Race and sex: teachers' views on who gets ahead in schools?

The research reported here was part of a large study of the impact of age, disability, race and sex on the teaching profession in England. The basic question asked in this research was how do these factors interact with career aspirations and achievements of classteachers, promoted teachers and headteachers? There were three different data sources: a large postal survey drawn from diverse geographic regions across England with over 2000 respondents; face‐to‐face individual interviews with over 100 teachers in 18 case study schools from across all of the main regions of England; discussions with special interest groups of teachers. Not surprisingly, the answer to the above question was complex. Nonetheless, the paper's conclusion highlights some of the noteworthy themes across this broad sample of teachers from primary, secondary and special schools.

Les travaux de recherche décris dans cet article ont fait partie d'une large étude sur l'impact de l'age, des handicaps, de l'origine ethnique et du genre sur les professions de l'enseignement. L'une des questions abordées dans cette recherche était de savoir comment ces facteurs interagissaient avec les aspirations professionnelles et les carrières des enseignants, administratifs et chefs d'établissement. Trois principales sources d'information ont été utilisées: un sondage par courrier de plus de 2000 personnes, couvrant différentes régions géographiques de l'Angleterre; des entretiens individuels avec une centaine d'enseignants de 18 écoles cibles, reparties sur les principales régions de l'Angleterre; des discussions avec des groupes de travail d'enseignants. De manière non surprenante, la réponse à la question ci‐dessus s'est avérée complexe. Néanmoins, cet article met en évidence un ensemble de thèmes significatifs à travers ce large groupe d'enseignants issus du primaire, du secondaire et d'institutions spécialisées.

La investigación que se presenta aquí formó parte de un largo estudio sobre el impacto que tenía la edad, discapacidad, diferencias de etnia y género en la profesión de maestro en Inglaterra. Una de las principales cuestiones a contestar en la presente investigación fue cómo estos factores interactúan en las aspiraciones profesionales de maestros, jefes del departamento y directores, se presentan en este artículo. Hubo tres principales fuentes de datos. Estas incluían: una amplia encuesta por correo la cual tuvo en cuenta diversas regiones de la geografía de Inglaterra, con cerca de unas 2000 personas encuestadas; entrevistas individuales cara a cara a unos 100 maestros en 18 estudios de casos de escuelas a través de todas las principales regiones de Inglaterra; y discusiones con grupos interesantes de maestros. No nos debe sorprender que las respuestas a las preguntas comentadas anteriormente fueran complejas de resolver. De todas formas las conclusiones del artículo dan luz a algunos de los temas significativos a través de la amplia muestra de maestros de escuelas de primaria, secundaria y escuelas especiales.

Die hier präsentierte Forschungsarbeit war Teil einer umfassenden Studie, die sich mit der Auswirkung von Alter, Behinderung, ethnischer Herkunft und Geschlecht auf den Lehrberuf in England auseinandersetzt. Die wesentliche Frage, die in dieser Forschungsarbeit gestellt wurde, lautete wie folgt: wie wirken sich genannte Faktoren auf Karriereaspirationen und Leistungen von Klassenlehrern, beförderten Lehrern und Schulleitern aus? Die Daten wurden aus drei Hauptquellen bezogen; dazu gehören: eine umfassende, geographisch breitgefächerte Postumfrage in England, auf die über 2000 Befragte antworteten; persönliche Gespräche mit über 100 Lehrern aus 18 zu Fallstudien herangezogenen Schulen in den Haupregionen Englands; und Diskussionen mit Lehrern, die bestimmte Interessengruppen vertreten. Die Antwort zu der oben genannten Frage war erwartungsgemäss komplex. Nichtsdestoweniger werden in dieser Arbeit einige der Themen hervorgehoben, die Lehrer aus dem Primär‐, Sekundär‐ und Sonderschulbereich für besonders erwähnenswert hielten.     

Performative face theory: A critical perspective on interpersonal identity work

Power operates not only through ideological and institutional control, but also through everyday interpersonal communication practices that sediment what is and ought to be. However, critical theorizing about power remains scarce within the sub-fields of interpersonal and family communication. To answer questions about operations of power in interpersonal identity work, performative face theory is set forth, which places Erving Goffman’s theorization of face in conversation with Judith Butler’s theory of performativity. Performative face theory suggests that discursive acts cited or repeated in negotiations of face constitute and sometimes subvert naturalized identity categories. Four theoretical principles are provided and an empirical example of childbearing identity is presented. Finally, implications of this novel critical interpersonal and family communication theory are discussed.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

Experiential education can be taught most effectively in the outdoors when linked to the psychological foundations of teaching and learning. These include communication, perception, arousal, and motivation. Differences are explained for both teaching and learning styles.

Experiential education is distinguished from experiential learning, and salient educational strategies are integrated into the education cycle. These include focusing, feedback and support, self-responsibility, and reflecting. The importance of debriefing or processing is stressed, and an experiential method is included enabling symbolic communication through “active reviewing.” The environment is a critical factor in this form of education. A major goal is to stimulate curiosity and self-motivation. Structuring traditional and experiential methods, “grasshopper teaching,” and individual and cooperative learning draw the foundations of teaching and learning together.     

Communication and relational culture: Bases for the study of human relationships

This article elaborates two concepts centrally important in the study of human relationships: communication and relational culture. Communication is represented as a formative process which constitutes, defines and disassembles relationships. Arising out of communication is relational culture, a privately transacted system of discourse and definition that coordinates attitudes, actions, and identities of partners in a relationship. These two concepts are used to define states of relationship which represent both stages and types of human relationships. For each state, communicative processes and functions are identified and attention is devoted to the impact of communication in moving partners toward or away from a binding relational culture.     

A Cross‐age Study of Children’s Knowledge of Apparent Celestial Motion

The US National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy recommend that students understand the apparent patterns of motion of the Sun, Moon, and stars by the end of early elementary school, yet no research has specifically examined these concepts from an Earth‐based perspective with this age group. This study examines children’s understanding of the patterns of apparent celestial motion among first‐grade, third‐grade, and eighth‐grade students, and investigates the extent to which these concepts develop from elementary to middle school in students without targeted instruction. Twenty students at each grade level (total n = 60) were interviewed using a novel interview setting: a small dome representing the sky, which allowed students to demonstrate their ideas. Analysis reveals that elementary and middle school students hold a variety of non‐scientific ideas about all aspects of apparent celestial motion. While the eighth‐grade students’ understanding of the apparent motion of the Sun shows a greater level of accuracy compared with the third‐grade students, across the majority of topics of apparent celestial motion, the overall level of accuracy shows little change from third grade to eighth grade. Just as prior research has demonstrated the need for instruction to improve children’s understanding of the nature of celestial objects and their actual motions, these results support the need for research on instructional strategies that improve students’ understanding of celestial motion as seen from their own perspective.     

Integration without assimilation? Ethno‐nationalism in Israel and universal laïcité in France

The adoption of multiculturalism and multiethnic views of society seems to be a convergent tendency among Western democracies where population flows are becoming increasingly heterogeneous. However, the established citizenship models and migrant groups' experiences have different impacts on the multicultural discourse in each country. This ‘integration without assimilation’ thesis has been examined comparing two countries – Israel and France – that differ largely in their definition of nationhood. Despite large demographic changes in both countries, the evolution of conceptions of citizenship in France and in Israel reflects a reaffirmation of existing models – the particularist Israeli ethno‐nationalism and the universalist French republicanism and laïcité – and the continuity of their assimilationist and homogenizing tendencies towards a Jewish uniform identity in the former and towards a uniform secular (or catho‐laique) identity in the latter.