Managing curriculum change and ‘ontological uncertainty’ in tertiary education

Curriculum reform at institutional level is a challenging endeavour. Those charged with leading this process will encounter both enthusiasm and multiple obstacles to teacher engagement including the particularly complex issue of confronting existing teacher identities. At Unitec Institute of Technology (Unitec), the ‘Living Curriculum’ initiative focused on whole-of-institution curriculum renewal and, in the process, acknowledged and addressed teacher beliefs and practices that variously supported and contested both the initiative itself and the professional development offerings that accompanied it. The related research project identified factors and processes that unsettle teachers, rendering them ‘insecure’, and strategies that have proven effective in supporting teachers through significant change in conceptions of curriculum, teaching and learning.     

Anxiety in Science Classrooms: its measurement and relationship to classroom environment

This paper considers the role of a new vocational science qualification in the UK (Intermediate General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) science) and how it relates to science-based employment. Studies into employers' requirements are reviewed and found to indicate that an ability to understand and evaluate scientific evidence is valued highly. This part of science is not currently taught explicitly either in GNVQ or elsewhere in the science curriculum. The authors report the results of a small intervention study in which ideas about evidence were explicitly taught within Intermediate GNVQ science. The findings suggest that it is feasible to incorporate such teaching into the qualification but that, if it is not part of the formal assessment process, the teaching tends to be undervalued by the students. By contrast, the teaching staff involved in the project recognised that these ideas fill a gap in the qualification and valued the teaching materials developed for this purpose. A means of incorporating the assessment of such understanding into the current assessment procedures is put forward. Such a modification to the assessment process would add rigour to the qualification and provide a better preparation for employment in science-based industry.     

Significant Evidence

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Its implications for methods and material in religious education are clear. Religious educators may well take advantage of every new finding in scientific research.

Each abstract or group is preceded by an evaluation and interpretive comment, which aims to guide the reader in understanding the research reported.

All of these abstracts are from PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS, and used by permission of that periodical. The abstract numbers are from Volume 25, Numbers 9 and 10, September-October 1951.     

The Time Has Come to Create Meaning‐Making Centers on College Campuses

Robert J. Nash and Jennifer J. J. Jang argue that students have a great need to find a “meaning to live for,” à la Victor Frankl, and make a case for creating a space for students and educators to contextualize learning experiences dealing with the universal, existential questions of life.     

“I Like That He Always Shows Who He Is”: The perceptions and experiences of siblings with a brother with autism spectrum disorder

Semi‐structured interviews were used to explore the perceptions and experiences of eight typically developing siblings in middle childhood who had a brother with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The analysis yielded five main themes: (i) siblings’ perceptions of the impact of their brother’s condition on their lives, (ii) siblings’ perceptions of the attitudes of others, (iii) siblings’ tolerance and acceptance towards their brothers, (iv) positive attitudes and experiences, and (v) siblings’ views on support for themselves and their brothers. These exploratory findings can be used to inform future larger scale studies and quantitative research. Initial implications for practice focus on issues related to enhancing the development of support services for siblings of children with ASD.     

‘Let’s work on your weaknesses’: Australian CrossFit coaching,masculinity and neoliberal framings of ‘health’ and ‘fitness’

CrossFit (CF) is one of the fastest growing exercise regimens in the world. However, sociologists have been relatively slow in examining the place of CF coaches in contemporary CF fitness culture. CF coaches are key figures in the production, promotion and consumption of CF fitness services. Therefore, coaches are a sociologically compelling group to examine. Drawing on interviews with male CF coaches in Tasmania, Australia, this paper argues that the way that CF coaches become qualified, interact with clients and understand ‘health’ and ‘fitness’ is shaped by the confluence of masculinity and neoliberalism. As CF grows in Australia alongside other fitness regimens, these findings pose a unique set of concerns for the Australian fitness industry, especially in relation to the ways that CF coaches translate the meaning and practice of ‘health’ and ‘fitness’ to their athletes.