Gender, BMI, values, and learning in physical education: A study on Chinese middle schoolers

Students' different perceptions of task values influence their learning experience and achievement in physical education. Framed using the subjective task value construct, this study was conducted to determine the extent to which male and female Chinese middle schoolers with different body sizes differed in their perception of the task values. A second goal of the study was to identify the extent to which the task values along with gender and body size predicted students' performance on knowledge and physical skill tests. Data from a random sample of students (N = 860) from eight Chinese middle schools revealed that the boys appreciated intrinsic (p = .001) and utility values (p = 02); both boys and girls, however, equally appreciated the attainment value (p = .73). The boys performed better in physical skill tests than the girls (p = .001), whereas the girls scored higher in knowledge tests than the boys (p = .04). Regression analyses revealed that gender is the only predictor for performance on both knowledge and skill tests. Utility value and body size were predictors for skill, not for knowledge. These findings indicate that Chinese middle school boys and girls differed in valuing and achieving in physical education. The findings imply that Chinese boys need to strengthen cognitive learning and girls need to strengthen psychomotor skill development in physical education.     

Romanticism,representations of religion and critical religious education

Geoff Teece has recently (in BJRE, 27, 2005, pp. 29–40) come to the defence of modern religious education and contended that many of the criticisms brought against it are based on mistaken interpretations. More particularly, Teece accuses Andrew Wright of misinterpreting the position of Professor John Hick and of failing to appreciate the intellectual resources that Hick provides for the construction of a critical form of religious education. He attempts to correct Wright’s interpretation of Hick, and by extension to undermine Wright’s indictment of the influence of modernity on religious education; and he attempts to illustrate how Hick’s religious pluralism can make a contribution to discussions about critical religious education. The aim of this paper is to advance the case for critical religious education and to outline something of the form and nature it should take. It begins with a short discussion of the nature and commitments of modern religious education, indicating the sense in which they are deficient. It then moves on to consider Teece’s appeal to the thought of John Hick, which is judged to be misinterpreted and inappropriate. The paper concludes with the articulation of a set of four heuristic principles that give substance to the vision of critical religious education.     

Experience and reality in religious education

A central task of religious education is to show how the puzzlements to human intelligence and the experiences that are associated with spirituality, are compelling in relation to our development as human beings. There are always more theories than objects or events to be explained, and while the spiritual ‘data’ that gives rise to our puzzlements and experience is elusive and meagre, the supply of literature, teaching, ritual and other forms of articulation is torrential. To understand the nature of religious education we need firstly to ask about the nature of spiritual experience itself at its broadest level and then to identify and co-ordinate the kinds of material that will sensitise pupils to this experience and help them to articulate it. This should provide a basis for evaluation of the material against the context of their own life experiences. In this respect religious education is no different in structure to other areas of the curriculum.     

Australian core Catholic youth,Catholic schools and religious education

This paper reports on research on the attitudes of a differentiated sample of students to Catholic schools in general and religious education in particular. Core Catholic youth are described, following Fulton et al. (2000 Fulton, J., Abela, A., Borowik, I., Dowling, T., Marler, P. and Tomasi, L. 2000. Young Catholics at the New Millennium; the Religion and Morality of Young Adults in Western Countries, Dublin: University College Press.  [Google Scholar]: Young Catholics at the New Millennium, Dublin, University College Press), as individuals who have an existing connection with the parish community. Some results that emerge from 58 in‐depth interviews with 14‐ and 15‐year‐old core Catholics are that they value their time in Catholic schools, feel that they are in a safe environment and are not well networked with others of a similar background. Attitudes to religious education by core Catholic youth are described as weak positive. Religious education is not unpopular but is not seen as a discipline that helps resolve some of the difficulties that they experience as young Catholics. These difficulties relate to trying to reconcile what they see as the conflict between the scientific and religious view of creation and many supernatural religious claims.     

Contextual religious education and the interpretive approach

This article responds to Andrew Wright's critique of my views on the representation of religions. Using various literary devices – associating my work closely with that of others whose views are in some ways different from my own, referring very selectively to published texts and exaggerating, and sometimes misrepresenting, what I actually say – Wright presents my work as dualistic, nominalist and as not genuinely hermeneutical. Wright contrasts what he sees as my extreme idea of religions as ‘constructions’ with his own view of them as ‘social facts’. My reply illustrates and responds to Wright's account of my work, clarifies my own position and raises questions about Wright's views, especially in relation to those of Gavin Flood, whom he cites with favour. My conclusion includes the suggestion that, although our epistemological positions are different in some ways, they spawn pedagogies utilising some common principles and values.     

Transference,Counter-transference,and Reflexivity in Intercultural Education

The article addresses the contributions psychoanalytic theory, particularly its concepts of transference and counter-transference, can make to our understanding of reflexivity in intercultural education (IE). After the introduction, the article is organized into three parts. The first part is a psychoanalytic discussion that focuses on the concepts of transference and counter-transference. The second part elaborates on the concepts of transference and counter-transference by presenting examples through existing studies in the fields of multicultural and IE and psychoanalysis to illuminate what it would mean to psychoanalytically understand aspects of intercultural relations and reflexivity. In the third section, while contending that this article does not exclude other forms of reflexivity or delimit the danger of uncritically accepting the potentials for reflexivity, it offers the implications drawn from the discussions in the first and second sections by concluding that psychoanalysis is an area of inquiry that forces us to question how unconscious forces affect our interaction with students, the curriculum, and the meaning we give to teaching and learning experiences. The article concludes that reflexivity in IE can benefit from considering the effects of transference and counter-transference.     

Contextual religious education and the actuality of religions

Contextual religious educators tend to view discrete religious traditions as artificially constructed systems disconnected from the ordinary experiences of children. This article sets out the case for the continued representation of religions as substantial social facts in religious education classrooms. Accepting Robert Jackson’s critique of essentialist readings of religion, it argues that the most appropriate alternative is not the nominal reduction of discrete religious traditions to the atomistic level of the individual spiritual lives of adherents, but a realistic identification of such traditions as actual socio‐cultural realities. It suggests two criteria for such identification: the collective intentionality of adherents and the presence of prototypical features within their lifeworlds.     

Diversity and the political function of religious education

Questions about the relationship between religion and politics are discussed with particular focus on the consequences for religious education. Norway is taken as an example of a country where increasing cultural diversity challenges traditional politics of religion. In the present climate of conflicting views on the role of religion in politics, religious education is higher on the political agenda in many European countries, but it is unclear which path the governments choose to follow. For religious educators it is important to engage critically in the political debate about religion, and to show a basic political loyalty towards the education of the individual child and towards improving the lifeworld of children.     

Traversing the gap: Andrew Wright,John Hick and critical religious education

This paper discusses aspects of Andrew Wright's version of a liberal, critical religious education and his criticisms of some other views of modern religious education. This is attempted not by examining these ‘other views’ as such but by concentrating on the work of John Hick. The reason for this is that Wright, like Cooling (in his book A Christian Vision for State Education: Reflections on the Theology of Education) identifies Hick as a significant influence on forms of religious education to which he objects. In a number of his writings Wright identifies Hick's work as an example of universal theology informed by romanticism. This runs counter to a comprehensive reading of Hick, and to Hick's own account of his work. Hick, like Wright, is a critical realist but by identifying Hick as a romantic, Wright is in danger of not only polarising views on religious education but also closing down a debate to which Hick's work has much to contribute. The latter part of the paper illustrates how a nuanced understanding of Hick's religious pluralism can make a contribution to discussions about critical religious education.     

Child-centred education and the promise of democratic learning: Pedagogic messages in rural Indian primary schools

Global and national agendas to achieve universal primary education and improve the ‘quality’ of school provision in developing countries have identified the need to reform classroom pedagogy. Since the 1990s, child-centred ideas in particular have been utilised in teacher-training programmes and school reforms across many parts of Africa and Asia with the intention of creating more child-friendly, democratic learning environments. Analysing episodes from classroom observations conducted in a rural Indian primary school, this paper reveals the tensions experienced by one teacher in handing over greater classroom control to pupils. It provides insight into the complex processes of pedagogic interaction, and sheds light on some of the possibilities and conditions for achieving child-centred pedagogic change in such development contexts.     

Free but inaccessible primary education: A critique of the pedagogy of English and Mathematics in Lesotho

The Free Primary Education programme in Lesotho has enabled nearly all children to attend primary school, but the prevailing pedagogy denies or restricts the opportunities of these children for effective learning. This paper focuses on the theme of the inaccessibility of learning in the key subjects of English and Mathematics, reporting recent research. Some of the major problems identified are specific to each subject, while others are common to both. Referring to previous theoretical and empirical work on primary education in developing countries, the paper identifies the major factors shaping restrictive pedagogy in Lesotho.     

Student primary teachers and their experience of religious education in schools

This article is based on research into the way student primary teachers experience religious education when they train in schools. The research findings suggest that the experience and quality of training in many schools is not adequate and that this experience undermines student confidence in relation to religious education. The author argues that despite the increased reliance on school as an arena for the training of teachers, in the case of religious education many student teachers do not have the opportunities to observe or teach religious education even where the school or student is keen to do so.     

Personal epistemology and relational pedagogy in early childhood teacher education programs

Over the last decade, research related to personal epistemological beliefs has offered insight into how to promote effective teaching and learning across educational settings. Personal epistemological beliefs reflect an individual's views about what knowledge is, how knowledge is gained, and the degree of certainty with which knowledge can be held. However, there has been no research that specifically investigates the relationship between such epistemological beliefs and early childhood practice. This paper draws together current research findings on epistemological beliefs and tertiary learning to provide a conceptual framework which can be used in early childhood teacher education programs to provide a basis for investigating early childhood teachers' understanding about their own learning and how they use this knowledge in their practice.     

An alternative reading of modern religious education in England and Wales

This paper challenges the overly positive image of the contribution made by religious education in England and Wales to the attainment of liberal educational aims that was recently presented in this journal, in the context of a review symposium on a festschrift celebrating the work and achievements of the influential British religious educator, Professor John Hull. An alternative reading is pursued that provides a more accurate and fair interpretation of the evidence. There is a discussion of the ideological character of British religious education and a consideration of the reasons why assertions of its ‘success’ by religious educators are currently so vocal. Critical attention is focused on two particular issues over which the influence of Hull on contemporary policy and practice is acknowledged: that of his dismissal of the accusation that multi‐faith religious education confuses pupils, and that of current strategies in religious education to promote inter‐religious and intercultural understanding.     

应用写作教学实、思、写、用四维一体初探

应用写作是一门实用性、操作性强的课程。应用写作教学有其自身特点。成人高校应用写作教学实、思、写、用四维一体,实质是引导学生结合实际,在实践中学,在实践中思索,为实践、为应用而写作的过程。其目的是培养学生的思维能力、读写能力,能够为解决社会、工作中出现的实实在在的问题而写作。     

Learning, change, and the utopia of play

This article looks at some of the rhetoric surrounding video games and other forms of interactive software as additions or alternatives to school curricula. It focuses particularly on the need to articulate ways to “read” videogames in order to achieve significant cultural impact. Noting that reading, even as metaphor, tends to invoke inappropriate assumptions about writing and authorship, the article argues for a less backward-looking approach to newer forms.