The hidden persistence of immigrant “dropouts”: Distortions,blank spots and blind spots in research on schooling careers

High dropout rates of Hispanic students have been documented repeatedly in recent decades. Nationwide, the percentage of 16- to 24-year old Hispanics who are reported as dropouts is almost four times that of nonHispanic Whites, and over twice that of African Americans. The analysis of first- and second-generation Mexican immigrant students presented in the first section of this chapter suggests that these estimates may be inflated and in other ways distorted. The persistence of a number of youths in the face of discouragements is hidden by methods of documentation that generate distorted estimates of dropout rates. In the second section of this chapter, we suggest that it is also hidden by a tendency, common in both documentation and substantive studies, to employ broad classifications that are insensitive to fundamental differences in ethnicity, to the character and conditions of immigration and emigration, and to family and community relationships. In the third section of this chapter, we suggest that the ways we conceptualize schooling careers help blind us to schooling persistence, as we tend to see failure in causal terms (“because of” statements) and success in terms of individual agency (“in order to” statements). In a final section, we consider the rather staggering demands that we face if we hope to reduce our ignorance of immigrant schooling in the many blank and blind spots represented by our few examples.     

British values and virtues: schooling in Christianity and character?

This article examines the antecedents of the ‘British Values’ (democracy, rule of law, equality of opportunity, freedom of speech and the rights of all men and women to live free from persecution) which it is incumbent upon British schools to teach. But it also seeks to move the debate forward by pointing to the ‘British Virtues’ without which it is impossible to live by ‘British Values’. The argument advanced here is that the inculcation of virtues (moral habits and dispositions underpinning good character) as well as values (beliefs and ideals) is foundational in schooling for life in a liberal democracy. On the view that schools are both ‘by’ and ‘for’ society (being the products of the society they seek to serve) the article problematises attempts to conceive of schooling in general, and character education in particular, in exclusively post-Christian terms. Although increasingly secular, as British culture is not quite the palimpsest that easily permits a millennium of Christian social and legal ‘writing’ to be ‘over-written’, some of its central concepts are drawn upon in the recommendations made here for the curriculum and governance of schools.     

The role of scientific terminology in research and teaching: Is something important missing?

The recent discussion between Lewis and Linn (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33, 335–337, 1996) and Pushkin (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33, 223–224, 1996) concerning the definitions of terms relating to heat raises the broader issue of the nature of scientific terms and their role in instruction. We illustrate that in just two significant examples (heat and electricity) it is easy to illustrate from the literature that there is not agreement as to the meaning of the terms among scientists and that between texts, even within texts, terms are used in such inconsistent ways that there is no logical way to sort out the meanings of the terms. Hence, if “standard interpretations of scientific knowledge to be taught” do not actually exist, then how can the teaching of standard interpretations of scientific knowledge be established as a goal to be accomplished? © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 655–660, 1997.     

Public or private? The influence of immigration on native schooling choices in the United States

This study examines whether rising enrollments of foreign-born students in US public schools caused a movement among native children from public schools to private schools, something the literature has labeled native flight to private school. Using data from the National Center of Educational Statistics School District Demographic System, estimates of native flight are constructed using enrollment data on native and foreign-born, school-age children from 1990, 2000, and 2010. Concern regarding omitted variables bias necessitates the use of an instrumental variables technique. An instrument for the foreign-born enrollment is created using information about the ethnic composition of school districts in 1980 to predict the enrollment patterns of foreign-born students in later years. Two-stage least squares estimates confirm the presence of native flight. Flight to private school among white native students is occurring in smaller school districts in non-traditional immigrant receiving states, while flight among native minorities and Hispanics is located in school districts that reside in traditional immigrant receiving states.     

Re-imagining roles: using collaborative and creative research methodologies to explore girls’ perspectives on gender,citizenship and schooling

Often girls are the objects of the camera’s lens and subjects of the researcher’s gaze. This article describes a qualitative study using a collaborative, creative and critical methodology to explore girls’ perspectives on gender, citizenship and schooling. The seven adolescent girl participants used Photovoice to engage with their roles as girl-citizens. Despite Canada’s international reputation as a leader in gender equality, evidence reveals that challenges still prevent their full participation, particularly in formal politics. This research raises questions about what life is like for girls and women in Canada beyond the rhetoric and global rankings, and adds to the often disconnected bodies of literature on girlhood, citizenship and education.     

Literacy,poverty and schooling: what matters in young people's education?

This paper draws upon several decades of literacy research in schools in high‐poverty environments to explore what matters in young people's education. In dialogue with themes from Kevin Marjoribanks' work, such as student aspirations, family environments and teacher expectations, key insights are summarised. Referring to longitudinal case studies and a current ethnographic project, the interplay between literacy, poverty and schooling, and young people's aspirations and education outcomes is explored. Although the work of educators in high‐poverty communities continues to be highly demanding, there are some schools and teachers making a durable positive difference to learner dispositions and literate repertoires. Teacher expectations and discursive practices are crucial in this process.     

‘Man sorting books’: historical research in an archive of university photographs

The impetus for this article was an encounter with thousands of photographs in an online archive of a public university in New Zealand, taken over the twentieth century. The size of the archive and the paucity of information about many images draws attention to challenges of commencing work in a large institutional visual archive. The first part of the article outlines initial forays into the archive and attempts to ‘sort’ the 22,000 plus images it contains into some form of order, utilising the categories of people, things, spaces, activities. The second part considers the history of the library as integral to an idea of the university and its role in the storing, organisation and dissemination of knowledge. It analyses archival images of the library to reflect on its place in the university, together with the limits and opportunities afforded by visual archives in histories of higher education.     

Dialogic or dialectic? The significance of ontological assumptions in research on educational dialogue

This article explores the relationship between ontological assumptions and studies of educational dialogue through a focus on Bakhtin's ‘dialogic’. The term dialogic is frequently appropriated to a modernist framework of assumptions, in particular the neo‐Vygotskian or sociocultural tradition. However, Vygotsky's theory of education is dialectic, not dialogic. From a dialogic perspective the difference between voices in dialogue is constitutive of meaning in such a way that it makes no sense to imagine ‘overcoming’ this difference. By contrast, due to the implicit assumption that meaning is ultimately grounded on identity rather than upon difference, the dialectic perspective applied by Vygotsky interprets differences as ‘contradictions’ that need to be overcome or transcended. A case study of research on exploratory talk is used to illustrate the potential for a fruitful relationship between ‘high level’ theory and research that is relevant to classroom practice.     

Low cost private schooling in India: Is it pro poor and equitable?

India has seen an explosion in low-fee private (LFP) schooling aimed at the poorer strata of society, and this once-urban phenomenon has spread in the last decade to rural areas, with implications for equity due to the level of direct costs involved. This study explores whether or not LFP schooling in rural India is pro-poor and equitable, and finds that these schools are unaffordable to the bottom two wealth quintiles of families. This conclusion has implications for policy formation and shows that increased reliance on a market in education will not help to achieve equitable access to primary schooling for all.     

Community participation in schooling in Nepal: a disjunction between policy intention and policy implementation?

Community participation in the governance of school systems is a recurrent theme of educational reform in developed and developing countries alike. This article analyses the effort of one developing country – Nepal – to promote broader participation in educational decision-making through local school governance structure. It looks at how the current policy creates spaces for community participation in school and the extent to which a gap exists between policy intention and policy implementation. Drawing on the case study data, this article suggests that while the policy has created legitimate spaces for community participation in school, participation in such spaces is taking a form of tokenism, and the community represented in school governance is restricted to a small number of political elites. Given that ethnic, cultural, linguistic and socio-economic characteristics of the local populace, problems exist within the school system to embrace differences and diversities that prevent a majority of parents from effective participation in school. This article concludes that along with the structural reform, participation can be reinforced by developing a long-term strategy to build community capacity for the provision and management of education, as well as by preparing educators to work effectively with parents of different socio-cultural backgrounds.     

Impact in participatory health research: what can we learn from research on participatory evaluation?

Participatory Health Research is a collective term adopted globally for participatory action research in a health context. As an approach to research, it challenges current ways used within the health sciences to measure research impact as research, learning and action are integrated throughout the research process and dependent on context and participation. The literature on participatory evaluation is explored to see if it can offer some insights into how best to articulate impact. Similar debates are taking place particularly concerning the relationship between degree of participation and impact, how impact should be defined and the role of wider social forces on the evaluation process. A focus on core values, such as social justice, differentiates transformative evaluation from more pragmatic participatory evaluation, but this is poorly conceptualised in evaluation models.     

Research and practice in undergraduate education: And never the twain shall meet?

This paper identifies some of the most significant -- and counterproductive -- gaps between what research reveals about how college students learn and how to maximize student learning, on the one hand, and, on the other, current academic, pedagogical, and administrative practices and policies. Drawing on research evidence from the cognitive and neural sciences, anthropology, sociology, psychology, education, and other sources, the paper first summarizes what is known about how students learn and what instructional practices and structures appear to be most effective in promoting student learning. The paper then contrasts this research-based evidence with current pedagogical, curricular, structural, and administrative practices and policies, and discusses the implications for instructional and organizational practices and policies. The paper concludes with a discussion of five explanations of why the gap exists and what might be done to close it.     

The role of research ethics committees: Friend or foe in educational research? An exploratory study

Ethics committees have an important role to play in ensuring ethical standards (e.g. BERA, ESRC, RCUK recommendations) are met by educational researchers. Balancing obligations to participants, society, institutions and the researchers themselves is not, however, easy. Researchers often experience the ethics committee as unsympathetic to their research endeavour, whilst ethics committees find some research approaches do not make ethical implications sufficiently explicit. This potential for misunderstanding is evident in the literature, but studies investigating how participants perceive this relationship are missing. This research comprises a novel empirical study which explores researcher perceptions of research ethics committees. Fifty-five participants in higher education departments of education responded to an online survey. Open and closed-ended questions were used to collect data on roles, methodological stance, experiences of the research ethics committee, perceived tensions and examples of good practice. The results indicated that contemporary educational researchers regard research ethics committees as friends when researcher and reviewer are transparently engaged in a shared endeavour. When this shared endeavour breaks down, for a variety of reasons—including apparently unreasonable demands or mutual misunderstanding—the research ethics committees can become foes. The difference between foe and friend lies in the quality of communication, clear systems and a culture of respectful mutual learning. The contributions of this study have practical implications for the ways that education researchers and research ethics committees relate to one another within university settings, both to alleviate areas of tension and to arrive at a shared understanding which will enable best ethical research practice.     

‘Educare’ in Australia: analysing policy mobility and transformation

Abstract

Background: Early childhood education and care has been an area of significant policy attention, public investment and private market activity in Australia over the past three decades. Australian educationists and policy-makers have looked to international examples for evidence, policy design and institutional models. However, this area is under-researched in Australia, with regard to how these knowledge flows are theorised, and how policy is implemented on the ground.

Purpose: The paper’s purpose was to contribute new Australian-focussed conceptual and empirical insights on the trajectories, development and implementation of evidence-based policy in the field of early childhood education and care.

Sources of evidence: The paper is based on three main sources of evidence: ? the critical literature on policy transfer and policy mobility

? policy statements, reports and planning documents produced by national- and state-level governments

? data from fieldwork analysis of new capital works and programmes in the early childhood field.

Main argument: International research and evidence on the benefits of investment in early learning has had a significant impact on the framing of Australian policy. So too has a move in several countries to align early childhood institutions with schools. However, a dominant paradigm of policy transfer, reliant on pluralist and rationalist frameworks of policy-making, fails to account for the dynamics of policy development and implementation across and within jurisdictions and geographical space. Conceptualising a new alignment in Australia between children’s centres and schools as ‘educare’, this article employs the theoretical lens of policy mobility to account for the circulation and transformation of educare policy in Australian settings. Through an empirical analysis of a new educare centre in the growth corridor of western Melbourne, the article demonstrates the extent to which neoliberal policy settings outside the educational sphere, around public finance, partnership, place and infrastructure provision, influence the implementation of ‘educare’ policy.

Conclusions: The educare discourse in Australia addresses a complex and multiscalar set of policy problems that associate child development with concerns around human capital formation, economic efficiency and productivity, place making and community building, and the role of the public sector in neoliberal democracies. International circuits of knowledge, policy design and institutional models in the educare field have been significant in shaping recent Australian policy, despite well-publicised views expressed in Australia on the disconnection between academic research and policy. The strength of policy mobility as a theoretical lens to assist our understanding of these influences lies in its critique of formalism in policy-making and in its attention to fluidity and transformation. The mobility lens encourages new empirical research that focuses on spatial and institutional dynamics, assisting our reading of on-the-ground developments in Australia’s fastest growing city.     

The smaller the better? A review of research on small rural schools in Sweden

This review of 30 years of research in small rural schools in Sweden includes projects focusing directly upon rural education and rural schools, reports from national agencies, and official statistics. Two main foci were found: (i) the quality of education and pupils’ academic performance, and (ii) the economics of running schools in different types of demographic areas. A concordant picture stands out: (a) there are no indications that small rural schools do not provide an equally good education as other schools, but (b) the higher expenditure per pupil and decreasing population in sparsely populated areas increases the risk of school closures. The importance of the small rural school to the community receives peripheral attention at best in this body of research.     

‘The 5 cm rule’: biopower,sexuality and schooling

This paper explores ‘the 5 cm rule’, a regulation around student contact discovered during an investigation of the sexual culture of schooling with 16–19-year-olds in New Zealand. Implemented to stem ‘inappropriate and unwanted’ touching, it stipulates that students must maintain a physical distance of 5 cm at all times. It is argued this rule represents a contemporary type of biopower which forms part of the sexual culture of schooling. As a technique of corporeal regulation it is characterised by a ‘loose’ exercise of power, that allows for student resistance while producing subjects’ ‘docility-utility’ (Foucault, 1980). The paper contends that the rule contributes negatively to ‘the sexual culture of schooling’ by constituting student sexuality as ‘unruly’ and ‘problematic’. This stipulation also prescribes a set of gender relations that are inhibitive of mutually negotiated and pleasurable corporeal experience.     

Evidence-based practice in autism educational research: can we bridge the research and practice gap?

In order to develop deeper and better understandings of what constitutes effective educational practices, and to bridge the gap between research and practice, there is a need for a paradigm shift in autism educational research. The contribution of this paper is to examine the key methodological challenges that stand in the way of autism educational research impacting on practice. This research field is dominated by experimental research designs that evaluate the impact of ‘interventions’ that focus on developing the skills, knowledge, and understanding of pupils with autism. For educational research to have an impact on the lives of individuals with autism, their families, and the practitioners who work with them, movement towards a more balanced range of methodologies is needed. This needs to include methodologies that situate the knowledge base of practitioners on a par with the knowledge base of researchers, drawing on the evidence base from the classroom itself, and bringing in the perspectives and views of individuals with autism, their families, and the practitioners who work with them.     

Student-teachers doing action research in their practicum: why and how?

Teaching in today’s changing society requires teachers’ independent judgement and development. One way of fostering professional development is action research; described, however, as a challenging and time-consuming process. This qualitative study asks whether action research is worthwhile already in pre-service teacher education, or whether the challenges outweigh the gains. Furthermore, it asks how a teacher educator, here the author of the article, could guide student-teachers’ action research projects. The main data source is student-teachers’ research reports, which are analysed and reflected upon in light of professional development. The study revealed that action research under certain conditions offers a potential for professional development for student-teachers.