Language,culture and identity in the transition to primary school: Challenges to indigenous children's rights to education in Peru

This paper analyses a ‘critical moment’ in the educational trajectories of young indigenous children in Peru: the transition to primary school. It addresses the inequalities in educational services that affect indigenous children, before looking at the micro-level processes that take place in school settings, through a focus on two selected case studies from the Young Lives study of childhood poverty. Using longitudinal information collected in two consecutive years, the case studies show how the children's language and culture are excluded from school premises and their very identity as children and indigenous people is disregarded, negatively affecting their educational performance.     

Parents’ assessments of their children’s abilities

Conducted in the framework of the theory of social representations, the study was designed to examine the dimensions in terms of which parents assess their children’s abilities, the ways in which social positions — here, the parents’ education and gender and the child’s gender — organize these assessments, and the ways in which the assessments relate to the estimated school success of the child. The subjects were a nationwide sample of parents (N=938), who were asked to estimate their children’s school success and to assess these children’s abilities. A factor analysis showed the ability assessments to be multidimensional. The parents assessed girls’ cognitive and social abilities to be better than boys’. Academically educated parents drew a more categorical distinction than other parents between cognitive and other abilities, which suggests that they endorse a differential conception of intelligence. A clear congruity of content was observed between the estimations of school success and the assessments of abilities, indicating that different school subjects are associated with different abilities.     

Imaginary subjects: school science,indigenous students,and knowledge–power relations

The perspectives of indigenous science learners in developed nations offer an important but frequently overlooked dimension to debates about the nature of science, the science curriculum, and calls from educators to make school science more culturally responsive or ‘relevant’ to students from indigenous or minority groups. In this paper the findings of a study conducted with indigenous Maori children between the ages of 10 and 12 years are discussed. The purpose of the study was to examine the ways that indigenous children in an urban school environment in New Zealand position themselves in relation to school science. Drawing on the work of Basil Bernstein, we argue that although the interplay between emergent cultural identity narratives and the formation of ‘science selves’ is not as yet fully understood, it carries the potential to open a rich seam of learning for indigenous children.     

Conversations Around Young Children’s Drawing: The Impact of the Beliefs of Significant Others at Home and School

Children learn to make meanings in communities of practice through interaction with more experienced others. Young children’s strategies for and attitudes to learning are determined by the sociocultural contexts in which they practise those strategies, including learning how to draw within the distinct cultures of home and school. Evidence of meaning making — 2 and 3D representations involving drawing, modelling and play with objects — was collected over one month periods in the Autumns of 98, 99 and 00 from seven young children in home and as they settled into new pre–school and school settings in the North of England. The evidence of the seven children’s meaning making, recorded by photographs and scrap books of their representations, was used as a stimulus in dialogues to elicit parents’ and practitioners’ beliefs about the value and significance of different modes meaning making, including drawing in the contexts of home and school. Their conversations were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Evidence from the perspectives of parents, practitioners and the children was triangulated with evidence of contextual features for learning around the children’s drawings. Episodes from analysis of the data sets will be used to illustrate how the children were inducted into the conventions of ‘school’ drawing whilst often retaining a distinct personal drawing agenda at home. Implications will be drawn for the status and function of drawing in the education of young children in formal and informal learning contexts.     

School Readiness: Are There Social Prerequisites?

The position advocated within this article is that the construct of "school readiness" has a social component, and that attempts to evaluate children's interpersonal readiness for kindergarten should be judged in relation to their likely success at mastering specific social school entry tasks. Social school entry tasks, which most likely stem from diverse sociocultural sources, are conceptualized here as interpersonal challenges that children confront as they enter formal schooling—challenges that are inherent within kindergarten classrooms and predictive of children's future school adjustment. A related contention is that attempts to enhance children's readiness for kindergarten should be guided by research on the prerequisites of social task mastery—that is, evidence gathered during the preschool years that forecasts children's later success at social school entry tasks. Evidence bearing on these premises is reviewed as a means of considering the validity and heuristic utility of these propositions for future research on school readiness.     

Compeer assistance through tutoring and group guidance activities

The long-standing practice of age-grade segregation militates against providing for many of the basic psychological needs and recognizing individual differences of public elementary school children. It is believed that psychological needs of self-worth status, security, acceptance, and accomplishments, along with individual, learning styles, could be met through a program that is structured around, and has emphasis on, interrelationships and socialization. This article focuses on a demonstration project that was developed to investigate the effects on reading achievement, self-concept, attitudes toward school, and behavior of the participant-low-achieving third- and fourth-grade tutors and first- and second-grade tutees.William E. Gardner, Currently Title I Administrator, Region Seven, Detroit Public Schools, was principal of the Damon J. Keith Elementary School when this research was completed.     

Children’s Models about Colours in Nahuatl-Speaking Communities

This paper presents the development and structure of indigenous children’s ideas about mixing colours as well as their ideas about each colour, derived from their traditions. The children were interviewed both at school and outside it, and an educational proposal was implemented. Ideas expressed in the school context were analysed using the partial possible model, which states that the inferences and explanations used to describe a subject consist of constricting ideas, rules of correspondence, and a set of phenomenological inferences about processes. After identifying these components in the children’s ideas, we developed models to describe their conceptions about mixing colours. We employed a different approach to analyse children’s ideas related to their cultural context. The results showed that children change from a conception that focuses on colours as entities that do not change and as properties of objects (model 1) to the idea that colour represents a quality of substances or objects that can be modified by mixing colours (model 2). Cultural context analysis showed that stories are independent from one another and that they are not connected to colour mixing processes, only to the actions of colour on people. We concluded that students generate independent constructions between school and cultural knowledge.     

Combining traditional models of education with normal and disabled preschoolers

Much of the disagreement among educators of young children is about the extent la which programs should follow an approach emphasizing development from within (romantic school), development through interaction (developmental/progressive school), or development from without (behavioral/cultural transmission school). Early-intervention programs for children with disabilities have tended to be aligned with the latter; daycare and nursery school programs for nonhandicapped, with the former two. A natural question for educators is the extent to which these historic schools of thought can be rationally joined. This article reviews the various positions on combining the schools—they are mutually incompatible, they can be combined by instructional area, they can be combined by a separation of means and ends, and they can be combined by type of child A schema is then suggested for a tripartite theoretical amalgamation that takes into account the interlocking relationships among objectives, methods, and child-nature. Such a proposal is particularly appropriate in early education where educational purposes tend to be broad and, increasingly, the nature of the children, diverse.     

CURRICULUM SEQUENCING AND THE ACQUISITION OF CLOCK-READING SKILLS AMONG CHINESE AND FLEMISH CHILDREN

The present study addresses the impact of the curriculum on primary school children’s acquisition of clock-reading knowledge from analog and digital clocks. Focusing on Chinese and Flemish children’s clock-reading knowledge, the study is about whether the differences in sequencing of learning and instruction opportunities—as defined by the curriculum—result in differences in accuracy and development of clock-reading knowledge. By means of (1) an in-depth qualitative analysis of the Chinese and Flemish mathematics curriculum standards and textbooks and (2) a quantitative analysis of 11,743 students’ accuracy in reading the time, the current study mirrors the differential impact of alternative curriculum designs for primary education. The results of the analyses reveal that Chinese children acquire clock-reading knowledge—for analog and digital clocks—2 years earlier than their Flemish peers, due to a 2-year earlier exposure. Discussing these results, it is argued that the Flemish curriculum tends to underestimate what children are capable of and that clock-reading within the Flemish primary mathematics curriculum builds on dated assumptions and research results. Building on these outcomes, it is argued that curriculum development should be the result of collaborative inquiry involving policy makers, researchers, and teachers.     

Bilingual education and student performance in Guatemala

Bilingual education is often seen as one means of improving the educational attainment of indigenous children in developing countries. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of the National Bilingual Education Program serving approximately one-third of the indigenous primary school students in Guatemala. Findings show that program inputs of teacher training and instructional materials have had a significant effect on student achievement and a slight positive effect on promotion, repetition and drop-out rates. The superior performance of boys over girls and a teacher-centered approach to instructional delivery suggest that improvements should be made before expansion of the program.     

CLASSROOMS AND CULTURE: THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN SHAPING MOTIVATION AND IDENTITY FOR SCIENCE LEARNING IN INDIGENOUS ADOLESCENTS

Many rural indigenous communities rely on science knowledge and innovation for survival and economic advancement, which requires community members to be motivated for learning science. Children in these communities have been viewed by some as unmotivated due to their low science achievement as they progress in school, particularly into majority secondary schools. Current theories of motivation, such as achievement goal theory, take classroom context into account when examining individual motivation. However, motivational climate can also be considered as tightly woven with the cultural and social practices of a community rather than individual perception. In this study, researchers spent time in two indigenous villages observing classrooms, participating in community events, and talking with community members. During those visits, Attayal/Sediq children in Taiwan (n?=?18) and Mopan Mayan children in Belize (n?=?18) participated in three semi-structured interviews about their experience learning science in school, home, and community. Results indicate that motivation for learning science is closely linked with their identity as science learners. Three themes emerged to illuminate how social practices may or may not support individual identity, and consequently motivation, for learning science—student/teacher relationships, support for learning, and motivational climate. Differences between children in Taiwan and Belize are explored. Implications for motivation theory, educational practice, and policy are discussed.     

语言、权力与教育不平等——外来务工人员子女学校生活语言的定性研究

通过对外来务工人员子女的学校生活语言以及学校语言标准的对比分析发现,相较于城市中上层家庭的儿童,外来务工人员子女的“语言习性”具有以下特征:语言词汇拮据,语言思维现实化和散点化,语言构思平直,与学校教育所要求的语言词汇的“标准”与“优美”、语言思维的“清晰”与“生动”,以及语言构思的“新颖”与“独特”等“语言习性”之间存在较大差距,进而造成外来务工子女在学习过程中的困难加剧.如何针对外来务工人员子女制定语言教育政策,如何从政策上保证外来务工人员子女教育过程的平等,应成为教育政策制定者和理论研究者引起重视和亟待解决的问题.     

Social position of special needs pupils in the classroom: a comparison between German special schools for pupils with learning difficulties and integrated primary school classes

The rejection of pupils with behaviour problems is a serious problem for inclusive education schools. Sometimes parents prefer special schools because they do not want their children to become outsiders in integration classes. Are they right? The study presented here surveys children with behaviour problems in integrated primary school classes and in special education schools. The main focus is the extent to which behaviour problems influence social relations within the classes. The findings indicate that German pupils with behaviour problems are not well liked. The comparison of special education classes and integrated primary school classes also shows, however, that this is not solely a feature of integrated classes. Pupils with behaviour problems are disliked in both systems, and to a comparable degree. This means that there may be some good arguments for special schools. But both systems—special schools and integrated school classes—have outsiders. Especially parents of pupils with learning difficulties and behaviour problems should know that there is no difference here between special education classes and integrative primary school classes.     

School assignment,school choice and social mobility

We estimate the chances of poor and non-poor children getting places in good schools, analysing the relationship between poverty, location and school assignment. Our dataset allows us to measure location and distance very precisely. The simple unconditional difference in probabilities of attending a good school is substantial. We run an analysis that controls completely for location, exploiting within-street variation and controlling for other personal characteristics. Children from poor families are significantly less likely to go to good schools. We show that the lower chance of poor children attending a good school is essentially unaffected by the degree of choice.     

Potential for significant reductions in dropout rates: Analysis of an entire 3rd grade state cohort

Nineteen percent of 1997–98 North Carolina 3rd graders were observed to drop out of high school. A series of logits predict probabilities of dropping out on determinants such as math and reading test scores, absenteeism, suspension, and retention, at the following grade levels: 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 9th. The same cohort and variables are used to estimate benefits to the 15,737 students admitted to a special program ostensibly for academically and intellectually gifted children. I estimate the probability of admission for schoolmates with similar ability in math and reading to be substantially higher for those from upper income households. Finally, I conclude that extending similar resources to an equal number of high-risk students, as determined by their 3rd grade predicted probabilities, would lead to a 25% reduction in the total cohort dropout rate, and that even dividing existing resources between the two groups could cut dropout rates by half that.     

School Choice in Black and White: Private School Enrollment Among Racial Groups, 1990–2000

This study investigates how much the racial composition of communities influences the private school enrollment rates of members of different racial groups. Some scholars argue that private school enrollment contributes to racial segregation in public schools because White families attempt to enhance the social status of their children by leaving public schools serving communities with higher percentages of children who are Black. A second group of scholars argue that private school enrollment is primarily based on nonracial factors. A third, related perspective argues that race is of diminishing importance in driving behaviors such as school choice. This study explores these perspectives using 1990 and 2000 Public Use Micro Data Samples to estimate private school enrollment rates by student race and community racial composition. Findings indicate that private school enrollment rates among Asian, Black, and Hispanic students do not fluctuate much with community racial composition. By contrast, private school enrollment rates among White families are strongly and positively correlated with the percentage of children in their communities who are Black—even after holding constant a series of individual and community-level factors that may account for this trend. Moreover, the association between race and choice has changed little between 1990 and 2000.     

The influence of price on school enrollment under Uganda's policy of free primary education

This study uses household survey data to estimate determinants of schooling in Uganda, with a model that includes the price of school. Uganda's universal education policy offered free tuition, fees, and supplies to up to four children per family, including two daughters. The empirical method includes an estimation of a child-specific price of schooling. Despite widespread subsidies, the cost of primary school remained an obstacle under this policy, but the effects of price were similar for boys and girls. Regressions by wealth quintile estimate nonlinear effects of wealth and price, suggesting that there are opportunities to expand education through targeted cash transfer and subsidy policies.     

Building an indigenous learning community through lesson study: challenges of secondary school science teachers

Universalists believe that indigenous knowledge should not be studied since it excludes non-indigenous people. A qualitative method was used to explore the impact of lesson study on a science teacher at a secondary school. The research indicated that lesson study has positive impacts on teachers professionally by improving their science content knowledge, developing their teaching strategy and skill, enhancing their interest in working collaboratively, and creating a sense of an indigenous paradigm. The four categories of impact are interrelated and mutually influential. Through a lesson study, a relationship of mutual trust is well established in an indigenous learning community.     

School Schedules Affect Sleep Timing in Children and Contribute to Partial Sleep Deprivation

Although the environmental light/dark cycle is the main zeitgeber for the human species, the social cues seem to be important in the synchronization of circadian rhythms. In Brazil, the existence of two school schedules—one with only morning classes (MG) and other with only afternoon classes (AG)—allows the investigation of the effect of school activities on light exposure and sleep/wake patterns in children. Forty‐seven children wore wrist actimeters for a week for registration of light and sleep data. MG children presented shorter sleep duration on school days than the children from the AG. The results showed that during school days MG children were exposed to bright light earlier in the morning when compared to AG children. Nevertheless, there were no differences in light exposure after sunset. The results reflect the role of school schedules and artificial light in shaping light exposure, and its association with sleep timing in children.