Journal articles on the topic 'Higher School Certificate examination (Vic )'

Assessment as classroom activities is a fundamental process required to determine the extent to which intended learning outcomes has been achieved. Whatever form of assessment is employed to measure students’ learning, they should include tasks that are authentic, relevant and approximate skills students will need in real-life situations. These skills are well accentuated in the advocacy of the current reforms in science education to develop students’ higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) through question-asking, critical thinking and problem solving. Therefore, this research analyzes chemistry questions of senior school certificate examination conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO) within the framework of Bloom’s revised taxonomy of cognitive objectives. The source of data consisted of 257 questions drawn from 5 years examination, from 2010 – 2014. The results from this research indicated that about 80% and 44% of the questions require lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS) and factual knowledge respectively. The results further revealed that there was no question in the evaluate category of the HOCS, and none of the questions required students to apply metacognitive knowledge. The research concludes that the chemistry questions were not as cognitively demanding as they should be, and it is recommended that, examination should ensure that examination questions reflect the dual perspective of the Bloom’s revised taxonomy of cognitive process skills and the knowledge dimensions.Keywords: higher-order cognitive skills, Bloom’s revised taxonomy, cognitive process skills, knowledge dimension, chemistry questions.

South Africa’s National Senior Certificate examination system was introduced in 2008 as a single national examination system, in order to facilitate fair and standardised assessment and to provide all learners with an equal chance of access to higher education. However, limited research has been done to investigate the discrimination power of the actual examination items and the spread difficulty level for learners from different school quintile types. The purpose of the study reported on here was to investigate differential performance of learners in the items of the 2009 National Senior Certificate mathematics examination. The dataset used in this study was from the Western Cape (WC) Education Department. From the analysis, the results show that the discrimination power of the different examination questions was not identical across different school quintiles. Further investigation of the data reflects a considerable range of category difficulty levels, with higher (above average) ability levels being tested for learners in the quintile 1 to quintile 4 schools, while only learners with average abilities were being tested in the quintile 5 and independent schools.

The vocational schools in Taiwan regard professional certifications as a badge of skills achievement. However, due to a national policy, pure online courses are not permitted. Moreover, it remains unclear whether every subject is suitable to be delivered via online courses. In this regard, the author conducted a quasi-experiment to examine the effects of applying blended learning (BL) with different course orientations on students’ computing skills, and explored the appropriate combination for teachers who teach computing courses. Four classes in successive semesters, with a total of 195 students from the courses of ‘Database Management System’ and ‘Packaged Software and Application’, were divided into 2 (Design-oriented vs. Procedural-oriented) × 2 (BL vs. Traditional Learning) experimental groups. The results showed that students from both design-oriented and procedural-oriented courses delivered in BL environment, had significantly higher grades on the examination for certificates than those who learned in traditional learning environment.

THIS study examines the relationship between Year 12 students' perceptions of life in Catholic schools and their achievement in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination. It investigates whether the quality of school life which students experience differs across Catholic schools and whether it still affects students' achievement in the HSC when school and student background variables are controlled. The study was conducted by surveying 4949 students from 44 Catholic high schools in New South Wales, in May 1990 regarding their perceptions of the quality of school life. Student achievement was measured by their Tertiary Entrance Score at the HSC examination in November 1990. The clear picture which emerges suggests that Catholic schools differ considerably in terms of students' HSC achievement and that the quality of school life which students experience in these schools has a significant impact on their academic achievement over and above student characteristics and background characteristics of the schools.

Over the last decade, secondary schools in Tanzania have failed to produceenough graduates who are able to join higher level of schooling (Advanced level). Only less than 35% of students were able to score between division one and three.Theaimofthisstudywastodevelopafactormodelwithfactorsaffectingtheoverallperformance in secondary schools in certificate of secondary national examinations inTanzania. Data was collected from 26 secondary schools in Dar es salaam and Arushausing self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaires had 16 Likert type questions in five-point scalerangingfromstronglydisagreetostronglyagree.Thefindingsfromfactoranalysis indicatedthatthreefactorsnamely“schoolculture”,“supportivelearningenvironment “and “teacher satisfaction with the school” explained 74.8 percent of total variation inoverall performance in certificate of secondary education examination. Multiple Linearregressionrevealedthatsupportivelearningenvironmenthadasignificanteffectonoverall performance in terms of school Grade Point Average. It is concluded that in orderto improve overall performance, schools and the government should create supportivelearning environment by employing more teachers, ensuring availabilityof books aretimely and adequately available and the availability of library and laboratories. Furtherstudies should add the qualitative part so as to gather more information about schoolsand otherfactorswhichwerenot considered underthisstudy.

IntroductionSecondary school students in Nigeria are under intense pressure to perform well in their academics so as to have competitive advantage in advancing their studies. This pressure has been linked to western derived psycho-pathologies such as depression, anxiety and culture bound syndrome such as brain fag syndrome.AimTo examine gender differences in the manifestation of brain-fag syndrome, depression, and anxieties among students about to participate in Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria.MethodsTwo hundred and nine (209) students (X age = 14.27, SD = 2.18) were administered a battery of tests comprising of the Brain Fag Syndrome Scale, Brain Fag Propensity Scale, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire, Mathematics Anxiety Inventory and Test Anxiety Inventory. The data was subjected to a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).ResultsThe result showed no significant gender differences in the manifestation of brain-fag syndrome, depression, and anxieties, F (6, 202) = 0.947, P ≥ 0.01; Pillai's Trace = 0.03, partial η2 = 0.02. In consonance with earlier studies, males reported higher brain fag mean scores than female participants (X = 5.46, SD = 2.06; X = 4.88, SD = 2.43).ConclusionsThe study has shown that adolescents who are about to take their final examinations manifest brain fag propensity and go on to manifest symptoms of the brain fag syndrome. But, there is no significant gender difference in the manifestation of brain fag syndrome among males and females.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Studies revealed that college readiness promotes college success and higher education student learning outcomes. This study opted to 1) analyze the total effect and the conditional effect of college readiness on college success by university generations and departments; 2) analyze the differences in the probability of college success across departments and university generations; 3) describe the quality of university generations in terms of the conditional effects and the probabilities of college success. The study is an ex post facto research. The Ethiopian 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation universities; and the Ethiopian National Assessment and Evaluation Agency officers were the population of the study. The total sample size was 551. The Ethiopian General Education School Leaving Certificate Examination Grade Point Average, the Ethiopian Higher Education Entrance Examination score, and the College Cumulative Grade Point Average of the students were sources of the data. Using the Process Procedure for Software Package for Social Sciences, the binomial logistic regression was conducted. Maintaining the highest total conditional effect of college readiness on college success while heightening the probability of college success at a value of college readiness has been interpreted as a trait of the high performing university generation.

This article is a continuation of the study by the same authors on the relationship of mathematics achievement in high school with academic performance in mathematics and other subjects at school. Adding statistics on students of the firstyear ofRussian State University of Tourism and Service allowed to increase the sample size in several times and to obtain more reliable results, which were originally obtained only for students of Finance and Technology Academy (FTA). Data was collected from 104 students FTA ofthe first year (2013/2014 year students) and 290 students ofRSUTS of the first year (2012/2013 year of study), and the later were represented by 180 students from the Faculty of Economics (FE), and 110 students from the Faculty of service (FS). For FTA the data contain the following parameters: the average score in mathematics in the certificate, the USE in math, USE in Russian, a total score of USE (Unified State Examination) to enroll in college and academic performance in high school mathematics. For RSUTS the data was obtained on the same parameters, except for the average score in mathematics in the certificate. For these parameters were found accurate interval estimates of the correlation coefficients, as well as histograms of frequencies to test the hypothesis of normal distribution. For statistical calculations and histograms the authors used formulae oj"mathematicalstatistics andcomputersoftwareforstatisticaldata processing STATISTICA. The study of interval frequency parameters showed that the USE in Russian has a distribution of frequencies close to the normal law. While the frequency of USE in math scores is significantly different from the normal distribution. This suggests a significant impact on the results of USE in maths by factors which do not possess the nature of the random deviations. It is shown that admission to university, and as a result a new life stage, a change of scenery and teachers provide students with additional opportunities in revealing mathematical abilities.

It appears that students find it easier to solve problems on plain questions than worded problems in mathematics. This led the researcher to study the relationship between students’ scores on plain questions and their scores on worded problems. The study was correlational. A sample of 122 final year senior secondary school students was drawn through judgemental sampling technique from public secondary schools in Bayelsa and Delta states, south-south Nigeria. The instrument had five plain questions and five worded problems adapted from the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination questions examined in 2009,2010 and 2011. Students responded to questions in algebraic operations, arithmetic, trigonometry and geometry. Using mean and the product moment correlation statistics to analyze the scores from the two set of questions, it was discovered that scores from plain questions had no significant relationship with scores from worded problems. However, students had higher mean score on plain questions. It was recommended that students should be drilled in solving word problems in mathematics.

Objective. Analysis of organization of school nutrition based on an interview survey conducted among teachers, health providers, kitchen workers, and parents of schoolchildren of secondary general schools. Material and methods. In order to determine the problems of the organization of school meals we used a method of an interview survey of 615 people, including 256 teachers, 27 health providers, 68 kitchen workers and 264 parents of schoolchildren of Tashkent secondary general schools. Overall, 9 kitchens were checked, of them 77.8% were canteens preparing meals from raw and semi-finished foodstuffs, and 22.2% were tuck-shops. Results. Among kitchen workers, 14.3% had higher and incomplete higher education, 64.3% had specialized vocational education; in 100% of cases they had a health certificate with indication of the date of medical examination, but more than half of them had no sanitation training or attestation. Only 51% of the kitchen staff could correctly describe the technology of washing dishes, cooking equipment, tools and utensils, and facilities, safe food storage and the sanitary-hygienic requirements to meal preparation. Disinfection and disinfestation of kitchen facilities in more than 55% of cases were performed by the school staff. In 78.6% of cases, territorial sanitary-epidemiological inspectors supervised the organization of school nutrition. According to 30% of respondents, the existing system of organization school nutrition was not satisfactory. Conclusion. More than 60% of the teaching staff, health providers and parents believe that the optimal variant for healthy food provision for schoolchildren is a canteen working directly with raw or semi-manufactured foodstuffs. In order to improve organization of school nutrition and satisfy the needs of schoolchildren for high-quality and safe meals it is expedient to build large food-processing complexes in the city of Tashkent. Key words: organization of school nutrition, state of school kitchens, survey among secondary school staff

Purpose: The spread of Novel Corona virus (COVID-19) affected all fields of life along with education across the globe. After increase in positive cases of COVID-19, Federal Government of Pakistan announced the closure of educational institutions all over the country in the mid of March, 2020, as a protective measure for students and staff members. Due to complete lockdown in the country, internal and board exams of secondary school certificate (SSC) and higher secondary school certificate (HSSC) cancelled. Students got promotion without annual examination into next classes based on previous performance. This study investigated the blow of COVID- 19 on the students of government educational institutions of Islamabad along with the response of Government on the issue. Methodology: This was a qualitative study with case study approach. Target population was all the students and teachers/head teachers from public High and Higher secondary schools in Islamabad Pakistan. Random convenient sampling technique used for collection of data. Semi structured interviews were conducted telephonically for data. After completion, interviews/ responses transcribed and analyzed. Findings: Results of this research have revealed that this pandemic has badly affected the Federal educational institutions of Islamabad because of confinement of students in homes. Generally, students in government schools are from middle and lower middle class. They have no/limited access to internet and technology at home. It has widened the gap between privileged and none privileged/less privileged students due to inequality in access to internet and unavailability of gadgets in unbiased access to quality education. These factors compelled the Government to launch Tele-School on PTV (Pakistan Television) channel that started its regular transmission on 14 April 2020. Basic aim was to give assistance to all students confined at home. Schools opened after expected peak time I.e. 15 September. Students were allowed to join the regular school in small groups on alternate day. Strict precautionary measures, like social distancing, use of disinfectants in and around the premises/humans and provision of regular medical assistance carried out. Data revealed that the whole system was overburdened but the steps taken caused the far less damage than expected to the students. Recommendation: The study recommend that Tele-school channel should continue even after pandemic. It is beneficial for students to learn during closure of schools. It is also helpful to the students of remote areas, with no or least of internet facilities. Time has proven that the low-income government institutions have tackled the situation very well under the visionary umbrella of Federal Directorate of Education Islamabad Pakistan.

In Bangladesh, there are improvements in secondary education by quantitative indicators but the satisfactory picture is remained far from the quality. The gross deficiency in teaching includes one of the main reasons for poor quality of secondary education. There are higher failure rates in Mathematics subject in Secondary School Certificate examination in the last consecutive years. An extensive review of research has shown that teachers account to a large extent for student learning and achievement gains. For secondary teacher education in Bangladesh, there is a one-year long training program named as Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.). Therefore, the study sought to find out the effectiveness of B.Ed. training program on mathematics teachers’ content knowledge as a mean of improving secondary school mathematics in Bangladesh. The study was conducted among 38 mathematics teachers (trained and untrained) selected from 16 secondary schools of Dhaka city using survey method. Teacher’s content knowledge was measured through an assessment test and classroom teaching observation. The study found that though the B.Ed. trained mathematics teachers (96.3%) possess better content knowledge than their counterpart (91.7%) but no relationship between teachers’ personal characteristics and their content knowledge in mathematics. This is the first study to investigate the effectiveness of secondary teacher education program within Bangladesh. It contributes important insights about secondary teacher education that can be used to inform the professional development of the secondary school mathematics teachers in Bangladesh.

Background: The relationship between coffee and tea consumption and dental caries in Saudi Arabia has not been covered adequately. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the association between the frequency and quantity of coffee and tea consumption and dental caries severity among adolescents (middle and high schools) in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional observational survey study that was carried out in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Validated interview-based questionnaires were used to ask about the background information and the frequency and quantity of coffee and tea consumption with two sections of the survey: the first section was about the demographic data and the second section assessed the frequency and quantity of coffee and tea consumption and examination was done during daylight using disposable dental mirror and blunt probe. Result: A total of 2265 middle school children with a response rate of 77.8%. Out of them, Females accounted for 1288 (56%) and the mean age (±SD) was 14 (±1.322). Regarding parents’ education, 1916 (84.6%) of participants’ fathers and 1836 (81.1%) of their mothers had a high school certificate or higher. There was a significant association between the frequency of coffee and tea consumption and caries (p=0.013). Conclusion: There was a significant association between the frequency of coffee and tea consumption and caries (p=0.013). The frequency of coffee and tea consumption, the higher the caries. However, there was no association between the quantity of coffee and tea consumption and D nor with the overall DMF score.

The Education White Paper 3 on Higher Education aimed to transform the higher education system. Change within tertiary education included adjusting the size and shape of institutions, the meaning of autonomy and accountability, the nature of higher education, the character of student demographic distribution, management and governance, roles of student politics, models of delivery, the notion of higher education in terms of the relationship between free trade and public good, programme changes and the nature of the academic workplace. At this stage, transformation in higher education is leaping outwards to fulfil the criteria set by international competitiveness and related efficiency criteria that can be attributed to globalisation pressures and to deeper factors inherent in the nature of higher education, especially in terms of its resistance to change and modernization. In this regard, the tertiary higher education system in South Africa is faced with many multi-dimensional challenges that need to be addressed in this article. This includes stating whether Grade 12 results as the outcome of this exit point at school level are, internationally speaking, a reasonable predictor of first-year academic success at university. In South Africa, there is no benchmarking of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination; therefore, first-year students have difficulty in adapting to the university environment as they find themselves devoid of indispensable bases for the pursuit of their studies and the weakness of the level of education given at school level in a large number of instances. Furthermore, five universities were placed under administration in the 2011-2012 period because of appallingly poor levels of management, which adds extra layers of suspicion to the notion of the impact of higher education in South Africa. Many other challenges are facing the South African tertiary education system, which will be analysed and recommendations arrived at that will attempt to contribute to an enhancement of tertiary education in South Africa.

Abstract Background Ship auxiliary machinery is one of the core courses for marine engineering students to participate in the crew qualification examination. It is also a subject that students generally feel difficult. At present, the passing rate of maritime group ability certificate is low. How to improve the passing rate of students' courses is a problem that every front-line teacher must face. In particular, we should pay attention to the application of comparative teaching method in teaching. Subjects and Methods The reasons for the above phenomena include the difficulty of crew certificate examination, insufficient time for relevant professional courses, weak cultural foundation of students, lack of learning perseverance, etc. With the help of the research platform of the cultural quality education committee and school level projects, the ship auxiliary machinery teaching team of our university has carried out a special research on ship auxiliary machinery teaching according to the cognitive characteristics of higher vocational students. The three course team members are respectively responsible for the three teaching links of raising problems, analyzing problems and solving problems in the sub topic research. Through the arrangement of knowledge structure, Case Supplement and table making, the comparative teaching method is applied to the curriculum reform of ship auxiliary machinery. The effect of the curriculum reform is tested by the examination results of four-wheel engineers who participated in the crew qualification examination organized by the State Maritime Administration. At the same time, the study investigated the role of this teaching method in emotional behavior regulation. This study uses Watson and friend's fear of negation scale (1969) for measurement. The study defines “fear of negation evaluation” (fne) as taking advantage of others' evaluation, being distressed by others' negative evaluation, and expecting to be negatively evaluated by others. The items of this scale are completely consistent with the above concepts. The prototype of fne scale (Watson and friend, 1969) contains 30 “yes and no” items, of which the positive and negative scores are roughly the same. The revised concise scale (Leary, 1983) contains 12 items in the original scale and is rated at level 5 (1 = completely inconsistent with me: 5 = very consistent with me). The score range of the original fne scale is from. (minimum fne) to 30 (maximum fne). The concise scale ranged from 12 to 60. The opposite of high fne is that there is no guarantee of excellence in the evaluation of others, but not necessarily the expectation or need for positive evaluation. The mean value of the original table score of 205 groups was 15.5 (SD = 8.6), and the score was rectangular distribution. The average score of another sample composed of 128 subjects was 13.6 (SD = 7.6) A. The average score of the sample (n = 150) used to compile the 12 item concise scale was 35.7 (SD = 8.1) Results According to the examination results of four wheeled vehicle qualification certificate of Marine Engineering Specialty in recent two years, the average score of the experimental class is 30% higher than that of the ordinary class. We believe that the comparative teaching method can better match the ship auxiliary machinery curriculum and students' cognitive characteristics, create a relaxed and active learning environment for students, and is an effective way to improve the efficiency of ship auxiliary machinery teaching. The results showed that fne score was moderately correlated with other scales related to social occasion anxiety, such as social avoidance (SAD) scale (r = 0.51) and Interaction Anxiety Scale (r = 0.32). Compared with those with low scores, those with high fne scores are more uneasy when evaluated, are more likely to agree with the “unreasonable belief” that it is important to be liked, and are more concerned about making a good impression (friend and Gilbert, 1973; Smith and Sarason, 1975). Similarly, people with high fne scores experienced higher anxiety when evaluated and were more annoyed by possible negative evaluations. The original fne scale was low correlated with Marlowe crown social expectation scale (r = - 0.25). Conclusions From the results of students' feedback, this study has achieved the expected goal. However, it should be noted that since the research has not been carried out for a long time and the selected student objectives have not been popularized, it is necessary for students majoring in marine engineering in sister colleges to test the results in practice. At the same time, strengthen the deep integration of comparative teaching method and ship auxiliary equipment course, enrich the teaching content with richer cases, clearer forms and more exquisite courseware, and create excellent professional courses to stimulate students' thinking and cultivate professional ability. Improving the comprehensive quality is the next work direction of the research group. Acknowledgements Supported by The Research Project of Cultural Quality Education in Vocational Colleges in 2019 “Research on the Way to Promote Cultural Quality Education in Maritime Vocational Colleges” as a phased achievement. (Project No. WHSZJZW [2020] No. 8 2019YB40); also supported by The Research Project of Hubei Communications Technical College “Research on the course of Marine Auxiliary Machinery certificate examination”. (Project No.Y2021022)

The question of whether primary schools in Kenya can take on community-based activities beyond their day-to-day functioning, emerged from a larger HIV/AIDS education and prevention program—Primary School Action for Better Health (PSABH). The methodology involved both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative component was based on 163 schools, which were involved in the larger PSABH program. Qualitative analysis was based on consultative meetings with twenty key informants and follow-up focus-group discussions with representatives from eight schools involved in community-based activities. The results suggest that in this context schools have strong community ties, with most of them willing to take up community-based organization (CBO)-related activities beyond their day-to-day functioning. Schools were more likely to take on CBO-related activities, such as support for orphans, if they had a higher proportion of female teachers, a school sponsor that was involved in the selection of the head teacher, more Parent Teacher Association meetings, and if HIV/AIDS was incorporated into community festivals. A school's involvement was reinforced if it performed well in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination, if the school's head teacher was committed, and if most of the teachers were from the local community. Despite several challenges, the findings point to the need to take schools seriously in their duty as CBOs which can have a positive impact in mitigating not only the effects of HIV/AIDS, but also other community-development activities in ravaged sub-Saharan African countries. The proposed expansion of PSABH further puts Kenyan schools in a stronger position to be involved in their communities through CBO-related activities.

Alexander Robertus Todd (Alex to his friends), was born in October 1907 in Cathcart, to the south of Glasgow. His father, Alexander Todd, of southern Scottish descent, was at first a clerk in the Glasgow Subway Railway Company and later its Secretary; subsequently he was the Managing Director of the Drapery and Furnishing Co–operative Society Ltd in Glasgow. He was ambitious to better himself and his family and although his formal teaching had ended at thirteen he held a strong regard for education and was determined, as was his wife Jane (née Lowry) that it should not be denied to their children. As their affluence increased they moved to the village of Clarkston, whence Alex had to trudge one and a half miles each day to the public school in Cathcart. One should recall that this was during wartime: life was hard and boots were of poor quality. At the age of eleven he passed the entrance examination to Allan Glen's school, the Glasgow High School of Science in the centre of the city. Among the teachers was Robert Gillespie, who taught chemistry and fostered Alex's growing interest in that subject. This gave him the impetus, after passing the Higher Leaving Certificate examination in 1924, to enter the University of Glasgow to read for an honours degree in chemistry. Once there, he was recognized by his teachers as a highly talented student, taking the James Black Medal and the Roger Muirhead Prize in his first year, which also gave him a scholarship for the rest of his course. Alex graduated BSc with first class honours in 1928 and was awarded a Carnegie Research Scholarship of €100 a year to work with Professor T.S. Patterson. He and his predecessor, G.G. Henderson, F.R.S., had strong interests in alchemy and the history of chemistry. The latter subject was even compulsory in the final year. Alex was interested in this and, much later in life, spoke and wrote knowledgeably on several aspects of the history of organic chemistry. Patterson's research interest was optical rotatory dispersion and, although Todd's first two papers were published jointly with Patterson in 1929 (1, 2)*, it was clear that a subject in which theory and practice made little contact was not for him. With encouragement from Patterson, Alex transferred to the University of Frankfurt to work in the laboratory of W. Borsche.

Introduction. With the introduction of a new attestation procedure of school graduates in the form of the Unified State Examination (USE), coaching has gained widespread acceptance in Russia. By some estimates, between a quarter and a half of school graduates have recourse to one-to-one coaching when preparing for the USE. However, the question of the efficiency of such lessons remains open. Recently, various publications in professional periodicals and the media have begun to appear, which cast doubt on the benefits of coaching. The authors of these publications are specialists of the Higher School of Economics (HSE). According to their studies, additional lessons in preparing for the USE, including those with coaches, have a very little effect. Theaimof the research was to discuss the validity of the HSE specialists’ arguments concerning the low efficiency of coaching activities.Methodology and research methods. In the course of studying the problem, a comprehensive research methodology was applied, including approaches for comparative and statistical analysis of data and materials published by the HSE, Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements (FIPI) and Federal Testing Centre.Results and scientific novelty. An analysis of scientific works published by the HSE specialists showed that their conclusions with regard to the claimed low efficiency of additional lessons in preparation for the USE are unsubstantiated due to the presence of gross methodological errors in the calculations. Firstly, the students’ initial level of knowledge prior to lessons with a coach was miscalculated, with the final school grades in Russian language and mathematics being taken as the initial level instead of the average score of the certificate. Secondly, the specialists ignored the fact that the final grade “two” does not exist in the school attestation system. In this regard, the models used by the HSE specialists’ did not allow the progress in training from the school grade “three” to the USE “three” evaluation to be adequately recognised. Thirdly, the determination of the efficiency of coaching was made without taking the specific character of different teaching disciplines into account. Thus, the reliance on formal mathematical procedures to the detriment of content problem analysis led the specialists of the HSE to snap judgements that do not reflect the true situation.Practical significance.The authors believe that the observations provided in this paper will help education specialists to adjust approaches when determining the efficiency of additional lessons during USE preparation.

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a critical interpretative analysis of an innovative model of assessment in subject English in New South Wales, Australia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical and practical dimensions of assessment in the English Extension 2 course. This course forms part of suite of senior secondary English courses within the Higher School Certificate program that includes high-stakes external examination. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on methods of documentary analysis. It sits within the tradition of curriculum research that critiques pre-active curriculum documents as a primary source for interpreting the theoretical and pedagogical principles and assumptions encoded in such documents. A social constructionist approach informs the analysis. Findings – The model of assessment in the New South Wales (NSW) English Extension 2 course provides students with the opportunity to engage in sustained research and the production of a major piece of work. In its emphasis on student creativity, reflective practice, metacognition and independent research, the course exemplifies the ways in which the principle of assessing both process and product as organic is achievable in a context of high-stakes external examinations. Originality/value – In an era of high-stakes, external and standardised testing regimes, this paper challenges the normative definitions of assessment prevalent in secondary schools, particularly at the senior secondary level. The assessment model underpinning the NSW English Extension 2 course offers a robust alternative to the increasingly prescriptive models evident in current education policy and practice. The paper calls for renewed attention to the potential for such a model of authentic assessment to be considered in the assessment programs of other subjects constituting the curriculum.

One of the topical challenges facing higher educational establishments (HEE) is to build the most optimal model for competitive selection of entrants. Based on the results of the external independent assessment (EIA) and the average score of the entry certificate, the institution of higher education, by varying weights, tries to build such a rating list, which places in the first place exactly those applicants who are able to study better in the relevant specialty. Evaluation of the applied model of competitive selection is investigated by the indicator of the predictive validity of the competitive score. Predictive validity is the correlation coefficient between the indicator by which competitive selection is made and the student's performance during the first year of study. Therefore, by assessing the value of predictive validity, it is possible to examine the statistical relationships of EIA results in different subjects or their respective weights with student performance and to build optimal competitive selection models based on them. In this case, the effectiveness of the HEE entry system based on EIA is recognized as high, if the correlation coefficient (R) is greater than 0.5; sufficient, if the correlation coefficient is in the range [0,3, 0,5] and low, if the correlation coefficient is less than 0,3. Since 2018, analytical procedures for EIA have begun to be introduced gradually for college graduates, but only as a state final certification. Subsequently, the results of the EIA will be taken into account in the admission of junior specialists to the bachelor's degree. But now, enrollment in the HEE is based on the grade point average of the school certificate and the results of the university entrance examination. Therefore, the study of the prognostic validity index of competitive selection of college graduates is relevant both in terms of evaluating the existing model of admission to the HEE, and for the search of directions for its improvement. In order to evaluate the predictive value of competitive selection and its components, the results of the calculation of correlation indicators between the students' grades and the students' success in the subjects studied in the HEE during the first semester of the third year are presented. The data obtained indicate a sufficiently high prognostic validity (R>0,5) of the competition score. At the same time, a significant level of correlation was observed both with the average rates of students' education in the first semester and with success in almost every discipline (only for the discipline "Information Systems and Technologies of Accounting and Audit" the correlation coefficient is slightly less than 0.5). It should also be noted that the competition score is better correlated with the results of the current academic performance of students in the 1st semester (before the test session), than with the results of the overall success after the 1st session. As it turns out, this tendency to decrease correlation is due to the fact that several students did not participate in the exam and therefore their average learning outcomes are very different from the main group of observations. Also indicative for predicting student learning outcomes in the HEE are the data from the average score of the school certificate. This indicator, as shown by the correlation coefficient calculations, has high predictive validity to the average results of the first semester (R = 0.73 and R = 0.67) and to each individual discipline (R>0.5). Therefore, when introducing external independent assessment for college graduates, it is also advisable to enter the average score of the education document into the formula for calculating the competition score. On the other hand, a proficiency test of university applicants is a weak predictor of student performance during the first semester (R<0.5 for all HEE subjects without exception). The slight correlation between these criteria is related to the introduced professional test evaluation methodology and therefore requires further improvement. By analyzing the standardized values of deviations between the competition grade and the average success rate of a student in the first semester, the presence of abnormal levels of evaluation within the sample was investigated. It is shown that the Spirman rank correlation coefficient is less dependent on the presence of such anomalies and is more rational when estimating the prognostic validity of small samples.

Objective. Universal Newborn Hearing Screening began in 2 Honolulu hospitals in 1992, and by 1999, all 14 civilian birthing facilities in Hawaii were providing screening. Examination of 1998 Hawaii data indicated that approximately 13% of infants who did not pass initial hearing screening in the hospital did not return for the indicated follow-up. The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiologic profile of infants who were born in 1999 and did not return for follow-up. Methods. A population-based, cohort study of the hearing screening completion rates among the 13 civilian birthing facilities in Hawaii that provided data to the Department of Health was conducted. Analysis included a bivariate analysis of the demographic characteristics of infants who completed the screening/follow-up process compared with those who did not and logistic regression modeling to ascertain the demographic profile of infants at high risk for being lost to follow-up. Results. Of 12 456 infants, hearing screening data could be linked to the birth certificate file, and a final disposition regarding completion of the screening/follow-up process was determined for 10 328 (83%). Less than 2% (n = 176) of the linked infants failed to complete the screening/follow-up procedures. Low birth weight and white infants and infants born to women who had not completed high school were approximately twice as likely not to complete the screening as were their normal birth weight or nonwhite counterparts. Conclusions. Failure to complete the hearing screening follow-up may be related to cultural differences that have been previously reported in other maternal and child health studies of the diverse populations in Hawaii. The results of this study will allow the Hawaii Newborn Hearing Screening Program to target its efforts and limited resources toward infants who are at higher risk of not completing the screening and who may need special attention to encourage their mothers to complete the screening process, and to move quickly with rescreening infants whose initial tests are positive so that infants are not lost to follow-up.

Abstract Human malaria, caused by four species of Plasmodium, namely P falciparum, P vivax, P malariae, and P ovale, remains a health problem of global concern, with one to two million deaths annually and risking about two billion people worldwide. Alternative ways of controlling the incidence of malaria through understanding the host’s immune response to monoinfection and the detection of the presence of asymptomatic malaria infection are the factors being addressed in this study. The determination of the possible existence of cross-antigenic stimulation is a matter of great significance for future research and development. The isolation of these antigenic structures may give the first step to the development of better vaccines that may protect the general population who are at risk of developing malaria. Prior to blood collection, a memorandum of agreement was signed between the researcher and the Iraya-Mangyan leaders of Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro. A Certificate Precondition was issued by the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples, which was required by the Graduate School Ethics Review Committee. Determination of the presence of malaria parasite on blood samples of residents of two barangays in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, was performed using two methods: microscopic examination of stained blood smears for the presence of malaria parasite and polymerase chain reaction. Blood smears were prepared and eventually stained using Giemsa and Dip Quick stains. The detection of 5 positive cases of malaria infection with ring/schizont stage among the 53 cases was a clear indication of positive asymptomatic cases. Nested PCR using Plasmodium spp.–specific primer as well as P falciparum–specific and P vivax–specific primers showed the absence of bands so that one of the recommendations in this study is the performance of real-time PRC using more sensitive primers. Levels of P falciparum and P vivax–specific immunoglobulin were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealing a higher level of PF-specific IgG than PV-specific IgG. Whole blood samples were saved for future determinations such as real-time PCR, immunophenotypic analysis, and possible parasitic culture. Further similar studies may also be done by increasing the number of respondents as well as the areas of concern for a more extensive scope.

With its ever increasing number of speakers, Spanish, being one of the so-called major languages of the world, has overtaken English in terms of native speakers in recent years, now ranking second behind Chinese, and its growing popularity and expansion can be felt in Latvia as well. In recent years it is evidenced by an increase in translations of original works into Latvian, cinema and theatre performances, rapid growth of various Spanish companies and, undoubtedly, the interest of the residents of Latvia, particularly young people, in learning Spanish. In Latvia, Spanish can be learned in general education schools, starting from Form 6; it is more popular among secondary school pupils, as evidenced by the number of general education schools: in academic year 2018/19 Spanish could be learned in 18 general education schools, while in academic year 2019/20 there were 16 education institutions offering the language. Moreover, the capital of Latvia is not the only place where Spanish is taught as a second or third foreign language: everything depends on the opportunities provided by each individual school. In total, there were 32 schools in Latvia where Spanish was taught as the third or even the fourth foreign language during last academic year. To obtain secondary education in Latvia, one of the centralised exams has to be taken in a foreign language; English is the most popular choice among schools. Those who wish to obtain a certificate in Spanish can do so at the Instituto Cervantes DELE examination centre, which has been operating at the Latvian Academy of Culture since 2004. The centre offers an opportunity to take exams at 6 levels and obtain the internationally recognised DELE diploma, certifying the examinee’s Spanish knowledge and skills. Spanish can also be learned in courses and at language centres irrespective of the students’ age and previous knowledge. Picasso and Seneca, two private Spanish language centres, have been successfully operating in Latvia for more than 10 years, and their students range from pupils to seniors. Bachelor students learn Spanish at the Latvian Academy of Culture in the Latvia-Spain Cross-Cultural Communication programme; however, they do not obtain a qualification in philology. Master students can learn Spanish as part of the Romance Language and Culture Studies study programme at the University of Latvia, and the language is also offered as an elective course at other higher education institutions in Latvia. Unfortunately, systemic Spanish acquisition and programme continuity is hindered by the lack of a Spanish philology bachelor study programme at the University of Latvia. The paper focuses on Spanish learning traditions, issues, and future opportunities in Latvia, drawing upon data available in the state education system and interviews with industry experts: officials, educators, and translators.

Purpose Integration and use of technology in teaching and learning in the education sector from pre-primary education (PPE) to the higher levels of education, is a policy issue. In developed countries, including Tanzania, information and communication technology (ICT), especially in PPE, is inadequately researched for laying evidence on its applicability in instruction and learning. Therefore, this paper aims to determine pre-primary teachers’ preparedness in integrating ICT in classroom instruction and challenges teachers face in integrating it for child’s meaningful learning. Design/methodology/approach Methods and instruments: a qualitative transcendental phenomenological approach was used in determining teachers’ preparedness in integrating ICT in PPE in Tanzania. It was further used to collect data that describe the teaching and learning through the integration of ICT in every session as their lived experience for pre-primary teachers. Its selection was appropriate as it allowed researchers to systematically analyse for description the commonalities and differences existing among the involved teachers in integrating ICT in teaching and learning as their lived experiences (Moerer-Urdahl and Creswell, 2004). To appropriately analyse teachers’ understanding and experiences regarding ICT and its integration in teaching and learning in pre-primary classes, semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires were used for in-depth understanding of the study problem. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data through open-ended questions where researchers took an average of 40 min per session with participants’ (teachers) using notebooks to take note of their thoughts, feelings and beliefs about ICT integration in PPE. Use of the semi-structured interview was based on the reality that it provides in-depth information pertaining to participants’ experiences and viewpoints of a particular topic (Turner, 2010). Once the interview session was complete, each teacher was given a questionnaire to fill in for triangulating their experiences. Description of participants: a total of 14 schools constituting 28 teachers were purposively sampled and engaged in this study. Analysis of participants’ demographic characteristics indicates that all of the involved teachers had certificate in teacher education that qualified them as primary school teachers. Meanwhile, 18 (66.7 per cent) of the pre-primary school teachers who were involved in this study were female with only 10 (33.3 per cent) had working experience at and above five years of teaching in early grade classes. Study participants (teachers) from Itilima and Meatu Districts were purposively involved in the study as their experiences in young children’s learning and contextual influences (educational and training policy of 2014, the ICT policy of 2007, and foreign studies) are potential in improving the quality of learning. Study area: the current study was conducted in two districts (Itilima and Meatu) all found in Simiyu region. The two districts were selected and considered appropriate by the study as they constituted the 17 most disadvantaged rural areas in Tanzania (Mosha et al., 2015). Authors describe the two districts as having poor educational outcomes mainly relatively low pass rates in the primary school leaving examination results. In Itilima, one ward out of 22 was studied in which its six schools [with a total of 12 teachers] among 87 schools in the district were involved. While in Meatu district, eight of 121 schools [with a total of 16 teachers] in one ward of 29 wards were studied. This implies that a total of 14 schools and 28 teachers were involved in this study. Data analysis: the data collected through the interviews and open-ended questionnaires were subjected to content analysis procedures (reading and re-reading notes and transcripts followed by a three-steps-coding process consisting of open, axial and selective coding procedures). The analysis process was informed by the Vagle’s (2014) six steps for phenomenological research data analysis procedure (holistic reading of the entire text, first line-by-line reading, follow up questions, second line-by-line reading, third line-by-line reading, and subsequent readings). Practically, the researchers read and re-read the texts and transcribed data from the language used during data collection that is Kiswahili, into the reporting language that is English. Following transcription, data were coded for developing categories of data through axial and elective coding processes. Findings The data analysis was conducted and results and its discussion are presented in three sub-sections: preparedness of teachers in using ICT in teaching and learning; teachers’ views about the integration of ICT in teaching and learning; and challenges faced by teachers in integrating ICT in teaching and learning. Teacher’s preparedness in the use of ICT in teaching: exploration of teachers’ preparedness in integrating ICT in teaching and learning was preceded by exploration of teachers’ understanding of ICT in teaching and learning. Analysis revealed that majority of teachers were aware about ICT in teaching and learning and they understood it as the implementation of curriculum at school level that involves use of ICT-based facilities such as television, mobile phones, computer and radio. Teacher elaborated that appropriate use of ICT-based facilities that would later develop children to potentially improve their understanding and practical application in daily life. Other teachers understood ICT in teaching and learning as use of printed materials [newspapers and magazines] in facilitating pupil’s learning of planned lessons. While other teachers were aware of what ICT means the second category of teachers as noted in their responses, had limited understanding, as to them, ICT in education meant use of printed materials. Difference in teachers’ understanding of the ICT in teaching and learning also indicate some teachers viewing it as use of ICT facilities in developing children’s competencies in the specific subject. In the teachers’ views, ICT is considered as subject content and they delimited their understanding into that perspective ignoring it as technological use for facilitating meaningful learning in all subjects. Their views are based on the development of children with competencies useful in facilitating further learning in the subject known as Teknolojia ya Habari na Mawasiliano. Following the question based on exploring teachers’ understanding of ICT in teaching and learning, researchers explored teachers’ preparedness in using ICT in teaching and learning. Table 1.0 illustrates teachers’ multiple responses regarding their preparation. Table I: teacher’s preparedness in using ICT in teaching and learning. S/N; preparedness; freq; and per cent. Enhancing child’s understanding on the use of ICT-based facilities-20, 71.4; using remedial sessions teaching ICT-12, 42.8; using ICT-based facilities for teaching other classes-8, 28.5. Table 1.0 illustrates that teachers are prepared to enable children use ICT to access information and more knowledge related to their school subjects and general life. They were of the view that ICT could serve well in areas where text and supplementary books are scares or torn-out by pupils because were poorly bound or due to poor quality of papers used. Therefore, availability of ICT facilities in schools would become important resource-materials for pupils, as well as teachers. For instance, a teacher said that; Availability of ICT facilities, such as computers in schools will help us in preparing notes or content for supplementing their learning. Different from the paper-based notes, computers will keep our notes properly compared to the papers that get easily displaced and hard to retrieve notes when lost (Interview, 20 April 2016). In addition to the use of ICT facilities in serving as resource material, their use in schools would aid pupils and teachers to use them beyond teaching and learning. Teachers narrated that children may find games and puzzles that all help in stimulating their thinking, hence interest in schooling and further learning. Teachers also said they are prepared to use even extra hours that are beyond school timetable to ensure children learn well to meet the uncovered periods once facilities are placed in school. Use of extra hours beyond the normal school timetable comm. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to the accessed and involved schools as some schools were found to have no specific teachers teaching a pre-primary class on reasons the responsible teacher for the class had retired. As a result, researchers spend extended time to travel and reach schools that were located far from one school to the other. Again, some teachers were reluctant in participation on reasons that researchers are evaluating their competency for reporting to the higher authorities. Practical implications Differences in teachers’ understanding of the ICT in teaching and learning also indicate some teachers viewing it as the use of ICT facilities in developing pupils’ competencies in the specific subject. In the teachers’ views, ICT is considered as subject content and they delimited their understanding into that perspective ignoring it as technological use for facilitating meaningful learning in all subjects. Effective integration of ICT for efficiency in instruction depends on the teacher’s preparedness especially competency in using the equipments and infrastructures especially electric power. Social implications Integration of Information and Communication Technology in teaching and learning in PPE is socially important in the view that all children regardless of their background (urban or rural, affluent or poor) benefits in learning through use of technology. The children’s access to education integrating ICT would ensure equal opportunities for quality learning outcomes. In contrast, lack of exposing young children early in using ICT facilities for interaction and learning would adversely impact their participation in knowledge sharing in later years of schooling and employability opportunities. Originality/value There is limited empirical evidence about teachers' engagement in research particularly in PPE in Tanzania. Together with limited research in the level of education, this study is the original contribution to state of teachers at the school level about their engagement in integrating information and communication technology for informing education decision makers and administrators on matters of focus to improve educational instruction and implementation of Tanzania education and training policy, as well as the implementation of the ICT policy of 2016.

There has been persistent reports of low performance of girls in final examination of Senior High School especially in Northern Ghana. Academic achievement at the Senior High School is a critical milestone in every Ghanaian student’s educational path and a critical step toward transition to higher levels of education. However, the rate of girls making the necessary grades in the final examination to enable them progress lags behind particularly in Northern Ghana. Far more attention has been paid to ensuring that girls enroll in school. This study investigate the determinants of girls’ performance in the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination using the case of a girl Senior High School. Participants were purposively selected from teachers who had experience in teaching final year students and past students of the school. Data was collected from fifteen (15) sampled teachers, and fifteen (15) past students of the school through interviews.

Keith Stewartson, one of the most mathematically profound of this century’s great applied mathematicians active in the mechanics of fluids, was brought up in Billingham, County Durham , where his father was a master baker. Keith was the youngest of three children, two boys and a girl, but his sister died very young and he was not subsequently able to remember her. Later on, an eminent academic career was nearly smothered at its inception when the eleven-plus examiners failed Keith Stewartson. Fortunately, however, they put him on a reserve list, from which he was in the end selected for entry to Stockton Secondary School. After a brilliant performance in the School Certificate Keith was encouraged to enter only a year later, in 1942, for the Higher School Certificate. Immediately after his extremely distinguished examination achievement leading to a State Scholarship and Kitchener Memorial Scholarship to St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, the family home received a direct hit from a German bomb. Happily, however, the Stewartsons escaped owing to their air-raid shelter’s robust construction.

Harold Warris Thompson was born in Wombwell, Yorkshire, on 15 February 1908. He had one sister, born five years earlier, who died in 1980. His father was the Chief Executive of a colliery and a town councillor; he died in 1928. At the age of nine he went to King Edward VII School in Sheffield, where he was particularly influenced by the mathematics master, Mr Nicholas, and by Mr Lloyd Davis who instilled in him a love of the German language and particularly its poetry. He was a House Captain and played football and cricket for the school. He took Higher School Certificate in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and German, and obtained an open scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford, in 1924. During the scholarship examination he was invited with a few other candidates to dine in the Senior Common Room in Balliol, and he often spoke of his vivid memories of that daunting occasion, when he first met C. N. Hinshelwood, Harold Hartley, E. J. Bowen, H. R. Raikes and J. H. Wolfenden.

This paper examines the place of geography in the school- level curriculum in Nepal. The rearm curriculum defines as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. Specifically, it is referred to a planned sequence of instruction, or a view of the student'; experiences in terms of the educator; or school's; instructional goals. After the establishment of Durbar High School in Nepal in 1910 and the School Leaving Certificate Board in 1990, the subject of Geography was formally introduced. This subject had recognized as a compulsory subject at the school level curriculum before the NESP. After the NESP (1971), the issue had allocated 50 marks, becoming has becomes an optional subject since 1982. Geographic concepts have been taught after the introduction of the social studies curriculum at the secondary level since 1992.At present, geography is teaching in Nepal as an elective subject from secondary level to higher education. However, this subject seems less of a priority for students than mathematics, computer, and account. For this purpose, data collected from the review of the report published from the Education Commissions, Curriculum Development Center, the records of the National Examination Board, e-resources, and other concerned bodies. This paper concludes that geography subject at the school level is in a crisis. However, with the inclusion of geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial planning in the curriculum from the school level, the future of this subject looks bright.

AbstractThe role and significance of schooling in maintaining and renewing social disadvantage is particularly evident in upper secondary education, and especially so in the high-stakes final examination at the end of Year 12. This paper focusses on Senior English in this context, with specific regard to the Australian state of New South Wales. Building on a recent study of the outcomes of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 2017, it analyses what the data reveal about the relationship between Senior English and social inequality in this instance. It does so with reference to a brief account of the history of English teaching and senior secondary curriculum policy in New South Wales and also, comparatively, a now well-established comprehensive study of senior secondary schooling in Victoria. It concludes with some implications of this account for further investigations of Senior English and subject English more generally, as well as of the social meaning of senior secondary education in Australia, in particular with regard to the nexus between curriculum and assessment, knowledge, and power.

Aims: To assess the association between the frequency and quantity of coffee and tea consumption and dental caries severity among adolescents (middle and high schools) in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Study Design: This is an observational cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Conducted in the Eastern Province (Dammam and Al-Khobar), Saudi Arabia, from January to February 2019. Methodology: A cross-sectional observational survey study that was carried out in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Validated interview-based questionnaires were used to ask about the background information and the frequency and quantity of coffee and tea consumption with two sections of the survey: The first section was about the demographic data and the second section assessed the frequency and quantity of coffee and tea consumption and examination was done during daylight using disposable dental mirror and blunt probe. Results: A total of 2265 middle school children with a response rate of 77.8%. Out of them, Females accounted for 1288 (56%) and the mean age (±SD) was 14 (±1.322). Regarding parents’ education, 1916 (84.6%) of participants’ fathers and 1836 (81.1%) of their mothers had a high school certificate or higher. There was a significant association between the frequency of coffee and tea consumption and caries (p=0.013). Conclusion: There was a significant association between the frequency of coffee and tea consumption and caries (p=0.013). The frequency of coffee and tea consumption, the higher the caries. However, there was no association between the quantity of coffee and tea consumption and D nor with the overall DMF score.

Abstract Background There is a global increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Early identification of ASD in children and intervention are key aspects in the management of ASD. However, early identification is partly dependent on knowledge on ASD among pediatricians. This study analyzed the extent of ASD knowledge and its underlying factors among pediatric residents in eastern China, to provide a reference for medical education reforms. Methods The study employed the Knowledge about Childhood Autism among Health Workers questionnaire. A total of 138 pediatric residents participated in the survey. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic characteristics and the four domains of the questionnaire. Univariate analysis was employed to assess impacts of the demographic characteristics on the questionnaire scores. On the other hand, multivariate regression analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the participants’ demographic characteristics and the questionnaire scores. Results The average ASD cognitive score of 138 respondents was 13.38 ± 4.48. The ASD cognitive scores in female pediatric residents were higher compared to that in males (p < 0.05). Residents who had obtained professional doctor qualification certificate were more than those without professional doctor qualification certificate (p < 0.05). The ASD knowledge in the group which did not have rotation in both departments was lower than in the group which had rotation in both departments (p < 0.05) as well as the group that had rotation in developmental and behavioral pediatrics department only (p < 0.05). Our multivariate linear regression model demonstrated significant statistical differences (p < 0.05), and showed that gender and systematic exposure to ASD knowledge had significant effects on cognitive scores (p < 0.05). Conclusion Most participants had relatively low levels of awareness and knowledge about ASD, especially on ASD comorbidities and age of onset. Women, systematic learning of ASD knowledge in medical school, successful passing of the physician examination, and rotation in the developmental and behavioral pediatrics (DBP) department significantly influence the levels of ASD awareness and knowledge. It is, therefore, important to strengthen ASD education in medical students at the university level and make rotation in the DBP department a requisite for pediatric trainees.

<p><strong>Vol 10, No 1 (2015)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/3034"><em>From the Editor</em></a><em>s</em></p><p>Huseyin Uzunboylu, Cigdem Hursen</p><p>01-02</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2"><em>The relationship between Turkish primary school students scientific literacy levels and scientific process skills</em></a><em></em></p><p><em>Yasemin Godek, Volkan Hasan Kaya, Dilber Polat</em></p><p><em>03-11</em><em></em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_3">GeoGebra 3D from the perspectives of elementary pre-service mathematics teachers who are familiar with a number of software programs</a></p><p><em>Serdal Baltaci, Avni Yildiz</em></p><p><em>12-17</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_4">Using Gagnes nine events in learning management systems</a></p><p><em>Ali Gokdemir, Omur Akdemir, Omer F. Vural</em></p><p><em>18-31</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_5">Infographics: A new competency area for teacher candidates</a></p><p><em>Hakan Islamoglu, Osman Ay, Ulas Ilic, Barıs Mercimek, Pelin Donmez, Abdullah Kuzu, Ferhan Odabasi</em></p><p><em>32-39</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_6">Journeys of science and culture from Hakkari to Istanbul: Reflections of teachers</a></p><p><em>Muhammet Oztabak, Cem Ozisik, Ozge Hacifazlioglu</em></p><p><em>40-52</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_7">Comparison of public and private school teachers and school principals opinions in Abuja, Nigeria</a></p><p><em>Deniz Ozcan, Teyang Istifanus Zabadi</em></p><p><em>53-64</em></p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_8">Significance of personal characteristics for entrepreneurial youth activity</a></p><p><em>Ruta Adamoniene, Adele Astromskiene</em></p><p><em>65-74</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_9">Online device usage habits and emotional well-being in net generation</a></p><p><em>Nur Demirbas Celik, Birol Celik</em></p><p><em>75-85</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><strong>Vol 10, No 2 (2015)</strong></p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/3034"><em>From the Editor</em></a><em>s</em></p><p>Huseyin Uzunboylu, Cigdem Hursen</p><p>84-85</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_2"><em>The Reviewer List</em></a><em></em></p><p>Huseyin Uzunboylu, Cigdem Hursen</p><p><em>86</em></p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_3">Enhancing the Quality of Secondary Educational Institutions Through in-Service Training of Teachers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria</a></p><p><em>Chukwuma N. Ozurumba</em></p><p>87-93</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_4">Occupational Stress and Job Satisfaction Among Indian Secondary School Teachers</a></p><p><em>Mariya Aftab, Tahira Khatoon</em></p><p>94-107</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_5">Identifying Competitive Positioning Strategies of Universities: Evidence from Turkey</a></p><p><em>Burçak Cagla Garipagaoglu, Muhammet Yasar Ozden</em></p><p>108-121</p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.5"> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Environmental sensitivities of inspectors, managers and principals working for the Ministry of Education</span></a></p><p><em>Askin Kiraz, Begum Pastirmacioglu</em></p><p>122-135</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_7">Using Nonverbal Communication in EFL Classes</a></p><p><em>Aysenil Barabar, Cagda Kivanc Caganaga</em></p><p>136-147</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_8">Capture the City: Spatial Perceptions of Gifted and Talented Students</a></p><p><em>Huseyin Mertol, Deniz Ozcan, Kuttusi Zorlu, Nur Demirbas Celik</em></p><p>148-156</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_9">Determining Parents Attitudes Regarding Child Education</a></p><p><em>Meryem Gulyaz Cumhur</em></p><p><em>157-167</em></p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/10_2_10">Tutorial Instruction in Science Education</a></p><p><em>Rhea Miles</em></p><p><em>168-179</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p> </p><p><strong>Vol 10, No 3 (2015)</strong></p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/3034"><em>From the Editor</em></a><em>s</em></p><p>Huseyin Uzunboylu, Cigdem Hursen</p><p>180-181</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_1">A review on internet use and quality of life of the elderly</a></p><p><em>Hayat Boz, Sibel Esra Karatas</em></p><p>182-191</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_2">Academic performance of Students during transition period before choice of disciplines in Nigeria Certificate in Education (Technical) programme</a></p><p><em>Japo Oweikeye Amasuomo</em></p><p>192-204</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_3">Perceptions of classroom assessment tasks: An interplay of gender, subject area, and grade level</a></p><p><em>Hussain Ali Alkharusi, Salim Al-Hosni</em></p><p>205-217</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_4">Analysis of senior school certificate examination chemistry questions for higher-order cognitive skills</a></p><p><em>Johnson Enero Upahi, Ganiyat Bukola Issa, Oloyede Solomon Oyelekan</em></p><p>218-227</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_5">Views of students, teachers and parents on the tablet computer usage in education</a></p><p><em>Emrah Soykan</em></p><p>228-244</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_6">Analyzing the levels of depressive symptoms among secondary school students in Canada and Turkey</a></p><p><em>Zeynep Karataş, E. Tremblay Richard</em><em></em></p><p>245-256</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_7">Social anxiety experiences and responses of university students</a></p><p><em>Behiye Akacan, Gurcan Secim</em></p><p>257-264</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_8">Effect of educational agent and its form characteristics on problem solving ability perception of students in online task based learning media</a></p><p><em>Halil İbrahim Akyüz, Hafize Keser</em></p><p>265-281</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/1_9">Class teachers expectations from teacher candidates from three points of views</a></p><p><em>Muge Tacman, Nazan Comunoglu</em></p><p>282-293</p><p><strong>Vol 10, No 4 (2015)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><a href="http://www.world-education-center.org/index.php/cjes/article/view/3034"><em>From the Editor</em></a><em>s</em></p><p>Huseyin Uzunboylu, Cigdem Hursen</p><p>294-295</p><p><em> </em></p><p><a href="/ojs/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.3"><em>Table of Contents</em></a><em></em></p><p>1</p><p> </p><p><a href="/ojs/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.4">Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences (CJES)</a></p><p>2</p><p> </p><p><a href="/ojs/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.5"><em>Analysing the problems of science teachers that they encounter while teaching physics education</em></a><em></em></p><p>Cihat Demir</p><p>296-304</p><p> </p><p><a href="/ojs/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.6"><em>An Investigation into the Impact of Reflective Teaching on EFL Learners’ Autonomy and Intrinsic </em>Motivation</a>Glenn Parisa Abdolrezapour</p><p>305-315</p><p> </p><p><a href="/ojs/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.7"><em>Awareness of consequence of high school students on loss of bio-diversity</em></a><em></em></p><p>Nazım Kaşot, Serap Özbaş</p><p>316-325</p><p> </p><p><a href="/ojs/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.8"><em>Research on historical environments in elementary schools’ social sciences textbooks taught in Northern Cyprus</em></a><em></em></p><p>Nazım Kaşot, Mete Özsezer</p><p>326-337</p><p> </p><p><a href="/ojs/index.php/cjes/article/view/1.9"><em>Metacognitive awareness and math anxiety in gifted students</em></a><em></em></p><p>Hakan Sarıcam, Üzeyir Ogurlu</p><p>338-348</p>

Teichman notes in her study of illegitimacy that “the point of the legitimate/illegitimate distinction is not to cause suffering; rather, it has to do with certain widespread human aims connected with the regulation of sexual activities and of population” (4). She also writes that, until relatively recently, “the shame of being an unmarried mother was the worst possible shame a woman could suffer” (119). Hence the secrecy, silences, and lies that used to be so common around the issue of an illegitimate birth and adoption.I was adopted at birth in the mid-1960s in New Zealand because my mother was a long way from family in England and had no support. She and my father had fallen in love, and planned to marry, but it all fell apart, and my mother was left with decisions to make. It was indeed a difficult time for unwed mothers, and that issue of shame and respectability was in force. The couple who adopted me were in their late forties and had been married for twenty-five years. My adoptive father had served in World War Two in the Royal Air Force before being invalided out for health problems associated with physical and psychological injuries. He was working in the same organisation as my mother and approached her when he learned of her situation. My adoptive mother loved England as her Home all of her life, despite living in Australia permanently from 1974 until her death in 2001. I did not know of my adoption until 1988, when I was twenty-three years old. The reasons for this were at least partly to do with my adoptive parents’ fear that I would leave them to search for my birth parents. My feelings about this long-held secret are complex and mixed. My adoptive mother never once mentioned my adoption, not on the day I was told by my adoptive father, nor at any point afterwards. My adoptive father only mentioned it again in the last two years of his life, after a long estrangement from me, and it made him weep. Even in the nursing home he did not want me to tell anyone that I had been adopted. It was impossible for me to obey this request, for my sense of self and my own identity, and for the recognition of the years of pain that I had endured as his daughter. He wanted to keep so much a secret; I could not, and would not, hold anything back anymore.And so I found myself telling anyone who would listen that I was adopted, and had only found out as an adult. This did not transmogrify into actively seeking out my birth parents, at least not immediately. It took some years before I obtained my original birth certificate, and then a long while again before I searched for, and found, my birth mother. It was not until my adoptive mother died that I launched into the search, probably because I did not want to cause her pain, though I did not consciously think of it that way. I did not tell my adoptive father of the search or the discovery. This was not an easy decision, as my birth mother would have liked to see him again and thank him, but I knew that his feelings were quite different and I did not want to risk further hurt to either my birth mother or my adoptive father. My own pain endures.I also found myself writing about my family. Other late discovery adoptees, as we are known, have written of their experiences, but not many. Maureen Watson records her shock at being told by her estranged husband when she was 40 years old; Judith Lucy, the comedian, was told in her mid-twenties by her sister-in-law after a tumultuous Christmas day; the Canadian author Wayson Choy was in his late fifties when he received a mysterious phone call from a woman about seeing his “other” mother on the street.I started with fiction, making up fairy tales or science fiction scenarios, or one act plays, or poetry, or short stories. I filled notebooks with these words of confusion and anger and wonder. Eventually, I realised I needed to write about my adoptive life in fuller form, and in life story mode. The secrecy and silences that had dominated my family life needed to be written out on the page and given voice and legitimacy by me. For years I had thought my father’s mental disturbance and destructive behaviour was my fault, as he often told me it was, and I was an only child isolated from other family and other people generally. My adoptive mother seemed to take the role of the shadow in the background, only occasionally stepping forward to curb my father’s disturbing and paranoid reactions to life.The distinction between legitimacy and illegitimacy may not have been created and enforced to cause suffering, but that, of course, is what it did for many caught in its circle of grief and exclusion. For me, I did not feel the direct effect of being illegitimate at birth, because I did not “know”. (What gathered in my unconscious over the years was another thing altogether.) This was different for my birth mother, who suffered greatly during the time she was pregnant, hoping something would happen that would enable her to keep me, but finally having to give me up. She does not speak of shame, only heartache. My adoptive father, however, felt the shame of having to adopt a child; I know this because he told me in his own words at the end of his life. Although I did not know of my adoption until I was an adult, I picked up his fear of my inadequacy for many years beforehand. I realise now that he feared that I was “soiled” or “tainted”, that the behaviour of my mother would be revisited in me, and that I needed to be monitored. He read my letters, opened my diaries, controlled my phone calls, and told me he had spies watching me when I was out of his range. I read in Teichman’s work that the word “bastard”, the colloquial term for an illegitimate child or person, comes from the Old French ba(s)t meaning baggage or luggage or pack-saddle, something that could be slept on by the traveller (1). Being illegitimate could feel like carrying heavy baggage, but someone else’s, not yours. And being adopted was supposed to render you legitimate by giving you the name of a father. For me, it added even more heavy baggage. Writing is one way of casting it off, refusing it, chipping it away, reducing its power. The secrecy of my adoption can be broken open. I can shout out the silence of all those years.The first chapter of the memoir, “A Shark in the Garden”, has the title “Revelation”, and concerns the day I learned of my adoptive status. RevelationI sat on my bed, formed fists in my lap, got up again. In the mirror there was my reflection, but all I saw was fear. I sat down, thought of what I was going to say, stood again. If I didn’t force myself out through my bedroom door, all would be lost. I had rung the student quarters at the hospital, there was a room ready. I had spoken to Dr P. It was time for me to go. The words were formed in my mouth, I had only to speak them. Three days before, I had come home to find my father in a state of heightened anxiety, asking me where the hell I had been. He’d rung my friend C because I had told him, falsely, that I would be going over to her place for a fitting of the bridesmaid dresses. I lied to him because the other bridesmaid was someone he disliked intensely, and did not approve of me seeing her. I had to tell him the true identity of the other bridesmaid, which of course meant that I’d lied twice, that I’d lied for a prolonged period of time. My father accused me of abusing my mother’s good nature because she was helping me make my bridesmaid’s dress. I was not a good seamstress, whereas my mother made most of her clothes, and ours, so in reality she was the one making the dress. When you’ve lied to your parents it is difficult to maintain the high ground, or any ground at all. But I did try to tell him that if he didn’t dislike so many of my friends, I wouldn’t have to lie to him in order to shield them and have a life outside home. If I knew that he wasn’t going to blaspheme the other bridesmaid every time I said her name, then I could have been upfront. What resulted was a dark silence. I was completing a supplementary exam in obstetrics and gynaecology. Once passed, I would graduate with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree, and be able to work as an intern in a hospital. I hated obstetrics and gynaecology. It was about bodies like my own and their special functions, and seemed like an invasion of privacy. Women were set apart as specimens, as flawed creatures, as beings whose wombs were always going wrong, a difficult separate species. Men were the predominant teachers of wisdom about these bodies, and I found this repugnant. One obstetrician in a regional hospital asked my friend and me once if we had regular Pap smears, and if our menstrual blood contained clots. We answered him, but it was none of his business, and I wished I hadn’t. I can see him now, the small eyes, the bitchiness about other doctors, the smarminess. But somehow I had to get through it. I had to get up each morning and go into the hospital and do the ward rounds and see patients. I had to study the books. I had to pass that exam. It had become something other than just an exam to me. It was an enemy against which I must fight.My friend C was getting married on the 19th of December, and somehow I had to negotiate my father as well. He sometimes threatened to confiscate the keys to the car, so that I couldn’t use it. But he couldn’t do that now, because I had to get to the hospital, and it was too far away by public transport. Every morning I woke up and wondered what mood my father would be in, and whether it would have something to do with me. Was I the good daughter today, or the bad one? This happened every day. It was worse because of the fight over the wedding. It was a relief to close my bedroom door at night and be alone, away from him. But my mother too. I felt as if I was betraying her, by not being cooperative with my father. It would have been easier to have done everything he said, and keep the household peaceful. But the cost of doing that would have been much higher: I would have given my life over to him, and disappeared as a person.I could wake up and forget for a few seconds where I was and what had happened the day before. But then I remembered and the fear exploded in my stomach. I lived in dread of what my father would say, and in dread of his silence.That morning I woke up and instantly thought of what I had to do. After the last fight, I realised I did not want to live with such pain and fear anymore. I did not want to cause it, or to live with it, or to kill myself, or to subsume my spirit in the pathology of my father’s thinking. I wanted to live.Now I knew I had to walk into the living room and speak those words to my parents.My mother was sitting in her spot, at one end of the speckled and striped grey and brown sofa, doing a crossword. My father was in his armchair, head on his hand. I walked around the end of the sofa and stood by ‘my’ armchair next to my mother.“Mum and Dad, I need to talk with you about something.”I sat down as I said this, and looked at each of them in turn. Their faces were mildly expectant, my father’s with a dark edge.“I know we haven’t been getting on very well lately, and I think it might be best if I leave home and go to live in the students’ quarters at the hospital. I’m twenty-three now. I think it might be good for us to spend some time apart.” This sounded too brusque, but I’d said it. It was out in the atmosphere, and I could only wait. And whatever they said, I was going. I was leaving. My father kept looking at me for a moment, then straightened in his chair, and cleared his throat.“You sound as if you’ve worked this all out. Well, I have something to say. I suppose you know you were adopted.”There was an enormous movement in my head. Adopted. I suppose you know you were adopted. Age of my parents at my birth: 47 and 48. How long have you and Dad been married, Mum? Oooh, that’s a tricky one. School principal’s wife, eyes flicking from me to Mum and back again, You don’t look much like each other, do you? People referring to me as my Mum’s friend, not her daughter. I must have got that trait from you Oh no I know where you got that from. My father not wanting me to marry or have children. Not wanting me to go back to England. Moving from place to place. No contact with relatives. This all came to me in a flash of memory, a psychological click and shift that I was certain was audible outside my mind. I did not move, and I did not speak. My father continued. He was talking about my biological mother. The woman who, until a few seconds before, I had not known existed.“We were walking on the beach one day with you, and she came towards us. She didn’t look one way or another, just kept her eyes straight ahead. Didn’t acknowledge us, or you. She said not to tell you about your adoption unless you fell in with a bad lot.”I cannot remember what else my father said. At one point my mother said to me, “You aren’t going to leave before Christmas are you?”All of her hopes and desires were in that question. I was not a good daughter, and yet I knew that I was breaking her heart by leaving. And before Christmas too. Even a bad daughter is better than no daughter at all. And there nearly was no daughter at all. I suppose you know you were adopted.But did my mother understand nothing of the turmoil that lived within me? Did it really not matter to her that I was leaving, as long as I didn’t do it before Christmas? Did she understand why I was leaving, did she even want to know? Did she understand more than I knew? I did not ask any of these questions. Instead, at some point I got out of the chair and walked into my bedroom and pulled out the suitcase I had already packed the night before. I threw other things into other bags. I called for a taxi, in a voice supernaturally calm. When the taxi came, I humped the suitcase down the stairs and out of the garage and into the boot, then went back upstairs and got the other bags and humped them down as well. And while I did this, I was shouting at my father and he was shouting at me. I seem to remember seeing him out of the corner of my eye, following me down the stairs, then back up again. Following me to my bedroom door, then down the stairs to the taxi. But I don’t think he went out that far. I don’t remember what my mother was doing.The only words I remember my father saying at the end are, “You’ll end up in the gutter.”The only words I remember saying are, “At least I’ll get out of this poisonous household.”And then the taxi was at the hospital, and I was in a room, high up in a nondescript, grey and brown building. I unpacked some of my stuff, put my clothes in the narrow wardrobe, my shoes in a line on the floor, my books on the desk. I imagine I took out my toothbrush and lotions and hairbrush and put them on the bedside table. I have no idea what the weather was like, except that it wasn’t raining. The faces of the taxi driver, of the woman in reception at the students’ quarters, of anyone else I saw that day, are a blur. The room is not difficult to remember as it was a rectangular shape with a window at one end. I stood at that window and looked out onto other hospital buildings, and the figures of people walking below. That night I lay in the bed and let the waves of relief ripple over me. My parents were not there, sitting in the next room, speaking in low voices about how bad I was. I was not going to wake up and brace myself for my father’s opprobrium, or feel guilty for letting my mother down. Not right then, and not the next morning. The guilt and the self-loathing were, at that moment, banished, frozen, held-in-time. The knowledge of my adoption was also held-in-time: I couldn’t deal with it in any real way, and would not for a long time. I pushed it to the back of my mind, put it away in a compartment. I was suddenly free, and floating in the novelty of it.ReferencesChoy, Wayson. Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood. Ringwood: Penguin, 2000.Lucy, Judith. The Lucy Family Alphabet. Camberwell: Penguin, 2008.Teichman, Jenny. Illegitimacy: An Examination of Bastardy. New York: Cornell University Press, 1982. Watson, Maureen. Surviving Secrets. Short-Stop Press, 2010.