Educators’ use of commanding language to direct infants’ behaviour: relationship to educators’ qualifications and implications for language learning opportunities

This study investigated the manner in which 56 infant educators used language to direct the behaviour of infants (defined as children aged birth to two years), on the basis that the ways in which educators frame their commands represent an important component of young children’s learning experiences. Underpinned by systemic functional linguistic theory, the study analysed the frequency and type of command produced by educators with university, diploma and certificate qualifications. Suggestive and indirect commands convey a sense of negotiation, as if the addressees’ subjective opinions and thoughts are considered, while nonsuggestive and direct commands foreground the speakers’ power and authority. The findings demonstrate that commands feature frequently in educators’ talk to infants, with nonsuggestive and direct commands being most commonly used. Individual differences were related to the qualifications of staff. University-qualified early childhood teachers used significantly fewer nonsuggestive and direct commands than did diploma and certificate-qualified educators, and they were more likely to provide infants with a reason for the command. These findings have implications for the way in which learning opportunities are created by the language that educators use, and for the overall quality of infant early childhood programmes.     

Power Relationships in Rumpelstiltskin: A Textual Comparison of a Traditional and a Reconstructed Fairy Tale

Reconstructed fairy tales provide a different point of view and challenge the assumptions of a common set of values; for that reason, these stories provide a medium in which to examine power relationships in texts by applying a critical multicultural analysis (Botelho & Rudman, forthcoming, 2008, A critical multicultural analysis of children’s literature: Mirrors, windows and doors. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum) to identify and analyze power relations of Rumpelstiltskin (Grimm & Grimm, 1812/1987, New York: Bantam) and Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter (Stanley, 1997, New York: Morrow Junior Books). Specifically, this study examines how power is exercised on a continuum: domination, collusion, resistance, and agency. Findings indicate that by identifying and questioning text ideologies, critical readers can consider how texts maintain, counteract, or promote alternative systemic power structures.

Current implementation and practice of educational policy for HIV-positive children: A national study

Policy development for HIV-positive children in the public schools has been delayed. Difficulties with problem definition, indecisiveness, and conflict regarding which policy-making body is responsible for policy development and implementation, and complacency about the need for policy, appear to be the reasons that have hampered policy development. This article presents further findings of a national study regarding state-level policy for HIV-positive children and focuses on current implementation and practice of such policy (or lack thereof), as well as the states' perceptions of improvements that are needed in current policy. Forty-nine of fifty-one states and the District of Columbia responded to the study. The responses are analyzed as part of a model that specifies state experience, perceived need, and degree of state centralization of decision making as possible predictors of policy content and implementation.     

Teachers explore knowledge management and E-learning as models for professional development

Conclusion It is interesting to report that the educators who took part in this look at KM and e-leaming have a great expectation of the development of online communities of learning. As one said in an e-mail message three days after the end of the course, “I just keep logging back on looking for interesting ideas and discussions with my extended family—I guess I’m addicted.” The model of resource gathering, resource sharing, collaboration and responsibility for learning which seems natural in an online course may be training the students to expect these same elements in professional development. Knowledge management and e-learning may provide additional conceptual models to build professional development to match these expectations. Special thanks to the students in ITED 7500 Instructional Technology Management, Spring Semester, 2000, whose contributions shaped this effort in ’the scholarship of teaching’.     

Academics at work: mentoring in research,teaching, and service

Abstract

This qualitative interview study investigates how mentoring is used to develop knowledge and skills for early career academics across the academic roles of research, teaching, and service. Results indicate similar amounts of mentoring in research for men and women, more mentoring in teaching for women, and a lack of mentoring in service across gender. Methodological, theoretical, and practical implications for institutions of higher education are discussed, particularly those aimed at addressing inequality for women.