Gender machineries vs. feminist movements? Collective political subjectivity in the time of passive revolution

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to pose some questions concerning kairos and feminist activism. In recent years state feminism in Spain has been presented as a ‘success story’ of legislative victories and policy programmes regarding women’ equality and equal opportunities. Only two years ago, feminist movements in Spain showed unexpected vitality in forcing the government to withdraw the intended reform of the abortion law. However, relations between state feminism and feminist movements in Spain are weak and ambivalent, and feminism in Spain, as in other parts of Europe, is said to be in crisis. I refer to ideas elaborated by Antonio Gramsci in order to identify possible barriers to the formation of relationships between state feminism and feminist movements that could impact favourably upon possibilities of collective political subjectivity and social transformation. Education plays a two-fold role in this argument. In its formal manifestations, it is a component of the institutional feminism that this article critiques, and as a series of informal pedagogical networks, education is understood here as entangled in the different expressions of feminist activism and can thus contribute significantly to the development of feminist aims.     

Algorithmic culture,networked learning and the technological horizon of theory

ABSTRACT

Going via Bernard Stiegler’s theorisation of technology, and his response to Chris Anderson’s claim that the era of hyper-networked, algorithmically driven digital technologies signals the end of theory, this paper aims to place the educational practice of networked learning as a space to think the edge, excess or limit of this proposed algorithmic dominance. The author discusses how networked learning can negotiate the border between educational theory, the practice of teaching and learning, and the processes and systems of educational technology, but suggests that to do this it must engage these disciplines through a thinking of technology which does not decide upon its status in advance. He argues that affirming this particular relation to technology is increasingly urgent given we are at a moment in which educational institutions are asking how to prepare our students for an age of continuing technological disruption.     

Biting Behaviors Among Preschoolers: A Review of the Literature and Survey of Practitioners

Biting behavior occurs frequently among young children in child care settings. Research indicates several possible reasons for biting behavior including developmental as well as emotional issues. This study examines procedures that have been established to handle childhood biting by early childhood education child care facilities in a southeastern state of the United States. We were interested in whether these child care providers considered biting a normal developmental behavior or an abnormal, dysfunctional behavior. Additionally, how did their philosophy about childhood biting relate to their handling of biting incidents in their facilities?     

Exploring the relationship between certification sources,experience levels,and classroom management orientations of classroom teachers

Teachers continue to report that classroom management is one of their greatest challenges in the classroom. Classroom management involves teacher's efforts to oversee classroom activities such as learning, social interaction, and student behavior. In this study, we examined the relationship between sources of teachers’ certification (traditional or alternative), teachers’ experience levels (experienced or novice), and teachers’ classroom management orientations (interventionist, non-interventionist, or interactionalist). We discovered that neither source of certification nor experience level alone impacts a teachers’ classroom management orientation. However, teachers with traditional certification and many years of experience exert significantly less control over classroom activities and students’ behaviors than do their colleagues with other educational and experimental backgrounds. Potential causes and ramifications of these findings are discussed.     

Can training improve marker accuracy at detecting contract cheating? A multi-disciplinary pre-post study

Contract cheating occurs when students outsource assessed work. In this study, we asked experienced markers from four disciplines to detect contract cheating in a set of 20 discipline-specific assignments. We then conducted a training workshop to improve their detection accuracy, and afterwards asked them to detect contract cheating in 20 new assignments. We analysed the data in terms of sensitivity (the rate at which markers spotted contract cheating) and specificity (the rate at which markers spotted real student work). Pre-workshop marker sensitivity was 58% and specificity was 83%. Post-workshop marker sensitivity was 82% and specificity was 87%. The increase in sensitivity was statistically significant, but the increase in specificity was not. These results indicate that markers can often detect contract cheating when asked to do so, and that training may be helpful in improving their accuracy. We suggest that markers’ suspicions may be crucial in addressing contract cheating.     

School–University–Community Pathways to Higher Education: Teacher Perceptions,School Culture and Partnership Building

This article provides a snapshot in time of teacher perceptions, school culture, and partnership building. We delineate how teachers perceive our partnership’s purpose and its role in transforming school culture. Second, we describe how teachers express the life expectations they have and the possibilities they hope for their students and the families involved with the partnership. Finally, we outline our thoughts on moving forward with building partnership, continuing to transform school culture, and collaborating with teachers. In conclusion, we discuss the role that partnership building can have on creating pathways to higher education for students in communities of color.     

A Twenty‐five Year Old Professional Development Program for the 21st Century

Teacher education programs around the globe are undergoing consolidation as the result of extensive, critical reviews. The concepts of faculty associates, school associates, module structure, research agenda and long practica, which were incorporated initially within the Professional Development Program (PDP) at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada) over 25 years ago, are offered as viable ways of addressing concerns, for greater school/university collaboration and more meaningful practica. Evidence is provided from a recent external review (British Columbia College of Teachers, 1991) regarding the impact of these program attributes on the PDP student teachers, as well as on the faculty members and faculty associates working with them.     

Immediate and long-term effects of a cognitive intervention on intelligence,self-regulation,and academic achievement

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a package of activities, knows as “Portfolio”, on cognitive functioning, self-regulation, and academic achievement. The study was carried out with a group of 40 students from Compulsory Secondary Education (mean age 13 years old) during 12 hours distributed over two school years. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest-1 and posttest-2 design was employed. Treatment consisted of the administration of specifically selected tasks, assessed in previous studies, from the psycho-pedagogical Instrumental Enrichment Program, the Philosophy for Children Program, and Project Intelligence. The students were evaluated in the criteria variables at the beginning and at the end of treatment, and once again two years later. The results indicate that the procedure was effective in all the variables studied and that gains observed at posttest-1 were maintained for at least two years after the intervention. Some relevant conclusions and suggestions at the educational and scientific level are commented upon.     

Establishing open and critical discourses in the science classroom: Reflecting on initial difficulties

This paper presents a reflective account of a science teacher’s endeavours to use the referent of critical constructivism to transform her pedagogical practices. The context of her action research was a Year 10 Bioethics unit taught at an independent girls’ school in Perth, Western Australia. Students were provided with opportunities to engage in open and critical discourses; many did, but a few were unwilling to participate in accordance with the teacher’s intentions. We illustrate the disruptive influence of these “dissident” students and explore the reasons for their unwillingness to suspend their disbelief in a new way of knowing (and of being) that involves a radical change in the role of language in the classroom. We conclude with recommendations for epistemological pluralism and the careful use of critical discourse for re-negotiating teaching and learning roles and creating conditions for open discourse to flourish.     

Classroom environment in the implementation of an innovative curriculum project in science education

A curriculum project can be positively or negatively influenced by the environment of the classroom in which it is implemented. Analysis of the perceptions of students, teachers, and external observers has allowed us to study the influence of classroom environment in the implementation of an innovative project in science education. The main conclusions indicate that even though the global evaluation is positive, more so among teachers than among students, there are differences between the perceptions of the participants, probably due to differences in interests and needs. Moreover, in the classroom environment, the teacher and the actual dynamic and spatial organization are of great importance, and it can be difficult to maintain interest or to achieve a satisfactory evaluation on the part of those students whose academic performance is lowest. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 655–671, 1998.