Agonistic democracy and passionate professional development in teacher-leaders

Politicians and policy-makers in education routinely proclaim the centrality of schools and teachers in sustaining and consolidating democracy and democratic society. This article offers an account of teachers engaged in research in their schools and classrooms, with peers and students, so as to highlight the democratic potential of this engagement. In order to do so, it draws on an agonistic account of democracy that is distinct from more familiar liberal or procedural versions. Such an account is characterised by an emphasis on the values of constitutive pluralism, robust contestation and enduring tragedy, where the latter entails recognition of the ineliminable nature of (political) conflict and the inevitability of loss in human life. The teachers involved in this research demonstrated capacities which, it is argued, reflect an agonistic democratic ethos, including: developing the confidence to assume intellectual leadership by asking questions and eliciting and engaging plural perspectives in relation to these questions; engagement in the cut and thrust of research without the expectation of finding any final or perfect solutions; and an acceptance of difference and disagreement as constitutive and constructive elements in rethinking areas of policy and practice. Developing and encouraging these capacities, it is argued, is important in an increasingly authoritarian policy context that threatens the vital links between democracy and education highlighted by Dewey a century ago.     

Moral Outrage and Musical Corruption: White Educators’ Responses to the “Jazz Problem”

More than a musical genre, jazz in the 1920s was viewed by critics and supporters alike as a type of lifestyle, one that frequently led to drinking, dancing, and “petting.” Much to the horror of older generations, white young people were particularly drawn to jazz and its “hot rhythms.” Secondary school teachers and administrators took up the formidable task of persuading youth of jazz's morally corrupting influences. I argue that, in the first half of the decade, such educators instituted curricular and various informal policies designed to replace jazz, universally associated with black musicians, with more “wholesome” European‐originated alternatives. By the latter part of the decade, however, most educators admitted a grudging acceptance of jazz's permanence and abandoned their efforts to convince students of its iniquity.     

Goodness of fit in the home: its relationship to school behavior and achievement in children with learning disabilities

This study examined whether a "goodness of fit" theoretical model, applied to families with and without children with learning disabilities, would be valuable in understanding the children's performance in school. A home interview was conducted with 63 families with a child with learning disabilities and 53 families with a comparable child without learning disabilities. The mothers were asked to rate how their own child fit into the family's expectations for children. It was found that, for both groups of families, children who were rated as a "poor fit" in the home demonstrated less positive behavior in the classroom and poorer achievement over the elementary school years. There was some evidence that poor fit in the home was even more negatively related to outcomes for children with learning disabilities. Discussion is centered on the importance of this theoretical model for understanding the importance of the home on successful school function.     

Session - 3 December 19, 2007 Cardiovascular risk markers - II

Oral Cancer is one of the five leading sites of cancer in Indian population. The circulating immune complexes were investigated in 100 serum samples of 60 oral cancer patients having different grades of the disease and 40 patients with precancerous lesions obtained from Nair Hospital Dental collage, Mumbai. The results obtained were compared with those of group of 40 healthy blood donors. Elevated levels of Circulating Immune Complexes were observed in oral cancer patients and patients with oral precancerous lesions. 92% positive samples were observed in well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma whereas 100% positive samples were observed in both moderately and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Oral leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis showed 15% and 90% positivity respectively. Increased level of Circulating Immune complexes in high grade tumor suggest that Circulating Immune complexes is likely to contribute in evaluating the degree of malignancy, but follow up study is needed to draw any conclusion regarding it's prognostic role     

Was the Transition to the Performance-based Contract at Vocational Schools in Moscow Region Successful?

The goal of our study was to compare the working conditions, salary size, and professional outcomes of teachers at schools that switched to the competitive performance-based (so-called ‘effective’) contract in comparison with teachers at schools that did not switch to this employment framework. The study focused on teachers at 83 vocational secondary schools (VSS) that are subordinate to the Ministry of Education of Moscow Region. We conducted an opinion poll to obtain direct information from teachers. We sent questionnaires consisting of 31 questions to 253 teachers. Of the respondents, 105 were included in the experimental group and 148 were placed in the control group. The results of our study show that teachers who work in organizations that have switched to the effective contract model have a higher subjective assessment of their own financial situation, greater expectations regarding their future income, greater confidence about the compensation plan, and a better opinion of the prestige of the teaching profession than teachers at schools that have not adopted an effective contract. The only parameter that cannot be interpreted as an unambiguously positive result is an increase in the frequency of teacher performance assessments at schools that have adopted an effective contract. It was also possible to establish the existence of a moderate relationship between the individual nature of the employment contract and the level of trust that teachers have in their compensation plan. In addition, we established another moderate relationship between informedness and the level of trust that teachers place in their compensation plan. Thus, we can recommend implementing the performance-based contract model at all VSS in the Moscow Region, because it has a positive impact on the immaterial motivation and financial position of teachers. By conducting additional measures to increase teachers’ informedness about effective contracts, we can increase their level of trust in them.