The National Grid for Learning: A curriculum without walls?

The aim of the British Government's National Grid for Learning policy is to harness the power of information and communications technology (ICT) in order to create a 'curriculum without walls', where the riches of the world's intellectual, cultural and scientific heritage are available to all. Central to this vision are the assumptions that: all pupils will in the future have appropriate access to computers at home and at school; that there is a common conception between home and school as to what actually constitutes learning. In this paper the authors draw on preliminary findings from a 2 year study of how young people actually utilise ICT at home and at school to raise important questions about the realisation of the Government's policy objectives.     

Learning to teach: pedagogical content knowledge in adventure-based learning

Background: Many alternative curricular models exist in physical education to better meet the needs of students than the multi-activity team sports curriculum that dominates in the USA. These alternative curricular models typically require different content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical CK (PCK) to implement successfully. One of the complexities of learning to teach these models for pre-service teachers (PTs) is understanding the different CK and PCK required which is compounded by their personal lack of experience of the model.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the PCK enacted by PTs learning to teach an alternative curricular model (adventure-based learning [ABL]) in urban middle schools.

Research design: Qualitative methods were used to explore how the PTs demonstrated their PCK while teaching an ABL unit to urban middle school students. The study took place at a major university and in three middle schools in a large urban school district in Midwestern USA.

Participants: Thirteen PTs enrolled in the secondary methods course and associated internship agreed to participate in this study. The PTs (five males and eight females) ranged in age from 21 to 26 years and all self-identified as white.

Data collection and data analysis: Three methods of data collection were employed in this study: interviews, daily reflections called critical friends, and stimulated recall reflection of teaching an ABL lesson. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Trustworthiness was established through triangulation of the data using multiple data sources, peer debriefing, member checking, and negative case analysis.

Findings: Four themes represented the PTs' demonstration of PCK when learning to teach ABL in urban middle schools. The themes were (a) trusting the sequence, (b) knowing your students, (c) facilitate don't dictate, and (d) processing the experience. The findings provide further insight into the demonstration of PTs' PCK in secondary physical education, and specifically relative to teaching ABL in urban middle schools. To better equip PTs to be able to teach using these models, we recommend the following: (a) they have the opportunity to ‘live the curriculum' in their PETE programme, (b) developing the PTs' specific CK and student-centered pedagogical knowledge for specific alternative curricular models is imperative in developing the PCK for such model, (c) developing PTs' knowledge of students relative to the complexities of learning to teach each specific model, (d) observing an expert teach the model to K-12 students, and (e) recognizing that learning to teach these models is a developmental process and providing the PTs with an emotionally safe and caring space to explore teaching such models is crucial.     

Problems of Diversity in Policy and Practice: Celtic languages in the United Kingdom

The situation of Celtic languages within the United Kingdom is viewed in the context of minority languages and linguistic diversity in the world today. The various government policies for Celtic languages in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are outlined and information about the present school situations of the Welsh language, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic is presented. Finally, government policies for these three languages in the United Kingdom are contrasted and reasons for maintaining or letting die a minority language are reviewed.     

The mediating role of teacher self-efficacy in the relation between teacher–child race mismatch and conflict

The far-reaching impacts of the teacher–child relationship, including academic achievement and social/behavioral adjustment, have been well-documented. At the same time, literature also suggests that teacher perceptions of teacher–child relationships are impacted by the race/ethnicity match or mismatch between teacher and child, with matching related to more positive teacher perceptions. However, limited work has focused on children who are at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs) or tested the mechanisms that mediate the relation between a mismatch in the race and teacher-perceived conflict. Thus, the current study used multilevel structural equation modeling to test whether a higher proportion of race mismatch between children in the classroom with problem behavior and teachers was related to teachers' classroom management self-efficacy and, in turn, teacher-perceived conflict with children among 148 teachers and 354 preschool-aged children. Results indicated that among students most at-risk for EBDs, a higher proportion of race mismatch between teachers and children significantly predicted less teacher classroom management self-efficacy and, in turn, significantly predicted teachers' greater perceived conflict with children. Furthermore, this mediation pathway was significant. Findings highlight the importance of teacher training and support that focused on increasing self-efficacy to improve relationships between teachers and children.     

What (who?) buggered up the English Department? An end of career moan

In this article Sutherland surveys over the period of the last 40 years (the length of an average full academic career) the changes which have occurred to the departmental structures and procedures in the teaching of and research into English Literature in British universities. He perceives a marginalization of the English department in the overall university organization and a set of pressures, which he conceives as deleterious: the introduction of an externally based inspectorial regime, professionalization (and a concomitant proletarianization), conference culture (and its associated jargons), field-specialism, optionalization and customerization. The conclusions reached are gloomy, if admittedly subjective.     

Introducing ICT into schools in Rwanda: Educational challenges and opportunities

The Rwandan government views Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a key tool for transforming the economy, with the education sector playing an important role in developing the necessary human resources. Since 2000 there has been a big push to introduce computers into schools and integrate ICT into the education curriculum through a range of initiatives. Within this paper we draw on the research of EdQual, a DFID funded project in order to examine issues related to the use of ICTs in schools in Rwanda. We argue that the potential of ICT will not be realised by the mere introduction of computers and ICT infrastructure in schools. We show that current policy initiatives appear to be disadvantaging particular groups, such as girls and those living in rural communities. Drawing on Sen's capability approach as a framework for theorising issues of education policy and social justice, we discuss how engagement with ICT can be reconceptualised as access to the capability of what Jenkins calls participatory culture. We also argue that without a shift in practices of teaching and learning with ICT in schools young people are not likely to learn how to exploit the capabilities offered by access to ICT.     

Physiological determinants of climbing-specific finger endurance and sport rock climbing performance

The aim of the study was to examine several physiological responses to a climbing-specific task to identify determinants of endurance in sport rock climbing. Finger strength and endurance of intermediate rock climbers (n = 11) and non-climbers (n = 9) were compared using climbing-specific apparatus. After maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) trials, two isometric endurance tests were performed at 40% (s = 2.5%) MVC until volitional exhaustion (continuous contractions and intermittent contractions of 10 s, with 3 s rest between contractions). Changes in muscle blood oxygenation and muscle blood volume were recorded in the flexor digitorum superficialis using near infra-red spectroscopy. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Climbers had a higher mean MVC (climbers: 485 N, s = 65; non-climbers 375 N, s = 91) (P = 0.009). The group mean endurance test times were similar. The force-time integral, used as a measure of climbing-specific endurance, was greater for climbers in the intermittent test (climbers: 51,769 N x s, s = 12,229; non-climbers: 35,325 N x s, s = 9724) but not in the continuous test (climbers: 21,043 N x s, s = 4474; non-climbers: 15,816 N x s, s = 6263). Recovery of forearm oxygenation during rest phases (intermittent test) explained 41.1% of the variability in the force-time integral. Change in total haemoglobin was significantly greater in non-climbers (continuous test) than climbers (P = 0.023--40% test timepoint, P = 0.014--60% test timepoint). Pressor responses were similar between groups and not related to the force-time integral for either test. We conclude that muscle re-oxygenation during rest phases is a predictor of endurance performance.