Empowering teacher voices in an education policy discussion: Paradoxes of representation

This article investigates the problems and paradoxes of attempting to empower teacher voices within the context of an international conference of policy-makers, academic researchers and practitioners. We examine the distribution of talk within a teacher workshop: who spoke, how, and to whom did the group and broader audiences listen? We trace the emergence of ideas in the workshop discussions and their trajectory into the joint teacher-policy-maker panel in the conference and in the post-conference summary report. We identify four factors shaping the realisation of teacher voice – repertoires, social position, topics and gatekeepers – and highlight paradoxes of teacher representation.     

Hope,optimism and loneliness among first-year college students with learning disabilities: a brief longitudinal study

The goals of the study were to examine personal resources and social distress during the first month in college among students with learning disabilities (LD) and to compare their experiences with non-LD peer. The sample consisted of 335 first-year undergraduate students falling into two groups: 85 students with LD and 250 non-LD students. Questionnaires assessed hope, dispositional optimism and loneliness. We hypothesised that, after participation in a single-session hope intervention workshop, the hope and optimism levels of both students with LD and without LD would increase, while their loneliness would decrease. However, after a month of facing the academic and social demands of their new college environment, we expected that the hope and optimism scores of students with LD would be lower than their peers without LD and that their loneliness scores would be higher. As hypothesised, both groups reported enhanced hope and optimism, as well as lower loneliness, immediately after the workshop. However, students with LD – but not their peers – returned to baseline levels of hope and loneliness after a month. Loneliness after a month predicted lower hope, after controlling predictors from the beginning of the year.     

Counselor Renewal Workshop in Sex Equality

The article discusses a counselor renewal workshop in sex equity that used a variety of experiential activities including material from the ACES Commission on Sex Equality Concerns. Evaluation of the workshop was done in an unique manner through the use of a questionnaire from the handbook prepared by the ACES Commission and through a pretest/posttest consisting of a worksheet and audiotaped vignettes demonstrating sex bias in counseling situations. The workshop appeared to heighten the awareness of the subtlety of sex-biased communication on the part of the counselors and to stimulate their intentions to monitor and to change appropriately their own counseling behaviors in the future.     

Creating a common terminology for play behavior to increase cross-disciplinary research

Historically, play behavior has been difficult to define. This likely stems from the number of different species, types of play, and context under which it occurs. In 2016, the Chicago Zoological Society – Brookfield Zoo hosted the Psychonomic Society leading edge workshop on the evolutionary and psychological significance of play. Sixteen experts attended from the diverse fields of African ethnology, animal behavior, animal science, animal welfare, cognitive psychology, cognitive zoology, comparative psychology, cultural anthropology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, ethology, neuroscience, primatology, and zoology. Approximately half of the participants studied human play and the other half studied non-human play. Before the workshop, participants were asked to send in either their personal definition of play or the one that they cite in peer-reviewed literature. Definitions were then reviewed to determine characteristics of play inclusive of all disciplines. The goal of the current study was not to do a literature review on play behavior, but to come up with a list of characteristics across all forms of play that could be used as a common terminology moving forward. Hopefully the results of this workshop and the current article will help to increase cross-disciplinary research in the field of play.     

Navigating Sexualization as a Sexuality Professional: Recommendations from Sexuality Educators at the 2016 National Sex Ed Conference

Sexuality professionals are likely to experience unwanted sexualization based solely on their profession. Sexuality professionals are sexualized by various groups of people including strangers, colleagues, or even friends and family. The research literature discusses how sexuality researchers experience and navigate this sexualization but includes little information about the ways in which sexuality educators are sexualized. At the 2016 National Sex Ed Conference, we facilitated a workshop for sex educators to discuss how they are sexualized and how they would suggest navigating such experiences. Through this workshop proceeding, we examine how educators echoed many of the same strategies used by sexuality researchers found in the literature along with some unique population concerns and strategies.     

Guiding music students during workshop-based on-the-job learning

This article explains the realisation and impact of tutoring on learning through a new kind of on-the-job learning method in workshops led by professional musicians. The research is a qualitative case study involving 62 upper secondary Finnish vocational music students who participated in 11 workshops. The research data consist of (a) workshop plans and personal learning goals written by the students before the workshops and (b) reflective essays about experiences after the workshops. The data were analysed using theory-oriented content analyses. In the workshop, the guidance-oriented interaction promoting learning starts at the beginning of the workshop with cooperative planning. The interaction between the students and the professional musician influenced the nature of the guidance – the professional musician was more like a colleague rather than a teacher. The students expressed that they had been able to influence the workshop goals in different phases and, thus, their professional competence had increased significantly. In vocational institutes, it is important to observe different ways of realising on-the-job learning and to develop new models of action, like the workshop method, to promote the development of students’ skills and competence.     

Telling the second half of the story: linking academic development to student experience of learning

Common measures used by academic developers, e.g. lecturer satisfaction with workshops, are necessary but insufficient indicators of impact since they tell only the first half of the story. Documenting whether positive responses translate into teaching actions that influence students is the second half of the story. In this study, the project team undertook to document this second half: the influence of a workshop for lecturers on student experience of learning in courses designed during the workshop. This paper describes the results of the study and also examines the implications – the difficulties and value of reconciling the desirable with the do‐able in undertaking studies such as this.     

Crossing ‘boundaries’ with the collective girl: a poetic intervention into sex education

Feminist poststructuralist approaches to research can authorize different ways of working with different types of texts in search of insight into the discursive constitution of subjects. In this paper I undertake a close reading of women's memories about early sexual experiences generated in a small collective biography workshop. The collective poetic text that emerges from the workshop is analysed in terms of recent feminist sociological research on girls' experiences of (hetero)sex and in terms of Foucault's work on power. Analysis reveals the discursive complexity and deep (and often dangerous) contradictions through which girls negotiate their shifting subjectivities as they become sexual. My readings of this text imply that school sex education programs might attend more closely to the ambiguities of agency and desire experienced by adolescent subjects of the curriculum. Finally, I suggest that reflexive readings of our own (sexed) subjectivities can be productive professional development strategies for teachers of sex education.     

Searching for sexual revolutions in India: non-governmental organisation-designed sex education programmes as a means towards gender equality and sexual empowerment in New Delhi,India

At the foundation of most inequalities in expression of sexuality lie social constructions of gender. In this paper, sex education is considered as a possibility to challenge sexism and promote healthy and self-affirmative sex lives. In the past decade, the discourse of sex education in India has become a ‘battle of morality’ where concerned citizens condemn sex education on the grounds it may encourage sexual activity and immoral conduct (e.g. promiscuity or infidelity). The work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is an alternative to the governmental national curriculum plan. This paper discusses NGO potential in terms of sexual empowerment by examining beliefs and understanding, choices of information, strategies and methods, and approaches apparent in sex education programmes and projects. Through qualitative data, findings were analysed by constructing a sexual empowerment model that divides components of sex education into four parts and utilises theories of empowerment. The main findings include that all four components of sex education – foundation, content, strategies and approaches – show great potential to challenge gender inequalities in regard to sexuality. Sexual health programmes and projects are seen to be highly participatory, deliberative and encouraging of critical thinking. Some concerns are highlighted: the strong focus on girls as the main actors of change, and external limitations such as parents and institutions.     

Queering the teacher as a text in the English Language Arts classroom: beyond books,identity work and teacher preparation

Classrooms reflect and contribute to normative sex, gender and sexuality categories in school culture, rules and rituals. Texts, materials, curriculum and the discourse we employ as educators perpetuate the pervasiveness of these categories. This paper explores some of the less visible ways in which sex and gender categories are constructed in US English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms, and how institutionalised heteronormativity positions students within normative categories of sex, gender and sexuality. These limiting conversations are difficult to identify and even more difficult to challenge. But it is precisely this dynamic – the subconscious reinforcing of sex and gender binaries – that upholds the dominance of the institution of heterosexuality. Merely addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) issues in the field of teaching reading, writing and literacy is an incomplete strategy. To disrupt normative narratives in the ELA classroom, educators must first identify the everyday practices occurring in school spaces, specifically recognising the teacher as a text. For sustained challenges to institutionalised norms, ELA teachers must engage in this work outside of LGBTQ-inclusive instructional materials and anti-homophobic education, and this paper offers specific methods for disrupting mainstream narratives in ELA classrooms.     

In the spirit of William Georgetti: scrutiny of a prestigious national scholarship selection process

Postgraduate scholarship programmes are increasingly important for supporting gifted students from diverse backgrounds. Systems and processes in the application, determination and delivery of scholarships must be robust, transparent, accountable and equitable. However, they are rarely evaluated. One of the most prestigious scholarships in New Zealand – the William Georgetti Scholarship – is investigated here for the impact of student’s grade point averages (GPAs) and sex on applicant’s progression, the level of agreement between Scholarship Board member rankings, and whether applicants or members’ sex is material to any outcomes. Data from 2007 to 2015 were extracted, and contained 301 applicants considered for shortlisting, 78 who were shortlisted and 60 successful recipients evaluated by 17 Scholarship Board members (5 female, 12 male). Mean GPAs significantly increased over time amongst applicants, those shortlisted, and those successful. While 60% of applicants were female, only 49% of those shortlisted were female; however, this was explained by GPA differences. Some 52% of successful applicants were female. Ranking discordance amongst members was relatively high, but no differential sex biases were noted. The empirical results suggest that current systems and processes are consistent with the scholarship’s deed, although the difference in GPA scores between female and male applicants is of concern.     

Drawing on the Artist Outside: Towards 1999

This paper gives a summary of a presentation made by Glen Coutts and an exhibition organised by Mark Dawes at the InSEA conference held in Glasgow during July 1997. It concerns recent developments and initiatives using artists, designers and students in Scottish schools. The presentation at InSEA was supported by slides of the students’ work and an outline of the processes used in each of the workshop sessions. During the presentation the conference had the opportunity to view the results of collaboration between artists, students and school children aged between 10 and 14 years. These projects took place over a period of five to six months, and have resulted in an ambitious project which will be completed during 1999, Glasgow’s year as UK City of Architecture and Design. The projects used visual artists to expand and enhance the art activities normally taking place in the schools. This paper reports on the following areas: developments in Art & Design Education in Scotland – the context for artists in schools, Artists and Education – two case studies and future developments – towards 1999.     

Webcasts promote in-class active participation and learning in an engineering elective course

This paper describes the design and outcomes of an educational intervention undertaken to improve the quality of delivery of a fourth-year engineering elective course – Industrial Wastewater and Solid Waste Management at the University of Queensland. The objective was to increase the level of active participation of students in planned active-learning classroom activities, including whole-class discussions and small group project-type work. According to a flipped classroom model, new online material in the form of webcasts was proposed to students before class. Students reacted very positively to the webcasts: the percentage of students viewing the webcast before planned workshop sessions ranged between 80% and 92% over the five weeks of the intervention. Enhanced engagement led also to increased attendance (85–92% at workshop sessions), and remarkable active participation in class (half of observed teams were ～80% active). Remarkably, team performance as quantified by their report marks linearly correlated with the level of active participation in class.     

Reducing the sex difference in math anxiety: The role of spatial processing ability

Decades of research have demonstrated that women experience higher rates of math anxiety – that is, negative affect when performing tasks involving numerical and mathematical skill – than men. Researchers have largely attributed this sex difference in math anxiety to factors such as social stereotypes and propensity to report anxiety. Here we provide the first evidence that the sex difference in math anxiety may be due in part to sex differences in spatial processing ability. In Study 1, undergraduate students completed questionnaires assessing their level of math anxiety and their aptitude and preference for processing spatial configurations and schematic images. The results support the hypothesis that the relation between sex and math anxiety is mediated by spatial processing ability. In Study 2, we replicate these results with a more diverse sample of adults. Implications for the prevention and remediation of math anxiety and math anxiety-related achievement deficits are discussed.     

Hidden Histories: The Experience of Curating a Male Same Sex Exhibition and the Problems Encountered

Hidden Histories: 20th century male same sex lovers in the visual arts An exhibition and book by Michael Petry The New Art Gallery Walsall: May – July 2004 Artmedia Press, London, May 2004 Hidden Histories was the first international historical survey of its kind to examine the lives and work of male artists in the 20th century who were same sex lovers. It comprised a curatorial project within The University of Wolverhampton, an exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall and a publication by Artmedia Press. This text looks at issues that arose in the production of the project which included a change of name from Mad About the Boy, ethical concerns, and censorship by the local council. Hidden Histories did not contend there was a queer, gay or same sex aesthetic connecting the work of the surveyed artists. It did not ‘out’ anyone – all the information presented existed in the public domain. Hidden Histories documented how male artists' work was affected by evolving attitudes to homosexuality. Its thesis (the arch of openness) describes how public attitudes changed throughout the 20th Century; from prohibition in the late Victorian Period, to begrudging tolerance in the inter‐wars years; from relative openness post WWI, to outright homophobia during the Cold War; and from decriminalisation in the West (following the Stonewall Riots), to stigma in the AIDS era. Hidden Histories was premised on the inter‐dependence of same sex and dominant cultures, and demonstrates that irrespective of legal or societal prohibitions, same sex lovers continued to make a rich and varied contribution to artistic dialogue.     

Making It Better for Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Transgender Students through Teacher Education: A collaborative self-study

Teacher education programs have a critical role in helping incoming teachers develop a deeper understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues and their moral and legal obligations to counter homophobic bullying. In this self-study, two educators – a university professor and a classroom teacher, who facilitated a workshop titled “Sexual Diversity in Secondary Schools” in a faculty of education in a mid-sized Canadian city – reflect on the feedback provided by teacher candidates on workshop evaluation forms in relation to their experiences as teacher educators delivering the workshops. In particular, they consider (1) their commitment to this work; (2) why they taught the way they did; (3) the impact their approach had on teacher candidates in the workshops; and (4) what the study revealed about their teacher education practices.     

Increasing the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy of Nontraditional College Students

Nontraditional college students (29 women and 37 men) participated in a career counseling workshop based on Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy theory. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental treatment group or a delayed-treatment control group. Results suggested that participation in the workshop had a significant, positive effect on the career decision-making self-efficacy of the participants (p < .05) across levels of age, sex, year in college, and family income. Results provide support for career self-efficacy theory and indicate that the career decision-making self-efficacy of nontraditional college students is amenable to change through counseling interventions.     

Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes of Some Nigerian Secondary School Teachers

Nigerian secondary school teachers (n – 360) of three subject groupings (arts, sciences and social sciences) were administered an environmental knowledge and attitude scale. The teachers generally demonstrated a low level of environmental knowledge, although the science and social science teachers were found to be more knowledgeable than their arts counterparts. Negative environmental attitudes were also found to be prevalent among the three categories of teachers. The study revealed that most of the teachers have never heard of environmental education and have never attended any workshop or seminar on teaching of the subject.