Scholastic achievement, academic self-schemata, and normative clearsightedness

This study based directly on Markus’s (1977) paradigm demonstrates the greater prevalence of an academic success self-schema in high academic achievers and of an academic failure self-schema in low academic achievers. The results also suggest that this achievementbased schema is modulated by clearsightedness (Py & Somat, 1991) in both good and poor students. Because more clearsighted individuals are probably better able to assess the arbitrariness of the reinforcement systems applied to their performance, they do not build the same schemata as less clearsighted individuals do.     

Patterns of interaction in family relationships and the development of identity exploration in adolescence

The purpose of this research was to develop a model of individuation in family relationships that focuses on communication processes, and to assess the links between them and adolescent identity exploration. Expressions of the 4 dimensions of the model--self-assertion, separateness, permeability, and mutuality--were predicted to be positively associated with identity exploration in adolescents. A sample of 84 Caucasian, middle-class, 2-parent families, each including an adolescent and 1 or 2 siblings, was observed in a Family Interaction Task designed to elicit the expression and coordination of a variety of points of view. Multiple regression analyses revealed differentiated results concerning father-son, father-daughter, mother-son, mother-daughter, and marital relationships as well as both positive and negative contributions of communication variables to identity exploration when verbal ability and sociability were controlled. Results are discussed in terms of recent formulations of the progressive redefinition of the parent-child relationship during adolescence.     

Living with CATE: the case of reflective student teachers

This paper considers the effect of the introduction of market forces into teacher education both in terms of the loss of autonomy on the part of the providers, the teacher educators, and in terms of the growth of ownership by the consumers, the student teachers, of their learning. Specifically it identifies the paradigms of teacher education which are absent from the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE) criteria, such as enquiry‐oriented teacher education, but which are important for promoting professional self‐awareness amongst teachers. This paper describes and evaluates an exercise undertaken by student teachers on a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) course which both promotes self‐reflection and meets some of the criteria set by CATE. It concludes that it is possible to promote self‐reflective teaching within the confines of the CATE criteria so long as certain procedures are followed.     

Long-range course planning by college students

A group of 633 college students at a large midwestern public university was asked fifteen questions pertaining to personal long-term course planning. The results indicated that only 48% of the students sketched out a tentative listing of at least two courses per term for one or more subsequent semesters when first planning courses for the current semester. Long-range planning was positively correlated with the number of years students had already spent in college and with students' perception of the following factors: course planning utility, degree of certainty about pursuing one's current first choice of career, and degree of commitment in using college coursework as a means of achieving a career goal (all p < 0.001). Long-range planning was negatively correlated with the anticipation of a possible change in academic interests. Such planning was not significantly correlated with students' entrance examination aptitude scores or grade point averages. Thus, students' long-range planning of courses was associated more strongly with career commitment than with recent academic performance or aptitude.     

Those who can, teach: addressing the crisis in mathematics in UK schools and universities

The crisis in UK mathematics education, both in schools and universities, has been widely reported in the national media. A recent study shows that 26% of full-time mathematics teachers in UK schools have no qualification in the subject, and that 31% of all UK schools' mathematics teachers are now over the age of 50. The crisis in school mathematics has impacted on much of the university sector, with some departments under threat of closure and widespread difficulties experienced in student recruitment. The availability of attractive careers for mathematics graduates impacts upon the numbers choosing to enter teaching, thus risking a spiral of decline. Furthermore, studies suggest that UK mathematics graduates often lack confidence in several key skills essential for teaching, such as presenting information effectively, working in teams, and written communication. This paper recounts the development of a unit of study in the Faculty of Mathematical Studies at the University of Southampton, England, in conjunction with a new initiative, the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme, which seek to address the crisis in UK mathematics education through the training and placement of final year undergraduates as teaching assistants in local schools. This with a view to promoting mathematics to the broadest possible constituency as a university choice, whilst simultaneously developing those key transferable skills in which undergraduates regularly feel least confident, and allowing undergraduates to experience a flavour of teaching as a career option.     

Can teachers and mathematicians communicate productively? The case of division with remainder

Is it possible that a meeting of mathematicians and primary school teachers will be productive? This question became intriguing when one professor of mathematics initiated a professional development course for practicing primary school teachers, which he taught alongside a group of mathematics Ph.D. students. This report scrutinizes the uncommon meeting of these two communities, who have very different perspectives on mathematics and its teaching. The instructors had no experience in primary school teaching, and their professed goal was to deepen the teachers’ understanding of the mathematics they teach, while teachers were expecting the course to be pedagogically relevant for their teaching. Surprisingly, despite this mismatch in expectations, the course was considered a success by teachers and instructors alike. In our study, we analyzed a lesson on division with remainder for teachers of grades 3–6, taught by the professor. The framework used for the data analysis was mathematical discourse for teaching, a discursive adaptation of the well-known mathematical knowledge for teaching framework. Our analysis focuses on the nature of the interactions between the parties and the learning opportunities they afforded. We show how different concerns, which might have hindered communication, in fact fueled discussions, leading to understandings of the topic and its teaching that were new to all the parties involved. The findings point to a feasible model for professional development where mathematicians may contribute to the education of practicing teachers, while they are gaining new insights themselves.     

Children's Responses to Contrasting `Realistic' Mathematics Problems: Just how realistic are children ready to be?

In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis within the world of mathematics education on realistic problem solving. At the same time research has shown that children typically remain apparently unwilling or unable to introduce realistic considerations when solving supposedly realistic word problems, though research has also shown that children's behaviour in this domain does vary as a function of the nature of the item, its context and the child's social background. This paper analyses 11–12 year-old English children's responses to two realistic problems. The first is taken from English national tests; the second is a revised version of this item which has been rewritten to encourage a more realistic pattern of responses. Through a comparison of responses to the two items it is suggested that, given suitable realistic problems, many children may be more willing and able to introduce realistic responses in a testing context than earlier research might lead us to expect.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Maintenance of Order and Use of Space in Primary School Buildings

An empirically grounded discussion of relationships which can exist between the maintenance of order in teaching situations and the use of space in primary school buildings is offered in this paper. Attention is specifically focused on verbal directives issued by teachers to their charges about what they deem acceptable behaviour in teaching areas during lesson periods. Examples of these directives are presented in order to illustrate both how teachers may manipulate children's use of space to impose on them particular definitions of educational order and also how they may use space as a means of disciplining those who transgress against that order.     

Perceptions of sleep duration,patterns and emotional and behavioural difficulties: a study of Greek adolescents

The study investigated adolescent students’ perceptions of sleep duration and patterns, and the way they relate to emotional and behavioural difficulties. Five hundred and two students from public schools in Greece completed the Sleep Questionnaire and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). It was demonstrated that consistency in sleep duration and quality in sleep patterns were associated with a reduction in adolescents’ reports of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Sleep duration was similarly distributed across gender, while sleep patterns were gender‐specific. Distinct differential effects of gender, sleep duration and patterns to adolescents’ emotional and behavioural difficulties were also found. These findings and their implications for research and practice are discussed, within the scope of the biopsychosocial framework in education.