Shared understandings: environmental perspectives of Kenyan community members and teachers

Environmental issues are a shared human concern as communities in all nations and geographic regions are grappling with environmental degradation. Despite this concern, there are multiple different viewpoints on the current state of environmental issues and how to understand these problems. Understanding how different communities conceive of the environment and sustainability is paramount in efforts to increase the frequency of environmentally conscious choices. If an awareness of others’ perspectives of the environment is lacking, then the development of sustainable choices is placed at risk because of potentially competing views of what sustainability means in a particular context. As such, solutions to these environmental problems are frequently viewed as ‘wicked problems.’ This study investigates the shared and divergent environmental viewpoints of teachers and community members in Kenya. This study utilized photo-methodologies and qualitative in vivo analysis. The shared viewpoints were on positive and negative notions of environmental issues. The divergent viewpoints were on solutions that included types of innovations and amount of government involvement.     

Emerging local schooling landscapes: the role of the local authority

The school system in England is undergoing rapid change, with the government creating more than 4000 ‘independent publicly funded schools’, known as academies, since 2010. The potential for fragmentation is considerable with diversity of governance emerging as a key feature of the new schooling landscape. Consequently, a major and widely recognised issue to which these reforms give rise concerns the future of the ‘middle tier’ –that layer between individual schools or groups of schools and central government. There are competing visions of how a future middle tier might evolve: one focuses entirely on a middle tier of individual schools and chains as a ‘self-improving system’; others conceive a continuing but revised role for the local authority (LA). The aim of this paper is to begin to explore the latter position, and in particular the potential role of the LA as a ‘broker’ of new patterns of school organisation. Drawing on interview data from three very different LA areas, the findings show that LAs differ in how they conceive their role and, consequently, on the strategies that they pursue.     

A mixed‐method efficacy and fidelity study of Check and Connect

The effectiveness of the Check and Connect dropout prevention program was examined, over the course of 2 ½ years, with 54 middle school students from diverse backgrounds experiencing one or more conditions of risk for dropout. Participants were randomly assigned to receive the Check and Connect intervention or business as usual (i.e., control) in sixth grade. Students in the treatment group had significantly better eighth grade attendance than the control. There were no significant differences between the two groups in eighth grade cumulative grade point average or office disciplinary referrals. An in‐depth analysis of the quality and quantity of the intervention delivered to the students in the treatment group identified conditions that were associated with higher treatment integrity and better student outcomes.     

Moral Development,HIV/AIDS Knowledge,and Attitude toward HIV/AIDS among Counseling Students in the United States

People living with HIV/AIDS will likely require services from mental health professionals to address the complex psychosocial effects of the illness. In the United States, counseling students are not likely to be well prepared to serve clients affected by HIV/AIDS, and little is known about their HIV-related knowledge and attitudes. The present study assessed the moral development, HIV/AIDS knowledge, and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS among a national sample of counseling students in the United States. Results indicated that students held biases toward people living with HIV/AIDS and that their attitudes toward HIV/AIDS were inversely related to their level of moral development.     

Exploring statistical inference for population means through rubber chickens

Obtaining relevant data and conveying limitations of the results are two integral components to a successful statistical analysis. It is difficult for students to internalize a deep understanding of these components using only curated, textbook‐style examples. Through hands‐on data collection, this activity provides a channel for students to experience all steps, from start to finish, of a data analysis for means with paired data. Students are able to experience the challenges associated with good data collection practices and relate these practices to the underlying methodological assumptions.     

“UNIFIED”: Bridging the Researcher–Practitioner Divide in Mind,Brain, and Education

Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) science is by definition transdisciplinary. However, the communication and collaboration between constituent disciplines needed for true transdisciplinarity remains relatively rare. Consequently, many of the potential benefits of MBE science remain unrealized for parties on all sides of the discipline. The present commentary first conducts an analysis of the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of transdisciplinary partnerships in MBE. A new, free, and international web platform (“UNIFIED”) is then proposed to broker relationships between researchers and teachers within schools. This website would allow users to form collaborations based on a system of tags indexing their research interests as well as practicalities such as their location. Such a website appears well placed to realize many of the opportunities, and mitigate the threats and weaknesses, of transdisciplinary MBE research. The article concludes with an appeal to interested researchers and schools to contribute to the development of the project.     

Supporting Disability Education through a Combination of Special Schools and Disability-Inclusive Schools in the Pacific Islands

This article reports on a multi-method study of the ways in which special and mainstream schools support the educational needs of children with disabilities in Fiji. The aims of the study were: (1) to identify capacity and functions of special schools to support inclusive mainstream schools for children with disabilities; and (2) to explore the capacity of mainstream disability-inclusive schools in meeting the needs of children with disabilities. Results from the special education survey indicated that type of disability, geographic location and controlling authority were associated with transition to mainstream education. Findings from the action research study suggest that supportive school leadership and positive attitudes towards disability and inclusion contribute to greater mobilisation of supporting resources. However, limitations in facilities and resources currently pose barriers which prevent inclusion for all students with disabilities. Together, these findings indicate that special and inclusive mainstream schools jointly support disability-inclusive education in Fiji.     

Education,economy, and equality

This commentary undertakes a restricted analysis of the Reimer paper by focusing upon possible relations between education and the economy and the problem of equality of opportunity in the developing areas. It suggests that his interpretation of current trends is hardly adequate. Existing data would indicate that formal schooling can make a substantial contribution to development and the economic benefits that accrue to it are not monopolized by elites. Moreover, although education contributes to the maintenance of existing systems of stratification, it also frequently facilitates a good deal of mobility; Reimer's prediction of increasing class differentiation and status crystallization is by no means evident on the basis of existing materials. Finally, the assumptions underlying Reimer's conception of social change are essentially utopian in nature and the author has not really examined the strategic and tactical implications of his rhetoric.

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Résumé Cette critique fait une analyse limitée de l'article de Reimer en se restreignant aux relations possibles entre l'éducation et l'économie et au problème de la répartition égale des chances dans les endroits en voie de développement. On suggère que son interprétation des tendances courantes n'est point adéquate. Les données actuelles indiquent que l'éducation formelle peut contribuer considérablement au développement, et les bénéfices économiques qui lui reviennent ne sont pas le monopole des élites. En plus, bien que léducation contribue au prolongement des systèmes existants de stratification, elle facilite souvent la mobilité; la prédiction de Reimer d'une différentiation croissante de classe et d'une crystallisation de position sociale n'est pas basée sur les matériaux existants. Enfin, les suppositions qui forment la base de la conception de Reimer concernant le changement social sont essentiellement utopiques. Reimer n'a pas vraiment examiné les implications stratégiques et tactiques de sa rhétorique.