Interactive effects of guilt and moral disengagement on bullying,defending and outsider behavior

We examined the moderating effect of guilt on the associations between moral disengagement and bullying, defending and outsider behaviors in a sample of 404 students (203 boys; M_age = 11.09 years; SD = 1.48). Bullying, defending and outsider behavior were assessed through peer nominations, whereas guilt and moral disengagement were assessed by self-reports. Results showed that moral disengagement was associated with high levels of bullying and low levels of defending. Guilt was negatively associated with bullying and positively with defending. A moderating effect for guilt was also found: increasing levels of moral disengagement contributed to more bullying and outsider behavior, and to less defending, among students with low levels of guilt. The current research broadens the extant literature, showing the combined effects of guilt and moral disengagement on bullying-related behaviors.     

Angry Anglos and aspirational Asians: everyday multiculturalism in the selective school system in Sydney

ABSTRACT

‘Asian whiz kids’ perfect test scores.’ ‘Selective schools and tiger parents.’ These types of headlines highlight the increased visibility of academically successful students from Asian migrant backgrounds, in Australia and other Western countries. They also point to anxiety about the perceived aggressive ‘tiger’ parenting often associated with Asian academic success. This paper focuses on the forms of everyday multiculturalism found in and around high-performing selective schools and classes in Sydney, Australia, almost all of which are dominated by Asian-Australian students. Drawing on interviews with parents and students from Anglo- and Asian-Australian backgrounds, it documents the different positionalities adopted by participants within these culturally diverse settings, including anger, aspiration and cosmopolitanism. This potentially volatile combination of approaches to diversity reveals some of the social consequences of neoliberal migration and education policies.     

Negotiating colonial structures: challenging the views of Pakeha student teachers

This paper describes an attempt to address, through pre‐service teacher education, the complex interaction of the ideologies carried by schooling, the denial of the rights of Maori as promised by the Treaty of Waitangi and the underachievement of Maori children in New Zealand schools. It is set in the context of an action research project that sought to reveal student teachers' responses to this component of their degree programme. The authors describe how, as teacher educators, their teaching evolved in response to the research findings through three distinct phases.     

Mind the gap: accountability,observation and special education

There is an absence of observation-based tools designed to evaluate teaching in special education classrooms. Evaluations derived from classroom observations are integral to the accountability process, adding value to understanding teaching and learning by providing a lens into the classroom that test scores cannot capture. The present paper systematically examined existing classroom observation tools, identifying constructs measured and noting elements unique to special education classrooms. Results demonstrate that most extant tools tap into three primary categories of teacher behaviours, but overlook the role paraprofessionals play as well as teacher professional behaviours. Taken together, results reflect the need for a tool designed specifically for special education classrooms. Limitations and implications for practice and policy are discussed.     

Exploring Changes in Student Engagement through the RULER Approach: An Examination of Students at Risk of Academic Failure

The present paper examines if developmental pathways for students at risk for academic failure can be improved through social and emotional learning (SEL). Specifically, we test this hypothesis by accounting for shifts in student engagement, a highly studied and malleable construct often inclusive of SEL interventions, as the pathway by which to impact student achievement outcomes. Using longitudinal data from a randomized control trial, we identified students at risk for school failure (n?=?318) within a larger sample of fifth graders (N?=?1,352). Multigroup path model revealed that participation in RULER significantly impacted the relationship between student engagement and conduct behaviors for at risk students: students who experienced RULER demonstrated increased engagement a year later (at sixth grade) and improved conduct the following year (in seventh grade). The potential for and limitations of SEL programs on developmental trajectories for students at risk for school failure are discussed.     

Self-efficacy as a predictor of clinical skills among speech pathology students

Bandura's self-efficacy theory was used a model for examining levels of confidence and clinical skills among undergraduate speech pathology students. Forty-four second-year students rated their confidence in their ability to perform a number of clinical tasks at the beginning and at the end of the academic year, which was their first clinic experience. These efficacy expectations were compared with clinical supervisors' assessments of the students' performance on the same tasks. An attempt was also made to assign students to pairs and small groups for training on the basis of their initial efficacy expectations Efficacy strength (but not level) increased significantly over the year, and efficacy level (but not strength) was moderately and significantly related to clinical supervisors' ratings of clinic performance. Practical problems arose with the grouping, but the results suggested that there may be some possible benefits from assigning students to pairs on the basis of their self-efficacy. These results show self-efficacy to be only moderately well related to clinic performance, but it is suggested that relatively high baselines may have attenuated the strength of the obtained relationship. The role of self-efficacy in clinical skills training warrants further investigation.     

Severed Heads and Compliant Bodies? A speculation about principal identities

When I had to reapply for my own position as principal I felt as if I was facing the prospect of losing a part of myself. Conversations with other women colleagues confirmed that I was not alone in this response. Taking this as my cue, I explore the notion of principal “identification” practices—that is the continuing process of forming a “principal identity”—through personal narrative, a Cartesian metaphor and emerging research evidence. In particular, I focus on how conditions of entrepreneurial governance change a continuing policy commitment to heroic leadership, and how principal and school identities are conflated through accountability regimes, marketing requirements and work intensification. I propose that a study of changing principal identities might fruitfully add to critical leadership and management scholarship, complementing the emergent corpus on emotions in leadership.

I am telling you stories. Trust me. (Winterson, 1988 Winterson J (1988) Passion London: Vintage  [Google Scholar], p. 160)     

Metaphorical images of schooling: beliefs about teaching and learning among prospective teachers from the United States displaying different motivational profiles

This study focused on investigating the types of schooling beliefs (teaching and learning) expressed through metaphorical images by prospective teachers (PTs) from the United States. Participants (N = 215) rated 10 schooling metaphors illustrating the student–school–teacher relationships (i.e. Passenger–Bus–Driver; Student is a passenger, School is a bus and Teacher is a driver). Two main factors, a student-centred and a teacher-centred approach described the key schooling beliefs of PTs. Additionally, differences in PTs’ schooling beliefs across typologies/clusters of PTs were found. Further, qualitative data from interviews illustrated how each cluster specifically expressed their instructional views.     

The future of higher education in Ireland: a postcolonial perspective

The transformation that Irish higher education (HE) has undergone since the mid-2000s has been particularly rapid and unidirectional. Following the Global Financial Crisis, the Irish Government sought to take control of tertiary education in an attempt to shield the country from future economic shocks. This paper succinctly discusses the circumstances leading to the current policy position and what these changes have meant for Irish HE. A postulation that neoliberalism will inevitably deepen further within Irish HE will be explored through the lens of Postcolonial theory. In conclusion, I will show that the application of this theoretical stance may succeed in buffering many of the effects of neoliberalism to ensure ample space in HE for all subject areas and disciplines.     

A Pilot Study of a Self-Administered Parent Training Intervention for Building Preschoolers’ Social–Emotional Competence

Social–emotional skills are equally as crucial for school success as cognitive and academic skills (Webster-Stratton and Reid in Infants Young Child 17:96–113, 2004), yet many young children lack these skills (Lavigne et al. in J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 35:204–214, 1996). Therefore, it is essential to invest in the development of social–emotional competence at an early age—a task that necessitates active parent involvement (Webster-Stratton and Reid 2004). This pilot study explored the effectiveness, integrity, and acceptability of a self-administered parent training intervention [Devereux Early Childhood Assessment—Second Edition (DECA-P2) family guide (Mackrain and Cairone in Promoting resilience for now and forever: a family guide for supporting the social and emotional development of preschool children, 2nd edn. Kaplan Early Learning Company, Lewisville, 2013)] targeting the promotion of social–emotional competence in young children (N = 12). Pre- and post-test parent reports revealed that children’s social–emotional competence increased and behavior problems decreased following program completion. Parent ratings indicated the intervention was carried out as intended (i.e., integrity) and that it was helpful (i.e., acceptability). These exploratory findings suggest that this self-administered parent intervention shows promise as an alternative to face-to-face early childhood prevention services.