A comparison of Native American and white students’ cognitive strengths as measured by the Kaufman assessment battery for children

This study compared relative cognitive strengths of American Indian and White students, ages seven through twelve years. The sample group included 57 American Indian subjects and 60 White subjects attending schools within a single school district in southcentral Montana. These children had all been referred for assessment for possible placement in an enrichment program for students of high ability. All subjects were administered the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, and scores were analyzed through a one‐way Analysis of Variance. There were found to be no significant differences between the two group means on the Mental Processing Composite. However, Indian subjects scored significantly higher than White subjects in Simultaneous Processing, and White subjects scored significantly higher than Indian subjects in Sequential Processing. Indian subjects also achieved significantly higher scores in three of five Simultaneous Processing subtests. Possible interpretations of statistical differences and implications for educators are discussed.     

Do emotions and prior performance facilitate the use of the learner-generated drawing strategy? Effects of enjoyment,anxiety, and intramathematical performance on the use of the drawing strategy and modelling performance

The use of self-generated drawings has been found to be a powerful strategy for problem solving. However, many students do not engage in drawing activities. In this study, we investigated the effects of the enjoyment of the drawing strategy, anxiety about the drawing strategy, and prior intramathematical performance on the use of the drawing strategy and modelling performance. We explored the role of the drawing strategy as a mediator between emotions and modelling and whether intramathematical performance moderated the effects of emotions (N = 220, mean age 14.5 years). Enjoyment and anxiety with respect to generating drawings and intramathematical performance predicted the use of the drawing strategy. Enjoyment positively affected modelling performance indirectly via the use of the drawing strategy. Anxiety negatively affected modelling performance via the use of the drawing strategy for students with lower intramathematical performance. Our findings demonstrate that experiencing activating emotions (i.e., enjoyment and anxiety) with respect to strategies and prior intramathematical performance are important for strategy use and modelling performance. Implications for the theory of self-generated drawing and the control-value theory of achievement emotions and practical implications for training and supporting the drawing strategy are discussed.     

Do Students' Religion and School Absences Moderate the Effect of Ethnic Stereotypes on School-Placement Recommendations?

The results of two experiments demonstrate that preservice teachers made biased school-placement recommendations depending on student's ethnicity, which on average penalized students from an ethnic minority. Moreover, additional information that was supposed to disconfirm ethnic stereotypes (religious affiliation in Experiment 1, number of missed school days in Experiment 2) led to more high-track recommendations for low-achieving minority students and to fewer high-track recommendations for high-achieving minority students. Conversely, stereotype-disconfirming information exerted little or no influence on the recommendations for high-achieving native students but worsened recommendations for low-achieving students. The results were interpreted as being based either on subtyping (predominantly for minority Turkish students) or subgrouping (predominantly for majority German students) of ethnic stereotypes.     

Alternative explanations for the Confucian Asian high performance and high self doubt paradox: Commentary on “Unforgiving Confucian culture: A breeding ground for high academic achievement,test anxiety and self-doubt?” by Lazar Stankov

This commentary reflects upon Lazar Stankov's thesis which regards “unforgiving nature of Confucian Asian societies” as the driving force underpinning academic success of students from these societies. The commentary considers theoretical perspectives put forward by Jian Wang and Emily Lin (2008), and by Chiu and Klassen (2010) as two alternative frameworks for explaining the paradox of high academic performance and high self-doubt at large scale international assessments among Confucian Asian Societies. Whilst acknowledging contributions from the systematic logical deduction of Stankov's article, the commentary proposes the use of Generalised Graded Unfolding Model as an alternative analytical tool for the data.     

Do `Skills Beget Skills'? Evidence on the effect of kindergarten entrance age on the evolution of cognitive and non-cognitive skill gaps in childhood

We use exogenous variation in the skills that children have at the beginning of kindergarten to measure the extent to which “skills beget skills” in this context. Children who are relatively older when they begin kindergarten score higher on measures of cognitive and non-cognitive achievement at the beginning of kindergarten. Their scores on cognitive assessments grow faster during kindergarten and first grade. However, after first grade the scores of younger entrants catch up. We find no evidence that the growth in non-cognitive measures differs between older and younger entrants. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that schools are not the cause of the younger students’ faster growth after first grade.     

Out of Love for Any Thing? A Response to Vlieghe and Zamojski on Some Pedagogical Problems with an Object‐Oriented ‘Educational Love’

In this paper we consider some of the problems inherent in the attempt to define and circumscribe an exclusively ‘educational love’, as presented by Joris Vlieghe and Piotr Zamojski in a recent paper for this journal. In seeking to move beyond the confusing interpersonal relations involved in student‐centred discourses on teaching, the authors aim to articulate an ‘educational love’ that is more oriented towards subject matter than the student subject. In the process, the concept of love itself becomes increasingly abstract and open to interpretation. Further, the attempt to reconcile these elements in an uncomplicated ‘love for the object’, following the example of Alain Badiou's St Paul, constitutes an injustice to the other subjects—the students—involved in the teaching situation. We consider the ways in which such abstractions might sit with student teachers, to demonstrate how and why the intersubjective dimension—with some of the possible emotive messiness that is implied therein—must not fade from view, if we are to avoid conceiving of education as something that can be purified of individual interest, motivation and desire.     

How Do the Different Components of Episodic Memory Develop? Role of Executive Functions and Short‐Term Feature‐Binding Abilities

This study investigated the development of all 3 components of episodic memory (EM), as defined by Tulving, namely, core factual content, spatial context, and temporal context. To this end, a novel, ecologically valid test was administered to 109 participants aged 4-16 years. Results showed that each EM component develops at a different rate. Ability to memorize factual content emerges early, whereas context retrieval abilities continue to improve until adolescence, due to persistent encoding difficulties (isolated by comparing results on free recall and recognition tasks). Exploration of links with other cognitive functions revealed that short-term feature-binding abilities contribute to all EM components, and executive functions to temporal and spatial context, although ability to memorize temporal context is predicted mainly by age.     

Do schools affect girls’ and boys’ reading performance differently? A multilevel study on the gendered effects of school resources and school practices

Few studies on male–female inequalities in education have elaborated on whether school characteristics affect girls’ and boys’ educational performance differently. This study investigated how school resources, being schools’ socioeconomic composition, proportion of girls, and proportion of highly educated teachers, and school practices, being schools’ application of well-rounded assessment methods, influenced girls’ and boys’ reading performance differently. We hypothesised that positive effects of school resources would be greater for boys than for girls, and that more frequent use of well-rounded assessment methods would be associated with increased girls’ and decreased boys’ reading performance. Using advanced multilevel analyses of 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, we found that boys profited more than girls from having a large proportion of girls in school. Contrary to our expectations, girls gained more than boys from a school’s advantaged socioeconomic composition. These gendered effects of school resources were not explained by differences in school learning climate.     

The Art of the Impossible? A Case Study and Reflections on the Experience of Art in a Rural Kenyan Primary School

The arguments for, and justification of, the value of teaching art in school have been made previously, but contextually these are often situated in Western affluence. This article explores the issues with a strikingly contrasted setting. The rural school in the study is approximately 30 minutes' drive from the nearest town, and the pupils are drawn from the surrounding rural bush area which is itself developmentally and materially poor in comparison to the UK. In school, the poverty seemed initially to relate to a lack of educational resources, but the reality experienced in the classroom may have also been linked to other issues. These included the desperate preoccupation with survival in difficult climatic conditions, a postcolonial legacy and the delicate balance of utilising resources without waste. What conclusions might then be drawn about the teaching of art? Utilising the work of others who have considered the issues in Kenya, this small‐scale ethnographic case study is presented with personal reflection and observations. The author would be pleased to hear from others with similar experiences or who have recognised additional issues in seemingly challenging circumstances.     

Reflexivity for what? A response to Gewirtz and Cribb on the role of values in the sociology of education

This article is a reply to Gewirtz and Cribb's argument for ethical reflexivity, presented in a previous issue of this journal. These authors compared their views with mine, suggesting a way in which the differences between our positions could be overcome. I argue that, while there is certainly substantial agreement, there are also some fundamental differences between us, notably about the goal of research. Indeed, in my view, what they recommend involves a greatly increased danger of bias and a version of scientism. At issue here is, in large part, the kind of ethical reflexivity that is appropriate in sociological work.     

Back to the future? Reflections on three phases of education policy reform in Wales and their implications for teachers

Journal of Educational Change - Wales’ education system is part-way through an extensive journey of reform. This contextual paper explores the evolution of that journey, from the...     

Liberating Tongues?: A Theoretical Analysis of the Work of a full‐time Embedded Spoken Word Educator in a Secondary School

This article will discuss my often challenging transition from radical political poet to full time poet teacher in a Roman Catholic secondary school. Can the counter‐cultural art form of spoken word education thrive within the institution of school? By looking at classroom and after school experience, student poems and relevant theory, the paper will consider the opportunities and complications of using spoken word education to stage marginalised voices.     

Childhood in crisis? Perceptions of 7–11-year-olds on being a child and the implications for education's well-being agenda

Notions of a good childhood are inextricably linked with well-being. Both concepts are central to a contentious debate about the quality of childhood in the UK, which is partly situated within the ‘childhood in crisis’ discourse which opponents claim is overstated. This study contributes to the debate by hearing thevoices of children as co-constructors of their own childhood. Perceptions of childhood were collected through semi-structured group interviews with 56 children aged 7–11 in a school in an economically deprived town in east England.Children spontaneously identified childhood in a positive way. Further questioning was required to explore the negative aspects. Childhood was mostly considered preferable to adulthood which was deemed tedious and stressful although children also identified advantages to being older. Implications for primary schools’ well-being agenda, and the place of the school in shaping childhood, are discussed.     

Do students need more information to leave the beaten paths? The impact of a counseling intervention on high school students’ choice of major

Higher Education - Despite an almost endless list of possible study programs and occupational opportunities, high school students frequently focus on pursuing a small number of well-known study...     

Does the Company Programme have the same impact on young women and men? A study of entrepreneurship education in Norwegian upper secondary schools

This paper asks whether a European entrepreneurship programme called the ‘Company Programme’ (CP) has an impact on young women and men with regard to career preferences, and perceptions of business skills and the likelihood of having a company. CP is taught to 270,000 students in 39 European countries, and approximately 15% of Norwegian students participate in CP during upper secondary school. The data used are from a student survey in Norway with 1160 respondents, who were 17–18 years old. The response rate was 81%. Controlling for competing explanations, CP positively influences young women and men and their perceptions of the knowledge and skills related to starting a business, increases the share of young women that prefer self-employment and increases the share of young women and men that find it probable that they will own a company. It seems that the perceived effect of CP on skills and knowledge and preference for self-employment is somewhat stronger among young women, while the perceived effect on the likelihood of owning a company is somewhat stronger among young men.