Critiquing the school community: a qualitative study of children's conceptualizations of their school 1

Schools are traditionally seen as responsible for the educational outcomes of our children. However, schools also play an important role in the development of aspects such as self‐efficacy, participation, competence and self‐determination. As schools are often run as societies rather than communities, they offer little opportunity for these attributes (self‐efficacy, participation, competence and self‐determination) to develop. Forty‐six children aged from nine to 12 years were interviewed to ascertain their conceptualizations of the school community. The children define their school in terms of people, places for activities and interaction, a place for safety, cooperation, influence and functionality. The responses closely align to the adult conceptualizations of sense of community as purported by McMillan and Chavis (1986 McMillan, D.W. and Chavis, D.M. 1986. Sense of community: a definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14: 6–23. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Implications of this research suggest that children can and should have an integral role in designing a curriculum and systems relevant to the school context if we are at all concerned with their psychological wellness.     

Reframing leadership as a participative pedagogy: the working theories of early years professionals

Traditional notions of leadership are at odds with the pedagogy and ethos of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), prompting increasing international concern to develop new understandings which are better suited and create greater leadership capacity. The introduction of the Early Years Professional (EYP) in England, as a leader of practice without association with an organisational position, gave impetus to the idea of pedagogic leadership. This paper draws on two qualitative studies to examine the working theories of EYPs in leading practice to discover how they interpret and apply their professional purpose. An interpretive approach was adopted to develop patterns of meaning from practitioner stories which show an emerging notion of leadership founded on ‘passionate care’ to improve the education and well-being of young children. Such leadership can be exercised regardless of positional role as it does not operate through authority but from moral purpose and it seeks to release agency for change with others by building trusting relationships. This provides scope to reconceptualise leadership in ECEC as a participative pedagogy which could generate greater leadership capital if embedded into professional development.     

Modern languages and special educational needs: a review of research

The Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 requires that all pupils of secondary school age should have equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The inclusion of language studies within the statutory framework of the Northern Ireland curriculum has led to a significant expansion in the teaching of modern languages to pupils with special educational needs. Many teachers are now faced with the task of teaching pupils who hitherto would have been excluded from the language department and some teachers in special schools now have to teach a language with which they themselves are unfamiliar. This paper is the first stage of a research and development project funded by the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (NICCEA); it examines some research evidence relating to the challenge of teaching languages to pupils with special educational needs.     

‘It’s not a hobby’: reconceptualizing the place of writing in academic work

The writing activities involved in research are not fully articulated in discussions of academic work. In this context, academics say they have to disengage from other tasks in order to write, which raises fundamental questions about the place of writing in academic work. A study designed to find out more about this disengagement showed that it involved acts of engagement with writing. Reconceptualizing disengagement from other tasks as engagement with writing repositions writing as part of academic work. This is critical for new and emerging researchers: it provides concepts to underpin practices that will enable them regularly to write. This article provides a model for physical, social and cognitive engagement with writing and explores how it can be put into practice. Implications for academics and those responsible for developing research capacity are discussed.     

The identification of special educational needs and the month of birth: differential effects of category of need and level of assessment

The processes around the identification of special educational needs (SEN) should mean that those pupils who need most help receive it. However, there are concerns that this process is not working and there is an over-identification of pupils with SEN. Previous international research has shown that summer-born children are more likely to be identified as having SEN. However, these studies tend to treat SEN as a homogenous group. In this paper, we explore the extent to which the month-of-birth effect can be seen in subgroups of SEN. A survey of 450 schools in England was undertaken to explore the levels of provision and categories of SEN for 15,640 pupils. This led to differential month-of-birth effects being noted in category of SEN, with moderate learning difficulties being most susceptible. We hypothesise that teachers may be labelling younger children within the year group on the basis of political aspirations of attainments to be reached by the end of the academic year. When more thorough, multiprofessional assessments are undertaken, the month-of-birth effect is no longer evident. This has clear implications for assessment; identification; allocation of scarce educational resources; for educational policy on monitoring school performance and initial teacher training.     

Building Bridges in Teacher Education: Creating Partnerships With Parents

This study investigated the learning experiences, outcomes, and perceptions of graduate students in a collaboration and consultation course focusing on parent-professional partnerships. The course was designed as a teacher preparation model that envisions teachers, school psychologists, and families learning together to build effective partnerships to better student outcomes. Nineteen graduate students seeking a degree in special education or school psychology were provided multiple opportunities to engage in experiences with parents of children with disabilities, including having parents embedded in the course for the entire semester. Data were collected utilizing multiple methods and included a family/professional partnership survey and focus group discussions conducted both pre- and post-course, as well as a Learning Objectives and Activities Survey. Analyses of qualitative and quantitative data indicate a change in students' knowledge, beliefs, dispositions, and experiences of parent-professional partnerships.