The constraints on school provision of post-primary physical education in Ireland: principals’ and teachers’ views and experiences

Dated and limited research relating to physical education in Ireland has reported that the subject is in crisis, unable to move forward until the fundamental resources of facilities, staffing and time for physical education are significantly improved. As part of a recent national physical education survey carried out in Ireland, data was collected from principals (n=417) and teachers (n=405) to inform discussion on the level of current infrastructure for physical education in post-primary schools. This paper investigates the areas of physical education facilities, time allocation and staffing, as a contribution to the debate on the way forward for physical education at post-primary level, illuminating both issues of policy and practice.     

Disciplinary exclusion: the influence of school ethos

Disciplinary exclusion is a strategy used by some schools in response to challenging behaviour. While some studies have explored interventions that can be implemented to reduce the exclusion of ‘at risk’ pupils, others have considered how the underlying school ethos influences how challenging behaviour is understood and managed. The current study explored factors within school ethos that may influence how challenging behaviour is managed. It aimed to identify differences in school ethos between excluding and non-excluding primary and junior schools in areas with the highest rates of social deprivation. Three focus groups and two interviews were initially conducted to identify factors that staff believed to be relevant to the inclusion and exclusion of pupils. Focus groups and interviews explored staff perceptions of practices in school and beliefs about inclusion and exclusion. Inductive-semantic thematic analysis was performed to identify statements indicating a difference between excluding and non-excluding schools. Statements were used to create a questionnaire that was distributed to 16 schools and completed by 128 staff. Thematic analysis identified 13 themes, 10 of which indicated a difference in view between excluding and non-excluding schools. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant differences in responses between groups on the themes of Responsibility, Clarity, Consistency, Behaviour Management, Beliefs about Inclusion and Beliefs about Reducing Exclusion. Further analysis also indicated greater consistency across responses from non-excluding school staff. These findings provide support for previous literature emphasising the importance of some key features of school ethos in creating an inclusive environment.     

Measuring self-efficacy,aptitude to participate and functioning in students with and without impairments

Including vulnerable groups of students such as students with learning disabilities in mainstream school research, require ethical considerations and questionnaire adaptation. These students are often excluded, due to low understanding or methodologies generating inadequate data. Students with disability need be studied as a separate group and provided accessible questionnaires. This pilot study aims at developing and evaluating student self-reported measures, rating aspects of student experiences of school-based Physical Education (PE). Instrument design, reliability and validity were examined in Swedish secondary school students (n = 47) including students, aged 13, with intellectual disability (n = 5) and without impairment and test–retested on 28 of these students. Psychometric results from the small pilot-study sample were confirmed in analyses based on replies from the first wave of data collection in the main study (n = 450). Results show adequate internal consistency, factor structure and relations between measures. In conclusion, reliability and validity were satisfactory in scales to measure self-efficacy in general, in PE, and aptitude to participate. Adapting proxy ratings for functioning into self-reports indicated problems. Adequacy of adjustments made were confirmed and a dichotomous scale for typical/atypical function is suggested for further analyses.     

Child Miscues and Parental Feedback During Shared Alphabet Book Reading and Relations With Child Literacy Skills

We studied 52 parent–child dyads reading an alphabet book to examine the nature of children's miscues and parents' feedback, and whether miscues and feedback were related to each other and to preliteracy skills. Letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and expressive vocabulary were assessed in 5-year-old nonreaders who were also audiotaped reading an alphabet book at home with their parent. Results indicate that after controlling for vocabulary, children with higher phonological awareness more often labeled objects with a name beginning with the page's target letter. Parents provided substantial sustaining feedback after miscues, as though using alphabet books as a way of fostering their child's literacy. Findings highlight the need to consider both the child's skill-base and parent–child interactions to understand the role of alphabet books in literacy development.     

Puberty Predicts Approach But Not Avoidance on the Iowa Gambling Task in a Multinational Sample

According to the dual systems model of adolescent risk taking, sensation seeking and impulse control follow different developmental trajectories across adolescence and are governed by two different brain systems. The authors tested whether different underlying processes also drive age differences in reward approach and cost avoidance. Using a modified Iowa Gambling Task in a multinational, cross‐sectional sample of 3,234 adolescents (ages 9–17; M = 12.87, SD = 2.36), pubertal maturation, but not age, predicted reward approach, mediated through higher sensation seeking. In contrast, age, but not pubertal maturation, predicted increased cost avoidance, mediated through greater impulse control. These findings add to evidence that adolescent behavior is best understood as the product of two interacting, but independently developing, brain systems.     

The mental and physical health difficulties of children held within a British immigration detention center: A pilot study

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to assess the mental and physical health of children held within a British immigration detention center.MethodA total of 24 detained children (aged 3 months to 17 years) were assessed with their parents or carer after being referred by a registered legal charity. Thirteen were seen by a pediatrician alone, 4 by a psychologist alone, and 7 by both professions using semi-structured clinical interviews. The psychologist also used standardized self-report questionnaires to measure psychopathology.ResultsDuring the psychological assessment of 11 children, 8 met criteria for psychiatric “caseness” on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. All 11 reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. Sleep problems, somatic complaints, poor appetite, emotional symptoms, and behavioral difficulties were common. Symptoms of global distress were also reported by all 9 parents. According to pediatric assessment 8 out of 20 children had lost weight. Six had missed health appointments and 2 were taken to hospital. Nutritional, developmental, educational, and child protection concerns were raised.ConclusionsDetained children were found to be experiencing mental and physical health difficulties of recent onset, which appeared to be related to the detention experience. These findings support previous Australian studies demonstrating that detention is not in the best interest of the child. It suggests that current UK policies regarding the detention of children for purposes of immigration control should be re-examined. Further research in the area is required.Practice implicationsAlthough high levels of mental and physical health problems, as well as child protection concerns were detected, detained families had very limited access to appropriate assessment, support or treatment. The traumatic experience of detention itself also has implications for the sizeable proportion of psychologically distressed children who are eventually released from detention and expected to successfully reintegrate into British society; while those children who are deported are returned with increased vulnerability to future stressors.     

Wellness of Minority Female Counselor Educators

Minority female counselor educators are faced with numerous challenges. This qualitative study revealed that for female minority counselor educators, these challenges continue to negatively affect their professional and personal experiences. It is through operational wellness practices and optimal balance and functioning that minority female counselor educators have often prevailed. Implications for minority female counselor educators, university administrators, and counselor educators from the majority population are provided.     

ISTE standards in teacher education: A collection of practical examples

Abstract

The innovative integration of technology into teacher education is at a premium. Institutions, large and small, are searching for examples of appropriate, effective, and replicable programs on which to base programmatic decisions. This article provides such a guide. The authors represent four of the first six International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Distinguished Achievement award‐winning programs. This article provides examples of how four highly innovative programs meet the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS?T) for technology integration into the teacher education programs. It provides a collection of practical examples of ways in which teacher education programs can use the NETS'T as a guide for enhancing teacher education curricula on campus and in P‐12 classrooms where teacher education candidates work.     

Children's knowledge of the earth's shape and its gravitational field

Abstract

One hundred and eight children aged between seven and 11 took part in a cross‐sectional study of the development of their concepts of the Earth and the direction of its gravitational field. A new form of ‘Earth drawing classification’ (EDC) was found to be drawn by 36% of the sample, together with the five classifications established in earlier work. This new EDC is conceptually contradictory and appears to be a critical development stage. It is the result of the pupils’ attempts to reconcile scientific information with their own common‐sense knowledge base. The educational implications of this are discussed. The relationship between the developmental sequence of their Earth drawings and the quality of their human figure drawing was also investigated. It was established that restricted drawing ability does not explain their non‐scientific early EDCs.     

The relation between tools used in action research and the zone of proximal development

This article describes a national school improvement project involving five compulsory schools for hard‐of‐hearing pupils, located in different parts of Sweden. Using action research, the teachers tried to change the communication patterns among the pupils by changing their own classroom practices, In this process the teachers tested and used different tools, such as writing, shadowing and facilitating each other, over a three‐year period. The purpose of this article is to examine how tools used in action research can be used to promote learning in relation to the concept of the zone of proximal development. The theoretical framework of the study is based on action research, as a collaborative way of creating knowledge, and on sociocultural learning theories. The basic assumption is that teachers, by using different tools, also challenge each other’s learning. The results show the importance of internalising tools that become owned by individuals or communities of practise. To be able to assume an active role in the zone of proximal development, and to produce knowledge collaboratively, a meaning‐making process was needed. It was found that this could be realised if the participants had an awareness of how to function as a critical friend among colleagues. Furthermore, the results revealed that, by using different tools, different voices can be heard. Three categories of voices were identified.