Not Babysitting: Work Stress and Well-Being for Family Child Care Providers

Family child care providers contend with a number of work stressors related to the dual roles of operating a small business and providing child care in their home. Research has documented many sources of work related stress for family child care providers; however, research examining family child care providers’ experiences outside of the lens of quality of care and child outcomes is dated and scant. This study consisted of three focus groups of 11 family child care providers who shared their perspectives on work related stressors and well-being. Many of the study findings were congruent with previous research in the field; however, a key finding in this study was the importance of family child care providers to assert and establish a professional identity to mitigate work related stress. Recommendations and strategies to assist family child providers in constructing a professional identity are discussed.     

No Quick Fixes: Problems in the Development of A-level Students’ Writing (and Learning)

Over the past 15 years, there has been a range of standards-driven educational interventions in England: focused particularly on students’ writing, they have been targeted at particular students, short-term and based on the assumption that identifiable, quantifiable inputs would produce pre-identified, measurable outputs. This article explores one such intervention, aimed at students in Year 13 who were seen as having difficulty with academic writing. It looks closely at the work of one student, and raises questions about the effects of high-stakes testing upon pedagogy in schools and the damaging impact that this has upon student learning.     

Exploring the Impact of Assessment on Medical Students’ Learning

Abstract

What and how students learn depend largely on how they think they will be assessed. This study aimed to explore medical students’ perception of the value of assessment and feedback on their learning, and how this relates to their examination performance. A mixed methods research design was adopted in which a questionnaire was developed and administered to the students to gain their perceptions of assessments. Perceptions were further explored in focus group discussions. Survey findings were correlated with students’ performance data and academic coordinators’ perceptions. Students’ perceptions of the level of difficulty of different assessments mirrored their performance in examinations, with an improvement observed in clinical assessments as students progressed through their degree. Students recognised that feedback is important to allow improvements and seek more timely, better quality and personalised feedback. Academic coordinators identified that some of the students’ suggestions are more realistic than others. Students had a positive attitude towards assessment, but emphasised the need for educators to highlight the relevance of assessment to clinical practice.     

Communicative Competence and the Improvement of University Teaching: Insights from the field

The arguments in this article have been generated from involvement in a government-funded project designed to improve teaching. The authors reflect on their experience and use Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative competence to argue that initiatives designed to improve university teaching often work against their own intentions by closing down opportunities for open dialogue. They argue that improvement of teaching requires undistorted communication and demonstrate that this is made difficult: by the pressure to be seen to succeed; by over-specifying what constitutes good teaching; and, by divorcing research from development. At the same time, they suggest that academics could seize opportunities to open up dialogue about teaching.     

The Relative Predictive Contribution and Causal Role of Phoneme Awareness,Rhyme Awareness,and Verbal Short-Term Memory in Reading Skills: A Review

The acknowledgement that educational achievement is highly dependent on successful reading development has led to extensive research on its underlying factors. A strong argument has been made for a causal relationship between reading and phoneme awareness; similarly, causal relations have been suggested for reading with short-term memory and rhyme awareness alike. Here a meta-analysis is presented that seeks to determine spuriousness in these factors' relationships with reading by examining each factor's unique predictive value. The results show that phoneme awareness is the strongest unique predictor. Since the meta-analysis is based on concurrent data, it is unsuited to enlighten time-order relationships, but longitudinal and experimental studies both support the notion of a causal relationship between phoneme awareness and reading, in contrast to rhyme awareness and verbal short-term memory.     

Parental Socioeconomic Status,Communication, and Children's Vocabulary Development: A Third‐Generation Test of the Family Investment Model

This third‐generation, longitudinal study evaluated a family investment perspective on family socioeconomic status (SES), parental investments in children, and child development. The theoretical framework was tested for first‐generation parents (G1), their children (G2), and the children of the second generation (G3). G1 SES was expected to predict clear and responsive parental communication. Parental investments were expected to predict educational attainment and parenting for G2 and vocabulary development for G3. For the 139 families in the study, data were collected when G2 were adolescents and early adults and their oldest biological child (G3) was 3–4 years of age. The results demonstrate the importance of SES and parental investments for the development of children and adolescents across multiple generations.     

Finding a third space in teacher education: creating an urban teacher residency

This paper describes an urban teacher residency program, the Newark Montclair Urban Teacher Residency, a collaborative endeavor between the Newark, New Jersey Public Schools and Montclair State University, built on a decades-long partnership. The authors see the conceptual work of developing this program as creating a “third space” in teacher education. We detail the ways in which we conceptualize epistemology and clinical practice in teacher education, and changes in the roles of the community, and P-12 teachers that occur in a third space. Providing an account of our messy and nonlinear process demonstrates the struggles of creating new spaces for teacher education. We believe the theory that informs our work, the challenges we face, and the strategies for meeting those challenges illustrate the tenuous and ever-evolving nature of doing work in the “third space.”     

Spirituality Matters: Spirituality and the Community College Leader

The purpose of this study was to explore community college president and chancellor perceptions of the phenomenon of spirituality and the role of spirituality in their leadership style. A hermeneutic phenomenological research design guided this study. A total of 14 community college presidents and chancellors were purposely selected and participated in semistructured one-on-one interviews. Participants were selected because of their interest in the topic of spirituality and leadership, their demographic characteristics, and their leadership position. The major findings and conclusions connected spirituality to the work of community college leaders. The researchers conclude that community college leaders define spirituality using both religious and nonreligious associations, depict qualities of spirituality in their leadership, characterize their influence on organizational culture in terms of symbolic leadership. These leaders also endorse self-care and renewal for themselves and aspiring community college leaders through the incorporation of spiritual practices. This study holds several implications for current and aspiring community college leaders who seek to enhance their leadership effectiveness and to sustain themselves despite the demands and challenges associated with their positions.     

Facilitating Self-Regulated Learning Skills and Achievement With a Strategic Content Learning Approach

Whether out of financial concerns for student retention or altruistic goals involving facilitating successful learning, efforts are being made to ensure college student success beyond chance independent study skills. Students often lack effective self-regulatory skills and study strategies necessary for success in college. With guidance through specific task-related learner activities, these skills may be enhanced. The current study investigated how student performance in an introductory psychology course at a midwestern community college might be impacted by a structured, content-learning approach engaging students in specific academic study skills activities. Results indicated that the intervention group performed significantly better across all three exam events and achieved higher semester course grades. Performance on the learning packet itself was positively correlated with exam performance.     

Development and Initial Validation of the Student Interest and Choice in STEM (SIC-STEM) Survey 2.0 Instrument for Assessment of the Social Cognitive Career Theory Constructs

Journal of Science Education and Technology - In response to a growing need for STEM professionals, this study reports the results of the initial validation of a refined survey instrument that...