‘Reading’ the nursery classroom: A Foucauldian perspective

This paper examines ways in which styles of language usage mediate attempts at describing classroom practice. The authors' particular focus centres on discursive power and they seek to illustrate some of the effects and consequences of applying certain Foucauldian concepts and analytical procedures within depictions of interactions between children and with the teacher in a nursery classroom. The paper begins by introducing an example of children's play. To this are applied analyses which stem from readings of Foucault. In so doing, it is shown how power both permeates and defines subjective positionings and where, as a consequence, individuals experience themselves as both powerful and powerless. A second example is offered in which a teacher talks to a child. The authors' analyses of this can, they believe, be perceived as a reflexive act, where the teacher's own beliefs, including her feminism, are critiqued and redefined.     

Dartmouth's College Course I

Abstract

This article describes the background, activities, and outcomes of the Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center and its Summer Fellows Institute as a model for disciplinary and cross-disciplinary infusion of environmental science and technology content, curriculum, and methods into the classroom. The authors describe experiences, themes, and activities that occurred during 5 years at the Summer Institute for some of the nation's top high school and community college teachers.     

‘Building Schools for the Future’: reflections on a new social architecture

The Labour Government launched the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme (BSF) in February 2003 with the aim of refurbishing or rebuilding all secondary schools in England over a 15‐year period, with an anticipated budget of £45 billion. In this article, we locate BSF in a wider public policy context which has already had important implications in other sectors of public provision. The local improvement finance trusts (LIFTs) initiative within the National Health Service (NHS) is of particular relevance to this discussion both because it reflects contemporary developments within New Public Management and because it also reveals new ways of extending and developing the private finance initiative (PFI) approach to public provision. We shall also consider the purposes and ‘delivery’ mechanisms of BSF and identify some of the key commentaries which have been provided by parliamentary reports and other evaluations. Although still in the early stages of its implementation, the BSF is of such significance for the future shape and form of educational provision that it is important to begin the process of considering possible directions and dimensions for a research agenda which will provide a secure empirical and analytical foundation on which to base discussion.     

Connecting policy aspirations with principled progress? An analysis of current physical education challenges in Scotland

Various recent politically driven policy interventions have outlined the increased importance of school physical education programmes as a contributor towards realising active lifelong learning targets. This paper explains the origins of the new policy emphasis and describes some of the opportunities which now exist for reviewing many curriculum orientation and fragmentation concerns. However, in reviewing the possibilities for policy aspirations to achieve transformative educational benefits, the paper also outlines how a commitment towards principled progress and educational realignment could founder on the rock of its own ambition unless various critical conceptual questions and associated pedagogical issues are thoroughly addressed. Following analysis of the barriers to progress that exist, the encouraging signs of a more coherent future are discussed. This occurs through analysing the progress of developmental-based programmes, which aim to improve the quality and authenticity of pupils’ learning experiences in physical education, and by analysis of the new professional development opportunities that are available to teachers.     

Individual attitudes and social influences on college students’ intent to participate in study abroad programs

Participation in study abroad programs (SAPs) is widely viewed as offering important professional and personal benefits for college students. This study applies the Theory of Reasoned Action [Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.] as a theoretical framework to better understand how undergraduate students’ individual attitudes and subjective norms from three social groups (family, friends and professors) impact their intent to participate in SAPs. Surveys were conducted at three public and private universities in the USA and Taiwan. The results suggest that both individual attitudes and subjective norms are influential factors for college students, and the effects are dependent on the type of SAPs. The current research offers several additions to the SAPs literature. Also, the results offer new insights for higher education and other institutional managers for increasing student participation in SAPs.