Announcing The Encyclopaedia of School Stories

Editorial Introduction

Announcing The Encyclopaedia of School Stories     

Mathematics teachers’ “learning to notice” in the context of a video club

This study examines changes in teachers’ thinking as they participated in a video club designed to help them learn to notice and interpret students’ mathematical thinking. First, we investigate changes in teachers’ talk about classroom video segments before and after participation in the video club. Second, we identify three paths along which teachers learned to notice students’ mathematical thinking in this context: Direct, Cyclical, and Incremental. Finally, we explore ways the video club context influenced teacher learning. Understanding different forms of teacher learning provides insight for research on teacher cognition and may inform the design of video-based professional development.     

The Anne Frank Haven: A case of an alternative educational program in an integrative Kibbutz setting

The essential features of the programme of the Anne Frank Haven are the complete integration of children from low SES and different cultural backgrounds with Kibbutz children; a holistic approach to education; and the involvement of the whole community in an open residential school. After 33 years, it is argued that the experiment has proved successful in absorbing city-born youth in the Kibbutz, enabling at-risk populations to reach significant academic achievements, and ensuring their continued participation in the dominant culture. The basic integration model consists of layers of concentric circles, in dynamic interaction. The innermost circle is the class, the learning community. The Kibbutz community and the foster parents form a supportive, enveloping circle, which enables students to become part of the outer community and to intervene in it. A kind of meta-environment, the inter-Kibbutz partnership and the Israeli educational system, influence the program through decision making and guidance. Some of the principles of the Haven — integration, community involvement, a year's induction for all new students, and open residential settings — could be useful for cultures and societies outside the Kibbutz. The real secret of success of an alternative educational program is the dedicated, motivated and highly trained staff.

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Zusammenfassung Die Hauptpunkte des Programms des Anne-Frank-Internats sind die vollständige Integration von Kindern aus sozial schwachen Familien und unterschiedlichem kulturellen Hintergrund in die Gruppe von Kibbutz-Kindern, ein holistischer Ansatz zur Erziehung und die Beteiligung der gesamten Gemeinde an einer offenen Heimschule. Das Experiment wird von den Autoren 33 Jahre nach Beginn als erfolgreich angesehen, sowohl bei der Integration der Stadtjugend in den Kibbutz und den eröffneten Möglichkeiten für Risikogruppen, bedeutende akademische Leistungen zu vollbringen, als auch bei deren gesicherter kontinuierlicher Beteiligung an einer dominanten Kultur. Das Grundintegrationsmodell besteht aus Schichten konzentrischer Kreise in dynamischer Interaktion. Der innerste Kreis ist die Klasse, die Lerngemeinschaft. Die Kibbutz-Gesellschaft und die Pflegeeltern bilden einen unterstützenden und beschützenden Kreis, der es den Schülern ermöglicht, Teil der äußeren Gemeinde zu werden und sich dort zu engagieren. Eine Art Meta-Umgebung, die Partnerschaft zwischen den Kibbutzim und das israelische Schulsystem beeinflussen das Programm, indem Entscheidungen getroffen und Richtlinien gegeben werden. Einige der Prinzipien des Internats wie Integration, Beteiligung der Gemeinden, einjährige Einführungszeit für alle neuen Schüler und offene Wohnbedingungen, könnten für Kulturen und Gesellschaften außerhalb des Kibbutz ebenfalls von Interesse sein. Das wahre Geheimnis des Erfolgs eines alternativen Schulprogramms ist jedoch engagiertes, motiviertes und hochqualifiziertes Personal.

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Résumé L'insertion complète des enfants de bas statut socio-économique et de milieux culturels différents aux enfants des kibboutz, une approche holistique de l'enseignement et la participation de l'ensemble de la communauté à une école résidentielle ouverte constituent les caractéristiques essentielles du programme Anne Frank Haven. On est d'avis, 33 ans plus tard, que cette expérience a réussi à intégrer les jeunes citadins dans les kibboutz, à donner un niveau de scolarité satisfaisant aux populations à risque et à assurer leur participation continue à la culture dominante. Le modèle d'intégration de base est constitué de couches de cercles concentriques en interaction dynamique. Le cercle le plus au centre représente la classe, la communauté qui apprend. La collectivité du kibboutz et les parents nourriciers forment un cercle de soutien enveloppant qui permet aux élèves de prendre part à la vie de la communauté extérieure et d'intervenir au sein de celle-ci. Une sorte de méta-environnement, l'association entre les kibboutz et le système éducatif israélien exercent une influence sur le programme par leurs décisions et les conseils qu'ils prodiguent. Quelques-uns des principes du programme Haven, tels que l'intégration, la participation de la communauté, une année d'initiation pour tous les nouveaux élèves et les structures d'internat ouvert, pourraient servir aux cultures et sociétés à l'extérieur des kibboutz. Le véritable secret du succès d'un programme éducatif non conventionnel repose sur un personnel dévoué, motivé et parfaitement formé.

     

The teacher leadership process: Attempting change within embedded systems

This embedded case study examines the leadership practices of eleven teacher leaders in three urban schools to identify how these teacher leaders attempt to change the teaching practice of their colleagues while working as professional learning community leaders and as mentors for new teachers. Using a theoretical framework integrating complex systems theory with Kotter’s (Leading change. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1996) eight steps for leading organizational change, we analyze the work and perspectives of individual teacher leaders, and we examine how teams of teacher leaders and principals function collectively in their efforts to lead instructional change. Our findings have implications for schools seeking to utilize teacher leadership as a reform strategy for authentic instructional improvement.     

The International Adult Literacy Survey: What Does It Really Measure?

The paper evaluates the work of the International Adult Literacy Survey as reported in OECD 1997. It assesses its contribution to understanding literacy in terms of the perspective of the New Literacy Studies. It outlines this perspective as a basis for a critique that is mostly concerned with the validity of the test. Three criticisms of the survey are made: that it provides only a partial picture of literacy; that culture is treated as bias; and that the test items do not represent the real-life items as claimed. Finally, the paper concludes with an overall evaluation of what the IALS achieves in terms of its own aims.     

Vocational knowledge in motion: rethinking vocational knowledge through vocational teachers’ professional development

The paper presents empirical data to consider some of the current debates concerning the nature of vocational knowledge taught in Further Education colleges to students following craft, vocational and occupational courses. The concept of ‘knowledge in motion’ and workplace learning theories are employed as a conceptual framework to examine the continuing professional development (CPD) activities of vocational teachers. This is used to shed light on the ways in which teachers use CPD as a means of accessing and transporting vocational knowledge from occupations to classrooms. Empirical data were gathered through questionnaire, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The findings are presented around five themes: (1) the range of CPD engaged with by vocational teachers; (2) the limitations of propositional, explicit knowledge; (3) engaging with and capturing tacit knowledge; (4) managing the temporality of vocational knowledge; and (5) networking within and to the occupation. Findings suggests that vocational knowledge is distributed and networked and this conceptualisation makes visible some of the ways teachers are able, through CPD activity, to transport vocational knowledge from occupations to classrooms.     

‘You're Like Yourself': Multimodal Literacies in a Reading Support Class

This article explores the experiences and literacy practices of an adolescent boy enrolled in an academic support class, in which students received an open-ended invitation to respond to S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders with the software programme Comic Life. In constructing this ‘telling case', we highlight how traditional print literacies associated with English instruction can construct school as a ‘contradictory symbolic space' for many students, but also how the introduction of the multimodalities can provide opportunities for adolescents to experience in-school literacies as social, performative and creative. We argue for re-envisioning literacy curricula and assessment not only to incorporate multimodalities, but also to provide students with instruction in writing conventions and practice with print in ways that serve larger purposes beyond remediation and test preparation. We posit the possibility for ‘complementary symbolic spaces' that are connected to the landscape of adolescent literacies that students traverse outside school and to students' desires to communicate, create and reach others within a range of discourse communities.     

Academic accommodations for university students living with disability and the potential of universal design to address their needs

Higher Education - This paper reports on a faculty-wide investigation into the experiences of students requiring academic accommodations due to disability. Underpinned by the social model of...     

Knowledge and processes that predict proficiency in digital literacy

Proficiency in digital literacy refers to the ability to read and write using online sources, and includes the ability to select sources relevant to the task, synthesize information into a coherent message, and communicate the message with an audience. The present study examines the determinants of digital literacy proficiency by asking 150 students who had 50 min of access to the Internet and a word processor to produce a research report on whether or not their college should require all students to own a laptop computer. The resulting essay received a holistic rating from 1 to 5. Concerning knowledge underlying digital literacy, the major predictors of digital literacy proficiency (as measured by essay rating) were academic experience (undergraduate versus graduate status) and domain knowledge (based on a questionnaire), rather than technical knowledge about how to use computers (based on a questionnaire). Concerning processing during the task, the major predictors of digital literacy proficiency were integrating processes (such as number of unique sources, citations, or supporting details) rather than search processes (such as number of actions, web pages, websites, links, or search terms). In short, proficiency in digital literacy depended mainly on academic experience rather than technical experience, and on how learners organize and integrate the information they find rather than on how much information they peruse. Findings from this study suggest that the basic tenets of good scholarship apply to digital media.