Supporting Parents in Early Literacy through Libraries (SPELL): An Evaluation of a Multi-Site Library Project

ABSTRACT

The Supporting Parents in Early Literacy through Libraries (SPELL) project was initiated to evaluate the effectiveness of early literacy programs in libraries. Eight Colorado libraries developed and implemented year-long early literacy programs targeting parents of children ages zero to three. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted to determine the effect of these programs on the early literacy habits of participating parents. The survey results indicated that after participating in the SPELL prototype programs, respondents reported increased knowledge of and engagement in early literacy activities.     

Challenging the Science Curriculum Paradigm: Teaching Primary Children Atomic-Molecular Theory

Research in Science Education - Solutions to global issues demand the involvement of scientists, yet concern exists about retention rates in science as students pass through school into University....     

The ‘spirit of education’ in Indonesian Pesantren

This paper employs Foucauldian theory to consider Islamic boarding school experiences in Indonesia. For some pupils ‘the spirit of education’ – a dimension of pleasure – comes to be highly valued, creating a lifelong passion for the pursuit of knowledge. Two school principals (both pesantren [Islamic boarding school] graduates themselves) articulated strong commitment to the ‘spirit of education’. Yet their respective boarding schools were very poor, not only by western standards but compared with Indonesian public schools, and conditions were austere. The embodiment of pesantren discourse as high academic achievement is illustrated by the example of Khadija – a young female pesantren graduate now studying at doctoral level in the United Kingdom. Explaining the embodied production of the ‘spirit of education’ demands looking at charismatic pedagogy, strict rules, austere conditions and sparse provision of learning resources as regimes of truth and power–knowledge relations that inhere in pesantren as lived experiences of pupils.     

Investigating location effects in a multicultural teacher education programme

This study investigated student perceptions of the significance of having a teacher education programme located in a culturally and ethnically diverse community in New Zealand. Four successive student cohorts were interviewed each year of their teacher preparation, and also during their first year of employment. Students identified location as a major source of the programme's strength, both for pragmatic reasons, such as providing access to tertiary study, and for reasons of community dynamics. The students noted a sense of familiarity and community that was a source of unity and strength in shaping their engagement with the institution. They indicated also that the diverse student group was a rich resource in preparing them for teaching careers in diverse urban schools. The evidence presented in the study suggests that attention to location of teacher education programmes may be an important factor in addressing imperatives for teacher educators in today's increasingly multi-ethnic, multicultural, multiracial, multi-religious and multilingual classrooms.     

Indigenous Fijian female pupils and career choice: explaining generational gender reproduction

This paper examines aspects of the school-to-work transition process for high-achieving indigenous Fijian young women using selective data from a wider study of school-to-work transitions conducted in 2005. It appears that traditional and colonial understandings of the role of Fijian women still shape even high-achieving girls' career and life options; these are expressed through their subject choices at school and their narrow career aspirations. While the social reproduction mechanisms of schools are evident, families and communities are also implicated. High-achieving girls still tend to emulate the career choices of older women in their families and communities, even in the current context of a marked lessening of labour market opportunities for the time-honoured “white-collar” occupations of teaching, nursing and public service work. Some provisional interpretations, looking towards productive interventions at school, community and church level, of this phenomenon are offered.     

Embedding knowledge management in the NHS south-west: pragmatic first steps for a practical concept

Knowledge management, like clinical governance, is a practical science. Clinical governance, with its emphasis on creating an environment where clinical quality is monitored and acted upon, is one of the foundation stones of the new National Health Service (NHS). Both knowledge management and clinical governance need to share the same criteria in order to operate. Using these two pragmatic concepts and the premise of a practical approach, this article seeks to identify the drivers for knowledge management in the NHS, highlight national initiatives and focus on the steps libraries in the south-west of England have taken to make knowledge management a reality. In so doing, the central role of the library and information service has been reinforced and embedded and librarians have been recognized for their real worth to their organizations.     

Digital Citizenship in K-12: It Takes a Village

Digital citizenship encompasses a wide range of behaviors with varying degrees of risk and possible negative consequences. Lack of digital citizenship awareness and education can, and has, led to problematic, even dangerous student conduct. If our educational village does not address these issues, the digital culture establishes its own direction, potentially pushing a productive, long-term solution further out of reach. By tapping into the experience of various practitioners and experts in the field this article provides the reader with a number of suggestions that can help the professional to help their students become better digital citizens.