The school curriculum for ethnic minority pupils: A contribution to a debate

This paper discusses some of the canicular needs of children of migrant parents in the United Kingdom (in particular those of South Asian and West Indian origins), against the background of current provision. The author argues the merits of a cultural accommodation strategy and outlines the human rights model of education which that strategy implies. He then analyses three major problem areas faced by children of migrant workers: conflicts of identity, communication difficulties, and unequal access to employment opportunities. In a final section, tentative but practical suggestions are given of how the school curriculum can address these problems.

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Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel stellt der Verfasser die curricularen Bedürfnisse von Gastarbeiterkindern (besonders denen südasiatischer und westindischer Herkunft) im Vereinigten Königreich dem gegenwärtigen Angebot gegenüber. Er befürwortet eine Strategie der kulturellen Akkommodation und skizziert ein dieser Strategie entsprechendes Menschenrechts -Modell für Schulerziehung. Darauf analysiert er drei Hauptproblemgebiete von Gastarbeiterkindern: Identitätskonflikte, Kommunikationsschwierigkeiten und ungleicher Zugang zu Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten. Im letzten Teil macht er einige praktische Vorschläge, wie das Schulcurriculum diese Probleme angehen könnte.

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Résumé Cet article traite des besoins caniculaires des enfants d'immigrants au Royaume-Uni (particulièrement ceux qui sont originaires des Indes Occidentales et du Sud Asiatique) en fonction des prestations éducationnelles courantes. L'auteur démontre les mérites d'une stratégie d'acclimatation culturelle et trace dans les grandes lignes le modèle d'éducation droits de l'homme qu'implique cette stratégie. Il analyse alors trois catégories de problèmes majeurs qui confrontent les enfants des travailleurs étrangers: conflits d'identité, difficultés de communication et inégalité des chances d'accès à l'emploi. L'auteur termine en montrant, par des suggestions d'ordre pratique, comment le curriculum peut s'attaquer à ces problèmes.

     

Use of rich-media resources by engineering undergraduates

The ability to develop and distribute digital teaching resources in higher education has developed rapidly over the last decade but research into how students use such resources has received limited attention. This study uses questionnaire results, Internet analytic data and semi-structured interviews to examine the use of three types of rich-media teaching resources – lecture podcasts, key-concept videos and tutorial solution videos – by engineering undergraduates. It is found that students value all three types of resource, especially for revision and as a supplement to lectures. Students find short, focused resources more useful than longer ones. Non-native English speakers and those with disabilities derive particular benefits from the resources. The effect of rich-media resources on lecture attendance is found to be small, and two-way.     

Internationalisation in practice in Australian independent secondary schools: a global-local nexus?

The phenomenon of internationalisation of education in the twenty-first century has developed more rapidly and has been the subject of more research in higher education than in the schooling sector. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of the perspectives of school leaders, teachers and students about ‘internationalisation in practice’ in two case-study Australian independent secondary schools that adopted different approaches to internationalisation. Theoretical lenses of both interpretivism and critical theory were used to guide the research at different stages. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Findings indicate that whilst globalisation is having a powerful impact on schools, local contextual factors such as school ethos, school resources, teacher values and parent demographics and expectations play a significant part in shaping how schools engage with internationalisation. Wider implications for equity, teacher education and further research and theory development are also discussed.     

The comparative ethnography of educational projects: youth and adult literacy programmes in Brazil

This article elaborates the concept of educational projects, a term that signifies consistent constellations of institutions, financial resources, social actors, ideologies, theories of knowledge and attendant pedagogies that shape local cultural practices of schooling. The article demonstrates the utility of the concept of educational projects for comparative and international educational studies by examining competing educational projects in Brazilian literacy programmes for youth and adults. In conclusion, the article argues that the concept of educational projects provides a theoretically rich comparative tool for the field of comparative and international education.     

"My Ladies Aren't Interested in Learning": Managers, Supervisors and the Social Context of Learning

This paper is based on a research project which examines the opportunities for and barriers to workplace learning amongst low-grade staff in the UK public sector. It examines the key role of managers and supervisors, who make many of the decisions about individuals' access to learning opportunities. Their perception of staff's willingness and need to learn is influenced by factors such as age, gender or the likelihood of career development. It is these managers who control the immediate work environment and the flow of information about learning opportunities. Innovative examples of workplace learning are described, yet the paper concludes that the reality for many low grade manual and routine clerical staff continues to be one of limited opportunities for workplace learning.     

Postmodern Feminisms: Problematic Paradigms

In 1995 Frances Borzello claimed that feminist art criticism had ‘just touched the national curriculum with its fingertips.’ [1] Over the last five years constant challenges to curriculum provision have all but resulted in a loss of contact as educators pull back into ‘safe’ places and away from the edges where feminist art practices were just starting to take hold. Clinging to ‘safe’ practices has meant the affirmation of formalist modernist orthodoxies which have fostered a restricted canonical patriarchal approach to the subject. The recent publication of the ‘Manifesto for Art’ 1999 which calls for a postmodern view of art with an emphasis on ‘difference, plurality and independence of mind’ can, all too easily, be read as a panacea ‘a post modern solution to a postmodern situation.’ [2] However, embracing postmodern pluralism creates as many problems as it solves. Postmodernism often renders any feminist intervention superfluous in spite of new feminist art criticisms’ insistence that the politics of feminism remains a vital element of both artistic practice and critical discourse. While agreeing that art education urgently needs to review its complicity with high Modernist values, we suggest that there are dangers in uncritically accepting a postmodern view of education. Surely postmodernism renders any blueprint for change problematic. This paper does not provide answers, rather it raises questions in order to encourage teachers to reflect upon existing practices with a view to identifying what is still missing and why. It sets out to interrogate implications for pedagogy, educational policy and social transformation of the contemporary academic preoccupation with postmodernism.     

Longitudinal course of rapid naming in disabled and nondisabled readers

The Rapid Automatized Naming Test (Denckla and Rudel 1974) was studied cross-sectionally in an sample of kindergartners (n=342) at-risk for reading disability (Study 1), and longitudinally in an n=160 epidemiological normal sample of children tested in first, third, fifth, and eighth grades (Study 2). Study 1 showed faster absolute naming speeds for those with near perfect untimed alphabet recitation, but the stronger and more orderly relation (at r=.31, p<.0001) was between three levels of alphabet recitation accuracy and the relative number/letter naming speed advantage (ratio of mean number/letter naming speed minus mean color/object naming speed over mean color/object naming speed). In Study 2, the number/letter advantage was already strongly present by first grade, and did not increase significantly thereafter, but absolute naming times improved steadily across grades in an exponential decay function. In this sample, the relative number/letter advantage was not related to reading level. However, the absolute color/object naming speed was strongly related to reading level and vocabulary across grades. Norms for the Rapid Automatized Naming Test based on the epidemiological normal sample tested in Grades 1, 3, 5, and 8 are presented in the appendix.     

Emotional Dimensions of Watching Zoo Animals: An Experience Sampling Study Building on Insights from Psychology

Abstract There is little research about how visitors to zoos and aquariums respond emotionally to the animals they experience. The research that does exist has seldom been informed by current psychological literature on affect, which examines the nature and roles of sentiments, moods, emotions, and affective traits. Emotion is multidimensional: it focuses on a person's core goals; directs attention and interest; arouses the body for action; and integrates social group and cultural factors. It is thus a central component of meaning‐making. This article provides an overview of the literature on emotion as it applies to human emotional responses to animals. Informed by this literature, this paper presents results from a research study conducted at a zoo. Subjects (279 adults) were each electronically paged once while viewing one of three zoo animals (snake, okapi, or gorilla). Subjects completed scales on 17 specific emotions, seven items measuring evaluation and arousal, and other scales and responses to the animal. Four patterns of emotions emerged, ranging from “equal opportunity” emotions to “highly selective” emotions. The variables that were most important in influencing emotions were not demographic ones, but the kind of animal, subject's emotionality, relation to the animal, and other items predicted by emotion theory. Implications for biophilia, conservation, and the study of emotional responses to animals are discussed.     

Re-conceptualizing partnerships across the teacher education continuum

This research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council–Teaching and Learning Research Programme (ESRC–TLRP), explored student and beginning teachers' experiences of teacher education in Northern Ireland. Within a situation of teacher over-supply, many newly qualified teachers have little or no induction. This paper focuses on the views of key induction providers on the effectiveness of partnership arrangements. These stakeholders believed that an improved model of partnership was needed, particularly for induction, and a more collegial model could offer a positive reconceptualisation of early teaching experience enabling reciprocal professional learning.