Homophobia,Sexism, and Early Childhood Education: A Review of the Literature

We reviewed 31 articles that explored issues related to gender and sexuality in early childhood education (ECE) settings. This body of literature suggests that ECE programs and elementary schools often reinforce the homophobia, heterosexism, and sexism that characterize contemporary U.S. society. A number of the articles described strategies that the teachers of young children can use to promote gender equality, respect for sexual diversity, and healthy sexual development. We concluded our review with a discussion of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and the important role that community college and university-based teacher education programs can play in helping the teachers of young children actively challenge systems of privilege and oppression based on gender and sexuality.     

Effectiveness of a simulated clinical examination in the assessment of the clinical competencies of entry-level trainees in a family medicine residency programme

Clinical competence is a multidimensional concept and encompasses a variety of skills including procedural, problem-solving and clinical judgement. The initial stages of postgraduate medical training are believed to be a particularly important time for the development of clinical skill competencies. This study reports on an evaluation of a Simulated Clinical Examination (SCE) method as a means of assessing the clinical skill competencies of entry-level family medicine residents. Two entering cohorts of PGY1 family medicine residents (N = 35) participated in a SCE encompassing realistic clinical encounters with standardised patients (SPs). Residents were asked to complete pre- and post-evaluation surveys, and both faculty and residents were invited to participate in separate focus groups. The SCE was perceived as a useful method during the early phases of postgraduate training for assessing clinical skill competencies, providing constructive feedback to residents and enhancing self-awareness and confidence. The SCE also appeared to be useful in fostering confidence in interviewing and diagnostic reasoning, however self-reported confidence in the ability to perform clinical skill tasks related to history taking, physical examination and differential diagnosis was not associated with observed performance in these areas. The SCE was an effective technique for benchmarking skill performance, however further research is required to evaluate the effect of this on the self-assessment abilities of trainees over the course of postgraduate medical education.     

Community Learning Centres (CLCs) for Adult Learning and Education (ALE): development in and by communities

International Review of Education - Institutionalised forms of adult learning and education (ALE) such as community learning centres (CLCs) and related models are found in most parts of the world....     

Interest-Driven Learning Among Middle School Youth in an Out-of-School STEM Studio

The concept of connected learning proposes that youth leverage individual interest and social media to drive learning with an academic focus. To illustrate, we present in-depth case studies of Ryan and Sam, two middle-school-age youth, to document an out-of-school intervention intended to direct toward intentional learning in STEM that taps interest and motivation. The investigation focused on how Ryan and Sam interacted with the designed elements of Studio STEM and whether they became more engaged to gain deeper learning about science concepts related to energy sustainability. The investigation focused on the roles of the engineering design process, peer interaction, and social media to influence youth interest and motivation. Research questions were based on principles of connected learning (e.g., self-expression, lower barriers to expertise, socio-technical supports) with data analyzed within a framework suggested by discursive psychology. Analyzing videotaped excerpts of interactions in the studio, field notes, interview responses, and artifacts created during the program resulted in the following findings: problem solving, new media, and peer interaction as designed features of Studio STEM elicited evidence of stimulating interest in STEM for deeper learning. Further research could investigate individual interest-driven niches that are formed inside the larger educational setting, identifying areas of informal learning practice that could be adopted in formal settings. Moreover, aspects of youth’s STEM literacy that could promote environmental sustainability through ideation, invention, and creativity should be pursued.     

High school library service in Tennessee Rosenwald demonstration units

In August 2000, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of school children against the state of California. The suit, Williams v. State of California, alleged that the state failed to exercise its constitutional obligation to provide equal access to education for all students in the state by allowing deficient facilities, uncredentialed teachers, and inadequate or insufficient instructional materials. A successful outcome for the plaintiffs would entail expansion of current boundaries of entitlement to a new standard that would establish constitutional entitlement to specific resources and a standard of state responsibility for oversight. In this article I examine whether the relief that plaintiffs seek pushes the definition of entitlement to areas beyond judicially manageable and constitutionally defensible standards.     

Education,Education, Education: or,What has Jane Austen to teach Tony Blunkett?

The difference between training and education has been recognised at least since the days when Socrates searched Athens for someone who knew more than he himself did—and was disappointed to find many craftsmen but no philosophers. The distinction persisted strongly when the universities developed in the twelfth and thirteenth Christian centuries. It was continuously vindicated by poets, novelists, essayists, and generation after generation of teachers, from the Renaissance until about the time Kenneth Baker became Education Secretary, whereupon it vanished from English consciousness—so completely, that the polytechnics were renamed universities, the universities made polytechnics and the Departments of Education and Employment merged, as if that were not only obviously sensible in itself but perfectly consistent with two-and-a-half thousand years of previous thought and practice. The English educated classes are now composed of amnesiacs.