Uniquely Similar or Similarly Unique? Education and development of teachers in Europe

Teacher education is at present being re-shaped in some, mainly Anglophone, countries by a variety of policies. Although some of the same trends are discernible in mainland Europe, other inheritances and perspectives are also evident. The present paper focuses on five European trends in the education and development of teachers: professionalism, inheritances, research, feminisation and globalisation. It is proposed that "Anglophone" policies (which are equated with neo-liberalism) and "European" policies (which are equated with social democracy) have different emphases and priorities, though, in turn, are shaped by specific national cultures and histories. At the same time, shared concerns are evident across nations, policies, cultures and histories--hence the question posed in the title of the paper as to whether teacher education in different countries is "Uniquely Similar or Similarly Unique?".     

Academic library use and student retention: A quantitative analysis

A key component of Vincent Tinto's model of retention is the importance of student integration in the academic institution. Library use can be regarded as a form of integration within such institutions. A quantitative approach was applied to demonstrate how institutional data can be combined to examine library use and retention at a single institution. Undergraduate student and library use data were analyzed to identify results that suggested associations between library use and student retention. Library use was measured by log-ins to electronic resources, as well as borrowing from the library. The undergraduate students enrolled for the first time in 2010 comprised the population, Sub-group student characteristics, age and socioeconomic status, underwent further analysis. The findings show retained students log-in to authenticated resources and borrow from the library at higher rates than withdrawn students. Mature age students withdraw from the university at higher rates than younger students. Log-ins to authenticated resources increase as students progress over time through their university programs. No notable associations were found among socioeconomic background, library use, and retention. For the institution, these findings can inform the development of library services to target specific student groups on the basis that higher library use may lead to improved integration and retention. In addition, the study describes a research design that is replicable in other institutions and contributes to library use and retention literature.     

School Health Promotion to Increase Empowerment,Gender Equality and Pupil Participation: A Focus Group Study of a Swedish Elementary School Initiative

A school health promotion project was carried out in an elementary school in Sweden where active participation, gender equality, and empowerment were leading principles. The objective of the study was to understand challenges and to identify social processes of importance for such a project. Focus group interviews were conducted with 6 single-sex groups (7–12 year olds) in grade 1–2, grade 3–4, and grade 5–6 on 2 occasions. The analysis used a grounded theory approach. The analysis identified the core category “normalization processes of violence and harassment.” It is argued that school health promotion initiatives need to be aware of normalization processes of violence and, which may be counter-productive to the increase of empowerment and participation among all pupils.     

Critical action research and third wave feminism: a meeting of paradigms

Critical action research emphasises participation, democracy and social critique, and thus has had considerable potential for feminist scholarship and action. Feminist action research, in turn, has gained a foothold in education, for example, through the work of Hollingsworth, Miller, Lather and others, although much action research might still be termed gender blind. This theoretical resource provides a discussion of recent developments in feminist ideas and their relevance for critical action research, suggesting that there is much to unite the two paradigms. The resource's overall aim is to call attention to the importance of feminist ideas for action research, and to demonstrate what feminist action research has to offer, not only for girls and women pupils and teachers, but for other marginalised and discriminated groups.     

Ethical Practice in an Unjust World: educational evaluation and social justice

Evaluation brings together power and knowledge in quite specific ways, this complex relationship providing the focus for this paper. Such a relationship is particularly important for educational evaluators with an explicit commitment to achieving increased social justice. How might the ethical practice developed by, for example, feminists or anti‐racists, be applied to educational evaluation? This paper provides a preliminary discussion of these issues, first, by offering a critical appraisal of the dominant models of educational evaluation. Second, it attempts to outline the principles and procedures for ‘social justice’ evaluators and, following this, considers the strategies currently available to them. It concludes that, particularly in the case of educational programmes with an equality dimension, ‘social justice’ evaluation may be both desirable and feasible.     

Education Reform and Reconstruction as a Challenge to Research Genres: Reconsidering School Effectiveness Research and Inclusive Schooling

This project investigates the impact of the dynamic approach to school improvement (DASI) aiming to help schools face and reduce bullying through integrating research on bullying with educational effectiveness research (EER). A network of approximately 15 schools in each participating country (i.e., Belgium, Cyprus, England, Greece, and The Netherlands) received support to use DASI in order to improve the functioning of school factors included in the dynamic model of educational effectiveness which are associated with reduction of bullying. The Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was administered to students of the experimental (n = 1461) and control (n = 1535) group at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. With the use of multilevel modelling techniques, it was found that schools which made use of DASI were able to reduce bullying at a significantly higher level than the schools of the control group. Implications for the development of effective policies and practices in reducing bullying are drawn.