Critical Communicative Methodology: including vulnerable voices in research through dialogue

This article describes how Critical Communicative Methodology (CCM) has been used successfully to analyse educational inequalities in ways that generate real transformation towards social justice. We begin by arguing that educational research today should employ new methodological approaches that can ensure the inclusion of different voices in social science research and the production of knowledge that transforms social exclusion. We then analyse the main epistemological positions of CCM, based on Habermas’ communicative action theory, and explain how it was implemented in the European Union-funded INCLUD-ED project. Finally, we illustrate how INCLUD-ED has had a social and political impact and we argue that research with vulnerable groups, based on the principles of CCM, can generate social and educational transformation.     

‘What's next for masculinity?’ Reflexive directions for theory and research on masculinity and education

Research on masculinity has become an important area of gender and education that includes a wide range of empirical concerns and theoretical approaches. This article identifies a number of studies that are asking questions about the conceptual usefulness of masculinity within educational contexts. The first section explores how educational researchers are beginning to suggest alternative ways that hegemonic masculinity may be configured. The second section draws upon work that interrogates the disconnection of gender from sex. Such work considers the importance of understanding schooling worlds through an untethering of gender categories from physical bodies. The third section suggests the possibility of a post-masculinity position by exploring research that questions the viability of masculinity as a conceptual frame to understand gender. In conclusion, the paper argues that such developments can be used heuristically to inform the critical reflexiveness of future research in the area.     

The impact of the Programme for International Student Assessment on academic journals

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) on international scientific journals. A bibliometric analysis was conducted of publications included in three main scientific publication databases: Eric, EBSCOhost and the ISI Web of Knowledge, from 2002 to 2010. The paper focused on four main questions: who carried out these studies, in which academic journals have the articles been published, what has been the evolution of these publications and what were the main article topics? The study concludes that PISA has had a considerable impact on the scientific research, reflected primarily by university-based authors from the areas of education and social sciences analysing student performance. The evolution since 2007 seems to indicate that more articles will be published in coming years through the initiative of researchers (rather than the editorial boards), even from other scientific areas, thus increasing the number of topics of analysis.     

What do graduates think? An analysis of intention to repeat the same studies and university

The present work analyzes the key factors in the university experience that influence graduates' intention to repeat the same studies and the same institution, given the hypothetical option – based on hindsight – of selecting afresh a course and place of study. The work is inspired by the theory of planned behavior [Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior, in action control: From cognition to behavior. New York: J. Kuhl and J. Beckmann; Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211]. This analysis is based on the opinion of graduates in relation to a set of variables that together form the intention to repeat, namely quality of education; services and facilities; preparation by the university for employment; fitness-for-purpose of studies for the job market; capacities and skills acquired; the time taken to find work following graduation; current salary; and satisfaction with current employment. Using multiple regression models, the principal components of service quality in a university context are determined. The findings indicate that the quality of the educational process is the most influential aspect both in the intention to repeat the same studies and also in the intention to repeat the same university. Services and facilities have a marked influence on the latter, while the time taken to find employment and current salary are the two aspects with the least impact.     

Do you see what I see? School perspectives of deaf children,hearing children and their parents☆

Perspectives on academic and social aspects of children’s school experiences were obtained from deaf and hearing children and their (deaf or hearing) parents. Possible differences between (1) the views of children and their parents and (2) those of hearing children and their parents compared to deaf children and their parents were of particular interest. Overall, parents gave their children higher school friendship ratings than the children gave themselves, and hearing children and their parents were more positive about children’s friendships than were deaf children and their parents. Both children and parents also saw deaf children as less successful in reading than hearing children. However, deaf children having deaf parents, attending a school for the deaf and using sign language at home all were associated with more positive perceptions of social success. Use of cochlear implants was not associated with perceptions of greater academic or social success. These and related findings are discussed in the context of parent and child perspectives on social and academic functioning and particular challenges confronted by deaf children in regular school settings.     

Conflicts in teachers’ professional practices and perspectives about inclusion in Icelandic compulsory schools

Inclusive education policy, now the norm in many parts of the world including Iceland, is highly dependent on teachers for its successful implementation. Research on inclusion often attempts to identify teachers’ attitudes of inclusion (against/for). This article takes a different approach. It focuses on teachers’ perspectives of their professional practices; that is, how teachers understand what it means to be and practise as a teacher. We interviewed 10 Icelandic compulsory school teachers and also examined teaching logs and associated documents. The findings suggest that the teachers participating in this study have conflicting expectations towards their professional practice. They have unclear ideas about the inclusive ideology, and external factors influence teachers’ perception of their professional practice more than reflective practices. We suggest that these findings may well be applicable beyond the Icelandic context, and that they have implications for the overall in-service and pre-service education offered to teachers.     

On the acquisition of some basic word spelling mechanisms in a deep (French) and a shallow (Spanish) system

An experiment was carried out to compare the time course of the acquisition of two basic spelling mechanisms in Spanish, a shallow system, and French, a deep system. The first was lexical. It relies on the orthographic lexicon, a hypothetical structure containing the orthographic representations of words accessible for word spelling. To evaluate its contribution the participants were asked to spell words of high and low frequency containing phonemes which can take different graphemic values. The second mechanism relies on sub-lexical processes. Its contribution was evaluated asking the participants to spell words containing consistent phoneme-to-grapheme translation pairs which were identical in Spanish and French. Two contrasting predictions were considered, one derived from the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis (ODH, Frost, 2005) and the other from the Self-Teaching Hypothesis (STH, Share, 2004). According to the ODH, the orthographic lexicon should develop more rapidly in French than in Spanish because Spanish spellers can rely on phoneme-to-grapheme translation mechanisms to spell most words, meaning that they do not need to resort to the orthographic lexicon. In contrast, the STH suggests that effective identification of a word gradually generates its orthographic representation. The results revealed that both spelling mechanisms develop far faster in Spanish than in French. The fact that word frequency effects appeared earlier in Spanish than in French, indicating that the orthographic lexicon incorporates words more rapidly in a shallow than in a deep system, is clearly incompatible with the ODH and easier to handle in the context of the STH.     

Sex Education Representations in Spanish Combined Biology and Geology Textbooks

Sex education is principally dealt with as part of the combined subject of Biology and Geology in the Spanish school curriculum. Teachers of this subject are not specifically trained to teach sex education, and thus the contents of their assigned textbooks are the main source of information available to them in this field. The main goal of this study was to determine what information Biology and Geology textbooks provide with regard to sex education and the vision of sexuality they give, but above all to reveal which perspectives of sex education they legitimise and which they silence. We analysed the textbooks in question by interpreting both visual and text representations, as a means of enabling us to investigate the nature of the discourse on sex education. With this aim, we have used a qualitative methodology, based on the content analysis. The main analytical tool was an in-house grid constructed to allow us to analyse the visual and textual representations. Our analysis of the combined Biology and Geology textbooks for Secondary Year 3 revealed that there is a tendency to reproduce models of sex education that take place within a framework of the more traditional discourses. Besides, the results suggested that the most of the sample chosen for this study makes a superficial, incomplete, incorrect or biased approach to sex education.     

Promoting Science Outdoor Activities for Elementary School Children: Contributions from a research laboratory

The purposes of the study were to analyse the promotion of scientific literacy through practical research activities and to identify children's conceptions about scientists and how they do science. Elementary school children were engaged in two scientific experiments in a marine biology research laboratory. A total of 136 students answered a questionnaire about their previous habits towards science and carried out the following actions: (1) a guided visit to the laboratory, (2) a brief presentation of the research theme, (3) the development of two experiments, and (4) a questionnaire about the experiments and science conceptions. The research methods included observation, document analysis, and content analysis of the answers to the questionnaires. Additionally, each visit was video recorded in order to design learning materials. The results revealed that most of the pupils were able to follow every stage of experimentation. However, some of them misinterpreted results and conclusions. One implication of the study is that this type of outdoor activity is extremely important to promote meaningful science learning in children, but more care should be taken in practical science activities so that children can overcome some common difficulties when performing scientific inquiry.