Community‐Based Art Education in China: Practices,Issues and Challenges

Art educators have been promoting Community‐Based Art Education (CBAE) in schools in order to enhance students’ sense of socio‐cultural identity and contextual learning about local art and culture. It cannot only bridge the gap between the students’ daily lives and the communities and art, but can also enhance their inquiry, discovery and meaning‐making abilities. In China, the community‐based approach plays a significant role in the National Standards for Visual Arts, and Chinese art educators have been applying CBAE in school art education for decades. However, Western art educators are still unfamiliar with the issues, practices and challenges related to CBAE in China owing to language constraints. In light of the above, this article aims to initiate a dialogue between Western and Chinese CBAE researchers through discourse and discussions on the main issues related to CBAE in Chinese art education. It outlines current practices of, and issues related to, CBAE from the perspective of Chinese art education. It also discusses the three major challenges to the implementation of CBAE in China, namely the conflict between indigenous knowledge and official knowledge in the school art curriculum, lack of motivation among teachers, and neglect of context in the practice of local art in schools. It is hoped that this article it will enrich our overall knowledge of CBAE and contribute to the understanding of CBAE from a global perspective.     

Cumulative Risk,the Mother–Child Relationship,and Social-Emotional Competence in Latino Head Start Children

Research Findings: Supportive mother–child interactions promote the development of social-emotional competence. Poverty and other associated psychosocial risk factors have a negative impact on mother–child interaction. In spite of Latino children being disproportionately represented among children living in poverty, research on mother–child interactions among economically disadvantaged Latino families remains scarce and results are mixed. The current study used an ecological approach to examine the relationship between maternal cumulative risk, child developmental delay, observed and self-reported quality of the mother–child relationship, time spent in Head Start, and teachers’ and parents’ ratings of social-emotional competence among 106 Latino Head Start children and their mothers. Cumulative risk showed a negative association with observed maternal supportiveness and self-reported quality of the mother–child relationship. Cumulative risk had negative and positive indirect effects, respectively, on child social competence and problem behavior through perceived quality of the mother–child relationship. This association only occurred when parent ratings of child behavior were used. Time spent in Head Start moderated the association between observed maternal supportiveness and social competence. Practice or Policy: Implications for providers and researchers attempting to improve social-emotional competence in disadvantaged Latino children by enhancing positive and supportive parenting practice are discussed.     

Quality Improvement of Business Education in Romanian Universities: The Student as Customer and Client

This study frames the quality transition of Romanian business education embracing the role of students as clients and customers. In the first part of the study, responses from ninety‐four fourth‐year Romanian students provided a statistically significant gap between the level of importance of business competences and their level of preparation. The second part used content analysis to establish four major improvement themes: 1) new course specification; 2) pedagogical modification using practical applications; 3) course delivery improvement; and 4) university‐directed field experiences. The findings support the notion that Romanian students provide reliable and unique assessments of their education.     

A Cognitive Learning Account of the Avoidance,Omission and Exaggerated Phenomena and Expressions in Young Adolescents’ Drawings of the Human Figure in the Visual Culture Art Education Context

It is common in the everyday art class to find many examples of avoidance, omission and exaggeration in young adolescents’ depictions of the human figure. When students depict sophisticated human images, they make every effort to avoid the difficult parts, and some students tend to exaggerate the size or distort the shape of the human image. Art educators see these types of behaviour and modes of expression as unnatural, and claim that they may hinder the development of the creativity of young adolescents. Relevant discussions in the literature from a psychological perspective are mainly concerned with the negative impact of such behaviour and modes of expression on the formation of young adolescents’ identities. However, in the context of popular visual culture, the findings of recent studies on young adolescents’ comic drawings have suggested that when young adolescents draw comic characters, they use their everyday life experiences in their drawings. This article reports on a five‐year qualitative longitudinal study conducted in a Hong Kong secondary school. The aim of the study was to deepen our understanding of this behaviour on the part of adolescents in art classes. The findings of the study confirmed the view that these aspects should be interpreted from a cognitive learning perspective. It is suggested that art educators reconsider these types of behaviour and modes of expression as a potential means for improving secondary students’ learning of the art of popular visual culture.     

Exploring the Affective Inner Experiences of Therapists in Training: The Qualitative Interaction Between Session Experience and Session Content

Thirty‐four 1st‐year counseling students recorded their inner experiences following a simulated counseling session. Using a qualitative collective case study approach to extract emotion from a large pool of inner experience, 6 judges identified samples of affect through a triangulation process using intensity, extreme, and critical case sampling and then coded them into naturally occurring core ideas and domains. Affective experiences in the inner experiences were found frequently and were often quite intense. Affect was verbally suppressed and was mostly not noticeable on the audiocassettes. Four predominant affective themes emerged from the inner experiences: anger/frustration, disappointment/regret, anxiety/fear, and happiness/excitement.     

The Effects of the Spacing of Test Trials and Study Trials in Paired‐association Learning

The learning effects due to test and study trials after the initial presentation were examined in a paired‐associate learning paradigm. In Experiment 1 both the spacing and retention intervals were systematically varied. The results showed advantages of spacing for both test and study trials. However, the spacing function of test trials interacted significantly with the retention interval. At a short retention interval, the second recall was a decreasing function of spacing and paralleled closely the initial recall. As the retention interval increased, the spacing‐of‐test function assumed an inverted U‐shape. Performance after repeated studies was on the average better than after test trials. Experiment 2 confirmed that when an initial presentation was followed by two test trials, an increasing spacing interval between each successive test trial produced optimal long‐term performance. In the case where a second study trial was coupled with a test trial, a pattern with equal interval length was better than other spacing patterns. The proportion of test trials of the study list was also varied among groups of subjects. A higher proportion of test trials resulted in better final recall.     

SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE,MATRICULATION GRADES,AND GROUP INTERVIEW AS PREDICTORS OF PERFORMANCE IN NURSING SCHOOL

This study examines the predictive validity of three commonly used nursing school admission indices, that is, scholastic aptitude test scores, matriculation grades, and evaluations of performance in a group interview situation, in a sample of 321 Israeli nursing school students. Grade point average, supervisor evaluation of clinical internship, and scores on a government certification exam served as primary indices of criterion performance. Whereas composite aptitude test scores correlated moder ately with both grade point average and certification exam scores, matriculation grades correlated negligibly with all three criterion measures. Group interview ratings correlated moderately with clinical performance, but negligibly with the remaining criteria. Aptitude test scores were not found to be biased predictors of criterion performance by ethnicity or social background. The implications of these findings for the selection of nursing school candidates in Israel are discussed.     

Relational‐Cultural Theory–Based Interventions With LGBTQ College Students

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community members can encounter daily challenges living in a heterosexist society, including the college milieu. The authors apply the tenets of relational‐cultural theory (RCT) to LGBTQ college students. Furthermore, a case study is included to highlight ways counselors can infuse RCT strategies when working with this population.     

Reflexivity,Social Justice and Educational Research

This paper identifies the role of reflexivity as a central concern to educational researchers. We argue that reflexivity as a concept needs to be recognised at three key levels. Reflexivity can be considered in terms of learning in general, in relation to our research designs and finally with respect to the production of educational knowledge. Each of these levels is analysed and related to our understanding of social justice research in education. Through an exposition of Giddens’ notion of the ‘duality of structure’ we put forward one way of researching in the area of social justice and education which takes into account the reflexive nature of educational research.