Education and qualitative research in Mexico: issues and insights from the field

This co-editors’ introduction provides a context for the special issue on qualitative research in Mexico and introduces the five papers selected for publication. Papers present findings from qualitative research that explore the topics of teaching; school leadership; language education policy; and women in traditionally male, postsecondary engineering programs.     

Self-Operated Verbal Instructions for People with Intellectual and Visual Disabilities: Using instruction clusters after task acquisition

Three adults with intellectual and visual disabilities were taught vocationally relevant tasks through the use of a self-operated verbal instruction system. During training, the system presented one verbal instruction per task step, individually. After training, the system presented instructions arranged in clusters/groups of two. Data showed that during training all participants achieved percentages of correct task performance exceeding 90. The subsequent use of instruction clusters was effective in maintaining high levels of correct performance for each adult, whereas a deterioration of performance occurred when instructions were not available. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

The Issue of Shared Time

BIOGRAPHY: From Thirty Years With Freud by Theodor Reik. Farrar and Rinehart. 241 pages. $2.50.

Mark Twain in Eruption by Mark Twain. Edited by Bernard DeVoto. Harper &; Bras 393 pp. $3.75.

Not to Me Only by Caleb Frank Gates. Princeton University Press. 329 pp. $3.00.

Still Small Voice by August Derleth. D. Appleton-Century Company. 307 PP. $3.00.

EDUCATION Abstracts of Graduate Theses in Education, Volume III, Teachers College, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. 251 pp. $2.00.

Science for the Elementary School Teacher by Gerald S. Craig. Ginn and Company. 540 pp. $3.00.

Stops: A Handbook for Those Who Know Their Punctuation and for Those Who Aren't Quite Sure. Introduction by Robert M. Gay. Middlebury College Press. 37 pp. $1.00.

The Arts in the Classroom by Natalie Robinson Cole. Illustrated. John Day. 137 pages. $1.75.

FICTION: Landfall by Nevil Shute. William Morrow and Company. 284 pp. $2.50.

Sapphira and the Slave Girl by Willa Cather. Alfred A. Knopf. 295 pages. $2.50.

Who Dwell With Wonder by Kathleen Coyle. E. P. Dutton and Company. 279 pp. $2.50.

GENERAL: Approach to Music by Lawrence Abbott. Introduction by Walter Damrosch. Illustrated. Farrar and Rinehart. 358 pages. $2.50.

Broadway in Review by John Mason Brown. W. W. Norton Company. 295 pages. $2.75.

Poems by Eileen Duggan. Introduction by Walter de la Mare. The Macmillan Company. 65 pp. $1.50.

Thinking on Your Feet by Louis Ni-zar. With an Introduction by Bruce Barton. Liveright Publishing Corporation. 301 pp. $2.50.

PSYCHOLOGY: Behind the Scenes of Murder by Joseph Catton, M.D. W. W. Norton Company. 355 pages. $3.00.

SOCIAL STUDIES, INCLUDING HISTORY: Freedom American Style by Alan F. Griffin. Henry Holt &; Co. 184 pages.

Here's Death Valley by C. B. Glass-cock. Illustrated. Bobbs-Merrill &; Company. 329 pages. $3.00.

Historian and Scientist by Gaetano Sal-vemini. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Mass. Pp. viii, 203. $2.50.

In the Wake of the Raiders and the Merchant Navy Fights by A. D. Divine. E. P. Dutton and Company. 1940. $2.50.

The Trojan Horse in America by Martin Dies. Dodd, Mead &; Company. 366 pages. $2.50.

The Ancient Greeks by William Kelly Prentice. Princeton University Press. 254 pages. $3.00.

TRAVEL: Hawkeyes, A Biography of the State of Iowa by Phil Stong. Dodd, Mead and Company. 300 pp. $3.00.

Hurricane's Wake by Roy Kauffman. The Macmillan Company. 319 pp. $3.00.     

Comparative study of the evaluation of professional competencies by experienced and trainee Spanish primary teachers

Taking as reference the proposals of the European Higher Education Area, the aim of this study is to identify the competencies which a wide sample of teachers in Spanish primary schools (6–12 age group) consider to be important for their professional performance and which they use in their everyday teaching, and to what extent their university training prepared them for their practising professional development. To do this, an ad hoc instrument was devised and applied to experienced practising teachers and to teacher trainees who were on teacher training placements during the last semester of their course. The results of the study show that initial teacher training should deal in depth with the competencies related to the organisation and management of teaching–learning, the use of new technologies in the primary classroom, the involvement of the families, education in values, social skills and skills for working in professional groups. Finally, proposals are made for training based on the articulation between theory and practice, to allow the professional competencies mentioned to be developed and used in practice, as well as encouraging close collaboration between teacher trainers and experienced practising teachers.     

‘The Trouble with Normal’: (re)imagining sexuality education with young people

What do young people believe sexuality education ought to be about? It is within the absence of a sustained and critical consideration of the possibilities and politics of engaging in research with rather than for young people in the reimagining of sexuality education that this paper is positioned. Data were generated as part of an 18-month Youth Participatory Action Research study in one co-educational secondary school with 43 student co-researchers (15–17 years). The findings presented are not intended to provide conclusive statements about future directions for sexuality education, but rather provide a platform on which to discuss how young people’s ideas align with or diverge from current practice and debates surrounding what sexuality education should, could or ought to be about.     

Physical activity experiences of young people in an area of disadvantage: ‘there's nothing there for big kids,like us’

Through an examination of the experiences of young people in one disadvantaged area, this paper adds to an emerging body of knowledge focused on what place physical activity occupies in the lives of young people in areas of disadvantage. A total of 40 young people (21 males, 19 females) participated in focus group interviews. The research question explored the forces which enable and constrain the participation of youths in physical activity and the interplay between such forces and how they experience and exercise agency. All focus group interviews were transcribed, coded and thematically analysed. The findings remind us that young people can be seen as positioned within multiple social relations conferred by specific social identities (such as child, friend, brother or sister) and each of these identities influences the ability of youth to exercise agency in choosing whether, where and when to participate in physical activity. Institutional structures also influenced the physical activity habits of young people in this study. It was interesting to note that staying out of trouble was one of the most discussed benefits of physical activity. Young people also recorded feelings of disempowerment through the belief that no significance was attributed to their words and shared thoughts. This sense of constrained agency presents a particular difficulty when we consider that it is only through accessing the voices of young people that those attempting to promote physical activity can ensure that the range of opportunities being created are matched to the preferences of youth.     

Does an Argument-Based Approach to Validity Make a Difference?

Drawing on experience between 2000 and 2007 in developing a validity argument for the high-stakes Test of English as a Foreign Language™ ( TOEFL ®) , this paper evaluates the differences between the argument-based approach to validity as presented by Kane (2006) and that described in the 1999 AERA/APA/NCME Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing . Based on an analysis of four points of comparison—framing the intended score interpretation, outlining the essential research, structuring research results into a validity argument, and challenging the validity argument—we conclude that an argument-based approach to validity introduces some new and useful concepts and practices .