Some Insights on the Gap

In our response to 'Mind the gap' by Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002) we review contemporary pro-environmental behaviour research and perspectives. We apply a social processes vantage point to reveal a blindness to the historical origins of these perspectives. Through drawing on a case in an African context, we illuminate the way in which experts in institutional contexts come to etch instrumental perspectives, and thus we probe the limitations of instrumentalist assumptions associated with pro-environmental behaviour research and perspectives. We also point to ideological blind spots and blockages that persist in disallowing social politics and history to illuminate the complexities of human social habitus, and we reveal some of the complexities that have been set aside in the Kollmuss and Agyeman article.     

Whose Gap? Whose Mind? Plural Rationalities and Disappearing Academics

The article recognises the usefulness of the model advanced by Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002), but argues for the need to recognise that the key term 'pro-environmental behaviour' is problematic. Also, a further problem with the model lies in its failure to account adequately for the role of the researcher in determining criteria for pro-environmental behaviour which then become a basis for evaluating educational success. Using an approach developed originally within cultural anthropology, it is argued that the Kollmuss and Agyeman model might usefully also be considered with the directions of its arrows reversed, so accepting that the definitions of pro-environmental behaviour towards which individuals (and groups) are predisposed may impact upon their values, attitude, and so on. Such an approach enables the definitions towards which researchers themselves may be predisposed to be explored.     

Promoting pro‐environmental behaviour: collection of used batteries by secondary school pupils

This research is based on Kollmuss and Agyeman’s mode, and aims to determine if the prerequisites for pro‐environmental behaviour, such as the collection of used batteries at school, are ethical, cognitive and environmental. A questionnaire/opinionnaire was given to 102, 14–17‐year‐olds to gather data on: (1) their current recycling habits, (2) their environmental values, (3) their level of knowledge about the harmful effect of used batteries on the environment, (4) their attitude towards collecting used batteries, (5) their attachment to the neighbourhood, (6) their perceived behavioural control and finally (7) their intention to act. The number of used batteries brought by each school child was recorded over a four‐month period. Results show that young people’s behaviour of collecting used batteries can be predicted by ethical (pro‐environmental values), affective (neighbourhood attachment) and cognitive (perceived behavioural control) variables (R ² = .38; p > .01).     

Post-metatheorizing Environmental Behaviours in Environmental Education

A five-participant dialogue is constructed using Kollmuss and Agyeman's (2002) model of pro-environmental behaviour, Stern's (2000) coherent theory of environmentally significant behaviour, the Hart and Nolan (1999) and Rickinson (2001) critical reviews of the environmental education research literature and this repondent's views. The dialogue demonstrates how metatheoretical development might selectively sensitize and circumstantially advance the practical aspirations of environmental education.     

Toward Effective Teaching and Learning: stories of primary schools'environmental science interest and action

This article provides some stories of primary school teachers' and students' experiences of implementing new science teaching and learning strategies through an action research process that have also led to more environmental education occurring in the schools' curriculum. The stories have been constructed from the coordinators' journals, observations and interviews with the teachers and students in the schools. The teachers in the schools are consciously engaged in an action research-based model of curriculum change in science teaching and learning. The stories also acknowledge the critiques of critical theory in environmental education and the possibilities for a socially critical approach in environmental education within a context of the limited opportunities for both science and environmental education in primary schools.     

Teachers on intercultural education

Opinions differ on the desirability of paying attention to intercultural education in schools and on the opportunities to do this. Theoretical agreement and conceptual clarity on the concept are hard to find. The theoretical debate on intercultural education is far removed from daily practice in the classroom. Ideally, experience‐related ideas and the insights of teachers should form part of the debate. In this article we present an example of measuring teachers' opinions on the concept of intercultural education. The research was carried out in The Netherlands with the help of a written questionnaire. Seventy‐four teachers participated. The researchers differentiated four accents in intercultural education, based on the literature. This differentiation was not reflected in the teachers' answers. They had a slight preference for a general pluralistic interpretation of intercultural education and, hence, for a particular pedagogical approach. We will explore this finding further in the discussion.     

Sustainable development in early childhood education: in‐service students' comprehension of the concept

The purpose of this article is to explore day care attendants' comprehension of the concept of sustainable development (SD) and to analyse the associated pedagogical practices at their place of work in pre‐schools. The empirical data comprise written exam reports from 32 practising day care attendants attending an in‐service education course. The participants study early childhood education (ECE) part time at Mälardalen University, Sweden, and the rest of their time they work in their pre‐schools. The analysis was based on a qualitative content analysis approach, and the results show a multi‐faceted understanding of the concept. SD was seen as a holistic approach, an environmental issue or a democratic issue. The article explores how these different ways of approaching the concept relate to different attitudes and day‐to‐day practices in the pedagogical programme in the pre‐schools.     

Researching the influence of teaching assistants on the learning of pupils identified with special educational needs in mainstream primary schools: exploring social inclusion

As a result of their high contact time with children, particularly children identified with special educational needs, it is widely acknowledged that teaching assistants (TAs) have great influence on pupils' education (Balshaw). However, recent research into the impact of TAs on pupils' learning has questioned TAs' usefulness in improving pupils' learning (Blatchford, Bassett and Brown; Higgins). This paper argues that TAs' influence on pupils' education has not yet been researched effectively. Previous research has primarily focused on determining TAs' influence on pupils' achievement in terms of academic outcomes and has neglected to explore social outcomes. Two interconnected literature bases are reviewed in this paper; the current research exploring TAs' role and influence on pupils' learning is first explored, followed by a critical discussion of the literature regarding the process of social inclusion in mainstream primary schools. This paper concludes that for TAs' influence on pupils' learning to be effectively researched, TAs' influence on the process of social inclusion must be researched within mainstream primary schools.     

'School is Like an Ant's Nest': Spatiality and embodiment in schools

Processes of differentiation and formation of subjectivities in schools have embodied and spatial components. This article illustrates the significance of what is termed the physical school by a discussion of space and embodiment organised through one of several metaphors that school students have used to describe their schools: an ants' nest. The metaphor tells a tale about the lack of spatial and embodied autonomy school students experience. Gendered meanings of the metaphor are also questioned. Gender is seen as dynamic and processual. The article is based on a collective work on 'Physical school' by the Gender and Education research network in Finland (1992-94). Theoretical concepts are elaborated further within another project in secondary schools 'Citizenship, difference and marginality in schools - with special reference to gender' that was in its preliminary phase when the article was written.     

Gaps in Mind: Problems in environmental knowledge-behaviour modelling research

For decades, researchers in the social sciences and in education have sought to understand and map the factors that lead people to move (or to fail to move) from environmental knowledge to 'pro-environmental behaviour'. In this article, we explore some conceptual, epistemological, methodological and practical 'gaps' that seem to reproduce themselves in successive instantiations of this quest. The purpose of this article is to help build the critical perspective that comes with problematizing the very project of knowledge-behaviour modelling, identifying the positivistic residues still present in the enterprise, and suggesting that modelling may be more useful in domains of greater scale. Focusing on the 'Mind Gap' model developed by Kollmus and Agyeman (2002), we discuss the 'gap' between contemporary educational research and knowledge-behaviour modelling research that is the cumulative effect of (1) the critical thinking - 'behaviour change' gap; (2) the 'reflective practitioner - 'researcher as authority' gap; (3) the two literatures gap; (4) the conscious - non-conscious gap (tied to reason and habit in moral agency); (5) the direct action - indirect action gap (tied to privatizing environmental morality); (6) the gender gap; and (7) the internal - external gap (tied to ignoring the complexity of moral agency and cultural identity).     

Exploring the Actual and Potential Rhetoric-reality Gaps in Environmental Education and their Implications for Pre-service Teacher Training

The mismatch between the advocated views of theorists and the teaching realities in school environmental education is widely recognised. There is relatively little research examining the advocated practices of teachers themselves, other than already environmentally active teachers, to indicate the nature of the 'potential' rhetoric-reality gap that might exist if all constraints were removed, and teachers had a completely free choice in designing their own environmental education programmes. This article identifies such gaps by exploring current practices and teachers' views on selected components of environmental education, across a complete teacher training partnership. This information has been used to help prioritise the content and approaches used by pre-service teachers when conducting school-based environmental activities. The investigation reveals that although most schools lack a written policy on environmental education, most have a positive attitude towards the large majority of selected components and these are usually addressed in school. Teachers are not generally compelled to deliver aspects of environmental education that they deem inappropriate. Of the 10 components not currently addressed by most of these schools, the findings suggest that five would be added if constraining factors were removed, but a further five would remain absent. The overall potential rhetoric-reality differences in this case study are thus smaller than the actual existing differences, but still fall short of some theorists' goals. Within the pre-service training programme, efforts have been concentrated on components that are: (i) currently practised in most schools; and (ii) receive a positive response from most teachers, and this has resulted in markedly improved feedback from schools and trainees alike.     

What Should Govern Teacher Education? The Impact of Unclear Governmental Prescriptions: Is there something more effective?

This article begins with a historical introduction to Swedish teacher education and continues with an investigation concerning a new teacher education that started in 1988 for primary and middle-school teachers, educated to teach grade 1-7 'grundskolla¨rare'. This teacher education is analysed and interpreted through paradigms constructed out of To¨rnebohm's paradigm concept idea. Four paradigms are used: the traditional craft paradigm, the academic, the progressive, critical-social and the personalistc paradigm. The article ends with a short discussion concerning teacher education regulated and controlled by politicians and the problems for teacher educators.     

Awkward Practice: Teaching media in English

The Models of Media Education research project in England explored major issues about the aims and methods of media teaching amongst teachers of English. Its central research question was 'What are teachers of English doing when they say they are doing media education at Key Stage 4 (ages 14–16) in secondary schools?' This article begins with a brief contextualisation of the current curriculum for media teaching within English. It then examines, through a detailed case study, the work of one teacher in the classroom and relates this to the wider picture in secondary schools. This is followed by a discussion of the project's general findings. It concludes that the study of media production and institutions is frequently avoided by teachers of English and that teaching methods often repress essential aspects of social learning in relation to the media, privileging limited teacher knowledge over young people's own cultural experience. Finally, it suggests a new focus for research in the future that will encompass these neglected learning areas, teaching methods and new media technologies.     

Gauging primary school teachers’ environmental literacy: An issue of ‘priority’

Over the past thirty years, it has often been stated that primary school education should endeavour to improve and protect the environment through producing an ‘environmentally informed, committed and active citizenry’. Even so, existing research shows that the implementation of environmental education in primary schools is problematic and has had limited success. However, the reasons for these shortcomings are far from clear, with present research merely speculating about barriers to effective implementation. This paper presents a detailed discussion and analysis of primary school teachers knowledge and beliefs about environmental concepts and environmental education. In so doing, the paper identifies a perceived gap within the field of environmental education research and literature. This field has neglected studies of Australian primary school teacher’s knowledge and beliefs about environmental education as a factor affecting the capacity of schooling to achieve environmental education goals. To these ends, we utilise the concept of ‘environmental literacy’ to assess primary school teacher’s knowledge and beliefs about environmental education. Based upon preliminary data analysis, we tentatively claim that current Queensland primary school teachers are variably committed to and demonstrably lack content knowledge of environmental concepts and environmental education. More significantly, these primary school teachers tend to dismiss the importance of content knowledge, preferring to focus upon attitudes towards environmental education and environmental concepts. Clearly these levels of environmental literacy are inadequate if environmentally literate students and thus an environmentally literate citizenry are to be achieved within schools. We conclude that the introduction of environmental literacy in educational policy would advance the goals of environmental education, namely the production of an informed, committed and active citizenry.     

Teachers' environmental education as creating cracks and ruptures in school education: a narrative inquiry and an analysis of teacher rhetoric

This article discusses a narrative inquiry as a methodology for understanding and examining teachers' interpretations of their environment‐related teaching experiences. Focusing on the value of teacher stories for interrogating the discursive practices of schools as institutional contexts, four main rhetorical themes are identified to illustrate how teachers' engagements in practice and thinking with environmental education display ongoing identity work. Five Korean secondary science teachers' stories illustrate the dynamic processes and interplay between multiple discourses, such as the ‘proper’, ‘good’, ‘science’ teacher, and the cultural norms, resources and subject positions available to them, as they take up and explain their own and others' meanings and subject positions in science education and environmental education. The paper discusses the value of narrative inquiry to conceptualising teacher agency in ways that offer alternatives to conventional research perspectives in this field, and in taking account of the possible meanings of environmental education, the possibility of creating cracks and ruptures in the ‘sense‐making’ discourses and ‘sense that is made’ of experiences of environmental education and school education more widely.     

Social Work Practice and the Propietary Movement

ABSTRACT

Changes in funding patterns and privatization of health and human services within government are prompting new forms of management and organizational structures creating challenges for service delivery and the education of social work managers. The profession's ability to provide leadership and respond to such rapidly changing environmental trends is grounded in the capability of field education to bridge the university and practice communities and provide flexible, innovative combinations of service programming and research partnerships. This article provides a framework for the development and operation of a unique type of field demonstration project. The article focuses on the methodology used to develop and operate the field projects in order to encourage replication among other schools of social work.     

Emancipation,equality and education: Rancière's critique of Bourdieu and the question of performativity

Jacques Rancière's work has had significant impact in philosophy and literary theory, but remains largely undiscussed in the field of education. This article is a review of the relevance of Rancière's work to education research. Rancière's argument about education emerges from his critique of Bourdieu, which states that Bourdieu reinforces inequality by presuming it as the starting point of his analysis. What is at stake is the question of performativity, and the means by which discourse has effects. This debate has implications for considering the basis of claims to truth in literary and social science discourse. Parallels are drawn between Judith Butler's and Rancière's portrayal of the relationship between discourse and subjection, as well as their attention to discursive ‘imitation’ in making inequality representable. The article concludes with a discussion of the problematic which Rancière's work suggests for education research.     

School Support Teams: Building State Capacity for Improving Schools

Universal public education may be a mirage if we consider the role that behavior policies play in providing mechanisms by which schools can disentitle nonconforming students. In traditional schools, students are legally suspended or expelled from school for disruptive behavior, habitual neglect of duty, or chronic absenteeism through policies that encourage the exit of difficult students rather than addressing their problems. This article includes an overview of behavior and attendance policies in Canadian schools and a discussion of a sample of schools in which policies have been revised to provide alternative programs designed to meet the needs of all students, especially those who are at risk. These schools work with other social agencies to address the problems associated with high dropout rates instead of expelling students who have problems.     

Conceptualising Gender Differences in Educational Research: the case of the Netherlands

This article analyses educational research on gender inequality carried out in the Netherlands between 1982 and 1991. It can be regarded as a case study on the conceptualisation of the problem of gender inequality in education. In the Netherlands two types of research can be identified: policy‐orientated research, which was largely concerned with primary and secondary education, and action research which developed from within and focused on adult education. In the beginning most researchers in both types of research were aware of the problems related to the concept of ‘disadvantage’. Later on, policy‐orientated research on gender and education has increasingly approached education primarily as a means of preparing for a promising position on the labour market. The concept of disadvantage, which at first appeared to have been superceded, has been frequently applied in the analysis of gender in education. Action research, however, focused on the learning processes of women considering feminine qualities to be positive and valuable. We discuss the criticism from women's studies of the research carried out. Finally, the central concepts of the Dutch research are related to the classifications used in England.     

The teachers college faces the future in the selection of teachers

This article examines the educational conditions and resources, institutional characteristics, and political factors that contribute to shaping states' educational accountability policies. The policies addressed are identification of underperforming schools, state takeover or reconstitution of failing schools, and state power to replace principals and teachers in underperforming schools. The article addresses accountability for schools and educators, rather than high-stakes tests for students, because of the emphases of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Based on correlations and cross-sectional, logistic regression, the most important predictors of states' accountability policies appear to be National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP performance, state education agency staff resources, and Democratic party identification. However, the impact of Democratic party identification is reduced when the southern states are excluded. The article concludes with a discussion of directions for further quantitative and qualitative research, as well as predictions of how NCLB is likely to affect states' accountability policies.