Evaluating legacies: Research,evidence and the regional impact of the Cultural Olympiad

From the bidding stage onwards, the London 2012 Olympics has been framed by an explicitly instrumental agenda, with objectives including increasing participation in sport in the UK and economic and physical regeneration in host sites, through investment in the Olympic Park and its surrounding infrastructure. The bid also signalled the ambition that London 2012 should be the first Olympics to deliver legacy through a nation-wide cultural programme in the build up to and alongside the Games [Kennell, J. & MacLeod, N. (2008, November 6–8). A memetic framework for the conceptualisation and evaluation of the Cultural Olympiad of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Paper presented at the 2nd Bi-annual International Tourism Studies Association conference in Shanghai, China. Retrieved from http://gala.gre.ac.uk/3951/], deliberately putting in place infrastructure for each English region and nation, shortly after the bid's success was announced. The ensuing national Cultural Olympiad, part funded by Legacy Trust UK, was evaluated through a series of research exercises which aimed to document the legacy and impact of the cultural programme. Through the case study of a regional programme in the North West of England, “We Play”, this article considers how evaluation research has been used locally to develop policy stories and legacy narratives which interpret and interact with the changing landscape of arts funding and cultural policy in the UK.     

Local cultural strategies: a strategic review

The development of Local Cultural Strategies was recommended to all local authorities in England through the publication of a guidance document, Creating Opportunities, by the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS, 2000). Although not a statutory duty, by the end of 2002 Local Cultural Strategy development was strongly encouraged by the government, and the adoption of a strategy became part of performance review for local authorities under Best Value Performance Indicator BVPI 114. This recommendation encouraged local authorities to formalize and publish plans for the strategic development of their cultural and culture-related services. These used a broad definition of culture and recognized of the value of partnership working within localities, regions and sub-regions in which local authorities were taking the ‘lead’. It also reflected the advocacy of a cultural planning approach by central government for local government.

Cultural planning encourages a culturally sensitive approach to local cultural development, focusing on a diverse range of ‘cultural resources’, including leisure and sports facilities, qualities of natural and built environment, youth and ethnic communities and communities of interest, as well as the need for different local authority service departments and private, voluntary and other public sector partners to be involved early on in strategic development. According to this approach, culture is broadly defined as a ‘way of life’, and DCMS's guidance states that Local Cultural Strategies should promote cultural well-being and the quality of life in their designated areas.

As a result, Local Cultural Strategies have been developed at all tiers of English local authorities, including district and borough, metropolitan and unitary authority, county and regional levels. This article discusses the development of Local Cultural Strategies in England and reviews information on those strategies that have been developed. It examines the different approaches local authorities have taken towards this task, the methodologies for consultation employed, the frameworks for monitoring and the evaluation of cultural provision they offer. It considers the benefits and problems associated with the production of Local Cultural Strategies as strategic development frameworks for local culture, and questions the future of this process following their ‘subsumption’ into Community Strategies as part of a broader package of reforms for local government. In doing so, it examines how these documents offer an opportunity to examine local approaches to cultural planning.     

TEACHER DISTRESS AND THE ROLE OF EXPERIENTIAL AVOIDANCE

Teachers’ psychological well‐being is important for teachers and students, but teaching is highly stressful, particularly in special education. We examined the role of experiential avoidance (EA) in the well‐being of 529 middle and elementary school teachers. EA involves the tendency to avoid thoughts, feelings, and other internal experiences, even when doing so causes long‐range consequences. Using a teacher‐specific measure, we investigated EA's relationship to stress associated with student misbehavior and limited social support. We also assessed EA's relationship to burnout and depression, finding EA significantly and moderately correlated with depression and all scales of Maslach's Burnout Inventory. Mediation analyses showed EA mediated the relationship between stress associated with student behavior and measures of well‐being. We found 26.8% of teachers to be mildly, 8.9% moderately, and 2.8% moderately severely or severely depressed. This evidence concurs with studies showing the value of mindfulness‐based interventions and points to the utility of implementing interventions aimed at decreasing EA in teachers.     

On Cocoons,Consciousness, and Courage: Preparing Justice-Oriented Teacher Educators Through Critical Pedagogies

In this article, we share findings from a 3-year project in which novice teacher educators participated in Freirean culture circles and Boalian Theatre of the Oppressed (teatro) in order to critically explore the work of justice-oriented teacher education. Anchored in one of the project’s most resonant scenarios, the article illustrates how teatro cultivated among participants courage to confront injustice, while also shedding light on the complexities teacher educators may face when attempting to facilitate teacher learning, particularly when such learning is centered on equity and justice.     

Relations among school connectedness,hope, life satisfaction,and bully victimization

This study investigates the role of school connectedness in mediating the relation between students' sense of hope and life satisfaction for three groups: Bullied Victims, Peer Victims, and Nonvictims. Students in grades 5 to 12 (N = 866) completed the California Bully/Victim Scale, School Connectedness Scale, Children's Hope Scale, and Students' Life Satisfaction Scale. Multigroup latent mean analysis revealed significant group mean differences in hope, school connectedness, and life satisfaction, supporting our bullying classification. Multigroup structural model analysis showed differential patterns between hope, school connectedness, and life satisfaction. Specifically, school connectedness partially mediated the relation between hope and life satisfaction for the Nonvictims only. The effect of hope on school connectedness was stronger for the Bullied Victims than the Nonvictims, and the effect of hope on life satisfaction was stronger for the Peer Victims and Bullied Victims than the Nonvictims group. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Gender ratios in high school science departments: The effect of percent female faculty on multiple dimensions of students' science identities

To examine how school characteristics are tied to science and engineering views and aspirations of students who are underrepresented in science and engineering fields, this mixed‐methods study explores relationships between aspects of students' science identities, and the representation of women among high school science teachers. Quantitative analyses tested the hypothesis that percent female faculty would have a positive effect on girls' science interests, and perceptions in particular, given the potentially greater availability of women role models. Findings indicate that percent female science faculty does not have an effect on a range of science measures for both male and female students, including the ways in which they understand scientific practice, their science self‐concept, and their interest in science‐related college majors. As qualitative data demonstrate, this could reflect practical constraints at schools where female faculty are concentrated and narrow perceptions of science teachers and “real” science. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 980–1009, 2007