Beyond the Bullet Points: Teaching the Bible in Norwegian Upper Secondary Religious Education

Abstract

This qualitative study examines semi-structured interviews with four Norwegian teachers to explore how they teach biblical texts in upper secondary religious education (RE). The theoretical framework combines one model from biblical hermeneutics with one from RE. The former differentiates between the worlds behind, in, and in front of the biblical text, the latter between the universal, common religious, and religion-specific dimensions of religious narratives. Chief findings: All teachers utilize examples from the reception history of the biblical texts; they thus extend Ricoeur’s notion of the world in front of the text. The common religious aspects of biblical texts are mostly overlooked.     

Associations between school absence and academic achievement: Do socioeconomics matter?

This study examined the extent to which the association between increased student absence and lower achievement outcomes varied by student and school‐level socioeconomic characteristics. Analyses were based on the enrolment, absence and achievement records of 89,365 Year 5, 7 and 9 students attending government schools in Western Australian between 2008 and 2012. Multivariate multi‐level modelling methods were used to estimate numeracy, writing and reading outcomes based on school absence, and interactions between levels of absence and school socioeconomic index (SEI), prior achievement, gender, ethnicity, language background, parent education and occupation status. While the effects of absence on achievement were greater for previously high‐achieving students, there were few significant interactions between absence and any of the socioeconomic measures on achievement outcomes. The results of first‐difference regression models indicated that the negative effect of an increase in absence was marginally larger for students attending more advantaged schools, though most effects were very small. While students from disadvantaged schools have, on average, more absences than their advantaged peers, there is very little evidence to suggest that the effects of absence are greater for those attending lower‐SEI schools. School attendance should therefore be a priority for all schools, and not just those with high rates of absence or low average achievement.     

Curriculum homeplacing as complicated conversation: (re)narrating the mentoring of Black women doctoral students

ABSTRACT

Through personal and dialogical narratives, we explore the ways Black women mentors (do not) reveal to their mentees their lived-experiences and the personal pain associated with the pursuit of careers in higher education; how and why their narratives of pain and pursuit are negotiated, sanctioned, and/or strategically altered; and the impact these decisions have on the development of Black women graduate students. Drawing on hooks’ notions of ‘imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’ (2015), ‘radical honesty’ (2004), and ‘homeplace’ (1990), we deploy the concept of curriculum homeplacing to more critically examine Black women’s mentoring relationships.     

Student Effort in Preparing for Exams: Intertemporal Preferences and Loss Aversion

In the last two decades, much empirical research has been done in the field of behavioral economics to explain the psychological foundations for economic decisions. In particular, it has been shown that people exhibit time‐inconsistent behavior when making intertemporal decisions, i.e., they demand higher interest rates for a delay of their consumption in the near rather than in the distant future. People also show loss aversion. They demand more compensation for a loss than they are willing to sacrifice for a gain. We analyze these features for the nonmonetary decision of the amount of time invested in learning hours before an exam. Asked at two different points in time, the students were willing to learn more when the time of learning seemed far away than when the learning time had arrived. On the other hand, students were loss averse trying to prevent a deterioration of their grade to a larger extent than when they tried to work for an amelioration.     

Promoting access to decent work: career counselors’ experiences with career construction counseling

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This article is based on career counselors’ experiences with how career construction counseling (CCC) can benefit clients, and...