The role of morpheme recognition and morphological awareness in dyslexia

This paper begins by presenting theoretical arguments and empirical evidence to support the idea that morpheme analysis strategies play a part in word recognition in reading, and in dyslexia in particular. The results of two studies are presented which indicate that dyslexic adolescents use recognition of root morphemes as a compensatory strategy in reading of both single words and coherent text. Furthermore, the evidence is reviewed that the use of morpheme recognition as a strategy in reading to some extent depends on the linguistic awareness of morphemes in spoken language. Finally, results from a pilot study of the effects of morphological awareness training of dyslexic students are presented which suggest that it may be possible to improve the awareness of morphology independently of phoneme awareness, and that such a training may have positive effects on reading of coherent text and on the accurate spelling of morphologically complex words.     

Towards a Pedagogy of Sexual Difference: education and female genealogy

The equality‐difference antinomy found in pedagogy today cannot be resolved within the neuter/masculine logic of pedagogic discourse and political theories of education, if by difference we mean sexual difference. This antinomy will be resolved by the historical realisation of a ‘sexualised’ order, that is, by splitting into two the subject that possesses and transmits knowledge, that educates and theorises on education (bi‐sexualisation of the pedagogic logos). The pedagogic ideal of universality can take on substance only if it becomes twofold. Societies in which emancipation and equal opportunities policies are highly developed allow the fulfilment of women as (neuter?) human beings, but they minimise or cancel the fact that these beings belong to the female gender. It is time we freed ourselves from subjection to the male subject's educational theories and practices, which refer back to a patriarchal genealogy centred on the father‐son couple, and that take and rely on women as the sources of authority for our educational activity and for our work of conceptualising the principles and forms of this activity. We should (re)construct a female genealogy centred on the symbolic mother‐daughter couple, which has been cancelled by patriarchal culture. We need a female gender ‘transcendence’, so that the measure of our improvement as human beings will not be the male, but a female source of values.     

Strength and Motivation: What College Athletes Bring to Social Work

College athletes develop many strengths and skills during their athletic career, such as dedication, ability to work across cultures, leadership, and community building. Social workers need many of these same skills. This study explores the potential transfer of skills from athletics to social work among 15 former college athlete MSW students. Qualitative interviews asked about transferability of skills developed as college athletes to social work practice. Participants identified both interpersonal and intrapersonal skills gained in their athletic career that were of use in social work practice. Implications for both athletic career development and social work recruitment and education are discussed.     

Researching the everyday: young people’s experiences and expressions of citizenship

This paper reports on a research study which drew attention to the constitutive nature of the everyday world in young people’s subjectivities and practices of citizenship. Central to the aim of this research was a need for alignment between the focus of the research (‘everyday’ citizenship), with methods which could illuminate the day-to-day experiences of being a citizen. In this paper, I re-examine some of the ‘everyday’ data generated by two research methods which were initially discounted as rambling or divergent. This data characteristically had frequent interjections, incomplete sentences, questions and queries, or a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty. Through a re-analysis of this data, I consider the potential it offers to contribute conceptual and theoretical insights into young people’s citizenship dispositions and practices. The research revealed the diverse, complex and contested understandings of citizenship that young people were forming in the context of day-to-day social and spatial interactions.     

The EvoDevoCI: A Concept Inventory for Gauging Students’ Understanding of Evolutionary Developmental Biology

The American Association for the Advancement of Science 2011 report Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education encourages the teaching of developmental biology as an important part of teaching evolution. Recently, however, we found that biology majors often lack the developmental knowledge needed to understand evolutionary developmental biology, or “evo-devo.” To assist in efforts to improve evo-devo instruction among undergraduate biology majors, we designed a concept inventory (CI) for evolutionary developmental biology, the EvoDevoCI. The CI measures student understanding of six core evo-devo concepts using four scenarios and 11 multiple-choice items, all inspired by authentic scientific examples. Distracters were designed to represent the common conceptual difficulties students have with each evo-devo concept. The tool was validated by experts and administered at four institutions to 1191 students during preliminary (n = 652) and final (n = 539) field trials. We used student responses to evaluate the readability, difficulty, discriminability, validity, and reliability of the EvoDevoCI, which included items ranging in difficulty from 0.22–0.55 and in discriminability from 0.19–0.38. Such measures suggest the EvoDevoCI is an effective tool for assessing student understanding of evo-devo concepts and the prevalence of associated common conceptual difficulties among both novice and advanced undergraduate biology majors.     

Stichwort: Familie, Peers und (informelle) Bildung im Kindes- und Jugendalter

The importance of non-school educational stimuli which arise in “normal” everyday life (mainly through experience and “learning from life”) and the contribution of such stimuli to the educational development of young people are often underestimated. The educational value of the widely differing casual educational structures in family and peer relationships is often not fully appreciated in educational research until such structures are combined with formal school education. So far, researchers have only just begun to explore the value of informal education and to venture beyond the “traditional” limitation of empirical educational research in Germany to formal, institutionally organised education and competence acquisition processes for pupils. In recent years, attention has not only been directed towards the family as an independent place of education—studies have also focused on real life informal interaction situations in peer relationships and their importance as significant educational factors in the context of unsupervised child daytime activities. The researchers tend to regard the family as a “different type of educational sphere” and peer relationships as social interactions between equals with considerable educational potential, involving social and cultural exchange processes which constitute “everyday education” and which differ in their effects depending on the milieu. In view of the enormous differences in the way in which children and young people are integrated into family and peer-based everyday situations, it is important to point out the high educational significance of family and peer relationships for informal education, and this must always be analysed in relation to the social milieu of the family of origin and the type of school attended by the young people. The existing research initiatives and results are discussed here in relation to various research questions. The varied considerations in relation to the significance and impact of peer relationships and the existing approaches adopted in research serve as a starting point for further suggestions for future research, and these desirable new directions in research are then discussed from a theoretical and methodological perspective.     

In‐service training for teachers who work in full‐day schools. Evidence from Greece1

The purpose of this paper is to examine teachers perceptions of the effectiveness of training for teachers who work in ‘full‐day’ schools in the professional development of teachers and the implications for education policy. Through an empirical investigation this paper points out that recent education reforms regarding in‐service teacher training cannot be considered as the most important positive influence on teachers' progression and consequently on meeting the learning needs of pupils in full‐day schools. The lack of encouragement and motivation offered by the Greek school administration is linked to the unwillingness of Greek school teachers to participate in in‐service training. As a result of the latter, there are teachers in full‐day schools offering extra curricula activity who are without the appropriate knowledge and the skill of reflection, teachers who have not developed the qualifications to teach effectively. Thus, it is evident that teacher in‐service training in Greece needs careful reconsideration by the Ministry of Education. All schools (all types) should have appropriately‐trained teaching staff and teachers that adjust more easily to the social, technological and academic changes that naturally occur in the school environment.

L'objectif de cette étude est d'examiner les perceptions des instituteurs au sujet de l'efficacité de la formation reçue par les instituteurs travaillant dans les écoles à horaire élargi sur leur développement professionnel ainsi que sur la politique éducative. Basée sur une approche expérimentale, cette étude constate que les reformes éducatives récentes concernant la formation des instituteurs lors de leur horaire de travail ne saurait avoir un impact positif et considérable sur leur progrès ni les aider à répondre aux besoins éducatifs des élèves des écoles horaire élargi. Le manque d'encouragement et de motivation de la part de l'administration scolaire grecque est étroitement lié aux réticences des instituteurs grecs de suivre une formation supplémentaire après leur nomination. Par conséquent, il y a des instituteurs dans les écoles à horaire élargi chargés d'animer des activités hors programme sans posséder ni les connaissances nécessaires ni la compétence de transmission, à savoir des instituteurs complètement démunis de toute aptitude qui leur permettrait d'enseigner efficacement. Il est donc bien évident que la formation des instituteurs en Grèce, après leur nomination, nécessite une réforme adéquate de la part du Ministère de l'Education. Chaque école, indépendamment de sa catégorie devrait être équipée d'un personnel formé et les instituteurs devraient s'adapter plus facilement aux changements sociaux, technologiques et académiques advenant dans le milieu scolaire.

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las percepciones de los profesores sobre la efectividad que tienen los cursos de formación para profesores en activo en colegios de día completo, en su desarrollo profesional, así como sobre sus implicaciones en la política de educación. A través de un estudio experimental, este artículo pone de relevancia que las recientes reformas de la educación relacionadas con los cursos de formacion de profesores en activo no se consideran como la influencia positiva mas importante en la progresión de dichos profesores y por consiguiente en la consecución de las necesidades educativas de los estudiantes en los colegios de día completo. La falta de estímulo y motivación por parte de la administración escolar de Grecia está relacionada con la reticencia de los profesores de educación primaria de Grecia a someterse durante su servicio a cursos de formación. Como consecuencia de esto último, existen profesores en los colegios de día completo que ofrecen actividades extra‐curriculares sin los conocimientos necesarios y los reflejos adecuados, profesores que no han desarrollado las cualificaciones necesarias para enseñar con eficacia. Por lo tanto, es evidente que el Ministerio de Educación griego debe reconsiderar minuciosamente los cursos para profesores en activo. Todos los colegios (todos los tipos de colegios) deben de disponer en su plantilla de profesores con una formación adecuada y que sepan adaptarse con mayor facilidad a los cambios sociales, tecnológicos y académicos que ocurren de forma natural en el ambiente escolar.

Zweck dieser Studie ist die Nachforschung der Ansicht von Lehrern über die Wirksamkeit der Weiterbildung von Lehrern, die speziell in Ganztagschulen tätig sind, sowie ihre Berufsentwicklung und die Konsequenzen auf die allgemeine Ausbildungspolitik. Wie es mittels empirischer Annäherung gezeigt wird, es könne nicht angenommen werden, dass die letzten Reformen im Bereich der Weiterbildung von Lehrern während ihrer Tätigkeit, ihren Fortschritt, und demnach ihre Anpassung auf die Ausbildungsbeduerfnisse der Schüler von Ganztagsschulen, positiv und bedeudent beeinflussen. Der Mangel an Motivation von der Seite der Griechischen Schulverwaltung wird verbunden mit der Abgeneigtheit der Griechischen Lehrer, sich nach ihrer Einstellung weiterzubilden. Das hat wiederrum als Folge, dass es in Ganztagsschulen Lehrer gibt, die für Aktivitäten ausserhalb des dienstlichen Ausbildungsplans zuständig sind, und die über die notwendigen Kenntnisse und die Fähigkeit der U?bertragbarkeit nicht verfügen, also Lehrer mit unzureichenden Qualifikation, die nicht effektiv lehren können. Folglich, es ist Tatsache, dass in Griechenland die Weiterbildung der Lehrer nach ihrer Einstellung, sorgfältige U?berprüfung von der Seite des Ausbildungsministeriums bedarf. Alle Schultypen sollten über das geignet ausgebildete Personal verfügen, und die Lehrer sollten sich den gesellschaftlichen, technologischen und akademischen Änderungen, die naturgemäss im Schulbereich auftreten könnten, leichter anpassen.     

What Could be More Practical than Good Research?

These seem to be very special times for mathematics education. The public interest in the topic has never been greater. Probably the most prominent among the occurrences that occasioned this recent leap in popularity are international comparative studies such as TIMSS and PISA. The fact that, in spite of the ongoing efforts toward reform in mathematics education, many countries found the results of the international measurements of their students’ achievements rather disappointing led the ICME 10 Program Committee to create the Survey Team on Relations between Mathematics Education Research and Practice. The team, coordinated by the author of this talk, and including Aline Robert from France, Ole Skovsmose from Denmark, Yoshihiko Hashimoto from Japan, and Gelsa Knijnik from Brazil, was invited to reflect on the question of how research has been informing the practice of mathematics education over the last decade. Following the invitation, the Survey Team turned to the members of the mathematics education community asking them to answer three queries about their own work: (1) How would you describe the essence of your work in mathematics education over the last 5 years or so? (2) During this period, to what extent was your work stirred and influenced by the current state of mathematics education in your country and/or in the world? (3) Do you think that the work done by you and by your colleagues over the last five years or so had, or is going to have, an actual impact on the practice of mathematics education? Analysis of the 74 responses received from all over the world revealed several interesting trends. This article is the text of the ICME plenary address in which the author presented an “executive summary” of the findings.