Neither a borrower nor a lender be: exploring ‘teaching for mastery’ policy borrowing

Abstract

Mathematics education is a high-stakes indicator of success in ‘über’ performative systems. The search to address England’s mathematics underperformance resulted in cross-national attraction toward, and policy borrowing of, ‘teaching for mastery’ from the high-performing education systems of Shanghai and Singapore. We argue that the cultural baggage implicit in mastery was in direct conflict with fundamental structures underpinning the English education system—structures which resulted in significant barriers toward implementing and internalising mastery. Theoretically grounded in the work of Lyotard, Foucault, and Ball, our paper maps how teachers working in the East Midlands region of England borrowed, implemented, and internalised mastery. Our micro, classroom-scale, examination reveals macro-scale performative drivers, as well as the pitfalls of policy borrowing without due care and attention. We highlight that policy borrowing is far more complex than simply copying and checking for fidelity between the original and the borrowed. We conclude by suggesting that underestimating the consequences of policy borrowing has highly significant and even detrimental outcomes at both the micro and macro scales.     

Practical media work and the curriculum of the future

This article considers the current range of contexts and pretexts for practical media work, principally in England. I argue that the current educational context in England requires us to broaden, rather than restrict the role that practical work is given in the curriculum. In particular I argue that practical media work has too often been associated with critical reflection (the ability to read between the lines of media texts) and critical authority (the ability to adopt the formal discourses of appreciation and judgement). It does this at the expense of critical autonomy (the ability to work with others to develop new, sustainable arguments) and critical action (the process of testing and refining these positions by applying them in real social settings). I argue that such a role is compatible with the development of pedagogies relevant to a ‘curriculum for the future’ (Young, 1998) which aims, among other things, to reconceptualize learning as a social, rather than an individual process.     

Book reviews

DIGITAL SENSATIONS: SPACE, IDENTITY, AND EMBODIMENT IN VIRTUAL REALITY. By Ken Hillis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999; pp. xi + 271. $47.95 cloth; $18.95 paper.

THOMAS KUHN: A PHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY FOR OUR TIMES. By Steve Fuller. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2000; pp. xvii + 472.

PROMETHEUS WIRED: THE HOPE FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF NETWORK TECHNOLOGY. By Darin Barney. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2000; pp. 340. $29.00.

DEWEY ON DEMOCRACY. By William R. Caspary. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000; pp. 256. $39.95.

THE ORGANIZING PROPERTY OF COMMUNICATION. By François Cooren. Philadelphia and Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2000; pp. 272. $50.00.

CRAFTING SOCIETY: ETHNICITY, CLASS, AND COMMUNICATION THEORY. By Donald G. Ellis. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1999; pp. xvi + 229. $49.95.

PROGAY/ANTIGAY: THE RHETORICAL WAR OVER SEXUALITY. Ralph R. Smith and Russel R. Windes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2000; pp. xxiv + 240.

THEORIES OF CULTURE IN POSTMODERN TIMES. By Marvin Harris. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1999; pp. 224. Cloth $62.00; Paper $22.95.

PRESIDENTIAL CRISIS RHETORIC AND THE PRESS IN THE POST‐COLD WAR WORLD. By Jim A. Kuypers. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997; pp. xi + 242.     

Literature and the Particularities of Dialogue

Index to the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Volumes I to XL, 1915–1954. Prepared under the auspices of the Speech Association of America. Compiled by Giles Wilkeson Gray. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Company, 1956; pp. ix+338. $5.00.     

‘Our Lady Specialists at Pikes Lane’: Female Spectators in Early English Professional Football, 1880–1914

There has been very little study of female football spectators, especially in a historical context. This paper aims to demonstrate that despite the restrictions placed on women's leisure time in this period, it is clear from evidence that a small but significant number of women could and did attend professional football matches throughout the period, and participated as consumers in this new leisure industry. Contrary to some modern readings that assume that the female football spectator is a relatively new phenomenon, patterns of leisure consumption were similar for women in this context, albeit with certain important restrictions, such as available leisure time, money, and parental and familial responsibilities.

The study illustrates the potential female market for professional football, using numerous examples of women attending matches gathered from contemporary evidence, especially from the cotton area of South East Lancashire, where there was a concentration of early professional clubs within an economically developed industrialised society. It discusses issues of identity, both regional and local, and with respect to particular football clubs. It also describes female reactions to incidents, players and significant events, indicating the similarities and differences between the sexes, and addresses the issue of how far women were fans as well as spectators. There is also some discussion of the patterns of consumption of female spectators, and an attempt to establish a profile for them.

The study uses local newspapers from Lancashire as its main primary source material. As there is little other direct information on the subject, such local materials are an important source for the history of this aspect of professional football, as they are for other areas of Victorian and Edwardian social history.     

An Exploration of the Relationship between Large-Scale Sporting Events and Education for Sustainable Development: The Case of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games

This study explores the relationship between large-scale sporting events (LSSEs) and education for sustainable development (ESD). A case study-based explorative research approach was employed utilising the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games (MCG) – one of only two LSSEs that have taken place in Australia (the other being the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games) which have purposely sought to engage with a sustainable development agenda. The enquiry concludes that the MCG acted as a vehicle for ESD and in so doing impacted, to varying degrees, organisations, groups and individuals across its host community (the State of Victoria). Various factors were identified that impacted the ESD process in this context. Facilitating factors included the presence of an environmental strategy inclusive of ESD elements; a pre-existing commitment by government to sustainable development; and the use of partnerships by the event's organisers to progress its environmental agenda. Constraints on the ESD process were also identified. Central amongst these were the failure to embrace environmental considerations in the MCG's enabling legislation and the limited resources given over to, and lack of emphasis placed upon, the event's overall environmental programme.     

The effects of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) ingestion on high intensity cycling capacity

Abstract

Ten healthy, non-cycling trained males (age: 21.2 ± 2.2 years, body mass: 75.9 ± 13.4 kg, height: 178 ± 6 cm, [Vdot]O_2PEAK: 46 ± 10 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1) performed a graded incremental exercise test, two familiarisation trials and six experimental trials. Experimental trials consisted of cycling to volitional exhaustion at 100%, 110% and 120% W_PEAK, 60 min after ingesting either 0.3 g · kg^?1 body mass sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) or 0.1 g · kg^?1 body mass sodium chloride (placebo). NaHCO₃ ingestion increased cycling capacity by 17% at 100% W_PEAK (327 vs. 383 s; P = 0.02) although not at 110% W_PEAK (249 vs. 254 s; P = 0.66) or 120% W_PEAK (170 vs. 175 s; P = 0.60; placebo and NaHCO₃ respectively). Heart rate (P = 0.02), blood lactate (P = 0.001), pH (P < 0.001), [HCO₃ ^?], (P < 0.001), and base excess (P < 0.001) were greater in all NaHCO₃ trials. NaHCO₃ attenuated localised ratings of perceived exertion (RPE_L) to a greater extent than placebo only at 100% W_PEAK (P < 0.02). Ratings of abdominal discomfort and gut fullness were mild but higher for NaHCO₃. NaHCO₃ ingestion significantly improves continuous constant load cycling at 100% W_PEAK due to, in part, attenuation of RPE_L.     

A subject-based shared approval plan for consortia purchasing of U.S. university press books

While consortia have been successful in cooperating among members for the purpose of sharing electronic resources, they have struggled to extend that level of cooperation to print materials. OhioLINK is investigating methods to accomplish this goal. This paper expands on that initiative and presents a method for creating a shared approval plan for purchasing U.S. university press titles. It presents a subject-based solution stemming from a prior research initiative with OCLC for establishing financial commitments and randomized ownership of materials to be shared among consortium member libraries. This study projects results of this method by applying a prior year's publication output. The results do not describe a perfect plan but one worth exploring as a means to cooperatively purchase and share print books.