Examining gender similarity and mentor’s supervisory status in mentoring relationships

This study examined the influence of mentor’s status (supervisor vs. non‐supervisor) and gender similarity (homogeneous vs. diversified) of mentor–protégé dyads on protégé’s perception of mentoring functions and outcomes. We collected and analyzed data from 217 mentor–protégé dyads comprised of working professionals from a variety of industries. Results of MANCOVA indicated that supervisory mentors provided more career development functions than non‐supervisory mentors. Mentor–protégé gender similarity and mentor’s supervisory status interacted to influence psychosocial support, career development, and career satisfaction. Key findings are discussed in terms of implications for future research and career counseling in industry and education.     

Reports on Books

This paper offers a case study of Rhyddings School as it rethinks its approach to school planning. It provides a critique of existing practice before outlining and developing a new framework for planning in the school. In evaluating a new model of planning, it provides a set of 'implications for schools' as a means of reviewing key aspects of the new model.     

The experience of receiving and then losing a scholarship: a tracer study of secondary school scholarship recipients in Uganda

This study reports findings of a tracer that investigated differences in the profile and subsequent experiences of scholarship recipients in Uganda who were able to complete the lower secondary school cycle (O level) without interruption (N = 174) and those that dropped out before completing their O-level cycle (N = 51), thereby losing their scholarship. Findings indicate that the scholarship programme had important positive impacts on all participants, even if they were unable to complete their O level. Moreover, scholarships had a multiplier effect; they had positive impacts on recipients' siblings, parents, and neighbours. When scholarship recipients did drop out, the most prevalent causes were poverty, pregnancy, and poor performance. However, even the modest amounts of education these dropouts received changed the course of their lives in positive ways.     

Incentive Pay Programs

An attempt was made to formulate a theoretical framework of leadership forces in school organisations, which includes bureaucratic linkage, cultural linkage, tight coupling and loose coupling. Two instruments, the School Values Inventory (SVI) and the Teachers' School Life Questionnaire (TSLQ), were created and developed for this study to assess the administrative values espoused by principals and teachers' feelings about school life. Based on data collected from 1395 teachers from a randomly selected sample of 39 secondary schools in Hong Kong, the four scales of leadership forces in secondary schools were confirmed. Findings show that cultural linkage and loose coupling were the most effective leadership forces to bind people together within schools, tight coupling the next, but the use of bureaucratic linkage was controversial.     

The development of beginning mathematics teacher pedagogical content knowledge

Recent research efforts (Schmidt et al. in The preparation gap: teacher education for middle school mathematics in six countries, MSU Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education, 2007) demonstrate that teacher development programs in high-performing countries offer experiences that are designed to develop both mathematical knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. However, identifying the nature of the mathematical knowledge and the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) required for effective teaching remains elusive (Ball et al. in J Teacher Educ 59:389–407, 2008). Building on the initial conceptual framework of Magnusson et al. (Examining pedagogical content knowledge, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 95–132, 1999), we examined the PCK development for two beginning middle and secondary mathematics teachers in an alternative certification program. The PCK development of these two individuals varied due to their focus on developing particular aspects of their PCK, with one individual focusing on assessment and student understanding, and the other individual focusing on curricular knowledge. Our findings indicate that these individuals privileged particular aspects of their knowledge, leading to differences in their PCK development. This study provides insight into the specific aspects of PCK that developed through the course of actual instructional practice, providing a lens for future research in this area.     

Bodies That Matter: Transgenderism,innocence and the politics of 'unprofessional' pedagogy

This article deals with the issue of including gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) themed materials in school curricula. It is argued not only that such materials should be included but also that the more radical notion of 'positive systematic inclusion' should be followed. Positive systematic inclusion requires the positive portrayal of GLB persons in the curriculum and prohibits teachers, at least in the early school years, from expressing opinions against homosexuality. Using a recent critique of this position provided in Sex Education by John Beck as a foil, the author argues that positive systematic inclusion is required by and promotes the liberal democratic tradition. Furthermore, positive systematic inclusion represents the radicalization of the liberal democratic tradition necessary to respond adequately to legitimate criticisms from postmodernists.     

THE ORTHODOX DAY SCHOOL AND ITS NONOBSERVANT POPULATION

Many of Canada's day schools¹ are experiencing a phenomenon whereby only 10 to 20 percent of their student populations reflect the school's Orthodox ideology. This ratio of observant to nonobservant is also an accurate estimate of their parent population. Yet, virtually all Canadian senior high schools² and many elementary schools of similar populations remain Orthodox in their philosophies. Such a situation can present schools and parent bodies with a variety of dilemmas: Parents are often not aware of Jewish educational goals; children are more educated than their parents; there is little parental support to many school values (eg. kashrut, Shabbat, etc.); some school values are discouraged; and parent/school tensions can result out of a lack of understanding. Such schools as Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto,³ Herzilia Academy of Montreal,⁴ and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate of Winnipeg⁵ all must address this issue since the observant population is a minority in their systems. Consequently, a significant percentage of their students do not subscribe to their school's philosophy. This situation is not unique in Canada. Many Orthodox day schools see their original mandate as increasing Torah awareness of all their pupils in the communities they serve.