Exploring practicum: student teachers’ social capital relations in schools with high numbers of pupils living in poverty

The complexity of practicum in initial teacher education, in terms of the range of diverse social relations and differing school contexts, provides a challenge for teacher educators worldwide, aiming to guide and shape opportunities for student teachers learning to teach. This challenge is further compounded by societal problems linked to child poverty. Drawing from social capital theory, this paper explores the kinds of social relations that are currently associated with student teachers’ practicum experience in schools located in areas of social and economic deprivation or with significant proportions of pupils living in poverty. The paper brings to the surface types of social relations that are beneficial to mitigating the effects of poverty on educational outcomes. The case is made that practicum does not currently support the principles of social capital theory by enabling student teachers to develop an understanding of how to make connections, and develop the social relationships required to support positive educational outcomes for the children and young people in such contexts. Findings indicate that more effective ‘joint practice’ is required to better support student teachers’ professional learning.     

Why some early college high school students do not transition to a 4‐year college: An exploration of perceived barriers and schooling experiences on students’ transition plans

This study examined why some seniors attending Early College High Schools did not plan to continue their education at a 4‐year college immediately after graduation despite attending schools designed to provide coordinated academic and social supports with the expectation that all students would continue their education. Most students in our study (75%) did plan to continue their education at a 4‐year college immediately after graduation. For the remaining students, we used cluster analysis to identify four distinct groups of noncollege bound students. These groups were evaluated based on background characteristics, perceived opportunities and barriers, and schooling experiences. Results indicate that noncollege bound students are diverse in their reasons for not continuing their education at a 4‐year program and that any reform efforts designed to personalize opportunities and supports for these students must take into account how combinations of perceived opportunities and barriers shape their postsecondary decisions.     

Responding to the Message: providing a social context for children learning to write

Abstract In this classroom‐based research study, written expression was viewed as an interactive social process involving written communication between the teacher and the children. Children received increased opportunities to write on topics they chose themselves, and their teacher responded in writing to the content of their writing. The teacher did not provide corrective feedback for accuracy of spelling or grammar throughout the study. Written content feedback from the teacher was provided to each child according to an intra‐subject ABAB research design. Analysis of the teacher's written feedback identified her use of six specific categories of positive response to the themes, ideas and characters of each child's writing. Significant increases in both quantity and quality of writing occurred during the written content feedback phases. Spelling accuracy was maintained at a high level of accuracy throughout the study.     

Family-Centered Intervention for Young Children at-risk for Language and Behavior Problems

This study investigated the effects of a family-centered intervention that involved parents in weekly assessments and daily routine activities for promoting young children’s language and behavior. Forty-one 3–5-year-old children at-risk for language and behavior problems, recruited from three developmental pre-schools, were randomly assigned to a control and an intervention group that received parent–professional support. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were used to examine whether groups differed on post-test scores on the Test of Early Language Development—Third Edition and Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory, using pre-test scores as a covariate. Results showed that children in the intervention group outperformed children in the control group on both tests. The study indicated that family-centered intervention is an effective method for empowering parents to identify and implement concrete solutions to their children’s problems, especially when done as part of a professional collaboration.     

Talking Whiteness: Representations of Social Justice in One School

This post-structural discourse analysis examines how whiteness is discursively and materially maintained and reproduced through an anti-bias discourse. It attempts to surface ways in which counter discourses are mediated within a dominant discourse such as whiteness. Understanding one school’s determined efforts to “combat oppression” and the difficulties inherent in this charge may allow for expanded notions of how schools might challenge taken for granted norms on which many visions of reform rest. Finally, taking into consideration the ways in which dominant discourses of normalization may act as a barrier to producing transformational environments for teaching and learning in K-12 schools, may make more evident the need for schools to have mechanisms that challenge normative structures, social practices, as well as create space for counter discourses to be generated.     

Formative observation of teaching: focusing peer assistance on teachers’ developmental goals

Peer observation of teaching can provide valuable insights into effective educational practices. By adopting a developmental focus, peer observation can also provide insights into how practices might be enhanced and, importantly, how enhancements in practices might be aligned to teachers’ development goals. However, a review of peer observation of teaching undertaken at Australian universities demonstrates that observation instruments and protocols typically do not explicitly afford alignment of peers’ observations with teachers’ developmental goals. Analysis of observers’ uses of popular peer observation instruments through the deployment of the Peer Assisted Teaching Scheme through multiple institutions across Australia has informed the development and trial of a novel observation instrument and protocol design that is aligned with observer use characteristics, and provides a focus on development goals. This study will be of interest to teachers and academic developers researching and implementing goal-oriented curricular and pedagogical development through peer observation.