Empowering teachers to implement a growth mindset

Research evidences the benefit of students holding a growth mindset. There is also increasing recognition of the influence of teachers’ beliefs on how students perceive their own abilities. Teacher and student beliefs are linked: despite this, there is sparse research investigating teacher mindsets. This research sought to evaluate training aimed at influencing teachers’ mindsets and effecting practice change. A mixed methods design was employed. Six training sessions were conducted across two phases. Phase one consisted of an initial training session to 37 participants. Phase two consisted of five sessions attended by 17 participants. Results found a statistically significant shift between pre- and post-measures of mindset which was maintained after three months. Evaluation indicated increased participants’ knowledge base and confidence. Key themes identified evidenced the impact of the training on sustained change to teacher mindset and practice. Limitations and implications for practice are considered.     

Delivering the Discourse—Urban Adolescents' Perceptions of Physical Education

abstract

This study investigates how National Curriculum policy for England and Wales has been translated into practice as perceived by the pupils who are its recipients. Results suggest that pupil entitlement as enshrined in the National Curriculum rationale is at best being provided at the level of access to activity and pupil experiences are differentiated sharply by activity, by gender and by school. The paper suggests that the physical education National Curriculum already advantages certain pupil groups rather than others, and that changes in the discourse of physical education, exemplified by the texts of the latest official publications, will, if translated into practice, militate further against access to a curriculum relevant to all pupils.     

Towards inclusion — our shared responsibility for disaffected pupils

Finding ways of successfully including pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools remains a significant challenge as we move towards a more inclusive future. In this article, Fiona MacLeod, Upper School Co-ordinator at Willow Grove School, a special school for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties in Wigan, describes a pilot project designed to promote the reintegration of pupils at transfer to the secondary phase of their education.
She reports on a series of successful placements and discusses the factors that may have helped to sustain the inclusion of some of the pupils in her pilot group. The work described in this article was undertaken as part of the author's MA (special educational needs) programme at Lancaster University.     

The Construction of Paradox?: One Case of Mature Students in Higher Education

Despite the fact that educational institutions have been actively encouraging mature students into higher education, we understand little of whether the experience of this group is the same as or different from that of the other students. There is a dearth of published research on the subjective experience of mature students. Much of the most widely quoted research on mature students has relied on quantitative techniques. While such procedures are useful for providing background details, they are less useful for exploring the lived experiences of being a mature student. Until we understand how the experience of being a mature student is lived, it is difficult, if not impossible to consider how policy and teaching practice for mature students can be developed. With qualitative and quantitative research methods, this research looks at the 'lived experience' of being a mature student in a Scottish university. Using a social constructionist framework, the focus is on how the reality of being a mature student is constructed by mature students. It shows how self contradictory these views of reality can be.