Including pupils with special educational needs in secondary school physical education: a sociological analysis of teachers' views

This paper explores physical education (PE) teachers' views of the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in PE from a figurational sociological perspective. Starting from the premise that teachers' views cannot be adequately explained by studying the concept of inclusion or the teacher in isolation, it is argued that we can only begin to make sense of such views by locating teachers within the figurations of which they are a part and by exploring two particularly salient features of those figurations: namely, teachers' habituses and contexts. In doing so, the paper focuses upon the training teachers receive, the constraints imposed upon them by their colleagues and pupils, and, most importantly, the suitability of the National Curriculum for meeting the needs of pupils with SEN. The paper concludes by highlighting some of the unintended consequences of the inclusion of pupils with SEN in PE.     

The non‐fiction reading habits of young successful boy readers: forming connections between masculinity and reading

The reading experiences of six young successful boy readers were studied over a two‐year period. In this article, their non‐fiction reading is analysed and ways in which the boys make positive connections between masculinity and reading are identified. The boys' non‐fiction reading centres on typical boy interest areas and hobbies (for example, football, space, dinosaurs) and, through their reading, they have become experts on these areas. This has earned them respect from their peers, particularly other boys, and a high status, hegemonic masculine identity in the classroom. Thus, for this group of boys, unlike many other boys, masculinity and reading are compatible; in this particular version of masculinity, reading is a desirable pursuit.     

Potentials for empowerment in critical education research

Within the typology of research orientations commonly represented in the social science literature — empiricist, interpretive and critical — it is the methodologies of the critical orientation that are burgeoning. Significantly, the moral imperative in the critical theorising which drives and shapes these methodologies is empowerment and emancipation. That is to say, critical educational research is potentially empowering because of its emancipatory intent. However, as cogently argued and demonstrated by a number of researchers, “an emancipatory intent is no guarantee of an emancipatory outcome” (Acker et al., 1983: 431). Just being informed by critical theory then, is no guarantee that a critical research approach will be empowering, or be empowering in a way we recognise as significant. This paper has been prepared with two objectives in mind: to clarify three ways empowerment has been conceptualised in the literature, and to use this conceptual scheme as a template to ascertain the empowerment potentials in critical educational research methodologies.     

Possibilities for pedagogy in further education: harnessing the abundance of literacy

In this report, it is argued that the most salient factor in the contemporary communicative landscape is the sheer abundance and diversity of possibilities for literacy, and that the extent and nature of students' communicative resources is a central issue in education. The text outlines the conceptual underpinnings of the Literacies for Learning in Further Education project in a social view of literacy, and the associated research design, methodology and analytical framework. It elaborates on the notion of the abundance of literacies in students' everyday lives, and on the potential for harnessing these as resources for the enhancement of learning. It provides case studies of changes in practice that have been undertaken by further education staff in order to draw upon students' everyday literacy practices on Travel and Tourism and Multimedia courses. It ends with some of the broad implications for conceptualising learning that arise from researching through the lens of literacy practices.     

Staff appraisal in higher education — a study of performance review at Nene College,Northampton

This paper describes a study of staff appraisal in Higher Education and, in particular, of the appraisal system—called Performance Review—at Nene College, Northampton.The study comprised a review of the recent literature describing some experiences of appraisal systems in a number of British universities and a survey of the opinions of appraisees, appraisers and senior Nene College management with regard to various aspects of the Performance Review system.In the survey, most appraisees and appraisers thought that appraisers should be line managers rather than peers and that classroom observations should be part of the appraisal system. The opportunity for staff to air views and raise issues during the appraisal interviews was identified as a particular advantage of appraisal for staff. Comparison of the survey findings with the experiences of appraisal in other institutions confirmed that major issues of concern include the importance of organisational commitment; the provision of adequate resources; the effects on the role of heads of departments; the setting and communication of clear, limited goals; consistency of good practice; the provision of adequate follow-up to appraisal interviews and the costs incurred in the operation of appraisal systems.     

Equality of opportunity for work experience? Computing students at two UK universities “play the game”

A recent UK Government commissioned study found concerning levels of unemployment among computing students from disadvantaged, black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The study highlighted that work experience was a factor in increased levels of graduate employment. As such, it is vital that students have equal access to such work experience. This study considers the availability of work experience to 140 computing students at two city centre UK universities. Data analysis considered socioeconomic background and ethnicity to determine if these influenced attitudes to work experience. While students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicity had little influence on their interest in work experience, patterns of success in gaining work experience reflected worrying graduate (un)employment patterns, with those from disadvantaged, black or minority ethnic backgrounds less able to secure work experience. These findings have serious implications for university and government policies promoting work experience and highlight the need for national interventions.     

Connecting assessment practices with curricula and pedagogy via implementation fidelity data

Globally, higher education institutions aim to assess and improve students’ learning. However, assessment practices often do not culminate in improved learning. For instance, in the United States, empirical examples of learning improvement in higher education are exceptionally rare. A disconnect between assessment practices and instruction at the classroom level likely contributes to scarce evidence of improvement. In the current study, we provide a didactic example of how outcomes assessment data can be integrated with data concerning the educational intervention students received. This type of information – referred to as implementation fidelity data – allows faculty to more accurately interpret outcomes assessment results, make informed modifications to educational interventions, and link learning improvements back to specific interventions. As more faculty purposefully integrate outcomes assessment data and implementation fidelity data, higher education will better demonstrate its worth.     

从守护者到领路人:全球图书馆界的新角色

随着信息在人们生活和社会发展中的作用发生变化,图书馆和图书馆员的角色也经历从守护者向门户再向领路人的转变。历史上,图书馆和图书馆员作为守护者为保护和传承人类文化做出了贡献,但在社会服务方面主要是为少数精英阶层提供服务;信息、知识、学习被认为是精英阶层的特权,社会大众被认为没有必要获取信息。第二次工业革命时期,人们普遍认识到基本文化素养的必要性,西方社会也逐渐形成共识,即确保每个社会成员至少接受过初等教育;此后,随着技术进步,印刷成本降低,信息能被更多人获取和利用;公共图书馆开始普及并向社会公众开放,图书馆和图书馆员发挥门户的作用,帮助人们克服获取信息的障碍;进入数字时代,图书馆仍然发挥门户的作用,确保任何人无论其身份、财富、背景如何,都不应被排除在信息获取之外。人类社会进入信息时代,信息极大丰富与信息稀缺一样,给信息获取带来了种种问题,人们需要使用批判性思维来面对海量的信息资源;图书馆需充分发挥领路人的作用,帮助社会公众提升信息素养,实现对丰富信息的有效利用,助力创建更强大、更公平、更具创新性的社会。     

The benefits of using clickers in small-enrollment seminar-style biology courses

Although the use of clickers and peer discussion is becoming common in large-lecture undergraduate biology courses, their use is limited in small-enrollment seminar-style courses. To investigate whether facilitating peer discussion with clickers would add value to a small-enrollment seminar-style course, we evaluated their usefulness in an 11-student Embryology course at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Student performance data, observations of peer discussion, and interviews with students revealed that adding clickers to a small-enrollment course 1) increases the chance students will do the required reading before class, 2) helps the instructor engage all students in the class, and 3) gives students a focused opportunity to share thinking and to learn from their peers.