Metaphor as a methodological tool: identifying teachers’ social justice dispositions across diverse secondary school settings

This article investigates the social justice dispositions of teachers and principals in secondary schools as inferred from their metaphoric expressions. Drawing on a Bourdieuian account of disposition, our focus is the use of metaphor as a methodological tool to identify and reveal these otherwise latent forces within our data. Our analysis shows evidence of redistributive, recognitive and activist conceptions of social justice. We argue that these three social justice dispositions may be insufficient to meaningfully address persisting inequalities in the school system and that a capability-based social justice disposition – absent in our data – is needed. We conclude by highlighting that: social justice dispositions can change; a valid interpretation of metaphors requires ‘contextual stabilization’; and metaphors for social justice are differently constructed in different contexts, influenced by the different social, cultural and material conditions of schools.     

Humanizing and conducive to learning: an adolescent students’ perspective on the central attributes of positive relationships with teachers

The aim of this qualitative study was to identify central attributes of positive relationships with teachers from the adolescent students’ perspectives that could help delineate the meaning of student–teacher connectedness while exploring to what extent its main attributes were similar or different in England and Spain. As part of the EU-funded project “Well-being among European youth: The contribution of student-teacher relationships in the secondary-school population”, we conducted focus groups in England and Spain with 42 students aged 11 to 18 years. Using a bottom-up approach for thematic analysis, we identified two main attributes that were linked to positive relationships with teachers as seen by our participating students from England and Spain: humanizing relationships, in which the students are acknowledged and respected as individuals and feel understood and supported by their teachers; and relationships conducive to learning, encompassing aspects such as a perception of a genuine commitment with their learning on the part of the teachers, a positive classroom management, and teachers motivating students. This study contributes to the conceptualization of student–teacher connectedness and provides useful insights for teachers and educational professionals. In addition, the study findings pointed to the importance of power and authority dynamics in student–teacher relationships that foster or undermine connectedness, and they revealed some cross-cultural differences in the role of emotions in the class, two important aspects which deserve further attention in future research.

     

Success at Scale: Outcomes of Community-Based Neurodevelopment Intervention (CASITA) for Children Ages 6–20 months With Risk of Delay in Lima,Peru

This study is a randomized controlled trial of a 12-week community-based group parenting intervention (“CASITA”) in Lima, Peru. CASITA improved neurodevelopment in a pilot study of 60 Peruvian children and subsequently scaled to 3,000 households throughout the district. The objective of this study was to assess intervention effectiveness when implemented at scale. A total of 347 children ages 6–20 months (52.7% male, 100% identified as “mestizo”) at risk for developmental difficulties were randomized to immediate or delayed CASITA. At 3 months after enrollment, the immediate arm showed significantly higher overall development, based on the Extended Ages and Stages Questionnaire and Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment scores (Cohen’s ds = .36 and .31, respectively). Programs demonstrably effective at scale could help address children’s development risks worldwide.     

Dealing With Item Nonresponse in Large‐Scale Cognitive Assessments: The Impact of Missing Data Methods on Estimated Explanatory Relationships

Competence data from low‐stakes educational large‐scale assessment studies allow for evaluating relationships between competencies and other variables. The impact of item‐level nonresponse has not been investigated with regard to statistics that determine the size of these relationships (e.g., correlations, regression coefficients). Classical approaches such as ignoring missing values or treating them as incorrect are currently applied in many large‐scale studies, while recent model‐based approaches that can account for nonignorable nonresponse have been developed. Estimates of item and person parameters have been demonstrated to be biased for classical approaches when missing data are missing not at random (MNAR). In our study, we focus on parameter estimates of the structural model (i.e., the true regression coefficient when regressing competence on an explanatory variable), simulating data according to various missing data mechanisms. We found that model‐based approaches and ignoring missing values performed well in retrieving regression coefficients even when we induced missing data that were MNAR. Treating missing values as incorrect responses can lead to substantial bias. We demonstrate the validity of our approach empirically and discuss the relevance of our results.     

‘Looking for the perfect beat’: the power of black student protest rhetorics for academic literacy and higher education

Drawing on three modes of inquiry—personal narrative, teacher research and historical work on black student protest in higher education—this article describes the writer's experience first as a college student and then as a teacher in a classroom where a student activist shaped the social consciousness of his peers. The politics of the student activist is set in the context of a historical continuum that goes back to the black student protests of the 1950s. A distinct set of black student protest rhetorics is used to locate deep‐rooted political critiques of higher education. These rhetorics are critical for re‐imagining vernacular and discursive possibilities in the academy and encompass very different notions of language and literacy from standard tropes of academic discourse as access.     

Reproduction and transformation of inequalities in schooling: the transformative potential of the theoretical constructs of Bourdieu

This article is concerned with the theoretical constructs of Bourdieu and their contribution to understanding the reproduction of social and cultural inequalities in schooling. While Bourdieu has been criticised for his reproductive emphasis, this article proposes that there is transformative potential in his theoretical constructs and that these suggest possibilities for schools and teachers to improve the educational outcomes of marginalised students. The article draws together three areas of contribution to this theme of transformation; beginning by characterising habitus as constituted by reproductive and transformative traits and considering the possibilities for the restructuring of students’ habitus. This is followed by a discussion of cultural capital and the way that teachers can draw upon a variety of cultural capitals to act as agents of transformation rather than reproduction. The article concludes by considering the necessity of a transformation of the field to improve the educational outcomes of marginalised students.     

The 'Ideal Teacher'. Implications for student evaluation of teacher effectiveness

Assessment of teachers through student opinions has been the most used method to define the characteristics of teaching quality. There is no previous literature applying the Semantic Differential (SD) with this objective. SD can detect the attributes of the 'ideal teacher', and find the evaluative, emotional or affective components linked to this concept. In this work, we analyse the factorial structure of a SD scale, to test the hypothesis of the existence of EPA factors, usually found in research directed to different objects of attitude. The most relevant dimensions of the 'ideal teacher' show similar profiles to those dimensions obtained with other assessment procedures. This result confirms the adequacy of SD as an instrument to assess of quality teaching.     

Language tourism destinations: a case study of motivations,perceived value and tourists’ expenditure

The economic potential of language tourism is manifested in the number of summer courses organised by some countries. Even if learning the language is the main motivation for travelling, the tourists also take into account other characteristics when choosing a destination, such as the location, the safety, the quality of the language or the cultural attractions. The objective of the current study is to analyse the profile of language tourists according to their motivations to study Spanish and their perception of the destination and to examine this profile as a driver of tourists’ expenditures. Specifically, this work analyses a sample of tourists who attended Spanish courses in language schools and academies in the city of Valladolid (Spain). The analysis of their expenditure during the stay reveals that expenditure is affected by visitors’ motivations and perceptions.     

The PCC ISNI Pilot: Exploring Identity Management on a Global,Collaborative Scale

Abstract

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) conducted a multi-institution Pilot project to contribute metadata to the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) database. In addition to describing the goals, structure, and activities undertaken in the Pilot, this article examines some of the experiences of PCC metadata practitioners as they sought to incorporate ISNIs into their metadata workflows and pursue a wide range of ISNI use cases. Lastly, the article outlines next steps that flowed from the Pilot as the PCC has parlayed its newly developing identity management expertise into additional PCC program explorations.