‘You must be thinking what a lesbian man teacher is doing in a nice place like Dipane Letsie School?’: enacting,negotiating and reproducing dominant understandings of gender in a rural school in the Free State,South Africa

In this article I explore two questions – how does, Thatho, a transgendered life orientation teacher enact, resist and reproduce dominant understandings of gender and sexuality in terms of his own identity and practice; and what specific possibilities, challenges and resistances exist for a transgender educator in the rural. Using life-history research, I show that Thatho challenges essentialist assumptions of gender and identity as he enacts multiple masculinities. My article troubles the common typification of men solely as hegemonic, marginalised or subordinate when indeed the actual accounts of their lives are far more fluid than these rigid distinctions. Thatho's enactment of multiple masculinities talks to the ‘durability or survivability of non-hegemonic patterns of masculinity’ outlined by Connell and Messershmidt [2005. “Hegemonic Masculinity Rethinking the Concept.” Gender & Society 19 (6): 829–859. doi:10.1177/0891243205278639], which in many ways characterises a well-crafted response to his own marginalisation and stigmatised sexuality. Yet, Thatho's narrative also suggests a significant flexibility in the gender order in Qwaqwa, which looks different from the sometimes inflexibility of rural society and in some research from the developed world and, perhaps, from some urban contexts in contemporary South Africa.     

‘Role stretch’: assessing the blurring of teaching and non‐teaching in the classroom assistant role in Scotland

With the increasing number of teaching and classroom assistants across the UK there is now much debate about what their role should be. In particular concerns have arisen about the extent to which they overstep the boundary from supporting teaching and learning into teaching pupils. This study assesses this issue within Scotland. It draws on a national survey of 2000 head teachers, teachers and classroom assistants and interviews with directors of education in nearly half of all Scottish local authorities. Findings from the research suggest a small number of classroom assistants in Scotland are overstepping the boundary into teaching. The paper concludes with an explanation as to why this is happening taking into account aspects such as local authority policy, school size and the individual characteristics of the classroom assistants.     

Developing game-like simulations to formalize tacit procedural knowledge: the ONT experience

The exceptional success achieved by the Spanish National Transplant Organization (ONT) in recent years has made other countries highly interested in following this organization’s methodologies. A good training program is one of the key elements of the ONT. Until 2012, the ONT training program was a paper-based case teaching method, and the small number of ONT experts limited the audience. In an attempt to improve and increase the attendees in this program, a game-like simulation was developed to represent transplant management procedural knowledge. To maximize the educational value, this game-like simulation was based on representative teaching cases to help students practice with different real situations and different levels of complexity in a risk-free environment. This study presents how an iterative game development methodology has been applied to evolve from a paper-based case teaching method to a game-like simulation, with a special focus on the efforts made to include the ONT experts’ tacit procedural knowledge in the simulation. Apart from increasing the number of students who can access the ONT training, this game-like simulation also helped to achieve a more detailed formalization of transplant management as well as a more comprehensive systematization of a set of relevant teaching cases.     

Erfassung von Schülerselbsteinschätzungen zum schulbezogenen Sozial- und Lernverhalten – Validierung der Schülereinschätzliste für Sozial- und Lernverhalten (SSL)

The Self-Report Checklist for Social and Learning Behaviour (SSL) is a student questionnaire comparable to the Teacher Report Checklist for Social and Learning Behaviour. The SSL assesses ten facets of social and learning behaviour using self-reports by students. The present study of 1267 students aged 9 to 19 years examines the factorial structure, psychometric properties and validity of this questionnaire. The reliabilities (Cronbach’s Alpha, retest) of all ten scales were sufficiently good and the postulated factorial structure was found in exploratory as well as in confirmatory factor analysis. Correlations of SSL-scales with scales of the Differencial Aggression Questionnaire and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as well as with grades in German and mathematics indicated mainly convergent and divergent validity. Furthermore, positive correlations were found to corresponding teacher ratings.     

Blocking in human causal learning is affected by outcome assumptions manipulated through causal structure

Additivity-related assumptions have been proven to modulate blocking in human causal learning. Typically, these assumptions are manipulated by means of pretraining phases (including exposure to different outcome magnitudes), or through explicit instructions. In two experiments, we used a different approach that involved neither pretraining nor instructional manipulations. Instead, we manipulated the causal structure in which the cues were embedded, thereby appealing directly to the participants’ prior knowledge about causal relations and how causes would add up to yield stronger outcomes. Specifically, in our “different-system” condition, the participants should assume that the outcomes would add up, whereas in our “same-system” condition, a ceiling effect would prevent such an assumption. Consistent with our predictions, Experiment 1 showed that, when two cues from separate causal systems were combined, the participants did expect a stronger outcome on compound trials, and blocking was found, whereas when the cues belonged to the same causal system, the participants did not expect a stronger outcome on compound trials, and blocking was not observed. The results were partially replicated in Experiment 2, in which this pattern was found when the cues were tested for the second time. This evidence supports the claim that prior knowledge about the nature of causal relations can affect human causal learning. In addition, the fact that we did not manipulate causal assumptions through pretraining renders the results hard to account for with associative theories of learning.     

Correction to: What do upper‑elementary and middle school teachers know about the processes of text comprehension?

Reading and Writing -     

The Tao of Empowerment

After all the trendy approaches to improving performance have failed, where can we look for the wisdom we need to advise management on how to overcome employee apathy? The concept of employee empowerment is far from new. Five thousand years ago, the sages of ancient China first formulated the principles of Tao, the primal power that forges all phenomena in the universe. They believed that each individual was a microcosm of the universe. Twenty–five hundred years ago, gifted Chinese scholar Lao-tzu eloquently and concisely described the power that comes from being in harmony with the evolving force of nature. The principles Lao-tzu set forth in Tao Te Ching are as valid today as they were 26 centuries ago. They challenge us to use nature as our model, balancing the extremes in life and work, not causing them; to discover intellectual independence, relying on our own inspiration and instincts; to practice simplicity; to build personal power through awareness and knowledge, and to direct events without resorting to force.     

A qualitative study of secondary-school students’ perceptions of interpersonal teacher behaviour in Hong Kong

Learning Environments Research - This qualitative study explored Hong Kong students’ views and reactive emotions towards interpersonal teacher behaviour in their classrooms. Fifteen...