Mathematics‐teachers’ Knowledge Bases: implications for teacher education

Understanding the knowledge bases of mathematics teachers is an important task in working towards the construction of adequate models for: (i) teacher education and development, and (ii) teacher operations in the classroom. To date, little systematic attention has been focused on this task. The primary aim of this study is to obtain a view from the field of mathematics teacher knowledge with respect to content knowledge in mathematics, content‐specific pedagogical knowledge in mathematics and curriculum knowledge relevant to teaching tasks. This study has used data obtained from a survey of primary teachers and secondary mathematics teachers. Analysis of the results has indicated that less than half of the teachers in the study believed that they were sufficiently prepared in mathematics content, and that almost two‐thirds of the teachers in the sample believed that their level of knowledge in contemporary teaching methodologies in mathematics is not sufficient for their role as school teachers. Key differences emerge between the primary and secondary sectors and also within the secondary sector. Implications for preservice and in‐service mathematics teacher education are drawn.     

Democracy, development and education: Working with The Gambian inspectorate

This paper begins by discussing the relationship between democracy and development in Africa and The Gambia in particular. It then examines the potential role of the school inspectorate in the Gambia in helping to put education for democracy on a sustainable footing. The inspectorate not only evaluate and advise teachers but also provide ongoing support and monitoring. This paper describes a project which explored whether democratic practice could be integrated into the work of inspectors and discusses evidence on both its possible impact and general issues concerning democracy and education in The Gambia.     

Change in Family Income-to-Needs Matters More for Children with Less

Hierarchical linear modeling was used to model the dynamics of family income-to-needs for participants of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N = 1,364) from the time that children were 1 through 36 months of age. Associations between change in income-to-needs and 36-month child outcomes (i.e., school readiness, receptive language, expressive language, positive social behavior, and behavior problems) were examined. Although change in income-to-needs proved to be of little importance for children from nonpoor families, it proved to be of great importance for children from poor families. For children in poverty, decreases in income-to-needs were associated with worse outcomes and increases were associated with better outcomes. In fact, when children from poor families experienced increases in income-to-needs that were at least 1 SD above the mean change for poor families, they displayed outcomes similar to their nonpoor peers. The practical importance and policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Phonemic awareness and learning to read

European Journal of Psychology of Education -     

Long-term habituation is produced by distributed training at long ISIs and not by massed training or short ISIs inCaenorhabditis elegans

To begin an investigation of the cellular processes that underlie long-term memory in the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans, it is first necessary to determine thatC. elegans is capable of retention over 24 h, and to investigate the factors that may influence the expression of long-term memory. In the present study, the effects of stimuli number, interstimulus interval (ISI), and training procedure on long-term retention of habituation were tested inC. elegans. At a long (60-sec) ISI, distributed training sessions produced long-term habituation retained for 24 h, whereas massed training sessions or training with few stimuli did not. When training was performed at a short (10-sec) ISI, long-term habituation was not detectable with testing at either a 10- or a 60-sec ISI. The long-term habituation observed after distributed training sessions at a 60-sec ISI was consistently expressed when the training procedures were varied. Thus it is clear thatC. elegans can reliably express long-term retention for distributed training sessions at a 60-sec ISI, making the system a candidate for further investigations into the cellular processes supporting memory.     

Advocacy for gender minority students: recommendations for school counsellors

Abstract

Research shows that teachers’ and educators’ responses to gender diversity issues in schools either improves or limits the experiences of students. The school counsellor has an important role to play in this process by working closely with other stakeholders to advocate for transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Following a review of recent developments in the USA, recommendations are made and resources identified to assist school counsellors in validating TIG students, and improving school systems in pursuit of their academic, social and emotional success.     

Makeover Or Takeover? The strange death of educational autonomy in neo-liberal England

This paper is concerned with the erosion of educational autonomy in Britain in recent years. Employing an analytical framework derived mainly from the recent work of Basil Bernstein, it examines ways in which weakened boundaries between the educational and the economic/political spheres may be linked to attempts by government in Britain to take over, to an unprecedented degree, domains where educators and producers of knowledge have in the past enjoyed significant, although by no means unqualified, autonomy. Implications for changing educational identities are highlighted, as is Bernstein's central contention that we may be witnessing not merely presentational changes, but rather a fundamental redefinition of the relationship between knowledge and the knower. Certain aspects of the political and educational agenda of the present New Labour government are seen as continuing many of the directions of policy set by previous New Right administrations. It is suggested that such continuities at the level of politics and policy indicate the potency of neo-liberal forms of governmentality and the extent to which they have become entrenched. Postmodernist and modernist interpretations of these developments are briefly considered. Obstacles to effective contestation of the new modalities of control are discussed.