Revisioning professionalism from the periphery

Abstract

The issue of who should be included and recognised as professionals in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) service system is both contested and pressing in the current policy climate. At stake is a high-quality early childhood care and education service system that is both responsive and appropriate to the constituency it serves. A review of the history of ECEC professionalism reveals complex entanglements and debates regarding professional belonging. Services that deliver education and care to children and families living in high poverty contexts are often excluded from ECEC professionalism debates. Drawing on notions of rationality, emotionality and criticality presented in recent accounts of ECEC professionalism, we use data collected from interviews with service providers delivering services to children and families living in high poverty contexts in Australia to develop an account of criticality that is pertinent to current funding and policy contexts. We argue that these service providers’ perspectives about their own professionalism have much to offer broader debates.     

Development,direction, and damage limitation: Social learning in domestic fowl

This review highlights two areas of particular interest in the study of social learning in fowl. First, the role of social learning in the development of feeding and foraging behavior in young chicks and older birds is described. The role of the hen as a demonstrator and possible teacher is considered, and the subsequent social influence of brood mates and other companions on food avoidance and food preference learning is discussed. Second, the way in which work on domestic fowl has contributed to an understanding of the importance of directed social learning is examined. The well-characterized hierarchical social organization of small chicken flocks has been used to design studies which demonstrate that the probability of social transmission is strongly influenced by social relationships between birds. The practical implications of understanding the role of social learning in the spread of injurious behaviors in this economically important species are briefly considered.     

EVINCE: The value of information in developing nursingknowledge and competence

The aims of the EVINCE research projectincluded examination of the impact of information on the clinical knowledge and practice ofnurses, midwives and health visitors. EVINCE (Establishing the Value of Information to NursingContinuing Education) was funded by the British Library R&D Department for 1 year, from 1November 1995 to 31 October 1996. The methods employed (based on those used in the Valueproject) included a critical incident type study to establish patterns of information need and useamong a random sample of nursing professionals. The nature of the impact of informationobtained on present and future competencies was assessed from a survey of the searches andrequests presented to library and information services. Nurses, midwives and health visitors didvalue the information (96% of respondents agreed that there was, or would be an effect onfuture practice through enhanced competence in one or more areas). The impact findings can beused to guide a more precise assessment of information needs.     

The state steers by remote control: Standardising teacher education

This article questions whether the teacher training standards, (Department for Education and Employment Circular 4/98) have made it more difficult for teacher educators to help student teachers to become critically reflective teachers. It is suggested that, following the introduction of the discourse of the three 'e's', efficiency, economy and effectiveness and the teacher training standards, teacher 'education' has been transformed into teacher 'training' within an ideology of technical rationality. Four classroom-based episodes are introduced to form the contexts through which the teacher education standards are interrogated. It is argued that these standards ignore important issues to do with equality in the classroom and the relationship between education and the state. Ideas are suggested for teaching sessions using the episodes to encourage the development of a critically reflective perspective amongst student teachers.     

Childhood Physical Fitness and Performance as Predictors of High School Sport Participation

ABSTRACT

Participation in youth sport is positively associated with physical fitness and performance. The purpose of the current study was to examine if physical fitness measures during childhood and early adolescence predicted high school sport participation. Participants included youth in the Michigan State University Motor Performance Study. Measures consisted of the endurance shuttle run, Wells sit-and-reach, jump and reach, standing long jump, agility shuttle run and 30-yard dash. Individual, generalized estimating equation models were used to estimate the association between each measure and the odds of participating in high school sport. For both sexes, the endurance shuttle run and agility shuttle run were related to sport participation. For boys only, the long jump and 30-yard dash were also associated with sport participation. Better physical fitness and performance across several dimensions in childhood, including those related to motor skills, enhanced the likelihood of sport participation in high school.     

Extending research on the interspersal procedure to perceptions of continuous reading assignments: Applied and theoretical implications of a failure to replicate

Researchers have shown that students' perceptions of mathematics assignments could be improved by interspersing additional briefer, easier problems (e.g., Logan and Skinner, 1998). The current study was designed to extend this research to reading tasks. Seventh‐grade students read out loud both a control passage and a similar experimental passage that contained additional interspersed brief (i.e., 16 words), easy (i.e., first‐grade reading level) paragraphs. Students then selected the passage that would require the least effort to read and the least time to read. Students also indicated the passage they liked most (preference) and the passage that they would like to read again (choice). Significantly more students selected the control passage as requiring less time to read, but no differences were found for preference, choice, or effort selections. The results failed to confirm earlier research on the interspersal procedure, thus our findings have applied and theoretical implications regarding causal variables that may account for the effectiveness of the interspersal procedure. Specifically, the current study suggests that the interspersal procedure may improve assignment perception only when the procedure increases discrete task‐completion rates. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Towards Transformation? An Update on the Resource Centre Fora of South Africa

This paper follows an earlier contribution which described the emergence of popular information networks, the resource centre fora in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. This update on the fora sketches their contribution to the National Education Policy Investigation's Library and Information Services report which put forward national policy options. The resource centre fora's role in the new Translis (Transforming our Library and Information Services) Coalition is described and their representation at the International Federation of Library Association's conference in Barcelona in August 1993 noted.Finally, the role of the resource centres and their fora in the shifting paradigms in library and information work leading up to, and shortly after, the April 1994 election is reviewed. Crucial challenges are identified as funding, resisting 'agenda setting' by funders, and serving the rural areas effectively. Practical suggestions are made about reaching women in particular, about training and needs assessment. Finally the importance of the fora's meeting these challenges and making a contribution to reconstruction and development is noted.     

Strategies to enhance learning and teaching in a research-extensive university

Challenges confronting those who seek to bring about change within large organizations include the need to engage with the values and beliefs held by those involved. In universities with academic cultures that have traditionally lauded and rewarded disciplinary research, attempts to enhance the status and effectiveness of teaching and learning practices must take account of the ongoing power of the research culture. In Australia and elsewhere, prestigious research-extensive 1 universities are now seriously committed to improving the educational experience of student learners from their first year on campus. The focus on teaching and learning is buttressed by another aspect of cultural change - one which values the scholarship of teaching alongside traditional disciplinary research. To the need to re-emphasize teaching, and the need to value that teaching as a scholarly, research-based activity is added a third dimension of change - a focus on the student rather than the teacher. This paper will utilize Fullan's (1991) model for educational change in outlining strategies for change within a large research-extensive university in Australia. While it is too early to ascertain whether those strategies have effectively enhanced student learning, indications are that the strategies have had an impact on the beliefs, behaviour and teaching practice of academic staff. It is suggested that the culture of a university can and will shift given the right conditions for institutional change.