Associations between adolescent boys’ and girls’ psychological adjustment and behaviour in school

The present study examined associations between boys’ and girls’ self-reported psychological adjustment and a wide spectrum of peer-rated behaviours in the school context using a sample of 463 Estonian early adolescents (M_age = 12.90). Although girls had more internalised problems and boys more externalised problems, the associations between adolescents’ psychological adjustment and behaviour were not gender-specific. Among both boys and girls, hostility was positively associated not only with their peer-reported misbehaviour, but also with sociable behaviour and negatively with studiousness. Adolescents with negative self-esteem were perceived to exhibit high levels of self-centred competitive behaviour, misbehaviour and also sociable behaviour. Those with negative self-adequacy, on the contrary, were less likely to behave in a self-centred competitive and sociable manner. In general, the findings show that psychological maladjustment may appear not only in well-observed problematic behaviour but also in seemingly ordinary behaviour in school.     

‘Our garden is colour blind,inclusive and warm’: reflections on green school grounds and social inclusion

In the interest of enhancing children's environments, communities around the world are ‘greening’ school grounds, replacing asphalt and manicured grass with a diversity of design elements such as trees, shrubs, gardens, water features, artwork and gathering areas. Despite a growing body of research from a number of disciplines exploring the potential of these spaces, very little is known about the ways they can promote social inclusion with respect to gender, class, race and ability. This paper explores the relationship between school ground greening and social inclusion in a Canadian public school board where approximately 20% of more than 500 schools have begun the greening process. A mixed methods approach was used: (1) 149 questionnaires were completed by administrators, teachers and parents associated with 45 school ground greening initiatives; and (2) 21 follow‐up interviews were conducted with administrators, teachers and parents at five schools across a range of socio‐economic statuses. The study revealed that green school grounds are more inclusive of people who may feel isolated on the basis of gender, class, race and ability, suggesting that these spaces promote, in a very broad sense, social inclusion.     

‘Sensible girls’ and ‘silly boys’: what do teachers need to know about gender?

Much to the consternation of many feminist researchers, teacher education programs have become largely silent about gender and the influence of gender discourses on teaching and learning. Stereotypical views of males and females can dominate teachers’ views of boys and girls, and they can be seen as essentially different—as binary opposites. This has implications for identity construction of children as they take up or resist the identity positions made available to them by the teacher. In this paper, the intersection of gender with culture/ethnicity is examined in the context of identity construction. Classroom-based data are considered in relation to a ‘sensible girls/silly boys’ binary, and the teacher’s positioning of a Chinese heritage boy and Korean heritage girl in a New Zealand primary classroom. We suggest that the teacher’s discursive practices based on unexamined assumptions, limited the identity positions available to the children in relation to gender and culture. We argue that teacher education has an important role to play in preparing teachers with a critical orientation towards dominant gender discourses, and an understanding of the intersection of gender with other discourses, such as culture and ethnicity.     

A longitudinal study on boys’ and girls’ career aspirations and interest in technology

Background: More young people, boys and girls, are needed in technical studies and professions, as the relative number of students in technology-related studies has been decreasing in most industrialised countries. To overcome this decrease several countries implemented mandatory technology classes in the curriculum of secondary education.

Purpose: This study has two goals: exploring the evolution of pupils’ interest during the year(s) they attend the mandatory technology classes and exploring determining characteristics for differences in boys’ and girls’ attitude change over time.

Sample: This study focuses on data gathered in the first and second grade of the first cycle in general secondary education in the North region of Belgium, Flanders. In a first stage we selected a good representation of geographically spread schools (n = 20), from which over 1300 students participated.

Design and methods: A longitudinal study with eight measurement occasions spread over the course of two years is presented in order to capture the evolution of students’ attitudes, making use of a multilevel growth model analysis.

Results: The results show that students’ interest in technology decreases over time, although at the end of each grade interest is increasing again. Boys’ and girls’ interest in technology also evolves a little different in the first cycle of secondary education. For career aspirations we didn’t see any significant difference between boys and girls. Boys’ and girls’ aspirations decrease over time with a little increase by the end of the second grade. Students with a more technological curriculum also have more career aspirations in the field of technology than their peers with other curricula. Although students’ perceptions about technology as a subject for boys and girls are largely stable.

Conclusions: The evolution of students’ attitude is far from linear, this strengthens us in the choice for a more complex analysis model and the choice for more measuring points than only at the beginning and the end when analysing students’ attitudes towards technology. With this research we found that students interest and aspirations in the field of technology are not stable and do change in the first cycle of secondary education. Overall, we can conclude that if the goal of technology education at school maintains to promote ‘a larger number of students in technological oriented studies and professions’, there is still much to do.     

‘Charmer boys’ and ‘cream girls’: how primary school children construct themselves as heterosexual subjects through football

South African research on young children’s constructions of social identities illuminates the significance of play in the construction of gender identities. However, what remains largely understudied are the children’s construction of sexualities through play. The dominant discourse of ‘childhood innocence’ obscures the variegated understandings of the meanings children attach to sexualities. This paper will explore how some South African boys and girls aged 9–10 years construct themselves as active heterosexual subjects through football talk and play during break-time at school. The paper will demonstrate how the school playground is constructed by the ‘charmer boys’ as a ‘football space’ where they use football performance to impress and charm the ‘cream girls’ who are relegated to the margins as spectators of the football games. However, the paper will also argue that gender power relations are complex and that the position of the ‘creamers’ is infused with power as reflected in the role that they play as assessors of the boys’ performance.     

‘Knowing is not enough; we must apply’: reflections on a failed action learning application

This paper reflects upon a sub-optimal action learning application with a strategic business re-design project. The objective of the project was to improve the long-term business performance of a subsidiary business and build the strategic plan. Action learning was introduced to aid the group in expanding their view of the real problems confronting the business and simultaneously implement a learning method to improve the organization's leadership team's critical thinking as a whole. Ultimately, the goal was the creation of organizational learning as the project progressed through an integrative, systems problem-solving approach. The author uncovered that corporate culture was an insurmountable hurdle in reaching the optimal application of action learning. The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the application of action learning and outline probable reasons for the failure in reaching the ultimate application of action learning.     

Mentoring at‐risk adolescent girls: listening to ‘Little Sisters’

In order to develop an understanding of mentoring relationships and the impact these relationships might have on the development of high‐risk adolescent girls, this qualitative study explored the relationships between six ‘Little Sisters’ and their ‘Big Sister’ mentors. The purposefully‐selected sample includes women and girls who were actively involved in a formal mentoring relationship for a minimum of three years. Findings suggest that a long‐term, nurturing mentoring relationship had a positive impact on the self‐efficacy, aspirations, and possible selves of the at‐risk adolescent girls.     

Street ‘doctory’ among a group of heroin addicts in India: naturalistic peer learning

Street ‘doctory’ is a form of peer-based medical care performed in street settings among a group of heroin addicts in Yamuna Bazaar, New Delhi. Using participant observation and semi-structured interviews, this study describes three components of the practice, and suggests that each contained peer learning processes. First, participants conducted procedures such as injections and wound care that involved apprenticeship relationships in which ‘novices’ learned through observation and participation with ‘experts’. Second, addicts participated in illness discussions in which they co-constructed meanings about the causes, symptoms and remedies of prevalent diseases. Third, individuals engaged in health consultancy for peers who were sick which involved synthesising, interpreting and communicating concepts and experiences through meaningful units of advice. Analysis suggests that these practices may be theorised as instances of situated learning involving legitimate peripheral participation, meaning negotiation and learning through teaching. These learning patterns represent opportunities for developing culturally tuned health education interventions that engage and impact the participants.     

Teacher reflections on ‘bumpy moments’ in teaching: a self‐study

This study recounts a practicing teacher's attempt to describe reflections during the course of teaching at the primary level. A self‐study was conducted to address teacher thinking during ‘bumpy moments’ in teaching, offering an insight into how we might capture the details of teachers' unseen reflections. Through an analysis of the many ‘bumpy moments’ in teaching, several important findings emerged about the nature of reflection and how reflection actually occurs in the classroom context. Results of this study have implications for future research, teacher education and improvement of the teaching practice.     

‘Building Schools for the Future’: reflections on a new social architecture

The Labour Government launched the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme (BSF) in February 2003 with the aim of refurbishing or rebuilding all secondary schools in England over a 15‐year period, with an anticipated budget of £45 billion. In this article, we locate BSF in a wider public policy context which has already had important implications in other sectors of public provision. The local improvement finance trusts (LIFTs) initiative within the National Health Service (NHS) is of particular relevance to this discussion both because it reflects contemporary developments within New Public Management and because it also reveals new ways of extending and developing the private finance initiative (PFI) approach to public provision. We shall also consider the purposes and ‘delivery’ mechanisms of BSF and identify some of the key commentaries which have been provided by parliamentary reports and other evaluations. Although still in the early stages of its implementation, the BSF is of such significance for the future shape and form of educational provision that it is important to begin the process of considering possible directions and dimensions for a research agenda which will provide a secure empirical and analytical foundation on which to base discussion.     

High school boys’ and girls’ writing conceptions and writing self-efficacy beliefs: what is their role in writing performance?

This study investigated the conceptions about writing and writing self-efficacy beliefs held by high school students in relation to the students’ gender as well as their associations with writing achievement. The results show that female students have more sophisticated writing conceptions than their male counterparts but no gender differences were found in writing self-efficacy beliefs. In addition, results reveal that writing self-efficacy beliefs and gender play an important role in predicting writing performance and that writing performance is moderated by students’ writing conceptions. Educational implications and further research are discussed.     

‘Power,regulation and physically active identities’: the experiences of rural and regional living adolescent girls

Drawing on interpretations of Foucault's techniques of power, we explored the discourses and power relations operative between groups of girls that appeared to influence their participation in Physical Education (PE) and outside of school in sport and physical activity (PA) in rural and regional communities. Interviews and focus groups were conducted in eight secondary schools with female students from Year 9 (n = 22) and 10 (n = 116). Dominant gendered and performance discourses were active in shaping girls’ construction of what it means to be active or ‘sporty’, and these identity positions were normalised and valued. The perceived and real threat of their peer's gaze as a form of surveillance acted to further perpetuate the power of performance discourses; whereby girls measured and (self) regulated their participation. Community settings were normalised as being exclusively for skilled performers and girls self-regulated their non-participation according to judgements made about their own physical abilities. These findings raise questions about the ways in which power relations, as forged in broader sociocultural and institutional discourse–power relations, can infiltrate the level of the PE classroom to regulate and normalise practices in relation to their, and others, PA participation.     

Tomorrow’s a mystery: constructions of the future and ‘un/becoming’ amongst ‘early’ and ‘late’ career academics

Abstract

Constructing a secure sense of a professional future has become increasingly difficult for early career researchers, whilst concerns about present and future job in/security have also been expressed in relation to already-established academics. In this paper, we draw on qualitative data from a U.K. study to explore everyday conceptualisations of the future for both ‘early career’ and ‘late career’ academics, in the context of increased fears and actualities of occupational precarity. We utilise theories of the social construction of time, as well as a conception of precarity and ‘precarization’ utilised by Butler (2009a, 2009b) and Lorey (2015), relating to ‘politically induced’ forms of insecurity that are a direct product of neoliberalism. The research reveals a variety of forms and levels of concern and anxiety by both groups for their own futures, and for the future of the academy as a whole.     

‘Teaching is a co-learning experience’: academics reflecting on learning and teaching in an ‘internationalized’ faculty

This paper reports on a study that took place in a faculty of humanities and social sciences at a UK university. The institution had recently undergone a radical restructure and the vision for the future presented by the new senior management team highlighted internationalization as one of four major areas for growth. The internationalization agenda was largely focused on increasing recruitment, but provided an opportunity to engage the academic community in a discourse about what internationalization meant for them and the challenges and opportunities it presented. Emerging themes relate to experiences and understandings of internationalization, with implications for learning and teaching, and student induction and support. The value of discourse about pedagogical development and practical innovations and the sharing of best practice are suggested as means to achieve conceptual change and a broader vision of internationalization.     

‘An essential right’: reflections on evaluating a professional development program for tutors

Abstract

While there is a growing body of research on sessional staff experiences, there are few published accounts evaluating their professional development. This paper reflects on an evaluation of a university-wide professional development program for tutors at an Australian university. A combination of complementary approaches were used to inform the development of the evaluation, namely: Participatory Action Research, monitoring, evaluation, research and improvement, and Participatory Evaluation. Findings of the evaluation reveal valuable lessons for the academic development of sessional teaching staff.     

‘The learning sticks’: reflections on a case study of role-playing for sustainability

Use of role-plays to develop deep student-learning has many advocates. Role-play is a powerful approach for learning that develops relevant skills in a range of disciplines and situations. In Higher Education, sustainability programmes role-play pedagogy appears to have great relevance for developing the competencies that these graduates will need. The ability of role-play pedagogy to develop these competencies was assessed through a case study of students in a first-year subject/course at an Australian university. Analysis of the students’ written comments indicate that the students were involved in significant learning, and had made substantial progress in developing five key skills for sustainability. The enjoyment and engagement they demonstrated was an added benefit of their experience and potentially of the role-play approach. While it is acknowledged that a role-play requires careful planning and support, and may be considered resource intensive, it can be argued that the student learning achieved is worth the effort.     

‘They are not serious like the boys’: gender norms and contradictions for girls in rural Kenya

This paper reconsiders urban–rural and modern–traditional dichotomies by exploring the multiple and contested gendered issues that secondary school girls face in rural Kisii, Western Kenya. Findings are drawn from a qualitative case study and explore the ways that gendered norms interact with new ideas of gender equity in and out of the classroom. It is argued that this rural setting offers a highly complex environment for girls in local day secondary schools who often face multiple challenges; many of which are at risk of being overlooked by assumptions that the rural context, where the girls live and are educated, is timeless, static and isolated. Implications are considered for the reconceptualisation of ideas of gender equity in education to go beyond quantitative measures such as enrolment and parity of attention in class to account for out-of-school challenges and the ways in which girls are treated while in school.