Critical realist review: exploring the real,beyond the empirical

This article defines the ‘critical realist review’, a literature-based methodological approach to critical analysis of health care studies (or any discipline charged with social interventions) that is robust, insightful and essential for the complexities of twenty-first century evidence-based health and social care. We argue that this approach, underpinned by a critical realist philosophy and methodology, will facilitate students and researchers to employ relevant theoretical insights from a range of disciplines that have necessary contributions to make to our understanding of health and social care practice and provision. We explore the limitations of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and the systematic review for informing evidence-based health and social care. The article also offers some suggestions on method, although, as we argue, the approach deliberately eschews a ‘cookbook’ approach. A glossary of terms is provided in the Appendix.     

Observations of the middle school environment: The context for student behavior beyond the classroom

This article describes the use of an observation system to measure middle school staff practices, environment characteristics, and student behavior in the school common areas. Data were collected at baseline from 18 middle schools participating in a randomized controlled trial of school‐wide Positive Behavior Support. The observations were reliable and showed sensitivity to differences between school settings and between schools. Multilevel models with students nested in schools were used to examine the associations of staff practices and the school environment with student behavior. Less effective behavior management and more staff criticism, graffiti, and percentage of low‐income students were associated with student problem behaviors. Greater use of effective behavior management and positive attention, and fewer low‐income students were associated with positive student behavior. The use of data‐based feedback to schools for intervention planning and monitoring is illustrated. Implications for school‐wide efforts to improve student behavior in middle schools are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Seeing beyond the local context: the understandings of slavery and the slave trade of students in Reunion Island schools

In the new millennium model of low definition curriculum, teachers have professional latitude to deliver prescribed disciplinary content through a range of pedagogical and assessment orientations. The rhetoric is that with carefully crafted practice, the goal of high quality/high equity learning outcomes can be achieved for all students. This paper is focused on the experiences of teachers and students from one large multicultural, multilingual, low socio-economic status community from Reunion Island, a remote French department in the Indian Ocean. In their history and geography lessons, the topic of study is a contentious one and closely connected to the students’ personal histories, that of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Using an analytical lens that combines the sociological work of Bernstein and Maton, and utilises ranking questionnaires, this study examines the complexity and tensions inherent in teachers’ choices and the implications for students’ short- and long-term learning outcomes.     

Experiencing the real context between families,schools, and community relationships: transforming preservice teachers’ perceptions

ABSTRACT

This Reflection on Practice is based upon a change in the undergraduate course Family and Community Relations. Historically, this course has been taught on campus in a lecture format, as well as small and large group activities. However, during a spring semester at a midsized Midwestern University, it was altered to provide more direct experiences for preservice teachers (PSTs) with families in a local child care program. This change was grounded in the belief that PSTS need “authentic experiences with families”(Pedro, Miller, & Bray, 2012, p.13). In addition to being in classrooms at the end of the child care day to interact with parents and participating in parent/teacher conferences, the PSTs planned and implemented two family events as well as created a space for families in the child care program’s entry area. Reflections from the instructor’s journal and feedback from parents and administrators following the events indicated a change in the PSTs behavior resulting in increased professionalism and a desire to do their best for the families of the early childhood program. This outcome suggests that providing PSTs opportunities to work directly with families as part of their educational program holds promise for the possibility of transformative learning to occur.     

Collaborativeness as the core of professional learning communities beyond culture and context: evidence from Canada,Finland, and Israel

Professional learning communities (PLC) have been widely accepted as effective with respect to good atmosphere, adequate leadership practices, and functional working practices. However, the outcomes for school improvement depend on case-specific issues. To identify less culturally and contextually bound issues in 3 PLC settings in Canada, Finland, and Israel, we examined our cases through the notion of “collaborativeness”. It refers to a systematic and shared process consisting of efforts, ideas, and activities that aim at achieving synergy. By combining the 3 data sets and applying a special model, we were able to distinguish, through qualitative content analysis, ingredients of collaborativeness beyond culture and context that we consider particularly essential. The crucial factor proved to be a dynamic relationship between mutual and deep learning, realized through 5 different ways. We further believe that our results could serve other organizations striving for school improvement in other kinds of cultural and contextual settings.     

Defining and measuring literacy: Facing the reality

Increasing recognition of a broadened concept of literacy challenges policy-makers and practitioners to re-define literacy operationally, develop and apply appropriate methods of assessing literacy and consider and act upon the consequent policy implications. This task is given a new urgency by the call of the Belém Framework for Action to “recognise literacy as a continuum” in the framework of lifelong learning; and to develop “appropriate assessment methods and instruments” in surveys and collection of data. This paper reviews the evolution of the concept of literacy and the emerging new consensus about it. It examines the initial experience of the Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP) of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics as a methodology in assessing literacy and the potential of “simpler” alternatives, taking the Education Watch survey in Bangladesh as an example. The policy implications for literacy programmes of the broadened definition and a new assessment approach are noted.     

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和谐社会感知是群众对和谐社会建设程度的主观感受,对此进行关注有利于进一步满足人们的美好生活需求,并且提高社会治理水平。以场理论为分析视角,从受保障程度入手,利用MIMIC模型分析主观保障和客观保障对和谐社会感知的双重效应,结果表明：和谐社会感知的全国简单均值为3.39,加权因子值为14.01,占最大值的67.5%;自评社会经济地位、社会性医疗保险与养老保险对和谐社会感知的影响显著为正,并且前者的效应始终高于后两者;社会公平感、生活幸福感的提升以及年龄的增加能显著提高和谐社会感知,而收入和受教育程度的提高却降低了和谐社会感知。     

Defining the future: an interrogation of education and time

This paper examines notions of ‘educational time’ with particular reference to the work of Basil Bernstein. It focuses closely on the 1967 Plowden report as a particularly appropriate policy case study to demonstrate how different constructions of time can exist within the same document. It then develops educational models originally mapped out by Bernstein, arguing that a full understanding of the areas of consensus and conflict among these models is vital if we are to understand how teaching professionals think about the future. The paper addresses the following questions: How does time affects education? What influence does this have on educational outcomes? How does this relate to public policy initiatives? Assuming a tacit, collective understanding of time and the future can undermine the very policy intentions a government might be seeking to promulgate.     

Defining the Difference: Comparing Integrated and Traditional Single-Subject Lessons

Early childhood curricula should be authentic and child-centered, however, many teachers still rely on direct instruction lessons. To better define how an integrated curriculum meets the needs of students, this study examined teacher talk and actions during instructional activities with first and second graders under two conditions: (1) subject-integrated social studies lessons of an integrated curriculum unit (experimental condition); and (2) single subject-focused mathematics lessons of a traditional separate subject curriculum (control condition). The mixed-methods study sought to define and compare characteristics of both curriculum approaches. Fourteen hours of observations were collected in each setting. In the integrated curriculum setting, the teacher was a facilitator of teamwork, offering choices, and giving praise; students made choices, decisions, and worked collaboratively. In the traditional setting, the teacher delivered direct instruction and controlled behavior; students followed directions, recalled knowledge, and worked individually. Less teacher energy was expended for behavior management in the integrated curriculum setting, indicating intrinsic motivation of students. Implementation of integrated curricula is recommended because of the student-centered focus that results in greater motivation, ownership, and teamwork, along with deeper knowledge connections. Because many factors hinder implementation, teachers need support when first teaching with this approach.     

Electronic Performance Support Technology: Defining the Domain

Electronic performance support is an expanding area within the field of performance technology. This article reviews and classifies the literature, both conceptual and case-based, in order to assess settings for use, initiating factors for development, and general features of the various systems. Identification of each article reviewed is presented in a matrix of categories that can be used to point those interested in specific aspects of this complex topic to the most pertinent information for their own needs. A general summary of findings follows.     

Naturalists and the Mass Media: Reaching beyond the Parks

Abstract

Earthscope series. Global View Productions, 2901 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite B4, Washington, D.C. 20008; tel. (202) 667–3609. 1991. 13 programs (12 programs are available) × 52 minutes. Individual program, $50.00. Series (12 programs), $495.00. Reviewed by Robert E. Raze, Jr.

The Forest Through the Trees . The Video Project, 5332 College Avenue, Suite 101, Oakland, Calif. 94618; tel. (800) 4PLANET. 1990. 60 minutes. $85.00/$45.00 purchase/rent for institutions. $39.95/$25.00 purchase/rent for individuals. Reviewed by N. J. Smith-Sebasto.     

Setting the scene: Measurement and learning beyond the mainstream

To contextualise the debates in this issue, the introduction problematises terms and approaches to the measurement of non-mainstream learning, at different levels of analysis and in different parts of the world. Mindful of the issues to be addressed in the papers to come, it introduces narratives of inclusion, intervention coherence and management styles, before examining their implications for the achievement of cross-national understandings of what may be the new mainstream of educational processes and effects. It concludes by outlining the contributions in this issue.