Nobody tells you how to be a SENCo

The ways in which SENCos identify themselves and how they enact the SENCo role is the focus of this research by Sarah Rosen‐Webb, an associate tutor and course coordinator at Middlesex University. Who becomes a SENCo and how different individuals develop their SENCo role is explored through the study of the career pathways of nine SENCos in nine secondary schools in England. Data from semi‐structured interviews and completion of Diamond Nine activities were coded and analysed using grounded theory procedures. Recommendations arising from this research indicate that recruitment initiatives and development programmes need to be alert to the dynamics between management and teaching roles of SENCos, and to be careful in maintaining a balance between management training and specialist teacher training.     

Using method of instruction to predict the skills supporting initial reading development: insight from a synthetic phonics approach

This study examined the skills predicting early reading development when children were taught by a synthetic phonics approach. Eighty five children taught to read by systematic synthetic phonics were assessed on reading and cognitive assessments prior to reading instruction (average age 4 years, 7 months), 6 months later (5 years, 1 month), and 73 were also tested 1 year later (6 years, 1 month). Consistent with hypotheses, word reading was most strongly and consistently predicted by letter sound knowledge and short term memory. It is proposed that method of instruction may shape the skills children draw upon when learning to read.     

The intellectual landscape of critical policy analysis

What counts as critical policy analysis in education? Over the past 30 years, a tightening of national educational policies can be seen in the USA and across the globe. Over this same period of time, a growing number of educational policy scholars, dissatisfied with traditional frameworks, have used critical frameworks in their analyses. Their critical educational policy work has contributed to a unique intellectual landscape within education: critical policy analysis. This article presents a qualitative exploration of the critical policy analysis approach to educational policy studies. Participants included scholars known to utilize critical theoretical frameworks and methods in their research. Through a historical approach that makes use of oral history interviews with educational policy, we developed an understanding of the critical approach to policy studies, its appeal among critical education policy scholars, and the rationales driving its use.     

Teacher development with mobiles: Comparative critical factors

This paper addresses ways that mobile technologies can be used in teacher development, and focuses on mobile technologies. In particular, it addresses issues of context. It outlines and explores accepted practice and illustrates how mobility invites change and reappraisal of the teacher education process. It places this against a backdrop of current global challenges and questions the validity of existing educational systems in the face of those challenges. It then places mobile technology in the role of digital learning tool rather than content delivery system and explores how teacher education needs to adapt to the context of learning that is presented by increased mobility. Finally, it explores the relationship between knowing and doing in teacher education, acknowledging tension in two areas: first, between the standardisation of practice and the creation of user-defined and user-owned knowledge creation based on interaction with distinct contexts and second, between the social practice of learning through mobility and the ‘otherness’ of formal education.     

Questioning Our Questions: Assessing Question Asking Practices to Evaluate a yPAR Program

The purpose of this research was to examine question asking practices in a youth participatory action research (yPAR) after school program housed at an elementary school. The research question was: In which ways did the adult question asking practices in a yPAR setting challenge and/or reproduce conventional models of power in educational settings? We aligned Fink’s taxonomy (Creating significant learning experiences: an integrated approach to designing college courses. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2003) to Freire’s (The pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum, New York, 1970/2000) banking concept and problem-posing educational models. All adult questions were categorized from twelve randomly selected yPAR sessions over 2 years. The program served 4th and 5th grade students. Of the 500+ questions adults asked, 17 % were foundational (aligned with Freire’s banking concept). All other questions were aligned with Freire’s problem-posing model. Specifically, 34 % were application, 3 % were integration, 15 % were caring, 11 % were human dimension, and 8 % were learning how to learn questions. By studying question asking patterns and practices, we gained a better understanding of how students and adults navigated this particular after school space, which, at its core, sought to disrupt conventional notions of power and status.