Resistance to extinction as a function of percentage of reward: A reinforcement-level interpretation

Three experiments investigated the effects of percentage of reinforcement on the resistance to extinction of an instrumental running response. In Experiment 1, with N-length held constant, 47% reinforcement during acquisition generated greater resistance to extinction (R_n) than did 77%. In Experiment 2, this result was replicated with both functional N-length and number of N-R transitions held constant. In Experiment 3, R_n was shown to be a function of both N-length and percentage of reinforcement. The results of all three experiments were discussed in terms of Capaldi’s reinforcement level theory and possible alternative explanations.     

Supporting students’ mental health in schools: what do teachers want and need?

There is a growing expectation in the UK for teachers to have an understanding of common mental health problems in young people. This study aims to identify the training needs of secondary school teachers to enable them to adequately support and educate their students around mental health. Nine focus groups, each with between four to eight participants, were conducted with secondary school teachers in the UK. Discussions were centred on the needs and wants of teachers in terms of mental health training, provision and advice. Participants were also shown three online resources as an example of existing training. Thematic analysis was used to structure the data. Participants wanted training on how to identify and provide early support for students who are struggling, without taking on the perceived role of a therapist. Participants also emphasised the strong need for practical, interactive and expert-led training that provides resources that can be adapted to individual settings. Implications and recommendations are discussed.     

The evolution of school league tables in England 1992–2016: ‘Contextual value‐added’, ‘expected progress’ and ‘progress 8’

Since 1992, the UK Government has published so‐called ‘school league tables’ summarising the average General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) ‘attainment’ and ‘progress’ made by pupils in each state‐funded secondary school in England. While the headline measure of school attainment has remained the percentage of pupils achieving five or more good GCSEs, the headline measure of school progress has changed from ‘value‐added’ (2002–2005) to ‘contextual value‐added’ (2006–2010) to ‘expected progress’ (2011–2015) to ‘progress 8’ (2016–). This paper charts this evolution with a critical eye. First, we describe the headline measures of school progress. Second, we question the Government's justifications for scrapping contextual value‐added. Third, we argue that the current expected progress measure suffers from fundamental design flaws. Fourth, we examine the stability of school rankings across contextual value‐added and expected progress. Fifth, we discuss the extent to which progress 8 will address the weaknesses of expected progress. We conclude that all these progress measures and school league tables more generally should be viewed with far more scepticism and interpreted far more cautiously than they have often been to date.     

Facilitating Professional Development during International Practicum: Understanding our Work as Teacher Educators through Critical Incidents

This collaborative self-study details the experiences of an Australian teacher educator and a Canadian teacher educator, who led teacher candidates on international practicum placements to the Cook Islands and Kenya respectively. Focusing on critical incidents, they collaboratively analyzed dilemmas that occurred when providing professional development sessions for local teachers during these placements. These dilemmas required the teacher educators to think deeply about their beliefs and practices in these contexts. Findings from the study included the teacher educator’s tendency to make assumptions about good teaching and learning practices that were reflective of their personal pedagogical values and beliefs; their discomfort with their perceptions of some neo‐colonial practices within these international practicum sites and uncertainty about how to navigate the resultant tensions; and, the need to view the work of teacher educators though a new cultural lens when working in transnational contexts. Implications for teacher educators working with local hosting teachers during international placements include the need to understand and acknowledge the complexity of this dimension of teacher educators’ work, and for teacher educators to engage in parallel learning journeys with the teacher candidates they accompany. This involves critically reflecting on the experiences, assumptions, and beliefs that they bring to their new contexts, as well as adopting a global perspective and a deep consciousness of how one is perceived by others who are culturally, racially, or linguistically different.     

TERMS OF INCLUSION: UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN PUBLIC EDUCATION

Abstract In this review essay, Harvey Kantor and Robert Lowe explore the history of the culture wars in public education in the United States. Drawing on three books — David Tyack’s Seeking Common Ground, Jonathan Zimmerman’s Whose America? and Amy Binder’s Contentious Curricula— Kantor and Lowe review the history of struggles over the content of history texts and over the place of religion and religious values in the classroom. They suggest that while these struggles have been partially successful in freeing public education from the racial and ethno‐religious particularisms that informed its origins, the more inclusive curriculum that resulted from these efforts has been rendered largely symbolic by the persistence of segregation and the inequality of resources that accompanies it.     

The professional development needs of special needs assistants in Irish post-primary schools

According to government policy in Ireland, special needs assistants (SNAs) may be employed in post-primary schools to support students deemed to have chronic and serious care needs. There is currently no national policy regarding the continuing professional development (CPD) of SNAs, to meet the requirements of their role. This study investigated the CPD needs of SNAs, working in post-primary schools, in the Border, Midland and Western region of Ireland. Findings from a survey of SNAs and principals revealed that while the majority agreed CPD for SNAs should be compulsory, an ad hoc approach to provision of CPD prevailed, and barriers to CPD were identified. Findings also indicated that CPD in supporting students with Emotional and Behaviour Disorders was a key requirement identified by principals and SNAs. Supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and promoting student independence were also identified as areas for CPD. The need for a national policy with regard to CPD for SNAs is highlighted.     

Access to languages other than English in Australian universities: an educational pipeline of privilege

ABSTRACT

This article explores factors contributing to unequal patterns of access to languages other than English (LOTE) in Australian universities. A critical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data generated through interviews, surveys and document analysis reveals that underrepresentation in LOTE courses in Australian universities is attributable to: (a) unequal access to LOTE learning areas at the school level; (b) low tertiary entrance scores that do not grant access to elite universities that offer broad LOTE course options; (c) differential prior international learning experiences that inform dispositions towards intercultural competence, including proficiency in LOTE; and (d) limited provision of LOTE courses in regional university campuses. We conclude that access to foreign language courses in Australian universities is not equitable, and in the context of globalisation opportunities, this poses a risk of reproducing social disadvantage alongside other structural factors such as socio-economic status and regional background.     

Participation,Perplexity and Plurality: Exploring the Shared Reading of a ‘Difficult’ Poem

ABSTRACT

In this article, we explore how adults in a community shared reading group discuss the notoriously difficult poem ‘The Emperor of Ice-Cream’ by the American poet Wallace Stevens. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s notion of action, we explore how participants negotiate the poem, actively constructing meanings from their shared personal experiences rather than simply reading off meanings contained in and bounded by the poem, a text which continues to be divisively contested by literary ‘experts’. In enabling them to act collectively in such a purposive and immersive fashion, shared reading, we suggest, constitutes a public space where participants experience the plurality that Arendt argues is central to the human condition. At a time when tolerance of difference has been compromised by divisive politics, a focus on the collaborative aspect of shared reading contributes to a greater understanding of the role it can play in supporting inclusive, participatory arts practices in communities.