The Other 3Rs: A Resource for Teaching PSE

In the current climate of moral uncertainty, encouraging companies to have codes of business ethics is of considerable value. Young people considering seeking a job with a company can gain a better idea of the attitudes and approaches they would be expected to work with. Once employed, they will know what is expected of them and what they are entitled to expect from those they work for. The Institute of Business Ethics, described here, seeks to encourage companies to develop their own codes, in a variety of ways. The institute is also promoting a PSE programme which it believes supports its objectives.     

Placement mentors making sense of research-based knowledge

Abstract

Placement mentors’ role increasingly implies demonstrating to student teachers how research-based knowledge in combination with experience-based knowledge may be relevant in teachers’ professional work. This is a challenge. Placement mentors are often unsure how to make sense of research-based knowledge. Frequently there is a mismatch between what they say they can do and what they actually show they are able to do. This paper explores how placement mentors’ reasoning is formed by their lack of power to define what research-based knowledge consists of. The analysis in this paper is based on an investigation of the epistemological premises that placement mentors rely on when they validate research-based knowledge. The theoretical–analytical point of departure is Michel Foucault’s conception of power-knowledge.     

Problems of,and support for,beginner educators

Abstract

Beginner educators cannot produce their best work and achieve the objectives of the schools that employed them until they have adjusted to the work they are required to do, the environment in which they are to work and the colleagues and learners with whom they have to work. However, it is well known that the transition from student educator to newly qualified educator can be problematic. The best way of supporting and developing novice educators is a clear understanding of their problems and constructive induction programmes that train and sustain them by addressing these issues. The article therefore focuses on the plight of, and support for, beginner educators. It addresses two questions. First, what are the needs and concerns of beginner educators? Second, what strategies can be offered to support beginner educators that will ease their transition into the classroom and reduce attrition early in their careers?     

Queer(y)ing New Schooling Accountabilities Through My School: Using Butlerian Tools to Think Differently About Policy Performativity

Abstract

This article takes the role of provocateur to ‘queer(y)’ the rules of intelligibility surrounding new schooling accountabilities. Butler’s work is seldom used outside the arena of gender and sexualities research. A ‘queer(y)ing’ methodology is subsequently applied in a context very different to where it is frequently associated. Empirical data from a case study secondary school in Australia are used to contextualise the use of queer theory in thinking differently about new schooling accountabilities and how they can unfold in ways that are unforeseen and unexpected. By applying Butlerian theory in a manner very different to what is commonly expected, the author also destabilises the use of queer theory as well.     

Socialisation and citizenship preparation in vocational education: Pedagogic codes and democratic rights in VET-subjects

ABSTRACT

Previous studies of citizenship preparation in upper secondary school, including studies on vocational programmes, have primarily focused on general subjects. Potential and actual roles of vocational subjects in this context have received little attention, so we have little knowledge of what is likely a significant part of the citizenship preparation that occurs in vocational programmes. Drawing on the work of Basil Bernstein and ethnographic data, this study presents an analysis of socialisation processes in vocational elements of three vocational programmes in Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis addresses the formation of pedagogic codes in various vocational programmes and subjects, and how these codes condition students’ practice of citizenship at individual, social and political levels. The results show how different pedagogic codes have different implications for the students’ practice of citizenship, and thus raise questions about factors and processes that may either constrain or strengthen, this aspect in vocational subject classes.     

Re/assembling ‘innovative’ learning environments: Affective practice and its politics

Abstract

In this article, we argue that the interest being taken by governments in establishing innovative learning environments (ILEs) in schools relies on a conception of space as a largely neutral arena. In consequence, relations of space and power inherent in the infrastructural shift to ILEs tend to drop from view. Adopting an assemblage approach to investigating learning environments, and exploring ILEs as they are playing out in Australian schools, we strive to surface what drops from view. Taking ILEs to be sociomaterial assemblages, we work with empirical material and trace how they assemble and reassemble. The account is less concerned with what works in ILEs; rather, its focus is on their ‘workings’ as assemblages of relations and most particularly, affective relations. Thus, we explore two affective encounters involving school leaders, teachers and students showing the ways in which they position and are positioned within ILEs. The argument is made that the assemblage approach which is non-deterministic and relational affords new ways of understanding what ILEs are and how they work and who they work for. And, that attending to affective practice brings into view the micropolitics through which infrastructural shifts and infrastructural policy-making are made.     

Narrative analysis as philosophical research: Bridging the gap between the empirical and the conceptual

There is a longstanding debate about what can be expected from philosophy of education and what its place can be in educational theory. A remarkable resemblance can be found between the debate about the usefulness of qualitative research methods and the kinds of insights they produce. The debate between proponents of empirical (quantitative) research and of qualitative research can be traced to the opposition between the need for understanding and the desire to manipulate. We argue that empirical qualitative research is of a similar nature to philosophical research, its aim being mainly to understand a human practice. We offer a framework that allows the clarification of what may be expected from an educational science and consequently from qualitative research methods: taking as one?s starting point human experience, providing comments, and thus trying to open the eyes of others to particular human realities.     

Presidential canvass,log‐cabin style

In painting and music it is common for one artist to build upon the work of another. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is a composite of variations on Schiller's Ode To Joy, and Picasso readily admitted that he drew heavily from the work of Velasquez in some of his early paintings. The practice of thematic variation is, however, less frequent in works of dramatic literature. Seldom does one writer draw upon the work of another in an obvious manner, use it to reinforce his own thesis, and have his borrowing remain undetected. Yet this is precisely what playwright Arthur Kopit has done in The Day The Whores Came Out To Play Tennis. Although Kopit's thematic variations may not be obvious in the work as produced, they are, however, quite clear if the play is read. The only possible explanation for lack of comment on what is obvious is that very little has been written about any of Kopit's work. Nevertheless, in The Day The Whores Came Out To Play Tennis, Kopit draws extensively from material contained in Anton Chekhov's play, The Cherry Orchard.     

Are Professors Professional?

Can university teaching be counted a profession? The work of academics is examined against four criteria associated with professional life: members share a body of knowledge; professional identity is for life; professionals are accountable for the effects of what they do rather than for the actions they take; professional bodies restrict access and enforce codes of practice. The conclusion is that academics form a Janus-faced profession in which their professionalism is more evident in respect of the subjects they teach than in respect of their academic duties of teaching and examining. Professional training is recommended as the appropriate treatment for this lop-sided condition.     

Contrasts Between Benefits Expected and Delivered Among MBA Inquirers,Students, and Graduates

ABSTRACT

A survey was conducted of three groups: prospective students, current students, and alumni. Prospective students were asked what benefits (career, on-the-job performance, and personal benefits) they expected to derive from their MBA education. Current students and alumni were asked what benefits they have derived from their education. The expectations of the prospective students were quite consistent with the experiences of the current students and alumni with respect to on-the-job performance and personal benefits, but the career benefits that prospective students anticipated far exceeded actual experiences. This study should help prospective students to have more realistic expectations and should help MBA-granting institutions to understand an important source of dissatisfaction.     

‘It’s not about punitive’: exploring how early-career teachers in high-poverty schools respond to critical incidents

ABSTRACT

This article explores how early-career teachers working in high-poverty schools in Australia account for their decision-making during critical classroom incidents. Classroom management solutions are problematized by investigating how two teachers take up particular positions, make decisions, and enact what they believe to be ‘quality teaching’ in context. Through a combination of interviews and observations of teachers ‘in situ’, we examine what these teachers do, why they do it, what informs their decisions, and how they reflect on their actions. The complexity of teachers’ work in schools located in high-poverty areas is highlighted. We argue that both early-career teachers prefer to position themselves within ‘pastoral’, in contrast to ‘disciplinarian’, discourses, as part of constituting the school as a site of possibility and teachers who advocate for youth growing up in poverty.     

Philosophy,Art or Pedagogy? How should children experience education?

Abstract

There are various programmes currently advocated for ways in which children might encounter philosophy as an explicit part of their education. An analysis of these reveals the ways in which they are predicated on views of what constitutes philosophy. In the sense in which they are inquiry based, purport to encourage the pursuit of puzzlement and contribute towards creating democratic citizens, these programmes either implicitly rest on the work of John Dewey or explicitly use his work as the main warrant for their approach. This article explores what might count as educational in the practice of children ‘doing’ philosophy, by reconsidering Dewey’s notion of ‘experience’. The educational desire to generate inquiry, thought and democracy is not lost, but a view that philosophy takes its impetus from wonder is introduced to help re-evaluate what might count as educational experience in a Deweyan sense.     

Comparing Southern Europe: the difference,the public,and the common

ABSTRACT

After criticising the solutionist drift, this article argues for the need for three gestures, in order to build a more problematised Comparative Education: estrangement, that is, the ability to see the unknown and therefore to distance ourselves from what is already known; intercession, that is, the ability to perceive the importance of mediators; communication, that is, the ability to work in common with others, from different positions and perspectives. Based on these three gestures, the article argues for a Comparative Education that seeks to develop three lines of work: to build a science of difference, rather than a ‘solution’ that tends to homogenise educational directions throughout the world; to strengthen the public space, instead of contributing to the authority of experts; to revitalise the common, instead of yielding to the current fragmentation, in which we interact only with what is similar to us. The arguments are not limited to Southern Europe, as they intend to open up a set of general questions about the meaning of comparative work in education.     

Teachers’ learning in school-based development

Background and purpose: Many researchers agree that teachers’ learning processes are social and that teachers need to be brought together to learn from each other. Researchers have also stated that intellectual and pedagogical change requires professional development activities that take place over a period of time in school. The purpose of the study presented in the article was to develop knowledge about the teachers’ learning when taking part in a school-based development project. Main argument: The study shows that it takes some time before the teachers identify with the work in school-based development. Even though the national authorities decided what to focus on during the development work, the participating teachers felt that they had autonomy in the work. The study presented in the article shows that it is important for the teachers’ learning culture that they are listened to and taken into consideration and that the leaders have competence in leading school-based development to support the teachers’ learning. Sources of evidence and method: The article is based on a study connected with school-based development in three lower secondary schools. Qualitative interviews were used as the data-collection strategy to capture the teachers’ and school leaders’ experiences and reflections. Conclusion: The article presents new knowledge connected with teachers’ learning in school-based development. The study presented in the article shows that schools’ learning culture can make a difference for the teachers’ learning and their job satisfaction and wellbeing.     

TRANSFORMING COLIABORATION BETWEEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND ONE EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

Abstract

For 10 years a group of early childhood teacher educators in Oregon have been developing a portfolio articulation system that students can take with them as they move through the educational sequence from high school through university. This article reports on the group's efforts to determine content of such a portfolio and how those contents should be scored. The group based their recommendations on commonalities among programs and samples of students’ work. The article also describes the contents of an articulation portfolio which includes evidence of and scores for the student's ability to observe and record children's behavior, plan for instruction, develop a philosophy of early childhood education and teach children. In addition, there is discussion of what was learned during this lengthy enterprise including the realization that articulation needs to respond to what students know and are able to do, not what courses they have taken. Readers are also given information on how to obtain a copy of the portfolio guidelines.     

Engaging the Student in the Field Instruction Relationship

Abstract

BSW and MSW students' evaluations of their field instructors and these individuals' use of various supervisory skills and assignments were assessed early in the field placement. Skills that directly enhanced students' learning in the field were most influential. Supervisory activities that introduced students to the agency and what would be expected of them were particularly helpful. Differences in first-time and second-year students' reactions suggest that students' learning needs vary, based on their prior experience with and understanding of the field. The findings also suggest the need for training to help field instructors make the transition from social work practitioner to social work educator.     

Development of Intra‐ and Intergroup Judgments in the Context of Moral and Social‐Conventional Norms

Children and adolescents evaluated group inclusion and exclusion in the context of generic and group‐specific norms involving morality and social conventions. Participants (N = 381), aged 9.5 and 13.5 years, judged an in‐group member's decision to deviate from the norms of the group, whom to include, and whether their personal preference was the same as what they expected a group should do. Deviating from in‐group moral norms about unequal allocation of resources was viewed more positively than deviating from conventional norms about nontraditional dress codes. With age, participants gave priority to group‐specific norms and differentiated what the group should do from their own preference about the group's decision, revealing a developmental picture about children's complex understanding of group dynamics and group norms.     

Just Google it! Digital literacy and the epistemology of ignorance

ABSTRACT

In this paper we examine digital literacy and explicate how it relates to the philosophical study of ignorance. Using data from a study which explores the knowledge producing work of undergraduate students as they wrote course assignments, we argue that a social practice approach to digital literacy can help explain how epistemologies of ignorance may be sustained. If students are restricted in what they can know because they are unaware of exogenous actors (e.g. algorithms), and how they guide choices and shape experiences online, then a key issue with which theorists of digital literacy should contend is how to educate students to be critically aware of how power operates in online spaces. The challenge for Higher Education is twofold: to understand how particular digital literacy practices pave the way for the construction of ignorance, and to develop approaches to counter it.     

Why compare? A response to Stephen Lawton

This paper aims to stimulate interest in comparative education policy analysis through a critique of a paper written by Stephen Lawton (Journal of Education Policy, 7(2), 1992). We argue that such comparative analysis is an important element in understanding neo‐liberal education reforms. However, more work needs to be done in providing adequate categories for analysis. We do not believe that Lawton's meet the criteria for such analysis. In the first part of the paper we discuss Lawton's categories, showing how, in our view, they fall short. The second part provides an initial, and very brief, discussion of what might constitute adequate categories for analysis. We end with a plea for more work in this field, and invite others to work with us!