Education policy and mental weakness: a response to a mental health crisis

Educationalists have been concerned with the labelling and treatment of children with mental health difficulties in the education system in England for some time. These concerns have centred on the role of policy in ‘othering’ such students as deviant learners. The unprecedented number of children suffering from mental illnesses, has forced policymakers to address children’s mental health difficulties. This has involved the identification of a sub-set of the school population experiencing ‘less-severe’ mental health issues, to be addressed through a suite of policy interventions delivered by whole-school approaches, but targeted towards children situated as mentally ‘weak’. Drawing upon a Foucauldian theory of governmentality that addresses children’s behavioural motivations, an in-depth analysis of a number of educational policy initiatives related to mental health is conducted, that it is argued are fundamentally flawed. This analysis is followed by a discussion of the performative culture of High Stakes Testing in contributing to children’s mental health difficulties. Here it is argued that a narrative of mental weakness serves to justify a neoliberal rationality towards the treatment of children for whom the performative logic assumed to motivate all learners, fails.     

Influence of the natural setting on environmental education outcomes

Abstract

Environmental education (EE) typically occurs in natural settings, which research suggests may enhance learning outcomes. Although field trips are commonly used to teach EE, few studies have isolated the influence of different setting characteristics for enhancing participant outcomes during an EE field trip. According to the literature, certain attributes of the natural setting, including novelty, beauty, and naturalness, as well as how the setting is used such as through place-based education, immersion, and time spent inside vs. outside, are thought to positively impact people’s experiences with nature. In this study, we collected data from 334 EE field trip programs for 5-8^th grade students to investigate the influence of these natural setting characteristics on positive learning outcomes. Results suggest that the naturalness and novelty of the setting, the use of place-based education, and spending more time outside vs. inside all positively correlated with more positive student outcomes. The implications of the results for environmental educators are discussed.     

Developing cognitive‐social‐emotional competencies to enhance academic learning

This preliminary study examined intervention effects of a universal prevention program offered by classroom teachers to public elementary school students. The Unique Minds School Program (M.B. Stern, 1999) is a teacher‐led program designed to promote cognitive‐social‐emotional (CSE) skills, including student self‐efficacy, problem solving, social‐emotional competence, and a positive classroom climate, with the dual goal of preventing youth behavioral problems and promoting academic learning. During 2 consecutive school years, 119 students and their teachers were assessed in the fall and spring of Grade 4 and again in the spring of Grade 5. As compared to students in the comparison school, students in the intervention showed gains in student self‐efficacy, problem solving, social‐emotional competencies, and math grades. Incremental gains within CSE domains were found after 1 and 2 years of intervention. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 405–417, 2005.     

Toward theories of partnership praxis: an analysis of interpretive framing in literature on students as partners in teaching and learning

ABSTRACT

A body of literature on students as partners (SaP) in higher education has emerged over the last decade that documents, shares, and evaluates SaP approaches. As is typical in emerging fields of inquiry, scholars differ regarding how they see the relationship between the developments in SaP practices and the theoretical explanations that guide, illuminate, and situate such practices. In this article we explore the relationship between theory and practice in SaP work through an analysis of interpretive framing employed in scholarship of SaP in teaching and learning in higher education. Through a conceptual review of selected publications, we describe three ways of framing partnership that represent distinct but related analytical approaches: building on concepts; drawing on constructs; and imagining through metaphors. We both affirm the expansive and creative theorising in scholarship of SaP in university teaching and learning and encourage further deliberate use and thoughtful development of interpretive framings that take seriously the disruptive ethos and messy human relational processes of partnership. We argue that these developmental processes move us toward formulating theories of partnership praxis.     

The Relative Merits of Explicit and Implicit Learning of Contrasted Algebra Principles

Knowledge representations that result from practicing problem solving can be expected to differ from knowledge representations that emerge from explicit verbalizing of principles and rules. We examined the degree to which the two types of learning improve problem-solving knowledge and verbal explanation knowledge in classroom instruction. We presented algebraic addition and multiplication problems to 153 sixth graders randomly assigned to two conditions. Students in the explicit learning condition had to verbally compare contrasted algebra problems. Students in the implicit learning condition had to generate and solve new problems. On three follow-up tests over 10 weeks, students in the explicit learning condition exhibited better problem-solving knowledge than students in the implicit learning condition, as well as some advantages in verbal concept knowledge. Implicit learning showed some advantages on not directly taught but incidentally learned aspects. Overall, this outcome favors the explicit learning of concepts. Explicit comparison fostered student performance on non-verbal and verbal measures, indicating that verbalization facilitates effective comparison.     

Tattoo Torment

刺青是一项古老的传统，至今已有两千多年的历史。古时候，人们多用它来表明身份；现如今，它则成了张扬个性的一种手法。不过，在做刺青前一定要有充分的心理准备，如果哪天后悔了，想去掉都难!     

TV's distorted vision of poverty

Avoiding almost entirely the depiction of poverty during prime‐time broadcasts, television networks present a sentimentalized vision of economic deprivation that omits or minimizes hardship while idealizing the supposed benefits of a spartan way of life. Much happier than the harried members of middle‐ and upper‐income groups, poor and working people on television seldom strive against their economic fates or against the system. Conclusions are based on a monitoring of prime‐time entertainment broadcast by the three commercial networks during “ratings month.”     

The new books on our shelves

Introductory Mechanical Drawing. By Albert A. Lacour and Glenn N. Shaeffer. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1931. pp. 23.

Two Times Two Is Four. Adapted from the Swedish of Zacharias Topelins by Vera C. Himes. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1931. Pp. 64.

Jean and Fanchon: Children of Fair France. By Virginia Olcott. New York: Silver, Burdett and Company, 1931. Pp. viii + 168.

Introduction to the Use of Standard Tests (Revised Edition). By Sidney L. Pressey and Luella Cole. New York: World Book Company, 1931. Pp. iii + 266.

Health Horizons. By Jean Broadhurst and Marion Olive Lerrigo. New York: Silver, Burdett and Company, 1931. Pp. i + 44.

Poems for Enjoyment. By Elias Lieberman. New York: Harper Brothers, 1931. Pp. v + 510.

Fabrics and Dress. By Lucy Rathbone and Elizabeth Tarpley. New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1931. Pp. ix + 430.

Factors Influencing the Choice of Courses by Students in Certain Liberal Arts Colleges. By Helen Foss Weeks. New York: Columbia University, 1931. Pp. i + 62.

Manual for Expressing Educational Measures as Percentile Ranks. By Francis C. Buros and Oscar K. Buros. Yonkers: World Book Company, 1930. Pp. 27.

Mental and Interest Tests. By Lea Hamilton King. New York: Columbia University, 1931. Pp. 1 + 124.

The Bearing of Certain Personality Factors Other Than Intelligence on Academic Success. By Henry T. Tyler. New York: Columbia University, 1931. Pp. v + 88.

Psychology of Exceptional Children. By Norma V. Scheidemann. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931. Pp. i + 520.

Problems in School Supervision. By George C. Kyte. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931. Pp. xiv + 214.

The Birch Bark Roll of Woodcraft. By Ernest Thompson Seton. New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1931. Pp. xii + 268.

How to be Interesting. By Professor Robert E. Rogers. Boston: L. C. Page & Company, 1931. Pp. xii + 170.

Grammar in Action. By J. C. Tressler. New York: D. C. Heath and Company, 1931. Pp. xii + 404.

Uncle Remus. By Joel Chandler Harris. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1931. Pp. xxiii + 283.

Making the Most of High School. By Clyde M. Hill and Raymond D. Mosher. New York: Laidlaw Brothers, 1931. Pp. v + 288.

Modern Business Law. By Jay Finley Christ. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1930. Pp. xiv + 612.

Capital Outlay in Relation to a State's Minimum Educational Program. By Foster E. Grossnickle. New York: Columbia University, 1931. Pp. iii + 65.

Students' Marks in College Courses. By John E. Bohan. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1931. Pp. iii + 133.

The Influence of Training on Changes in Variability in Achievement. By Homer B. Reed. Albany: Psychological Review Company, 1931, Pp. 1+ 59.

Education and the Philosophy of Experimentalism, By John L. Childs. New York: The Century Company, 1931. Pp. vii + 264.

Progress in Adjusting Differences of Amount of Educational Opportunity Offered Under the County Unit Systems of Maryland and Utah. By L. John Nuttall, Jr. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1931. Pp. v + 105.

Modern Chemistry. By Charles E. Dull. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1931. Pp. xii + 776.

An Introduction to Organic Chemistry. By Roger J. Williams. New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1931. Pp. iii + 585.

Educational Measurement in the High School. By C. W. Odell. New York: The Century Company, 1930. Pp. 641.

Furniture Boys Like to Build. By Richard Shaver. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1931. Pp. 216.

General Metal Work. By Alfred B. Grayshon. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1930. Pp. viii + 206.

Coloring, Finishing, and Painting Wood. By A. C. Newell. Peoria: The Manual Arts Press, 1930. Pp. 419.

A Gateway to Music. By Wilton W. Blanche and Jay Speck. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1931. Pp. v + 178.

Plane Geometry Work Book, By Theodore Herberg and Sinclair J. Wilson. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1931.

Standard Service Arithmetics, Grades One and Two. By J. W. Studebaker, F. B. Knight and W. C. Findley. Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1929. Pp. 154.

Introductory Algebra. By Alan Johnson and Arthur W. Belcher. Chicago: Laurel Book Company, 1930. Pp. 407.

Fabrics and Clothing. By Sara MacBride and Ellen Beers McGowan. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1931. Pp. viii + 225.

Mathematics, Seventh School Year. By Fred Engelhardt and Mary L. Edwards. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1931. Pp. xvi + 232.     

Looking East: Shanghai,PISA 2009 and the reconstitution of reference societies in the global education policy field

This paper examines the outstanding performance of Shanghai, China on PISA 2009 and its effects on other national systems and within the global education policy field. The OECD's PISA is helping to create this field by constituting the globe as a commensurate space of school system performance. The effects of Shanghai's success are considered in three other national contexts: the USA, England and Australia. We combine (a) analysis of data from more than 30 research interviews with senior policy actors at the OECD, the IEA and within Australia and England; and (b) document analysis of policy speeches, commissioned research reports and media coverage from the three national contexts. Shanghai's performance in PISA 2009 produced a global ‘PISA-shock’ that has repositioned this system as a significant new ‘reference society’, shifting the global gaze in education from Finland to the ‘East’ at the beginning of the so-called ‘Asian century’.