Gender differences in South African men and women's access to and evaluation of informal sources of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information

While much research has documented unsatisfactory sexual and reproductive health (SRH) awareness among young people in South Africa, understanding of gender differences in access to and evaluation of SRH information is limited. This paper concerned itself with men and women's informal sources and content of SRH, and gendered divergences around accessibility, evaluation, and impact of such information. Fifty sexual history narrative interviews and twenty-five narrative interviews with women were conducted with participants purposively sampled from a range of ages, cultural and racial backgrounds, and in urban and rural sites across five provinces in South Africa. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. While young women were more likely to learn about SRH information from family members, they also reported greater regulation concerning their sexuality. This could enhance stigma surrounding women's sexuality and hinder open communication. Men predominantly learned about sex through pornography and peers, which was reported to encourage sexual prowess to the neglect of practising safer sex. Lack of adequate SRH instruction for young people as revealed through the narratives had significant and often negative implications for men and women's early safer sex behaviours. In response to these insights, recommendations are offered to strengthen informal sources of SRH awareness.     

The foreign student as a student teacher

Cultural differences appeared to establish a communications barrier between this teacher and her student teacher. Perhaps Mrs. Bloom's experiences will be helpful to other supervisors who work with foreign student teachers.     

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Shia Ismaili Muslim Girls Negotiate Islam in the Classroom

ABSTRACT

This case study investigates the experiences of Shia Ismaili Muslim girls as they encounter themselves as subjects of social studies curriculums on Islam. A postcolonial lens is used to examine differently empowered subjectivities and curricular epistimes within the high school world history context. In an effort to understand their experiences, this study focuses on how the students position themselves in relation to the curriculum, and ultimately asks, to what extent do students from minority communities of interpretation appropriate or resist the authoritative narrative of Islam offered in their classrooms, particularly around the question, “Who is a Muslim?” The central finding revealed a paradox of representation and participation for these students, who found their practice and interpretation of Islam silenced in the classroom curriculum, and yet felt obliged to defend Islam and educate others against stereotypes of Muslims. The implications of this study compel educators to explore decolonial approaches to teaching about the religious other.     

How teachers' autobiographies influence their responses to children's behaviors

Abstract

Psychoanalytic theory postulates that an individual's forgotten past can shape his or her behavior in the present. In psychotherapy, clients relive past conflicts and direct them toward their therapists in the present. This phenomenon, known as transference, is not limited to treatment considerations, but influences all interpersonal interactions. However, the professional literature has given minimal consideration to the importance of transference for understanding classroom dynamics. This and a companion article focus upon how transference shapes relationships between teachers and students by integrating narrative case studies with a literature review. However, the ideas and examples are thought to be relevant for all mental health and educational workers with children. The article provides an overview of transference concepts as they emerge in the context of clinical psychoanalysis and human development with implications for classroom life.     

The Impact of a Human Sexuality College Course According to Gender: Comparisons of the 1970s and the 1990s [1]

This is a report of a student-developed 24-item human sexuality survey administered pre/post to human sexuality and comparison course students in the 1970s and 1990s with 10 questions added in the 1990s. In the 1970s, nine of the item responses for human sexuality students showed significant pre-test gender differences that were not found in post-testing. This was largely due to changes in the responses of the men, whose views became more egalitarian and more like the women's. In the 1990s, it was changes in the views of women that accounted for most post-test differences but not in a clear pattern. Women in both course types in the 1990s (1) became more accepting than men of sex between same-sex partners and (2) reported less frequency and more 'wrongness' about masturbation. Human sexuality men responded more conservatively in the 1990s than in the 1970s with less post-test similarity to women, as predicted. Nonetheless, in general, after human sexuality input gender responses became more similar in both time periods. Some implications are discussed with reference to sexuality education.     

Examining the comprehensive examination: Meeting educational program objectives

This article describes an alternative to the traditional method of administering the comprehensive examination, logically integrated in criminal justice educational program objectives. First, the traditional method of offering the comprehensive examination is evaluated according to its ability to satisfy the educational program goals of developing critical thinking and communication skills together with knowledge of the discipline. Bloom's Taxonomy is used as the paradigm of evaluation. Based upon the examination of available literature and the actual administration of the traditional comprehensive examination at Virginia Commonwealth University, the conclusion is reached that traditional examinations do not test beyond Bloom's first step, knowledge of terminology. The administration of the take-home comprehensive exam is then analyzed as administered at VCU and is found to better serve the educational program objectives of critical thinking and communication skills together with learning knowledge.     

From their ‘own’ to ‘both’ interpretations: children’s understanding of ambiguity / De ‘su’ interpretación a ‘ambas’: la comprensión de la ambigüedad en los niños

Abstract

The present study aimed to analyse whether young children’s failure in succeeding ambiguity tasks is related to a bias in favour of maintaining their initial interpretation or one in favour of showing conformity to the interpretation of another person. Two experiments were conducted with ambiguous figures and ambiguous sentences. After giving their own interpretation of the stimulus, children of different ages (from 3–8 years of age) were confronted with the alternative interpretation. In general, the results of the two experiments found an accentuated ‘own’ bias, meaning that young children usually persisted in their own interpretation and did not show conformity to the ‘other’ interpretation. Only after the second grade were children able to understand that both interpretations (their own and the alternative) were equally valid for the same stimulus. The results also revealed that the ability to show informed reversal does not necessarily imply the ability to overcome the ‘own’ interpretation bias and, consequently, does not require the achievement of a real understanding of ambiguity. The present study showed an age-related development of ambiguity understanding, from an egocentric interpretation to the acceptance of two interpretations as equally valid.     

A Time of Transition

Abstract

This narrative describes, from a personal perspective, the aging and dying processes of a social worker's parents, and the impact that this process had on her teaching in the area of social work practice and gerontology. The impact of a personal crisis on one's professional role is dramatic. Issues related to social support, the conflict inherent in multiple roles, and the burdens and joys of caretaking are explored in an effort to offer readers the opportunity to understand the complexities of the aging process. Furthermore, the dilemmas inherent in teaching about a topic that has such important and personal implications for teachers and learners are examined.     

Sexing the Subject: Teachers,pedagogies and sex education

This article analyses the relationship between sexual biography and pedagogic practice. It is based on life history interviews with sex education practitioners (teachers and a school nurse) that aimed to explore elements of these individuals' sexual biographies, their experiences of learning about sex and their pedagogic practice. The article considers why the sexuality of sex educators may be important, how this manifests itself in school and, finally, some of the implications for policy and practice.     

Recent developments in HIV/AIDS prevention for Russian adolescents

This article reports on the educator qualities that are valued by Australian teachers involved in sexuality education in high schools. Focus groups were conducted with school sexuality education teachers in 19 high schools in five Australian states. Data indicated that teachers valued being trustworthy, being open and honest, being willing to listen, having a sense of humour, and being able to relate to the students, especially being able to relate in a trustworthy and confidential way. Also valued were being comfortable with one's own sexuality, being approachable and being flexible. These qualities are similar to those recommended in the literature in the 1970s and 1980s and correspond closely to the qualities sought by today's high school students. Australian schoolteachers currently enjoy a positive climate for teaching sexuality education, as do many European schoolteachers. This contrasts with the climate for many American teachers where Abstinence Until Marriage programme requirements place many restrictions on what can be taught and may compromise the expression of teacher qualities such as being non-judgemental, flexible, open and honest. The findings have implications for teacher professional development, pre-service teacher education training, and the selection of teachers to teach sexuality education.     

Editorial

The aim of this paper is to reflect upon the ways in which 'sex', as an unchanging biological given, is often implicitly taken for granted in tertiary sex education. The paper details my own attempt to move beyond what I have come to experience as the predictable order of teaching students about sex and sexuality: the exploration of sexuality and gender anchored by the unquestioned assumption of biological sexual difference. I provide a practical example of introducing new material ism in science, and social science critiques of sex, into a tertiary level course. Consideration is given to the importance of fostering critical thinking in education: principally in being open-minded to evidence that challenges one's own belief system.     

Analysis of assessment practice and subsequent performance of third year level students in natural sciences

Abstract

Summative assessment qualifies the achievement of a student in a particular field of specialization at a given time. Questions should include a range of cognitive levels from Bloom's taxonomy and be consistent with the learning outcomes of the module in question. Furthermore, a holistic approach to assessment, such as the application of the principles of the Herrmann Whole Brain Model, needs to be used to accommodate learning style diversity. The purpose of this study was to analyse, assess and compare the summative assessment of two third year level modules in the Bachelor of Science degree programme, namely Biochemistry and Zoology as part of action research with a view to enhancing the professional development of the lecturers involved. The questions posed in summative assessments were classified in terms of Bloom's differentiation of cognitive levels and the four different learning styles determined by Herrmann. Spearman's non-parametric analysis indicated that no correlation existed in this study between cognitive level and student performance based on achievement. In addition, there was not much difference between the cognitive levels and student performance between the two disciplines. Although the students seemed to do better at application level questions, the authors need to reflect on whether the assessments were valid with respect to the learning outcomes, methods of facilitating learning, and the assessments based on cognitive levels and learning style preferences. We conclude that continuous action research must be taken to improve the formulation of learning outcomes and students' achievement of these outcomes and quality of student learning – the main aim being the successful completion of the modules.     

Positioning within a cultural context: using Ricoeur’s preunderstandings as a heuristic for narrative data analysis in exploring identity,structure, and agency

I argue that Ricoeur’s preunderstandings can be used as a heuristic to aid researchers who collect narratives as data (1) to identify cultural meanings that become resources for participants’ positioning work, (2) to ground the identified cultural meanings in participants’ experiences, and (3) to understand participants’ interpretations of constraint and agency within that context. I outline how the philosophical hermeneutics of Ricoeur is consistent with a sociocultural perspective on positioning and identity, as well as present data analysis questions developed from Ricoeur’s ideas of narrative configuration to explore common cultural meanings used by participants in interpreting their lived experience. These questions provide a strategy to examine how participants may be referring to common cultural meanings but their individual interpretations of these meanings can have different implications for their feelings of agency.     

Queering Constructs: Proposing a Dynamic Gender and Sexuality Model

Abstract

Higher education educators commonly understand social identities, including gender, to be fluid and dynamic. Lev's (2004) model of four components of sexual identity is commonly used to demonstrate the fluidity of sex, gender, and sexuality for individuals, but it does little to address the fixedness of those constructs. Through a multipronged intersectional framework and by centering trans* -students, this article proposes a more dynamic model for gender and sexuality.     

Talented in Dance: The Bloom Stage Model revisited in the personal histories of dance students

Bloom (1985) reported on the careers of a sample of 120 talented individuals from three domains: science, athletics and the arts. His findings are used as a starting point for the research on professional dance students presented in this article. Three issues were studied: the relevance of significant others in a dance career; the issue of detecting dance talent and, also, using Bloom's proposed three career stages in a talent domain, how teachers are described by students, and what the characteristics of a typical dance class are. A questionnaire was constructed and administered to 129 students in the Dance Department at the Amsterdam School of the Arts, the Netherlands. The results indicate that, in addition to the dance teacher and parents (as highlighted in Bloom's study), peers should also be considered. Furthermore, the majority of students have been labelled "talented" at some point in their career, notably by teachers and other dance experts, while in fact parents played no role here. A new measurement format was introduced in an attempt to reveal the peculiarities of teacher and dance class during the three career stages. The results obtained correspond to Bloom's findings. Therefore, the present study not only supports Bloom's findings in a dance sample, but also offers a generalisation from Bloom's male-dominated sample to a female-dominated one.     

Discourse analysis as theory,method, and epistemology in studies of education policy

ABSTRACT

Discourse has featured in studies of educational policy as an analytic and methodological tool, theoretical frame, realm of implication, and even a foundational definition of educational policy itself (e.g.) Despite the centrality of discourse as a frame for exploring educational policy and its implications, the ways that discourse is defined or operationalized in educational policy research are often left implicit which can lead to murky relations to larger onto-epistemological questions of how we construct findings from data as well as the nature of policy. In this interpretive analysis, we synthesize a corpus of 37 peer-reviewed journal articles that bring together educational policy and analyses of discourse from varying theoretical and methodological perspectives in order to better understand the breadth and scope of how discourse is defined and operationalized in studies of educational policy, including in ways that are sometimes incommensurate with authors' stated theoretical and methodological positions. After first laying the theoretical groundwork for analyses of discourse in the field of educational policy, we then illustrate how discourse analysis is used differently, and sometimes inconsistently, within contested paradigmatic landscapes. We conclude with an argument for discussions across theoretical frameworks and methodological paradigms about how the concept of discourse lends itself to different epistemological vantage points on educational policy.     

《洛丽塔》的阐释迷雾与读者视阈

纳博科夫的小说《洛丽塔》一向对文学阐释构成挑战。对小说的阐释从意义到结构,涉及到时间与欲望、道德与非道德等主题;象征、反讽和戏仿等后现代表现手段;叙述狂欢的审美价值等。文章从多元阐释的视角审视小说,提出多种阐释背后隐藏的阐释与反阐释之争,并通过引入读者视阈来揭示多元阐释内在的必然性和一致性。     

How Instruction Influences Conceptual Development: Vygotsky's Theory Revisited

Although current interpretations of Vygotsky's theory largely assume that instruction pushes development, the issue of how this occurs has yet to be clarified. For example, the notion of “zone of proximal development” has aroused strong disagreement, and the common conceptualization of the notion of “nonspontaneous concept” has been widely recognized as unsatisfactory. This article proposes a new interpretation of Vygotsky's theory of cultural development, closely based on Vygotsky's writings, that clarifies why and how instruction pushes development and resignifies the notions of zone of proximal development and nonspontaneous concept. The article introduces important nuances into the widely held interpretations of Vygotsky's theory and discusses some of the implications of these nuances for research and practice in educational psychology.