Examining key issues underlying the Audit Commission Reports on SEN Policy Paper 1 (5th series)

This book is the first publication in the fifth series of seminars organised by the SEN Policy Options Steering Group to examine policy issues to do with special educational needs. The aim of the seminar was to examine in depth several underlying issues raised by the recent Audit Commission Reports on special educational needs. The seminar provided a distinctive perspective and analysis of these reports. The focus was on (1) assurance for parents: alternatives to statements? (2) justifying common national definitions of difficulties and SEN and (3) managing inclusion. Papers were presented by: Peter Gray, SEN Policy Consultant, on common national definitions of difficulties and SEN; Penny Richardson from Nottinghamshire Local Education Authority (LEA) on assurance for parents: alternatives to statements? and Chris Beek from Capita Strategic Education Services on managing inclusion. The main purpose of this publication is to provide policy makers at all levels of the education system with an examination of relevant and practical policy options in the field of special educational needs. The book raises crucial issues and outlines ways forward.     

Men accessing education: Masculinities, class and choice

This paper draws on an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded research project on men (aged 18–54) participating in pre-university access and foundation programs in four London further and higher education colleges. Men’s educational choices and decisions are analysed and discussed within current policy debates about widening participation and lifelong learning. These choices are placed within a framework which focuses on masculinity in terms of classed and racialised identifications. For working class and ethnic minority students choices tend to be constrained by mix of material, institutional and emotional forces. For middle class ethnic minority students these factors are only partially alleviated.     

Hidden Treasure on the Road to Xanadu: What Connecting Library Service Usage Data to Unique Student IDs Can Reveal

Library data in the form of holdings, expenditures, and transactions continues to be collected. Recently emphasis is being placed on connecting library usage data to student success indicators for purposes of indicating impact. This article describes how one library involved in a large-scale, student success assessment project analyzed usage data linked to unique student IDs prior to connecting data to student academic information. Results revealed a trove of useful information that led to a more robust understanding of how students interacted with library services over the course of a year and are discussed in relation to process improvement.     

Scaffolding Learning through Meaningful Tasks and Adult Interaction

This paper reports a study into the role of a supporting adult in promoting effective learning relating to aspects of 3D shape in young children. Nursery and reception aged children carried out problem solving tasks using wooden blocks, in this case Poleidoblocs, embedded within playful contexts. Using the notion of 'scaffolding' and working within the child's Zone of Proximal Development, this study analyses the structured adult intervention that increases the effectiveness of learning and leads to an enhanced development of secure and transferable concepts.     

Cross-Institutional Collaboration: (Co)Constructing Knowledge About Teaching and Learning in the Middle-Level Classroom

Utilizing technology to connect three geographically separate institutions within the same state and drawing on Bhabba, and Zeichner’s notions of third space, four teacher educators developed an opportunity for the middle-level teacher candidates from each university to simultaneously observe a live classroom teaching event virtually while participating in a backchannel conversation about the lesson. Upon completion of the live teaching event, candidates engaged in a debriefing session with the classroom teacher. This promising practice allowed candidates to discuss a lesson from multiple perspectives, broadening their views of teaching and learning at the middle level and enabling middle-level teacher educators an opportunity to scaffold (co)construction of knowledge about young adolescents and effective classroom practices.     

Whose confession? Which tradition?

For over 30 years official disapproval of confessional approaches to religious education in community (formerly county) schools has been the norm. However such forms of religious education persist. Some arguments put forward in favour of non- confessional religious education are now shown to be weak. Confessional religious education is now thought (generally) to be appropriate in church schools. These facts raise the possibility of a return to confessional religious education in non-church schools. Non-confessionalism is founded on a contradiction: that education can proceed without ‘confessing’ anything and is therefore inherently unstable. In fact many different types of ‘confessions’ operate in religious education. Yet pressure continues to be put on Christian teachers to dismantle their confessional approach. This is unfair and an attempt is made to show that such teachers have much to offer the future of religious education in a society which contains many religions.     

Mastery Motivation in Toddlers with Developmental Disabilities

Prior research on school-age children with mental retardation indicates that they are less motivated on tasks than mental-age-matched peers. In this study, mastery motivation on two tasks was compared for 1- and 2-year-old children with motor impairment ( n = 25), developmental delay ( n = 25), and typical development ( n = 25), matched for mental age. The groups did not differ significantly on any measure of mastery motivation. The relative contribution of premature birth, a history of seizure disorders, severity of cognitive delay, and maternal didactic interaction in predicting mastery motivation was examined for toddlers with developmental delay or motor impairment. Maternal didactic interaction added a significant proportion of variance above and beyond other variables in predicting several aspects of mastery motivation in toddlers with developmental disabilities.     

Assessing ADHD Symptoms in Preschool Children: Use of the ADHD Symptoms Rating Scale

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder that is typically diagnosed during the school years, although features of the disorder can be identified in early childhood. As more children enter into preschool programs, there are increasing opportunities for professionals to identify and treat ADHD prior to school entry. This may increase the likelihood that children will have successful academic and social experiences. Unfortunately, diagnosing ADHD in preschoolers is difficult, in part because few assessment instruments are designed and validated for this age group. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric and normative properties of the ADHD-Symptoms Rating Scale (ADHD-SRS) in preschool children. Results shed light on normative levels of ADHD behaviors in preschool children and suggest that preschoolers may present with a somewhat different symptom pattern than school-age children. Further, findings reveal that parents are more likely to endorse ADHD symptoms in their children than are teachers. Given this disparity, the current data emphasize the need for cross-informant assessment in the preschool population.     

Representation, Identification and Trust: Towards an Ethics of Educational Research

Crudely put, educational research is unethical when it misrepresents or misidentifies—and so betrays—its putative beneficiaries or the goods and values they hold dear. How can researchers guard against these vulnerabilities? While acknowledging the vulnerabilities of educational research to abuses of trust and representation, and that there is no Archimedean point from which to approach research into people’s practices, we defend a universalist conception of research ethics in education. This universalist conception is developed via an examination of a central debate in feminism, contrasting Alcoff’s positionality, Caughie’s performative conception and Nussbaum’s universalist conception of feminism.