“Their little wooden bricks”: a history of the material culture of kindergarten in the United States

This article explores the material culture of kindergarten in the United States in relation to the production and consumption of materials and kindergarten theory and pedagogy. The focus is on Friedrich Froebel’s building gifts as they were manufactured and sold by the Milton Bradley Company from 1869 to 1939. A review of trade catalogues over the 70‐year period found that the gifts were available along with larger blocks and materials supporting progressive pedagogies. The presence of items in the catalogues supporting different and conflicting ideas is explained as a reflection of the enduring popularity of a conservative kindergarten pedagogy aligned with Froebel’s original ideas.     

The work of the teacher-educator in Australia: Reconstructing the “superhero” performer/academic in an audit culture

What is it that teacher-educators “do”? This paper draws on interview data with Deans/Heads of Schools of Education in the Australian context to explore this question by asking: How is the teacher-educator produced as a category of academic worker? Using critical approaches to discourse analysis, the paper presents two interlocked storylines woven with varying emphasis through the interviews. First, the teacher-educator is produced as a superhero researcher and teacher, elevated by the expectations of the Excellence in Research for Australia audit/surveillance tools. Second, there is a concomitant struggle to reconcile pressure to research with commitment to meeting the needs of schooling systems, and to addressing the work of the teacher-educator in ethical terms. It is suggested that teacher-educators’ work reflects a desire to legitimate various performances of teacher education within current dynamics of audit culture pressures, set against the less visible ethical project of education more broadly conceived.     

Reading in the classroom and society: An examination of “reading culture” in African contexts

In the education context of sub-Saharan Africa, reading has received substantial attention in recent years. Reading skills and habits have been identified as a marker of success in formal education, particularly with the current international focus on reading achievement as a measure of learning. Meanwhile, adult literacy continues to be seen as an important feature of human development, and reading skills are carefully tracked in reporting on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This attention given to reading by major international agencies, and by the partners whom they influence, has contributed to a general belief that progress of all kinds can be linked to the ability to read and understand written text. Literacy and reading certainly feature prominently in many aspects of lifelong learning. However, the current interest in establishing so-called reading cultures is handicapped by a significant mismatch in assumptions about the utility and functions of literacy.

     

Communities of Caring: Developing Curriculum That Engages Latino/a Students’ Diverse Literacy Practices

This study investigates the learning and work of a community of practice that engaged in a specific inquiry around family/community literacy and the development of a culture of caring that would connect family/community/school literacies in ways that allowed their mostly Latino/a students to develop positive student identities, enhanced personal connections to their peers, and stronger experiential responses to literacy instruction.     

“They come with nothing:” How professional development in a culturally responsive pedagogy shapes teacher attitudes towards Latino/a English language learners

Especially in the United States' “New South,” rapid growth in numbers of Latino/a students, particularly Latino/a English Language Learners (ELLs), has resulted in a cultural clash that is reflected in the often prejudiced attitudes of predominantly white monolingual teachers towards such students. Drawing on qualitative data collected as part of a mixed-methods multi-year study of the effects of teacher training in the culturally responsive Instructional Conversation pedagogy on ELL academic outcomes, the authors argue that while New South teacher attitudes towards ELLs often remain prejudiced, Instructional Conversation training seems to mitigate those negative attitudes over time.     

Learning through culture: seeking “critical case studies of possibilities” in the history of education

Abstract

In Radical Education and the Common School (2011), Michael Field and Peter Moss argue for a radical alternative to the failed and dysfunctional contemporary discourse about education and the school with its focus on markets, competition, instrumentality, standardisation, and managerialism. They argue that it is necessary, if we are to progress “social alternatives” in education, to construct micro-histories of schools that have developed as “real utopias” through radically revising their practice. They call these micro-histories “critical case studies of possibilities”. In To Hell with Culture (1963), the art educator and anarchist Herbert Read returned to a theme he had been exploring since the early 1930s – the purpose of education. For him, “education” implied many things, but he saw modern practice as “socially disintegrating”. Instead, Read offered an alternative to the dominant discourse about education under capitalism in the 1960s which would create “that collective consciousness which is the spiritual energy of a people and the only source of its art and culture”. To what extent was Read’s conception of education an ideal, a dream unfulfilled? Following Fielding and Moss this paper will seek to trace “critical case studies of possibilities” drawn from the past which reflect the fundamental connection identified by Read between school learning, “collective consciousness”, art, and culture.     

“The Day That Changed My Life,Again”: The Testimonio of a Latino DACAmented Teacher

This article, based on the testimonio of a Latino DACAmented teacher, underscores the impacts and benefits of immigration policies for individuals and their communities. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has benefitted about 750,000 people; most have used the benefits to pursue higher education and to enter public service careers, including teaching and nursing. Mr. Juárez’s testimonio walks us through his educational trajectory and current role as an educator. This testimonio contributes to current debates and struggles demanding the new U.S. presidential administration to maintain DACA. As researchers, we urge students, educators, policymakers, and the incoming administration to listen to the testimonios of DACA beneficiaries prior to making hasty decisions that will have dire consequences for individuals, families, and the nation, as a whole.     

Policy‐making in a cuts culture

The financial constraints imposed upon local government over the past decade have forced many authorities to make savings rapidly and in conditions of considerable uncertainty. Education, as the largest spender and with falling pupil numbers, has often provided the bulk of these savings. In many authorities these have been made in an unplanned, piecemeal fashion and have seriously damaged the service. This paper considers the possibility of a ‘cuts culture’ in which continuing contraction is planned for as part of corporate policy. It raises important questions about the nature of schooling, the relationship between schools and the community and control over the financing of education. It suggests that a case might be made for substantial change, but not unbridled, insensitive reform. The importance of defending, as well as reforming the system is stressed, and the organizational implications of this are considered.     

Exploring the Borderlands: Elementary School Teachers’ Navigation of Immigration Practices in a New Latino Diaspora Community

Drawing primarily on interview data from a 5-year ethnography on the school experiences of Mexican immigrant children in a New Latino Diaspora community, we explore how their teachers understood and responded to increasing deportation-based immigration practices affecting children’s lives. We illustrate how teachers fell along a continuum regarding their desire and success in pushing beyond their comfort zones to create spaces in which they learned from, and built on, students’ immigration experiences. We argue for teacher education that prepares educators to become border crossers who engage with aspects of difference, such as immigration status, that are rarely discussed in schools.     

The study of literature and culture in a web‐based environment

The rationale behind the project is based on the belief that the study of a work of literature can effectively open a window of opportunity for pupils to study other countries’ cultures and identities as well as contribute to pupils’ own identity construction and to the understanding of the identity of others. Information and communication technologies serve as an educational catalyst for collaborative learning which transcends national boundaries and presents pupils with the opportunity to study cultural and identity similarities and differences, to strengthen their national identities and, at the same time, to appreciate the characteristics of other identities and cultures.

L’étude de la Littérature et de la Culture dans un environnement fondé sur la Toile

L’idée qui sous‐tend ce projet repose sur le fait que l’on croit que l’étude d’une ?uvre littéraire peut effectivement constituer une fenêtre pour les élèves, l’occasion d’étudier les cultures et les identités d’autres pays tout en contribuant à la construction de la propre identité de ces élèves et à la compréhension de l’identité des autres. Les TIC servent de catalyseur éducatif pour faciliter l’apprentissage collaboratif qui transcende les frontières nationales et offre aux élèves l’occasion d’étudier les ressemblances et les différences de cultures et d’identités, de renforcer leurs identités nationales et en même temps d’apprécier les caractéristiques d’autres identités et cultures.

Das Studium von Literatur und Kultur in einer Web‐basierten Umgebung

Die logische Grundlage dieses Projekts ist die Überzeugung, dass ein Studium im Bereich von Literatur wirksam sowohl ein Fenster zum Einblick in andere Kulturen und Identitäten öffnen kann, als auch zum eigenen Identitätsaufbau der Schüler und zum Verständnis der Identität anderer beitragen kann. ICT dient damit als Bildungskatalysator für kooperatives Lernen, damit die nationalen Grenzen überwunden werden können und bietet den Schülern die Gelegenheit, kulturelle‐ und Identitätsähnlichkeiten und Unterschiede zu erkennen, um ihre nationalen Identitäten zu stärken und gleichzeitig die Merkmale anderer Identitäten und Kulturen kennen und schätzen zu lernen.     

The intersection of culture and institutional support for Latino students’ academic success: Remediation or empowerment?

The study is framed by critical race theory to explore the intersection of cultural and institutional factors that influence Latino students’ completion of high school. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which factors related to students’ background, culture, socioeconomic status, and institutional-support such as participation in mentoring and/or dropout-prevention programs, can predict Latino students’ successful completion of high school. The overarching research question is: To what extent do family background, students’ educational aspirations, and institutional support programs predict whether Latino students’ complete high school? Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) with 2,217 Hispanic participants, the study used a logistic linear regression model for the analysis. The findings identified students’ gender, socioeconomic status, first language, educational aspirations as well as the aspirations of their parents, school poverty concentration, and school support programs to be significant predictors of high school completion. The logistic regression model correctly classified between 78%, 85%, and 81% of the cases included in the group for timely completion according to first-, second-, and third-generation respectively. A similar classification was found for high school completion-within-two-years. The discussion highlights marked differences between the effect of dropout-prevention programs and that of mentoring programs on Latinos’ high school completion. In addition, that the factors represented by individual and institutional variables might not operate in isolation but instead might intersect with socioeconomic and cultural factors that ultimately create barriers for this minority group.     

Using culture as a resource in mathematics: the case of four Mexican–American prospective teachers in a bilingual after-school program

This paper explores Mexican–American prospective teachers’ use of culture—defined as social practices and shared experiences—as an instructional resource in mathematics. The setting is an after-school mathematics program for the children of Mexican heritage. Qualitative analysis of the prospective teachers’ and children’s interactions reveals that the nature of the mathematical activities affected how culture was used. When working on the “binder activities,” prospective teachers used culture only in non-mathematical contexts. When working on the “recipes project,” however, culture was used as a resource in mathematical contexts. Implications for the mathematics teacher preparation of Latinas/os are discussed.     

Community Elders: The Roles of Parents in a School of “Choice”

This paper critiques the common argument that schools will become more responsive to parents and more equitable when chosen by the clients they serve. Based on a qualitative study of an urban Catholic high school that is chosen by an increasingly diverse clientele, the paper demonstrates that, even in schools that are outwardly characterized by values cohesion, shared goals, and voluntary affiliation, interaction between a school and its environment is likely to be a process of ongoing negotiations and unarticulated struggles for voice among unequals. The study therefore draws into question two assumptions: (1) that the status and power of clients will be subordinated to pedagogical and equity concerns in shaping the distinctiveness of market-driven schools, and (2) that strong school cultures, created through voluntary affiliation, can mediate the effects of race, ethnicity, class, and gender in the socialization of students to the distinctive norms and values of a school.     

“The fish becomes aware of the water in which it swims”: revealing the power of culture in shaping teaching identity

“The fish becomes aware of the water in which it swims” is a metaphor that represents Yuli’s revelatory journey about the hidden power of culture in her personal identity and professional teaching practice. While engaging in a critical auto/ethnographic inquiry into her lived experience as a science teacher in Indonesian and Australian schools, she came to understand the powerful role of culture in shaping her teaching identity. Yuli realised that she is a product of cultural hybridity resulting from interactions of very different cultures—Javanese, Bimanese, Indonesian and Australian. Traditionally, Javanese and Indonesian cultures do not permit direct criticism of others. This influenced strongly the way she had learned to interact with students and caused her to be very sensitive to others. During this inquiry she learned the value of engaging students in open discourse and overt caring, and came to realise that teachers bringing their own cultures to the classroom can be both a source of power and a problem. In this journey, Yuli came to understand the hegemonic power of culture in her teaching identity, and envisioned how to empower herself as a good teacher educator of pre-service science teachers.     

Constructions of mathematicians in popular culture and learners’ narratives: a study of mathematical and non‐mathematical subjectivities

In this paper, based on a project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council considering how people position themselves in relation to popular representations of mathematics and mathematicians, we explore constructions of mathematicians in popular culture and the ways learners make meanings from these. Drawing on an analysis of popular cultural texts, we argue that popular discourses overwhelmingly construct mathematicians as white, heterosexual, middle‐class men, yet also construct them as ‘other’ through systems of binary oppositions between those doing and those not doing mathematics. Turning to the analysis of a corpus of 27 focus groups with school and university students in England and Wales, we explore how such images are deployed by learners. We argue that while learners’ views of mathematicians parallel in key ways popular discourses, they are not passively absorbing these as they are simultaneously aware of the clichéd nature of popular cultural images.     

“I’m Being a Man Here”: Urban Boys’ Performances of Masculinity and Engagement With Science During a Science Museum Visit

The importance of increasing and widening participation in post-compulsory science and informal science learning (ISL) spaces is widely recognized—particularly for working-class and minority ethnic communities. While there is a growing understanding of the intersection of femininity with class, ethnicity, and science learning across formal and informal settings, there has been little work on how masculinity may shape urban boys’ science (non)participation and (dis)engagement. This article analyzes performances of masculinity enacted by 36 urban, working-class boys (from diverse ethnic backgrounds) during school science museum visits, exploring how these performances relate to science identity and engagement. We identify three main performances of masculinity enacted during the visits (“laddishness,” “muscular intellect,” and “translocational masculinity”), and trace the implications of each for boys’ science engagement. We consider the power implications of these performances, notably the extent to which hegemonic masculinity is normalized within the science museum space, the ways in which this normalization is co-constitutive of the boys’ performances of masculinity, and the implications of the boys’ performances of masculinity for other students (notably girls and less dominant boys). The article concludes with implications for research, policy, and practice regarding how to promote equitable participation and science learning within ISL.