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.

     

Understanding experience better in educational contexts: the phenomenology of embodied subjectivity

ABSTRACT

The authors consider in this critical paper that claims that human agents experience things-in-the-world as the same are deeply flawed as these accounts misconstrue and fail to appreciate the phenomenology of embodied subjectivity. To overcome these complex problems they outline how phenomenology can reach beyond positivist and standardised approaches to classroom learning and assessment and offer a broader and more encouraging perspective. They consider that the naturalistic account of subjectivity advanced by Merleau-Ponty provides a theoretically sound basis for understanding experiences better and for embodiment to become more central to educational aims. In developing their position they detail how recognising changes in Merleau-Ponty’s thinking over time are crucial for appreciating the nature of embodied subjectivity. Thereafter, they highlight and exemplify how practical approaches based on a phenomenological reduction of seeking, sensing and seeing could enhance the centrality of embodied subjectivity in contemporary education.     

Measuring the Early Adulthood Outcomes of Young Adults with Disabilities: Developing Constructs using NLTS2 Data

Secondary data analysis was used to develop and examine disability-related differences in outcome constructs from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2. Findings suggest that outcome constructs could be created that represented key elements of quality of life domains including social relationships, financial independence, financial supports, employment, emotional well-being, postsecondary education, independent living, health status, access to services, and advocating for needs. The constructs could be measured equivalently across disability groups, but young adults with high incidence disabilities, generally, experienced more positive outcomes than those with more severe disabilities, despite the finding that those with more severe disabilities have greater access to services and financial supports. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Is the Door-in-the-Face a Concession?

The Door-in-the-Face (DITF) sequential message strategy was investigated in a three-study analysis of existing experimental findings. The current study predicted there would be a positive relationship between concession size and compliance rates in DITF studies. Study 1 included 25 comparisons where size of concession was quantifiable as measured by percentage reduction from initial to target request in the DITF condition. Study 2 data relied on a panel of undergraduate students to provide an index of concession size in 12 additional observations. A third study validated the panel procedure of rating concession size and also provided 9 additional independent observations from the pool of published studies on DITF. Results from each study indicated a positive relationship between concession size and effect size (r = 0.35, 0.55, 0.68, respectively). Study findings provide support for reciprocal concessions explanation for DITF effects.     

Learning outdoors and living well? Conceptual prospects for enhancing curriculum planning and pedagogical practices

In aiming to support school-based outdoor learning opportunities, this paper critiques the extent to which Deweyan and neo-Aristotelian theorising is helpful in highlighting how personal growth and practical wisdom gains can be realised. Such critique is necessary, as there are signs of an implementation gap between practice and policy, which is made worse by a lack of conceptual clarity about how educational aspirations can be dependably achieved. Dewey’s habit-forming social constructivist emphasis on learning and problem-solving is reviewed and the prospects of a neo-Aristotelian conception of human flourishing, which recognises that virtues are nurtured as moral sensitivities, are then considered. Concerns that Dewey’s writings are often vague on how ideas can be operationalised and criticisms that Aristotle’s educational thoughts rather over-privilege cognition relative to emotions are also addressed. The article concludes by teasing out suggestions on how Deweyan and neo-Aristotelian ideas on learning might coherently inform curriculum planning and pedagogical practices.     

General experiences + race + racism = Work lives of Black faculty in postsecondary science education

Existent research indicates that postsecondary Black faculty members, who are sorely underrepresented in the academy especially in STEM fields, assume essential roles; chief among these roles is diversifying higher education. Their recruitment and retention become more challenging in light of research findings on work life for postsecondary faculty. Research has shown that postsecondary faculty members in general have become increasingly stressed and job satisfaction has declined with dissatisfaction with endeavors and work overload cited as major stressors. In addition to the stresses managed by higher education faculty at large, Black faculty must navigate diversity-related challenges. Illuminating and understanding their experiences can be instrumental in lessening stress and job dissatisfaction, outcomes that facilitate recruitment and retention. This study featured the experiences and perceptions of Black faculty in science education. This study, framed by critical race theory, examines two questions: What characterizes the work life of some Black faculty members who teach, research, and serve in science education? How are race and racism present in the experiences of these postsecondary Black faculty members? A phenomenological approach to the study situates the experiences of the Black participants as valid phenomena worthy of investigation, illuminates their experiences, and seeks to retain the authenticity of their voices.     

Bridging the Divide: A comparative analysis of articles in higher education journals published inside and outside North America

Articles published in three leading North American higher education journals during the year 2000 are compared with those published in three leading, English language, non-North American higher education journals (and with a larger sample of fourteen such journals). The comparison focuses on the location of their authors, the themes researched, the levels at which the analyses are pitched, the methods and methodologies employed, and the explicitness of both methodological and theoretical engagement. Compared to the non-North American sample, the North American articles evidence a dominance of North American-based authors, a greater focus on the student experience, and on institutional and national level studies, and a much stronger emphasis on multivariate analysis as a method. Articles in the North American sample were also more likely to be both methodologically and theoretically explicit. Possible reasons for the divergent patterns observed are identified and discussed.     

“It's a Difficult Matter”1: Historical perspectives on the enduring problem of the practicum in teacher preparation

Current reviews of teacher education pay considerable attention to problems associated with the practicum, and often claim to propose major changes in order to improve the quality of new graduates. Many of the problems they address concerning the practicum and its relation to the ‘theoretical’ component of programs are longstanding, and have been the focus of sustained critique and consequent ongoing modification. Between 1900 and 1950 teacher educators and administrators in England and Australia sought to develop programs that balanced and integrated theory and practice, supported by a range of teaching and administrative procedures. They identified a range of problems in staffing, curriculum and pedagogy, school placements and supervision, and explored a wide range of possible solutions to those problems from minor adjustments to substantial reconceptualisations of whole programs. However, many such solutions generated further problems of their own. The analysis of the history of the practicum in teacher preparation indicates how firmly contemporary proposals are embedded within the framework of assumptions and approaches that have shaped teacher education for over a century.