Exploring the roles of grief and grieving in coping with lifelong change

This paper explores the value of the concept of grief as one way to make sense of individual's reactions to change. The discussion acknowledges that change is always from something, not just to something. In an environment that is increasingly expected to involve lifelong change, there is an urgent need for individuals to develop capacities to ‘move with’ change. The paper identifies a number of strategies to assist individuals and groups acknowledge and grieve change-included loss, strategies which support sustainable ‘moving on’.     

Transformative learning theory: a neurobiological perspective of the role of emotions and unconscious ways of knowing

Transformative learning as explained by Mezirow in the field of adult education has been criticized as a process that is overly dependent on critical reflection, such that it minimizes the role of feelings and overlooks transformation through the unconscious development of thoughts and actions. This paper further substantiates these concerns by exploring the emotional nature of rationality and unconscious ways of knowing (implicit memory) from the field of neurobiology and psychology and offers a physiological explanation of the interdependent relationship of emotion and reason and the role of implicit memory in transformative learning theory. Recent research not only provides support that emotions can affect the processes of reason, but more importantly, emotions have been found to be indispensable for rationality to occur. Furthermore, brain research brings to light new insights about a form of long-term memory that has long been overlooked, that of implicit memory, which receives, stores, and recovers outside the conscious awareness of the individual. From implicit memory emerges habits, attitudes and preferences inaccessible to conscious recollection but these are nonetheless shapes by former events, influence our present behaviour, and are an essential part of who we are. Finally, based on these new insights for fostering transformative learning is discussed, revealing the need to include practices inclusive of ‘other ways of knowing,’ and more specifically, from the study of emotional literacy and multiple intelligences.     

Reviews

Pat Sadler, Hiroshima Shudo University, The Caring Child by Nancy Eisenberg. Cambridge, Mass, and London: Harvard University Press, 1992, hb ISBN 0 674 09725 4, pb ISBN 0 674 09726 2, US$8.95

Garry Hornby, University of Hull, Youth in Trouble: Educational Responses, by J. F. Schostak. London: Kogan Page, 1991. 192pp., pb. ISBN 0 7494 0372 1, np

Gordon Dimmock, Harold Hill Community School, Havering, ‘Some Way to Go’: A Pilot Study on the Appraisal of Educational Resources on Leaving Home and Homelessness, Leaving Home Project. London: Information Services Charity Limited, 1987. 56pp., £4.95

Gordon Dimmock, Harold Hill Community School, Havering, Experimental Project. Final Report, Leaving Home Project. London: Information Services Charity Limited, 1991. 30pp., £6

Gordon Dimmock, Harold Hill Community School, Havering, ‘Making the Break’: Choices and Decisions Facing Young People Leaving Home, by Philip Hope, edited by Catherine ByGott. London: CSV Advisory Service and Leaving Home Project, 1989. 157pp. plus VHS video ‘Cutting Loose’, 20 min., CSV, 1988. ISBN 0 907829 57 0, £28.25+£2.40 p. & p.

Don Baines, Anglia Polytechnic University, Teacher Training in Secondary Schools, by Rowie Shaw. London: Kogan Page Limited, 1992. 162pp., pb ISBN 0 7494 0637 2, £14.95

Gill Collins, Sovereign Centre Tutorial Unit, Issues: A Cross-Curricular Course for PSE, by John Foster. Hammersmith: Collins Educational, 1992. Pupil Book One, ISBN 0 00 327334 2, £4.95; Teachers Resources One, ISBN 0 00 327339 3, £7.25; Pupil Book Two, ISBN 0 00 327335 0, £4.95; Teachers Resources Two, ISBN 0 00 327340 7, £7.25; Pupil Book Three, ISBN 0 00 327336 9, £4.95; Teachers Resources Three, ISBN 0 00 3273415, £7.25; Pupil Book Four, ISBN 0 00 327337 7, £5.50; Teachers Resources Four, ISBN 0 00 327342 3, £7.95; Pupil Book Five, ISBN 0 00 327338 5, £5.50; Teachers Resources Five, ISBN 0 00 327343 1, £7.95     

Researching educational policy and change in ‘new times’: using critical discourse analysis

A number of writers have drawn attention to the increasing importance of language in social life in ‘new times’ and Fairclough has referred to ‘discourse driven’ social change. These conditions have led to an increase in the use of various forms of discourse analysis in policy analysis. This paper explores the possibilities of using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in critical policy research in education, drawing on a larger research project which is investigating the equity implications of Education Queensland’s reform agenda. It is argued that, in the context of new times, CDA is of particular value in documenting multiple and competing discourses in policy texts, in highlighting marginalized and hybrid discourses, and in documenting discursive shifts in policy implementation processes. The last part of the paper discusses how such research might be used by policy activists inside and outside education department bureaucracies to further social democratic goals.     

On‐screen print: the role of captions as a supplemental literacy tool

Children living in poverty are 1.3 times as likely as non‐poor children to experience reading difficulties and lack key oral experiences that contribute to early literacy development. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of viewing commercially available educational television with closed captions. Seventy second‐ and third‐grade economically disadvantaged children living in urban locations participated in this experimental research design. Children were randomly assigned to view videos with or without closed captions. Captions helped children recognise and read more words, identify the meaning of those words, generate inferences regarding programme content and transfer these skills to a normative code‐related skill task. Risk status moderated word recognition performance: those at risk benefited from captions while those who were not at risk recognised more words when captions were absent.