Making sense of the glass ceiling in schools: an exploration of women teachers’ discourses

There is extensive evidence of a ‘glass ceiling’ for women across the labour market. Though schools have widely been described as ‘feminized’ work environments, the under‐representation of women at school management level is well established. Based on a study of women teachers’ careers and promotion in the English school sector (in early years, primary and secondary schools), this paper draws on a critical discourse analysis of 44 individual interviews conducted with women teachers to explore their views of the ‘glass ceiling’. Despite significant evidence of the barriers to management positions faced by women teachers, interpretative frameworks drawing on discourses of individualization and personal choice are most prominent among these to make sense of the low proportion of women in school management. However, the paper also identifies the existence of alternative discourses recognizing the existence of gender inequalities.     

The Neuroscience of Art: A Research Program for the Next Decade?

Works of art can be viewed as elements of a human‐specific nonverbal communication system, distinct from language. First, the cognitive abilities and skills required for art creation and perception are built from a cascade of events driven by a “genetic envelope”. Essential for the understanding of artistic creation is its epigenetic variability. Second, artistic contemplation and creation may be tentatively viewed as a discrete and singular conscious synthesis taking place within the personal global neuronal workspace of external perceptions, internal memories and stored emotions. Third, there is a need for rules that constrain and restrict in a top‐down manner the selection of representations generated by the artist's brain. Finally, artistic creation is a part of the personal history of the artist and stems from an anterior historical evolution.     

From Practice to Theory and back to Practice: Reflexivity in Measurement and Evaluation for Evidence-based Policy Making in the Information Society

This article presents a comprehensive review of literature and practice on the measurement and evaluation of ICT impact in general and of selected public eServices (eGovernment, eHealth, and eInclusion), within the context of the Information Society paradigm. It calls for a sustained meta-level analysis, in which it is important to have a self-reflexive layer where we evaluate and measure how we evaluate and measure, and what the implications and the trade-offs are. The analysis justifies the call for reflexivity as a necessary step towards advancing our understanding of the impact of ICT within the Information Society domains observed. The article concludes presenting some possible ways of re-coupling the conceptual and technical dimensions of the measurement process and linking the production of measurement data more closely with impact evaluation causal models and hypotheses. It suggests that this could be achieved by refocusing on the micro level and stimulating a gradual micro-macro link through an intermediate (meso) level, which effects need to be described using different measurements and evaluation paradigms. In order to do so it is required to refine and test our theories and models to find out where it would be most feasible to scale up to the global (macro) level and to shape and inform the production of more valid measurement indicators for better informing evidence-based policy making in the Information Society.     

Typology of students at risk of dropping out of school: Description by personal, family and school factors

The purpose of this study was to identify the different subgroups of students at risk of dropping out of school. The typology was developed based on the three main contexts associated with school dropout risk, namely, the personal, family and school contexts. On the basis of these factors, the clustering results enabled us to categorize at-risk students into four subgroups: (1) the Anti-Social Covert behavior type, (2) the Uninterested in school type, (3) the School and Social Adjustment Difficulties type, and (4) the Depressive type. Moreover, considering all the contexts involved in school dropout, the clustering technique confirms the importance of behavior problems and learning difficulties, while emphasizing the significance of both depression and the family and classroom environments in the development of dropout risk. Students at risk of dropping out of school report many family organisational problems and that they obtain little emotional support from their parents. They also perceive little order or organisation in the classroom.     

How did Light Acquire a Velocity?

We discuss how light acquired a velocity through history, from the ancient Greeks to the early modern era. Combining abstract debates, models of light, practical needs, planned research and chance, this history illustrates several key points that should be brought out in science education.