Why critical literacy should turn to ‘the affective turn’: making a case for critical affective literacy

The central argument of this essay is that critical literacy with a rationalistic bent may not enable us to cope with ethical dilemmas in our responsiveness to human sufferings. I argue that critical literacy education would benefit from turning to the recent scholarship on affect/emotion studies. I draw upon the works of Sara Ahmed – one of the leading contributors to critical affect studies – to shed light on what is called a regulatory power that creates a schism in our responsiveness to violence and suffering. The key contribution of this essay is to present an actionable framework of what I describe as critical affective literacy. To delineate this framework, I present four pedagogical principles, along with examples of instructional activities.     

Why Here and Why Now? Teacher Motivations for Unionizing in a New Orleans Charter School

The rigidity of teachers unions has been given as a primary reason for their lack of representation among America’s rapidly growing, although still relatively small, charter school sector. In the case of post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, the city rapidly converted from a union-backed teacher workforce to a largely nonunionized charter school workforce in the years following state takeover and charter conversion. This makes the recent emergence of two single-school unions in charter schools there worthy of study. As the teachers attempt to organize single-school unions in a nearly all charter school system, what are their motivations? This case study of one of New Orleans’ emerging charter school unions found that pay inequities, job insecurity, a lack of teacher voice in school-level decisions, and a culture of compliance, all motivated teachers to seek unionization. Teachers hoped to promote equity and teacher involvement with their union, but the organizing effort did strain some relationships, particularly those involving middle management.     

Therapeutic responses to ‘at risk’ disengaged early school leavers in a rural alternative education programme

The identification of disengaged early school leavers as young people ‘at risk’ can lead to a deficit-based framing of how educational institutions respond to them. A rural secondary school in Victoria, Australia established an alternative education programme to cater for local disengaged young people. A critical ethnographic study was conducted over 12 months, comprising observation of the programme, and involving interviews with 12 key personnel. Findings revealed the ways in which young people were positioned within the secondary school, alternative programme and community contributed to a response within the alternative programme which was based upon a therapeutic ethos, focusing on perceived social and emotional deficits. In the light of findings, it is argued that there is a need to construct alternative spaces that work to not only re-engage them with learning, but also to counter the stigma many of these young people face in their schooling and in the local community.     

TPACK in teacher education: are we preparing teachers to use technology for early literacy?

This study examines if and how five teacher education institutes are helping students to develop the technological pedagogical content knowledge needed to effectively use technology for early literacy. Focus group discussions were held with teacher educators in which their responses to expert recommendations were probed. Findings indicate that, currently, very little attention is specifically given to the knowledge that teachers need to foster early literacy through the use of technology. This is due to multiple factors, including the conviction that many new technologies (e.g. tablets) are not used much in schools. Additionally, teacher educators themselves struggle with effective use of technology in their own courses. And although technological and early literacy specialists are available in teacher training colleges, pre-service educators note a distinct lack of integrated expertise in their institutions. Based on these findings, recommendations are given for research, policy and practice.     

Why is letter-name knowledge such a good predictor of learning to read?

The knowledge of letter names measured just before children enter school has been known for a long time as one of the best longitudinal predictors of learning to read in an alphabetic writing system. After a period during which the comprehensive investigation of this relationship was largely disregarded, there is now a growing interest in attempts to understand the role(s) letter names play in literacy acquisition. This paper reviews these recent studies and emphasizes their main findings regarding the influence of letter-name knowledge in early and formal literacy for three main components of literacy acquisition: first, the emergence of the phonological processing of print; then, the learning of letter-sound correspondences; finally, the development of phonemic sensitivity skills. The final section discusses the status of letter-name knowledge (LNK) in literacy acquisition and suggests possible directions for further research.     

Why does language matter to education?

Discussions concerning ??literacy?? make it clear that the domain of language has become a focal point for educational policy. In such discussions, language is primarily treated as a basic communication tool. This paper examines, from a philosophical perspective, how appropriate this approach to language is. The philosophical validity of this dominant tendency is analyzed with reference to the work of Wilhelm von Humboldt, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein. Once the stable relationship conceived by Humboldt among the individual, language, and the world is lost, education displays its more distinctive features, which we see clearly in Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. Both of these philosophers focused their investigation on the rhetorical or performative aspects of language. In contrast to Nietzsche, however, Wittgenstein did not abandon the hope of finding in language the function of showing reality, even if what is said and what is shown remain incongruent. This perspective in Wittgenstein is salient against the dominant tendency, in which the mediating function of language is sought in the dimension of conformity and usefulness.     

How should the higher education workforce adapt to advancements in technology for teaching and learning?

In a time of change, higher education is in the position of having to adapt to external conditions created by widespread adoption of popular technologies such as social media, social networking services and mobile devices. For faculty members, there must be opportunities for concrete experiences capable of generating a personal conviction that a given technology is worth using and an understanding of the contexts in which it is best used. The paper examines approaches to educational professional development at The Open University, including recent initiatives related to faculty development in relation to mobile learning. The paper reflects on what can be learnt from these experiences and proposes a lifelong learning perspective which can help the higher education workforce to adapt. Faculty members have to commit to lifelong learning, remembering that ‘professional role model’ to students is one of the main roles of the teacher.     

From Anthroposophy to non-confessional preparation for spirituality? Could common schools learn from spiritual education in Steiner schools?

It has been suggested common schools might have something to learn from spiritual education in Steiner schools. This arguably assumes practice in Steiner schools to be compatible with the aims of spiritual education in common schools. I question this by considering whether the former is confessional, as the latter should not be. I begin by highlighting how my concern about the potentially confessional nature of Steiner spiritual education arose. I argue for a nuanced understanding of confessional education, which distinguishes between ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ confessional education, as well as between confessional education as intentional and as defined by outcome. I then argue that spiritual education in common schools should prepare pupils for spirituality, without being confessional. I consider whether Steiner schools are confessional by drawing upon findings from research conducted at six Steiner schools. I conclude that spiritual education in Steiner schools is weakly confessional in an intentional sense. I further conclude that practices which might contribute to preparation for spirituality and which can be implemented in a non-confessional manner are worthy of consideration for transfer to common schools. Common schools committed to preparation for spirituality as an educational aim could learn from spiritual education in Steiner schools.     

Learning to read: where should early childhood educators begin?

Learning to read is a process that begins well before children commence formal schooling and well before children learn to decode print. Children's early reading skills are, first and foremost, foundationally contingent upon children's oral language and phonological awareness proficiencies – skills that can be mapped across a continuum of development from speech‐to‐print. Nine educators from Victoria, Australia, were interviewed, asked to share their understandings and planning for literacy learning when working with 2–3‐year‐old children. Findings showed that the educators exposed children to opportunities to develop their communication and oral language skills, privileging general conversation and storybook reading. However, some educators appeared unaware of the various stages of phonological awareness and/or appeared to privilege phonics over and above earlier stages of development. The authors recommend that educators, managers and course designers seeking to support young children's emergent literacy development use a framework such as the one presented in this paper to evaluate their knowledges/practices/programmes and that further, larger scale research be conducted that compares educators' interview data with what they do in practice.     

How do beginners learn to read irregular words as sight words?

Learning irregular words involves mental marking of irregular letters in the spelling, a process not fully understood. In a within‐subjects experiment, we manipulated the type of scaffolding given to beginning readers to evoke mental marking. We pretested to sort 103 kindergarten and first‐grade participants into sequential decoders, who decode letter by letter, and hierarchical decoders, who recognise vowel patterns. In the control phase, children read irregular words in sentence contexts with minimal scaffolding. In the experimental phase, participants read additional irregular words in sentence contexts by ‘operating on the word’ to mark irregular letters. Results indicated that the experimental condition induced better untimed word reading, but it did not improve spelling or reading in a flash presentation. Hierarchical decoders were significantly more successful than sequential decoders in untimed word reading, spelling and reading in the flash presentation. These results suggest that learning hierarchical decoding predisposes readers to learn irregular words.     

New immigrant parents’ experiences in a parent education programme

The immigrant population in Hong Kong is steadily increasing every year. This immigrant population largely comprises families, most of whom have pre-school and school-age children. However, limited information is known on the practices that immigrant parents adopt when they become involved in their children’s schooling. In the present study, the researcher implemented a Quality Education Fund project called ‘Building a caring community: Family support and empowerment.’ The project aimed to promote parent education and to build a caring community by implementing a group parent education program (GPEP) for low-income and new immigrant parents. The parent leaders conducted an outreach parent education program in which the low-income, new immigrant parents (target parents) had their children enrolled in two kindergartens. The parent leaders imparted parenting knowledge, shared positive parenting strategies, and exchanged their own experiences with target parents. The present research aims to study how new immigrant parents evaluate their experiences and the effectiveness of the GPEP. Results suggest that providing opportunities for mutual support and emotional healing correlates with improved parenting attitudes and practices.     

Can media literacy education increase digital engagement in politics?

ABSTRACT

Online environments are now central to political life, especially for young people. They are prominent contexts for activities that include: fundraising, political debate, sharing political perspectives, mobilizing individuals and groups to act, and applying pressure to governments, corporations, and nonprofits. Much of this online politically focused activity occurs within a broader media ecology that can be characterized as a participatory culture (Jenkins, H., R. Purushotma, K. Clinton, M. Weigel, and A. J. Robison. [2009]. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Occasional Paper on Digital Media and Learning. Chicago: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation). Many have argued that media literacy efforts are needed for youth to fully leverage these digital opportunities, but rigorous studies of such educational efforts are just beginning to emerge. Drawing on an original panel survey, this paper examines whether efforts to promote digital engagement literacies increase youth online engagement in politics. We find that they do. Educators’ efforts to foster digital engagement literacies increase youth engagement in participatory politics and in applying targeted political pressure to government, corporations, and nonprofits.     

Secondary agricultural education from a “learning to learn” perspective

Abstract

This article argues the importance of adopting a “learning to learn” perspective in secondary agricultural education: school organisational development should take place in the perspective of active learning by students. Three factors affecting innovation processes are discussed: school policy-making capacity, school in-service training policy, and professional orientations of teachers. Moreover, a program to support schools for secondary agricultural education while implementing a “learning to learn” approach is presented. The implementation process is tuned to the individual teacher and teacher coaching and in-service training are provided. In this respect, the need for school management and school policy reflecting a clear educational perspective is stressed: fostering the quality of students' independent learning should take a central position on all levels in the school. Therefore, the school organisation as a whole should become a “learning organisation”.     

Why Brazil fell behind in college education?

Brazil fell behind in higher education attainment for the cohorts born in the 1950s and 1960s. We jointly model educational choices, labor force participation and wages, and compute the average, marginal and internal rate of returns to schooling after controlling for changes in ability composition at all levels of education. We find very high returns to college, which indicate that the disappointing trend in higher education could reflect binding credit constraints, psychic costs or uncertainty about future earnings gains from schooling.     

Teacher‐writer memoirs as lens for writing emotionally in a primary teacher education programme

This article examines student teachers’ experiences of writing emotionally through the lens of teacher‐writer memoirs. The participants were 99 postgraduate student teachers on a sociology of teaching module in an initial primary teacher education programme in the Republic of Ireland. Analysis of journal responses indicated how student teachers shaped and reshaped their emergent identities through discourse, memory, emotions, and personal biography and along a values‐action continuum. Individual freedom was evidenced in moving towards danger and new ways of doing things. Conformity was evidenced in maintaining the status quo and familiar ways of doing things. Implications for teacher education renewal and reform are discussed.     

Why should learners of English read? Norwegian English teachers' notions of EFL reading

This article presents findings from a study investigating Norwegian lower secondary English teachers’ reasoning about their classroom reading practices in English as a foreign language (EFL). What notions of EFL reading do these teachers express? How do they explain their priorities? Based on perspectives from critical discourse analysis, the article shows how teachers negotiate their notions of reading at the intersection of past and present understandings and their everyday school realities. Specifically, it illustrates how features of their discursive practices may help maintain understandings of what is perceived as intrinsic and less relevant to EFL reading.     

What’s in a right? Two variations for interpreting the right to education

The end of the Cold War ushered in a paradigmatic shift in international development discourse whereby a human rights-based approach to development was generated. This shift has stimulated the pegging of international development policy to the objectives of the human rights regime. However, in attempting to unify development and human rights perspectives, policy-makers have overlooked an imperative component of these realities, namely that proponents of the human rights agenda and social developmentalists differ in their conceptions of “education”. Thus, while both perspectives seek universal primary education (UPE), their ideas about what that education should consist of vary. This paper does not argue for the use of one definition, nor does it conclude that the two are incompatible. Rather, the author contends that it is paramount that these two definitions are recognised for their unique approaches to education, in order for policies to be most effective. The value in the human rights-based approach to development is its ability to utilise both human rights and development perspectives to create a more comprehensive approach to poverty reduction and economic growth. By incorporating both definitions of “education” into policy agendas, both the process and product of education will be emphasised, in turn improving the effectiveness and outcome of all efforts to achieve UPE.     

Learning for work and working to learn： Challenges within a changing UK higher education system

Higher education in the United Kingdom is currently undergoing major changes. In the foreseeable future, it will also undergo farther change. The nature of these changes can be attributed to several key areas-government demand for change, industry demand for change and student demand for change. The UK, like many other major economies and not for the first time in recent history, is having to face the implications of severe skills shortages in its workforce, coupled with the increasing competitiveness of more globalised workforees and workplaces. A recent major government report has set out the country＇s skills agenda until 2020 and UK higher education is starting to wrestle with the implications of these changes, some of which challenge the traditional preserves of university education. This paper will focus on the implications of these skills shortages and the impact that is having on UK higher education. In particular, reference will be made to the impact of the new 2 years vocational Foundation Degrees, to the shift from supply-led to demand-led higher education, the increasing integration and tensions of work-based learning and to the accreditation of Continuous Professional Development （CPD） within an academic framework. This paper presents one story of the growing and changing relationship between higher education and industry.     

Can the linguistic interdependence theory support a bilingual-bicultural model of literacy education for deaf students?

Drawing on Cummins' (1989) linguistic interdependence model, proponents of bilingual-bicultural models of literacy education for deaf students claim that, if ASL is well established as the L1, then literacy in English (L2) can be achieved by means of reading and writing without exposure to English through either speech or English-based sign. In our opinion, this claim is based on a false analogy: the situation of the deaf learner of English literacy does not match the conditions assumed by the linguistic interdependence model. We draw on the work of Vygotsky and Halliday to develop a conceptualization of the processes involved in becoming literate, examining the particular and unique challenges that deaf students face as they strive to become members of the linguistic community of users of written English. We argue that becoming literate involves mastering three modes of lanuage use: 'social speech,' 'inner speech,' and written text. In some respects the educational context for deaf students is analogous to that of other bilingual learners; in some crucial aspects, it is very different.