Barriers to domestic violence education in Northern Ireland: Pupils' views and experiences

Domestic violence (DV) in adult and young people's intimate partner relationships is a social and public health problem across the globe. Education can play an important and unique role in addressing DV; however, it remains relatively under-investigated. The aim of this qualitative study set in Northern Ireland, the first of its kind, was to explore young people's views and experiences of DV education. Focus groups were conducted with 188 pupils (97 males and 91 females) aged 16 to 18 attending post-primary school. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and reveal five barriers to DV education: (1) absence of DV teaching and learning; (2) DV is a taboo topic; (3) lack of teacher training and expertise on DV; (4) religious influence; (5) prioritisation of academic achievement over pupil wellbeing. The results demonstrate that changes are needed in schools to improve the role of schools in addressing DV. From this qualitative study, we make recommendations for how school-based DV education may help prevent and protect young people against intimate partner violence.     

Sex and relationships education and gender equality: recent experiences from Andalusia (Spain)

Despite recent advances in sex and relationships education (SRE), the Spanish education system still lacks coherent policies in this field. This paper provides an overview of the current situation, focusing specifically on Andalusia, and discusses the importance of providing SRE for young people. It first describes current Spanish education policy on gender equality and shows how this leaves little space for SRE. It then presents data on young people's sexuality and relationships collected in the course of an action research project utilising different qualitative techniques. Data deriving from 27 in-depth interviews focusing on values, norms and practices relating to young people's sexuality and relationships, conducted in two secondary schools in Granada, Andalusia, are then analysed in order to identify the degree of gender equality present within them. The results suggest that in sexual relations young people tend uncritically to accept and reproduce many of the patriarchal dimensions of gender and sexuality. Findings highlight the importance of linking more closely SRE to gender equality education policies in Spain.     

Assessing dyslexia in higher education: the York adult assessment battery‐revised

Although there are a number of standardised measures to assess dyslexia in children, there are comparatively fewer instruments suitable for the assessment of dyslexia in adults. Given the growing number of students entering UK higher education institutions, there is a need to develop reliable tools for assessing the additional needs of those with dyslexia and related difficulties. This study reports data from a revised version of the York Adult Assessment: An Assessment Battery for Dyslexia Screening in Higher Education. The current York Adult Assessment‐Revised (YAA‐R) is an assessment battery consisting of tests of reading, spelling, writing and phonological skills. Data from a normative sample of 106 adults without dyslexia and a validation sample of 20 adults with dyslexia illustrate significant group differences on the tests comprising the YAA‐R. Additionally, the YAA‐R has good discriminatory power yielding 80% sensitivity and 97% specificity. Taken together, the YAA‐R is a suitable test battery for the assessment and identification of dyslexia in university students.     

Learning,teaching, and constructing identities: ESL pre-service teacher experiences during a short-term international experience programme

Short-term international experience programmes are a common element of English second language (ESL) teacher education in many countries. This study problematizes the belief that such programmes necessarily result in beneficial changes in pre-service teachers thinking about themselves as teachers – their beliefs, habits, and values – by exploring the experiences of eight pre-service ESL teachers from Hong Kong as they undertook a short-term international experience programme in Australia. Drawing on a theory of identity construction, the findings suggest that identity conflicts impacted how the student teachers experienced this programme as they struggled to reconcile past, present, and future trajectories of teacher identity. In particular, the student teachers constructed rigid divisions between different types of teachers and teaching they experienced at home and abroad. These divisions were reflected in antagonistic relations between the types of English language teachers and teaching they aligned their own teaching activities and practices with and the teacher identities that they perceived to be available to them within the Hong Kong education system. Implications for addressing such identity conflicts throughout international experience programmes are considered and implications for future research are discussed.     

Students’ experiences of academic success with dyslexia: A call for alternative intervention

This article describes a small‐scale study exploring the perspectives of five undergraduate students with dyslexia. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in two universities in the UK. The interviews explored participants’ perceptions of their dyslexia label and how it had affected their academic success. The aim of the research was to identify facilitating factors that supported participants with dyslexia during their education. The following themes were identified: age of dyslexia identification, family support, dyslexic identity, self‐advocacy skills and learning resources. The study makes a case for an intervention for children and young people (CYP) with dyslexia that, in addition to remedial literacy support, explores self‐advocacy, thinking and study skills and facilitates positive academic self‐concepts. Future research could evaluate such an intervention for its effectiveness on CYP's social emotional well‐being and literacy skills.     

How they got it and how they wanted it: marginalised young people's perspective on their experiences of sexual health education

Young people in Australia are at greatest risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, and priority actions are necessary for this population group. This study of marginalised and at-risk young people in out-of-school environments was conducted in Western Australia with the aim of obtaining young people's perceptions about their experience of sexual health education and preferred means of gaining sexual health knowledge and skills. A participatory research methodology was implemented through a series of workshops with 88 young people recruited through community youth agencies. The results of the study support what is already known about sexual health promotion for young people and the importance of a holistic approach to promoting positive relationships and sexual health. However, the findings emphasise that this should include the need for demonstrated trust, confidence and safe environments, and the complementary role of community youth agencies and peer-based programmes which may play an important role in reaching young people who may disengage with, or not be reached by school-based sexual health education.     

Confronting unsuccessful practices: repositioning teacher identities in English education

Teacher education programs attempt to prepare preservice teachers for the various challenges faced in the classroom. One particular challenge new teachers face is how to handle unsuccessful practices. This paper argues that confronting ineffective practices require that teachers respond to complex and dynamic challenges, making change difficult when solutions are not readily available. Presenting data from case-study research, the paper uses an identity framework and positioning theory to explore how two novice teachers navigate moments of unsuccessful practice. Findings suggest that when teachers confronted ineffective practices they repositioned their teacher identities in ways that depended on the ideologies of their school. The paper concludes with implications about the importance of extending typical reflective practices of teacher education with video analysis that challenges students to examine how they enact teacher identities over time within the figured world of their school.     

‘Who likes fish? And I don’t mean fish fingers!’ Taste education,culinary capital,and distinction in a rural middle-class primary school

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how middle-class distinction is produced in a primary school by focusing on four different ‘scenes’. Using Bourdieu’s notion of distinction, this paper shows how children are educated on matters of middle-class taste. I argue that privilege is produced through food education in different formats. This taste education goes beyond what one should merely eat and consume. It is situated within a middle-class nostalgia for rural ‘villageness’. While this type of distinction is not in and of itself problematic, this paper discusses the implications for when these ideas are taken up in policy, and expected of all schools. I argue educators need to be aware of how these values are being rolled out as universal values, expected of schools in diverse areas. Educators should pay attention to how middle-class distinction and privilege is produced and reproduced in schools, in order to create a more inclusive food education.     

Factors associated with middle school students' perceptions of the quality of school-based sexual health education

This paper examines factors associated with middle school students' perceptions of the quality of the sexual health education (SHE) they received at school. Participants were 478 predominately White young people (256 girls, 222 boys) in grades 6–8 who completed a survey assessing their demographic characteristics; dating and sexual experience; and perceptions of the content, delivery and quality of the SHE they had received. Boys and students in a lower grade and with less sexual experience rated the quality of their SHE more positively. After accounting for student characteristics, students who more strongly agreed that their SHE matched their interests and covered sexual health topics more adequately, as well as who viewed their teacher as being more comfortable talking about sexual topics and doing a better job answering questions, reported higher quality SHE. Students' perceptions of the adequacy of coverage of 10 sexual health topics were also positively correlated with their reports of higher quality SHE, although only two topics (correct names for genitals and puberty/physical development) contributed uniquely to the prediction of this variable. These results reinforce the need for a comprehensive SHE curriculum as well as adequate preparation of teachers if SHE is to be engaging to students.     

Including nonreligious worldviews in religious education: the views and experiences of English secondary school teachers

Although the teaching of nonreligious worldviews has been advocated in a Council of Europe Recommendation, few European countries include such a study in religious education (RE). Guidance on implementing the Recommendation recognises that inclusion is problematic, raising issues for policymakers, teacher trainers and schools. In this article, findings from a qualitative study of the views and experiences of 25 RE teachers in England are used to identify and explore a range of issues, in relation to national and international debates and research. Examples of inclusion and the models that they suggest are considered and it is argued that major obstacles, such as limited time and lack of a framework for the integration of religious and nonreligious worldviews, can be of overcome. However, it is concluded that this will require further research and curriculum development work and that international collaboration should be pursued.     

Inclusion gatekeepers: the social production of spatial identities in special education

Abstract

Critical approaches to inclusive education seek to transform educational systems to increase access, participation, and achievement for students at the intersections of multiple markers of difference. Yet, the role of space in inclusive education remains under explored as a social and political construct. We know that space matters for the production and maintenance of student identities; however, little is known about its interaction with teacher and specifically special educator identity. This qualitative study takes a ‘spatial turn’ in inclusive education by exploring how the existing geographies of exclusion within schools mediated special educators’ identity construction. Through interactions with their sociocultural contexts, special educators’ engaged in the co-construction of gatekeeper identities and participated systems of ableism that perpetuated and justified exclusion. Recommendations will be made for how school communities can critically interrogate space as a means for increased equity and inclusion.     

Mature student teachers in initial teacher education in Greece: personal and academic identities

This qualitative study examined mature student teachers in initial teacher preparation for primary schools in Greece. More specifically it sought to identify the profile of mature student teachers, their intentions to become primary school teachers, their academic needs, concerns and expectations as well as their coping strategies across private and public spheres in university departments preparing primary school teachers. Adapting an ethnographic research approach and a case study design, 15 mature student teachers were followed throughout the final year of their studies, investigating patterns of personal and academic identities developed in order to become primary school teachers. Mature student teachers consist of a limited number in the total higher education student population. However their skills and experiences can be regarded as significant in course completion and contributing to a high standard of education in both the university and primary schools.     

Preparing for inclusive education: the pre-course experiences of prospective secondary school teachers on a UK-based training course

Progress towards inclusive education has been linked to the professional development of teachers, including their initial training. This study explores the range and nature of the experiences that students bring to a one-year Post Graduate Certificate in Education course for prospective secondary teachers in England. The data was gathered through questionnaires given to the whole cohort. There was a high response rate although a consequence of this approach was a reliance on self-reports. The analysis illustrates the diversity of experiences across the cohort that may impact on beliefs and attitudes of the individuals. If planning of teacher development is to be effective, providers need information of this type to inform their planning and delivery.     

Life skills-based HIV education: some virtues and errors

Since the early 1990s, life skills education has benefitted substantially from international agency advocacy and support, linked to its implementation in several countries as a key component of the education sector response to sexual health and HIV. The concept of life skills was first promoted by the World Health Organization through its programme on mental health as a means of promoting psychosocial competence. Since then, it has been extended to address a wider range of issues. Life skills-based HIV and sex education has proved to be a durable concept in education sector policy discourse on HIV and AIDS, despite a growing literature on the shortcomings in terms of its effectiveness in implementation in schools and delivering intended learning outcomes. Using a literature review, this paper aims to re-examine the adequacy of the life skills-based HIV education approach including empirical evidence for its effectiveness in educating about and preventing HIV infection among young people. Findings suggest that bureaucratic acceptance and advocacy for life skills-based HIV education has outstripped the theoretical adequacy and empirical evidence base for its effectiveness. Its current position among core indicators for the education sector response to HIV can be considered indicative of frozen thinking or inter-agency group-think.     

Exploring identities and cultures in inter-professional education and collaborative professional practice

Although the concept of multi-agency working has been pursued and adopted as the most appropriate way to improve childcare provision and health workforces in recent years, both in the UK and more globally, research suggests that participation in such work can be problematic. This article examines current developments in inter-professional education and collaborative professional practice. Drawing on desk research across the fields of Education, Health and Social Care, it applies a critical lens to re-examine inter-professional working using well-established concepts of profession, identity, culture, career, and training/work transitions. The article uses theoretical hooks to look for similarities and differences in the promotion of inter-professionality across the Education, Health and Social Care sectors, alongside those which occur within each. It looks towards a re-invigoration of knowledge creation and application through research. This is viewed as especially urgent in times of fragmentation, transformation, and arguably, disintegration, in the services its professional and academic educators and workers seek to serve.     

‘Being dyslexic doesn't make me less of a teacher’. School placement experiences of student teachers with dyslexia: strengths,challenges and a model for support

This research investigated the school practice placement experiences of six student teachers with dyslexia representing each year of a 3‐year initial teacher training course at a UK university. Placement performance and outcome has enormous implications for student teachers in demonstrating their professional competence and ability to meet the Training and Development Agency for Schools Professional Standards for Teachers and obtain qualified teacher status. The research focused thematically on student strengths, challenges and management strategies using a case research approach. Findings indicate student teachers with dyslexia bring unacknowledged strengths to placements but face a number of challenges despite proactive adoption of management strategies. A model of placement support to enhance student effectiveness has been developed. Conclusions indicate the importance of listening to the student's voice to understand individual placement requirements and co‐ordinate and implement specific reasonable adjustments as required by UK legislation 1 .     

Understanding parental views of adolescent sexuality and sex education in Ecuador: a qualitative study

Parents' contribution to sex education is increasingly receiving research attention. This growing interest stems from recognition of the influence that parental attitudes may have both on young people's sexual attitudes and behaviour, and on school-based sex education. Studies regarding parental attitudes towards sexuality are, however, still rare. The two main objectives of this study were to explore parental views about sexuality and to understand parental attitudes towards sex education. Four focus group discussions were conducted with parents from high schools in Cuenca, Ecuador. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that parents held a restricted view about sex education, grounded in traditional religious ideas about sexuality, which led parents to understand it as a morally and physically dangerous activity. Although parents expressed a willingness to make good quality sex education available to their children, they reported having insufficient personal resources to fulfil that objective. The results of this study provide important information about the need to develop and adapt sex education to each specific cultural context, thereby confirming the importance of knowing about the cultural traditions and religious beliefs that may form obstacles to effective sex education for young people in Ecuador.     

Femininities/masculinities and a sense self: thinking gendered academic identities and the intellectual self

This paper draws on the theoretical resources offered by feminist scholarship to enquire into the discourse of the intellectual and how women do being an academic. My starting points are threefold: Val Hey’s interrogation of Butler’s work and her emphasis on the importance of sociality; Carrie Paechter’s exploration of the available personal sets of masculinities and femininities that modify the ‘person who is me’; and my own attempts to draw on other traditions in theorising agency and a sense of self. Drawing on these resources I re‐read some data on academic identities to explore the potentialities of academic personhood and the discourses associated with the idea of the intellectual as a site of gendered personhood. The position of woman as intellectual is analysed in terms of Beauvoir’s assertion ‘I am a woman’ and the paradox of a universal voice and the female sex.