Disengaging from the Legacy of Lady Bountiful in Teacher Education Classrooms

Working specifically from the authors location in a working class urban teacher education program in the United States, this paper argues for the examination and problematization of one foundational archetype of a teacher in North America: the (white) Lady Bountiful. Incorporating discussions of the historical colonial contexts that produced this archetype and the ideologies she represents, this paper argues that the persistence of this image in popular culture, in teacher education programs, and beyond, contributes to a climate that makes it difficult to address white supremacy, heteronormativity and social class issues in teacher education programs. In addition, the endurance of this archetype can 'prohibit' certain bodies from entering the teaching profession.     

Travels in extreme social mobility: how first-in-family students find their way into and through medical education

ABSTRACT

Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself – and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21 students at an Australian medical school. Three themes are discussed: (1) the roots of participants’ social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures. Students described getting to medical school ‘the hard way’, and emphasised the different backgrounds and attitudes of themselves and their wealthier peers. Many felt like ‘imposters’, using self-deprecating language to highlight their lack of ‘fit’ in the privileged world of medicine. However, such language also reflected resistance to middle-class norms and served to create solidarity with community of origin, and, importantly, patients. Rather than narratives of loss, students’ stories reflect a tactical refinement of self and incorporation of certain middle-class attributes, alongside an appreciation of the worth their ‘difference’ brings to their new destination, the medical profession.     

Bioimpedance patterns and bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) of road cyclists

Bioelectrical impedance vector-analysis (BIVA) describes cell-mass, cell function and hydration status of an individual or a group. The goal of the present investigation was to provide bioelectrical impedance data for 525 male road cyclists (155 professionals, 79 elite, 59 elite-youth, and 232 amateurs) at the time of their optimal performance level. Data were plotted on the resistance-reactance (R-Xc) graph to characterize cyclists group vectors using BIVA. Compared to the general male population, the mean vector position of the road cyclists indicates a higher body cell mass (BCM) and phase angle (p<0.001). The vector position of the high-performance, compared to the amateur cyclists showed similar patterns with higher BCM and phase angles and higher reactance values for the high-performance athletes (p<0.001). The bio-impedance data were used to calculate the 50%, 75%, and 95% tolerance ellipses of each group of cyclists. The characteristic vector positions of the road cyclists indicate normal hydration and greater muscle mass and function of the high-performance cyclists compared to amateur cyclists and the normal population. The cyclists specific tolerance ellipses, particularly the high-performance cyclists might be used for classifying a cyclist according to the individual vector position and to define target vector regions for lower level cyclists.     

Designing Diana: Female Sports Entrepreneurs and Equestrian Innovation

Abstract

Throughout the late nineteenth century, many women turned their talents to improving horse sports as authors, equipment inventors, clothing designers, and trainers. Although these were male-dominated domains, many women quickly realized that there was a demand for their expertise and innovation as men did not ride side-saddle nor understand it. Thus, women became writers of sporting manuals (non-fiction) and sporting novels (fiction), which aided other women in improving and understanding riding and hunting. They also made significant innovations in equipment construction, such as saddles and stirrups, and clothing design, in fashioning specialized sporting garments. Finally, they also became riding instructors, training other women to ride and hunt well. Though some women forged ahead for their own benefit, seeking profit out of writing or teaching, there were also many other women who pursued new ideas to improve horse sports as a whole and encourage greater, safer, and better participation for other women. In these ways, female equestrians consciously acted as sporting entrepreneurs and are significant but underappreciated agents of change not only for equestrianism but for larger social, sartorial, and sporting transformations.     

Towards a research training curriculum: What, Why, How, Who?

Our purpose in this paper is to investigate the ways in which the work of research higher degree supervision is being reshaped from within and outside universities. Our interest is in the means by which new ‘content’ and ‘process’ knowledge — and thus a new set of pedagogical tasks and relationships — are being configured in the field of higher degree research. The outcomes of research training have traditionally been products of a one-on-one supervisory relationship, that is, academic apprentice-to-disciplinary mentor. This is especially the case in the fields of arts/humanities. Any ‘curriculum’ necessary to such a model has been both implicit and at the discretion of the disciplinary ‘master’.     

Teachers’ journeys towards critical use of ICT

Teachers have a central role in developing new learning models in schools. This paper describes a study that explored teachers’ confidence and competence in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as they participated in an ICT development project conducted by an Australian education system in 12 primary schools. The project aimed to develop ICT integrated teaching practices by providing in‐class equipment and teacher professional development in ICT use, curriculum development and teaching strategies. The study used qualitative data from teacher records of Professional Development and Action Learning to identify three of four stages proposed to describe teachers’ ICT learning. Teachers moved from gaining basic ICT skills, to conducting ICT‐focused lessons and eventually appropriate ICT integration. Teachers who progressed to the third stage were able to exploit additional learning opportunities and begin to make fundamental changes to their pedagogy, but needed more time to reach the final stage of challenging existing pedagogical structures.     

Buying-out teaching for research: the views of academics and their managers

This paper reports on the practice of buying-out teaching to create time for research. A study was carried out, at a regional university in Australia, with academics in receipt of research grant funds (and therefore with the means to buy out teaching), Heads of School, and the Deputy Vice Chancellors responsible respectively for research and for academic matters. We found that while eligible academics did buy out teaching by employing casual staff, most of them worried about the potential effects on teaching quality and students’ learning. Heads of School were more sanguine about possible effects on teaching. Decision making by academics about whether to buy out teaching, and by Heads of School about whether to allow it in particular cases, took account of a number of factors. Some teaching activities were seen as higher-risk than others for buying-out. It was uniformly recognised by all parties that buying-out did not result in complete relief from the teaching activity that was bought out; a great deal of time and energy needed to be invested by the academic in making appropriate arrangements and monitoring the quality of work undertaken by the casual staff. The paper suggests that clearer policies need to be instituted in this area; academics were unsure what buying-out was allowed or acceptable, and would benefit from more discussion of the practice.