Using phenomenography to build an understanding of how university people conceptualise their community-engaged activities

Higher education institutions are seeking greater community engagement through academic, social and civic activity. In response, researcher attention has turned to impacts on students’ education, and benefits to both university and community partners. This phenomenographic study examines how a diverse group of teachers, researchers and administrators at one New Zealand university conceptualised their involvement in community-engaged learning and teaching. We identified an outcome space where university people conceived their community engagement in three ways: within an expert/novice discourse, as advocacy, and in the most complex conception, as reciprocal learning. When working with and within communities, we suggest that university people should be supported to approach community engagement as reciprocal learning rather than adopting approaches that render community partners in passive roles.     

Family Instability and Young Children's School Adjustment: Callousness and Negative Internal Representations as Mediators

This study examined the mediating roles of children's callousness and negative internal representations of family relationships in associations between family instability and children's adjustment to school in early childhood. Participants in this multimethod (i.e., survey, observations), multiinformant (i.e., parent, teacher, observer), longitudinal study included 243 preschool children (M_age = 4.60 years) and their families. Findings from the lagged, autoregressive tests of the mediational paths indicated that both children's callousness and negative internal representations of family relationships mediated longitudinal associations between family instability and children's school adjustment problems over a 2‐year period (i.e., the transition from preschool to first grade). Findings are discussed in relation to the attenuation hypothesis (E. J. Susman, 2006) and emotional security theory (EST; P. T. Davies, M. A. Winter, & D. Cicchetti, 2006).     

Gender,Gender Role Identity,and Type of Relationship as Predictors of Relationship Behavior and Beliefs in College Students

The authors explored the relationship of gender, gender role identity, and type of relationship—same‐sex friendship, cross‐sex friendship, or romantic relationship—to relationship behaviors and beliefs among 429 college students. They discuss implications for individual and group counseling, consultation, and primary prevention on college campuses.     

Introduction d'un Modele Conceptuel comme Cadre de Reference dans la Formation Initiale des Instituteurs Primaires (Ecole Normale de l'Etat,Andenne (B) )

The article examines strategies for the training of Primary teachers in Belgium, a level of training which was increased from two to three years duration in 1983. An action research at the EN de l'Etat at Andenne has focused on the conceptual model (following a structure of analysis proposed by Antoine Leon). This model, and the typology of teaching/learning situations which it embodies, permits the student to establish theoretical terms of reference at the outset of training, and to acquire educational insights which relate meaningfully to the goals of teaching. The approach adopted makes certain demands upon the students; for example, they need to take stock, objectively, of their own experiences of learning and must be prepared to question their own assumptions. An important factor in the research has been the use of micro‐teaching, with CCTV, and it is necessary that the students be given an early opportunity to try out their learning from the studio setting in a ‘real’ environment. Overall, however, the experiment, which has been conducted in liaison with the Free University of Brussels, is a promising avenue for achieving the integration of theory with practice.     

Building a technology foundation for future teachers

It is fitting that the teachers of tomorrow are provided with the correct modeling of technology in their first education class. To separate technology from education is both impossible and foolish. The sooner college students are exposed to the latest forms of technology, the more equipped they will be to integrate these tools into their teaching strategies for the benefit of future learners.