I Hate Writing: Making a Case for the Creation of Graphic Novels in the Caribbean English Classroom to Develop Students’ Creative Writing Skills

ABSTRACT

Caribbean students are repeatedly engaged in rigid forms of writing to meet the requirements of external exams, which often leads to negative attitudes to writing. With current shifts to multimodal and multi-literate texts to engage students’ multiple literacies in learning, students’ creation of graphic novels in Caribbean English classrooms can enable their engagement in meaningful creative writing. To illustrate this, I draw on my recent experiences with four inner-city boys at a Jamaican high school who showed marked improvement in their attitudes and their creative writing skills after creating graphic novels. The preliminary findings from my research suggest a need for more personalised learning strategies and for more opportunities for students to use their home language in Caribbean classrooms.     

Losing the elite: Caribbean educational policy responses to the emigration of skilled labor

Abstract

The Caribbean ranks second only to Africa as the region with the highest levels of skilled emigration, which is defined as the outward migration of people holding a bachelor’s degree or extensive/equivalent experience in a given field. Based on the cost of educating their citizens, there are strong arguments supporting the view that skilled emigration comes at significant economic and social cost, especially to small island developing states of the Caribbean. This paper, therefore, explores how the emigration of skilled labor from the CARICOM Caribbean impacts education policy nationally and regionally. Drawing on data collected through questionnaires and document analysis, the research unearths four dominant educational policy responses to skilled emigration: bonding and compulsory service at the national level; regional cooperation on the movement of skilled labor through CARICOM’s Single Market and Economy (CSME); market based approaches to educating skilled professionals; and education funding policy. The paper also analyses the efficacy of each of these four policy responses and their implications. Ultimately, these policy responses coalesce to highlight the national and regional complexities of educational policy-making under globalization, and the limitations of Caribbean national and regional educational policies aimed at controlling skilled emigration in the context of globalization’s market forces.     

The significance of faith for Black men's educational aspirations

It is uncontested that British African Caribbean men are minimally represented in elite UK higher education institutions. Even as data demonstrates that African Caribbean males are more likely to study further education than White males 1 1 Research indicates that the proportion of UK‐domiciled Black students pursuing higher education degree courses has increased since the academic year 2003/04 (ECU, 2014 ).
and that the proportion of UK ‐domiciled Black students pursuing higher education has increased since the 2003/04 academic year (ECU , 2014), the representation of Black students throughout the Russell Group remains low. 2 2 It is important to acknowledge that on the whole, undergraduate Black students are over‐represented in higher education and in 2012/13 experienced the largest increase in the proportion of all BME students attending university to 6.3% (ECU, 2014 , p. 114). However, the majority of this increase in Black student representation is accounted for in non‐Russell Group institutions, particularly at the less prestigious universities that comprise the Million+ Group. The Million+ Group comprises the following universities: Abertay University, Anglia Ruskin University, Bath Spa University, University of Bedfordshire, University of Bolton, Canterbury Christ Church University, University of Cumbria, University of East London, Edinburgh Napier University, London Metropolitan University, London South Bank University, Middlesex University, Staffordshire University, University of Sunderland, University of West London, University of the West of Scotland and Southampton Solent University ( www.millionplus.ac.uk/who-we-are/our-affiliates/ ).
Less than 3% of the entire Russell Group's student population comprised British African Caribbean students in 2011/12 and 2012/2013 (ECU , 2013, p. 203; ECU , 2014, p. 358). However, according to the 2011 Census, ‘Black’ people represent 5.5% (3.1 million) of the total UK population (ONS , 2015). For the few Black men who are successful in attaining acceptance at these exclusive universities, to what assets or capitals do these young men attribute their ability to get to and successful graduate from these institutions? Interviews with 15 Black male students who attended Russell Group universities in England and Wales were analysed and several ‘capitals’ or resources were identified as beneficial to their ability to succeed. Drawing on Bourdieu's work on cultural and social capital, this paper advances the concept of ‘faith capital’ as a unique recognised asset that six of the participants described and reflected upon as being influential on their academic trajectories. Based on findings from the ESRC ‐funded research Exploring the narratives of the few: British African Caribbean male graduates of elite universities in England and Wales , this paper discusses these six participants’ accounts of their higher education journeys in relation to how they identified faith as a resource that was influential to their academic success.     

Towards a Global Citizenship Education for Caribbean Canadian Youth

The number of people living in Canada of Caribbean heritage has increased substantially over the past forty years. This paper examines aspects of Caribbean culture and Caribbean education culture to explore if Caribbean Canadians can claim a Caribbean education philosophy. The research claims there is one. The article suggests that this philosophy should be recognized and considered in the education of Caribbean Canadian youth to prepare them for national and global citizenship. In all its analyses and observations, the paper consistently sees relevant education, especially one that takes people’s socio-cultural background into account, as important for human well-being.     

Classroom literacies: young children’s explorations in meaning making in the age of the literacy hour

In this article I explore contrasting approaches to literacy and learning in Key Stage One classrooms. In particular I question whether the approach to writing composition in the NLS Framework for Teaching is consistent with what we know about children’s story telling and writing in the early years. Children are powerful thinkers who constantly strive to make meaningful and playful engagements with their social and cultural worlds, of which texts are an important part. Through composing and writing stories in school the children in this study are often exploring aspects of their identities, having fun in entering into adult and fantasy worlds, and working with their friends to create texts which place them in powerful roles.     

The development of theory on gendered patterns of achievement in the Anglophone Caribbean: insights,contradictions, and silences

Gendered patterns of achievement emerged as a critical policy concern for the small island developing states of the Anglophone Caribbean as early as 1986. Although these patterns are mostly variegated, some males do appear to be disadvantaged on key schooling outcomes as evident in the literacy attainment gap for Trinidad and Tobago in PISA 2009 and PIRLS 2011. Theory explaining patterns in the region has been influenced by simplistic borrowing of ideas and the globalised politics of gender. In this paper, I first analyse the work of major thinkers in the Anglophone Caribbean, exploring insights, contradictions, and silences and then consider the utility of such theory for local policy formulation. This diverse body of local knowledge on the issue provides important and unique insights into a complex policy issue. However, explaining variegated patterns requires new theory that is more nuanced and contextualised, drawn from epistemologically diverse research.     

‘The way I understood it,it wasn’t meant to be understood’ – when 6th grade reads Franz Kafka

In recent years, literacy problematics and different concepts (Cooperative Learning, Learning Styles) have taken up much of the school’s literature teaching. It has pushed discussions of the professional content into the background. This article takes up the content discussion for renewed debate, but now also with the aim of discussing the literary texts one can present to children in school. The research questions posed are: Which texts can justifiably be presented to children as part of teaching in school? What will happen if 10 to 12-year-old Danish school pupils are presented with classical and canonized texts by authors like Kafka, Proust and Dostoyevsky? How will they react? How will they read the texts? The point of departure for the article is an observational and interview study of a Danish 6th grade’s reading and analysis of classical and canonized adult literature. The study takes its starting point in three concepts rooted in theory, i.e. unpredictability, defamiliarization and entitlement, which are subsequently used to get to grips with the empirical part of the study. The article does not attempt to depict a hard-and-fast picture of all children being equally enthusiastic about the new texts. Instead it presents a picture of a class in which lively literary conversations are conducted. And irrespective of whether the child is one of those who enjoys the texts, whether the children are irritated, challenged or provoked by them, they are never experienced as trivial or irrelevant.     

Exposing the culture of silence: Inhibiting factors in the prevention,treatment, and mitigation of sexual abuse in the Eastern Caribbean

This article features a study that explored the presence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including childhood sexual abuse and neglect, among women associated with Partnership for Peace (PfP), the first and only culturally adapted domestic violence diversion program for men in the Eastern Caribbean. Within a multiyear evaluative study that assessed the impact of the PfP intervention in reducing domestic violence in Grenada in the West Indies, life-history interviews were collected from a subsample of women (N = 9) associated with men enrolled in the PfP program between 2009 and 2011. We found that the exposure to sexual abuse and neglect during childhood was evident in the histories of the women. Most perpetrators were trusted family or community members who suffered from a common set of behavioral patterns, most prominently alcohol use. Our findings reflect an evidence-based connection, as one causative factor, of a culture of silence that is related to child sexual abuse and its management. The apparent lasting effects of these traumatic childhood exposures reflect cycles of abuse in the life histories collected during the domestic violence evaluation study. Our study identified three key structural deficiencies (insufficient research, ineffective policy, and lack of public-health interventions) and one embedded cultural norm (the culture of silence) that together “inhibit current attempts to address ACEs as a means of curbing domestic violence in the Caribbean.”     

The impact of a Caribbean home-visiting child development program on cognitive skills

This paper provides a short-term impact evaluation of a home-visiting Early Child Development (ECD) program in the Caribbean aimed at vulnerable children from birth to three years. The analysis is based on a quasi-experimental research design including approximately four hundred children in treatment and comparable control communities. The differences-in-differences methodology estimates intention-to-treat effects. One year after implementation, we find no significant effects on the cognitive development of the average child, but pronounced differences by birth cohort. The program has significantly improved Fine Motor Skills and Visual Reception scores, related to early reading and writing abilities, of the youngest children aged below 18 months at program start. There is no program impact on the older cohort, whose cognitive development appears to be more strongly correlated with center-based ECD services. Language development has not improved for either cohort. The findings suggest that an early window of opportunities may exist for home-based programs.     

Interventions in schools’ curricula to achieve quality in learning: experiences from the Commonwealth Caribbean

Abstract

For some four decades governments in Commonwealth Caribbean (CC) countries have been introducing interventions in their school systems to provide quality education for all. Examples of these are learner-centred teaching pedagogy and the integration of technology into teaching and learning. The data for the paper is based on published research and evaluation studies of these interventions. How successful have these interventions been? Following a discussion of how quality in education and learning has been interpreted, this paper seeks to answer this question through a review of selected interventions in schools in three CC countries. Challenges that CC countries need to address as they pursue goals relating to quality education are: the intersection of quality with access and equity, limitations in teacher training which have militated against change in teaching pedagogy, and resources and infrastructure.     

Comparing Associations Between Puberty,Ethnic–Racial Identity,Self-Concept,and Depressive Symptoms Among African American and Caribbean Black Boys

Research on pubertal development among Black boys is limited. Addressing this gap, we examined associations between three pubertal domains (e.g., voice change, hair growth, and perceived relative timing), depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and self-efficacy, among a nationally representative sample of 395 African American and 164 Caribbean Black boys (M_age = 15 years). Moderation by ethnic–racial identity (e.g., racial centrality, racial regard) was also explored. Results indicated that for both ethnic subgroups early voice change increased self-esteem; whereas early voice change increased depressive symptoms among boys who felt society views Blacks more negatively. Buffering effects of ethnic–racial identity also varied significantly between the two groups. Findings suggest that the meaning Black boys ascribe to their ethnic–racial group may explain puberty-linked outcomes.     

A Study of the Statistical Inference Criteria: Can We Agree on When to use Z Versus t?

Authors who write introductory business statistics texts do not agree on when to use a t distribution and when to use a Z distribution in both the construction of confidence intervals and the use of hypothesis testing. In a survey of textbooks written in the last 15 years, we found the decision rules to be contradictory and, at times, the explanations unclear. This paper is an attempt to clarify the decision rules and to recommend that one consistent rule be chosen to minimize confusion to students, instructors, and practitioners. Using the t distribution whenever σ is unknown, regardless of sample size, seems to provide the best solution both theoretically and practically.     

Reading for entertainment or information reception? Gender differences in reading preferences and their impact on text-type-specific reading competences in adult readers

This study aims at exploring gender differences in text-type-specific reading competences via readers’ gender-specific reading preferences. Women were expected to read more often for the sake of entertainment (entertainment preference), whereas men were expected to read more often to gain information (information preference). We further assumed that individuals who read for entertainment would have higher reading competence in fictional literary texts compared with non-fictional informational texts, and vice versa for individuals who read to gain information. The analysis was based on a sample of 830 adults between 19 and 71 years (M = 31.04; SD = 12.53) from a pilot study of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). A structural equation model confirmed that women and men show different reading preferences during leisure time. The preference to read for entertainment was predictive for reading competence in literary texts; however, the preference to read for information had positive effects on reading competence in both informational and literary texts.

     

The Survival of Engaged Reading in the Internet Age: New Media, Old Media, and the Book

This article explores questions of paratext and spin-off text through an investigation of websites and other forms of satellite texts relating to three series of novels for young people: the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, and the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. Much of this material, which is often perceived as competition to the book, actually trades on a powerful assumption that the reader has already read the books in question. Extended reading is supported rather than undermined by many of these associated texts.     

Preliminary evidence of a relationship between the use of online learning and academic performance in a South African first-year university accounting course

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the use of online learning resources and academic performance in an Accounting 1 course conducted at a South African Higher Education Institution. The study employed a quantitative analysis over three academic years comparing the collection of end of year marks and the time spent online. The results provide preliminary empirical evidence to show that students who spent more time online significantly improved their course mark. Although much accounting-based educational research exists on the use of computers, there is a dearth of research testing any relationship between the use of online learning material and performance. While the results are preliminary and have some limitations, they are useful to students, teaching instructors and administrators, and provide a platform for future research into the value of using online learning in accounting.     

Information Literacy: The Missing Link in Early Childhood Education

The rapid growth of information over the last 30 or 40 years has made it impossible for educators to prepare students for the future without teaching them how to be effective information managers. The American Library Association refers to those students who manage information effectively as information literate. Information literacy instruction has been a priority in many secondary schools since the American Association of School Libraries published the Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning in 1998. Although these standards were written for grades K-12, information literacy is still not the focus in many early childhood classrooms. This article discusses the importance of information literacy instruction in early childhood education. Research suggests that early information literacy instruction, using informational texts and collaborative, teacher–librarian curriculum planning, promotes critical thinking and increases the ability to problem-solve—two skills necessary for survival in today’s Information Age.     

Sociological Analysis and Education Management: the social context of the self‐managing school

In this paper I take issue with the claim of Ozga (1992) that because of the poor quality of many recent texts on education management, and their lack of a sociological perspective, they are not proper material for analysis in the British Journal of Sociology of Education. I argue that sociological analysis of such texts is an urgent priority because they have gained credibility among education practitioners and provide a spurious legitimacy to new right policy directions. This general argument is illustrated by focussing on four specific limitations of one of the most popular current texts on education management.     

Environmental education in Latin American and the Caribbean: the challenges and limitations of conducting a systematic review of evaluation and research

Abstract

This systematic review extends the boundary of prior reviews in the environmental education (EE) field by analyzing publications focused on Latin America and the Caribbean (LATAM). We examined peer-reviewed literature and dissertations/theses in four languages (English, French, Spanish and Portuguese) published between January 2000 and February 2018 to examine outcomes of EE interventions occurring in both formal and nonformal settings among LATAM youth up to age 18 years. Our findings reflect recurring critiques of EE, such as the field’s limited empirical research and a bias toward measuring knowledge gain. Our findings also highlight themes specific to LATAM, related to issue-based EE programs, EE versus Education for Sustainable Development, barriers to EE implementation and potential challenges posed by bias, privilege and power in LATAM-based EE research. Access to potentially appropriate publications was limited by weaknesses in search databases. Only a small selection of LATAM countries is represented in publications that met the search criteria, limiting our capacity to draw stronger conclusions about the region as a whole.