Stress Management Programmes and a Transaetional,Psychodynamic Model

The author argues that over the last twenty years we have witnessed an evolution in pastoral care that is unparalleled in any other field of education. There has been controversy over the definition and these different views are discussed. The paucity of research and literature in the field and particularly in relation to the pastoral needs of teachers andstaff is emphasized.

In this paper it is suggested that the needs of school staff in respect of pastoral care are relatively neglected in the literature. Using the three R's of pastoral care – relationships, respect and responsibility – this paper focuses attention on teachers and their needs in the workplace. It is argued that attention to relationships, respect and responsibility enablesa proactive collaborative approach in which all members of the school community play a crucial role in the pastoral care of students.     

Invisible care? The role of librarians in caring for the ‘whole pupil’ in secondary schools

This paper draws on the ‘accidental’ results of a UK national survey of school libraries to explore how school librarians can contribute to student pastoral care. Although the survey did not ask specific questions about student social development, responding librarians identified three key aspects of their contribution: support for learning; maintaining a safe and secure environment; and providing individual support. The librarian’s role in these aspects of social development support are described and then elaborated into three approaches to the pastoral role: ‘play it down’; promote the social role of libraries within the school; or focus on the pastoral needs of individuals. Views are then offered on how school managers, teachers and school librarians themselves can build on the existing pastoral role in a context where there is no statutory requirement to provide school libraries and where library development is heavily dependent upon the vision of the school senior leadership team.     

Constraints to Pastoral Care for Distressed Children: Opinions of Head Teachers

Although initially focusing on the parental diagnosis of cancer, the findings reported in this paper have a much wider significance for pastoral care. Earlier research suggested that parental disclosure of diagnosis was not handled sensitively by some secondary schools. The earlier research dealt with the responses of parents and pupils, whilst this research focuses on the perceptions of head teachers. Using unstructured interviews, three key areas were investigated: the recommended procedures for parental contact with the school in relation to confidential issues; the policies or procedures which help or constrain staff from helping distressed children on an individual basis; the needs and concerns of headteachers and staff related to pastoral care in schools. The data provide important insights into the perceptions and issues concerning pastoral care in the current climate.     

Creativity as a pastoral concern

In this paper, the author considers the contribution of creativity to pastoral care in education. Since its advent in English schools in the early 1970s, pastoral care has placed the affective realm and individual enrichment centre stage in both its curriculum aims and teaching approaches. These principles have, however, had much to contend with over the past 50 years; from the obtrusive effects of state intervention in schools, to the challenges confronting young people growing up in increasingly complex societies. For many teachers and practitioners, engaging young people in creative pursuits has come to be regarded as a necessary counterpoint to increasingly performative school cultures and an essential means to enabling vibrant forms of positive self-expression. The power of creative activities has received new impetus as a pastoral concern in light of two national trends. The first as creative arts provision in the curriculum in English state secondary schools declines as a consequence of Government qualification reforms, and second as an increasing number of young people are referred to Alternative Educational Provision with mental health issues. As a consequence, many pastoral educators have turned or, indeed, returned to creativity and creative practices as a primary means of supporting and enriching the lives of young people, particularly for those who now struggle in contemporary school environments. In light of these developments and drawing on research and practice in the field of creativity and pastoral care, this paper aims to cast further light on creativity in pastoral education.     

An interactional analysis of one-to-one pastoral care delivery within a primary school

Despite an interactional analysis being able to offer valuable insight into the institutional workings of pastoral care practice, pastoral care delivery remains largely unstudied. This paper will contribute new knowledge to the field of counselling and education by offering an interactional analysis of one-to-one pastoral care provision within a primary school. Much pastoral care practice is informed by theory, often accompanied by guidelines about how to deliver pastoral care activities effectively. The pastoral carer needs to convert these guidelines into talk in order to deliver the intervention as an interactional encounter. However useful these guidelines are, they cannot show what the actual delivery of those pastoral care activities might look like in real life. Using conversation analysis, we examine video recordings of pastoral care delivery to reveal the ways in which a pastoral carer supports a child’s behaviour, social and emotional well-being. The significance of the findings is that those who provide pastoral care can see in close detail what delivery might look like as a real-life encounter, imparting valuable knowledge that can then be applied alongside theory and guidelines to enhance professional practice. Of further significance is that the findings can also show how an interactional analysis of pastoral care work can be used to demonstrate social and emotional learning and that the work being done effectively supports children.     

How young children view mathematical representations: a study using eye-tracking technology

This paper reports on a study which investigated the support needs of pupils in mainstream school with a chronic illness or physical disability. The research was carried out in three local education authorities covering both rural and urban areas. In-depth, qualitative data were collected from 33 pupils in secondary school; 58 parents of primary and secondary school pupils; and 34 primary and secondary school teachers. Overall, the data from young people suggest variability in the support offered to pupils by teachers, even by teachers within the same school, and highlights the importance of teachers' awareness and understanding of special health needs. A number of areas where young people need support from teachers were identified, including: dealing with school absence; taking part in school activities; peer relationships; explaining the condition to other pupils; and having someone to talk to about health-related worries. Data from teachers and parents indicate that school staff need assistance with obtaining health-related information; ensuring health-related information is passed between and within schools; providing emotional support; the provision of medical care; and coordinating support for this group of pupils. The implications of the findings for teachers, schools and educational policy are discussed.     

Always being on your toes: elementary school dance teachers’ perceptions of inclusion and their roles in creating inclusive dance education environments

Teachers are key players in creating inclusive dance education environments. Guided by a conceptual framework of relational ethics, this qualitative study explored the perceptions and practices of four elementary school dance teachers teaching in public schools in two large school districts in Western Canada. Data collection involved interviews, observation, and researcher field notes. Thematic analysis guided data analysis procedures. Analysis revealed six themes connected to teacher perceptions: (a) valuing uniqueness; (b) establishing supportive relationships; (c) becoming pedagogically aware; (d) regarding children’s needs; (e) teaching students about responsibility; and (f) having high expectations. Dance teachers valued inclusion and dance as a means for enabling student movement exploration and discovery of their unique style and ability. By acknowledging and respecting difference, the practice of accommodating diverse learning needs contributed to the learning of all students.     

牧区小学语文阅读教学措施及如何提升学生写作能力

在学生接触语文学习的启蒙阶段,教师要充分重视提升语文读写能力在小学语文素养培育中的重要性。尤其是对于处于牧区的学生来说,教育是一件非常需要关注的大事,因为无论是从教学条件还是语文教学理念上来看,牧区的语文教学都要落后于城市中的语文教学。因此,在小学语文课堂教学研究中,教师要分析造成学生阅读教学质量不佳、学生写作能力低下的原因,并在此基础上进行优化改革,将语文教学中的读写两个板块的教学进行切实有效的提高。     

The responsibilisation of teachers: a neoliberal solution to the problem of inclusion

This paper critically examines competing demands placed on teachers, with reference to recent inclusion policy in England and Australia. The authors draw on Michael Foucault’s analysis of power, neoliberalism(s) and biopolitics to explore the ways in which teachers are ‘responsibilised’ into negotiating and fulfilling demands related to both state-imposed accountability practices and social justice agendas. The economic context and associated ‘politics of austerity’ are taken into account in a critical exploration of how the (biopolitical) management of inclusion in the neoliberal present coincides with diminishing funding for social and educational expertise, with ever-increasing responsibilities being placed on teachers to fill this void. The responsibilisation of teachers in recent legislation and statutory guidance discursively constructs the teacher as a professional who takes responsibility for student and school performance, pastoral care, inclusion and social change. Responsibilisation relies on ‘dividing practices’, obliging some teachers to assess the conformity of colleagues to inclusion policy.     

Pastoral Care to Regulate School Bullying: Shame Management among Bystanders

Bystanders can reveal valuable information about bullying to school personnel to take action on it. If they remain reluctant, of course, they frustrate our efforts to stop bullying. But then, why would they get involved if doing so might make them victims of aggression too?
This paper investigates the importance of adaptive shame management in encouraging bystanders to prevent bullying. Data were collected through the Cross-national School Behaviour Research Project from 1452 secondary school students (49% girls) in grades 7–10 (mean=8.42) in Bangladesh. As predicted, students who scored higher on shame acknowledgement (admitting shame, accepting responsibility, making amends) were more likely to intervene to prevent bullying. Those with low shame displacement (blaming or hitting out at others) were also likely to intervene to stop bullying. Implications of these findings pertaining to pastoral staff, counsellors and school teachers working with students to encourage coming forward against bullying are discussed.     

Swiss student‐teachers' views of social pedagogy

In recent years a number of policy and practice initiatives concerning pastoral care in schools in England have led to schools increasingly being expected to take a leading role in addressing a widening range of concerns regarding the welfare, care and education of children, and in working more closely with parents and other professional agencies in addressing these. This has included a consideration of the notion of ‘social pedagogy’ as widely practiced in mainland Europe. This paper explores the views of student‐teachers in Switzerland, a country where social pedagogy is well developed, regarding the role of the school in addressing pupil problems. The findings indicate that these Swiss student‐teachers felt schools should take the lead role primarily in areas regarding poor academic progress, bullying, general misbehaviour and disaffection, and less so in areas of a more personal nature for pupils where schools may be less accountable. The findings provide some pointers concerning how Swiss student‐teachers would benefit from greater attention being given to considering such pastoral care issues in their training course.     

Pastoral Care for Children of Cancer Patients

This paper reports the findings of new research on the school as a source of psychosocial support for primary‐ and secondary‐stage children of cancer patients. It begins with a restatement of the importance of pastoral care in schools and of teachers listening to children. Academic success is an important factor in maintaining positive self‐esteem and psychological functioning. The authors show how parents' cancer affected their children at schoool; how children do not disclose important personal and familial information; and that this can mean that problems in school are not fully understood nor supported. Peers had an important role to play in adjustment.     

The many voices of the English classroom

In the field of English much attention has been focused on the teaching and assessment of isolable, decontextualised skills. This paper contests such versions of English, insisting on the continuing need to conceptualise the English classroom as a social space where a number of voices meet. It places the particular accounts of two English teachers and their classrooms within a tradition that pays attention to the subjectivities, cultures and histories of school students and to the relationships that are built up over time.     

Teacher Leadership in Practice: Mapping the Negotiation of the Position of the Special Educational Needs Coordinator in Schools

Special needs care has taken on a substantial evolution within education. Special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) are no longer considered to provide individual guidance to students but to support and professionalize regular teachers in fulfilling special needs care in their classroom. In doing so, they act as teacher leaders. Many concerns are raised about how teacher leadership may interfere with the existing working relationships in schools. In this study, we use Positioning Theory as a theoretical approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of how the position of the SENCO and the responsibilities attached to this position are negotiated within the school. The findings illustrate that SENCOs received the legitimacy to act as teacher leaders when their expertise was recognized, when teachers perceived their task as first-line helpers, and when school principals were willing to release power.     

Pastoral Care for Children of Cancer Patients

This paper reports the findings of new research on the school as a source of psychosocial support for primary‐ and secondary‐stage children of cancer patients. It begins with a restatement of the importance of pastoral care in schools and of teachers listening to children. Academic success is an important factor in maintaining positive self‐esteem and psychological functioning. The authors show how parents’ cancer affected their children at schoool; how children do not disclose important personal and familial information; and that this can mean that problems in school are not fully understood nor supported. Peers had an important role to play in adjustment.     

Inclusion of pupils with intellectual disabilities: primary school teachers' attitudes and willingness in a rural area in Uganda

Teachers in regular schools have a responsibility to accommodate the needs and interests of all learners. The attitudes and willingness of teachers to include learners with intellectual disabilities in their classes in regular schools in a district with a semi-nomadic pastoral population in north-eastern Uganda was investigated. A survey of 125 school teachers was conducted, using an attitude scale and a willingness sub-scale. The results showed slightly more positive than negative attitudes, and more willingness than unwillingness to teach learners with intellectual disabilities. Attendance of workshops and seminars had a positive impact on teacher attitudes and willingness towards inclusive education. The findings are discussed with reference to historical–cultural characteristics of the district, as well as pupil and teacher characteristics.     

The challenges of making school guidance culturally responsive: narratives of pastoral needs of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary schools

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about the growing number of ethnic minority students. How they are supported and how the diversity of their pastoral needs is fulfilled become critical. This article examines teachers’, students’ and parents’ narratives of the cross‐cultural experience of ethnic minority students from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal and Thailand, and the diversity of those students’ pastoral needs. The qualitative data were collected from interviews, through which the constructs of 32 teachers and 32 students from three secondary schools were explored. Four groups of focus‐group interviews were conducted, in which 15 parents were involved. This article argues that to implement the ethos of caring, it is not only necessary for the school to promote the intercultural sensitivity of all practitioners, but equally important to develop a connected school system where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in the subsystems of classroom, school and home.     

Teaching about Human Relationships Education for primary school student‐teachers using an interactive CD‐ROM

Human Relationships Education is a very important part of primary school student‐teacher education. All primary school children need sound guidance and enhanced knowledge about puberty, growing up successfully, and feeling competent and confident in themselves. An interactive multimedia CD‐ROM was designed and developed for some Australian university student‐teachers in the final fourth year of their Bachelor of Education (Primary School), and addresses the Human Relationships Education curriculum. This paper analyses some of the pedagogies used in this pastoral care learning as examples of a Constructivist approach to designing multimedia interactivities based on Anderson and Krathwohl's learning framework. Such an approach may be useful for other educational designers to improve student‐teacher involvement in their pastoral care learning, to provide pedagogical variation and to use interactive multimedia, thus enhancing learning outcomes for student‐teachers and, in turn, their primary school students.     

Professionalism and Intensification in Teaching: a case study of ‘care’ in teachers’ work

This paper reports a research project in teachers’ work in one secondary school. It takes a labour process perspective to examine how localized notions of professionalism act to both enable and disable teachers in their struggle to exercise control over their work. For the teachers in this study an ‘ethic of care’ appears to inform their practice and relationships. Professionalism as care plays a contradictory role in these teachers’ working lives, at the same time providing the motivation, commitment and conditions that result in the intensification and control of their work.     

Discourses of the good parent in attributing school success

Recent education policy places a heavy emphasis on parents in relation to students' success at school. This paper explores how parents and teachers account for school success. Using membership categorisation analysis, it interrogates data collected in different interview situations across sites over a period of 20 years. The analysis shows how parents and teachers use talk as moral work to conversationally constitute particular agreed versions of the category ‘parent’. This category is interactively assembled through the use of category-bound attributes that construct deficit discourses of parents that explain student achievement. The analysis demonstrates that parents are complicit with teachers in producing versions of being a good parent wherein they are held responsible for their children's school success and that minimises the responsibility of the school. These findings raise questions both about who is responsible for schooling and about current contradictory policy emphases on parent and teacher responsibility for school success.