Placism in NCLB—How Rural Children are Left Behind

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been proclaimed by some as a reform that will improve education for students from all backgrounds, in all locations. The main components of NCLB, however, are biased against students in small and rural schools. This bias, called “placism,” discriminates against people based on where they live. This rural incompatibility is evident in NCLB's accountability provisions, sanctions, and highly qualified teacher provisions. Problems in these areas are the result of ignoring, or distorting, the realities of rural schooling. The accountability provisions are constructed so that small schools will frequently be incorrectly labeled as failing. The sanctions, inappropriate for rural areas, fail to provide solutions to existing rural challenges. The “highly qualified” teacher provisions make it more difficult, not easier, for rural districts to attract and retain competent teachers. Unless these injustices are corrected, NCLB will serve to decrease educational quality for rural students.     

Reflecting on three creative approaches to informed consent with children under six

In an era when children’s rights are paramount, there are still few practical examples to guide us when seeking informed consent from children. This article therefore makes a significant contribution to the field by examining three practical approaches to negotiating informed consent with young children under 6 years old. We draw on researcher field notes, images and observations from four research projects that employed creative methods for seeking informed consent from young children. We take a reflexive approach, considering how successful the three techniques have been in facilitating young children’s decision-making around research participation. Our findings suggest that innovative approaches to informed consent create spaces for children to engage in dialogue and questioning about the research project. However, in order for the approaches to be meaningful, they need to be pedagogically appropriate to the maturity and capabilities of the children. We also demonstrate that, irrespective of the approach devised, researchers have a responsibility to ensure consent is continuously negotiated throughout the project through reflexive questioning.     

A filtration error in nitrogen determinations

Filtration through standard filter papers may introduce a serious error in total and non-protein nitrogen determinations particularly when the procedure involves repeated filtration prior to analysis. Evidence is presented which indicates that some, if not all, of the soluble nitrogen in filter paper is present as ammonia or ammonium salts. This error can be completely eliminated by the use of small sintered glass filters.     

The amazingly patient tutor: students' interactions with an online carbohydrate chemistry course

Many multimedia chemistry courses fail to reach their full educational potential as they do not engage the learner in a meaningful task or give appropriate feedback. Though molecular modelling is a recognised technique widely used in chemistry to enable students to grasp difficult concepts, tutorials often do not afford students either the time or scope to learn by experimenting with molecular structures. In this paper we describe the educational development of a web based organic chemistry tutorial which aims to enable students to learn chemical concepts through the manipulation of structural formulae and the provision of appropriate feedback. An online chemical structure modelling tool was developed to enable molecules to be drawn online and to provide feedback. The aim of this study is to address key issues relevant to the development of educational resources of this nature. It will be of particular interest to teachers and lecturers working within Science and Engineering, audio–visual staff and educational developers.     

Teacher Agency in South African Education Policy Related to School Safety

Abstract

Safety in and around schools is an on-going concern in South Africa. Current education policy related to school safety institutes mechanisms to reduce violence as a measure of promoting safety. The highest rate of violence reported by learners occurs in the classroom. By implication, how teachers are either enabled or constrained to respond to violent incidents in classrooms is critical. With the aim to determine how education policy related to school safety either enables or constrains teacher agency in South African education policy related to school safety, the article reports on a study that examined the mechanisms of the National School Safety Framework (NSSF) together with the context at schools. The study found that the NSSF mechanisms and school context find little enabling teacher agentic action, where learning is concerned. Although the NSSF mechanisms require teachers to perform many roles as measures of reducing violence to promote school safety, none involve pedagogic strategies or techniques. Given that teachers’ greatest challenge in the context of violence is the disruption of teaching and learning, the NSSF mechanisms are inadequate as an education policy related to school safety within the current context of insecurity in South African schools.     

Using evaluation in the development of open learning for YTS

In this article Lorna Unwin (School of Education, Open University), Hillary Read (Project Manager, Oxfordshire Programme for Training, Instruction and Supervision), and Ian Haffenden (Surrey University) describe the development of a national project seeking to create flexible open learning strategies in the two‐year Youth Training Schemes, incorporating evaluation at each stage. An account of the way in which participative workshops have been run with practitioners demonstrates how the user can act as evaluator and directly influence the outcomes of the project. In this way, a structured evaluation strategy is shown to play a crucial part in the development of open learning approaches linked to the needs expressed by the learners.     

A Tale of Two Cities: a comparison of the PGCE Secondary English programmes at the Universities of Bristol and Malta,with particular emphasis on the student teachers' school‐based experience and the role of the mentor

In this article, we compare the Secondary English Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) programme for initial teacher education at the University of Bristol, UK, with that at the University of Malta, with particular attention to the content of the respective programmes and the role of the school‐based mentor. We explore issues raised by the fact that, while Bristol relies on a mentor figure to support all student teachers, the Maltese programme does not yet use this model. Consideration is given to the benefits and challenges of working with mentors and the implications for student teachers and their mentors with the development of the newly‐introduced School Direct programme in England.     

An investigation into the effect of a NATE/Becta training programme on the use of interactive whiteboards in teaching and learning in Secondary English

This paper describes the evaluation of the impact of a training programme in the use of Interactive whiteboards in Secondary English lessons. It is based on work commissioned from NATE by Becta that produced the publication, Entitlement to ICT in Secondary English ( NATE, 2002 ). Drawing from the work of Kress (2003) , the author argues that new technologies can help teachers to address confidently aspects of multimodality that are a core aspect of the New Literacies. Data collected from a small sample of Secondary English teachers who engaged in the training suggest that all teachers benefited from the training; however, it was found that there has been insufficient support in schools to date for the development of fully confident practice.     

Academia and community action: actionaid,a community-based united kingdom parents' project

A fundamental challenge for research in the twenty-first century may necessitate consideration of the extent to which the goals and aspirations of research includes a renewed commitment to combining the knowledge and experience of the research community, the educational practitioner community and local communities. A cohesive triangular alliance is conceptualised, which takes account of the epistemological variation in these triple communities. The challenge is to forge collaborative relationships with links that provide support for new constructions of knowledge, rather than chains that may act as a restriction to innovatory and potentially constructive connections. This article investigates the potential for fresh links between the ‘community triangle’ of research, education and local communities with reference to ‘Actionaid’, a case study of a community-based parents' project, arising in conjunction with a doctoral study, combining the writer's academic and research knowledge, community based knowledge, education practitioner knowledge as well as her cultural knowledge and understanding as an African Caribbean woman. In describing this study the researcher will draw attention to questions surrounding ‘positionality’ and professionalism, in particular their impact on the development of knowledge formulations, which encompass methodological, professional and community credibility across the three communities