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Objectives: The objectives of this course were: to develop an induction course for vocational trainees taking up first SHO posts; to enable new dental SHOs to have enhanced skills from the beginning of the post; to create safe practitioners capable of performing SHO duties; and to assess whether such a course is perceived to be beneficial by the SHOs, their educational supervisors and professional colleagues from medicine, dentistry and nursing. Design: A 5-day intensive, interactive course was developed and directed by a consultant maxillofacial surgeon, with contributions from a range of professional colleagues to teach appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes. Subjects: Trainees completing the VT programme; due to commence SHO posts in the Yorkshire Region. Evaluation method: Detailed daily and end of course questionnaires were completed. A post course; in-work evaluation was sought from the trainees, educational supervisors and a range of professional colleagues about the validity of the course. Results: Daily and end of course evaluations were positive about the perceived importance and relevance of the course. After 6 weeks in post the SHOs continued to place high value on the course as a preparation for hospital practice. Feedback from the supervisors and colleagues indicated that the SHOs were performing well, but the influence of the course on performance could not be determined in this study. Conclusion: It was possible to design and deliver an appropriate induction course, which appeared to meet most of the needs of new dental SHOs. Feedback indicated the need for modification of some aspects of the course.

Background. The literature review presented here was conducted as part of an English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting funded project to evaluate the use of portfolios in the assessment of learning and competence. Initial consideration of the topic revealed the need to clarify the terminology and approaches used to assess competence using portfolios, and therefore the literature review was conducted to inform the study. Aims. To clarify definitions, theoretical bases and approaches to competence and the use of portfolios in the assessment of learning and competence in nursing education. Methods. A comprehensive literature review was conducted using the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases and the keywords competenc*, portfolios and nursing. Articles published in the period 1989-2001 in English were obtained and their reference lists scrutinized to identify additional references. Twenty articles were found using a combination of the keywords competenc* and portfolios, and 52 using the combination portfolios and nurse education. Articles were included in the review if they focused on the use of portfolios in nursing, and those concerned with professional or transitional portfolios were excluded. This article will analyse definitions of and approaches to competence and its measurement and to portfolios and their use as discussed in the articles identified. Results. Three approaches to competence were identified, each with its appropriate forms of assessment. With regard to portfolios, a number of definitions were again found, but there was a consensus that the theoretical basis of their use is theories of adult learning. A number of reasons for and advantages and disadvantages of their use were found, as well as varying ideas about what a portfolios should consist of and how it should be assessed. Conclusions. A holistic approach to competence seems to be compatible with the use of portfolios to assess competence in nursing students, but the concept and its implementation is still evolving. A variety of assessment methods are needed for assessment and portfolios appear to have the potential to integrate these. Reflection is an essential component of a portfolio, as are the student-teacher relationship and explicit guidelines for constructing the portfolio. Issues of rigour in assessment of portfolios need to be addressed, but the assessor's professional judgement will inevitably enter into this assessment.

The aim of this chapter is to raise awareness of the points of view of students in post16 education who are required to learn mathematics, or deal with mathematical ideas, whilst studying other subjects. These students are likely to be following vocational courses, such as the General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs), the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), the Modern Apprenticeship scheme or BTEC. Many of the ideas and issues raised in this chapter could also be of relevance to teaching on more academic courses. © 2002 Compilation, original and editorial matter, The Open University. All rights reserved.

In the nine years since the appearance of the first edition of Stephen Smith’s book, labour economics has become a more firmly entrenched subject on the curriculum. Previously regarded as a subsection within industrial economics, there are now very few universities that do not devote a course to it in its own right. The focus of topics covered within it has also altered - the notion of human capital has now become much more central and microeconomic considerations are now as widely studied as macroeconomic phenomena. The 2nd edition will address these changes and give greater centrality to microeconomics to reflect current course teaching. The book adopts an international focus and covers important themes such as: • labour demand and supply • wage determination and unions • personnel economics • unemployment and globalisation. With features such as case studies, end of chapter questions, further reading sections, this new edition will prove popular with all students of labour economics. © 1994, 2003 Stephen Smith.

This article investigates the experiences and training needs of student teachers as they learn to teach post-16 English on a secondary Post Graduate Certificate in Education. A case-study was conducted on a sample of Open University PGCE English students and mentors over a six-month period. Five research instruments were developed and used iteratively to generate qualitative data. The study reveals significant problems, resulting in students feeling underprepared at the end of their 11–18 PGCE for the demands of post-16 English teaching. The results illuminate the need for more effective models of learning to teach post-16 English. © 2003, Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Canada’s system of technology educationis complex and diverse. Each province hasjurisdiction over its own curriculum, standards, program delivery, graduation requirements, and finances. Technology education in Canada is an evolving subject. Not only are technologies themselves constantly changing the importance of technologyeducation within the curriculum is periodically modified according to educational reform policies in individual provinces. Unlike in other countries, there is little research that documents the state of the field or the changes that are currently taking place. Furthermore, while curriculum documents from the various provincial ministries of education provide guidelines for teachers, technology teaching as practised in the classroom often deviates considerably from these official statements. Given these variations no attempt is made in this article to describe technology education on a province‐by‐province basis. Rather, the various approaches totechnology education are grouped into three categories and summarized, and illustrative examplesare provided. Descriptions focus on the objectives of the curricula, on the way the content of the programs is structured, and on recent developments. © 2003 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

This article investigates the needs and experiences of student teachers in England and Wales as they learn to teach post-16 on an 11-18 Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). A different curriculum and assessment framework is in place post-16, offering much with which mentors might engage in their training role. However, mentoring in relation to post-16 teaching is reported as inconsistent. As a consequence, students feel underprepared at the end of their training for the demands of post-16 teaching. Students and mentors describe the demands of learning to teach post-16 differently to pre-16, particularly the need to differentiate subject knowledge. Yet little attention is given to effective post-16 teaching strategies in the literature, so students possess a false preconception of post-16 teaching, which mentors have not always been able to challenge. The research was organised as a case study of post-16 teaching and was conducted on a sample of Open University PGCE English students and mentors. Five research instruments were developed and used iteratively to generate qualitative data revealing student perceptions and mentor responses. The study reveals significant problems for student teachers as they learn to teach post-16, which were confirmed by mentors. The results illuminate the specific need for more effective models of post-16 mentoring in initial teacher training (ITT). Mentors need more effective training in the breadth of their role, and the ITT Standards need to ‘mainstream’ competence in post-16 teaching more explicitly. The results also exemplify the relative invisibility of the emerging 14-19 debate as it might affect ITT. The study concludes that post-16 teaching in schools is likely to continue to be on the margins of ITT, and might be better supported in a newly qualified teacher’s induction year. © 2003 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

This paper reviews reflective practice and associated terms and suggests an approach that can encompass the criticality required in professional education and training in relation to current agendas for health promotion. Although reflective practice is an accessible notion and has achieved great popularity as a means of synthesising thinking and doing, it is contested in terms of its conceptualisation and application. It is not neutral and value free, but affected by personal, political and professional factors that impact upon practitioners. Examples are drawn from professional literature in teaching, nursing and social work that illustrate different levels of reflection, to show that whilst there are considerable benefits there are dangers in assuming common understandings. A developing conceptualisation of critical reflective practice is proposed for health promotion which seeks to enable professionals to use reflection in their immediate situation, as part of a wider social process that contributes to societal change and professional development.

Universities are rarely structured to facilitate learning and when they are, it is often done so in a limited way. This book looks at the theory and practice of learning and how universities can improve their quality and competence. It tackles the past failure of the quality and competence movements and advocates a move towards 'Universities of Learning'. The authors advocate an integration of elements that are often dealt with separately - theory and practice, teaching and research, and the levels of institution and individual - and handle these dimensions of integration in conjunction with each other. This new paperback edition will be essential reading for all those who are concerned with improving learning in higher education. It includes an updated preface that takes account of developments since the publication of the hardback edition. © 1998 John Bowden and Ference Marton. All rights reserved.

Medical education has witnessed recently an accelerated and worldwide trend of change. The race is on for curricula that are relevant, appropriate and accountable. One of the consequences of this is the need for a drastic reassessment of how we devise curricula, and of what models, approaches, and strategies to adopt. Outcomes-based education is currently offered as an alternative to the content-based approach, which has been criticized by many educational experts in the past. Although this new approach has its detractors, it holds some promise of being able to improve on a current situation that is in deadlock with itself. There has been a great deal of interest in educational strategies in the last decade. This has been associated with the development of new concepts such as "problem-based learning", " student-centered learning", and "integrated teaching". Each school has to assess each of these strategies and adopt what ever will serve the aims of the curriculum. Similarly, the considerable progress that has taken place in the design and development of instructional materials and instructional technology should be appreciated. This includes, development in computer assisted learning, virtual reality, the use of simulated subjects, e learning, and the new concept of Reusable Learning Objects (RLO's). Finally, it was realized, with the rapid development in medical education that medical education requires professional training. The assumption that any good medical practitioner has the ability to teach no longer holds and professional training is required.