Conductive Education in a New Context

This month an independent research team from Birmingham University is due to report to the Department for Education on its assessment of the first three years' work of the Birmingham Institute for Conductive Education. Its findings, if published, will arouse wide interest. Meanwhile, Mike Lambert, director, Centre for Research and Development at the Birmingham Institute, reviews the way the National Curriculum has been introduced and how far it seems compatible with conductive education. This is the first journal article to examine this issue.     

THE UNDERLYING THEORIES OF CHARACTER EDUCATION OF SOME RADICAL WRITERS

As one means to assess their effectiveness in the formation and training of educational leaders for the United Methodist Church, professors of Christian education agreed to share their introductory course syllabi for analysis, interpretation, and public reporting. The analysis reveals points of strong overlap, very real differences, plus some surprising absences in the courses of United Methodist educators. Study findings are then interpreted in light of broader research around the purposes and means of theological education and generalized to suggest how scholars in Christian education are already and may aspire to become more deeply integral to that process.     

More by Accident than Design?

The scenes below are based on real events recorded during an investigation into the integration of children with moderate learning difficulties in secondary schools in four Welsh counties. The project was funded by the Welsh Office Education Department (WOED, 1988) and carried out from Cardiff by Professor Graham Upton and Frances Beasley from March 1985 to June 1986. Part of the study, on which the present article is based, focused on local authority policies and the practical implications of these policies for the provisions which they make. Professor Upton is head of the School of Education, Birmingham University, and Frances Beasley is a research fellow at Kent University.     

SATs for Some but Not for All?

How did pupils with special educational needs and their teachers tackle this year's first full run of SATs at Key Stage 1? David Bartlett, senior psychologist, Birmingham Education Authority, was previously coordinator for special needs and bilingualism working with the writing team for Key Stage 1 SATs, Consortium for Assessment and Testing in Schools. He comments on Birmingham schools' experiences with SATs and proposes improvements.     

Young People,Biblical Narrative and “Theologizing”: A UK Perspective

Religious Education is a curriculum subject provided as entitlement for all students in UK public schools. Biblical narratives appear for every student age group, usually in Christian studies modules. The Biblos research project was founded to investigate how biblical narrative might be taught with integrity in public schools in a society labelled variously post-Christian, post-modern, plural, and secular. It has completed four phases of life, summarized in this article. Particular attention is given to the most recent research that sets student attitudes toward biblical narrative against their familial and cultural background. Consideration is given to what it means for students actively to engage with biblical narrative and therefore to “theologize” for themselves.     

Research Supplement: Handwriting: One Measure of Orthofunction in Conductive Education

Carol Aubrey has recently joined the Department of Education, University College, Cardiff; Andrew Sutton is honorary research fellow in the Department of Psychology, Birmingham University. They report a survey of handwriting attainment in children following the Conductive Education regime in Hungary.     

Young People,Photography and Engagement

Over ten years research into photography and education has been undertaken at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design in collaboration with the Arts Council of England, West Midlands Arts, and local community photography agencies. A range of case studies were undertaken to explore how young people used photography, particularly in self‐empowerment. These ranged from students in Further Education challenging concepts of visual stereotypes of disability, young lesbian, gay and bisexual people constructing their own website, and individuals and groups creating and modifying their own images in a shopping centre. A democratic action research methodology was developed to enable the young people to establish their own agenda and generate standards for evaluating their work. A particular feature of the later research was a self‐reflective journal that was shared between the researcher and everyone engaged in the project. This resource has considerable potential in photography and elsewhere in art and design education.     

Unforgetting Place in Urban Education through Creative Participatory Visual Methods

In this article, Eve Tuck and Sefanit Habtom first consider the consequences of the erasure of the importance of place in the field of urban education and then describe a new youth participatory action research project in Toronto called Making Sense of Movements (MSOM). MSOM is a youth participatory visual research project that engages Black and Indigenous youth in thinking about the influence of social movements such as Black Lives Matter and Idle No More in their relationships to Toronto as a place, and also in their postsecondary planning.     

Active Approaches to Social Education

An active approach to personal and social education, now familiar in many secondary schools, has been adapted to working with pupils in a range of special schools through an in-service programme for staff. Sylvia Lindoe, senior lecturer, Westhill College of Education, Birmingham, and Julia Bond, deputy head, Alice Stevens School, Coventry, describe the project.     

院校设置中的教育主权:晚清教会大学立案考略

晚清学部对于教会大学的基本立场是"无庸立案,不给奖励"。其原因主要有四:一是因为中西文化的冲突,担心教会大学的毕业生不能站在中国的立场上为国家服务,所以不愿承认;二是因为担心引起外交纠纷,且已有大量的教会人士为我所用,所以不可拒绝;三是韬光养晦的外交策略,期望国家自强之后再解决教会大学立案问题;四是借鉴日本对于本国教会学校的不干涉政策。其目的之一乃是为了维护国家的教育主权。     

Using a Touch Sensitive Screen

Paul Blenkhorn, research fellow, Research Centre for the Education of the Visually Handicapped, Birmingham University, discusses the potential value of the 'touch sensitive' screen in teaching visually impaired, multihandicapped pupils.     

Foundations for an Intercultural Philosophy of Christian Education

This article proposes a number of fundamental principles that seek to establish a solid platform for a philosophy of Christian Education that is culturally responsive and responsible. In this theological-practical reflection the author affirms that the context where most processes of Christian Education take place in the United States today is one profoundly marked by cultural diversity. Consequently, the locus, the subject, and the methodological questions concerning Christian Education must develop an intercultural perspective. There is an urgent need for effective intercultural models of Christian Education. The article provides a horizon to envision and ground such models.     

Bridging the Legacy of Activism Across Generations: Life Stories of African American Educators in Post-Civil Rights Birmingham

This qualitative study takes account of the salience of activism in informing the worldviews and professional practices of a multigenerational sample of 42 African American educators in Birmingham, Alabama. Framed by life course, Black feminist thought, and hip-hop educational research perspectives, the study highlights how the participants grapple with: generational misunderstandings; re-visioning traditional notions of activism; and forging intergenerational alliances. Birmingham, forever bound by its haunted yet sacred civil rights history, is presented as a prototypical space for examining this inquiry and sparking a resurgent activism among African American educators. The author concludes with implications for the capacity of contemporary African American educators in the U.S. South to forge intergenerational alliances to advance the aims of African American education.     

基督教与中国东南的乡村社会--以近代福建美以美会为例

本文以福建美以美会为个案,尝试勾勒出近代来华基督教与东南中国乡村社会的互动图景.文章发现,乡村教会是基督教的发展主体.教会的发展一方面受到传统乡村社会结构与信仰态度的影响,另一方面也尝试建立一个新的宗教体系.在部分乡村,基督教会成为社区的生产、生活中心,一些乡村教会知识分子亦有较强的社会触觉,倾向改革.而在世局变迁中,乡村教会受多种社会势力影响.文章认为,乡村教会的历史研究,应放在本地社会结构与历史变迁中加以理解,将乡村教会视为地方宗教力量,较将其视作外来宗教显得更为有效.     

Inclusion through Distinction

The focus of this presentation will be on issues arising from a three year action research project, exploring young people's creative uses of digital technology, outside of formal education. The project, based at the University of Central England in Birmingham, and Jubilee Arts in Sandwell, has sought to both engage young people in a creative process, and provide access to digital technology. The research was formulated as a means of exploring the ways in which young people might utilise digital technology creatively, given access, outside of formal education.     

Sex Education for Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties

This article is based on the dissertation for the degree of B.Ed. (Honours) awarded by Birmingham University in July 1986 to the author when she was a student at Westhill College, Birmingham. Karen Giles is now teaching at Rosemary School, Islington, in the Inner London Education Authority.     

'Inclusive Learning': the Reform Initiative of the Tomlinson Committee

Lani Florian, Lecturer in Special Education at the University of Birmingham, considers the practical implications of the Tomlinson Report on Further Education.     

Coping with Disruption at School

Elizabeth an aggressive 10 year old, is chosen by Barrie Wade, Faculty of Education, Birmingham University, Maggie Moore, assessment unit, Tiverton School, Birmingham, to illustrate approaches to disruptive behaviour in the ordinary school     

西方传教士与华人基督徒--清末福建美以美会内部争论述评

本文以美国德鲁大学(Drew University)馆藏资料为主要基础，描述清末福建美以美会教会两次内部争论，力图从新角度探讨清末基督教史。文章认为：西方传教士并不是清末中国基督教的唯一代表。中国基督徒、西方传教士，同样是清末传教运动不可或缺的要素。在清末福建美以美会，传教士的内部矛盾与华人基督徒的影响密切相关。双方的互动交流构成清末基督教发展的推动力。     

Isolation,resilience, and faith: Experiences of Black Christian students in biology graduate programs

To increase participation of students of color in science graduate programs, research has focused on illuminating student experiences to inform ways to improve them. In biology, Black students are vastly underrepresented, and while religion has been shown to be a particularly important form of cultural wealth for Black students, Christianity is stigmatized in biology. Very few studies have explored the intersection of race/ethnicity and Christianity for Black students in biology where there is high documented tension between religion and science. Since graduate school is important for socialization and Black students are likely to experience stigmatization of their racial and religious identity, it is important to understand their experiences and how we might be able to improve them. Thus, we interviewed 13 Black Christian students enrolled in biology graduate programs and explored their experiences using the theoretical lens of stigmatized identities. Through thematic content analysis, we revealed that students negotiated experiences of cultural isolation, devaluation of intelligence, and acts of bias like other racially minoritized students in science. However, by examining these experiences at the intersection of race/ethnicity and religion, we shed light on interactions students have had with faculty and peers within the biology community that cultivated perceptions of mistrust, conflict, and stigma. Our study also revealed ways in which students' religious/spiritual capital has positively supported their navigation through biology graduate school. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of why Black Christian graduate students are more likely to leave or not pursue advanced degrees in biology with implications for research and practice that help facilitate their success.