Discourses of ‘indiscipline’: a Foucauldian response

Abstract

A recent editorial in the Scottish Educational Journal, the publication of the teacher trade union the Educational Institute of Scotland, headed 'More action, not words needed on discipline', condemned the level of indiscipline, violence and aggression in Scottish schools - in particular that directed against teachers - and criticized the government for its lack of action in tackling the problem. This article examines the way arguments such as this position the individual as 'deviant’ within educational systems. It discusses the importance of metaphor in organizing our perceptions and suggests that an analysis of power relations in schools could give rise to alternative metaphorical concepts that may help to promote the inclusion of children whose behaviour is deemed to be unacceptable.     

On promoting rigour—a response

National policy discourses imply rational and positive pathways to greater equality and inclusion for public sector workers, including those in education. However, radical feminist and critical race theory suggests that whatever measures are undertaken to disassemble systems which impact negatively on those who are minority or excluded, systems which sustain current inequalities are likely to be synchronously constructed. Analysis of the UK performativity environment has variously identified a range of intended and unintended effects. The mechanisms by which performativity may impact on the inclusion or exclusion of diverse staff in leadership have not been widely explored empirically. This paper draws on data from five case studies of further education colleges. It interrogates the data to explore how the performativity culture relates to the multiple identities of leaders at various levels of hierarchy within the organisation. It concludes that while previous commentaries may have correctly discerned a relationship between managerialism and a centralisation of power to men and to senior leaders, they may have inadequately considered the complex impact of changes in public management culture on deeper power structures within organisations, including not only gender, but also socioeconomic class, ethnicity and disability amongst others.     

Transient response of a spherical cavity with a partially sealed shell embedded in viscoelastic saturated soil

INTRODUCTION The propagation of stress-waves in an elasticmedium containing a cavity that are due to arbitrarydynamic loading applied on the cavity is of greatimportance in the fields of seismology, geophysicalprospecting, underground tunnels and deeply buriedpipelines, particularly as a model of an earthquakesource. Ben-Menahem and Cisternas (1963) devel-oped the theory for the dynamic response of an elastichalf-space medium to an explosion spherical cavity.Norwood and Miklowitz (…     

Effect of required response force on rats’ performance on a VI+ schedule of reinforcement

Three experiments were performed to examine the effect of response force on rats’ performance on various schedules of reinforcement. Response force was manipulated by changing the weight of the lever in the operant chamber—a heavy lever for high response force and a light lever for low response force. Using a within-subjects design, Experiment 1 replicated previous findings that rats respond more quickly on variable ratio (VR) than on equivalent variable-interval-plus-linear-feedback (VI+) schedules. Experiment 2 replicated this finding but also showed that the use of a smaller response force abolished the response rate difference between the VR and VI+ schedules. Experiment 3 used a between-subjects design and showed a response rate difference between the VR and VI+ schedules with a high response force but no response rate difference with a low response force. This suggests that under conditions of low force, when the rats’ responding can continue at prolonged high rates, these subjects show little difference in their response rates between VR and VI+ schedules. These data are similar to those found for human subjects.     

Spaces of agency within contextual constraints: a case study of teacher’s response to EFL reform in a Chinese university

This paper draws on a case study conducted in a Chinese university in the context of national College English reform. The aim is to investigate the policy enactment of the latest College English reform in China and the interaction between national policies, institutional policy, and teacher agency in responding to this educational reform from an activity theory perspective. The analysis examines the tensions and contradictions within and between the macro policy initiation level, the university implementation level, and the teacher’s classroom level, as well as examining the power distribution between these three activity systems. Data were collected from classroom observation, interviews, and examination of reform policy documents and analysed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings suggest that the control-compliance model functioned as the rule for the curriculum implementation at both national policy and institution level. However, in such a restrictive context, the participant teacher’s agency was enhanced through her engagement with the research and reflection on teaching, even exceeding the expectations of the reform.     

Students’ confidence in their performance judgements: a comparison of different response scales

We report results of two studies on metacognitive accuracy with undergraduate education students. Participating students were asked to judge their personal performance in a multiple-choice exam as well as to state their confidence in their performance judgement (second-order judgement [SOJ]). In each study, we compared four conditions that differed in the type of the presented 5-point confidence scale for SOJs. In Study 1, four bipolar scales with different labels were applied; in Study 2, unipolar and bipolar scales were implemented. The results of Study 1 with N?=?420 students show that undergraduates on average provided accurate performance estimations. However, students were not aware of their judgement accuracy, shown by a low fit of SOJ and judgement accuracy. In addition, the type of provided scale significantly influenced the SOJs. Study 2 with N?=?348 students replicated the findings of the first study and gave further insight into the effects of uni- vs. bipolar response scales.     

Does assessment for learning make a difference? The development of a questionnaire to explore the student response

Assessment for learning is a widely used term and the concept forms the basis of many teaching innovations in higher education. However, the definitions and scope of assessment for learning vary considerably. We describe a conceptualisation of assessment for learning that encompasses current thinking in a holistic way and which has been trialled and extensively refined in practice. A student questionnaire is presented which has enabled us to explore the student experience. Results indicate that the overall student experience is more positive in modules where assessment for learning approaches are used and students are more likely to take a deep approach to learning. It also demonstrates that the student experience is centred on staff support and module design, feedback, active engagement and peer learning. The full questionnaire is made available and its wider use in evaluation, enhancement and research is encouraged.     

Stable response of axisymmetric two-phase water-saturated soil

Biot's dynamic consolidation equations and Hankel transform were used to derive the integral solutions of stress and displacement for axisymmetric harmonic excitations in the two-phase saturated soil with subjacent rock-stratum. The influence of the coefficient of permeability and loading frequency on the soil displacement at the ground surface were studied. The results showed that higher loading frequency led to more dynamic characteristics; and that the effect of the soil permeability was more obvious at higher frequencies.     

Transient response of piles-bridge under horizontal excitation

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Ethnography’s capacity to contribute to the cumulation of theory: a response to Hammersley

My aim in this paper is to raise the question of educational authority in terms of a philosophical and historical understanding in the context of a democratic polity. In particular, I wish to advance the view that educational authority in England is not well-founded since it resides increasingly with the Secretary of State for Education. This fails to reflect the public nature of education and also local conditions. The lack of appropriate authority contributes to many problems, the most prominent of which are the contested nature of education and schools provision and the frustrating fact that policies at national level change so frequently. Drawing on the discussion in Amy Gutmann’s Democratic Education, it examines differing conceptions of educational authority and proposes a tentative solution, which draws on the experience of the School Boards movement in England, 1870–1902.     

The effects of response cost and species-typical behaviors on a daily time–place learning task

Two theories that have been hypothesized to mediate acquisition in daily time–place learning (TPL) tasks were investigated in a free operant daily TPL task: the response cost hypothesis and the species-typical behavior hypothesis. One lever at the end of one of the choice arms of a T-maze provided food in the morning, and 6 h later, a lever in the other choice arm provided food. Four groups were used to assess the effect of two possible sources of response cost: physical effort of the task and costs associated with foraging ecology. One group was used to assess the effect of explicitly allowing for species-typical behaviors. If only first arm choice data were considered, there was little evidence of learning. However, both first press and percentage of presses on the correct lever prior to the first reinforcement revealed evidence of TPL in most rats tested. Unexpectedly, the high response cost groups for both of the proposed sources did not perform better than the low response cost groups. The groups that allowed animals to display species-typical behaviors performed the worst. Skip session probe trials confirmed that the majority of the rats that acquired the task were using a circadian timing strategy. The results from the present study suggest that learning in free operant daily TPL tasks might not be dependent on response cost.     

In support of the cognitive‐developmental approach to moral education: a response to David Carr

This article examines real‐life moral conflicts from the perspective of the ethic of care. Fifty‐six (Time 1) and 57 (Time 2) real‐life dilemmas provided by students representing different fields of study were analysed in terms of level of care reasoning according to Skoe's Ethic of Care Interview. The results showed that antisocial temptation and transgression dilemmas tended to invoke lower levels of care reasoning than conflicting‐demands and social‐pressure dilemmas. Participants reporting temptation dilemmas had the least developed care reasoning. The results suggest that subjects identified at different care levels perceive different types of real‐life moral conflict, and that the function of care reasoning varies according to the type of moral conflict.     

Controlling response shift bias: the use of the retrospective pre‐test design in the evaluation of a master's programme

Traditionally the measures used to evaluate the impact of an educational programme on student outcomes and the extent to which students change is a comparison of the student's pre‐test scores with his/her post‐test scores. However, this method of evaluating change may be problematic due to the confounding factor of response shift bias when student self‐reports of change are used. Response shift bias occurs when the student's internal frame of reference of the construct being measured, for example research ability or critical thinking, changes between the pre‐test and the post‐test due to the influence of the educational programme. To control for response shift bias the retrospective pre‐test method was used to evaluate the outcomes achieved from students completing a research module at master's level. The retrospective pre‐test method differs from the traditional pre‐test–post‐test design in that both post‐test and pre‐test perceptions of respondents are collected at the same time. The findings indicated that response shift bias was evident in that the programme had significantly greater impact on outcomes than identified using the traditional pre‐test–post‐test design leading to the conclusion that students may overestimate their ability at the commencement of an educational programme. The retrospective pre‐test design is not a replacement for the traditional pre‐test–post‐test measures but may be a useful adjunct in the evaluation of the impact of educational programmes on student outcomes.     

The daily me: a response to ‘Tocqueville on democracy and inclusive education: a more ardent and enduring love of equality than of liberty’

The relationship between a parent and their child who has SEN is one that, by necessity, is shared with a larger than usual group of professionals. It is perhaps inevitable, then, that this relationship has been an occasionally precarious one, with a potential for conflict due to differing perspectives and priorities. Although the ideal of partnership between parent and professional was originally defined in the Warnock Report in 1978 as a preference for equality, the constitution of partnership has continued to be viewed with a degree of caution. The contribution of parents in the education of their child has been a long‐standing yet somewhat relegated feature of policy reform, where limited investigation of parents’ views has perpetuated the consensus that multiple perspectives are rarely obtained. This paper explores the premise of partnership in Northern Ireland, with reference to parents’ relationships with the cross‐section of professionals who constitute an inevitable by‐product of having a child with SEN. Specifically, it will refer to their perceived status as partners within procedural infrastructures, and identification of those factors that have challenged the premise of partnership. The paper will present some findings from a phenomenological study involving 20 parents. This represented the third and final stage of a large scale research study involving quantitative and qualitative data collection. In Northern Ireland, the dual prerogatives of special education and inclusion have acquired commensurate currency as part of an ongoing process of social reform and education rationalisation. This meant that much of the research was undertaken against a backdrop of emerging educational policy and legislation for SEN, disability and inclusion. It is a timely opportunity, then, to review existing challenges and to consider possible alternatives for future partnerships     

Demarcation as a classroom response to creationism: a critical examination of the National Academy of Sciences’ Science,Evolution, and Creationism (2008)

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Teaching materials frequently answer objections to evolution by demarcating science from religion. Because definitions of science shaped by demarcation tend...     

Finite element analysis of dynamic response and structure borne noise of gearbox

A dynamic finite element method combined with finite element mixed formula for contact problem is used to analyze the dynamic characteristics of gear system. Considering the stiffness excitation, error excitation and meshing shock excitation, the dynamic finite element model is established for the entire gear system which includes gears, shafts, bearings and gearbox housing. By the software of I-DEAS, the natural frequency, normal mode, dynamic time-domain response, frequency-domain response and one-third octave velocity grade structure borne noise of gear system are studied by the method of theoretical modal analysis and dynamic response analysis. The maximum values of vibration and structure borne noise are occurred at the mesh frequency of output grade gearing.     

Time-dependent response of laminated isotropic strips with viscoelastic interfaces

INTRODUCTION A traditional premise in the theory of com-posites is the continuity of tractions and displace-ments at constituent interfaces. However, the in-terfaces are generally weaker than the plies inlaminates, which then frequently suffer from failure(such as delamination, interlaminar slip, etc.) due tohigh stress concentration at the interfaces. Beforethe final failure, these interfaces are usuallyweakened and become imperfect due to the emer-gence of microcracks. There are nu…