Problems of Education in The 21st Century, Vol. 40, 2012

Problems of Education in the 21st Century, ISSN 1822-7864 VOLUME 40, 2012
EDUCATION POLICY,
MANAGEMENT AND QUALITY –
2012
Scientific Methodical Center „Scientia Educologica“, Lithuania,

the associated member of Lithuanian Scientific Society and ICASE
(International Council of Associations for Science Education)
The articles appearing in this scientific collection are indexed and abstracted in EBSCO: Education Research
Complete (http://search.ebscohost.com), Copernicus Index (http://www.indexcopernicus.com), the Asian
Education Index (http://www.asian-education-index.com/education_journals_index_P.php), SOCOLAR,
China Educational Publications Import & Export Corporation (http://www.socolar.com/?ver=en), Cabell
Publishing, Inc., Directories of Academic Journals (http://www.cabells.com/index.aspx), Contemporary
Science Association/AAP databases (http://www.contemporaryscienceassociation.net/journal/view/1190),
and list of Science Education Journals (http://homepages.wmich.edu/~rudged/journals.html)
Publisher
Scientific Methodical Center „Scientia Educologica“ in cooperation with Scientia Socialis, UAB,
Lithuania, the Associated Member of Lithuanian Scientific Society, the Association of Lithuanian
Serials, European Society for the History of Science (ESHS) and International Council of Associa-
tions for Science Education (ICASE)
Editor-in-Chief
Prof.dr. Vincentas Lamanauskas, Scientific Methodical Centre „Scientia Educologica“, Republic

��
of Lithuania
Editorial Board
Dr., prof. Boris Aberšek, University of Maribor, Slovenia

Dr. Saleh A. Alabdulkareem, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Dr., prof. Agnaldo Arroio, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Dr., prof. Martin Bilek, Hradec Kralove University, Czechia
Dr., prof. Andris Broks, University of Latvia, Latvia
Dr., prof. Janis Gedrovics, Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy, Latvia
Dr., Harun Yilmaz, Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, Turkey
Dr., Angela James, University of Kwazulu – Natal, South Africa
Dr., prof. Vladimir S. Karapetyan, Armenian State Pedagogical University named after
Kh. Abovyan, Armenia
Dr. Kuo-Hung Huang, National Chiayi University, Taiwan
Dr., prof. Miroslaw Kowalski, University of Zielona Gora, Poland
Dr. Todar T. Lakhvich, Belarusian State M.Tank Pedagogical University, Republic of Belarus
Dr. Eleonora Melnik, Karelian State Pedagogical University, Republic of Karelia, Russia
Dr., prof. Danuše Nezvalova, Palacky University, Czechia
Dr., prof. Yuriy Pelekh, International University of Economics and Humanities named after
Academician Stepan Demianchuk, Ukraine
Dr., Raffaele Pisano, Cirphles École Normale Supérieure, France
Dr. Uladzimir K. Slabin, University of Oregon, USA
Dr. Laima Railienė, Scientific Methodical Centre „Scientia Educologica“, Republic of Lithuania
Dr., prof. Borislav V. Toshev, Sofia University, Bulgaria
Dr., prof. Milan Turčani, Constantine the Philosopher University, Slovakia
Dr., prof. Nicos Valanides, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Copyright of this scientific journal entitled Education Policy, Management and Quality – 2012 is the property
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Problems of Education in the 21st Century is an international, periodical, peer reviewed scientific journal,
issued by the SMC „Scientia Educologica“ in cooperation with Scientia Socialis,UAB.
Address: Scientific Methodical Centre “Scientia Educologica”

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ISSN 1822-7864 © SMC „Scientia Educologica“, Lithuania, 2012

problems
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in the 21st century
Volume 40, 2012
Contents
Editorial
CURRICULA, HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND SCIENCE EDUCATION

Raffaele Pisano ......................................................................................................... 5
Articles
ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH WEST NIGERIA
Ayodeji Olasunkanmi Abari, Mubashir Olayiwola Babatunde Mohammed, Idowu Olufunke Oyetola ..... 7
HIGHER EDUCATION IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: DRIVERS OF TOP-UNIVERSITIES’

REPUTATION
Blanca L. Delgado-Márquez, Yaroslava Bondar, Luisa Delgado-Márquez ..................................... 17
FLEXIBLE EXAMINATION AS A PATHWAY TO LEARNING

Peter Diedrichs, Berit Willen Lundgren, Peter Karlsudd .......................................................... 26
FAILED INNOVATION IMPLEMENTATION IN TEACHER EDUCATION: A CASE ANALYSIS

Eva Dobozy ............................................................................................................. 35
A CASE STUDY OF “HABITUS” AND “FIELD”: THE CHINESE RURAL STUDENTS

ON THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
Jingyi Dong ............................................................................................................. 45
MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT IN STUDENTS OF TEACHER

EDUCATION CURRICULA
Anna Džalalova, Nina Raud .......................................................................................... 65
PROMOTING TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH A HOLISTIC WELLNESS MODEL

Dana Harwell, Mae Daniel ........................................................................................... 75
CONTROL, FREEDOM AND TRUST: SEEKING FOR A HIGHER EDUCATION MODEL

IN A POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRY
Mati Heidmets, Birgit Vilgats ......................................................................................... 88
TEACHING, LEARNING, AND KNOWLEDGE BUILDING: THE CASE OF THE REMOTE

NETWORKED SCHOOL INITIATIVE
Thérèse Laferrière, Sylvie Barma, Fernand Gervais, Christine Hamel, Stéphane Allaire,
Alain Breuleux .......................................................................................................... 96
UNFREEZING SCHOOL REPUTATIONS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY

Aneta Mechi ............................................................................................................114
COMPETENCES CURRENTLY NECESSARY FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONS

SPECIALISTS WORKING IN LATVIA
Anete Mezote ........................................................................................................... 122
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THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF EGYPT: CONTEXTS, FRAMES AND STRUCTURES
Malgorzata Stopikowska, Yasser Mohamed El-Deabes .......................................................... 129
EDUCATION QUALITY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: AN EXPERIMENT TO REDUCE THE

AGE-GRADE GAP IN THE CITY OF RIO DE JANEIRO
Alice Xavier, Maria Luiza Canedo .................................................................................. 145
Information
INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS ............................................................................. 152
JOURNAL OF BALTIC SCIENCE EDUCATION ........................................................... 154
PROBLEMS OF MANAGEMENT IN THE 21st CENTURY ............................................. 155
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CURRICULA, HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND
SCIENCE EDUCATION
Raffaele Pisano
ESHS (European Society for the History of Science), Italy
E-mail: pisanoraffaele@iol.it
Dear Readers,
Generally speaking, current school science curricula have been constructed for the
purpose of preparing students for university and college scientific degrees. Such education
does not meet the needs of the majority of students who will not pursue tertiary studies in
science or even science-related fields. These students require knowledge of the main ideas and
methodologies of science. It seems that the didactics of scientific disciplines across Europe
have failed to solve the “crisis” between scientific education and European social and economic
development. This is generally recognized in the reports published concerning science education
in Europe (Rocard report, etc.) which propose new strategies to be implemented in teaching
through the identification and promotion of Inquiry based Science Education (IBSE) and other
strategies. It is timely that there is a multi disciplinary dialogue exchanging new ideas and
proposals between educational researchers, historians, philosophers and learning theorists.
The didactics of scientific disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology
and earth sciences hardly and generally recognized that science is an important component of
the European cultural heritage and provides the only well-grounded explanations we have of
structures, events, and processes in the material and social world. Clearly some understanding of
the practices and processes of science is essential to engage with many of the issues confronting
contemporary society. However, in recent times fewer young people seem to be interested in
science and technical subjects.
In my previous editorials and articles, published in JBSE and PEC etc., I included remarks
on the emergency of change teaching both foundations and textbooks. A debate and suggestions
proposed among science scholars, teachers and historians on the matter seem indeed necessary
from an ethic and professional point of view. Thus, what kind of scientific cultural background
does it take to teach how science works? And what about history of science in curricula of
secondary school? Why is there this lack of engagement in science? Does the problem lie in
wider socio-cultural changes, and the ways in which young people in the European countries
now live and wish to shape their lives? Or is it due to failings within science education itself? The
history and epistemology of science help to understand evolution/involution of mathematical
and physical sciences in the interpretation-modelling of a phenomenon and its interpretation-
didactic-modelling, and how the interpretation can change for a different use of mathematical:
e.g., mathematics à la Cauchy, non-standard analysis, constructive mathematics in physics. The
learning-teaching modelling is important to discuss efficacy and power both from educational
point of view and the need of mathematics and physics teachers’ education.
Following this standpoint, based on an original idea (2010) by Ilaria Gaudiello (ESHS/
University of Paris 8–CHArt–LUTIN, Paris) and I (ESHS/Cirphles–ENS Paris), an international
workshop Science Studies And Science Education: How Science Works – And How To Teach It,
was co–organized by the latter with Department of Science Studies and the Centre for Science
Education (Aarhus University) in Denmark on 23–25 June, 2011. The workshop followed one
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of the interests of the ESHS: the role and circulation of history of sciences in Europe starting
from secondary school, as well. The international workshop also aimed to debate on the history
and philosophy of science teaching into the classroom. Nevertheless, crucial questions often
discussed both in this book series and correlated JBSE live: what about the importance of
introducing the history of foundations of science as an essential part of the culture of teaching
education to the extent of considering such a discipline – in its turn - as an indissoluble
pedagogical element of history and culture? And in this sense, by introduction of history of
foundations of science, how can the role played by textbook for secondary school change?
Thus, if a textbook changes, how the teachers should change? What kind of profile? Finally,
in my opinion, we should not loose the certainty of a critical thought on science... turning
from teaching based on principles to teaching (also) based on large and cultural foundational
themes related with ad hoc foundations–sociological–epistemological aspects of science.
Prominent and high quality secondary school teaching and university–academic centres
research programs are crucial for the development of interest in the history of science and its
cultural implications. On occasion of the 5th International Congress of The European Society
for History of Science (www.eshs.org) which will be held in Athens (Greece) on 1-3 November,
2012 in Athens: 32 symposia on history of sciences correlated with science education philosophy,
epistemology, historical epistemology and anthropology of sciences are available for the 5th
International ESHS conference. Particularly one of the symposium aims will be to discuss
contributions from history and philosophy of sciences and science education in the curricula of
European secondary high schools. Next an international Congress on history of physics and
astronomy (XXXII SISFA 2012) will be held in Roma (27-29 September, 2012 www.rcths.eu)
where topics on history of science and science education will be discussed, as well.
Received: February 29, 2012 Accepted: March 18, 2012
Raffaele Pisano PhD, Cirphles, École Normale Supérieure Paris, France.

ESHS (European Society for the History of Science).
Research Centre for the Theory and History of Science, University of West
Bohemia, Czech Republic.
E-mail: pisanoraffaele@iol.it
Website: http://www.historyofscience.it
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ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND
EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN
SOUTH WEST NIGERIA
Ayodeji Olasunkanmi Abari, Mubashir Olayiwola Babatunde Mohammed,

Idowu Olufunke Oyetola
Lagos State University, Nigeria
E-mail: ayodejiabari@yahoo.com, myuniversity@yahoo.com,
funkeoyetola@yahoo.com
Abstract
The study investigated the relationship between Organizational Identity and Public and Private Senior
Secondary School Effectiveness in South West Nigeria. To put the study on course, three hypotheses
were formulated. In the same vein, three separate instruments were designed and constructed to collect
pertinent data namely the School Identity Questionnaire (SIQ), the School Effectiveness Questionnaire
(SEQ) and Performance Records of Students in West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination
(WASSCE). While the first instrument measured identity, the other two simultaneously measured
effectiveness. There was a total sample of 2,400 students from 120 sample schools at 20 students per 20
schools in each of the six South West States – Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo. Also, a total
of 120 principals participated in the study. The Questionnaires were subjected to content and construct
validity as well as split-half reliability test. The reliability coefficient for the SIQ was found to be 0.86
and for the SEQ was 0.90. The data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis
employing the Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient Analysis to test Hypotheses 1and
2, and the Analysis of Variance to test Hypothesis 3. Results of the analysis indicate that there is no
significant relationship between organizational identity and school effectiveness in the two categories of
schools separately, public and private. However, a significant relationship was found to exist between
organizational identity and school effectiveness in private schools only when WASSCE Results were used
as a measure of effectiveness. Results also show that a significant difference exists in organizational
identity and school effectiveness between public and private senior secondary schools irrespective of
the instrument used in measuring effectiveness. Recommendations were then made, in the light of the
results, among which are that some degree of autonomy should be given to senior secondary schools for
them to grow and develop their identity and effectiveness and, that the identity and effectiveness should
regularly be monitored and measured for school improvement purposes.
Key words: organizational identity, secondary school, school effectiveness.
Introduction
Given the choice, parents and children have preference for certain schools than others.
Perhaps what informs the choice is the important factor of attraction which itself is factored on
the uniqueness of a school that separates it and makes it distinct from others. By implication,
then, no two schools are exactly alike and exactly attractive. That is, each school has its own
identity by which it is identified and separated from others, no matter how close they are in
every sphere.
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With the introduction of free secondary education in South West Nigeria in 1979, at the
beginning of the second republic, products of primary schools transited to secondary schools to
which they were allocated by the government, not necessarily to schools of their choice and not
minding whether such schools are effective or not. Parents who could afford it then registered
their children in private schools believing that private schools offer a better choice than public
schools in the matter of attraction and in the matter of effectiveness.
However, in the choice of the private schools one wonders what parents’ considerations
were. Do the private schools have their own identities to warrant attraction and effectiveness?
And the government schools, too, in their present state, are there no outstanding ones that have
identities and that are effective enough in spite of the fact that parents have little or no choice
in picking them for their children? After all, there is little evidence that parents do lobby for the
posting of their children to preferred schools. Some parents even seem to go as far as securing
the change of schools of allocation to the preferred ones. What then is the status of secondary
schools in South West Nigeria today in terms of identity, both public and private? What is the
status of these categories of schools in terms of school effectiveness? And, do public and private
senior secondary schools in South West Nigeria differ in terms of identity and effectiveness?
Public Secondary Schools in this instance are secondary schools owned, financed and
run by the governments while Private Secondary Schools are those owned, financed and run by
private individuals and organizations or bodies such as religious organizations and communities.
Moreover, today, secondary schools are of a two-tier system of Junior and Senior Secondary
Schools each of a 3-year duration programme. In this study, the senior secondary schools are
the focus. However, the two-tier system of Junior and Senior Secondary Schools is yet to be
fully operational in all the schools, particularly in the private schools which still house the two
types of schools under one umbrella physically, structurally, by way of headship and control,
by way of other personnel and by way of school name. Yet, of all the States under study,
it is only in Lagos and Ondo States that all public secondary schools have been completely
separated into Junior and Senior Secondary Schools. In a few other States, like in Ogun State,
some secondary schools have been so completely separated leaving others as single entities (of
Junior and Senior Secondary Schools combined into one) while in other States all the secondary
schools are yet to be so separated.
Also in this study, the variables of interest are organizational identity which is the
independent variable and school effectiveness which is the dependent variable. Organizational
Identity refers to a sense of sameness or continuity of an organization despite environmental
changes. Memories of the past as well as hopes and aspirations for the future provide evidence
in the present of this sense of organizational identity. It is also the state of being what is asserted.
School Effectiveness separately refers to the performance of the organizational unit called
school. The performance of the school can be expressed as the output of the school.
Literature Review
Beyond the dictionary meaning, the word identity has been variously defined, described
and conceptualized by different authors and scholars in different relevant fields of human
endeavor.
Basically, Hornby (2004) defines the word identity as “the characteristics, feelings
or beliefs that distinguish people from others”. According to Nickelly (1977), identity can
be described as “the agreement between how we view ourselves and how others view us”.
Typically, humans characterize themselves based on structural features of a group membership
or with the help of characteristics that an individual associates with him/herself. In other words,
identity is formed by different characterizations of oneself (Puusa and Tolvanen, 2006) in the
social environment and in the psyche of members of the society. Indeed, the society has a large
impact on identity.
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Ayodeji Olasunkanmi ABARI, Mubashir Olayiwola Babatunde MOHAMMED, Idowu Olufunke OYETOLA. Organizational Identity and
Effectiveness of Public and Private Senior Secondary Schools in South West Nigeria
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Be that as it may, identity is further explored in the various fields of study that have
had to include it in their dictionary and labelling it differently. This has led to ambiguous and
confusing approaches to identity which in turn has led to rather restrictive interpretations of the
concept. Thus, discussions on use of identity present different meanings, from fundamental and
abiding sameness, to fluidity, contingency, negotiated and so on. In this context, organizational
identity as a term is captured and separately defined and explained. According to Jeyavelu
(2011):
organizational identity has captured the imagination of many organizational scholars and
practitioners as it is expected to explain the hereto unexplainable variance in variables as
broad and different as organizational performance, strategy, culture, empowerment, creativity,
entrepreneurship, change, etc. (p. 1).
Albert and Whetten (2004), who are noted to have introduced the very first definition
of organizational identity in 1985 (Puusa and Tolvanen, 2006), proposed that an adequate
statement of organizational identity satisfies the following criteria:
(1) features that are somehow seen as the essence of the organization: the criterion of
claimed central character;
(2) features that distinguish the organization from others with which it may be compared:
the criterion of claimed distinctiveness;
(3) features that exhibit some degree of sameness or continuity over time: the criterion
of claimed temporal continuity.
Scholars have predicated virtually all recent treatments of organizational identity on
these definitional pillars (Gioia, Schultz and Corley, 2000). Puusa and Tolvanen (2006) then
summarize these three criteria of organizational identity as what is central, distinctive and
enduring in an organization, when considering its past, present and the future.
On School Effectiveness, it is a rather difficult concept to define, and once defined, is
of a nature that is rather difficult to measure. Thus, in the last decade, there was a burgeoning
literature on school effectiveness. In addition, as the work of educational administrators / planners
has moved from increasing school enrolment to the improvement of quality of schooling, so
the administrator / planner has had to become more interested in school effectiveness (Whetten,
2006).
According to Erlendsson (2002), effectiveness is the extent to which objectives are met.
Thus, effectiveness is the extent to which an activity fulfills its intended purpose or function.
In general, an effective school is roughly the same as a good school (Scheeren, 2000). Also,
school effectiveness refers to the performance of the organization unit called the school. The
performance of the school can be expressed as the output of the school which in turn is measured
in terms of the average achievement of the students at the end of period of formal schooling
(Scheeren, 2000). Effectiveness can thus be described as the extent to which the desired level
of output is achieved which includes student attainment at the end of schooling.
The question of school effectiveness is tasking because not only do schools differ in
performance; the difference in performance is also of different levels and categories. Thus,
organizational theorists often adhere to the fact that effectiveness of an organization cannot be
described in a straight forward manner. In like manner, the effectiveness of a school organization
should not be looked at from a single perspective of performance. Instead, a pluralistic attitude
is taken with respect to interpretation of the concept and question. By that, it is assumed that the
interpretation chosen depends on the organizational theory of the specific interest of the group
posing the question of effectiveness (Cameron and Whetten, 1983).
However, in most school effectiveness studies, productivity is the predominant criterion
of effectiveness in actual practice. And, one of the characteristics of an organization by means
of which productivity is actualized is the identity transformational process.
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10 Methodology of Research
The study is a correlational and an ex-post facto research designed to examine the degree
of relationship between organizational identity and public and private senior secondary school
effectiveness in South West Nigeria and, to examine the after-the-fact treatment of organizational
identity as it affected school effectiveness. The study hypotheses then included the following:
1. There is no significant relationship between organizational identity and public senior
secondary school effectiveness in South West Nigeria.
2. There is no significant relationship between organizational identity and private
senior secondary school effectiveness in South West Nigeria.
3. There is no significant difference in organizational identity and effectiveness between
public and private senior secondary schools in South West Nigeria.
Information obtained from the States’ Ministries of Education on the Study Population
indicate that the latter included the 141 public senior secondary schools and 114 private
secondary schools in Ekiti State; the 318 public senior secondary schools and 208 registered and
approved private secondary schools in Lagos State; the 179 full-fledged public senior secondary
schools and 125 others still in operational combination with the Junior Secondary Schools in
Ogun State; the 285 public senior secondary schools and 286 private secondary schools in
Ondo State; the 558 public secondary schools in Osun State; and the 317 full-fledged senior
secondary schools as well as the 165 ones that are still combined with the Junior Secondary
School Section and, the 236 approved private secondary schools in Oyo State. Information on
the number of private secondary schools in Ogun and Osun States were not readily available.
The study population also consisted of all the 2, 847 principals of the South West Nigeria senior
secondary schools plus the number of principals of those private schools of Ogun and Osun
States whose figures were not readily available.
The study sample was purposively drawn to consist of 10 public and 10 private schools
in each of the States totaling 20 schools per State and giving a grand total sample number of 120
schools. Furthermore, from each of the 120 sample schools were drawn randomly 20 student
participants of the current SS3 students giving a total of 2,400 participants. The 120 principals
of the sample schools also participated in the study.
There research instruments included the School Identity Questionnaire (SIQ), the School
Effectiveness Questionnaire (SEQ) and, Performance Records of Students in WASSCE. The
SIQ was to measure identity, the SEQ to measure effectiveness and the Performance Records to
measure effectiveness again but by way of students’ academic performance in the West African
Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The School Identity Questionnaire (SIQ) and the School Effectiveness Questionnaire
(SEQ) were both subjected to content and construct validity. The construct validity of the SIQ
was established by correlating scores obtained from five randomly selected schools (which
were not part of the main study) to correlation analysis with scores on an adapted version of
Halpin and Croft’s Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire, OCDQ (Abari, 1994)
which is considered to be of a similar construct. Similarly, for its construct validity, scores on
the SEQ were correlated with scores on an adapted form of a school effectiveness questionnaire
(the teacher/staff version) authored by Baldwin, Coney III, Fardig and Thomas (1993). The
correlation coefficient between SIQ and OCDQ was found to be 0.94 while between the two
versions of SEQ it was 0.98.
The School Identity Questionnaire (SIQ) and the School Effectiveness Questionnaire
(SEQ) were subjected to the Split-half method of reliability and the Spearman Brown Reliability
Coefficient Correcting Factor Treatment. The reliability coefficient was found to be 0.86 for
the SIQ and 0.90 for the SEQ. The third instrument, the Records Observation, is considered
reliable and consistent having been designed to collect primary source data obtained through
the West African Examinations Council.
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Of a total of 2400 copies of the two questionnaires that were administered, 1,200 each, 11
1,112 copies or 92.7% of the SIQ were retrieved while 1000 copies or 83.3% of the SEQ were
retrieved.
The scores for the respondents in each sample school were pooled and averaged for
each variable, identity(X) and effectiveness(Y1) and then converted and rounded up to the
nearest whole percentage. The percentage of students with a credit pass in at least five subjects
including English Language and Mathematics in the School Certificate Examination in five
years, 2005 - 2009 were obtained from the records. The average of this to the nearest whole
number for each school was taken as another measure of effectiveness (Y2). The scores were
then subjected to both descriptive and statistical analysis.
Results of Research

The aggregate scores for each of the variables, organizational identity (X) and school
effectiveness (Y), with respect to public and private senior secondary schools for each of the
States that constitute South West Nigeria are as presented in Table 1. There are two separate
scores for the variable of school effectiveness as described earlier, one as obtained from the
SEQ (Y1) and the other as obtained from the Record Observation on WASSCE Results (Y2).
Table 1. Scores on Organizational Identity and Effectiveness of Public (Pu) and

Private (Pr) Senior Secondary Schools in South West Nigeria.
State X(Pu) X(Pr) Y1(Pu) Y1(Pr) Y2(Pu) Y2(Pr)

Ekiti 74. 76 84 85 16 26
Lagos 77 76 75 77 23 38
Ogun 76 80 82 83 08 33
Ondo 77 82 87 85 14 23
Osun 83 84 79 85 09 16
Oyo 92 89 82 86 08 17
Average 78 81 82 84 13 26
X= Organizational identity; Y1=School Effectiveness Questionnaire; Y2= WASSCE Results
Table 1 shows some close trend in the scores on organizational identity(X) though while
the mean is 78 for public senior secondary schools, it is higher for the private ones with a value
of 81. School Effectiveness (Y1) by the Questionnaire returns a mean of 82 for the public
and a higher mean of 84 for private senior secondary schools. From the WASSCE Results
(Y2), a mean of 13 obtained for the public secondary schools which is less than that of private
secondary schools with a mean of 26.
The Hypotheses were tested using the Pearson’s Product–Moment Correlation Co-
efficient statistical tool for Hypotheses 1 and 2, and the Analysis of Variance for Hypothesis 3.
Table 2. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Analysis of Organizational

Identity and School Effectiveness (by Questionnaire) of Public Senior
Secondary Schools in South West Nigeria.
Variables N Mean SD r- cal r-tab Decision

Organizational Identity 60 79.87 7.4435
0.046 0.275 NS
School Effectiveness 60 81.53 6.7357
NS=Correlation is not significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
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12 Table 2, indicates that there is a negligible positive and non-significant relationship

between organizational identity and public senior secondary school effectiveness with reference
to SEQ (df = 58, r= 0.046, p> 0.05). This implies that the hypothesis is accepted and there is
no significant relationship between organizational identity and public senior secondary school
effectiveness in South West Nigeria.
In a similar vein, the WASSCE results data on effectiveness were employed to also test
the hypothesis.

Identity and School Effectiveness (by WASSCE Results) of Public
Senior Secondary Schools in South West Nigeria.

Organizational Identity 79.87
60 7.4435
WASSCE Results in Public 12.8833
60 10.8066 -0.078 0.275 NS
Schools
NS=Correlation is not significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
Table 3 shows a negligibly negative and non-significant relationship between

organizational identity and school effectiveness based on WASSCE results. Thus, the hypothesis
is again accepted (df = 58, r cal -0.078, p > 0.05) and there is no significant relationship
between organizational identity and public senior secondary school effectiveness in South West
Nigeria.

Identity and School Effectiveness (by Questionnaire) of Private Sen-
ior Secondary Schools in South West Nigeria.

Organizational Identity 60 81.05 5.4506 0.260 0.275 NS
SEQ in Private School 60 83.65 6.3455
NS = Correlation is not significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
Table 4 indicates that there is a positively low and non-significant relationship between
organizational identity and school effectiveness in private senior secondary schools in South
West Nigeria (df = 58, r cal 0.260, p> 0.05). This implies that there is no significant relationship
between organizational identity and private senior secondary school effectiveness in South
West Nigeria and the hypothesis is accepted.

Identity and School Effectiveness (by WASSCE Results) of Private
Senior Secondary Schools in South West Nigeria.

Organizational Identity
60 81.05 5.4506
WASSCE Results
-0.444 0.275 *
in Private School
60 27.97 18.76
* Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
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Table 5 shows a moderate, negative and significant relationship between organizational 13

identity and school effectiveness in private senior secondary schools based on WASSCE results.
Thus, the hypothesis is not accepted (df = 58, r cal -0.444, p <0.05) and there is a significant
relationship between organizational identity and private senior secondary school effectiveness
in South West Nigeria using WASSCE results as the measure of effectiveness.
Table 6. Analysis of Variance in Organizational Identity and Effectiveness (by

Questionnaire) Between Public and Private Senior Secondary Schools
in South West Nigeria.
Sum of
df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares
Between Groups 449.483 3 149.828 3.510 2.60
Within Groups 10074.367 236 42.688
Total 10523.850 239
* Significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
Table 6 shows that a significant difference exists in the means of organizational identity
and effectiveness by Questionnaire between public and private senior secondary schools in
South West Nigeria; df = (3,236); f-cal 3.51 > f-tab 2.60, p < 0.05. This indicates that the
hypothesis is rejected.
Table 7. Analysis of Variance in Organizational Identity and School Effective-

ness (by WASSCE Results) Between Public and Private Senior Second-
ary Schools in South West Nigeria.
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Group�s 223107.283 3 74369.094 537.13 2.60
Within Group�s 32675.900 236 138.457
Total 255783.183 239
* Significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
The result shows that a significant difference exists in the means of organizational
identity and effectiveness by WASSCE results between public and private senior secondary
schools in South West Nigeria (df = (3,236); f-cal 537.13 > f-tab 2.60, p < 0.05). This indicates
that the hypothesis is also rejected.
Discussion
Results show that for public schools, organizational identity may bring about effectiveness
but does not impinge positively on students’ academic performance. This finding is in agreement
with the observation of Tanriogen, Kiran and Cobanoglu (2010) that “because organizational
identity is accepted as a strong impact on organizational processes, it is also expected to affect
school effectiveness”. However, these authors, citing Gudstafson (1995), also observe that,
even though organizational identity has so important impact on organizational effectiveness,
there is limited research on the subject matter. This still seems to be the position up till today
making this study timely and important.
Moreover, these days, public schools have increased tremendously in number including
the student population of the schools, such that one does not necessarily have to be on the
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14 look out far and beyond before securing an effective secondary school with a positive identity.
Hardly, then, can a school be singled out among the lot in a State let alone in a region more so
that the State Governments have placed every public school on the same pedestal. Thus, the
relationship between identity and effectiveness (as measured by the Questionnaire) in public
schools, becomes fragile. It is more fragile, tending to be negative, when effectiveness is looked
at from the point of view of students’ academic performance (by WASSCE Results).
Private senior secondary schools present some little difference from the results obtained
with respect to public schools. The nature of these schools (private and public) could account
for these little differences. That notwithstanding, an entirely different picture is presented
when effectiveness is measured by WASSCE Results. This result being significant, plus the
negative calculated r-value obtained, indicate that the more a school grows in identity, the
less its effectiveness in students’ academic performance and vice-versa. This further implies
that the noise that a school makes in its name through its input does not necessarily mean
that the students perform well in external examinations such as those conducted by the West
African Examinations Council. That is, the hood does not make the monk. This is mostly true of
private senior secondary schools which tend to market the schools making use of every possible
gimmick. Moreover, as observed by Moradeyo (2009), a number of the private schools are one-
shop schools masquerading under the name ‘international’ and are run by people who have no
business in educational engagement.
However, some nuisance variables such as examination malpractices which are observed
to be rampant among the private schools could be responsible for the finding of significant
negative relationship between school identity and school effectiveness in terms of WASSCE
Results.
The differences in the results between public and private schools are further expressed in
the results obtained in testing hypothesis 3. Here, the results show that significant differences
exist in organizational identity and school effectiveness between public and private senior
secondary schools even when effectiveness is measured both by the Questionnaire and the
WASSCE Results. The implication of this is that public and private senior secondary schools
differ in organizational identity as one can possibly be distinguished from the other in several
respects of the factors that constitute identity – in academic competence, co-curricular activities,
school facilities, school climate and school leadership. Public and private schools also differ
significantly in terms of their effectiveness as shown by the results. These groups of schools differ
significantly, therefore, in terms of school mission, instructional leadership, school progress,
high expectation, home-school relations and, of course, in terms of academic achievement.
Moreover, public and private schools differ in the relationship between organizational identity
and school effectiveness as could be observed from the results of the test of hypotheses 1 and 2
and as discussed in the previous paragraph.
Conclusion and Recommendations

A cursory look at the findings of the study leads to the conclusion that Organizational
Identity and Effectiveness bear some relationship to one another in public and private senior
secondary school in South West Nigeria. The strength, direction and significance of the
relationship however vary depending on the nature of the school, whether public or private. The
strength, direction and significance of the relationship also depend on the measuring instrument
for School Effectiveness, the School Effectiveness Questionnaire or WASSCE Results. From
these results of the study could also therefore be concluded that Effectiveness is a rather difficult
concept to measure and that, whereas productivity is the predominant criterion of measuring
Effectiveness, it is only just one of the desired levels of output for measuring the variable.
Thus, Effectiveness cannot be looked at from a single perspective of academic performance or
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“student achievement at a point in time but by changes in achievement over a longer period of 15
time – that is, by taking a longitudinal study” (Australian Government, 2011). In the words of
Teddie and Reynolds (2000), though “effectiveness is typically defined in terms of achievement
alone, many critics have stated that multiple criteria should be used in defining it”.
Based on the findings and conclusion of this study, it is hereby recommended as follows,
that:
1. Senior Secondary Schools should as much as possible and as soon as practicable be
allowed some degree of autonomy in order to improve upon their identity and effectiveness.
That is, they should be allowed self-exploration autonomy; every school should endeavour to
create its own identity and carve a niche for itself. This would enable the schools to develop
on their own and evoke healthy competition among them in all domains of knowledge. This
recommendation is as applicable to the public schools as it is to the private schools as proprietors
of the latter need not be over bearing on the school but allow the school to establish its own
identity.
2. Organizational Identity and School Effectiveness of schools should regularly be

analyzed and measured and, therefore, monitored for progress. This would continuously put
the schools on their toes, working hard enough to achieve school goals and objectives, and
working hard enough for identity negotiation, to develop a consistent set of behaviours that
would reinforce their identity.
3. Specific and particular attention must be paid to good students’ academic performance
which is the ultimate in any educational institution and system. In this wise, all the necessary
and needed inputs – the human, material and fiscal resources - must be made available in
quantity and quality.
4. The community, neighbourhood and old students’ associations should readily partner
with the school in the matter of identity and effectiveness as these groups of people are more or
less directly concerned with and affected by the school and its progress.
5. Governments should consider giving prospective pupils the choice of public schools
to attend. Schools are then likely to strive and struggle to create the much needed identity for
themselves, albeit, through academic excellence.
References
Abari, A. O. (1994). Communication Practices and Organizational Climates of secondary schools in

Lagos State. An Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis. Department of Educational Administration and
Planning, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
Albert, S., Whetten, D. A. (2004). Organisational Identity. In Hatch, M. J. and Schultz, M. (Eds.)
Organisational Identity: A Reader. London: Oxford University Press, 89 - 118.
Australian Government (2011). School Effectiveness. Schooling Issues Digest No 2004/1. Retrieved
March 5, 2011 from http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/publications_resource.
Baldwin, L., Coney III, F., Fardig, D. and Thomas, R. (1993). School Effectiveness Questionnaire.
Retrieved December 23, 2009 from http:docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:60bRtd404\sJ.
Cameron, K. S., Whetten, D. A. (1983). Organisational effectiveness: one model or several? In K. S.
Cameron & D. A. Whetten (Eds.), Organisational effectiveness: A comparison of multiple models.
Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Erlendsson, J. (2002). Value for money studies in higher education. Retrieved December 23, 2009 from
http://www.hi.is/w jones/eaps/wh vfmhe.htm.
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16 Gioia, D. A., Schultz, M. and Corley, K. G. (2000). Organisational identity, image, and adaptive instability.
The Academy of Management Review, 25 (1), 63-81.
Hornby, A. S. (2004). Oxford Thesaurus of English. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jeyavelu, S. (2011). The dark side of organizational identity. Retrieved March 6, 2011 from
http:74.6.238.254/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-&&p=researchers+on+organization.
Moradeyo, A. (2009). Teachers are not motivated to teach. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from http://234next.
com/csp/cms/.../teachers_are_not_motivated_to_teach csp
Nickelly, A. G. (1977). Achieving competence and fulfillment. California: Brooks/Cole Publishing
Company.
Puusa, A., Tolvanen, U. (2006). Organisational Identity and Trust. EJBO Electronic Journal of Business
Ethics and Organisation Studies, 11 (2), 29-33.
Scheerens, J. (2000). Improving school effectiveness. Retrieved December 23, 2009, from http://www.
unesco.org/iiep.
Tanriogen, A., Kiran, H., Cobanoglu, F. (2008). Teachers’
��
perception about organizational identity in
effective schools. European Educational Research Association. Retrieved March 5, 2011, from
http://www.eera-ecer.eu/ecer-programmes/conference/ecer-2010/contr.
Teddie, C., Reynolds, D. (2000). The international handbook of school effectiveness research. London:
Faliner Press Limited.
Whetten, D. A. (2006). Albert and Whetten revisited. Strengthening the concept of organizational identity.
Journal of Management Inquiry, 15, 219-234.
Advised by Laima Railienė, University of Siauliai, Lithuania
Received: January��
18, 2012 Accepted: March 08��
��
, 2012
Ayodeji Olasunkanmi Abari Dr., Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Management, Lagos State
University, Lagos, Nigeria.
Phone: +2348037222673.
E-mail: ayodejiabari@yahoo.com
Mubashir Olayiwola Babatunde Dr., Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Management, Lagos State
Mohammed University, Lagos, Nigeria.
E-mail: myuniversity@yahoo.com
Idowu Olufunke Oyetola Dr., Department of Educational Management, Lagos State University,
Lagos, Nigeria.
E-mail: funkeoyetola@yahoo.com
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higher education in a global 17
context: drivers of
top-universities’ reputation
Blanca L. Delgado-Márquez, Yaroslava

��
Bondar, Luisa Delgado-Márquez
University of Granada, Granada, Spain
E-mail: bdelgado@ugr.es, yarinka@correo.ugr.es,� luisadm@correo.ugr.es
Abstract
In global knowledge economies, the relevance of higher education has been described as more important
than ever as mediums for a wide range of cross border relationships and continuous flows of people,
information, knowledge, technologies, products and financial capital. Moreover, in a context characterized
by an increasing competition among university institutions, reputation is constantly used as a screening
mechanism of service suppliers and it provides interesting benefits to educational stakeholders, such as
faculty and students. In this sense, higher education ranking systems play a crucial role in classifying
universities according to different criteria. Henceforth, in this paper (a) focuses on those educational
institutions placed in the upper side of the hierarchy established by higher education institutions
ranking systems to (b) investigate the influence of top university institutions’ research, teaching and
internationalization on their level of corporate reputation. To address such aim, we take two datasets
from Times Higher Education Supplement ranking as basis for our analyses, i.e., the world universities
ranking and the reputation ranking. Results reveal that, while research and teaching positively influence
top universities’ reputation, internationalization does not exert a significant direct influence.
Key words: higher education institutions, internationalization, teaching, reputation, research.
Introduction
In an increasingly competitive environment, universities seek to attract prospective

students and faculty as well as to increase their levels of internationalization. Nowadays, the
huge number and variety of universities worldwide shows the need for higher education ranking
systems. University rankings simplify the complex world of higher education with regard to two
important characteristics: institutional performance and institutional reputation. A university’s
ranking position provides evidence of its academic quality, and a degree obtained from a
university with a higher ranking position is more valuable in the market, aiding students in
finding jobs after graduation (Morrish & Lee, 2011). In this sense, a higher education institution
owing high quality teaching and research and being widely recognized in the international
sphere may enjoy higher reputation levels.
A university’s excellent reputation may translate into several benefits. First, reputation
may contribute to attract top tier teachers (Lemmink, Schuijf, & Streukens, 2003). Second, it
may positively affect students’ priorities in social and academic life (e.g., their perception of
safety, life style, racial discrimination, friends and family, climate and culture, study programmes
and courses, facilities and support services, teaching quality, teaching staff and methods, and
recognition of courses) (Arambewela & Hall, 2009; Park, 2009). Additionally, a university’s
good reputation is also attractive to students (Bourke, 2000) because it is expected that such
image and prestige will create better career opportunities for them. Third, internationalization
tends to increase the permeability of established borders and respond to the demands of
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18 the dominant world educational market and, consequently, may strength higher education
institutions’ reputation.
In light of these potential benefits, universities actively engage in reputation management
and, specifically, seek to achieve high scores in reputation rankings worldwide. Consequently,
it is crucial to contribute to identify the drivers of higher education institutions’ position in such
rankings. Most of prior works have theoretically identified research and teaching as relevant
drivers of universities’ reputation from a theoretical viewpoint without considering the role of
internationalization.
Reputation of Higher Education Institutions
Concept
Reputation management requires an understanding of this construct and how various

target audiences perceive and respond to reputation (Ressler & Abratt, 2009). A considerable
number of recent articles have attempted to establish a definition for corporate reputation as (a)
assessments that multiple stakeholders make about a company’s ability to fulfil its expectations
over time (Fombrun & Van Riel, 2003), (b) a collective system of subjective beliefs among
members of a social group (Bromley, 1993, 2000, 2002), (c) collective beliefs that exist in the
organizational field about a firm’s identify and prominence (Rao, 1994), (d) media visibility and
favorability gained by a firm (Deephouse, 2000) and (e) collective representations shared in the
minds of multiple publics about an organization over time (Grunig & Hung, 2002; Yang, 2007;
Yang & Grunig, 2005). In conclusion, corporate reputation accumulates and represents the
history of a firm’s interaction with various stakeholders (Dutton & Dukerich, 1991; Freeman,
1984).
In this context it is essential to provide a precise definition of reputation for higher
education institutions that is suitable in terms of competitiveness within the education global
market. According to Van Vught (2008) the reputation can be described as the image (of quality,
influence, trustworthiness) it has in the eyes of others, i.e., the subjective reflection of the
various actions an institution undertake to create an external image. It is important to note that
the reputation of an institution and its quality may be related, but they need not be identical.�
Reputation is a combination of quality, influence and trustworthiness. For example, as Sung and
Yang (2008) state, prospective students are more likely to enrol or decide to attend a university
when they trust that institution. Increased trust is likely to influence the development of
positive experiences and evaluations, which consequently help increase quality perceptions and
generate positive word-of-mouth effects. All these aspects positively influence an institution’s
reputation.
In educational services management, concepts such as image and reputation are
extensively used as positioning instruments to influence students’ choice of a higher education
institution (Milo, Edson & Mceuen, 1989; Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001; Weissman, 1990).
Understanding the role of both variables allows a more effective use of communication and
institutional visibility techniques and, consequently, promotes the enhancement of universities’
position in university reputation ranking systems (Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001).
Influence of Research, Teaching and Internationalization
Higher education institutions are “intensely concerned with reputation and prestige”
(Geiger, 2004, p.15) to successfully operate within the educational market, where they compete
with each other constantly being compared and scored in the league tables. Thus, the behavior
of higher education institutions is motivated by the willing to increase their academic prestige
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Blanca L. DELGADO-MÁRQUEZ, Yaroslava BONDAR, Luisa DELGADO-MÁRQUEZ. Higher Education in a Global Context: Drivers of
Top-Universities’ Reputation
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and to underpin their reputation (Garvin, 1980; Brewer, Gates & Goldman, 2002). In this sense, 19
rankings function as reputation makers supporting a competition for prestige.
The competition among universities may be delimitated in terms of differentiation
(Geiger, 1996) in order to achieve a competitive advantage. According to Geiger (2004), such
competition for reputation mainly relies on two poles – faculty scholars (i.e., scientists with
relevant recognition, awards and high citation impact scores) and students’ recruitment (i.e.,
application of special assessment procedures and grant-systems). Furthermore, additional
recent studies support this idea by suggesting that university excellence has to do with quality
in teaching and research so that a certain institution may build its reputation upon these pillars
(Taylor & Braddock, 2007). This paper keeps��
in line with this prior theoretical literature and
enrich it by adding the influence that internationalization may exert on universities’ corporate
reputation. Specifically, we analyze whether certain institutional efforts carried out to promote
such differentiation (i.e. research and teaching quality as well as internationalization) lead top
universities to accumulate a certain reputation that, in turn, is translated into higher positions in
educational reputation ranking systems.
Nowadays, the environment places a tremendous value on research (creation of knowledge)
(Linton, Tierney & Walsh, 2011). According to Marginson
��
(2006), research capacity represents
an important component that is measured and scored in rankings and contributes to the image
of the institution confirming the professional profiles of staff involved and demonstrating
it through high citation position in journals of impact��
. Most students, like other members
of society, believe that universities that strongly engage in research have a better reputation
than universities with lower research outputs (Grunig, 1997). In this line, Goldberger, Mather
and Flattau (1995) state that a graduate program whose faculty actively engage in research
is likely to achieve a more favourable reputation than a less research-producing program at
another university. Thereby, research activity generates university benefits (Stephen, 1997).
Most of the institutional rankings and performance indicator systems in higher education focus
on the average quality of students and, in the process, overlook the research activities and
accomplishments of an institution. This is especially surprising given the fact that the vast
majority of research about the productivity of faculty members and academic departments has
centred on their scholarly accomplishments (Porter & Toutkoushian, 2006).
Furthermore, the reputation at international level of higher education institutions
arises not only from the relevant contribution of scholars within the research field but also
from the quality of their teaching, (Williams & Van Dyke, 2004) and involvement into the
internationalization processes. Additionally, Duczmal (2006) argues the importance of strong
academic faculty since no higher education institutions may be successful without considering
its academic teaching as key element for shaping such an university’s reputation (Mazzarol &
Soutar 2002; Soutar & Turner 2002; Veloutsou, Lewis & Paton, 2004).
In addition, this paper highlight that a key aspect in the current higher education context
characterised by a global knowledge economy is the internationalization of universities.
This hypothesis has led us to analyse the relationship between higher education reputation
and internationalization. In the 3rd Global Survey Report of the International Association
of Universities (IAU), published in September 2010, “enhancing international profile and
reputation” is identified as the third most important reason for the internationalization of higher
education institutions (Beelen, 2011). Thus, we consider that internationalization may have a
direct effect on a university’s reputation; more concretely, higher levels of internationalization
may increase the visibility of a university and, consequently, its reputation.
Focused on top-universities, Frank and Cook (1995) identify, from a theoretical
perspective, the concept of “winner-take-all market”, according to which these institutions are
searching for the best researchers, engaging the most talented students, providing innovative
facilities ensuring the internal operating processes, designing creative and up-to-date plans
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20 and programmes and, in this way, underpinning their long-lasting reputation. In this line, such
top universities put a strong emphasis on their reputation management, being aware that �� an
enhanced reputation may assist in attracting higher-quality students’ applicants, more research
funding or greater government financial support (Cyrenne & Grant, 2009).
On the basis of the previous statements, this paper poses the following hypotheses:
H1a: Research quality of a top higher education institution positively influences such
an institution’s reputation.
H1b: Teaching quality of a top higher education institution positively influences such
an institution’s reputation.
H1c: Internationalization of a top higher education institution positively influences
such an institution’s reputation.
Methodology of Research
Sample
The final sample consisted of the 50-top universities worldwide according to the World
Reputation Ranking (2011). For each university, it was gathered data about its reputation,
internationalization, research quality and teaching quality.
Measures
Reputation
Reputation is the dependent variable in the analysis. To measure universities’ reputation,

it was used the information about reputation scores published by the Times Higher Education
World Reputation Ranking. This ranking, based on the results of a worldwide survey among
experienced university academics around the world, is a measure of universities’s reputation.
Reputation scores are based on the number of times an institution was cited by survey
respondents as being “the best” in their narrow fields of expertise. Each respondent was able to
nominate a maximum of 10 institutions. The number-one ranked institution, Harvard University,
was selected most often. The scores of all the other institutions are expressed as a percentage of
Harvard’s score, set at 100.
Research quality
This variable enters our analysis as independent variable. Research quality is represented
with two items: global academic peer review and citation per faculty. Global academic peer
review is the key element of THES ranking and is based on an online survey distributed to
academics all over the world. Results are compiled based on three years responses, reaching a
total of 9386 responses in 2009. Respondents are not allowed to evaluate their own institution
nor to respond more than once (only their latest response is counted). Different weights are
applied both geographically and by discipline in order to ensure a representation as fair as
possible. The source used to assess citation per faculty is Scopus, the world’s largest abstract
and citation database of research literature (World University Rankings). Hence, the more
highly cited papers a university publishes, the stronger this university can be considered to be
in terms of research. We compiled data about research quality covering a period of eight years,
2004-2011. As a result, ��
the degree of research quality of each university is calculated as an
average of these two indicators during the last eight years.
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Teaching quality 21
Teaching quality enters our analysis as independent variable. In THES ranking, teaching
quality is measured through the students-faculty ratio. While this may not constitute a perfectly
accurate measure of teaching quality, it is the most globally available and accessible measure of
commitment to teaching. Specifically, we
��
have collected information about this variable for the
past eight years (2004-2011). The degree of teaching quality of each university is calculated as
an average of the indicator students-faculty ratio during the last eight years.
Internationalization of higher education
The variable internationalization enters our analysis as independent variable or

predictor. Values of internationalization have been obtained from the World University
Ranking, published in THES. ��
This ranking focuses on the 200 top-ranked universities. The
variable internationalization is measured through two non-subjective indicators: percentage of
international students and percentages of international staff. Since this ranking is published
annually, we have gathered information from the internationalization of universities for the past
eight years (2004-2011). The degree of internationalization of each university is calculated as
an average of the indicators of internationalization in the last eight years.
Results of Research
Provided that the dependent variable has a continuous distribution, regression analyses
(Cohen & Cohen, 1983) are used to estimate the effect of the independent variables on universities’
reputation. ��
The intercorrelations for all explanatory variables are examined using both bivariate
correlations and variance inflation factors (VIF). The former show that the intercorrelations for
all explanatory��
variables
��
are less than 0.7 (see the descriptive statistics and correlation matrix
in Table 1).��
The
��
VIF analysis reveals no sign of multicollinearity, and the VIF values of all
independent��
variables
��
range between 1.052 and 4.286, far below the acceptable upper bound of
10��
(Hair
��
et al., 2006, p. 230). Both tests suggest that the��
regression
��
estimates are not degraded
by the presence of multicollinearity.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix.
Standard
Variable Mean 1 2 3
deviation
1. Reputation of higher education institutions 20.95 23.39
2. Research quality 79.32 12.16 0.907***
3. Teaching quality 74.03 12.92 0.856*** 0.869***
4. Internationalization of higher education 58.24 26.01 0.036 0.013 0.121
†
p <0.10; * p <0.05; ** p <0.01; *** p <0.001
The results from the moderated hierarchical regression analysis are shown as Table 2.
The table reports standardized coefficients that indicate the effect that a one-standard-deviation
change in an independent variable has on the outcome variable. The model explains 83.1% of
the variance. Several conclusions may be drawn. First, there is a linear relationship between
research quality of higher education and universities’ reputation, as is borne out by the regression
results (β = 0.663, p < 0.001) . Second, the teaching quality is also positively associated with
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22 = 0.281, p < 0.05). Third, the internationalization

universities’ reputation (β of higher
education seems not to influence higher education institutions’ reputation.
Table 2. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis (dependent variable:

Reputation of higher education institutions).
Variables β t
Research quality 0.663*** 5.320
Teaching quality 0.281* 2.239
Internationalization of higher education 0.006 0.096
R 0.918
R squared 0.842
Adjusted R squared 0.831
All coefficients are standardized β weights.��
One-tailed tests of significance were used to evaluate the significance
of the beta weights for the main and moderating effects. † p <0.10; * p <0.05; ** p <0.01; *** p <0.001
Discussion
T��
he results obtained in this paper show two main aspects. ��
On the one hand, investments
in promoting better research and teaching contribute to universities’ reputation. This result
keeps in line with prior theoretical studies that had identified both variables as crucial drivers
of reputation. On the other hand, internationalization seems not influence higher education
institutions’ reputation. This result, although counterintuitive, may be due to the fact that the
international component of higher education still has little emphasis on university rankings and
the indicators used to dot accurately reflect all the variables involved in the internationalization
processes.
This work has some practical implications. In terms of graduate employability, some
researchers have noticed that, on an increasingly international labor market, employability
comes to depend more on the global status or rank of the university conferring the degree
(Montgomery & Canaan, 2004). Thus, drawing on the drivers fostering such reputation may
help top-universities decide which type of policy measures to implement. Institutions already
doing well in the rankings have sometimes used their position to justify charging high tuition
(Merola, 2006), while those doing poorly (e.g., Irish universities) have used their performance
to call for the introduction of student fees (McConnell, 2005). Therefore, undertaking actions
to promote research and teaching quality may be translated into bigger chances to charge higher
fees. Nonetheless, provided the huge heterogeneity observed worldwide, future lines of research
may find appealing to analyze
��
the extent to which the institutional context (i.e. economic,
political or cultural) may foster or hinder universities’ ability to strengthen their reputation.
Conclusion
In the global knowledge economy, t��

he continuous and increasing competition among
higher education institutions has lead universities to undertake additional efforts to offer the
best products and services. The perception that universities increasingly compete for both
students and private sources of funding has encouraged these educational institutions to provide
greater information on their institutional performance (Cyrenne & Grant, 2009). In this sense,
t��
he classification of university institutions helps harmonize and normalize the world market of
education according to different criteria (Marginson, 2006, 2007).
The achievement of a solid corporate reputation, reflected through distinguished positions
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in university ranking systems, plays a crucial role and provides several benefits to educational 23
stakeholders. As a consequence, it is of great importance to identify the main drivers justifying
such a reputation. In this paper, the investigation is focused on whether top-universities’
institutional performance in terms of research, teaching and internationalization influence such
institutions’ reputation.
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Advised by Maksim Belitski, Loughborough

��
University, United Kingdom
��
, 2012
Blanca L. Delgado-Márquez PhD in Economics, Assistant Professor, Department of International and

Spanish Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Campus de
Cartuja s/n, E-18071, Granada, Spain.
E-mail: bdelgado@ugr.es
Yaroslava Bondar MsC in Business and Economics, PhD Student, Department of Manage-
ment and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, Campus de
E-mail: yarinka@correo.ugr.es
Luisa Delgado-Márquez MsC in Business and Economics, PhD Student, Department of Manage-
ment and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, Campus de
E-mail: luisadm@correo.ugr.es
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26
FLEXIBLE EXAMINATION as A PATHWAY
TO LEARNING
Peter Diedrichs, Berit Willen Lundgren, Peter Karlsudd

Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden
E-mail: peter.diedrichs@lnu.se, berit.willen.lundgren@lnu.se, peter.karlsudd@lnu.se
Abstract
Previous research in the field of educational development has highlighted the importance of examination
in the learning process. In most educational contexts tests and grades are the most important influences
on the students’ learning strategies. A well planned examination strategy is seen as contributing to better
learning. A test of flexible examination forms was carried out in the Linnaeus University’s teacher training
program in Sweden. During a course in special needs education, 119 teacher trainees were given the
opportunity to choose examination method at the start of the course. They were able to choose between
four different examination methods and were in addition allowed to propose their own examination
method.
After the students had been examined they completed an evaluation on their newly acquired and previous
examination experience and with the key question being which form of examination was most beneficial
to the learning process.
The results show that even if the students saw examination as an opportunity for learning and appreciated
the option of freely choosing examination method, they did not choose the examination form according to
its benefit for the learning process. On the contrary they chose the examination form that they expected
to be the easiest path towards high grades.
Key words: assessment, assessment system, examination, flexible examination, learning process.
Introduction
Significant research in the educational research field demonstrates that examination and
assessment are of decisive importance for people’s conscious as well as unconscious strategies
for their own learning (Marton, Dahlgren, Svensson & Säljö, 1999; Light & Cox, 2001). A
carefully chosen examination method may be expected to lead to a better learning quality, while
the “wrong” kind of examination often has the opposite effect.
If students perceive that their learning will be measured in terms of reproducing facts or
implementing memorised procedures and formulae, they will adopt approaches that prevent
understanding from being reached (Ramsden, 2003, p. 177).
In order to assess the value of different educational efforts it is necessary to study the
terms, forms and results of the examination that has been implemented. It is well known that
examinations have a significant effect, since they may be said to constitute part of the “hidden”
program or course syllabus. Examinations carry a great influence on how students plan their
learning strategy. If the student only looks upon examination as “something to get through”,
there is a danger of acquiring superficial learning without any real understanding (Marton,
Dahlgren, Svensson & Säljö, 1999). It is not the examination form alone that affects students’
learning strategies, but above all the way examination requirements are formulated.
As regards aspects that are relevant to effective examination Pittaway, Hannon, Gibb and
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Thompson (2009) have compiled nine important starting points for developing the effectiveness 27
of examination and assessment.
1) Assessment should be valid, reliable and consistent. 2) The purpose of assessment should be
clearly explained. 3) The amount should be appropriate. 4) The criteria should be understandable,
explicit and transparent. 5) Assessment should be based on understanding of how students learn.
6) It should accommodate individual differences in students. 7) Assessment procedures should
allow students to receive feedback on their learning. 8) Assessment should allow students with
opportunities to reflect on their practice and their learning. 9) Assessment should be an integral
component of course designs. (Pittaway, L., Hannon, P., Gibb, A. & Thompson, J., 2009, p.74)
It is also essential that students are given the opportunity to express themselves and
exercise creativity on the basis of their own background and knowledge at the examination, or
there is a risk that they have the feeling of being subjected to a control system (Light & Cox,
2001).
There are different methods for checking knowledge. Oral tests may be a reliable but
resource-intensive way of measuring student knowledge, as they provide the opportunity to
ask far-reaching and knowledge-checking questions (Wass, Wakeford, Neighbour & Van der
Vleuten, 2003). Another way of examining and simultaneously saving resources in the long run
is to use web-based multiple-choice questions on certain parts of the course content (Nevid &
Mahon, 2009.) A central element which seems to recur in research on learning and examination
is the importance of working in groups where students test their own mental models against those
of the other group members (Merril & Gilbert. 2008). Giving expression to great expectations
and respecting students’ different abilities and learning styles are other important elements
in effective examining (Chickering & Gamson, 1987). Constructive criticism of students’
examination is a good way of raising educational quality (Dysthe, 2007). Unfortunately, the
feedback is often limited to an aggregate grade expressed as a value on a set scale.
Peer assessment may be a method whereby students become a resource for assessing
each other’s work. The character of peer assessment may be either formative or summative for
the purpose of encouraging students and contributing to learning in greater depth (Li, Liu &
Steckelberg, 2010). Studies have shown that peer assessment, for instance in connection with
essay writing, is as effective as teacher assessment. This means that students may well participate
in assessment together with an examiner (Jokela, & Karlsudd, 2007; Karlsudd, 2010).
Even though an examination may take different shapes, the requirements must be the
same for all examinees. They include bringing to light the knowledge and skills the examinee
possesses. The form of the examination is a matter of how its practical implementation may
stimulate and pave the way to qualitative learning strategies and a good learning process for
each individual on the basis of his or her own needs and qualifications.
Anchoring examination requirements in educational theories, goal statements and course
literature may reinforce the academic approach. Ramsden (1998) identified four different
categories of study orientation: meaning orientation, reproductive orientation, strategic
orientation and non-academic orientation. A desirable effect of making students choose their own
examination method is that a higher degree of meaning-oriented motivation and commitment
may be achieved. Bloom’s (Anderson, Krathwohl, 2001) revised taxonomy defines increasing
quality degrees of knowledge and the ability to use these within a subject or field. The three
top steps of analyzing, evaluating and creating are all to be found in the meaning-oriented field.
Similarly, Biggs and Collis (1982) in the so-called Structure of Observed Learning Outcome
(SOLO) taxonomy use five levels of understanding to describe and evaluate learning outcome.
Here the most qualitative learning appears at the extended abstract level, which means the
endeavour to reach a wider and deeper context. In the project described in this article the focus
was on reinforcing learning objectives and examining towards the higher levels formulated
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28 in the taxonomies described above. Maslow’s (1970) theories on the hierarchy of needs are
strongly connected with the levels of understanding and knowledge previously referred to.
Hence, security and self-realization become relevant concepts for analysis and discussion.
Research Problem
The primary aim of this study was to give all students influence over their learning and
examination in order to achieve higher learning quality. Student influence is a right formulated
in the Swedish 1993 Higher Education Act, where the right of functionally disabled students
to choose alternative examination forms is also emphasized. The study conducted after the
implementation of the project formulated two research questions:
• How do teacher students look upon their own assessment and examination?
• How do students act on the basis of their view of examinations if they are given the
opportunity to choose examination form?
Research Methodology
General Background of Research
The flexible examination form project was conducted during a five-week teacher educator
course in special needs education. The course content dealt with current special needs education
research and different dysfunctions, a large part of the content giving support to positioning the
participants’ own fundamental values. The focus was not on detailed knowledge and facts. At
the beginning of the course students were given the choice between five different examination
forms, the fifth of which offered space for designing their own examination in consultation with
the course management and the examiner.
After all teacher students had completed the examination they were requested to answer
a questionnaire about their view of the individually chosen examination. The questionnaire
included questions on which examination forms had prevailed in their education and what
learning situations the students considered especially beneficial. Further questions were asked
about their view of grading, the motivation behind the choice of examination as well as requests
concerning future examinations.
Sample
The student group in the course where the test was performed consisted in all of 146
teacher trainees, 119 (82 %) of whom answered the questionnaire. The sample was representative
of the teacher training program regarding gender and teaching alignment, since the course was
obligatory for all teacher trainees. The students were informed about the study when the course
started. The questionnaire was sent by email to the students’ university email addresses after
the course was finished. The survey system, WebSurvey, kept track of which students had
completed the questionnaire, and two reminders were sent out to the students who had not
answered. It was emphasized that the survey was anonymous. There is nothing to indicate that
the students who did not answer the questionnaire would in any essential respect differ from
those who did, other than that they did not want to or could not find the time to participate, were
ill or that they did not read their student mail.
These were the five examination methods the students were able to choose between:
• A popular scientific article posted in a discussion forum, with opposition within the
forum.
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• Synchronous oral presentation, either face-to-face or via video conference. 29

• Asynchronous oral presentation. An audio file posted in a discussion forum, with
opposition according to the same principle.
• Written examination.
• Individually constructed examination.
The grading criteria were the same for each examination method.
Research Results
Students’ Previous Examination Experience
More than half (56 %) of the students stated take-home examination as the most frequent
examination form in the teacher training program. After this came written examination (24
%), oral presentation (18 %) and lastly “other” examination method (2 %). The majority of the
respondents (72 %) thought that the examinations they had taken part in during their training
had managed to give a good or very good picture of their competence within the field examined.
A minor part (18 %) did not share this view. Nearly half (47 %) the students stated that they
regarded examinations primarily as part of the learning process, whereas about a fourth (26 %)
looked on examinations chiefly as knowledge assessment. Some viewed it as an opportunity to
show themselves and others what they were able to perform (27 %).
What Activities Have Meant the Most for Student Learning?
The students were requested to rank the “learning value” they had experienced from a
number of different activities during their training. Group discussion with a teacher leading
the seminar was the activity appreciated the most by the students (rank1) followed by group
discussion without a teacher (rank2). The learning activities coming next were taking part
in plenary lectures (rank3) and seminars (rank4). Writing papers (rank5) and reading course
literature (rank6) were activities given the lowest learning value.
The examination method that had so far been the most common during their training,
take-home examination, which meant reading literature and writing papers, was thus one of the
activities to which the students at large ascribed the lowest learning value. Group discussions
were considered as having the highest learning value, which strengthens the motivation for oral
examinations.
Students’ View of Grades
The students were asked about their general attitude to grades. Close to a third (30 %)
were clearly positive to grades, while a bare fifth (18 %) were negative. Nearly a third (31 %)
of the respondents maintained that grades are a good measure of student knowledge. Half (51
%) of the students who were positive to grades were negative to grading scales and only a third
(33 %) were in favour. Others expressed uncertainty on this question.
Student Experiences of the Experiment
Nearly all of the students who took part and answered the questionnaire were positive to
the test (98 %). Quite a few considered it fairer to be allowed to choose one’s own examination
form, while others thought it might be beneficial to choose a form of expression on which
one could practise. There were many who appreciated the variation and also thought that the
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30 freedom of choice increased motivation. One student told about her whiplash injury and the
way she felt that the chance of choosing examination method put her on an equal footing with
her fellow students.
In spite of positive reactions to the flexible examination experiment, there were also
critical comments. Some were of the opinion that the teachers in the course should be best
suited to determine which examination form would be appropriate for the course content and for
pushing the learning process in the right direction. This is illustrated by the below quotation:
“The course management does not take the expected responsibility for students’ learning. If, for
example, the course management considers a written examination to be the best in the learning
process or for “checking”, this should be it. If another oral/written form is the best, this should
be chosen. We can’t be responsible for achieving a good variation of examination forms, since we
may then risk rejecting the choice we might need the most in our development.”
Which Examination Forms Did the Students Choose and Why?
When the students chose examination form during the experiment they still made a
traditional choice. Nearly three fourths (72 %) chose to write a popular scientific article, which
is the alternative offered that resembles a take-home examination the most. Only two students
(2 %) preferred to formulate their own examination task.
When the students were asked why they chose the way they did, 67 % stated that the
chosen examination form suited them the best, while 15 % claimed that it was most appropriate
to the task. Only 17 % stated that their choice of examination task was to make it feel like a
challenge. The table below (Table 1) is a summary of student choices and motivations.
Table 1. A comparison of how the students thought and how they chose.
Which examina-
With which ex- tion form the
Which examination amination form students thought
form the students the students would be the fair- Examination form
regarded as a thought it would est in relation to chosen by the stu-
challenge and/or a be easier to their knowledge dents in the course
chance to develop reach a higher and/or increase
grade the chance of a
fair assessment
% % % %
Popular scientific article 8 33 39 72
Oral on-campus pres-
42 15 17 10
entation
Audiofile posted in a
50 4 3 8
forum
Written examination 0 13 9 8
Individual suggestion 0 5 3 2
Don’t know 0 30 29 0
Several student comments included criticism of written examinations, as illustrated by

the following:
It doesn’t feel as if it provides a fair assessment. It benefits those who have a good memory and
know how to learn things by heart. Personally, I think there are a lot of students who learn for the
test and then just forget everything.
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On the question whether the students supposed that the course management preferred a 31
certain examination form 76 % answered that they did not think so. The students were also asked
whether they believed that teachers in general preferred assessing some specific examination
form. Almost half of them (43 %) answered “written examination”, while no one answered
“their own suggested examination”.
Students’ Examination Requests
The students were encouraged to describe how they would like to be examined in the
different modules in their training. More than half of the students (62 %) wanted to choose
their own examination form. The main reasons were to encourage different learning styles, to
increase motivation and participation as well as a fairer assessment of students with functional
disabilities. This would also entail that those with functional disabilities might avoid feeling
exceptionally treated or looked upon as privileged in the examination. About a fourth (26 %)
wanted varied examination forms during their training although thinking that the teacher should
decide which examination form was suitable for the specific course. Some of the students (12
%) wished to be examined continuously in dialogue with the teacher.
Discussion
The results of the study demonstrate that nearly half (47 %) of the students regard the
examination primarily as a learning opportunity and as part of the learning process. Previous
research has shown that students adapt their study strategy to the design of each individual
course. This study confirms that students rank the learning value differently depending on what
activities and examination forms occur in the course. If it is possible to create a course where
learning and examination aim at a high learning value, students will adopt strategies oriented
towards in-depth learning.
The different learning value the students participating in the study attributed to different
types of exercises shows a tendency towards suggesting that greater interactivity in the exercises
would have a positive impact on the learning value. If those examination forms which the
students considered a challenge or chance for their development are taken into consideration,
there is a strong indication that examination forms with low interaction – written examinations
and popular scientific articles (in comparison with take-home examination) – would entail less
student commitment, while oral presentations and interactive exercises would lead to higher
commitment and orientation towards in-depth learning.
Students Expressed One Thing but Did Another
The study shows great discrepancy between what students expressed and what they
actually did. When they were asked to assess learning values to different exercises/learning
activities, “taking part in teacher-led group discussions” obtained the highest value, while
“doing a take-home examination” received the second lowest value. Still, nearly three fourths
(72 %) of the students chose to write a popular scientific article (which may be compared to
a take-home examination), while only a few (10 %) chose oral presentation (comparable to a
teacher-led group discussion). When the students were asked to describe to what extent they
looked upon their chosen examination form as a “challenge”, only a handful (12 %) answered
in the affirmative. Students consequently view examinations as an essential part of the learning
process, but still choose the examination form to which they have attributed the lowest learning
value. This might be linked to aspects like anxiety or stress at the thought of not being able to
pass a more challenging examination form and instead going for a safer choice.
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32 Self-realization or Survival Strategy
According to Maslow (1970), we strive towards self-realization. After receiving an

understanding of the field we are interested in we take it to a new level where we can be creative
and add new experience to the field. Before we reach as far as developing a field ourselves,
certain basic conditions have to be met. First of all, these conditions include security or, perhaps
more adequately, some degree of “peace and quiet”. If the field makes us feel uncertain, we are
not ready to contribute anything to it. If we feel stress, we try to tread as safely as possible. We
acquire a reproductive or strategic study orientation that mainly leads to short-term learning.
A big final examination in a course may be experienced as a “Grand Finale”. For students who
feel secure this might be an exciting finale or something quite undramatic, but for those feeling
less secure it may instead appear as a threatening obstacle that needs to be overcome. The focus
will then be on passing, instead of acquiring real learning and understanding of something at a
deeper level. Could eligible examination methods then be a way of cultivating security? A great
many comments made by students in the study suggest that this may be the case. On the other
hand, there were students who claimed that the course management was best suited for deciding
the most appropriate examination form.
Chickering & Gamson (1987) emphasize the value of giving expression to great
expectations – in this case, letting the students choose their own examination form – and
respecting students’ different abilities and learning styles. Wass et al (2003) points to the value
of oral tests, and the students in the study ranked learning activities in that manner as best from
a learning perspective. Still few of the students chose that kind of examination. One conclusion
is that it might be a bad idea to allow students to choose how to be examined since in the study
their choice did not agree with the way they thought they would learn best. It may also be the
case that one of the chief tasks of the teacher is to try to motivate and facilitate for students to
challenge themselves in their choices.
It should be highlighted that the students did not shy away from peer assessment. 80 % of
the students chose examination forms involving written or oral opposition. According to Jokela
& Karlsudd (2007; Karlsudd, 2010) this is an assessment form as effective as teacher assessment
and may be designed to encourage in-depth learning (Li, Liu & Steckelberg, 2010).
An interesting question is how students react when they are made aware of the discrepancy
between their views on different examination forms and the way they act according to their
views, judging by this study. Will they make a “wiser and more correct” choice with a view
to reinforce the learning process? It might be an idea to repeat the experiment with a new
cohort of students and then present the result of the current study before these students make
their choice of examination form. Perhaps by raising their awareness students will make a
choice that agrees better with their views. Will students’ learning process, their results and their
professional development benefit if they are forced to submit to certain examination forms, or
is freedom of choice preferable?
Conclusions
It is stated in the study that students, in spite of their expressed insights into the
possibilities of examinations, still do not always make the “right” choice. Therefore it is
important that students are made aware of the positive effects of overcoming resistance and
challenging themselves.
Educational research has shown (Marton, Hounsell & Entwistle, 1998; Ramsden, 1998,
2003) that the learner benefits from reflecting on her own learning processes, including the
study strategies and the directions taken and learning objectives accepted. Still, from this study
it seems as if there is no reflection on how the choice of “right” examination form would benefit
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the individual teacher trainee’s own learning, and that the opportunity to choose examination 33
form is usually strategic in other aspects. Even those educational theories on which the teacher
trainees may be examined on this very occasion may turn into isolated theories which the
students forget to apply to themselves.
Reflection thus needs to permeate every single element in a course, so that it will not be
forgotten or discarded for some kind of “practical survival strategies” with simple solutions that
may entail less beneficial learning processes. It is a matter for teachers to set aside more time
to underline the importance played by the examination in the learning process, to make visible
their interest in students’ development and to challenge students to reflect on their choices.
References
Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., (Eds.) (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A
Revision of Bloom‘s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman
Biggs, J. B., Collis, K. (1982). Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy. New York,
Academic Press.
Chickering, W. A., & Gamson, F. Z. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education.
American Association of Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), 2-6.
Dysthe, O. (2007). How a reform affects writing in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 32
(2), 237-252.
Jokela, P., & Karlsudd, P. (2007). Thesis web dialogue. European Journal of Open Distance and E-
Learning, 1 (1).
Karlsudd, P. (2010). Assessing essays to develop writing. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 25
(25), 67-76.
Li, L., Liu, X., & Steckelberg, A. L. (2010). ��
Assessor or assessee: How student learning improves by
giving and receiving peer feedback. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41 (3), 525-536.
Light, D., Cox, R. (2001). Learning & Teaching in Higher Education. Gateshead: Paul Chapman
Publishing.
Marton, F., Dahlgren, L. O., Svensson, L., Säljö, R. (1999). Inlärning och omvärldsuppfattning. Värnamo:
Prisma.
Marton, F., Hounsell, D., Entwistle, N. (1998). Hur vi lär. Kristianstad: Rabén Prisma. Second
��
edition.
Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row.
Merrill, M. D., & Gilbert, C. G. (2008). ��
Effective peer interaction in a problem-centered instructional
strategy. Distance Education, 29 (2), 199–207.
Nevid, J. S., & Mahon, K. (2009). Methods
��
and techniques. Master quizzing as a signaling device to cue
attention to lecture material. Teaching of Psychology, 36 (1), 29-32.
Pittaway, L., Hannon, P., Gibb, A., Thompson, J. (2009). Assessment practice in enterprise education.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 15 (1), 71-93.
Ramsden, P. (1998). Inlärningens sammanhang. In Marton, F., Hounsell, D. & Entwistle, N. (Eds.). Hur
vi lär. Kristianstad: Rabén & Sjögren.
Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. Oxon: RoutledgeFarmer.
Wass,V., Wakeford, R., Neighbour, R., Van der Vleuten, C. (2003). Achieving
��
acceptable reliability in oral
examinations: an analysis of the Royal College of General Practitioners membership examination’s
oral component. Medical Education, 37 (2), 126-131.
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34 Advised by Vincentas Lamanauskas, University of Siauliai, Lithuania
Received: January 22, 2012 Accepted: March 06, 2012
Peter Diedrichs Bachelor of Science, Lecturer, Linnaeus University, SE-391 82 Kalmar,

Sweden.
E-mail: peter.diedrichs@lnu.se
Website: http://lnu.se/
Berit Willen Lundgren Master of Science, Lecturer, Linnaeus University, SE-391 82 Kalmar,
Sweden.
E-mail: berit.willen.lundgren@lnu.se
Website: http://lnu.se/
Peter Karlsudd Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Linnaeus University, SE-391 82

Kalmar, Sweden.
E-mail: peter.karlsudd@lnu.se
Website: http://lnu.se/employee/peter.karlsudd?l=en
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Failed innovation implementation 35
in teacher education: a case

Analysis
Eva Dobozy
Curtin University, Perth, Australia
E-mail: Eva.Dobozy@curtin.edu.au
Abstract
The global call for teacher quality improvement and numerous accounts of resistance to education reform
at all levels of the education system brings to the forefront the tension between rhetoric and reality. This
case study reports on a failed innovation attempt, which was based on the need for a signature pedagogy
in Australian teacher education that better prepares beginning teachers for the demands of flexible,
student-centred learning design. To assist teacher education students’ development of deep learning
engagement, which is a pre-condition for the acquisition of 21st century knowledge, skills and learning
attitudes, we need to better understand resistance behaviour. The reported reserach illustrates how the
learning-centric teaching design was unable to engage ‘consumer students’ in deep learning experiences
due to heightened negative emotion experienced by a great number of students. The provision of this
illustrative practical example of innovation failure has the potential to make apparent how students’ ‘out-
of-comfort-zone’ behaviour and resistance to change from transmission education practices to social
constructivist approaches will need to be managed.
Key words: 21st century learning goals, inquiry-based learning, student resistance.
Introduction
The current global push for 21st Century knowledge and skills development is clearly
visible. The restructuring of higher education offerings, irrespective of the discipline area,
pertain to a greater focus on creative thinking and problem solving capabilities of graduates
(Edith Cowan University, 2012; University of Glasgow, 2012; University of Western Australia,
2012). The move towards a new paradigm in Higher Education teaching and learning that is
focused more on the development of transdiciplinary creative and critical thinking capabilities in
students rather than on discipline specific foundational knowledge transmission, demands an all-
round different mindset of educators and students. Breaking the cycle of traditional knowledge
production is, however, not an easy undertaking (Adelman, 2009; Kelly, 2008). This global
trend in higher education teaching and learning has repercussions for initial teacher training
and teacher professional development. Teachers and students at all levels of the education
system will need to understand the value of the new teaching and learning paradigm and show
willingness and ability to perform well within a changed education environment. Hence, this
case study reports on a failed innovation implementation in an attempt to better understand
the obstacles on the road to teacher quality improvement and the development of a signature
pedagogy in Australian teacher education, which will better align to 21st Century learning goals
increasingly stipulated (Rowe, 2003; Viilo, Seitamaa-Hakkarainen & Hakkarainen, 2011).
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36 Background to the Problem
Innovative educational practices that support the development of new capabilities of

graduate students (Scheurer, Loll, Niels & McLaren, 2010) and surfacing “stumbling blocks
on the road to innovation implementation” (Klein & Knight, 2005, p. 244) need to be analysed
and documented. The implementation of learning that promotes the development of general
capabilities and deep learning approaches in students is at the centre of the paradigmatic
changes (Amalathas, 2010). T��
here is consensus that inquiry-based learning (IBL) models are
providing students with opportunities to experience an immersive environment where practices
of traditional ‘knowledge transfer’ approaches are becoming less important and instead the co-
production of knowledge is valued (��
Murdoch-Eaton & Whittle, 2012)��
. In other words: “When
students don’t need to rely on lecturers as the principal sources of subject knowledge, with
the ready availability of electronic means of sourcing information becoming ubiquitous, it is
inevitable that teaching and learning in universities must change radically” (Nygaard, Courtney
& Hotham, 2011, p. ix).
Nevertheless, the widespread implementation of IBL in Australian teacher education and
subsequently in school education has not yet been achieved. So, what are the “obstacles that
defeated earlier calls for reform” (Calder, 2006, p. 1359) that are in the way of greater uptake of
student-centric learning and teaching practices? Why is teacher education unable to embrace, to
a greater extent, the opportunities that reform ideas provide? Lee Shulman (2005) notes: “The
first problem that I see in teacher education is the incredible uncertainty of the pedagogical
models of practice” (p. 16). This view is echoed by Robert Slavin (2008), who contends:
The practice of education today is at much the same pre-scientific point as medicine was a hundred
years ago. We have much knowledge in education, and educators do occasionally pay attention to
it, as physicians did in 1907. … As a result, important decisions about educational programs are
likely to be made based on slick marketing, misleading demonstrations, word of mouth, tradition
and politics. (Slavin, 2008, p. 2).
The tension between traditionalists, arguing for a return to the ‘teaching of basics‘ in a
‘traditional’ didactic manner and the non-traditionalists, insisting on a broader, outcomes-focused
and inquiry-based education, is clearly established in Australia (Donnelly, 2007). Whereas
traditionalists insist on teacher-directed and content-focused teaching and learning approaches,
providing students with well-structured ‘bite-sized’ tasks (Donnelly, 2007), reformists argue
that IBL approaches that have a skills-development focus are favourable because they provide
students with an opportunity to be active and engaged learners (��
Murdoch-Eaton & Whittle,
2012)��
. Such guiding pedagogical practice provides a need to work in collaboration on real-
world and complex problems, rich and varied online and print-based resources and encounter
opportunities for creative and innovative inquiry, collaboration and debate (Errington, 2009;
Kuhn, 2007; Paul, 2008).
Key Tenets of Sociocultural Theory
Sociocultural theory’s primary intention is to capture the context, action and motives
of events and the resulting interaction between individual learners and the environment,
focusing on the interplay between individual experiences within a community of practice
(Lave & Wenger, 1991). The forefathers of sociocultural research and learning theory, such
as Lev Vygotsky (1978), Jerome Bruner (1990), and John Dewey (1916/2010) point out that
learners have a central role in shaping the learning processes and outcomes of formal education.
The way learners choose to interact with the activity and each other will shape individual and
collective knowledge production. Hence, as learners bring their unique histories, perspectives
and learning goals to a set activity, their individual experiences is expected to differ markedly,
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depending on personal and professional histories, social, cultural and physical factors (Wertsch, 37
1985).
In the case of the present learning and research context, students who were already in
possession of an arts-based or science-based Bachelor degree and opted to become primary
school teachers, were eligible to enrol in a one-year conversion course. They would receive a
Graduate Diploma of Teaching degree after successful completion of all degree requirements.
These learners with transdiciplinary backgrounds and extensive university learning experiences,
participated in various social studies specific, collaborative learning activities. As they did so,
they engaged in complex relationships with each other and the set tasks, negotiating meaning,
but most importantly, they judged the value adding nature of the learning and assessment
activities and acted accordingly.
Empirical research studies in the field of education are commonly conducted employing
a sociocultural perspective, which mostly utilise qualitative research methods (Norton, 2009),
precisely because the researchers are concerned with documenting and interpreting the primacy
of learner variables in the context of pedagogical activities.
Research Methodology
Case research is a frequently used qualitative method in education, investigating the

implementation success of new methods and learning designs (Yin, 2009). Seeking an in-depth
understanding of the failed implementation of IBL, a case study was conducted of the one
particular teacher education unit. All of the data sources for the present study were readily
available, such as unit documents and electronic end-of-semester unit evaluations. These
data sources complemented each other and the triangulation of the information sources and
methods provided a measure of rigor, enhancing validity and reliability of the findings (Patton,
1990; Yin, 2009). Nevertheless, as with all qualitative research designs, this case study was
less concerned with representativeness, than with the identification and reporting of emerging
topics and themes pertaining to the failed innovation implementation in teacher education, with
a view to inform future implementations of IBL models. Therefore, the case study may be of
wider significance (Carlopio, 2009), even if no claim to generalisability can be made.
On the outset of the unit and the call for research participants, the deeply constructivist
epistemology and beliefs in the benefits of social constructivist learning approaches was shared
with students and tutoring staff. The author and researcher was also the unit coordinator, lecturer,
and one of three tutors of the unit. As such, the author had optimal insight into the teaching and
learning culture prevalent in the School of Education at the university, which is not the author’s
current place of employment. The data was analysed using a classic grounded theory approach,
following Glaser and Holton (2004). Classic grounded theory is “a highly structured but
eminently flexible methodology ... forming an integrated methodological ‘whole’ that enables
the emergence of conceptual theory” (Glaser & Holton, 2004, p. 3). To better understand some
of ‘the stumbling blocks’ towards the implementation of a signature pedagogy informed by
sociocultural theory, it was important to investigate the idiosyncratic ways meaning about the
unit was constructed and value was ascribed to IBL pedagogy. Hence, this report explores how
the graduate diploma teacher education students with different kinds of competencies, goals,
attitudes and possibilities to partake in learning and assessment activities, actually constructed
and evaluated their learning experiences.
The Case Study Context
The 2010 cohort of graduate diploma teacher education students (n=257) at a local
Western Australian university commencing the compulsory social studies unit in August were
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38 predominantly female and graduates from Western Australian universities. They were thus
familiar and comfortable with traditional university teaching and learning approaches, which
are more often than not content-heavy and teacher-centric. This unit presented their first formal
encounter with IBL with the specific aim to develop 21st Century knowledge and skills, which
are often referred to as generic skills or graduate attributes (Murdoch-Eaton & Whittle, 2012). In
the past, students enrolled in this social studies unit received lectures on the nature and purpose
of IBL, which was perceived by the author as an oxymoron and in great need of change.
The purpose of the social studies unit, which formed the context of the case study, was
for graduate diploma teacher education students to be inducted into the teaching of history,
geography and civics, through inquiry-based learning approaches. The learning design
consisted of scenario-based learning and assessment tasks enabling deep engagement with
civics and citizenship topics, general societal issues and topic from history and geography.
To reflect the IBL approach, the students were presented with a typical learning dilemma,
assigned competency-based learning groups and asked to engage in regular face-to-face
and online learning conversations. The students were provided with extensive guidance and
scaffolding in form of task description. Templates, detailed assessment rubrics and worked
examples (assignment work completed by previous students with comments). The learning
design provided the potential for extensive peer-to-peer collaboration through the use of
Blackboard, the university’s course management system (CMS) and LAMS (a learning activity
management system developed by Macquarie University, Sydney), which provided an ideal
mashup environment for learning. This learning design demanded a new way of working,
compelling students to engage deeply with the learning content and each other in an effort to
complete the various learning and assignment activities of the unit.
The Case Study Design
Students who completed all requirements of the above-mentioned unit were invited to
participate in the study. There was no requirement to submit to in-depth interviews or complete
questionnaires. Instead, students simply had to agree to have their end-of-semester unit
evaluations analysed, which were submitted anonymously to a centralised system. The unit
obtained university ethics approval for the case study and a total of 135 student responses were
analysed.
The student data is presented in narrative form. As outlined above, the analysis is
provided from a sociocultural theory perspective and a deep appreciation of constructivist and
transformative learning experiences. The role of the analyst in qualitative work involves the
balancing of the importance of detailed accounts directly drawing upon the ideas and words
of participants, with the need to produce a coherent and logically flowing report. Hence, the
research data is represented as themed vignettes, synthesising the information provided by
different participants into a unique story or vignette. No names are used in the paper. This
approach provided protection of participant identities and made possible the reproduction of
verbatim comments of actions and emotions of participants.
Results of Research
The themed vignettes of embodied experiences are a synthesis of multiple, but similar
views expressed by student. Throughout the reconstruction of views, a deliberate attempt was
made to use actual verbatim accounts of experiences and perceptions. The vignettes commence
with a collage of responses to the question: What was the best aspect of this unit? This is
contrasted with responses to the question: What improvements to the unit can you suggest?
Many comments that were not conducive to the present discussion, such as “the lecture times
were too early”, “the readings were good”, or “I disliked/liked the online learning in LAMS”,
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were excluded from this analysis. Tables one to three organise the student comments into themes 39
and order them into positive and/or critical or negative comments.
Table 1. Peer-to-peer collaboration and support.
Vignette
Positive Comments
No
The collaborative learning approach was good, it felt good working as part of a group. The need to work
V 1: with others was the best aspect of this unit. I got to know some really nice people (Student Comments
#3, #8, #49)
When doing collaborative group work with a difficult task ahead, you need people who reflect the same
V 2:
work ethics as you do. They can support you during difficult times (Student Comment # 57; #97; # 109)
Critical/Negative Comments
There was too much group work, while this is a great reflection on collaborative learning, it doesn’t really
V 3: work. Students who have jobs, families, children and other commitments find it extremely difficult to
coordinate these demands. (Student Comments, # 14; # 41)
Table 2. Constructivist teaching and learning.
Vignette
No Positive Comments
The inquiry-based learning and teaching although daunting, was very beneficial for me. It made me
think a lot and I’ve learned to work better as part of a team. The content and way of working in this
V 4:
unit really challenged me to understand and comprehend knowledge, because of this, I found that I
gained a lot more from this unit than others (Student Comments # 45, # 83, # 91)
I believe in the inquiry learning process. It is definitely of was of value and I enjoyed the work, putting
V 5:
inquiry learning to the test. (Student Comment # 32; #107)
This type of working was interesting, but very time consuming. I didn’t think it would be of value, but
thinking about it, I can see how I can use this in my own classroom. Its focus on being able to justify
V 6: and elaborate on one’s on opinion in a discussion setting was the best thing. I like a challenging
assignment. It is good for us, making us talk to each other and problem solve successfully. (Student
Comment # 74; #94)
Critical/Negative Comments
Inquiry-based learning is a great waste of time. I hate it! Unfortunately, this unit was such a struggle
for me in many aspects. I found that there was too much relevant content to learn and not sufficient
V 7:
time to gain an understanding of this. (Student Comments #76, #92,)
The way inquiry-based learning was taught was confusing and not explained well enough to fully
V 8: understand what was asked of us. I’m not sure if this was due to the tutorial teacher not fully under-
standing the stuff or because they were trying to focus on our critical thinking skills. (#32; #113 )
I have found the unit very frustrating and not organised well enough. Having a task that was hard to
V 9: understand and decode was annoying. It instantly stirred up negative emotions towards the lecturer
and subject. (Student Comments # 118)
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40 Table 3. Focus on content.
Vignette
No Critical/Negative Comments
I know we are supposed to be constructivist learners, and I appreciate this, but I do not feel confident I
have gained sufficient skills to teach this learning area. It would be extremely beneficial if there was more
V 10: focus on geography and civics, rather than on ‘how’ students learn in social studies classrooms. This way
of working put major stress on me and my team and nobody knew the way to get to the correct answers
(Student Comments, # 10; # 92)
The unit did not have any exam, which was good, because we would have had no idea what to study. I
did not learn a single thing. Why was I paying all that money for something that wasn’t helping me learn to
teach this subject? Instead of focusing on heavily on inquiry learning, it would have been more beneficial
V 11:
to my learning had the unit given practical examples of content to teach. I feel I have not been taught basic
knowledge that I need to teach social studies to students. I am very disappointed in this unit. (Student
Comments; # 3; # 7; # 58)
With the online work we did, there was no way we could check if the work/ideas were accurate. In the
V 12: future, having a page that links correct answers to the online discussion questions would be beneficial. At
least that way we could know what we were learning. (Student Comments # 2)
This unit should be renamed IBL and the development of generic skills rather than social studies, as this
was clearly not the focus. I do understand that these learning techniques are applicable to the social
V 13: studies learning area, but this doesn’t mean that the focus should be on this. This unit causes noting but
unnecessary stress and frustration. I strongly suggest focusing more on content. (Student Comment,
#33; # 38)
In addition to the open-ended questions, students were asked to indicate their dis/
agreement with the following statement on a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to
strongly agree. To the statement most valued by the university: I am satisfied with this unit
(The unit met my expectations in most ways), the 135 study participants were polarised in their
responses, with 51% of students indicating that they were dissatisfied with the unit, either
disagreeing (18.5%) or strongly disagreeing (32.6%) with the above statement. The rest of
the student body (49%) either indicated marginal approval through a ‘neutral’ position (13%),
or firm approval, agreeing (27%) or strongly agreeing (9%) with the above statement. More
informative to the present study, however, are participant perceptions of the unit’s ability to
extend their generic skills. To the statement: The unit improved my generic skills (Generic
skills include: teamwork, communication, writing, reasoning, problem-solving etc), only 52.4
% of students indicated some form of agreement with this statement, with 17.2% marginally
agreeing, 32.3% agreeing and 3% strongly agreeing. Almost half of the students who responded
to the evaluation survey (47.5%) disagreed with the above statement, out of which 28% of
students strongly disagreed.
Discussion
Reviewing the above tables (Tables 1–3), it is unexpected to encounter these positive
comments concerning peer-to-peer collaboration (see Table 1) and constructivist teaching
and learning (see Table 2), which, of course, are inherently connected with each other. The
student comments suggest that a number of them did seem to enjoy and, more importantly,
value collaborative work and dialogue-based learning and teaching. What the positive student
comments to open-ended questions of the end-of-semester evaluation (Vignettes 1-2 and 4-
6) mask, is the general critic of and dissatisfaction with the unit, especially its value creating
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components, as judged by the students through a commonly used quantitative measure, namely 41
the students’ satisfaction rating. The similarity of positive and/or negative response rates to the
two statements: I am satisfied with this unit and The unit improved my generic skills, is remarkable.
It suggests that students, who were dissatisfied with the unit, because their expectations were
not met, were unable to benefit from the IBL approach. It is possible that emotional distress
has caused them to ‘disengage’ from the unit processes, unable and/or unwilling to (re-
)connect with the unit offerings and peers. Not surprisingly, then, the data presented in Table
3, exemplifies how much student expectations of a unit are linked to traditional transmission
education pedagogies. Student comments (Vignettes 10-13) that focus on the explicit teaching
of content are highly critical of the pedagogical approach taken in this unit. Although the unit
provided much content in the form of extended print-based and online resources and 12 formal
lectures, what many students expected (and demanded) was a traditional transmission education
approach with which they were familiar and most comfortable. This study illustrates that still
too many (seasoned) university students are at ease with being passive ‘consumer students’.
Moreover, it is a clear testimony to the expectations of students, which if not met, often result in
‘disengagement’. Clearly, these experienced and mature students struggled with the additional
demands that IBL placed on them and the role changes that accompanies the transition from
traditional pedagogies to IBL.
The critical end-of-semester unit evaluation to which 51% of respondents indicated
that the unit did not met their expectations “in most ways”, exemplifies that the failure of the
unit “often reflects not the ineffectiveness of the innovation per se, but the ineffectiveness
of the implementation process” (Klein & Knight, 2005). Students socialised into a role of
‘information consumption’, delivered conveniently in bite-sized chunks, will not look kindly
upon an attempt to change the rules, especially if this change is requiring more effort, new
information literacy skills and emotional maturity (Dobozy, 2011; Murdoch-Eaton & Whittle,
2012). Grappling ultimately with implementation success and/or failure of more constructivist
pedagogies shows the gap between the idea of the possibilities that new pedagogies offer and
the difficulties to change mindsets of university educators and students alike. This problem is
compounded by the current rating system, which rewards educators that make the learning
journey ‘easy and enjoyable’ rather than construct learning tasks that demand a struggle for
meaning, exemplified by student comment # 32 (Vignette 8): “The way inquiry-based learning
was taught was confusing and not explained well enough”. As long as students expect to
be ‘taught’ and demand that explicit and unambiguous ‘explanations’ are provided so that
topics, issues or problems are ‘fully understood’, the implementation of IBL models that
support creative thinking and collective problem-solving will not or only marginally succeed.
Unsurprisingly, Shulman (2005) makes the well-documented observation about the emotional
reaction of students who are used to traditional ‘safe’, teacher-centric pedagogies that provide
bit-size chunks of information that are easily digested and regurgitated on demand, when faced
with inquiry-based learning/assignment task design. He notes:
What happens when people who are used to being invisible, to burrowing down when faced with
a pedagogical challenge, suddenly or regularly find themselves visible, accountable, and if you
will, vulnerable? You (as the teacher) inevitably begin to experience higher levels of emotion in
a classroom. There’s a sense of risk. There’s a sense of unpredictability. There’s a sense of – dare
I say – anxiety. And for some, anxiety morphs into terror. (Shulman, 2005, p. 11).
For Shulman the effective implementation of IBL models entails the development of
a systems-wide strategy, in other words, a signature pedagogy of teacher education that is
able to render students visible and holds them accountable for their individual and collective
knowledge production. Such implementation strategy developments enable the transformation
of “debilitating fear into tolerable anxiety” (Shulman, 2005, p. 12).
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42 Conclusion and Implications
The reported case study of a failed innovation implementation is motivated by a global

and increasingly forceful call for changes to teaching and learning practices at all levels of the
education system to better align with 21st Century learning goals. The innovation consisted of
the induction of teacher education students to IBL pedagogy, not through lectures, but rather
through first-hand experiences with collective knowledge production processes by the way
of problem framing, critical and creative problem solving, and regular dialogue and debate.
The primary purpose was to contribute actively to the new teaching and learning paradigm,
stipulated on numerous university websites and to move away from transmission education
approaches in a unit that introduces teacher education students to IBL as a syllabus requirement.
This case study provided evidence of the great comfort of university students with the status
quo of transmission education. The scepticism regarding the merits of IBL, even in a unit that
stipulated an understanding of this pedagogical approach as a learning outcome, highlights
the need to invest more time and effort in educating lecturing staff and students in the merits
of changed roles, routines and norms as universities struggle to implement new learning and
teaching paradigm.
Although the global trend in higher education to move towards greater provisions of
student-centric learning is cemented in new policy directions and postulated on university
websites, the innovation implementation is littered with obstacles. The period in which
innovative pedagogical practices are explored in particular contexts, making it “the critical
gateway between the decision to adopt the innovation and the routine use of the innovation”
(Klein & Sorra, 1996, cited in Klein & Knight, 2005, p. 243) is hampered by the need to
maximise student satisfaction ratings of units and lecturing staff. This unresolved tension
between new accountability measures, such as student ratings of units and lecturers, and the
implementation of new and challenging learning provisions, such as IBL, make this endeavour
extraordinarily difficult (see Dobozy, 2011).
A clear implication of this case study is that learning organisations which socialise
students into particular roles (passive consumer students) will need to exhort more effort in
disrupting the status quo to make room for experimentation, innovation failure, which give rise
to critical evaluations of existing structural and personal obstacles. Students’ differing skills
levels and learning engagement capabilities will need to be accounted for as newly enrolled
undergraduate students will eventually experience an increase in IBL practices.
References
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age of convergence. Washington, D.C. Institute for Higher Education Policy.
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Bruner, J. (1990) Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Donnelly, K. (2007). Dumbing down: Outcomes-based and politically correct – the impact of the culture 43
wars on our schools. Prahran, VIC: Hardie Grant Publishing.
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44 Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press.

Wertsch, J. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of the mind. Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University
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Advised by Robin Groves, Curtin University, Australia
��
, 2012
Eva Dobozy PhD, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Curtin University, Australia.
E-mail: Eva.Dobozy@curtin.edu.au
Website: http://curtin.edu.au
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A CASE STUDY OF “HABITUS” AND 45
“FIELD”: THE CHINESE RURAL STUDENTS

ON THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
Jingyi Dong
NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
E-mail: jieren987@yahoo.com
Abstract
This research focuses its inquiry on the economic aspect of rural ��
university students’
��
life in China, but
the discussion goes beyond the economic field. Massification in the Chinese higher education system has
increased the chance for rural youths to receive tertiary education. However, there is rarely sufficient
data to record their status quo on the campus. This research intends to fill up the gap by making a
comparison between the rural students who are located at different levels in the higher education system.
This comparative analysis eventually leads to such��
��
findings��
: T��
hose at the higher extreme of the hierarchy,
who have more subsidies, tend to experience more frustration under financial pressure than those at the
lower extreme, who are insufficiently funded. Presumably, the former are more directly exposed to rural-
urban disparity. While the latter experience less frustration, they are less prepared to impacts from the
unfamiliar urban society. The
��
��
research, eventually going beyond the economic problems, has exposed
a process in which the rural youths are victimized by the system that discriminates against the Chinese
peasants, in which the higher education system plays a critical role.
Key words: h��
igher education, inequality, poverty,��
��
rural students.
Introduction
This ��
research��
, which illustrates how social institutions incur inequality, focuses its
inquiry on the economic aspect of rural students’ life on the��
��
university campuses��
in China��.
It has long been��
the concern of researchers ��
that in the higher education system rural students
are incr��
easingly marginalized (��
e.g., Liu��
��
,��
2003��
;��
Zhang��
,��
2003). However, in most cases, rural
students are lumped together indiscriminately for study. I��
��
n order to��
make further��
��
distinction and
the concept of two extremes ��
clarification��
, th��
is study borrows��
�� from Trow��
��
(��
1973��
), who envisions
inequality in the system of higher education as an aftermath of massification: ��
at one extreme
��
are��
educational��
institutions of r��
ich resources and high quality��
, while at the other��
extreme are
��
educational ��
institutions of
��
poor resources and low quality��
��
(��
p. ��
35). Chinese tertiary education
institutions are generally divided into 4 classes and further into 8 subclasses. Trow’s�� concept
helps��
reduce this huge and complicated hierarchy into a brief and manageable notion��.�
As a matter of fact��
, ��
since the massification was initiated in 1999, the ��
proportion of rural
youths��
o��
n the university campus��
��
has increased considerably. However,
��
in this highly stratified
system, students’ distribution between the two extremes��
��
is seriously imbalanced, with most
rural students��
located at the lower extreme, while only a small proportion ��
of them admitted
��
to
the higher extreme��
(Dong, 2004, p.��
120, ��
p. 64��
-��
69)��
.��
Does
��
the variation in��
school��
s’ status and
financial resources make a difference��
to the students��
? If yes, what are the factors that influence
the students? This study therefore raises the following research questions:
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46 How do the rural students respond to variations in financial pressure?

And what are the factors that influence their responses?
In order to answer the above question��

s��
, a��
comparison is
��
made ��
between the rural students
who are located at ��
the two extremes of the��
higher
��
education ��
system��
, which ��
leads to such�
��
findings��
: T��
hose at the higher extreme, who are��
more sufficiently funded��
, tend to experience
more frustration under financial pressure than those at the lower extreme, who are insufficiently
funded. ��
Further analysis, in the light of ��
B��
ourdieu’s theory, leads to the conclusion that the
Chinese universities and colleges��
play��
a��
critical role��
in the reproduction of the urban-rural
segregation system��.
The general background of this research is as such: 1) China has an urban-rural segregation
system,1 while higher education is one of the few ways by which rural youths can b��
reak through
this segregation��
. 2) ��
Chinese��
government initiated
��
��
a massification in higher education in��
��
the year
1999, with the students paying high tuition, in order to stimulate domestic consumption as a
countermeasure against financial crisis (��
Kang, 2000��
). 3) There has been a drastic increase in the
number of university and college graduates,2 which leads to graduates employment crisis.
Although the study is directed to the systemic level, the setting to present this case
is within the geographical boundary of Hebei Province, a place of contrast. Geographically,
Hebei encompasses Beijing and Tianjin, two modern metropolises directly administered by
the central government. On the other hand, the province has a vast undeveloped rural area with
the third largest peasant population in China. With respect to distribution of higher education
resources, Beijing and Tianjin boast many universities of high prestige (Subclass 1-3), while
Hebei Province hosts those relatively in obscurity (mostly Subclass 4-8).
Data

The data ��
presented ��
in this research��
��
were mainly obtained through semi-structured
interviews, which were designed according to principles of grounded theory: It was sufficiently
open to ��
“��
encompass the entirety��
”��
of the participants’ perspectives. The interviewer’s ��
“��
own
ideas, interests, or theoretical understandings were not imposed��
”��
on the interviewees (Giske &��
Artinian��
,��
2007��
,��
��
p. 69-70��
).��
T��
he ��
interview was loosely
��
framed when
��
the interviewer guided the
talks with the
��
following hints��
��:
• Family and education background introduction;
• Does the cost of tertiary education pose pressure on family economy?
• What is the proportion of rural students in your class and dormitory? Do you find
rural and urban students different?
• Tell something impressive on campus, whether it concerns communication, study or
daily life.
The researcher, having��
been a university teacher for sixteen years��
in Hebei Province and
witnessed the initiation of the massification of higher education, was both the observer and
participant. The two parties of the interview came into contact via ��
the researcher’s relatives
��
and
friends who worked in the circle of higher education, which means that a relation-bond existed
before the interview. As a local resident, the ��
researcher��
had considerable knowledge of Hebei
Province. It was therefore possible to quickly find common interests between the two interview
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parties with topics closely related to the background of the rural students, whether it was 47
geography, culture or local specialty. Such features in the researcher-interviewee relationship
were presumed as icebreaker between strangers and hopefully added authenticity to the data.
The primary inclusion criterion for the selection of interviewees was that the students
were from rural areas��
;��
most of ��
the��
m were either local residents of Hebei Province or had
study experience within the geographical boundary of the province. Balance between genders,
university reputation and the economic background of the participants was also taken into
consideration. The��
��
samples were selected from ��
10 universities of different levels, including
undergraduates and master students. Interviewees were supposed to have some experience on
campus. Most of them were therefore selected from above Grade 3 of undergraduate studies.
In cases of master degree students, the interviews mainly focused on recollection of their
undergraduate life. ��
The number of samples was not decided at the outset. With the interview
progressing, similar instances emerged over and over again, which signaled that a category was
“saturated” (Glaser & Strauss, 1999, p. 61). The researcher thus��
, following the principles of
grounded theory,��
stopped sampling��
,��
��
when 50 students were��
eventually involved.
Although articles and documents published on the Internet served as one source of
information, the most important material took the form of transcripts of audio-recorded
interviews, which were conducted between January and March of 2008 via telephone calls.
Follow-up email ��
and telephone ��
communication between the two parties provided further
materials. As a result of comparison and selection, 13 students were deemed illustrative and
included in this study. The interviews of the 13 students resulted in approximately �� seven�
hours of recording and over 40 transcribed pages made accordingly. Eventually, information
provided by the 13 students was used as resource for the comparative analysis. ��
In order to make
it compact and manageable��
, ��
the information ��
is summarized in ��
two tables, Table 1 and 2. The
tables represent the��
��
simplified version of a complex phenomenon, which is illustrated in details
with extracts from transcripts of tape recording.
Permission was granted by all the interviewees to use the materials in the research on
rural students, which would eventually seek publication. Confidentiality was guaranteed by the
interviewer.
Analysis
This study is a comparative analysis that combines grounded theory with discourse
analysis. What initiated the study was a general concern about rural students. For quite some
time the research lacked a focus. It was not some predetermined research questions that defined
the ��
orientation and procedure of��
data collection. Rather, it was in the process of codification and
comparison of the data that the concept of poverty, as well as the students’ different responses
to poverty, emerged from the muddled and jumbled materials. Accordingly, such research
questions were formulated as how rural students responded to financial pressure and why they
responded in the way they did.
However, as the research progressed to the phase of data analysis, the study increasingly
got entangled in the “��
��
complexity of working with extended sequences of talk rather than the
brief isolated utterances��
”��
(Potter ��
&��
Wetherell��
,��
2001��
,��
��
p. ��
203). ��
And m��
uch of the analysis was
based on the��
��
subjective accounts��
��
given by ��
t��
he interviewee��
s, whose language
��
was defined by
their unique “��
��
interactive context��
”��
(Taylor��
,��
2001��
,��
��
p. ��
7). Consequently, the approach of discourse
analysis was combined in the study��
: ��
First, discourse analysis investigates the contexts of the
language, looking for patterns within such larger contexts as ��
“��
society��
”��
or “��
��
culture��
”��
(Taylor��,�
2001, p.��
��
7). Second,
��
the approach allows detailed analysis of texts. ��
Most important of all, ��it
has the aim of carrying out “critical research��
” in search of ��
the possibilities for social change�
(Jørgensen &� Phillips, 2002, p. 66��
, 2�)
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48 The study departs from looking at the economic aspect of the rural students��
’ life��
. It
will extend to ��
other��
aspects such
��
��
as their response to financial pressure, attitudes to study,
aspiration for upgrading of their academic qualification, anticipation of future employment, etc.
Eventually, by using Bourdieu’s concepts such as ”field” and ”habitus,” th��
is research��
��
verifies�
his theory that the educational system is a mechanism to reproduce the existing power relations�
(��
Bourdieu��
&��
Passeron��
, 1990)��
. This comparative analysis per se, however, is insufficient to
arrive at any high level generalization, for it is small in scale and heavily relies on data that
reflect individuals’ subjective feelings. Nevertheless, it suffices the purpose of this study: To
interpret a local phenomenon, to record a time of drastic changes, and, hopefully, to provide
reference for the on-going discussion on Chinese rural students.
Results of Research
In ��
Table 1 and 2 shown as follows��
, by referring to Trow’s concept, the higher education
system is divided between two ”extremes”: universities and colleges at the higher extreme
versus those at the lower extreme. The students are categorized according to their monthly
expenditure and their response to financial pressure. ��
Comparison between the two tables reveals
a contradiction: The six students at the higher extreme had easier access to financial aid or had
more affluent family condition, but five of them claimed to be under economic pressure. In
contrast, the seven students at the lower extreme were less financially aided and were from
relatively ��
poor families, but only two or three of them claimed to be under economic pressure.
It is this contradiction��
��
that justifies further, detailed analysis.�
Table 1. Variation in students’ economic conditions in relation to variation in

students’ standings in the higher education system�.
��
��
Students Low economic standard
High economic standard�
(��
expend ��
200-300 yuan/�
Universities (��
expend ��
1000 ��
yuan��
/��
��
month)
month)
Lower extreme�
Group 2:
(u��
niversi��
tie��
s ��
affiliated to Hebei
��
��
P��
rovince or Group 1:
Student A, B, C, D, E, F, G
municipalities of the province)
Higher extreme
Group 3: Group 4:
(universitie��
s affiliated to ��
the central govern-
Student H, I Student J, K, L, M
ment, Beijing or Tianjin)
Table 2. Variation in students’ response to financial pressure in relation to vari-

ation in students’ standings in th��
��
e higher education system�.3
Students
Under less financial pressure Under more financial pressure
Universities
Group 1:
Group 2:
Lower extreme Student A, B, C(state scholarship win-
Student E, F, G
ner), D, G��
��
(state scholarship winner)
Group 3: Group 4:
Higher extreme
Student H, Student I, J, K, L, M
The interviews identify much

��
similarity��
among the
��
rural students: ��
Coming from relatively
��
poor families, they are usually highly motivated and diligent in academic study. In contrast to
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the large population of rural children, they are the rare ones (less than 10% of the rural peers) 49
who finally made their way to tertiary education institutions. Different from their urban peers,
most of them had one or more siblings in the family. Their costs of tuition and living would
consume all, or more than, the family income. They paid approximately 4,500 yuan each year
for tuition and housing. Their monthly expenditure on life necessities was around 200-300 yuan
exceptions: Student H, who consumed more than 1,000 yuan each
or less. There were��
only��
��
2��
0,000 yuan on tuition and other life necessities
month and Student I, who spent approximately 2��
��
every year. In the year of 2005, the minimum life guarantee for residents in the provincial
capital of Shijiazhuang City was 220 yuan, which serves as a reference to indicate the low
life standard of the rural students. It can be envisioned that most of the rural students were
considerably confined by their poor economic condition and most of their routines are limited
to simply meals and study.
The students are generally required to reside in student dormitories, with 4 to 8 persons
sharing a room. Since cooking is basically impermissible in the dormitory, students normally
dine in school canteens, where meals are offered at a less expensive price than at commercial
restaurants. As the most frequent contacts occurred in the dormitory, it was natural that the
interviewees paid much attention to daily details, such as life necessities, meals, consumption
standard, which often symbolized a student’s identity.
Higher��
Extreme V��
ersus��
Lower Extreme: Different Responses to Poverty
The first comparison is made between students at the lower and higher extreme
respectively to interpret the contradiction: At the lower extreme, the students were relatively
poor, but tended to experience less psychological pressure, while it was the opposite at the
higher extreme, where students were relatively well provided for.
Low extreme: village on the campus
Extract 1. ��
Actually whether it is stringent or not depends on your psychology. (... ) I feel
200 yuan is acceptable. (Student A)
200 yuan per month. Passable, that means, you cannot eat as you please, but
Extract 2.��
you don’t have to be too hard on yourself. (Student B)
Extract 3.��
(Do you feel your university life is very hard?) Do not find it very hard. It is
OK. And I did not draw too much from my family savings. (Student G, state
scholarship winner)
Student A, by referring to “��

��
psychology,��
”��
in effect set the life standard at a relatively low
level and readily accepted the status quo. This attitude might be related to a student’s earlier
experience in his or her rural homes. But it might be more related to the life standard of the
schoolmates that constituted part of the daily life. A student canteen was not likely to serve
very expensive meals. Yet, most rural students had to impose restriction on themselves so that
“��
you cannot eat as you please��
”��
(Student B). Meanwhile, ��
“��
you don’t have to be too hard on
yourself��
”��
(Student B) indicates a psychology of contentment. Obviously, they knew that there
were students who depended on an even smaller budget.
The families of Student A, B and G did not purely depend on farming or other manual
work, and the costs of tuition and living were tolerable, or within the financial capacity of their
families. Their universities charged relatively low tuition; they studied in cities of relatively
low consumption standards; and they were in contrast to students who had more financial
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50 difficulties. If they had excellent grades, they could earn scholarship and further lessen their
family burden. Thus they would find that university life was “��
��
OK��
”��
(Student G).
Most students were aware of urban-rural differences, especially when urban students’
monthly expenditure nearly doubled that of rural students (Student C). The following extracts
illustrate how rural students reflected on their urban peers:
Extract 4.� ��

[��
Urban students��
]��
indeed have a sense of superiority when they are together
with us. (... ) I do not admire them. (Student E)
Extract 5.��
(Whether there is pressure in communication with urban students :) No
pressure. I am not under pressure living here, because, I do not mean... �
m��
m��
m��
...��
��
sometime��
s��
I envy them, for they are better off financially. But on my
part, I do not envy them. (Student F)
The attitude that they did not ��

“��
envy��
”��
or ��
“��
admire��
”��
their urban peers (Student E and F)
was common among rural students at the lower extreme. Why did they appear indifferent to the
obviously advantaged position of their urban peers, then?
Extract 6.��
(More rural students win scholarship :) ��
[U��
rban students��
]��
seem to have put less
effort on study than rural students do. (Student C, state scholarship winner)
Extract 7.��
(Do you find that rural students feel ��
more or less inferior?)
��
In::fe::rior::? (drawn
out) Inferior, of course, in certain aspects, say, in comparison with [��
urban
students��
]��
, that is, the urban students are very versatile, (... ) for example, they
sing and dance and participate in collective activities. (... ) (Are there rural
students who want to overtake them and inwardly make effort in this aspect?)
In fact, as an innermost thought, yes. (... ) I used to have that thought. Why was
I so lagged behind [��
��
in study��
]��
? (... ) I must push forward, I must make effort
[��
in study��
]��
. (... ) (Whether it is financial pressure that makes rural students less
active?) Maybe this is one factor. I find that my classmates are from very poor
families. In general, those from poor families tend to have greater motivation
and are very hardworking. Maybe this is the reason. I think we are all very
excellent in study. (Student B)
Extract 8.��
As far as I see it, urban people, especially nowadays children, have no more
merit than us. (... ) After all since childhood, they are the only child of their
families, living in the city, which is simply a nest of abundance and ease. (...
) (Any special talents in urban students?) Special talents...��
��
in some aspects
they do have more extensive knowledge than us, say, in playing games. Some
of them know everything about playing computer games. (... ) (Do they read
more books than you?) Reading books... ��
also... ��
��
varies
��
from person to person.
Some people read more books. They, urban people, like to read such books as
Harry Potter. (Student E).
That urban students were ��

“��
versatile��
”��
and had “��
��
extensive knowledge��
”��
(Student B and
E) was more or less a consensus among rural students. At the lower extreme, however, these
advantages were not much admired. Rural students deemed their experience in the countryside
a source of their merits, attaching importance to their capacity to endure hardship and their
excellence in study. This could be seen from the case of Student B, who redundantly emphasized
school grades and associated this merit to poor family background.
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Admittedly, at the lower extreme, more rural students win scholarship, from which 51
they take pride. But multiple factors work together to accomplish this. First, rural students
make up the major bulk of the lower extreme. Second, rural students who finally made their
way to university��
are the
��
rare ones among their rural peers��
.��
Third, many urban students tend
to have more extracurricular interests and ��
“��
put less effort on study��
”��
(Student C). Since basic
education, rural students are mostly focused on subjects that are included in university entrance
examination. Some schools cancel such subjects as Physical Education, Music and Fine Arts.
As a result, rural students have a narrower scope of knowledge and their outlooks are confined.
They are unfamiliar with and consequently give less heed to the knowledge of human cultures,
being unaware of how such knowledge might promote them in their future development.
Extract 9.��
Maybe I feel that students from the village, sometimes, several of them, do
not accept the habits of those brought up in the city, thinking their way of life
extravagant, that ��
kind of life
��
style, ��
[��
rural students��
]��
very dislike it, it seems.
(Student D, parentless)
In spite of the great disparity between the rich and the poor in China, most urban students
at the lower extreme are from families of average income, or ��
“��
belong to the salary-earner
class��
”��
(Student C). It is not likely for most of them to have very high standard of consumption.
Urban and rural students dine at the same canteens. Urban students may choose meals of better
quality, while rural students may mainly depend on vegetables and cereal. Once rural students
make up the great majority, urban students become exceptional. Especially to those from very
poor families, the consumption standard of urban students would be considered “��
��
extravagant��”�
(Student D).
More than taking poverty for granted, rural students might gain a sense of moral
superiority from it. A��
��
life of simplicity is up to the standard of morality��
, while a w��
ealthy life�
could be��
considered a corrosive factor. More important, this tradition��
al��
value has been overstated
in the main stream propaganda.��
��
This tends to��
confine��
��
the students to ��
a stereotyped belief that
poverty is not one’s misfortune��
,��
rather, it makes one mature and perfect; ��
when poverty is used
as a spur
��
for motivation��
, whoever works ��
hard and has
��
��
academic excellence��
will be eventually
lift out
��
of poverty. Consequently, many rural students found encouragement and standing from
their academic excellence. They were not scared by the hardship at present, as long as a brilliant
prospect awaited them in the future.
Extract 10.��
All ��
[��
roommates��
]��
are from the village, are easy-going. And we have more
communication, talking about each other’s habits and customs and the like.
(Student F)
Extract 11.��
There were so many students who had the same or similar [poor] ��
family
��
background. On the contrary, these ��
[��
poor��
]��
students tended to gather together
and have relatively rare contacts with the small circle of the rich people.
(Student C)
Apparently, rural students, greater in number, tend to dominate the discourse. When
conversation concern��
s��
rural topics, urban students d��
o no��
t have much to say. This constitute��s�
an important source of complacency for rural students, so that urban students’ versatility and
extensive knowledge ��
have rarely
��
stir��
red��
their poised psychology. There is, so to speak, a “��
��
wall
of culture,��
”��
which not only separates them from their urban schoolmates, but also provides
them with a temporary psychological shelter against impact from the unfamiliar urban world.
But ��
this wall also functions as a segregation mechanism��
, ��
so that they
��
hardly have access to the
rich resources that the city could offer��
, and they hardly��
realiz��
ed��
this deprivation.
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52 In fact, the whole group of rural students at the lower extreme is shrouded in poverty.
Financial aid supports a very small fraction of the
��
��
students. In some cases, a school scholarship
could be as symbolic as 100 yuan (Student F). It is common sense that poverty is an adverse
factor in one’s life. Yet, none of the above students mentioned the negative effect that poverty
brought upon them as a whole. They did not even refer to money as a necessity for one’s
sustenance. As such, rural students at the lower extreme have more or less transplanted their
rural society onto university campuses, so that they are still living in a small niche not quite far
away from their home villages.
Higher extreme: Impassible

��
gap
Extract 12.��
(Something deeply impressive :) When I just came here, I felt rather heavy.
My tuition was, was... anyway was gathered with much difficulty. At that
time and, everyday, I felt that I, anyway I was... different from others, under
very heavy pressure. Anyway, when I was alone, I was always, very gloomy
and, wanted to cry. (Student M)
Extract 13.��
Sometimes a meal alone could provide enough evidence. When we all
brought meals to our dormitory to dine, you see, the money tho-those better
off spent on one meal equalled to your cost for one day. So maybe the meals
they bought were pro-probably better. Mmm... in this process, maybe, urban
roommates, by comparison, could develop a sense of superiority, while rural
roommates could more or less feel hurt. Although this would not lead to the
kind, the kind of brush or conflict in speech, it was there all the time. At that
time I, although we got along well, this kind of psychology per-persisted in
me. So, sometimes I found it embarrassing to take my meal to my dormitory
(��
c��
huckle). (Student L)
Extract 14.��
(Rural-urban differences on campus) Mmm... ��
it
��
is something that sometimes
makes us more inferior. (... ) Actually, I feel that one perceives these differences
only when one is on the dark side. (Student K)
At the higher extreme, rural students a��
��
re the minority. More financial aid i��
��
s available to
them. Living in metropolis, they should have a life of better quality than their peers do at the
lower extreme. However, in immediate contacts with urban students, the differences between
them and their urban schoolmates made them feel “��
��
heavy��
,”��
��
“��
hurt��
,”��
embarrassed and ��
“��
inferior��”�
(Student M, L, K). In the meantime, the sense of being hurt and inferior must have been mistaken
��
more or less for a sin��
, for such feelings were attributed to ��
“��
the dark side��
”��
of one’s psychology
(Student K). ��
T��
his would doubly burden t��
he��
poor rural students��
. ��
In spite ��
of that��
, they spoke ��
out
their mind straightforwardly��
and admitted their
��
embarrassment or “��
��
dark side��
.”��
Being frank and
honest, alone, was not enough��
. They must have been exposed to continuous and repeated
��
hurt��
s,
on which they dwelt and reflected��.�
Extract 15.��
Now my parents are aged, can make little money. My father is now over
50 years old. Going out, anyway��
,��
normally, going out yet you find that you
cannot do anything. (... ) And my mother��
,��
by herself, totally... totally helpless.
So now they two... just put up with it, accept whatever they can make. (... )
You cannot expect too much. Everyone has his own way to survive. Those of
lower status make do with a lower standard of life.
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Say, when I told ��
[��
urban students��
]��
about my folks, (...) they just could not understand. 53
Your monthly cost of living, they say, you earn so little money, that little money? How did
you manage to get along, how to stay alive? (... ) They simply could not understand what
I told them, just could not understand how rural people got along, how they survived.
(Student J)
Extract 16.��
(Rural-urban brush?) Er... brush...��
.��
��
M��
y dormitory was relatively a harmonious
place, everyone on good terms. On other aspects, er, it, it is inevitable,
definitely there was very big difference. (... ) (Urban-rural distance in culture
and life?) Yes, right, right��
, right��
, it is very apparent, relatively apparent. (... )
Although they did not speak it out, but sometimes some people’s expression,
some expressed meanings, or bearings, as if telling you that you knew nothing,
you rube (��
c��
huckle). (In case as such, did you sense disrespect for us rural
students?) Mmm... yes, there are such elements in it. Some students did, of
course not all students behaved like that. (Student L)
Income from farming is seriously insufficient, and off-farm

��
jobs have��
become vital for
many peasants. For those who are no longer fit for long-distance migration and heavy physical
labour, the problem is a matter of survival more than a matter of living standards. The remark
that one had to “��
��
accept whatever they can make��
”��
conveys a message of desperation.
At present, fully representational and accurate reports on the economic situation in
rural areas are rare. Urban students, without personal experience, would find it very hard to
understand the desperate poverty in rural areas. Difficulties in communication would estrange
the young peers. Against a macro background in which the city dominates over the village,
this estrangement may ultimately manifest as superiority on the part of urban students and
inferiority on the part of rural students.
Extract 17.��
(Something impressive on campus :) A lot of students around me, they directly
divided into two groups upon university entrance. (... ) Some [��
��
rural students��]�
would change in character and began to contact some... but some students
from badly-off background could not possibly go with others to dine, to sing.
So, on the whole, they tend to be very restrained and indrawn. So, in such
affairs as making speech in the class, including campaigning for class cadres,
they are all... anyway, there exists this disadvantaged group on campus. (... )
So, their developments are much hindered in some aspects.
As I told you just now, probably they just spontaneously divide into two groups.
No matter how friendly they a��
��
re to each other at the surface, there definitely exists
that, that, that kind of invisible gap, the kind of gap that is impassable. (Student
H)
The higher extreme, where more urban students gather, obviously offers more privileges
than the lower extreme does, whether regarding the academic atmosphere on campus or the
urban culture outside the campus. Rural students, however, tend to be excluded from these
benefits. The reasons of this exclusion are various. Factors such as culture and personality are
relevant, but what impressed the interviewees most was still poverty. Poverty denied them their
psychological demands. They tended to be ��
“��
very refrained��
”��
from social activities, which would
erode their confidence and in turn ��
“��
much hindered��
”��
their development in other aspects (Student
H).
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54 Higher extreme: A new��

��
perspective to look at poverty
From the stage of basic education until higher education, most rural students have to
drain their family finances. To relieve pressure, many rural students choose to take part-time
jobs. Because of surplus in the labour force, work opportunity and income are very limited.
Invariably, the experience of making money is filled with hardship, while the attitudes of
students at different extremes may vary, as is shown below:
Extract 18.��
(Impression of the university’s host city :) People ��
[��
in this city��
]��
lead a life
of ease. (... ) Any way, I do not enjoy stay in this city. (... ) (Do you still
remember how you felt the first time you got paid for a part-time job?) Yes,
I do. (Can you tell me?) Ai (sighing)... it is, ac-actually nothing much. Only,
only shed some tears.... (... ) Ai, this, this is, unfair. (Student M, at the higher
extreme)
Extract 19.��
(First part-time job :) Very exhausting and much workload. In the end, the
payment was very small, which they nearly denied us. (... ) Almost started a
quarrel. We insisted on our demand. After all we put in effort and it was our
first time. We were so ill used, very unhappy, very uncomfortable. (Student
A, at the lower extreme)
Both students recalled hardship, but Student A at the lower extreme focused on details
that were “��
��
very unhappy, very uncomfortable,��
”��
while Student M at the higher extreme, being
more directly exposed to the “��
��
life of ease��
”��
in the big city, arrived at a more general conclusion
that it was “��
��
unfair,��
”��
pointing to social injustice.
Extract 20.��
“��
��
Tough life spurs you while soft life spoils you (classical proverb)��.”��
This
“��
tough life,��
”��
I do not prefer to interpret it as having a poor family background.
Even if you are born in affluence, you might as well ��
“��
get prepared for danger
in times of safety (classical proverb)��
.”��
With such an attitude, you may very
well make use of the privileged condition that is denied to your peers and
enhance yourself in all aspects. (Student L)
Extract 21.��
I used to believe that most of those who got excellent grades were from poor
families��
, while t��
hose from affluent families tended to have relatively poor
academic performance. But in senior high school, my belief was thoroughly
subverted. In senior high school, I found that, in fact, the better the family
condition, the better the student’s performance and the greater his capacity to
cope with practical affairs. (Student I, from Southern China)
Students L and I talked about a phenomenon which students at the lower extreme neglected:
An advantaged socio-economic position, rather than a corrupting factor, is favourable for one’s
development. Once arriving at the higher extreme, these��
rural
��
students were confronted with
a new situation in which their urban peers obviously had more merits such as better school
performance and greater capability to cope with practical affairs (Student I). This would upset
their established stereotypes, evoke their reflection and restore them to the common sense that
poverty is, after all, not a blessing.
In contrast, Students at the lower extreme appeared less alert to the harmful effect of an
adverse background:
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Extract 22.��
(Why do you think there are so few urban students in your class?) Why ��there 55
are ��
so few urban students? For one thing, for one thing, this school is not very
good, not famous; for another, it is... mmm... mmm? I don’t know (laugh).
(Student F, at lower extreme)
Admittedly, school grades are not necessarily related to family economic status. However,
on elite campuses, rural students are a disproportionately small fraction, a hard evidence that
adverse life does affect rural students negatively. Diligence, a merit in which rural students take
such great pride, has not in the least altered the rural-urban student distribution in the higher
education system. None of the interviewees at the lower extreme inquired why there were so
many rural students in their classes and where their urban peers had gone. Nor did they question
that while most of them were so excellent and hard working, why they were accumulated on
the lower extreme.
On the other hand, it seems that only in the on��
-��
campus “village” is “p��
sychology��
” capable
of overpowering��
poverty��
. ��
To some rural students at the higher extreme, the rural-urban gap
just emerged ��
“��
certainly,��
”��
��
“��
directly,��
”��
and “��
��
spontaneously,��
”��
and the gap was “��
��
impassable,��”�
“��
inevitable,��
”��
“��
��
definite,��
”��
and ��
“��
apparent��
”��
(Student H and L). Thoughts as such could not be
triggered by accidental emotional impacts��
,��
but were the rewards of reflection. ��
Further on, they
saw h��
ard experience no longer just as��
��
private affairs or affairs between peers. Such vocabulary
as “��
��
disadvantaged group��
”��
(Student H) and “��
��
unfair��
”��
(Student M) indicate that these rural students
were capable of making a departure from their individual��
��
experience to generalize to social
��
groups��.
High Economic Standard ��

versus��
Low Economic Standard: Same Poverty
The following comparison is made between the interviewees who had ��
“��
high economic
standard��
”��
and “��
��
low economic standard��
”��
respectively, with the intention to explore if the variation
in their economic conditions makes difference in them.
Lower extreme: High university tuition versus��

��
limited student revenues
Extract 23.��
(The cost of higher education :) Not so much as pressure, but my family is
not so affluent as to take it easy. Anyway, family fund is hard earned. The
economic condition being just so-so, the funding for study is not a problem,
but not much surplus. (Student B, family income not purely from farming
and manual work)
Extract 24.��
(Financial pressure :) Quite big, there is pressure. (... ) My family is just an
average one. (... ) Because villagers do not have many sources of income,
totally depending on my parents’ toils. Money is hard earned. (... ) I spend
7000-8000 yuan a year, including tuition and cost of living. (You consumed
all the family income). (... )Yes. It is common in the village. (Student E, family
income purely from farming)
Universities at the lower extreme enroll a high proportion of poor students and at the
same time are insufficiently funded. It is therefore difficult for such institutions to provide aid to
sufficiently cover poor students. For those who are not excellent in stdudy and whose families
are not in extreme poverty, the availability of scholarship is scarce and the intensely contested
need-based aids are inaccessible. These students, who are primarily dependent on family funds,
have become the major victims of high tuition. Even Student B, who estimated education cost
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56 as tolerable, was guilty that the expenditure eroded considerably into family economy. Many
among the rural students at the lower extreme are left in such embarrassment.
Extract 25.��
(Something impressive on campus :) Found it rather unfair, any way rather
angry at that time. It has been in my mind for years. (... ) Maybe [��
��
we roommates��]�
were relatively open-minded about cost on meals and ate a bit better. After
all we were studying, afraid of damaging our health. (... ) ��
[��
Students in other
dormitories��
]��
all criticized that we spent money too casually, etc, etc. In fact,
we just ate slightly better than they did. They only ate wheat bread and salted
vegetables, while we sometimes ate eggs and ��
fried vegetables and the��
like.
(... ) As a result, in the first semester, five out of six in our dormitory were
selected as poor students��
, while,��
later, there was none (laugh). (... ) (Poor
students need to be selected?) There were too many who applied for need-
based subsidy in our class. Our class was better, did not ask the poor students
to present family conditions. Many schools asked��
��
students ��
to ��
stand on the
classroom platform and read their applications, shedding much��
��
tears. (Student
G, state scholarship winnder)
With very limited funds, students who can get aids are bound to be very few. In Student
G’s class, for example, only 2 out of more than 30 students got state scholarship of 4000 yuan
in 2007, a year that witnessed a great increase in state allocation. Earlier, in the case of Student
C, only 2 or 3 students got state scholarship in a faculty of 6 classes. Since students from
poor families are favourably considered in scholarship and other subsidy grants, a unique
“��
poor students selection��
,”��
or public appraisal to decide who deserved subsidies, is developed.
When it is difficult to obtain accurate data about rural family economic details from authentic
institutions, slight differences in students’ daily life may become decisive in the public appraisal.
When an applicant could be considered ineligible only because the diet included an egg or fried ��
vegetables, it was obviously a case of exaggeration. To most rural students, financial aids are
very important, since
��
��
many of them are at a critical point: With a slight increase in financial
help they can fulfil their study task; with a slight increase in financial burden and they suffer
a greatly deteriorated life or even fail in their academic endeavour. It was only natural that
Student G took the competition for subsidy very seriously and felt “��
��
rather unfair��
”��
and ��
“��
rather
angry��.”
Obviously, with very limited funds, it is impossible for all poor students to get relief, even
if “��
��
poor student selection��
”��
was abolished. The indignation against the dispute at hand, i.e., the
criticism against “��
��
poor student selection��
,”��
could have aimed at a higher level, at the problematic
system and further led to such questions as why rural students were almost unanimously poor��,�
and why so many poor students had to contest for so little money and suffer the humiliation of
“��
poverty presentation�� .”�
Higher extreme: Debtor mentality and subdued attitude
Extract 26.��
(Something impressive on campus :) My class had team spirit, very good.
Like, say, my family was very poor, they, most of them could understand. And
in all aspects, like scholarship application, they gave priority to me. (... ) I felt
quite grateful to them. At first I felt they looked down upon people, disdained
me. It turned out that it was not the case. All were very nice, much concerned
about me. (Student J)
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Extract 27.��
(Something impressive on campus :) I feel that I am very lucky, lucky of me 57
to be in this school. (... ) I feel that my classmates are very helpful to me,
very supportive to me. Mmm, feel that I have gained much in this aspect.
For example, work-study programs, state need-based subsidy and the like.
(... ) And there is also state student loan, thanks to it, although the application
procedure is very complex.4 (Student K)
Research shows that most rural students at the higher extreme can get various types
of financial aids in such form��
s��
as scholarship, ��
nee��
d-based subsidy, student loan, work-study
programs, etc. These aids come either as government allocation or��
bank
��
loans. However, Student
J and K felt grateful to their classmates. As
��
it was revealed above, rural
��
students ��
at the higher
extreme tended to��
be sensitive to the rich-poor disparity among students. However, when others
did them substantial favours, such as priority in financial aids grant, something intangible like
“��
disdain��
”��
(Student J) tended to be ignored. Such gratitude did not seem to result from friendship
between equals, but could be interpreted as a response to a favour. Meanwhile, a very practical
problem can be illuminated: If most of the students were poor, like at the lower extreme, rivalry
for financial aid would become unavoidable and the atmosphere would become unfriendly
Extract 28.��
(Something impressive on campus :) After all, my family condition was thus,
so it was natural that in daily expenditure you had this kind of psychology: To
spend as little as possible. (... ) Every time, after vacation, when new semester
began, (...) I would take as little money as possible. After all, the family was
burdened with costs of farming production. So, every time before leaving
home, I felt gloomy. (Student L, scholarship winner)
In the case of Student L, higher education took a heavy toll: A younger sibling dropped
out of school to save money. At the level of basic education, many rural students’ family
economy was already overdrawn and on the verge of bankruptcy. ��
At the level of tertiary
education, financial
��
aids granted to them are
��
��
not so significant as to bring about fundamental
improvement. As a result, many
��
rural
��
students at the higher extreme, as much as those at the
lower extreme, are heavily in debt to their families.
The following extract is from Student H��
��
(from a civil servant/peasant family in the
North), the only student who studied within the geographical boundary of Hebei Province and
consumed more than 1000 yuan each month:
Extract 29.��
(Fund :) It is OK in my case. I fully depended on my family. Everything,
including cost of living, comes from my family, because my family is
relatively well off.
(As a rural student, you have been very successful breaking urban exclusion.)
The reason lies in this: The factor of economy underlies many phenomena. As I
told you just now, I spent 60 thousand yuan during my 4 years in university. This
may not be very much for some urban students, but it is not that easy to accumulate
this sum from the village.
It was a subdued attitude on ��

[��
the��
��
rural students’��
]��
part, as well as their hard-working
character, that pulled them through in their endeavour (...). (Student H)
To Student H, the price for higher education was great. However, this expense could
not be spared, for money functioned as stepping-stone, without which the mainstream student
community would be inaccessible. When approaching the��
��
entrance to university with finances
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58 that were luxurious for peasants, but not abundant for life in metropolises, Student H was in
great contrast to the urban peers who had��
��
a whole system of privilege, including good basic
education, cultural familiarity and a curriculum that favour��
ed��
their background. Although
declaring no financial pressure, Student H could not possibly be exempted from it. To span
the urban-rural gap, money may be the most straightforward approach, although the gap may
have been created by many other factors including information and culture as well as econom�� y��.
However, to most rural students, whether they depend on family funds or scholarship, this route
is blocked. A case brought in for contrast is Student I,��
who studied in
��
��
a southern metropolis��,
where social disparity is more salient. Student I claimed to be under financial pressure, in
spite that the consumption standard is similar to that of Student H. ��
A recent survey made in a
southern metropolis reveals that the monthly expense of some rich students could be as high
as 8,000 yuan.5 Had Student
��
H��
studied in a southern metropolis��
, ��
the��
cost of higher education
would have become
��
a very heavy burden.
��
Many rural families have to reduce their standard of living or get into debt to support
their children. As a result, many rural students have a guilty conscience. ��
“��
Taking so much
money at once from family saving, I felt very sorry��
”��
(Student B, at lower extreme, who found
higher education cost bearable). “��
��
After all a grown-up now, anyway find it embarrassing to ask
for money��
”��
(Student M, at higher extreme, who found higher education cost unbearable). On
the whole, rural students, whatever their category, are
��
invariably burdened under the heavy cost
of higher education��
. The elites of the elites among Chinese rural youths,6 though physically
present in the metropolis, still remain in the shadow of their impoverished rural homes. As such,
the division that intersects across the four groups of rural students in Table 1 and 2 is getting
blurred, while the border that separates them from the city has become more distinct.
The Higher Extreme versus��

��
the Lower Extreme: I��
llusi��
on or M��
arginaliz��
ation
The following comparison is made between students at the lower and higher extreme
respectively, in order to uncover how rural students’ standing in the higher education��
hierarchy
��
may influence their future orientation. This touches upon the aspects of upgrading academic
qualification, employment��
, etc��
. Economy, though, remains a visible theme in this section.
Lower extreme: Under illus��

��
ion
Extract 30.��
I am also looking for a job, for graduation is nearing.... Not easy, not at all. (...
) [��
��
In finding a job��
]��
I guess the most important factor is still personal factor,
because��
even if you enter a company through social relations, your merits still
need to be verified. Your ability can serve as the index of your strength. (... )
(What, if we only look at the initial recruitment?) Maybe it equally depends
on both, on social relations and on yourself as well. (Do you have relations in
Shijiazhuang��
(��
the capital of Hebei Province��
)?) No, not influential relations.
(Do you feel you have a chance in ��
Shijiazhuang��
?) Er... I guess chance...
chance, well, only for positions that are not so good. (Student A)
Extract 31.��
After all there are too many university students now. It is difficult to find a
job. Sure there is pressure. (... ) (Those who graduated earlier and are still
without job, what are they doing now?) Some are running small shops, selling
ice cream near school,��
sell��
ice cream; some sell clothing, rent a shop and sell
clothing. Engaged in various kinds of things.7 (Are they all from the village?)
Yes, from the village, all from the village. (Do you think it fair?) It is quite
fair as I deem it. In the present day society, capable persons get on. (... ) When
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you cannot find a job, you cannot blame it on others. You can only say that 59
you have no ability. (Student E)
In their childhood, most of the��

��
rural students showed outstanding performance in their
study among their peers��
.��
It is justifiable that they are very proud. However, their inadequate
educational formation has restricted the structure of their thoughts and knowledge, so that m��
any
of them ��
are clever in ��
school examinations
��
only. ��
U��
niversities and colleges at the lower extreme
indiscriminately duplicate the stereotypes that adhere to unenlightened teaching methods��.
As a result, school products tend to be identical��
.��
Outside the campuses, Chinese economic
development heavily depends on labour intensive industry, which mostly recruits workers with
low educational attainment levels��
,��
giv��
ing��
limited room for university and college graduates. In
this situation, the major factors that affect employment obviously go beyond personal ability.
In fact, rural students at the lower extreme are challenged from both sides: On the one hand are
students at the higher extreme, who bask in the halo of their prestigious schools; on the other
hand are urban students, who have more social resources and shelters in the city. Student A and
E, however, failed to see the factors underlying the employment crisis, for u��
��
niversity ��
education
did not deepen their insight into the overall
��
system.
Higher extreme: Victims of Marginalisation
Extract 32.��
As far as I am concerned, the main purpose of leaving home is to find a job. (...
) They are urban children and seek help from their parents, while we can only
rely on ourselves. (Thinking about going up to graduate study?) Certainly
did. Mmm, had better make money first and support myself. (... ) Family
has provided me for so many years, anyway, almost all the money is used up
to support me through��
. I��
n the end, if I go home and continue to rely on my
family, it’s really unacceptable. Too ��
shameful��
to go home. (Student K)
Extract 33.��
I feel that anyway we are different from people here. After all, we want to
come out ��
[��
of the village��
]��
and it is just for this aim that we have taken all the
efforts. Unlike [��
��
the��
��
urban students��
]��
, they have always been here and do not
have to worry about some future plans. (Student M)
Extract 34.��
For graduate ��
study��
, I applied to X University (a subclass-1 university). (... )
We three persons were candidates for the final interview. Three persons and
the other two graduated from X university. The supervisors used to teach them
and they were in the same faculty. Then I was eliminated and was transferred
to this [��
��
subclass-2 university��
]��
. (... ) Anyway this is very common. Because at
that time I was told.... So, now many people ask me why don’t you apply for
a position of civil servant. Because��
,��
considering��
��
many factors, you cannot just
rely on your scores and take it for granted that you can make it.
(The experience of study :) If I could choose, I would rather be exempted from

such experience. Too heavy. (... ) Had to persevere. Persevered not because of
strong will, but because there was no other choice. (Student H)
The following extract is from Student C, who had undergraduate education at the lower
extreme in Hebei Province, but had graduate education in a southern metropolis. Once located
at the higher extreme, where the students’ socio-economic background differed sharply, Student
C became alert to the disadvantaged position as a rural youth:
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60
Extract 35.��
(Family influence in obtaining a position :) Er, right, there are such cases. But
in the university [��
��
in Hebei Province��
]��
it did not impress me very much in that
way. (... ) On the contrary, I find this phenomenon more common in X City
(the southern metropolis). In X City, you are more aware of the dependence
on friends, parents and the friend circle, to look for job. (In big city, you can
obviously sense this, is that so?) Yes, I have a more obvious and more salient
sense of this phenomenon than I did when I was in Y City (the city in Hebei
Province where Student C took undergraduate studies). (Student C)
Comparatively, rural students at the higher extreme, though academically more

competitive, seemed less confident. And they were more aware of the fact that, unlike urban
students, they could not get help from social relations when looking for a job. They did not
equate school grades ��
and individual
��
ability��
��
with good
��
work position��
. However,
��
t��
heir practical
attitude was a��
“��
subdued attitude��
” (Student H)��
, or concession to humiliation.
To some extent, students’ perceptions of reality seem to vary with how much they
approach ��
the��
metropolis, where social stratification is salient: Student I��
��
, at the stage of senior
high school, became alert to the correlation between school grades and socio economic status;
Student H did so upon entering university; Student C found social relations counted much when
arriving in a big metropolis; Student A and E, who were away from big cities, were convinced
that individual ability was decisive. ��
S��
tudents' ��
future choices and the consequences of their
choices��
could be��
influenced by how near their judgments about themselves and the ��
��
society
come to reality.
D��
ilemma
Extract 36.��
This was my first choice, directly applied to this school. Feel it safer in this
way. Application for better schools might fail. Had better be safe. (Student
D)
Extract 37.��
One goal was to be admitted to a school. (... ) In fact I was very blind, so to
speak. (In this blindness, there is one very important theme, that is, to leave
the village as far as possible, right?) Right, right��
, right, f��
ind a school in the
first place. (... ) (��
Had ��
you a very affluent family condition, would you give
priority to your interests?) Er... as to interests, because at the bottom level,
in general, I do not feel that enough attention is given to cultivating interests.
As to the students’ own interests... they hardly know what they will do in the
future, or where their interests lie. (Student C)
Extract 38.��
This ��
[��
better-off family condition��
]��
and the fact that my parents had no regret at
breaking away from the soil provides financial and psychological support to a
rural youth who chose to go in for higher education. (Student H)
Most rural students who study hard with the purpose of leaving the village are in ��
fact
more urged by the plight at present than in��
spire��
d by their studies or attracted by some grandiose
promise in the future. Higher education paves a route to the city. However, peasants, living in
the closed rural environment, are unfamiliar with school affairs. Teaching staff in rural schools
tends to be poorly informed about university curriculum. As a result, most rural students are
more or less blind about choices of schools and subjects. Nevertheless, behind this blindness
lies the solitary goal: to uproot from the soil and therefore to be admitted to a school at any
ISSN 1822-7864
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Volume 40, 2012
rate. In this case, they would choose schools and majors of less prestige and less competition 61
in relation to their urban peers. In so doing, they choose a position that is disadvantageous for
their future upgrading and employment.
Confronted with the employment crisis, many rural students falter between two choices:
academic qualification upgrading or employment. On the one hand, they look forward to
financial self-reliance and then reward to their families. On the other hand, finding themselves
in a disadvantaged position, they endeavour to upgrade their academic qualifications as a way
of increasing their competitive capacity. This puts them into a circle of dilemma: They must
have good qualification to get satisfactory jobs; they must have money to upgrade qualification;
and they must have satisfactory jobs to make money. Urban students have advantaged social
relations to buffer the impact of employment crisis to some extent. In contrast, rural students,
once back to their home villages, would lose their foothold in the city and have even less
chance to find jobs. What is more, they will find that their parents are too worn out to continue
manual labour. The remark that it was “t��
��
oo shameful��
��
to go home��
”��
(Student K) reflects a typical
psychology that hangs heavily over many rural students.
Rural students at the lower extreme are in the most unfavorable position: With limited
financial aids, they are more likely to sink their families in desperate poverty. ��
“��
The village on
campus��
”��
may temporar��
ily��
buffer against the impact from the city, it may also slow down their
active response to the external changes��
. Once
��
they are precipitated into the employment crisis,
they may have to pay a very heavy toll, and may even think that they are trapped in a snare of
their own making. An incident happened that may illustrate the findings in this research��
��
: Liu
Wei, a rural student who became hopeless about her employment prospect, chose suicide in
February 2009, only half a year before graduation. Liu Wei was a typical poor rural student at
the lower extreme: Although she was ��
excellent in study and ��
once granted state scholarship, her
family was in debt and her younger brother discontinued education to ��
save fund��
. According to
the newspaper report, Liu Wei used to be a “��
��
very confident and very strong girl.��
”��
She would
rather ��
“��
be thankful to poverty��
”��
than complain, for poverty was supposed to make her �� “��
strong
and mature.��
”��
In the long run, poverty brought her under pressure: Family being heavily in
debt, while she, “��
��
a grand university student,��
”��
continued to “��
��
draw on the toil��
”��
of her parents
without the hope of finding a job -- “��
��
How shameful!��
”��
To overcome frustration, she relied
on ��
“��
psychology��
”��
: ��
“��
The key of healthy psychology is yourself.... Study harder, get equipped,
perfect yourself, and the situation will improve.��
”��
Nevertheless, “��
��
psychology��
”��
failed to save her
life (Jingdong��
,��
2009).
Liu Wei’s diary overlaps with the extracts cited above, not by accident. The data and
analysis reveal that many rural students came to the entrance of university with confidence.
They have been financially burdened and morally in debt for years. Disillusionment about the
future may become the last straw that breaks a camel’s back. The way that Liu Wei chose to rid
her agony is accidental, while her experience is not unique.
Discussion
Bourdieu’s concept of the field and habitus (1992) could shed light on t��
he ��
phenomenon
that ��
the rural students located respectively at the high and low extreme��
give different responses
to poverty��
. The Chinese
��
higher education institutions��
, apart from being a��
university field,��
is a
locus where the rural field and urban field overlap. The higher extreme of the locus tends to
be dominated by urban students, while the lower extreme tends to be dominated by the rural
students. This is unique of the Chinese higher education system that reflects the urban-rural
segregation system.
ISSN 1822-7864
problems
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62 At the lower extreme, the rural students tend to be confined in a closed mini rural society
duplicated on the campuses. In the financially harsh condition, the rural students manage to
maintain a poised psychology. One of the reasons may be that, basically, they are still living
in the old field where they stick
��
to��
their old habitus. Thus is created a harmony between them
and the environment, so that they do not feel repressed and marginalized. This confirms the
observation of Bourdieu that habitus is ��
“��
at home��
”��
in the field it inhabits (Bourdieu �� &� Wacquant,
1992, p. 128).
Nevertheless��
, the
��
��
rural students may have to pay a heavy price for feeling at home.
According to the observation of Bourdieu and Passeron��
(1990)��
, school authority tends to
create the illusion that conceals the correlation between the symbolic violence exerted by an
educational system and the existing power relations. With respect to working-class children,�
“��
the cultural arbitrary” of their class may��
leave��
“��
��
less room for moral indignation at forms
of��
repression which anticipate the sanctions most probable��
”��
for the��
m��
.��
They
��
��
tend to be more
“rigorously selected”��
and have better school performance. Yet��
, ��
the social order��
may��
refuse��to�
call them to “��
��
over-ambitious destinies��
.”��
T��
��
he educational system��
may��
even disguise ��
“��
chances of
entry��
”��
as ��
“��
chances of success��
,” so that they might become the victims of “��
deferred elimination��”
without realizing it��
(��
p. 65,
��
16, 72-80��
��
, 2��
07��
, 159��
��
). Lindner
��
(2006) has also observed that ��
underlings may
��
take��
the pain��
��
that came with their lowliness as “honorable medicine” (�� p. 165)��
��.
Accordingly, Chinese rural students, because of t��
heir previous harsh life condition which has
structured the rural habitus��
, ��
as well as the main stream propaganda that overstates the effect ��
of
“honorable medicine”, ��
may let go obvious social injustice��
undetected. T��
��
��
hey tend
��
to��
neglect the
fact that they are rewarded by better academic record largely ��
because��
��
the educational system
has imposed a much more rigorous selection on them than on their urban peers�� . They
��
may even
sacrifice their
��
academic
��
��
ambition ��
for their ultimate goal: to break away from the village. More
serious, they
��
might become the victims of a deferred elimination��
and ultimately��
excluded
��
��
from
the arena after, rather than before, they have exhausted all their resources in exchange for a
higher education qualification.��
It seems that their
��
illusion about higher education persist��s��
, even
when the system
��
��
functions as��
an instrument to drain financial resources from them, yet fails to
sufficiently convert their merits, ��
such as diligence and perseverance��
, ��
into ��
deep insight and high ��
competence on the ��
employment��
market��
. In
��
a��
nutshell��
, they
��
fail to see the
��
correlation between
the higher education system and the existing relation powers.�
On the other hand, the rural students at the higher extreme make up a minority on the
campus. Apparently, the��
ir��
life differs from that of their urban peers in content and quality.
Fundamentally, they have entered a new field to which their old habitus stands in their way.
It may be frustrating to find one's habitus under challenge, and it would take much effort to
readapt one's old habitus, which is durable and transposable, to a new field. But that�� , alone,�
does not necessarily ��
lead to in��
justice. According to Bourdieu (1992),��
the
��
position of an agent i��n
a certain filed��
may be defined��
by two factors: “the volume and structure of his capital” and �� his
“��
objective relation to other positions��
”��
(p.
��
97��
, 99��
)��
. In
��
fact,
��
in ��
the macro��
hierarchical structure
��of
urban-rural segregation, ��
the existing power relations have assigned the village ��
and the city to
unequal status. T��
he urban field rejects the rural habitus, not only as heterogeneous, but also as
unworthy. ��
As a result, the rural students would find themselves marginalized in the new field
and proletarianized with respect to social and cultural capital��
, as well as economic��
��
capital��.
As Lindner (2006) points out, when people have more opportunities to compare
themselves with others, they are likely to detect more existing inequalities�� .��
When they are
shown the benefits that��
are��
entitled to ��
other equal
��
human beings, yet at the same time deprived
of those very benefits, ill feelings such as feelings of humiliation must be expected to increase.
There have been situations throughout history in which ”pain was valued on its own account, not
just as a regrettable yet necessary side effect��
.��
” Only after making ”long mental and emotional
journeys from honor humiliation to human rights steered dignity humiliation” is it possible for
ISSN 1822-7864
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Volume 40, 2012
individuals to define themselves as victims (p. ��

42,
��
43, 18, 29��
). The
��
rural students at the higher 63
extreme, l��
ike their counterpart��
��
at the lower extreme, used to take
��
plight as honorable medicine��.�
Arriving at big cities, the��
y��
are at once directly
��
exposed to the ��
sharp contrast between t��
he urban�
and ��
rural ��
areas, a condition under which deprivation cannot ��
so easily
��
go undetected. ��
T��
hey��
tend
to be sober in making��
judgments about themselves and ��
the society,
��
because they are aware of
the humiliation that the��
y are deprived of the very benefits entitle to ��
their urban peers, and that
the gap between them and the city is impassible. The halo of famous universities that crowns
them and the various financial aids that are granted to them ��
cannot ��
make up for the humiliation�
that they have suffered as an inferior social group��.
Conclusions
Rural China and urban China belong to two separate spaces, or even two different eras.
Other societies that apply welfare measures greatly reduce disparities in life necessities between
different social strata. For Chinese students, in contrast, daily details such as meals serve as
indexes of “��
��
the rich��
”��
and “��
��
the poor,��
”��
and, in turn, as indexes of “��
��
the urban��
”��
and “��
��
the rural.��”�
Close contact of ��
the rural
��
students with their urban peers may intensify their sense of affiliation
to the village, and they may oppose the village to the city. Given the seriously imbalanced
urban-rural resource distribution,��
the higher
��
education system��
��
will eventually assign��
��
urban and
rural graduates to unequal social positions. Especially
��
��
when exposed to ��
employment crisis,
the rural students have the danger of being ��
left ��
in desperation��
to repeat the tragedies that are
bred in poverty. More fundamentally, via the durable and transposable habitus, �� t��
he rural-
urban segregation system, an external government coercion, will have become internalised
into people’s mentality. Thus, the
��
��
Chinese universities and colleges play a critical role in the
reproduction of the urban-rural segregation system.
Acknowledgements
My warmest thanks go to Mr. Magnus Haavelsrud��

of Norwegian University of Science
and Technology (NTNU)��
, who supervises my research and gives timely help and guidance, and
to Mr. Tony Jenkins��
, who
��
very kindly edited my language.
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(Endnotes)
1 In the urban-rural segregation system, most peasants are registered as permanent rural residents��
, a��
status ��
that is passed
��
down from parents to children. Peasants��
��
are excluded from many privileged professional f��
ields, and m��
any social welfare
policies benefit permanent urban residents only. At the level of basic
��
education,
��
it is the rural local governments that
provide the funding, often insufficiently, to peasants’ children that are institutionally chained to their home villages.
2 Students graduated from Chinese universities and colleges in recent years: 2.12 million in 2003; 2.8 million in 2004; 3.38
million in 2005; 4.13 million in 2006; 4.95 million in 2007; 5.59 million in 2008; 6.11 million in 2009; 6.31 million in
2010��
(Baiqian, 2010)��.
3 Student G claimed to have financial pressure at one time, but claimed not having consumed much family funds at another,
thus is included in both Group 1 and 2�.
4 Student loan must be returned two years after graduation, even if the student could not find job�.
5 A��
survey in 2010 in Guangzhou, a big southen city, reveals that students’ monthly expenditure varies from less ��
than ��
300
to about
��
8,000
��
yuan (Fu & Wang, 2010).
6 Allotment of opportunities to enter famous universities are based on quota which heavily ��
favors ��
residents in metropolises.
Take, for example, two
��
��
top��
universities in China, Peking University/ Tsinghua University: In 2009, the two universities
respectively enrolled 180/253 science students from the City of Beijing, but enrolled only 14/45 students from Hebei
Province. In contrast, the required score for admission to the two universities was 653/653 for Beijing residents, but
677/680 for Hebei students (Information source: www.sina.com.cn).
7 ��
“Small business” in urban areas used to sustain peasants or those without a “profession.” Later, large population of laid-off
industrial workers, and by now, university graduates, step in the arena, too.
Advised by Andris Broks, University of Latvia, Latvia
��
, 2012
Jingyi Dong Master in Philolophy of Higher Education, Master in North American Studies, Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU), ��
Trondheim, Norway.
E-mail: jieren987@yahoo.com
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MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND ITS 65
DEVELOPMENT IN STUDENTS OF
TEACHER EDUCATION CURRICULA
Anna Džalalova, Nina Raud
Narva College of the University of Tartu, Narva, Estonia
E-mail: Anna.Dzalalova@ut.ee; Niina.Raud@ut.ee
Abstract
According to the Estonian State Integration Programme the system of education is considered to be one
of the main areas of implementing the state integration policy. The main task of schools in Estonia is
to support the feeling of belonging for permanent residents of the Estonian society by sharing common
values and knowledge of the official language, and to create possibilities for understanding other cultures
and establishing methods for cross-cultural communication with various ethnic groups.
The purpose of the research is to study multicultural competence which is considered to be a key
component of professional teacher education, as it is of interdisciplinary nature and comprises various
aspects which contribute to the development of cognition, personality and professional activities. The
research, conducted among students into the level of development of their multicultural competence,
has revealed that Narva College students have a positive ethnic identity and quite a high degree of
tolerance, which testifies to the positive attitude to their own and other cultures and students’ readiness
for intercultural communication.
To support the development of multicultural competence in students there has been devised a programme
based on such educational components as the comprehensive knowledge of research methods and practices
in multicultural education; formation of positive respectful attitude towards native and other cultures;
development of skills to support culture-centred education and effective cross-cultural communication;
and with inclusion of professional pedagogical activities being based on the humanistic approach and
efficient pedagogical interaction.
The research covers key points of how the principles of multilingual and multicultural education are
realised in everyday teaching practices to achieve corresponding learning outcomes.
Key words: multicultural competence, multicultural educational environment, principles of multicultural
education, teacher education.
Introduction
The issue of multicultural education is very topical in Estonia, which is an ethnically

diverse country inhabited by people of more than one hundred nationalities. Before the Second
World War Estonia was an ethnically homogeneous society with 80% of its population being
Estonians; at present Estonians represent 68.6% of the country’s population and ethnic minorities
and representatives of other nationalities amount to 31.4% – with Russians as the biggest group
of 25.7% , Ukrainians of 2.1%, Byelorussians of 1.2% and Finns of 0.8%. Collectively there are
about 120 different nationalities in Estonia. The Estonian language is mother tongue for 67.2%
of its permanent residents. Other languages and cultures are native for at least one third of the
population of Estonia (National minorities and national culture of Estonia, 2012). Therefore the
multicultural composition of the school class is rather a norm than an exception for Estonia.
Historically mainstream schools in Estonia are referred to as schools with Estonian or
Russian as the language of instruction. In case of Estonian schools with Russian as the language
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66 of instruction multiculturalism is a traditional characteristic of their school life organisation.

School students in such schools are Russian speaking children who belong to various cultures,
nationalities and religions. In Estonian medium schools Russian speaking children and new
immigrants are representatives of other cultures. New immigrants are children from European
countries whose parents have moved to Estonia for employment reasons and children from
refugees’ families.
According to the Estonian State Integration Programme the system of education is
considered to be one of the main areas of implementing the state integration policy. The key
task of schools in the Republic of Estonia is to make students of all nationalities aware of
the priorities and goals of the society’s development and of its cultural values; to enrich the
individual’s perception of other cultures; to reveal and develop ways and forms of intercultural
communication between different national and ethnic groups (Estonian State Integration
Programme 2008-2013, 2008).
However, according to the outcomes of a survey conducted in 2007 in the European
countries by the Eurobarometer service, residents of Estonia are the least interested in cross-
cultural contacts in comparison with other European countries (��
Intercultural dialogue in Europe,
2007)��
. The survey showed that Estonia and Hungary are EU member states where for the
majority of the population (52%) the phrase “multicultural dialogue” did not have any particular
meaning. In comparison with other residents of the EU, Estonians had fewer contacts with
other ethnic and national groups (43% in comparison with the average for the EU of 65%). The
data also shows that citizens of Estonia communicated with representatives of other religions
less than other residents of the EU (18%). To the question “Can you say that the cultural life
of the country is enriched with the help of people who have other cultural backgrounds than
the majority of the population?” only 8% of Estonians answered that it was to the advantage of
their lives, which is the lowest percentage in the EU. This situation for a multicultural country
is quite alarming. The lack of interest in cross-cultural dialogue could lead to intolerant life
positions. However, the earlier the knowledge and skills of how to live in a multicultural
society are acquired the easier it might be for an individual to communicate and cooperate with
representatives of other cultures and ethnicities. The purpose of the present research is to reveal
the degree to which teachers and future student-teachers possess multicultural competence,
and to discuss ways of its development in students of teacher education curricula who become
kindergarten and school teachers, and who are supposed to become advocates of cross-cultural
dialogue, tolerance and empathy.
Theoretical Background
Principles and Aims of Modern Multicultural Education
The teacher plays an important role in fostering and developing in her/his students values
of mutual understanding, tolerance and readiness for having a dialogue. Tolerance, both as a
personality characteristic and as a public position, is a necessary condition for the efficient
realisation of the educational process where the teacher’s professional practice has to be
reconsidered. In order to realise tasks set by the Estonian State Integration Programme for the
development of a dialogue of cultures, and for multicultural education, it is necessary to pay
special attention to the training of teachers for work in multilingual and multicultural classes, as
well as to the formation and development of teachers’ multicultural competence (Surveys and
Discussions on the Topics of Multiculturalism, Integration and Language Studies in Estonia,
2003).
Modern multicultural education aims at keeping and developing a whole variety and
diversity of cultural values, and it is culture-centred in its essence. According to Trasberg (2004)
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Anna DŽALALOVA, Nina RAUD. Multicultural Competence and Its Development in Students of Teacher Education Curricula
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multicultural education in the situation of cross-cultural interdependence has to support the 67

preservation and development of self-identity, the formation of cross-cultural communication
skills, and it has to prevent and resolve successfully all possible conflicts caused by national
or other differences between peoples. Multicultural education empowers every person with a
wider range of skills in communication and cooperation with other persons.
Leading specialists in the sphere of multicultural education such as Banks (2004),
Gorski (2006), Grant (2007), Nieto (2004), Sleeter (2007) have come to the conclusion that
multicultural education has to comply with the following key principles:
• Multicultural education is a political movement and a process by means of which social
justice is secured for students who are in disadvantaged/worse conditions;
• Even when principles of multicultural education are implemented in the everyday
practices of some educational institutions on a permanent basis, social justice remains
an institutional problem as such, and, thus, can be solved only by realisation of a multi-
faceted school reform;
• The multi-faceted school reform can be carried out only through critical analysis of power
structures and privileges;
• The fundamental goal of multicultural education – the aim of this critical analysis – is the
elimination of inequality in education;
• Multicultural education means good education for all students.
To sum up, realisation of the key principles of multicultural education presupposes a
readjustment of aims and content of education, in accordance with the dynamics of socio-
cultural values and values of social development.
Today Teacher’s Multicultural Competence
The multicultural educational environment can be characterised in terms of a number

of psychological particularities, such as: preservation and development of cultural values and
identities in their full diversity, cross-cultural communication, enrichment of the teaching-
educational environment with cultural components, a tolerant attitude to representatives of
various ethnic communities and cultures, etc. These new demands place new requirements
to the professional-pedagogical activities of teachers (��
Fennes, Hapgood��
, 1997; ��
Phillion, Ming
Fang He, Connelly��
, 2005; Tiedt, and Tiedt, 2005).
For the efficient fulfillment of pedagogical tasks the modern teacher, on the one hand,
has to be aware of multiculturalism in society and education; s/he has to have such psychological
characteristics as tolerance and positive ethnic identity, with a well developed system of
humanistic values; on the other hand, s/he has to know how to realise the main principles of the
multicultural educational process, and how to develop in young persons skills and abilities of
adaptation to life in multicultural communities.
The presence and necessity of multicultural competence in teacher education was
emphasised by Hutmacher (1997:17). Multicultural competence is a key competence
of professional pedagogical competence and, being a complex phenomenon, it includes
humanistic values, positive ethnic self-identity and tolerance, knowledge of cultures and their
interconnection, mastery of skills and methods applicable for a multicultural educational
environment. Thus, multicultural competence is a pre-condition for successful pedagogical and
interpersonal communication of the teacher along with other subjects of the educational process.
Analysis of various aspects of multicultural competence in works by ��
Pope-Davis, Coleman,
Ming Liu, Toporek��
(2003), Zeichner (1993)��
, Byram, Nichols, Stevens (2001), Banks, McGee
Banks (2004; 2008) allows
��
one to describe it as a complex phenomenon of interdisciplinary
nature, which includes three main components: cultural awareness and cognition, personality’s
value priority and motivation-based activities (Table 1).
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68 Table 1. Teacher’s multicultural competence and its components (Džalalova,

2009).
The cultural-cognitive component of teacher’s multicultural competence is characterised

by the presence of a structured knowledge of teacher’s own culture, and of other people’s
cultures presented in a certain socio-educational environment; it also includes the knowledge
of other world cultures and the perception of the world as a multicultural world community;
the component includes basic knowledge of multicultural communication and presupposes
methodological preparedness for working in the multicultural class as well as knowledge of
how to foster cultural aspects into educational content.
The personality and values component includes a well-developed system of humanistic
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values and axiological priorities which follow the principles of multiculturalism; a well- 69
developed system of universal and professional values; positive self-identity; tolerance and
psychological readiness to work in a multicultural professional team.
The motivation and activity component presupposes mastery of cross-cultural interaction
skills; it demonstrates the ability to apply methods, forms, and techniques of pedagogical work
in a multicultural professional team; it includes skills in supporting educational processes with
cultural aspects; it is realised in the humanistically-oriented style of pedagogic interaction.
Narva College of the University of Tartu has been preparing teachers for Russian medium
and multilingual schools and kindergartens since 1999 in the following specialities: “Early
Years Teacher”, “Primary School Teacher”, and “Teacher of Humanities”. One of the main
priorities of the College in its teacher training activities is the formation and development of
multicultural competence in its future student-teachers.
The authors of the present article conducted an empirical research with the purpose to
reveal degrees of development of multicultural competence in practicing teachers and students
of pedagogical specialities and to define optimal conditions for the support of this competence
in teachers and students of higher educational institutions (HEIs).
The sample of the research consisted of 104 Russian speaking teachers of Northern-
Eastern Estonia and 55 students of Narva College of the University of Tartu.
The research revealed the degree of development of the above mentioned components
for multicultural competence in teachers and students.
The main research methods to obtain empirical data were a written survey (for the study
of cultural-cognitive component of multicultural competence) and testing (the study of the
personality and values component of multicultural competence).
The methods of processing and interpretation of the obtained data were those of
mathematical statistics: correlative, comparative and cluster analyses; Student’s t-test for
probability distribution. The research outcomes were processed with the SPSS statistical
analysis programme (version 15.0).
Results of Research
Analysis of the cultural-cognitive component of teacher’s multicultural competence

allowed one to state that some teachers show insufficient knowledge of various aspects of
Russian and Estonian cultures; the degree to which the teachers’ skills and knowledge of how
to work in a multicultural team are developed is not appropriate; the majority of teachers
self-evaluate their skills and abilities of working with a multicultural team as being low or
average.
The personality and values component of the multicultural competence of teachers who
participated in the research shows that values and value priorities of modern teachers represent
a complex and controversial system; the system is characterised by teachers’ high demands
to themselves, and to other people and society as a whole. However, there is seen a disparity
between real and declared values, which is manifested in aspirations for humanistic values,
tolerance, education and refusal from any socially active position.
Though, for the majority of the teachers, positive ethnic identity is a leading quality
(Table 2) and they believe that the problem of ethnic tension in Estonia is very topical, yet
they remain indifferent to identification of their national identity and they even demonstrate
ethno-nihilism, ethno-egotism and ethno-fanaticism. Less that one third of the teachers can be
characterised with a high degree of tolerance; the average degree is found with the majority
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70 of teachers who participated in the research; with one quarter of the teachers the degree of
tolerance is at the lowest level.
Table 2. Types of teachers’ ethnic identities (n=104).
X m σ
Norm��
(��
positive ethnic identity�) 18��
.��
62 0��
.��
183 1��
.��
871
Ethnic indifference 11��
.��
31 0��
.��
334 3��
.��
411
Ethno-egotism 3��
.��
15 0��
.��
274 2��
.��
797
Ethno-nihilism 2��
.��
58 0��
.��
277 2��
.��
824
Ethno-fanaticism 2��
.��
42 0��
.��
251 2��
.��
564
Ethno-isolationism 1��
.��
46 0��
.��
212 2��
.��
163
Correlation analysis of the empirical data has revealed that there is direct interconnection
between the components of the values, and the personality component of teacher’s multicultural
competence (value priorities, tolerance, and types of ethnic identity). In addition to this there
is a direct correspondence between components of the values and personality component, and
the cultural-cognitive component (teachers’ self-evaluation of their skills and knowledge which
are necessary for their work with a multinational team, types of national identity, tolerance and
axiological priorities).
Cluster analysis of the empirical data has shown that there are three psychological types
of teacher, with different degrees to which multicultural competence is developed: type one
– teachers with a low degree of multicultural competence who require additional development
of its all components; type two – teachers with a comparatively high degree of multicultural
competence but who demonstrate ethnical indifference; type three – teachers with a moderate
degree of multicultural competence whose pedagogical style is dominated by authoritarianism
and dictatorship.
Thus, the empirical research results show an insufficient degree of development of the
components of multicultural competence in teachers of the three psychological types described
above. The process of teachers’ professional maturity begins at the stage of their professional
education, hence it can be assumed that multicultural competence has to be supported, and is
already being developed during teacher training. To verify this statement a follow-up research
study into the presence of the components of multicultural competence and their development
in the students of Narva College was conducted with the aim to make a comparative analysis
with the data on teachers.
The research that was conducted gave evidence to conclude that statistically significant
differences in the degree of development of the multicultural competence components with the
teachers and the students can be seen in (Table 3):
1. the cultural-cognitive component: the students evaluate their knowledge of working with a
multicultural team lower than the teachers.
2. the values and personality component: the students have lower degrees of tolerance and
positive ethnic identity than the teachers. However, the degree of ethno-isolation and
ethno-fanaticism is higher with the students than with the teachers but the degree of ethnic
indifference is lower.
To conclude, the degree of tolerance, positive ethnic identity and self-evaluation of
knowledge about work with a multicultural team is higher with the students than with the
teachers. Besides, the students – in comparison with the teachers – have less expressed
values which support principles of multicultural education, such as wider outlook, tolerance,
educativeness etc.
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Table 3. Comparative analysis of multicultural competence components with 71

teachers and students.
Teachers Students
N=104 N=55 T-
m σ m σ test
X X
Cultural and Cognitive Component
Self-evaluation of knowledge on work with a
20��
.��
27 8��
.��
21 0��
.��
81 15��
.��
24 5��
.��
90 0��
.��
71 p<0��
.��
001
multicultural team
Values and Personality Component
Tolerance
Degree of tolerance 24��
.��
96 3��
.��
99 0��
.��
39 22��
.��
18 4��
.��
74 0��
.��
64 p<0��
.��
001
Types of ethnic identities
Ethnic indifference 11��
.��
29 3��
.��
44 0��
.��
34 9��
.��
64 4��
.��
09 0��
.��
55 p<0��
.��
01
Positive ethnic identity 18��
.��
62 1��
.��
87 0��
.��
18 17��
.��
71 2��
.��
19 0��
.��
30 p<0��
.��
01
Ethno-isolationism 1��
.��
44 2��
.��
20 0��
.��
22 2��
.��
91 3��
.��
31 0��
.��
45 p<0��
.��
01
Ethno-fanaticism 2��
.��
43 2��
.��
59 0��
.��
26 3��
.��
71 3��
.��
70 0��
.��
50 p<0��
.��
05
Terminal values�
Beauty of nature and the arts 2��
.��
27 1��
.��
01 0��
.��
10 1��
.��
47 0��
.��
72 0��
.��
10 p<0��
.��
001
Love 3��
.��
79 1��
.��
07 0��
.��
11 4��
.��
38 0��
.��
89 0��
.��
12 p<0��
.��
001
True and reliable friends 3��
.��
08 0��
.��
94 0��
.��
09 3��
.��
56 0��
.��
98 0��
.��
13 p<0��
.��
01
Creativity 3��
.��
04 1��
.��
13 0��
.��
11 1��
.��
76 0��
.��
86 0��
.��
12 p<0��
.��
001
Life wisdom 3��
.��
37 1��
.��
28 0��
.��
13 2��
.��
85 1��
.��
13 0��
.��
15 p<0��
.��
05
Leisurely life 1��
.��
33 0��
.��
70 0��
.��
07 1��
.��
69 0��
.��
79 0��
.��
11 p<0��
.��
01
Instrumental ��
��
values
Responsibility 3��
.��
37 1��
.��
01 0��
.��
10 3��
.��
93 1��
.��
14 0��
.��
15 p<0��
.��
01
Strong will 2��
.��
81 1��
.��
18 0��
.��
12 3��
.��
25 1��
.��
27 0��
.��
17 p<0��
.��
05
Tolerance 3��
.��
77 1��
.��
02 0��
.��
10 3��
.��
16 1��
.��
24 0��
.��
17 p<0.01
Wide outlook� 3��
.��
58 0��
.��
99 0��
.��
10 2��
.��
89 1��
.��
12 0��
.��
15 p<0��
.��
001
Educativeness 4��
.��
04 0��
.��
94 0��
.��
09 3��
.��
67 1��
.��
19 0��
.��
16 p<0��
.��
05
Efficiency 3��
.��
12 1��
.��
19 0��
.��
12 2��
.��
76 1��
.��
00 0��
.��
10 p<0��
.��
05
Discussion
Ways of Developing Multicultural Competence in Future Student-Teachers
The research results have shown the necessity for the creation of a programme aimed
at preparing students for their work in a multicultural environment, by means of fostering and
developing the components of multicultural competence.
To devise the programme, the following principles were taken as guidelines:
1) aim-centredness – this principle is achieved through the realisation of the main goal,
i.e. forming and developing multicultural competence in students by means of creating
corresponding organisational, didactic and content basics of the educational process;
2) consistency – this principle is realised by means of interdisciplinary links and connection
of theory with practice; disciplines are studied in a certain sequence, which is followed-up
by application of received knowledge in the area of multicultural education during teaching
practice in multicultural institutions; by means of coordinated cooperative work of all
participants of the higher educational process�;
3) research – students are supposed to acquire knowledge of what multicultural education and
cross-cultural communication are at the level of modern scientific research; students are
provided with opportunities and support to conduct experimental
��
work and research; �
4) awareness and commitment ��
– this principle ��
is realised by means of active methods of
teaching and learning; by doing problem-solving and case-study activities relevant to
multicultural educational situations;
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72 5) wholeness – this is achieved by organisation of the educational process as a process

of students’ personality development, which includes all aspects of their multicultural
competence and supports their independent, active, purposeful learning;
6) Cultural appropriateness – this is achieved by conformity to the cultural component of
education, by fostering values of world cultures and humanistic values, by instilling tolerant
conscience, respect for various cultures, variety and diversity, by applying humanistic
technologies in education to solve pedagogic tasks in particular social-cultural situations.
For the successful realisation of the teacher training programme aimed at developing
multicultural competence in future student-teachers it is necessary to unite efforts and actions
of all participants of the educational process, at both administrative and teaching levels of HEIs.
This task might be achieved through the following actions:
1) creation of organisational and methodological conditions to secure the multicultural profile
of studies throughout the whole period of students’ studies at HEIs;
2) all study processes and activities are interconnected and student-centred; they have to
focus on learning by doing and have to follow the principles of multiculturalism;
3) subjects and courses are to be supported by appropriate cultural background; subject matter
is considered from the point of cross-cultural interaction; study programmes have to include
special subjects on multicultural issues;
4) correspondence and logical interconnection between aims, content, study forms and
activities, with learning outcomes aimed at the formation of multicultural competence by
means of a humanistic, tolerant, interactive and flexible educational process.
To sum up the above points, the key characteristics of the proposed programme for
developing of the students’ multicultural competence is the creation of the psychological-
pedagogical environment, the inclusion of multicultural aspects in study programmes,
professionalism and readiness of academic staff to teach multicultural aspects and to apply
appropriate teaching methods and forms.
Within the context of the programme the following activities are carried out on a regular
basis to support the development of multicultural competence in future student- teachers: study
trips; research work of students and lecturers on topics of multicultural education; development
and teaching of international courses for students from different countries; organisation of
teacher-training practice in multicultural institutions; participation of students in traditional
scientific conferences on aspects of multicultural education; inclusion into all teacher training
programmes such courses as Multicultural education and Cross-cultural communication.
One additional opportunity for the realisation of a multicultural approach to teacher
training in HEIs is to include into the disciplines of the Psychological-pedagogical module
topics which discuss issues of multiculturalism. With all College’s teacher training programmes
the course on Basics of Pedagogy considers such topics as “Educational environment of Estonia
as a multicultural educational area”; “Aims and tasks of multicultural pedagogy”. The course
on Methods of Pedagogical Diagnostics includes the topic “Analysis of ethno-psychological
characteristics of participants of the educational process”. The course on Pedagogical
Communication has a section on “Cross-cultural communication”. Therefore, the formation
of multicultural competence is supported not only by special courses but by including it as a
core component into the whole complex of psychological-pedagogical disciplines. This kind of
cross-disciplinary connection provides continuity in the formation of multicultural competence
in future student-teachers.
One of the main components of multicultural competence is the plurilingualism of
future teachers, which is also the core part of teacher training programmes in Narva College.
The language policy of the College is focused on developing language competences in three
languages, through teaching English/ Estonian for specific purposes, and practicing content and
language integrated teaching. All College curricula have language modules which are aimed
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at developing students’ language mastery. The volume of subjects varies, with the focus being 73
placed initially on the mastery of Estonian. Second foreign languages such as English, German
and French are presented through general language studies, and language courses for specific
purposes.
The first outcomes of the realisation of the programme for developing and supporting
multicultural competence in students of teacher training programmes of Narva College have
already shown that, at the beginning of their studies, students acquire the cultural-cognitive
component and the value and personality component of multicultural competence. The
control measurements (at the end of the first year of studies) show a decrease in the level of
intolerance, and an increase in the degree of students’ self-evaluation of their ability to work in
a multinational/multicultural team.
Conclusions
Multiculturalism of contemporary societies demands, from modern education systems

and teacher education curricula in particular, new ways and approaches for bringing up an
individual who, from her/his early ages, accepts the diversity – both cultural and linguistic – of
the community s/he lives in. Kindergartens and schools are the first and the most important
places for instilling and developing knowledge and skills of cross-cultural communication.
Hence, a teachers’ mission is to make this communication possible by their own example, and
an ability to understand their own cultures, and place these in the context of the culture and
languages present in their community. In view of this fact, the method by which students of any
teacher education curricula are prepared for their work in multicultural educational settings is
of vital importance.
Teacher education curricula might employ various approaches to develop multicultural
competence in their students. The curricula should be based on the key principles of multicultural
education which value humanistic values, positive ethnic self-identity and tolerance, knowledge
of cultures and their interconnection, mastery of skills and methods applicable to a multicultural
educational environment. Structurally, teacher education programmes should not only include
topics/courses/modules on multicultural and plurilingual aspects, but should also give students
opportunities to apply this knowledge in practice both during their internship and by conducting
research activities in the area of multiculturalism and plurilingualism. Close cooperation and
support by all participants of the study process is believed to be one of the key aspects of
sustainability and continuity of any educators’ efforts in multicultural education.
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74 Handbook of multicultural competencies in counselling and psychology. (2003) / Ed. by D.B. Pope-
Davis, H.L.K. Coleman, W. Ming Liu, R.L. Toporek. Thousand ��
Oaks. London. New Delhi: ��
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Hutmacher, W��
March 27-30, 1996. A Secondary Education for Europe Project. Retrieved 02/01/2012, from
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Intercultural dialogue in Europe. (2007). The Gallup Organization. Eurobarometer. ��
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Narrative and experience in Multicultural education��
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Ed. by J. Phillion, Ming Fang He, E. M.
Connelly. ��
Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Nieto, S. (2004). Affirming diversity: the sociopolitical context of multicultural education / S. Nieto.
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Sleeter C. E. (2007). Making choices for multicultural education��
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. (2004). Мультикультурное��
Trasberg, К��
�� образование��
��
: развитие��
��
идей��
��
и��
��
поиски��
��
путей��
��
их��
��
реализации�
��
в��
современном��
�� мире�
��
[Multicultural Education: Ideas Generation and Search for their
Realization].// Мультикультурное�
��
образование��
: ключевые�
��
вопросы��
современности��
��
и��
��
поиск�
��
решений� ��
[Multicultural Education: Key Issues and Solutions] Ed. L.Vasilchenko. Tartu: �� [Tartu
Ülikool]; [��
Пылтсамаа��]: ��
Vali Press.
Tiedt, P. L. (2005). Multicultural teaching: a handbook of activities, information, and resources / Ed. by
P.L. Tiedt, I.M. Tiedt. Boston��
: Pearson��
��
/��
A��
&��
B.
(1993). Educating Teachers for Cultural Diversity. NCRTL Special Report, East Lansing��.
Zeichner��
, K.��
MI��
: Michigan��
��
State��
��
University�.
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[National minorities and
national culture of Estonia]. Retrieved��
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��: http://old.meis.ee/rus/rahvusvahemus.
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��
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Advised by Inci Dirim, University of Vienna, Austria
2��
3��
, 2012 Accepted: March 04��
��
, 2012
Anna Džalalova PhD, Lecturer of Psychology and Pedagogy, Head of Division of Psychology and
Pedagogy, Narva College of the University of Tartu, Kerese 14, 20304, Narva,
Estonia.
E-mail: Anna.Dzalalova@ut.ee
Website: http://www.narva.ut.ee
Nina Raud PhD, Lecturer of English, Head of Division of Foreign Languages, Narva College
of the University of Tartu, Kerese 14, 20304, Narva, Estonia.
E-mail: Niina.Raud@ut.ee
Website: http://www.narva.ut.ee
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Promoting Teacher Effectiveness 75
thRough a holistic wellness model

Dana Harwell, Mae Daniel
The University of West Alabama, Livingston, USA
E-mail: dharwell@uwa.edu, mdaniel@uwa.edu
Abstract
Research was conducted to determine if a holistic wellness model could promote teacher effectiveness
with 54 teacher interns at a Mississippi campus. The purpose of this research was to determine whether
holistic wellness as defined by creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self
as measured by the 5F-Wel can be used to predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI. The
research question proposed for this study was: Is there a relationship between wellness as measured by
the Five Factor Wellness Inventory and effective teaching as measured by the STAI?
The research design was correlational. A convenience sample of voluntary participants among the 54
teacher interns was used. The predictor variables were the second order factor scores on the 5F-Wel.
These factors are creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self. The dependent
variable was the overall formative score on the Student Teacher Assessment Instrument (STAI). Effective
teacher research supported the Student Teacher Assessment Instrument as a viable measure of teacher
effectiveness. The results obtained show the predictor variables included in the multiple linear regression
analysis did not predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI at an accuracy greater than chance.
A statistically significant relationship between the predictor variables and dependent variable was not
found. Specifically, wellness as measured by the second order factors on the 5F-Wel did not predict
teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI in this study.
Recommendations were to replicate this study using similar methodology in other geographical locations.
Being that guidelines of state universities are of unison, it can be assumed that dissimilarities exist among
the individual programs. Therefore, replicating this study at another university could provide dissimilar
results or possibly indentify a specific characteristic from an intern population that would benefit from a
holistic wellness model.
Key words: teacher efficacy, teacher wellness, holistic wellness, student teacher.
Introduction
Characteristics of effective teaching are an ever-present theme in educational research.

The vast amount of educational research focuses on strategies and techniques used by effective
teachers.Holistic wellness has recently become an important factor in educational research.
Wellness research has focused on schools, colleges, and subsequent job satisfaction. Myers,
Sweeney, and Witmer (2000a) noted Wellness refers to a holistic approach in which mind,
body, and spiritare integrated. It is a way of life oriented toward optimal health and well-being
in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated in a purposeful manner with a goal of living
life more fully. Wellness is more than the absence of disease, a state defined as “health”, and
incorporates a concern for optimal functioning. A relationship between holistic wellness and
effective teaching has yet to be established. To address this possible association, the current
study seeks to examine the relationship between wellness and effective teaching, adding to the
existing body of research on effective teaching.
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76 Problem of Research
The problem of this study is that it is not known if there is there a relationship between
wellness as measured by the Five Factor Wellness Inventory and effective teaching as measured
by the STAI? Research was conducted to determine whether holistic wellness as defined by
creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self as measured by the 5F-Wel
can be used to predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI. The need for teachers
that exhibit wellness has been reported by Myers and Sweeney (2005a). They recommended
that “the promotion of schoolwide well-being will enrich the academic experience of students
and families. In addition, school staff members who are aware and knowledgeable of wellness
concepts may be more likely to apply healthy strategies in the curriculum and throughout the
school” (p. 232).
Research Focus
The focus of this research was to determine if there was a relationship between wellness
and effective teaching. A discussion of wellness, a discussion of teacher effectiveness, and
The Student Teacher Assessment Instrument is presented. Research reveals several definitions
of wellness. Each focuses on wellness being more than physical health. Definitions include
individuals striving to reach a goal through a continual process of self improvement. The
following sections include a definition of models. The definitions provide a basic understanding
of wellness and are the foundation for wellness models. The following section provides
definitions of wellness and descriptions of wellness models dating back to the 1960s. Measures
of holistic wellness have been developed from the models.
Discussion on Wellness
The modern wellness movement has roots in the 1960s’ work of Halbert Dunn. According
to Dunn (1961), wellness was defined as “an integrated method of functioning which is oriented
toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable. It requires that the individual
maintain a continuum of balance and purposeful direction within the environment where he is
functioning” (p.4). Subsequently, Hettler (1984) provided a definition of wellness as “an active
process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful
existence” (p.14). Additional definitions of wellness have been offered by Travis, Ardell, Gage,
and others that substantiate the division between physical health and wellness and highlight the
association of wellness being a process and an outcome (Myers & Sweeney, 2005a).
Multiple models of wellness have been developed to explain wellness. Of these models,
Dunn’s High-Level Wellness (1961) was used to describe wellness. Dunn stated that the goal of
a well person was to grow toward wholeness, maturity, and self-fulfillment. Hettler’s Hexagon
(1984) illustrated wellness as having six components: physical, emotional, occupational, social,
intellectual, and spiritual. According to Hettler, time and energy should be equally divided to
focus on each of the six components. More recently, Myers, Sweeney, and Witmer (2000b)
developed the Wheel of Wellness model which focused on the meaning and purpose of life being
the center of wellness with aspects such as sense of worth, emotional awareness, and coping
contributing to holistic wellness. This model led to the development of the Wellness Evaluation
of Lifestyle (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 1998a) instrument used to measure wellness.
The Indivisible Self Model of Wellness was developed after more than a decade of research
of the Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle. Through factor analysis, Myers, et al. concluded that
three orders of factors existed. The first order factor was holistic wellness and second order
factors of creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self emerged. Third
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order factors were intelligence, control, emotions, humor, work, leisure, stress, worth, beliefs, 77
love, friends, cultural identity, gender identity, self care, essence, exercise, and nutrition. From
this model, the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (5F-Wel) was developed to measure holistic
wellness.
Wellness is currently an important topic in K-12 schools. According to Villalba and
Borders (2005), the emphasis on high-stakes testing in the current educational arena has
had negative consequences on student wellness. Attention is strictly focused on academic
achievement rather than the general well-being of students. In the Wheel of Wellness, education
is a life force that directly influences a person’s life tasks. Also, the Indivisible Self wellness
model identifies education as an institution that directly and indirectly affects lives. Specific
factors influenced by education are reported by Myers and Sweeney (2005a).
Physical education classes and sports programs clearly contribute to the Wheel of
Wellness’s Exercise factor; health and sex education classes support Nutrition, Gender Identity,
and Self-Care; Safety Patrol, “bully proofing”, conflict resolution, and drug prevention programs
likely contribute to Sense of Control, Stress Management, and Problem Solving; cultural
celebrations during Black History Month and Hispanic Awareness Month support Cultural
Identity; senior service projects enhance Sense of Worth; safety issues related to a specific
community can be addressed and resolved through Problem Solving and Creativity; and a school
counselor’s classroom guidance units, small-group activities, and individual counseling sessions
most often address issues related to Emotional Awareness and Coping, Realistic Beliefs, Sense
of Control, Sense of Worth, and Self-Care. (p. 229) Myers and Sweeney (2005a) recommended
staff development on wellness stating that “the promotion of schoolwide well-being will enrich
the academic experience of students and families. In addition, school staff members who are
aware and knowledgeable of wellness concepts may be more likely to apply healthy strategies in
the curriculum and throughout the school” (p. 232). Also, the behaviorist viewpoint of learning
supports the use of modeling as a means of changing behavior. Specifically, Bandura’s Social
Learning Theory asserted that people can learn by observing others and that most behavior is
learned vicariously (Stone, 1998). In summary, a focus on wellness is needed in K-12 schools
in order to meet current needs of students. As school faculty and staff members become aware
of wellness, they will be better equipped to encourage wellness in students (Myers & Sweeney,
2005a). Research Using Wellness Models Research studies have been conducted using wellness
models and inventories to Research Using Wellness Models.
Research studies have been conducted using wellness models and inventories to measure
holistic wellness. Among these studies, colleges have been used as research sites. Wellness has
been linked to success as a student, later job satisfaction, and maximizing life span. Choate
and Smith (2003) described a college course intended to increase success of first year students
offered at a small, private southeastern college in the United States. A study was conducted to
determine: (a) whether student participation in the course would lead to increased wellness, (b)
if students could target specific areas of wellness for change during the semester, (c) if change
would occur, would students be aware of such changes, and (d) how relevant the students felt
the chosen wellness model was to them. The Wheel of Wellness model of Myers, Sweeney,
and Witmer (1998a) was administered early in the course and again within the last month of
the course. In addition, students wrote a response paper to identify the components of wellness
they had chosen for change, whether they felt their wellness scores had increased, decreased,
or remained the same, and if the inclusion of the wellness model had influenced their learning
during the course. The data revealed an increase in overall wellness and in the specific areas
targeted by students as needing improvement. The areas of improvement included the subscales
on the Wheel of Wellness (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 1998a). The subscales include self-
regulation, emotional awareness and coping, realistic beliefs, sense of control, work, recreation,
leisure, spirituality, friendship, love, sense of humor, nutrition, and self-care. The majority of
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78 the students successfully predicted changes in their wellness scores. The data revealed several
themes that were consistent among the students. Students consistently recognized the need to
seek assistance for all areas of their lives, received enhanced self awareness through learning
about the wellness model, and understood the relationships that exist among the wellness
components.
Hermon and Hazler (1999) explored the connection between college students’ perception
of their psychological well-being and the quality of their lives using a 5-factor wellness model, The
Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer, 1998a). Through a multivariate
regression analysis, it was shown that a relationship exists between five dimensions of wellness
and psychological well-being. Hermon and Hazler (1999) indicated implications for higher
education in that the colleges and universities are expected to develop more effective ways
of supporting students. According to Howard, Lueger, Maling, and Martinovich (1993), the
holistic wellness model and psychological well-being can be used as a method for evaluating,
assessing, and predicting outcomes in college counseling centers. Kiracofe et al. (1994) noted
that universities and colleges should provide “programming focused on the developmental
needs of students that maximizes their potential to benefit from an academic experience” (p.
39). Through support of students’ wellness, universities and colleges can better prepare students
to become successful and effective in future careers.
Connolly and Myers (2003) found a significant proportion of the variance in job satisfaction
is accounted for by wellness and mattering. According to Rosenberg and McCullough (as cited
in Connolly & Myers, 2003), “the importance of being needed, of being important to others,
and of feeling that others are interested in what individuals say and do have been referred to as
mattering” (p. 153). This study emphasized the fact that interventions that focus on individual
psychological attributes are important to increase job satisfaction.
According to Hettler (1984), there are three advantages to promoting wellness in
universities. These are: (a) an increase in student retention, (b) greater success rate after
graduation, and (c) longer life. The Wheel of Wellness Model (Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer,
2000b) was used in career planning courses over a period of several semesters. The students
would take the survey, use the results to set goals for themselves and work towards those goals
through the use of activities included in a supplementary Wellness Workbook (Myers, Sweeney,
& Witmer, 1998b). Near the end of the semester, the instructors infused the wellness project
into the career development activities in order to highlight the need for holistic wellness in all
aspects of life. This proactive approach could have a positive influence on career choice, job
satisfaction, and productivity of students in teacher education programs. Within the body of
literature related to wellness, several themes emerge. Wellness is important in K-12 schools, and
it is linked to college success, job satisfaction, and longevity of life. As indicated by Hermon
and Hazler (1999), the use of wellness inventories to identify areas of need can be beneficial
for universities in the support of students. All of the aforementioned factors relate to success in
the teaching profession.
Discussion of Effective Teachers
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1992) is a

group of state educational agencies and national educational organizations dedicated to the
reform of the preparation, licensing, and ongoing professional development of teachers. Created
in 1987, INTASC’s primary constituency is state education agencies responsible for teacher
licensing, program approval, and professional development. Standards developed by INTASC
(1992) are widely used. As of July 2004, 34 states and numerous organizations including the
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the American Federation of Teachers,
the National Education Association, the Association of Teacher Educators, National Board
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for Professional Teaching Standards, the National Association of State Directors of Teacher 79
Education and Certification, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
were members. The INTASC standards are used as guidelines for teacher education programs.
The guidelines are intended to provide programs that prepare students to be effective teachers.
Within the INTASC standards, several themes appear. These themes are: (a) planning and
preparation, (b) communication and interaction, (c) teaching for learning, (d) managing the
learning environment, and (e) assessment of student learning. The following is a review of
literature related to these themes.
Three of the INTASC (1992) standards directly address planning and preparation.
According to standard two, preservice teachers should be able support social, intellectual,
and personal development by providing appropriate learning opportunities. Standard three
emphasizes planning and implementing lessons that meet needs of diverse learners. Also,
standard seven states that teachers should be able to use subject matter, community, and
curricular needs as the basis for planning instruction. Recent research concerning planning
and implementation has emphasized concepts related to diversity and helping students make
connections with the world around them, as well as possessing theoretical knowledge which
can ultimately influence lesson planning. Results of a study conducted by the National Research
Council which highlights three qualities teachers must possess in order to be effective were
reported by Wise (2000). These three qualities are: (a) being able to tap into prior knowledge
and clarify misconceptions, (b) having deep understanding of the content and being able to
assist students in making connections with the information, and (c) placing a great deal of
emphasis on metacognition across the curriculum.
As the teacher assists individual students in establishing connections with personal
meaning, the diverse needs are illuminated and met. Wilkinson (2005) suggested that teacher
efficacy is related to theoretical knowledge and explicit teaching strategies. Among these
strategies is pre-formulation which consists of directly teaching how texts are organized and
how to use them. Also, the theoretical knowledge of why something works rather than just that
it works allows for the transfer of knowledge and the ability of the teacher to assess practices
prior to implementation. This allows for more efficient use of time in the classroom and more
effective lessons for the students. Effective teachers understand why they do certain things
rather than just how to do those things; therefore, as lessons are implemented, the teacher can
meet diverse needs and reach each student in a meaningful way, thereby meeting INTASC
standards two, three, and seven.
Verbal, non-verbal, and media-based communication is addressed in INTASC (1992)
standard six. This standard also underscores the teacher’s role in preparing the environment
for student interaction. Effective teachers are able to cultivate an atmosphere which allows
and encourages students to share ideas, express questions, and work cooperatively to gain
knowledge in a non-threatening environment.
Brophy (2000) summarized research concerning effective teaching. Principles
emerging from the literature include teachers providing a supportive classroom environment
and opportunities to learn in which the teacher views his/her role as one that manages the
environment to enhance learning. All aspects of the curriculum should be aligned to create a
cohesive program with emphasis given to the application of content in a variety of meaningful
situations. Students are allowed to interact with each other in cooperative groups while learning
content, as well as when practicing and applying new knowledge through activities. Teachers
should scaffold students’ knowledge of content and strategies while keeping the intended
goals in mind and establishing high expectations for all students. Communication and teacher-
student, as well as, student to student interaction are vital to the learning process. This study
correlates with INTASC standard six. Research exists which examines knowledge regarding the
techniques, strategies, and methods used by effective teachers to enhance learning skills of their
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80 students. The communication process is a key factor in this research. Specifically, Carter (1997)
reported that metacognition is used as a tool for enhancing learning through a strategy termed
reciprocal teaching. In reciprocal teaching, the teacher models strategies used by good readers
to analyze and comprehend difficult text. The actual process of reciprocal teaching involves
the teacher and student engaging in a conversation about the text. Subsequently, students work
in small groups to teach the content to each other. This allows the learner the opportunity to
develop skills that can be used in later situations. Strategies included in reciprocal teaching are
generating questions, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting. INTASC standard six supports
the strategies in reciprocal teaching. Within the standard, an effective teacher is expected to
cultivate inquiry, collaboration, and interaction among students.
Effective teachers use knowledge of diverse student learning styles, varied developmental
stages, problem solving and critical thinking skills, and subject matter knowledge to develop
concepts and skills in each discipline. Teachers should be able to create learning opportunities
that meet the needs of all the diverse learners in the classroom (INTASC, 1992). Littlewood
(2000) presented the results of a study that investigated exemplary teachers’ views of their work.
Emerging ideas included teachers acting as facilitators in the journey toward knowledge. This
differs from the traditional view of teachers being the keepers of knowledge and transferring
that knowledge to students. Effective teachers in the study recognized the importance of
engaging students in meaningful ways that were connected to their life experiences in order
to motivate them to continue learning. Wharton-McDonald, Pressley, and Hampston (1998)
conducted a study of nine first-grade teachers who had been designated by language arts
coordinators as outstanding in their ability to help students develop literacy skills. Through
observational measures of student reading and writing achievement and student engagement, it
was determined that primary literacy instruction is a complex balance of high-quality reading
and writing experiences and explicit instruction of basic literacy skills. Instructional strategies
identified in these classrooms included: (a) coherent and thorough integration of skills with
high-quality reading and writing experiences, (b) a high density of instruction (integration of
multiple goals in a single lesson), (c) extensive use of scaffolding, (d) encouragement of student
self-regulation, (e) a thorough integration of reading and writing activities, (f) high expectations
for all students, (g) masterful classroom management, and (h) an awareness of their practices
and the goals underlying them (p. 101).
The ability to manage the environment in a manner that promotes social interaction, self
motivation, and active learning is imperative to effective teaching. INTASC (1992) standard
five addresses this need, and emphasizes the necessity for encouraging student involvement in
the learning process. Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1998) offered information regarding effective
classroom teachers. The ability to implement efficient classroom management strategies was
found to be the single most important characteristic of effective teachers. In accordance with
classroom management skills, teachers as facilitators was a prevailing theme. As such, teachers
engaged students in inquiry, discovery, reflection, application, and active learning as they
constructed their own knowledge. Students in a classroom with a facilitating teacher spent a
great deal of time directing their own learning, managing their time, and locating resources
used in the acquisition of knowledge and demonstration thereof. Furthermore, when students
encountered difficult content, effective teachers strove to help students make connections to
existing knowledge rather than simply repetitiously explaining the subject matter. Students in
an effectively managed classroom are not simply disciplined, but they are taught procedures
and routines that allow the students to learn self control and self management.
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Student Teacher Assessment 81

Assessment must be used for continuing educational progress of the learners. INTASC
(1992) standard eight includes the need for using formal and informal assessment to plan further
lessons that encourage optimal intellectual, social, and physical development. Existing research
supports this assertion. Helterbran (2005) addressed issues that affect developing lifelong learners
versus school long learners and several practices were identified as characteristic of effective
teachers. First of all, planning, implementation, and assessment must be aligned in terms of
the content as well as the mode of delivery. Next, students should receive timely, meaningful
feedback on their work with an opportunity to revisit and correct errors. Last, students should
be given opportunities and encouraged to apply the new knowledge in situations other than the
classroom.
Preservice teachers from Mississippi complete a mandatory field experience prior
to graduation. Competence in teaching is evaluated using the Formative Student Teacher
Assessment Instrument (STAI). The items on the STAI were derived from the INTASC (1992)
standards. From these standards, the following headings were developed: (a) planning and
preparation, (b) communication and interaction, (c) teaching for learning, (d) managing the
learning environment, and (e) assessment of student learning. Items on the STAI are intended to
evaluate teacher effectiveness. The STAI is consistent with related studies of effective teachers
and is aligned with INTASC standards.
The research question for this study is: Is there a relationship between wellness as
measured by the Five Factor Wellness Inventory and effective teaching as measured by the
STAI? The research design for this study was correlational. The intent of this study was to
determine if a relationship existed between teacher effectiveness and holistic wellness. For this
study, the sample for this research was a convenience sample.
Sample of Research
The sample for this research consisted of voluntary participants among the 54 Teacher
Interns from Mississippi in the spring of 2006. Of the participants, 27 of the 53 reporting birth
year indicated being 27 years or older. Slightly more than 31half (n=27) were 27 years of age or
older. With traditional students being defined as students ages 18-23, this places at least half of
the current sample in the nontraditional age group for completing an undergraduate degree.
Instrument and Procedures
The 5F-Wel is an inventory designed to identify wellness in the various areas of creative
self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self. Myers and Sweeney (2005b) assert
that each area of wellness contributes to holistic wellness and none are independent of the
others. The researcher administered the Five Factor- Wellness Inventory (5FWel) survey and
submitted the answer sheets to one of the authors, Myers, for scoring. Scoring procedures for
the 5F-Wel are confidential and not available to the public. Once the data was obtained, the
researcher entered it electronically into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 12.0
Statistical Software Package. All data pertaining to the second order wellness factors (creative
self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self) along with the overall scores on
the STAI were entered with coded identifiers.
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82 Data Analysis
The data were analyzed using SPSS 12.0. To address the research question, the researcher
used the multiple linear regression technique. The multiple linear regression technique has the
capability to predict one metric dependent variable from multiple metric independent variables.
Hair, et al. (1998) defined metric data as that which is referred to as quantitative data. These
measurements identify or describe the possession and degree to which a subject possesses an
attribute.
Results of Research
The dependent variable in this study was the overall formative scores on the STAI
obtained from each student intern. The participants were enrolled in the spring 2006 semester
of teacher internship at a Mississippi university. The STAI scores were obtained as a mandatory
component of teacher internship. The university supervisors observed and scored the students’
teacher effectiveness using the STAI. These scores are indicative of teacher effectiveness. The
mean score was 151.067 (SD = 7.74) of a possible 160. The formative scores on the STAI
indicate a variability of 7.74 with a mean of 151.067. This indicates that formative scores on the
STAI among the student interns were between approximately 143 and 159 of the possible 160
points. Therefore, the average students earned approximately 94% of the possible points with
the lowest scores earning about 89% and the highest scores 99% of the possible points. There is
approximately a 10% range of variation in the scores with all scores being in the upper 11% of
possible earned points. According to the STAI, the participants were deemed effective.
Predictor variables in this study were the second order factors of the 5F-WEL (creative
self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical 32 self). Three orders of factors are
identified in the 5F-Wel. The first order factor is holistic wellness referring to an overlapping
and mutually functioning state of mind, body, and spirit. The first order factor is a sum of the
second order factors. Second order factors are creative self, coping self, social self, essential
self, and physical self. Creative self involves thinking, emotions, control, work satisfaction,
and positive humor. Coping self refers to leisure, stress management, self-worth, and realistic
beliefs. Friendship and love define social self. Spirituality, gender identity, cultural identity, and
selfcare comprise the second order factor of essential self. Finally, physical self is characterized
by nutrition and exercise. Third order factors are characteristics that contribute to the second
order factors. For parsimony sake, second order factors were chosen as predictor variables for
this study. The 5F-Wel surveys were sent to one of the authors, Myers, for scoring. The results
were returned in an SPSS file. Individual scores on the 5F-Wel varied with ranges on the scores
for the second order factors from 31.25 to 60. The most extreme variation in the range of scores
on the 5F-Wel was found in physical self with a difference of 60. The highest physical self
score was 97.5. Coping self revealed a variation of 47.37. Social self followed with a difference
of 43.75. Creative self and essential self had the least variation with 31.25 each. Means and
standard deviations from the current sample and normative sample are reported in Table 1. The
means and standard 33 deviations are similar on all scales. However, the current sample means
are slightly higher than the normative sample on four of the five scales. Conversely, physical
self is slightly lower in the current sample with a mean of 62.31 (SD=7.5) versus the normative
mean of 74.85 (SD=9.2). The means and standard deviations reported in Table 1 for current
and normative samples indicate that the data for the current sample is consistent with previous
research.
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Table 1. Descriptive statistics of predictor variables. 83
Current Sample (n=52) Normative Sample n= (1567)

Variable M SD M SD
Creative Self 82.53 7.5 78.25 9.2
Coping Self 72.74 9.9 70.64 9.0
Social Self 92.61 9.6 84.20 11.0
Essential Self 87.34 7.9 79.41 10.9
Physical Self 62.31 14.1 74.85 13.0
A Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was used to analyze the relationship between
one metric dependent variable and multiple metric predictor variables. The data used for this
study conforms to all assumptions associated with the multiple linear regression technique: (a)
residuals are normally and independently distributed with equal variance along all values of the
linear composite, (b) scores in the independent variables are measured without error, and (c) a
linear association exists between scores on the linear 35 composite and scores on the dependent
variable (Morse, 2005). The initial check for normality revealed a significant Shapiro-Wilk
value indicating violation of this assumption. Square root and logarithm transformations did
not eradicate the problem. Following recommendations by Morse (2005) to normalize the data
the two most extreme outliers were removed, and the data was then in compliance. Casewise
deletion of the data involving outliers was used (Morse 2005). A nonsignificant Shapiro-
Wilk value of 0.127 was attained. A group-administration of the 5F-Wel was used to gather
wellness Finally, the assumption of linearity was tested. An inspection of partial regression
plots revealed linear association between scores on the linear composite and scores on the
dependent variable. Curvilinear patterns were not detected in the partial regression plots of the
variables, which would have indicated a violation of the assumption of linearity. None of the
correlations were high enough to be of concern as indicated by an inspection of the correlations
of the independent variables and the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) value for each variable. A
VIF of greater than ten is indicative of collinearity or multicollinearity. The VIF values were
as follows: creative self=1.928; coping self=1.523; social self=1.544; essential self=1.634; and
physical self=1.494.
Table 2. Correlations.
Variable Cr Co S E P
Cr --- 0.50 0.52 0.58 0.41
Co --- 0.34 0.37 0.48
S --- 0.46 0.44
E --- 0.38
P ---
Correlations above in Table 2 indicated no problem with collinearity or

multicollinearity.
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84 Results of the Multiple Linear Regression Analysis
The datasets utilized for the purposes of this study were appropriate for use with the
multiple linear regression technique, according to the guidelines by Hair, et al. (1998) which state
that all data must be metric, there must be a single dependent variable, and several independent
variables. The purpose of multiple linear regression is to analyze the relationship between
one metric dependent variable and multiple metric predictor variables. The data used for this
study conforms to all assumptions associated with the multiple linear regression technique: (a)
residuals are normally and independently distributed with equal variance along all values of the
linear composite, (b) scores in the independent variables are measured without error, and (c) a
linear association exists between scores on the linear composite and scores on the dependent
variable (Morse, 2005). The initial check for normality revealed a significant Shapiro-Wilk
value indicating violation of this assumption. Square root and logarithm transformations did
not eradicate the problem. Following recommendations by Morse (2005) to normalize the data
the two most extreme outliers were removed, and the data was then in compliance. Casewise
deletion of the data involving outliers was used (Morse 2005). A nonsignificant Shapiro-Wilk
value of 0.127 was attained. A group-administration of the 5F-Wel was used to gather wellness
data. The researcher can attest to the fact that this data was gathered without error in regards
to the testing situation. No prompts were given to participants, and all participants were given
the same instructions. Finally, the assumption of linearity was tested. An inspection of partial
regression plots revealed linear association between scores on the linear composite and scores
on the dependent variable. Curvilinear patterns were not detected in the partial regression
plots of the variables, which would have indicated a violation of the assumption of linearity.
According to Cohen (1988), correlations are deemed moderate when between 0.30 and 0.50.
None of the correlations were high enough to be of concern as indicated by an inspection of
the correlations of the independent variables and the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) value for
each variable. A VIF of greater than ten is indicative of collinearity or multicollinearity. The
VIF values were as follows: creative self=1.928; coping self=1.523; social self=1.544; essential
self=1.634; and physical self=1.494. Correlations follow in Table 2 indicated no problem with
collinearity or multicollinearity.
For purposes of this study, the regression coefficients (represented by B in Table 3 below)
will be interpreted in order to provide a practical interpretation of the regression model.
Table 3. Summary of regression model of holistic wellness predicting teacher

effectiveness.
Variables B SE β t p
Creative Self -0.023 0.203 -0.023 -0.115 0.909
Coping Self -0.234 0.136 -0.301 -1.716 0.093

Social Self 0.058 0.143 0.072 0.407 0.686
Essential Self 0.074 0.179 0.075 0.414 0.681
Physical Self 0.045 0.096 0.082 0.472 0.639

________________________________________________________________________________________________
Note. R2 = 0.07, F (5, 46) = 0.690, p = 0.633
The variable creative self has a coefficient of -0.023 which means that for every unit
the dependent variable increases, creative self decreases by 0.023 times. Coping self also has a
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negative coefficient meaning that every time the STAI score increases by one unit, coping self 85
decreases by 0.234 times. A positive coefficient of 0.058 is found with social self indicating that
with every unit of change in the dependent variable, social self increases 0.058 times. Social
self has the highest positive coefficient of 0.074, and physical self has a coefficient of 0.045.
Although it is negative, coping self has the greatest predictive power in this model. However,
as indicated by the significance levels reported in Table 3, none of the variables are statistically
significant at an alpha level of 0.05.
Discussion
Two major areas of educational research comprise this literature review: (a) the literature
on wellness and (b) literature on the areas of the STAI. Literature on wellness is diverse and
plentiful. Of particular importance to the current study is the literature on models of wellness,
wellness in schools, wellness in universities, and wellness as it relates to jobs. Myers and
Sweeney (2005a) recommended that schools become institutions that promote wellness through
knowledge and modeling. Themes that prevail in the literature regarding effective teachers
include expertise in planning, implementing, managing, communication and interaction, and
assessing a diverse group of learners. These particular themes are echoed in the STAI. Effective
teachers must be able to diagnose specific needs, encourage peer interaction, and manage the
environment while meeting the community, curricular, and subject area needs. Community needs
include that of promoting wellness in students. Currently, the focus on academic achievement
and high-stakes testing has sacrificed wellness in students, and “there is a strong need and a
public outcry to promote wellness in public schools” (Myers & Sweeney, 2005a, p. 228).
In an era of high stakes testing and accountability in education, teacher effectiveness is
an important issue. The success rate with which teachers reach diverse student needs and raise
test scores are prevalent themes. Additionally, holistic wellness is a common topic explored
in various veins of research. The present study was an attempt to contribute to the current
body of educational research by examining the relationship between teacher effectiveness and
holistic wellness. It was hypothesized that a better understanding of this relationship might
help university teacher education programs in early detection of wellness needs that would
ultimately lead to greater teacher effectiveness.
Conclusions
The findings in this study did not support a statistically significant relationship between
teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI and holistic wellness as measured by the 5F-Wel.
The predictor variables of creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self
did not predict scores on the STAI to indicate teacher effectiveness at an accuracy greater than
chance. Data analysis using the multiple linear regression technique did not show a statistically
significant predictive ability of holistic wellness to determine teacher effectiveness for the
current sample.
Based on the findings of this study, the predictors included in the multiple linear
regression analysis could not be used to predict teacher effectiveness with an accuracy greater
than chance. It is recommended that the study be replicated using similar methodology with a
different population. Although all state universities adhere to the same guidelines, differences
still exist among individual programs. It is recommended that the study be replicated to compare
results from the various universities, thereby possibly identifying characteristics of the student
teacher population which would benefit from the use of a holistic wellness model in order to
promote teacher effectiveness.
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86 References
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Carter, C. J. (1997). Why reciprocal teaching? Educational Leadership, 54 (6), 64-68.
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Wise, A. E. (2000). Teacher quality, teacher effectiveness: Basing education policy on the facts. CEIC 87
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Advised by Laima Railienė, University of Siauliai, Lithuania
��
, 2012
Dana Harwell Dr., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Station #34, The University of West Ala-
bama, Livingston, AL 35470, USA.
E-mail: dharwell@uwa.edu
Mae Daniel Dr., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Station #34, The University of West Ala-
bama, Livingston, AL 35470, USA.
E-mail: mdaniel@uwa.edu
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88
Control, freedom and trust:
seeking for a higher education
model in a post-communist country
Mati Heidmets, Birgit Vilgats
Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
E-mail: mati.heidmets@tlu.ee, birgit.vilgats@tlu.ee
Abstract
Higher education in Estonia as in all post-communist countries has undergone rapid changes during the
last 20 years. Soviet-type centralised model was replaced during the 1990s with liberal and sometimes
even chaotic self-organisation of the whole sector. From the beginning of the new century, through the
use of both financial mechanisms and quality control procedures state regulation has been strengthened.
During last years the new paradigm of trust has been frequently discussed, and some first steps taken
to introduce this approach, for example the replacement of control-centred curricula accreditation with
quality evaluation and institutional accreditation, aimed at supporting the development of university’s
strategic management and quality culture.
Analysis of the higher education paradigm change in the research is based on Hargreaves’s Bigger,
Tighter, Harder and Flatter model, which describes the large scale educational change taking place in the
western world during recent decades. The article studies changes in the Estonian higher education sector
and observes possible future developments originating from the EU and Estonian strategies.
Key words: higher education, educational change, quality assurance.
Introduction
Following the re-establishment of independence, Estonia, as did other Eastern Bloc

states, faced complicated challenges. The Soviet economic and political systems, after decades
of dominance, had to be replaced with new structures. What the `new´ way of life should be
like had to be learned from Western Europe. What the fastest and most suitable course leading
to the ´new´ should be no one knew. Estonia and other post-socialist countries were facing the
task of “identifying their way”.
The choice Estonia made in the early 1990s was a remarkably liberal model of development.
Hope was placed on people’s initiative and the motivating impact of market forces. These
were expected to generate the desired change within the economy and society. Ideologically,
it stood for highlighting the values of freedom, private initiative and enterprise and market
regulation, while categories such as equality, solidarity and common interest were pushed to
the background. A Soviet-style focus on the state was rejected while Western experience and
openness were valued. A limiting context for change was set by the huge economic recession in
the early 1990s, followed by a weaker capacity of the state to intervene in the various spheres
of life.
In the higher education sector this meant that state universities became independent
actors in public law, similarly to many other institutions the universities in Estonia had to either
sink or swim. Once the state had withdrawn from its role of owner and bearer of responsibility,
stakeholders’ astuteness and adaptability became essential. Universities inherited the immovable
property from the state that they had been using with the right to operate it under market
conditions. The Estonian Academy of Sciences was reformed in the mid-1990s in order to
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increase the capacity of public universities and several research institutes, formerly within the 89
Academy, were now merged with universities. Legislation permitted educational institutions
within the private sector, including private universities.
When reviewing the past 20 years, one must admit that the model of pursuing minimal
state intervention has had good results in quite a few spheres of life. Lithuanian researcher
Zenonas Norkus remarks that it was not only the liberal model of development which was
responsible for this but various other development factors as well. He states “…more committed
neoliberal market reforms were only one causal factor why Estonia forged ahead of its immediate
competitors on the Baltic way towards affluence. These factors can be divided into background
conditions, advantages of location, less deformed economy during the Soviet era, legacy of
capitalist economic culture ...“ (Norkus, 2011, 30).
The following is an analysis of the changes in higher education in Estonia over two
decades and an examination of the relationships between national regulations and the autonomy
of educational institutions. Analysis of political documents and educational statistics as well as
content analysis of the Estonian public universities development strategies have been used as
a methods of the study, helping to outline development trends in Estonia and comparing those
with the global changes in higher education paradigm. Hopefully an Estonian case, describing
both gains and losses resulted from the rapid liberalization of the higher education sector, will
serve as an interesting example to other transitional societies, passed a similar path during last
two decades.
Global Context
Under conditions of scant resources and immense liberty in the early 1990s both
universities and individuals interested in pursuing educational policy took a keen interest in
western experience in organising higher education. What they discovered were endeavours to
apply business and market logic in the education sector, facilitated by the dominant new public
management ideology. The aim was the achievement of a more effective education sector
upholding economic development. Previous considerations viewing education as cornerstones
of society were substituted by the desire to measure results and outcomes, to rank stakeholders
involved. The globalising economy propelled the education sector “towards more unity,
intellectual identification and standardisation instead of variety and respect to individuality“,
which are accompanied by “managing and controlling systems”, often also called tools for
quality assurance (Autio 2011, 110).
Hargreaves has thoroughly analysed change in the educational paradigm over the last
thirty years in the Western world, according to whom changes may be described via the Bigger-
Tighter-Harder-Flatter (BTHF) model. “Educational change and reform strategies and their
accompanying research directions have become Bigger, Tighter, Harder and Flatter. These
trends are evident in the grand designs of political reform strategies but also in the ways that
professional communities /.../ have developed and done their work“ (Hargreaves, Lieberman,
Fullan, Hopkins, 2011, xii).
Hargreaves et al treats ´bigger´ in the meaning that changes which included a few
educational institutions have been replaced by sweeping reforms which affect the entire higher
education system. In the higher education sector people also talk about the global market,
competition and international cooperation where results are being presented in rank and league
tables. Back are the curricula and standards written in fine detail, to which compliance is
checked through a detailed assessment system. Administrative intervention is increasing, it is
expressed through the implementation of new public management approach in higher education
institutions and emphasis is laid on management and managers´ roles in ensuring efficiency,
effectiveness and accountability of higher education. In conclusion, the principles and logic
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90 of business practices are being introduced into the education sector, education has become an
(equivalent) part of the wider society.
´Tighter´ in the model indicates attention drift from input onto output, from resources
to results. This is exemplified not only by a keen interest in learning outcomes and outcome-
based curricula, but also in assessment and financing of educational institutions on the basis of
performance results in the higher education realm over the last few decades. Attitudes displayed
by society and the state have become stricter and more demanding in terms of results.
`Harder´ refers to implementation of an evidence-based approach in the education
sector – evidence, analyses and research results substitute earlier experience and intuition. An
essential method of raising certainty is the establishment of quality assurance in the education
sector. Similarly to the business sector, responsibility for the development and performance of
the internal quality assurance system is left with universities.
´Flatter´ indicates a desire to reduce differences between fields of study and in students´
performance, and to make the sector more homogeneous. Frequently the focus is on attempts to
quantify all life skills through detailed descriptions of learning outcomes, and thus assess how
well they have been achieved.
Hargreaves’s and his colleagues’ approach to such changes is critical, along with
several other education analysts. Limitations of the BTHF model are, in his opinion, that
learning and teaching become fragmented and grade-oriented (teaching to test, learning to
test). Additionally, assessment scales used to measure students´ performance frequently fail
to match the actual objectives of knowledge-based society and education in the 21st century
where creativity, innovation, flexibility, problem-solving skills and team work are positioned
at the forefront. Those dimensions are difficult, if not impossible to measure in quantitative
indicators (Hargreaves, Lieberman, Fullan, Hopkins 2011). He asserts that practices applied
in manufacturing companies for the improvement of quality whereby data is collated from all
stages of the process and thereafter performance is improved, may yield the desired outcome
in education over a short period but in the longer term this may actually divert teaching and
learning away from more complex, complicated tasks and actual dedication. A well-known
Finnish education researcher Tero Autio also expresses scepticism regarding changes in
the BTHF style. “There is an emerging widespread consensus among the most prominent
educational scholars that the Bigger-Tighter-Harder-Flatter educational reform strategy is more
than problematic amidst the challenges posed by the knowledge economy and society – and
living in the globalized world in general“ (Autio, 2011, 110).
Irrespective of criticism the BTHF approach has been thriving. The Bologna Declaration,
signed by education ministers of European countries in 1999 is a fruit of this way of thinking,
BTHF ideology is clearly recognisable. The overall aim of the Bologna process – creation of the
European Higher Education Area – is indicative of a tendency of standardisation and unification,
simultaneously being ´bigger´ (covering education systems of all European countries) and
´tighter, harder and flatter´ as it contains a universal credit point system, description of learning
outcomes and application of outcome-based assessment methods, but also development of
quality systems based on harmonised principles.
Estonia: Adapting to Wider Developments
Three separate waves of change can be distinguished in higher education reform in

Estonia in the last 20 years (Heidmets, Kangro, Ruus, Matulionis, Loogma, Zilinskaite, 2011).
Key words of the first period (late 1980s to mid-1990s) were freedom and making decisions
on one’s own. The Soviet-style control-centred model ceased operating, earlier regulations
gradually phased out, although often they were not even abided, new rules were still in the
making. A contradictory legislative framework and weak control on behalf of the government
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paved way for grassroots initiatives and the setting up of the private sector in higher education. 91
When Estonia opened up to the world in the 1990s, a number of BTHF disciples and followers
could be found in it. The Estonian version of BTHF stood for heavy decentralisation of decision
making rights which resulted in many new, primarily private educational institutions. Weaker
central control along with an explosive growth in the number of educational institutions
highlighted issues of quality.
The second period (from mid-1990s onwards) featured a gradual “return of the state”
into the education scene: a legislative framework was established, the institutional structure
of the education sector was taking shape, the Higher Education Quality Assessment Council
was set up. The government used financial levers and quality assurance mechanisms more
persistently for moulding the education sector. From 1995 financing of higher education was to
be based on the so-called state commission whereby the government agreed with an educational
institution to fund a set number of student places on specific curricula. In addition, universities
had the right to enrol students who covered their tuition fees themselves. This move resulted
in two distinct groups of students in Estonia: learners in state commissioned student places
who did not have to pay for their studies, and those in the so-called fee-paying places who did
have to pay for their studies. Although this rather black-and-white model has been criticised
for years it has yet to result in any change. In response to the growing number of educational
institutions, the foundations of the national quality assurance system were laid in the late 1990s
thus launching a curriculum accreditation process in higher education. From 1997 to 2007 about
1200 higher education curricula underwent accreditation, 76% of them were fully accredited,
21% were conditionally accredited and 3% were not accredited (Heidmets, 2008). The goal of
accreditation was first and foremost to check how well curricula conformed to the standards
imposed by the state, while assistance to the development of curricula was given a secondary
role in the decree which regulated the accreditation process. External assessment of curricula
(accreditation) was undertaken on a grand scale but had controversial impacts. While on the
one hand the curriculum landscape in Estonia has actually benefitted from it, on the other,
surveys have shown that the expected role of the accreditation process in terms of encouraging
an internal culture of quality remained modest (Vilgats, 2009).
The third period which arguably commenced in the early years of 21st century was
characterised by an increasing integration with the developing European education area. All-
European principles in education were being developed (further advances in the Bologna process,
quality assurance standards, guidelines, etc) and also implemented in Estonia. This was a period
when new concepts and terminology entered Estonia, such as qualification framework and
quality culture, learning outcomes and European credit points, Erasmus students and university
rankings. The European 3+2 study system was adopted in Estonia in the 2002-2003 academic
year, even before EU membership.
These developments are reflected in the changing number of students, division of
students into fee-paying and non-fee paying (Figure 1), and in the dynamics of the number of
institutions providing higher education (Figure 2). Decentralisation of the education system
and implementation of market mechanisms encouraged a significant growth in the number of
educational institutions and students initially; later on the situation clearly shows stabilisation.
The New Paradigm of Trust
Estonian higher education swiftly adapted to the BTHF ideology dominant in the Western
world, in a broader sense it rules education-related decisions to this date. Dissatisfaction with
the current situation is, however, evident. Some areas show signs of a search for new solutions,
different from the BTHF logic. An example of this could be implementation of a new external
assessment model in Estonia in 2010-2012. The current (rather repressive) accreditation of
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92 curricula is going to be substituted by a considerably softer and primarily feedback-focused

quality assessment system, accompanied by institutional accreditation facilitating strategic
management and a quality culture. Differences between the old and new external assessment
systems are presented in Table 1. The changeover between systems was introduced in 2010-
2011 with a so-called transitional assessment, where quality, resources and sustainability of
curriculum groups of all educational institutions in Estonia were assessed. From January 2012
universities may offer studies in those curriculum groups only for which the government has
granted them the right to teach.
The major difference between the new and old external assessment systems lies in a
shift from control-centeredness towards more trust. The old system was markedly control-
based, its results directly affected a curriculum’s future as a failed curriculum was to be closed
immediately. The new procedure has no such consequences, its orientation being essentially
self-improvement and self-development. Transitional assessment bridged the gap between the
two systems. Figuratively speaking, an institution which is given the right to teach after the
transitional assessment, is trusted, it is free to open curricula, carry out studies and issue degrees
without external control and direction.
Table 1. Comparison of old and new external assessment systems in higher edu-
cation in Estonia.
1996-2010 2011 onwards

Accreditation of curricula. Assessment of entire groups of curricula.
Curriculum’s quality was assessed (accredited) after its Expert analysis of the quality of a group of curricula is
registration and issuance of an education licence. carried out before an education licence is issued. The
government grants the right to deliver studies after
expert analysis.
Students lack certainty whether they would be awarded The right to deliver studies (education licence) grants
nationally recognised diplomas after the studies or not diplomas national recognition.
Accreditation was mainly differentiated (corresponds to Differentiated (normative) assessment takes place when
norms or not) – and brought about sanctions (closure of the education licence is issued, the following institutional
the curriculum if a negative decision was made). accreditation and quality assessment of groups of cur-
ricula is primarily formative.
Accreditation results were approved by the Minister of Final decisions regarding institutional accreditation and
Education and Research. quality assessment of groups of curricula are made by
the Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency.
Institutional accreditation is compulsory for all higher

education institutions.
Institutional accreditation was voluntary.

Universities have also taken steps to enhance society’s trust in their activities. A
comparative survey of development plans of Estonian universities, carried out in autumn 2011,
shows that educational institutions aim to “become more open to society”. Universities declare
they are keen to involve different interest groups in their activities and decision-making bodies to
achieve better conformation to society’s expectations and needs. Openness and inclusion imply:
employer and alumnus participation in the work of curriculum boards, boards of governors
obtain a more significant role, continued publication of university’s performance indicators.
The new external assessment system in Estonia is a step towards more trust, while a new
financing model of higher education, approved in February 2012 contains familiar elements of
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control and centralisation. The new financing system literally establishes state monopoly on 93
funding higher education in the Estonian language, legally, universities may not charge tuition
fees from full time students studying in Estonian-language curricula. Delivery of studies may
only use monies assigned as activity support by the state. Formally, universities are free to teach
in all groups of curricula that they were granted the right to do so (universities are trusted), but
in Estonian language curricula universities may only provide training within funding allocated
by the state which results in universities becoming more restricted by decisions of the funding
provider.
Future Choices
Analysis of the current situation reveals an increasing tension between two ways of
thinking. On the one hand, there is an ever-pervading treatment of educational institutions as
“similar and equal“. According to this, a university, like any business entity, must be managed
efficiently, university’s primary processes should be guided by clear and transparent regulations,
outcomes of study activities must be described and measured. On the other hand there is the
view which emphasises the unique nature of the education sector and stresses that the process of
a person ´becoming wise´ is, in principle, different from producing a trendy jacket or assembling
a car. The first is represented by the BTHF ideology, however, followers of the latter stress the
trust component and less data, analysis, and control. In their view ´becoming wise´ cannot be
quantified or subjected to standard procedures. Thus one should have faith in what the best
professors, scientists and universities do and maintain this faith even when they are not the most
proficient in wording their learning outcomes or quantifying their assessment principles.
Wavering and search between the two may be experienced on a wider scale as well. The
European Union has set four strategic objectives in education and training for its member states
together with reference levels (Education and Training 2020, 2009). Education is seen as a
means for uniting Europe, therefore mobility of students and teachers is supported (creation of
flexible learning opportunities and increasing transparency of learning results, allowing mobility
between formal, non-formal and informal sectors of education, and studies in the education
systems of the EU and other countries of the world). The second objective is the improvement of
quality and efficiency of education and training, which enables the retention of Europe’s strong
position in the global context. Quality of education is intended to improve through management
of educational establishments and the development of quality systems. High quality is expected
to be attained through efficient and sustainable use of public and private sector resources and
evidence-based policy. The third objective aims at promoting equity, social cohesion and active
citizenship which should create grounds for avoiding conflict in a multicultural society. The
objective outlines that education should promote intercultural competences, democratic values
and respect for fundamental rights and the environment.
It should be pointed out that the EU strategy document Education and Training 2020
does not specifically refer to major changes in the BTHF thinking although there are some
indications of it. The higher education policy arising from the BTHF principles continues in
its aims towards the enhancement of higher education quality through the development of
institutional heads, management and quality assurance systems. Improvement of the higher
education system takes place via improvements in the quality of each university separately.
Thus it may seem that on the one hand large systematic reforms (e.g. degree system, external
quality assurance system) are now completed, on the other, the aim is to continue working out
national qualification frameworks. While improving the transparency of education, this will
in its turn allow better access to education and mobility between different education sectors
and systems facilitated through a process of benchmarking-based reporting based on reference
levels establish in the EU. Wider access to learning, introduction of developing social and
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94 intercultural competences in the strategic framework of higher education shows the return to
social foundations of education, i.e. a retreat from the BTHF ideology. The focus is on the socially
cohesive knowledge-based society of the 21st century, dominated by linguistic competence,
cultural understanding, respect for and toleration of differences, creativity, innovation, skills in
learning, problem-solving and team work, and entrepreneurship, which draws people together
more and reduces self-centeredness and individualism. This is a sign that the peak times of
conservative modernism and the period of standardisation may have been passed in higher
education.
Estonia in its competitiveness strategy Eesti 2020 places increases in quality, volume
and international competitiveness as key priorities in higher education policy (Eesti 2020).
The strategy states that improvement of higher education quality will take place through the
concentration of competences and allocation of work between universities through the mechanism
of institutional accreditation. This will require universities to identify a “clear definition of their
role in Estonian society and based on this, implementation of concrete activities” (Eesti 2020,
10) The important development of competitiveness, work-related and general competences is
enhanced through the delivery of formal and further education and retraining programmes by
the higher education institutions. The strategy also points out the need to pay more attention to
key social competences, to develop creativity and entrepreneurship, which will enable better
adjustment to working life. One could say that BTHF principles still dominate in the Estonian
higher education policy and goal setting, while the grassroots initiative of the education sector,
which produced a new draft of the education strategy of Estonia, contains clear principles of a
trust-based paradigm (Eesti hariduse viis väljakutset, 2011).
The search for new approaches is evident in Estonia and globally, but the BTHF logic is
deeply rooted even though its disadvantages are evident. BTHF-based higher education reform
in Europe has aroused interest and attention outside Europe. For example Adelson in his report
“The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of European
Reconstruction“ (2008) recommends application of some learner-centred activities enabling
accountability, such as a qualification framework and diploma supplements in higher education
in the USA. Critics´ voices are also strengthening, Strauss and Howe (1997) characterise the
last decades as an era of individualism and egoism which is slowly eroding. Economic recession
and the situation where not only companies and individuals go bankrupt but also entire states,
creates a new context for educational changes. There is reason to believe that there will be
a move from pure business principles towards taking into account essential features of the
education sector. Small post-communist countries, with an experience of rapid changes of the
last 20 years could see this as their chance of being innovation leaders and testers of solutions.
References
Adelman, C. (2008). The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of
European Reconstruction. Washington, DC: Institute for Higher Education Policy. Retrieved
15/11/11 from: http://www.ihep.org/assets/files/TheBolognaClub.pdf
Autio, T. (2011). The international framework of educational reforms during the last decades. In Estonian
Human Development Report 2010/2011 Baltic Way(s) – Twenty Years On. Tallinn: Eesti Koostöö
Kogu, pp. 110-112.
Education and Training 2020. (2009). The Council of the European Union From. Retrieved 12/11/11
from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52009XG0528%2801%2
9:EN:NOT
Eesti hariduse viis väljakutset (2011). Eesti haridusstrateegia 2020 projekt. ��
Tallinn: Eesti
��
Koostöö
Kogu.
Hargreaves, A., Lieberman, A., Fullan, M. and Hopkins, D. (2011) The Second International Handbook
of Educational Change. New York: Springer.
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Heidmets, M. (2008). Kõrghariduse kvaliteet, A.Valk (Toim), Bologna process 2004-2008. Tallinn: SA 95
Archimedes, pp. 29-32.
Heidmets, M., Kangro, A., Ruus, V., Matulionis, A., Loogma, K., Zilinskaite, V. (2011) Education. In:
Estonian Human Development Report 2010/2011 Baltic Way(s) – Twenty Years On. ��
Tallinn: Eesti
Koostöö Kogu, pp. 96-114.
Konkurentsivõime kava „Eesti 2020“. (kinnitatud Vabariigi Valitsuses 28.04.2011). ��
Retrieved 03/01/12
from: http://valitsus.ee/UserFiles/valitsus/et/riigikantselei/strateegia/_b_konkurentsivoime-kava_
b_/_b_eesti-2020-strateegia/Konkurentsiv%C3%B5ime%20kava%20Eesti%202020.pdf
Norkus, Z. (2011). Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian post-communist development in the comparative
perspective. In: Estonian Human Development Report 2010/2011 Baltic Way(s) – Twenty Years
On. Tallinn: Eesti Koostöö Kogu.
Strauss, W. , Howe, N. (1997). The fourth turning. New York: Broadway.
Vilgats, B. (2009). Impact of external quality assessment on universities: Estonian Eexperience. Doctoral
Thesis. Tallinn:��
Tallinna ��
Ülikooli Kirjastus.
Advised by Priit Reiska, Tallinn

��
University, Estonia
Received: January 24, 2012 Accepted: March 06, 2012
Mati Heidmets PhD., Professor, ��

Centre of Educational Policy,��
Tallinn University, ��
Uus-Sadama
5, Tallinn,
��
Estonia.
Phone: +3726199789.
E-mail: mati.heidmets@tlu.ee
Website: http://www.tlu.ee
Birgit Vilgats PhD., Quality Manager, Centre of Educational Policy,��

Tallinn University, ��
Uus-
Sadama 5, ��
Tallinn, Estonia��.
E-mail: birgit.vilgats@tlu.ee
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96
Teaching, learning, and knowledge
building: The case of the Remote
networked school initiative
Thérèse Laferrière, Sylvie Barma, Fernand Gervais, Christine Hamel

Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada
E-mail: Therese.Laferriere@fse.ulaval.ca,� Fernand.Gervais@fes.ulaval.ca, Christine.
Hamel@fse.ulaval.ca
Stéphane Allaire
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi��
, Saguenay, Québec, Canada
E-mail: Stephane_Allaire@uqac.ca
Alain Breuleux
McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada
E-mail: alain.breuleux@mcgill.ca
Abstract
The Remote Networked School (RNS)/�� « École

�� éloignée
��
en réseau »��
��
is an initiative that aims at implementing
an innovation with Internet-based technologies in support of teaching and learning as well as knowledge
building in small rural schools. The first eight years of the RNS are examined applying Engeström’s
activity theory framework, and more specifically the concept of expansive learning wherein we document
the 7 stages. Tensions and contradictions are identified to provide an “inside” understanding of what
matters when new technologies designed to support co-teaching and co-learning within and between
classrooms are introduced. Two activity systems or more shared the same object such that students
would engage actively in collaborative online discourse for solving authentic problems. To this end the
trajectory of the RNS initiative had to overcome contradictions. As a result an expansive learning cycle
was documented.
Key words: activity theory, collaboration, expansive learning, remote networked school.
Introduction
Co-teaching and co-learning as well as knowledge building characterize the Remote

Networked School (RNS)/« École éloignée en réseau ». It is the result of participatory design
(Silva & Breuleux, 1994) under the following circumstances: 1) The Quebec Ministry of
Education (Canada) was searching (2001) for ways to improve small rural schools’ learning
environment with the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and contacted
a knowledge transfer organization dedicated to ICT integration in workplace organizations
(CEFRIO); 2) Francophone teachers were opposed to the delivery of online courses to K-12
students; 3) CRIRES’ researchers (Centre for Research and Intervention for School Success)
saw the opportunity for classroom-based designs that link computer, collaboration and pedagogy
to prepare students for the knowledge age.
This paper presents a meso-level analysis of the unfolding of what came to become an
innovation from an activity theory perspective. First, contextual, conceptual and methodological
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background is provided. Second, the experiential trajectory of the RNS initiative is depicted. 97
An analysis of the overcoming of contradictions over the eight-year period follows, and points
to how they became a driving force to engage in change.
Background
Small rural schools (less then 100 students) were struggling with specific problems, mainly
the cost of keeping them open, the lack of qualified human resources and interactions with few
same-age students. Moreover, the Province of Quebec was undergoing an educational reform
aiming at a better preparation for school learners of the 21st Century. Cognitive, constructivist
and socio-constructivist perspectives inspired this reform. The new national curriculum put in
place in both elementary and secondary schools evolved to become a source of tensions and
national debate regarding its application. As Engeström (1996) points out, learning environments
are constantly changing because of the implementation of new curriculums or the interests of
students themselves. Distributed cognition (Hollan, Hutchins, & Kirsch, 2000; Salomon, 1993)
in a single school, however, was insufficient to provide sufficient agency to align pedagogy
with the goals of the reform, and reduce new tensions (see Engeström & Miettinen, 1999).
For teachers in remote rural areas it was difficult to access proper professional development,
and possibilities for exchanging with colleagues about the meaning and ways of implementing
the new curriculum were limited. Edwards (2008) has documented how��
it is difficult to bring
about change among school social practices for a variety of reasons, such as the preservation
of a school’s operating rules, pressure to comply with curriculum requirements, or competition
between schools.
University-school partnerships and teacher networks (Holmes Group, 1990; Laferrière
et al., 2010; Lieberman, 2000) are key strategies when it comes to educational reform and
innovation. At the onset, the RNS partnership included researchers and graduate students from
two different universities – the research and intervention team (RIT). The partnership put
forward the idea that collaborative digital platforms would support and stretch human interaction
and, therefore, enhance the learning environment of small rural schools. The design activity
began, and its goal was the enrichment of the learning environment at three pilot sites. For
RIT, Bereiter and Scardamalia’s (1993, 1994) designs were the more conclusive with respect to
technology use, and the knowledge building epistemology, pedagogy, and technology oriented
the professional development and collaborative research dimensions of the partnership. When
school- and district-based participants took actions, however, they reflected their own theory
in use (Schön, 1983). As pointed by Engeström & Sannino (2010a), participants often take
over the leading role in the intervention process and introduce a tension in the sense that they
reformulate their tasks and change the course of what the interventionist has suggested. Here
we are reminded of the following quote from Engeström and Sannino (2010b):
Traditional modes of learning deal with tasks in which the contents to be learned are
well known ahead of time by those who design, manage and implement various programs
of learning. When ... work processes and organizations, need to redefine themselves,
traditional modes of learning are not enough. Nobody knows exactly what needs to be
learned. (p. 3).
Nonetheless, a new form of activity began to take place within and between classrooms
(��
Laferrière, Breuleux, & Inchauspé,��
2004). In its fourth phase (2008-2010) the initiative scaled
up to 23 school districts.
The RSN initiative made it possible to trace the historical development of some inner
contradictions using the theoretical lens of the model of a collective activity system. Although
contradictions are not accessible directly, this empirical study allowed us to recognize their
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98 manifestations through actions and words that generated tensions (Engeström & Sannino,
2010b). As actors of the RNS made sense of new patterns of talk and actions, new usage of
tools that were modelized, contradictions pushed the RNS into new phases of development.
Contradictions are a foundational philosophical concept. They must not be confused with
tensions, problems or conflicts. They are systemic and can only be grasped when analyzed
within a dynamic system, not as separate entities since they consist of two forces that put the
system at opposite directions (Miettinen, 2009). In such a way, they co-constitute each other.
In order to identify them, one must trace the history of the system. That is what this study is
aiming at presenting by focusing on the thirdnesses that emerged in the late years of the eight-
year period.
The Experiential Trajectory of the Design-based Research RNS Initiative
As in any design-based research (Brown, 1992; Collins Joseph, & Bielaczyc, 2004),
research and intervention were to be closely linked. RIT put forward a first model: two
collaborative tools, one for online written discourse (Knowledge Forum) and one for verbal
interaction (iVisit, a multi-user desktop videoconferencing system); onsite/online professional
development activities; research iterations (innovation conditions monitoring; use of the
collaborative technologies, etc.); steering committee led by the deputy-minister in charge, and
school district monitoring committee led by assistant superintendent. This model reflected top-
down decisions but local bottom-up decisions were also understood to be necessary. Volunteer
school districts, schools and teachers were invited to « mettre en œuvre » / « invent » the remote
networked school, and not to « simply » implement, apply the model. The introduction of new
tools, be they technological or conceptual, brought upon the learning environment a zone of
challenge to be explored as it created a double bind between the use value and the exchange
value of those tools. At the action level, the objectives were: 1) the teachers would use the
collaborative tools to co-design learning activities for their classes (co-teaching) and 2) their
students would also work collaboratively using the same tools (co-learning), and 3) engage in
knowledge building.
During Phase One (2002-2004), participants were from three school districts (8 schools)
and interacted onsite and online with RIT, the university-based research and intervention team
being composed of members from Laval & McGill universities. Written and verbal conversations
unfolded between participants (school teachers, learners and administrators) from different
schools or with RIT. The top-down decision made regarding tools had restricted to Knowledge
Forum and iVisit the number of online tools (tools) used for research and collaboration purposes,
and there were identified as second level tensions. Four iterations were designed to address
tensions and develop better understanding of the technology innovation, conditions, teacher
beliefs, activities conducted online (tools, discourse, roles, and routines), and learning outcomes,
including student academic results. Phase One results were encouraging in both quantitative and
qualitative terms regarding online interaction using iVisit; students had more room to express
themselves. Knowledge building indicators were also encouraging at the two (out of three)
sites that made use of Knowledge Forum. Teacher online discourse (peer-to-peer professional
development) was analyzed during planning and/or reflection on online learning activities as
regards teaching beliefs. Learning outcomes being quite satisfying, research attention turned to
the scaling of collaborative processes (more participating schools and classrooms).
Phase Two (2004-2006) was dedicated to the interpretation of teacher and student
online discourse displayed under the circumstances. Whereas the intent of the researchers (as
subjects and interveners) was to rise the level of complexity with regards to the reading and
writing process during and beyond project- and inquiry-based learning, networked classroom
participating teachers’ intent (as subjects and interveners, 13 sites, three universities and over
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100 teachers involved) was first and foremost to understand the value of online tools to improve 99
the learning environment. By comparing the results of that phase to the situation at the beginning
of the project, we were able to notice that the activity had undergone a change and addressed the
third level of contradiction. The tensions were addressed especially during online conversation
(iVisit support room), the six research iterations revolved around both types of preoccupations
as well as on student interaction on Knowledge Forum, and at onsite meetings.
Phase Three (2006-2008) was a first test of sustainability and scalability with four school
districts considered more advanced that the other 18 school districts also implementing the RNS
model. Funding was reduced for all schools, except those belonging to the four school districts
that had accepted to accelerate coping with sustainability and scalability challenges. The research
focus turned to documenting student learning. In late Phase III and in Phase IV, The Knowledge
Building International Project (KBIP) was at the forefront of the kind of progressive online
discourse students have been capable of achieving. They walked on the knowledge building/
knowledge creation path as they contributed local data and inquired into one question or another
under the umbrella theme of climate changes. Endangered animal species, water quality, and
other sustainability issues have been inquired into, and results reported (Laferrière, Law, &
Montané, in press). Participants addressed the quaternary contradiction: They consolidated and
reflected on the new practice.
Phase Four (2008-2010) called on school district superintendents’ political will to
institutionalize the RNS model before thinking of closing a small school within their district.
The research team expanded to four universities, and an online multi-university graduate
program was established (Laferrière et al., 2010). This was done mainly to contribute to the
institutionalization process and to allow new teachers and pedagogical consultants who were
not part of the RNS to join it. Moreover, it was also a way to provide additional professional
development to participants already part of the initiative.
Table 1 resumes each phase of the RNS and Table 2 resumes both the research and
intervention foci within each phase.
Table 1. Participation across RNS innovation phases.
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

Participants
(2002-2004) (2004-2006) (2006-2008) (2008-2010)
School District 3 13 22 23
Schools 8 58 116 149
Teachers 12 118 206 211
Students 300 1500 2500 3000
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100 Table 2. Key progressive research and intervention design actions.
Research Intervention
Object outcome: Design RNS among each site to enrich the learning environment
Phase 1 • Identification of online activities and their • Use of the tools for learning in coherence
(2002-2004) impact on learners’ motivation and reading with the new curriculum
skills • Design of project- and inquiry- based learn-
• Reflection on teachers’ beliefs ing activities
• Monitoring of innovative conditions dis- • Knowledge building principles informed
played in each site teacher educators
• Link research results with the next step
Phase 2 • Reflection on student and teacher online • Authentic questioning and real ideas in the
(2004-2006) discourse online discourse
• Impact of the RNS professional develop- • Sustaining progressive online discourse
ment on teachers’ competencies • Rise-above discourse
Phase 3 • Explicit presentation of the knowledge • Authentic questioning in the online discourse
(2006-2008) building principles to participants in science and social studies (Hmelo-Silver
• Identification of sustainability and scalabil- & Barrows, 2008)
ity challenges • Assessment of student discourse
• Students learning (motivation, reading and • Development of students’ explanation skills
writing skills, progressive discourse) • Knowledge Building international project
Phase 4 • Focus on learning outcomes • Organization and management of the multi-

(2008-2010) • Identification of the conditions for the insti- grade classroom
tutionalization of the RNS model • Reification of the RNS teaching and learn-
ing model (pedagogical guide)
Some progress was manifest from phase to phase. In this paper, we focus on systemic
tensions that would allow us to identify inner contradictions arising over the eight-year period.
These contradictions will become driving forces pushing the RNS initiative forward in its
development. Throughout the innovation process, the tensions and contradictions characterized
and reflected both the RNS’s successes and shortcomings insofar as co-teaching, co-learning,
and knowledge building were concerned.
Barab, ��
Barnett, & Squire (2002)��
had paved the way by adopting Engeström’s activity
theory framework, thus providing an illustration of the essential tensions encountered during
the redefinition of an astronomy course and a keen analysis of the dialectics that unfolded.
Design research has to generate theory and connect it back to practice. This is a difficult
research agenda: RIT had to deal with all the iterations and the amount of data collected (see
also Yamagata-Lynch, 2007). Engeström’s (1987) activity system analysis, with procedures that
keep developing, was used to identify tensions that needed to be addressed within and between
activity systems.
The two mediating/collaborative tools (iVisit and Knowledge Forum) were generating
a rich data set. Borrowing Schön’s reflective practitioner model (1983), teachers were invited
to reflect on the adequacy between their pedagogical intents and the results obtained with the
students in their classes. Emerging objects-outcomes became students��
’��
engagement in online
discourse, and discourse quality as measured, for instance, by the type of activity conducted,
the diversity of questions asked and the level of explanation. At most iterations, RIT provided
online discourse analyses as evidence of progress or not regarding collaborative learning and
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knowledge building. It is out of online discussions with participants and between participants 101
that tensions were identified. As the next section will demonstrate, some of them were resolved
and others persisted.
Documenting Tensions Introduced by New Tools
The top-down decision made by the Ministry of Education to launch the RNS initiative,
with its specific tools and related resources, reflected dissatisfaction with the status quo but
not a « bottom-up desire » (see Looi, so, & Chen’s expression, 2010) to do things differently.
The dissatisfaction level was neither high at the school district governance level nor at the
school leadership level (Turcotte & Hamel, 2008). However, because of the funding provided to
volunteer school districts, this top-down decision did not become an explicit tension. Specific
related top-down decisions generated manifest and localized tensions, especially the choice of
the collaborative tools.
iVisit as a tool for collaborative learning
RIT chose the two collaborative tools, and that created a tension with school district
information technology (IT) services (tension 1), and more so at some school districts than
at others. One element had to do with the technical aspects of iVisit, one videoconference
system used for oral communication between distant classrooms. RNS being schools located
in rural regions, Internet bandwidth was not as fast or easily available as in cities. Bandwidth
consumption was therefore an important stake to take into account. Priority went to tools that
created a low demand on bandwidth. Otherwise, verbal communication between pupils and
teachers would suffer. Tests conducted by an expert consultant showed iVisit was the best tool
in this regard. In counterpart, iVisit runs with direct connection between computers, a mode
of connection not very well supported by IT systems (proxies and firewalls) in school districts
of the Province of Quebec. The issue was openly discussed onsite and/or online but some
concerns remained unspoken, and the issue kept being vivid at some sites. People had their
reasons for resisting adoption: they feared about network security. Some of them decided to
tweak in some ways their regular network, thus leading RNS to run on a parallel network. In
some other places, RIT became aware after a while that the configuration was only allowing
schools from a same school district to communicate together using iVisit. Many times, during
summer vacations, network configuration was reset. Teachers would arrive in the beginning
of the following school year and discover iVisit was no longer working. Although they were
motivated by the fundamental idea of the RNS, such issues were irritating and slowed down
the growing of the RNS initiative as a whole for a number of years. The arrival of a web-
based videoconferencing system resorbed some of the tension with the IT people but created
some tension with teachers who used to iVisit and did not want to face having to change tool.
Teachers voiced their concerns, which were addressed during onsite and online meetings.
For teachers who adopted the tool, a panoply of opportunities opened up. We identified
over twenty types of activities conducted on iVisit (Laferrière, Breuleux, & Inchauspé, 2004;
Laferrière et al., 2008), thus bringing evidence that the introduction of this new tool change
teachers’ and school learners’ learners interaction within and beyond their usual learning
environment. For some teachers, however, iVisit was at the origin of a pedagogical tension
(tension 2). This tool had also been chosen because it afforded verbal communication between
pupils, instead of reproducing the typical model of interactions (Initiative-Response-Evaluation;
IRE, Cazden, 1988; Meehan, 1978). This had some consequences on the tool’s affordances: it
didn’t provide any kind of blackboard for teachers that wanted to use it in a more traditional
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102 pedagogy. Moreover, people’s image was not as big as in the case of large videoconference
systems, and that limited teachers’ demonstrations to a whole group of students.
Knowledge Forum as a tool for knowledge building
Knowledge Forum (KF) was the tool used for written communication between students
from different classrooms. As stated previously, it has strong roots in the knowledge building
epistemology, theory and pedagogy (tension 3). Idea improvement is at the center of KF and
its design is coherent with it. For instance, terminology used in the environment has a specific
meaning. We don’t write messages; we write notes. We don’t answer a note; we build on it.
Such expressions relate more with the main thrust of this tool: improvement. However, the
conceptual coherence found by some didn’t find all expected echoes when the tool landed in
school districts. Some people, namely pedagogical consultants and IT specialists, found all
these words overrated; it sounded like jargon to their ears and they rapidly concluded it was
too hard to understand for young students, instead of taking the time to explain it to them.
RIT was available to teachers interested in the tool, and offered numerous opportunities for
discussion. Teachers who adopted the tool felt they had a loaded agenda having to serve both
the requirements of the new curriculum and the requirements of the RNS initiative. The tension
became overt during onsite/online professional activities, and got resolved for many of those
who maintained an ongoing dialogue with RIT.
Another feature of KF that created tension was about its sober visual design, one aiming
at progressive discourse instead of having students invest much time on peripheral tasks such as
formatting. In counterpart, though, features such as bold, color picker, pictures insertion and so
on are almost hidden in the software. At first sight, some people didn’t find KF very attractive
as it was a bit in contradiction with a more fashionable, colored and flourishing image of what
ICTs should look like. Thus, they tended to conclude students would dislike it and knowledge
building would not be possible in classes.
A few actions helped reduce the tension surrounding Knowledge Forum: accommodations
regarding the ports and improvements to the tool. As for iVisit, its use lasted during the whole
period but a web-based videoconferencing system, much praised by the IT services, was also
promoted and used by RIT.
Emerging Tensions Surrounding the Networked Classroom
From the inception of the initiative and on, participants were invited to co-design the
remote networked school/« classe en réseau » /enriched learning environment – objects-
outcomes towards greater educational success. Teacher participation in the decision-making
process was considered an important condition for innovation at the local school level and
beyond (Allaire et al., 2006 & Laferrière et al., 2008). Therefore, top-down decisions kept
appearing to some as being of a contradictory nature with bottom-up participation. Talking
helped see the necessary dialectical coexistence of these two processes.
Internal/external resources
The introduction of the two collaborative tools in the classroom brought access to
resources in the newly networked classroom. Before the RNS, many classrooms did not have
large bandwidth access; most of them did not have Internet access at all. Only in a small number
of classrooms, were teamwork or cooperative work already well established. The access to the
videoconferencing system brought opportunity to interact in learning with students from distant
classroom, experts, youth literature author, researcher, speech therapist, special education teacher.
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However, this was contrary to being the one-and-only teacher in the classroom (tension 4). 103
Eventually, those new activities generated new rules and routines in the classroom, for example
an increased number of cooperative activities that made sense with the new curriculum.
Onsite/online learning
Multigrade classrooms were commonplace in both elementary and secondary remote

schools and their number increased throughout the eight-year period. Two grade classrooms
became three grade classrooms and more, with a noticeable increase observed in Phase 3 (24
% of the classroom with more than 2 grades). It was not unusual to find school learners from
one grade involved in individual tasks while the teacher was working with students from the
other grade(s).
Diversity among students is a characteristic that brings value to a learning community.
The organization of the classroom as a learning community was explicitly part of the pedagogy
of the reform in Quebec. Among others, it meant to see students as resources for their
peers (tension 5). Some multigrade classroom teachers saw new possibilities as they got to
know the knowledge building principles, especially the Community Knowledge, Collective
Responsibility principle (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2004). Figure 1 illustrates the transformation
in the classroom organization for students and teachers as it presents the activity system for the
student in a RNS classroom.
Figure 1: RNS student’s activity system.
Topic-centered/problem-centered collaborative inquiry
Project- and inquiry-based learning and the classroom-based learning community model
were new to almost all teachers (tension 6), let alone collaborative technologies and knowledge
building. Teachers began to engage students in learning activities and projects conducted online
(in collaboration with learners and teachers from other schools) once large bandwidth was
reliable and basic use of tools mastered, and once some understanding of new pedagogical
approaches was reached. Pedagogical use, however, did not depend only on technological
means: in all phases of the initiative, some teachers in classrooms with lesser connectivity
engaged school learners in collaborative inquiries of a greater complexity than some with better
connectivity.
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104 RIT focused on the knowledge building principle Authentic questioning, and real ideas
(Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2004), which was well aligned with the new national curriculum
(tension 7). RIT offered onsite and online professional development activities regarding how
student-driven questions were important for discourse to take off in Knowledge Forum. Teachers
noted that working on authentic problem with distant colleague in an inquiry mode put more
responsibility in the student hand. For RIT a new division of labor was taking place: The new
rules in classrooms were defined to let student(s) worked with distant peer(s) with autonomy
and teacher mediation (Figure 1). There were signs that students were beginning to build
knowledge together. Teachers transformed their image of what students could do (Laferrière et
al., 2004) but kept being highly challenged by the practice of a knowledge building pedagogy,
and even more so when research results showed a large part of authentic questioning. The very
use of Knowledge Forum kept raising the bar of what could be accomplished (Laferrière et al.,
2010).
Individual learning/collaborative learning/knowledge building
The student as central was a leitmotiv, and individual learning remained highly promoted
even in the midst of the educational reform. School district based teacher educators prepared
materials and gave workshops devoted to this orientation. Writing and reading to and for
each other in the Knowledge Forum allowed an authentic interaction that implied a greater
responsibility for the students and the ideas they explained to the networked learning community
they were part of (tension 8).
Teachers observed that students were more interested in writing since they began writing
in Knowledge Forum. Teachers who devoted more time for classes to engage in knowledge
building began to see transformative classroom discourse through research results reported
during iterations (e.g., figure 2).
Figure 2: Distribution of speaking time in the RNS classroom (Phase One 2002-
2004).
RIT reported on the author of the third note in forum threads (figure 3), an interesting
departure of what is usually observed in a classroom (Initiative-Response-Evaluation, Cazden,
1988). RIT also reported (figure 4) on the broad variety of questions (task-orientation questions,
long-answer seeking question, short-answer seeking questions) identified in the online discourse
using a grid for face-to-face group interaction when members are engaged in problem-based
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learning (Hmelo-Silver & Barrows, 2008). Furthermore, results regarding the explanation level 105
reached by students showing more difficulty than others at the onset were most encouraging
(Hamel, Turcotte, & Laferrière, in progress).
Figure 3: Authorship of the third contribution in a forum thread (Phase Two

– 2006-2008).
Figure 4: Distribution of the questions asked in the forum (Phases 2 & 3 – 2006-
2010).
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106 Tensions with Third Organization Activity Systems

Understanding the role of third-party organizations
The RNS initiative gave central stage to a knowledge transfer organization. This means
that the Ministry of Education had CEFRIO as its primary partner. This “triangle” was new for
the participating university researchers (tension 9). Discussions were necessary for clarifying
roles, and finding complementarities. In 2011, researchers from four universities, Laval
University, McGill University, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi and University of Quebec
in Outaouais, continue to interact, primarily online and at each CEFRIO’s knowledge transfer
session (one per year), with school districts, school principals and teachers.
RIT’s role also needed to be clarified. Some of its members were more involved in
intervention, and others in research. On the intervention side, RIT did not provide typical
professional development activities such as onsite presentations. Rather, it relied on reflection
on action within the TACT iVisit virtual room. In the later years it offered a series of planned
seminars on VIA. RIT is part of a knowledge building international network through the
Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology based at the University of Toronto. This
network is composed of scholars in the learning sciences domain interested in effective use of
ICTs in the classroom. Therefore, the use of technology that seemed to have little educational
potential was seen by researchers as too much time consuming in classrooms (tension 10). More
deeply, the tension was between the valuing of knowledge-centered activities and the valuing
of “distracting” or “amusing” activities for students. There was some teachers who, as they
engaged themselves in a graduate program with a strong knowledge building emphasis, had
difficulty to deal with formal requirements and even with written online discourse, although
they appreciated and found helpful, for their professional development, the possibility of
meeting other participants every week on a schedule.
Individual/co-teaching
To be part of the RNS initiative was seen by teachers as a move away from isolated
practice. Teachers teamed up according to their interests and the needs of their respective class
in learning outcomes, mainly inquiries in science and social studies, two learning domains that
were more poorly covered before in their classroom (Allaire et al., 2006). The teacher activity
system transformed in the sense that networked co-teaching began to occur (see Figure 5)
between teachers of different classrooms.
Figure 5: RNS teacher’s activity system.
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As the institutionalization of the RNS model loomed, some feared that “mandatory 107
collaborative teaching” might be the rising norm (tension 11). Earlier top-down attempts to pair
teachers with one another led to some frustrations within some school districts. The teacher
union was monitoring closely school districts’ and schools’ decisions in this regard.
Transformations at one level created both tensions and satisfactions at another level. To
understand “second-loop tensions” within and between the RNS activity systems, RIT turned
to Engeström’s later works.
Integrating the Analysis of Contradictions as Driving Forces to Document an

Expansive Cycle
The seven phases of what Engeström (1987) identifies as the cycle of expansive learning
in the context of developmental research are reflected in the previous account. First, we provide
an overview of this cycle (Figure 6). Second, each phase is further discussed.
The first phase refers to the need state, the first level of contradictions, and constitutes
the basic inner contradiction that can become a driving force for the overall activity. The
RNS initiative was not the result of a bottom up process but was rather imposed to volunteer
participants (school districts, school principals, teachers). The two collaborative technologies
galvanized the initiative.
Contradictions need to be discussed once they have been introduced. The second phase
or set of actions was that of analyzing the situation, that is, the opportunity for co-teaching and
co-learning between classrooms, by developing a picture of its inner systemic. Solutions were
offered to the problematic situation: the proposed model was the networked classroom. The
new model was then analysed in order to grasp its potential and limitations, and especially those
of collaborative technologies/pedagogies. We identified those phases as part of the second level
of contradictions.
Implementing the model was the third level of contradictions: New ways of engaging
in the co-design of the RNS (activity) emerged and a new organization appeared, that of the
knowledge building oriented networked classroom in a small remote school. Soon enough, our
analysis illustrated how multiple activity systems came into relation and conceptual expansion
took place.
The sixth and seventh actions (reflecting and consolidating on the practice) led to the
quaternary contradiction. It taught us how critical the role of third organizations, the knowledge
transfer organization (CEFRIO) and an international network under the leadership of Scardamalia
and Bereiter (Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology, IKIT), was and developed in
the form of a new thirdness actually under implementation (KBIP) as we hope that this outcome
will consolidate into a new stable form of practice.
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108
Figure 6: The expansive cycle of the RNS initiative.
Phase 1: Questioning – Dissatisfaction with the status quo
The Ministry of Education and CEFRIO questioned the status quo with the RNS initiative
(contradiction level one). The former was seeing demographics changing in small remote areas
and was wondering how long they could afford financing the remote schools at the level they
were. The Deputy Minister also wondered whether ICTs could support alternative action.
CEFRIO accepted the Ministry’s mandate. The RNS became known as CEFRIO’s project.
IT is by far preferable, as emphasized by Looi, So & Chen (2010), that top-down
decisions be accompanied by bottom-up desire. Dissatisfaction with the status quo (one of
Ely’s conditions for innovation with ICTs, 1991) was not highly felt at the school district nor
at the school level. Among local participants, research (Turcotte and Hamel, 2008) showed that
teachers were the ones most dissatisfied with the status quo. Early adopters of the RNS tools
were the ones to manifest « desire » more clearly.
Phase 2: Double blind analysis – Use and exchange of iVisit and KF (new tools)
The RNS model put forward two collaborative tools that had the power to support
collaboration at a high level. However, this action created a double-bind due to the use and
exchange values they introduced in the schools (contradiction level 2). The requirements of use
of the videoconferencing system (iVisit) confronted (tension 1) local practices (IT services and
pedagogical practices).
IT services had to open their network as specific ports needed to be open for iVisit
(a client/server tool) to operate on their network. They felt it as a breach of security but, at
the same time, it provided teachers and school principals with a highly functional multi-user
videoconferencing system to network schools and classrooms. However, teachers use of iVisit
confronted them with another tension, that of student active participation (tension 2). As web-
based videoconferencing systems came to exist, most IT services strongly wanted to get one,
thus satisfying their desire to only open port 80 (web port) and freeing themselves from installing
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iVisit on every RNS computer. Therefore, iVisit use as an exchange value began to drop in 2008, 109
and transition towards a web-based videoconferencing system (VIA) was completed in 2010.
As for Knowledge Forum, it was seen by curriculum counsellors and technology support
personnel as a difficult tool for teachers and students to use (tension 3). The latter were eager
to suggest other ICTs they had recently learned to use (blog, wiki). They had a responsibility to
fulfill with their school district, that of infusing new technology. Meanwhile, the RNS initiative
had an obligation of results well beyond the use of new technology, and that obligation strongly
weighted in favour of the KF. As changes in classroom interaction patterns, classroom discourse
and learning outcomes began to manifest, KF’s exchange value was in progression.
Phase 3: Modeling the new solution – Networked

��
classrooms/learning communities
The networked classroom allowed access to external resources (tension 4) and students
became resources for distant peers (tension 5). The concept of the learning community, which
was already promoted in curricular materials, brought new meaning to the notion of the
multigrade classroom and the diversity of students with whom the teacher had to work with.
The learning community was a central feature of a one-to-one laptop program with which
some classrooms began to interact, and modelling was in effect. RNS students’ new learning
environment was resolving one aspect related to the secondary contradiction and making learning
outcomes possible. Exemplars of the application of both concepts (networked classroom and
learning community) were provided at onsite professional development sessions and during
online conversations with teachers on iVisit. RIT used these concepts as scaffolds towards
knowledge building pedagogy, especially the knowledge building principles (Scardamalia &
Bereiter, 2004).
Phase 4: Examining the New Model – Underuse of Knowledge Forum
RIT and a good number of teachers made use of the concept of knowledge building
(contradiction 2). “Investigation collective”/collaborative inquiry was a related and easier
concept to grasp (tension 6) than knowledge building/ « ��
coélaboration de connaissances�
» – see also the term progressive inquiry used by classes studied by Hakkarainen (2003).
Nonetheless, RIT was noticing that the advanced functions of Knowledge Forum, a tool filled
with affordances for knowledge building, were underused: keywords, rise-above notes, note
reference, quotations, note publication and analytical tools.
Phase 5: Implementing the New Model – The emerging organization of the KB-oriented
networked classroom
A networked classroom could engage in any kind of online activity. The knowledge-
building oriented networked classroom (contradiction 3) is characterized by progressive
discourse onsite and online (tensions 7, 8 and 10). There are clear signs that the RNS initiative
had made headways in implementing this model. In best cases, teachers engaged students in
collaborative inquiry one hour a day or during 20 % of classroom time. Allaire et Lusignan’s
(2011) book was written by RNS teachers and for RNS teachers with the facilitation of a
researcher and a professional writer.
Phase 6: Reflecting on the process – Critical role of the knowledge transfer organization
(CEFRIO)
As illustrated along in this paper, tensions accumulated within and between activity
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110 systems. When the activity system we presented adopted an object from the outside (such as a
tool like iVisit or KF) through its interaction with another activity system (RIT), disturbances
were created and we were able to analyze the emerging tensions and understand them as
manifestations of contradictions. In Phase 6 of the cycle of expansion, we can see that at least
one other activity system (CEFRIO) shared the same object in the transformation of the learning
environment of the remote networked school. CEFRIO was the coordinating body, and this is
why at this point, we choose to put some emphasis on its contribution. It played a key role to
trigger, keep and sustain the changes in action over the years (contradiction 4).
As an organization that works in many sectors whose organizations are integrating
ICTs, CEFRIO brought its knowledge transfer expertise to the RNS initiative, and transformed
researchers’ previous experience (tension 9) in university-school partnerships (Laferrière,
Erickson, & Breuleux, 2007). Researchers gained a better understanding of CEFRIO’s role
in coordinating and managing the initiative and especially with regard to sustainability and
scalability issues.
Looi et al (2010) reported on the Singapore experience, an even more encompassing
systemic analysis, and referred to Coburn’s (2003) definition of scale as “encompassing four
interrelated dimensions: depth, sustainability, spread, and shift in reform ownership”.
Depth refers to deep and consequential change in classroom practice, altering

teachers’ beliefs, norms of social interaction, and pedagogical principles as enacted in
the curriculum. Sustainability involves maintaining these consequential changes over
substantial periods of time, while spread is based on the diffusion of the innovation to
large numbers of classrooms and schools. Shift requires districts, schools, and teachers to
assume ownership of the innovation, deepening, sustaining, and spreading its impact. (p.
16).
Over the eight-year period, the RNS model went to scale in Coburn’s terms (2003).
Moreover, as it proved to be sustainable with an increasing number of classrooms and schools,
it evolved – see Dede (2005) who added a fifth dimension to Coburn’s definition of scale,
namely, evolution, in which the innovation, is revised by adaptors. The RNS model, with its
emphasis on knowledge building, is beginning to reach other Francophone countries such as
Burkina Faso, France and Morocco.
The 2010-2012 period is a transition one meant to result in a shift of ownerships.
However, issues related to co-teaching are not yet resolved (tension 11), and will have to be
resorbed for better scaling of the model.
Phase 7: Consolidating the New Practices – Participation in KBIP
Another third organization played a critical role (contradiction 4), the network of
researchers and teachers part of IKIT. It is at one of their summer institute that the Knowledge
Building International Project (KBIP) was initiated. It created a critical mass of emerging
knowledge building-oriented networked classrooms, thus offering opportunities for teachers
to move beyond their context-based understanding of knowledge building and local practices
(Laferrière et al., 2011; Laferrière, Law, & Montané, in press).
Conclusions
The RNS initiative was analyzed from the point of view of Engestrom’s activity theory
framework, and borrowing above all his concept of expansive cycle. Understanding the RNS’s
complex situation through activity systems analysis made it possible for RIT to take action
by developing instruments for generating new interventions and sustaining progress over the
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years. The exercise led to a better understanding of the tensions and contradictions that marked 111
the unfolding of this innovation.
The identification of tensions and contradictions within the RNS activity system offered
a sociocultural analysis of the complex process of integrating into classroom practice two
specific collaboration technologies, one for written online asynchronous discourse and the
other for verbal synchronous discourse. Whereas a social need provided the impetus for the
RNS initiative, constructivist pedagogies, and especially knowledge building, provided the
pedagogical rationale.
As a result, the affordances of Knowledge Forum and the knowledge building pedagogy
are better understood in Quebec, even though collaborative tools that can be used in a networked
classroom are multiplying.
Another impact of this initiative was to strengthen a sense that school innovation could
happen, and learning outcomes could expand. A thirdness, which reflects the overcoming of
four-level of contradictions over an eight-year period, is presented as an outcome of Engeström’s
(1987) cycle of expansive learning. Phase Five is underway, and capacity transfer is the challenge
as universities’ role in the initiative will be lessened and training capacity transferred to senior
RNS participants.
Nevertheless, one is left with an understanding that school innovation, especially ones of
the kind that aim at student deep understanding and knowledge building, is a long and complex
process. Deep understanding and knowledge creation are two of three UNESCO (2011) ICT
competency standards for teachers. Teachers and teacher educators have a long way to go.
Acknowledgements
Researchers are grateful to all the RNS participants, CEFRIO, and the Quebec Ministry
of Education, Canada.
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Advised by Rita Makarskaitė-Petkevičienė, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences,

Lithuania
Received: February��
��
, 2012
Thérèse Laferrière PhD, Professor, ��

Faculty of Science Education, ��
Université Laval, ��
2320,
Street des Bibliothèques, ��
Québec, Canada.
E-mail: Therese.Laferriere@fse.ulaval.ca
Sylvie Barma PhD, Professor, ��

2320, Street des Bibliothèques, ��
Québec,
Canada.
E-mail: sylvie.barma@fse.ulaval.ca
Fernand Gervais PhD, Professor, Vice-dean of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, ��
Univer-
sité Laval, ��
2320, Street des Bibliothèques, ��
Québec, Canada.
E-mail: Fernand.Gervais@fes.ulaval.ca
Christine Hamel PhD, Professor, ��

Teacher Training Education, ��
2320, Street
des Bibliothèques, ��
Québec, Canada.
E-mail: Christine.Hamel@fse.ulaval.ca
Stéphane Allaire PhD, Department of Science Education and Psychology, ��

Université du
Québec à Chicoutimi��
, Saguenay, Québec, Canada.
E-mail: Stephane_Allaire@uqac.ca
Alain Breuleux� PhD, Professor, ��

Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology,
Faculty of Education, McGill University, James Administration Building, 845
Sherbrooke Street, West Montréal, Québec, Canada.
E-mail: alain.breuleux@mcgill.ca
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114
UNFREEZING SCHOOL REPUTATIONS:
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE
FLEXIBILITY
Aneta Mechi
University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
E-mail: Aneta.Mechi@unige.ch
Abstract
The school often generates different kinds of reputations. ��

These reputations can have negative
consequences on pupils’ learning process. Bad reputations make pupils’ efforts invisible, whereas good
reputations restrict teachers’ perception of pupils’ desinvestment in learning. A��
lthough individualization
seems to be an ideal alternative to thwarting reputation creation, it cannot be permanently applied in
teachers’ practice because of time pressures, cognitive overload, and other facilitators of the automatisms
emergence. Hence, the aim is not to banish stereotypical reasoning, but rather to keep a balance between
automaticity and reflection through a social cognitive flexibility approach (SCF). The current study tests
the impact of a social cognitive flexibility approach on teachers’ thinking about pupils. Social cognitive
flexibility seems to help teachers suspend hasty judgments of pupils’ attitudes and behaviors. The study
considers the implications of social cognitive flexibility on teachers’ practice in terms of better perception
of pupils’ learning potential.
Key words: social cognitive flexibility, categories of pupils, teachers’ thinking.
Introduction
Who has never heard about school reputations: how teachers can be lax with good
learners and intransigent with those who are considered bad learners. Who has never perceived
inequality when observing this kind of unbalanced treatment, whether privileged (teachers’
pets) or strict? Bad ��
reputations often persist in pupils’ memories even many years later and
inhibit their motivation toward hated domains. The teachers’ opinions about pupils are based
on available information (perceived by themselves or received, for example, from colleagues)
and often solidified in their memories (Hamilton, Katz, & Leirer, 1980). The problem is that
perception can be biased and received information can be partial. Hence, memorized impressions
can be distorted or overgeneralized.
Bias of Neutral Vision
Admittedly, it could be infer that one possible solution to the problem of school
reputations would be the prohibition of stereotyping or recommendation of individualization.
Although this perspective seems ideal, it poses several problems. First, it is almost impossible
for the individual to analyze the social reality in-depth and permanently and to not categorize
at all, because of the nature of the teaching profession, which is very demanding of cognitive
resources. Even trying not stereotype can yield the opposite result due to ironic effects of mental
control (Wegner, 1994). More precisely, even if teachers try to not categorize automatically,
they risk relapsing with greater intensity not only at the level of stereotype (rebound effect)
(Macrae, after Milne & Jetten, 1994), but also at the level of behavior (Follenfant & Ric, 2010).
One solution is to search of information about specific pupils.
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Traps of Available Information 115
In attempting to get additional information about pupils, teachers can communicate with
colleagues, meet pupils’ parents, and enquire about pupils’ antecedents and school careers.
However, these strategies can have pernicious effects. Indeed, information can be partial,
incomplete, or inaccurate. Furthermore, there is a risk of conforming to the majority of
colleagues’ opinions and of decreasing objective observation of pupils. More specifically, as in
Asch’s experience (Asch, 1956); teachers can express their public agreement on some pupils’
attitude and/or behavior (even if in reality they do not share it), or inversely, they can accept
others’ opinions without questioning them. In both cases, they take part in the creation of pupils’
reputations.
Perception of Learning Potential

The opinion established by teachers or based on the opinion of their colleagues restrains
objective perception of pupils’ learning potential because of the stability of teachers’ expectations.
Despite the rather high accuracy of teachers’ perceptions of pupils’ learning investment in the
moment, the will to predict it can bias perception of potential. Pupils’ learning potential can
be influenced by contextual elements like life events (birth of a sibling, parents’ divorce, or
bereavement). There are moments when pupils can appear to look their best and others when
they can appear apathetic and disinvested. Thus, the development of capacity to readjust the
expectations systematically, despite high cognitive load and temporal pressure, seems to be
important.
Problem of Research
What teachers can do to readjust their expectations systematically? How can they make
their views of pupils less dependent on different sources of information? How can they unlock
their critical thinking in situations of emergency and stress?
In this study, it is hypothesized that social cognitive flexibility (SCF) could increase
character temporarily and relative of established opinion or some sources of information
(colleagues, antecedents, social origin, cultural origin, or school level), especially in problematic
learning situations.
Research Focus
Social Cognitive Flexibility

Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, and Coulson (1992) argued that domains in which
knowledge is complex and poorly structured (history, medicine, law, literature interpretation,
or teachers’ training) need to be treated differently than those that are well-structured, mainly
because the learners are asked to apply their knowledge in new and often unique situations.
Indeed, educational situations are a priori, without correct or known solutions. Thus, methods
for developing awareness that the interpretation of the same situation can vary according to
several representations can allow them to seize the complexity of it. The awareness of multiple
interpretations could let teachers develop an association network, interconnections between the
explanations of how to see the object from different perspectives, and to avoid oversimplification
and rigid and linear reasoning.
Knowledge about pupils involved in educational situations is complex. It is assumed
that human relations professionals should develop a capacity to see several representations of
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116 the same problem or of the situation to increase the quality of the interpretation. That is why
it seems essential to develop the awareness of the existence of several explanations (Martin &
Rubin, 1995, Dennis & Vander Wal, 2010).
In this study, secondary schoolteachers were asked how they think about several general
affirmations about pupils. It was hypothesized that teachers who take a higher SCF approach
(several possible explanations or/and weak linear predictability of human behavior) are less
sensitive to information about social category than those with lower levels of SCF. They were
supposed to make fewer associations between the problem with a given pupil and his or her
social origin or immigrant status.
Sample of Research
One hundred fifty-nine secondary schoolteachers (99 women, 60 men; mean age=31.8
years) in the Geneva district who were enrolled in a teacher training program participated
in the research, which was presented as a way to improve the training course. The impact
of the SCF approach on teachers’ visions of pupils is one of the indicators needed for SCF
development during teachers’ training courses. The survey was conducted for the first time;
hence its reliability cannot be confirmed yet. However, developments on this issue will be dealt
with in a subsequent report.
Instrument and Procedures
Participants completed a standardized (each participant had the same questions) and
anonymous questionnaire individually, at the beginning of the training. Teachers rated some
affirmations about different kinds of pupils’ origin (school/class level, social background,
immigration status, parents’ appearance) on a 6-degree scale (from 1, “strongly disagree,”
to 6, “strongly agree”). Then they were invited to answer some questions related to social
cognitive flexibility approach dimensions (weak linear predictability and awareness of multiple
explanations of human behavior) on a 6-degree scale (from 1, “strongly disagree,” to 6, “strongly
agree”).
Independent measure

The SCF approach was measured by questions related to capacity that were put into
questions about hasty conclusions about human behavior (example: “People can behave in a
contradictory way in different situations,” “In my opinion, there is only one way to explain the
behavior of a person” (6-point scale: 1=strongly disagree and 6=strongly agree).
Dependent measure

Teachers’ critical thinking was measured by questions related to some aspects of their
practice, including how teachers think about pupils according to their social background,
immigration status, school level, and parents’ appearance.
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General hypothesis: Teachers with high social cognitive flexibility think more critically 117
than those with low social cognitive flexibility.
H1: Teachers with high social cognitive flexibility (predictability or multiple
explanations items) think more critically about school/class level than those
with low social cognitive flexibility.
explanations items) think more critically about immigration/social background
status than those with low social cognitive flexibility.
explanations items) think more critically about colleagues’ opinions about
pupils than those with low social cognitive flexibility.
explanations items) think more critically about parents’ appearance than those
with low social cognitive flexibility.
Data Analysis
The questions related to the SCF approach as well as those related to teachers’ manner
of thinking were analyzed with factor analysis. Factor analysis concerning the SCF approach
indicated two factors that accounted for 62.48% of response variance (KMO=0.80). The
first factor (eigenvalue=3.55) included items like “People can behave in a contradictory way
in different situations.” A composite score was computed to form an index of weak linear
predictability of human behavior (α=0.80) (see Table 1, A). The second factor (eigenvalue=1.45)
included items like, “In my opinion, there is only one way to explain the behavior of a person.”
Similarly, a composite score was computed to form an index of several explanations of human
behavior (α=0.78, after reverse-scoring four items) (see Table 1, B). The Bartlett test was
significant (Bartlett box=405.25, df=28, p<0.001).
Table 1. Social cognitive flexibility factors.
Variables KMO=0.86 Cronbach-α

A. Weak linear predictability 0.80
B. Multiple explanations 0.78
The questions related to teachers’ thinking about pupils were also analyzed with factor
analysis, which yielded 10 principal factors (KMO=0.71) that accounted for 59.1% of response
variance. However, only four factors were retained for results because of weak reliability of
response in other six factors. Participants’ responses were averaged according to subsequent
factors. The first factor (eigenvalue=7.99) included four items (see Table 2, A), and a composite
score was computed to form an index of colleagues’ opinion about pupils (α=0.70). The second
factor (eigenvalue=2.88) included three items (see Table 2, B) and was labeled school level
(α=0.77). The third (eigenvalue=2.79) included four items (see Table 2, C) that referred to
pupils’ immigration/social background (α=0.70). Similarly, the fourth factor (eigenvalue=1.32)
included two items (see Table 2, D) and was computed to form an index of parents’ appearance
(α=0.63). The Bartlett test was significant (Bartlett box=2329.09, df=946, p<0.001)
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118 Table 2. Pupils’ origins variables.
Variables KMO=0.71 Cronbach-α

A.
Colleagues’ opinion about pupils
Example: “Generally, when a teacher ask their colleagues about one pupil, he/she can an- 0.70
ticipate the behavior of this pupil”, “Generally, when a teacher ask their colleagues about one
pupil, he/she can anticipate the performance level of this pupil”.
B.
School social level
Example: “When the teacher knows from which school pupil comes from, he/she can antici- 0.77
pate behavior”, “When the teacher knows from which school pupil comes from, he/she can
anticipate performance”.
C.
Immigration/social background status
Example: « Globally, immigrants pupils have a socio-cultural impediment and therefore lack 0.70
of discipline” « Globally, immigrants pupils have a socio-cultural impediment and therefore
weak performance”, “If a student is unruly, is because of his low social background”.
D. Parents’ appearance
Example: “When teacher see the pupils’ parents, generally he/she can anticipate the pupils’ 0.63
behavior”, “When teacher see the pupils’ parents, generally he/she can anticipate the pupils’
performance”.

The four teachers’ thinking factors were analyzed as the dependent variables (two-factor
SCF approach as the independent measure) with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and were
tested in terms of correlations.
Results of Research
Social Cognitive Flexibility Effect

At the univariate level, neither the impact of multiple explanations and weak linear
predictability of colleagues’ opinions nor the impact of parents’ appearance was significant.
In contrast, the SCF effect on school level and on immigration/social status was significant.
Indeed, the teachers’ awareness of multiple explanations of human behavior seems to influence
their perceptions of pupils’ origins in terms of school level (F (10,142) =4.31, p<0.00, η²=0.23)
and of immigration/social status (F (10,142) =1.79, p<0.07, η²=0.11). Similarly, the teachers’
awareness of weak linear predictability of human behavior has a significant effect on their
perceptions of pupils’ origins in terms of school level (F (11,141) =3.05, p<0.00, η²=0.19)
and on importance of immigration/social status in teachers’ perception of pupils (F (11,141)
=2.01, p<0.03, η²=0.14). The significant negative correlations between the SCF dimensions
and the teachers’ perception of pupils’ origin (school level and social background) (see Table
4) indicate that more the participants are aware of multiple explanations of human behavior,
less they are influenced by information about pupils’ previous school (school level) and their
social background (immigration status). Similarly, more participants are aware of weak linear
predictability of human behavior, less they are dependent on information about pupils’ school
level (see Table 4).
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Table 3. Correlations between SCF dimensions (weak linear predictability ver- 119
sus multiple explanations) and pupils’ variables.
School Immigra- Colleagues’ Parents’ SCF ap- SCF ap-

level tion/s. opinion appear- proach proach
back- about pupil ance Weak Multiple
ground linear pre- explana-
status dictability tions
School social level
Immigration/s. 0.36**(0.00)
background status 159
Colleagues’ opin- 0.44**(0.00) 0.24**(0.00)

ion about pupil 159 159
Parents’ appear- 0.28**(0.00) 0.18*(0.03) 0.46**(0.00)

ance 152 159 159
Weak linear pre-

-0.27**(0.00) -0.22**(0.01) -0.25**(0.00)
dictability
153 153 153
SCF approach
Multiple explana-
-0.32**(0.00) -0.19*(0.02) -0.20*(0.01) 0.53**(0.00)
tions
153 153 153 153
SCF approach
Although the social cognitive flexibility dimensions seem to not significantly influence
teachers’ thinking about colleagues’ opinions and parents’ appearance, there are the significant
negative correlations between those variables and the SCF dimensions (see Table 4).
Discussion
The results partially support the general hypothesis (SCF influences the interpretation of
pupils’ attitude and behavior on both performance and relation dimensions). It was hypothesized
that a social cognitive flexibility approach could influence teachers’ thinking about pupils and
more precisely make them more careful when they obtain information about pupils’ previous
schools (in terms of level) or their social status. Indeed, teachers with high levels of social
cognitive flexibility seem to be more watchful and do not have a rigid outlook on pupils’ social
backgrounds, school level, or immigration status.
These findings are important above all because this flexible approach could lead to
action. Indeed, if SCF lets teachers see pupils as individuals who can change and evolve and
consequently do not label them; it can be hypothesized that they would be more likely to help
pupils to get an epistemic dimension. Flexibility approach in daily practice could thus contribute
to breaking the negative dynamic in learning (learned helplessness) (Seligman, 1975) or
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120 (stereotype threat) (Steele & Aronson, 1995). On the contrary, a flexible vision of pupils would
result in potential feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007) that would allow the student to launch
him- or herself into the future. This feedback would make clear that it is worth putting forth an
effort. The pupils could see that changing their position is always possible. This approach to
students’ abilities and behavior would also help pupils deal with failure, because, according to
the theory of self-affirmation (Steele, 1988), having learning potential in one area would allow
pupils to assert themselves and thus to compensate for their failure in other school domains.
Future studies will attempt to replicate the SCF effect and examine several additional
issues. First, it will address more precisely moderators and mediators of the SCF effect. For
that, teachers’ approaches will have to be analyzed at the beginning and end of training. Second,
future research will examine the impact of SCF on teachers’ practice in terms of concrete action
in educational situations.
Conclusions
Admittedly, teachers are responsive to fluctuations of pupils’ behavior and their attitudes
toward learning. But the development of SCF could improve this quality to help them to use this
tool more systematically in the aim to readjust regularly their expectations of pupils, perceive
the variations of learning situations more easily, and avoid the stable position that is linked to a
bad or good reputation. Thus, teachers’ ability to see and interpret available information in more
critical ways deserves to be developed through teacher training.
In keeping with this proposition, the flexibility approach adopted systematically could
shed different light on the question of drop-out.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge Raquel Fernandez-Iglesias who helped with data
collection.
References
Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous
majority. Psychological Monographs, 70 (Whole no. 416).
Dennis, J. P., & Vander Wal, J. S. (2010). The cognitive flexibility Inventory: Instrument Development
and Estimates of Reliability and Validity. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34 (3), 241-253.
Follenfant, A., & Ric, F. (2010). Behavioral rebound following stereotype suppression. European Journal
of Social Psychology, 40, 774-782.
Hamilton, D. L., Katz, L. B., & Leirer, von O. (1980). Cognitive representation of personality impressions:
Organizational processes in first impression formation, Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 39 (6), 1050-1063.
Hattie, J., Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77 (1), 81-
��
112.
Macrae, C. N., Bodenhausen, G. V., Milne, A. B., & Jetten, J. (1994). Out of mind but back in sight:
Stereotype on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 808-817.
Martin, M. M., & Rubin, R. B. (1995). A new measure of cognitive flexibility. Psychological Reports,
76, 623-626.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. San Francisco:
Freeman.
Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In L.
Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21), (pp. 261-302). New York:
Academic Press.
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Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype Threat and the intellectual test-performance of African- 121
Americans. Journal of personality and Social Psychology, 69 (5), 797-811.
Spiro, R. J., Feltovich, P. J., Jacobson, M. J., & Coulson, R. L. (1992). Cognitive flexibility, constructivism
and hypertext: Random access instruction for advanced knowledge acquisition in ill-structured
domains. In T. Duffy & D. Jonassen (Eds.), Constructivism and the Technology of Instruction.
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Wegner, D. M. (1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101, 34-52.
Advised by Rita Makarskaitė-Petkevičienė, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences,

Lithuania
��
, 2012
Aneta Mechi PhD Student, Teaching Assistant, University of Geneva, 40, Boulevard du Pont
d’Arve, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland.
E-mail: Aneta.Mechi@unige.ch
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competencEs currently necessary
for external relations specialists
working in latvia
Anete Mezote
Latvia University of Agriculture, Jelgava, Latvia
E-mail: anetemezote@inbox.lv
Abstract
The objective of the research was to find out the most necessary competences of external relations
specialists working in Latvia at the present moment, as well as to provide solutions for ensuring the
acquisition of the necessary competences. In the research, the working environment of external relations
specialists and data obtained in 2011 from surveying the graduates of the study program External
Relations of Organizations, implemented at the Latvia University of Agriculture, are analysed. The
results reveal that most of the skills needed for external relations specialists are related to cooperation
with foreign partners, as well as that external relations specialists in Latvia most of all need to possess
and improve cross-cultural communication competence, including awareness of cultural differences, as
well as knowledge in specific business etiquettes and ways of communicating and thinking typical of
different cultures. The necessary competences of external relations specialists should be improved by
means of ensuring more cross-cultural communication opportunities and integrating the acquisition of
more culture-specific etiquettes into the curriculum.
Key words: competences, cross-cultural communication, external relations education.
Introduction
An external relations specialist is the person that performs duties related to ensuring
successful external relations of an organization (Professional Standard of…, 2003). Such kind
of a job that involves a lot of responsibility due to the need to ensure a good image of an
organization sets high standards for the competences these specialists shall possess.
The specific professional competences considered to be necessary for employees that work
as external relations specialists in Latvia include: team leading, ability to develop and organize
partnership projects, capability of planning and organizing the process of communication
with foreign partners, knowledge in business etiquette in a multicultural environment, legal
correspondence in native and foreign languages, ability to analyse and assess information in a
foreign language, control translation quality (Professional Standard of…, 2003).
In order to be competent, a specialist needs to possess competency in appropriate areas.
D. Dubois defines competency as underlying characteristic an individual possesses and uses
which leads to successful performance in a life role (��
Dubois, 1993)��
. As regards external relations
specialists, the author defines their competency as the capability to successfully manage local
and international partnership by means of applying communication and managerial skills.
In general, each
��
citizen also needs a wide range of key competences to adapt flexibly to
the rapidly changing and highly interconnected world (Key Competences…, 2008). According
to the above mentioned, the aim to cover all of the currently topical competences in the business
world should be kept in mind when implementing study programs that prepare specialists to be
employed in companies or institutions that often interact with partners and adapt to the rapidly
changing world.
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External relations specialists are required to develop their language, communication and 123
cooperation competences to a far more higher level than other specialists, as they are the ones
that need to deal with communication tasks and challenges within a society of one culture, as
well as in a cross-cultural level in most cases on an everyday basis. They are the ones who have
been employed particularly for that reason – to successfully arrange external activities and
ensure successful communication and cooperation with local and foreign partners.
Communication competence is the ability to choose a communication behaviour that is
both appropriate and effective for a given situation (Spitzberg, Cupach, 1984).
The task of an external relations specialist is to ensure such an appropriate and effective
behaviour, and he/she is considered to be competent in this respect (communication) if able to
do so, but due to the changing business environment and communication circumstances it is
often too difficult to choose and ensure the appropriate behaviour, which leads to a failure in
communication and thus also ruins possible or actual cooperation or partnerships.
As external relations specialists frequently work internationally, the making of an
appropriate choice involves the application of culture-specific knowledge in order to make the
communication models and styles appropriate for representatives of other cultures and effective
for the employers of these particular specialists.
Recognizing cultural differences is the necessary first step to anticipating potential
treats and opportunities for business encounters. But in order to go beyond awareness and to
create useful interaction, these differences need to be open for discussion (Schneider, Barsoux,
2003).
For the purposes of the aforementioned, it should be ensured that specialists cooperating
with foreign partners are as far as possible aware of the existence of the cultural differences, as
well as are able to analyse their own personalities as regards their own cultural peculiarities and
those of their partners of different other cultures in the result guaranteeing harmony and mutual
understanding throughout the whole process of communication and cooperation.
A survey carried out in 2008 in order to assess the quality of the study program External
Relations of Organizations shows that the competences needed most for the graduates in that
particular year were foreign language and bookkeeping competences.
The need for cross-cultural communication competence was also noted to increase over
years (even though it was not one of the vital skills at that time), as well as was reported to be
insufficient, therefore the study course Cross-Cultural Communication was developed with the
vision to start delivering it in 2010.
Such a decision is justified by the fact that the external relations specialists working in
various companies in Latvia need to possess and continuously develop foreign language and
cross-cultural communication skills in order to be able to successfully fork in the particular
field (Malinovska, Abele, Mezote, 2008).
Foreign language and cross-cultural communication competences are of importance
for cooperation, of external relations specialists, with foreign partners and therefore should
be present and accordingly developed along with the other competences mentioned in the
Professional Standard of External Relations Unit Manager, but the author considers, as well as
the surveys prove that specific competences that external relations specialists should possess
change continuously due to the changing business environment and changes in communication
and cooperation models, as well as due to the updates in the requirements for successful
cooperation.
It should also be pointed out that the students’ ability to communicate in an international
environment has improved significantly, as the language barrier as an obstacle for cross-cultural
communication tends to disappear or has disappeared (Turuseva, 2010).
The mentioned tendency proves that it is not necessary to boost the acquisition of foreign
language stills, it should rather be contributed to acquiring more cross-cultural communication
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124 skills (if not sufficient and in areas where not sufficient) due to the need to communicate cross-
culturally in all areas of business today.
For the aforementioned purpose, it is vital to solve the problem of research that is typical
of the 21st century and can be characterized by the fact that the acquired competences of external
relation specialists working in Latvia today are no more sufficient, as the work responsibilities
and competences needed for successful fulfilment of all of the changing tasks of the external
relations specialists have changed requiring more cross-cultural involvement (which has not
been foreseen during the development of the study program).
Due to this reason higher education programmes preparing specialists in Latvia in the
field of external relations cannot anymore ensure adequate training and therefore should be
adapted according to the market needs.
The problem can be solved by justifying the theoretical grounds for acquiring more
cross-cultural skills by practical surveys – determining what particular new and more specific
competences external relations specialists should acquire and improve at the present moment
to be able to work in their field successfully along with the increasing level of each individual
specialist’s predetermined contribution to and involvement in the process of ensuring the
expected successful cooperation.
For the aforementioned reason, the purpose of the research is to find out the competences
necessary most for external relations specialists working in Latvia at the present moment, as
well as to provide solutions for ensuring the acquisition of the necessary competences within
the curriculum and also by means of extra curricular activities.
In the research, data obtained in 2011 from surveying the graduates of the study program
External Relations of Organizations is analysed (the mentioned program is a bachelor’s study
program developed and implemented at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Latvia University
of Agriculture; two communication related curses developed and delivered by the author: Cross-
cultural Communication, Functional Communication).
In the survey (questionnaire), 108 graduates participated. Since the number of possible
respondents is limited, there was no selection. Questionnaires stating that cross-cultural
competence is most important were analysed further to find out specific skills that fall into this
competence.
Data were analysed according to the percentage of the responses for each group of
competences, revealing which competences are needed more than others. The most necessary
group of competences was analysed in the same way more deeply. Analysis of qualitative data
was performed as well.
Results of Research
The results of the research show that cross-cultural communication competence and
verbal communication competence are the ones to be far more needed for external relations
specialists working in Latvia today than the other competences mentioned in the responses of
the surveyed graduates (see Figure 1).
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125
90
80
Number of respondents in need of
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Cross-cultural Verbal Translation Legal Bookkeeping
communication communication correspondence
Competence
Figure 1: Competences necessary for external relations specialists in 2011.

The respondents were asked to state the competences they consider to be necessary most,
so each respondent was allowed to mention several of them.
Other competences mentioned most frequently by the respondents included project
management, advertising skills, work with information and communication technologies,
specific software skills, managerial competence, office administration skills, legal knowledge,
representation skills, presentation skills and others, but none of these competences was
mentioned by more than 20 respondents.
The responses of the surveyed graduates reveal that within the most vital competence for
their work, i.e., cross-cultural communication competence, several specific kinds of knowledge
and skills fall, that should be learned, practiced and applied to successfully work in the external
relations field today in Latvia.
The largest part of the surveyed graduates mentions awareness of cultural differences
to be the most important skill among others, leaving the three other typical skills behind and
providing some more other competences each of them typical of only a few of the respondents,
which are not analyzed herein due to their specific character (e.g., differences in presentation
manners, peculiarities of some specific cultures, etc.) related to the operations of the enterprises
and organizations the surveyed graduate come from and either to particular regions of Latvia
where the mentioned enterprises or organizations are located or to particular regions where the
foreign partners of that particular enterprises of organizations come from (see Figure 2).
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126
60
Number of respondents in need of
50
40
30
20
10
0
Awareness of cultural Knowledge of specific Knowledge of Knowledge of
differences etiquettes of cultures communication differences in thinking
peculiarities of cultures
Specific skills
Figure 2: Breakdown of skills necessary most within cross-cultural communica-

tion competence of external relations specialists in 2011.
The surveyed graduates state to have understood that first of all it is necessary to be aware
of the importance of the items to be learned, and only then it is useful to learn certain differences
of specific national cultures. Many of the respondents acknowledge to have understood also
that most of the problems in their cooperation with foreign partners have occurred while and
until they had not understood the role of accepting cultural differences and had not been aware
of them, adding that specific knowledge as regards etiquette and way of acting and thinking of
certain cultures is only a matter of time and learning.
As regards the changes in competences necessary for external relations specialists,
almost all of the graduates state that the competences to be possessed to successfully work in
their field have changed. Among the skills importance of which has increased in comparison to
past, cross-cultural communication skills, translation skills, ethical norms and understanding of
business relations ware mentioned most frequently.
Discussion
Analyzing the list of the most necessary competences for external relations specialists, it
can be judged that for these specialists to successfully work in Latvia in 2011 the most needed
competences are to a large extent related to the usage of language and communication skills
and cooperation with foreign partners, as cross-cultural competence and translation competence
obviously involves cross-cultural activity on all occasions, and verbal communication and legal
correspondence involves it frequently due to the cross-cultural environment which undoubtedly
is a characteristic of a modern and active enterprise.
The leading role of cross-cultural communication competence among other competences
(which rises due to changing business conditions – involvement of increasingly more foreign
partners in business procedures) can also be interpreted as proving that cooperation with foreign
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partners is the most important activity in the everyday work of external relations specialists in 127
Latvia in 2011. At the same time it means that cross-cultural competence is vital among other
communication competences needed to cooperate internationally.
In relation to L. Turuseva (2010), stating that the language barrier of the prospective
external relation specialists is disappearing, now there can be observed a tendency for cross-
cultural competence to serve as an obstacle for successful communication, as the skills are very
necessary apart from verbal communication skills in general.
If compared with the need for cross cultural competence, verbal communication
competence lags behind, proving the urgent need to improve the level of cross-cultural
competence for the prospective specialists, as verbal communication competence is the one
that, obviously, has been, is and will always be necessary for any kind of cooperation in an
enterprise/organization and, if not as necessary as cross-cultural competence, only testifies to
the vital importance of cross-cultural skills at the present moment.
As regards the specific skills that the respondents consider to be valuable within the
development of cross-cultural communication competence, it is observed that the largest part
of the questioned graduates consider awareness of cultural differences to be of most necessity.
It can be explained by the fact that the main idea is to understand, accept and respect cultural
differences, and, if that is typical of a particular individual, all of the other skills and knowledge
can be acquired comparatively easily. Problems arise when individuals do not accept or
recognize cultural diversity, as then they are not capable of behaving adequately even to the
best of their knowledge. It means that cultural awareness should be raised during the process of
studies more intensively, as well as afterwards certain etiquettes should be acquired by means of
arranging extra curricular activities for cross-cultural communication, as within the study plan
the possibility of acquiring the mentioned competences to a larger extent cannot be ensured. It
would be useful to organize more international conferences, meetings with foreigners and other
activities). In future, extra credit points for the study course cross-cultural communication or
acquisition of culture related knowledge within other subjects might be of use. A useful way
of ensuring the acquisition of cross-cultural competence would be provision of possibilities for
students’ internship in multicultural and/or international companies.
As the obtained data indicates to the dominance of cross-cultural competence, as well
as communication competence in general and translation competence, it is advised to adapt
the Professional Standard of External Relations Unit Manager to integrate the mentioned
competences to a larger extent, paying the most important role to cross-cultural competence, so
that a study course in these fields could be introduced and/or acquired to a larger extent in all of
the similar programs implemented in Latvia.
For further research, it would be necessary to analyse the working environment of external
relations specialists more deeply and to find out what specific skills apart from cross-cultural
communication and what specific cross-cultural communication skills and sets of skills (and
due to what reasons) are needed for cooperation with foreign partners (the main responsibility
of external relations specialists), to elaborate a plan for development of competences necessary
for international partnership of external relations specialists.
Conclusions
The ability to communicate is a factor that determines an external relations specialist’s

success and, if the communication is organized on an international level, it must be based on
cross-cultural competence which has to be acquired increasingly more.
The most necessary competences for external relations specialists to successfully work
in their field of professional activity and to successfully cooperate with foreign partners at
the present moment are cross-cultural communication competence, verbal communication
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128 competence, translation competence, legal correspondence competence and bookkeeping

competence.
Within cross-cultural communication competence, such skills as awareness of cultural
differences, as well as knowledge in certain business etiquettes of various cultures and ways of
communicating and thinking of particular cultures should be acquired more; there is no need to
improve the process of acquiring language skills for the purposes of successful cross-cultural
communication.
It should be studied what specific skills external relations specialists should acquire
more.
To ensure successful development of cross-cultural communication competence and
solve the problem of the insufficient cross-cultural communication competence of external
relations specialists, the study plan should be amended by means of a) increasing the number
of credit points for the study course Cross-cultural Communication from 3 to 4; b) ensuring
the possibilities for students to practice cross-cultural activities apart from the classroom; c)
providing possibilities for students’ internship in multicultural and/or international companies;
d) amending the Professional Standard of External Relations Unit Manager to integrate cross-
cultural competence to a larger extent; e) promoting specific sets of skills that can be most useful
in the today’s business environment; f) elaborating a plan for the development of competences
necessary most for international partnership of external relations specialists today on the basis
of the sets of skills dominating at the moment.
The study course Cross-cultural Communication should be adapted by means of
promoting cultural awareness and devoting more classes to acquiring specific business etiquette
of different culture, as well as discussing the ways of communicating and thinking of various
cultures.
References
Dubois, D. D. (1993). Competency-based performance improvement: a strategy for organizational

change. MA��
: HRD Press.
Key Competences for Lifelong Learning – European Reference Framework (2008). Retrieved December
12, 2012, from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/publ/pdf/ll-learning/keycomp_en.pdf.
Malinovska, L., Abele, J., Mezote, A. (2008). Competences Necessary for External Relations Specialists.
Материалы международной научно – практической конференции. Книга 2. В� �� 3 ��
книгах,
427-431.
Profesijas standarts Ārējo sakaru struktūrvienības vadītājs. (2003). Retrieved January 9, 2012, from
http://www.aiknc.lv/standarti/AarSakarVadPS.pdf.
Schneider, S. C., Barsoux, J. L. (2003). Managing across cultures. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Spitzberg, B. H., Cupach, W. R. (2000). Communication Competence. In E. Griffin, A first look at
communication theory (pp. 143-137). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Turuseva, L. (2010). Ārējo sakaru struktūrvienības vadītāja profeisonālā competence un tās veidošanās
studiju procesā (Doctoral dissertation). University of Latvia, Riga.
Advised by Naglis Švickus, SMC “Scientia Educologica”, Lithuania
��
, 2012
Anete Mezote M.Ed., Lecturer, Latvia University of Agriculture, Lielā iela 2, Jelgava, LV-3002, Latvia.
Phone: +371 29537374
E-mail: anetemezote@inbox.lv
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THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF EGYPT: 129
CONTEXTS, FRAMES AND STRUCTURES
Malgorzata Stopikowska
Ateneum – University in Gdansk, Poland
E-mail: malgorzata.stopikowska@gmail.com
Yasser Mohamed El-Deabes

Suez Canal University, Egypt
E-mail: mr.y_m@hotmail.com �
Abstract
The research describes contemporary educational system existing in the Arab Republic of Egypt against a
background of its history, economical, social and demographical situation, and its legislative foundations.
Egypt’s educational traditions come from colonial times and Islamic sources. The contemporary Egyptian
educational system consists of three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary education. It is compatible
with the European system of education and although it still needs some improvement, it is constantly
developing. Apart from governmental educational institutions, there is a private sector of schooling as
well. Besides state and non-state schools, there are other forms of supplementary education, e.g. adult or
non-formal education directed at children remaining beyond any official schooling system etc. The data
is also presented in the form of graphs included herewith.
Key words: Egypt, educational system, schools.
Introduction
Egypt – Arab Republic of Egypt (‫ – )ةيبرعلا رصم ةيروهمج‬is situated in the north-east of
Africa and the Asian Sinai Peninsula, bordering on the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Gaza
Strip, Palestine, Sudan and Libya. Most of the territory is covered by deserts and only less than
4% of the area is an arable land. The fertile Nile valley and delta led to the early colonization
of the area and creation of one of the world’s oldest and greatest civilizations. In the 7th century
Arabs absorbed Egypt and introduced Islam there in the subsequent years and in the 16th century
it became part of the Ottoman Empire.
Since the 18th century, the influence of European powers, mainly of France and Britain,
had developed in Egypt with time. It became officially the British Protectorate at one point
and then a kingdom dependent on the British. Egypt acquired a full sovereignty after the
Revolution of 1952 and political changes followed. The country turned into a republic with
an elected president and a bicameral parliamentary system. In the recent decades it was ruled
autocratically by President Hosni Mubarak. His resignation after the uprising in January 2011
marks a watershed for Egypt and opens up new prospects for its future and hopes for important
reforms. The general elections (the People’s Assembly) which took place at the turn of the year
2011 was won by “Freedom and Justice” party associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and
“Al-Nour” party associated with the Salafi Movement. An election for the Advisory Council
and President will be held in 2012 (Stepniewska-Holzer & Holzer, 2006; Central Intelligent
Agency [CIA], 2012; Carter Center, 2012, pp. 5-15).
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130 Political importance of Egypt in the region of the Middle East and Arabic countries is
significant, regarding relations with Israel, its position in multilateral negotiations or the role
in international Arabic organizations. The post-Mubarak policy will deal with the claims of the
recovery of money defrauded by the old regime, reforming political life, solving the economic
problems, financial drop and re-forming its policy toward Israel and the Gaza Strip. It is necessary
to say that Egyptian cinematography, media, literature and other aspects of culture have a wide
influence in the whole Arabic world (UNESCO Institute for Statistics [UIS a], 2009). It is worth
mentioning that football is considered a national sport and, moreover, the national football team
has won the Africa Cup of Nations many times which is unprecedented and it is a pride of the
Egyptians.
Methodological Remarks
This is a qualitative study describing the current status of the Egyptian education existing
in 2011 before the changes (in the educational area, too) related to the Egyptian Popular
Revolution. Since then the Constitution has been suspended; the legislative and executive bodies
are still in the process of being elected, and the authority is held by the Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces. To prepare this research, the authors have explored various sources, Egyptian
including, and databases available in English, internationally accessible.
The Education System of Egypt
The Social Context of Education

Egypt is one of the biggest (more than 1 million sq km) and the most populous African
and Arabic countries (82 million inhabitants and their number will grow in the coming years
– the population growth rate reaches 2%). Modern Standard Arabic is an official language of the
state; however most of citizens speak the Egyptian dialect for everyday use. Educated Egyptians
usually speak foreign languages such as English or French. The legal system of Egypt is based
on the Napoleonic civil law and elements of Sharia – the Islamic law. The country consists of
27 governorates. More than 40% of the citizens live in urban areas, most of them, in Cairo and
Alexandria. Islam is a dominant religion (~90%) in Egypt, however around 10% of the populace
is Christian, mostly Coptic (CIA, 2012; Population Reference Bureau [PRB], 2011, p. 6). It is
worth adding that general devotion to Islam has increased considerably in the recent decades.
Al-Azhar University and Mosque, the religious, educational and scientific institutions, the most
high-ranking and influential in the Islamic World, are located in Cairo.
Egyptian economy depends mainly on services, agriculture, media, petroleum export,
and tourism. The popular uprising in 2011, the overthrow of the Mubarak regime and the unrest
in the country affected severely the country’s socio-economical situation, caused inflation and a
decline in foreign investments. Apart from the year 2011, the economic growth of the country in
the recent years was quite high (GDP 5-7%). However, living conditions for the average Egyptian
remained poor and more than 20% of the society lives below the poverty line and, what’s more,
the poverty rate is increasing. The range of poverty is related to some extent to the high rate of
unemployment, especially among young people – about ¼ of the population between the age
of 15 and 24 is without work (for comparison: over 12% of the general unemployment rate)
(Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics [CAPMAS], 2008; African Economic
Outlook [AEO], 2011; International Food Policy Research Institute [IFPRI], 2012).
Illiteracy, in despite of continuous efforts of the state and multilateral international
institutions, is still at a relatively high level; about 29% of the society (2006) is illiterate (to the
double disadvantage of women) (CAPMAS, 2008; World Bank [WB a], 2011). For comparison:
in 1970 about 70% of the Egyptian society was not literate (Cieslak, 1975, p. 54) so it can be said
that the State has achieved significant results in its combating of illiteracy until now. Access to
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the sources of common knowledge and information has improved much in the recent years; for 131
example ¼ of the population has an access to the Internet (CAPMAS, 2008; CIA, 2012) and the
network of libraries are broadening (Piotrowska, 2008; UNESCO Institute for Statistics [UIS d],
2009).
Egyptian society is quite young; the median age is about 24, which makes the educational
questions very urgent and so crucial for development of this country. According to the
estimations (2011) of international institutions (United Nations – Department of Economic and
Social Affairs [UN – ESA], 2011; CIA, 2012; WB a, 2011) and Egyptian Censuses (CAPMAS,
2008), the population of Egyptian children at the ages 0-14 is calculated (2011) at 27 millions,
which is approximately 1/3 of the whole Egyptian population (UN – ESA, 2011). It puts about
17 millions of children at the age of compulsory education (6-15). The language of instruction
at all education levels is Arabic. However, there are the language schools run by governmental
and private education sectors offering an instruction of the governmental curriculum mostly in
English, German, French or other languages. Besides, foreign languages are taught at schools
as part of a school curriculum (Kassab, 1997, p. 23).
The Financing of Education

According to the Egyptian Constitution, the basic education is compulsory. Schools run
by the State are free of charge at all levels of education (art. 20). In the years 1999-2008, 16-20%
of the total government expenditures were allocated each year to education (CAPMAS, 2008).
National education expenditures are about 3.8% of GDP (2008 – in other years: 5-6, 7%; which
is even more than Egypt’s military expenses) (CAPMAS, 2008; CIA, 2012). Although these
outlays are relatively considerable, they are still not sufficient to satisfy educational needs of
the society. That is why the donations of citizens and local foundations are a noteworthy source
of supplementary funds for development of schools network (Hagy, 1994, pp. 84-100; Azoz
& Amer, 2009, pp. 137-141; Tolba, 2008, p. 110; Abd-Elsamad, 2007, pp. 112-118; National
Center for Educational Research and Development, 1993, pp. 143-148).
Egyptian reforms and enhancements of the schooling system are also supported financially by
a range of international agencies, including the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, Ford Foundation
and USAID (United States Agency for International Development) (World Bank [WB b], 2011;
Higher Education Enhancement Project [HEEP a], n.d.; Ibrahim K. K., n.d., pp. 148-156; Azoz &
Amer, 2009, pp. 137-141; Suilam, 1999, pp. 148-150). Apart from the subsidies of governmental
and non-governmental institutions, there is a large number of private institutions which provide
their schools with their own sources of funds or/and fees from the parents.
It should be added that there are projects for broadening compulsory education for other
stages (The Constitution, 1971, art. 18; World Bank [WB c], 2006, p. 3; Egyptian Ministry of
Education, 2008, p. 13), expanding enrollment for all children and disseminating the network
of schools nationwide as well. Some of these plans have already been introduced and their
effects are highly evaluated by international community (El-Din, 1999; idem, 2012; Hamed &
Mohamed, 2003, pp. 299-301, 317-326).
Educational Policy and Administration
The Egyptian Constitution of 1971 with amendments declares that literacy is a national
responsibility (art. 21) and is recognized as a basic right of each citizen and is guaranteed by the
State (art. 18). Therefore educational strategy of the Egyptian State is pursued by the following
principles: “education is a national security issue and [is considered] as an investment; [assuring]
equality of educational opportunities; democracy in policy-making; and ensuring that education
does not place a financial and psychological burden on families” (WB c, 2006, p. 1). Hence
formulating educational policy, the organization, administration and supervision of education is in
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132 the first place an obligation of the Egyptian State. The educational authority and liability is shared
by various bodies of central and local degrees. The figure below shows how the responsibility for
the Egyptian education is shared by the selected institutions:
Figure 1: Sharing responsibilities in Egyptian education among chosen bodies

Source: own processing based on data of (Higher Education Enhancement Project [HEEP b], n.d.; Supreme Council of Uni-
versities [SCU], 2012; WB c, 2006, pp. 5-6; Egyptian Ministry of Education, 2008, passim; Academy of Scientific Research
and Technology [ASRT], n.d.; Ministry of Higher Education [MHE], 2012; Egyptian Government Services [EGOV], 2011);
Salem, 2006, pp. 57-61;
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National Authority for Accreditation of Quality Assurance [NAQAAE a], 2006; Al- 133
Azhar, 2010; Al-Azhar University, 2012; Constitution, 2007, art. 12, 18-21; Abd-Elkreem,
2006, pp. 96-99; Tolba, 2008, pp. 105-110, 115; Nasr, 2001, pp. 125-154; Mina, 2003, pp.
121-128.
Most of the legislative entitlements lie with the President and the People’s Assembly
(with its specialized Committee of Education); though these both institutions are subordinated
to constitutional directives. Besides, Ministries can submit proposals of draft-laws. Main
execution and general administration of education is a responsibility of the related agencies: the
Minister and Ministry of Education are responsible for nearly the whole system of education,
except for the higher education which is under the supervision of the Minister and Ministry
of Higher Education and Scientific Research (currently, it is named the Ministry of Higher
Education). Ministerial offices have their numerous specialized agendas (some of them are
shown in the Figure 1) which deal with the determined area of education and help the ministers
to administrate and perform their duties.
Implementation of educational policy and local administration is a duty of the appropriate
managing bodies of governorates, cities and villages. Apart from this, all schools have their
specific structure to deal with their tasks (private schools are represented before educational
administration by their owner or head). Likewise, each university, college and other higher
education institute is governed by their own deputies. What’s more, their representatives form
corresponding Councils which are the platforms of collaboration within the academic society
and with the Minister of Higher Education. It should be added that educational services at all
levels are provided by both public and private schooling institutions. The latter can be religious
(run by Muslims or Christians) or private schools. Private education is also at all levels under
the supervision of the governmental agendas.
The Azharite system establishes an independent network of schools. It is subordinate to
the Al-Azhar University, under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Al-Azhar (headed
by Grand Sheikh) which cooperates directly with the Prime Minister. The Supreme Council of
Al-Azhar has a specialized department dealing with its pre-university schools called the Sector
of Al-Azhar Institutes. All Al-Azhar Faculties are subordinate to the central agendas.
The structure of legislative, executive and administrative system of education observes
the principle of centralization and decentralization but still most of the prerogatives in this
regard are still highly centralized. However, at each level, there are advisory bodies or centers
which cooperate with the relevant minister and consult the execution and implementation of the
educational policy suited to the scope of specific tasks, for example, examinations, evaluation,
curricula, quality assurance and accreditation, supporting scientific research, international
educational cooperation, reforms of higher education etc. What’s more, important topics and
projects are further consulted during national conferences dedicated to selected problems and a
particular area or level of education.
Formal Education
As mentioned before, compulsory education lasts 9 years (age group 6-15) and covers 2-
cycle basic education: 6-year primary stage (ISCED 1) and 3-year preparatory stage which can
offer a general or vocational program (ISCED 2). The pre-primary level comprises nurseries
and kindergartens (ISCED 0). However, only the latter are considered as a direct preparatory for
school education. Kindergartens are pre-primary classes, with a teacher and a formal curriculum
for children aged 4-6 years. Nurseries are tailored for younger children (aged 2-4). Nurseries and
kindergartens are under the supervision of several ministries, including the Ministry of Education.
Secondary education – ISCED 3 (general, middle-level technical and vocational) lasts 3 or 5
years (high-level technical education). Students of general secondary education can choose a profile
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134 of their schooling, for example scientific or humanistic. Secondary schools leavers can join post-
secondary but non-tertiary educational institutions. Education at the Middle Technical Institutes
(ISCED 4) lasts for 2 years and at the Higher Technical Institutes (ISCED 6/5B) 4-5 years. The
students leaving Higher Institutes are awarded diplomas of advanced technical education.
Secondary school leavers holding appropriate certificates or diplomas with the highest
score are allowed to apply to universities. University studies at the first-stage higher education
(ISCED 6/5A) last 4-6 years while at the next stage (ISCED 7/5B) they take 2-5 years more.
It could be disputable if longer BA programs (lasting more than 5 years) can be classified as
the level of ISCED 7 or still ISCED 6 (according to the new classification). After receiving
an MA degree a graduate can apply for a doctorate (ISCED 8/6) after at least 2-year studies.
The Egyptian educational system does not include a short-cycle tertiary education (ISCED 5
– according to the new classification).
The private sector plays an important role in Egyptian education enhancing the
schooling offer. Non-governmental schools may be distinguished from the public ones by their
individualized teaching programmes or by a wider range of curriculum choice. Private schools
are run at all educational levels and are conducted by religious or secular societies or individual
owners, Egyptian or foreign. International schools can offer a curriculum of another country
(i.e. British, American) but they need to be certified by the Ministry to facilitate their graduates
to enroll in Egyptian governmental universities (Abd-Allah, 2006, p. 116; Kassab, 1997, pp.
24-25; Tolba, 2008; Abd-Elsamad, 2007, pp. 85-96).
It should be added that Azharite schools plays a special role in Egyptian education parallel
to the public educational system, using the same curriculum but with more attention to Islamic
studies. However, the continuation of their studies is restricted to some extent. Although the
graduates can continue academic studies at Al-Azhar or any other private educational institution,
it is possible only at a limited number of governmental colleges and institutes.
Graduates of each level of private education receive equal certificates and qualifications
as graduates of governmental institutions. However, even a private educational sector is
supervised by governmental agendas to ensure that it complements the State’s educational
policy. Private education institutions are subject to the same regulations as governmental
ones in terms of educational arrangements and certification (curricula, teacher qualifications,
enrolment, grades, textbooks, diplomas etc.). The Ministry of Education encourages private
schools to adjust governmental requirements by licensing. Authorized schools have the right
to issue school certificates that are recognized by other schools and universities to enable their
graduates to continue their education in governmental or private educational institutions.
On the other hand, the General Directorate for Special Education (see the Figure 1) – offers
educational services at different levels to students with special needs and also runs trainings
and certificating for their teachers. There are special classes or schools tailored to the needs of
the blind and partially-sighted (“Al-Nour Schools”), the deaf and auditory impaired (“Al-Amal
Schools”), and with other disabilities: the mentally retarded and the rheumatic heart diseased.
There are inclusive classes in public schools in bigger cities that integrate children with light and
moderate disabilities into the educational community and the Egyptian society, as well. Schools
also provide an adequate psychological and social help for their pupils with special needs. The
number of teachers of special education and facilitators has been growing constantly each year
providing schools with appropriate specialists. Apart from ministerial courses, teachers can enroll
in a number of universities and some other institutions that offer specialization in this area of
education. Although the network of classes and schools for students with special needs has been
developing in the last decades appreciably, there is still a considerable societal exigency in this
field (WB c, 2006, pp. 16-17; Egyptian Ministry of Education, 2008, pp. 22, 35-37, 95-103, 129-
134; Pachocinski, 2000, p. 92; Hamed & Mohamed, 2003, pp. 346-347).
Attention is paid to talented children, as well. In Ain Shams there has been established
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an experimental school for gifted boys. Classes are limited to 24 students; the school is 135
equipped with multimedia equipment, laboratories and a library. The school staff is recruited
according to special criteria and requirements. High-skilled teachers are awarded with adequate
remuneration. The main aim of the school is to prepare scientific elite for the development of
the Egyptian science (WB c, 2006, p. 17).
Hence, current Egyptian education can be seen as a continual and integral system
consisting of a number of levels comprising public (governmental) and private sectors:
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in the 21st century
Figure 2: The Overall Structure of Formal Education in Egypt (including ISCED classification*)
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Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency [EACEA], 2012; Salem, 2006, pp. 57-61; Abd- 137
Elkreem, 2006, pp. 88-93; Ibrahim K. K., n.d., pp. 120-133; Ibrahim K. I., 2008, pp. 84-85; Rashid, 2006,
p. 48; Suilam, 1999, pp. 19, 58-59; Abd-Elsamad, 2007, pp. 81-85.
*According to the adopted in 2011 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) (UIS c)
and, in brackets, still used in official documents the 1997 ISCED version (UIS b).
The figure above shows also the flexibility and integrity of the Egyptian educational
system and the presumable minimal age of the student who enters and leaves a particular type of
the school. What’s more, the principle of the compatibility of all educational paths is observed
according to international covenants expressed i.e. by UNESCO documents (UIS c, 2011). It is
worth noticing as well that the Egyptian educational system is compatible with those of Europe
and can be easily described by the ISCED classification (UIS b, 2007; Al-Behuashi, 2000).
Non-Formal Education
Adult education has got a long history in contemporary Egypt (Cieslak, 1975). It was
basically directed at an increasing literacy among the Egyptian society and eradication of illiteracy.
A specialized agenda – the General Authority for Illiteracy Eradication and Adult Education
coopering with the Ministry of Education (see the Figure 1) – is in charge of dealing with these
issues and the education of adults. There are a lot of forms of adult education: literacy classes
affiliated to the Ministry of Education or other ministerial divisions, special vocational training
courses including literacy programmes, advanced adult educational programmes, e-learning, the
Open University correspondence courses, non-university higher education and others (WB c,
2006, p. 14, pp. 20-21; Egyptian Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 49, 61, 67).
Moreover, there are special programmes run to provide education for children who are
deprived of usual educational services, i.e. one-class schools (mixed and for girls), schools
friendly for girls’ (for pupils aged 8-14), community schools in poor urban and rural areas,
schools for street children, small schools, development centers, training and teaching centers
for working children, evening classes etc. These proposals are directed at the children who
are outside the formal structures of educational system. Such institutions offer basic teaching
of reading, writing, arithmetic, and practical instruction in the area, for example, of health,
nutrition, agriculture and environment. The Ministry of Education’s projects of re-inclusion of
children, who are beyond any kind of formal schooling, have brought until now tangible results
(Egyptian Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 53-84, 129-134; Kassab, 1997, p. 24; Al-Behuashi,
2007, pp. 93-187, 203-213; Wisniewski, 2008, pp. 58-62).
Apart from the non-formal types of education mentioned above, there are traditional
Islamic classes known as “kuttab”. They have provided the local society, besides religious
instruction and memorizing fragments of Quran, basic reading and writing skills, what have
played a supplementary role for education even in contemporary times. However, nowadays
their numbers are decreased noticeably, and most of them focus only on religious education
(Ali, 1985, pp. 147-149; Azoz R. O., n.d., pp. 69-71).
The Egyptian Education in Numbers
Although indicators of enrollment into schools and literacy each year are growing up, there
is still a group of children who have never been to school. Their number is estimated at about
10% (2006) of the whole population of the Egyptian citizens in the compulsory education age
to the disadvantage of rural areas (more than 11%). To prevent such situation the State increases
the number of schools in the whole country (each year the total network of school buildings goes
up by 1, 5%) with more concern for rural regions (nearly by 2%). However the size of classes is
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138 still not satisfactory: an average class of basic education numbers about 30-45 pupils, but in some
areas (Alexandria, Giza – primary classes) the number reaches even more than 50 students in one
class (2006-2007 data: CAPMAS, 2008; Abd-Allah, 2006, p. 125).
The pre-primary education total network (including governmental schools, private
schools and Islamic institutes) consists of 49,640 educational institutions hosting 18,482,872
students (data updated in 2010 in the website: NAQAAE b, 2009). More detailed features are
shown below:
Table 1. Numbers of Classes and Schools of Different Stages (2009/2010).
Classes Schools and Departments

Stages Total Total
A B C D A B C D
Pre-Primary 24237 10119 14118 7039 17198 8212 4524 3688 1533 6679
Primary 242676 134967 107709 24543 218133 16951 10381 6570 1622 15329
The One
3269 2750 519 0 3269 3269 2750 519 0 3269
Class Schools
Girls Friendly
876 787 89 0 876 876 787 89 0 876
Schools
Community
397 301 96 0 397 397 301 96 0 397
Schools
Preparatory 110760 59411 51349 8084 102676 9854 5716 4138 1228 8626
General
27750 7706 20044 2823 24927 2414 780 1634 642 1772
Secondary
Industrial
21567 3811 17756 84 21483 871 174 697 10 861
Secondary
Agricultural
4213 886 3327 0 4213 176 52 124 0 176
Secondary
Commercial
14388 3951 10437 2220 12168 754 248 506 202 552
Secondary
Special Needs
4278 593 3685 103 4175 857 154 703 18 839
Schools
Total 454,411 225,282 229,129 44,896 409,515 44,631 25,867 18,764 5,255 39,376
A – rural B – urban C – private D – governmental
Source: Own processing based on Egyptian Ministry of Education, 2011.
The table above illustrates a variety of educational offers at different stages and amount
of classes and schools with distinction between rural and urban areas and between governmental
and private sectors. It also highlights the trends in the development of school network. Pre-
primary and special education institutions are mostly in urban area, of which the latter are
insufficiently developed especially in rural areas. Most of non-formal education institutions are
also to be found in rural regions and reflect the same tendency. On the other hand, a majority
of basic education schools exist just in the rural areas. However, the next (secondary) stage
is available mostly in urban districts, which can hinder to some extent the country youth’s
access to education. The offer of secondary education is relatively diversified. Although general
secondary schools are the majority at this level of education (a proportion between general and
technical/vocational education is 4:3), the quantity of technical/vocational classes at this level
definitely predominates over general ones. It has to be added that there is a large choice among
industrial and commercial schooling (Salem, 2006).
The above data also demonstrates a supplementary role of the private education sector
in the whole schooling system. The preferences of the owners of private secondary schools
(related indubitably to foreseen profits from delivering such services) are very well visible: they
offer education mainly in the general and commercial area. The private sector is not interested
in the providing schooling for children in difficult conditions or in the field of agriculture.
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The table below shows the participation of young Egyptian citizens (with the distinction 139
of both genders) in educational process and their educational choices. It should be added that
about 400 thousand children at the compulsory education age are outside any form of education
mentioned in Figure 4 (Egyptian Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 57). The data placed beneath
clearly points that a gender disparity and differences between the rural and urban areas still
exist. Although statistically young women are slightly less numerous than men (CAPMAS,
2008) but in educational statistics they are considerably less represented. It can be also noted
that there are nearly twice as fewer female students with special needs enrolled than male.
This is why women tend to make use of non-formal education to a much greater extent than
men. The inequality of educational chances of the country youth is quite visible as well. Rural
adolescents are educated mostly in technical and vocational schools, which reduces their
chances for education at higher levels:
Table 2. Numbers of Students at Different Educational Stages and Schools

(2009/2010).
Stages Total Females Males Rural Urban Private Governmental

Pre-Primary 727835 346617 381218 284939 442896 198139 529696
Primary 9334322 4508380 4825942 5083716 4250606 783809 8550513
One Class Schools 70204 64454 5750 58795 11409 0 70204
Girls Friendly Schools 22619 19444 3175 20497 2122 0 22619
Community Schools 10689 6854 3835 8014 2675 0 10689
Preparatory 4041072 1991163 2049909 2159752 1881320 236681 3804391
General Secondary 862147 459410 402737 239103 623044 69896 792251
Industrial Secondary 667075 242065 425010 121630 545445 2232 664843
Agricultural Secondary 125464 23942 101522 26856 98608 0 125464
Commercial Secondary 468254 294788 173466 130640 337614 78798 389456
Technical Education 1260793 560795 699998 279126 981667 81030 1179763

All Secondary Educa-
2122940 1020205 1102735 518229 1604711 150926 1972014
tion
Special Needs Educa-
37888 13956 23932 4263 33625 563 37325
tion
Total 16,367,569 7,971,073 8,396,496 8,138,205 8,229,364 1,370,118 14,997,451

Source: Own processing based on Egyptian Ministry of Education, 2011.
Going to the next stages, it should be said that the higher education system comprises
currently 623 academic institutions (34 universities, 589 faculties and institutes – governmental
and private) with a total of approximately 4 million students (updated in 2010 in the website:
NAQAAE b, 2009). For comparison, it is worth saying that in 1952 there were only Al-Azhar
University and 4 others: 3 governmental and 1 private (the American University). Hence, the
development is really remarkable. It is worth adding that Al-Azhar University is considered
to be one of the largest educational institutions in Egypt and in the whole Arabic world taking
into consideration the number of its faculties (77) and students (420,000 – among them: 20,000
foreign students). The 77 faculties are distributed among five branches and are located in 16
governorates (NAQAAE b, 2009; Al-Azhar University, 2012; Wujek, 1980, p. 61-72).
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140 It should be added that commercial and educational studies are the most popular fields of
studies, which is related to the economical growth and the will of the State to expand schooling
network all over the country (Ketsh, 2001, pp. 244-259; Basiouny, 2003). Arts, humanities and
law are the other main area of studying. Medical, pharmaceutical and, particularly, dentistry
studies offer are relatively scarce what is correlated with the slow development of the network
of health services (WB c, 2006, p. 14). A gender disparity at the level of higher education is
not very significant (ratio of female enrollment to male: nearly 85%, 2007/2008; (Egyptian
Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 122).
Conclusions
In general terms, Egyptian achievements made in the area of education are indeed
remarkable. Using their own possibilities and investing their own capitals with some financial
and organizational support from international funds and institutions, the Egyptians have built
very integral and flexible educational structures. All stages and all types of schools observe
the principle of compatibility of the system: graduates of each school are able to continue their
education at higher level and at various types of institutions according to the skills and needs
of every student. What should be underlined, the educational offer is constantly broadening and
developing. In the last decades, it is the noteworthy increase of pre-school institutions and the
network of schools for children with special needs and programs of integrating disabled and
non-disabled children into one class and one school (“inclusive classes”).
Apart formal forms of education, there is a broad range of non-formal educational
institutions that provide basic schooling for children in difficult conditions – working or
neglected ones – who are not embraced by compulsory education. To provide equal educational
opportunities, the Egyptians created alternative (to standard schools types) didactic establishments
that bridge gender disparities and differences between the rural and urban area, for example
one-class, community or friendly for girls’ schools. What is more, there are programmes for re-
integrating their students into the formal school system. A special educational offer is prepared
for adults who can acquire basic literacy skills or enhance their vocational capabilities, broaden
their knowledge or just develop their aptitudes and education.
Furthermore, the country has made significant development in extension of overall
schools network. Although there is still illiteracy in the country, each year more and more
children are entering primary school. The main aim of the educational policy is to educate the
whole population and to broaden compulsory age. In the evaluation of international institutions,
Egypt has achieved an immense success and progress in expanding the schools enrollment of
children, which makes better prospects for embracing the most of the population of Egyptian
children with education and ensuring them the continuity of schooling.
It should be noted that the structures of legislation, execution, administration,
implementation, and adoption of educational policy are organizationally very well developed.
Moreover, there are expanded advisory bodies and specialized institutions at each level that
provide various educational auxiliary services, so important for existing an educational system,
like institutions for ensuring a high quality of education, curricula and the whole educational
process. Although the structures of the local administration and implementation are slightly
less developed, the responsibility for educational matters becomes to be shared with the local
governmental administration, topical societies, scientific boards, and schools participants.
So it can be concluded that the reforms of educational structures are going in the direction
of fulfilling more and more of the principles of educational democracy, decentralization and
community participation.
Due to the growth of the number of children at the compulsory age, the new Egyptian
president and government will face a need of building new schools, increasing school enrollment,
ensuring continuity of education and continuing the eradication of illiteracy among the society.
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Likewise, embracing children in the difficult social and economical conditions with school 141
education remains a serious challenge for the new rulers of the Egyptian State. Apart from
the educational tasks, the new government and new president will face many other problems
related to economy, finances and social demands.
However, the perturbations aside, it can be said, that the Egyptian society is provided
yet with different educational services suitable to the various social and economical conditions,
abilities and competences of the prospective students. And even if they still need development,
improvements and reforming, they are the answer, to some extent, to the social and educational
needs of the society. Moreover, the educational system is adjusted to the international standards
of educational system organization and matches the requirements of compatibility of educational
paths, democratization, and social solidarity.
Acknowledgements
The article was prepared with the financial aid of Ateneum – University in Gdansk,
Poland (Statutory Research Program in 2011).
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countries]. Warsaw: PWN.
Advised by Artur Katolo, Ateneum – University in Gdansk, Poland;

Pontificia Facolta Teologica dell’Italia Meridionale – ISSR Rende (Cs), Italy
��
, 2012
Małgorzata Stopikowska PhD, Professor and Head of Family Sciences Faculty, Department of
Educational Studies, Ateneum – University in Gdansk, Poland.
Phone: +48 516 555 464.
E-mail: malgorzata.stopikowska@gmail.com
Website: http://www.ateneum.edu.pl
Yasser Mohamed El-Deabes MA Student, Al-Arish Faculty of Education, Suez Canal University, Egypt.
Phone: +20 100 543 2378.
E-mail: mr.y_m@hotmail.com
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EDUCATION QUALITY IN PUBLIC 145
SCHOOLS: AN EXPERIMENT TO REDUCE

THE AGE-GRADE GAP IN THE CITY OF
RIO DE JANEIRO
Alice Xavier, Maria Luiza Canedo
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
E-mail: alicepx@yahoo.com.br, luiza.canedo@uol.com.br
Abstract
This article developes a critical reflection about a learning acceleration project facing the senior students
of fundamental education1. The project entitled Autonomia Carioca was prepared by a private institution
and recently introduced in public schools of Rio de Janeiro, in the perspective of public-private partnership.
The Project proposal is based on teacher training to deal with different languages, emphasizing the values
construction, the self-esteem recovery and the study habits formation. Facing the challenge of dropout,
8500 students concluded the first stage of elementary education. This paper describes the objectives and
methodology of the Project and also analyze work field observations and school principal interviews
in a school in order to discuss challenges and opportunities. From the proposal of the Project to its
implementation in the classroom, many factors were involved in the task of teaching the students who did
not succeed in the traditional education. Some aspects discussed in this case study are: school director
support, pedagogical attendance, teacher profile identification, classes’ arrangement, partnership with
families and distinguished accompanying of students. The results point to the joint action of school agents
as a determining factor for the success of the work.
Key words: age-grade gap, education quality, learning acceleration, public-private partnership.
Introduction
It is recognized the strategic importance of basic education for the quality of schooling
as a whole, and this segment is defined as the minimum schooling necessary for both exercising
citizenship and for future access to the labor market, which is increasing its demand for education
degrees.
Although Brazil has already reached the universalization of the access to Fundamental
Education, the conclusion of this stage and the quality of education are still challenging
objectives. The 2007 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD 2007) indicated that in the
last year of fundamental school, 44% of the students had more than 14 years old and 11% more
than 18 years old revealing that the goal of completing the fundamental school at the age of
14 years was still far from being achieved. According to the 2009 census, the city of Rio the
Janeiro had 355.307 adolescents in the 11-14 age group, 27% of which (98,549) were enrolled
in the private school network while 73% (257,758) used the public school network. Among
the latter, 249,502 were enrolled in the municipal system and 405 schools offered the second
segment of fundamental education.
As part of a research group2 which has been investigating the quality of education for
more than 10 years, we were faced with a new project designed for students with age-grade gap,
in one of the public schools. Since 2009, we have been using questionnaires and conducting
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146 interviews with school agents in this public unit. Managers’ and teachers’ spontaneous comments
have called our attention to the “Projeto Autonomia Carioca”. During 2011, this school was
visited in different occasions in order to observe students activities, parent-teacher meetings,
events and interactions of teachers and managers with parents and students. In addition, we
conducted semi-structured interviews with the principal, the school coordinator and teachers
directly involved with the Project. The present study was developed focusing on students,
teachers, managers and parents in different moments of school life.
In this article we present a reflection on a Project to speed-up the learning process while
we describe its objectives and characteristics. Using interviews with school agents and field
notes made during 2011, we analyze the way a public school has appropriated and developed
this Project work over 2 years. The content analysis was used as methodology to interpret the
testimonies.
Acceleration Learning Project: A Public-Private Partnership
Facing the challenge of building the education quality for all students the Municipal
Education Secretariat (EMS) has been encouraging the participation of civil society, expanding
actions developed in partnership with private institutions. The current local government has been
emphasizing these partnerships even though they are not new in Brazilian public policies.
The “Projeto Autonomia Carioca” was one of the initiatives implemented in 205 public
schools. The Project started in 2010 to address the age-grade gap equal or greater than to 2 years
for students enrolled in the last grades of fundamental school.
The Project which main goal is to gradually reduce the age-grade gap was designed by
a private institution3 responsible for developing the methodology and educational material,
and training teachers, in addition to following up the process in the schools. After training
the teachers and delivering the material, one of the school teachers develops the work in the
classroom assuming the responsibility for teaching all disciplines of the school curriculum,
in modules. Shortening the time required for this education stage and working with the self-
esteem, students are encouraged to continue their schooling.
The educational material developed by the private institution and produced in centers
of excellence of Brazilian universities contains textbooks, supporting texts and video classes,
which are exhibited for the students. It was developed 9 books for students, 6 books for teachers
and 360 television programs for fundamental education, distributed in three modules.
It’s up to the school management organize the class and allocate students from the school
itself and from other public units, who have recurrent learning difficulties and are candidates
for repeating or drop-outs. ��
These classes, with students in the 13-16 age group receive special
attention from the teacher and managers regarding school attendance, tasks performance,
behavior in classroom and interaction with colleagues and teachers.
The Project in the View of Educational Agents: A Case Study
The municipal school, used as the basis for this study was inaugurated in 1933. It is
located in Rio de Janeiro close to some of the main tourist attractions of the city and situated in
an adapted building, setting physical limits to educational activity.
However, restrictions caused by the lack of infrastructure and professionals shortage
don’t seem to prevent the management team from putting in place actions that over time have
contributed to rise the school to the highest levels of performance in relation to other schools of
the network.
Led by a school management committed and legitimized by successive reelections,
implementing partnerships and participating in several projects have been the core strategy for
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Alice XAVIER, Maria Luiza CANEDO. Education Quality in Public Schools: An Experiment to Reduce the Age-Grade Gap in the City
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building education quality since 1988. The school has also taken part in academic and sports 147
competitions in which students have the opportunity to show their knowledge. The good results
achieved by the students brought visibility and recognition to the school, attracting a more
interested group of students and families committed to education. But, it also brought students
whose families believed finding there the assistance they needed. The School Coordinator
speaks about the varied social composition, stating that "there is a group of students that ensures
the school reputation, dedicating themselves to entrance examinations to federal public schools
and to scholarships in private schools".
If the majority of the school students succeed in internal and external evaluations, there
are some students that “for various reasons are left behind, out of their age group”, says the
Principal. The initial strategy used to set up a class of repeaters seemed “not work”. Marked
with the stigma of learning difficulties, these students started to show low self-esteem and the
teachers avoided working with them. The school decided to “disperse the repeaters among
the classes to stimulate coexistence with the others”, which also did not achieve the desired
results.
In 2010, through the proposed Project, the school accepted the challenge of creating the
first class, bringing together students in the 7th and 8th grades lagging behind in school, aiming
the conclusion of their fundamental education in one year. The class enrolled 33 students, most
from the school itself, and also with a teacher from the school. The entire class completed the
Fundamental Education. “Here the Project has been a success, but there are schools where it
didn’t happen”, stated the Principal.
When the Principal decided to implement the acceleration learning class, she already
had in mind the teacher’s profile for this task. The chosen teacher, who assumed the position
of School Coordinator the following year, made a comprehensive evaluation of the work
developed, emphasizing that “the project is responsible for keeping the students in school”. He
reveals some of the difficulties faced by describing the students of the Project as “boys and girls
marginalized by the school”, noting that teaching Mathematics was a great challenge, because
in this discipline “the students needed to learn the basic”. Behavioral aspects related to the way
students interact with their colleagues and teachers, and their attitudes and habits were listed as
determinant factors for achieving the results:
“However, the most important part of this Project was not the subject they were eventually able
to learn, but it was really the human work that was done with them. The self-esteem of those kids
was really something that pleased me, therefore, my Oscar award.”
The teacher’s perception of his own work in the school helps to illustrate his commitment.
During the interviews and observations of school activities, we have not noticed any attempt
to blame the student responsible for his failure or his delay at school, but the school agents
understand the difficulties students face in their daily routine. The weak participation of the
family, the conflicts between parents and children, “the lack of sense” given to school and the
prospect of a future poorly associated with schooling were the problems pointed out.
Describing the behavior of the majority of the students enrolled in the Project, family-
school tension is a present aspect. Teachers and administrators notice, in different situations,
reflexes of low valorization of education in family environments. However, they do not react
to this problem with indifference or the feeling of helplessness, but they invest in valuing the
teaching work, acknowledging that “the student won’t change alone”.
The school expectations regarding families are described as: “educate, show limits, give
parameters of right and wrong and give an indication for the future”. The Coordinator reveals
that many students call him “dad”, what in his point of view signalizes the need for a reference
- “students are asking for affection and limits”. On the other hand, he admits that parents’
presence is required by the school only in emergency cases, due to the lack of qualified school
staff (educational counselor and psychologist). Many activities and duties accumulate, and one
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148 or two agents end up assuming a polyvalent attitude. The perception of problems and school
conflicts is illustrated by the metaphor used by the Coordinator: “You cannot stop the train. You
have to repair the train while it is moving “.
The Coordinator also calls the attention to some of his colleagues’ attitude, declaring that
“many teachers like to give classes only to a minority of students, the ones who are independent
and learn easily”. The so-called “difficult student” – the one, who has difficulties to learn and
to focus, is often marginalized:
“That student the teacher isn’t interested in working with because he makes you work hard. You
have to persuade him that he needs to study, and most of the teachers prefers the ones that already
come in doctrinated from home…”
This Coordinator present as established attitude to deal with these students. Vega and
Silva (2008) emphasize that many children who fail at school do not present “specific disability”
that prevent them from learning, and admit that most of them “don’t fit into certain learning
styles”. The Coordinator also points out the difference between the teacher of the first grades
and the one who teaches the second segment of fundamental school. The former spends most
part of the time with the same class, proximity which contributes to the understanding and
development of a language providing an affective relationship, where compliments contribute
to student’s progress.
Research by Sousa (1999) analyses some results of the acceleration learning national
policy for the first segment of fundamental education. The author identifies that many teachers
assume the difficulty of dealing with less autonomous students to whom it is necessary to teach
how to learn. Teachers interviewed by Sousa admit that the time needed to develop a work
focusing on the student, teaching him to overcome difficulties is greater than what they usually
dedicate.
Teachers’ inabilities to deal with the students’ difficulties have already been pointed out
in different studies (Schwartzman, 2003; Barbosa, 2011). These authors identifies the lack of
tools to deal with these difficulties and with the students learning pace, leading to the belief that
such difficulties cannot be resolved by changes in the pedagogical interaction, in the language
employed or in the class organization. Many teachers associate almost the entire learning
problem with social background, family environment and the failed student’s schooling.
Oliveira (1998) points out that besides evaluate school quality using standardized test
and the observations of the facilities, the teacher work in the classroom and other elements may
have effect on school performance, demanding further investigation.
The relationship between teachers and students has been the focus of our research in
schools of acknowledged quality. In the survey carried out in this school in 2009, we found
out that students have a positive perception of the teachers4. Asked about this relationship,
the Coordinator pointed out that the good evaluation should be relativized because, for many
students, “what is considered a ‘boring teacher’ often is the one who demands more, who gives
more exercises, and the so-called ‘cool teacher’ could be the one who ‘skips classes’ or who
doesn’t teach effectively”. Therefore, the perceptions of this relationship would depend much
more on the student’s profile than on the way students conceive a good and a bad teacher. The
Coordinator’s contextualization about our statistical summaries meets the perspective proposed
by Collins (2000), that the analysis of survey data must have “conceptual priority” – the results
must be relativized in the routines, perceptions and language of social agents.
Many students enrolled in acceleration learning classes were ‘newcomers’ and already
had a failed student’s schooling associated with indiscipline. In addition to differentiated
pedagogical guidance, activities were proposed, such as: “book making”, mentorship and
the creation of a journal. The election of students’ representatives and the students’ role in
Representative Councils were also reconsidered with the class involvement, generating more
effective participation.
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It was possible to observe that despite the differentiated insertion of Project students, 149
they had representativeness ensured in all pedagogical activity at school, such as election of the
principal, exhibition of works at school and graduation ceremony.
But this type of project also presents problems. Sousa’s (1999) studies also shows the
strangeness of students as they leave the acceleration classes like the student who says: “The
difference of the teacher’s Project is that she teaches how to study and now the teachers tell us
to study” (idem, p. 91), illustrating the importance of a long-term analysis.
For the second year of the Project, a Portuguese teacher, with extensive experience in the
school, was trained. The 30 students, this time almost all newcomers, have passed at the end of
the year. In the graduation ceremony organized by the school, the teacher gave the following
testimony:
“(...) after 30 years teaching, join the Project was a great challenge and an learning opportunity
which contributed to make me a better human being. I have tried to make a difference in each
student’s life. Have I succeeded? We have gone trough difficult moments, but we haven’t given up.
Every time you [students] put into practice values as ethics, brotherhood, companionship, respect,
perseverance and optimism I will feel remembered”.
In this case study, the great part of the Project success can be associated with the
coordination and direction commitments, which have proved to know the problems very well,
getting involved with the students’ daily school routine, following up attendance, bringing the
classes together for collective activities and helping in different ways. Evaluating the Project
results, after two years, the Principal pointed out as essential factors for success: teacher suitable
for these students, school management ready to comply with the supporting requirements, and
cooperation from families. Sousa (1999) has identified in many schools that have implemented
the acceleration learning classes, an isolation of the students and teachers involved, noting that
many issues and conflicts related to these students cannot be solved only by the teachers, but
require other school agents’ support and families’ involvement.
On the graduation ceremony, one of students spoke about the initial “mistrust and
prejudice” of colleagues about the Project. He recalled “the strangeness of the students
themselves regarding the organization of the desks in a circle, the films and the outing-classes”.
However, he ended his speech, emphasizing that these aspects have been overcome, “we have
made new friends and learned to have autonomy and responsibility”.
In addition to the testimonies, the observation of activities developed by the students in
classroom helps to understand how important was the sense of school experience. Such activities
represent the proposal to enhance the schooling experience and stimulate the construction of
a new perspective for the future. They also work with the student’s self-image focusing on his
abilities, leading him to associate his aspirations with the school’s objectives. These aspects
will be explored in future studies of the research group.
Conclusions
With this research we do not intend to evaluate the Project in progress, but explore
relevant aspects about actions implemented to speed-up learning and to build partnerships in
public education.
It is apparent that the pedagogical work focus was not aimed only at recovering the
school programs lost in previous grades. Once student’s levels of difficulties (cognitive,
emotional, psychological) were identified, the objectives were driven to recovering the self-
esteem, developing habits of study, school frequency, behavior in class and learning the basic
issues, which would enable them to continue their schooling. With differentiated teaching,
receiving full attention of a single teacher, and relying on activities focused on providing
students with tools they will be able to expand their access to knowledge, and construct their
own autonomy.
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150 In a casual conversation, the principal told us that all the former students of the Project
are in Middle Education, including some she “doubted whether they would continue due to the
level of difficulty they had”. Many of them are eager to attend college. We know that acceleration
learning proposals raise doubts as to their effectiveness for reintegrating students to the regular
education system. Accustomed to a fully dedicated teacher, to differentiated methodology and
to affective approach, students egressed from this kind of project may feel once again excluded
in regular classes, resulting in other school failures. It’s necessary to follow up over the next
few years of the former students to better understand this issue.
Based on the experience we have analyzed we can affirm with relative confidence
that acceleration projects can contribute to age-grade gap students’ move forward reaching
performance levels compatible with regular classes.
It is important to remind that this experience has taken place in a school well-known for
its quality that, nevertheless, deals with the challenge to assist students of diverse social strata,
enhancing their schooling.
Some answers to the challenge of continuing studies may be present in the Project goals,
which are instructing to study, focusing on habits and routines, on language and self-confidence
developments. It is noteworthy to emphasize that these goals can and should be extended to
the teaching practice, which often is exclusively focused on subjects of school programs. Such
global aspects of teaching, assumptions of the educational policy we’ve studied, refer to a
review of the pedagogical tools in the classroom, may also be applied in regular classes as a
kind of “behavioral school curriculum”.
Regarding public-private partnership, researches indicate greater chances of success
when the partnership focuses on a specific subject, invests in teachers’ training and has
managers’ support and school staff commitment. Were found all the three aspects in this Project
what seems to enhance the prospect of success.
Although the results are strongly impacted by the characteristics of the school and
educational agents’ joint action, we can say based on our case study these learning acceleration
projects can contribute to get the desired education quality to those students who haven’t
achieved success in traditional education.
Notes
(Endnotes)
1 Basic education comprises nine years of “fundamental education” divided in two segments, for children
ages 6 to 14 (the second segment comprises the sixth to ninth grade), and three years of “middle education” for
youngsters ages 15 to 17.
2 SOCED – Research Group in Sociology of Education - Production available from Boletim SOCED.
(Source: http://www.maxwell.lambda.ele.puc-rio.br/soced.php?strSecao=input).
3 The Roberto Marinho Foundation is a private institution, non-governmental, which elaborates and develops
actions of dissemination and education since 1977, as educational technologies and training professionals.
(Source: http://www.frm.org.br/main.jsp?lumChannelId=8A94A98E20E7EF740121115ABD140ABE.
Retrieved in: Feb, 7th 2012).
4 We asked the students how relationship with the teachers was, 36.1% said it was very good, while 50.9%
said it was good and 13%, reasonable. None of the students said the relationship with the teachers was poor or
very bad.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development – CNPq,

for the financial support.
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Barbosa, M. L. de O. (2011). Desigualdade e Desempenho. Uma introdução à sociologia da escola

brasileira. Belo Horizonte: FinoTraço Editora.
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Advised by Rosaly H. L. Brandão, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
��
, 2012
Alice Xavier PhD Student, Researcher at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro,
Ana Cristina César Street, 155, apt 110. JPA, 22763145, Rio de Janeiro, RJ.
Brazil.
E-mail: alicepx@yahoo.com.br
Website: http://lattes.cnpq.br/1731362489238054
Maria Luiza Canedo PhD Student, Researcher at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro,
Nascimento Silva Street��
, 426, apt 201, Ipanema, 22421020, Rio de Janeiro,
RJ. Brazil.
E-mail: luiza.canedo@uol.com.br
Website: http://lattes.cnpq.br/8531119006036997
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ISSN 1822-7864
problems
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Volume 40, 2012
PROBLEMS OF MANAGEMENT IN THE 21st 155
CENTURY
ISSN 2029-6932
Problems of Management in the 21st

Century is an international, periodical,
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Prof., dr. Ivars Muzis, Riga Teacher Training and Educational Managament Academy, Latvia
(from 2011)
Prof., dr. Sonia Teresinha de Sousa Penin, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (from 2011)
Prof., dr. Chris Rensleigh, University of Johannesburg, South Africa (from 2011)
Website: http://www.jbse.webinfo.lt/PMC/Problems_of_Management.htm
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Problems of Education in the 21st Century, ISSN 1822-7864 VOLUME 40, 2012

Scientific Methodical Center „Scientia Educologica“, Lithuania,

Prof.dr. Vincentas Lamanauskas, Scientific Methodical Centre „Scientia Educologica“, Republic

Dr., prof. Boris Aberšek, University of Maribor, Slovenia

Address: Scientific Methodical Centre “Scientia Educologica”

ISSN 1822-7864 © SMC „Scientia Educologica“, Lithuania, 2012

CURRICULA, HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND SCIENCE EDUCATION

ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

HIGHER EDUCATION IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: DRIVERS OF TOP-UNIVERSITIES’

FLEXIBLE EXAMINATION AS A PATHWAY TO LEARNING

FAILED INNOVATION IMPLEMENTATION IN TEACHER EDUCATION: A CASE ANALYSIS

A CASE STUDY OF “HABITUS” AND “FIELD”: THE CHINESE RURAL STUDENTS

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT IN STUDENTS OF TEACHER

PROMOTING TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH A HOLISTIC WELLNESS MODEL

CONTROL, FREEDOM AND TRUST: SEEKING FOR A HIGHER EDUCATION MODEL

TEACHING, LEARNING, AND KNOWLEDGE BUILDING: THE CASE OF THE REMOTE

UNFREEZING SCHOOL REPUTATIONS: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY

COMPETENCES CURRENTLY NECESSARY FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONS

EDUCATION QUALITY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: AN EXPERIMENT TO REDUCE THE

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS ............................................................................. 152

JOURNAL OF BALTIC SCIENCE EDUCATION ........................................................... 154

PROBLEMS OF MANAGEMENT IN THE 21st CENTURY ............................................. 155

CURRICULA, HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND 

Received: February 29, 2012 Accepted: March 18, 2012

Raffaele Pisano PhD, Cirphles, École Normale Supérieure Paris, France.

ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND 

EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

Ayodeji Olasunkanmi Abari, Mubashir Olayiwola Babatunde Mohammed,

Table 1. Scores on Organizational Identity and Effectiveness of Public (Pu) and

State X(Pu) X(Pr) Y1(Pu) Y1(Pr) Y2(Pu) Y2(Pr)

Table 2. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Analysis of Organizational

Variables N Mean SD r- cal r-tab Decision

12 Table 2, indicates that there is a negligible positive and non-significant relationship

Table 3. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Analysis of Organizational

Variables N Mean SD r- cal r-tab Decision

Table 3 shows a negligibly negative and non-significant relationship between

Table 4. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Analysis of Organizational

Variables N Mean SD r- cal r-tab Decision

Table 5. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Analysis of Organizational

Variables N Mean SD r- cal r-tab Decision

Table 5 shows a moderate, negative and significant relationship between organizational 13

Table 6. Analysis of Variance in Organizational Identity and Effectiveness (by

Table 7. Analysis of Variance in Organizational Identity and School Effective-

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Conclusion and Recommendations

2. Organizational Identity and School Effectiveness of schools should regularly be

Abari, A. O. (1994). Communication Practices and Organizational Climates of secondary schools in

Advised by Laima Railienė, University of Siauliai, Lithuania

higher education in a global 17

Blanca L. Delgado-Márquez, Yaroslava

In an increasingly competitive environment, universities seek to attract prospective

Reputation of Higher Education Institutions

Reputation management requires an understanding of this construct and how various

Influence of Research, Teaching and Internationalization

Reputation is the dependent variable in the analysis. To measure universities’ reputation,

Internationalization of higher education

The variable internationalization enters our analysis as independent variable or

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix.

22 = 0.281, p < 0.05). Third, the internationalization

Table 2. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis (dependent variable:

In the global knowledge economy, t�����������������������������������������������

24 (1995). Research-doctorate programs in the

Advised by Maksim Belitski, Loughborough

CURRICULA, HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND

ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND

In the global knowledge economy, t��

In order to answer the above question��

Student A, by referring to “��

Extract 4.� ��

The attitude that they did not ��

That urban students were ��

54 Higher extreme: A new��

High Economic Standard ��

Lower extreme: High university tuition versus��

It was a subdued attitude on ��

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Lower extreme: Under illus��

In their childhood, most of the��

individuals to define themselves as victims (p. ��

My warmest thanks go to Mr. Magnus Haavelsrud��