The Story So Far: gender,literacy and social regulation

This article examines ways in which language practices in the classroom — particularly those involved with the reading and writing of stories — are gendered literacy practices. It argues that stories are closely identified with structuring the meanings by which a culture lives, and that popular and familiar stories rely upon dominant versions of femininity and masculinity to be understood or ‘read’. The article suggests that story genres are ‘gendered’ in the way in which they organise sequences of events, in the discursive fields from which they draw, and in the character‐traiting paradigms they prefer. The claim is made that when children write stories they enter into a form of social regulation implicit in the cultural conventions of popular narrative forms. Story‐writing is seen to be a social, ideological activity which often masquerades as personal expression. The article argues that the gendered nature of classroom literacy practices will be more obviously recognised if classroom language approaches are framed from within critical discourse theory and theories of subjectivity; and if the constraints posed by generic conventions and the cultural devaluation of many feminine’ genres, are more deliberately confronted and addressed in the classroom.

Telling fairy stories, even telling good fairy stories very well ... simply doesn't count. The positions of real power and influence in our society necessitate command of genres for which boys’ educational experience provides an appropriate preparation and girls’ doesn't ... girls’ genre competence at primary school is not merely irrelevant but positively disabling. (Poynton, 1985; p. 36)     

Investigating epistemological beliefs in vocational education for child care workers: New ways of thinking about learning and training

Epistemological beliefs (beliefs about knowing and knowledge) have provided interesting insights into effective teaching and learning in higher education over the last 30 years. However, to date, little research has taken place in regard to teaching and learning in the technical and further education (TAFE) context in Australia. Seventeen 1^st and 2^nd year child care students studying for a Diploma in Children's Services were interviewed about the nature of their epistemological beliefs. The findings revealed new ways of thinking about evaluativistic beliefs, described as “practical evaluativism”. These beliefs may have implications for the way in which students evaluate theory and practice for implementation in their own child care practice.     

The incidence of infant physical abuse in Alaska

OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence of and risk factors associated with infant (< 1 year of age) physical abuse in Alaska. METHODS: A population-based retrospective cohort study for the 1994-2000 resident birth cohort was conducted by linking data from birth certificates, Child Protective Services, a statewide hospital-based trauma registry, hospital discharge data, and the Alaska Infant Mortality Review (including death certificates). The main outcome measures were the incidences of overall physical abuse and abuse resulting in hospitalization or death. A case of child abuse was defined as an instance of substantiated physical abuse to an infant identified in the Child Protective Services database or an infant death with homicide identified on the death certificate as the manner of death. RESULTS: During the 7-year study period, there were 70,842 births and 325 cases of physical abuse including 72 that led to hospitalization (n = 58), death (n = 4), or both (n = 10); respective incidences for all abuse and abuse leading to hospitalization or death were 4.6 and 1.0 per 1000 live births. Following multivariate analyses, the risk factors with the highest population attributable risks were maternal or paternal education < or = 12 years, unmarried mother, and maternal prenatal substance use. To determine if the study methodology was likely to have missed cases of severe abuse, we examined information for all 216 infants hospitalized for trauma during the study period who did not have identification of abuse in one of the study databases; of these, at least 39 had injuries inconsistent with the reported mechanism (a long bone or skull fracture that reportedly resulted from a fall of less than 3 feet or from a caretaker's arms or for which the caretaker denied a history of trauma). Conclusions: Alaska has one of the highest documented infant physical abuse incidences reported in the literature and abuse is associated with potentially modifiable-primarily social-risk factors. Despite this high incidence, substantial under-reporting of hospitalized cases likely occurs.     

Structural Change,Leadership and School Effectiveness/Improvement: Perspectives from South Africa

This article comments on leadership within mainstream literature on school effectiveness/improvement, where it is almost always considered to be a factor of change. The article argues that systemic school improvement, particularly for disadvantaged children, is inextricably linked to wider social, economic and political conditions—in South Africa’s case, the political transition from apartheid to democratic government. These structural conditions and specific historical contexts are often glossed over in models of school effectiveness/improvement. Through an analysis of dysfunctional and resilient schools as a legacy of apartheid, and of the slow reconstruction of education in the post‐apartheid period, the article argues for the importance of political legitimacy and authority in school improvement. The article concludes by suggesting that states in transition require a different theoretical lens in order to understand the impact of wider social changes on schools. In such societies, the establishment of legitimacy and authority is a precondition for sustainable effectiveness and improvement, and this has implications for theorising the role of leadership in school change more generally.     

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.     

Gender differences when choosing school subjects: Parental push and career pull. Some tentative hypotheses

The literature has made us all aware of large gender differences in students' atttudes to science, in enrolment statistics in upper high school and tertiary level science courses, and in different spheres of employment. What have not been looked at in detail are the factors which are influential when students begin to make choices in early high school, choices which may well set them on a particular pathway from which it is difficult to turn. This preliminary study identifies factors which students in a Year 9 class believed were influential on the limited subject choices they had been able to make in Years 8 and 9, and the factors they believed would be most influential on choices to be made later in the school. In addition the students' views of science, of the separate sciences, and of their anticipated career patterns were sought. Several interesting findings were made which, if validated in further work, could lead to strategies which would support other approaches designed to reduce gender imbalances related to science. Specializations: non-scientific conceptions and conceptual change, problem solving, science teacher education. Specializations: Gender issues.