Constructing Feminist Teachers: Complexities of identity

ABSTRACT This article explores the synergistic relationship between the construction of identities and teaching practices of those using feminist teaching in higher education classrooms. I propose that teachers do not construct their identities in isolation, but rather are strongly influenced by the expectations of other participants in the educative process. Through qualitative research data, I suggest that teachers and their practices are simultaneously objects and subjects in their fluctuating identity constructions as feminist teachers. Further, I explore how the existence of and attention to teachers' and students' identities can be used as a tool in teaching and learning processes.     

THE BRITISH SYSTEM OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION

This paper follows the publication in 1974 of the brochure of information about the education of engineers in the Federal Republic of Germany and in France (published in this Journal, Autumn 1977). The arrangement of this new contribution is similar to the latter work. It is hoped that a comparison of procedures in the three countries may be of value to all concerned with the long-term organization of education.     

Scientific Vocations in Crisis in France: explanatory social developments and mechanisms

This article examines why numbers have declined in French science universities. It shows that the main causes of this decline are the growth in student numbers between 1985 and 1995 and the changes that this brought about in the educational and social composition of the student population. Since the mid‐1990s, increasingly fewer French students have been enrolling for science subjects at university. Speaking of a ‘loss of interest in science among young people’ is nevertheless premature. The phenomenon is primarily due to socio‐demographic changes. As a result of their position in French higher education, universities, which do not operate a selective admission policy, are a last resort for students rejected by the selective options. Between 1985 and 1995, when student demographics grew apace, universities absorbed most of this growth. After 1995, the supply of selective training increased, while student demographics stagnated. As a result, university enrolments have declined, especially in the sciences. At the same time, holders of science baccalaureates have not been as top‐notch, educationally and socially, as they were fifteen years previously. These students from more modest backgrounds and performing less well in education are shying away from the sciences which are reputed to be more difficult and less ‘profitable’ than other subjects.     

Simulation of Variable Air Volume System with Different Duct Layout

The duct static pressure reset (DSPR) control method is a popular modern control method widely applied to variable air volume (VAV) systems of commercial buildings. In this paper, a VAV system simulation program was used to predict the system performance and zone air temperature of two kinds of layouts that were applied to a typical floor of an existing building office in Hong Kong. The position where the static pressure sensor was placed should affect the zones temperature and energy consumption. The comparison of predictions of the two kinds of layouts indicates that with the same DSPR control method the layout of the air duct might influence the fan control result and energy savings.     

Power Plays: Children's constructions of gender and power in role plays

ABSTRACT This paper examines the way in which children's constructions of gender via discourse impact upon their interactive power positions. Discourse analysis is utilised in a feminist endeavour to investigate the social effects of gender discourse. Analysing the discussions of primary school children in group role plays, I conclude that although power is discursively produced (meaning that the myriads of different factors contributing to discursive power positioning cannot be analysed independently), children's constructions of gender appear potentially to empower boys and disempower girls in interaction. Foucault has been criticised by feminists such as Soper and Davis for failing to provide an adequate explanation of social power differences: my findings suggest that discourse analysis can reveal trends in power inequality.