Teachers’ views about technical education: implications for reforms towards a broad based technology curriculum in Malawi

Internationally there has been concern about the direction of technical education and how it is positioned in schools. This has also been the case in Malawi where the curriculum has had a strong focus on skills development. However, lately there has been a call for enhancing technological literacy of students, yet little support has been provided for teachers to achieve this goal. This paper reports from a wider study that looked at teachers’ existing views and practices in technical education in Malawi. The article focuses on the findings from interviews that were conducted with six secondary school teachers to find out about their understanding of the meaning and rationale for technical education. It is also discussed how the teachers view technical education as involving skills development for making things and their thoughts on the benefits of such knowledge. It is argued that teachers’ views about technical education were strongly linked to the goals of the curriculum vacationalization policies adopted at the dawn of political independence. Besides skills training they saw the potential to impart thinking skills related to design and problem solving, and the need for essential pedagogical techniques to support learning in technical education. Examination requirements, inadequate opportunities to conduct practical activities and a lack of supportive policy were seen as limiting factors. This article claims that teachers’ views were shaped by their expectations and beliefs about the nature of technical education and what they perceived students may gain from such learning. Their views were also influenced by contextual factors which may have implications on reforms towards broader notions of technology education.     

The Role of Published Materials in Curriculum Development and Implementation for Secondary School Design and Technology in England and Wales

This paper discusses the ways in which teachers exploited a set of curriculum materials published as a vehicle for curriculum innovation, and the relationship between chosen modes of exploitation and teachers’ own perceptions of how the materials had ’added value’ to their teaching. The materials in question were developed by the Nuffield Design and Technology Project (’the Project’) to offer a pedagogy appropriate to the statutory curriculum for secondary school design and technology education in England and Wales (DFE/WO 1995). The Project had sought both to inform the statutory curriculum, and respond to its requirements. An earlier case study (Givens 1997) laid the foundations for the survey that is reported here. This paper focuses on the teaching of pupils aged 11–14. It finds that while most teachers made at least some use of all the various components of the publications, they were selective. While the Study Guide, which carries out a meta-cognitive dialogue with pupils, was generally underused, those teachers who did use it perceived greater value added by the materials as a whole to the quality of pupils’ work, their effectiveness in design and technology and their autonomy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Comparisons and Contrasts Between Elementary/Primary ’School Situated Design’ and ’Workplace Design’ in Canada and England

There is a lack of evidence that examines, together, the triad of how teachers in elementary/primary schools are translating curriculum requirements for teaching design, within technology frameworks, in their classrooms, how their students then proceed with design, and how ’school situated design’ relates to ’workplace design’. This paper explores the relationships between designerly thinking and behaviours situated in classrooms and in the workplace, beliefs about how designing is learned in schools and in the ’real world’, and children’s, teachers’ and designers’ understanding of design. These are be illustrated by extracts from interviews with teachers, children and designers and evidence of designing in classrooms and in the workplace. Similarities and differences between evidence from ’school situated design’ and ’workplace design’ and from Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Assessing scientific and technological enquiry skills at age 11 using the e-scape system

This article reports on the outcomes from the e-scape Primary Scientific and Technological Understanding Assessment Project (2009–2010), which aimed to support primary teachers in developing valid portfolio-based tasks to assess pupils’ scientific and technological enquiry skills at age 11. This was part of the wider ‘e-scape’ project (2003-present), which has developed an innovative controlled alternative to design & technology and science public assessment at age 16. Teachers from eight primary schools were trained in the use of an online task-authoring tool to develop and trial assessment activities based on current classroom work. To compile their e-portfolios of assessment evidence, pupils used netbook devices, which afford multi-modal responses (text, drawing, photo, audio, video, spreadsheet) whilst leaving space on pupils’ tables for practical investigations. Once the pupil e-portfolios had been uploaded to the secure e-scape website, teachers assessed them using a ‘comparative judgement’ approach to produce a rank order with a high reliability coefficient. Participant teachers recognised the strength of the e-scape approach in terms of facilitating and managing pupils’ responses to assessment tasks in the classroom, which they successfully adapted to suit primary pedagogy. In particular, the benefits of scaffolding complex assessment tasks through the step-wise e-scape process in the authoring tool represented for some of the teachers a pedagogically significant development in terms of their planning.     

The clock project: gears as visual-tangible representations for mathematical concepts

As we have noticed from our own classroom experiences, children often find it difficult to identify the adequate operations learned in mathematics class when they are solving mechanical-operators problems in Technology class. We wanted to design a project that exploits the idea of a hands-on relationship between mathematics and technology to teach students the concept of ‘transmission coefficient’ in schools. Our purpose was to bridge mathematical knowledge and mechanical parts in technological devices. Our belief was that visual-tangible representations enhance human cognition by scaffolding the information process. We supplied a kit with rubber foam (Fomi) and balsa wood parts to construct an analogical clock. This included a series of gears to work with three different ratios. The project was conducted in 2007 and 2008, with 38 students ranging from 10 to 14 years of age. The students were from the 5th and 7th grades in two different schools. The project included six stages of both theory and hands-on work. In a final stage, the students were given a written test. All students were able to make workable systems of their design for a time-measuring device. This proved important for technological education. On the other hand, manipulating gears along with visual reasoning strategies allowed all students to achieve an understanding of operations with fractions. We think this is a major achievement in mathematical education.     

Children’s developing understanding of technology

The issue of children’s conceptions of technology and technology education is seen as important by technology educators. While there is a solid body of literature that documents groups of children’s understandings of technology and technology education, this is primarily focused on snapshot studies of children aged 11 and above. There is little literature relating to individual children’s changing conceptions over time, or to children younger than 11. This paper documents and discusses the changing understanding of the meaning of the word ‘technology’ of seven children over their first 6 years of primary school (age 5–10). It seeks to explain the source of the children’s understandings of the word ‘technology’ and to suggest some teaching and planning implications for technology educators.     

“Crafts and technology” and “technical education” in Austria

In Austria, the syllabus for “Technisches Werken/Crafts and Technology” for all types of school in general education was issued more than 30 years ago. The authors believed that it might lay the foundations for technical literacy. The paper is about how the situation of the subject and, with it, technical education has developed since then in Austria. After a brief account of the origin and further development of the carrier subject “Technische Erziehung”/Technical Education various aspects of the present situation of “Technisches Werken/Crafts and Technology” from early years education up to general education are highlighted: the structure and contents of the subject between architecture, design and technology; its significance and the chances of the subject in Austrian schools; the training of the subject teachers. This is followed by the interpretation of a survey of the understanding Austrian pupils have of technology and gender, which was carried out within the framework of the UPDATE-project. The central issues of this study are concerned with pupils’ general awareness of the most important school subjects in primary and secondary schools, specifically of the subject “Crafts and Technology” and of the connection between “Crafts and Technology”, technology and technical occupations.     

Using ‘Electronic Portfolios’ to Challenge Current Orthodoxies in the Presentation of an Initial Teacher Training Design and Technology Activity

The paper examines the extent to which a University undergraduate curriculum initiative provided initial teacher trainees with opportunities to challenge orthodox design methodologies through the production of an electronic portfolio within and extended design and technology activity. It was found that the ‘electronic portfolio’ served primarily as a developmental tool for promoting creative continuity and sound, reflective, design practice within a structured educational design challenge. The portfolio also provided a focus for the development of ‘e’ learning skills as it facilitated the use of new technologies in the compilation of the portfolio. Additionally, the portfolio provided trainees with a means by which they were able to demonstrate their capability to prospective employers. The use of the ‘electronic portfolio’ challenges current orthodoxy and methods routinely employed to present and assess trainees’ creative work, which have been shown to constrain innovative practice. The paper concludes that the use of the ‘electronic’ portfolio was successful in facilitating trainees’ engagement with a creative Design and Technology process.     

Policy Implications of the Effects of Concentration and Multimarket Contact in China’s Airline Market

Unlike many other mergers in developed countries, which might have been assessed and their effects estimated by antitrust authorities before being granted antitrust immunity, the airline mergers that swept China’s airline industry in 2002 occurred with no antitrust challenge. These mergers provide the opportunity to study important market power issues in China’s airline markets. Given that increased concentration and multimarket contact are the main legacies of an airline merger, the effects of mergers on these variables can raise the potential for the exercise of market power. However, an examination of the period 2002–2004 during which the Chinese airline mergers occurred shows that the resulting increased concentration and enhanced multimarket contact did not have important consequences for airfares in Chinese city-pair markets. The presence of Hainan Airlines appears to have played an important role in suppressing the airfares charged by China Eastern and China Southern.     

Transfer of knowledge in technical vocational education: a narrative study in Swedish upper secondary school

In vocational education, teaching and learning are expected to take place in the different learning arenas; schools and workplaces. In such a dual school system, the question of transfer is vital, i.e. how to use knowledge learned in previous situations in new situations. This article is an empirical contribution to research concerning transfer, by means of results from semi-structured group interviews with teachers and supervisors who educate students in the Energy program and the Industry program in Swedish upper secondary school. The interviews were analysed by analyses of narratives. The results show four themes of transfer in the interviews: (1) transfer of basic knowledge, (2) transfer of principles and skills, (3) transfer of written materials and real life and (4) transfer of experiences. The results also show three factors that are crucial in order to create possibilities for transfer: (1) communication, (2) financial resources and (3) reflection. These factors demand close cooperation between the teachers and supervisors during the students’ vocational education.     

Resource allocation for open and hidden learning in learning alliances

A satisfying relationship between alliance members is important for the success of learning alliances, especially those in the Asia Pacific region. While learning alliances create conditions for firms to leverage each other’s knowledge, firms may be opportunistic and appropriate each other’s knowledge, and firms face a tradeoff because appropriation affects the relationship between alliance members. After reviewing previous studies on knowledge sharing in learning alliances, we differentiate firms’ learning into open and hidden learning, and argue that open learning contributes to competence trust, while hidden learning reduces goodwill trust, which consequently affects open learning. Learning uncertainty, introduced in this study, and learning benefits determine expected payoffs of open and hidden learning, which influence firms’ resource investment in them. This study also finds that behavior and output control are important moderators of the relationships between expected payoffs of open and hidden learning and the resources invested in them. Thus, this study advances our understanding of the tension between cooperation and competition and the learning dynamics in learning alliances. The solution to solving the knowledge sharing dilemma in learning alliances is to promote partners’ open learning and to restrain their hidden learning. Therefore, this study argues that, with open and hidden learning, implementing proper control measures and influencing partners’ learning benefits and uncertainties can settle this dilemma. Furthermore, this study classifies the relationships of learning alliances into four types and gives an explanation of why horizontal learning alliances are usually more competitive than vertical ones.     

Research on Basic Design Education: An International Survey

This paper reports on the results of a survey and qualitative analysis on the teaching of ‘Basic Design’ in schools of design and architecture located in 22 countries. In the context of this research work, Basic Design means the teaching and learning of design fundamentals that may also be commonly referred to as the Principles of Two- and Three-dimensional Design. The body of knowledge associated with Basic Design may be regarded as part of the general theory of teaching and learning design as practiced in many design schools and which has its origins in the classical design schools such as the Bauhaus. In the author’s perception and practice, the pedagogy of Basic Design promotes a holistic, creative and experimental methodology that develops the learning style and cognitive abilities of students with respect to the fundamental principles of design. This includes an understanding of the elements of shape, colour, texture, light, and rhythm in a manner complementary but usually unrelated to the common design methods teaching approach. As is well known among design practitioners, including architects and industrial designers, a deep understanding of the purpose of these fundamental design elements and principles is still relevant to contemporary design practice. The main objective of the research described in this paper was to determine the status and development of Basic Design pedagogy in a significant number of contemporary design schools. On the basis of the results of two surveys conducted in 2001–2002, this paper will identify and illustrate interesting aspects concerning the programmes and organisation of courses delivered by teachers of ‘Basic Design’. This work will also survey the viewpoints of Basic Design teachers in elementary years of design courses and of those teaching design through projects during the subsequent years of the same courses. Interestingly, the design project teachers surveyed in this research expressed a desire to be more involved in the teaching of Basic Design fundamentals which indicates strongly that Basic Design principles are still relevant in contemporary design education terms as they have ever been and that more research is needed in order to better understand and apply the related pedagogy.     

Culture-orientated product design

There is little in-depth research that can assist designers to use culture as a catalyst for designing innovative products within Botswana’s context. The concept of culture and design are intertwined, thus modifications stemming from cultural evolution both reflect and determine developments in design. The paper discusses an experimental design approach conducted at the University of Botswana and participants challenge was to transform and encode socio-cultural factors into product design features. The paper concludes by discussing a model which has shown one way concerning how to consciously specify, analyse and integrate socio-cultural factors in the design process.     

The internationalisation of SMEs from China: The case of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

This paper aims to study the international expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging economy. Mathews’ (2006: 5–27) linkage–leverage–learning (LLL) model is the framework applied to analyse the process of international expansion of SMEs. To operationalise the study of the barriers, the LLL model was linked to the work of Leonidou (2004: 279–302). The data was collected from 125 SMEs operating in Ningxia, China, and then analysed using multivariate regressions; the models used the firms’ export intensity at the regional, national and international level as dependent variables. Four models were run: two analysing the internal and external barriers hindering firms’ international expansion, and the other two models studying the characteristics of Chinese international companies (state funding and ownership) as independent variables. The results show that 12 of the barriers defined by Leonidou (2004) are hindering the expansion of Ningxia’s SMEs, that the ownership from the state does not play an important role in this expansion, and that the support from the state in the form of funds is helpful in the first stages of the expansion (regional level) and the funds from private sources are key to cross the country’s boundaries.     

Antitrust and Vertical Integration in “New Economy” Industries with Application to Broadband Access

Whether the firms that supply Internet hardware and software should face restrictions on the use of their property is an important and controversial policy issue. Advocates of “net neutrality”—including President Obama and the current FCC majority—believe that owners of broadband distribution systems (hardware used to distribute Internet and video services) and producers of certain “must-have” video content should be subject to prophylactic regulation that transcends present-day antitrust law enforcement. In the economic terms that are used in debates on competition policy, the concern is with vertical integration that may give firms both the opportunity (through denial of access or price discrimination) and incentive (increased profit) to restrict competition. This paper’s central point is that virtually every production process in the economy is vertically integrated, and economics predicts changes in the extent of vertical integration—that is, changes in the boundaries of the firm—in response to changes in relative prices, technology, or institutions. Both vertical integration and changes in the extent of vertical integration are benign characteristics of efficient, dynamic, competitive markets. While there is no shortage of theoretical models in which vertical integration may be harmful, most such models have restrictive assumptions and ambiguous welfare predictions—even when market power is assumed to be present. Empirical evidence that vertical integration or vertical restraints are harmful is weak, compared to evidence that vertical integration is beneficial—again, even in cases where market power appears to be present. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that prophylactic regulation is not necessary, and may well reduce welfare. Sound policy is to wait for ex post evidence of harm to justify interventions in specific cases. Net neutrality, recently enacted by the FCC but subject to judicial review, is an unfortunate idea.     

Do Court Decisions Drive the Federal Trade Commission’s Enforcement Policy on Merger Settlements?

Mergers are generally conglomerate in nature with only minor (if any) horizontal overlaps. Under U.S. law, an enforcement agency may challenge any anticompetitive aspect of the merger and the consequent delay associated with litigation would impose costs on the firm. These costs may give the enforcement agency “leverage” to extract a settlement even when the firm would prevail in court. This paper explores whether the FTC’s decisions to challenge transactions approximate the case law. We find that the representative enforcement regimes of the FTC and the courts are remarkably similar, although the FTC credits efficiencies, while courts consider buyer sophistication as a mitigating factor.     

Regulation in Vertically-Related Industries: Myths, Facts, and Policy

This paper explains why conclusions that appear to be “facts” can truly be “myths” in industries like today’s telecommunications industry, where key suppliers operate in multiple vertical stages of production. The paper explains, for example, why an entrant’s decision to make or buy critical production inputs may be largely insensitive to the price of these inputs. It also reviews why a vertically-integrated producer (VIP) may prefer to assist, rather than disadvantage, retail rivals, and why a VIP may be disadvantaging rivals even when it provides them with the same wholesale service quality that it provides to its own retail affiliate.     

Revenue Sharing and Competitive Balance in a Dynamic Contest Model

This paper presents a dynamic model of talent investments in a team sports league with an infinite time horizon. We show that the clubs’ investment decisions and the effects of revenue sharing on competitive balance depend on the following three factors: (i) the cost function of talent investments, (ii) the clubs’ market sizes, and (iii) the initial endowments of talent stock. We analyze how these factors interact in the transition to the steady state as well as in the steady state itself.