Industry into teaching: an alternative model

Teacher shortages have encouraged initiatives to tailor training programs to meet the demand in both past, current and future contexts. Such programs have been streamlined to ensure a rapid response to shortages, in addition to also drawing participants from non‐traditional groups as a source of potential educators. More broadly in teacher education, recent developments have explored online and other forms of distance education, problem‐solving methodologies and increased site‐based workplace learning opportunities. The Accelerated Teacher Training Program (ATTP) currently offered at Charles Sturt University is based on an innovative model which combines together aspects of best practices to deliver an effective and quality course. This program was developed in response to the NSW Department of Education and Training’s (DET) need to meet the demand for more Technology and Applied Studies (TAS) teachers. This paper will look at the issue of teacher supply and demand and discuss the design, context and implementation of the ATTP, with a special focus on the professional practice and problem‐solving elements of the course.     

Neurocognitive function and joint attention ability in young children with autism spectrum disorder versus developmental delay

Studies have shown that young children with autism are not impaired on prefrontal tasks relative to what would be expected for their mental age, raising questions about the executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism. These studies did not include ventromedial prefrontal tasks, however. The present study examined whether young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are impaired on ventromedial prefrontal tasks, and whether performance on such tasks is correlated with a core autism symptom, joint attention ability. Seventy-two 3- to 4-year-old children with ASD, 34 3- to 4-year-old developmentally delayed children, and 39 12- to 46-month-old typically developing children, matched on mental age, were administered ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal tasks and joint attention tasks. Children with ASD performed similarly to comparison groups on all executive function tasks, indicating that at this early age, there is no autism-specific pattern of executive dysfunction. Ventromedial, but not dorsolateral, prefrontal task performance was strongly correlated with joint attention ability, however. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is hypothesized to play a role in the development of joint attention and possibly some aspects of the autistic syndrome.     

Comparability of the Social Skills Improvement System to the Social Skills Rating System: A Norwegian Study

The Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS) is a multi-informant instrument assessing social skills and problem behavior in children and adolescents. It is a revised version of the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS). A Norwegian translation of the SSRS has been validated, but this has not yet been done for the Norwegian translation of the SSIS-RS. This study compared the Norwegian versions of the SSRS and the SSIS-RS administered to samples of children (aged 8–12 and 13–16?years) and their parents and teachers (n = 599). The results indicated moderate to strong relations between the common subscales across all forms of the two instruments and acceptable to excellent internal consistency across all common subscales. We conclude that the SSIS-RS is a good instrument for measuring social skills and problem behavior among children and adolescents in Norway.     

Education for the elderly: New directions in a changing Europe

It will be of paramount importance for a united Europe to integrate older men and women and to establish their position in society. European countries are insufficiently prepared for the individual and collective resources of the elderly. Unfortunately the countries lack institutions capable of supporting a lifelong process of education, including the elderly. Today's elderly people become increasingly aware that because of technological and economic demands and changes in society it is necessary to learn and retrain through the whole of one's life. The strengthening of the community of solidarity in Europe requires not only the promotion of older and younger people learning about each other, but especially the transfer of experience and knowledge among the older people of different countries. The reason for this strident demand for education for the elderly has to be seen in the context of a demographic and structural process of change, which affects almost all European societies. Education for the elderly contributes to connecting experiences and the capacity of elderly people to cope with their situation with up-to-date knowledge and with new strategies for possible solutions. At the same time the educational situation is suited to encouraging and promoting a transfer of knowledge between elderly and younger people and among members (elderly or younger) of different countries.

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Zusammenfassung Das Europa der Zukunft verfügt über ein Potential von alternden und letztlich dann alten Frauen und Männern, das zu integrieren und gesellschaftlich zur Geltung zu bringen von zentraler Bedeutung für ein vereintes Europa sein wird. Gleichwohl sind die europäischen Länder auf die individuellen und kollektiven Ressourcen Älterer noch unzureichend eingestellt. Bedauerlicherweise fehlt es an Institutionen, die in der Lage sind, Lern- und Bildungsprozesse lebenslang, vor allem aber im Alter, zu fördern. Alternden Menschen wird heute im zunehmendem Maße bewußt, daß aufgrund technischer und ökonomischer Anforderungen sowie gesellschaftlicher Wandlungsprozesse fortwährende Neu- und Umlernprozesse im Lebensverlauf von Nöten sind. Angesichts der europäischen Integration ist zur Stärkung der Solidargemeinschaft nicht nur ein wechselseitiges Lernen von älteren und jüngeren Menschen zu fördern, sondern vor allem auch der Erfahrungs- und Wissenstransfer zwischen den älteren Menschen verschiedener Nationen. Die Grundlage für die vehemente Forderung nach Bildung im Alter ist in demographischen und strukturellen Wandlungsprozessen zu sehen, von denen nahezu alle europäischen Gesellschaften betroffen sind. Bildung und Lernen im Alter trägt dazu bei, das Erfahrungswissen und die darin eingeschlossenen Auseinandersetzungskompetenzen Älterer in Zusammenhang zu bringen mit aktuellem Wissen sowie mit neuen Lösungsstrategien. Gleichzeitig sind Lern- und Bildungssituationen geeignet, einen Wissenstransfer zwischen verschiedenen Gruppen Älterer, zwischen Älteren und Jüngeren sowie zwischen Mitgliedern (Ältere oder Jüngere) verschiedener Nationen anzuregen und auszubauen.

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Résumé L'intégration des personnes âgées et la promotion de leur position dans la société aura une importance considérable dans l'Europe unifiée. Les pays européens sont mal préparés aux ressources individuelles et collectives de ces personnes. Malheureusement, ces pays manquent d'institutions capables de soutenir un processus d'éducation permanente prenant en considération les personnes âgées. Les personnes d'un âge avancé sont aujourd'hui de plus en plus conscientes, à cause des exigences technologiques et économiques et des changements intervenant dans la société, qu'il apparaît nécessaire d'apprendre et de mettre à jour leurs connaissances tout au long de la vie. Le renforcement de la communauté de solidarité en Europe requiert non seulement la promotion des jeunes et des personnes âgées engagés dans un processus d'apprentissage mutuel, mais surtout le transfert d'expériences et de connaissances entre les personnes âgées de pays différents. La raison de cette demande pressante d'éducation pur les personnes âgées doit être vue dans le contexte d'un processus démographique et structural de changement, qui touche presque tous les pays européens. L'éducation relative aux personnes âgées contribue à établir un rapport entre les expériences et la capacité des personnes âgées à venir à bout de leur situation, et un savoir actuel et de nouvelles stratégies pour des solutions possibles. En même temps, la situation éducative est apte à encourager et à promouvoir un transfert de connaissances entre les jeunes et les personnes âgées et entre les membres (jeunes ou âgés) des différents pays.

     

Marital Adjustment, Parental Disagreements about Child Rearing, and Behavior Problems in Boys: Increasing the Specificity of the Marital Assessment

2 studies were conducted to illustrate how measuring a specific aspect of marriage, namely, child-rearing disagreements, provides a better understanding of the link between marriage and boys' behavior. In Study 1, 200 mothers of 3-year-old boys completed unstandardized measures of marital functioning and child behavior. An index of child-rearing disagreements: (1) correlated with a greater variety of behavior problems than nonchild disagreements, and (2) improved upon the prediction of behavior problems after accounting for nonchild disagreements as well as after accounting for boys' exposure to marital conflict. In Study 2, 87 mothers with 4-6-year-old sons completed the index of child-rearing disagreements used in Study 1 as well as standard measures of marital functioning and child behavior. Child-rearing disagreements: (1) predicted a greater variety of behavior problems than global marital adjustment, and (2) improved upon the prediction of internalizing problems after controlling for global marital adjustment as well as after controlling for boys' exposure to marital conflict.     

Policy enactments in the UK secondary school: examining policy,practice and school positioning

This paper presents a first attempt in an ongoing research study of the policy environments in four UK secondary schools to examine policy enactment, where ‘enactment’ refers to an understanding that policies are interpreted and ‘translated’ by diverse policy actors in the school environment, rather than simply implemented. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part presents an audit of the policies encountered in four case study schools in the south‐east of England. The second part looks at one current English government policy, namely personal learning and thinking skills, and how this is taken up in two of the case study schools. In this way, the paper not just explores why a policy is adopted but also illustrates the capacity for school‐based policy elaboration, where schools produce their own ‘take’ on policy, drawing on aspects of their culture or ethos, as well as on the situated necessities.     

Look closer: the alertness of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities during multi-sensory storytelling,a time sequential analysis

Introduction: Multi-sensory storytelling (MSST) is a storytelling method designed for individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). It is essential that listeners be alert during MSST, so that they become familiar with their personalised stories. Repetition and the presentation of stimuli are likely to affect the alertness of listeners during MSST. Previous studies have only examined the overall level of alertness during MSST. This study focuses on changes in alertness over time during storytelling. Method: In this study, 27 direct support people read an MSST book 20 times with a person with PIMD. The 1st, 5th, 10th and 20th storytelling sessions were recorded. The relation between alertness and the active presentation of stimuli is analyzed using a time-window sequential analysis. We examined changes in alertness levels by comparing the four different storytelling sessions. Results: Higher levels of active alertness were observed when stimuli were actively presented. Alertness was not constant within storytelling sessions, and was related to the presentation of stimuli. Actively presented stimuli were associated with larger fluctuations in alertness. Discussion: Storytellers should present stimuli actively and for longer periods, in order to increase the alertness of listeners during storytelling.     

The politics of teaching as an occupation in the professional borderlands: the interplay of gender,class and professional status in a biographical study of trainee teachers in England

A lack of esteem for teachers and the teaching profession is a central tenet underpinning policy reforms put forward by the 2010 UK Government White Paper ‘The Importance of Teaching’. This article argues that the policy problem and solutions presented in the White Paper lack awareness of the historical and social positioning of teaching. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 32 London-based secondary teacher training students from various social class and ethnic backgrounds, this paper asks how the profession is perceived and what sort of choice it is for the trainees. It employs a Bourdieusian lens and concepts of social and cultural capital to examine the interplay of gendered, classed and ‘raced’ biographies in relation to individuals’ decisions to become teachers. Understanding the social world as ‘accumulated history’, as Bourdieu does, stresses that experiences and outcomes are rooted and collected in a series of historical structures and functionings. The paper argues that the ambiguous status of the profession is both a function and an effect of its conceptualisation as feminised. It also asks whether the weak professional standing of teaching has further destabilising consequences in the present political moment where a string of neoliberal and neoconservative policy reforms reshape the profession.