Construction of difference and diversity within policy and practice in England

Policy and practice responses to diversity and difference in pupil populations continue to challenge education systems around the world. This paper considers how teachers’ understandings of diversity and difference and their pedagogical responses at the local level are influenced by, and can be reconciled with, policy at the general level with its impulse for categorisation, normalcy and ‘ableness’. Two frameworks around orientations to diversity and types of pedagogic need are combined in order to examine this tension and develop possible responses. This is illustrated through the example of special educational needs as a type of difference. The paper argues that for critical, ethical and socially just pedagogies, policy needs to support teachers in acknowledging and troubling difference at the classroom level.     

How Do Humans Acquire Knowledge? And What Does That Imply About the Nature of Knowledge?

This paper offers a resolution to the debate between constructivists andrealists regarding the epistemological status of human knowledge. Evidence in the form of three case studies and one experimentalstudy is presented. The conclusion drawn is that knowledge acquisitioninvolves a pattern of idea (representation) generation and test that, whencast in the form of a verbal argument, follows an If/then/Thereforepattern. Self-generated ideas/representations are tested by comparingexpected and observed outcomes. Ideas may be retained or rejected,but can not be proved or disproved. Therefore, absolute Truth aboutany and all ideas, including the idea that the external world exists, isunattainable. Yet learning at all levels above the sensory-motor requiresthat one assume the independent existence of the external world becauseonly then can the behavior of the objects in that world be used to testsubsequent higher-order ideas. In the final analysis, ideas – includingscientific hypotheses and theories – stand or fall, not due to socialnegotiation, but due to their ability to predict future events. Althoughthe knowledge acquisition process has limitations, its use neverthelessresults in increasingly useful representations about an assumed to existexternal world as evidenced by technological progress that is undeniablybased on sound scientific theory. The primary instructional implicationis that science instruction should remain committed to helping studentsunderstand the crucial role played by hypotheses, predictions and evidencein learning.     

Pedagogy,empowerment and discipline: comparative perspectives of novice teachers in England and Turkey reflecting on ‘the other’

This article discusses the views of Turkish and British novice teachers on pedagogy and pedagogical relationships with school students when confronted with the pedagogical practices of the ‘Other’ in particular policy contexts. Experiences of those practices were gained by novice teachers during an exchange visit for British and Turkish university students in the period 2008–2009. Data was collected through questionnaires and focus group interviews. Findings suggest that Turkish and British novice teachers initially constructed the ‘Other’ as very different from themselves. The views of members of both groups were heavily influenced by the cultural contexts in which they trained and worked. British novice teachers tended to take as axiomatic constructivist and inclusive approaches to pedagogy and the relevance to successful pedagogy of listening to students’ voices. Turkish novice teachers questioned both, many seeing control and dissemination of knowledge as central to pedagogy and student teacher relationships.