Does social justice count? ‘Lived democracy’ in mathematics classes in diverse Swedish upper secondary programmes

This article analyses what students attending four Swedish upper secondary school programmes with different social class profiles tried and wanted to influence in relation to mathematics teachers’ pedagogic practice and responses during the year 2008/2009. The theoretical framework is based on Bernstein’s theories regarding power and control. The analyses draw on ethnographic observations of classes taking the Natural Science and Social Science academic programmes, and the Vehicle and Child and Recreation vocational programmes, at two Swedish upper secondary schools. Students attending different programmes tried to influence the teaching. However, what the students taking the academic and vocational programmes were able to influence considerably differed. Generally, the vocational students exerted influence more successfully when they wanted to reduce the pace and difficulty of teaching, than when they wished to get more out of their education, while the opposite applied to the academic, especially Natural Science, students. Thus, the power relations reflected the programmes’ social class profiles and the students’ expected positions in society, despite policies at the time to promote democracy and reduce social reproduction in education. The findings support the importance of analysing not only students’ voices, but also their voices in relation to the pedagogic practice they encounter.     

试论僧尼道姑情爱在中晚明戏曲小说中的文学表现

宗教基本上都具有禁欲倾向。中晚明异端思想涌起，大胆肯定人欲价值和世俗生活的合理性。于是，在戏曲小说中对不危害他人的僧尼道姑的情爱行为予以宽容和同情。作品以僧尼道姑的人性，去揭露宗教禁欲主义的荒谬和愚昧。而淫僧恶尼的肆意淫乐，正是禁欲主义下的变态行为，是宗教禁欲下的情欲迷误。     

Dimensions of national test performance: A two-level approach

The research project presented in this article was set in the Swedish school context and carried out on a set of compulsory national tests for English, Swedish, and mathematics used at the end of compulsory school. The aims were: (a) to gain a deeper knowledge of the internal structure of the tests and (b) to separate individual performance from school performance. Individual test results from a representative sample of approximately 30% of the cohort (n = 26,360) constituted the data. Factor analysis, of a basically confirmatory nature, was applied in the study. Modelling at the individual level resulted in a theoretically sound, 11-factor model demonstrating good fit. The corresponding analyses at the school level, using 2-level structural equation modelling techniques, generated a similar, although somewhat less complex, model. Approximately 12% of the total variation in performance on the tests proved to be associated with schools.     

Collaborative knowledge building to promote in-service teacher training in environmental education

Abstract

This project was undertaken by researchers at three universities in England where there is a well established tradition of introducing student teachers to Information Technology. Questionnaires were administered at three key points in the course to a student group in each university, to establish how students' concepts of IT were developing and to identify key influences on their practice and their thinking. Selected students were interviewed towards the end of their teaching practice, as was the school mentor for each student wherever possible, and all staff in the student's host department were invited to complete a questionnaire. All tapes were transcribed. The study suggests that student teachers of English have a broader view of literacy than is currently predominant in schools and this view positively embraces the role of IT in literacy. Student teachers do not envisage the disappearance of books, instead they see a wider and more inclusive range of texts, including the electronic, as part of the normal focus of the English teacher. Practising teachers of English range from those with an essentially negative attitude to IT, to an increasing number who are themselves developing this broader view of literacy. Current pre-service provision appears to be succeeding in giving new English teachers a positive and committed attitude towards the use of IT in the current and future literacy curriculum.     

Building Cataloging Capacity for Libraries in South Sudan: A North–South–South Collaboration

In the developing world, a common trend is to have north–south collaborations constituting most of the continuous professional development (CPD) activities for librarians. The emerging drift highlighted in this article is a north–south–south initiative aimed at rebuilding the University of Juba Library through capacity-building of the library staff. This article will illuminate the process of equipping library staff with cataloging skills in the absence of previous library training. This endeavor is a result of the collaborative efforts of Makerere University Library (MakLib) in Uganda and the University of Bergen Library (UoBL) in Norway under the Juba Library Automation Project (JULAP). JULAP's main objective is to rebuild the University of Juba Library with the components of library automation and training of library staff. This article will concentrate on the practical training of the library staff in cataloging and the hands-on training on the Koha integrated library system to lay the groundwork for computerized library services for the University of Juba. This article will also highlight the challenges and lessons learned so far while articulating strategies for the future.     

Abduction,deduction and induction: can these concepts be used for an understanding of methodological processes in interpretative case studies?

Within the area of interpretative case studies, there appears to be a vast amount of literature about theoretical interpretations as the main analytical strategy. In light of this theoretically based strategy in case studies, this article presents an extended perspective based on Charles Sanders Peirce’s concepts of abduction, deduction and induction. I intend to show some of the integral relationships between these concepts which can be relevant for interpretative case studies exemplified by classroom research. The connections between these concepts and interpretative field research result in two interpretative strategies, illuminated by syllogisms, and named abduction–deduction–induction (A–D–I) and deduction–induction–abduction (D–I–A). These strategies will be discussed.     

Self‐esteem in Children with and without Motor Co‐ordination Problems

This article presents results from a study of 36 pupils (8–10 years of age) in face‐to‐face conversations with their teachers about water as an environmental phenomenon based on a photograph of a rainforest. The teachers’ rather vague goal was to have the pupils talk about the water cycle. The sessions were audio‐recorded and analyzed with respect to: (1) scaffolding strategies used by the teachers, (2) possible implications of these strategies on the pupils’ sense‐making, and (3) what accounts of the water cycle as a school‐science learning‐content were made. Three different patterns of scaffolding strategies were found. Some pupils did not even come close to talking about the water cycle, whereas others arrived at a rather fragmented picture.     

Web网络技术在神经病症状学医学教学中的模式及应用探讨

校园网的发展空间巨大,对于科学、合理、充分地利用教育资源有着重大的意义.性能优越的Web技术创建的网络教学平台、资源建设平台、网络资源管理平台,为医学网络教育开拓了新领域.对基于Web技术的神经病症状学医学教学的应用模式和它的主要应用技术进行分析,按照这个思路希望对架构医学网络教学整合神经病症状学医学资源具有一定的参考意义.     

Navigating between an emic and an etic approach in ethnographic research. Crucial aspects and strategies when communicating critical results to participants

There is a fundamental tension in ethnographic research between trying to understand participants from within their own perspective and viewing them with greater distance. With this in mind, the aim of this article is to describe how a reflexive communication model was developed during the study of El Sistema Gothenburg, and to discuss aspects and strategies that are crucial when navigating between an emic and an etic approach. It is argued that by reflexive communication, researchers can make their results useful for participants and that reflecting upon the relationship is even more important when communicating critique. With the help of this model, communication of critical results was facilitated by the establishment of an integrative approach that combined the insiders’ and outsiders’ perspectives and was based on the formation of a strong relationship between the researchers and the participants, as well as by the participants’ own cultivation of theoretical understanding.     

Governmental policies and organisational change in higher education

In this article a theoretical framework designed for a comparative research project on organisational change in higher education is presented. In the project the main focus is on how organisational change in universities and colleges is affected by governmental policies and programmes. The framework is based upon two major theoretical perspectives, resource dependency and neo-institutionalism. It is argued that for examining changes in universities and colleges both the relationship between these organisations and the government, as well as their internal dynamics are of importance. In addition to integrating the two main theoretical perspectives in the project also attempts to do justice to the complexities of the concept of (governmental) steering by attempting to incorporate general models on the role of the state. The article suggests that these models offer a meaningful insight into how and why governmental steering approaches have been changed over time.