Description of the educational system in Egypt

The intent of this chapter is to give the reader a general position of the context in which the survey is conducted. The chapter will travel, from planetary to specific, by giving a general description of the educational system in Egypt runing from its doctrine, structuring and finance to curriculum planning, design and development. Emphasis will be given to English linguistic communication instruction ; its purposes, and manner of development. A farther point about higher instruction: current state of affairs and national reform is highlighted. Finally, EFL teacher developing programme, the function of CDELT in accomplishing national ends are brought into focal point for its importance to the whole intent of the probe.2.1 Country profileThe Arab Republic of Egypt lies in the north eastern portion of Africa and Sinai Peninsula in the western portion of Asia. It is about one million square kilometers in size. The population of Egypt was estimated in 2008 as 75,175,062 harmonizing to t he Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics in Egypt. ( Said & A ; Mourad, 2008 ) .2.2 The nature and doctrine of instruction in EgyptEgypt ‘s instruction system is the largest in the Mena part and among the largest systems in the universe. As of 1999-2000, the system reported an registration of about 16 million, of which 7 million are in primary instruction, 4 million in preparative instruction, 3 million in secondary instruction, and over 1.8 million in third instruction. The system besides employs the largest figure of civil retainers in Egypt about 3.8 million employees ( The World Bank, 2007 ) . Some negative features of the Egyptian educational system include what Hargreaves ( 1997 ) termed â€Å" a additive consolidative merger † ; instructors with low degrees both in the cognition of the capable affair and in teaching method ; a mismatch between course of studies and curricula drawn at the cardinal national degree and the existent instruction larning state of affairs ; ritualisation, and mechanistic acquisition and learning methods. Other negative characteristics include: examination-driven direction, politicisation, bureaucratism that hinders the accomplishment of indispensable marks behind schooling, limited resources, centralization, and mal-distribution of educational services amongst the province parts ( Jarrar & A ; Massialas, 1992 ) . Many of the defects of the educational system, and so its failure to convey about effectual long-run reform, have been due to its being extremely centralised, in malice of efforts at decentralization. The system is really hierarchal, with the Ministry of Higher Education ( MOE ) at the top of the pyramid. The system is based on senior status instead than virtue. Due to its extremely centralised and bureaucratic nature, the educational system defines and predetermines what is to be taught, how it is to be taught, the functions of instructors and scholars, every bit good as the intended results of the educational procedure. Given this character, the Egyptian educational system is about imperviable to influences and enterprises from instructors, parents and scholars ( Gahin, 2001 ) . Egyptian instruction has been portrayed. harmonizing to ( Hargreaves, 1997 ) as â€Å" undemocratic † , â€Å" teacher-centred ‘ , â€Å" autocratic † ‘ and â€Å" extremely competitory † . Students ‘ greatest concern is to hive away and keep information so that when it is needed, they pour it out in the test which is held to prove their grounds of larning. Their exam tonss are the exclusive standards for pupils ‘ success.2.3 Higher Education System in EgyptEgypt has a really extended higher instruction system. About 30 % of all Egyptians in the relevant age group go to university. However, merely half of them alumnus. The Ministry of Higher Education supervises the third degree of instruction. There are a figure of universities providing to pupils in diverse Fieldss. In the current instruction system, there are 17 public universities, 51 public non-university establishments, 16 private universities and 89 private higher establishments. T he higher instruction cohort is expected to increase by close to 6 per centum ( 60,000 ) pupils per annum through 2009. ( Higher Education in Egypt: Reappraisals of National Policies for Education, 2010 ) In 1990, a statute law was passed to supply greater liberty to the universities. But still the instruction substructure, equipment and human resources are non in topographic point to provide to the lifting higher instruction pupils. But at that place has non been a similar addition in passing on bettering the higher instruction system in footings of debut of new plans and engineerings. Both at national degree ( inspection systems, scrutinies ) and at local degree ( school degree pupil appraisals ) steps of the success of instruction schemes and the public presentation of the system are weak. ( Ginsburb & A ; Megahed, 2009 ) Although higher instruction was founded much earlier in Egypt before it appeared in Europe ( Metcalfe, 2008 ) , The Government of Egypt recognizes that there are still existent challenges to be faced in the sector, foremost amongst which are the demand to significantly better sector administration and efficiency, increase institutional liberty, significantly better the quality and relevancy of higher instruction plans, and maintain coverage at bing degrees. Recent Government actions to construct political consensus on issues critical to reform hold created a clime that is mature for alteration. The Ministry of Higher Education ( MOHE ) acts as a title-holder for reform. The Minister, appointed in 1997, rapidly established a commission for the reform of higher instruction known as the Higher Education Enhancement Programme ( HEEP ) Committee which drew in a broad scope of stakeholders including industrialists and Parliamentarians. A National Conference on higher instruction reform was held in February 2000, and a Declaration for action emanating from the Conference was endorsed by the President and the Prime Minister. The Declaration identified 25 specific reform enterprises. Due to the dynamic nature of the reform scheme, which entails reconsidering precedences for each period, a Strategic Planning Unit ( SPU ) was established for the MOHE to guarantee the sustainability of planning and undertaking monitoring during the three stages and for future 1s. A Students ‘ Activity Project ( SAP ) was besides initiated as portion of plan accreditation similar to scientific research and station alumnus surveies.2.3.1 Egyptian universities:Universities in Egypt are by and large either state-funded or in private funded. Education in Egypt is free by jurisprudence, nevertheless there are really little fees paid for registration. Public establishments, with few exclusions are by and large overcrowded with a pupil organic structure of several 1000s. Private universities are either Egyptian or foreign, and normally have a much smaller pupil organic structure and with a much higher tuition rates.2.3.1.1 Public UniversitiesPublic universities are under authorities d isposal. Public Higher instruction is free in Egypt, and Egyptian pupils merely pay enrollment fees. International pupils pay full tuition with fees that reach up to ? 1,500 a twelvemonth. In 2004, the Egyptian authorities announced its program to make new public universities from dividing multi-branch universities ( Cairo University, Menoufia HYPERLINK â€Å" hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanta_University † University ) . This should let the enlargement of these much neglected smaller rural subdivisions and supply infinite for the increasing figure of pupils. There is besides al Azhar University, considered the best university for the survey of faith and scientific discipline.2.3.1.2 Private UniversitiesBefore 1993, merely two private foreign establishments were established decennaries ago. The American University in Cairo, founded in 1919 and the Arab Academy for Science and Technology ( AAST ) . Under a new jurisprudence in 1993, Egyptian private universities were established get downing from 1996. These new universities are accredited from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Universities every 3 old ages, in add-on to accreditation from fo reign educational organic structures in Europe. ( Herrera, 2007 )2.3.2 AdmissionAdmission to public universities and establishments operates through a centralised office, Admission Office of Egyptian Universities. This office receives applications after the consequences from the General Secondary Education Certificate are announced in any of its offices or online. The application day of the months are announced every twelvemonth but normally take topographic point every August. The application is both discipline-based and university-based. Students are asked to make full the admittances application that naming their picks of their coveted subject and university in a descending order of precedence. Students with higher tonss have a better opportunity of procuring a topographic point for themselves in their school of pick. While lower-scoring pupil may â€Å" acquire stuck † in a school or train different from that they desired, which might take them to seek admittance in private universities where competition for topographic points is less ferocious. Admission to private universities is different and is similar to universe broad registration processs.2.3.3 Course of studyIn universities, general or private, course of study are left to lectors and professors to make up one's mind the doctrine, guidelines, and even stuffs that they think pupils should larn. By and large talking, the course of study is centralised plenty to incarnate political and classless rules presented in free instruction and guaranting that all students have entree to the same programme of survey. It aims to raise criterions, guarantee that all pupils attain the aims at each degree, and to make the conditions for increased school and instructor answerability.2.4 English linguistic communication instruction in EgyptEnglish has long been given a particular position in Egypt, whether â€Å" a necessary immorality during the British business † or â€Å" a practical vehicle for educational, economic andaˆÂ ¦ societal mobility ( Schaub, 2000, p. 235 ) † . the chief aims set for ELT are to develop the ability to utilize English for communicating ; to further favorable attitudes towards larning in general and towards appropriate foreign civilizations in peculiar ; to develop an consciousness of the nature of linguistic communication and linguistic communi cation acquisition and hence, achieve cross-cultural consciousness ; to assist pupils ‘ womb-to-tomb acquisition every bit good as develop self-independence and to advance collaborative as a measure towards conveying up citizens who appreciate teamwork ( Schaub, 2000 ) . These are what is stated as the theoretical purposes of instruction. However, As far as the EFL schoolroom is concerned, it is non different from any other school topic, since it is a portion of the whole system. The state of affairs might conceivably be worse, due to the particular nature of the English linguistic communication learning in Egypt. The dominant form in the bulk of schoolrooms is that of an active instructors and inactive scholars. The instructor is the exclusive authorization to make up one's mind â€Å" what † and â€Å" haw † in the instruction and acquisition procedure, based on the cognition spelled out by the stakeholders. In footings of quality, the instruction and acquisition of EFL is characterised by instructors ‘ low proficiency in the mark linguistic communication. Teachers ‘ chief involvement and purpose is to acquire their pupils to go through their tests. Students ‘ Markss in such tests are the grounds of instructors ‘ success along with their governments in accomplishing the purposes of the MOE. That is why it is non surprising to happen a parallel system of instruction called â€Å" private tuition † taking at enabling pupils to go through the test and acquire high Markss. This private and Markss oriented tuition has long been fought by the authorities, which tries difficult to take serious and terrible steps against it. However, these attempts have been in vain up to now. Besides, a big per centum of primary and preparative school instructors are non-specialists ( 41 % ) ( Ibrahim, 2008 ) . In add-on, rating techniques do non get by with the development in acq uisition and learning methodological analysis techniques, and are rather far from the existent appraisal of pupils ‘ public presentation.2.5 Teacher preparation Reform Programme:Egypt has no deficit of instructors, so if anything Egypt has a excess of instructors, with some of 800,000 instructors presently believed to be in the state. ( Abdel-WAHAB, January 2008 ) ( Crookes, 2003 ) concludes that autochthonal Egyptian instructors, though non needfully utilizing activities or schoolroom interaction forms thought most desirable by Second Language Acquistion theoreticians, likely acquire better than foreign teachers ; but that the big category contexts that were new to the Egyptian instruction system ( through non unusual around the universe ) were a challenge met by the visitants. However the techniques used by visitants to pull off theses challenges, Holliday suggests, would be improbable to hold positive long-run effects because they did non construct on autochthonal forms and penchants. ( Holliday, 1996 ) concludes that † merely a new, rationalized-yet traditional- attack, could be to the full effectual in theaˆÂ ¦.culture of Egyptian university big classesaˆÂ ¦.. Exceptions apart, merely local lectors would be able to the full to accomplish this, because it would necessitate a rationalized edifice and re-allocation [ of thoughts and resources ] on an bing traditional footing ( p.100 ) Well aware of the challenges, the authorities is now looking for new ways of making things and has emarked on a big graduated table reform programme of public instruction to give single instituttions greater liberty and engagement to the private sector to assist increase capacity and better criterions. ( The Report: Egypt 2009, 2009 ) The major accomplishments of the Higher Education Enhancement Programme ( HEEP ) have been integrated into the national Education strategic program for the period 2008-2012, which aims to deconcentrate the national the national school construction, present school-based reform and better human resources through professional development programmes. The increased accent on instructor preparation within the model of the National Education Strategic Plan is considered one of the most of import facets of the reform programme.2.6 EFL prospective instructors preparation programme at Menoufia University:Since the focal point in this survey is centred on prospective EFL instructors ‘ perceptual experiences of microteaching, it will be utile to supply an overview of Menoufia university, Faculty of instruction and their readying programme in the school of instruction.2.6.1 Menoufia University: Historical backgroundAn Egyptian Public University founded in 19 76, is located chiefly in Shibin EL Kom, a metropolis in Delta and the capital of the Monufia Governorate. There is besides a subdivision in 1 † Sadat City, founded in 2006. It contains modules: of Education, Agriculture, Arts, Computers and Information, Commerce, Law, and Medicine. Both undergraduate and post-graduate instruction is offered.2.6.2 Menoufia university mission, general intents and strategic aimsMenoufia university ‘s mission is lending to construct the academic and moral construction of people, and developing both the local and national societies by supplying the specialised cognition and accomplishments peculiarly those that are related to the rural and new industrial communities through high quality educational, research, and social services that can assist the university to accomplish a competitory advantage at the national, regional, and international degrees. The general intents of the University represent the cardinal indexs of success of the achieve ment of the University ‘s mission. Seven general intents are identified for Menoufiya University. Each of the old general intents has a figure of strategic aims that reflect them. ( see appendix 1 )2.6.3 Faculty of Education, Menoufia UniversityThe module of Education was foremost established in 1971, affiliated to Ain Shams University. In 1975, it became attached to Tanta University. The module so became attached to Minoufiya University at its initiation in 1976. It contains sections of Educational Psychology. Curricula and Teaching Methods, and Education Fundamentals. Its Bachelors grades are offered in combination with one of the sections in the module of Humanistic disciplines or the Faculty of Science.2.6.4 school of Education English section readying classs:Theoretically, EFL instructors is prepared in the module of instruction through two complementary sets of classs. The first set of classs is chiefly linguistic communication proficiency classs ( capable affair cogniti on like English literature, interlingual rendition, grammar, phonetics, and linguistics ) , and the 2nd set is pedagogical classs ( the instruction proficiency ) , including classs like foundations of instruction ; comparative instruction ; educational psychological science ; along with the learning practicum that aims to fix pupil instructors for the prospective occupation. The practicum is jointly carried out and supervised by the MOE inspectors and instructors along with the staff of modules of instruction.Bettering Pre service teacher developing programmes:The national board for professional instruction criterions ( NBPTS ) identified five features of high-quality instructor: Teachers are committed to pupils and their acquisition. Teachers know the topic they teach and how to learn those topics to pupils. Teachers are responsible for pull offing and supervising pupil acquisition. Teachers think consistently about their pattern and learn from experience. Teachers are members of larning communities. Demand for teacher readying plans at establishments of higher instruction and through a go oning procedure of development and research, the centre for the development of English Language Teaching ( CDELT ) supported by the Integrated English Language Program ( IELP- II ) have integrated information about instructional rules to develop Egyptian criterions for instructors graduating from pre-service English instructor instruction plans ( STEP ) . Through the professional instruction plan, campaigners are expected to run into the criterions at progressively complex degrees. Campaigners are assessed at each degree to show public presentation. The subjects of building cognition, developing pattern, and furthering relationships provide the foundation for each of the criterions. These criterions, which are grouped into five chief spheres schoolroom direction, linguistic communication, direction, appraisal, and professionalism, organize the anchor of our instructor instruction plans. The STEPS undertaking is a countrywide enterprise under the protections of the Center for the Development of English Language Teaching ( CDELT ) in coaction with the Program Planning and Monitoring Unit ( PPMU ) . It is sponsored by the Integrated English Language Project II ( IELP-II ) . Its purpose is to put criterions for instructors of English at pre-service degree. The STEPS undertaking force consists of representatives from 12 Faculties of Education from nine universities and from the Ministry of Education of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Task Force has drafted a set of criterions in five spheres depicting what freshly qualified instructors from our Faculties of Education should cognize and be able to make.The Role of CDELT to better Clinical supervising during Practicum:Harmonizing to ( Bowers & A ; Gaies, 1997 ) , Five rules underline the clinical supervivsion of CDELT classs. These are: There should be a balance between. theory and pattern, between the †educational † and the † preparation † maps. The feasibleness of proposals for alteration in instructor public presentation should be judged against the existent restraints of the learning context. The personal sensitiveness indispensable to effectual counciling and preparation is best developed within the security of a system or † paradigm † of counselor-teacher interaction. Observation should be systematic and focused, with rating based on grounds available to the instructor. Reding should steer the instructor toward specific, mensurable, and moderate alterations in behaviour. Examination of theses rules offers an indicant of the scheme of the CDELT attack to supervisor readying. The CDELT offers a full-time class of 24 hebdomads. It includes 20 hebdomad class work in four blocks of 5 hebdomads each, and one 4-week block of practical experience, in the center of five blocks. During the first two blocks, along with classs related to linguistic communication betterment, there are talks and seminars in debut to linguistics, theories of English linguistic communication instruction, and learning methods. Theses satisfy the demand to set up perceptual experiences of what linguistic communication is, what instruction is, and alternate attacks to the instruction of English. Over the diploma class as a whole, we aim to integrate into supervisor readying the five indispensable purposes of instructor instruction identified by, which among them guarantee theoretical grasp and practical application: principle, experience, observation, test and integrating.2.7 DecisionThe purpose of this chapter has been to supply the layout of the Egyptian educational system so as to give the reader an overview about the context in which this survey is connected, clarifying why this survey is of import for Egyptian instruction in general and linguistic communication instruction in Egypt in peculiar. Furthermore, the chapter reveals the alterations and fortunes that have been underway for about two decennaries now. These alterations are represented by proposing and planing new attacks, rules and weaponries for the general instruction, and in peculiar, for EFL acquisition and instruction. The undermentioned chapter is chiefly devoted to reexamining the literature related to EFl instructor readying programme and the function of microteaching in bettering their instruction public presentation.Abdel-WAHAB, A. ( January 2008 ) . Modeling Students ‘ Purpose to Adopt E-learning: A Case From Egypt. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE, 9, 157-167.Arbors, R. , & A ; Gaies, S. ( Eds. ) . ( 1997 ) . Clinical supervising of linguistic communication instruction: the supervising as trainer and pedagogue Cambridge university imperativeness.Crookes, G. ( Ed. ) . ( 2003 ) . A practicum in TESOL: Professional Development through Teaching Practice: Cambridge University Press.Ginsburb, M. , & A ; Megahed, N. ( Eds. ) . ( 2009 ) . Comparative Positions on Teachers, Teaching and Professionalism Springer.Hargreaves, E. ( 1997 ) . The sheepskin disease in Egypt: Learning, instruction and the monster of the secondary departure certification. . Appraisal in Education, 4, 1 61-167.Herrera, L. ( Ed. ) . ( 2007 ) . Higher Education in the Arab World: Springer.Higher Education in Egypt: Reappraisals of National Policies for Education. ( 2010 ) . ) .Holliday, A. ( Ed. ) . ( 1996 ) . Large-and small-class civilizations in Egyptian university schoolrooms: a cultural justification for course of study alteration. : Cambrigde University imperativeness.Ibrahim, H. ( 2008 ) . The strategic reading procedures of Egyptian EFL scholars. Exeter University.Metcalfe, A. ( Ed. ) . ( 2008 ) . Speculating Research Policy: A Model for Higher Education: Springer.The Report: Egypt 2009. ( 2009 ) . ) : Oxford concern group.Said, M. , & A ; Mourad, M. ( Eds. ) . ( 2008 ) . Egypt. Baston: Baston College Center for International Higher Education.Schaub, M. ( 2000 ) . English in the Arab Republic of Egypt. World Englishes, 19 ( 2 ) , 225-238.Appendix 1 Menoufia University mission, purposes and Strategic AimsPurposeStrategic aims1A alumnus who is compatible with the modern-day cha llenges Bettering the quality of the educational procedure harmonizing to the both the local and international criterions. Associating theA educationA withA theA issuesA of bothA societyA andA localA environment. Effective leading of pupils. Bettering the wellness and societal attention of the pupils. Increasing the competitory capablenesss of the alumnuss in the labour market.2An first-class staff member. Accurate choice of the instruction and back uping staff members. Sustainability of the integrated development of the instruction and back uping staff members. Effective motive of the instruction and back uping staff members. Continuous public presentation assessment of the instruction and back uping staff members. Advanced systems for advancing the instruction and supportingA staff members.3Advanced academic research to be oriented by the intents of the national comprehensive development programs. Constructing an advanced academic base for the scientific research. Associating the scientific research with the issues of the comprehensive development programs at the national degree.4Promoting values and ideal rules. Developing and intensifying the belongingness to Egypt. Constructing the positive personality. Guaranting the values and committedness. Guaranting and esteeming the university ‘s values and traditions.5Civilized society and developing environment. Directing and utilizing the scientific research to function the development demands of the environment. Freedom of sentiment and protection of rational belongings. Bettering the quality of life. Developing consciousness of the cultural heritage. Developing the sense of beauty and encouraging creativeness. Developing the environmental consciousness. Promoting the behaviours that are compatible with the society development.6Distinguished position of the University in the development procedure of the instruction system. Distinguishing the university from others al both the local and international degrees. Bettering the society ‘s trust and convection of the university ‘s roleA and accomplishments. Triping the university ‘s parts in the local and internationalA academic motion. More effectual function of the university in the current development systems of the higher instruction and scientific research.7Effective administrative system. Bettering the organisation of the university ‘s councils and commissions. Bettering the university ‘s organisational and occupation constructions. Computerizing both the administrative and fiscal systems. Bettering the forming facets of the university ‘s fiscal and private concern units. Bettering the choice procedure of the non-academic leaders and the administrative staff. Continuous development of abilities and accomplishments of administrative staff. Effective motive of the administrative staff. Effective public presentation assessment and controlling of the administrative system.

How To Write A Research Paper Essay

This guide covers research papers, and provides advice on forming a title for your research paper, how to plan your paper before you start, and filtering material for your research paper. What is a research paper? The terms ‘research paper’ and ‘term paper’ are frequently used interchangeably. However, the terms do not mean the same thing. ‘Term paper’ was used in the past exclusively to refer to the project (indeed research based) that was due at the end of a term, semester or quarter whereas ‘research paper’ had a more specific meaning, i.e. a paper written as a summary of research. Hence ‘research papers’ may be written at any level (before, during and after attending university), they may be published works in a professional journal and they may represent the results of practical research, which would not ordinarily be conducted for a term paper. This is the context in which we will discuss the term ‘research paper’ herein. A research paper is an academic written assignment that is the product of a research project. This may span days, months, weeks or even years. Typically, research papers will involve the examination of a particular issue, and discuss: * The background or history of that issue * Any outstanding questions relating to the issue (the research paper will commonly focus on one particular question and seek to establish evidence to answer this) * The current data and statistics relating to the issue * The problems relating to the issue as revealed by the data * The problems relating to the issue as revealed by practical primary research (i.e. carrying out interviews, tests etc) or secondary research (i.e. looking at other people’s research) * Proposed solutions to the problems, and the strengths and weaknesses of these * Conclusions drawn from the data, research and evidence, as examined * Recommendations in relation to these conclusions. We will look at each of these elements in turn, in order to understand how a student or professional can write a good research paper. Forming a title for your research paper Unlike most types of assignment, the research paper title is usually decided upon AFTER you have completed the paper. This is so that the title accurately reflects the contents of the paper. However, your research paper will need a working title. This helps you to focus and helps others to understand what you are doing – for example, your lecturer/instructor or, if working at a higher level, those funding your project. You should therefore return to this section when you have completed your paper. You then need to pick a concise, accurate title for your research paper that will make readers want to look at your content, help others find your paper in databases, and explain exactly what is covered by the paper with a high degree of accuracy. A research paper will commonly have a title of 15-20 words in length. Every word must be necessary for the title – and so for example, ‘Project on†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘Paper on†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘Research on†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ should be removed as these types of phrases are not necessary. Example concise research paper titles: * Unemployment by Constituency * Transport in New York Research Paper Subtitle Unlike a research paper or essay, it is very common to give your research paper a subtitle. This explains your title more fully, puts it in context and qualifies the extent, or scope, of the research. Example subtitles (relating to the above example titles): * 2007-2008 trends using constituency maps * Transport governance and provision since X was elected in 1999 Researching/gathering information for your research paper As your research paper needs to show a good depth of reading, good research skills are paramount! But before you start, a key thing to bear in mind is that you MUST reference all material that you use in your paper. So the first thing to do is find out what referencing style is required (either by your university or, if you are writing a research paper for a journal, by that journal) and start to record the location of your sources using that referencing style. If you do this as you perform the research, you’ll save yourself hours of time later on. Here are some research tips to get you started: RESEARCH STEP 1 * Form a list of keywords from your research paper’s working title * Use a thesaurus to find words that mean the same thing as your list of keywords RESEARCH STEP 2 Most students will begin researching using the Internet and indeed, this is a great way to get ideas for your research paper. So start with Google, type in your keywords and bookmark the most relevant information sites that appear in relation to the issue. Then identify all current matters that relate to your issue from those sites. Note: Internet websites provide a fast source of up-to-date information but unfortunately they are not a reliable source. Use a search of the web as a starting point but unless the website is hosted and edited by a ‘reliable’ organization (such as the Government), don’t rely on its contents as a source for your research paper. Find another means of verifying the information. RESEARCH STEP 3 Now you’ve identified a list of issues and current debates for your research paper, you need to find some quality source material. The first stage is to find the most recent books written about the issue you’re researching. Whilst books are not as up-to-date as journals and articles, they will contain valid points-of-view that need to be considered. So where do you find books for your research paper? * Google Books – this is a good place to start as it has several thousand books that have been scanned in, together with details and snippet views of those which haven’t been scanned in. * Amazon.com – Amazon is a good source because you can see which books are being released, and their release date, as well as using ‘search inside’ to look through the contents of many books (this latter service only works if you have placed an order before) * Questia – Questia has thousands of books scanned in although you have to pay a small subscription fee. Your university may also provide you with access to a library and you can then search through their databases to find the most relevant and recent books for your research paper. The best way to scan whether a book is relevant to what you’re writing about is to look through the index. You’ll quickly see if there’s anything useful in the book for your research paper. RESEARCH STEP 4 Now you have the latest books for your research paper, you need to start looking for journals. These really should be your main type of source material. Open University Web Resources is an excellent list of such journal databases, although you’ll need an ATHENS password to use some of them. Our favorite journal databases for consistently excellent and up-to-date content are: * ScienceDirect – 2,000 peer-reviewed journals, books, handbooks etc * EBSCO- thousands of journals, millions of articles * Emerald- thousands of journals in management and library and information services, engineering, applied science and technology * Ingenta – 4,500+ journals in all fields and a further 20,000 abstracts The latter source, Ingenta, gives you FREE access to the bibliography which is useful for your research paper even if you don’t have an athens login. Locate articles relating to your subject and check out the bibliography for further reading which you might be able to locate online without passwords. You can sometimes obtain a free trial of these databases giving you temporary access. Also, the four websites also have a good number of journals that you do not need a subscription to view. These are often indicated by a special icon. For example (from Ingenta): RESEARCH STEP 5 There is one final type of source material you need to consider, and that is the news. If you’re lucky enough to have an athens password, your first stop will be Lexis Professional (formerly known as LexisNexis Executive) which contains the full text of newspapers and other news sources worldwide; as well as company data, annual reports and business directory information from Disclosure, Extel, ICC, and Worldscope. If you don’t have an athens password, any good news site will suffice – US News, CNN etc. Of course, if you are researching an issue which affects another country, you should be looking at that country’s main news website. What you are looking for is any current developments that may affect the research for your paper. This may be statistics released by the Government, consultation papers, proposed changes in legislation, current developments or debates etc. Don’t forget, newspapers are NOT a reliable source of information. You are using them to find information for your research paper but you should substantiate this information once you have found it. If it is reported that the Government has released some statistics, go and find those on the Government website. If a consultation paper has been released, go and find the paper and read it. Filtering the material for your research paper The five step research process reveals a lot of information for your research paper and you’ll need to filter it down, or you’ll have too much to analyses. This does, however, beg the question – how many sources should you use? The answer to this depends on the level of your research paper. If it is an assignment for your degree, you should look at using roughly 9 quality sources per 2,500 words. If it is for some post-graduate course, you can easily double that. A professional research paper (for publication) might use 30-40 sources per 2,500 words. The emphasis in all cases, however, should be on quality and not on quantity. A good selection of research material from a variety of quality sources (i.e. not just books, not just journals, not just the internet and not just the news) is far better than a huge selection of research material from poor quality, unreliable sources of a similar type. To help filter the information you have found for your research paper, you are going to need to evaluate its quality. This involves a consideration of whether: * The source is a quality source -it’s reliable, dependable and highly likely to be accurate. * The source is unbiased – watch newspapers which may have political views. Ask yourself if the writer has presented a balance argument, or has deliberately played down one side of the argument to prove his own personal views. * The source is relevant to your research – does it specifically tie in with your working title? * You haven’t already got enough material to prove what this source proves – if you aim to back up each of your arguments in your research paper with 2-3 pieces of evidence (for a very high quality paper) or at least 2 for a student paper, then you can filter out any material that is excessive of this. Creating an outline for your research paper A basic outline will look something like this: * Working title (as discussed previously) * Purpose – this is a short statement to say what the paper is for. It helps people who are looking for research papers themselves to assess the relevancy of your research paper to their studies. Example purpose statement: This paper shows the number of people claiming benefits recorded as resident in each constituency in the United States in July 2008, together with comparisons with the levels in July 2007 and July 1997. This paper also presents residence-based unemployment rates for all constituencies in the United States. * Methodology – this is a statement of how you will carry out your research. You have already done some ‘secondary research’ but you may also wish to carry out ‘primary research’ for your paper. Primary research (sometimes called ’empirical research’) is research you carry out yourself and data that is produced as a result of this, which has never been published before. Primary research may be carried out through face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, postal surveys, website surveys or focus/discussion groups. Be careful before carrying out research over the phone or through the post though – some states allow people to restrict how they are contacted. Secondary research is the study of data that exists already such as books, journals, statistics, other research papers, websites, news reports, magazine articles etc. You have already carried out secondary research through the five step research process. So which research method is best for your research paper? Instinctively you may think that the primary data will provide the most interesting results. However, if your time and budget are both limited, do not be tempted to embark on a study. You will do far better analyzing existing studies than producing a low-quality study that is limited in its value due to the amount of time and finance you can devote to it. * Scope of research – all research is going to be limited to certain factors. A paper on ‘crime’ cannot investigate all types of crime, committed by all sexes, all ages, globally. So how are you going to limit your paper? What areas of the issue will you look at and which will you discard? Your statement of scope will be about 150-300 words long and explain exactly what you are going to cover in your research, and what you are going to leave out (usually with brief reasons). If you are carrying out primary research, you may want to set out the limitations of this here too. * Introduction – this is where you set the scene for your reader. You explain what you are researching and why. You identify the issues you will be looking into and you say what you are going to prove. It is therefore a good idea to write this last, along with your final title! * Background/history – this section of your research paper isn’t essential but might be appropriate. You might want to explain the development of the issue and how particular matters have arisen. Don’t bother unless it is necessary, to put the matter in context. * Body – this section of your research paper will be broken up into sub-sections, each dealing with a particular sub-matter. Aim to present balanced evidence in each section on the points you wish to raise, and try not to reach any conclusions at this stage. The ‘body’ is the body of your research, not the analysis. * Findings/Discussion – here’s where you analyze the research you have conducted and say how your findings are relevant to the issue. It’s a very important section, without which you will have merely stated other people’s findings and opinions without contributing anything yourself. * Conclusion – this section of your research paper returns to the introduction and stated aims, and spells out very clearly how you achieved them, referring to the points you have proved and the evidence you have used to prove it. It should not be repetitive but instead, it should summarize the results of your research. You should also ensure no new material is introduced at this stage – if you have new material for your research paper, put it in the body and findings sections. * Recommendations – this section of your research paper is very much optional and will depend on whether such a section would be appropriate for the subject you are studying. Law research papers almost always will include recommendations. What sort of recommendations should you make? These might include: * How policies/the law/practice should be changed, based on your findings * What further research must be carried out before making any sensible recommendations. Your recommendations must actually relate to what you have established in your research paper. You cannot randomly introduce things at this stage that you think might be useful. They must be logical recommendations, based on your research and analysis, and they should follow on from the conclusion. Now you have written out an outline for your research paper, you will literally be able to ‘fill in the blanks’ and your paper should evolve and progress naturally, following the headings you have chosen. Keep referring back to your working title as you write, as well as to your methodology and scope. This should limit you to material that is most relevant and ensure you don’t include excessive, unnecessary points. Finishing your research paper Now you’ve written up your research paper, you’ll need to do a little editing and proofreading to ensure the finished product achieves the grade you’re looking for. This includes: * Weeding out any unnecessary material. Evaluate what you have written and whether it is needed, keeping the methodology, scope and working title in mind * Proofreading your research paper. Read it out loud, have someone else read it for you, run a spell check, run a grammar check – go over the paper several times and make sure you haven’t made any errors. There are often extra marks for students in respect of presentation. * Checking your referencing. Every source should be properly referenced. Quotations should be in â€Å"quotation marks†. Your work should contain a full list of references and a bibliography. References are sources you actually cite in your work whereas the bibliography includes sources which you may have read, and may have influenced your writing, but you haven’t specifically cited.

BALANCED SCORECARD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

BALANCED SCORECARD - Essay Example It is headquartered at Ohio, United States. The company is engaged in the business of offering consumer goods to its customers in packaged form. The sales and marketing division of P&G group is committed towards providing best services to its customers. This study entails the preparation of a balanced scorecard for the strategies to be implemented in the sales and marketing division of the company keeping it aligned with the overall strategy of P&G. The Balanced Scorecard includes all the four perspectives of a balanced scorecard namely, the financial, customers, learning and internal business process perspectives. The purpose of this Balanced Scorecard is to look at three objectives in this organizational unit. These objectives will be measured using metrics appropriate for this discipline. Financial The primary goal or objective of this business unit is to increase the sales and add to the profits of the company. A lot of sales personnel are involved in the marketing of products of P&G and it needs to look at the objective of reducing the costs incurred in the various processes involved in this department as well. Customer Customers are the key towards the success and profitability of the company. Hence the company needs to have a well devised strategy leading to complete satisfaction of its customers. Internal Business The strategy related to this perspective would be to increase the efficiency of the marketing division so that it can serve for the better performance of the company. Learning and Development A well devised strategy related to this perspective is also required to be devised by the company. It would include various objectives like imparting training to the personnel in the department so that they can carry on their activities efficiently and help the company to have a sustainable growth and development. Table of Contents Table of Contents 4 Formulation and Implementation of Balanced Scorecard of Procter & Gamble 6 Financial Perspective 8 Sales Growth 9 Growth in Operating Activities 9 Free Cash Flow Productivity 9 Customer Perspective 10 Increase in Customer Retention 10 Improved Customer Service 10 Increase in number of Customers 11 Internal Perspective 11 Reductions in Inventory 11 New Product Developments 12 Improvement in Distribution Efficiency 12 Learning and Growth Perspective 12 Employee Turnover 13 High Skill Levels 13 Employee Satisfaction 13 References 16 Formulation and Implementation of Balanced Scorecard of Procter & Gamble Balance Scorecard was developed by Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton in the year 1992. It is a tool developed to measure the level of performance mainly of the employees in an organization. In a Balanced Scorecard system performance is measured on the basis of four perspectives, namely, financial, customers, learning and development, and internal business process perspectives. It contains both the target scores and the scores achieved based on the given category. So it becomes easy to me asure high as well as low performances using Balanced Scorecard (Balance Scorecard Institute, 2012). This study entails about the preparation of a Balanced Scorecard for the sales and marketing division of Procter and Gamble (P&G). P&G is a reputed company which operates its business activities worldwide. It is headquartered at Ohio, United States. P&G is engaged in the business of offering wide range of FMCG products to its customers and they are delivered to them in packaged forms (Yahoo Finance, 2012). The sales and market division of the company constitutes a critical unit of the organization and Balanced Scorecard prepared in this study can help analyze and measure its effectiveness, thereby helping the company to have well devised strategy to attain the objectives of the company. The first step towards

UK Commercial Law Scenarios and Questions Essay

UK Commercial Law Scenarios and Questions - Essay Example An implied agency under the agency by estoppel was created between Tom and Jerry since it was a verbal appointment. 1 An agency by estoppel states that whereas an agency can in general arise by the will of the principal, he may nevertheless so conduct himself leading another to believe that someone is his agent and he is then estopped from denying this fact. For instant, if a person is allows another to order goods on his behalf and always pays for them, then he will be estopped from denying the authority to a third person who relied on the appearance. (Emerson, 2003) This agency by estoppel is as effective as an agency intentionally created. The rule of estoppel is based on the principle of holding out and is not confined to contracts of employment only. (Jertz and Miller, 2004) Since there existed an agency relationship between Tom and Jerry, Tom need to be advised that Jerry might bring a case against him for refusing to accept the Land Rover he bought on his behalf knowing very well that Tom would be very happy with the purchase. Since Jerry was engaged to act as an agent by Tom (principal) whereby he ordered and paid for animal feed on his behalf we can say that Tom acted for undisclosed principal. When he was ordering the animal feed for Tom, he would not have disclosed that he was an agent engaged by Tom since they would not have sold the animal feeds for them because Tom had been banned from their premises. Tom on the other hand needs to be aware that, since his goat had ran amok causing a lot damages to the animal feeds supplier, a case can be brought against him. The animal feed supplier may sue him for trespass by cattle under the law of tort. A trespass by cattle of a person we usually treated as if he has committed it himself. If a man's cattle, poultry, sheep or goats trespass on another's land, the owner of such animals becomes liable for trespass and must pay damages for the damages caused to the plaintiff's crops or property. If the cattle trespassed without causing any damage, the owner is still liable to pay damages because trespass is actionable per se. 4 A relevant case studied under trespass by cattle is that of:- Anderson v. Buckton of 1815 In this case, the defendant's cattle affected by contagious disease trespassed on an adjoining pasture and infected the plaintiff's cattle. It was held that the defendant was liable for damage arising from the spread

Labor Ethics in the India and United States Essay

Labor Ethics in the India and United States - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that India is a huge victim of child labor and there are millions of such kids working in the adverse condition not only in the rural areas but in metropolitan cities as well. According to sources, this frequency was closed to 60 million in 2009-2010. Â  There are numerous reasons behind this child labor among which the most critical is obviously the poverty. Almost 350.46 million people in India are living below the poverty line in 20122. This provides a golden opportunity to the employers looking for cheap labor which can be exploited by them in order to generate the maximum profit margin. Lack of literacy rate in the country is also a major problem which also stems out from poverty. Another important aspect is the absence of SME sector and possession by the major corporation like TATA and Birla in the corporate sector. The child labor issue in the United States though still exists but has been successfully taken care by the authorities th rough nationwide measures. There is a maximum of 800,000 underaged workers that are employed and almost all are in rural areas3. In cities, the rate of child labor is almost down to zero which is not an easy job for the government in a big country. This was possible due to the strict measure by the government against child labor and the awareness they created in the masses. But above all the main cause is the back up of the government in order to facilitate parents in the bringing up their children. Low wages by employers in India is a tool very effectively used by them throughout the country. A daily wages worker of Texport in Bengaluru who is an authorized vendor for world-renowned clothing company Gap told sources that she is only paid 22 paise for an hour4. This is to make sure that she has not enough by the end of the day to take home and has to work late hours which help the company in meeting the orders on time. The main cause behind this low wages is the absence of adequate and strict regulations by the government. On the other hand, low and middle-class people are not encouraged to initiate their own business at small scale.

Platos Republic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Platos Republic - Essay Example Plato believed that a harmonious society can be attained by the interaction of specific mode of righteous and rational order of political philosophy based on the implementation of virtue. However, the "Republic" likewise the "Statesman" and the "Law" and other few other short dialogues, described as political dialogues, the political philosophy had received significant consideration in the approach of Plato. Conceptual analysis, as introduced by Plato for the first time in the framework of political philosophy, is defined as a mental clearance implying the clarification of a conceptualization in its implication, using which the philosopher and analyst can deal with incompatible ideas corresponding to the requirement based on rational reality. In his political philosophy, Plato thus, coined the conceptual analysis as a tool for evaluating beliefs corresponding to find out the result of the best political order. The continuum representing the movement from clarification of analysis by the virtue of evaluation of beliefs to attain the goal of best political order is enunciated in the structure of Plato's Republic. This paper aims at finding out the basic philosophy of Plato's analogies and his formulation of the division of soul structure as well as an insight of Plato's defence of the Republic King in the "Republic" with a clear understanding of critical evaluation of Plato. Basic Philosophical Conceptualization of Plato The Good Plato, being the idealist philosopher, described the idea of the Good in his volume "Republic" through the dialogues of Socrates. The idealization of the Good is described as the child or offspring (ekgonos) of the Good, as ascribed by the superlative model of goodness, hence attributing to the absolute determinant of justice. Plato's explanation of his theory of justice, as articulated in his ideology of a city in dialectics, affirmatively attributed the rule of rational mind as implicated in the formation of philosopher-king, having the ability to take a hold of the Idea of the Good. Plato theorised that the highest attainment of knowledge or wisdom is the Idea of the Good, which has an implication in gaining usefulness and value. In general, the humans are programmed to practise the good, but without the knowledge of philosophical reasoning this attainment is not perfectly possible. Goodness has its own implication of involving factors such as justice, truth, equality and beauty t hat can be defined as the "Hierarchy of Forms". Our ideologies to understand materialistic knowledge based on mathematics and science are propounded with the underlying theme of abstraction by the methods of opinion based on perception that is actually situated at the bottom of the materialistic plane. The Cave The Republic is one of the most influential contributions made in the history of political philosophy and the Cave is the most popular allegory of the Republic. In the Republic, the human condition is described as in the state of prisoners constrained in a cave observing only the shadows reflected on the wall they are facing. The goal of human mind is thus transcendence from this state by virtue of incorporating genuine education, envisaged as liberation from imprisonment, and articulated as a movement

Marketing Research( Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing Research( - Essay Example It also appears that getting services right the first time is repeated in question 4 and this can lead to confusion rendering the results to questions 3 and 4 unreliable. Question 7 asks for the respondents assess employee’s education, intelligence and accomplishments. This may be a question that respondents cannot answer truthfully. While they may be able to assess intelligence, they cannot assess education and accomplishments. Questions 6, 7 and 8 of Part E may be problematic as these questions ask for narrative responses. While narratives can be very useful for researchers, they are very difficult to calculate and put in a statistical perceptive (Downing & Clark 2010, p. 291). Some of the questions are multiple choice, for example the respondents can choice either yes or no answers. In other places the questions require the recording of wait times. However, the answers could have been in multiple choice terms to facilitate a more efficient method for calculating results and compiling statistics. The remainder of the survey is categorically scaled provided for a range of answers indicated the level of agreement from 1-7. This format could have been used through the survey. Part E which covers demographic information should have been solely multiple choice. Rules for Preparing a Good Survey Survey questions should be concise and clear to avoid ambiguous or unreliable results.

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 11

Journal - Essay Example This trend makes people unenthusiastic to volunteer for testing. The fundamental strategy in resolving this problem is closely associated with the application of strategic ways of wooing the masses to appreciate this significant service. This can be done through encouragement and provision of information on the benefits attributed to HIV counselling and testing. In addition, information should be conveyed to curb the tendency of discrimination against the HIV victims2. The home based approach (HMT), enhances visitation of people by health workers at their homes for counselling and testing. This is done regardless of the group’s perceived HIV risk. The home based approach is perceived to be the widespread tool for counselling and testing HIV. This approach has received overwhelming support from the international players in a bid to prevent and cure HIV. This study focuses on the acceptability of HBT particularly the most prevalent Sub-Saharan Africa region3. In addition, this study examines the factors associated with the uptake of HBT. The researchers searched numerous databases to identify suitable peer-reviewed studies from Africa, which where published amid January 2000 and September 2012. The research included in-depth study of materials that prescribed accepting HIV testing provided through home based HIV test. Diverse types of studies were done. They include randomized controlled trials, observational cohort studies and cross sectional surveys. The magnitude of the information collected by the various methods was attributed to the pooling together of data for easy calculation, of the overall proportion of the people who accepted HIV testing through Home based test. 524, 867 people formed the sample population. They were drawn from five African countries. This study revealed that the ratio of people who accepted HBT ranged from 58% to 99%. It is worth noting that, the

Differences between Human Resource Management and Personnel Management Essay

Differences between Human Resource Management and Personnel Management - Essay Example Over the years, there has been unending debates and continuous conversations between human resource authors on whether there are actual difference between HRM and personnel management. A host of these authors have argued that the most obvious change has been the â€Å"re-labeling process† (Koster, 2007.p.4). Koster argues that the relabeling would not have necessarily represented any change but was important in that it helped rid personnel management from its unlikeable welfare image. The overall effect was that it helped safeguard personnel management from marginalization. All the same, this study surmises that the development of HRM was not entirely a â€Å"re-labeling† campaign but there must have been a change of concept or approach (Koster, 2007.p.6). It is this change that defines the difference between personnel management and HRM. In this study, we trace these differences in light of various models as well as examine their application using two functional areas, recruitment and selection and training and development. Personnel Management and HRM Over the past 50 years, the term personnel management has been employed to refer to the function of management that deals with the recruitment, employment, training, redeployment, safety and departure of employees (Cole, 2004.p.4). Simply, personnel management was a function within the organization concerned with managing people, the main goal being achieving efficiency and justice for all those within an enterprise. Key in this definition were the reference to justice and efficiency, this represented a cordial approach to employee affairs within an organization. Up to the 1990s, personnel management was holistically involved in handling collective relationships with employees and their representatives and mediating individual employment relationships (Cole, 2004.p.5). In regard to stakeholder roles and relationships, the personnel manager was largely under pressure from the managing director, trad e union representatives, and line management colleagues. Around the personnel managers there would be the board of directors at the top whereas at the same level or just below them there would be: the senior line managers, junior colleagues, union representatives, statutory bodies and individuals employees. The board, and especially the managing director, would be dependent on the personnel manager to guarantee that workers relationships were both calm and predictable (Storey, 1999.p.26). Senior line managers were keen to guarantee that there would be no interruptions to their production programs. The conditions therefore in which personnel management was conducted at the time could conveniently be explained as highly synchronized, subject to considerations of relative power among the board and worker’s representatives, and rigid in regard to labor mobility (Cole, 2004.p.6). In this context, personnel managers were treated like the highly-respected company advocates charged w ith advising the senior management on how best to avoid, or curtail conflict. It is because of this In the contemporary situation, the prime role of personnel/HR practitioners is that of developing the organization’s staff resources so as to enable people to make a flexible, multi-skilled input to the general

Stereotypes prejudice Essay Example for Free

Stereotypes prejudice Essay Please complete the following exercises, remembering that you are in an academic setting and should remain unbiased, considerate, and professional when completing this worksheet. Part I Select three of the identity categories below and name or describe at least 3 related stereotypes for each: ?Race ?Ethnicity ?Religion ?Gender ?Sexual orientation ?Age ?Disability Category Stereotype 1 Stereotype 2 Stereotype 3 Disability People think disability is a sickness People think they are a mence to others and society Disabled people are different and are not fully human. Gender Female role of taking care of the kids Male role of being the breadwinner androgyny, which is the blending of feminine and masculine attributes in the same individual. Age Ageism Senile or Demented Unproductive and uncreative Part II Answer each question in 50 to 100 words related to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use. ?What are the positive aspects of stereotypes, if any? Some aspects of stereotyping can be GOOD, BUT I HAVE YET TO SEE ANY THAT I WOULD CONSIDER GOOD. STEREOTYPING IS A WAY FOR US TO CATERGORIZE A PERSON OR GROUP INTO SOMETHING WE CAN NOT FEEL BAD FOR NOT LIKING. ?What are the negative aspects of stereotypes? Negative aspects of stereotyping play a big Copyright  © 2012 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Stereotypes and Prejudice Worksheet ETH/125 Version 8 2 ROLE ON A PERSON. STEROTYPING PEOPLE IN A NEGATIVE MANNER HAS A LASTING DETRIMENTAL IMPACT ON THOSE WHO EXPERIENCE THE PREJUDICE. PEOPLE PERFORM POORLY IN SITUATIONS WHERE THEY FEEL THEY ARE BEING STEREOTYPED. Part III Answer each question in 50 to 150 words related to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use. ?Define stereotypes and prejudice. What is the difference between stereotyping and prejudice? Use examples to illustrate the differences. ?A stereotype is a belief about a certain group of people. Prejudice is a feeling about a person based on their membership in a group. Both stereotypes and prejudice can be either positive or negative. Discrimination is an action that denies the rights of a person due to their membership in a group. ?What is the relationship between stereotyping and prejudice? Prejudice- ignorantly judging based on[stereotypes] pre conceptions. Pre- Judging someone before having the knowledge of who they are. Ex. I have a prejudice towards all teenaged mothers, because I assume they all slept around to get pregnant, because thats what my sister did. ( which doesnt make every ones situation the same. stereotypes- classifying groups of people based on race, gender, religion, creed, ethnicity, etc. Then believing all people who belong to that group are the same Ex: All homeless people arent educated. Iggnorance is what is the realtionship between the two of them. People being ignorant and making assumptions is found in both prejudice and sterotypes. ?What can be done to prevent prejudice from occurring? Here are some examples that I think would help with preventing prejudice. It may not stop it all together, but it would help the situations from being uncomfortable. . Celebrate holidays with extended family. Use such opportunities to encourage storytelling and share personal experiences across generations. Invite friends from backgrounds different from your own to experience the joy of your traditions and customs. Be mindful of your language; avoid stereotypical remarks and challenge those made by others. Speak out against jokes and slurs that target people or groups. Silence sends a message that you are in agreement. It is not enough to refuse to laugh. Copyright  © 2012 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Stereotypes and Prejudice Worksheet ETH/125 Version 8 3 Copyright  © 2012 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

Effect of Teacher Empowerment on Student Learning Outcomes

Effect of Teacher Empowerment on Student Learning Outcomes The question that faces educational leaders in Pakistan is how to select and implement appropriate educational reforms that will move schools toward greater effectiveness and provide enhanced learning and work environments for both students and teachers. A vast literature addresses the importance of leadership in school organizations.(Leithwood, 1992; Pounder,2006; Merideth, 2007). However this leadership has to be distributed not only to the principal but to the other stakeholders that are the students and the teachers above all. Although these arguments have been largely mounted in western countries, they also have significance in the Pakistani setting. A supportive school organization typically is not present in Pakistani schools, where internal politics, lack of resources, disinterest in pupil learning and school improvement by management result in demotivating and ignoring the teachers. (UNESCO: Situation Analysis of Teacher Education in Pakistan) According to Pounder (2006), research on the subject of leadership has focused mainly on administrators, principals and district superintendents. Only recently the research focus has moved towards leadership of individuals in other roles, namely teachers. Research indicates that teacher quality, and supportive school organization and management, significantly influence school improvement, and eventually pupil learning. The bottom line, however, is that school improvement is about school learning. Student learning is the most important part of schooling (Harris, 2004) Teacher empowerment has become a popular term widely seen in many discussions on school restructuring or educational reform. Research on teachers professional growth, school organization, school leadership, or educational innovation all consider teacher empowerment as the term which is considered to be synonym and compatible to teacher leadership. According to Viviane et al (2008) the leadership dimension which is strongly associated with the positive outcomes is that of promoting and participating in teacher learning and development-that is empowering teachers, for enhancing students learning outcomes. This literature review will consider an important issue within the focus area: what impact teachers have on the students learning outcomes when they are empowered? The questions guiding this research are; Why is teacher empowerment emphasized upon in recent educational innovation? What does teacher empowerment mean? What is the role of administrators in empowering teachers? How can students benefit from the idea of teacher empowerment? WHAT DOES TEACHER ENPOWERMENT MEAN? Teachers are established as instrumental stakeholders in planning, implementing, and assessing curriculum. They may benefit from undertaking leadership roles.( Stone, Sandra J. (1995) Though faced with an enormous pressure of high level of expectations and demands, they can successfully integrate their knowledge and understanding with new leadership vision, and eventually into the learning experiences of their students.( Blase, J. and Blasà ©, J. 2001) Sheppard, B; Hurley, N; Dibbon, D,(2010) recognize a very positive impact of school leaders on student learning however they establish an indirect link between, the effects of school leadership and students. Their research is directed at identifying the leadership variables that influence student learning, teacher morale and enthusiasm being one of them.. Grant, C. et al (2010),discusses the restricted role of teacher leadership. He believes that although teachers possess the ability and vision of shared leadership, they are rarely involved in activities beyond their classrooms. Some collaboration with other teachers in curricular and extra-curricular activities is seen but there was substantially less teacher leadership in relation to school-wide as well as community issues. Paula M. Short (1994) defines empowerment as a process whereby school participants develop the competence to take charge of their own growth and resolve their own problems. Empowered individuals believe they have the skills and knowledge to act on a situation and improve it. Empowered schools are organizations that create opportunities for competence to be developed and displayed. She adds: Teacher empowerment is a complex construct. While empowerment generally is associated with site-based management and shared decision making Involvement in decision making, teacher impact, teacher status, autonomy, opportunities for professional development, and teacher self-efficacy. School improvement is not possible without the empowerment of teachers. Teachers who are empowered have the power to make decisions about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, they become risk takers by experimenting with new ideas, reading new books, and attending and planning professional development activities. (McCarty, 1993). Heads and school leaders must provide assistance to provide sovereignty and freedom of movement to the teachers They also need to develop ways that promote teacher participation in the decision- and policy-making activities of the school. Empowerment is considered to be as important an attribute as are mutual trust, support and recognition to bring about a sense of professionalism, leading to the development of leadership qualities in teachers. (Mujis Harris, 2003).She suggested that teachers can develop into transformational leaders in their schools if all aspects of the system are re-aligned and re-examined. The responsibility of the administration and superintendent has been highlighted by many researchers in order to bring about this transformation. (Pounder, 2006) The leadership of the principal is necessary but not sufficient. Teachers make a big difference. How can teachers skills be developed? What professional difference will they make? Teachers need to work together and trust each other. It is very important that leadership is shared. (Harris, 2006) Teachers have an extraordinary opportunity to exercise leadership because they are the most powerful influence, next to students, on other teachers practice (Darling-Hammond, 2003). York-Barr and Duke (2004) reported, In this day of high accountability, the need and potential for teacher leadership as well as the press for results, has probably never been greater. Because teacher leaders work within a system that either supports or acts as a barrier to its success, the roles of administrators are important to review According to these researchers, teacher leadership is the process by which teachers, individually or collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of the school communities to improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement. Such team leadership work involves three intentional development foci: individual development, collaboration or team development, and organizational development. Empowered teachers and children become risk-takers, collaborators and self-evaluators.(Stone and Sandra, 1995) They emerge as intrinsically motivated, responsible and independent individuals. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PRINCIPALS IN ENPOWERING TEACHERS? A variety of research articles and their findings are present in the field of education in USA and UK. Most of them agree on the key leadership roles assumed by the school principals to help teachers to develop as professionals who are confident and committed, possess specialized knowledge and expertise, collaborate with colleagues and undertake leadership roles both within and outside their classes.( Harris, A. and Lambert, L. 2003) Principals are the promoters of a environment which results in a paradigm shift of powers from those at the top of pyramid to those who are working in close collaboration with the learners- that is the teachers. This mode of shifting responsibilities and power to teachers results in shared decision-making, which is essential to school reform and to the changing demands in a global world. Results of various studies indicate that teacher empowerment is most closely related to principals social attractiveness (perceived similarity to teachers) and trustworthiness (perceived willingness to suppress ones own self-interest for the benefit of the school (Blase, J. and Blasà ©, J. 2001). The role of the leaders is to facilitate the development of teachers so that they will have the power and ability to determine important things about their work and schools. As indicated above, recent development on school reform, organizational studies, teachers professional development, and school leadership all point to the importance of teacher empowerment. Empowerment is not easy and it can not be accomplished in a short span of time. However, it can invoke real thinking and learning as well as meaningful action. If teachers are directly involved in leading the improvement effort they, would act as leaders without occupying any formal leadership roles. (Ghamrawi N.2010,). Schools need to cultivate this largely untapped resource for change and improvement in schools by providing teachers with leadership opportunities, appropriate training, and professional support empowerment in short. (Rizvi M.,2008) .An active and effective teacher leader can directly impact the school, its teachers and most importantly the students. There seems little doubt that both district and school leadership provides a critical bridge between most educational-reform initiatives, and having those reforms make a genuine difference for all students. Such leadership comes from many sources, not just superintendents and principals. But those in formal positions of authority in school systems are likely still the most influential. Efforts to improve their recruitment, training, evaluation and ongoing development should be considered highly cost-effective approaches to successful school improvement. School principals have an important role to play in building teacher leadership capacity by promoting teacher leadership learning teams, helping them clarify their vision, and encouraging them to develop habits that will enable them to make the most of their collaborative efforts. Many researchers have tried to develop a link between the distributed leadership of school heads and principals and consider it an important step towards empowering the staff. (Harris, 2003). They consider that the leadership of the principal is necessary but not sufficient. The principal is also more likely to be seen by staff as a source of instructional advice, which suggests that they are both more accessible and more knowledgeable about instructional matters than their counterparts in otherwise similar lower achieving schools Ash and Persall (2000) also in agreement to the view that principals must create an environment that supports collaboration among teachers; provides time for teachers professional development; and recognizes, rewards, and celebrates the concept of the teacher as leader The crucial role of principal is evident from the survey reports of The American Teacher: An Examination of School Leadership (2009) which reports that many teachers fear their chances to influence decisions about their profession are eroding. Teachers believe that principals spend more time on reporting and compliance than on guiding and motivating teachers, but principals report that the reverse is true. Principals must change this perception so that teachers feel empowered as school leaders. IMPACT OF TEACHER EMPOWERMENT ON STUDENTS Empowerment is important for children, as well. If empowerment changes how teachers view their work, empowering children should improve their view of learning. The foundations needed for empowering teachers and children include respect, validation and success. Once empowered, the individual changes. Research confirms the important influence of the classroom teacher on student achievement (Leithwood et al, 2010). A key issue, then, is how the quality of teaching and learning within individual classrooms can be influenced and improved. They argue that educational leadership has a key influence on the quality of teaching and learning and thus student achievement Motivated, engaged students are central to lasting school improvement. It is a mistake to think that reform done to students by well meaning adults will be successful, since in the end it is students who must do the learning. Students can play an important role in school improvement when they are asked to do so and conditions created to allow them to do so. Until 1960s it was widely believed that schools made little difference to student achievement, which was believed to be largely predetermined due to heredity, family background and socioeconomic context. Opinion on the effect that schools, teachers and educational leaders can have on student outcomes has also fluctuated. The influence of educational leadership on teacher and student performance has generally been underestimated, and that measured direct effects of leadership, which some researchers have found to be very low, are outweighed by indirect and antecedent effects such as school history, context and organization, with school climate acting as an intermediate variable between leadership and classroom achievement (De Maeyer et al., 2007), As noted, school leadership traditionally focused on the principal but today it is recognized that there can be many leaders in a school, including deputy principals, heads of department, program and committee chairs and teachers; it is agreed and seen as desirable that leadership is distributed. Student and community leadership also need to be recognized. Studies show school leaders can improve student learning by enhancing the conditions or status of selected variables on the four paths, i.e., rational, emotions, organizational and family. Leithwood (2010) points out that school leaders and leadership researchers should be guided directly by existing evidences about school, classroom and family variables with powerful effect on student learning, when taking decisions about school improvement. In America endeavors are being made towards developing educators professionally with programmes like learning forward by National Staff Development Council with slogans like every educator engages ineffective professional learning every day so every student achieves Students are considered important ultimate stakeholders .While doing research on the effect of teacher control on series of outcomes Ingeroll (2007) concluded that these outcomes are directly connected to the distribution of power and control in schools. Schools fostering empowerment have fewer student misbehavior problems, show more teacher collegiality and co-operation among teachers and administrators. Donaldson (2006) views teacher leadership cultivates the will and the ability to improve practice by three streams .i.e. by attending to the quality of relationships, by keeping purposes and goals in mind and by focusing on improving children learning. This is how a close bond is established between the empowerment of self and its impact on students learning. CONCLUSION The pendulum has swung for teachers as change agents from the days of relative powerlessness when teachers were cast not only in a passive role but frequently in the role of active obstructionists (Charles, 1971). The educational research has come a long way in establishing theories through evidences and findings. Contrary to the discussions so far, most teachers are known to become disengaged from leadership roles. (Gronn, 2003) discusses the disengagement of school leaders-the shunning of leadership roles by potential candidates (i.e. teachers). He argues that the main cause is the amplification of professional work, describing the new work orders of educational leadership as long hours, endless demands, punishing pace and continual frustration-hardly an attractive proposition for those considering taking up leadership roles. The positive role of principals in fostering the transformation of teachers to participants in decision making ventures cannot be ignored. Similar observations have been recorded by Gokà §e (2009) in Turkish schools, where a significant difference was found between the opinions of teachers and school principals. Teachers expect principals to show more effective behaviour in the change process. Bush (2008) in an editorial quotes Leithwood et al.s (2006) assessment that leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning leading to the inevitable conclusion that head teachers, principals and senior staff should undertake specific preparation for the distinctive role of educational leadership and management., then, and only then can the teachers feel empowered to exercise control over the different domains in and outside the classroom. In a study conducted by Rhodes and Brundrett (2008) emerging from the focus group phase, empowerment, support and controlled risk taking, were endorsed by heads to contribute towards effective in-house leadership development .. A culture of trust and collaboration is essential, as is a shared vision of where the school needs to go.. In the developed and emergent teacher leadership schools, barriers to teacher leadership were mainly external to the school (Daniel Muijs and Alma Harris2007).They suggest that developing teacher leadership is not an easy process. It is closely related to re-culturing as it means a fundamental shift in the purposes and practices of the school Literature in favour of the role of teacher as a change agent in transforming learners includes James S. Pounder (2006), according to whom the third wave emphasizes that teacher leadership is a process rather than a positional concept. A fourth wave of teacher leadership could include transformational classroom leadership as one of the defining qualities of a teacher leader and could embrace both school and university contexts. According to Leithwood, K., et al (2004): There seems little doubt that both district and school leadership provides a critical bridge between most educational-reform initiatives, and having those reforms make a genuine difference for all students. Such leadership comes from many sources, not just superintendents and principals. But those in formal positions of authority in school systems are likely still the most influential. Efforts to improve their recruitment, training, evaluation and ongoing development should be considered highly cost-effective approaches to successful school improvement. In contradiction to the various theories put forward by the renowned researchers like Leithwood et al (2004) and Gronn (2003), and beliefs adopted by agencies like the National College for School Leader ship (NCSL) in England, David Hartley (2009) in the book Distributed Leader ship According to the Evidence, suggests a casual relationship between distributed leader ship and pupil outcomes. He suggests two outcomes of distributed leadership which we assume form the predecessor of empowerment of teachers; one being the organizational variable, the other effect is that upon pupils achievement. According to the co-authors of the book, there is no clear correlation between the pattern of leader ship distribution in the qualitative data and the student test results evidence. This is a notoriously difficult matter to measure, for it is not easy to isolate the direct effect of distributed leader ship as an independent variable as the policy-makers have been ahead of the evidence in their en dorsement of distributed leader ship as a means to bring about the effective school The optimistic views presented by the renowned authors opens many a venues for further researches in this context.. Teacher leadership research is well established in the USA and Canada and, in the last decade, it has become a focus of research activity in the UK. However, in Pakistan teacher leadership is relatively unknown as an area of research although, UNESCO and the World Bank are funding studies to develop strategies for teacher education and professional development. We have still to go a long way to recognize and change the mind-set of our school heads and principals to empower the teachers and include them in decision making and policy making activities. Muijs and Harris (2003), summaries the concept of teacher leadership, empowerment, and its governing factors as below, and accept that there is still a need for research in the UK. In summary, teacher leadership is centrally concerned with forms of empowerment and agency which are also at the core of distributed leadership theory It is concluded that teacher leadership could have beneficial effects on school improvement, school and teacher effectiveness and teacher motivation and retention, but that the right conditions need to be in place in order for teacher leadership to flourish. The lack of research on teacher leadership in the UK is noted. More than a decade ago, findings by Pounder, D.G. et al.(1995), pointed towards the lack of obvious leadership relations between levels-school district, school, and classroom-and their effect upon multiple measures of school performance. Much research has been undertaken since then, still the latest review of literature shows that there is a need to fill the void existing between a direct impact of teacher empowerment and the enhancement of students learning. We have to look further for measurable success indicators in order to produce quantitative results in support of the myriad of qualitative results that establish the positive association between teachers empowerment and student achievement.