"Mother isn't quite herself today:" myth and spectacle in The Matrix

In contrast with critics who interpret The Matrix by focusing primarily on either the film's dazzling visual effects or on its more fragmented “second coming” narrative, we work within the tension between the two. As a myth, the film updates an ancient initiation ritual in which the hero matures into a character capable of freeing humanity from its technological mirror image, represented here as a false mother. As a spectacle, however, the typically beneficial influence of feminine eroticism is displaced from women into the special effects, thereby diluting the impact of the narrative. The Matrix is, we believe, caught in this tension just as postmodern humanity is caught between its attraction to and its repulsion from its own technological extensions.     

Restorative justice in schools: a New Zealand example

Background Many responses to students whose behaviour is considered unacceptable at school fail because they treat young people as isolated individuals and do not operate in the context of the community of people who know and care about them. In some parts of the world there is a move towards exploring how to support such students by moving away from retributive justice and the primacy of assigning blame and punishment to an alternative means of preventing, managing and controlling behaviour by establishing partnerships with students' home communities. One such approach is restorative justice.

Purpose To examine how the process of restorative justice can make a positive response to unacceptable behaviour.

Design and methods This paper draws together some of the literature associated with this approach, with a case example of restorative justice in action. It illustrates how community norms and values can help to encourage more socially appropriate behaviour. This example comes from a New Zealand Māori context and an intervention undertaken with ‘Wiremu’, a young man whose behaviour was of concern at home, in school and in the local neighbourhood.

Results The intervention operated through traditional Māori protocols to shift the focus away from those affected by Wiremu's actions, and from Wiremu himself, on to the whole community in order to focus on ‘putting things right’ between all those involved in the wrongdoing. It shows how traditional community conflict resolution processes were able to address and resolve tension, make justice visible and more productive, and support the restoration of harmony between Wiremu, those upset by his wrong-doing and the collective.

Conclusions Introducing restorative practices in schools is not straightforward. It requires considerable forethought and prior planning, negotiation and deliberation. Restorative justice requires that schools do not own or completely control the process, but have to learn to be responsive to families and local voluntary community groups who are, potentially, important sources of additional support for schools in addressing student behaviour that is seen as problematic.     

The Challenging Role of a Reading Coach,a Cautionary Tale

The purpose of this case study is to describe the challenges one coach faced during the initial implementation of a coaching initiative involving 33 teachers in an urban, high-poverty elementary school. Reading coaches are increasingly expected to play a key role in the professional development efforts to improve reading instruction in order to improve reading achievement for struggling readers. Data sources included initial reading scores for kindergarten and first-graders, pretest and posttest scores of teachers' knowledge, a teacher survey, focus group interviews, project documents, and field notes. Data were analyzed using a mixed methods approach. Findings revealed several challenges that have important implications for research and practice: that teachers encountered new information about teaching early reading that conflicted with their current knowledge, this new information conflicted with their core reading program, teachers had differing perceptions of the role of the reading coach that affected their feelings about the project, and reform efforts are time-intensive.     

The New Norm: Community Colleges to Deal with Recessionary Fallout

Since the beginning of the Great Recession, many community colleges have experienced significant declines in state revenue, increases in enrollment, higher tuition, and flat or declining state student aid. These conditions have also occurred in an environment of heightened accountability with pressure to advance a student success agenda and to meet workforce training needs. Findings from the annual survey of state community college directors conducted by the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama, in partnership with Iowa State University and The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, show that the majority of state directors feel states are moving toward a privatized model of higher education and that structural deficits exist in state budgets disadvantaging community colleges. The concern is that these and other related findings demonstrate a situation that may not improve as the nation climbs out of recession; this situation is creating a new norm in community college funding.     

Call me teacher: the quest of new teachers

This narrative inquiry presents the experiences of a group of 10 new primary teachers grappling with relationships in the social context of their school environment during their first year of teaching. Their lived experiences are plotted together in the story of Gemma to provide one insight into the emotional dimension of attaining the identity of a real teacher in schools with individualistic cultures. Readers can add their stories to enrich interpretations of the text, extending the collaborative process beyond this group, to understand the difficulties faced by some new teachers motivated to say ‘call me teacher’. The paper concludes with a plea to take account of the emotional needs, as well as the professional development needs, of new teachers in the induction process by differentiating induction procedures and raising awareness of the different cultures experienced by new teachers during their placement as they strive to attain a positive identity.     

Supporting Induction: Relationships count

This article examines the structural changes to the induction of teachers in Scotland using the perceptions of a group of final year student teachers. This group would be the first probationer teachers to experience revised arrangements for new teacher induction in 37 years. Their preferences and concerns are highlighted, as the new procedures roll out in schools nationwide, in an attempt to stress the importance of relationships to the success of the induction scheme. The argument put forward in this article is based on the notion that personal intelligence is central to effective relationships and therefore crucially important in the context of this mentoring relationship. The views of our sample provide evidence to suggest that the quality of interactions between the mentor and the probationer teacher are paramount in providing a good induction experience. These views are substantiated by experiences in England and in induction literature elsewhere. A synthesis of this evidence is used to make recommendations for those involved in supporting induction in schools, local authorities or teacher education institutions.     

Controlling fruit-shedding in the oil palm

The oil palm is a major factor in the economy of much of South East Asia and maximising the harvest is of major consequence. One important source of loss is the shedding of ripe fruit from the bunches before they reach the factories. Study of the course of abscission reveals unusual processes in the oil palm — and in a few other plantation crops such as dates and coconuts — which suggest practical means of achieving better harvesting regimes and regulation of fruit shedding.     

Financing education for children affected by conflict: Lessons from Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future campaign

In recent years, Save the Children, a non-governmental organization, prioritized education for children affected by conflict through its Rewrite the Future Campaign. By significantly scaling up the resources allocated to programmes in conflict-affected countries, the organization has grown its education programmes in these contexts. Thus it has enabled 1.3 million more children to have access to education and improved the quality of education for more than 10 million. The campaign also had an international impact by analysing and advocating for increases in aid flows to conflict-affected countries. This has made the international community more aware of the need for access to education for children affected by conflict and more willing to ensure it. The article highlights the achievements of Save the Children UK, and the challenges it faces, by looking at funding volumes and sources of funding for country programme activities, along with its international influence on the global funding for countries affected by conflict.