Directions for Integration in Australia: Overview of a Report to the Commonwealth Schools Commission. Part II.

Drawing upon information from a national survey, this paper examines the extent to which integration is being achieved for children with disabilities in Australian schools. Technical and organizational issues leading to identification of major barriers to integration together with possible strategies to overcome these are discussed. A need for policy‐oriented research in this field is identified, particularly the provision of accurate prevalence figures and other data to help monitor the impact of policy. Overall, there is evidence of a national movement towards integration but typically this is occurring within a context of inadequate policy formulation, organizational development and resource provision.     

Examining trace data to explore self-regulated learning

This exploratory case study examined in depth the studying activities of eight students across two studying episodes, and compared traces of actual studying activities to self-reports of self-regulated learning. Students participated in a 2-hour activity using our gStudy software to complete a course assignment. We used log file data to construct profiles of self-regulated learning activity in four ways: (a) frequency of studying events, (b) patterns of studying activity, (c) timing and sequencing of events, and (d) content analyses of students’ notes and summaries. Findings indicate that students’ self-reports may not calibrate to actual studying activity. Analyses of log file traces of studying activities provide important information for defining strategies and sequences of fine-grained studying actions. We contrast these analytic methods and illustrate how trace-based profiles of students’ self-regulated studying inform models of metacognitive monitoring, evaluation, and self-regulated adaptation.     

Patterns of compensation of public and private school teachers

General impressions suggest that public school teachers are paid higher salaries than private school teachers. Indeed, the evidence is consistent with this general impression. But why the difference? Do public school teachers have better qualifications? Are private schools better places in which to work, and are they able to pay lower wages for comparable teachers? Do public and private schools even operate in the same market for teaching personnel? Are those individuals who seek employment in the private school sector from the same population as those seeking public school employment? What part does the ownership structure of the school play in the determination of teacher compensation? It is the purpose of this paper to provide some insights into these and related questions about the patterns of variation in compensation of public and private school teachers. Our findings reveal that public school teachers earn more than teachers in non-public schools. Teachers in parochial schools are the lowest paid, while teachers in non-sectarian private schools are the highest paid among non-public school teachers. There appear to be structural differences in the patterns of wage variation between the different sectors. Public school teachers possess greater quantities of those characteristics that are valued in the market than non-public school teachers. Non-public school teachers sacrifice between 10 and 40% of the public school teacher salary to work in the non-public sector (depending on the type of school within the non-public sector) and they are aware of their sacrifice. Organizational and ownership structure of the school also appears to make a difference in salaries, with profit-making schools being among the lowest paying, second only to parochial schools.     

Using Group Viewing of Television to Teach Preschool Children Social Skills

This quasi‐experimental field study assessed whether group viewing of television in a day‐care setting can be used to encourage prosocial behavior in young children. Drawing from social learning theory and cognitive‐developmental stage theory, four short‐ term programs were designed and tested. Children (aged 3‐5 years) from eight day‐care centers in Montreal (n = 150) were part of the study. Intact groups (two settings randomly assigned to condition) participated in 8 days of intervention consisting of group viewing of video‐taped segments of Sesame Street, followed by participation in activities. The programs were evaluated using a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial pretest—post‐test design with video‐type (prosocial, cognitive), activity‐type (cooperative, individualistic), and gender as the three factors. Measures included free‐play observations, a perspective‐taking ability test, and two qualitative measures describing the context. Analysis of covariance (pretest and age combined as covariates) revealed a significant main effect for video‐type on prosocial behavior, and a significant interaction between video‐type and activity‐type on antisocial behavior. Results suggest that prosocial modelling using television can encourage prosocial behavior in the day‐care setting. A group‐viewing context, with or without post‐viewing enactive prosocial training, may enhance prosocial modeling effects.     

Is phonology bypassed in normal or dyslexic development?

A pervasive assumption in most accounts of normal reading and spelling development is that phonological coding is important early in development but is subsequently superseded by faster, orthographic coding which bypasses phonology. We call this assumption, which derives from dual process theory, the developmental bypass hypothesis. The present study tests four specific predictions of the developmental bypass hypothesis by comparing dyslexics and nondyslexics from the same families in a cross-sectional design. The four predictions are: 1) That phonological coding skill develops early in normal readers and soon reaches asymptote, whereas orthographic coding skill has a protracted course of development; 2) that the correlation of adult reading or spelling performance with phonological coding skill is considerably less than the correlation with orthographic coding skill; 3) that dyslexics who are mainly deficient in phonological coding skill should be able to bypass this deficit and eventually close the gap in reading and spelling performance; and 4) that the greatest differences between dyslexics and developmental controls on measures of phonological coding skill should be observed early rather than late in development. None of the four predictions of the developmental bypass hypothesis were upheld. Phonological coding skill continued to develop in nondyslexics until adulthood. It accounted for a substantial (32–53 percent) portion of the variance in reading and spelling performance in adult nondyslexics, whereas orthographic coding skill did not account for a statistically reliable portion of this variance. The dyslexics differed little across age in phonological coding skill, but made linear progress in orthographic coding skill, surpassing spelling-age (SA) controls by adulthood. Nonetheless, they didnot close the gap in reading and spelling performance. Finally, dyslexics were significantly worse than SA (and Reading Age [RA]) controls in phonological coding skill only in adulthood. This research was supported by the following grants to the first author: A NIMH RSDA (MH00419-05) and project grants from NIMH (MH38820-04), NICHD (HD19423-02) and the March of Dimes (12-135). Author Smith’s work was supported by a project grant from NICHD (HD 19423-02).     

Teachers’ Perceptions of their Mentoring Role in Three Different Clinical Settings: Student Teaching,Early Field Experiences,and Entry Year Teaching

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in mentoring across three different clinical settings: student teaching, early field experiences, and entry year teachers. Eighteen teachers with mentoring experience in all three clinical settings were selected and interviewed. The teachers’ expectations for teacher development, mentoring relationships, and mentoring strategies differed across all three clinical settings. In addition, their confidence, their relationship with mentees, and their mentoring strategies were influenced by two features of the clinical setting: (a) the amount of time for mentoring interactions, and (b) the expectations for the mentee. To improve mentoring, the authors recommend (a) lengthening clinical experiences, (b) providing support for creating positive relationships, and (c) providing professional development specific to each of the three clinical settings.     

The Use of Collaboration,Authentic Learning,Linking Material to Personal Knowledge,and Technology in the Constructivist Classroom: Interviews with Community College Faculty Members

ABSTRACT

This study explored how faculty members implemented constructivist teaching methods after training. The student-centered teaching methods were interactions and collaborations, authentic learning and real-world experiences, linking material to previously learned information, and using technology in the classroom. Seven faculty members trained in student-centered teaching methods by the professional development department at a community college were interviewed. Interviews were supplemented with teacher-generated documents and classroom observations. All reported implementing the recommended practices in the classrooms, both online and in traditional face-to-face classrooms.     

Learning to be human in a digital world: a model of values fluency education for physical education

ABSTRACT

It is argued that negotiation and performance of identity in contemporary society is linked with the value-laden spaces in which individuals spend time. Concepts of space, place and identity have become important when looking to understand elements of social practice, in light of the recognition that life is becoming progressively more mobile, varied and challenging. This has resulted in a shift in how subsequent generations experience space and place within digitally-mediated social landscapes. It is asserted that young people in contemporary society can be seen to occupy a hybrid virtual-real world (Jordan, B. (2009). Blurring boundaries: The ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’ in hybrid spaces. Human Organisation, 68.) where they experience the multiplication of place or duplication of space (Papacharissi, Z. (2011). A Networked Self: Identity Community and Culture on Social Network Sites. New York: Routledge). Such complex social geographies, we contend, have important implications for young people’s negotiation and performance of identity, the acquisition of socio-technical capital (Resnick, (2002). Beyond b?owling t?ogether: SocioTechnical c?apital. In J. M. Carroll (Ed.), Human-c?omputer i?nteraction in the n?ew m?illennium (pp. 647–?672). Upper Saddle River, NJ: ACM Press.) and, ultimately, digital well-being. In a time when there is a focus on developing global and connected citizens (Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the Imagination: Essay on education, the arts and social change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.) we argue that pupils need to be both digitally fluent and values fluent as they negotiate spaces of reality and virtual reality. Both constructs require the learner to engage critically with information and misinformation as presented on ever-changing digital interfaces (Kahne, J., & Bowyer, B. (2017). Educating for Democracy in a Partisan Age: Confronting the Challenges of Motivated Reasoning and Misinformation. American Educational Research Journal, 54, 3–34.) and to make value choices. Given that physical education (PE) has been identified as a significant place for meaning-making (Spracklen, K. (2015). Digital Leisure, the Internet and Popular Culture: Communities and Identities in a Digital Age. London: Palgrave Macmillan.) and a core site for values-based education (Mccuaig, L., Marino, M., Gobbi, E., & Macdonald, D. (2015). Taught not Caught: Values based Education through physical education and School Sport: Literature Review. AIESEP Partners for WADA, ICSSPE, IOC, Fairplay & UNESCO.) it is identified as a key context in which to examine some of the challenges posed for students and educators with regard to values-based practices in digitally-mediated spaces. Within this conceptual paper, we propose a praxis model of values fluency to help PE teachers to support young people to recognise and successfully navigate hybrid spaces, to critically engage with sociotechnical capital and become adept at transferring and translating values across and between social contexts.     

Enrollment in Physical Education Is Associated With Overall Physical Activity in Adolescent Girls

Little is known about population-level contributions of school physical education to overall physical activity (PA) in youth. Because PA levels are lower in girls than boys, it is particularly important that the effects of PE programs in adolescent girls be understood. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the association of enrollment in physical education and overall physical activity participation in adolescent girls. A measurement protocol was administered to cross-sectional samples of 8th-, 9th-, and 12th-grade girls participating in a school-based PA intervention study (1998–2003). PA was assessed with the 3-Day Physical Activity Recall. Three-way analyses of variance were performed to compare groups formed on the basis of physical education enrollment. For each grade group of girls, those who were enrolled in physical education reported more moderate-to-vigorous PA and more vigorous PA than nonenrolled girls. When activity in physical education classes was deleted, 8th-and 9th-grade physical education enrollees were not more active than nonenrollees; however, 12th-grade physical education enrollees remained more active than nonenrollees. Girls who were enrolled in physical education were more physically active than nonenrolled girls in all three grade levels. These findings suggest that expanded enrollment in physical education may increase American adolescent girls' PA level.