Watch the Horse

ABSTRACT

We hear often of the success of managers and administrators. We can find lists of titles on how to succeed as a manager and be the best we can be. We rarely read of failure or coping with failure from the people who have failed and survived with their jobs, or not survived as so often is the case. Somewhere in between always succeeding and sometimes failing is job fatigue. What to do with ourselves and how to recover our confidence and energy when we are completely drained is a personal decision and one with many choices. The author chose learning to ride and own horses and in this column she explains how learning to “mean it” with horses allowed her to redefine success and remain an enthusiastic library administrator.     

Measuring up? The discursive construction of student subjectivities in the Global Children's Challenge™

International concern about ‘alarming’ levels of childhood obesity has seen a proliferation of interventions filtering into school physical education programmes that are designed to influence children's health practices and attitudes. This article addresses one such obesity-prevention intervention, the Global Children's Challenge?, a 50-day pedometer-monitored event, aimed at children and involving their parents and teachers. Our research problematises the effects of the GCC pedometer exercise regime. We demonstrate how the pedometer measurement imperative made available in the GCC not only enables exercise to be measured for potential health benefits but also makes available tools inextricably linked with antagonistic body relations that could propel some students into a self-monitoring world dominated by numbers. We illustrate how the emphasis on measurement allows for comparisons (dividing practices), self-surveillance and surveillance of others in the formation of particular kinds of subjectivities. This study of the discursive construction of student subjectivities in the GCC took place in one strategically chosen Australian primary school. In-depth interviews were conducted with one teacher, four Year-6 students and a parent of each child in order to produce rich contextual data. Foucauldian concepts of power, knowledge and ‘technologies of self’ underpinned the study and Gore's methodologies for analysing ‘techniques of power’ and ‘regimes of truth’ were used to explore the functioning of power and the formation of subjectivities in the GCC. Our analysis suggests a need to move away from the constraining construct of measurement in the primary physical education (PE) classroom and promote self-reflective mindful physical activity rather than telling students when, where and how to move their bodies.     

Critical Race Studies in Education: Examining a Decade of Research on U.S. Schools

In this article, the authors critically synthesize how Critical Race Theory (CRT) as an emerging field of inquiry has been used as a tool of critique and analysis in K-12 education research. The authors point out that CRT has been used as a framework for examining: persistent racial inequities in education, qualitative research methods, pedagogy and practice, the schooling experiences of marginalized students of color, and the efficacy of race-conscious education policy. The authors explore how these studies have changed the nature of education research and stress the need for further research that critically interrogates race and racism in education.Marvin Lynn is an Assistant Professor of Department of Curriculum & Instruction in University of Maryland, College Park. He completed his B.S., at DePaul University, Chicago, IL, M.A. at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY and Ph.D. at University of California, Los Angeles. He has published articles in the area of Critical Race Theory and education and critical race pedagogy. He has also written a number of articles that explore the work and lives of Black male teachers.Laurence Parker is Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies in University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He completed his B.A., at Earlham College, Richmond, IN, M.A. and Ph.D. in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His current research examines Critical Race Theory and its connection to educational research, policy and practice in the k-12 and post-secondary settings. His research also examines social justice perspectives in educational administration, leadership and policy, particularly with respect to race and social class     

GCSE Art and Design: An Arena for Orthodoxy or Creative Endeavour?

This article explores the potential correlation between key aspects of the creative process and the requirements of GCSE Art and Design Specifications as determined and defined by stated assessment objectives. It considers approaches that might be employed to more effectively establish a link between pupils’ creative endeavours and their necessary evidencing of attainment in respect of these objectives. In order to illustrate and amplify this enquiry reference is made to specific examples of candidates' work that was selected by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) to exemplify and disseminate GCSE Art and Design standards for teachers in 2006. It concludes with a set of implications for consideration.     

Using narrative fiction as a means of assessing and learning in a history of social welfare module

This article describes a narrative development project undertaken by students on a History of Social Welfare module at a British university. Students were asked to choose a character, setting and story from a range of scenarios and time periods that reflected many of the key areas covered in lecture and seminar classes. The narrative was not formally assessed but aligned closely with the summative assessment for the module. Students were expected, in their narratives, to identify and make explicit reference to legislation, social policy information and sociological/anthropological concepts pertinent to the period and chosen character. Most students played an active part in the construction of the narratives and were encouraged to consider aspects of meta-learning, including how they can work with others and cooperate as a member of a team. As a result of the success of this form of assessment, the project has been developed into the core mode of assessment for this module in future years of delivery.     

Undergraduates' attitudes and beliefs about subject matter and pedagogy measured periodically in a reform‐based mathematics and science teacher preparation program

This study describes the design and use of a valid and reliable instrument to measure teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science and the teaching of those subjects. The instrument, Attitudes and Beliefs about the Nature of and the Teaching of Mathematics and Science, was developed for the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP), a statewide, standards‐based project in the National Science Foundation's Collaborative in Excellence in Teaching Preparation (CETP) Program. We report on two applications of the instrument: (a) a contrast between MCTP teacher candidates' and non‐MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science as they initially encountered reform‐based instruction in their undergraduate courses, and (b) a landscaping of how the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes toward and beliefs about mathematics and science evolved over a 2.5‐year period. In support of current reform in science and mathematics teacher education, we determined that over an extended period the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs moved substantively and significantly in the direction intended. However, we also found that the non‐MCTP teacher candidates in the same reform‐based courses did not mirror this improvement in their attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science or the teaching of those subjects. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 713–737, 2002