Developing a competency framework for the initial training of educational psychologists working with young people aged 16–25

The Children and Families Act (2014) extends statutory protections for young people with special educational needs and disabilities until age 25. Consequently the core curriculum for trainee educational psychologists (TEPs) needs to be developed beyond the current focus of work with early years and school-age children. In order to define requisite professional competencies for working with young people aged 16–25 with learning difficulties and disabilities, and mental health needs, the Delphi Technique was employed to obtain consensus amongst an expert reference group. Two rounds of an online questionnaire and a face-to-face meeting with educational psychologists (EPs) reporting expertise in working with post-16 learners enabled the identification of areas to be added to, or extended within, existing training curricula. A competency framework for EPs working with young people aged 16–25 is proposed and implications for both TEPs and practitioner EPs explored.     

Nice and kind,smart and funny: what children like and want to emulate in their teachers

In many western countries, government statements about the need to recruit more men to primary teaching are frequently supported by references to the importance of male teachers as role models for boys. The suggestion is that boys will both achieve better and behave better when taught by male teachers, because they will identify with them and want to emulate their behaviour. However, this has not been supported by research evidence. This paper draws on data from an ESRC‐funded project involving interviews with 307 7–8 year old children in England (half taught by male and half by female teachers). Focusing on gender, it analyses children’s responses about their relationships with their teachers and about figures that they would like to emulate (both in school and outside).     

Blended inquiry with hands-on and virtual laboratories: the role of perceptual features during knowledge construction

This study examined the characteristics of virtual and hands-on inquiry environments for the development of blended learning in a popular domain of bio-nanotechnology: the separation of different-sized DNA fragments using gel-electrophoresis, also known as DNA-fingerprinting. Since the latest scientific developments in nano- and micro-scale tools are based on molecular movement in electric fields, gel electrophoresis is an excellent model for learning-related concepts and processes. This study employed two environments (a 2D virtual laboratory (VRL) and a hands-on laboratory (HOL)) and documented the benefit of using VRLs to ground students' knowledge construction, before more complex, hands-on investigation. A comparative analysis explored how the perceptual features of the two learning environments supported students in designing experiments, evaluating data from experimental trials and reasoning for the mechanisms by which these data came about. The findings provide evidence for the design of blended inquiry-learning environments that integrate virtual and hands-on laboratories.     

Relations Among Chronic Peer Group Rejection,Maladaptive Behavioral Dispositions,and Early Adolescents' Peer Perceptions

Adolescents' perceptions of peers' relational characteristics (e.g., support, trustworthiness) were examined for subtypes of youth who evidenced chronic maladaptive behavior, chronic peer group rejection, or combinations of these risk factors. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify subgroups of participants within a normative sample of youth (N = 477; 50% female) for whom data had been gathered from fifth grade (M_age = 10.61) through eighth grade (M_age = 13.93). Results revealed that both enduring individual vulnerability (i.e., chronic withdrawn or chronic aggressive behavioral dispositions) and interpersonal adversity (i.e., chronic peer group rejection) were linked with either differences or changes in adolescents' perceptions of their peers' supportiveness and trustworthiness across the early adolescent age period.     

Femininity,science, and the denigration of the girly girl

Hyper-femininity and the construction of the ‘girly girl’ label have been documented widely, but there has been less attention to their content (or any distinctions between these constructs). Indeed, it can be argued that the content of femininity remains a controversial and somewhat under-researched topic in feminist scholarship. This is also the case in relation to science, which has been widely characterised as a masculine terrain, but there has been less attention to why femininity is excluded from/by science. This article attempts to unpick some of these issues, with a particular focus on the construct of the ‘girly girl’, in relation to access to science. Drawing on qualitative data from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded ASPIRES 2 project, we analyse the discourses used by young people and parents in discussion of ‘girly girls’ and physics. We show the misogynist and excluding discourses projected onto the ‘girly girl’, and indeed that are used to interpolate femininity more broadly. We found that in discussions of science and (hyper-)femininity, even potentially positive feminine attributes were denigrated. Hyper-femininity was produced as ‘more than lack’: vacuous, but also a risible presence. In reflecting on our findings we consider whether femininity may be more derided in some discursive contexts (e.g. science discourse) than others, and whether femininity can or should be conceived as more than lack.     

From “Producing” to “Consuming” Research: Incorporating Evidence-Based Practice Into Advanced Research Courses in a Master of Social Work Program

Schools of social work have begun to explore teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) across their curriculum. Although the current literature offers ideas on how to incorporate EBP in foundation research and practice courses, the literature seems nonexistent on how to teach EBP in an advanced research sequence, which could clearly address the widespread criticism that research courses are unsuccessful in making the practice–research link more apparent. This article describes the transition of one school from a “producing research” curriculum focus to an EBP focus, which embraces consuming research. In the present article, the authors discuss the benefits and struggles associated with these two different approaches.     

Teachers’ expectations of children with Down Syndrome starting school in the United Arab Emirates or United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Starting school has been shown to correlate with later school outcomes. Teachers working in early years’ settings either in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or the United Kingdom completed a questionnaire asking them to rate the importance of 20 statements in answer to the question ‘How important are the following for deciding whether a child with Down Syndrome has had a successful first two terms of school?’ Findings demonstrated a different pattern of expectations depending on where the teacher was working. Specifically, teachers in the United Kingdom placed more importance on academic performance and the relationship with the family. Some similarities in the rankings of the scales were also obtained. Teachers, regardless of the location, placed most importance on children’s happiness and knowledge of school routines in successfully starting school. Implications for children with Down Syndrome starting school in the UAE and the United Kingdom are discussed.     

The promise of uncertainty: Education,postmodernism and the politics of possibility

This article is set in the context of current moves in British education policy towards a fixed concept of 'what works' and a questionable certainty about 'best practice'. The author explores the value of postmodern thinking in challenging these state-endorsed certainties and in opening up new possibilities for research, critique and practice. She identifies four key areas of educational authority to which postmodernism offers a significant challenge: the authority of power/knowledge; the authority of models of learning; the authority of identity; and the authority of language. The author identifies recent work in a postmodern frame which challenges these authorities, and outlines current educational contexts in which postmodern thinking has a valuable contribution to make. In conclusion, she suggests that postmodernism opens a new window on the politics of possibility, offering one of the most powerful contemporary radical approaches to inquiry and critique available to the sociology of education.     

The nature of institutional heteronormativity in primary schools and practice-based responses

Concern for school-based homophobia is increasing, yet there is a tendency to focus on individual incidents of homophobic bullying rather than the cultural and institutional factors supporting them. We analyse ways in which institutional heteronormativity operates in primary schools and report results from our research in UK schools that culminated in a Participatory Action Research project in which practicing teachers explored possibilities for disrupting dominant discourses of sexuality and gender expression. We argue that policy and practice need to be reconceptualised to recognise institutional heteronormativity and to interrogate the discourses underpinning systematic forms of oppression.