“No Roughs and No Really Brainy Ones”: The Interaction Between Family Background,Gender and Vocational Training on a BTEC Fashion Design Course∗

Abstract

This paper analyzes ethnographic data from a case study of fashion design students on a BTEC national diploma course. It is based on comparative analysis with the findings of a related study of YTS ‘Care’ girls. Both ethnographies are being conducted within the wider framework of the ESRC 16‐19 Initiative. The paper explores the role of training in economic socialization, drawing particularly on theories of social reproduction. It begins by examining the experience of training in terms of the sorts of demands which it makes upon students. This is linked with an investigation of the students’ advantages in terms of family background from the point of view of pursuing training of this type. Finally, it is argued that the BTEC vocational training programme plays an important role in mediating between social class, family background and careers through a complex process of screening entrants for relevant social and cultural attributes.

     

Learning ‘Peace Talk’ in Northern Ireland: Peer Mediation and Some Conceptual Issues Concerning Experiential Social Education

Experiential learning is often seen as a central component of social education and pastoral programmes such as peer mediation; but the precise nature of experience as an educational, social and pedagogic/cultural process in schools is complex. This paper uses the notion of experiential learning to explore the impact of a peer mediation programme in a transforming integrated school in Northern Ireland. The programme was intended to mainstream the involvement of pupils in the process of creating a more integrated school ethos and was implemented by youth workers working as members of the school staff.

The paper begins with a review of the theoretical basis of experience as educational. This is followed by an interpretative review of the results of a survey of pupils' attitudes to peer mediation and semi-structured interviews with pupils and school and project staff about their perception of the impact of the programme on ideas of social learning. One issue is the extent to which developing pupils' capacity for interactive dialogue can be seen as an experiential process, like learning a foreign language – hence ‘peace talk’. Another is the process by which the perception of peer mediation training as ‘experiential’ constituted an enabling ‘pedagogic discourse’ which legitimized the programme for teachers and affirmed its beneficial impact on pupils.     

Gendered perspectives: A focus-group study of how undergraduate women negotiate their career aspirations

This paper presents results from a study of the career decision making of undergraduate women. Drawing on focus-group interviews with women (N 85) in their first year of full-time study at a large Canadian university, the discussion focuses on how ideas about balancing family and career commitments and interpretations of the university environment influence career choices. Two important observations are supported by the data. The first is that the educational and career options of female undergraduates are still constrained by traditional conceptions of women's responsibilities for household management and child rearing- elements of domestic ideology that they often find difficult to acknowledge. Second, women continue to encounter the university as a gendered site of learning; they are confronted by an informal culture that both marginalizes them and reinforces their perceptions that seeking vocational equality entails high risks.     

Towards an ethic of cultural responsiveness in researching Māori and Tongan children’s learning in everyday settings

ABSTRACT

To inform a larger research programme on informal teaching and learning in everyday settings in Aotearoa New Zealand, two parallel pilot studies were conducted to determine an appropriate method for capturing the everyday learning of culturally and socio-economically diverse children. The studies took place during the six-week holiday break between school years. In one, three Māori children participated, in the other three Tongan children. This paper discusses the unanticipated issues that arose as a result of the ‘ethic of cultural responsiveness’ that the research team developed during the course of the research. These included: the insights made visible by culturally informed interpretation of unremarkable everyday activities; the effects on family dynamics of the research; and responsibilities to participants. It is argued that for Māori and Tongan children culture and family are central to everyday learning and therefore the research process and interpretation of data must be culturally informed.     

Research News

In secondary schools, subjects dominate teaching and also the organizational structures. Typically, subject department heads perform a middle-management role in secondary schools and often this role is taken-for-granted and unquestioned. In this article, we examine the impact on secondary school culture and the resulting changes to practice when the department middle-management structure and roles are open to revision. We investigate the experiences of two schools that are part of a longitudinal study on reculturing and restructuring in all secondary schools in one school district in Ontario, Canada. Our research indicates that structural change initiated by school level participants is a prerequisite to real change and that structural changes preceded cultural changes. However, it is the process of creating the new structures that is the key consideration as mandating an alternative might not be facilitative of cultural change. The primary research question guiding this article is: what impact does involvement in restructuring a middle-management organizational model have on the culture of a school and the change process experienced by staff members?     

‘The fruit caught between two stones’: the conflicted position of teachers within Aceh's independence struggle†

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the challenging situation faced by teachers as professionals and members of the community in Aceh, Indonesia during the province's civil war. It reveals how teachers’ sense of agency during this period was deeply influenced by the economic/material, political and socio-cultural condition at that time – conditions and experiences which today have bearing on a place for teachers in the post-conflict peace-building process occurring in the province. During the conflict, teachers struggled to balance their strategic societal positioning – as civil servants and community members – and found themselves caught in the middle of a complex range of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forces at play. This position of constraint, we argue, limited the ability of teachers to act as peace-builders during the conflict, and continues to influence teachers’ ability to function in such ways today.     

Djaji Mahsheye,Moghrabeye, and Labaneh: Making science relevant

Students often perceive school science as purely theoretical, overloaded with facts, and mostly disconnected from their school, home, and community life. One way to bridge the disconnection between school science and lived experiences, and support students in realizing the relevance of science to their everyday life, is by enabling them to integrate their funds of knowledge (FoK), the knowledge and expertise people have because of their roles in their families, communities, and culture, within science. To support students in this task, we developed Together with Science, a series of Vlogs (video blogs) designed to guide families and students through home-based experiments and support the emergence of a third space, where science and everyday life intersect. The Vlogs provided the necessary scientific background for the experiments and encouraged participants to share aspects of their lived experiences and reflect upon the realization of scientific phenomena in their lives. Using videotaped discussions of students and family members, we examined the interactions between them, as well as the FoK addressed in the conversation. The results indicate that multiple types of interactions emerged between students and family members, as they jointly conducted the science experiments and discussed their findings. Shifts in these interactions were associated with the development of a shared third space, in which both students and family members were able to concurrently relate everyday life to the scientific phenomenon. Most FoK were associated with participants' homes and culture. Our results suggest that family members can serve as brokers to support their children in realizing the relationship between science and their everyday life, by bringing in their unique FoK into the scientific discussion, and highlighting the importance of thoughtfully designed learning environments to support them in the process.     

Diffusion of Computer‐based Technologies: getting the best start

ABSTRACT

The issues surrounding the diffusion of technology within our public schools are wide‐ranging and as diverse as the student populations which we seek to influence. Designing efficient and effective teacher training for classroom technology applications is, consequently, an important consideration for ‘school reformers.’ This paper addresses, in significant detail, the instructional design process which was utilized for the development and delivery of one successful teacher technology training effort for a medium‐sized school district. Special emphasis was placed on the results of extensive learner analyses throughout the design effort.     

“Digging for Gold” or “Sticking to the Criteria”: Teachers’ Rationales When Serving as Professional Raters

ABSTRACT

This paper reports findings from a project called “The National Panel of Raters” (NPR) that took place within a writing test programme in Norway (2010–2016). A recent research project found individual differences between the raters in the NPR. This paper reports results from an explorative follow up-study where 63 NPR members were surveyed with 23 items that were dilemma-like in the sense that deviating from the NPR rules would follow another—but socially acceptable—rationale. Four NPR members participated in a follow-up interview in which they motivated why they had agreed or disagreed with certain items. The results indicate two distinctly different stances toward rating work, with one stance threatening the validity of the scoring process.     

Inclusive and democratic practices in primary school classrooms: A multiple case study in Spain

ABSTRACT

Background: In order to offer all students the opportunity to progress and grow to their full potential, teachers must positively recognise and value the different expressions of diversity of all the class members. One of the biggest educational challenges that teachers face today is how to address classroom practices from a truly inclusive and democratic perspective.

Purpose: The main aim of this study was to explore, in a Spanish context, how primary school teachers articulate and implement inclusive and democratic practices in their classrooms.

Design, sample and methods: The methodological design of this study was situated within a qualitative research approach. A multiple case study structure, comprising three case studies, was utilised. Data collection was carried out via interviews, classroom practices inventories, scientific observation and analysis of documentation. The study was carried out over three academic years and had three phases. Data were analysed thematically.

Findings: In the three cases analysed, the analysis identified different possibilities in terms of the implementation and articulation of pedagogical differentiation (the structures, content, process and product) and democratic classroom management (collaborative culture, a shared leadership, democratic participation and school linked to environs).

Conclusions: The analysis highlights the need to support the formation of a critical citizenship within inclusive contexts, as well as the need to develop a sense of belonging to the educational community.     

Exploring the factors that influence knowledge sharing between academics

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organisational and individual factors on the knowledge sharing behaviour of UK academics. Although there a few articles that explore knowledge sharing between academics in an Asian context, there is currently only one article that explores this topic in a UK context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 academics to gather insights into their views on the factors that affect knowledge sharing. Findings demonstrated that academics are prepared to share different types of knowledge; a range of factors affecting this process were highlighted by interviewees. Trust was discussed more than other individual factors and was often associated with social exchange. Culture was described by most interviewees as collaborative and leaders were generally considered to have integrity, but often did not themselves share knowledge. Regular face-to-face contact was emphasised as being critical for knowledge sharing. This study demonstrates there is a culture of trust in most departments and academics are willing to share knowledge with their colleagues. They do, however, believe that the matrix structure, that is typical of academic departments, has resulted in unclear roles and responsibilities, which could hinder the design of structures to promote collaboration and sharing.     

Further Education and the New Managerialism

Abstract

As a result of the process of incorporation following the Further and Higher Education Act (1992), Cityshire College, a large further education (FE) college, left the jurisdiction of the local authority and gained greater responsibility for managing its own affairs. Arising from a case study based on interviews and questionnaires this paper considers the impact of changes within the College which took place between 1991 and 1994. Of particular interest is the development of a ‘new managerialism’, a management style which the paper identifies as having spread throughout public sector organizations during the 1980s. This paper goes on to consider the way in which quality procedures, the introduction of a technology associated with flexible learning and the introduction of market‐related mechanisms have had an impact on professional control. The evidence from a lecturer questionnaire circulated at Cityshire suggests that staff reject the values represented by these developments and are opposed to the threat they perceive to the professional culture of FE. The outcome of the various processes currently taking place at Cityshire and across the sector as a whole suggest that the deprofessionalization and, indeed, the ‘proletarianization’ of the FE lecturer may be taking place.     

Design science research – a powerful tool for improving methods in engineering education research

ABSTRACT

Modelling is a central activity in practical engineering and something that is also useful in engineering education research (EER). Additionally, qualitative research methods have found important applications in engineering research, although their use in EER has not always been widely accepted. Design science research is a qualitative research approach in which the object of study is the design process, i.e. it simultaneously generates knowledge about the method used to design an artefact and the design or the artefact itself. This paper uses techniques from design science research to analyse the method used when deriving the ‘learning of a complex concept’ (LCC) model, which we developed while designing teaching sequences for a course on electrical engineering. Our results demonstrate the value of design science research in EER and suggest that the LCC model is generally applicable in this field.     

Effective Strategies for Information Technology in Teacher Education: the use of an evolving permeation model

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the debate in recent years about the most effective strategy for establishing the use of information technology in teacher training establishments in the United Kingdom. Evidence is presented to support the notion that efforts should continue to permeate the use of information technology throughout the courses of such establishments. However, the paper suggests that staff development and the degree of permeation of information technology within the culture develop alongside each other. As one of these variables change, it feeds the development of the other; neither is an independent variable though both are influenced by external factors. Recognising this as a relatively slow process, the paper proposes a model of evolutionary permeation.     

The conceptualisation and impact of a post-graduate course in lesson and learning study

ABSTRACT

This paper tells a story about the design, development and impact of a post-graduate Masters-level module aimed at (1) enabling groups of teachers within schools to develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning on the basis of their own Lesson Studies and (2) creating a school network of excellence for Lesson Study in the area as a context for building a cumulative evidence-base, which focuses on identifying and resolving enduring problems of teaching and learning in schools.

The first part of the paper outlines the curriculum for the module and sets the innovative conceptual framework that underpins its design . This framework is innovative because it connects and unifies a number of distinct pedagogical perspectives. It links the methodology of Japanese Lesson Study with Stenhouse’s idea of ‘the teacher as a researcher’ and his ‘process model’ of curriculum development as an alternative to the globally dominant ‘objectives model’. Then in turn, the framework incorporates Marton and Booth’s pedagogical theory of ‘variation’.

The paper argues that linking and fusing Lesson Study methodology with this wider context of pedagogical ideas unambiguously renders teacher research as learning study.     

Aerial Robotics in Computer Science Education

This paper reports on experience with project courses, especially those concerning the design and construction of an autonomous aerial robot.

Dealing with this complex application task in small teams, advanced students are coached by teaching assistants in state‐of‐the‐art work in special fields of computer science.

The task includes a high potential for motivation and is sufficiently complex for a large range of techniques required. Team‐orientation is an important aspect; the students have to establish and coordinate various individual tasks.     

Designing,evaluating, and deploying automated scoring systems with validity in mind: Methodological design decisions

ABSTRACT

This article discusses critical methodological design decisions for collecting, interpreting, and synthesizing empirical evidence during the design, deployment, and operational quality-control phases for automated scoring systems. The discussion is inspired by work on operational large-scale systems for automated essay scoring but many of the principles have implications for principled reasoning and workflow management for other use contexts. The overall workflow is described as a series of five phases, each one having two critical sub-phases with a large number of associated methodological design decisions. These phases involve assessment design, linguistic component design, model design, model validation, and operational deployment. Through brief examples, the various considerations for these design decisions are illustrated, which have to be carefully weighed in the overall decision-making process for the system in order to unveil the complexities that underlie this work. The article closes with reflections on resource demands as well as recommendations for best practices of interdisciplinary teams who engage in this work, underscoring how this work is a blend of scientific rigor and artful practice.     

What Canadian youth tell us about disclosing abuse

ObjectiveTo report findings from a study of anonymous disclosures of abuse experiences among a national sample of youth in Canada who participated in violence prevention programming.MethodsA qualitative analysis was done of a purposeful sample of 1,099 evaluation forms completed following Red Cross RespectED violence prevention programming delivered between 2000 and 2003. Forms were selected based on program facilitators identifying voluntary, anonymous disclosures by youth participants of neglect and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Additional data for this analysis includes 27 interviews and focus groups that were used to understand the context of these disclosures and to engage the help of youth and program facilitators in the interpretation of findings.ResultsWhile this study is exploratory and non-representative in its design, findings suggest high rates of hidden abuse, with less than a quarter of youth with abuse experiences reporting a disclosure. Disclosure patterns vary with boys, youth aged 14–15, victims of physical abuse, and those abused by a family member being most likely to disclose to professionals or the police. Interviews help to explain the large number of youth who express reticence to disclose to professionals. Specifically, the data show a perception among youth of negative consequences following disclosure.ConclusionsThis data raises questions regarding why youth are reluctant to report abuse to professionals, preferring to cope independently or by confiding in peers. Youth in this study report feeling anxious about disclosing to authorities, fearful of the potential loss of control over decisions which affect them.Practice implicationsFindings suggest that professionals who provide support to young people's own networks of family and friends may help to facilitate youths’ disclosures of abuse. Furthermore, prevention programming that promotes a positive attitude towards disclosure of abuse experiences and provides an anonymous forum (such as an evaluation form) in which to do so is likely to encourage more young people to disclose.     

From designing artifacts to learning science: A dialectical perspective

How students come to know phenomena in terms of abstract concepts and theories through hands-on activities remains one of the open problems in science education. In this study, we develop a theory of learning science through design activities by employing a dialectical view of human activity that explicitly combines the mental and material in the same, irreducible unit of analysis. Dialectical contradictions embodied by this unit, here conceptualized as resistance experienced from a first-person perspective, constitute the inner forces that drive designing. Drawing on a large database of artifact designing constituted during a four-month unit on simple machines, we examine how resistance, in its dialectical relation to contradiction contributes to the unfolding design process and to the learning of scientific concepts and manual process skills during design. First, an inner contradiction emerges in the designers' lifeworlds as an unintended outcome or a breakdown and thereby changes the perceived world of a designer collective. Second, the dialectic of contradiction and resistance realized in this manner constitutes a moment unfolding culture of science in its concrete form embodied in individual designers and therefore contributes to the production and reproduction of culture. We conclude with a reflection on the implications our study makes to a non-dualist view of knowing and learning. SungWon Hwang is a research fellow of Science Education Research Center at Hanyang University in Korea. She received her Ph.D. from Seoul National University in 2002 and conducted her postdoctoral research at the University of Victoria. Her research projects are focused on the dialectical, embodied nature of human practice, learning, and identity in science activities, recently in the situation of crossing the boundaries of culture and language. She is a co-author of the book, Participation, Learning, and Identity: Dialectical perspectives (Lehmanns, 2005) with Wolff-Michael Roth, Yew Jin Lee, and Maria Ines M. Goulart. Wolff-Michael Roth is Lansdowne Professor of Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Victoria. His research focuses on knowing and learning science and mathematics across the lifespan and from kindergarten to professional practice. His recent publications include Toward an Anthropology of Graphing: Semiotic and Activity Theoretical Perspectives (Kluwer, 2003), Talking Science: Language and Learning in Science Laboratories (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), Doing Qualitative Research: Praxis of Method (SensePublishers, 2005), Learning Science: A Singular Plural Perspective (SensePublishers, 2006), and, with A. C. Barton, Rethinking Scientific Literacy (Routledge, 2004).     

Speech Education in West German Universities

ABSTRACT

Academic dishonesty has evolved to keep pace with changes in higher education. Websites now advertise the service of taking online courses for students. This study examined one such online company. Representatives from the company were professional and delivered the advertised services. Two experienced faculty members who co-taught the course used in this study were unable to identify the cheating company. The cheating company earned an “A” for the student. This article discusses the process by which the company was initially identified as well as provides an account of the interactions with the company that resulted in the student earning an “A.”