Teachers’ union activism for gender equity: Social movements and policy processes

This article documents the contribution of teacher union activists in their campaigns to put gender issues on government policy agendas in the 1970s and 1980s in Australia. The collective accounts document the way the activists forged new relationships and alliances, based on common goals and shared feminist values, and worked strategically with femocrats in state bureaucracies. But the effectiveness of the activists depended also on a particular set of political and cultural factors which were present in Australia at the time. Such contextual factors were also significant in the later marginalisation of gender equity issues in education in the 1990s. At a theoretical level, the study illustrates the ways in which social movements challenge dominant discourses to bring about social change, and in particular how they ‘work’ in relation to policy development. It is argued, drawing on Melucci (1989) and Yeatman (1994), that social movement theory can be useful in explaining the waxing and waning of both gender equity activism and gender equity policy development. Within social movement theory, policies need to be viewed as negotiated settlements which are constantly redefined as contexts change, new forms of domination emerge, and new social networks form and coalesce to become new social movements.     

义和团与民族主义运动的时代转型——立足于近代民众抗争运动的比较分析

义和团运动,是从传统民族主义向近代民族主义运动转折的历史界标。义和团以其愚昧的壮烈和失败的惨烈,成为近代中国民众的民族抗争运动由传统走向近代的历史转折。以主权为核心,以争利权为基本诉求的一系列民族抗争,构成1901以后近代民族主义运动的时代表征。而这一运动的历史起点则是义和团运动。而以革命话语为主导的新的民族觉醒的历史转折也始于庚辛之际的义和团运动。     

Problems of Insularity and Specialisation within British Educational Culture: the case of Development Studies

Abstract

This paper reports some experiences of teaching a university third year degree level option paper on Equal Opportunities to students on an Applied Social Studies degree programme. It examines the social context in which courses on equal opportunities have developed, issues of course design and assessment, teaching materials, and the students and their response to the course. Among the observations drawn from the first year of teaching are the importance (and difficulty) of conveying to students the variety of concepts of equal opportunities, and the need to recognise an age gap in both knowledge and also often attitudes of staff and students, which meant that younger students tended to take equal opportunities for granted, as being simply the law, while lecturers started from the perspective that equal opportunities policies had come about as a result of struggles for equality by social movements such as the Civil Rights movement in the USA, the feminist movement and the disability rights movement. Experience of teaching the course also indicated, as anticipated, the importance of maintaining academic standards of objectivity in teaching and assessment of controversial social issues. There were also important presentational issues which emerged in teaching literature critical of the operation of equal opportunities policies in practice, since this literature can be misunderstood by students to imply that equal opportunities policies are ineffective and therefore not worth maintaining and defending.     

论"前文革时期"的小说创作

从1957年反右运动到1966年文革之前是中国当代文学发展的一个重要转型期。这个时期的文艺政策进行了一系列调整,但“两结合”等创作观念的实施在根本上是与“双百”方针背道而驰的。以50年代的创作积淀为基础,这个时期出现了一批优秀小说作品,但由于文艺政策的失误和文艺批判运动的扩大化,致使60年代初小说创作在整体上走向概念化和模式化。     

Social Movements in Brazil and their Educational Work

Using a distinction first proposed by Alain Touraine between historic and social movements, Ghanem's review of grassroots initiatives in Brazil argues that, despite differences in composition and aims, movements such as the landless rural workers, indigenous groups, and the women's movement in Brazil have attempted to shift the current socioeconomic order toward a new equilibrium – a process that is, however, not yet complete. In Ghanem's view, these movements are best described as historic movements. Addressing their educational aims, the author finds that they tend to fall into two types: (1) the self-provision of knowledge related to the set of problems that gave rise to their movement in the first place; (2) the striving for access to knowledge that is due to them as citizens and yet not given to them by the state. Often, social movements in Brazil are obliged to offer educational services through their own resources, services which are characterized by precarious conditions and which make the right to quality education still a distant dream.     

Role of visual attention in cognitive control of oculomotor readiness in students with reading disabilities

This study investigated eye movement and comprehension therapy in Grade 6 children with reading disabilities (RD). Both order of therapy and type of therapy were examined. Furthermore, the implications of visual attention in ameliorating reading disability are discussed. Thirty-one students with RD were identified using standardized reading comprehension tests. Eye movements were analyzed objectively using an infra-red recording device. Reading scores of participating children were 0.5 to 1 SD below the national mean. Testing took place before the start of therapy (T1) and was repeated after 12 weeks (T2) and 24 weeks (T3) of therapy. One group of students had eye movement therapy first, followed by comprehension therapy; in the other group, the order was reversed. Data were evaluated using a repeated measures MANOVA and post hoc tests. At T1, mean reading grade was 2 years below grade level, and eye movement scores were at about Grade 2 level. Mean growth in reading comprehension for the total sample was 2.6 years (p < .01) at T3; equally significant improvement was measured in eye movements (p < .01). Learning rate in reading comprehension improved from 60% (T1) to 400% (T3). Although within-group differences were statistically significant, between-group differences were not significant for comprehension or eye movements. Order of therapy (comprehension first or eye movements first) was not significant. Improvements in within-group scores for comprehension and eye movements were consistently significant at T2 and T3. Eye movement therapy improved eye movements and also resulted in significant gains in reading comprehension. Comprehension therapy likewise produced improvement both in eye movement efficiency and in reading comprehension. The results support the notion of a cognitive link among visual attention, oculomotor readiness, and reading comprehension.     

Environmental literacy of youth movement members – is environmentalism a component of their social activism?

Youth-movements in Israel are non-formal organizations that educate for social and political involvement and provide a broad platform for youth involvement in the community. This study explored the question: does the social activism of adolescents who both elect for membership in youth movements and a leadership role of instructing younger members also reflect itself in environmentalism? In a survey of 1496 young instructors drawn from 15 official youth movements, findings on environmental literacy variables show youth are only generally knowledgeable about environmental problems; express ‘technical-optimism’ which leads them to limited concern for the environment; show limited recognition of the importance of environmental education, and show limited acknowledgment of the necessity for changes in personal consumerism. Findings also show that environmental issues are not on their mind since they are not a conversation topic with peers or family. Nonetheless, these youth also demonstrate strong self-efficacy to effect change; view themselves as role models for younger members; and express willingness to include environmentally-supportive activities within regular youth movement activities. Their valuing of nature also provides a foundation for building other environmental values. Further analysis shows how these findings can contribute theoretical and practical tools for incorporating sustainability within the youth movement framework, and help realize their potential for promoting sustainability in society.     

Rock With Me: The Role of Movement Synchrony in Infants' Social and Nonsocial Choices

Matching the timing of one's movements to the movements of others has been proposed to increase affiliation and prosociality. Although coordinated movements facilitate early social interactions, not much is known about the mechanisms and effects of movement synchrony throughout development. Two studies investigated 12‐month‐olds' (Study 1, N = 40) and 9‐month‐olds' (Study 2, N = 41) preferences for synchronous others in a social as opposed to a nonsocial context. It was found that movement synchrony exclusively guides infants' social choices at 12 months. In contrast, 9‐month‐olds did not show any preferences for synchronous movements in social or nonsocial contexts. Results suggest that movement synchrony is important in guiding infants' social preferences and its effects emerge toward the end of the 1st year of life.     

Investigation of differential movement at railroad bridge approaches through geotechnical instrumentation

Railway transitions experience differential movements due to differences in track system stiffness, track damping characteristics, foundation type, ballast settlement from fouling and/or degradation, as well as fill and subgrade settlement. This differential movement is especially problematic for high speed rail infrastructure as the ??bump?? at the transition is accentuated at high speeds. Identification of different factors contributing towards this differential movement, as well as development of design and maintenance strategies to mitigate the problem is imperative for the safe and economical operation of both freight and passenger rail networks. This paper presents the research framework and initial instrumentation details from an ongoing research effort at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Three bridge approaches experiencing recurrent geometry problems were instrumented using multidepth deflectometers (MDDs) and strain gages to identify different factors contributing to the development of differential movements.     

The Genesis and Evolution of Pre‐vocational Education: England

Abstract

In the following article, the author attempts to provide a skeleton overview of the movement for pre‐vocational education, stressing that present concern regarding such issues as the purpose of education and the extent to which a utilitarian approach is acceptable, school‐to‐work transition, and emphasis on particular work‐related skills have, in fact, formed a recurring debate dating back at least a century. Anxiety regarding Britain's hegemony over Europe, particularly Germany, has always featured in the debate, as has the issue of education versus training. Key educational legislation provides four key stages in the development of the debate, culminating in close examination of the implications of the Education Reform Act of 1988 for the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI).     

The Open Courseware Movement in Higher Education: Unmasking Power and Raising Questions about the Movement's Democratic Potential

In this essay Robert Rhoads, Jennifer Berdan, and Brit Toven‐Lindsey examine some of the key literature related to the open courseware (OCW) movement (including the emergence and expansion of massive open online courses, or MOOCs), focusing particular attention on the movement's democratic potential. The discussion is organized around three central problems, all relating in some manner or form to issues of power: the problem of epistemology, the problem of pedagogy, and the problem of hegemony. More specifically, the authors raise issues related to the narrow notion of knowledge typically conveyed in the OCW movement, a limited understanding of what constitutes empowering pedagogy, and the lack of treatment of inequities associated with the production of courseware materials. The authors go on to argue that the lack of critical analysis of the OCW movement is tied to its relative alignment with educational reforms driven by neoliberal ideology and that such alignment serves to limit the movement's democratic possibilities.     

Developmental co‐ordination disorder (DCD): more than just a movement difficulty

Developmental co‐ordination disorder (DCD) also known as dyspraxia, is characterised by severe impairment of movement that has a detrimental effect on activities of daily living. This impairment of movement can be the result of poor planning or execution during an action. An assessment for DCD usually comprises of a standardised test for movement skills and clinical observations, but an assessment may not always consider both planning and/or execution components. This study used an ecologically valid task to examine how typically developing children compared with children with DCD plan and execute their movements in response to a novel movement challenge. Children were asked to cross a ‘river’ using as few ‘stepping stones’ (carpet tiles) as possible without falling in. The study measured a number of variables in order to construct a profile of the child's ability to plan and execute movements, including pattern and consistency of movement, and distance travelled by each child, as well as the ability to formulate and correct their plan. The results of this pilot study showed both differences and similarities between the two groups, with the DCD group showing more difficulties in planning, executing and in correcting their movements, as well as being more inconsistent in their movement patterns. The results are discussed in terms of the need for multiple measures for a complete assessment of a child, the implications for educational practice and the potential of an additional clinical tool to aid intervention in children with DCD.     

Sexual choreographies of the classroom: movement in sexuality education

This paper is interested in thinking more about sexuality education at school. As such, it is concerned with a mundane and unacknowledged feature of the sexuality classroom – the mapping of movement. While human movement is a familiar focus of educational research, the movement of things is not. With reference to Barad’s concept of intra-activity, the paper maps human-non-human movements and characterises these as a sexual choreography of schooling. Instead of asking what does movement mean or reveal about sexuality education, I attend to the event movement inaugurates. Predominantly theoretical, the paper weaves together ideas from conventionally disparate disciplinary fields. These include Edensor’s concept of rhythm from geography, Eggermont’s notion of the choreography of schooling from education, and Barad’s spacetimemattering from quantum physics. This theorisation enables a recognition of movement as a force in human-non-human classroom intra-actions implicated in the becoming of sexuality education as event.     

Muhammad Ali's Fighting Words: The Paradox of Violence in Nonviolent Rhetoric

While Muhammad Ali has been the subject of countless articles and books written by sports historians and journalists, rhetorical scholars have largely ignored him. This oversight is surprising given both the tradition of social movement scholarship within rhetorical studies and Ali's influential eloquence as a world renowned celebrity espousing nonviolence. Ali's rhetorical performances played a pivotal role in radicalizing the civil rights movement as it (d)evolved into twin forces: Black Power and anti-Vietnam war movements. Ali's rhetoric conjoins messages of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, enabling critics to re-envision civil rights texts. Ali's enduring rhetoric provides a model for analyzing texts and social movements invoking the paradox of the violence in nonviolent civil disobedience.     

The black and deaf movements in America since 1960. Parallelism and an agenda for the future.

This paper traces the political and educational movements of both black and hearing-impaired Americans since 1960 and compares their common as well as disparate but equally significant experiences. The purpose of the comparisons is to identify problems and proven solutions that collectively suggest a strategy for the continuing movement of hearing-impaired people. The authors, through their ethnicity--three are black and two are white--and personal and professional experiences bring divergent but relevant points of view to the question of multicultural coalitions and their abilities to effect social change. Four principles or suggestions for advancing the agenda of hearing-impaired Americans are presented: (1) the need to define the issues that will continue to confront hearing-impaired Americans through the year 2000, (2) the need to enlarge the membership and participation of existing coalitions, (3) the need to address local, vocational, technical, and educational issues, and (4) the need to facilitate hearing-impaired networking groups within religious, social, business, and cultural organizations.     

关于远程教育中有关核心问题的分析

远程教育自20世纪70年代以来已经获得长足的发展,关于远程教育的一些概念和实际问题的探讨受到越来越多远程教育工作者的重视。该文试图对20世纪70年代以来有关远程教育的概念和实践问题进行初步的分析,以进一步明确远程教育的内涵及其在实践中所应关注的核心问题:课程资源开发,学习者支持服务,媒体的选择与整合,教学管理。     

群众运动若干问题之探讨

文章在对建党以来的群众运动进行纵向分析后认为：群众运动在中国共产党历史上扮演了重要角色,从这些群众运动中,可以总结出一些规律：一是建国前和建国后,群众运动的规模一次比一次大,群众的态度有一个被动参与到主动参与过程;二是建国后,社会主义经济建设自有其规律,不应该用群众运动这种方式冲击这种规律;三是十-届三中全会后,党果断地停止了群众运动,代之以创新思维,以更好地建设中国特色社会主义.     

Genre and activism: Schools, social movements, and genres as discourse conduits

This article examines the literacy practices of three school-based student activist groups: a Gay-Straight Alliance, a high school chapter of Amnesty International, and a human rights club unaffiliated with Amnesty. Specifically, this article investigates how members of the different groups advanced their projects by repurposing school genres such as hallway bulletin boards and office memos. By articulating movement messages in school genres, it is argued, activists tightened their schools’ connections to social movements and circulated movement discourses through school space. After findings on each group are presented, the concept “genre as discourse conduit” is induced from the data and is used to reevaluate the nuances and implications of students’ efforts to articulate movement discourses in school genres. Equipped with this new concept, researchers may better analyze activist groups’ efforts to perform movement work in schools.     

Embodying Teaching: A Body Pedagogic Study of a Teacher’s Movement Rhythm in the ‘Sloyd’ Classroom

The article draws on body pedagogics and considers that teaching and learning experiences and outcomes are directly related to the different characteristics of movement behaviour. In this article movement behaviour specifically centres on a sloyd (handicraft education) teacher’s walk through the classroom. The analysis illuminate the specific teaching use of the body as a spatial, temporal and situational movement rhythm in the classroom and how teachers and pupils tune into educational discourses by means of different body techniques. A wireless GoPro camera was attached to the teacher’s chest in order to gain detailed view of pupil–teacher–body–material–tool encounters and a specific visual perspective of the sloyd teacher’s walk. During a 2.5 years fieldwork, 25 wood–metal sloyd lessons were observed and recorded (circa 50 h of video). The study is informed by Dewey’s embodied theory of learning and focus the alternation between active and passive phases in the stream of experience. From such Deweyan perspective the rhythm of an activity for organising experience, is fundamental to the creation of intelligent moving habits. The results show the body pedagogic experiences, outcomes and means by highlighting the teacher’s (a) spatial path by describing mutual relationships between the material arrangement of the classroom, the teacher’s bodily movements and the pupils’ participation in the lesson, (b) temporal pace by his ‘flights and perchings’ through the lessons and how he moves from pupil to pupil and assignment to assignment, (c) specific pacts by describing body techniques and situated teacher–pupil encounters that terminate in an agreement about how to proceed.     

2001-2005年中国妇女运动史研究述评

进入21世纪的中国妇女运动史研究在研究视域、研究方法和叙事方式上呈现出新的取向,不同形态的妇女运动被置于中国现代化的历史脉络中加以考察,新概念、新范畴的介入引发了对妇女运动事件与人物的重新审视,凸显了运动主体的成长轨迹,使新世纪的妇女运动史研究更加生动鲜活。但综观五年来的妇运史研究仍存在着基础理论研究薄弱,自我更新能力不足,在用外来概念重新建构历史时,忽视对史料的梳理分析等问题。为此,妇运史研究者应钩沉探微,处理好理论与实证、叙述与阐释、传统与创新、外来与本土的关系,以整合复杂多样的历史经验,增强妇运史的研究活力。