What Did We Learn About Our Teachers and Principals? Results of the TALIS-2013 International Comparative Study

The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is a large-scale and authoritative international study of teachers. It is conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to collect and compare information about teachers and principals in different countries in such key areas as the training and professional development of teachers, performance appraisals, school management and educational goals and practices, job satisfaction, and confidence in one’s professional abilities.     

What Do We Teach When We Teach the Learning Sciences? A Document Analysis of 75 Graduate Programs

The learning sciences, as an academic community investigating human learning, emerged more than 30 years ago. Since then, graduate learning sciences programs have been established worldwide. Little is currently known, however, about their disciplinary backgrounds and the topics and research methods they address. In this document analysis of the websites of 75 international graduate learning sciences programs, we examine central concepts and research methods across institutions, compare the programs, and assess the homogeneity of different subgroups. Results reveal that the concepts addressed most frequently were real-world learning in formal and informal contexts, designing learning environments, cognition and metacognition, and using technology to support learning. Among research methods, design-based research (DBR), discourse and dialog analyses, and basic statistics stand out. Results show substantial differences between programs, yet programs focusing on DBR show the greatest similarity regarding the other concepts and methods they teach. Interpreting the similarity of the graduate programs using a community of practice perspective, there is a set of relatively coherent programs at the core of the learning sciences, pointing to the emergence of a discipline, and a variety of multidisciplinary and more heterogeneous programs “orbiting” the core in the periphery, shaping and innovating the field.     

Philosophy across the Curriculum and the Question of Teacher Capacity; Or,What Is Philosophy and Who Can Teach It?

Pre‐college philosophy has proliferated greatly over the last few decades, including in the form of ‘philosophy across the curriculum’. However, there has been very little sustained examination of the nature of philosophy as a subject relative to other standard pre‐college subjects and the kinds of expertise an effective philosophy teacher at this level should possess. At face value, the minimal academic preparation expected for competence in secondary philosophy instruction, compared to the high standards for teaching other subjects, raises questions and concerns. In this paper I make some provisional observations about the subject of philosophy and how it is taught from p4c through to the post‐secondary level. I begin by examining the concept of ‘philosophy across the curriculum’ and offer a working analysis of the main features of philosophy's form and content that enable us to determine its relevance to, and difference from, other subjects. Next, I examine and critique what I term the ‘populist’ conception of philosophy, which correlates to lower expectations of teacher training, and use my own experience of teaching philosophy across the curriculum to shed doubt on the viability of this approach. In the third section I consider what I term the ‘autonomous’ conception of philosophy, which correlates to more stringent expectations of teacher capacity, and explain why it is preferable to the populist conception with some qualifications. I conclude by reflecting on how philosophy compares to other subjects that are advanced cross‐curricularly and argue for more training of high school philosophy teachers.     

Teaching Genetics in Secondary Classrooms: a Linguistic Analysis of Teachers’ Talk About Proteins

This study investigates Swedish biology teachers’ inclusion of proteins when teaching genetics in grade nine (students 15–16 years old). For some years, there has been a call to give attention to proteins when teaching genetics as a means of linking the concepts ‘gene’ and ‘trait’. Students are known to have problems with this relation because the concepts belong to different organizational levels. However, we know little about how the topic is taught and therefore this case study focuses on how teachers talk about proteins while teaching genetics and if they use proteins as a link between the micro and macro level. Four teachers were recorded during entire genetics teaching sequences, 45 lessons in total. The teachers’ verbal communication was then analyzed using thematic pattern analysis, which is based in systemic functional linguistics. The linguistic analysis of teachers’ talk in action revealed great variations in both the extent to which they used proteins in explanations of genetics and the ways they included proteins in linking genes and traits. Two of the teachers used protein as a link between gene and trait, while two did not. Three of the four teachers included instruction about protein synthesis. The common message from all teachers was that proteins are built, but none of the teachers talked about genes as exclusively encoding proteins. Our results suggest that students’ common lack of understanding of proteins as an intermediate link between gene and trait could be explained by limitations in the way the subject is taught.     

What Do We Really Know About the edTPA? Research,PACT, and Packaging a Local Teacher Performance Assessment for National Use

This article calls attention to the overreliance on research about the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT)—often labeled edTPA's predecessor—as justification for the edTPA. The article argues that the distinctions between the assessments are too vast to rely on PACT data to support the edTPA, given the localized nature of PACT and the way in which it is scored.     

Rhetoric and Power: The Idealism and ‘Philosophy of Life’ of the Olympic Movement

In this article we analyze from a multidisciplinary perspective some of the philosophical foundations which underpin the theories on Olympism fostered by the current Olympic institutions. We start from the theory that Olympist idealism1 is based on social representations of the modern sport, implicit to which is the ideological justification for the political and social practices of the Olympic Movement (OM) regarding the various historical episodes in which it has been caught up. This idealism has shaped an inherited view of the sport which has moved beyond the ambit of the OM and into the realm of sports science, which has adopted and continues to adopt some of the postulates of the Olympist discourse when undertaking a critical review of the Olympic history and philosophy.     

On the Trajectories of the Predetermined ALT Model: What Are We Really Modeling?

This article shows that the mean and covariance structure of the predetermined autoregressive latent trajectory (ALT) model are very flexible. As a result, the shape of the modeled growth curve can be quite different from what one might expect at first glance. This is illustrated with several numerical examples that show that, for example, a linear trajectory might be present among the model predicted scores even though no latent change parameter was included in the model. In addition, 2 examples are given that show that the predetermined ALT model can fit to data generated by models with model structures that are rather different from that of the ALT model itself. The practical relevance of these findings is demonstrated using an empirical example. We end by providing recommendations for researchers considering the use of the predetermined ALT model.     

Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: Pre-service Teachers’ Evaluation of their Mentors

The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities between mentor teachers’ espoused theories and theories-in-use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 mentor teachers to investigate their perceived mentoring roles prior to the placement. Their seven pre-service teachers were also interviewed at the end of the practicum to explore their ideas and evaluation of their mentors’ mentoring practices. The findings suggest that 14 mentor teachers did put into practice their ideas regarding their roles. However, only two mentor teachers appeared to act against their espoused theories. Implications for practice are discussed.     

When all the school became a stage: young children enacting a community’s fear and sense of loss

This article gives an ethnographic glimpse of how an urban South African school mirrored a community’s sense‐making during times of rapid social change. The glimpse is extracted largely from an ethnography that was composed in 2000. In this study of school life, the biennial play was central to the year’s activities. In the play the tone, content and style reflected a performance of the discourse of the school community – a discourse of fear and despondency, while searching for hope in spiritual song. Today this previously all White, Afrikaner school is still predominantly White, as Black children’s parents prefer English‐medium schools. On the surface the school appears to be a safe haven for those who were fearful of losing their social position, their language and their way of living, but the initial breakdown of the fabric of the school does not seem to have healed during the time after the study had been completed.     

Remembering “A Great Fag”: Visualizing Public Memory and the Construction of Queer Space

This essay examines how public memory is visualized in the statue to Canada's “gay pioneer,” Alexander Wood. By analyzing three viewing positions of the statue—the official democratic memory, traditionalist countermemory, and camp countermemory—I argue each position enacts a distinct form of remembering Wood with implications for both materializing queer memories and how space and identity are understood in the city. Based upon these visualizations, I extend arguments for how rhetoricians critique memory texts and contribute to defining “queer public memory” in light of this statue.     

Changing the Landscape of Social Emotional Learning in Urban Schools: What are We Currently Focusing On and Where Do We Go from Here?

The Urban Review - This study provides a systematic review of the use of social emotional learning (SEL) interventions in urban schools over the last 20 years. I summarize the types of...     

Talk of a number: self‐regulated use of mathematical metalanguage by children in the foundation stage

How can I know what I think until I hear what I say? (Sir Huw Wheldon (1916–1986). (Attenborough, 2002 Attenborough, D. 2002. Life on air: memoirs of a broadcaster, London: BBC Books.  [Google Scholar])

This paper presents the findings of a study exploring the self‐regulated use of mathematical metalanguage in the early years. Young children were filmed on two occasions in the naturalistic context of their eight foundation stage settings, including both nursery and reception classes. The children were engaged in mathematical activities designed by practitioners to facilitate self‐regulated learning. ‘Events’, or vignettes of conversation were identified and the verbal interactions recorded in these were analysed for indications of metacognitive thinking. Findings were that the young children did indeed show evidence, through their talk, of emergent metacognitive processes, indicating both metacognitive knowledge and strategic awareness in relation to their mathematical tasks.     

When rewards and sanctions fail: a case study of a primary school rule‐breaker

Positioning theory provides a lens through which to view the narrative accounts of working‐class parents as dynamic, intentional acts of positioning intended to gain the recognition of school personnel as full partners in the education of their children. Knowing that school personnel will not treat them with the kind of respect given middle‐class parents, but refusing to allow themselves to be viewed as if they were lower‐class parents, analysis of the accounts of working‐class parents reveals intentional acts of positioning that serve to: (1) fight against stereotypes, (2) guard against being made to feel inferior by maintaining vigilance and involvement, and (3) build cultural and social capital through dialog and deliberation. These acts of intentional positioning are also understood as knowledge‐generating activities where people come together in dialog to work toward a mutually acceptable solution. Implications for the development of dialog‐oriented parental involvement practices are offered.