and philosophical views regarding the nature of mathematics (NoM) in secondary school mathematics teacher candidates. In addition, it was aimed to determine whether the reflective thinking levels of the candidates displayed a significant difference according to absolutist, mixed, and semi-experimentalist groups. The study group consisted of 196 secondary school mathematics teacher candidates studying in the mathematics teaching program in the spring semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. As data collection tools, The Scale for Determining Philosophical Views Regarding the NoM and The Scale for Determining the Level of Reflective Thinking were used. In the analysis of the data, in addition to descriptive statistics, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were employed. In the study, it was determined that both reflective thinking levels and the philosophical views regarding the NoM were found to be high in mathematics teacher candidates. Besides, it was determined that there was a positive and moderate relationship between the reflective thinking level subdimensions and and the philosphocial views on the NoM in the teacher candidates, and that the variables of the reflective thinking level subdimensions explained 44% of the variance in the philosophical views on the NoM. Moreover, it was concluded that there was a statistically significant difference between the semi-experimentalist group and the mixed and absolutist groups in favor of the semi-experimentalist group in terms of critical reflection, reflection and understanding skills, and between the absolutist group and the mixed and semi-experimentalist groups in favor of the absolutist group in terms of habitual actions subdimension.

The current study adopts a mixed-method research design to foster English Language instructors’ attitude toward professional development, self-efficacy beliefs, and reflective thinking. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory constituted the base and the professional development program was designed accordingly. The participants of the study were nine English Language instructors working at three different universities. Throughout the 16-week program, it was aimed to equip the participants with action research skills to conduct their own study in their own context according to their needs and/or interests. All the participants completed the Plan, Act, Observe, and Reflect stages of the Action Research Cycle.