UNDERACHIEVEMENT IN CULTURALLY DIFFERENT GIFTED CHILDREN

The paper examines issues related to underachievement in culturally different children. For a specific cultural group, the Canadian Inuit (Eskimo) people, the inappropriateness and inadequacy of the frequently used intelligence‐achievement discrepancy for identifying underachievement are demonstrated Approaches for assessing underachievement and giftedness in culturally different children, without reliance on standardized and inappropriately normed tests, are considered As well, a number of cognitive strategies programs are noted as having potential for remediation of learning difficulties in culturally different, underachieving, gifted children. The ultimate goal is identification of culturally different children, reduction or elimination of underachievement, and development of their full potential.

     

Case study evaluation of an intervention planning tool to support emotional well-being and behaviour in schools

Questions of how best to support both children’s emotional well-being and behaviour in schools are pervasive. The efficacy of an intervention planning tool to support internalising and externalising emotional needs and promote early intervention was explored in a small-scale case study. Adults were trained in two primary schools to carry out the intervention planning tool which they did with a total of 12 children. The intervention planning tool was based on principles of multi-element plans (MEPS) and target-monitoring and evaluation (TME). Data from scaling (TME), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a questionnaire based on the School Children’s Happiness Inventory (SCHI), and interviews with school staff and children were analysed using statistical and thematic analyses. Findings indicated that the intervention planning tool supported positive outcomes overall for the children, and that while some barriers were identified, several unexpected advantages were also revealed.     

A Preliminary Evaluation of REACH: Training Early Childhood Teachers to Support Children’s Social and Emotional Development

This paper describes the development, implementation and preliminary evaluation of the Reaching Educators and Children (REACH) program, a training and coaching intervention designed to increase the capacity of early childhood teachers to support children’s social and emotional development. We evaluated REACH with 139 teachers of toddler and preschool classrooms. Teacher attendance and survey results suggest that teachers were highly satisfied with the training and materials. Data from classroom observation scales conducted pre- and post-REACH implementation suggest significant improvements in the sensitivity of teachers’ interactions with children in the classroom, and increased teacher use of targeted social and emotional supports (such as teaching children to resolve conflicts). Further, data from observations of children’s classroom behavior suggest increases in children’s prosocial behaviors and small but significant decreases in verbal aggression. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the REACH program may be effective in building teachers’ capacity to support social–emotional development of young children, and point to the need for additional research.     

To walk invisible: distance students in a dual-mode university*

Abstract

This paper argues that dual mode provision has a critical role to play in widening participation. The mixed methods study drew on institutional records, an online survey (n = 126) and 17 semi-structured interviews to explore the participation experience of a group of distance graduates (n = 268) from a dual mode university. Derived from the theories of Bourdieu, a social reproduction framework was employed, using the concepts of habitus, field and capital. Findings indicate that graduates shared a predominantly working class background. They chose a dual mode university as they did not want their degree seen in any way as different from those of conventional university graduates. During their participation they experienced a sense of belonging to their peer group, but not to the university. They perceived themselves to have been less important to the university than full-time students and felt excluded from institutional supports. Implications for dual mode provision are drawn from the findings.     

Reported school experiences of young people living with sickle cell disorder in England

A survey of 569 young people with sickle cell disorder (SCD) in England has found such pupils miss considerable periods of time from school, typically in short periods of two or three days. One in eight has school absences equating to government‐defined ‘persistent absence’. Students with SCD report that they are not helped to catch up after these school absences. Half the children reported not being allowed to use the toilet when needed and not being allowed water in class; a third reported being made to take unsuitable exercise and being called lazy when tired. Children perceived both physical environment (temperature, school furniture) and social environment (being upset by teachers or other pupils) as triggers to episodes of their illness. Policy initiatives on school absences; preventive measures to ensure maintenance of good health; and measures to prevent perceived social attitudes precipitating ill health would also support children with other chronic illnesses at school.     

Challenges of critical colleagueship: examining and reflecting on mathematics teacher study group interactions

This article examines mathematics teacher collegiality by focusing on both the ways in which teachers interacted as critical colleagues in a long-term professional development project and the evolving role of the teacher–educator–researcher as the facilitator of this project. The professional development collaboration comprised two phases: one focused on reading classroom discourse literature and one focused on supporting each other through cycles of action research related to mathematics classroom discourse. Lord’s (1994) critical colleagueship framework is used to examine how a study group of middle-grades (ages 11–16) mathematics teacher–researchers took (or did not take) a more critical stance toward their own teaching practice and that of their colleagues. We found that challenging interactions were related to instances in which the teachers interacted as critical colleagues and were marked by particular features including the use of particular words and the use of personal experience as a form of evidence. We present the ways in which we came to understand what it might look like to scrutinize one’s practice and findings related to the development of this type of collegiality across the two different phases of this project. We end with a section in which the teacher–educator–researcher who facilitated the professional development project reflects on the ways in which the analysis caused her to reconsider both the nature of argumentation in mathematics study group settings and what implications this has with respect to her own practice as a facilitator.