Mentoring in black and white: the intricacies of cross‐cultural mentoring

Cross‐cultural mentoring relationships can be sites of struggle around the issues of race, class and gender. In addition, the mentor/protégé relationship offers micro‐cosmic insight into power relations within western society. The authors of this paper, a black woman associate professor and a white male professor, use the example of their mentoring relationship to illustrate six common issues facing academicians involved in these relationships: (1) trust between mentor and protégé; (2) acknowledged and unacknowledged racism; (3) visibility and risks pertinent to minority faculty; (4) power and paternalism; (5) benefits to mentor and protégé; and (6) the double‐edged sword of ‘otherness’ in the academy. Literature is used for review and critique of mentoring in the academy while offering personal examples to illustrate the complexity and success of a 13‐year mentoring relationship between a duo who began their association as teacher/student.     

Student–Faculty Collaborative Research: A Qualitative Study of Experiences with the Authorship Determination Process

Mentoring students through collaborative research can be an effective method for cultivating student development as scholars; but negotiating the division of responsibilities and recognition may be difficult due to the inherent complexities of the relationship between collaborators and the research process itself. A national sample of 440 students and faculty in education and social science disciplines described their positive and negative experiences with authorship determination in student–faculty collaborative research. Qualitative analysis of these responses revealed important themes and informed the development of suggestions for articulating authorship to avoid potential difficulties.     

The Role of the Year Leader: an Analysis of the Perceptions of Year Leaders and Deputy Heads in 8‐12 Middle Schools

Today's school leaders are searching for a way to give value to and effectively manage a school's intangible assets to create a more holistic picture of student success. Schools establish partnerships with community organizations towards this end and to ultimately impact student learning. Utilizing the framework of principals as knowledge managers, this paper describes how school principals involved in a university partnership developed a tool to manage and intentionally utilize the intangible assets of the school–university partnership to increase student learning. Included are examples of how the tool was applied and suggestions for adapting the tool to any school partnership.     

Effects of a Classroom Management Intervention on Student Achievement in Inner‐City Elementary Schools

ABSTRACT

As part of a study of the life‐cycle of inner‐city schools, the achievement of elementary school students (on MAT6 and TEAMS tests) who had teachers trained in a classroom management program in one school were compared with students in a comparison school during a four‐year period. Students at Madison Elementary School showed statistically greater achievement gains on both nationally normed achievement tests (MAT6) and on state criterion‐referenced achievement battery than students at the comparison school in each of three years. The overall effect size due to program treatment on the MAT6 test scores was large, ranging from .43 (1986–87) and .83 (1987–88) during intervention to .73 (1988–89) after intervention. Similar results were found in the TEAMS test associated with the program intervention with overall effect size of 1.02 (1987–88) and .78 (1988–89) in mathematics, .68 and .77 in reading, and .59 and .77 in writing for the respective years. On measures of learning environment, in a post hoc analysis (1990–91), students at Madison perceived their environment to be significantly more positive than comparison students. Teacher and principal interviews during and after the intervention periods provided contextual guidance for the findings.     

The changing nature of agricultural information and the conflictive global developments shaping extension 1

Abstract

The modernisation of potato production in the Ecuadorian highlands is related to an intensive use of pesticides. In this context, by means of ethnographic methodologies and discourse analysis tools, this study was aimed to determine the influence of household arrangements, local institutions and social differentiation in the management of potato production and pesticide use. Potato production involves all household members and generates occupational risks, but also household-level accidents. This study has determined that children and teenagers form the group most vulnerable to intoxication with pesticides. Four social dimensions that integrate pesticides in the local social dynamics were determined: health-beliefs, gender identity, social identity, and economical progress reliance by means of potato production. Intense potato production and comoditisation of nature is contributing to a progressive social stratification, which is causing a group of peasant households to emerge as the poorest group and vulnerable to occupational risks by chronic pesticide exposure.     

Clapping with two hands: Bringing together local and outside knowledge for innovation in land husbandry in Tanzania and Ethiopia ‐ a comparative case study

Abstract

Promoting rural development in Africa involves learning to clap with two hands, that is to say, creating effective interaction between local knowledge and development initiatives, on the one hand, and the knowledge and initiatives of formal agricultural research and extension, on the other. Farmer innovators ‐men and women farmers who take their own initiative to change local agriculture ‐ are key allies in rural development, as shown by the experience of the ISWC programme in Africa. Focusing on Ethiopia and Tanzania, the authors describe how formal research and extension services are made aware of farmers’ innovative work and are encouraged to document the results, promote their spread, and support further development efforts by farmer innovators. A modified Participatory Technology Development (PTD) approach is thus emerging, which starts not with problem analysis but rather by linking up with local problem‐solving initiatives. While the learning process on this approach continues, dialogue has been initiated with policy‐makers with a view to incorporating the approach into regular government extension, research and training activities.     

Rural Knowledge and Information Systems for Non-Agricultural Rural Needs

Abstract

As developing countries gradually rely less upon agriculture for rural income, rural economies require new solutions to access knowledge and information systems for rural development. Non-agricultural rural knowledge and information systems can play a significant role in developing and disseminating successful strategies to escape rural poverty. This paper discusses the challenges of developing rural knowledge and information systems, practical and vital in facilitating rural development in the 21st century.     

Imagining a different life in school: educating student teachers about ‘looked after’ children and young people

The research described in this paper concerns the acquaintance of student teachers with the educational and wider pastoral experiences of children and young people who are or have been ‘looked after’ and who they may well teach at some point, together with the familiarisation of student teachers with the ‘looked after’ system in the UK. We discuss an exploratory awareness‐raising curriculum project within a Teacher Education Department at a University in the UK that utilises digital multimedia to develop a ‘community of awareness’ of young people and student teachers. As a result of this work, the student teachers were able to reflect on their pedagogical knowledge and practices related to teaching and wider pupil pastoral care. Further, those involved in the project therefore not only learned how to use technology, but to apply it in meaningful, productive ways, which were potentially transforming in terms of appreciation and knowledge of diversity. Benefits for the participants – the young people involved and the student teachers, as well as implications for both student teachers’ understanding of diversity and limitations of the technology – are discussed.