Opportunity structures and educational marginality: the post-16 transitions of young people outside education and employment

This paper reports on findings from a three-year ethnographic study of 24 young people in northern England who were classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET), or at risk of becoming so. Drawing on conceptions of opportunity structure and educational marginality, the paper discusses the processes leading to young people becoming NEET after leaving school. It presents findings concerning the family backgrounds, school experiences, and educational attainment of participants, and traces their initial post-16 destinations and their pathways to NEET status. Although most participants did not become NEET immediately after leaving school, restricted labour market opportunities and a lack of high-quality education and training for middle- and low-attaining young people exacerbated social and educational disadvantage. Over time, participants became increasingly restricted to marginal forms of learning. The paper argues that a focus on opportunity structures provides a powerful way of understanding these processes, and that alongside sustained NEET status, educational marginality should be of equal concern to policy makers.     

Before,During, and After Examination: Development of Prospective Preschool Teachers’ Mathematics-Related Enjoyment and Self-Efficacy

This article examines the stability of Norwegian prospective preschool teachers’ enjoyment of mathematics and their mathematics-related self-efficacy before, during, and after a teacher-education examination. In addition, the stability of the two constructs across countries was examined through a comparison with Germany. The data revealed partial stability (technically speaking, metric invariance) of enjoyment but not of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy increased significantly before and after the examination without decreasing enjoyment, which may be a result of increased learning time. Prior mathematical knowledge predicted the level and development of enjoyment and self-efficacy in both countries. Many Norwegian students reported low mathematics-related enjoyment and self-efficacy, including negative developments. It may be important to provide positive experiences of mathematical activities during preschool teacher education.     

Learning and engagement through natural history museums*

This review examines how natural history museums (NHMs) can enhance learning and engagement in science, particularly for school-age students. First, we describe the learning potential of informal science learning institutions in general, then we focus on NHMs. We review the possible benefits of interactions between schools and NHMs, and the potential for NHMs to teach about challenging issues such as evolution and climate change and to use digital technologies to augment more traditional artefacts. We conclude that NHMs can provide students with new knowledge and perspectives, with impacts that can last for years. Through visits and their on-line presence, NHMs can help students see science in ways that the school classroom rarely can, with opportunities to meet scientists, explore whole topic exhibitions, engage with interactive displays and employ digital technologies both in situ and to support learning in the school science classroom. Although these interactions have the potential to foster positive cognitive, affective and social outcomes for students, there is a lack of reliable measures of the impact of NHM experiences for students. Opportunities to foster relationships between NHM staff and teachers through professional development can help articulate shared goals to support students’ learning and engagement.     

Measuring the attitudes of human service professionals toward deafness

The Attitudes to Deafness Scale is a 22-item measure of attitudes toward people who are deaf designed for use with human service professionals. Attitude statements were generated from personal accounts by deaf people in the literature and from a focus group in which deaf people discussed their experience of hearing people's attitudes toward them. A 60-item scale was administered to a group of 121 clinical and forensic psychologists during their training. Item analysis was conducted to select items that effectively distinguished participants with a positive attitude from those with a negative attitude toward deaf people. The scale may be used in any context where a professional group comes into contact with people who are deaf.     

Towards a theory of instruction in the 1980s

The purpose of this article is to provide a historical perspective on the contributions of learning and instruction to instructional theory and to discuss some of the major obstacles currently inhibiting the growth of “Instructional Theory.” Some suggestions for future development of this discipline are provided. In clarifying the impediments to instructional theories' development, heavy reliance is placed upon the process of theory construction as perceived by philosophers of the natural and social sciences. Some comments are made regarding the appropriate use of instructional theory in developing nations.