Outcomes of structured teaching for children on the autism spectrum: does the research evidence neglect the bigger picture?

The adoption of ‘structured teaching’ is evident in educational settings worldwide and has fast become one of the key ‘tools’ in autism education. As calls for evidence‐based practice have increased, research evidence has grown to interrogate the effectiveness of structured teaching components. Previous systematic literature reviews of the research evidence suggest that structured teaching has positive effects upon problem behaviours and also increases engagement and independent task organisation. This literature review builds upon previous reviews in order to explore the effects of structured teaching upon behaviour and learning, asking what the research evidence actually measures in relation to these two concepts. Gaps in the research evidence are identified, and discussion focuses upon the need for research which investigates the role of structured teaching components in meaningful learning, the need for greater attention to evaluate social validity of the approach which takes into account those who implement and indeed those who receive the intervention and finally the need for research to analyse the effects of structured teaching upon alternative outcomes of ‘well‐being’ and ‘quality of life’.     

Veteran teachers’ identity: what does the research literature tell us?

This paper provides an overview of research on veteran teachers and teacher identity. It analyses issues at the personal, situated and professional levels that have been shown to impact on veteran teachers’ identities. The search included empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 2005 and 2016. In total, 19 papers were analysed. Findings revealed that many studies focused on veteran teachers’ resilience. Issues concerning veteran teachers’ identities are key to understanding why they remain in the profession and are able to sustain their motivation and commitment over time. Many veteran teachers portrayed in the literature built on their confidence regarding their professional competence and relied on internal and external issues to maintain their motivation and commitment to teaching. The role of emotions in the transformation of veteran teachers’ identities and the permeable boundaries of the personal, situated and professional scenarios influencing veteran teachers’ identities are highlighted in the paper.     

Getting inside the insider researcher: does race-symmetry help or hinder research?

This article engages with methodological concerns connected to insider education research and the ‘race-symmetry’ shared between the researcher and teacher participants. To do this, race critical reflexive strategies are utilized to show how and why this practice productively contributed to the knowledge about race making constructed in my study, a research process I describe as getting inside my insiderness. However, these reflexive practices also helped me to develop a deeper awareness of the potential for what I now describe as White shadows to infiltrate research of this type. The conceptualization of White shadows is a useful tool to describe research practices that silence or deflect attention away from issues connected to race, and hence, White shadows help expose concerns about the potential for Whiteness to remain protected by research. There are two interconnected aims of this paper. First, to illustrate the sort of race reflexive practices called for, and in doing so, to demonstrate why they are valuable and helpful in (educational) research. Second, I hope to encourage a rethink of the insider–outsider relationship that typifies ethnographic research by shifting attention to explore the inside of insider research.     

Collaborative teaching for teacher educators—What does the research say?

In this paper, the literature related to collaboration in teacher education programmes is reviewed. The authors discuss the benefits for teacher educators who collaboratively plan and develop team-taught coursework and monitor the impact of their collaboratively developed pedagogy. Gaps in the current knowledge and research are delineated, and recommendations are offered for efforts to further develop the practice of collaborative teaching so as to increase the capacity of future teachers to address the increasingly diverse student populations enter their classrooms.     

Digital natives: Where is the evidence?

Generational differences are seen as the cause of wide shifts in our ability to engage with technologies and the concept of the digital native has gained popularity in certain areas of policy and practice. This paper provides evidence, through the analysis of a nationally representative survey in the UK, that generation is only one of the predictors of advanced interaction with the Internet. Breadth of use, experience, gender and educational levels are also important, indeed in some cases more important than generational differences, in explaining the extent to which people can be defined as a digital native. The evidence provided suggests that it is possible for adults to become digital natives, especially in the area of learning, by acquiring skills and experience in interacting with information and communication technologies. This paper argues that we often erroneously presume a gap between educators and students and that if such a gap does exist, it is definitely possible to close it.     

What does technology integration research tell us about the leadership of technology?

Abstract

This systematic review of the literature focuses on the empirical research conducted between 1998 and 2018 at the intersection of leaders, teachers, and technology in K-12 schools. The question guiding this review was “what does the technology integration literature identify as key leadership practices that support teachers’ technology integration efforts?” Findings are presented in terms of the larger body of knowledge about effective leadership practices that are empirically shown to influence teaching and learning by applying a conceptual framework of empirically derived leadership practices. The researchers analyzed, deductively coded, and categorized findings from 34 relevant articles in peer-reviewed journals. Findings emphasized leadership practices for building professional capacity including providing teachers with opportunities to learn, creating communities of practice for them, considering their individualized needs, and addressing issues of access and support. In this article, domains of the conceptual framework are described and convey the findings about leadership practices in terms of IT and offer suggestions for further synthesizing the currently siloed work on technology integration in the leadership, teacher, and technology literature.     

What does the greek model of parallel support have to say about co-teaching?

Parallel Support (PS) is a co-teaching program designed to deliver education services in inclusive settings in Greece. In this quantitative study, 236 special education PS teachers from six major educational regions participated in a survey. The findings indicate that PS is similar to the One Teach, One Assist approach, constituting a static model, which typically provides services to one or two students with disabilities. Deeper cultural characteristics of the Greek educational system may shape the PS's peculiarities. In our transcultural hypothesis, the PS model is a compromise between a highly demanding collaborative approach and a pre-existing low collaboration school culture.     

Over-education: What influence does the workplace have?

The wage and job satisfaction impacts for over-educated workers have been well-documented; yet little attention has been paid to the consequences for firms. In this paper we examine over-education from the perspective of the workplace. Using linked employer–employee data for the United Kingdom, we derive the standard worker-level penalties on wages and job satisfaction. We then show how over-education rates across workplaces adversely influence workplace pay and workplace labor relations. For individual workers who may be at-risk of over-education, we also distinguish between workforce composition effects and workplace labor practices, such as hiring. The effect of over-education on job satisfaction is particularly strong and its effects are evident at the workplace level. Our results suggest that investigations of over-education at the level of the firm are a promising area of inquiry.     

What does evidence‐based practice in education mean?

Abstract

Teaching has suffered both as a profession in search of community respect, and as a force for improving the social capital of Australia because of its failure to adopt the results of empirical research as the major determinant of its practice. There are a number of reasons why this has occurred, among them a science‐aversive culture endemic among education policymakers and teacher education faculties. There are signs that change may be afoot. The National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy has pointed to, and urged us to follow, a direction similar to that taken recently in Great Britain and the USA towards evidence‐based practice. Acknowledging the importance of teacher education, the National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership began a process for establishing national accreditation of pre‐service teacher education. Two problems do require attention. The generally low quality of much educational research in the past has made the process of evaluating the evidence difficult, particularly for those teachers who have not the training to discriminate sound from unsound research designs. Fortunately, there are a number of august bodies that have performed the sifting process to simplify judging the value of research on important educational issues.     

To jump the wave or not: teachers’ perceptions of research evidence in education

This article presents a microanalysis of how a group of primary school teachers deals with research evidence in their work. Based on analysis of a group of Norwegian teachers’ interactions over issues of educational research and research-based knowledge, we find that teachers’ representations of educational research particularly center on the following issues: educational research being perceived as circular, ‘polyphonic’, and a matter of accommodation to their experience-based knowledge. These metaphors also shed light upon the dilemmas that arise when research evidence meets teachers’ more contextual knowledge. We conclude that teachers’ practice-based evidence may take new forms with an increased policy focus on research-based evidence, as well as bringing forth challenges for teacher work and professionalism.     

What should reading instructional research be the research of?

There have been recent arguments for expanding research on some basic beginning reading skills (i.e, phonemic awareness, word recognition) to the exclusion of other literacy competencies. Moreover, there have also been arguments that certain methodologies should be favored in reading research to the exclusion of others. The case is made in this article that these conceptualizations of reading research are too narrow. Rather, the case made here is that a number of issues in literacy development deserve support, issues that can be addressed well with diverse methodologies.     

What does the future hold?

PROFESSIONJobHOMEType of houseWhere it will beFAMlLYLIFESingle/married/divorced/living with a partnerChildrenVEHICLEVehicle you will ownVehicle you will use most oftenTRAVELThe most interesting place you will travel toWhat you will do thereACHIEVEMENTSWhat you will achieve     

The role of the teaching headteacher: A question of support?

This article reports findings from a study of 100 headteachers of very small Scottish primary schools. The main aim of the research was to follow up a sample of those schools that had participated in a larger study of all small schools in Scotland in 1996 to explore the role of the teaching headteacher. Evidence for this follow up study was collected from a postal survey and from interviews in nine case study schools. The research found that although the dual role of the teaching headteacher remained largely unchanged, pressures have increased while the available support is still perceived to be inadequate.     

Promoting and recognising excellence in the supervision of research students: an evidence‐based framework

One issue universities face is the need to demonstrate excellence in postgraduate research supervision at the individual, faculty and university level. While poor supervision might become obvious over time, with grievances, withdrawals and poor completion times and rates, this paper focuses specifically on identifying and demonstrating supervisory excellence. Currently, the amount and range of evidence used to support claims of supervisory excellence tends to be limited, leaving supervisors, faculties and institutions in a position where demonstrating excellence remains difficult. This paper proposes two inter‐dependent ideas which, considered together, help to redress this problem. The first is a ‘map’ for the collection and use of evidence of supervisory excellence. The second is a ‘template’ for a ‘supervisory excellence report’. The ‘map’ details the organisational elements, uses of data, and data types which can be considered. The ‘report’ explains one simple and potent way to organise and present these data for multiple purposes. Together they constitute a much‐needed framework for promoting and recognising excellence in the supervision of research students.     

The planning illusion: does active planning of a learning route support learning as well as learners think it does?

Is actively planning one’s learning route through a learning domain beneficial for learning? Moreover, can learners accurately judge the extent to which planning has been beneficial for them? This study examined the effects of active planning on learning. Participants received a tool in which they created a learning route themselves before accessing learning material and, for comparison, also worked with a tool in which the route was planned automatically. Eighty-three participants participated in learning sessions with both tools over two topics in statistics. Both tools were found to influence the learning process. However, results indicate inconsistency between participants’ judgement of the relative effectiveness of the two types of tools and their actual learning outcomes. Although participants thought they had learned more when they actively created a plan themselves, knowledge tests showed no differences on performance between actively planning a learning route or receiving it ready-made.