The effect of exploratory talk on the development of sentence structure in able writers

This one‐term practitioner research study, conducted with 33 Year 5 children, considers the impact of teaching exploratory talk skills on the learning of the class, with particular consideration of the development of the ability of gifted and talented children to manipulate and control sentence structure to create effect. Beginning with metatalk activities, the class defined new talk rules, putting them into practice in an action‐research project. The study then went on to consider the detailed application of these skills in a focus group of six gifted children. In order to meet with the requirements of a wider study, the impact of this focus group on the learning of the whole class was observed. While many children, both those in the focus group and the wider class, appeared to embrace exploratory talk as a route to independence of the class teacher, some children were more reluctant to engage. The article concludes with an evaluation of the impact of exploratory talk.     

Perceived physical competence,enjoyment and effort in same‐sex and coeducational physical education classes

Perceived competence is a key motivational determinant of physical activity behaviours in adolescents, and motivational determinants are influenced by the class environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of perceived physical competence, enjoyment and effort in class, focusing on gender and class‐type differences. Participants were 546 adolescents (289 males, 257 females) who were in same‐sex or coeducational physical education classes. The Hierarchical Physical Competence Scale (HPCS) and questionnaire measures of enjoyment and effort in classes were used to investigate students’ perceptions. Results of 2 × 2 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that students’ perceptions of physical competence, enjoyment and effort in classes differed according to gender and class type, but these differences must be viewed in light of strong interaction effects. That is, female students reported more positive and adaptive perceptions in same‐sex classes and were more affected by class type than were male students.     

Exploring The Island: Mapping the Shifting Sands in the Landscape of English Classroom Culture and Pedagogy

I begin with an account of my own observation of an English lesson taught by one of my student teachers using a teaching resource, The Island, that I used myself as a new teacher more than 20 years ago and of my own responses on finding it transformed by two decades of change in educational policy and practice. It has become almost a given in academic articles on English teaching, to refer, in a sentence or two, to the reduction of the English curriculum, the narrowing of pedagogy and the loss of teacher agency due to the dominance of a high stakes assessment regime. The policy changes that have given rise to this change have been clearly analysed elsewhere, but part of my purpose here is just to look again at how it might be experienced by a particular pupil in a particular class. I am interested in analysing some of the features of The Island’s incarnation then and now, from three different angles: as it is inscribed in the project book, as I remember teaching it and as I observed it recently in a London classroom. I draw on theories of literacy and of the teaching of writing in particular in trying to account for some of the differences but beyond that, I argue that it is essential to link such theories to wider political debates about culture and to reflect back from this to the purposes of the English curriculum and culture of the English classroom.     

Cross-school Mentoring: Training and implementing a peer mentoring strategy

This article describes a project based on Year 7 pupils (aged 11-12 years) in a UK inner-city girls' school classified as 'in challenging circumstances'. The girls were cross-mentored by Year 12 (aged 16-17 years) girls from another local girls' school. The city has a diverse multi-cultural population where single gender education is an active preference for many parents. This parental dimension influenced cooperation between the two schools. The conceptual theme for the mentoring project was that the older pupils provided a supportive framework for their younger peers. This was a conscious shift from the traditional notion of 'prefects control younger pupils'. Prior to operating the scheme, a training programme was devised by the city's Secondary Behaviour Support Team. The progress of this training course and the application of the techniques through the mentoring sessions are described.     

Science teachers’ decision-making in Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage (AOUM) classrooms: taboo subjects and discourses of sex and sexuality in classroom settings

Sex education, especially in the southeastern USA, remains steeped in an Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage (AOUM) approach, which sets up barriers to the education of sexually active students. Research confirms that science education has the potential to facilitate discussion of controversial topics, including sex education. Science teachers in the USA, however, may face legislative challenges influenced by the local political and social climate. This study aims to understand how science teachers address and construct curriculum related to sex education topics in AOUM environments. A Foucauldian lens is used to examine how teachers’ discourses influence decision-making concerning sex education. Findings from the study suggest that the AOUM curriculum influences the ways in which science teachers make decisions about the curriculum and taboo subjects such as homosexuality and abortion. The study also suggests that students learn about sex and sexuality in ways directly related to their personal experiences. Finally, study findings suggest that personal controversies, such as those relating to sexual health, can be integrated into science education through forms of teacher education and professional development attuned to the different ways that AOUM policies affect science teaching practices.     

Sustaining High-Quality Teaching and Evidence-Based Curricula: Follow-Up Assessment of Teachers in the REDI Project

Research Findings: Recent research has validated the power of evidence-based preschool interventions to improve teaching quality and promote child school readiness when implemented in the context of research trials. However, very rarely are follow-up assessments conducted with teachers in order to evaluate the maintenance of improved teaching quality or sustained use of evidence-based curriculum components after the intervention trial. In the current study, we collected follow-up assessments of teachers 1 year after their involvement in the REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed) research trial to evaluate the extent to which intervention teachers continued to implement the REDI curriculum components with high quality and to explore possible preintervention predictors of sustained implementation. In addition, we conducted classroom observations to determine whether general improvements in the teaching quality of intervention teachers (relative to control group teachers) were sustained. Results indicated sustained high-quality implementation of some curriculum components (the Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies curriculum) but decreased implementation of other components (the language/literacy components). Sustained intervention effects were evident on most aspects of general teaching quality targeted by the intervention. Practice or Policy: Implications for practice and policy are discussed.