Women's leadership of ‘much needed national work’ in wartime education

While there is a wealth of feminist research on women's educational leadership and policy-making in the interwar years, this article extends the discussion into the Second World War. My focus is the educational leadership of Dorothy Walker, head teacher of St Peter's Infant School and the youngest head teacher in Birmingham, and Lillian de Lissa, longstanding principal of Gipsy Hill Training College (where Walker trained) and national advocate for early childhood education. I highlight Walker and de Lissa's ongoing challenges to patriarchal authority and their continuing commitments to progressive education, as well as many war-related issues they encountered in their lives and work. Working at different levels of policy-making and contrasting in age, Walker and de Lissa invested their leadership with a national significance during the war.     

Professionalism and Intensification in Teaching: a case study of ‘care’ in teachers’ work

This paper reports a research project in teachers’ work in one secondary school. It takes a labour process perspective to examine how localized notions of professionalism act to both enable and disable teachers in their struggle to exercise control over their work. For the teachers in this study an ‘ethic of care’ appears to inform their practice and relationships. Professionalism as care plays a contradictory role in these teachers’ working lives, at the same time providing the motivation, commitment and conditions that result in the intensification and control of their work.     

The daily me: a response to ‘Tocqueville on democracy and inclusive education: a more ardent and enduring love of equality than of liberty’

The relationship between a parent and their child who has SEN is one that, by necessity, is shared with a larger than usual group of professionals. It is perhaps inevitable, then, that this relationship has been an occasionally precarious one, with a potential for conflict due to differing perspectives and priorities. Although the ideal of partnership between parent and professional was originally defined in the Warnock Report in 1978 as a preference for equality, the constitution of partnership has continued to be viewed with a degree of caution. The contribution of parents in the education of their child has been a long‐standing yet somewhat relegated feature of policy reform, where limited investigation of parents’ views has perpetuated the consensus that multiple perspectives are rarely obtained. This paper explores the premise of partnership in Northern Ireland, with reference to parents’ relationships with the cross‐section of professionals who constitute an inevitable by‐product of having a child with SEN. Specifically, it will refer to their perceived status as partners within procedural infrastructures, and identification of those factors that have challenged the premise of partnership. The paper will present some findings from a phenomenological study involving 20 parents. This represented the third and final stage of a large scale research study involving quantitative and qualitative data collection. In Northern Ireland, the dual prerogatives of special education and inclusion have acquired commensurate currency as part of an ongoing process of social reform and education rationalisation. This meant that much of the research was undertaken against a backdrop of emerging educational policy and legislation for SEN, disability and inclusion. It is a timely opportunity, then, to review existing challenges and to consider possible alternatives for future partnerships     

The concept and profession of ‘englightenment work’: a reaction to Bo Jacobsen

This paper examines the idea that life transition events or turning points are linked with educational participation in adults’ understandings and biographies. The extensive, interdisciplinary literature in this area suggests the importance of such linkages in both theory and practice, and is supported by anecdotal evidence and behaviour. Our analysis focuses on 36 interviews carried out as part of a study of students on two large, local part‐time degree programmes. These students split into two, almost equal groups: those for whom a clear linkage between their current educational participation and one or more life transitional events can be identified, and those for whom no such linkage is readily apparent. Indeed, the latter may be consciously resisting such linkages. They are involved in education for its intrinsic interest, with no immediate instrumental end in view. The idea of life transitional events, while it has its uses, does not form a suitable basis upon which to build satisfying, explanatory theories of adult participation.     

‘It’s more foreign than a foreign country’: adaptation and experience of Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong

Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of Mainland students crossing the border to pursue tertiary studies in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. In contrast to those who have chosen to study in foreign countries, such as United States, United Kingdom or Germany, the Mainland group are studying and living in a society that is both familiar and strange to them due to unique political and sociocultural relationships between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Previous research has mainly focused on Mainland students’ motivations for choosing Hong Kong as their academic destination, but questions as to how they adapt to the university setting and host society have been under-researched. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study reports on the findings of focus groups exploring Mainland students’ adaptation to life and study in Hong Kong. Findings revealed that linguistic adaptation, social network, political identification and discrimination were the most significant acculturative stressors reported by Mainland students. Implications for how Mainland students can best adjust and how universities can better support them are discussed.     

Cognitive and socio-motivational aspects in learning with animations: there is more to it than ‘do they aid learning or not’

Animations have become a ubiquitous component of computer-based instruction. Despite their widespread use, however, the evidence concerning their effects on learning is rather ambiguous, suggesting that one needs to have a closer look at the conditions under which animations will aid learning. Accordingly, three sets of moderating variables were identified: (1) the degree of processing support that is used to enhance learning with animation, (2) the context in which the animation is being used (e.g., laboratory setting versus classroom), and (3) the domain that is illustrated by the animation. On the one hand, the studies reported in the current special issue investigate manipulations of these variables. On the other hand, the studies vary among each other with respect to these factors, thereby reflecting the enlarged range of current animation research.     

‘Much more than a basic education’: supporting self-determination and cultural integrity in a non-traditional school for Indigenous girls

This paper presents data from an interview-based case study of a secondary school located in a suburban area of Queensland (Australia). The school is a non-traditional education site designed to support disadvantaged girls, many of whom are Indigenous, and is highly regarded for its holistic approach to gender and cultural inclusion and equity. Through lenses that align Nancy Fraser's theories of redistributive and recognitive justice, with Indigenous feminists' equity priorities, the paper identifies and analyses the structures and practices at the school that support the girls' capacities for self-determination and their sense of cultural integrity. The paper is an important counterpoint within the context of mainstream gender equity and schooling discourses that continue to homogenise gender categories, sideline the multiple axes of differentiation that interplay to compound gender (dis)advantage and deflect attention away from marginalised girls. In particular, it provides significant insight into how schools can begin to reconcile the double bind of racism and sexism that continues to stymie the schooling and post-school outcomes of Indigenous girls.     

‘Becoming and being writers’: the experiences of doctoral students in writing groups

The use of writing groups to support students undertaking post-graduate research within universities has begun to receive attention from academic supervisors and doctoral researchers. Very little has been written by doctoral students themselves on the benefits of working within such writing groups. In this article, the experiences of working within a doctoral writing group at an Australian University are presented, primarily from the perspective of students. The authors identify two main benefits they have experienced through participating in a writing group using a ‘multi-voiced’ approach. First, they discuss the kind of learning that they achieved through working in a writing group. They do this with reference to key principles of peer learning and of peer review. Second, they focus on the ways the group worked as a community of discursive social practice. An overarching message for them in participating in the group and now writing this article is the shift in their thinking and experience of writing from seeing writing as an essentially private and implicit process to writing becoming a matter of public and shared work. These two notions are bound by the concept of identity building, drawing from the literature on communities of practice.     

‘To Give an Example is a Complex Act’: Agamben’s pedagogy of the paradigm

Abstract

Agamben’s notion of the ‘paradigm’ has far-reaching implications for educational thinking, curriculum design and pedagogical conduct. In his approach, examples—or paradigms—deeply engage our powers of analogy, enabling us to discern previously unseen affinities among singular objects by stepping outside established systems of classification. In this way we come to envision novel groupings, new patterns of connection—that nonetheless do not simply reassemble those singular objects into yet another rigidly fixed set or class. Agamben sees this sort of ‘paradigmatic understanding’ as our richest source of intelligibility. For Agamben the paradigm is ultimately about learning to see again, starting not with already perfectly known and categorized objects (or ideas), but rather with a fresh experience of one individual object and the analogical relations it may have to others, and to novel groupings that may arise. The paradigm is a method, a way in which educators might respond to a wide range of educational challenges. For a paradigmatic relation suspends while exposing, deactivates while revealing, complicates while clarifying. But articulating the enigmatic paradigmatic relation between example and class is far more than a method. It is epistemological (a way of knowing and conception of knowledge), ethical (a fostering of freedom from presupposed categories and reified principles) and ontological (a type of being that exposes the potential of knowing and communicating—their intelligibility and communicability). In these qualities, paradigms exhibit to educators a free, a new use of singularities.     

‘It’s more than care’: early childhood educators’ concepts of professionalism

This article reports on the findings from a small-scale study of early childhood educators’ perceptions of their roles, responsibilities and ideas related to professionalism. Twenty-five early childhood educators from Canada (Ontario), Nigeria and South Africa participated in qualitative interviews to address the following questions: (1) In what ways do early childhood educators perceive of themselves as professionals? (2) How is the concept of professionalism impacted by values, beliefs and experiences? And (3) Do contextual variations exist in conceptualizations of ECE professionalism? Valuable insights were gained into the commonality of educators’ experiences and ideas across contexts, as well as the prominence of an ‘ethic of care’ as an inherent aspect of teacher professionalism. The study’s findings provide support for the literature advocating for care (and passion) as a social principle within education and socially constructed ideals of professionalism.     

Intuitive rules in science and mathematics: the case of ‘more of A ‐‐ more of B’

In the last twenty years researchers have studied students’ mathematical and scientific conceptions and reasoning. Most of this research is content‐specific. It has been found that students often hold ideas that are not in line with accepted scientific notions. In our joint work in mathematics and science education it became apparent that many of these alternative conceptions hail from the same intuitive rules. We have so far identified two such rules: ‘The more of A, the more of B’ and, ‘Everything can be divided by two’. The first rule is reflected in students’ responses to many tasks, including all classical Piagetian conservation tasks (conservation of number, area, weight, volume, matter, etc.), in all tasks related to intensive quantities (density, temperature, concentration, etc.), and in tasks related to infinite quantities. The second rule is observed in responses related to successive division of material and geometrical objects, and in successive dilution tasks. In this paper we describe and discuss the first rule and its relevance to science and mathematics education. In a second paper (Tirosh and Stavy, in press) we shall describe and discuss the second rule.     

Postgraduate student teachers’ developing conceptions of the place of theory in learning to teach: ‘more important to me now than when I started’

Integrating theoretical knowledge within teacher education has often been portrayed as difficult, with previous studies reporting student teachers’ ambivalence, or even scepticism, about the value of research findings and theory to classroom practice. Moreover, the nature of teachers’ professional knowledge is itself uncertain and highly complex. This paper reports on the developing conceptions held by a group of postgraduate student teachers about the relationship of theory to classroom practice in learning to teach. The data are drawn from a small-scale longitudinal case study. They capture participants’ preconceptions about theory before beginning training and subsequent developments through the course and into the first teaching post. The research finds these students to be far from naïve at the outset, entering training open to a range of forms of learning, with a positive view of the potential contribution of theory to practice. Alongside a growing appreciation of the complex, situated and contested nature of theory, the data suggest that theory comes to be increasingly valued over time. As newly qualified teachers, the participants not only see theory as integral to their practice, but recognise the important, largely unanticipated, role of the university in this process. As a result of these insights, potential considerations for course design are offered, at a time when teacher education in many countries is becoming more school-based and new forms of partnership are being developed.     

‘It's more than stick and rudder skills’: an aviation professional development community of practice

In Australian higher education institutions, benchmarks have been directed at developing key competencies and attributes to facilitate students' transition into the workforce. However, for those students whose degree has a specific vocational focus, it is also necessary for them to commence their professional development whilst undergraduates. Familiarising students with the norms and culture of their chosen profession often does not occur through passive observation of subject content. At Griffith University in an undergraduate aviation degree, a community of practice has been established by the school, which develops student's generic skills and their identity as novice professionals. Our research examines the ways in which Mentoring Aviators Through Educational Support (MATES) provides students with the opportunity to develop their professional competence and experience through connecting with other undergraduates and industry professionals.     

‘We spend more time with the children than they do …’: education,care and the work of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

Despite the ongoing global financial crisis, there is an increasing deployment of migrant workers across the globe, and in Hong Kong the foreign domestic worker occupies a ubiquitous presence in the lives of many families. Seven domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand were interviewed to gain insight into their role in providing education and care for children in Hong Kong. This exploratory study focuses on the educational and care aspects of the work of foreign domestic workers. It considers the nature of their work and their relationship with the mother of the family. Findings reveal the difficulties of maintaining coordinated education and care of children in a culture where the dynamics of the unequal power relations are clearly demarcated. We raise new possibilities for interdisciplinary work to re-theorise the ways in which foreign domestic workers act as educators of young children and we call for new methodologies to enable their potential.     

‘It’s not a hobby’: reconceptualizing the place of writing in academic work

The writing activities involved in research are not fully articulated in discussions of academic work. In this context, academics say they have to disengage from other tasks in order to write, which raises fundamental questions about the place of writing in academic work. A study designed to find out more about this disengagement showed that it involved acts of engagement with writing. Reconceptualizing disengagement from other tasks as engagement with writing repositions writing as part of academic work. This is critical for new and emerging researchers: it provides concepts to underpin practices that will enable them regularly to write. This article provides a model for physical, social and cognitive engagement with writing and explores how it can be put into practice. Implications for academics and those responsible for developing research capacity are discussed.