Being “in a Limbo”: Perceptions of Immigration,Identity and Adaptation of Immigrant Students in South Africa and the United States

Much research is available that details student experiences of immigration and adaptation to receiving countries and schools, but few studies analyze the metaphors used by immigrant students (IS) when talking about the immigration experience, or offer a comparative lens through which to view identity negotiation in two very different contexts. The present paper aims to address these gaps by conducting a comparative linguistic analysis of 20 interviews conducted with IS at universities in South Africa and the United States in order to gain a greater understanding of immigration and the types of identity negotiation processes learners undergo in these very different countries. Findings reveal interesting similarities between metaphorical conceptions of immigration across different cultural contexts and a remarkable resilience in the use of adaptation strategies and identity development that leads to salient pedagogical implications for teachers of higher education who face increasingly international classrooms.     

Ruled by hetero-norms? Raising some moral questions for teachers in South Africa

Thirty-eight countries in Africa regard homosexuality as punishable by law with South Africa remaining a standout country advancing constitutional equality on the basis of sexual orientation. In the context of homophobic violence, however, concerns have been raised about schools’ potential to improve the educational, moral and social outcomes for young people. In examining how some South African teachers normalize heterosexuality the paper raises questions about moral education in addressing homophobia. By drawing on interviews conducted with teachers across different social contexts, the paper shows how rights are limited by dominant constructions of heterosexual privilege mediated by a range of interlocking social processes including gender, race and culture. The paper argues that attention to the social and cultural influences in teachers’ account of homosexuality must feature in local designs of moral education. The imperative of working with teachers is presented as a way forward to facilitate the broadening of moral education to include an interrogation of heteronormativity which has evaded the focus of South African moral education.     

Mentors assessing mentees? An overview and analyses of the mentorship role concerning newly qualified teachers

Sweden has no tradition of mentors participating in the formal summative assessment of newly qualified teachers. However, an Inquiry Committee Report proposed that mentors should have some involvement in this process. This article reports on the results of an examination of 108 official responses to the Inquiry Report submitted to the Ministry of Education and provides a research overview. The results show that only 23 of the 108 responses mention assessment, and none of these are positive to the proposed expansion of the mentor’s duties. Only four responses include an explicit discussion of the relationship between mentors and mentees. These results are discussed in the light of research into relations between mentors and mentees and whether or not mentors should participate in the assessment of their mentees. One conclusion is that answers to this question need to relate to the prerequisites, values and objectives of the educational context.     

Does regulation induce homogenisation? An analysis of three voucher programmes in the United States

We examine whether voucher programme regulation reduces private school specialisation in the US. We employ school-and-year fixed-effects regression and examine individual private schools in Washington, DC, Indiana, and Louisiana as they transition into voucher programme environments. We leverage the Private School Universe Survey to observe how schools self-identify before and after switching into voucher environments. We find that upon switching into school voucher environments, private schools in all 3 locations are more likely to identify as less specialised than they were prior to entering the programmes. We find suggestive evidence that the homogenising effects may be stronger in more heavily regulated voucher programme environments, and that those schools in more lightly regulated environments are more likely to continue highlighting their specialised approach to education. These findings are examined within an institutional theory framework to understand the potential homogenising effect of regulations on the diversity of the private school market.     

Does higher education foster critical and creative learners? An exploration of two universities in South Korea and the USA

This paper describes two studies that explore students' beliefs about critical and creative learning at two universities, and considers the implications of those beliefs in comparison to the universities' stated education goals. One is a mixed method study of students at a top university in Korea, and the second is a comparative study between the Korean university and a United States (US) university. The first study found that both high-achievers and the general population at a top Korean university perceived their critical and creative abilities as lower than their receptive learning abilities, and that higher achievers were neither more critical nor creative than lower achievers. The second study finds that the Korean university students, compared to US students, were more likely to rate their receptive learning ability as higher than their critical and creative learning abilities. Comparisons across year of higher education (HE) suggest that Korean students' perceptions did not significantly change with respect to year in school, while US students' perceptions of critical learning abilities significantly increased across school years. Results are discussed with respect to the impact of culture, epistemological beliefs, and HE instruction on critical and creative learning.     

Is the United States losing its status as a reference point for educational policy in the age of global comparison? The case of South Korea

This paper seeks to contribute to recent comparative discussions about the shift of traditional referential points as a result of new global governance by the OECD through PISA. In doing so, the authors investigate whether the lower PISA rankings of the US have resulted in the shifting of its referential status in South Korea. For the purposes of analysis, media representation of US education in South Korea is analysed by using two disparate newspapers from two time periods: three years before the first PISA release in 2001 and three years after 2009. This paper uses media discourses as primary data, but it also considers other complementary data such as policy documents and government policy statements on education. Recently, global governance through comparative data has become more significant, but the results of this study suggest that one should be careful about oversimplification. The results of this study imply that the pattern of external referencing in media representation hinges on historical, political, and cultural experiences rather than purely evidence-based discourses, at least in the case of South Korea.     

An exploration of student teachers’ perspectives at the start of a post-graduate master's programme on inclusive and special education

In this article we explore the perspectives of a group of teaching professionals starting a post-graduate master's programme on inclusive and special education. Set in the current context of growing interest over the preparation of teachers for inclusive education worldwide, this exploration is part of research that looks more broadly at the impact of the programme on students. In this paper we set the context of the study and present results focusing on students’ pre-understanding of the concepts ‘inclusive’ and ‘special education’, as well as their reasons for choosing the programme and expected learning outcomes. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected with a questionnaire administered to students at the beginning of the programme. Findings reveal that students saw the programme as a factor contributing to their ability to implement inclusive education in practice. However, it emerged that they had somewhat different understandings of what ‘inclusive education’ actually means. Implications for providers of inclusive education programmes for teachers are discussed.     

Activism through attrition?: An exploration of viral resignation letters and the teachers who wrote them

In recent years, there has emerged a new phenomenon in response to contemporary educational policies: public teacher resignation letters. Through the theoretical frames of participatory democracy and identity, and analyzed in light of literature on teacher attrition and activism, we investigate the following questions with 8 teacher resigners: (1) What are the rationales of and implications for teachers to resign in public ways? (2) How are teachers' public resignation letters a reflection of their personal and professional identities?     

Immigration in the United States and the Golden Years of Education: Was Ravitch Right?

In this article I address some assertions made by one of the most outstanding educational historians, Diane Ravitch, regarding the relation between immigration rates and academic achievement among children in the United States. In her book The Great School Wars Ravitch asserted that low immigration levels during the 1920s to early 1960s period played a large role in producing a golden age of education in New York and probably in the United States. The research undertaken for this article does confirm some of Ravitch's assertions but questions whether other claims of hers may be overly simplistic. Among her assertions that the research supports are that academic achievement rose among New York City elementary and secondary students during this "golden age," children from most immigrant groups did perform poorly compared to children born in the United States, and that the increased volume of enrollment and language factors did exert added pressure on the school system. Nevertheless, other factors lead one to believe that Ravitch's claim, although possessing merit, may be overly simplistic. For example, certain immigrant groups performed very well academically after coming to the United States. This fact supports the notion that the makeup of the immigrant population may be as important as the immigration volume. In addition, the decline in American student academic achievement in the 1960s and 1970s began well before the United States fully liberalized its immigration policy. One would not expect this, if immigration has the level of impact that Ravitch claims.     

Do digital divisions still persist in schools? Access to technology and technical skills of teachers in high needs schools in the United States of America

Technology use in schools has great potential to improve student learning outcomes. However, it is imperative that teachers possess a set of technical skills required to implement high‐quality technologies in the classroom. Research conducted during the late 1990s and the early 2000s had pointed to the existence of a digital divide that existed in schools within the United States of America (USA), with higher‐needs schools typically having less access to technology than their lower needs counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is any indication of current differences in technology access, skills and classroom integration practices as reported by teachers participating in an online professional development initiative. The researchers found that, while significant differences existed between teachers in high need and non‐high need schools in the USA, context is a vital component of considering any persisting digital divides.     

Organizing the University–Industry Relationship: A case study of research policy and curriculum restructuring at the North‐West University in South Africa

A major requirement for transformation contained in the new education policy in South Africa is that the graduate outputs of the higher education system should match the needs of a modernizing economy. This paper addresses the organizational aspect of university–industry relationships that is an element of the transformation. In empirical terms, it reflects upon the policy of the North‐West University in South Africa, as embodied by means of the introduction of the Business Mathematics and Informatics (BMI) curriculum and research. Empirical results indicate that the number of students who opted for mathematics had increased dramatically. The majority of graduates delivered by the BMI programme are employed in the financial sector, both nationally and internationally. This paper indicates that the organization of university–industry relationships enforces a difficult institutional balancing act that attempts, on the one hand, to meet the benchmark of international scientific indicators, and on the other hand, “fitness for purpose” in the local context.     

Compassion,Citizenship and Education in South Africa: An Opportunity for Transformation?

This study explores how citizenship education in South Africa is guided by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Its contention is that citizenship education, as it has evolved through policy discourses on Values, Education and Democracy, is heavily influenced by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Nonetheless, the liberal-communitarian concept of citizenship education is not sufficient on its own to bring about educational transformation in institutions. Instead, citizenship education initiatives in South Africa need to promote a sense of compassion, motivating learners to take seriously the suffering of others. It is argued that such compassion represents a precondition of genuine educational transformation.     

Compassion, Citizenship and Education in South Africa: An Opportunity for Transformation?

This study explores how citizenship education in South Africa is guided by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Its contention is that citizenship education, as it has evolved through policy discourses on Values, Education and Democracy, is heavily influenced by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Nonetheless, the liberal-communitarian concept of citizenship education is not sufficient on its own to bring about educational transformation in institutions. Instead, citizenship education initiatives in South Africa need to promote a sense of compassion, motivating learners to take seriously the suffering of others. It is argued that such compassion represents a precondition of genuine educational transformation.     

Jordanian twelfth-grade science teachers’ self-reported usage of science and engineering practices in the next generation science standards

This study investigated the degree that Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) criteria from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were included in self-reported teaching practices of twelfth-grade science teachers in Jordan. This study sampled (n?=?315) science teachers recruited from eight different public school directorates. The sample was surveyed using an instrument adapted from Kawasaki (2015). Results found that Jordanian science teachers incorporate (SEPs) in their classroom teaching at only a moderate level. SEPs applied most frequently included ‘using the diagram, table or graphic through instructions to clarify the subject of a new science,’ and to ‘discuss with the students how to interpret the quantitative data from the experiment or investigation’. The practice with the lowest frequency was ‘teach a lesson on interpreting statistics or quantitative data,’ which was moderately applied. No statistically significant differences at (α?=?0.05) were found among these Jordanian science teachers’ self-estimations of (SEP) application into their own teaching according to the study’s demographic variables (specialisation, educational qualification, teaching experience). However, a statistically significant difference at (α?=?0.05) was found among Jordanian high school science teachers’ practice means based on gender, with female teachers using SEPs at a higher rate than male teachers.     

Raising awareness of uncertainty: A useful addendum to courses in the history and philosophy of science for science teachers?

A brief consideration of the need for courses in the history and philosophy of science (HPS) for science teachers is followed by the development of a suggested addendum. The rationale accepts the developmental argument that a conscious awareness of personal uncertainty of explanation provides the motor of change needed to involve science teachers in thinking critically about the nature of their subject. Following the technique pioneered in a different context by Acredolo and O'Connor (1991), the addendum is developed as a test procedure fostering the expression of uncertainties in relation to important questions about science. Using questions designed to serve our specific purposes, a form of the test is trialled on a small group of science teachers attending courses in a Graduate Certificate in Science Education, and the results used to stimulate and promote their discussion of some critical matters concerning the nature of science.     

The ‘Affective Place-Making’ Practices of Girls at a High School in Cape Town,South Africa

This article focuses on the affective place-making practices of girls at a private high school on the outskirts of Cape Town. The article responds to the question: How do high school girls' affects and social bodies contribute to their place-making practices and to the type of place they make of their school? Our focus is on understanding the affective, emotional, and interactional dimensions that constitute 5 girls' strategic interactions in the out-of-classroom spaces of their school. Drawing on theories of affect, the article is based on a 6-month ethnographic research study at Mount Valley High (pseudonym). We present 3 specific incidents from our data to illustrate each of the key dimensions that we believe relate to the girls' affective place-making practices. We develop the idea that spaces such as schools become places as a result of the interaction between the expressive institutional culture of the school, on the one hand, and the vigorous interaction of the students' engagement with each other in the various spaces of school, on the other. We present the 3 critical incidents to advance a conceptual argument about the link between affect and place-making in the light of the school's expressive culture. We argue that the girls in our study interpret the culture of their school and act in response to its discourses. They go on to make place in highly specific ways by recreating the school as a place through a combination of individual, group and strategic place-making practices, turning the school into a particular place.