Can difference make a difference? A critical theory discussion of religion in sexuality education

This article conceptualizes religion as a critical theory challenge to sexuality education. Religious views in sexuality education are often perceived as intolerant and incompatible with today’s progressive and modern society. This article engages with the idea that the inclusion of religious viewpoints on sexuality will challenge the efficacy of current sexuality education in Australia and New Zealand school contexts, to create a more contemporary and inclusive learning experience that caters for all students’ sexual needs and lives. Utilizing a critical theory lens, I demonstrate how religion can challenge dominant views of sexuality education, introduce alternative modes of content and delivering, promote critical thinking skills and more egalitarian ways of learning about sexuality. Drawing on data collected from Australian and New Zealand public schools, this article endeavors to reframe current discussions of the relationships between religion and sexuality education.     

Student teachers' entry perceptions about teaching primary science: Does a first degree make a difference?

It is problematic whether primary teachers benefit by completing a first degree especially when the teaching of specific subjects, here science, is the focus of attention. This study reports the comparative results of interviewing thirteen Canadian and ten Australian student teachers, both about to commence their Bachelor of Education. The Canadian students had completed an initial degree while nine of the Australian students were school leavers. The interviews, which explored views about teaching primary science, were analysed with this factor in mind. Student teacher perceptions reported include: how to recognise a “good” primary science teacher; perceptions of self as a “good” primary science teacher; expectations of how the teacher education program could assist their science teaching; and whether (for the Canadian students) the initial degree will help in becoming a primary science teacher. Analysis of the interviews suggests possible influences a first degree (among other factors) may have on perceptions related to primary science teaching and raises questions about what is the best general approach for preparing primary teachers to teach science effectivly.     

Price-induced substitution of faculty in academe: Does mission make a difference?

In an earlier paper Tuckman and Chang demonstrated that college faculty were substitutable and that differences in faculty salaries influenced the distribution of faculty by rank and sex. This paper uses a similar methodology to explore the question of whether institutions of high education with different missions have different substitution patterns and price elasticities. Our main conclusion is that price-related substitution does exist at each of the four types of colleges in our sample. However, the observed price effects are small and there is little evidence that any one college type is consistently more price responsive than any other.     

Teachers’ agency: Do their values make a difference?

This research explored antecedents and outcomes of teachers’ agency. Study 1 (n = 767) tested whether teachers’ values relate to an agentic capacity. Study 2 (n = 430) tested the relations between teachers’ values, their agentic capacity and their agentic behaviours. The findings show that attributing importance to promoting the self and being open to new experiences, whilst maintaining self-independence, is positively related to agentic capacity. Further, agentic capacity mediates the relations between values and agentic behaviour. These findings start to explain the broad motivations for teachers’ agency and its translation into behaviour.     

Making sense of graphs: does metacognitive instruction make a difference on students' mathematical conceptions and alternative conceptions?

The present study investigates the differential effects of cooperative learning with or without metacognitive instruction on making sense of graphs. Participants were 196 eighth-graders who studied in six classrooms. Data were analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative methods. Results indicated that students who were exposed to the metacognitive instruction within cooperative learning (COOP + META) significantly outperformed their counterparts who were exposed to cooperative learning with no metacognitive instruction (COOP). The positive effects of COOP + META were observed on both graph interpretation and graph construction (transfer task) with regard to alternative conceptions. Furthermore, observations indicated differential characteristics of discourse behaviors during small group interaction under these methods. The practical implications of the study are discussed.     

Small group learning: Do group members' implicit theories of ability make a difference?

We examined the impact of members' implicit theories of ability on group learning and the mediating role of several group process variables, such as goal-setting, effort attributions, and efficacy beliefs. Comparisons were between 15 groups with a strong incremental view on ability (high incremental theory groups), and 15 groups with a weak incremental view on ability (low incremental theory groups). Groups worked on a computer-based management simulation. The task required the groups to learn the underlying structure of the simulation to be able to control the system effectively. High incremental theory groups set more challenging group goals, attributed their performance more to effort, developed stronger group efficacy, and displayed steeper learning trajectories than low incremental theory groups. Group goals mediated the impact of group members' implicit theories on group learning. Exploratory analyses of the group communication process revealed that members of the high incremental theory groups communicated more openly about the task and maintained a stronger task focus compared with members of the low incremental theory groups. Research on group learning benefits from a stronger individual differences perspective that incooperates variables such as implicit theories of ability as determinants of emerging group processes and outcomes.     

‘Certified to make a difference’: the motivation and perceptions of newly qualified early years teachers in England

The last 20 years have brought numerous workforce reforms to the early years sector, enacted in the name of professionalisation, including the recent introduction of a new postgraduate qualification, the Early Years Teacher Status. This article features data from interviews with 22 participants who had just completed this award and situates their views in the relevant policy context and alongside a discussion of what it means to professionalise the early years sector and create a graduate led workforce. The data support findings from similar studies of Early Years Professionals, namely that the interviewees are passionate about working with young children. They view the sector as in need of change, and themselves as potential leaders and agents of change. The participants endorse the view that up-skilling the workforce is essential to the professionalisation of the sector and improving the quality of early years education.     

Written versus oral administration of a social-emotional self-report test for children: Does method of execution make a difference?

This study examined administration method (standard written administration vs. oral administration by an examiner) as a variable in influencing children's self-report test scores. Subjects included 139 students in grades 3–6, randomly assigned to one or the other administration condition. Subjects completed the Internalizing Disorders Evaluation Scale for Children (IDESC) according to the assigned administration method. Internal consistency estimates of each group were essentially similar. Mean IDESC scores of the two groups did not differ significantly from either a statistical or practical standpoint, based on t-test and effect size calculations. Results suggest that method of administration did not affect test performance. Implications for child assessment and future research are discussed.     

School-to-work transitions in the OECD: do education systems make a difference?

High unemployment among the young is a concern in many OECD countries. A key issue for policy makers is whether the education system has a role to play in assisting the transition from education to work or whether economic issues dominate. This paper uses OECD country-level data to see whether the structure of countries’ education systems, characterised by the level of participation by age at the various ISCED education levels, affects systematically the level of unemployment for the cohorts aged 20–24 and 25–29 years who should have largely completed their transition to work. Various confounding factors, including overall labour market conditions and demographic structures, are accounted for. We find that the structure of education systems does make a difference, although the general state of the labour market is critical.     

Emotional experiences during test taking: Does cognitive ability make a difference?

This study examined test-related experiences of enjoyment, anger, anxiety, and boredom in a sample of 2059 German school students (50% female) from grade 6, and how they relate to students' abstract reasoning ability (ARA). Emotions were assessed immediately before, during, and after a mathematics achievement test. Analysis of variance showed that emotions experienced during the test situation differed based on students' ARA level, with correspondence analysis revealing substantial differences between the emotional profiles of different ability groups. Enjoyment proved to be most prominent in students with high ARA, whereas anger and anxiety were predominant for students with low ARA. Boredom was found to be highest among students in the intermediate ARA group. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Incorporating critical thinking in the pedagogical content of a teacher education programme: does it make a difference?

Recent educational policies, national reports, and voluminous literature stress that critical thinking (CT) is an essential skill in any stage of schooling for producing critical thinkers and ensuring better learning. The importance of teaching CT has been raised in teacher education programmes because students are supposed to teach this skill in schools in the future. This study therefore assesses the effects of a CT-based pedagogical course on student teachers’ content knowledge and CT disposition. A pre-test–post-test experimental study was carried out in a vocational pre-service teacher education programme in Turkey. Although the students who were exposed to CT-based instruction showed better progress in both academic achievement and CT disposition than in traditional instruction, this result was not statistically significant according to the Mixed Factorial ANOVA and ANCOVA results.     

Can instructional and emotional support in the first-grade classroom make a difference for children at risk of school failure?

This study examined ways in which children's risk of school failure may be moderated by support from teachers. Participants were 910 children in a national prospective study. Children were identified as at risk at ages 5-6 years on the basis of demographic characteristics and the display of multiple functional (behavioral, attention, academic, social) problems reported by their kindergarten teachers. By the end of first grade, at-risk students placed in first-grade classrooms offering strong instructional and emotional support had achievement scores and student-teacher relationships commensurate with their low-risk peers; at-risk students placed in less supportive classrooms had lower achievement and more conflict with teachers. These findings have implications for understanding the role that classroom experience may play in pathways to positive adaptation.     

What difference could in-service training make? Insights from a public school of Pakistan

In-service courses have been used as a common strategy to build the capacity of teachers to meet the constantly changing demands of modern schooling. But how the teachers implement the ideas and strategies acquired from such in-service training and what conditions influence the implementation process is the least examined area in Pakistan, especially in the rural context. Using a case study approach, the current study explored the possibilities and challenges of implementing strategies, learnt through in-service training, in a public school in rural Pakistan. It was found that in-service courses have a positive impact upon the attitude and practices of the trainee teacher. However, due to various structural and cultural barriers, the teacher is not able to implement many of the strategies and ideas in the school context. The hierarchical structure of schools, teachers’ workload, lack of resources and insufficient support from colleagues and management hinder the process of implementation. The study suggests that in-service training should provide the trainees with ideas and skills to cope with the structural and cultural challenges at school. Moreover, ongoing support and encouragement from colleagues, course facilitators and management is required to sustain the implementation of strategies learnt during training.     

Assessing students’ performance by measured patterns of perceived strengths: does preference make a difference?

This paper is an empirical field study of whether college students’ preferences for assessment type correspond to their performance in assessment that tests that particular strength. For example, if students say they prefer assessment that tests their creativity, do they actually perform better on assessment tasks requiring the use of creativity? Seventy-eight students in three different courses were surveyed to determine their preferences in four types of assessment: memorisation, analysis, creativity and practical application. These preferences were then compared to student grades on corresponding forms of assessment to see if the preferences corresponded to actual performance. The study found that, while students had a clear preference for memorisation, they were not likely to deliver their best performances on memorisation tasks. There was no relationship at all between student preferences in assessment type and their performance in the respective assessments. These results indicate that, while in theory assessing students based on their preferences is reasonable for improved learning, we were not able to find evidence that it actually leads to higher performance.     

Do teaching innovation projects make a difference? Assessing the impact of small-scale funding

Tertiary Education and Management - This article presents the outcomes of a research study carried out during 2015–2016 at the University of Valencia (Spain) to understand the factors...     

Full-day kindergarten and student literacy growth: Does a lengthened school day make a difference?

In the context of a quasi-experimental research design, literacy data obtained on students were examined to assess relationships between kindergarten program model (full- vs. half-day) and student literacy outcomes. Application of multilevel modeling techniques to the time series data collected from kindergarteners in economically disadvantaged school contexts in a large southwestern school district revealed that students exposed to a full day of instruction had greater literacy growth than their peers in half-day classrooms. Further examination of the program model results revealed that the relative efficacy of full-day kindergarten tended to be greater in smaller class size environments. These results, if replicated, suggest that full-day kindergarten initiatives targeted toward students from disadvantaged backgrounds may be more successful when implemented in classrooms with relatively small student enrollments. Implications for instructional policy and practice are discussed.     

Comparing overexcitabilities of gifted and non-gifted school children in Hong Kong: does culture make a difference?

Overexcitabilities (OEs) are ways that an individual experiences the world and can be understood as channels of information flow. The current study examined the profile of OEs among a group of Hong Kong children. Participants included 229 non-gifted and 217 gifted children. OEs were measured using the Overexcitability Questionnaire II. Results indicated that there were differences between the gifted and the non-gifted groups in all OE subscales. Gender differences were also identified. Females, in both gifted and non-gifted groups, have a significantly higher score in Emotional OE when compared to males. In addition, gifted females also scored significantly higher than their male counterparts in Sensual OE. Results of this study were compared to a group of American children (based on C.L. Tieso's work on overexcitabilities in 2007). The implications and limitations of this study are presented.     

Making sense of pre-service teachers’ dispositions towards social justice: can teacher education make a difference?

Given Australia's diverse student population, the need for pre-service teacher education to prepare what is a predominantly Anglo-Australian and middle-class profession to be effective teachers of diverse students is critical. In Lortie's (1975 Lortie, D. 1975. Schoolteacher: A sociological study, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  [Google Scholar]) classic study, however, he argues that the predispositions of teacher education students are a much more powerful socialising influence than pre-service education. This article explores dispositions towards social justice in pre-service teachers from two teacher education programs within one Australian metropolitan university. Drawing on notions of distributive, retributive and recognitive justice (Gale & Densmore, 2000 Gale, T. and Densmore, K. 2000. Just schooling: Explorations in the cultural politics of teaching, Buckingham: Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]) as a way of making sense of socially just dispositions, interviews with four pre-service teachers – two beginning their Graduate Diploma in Education program (a one year program) and two beginning their final year of the Bachelor of Education program (a four year program) – are analysed. Differences in the dispositions of teachers from the two cohorts are examined and implications for teacher education discussed.     

Coeducational or single‐sex school: does it make a difference on high school girls’ academic motivation?

The aim of the present study was to further examine the impact over time of single‐sex and coeducational school environments on girls’ motivation in language arts and mathematics. Two cohorts comprising 340 girls (7th to 9th grade; 9th to 11th grade) from eight coeducational and two single‐sex schools were followed during a period of three academic years in a longitudinal research scheme. Data were collected with a self‐reported questionnaire including several scales: parental and teachers’ support, competence beliefs, utility‐value and achievement goals. In general, mixed‐design repeated measures analyses of variance indicated no effect of the environment or of the interaction between environment and time of measurement. Significant time effects on several variables indicated a general decline of achievement motivation over time. Consequently, the multiplication of non‐mixed high schools, as proposed by some, would constitute an expensive and inefficient social policy, as far as girls’ motivation is concerned.     

The role of teacher and faculty trust in forming teachers' job satisfaction: Do years of experience make a difference?

This study relates trust at the level of both the teacher and the faculty to teachers' job satisfaction. Teaching experience is explored as a moderator of the trust–satisfaction relationship. Multilevel analyses on data of 2091 teachers across 80 secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium) revealed positive associations between teacher trust in students, parents, colleagues, and the principal and satisfaction. Although faculty trust did not affect job satisfaction and teaching experience did not moderate the trust–satisfaction relationship, our findings highlight the social dimension of teaching. Improving the quality of teachers' social relationships in the workplace should enhance their job satisfaction.