A Counsellor’s Guide to Conducting Psychobiographical Research

By nature of their interests and professional training, counsellors are ideally equipped to conduct psychobiographical research. This article positions the counselling field in the broad specialty area of psychobiography, highlights the preparedness of counsellors to conduct psychobiographical research, and emphasizes the benefits of this research endeavor to counsellors themselves and to the counselling profession. A ten-step guide to conducting and publishing psychobiography is presented.     

Relating to the ‘Other’: transformative,intercultural learning in post-colonial contexts

In this paper we use Transformative Learning Theory as a lens for making sense of teachers’ learning from study visits to the Global South. Transformative Learning theory is made up of two main elements: the form of transformations and the processes that support transformations. ‘Life changing’ experiences as expressed by study visit participants have been interpreted as transformational, but questions about who and what are transformed, and whether this is at the expense of the ‘Other’, are rarely addressed. Drawing on data from a project investigating study visits for UK teachers to Gambia and Southern India, we analyse the form that changes take and discuss whether these can be seen as transformational. We argue that without an explicit focus on relational forms of knowledge about culture and identity, self and other, the potential for transformations in how we relate to, and learn from, each other in postcolonial contexts is severely diminished.     

Scientific ‘Laws’, ‘Hypotheses’ and ‘Theories’

Some commonly held erroneous notions about the terms laws, hypotheses and theories are pointed out with specific examples from different branches of science.     

Educators confront the ‘science’ of racism, 1898–1925

The literature depicting educators’ role in scientific racism and eugenics during the early 20th century has tended to approach the topic in dichotomous terms, as an ideology that one was either for or against. In this historical study, the author adds some nuance to this literature by tracing leading educators’ inconsistent and evolving thoughts on eugenics and the ‘science’ of race. By approaching the educational discourse on race as thinking rather than thought, the author explores how scholars such as G. Stanley Hall, John Dewey, Franz Boas, William Bagley, David Snedden, Edward Thorndike and Charles Ellwood struggled to make sense of a rapidly changing ideological landscape, but nevertheless supported the ideology of white supremacy.     

Understanding: ‘Knowledge’, ‘Belief’ and ‘Understanding’

The following paper is intended as an exercise in friendly criticism of one of Harvey Siegel's and Mike Smith's (Knowing, Believing and Understanding, this volume). I'm in substantial sympathy with the general thrust of their paper and my remarks merely provide some criticism of their discussion's conceptual coherence and clarity and a correspondingly slightly adjusted version of what they have to say. My focus is limited to the conceptions of knowledge, belief and understanding and their inter-relationships in terms of which they offer suggestions to science educators.     

Personalizing Research: Special Educators’ Awareness of Evidence-Based Practice

Although evidence-based practices are considered critical to student success, a research-to-practice gap exists. This qualitative study examined practicing special education teachers’ perceptions of their use of evidence-based practices. Special education teachers were interviewed and their classroom practices examined. Major themes emerged and findings revealed that (a) teachers believe they are using evidence-based practices, (b) teachers’ awareness of research varies, and (c) teachers’ personalization of research varies by awareness level. Awareness levels of credible evidence-based practices ranged from Aware, Partially Aware, and Unaware. Sources of evidence varied greatly from university coursework, research articles, co-workers’ ideas, and self-generated ideas. Personalization of evidence-based practices consisted of teachers adapting and modifying practices to meet their own needs, rather than relying on fidelity of treatment measures. Implications for the special education classroom are discussed.     

‘Hot’, ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ information and higher education decision-making

This paper draws on the notions of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ knowledge in analysing the responses of students to the relevance of different information and sources of such information in university choice. Analysis of questionnaire and focus group data from prospective and first-year undergraduate students provides evidence that many students put most credence on ‘hot’ knowledge, from persons in their social grapevine. However, this is supplemented by ‘warm’ knowledge from fleeting acquaintances at university open days. University provided knowledge is often distrusted. We discuss the implications of this given the recent government emphasis in England on the role of information provision in helping students to make informed decisions, including the relevance to the ‘fair access’ agenda.     

Conceptions of ‘Ideal’ Leadership in Accepted and Rejected Principal Training Candidates

Abstract

Process of acquisition of grammar was studied with 320 children randomly selected from 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders in three schools representing different socioeconomic backgrounds. Ss were individually presented 6 nonsense sentences and asked to guess the meaning of a stimulus word planted in each sentence. Two types of cues, grammatical "signal" and "signal plus syntactic position," were provided to suggest three parts-of-speech (noun, verb, and modifier). Responses were classified either as homogeneous (proper grammatical identification) or heterogeneous.

No difference was found in frequency of homogeneous responses with regard to children's socio-economic background. Significant differences were associated with increase in cue information and with increase in age.     

Parents’ and Early Childhood Educators’ Attitudes and Practices in Relation to Children’s Outdoor Risky Play

This study contributes to the understanding of early childhood educators’ and parents’ attitudes and practices in relation to outdoor risky play for children. This study included 26 early childhood educators and 112 parents in rural and metropolitan areas of Australia and the United States. Participants completed an online survey about their perspectives and practices related to the provision of opportunities for children to engage in outdoor risky play. Questions also investigated reasons that prevented participants from providing such opportunities for children. Findings indicated that most educators thought it was important for children to be provided opportunities for outdoor risky play and did provide appropriate activities. Types of outdoor risky play opportunities fell into the categories of supporting large motor skills, supporting free exploration of the environment, and supporting assessment of risk. However, educators located in Australia rated outdoor risky play opportunities as significantly more important compared to educators in the US. Many parents also felt outdoor risky play was important and provided appropriate activities. Opportunities provided by parents fell into the same categories as educators, with additional features of nervousness and a desire to avoid hovering. Many parents identified the young age of the child and safety concerns as barriers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

A Field Guide to Heidegger: Understanding ‘The Question Concerning Technology’

This essay serves as a guide for scholars, especially those in education, who want to gain a better understanding of Heidegger's essay, ‘The Question Concerning Technology’. The paper has three sections: an interpretive summary, a critical commentary, and some remarks on Heidegger scholarship in education. Since Heidegger's writing style is rather opaque, the interpretive summary serves as a map with which to navigate the essay. The critical commentary offers a careful analysis of some of the central concepts in the essay. These concepts, which include bringing‐forth, challenging‐forth, and gestell, are intriguing but problematic. The problems and possibilities of these ideas are analyzed, and an overall assessment of Heidegger's ideas on technology is offered. In the final section, the work of several scholars in education is examined. Some of this work is excellent, but there is also a significant amount of confused and confusing scholarship.     

‘In-between’ Asia and Australia: on the politics of teaching English as the ‘Other’

This article mobilizes story-telling to narrate my lived experience of teaching English as a minority academic in one Australian university. Positioning myself as living ‘in-between’ two cultures and as an ‘Other’, I tell my story of how I have been ‘racialized’ and ‘Othered’ because I do not look White, and my spoken English is distinctly accented; hence, my legitimacy of teaching English is held suspect. My story contributes to the theorizing of the sociology of the in-between with the argument that while living in-between culture can be a space of negativity, it can also be a space of empowerment if one exercises choice and agency by forging new spaces. I end my story-telling with a happy ending by presenting a contrasting story of how my run-away from Australia to (a new space in) Hong Kong to teach English has reaffirmed my cultural capital as I morph into a different ‘Other’.     

How to Bridge the Gap? Teacher Educators’ Approaches to the Teaching of the Biblical “Other” in Kindergarten

This article summarizes a study of the viewpoints of Bible lecturers in the Kindergarten Education Department while teaching content related to the biblical “other.” The study, by two researchers themselves part of the study population, was conducted according to the qualitative approach and included interviews with participants from a State Education and a State-Religious college. The findings highlight the different points of origin vis-à-vis Bible studies and the search for the connection between the “other” of the Bible, the students’ own world and later, that of the children while indicating discrepancies between declared objectives and the characteristics of the students.     

From ‘ritual’ to ‘mindfulness’: policy and pedagogic positioning

Schools and professionals respond to statute in different ways. However, professional activity is more than mediated response to policy. Versions of pedagogy are not simply envisaged on high and enacted in the workplace. This paper examines how professional views formulate policy imperatives. It proposes that to understand pedagogy requires an understanding of the ways in which professional selves are realised in relation to the policy formation process. To do this, positioning theory is used to describe how practice produces policy. Accordingly, the paper examines the dynamic interplay between: first, the story lines unfolding within and outside school; second, the positions adopted by individuals in the course of pedagogic decision-making. Third, the illocutionary (that achieved in saying something) and perlocutionary (that achieved by saying something) effects of language. Following this ‘positioning triad’, the paper proposes ‘pedagogy as ritual’ and ‘pedagogy as mindfulness’ and how these are representative, respectively, of limiting and delimiting pedagogic discourses.     

Melting ‘Snow’ and Shifting ‘Cultures’: The Strategic Repositioning of Australian Universities' Research and Development

The original C P Snow analysis of intellectual traditions ("the two cultures") highlighted very different world views and ways of proceeding for scientists and non‐scientists and critiqued both cultures for their failure to respond to the challenges of industrialisation and to intersect intellectually. Strong parallels can be drawn with academe today: while new linkages between science and technology have occurred, there has been little intersection with and recognition of the Humanities and Social Sciences and the roles they can play in producing “creative chances” for Australia's strategic development, or of the value of the two cultures “intersecting” in new ways. The future for technological innovation and international competitiveness for Australia lies in melting “Snow” and dissolving the stand‐off between the two “cultures”.