‘Absent fathers’, and children’s social and emotional learning: an exploration of the perceptions of ‘positive male role models’ in the primary school sector

This paper focuses on the testimonies of three male primary school staff members who utilised social and emotional learning (SEL) in their everyday practice within their respective schools. The data, collected through individual interviews, illustrate how these three men interpreted SEL, and their role in the development of children’s social, emotional and behavioural (SEB) skills, in response to their perceptions of pupils’ home-life. In particular, the sample identified the children’s fathers’ perceived ability/inability as a main cause of pupils’ SEB deficiencies. Consequently, the three male staff members maintained that in order to advocate and encourage alternative, appropriate behaviours, they should act as ‘replacement fathers’ and become ‘role models’. The findings contribute to existing debates relating to the notion of ‘positive male role models’ in primary schools and the propensity for staff to engage in parental blame. The implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions that call for a more democratic and cooperative exchange of knowledge between parents and teachers are made.     

Strengthening ‘the foundations’ of the primary school curriculum

The low status of the foundation subjects (e.g. Music and Physical Education (PE)) in English primary schools is well documented. Using PE as an illustrative example, a thematic analysis of 51 PE trainee students’ assignments, based on their perceptions of a two-week experience in a primary school, highlighted a number of areas of concern (e.g. limited/inadequate preparation; insufficient teacher knowledge/confidence; variable/limited subject leadership and non-qualified teachers delivering the curriculum). The possibility of teachers, coaches and other external specialists learning collaboratively with and from each other within a community of practice/learning is proposed as one way of strengthening the foundation subjects within the primary school curriculum.     

‘Nature’ and the ‘environment’ in Jamaica’s primary school curriculum guides

In cases where environmental education is institutionalised within schools, the curriculum can affect what and how students learn about ‘nature’ and the ‘environment’. In Jamaica, schools are considered important settings for environmental education; the curriculum therefore includes environmental issues. Using content analysis, representations of ‘nature’ and the ‘environment’ in the nation’s primary level Curriculum Guides were examined. Findings indicate that although many units emphasise an anthropocentric view of nature, this is tempered by depictions of nature’s fragility and, in some instances, nature’s ‘divine’ dimensions. Several curricular units also facilitate student’s creative engagement with nature, allowing for multiple views of the natural world.     

Capabilities and the global challenges of girls’ school enrolment and women’s literacy

The education Millennium Development Goals have been highly influential on the priorities for education and concentrated policy efforts on numbers of girls enrolled in public sector schools offering basic education. This focus has been justified by human capital calculations of the social rates of return to basic schooling. This concern with quantities has met criticism from more qualitative researchers concerned with understanding not only why girls are not enrolled in school, but also why they may be irregular attenders and poor performers in public examinations even if they are enrolled. Alongside the efforts to achieve the education Millennium Development Goals have been initiatives to improve adult women’s literacies, often combined with an empowerment objective. This paper uses Sen’s capability approach to argue that improving deliberative processes is relevant for the well-being of girls and women of all ages.     

‘Ready for big school’: making the transition to primary school – a Jamaican perspective

The aim of this small-scale, qualitative study is to understand the perspective of varying stakeholders responsible for student transitions from pre-primary to primary school in the Jamaican context. The questions that guided the research are: What factors affect student transitions to primary school? What skills do children need in order to successfully transition? and Who/what is responsible for preparing students to transition from pre-primary to primary school? To answer these questions a representative from the Early Childhood Commission, 13 parents and 16 Grade 1 teachers from 12 schools across the island of Jamaica were interviewed. Findings reveal that student transitions from pre-primary to primary school need systematic attention particularly in light of how this impacts on student success, not only in primary school, but in their secondary years as well. The data also reveal that a major issue affecting student transitions is the quality of pre-primary education and parenting practices in the early years. Also highlighted are the differing perspectives of teachers and parents on the skills needed for success in primary school. Parenting programmes and professional development for both parents and teachers, respectively, are critical if strides are to be made.     

Irish primary school children's definitions of ‘geography’

This research reviews a sample of fifth-class children's definitions of geography. It was carried out after the publication of the Revised Primary School Curriculum (1999) but before any staff development had taken place for the implementation of this curriculum. Since the data was collected, staff development for the 1999 curriculum in geography has been timetabled for the 2005–2006 school year.

The data collected revealed most children had a clear idea what geography was, with the majority of children (97.3%) referring to one or more aspects of geography. Over half the children defined geography as being about themes and places. A clear emphasis on the learning of place names and fact learning came through in definitions. There were limited references to learning key ideas or concepts. Skills, with the exception of ‘maps’, were mentioned by few children. No child mentioned fieldwork. The definitions written by the children tended to reflect geography topics they had covered in school textbooks. The findings suggest areas of the 1999 curriculum that will be new to teachers and children and point to the challenges for the implementation of the curriculum.     

Bureaucratic constructions of sexual diversity: ‘sensitive’, ‘controversial’ and silencing

National research illustrates the high degree of discrimination that prevails against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students resulting in diminished educational outcomes, both academic and social. This phenomenon is influenced by the prevalence of whole-school silences around LGBTQ topics in many Australian schools. This paper presents an analysis of the New South Wales (NSW) homophobia in schools policy, as well as both NSW state and Australian federal curriculum and syllabus documents in the health and physical education key learning area. This analysis illustrates how contradictory framing and messages; silences and omission; and various discursive constructions of the LGBTQ subject together produce silencing technologies that have critical implications for the implementation of education, both in this key learning area and across the schooling sector.     

‘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.     

The epistemic role of novel metaphors in teachers’ knowledge constructions of school reform

In this article, a parallel is drawn between Steven Hawking’s use of common and novel metaphors in his evolving explanation of the theory of the universe and the similar use of common and novel metaphors by educators in four school contexts attempting to illuminate their experiences of school reform storied and restoried over time. The epistemic role of novel metaphors is unpacked through examining the plotlines of the metaphors, the morals of the metaphors, the freedom of the metaphors and the teacher knowledge implications resident in the live metaphorical utterances. Through the use of self‐selected novel metaphors, both Hawking and the educators merged propositional and non‐propositional knowledge that was bound up in persons—and communicated across people—in deceptively simple, though infinitely complex, ways.     

Addressing the ‘elephant in the room’. The role of the primary school practitioner in supporting children’s mental well-being

The enthusiasm regarding the school as a place for mental health promotion is powered by a large body of research demonstrating the links between mental health and well-being, academic success and future life opportunities. Despite on-going commitment to mental well-being in the U.K., statistics suggest mental health issues are increasing among children and young people. This small-scale qualitative-exploratory study, undertaken in two primary schools in North Wales, reports on how school practitioners perceive, promote and support the mental health and well-being of pupils. The paper highlights a reluctance by practitioners to address mental health topics due to fear of stigma and a desire to protect children. Issues linked to funding, skills and training, together with over-stretched specialist agencies, are making it difficult for school practitioners to support pupils. There is a pressing need for appropriate training opportunities in order for practitioners to be knowledgeable and to feel confident to discuss mental health with children and young people. Schools have a significant role in supporting children’s mental well-being and reducing the stigma attached to mental illness but only if this important topic is not regarded as an ‘elephant in the room’.     

Exploring the role of India’s secondary school compulsory curriculum textbooks in students’ national identity constructions in an overseas school

This study problematises the contribution of India’s school textbooks in students’ national identity constructions in an overseas school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The textbooks construct students’ national identity on the concepts of India’s secular democracy, colonial resistance and equal citizenship rights. Notwithstanding study participants’ ambivalent identification with these ideals, they mostly express confusing identities evincing religious tendencies, gendered beliefs towards women and antipathy for India’s neighbouring states. This entails implications for India’s national cohesion and students’ ability to live in harmony with other communities in the diasporic setting. It also poses risks to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2030.     

Promoting children’s participation: the role of teachers in preschool and primary school learning sessions

The aim of this study is to provide insights into the social construction of participation in joint activities in Finnish preschool and primary school classrooms. The article deals with two issues: How do teachers promote participation in a preschool classroom as compared with a primary school classroom? What similarities and differences are found? It also considers the question of how the similarities contribute to the continuity from preschool to primary school in terms of participation. Based on observation data insights are provided into the interactions between teachers and children by using extracts from teacher‐led learning sessions. The teachers used a diversity of strategies to promote participation in both contexts. In the preschool the focus was on participation and interaction as such, whereas in the primary school the emphasis was more clearly on academic learning. The findings suggest that teacher support of active participation and friendly relationships, together with creative and playful activities in the preschool, enrich children’s curiosity, and nourish children’s motivation for and interests in academic learning.     

The disaster of the ‘self‐managing school’ – genesis,trajectory, undisclosed agenda,and effects

Sometimes an educational idea is inexplicably adopted around the world with remarkable speed and consistency and in the absence of a proper evidence base or with little regard or respect for teachers, students or learning. This paper examines what has arguably been the most contentious and virulent educational reform of the past half‐century. Variously labelled, in what amounts to the self‐managing school, what this reform has done is virtually dismantle public education and privatise it without public debate or proper scrutiny. This paper considers the alleged claims by the enthusiastic proponents and examines what has subsequently transpired, particularly in respect of the most disadvantaged students and the broader mission of improved learning.     

Becoming and being DLP: Designated Liaison Persons’ experience of the role in the Irish primary school†

This paper reviews the role of the Designated Liaison Person (DLP) for Child Protection in the Irish primary school context. This is a role assigned by the Board of Management to a person in the school who oversees all matters pertaining to child protection including reporting abuse, liaising with staff and outside agencies in relation to child protection and meeting parents as required. Given the responsibilities associated with the role, it is normally the Principal teacher in the school who undertakes the role. A study undertaken with a number of DLPs in a variety of schools of different size and type highlights the multifaceted nature of the role, the supports available to DLPs and the challenges in undertaking this responsibility. The responsibility of ensuring the DLP is taking the correct course of action in making a referral of abuse in relation to a child is highlighted in the findings. Recent updates in child protection legislation which will impact on child protection procedures and policy in the school environment are also considered in this paper.     

Predictors of teachers’ use of ICT in school – the relevance of school characteristics,teachers’ attitudes and teacher collaboration

This paper is based on the research question of what predictors (school characteristics, teachers’ attitudes, teacher collaboration and background characteristics) determine secondary school teachers’ frequency of computer use in class. The use of new technologies by secondary school teachers for educational purposes is an important factor regarding school and teaching processes. The use of digital media in schools is, among other things, associated with the goal of supporting learning processes and improving the quality of education. This contribution identifies relevant factors by means of multiple regression analyses of the teachers’ frequency of computer use for instruction in five countries (the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Poland and Germany) to get an idea of how to support the frequency of the use of computers in class. The analyses and findings are based on the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) study of International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2013 (ICILS), which investigates the computer and information literacy (CIL) of secondary school students and the contexts in which students develop CIL in 21 countries. Antecedents concerning school characteristics, teachers’ attitudes and teacher collaboration on the process level and background characteristics of secondary school teachers (N = 8.920) are examined in order to gain further insight into the nature and effect of predictors for secondary school teachers’ in-class use of information and communications technology. The analyses show that there are more country-specific results than similarities between the countries selected. In all countries, antecedents concerning teachers’ attitudes are more relevant for teachers’ in-class use of computers than school characteristics or teacher collaboration on the process level.     

Fitness,fatness and healthism discourse: girls constructing ‘healthy’ identities in school

Drawing on longitudinal, qualitative research into girls’ participation in physical activity and sport in the UK, this article will explore girls’ embodied constructions of ‘healthy’ identities. My research with girls (aged 10–13) found that over the transition to secondary school, classed and gendered healthism discourses had come to powerfully frame girls’ sports participation by condoning the achievement of slender embodied femininities through physical activity. The findings suggest that while neoliberal indictments of self-care through physical activity can usefully frame girls’ individual ‘body projects’, these discourses also contribute to a hierarchisation of bodies within physical activity settings and to increasingly narrow standards of acceptable bodies able to take part in physical activity. Within the article, I consider how healthism discourses both regulate and are resisted by the girls as they work to construct physical identities within their school settings.     

‘Mind the Gap’: the influence of assessment criteria in primary school mentoring

This paper considers the signs student teachers on a PGCE Secondary Course display as evidence of a readiness to progress to a higher level of performance. It includes activity types which enable mentors to assess progress in relation to established competence areas. The arguments and proposals are founded on the outcomes of qualitative research methods conducted over a period of time with mentors and student teachers on a PGCE Secondary Modern Foreign Languages programme.     

Encouraging the transfer of ‘school’ mathematics to the ‘real world’ through the integration of process and content,context and culture

This paper reports upon a research project which considered the transfer of students' mathematical understanding across different task contexts. The research involved two groups of students from contrasting learning environments. The first environment was characterised by the complete integration of mathematical process and content using open ended activities. The second environment represented a typical English classroom with a content based scheme being predominantly used. The research demonstrated that the procedure and performance of students in response to addition and fraction tasks varied considerably when the context of the tasks changed. This variation suggested that students' perceptions of the contexts were individually constructed and contexts did not have a uniform effect upon the difficulty of tasks. The research also suggested that students who had learned in an environment characterised by the integration of process and content were more able to transfer their learning across contexts. Students who had learned mathematical process independently of content were more likely to vary their procedure and performance in response to the contexts of the tasks. This was considered in relation to the problems of school — real world transfer and the effectiveness of different learning environments.     

Deconstructing immigrant girls’ identities through the production of visual narratives in a Catalan urban primary school

In this article, the research findings of a deconstructive visual ethnography focused on the production of immigrant girls’ identities will be analysed. This collaborative research project involved experimentation with a dialogic curriculum aimed at creating diverse identity narratives with immigrant girls at an urban primary school in Barcelona. Using a theory of subjectivity based on feminist post‐structuralism and subaltern studies, I will deconstruct: (1) the role of ‘subjugated knowledges’ when the curriculum is used to rewrite children’s cross‐cultural narratives; (2) the production of local/global children’s identities through the interaction between ethnic, racial, gender, age and social class subjective and learning positions; and (3) the creation of new curricular spaces and times in which differences are empowered and distance is transformed between schools and families, public and private knowledge, official and subaltern identities, as well as between teaching and research.     

School bullying and students’ sense of safety in school: the moderating role of school climate

European Journal of Psychology of Education - One of the negative consequences of bullying in schools is its adverse effect on students’ sense of safety. Previous studies yielded mixed...