Compiling the White Inventory: The practice of whiteness in a British primary school

'Whiteness studies' has become a significant theme in writing about ethnicity and education over the past decade. Unlike both multiculturalism and anti-racism, whiteness theorists suggest that whiteness can be seen not as a biological fact, but as a social construction, and seek to examine white behaviour and assumptions as a first step toward resisting that behaviour. While its place in the academic world seems secure, its theories have had a limited impact on practitioners, particularly in Britain. Despite urgent calls by many writers in the field of whiteness studies, the number of white teachers attempting to understand how their own ethnicity affects their work appears negligible. In this paper I seek to begin to address that problem by applying a model of white attitudes to my own thinking and behaviour as a white teacher in a multi-ethnic primary school. It is suggested that this act of recording and reporting on the taken-for-granted behaviour of whites must be the first step toward decentring whiteness, and thus of providing a more equitable education for all children.     

'Reports' and 'Work-related' questions in ONC English

The purpose of this paper is to bring to bear on these aspects of English teaching in further education two quite distinct perspectives. One is linguistic, on the principle that language-skills, the putative objective of such teaching, form part of the field of applied linguistics, in which the writer has worked for some years. The other is administrative, and derives from experience in local government. The analysis presented is based on a dozen case studies drawn from actual experience in insurance, manufacturing industry, local government, and commerce.     

Students' Perceptions of a Gender Issues Course: A Qualitative and Quantitative Examination

Students described their perceptions of helpful and hindering aspects of a graduate-level course in gender issues in counseling and mental health.     

Effects of Supervisor Style on the Learning of Empathy in a Supervision Analogue

Effects of supervisor style (techniques-oriented, counseling-oriented, and placebo-oriented) and the presupervision conditions of audio modeling versus no modeling were examined in a supervision analogue. Six groups of 18 trainees heard three sets of recorded client statements and responded as counselors. Supervised groups had two 15-minute conferences with supervisors between sets 1 and 2 and between sets 2 and 3. Control groups received no supervision. Among supervised groups only those trainees receiving the techniques-oriented supervision showed significant improvement in rated level of empathy. Significant learning effects from the presupervision use of audio modeling were also found.