Developing social skills in autistic children through ‘Relaxed Performances’

Families living with autism often feel unable to attend social and cultural events, largely due to the fear of their child attracting negative or even aggressive reactions from others. The ‘joint attention’ that is part of the theatre experience, however, may be a powerful factor in the development of social and communication skills for such children. ‘Relaxed performances’ offer an opportunity for them to access and engage with theatre by making special arrangements designed to reduce tensions associated with visits to public places. Aspects of the production such as the use of lighting and sound effects which may trigger adverse reactions are also adjusted. This paper reports on how one local theatre drew on the findings of a national project to mount a ‘relaxed performance’ of their annual pantomime. It discusses the theatre's preparations and presents evidence of the impact the event had on local children with autism and their families. The success of both the national project and this local one marks a new beginning for improved access to the theatre for an audience that has hitherto felt largely excluded.     

How Do You Like Your Forgiveness? Communication Style Preferences and Effects

Two studies examined forgiveness recipients’ evaluations of, and responses to, four styles of forgiveness-granting communication: engaging, deemphasizing, conditional, and suppressing. In the context of close friendships, Study 1 showed that whereas the engaging style was highly preferred, the suppressing and conditional styles were not. Content analysis suggested that the latter two styles are perceived as unclear, inauthentic, and/or in violation of norms. Study 2 suggested that engaging forgiveness is preferable because it effectively addresses personal and relational face needs and reduces uncertainty. Implications for the conceptualization of forgiveness-granting styles and the practical construction of forgiveness expressions are discussed.     

Teacher collaboration: 30 years of research on its nature,forms, limitations and effects

ABSTRACT

This article reprises and reflects on 30 years of the author’s work on teacher collaboration. The distinctive nature of this work has not been in making a case for teacher collaboration in terms of its benefits for students, teachers, or educational change. These arguments are widely available elsewhere. Rather it has examined ways of collaborating that are available to teachers, how formal or informal collaboration should be, how collaborative efforts can be misused or misdirected, and what factors must be considered when deliberately designing teacher collaboration so it will have the most beneficial effects. The article discusses the explanatory and strategic power of three concepts in particular—contrived collegiality, professional capital, and collaborative professionalism. Conclusions are drawn about next steps for educational research in terms of establishing clear typologies of teacher collaboration in relation to their impact and appropriateness in different circumstances.     

Internationalisation of the higher education curriculum in criminology: a role for the southern criminology project

Contemporary issues of global significance for criminology include transnational crimes and relative inequality. To equip higher education students to become global citizens who can contribute to solutions, internationalisation of the curriculum is essential. This paper documents the process of a first cycle of internationalisation of the criminology curriculum. As an emerging paradigm, southern criminology provides direction for the process. The paper critically reflects on the institutional and disciplinary contexts at an Australian university. It evaluates the extent to which the materials for a core theory unit reflect an internationalised curriculum and outlines next steps to be undertaken. This documented process highlights southern criminology as a valuable lens through which to identify knowledge gaps and plan personalised professional development. It acknowledges the need to engage in ongoing cycles of internationalisation and make improvements in response to new resources and knowledge. The paper invites further discussion and examples of approaches to internationalisation.     

Images and the ethics of inclusion and exclusion: learning through participatory photography in education

Participatory research methods directly engage with the topics that they set out to address. It is therefore no surprise that participatory research practice on the topic of educational inclusion and exclusion raises ethical issues for the participatory researcher that are themselves about inclusion and exclusion. This paper describes and analyses a pilot postgraduate course on the use of participatory photography in this area, and uses this analysis to illustrate the value of sensitive and reflexive participative research as a powerful educational practice. A multi‐ethnic and multinational group of students attended the course and explored the use of images as a qualitative research tool as a means to further developing their own sociocultural perspectives on inclusion. As a method, participatory photography was able to support students to represent their own perspectives on issues such as inclusion and diversity. Just as importantly, it facilitated inclusive teaching and learning, making it easy for students to take an active role in ongoing evaluation of the course and in devising their own assessment criteria. More significantly still, a deep exploration of practices of inclusion and exclusion was facilitated by the ethical issues that were raised and addressed during the research process.     

Designing Rural School Improvement Networks: Aspirations and Actualities

Rural school educators are often isolated and have few opportunities to learn from neighboring schools or colleagues. This is an especially daunting challenge for low-performing rural schools faced with implementing significant reform efforts (e.g., turnaround approaches, educator effectiveness systems, college- and career-ready standards and assessments). This paper discusses the design and start-up of a large-scale project to connect “like with like” rural and remote schools within the northwest region of the United States to identify and share promising and innovative school reform practices. The authors present a network design framework based on previous work supporting and studying similar educational networks for innovation and improvement in the United States and beyond. They also present lessons learned about designing and launching a network that others might consider when initiating a school improvement network.     

A Teacher's Response to ‘Reflection‐in‐action’

A teacher‐researcher questions whether Schon's Reflective Practitioner is an appropriate text for ensuring change in teaching practices. It is argued that teachers’ perspectives prompt a particular interpretation of ‘reflection‐in‐action’ that justifies individualistic, immediate and limited change strategies. Schon's rhetorical appeals can be interpreted as offering tacit approval for the existing craft culture; for the inhibiting effects of this craft culture to be effectively challenged, individual teachers need the supportive insights which collaboration can provide.     

Child Care Subsidy and Program Quality Revisited

Research Findings: Previous research has documented conflicting results on the relationship between program quality and the percentage of children receiving subsidized child care (subsidy density) in early childhood centers. This research examined the relationship between subsidy density and the quality of infant and preschool classrooms in child care centers, taking into consideration teacher education and salary as well as other structural variables associated with quality. A multimethod evaluation was conducted with 110 child care centers utilizing an interview of center directors as well as classroom observations using standardized measures of quality and language/literacy in the classroom. Regression analyses indicate that subsidy density does not predict the quality of infant classrooms. However, subsidy density is a significant predictor of the quality of preschool classrooms. Teacher education is predictive of some quality indicators, but teacher salary is not. Practice or Policy: Practice and policy implications are discussed to promote the quality of child care centers that serve low- income children. Statewide initiatives should target centers with higher subsidy density for quality improvements. Local programs and state policy should provide teachers with opportunities to obtain additional education and then offer incentives to remain in their current early childhood settings.     

Educating ‘Discouraged Workers’: cultural diversity in the upper secondary school

Through a qualitative study of the experiences of young people in the second year of post‐compulsory education in schools in four contrasting Scottish labour markets, we investigate the existence of a ‘discouraged worker’ effect. We argue that in the modem upper secondary school, which contains pupils with a range of attainment levels, it is possible to identify a number of distinct orientations to school life and suggest that the types of opportunities available within local labour markets affect young people's decisions to remain at school. We suggest that cultural responses to the school have become more individualised and that ‘discouraged workers’ can be identified in both the middle and the lower attainment bands.