How speechreading contributes to reading in a transparent ortography: the case of Spanish deaf people

The aim of the study is to describe the performance of deaf and hearing people while speechreading Spanish, a language with transparent orthography, and to relate this skill to reading efficiency. Three groups of 27 participants each were recruited: a group of deaf participants, a chronological age‐matched hearing group and a reading age‐matched hearing group. All three were tested on vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading speed, speechreading and, only in the group of deaf people, speech intelligibility. The results indicate that deaf people are better speechreaders than younger hearing people, but they are no better than their age‐matched peers, and that speechreading is related to reading only in deaf people.     

Teacher education,graduates’ teaching commitment and entrance into the teaching profession

This study aimed to gain insight into the relationship between teacher education and graduating teachers (not) starting in the teaching profession (n=209). Predictor variables referred to teacher education, integration into teaching, and teaching commitment. To examine interrelationships between these variables, factors were also interlinked to test a theoretical model of graduates’ teaching commitment. Results reveal that graduates’ teaching commitment is strongly related to their entrance into the teaching profession. Furthermore, the perception of mentor teachers’ evaluative support is directly related to teaching commitment and other variables (e.g. faculty support, type of teacher training) are indirectly related through the mediation with graduates’ teacher efficacy and professional orientation.     

Enhancing teachers’ self-efficacy within full-service schools: a disregarded aspect by the District-Based Support Team

Teachers’ sense of self-efficacy is crucial for the success of implementation of inclusive education in schools. The Education White paper 6 mandated the District-Based Support Teams (DBSTs) to successfully support teachers to feel more equipped and be competent in their roles to address barriers to learning, which consequently will experience positive self-efficacy beliefs. The purpose of this article is to explore the competencies of the DBST in enhancing teachers’ sense of self-efficacy within Full-Service schools. Data were generated by means of interviews using a qualitative approach. Members of the DBST and teachers from the Full-Service schools in two provinces of South Africa participated in this research. The findings revealed that certain factors such as incompetent leadership, inefficient support, unavailability of structured programmes as well as poor communication and cooperation disable DBSTs with respect to enhancing teachers’ sense of self-efficacy in various ways. The authors recommend that by addressing these factors teachers’ sense of self-efficacy will be enhanced.     

A Teaching-Learning Sequence of Colour Informed by History and Philosophy of Science

In this work, we present a teaching-learning sequence on colour intended to a pre-service elementary teacher programme informed by History and Philosophy of Science. Working in a socio-constructivist framework, we made an excursion on the history of colour. Our excursion through history of colour, as well as the reported misconception on colour helps us to inform the constructions of the teaching-learning sequence. We apply a questionnaire both before and after each of the two cycles of action-research in order to assess students’ knowledge evolution on colour and to evaluate our teaching-learning sequence. Finally, we present a discussion on the persistence of deep-rooted alternative conceptions.     

Students’ interests for personalized learning: an analysis guide

The lack of alignment between, on the one hand, what schools seek to teach and, on the other, the students’ interests and learning objectives is leading to increasing numbers of students who are unable to derive meaning from school activities. Personalized learning strategies represent one of the most powerful ways to help students attribute meaning and personal value to their learning. This paper has two interrelated objectives. The first is to present a guide to the analysis of educational practices that work with and from students’ interests. This tool makes it possible to identify the potential of practices to reinforce and promote the meaning and personal value that students attach to their school learning. The guide is structured around three large blocks (personalization strategies, conceptions of interests, and design and development of practices), which describe the dimensions, subdimensions, questions, and levels for the analysis. The second objective is to illustrate use of the guide by analyzing two practices designed and implemented in primary school classrooms, characterized by a focus on students’ learning interests. The paper concludes by highlighting the main contributions of the guide presented, identifying some limitations, and pointing to future lines of research.

     

Towards an understanding of the shaping of research outcomes by contextual issues: reflections on the contributions of the ReMath project

In this paper, we react to Lagrange and Kynigos’s contribution to this special issue, in which they present some of their experiences from two cross-case studies in the ReMath project (associated respectively with the use of two dynamic digital artefacts, Casyopée and Cruislet). They described how the project, which involved teams from three different countries (France, Italy and Greece), working in different conditions and relying on different theoretical approaches, was structured in order to address the role played by contextual characteristics. We consider how the ReMath approach of using cross-studies, and especially the inclusion of a cross-analysis phase, served to identify particularities associated with designing and implementing mathematics learning scenarios using digital tools. In their discussion of the process of re-contextualising, one of the factors which appears to have been particularly influential in shaping research activities was theoretical framework and they show how this factor both influences and is influenced by institutional and cultural characteristics. To further explore some of the other important contextual factors they pinpoint, such as the role and engagement of teachers, student characteristics and issues related to the empirical settings, we reflect upon the processes of re-contextualisation that we could identify in our own research.     

Painting Hinemihi by numbers: Peoples-based conservation and the paint analysis of Hinemihi's carvings

This study describes the analysis of paint samples from carvings belonging to Hinemihi, the Maori meeting house, Clandon Park, Surrey, UK. The assessment of physical evidence contained within Hinemihi's built fabric (along with historiographic research of archival sources and oral histories) has formed a key part of the information gathering process during the current conservation project. The production of such data provides an opportunity for a dialogue that is essential for effective decision-making within participatory conservation projects. From this, it is evident that the use of paint analysis, in deciding the eventual painted scheme for a restored Hinemihi, is settled within a broader dialogue about the conception, use, and management of Hinemihi as a Maori cultural centre, as built heritage, and as an object of conservation. Therefore, the value of material analysis is considered in relation to the potential that this information has to engage a community of users in designing an effective conservation response that seeks to balance the opportunities and constraints of the cultural and physical landscapes that surround Hinemihi and Clandon Park.     

Extended school non-attenders’ views: developing best practice

Despite the abundance of legislation and research initiatives concerning children’s participation in decision-making, there is less research in this area with regard to extended school non-attenders. Using semi-structured interviews, this research explores how the views of children and their families who have experienced school non-attendance can be incorporated into best practice within an Educational Psychology Service in the UK. Analysis of the interviews revealed the highly complex nature of school non-attendance and how the interrelating factors behind it have been somewhat lost due to the current medical approach. The rhetoric surrounding this use of the label “school refuser” was also examined.     

The Economic Dimension of the Culture and Leisure Industry in Spain: National, Sectoral and Regional Analysis

This article analyses the economic dimension of a set of activities groupedunder the heading, Culture and Leisure Industry, from three complementaryperspectives: national (Spain), sectoral and regional. Particular emphasis isplaced on determining the value added generated by this industry and itscontribution to the Gross Domestic Product – 4.5% – as wellas showing its level of employment both in absolute terms and as a percentageof the number of employees in the economy – 7.8%. This is apioneer project; studies in this field on either a national or internationalscale are scarce. The study demonstrates that the cultural sector is aproductive activity generating wealth in Spain. However, a high degree ofheterogeneity is found at both the sectoral and regional levels. Economicactivity is led by Performing, Musical and Audiovisual Arts (mainlyTelevision) and Publishing and Printing, which jointly account for about70% of sales and gross value added, and it is concentrated in similarproportions in developed regions specialized in service industries, Madrid andCatalonia, where most culture and leisure activities are available.