Cultural conflicts of the child‐centered approach to early childhood education in Taiwan

This paper discusses the cultural conflicts around the Western notion of child‐centeredness in Taiwanese preschools. The implementation and translation of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) in Taiwan is highlighted as an example to understand productions of differences, norms and cultural conflicts in Taiwanese early childhood education. Throughout this paper, it is argued that multiplicities and differences are not acknowledged but instead are dangerously ignored while assumptions are made about a singular norm and homogeneous universal standard. From this perspective, it is asserted that the global circulation of a particular Western notion of child‐centeredness should be (re)conceptualized as a cultural construct through which a particular system of reasoning or cultural knowledge is perpetuated.     

The Autonomous Developmental Pathway: The Primacy of Subjective Mental States for Human Behavior and Experience

This review focuses on infants’ emerging awareness of mental states and demonstrates how cultural models—consisting of parenting beliefs and practices—interact dynamically with biologically prepared developmental potentialities in shaping infant behavior and development. Contrasting very different cultural contexts, it is suggested that caregivers’ visual contingent responsiveness and associated processes are key features of early mother–infant interaction. They (a) are informed by intuitive parenting and culture‐specific ethnotheories that, as a consequence, (b) differentially sensitize infants for internal mental states in the 1st year and beyond, and thereby (c) provide mechanisms that specify how culture not only shapes human behavior and experience but also produces culture‐specific developmental pathways.     

Responsiveness‐to‐Intervention: Definitions,Evidence, and Implications for the Learning Disabilities Construct

Longstanding concern about how learning disabilities (LD) are defined and identified, coupled with recent efforts in Washington, DC to eliminate IQ‐achievement discrepancy as an LD marker, have led to serious public discussion about alternative identification methods. The most popular of the alternatives is responsiveness‐to‐intervention (RTI), of which there are two basic versions: the “problem‐solving” model and the “standard‐protocol” approach. The authors describe both types, review empirical evidence bearing on their effectiveness and feasibility, and conclude that more needs to be understood before RTI may be viewed as a valid means of identifying students with LD.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OBSERVED AND SELF‐REPORTED CULTURALLY PROFICIENT TEACHING PRACTICES

A critical next step in advancing our understanding of teacher practices that can equitably engage and support learning in diverse classrooms is determining the effectiveness of culturally responsive interventions. Yet, quantitative measurement indicators of the effectiveness of culturally responsive teaching interventions are scarce. Most research relies exclusively on self‐reports, with limited attention to issues of social desirability, and few studies observe teacher practices. Data come from 142 K‐8 teachers in six schools who were assessed via the Assessing School Settings: Interactions of Students and Teachers (ASSIST), an externally‐conducted observation, and who also provided self‐report data of cultural responsiveness. Analyses indicated that teachers self‐reported higher rates of culturally responsive teaching strategies than were observed on the ASSIST. There were, however, significant associations between observations and teachers’ ratings of self‐efficacy. Findings suggest a need for additional research to develop and validate efficient, multi‐informant approaches for assessing cultural responsiveness in the classroom.     

Liberalism and Communitarianism: a response to two recent attempts to reconcile individual autonomy with group identity

This article is concerned with recent attempts to balance the claims for political citizenship in a liberal democracy (liberalism) with competing claims for cultural identity within traditional non‐liberal communities (communitarianism). Claims of the first kind are usually seen as universal in that they are based on what it is to be human, while claims of the second kind are seen as particular in so far as they relate to membership of a specific culture. Singh (1997) argues for discussion method as a means of reconciling the claims of democratic citizenship with those of cultural attachment in non‐liberal communities. In an earlier and related paper, Singh (1995) also seeks an accommodation between shared and particular values in a multicultural society. Halstead (1997) is concerned about the dilemmas faced by liberal educators and by Muslims with regard to the sex education curriculum and Muslim pupils. In an earlier paper, Halstead (1995) makes proposals for a curriculum which combines a communitarian commitment to the cultural integrity of non‐liberal communities with active participation in the life of a liberal democracy. I will argue that whether we begin from a liberal commitment to individual autonomy (Singh) or from a concern for the cultural integrity and survival of non‐liberal communities (Halstead), there are very real difficulties in achieving a reconciliation between liberal and communitarian perspectives.     

“Translated,it is: …” — An Ethics of Transreading

Inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's idea of philology and William Gass's concept of transreading, Huiwen (Helen) Zhang employs “transreader” to suggest the integration of four roles in one: reader, translator, writer, and scholar. “Transreader” recognizes that close reading, literary translation, creative writing, and cultural hermeneutics are interdependent activities with intertwined goals: to transfer, transvalue, transform, and transcend the canon. From this perspective, Lu Xun, China's Nietzsche, is a twentieth‐century transreader of the canon, and his prose poem “Revenge (The Second)” delivers a self‐referential ethics of transreading. Zhang's transreading of this poem shows why slow reading is today more necessary than ever, in what sense translation is a universal dilemma, how humanity grows when its expression grows more subtle, and that transreading opens a space for genuine communication.     

Looking Beyond ‘Skills’ and ‘Processes’: Literacy as Social and Cultural Practices in Classrooms

This article explores the thinking and research that has led to a view of literacy as social and cultural practices. Literacy is described not as an internal cognitive state or a universal set of skills and processes that individuals must learn, but as social and cultural ways of doing things through the use of text. This view adds to our understanding of literacy by switching the focus to the ways in which individuals, groups, communities and societies put literate practices to work. For teachers, this means thinking about the sorts of literacies they are trying to produce through their programmes. This implies studying classrooms and preschools as social and cultural settings where particular practices count as good work – asking which kinds of texts, ways of talking, reading, writing and behaving are preferred and why.     

Selective Imitation of In‐Group Over Out‐Group Members in 14‐Month‐Old Infants

Recent research has shown that infants are more likely to engage with in‐group over out‐group members. However, it is not known whether infants' learning is influenced by a model's group membership. This study investigated whether 14‐month‐olds (N = 66) selectively imitate and adopt the preferences of in‐group versus out‐group members. Infants watched an adult tell a story either in their native language (in‐group) or a foreign language (out‐group). The adult then demonstrated a novel action (imitation task) and chose 1 of 2 objects (preference task). Infants did not show selectivity in the preference task, but they imitated the in‐group model more faithfully than the out‐group model. This suggests that cultural learning is beginning to be truly cultural by 14 months of age.     

A Cross‐Cultural Study of Art Teacher Education in Taiwan and England

This aim of this research was to investigate art teacher education in Taiwan and England to gain insights into two art education systems with a view to improving art teacher education in Taiwan. To achieve this aim, a cross‐cultural study using a multi‐method approach was adopted and data was collected over three years of full‐time study in England and four academic years of reflection on teaching in art teacher education in Taiwan. This research revealed how complex and hazardous it is to state categorically what the similarities and differences really are between two art teacher education systems, especially in a subject as ill‐defined as art. Nonetheless, this study did produce some important differences in the two art teacher education systems in aspects of (1) government regulations and institutional provision, (2) theoretical underpinning, (3) art curriculum policy and delivery, and (4) cultural differences affecting art teachers' attitudes and values.     

Universality Without Uniformity: A Culturally Inclusive Approach to Sensitive Responsiveness in Infant Caregiving

Do caregivers in non‐Western communities adapt their behaviors to the needs of infants? This question reflects one of the most long‐standing debates on the universality versus culture‐specificity of caregiver–infant interactions in general and sensitive responsiveness to infants in particular. In this article, an integration of both points of view is presented, based on the theoretical origins of the sensitive responsiveness construct combined with the ethnographic literature on caregivers and infants in different parts of the world. This integration advocates universality without uniformity, and calls for multidisciplinary collaborations to investigate the complexities and nuances of caregiver–infant interactions in different cultures. Salient issues are illustrated with observations of infants (ages 7–31 months) in Mali, the Republic of Congo, and the Philippines.     

Culture,context and the quality of education: evidence from a small‐scale extended case study in England and Denmark

Much recent education policy‐making around the world has focused on a restructuring of the role of the classroom teacher in a bid to increase the ‘quality’ of the educational experience and raise pupil attainment. However, the definition of quality, as expressed through policy, may not always accord with the aims and aspirations of individual teachers who work within a specific cultural context. The rhetoric and intent expressed in policy texts may even have the potential to restrict the quality of what teachers do. This paper draws on some of the findings from a small‐scale comparative study of teachers' work in England and Denmark which used an extended case study approach, set in a socio‐cultural framework, to examine the relationship of policy trends to teacher values and professional practice. Evidence from the study is used to discuss the issue of ‘quality’, highlighting contextually specific variations which impact on the implementation of national policy at the local level. Through a discussion of the study's methodology, attention is also drawn to the need for a more contextually sensitive approach to the creation and evaluation of policy which, while recognising universal concerns, also pays heed to local priorities and teacher values.     

KANT'S CONCEPTION OF RESPECT AND AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION RIGHTS

Immanuel Kant envisioned a kind of respect in which one recognizes each human (1) as being not fully comprehensible by any human understanding, (2) as being an end in him‐ or herself, and (3) as being a potential source of moral law. In this essay, Gregory Lewis Bynum uses this conception of respect as a lens with which to examine African American education rights on three levels: the individual level (the level of individual persons' moral experience and moral significance), the community level (the level of the formation and sustaining of social groups that have value for humanity), and the global level (the level of a universal community of humanity). Bynum's goal in this examination is to strengthen our practical understanding of African Americans' right to education defined, in accordance with international human rights documents, as the right to an education that supports the full development of the human personality in a manner that respects students' “cultural identity, language, and values.”     

Essay review: Some "unpopular" truths

Drawing on diverse theoretical perspectives and research, this paper focuses on the significance of settings in qualitative research as well as on associated problems with representations of settings in traditional analyses and reports. The central premise developed is that a deeper analysis of settings requires an unraveling of relations among settings in which individuals or groups participate. In this discussion, setting is defined as a fluid and mutable but bounded environment in which particular situations, interactions, and behaviors accrue to it as normal by virtue of history, cultural values, and beliefs. To represent the complexity of identity and power relations in educational research, author suggests six lenses that offer a multilayered picture of participants' lived experiences across multiple settings. These lenses have the potential to broaden researchers' representations of participants beyond what is often available in traditional analyses and reports of qualitative educational research. These six lenses on settings are not meant to be inclusive but to suggest that finer grained examinations of the social and cultural symbols that permeate settings may yield fresh perspectives on lived experience.     

Informational capital and the transition to university: First‐in‐family students' experiences in Austrian higher education

The agenda for widening participation in higher education has led to increasing numbers of students with a broader range of education and family backgrounds. However, transitioning to the university landscape remains a highly complex negotiation process, especially for first‐in‐family students, who cannot draw on previous experience from higher education in their families. Gaining access to informational capital—a combination of cultural and social capital—plays a crucial role in managing education transitions. We draw on rich empirical data obtained from 26 autobiographical narrative interviews with first‐in‐family university students in Austria to investigate how transitions to university are affected by informational capital. We also explore how access to informational capital was influenced by (1) institutional practices, such as initiatives to support students, especially first‐year students; and (2) cultural fit—the extent to which a student's cultural capital corresponded with the dominant cultural capital in the field of their chosen discipline or higher education establishment. Our findings show that gaining access to informational capital was strongly affected by the institutional practices at universities within the different disciplines, thus highlighting the importance of higher education institutions in supporting their students during transition processes. We conclude with policy implications for how higher education institutions can assist first‐in‐family students to succeed at university.     

IMPROVING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES ‐‐ STAFF (FACULTY) DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES AS A FIELD OF CO‐OPERATION BETWEEN EUROPEAN AND AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

In virtually all the countries of the world, the need for staff‐development programmes for university and other higher education teachers has been recognized. Because the developed countries of Europe and of North America have a head start in the domain, specialists from these countries have frequently been called upon to create and to offer staff‐development programmes in the universities of developing countries. This article discusses the appropriateness of European conceptions of staff‐development for African universities. Concluding that Euro‐centric staff‐developers and pre‐packaged European programmes are not appropriate, that they run the risk of becoming a form of cultural neo‐colonialism, the author considers ways in which European specialists can collaborate with their African colleagues in the structuring of staff‐development programmes that are not only African‐centred but are geared to the real needs of African universities as they are perceived by Africans themselves. If the author's suggestions are accepted, African universities will be able to make use of those aspects of European staff‐development concepts and programmes which have universal value without having to accept European cultural tutelage along with them.     

A conceptualisation of whole‐class scaffolding

The concept of scaffolding refers to temporary and adaptive support, originally in dyadic adult–child interaction. It has become widely used, also in whole‐class settings, but often in loose ways. The aim of this paper is to theoretically and empirically ground a conceptualisation of whole‐class scaffolding so that it remains close to the origin of the scaffolding concept, but also provides scope for features not salient in one‐to‐one interaction. Drawing an analogy with Vygotsky's concept of Zone of Proximal Development we argue why the extension to whole‐class settings is justified. We further distinguish three key characteristics for whole‐class scaffolding—diagnosis, responsiveness and handover to independence—and illustrate these with examples from a teaching experiment focusing on whole‐class scaffolding language in a multilingual mathematics classroom (age 10–12). The empirical data led to a metaphorical distinction between online and offline enactment of key characteristics, during respectively outside whole‐class interaction. Diagnoses can namely also be made outside lessons, for instance by reading pupils' work; responsiveness can also be realised in adapting instructional activities; and handover to independence can also be fostered in the design of lessons. In addition to this layered nature (online vs. offline), whole‐class scaffolding is often distributed over time. Finally, whole‐class scaffolding is cumulative with pupils' independence emerging as the cumulative effect of many diagnostic and responsive actions over time. We suggest these three features are at the core of whole‐class scaffolding that is deliberately employed to foster long‐term learning processes.     

文化相对论二分观:文化评价与文化交流的武器

文化相对论认为衡量文化没有绝对、普遍的判别标准 ,一切道德评价标准都是相对的。这一观点对于促进各民族的相互理解和谅解具有现实意义 ,对于防止和抵制文化霸权主义也具有进步意义。但在文化交流、跨文化交际日益频繁的当今世界 ,文化评价不可避免 ,文化相对论的主张在实践上很难行得通。因此 ,我们认为 :不宜对任何民族的总体文化风貌作价值判断 ,但可以通过文化比较 ,对某些文化现象作出个人的价值判断 ,以便作出个人的抉择 ,另一方面 ,不同语言的特点可论 ,差异可论 ,优劣绝对不可论。     

Sense and Sensitivity: A Response to the Commentary by Keller et al. (2018)

This reply to the commentary by Keller et al. (2018) on the article “Universality Without Uniformity: A Culturally Inclusive Approach to Sensitive Responsiveness in Infant Caregiving” (Mesman et al., 2017 ) highlights key points of agreement emphasizing the sense of investing in synergies across research traditions. These include the importance of distinguishing between different parenting constructs, the need for more studies to test the presented theoretical assumptions, and the value of examining multiple caregiver sensitivity in relation to infants’ developing membership of a community. The only point of disagreement reflects the rigidity versus flexibility of the sensitivity construct. This reply argues that it is exactly the versatility of the sensitivity construct that makes it a valuable building block for bridges between fields.     

“Science capital”: A conceptual,methodological, and empirical argument for extending bourdieusian notions of capital beyond the arts

This paper sets out an argument and approach for moving beyond a primarily arts‐based conceptualization of cultural capital, as has been the tendency within Bourdieusian approaches to date. We advance the notion that, in contemporary society, scientific forms of cultural and social capital can command a high symbolic and exchange value. Our previous research [Archer et al. (2014) Journal of Research in Science Teaching 51, 1–30] proposed the concept of “science capital” (science‐related forms of cultural and social capital) as a theoretical lens for explaining differential patterns of aspiration and educational participation among young people. Here, we attempt to theoretically, methodologically, and empirically advance a discussion of how we might conceptualize science capital and how this might be translated into a survey tool for use with students. We report on findings from a survey conducted with 3658 secondary school students, aged 11–15 years, in England. Analysis found that science capital was unevenly spread across the student population, with 5% being classified as having “high” science capital and 27% “low” science capital. Analysis shows that levels of science capital (high, medium, or low) are clearly patterned by cultural capital, gender, ethnicity, and set (track) in science. Students with high, medium, or low levels of science capital also seem to have very different post‐16 plans (regarding studying or working in science) and different levels of self‐efficacy in science. They also vary dramatically in terms of whether they feel others see them as a “science person.” The paper concludes with a discussion of conceptual and methodological issues and implications for practice. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52: 922–948, 2015.     

Cross‐national Similarities and Differences in Employee Perceptions of Issues in the Work Environment

This exploratory study examines cross‐national similarities and differences in employee perceptions of issues in the work environment in 17 organizational work settings in seven Asia‐Pacific countries; Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. Employees at these 17 sites indicated their degree of agreement with statements about 60 work environment issues which previous research has shown impact performance. Resulting data were compared using coefficients of concordance as described by Gibbons (1971) at three levels of analysis. Analysis indicated that differences and similarities in responses did not reflect those one would expect to find based on previous well‐known research concerning cultural differences in those same countries (Hall, 1976; Hofstede, 1980, 2001). This suggests that relying primarily on national cultural differences is not a sufficient guide for the design of performance improvement interventions in various countries and that other context factors need to be taken into account. Possible hypotheses for future research are offered.