Thinking through practice: exploring ways of knowing,understanding and representing the complexity of teaching

In recent times there has been a cross-disciplinary amplification of interest in the concept of practice. In this context, there is a growing body of research considering how teaching and teacher education might be viewed using the conceptual lens of practice. In this article, I explore practice theories to identify common themes and principles that constitute a conceptual framework for the investigation of the lived experience of teaching. From this foundation, a methodological framework based on collaborative inquiry and postmodern emergence is derived. Examples are offered of the way the conceptual framework and methodological approach have been activated through the first stage of a research programme that collaboratively engages the dual voices of academic researcher and classroom practitioners as co-researchers. Analysis of qualitative data reveals the potential and limitations of this practice-based foundation as a way to know, understand and represent the complexity of teaching. In conclusion, the article develops a number of propositions as the basis for further research.     

Visualizing the politics of innocence in the age of AIDS

We are concerned with the ways in which social constructions of age can contribute to reducing or exacerbating the vulnerability of young people, and for this reason we refer to the issue as one of ‘the politics of innocence’. The focus of this paper is on gender, youth and HIV prevention/AIDS awareness in the context of South Africa and investigates the uses (and abuses) of images of ‘childhood’, ‘youth’ and ‘adolescence’ in the age of AIDS. Notwithstanding the particular case of South Africa where the incidence of new cases of HIV infection amongst young people is at crisis proportions, the impetus for our work on the visual representations of youth, gender and AIDS comes out of a recognition of the increasing risk of youth to sexually transmitted infections, HIV and AIDS, and within that the particular vulnerability, worldwide, of young women.     

THE DISSEMINATION OF A UNIVERSITY FIELD PLACEMENT PROGRAM: IMPACT ON RECRUITMENT,SATISFACTION AND EFFECTIVENESS

Community college field placements often reflect a “vocational education” approach to outside‐the‐classroom learning, attempting to train students in specific skills and prerequisites for predetermined job slots. In the human services area, however, this may not be the most advantageous approach to producing innovative workers who will generate creative solutions to persistent and serious social problems. This study examined the impact of utilizing one popular university approach to field learning‐experiential learning coupled with social change agentry—with community college students. A criterion‐group field experiment was conducted, looking at paper‐and‐pencil measures, interviews, and archival data. It was found that the community college students were as willing to participate, were equally satisfied with the experience, and were as effective with their assigned cases as were the university students in this rigorous and demanding field placement. Community college administrators who are seeking to broaden their human service field settings should also consider successful university models of experiential learning as alternatives.     

Who are We?

This article scrutinises the usage of the words “we”, “us” and “our” by BBC radio journalists when reporting and discussing news and current affairs. By analysing reports and discussions on the “flagship” Radio 4 Today, a daily news programme whose centrality to political and public debate is widely recognised, the article raises substantive questions about clarity, accuracy and impartiality in senior broadcast journalists’ choice of language. In exploring the assumptions which may underlie the invocation, via such language choices, of an implied community, and against the backdrop of the BBC's commitment to impartiality in its Editorial Guidelines, the article identifies numerous recent examples where the choice of words and identifiers can be seen as undermining the BBC's impartiality and which show several of its senior journalists adopting the first-person plural “we” when reporting on matters of public policy. The findings therefore indicate a general need to codify norms which are seen to integrate the need for accuracy as well as impartiality, and for these norms to take into account issues which might at first glance seem to be inconsequential, micro-level features of the journalists’ language. The evidence suggests that more fine-grained guidelines on permissible circumstances for BBC journalists’ usage of “we” and “our” need revising and disseminating in the light of these findings.     

The perceived value of work placements and part-time work and its diminution with time

This paper explores the perceptions of degree students at two UK universities regarding their work placement and part-time working activities, to assess if the two activities converge. The research comprises three stages: interviews for preliminary exploration of students’ perceptions towards work placement and part-time work; interviews to examine how placement opportunities link with career aspirations; a survey of students who had completed a placement, and those currently on placement. Students acknowledged part-time working helped their placement activity, providing transferable skills beneficial to both study and career aspirations. A significant finding was with respect to time: the closer to the placement activity the data was collected, the stronger the impact of appreciating the value of placement. The paper therefore highlights the value of timing in the assessment of work placement. It also offers value for universities’ by providing insight into students’ perceptions regarding embedded external work activities that can enhance graduate employability and career prospects.     

Romantic Partner Selection and Socialization During Early Adolescence

This prospective study examined romantic partner selection and socialization among a sample of 78 young adolescents (6th–8th graders). Independent assessments of adolescent and romantic partner adjustment were collected before and after relationships initiated via peer nomination and self‐report. Prior to their relationship, adolescents and partners were significantly alike on popularity, physical attraction, and depressive symptoms. Controlling for initial similarity, partners’ popularity, depressive symptoms, relational aggression, and relational victimization significantly predicted changes in adolescents’ functioning in these areas over time. However, the magnitude and direction of change varied according to adolescents’ and partners’ prerelationship functioning. In general, adolescents who dated high‐functioning partners changed more than those who dated low‐functioning partners, and partner characteristics predicted greater change among low‐ versus high‐functioning adolescents. Results were consistent even when controlling for best friend characteristics. The current findings are among the first to demonstrate unique contributions of romantic partner characteristics to adolescents’ psychosocial functioning.     

Anticipatory contrast as a function of access time and spatial location

Intake of a 0.15% saccharin solution was suppressed when it was followed by a 32% sucrose solution in brief daily pairings. With equal access durations to the two solutions, intervals of intermediate duration (2 or 3 min) produced a larger contrast than more extreme intervals (1 or 10 min). There was no evidence of inhibition of delay with the 10-min interval (Experiments 1A and 1B). When access times were asymmetrical, longer access time to the first solution reduced contrast, whereas longer access time to the second solution enhanced contrast (Experiment 2). Contrast was greater when the two solutions were presented at consistent and separate spatial locations than when location was changed randomly or when both solutions were presented in sequence at the same location. However, a degree of contrast occurred in all conditions (Experiment 3). Experiment 4, conducted with the solutions in opposite arms of a T-maze, showed that anticipatory approach to the location correlated with the 32% sucrose solution developed prior to lick suppression on the saccharin solution. However, within daily sessions, there was a reliable increase in contrast without correlated changes in anticipatory-approach behavior. Access-time effects were attributed to altered reward values, whereas spatial-separation effects suggest that goal-directed responses contribute to, but do not cause, anticipatory contrast.