Naïve change agent or canny political collaborator? The change in leadership role from nursery school to Children's Centre

This article presents initial findings from a consideration of early years Labour government policy from 1997 to date and from a case study of an early years leadership journey. The article explores the social policies underlying early years initiatives that have impacted upon early years leadership journeys and roles. The challenge of the role is highlighted through the first author's (Lesley Curtis) leadership experiences and we suggest that limited support for leaders of integrated centres has been available to date. The case study questions and explores whether Curtis is a naïve change agent or a canny political collaborator as she travels on her leadership journey and discovers new insights into the nature of her early years leadership role.     

Citizenship Education and National Identities in France and England: Inclusive or exclusive?

ABSTRACT This paper examines and compares recent citizenship education policy documents from France and England and explores the extent to which they encourage inclusive or exclusive concepts of national identity and citizenship. Current policies are being developed in a context of perceived disillusionment and political apathy amongst the young. Whilst citizenship education has traditionally aimed to prepare young people to take their place in adult society and a national community, today the notion of a single national identity is increasingly questioned. Using framing questions from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) survey of civic education, we examine programmes of study in each country to determine the extent to which they promote human rights as shared values, make positive references to cultural diversity, and conceptualise minorities. We consider the potential of citizenship education thus defined to contribute towards the development of justice and equality in society and challenge racism and xenophobia. We note the strengths and limitations of each approach to education for citizenship and suggest what each might gain from the other.     

Becoming and Being a Specialist: anticipating and experiencing higher education English

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses a hitherto largely neglected area of academic and pedagogic research in one of the most popular subjects in higher education — English. The authors examine student‐held views of what constitutes ‘English’, focusing for part of the discussion on reading and reading logs in routine English teaching. The first part of the paper concentrates on the quality of students’ insights into reading as revealed by the novel experience of keeping a reading log. The second part of the paper places this pedagogic experience in a larger context. Here, students’ own views of English, anticipated and subsequent to arrival in higher education, are evaluated. The authors apply different theoretical constructs in both their methodology and interpretation of findings. They conclude that one significant challenge for students in higher education English today is to adjust themselves, with a balance between flexibility and coherence, to a new techno‐cultural world. This world demands the intellectual capabilities both of self‐reflection and community affiliation in an expanding disccurse called ‘English’.     

Managing Interschool Networks: across the primary/secondary divide

This paper examines how schools in one area of the East Midlands have developed interschool collaboration not to undermine central‐government policy but to make possible the successful implementation of the local management of schools. The study is based on structured interviews carried out with secondary headteachers and headteachers of some of the primary schools which feed pupils into these secondary schools. The time and effort expended by schools on these networks is assessed, and their advantages and disadvantages, as perceived by the headteachers, are summarised. The paper concludes with some suggestions for developing the management of these networks.     

Student Role Play in the World Forum: Analyses of an Arctic Adventure Learning Apprenticeship*

This study analyzes new forms of student social interaction and dialogue within asynchronous communications of six middle schools and six high schools participating in the World School for Adventure Learning. In the World Forum component of the World School, students discussed, questioned, and debated with Arctic explorers, researchers, World Forum mentors, and peers about environmental issues while assuming identities of famous people. One of the three key tasks, Flash Points, generated more lengthy dialogue than other techniques (i.e., Arctic Alerts and Questions to Explorers). Analysis of the forms of learning assistance provided to students indicated that mentor electronic interactions with students typically involved feedback, questioning, and cognitive structuring of the lesson or activity; however, minimal task structuring, direct instruction, and modeling of how to interact occurred. Whereas most student questions to explorers about envir onmental issues or expedition activities were lower-level knowledge and comprehension queries, many also were at the evaluation level. Despite the restricted assistance and limited student questioning, student role-taking activities within their environmental discussions enhanced the degree of perspective-taking exhibited in their conversations. Examining these interaction patterns, forms of mentor assistance, levels of questioning, and degrees of perspective-taking provides new insights into the impact of electronic communication on student learning when role playing, though many questions remain.     

Film Books

Akira Kurosawa, SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982---$15.00)

Joseph McBride, HAWKS ON HAWKS (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982---$14.95/$6.95)

Ruth McCormick's (trans.) FASSBINDER(New York: Tanem Press, 1981---$15.95/$7.95)

“Twayne's Theatrical Arts Series”

G.K. Hall “Reference Publications in Film” series (Boston: G.K. Hall, l981---prices shown below)

Michael Haley, THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK ALBUM (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981---$17.95)

James Curtis, BETWEEN FLOPS: A BIOGRAPHY OF PRESTON STURGES (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982---$15.95)     

The Impact of Internal Labor Markets on Newspaper Industry Personnel Practices

Media industries in the United States have consolidated significantly in the second half of the last century. One consequence of the consolidation is a restructuring of the way the industries construct and access their labor markets. As the media group integrates or even coordinates the hiring of personnel, the Internal Labor Market can be expanded to cover all or major parts of the media company. Creation of what is termed here an Extended Internal Labor Market has the potential to alter personnel practices in the group.

This article tested this expectation in one specific area, the hiring of and investment in journalists, for one type of media, the daily newspaper industry. One indicant of quality hiring is the location and employment of journalists who are members of racial or ethnic minority groups. It was predicted in this article that daily newspapers that are part of an optimally configured Extended Internal Labor Market would be more likely to hire minority journalists than other newspapers. These newspapers also were expected to be more likely to value professional development of their journalists, and to provide encouragement for their journalists to engage in both internal and external training activities.

The data are generally consistent with the hypotheses. The size of the company plays an important role in understanding the relationships.     

Update on Journal Impact Ratings in Communication: 2006–2008

Bibliometric data indexed through the Institute for Scientific Information were analyzed for 45 communication journals. Several measures were included to identify the most widely cited journals in the field, including (a) journal impact factor, (b) five-year journal impact, (c) article influence, and (d) journal relatedness. Results serve to expand on findings by Feeley (2008 Feeley , T. H. ( 2008 ). A bibliometric analysis of communication journals from 2002 to 2005 . Human Communication Research , 34 , 505 – 520 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) with respect to overall and within-field influence of communication journals whose analysis covered 2002 through 2005 and 19 journals. Results indicate stability in journal impact ratings over time and several journals (e.g., Communication Research, Human Communication Research, Journal of Communication, Communication Monographs, and Communication Theory) are highly central in the communication journal citation network.     

Collaborating with Nonlibrary Faculty for Assessment and Improved Instruction

ABSTRACT

Collaboration with other entities and individuals has long been a standard practice of libraries. Typically, these collaborations seek to reduce redundancies, save money, and support educational and research efforts. However, a new model of collaboration exists that both assists discipline-specific research practices and informs library procedures. This article reviews two collaborations between an assessment librarian and a sociology class. The collaborations are unique because the library is the focus of the collaboration, with sociology students being able to apply classroom learning in a real-world setting. Several suggestions are provided for best practices when endeavoring to use this type of collaboration to inform library practice and engage students in hands-on learning.