Imagining a profession: a beginning teacher's story of isolation

Policy documents informing the profession of teaching in Australia and elsewhere explicitly recommend nurturing those new to the profession working collaboratively with colleagues. Key to the development and growth of beginning teachers is the informal exchange of ideas and knowledge between colleagues – essentially through the functioning of a community of practice. In practice there are beginning teachers who do not experience productive professional collaborations. In this article we use positioning theory and discourse analysis as a methodological “hearing aid” to listen to the story of a beginning teacher, a global English speaker, as she tells of her personal experiences of being excluded by her colleagues as she begins teaching at her first school. Speakers of global English are defined, for this research, as those for whom English is not their first language but may be one of many spoken languages. This story reflects similar accounts gathered during a larger research study conducted by the authors that focused on the early career experiences of global English speaking teachers. We conclude with suggestions for ways forward through awareness and practical reforms.     

“Pretty Darned Cold”: Single Mother Students and the Community College Climate in Post-Welfare Reform America

Feminist analyses of the “chilly climate” have documented the ways in which women have been and continue to be marginalized within institutions of higher education. Yet there has been little attention to the relationship between the “chilly climate” and the lived experiences of particular populations in specific educational settings. This article attends to that relationship and draws on a two-year ethnographic study that focused on single mothers attending a community college in the Midwestern United States. Situating their experiences within the particulars of post-welfare reform America and the dynamics of the institution they attend, I argue that the educational climate these women face is particularly chilly, something that is evident in the various attitudes, practices, and policies they encounter in their interactions with faculty, staff, and other students. In addition to analyzing the ways in which the “chilly climate” influences both academic and social aspects of single mother students' experiences, I offer specific suggestions for ways in which colleges and universities can create a more welcoming and supportive environment for members of this particular student population.     

Him Too? Cristiano Ronaldo and the News Coverage of a Rape Case Allegation

ABSTRACT

This paper uses critical thematic analysis to explore the news media coverage of a rape allegation case against the football player Cristiano Ronaldo. After providing the context of the case, we examine the literature on how rape cases are represented by the news media. We then proceed to a critical thematic analysis of a purposive sample of Portuguese national newspapers, first identifying ten sub-themes in a total of 140 news stories and opinion columns and then considering the patterns of three critical themes that tended to dismiss the allegations, highlight the seriousness of the allegations and neutralize sexual victimization. Each of these considers prevailing ideologies, news values and journalistic practices.     

Graduate Design Education: The Case for an Accretive Model

In 2008 the University of Melbourne began implementation of the Melbourne Model, its new vision for higher education in Australia. Six broad undergraduate university degrees have been introduced and graduate schools created. Students may now progress from an undergraduate generalist degree, with major, to a professional Masters. Alternatively, graduate lateral entry is available for students to pursue a professional qualification without prior preparation. This acceleration has significant implications for design studio teaching. Students with no design background but with an undergraduate degree are now able to study architecture or landscape architecture in just three years, compared to the previous four‐to six‐year undergraduate degrees. This article reviews and analyses the outcomes of an ‘accretive’ design studio (Christie 2002) devised for beginning Masters students which attempts to translate a new mandate of ‘acceleration’ into design pedagogy. Analysis of student focus groups, together with the work produced, revealed not only the value of the accretive model in delivering a cohesive understanding of the design process and a student engagement that exceeds the outcomes of traditional design studio but also highlights the value of an immediate immersion into a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). We argue that immersion, as distinct from conventional educational models which position education as ‘training’ for a future participation in a discipline, is central to any acceleration model, serving to position students as active definers of the discipline rather than passive observers and thereby increasing ownership of their learning experience.     

Towards an understanding of technical change in semi-industrialized countries

Contrary to canventional wisdom, semi-industrialized countries engage, to an appreciable extent, in R&D activities leading to technical change. Much of their technical change activity consists of adaptation of foreign technology to local inputs and market preferences, and is carried out in response to contraints and distortions prevailing in their economies. Moreover, in this context, limited consideration is given to cost reduction, since the main objective is to manufacture under protection and technical change becomes a complementary response to the productive effort.A key factor in the ability to engage in such technical change activities is the availability of technically competent manpower, including scientists, engineers and technicians. At the same time, previous investment in the formation of such technical skills may result in an “excessive” supply of skilled labor, which , coupled with import constraints, will induce eexcessive adaptation of machinery and equipment and may deter from the importaion of new technology embodied in such equipment. Conversely, a pronounced scarcity of technicl skills may impade the adaptation of technology and result in excessive importantion of machinery and limit local efforts of modification, adaptation, etc.Because of the eay technical change is generated, it does not necessarily follow that it is all cases beneficial to the national economies of the countries in which it takes place. However, proper cost benefit accounting of the social returns to technical change activities is complicated by the intractable nature of many of the indirect and secondary effects, like learning from the R&D, or the impact of adaptation to domestic inputs in the development of local suppliers, etc. Also, th interdependencies between technical change and production and between various technical change activities are little understood.conventionall economic theory has contributed little to the understanding of the technical development process. The analysis of technical change in terms of the market failure metaphor, while providing useful insights, is also not very as far as understanding the problem of not very helpful as far as understanding the problem of technical change in semi-industrialized countries is concerned, since the roles of uncertainty and externalities in that situation are quite different from those foreseen in the market failure analysis for industrializerd countries. Special attention should be given to the possible application of the metaphor in trying to improve our understanding of the problems arising in the use of technical information and not only its creation. This would be particularly helpful in connection with the technical development problems of small enterprises not enjoying the benefits of the devesion of labor which are possible in larger firms.     

Is fluency‐based story retell a good indicator of reading comprehension?

This study examined the reliability and validity of scores on a fluency‐based measure of reading comprehension. The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; 6th ed. revised) Retell Fluency (RTF), Oral Reading Fluency (DORF), and Woodcock Johnson III NU Tests of Achievement (WJ‐III NU ACH) Reading Comprehension measures were administered to fourth‐grade students. Results indicated a large difference between real time and recorded retell fluency scores for each passage. In addition, students' retell fluency scores had a low correlation with their reading comprehension scores. In light of these findings, practitioners may want to exercise caution in using fluency‐based story‐retell scores as a measure of reading comprehension. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The self‐concepts and perceived competencies of gifted and non‐gifted students: a meta‐analysis

The current meta‐analysis compares the self‐concepts and perceived competencies of gifted and non‐gifted students. Using meta‐analytic methods to synthesise the results of 40 studies, we found that gifted students scored significantly higher than non‐gifted students on measures of academic and behavioural perceived competence, as well as global self‐concept. Gifted students scored significantly lower than non‐gifted students on measures of appearance and athletic perceived competence. Significant heterogeneity was found in the extent to which gifted and non‐gifted students' scores differed in the academic and global domains. Moderator variables such as participant grade level, method of gifted designation and publication year accounted for systematic differences in these domains. Gifted students' appearance and athletic perceived competencies may benefit from specific intervention, but their beliefs in other areas remain positive.     

An assessment arms race and its fallout: high-stakes grading and the case for slow scholarship

This research questions the impact of assessment on university teaching and learning in circumstances where all student work is graded. Sixty-two students and lecturers were interviewed to explore their experiences of assessment at an institution that had adopted a modular course structure and largely unregulated numbers of internal assessments. Lecturers rewarded student work with grades and controlled study behaviour with assessment. In some situations it was possible to experience hundreds of graded assessments in an academic year. Students were single-minded when it came to grades and would not work without them. These conditions contributed to competition for student attention and a grading arms race between academics and subjects. In this context, the spaces for achieving certain educational objectives, such as fostering self-motivated learners, were marginalised. Both students and lecturers were unsatisfied with this situation, but neither group could envisage radical change. Students were generally happy to accumulate small marks, while being irritated and stressed by frequent grading. Lecturers were aware of better practices but felt trapped by circumstances. The idea of slow scholarship is introduced to encourage a re-think of such assessment practices, support a positive shift in assessment culture and contribute to the theories of assessment.     

Building commitment: an examination of learning climate congruence and the affective commitment of academics in an Australian university

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between learning climate congruence and the affective commitment of university academics. The strategy of inquiry for this research is quantitative, involving a non-experimental design for the survey research. A non-probability sample of 900 academics from a large Australian university was selected, with a response rate of 30.33%. The major conclusion drawn from this study was that the congruence between current and preferred learning climate was related to the affective commitment of university academics. More specifically, academics’ level of affective commitment was enhanced in a learning climate where they were encouraged to take risks, had plenty of time to learn new tasks and were encouraged to openly express their ideas and opinions. This study is important in a practical sense for academic managers and universities to build relationships and develop better connections with their academics.     

Quasi-stiffness of the knee joint in flexion and extension during the golf swing

Biomechanical understanding of the knee joint during a golf swing is essential to improve performance and prevent injury. In this study, we quantified the flexion/extension angle and moment as the primary knee movement, and evaluated quasi-stiffness represented by moment–angle coupling in the knee joint. Eighteen skilled and 23 unskilled golfers participated in this study. Six infrared cameras and two force platforms were used to record a swing motion. The anatomical angle and moment were calculated from kinematic and kinetic models, and quasi-stiffness of the knee joint was determined as an instantaneous slope of moment–angle curves. The lead knee of the skilled group had decreased resistance duration compared with the unskilled group (P < 0.05), and the resistance duration of the lead knee was lower than that of the trail knee in the skilled group (P < 0.01). The lead knee of the skilled golfers had greater flexible excursion duration than the trail knee of the skilled golfers, and of both the lead and trail knees of the unskilled golfers. These results provide critical information for preventing knee injuries during a golf swing and developing rehabilitation strategies following surgery.