An unfinished symphony: 21st century teacher education using knowledge creating heutagogies

Globalisation has changed the way most people live, work and study in the 21st century. Teachers and teacher educators, like other professionals, must embrace these changes to be effective in their jobs and one ongoing change is the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for lifelong learning. In this paper we describe how one group of academics in a university programme preparing new teachers has embraced change to introduce innovative programmes using ICTs and heutagogy rather than pedagogy. Heutagogy prepares students for the self‐determined lifelong learning which is essential for survival in a 21st century world.     

Just a knock back? Identity bruising on the route to becoming a male primary school teacher

Men who choose to do ‘women’s work’ and enter the female culture of the primary school can often initially face a range of stereotyped responses to their choice. Drawing on stories from a small sample of trainee and serving male teachers, we adopt the term ‘identity bruising’ to describe the ‘knock backs’ that occur to them in primary schools. How the men react to ‘bruising’ is of considerable interest, given the current concern in the UK to improve the recruitment and retention of men in primary training and teaching. An inductive and reflexive methodology is used whereby we work with the men to explore how they become aware of, understand and negotiate the problematic nature and gendered assumptions of masculinities that underpin the restrictions that they encounter.     

Athletic Identity of Community College Student Athletes: Issues for Counseling

Community college student athletes are unique in their setting in the world of college student athletes. Many compete for the love of their sport, while others have aspirations for transferring to major colleges to continue their participation. The current study made use of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale with a sample of nearly 400 community college student athletes to begin to understand some of the unique counseling needs of these students. These needs are highlighted by the need for student athletes to have a mentally healthy perspective on the role of sport in life and the relationship of sports to academic pursuits. Community college administrators need to use caution in balancing student development with mental health concerns.     

Talents and type IIIs: The effects of the talents unlimited model on creative productivity in gifted youngsters

This study examined a set of lessons that integrate the Talents Unlimited Model (TU; C. L. Schlichter, 1986) with the 10 steps of completing a Type III activity (J. S. Renzulli & S. M. Reis, 1985) to determine the effects of these lessons on the quality of students’ creative products and on the number of students who completed their products. Treatment group students showed a statistically significant difference in finishing their independent or small‐group projects, as opposed to students in the control group. In addition, treatment group students’ products were of significantly higher quality as measured by the Student Product Assessment Form (SPAF; S. M. Reis, 1981) than products completed by students in the control group.     

The relationship between rapid naming and word spelling in English

A study of the concurrent relationships between naming speed, phonological awareness and spelling ability in 146 children in Years 3 and 4 of state‐funded schools in South‐East England (equivalent to US Grades 2 and 3) is reported. Seventy‐two children identified as having normal phonological awareness but reduced rapid automatised naming (RAN) performance (1 standard deviation below the mean) participated in the study. A group of 74 children was further identified. These children were matched on phonological awareness, verbal and nonverbal IQ and visual acuity, but all members of this group showed normal RAN performance. RAN made a significant unique contribution to spelling performance. Further analyses showed that participants with low naming performance were significantly poorer spellers overall and had a specific difficulty in spelling irregular words. The findings support the view that RAN may be indexing processes that are implicated in the establishment of fully specified orthographic representations.     

Aligning corporate and financial plans in teaching intensive universities

With recent changes in how UK higher education is funded, universities are operating in a context in which finances are uncertain. It is more important than ever that university leaders are able to manage the finances of their organisations in ways which both provide long-term security and allow for investment in strategically important initiatives. Teaching intensive universities must be able to generate income and oversee the allocation of resources in such a way that responds to student pressure to provide high-quality education and improve services. This article explores the benefits, disadvantages and challenges of aligning corporate and financial strategies in order to support delivery of their strategic aims and operational targets. Recommendations are made for well-managed, well-researched risk taking and developing autonomy within academic and professional services units, such that local resource allocation decisions are also in line with the organisation's strategic aims.     

Framing democracy: stadium financing and civic paternalism in Test Market,USA

The vast majority of North America’s professional sport arenas, ballparks and stadiums are publicly subsidized without direct approval from voters. In this article, we examine the discursive constitution of ‘no-vote subsidies’ within the public sphere, and in particular problematize the twinned production(s) of citizenship and democratic process in framing public subsidization of these sites of private accumulation. To do this, we examine the recent no-vote subsidy occurring in Columbus, Ohio – thereby providing a context-specific interrogation of the mediations of participatory citizenship, political decision-making and the institution of democracy as related to sport stadium funding. As part of this analysis, we discuss the public production of civic paternalism – a political ideology focused on urban growth and unconcerned with future electoral consequences – in the Columbus arena financing case. We conclude the article with a call for increasing scholarly engagement in, and intervention into, the political processes that result in the public subsidization of professional sport venues.