Implementing Educational Policy: Some Considerations for Principals

Motivation is a key factor in promoting academic success, and intrinsic motivation is especially important for developing autonomous learners. Reluctant learners, in particular, benefit from intrinsic motivation that makes learning relevant to their lives. In this article, the author describes commonalities of reluctant learners and presents definitions and frameworks for understanding motivation. The author also suggests a variety of strategies and activities for turning reluctant learners into inspired learners.     

Academic Role and Perceptions of Gatekeeping in Counselor Education

Gatekeeping in counselor education is an ethical responsibility and professional best practice. The authors examined gatekeeping perceptions of 9 counselor educators, with equal representation of assistant professors, associate/full professors, and adjuncts/instructors/lecturers. The authors analyzed data using consensual qualitative research methodology (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997 ). Findings include commonalities and differences between academic role groups.     

A broad BACEIS for improving thinking

This article describes a theory of factors which affect intellectual performance. Many current programs and approaches to improving thinking skills tend to be overly narrow, often ignoring the affective domain and features of the environmental context. The BACEIS model is a comprehensive theory of internal and external factors affecting the development, retention and transfer of thinking and learning skills. The internal supersystem consists of cognitive and affective subsystems which interact with each other and with the external supersystem and its components. The external supersystem encompasses academic and non-academic subsystems. Three uses of the theory are discussed: for instructional design, to guide research, and to critique existing approaches.     

Panopticism,play and the resistance of surveillance: case studies of the observation of student Internet use in UK schools

The introduction of Internet access into over 30,000 UK schools has led to the adoption of a variety of disciplinary policies, procedures and practices. Critically engaging with writings on panopticism, this paper explores the surveillance of student online activity. It is noted that Internet surveillance in schools includes control through physical observation and limited use of computer databases. For from being passive subjects of observation, some students actively resisted surveillance through physical concealment, virtual concealment and ‘sousveillance’. Noting that an often‐ignored feature of panopticism is entertainment, it is suggested that student resistance of Internet surveillance is best understood in terms of play and the desire to test authority.     

White Women Preparing to Teach in Urban Schools: Looking for Similarity and Finding Difference

Research points to particular problems in the experiences of White teachers teaching students of color (Cochran-Smith et al., 2004). Despite good intentions, teaching students of diverse backgrounds and experiences can be challenging for teachers who are unfamiliar with their students’ backgrounds and communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of notions about “good urban teaching” for three women in a preservice teacher preparation program. Reporting on two years of data, we show how the three women negotiated their beliefs and identities in light of program demands and classroom realities. The lack of synchronicity within the women’s experiences highlights that the traditional (white, female, middle class) students in preservice teacher education programs are not homogeneous. The significance of this difference is highlighted through the concept of heterogeneity. We define heterogeneity as the differences that exist among traditional students in preservice teacher preparation programs. Our research suggests that heterogeneity is complicit in the progress or lack of progress of preservice teachers developing professional identities. This paper was originally presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association April 7–11, 2006 San Francisco, CA An erratum to this article can be found at     

Enhancing Teachers' Knowledge and Use of Inquiry Through Environmental Science Education

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

The west,the rest and the knowledge economy: a game worth playing?

The unprecedented geopolitical and economic shifts across the world have triggered much debate over the re-thinking of internationalisation of higher education (IoHE). This article discusses how a deeper understanding of the knowledge economy paradigm contributes to re-thinking IoHE, and how it reshapes the relations between the west and the rest in the international education industry. In the global knowledge race, the rules are set by the knowledge economy agenda, but these rules could be changed through appropriate IoHE strategies. The knowledge economy promotes a predominantly western-oriented knowledge paradigm, and IoHE contributes to its dissemination. For this reason, it is important to consider how the western theoretical underpinnings of IoHE and the knowledge economy are transformed and integrated in a given local context and if this game is worth playing.