Principles under pressure: student teachers' perspectives on final teaching practice in early childhood classrooms

Global concerns about what constitutes an appropriate curriculum and pedagogy for young children inevitably raises questions for teacher educators and the content of teacher education programmes. These concerns have been particularly visible in England following recent policy initiatives and the resultant ‘academic shovedown’ and ‘high stakes’ performativity culture in schools. Against this background, this article reports on a qualitative study of student teachers' experiences of their final teaching practice, identifying pressure from a range of sources to deliver a more formalised curriculum than they were prepared for in their university-based courses. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner among others, we consider the socio-political and -cultural sources of pressure linked through human agency, and the implications of these for teacher educators. The study argues that student teachers of young children may be faced with cognitive and emotional dissonance between the content of university-based training on the one hand, which promotes a developmentally appropriate, play-based approach in keeping with the Early Years Foundation Stage (the statutory curricular framework in England), and the reality of pedagogical practice in early years settings on the other.     

你为何会做错不等式题

与父共舞有时候我会在母亲的门外/听见她思念父亲的哭声/我知道我的要求有点过分/但是你能不能/把她唯一深爱的男人送回来/如果我能再看父亲一眼/再迈出一步舞步/我会放一首永远不会结束的曲子     

The mathematics skills of children with reading difficulties

Although many children with reading difficulty (RD) are reported to struggle with mathematics, little research has empirically investigated whether this is the case for different types of RD. This study examined the mathematics skills of third graders with one of two types of RD: dyslexia (n = 18) or specific reading comprehension difficulty (n = 22), as contrasted to a comparison group (n = 247). Children's performance on arithmetic fact fluency, operations, and applied problems was assessed using standardized measures. The results indicated that children with dyslexia experienced particular difficulty with arithmetic fact fluency and operations: they were 5.60 times and 8.54 times more likely than other children to experience deficits in fact fluency and operations, respectively. Our findings related to arithmetic fact fluency were more consistent with domain-general explanations of the co-morbidity between RD and mathematics difficulty, whereas our findings related to operations were more consistent with domain-specific accounts.     

Scaling-up aid to education: Is absorptive capacity a constraint?

“Absorptive capacity” is a frequently used term amongst development practitioners in education. It is adopted by some as a reason for caution over scaling up aid. Others are of the view that absorptive capacity is an excuse by some donors for not delivering on their Education for All financing commitments. Drawing on interviews with representatives from NGOs, development agencies and international consultants, the paper highlights that there are a variety of ways in which the term is understood. Overall, it finds that absorptive capacity should not be seen as a reason for not increasing aid. Rather there is a need to unpack the concept to ensure that bottlenecks can be identified and addressed. In breaking “absorptive capacity” down into component parts, it then becomes possible to identify alternative strategies that donors and national governments need to address to ensure that increased aid reaches schools and improves educational outcomes.     

The courage to be: the impact of Lebensphilosophie on Danish RE

The article deals with the impact of Lebensphilosophie on Danish RE in the elementary and lower secondary school – an impact which is subjected to a critical analysis with special attention given to anti‐intellectualism, criticism of reason and criticism of modernity as well as the romantic view of the child. The thesis of this article is that there is reason to be critical of the use of Lebensphilosophie in RE. The Danish Lebensphilosophie is primarily based on the thinking of K.E. L?gstrup – a thinking where the concept of creation is central. This means that there will often be connotations of the theology of creation in Danish RE, which is problematic given that the subject, since 1975, must be non‐preaching. In order to shed light on Danish Lebensphilosophie, I will start with the pioneer of Danish Lebensphilosophie, the theologian N.F.S. Grundtvig, who influenced L?gstrup. The article introduces some of the central themes of L?gstrup’s thinking. Following this is an exploration of his educational thinking and its influence on RE. The last part of the article deals with the recontextualisation of Lebensphilosophie within RE.     

利用信息技术促进"三表"的原理与策略——CAST通用学习设计指南

教育要重视使得新手学习者如何顺利地转换为专家学习者--懂得如何学习,有学习的愿望和为终身学习做好个性化准备的人.基于对大脑科学三种网络--识别网络、策略网络、情感网络和对数字媒体特性的了解,通用学习设计提出了"三表"原理:多元表征理解--聚焦学什么、多种行为表现--关注怎样学和多样表达意愿---探究为什么学.与之相配的有32种教学策略,这是从课程的四个要素出发(目标、教材、方法和评价,目前尤其考虑了教材与方法),旨在改进原有的课程在教学对象失准、教学内容不当和教学方式狭隘等缺陷.     

Head and neck size and neck strength predict linear and rotational acceleration during purposeful soccer heading

There is increasing societal concern about the long-term effects of repeated impacts from soccer heading, but there is little information about ways to reduce head impact severity. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that contribute to head acceleration during soccer heading. One-hundred soccer players completed 12 controlled soccer headers. Peak linear (PLA) and rotational (PRA) accelerations were measured using a triaxial accelerometer and gyroscope. Head acceleration contributing factors were grouped into 3 categories: size (head mass, neck girth), strength (sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezius) and technique [kinematics (trunk, head-to-trunk range-of-motion), sternocleidomastoid and upper trapezius activity]. Multiple regression analyses indicated size variables explained 22.1% of the variance in PLA and 23.3% of the variance in PRA; strength variables explained 13.3% of the variance in PLA and 17.2% of the variance in PRA; technique variables did not significantly predict PLA or PRA. These findings suggest that head and neck size and neck strength predict PLA and PRA. Anthropometric and neck strength measurements should be considered when determining an athlete’s readiness to begin soccer heading.     

Exploring sense of community in a relocated sports fan group

Geographical relocation may create a number of adjustment issues for individuals including isolation and loneliness. For some, cheering for a team and being part of a fan group may be one way to address these issues and development a sense of community (SOC). The development of SOC, however, may be complicated when individuals no longer live near the team they root for. Though sport fan groups often exist outside of the area of the team, it is unclear if and how SOC develops in these groups, and further, how participation in the group influences views of the current residence. This paper addresses this gap by exploring SOC in one such ‘relocated’ sports fan group. Findings suggest elements of two prominent theories of SOC, and also extend that research by showing the process through which SOC develops, and how group participation impacts feelings towards the current residence.