Creative partnerships? Cultural policy and inclusive arts practice in one primary school

This article traces the ‘cultural turn’ in UK educational policy through an analysis of the Creative Partnerships policy (New Labour's ‘flagship programme in the cultural education field’) and a consideration of an arts project funded under this initiative in one primary school. It argues that current educational policy foregrounds the economic importance of cultural activity and its contribution to the social inclusion agenda. However, ‘creativity’ is seen as being located outside mainstream school structures, in projects rather than in the National Curriculum, and in artists rather than in teachers. The emphasis is on enjoyment and inclusion rather than cultural or social critique, or significant curriculum change. The transformative potential of involvement in the arts is marginalised in favour of a relatively weak form of social inclusion.     

Images and Motifs in Children's Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are widely used by teachers and parents in helping children to read. The Ladybird Well‐Loved Tales series is particularly popular and widely available in schools and supermarkets. The paper argues that the stereotypical images of women put forward in these tales is one element in contributing to females’ negative and stereotypical views of themselves and limited definitions of their identities and roles. It also argues that the consolation implicit in such tales need not necessarily be ‘bought’ at such a price: the second part of the paper outlines images and motifs in alternative fairy tales.     

Feeling Deprofessionalised: the social construction of emotions during an OFSTED inspection

In a qualitative study of a primary school, it was found that the technicist approach of an OFSTED inspection impacted against the holistic and humanistic values of the teachers, producing a high degree of trauma among them. This trauma was not a simple emotional response of the moment, nor was it a product of school failure or lack of leadership, for neither of these applied. It was, rather, socially and politically constructed. The teachers’ reactions have to be seen against the background of government reforms over the last decade. In this context, the particular emotions released suggest that the inspection examined here had a latent function of deprofessionalisation. Professional uncertainty was induced, with teachers experiencing confusion, anomie, anxiety and doubt about their competence. They also suffered an assault on their personal selves, closely associated among primary teachers with their professional roles. This took the form of mortification, dehumanisation, the loss of pedagogic values and of harmony and changed and weakened commitment. One of the ways for teachers to avoid such negative trauma is by shifting identity and status from professional to technician.     

Using visual phonics to supplement beginning reading instruction for students who are deaf or hard of hearing

The purpose of the current study is to expand upon the effectiveness of using Visual Phonics in conjunction with Direct Instruction reading programs (B. J. Trezek & K. W. Malmgren, 2005; B. J. Trezek & Y. Wang, 2006) and to explore the results of utilizing Visual Phonics to supplement another phonics-based reading curriculum for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Twenty students with various degrees of hearing loss in kindergarten and first grade as well as 4 teachers participated in the study. Results of the investigation reveal that, given 1 year of instruction from a phonics-based reading curriculum supplemented by Visual Phonics, kindergarten and first-grade students who are deaf or hard of hearing can demonstrate statistically significant improvements in beginning reading skills as measured by standardized assessments.     

Measuring child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect

OBJECTIVE: To provide reliable measures of the prevalence of all forms of child maltreatment in the UK that will be robust in the context of social and cultural differences due to social class, ethnicity and, region. METHODS: Two thousand eight hundred sixty-nine (2,869) young adults aged 18=-24, obtained by random probability sampling throughout the UK, were interviewed face to face by trained interviewers. Maltreatment was defined using a post hoc assessment of a range of experienced behaviors and treatments while the respondents were aged 16 or under. RESULTS: Over 90% of respondents reported that they came from a warm and loving family background. Maltreatment (both intra and extrafamilial) was experienced by 16% of the sample. Serious maltreatment was experienced by 7% of respondents for physical abuse, 6% for emotional abuse, 6% for absence of care, and 5% for absence of supervision, and 11% reported sexual abuse involving contact. Attitudes to maltreatment were explored through the examination of respondents' views of different behaviors and experiences that children may have been exposed to. CONCLUSION: The maltreatment of children in the UK today remains an extensive social problem. Prevalence data reveal that children are most at risk in the home for physical and emotional abuse and neglect. They are at greater risk of sexual abuse outside the home, particularly in dating relationships.     

When group work leaves the classroom does group skills development also go out the window?

In moving towards what Lemke (1996) terms the ‘interactive learning paradigm’, higher education has adopted two key principles consistent with group learning technologies:

• ? learning is always mediated by and occurs through language ( Falk, 1997 ; Gee, 1997 ); and
• ? learning is distributed across a range of other people, sites, objects, technologies and time ( Gee, 1997 ).

A third and relatively recent principle to emerge on the higher education scene that seems to ‘contradict’ accepted views of group learning technologies is that:

• ? many universities now choose to offer ‘learning resources’ online.

This paper asks whether Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are ‘robust’ enough to support, sustain and address industry, employer and government calls for greater attention to group skills development in university graduates. Data features an examination of respondent feedback (n = 171) in an ‘ICT‐rich’ group work setting, and the subsequent ratings of group skills development over a 13‐week period. This discussion offers an account of learner outcomes by adopting Kirkpatrick's (1996) four levels of evaluation of learning as a classification scheme for determining learner satisfaction (Level One), the effectiveness of learning transfer (Level Two), its impact on practice (Level Three) and the appropriation of learning behaviours by participants (Level Four). The contrasting patterns of ICT use between female and male users in the data are discussed in relation to building social presence and producing social categories online. Differences reported here indicate that ICT group work is moving forward, but opportunities to challenge rather than reproduce existing learning relations and differences, remain largely unresolved.     

Hybrid structures: Faculty use and perception of web-based courseware as a supplement to face-to-face instruction

The researchers examined responses from 862 faculty members at 38 institutions nationwide using the blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) to supplement their face-to-face instruction. The four research questions addressed the primary uses that faculty make of blackboard, perceptions that faculty have of how certain blackboard features enhance or elevate (or might enhance or elevate) their assessment of student work and instructional capabilities, and how faculty use of blackboard might positively affect the psychosocial climate within the face-to-face classroom setting. Additional analysis sought to identify the factors that predict use and positive perception of blackboard as a supplement to face-to-face teaching activities. The results indicate that faculty primarily used blackboard as a course management/administration tool to make course documents available to students and manage course grades. Few faculty used blackboard for instructional or assessment purposes, and even fewer utilized blackboard to foster a more positive sense of community within their face-to-face classes. Faculty attitudes, on the whole, were positive when it came to the classroom management functions of blackboard, but neutral or otherwise undecided in terms of its instructional or psychosocial benefits. The main factor in determining blackboard usage—whether for course administration or instructional purposes—was experience with the tool. In addition, women had more positive attitudes than men did in terms of blackboard's potential to enhance classroom management and foster a positive relational climate. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed before concluding.     

Similarity grouping of Australian universities

The Unified National System of Australian Universities was created out of universities, institutes of technology and colleges of advanced education. In this study similarity clustering of universities within this system is attempted based on two data sets: one based on evaluative ratings and the other on quantitative performance indicators. With the exception of three traditional universities that tended to cluster together across data sets no consistent clustering emerged. Within data sets there was no tendency for the emergent clusters to reflect the origins of the institutions in any consistent manner. It is suggested that the Unified National System has not reduced diversity.     

Reading,Writing, and English Course Pathways when Developmental Education is Optional: Course Enrollment and Success for Underprepared First-time-in-College Students

Academic underpreparedness is an issue for many first-time-in-college students, particularly those entering community colleges. Whereas many underprepared students enroll in developmental education, research has indicated that traditional remediation may not increase students’ chances for success. Therefore, states and colleges have begun to implement new course placement strategies to increase the accuracy of initial course placement and new instructional approaches to better serve their developmental students. Specifically, in 2013, the state of Florida passed Senate Bill 1720 which redesigned developmental coursework and placement policies across the Florida College System. The reform lifted developmental education placement exam testing and course enrollment requirements for certain exempt students, irrespective of prior academic preparation or achievement. The current study focuses on these exempt students—those who had the option to bypass developmental education—who were also underprepared, and their initial course selection and subsequent success in their gateway (introductory college-level) English course. Using statewide student-level data and logistic regression techniques, the results indicated that level of preparation was related to students’ course enrollment and gateway English course success. Students slightly underprepared in reading or writing were more likely than severely underprepared students to enroll in the gateway English class, relative to a developmental reading or writing course. In reading and writing, slightly underprepared students were more likely to pass English, relative to severely underprepared students. The authors consider the findings in light of recent national changes to developmental education and offer recommendations for policy and practice.     

For Me or Not for Me? Fragility and Risk in Mature Students' Decision‐Making

Drawing on a research project which investigated the recent decline in mature student recruitment to higher education in the UK, this article explores the decision-making process among samples of potential and new mature entrants to nine case study higher education institutions. It compares the emphasis in public policy on higher education as a private investment with the understandings and interpretations of individuals in the act of applying for entry. It concludes that while at a generalised level mature learners believe that the private return on investment will be high, at a personal level the concepts of fragility and risk are more pertinent to understanding the complexity of their decision-making process, particularly for those over 25 years of age.