I am sailing—towards a transactional analysis of ‘body techniques’

In recent years there has been a growing interest in questions related to embodiment and learning. Within the field of ‘body pedagogics’ great efforts have been made to develop theory and methodology that can deal with the corporeal aspects of experience and knowledge without adopting any form of dualistic conceptions of body/mind and organism/environment. This article connects to this body of research. The purpose is to first present a synthesis of James' radical empiricism, Dewey's transactional understanding of experience and learning and Marcel Mauss' concept of ‘body techniques’ and the notion of education embedded in it. Against the background of this theoretical development, and with a Transactional Model of Analyzing Bodying (TMAB), we then show how we can analytically come to terms with different dualistic problems that research into ‘body pedagogics’ has to deal with. We use an empirical example of dinghy sailing to create knowledge about what we learn when learning embodied knowledge, and how this learning takes place. We argue that experience is an important concept for understanding the acting knowing human being, describing how experience is organized and developed and outlining how this organization can be understood as learning. We hold that situations where someone learns to embody certain knowledge are cases of overt actions, in which we can see what kinds of relations are created and how these relations become meaningful for further action.     

Schools, ‘ferals’, stigma and boundary work: parents managing education and uncertainty in regional Australia

This paper examines forms of boundary work undertaken by parents in a regional Australian city to negotiate social processes around the school market amidst rising economic insecurity. It outlines structural changes, which have increased economic inequality in Australia and impacted on educational reform, and the specific challenges faced by public schools in regional settings. Drawing on 18 months’ qualitative research in one regional location, it identifies and analyses forms of boundary work undertaken by middle-class families to manage these uncertainties in a field of scarce economic and cultural resources. Theories of class culture, stigma and whiteness are used to show how local social labels such as ‘ferals’ and ‘shiny people’ acted as classed and racialised ways of negotiating this social and economic landscape through the school field. Such practices engendered feelings of security and control and shed light on feelings of class-based resentment and anxiety in regional Australia, specifically a middle-class ‘fear of falling’.     

Books Not Burgers: Six Highly Effective Ways to Motivate and Retain Library Student Employees

Although there is a healthy amount in the literature about the importance of motivating student library employees in an academic setting, very little of it discusses the practical aspects of how to motivate students. A supervisor must often use ideas from other disciplines, including the business world and academia. In this article, the author suggests six highly effective, yet cost-conscious methods that have been used successfully in an academic library setting to keep student employees motivated and to retain them year after year. These six methods are: (a) encouraging autonomy, (b) holding contests, (c) providing food, (d) being open to suggestions, (e) using employee strengths, and (f) celebrating seasonal or university-specific events.     

When practice takes precedence: conceptions of inquiry and the link to ethical posture

Using participatory action research (PAR), this paper explores the ethical practice of students engaged in practitioner research in a higher education context. Using narrative enquiry, the paper explores the participants’ experiences of practitioner research, including ethical dilemmas that resulted from a conflict of values between the practitioner and research roles. We postulate a multi-dimensional approach to ethical practice known as ‘ethical posture’ emerging from our consideration of conceptions of inquiry that resulted in contrasting ethical behaviour.     

THE BULLYING DYNAMIC: PREVALENCE OF INVOLVEMENT AMONG A LARGE‐SCALE SAMPLE OF MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH WITH AND WITHOUT DISABILITIES

Bullying has been the topic of much debate and empirical investigations over the past decade. Contemporary literature contends that students with disabilities may be overrepresented within the bullying dynamic as both perpetrators and victims. Unfortunately, prevalence rates associated with the representation of students with disabilities is limited due to measurement, disability status identification, and definition issues. The present study attempted to address these issues by assessing the prevalence rates of specific subgroups of students with disabilities in a large‐scale cross‐sectional study with 13,325 students without disabilities and 1,183 students with disabilities in Grades 6 through 12. Results suggest that overall, students with disabilities reported proportionally higher rates of bullying, fighting, relational aggression, victimization, online victimization, and relational victimization than did their peers without disabilities. These findings suggest that schools must begin to establish targeted interventions to support skill development based on characteristics associated with specific disability identification.     

Bergmann,Jonathan & Sams,Aaron (2014) Flipped learning. ISTE (Washington & Eurospan,London) isbn 978‐1‐56484‐344‐9 227 pp £18.50 https://www.iste.org/resources/product?ID=3014

This deceptively simple book aims to show how flipped learning optimises class time, by delivering direct instruction by video for students to use outside of class, freeing up teachers to individualise their learning in the classroom. It is essentially a “book of stories” for teachers shared by practising teachers who have enthusiastically embraced this model. I strongly recommend that you buy Flipped learning if it is in your area of interest. Marie Martin     

Foreign-born Counselor Educators: Strengths,Challenges, and Areas of Support

International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling - This article features strengths and challenges indicated by foreign-born counselor educators in programs accredited by the Council for...