The earth and beyond: developing primary teachers' understanding of basic astronomical events

The demands on the primary school teacher in delivering the National Curriculum in England and Wales at Key Stage 2 (KS 2) for children aged 7‐11 years are considerable. Public debate concerning teacher subject knowledge and understanding, particularly in science, has raised the issue of the need for increased specialism in the primary school. A core element of this debate has focused on how to develop teacher subject knowledge for the effective delivery of the Programme of Study (POS) at KS 2 for practising teachers. This has resulted in the increased provision of in‐service courses in higher education and has also impacted significantly on course content in initial teacher training. This paper relates to the ‘The Earth and Beyond’ POS exploring factors which contribute to developing teachers’ understanding of basic astronomical events. Results indicate that providing teachers with the necessary skills and confidence to teach this aspect of science effectively is much more complex than simply explicating science content knowledge. The findings suggest that what is needed is the explicit recognition of key features in supporting learning. These are identified and the implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Additional support needs reforms and social justice in Scotland

New additional support‐needs legislation in Scotland sought to recognise the way in which poverty, as well as individual impairment, contribute to the creation of children's difficulties in learning. As well as identifying a wider range of needs, the legislation sought to provide parents, irrespective of social background, with more powerful means of challenging local authority decisions on resource allocation, with the aim of delivering a fairer system. This paper uses Scottish Government statistics and family case studies drawn from an ESRC‐funded project (RES‐062‐23‐0803) to examine the links between social deprivation, the identification of additional support needs and parents' ability to use the new dispute resolution mechanisms. There is a strong association between the identification of additional support needs and social deprivation and this is particularly marked in relation to non‐normative difficulties, such as social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, compared with normative difficulties such as blindness and deafness. Statutory educational plans, which provide greater rights to additional resources and formal dispute resolution mechanisms, are disproportionately distributed to parents in more advantaged neighbourhoods. Parents from middle‐class backgrounds appear to be able to use their social and cultural capital more effectively to challenge local authority decisions. The paper concludes that some funding for additional support needs should be allocated on the basis of social deprivation, but there continues to be a need for the assessment and resourcing of individual needs, since poverty has material consequences for individual children, whose difficulties may be overlooked if an entirely systemic approach is adopted. There is a need for greater investment in advocacy service to enable parents from poorer backgrounds to exercise their rights.     

Action Research in Education,in the Era of Liquid Modernity[1]

In the post-Franco context of the 1960s in Spain, we asked ourselves what type of changes were necessary for the teaching profession to respond to the demands of a democratic society. This article reflects the discourse developed over many years within the personal experience of one of those young people who received John Elliott's seminal work back at that time and their intellectual influence in the years since. It is concerned to see to what extent action research makes sense in education, within the context of the cultural change we are immersed in today. The debate about who rules the change can be reformulated today again within the socio-political and cultural context of the present moment of modernity. But the paradox of the change dilemmas cannot be resolved, but constitute the essence of action research; they are its justification. It is argued that a central feature of this new state of modernity is the recognition of uncertainty and deliberation is seen as a basic means to face it. While the structure of the systems tends to reproduce through different means the conventional model of dual systems and professional models based on technical rationality, educational discourse very often emphasises the discourse which emerged in the new age of liquid modernity. This contradiction leads to three possible scenarios, each with important practical consequences on curricular development, on teaching professionalism and on the type of research required. Each of these is considered.     

Cocreation of Knowledge: Roles of Coresearchers in Research Teams

This paper provides insight into how school-based research teams and external researchers conceptualize and act in their roles as coresearchers. The observations and experiences of school-based and external research team members and lead researchers provided the data for this paper. All were Queensland-based educators involved in researching the effect of a three-year school revitalization process on improved school practice.     

Changes in the Youth Labour Market, 1974‐1981

The paper uses time series data constructed from the annual General Household Survey to examine the impact of increasing qualifications, rising unemployment and growing government intervention on the labour market experiences of young people in Great Britain from 1974 to 1981. The data show that for those not continuing in full‐time education the rise in qualifications has been at the lower levels only. For young males growing unemployment after 1979 was associated with a loss of jobs at all skill levels, but the proportion in skilled manual jobs fell steadily throughout the period. For females growing unemployment was associated in the early part of the period with a loss of skilled white collar jobs and in the later part with a loss of less skilled jobs. The decline in the proportion in skilled jobs was particularly marked for the unqualified. While falling unemployment in 1978/79 brought more skilled jobs for 16‐year‐olds, including the unqualified, older teenagers gained only a rise in the proportion in less skilled jobs. Since 1979 the qualifications of young people in skilled manual occupations have risen faster than in other occupation groups. Some implications of these trends are discussed.     

From playing to investigating: research in an Interactive Science Centre for primary pupils

Observations of primary pupils in a small Interactive Science Centre are analysed using a new model of play, practice and problem solving derived from a range of literature. It is shown from pupils’ activities, comments and reflections some time later that the transition from the characteristics of play is quite sharp and depends on the reduction of instruction density. Observations of slower learners at the Centre helps to identify two, possibly successive, features of this creative phase in the activities.     

Introduction: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Special Education

A critical issue facing the field of education is the need to improve teachers' preparation to effectively manage student behavior in the classroom. Many pre- and in-service teachers receive exposure to evidence-based behavioral interventions, such as schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports, during teacher preparation programs; however, face-to-face instructional time is always at a premium given the range of learning experiences that must be acquired prior to licensure. Consequently, many educators begin their careers without strong classroom management skills, which has many unfortunate consequences, including the decision for some to leave the field within the first three to five years. In this study, we evaluated content acquisition podcasts based on validated instructional design principles. We focused on determining the extent to which preservice teachers could learn core information related to schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports using a short multimedia vignette compared to students who learned content using traditional methods (e.g., reading and note taking). Results show students who learned by watching content acquisition podcasts significantly outperformed students who had unlimited time to read a chapter on SW-PBIS and had access to other learning materials on a test of knowledge related to schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports. Implications for practice and future research are presented.