Increasing Inequality in Higher Education: The role of term-time working

As the costs of higher education in the UK have moved increasingly from the state to students (and their parents), more university students have term-time jobs. Based on a survey of students in four universities, this paper identifies the pattern of term-time working, its effects on studying and its implications for equity and for the higher education system. The study found term-time employment affected the quality of education. Both cultural and financial factors affected who worked during term-time. Students whose father did not have a degree and female students (especially those from ethnic minorities) were more likely to work during term-time and, hence, benefit less educationally from university. The extent of term-time working varied across the four universities. The research suggested that the financial system might lead to an increasingly polarised university system: those that facilitate term-time working and those that do not, with the more prestigious universities tending to be in the latter category. This would distort the university choice of those who needed to work during term-time, inhibiting their access to prestigious universities, and lead to greater disadvantage amongst those who worked despite being at universities which made fewer concessions for term-time working.     

COMBINING SELF‐MONITORING AND AN INTERDEPENDENT GROUP CONTINGENCY TO IMPROVE THE BEHAVIOR OF SIXTH GRADERS WITH EBD

A withdrawal design was used to examine the influence of a self‐monitoring procedure on the overall effectiveness of an interdependent group contingency intervention implemented in a sixth‐grade classroom in an alternative school serving students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Dependent variables included student on‐task, off‐task, and disruptive behaviors exhibited during language arts. Following baseline, the classroom teacher implemented an interdependent group contingency using randomized criteria for reinforcement and randomized reinforcers. Next, a self‐monitoring intervention procedure was added to the existing interdependent group contingency intervention. The self‐monitoring procedure was then withdrawn and reinstated. Results indicated that though there were improvements in behavior from baseline upon intervention implementation, the self‐monitoring procedure did not increase the effectiveness of the interdependent group contingency intervention. Limitations and suggestions for future research investigating the influence of self‐monitoring on group contingency interventions are discussed.     

Early childhood educators’ experiences and perceptions of professionalism and professionalisation in the Asian context

Increasingly early childhood educators are referred to as “professionals,” but how do they view themselves in terms of professionalism? What does it mean to be an early childhood professional? This study explored the views of 78 Asian early childhood educators who were upgrading their qualifications to degree level. In groups of five to eight, participants visually created and explained metaphors of professionalism as a class activity. The visual metaphors were analysed using Gleeson’s polytextual thematic analysis with Rogoff’s personal, interpersonal and institutional planes as the theoretical framework. Findings revealed that the educators’ perspectives of professionalism and professionalisation related to their work–life roles, their cultural understandings and relationships, and how they believed they were viewed by others in relation to the status of early childhood education. This study provides an insight into perceptions and challenges related to the developing professionalism and professionalisation of early childhood educators in Asian contexts.     

Problematising pupil voice using visual methods: Findings from a study of engaged and disaffected pupils in an urban secondary school

This article explores how pupils and teachers in an 11–16 mixed secondary school in an area of urban disadvantage in the UK experience pupil voice. It used visual methods to unpick some of the ways in which official and unofficial discourses of pupil voice, engagement, discipline and inclusion were played out in this school. A typology of pupils, based on analysis of school policy documentation was produced. Whilst these ‘types’ were expressed through pupil scrapbooks and interviews, they were not found to be related to individual pupils in the way that the school policy documentation suggests. Adults respond to pupil voice differently depending on how it is framed—the ‘types’ create discursive practices that determine the things that can be said, by whom and in what way. The visual methods used are reviewed here in the light of findings and are found to be useful in eliciting a range of pupil voices.     

Exploring the feasibility of a classroom‐based vocabulary intervention for mainstream secondary school students with language disorder

Vocabulary knowledge has been shown to be a predictor of academic success, posing a challenge for children and young people with language disorder. Language disorder can persist into adolescence and yet there is limited evidence on how to support the vocabulary skills of adolescents with language disorder in a mainstream setting. This article describes an experimental study aimed at investigating the feasibility of a whole‐class approach to increase the understanding and use of curriculum vocabulary in adolescents with language disorder. Ten curriculum words were taught by the science teacher using a phonological‐semantic approach, and 10 matched same‐topic words were taught using routine teaching practice. Progress was made post‐intervention in word knowledge of both low‐frequency experimental and control words, with significantly greater change in knowledge of the experimental words. Most students, and the teacher, viewed the phonological‐semantic word‐learning approach favourably.     

INTEGRATION AND REGULATION MATTERS IN EDUCATIONAL TRANSITION: A THEORETICAL CRITIQUE OF RETENTION AND ATTRITION MODELS

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the appropriateness of models developed to understand why students do or do not complete their courses in higher education. It is suggested that emphasising integration above regulation has taken attention away from a possible anomic interpretation. A more contextualised, nuanced and psychosocial approach to understanding student participation and retention is needed to address difficulties and inequalities in the transition to higher education.     

Deconstruction and reconstruction: Diversity as a productive resource

This article uses critical discourse analysis to show that a series of advertisements by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are premised on a discourse of sameness that constructs difference negatively. The article moves from deconstructing these advertisements to possibilities for reconstruction that show difference as a positive and productive resource.