Learning about the world of the student: writing poetry for teacher–student understanding

The authors aim to assist teachers to gain a deeper understanding of the inner lives of students especially those with special educational needs. This aim is pursued in two ways. The first is an exploration of the experience of writing poetry using the students' sentiments, actual words and phrases – a poetic engagement. The second is to argue for the transformative potential of this poetic engagement for the practitioner seeking to ‘get alongside’ the student.     

Benchmarking the environmental values and attitudes of students in New Zealand's post‐compulsory education

How much do teachers in tertiary education know about the sustainability characteristics of their incoming students and, if this knowledge were to be available, how could their educational approaches be influenced by this knowledge? In New Zealand, Otago Polytechnic has committed itself to the goal that every graduate may think and act as a sustainable practitioner, and staff are changing their approach to teaching to achieve this. This research sought to benchmark the environmental worldview attributes of an incoming cohort of Otago Polytechnic students to support academic staff who need to know more about the sustainability interests and characteristics of their students, so that they may provide appropriate educational programmes. The research was also designed as the first stage of longer‐term research to evaluate the impact of these institutional changes on how students transform during the period of their tertiary education experience. The data and analysis presented here suggest that even before students start to study in the institution different groups have substantially different sustainability values‐sets. The authors anticipate that the research instruments and approaches used in the present study will contribute to a substantial national exploration of the sustainability value‐sets of tertiary students.     

Colluding in the ‘Torture’ of Poetry: Shared Beliefs and Assessment

Assessment is most often held responsible for teachers' and students' mechanical approach to poetry in class. This article shows how examination pressure leads a group of poetry teachers and A Level English students at a post‐16 college in Malta to perpetuate an approach to poetry that is characterised by an emphasis on finding hidden meaning. However, it is also argued that to blame only assessment for this approach is to run the risk of ignoring the shared beliefs that teachers and students have about poetry.     

Shared Writing via Contemporary Poetry

This article describes how some basic tenets of shared writing can be applied to a class of 16‐year‐old L2 speakers of English preparing for a high stakes examination in which poetry is assessed by means of the traditional critical response. It examines how by means of this technique students who have never written any poetry can develop the confidence to write their own poems. By using a poem by Gerard Woodward as an example, this article also demonstrates that creative writing helps to boost students’ engagement with the contemporary poetry they are expected to read for examination purposes.     

Packaging poetry? Pupils’ perspectives of their learning experience within the post‐primary poetry classroom

This paper explores the issue of educational commodification within the poetry class. Drawing from research conducted with 200 Leaving Certificate pupils, from eight post‐primary schools in Ireland, this paper investigates these pupils’ perspectives on their learning experiences against a backdrop of educational consumerism. The research identifies a number of areas of concern including limited potential for creative and aesthetic engagement in the classroom, a utilitarian approach to the teaching and learning of poetry, the marginalisation of pupil voice and subjective response and the prioritisation of exam performance. Drawing on the findings of this study, it is argued that the teaching and learning of poetry is vulnerable to becoming a packaged commodity. Recommendations for renewed teacher agency in countering pedagogical pragmatism beginning at pre‐service level are made.     

What bilingual poets can do: Re‐visioning English education for biliteracy

This paper describes a bilingual‐bidialectal poetry writing programme set up in a community library in the southeastern United States for multi‐age learners. The authors explore the use of poetry as a vehicle for biliteracy development. The analysis draws on observations of the students’ engagement with poetry both in terms of their writing and the teachers’ responses. The paper discusses how poetry can inform a critical, multicultural approach to developing biliteracy in students of all ages and degrees of competence in written English. The authors theorise the role that poetry can play in creating positive learning environments for such students.     

Practice into Pedagogy into Practice: Collaborative Postcards from Hong Kong

A collaborative postcard project completed by 22 students as part of a drawing course conducted at a university in Hong Kong is introduced. The project entailed inviting students into an art practice in which the author was herself engaged as a practitioner as well as a researcher. After introducing the educational context in which the project took place, the author provides an account – informed by ‘participant‐observer’ feedback from students – of how the project unfolded and was experienced. In the second section of the article the creative and pedagogic efficacy of the project is considered with reference to the experience‐centred and dialogic principles expressed in the educational philosophies of John Dewey, Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt and Paulo Freire. The third section draws on insights from scholars working in a range of disciplines – cultural history, anthropology, sociology and psychology – to argue that a particular set of organisational and collaborative dynamics catalysed students’ levels of engagement, creativity and motivation. The article argues that the collaborative postcard project is an example of an experience‐centred and practice‐based pedagogy that is founded on dialogue, mutual generosity and experimental play, and engenders in students the ‘quality of mental process’ that is, for John Dewey, ‘the measure of educative growth’.     

THE STUDENT HOMELESSNESS CRISIS AND THE ROLE OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY: MISSED OPPORTUNITIES,ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT,AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Affecting more than 1 million youth, student homelessness is growing at an unprecedented rate in the United States. This is alarming because homeless students face significant barriers to their academic success and positive life outcomes. Unfortunately, despite the significant risks and challenges they face, homeless students often are overlooked and not provided with important educational and social‐emotional supports. In addition, information on student homelessness is relatively limited in the school psychology literature and practice guidelines, which can forestall efforts to help these students. To date, only a few empirical articles have been published on student homelessness in school psychology journals and in practitioner‐related literature. To help address this paucity, this article discusses barriers to the academic success of homeless students, as well as ways to reduce these barriers. Additionally, important protective factors, resilience, and ways to overcome homelessness‐related stigma are reviewed. Lastly, ways that school psychologists can become key stakeholders in efforts to help support the academic and life success of homeless students are discussed. The overall goal for this article is to encourage school psychologists to redouble their efforts to support a highly at‐risk yet often neglected student population.     

The multi‐modal redesign of school texts

Multiliteracies‐related research is just emerging from the formal discourse of pedagogical theorising and how it may look in practice needs further exploration. This research, initiated under that warrant, presents practitioner research and the enactment of a multiliteracies curriculum with Year 8 students in New York City's Chinatown. The study describes a collaborative digital literacies project with a local contemporary arts museum where students engaged in the multi‐modal redesign of school texts. First, the article outlines a move of multiliteracies theory into curriculum practice where students explored questions of Chinese‐American and immigrant identities through a discourse analysis of history texts. Then, drawing on a digital gothic and hip‐hop cartoon Web project, it outlines how students challenged ways their ethnic identities were positioned by drawing political satire cartoons about immigration to the United States. The project concluded with a virtual exhibition of students' artwork where they inserted their cartoons within existing educational websites using HTML and Flash. It argues that the redesigned websites are a new set of multi‐modal literacy practices that allow youth to disrupt racist and exclusionary discourses they encounter in school texts and their lived experiences.     

Evolution and Contingency: Poetry,Curriculum and Culture in Victoria,Australia

This article explores the changing place of poetry studies in the broader English curriculum of Victoria, Australia. Its focus is on how students learning to become English teachers engage with poetry studies. Setting this problem within the context of pedagogical theory and evidence about the evolving Victorian curriculum, we have interviewed six first‐year students to explore their perspectives on the study of poetry. A clear finding is that exposure to the study of poetry is very limited in Australia’s secondary school system. A more surprising finding is that students do not clearly recognize their exposure to poetry studies as such.     

Self‐monitoring and its relationship with educational level and task importance

To investigate students' self‐monitoring practice and effects of educational level and task importance on self‐monitoring, 510 students, varying in educational level from elementary through graduate school, reported the self‐monitoring strategies they employed in three learning situations with different levels of task importance. The study identified six self‐monitoring strategies used by students but found a low involvement in self‐monitoring at all educational levels. It was found that older students used more complex self‐monitoring strategies more frequently than younger students. The study also showed that students' self‐monitoring increased with task importance. The self‐monitoring deficiencies that students experienced in difficult learning tasks were attributed to the lack of a system of self‐monitoring. Educational applications of teaching self‐monitoring strategies and developing self‐monitoring systems for difficult learning tasks were discussed.     

From reflective practitioner to comprehensive teacher

The work of Donald Schön has drawn attention to the paradox inherent in the activities of teaching and learning. His own concept of the reflective practitioner tries to offer a way through this paradox for students arguing that by risking the power inequalities of being a learner they can eventually empower themselves as self-educators. However, it is argued below that Schon has not applied these insights into the paradox of teaching and learning to the activity of reflective practice nor to the identity of the reflective practitioner, and that therefore his educational model is not genuinely comprehensive. The failure by the reflective practitioner to risk the negativity of self-relation within the dialectic of reflection reduces its educational potential, and holds back the education of the philosophical consciousness, which characterises the truly comprehensive teacher     

论庾肩吾诗歌创作的成就

庚肩吾是名的宫体诗作家，传世诗内容丰富。他的应制诗和企慕隐逸诗多以山水描写为主，对唐代山水诗派产生了很大影响。他还是继承永明诗歌理论的探索和实践，为唐代近体诗繁荣作出了重大贡献。     

PREDICTORS OF OVERALL PERFORMANCE IN A B.Ed. COURSE AND IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The study Investigated the association between entry qualifications to a BEd course, performance in educational psychology and overall BEd performance. The roles of main area specialisation and sex differences In performance In educational psychology were also investigated. The academic records of 313 students from six year‐groups constituted the data set for the study. Results showed that performance in educational psychology was an efficient predictor of overall performance in the BEd course. Students who specialised in mathematics/science subjects performed better as a group in educational psychology than students in other main areas of specialisation. Also, significant sex differences in performance in educational psychology were observed in some of the year‐groups, with female students out‐performing their male colleagues.     

李叔同的音乐教育实践及其启示

李叔同是中国学堂乐歌的主要开创者之一,是近代著名的音乐教育理论家和实践家。在音乐教育实践中形成自身独特的＂先器识而后文艺＂的教育思想以及＂以学生为本＂和＂因材施教＂的教学理念。新形势下,研究李叔同的音乐教育实践和思想,并将其主动运用到当前的音乐教育中,有助于广大音乐教育工作者吸取前人有益的思维成果,以推动中国音乐教育改革的深入发展。     

Age is more than just a number! The role of age and maturity in the processes leading to early school leaving in Flanders (Belgium)

In many educational systems, age is used as a criterion to organise education. Children's age is used to group students together and indicate entry into particular programmes. The use of age for organisational purposes in education stems from the idea that age provides an indication of the development of children, which is associated with teaching and learning. However, more far‐reaching consequences of age‐related educational practices are insufficiently recognised in policy and academic research. Qualitative methods are used to study students and school personnel in diverse types of educational institutions in Flanders (Belgium) to assess how age and age‐related issues matter for the students’ educational trajectories and educational decision‐making processes leading to early school leaving. Data analyses reveal that school staff members consider age and perceived maturity during evaluation procedures. Students also consider age during educational decision‐making processes: when getting older or being too old for the grade, students increasingly weigh the costs and benefits associated with getting an educational qualification and being enrolled in school and alternative opportunities. Students’ expectations related to age shape their school experiences and feelings of belonging. The findings of this study demonstrate how these educational practices add to the reproduction of inequalities through education. These results could inform debates concerning the evaluation procedures in secondary education, compulsory education and the reduction of early school leaving in Europe.     

Extra‐credential experiences and social closure: Working‐class students at university

Human capital theorists perceive of educational expansion as beneficial to individuals, corporations and national economies, while social closure theorists have claimed that inflation of credential requirements maintains traditional status inequalities. In this paper I argue that status inequalities are not only maintained by credential inflation, but also the inflation of extra‐credential experiences. As undergraduate degrees become more common, access to employment and further education opportunities increasingly depend on extra‐curricular and ‘enriching’ educational experiences. Using qualitative data from a longitudinal study of working‐class university students in Canada, I will address the mechanisms by which they have gained or were denied access to such experiences. The data suggest that working‐class students’ relative lack of financial resources and social networks are barriers to the development of extra‐credential experiences, which in turn leads to the change of educational and career plans for some.     

Beyond locality: the creation of public practice‐based knowledge through practitioner research in professional learning communities and communities of practice. A review of three books on practitioner research and professional communities

In both the fields of educational practice and educational research the professional development of teachers was, is and is promising to remain an urgent and relevant topic. Practitioner research performed by teachers in professional learning communities and communities of practice is promising to serve their professional development. In addition, practitioner research and participation in these learning and working communities aim at explicating the locally existing tacit professional knowledge. Since practitioner research is also defined as a means to the aim of creating knowledge that is more relevant to the practice of education than the knowledge created by research institutes, we are concerned with the question of which mechanisms can be identified as enabling the production of public practice‐based knowledge. Therefore we review three current books on practitioner research and professional communities.     

‘I guess it scares us’ – Teachers discuss the teaching of poetry in senior secondary English

This article reports on a participant‐centred research project with English teachers in a senior secondary college in Melbourne, Australia. It builds on previous research (Weaven and Clark 2009, 2011), which showed a low take‐up of the opportunities to teach poetry in Victoria's senior secondary English curriculum. This study explores the reasons why teachers of English are unwilling to use poetry texts in their senior classes. The teachers who participated in this study discussed and documented their attitudes towards the teaching of poetry and explored with each other the pedagogical challenges associated with teaching poetry. Their discussions – an analysis of which forms the empirical core of this article – reveal a range of explanations for teachers' reservations about offering poetry to their students. Importantly, these teachers were able to use professional discussion as a means to consider what changes in teaching practice could be successfully developed to facilitate more time spent on the teaching of poetry in senior secondary classes.     

Innovation in postgraduate teaching: mixed methods to enhance learning and learning about learning

Growing pressure to restructure and reform tertiary education is encouraging university academics to use innovative practices that assist students to develop ‘employable’ skills. The hybrid approach described in this paper stimulated students to be self‐directed adult learners who maximized their learning of content and skills by means of problem‐based learning and action research strategies. The lecturer also operated as a reflective practitioner and role model by using an action research approach. This paper demonstrates the value of student empowerment, communication and leadership in autonomous learning groups. It outlines methods by which academic teaching staff can build continuous improvement into a university unit’s curriculum design and processes. These can be powerful additions to lecturers’ teaching strategies and to students’ learning experiences.