The inclusion of pseudowords within the year one phonics ‘Screening Check’ in English primary schools

The paper highlights problems surrounding the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check that has accompanied the legislative framework for synthetic phonics in English primary schools. It investigates the inclusion of pseudowords and raises questions regarding their generation and categorization, the rationale for their inclusion and the assumption that the early ability to read pseudowords is associated with later success in reading. It draws upon evidence from comparative European orthographic studies employing pseudowords that have implications for the way English pupils learn to read.     

Supporting students with impairments in higher education: social inclusion or cold comfort?

This paper uses a discursive analysis to examine the experience of ‘inclusion’ from several stakeholder groups in one university. The research team included disability support staff at the institution, external disability consultants and academic researchers. A critical focus group investigation centred on four groups: students who were identified as having an impairment (SWIs), academic staff (teachers), administrators and students who did not identify as having an impairment (non‐SWIs). Interviews had facilitators with both research and disability expertise. Groups recounted different experiences of inclusion. SWIs, drawing on a rights discourse, emphasised a lack of resourcing and barriers created by the teaching staff. In contrast, teachers, administrators and (to a lesser extent) non‐SWIs emphasised the importance of social inclusion, reflecting discourses around needs and humanist notions of care and support, which largely seemed to miss the core of SWI concerns about recognition of their technical competence. For all groups, questions around disclosure of disability were of greater concern than tensions between needs and rights or the recent publication of a Code of Practice for the higher education sector. The findings challenged some of the researchers’ own assumptions, with unexpected implications for practice.     

Reliability of a 5-m multiple shuttle test

The aim of the present study was to determine the reliability of a modified 5-m multiple shuttle test. The ‘matchrelated fitness’ of 23 female hockey players was assessed on four occasions within 4 weeks. The results of each test session and each shuttle were analysed using analysis of variance with repeated measures to determine the reliability of the test. The mean distance for each of the six shuttles decreased (121.2 ? 7.5, 114.5 ? 7.5, 112.2 ? 7.5, 109.9 ? 7.9, 108.4 ? 8.1 and 108.7 ? 8.3 m for shuttles 1-6, respectively; P < 0.001) similarly for each of the four sessions (P = 0.99). The total and peak distances covered during the tests were not significantly different (P = 0.99 and P = 0.12, respectively). The intra-class correlation coefficient (R) for these variables was 0.98 and 0.86, respectively. The delta distance and the fatigue index calculated post-test were significantly different (P = 0.001 and P = 0.006, respectively) between the four sessions. The intra-class correlation coefficient for both these variables was 0.74. Heart rate and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were not significantly different between sessions (P = 0.42 and P = 0.095, respectively). The intra-class correlation coefficient for heart rate ranged from 0.65 to 0.97 and that for RPE from 0.85 to 0.91. We conclude that the 5-m multiple shuttle run test is a reliable measure of total and peak distances, heart rate and RPE response and is sufficiently reliabile to track changes in fitness over a season. The delta distance and fatigue index are not as reliable and should be interpreted with caution.     

An attempt to make a difference: Overlooked disadvantaged gifted Appalachian children

Thirty disadvantaged gifted children in Appalachian regions of East Tennessee attended the Summer Institute for Gifted Children at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, at the Cumberland Gap. Home visits were conducted before and after the camp experience to determine the impact of the camp experience on the lives of these children. Findings indicate that these children benefit from both the social and academic aspects of this enriching program. The author has established a non‐profit foundation to continue the work of this project.     

The Effects of Word‐Learning Biases on Children's Concept of Angle

Despite evidence that young children are sensitive to differences in angle measure, older students frequently struggle to grasp this important mathematical concept. When making judgments about the size of angles, children often rely on erroneous dimensions such as the length of the angles' sides. The present study tested the possibility that this misconception stems from the whole‐object word‐learning bias by providing a subset of children with a separate label to refer to the whole angle figure. Thirty preschoolers (M = 4.86 years, SD = .53) were tested with a pretest–training–posttest design. At pretest, children showed evidence of the whole‐object misconception. After training, children who were given a novel‐word label for the whole object improved significantly more than those trained on the meaning of “angle” alone.     

A Window into the Rural Classroom: interactive television and problem‐based activity in Australian pre‐service teacher education

ABSTRACT

This project incorporated live broadcasts of teaching from small, multi‐graded, rural schools into university lecture halls where pre‐service teacher education students in the last semester of their programmes were able to observe ‘best practice’ in a learning context that they would eventually be responsible for during their final practicum session. Interactive observation sessions were immediately followed with opportunities for students to discuss various aspects of planning, classroom organisation and teaching strategies appropriate to multi‐graded contexts with the remote classroom teacher. These ‘reverse distance education’ sessions followed an intensive lecture and tutorial series centring upon topics relevant to teaching in small rural communities. Tutorial activities placed student teachers in small rural school scenarios containing everyday ‘problems’ requiring diagnosis and the generation and analysis of solutions. At the conclusion of scenario discussions, students had networked, collaborated with colleagues and applied current research findings in generating viable solutions and considered school community reactions to these proposed solutions.

The incorporation of interactive video technology with these problem situations consolidated the concept and skill development of student teachers and increased both their real time involvement in their chosen professions, and their access to best practice. This dual focus upon a problem solving approach to teaching immersed the student teacher in situations derived from real school environments, and so encouraged a collegial and open approach to teaching. Extensive evaluations revealed that pre‐service teachers were more thoroughly prepared for rural teaching experiences, displayed competence in effective multigrade teaching skills, and exhibited control during involvement     

Changing personal epistemologies in early childhood pre-service teachers using an integrated teaching program

This study investigated changes in pre-service teachers' personal epistemologies as they engaged in an integrated teaching program. Personal epistemology refers to individual beliefs about the nature of knowing and knowledge and has been shown to influence teaching practice. An integrated approach to teaching, based on both an implicit and explicit focus on personal epistemology, was developed by an academic team within a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood). The teaching program integrated content across four units of study, modelling personal epistemologies implicitly through collaborative reflexive practice. The students were also required to engage in explicit reflections on their personal epistemologies. Quantitative measures of personal epistemology were collected at the beginning and end of the semester using the Epistemological Beliefs Survey (EBS) to assess changes across the teaching period. Results indicated that pre-service teachers' epistemological beliefs about the integration of knowledge became more sophisticated over the course of the teaching period. Qualitative data included pre-service teachers' responses to open ended questions and field experience journal reflections about their perceptions of the teaching program and were collected at the end of the semester. These data showed that pre-service teachers held different conceptions about learning as integration, which provided a more nuanced understanding of the EBS data. Understanding pre-service teachers' epistemological beliefs provides promising directions for teacher preparation and professional enrichment.     

Teachers' Professional Noticing

Teachers' instructional practice is pedagogically vulnerable when not anchored within detailed and comprehensive observation and understanding of students' immediate responses during instruction. Professional noticing ability, then, is central to, and integrated within, teachers' ability to provide instruction appropriately adapted to students' immediate needs. This article explicates a model of expert noticing for literacy instruction and relates this model to the characteristics of microadaptive teaching decisions. Characteristics, for example, that distinguish expert from less expert noticing during literacy instruction include detailed hypothesizing, breadth and depth of elaboration, observation of learners' metacognitive behavior, and identification of pivotal events. Teacher noticing ability is generally not related to years of experience, but can be learned through participation in sustained, multilevel professional development with an explicit focus on noticing ability. This complex learning integrates teachers' pedagogical and content knowledge with observation of student behaviors, and supports teachers' learning from practice.