Compared with research in classrooms, the teaching of physical education has not proved to be a popular research topic. The reasons for this apparent neglect can be seen in the lack of suitable research instruments to describe the teaching of physical education and the complex technical problems of recording lessons which take place out of doors in large, open spaces. This study set out to design an instrument which could be used to describe the teaching of physical education in any setting (indoors and outdoors). The investigation consisted of three studies. The first was the production of an instrument (BOS 1) with 42 categories which recorded every item of teacher behaviour in a lesson. The system was difficult to learn, required a great deal of time to analyse and was found to be unsuitable for live coding.

This study is a qualitative exploration of the perceptions of teachers and learners in their encounters with the Holocaust. Research and literature on issues related to the Holocaust in education are limited in scope and in their consideration of 'teaching and learning issues'. The major concern is what pupils should learn about rather than how they learn. This means that not enough is currently, known about the impact of the Holocaust on teachers and learners. Thus,, a Delphi study was undertaken with ten Holocaust educators to problematise teaching in this area and to consider the preparation necessary for teachers. The Delphi also explored where learners were expected to struggle and provided a bridge to the pupil study. Delphi statements on the areas where pupils were expected to struggle were used as the basis for the pupil questionnaire and focus group interviews. Over a hundred pupils, aged 14, from four secondary schools in the West Midlands were involved in the study. The data collected from pupils made it possible to explore the nature of the impact on these learners and consider how they were able to utilise their own personal and intellectual resources to cope with their encounter. Analysis of data was undertaken to detail the areas of study that were difficult for the pupils in this study., This research contributes to knowledge about the impact of the Holocaust upon learners by exploring the perceptions of educators and using these as a base from which to investigate pupil understandings. The educators used to problematise the area provided an international cohort and thus the results of the Delphi study provide a unique 'dialogue' that goes beyond national boundaries and concerns. This broad base for the pupil study ensured that the research was not just based within particular national or local concerns about Holocaust education. The research findings support the initial perspective that previous research had merely scratched the surface of this vast topic by uncovering some of the ways in which the Holocaust impacted upon pupils. Research findings were set in the context of an experiential theory of pupil Holocaust learning. The main contribution of this research study is to provide evidence that 'teaching and learning' in a complex and controversial area like the Holocaust, must be set upon fine pedagogical foundations. Teachers need to be prepared for teaching about the Holocaust, and such preparation should be based on an understandingo f pupil learning in this area

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Beginning in 1999,81 public secondary schools have been transformed into "Smart Schools" in Malaysia. Smart schools utilise computers and technology based teaching and learning approaches. Tight public budget constraints mean the policy must also be cost effective in terms of academic and social outcomes. By using at the perspective of government and household expenditure, the study attempts to compare the cost effectiveness of students' progress in the Smart schools and the other secondary schools in the Northern State of Malaysia. 404 Form 4 students in year 2000 were randomly selected from 11 Smart and 11 Traditional secondary schools in Penang, Kedah and Perlis. School and individual students level data were collected by questionnaire survey. Recurrent costs, academic and social effectiveness and cost effectiveness ratios were estimated using an ingredients approach and multilevel modelling techniques. The findings show that Smart schools are more socially cost effective and less academically cost effective, except for English, than Traditional schools. There was no difference of cost effectiveness between rural and urban schools. Teacher costs dominated school costs. A characteristic of cost effective Smart schools for expansionw as suggested.F inally, directions for future researcha re discussed

This thesis compares two methods of teaching, identified as the `dialogue and discussion method' and the `lecture method'. An historical account is given of the Saudi educational system. The two methods are discussed in terms of the Saudi system and with reference to their theoretical foundations. The research investigates the effect of the use of these methods as shown by students' academic performance and teaching skills in the teaching practice programme. The researcher designed an experiment to compare the effects of teaching lessons in the specific teaching methods courses for three academic subjects with a group of fourth level students in the college of education at King Faisal University. After ensuring the best possible equivalence between the groups, the researcher carried out the experiment with the two groups and applied a post-test to find their levels of achievement after they have studied using different methods. Further,t herew as a comparisonb etweent he sameg roupsr elatingt o their techniquesa nd teachings kills performanced uringt he teachingp ractice programmein schools. The results show that the lecture method when used on student teachers during their theoretical training programme produced significantly lower student achievements. However, there was no significant difference between teaching skills of student teachers in the two groups, as related by academic supervisors. The appropriateb alanceb etweend ialoguea nd discussiona ndl ecturem ethodsa nd the persistenceo f any effectsr emaint o be investigatedF. urthere xperimental researcheasr e suggestedto includef emalesa nd other studentss ucha s thosei n medical and military training

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This study is a study on educational costs. Its main focus is recurrent costs in secondary schools in the state of Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia. It is concerned with issues pertaining to the relationship among educational costs, the distribution of costs among inputs and how various inputs are utilised in teaching and learning. Two basic themes form the basis of the study - the efficiency and equity in resource utilisation and distribution. The study is firstly an analysis of cost quantities and their distribution by the various educational inputs; personnel inputs - teachers and non-teaching staff, and non-personnel /non-salary inputs. Secondly, the study focuses on the rate of teacher utilisation in terms of their time on tasks. This is done by undertaking a survey of teaching loads and class size. Thirdly, the study pursued the issue of equity in the distribution of educational resources by undertaking a survey of teacher salaries and teaching experience as well as by analysing fiscal school income by means of capitation grants. Findings from the research uncover variations in costs in schools. Factors affecting costs were mainly the pupil teacher ratio, teacher costs, boarding costs and nonpersonnel costs in Vocational schools. The inherent dominance of teacher costs in the teaching industry is also confirmed by this research. The study also provides evidence of wastage in teacher utilisation, maldistribution of teacher' quality', disparities in the distribution of fiscal non-personnel resources, suggesting to an extent inefficiencies and inequalities in the pattern of recurrent costs in schools. There was also an overwhelming advantage in economies of scale. In summary, the study revealed that educational costs analysis can help in the following areas namely in the identification of cost quantities, factors affecting costs, rates of utilisation of educational resources and the distribution of resources. Major findings from the study show possible applications to planning and policymak:ing. Areas identified are in cost estimations and evaluation, cost comparisons for various purposes, management and control of resomces, efficiency and equity considerations in utilising and distributing of educational resources. In the context of the recent economic crisis, education in Malaysia will be faced with pressures both from the fiscal and demographic fronts. In this condition, it will be Abstract 111 difficult even to maintain the current level of expenditure on education. Research findings from this study can therefore be a recipe for cost saving and cost containment. Policies that promote efficient use of existing scarce resources are obviously necessary. Above all, a prerequisite vital to all this is an urgent need to strengthen the informational basis for cost analysis in Malaysia.

Throughout the 1980s increasing attention was paid to the quality of teacher education by the government, culminating in the publication of Circular 9/92 (DFE 1992). It decreed that schools were to play a larger and much more active role than before, as the practical side of the training was to be enhanced at the expense of the educational theory provided by the HEIs. The government believed that encouraging more practical training through a partnership of equals between the HEIs and the schools would improve the professional competence of the NQTs and eventually raise standards in the classroom. An aura of co-operation and consensus pervades the notion of partnership, but this research suggests that the concept is imprecise and open to many different interpretations. It also supports the view that there is a significant difference between the image of partnership projected by the government and the intentions, values and practices of those immediately involved in initial teacher education. The resulting disparity between the rhetoric of policy and the reality of partnership is pinpointed and explained by a critique of the Universities of Sussex and Brighton and twelve of their respective partner secondary schools. This investigation adopts a case study approach. Evidence collected through surveys, interviews and observation of participants within the partnership - such as university tutors, trainees, mentors and professional tutors, together with a review of the contextual literature, are used to illuminate the problems experienced by the practitioners. The evidence presented shows that the success of the partnership and its continued existence in its present form is dependent upon a variety of factors: adequate communication, effective mentorships, clearly-defined assessment and standardisation procedures and the development of a professional ethos to avoid undue reliance on good-will. Major restrictions are also placed upon the delivery of effective initial teacher education by inadequate funds and the shortage of time. More importantly however, the straightforward perception of partnership promoted by the government is in itself seen to be flawed, because there are inherent tensions between the HEIs and the schools. This results in conflicting expectations over key issues, which if unresolved will continue to jeopardise the development of partnership and affect the quality of initial teacher education.

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