“Sex Hormones” in Secondary School Biology Textbooks

This study explores the extent to which the term “sex hormone” is used in science textbooks, and whether the use of the term “sex hormone” is associated with pre-empirical concepts of sex dualism, in particular the misconceptions that these so-called “sex hormones” are sex specific and restricted to sex-related physiological functioning. We found that: (1) all the texts employed the term “sex hormone”; (2) in all texts estrogen is characterized as restricted to females and testosterone is characterized as restricted to males; and (3) in all texts testosterone and estrogen are discussed as exclusively involved in sex-related physiological roles. We conclude that (1) contemporary science textbooks preserve sex-dualistic models of steroid hormones (one sex, one “sex hormone”) that were rejected by medical science in the early 20th century and (2) use of the term “sex hormone” is associated with misconceptions regarding the presence and functions of steroid hormones in male and female bodies.

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Liberal Ideals,Postmodern Practice: A Working Paradox for the Future of Secondary School Art Education in England?

Modern liberal rationales continue to inform a majority of teaching and learning in English art classrooms. In a postmodern Western society increasingly informed by neoliberal globalisation this approach begins to look either like an anachronism or an act of outmoded pedagogic resistance. What is certain is that the modern liberal tradition is increasingly irrelevant to a young generation of learners, but while alternative paradigms have subsequently been suggested none have come to replace the stubbornly established rationales of modernism and liberalism. This article suggests novel futures for the justification and relevance of art education that move beyond those currently prevalent. Preferable futures are suggested that synthesise postmodern practice with liberal ideals in a paradox requiring creative consideration. While the difficulties of drawing upon such contradictory rationales are noted, a case is made that if such a purpose might be accepted and imbedded in art educational futures, then there may result a more relevant and sustainable future for art education in England.     

Useful citizens,useful citizenship: cultural contexts of Sámi education in early twentieth-century Norway,Sweden, and Finland

Abstract

This article investigates Sámi elementary education in early twentieth-century Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The main focus lies on cultural contexts that frame and limit language use. The key analytical concepts are useful citizen and useful citizenship. Through these concepts the article probes the ways in which governmental educational authorities and Sámi teachers talked about education and citizenship. Studying these concepts and the cultural contexts behind them sheds light on the formation phase of Nordic citizenship. Full-scale citizenship was not offered to all individuals inside the nation state. Where it was, it had certain conditions that excluded cultural elements of minority populations. Sámi teachers defined citizenship mainly within the Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish nation states. However, some tendencies towards a more cross-national notion of Sámi identity can be discerned.     

Community Elders: The Roles of Parents in a School of “Choice”

This paper critiques the common argument that schools will become more responsive to parents and more equitable when chosen by the clients they serve. Based on a qualitative study of an urban Catholic high school that is chosen by an increasingly diverse clientele, the paper demonstrates that, even in schools that are outwardly characterized by values cohesion, shared goals, and voluntary affiliation, interaction between a school and its environment is likely to be a process of ongoing negotiations and unarticulated struggles for voice among unequals. The study therefore draws into question two assumptions: (1) that the status and power of clients will be subordinated to pedagogical and equity concerns in shaping the distinctiveness of market-driven schools, and (2) that strong school cultures, created through voluntary affiliation, can mediate the effects of race, ethnicity, class, and gender in the socialization of students to the distinctive norms and values of a school.     

“Great Location,Beautiful Surroundings!” Making Sense of Information Materials Intended as Guidance for School Choice

Following international trends during the last decades of the 20th century mechanisms of marketization, freedom of choice, and competition were introduced into the Swedish compulsory school system, thereby transforming it into one of the most de‐regularized in the world. The overall aim of the pilot study presented here is to shed light on a phenomenon that has occurred as an effect of the shift in policy—namely on the information or marketing material which is directed from schools to families as guidance for school choice. The primary aim is to generate a conceptual basis for further research into the choice‐related communication between schools and families. The information material analyzed consists of three annual volumes of a brochure, produced by the local education office in a middle‐sized Swedish city area. Aside from picturing the content in terms of 145 symbolic expressions, sorted into 10 thematic categories, the results show how the material can be understood as made up of emotional imageries that give little guidance but that carry salvation stories on education and learning that have a transformative potential, as it opens up a new space for the governing of institutions and individuals.     

Tensions in Teacher Training for School Effectiveness: The Case of Pakistan∗

While research on school effectiveness is growing internationally, its impact on the training of teachers is not clear. Taking Pakistan as a case study, this paper reports an investigation of how far trainees, tutors and practising teachers felt that training matched the researched ‘factors’ linked to successful schools. Fewer than half the practising teachers felt well prepared; but there was not always agreement within or between the three groups about what elements of ‘effectiveness’ should be included, except that the training should be more ‘practical’. The hidden curriculum of the training institution was found to be based on authoritarian transmission methods and on rote learning of traditional syllabi, so that trainees were neither exposed to newer ideas about effective teaching, nor experienced for themselves the self‐direction and critical analysis essential for future organisational development. The culture and conditions surrounding teaching also militated against the notion of ‘the reflective practitioner’.     

Towards a political ecology of education: the educational politics of scale in southern Pará, Brazil

Social movements have initiated both academic programs and disciplines. I present ethnographic data that I gathered during 17 months of fieldwork with the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) in southeastern Pará, Brazil, to explore the MST’s role in creating agroecological education opportunities. My analysis highlights three factors in southeastern Pará that initiate environmental education opportunities. First, activist professors are key players, serving as mediators between the state and social movements. Second, recurring events incubate environmental educational institutions and degree programs. Third, by collaborating with institutionalized education, movements are able to develop their own radical educational spaces. These three factors result in a gradual anti-neoliberal transformation in southeastern Pará’s rural educational opportunities. I develop a theoretical perspective of the political ecology of education to understand the relations between these three factors and educational change. By drawing attention to the educational politics of scale, I help advance theories of environmental education in a neoliberal age.     

“Standing in Terri Schiavo's Shoes”: The Role of Genre in End-of-Life Decision Making

This article reports the findings from analysis of end-of-life court cases and case files from one state public guardianship administrator as well as interviews with guardians or surrogates to identify how language and principles of the courts are operationalized in end-of-life decisions for those who are unable to make decisions for themselves. We found that physicians and guardians worked well within the requirements of the genre to ensure the best interests for those whom they represent.     

Analysis of Multiple Dimensions of“Another”in In Another Country

Hemingway’s In Another Country expresses rich ideological connotation with extremely concise language,and reveals the cruelty of war and the huge trauma caused by war to human body and mind.This paper explores the multiple meanings of“an?other”in this short story by analyzing the background,environment,character identity,social relationship and personal concept.     

Developing Future Women Leaders: The Importance of Mentoring and Role Modeling in the Girls’ School Context

In this article, I explore the concepts of mentoring and role modeling with regard to developing student leaders within the girls’ school context. The foundation for this discussion lies in two qualitative studies involving staff and students from girls’ schools located in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Both survey and focus groups were used as methods of data collection. Mentoring and role modeling in school settings is reported in this study as taking place in two different forms: student/student and staff/student. This research identified the multidimensional nature of these relationships with regard to female school staff who then became role models for female students. Ultimately, mentoring and role modeling may help female students in developing the knowledge and skills required for leadership as well as assisting in an understanding of gender barriers in relation to leadership roles.     

Becoming a “Model Minority”: Acquisition,Construction and Enactment of American Identity for Korean Immigrant Students

While the “model minority” stereotype of Asian Americans and its negative effects has been documented elsewhere, relatively little attention has been paid to how recent Asian immigrant students begin to embrace the stereotype while in schools. This study explores the identity formation process for a group of recent Korean immigrant students as “model minority” in an urban high school to empirically document the process. Through interviews and observations, I learned that the immigrants acquired an unauthentic American identity as a racial minority, constructed their status as “model minority” in response, and enacted the stereotype as they sanctioned those who couldn’t live up to the stereotype. The aim is to add to the body of knowledge on the school experiences of recent Asian immigrants.     

Towards a chronotopic theory of “place” in place-based education

The notion of place, as in place-based education, has received considerable attention in educational theorizing because of its potential to link students, their lifeworlds, and their experiences in particular settings to formal education. However, in current debates of place-based education, the notion of place is emerging as problematic. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a rethinking of place in a form that is appropriate for describing and theorizing its occurrence in a world we share with others. We understand place as the result of a dialectical and dialogical relation of the material world and its chronotopic (time–space) nature in the various conversations (discourses) in which it is constituted as this place; that is, we view place as a lived entity that results from a dialogical transaction between a community and its material environment at a particular moment in cultural-historical time and which hence shapes and is shaped by the identity of the people. We exemplify our rethinking with a case of an environmental education project in which place unfolds as a chronotope from a dialogue between scientific and indigenous voices. The implications of this rethinking of place for place-based education are discussed.     

Changing Mode of Regulation: Role Models in Moral Education Textbooks for Primary Schools in China, 1999–2005

The use of role models for learning and publicity is widespread in China. By comparing four sets of primary school textbooks complied and published by People’s Education Press between 1999 and 2005, this study reveals the similarities and differences between these textbooks with regard to the positive role models covered and the virtues conveyed. The major role models in both versions of the textbooks can be characterized as representing four main types of persons: children, Han Chinese, males, and modern people. However, the occupations of these role models are more diverse in the new textbooks, and the more recent editions place more emphasis on moral values such as “protecting the environment,” “loving peace,” and “promoting democratic cooperation.” The implications of the findings and the potential problems arising in the textbooks are discussed at the end, particularly noting the changing mode of regulation with regard to the individual-collective relationship.