Interdisciplinary Collaboration Supporting Social-Emotional Learning in Rural School Systems

In this article we illustrate the roles of school psychologists, administrators, social workers, teachers, and parents in school reform by describing the adoption, initial implementation, and formative evaluation of an evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program within several rural Midwestern school districts in a geographically large county. As part of a countywide initiative aimed at improving children's mental health services, an interdisciplinary team collaborated to select and implement a universal school-based curriculum addressing SEL objectives. Professionals in the county's special education cooperative lead the reform effort, general education teachers deliver the curriculum, and school psychologists and school social workers have served as trainers and consultants to educators and building administrators. An ecological model of organizational consultation informs these efforts. We illustrate this model by describing its application to the collaborative school-based initiative addressing SEL objectives. We also discuss implications for future consultation research, training, and practice.     

Aspectos cualitativos de la evaluación del prácticum: evaluación del programa y de los estudiantes

The paper gives the results of several years of experience in organizing and assessing practical experience programmes in teacher education and training. It deals with two main questions referring to practical experience: a. how does it contribute to training? How much of the planned profile of future teachers can be achieved through practical experience?, and b. how should the practicum be organized to be considered effective? Not any school experience is appropriate to train teachers. Specific organizational and managing conditions are needed in order to let practicum become a “strong‐training‐effective‐experience”.     

Social justice education with Chinese characteristics: An example from Shanghai

This article analyses a Chinese approach to social justice in education using the example of Shanghai. In addressing schooling inequalities, Shanghai illustrates social justice education with Chinese characteristics, which revolves around the ideal of ‘educational balance’ (jiaoyu junheng). The ‘balance’ in question is about achieving a values-centred and all-round education in and across all schools through the cultivation of a school’s ‘inner quality’ (neihan). This Chinese formulation of social justice education is manifested through two representative policy measures: creating and strengthening ‘new high-quality schools’ and helping weak schools to level up. The Chinese characteristics of these action plans are seen in two ways: a focus on social justice between schools rather than between students; and an emphasis on the moral cultivation of students. It is argued that a Chinese model of social justice education promotes educational equity to some extent through the politics of redistribution, recognition and representation. However, a major critique is its hegemonic and top-down nature, which overlooks alternative and competitive voices—especially those of migrant children—as part of a politics of representation.     

Integrating Social Justice Advocacy With National Standards of Practice: Implications for School Counselor Education

Social justice in the education of all K‐12 students begins with school counselors; preparing school counselors as advocates and leaders who can implement these principles in U.S. schools begins with counselor educators. Suggestions for intentional preparation of school counselors to be social justice advocates in schools by integrating the principles of the National Center for Transforming School Counseling with the American School Counselor Association National Model for School Counseling Programs (2005) and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs 2009 Standards are described. Ideas for educating school counselors as effective advocates in the context of specific training experiences throughout counselor training programs are provided.     

Utilisation conjointe du milieu et des ressources technologiques pour la formation des maîtres

Perusse, P., Décamps, E.A. and Pécot, F. “Utilisation conjointe du milieu et des ressources technologiques pour la formation des maîtres,” Revue ATEE Journal 3(1980)119‐133.

The training of teachers simply must develop. Yet, this development is at times thwarted by the latent conservative attitude of education. The introduction of educational technology, the technical and psychological integration of new teaching practices and more precisely of the latest products of audiovisual research, together with the computerized communications systems could provide the opportunity for that necessary break between the past and the present.

The resulting modification of relationships between those who teach and those who are taught, the new definition of tasks, and more particularly the part given to learners in the training of future teachers will make possible an opening towards the outside world and the coming into existence of a school of responsibility through responsibility. The first experiments show that we still have a long way to go before that aim is achieved.     

Translating Key Competences into the School Curriculum: lessons from the Polish experience

Over the last 20 years, Poland has gone through a major transition process in which the challenges for education in terms of new approaches to learning and teaching have been compounded by broader changes such as the democratisation of structures and processes and the major economic and social changes. This article is a case study that examines the early stages of significant shifts in the learning and teaching process, the stepped approach that was taken and the different international influences. It was decided to focus on the top-down, policy level actions in order to trace how influences have shaped current policy on outcomes-based approaches and key competences, which are increasingly implemented in schools today. The Polish education and training system has been through a complex series of reforms, many simultaneously. The introduction of outcome-based approaches and key competences is part of much broader reforms that have affected mindsets and attitudes by having addressed the structure of the system (e.g. the length of compulsory education), school governance, the roles of principals and teachers, teacher training, etc. Parents' expectations have evolved and students are growing up in a much more connected environment with Internet and social networks and an exponential development of access to ICT and the need for digital competences and a range of key competences for lifelong learning and work (Gordon et al., 2009). Although change has taken place at all levels and in all sub-sectors of the system, this article focuses on general education in primary and secondary schools.     

俄罗斯中小学教师培训过程中存在的问题与策略

俄罗斯中小学教师培训受社会转型期经济原因的影响,教师整体素质与学校教育教学质量整体下降。对此,俄罗斯教育部门从法律、制度、教育、培训等方面制定了相应的策略,保证了中小学教师的培训质量。     

Flights from the field and the plight of teacher education: a personal perspective

The sociology of the curriculum has been placed at the centre of a narrative of how social and cultural reproduction is effected through the symbolic power of the school. An influential body of critique maintains that the forms of the curriculum are characterized by an ‘arbitrary’ that effectively confines access to knowledge to those students who possess the code required for its acquisition. The insights of this critique, particularly as represented by Bourdieu and Bernstein, are invaluable. A realist ontology demands, however, that the necessary elements of education, including respect for reality, knowledge, and truth, should be an integral part of the school curriculum. It is concluded that the possibility of reconciling the arbitrary with the necessary should be grasped.     

The Western Australian School Leadership Programme: towards a new paradigm for leadership development

The changes confronting the workplace, such as the process of decentralisation currently transforming the structure of school systems, have given rise to new relationships within organisations, particularly new models of leadership. These changes reflect a wider and more comprehensive set of forces shaping human social existence in the latter part of the twentieth century, often referred to as post‐modernism. It is argued that the post‐modern world requires a different kind of education for school leaders in terms of both the content and the manner in which it is delivered. This paper describes the design, structure and delivery of one such programme in the state of Western Australia—the School Leadership Programme. It is argued that features of this programme represent the shape of things to come in professional development for school personnel as the education sector responds to the move from modernity to post‐modemity.     

Public policy failure and fiasco in education: perspectives on the British examinations crises of 2000–2002 and other episodes since 1975

Abstract

This article is the first part of a debate with David Hargreaves about the ideas expressed in his article ‘Diversity and choice in school education: a modified libertarian approach’. It discusses the difficulties of using cost‐benefit analysis in education, examines in detail some of the documents on which Hargreaves's argument is based and traces the development of policy on school choice. It is argued that policy on choice must be understood within a consideration of the wider social and political context in which that policy has arisen. The article then documents the various new forms of selection that have accompanied increased choice and considers problems of social segregation. The article concludes with suggestions on how the system might be reformed.     

Social representations and uses of technologies of African high-school students

ABSTRACT

This article examines social representations of information and communications technologies (ICT) in high school students in Niamey, Niger, and explores whether these representations are determined by training in and regular use of ICT. A sample of 50 students attending two lycées1 was studied. Only one lycée offered computer courses. The results of semi-directed interviews show that whether or not they took computer courses, the students developed social representations of ICT. These representations were associated with favourable attitudes toward computer and Internet use at school. The chi-square test hypothesis shows that students’ social representations of ICT were not determined by training in ICT.     

The social construction of pedagogic discourse in physical education teacher education in Australia

Abstract

Once the exclusive domain of teacher education, physical education in Australian tertiary institutions has during the last twenty years evolved into a series of discipline‐based fields concerned with human movement studies, leisure studies and sport science that have begun to feed new vocational opportunities in the sport, exercise and leisure industries. Concomitant with these changes in the social organization of knowledge in tertiary physical education has been a realignment of school physical education programmes, particularly in the senior school curriculum. Inevitably, the once sole focus of physical education in tertiary institutions on teacher education is now being forced to reinvent itself in light of these dynamic changes in the social organization of school and university knowledge. Following the work of Bernstein, Goodson and others, this article analyses current policy and practice in physical education teacher education and identifies several future scenarios. The first part of the article provides an historical overview of the emergence of new forms of tertiary knowledge in physical education from the mid‐1970s until the present. The second part provides a similar overview of developments in school physical education with a focus on senior school and matriculation physical education during the same period. The third part analyses the current state of affairs in the social organization of knowledge for physical education teacher education. In the fourth part, a series of questions is raised concerning relationships between knowledge in physical education teacher education, school physical education and university forms of the field through the presentation of several future scenarios. The article concludes with several proposals for policy development concerned with physical education teacher education programmes.     

关于影响师专教育合理定位的社会因素分析

如何对师专教育进行合理定位,这既是师专教育未来发展的关键问题,也是高教界探讨的热点问题之一。因此,探讨影响师专教育合理定位的社会因素就具有十分重要的意义。基础教育发展状况、教育政策导向和世界师范教育发展趋势等是影响师专教育合理定位的主要社会因素。     

The politics of rural school reform: Escuela Nueva in Colombia

This article explores the history and politics of rural school reform in Colombia, focusing on the Escuela Nueva programme. In particular, it assesses the motivations of the Colombian State in promoting a comprehensive reform of its rural schools. We argue that Colombia's unique political context was, in large part, responsible for its novel approach to school reform. As the political context shifted, however, so to did the State's posture to rural schooling. We track the Escuela Nueva programme through three phases (grassroots, formalized and decoupled) to demonstrate how social actors, their interests at a specific point in time, and the distribution of power among them, are crucial elements for understanding the motivation and outcomes of social policy making. In other words, this research portrays education reform as a dynamic process that is continuously shaped and reshaped as political actors and institutions compete for influence and scarce resources in a variable social arena.     

A current landscape of specific learning disability identification: Training,practices, and implications

Specific learning disability (SLD) identification procedures vary across states (Maki et al., 2015, School Psychol Quart, 30, 457–469); however, the extent to which SLD identification methods are implemented at the district level is not well understood. Moreover, the high‐stakes nature of SLD identification necessitates extensive training, but research regarding graduate and postgraduate training in SLD is limited. This study examined school psychologists’ SLD training and practices through survey methodology. Results showed that a growing number of school psychologists use, prefer, and receive training in response to intervention and pattern of strengths and weaknesses to identify students with SLD while the use of and preference for ability–achievement discrepancy may be decreasing. However, nearly one‐third of school psychologists still reported the use of ability–achievement discrepancy. In addition, over half of school psychologists reported using state department of education guidance documents to inform their SLD identification practices. Implications for training and practice are discussed.     

The Buddhist approach to education: an alternative approach for sustainable education

This article is based on research undertaken as part of a study of sustainable school design in Thailand. Since school design solutions are inevitably affected by educational theory and practice, in the search for appropriate building solutions, it has been necessary to review Thai educational theories and practices that relate to the sustainability approach. Recently, there have been several attempts at the international level to respond to sustainability concepts and practices in both educational and architectural fields. These have included changes to the physical building through the introduction of techniques like passive solar cooling, and curriculum changes such as the use of native plants in the school grounds for science teaching. In Thailand, sustainable practices in both fields appear to be in their infancy. This article aims to explore one current Thai educational practice that presents the possibility of responding to sustainability concepts via culturally sensitive education. The practice is based on the three Buddhist principles of learning: sila sikkha (moral conduct); samadhi sikka (mind training); and panna sikkha (wisdom development). In this holistic approach, the principles are practised simultaneously and can be applied to many dimensions, including personal, family, school and communal levels, to cultivate responsive sustainable living practices for the learners. Because the majority of Thai people are Buddhists, this approach may be an alternative way of developing sustainable education in Thailand. It also presents a way to apply local knowledge to promote sustainable ways of living in particular contexts. This may be the first step in the development of sustainable school design in Thailand and could become an integrated part of the country's sustainable systems.     

From Desegregation to Privatization: A Critical Race Policy Analysis of School Choice and Educational Opportunity in North Carolina

ABSTRACT

School choice policies and the movement to privatize education have become the currently preferred school reform methods on both the state and federal levels under the guise they will provide equal educational opportunities and access for all students. The 1954 school desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education arguably paved the way for equal educational opportunities, including school choice; however, we contend that the present-day school choice and privatization movements may be a part of a larger social, political, and legal cycle of inequality that has established residence in the American educational system for more than a century. We conduct a critical race theory policy analysis using a framework that has been effective in previous work with examining cyclical inequalities, the convergence-divergence-reclamation cycle (or C-D-R cycle). In this article, we are focusing our analysis on the state of North Carolina due to its complex legal and political history with school desegregation and its recent support for various school choice options and privatizing public education. We assert that the push for school choice and privatizing public education in North Carolina demonstrates a broader, recurring problem in American public schools-–creating progressive education laws and policies appearing to promote educational equity and opportunity and then regressing to policies supporting White privilege while maintaining the status quo of inequitable educational opportunities for historically underserved and minoritized students.     

The road taken: professional pathways in innovative curriculum development

This article describes the phases that teachers went through in their engagement with innovative teaching strategies as part of a school‐based research consortium linked to a university department of education in England. The teachers recorded their experiences and responses in diaries which gave access to their dominant feelings and concerns during the innovation. The diaries were analysed to investigate changes in the entries over time. The six phases were: initiation, novice, concerns, consolidation, expansion and commitment. The analysis also indicates the changing nature of professional support that was important during each of these phases. The conditions that characterized the ‘working space’ created by the teachers are discussed and particular emphasis is given to the fact that they collaborated with each other and with outside agents. Evidence from later interviews is used to suggest that these conditions have had a lasting impact on the schools. Further these conditions are related to the concept of social capital and the school research coordinator exploiting a ‘hole’ in the organization. It is argued that social capital among teachers and school leaders is critical to large‐scale change.     

Education and the problem of social inequality in Russia

The socioeconomic changes that took place in Russia in the 1990s defined both the ideology and practice of educational reform. The answer to the question: ‘Was the educational system democratized?’, is of key importance in evaluating the social outcomes of the educational reforms. In this paper, I discuss three aspects of the problem of inequality in school education in Russia: (a) social stratification and institutional changes in the school system; (b) regional features and inequality in education; and (c) the school as the site of social differentiation. The first and second aspects are concerned with macro tendencies, and I use official statistical data in discussing these. The third aspect has a socio-psychological orientation, and here I draw on material from research undertaken by the Centre of Sociology of Education in the Russian Academy of Education.     

The Blueprint I revisited: Training and practice in school psychology

In 1984, the National School Psychology Inservice Training Network (NSPITN) published School psychology: A blueprint for training and practice (Blueprint I), which recognized that America's public schools were troubled and focused on how school psychology could help with a transformation; the role of school psychologists was divided into 16 practice domains. In 1997, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) published a successor, School psychology: A blueprint for training and practice II (Blueprint II), which credits the first edition with having “driven much of the progress in school psychology.” To better understand the impact of the Blueprint I, this study analyzes responses from Nebraska and Iowa school psychologists about it, finding that doctoral-level respondents believed that they were more competently trained than subdoctoral school psychologists in the research domain; quality of training was rated higher by respondents receiving degrees after 1984 in class management, classroom organization and social structures, interpersonal communication and consultation, legal/ethical and professional issues, multicultural concerns, parental involvement, research, and systems development and planning. Analyses revealed numerous areas of congruence and dissonance between training and practice. Respondents reported a preference to decrease the amount of time spent in assessment and increase the time spent in all other domains (except basic academic skills). The relevance to the Blueprint II and the implications for school psychology training and practices are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.