Changing students’ and teachers’ concepts and constructs of knowledge in RE in Greece

ABSTRACT

Based on a qualitative research (2012–15) this paper is concerned with the identification of concepts and constructs of knowledge in RE. It is based on participative enquiry and educational action-research methodology. Over a three-year period, the researcher, teachers and the students of a High School in one of the most difficult social, economic and pedagogic environments in Greece collaborated and the resulting data were analysed by a team of independent researchers using quantitative and qualitative techniques. Findings point to the consideration of knowledge in education as an experience in which the content (what) of education is as important as the process (how). RE teaches an additional invaluable language with different religious meanings of concepts, which facilitates students’ communication with self and others, and offers an interpretation of the world. Such religious literacy is essentially provided at school in the framework of multi-literacies and is a result of an intersubjective process of the interconnection between thinking, reflection and action on what the curriculum positions on the top of the didactic triangle (content, teacher, student). In that process, to ‘know what I know’ and to provide ‘events with meaning’ based on experiential learning and its principles, is of inestimable value.     

Struggling between tradition and modernity: gender and educational choice‐making in contemporary Cyprus

This article investigates the role of gender in educational choice‐making for post secondary school destinations in contemporary Cyprus. More specifically, it examines the cultural and ideological mechanisms that produce gender differentiation in the way educational choices are made by secondary school students and their families. Drawing on evidence from a qualitative investigation of parents of students graduating from secondary schools it supports that the unequal patterns observed can be partly explained by the diverse ways Cypriot parents perceive gender roles which in turn influence their willingness to invest economic and non monetary resources to support their children’s choices.     

Snow White in Hellenic primary classrooms: children’s responses to non-traditional gender discourses

This paper sets out to investigate how children make sense of and negotiate non-traditional gender discourses promoted through the feminist version of the fairytale of Snow White. The research was based on work with 120 pupils aged 9–11 years old in 2 Athenian primary schools. The data were collected through semi-structured group interviews. The findings suggested that schoolchildren gave conflicting accounts in relation to gender discourses and identities. There is a strong indication that girls of this age are more prepared than boys to challenge traditional gender discourses.     

Self-regulated learning and performance calibration among elementary physical education students

This study examined the effectiveness of a social-cognitive training model of self-regulation on students’ dribbling performance, calibration accuracy, and motivational beliefs. Participants were 120 fifth and sixth graders. Students who sequentially experienced emulative and self-control practice setting either process or performance goals at the emulation or at the self-control level improved their dribbling performance and motivational beliefs from pre- to post-test. Students overestimated their performance except for those in the process goal condition who underestimated it. These findings support the effectiveness of this training model and are discussed with reference to the self-regulation and performance calibration development in physical education.     

Personal and Situational Factors Influencing Intrinsic Interest of Adolescent Girls in School Physical Education: a structural equation modelling analysis

This study assessed the influence of individual and contextual factors on adolescent girls’ interest in school physical education (PE). Specifically, girls (N = 700) were assessed on: (a), perceptions of their PE class climate, using the Perceived Motivational Climate Scale (PMCS, Cury et al., 1994; (b) dispositional achievement goal orientations, using the French version of the Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ, Durand et alM in press; and (c) the interest and competence subscales from the French version of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI, Cury et al., 1994a). Structural equation modelling analysis, using LISREL VII, showed an excellent fit with the hypothesised model. Specifically, situational class climate was found to be more important than individual goals in influencing pupil interest in PE. However, perceived competence also influenced interest, as did a mastery goal orientation. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical propositions of goal perspectives theory and practical issues of enhancing adolescent girls’ interest in physical education.     

A Prospective Study of the Relationships Between Motivational Orientations and Perceived Competence with Intrinsic Motivation and Achievement in a Teacher Education Course

This study utilised a prospective design in examining determinants of intrinsic motivation in a physical education teacher education course. At the outset of a one‐term Olympic gymnastics module students in the third year of a 4‐year degree course completed questionnaires measuring their perceived autonomy and competence regarding the module. On completion of the module, students replied to questionnaires assessing their intrinsic motivation as well as their intentions to study a gymnastics course in the future. Structural equation modelling analysis showed that both perceived autonomy and competence had effects on intrinsic motivation, although the latter was indirect through performance. Further, intrinsic motivation had a strong effect on intention. This study shows the importance of creating perceptions of autonomy in student teachers when the promotion of intrinsic motivation is desired.     

The effectiveness of teaching a life skills program in a physical education context

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a life skills training program taught as part of physical education lessons. Seventy three, seventh grade students were assigned either in an experimental or in a wait-list control replication group and received an abbreviated version of GOAL, a school-based intervention designed by Danish and colleagues to teach life skills. The program focused on setting goals, making plans for achieving goals and on positive thinking. Students were assessed on physical fitness tests, knowledge about life skills, and beliefs about effective use of life skills. Results showed gains and retention on physical fitness, knowledge and self-beliefs regarding goal setting. These results show that life skills training can be effectively implemented within a school physical education context.     

Ideological tensions in the educational choice practices of modern Greek Cypriot parents: the role of social capital

The rapid modernisation process of Greek Cypriot society has created a cultural environment with an amalgam of traditionalist and modernist ethical attitudes, and antagonisms between them concerning, among other things, social advancement. These have implications for the way individuals and families develop various strategies of choice‐making for post secondary school destinations and for issues of social justice. We focus on social capital networks and resources. Our arguments are supported by the analysis of attitudes, beliefs, practices and resources available to a sample of 24 Greek Cypriot parents for choice‐making about the educational and occupational futures of their children. In discussion we offer modelling of these processes plus, more speculatively, implications for the possible emergence of a transcendent postmodernist cultural recontextualisation of social capital practices in contemporary Cyprus and for the ethics of social capitalism more generally.     

A long-tail inspired measure to assess resource use in information services

A measure for the assessment of resource use in information services provides an application within the information services area of the long tail concept. The analysis quantifies the long tail concept and is applicable to all libraries and information services, independent of their size and circulation properties. The paradigm of the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient from macroeconomics is adapted in the context of information services. The Gini coefficient examines the skewness of the Lorenz curve against an ideal cumulative distribution that is represented by a 45-degree line. In this context, the Lorenz curve depicts the cumulative percentage of collection items versus the number of loans and identifies the different levels of library resource use on the part of users by measuring how close the Gini coefficient is to the unity (i.e., the Gini of the 45-degree line is identified).     

Perceived motivational climate and intrinsic motivation in school physical education classes

Research has shown that dispositional achievement goal orientations have important effects on motivation, affect and behaviour in sport and physical activity. However, rather less is known about the relationship between perceived ethos, or climate, of physical education (P.E.) classes and subsequent motivation. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the psychometric properties of an inventory assessing P.E. class climate and the relationship of subscales of the inventory with intrinsic motivation. Second order factor analysis revealed class climate dimensions of ‘mastery’ and ‘performance’, confirming prior research. The mastery dimension scores were found to significantly enhance the prediction of intrinsic motivation beyond that accounted for by perceived competence, whereas this was not the case for performance climate scores. MANOVA showed that children perceiving their P. E. class to be high inboth mastery and performance climate reported greater intrinsic motivation and perceived competence.