scholarly journals The plans and aspirations of teenage students in semi-rural Timor-Leste

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anna Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Good Life ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
School Students ◽  
Local Livelihoods ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Education And Development

<p>While there is wide agreement that education supports development, there is also much scholarship to suggest that the potential benefits of education are only fully realised when education systems are well-adapted to local needs. Systems left by colonial in newly independent developing countries, for instance, can impede the achievement of their development goals.  This project focused on the plans and aspirations of secondary school students in Ermera subdistrict, a semi-rural region of Timor-Leste, in order to explore the relationship between education and local livelihoods. Three case study communities in Ermera vila, Ponilala and Mirtutu were examined. Guided by the concept of the ‘good life’, I sought to reveal what students, parents and educators hope to get out of education and development. This enabled me to assess whether the schooling that students are receiving is supporting their future goals.  The methodology combined ethnographic observation with other qualitative and quantitative data collection. It comprised twenty-two weeks in-country: volunteering, and conducting surveys and interviews. The ensuing data analysis draws on education theory, alternative development theory, and decolonisation theory.  Overall I found that the secondary school curriculum is Western-oriented, and focused on getting students into university rather than on preparing them for the kinds of lives they are likely to lead. Students overwhelmingly aspire to university or vocational study, once they leave school. Conceptions of the good life in the three communities centre on social connectedness and opportunities for the next generation. While there is an evident disconnect between the content of available secondary education and local livelihood realities, there have been successful initiatives from within all three communities to expand education over the past twenty years to include local skills and epistemologies. An extension of these efforts to create a more diverse education, with the inclusion of agriculture as a learning topic, could give students the best chance of gaining secure work and leading comfortable lives in the future.</p>

scholarly journals The plans and aspirations of teenage students in semi-rural Timor-Leste

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anna Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Good Life ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
School Students ◽  
Local Livelihoods ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Education And Development

<p>While there is wide agreement that education supports development, there is also much scholarship to suggest that the potential benefits of education are only fully realised when education systems are well-adapted to local needs. Systems left by colonial in newly independent developing countries, for instance, can impede the achievement of their development goals.  This project focused on the plans and aspirations of secondary school students in Ermera subdistrict, a semi-rural region of Timor-Leste, in order to explore the relationship between education and local livelihoods. Three case study communities in Ermera vila, Ponilala and Mirtutu were examined. Guided by the concept of the ‘good life’, I sought to reveal what students, parents and educators hope to get out of education and development. This enabled me to assess whether the schooling that students are receiving is supporting their future goals.  The methodology combined ethnographic observation with other qualitative and quantitative data collection. It comprised twenty-two weeks in-country: volunteering, and conducting surveys and interviews. The ensuing data analysis draws on education theory, alternative development theory, and decolonisation theory.  Overall I found that the secondary school curriculum is Western-oriented, and focused on getting students into university rather than on preparing them for the kinds of lives they are likely to lead. Students overwhelmingly aspire to university or vocational study, once they leave school. Conceptions of the good life in the three communities centre on social connectedness and opportunities for the next generation. While there is an evident disconnect between the content of available secondary education and local livelihood realities, there have been successful initiatives from within all three communities to expand education over the past twenty years to include local skills and epistemologies. An extension of these efforts to create a more diverse education, with the inclusion of agriculture as a learning topic, could give students the best chance of gaining secure work and leading comfortable lives in the future.</p>

scholarly journals DOES ABSENCE MAKE THE HEART GROW FONDER? – STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES OF CURRICULUM, ABSENTEEISM AND THEIR PURSUIT OF THE GOOD LIFE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon J. Edwards ◽  
Evie Parmar
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Good Life ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Student Attendance ◽  
School Students ◽  
Student Absenteeism

In 2015, major revisions were made to the breadth and content of the English national curriculum to ensure the country’s economic success in an emerging technological marketplace. Increasingly punitive sanctions were introduced to safeguard student attendance and subsequent attainment.  Yet student GCSE attainment has remained static since that time and attendance has decreased. The article considers these coinciding trends by presenting a study that explored 40 secondary-school students’ perspectives of their low attendance. Findings evidence their motivation to learn but also their growing disillusionment with curriculum content that is not easily accessible or seen to support a good life, which in turn has impacted their motivation to attend school. Conclusions call for collaborations to be developed between school leaders and students to help make explicit the pathways to a good life that the curriculum claims to support. Collaborations that may also address student absenteeism.

scholarly journals Preparing Adolescents for the Uncertain Future: Concepts, Tools and Strategies for Teaching Anthropogenic Environmental Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6832
Author(s):  
Xi Xiang ◽  
Michael E Meadows
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Learning Tools ◽  
School Students ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Geospatial Technology ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
Responding To Change ◽  
Future Concepts

Humankind is increasingly being challenged by anthropogenic environmental changes and society needs to be better equipped with knowledge, skills and values to adapt to these changes. This poses new challenges for school education. We propose a framework towards future-oriented education by addressing three issues: a) How can the school curriculum be reframed to take account of anthropogenic environmental changes? b) What difficulties do students encounter when learning about these changes? c) What learning tools and pedagogical strategies are best suited to effectively and efficiently teach about environmental changes? An example is provided, whereby secondary school students engage with the topic of deforestation using geospatial technology. This study informs curriculum makers and instructors in providing education that enhances adolescents’ understanding of the uncertain world and increases their ability to be proactive, rather than merely responding to change.

scholarly journals The effect of providing educational sessions about sexually transmitted diseases on knowledge and attitudes of secondary school students at Zagazig City

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Samia Farouk Mahmoud ◽  
Naeima Mohamed El-Sayed Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Sexually Transmitted Diseases ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
School Students ◽  
Major Health Problem ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
Adolescent Students ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Knowledge And Attitude

Background and objective: Sexually Transmitted Diseases are a major health problem that affects mostly young people. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of providing educational sessions about Sexually Transmitted Diseases on knowledge and attitude of secondary school students.Methods: A quasi-experimental research design was used in carrying out the study. The study was conducted at four governmental public secondary schools in Zagazig City, 367 secondary school students from the previously mentioned settings were included in the study. Two tools were used to collect necessary data: Tools (I): An interview questionnaire sheet; It was consisted of two parts: Part (A) entailed questions pertaining to socio demographic characteristics of the students, while part (B) included questions regarding student’s knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases. Tool (II): It was intended to assess student's attitude toward sexually transmitted diseases.Results: Pre, post and follow up students’ knowledge and attitude tests after sessions implementation revealed highly statistically significant improvement in students’ knowledge and attitudes (p < .001), which justified the research hypothesis.Conclusions: The educational sessions significantly brought out improvements in the knowledge and attitudes of adolescent students regarding sexually transmitted diseases. The study recommended an educational program about all types of sexually transmitted diseases to be included into the secondary school curriculum and media enlightenment campaigns about these diseases should also be emphasized. 

ENGAGING SCHOOL STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS WITH THE PRACTICE OF STATISTICS

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
PETER HOWLEY ◽  
TIM ROBERTS
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
School Students ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Primary And Secondary School

This paper describes a national statistics-oriented project-based learning activity, which has been delivered annually for five years in Australia and the outcomes of a particular collaboration of this initiative with the discipline of environmental sustainability. The national initiative engages primary- and secondary-school students from varied backgrounds and education levels in quantitative-based investigations. It develops key future workplace skills aligned with national school-curriculum outcomes and motivates students by enabling them to take the lead, determine the context, collaborate, investigate, and create. An underlying delivery model connects primary- and secondary-school students with tertiary educators, industry, and the practice of statistics. A pre-post cross-sectional study revealed significant improvements in students’ and teachers’ confidence with, and awareness of, the field of statistics. Australian school teachers are saying, “21st Century learning at its best” and “motivates and engages students.” Industry mentors are saying, “provides students a unique opportunity.” Students are saying, “engaging, educational and enjoyable.” The activity has engaged some eighty schools, and annually several hundred students participate. First published February 2020 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

Positive youth development and academic behavior in Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T.L. Shek ◽  
Florence K.Y. Wu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Life Skills ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
School Students ◽  
Formal Curriculum ◽  
Academic Confidence

AbstractWith the launching of the education reform in Hong Kong, the secondary school structure was changed from 7 years to 6 years in the 2006–07 school year. This paper describes Secondary four students’ views about the new secondary school curriculum, including their confidence and related stress. The students were also asked to assess the importance of life skills and its perceived adequacy in the formal curriculum. Results showed that roughly four-tenths of the students did not feel confident about their study and around six-tenths felt stressed. Although most of the students agreed that life skills were important, around 37% of them thought that the coverage of such knowledge in the formal curriculum was not adequate. Consistent with our hypotheses, academic confidence, academic stress, support provided by the school, and positive youth development were significantly related, with positive youth development predicting academic confidence.

Chinese Young Men’s Construction of Exemplary Masculinity: The Hegemony of Chenggong

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengshu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Marriage Market ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Good Person ◽  
Only Children ◽  
Personal Cost ◽  
General Importance ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Class Background

Using interviews with twenty-five male Beijingers in their final year of upper secondary school, this article shows that their construction of masculinities in all cases revolves around the importance of chenggong (outstanding accomplishment). They perceived chenggong as a prerequisite for the “the good life,” “the good person,” and “the good man.” But striving for chenggong entails much personal cost. Chenggong’s strong assertion by all these young men, notwithstanding intragroup differences, may indicate its contemporary hegemonic status. Suggested explanations are: the general importance of exemplary norms in China, the influence of neoliberalism and consumerism (and the attendant individualism) in post-Mao China, and their being “only children” from urban and mostly middle-class background; in particular, there is the competitive advantage which men derive from their prospective chenggong in a marriage market where a strong hypergamy norm for women is combined with a discourse of “natural sex differences” and notorious sex ratio imbalances.

scholarly journals If you’re happy and you know it: Neural correlates of self-evaluated psychological health and well-being

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Cosme ◽  
Arian Mobasser ◽  
Garrett Ross ◽  
Jennifer H Pfeifer
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Health And Well Being

What does it mean to be well? Prior research suggests that it’s more than just the absence of illness or disease; a complete picture of psychological health is also defined in terms of the “good life,” or well-being. Amid continued debate as to what constitutes the good life, one point of relative agreement is that a person’s psychological health is contingent on their own subjective evaluation. The goal of the current study was to further our understanding of psychological functioning by investigating the neural correlates of self-evaluated psychological health and well-being. A sample of 113 incoming college freshmen completed an fMRI task in which they evaluated words and phrases related to three constructs associated with psychological health–well-being, ill-being, and social connectedness–in terms of self-descriptiveness and perceived malleability. Behaviorally, well-being and social connectedness items were more likely to be endorsed as self-descriptive than ill-being items, and social items were perceived to be more malleable. Neurally, self-evaluation was associated with increased activity in the default mode network, consistent with preregistered hypotheses. We observed strong spatial overlap in neural representations among constructs, though patterns of activity in a priori regions of interest–pgACC, vmPFC, and VS–exhibited low similarity among constructs. Furthermore, we found that these neural predictors explained additional variance in trial-level evaluations of psychological health, but not in individual differences in psychological health when aggregating across trials. Specifically, multilevel logistic regression revealed that greater vmPFC activity increased the likelihood of endorsing items as self-descriptive, but only for ill-being items. Exploratory specification curve analyses suggested that closer examination of these neural correlates using multivariate approaches may provide additional insight into individual differences in psychological health.

Information literacy skills of secondary school students in Singapore

2014 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schubert Foo ◽  
Shaheen Majid ◽  
Intan Azura Mokhtar ◽  
Xue Zhang ◽  
Yun-Ke Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Family Background ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
School Students ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – This study aimed to acquire knowledge about Singapore secondary school (ages 13 to 16 years old) students' skills in searching, evaluating and using information. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive instrument encompassing the basic information literacy (IL) skills, as well as a new dimension of ethical usage of information and collaborative information seeking was used for data collection. From August to November 2010, a total of eight schools comprising 3,164 students participated in this study. Findings – It was a matter of concern that various kinds of libraries, including school libraries, were found to be under-utilized. From the test that was administered to assess the IL skills of students, the results were found to be generally unsatisfactory as each of the major categories of IL skills recorded a score that is below 50 (out of a maximum of 100) except for “task definition”. For skills related to “information seeking strategies”, “location & access” and “information use”, the types of schools, academic streams of study, and students' family background seemed to have significant influences. Originality/value – This study is the first large-scale survey conducted in Singapore that sought to test the IL skills of secondary school students. The findings are useful in assessing the current effectiveness of IL integration, and the need for a more planned approach towards IL competency training within the school curriculum in Singapore.

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