Systems advocacy in the professional practice of early childhood teachers: from the antithetical to the ethical

Dominant constructions of professionalism in early childhood education can diminish early childhood teachers’ and educators’ undertaking of advocacy at the systems or political level. In this paper, we propose an ethically grounded construction of professionalism that provides space for professional practice to move beyond the classroom and into the political sphere. Findings from interviews with four early childhood teachers from Australia who undertake systems advocacy as part of their professional practice show that this work is driven by ethical influences that extend beyond the rule-based imperative, in ethical codes, that teachers should undertake systems advocacy. Findings highlight the value of considering systems advocacy as practice that emerges from an interplay of three theoretical foundations of ethics: deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics. Implications for teacher professionalism and the building of a teacher disposition that incorporates systems advocacy are considered.     

Studying Quality of Caregiving Behavior: The Roles of Infant,Mother, Father,and Culture

SYNOPSIS

This study showed that prenatal quality of caregiving behavior toward a crying simulator infant predicted the postnatal quality of caregiving behavior of both mothers and fathers.     

Using the communities of practice framework to examine an after‐school environmental education program for Hispanic youth

Environmental education researchers have called for a greater analysis of ‘learning’ in environmental education in relation to contemporary theories and explanatory frameworks of learning. Situated learning, as a prominent example, is a sociocultural theory that contends that learning is a social process that occurs as individuals participate in ‘communities of practice’. This study aims to enhance our understanding of the usefulness and applicability of the communities of practice framework to the analysis of learning in environmental education, focusing on the learning in after‐school environmental education programs for Hispanic youth. Results suggest that the framework can be applied to identify some environmental education programs as communities of practice, characterized by the development of joint enterprise, mutual engagement, and shared repertoire. The framework was also found to be useful in identifying and describing learning as bringing about changes in identity formation as a result of participation in the programs. Finally, we suggest that such programs, due to their free‐choice nature and multiple opportunities for participation, also offer suitable contexts for further research regarding the relevance of sociocultural theories of learning to environmental education practice.     

The contrasting discourses in the professional lives of educators in Vancouver, Canada

This study investigated the relationship between education policy changes and the working conditions of teachers and school leaders in Vancouver, Canada. We found that policy does shape educators’ discourse about their work conditions. This shaping manifested itself in the emotions teachers experience as they attempt to construct their identity as professional educators. Apparent contradictions emerged in educators’ discussions of their work conditions, particularly their contrasting reports of feeling satisfied with their working environment, yet concerned about issues related to workload and recognition. Two different discourses, the political and the professional, emerged at a deep level of practice. These discourses express conflicting emotions about teaching and teachers’ identity struggles in a context of rapid policy changes. The political discourse is framed around a partisan response to policy changes. The professional discourse focuses on engagement in satisfying educational activities. This study proffers a different conclusion to other studies implying a lack of understanding of practice by policy reformers. It suggests that, while teachers are very aware of policy changes, frequently engaging in a partisan critique thereof, they nevertheless temper that critique with a professional discourse shaped by pedagogical concerns in the local context. This concern with the classroom context enables them to focus their energies on constructing their sense of professional identity that frequently leads them to reinterpret policy initiatives from a local educator’s perspective. While the political discourse has trappings of despair, the professional–pedagogical contains glimpses of hope. We wish to express our appreciation of the work of Barbara Waldern in the analysis that supports the findings about the professional lives of educators.     

The structure of primary and secondary teachers' attributions for pupils' misbehaviour: a preliminary cross-phase and cross-cultural investigation

The purpose of this study was to see if systematic contrasts in educational culture and curricular emphases might affect the underlying structure of teachers' attributions for children's behaviour. Thus, responses to a questionnaire developed from earlier work by Miller and colleagues (2000, 2002) were gathered from primary and secondary school teachers in England and the Republic of Ireland. Exploratory factor analyses revealed that teachers participating in the study appear to have attributed pupils' misbehaviour at least as much to teachers' and adult behaviours as much as to any distinctive parental or home factors. The structure of primary and secondary teachers' attributions appears to have differed, with primary teachers distinguishing between their own and parental influences on children's behaviour. However, contrary to expectation the demands of the curriculum did not seem to have figured highly in these teachers' perception of causes of misbehaviour. Finally, some speculations on possible differences in relative weighting between English and Irish teachers' views are offered. Teachers in the Republic of Ireland appear to have attached greater importance to children's personalities and pressures on children. Further, teachers in primary schools in England seem to have rated their classroom management strategies and other more general adult behaviours as more important associates of behaviour than did their counterparts in the Republic of Ireland. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to cultural and curricular differences and teachers' constructions of behaviour and special educational needs.     

24‐Month‐Old Children With Larger Oral Vocabularies Display Greater Academic and Behavioral Functioning at Kindergarten Entry

Data were analyzed from a population‐based, longitudinal sample of 8,650 U.S. children to (a) identify factors associated with or predictive of oral vocabulary size at 24 months of age and (b) evaluate whether oral vocabulary size is uniquely predictive of academic and behavioral functioning at kindergarten entry. Children from higher socioeconomic status households, females, and those experiencing higher quality parenting had larger oral vocabularies. Children born with very low birth weight or from households where the mother had health problems had smaller oral vocabularies. Even after extensive covariate adjustment, 24‐month‐old children with larger oral vocabularies displayed greater reading and mathematics achievement, increased behavioral self‐regulation, and fewer externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors at kindergarten entry.     

Complex dynamics in academics' developmental processes in teaching

Improving teaching in higher education is a concern for universities worldwide. This study explored academics’ developmental processes in teaching using episodic interviews and teaching portfolios. Eight academics in the context of teaching development reported changes in their teaching and change triggers. Thematic analyses revealed seven areas of change: participants most frequently reported changes in concepts about teaching, their teaching selves and teaching strategies. Triggers of change clustered into eight categories with teaching practices, teaching courses and metacognition reported most frequently. Analysing relations among areas and triggers of change indicated complex dynamics in academics' developmental processes in teaching. This suggests that teaching development should incorporate multiple change triggers to facilitate academics' development in teaching effectively.     

Measuring social capital among youth: applications in environmental education

Although critiqued for circular reasoning and lack of definitional and analytic clarity, social capital has garnered widespread interest in two areas relevant to environmental education (EE): the impact of family and community-level social capital on positive youth development and of community-level social capital in fostering collective action to manage natural resources. Although EE is normally considered for its value relative to environmental outcomes or natural capital, intergenerational, community, and other approaches to EE may also foster social capital. Drawing on Putnam’s definition of social capital, which emphasizes civic engagement, we developed and tested for reliability a survey to measure cognitive and structural attributes of social capital among youth. We conclude that although several attributes of our instrument are useful for use with youth aged 10–18 years in EE contexts, much more work needs to be done on conceptualizing and developing measures of social capital that are relevant to EE. Further, we suggest that social capital presents a framework for how EE programs can bring youth and adults together to create the conditions that enable collective action, as a complement to ongoing work in EE focusing on individual behaviors.     

Grounding Second Language Vocabulary Instruction in Cognitive Science

Cognitive neuroscience has gained significant insight into the mechanisms underlying the mental lexicon and their impact on second language vocabulary learning. However, relatively little effort has been put into understanding how these mechanisms may impact instructional practices. We attempt to bridge this gap. Towards that end, we first describe three main properties of the mental lexicon: words have distinct form and meaning representations; these representations are organized in multilingual network structures organized by similarity; and the representations differ in strength. Next, we translate the properties into a visual framework that we use to reflect upon how this knowledge affects three important choices in vocabulary instruction: composing word lists, selecting an instruction method, and consolidating newly acquired words. Lastly, we discuss opportunities for both science and practice, highlighting the importance of improving the ecological validity of scientific models and theories, and of developing instructional methods grounded in cognitive science.     

Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strengthen K–12 Education in the United States: Findings Related to Research and Evaluation

The Panel on Educational Technology was organized in April 1995 under the auspices of the President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) to provide advice to the President on matters related to the application of information technologies to K–12 education in the United States. Its findings and recommendations were set forth in March 1997 in the Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strengthen K–12 Education in the United States. This report was based on a review of the research literature and on written submissions and oral briefings from a number of academic and industrial researchers, practicing educators, software developers, governmental agencies, and professional and industry organizations involved in various ways with the application of technology to education. Its most important finding is that a large-scale program of rigorous, systematic research on education in general and educational technology in particular will ultimately prove necessary to ensure both the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of technology use within our nation's K–12 schools. Finding that less than 0.1 percent of our nation's expenditures for elementary and secondary education are currently invested to determine which educational techniques actually work, and to find ways to improve them—an extremely low level relative to comparable ratios within the private sector—the Panel recommended that this figure be increased over a period of several years to at least 0.5 percent, and sustained at that level on an ongoing basis. Further, because no one state, municipality, or private firm could hope to capture more than a small fraction of the benefits associated with a significant advance in our understanding of how best to educate K–12 students, the Panel concluded that such funding will have to be provided largely at the federal level in order to avoid a systematic underinvestment (attributable to a classical form of economic externality) relative to the level that would be optimal for the nation as a whole. This paper originally appeared as Section 8 of the report.