Harbingers of feminism? Gender,cultural capital and education in mid‐twentieth‐century rural Wales

This paper reports the results of a small‐scale narrative study of men and women who grew up in mid‐twentieth‐century rural Wales, and their reminiscences regarding women and education. Although the dominant image of Wales during that era is that of a male‐dominated society, all of our participants remembered influential independent women and educational aspiration for both girls and boys. We use Bourdieusian notions of types of cultural capital and the role of women in transmitting this to illuminate our participants’ narratives. Accounts of family life disclosed themes of sacrifice concerning education, poverty during childhood and the role of school teaching as a career for women. Yet at the same time, there were forms of exclusion in operation. In conclusion, we suggest that in many ways, the women remembered by our participants could be seen as forerunners of the second wave of feminism.     

Developing into similarity: global teacher education in the twenty‐first century

This article explains the process that is causing systems of teacher education in the EU, the USA and elsewhere to converge into a form of fewer qualitative distinctions. We argue that expansion brought about by processes familiar to globalisation is creating wide differences in the cost of information that incentivises use of standardised patterns for producing teachers. The logic of institutional expansion, like the logic of globalisation, operates as a uniting force across previously regarded nation‐state boundaries and cultural distinctions. This brief study identifies institutional scale and the division of information as key factors that link the interaction of institutions across markets and adds insight into the critically important issues surrounding the production of quality teachers.     

Within the European Periphery: education and labor mobility in twentieth‐century Spain

The essay presents a novel estimate of human capital in Spain during most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as measured by average years of schooling at the three main educational levels. The new estimate confirms long‐term, regional and gender trends already identified by literacy levels. It shows that most of the human capital embodied in the Spanish population until well into the second half of the twentieth century was due to expanded primary schooling rather than to secondary or university studies and it identifies the Civil War of 1936 as one of the most serious setbacks during two centuries of slow and irregular human capital accumulation. Primary schooling determined labor mobility in twentieth‐century Spain during the 1920s and the 1960s as people moved away from agriculture and into industry and services. The decision to migrate was a household rather than an individual one: the education of those who did not emigrate – elder males and females of all ages – was as relevant as that of the actual emigrants. The Civil War and the early years of the Franco regime, by contributing to the depletion of the stock of human capital, had negative effects upon labor mobility as recently as the 1960s.     

Inside a hall of mirrors: residential care and the shifting constructions of childhood in mid‐twentieth‐century Britain

Drawing on imagery from promotional literature produced between 1930 and 1960 by the National Children’s Home, a British child welfare charity, this article focuses upon constructions of childhood and child development in the context of residential care for children. It suggests that photographs and their related captions are rich sources through which to explore the significance of time and space for constructions of childhood and to consider the ways in which childhood constitutes and is constituted by ideas of home and family. The article examines the significance of key pieces of legislation, including the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act and the 1948 Children Act, for the representation of children in residential care and identifies the ways in which portrayals of childcare were shaped by wider social and political change. In turn, continuities in concerns about the physical health, education and employability of children in care are traced together with changes in what were understood to be the “natural” spaces and places of childhood. As a whole, the article examines the excess of meanings that were embedded in the portrayal of children without home or family and, through its readings of the imagery, foregrounds the silences, contradictions and paradoxes in the narratives of residential childcare through this 30‐year period.     

Career‐span education for the chemistry teacher

This paper considers the implications of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (case) project results for science teaching methods. Results are summarized briefly and then the peculiar features of the case methodology and subject‐matter are described and consideration given to how they could be incorporated into any science curriculum. In particular, the use of cognitive conflict, metacognition, and bridging are described, and set in the context of the development of formal operational thinking. Finally, the potential roles of printed materials and INSET are reviewed for introducing such features into the professional repertoire of science teachers.     

Teacher education policy in Ireland and the challenges of the twenty‐first century

In line with the principles of the Bologna Process, teacher education systems across Europe are converging along a common path. Taking the Republic of Ireland (Ireland) as a case study, this paper examines the European agenda in relation to teacher education and asks how individual nation states are coping with the demands of greater comparability and compatibility. It suggests that while structurally, teacher education in Ireland has undergone significant reform in order to conform to a wider European agenda, significant gaps remain in existing teacher education policy particularly in relation to continuous professional development which will, if not addressed, impede Ireland’s capacity to adequately prepare teachers for the challenges of the twentieth‐first century.     

Representing self‐in‐society: education for citizenship and the social‐subjects curriculum in Scotland

The documented social‐subjects curricula for Scottish 5–16 year olds are analysed for representations of ‘self‐in‐society’. Such representations are important in Scotland because it is expected that the new Education‐for‐Citizenship framework will in part be delivered through the social subjects. However, citizenship education is also relevant throughout the UK and beyond and our analysis of the social subjects has wider relevance.

An ideal‐type analysis was used on documents including national guidelines, examination syllabuses, examination papers, and assessor instructions. Our analysis suggests that in these documents: the self is seen as an abstract; people are understood by category; society is the sum of discrete institutions; self‐in‐society is fully defined; and this representation of society is not contested. This representation becomes increasingly exclusive with age/ability and may be linked to assumed modes of curricular division, teaching and assessment. We discuss how this overall picture might affect students’ sense of ‘agency’ in the light of citizenship education. We conclude that the social‐subjects’ curricular representation of self‐in‐society may not fully support the Scottish Education‐for‐Citizenship framework.     

First‐rate Courses for Second‐rate Pupils: the demand for technical education, 1918–1939

Abstract

This paper analyses the expansion of technical education in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, in the 1920s and 1930s. It argues that the rapid industrial and commercial growth in this southern county at a time of chronic economic uncertainty nationally brought particular pressures to bear upon the Local Education Authority to provide an increasing range of courses to better equip local children for local Jobs. With government approval and, indeed, eventual direction the technical education initiative increasingly pervaded the elementary schools, with vocationally orientated courses becoming available to children aged 13, 12 and even 11 years. An important Incentive In most county councillors’ eyes was the fact that these developments deflected attention away from any great expansion of secondary education. As a result of these pressures and policies by 1938 technical education was well established, well planned and well funded but never more than second prize for the aspiring elementary‐school child or booby prize for the failing secondary one.     

A market analysis of the latter half of the nineteenth‐century American higher education sector

Most of the basic features of the American higher education sector started to evolve during the latter half of the nineteenth century. In response to the deficient demand in higher education, the suppliers (higher education institutions) adopted various marketing strategies to stay afloat in the market. Such strategies not only contributed a great deal to stabilise the higher education market, but also had a lasting impact on the higher education sector. This paper examines the way in which the higher education sector endured during the latter half of the nineteenth century. This analysis offers some suggestions for higher education policy‐makers.     

STEM education: A deficit framework for the twenty first century? A sociocultural socioscientific response

The ubiquitous of STEM education initiatives in recent years has created a bandwagon that has moved at nearly light speed. The impulse of the science education community and policy-makers is to grab hold for dear life or be marginalized from subsequent discussions about the necessity and consequences of using STEM initiatives to prepare and inform our next generation of citizens. This commentary questions the prudence of STEM-related science education goals, as typically represented and discussed in the literature, and likens the current practice to a deficit framework. A sociocultural perspective framed through socioscientific considerations is offered as an alternative conceptualization as well as surplus model to hegemonic STEM practices.     

Peer mentoring for first‐year teacher education students: the mentors’ experience

Universities worldwide are developing peer mentoring programmes to assist first‐year students’ transition into university life. Awareness of the mentees’ experiences in the mentoring programme – the successes and challenges – contributes to ongoing planning for successful transition for first‐year students. Also, understanding the mentors’ experiences can contribute to the success of the programme and, more importantly, can lead to strong self efficacy for the mentors. This qualitative study appraises a mentoring programme for first‐year undergraduate students from the mentors’ perspective. The mentors’ experiences, both positive and negative, are discussed and a relational model of mentoring is presented. The results of this inquiry have implications for the development of future mentoring programmes, particularly in terms of mentor recruitment and preparation, if first‐year students are to be effectively oriented and supported in their transition to university study.